Too Freaky For the East Bay I Guess...

So this one is a funny one...

I went to this party with Salsicha in the east bay and to my surprise, even thought I was being my usual self in parties at the end when everyone is 'hooking' up and getting numbers a friend of one of the girls I was dancing with commented that she thought I was too freaky...

In a way that kinda insulted me, but on the lighter side it made me laugh since if I was too freaky... (and I was just being myself!) then what would I be considered in the east bay if I would have acted like a total dog?!?!?

Oh well I guess I'm too open for the east bay girls, or... they are just too uptight for my personality... I leave it to your own opinion... either way this one if definitely for the record...

More random stuff...

Well just looking at stuff around the web I came upon this article from CNN, which talked about D&D's 30th Anniversary... hehe

Check it out!

"Gamers mark 30 years of Dungeons & Dragons"

Friday night...

I have actually a lot of names I can put on tonight's post but I chose a simple one. Although you might not be interested as to why well, I'm gonna tell you WHY... cos I'm pissed and I just don't wanna blow up on the whole thing.

Anyhow critical mass was fun, we rode around the city visiting almost every hotel and making noise, supporting the workers on strike (which by the way was awesome!). I had a lot of fun, I mean going out in a perfectly good night, no rain, it wasn't that cold, and even thought I haven't been riding my bike in almost two months it wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be.

Although I had fun during the first part of the night, something was bothering me deep down inside which I just could not point out. I hate it when that happens because I know that it's something that's gonna really change my life in a way but I just couldn't figure it out. Of course I found out later on the night but it's ok... C'est la vie... Life goes on, it's just better to live on the present and let the past stay where it's at... the past...

The sun will come up tomorrow and shine as bright as usual (even thought it might be cloudy) and life will go on as always... which reminds me that I gotta go to work tomorrow... ugh... oh well at least I don't have to get up early... =oP

Getting ready for the weekend!

Oh yeah... Halloween weekend and the plans are starting to shape up... Tomorrow I'm going down with my bike and do the Halloween Critical Mass, then dinner with friends and afterwards we'll finish the evening at the Carnalween (Bat Makumba, Nobody from Ipanema, and Samba Da are playing) which is gonna take place at the Independent.

Oh yeah sounds like Friday is gonna be a blast, now the only downside to this is that I gotta work on Sat. and Sun., ugghh.. but it's ok I know that Friday is gonna be fun, Sat is just gonna be one of those chill days with the kids and then on Sun I will dress up for the Halloween party with the kids and then for some random party happening that night... or something... eerrgghh haven't got a clue on what I'm gonna do on Sunday but either way it's gonna be fun.

Now the only thing I gotta do, is finish my costume... ughh...!

On a final note...

So I have decide to got to sleep now since I got a pretty busy day tomorrow.. err I mean later today... uummm anyhow's I have decided to put at least one (or two) capoeira song lyrics a week on the blog. That way I can feel like I've been working on the song book which I been "working" (notice the " ") since last June or was it May??? Errr... Anyways here they are...

• Nego pega balaio de cafe
  
  
  

  Oi Nego pega balaio de cafe
  Oi Nego leva o filho e a mulher
  

  - Oi Nego pega balaio de cafe
  Oi Nego leva o filho e a mulher
  

  - Oi Nego pega balaio de cafe
  Oi Nego leva o filho e a mulher
  

  Chico minero
  vivia no seu terreno
  acantaba u dia entero
  canto de lamentação
  do sofrimento que passaba na Senzala
  como trabalhaba o nego
  no tempo da escravição
  

  - Oi Nego pega balaio de cafe
  Oi Nego leva o filho e a mulher
  

  - Oi Nego pega balaio de cafe
  Oi Nego leva o filho e a mulher
  

  Sempre escutava no son do seu berimbau
  cada cana que caia dentro do canavial
  calca rasgada sofrimiento dia entero
  tratado como animal dentro do navio negrero
  

  - Oi Nego pega balaio de cafe
  Oi Nego leva o filho e a mulher
  

  - Oi Nego pega balaio de cafe
  Oi Nego leva o filho e a mulher
  





• Capoeira
  
  

  Capoeira veio aqui
  dos quilombos de Zumbi
  como Angola ela chegou
  e aqui luta virou
  

  Nego fugia da senzala
  perseguido de todo alarido
  - Pra lutar
  

  Olha a armada
  meia lua e cabecada
  a rasteira e a queixada
  - Pra matar
  

  Capoeira dizia
  capoeira fazia
  liberdade pro nego
  liberdade pra vida
  capoeira hoje em dia
  e Brasil e alegria
  - Vem pra roda vamos jogar
  

  - Ooooooo…
  Capoeira, capoeira
  - Ooooooo…
  Capoeira, capoeira
  - Ooooooo…
  Capoeira, capoeira
  - Ooooooo…
  

My Prreecciioouuuss...!!!

I just can't help it, ever since I got a computer the only thing that I have been thinking about is getting Baldur's Gate, or BGII which I love. If there is one game that truly blew me away it would be this one (well and also Starcraft) but this one I would spend hours and hours like a simple minded zombie in from of the computer. When I had a network back home my bro and I would just not leave the house for days and days... (a yes the good old days!!!)

Now I made a terrible mistake and bought it... Noooooooo!!! I can feel it, there is no longer gonna be a social outlet in my life. No more going out on weekends to bars or parties (well on the bright side I will save some $$$...), no more going to the park on sunny days (well the weathers pretty shitty lately so no biggie!), and no more capoeira (hehe, ok I'm pushing it a bit). Anyhow tonite was a pretty good example of it, I just played it for the last hour and a half and I was just gonna 'give it a try', but it's sooooo addictive that I just coudn't stop playing it... hehehe... I had to force myself to quit it and now I'm still thinkin' about it!

Tisk, tisk... shame on me I knew this was gonna happen!

...but I needs my pprreecciiioouussss....

Random Stuff...

So as usual after coming back home from training I had dinner and made my now routinely email checking and surfing of the web. I was going through the SFGate website I came across the article by Mark Morford title:

"Write More About Skulls & Bones Secret Societies? UFO's? The Truth About What *Really* Happened on 9/11? The Media Cowers"

Which kinda caught my eye although I'm not really into politics or any of the 'secret cover ups' which a lot of people seem to talk about these days with the elections and stuff (yeah, yeah hate me I know it's just I've been worrying about other more interesting stuff in my life...). Anyhow just made me realize that I should maybe get a little bit more interested in what's going on in the country. Although it's kinda hard for me since you know I pretty much just worry more about things that are happening closer to home rather than in the whole picture. Kinda sad I know but it's not that I don't care, it's just that hey if it doesn't affect me personally I don't stress about it... hhhmmm... I guess it sounds kinda small simple minded for a lot of people but then again I never said I was complicated, so there ha! (uuhhhh... nevermind)

Read the article though I bet you will like it!

Preparing For The Inevitable

So now that we have the information on our event, and know that it is gonna take place on the first weekend of November we have started to step it up on our training. Specially since Mestre just got back from an event in Champaign, Illinois; and well he was impressed by the speed of our soon to be guests. He started to tell us after class about the incidents that happened and how Instructor Pedrinho almost got hit straight in the face by one of Kibe's mea-lua's but luckily he had someone up there looking out for him.

Anyhow just hearing stories like that kinda pump me up in a way since I'm excited about seeing the guys that are coming and their style of play, BUT also it kinda makes me worry a little bit since I know I'm gonna have to play with some of them as well... but then again I'm a beginner and everyone loves beginners right???

Things are not gonna get any easier from now on, specially for me since aparently I got a first seat ticket to hell now, and I just got my confirmation on it. After class I got a ride with Mestre and he went straight to the subject and said that I was gonna feel the wrath of Kibe... well ok I'm exagerating things and being a little melodramatic about it, but he did say that I was gonna play with him. Which don't get me wrong I'm totally looking forward to it, but now that I know that I'm gonna get my ass whooped I'm feeling kinda uneasy about it. Oh well c'est la vie I guess I'm gonna have to learn how to duck a little bit faster huh?? *he,he...*

Gotta call my insurance... Oh well everything will be alright... (as long as I escape!)

I need a new chair...

As I sit here working on the computer, this thought came in to my mind... "I need a new chair!" I try to ask myself why this simple yet uneventful thought popped into my mind, and as I try to search for a simple explanation I realize that maybe it's because my ass is hurtin' like a mofo from sitting in this old wooden with only a small area of padding chair... hhhmmm...

By the way I gotta think of a costume for next weekend since I'm gonna be working with the kids at Acro and I think the costume part is mandatory or something... dammit! So I guess it can't be any x-plicit thing... double-dammit! Then there's the critical mass thing on friday so if I want to wear it then it has to be something that I can reuse... triple-dammit!!

I'm screwed!

Samba!!!

He,he,he... not the dance thought! So today I went chillin' down to the south bay and wound up going to the Great Mall in Milpitas. Now I'm not a big fan of going to the mall and walking around like a mindless zombie but every once in a while it doesn't hurt, so since I was down there I decided it was time to get some shoes and what do you know lucky me... I found me some new Adidas Samba's.

Oh yeah! I love my new shoes!

Friday Night... at home?!?!?

So this is suppose to be a Friday night, and I keep asking myself what the hell and I doing at home??? Hhhmmmm... Well a lot of things went wrong today but, oh well I guess it's better to be at home than having a miserable time out right??

Oh well anyhow since I'm home I'm actually working on the song book which was left to the wind a long time ago (my bad), and well it's fun to do something. At least I get to learn more songs right?? hhhmmmm... Yeah ok I gotta admit I'm bored as hell I shoulda just went out somewhere and gotten wasted, or something...

Changing the subject I'm happy that we are gonna have our event this coming 5th and 6th of November. Oh yeah I been anticipating this for a long time, since we are gonna have a couple of crazy and sick capoeiristas. Kibe is coming, as well as Dennis, Muriel, Virgulino, and Mestre Canguru as far as I know. Oh yeah it's gonna be fun, I'm pretty sure that it's also gonna be a 'free for all' weekend and there's gonna be a lot of ass whoppin' (mainly our asses) but it's all good. I mean it's good to get our asses kicked every once in a while right?? uuummm right??
hehe...

Oh well I'm gonna go back to work on the song book... on a friday night... hhmmm...

15 seconds that changed San Francisco

So on Sunday I caught a glimpse of an article that made me realise and appreciate more the city of San Francisco. See for some time now I've been neglecting the beauty of this city and all the new art and modifications to places like the Embarcadero, alas I didn't know that there were more changes around the city (all which have been taking place during the last 10 or so years).

Anyhow if you wanna learn more about what has been going around for the past couple of years (just in case you haven't notice) this little 5-part series report from the San Francisco Chronicle might interest you.

He,he,he...

Just got back from watching the new Team America Police Force, and it was hilarious. If you're a South Park fan this movie is a must, and if you aren't well just check it out it will make you laugh... unless you're one of those really conservative people which treasure values and stuff, but other than that check it out.

Trust me... hehehe.

Nite!

hhhmmm...

So lately there has been a lot of stuff which I been thinking about doing and also just thinking overall. For instance I've been thinking about finishing the 'capoeira song book' which I started oh like maybe five to six months ago and I just haven't worked on it lately. What was supposed to be a two to three months project kinda slip past the sands of time so to speak and it's taking now forever... hhhmmm...

Also I just been too lazy lately and even thought I now it's inevitable I been just putting aside the fact that I need to get a steady job. I know that the place I'm working at is really fun and all but it's definitely not something that I will be doing forever, it's only temporary... hhhhhmmm...

As of lately there has also been other stuff that have been surfing around my head, for instance I got word that my bro got sick again, and not only that he almost broke his leg while running to catch the bus or something... hhhhhhmmmm...

Then there's also that little thought in my head about Jaime. Although I haven't been putting much time into it, there's that little something in the back of my mind which keeps wondering about what's gonna happend, is there something there or no? hhhhmmm...

Finally the other day as I was teaching some kids I wondered about of all the people I have teached (both kids and adults) is there gonna be one of them which are gonna say, 'oh I remember this guy and he taught me something way back then'. For some reason then I looked back on my experience with teachers, and the one that truly stands out is my math teacher from 9th and 11th... Mr. Free, man I hated that guy soooo much. If I had any truly arch-nemesis in high school it would definitely be him, because of him even though I loved math, I dreaded it during those two years. But now looking back if there is one person I truly think taught me something, it was him, 'cos now I can understand why he was the way he was. In the end I guess he saw that special something in me and that's why he pushed me so much, the bastard... hehehe... thanks Mr. Free!

hhhhmmmm...

Funny how things are...

Damn you 24!!!

This really sucked tonite, after pulling a very intense 12-hour shift I was happy to go home and ready to party or what not, but noooo... I came across the fabulous MUNI... the 24 line to be more exactly. I remember seeing an article a couple of months back that talked about how the 22 Fillmore was the most unreliable line in SF. Nope, they were wrong the 24 Divisadero is the most unreliable line, trust me I used to take the 22 Fillmo' back in the day and compared to the 24, I would take my chances on the 22 on any given day... Anyhow a usual 30 minute ride to my house turned into a hellish 2-hours or so.

Damned you 24!!! Someone please, let the authorities fix this snafu of a line!!!

Could it be true...?

So today after class a bunch of us headed out to have dinner at the famous Burger Meister and as usual it was time for me to catch up on people's lives and also to keep my peeps up-to-date on what's been going on in my life. So as usual talking with my favorites confidants (Chaguis & Laura) I started talking about my weekend trip, how things had gone with Jaime, and well you know my thoughts on how things might work out with her. I got to admit that so far I'm hoping that things will go in a good direction with her since we seem to have some chemistry, but then again I might be wrong, I think I'm just trippin' a bit since to a certain degree I feel a bit insecure right now (although I might not admit it...).

Anyhow after telling' my story to the girls, Chaguis just started pointing out that so far she's has noticed that I tend to go always for the same type of women (hhhmmm... ok...), and not only that, she also pointed out to me that I am 'too slow' (hhhmmm...). She said I always do the same thing: waiting around and not going straight to the point.

Well maybe she is right on that one, I am a patient person and I do take my time to sort things out, but on the other hand I don't like to be the kind of person that is right there every second of someone's life pressuring them. I guess my 'if it happens, it happens for a reason' mentality is the sole reason to blame, but besides that there's also that inner voice which says 'play it safe'. I dunno... I guess I'll just play along this time see what happends (argh!!! That's what Chaguis what pointing out...).

Ah yes, don't you just love relationships??

Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya

So today after my good friend Megan picked me up we headed over to our favorite breakfast/lunch place Hamburger Haven (they love us in that place!) to catch up on what has been happenin' in our lives during the past three months in which we hadn't seen since she traveled to Portugal, and then we headed over to the Legion of Honor.

Luckily for us it was free Tuesday admission day and we got inside to view all the wonderful art inside the museum. We decided to check also the new exhibition they have which is based on the Mayas. It was nice, definitely an exhibition all you art lovers will love, so if you want more info just click on the posts title and it will direct you to the museum's site.

A must see indeed!

Tucson...

Well finally after catching up on some sleep I'm looking back on the entire weekend with a straight head and overall it was pretty good. Let's recap a little bit on what happen'...

• There was a lot of capoeira, lots of Mestres (both that I knew and that I got to meet), lots of up and coming Contra-mestres (which for most of the part I didn't knew them before this weekend but now I know them), and also Professores (got the pleasure of meeting some of them and I'm glad I did!). The workshops that I took were good, even though I was pretty tired from drivin' during the night I manage to handle them pretty good. I got to train with Mestre Lobao, Mestre Urubu (that was a hard one, thanks Mes!), and the last one was with both Dennis and Muriel... as you would have guessed it the last two were fully Miudinho workshops which I loved!!!

• Now the batizado was great, in my opinion it was well organized although a little bit too long for my taste (probably cos I was really tired by that time). But during the intermissions between the troca de cordaos there where a couple of presentations that were just off the hook (or off the ground for that literally speaking), the one that blew me away was one in which the flippin' core started showing off their moves while the bateria played the atabaques to a fast beat. The highlight of the night was when Mestre Flavio Tucano ran up the wall and flipped off of it(one more reason to get over my fear of flippin' and just do it!). The other presentation which was very easy going on the eyes was when the girls from the academy started playing the batucada and got everyone moving (kudos to those girls, it was impressive). Lastly but not the least the other highlight of the night was when I got my ass served by Guerreira during the open rodas (...and of course as you would imagine it Mestre got word of it... no comment!).

• Incredible social scene (which I was really glad since you know, I'm a very sociable person and just meet new people everywhere, hehe...), lots of people visiting from all over the place, Florida, New York, Oregon, Washington, California, Mexico, Argentina, yep all over the place...

• On a personal level this trip was also a good one. I got to visit a new place (which I definitely plan on going back in the future), I met new people which left some nice impressions (I definitely look forward to seeing them again in future batizados), and of course I got to know Jamie a little bit better (although we had some drama during the trip it was ok... hehe, really it was!)

Anyhow that's pretty much the mini recap of what went down... there's a lot more of course but for now that's all I'm writting, ha!

Laters!

Road Trippin'...

Man, oh man... I just got back from Tucson and it was great!!!! I love capoeira, the only thing is that driving all night long has taken a lot... I'm pretty tired I'm gonna take a nap.. ZZZzzzZZZ...

Late night...

Man this sucks, again late night on the PC... I should know better than that, althought while working on the layout of what will be my web page, I just decided to browse a little bit around to see what I came across and for some reason I came across a little interesting blog site that has some info about Guatemala!!!

I have decided to make a little link to it since you know, I love my country and you never know there might be someone out there who might be looking for info and might just find it in this little site. There's only one little set-back for all you English speakers... it's in Spanish, so start studying the language!

So here it is, enjoy!!!!!

Guatemala en 360 Grados

Road Trip!!!

Oh yeah, I'm getting out of the city again! This time my destination is gonna be Tucson, Arizona where the Capoeira Malandragem group is gonna have their 7th annual batizado. Of course I'm pretty thrilled about going not only because I know that I'm gonna see a lot of capoeira, but also because it's gonna be the first time that I visit the state of Arizona... well actually I was once there before but that was way when I was a little kid and I don't remember, so technically this is gonna be my first time... or something... uuummm... yeah...

Anyways I'm kinda bummed that I'm gonna be the only person from our group that is going (well that's a student anyway) so I guess I'm gonna have to go in there and represent our group, hehehe... Either way I guess I'm gonna have to because Mestre is also going and I'm sure he's gonna be on my ass to go into the roda and play a lot, hehehehe...

Now the only setback in all of this is that we are driving down there, and well... I love road trips and all but this one is gonna be like what, an 18-hour drive or something?!?!? Ouch! I guess it's the small price I have to pay for adventuring out there, meeting new people, expanding my horizons and what not...

OH well gotta go pack!

Monday Morning...

Early Monday morning...

Well I should be sleeping right now, but right after I helped granny to her ride I just decide to log on for a while and try to change the view of the blog. Although to no great success, I have discovered that almost three years of not playing around with HTML and XML really do take it's toll. Hehehe... I feel like a fish out of the water trying to remember the format of the code and how to write it. It's ok, eventually I will remember it is like riding a bike right??

Anyhow I got to change a couple of things, now all I need to do is practice some more so I can remember well. Also I need to get some software so I can start working on some images for the background... oh yes I will make this blog nice... muahahahaha!!!

Ok enough being up so early is making me act strange! Argh!

Cleanin' Day!

Another lovely Sunday!

I just love Sundays, it's the day of the week in which I just lay around in bed resting from the hassles of the previous week, and also getting ready for the week ahead. This Sunday was no exception, except for the fact that I got up and cleaned my room. Finally after having stuff laying around for about two weeks I decided to go over what I don't need anymore to throw it away and make room for the new stuff. Finally I got more 'workspace' and it's also more comfty, although since the room is little everything still looks cramped up... hhhmmm... it's ok thought little by little I'll make it look better.

Anyhow changing the subject this weekend was pretty good, yesterday after going to work I went with the girls (Chagua, Formi and Claudine) to the 8th Annual Resfest which took place at the Palace of Fine Arts.

We got two see two sets of films, the first being Bushwhacked! in which included various films bashing Bush. It covered everything from the 2000 presidential election to the Iraq war. It was pretty good, even thought I'm not into politics that much I had a good time watching it since the entire creativity from the director's blew my mind.

The second set was called Warped Vision which featured music videos from England's Warp Records, and although some of the videos were indeed a little bit crazy at times they were good. The music was excellent, I'll definitely will have to check the site to get the names of the songs.

Overall I'm pretty happy that I went to see the films, it was a new experience which I really liked and I'm gonna be on the lookout for next year's festival... hehehe, I gotta get back to cleaning the room now, later!

Loooooonnnnggg week....

Man, oh man... So this week was both crazy, and long... Let's see where to start?? Well let's see I'll just start by putting a small summary of each day... (that way I don't have to type too much =oP I'm tired...)

Monday

Let's see monday... So I was hosting a fellow capoeirista from Mexico, who was just passing through and I spent the whole day with her. I took her around town since she is a photo journalist I drove her to the 'touristic places', since she was making a journal of both places in San Francisco and also the reaction of tourists taking their pictures with the landmarks. I gotta admit it was pretty cool since she was capturing the raw moment in which every group, couple or single people enjoyed their own little moment.
She has her little own gallery with a known magazine from Mexico named Proceso. To check her gallery go here.

Anyhow after going all over the city we went to train at Capp st. and it was a good class, felt good to train hard on floor movements since I hadn't train hard on my wrist for almost three weeks! I was kinda tired afterwards thought... Too much action over the weekend batizado and herd training... I crashed hard that night...
Oh yeah I forgot to call my dad for his B-day... (hhhmmm... I know I'm a bad son...)

Tuesday

Ah yes... I was stressing out all day long, since I though Mestre was gonna arrive this day. Since I haven't connected my cell phone I could afford to leave the house since he could call at any time saying that he was already at the airport. So I decided to start building and testing Ben's PC and so far that went good.

Eventually I found out that Mestre was not gonna arrive today but the day after, so after stressing out all day long I decided to go to train, but when I got there I just wasn't feeling too energetic so I just decided to stick around to watch class and then went home.
For the second day straight I forgot to call my dad... (I know I suck... =o/ )

Wednesday

Everything started ok on Wed. I got a call from home... hehehe, finally talked with my family. Did what I had to do hehehe... Then afterwards I decided to keep doin' tests on Ben's PC when it crashed... (Bad thing # 1)

After freakin' out and trying to fix it (which needless to say it didn't go well), I decided it would be best to leave it alone and just left my house to teach the kids at the school... Everything went fine, I had Salsicha and Tapioca in class to help me out with the music and stuff. =oD

Things where looking up at that point, then I got back home and started working on the PC again (damn you PC!) which needless to say took almost the rest of my afternoon and well it didn't went well... Oh well I moved on and I went to pick up Mestre before class and finally said goodbye to the Mestre mobile... (It was fun car sitting!)

In class everything was going fine, until I got kicked in the face... (Bad thing #2) I'm still angry at myself for getting kicked in the most ridiculous way, a tesoura! It's not even a kick, but still I got a foot on my face (it's ok let it go... let it go...), luckily I didn't get anything broken... Although I do think I got my nose croocked a bit... hhmmm... Oh well it's ugly anyway... =oP

On the bright side Ben & Candance gave me a gift... =oD A little souvenir from NY, an arm brace with my nickname... (well actually it's not spelled right but it's ok... Oh and Candance the face is ok, don't worry about it... I'll get you back in the future... =o) hehe...)

Thursday

So yesterday I wasn't home all day long, I went with granny to the doctor in the morning. In the afternoon we went down to Redwood City to visit some relatives, and also to get the car's accelerator fixed.

Then while the car was getting fixed I decided to go check out Fry's down in Palo Alto, and I got lost... (hhhmmm...) Wound up driving for more than an hour... It sucked!! Oh well anyway I found the place and got some prices on hardware. Nothing interesting... Then I went to pick up the car and came back home...

Back home I decided to keep on fixing Ben's PC, needless to say it didn't work, although I'm looking at some progress, although I worked on it 'til the wee hours of the morning... (damn you PC!)

Friday

Today I got up pretty early and couldn't go back to sleep although I was really tired. Then after a looonnngg ass morning Mestre picked me up and we went to the school to teach the kids. Mestre evaluated my progress with them and was happy (oh yeah!), after that I came back home and worked on the PC again... (no comment)

Ultimately I took I small nap and then went on to class, which was not hard but I just was too tired. Afterwards went to Taqueria Can-Cun (I love that place...), and now I'm home...

Now I'm going to sleep...! Oh yeah!