Setúbal

Last month I was talking with a friend of mine telling him how I enjoyed visiting London, and then he started talking about his trip to Paris… and then we both agreed we should also visit Portuguese cities… the truth is that we only pay attention to things like the buildings or the people when we’re in a different place, and the consequence of that is that we don’t know well the cities that are dearest to us.
So this weekend I went to Setúbal.
Setúbal is a city near Lisbon that has it’s economy all based in fishing… of course we went there to eat fish!!!!
Here are a couple of photos…

Different is good…

Well I’ve always thought different was good but I’m starting to realise that it’s not only good but great. I used to get anxious about change, I tried to avoid it and many times I’ve been extremely good at achieving that goal. But on the last few months change has always brought positive things with it, and if it brought any negative thing, I was just to occupied, enjoying the good ones, to notice.
I’m finishing university, I’ve already got a job, I found myself doing sport regularly (again)… among a whole lot of other things that made me reach the conclusion that most people achieve when they’re ten… Different is good!
Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a guy of habits even with change I need my routines, my absolutely unexplainable habits that make me feel “myself”. I need to read on the bus, drink hot tea in the morning, chew gum once a day, and a whole lot of other things that make me the way I am.
But if new things appear instead of resisting them, I’ll for once say: Bring it on!!

Human Relations

Understanding human behaviour is tricky and complicated. I think the two biggest problems that usually end up in huge misunderstandings are the believe that a behaviour of someone you know was induced by you and the second reason is the absolute impossibility to predict what someone will do in response to something you did.
I know that they look almost the same, but in reality they’re quite different. On one hand you have the necessity of understanding the actions of those who are around you. On the other, you have the necessity of pleasing, of repressing some actions that you think won’t be well accepted by others. The reality is that you have absolutely no control in the first issue and in the second, can only shape your behaviour based on assumptions that have absolutely no logical value, i.e., there is no way of making the predicament so we just follow a set of rules dictated by society and hope they’ll work. Unfortunately there are also two problems with that way of proceeding; the first and more obvious is that two persons that are subjected to the same conditions act, almost always, in different ways; the second is more obscure, it’s the fact that the set of rules isn’t equal to all of us, in fact, there probably aren’t two persons with the same set of rules… so would someone tell me what is the correct way to behave in a society like ours?

Citation

I'm a House fan... I really am! And the other day I was rewatching old episodes and this came across:

House: And that's all you are? Musician?
Giles: I got one thing, same as you.
House: Really? Well apparently you know me better than I know you.
Giles: I know that limp. I know the empty ring finger. And that obsessive nature of yours, that's a big secret.You don't risk jail and your career to save somebody who doesn't want to be saved unless you got something. Anything. One thing. The reason normal people got wives and kids, hobbies, whatever, that's because they ain't got that one thing that hits a man hard and that true. I got music, you got this, the thing you think about all the time, the thing that keeps yourself normal. Yeah, makes us great, makes us the best. All we miss out on is everything else. No woman waiting at home after work with a drink and a kiss, that ain't gonna happen for us.
House: That's why God made microwaves.
Giles: Yeah. And when it's over, it's over.

So I wonder... Am I that great?

About things!!!

First let me say: Stacey Kent rocks… well actually it would be more correct if I said: Stacey Kent Jazz’s… but getting rid of all the clichés let me try to put in words what that concert was for me! It was absolutely fabulous! She gave all of us two magical hours that went by without anybody noticing… she was magnificent! With a great band accompanying her, she gave what was probably one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen in my life! And the band, even with some slight slips of her husband in the saxophone, even with that, the band was brilliant… She sang in English and French, she said the usual few words in Portuguese, and the atmosphere was so good that she even said that Portugal was now, at the end of the concert, the likeliest place for her to launch her new CD… How about that?!?!
With a relaxed performance, with an almost divine voice, she sang old classics, new songs, two classic film songs and the band even gave us more than 10 minutes of just pure instrumental jazz… I’m still speechless!!! The only felling I have from that concert is that it doesn’t matter what I say about it… it will always be less than it actually was.

Second. Looks like I’m almost out of university!! Yes it’s true! Last report was delivered yesterday. Now it’s just a couple of exams and I end it!!! I’ll be doing a Masters starting September… and probably after that a PhD but for now all I know is that I ended my degree in Computer Science… well almost (there are still those last exams)!!!

Third. Summer has arrived!! At least to Portugal!!! 30ºC outside… all I want to do is go to the beach and stay there all day… of course I can’t (the exams) but I’m really craving for it!!! Maybe in a month time more or less!!!