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Thursday, August 30, 2007

Moving On

So an aunt of mine died last monday.

I have to be honest, it was kind of expected. But something like that brings you down anyway.

Still, I see something very odd in the way I react to stuff like this. The last time I actually cried because of someone else's death was some 13 years ago, when my grandfather died. Even nowadays, when I remember him, tears to my eyes almost instantly. Since then I've lost my two grandmothers (both of whom I loved very much). I was crushed by both - but I didn't cry.

My perspective on death has changed a lot, that's for sure. I began to find egoism in the attitude some people have about it - it's as if they wanted the person to stay alive no matter what, only to have them around - even if they don't give much value to that person. On the other hand, a part of me envies that - the ability of showing you're upset for losing someone you love.

In the end, however, I do grieve the departed loved ones, but in my own way. I talk less, laugh less - in a way, live less. For one day only. After that, I want to enjoy life as much as I can, be it playing around, working hard, or whatever else. That's a much better way to remember someone.

In the end, I think it's useless to dwell on negative stuff like death and illness - it's much better to remember the good things about the people we love.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Guitar Villain

Finally I started learning to play the guitar.


I borrowed an electric guitar from Pivo yesterday and I'm already training chord switching. With time, I hope, I'll gain calluses and start making some noise!


It's going to be a while until then, though. Music has a very slow learning curve. At least, that's what it seems to me right now.


One thing is for sure: as soon as I can get some pŕactice, I'll start playing around with some songs I'm looking forward to playing.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Gotta earn it.

Yesterday was Yoshi's birthday. To celebrate, Red Five performed their first public appearance - Yoshi is one of the guitar players in the band.

It was so cool. It was the first time I went to a *ahem* concert and knew some members of the band. Their setlist is good, everyone enjoyed it.

Sometimes I wish I had a band. But, since I don't know how to play any instrument, that tends to be a bit difficult. Every now and then I feel a kind of need to learn to play an instrument - there were times when I wanted to learn piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, flute, drums...

That makes me wonder how cool would it be if it were possible to learn things like in The Matrix, where all you needed to do was to plug a stick to your brain and the operator would download all you needed to know directly into your brain.

Wouldn't be the same, I think. Things only are worth it if you fight for them. People should earn everything they have - but then again, who said the world had to be fair?

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Still looking for answers.

I honestly don't know what to write about here. I guess it's because so many things have been happening in the last few weeks I haven't had the time to sort it all out.

However I have been doing a lot of thinking. I've been thinking mostly about the way I live and the way I want to live in the future; and I made some decisions concerning my own habits that are very difficult to implement, because they need a lot of discipline - and that's a quality I have less of than I would like to.

Many people may call it paranoia, but what actually catalyzed the change in the way I see the world were two movies I watched only recently.

The first was 'Super Size Me'. I'm not sure if everything shown in the movie is actually true, but it scared the crap out of me. I was already concerned about my eating habits, but after that I completely stopped drinking soda, for example. I'm trying to eat less junk food, and to reach a better balanced diet.

I'm also trying (not very successfully until now) to make some exercise. I'm still not sure what, but I'm doing something.

The other movie that caused this change was Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth". Until watching it I didn't have an opinion about Global Warming. After that, although I still feel that I need to learn more about it, my habits did change - I'm trying to do my part, and I'm encouraging other people to do so.

I've been giving a lot of though to my future, too. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do after I finish grad school. I guess this is because there are too many variables involved. One thing I know for sure: what I want the most is to raise a family. There are a lot of things that have a weight on making such a decision, such as, 'is it worth it to bring a child to this wrecked world?'.

I'm still looking for answers.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Criatividade

Aconteceu realmente na semana passada na rádio TUPI FM 104,1 em São Paulo:

Locutor: - Quem fala?

Ouvinte: - É o Vicente.

Locutor: - De onde, Vicente?

Ouvinte: - Lapa!

Locutor: - Olha aí, Vicente da Lapa! Valendo o kit com camiseta e CD do Edson e Hudson. Presta atenção! Qual é o país que tem duas sílabas e se pode comer uma delas? Prestou bem atenção? Há um país com 2 sílabas e 1 delas é muito boa para se comer.
Dez segundos para responder.

Ouvinte: - CUBA!

Locutor: (mudo por alguns segundos e algumas risadas no fundo) – Tá certo, senhor Vicente! Vai levar o prêmio pela criatividade. Mas aqui na minha ficha estava escrito JAPÃO...

Friday, August 03, 2007

Dammit.

I hate RUMP. A LOT.

Apparently, the feeling is mutual.