Botched attack!

I kinda have mixed feelings when it comes to Carnaval. It is good to have a few days off, on the other hand the environment in which these days take place is absolutely unbearable. There’s nothing more depressing than Porto Alegre during this holiday; well, to be honest there’s nothing more depressing than this holiday. As expected, I am completely oblivious to what is going on up north in the country — but I do have a pretty good idea — and I’m totally ok with that. One thing that made international news was the fact that this 7-year-old girl in Rio was chosen to be samba queen and, unfortunately, it doesn’t shock me at all. It created some sort of buzz for a couple of days and everybody seemed to disagree with her parent’s decision to let her participate in the samba school presentation, but is this exposure any different from those beauty pageants or “Toddlers and Tiaras” shows? I’m not defending anybody here; I think these kids should be at home and those parents doing something productive with them, maybe trying to prevent them from becoming reality show “celebrities”.

Speaking of which, one more Big Brother on TV — the last maybe? — and I couldn’t care less. I think it all comes to having options. I remember that last year I didn’t have cable in my house, as well as internet,  and I suffered every single day. You end up getting used to whatever is on and find yourself watching the dumbest, most superficial types of programmes.

Well, as it’s not the case anymore, I’ve been enjoying watching TCM channel, which basically shows old movies and series. Last week I mostly got home in the afternoon after work, since I started working in the morning, and I basically crash on the couch with the TV on for a couple of hours before doing anything in the house. On the sofa half asleep, I saw that the movie “Attack of the 50 ft. Woman” would be on a little later. I’d always wanted to watch the movie, even though I knew I would be very cheesy, so I struggled through the first hour to keep my eyes open but in the last 15 minutes, the part of the movie that she actually becomes a 50ft giant, I was sound asleep. It was frustrating because I watched one hour of bad movie just to see her attack and destroy the whole city…

I guess I'll have to watch one more hour of bad movie

There’s no place like clean home

Don’t know what to say about the last few days. First I had some sort of stomach bug on Friday and wasn’t able to go to work, again. No biggie, I think, because I didn’t actually have a class, it was only the final presentation with the student. However, my boss wouldn’t be there to get the feedback from him and I’m not sure if the last teacher knew about that.

So I was at home and watched the whole “Hope for Haiti” on CNN. It was supposed to be a show co-hosted by George Clooney, Wyclef Jean and Anderson Cooper but the latter did appear throughout the whole thing, I don’t know, some six times maybe? Well, I watched his show afterwards but the best part was the day before, Thursday, when they were showing a report during which an actual aftershock happened. Saturday was cleaning day. Man, I really hate doing that but once the service is done I just feel better. Clothes washed, floor mopped, balcony swept. So it occurred to me that it’d been one year since my grandmother gave me a hammock to hang in the balcony and I never had used it. So, I put it there and started reading the book my friend lent me, Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope”. The temperature couldn’t be better and there was this breeze blowing that made everything feel just right, it seemed as if I was in the front porch of a beach house, just reading a book and enjoying sounds of nature.

Well, what seemed to be a great idea turned out be bad for my neck. I’ve got this painful stiff neck now on top of my still ongoing stomach ache. I’ve put some Gelol on, took pills and nothing happens, really painful. My sofa doesn’t help either, not comfortable at all.

Some good movies on TCM — classic Hollywood, right? Sometimes a movie is shown more than 100 times on TV and you never get to watch them until the moment you basically have nothing to do because you’re sick and it’s the only option you have. I’m watching “The Empire of the Sun”, with Christian Bale at the age of 12 maybe? So, this is a good example. This movie must have been on TV perhaps 50 times and this is the first time I watch it, and probably last. It’s an ok movie.

I can’t believe another week is starting. Obviously there was a last-minute cancellation and only one person is coming for the immersion, which I don’t mind at all. The week after there won’t be immersion because of the holiday (Feb 2) in the city.