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... é preciso

A (literary) love story

Lembro perfeitamente do momento em que me apaixonei pelos livros. Tinha nove anos e a minha professora da primária tinha começado a ler-nos As Crónicas de Narnia: O Leão, a Feiticeira e o Guarda-fatos duas tardes por semana. Lembro-me que nessa semana bati o pé na secção de livros do Carrefour até o meu pai me deixar trazer um exemplar para casa. Ainda tropeçava um pouco pelo português escrito, mas desde logo sabia que algo de muito importante tinha entrado na minha vida. Era um mundo novo. E eu era Lucy, a mais pequena dos quatro irmãos, pronta a descobri-lo. Dentro daquelas páginas estava um mundo mágico. O livro era o seu guarda-fatos, o portal que me permitia entrar. A mim. Sozinha. Deixava o mundo para trás, essa realidade cinzenta, salgada e turbulenta para mergulhar onde ninguém me poderia seguir. De onde ninguém me poderia arrancar. Um casulo quente e seguro. Simultâneamente, os livros eram muralhas, mantendo os outros de fora. Todas as crianças más. Todos os adultos desnorteados. E todas as crianças más. Para mim, menina pequena e sem carapaça, a descoberta da literatura foi desde logo uma benção divina. Um amor inquebrável, ainda que preenchido de ausências e retornos. Um grande, grande amor...

Xmas is for every single creature

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stars :)

you know your place in the sky

you hold your course and your aim*

Stars, Les Miserables

Winter symphony

A aula de hoje esteve populada por inúmeros sons de Inverno: tosse, espirros, assoadelas, fungadelas... E no meio de tudo aquilo ocorreu-me que toda essa sinfonia sazonal que me impedia de ouvir claramente um professor sentado a menos de um metro e meio da minha pessoa era uma amostra infinitesimal daquilo que se passará no sábado à noite. Uma sala apinhada de gente encasacada (- a absorver o som -) a tossir, espirrar, assoar-se, a fungar, a rir, a gritar o nome dos alunos das turmas de dança... e aqui os actores que se desemerdem para se fazerem ouvir lá ao fundo!

There's a road calling you to stray*

Just beyond the far horizon

Lies a waiting world unknown

*The road goes on, Lord of the Rings - The Musical

Personal Fame

Ok, so I'm tired of keeping myself from letting the cat out of the bag. I GOT IN!!! I wasn't even going to audition, I was sadly resigned that there was no way I could go and so assembled a nice consolation prize to keep me from tears. But last minute developments (plus all the recent musical-mania) led me to it. I ran hell for leather without really knowing what I was doing. Didn't even have time to prepare anything, I just winged it! By the time I finished the third and last audition I was in a daze. Then the results came. And even after 30 hours I still can't really believe I did it.

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duas semanas depois chegou

Tuning into Xmas mode again

One gunshot and bam!*

No sábado ele disse-me Não sejas parva! Vai... Vai! e de repente foi como ouvir o disparo de partida e algo dentro de mim começou a correr. Algo começou a respirar. E não houve quem me parasse. Corri com mais substância que meramente em especulações e sonhos. E agora que já passou (ou deveria antes dizer agora que vai começar) olho para mim ao espelho e ainda não acredito no que fiz. Sem medos. Ele simplesmente disse Corre e eu corri. Lancei-me de cabeça e agora estou aqui...

*Don't rain on my parade, Funny Girl

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i'm a number... and a lucky one at that! :)

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catsitting

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read before xmas-wrap it

Sleepless and mad

Este semestre tenho sido frequentemente visitada pela insónia. E não percebo porquê. E deixa-me danada. Deitar-me à uma e só conseguir adormecer às cinco. E isto sistematicamente. Por mais que tente não consigo fechar-lhe a porta. Estou farta de me tentar condicionar, qual experiência pavloviana. Mas nada. E lixa-me os dias. Deambulo com dores de cabeça pela mão, sem energia e com um nível de rendimento menor que o de uma criancinha da primária.

Rambling to pass time

I'm in a frenzy. It's the trouble of attending some classes. I get all sorts of anxious and start thinking about all the stuff I have to do. I play cards. I update everything I possibly can. Twitter. Facebook, Blogger, my mail... I get more and more restless. This is a pointless post. I'm just letting my fingers run on the keyboard as they please. Yadda, yadda, yadda... Gibberish, gibberish, gibberish...

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follow the purple carpet

Christmas cravings

O Natal é uma época de tentações. Uma altura que puxa à manta no sofá. Que convida a revisitar filmes mais que revistos. Mary Poppins. Home Alone. The nutcracker. Alice in Wonderland. The producers. Um tempo em que as castanhas ainda piscam o olho e os Ferrero Rocher saltam directamente das prateleiras para o nosso colo. Em que é proibitivo passar pelo Starbucks. Em que se não fosse a caneca de chá a meter ordem nisto, seria o caos total. Noites de jantaradas. E o trabalho vai-se escondendo e acumulando atrás de tudo o que é peça de mobiliario. E nós em cima do sofá a olhar para o caixote maravilha. Natal é uma época que precisa de guizos para nos trazer de volta à realidade.

A melhor curta da Pixar

Funniest titles ever

Musicals are fun. And cute. And here's some amusing titles:

1. A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court
2. Once upon a matress
3. Stop the world I want to get off
4. Damn Yankees
5. Annie get your gun
6. How to suceed in business without really trying
7. A funny thing happened on the way to the forum
8. I love you, you're perfect, now change

Linguistic randomness

Eis uma palavra que eu adoro: plasticidade

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às turras com as leituras

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dad's home

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the real thing

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tarde com as octagenárias

The hard work of being nice

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primeiras compras de Natal

Bad going good going great

Today I got up in a very bad place. Crappy mood, heart-breaking dreams, and a loud alarm clock on a Saturday morning. All I wanted was to call in sick, skip rehearsal, go back to bed and try my hardest to defy that "no absolute rest in the Universe" theory. Instead I went to the said rehearsal and - within a few minutes stopped brooding. By the end of the first hour I was smiling and making jokes. I got home in a merry mood, only to discover my room had been thoroughly cleaned for me. Yay! I had lunch, sent some emails and now I'm going for some Xmas shopping. After dinner I'll work a bit and then watch Dollhouse. This is how you turn it around! :)

This blows my mind away every time

I love these two together

S.Fry: And on the other hand...
H.Laurie: Ah, you've got three hands.
S.Fry: I've got three hands.
H.Laurie: They, of course, were doing a two-hander. Would they have benefited from an extra hand? Would that have come in... useful?
S.Fry: I feel with an extra hand they might just have got away with it.
H.Laurie: But did you enjoy their criticism?
S.Fry: Oh, I loved it. I wanted to go to bed with it and kiss it in many soft private little places.

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mais correio :)

The secret

The secret of smooth almost shiny loveliness of the order of which we are discussing in this simple, frank, creamy soft way doesn't reside in oils, unguents, balms, ointments, creams, astringents, milks, moisturisers, liniments, lubricants, embrocations or basalms, to be rather divine for just one noble moment. It resides, and I mean this in a pink, slightly special way, in one's attitude of mind. To be gorgeous and high and true and fine and fluffly and moist and sticky and lovely, all you have to do is to believe that one is gorgeous and high and true and fine and fluffly and moist and sticky and lovely. And I believe it of myself, tremulously at first, and then with mounting heat and passion because, stopping off for a second to be super again, I'm so often told it. That is the secret really.

Stephen Fry, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Season 1

Tall about pressure...

Musical randomness # 2

Na última meia hora ouvi músicas dos seguintes musicais:

1. The Little Mermaid
2. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
3. West Side Story
4. Flora the Red Menace
5. Finian's Rainbow
6. Sherry
7. Sweeney Todd
8. My fair lady
9. Mame
10. Porgy and Bess

Getting in the mood

(ok, so this is a day late...)

Contactando o Pai Natal...

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Xmas is all around us

Musical randomness

Thanks to S-chan I found this radio on media player with musicals only. 24/7. It's amazing! So last few days I kinda felt like I was finally back home. I also learned how little I know musicalwise. Seriously, there's musicals about anything! There's a Shrek musical! It's an insanely huge world. Now picture my face smiling and my eyes twinkling all over the place. Yep, that's how I feel. I could devote my life (musicwise) to musicals only and I wouldn't ever get tired or bored!

Also last week I got tired of reading Lea Salonga and Kristin Chenoweth's tweets on Glee and decided to watch the show to see what all the fuss was about. I was hooked within ten minutes. Lea Michele started singing On my own and that was it for me (even though her character is a pain in the ass).

So basically my life now is musicals, musicals, musicals. Which is heaven. With the occasional pain of me realizing I'm just singing along in my bedroom with a pathetic glow in my eyes. And then all hell breaks loose. Until some parody on Andrew Lloyd Webber or Topol or Rent comes on. Then I smile and it's all good again.

Well anyway, with a bit of time and a self-esteem boost I hope that song from La Cage aux Folles will finally hit me...

The best of times is now
What's left of Summer but a faded rose?
The best of times is now
As for tomorrow well,
Who knows? Who knows? Who knows?
So hold this moment fast
And live and love as hard as you know how
And make this moment last
Because the best of times is now, is now, is now.

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visita do carteiro

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Xmas Extravaganza with a slight twist

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são assim os regressos a casa às segundas :)

On tenterhooks

We're all just human...

Coach Ken Tanaka: You make this and we win. You make this and you die a legend.

Kurt Hummel: Can I pee first?

*Glee, ep. 4

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the after

**yay xmas goodyness**

And that's how Sue sees it

Sue Sylvester: [...] let me tell you something: there's not much of a difference between a stadium full of cheering fans and an angry crowd screaming abuse at you. They're both just making a lot of noise. How you take it is up to you - convince yourself they're cheering for you; you do that and someday they will.

*Glee, Ep.4

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the before

And just like that...

... an unexpected someone broke a spell...

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Reunião CSCM

2004-2009

So today I had a reunion. People I went to school with decided - thanks to the wonders of social networks like Facebook - to get together for a night out. It was weird seeing all those familiar faces after so long. To know what happened in their lives. Some people stay true to the course you thought they'd follow, some surprise you completely. And together (even though tonight there were barely twenty people) we have so much diversity: translators, biologists, psychologists, pilots, lawyers... And somehow - waaaay back in time - we kinda grew up together. And we look the same too; I look at faces and I immediately see someone that used to tease me for reading Harry Potter, or someone that sat next to me in English classes, or someone that once said lettuce was a nutrient. I look at us and realize we're still a bunch of kids. Yes, some of us have jobs, dress fancier, got our acts together, have cars, drink white wine... Yes, we're past the weird years, with all the hormones and acne. But deep down we stayed the same. And that's kinda comforting.

On couch-coccoon

Yesterday I thought Hey, since it's Thanksgiving, let's give that "What am I thankful for" speech a go. Then a little voice inside of me said Nah! Let's not go there. And little voice was right. Not that I don't have plenty of things to be thankful for, but such a speech would inevitably voice feelings that are better left alone. Things that live in the dark. Things that aren't bright and shiny. So instead of starting something that would most certainly leave me moping around the house, I grabbed The Lion in Winter and spent my Thanksgiving afternoon curled on the couch with my blanket watching Glenn Close and Patrick Stewart go at each others throats. And it made me feel so much better.

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chuva, carro e decorações de Natal :)