Just a thought....
Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

Friday, 02 July 2010

Adieu Bonjour!


Art by Bea Douglas. I wanted a surreal image. I think this works and is fairly thematic considering some fools believe the vuvuzela is meant to resemble an elephant's call.
Yeah right!

Fiddling puddlesticks! I was so annoyed yesterday, but so proud of myself. A whole day went by without the use and abuse of strong language ; )

No, the title isn't some skewed attempt at French. I have an excellent firewall that allows nothing past its defences. Heck, it only allows me through if I've been really good and the same goes for all of you =Þ Every day, I get "Do you want Bonjour to access the internet?" Well, I neither need or want the programme Adobe insists on installing. Its main objective in life is to access the net and, deprived of that objective, it just sits there like a dead duck. My research cold me it was safe to uninstall it. Bagged and trashed, I was free of its daily "hello, I'm still here taking up 2 seconds of your day."

Then all dizzy heliotropes broke loose. My pc went belly-up. I restarted my pc, but it wouldn't restart. My empty wallpaper sat staring at me. My keyboard ceased to function. I eventually accessed my files with Jurgis' keyboard and in Safe Mode to do an emergency backup... and formatted.

Somehow, something had gone very wrong *makes a mental note to leave Bonjour in relative peace in future* It wasn't just Bonjour though. At that precise moment, my keyboard cable (thank goodness it was easily resolved) died.

Reinstalling my pc was not quite how I'd planned to spend my day.

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Sometimes life presents little scenes to check if you're awake and paying attention. I was standing in the cluster of humanity, crowded into the cattle-herding gates, waiting fro the next metro at the busy Sé station, idly watching people getting off another line. One man caught my attention. Bopping and jiving to the beat in his headphones, very carefully, I might add, he was a stereotypical big-afro 'out of a 70's movie' black guy - typical, except for the large chocolate cake he was carrying. It looked so surreal. Talk about stereotyping.

On the subject of surreal, it was so weird getting onto the bus this morning to actually find seats! Oh the joys of school holidays combined with world cup fever.

Don't you just love the guys that get onto the underground metro while it is still dark outside with their hoodies pulled up over their ears and dark glasses on? "I'm so bright, I've got to wear shades." Their whole posture, the slouch and pushing baggy hips forward, and bearing screams, "Look at me! I'm cool!"

Then Tweedledee and Tweedledum got on. Some grungy jeans hanging in multiple folds over their trainers, pale, scrawny arms stretching out of yellow sweatshirts, which were worn under the regulation-on-match-day Brazilian team t-shirts. Number 7 and Number 10. Two curly dark heads didn't look at each other or talk, but each move was identical, choreographed deep in their DNA.

Add further oddity to that. I waited 40 minutes for my usually very regular student, but he's vanished. No reply on home, work or cell phone and not a soul seems to even know who he is. We usually meet in a neighbouring department because of the free boardrooms, so I went to his floor, which has recently had all its 200 anonymous open plan desks rearranged. I stood in the sea of desks and called his number, but no phones rang. I checked to make sure it was Friday. Yep. *Chronicles of the invisible student*

I arrived home to the neighbours getting their gathering of friends and family together... each sporting a new vuvuzela *sigh* Then a call from my student, "So sorry! I had no work today (lucky guy) because of the game and I completely forgot about class." Grrr! I don't mind the time off. I do mind that I spent half an hour this morning trying to find something to wear... for nothing!


The cartoon is appropriate today. 'Visinhos' is 'neighbours' and "Esse copa só serve pra encher o saco" roughly translates to "This cup only serves to make one fed up" except that 'encher o saco' has a far more crude interpretation here.

22 comments:

  1. You are going to love people watching on the tube! :)

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  2. :D
    *waves politely at Bonjour so he'll be nice to you!!*

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  3. Ack! And bonjour sounded like such a nice friendly name. ;) I love your people observations! Was the guy with the 'fro carrying a WHOLE cake, or just a slice? I couldn't get if he was eating it or just transporting it somewhere? ANNOYING student ... grrrr! So insensitive. Love the graphic at the top. :)

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  4. Katey, I love people watching anywhere : ) It's kept me sane here lol

    Kippy, Bonjour comes with all Adobe and Apple software. Apparently, it's purpose is to network your files with other pc's or some such spyishness. The afro guy was carrying a whole cake. Must be a party of sorts at the office.

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  5. And you didn't trip him up??? He wouldn't have hurt his head either cos of the fro!! Just saying. Mebbe next time ....

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  6. He was on the opposite side of the lines. To trip him up would have involved major acrobatics on my part and I... uh... don't do acrobatics very well =/

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  7. Makes me wonder what he was listening to via the headphones...:) I like your streams of consciousness, Tint. It does my heart good. Since my bike is down again, I'm back on public transportation. I have taught Katy that one should wear extra cologne or scented hand lotion on your hands so you can put them near your nose should an offensive to the olfactory person should come close. Ha ha.

    I'm bored. Thanks for the peek into you and yours today. :)

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  8. Kat, the old fashioned way works for me. I carry a hanky with a little lavender essence on it. It's served me well through a few olfactory situations.

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  9. You're a very classy lady then! I don't have any hankies...So my paws have to work I suppose lol.

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  10. I also carry wet wipes aka baby wipes... they're scented and keep your paws clean on public transport : )

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  11. Good point! I must add some to my bag...I don't really need to carry along my tire pressure gauge nor my pocket constitution, lol!!!

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  12. I don't carry a full packet. I actually emptied a roll-on deodorant container and put a few in there. Just pull one out when I need it.

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  13. Very clever idea! That's all I need though, is one more thing in my purse. I have just about anything you could need in there already, from dental floss (this does double duty with a needle in case of sewing emergency) to a small screwdriver set! (Sometimes I scare myself!)

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  14. I have one of those Swiss knife things, so my screwdrivers are with my keys. I don't carry dental floss, but I do carry sewing thread and a needle ; ) My bag is big, though, but then, I'm out all day and you just never know when you'll need the kitchen sink haha!

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  15. I enjoyed reading this!! You're funny.

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  16. I like what you and zyrxy (sp?) have to say, Tint. I need to rebuild my sewing kit, although I did get told I couldn't go through security with it. It was the scissors if you can believe that. I pulled out a mini baby wipes bag. I also have sewn things up with dental floss; a skirt of mine got caught underneath the wheels of a rolling chair once. :)

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  17. Oh, and I have the small screwdriver set-it's actually for my eyeglasses but one never knows...

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  18. Kat, will you write that in my resume? ; )

    Kat too (lol... this could get confusing). I never use scissors. I use my pen knife or my teeth when thread needs cutting out there.

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  19. WHEEEEE, what a day.... what a week... lots of the unexpected. At least the student called apologizing. Woosh, I would've been kinda worried!

    The joys of day to day craziness, eh?

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  20. I just love your observations of people ... it is so much fun to see the weird through your eyes, LOL
    As I live close enough to my workplace to need no other transport than my feet, I don't get to see things like this.
    I do, however, recognize the "young male outfit" ;)
    Some of my pupils already try to imitate it ... and at age ten it is even more ridiculous! LOL

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  21. Jaime, that's just it. I was freaking out with worry, so I was even more mad when he'd just forgotten. Crazy is good. It makes life interesting, though I'm rather fond of uneventful too ; )

    Riete, I see the weird with weird eyes LOL You do get to see some amazing things over your way. It's never boring. I think, at age 10, the "young male outfit" and pose is cute. When they head into their late teens or worse, 20's, it looks ridiculous, bordering on weird.

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Tint~