Monthly Archives: April 2007

Porque siempre pasa así?!?!

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¿Es algo que no entiendo, porque cuando sigo bajando una película de la internet (si ya sé que es ilegal) en dos archivos siempre me viene el numero 2 primero? ¡Es mal agüero seguro! Podría empezar mirando la primera parte pero no, hay que esperar que baje toda la película, peor es que cuando parece que ya va estar completa, se me desconecta la conexión o pierdo el user de quien estaba bajando, que cagada, la verdad que me pone loco…
Estaba sacando la película “300” sobre el rey Leónidas y su ejercito de 300 soldados que van enfrontar a un temible enemigo. Los espartanos y su maquina de guerra. No mostrar clemencia ni piedad… y bueno parece que tengo que esperar hasta que salga la primera parte, la segunda ya esta.

Surfing @ Sines

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I was at Sines (Alentejo Coast) from the 19th to the 22nd of the current month on a surf teaching course. The group was incredible, 4 of my mates travelled down there, we found other 2 on the course and we were just ripping!
The program contents are pretty good, but the guys there dump theory heavily: bones and muscles; bases, development and progression of training, rescue techniques, you name it!
On Friday my mate Leandre and I were surfing at São Torpes, a “crowdless” waves with both right and left-handers, excellent for improving technique while the other were at the pool, we were dismissed since we have lifeguard credentials. That was the best session when it comes to surfing we experienced down there.
Met nice people, good atmosphere and we will be back there in 2 weeks!

Sinais de fumo

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Deitado olho extasiado para o fumo de incenso que passa espesso, aveludado e lentamente pela luz em cima da minha cama. Um slideshow de lembranças enche-me a cabeça, as últimas páginas da história da minha vida que mais parecem ter sido arrancadas a ferros a um inferno ardente. Ansiedade, reminiscência furtiva, dor que leva a querer gritar bem alto. Novas responsabilidades, novo lugar á mesa, novas incoerências de um presente vazio.
Eu, um novo homem? Certamente, mas com as veias abertas e cicatrizes que necessitam levar uns pontos para não reabrirem, e eu fecho-me dentro de mim mesmo, como se isso fosse solução, solvência da problemática para o meu interior dilacerado.
E agora que caminho seguir? Estou perdido… as forças vectoriais apontam para uma realidade que de algum modo é desejada mas também assustadora, sigo numa introspecção constante e chego sempre é mesma conclusão. Só consigo lidar com as minha problemáticas pessoais a dois nível e normalmente escolho a que está no meu controle, mas hoje, no momento em que escrevo, desejo lançar-me no mistério inerente, na vivência desconhecida, no vazio do meu ser.

A graveyard for Nicaragua

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Just arrived from Lisbon and the Nicaraguan Consulate in Cascais.
It was a cloudy, yet quite warm day, the morning was spent finishing the last bits of the tails left and around 1100 I departed to Lisbon.
The Consulate was quite hard to find, but finally we manage to get hold of it around 1500. There was no one at the event apart from me and a friend, Nídia.
We set up the symbolical Graveyard and “knock knock”… a man on his 30′s came at the door. We asked to talk to Ian Imrie the supposed consul, and he told us that Ian Imrie was his father and he couldn’t come at the door because he was sleeping. I guess that is what happens when you spent more than 3 decades living in Latin Countries, siesta starts to be part of your life!

I asked if I could speak to him about Nicaragua and its position on whaling. Well it happens that the Consulate of Nicaragua was no longer there!! That is only the residence of his family and because they lived in Nicaragua for a long time and had connections with the government, his father was asked to be the consul in Portugal. They are not Nicaraguans even, they are British. We delivered the letter we had prepared to his father and he said that since his father still has connections with the government, he will ask him to convey our message to Managua.
Well, Nicholas the son of the supposed Consul told me that he personally is against whaling and he thought the idea of making the action in 14 different countries would help to change Nicaragua’s position (and apparently it did http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/2007/04/10/nacionales/45840 – it says that Nicaragua will no longer vote for whaling!) after a chat, and some exchange of ideias, he invited us for a tea, but we were running late, so we politely said no.
We got his contact and of his father to send him some news of the actions around the world and its repercussions, what I’ll do after finishing this text, that is right about now…

Congratulations to Milko Schvartzman from Greenpeace and everyone involved. I’m looking forward to know that Nicaragua voted NO when Japan voted YES :-) also many thanks to Catarina a friend of mine that helped me to manufacture the whale tails.

Click here to read about the government change of position regarding whaling.

IKEA (confession)

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IKEA, Portugal… what a nightmare place. Well maybe not a nightmare but for a person like me who is not a big “shopping” fan, IKEA is not your dream place.
The plan was simple: Get from my crib to IKEA, buy a decent sofa and some other bits and bobs, and get back, very straightforward, right?
Before I made a move, I downloaded the directions from the Internet, got in my car and drove off. It should have been 78km there and back but since I came out of the motorway too soon, I had to make a few more looking through a way to the IKEA thing.
I finally got there and it was swarming with people, parking was difficult but I got a good spot on the G line. Got inside the building and got out of the elevator straight in front of the counters with battalions of people paying their stuff, I got a little paranoid already, found my way in and luckily enough the “tour” starts with the living rooms, so I got to try the sofa I had previously seen in the catalogue at home and it was definitely it, took a round up to see if there was anything else interesting but no it was really that one!
One was done and I had to find the other stuff, there was when the troubles started to happen, firstly got lost in the children section, I know, its stupid, but the thing looks more like a labyrinth.
After collecting all the things I was meant to buy and circulated throughout all the other section getting loads of ideas to décor other parts of my house, I finally got to the counter. I saw this one with very few people, and got immediately in line. Then I started to look around and there were just pregnant women in front and behind me, I looked up and it was this big PRIORITY LINE sign on top of it, with the symbols of pregnant women, old and disabled people. So, I was left with a dilemma, I could make a go to the counter and be expelled, with all people looking at me going like “look at that son of a b***, trying to take the place of the pregnant woman behind him”, came out of the line and be ages waiting in another counter, or pretend. First I thought of limping, but when the girl at the counter started talking to me in the way I just described I made myself of deaf, making gestures (with the few I know i gestual language) trying to explain I couldn’t hear her. I KNOW, I’M HORRIBLE!!! She apologized and started to talk very slowly and articulated, I felt really bad but couldn’t back out, it was too late. However, I reckon she wasn’t very convinced or it was just the habit because I was with my back to her stuffing down my bag and she said, here’s your receipt, I didn’t turn, not to spoil the thing, so she touched my shoulder and I turned to get the receipt.
Then I had to go and collect the sofa in another section she kindly drawn in a paper after trying to explain me where it was, and I made this blank expression she decided to make a drawing. I was feeling bad, very bad…
I thought the sofa was going to come in parts some nice boxes I could put in my car… wrong! It was a big thing, and my car is a VW Polo … not the best vehicle to take a sofa in, even one of two people. Thanks to creatures of leisure and their removable surf racks I was able to put the sofa on the roof, with a lot of effort! While I was on this complicated operation a girl was waiting to park on my spot, and I was having some trouble tying everything up, and I don’t like to be observed while in snag… well manage to get everything sorted, was 5 minutes looking for my car key that had felt below the seat and off I was! Two police cars passed by me, and I got a bit nervous, some people giving me weird looks, including this little girl on the back on her chair with an expression like “it doesn’t look right …”. Anyway, the trip home was pretty much clear-cut, arrived safely with the sofa on the top, and my mom was happy :-)