Exclamation!!!

I have just noticed that virtually all my blog titles have an exclamation mark. Think I'm trying to make a point??? Don't you just love punctuation??? haha!

I did threaten to post more often, but I've gotten busy with my site again. I'm trying to iron out all the dead links and paths to nowhere. Do check it out. I'm getting tired of the splash page look, but nevertheless.... www.tintalasia.com. The part I was working on is the family albums. I'm trying to build up the courage (and ideas) to finish off the business pages. I'll get there yet. Will work on the Brazil albums next. I need to restore the albums I took off.

Hey.... did I tell you? The latest on our butcher/hairdresser. Bearing in mind, this is a 50-something 'pretty boy'. The other day, Tat was out with Jorge to the production agency. I went to the butcher to get something for supper. The only one serving was the hairdresser. With a sigh, I gave him my order (being rather nervous of the quality of his cuts) and turned to chat to the cashier, a really nice girl. She asked me where Tat was, as the two of us usually go shopping together. I told her Tat was working, an easier explanation for my Portuguese to handle. To cut the story short, it came out that Tat is a model and the girl wanted me to get Tat to take her photos to show her. Enter butcher/hairdresser: "I was a model!" What?! Our heads swung around at in his direction (not sure what we expected to see). Yes, he apparently used to model bathing costumes. I wish I had the whole event on film. Our faces (I assume my face reflected the cashier's look) must have been comical. On dropping his bombshell, he went back to his butchering. I wonder which career he will come up with next time I visit. I'm eager to go shopping again.

What's happening in our world? Jorge may be taking a trip to Lithuania in July. Tat tried hard, but not hard enough, to contain her excitement at the thought. Family we may be, but 6 years of living in each other's pockets without a break has taken its toll. I told her though, that by the end of his trip, she'll be pretty eager to be shot of my company too. For now, she's taken on another theater course, given by one of the top television producers here. It's a 3 year course that she'll be cramming somewhat. We'll see where that takes her. The agency is very impressed with her new portfolio. I only hope that future employers will be equally impressed.

Tat's birthday presents are all planned. I can't wait to see what she'll think of them!

I feel soooo small!!

I decided to 'enrich' my blogging 'experience' - in other words, lamely put, try to find a way to get people to read my blog. SCARY! I did a search on other blogs. Ok, so I knew there are gazillions of bloggers, with blogging being the 'in' thing to do, but I wasn't prepared for the enormity.

My feeble senses screamed 'too much already!' and I settled into a calmer browsing. Seems most blogs out there are business blogs. Now, I have nothing against business, but I do have a tendency to get very drowsy while browsing those (must be some form of allergic reaction). So..... I decided to just hit 'next' until I found something worth reading... I mean... really reading.

My first 'next' experience was http://sandi-pics.blogspot.com/
I love her photos. They're wacky and cool and speak volumes or am I just odd? I love the quotes and I love the notes. I 'specially love the 101 things to do. I may just have to copy that list, as I never get around to making a list of my own, never mind keeping it!

Onto the next 'next'. Could someone tell me how I can link to other bloggers without having to write a shpiel? << how on earth do I spell that anyway?

Butchered!!

Last Monday, Jorge went for a haircut to the same girlie he used before. Now, bear in mind, we live in what we call 'the village'. For a 'village', there are about 100 hairdressers, so one usually finds the hairdresser (or barber, but here they're usually unisex) quite empty.

Anyhow, Jorge gets to his hairdresser, only to find a queue a mile long, all guys. What's with that? So he goes banking and returns some time later to find the queue is longer. Jorge is not the world's best waiter.... er.... translates to 'one of the most impatient guys I know', so he decides to try another day. All three occasions he went there afterwards, the girl was either closed or queued. Ok, she gives a good haircut for guys.

Jorge, I must add at this point, is obsessed with his hair. The moment it gets beyond the 'convict' stage (my term for it), ie. extremely short, he's off to remow the sparse lawn. Frustrated, at this point, he decides to try a new hairdresser and pops in next door to the butcher on the corner where there is a smallish, but decent-looking hairdresser.

*fast forward to an hour later* Jorge arrives home. I take one look at him and gape. It is the worst haircut I have ever seen on a guy! Shorn, with little bits sticking out all over... no, not the new spiky fashion.... little bits! I was shocked. Jorge was disgusted. Tat found it amusing (wonder why).


*fast forward to a couple of days later* Jorge goes over to the pub as usual. An hour or more... or maybe a lot more, he comes home with a story. His 'hairdresser' is apparently the butcher's brother and is..... *** wait for it ***.... a butcher!!! He qualified as a butcher and later turned to hairdressing!

Gives new meaning to having your hair butchered..... ?!

Yay!!!

I've just gotten back from the Feds... yeah... my favourite stomping grounds lol I have finally gotten my RNE number (the foreigner's version of an ID number or social security number or whatever you guys would call it)! Yay! I get the actual card in around 2 months. Would you believe its taken 6 years to get this far???? Geez! And I have been married to a Brazilian for 20 years this year. Omg... I suddenly feel very old lol Its hot as hell (so what's new) and pouring with rain. I've just strolled in, have the fan on and am drip drying lol

Something that always amazes me and I think it always will. When it rains here, it rains and it rains big time! But, you know, a matter of half an hour after the rain stops, you can look at the streets and its as if it had never rained. Weird! Call it rapid evaporation.... very rapid!

I finally have part of our business site up - Seal Language Services. Do have a look. I would appreciate any comment and, naturally, some business lol Simply click on our logo below.

Well... that's it from the peanut gallery for today. Have a great day!

Beauty and the rain

Yesterday was a truly delightful day! We rushed out to squeeze in a manicure, then onto the bus system, heading for the photographer's studio on 9 de Julho. An interesting place, to say the least. Very, very old... and tiny! There was no way I could stay with Tat. I half-heartedly tried to persuade them to let me stay, but the models would have been falling over me.

The photographer directed me to a 'tranquilo' lanchionette. Well... I fled a smoker who decided to light up at the next table, after which they tuned into some football match, while two macho's were demonstrating (with full vocals) some or the other fighting technique on the other side. The food was gross!

I then wafted for a walk down Av. São Sebastian... very much a commercial road without much in the line of useful commerce. Found a confetaria, which I visited later. I spent most of the afternoon (I was there from noon till 5pm) sitting on the appartment steps. At about 3pm, it started to rain, São Paulo style. All in all... fun :)

Tat tells me the portfolio went well. We'll see in a month when we get the photos. This portfolio was more for television and film, as opposed to her previous one, which was directed at the fashion world.

Attention Bob.... !! Corner pub photos Instead of piling all the photos in here, I put them on my site. Its definitely not the same place you remember. The current owner has only been there for three years. He says it was a pub under numerous owners and once was even a 'mercadoria' or whatever lol