breakthrough

Today I did something I should have done a long time ago, and I already can tell the difference for the better. My sister came through for me. Again. Thank you.

gotta love it

"First in my class there at MIT
Got skills, I'm a champion at D&D
MC Escher, that's my favorite MC
Keep your 40, I'll just have an Earl Grey tea
My rims never spin - to the contrary
You'll find that they're quite stationary
All of my action figures are cherry
Stephen Hawking's in my library"

lyrics here

one of the best compliments ever

My best friend and I have a somewhat turbulent relationship. We are two very different characters, complete opposites: I'm this white-looking brazilian girl who loves to take random pictures and post them on her flickr and write on her blog and loves typefaces and museums and poetry and design and things of that nature. She's this girl from Gary, Indiana who hates to be defined as the girl from Gary, Indiana and who has this holistic approach to life and loves motivational things and self-help books and has healthy eating habits and loves to go out to clubs every weekend and is funny and adventurous and free-spirited. Somehow we compliment each other really well, and with her I've learned to love Family Guy, I've learned to take care of my skin and wash off my make up before going to bed, I have learned I can be too judgmental and I should make an attempt to be open minded about people who are not just like me. On the other hand, I try to be the best friend I can be, and I listen to her telling me how wild her weekend was, and how all those extremely odd things happened to her in the same day, and I try to tell her some things I have learned the hard way hoping that I'll save her some energy and heartache, because I hate to see her not knowing what to do.

That's how we've been for the past 5 and a half years. We were on non-speaking terms for a few months about 2 years ago, and more often than not we'll argue for hours on the phone about things we both know we'll never agree on and for the sake of our friendship we'll just agree to disagree on those things forever. Or until my stubborn ass learns how to bend and admit I might be wrong.

My point is, she's definitely someone who's had great impact in my life, and I wish I knew how to show her my appreciation as often as she shows me (well, that applies to several people in my life, but that's a whole different story). Yesterday we somehow got to talking about how you get to a point in your life where you're mature enough to realize that you're are indeed a product of your upbringing and that the values your parents taught you live within you whether you like it or not. I told her how I often find myself in situations where I'm lost thinking "what would my father do?", so that maybe I can find within myself the answers that he would give me.

And she said to me "Well, you're like that to me. Every time I need to make an important decision, or when I'm overwhelmed, or when I'm about to lose my temper, or be unreasonable, I have to stop and think: 'ok, what would she do?' ".

world's shortest fairytale

via Mary Pages

"Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl "Will you marry me?" The girl said, "NO!"... and, the girl lived happily ever! And afterwards, she went shopping, dancing, took cruises, drank martinis, always had a clean house, never had to cook, had sex when and with whomever she pleased... did whatever the heck she wanted, never argued, didn't get fat, traveled at will, had many friends, both men and women, didn't save money and, had all the hot water to herself. Further, she went to the theatre, never had to watch football, never wore absurd lacy lingerie that crept up her butt, possessed good self esteem, never cried or swore and, felt and looked fabulous in sweat pants."

- the end

Between a rock and a hard place

[from the NYTimes]

"RIO DE JANEIRO, Monday, Oct. 2 — Brazil’s embattled president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, finished first in the presidential vote held here Sunday, but fell just short of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff on Oct. 29.

With more than 99.2 percent of the ballots tabulated early Monday, Mr. da Silva, his momentum checked by a last-minute corruption and ethics scandal, had 48.65 percent of the vote. (...)

Campaigning on a platform of social justice and clean government, Mr. da Silva and his leftist Workers’ Party won a landslide victory in a runoff four years ago this month. But his administration has been marked by one scandal after another, ranging from multimillion dollar schemes to buy the support of members of congress to rigging contracts for the purchase of blood products.

Nevertheless, Mr. da Silva had seemed assured of coasting to a first round re-election victory until the eruption of the so-called Dossiergate scandal two weeks ago. That was when Workers’ Party operatives were caught trying to pay $792,000 in cash for information they apparently thought would incriminate Mr. Alckmin’s party in a scandal at the Health Ministry involving kickbacks on the purchase of ambulances."

It's a shame that every election people find themselves voting for the candidate that is the least corrupt, the one who who has robbed them the least throughout the years. Watching people be ignorant is a painful thing.