EMPTY SPACE

2012-01-22T11:22:00.001-08:00

"I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be" (Douglas Adams)

London 2011

2011-11-24T11:56:00.001-08:00

Portugal---

2011-06-13T12:43:00.001-07:00

up North....

2011-06-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Faith?

2010-10-03T01:19:00.000-07:00

Something has happened. I'm divided between heaven and earth. What's real and what's not. I used to have faith...or I think I did. I used to believe in unseen powers and some sort of magic that would make the world go round and things happen. Now, for some reason, I've become pragmatic. I believe in only what I can see and the unseen world is a fairy tale.
His lack of 'believing' makes for a very dull world. There is not sense of fate, only actions and consequences...and those are hard to run away from. I find myself trying to believe there are unexplainable things that will make sense latter, as a giant puzzle, where the small pieces that look only as a but become part of this beautiful Cezanne painting. I try really hard to stop trying to find logic or explanation. And my mind makes it impossible for me to do so.
I am the person meant to believe in faith, cosmos, the power of the Universe. I have so for such a long time. This creed sometimes brings comfort and sometimes pain, but it means there is more to life than people's egos. What if there is not 'God particle', what if everything is as it is.....and then what?
Then I find myself in a thinking circle I can't escape. I need life to be more than the usual day by day. I need a deeper meaning...who can explain it to me? Someone...please!

a new beginning.....

2010-08-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

“Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.”- F. Scott Fitzgerld

Myko

2010-08-01T14:54:00.001-07:00

2010-05-02T14:43:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since the last time I pushed myself to write.
I guess it has to do more with the fear of facing reality; what I feel at the moment.
Life has been unpredictable. And, even though I feel blessed, is not always easy.
I don't feel I was warned enough about the emotional battle that is creating your own life. I know I am being awfully dramatic, but I always thought everything changed and, once you were out of those terrible teenage years, things would get easier. Guess what? They don't!

I am lucky. I never had any actual serious problems. In fact, I complain too much for too little. But my main problem is I miss everything too much. I miss my family, friends, dogs, garden. I people too much, I miss them in a way it hurts. You see, I am known to 'not care', no one really gets that if I push everything away, is just easier. It is easier to ignore I guess. It's ironic how the fact that I feel everything too deeply, makes people thing I feel nothing at all.

Ignore the randomness of these lines. I just needed to feel I was telling something to someone...

LONDON - Southbank

2009-12-05T15:06:00.001-08:00

Visiting....

2009-11-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

identical?

2009-11-08T13:47:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine recently visited me in London and made me go to the Pop Art exhibition, currently displayed at Tate Modern. Against every intellectual person’s opinion, I do not appreciate pop art, nor really like it. It is a personal thing, I am not a huge fan of installations either, and people seem to think they are an amazing form of criticizing modern society, capitalist consumption and mass media (as always).
Returning to the point, one of the works showed two identical paintings and a pair of identical twins sitting in front of the paintings. They were sitting in the same way, wearing identical clothes and not speaking at all. I thought it was interesting, and - due to recent events in my personal life - made me wonder on what makes us what we are.
Reflecting on the topic, we are extremely similar and yet, completely different from one another. What creates those differences? Culture, personality, family or friends? And what these differences mean?
For me, it means that you have to learn from them. They generate conflicts and struggles, but they teach you more about who you are, and who you want to be. And it definitely shows that you should surround yourself with happiness. Life is uncertain, I had enough of making it harder.

5th of November in London

2009-11-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of* no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd (or by God's mercy*)
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring. (Holla*)
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

2009-11-03T14:24:00.000-08:00

2009-11-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

Apparently Einstein didn't do bad at school... so there is absolutely no hope for the rest of us. (see School Gate 27th October 2009)

...

2009-10-27T14:09:00.000-07:00

All over Europe there is a new rise of xenophobia. Extreme right wing parties are getting stronger support. Russia is a place of hate crime against immigrants. In South Africa, the racist white power is aiming for a comeback. Religions are used as reason for continuous wars, and poverty is used as an excuse for racism. Makes me think, why?

I am a Jewish Brazilian woman that lives in the UK. I came to this country believing that I was lucky to be in a place so open minded and free of judgment. I was wrong. I am considered lucky to look very European, and I consider myself lucky to have been provided with study, this made me able to protect myself when needed and to understand and be proud of whom I am. But what about people that are not so lucky?

We live in a time of crisis; economical, governmental, environmental, social crisis. People spend more that they have, abuse power, take for granted nature and drink, fight and litter without thinking of the consequences. The world is open to pessimism and that makes people expect the worse in each other. I don't really mind about the conditions we find ourselves, History is full of times of deep darkness and the human race manages to come out of it stronger and even more egocentric. What worries me is people that expect the worse. You might not understand my point, but there is nothing more terrible than people in fear of losing their social status – it generates racism and need for an escape goat. The biggest genocides in the world started with this need to blame someone else for the mess we put ourselves into.

We do face great changes, and I can understand how people can be afraid, but does it really help to just point fingers and not do anything about it? We all live in houses with glass ceilings and we all throw stones.

I am not here to present any solutions on the theme. If I had them, I wouldn't be in my room wondering where the word is turning and why are we so reckless and stupid as a race - human race. We put ourselves in the top of the food chain but forget that we depend on every being below the chain to survive. We claim to be so smart and destroy everything around us.

In the paper another day there was an article about farmers in California that were forbidden to take water from a damn because they were killing an endangered species of fish. The main argument against the environmentalists was that the fish were only 5 cm long and that they liked to spend water. I am not as thick as to think that everything is as simple as that, and I sympathise with the pain of the farmers that had to reduce their crops and lost money in the process; but I believe that there has to be another solution to their problem, and it might spare the little fish that never harmed anyone and might have even a bigger right over the river. One life over the other? Complicated situation.

Anyone who reads this might think what am I on about? It is just a fish against families. But think about it, our ancestors once came from the sea (Darwin proved that life started under the water). We evolved differently, but we are all interconnected. And if we destroy one kind of life, does that makes us entitled to destroy all? Are we the owners of all this? Or we, just as every other form of life, happened by chance and are as much part of this interconnected chain of life? One thing is for sure, if we managed to destroy everything, we would also die.

The point of this text is simple, this is my blog and I had something to say. Disagree or agree - I doubt that anyone reads much of this, apart from my mother- just take a moment to think about all of this. And remember - hate doesn't help -we only harm ourselves.

about poetry?

2009-06-24T05:41:00.000-07:00

What is about poetry that inspires so much? The sun, the moon, the stars...they lend a bit of their tenderness to words. What is about reading in metaphors that makes everything sounds easier? I wish I could write like that. Write ideas of what should be and thoughts of what is not. I wish I could put into words how I feel now, because it is too complicated to only feel it. I can only say one thing, life is strange. It takes roads that you didn't expect and creates mountains where you looked for clear paths. I tried so hard to understand faith, destiny, God, future and so much more, and the only conclusion that I came to is that life is a bit of everything. Life is but a succession of days where you have to hope for the best and dream of even better dreams. I don't know what lies ahead; I just believe that there is something...whatever this something is. If there is not, I guess that there is no harm in believing. Confused? You can't even imagine how I feel.
The conclusion of it all?
Simple. None. As Shakespeare so well put it, ‘there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt in your philosophy’.

The desire? To say that if you are not reading this, I miss you.

SOUTH AFRICA SAFARI

2009-06-01T14:25:00.001-07:00

Time to think.

2009-05-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

A recent article in The Economist claims that, due to the economic crisis, it was never so difficult for recent graduates to find an entry-level job. This is mainly to the fact that it is a safer choice for companies to hire an experienced person for a very low salary than take the time and the money to train a new professional. It is understandable from the business point of view, but what will it happen to those recent graduates? Especially when, in September, a new wave of recent graduates enters the market? It is a hard question, and the outcome doesn't seem to be a positive one. Opinions vary on when this gloomy scenario will change, but it is certain that it will take more than another year. It seems that the biggest problem is fear. Fear that the money won't be enough; fear that the market will go down again, fear of not being able to depend on the banking system anymore. I fear when all this will change.

Just my luck, I am one of these thousands of recent graduates that just don't seem to find a job. I am competing with people that worked for years and were recently made redundant, and because they have families and houses to support, they will agree to anything at any price. That leaves me - and several friends of mine - in a hard and a bit depressive situation. But what I found out is that, no matter how bad situations seem to be, they give you time to think about the next step. Or, in a different perspective (and one of my favourite sentences ever): "The advantage of being lost is that you can choose any way". In my life I was spoiled with choices. I am not complaining, believe me, I am aware of how lucky I am. But there are disadvantages that come with that. Jamima Khan, in an article for the British Vogue, describes the difficulty of making a choice when you know you have several options. I, unfortunately, agree with her. So, I was always lost and unsure about the next step. The fact that I don't trust my abilities as a professional makes that an even bigger problem. But let's not rush the subject.

I recently graduated from a Masters Degree in Communications, and, even though I have a BA in journalism, I thought I was never going to be good enough to write. That made me start looking for jobs in PR. In a weird twist of faith, every time I thought I would be hired for a PR position, strange excuses came out. It was like things were just a little bit out of reach, one more step and I would be able to grab them, but it was not quite there (even I am confused with this sentence, but believe me, that's how I felt). So, I started doing what everyone does when they have too much time on their hands, I started thinking about what I really wanted. To my surprise, I don't really want to work in PR. Don't get me wrong, the thought of working in a job that involves parties and creativity is amazing - and I wouldn't refuse a position if it appeared. But what surprised me is that I miss writing, and the dream of working as a journalist is still alive in my mind. I don't really know what will be my next step. I don't even know what will happen tomorrow. But I decided to write this reminder: sometimes, when life gives you time to think, follow this advice, and think hard about why things are not working. You never know what might happen next.

LONDON

2009-04-30T13:24:00.001-07:00

LAKE DISTRICT

2008-12-10T03:57:00.001-08:00

SNOW IN HAMPSTEAD HEATH

2008-10-30T10:12:00.001-07:00

BRIGHTON

2008-10-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

London Tower - LONDON

2008-09-03T16:45:00.001-07:00

Around the Parliament - LONDON

2008-09-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

SARDEGNA - ITALY

2008-07-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

LONDON

2008-07-17T03:43:00.001-07:00

ROME

2008-05-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Villa Adriana

2008-05-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

KENWOOD PARK- LONDON

2008-05-15T02:24:00.000-07:00

ITALY - ROME

2008-04-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

BELGIUM - BRUXELLES

2008-03-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

BELGIUM - ATOMIUM

2008-03-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

BELGIUM - ANTWERP

2008-03-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

BELGIUM - BRUGES

2008-03-24T14:30:00.000-07:00

HOLLAND - AMSTERDAN

2008-03-24T02:53:00.000-07:00

HOLLAND- DELF

2008-03-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

BELGIUM - GHENT

2008-03-24T02:47:00.000-07:00

GREENWICH

2008-03-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

LONDON

2008-01-29T03:56:00.001-08:00

KEW GARDENS

2007-12-04T03:03:00.000-08:00

CARDIFF

2007-10-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

BRIGHTON

2007-10-04T03:03:00.000-07:00

PARIS 2006

2007-09-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

ROME

2007-09-17T06:46:00.001-07:00

EGYPT

2007-08-02T11:00:00.000-07:00

WIMBLEDON

2007-07-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

WINDSOR

2007-07-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

LIVERPOOL

2007-07-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

O Processo de Construção de uma Obra de Arte.

2007-07-04T06:39:00.000-07:00

ABSOLUT ICEBAR - LONDON

2007-06-28T03:36:00.000-07:00

METRO TAMBÉM É CULTURA

2007-06-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

I SING OF CHANGE

I sing
of the beauthy of Athens
without its slaves

Of a world free
of kings and queens
an other remnants
of an arbitrary past

Of earth
with no sharp north
or deep south
without blind curtains
or iron walls

Of the end
of warlords and armouries
and prisons of hate and fear

Of deserts treeing
and fruiting
after the quickening rains

Of the sun radiating ignorance
and stars informing
nights of unknowing

I sing of a world reshaped

(Niyi Osundare - 1947)

2007-06-19T05:10:00.002-07:00

Aqui tudo bate, tudo pulsa, tudo funciona.

Você é impulsionado a fazer algo,

mesmo que não queira.

Aqui você é obrigado a enfrentar a vida,

porque a vida não espera por você.

Aqui você descobre que a tristeza é uma manifestação da felicidade;

e que a felicidade pode ser plena,

mesmo que inconstante.

Aqui uma energia diferente flui.

Aqui sinto falta de todos,

mas estou disposta a tudo.

Aqui eu sou verdadeiramente eu,

sem mentiras nem artifícios.

Aqui aprendi que sou única,

e que aqui é meu lugar.