Personal Update

I've been really neglecting this blog, so here's a try at posts that might not have much content but at least update me easily to the world.
My job is keeping me really busy, some might have noticed i haven't been online much, well i'll be appearing even less, need anything from me, mail me, i'll answer as soon as i can.

I'm Back!!

I'm back in town, since yesterday, have tons of photos to sort through and upload.
B. is already hard at it, you can see his efforts here.
The most scary thing about being away from the web for a couple of days is opening your e-mail and bloglines accounts and starting to sort through it all.
This time apparently i've had a few surprises:

Ringo passes away
The comics industry lost a luminary this weekend - Mike Wieringo passed away Sunday of a sudden heart attack.

This is unexpected and sad. i'm still in shock...

If you go to Dungeons & Dragons Official website you'll find a countdown for something called 4Adventure, Wotc has finally announced the coming of the 4th edition, i haven't played D&D in quite a while, so i'm unsure about how to feel about this...

There's still more 1500+ posts to follow, i wonder what i'll run into later on...
In the meanwhile i'll have to attack my pile of comics in search of my Tellos trade... :'(
To me Mike will always be the guy who did fantasy the right way in a comic.

Roma

Yeap, we finally decided on the destination and already have tickets!
As usual advice and tips are greatly appreciated.
We'll be staying between 10-14 (return trip on the 15th).
One question though, i was thinking of a day trip to Pompeii, has anyone been there, is it worth it?

Rome Tomorrow!

The bag is already packed, tomorrow i'll be in Rome.
See you in a week ;)!

Eye horror...

Despair has settled in... i should be planning my Rome vacation, i should be excited, but as usually they're really pushing me at work so i can't do much of anything...
Everybody is out on vacation, so right now, i'm pretty much holding everything together (this is not an overstatement...), i'm not alone here, not by a long shot but i am probably one of the few people who know what to do...
And i'm not good at explaining stuff to other people, never was, so trying to tell somebody else what has to be done is almost impossible...
I am way over my head in here and i still have a lot to do, right now i'm writing this in my lunch hour while trying to connect to a client remotely to...
I can't even think about what i'm doing without even beginning a mental list of procedures...
I was actually going to write what i was going to do...
I had an eye vessel bleed yesterday, i know that only two things do that to me, getting too much sun or stress...
Definitely stress...
Sorry folks, just needed an outlet...

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Yey! me!!
It's my birthday!
I'll be sad to let my 27 go, i really liked the number, but there's really no stopping father time.
As it is my birthday i start off the post with my favourite music from my favourite band.
And some of the stuff i gave myself:

Top and Necklace from ProMod

Black Beach Crocs with accessories

Japanese Flat Cap by Amores de Tóquio

And some that weren't delivered yet...

I know i've been silent lately, the truth is, as usual my birthday is approaching and i'm knee deep in Birthday Depression...
I don't wanna do anything, go anywhere, i just wish people would forget really, and the date could just fly by...
It's not the age thing, getting older doesn't really bug me...
I think it's looking back, most people use the New Year to take stock, me, i use my birthday...
And the worst thing about being depressed?
You can't really be depressed. You have friends who try their best to cheer you up, give advice and support, it's a betrayal to them, when you still feel hopeless at the end of the day...
So you keep it to yourself, put on a cheerful face, say something silly, pretend nothing is really wrong, maybe nothing really is, you're just imagining things, go watch a movie, read a book, whatever keeps your mind busy...
And time rolls by, people came and go, but nothing really happens, nothing really changes, ultimately at the end of the day it's just you...
Am i the only one who feels like this, no. Everybody hurts!
Have i made any sense?
No.

Get Well Soon Sushi!

All my hope and best wishes go to Sushi and her family.
Get well soon Sushi!
I hope to photo-harass you in many sun bathed afternoons to come!

365?

1. Day 1, 2. Day 2, 3. Day 3, 4. Day 4

1. Day 5, 2. Day 6, 3. Day 7, 4. Day 8

I've recently began an attempt at a 365 days of self portraits Project. Which is just what it says, i'll try to take a self-portrait a day, and i'll try to vary them as much as i can.
It's not that i like taking pictures of myself that much, it's the challenge of coming up with something different everyday (or trying) and it really motivates our camera use. My photography skills aren't that much i know, but i'm really enjoying myself and that's the whole point of the thing (and let's not even discuss the model :P), you can take a peek of the previous days above, follow my progress here and if you'd like you can leave off suggestions for future days...
Today is number 9, i wonder what i'll try?

Locked Out

This morning as i'm leaving the house, while i'm closing the door, right before it closes shut my mind screams: "No! You forgot to put your keys in your bag!!!"
It was a good warning, too bad it came a couple of seconds late, my first thought as i recall that my parents are some 6-7 hours drive in another country?
"I am never going to hear the end of this..."
I take several deep breaths and try my best not to panic and calmly figure a solution.
"Hmm mom just told me like 5 minutes ago that i could go to our neighbour D. Alice for anything, maybe she has a set of keys..."
So i go to meet our old neighbour, she does not have the keys but she'll help me find someone to climb to the first floor and break through my window, the carpenters who live nearby are on an assignment somewhere, also my dad's colleagues who are stonemasons don't seem to be around, today i realized that my street is practically solely inhabited by construction workers, which is not bad because there is no lack of men with ladders willing to climb into people's houses.
Me and D. Alice go into the local tavern and try to see if we know someone, and there is my grandma's neighbour Sr. Lionel having his breakfast, him and his friend gladly decide to help me, while Sr. Lionel is going to get a ladder, his friend tries a series of assorted methods to unlock my door, another revelation, i have a very good lock, i should remember to tell this to my dad, the reason why there is no spare key anywhere is because we changed the lock a month ago.
Sr. Lionel finally returns with the ladder, his friends goes up and climbs my bedroom window, which is always open so my cat can catch a little sunlight and fresh air (i can imagine her panic...), he goes in, and opens the door, i run to the place where i knew i had my keys in, and try to comfort the cat, who is a little upset, but more curious as to what is going on, Sr. Lionel and his friend immediately leave, they had somewhere else to go and were in a hurry, smile while i profess my many thanks (Mental note, remind me to go to the tavern and pay them some beers), D. Alice also quickly leaves for the rest of her breakfast. Crisis averted!!
I sigh and think again: "I am never going to hear the end of this..."

Home Alone

I'm back from Oporto, had a lovely weekend, will post some of the photos here later.
My parents left for the South of Spain, so i'll be home alone for a whole week (well there's the cat). My parents rarely spend time away from home, so this is rather special.
I returned yesterday to a rather silent (sad even) house, the downside of having an extremely sociable cat is that she misses the people, she's not as unbearable as my parents say she is when i'm not home (apparently she keeps them up all night) but she is depressed, which on a 15 year old cat is really upsetting. I've been keeping her company as best i can, she's even more needy than usual...
On the other hand, it's not that i miss my parents, i know they're having a great time, i actually didn't hear from them for 2 days, lol they were that engrossed. But the house really does look like it's missing something.
But it is nice to have the whole place to myself and not answer to anyone (well again there's the cat being extra needy, but that doesn't really count). I tried this morning to be extra disorganized and leave everything a mess, and only succeeded in leaving a half-made bed, more books spread on the floor and some items thrown on the bed, i just couldn't have left everything that out of place, but shush, if my mom knows this i'll never hear the end of it, let her think the house is a pigsty while she's away, or she'll annoy me even more about my room...

Santo António já se acabou
São Pedro está-se a acabar
São João São João São João
Dá cá um balão para eu brincar

See you all Monday, have a great weekend.

Pois, Café @ LxJovem

The photo above was just used to illustrate an article about Pois, Café in LxJovem.
I love that place, and take tons of photos whenever i go there, you can see the article here, and more Pois, Café photos here.

The Server is Down!

LibraryThing, BookMooch and Flickr seem to be down...
This is maddening because it does not distract me enough from my job, there is always a danger of me thinking too much about it and going insane!
Bloglines should do the trick but it keeps tantalizing me with ideas of reading Planetay #27 Script (Damn you Warren Ellis! What is wrong with your RSS feed!!!)
Oh well i guess i'll go tweak my Tumblr Tumblelog a bit, it's a little something i've been playing with, i'll leave the address here when i'm happy with it.
And Neopets of course!!

Just Read: His Majesty's Dragon

His Majesty's Dragon - Naomi Novik

BookMooched on 11/05/2007.
Well after struggling with it i just decided to try it out, and i read it, in more or less a week... which for my current reading time is amazing... long gone are the days where i could read more than a book a week, and right now a book a month is already very good!
Veredict: It's good, it's not genius, it's light and entrancing, the Dragon could indeed be compared to a golden retriever, personality wise, but that's not bad actually. I couldn't help thinking about Pern, hmm, i might go pick the HarperHall Trilogy next...

Happy Birthday Star Wars

My father turns to my mother and says:
"Sandra will be staying up late tomorrow even though she's having school tomorrow! Star Wars is going to show on TV".
He turns to me and adds "You're going to love it!"
This is my first concrete Star Wars memory, this was a time of national public television. I had probably heard of it before, but just never really thought about it. I remember that i did stay up late, and watched it in awe, i was lucky that they showed the 3 films during that week and even though i wasn't allowed to watch The Empire Returns because it was going to run too late and no way would i be going to bed that late on a school night, so it had to be taped, i watched it the next night, a friday, just before Return of The Jedi aired.
You can see how this appealed to a child, not only did i get to see a spaceship, ray gun and light sabers movie, i got to stay up late!!
Today marks the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, and although i always was more of a Trekkie i'd like to wish all the fans out there, Happy Birthday Star Wars!!

The SF movie that transformed our lives has turned 30. The original Star Wars film (subsequently called A New Hope) hit US cinemas on 25 May 1977, opening in 32 places and almost single-handedly creating the concept of the modern blockbuster film.
Continued here.

And you? Do you have any Star Wars memory to share?

Summer Reading Challenge: Round 2

Summer Reading Challenge

All readers of all levels and genres are welcome to the summer reading challenge. The idea is to create reading goals all your own and post here your challenge, your reviews and recommendations as well as your success and failures. The Challenge begins JUNE 1 2007 and ends August 1, 2007.

Some examples of challenges are:
1. Read all the books on your book club list
2. Read only fiction or nonfiction or poetry or....
3. Read one author all summer
4. Pick a random shelf at your local library and read the books from it
5. Read all those books (or some) you always wanted to read
6. Read one book for one challenge (there are many online groups and different challenges)...

This sounds really interesting, but i have no idea what my challenge would be...
So what i say is, YOU challenge me, make a challenge for me to follow during these 3 months.

19-05-2007 Zombies!!! Photo Mosaic

1. Zombies!!!, 2. Zombies!!!, 3. Zombies!!!, 4. Zombie Master

Me and a couple of friends decided to meet and play something Saturday afternoon, i convinced them (to my eternal shame) to try out the game Zombies!!!, and we hated it, we really hated it!
Near the end we actually banded together to make a player win, so the damn thing would be over!

Edit: Here you can find a different perspective of the event (shorter and more interesting too), Thanks Paper Dragon. In Portuguese

Bookmooch: The Game of Kings

The Game of Kings - Dorothy Dunnett

This one just arrived from BookMooch, along with it came those very cute business cards, i'm keeping one and sharing the other one with the biggest moocher i know.
The dice, those came by special delivery from Barcelona, along with them came the lovely F. Thank you dear friend you have no idea how glad i am to have you back.

The Reading Horror

I had mentioned before My Reading Nightmare but after seeing the Flickr Group The Reading Stack i felt inspired enough to put a size, shape and weight to my pile, so here it is, in full sun bathed glory.
Boy was it troublesome hauling the 10+ books around