Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Of my research


"Steve, I think I do not know where I am going with my research. I am all over the place. I feel like I know nothing, and nothing good is ever going to come out of it!"

"Don't panic, if you told me you were on top of the materials, then I would be worried! It is normal to feel that way"

"I can assure you, you have nothing to worry about"


Outro dia falavamos do Pessoa... Hoje respondo-te com o Pessoa!

E olha, estou-me a rir!


"Posso ter defeitos, viver ansioso e ficar irritado algumas vezes,

Mas não esqueço de que minha vida

É a maior empresa do mundo…

E que posso evitar que ela vá à falência.

Ser feliz é reconhecer que vale a pena viver

Apesar de todos os desafios, incompreensões e períodos de crise.

Ser feliz é deixar de ser vítima dos problemas e

Se tornar um autor da própria história…

É atravessar desertos fora de si, mas ser capaz de encontrar

Um oásis no recôndito da sua alma…

É agradecer a Deus a cada manhã pelo milagre da vida.

Ser feliz é não ter medo dos próprios sentimentos.

É saber falar de si mesmo.

É ter coragem para ouvir um “Não”!!!

É ter segurança para receber uma crítica,

Mesmo que injusta…


Pedras no caminho?

Guardo todas, um dia vou construir um castelo…"

Friday, October 23, 2009

HHGTTG - sixth book?

(yes, I know most people found this out last year! ...all complaints have been made, I know.... Well, I am not most people now, am I?)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (HHGTTG) is going to have a sequel. Book number six will come out (if it hasn't yet) soon. I am heartbroken, disappointed, frustrated...do I really need to go on?

Douglas Adams passed away 8 years ago, during the production of the HHGTTG's movie. It was a sad day for us all since (or so I thought) Marvin would never make me laugh again (yes, I am one of those Marvin fans). But even though Douglas Adams said he would publish another book, that 5 did not seem like a round number, the fans would be okay with this sad reality... But will they really be okay with the publication of another book, NOT WRITTEN BY DOUGLAS ADAMS?

I do find this outrageous. HHGTTG was Douglas Adam's life project, it was his passion, his great idea in life. It would just be like some dude deciding to write another Harry Potter book, because JK Rowling should have given us more!

On the same week that I discovered, and had to deal with, "The God Delusion" (don't even get me started!) was dedicated to Douglas Adams, I now have to face the fact that HHGTTG is not Douglas Adam's legacy anymore (or that it will at least be changed)...

It is a sad day for us all...

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Nada

Há dias em que não consigo escrever nada. E tenho tanta coisa para dizer....
Há dias em que me sento à frente do meu computador (secalhar o problema é mesmo esse, tenho de começar a experimentar com papel) e as palavras não fluem, não fazem sentido, não se querem alinhar de maneira nenhuma!
Há dias em que me apetece dizer tudo, me apetece contar todos aqueles promenores que (por um motivo ou outro) ainda ninguém teve tempo de ouvir, mas apago tudo o que tento escrever.
Há dias assim, em que nada faz sentido...

why?

"The question is: is there something else you would rather be doing?"

And to my knowledge no, there isn't.

You wanted the world, now go get it.

Friday, October 09, 2009

So sorry Fidel

Como a Gripe A mudou a minha visão do mundo....até voltei a ler o The Times! E que dia para voltar a ler o times!

E como não sou nada egoísta, ora leiam:

Up in Smoke

The good news for Fidel Castro is that capitalism has caught a cold, just as he hoped and predicted it would. And the cruel irony? His fellow Cubans are the ones who are doing the sneezing.

The recession that has chased so many tycoons from their boardrooms — taking their humidors with them — has made spending as much on a Cohiba as on a week’s groceries feel profligate. Simultaneously, the difficulty of being able to smoke in restaurants has prompted many smokers to stub out their habit. As a result, demand for Cuban cigars is waning: it fell by 3 per cent last year and is down a further 15 per cent this year. That, in turn, has led to less land being sown to tobacco: 30 per cent less. Farmers are frantic. Capitalism has taken a kicking, but communism is smarting, too. Castro has learnt the hard way that if there is one thing worse than wanting something, it’s getting it.

Of all the barometers of economic vitality, demand for Havanas is not the commonest. It perhaps ought to be. A decade ago, when stock markets were booming, the appetite for Cuban cigars boomed with them. Exporters couldn’t keep up, resulting in even more fake Havanas than usual seeping on to the world market to satisfy demand from plutocrats who wished to flaunt their wealth without actually setting light to $100 bills in front of their dinner guests.

Now the economic cycle has turned. The plutocrats are no longer puffing, bars are smoke-free, and there are no Hemingways or Churchills, no Che Guevaras or Groucho Marxes, to take up the slack. Even Fidel gave up Havanas in 1985.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, as Freud said. Yes, but sometimes it’s also a straw in the wind.

Published in The Times, 8th October 2009.

I am a Survivor!



Sobrevivi à Gripe A. Isso mesmo, depois de cinco dias de cama, levantei-me e fui de encontro ao mundo. Tudo muda depois de uma experiência inesquecível como esta. Melhor que isso só se tivesses aqui estado para partilhar este momento comigo! Sim, porque ninguém como tu percebe a verdadeira magia desta doença...
Toda a gente a quem eu conto que tive gripe A lamenta muito, e fica muito preocupado, e não percebe o verdadeiro fascínio destas célebres bactérias. É por isso mesmo, e por teres sido a única pessoa que percebeu o meu orgulho por ser (até à data) o único membro da minha família que sobreviveu (e.g. sofreu) à Gripe A, decidi imortalizar o teu e-mail:


"Gripe A??? Que Chiki :P espero que estejas a fazer propaganda a gripe... Os do teu corredor ja foram todos isolados por tua causa?"

Great minds do think alike!