Monday, May 30, 2011

And my heart is a little larger than the entire Universe

I got off the train
And said goodbye to the man I'd met.
We'd been together for eighteen hours
And had a pleasant conversation,
Fellowship in the journey,
And I was sorry to get off, sorry to leave
This chance friend whose name I never learned.
I felt my eyes water with tears . . .
Every farewell is a death.
Yes, every farewell is a death.
In the train we call life
We are all chance events in one another's lives
And we all feel sorry when it is time to get off.

All that is human moves me, because I am a man.
All that is human moves me, not because I have an affinity
With human ideas or human doctrines
But because of my infinite fellowship with humanity itself.

The maid who hated to go,
Crying with nostalgia
For the house where she'd been mistreated . . .

All of this, inside my heart, is death and the world's sadness.
All of this lives, because it dies, inside my heart.

And my heart is a little larger than the entire Universe.

-Fernando Pessoa, the greatest Portuguese poet of all times.

Clinton, May 31st

A noite que comi uma replica de Carrauntoohill!

    Todos sabem que o St. James Gate eh o melhor pub da regiao... ok, ok, pode nao ser o melhor, mas tem o melhor salmao disparado! Desde que eles nao servem mais salmao no Borgata, nao me resta outra opcao. Mas, se voce nao gosta de peixe, experimenta a batata frita do pub: vem misturada com pequenos pedacos de bacon, muito queijo, alguns pedacos de maca verde e muita cebolinha verde. E a porcao servida eh uma replica da montanha irlandesa mais alta. Haja French Press coffee pra ajudar na digestao. Guiness tambem ajuda!

Memorial Day Parade

     Eu sempre achei muito interessante os desfiles do Memorial Day. Acho digno essa valorizacao daqueles que dedicaram suas vidas 'a uma causa que eles realmente acreditavam: o amor ao pa'is esta acima de tudo, so abaixo de Deus. Mas, de um tempo pra ca eu percebi, tambem, que nao eh so para honrar os mortos nas guerras que esses desfiles acontecem, eh tambem para prestar contas 'a sociedade. Cada carro que foi comprado com dinheiro publico eh exibido na Parada, do carro mais velho ao mais possante carro de bombeiros. Cada cidadezinha exibe com muito orgulho seu patrimonio. Eh muito bonito de se ver! Mas, nao coma os docinhos que eles jogam pra voce. Eles podem entender de orgulho e memoria nacional, mas balinhas/bombons eles ainda vao ter que fazer um estagio no Brasil para aprender como se faz, ou comecar a importar mais cana-de-acucar e substituir o xarope de milho, que eles usam como acucar.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

I wandered lonely as a cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:
I gazed---and gazed---but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.


-William Wordsworth

Saturday, May 28, 2011

One so simple and cheap trick to have a good night sleep: passion fruit juice! It tastes delicious. You can find the nectar at supermarkets and even a smalls groceries stores. Usually, they are in the Latin aisles. You just have to mix with water and/or ice, sugar or sweetener and you’ll have a God’s nectar that you’ll help sleep like a baby!