It's good to be adrift!
As long as you have a soft and feather stuffed pillow to fall on...
8/01/2012
Until then...
You may deny it at will and seek refuge behind the pleasantries of today, but bear in mind that when going gets rough you don't have the chops for it and I'll be the one on the business end of a fucked up telephone conversation.
Get yours and get it good, but do it in time, otherwise you'll lose the momento and all you'll have left is a number to dial and a wound the just won't heal.
If honesty was your strong suit, you'd be spared a lot of grief, and believe you me when I say that you're the one with the most to loose. Me, I already lost what I had to loose and here on, it can only go sideways.
Get yours and get it good, but do it in time, otherwise you'll lose the momento and all you'll have left is a number to dial and a wound the just won't heal.
If honesty was your strong suit, you'd be spared a lot of grief, and believe you me when I say that you're the one with the most to loose. Me, I already lost what I had to loose and here on, it can only go sideways.
7/27/2012
A sickening thought
It's interesting how a dream can be like fish spine stuck in the throat. I never remember my dreams, yet I had to remember this one.
A conversation that has not yet come to past, but given the circumstances will indeed happen. The dialogue, the expressions, the place, the reactions... It's all there!
To know about one's future pain is nothing short of sickening!
A conversation that has not yet come to past, but given the circumstances will indeed happen. The dialogue, the expressions, the place, the reactions... It's all there!
To know about one's future pain is nothing short of sickening!
7/26/2012
7/25/2012
Unfinished
"-What are you going to do today?
-Nothing.
-But that's what you've done yesterday!
-Yep, but I haven't finished!!"
-Nothing.
-But that's what you've done yesterday!
-Yep, but I haven't finished!!"
7/24/2012
7/23/2012
The beginning of the end
Why must I bear this?
Why must I perceive these things, even though they're just barely there?
When all seems to be going well, it takes but a tiny crack in the pot for everything to change.
Would it be different if people were different? Would it be the same? Would I enjoy it?
I care very little for answers and specially "hard truths", now... That ship has sailed a long time ago! But attitudes, they define us more than any words we might say and fuck me if I'm gonna keep up like this!
It's bad enough when you're looked upon as a sort of ghost of Christmas past! It's worse still when you're handled as just a mere ghost... Tangibility's a fickle thing!
Why must I perceive these things, even though they're just barely there?
When all seems to be going well, it takes but a tiny crack in the pot for everything to change.
Would it be different if people were different? Would it be the same? Would I enjoy it?
I care very little for answers and specially "hard truths", now... That ship has sailed a long time ago! But attitudes, they define us more than any words we might say and fuck me if I'm gonna keep up like this!
It's bad enough when you're looked upon as a sort of ghost of Christmas past! It's worse still when you're handled as just a mere ghost... Tangibility's a fickle thing!
6/29/2012
Rugby humor
Girl: what are you doing later?
Me: that depends...
Girl: wanna go to dinner with me?
Me: I'm always hungry!!
6/09/2012
5/31/2012
Stadiums of Hate
The BBC Panorama carried out a month-long investigation in both Poland and Ukraine, and they now show the end-result: two countries in which racism and xenophobia in the football stadiums are common place; an appalling sight indeed for those who plan the visit the venues of UEFA's Euro 2012, that starts next month. All this worsened by the fact that the authorities seem to rather look the other way and even dismiss these acts as if possessed by one of those British tongue-in-cheek comedians who are incapable of producing a single serious statement.
I get that it's usual for European ultras to inadvertently do the Nazi salute (or Roman salute, or what have you...), but these guys go as far as chanting "Sieg Heil" in plain terrace, or using all sorts of Nazi symbols, from the Celtic cross to the Schutzstaffel insignia (a pair of Ss known as "sig runes"), the same institution that provided both the Polish and Ukrainian people with an assortment of suffering that is beyond the comprehension of these last two generations. Oh and guess what? These guys hate Jews!! The rival clubs' fans call each other Jews as if this was the ultimate insult... And this because... Hell, as if further explanation would add anything new.
Really? In 2012 there are still people capable of THIS kind of lacking in reason and humanity, in plain Europe! Worse still, in countries which either belong or want to belong to the European Union! it's just unfathomable!
See for yourselves! It's a humdinger...:
I get that it's usual for European ultras to inadvertently do the Nazi salute (or Roman salute, or what have you...), but these guys go as far as chanting "Sieg Heil" in plain terrace, or using all sorts of Nazi symbols, from the Celtic cross to the Schutzstaffel insignia (a pair of Ss known as "sig runes"), the same institution that provided both the Polish and Ukrainian people with an assortment of suffering that is beyond the comprehension of these last two generations. Oh and guess what? These guys hate Jews!! The rival clubs' fans call each other Jews as if this was the ultimate insult... And this because... Hell, as if further explanation would add anything new.
Really? In 2012 there are still people capable of THIS kind of lacking in reason and humanity, in plain Europe! Worse still, in countries which either belong or want to belong to the European Union! it's just unfathomable!
See for yourselves! It's a humdinger...:
5/29/2012
5/23/2012
Briosa!
I'll will never forget the 20th of May, 2012.
73 years later my team won the Portuguese Cup once more, realising the dream that every fan of the black shirt, the students from Coimbra, the mythical Académica had: to have the chance to see the real "Briosa" rise again!
In the run-up to the game, played in the National Stadium, in Jamor (outskirts of Lisbon), I had the sense that everybody from Coimbra had come down to Lisbon, and when I arrived at the south stand I felt at home, in a sea of black shirts and scarves. There was some nail-biting all around, but also a feeling that this was gonna be a day to remember.
The Sporting fans had the numbers on their side, but there was no shutting us up. We chanted "It's Coimbra!" and cried "Académica!", we clapped our hands, we sang songs that go back generations, and we yelled "BRIOSA!" as if to exercise some hypothetical demon that would stand in our way.
It was around 7 PM when the ref decided that that was that. The score was 1-0 in our favour, thanks to a goal scored by Coimbra's latest hero - Marinho, scored in the 4th minute of the first half. That was that, and Briosa she was once more!
A jump and a shout: "We won! We won! Briosa! Briosa! Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"
Everywhere I looked I saw people hugging and kissing each other, crying tears of joy or just letting out the tension of a much suffered game. I hugged my friends, we where crying also. I thought about my dad and how he would have loved to have witnessed that day, to see his beloved team great again. I wondered how many people were thinking what I was thinking. How many people, like me, we initiated into this great love by their fathers and wished they were there on that day. I grabbed my black scarf with both hands - my father's old scarf - and I smiled.
73 years later my team won the Portuguese Cup once more, realising the dream that every fan of the black shirt, the students from Coimbra, the mythical Académica had: to have the chance to see the real "Briosa" rise again!
In the run-up to the game, played in the National Stadium, in Jamor (outskirts of Lisbon), I had the sense that everybody from Coimbra had come down to Lisbon, and when I arrived at the south stand I felt at home, in a sea of black shirts and scarves. There was some nail-biting all around, but also a feeling that this was gonna be a day to remember.
The Sporting fans had the numbers on their side, but there was no shutting us up. We chanted "It's Coimbra!" and cried "Académica!", we clapped our hands, we sang songs that go back generations, and we yelled "BRIOSA!" as if to exercise some hypothetical demon that would stand in our way.
It was around 7 PM when the ref decided that that was that. The score was 1-0 in our favour, thanks to a goal scored by Coimbra's latest hero - Marinho, scored in the 4th minute of the first half. That was that, and Briosa she was once more!
A jump and a shout: "We won! We won! Briosa! Briosa! Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"
Everywhere I looked I saw people hugging and kissing each other, crying tears of joy or just letting out the tension of a much suffered game. I hugged my friends, we where crying also. I thought about my dad and how he would have loved to have witnessed that day, to see his beloved team great again. I wondered how many people were thinking what I was thinking. How many people, like me, we initiated into this great love by their fathers and wished they were there on that day. I grabbed my black scarf with both hands - my father's old scarf - and I smiled.
Our touring group
My nephew and me
View of the National Stadium's south stand
The players focusing
The Cup being raised
The players celebrating with us
Next day papers:
"It's ours!" (c)"Diário das Beiras"
"Historical" (c)A Bola
"The Best in Class" (c)O Jogo
"Briosa makes history" (c)Record
"The Cup is ours!" (c)Diário de Coimbra
Note: "Briosa" translates to English as "The stout one" and it was a nick name given to the Académica teams during it's golden years, in the 60´s.
5/20/2012
43 years later
My team is going for the Portuguese Cup final. They're gonna win. I'm gonna be there wearing my dad's scarf. So he's gonna be there too.
5/06/2012
VHS wisdom
"The human head is like a road. If it's not used, grass will start growing." (Prof. Vitor Corado Simões)
5/05/2012
I ate Lisbon
Awful food
Awful wine
Awful people
Awful night life
Awful weather
Awful beaches
Awful countryside
Oh, Anthony Bourdain did it too:
P.S.: Bifana is the best grub in the world, specially at 8 am, in Lisbon's Rossio, after a night out.
5/04/2012
5/03/2012
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