10 Random Facts

Finally!

I was tagged by the Toothfairy to write this, it took me a while but here it comes:

1. I procrastinate. As you may have noticed. And that goes for pretty much EVERYTHING. Activities, chores, plans, dreams... It's a terrible flaw and I hate it, and I really want to change it... but I procrastinate the change too. This post is a good example of this, another good example is my bedroom. I took a picture of it on the same day I moved, to show it to my family in Brazil. I said "it's messy cause we just moved in, but I'll send you the pics once we get it totally furnished and cleaned up!" - that was over 2 months ago.

2. I talk too much. Boyfriend complains a lot about this, he keeps telling me I need not to fill the silent gaps, but I do, I really do. People say I'm my mom's daughter, cause she talks a lot too. And so does my grandma. My sister is said to be the quiet girl in the family, but boyfriend complains that she talks too much too. Both my dad and my bro are very quiet, they stick to the basics. But my other grandma - dad's mom - says he's the blabber in the family. I guess all my uncles on that side of the family are mute.

3. I used to be a lot better with my writing than I am today. Writing used to be a therapy, I had journals, I wrote letters, I wrote articles and chronicles... When I took my CPE exam from Cambridge, I got "Exceptional Writing Skills". I wished I practiced more.

4. This blog is actually over 7 years old. It has had several different (and totally unrelated) layouts and titles. I hid the older posts, because some people like to spy on me (I think I'll write a post about them one of these days). I started writing this originally in Portuguese, and it was kind of like... unread letters to my high school sweet heart. Pathetic, huh?

5. I really wanted to live in Sweden. I was talking on MSN to my friend, she wrote "I wanna move to Sweden!!! Let's move to Sweden!" - My dad was sitting right next to me, I said "Dad, I think I'm gonna move to Sweden." He said "ok" and 3 months later my friend and I were having the best 3 months in our lives. I only stayed for 3 months due to visa status, she is there until today. None of us would like to live in Sweden now.

6. My coming to the USA was a trajectory's accident. I was aiming for Sweden, as I said before. I had been waiting for my new visa to arrive for over 6 months, it was getting me stressed and annoyed and unemployed. So I had a job offer here in the States, I thought I'd come since I had the visa already... just until my Swedish visa came out. As you may have noticed, I changed my mind.

7. My family is pretty international. I live in the US, my sister lives in Brazil, my parents and my brother live in Portugal. I used to date this guy in Sweden, now I live with boyfriend, who just came from Brazil. His sister lives in Taiwan.

8. For some reason, I was always a "popular" girl. Since I was a little kid. In school, I was always part of the "coolest gangs". I somehow hung out with many different gangs - pretty much 99% of the school knew me, that kind of pissed my BFF off, she was a bit possessive when it came to Elize time. When I grew up and moved to Brazil, not much changed. I used to go out a lot, had VIP passes to all parties and concerts... When I went back to Portugal, I was the new gang's sweetheart Brazilian hottie, they'd commute for 1h/day to pick me up and drop me off every single day. That whole popularity thing changed after I moved to the US.

9. My life used to be a lot more interesting. And I realize that in moments like these, when I have to say something and I can't think of anything. My life used to be pretty exciting, and everyone used to say they wished they had my life... now my life is just boring. I'm like a housewife with 5 kids.

10. I cry over spilled milk. It is very likely that, as soon as I hit "publish", I'll think of 25 better things I could have written, and I didn't.


Oh! I forgot something *kinda* important.
I have to tag 10 bloggers:

1. Segue a Linha
2. Noah Alexandre Chen
3. LitteM-o-holic
4. loveisdead
5. sweets and hearts
6. lifeis
7. glamour sacrifice
8. Her name is Noelle
9. Nipplelicious
10.

(Wo)man VS Machine

So boyfriend has a new toy...

His old laptop was falling apart - literally -, the screen was breaking from the body of the laptop and it was hanging from the right side, besides it was quite impossible to use more than one application at a time - not to mention the memory of a pea.

So after a lot of anticipation (a couple of days), we finally bought his new toy. It was actually a present from his dad, kind of.

It's a really nice computer (although I don't think I could go back to using Windows), but there's a place where I draw the line, and that place is right there, where he stops paying attention to me and telling me to shut up so he can play with the new gadget.

Can you believe I actually had to sleep by myself last night? He crawled into bed at who knows what time (not even he knows), and this morning he wouldn't wake up. He had to drive me to work, when we got there, I left the car, and 1 hour later he comes in and goes "how long was I out?"

Growing Up In The 80's

I don't want to write another mega post on MJ, although I still have thoughts about him - in fact, I was telling my friend earlier today, I might be obsessing over his death. But let's not talk about him dead.

I thought it'd be nice to just remember some moments in my life in which MJ was somehow involved. And it pretty much started since I was born.

My mom is the oldest of 5. The 2 youngest aunts were teenagers when I was born, so I remember spending lots of time in my grandma's, and my aunts listening to music on the radio while cleaning the house. Thriller and Billie Jean were obvious hits, as well as Ricky Astley and Crowded House, among others.

When the second youngest Aunt got married, I used to sleep over a lot. They got my grandparents old house as a wedding gift, so we just kept hanging out there. I remember staying up late with Aunt and Uncle watching movies like "Clash of the Titans" and being totally ok with it (except for the Medusa part, I had nightmares with her), but everytime I watched the videoclip for "Thriller" I'd get totally freaked out.

In late childhood and early teenagehood I started with the boyband fever. So pretty much all I cared about was NKOTB, then Take That, then ultimately, the BSB.
But in between, I did listen to a lot of "Bad", "Dangerous" and "Black or White", that video clip was amazing, I recorded it on VCR and I could watch it and rewind it and watch it again for hours, just to see Macaulay Culkin and those morphing faces. It really was amazing.

I also remember as a kid wishing I'd be invited to the Ranch. I'd think "Aren't those kids lucky? Not only do they get to spend some vacation time in an amazing place with lots of luxury, but they do it with Michael Jackson!"
At the time, I thought only star kids would go (like Culkin), and I knew I'd never ever be picked.

In Portugal there was a tv show on channel 1 at lunch time that showed video clips. I watched it every single day before going to school, it was right after Tom Sawyer. It was kinda like a top ten chart, but the weirdest thing is, they played old songs all the time. So for a really long time, every single day I would watch the clip to "Billie Jean" while I was having lunch. That was right before they released "Black or White", by the way.

There was this girl in my class, her name was Ines. While me and pretty much all the other girls my age were digging the boy bands, she was a huge fan of Madonna and Michael Jackson. I thought that was very odd, but I owe it partially to her for having these 2 pop icons very present in my teenage years. She even taught me some of the choreography, but I'm just too uncoordinated to do it.
The other person I owe this to is a guy called Tiago. He wasn't in my class, but he was one of the school's hottie and a very good friend of mine. And also my highschool sweetheart's best friend.

Ever since I was a kid, I heard all sorts of rumors about MJ. He slept in a bubble whatever, he bleached his skin, he had a pact with whoever, he was an alien, he was immortal, yatta yatta yatta. Even today I hear absurd things about him. I read on a website that he was seen alive in London, and there was a "picture" to prove it. And another site said he was seen crossing the border to Mexico a few moments before they announced him dead.

Just like it happened with Elvis, he's the King, people are in denial and there will be all sorts of theories about this, for years to come.

When I was about 15, a friend of my brother's - who was actually a friend of the whole family -, commited suicide. I was the one who got the call about it, and I was the one who had to tell my brother about it. He got pissed, he called me a liar, among other more unpleasant things. He called our friend's house and no one answered, so he decided to go there personally and prove me wrong.

I knew there was no reason for someone to call me lying about it, but I was still waiting for my brother to come back and prove me wrong.
I waited and waited... I decided to turn on the tv to get distracted, I liked the German music channel Viva.
There are 2 videoclips that remind me of this moment. The moment my brother arrived, devastated, and I knew time had stopped, I could describe every detail in the room in those long silent minutes... and in the background, Michael and Janet singing. I do love this clip, but it does bring me sad memories.

As for his trial days... I was on a long vacation in Portugal, at my parents house. SNL was all about MJ and his trial at that time.
I used to watch it and I thought it was an OK show... until there was one sketch about Michael leaving Neverland or something like that... can't really remember, I remember they put a fake Michael inside a fence and they had helicopters over him... it was just a very distasteful sketch in my opinion, in light of the events at that time. That was the last time I ever watched SNL.

And I remember talking to my sister online one day, and she'd tell me "Why can't they leave him alone? He's innocent! Leave him alone!"

So yeah, let's just leave him alone... if that was at all possible.

The King Of Pop

I know it's cliche to keep writing about Michael Jackson's death but hey, writing about anything else would be like not talking about the big pink elephant in the room. It really is all I can think about - specially since I keep receiving tweets and e-mails and ims about it.

I spent most of the day reading news on his death and watching tribute videos (there are some really cool ones out there, you guys should look for the Philippino prision inmates at youtube.com), reading what random people have to say about it... and really, it makes me mad.

Not that anyone really cares about my thoughts on MJ, but hello??? I have never been an assumed MJ fan, but I have never talked shit about him either, even during his trashiest trial days. By the way, I do believe he was innocent.

One of the favorite things I read was a comment from Robin Gibb, one of the Bee Gees, quoting:

"This tragedy should teach us a lesson to value and praise those gifts while we still have them in the world.

"If even a small portion of the praise that is bestowed on Michael Jackson now in death was given to him last year in life, he might well still be with us."

I know he wasn't the most average Joe and all the plastics and scandals made him look like a freak and put him on the spotlight, but not in a good way. But I do believe he was a good person, I do believe he was innocent from the pedophilia charges against him, I do believe the people who did it were just stupid opportunists trying to take advantage of a great chance that was given to them (c'mon, if you think the million(s) dollars settlement sounded tricky, don't you think a person who has been sexually molested would settle for money rather than justice to feel peace? That just proves lack of integrity to me), and mostly, I do believe every bad thing that happened to him lead him to his unfortunate fate last Thursday.

I think he might have been too fragile and naive to stand up for himself, and I do believe there are people like that. The fact that he is talented and famous does not make him super in every other way.

And yes, he was very talented. Anyone who says otherwise is being a total hypocrite. I highly doubt that there is anyone from my generation who did not once tried to move like he did, and sang along to his songs and made that stereotyped yell of his "eeee-heeeee". I highly doubt that there is any so-called "music star" from nowadays who did not have MJ as inspiration or musical reference at some level, at some point in time. And I mean ANY so-called musician from today. And I say "so-called" because most of what we have today is not music, it's pure rubbish.

He freaking invented the moonwalk!!!

About 7-6 years ago I used one of his songs as inspiration for a class. I was teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) to agricultural students from South America. It was very challenging since most of them had a lot of trouble just making it to "Hello, my name is _____", and I had to teach a foreign language to people who didn't even speak the same language (half spoke Portuguese, the other half spoke Spanish).

Anyways, after using about 3 different text books and all sorts of exercises I had used before, I ran out of resources to try to get my students to absorb any of the things I taught them. I even had one of the students look at me with the deadliest look and say "I have always hated English and all my English teachers, I don't see how that's gonna change anytime now." Ouch. Until I came up with this project.



Instead of trying to get English grammar in their brains with a 5% success rate (with maybe 2 students in a class of 35), I decided to talk about morals, and love, compassion, standards, life, values... things that mattered to them, and in the end I'd give them keywords in English to study and use them in the following class.
The best part of the project was the graduation presentation: I showed them the lyrics to "Heal The World", by Michael Jackson and they used a dictionary to translate it in group.

They were all touched by the lyrics and how it made sense to them from what we had been doing in class. They learned how to sing it (and believe it or not, for someone who doesn't speak English, it is very hard to sing in English) and they all stood onstage after they got their diplomas and the roses and it was beautiful and touching.
After the ceremony - and I don't mean to brag - the students gave me their roses and thanked me "for a valuable lesson" - Heal The World.

The guy who told me had hated all English teachers also gave me his rose and said he learned how important it was to communicate in English and he would pursue his English studies furthermore.
Amazingly, almost half of the class is now traveling around the world doing volunteer work.

And until today, all these students still write me and thank me for somehow making a difference and showing that their place and their work was to do what "I" had taught them - Heal The World.

I'm sorry, that didn't come from me, it came from Mr. Jackson. And I don't believe a freak, child molester, whatever-you-wanna-call-him person would be able to come up with this song. I don't think he could've written this song if he was that bad.

He was a brilliant man, I might even dare to say he surpassed Elvis - and believe me, that is HUGE coming from me, I'm a huge fan of Elvis.
He is an icon, his songs are icons...
I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres show today, which was probably pre-recorded early this week, and at the end of a sketch they started playing "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That song is also the theme for one of the most popular/ancient/traditional Brazilian shows. A Brazilian version of Oprah, if you may.

He might have not been the average Joe, but that only helped making him unique. No one can sing like him, or dance like him, there will be no other Elvis, no other James Brown, and no other Michael Jackson. And unfortunately, I think everyone just took him for granted.

Anyways, here are some of my thoughts on Michael Jackson's life and death, if you care.



Also, he was the only one who could wear the outfits he wore and totally pull it off.

10.000

I hadn't realized that the last post was supposed to be my 10.000th. It was the 10th, but had I not hidden the rest of this blog, it would be the 10.000th.

So I went through some old posts to reminisce a little and see how my life has evolved... I haven't been able to read everything yet. But I was sure my next post would be about this.

Until Michael Jackson died.

I know a lot of people in the USA dislike him and see him as a freak of nature. But I'm sorry, he's a huge part of my childhood, and I can't help feeling for this loss - and I know when I say this, I speak on behalf of many people from my generation in Brazil and in Portugal too.
He might have had all the problems he had, but his brilliance on stage is undeniable. I don't know a single person who can't sing at least one of his songs and I really have never seen anyone dance like him.

This is kinda like finding out Santa Claus doesn't exist at age 27.

I bet iTunes is gonna make a lot of money in the next couple of days off of MJ's songs, and I might be one of those to download them and dance to the sound of some of the 80's greatest jewels.

Today was such a weird day. Michael Jackson died, and so many weird things happened.

Father's Day

Being a third culture kid living in a second foreign country like me is very different in many instances. Father's Day, as well as Mother's Day, is one good example.

I was born in Brazil (as were my parents), and there we celebrate Father's day in August. Nevertheless, I was raised in Portugal, and my parents still live there, where they celebrate Father's Day in March.
I live in California now. Father's Day was yesterday here in the US. It's funny that most people I know ask me kind of in a pitiful way "What are your plans for Father's Day?" because I don't have parents to spend these days with...

I used to care.
I actually used to care and be upset about it... nowadays I look at the glass half full. I get to "celebrate" Father's Day 3 times in a year. Mother's Day twice (it's the same here and in Brazil). And I guess the parents also like the extra attention. And when I'm here, I get to hang out with people who are taking good care of me while I'm here. So there's no reason to feel pity for me.

By the way, that's my Dad in the picture, Mr. Kawauchi, standing next to Mr. Koizumi, Japan's ex Prime Minister. My Dad was Mr. Koizumi's interpreter in his last visit to Portugal. Yes, it's good to have a Father to look up to :)

Saturday!

Even if I babysit for a couple of hours today, it's still Saturday :)
Day to sleep in, no worries about what time I'm waking up, no worries about time at all :)

I still need to clean up the bedroom and do 2 loads of laundry, but not right now... it's Saturday afternoon and I wanna enjoy the weekend!
Find us at the pool!