Smoking. I can chose to have none of it, right?

Today I entered a magazine store to buy Sol, my favorite newspaper nowadays. I stayed longer as I was trying to spend some more money (I wanted to use the ATM card, and 2€ seems too cheap to do it. Some stores even forbid it, even though I'm pretty sure that's illegal. But I digress.) I picked the newspaper up, put it on the counter and told the lady I was still looking for something more. Suddenly this guy walked in the store, smoking a cigarette. I didn't like it. It was a small store, and even though I wasn't immediately annoyed by the smoke, I would much prefer it if no smoke at all was present. I'm definitely not used to smoking being allowed in stores, particularly inside shopping centers like this one (Centro Comercial Acqua Roma), and I asked the gentleman "Excuse me, do you think it's ok to smoke here?". He didn't say a thing, just stood there looking at me. Funny, if he though it was ok, why didn't he just say it? After all I was just asking, in the most polite way I could. The lady behind the counter then said something like "just trying to create a fuss", directed to the gentleman (but about me) I suppose. She then talked to me to say "Why shouldn't he smoke, we sell tobacco and there's an ashtray just there". So I asked "So you (as in 'The store') are OK with him smoking here?" "Yes". "Ah, I won't be taking that newspaper then" and I proceeded to leave the store. I could still hear her commenting "just trying to create a fuss"...

Well I don't like smoke. It annoys me and it's bad for my health. I mean, really bad for my health... I lose my ability to breath normally after a very short period of time of inhaling smoke. And so I'm not OK with people smoking around me. I know a lot of people feel the same way, and that's why I asked the gentleman my question. In the absence of his reply, the lady informed me that the shop had no problem with it... and I chose to take my (small, but still...) business elsewhere. I was merely getting informed, funny how that equals "trying to start a fuss" in her mind...

So many people act this way, though. It's like we can't be honest, you're more likely a psycho who has an evil agenda...

Hehe It's great to be able to feel I'm above it though. Live on!

How to remove shit from your shoe

So today I inadvertently splashed my shoe in somewhere a dog had done its thing. And it stank. The stench, after a couple of minutes of being in my car, was nauseating. I needed to get that stuff out... but how?

At 27 I still hadn't learn how to do it. About once every couple of years I pull this stunt, and usually I drag my foot on the ground, preferably somewhere grassy. And the minute I get home I put them in the balcony and ask the house maid to clean them. But this time, I'm alone in my rented bedroom in Lisbon... no maid in sight, in fact, no one in sight at all. As usual, cleaning them by myself doesn't get me very far: I put them in the sink (the bathroom sink), pour the water and scrub them, first with my hand and then with a sponge. Some of it scrubs off, but a lot still remains in the cracks of the sole (it was a sport shoe).

Damn, if only wikihow did an article on this... I SO need it right now. More so because I had no more shoes in house. Even more so as in half an hour I was going to meet Tania and her grandmother. But Aha!, I found the answer. Yes, The Answer™, and I'll share it with you. That is, the moment I know how to write it in English... It's "piaçá" in Portuguese. Hmm. Well, apparently, it's called "toilet scrub brush" or "bowl brush". I mean, it only makes sense, right? Its prime use is for cleaning shit anyway...


For the personal joazito touch, I added liquid soap and away I scrubbed. It was clean in a matter of seconds.


I'm so full of shit, aren't I? Well, a bit less, thanks to the method above. Take care.

How to stay awake in class

I've partially or completely slept through all of the lessons I had this semester. It was just unavoidable... The professor is a good professor, some of the subjects are interesting but... inevitably, at some point, I would doze off. This has happened every single class this semester. Except last one.

So, what was different about this particular class? Bubble gum. Funny how that thing most teachers despise during high school can be so effective in keeping our mind awake. Well, I didn't make it through the entire class, at about 2 thirds in I almost swallowed my aid and decided to get out of there. Still, a valuable lesson was learned.

Maybe this can be used to prevent sleeping while driving. There's a thought.

Third post

Here I am in my rented bedroom in Lisbon, laying on my bed writing.

This will be the shortest blog post yet, as I need to get some work done. To summarize what my life is like now:

- Tania's step-dad and I are rubbing the wrong way; Of course this is HIS fault, but I could be a little easier to bend... Only I don't feel like it. His (step)daughter is 18, he should treat her as such. And I'm pretty much grown up too. Bah.
- I REALLY need to work on my TFC (meeting Monday) and seminar presentation for a class (Tuesday). That's why I'm spending Friday night in Lisbon and not at my parents'... I have no TV here.
- I can't wait to get hungry so I can eat the cookies I bought at LIDL. The crunchy with chocolate in the middle ones, which can only (so far as I can tell) be bought there. I bought a whole case, which carries 20 packages... and they go so well with milk. Actually, other cookies go better with milk, but these are so delicious all by themselves... the milk just helps it go down a bit.

I really can't wait. I'm officially calling this text a post so I can go to the kitchen and grab a couple. Only a couple, they're immensely calorific. Bye now.

Second post

So hi and welcome to my second post. I realised 2 very important things about my blogging, and those are:

1) Nobody cares/reads about my blog;
2) It's virtually impossible for me to blog every day.

1) is actually a good thing in disguse, I suppose, as it means I get a lot more freedom. I don't need to worry about what others might think, I'm pretty much just writing for myself. 2) is unfortunate... It's been some 5 days since my last blog, a lot has happened (well at least 1 big thing as happened and I didn't blog about it for days), and I'm too lazy to blog...

Better late than never, so here is my second post.

The big news I have to tell you is that I smashed the front of my car. I was speeding along the Vasco da Gama bridge fiddling with my radio and didn't notice when the cars in front of me started breaking. When I lifted my head the colision was unavoidable. Not much damage was done, it was only the front of my car and the rear of another, no personal injuries at all. The lady I rammed wasn't very helpful or nice, but I don't really want to blog about it. What's important is that I'm now Citroenless (damn I love that car... now that I was forced to drive my sister's car - a VW Polo - and my old car - Renault Clio - I can really feel the difference in driving. The Citroen is so much better. Oh well). The car does work, but the front is so damaged it feels the top can crack open any instant, it's gotta be repaired. My cousin who is in charge of insurance (that's rural upbringing for you) tells me we're insured for self damages, meaning insurance pays for fixing my car. Can't be bad, surely.

Ok so on to other news... I'm still a lazy ass student who wouldn't study for a full day to save his own butt. At least I managed to fax or email very single corporation I was in charge of contacting for SInfo, the big computer week event my course throws every year and that I'm proud to be an organizing member this time. Hmmm I think my english is getting worse by the minute, oh well it's bound to improve someday. Left to do: work on my TFC, work on my seminar presentation, study my 1 discipline.

What else... ahh everything just seems so mundane. I'll talk about some feelings, that's gotta be interesting. I'm currently under the spell of 18 year old Tania that I met 2 weeks ago, but it sure as hell been some intensive 2 weeks. She planned to run away from home, get a new job, and live with me somewhere along the line, only to return to her normal life, albeit a bit happier if I'm allowed to think so. It would make for an interesting story, maybe I'll blog about it.

I'm trying not to think of her as my girlfriend, as I would like to get the chance to meet other women that may be more"right" for me. But damn is it hard... It's so nice to be around her, it's so easy to melt my barriers around her... That's why I won't be seeing so much of her as I'd like, I'm trying to impose some thinking distance between us. Only it's not working out so well... I spent what seemed like a week without calling her or seing her, after which we missed each other so much we couldn't take our hands or hearts or whatever off each other... Only it wasn't a week, it wasn't even half a week, it were a mere 2 days!!! I almost died of lovesickness after only 2 days without her... that can't be good.

I'll try again shortly. I saw her today at her job, maybe I won't see her again for some 3 days... Yeah that's a good ideia... See you Thursday, Tania. Sweet dreams...

Two blogs, two car incidents. Funny that. I'll post the picture later.

Hmm... Hi Blogger! Hope we get along ok.

So I'm finally starting a blog. First entry, middle of November 2006. I'm about 27 and-a-half years old, and for someone who's been loving computers and the internet for so long, it's amazing how long it took me to do this. And if it wasn't for this blogger (I'll post a link later), I would probably never do it.

Let me see what to tell whoever may be looking at this... My life is pretty alive right now, with lots of little exciting things happening... at least I find them exciting... and well, let me tell you the events of today so you can get a clue what I mean.

Oh yeah, I love to write, and I hardly do it at all, so you'll have to endure some pretty lengthy posts. Sorry about that. Maybe with the help of your comments I'll figure out what's interesting and what's not so I can trim it.

Almost forgot to introduce myself (*slaps forehead*)... My name is joazito, well IRL it's Joao, and I'm from Portugal. I study Computer Engineering in Lisbon. And yes I know I should be out of school by now, but I'm incredibly lazy about studying. I also had a couple of jobs that robbed a lot of the time that was suppose to help me graduate, but this year I'm job-free so I can finally get my master's degree.

Without further delays, I present you today.

Today I came to Lisbon (I [often] live with my parents in Setubal, 50 km away) expecting to meet with my class partner to prepare a presentation on RFIDs. Only I hadn't done my part yet, so we decided to meet tomorrow instead. I went on to drop some clothes on my (semi-)new room (which I'm renting with the dole), and I found I had a TFC meeting that same evening. TFC stands for Trabalho Final de Curso and it's this work I have to do in order to finish my course... something like a master's thesis, I guess. [note to self: this paragraph is pretty uninteresting. Good example of what should be trimmed.]

Anyway, I went out and the rain was pouring down. I sneaked into a shop that sold magazines and decided to browse around to see if I could find something interesting. The shop owner, which was being aided by his niece from what I could pick up, asked me if I would like something. I replied "No, I'm just browsing." Now, as he had waited about a minute before asking me this and his tone seemed to indicate he though I was there only to escape the rain (which isn't a lie of course, but I was genuinely looking for something interesting... so I was a potential customer), it reminded me of something that had happened a couple of years back, and I described this situation to him: "You know, this reminded me, a few years ago, in a shop that had nothing to do with this one, a lady ordered me to leave because she was convinced I was in the shop only to escape the rain. I wonder if she was entitled to do that?" The owner got a little mad: "Of course she was. You can't stay in the shop for hours, can you? You'll be taking away space that could be used by real customers." Well, yeah, that's as good an argument as can be made from the situation, but I hadn't been in the store for hours nor was I there to escape the rain. It was what initially led me there, but I was looking to buy something. Anyway, I went on to say I wasn't convinced; the only similar thing I know is legal is for a bartender to refuse further drinks to someone who appears intoxicated. But that doesn't seem to indicate any rights on the part of the owner to throw anyone out...
At this point the owner loses it. He starts going mad. He talks and acts as if my only purpose there was to waste his precious time and (potential customer's) space. My story about a past occurrence made him think that... and no amount of calm or (attempts at) explaning from me could bring him back from his incredibly mad state of mind. I kind of found it funny, and kept my cool... I wasn't at fault here. Someone who I think works there then comes from the inside of the shop and threatens me, he hadn't listened to the whole conversation and thinks the owner is throwing me out (which he later did, but hadn't at that point). He threatens that if I'm still there when he comes back that I would be sorry. Well that wasn't nice and it clearly crossed the line. I immediatelly ask for the complaints book, but was informed that he didn't work there. Ah, ok, my mistake, then everything's ok. He was the butcher from 3 doors down, as it turned out. The owner, still pretty immersed in irrational anger (is there any other kind?), says he'll call the police. He also said I should have asked for permission before I had touched some of the most hidden magazines. OMG this was hilarious. I only lifted one (maybe two?) of the magazines a bit, so I could get a full view of the cover... And he was threatening to call the police on that. Damn that was funny, and I'm laughing as I type this :). I was also laughing at him when I immedially replied "sure, call the police, I would love to hear what they had to say about me touching the magazines... LOL (I don't like to LOL, so I'll avoid writing this in the future, but damn... If there was ever a time to LOL, this was it). I confronted him, still completely calm and well laughing at his reaction, that I think the way he was acting was stupid and childish. "Are you calling me stupid?" "Well no, but you sure are acting stupid". He then leaves the shop to avoid doing something irrational. Aaah... Well it was all fun and everything, but clearly I was being very disturbing there so I decide to leave. I tell the niece "Sorry about upsetting your uncle, I didn't mean to do that" and left. 3 doors down I spot the butcher and go inside to tell him, "you really should be more careful the way you talk to people" and left. Damn, people can be so small sometimes... So many times, now that I think about it...

My TFC meeting. I had to tell the professor I completely forgot about it and had nothing prepared or learned. I'll have to work as hard as I can so that by November 27th I can properly meet with the person in charge (she'll only be in the mainland for a few days) and "get" what she has to say to me. [note: uninteresting as well].

Tried to surprise my potential GF Tania at work so I can give her a lift home, it turns out she swapped shops for the day. I tried running (by car) to the correct store on time but when I get there she had already left. Ah, her boss will tell her I tried to surprise her, she'll at least be a bit happy about it.

Home then... the Lisbon variety. I'm staying in a rented house with 2 other part-time students, full-time employees. The common divisions are really messy and dirty as they say they can't find the time to clean them. Sure, I mean who has the time to take out the garbage EVERY day... it's just a drag, isn't it? (this blog really needs some smileys. A sarcastic one would do nicely here). And before you mentally acuse me of not doing it myself, I did and I do. I'm just aware they don't and the place is a mess because of this mentality. Oh, and I've only been here for 5 days, they've been here for years...

My father called, Portugal is winning 2 - nil. Aaaah I forgot about the game, I cry. I proceed to have dinner at the mall nearby where they have 3 large screen televisions. At a pasta place I eat fusilly, which of course reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld :) ... Ah life is nice.

As I'm leaving I stop a bit because of the rain, and I hear a large "plunck". A driver had reversed into a parked car. "It's dented, it's dented", shouts a spectator after inspecting the damages. The driver, a young boy who had his girlfriend along, rests in the spot for some 30 seconds then decides to leave without saying a word. I aid the witness by memorizing the car's plate as it disappears into the distance. The witness, a gentleman called Rogerio that works at the nearby car repair shop, has a speech impediment and I'm not sure if he's somehow retarded or not... He did ask me to write the note, so maybe he is... Anyway it doesn't matter. I planned on calling the police but he convinces me to leave a note instead. Good ideia. I write what happened, give my name as well as phone number so I can be used as a witness along Rogerio, and now we need to make sure the car owner gets this note... "We need a plastic bag because of the rain", I ask Rogerio. He brings one with the local market logo. "This isn't very good, don't you have a transparent one? This could be mistaken for trash." No more bags were around. I go back to the mall to find some more suitable bag, but all the stores are closed now. Failure... as I tried to go back out, I realise the (back)door had been close, so I'll have to go around. No problem, and as I was leaving I notice a broken ATM machine with a sign inside a... "mica" (I have no ideia what they're called in english, they're plastic containers to hold paper sheets). Well, sorry ATM, but I'm pretty sure people will notice you're out of order until someone replaces the sign... Your mica was just what I needed. So, back to Rogerio and we can put the paper under the windshield wipers. Mission accomplished! :) :) :) He also tells me the owner of the car is a young girl, so who knows maybe something nice could be awarded to me for this good deed... hehe ;). (I mean by God, not by the girl. Not that I believe in God... But I kinda of believe in something. Maybe I'll write about it someday).

I take a picture of the car and go home. End of day. Start of blogging. Now, let me just put the picture here so you can feel a bit more immersed in the story...



There you go. I do hope someone reads this and somehow likes it... Do comment if you feel it's worth it.