Opa pessoal,
Shockingly, there’s been no movement on my immigration status. I really felt that the stars had finally aligned, but, alas, I was fooled (and a fool) yet again. Nothing’s changed, nothing’s moved — except that now the Ministry of Justice has stopped answering its phones. My lawyer, after numerous calls, has been unable to get through himself.
I’m frustrated with the situation, but I’m hesitant to write any more about it – or any of my cultural experiences here – until it’s said & done. In the meantime, here’s what’s been going on.
I’m still living in downtown Belo Horizonte. Three weeks ago, after being unable to find work in Salvador, I convinced my ex (Anderson) to stop by BH and look for work here instead of returning directly to Florianópolis. It was my opinion that this city has more opportunities, is gay friendlier, and has a better quality of life than in Floripa. I also asked him to stay with me in my apartment — including such implications. He accepted.
So, for the first time in my life, I’m living with someone. I’m working part-time, and he’s still looking (some good leads) — which means we’ve been spending a lot of time together. Shockingly (and this time I mean it), we haven’t even wanted to kill each other once! So far, so good. It’s been fun, interesting, comforting, educational, and everything else. I think we’re both in a good place and on the same page — not too many expectations for the future but committed to each other for today and enjoying the companionship. We joke about the future together without any pressure. It’s good.
I’m continuing to work at a language business which teaches English, does translation, and a variety of other language-related services. I’m far from working full-time, but it’s done two great things for me. It’s given me some extra cash and helped motivate me to start going private. I officially printed business cards (offering conversational English & translation services) a few days ago and am already passing them out. I figure I can live comfortably on 10 students / week. Out of a city of a few million, I think this is doable. Now, I just need to find the suckers students. With that said, I would like to continue at the language company. They’re good people, and I like their attitude and style. Hopefully I can come to a happy balance between the two.
We survived the excitement and sad ending of the World Cup here. It really is another excuse for Carnaval, and the city shut down for each Brazil game. To be clear, I literally mean “shut down”. If you planned on getting anything done, you just waited for the next day.
The World Cup pushed the traditional June Festivals (Festas Juninas) into July — common festivals throughout the country that focus on traditional winter country music, dance, and food. It’s basically a winter excuse to get together (often in churches) and drink to excess and have a lot of fun. Last night Anderson & I met up with some new friends and visited the city’s (very large) festival in the plaza in front of my building. It was so traditional, in fact, that the festival reproduced the oft-experience “line-waiting” part of Brazilian life. We had to wait in the grocery store to buy food, then wait in line to trade the food for tickets, then wait in line to enter the festival (thorough search & pat-down of everyone who entered), then wait in line to buy food tickets, wait in line to buy food, wait in line to buy drink tickets (different tickets, seriously?!), and wait again to buy said drinks. Ahhhh, I love the good ol’ days.
In my personal life, I’ve tried to back down a bit off of politics. I’m finding it too depressing & frustrating for me to handle, especially while managing the stress of a new city, culture, and life. I still read up on things but with less frequency and, usually, less heart-ache. So far, so good.
With that last comment, that brings me to my very long list of my latest readings. Most, but not all, are non-political. Here are my favorites.
_________________________________________
Political
This isn’t strictly political. It’s historical, psychological, anthropological, and a whole slow of other -al’s. If you’re wanting to understand and/or come to an understanding of Beck’s strain of American life, check out this book review.
A republican on republicans:
“There were no death panels in the bill … and to encourage that kind of fear is just the lowest form of political leadership. It’s not leadership. It’s demagoguery,” said Inglis, one of three Republican incumbents who have lost their seats in Congress to primary and state party convention challengers this year.
Handy primer on myths & reality in American life & politics. Living outside the US, I actually do appreciate what we have even more than before. That never stops me from critiquing our failures. Think we have the best healthcare system? Think everyone wants to live in & be like the US? This and some more.
Where & when did John Boehner grow up? Generalizes but gets the point across. Analogously, life was easier for the straights before the gays had to come out of the closet. Doesn’t mean that life was better back then — just that is was more convenient for 1 group.
Free lemonade and the downfall of the US of A. Seriously. Are you f*cking kidding me? REALLY? This is what we’re up against?
_________________________________________
Activism / Culture / Politics / Military:
I read parts of Greg Mortenson’s now well-known “Three Cups of Tea” (Amazon link) and was simultaneously impressed and unimpressed. And, I need to make something very clear: I was unimpressed because what Mortenson wrote should be absolutely obvious to policy (and military)-makers/planners, but it’s not. I left impressed by Mortenson but less impressed by our country that this was ‘news’. With this as an intro, it seems that Mortenson’s ideas have crept into the military — a very good thing. If we’re ever gonna change Afghanistan, it won’t be through bombs.
_________________________________________
Sci & Tech:
Radio-wave-powered devices. Cool! This has far-reaching implications into nearly everything from spying to weather modeling. It’s gonna be fascinating to see where & how far this tech can go.
Gravity ain’t what it used to be. At least that’s one physicist’s idea.
The net re-wiring our brains. Literally.
Every day it seems there’s new news about our gut and the bacteria that live there. Turns out that there are gazillions of friendly bacteria (and even viruses!) that live inside us and appear (daily) more & more likely to vastly influence our health, lives, and evolution. If that doesn’t grab your attention, what about this:
“We have over 10 times more microbes than human cells in our bodies,” said George Weinstock of Washington University in St. Louis.
And some history — Jefferson’s correction to the Declaration of Independence.
A friend on Facebook linked to this article, and it was surprisingly interesting. Who knew so much went on in the minds of the ubiquitous squirrel.
_________________________________________
Entertainment:
Jewel fan? Even if you’re not, check out this 7-min video. Formerly (and still) famous singer Jewel goes undercover to a karaoke bar to sing her own tools. Funny & sweet, cool & heartfelt. More fun to watch than you’d expect.
_________________________________________
Education (and politics):
I’m given education it’s own category today for one link. I’ve really come to like the writing of teacherken on the DailyKos. What he writes is logical, substantiated, and comes from a place of experience & success. So, when I saw this headline, I decided to read. Anyone remotely interested in education should take a look.
_________________________________________
Krugman:
Krugman gets his own category today. He’s been on a roll lately trying to take-down everything. I’m loving it, but of course I do. I’m a huge fan!
You really should read through his latest 10 25 posts are so. There’s so much good stuff there — including numbers & graphs. My favorites of his latest posts are here:
Carter vs Reagan in numbers
Senator Jon Kyl on tax cuts not needing to be offset
Senate Minority Leader supporting Kyl, and numbers of GW vs Clinton
This is why I don’t get the Obama strategy. It’s depressing.
Why is the government worried about inflation?
This post really speaks to me. I used to think those in charge really knew what they were doing. Now I question. Everything.
Arguing with a table
That’s enough for today. See you next week, or month.
-nick
