Well, it’s official… I’m fed up with Christmas… maybe one day I’ll be capable to explain why, but until then all I know is that it’s not my favourite part of the year.

Don’t know what to write about, so I’ll write about nothing. Pathetic? Maybe, but still I’m doing it…
I look around and all I can see is books, but the ones that are tormenting me are the study ones… I want to go out, to walk, to go to the cinema, but instead I have to study, because I have to learn something, or else I’m a nobody… the question that usually torments me during the examination period is… will I? will I be a nobody if I don’t study… this is of course lack of will to study… and it’s normal at 2.34am in a weekend… but still the question remains.
Everyone in our society has to study, it’s the way things work, but… well let’s say I would like to study without the obligation of follow a curricular program, without having to present results of my knowledge every 6 months… it kind of fells like “Who wants to be a millionaire” but without the prize… Should it be like that???

Too much news… too much bad news… that’s how TV works today. I would say that only 50% (or less) of the news that are shown on TV are really news, the rest are: Fairy tails, huge exaggerations of the reporters, and made up stories. Today I read a comparison of the same news article given by CNN and by Aljazeera. The difference is enormous, as it tends to get exaggerated by both sides but in different ways (if you know what I mean). And in the end we just have to imagine the true story based on the two presented stories. Why can’t there be a single news channel that limits it self to the presentation of news just as they are…

December the month of kindness…
It’s the month of snow, of cold, of rain, of staying at home, of chattering around a fireplace with the family. It’s the month of the family.
It’s the month of tea, coffee and hot chocolate, it’s the month of worm cloths and worm food.
It’s the month when all problems are forgotten and where we are all kind to everybody.
It’s the month of the glitter, were the city streets show all their enchantment, were the shop-windows show their magic.
It’s a good month to get in love, it’s a magic season.
Is it?… or should it be???
I seem to see everything on the wrong perspective. It does not rain that often, people prefer coca-cola and movies in huge mall. Chatter in family? Tv is much better. Worm food, only if the pizza guy doesn’t get late. And glitter… ohh that one exists… as long as you have money to buy it.
But the christmas that I described earlier never existed, it’s a though, a perfect thought that we try to achieve every year. And every year we fail to achieve it, not because we don’t try hard enough but because it’s unnatural… christmas is something that was invented by humans for humans, and as much we say we love christmas, what we really love is the idea of a perfect christmas.

The other day I was seeing Who wants to be a millionaire? and there was a question that asked the capital of Germany, it would only be normal that the person that was playing the game would answer Berlin, but no… even if it is one of the most important countries in the world, even if it belongs to de European Union, the same European Union to who Portugal belongs, even if the capital of Germany had (I think that there is still a bit of it left) the most famous wall in the world (well maybe the second)… there are lots of people in Portugal that ignore that the capital of Germany is Berlin. And I ask whose fault is it? I really don’t know, and I won’t try to guess, but I would like to live in a country where people would know more things, other than what was on the soap opera yesterday, and what was the score of the football game of the past weekend…
Portuguese people don’t read anymore, all they do is work and watch TV, and worst of all they watch mostly junk TV… and that’s a pity.

Being sick sucks…
This weekend I got a flue, a very boring thing to get. I don’t believe that anybody can say cool I’m sick, I won’t have to go to school/work. I hate being at home, with nothing to do, without being able to do sports, do listen to music with the volume on the maximum (headache), I find it very boring… all I did was sleep, and watch tv, I wasn’t able to read because I couldn’t concentrate (headache again), and the hi fevers only make it worst. I tried to go to school on Monday, but I was worst, when I got home I had higher fever, and I felt like crap… The result… I had to stay home Tuesday and I still don’t feel OK.
But I guess everybody has to be sick every once in a while, maybe we need a little fever and a “great” headache to realize that it’s great to be healthy, and stop complaining when there’s nothing to complain.

NB: The sun is back. I hope it’ll stay for a couple of weeks :)

September…
It’s always a busy month for me. First month of classes, you have to get used to get up early, also there’s no more beach… and this year, there is also no more sun. It rains like hell in Lisbon… Summer is gone just a few days ago and it’s already raining.

Today I read that there’s happening a conference about the global warming in Russia. Two Russian scientists are trying to defend the tease that says that the global worming can be a positive thing. I believe that global warming can have positive aspects, but I’m sure that for each positive aspect I can easily find ten negative… I don’t believe that a serious scientist can even consider the possibility of thinking that global warming is good… Don’t they care about what’s going on in the weather? Droughts, floods, high temperatures in winter, low temperatures in summer, aren’t all this men’s fault? Those two Russian scientists want to blame it on the volcanoes and the oceans (?). I really hope tomorrow they say they wore just kidding…

I’ve finally finished reading the last book of Harry Potter. The Order of Phoenix was probably the most expected book of the year, and after reading it I’m able to find many reasons that justify that expectation. The only great difference of it from the other four is the size, everything else stays the same. The power it has to take the reader into a trip along fantasy, the ability it has to make the reader read until it is no longer possible, the capacity it has to change the priorities of the reader’s life during the reading time, all that is exactly the same as it was since the first one. The big problem this book has is the size… It took me 3 days to read it, and I would only stop reading it when it was no longer possible for me to see the letters on the book because I was to sleepy to continue, this had a rather curious consequence, yesterday I went to bed at 8o’clock in the morning, and the main reason for it, was because the minute I started to read the book, I would enter that fantasy world in such a deep way, that I would lose complete track of the time.

I suppose not everyone is capable of entering that fantasy world in such a deep manner but I believe that everyone that is, wished that world would really exist or at least that ours would be a little more like it. And the reason is simple, in that fantasy world where witches and wizards exist, where the common of the mortals is not allowed, in there, the Human values are truly taken in account, in that world even the darkest soul respects values such as loyalty, brotherhood and friendship... values that are not respected by many people we know.

PS: Some of you might be asking yourselves why I don’t say anything of what’s in the book. I believe that everyone that has the curiosity of knowing what’s in it should read it, and not trying to get bits of it, from other places…

Is it normal for people to stagnate during holidays? I don’t understand, we spend a whole year complaining, saying we work to much, that we have no free time, no time to live, but when we have a whole month of holidays, (or 15 days.. depends) there is a majority of people that take one week to go on a trip to a foreign country, were everything is pre-establish and were there is no freedom. The other 3 weeks are spent watching TV, eating large quantities of everything, and going sometimes to the beach, preferably during the hot hours, the same hours witch doctors say are dangerous… At least this is how Portuguese people spend their holidays… They don’t practice any sport, (until watching TV is declared sport) they are one of the most over-weight population in Europe, they don’t go to museums, to theatres, to cinema, they just know their way to the beach and to the couch, this is the Portuguese holidays.

Portuguese people are one of the most over-weight populations in Europe. They have a hilarious excuse for that… lack of money, because for the typical Portuguese, sport can only be practice in a gymnasium, preferably one that has models, actors and politicians… they think that they’ll become famous if they know famous people, they don’t want to think about the possibility of running on the street, to make push ups in their house, etc… No, they don’t have time (there’s too much on TV).

PS: This is only my opinion, nothing more, nothing less.

Our world is to serious, most people are more worried with efficiency and productivity then with comfort and happiness… These two things are only achievable if everybody starts to think more human like and less computer like… In this society most people have goals to achieve, things like best car of the family, best decoration in neighbourhood, best looking wife, best job, best kids, but few of them have goals like, be happy… We’re thinking like machines… and that’s a stupid thing to do… behave like we’re something that we aren’t…
In school we don’t teach children how to play, we teach them how to be good students, and school begins earlier, in these days it’s normal if a 3 year old kid, spends half of his day in school, trying to learn numbers and write down his name… I really think that’s unnatural. If there’s a time to play is when we are kids, and we should play a lot so we don’t forget how to play when we became grownups. I believe I still know how to play… and when somebody calls me kid with the intention of saying I’m immature, I thank that person because for me that’s a complement.
Everyone has a child in them, but some people have forgotten how to play…

Today I received and email, with something I could not believe… The email said that on the 27th of August, Mars will be the size of the moon. I just wouldn’t believe, so I began my research, and I didn’t need much time to understand that the email was very exaggerated, what will happen is that Mars will be the closest to earth in the last 5000 years, but will not have the size of earth. The experts say we should find a Telescope to see the red planet, and at least in Portugal that’s easy to do. If you find nothing, all you’ll see is a very big star with the red colour on.

Sometimes we see in TV the most terrible things and take them as the most natural… Yesterday the UN headquarters in Baghdad was attacked, and we all saw it in TV, it almost felt like natural… But then we received the notice that Vieira de Mello had died in this attack… (He was very cherished by Portuguese people because of Timor), and we felt a little of this attack. Yesterday, I read Raed’s Blog and felt a little more of this attack… I invite you to read it too…

Note: This blog has been offline

It wasn’t enough having one of the worst health services in the world… The government has reduced the money available for Portuguese health… I ask, isn’t there anybody in Europe with powers to stop this?
When I compare Portugal to other countries in Europe, everything looks worst, in no subject we can say… Hey we’re the best, but we find it rewarding if we can say, Hey we are not the last (sometimes Greece can be worst).
Would somebody explain what is the great difference between Portugal and Italy or Austria, because I don’t understand why is Portugal so backward in comparison with these counties…
I once thought maybe it’s because of there natural recourses, that are best then ours… I discovered that Portugal has best natural recourses than Italy, then I thought Maybe it’s because of the fishing maybe Italy has a economy based on industrial fishing, but I discovered that Portugal has the biggest EEZ in the UE, that means that until now Portugal had more space for fishing that any other country in the UE, and more, Italy hasn’t there economy based in fishing.
In the last years I’ve been trying to find the reason, then I read an article of a famous economist that won a Nobel prize, he said that I the last 20 years Portugal has been a good example of what should be done to lead a country to bankrupt… and I tend to believe him…
Many people are afraid the UE will take away the national identity, that all the counties in the end will form just one, that the local traditions will vanish… I don’t believe in that, but I’m just anxious that local governments start to be checked by the UE so that they can’t take measures like the one I referred above. But what I would really like to see in Portugal is a competent government… A government that would make the life of the Portuguese people more comfortable…

I'm starting to change my priorities, it's a long and slow change, but I feel I need it. I've stop thinking of what other people think of me, a very long time ago. But I still prefer the last model of mobile phone to spending a weekend with my friends or my family, I'm still to materialistic, and I still do not give all the importance that little things in life deserve. But unfortunately I'm not the worst case, in fact, in these subject I'm one of the best. There are people in these society that simply prefer the status and the appearance to the sentimental comfort, these is, going to bed at night and feeling good with them self’s.
These society is giving to much importance to money, if we want something we have to have money, that's what society says (I disagree). When somebody is felling good with their life, it appears some product that we desire and we start to feel miserable because we can't afford it. I believe I'm happy with my life...
In Portugal there's a saying that goes like these: The happiness is of the fools. If this is true (I believe otherwise) then let me be fool. :)

At these time and after reading all these post some of my friends may be surprised, some will think I've change my politic area (I don't have one but some of them just won't believe it) others will think I've became strange and will avoid me, others will think I'm crazy and will laugh with all of these, but to all of them I can only say, that these is my point of view, hope you can deal with it comfortably.

With no doubt August as been the best month of this summer. It was the first without school or exams, it was the one that had (is having) more beach, more sun, and of course more ice creams, but also more fun...

The day is half gone but I know that today is one of those days when nothing can go wrong. I don't know why (or maybe I do) but I know that nothing can bother me, that nothing can change my mood. I also know I have to thank "Minimal" our conversation really helped these mood :) .

On the other hand if my mood is great my country and its politicians just won't do... The temperature is high again, and the fires started (again) and what the Portuguese people had forgotten in just a few days, came back. Portugal doesn't have the means or the professionals to fight fires. More than 100.000 Hectares have burned since January and 16 people died because of the fires. But as soon as the temperature is low again, Portuguese people will forget the means that are necessary, the professional formation that the fireman need, and the politician will have one less headache and will be able to buy some more Mercedes, because the ones that they have are almost a year old. This is Portugal. Unfortunately.

Just a short note: I know my writing sucks, and one of the main reasons that made me start these Blog, was these aspect, I really believe that I can became a reasonable writer if I practice, and these is one way of doing it.
Thanks for reading my Blog.

Today was one of those days that I hope to repeat many times. I went to my grandparents, and spent the day with them. It's nice to go there from time to time, and talk to them, but mostly listen to them. They had a rich life with lots of stories, and I like to hear them, those stories give me pleasure while listening to them, and a subject to think about when they end, their stories are full of experience and usually you can take one or two good advices from that stories.
I think that in our days we ignore old people very much, we put them 'on a corner' and wait until their dead, so we can cry their lose, and I also believe that these behaviour has to change. Old people may not be able to work as a young person, but they have ideas and points of view that must be taken in account. They've been in this world much to time to be ignored and put aside, we must use their experience to improve our society, which in these days needs lots of improvements so it can reach a medium level.
Another factor that should lead us to starting respecting old people is that they are also human beings, which need attention as any other human being. You should see the smiles on there faces when they have someone to spend time with, it's great to see you've helped someone to feel a little better, just with your presence, just with your ability of knowing how to hear.
I really hope my grand parents will stay alive for many and many years, and I believe that to make my hope come true, I must make them feel good with themselves, with happiness, so they do want to live, and so that they do feel needed, because there's a majority of old people that feel useless, and that takes away from them the desire of staying alive

Today it's about me.
When I'm felling down, one of the things I usually do is read 'The Little Prince' of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The book was given to me, when I was six(I think) and since then it has been read more than a thousand times, there was a certain period in my (short) life when I read it almost every week, if you'd ask me why, I wouldn't be able to give you an answer I just needed to read it.
In these days I haven't read it so often, but it still lies in my bedside table, close to me, just in case...
Probably I need to read it again. I'm kind of lousing touch with reality. I'm on summer holidays for some time now (about three weeks) and I spend all of my time at home, on the internet. I rarely go to the beach, although the good weather that's on Portugal these days, my room is a mess, and I have lots of plans of things to do during the summer, but I don't start none ( I think these Blog was the first).
I really have to organize my room, whit that organized, it'll be easier to organize ideas.
And I need to spend less time in front of the computer...

Fires and more fires.
Another ridge of mountains is burning in Portugal, aerial support from Spain has arrived, but the fire is uncontrollable. The Environment minister went to the public television, to say that the prevention has to be more effective and that the fireman have to be supported more properly (in Portugal almost all the fireman are volunteer, and don't have special training), but we all know that is just a political intention and that when these fire is extinguish, those words will be forgotten and the country will stay the same 'bananas country', it's sad but true. All the governments have made promises of cleaning the forest, during election campaign, but none have accomplished those promises. In Portugal, when the summer is over and the fires vanish, the people forget about all of these until the next year, until the next fire.
Nobody complains, nobody gives a dam, even if Portugal is losing one of its best natural resources, the forest. The police never catches the people that start the fires, and the wood is sold at very low cost. The area that is consumed by the fire takes decades to recover, and again nobody gives a dam.
The government says the plan against fires has to be well thought, because there's very little money, but all of the ministers use expensive cars, fly around the country on helicopters ... there's no explanation possible.
Portugal is (as always) the example of what shouldn't be done.
Unfortunately

My Blog.
Today I was seeing an Italian film called "CONCORRENZA SLEALE" it's about the Mussolini’s Italy, and describes how Jew people started to lose rights, started to being pointed in the street just because of the religion, whore forbidden to go to school, to teach, to practice medicine, and many other things. And these same film showed the different way of thinking of the rest, while some of them didn't understand why someone that has a different religion can't go to the same hospital, and receive the same assistance (and wore against it), others (mainly the ones that benefit with the situation) agreed with the measures of the Italian government. That film sounded to me, very current, because the same problems shown in the film are coming back in the present. In Portugal (my country) the people are becoming more and more racists, for example if some one is robbed by a black person, he immediately say he was robbed by a black, if he is robbed by a gipsy, he will say he was robbed by a gipsy, but if he is robbed by a white person, then he will say he was robbed by a thief, these may sound like a little thing but the truth is that these kind of behaviour is starting to discriminate all the people that have a different race (for example, if I’m in a room of 20 people and something is missing, if in that same room is a black person, then the first suspect will be him), and if these kind of behaviour doesn't change quickly then in a very near future we will have many people agreeing with measures that separate different races in different schools, different hospitals and eventually in different cities or even countries ( we have a very good example in the palestein/israel conflict) I know people that wouldn't be chocked if black people wore forbidden of going to school. (The History is starting to repeat) The other problem that the film focused was the problem of the lack of humanity in some people, these is, if something benefits a person, then it should be done (in the opinion of that person) even if it means that it harms somebody else (and even if that harm means death, although not directly, so the one that benefits can't be held responsible), these for me it's the total perversion of the society, and of the individual. I my self learned to pass thought people in need, for example in the underground, and don't even bother to look. It's probably a self-defence mechanism, but the truth is that I don't look. :( but at least I bother to think about it, and I’m willing to make changes in my behaviour, at least I'm unable to take advantage of someone (or I think I am), and in the end maybe I'm as guilty as the ones that point out people by there race, by there economical status, because in a way we all point.