eXperienZ

What can I say? Not bad, but not so good as I expected (I mean, wanted to be). Maybe it was the recipe's fault.

I guess I used all the ingredients it asked for.

Even the damn onions! Wow, it was difficult to make a pure out of it! I don't have a mixer, so I had to use the garlic squeezer I have. Two hours for 1/3 of a big onion!

Ok, it was fun. The problems: 1) is was too liquid. I wanted it to be creamier. 2) It tasted like chicken with cream. 3) It was to pink; I wanted it to be darker. The solutions: 1) Don't put water to cook the chicken. The recipe I followed said I should; I've checked other that doesn't say so. 2) I don't know, maybe put more salt, more pepper? 3) Put more tomato sauce, but maybe with less water, it will be less pink.

So, in the end it was like this! :-( At least I'm not hungry.

Good morning, and good luck!

Today I'll try to cook a chicken strogonoff. I'm a bit scared, because I don't cook at all and usually I leave the kitchen so messy that I always promise to myself that I'll never cook again. But, I'll give me another chance; maybe I'm those kind of talent that blooms after some years exercising. I will post photos of the damage later.

Yesterday I went to the supermarket to buy the stuff to cook this thing. I couldn't find the cream my friend Lalá said it was the one, so I bought another option. So, I got cream, chicken breast, onions, garlic, tomato cream and ketchup. I almost didn't buy the latter; I could just take all the ketchup I had on my coat and it should be enough. Yeah, yesterday a ketchup bottle committed suicide right by my side and the blood went all over me. Honestly I didn't see what has happened, but I think the basket next to me was packed and the bottle slipped on the floor.

Funny how you seem so unlucky when you are on your period days; it's like all the bad things in the world will happen during this period. If something like this happened to me a week ago, I would swear and would keep on with my shopping. But yesterday... yeah, yesterday was different. I starred at my formely-blue-actually-red coat for a minute, trying to understand why God was doing this to me. Weren't all the rain, the cold, the pollution, the skin cracks, the incomprehensible books, the cellulite, the tasteless food, and the Date Movie enough punishment for this sinner, this bad Catholic girl? Did I really need to go through this probation to deserve a place in paradise?! After 30 seconds with no Divine reply, I wiped a tear drop that was almost running on my face and asked for a tissue to a Sainsbury's employer - to clean myself, not to cry.

OK, I must be exagerating a little bit, but this is how a mind on pre-mestrual-tension works!

Another Monday...

I don't like Mondays. Never did. Never will. Due to my actual "condition" (sorry, I'm influenced by Memento), I not only don't like Monday, I hate them!

Let's talk about the weekend then. I manage to get some sunlight. A long time ago I saw an interview with a lady who used to "eat" sunlight. I don't remember the details, but she used to look at the sun for awhile, everyday, and that was it, she had her daily meal. I vaguely remember something about eating some sort of green leaves, maybe to help with the photosynthesis. I tried it this weekend, it was good, but I had to eat proper food too.

Anyway, I feel I need to do (make, go on?) photosynthesis. It may sound a kind of Kafkanian (huh?) delirium, but I'm almost sure that these almost 6 months in London have transformed me into a vegetable. The facts: 1) according to Maryam, my natural color is olive,which is green. Like vegetables; 2) I haven't been moving that much here. Like vegetables; 3) I feel like I'm dying in this &$^#%@ weather. Like vegetables would ; and at last, but not least, 4) I'm becoming bitter, exactly like vegetables taste!

Wanna continue with the horror show?! It's been a month since I've gotten Cineworld's unlimited card and it's proven to be really profitable. Since January 29th, I've seen 19 films with it. Here is the list: Frozen, Breakfast on Pluto, The Chronicles of Narnia, Chicken Little, Munich, Match Point, Proof, Hidden, Final Destination, Aeon Flux, March of the penguins, Casanova, Fun with Dick and Jane, Walk The Line, Date Movie, The Fog, Lucky Number Slevin, Capote and Lady Vengeance. I don't like odd numbers, I should see another one today or tomorrow to make it 20. If I would pay for all these films, they would cost me £ 104.50, which means that I saved £ 90.51 this month. And this leads us to a conclusive statement: I'm not only becoming a plant; I'm becoming an economically advantageous moss. Freak!

My biological clock is such a mess

People tend to say that student's life is easy. Most of the times it is. But when you are nearly your 30's and you are a full time student, your life can be really depressing. So far, I have classes only on Wednesdays and Thurdays. The other days, I'm supposed to read as much as I can, and, mostly, a bunch of books with theories I really don't believe or don't care or don't understand. My life is the opposite of the normal human beings: my week days are Wed and Thu, and my week(weak)-end is from Friday to Tuesday. It seems really tempting, doesn't it? Well, it's not! Firstly because being a full time student you don't have much spare money to spend in short trips, not to mention 'big' trips. Secondly, if you have normal friends, they might be at work when you are at home. Thirdly, and most important of all, the weather doesn't help! Brighton is one hour from London. Bournemouth about 2 or 3 hours from here. But who wants to go to the beach in this cold?!?!?! My room is barely warm enough of me.

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Kids, let me introduce you to my new 'friend'. I was going to say 'baby', but I don't like the idea of being a machine's mom. I'm old-fashioned sometimes. Still thinking of a name. I like Sophie, but I might keep it as an option for my baby girl, if I have one one day. Oh, yes, of course, the 'lady' below is a 'she'. Weird habit of ours to give machines human personalities. Oh, well, I really need this new friend to cooperate with me, as it will be the key for my freedom!!! I'm being a little too dramatic here. This is "only" my masters' final project.

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I have gotten two DVDs next to me: eXistenZ, directed by Cronenberg, and Memento. The latter is not new for me; I guess I've seen it two or three times; great weird film! The first one I'm willing to see since it premiered in Rio's Film festival, in 99 or 2000. I'm not sure if I like Cronenberg that much. So far, I've seen 1988's Dead Ringers (aka 'Twins' or 'Gemini'; in Portuguese "Gêmeos, mórbida semelhança", or so), 1986's The Fly, and 1996's Crash; I'm not so sure about Videodrome and The Dead Zone (based on Stephen King's novel). I liked The Fly very much. I remembered to be really really scared after seeing it, when I was 10 yrs old! I was about 12 years old or less when I saw Twins; I think it was a bit too complex for my age, but I was a big Jeremy Iron's fan and I remember being annoyed by the story. Crash... I was older and it was a bit too much for me. Too violent, too weird, too sick. Maybe I should see it again. Maybe I should try a Cronenberg session. I think he is better than David Lynch, though.

By the way, I added The Internet Movie Database at my favorite list: http://www.imdb.com

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Someone said that sometimes our 'body' confuses thirst with hunger, meaning that when you think you are hungry, in fact you can be thirsty. From now on, everytime I think I'm hungry, I drink some water first, just in case it's true (no, I'm not doubting; it's a good theory for paranoid people). If it is really hunger, at least I'll eat less than I would, if I didn't drink water!

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The End!

It's snowing! :-D Well, kind of...

The snow is nothing like the beautiful white flakes falling from the sky that I've seen in films. Honestly, it took me awhile to figure it was snow and not rain. It seems like... ice; the one used in frozen cocktails. O.K., let's not destroy the magic of my first "snow storm" (the real first one, in January, was a very shy iced rain).

This is St. Johns Station, where I live (I don't live in the station, please). It was snowing really hard when I arrived this morning (ok, 'hard' is not a good word); can you see it? Me neither.

What about this one?! Not really, huh? But it was snowing, I promise!!!

Can you see it now? I spent half an hour on my window taking pictures; I've tried all the options on my camera. I know, I'm not a photographer and my camera is an ordinary one, but if ou try really hard, maybe you will see it! :-(

I'm frustrated, that's it! Gotta go to Russia or New York, where the snow is for real! Hunf!

The film yesterday was really good. Due to communication problems, I had to stay about 20 minutes freezing in Trafalgar Square and my brains were dead and I couldn't lead the group to the cinema. Not to mention that I took my agenda, instead of the A to Z. But, yeah, the film is good. A kind of white "Ray".

Nest week, we are going to see "Good night, and good luck", with George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr. and other famous people.

Follow the leader

this morning I've managed to dress up my duvet in 3 minutes! It usually takes more, as I have to study the cover, the duvet, find the edges, check the correct position and then start the battle! It's nice that you can simply undress your blanket to wash the cover, instead of having to wash the entire thing.

So, as I've beaten my own dressing-duvet record, I feel like I can do anything! Even leading a school tour to the Cineworld at Shaftesbury Ave. Yeah, I know that my mis(or dis?)orientation skills can be others amusement, but don't count on me today to have fun, kids!

Today's school trip will take us from National Gallery, in Trafalgar Square, to Tocadero's Cineworld. Piece of cake: just go to Leicester (Lêister) Square amd go left to Trocadero Center. Wow, I just realized (yeah, I'm looking at A to Z) how close Haymarket (where the other Cineworld is) is! Like the lady at Goldsmiths College said: stick to your A to Z, it will be your bible in London!

Oh, by the way, the film today will be Walk The Line!

Just a quick note to Mariana: is it worthy to buy the roller skates in March? I mean, deep inside, with all your London experience: do you think we will go skating on a nice windy Sunday of March? Whatever you say!!

Opsie, late for school again! G'byeee!

Guess who's fallen off the bed this morning?!

Yesterday I had to return the DVDs I borrowed at College and in my way back home I stopped at the market to buy some stuff. The original idea was to be buy cream (half-half, as per Lalá's instructions), bread and, maybe, condensed milk. I didn't find the 'half-half' (nor even the full-full), and I decided to substitute the condensed milk by... those:


According to the package, those are Clementines. It is almost the size of a ping-pong (what is the name in English?!) and I ate one with just a bite. The Babybel cheese is there just as a reference. But be pround of me: this fruit (tangerine's niece?) is healthier than condensed milk! My sin: I bought lemmon cake. Oh, please, please, for breakfast and 5 o'clock tea (which is a myth)! It isn't so tasty, though.

I feel like indulging myself with nice food because I'm not feeling good lately. I've been so allergic these days; I think is a mix of freezing temperature, pollution, and dust. Everything in this country is so old that you can feel the musty smell in the air.


Last night U2 performed in São Paulo (on a Monday?!?!). Rolling Stones played at Copacabana beach last weekend. Franz Ferdinand is performing in Rio and SP. You know what that means? Summer! (no, I'm not changing subject; sun is good to prevent mould!) So far, Summer will bring Foo Fighters to Hyde Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers to Earl's Court, Rolling Stones and Santana to Wembley (no comments about Bon Jovi). But my favorite summer program is going to the beach! This year I might try a picnic on one of the hundreds parks of London. Beach, shows, parks... one thing is for sure: I need some sun!!!


It is not possible that a human being recently arrived from Rio de Janeiro - where it is summer - is as tanned as a corpse. Quickly changing topic: be honest, this is a cute couple or what!? We even match the color of the wall behind us! :-D

But not for long, the summer IS coming! One day!

O.K., you won, I'll shut up now.

Let's get it started

I think I'm becoming a cinema freak! Six films in a week, three of them seen yesterday. The problem is not even seeing so many films in a row, but to get stressed with the possibility of missing a good film that might not be screening next week! Paranoia? Yeah, that's my middle name. We went all the way up to Brent Cross (Zone 3) just to see the March of the Penguins. Of course, being there after a one-hour-and-a-half trip, we needed to see other stuff. But still, the main proposal of this trip was to see a documentary of penguins living in the South Pole, which was screening only there and maybe at another venue.

The theatre was O.K., not as bad as some theatre's in Rio, not as good as West India Quays screens. But look what I found out going there:

Xmen 3! How cool is that? I'm a great fan of popcorn movies, those that add nothing (or little) to your cultural life, but that make you feel like a kid in Disneyland! May will be THE month of popcorn films: Xmen 3, Mission Impossible 3, The DaVinci Code... Boy, I love summer holidays!

So, besides seeing a bunch of films (including Magnolia and The Stepford Wives on DVD), I also went for a walk (and jukebox hunting) at Portobello Market on Saturday. It wasn't so packed, maybe because of the cold, maybe because my standard of packed places is different. Portobello Road has lovely houses and it was good to see colorful fronts instead of those red or gray brick ones.

And it was sunny too (but not for so long)!

We ate delicious black beans (with guarana and passion fruit mousse) at Brazil by Kilo and went to the Tate Modern. Besides being in an ugly building (it used to be a factory, as I was told), it is also boring! I don't like modern art, I must confess. Some of the pieces I've seen there were totally waste of money, space and time. Yeap, some nice stuff, it's true, but the majority is unecessary. Sorry, I'm a pratical person, I need to find utility for everything (even if it is only for "entertaining" purposes, like popcorn movies). The view is quite nice though.

Below is a piece of "art" that I don't know what exactly is about as I didn't get too close to find out. Personally, I think it is part of Alice in Wonderland scenarium: this is the sugarcube stock.

I still have loads to write and post, but I don't want to use all my repertoire of pictures taken on the weekend, especially because I'm not sure if I'll have nice new pictures this week. So, I'll stop here and tomorrow - or "maybe later" - I'll come back!

Have a great week! :-)

Is it working?

I do have a fotoblog (www.clima.nafoto.net). I do not update it quite often (because I'm lazy, because I don't have pictures, because I think too much and act too little). Even though I decided to creat this blog. I'll explain the reason: because I can! :-P Nah, actually I don't have a very good reason, but this week was quite a busy one and I have a lot to write (and brand new pictures to show, tah-dah) that I thought that having a parallel blog would be easier.

So this is how it's going to work: my fotoblog will stop acting as a blog. Instead, I'm just going to post one nice picture and tell a brief story of it or the day or whatever. To know more, you just have to come here. The picture posted there will not feature here, the 'story' told there will not be exactly the same posted here. The fotoblog will be in Portuguese (because I need to practice) and the blog will be in English (because I need to practice). That simple!

I'll try to be more careful with my typing mistakes and I'll try to improve the grammar and vocabulary and whatever (I love that word, did I tell you?), but I really don't care that much. Feel free to correct me, but don't take these words too serious.

That's it. Enough explanations. Let's play! Yey! Ops, too lazy again! Need to have a bath and eat something before I start with the bla bla bla.