a very short story

Mick Jagger hires Andy Warhol

Eight ways to kill an idea

(original work by Scott Campbell)

self pity

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

-D.H.Lawrence

it's real

small world...

or big world. it amazes me when I think of my family's very diverse background. my roots are literally spread around in three continents, as far as I know (and I don't know much farther back). see, my paternal grandparents: he was Russian, she was Polish. my maternal grandparents: he was Greek, she was Egyptian. I'm a Brazilian, living in the U.S. (currently) & I have cousins, aunts and uncles living in Canada, Chile, France, Israel, Italy and United States. We are all at least bilingual, our looks diverse - some of us are dark skinned, some of us white; some of us blond, even red haired, most of us dark with dark eyes, a couple of green eyed and one blue eyed kid. we are the product of only one religion, Jewish, but today the other half is Catholic and the kids mixed with the choice to choose their own religion when they want to. many accents, many places to stay when we travel, and one chosen country in the end - Brasil - where everybody and everything came together as one, big, happy, great family.

--success--

insanity week

dear nellie

a drinking song

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
-w.b.yeats

dreams 101

---

I thank God for most this
amazing
day; for the leaping greenly
spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;
and for everything
which is natural, which is
infinite, which is yes.
-Yes -- e. e. cummings

never forget

Your presence is a present to the world.
You're unique and one of a kind.
Your life can be what you want it to be.
Take the days, just one at a time.
Count your blessings, not your troubles.
You'll make it through, whatever comes along.
Within you are so many answers.
Understand, have courage, be strong.
Don't put limits on yourself.
So many dreams are waiting to be realized.
Decisions are too important to leave to chance.
Reach for your peak, your goal and your prize.
Nothing wastes more energy than worrying.
The longer one carries a problem, the heavier it gets.
Don't take things too seriously.
Live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.
Remember that a little love goes a long way.
Remember that a lot . . . goes forever.
Remember that friendship is a wise investment.
Life's treasures are people . . . together.
Realize that it's never too late.
Do ordinary things in an extraordinary way.
Have health, hope and happiness.
Take the time to wish upon a star.
And don't ever forget . . .
For even a day . . .
How very special you are.

Author Unknown

Aldous Huxley from Music At Night, 1931

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

sky light

“I just told you my dreams and you made me see that I could walk into the sun and I could still be me and now I can't deny nothing lasts forever.”

This Is What You Shall Do:

Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants... have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.

(Walt Whitman)

al(l) one

there are worse things than
being alone
but it often takes decades
to realize this
and most often
when you do
it’s too late
and there’s nothing worse
than
too late.

- Bukowski

sai

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.
— Mahatma Gandhi

daydreaming

or makers of dreams, dreamers of music

memórias de uma noite insone

Cansa Sentir Quando se Pensa

Cansa sentir quando se pensa.
No ar da noite a madrugar
Há uma solidão imensa
Que tem por corpo o frio do ar.
Neste momento insone e triste
Em que não sei quem hei de ser,
Pesa-me o informe real que existe
Na noite antes de amanhecer.

Tudo isto me parece tudo.
E é uma noite a ter um fim
Um negro astral silêncio surdo
E não poder viver assim.

(Tudo isto me parece tudo.
Mas noite, frio, negror sem fim,
Mundo mudo, silêncio mudo -
Ah, nada é isto, nada é assim!)

- Fernando Pessoa

"lembra o tempo
em que você sentia

e sentir
era a forma
mais sábia de saber

e você nem sabia?”

(Alice Ruiz)

as a matter of fact...

...Kisses are like tears, the only real ones are the ones you can’t hold back.(O Beijo-Gerchman)

Saudades Sem Fim

Ele vem! Meu irmão querido, chega aqui dia 3 de novembro junto com meu pai, vão passar 10 dias comigo. (nessa foto, a gente o meu restaurante favorito em Búzios, o Bar do Zé).

Full of Grace

One more star in the barn that I work for: House of Grace.
(Thoroughbred Times Article)- - Magdalena Racing’s House of Grace remained unbeaten in two career starts on Thursday as she made a determined bid in the stretch and lunged at the wire to capture the $150,000 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine Stakes on the main track at Keeneland Race Course. Moved from the turf course because of heavy overnight rains, the bay Limehouse filly covered 1 1/16 miles on the synthetic Polytrack surface in 1:44.32 to win by a nose over Smart Seattle. The race originally was scheduled to be a Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” race for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, but the automatic bid was not in effect when the race was taken off the turf.
Racing along the rail early, House of Grace angled out in the stretch under jockey Mike Luzzi and wore down Smart Seattle for the narrow victory. Hatheer, the 2.20-to-1 favorite in the field of nine, finished another 3¼ lengths back in third.
House of Grace won her only previous start, a 1 1/16-mile turf race at Saratoga Race Course in August. Trainer Ken McPeek said House of Grace “definitely” will run in the Breeders’ Cup. “We’d like to get back to the grass,” McPeek said. “I think she’s better on the turf. It’s just a great situation.”

I See Fire, I See Rain

Louder than Words

I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions.
-Dorothy Day

The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be.
-Marcel Pagnol

Noble's Promise - The First Grade One Win That I Will Never Forget

Noble's Promise great win at Keeneland's Dixiana Breeders' Futurity Stakes this Saturday marked the first grade 1 win of a horse from the racehorse operation I'm working for since I arrived here in April (the trainer I work for already won lots of Grade 1 races). For me only, it's Gr.1 number one. This makes it all so exciting considering what's coming up - the Breeders' Cup Festival at Santa Anita, California, in November. We may have up to 4 or 5 runners that week out West, and I'm already looking so forward to it. Oh, how I LOVE HORSE RACING! See Thoroughbred Time's article about Noble's victory here. So proud!

whatdayisthisbesidesthedayyouwent

Maybe different but remember
Winters warm where you and i
Kissing whiskey by the fire
With the snow outside
And when the summer comes
In the river
Swims at midnight
Shiver cold
Touch the bottom
You and I
With muddy toes

Stay or leave
I want you not to go
But you should
It was good as good goes
Stay or leave
I want you not to go
But you did

Wake up naked drinking coffee
Making plans to change the world
While the world is changing us
It was good good love
You used to laugh under the covers
Maybe not so often now
But the way I used to laugh with you
Was loud and hard

So what to do
With the rest of the day's afternoon hey
Isn't it strange how we change
Everything we did
Did I do all that i should

That I coulda done

Remember we used to dance
And everyone wanted to be
You and me
I want to be too
What day is this
Besides the day you left me
What day is this
Besides the day you went

(Stay or Leave - Dave Matthews)

just for today

See the STAR

Here in the U.S. we have Rachel Alexandra. In Europe, there is the spectacular SEA THE STARS, the monster horse out of Cape Cross by the monster mare Urban Sea, herself winner of the Arc. Here's The Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe 2009 Edition with the sensational victory of the star of all stars.

foi

Memories are what warm you up from the inside. But they’re also what tear you apart.
— Haruki Murakami (Kafka on the Shore)

small takes

Rio 2016 - YES, WE CREU!!!!

* * *

Teddy Roosevelt's diary the day his wife Alice died from Bright's disease.

He was 25, she 22.

(Im) Perfect

Love isn’t finding a perfect person, it’s seeing an imperfect person perfectly.

somehow you found me

“A sensitive person receives fifty impressions where somebody else may only get seven. Sensitive people are so vulnerable; they’re so easily brutalized and hurt just because they are sensitive. The more sensitive you are, the more certain you are to be brutalized, develop scabs… I can’t trust anyone enough to give myself to them. But I’m ready. I want it. And I may, I’m almost on the point, I’ve really got to … Because—well, what else is there? That’s what it’s all about. To love somebody.”
-Marlon Brando

Different Seasons

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them - words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than the living size then they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you’ve said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That’s the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.
— Stephen King

meraki

Meraki (Greek): doing something with soul, creativity, or love

forever

Sara

 

(...)

(via brokenmachine)

Kurt Vonnegut Explains Drama

I saw this post on Derek Siver's blog and couldn't resist, had to blog it myself, although I'm firmly against the copy and paste thing. It was just too good to pass. Here it goes:

"Kurt Vonnegut explains drama
2009-09-01

I was at a Kurt Vonnegut talk in New York a few years ago. Talking about writing, life, and everything.
He explained why people have such a need for drama in their life.
He said, “People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories. Let's look at a few examples. He drew an empty grid on the board, like this:Time moves from left to right. Happiness from bottom to top.
He said, “Let's look at a very common story arc. The story of Cinderella.”It starts with her awful life with evil stepsisters, scrubbing the fireplace. Then she get an invitation to the ball! Things look up. Then the fairy godmother makes her a dress and a coach. Even better! Then she goes to the ball, and dances with the prince! This is great! But then it's midnight. She has to go. Oh no. Sadness. Back to her humdrum life scrubbing the fireplace. But it's not as bad as before, because she's had this encouraging experience. Then, the prince finds her, and the happiness factor is off the chart! Happily ever after.
“People LOVE that story! This story arc has been written a thousand times in a thousand tales. And because of it, people think their lives are supposed to be like this.”
He wiped the board clean and said, “Now let's look at another popular story arc: the disaster.”It's an ordinary day in an ordinary town. But something horrible happens! A child falls down a well! The whole town gathers to save her. Old grudges surface, but are belittled in the light of this tragedy. Rifts are bonded as people work together. The child is saved, and all is well. But notice it's a little better than it was before, now that this incident has brought them all closer together.
“People LOVE that story! This story arc has been written a thousand times in a thousand tales. And because of it, people think their lives are supposed to be like this.”
But the problem is, life is really like this...Our lives drifts along with normal things happening. Some ups, some downs, but nothing to go down in history about. Nothing so fantastic or terrible that it'll be told for a thousand years.
“But because we grew up surrounded by big dramatic story arcs in books and movies, we think our lives are supposed to be filled with huge ups and downs! So people pretend there is drama where there is none.”
That's why people invent fights. That's why we're drawn to sports. That's why we act like everything that happens to us is such a big deal.
We're trying to make our life into a fairy tale."

xxx (isn't that GREAT or what???)

Kiva.org

This is Kiva, a serious and awesome organization that I encourage everyone to participate in. The photo above is of Lydia Ankuyi from Hohoe, Ghana. This is her story: She sells Spices and seasoners at the central market. Lydia has received junior high education. She is married and has 6 dependants. Lydia has been selling Spices and seasoners since 1998. She uses her income in helping the husband in footing the house keeping expenses. With the increase in demand for Lydia’s Spice, her loan will be used to buy more of the spice for resale. She hopes to reinvest the new profit from her expanded business.
How does Kiva work? We Let You Loan to the Working Poor
Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.
The people you see on Kiva's site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs' profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.
Kiva partners with existing expert microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified entrepreneurs. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva, our partners upload their entrepreneur profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them. When you do, not only do you get a unique experience connecting to a specific entrepreneur on the other side of the planet, but our microfinance partners can do more of what they do, more efficiently.
Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle, and what effect it has on the people and institutions lending it, borrowing it, and managing it along the way. To do this, we are using the power of the internet to facilitate one-to-one connections that were previously prohibitively expensive. Child sponsorship has always been a high overhead business. Kiva creates a similar interpersonal connection at much lower costs due to the instant, inexpensive nature of internet delivery. The individuals featured on our website are real people who need a loan and are waiting for socially-minded individuals like you to lend them money.

Impermanence

Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. Heraclitus said we can never bathe twice in the same river. Confucius, while looking at a stream, said, "It is always flowing, day and night." The Buddha implored us not just to talk about impermanence, but to use it as an instrument to help us penetrate deeply into reality and obtain liberating insight. We may be tempted to say that because things are impermanent, there is suffering. But the Buddha encouraged us to look again. Without impermanence, life is not possible. How can we transform our suffering if things are not impermanent? How can our daughter grow up into a beautiful young lady? How can the situation in the world improve? We need impermanence for social justice and for hope.

If you suffer, it is not because things are impermanent. It is because you believe things are permanent. When a flower dies, you don't suffer much, because you understand that flowers are impermanent. But you cannot accept the impermanence of your beloved one, and you suffer deeply when she passes away.

If you look deeply into impermanence, you will do your best to make her happy right now. Aware of impermanence, you become positive, loving and wise. Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change. Impermanence is an instrument for our liberation.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Mudanças

Pouco tempo passou, tanta coisa mudou....
atualização em breve, assim que me estabelecer aqui.

Love is Real. Real is Love. Or is it? Please explain.

Is it an excellence in your love that it can love only the extraordinary, the rare? If it were love’s merit to love the extraordinary, then God would be — if I dare say so — perplexed, for to Him the extraordinary does not exist at all. The merit of being able to love only the extraordinary is therefore more like an accusation, not against the extraordinary nor against love, but against the love which can love only the extraordinary. Perfection in the object is not perfection in the love. Erotic love is determined by the object; friendship is determined by the object; only love of one’s neighbor is determined by love. Therefore genuine love is recognizable by this, that its object is without any of the more definite qualifications of difference, which means that this love is recognizable only by love.

~ Søren Kierkegaard