No apologies

I am tired of apologizing for who I am and what I believe.

Life is way too short. I'm not going to spend it apologizing for being me. And I'm not going to change it either.

Sweet 16 x 2

Enough Said!

Some things just stick with you...

My son is now 6 years old and I have become more aware that whatever I say/do, he'll always remember. Okay, I admit I do have memories going back to when I was 2, but they're kind of hazy.

Some of my favorite things of my childhood were the day trips we'd take with my Dad. Cultural stuff. During our school breaks, my father would occasionally take a day off from work and take us on "adventures", like a ferry boat across the bay, day at the zoo, long bike rides on Sundays, and, of course, museums. My Mom was not into museums and such, so we'd have some alone time with Daddy.

I always loved the Museum of Natural History at Quinta da Boa Vista, in Rio. I remember vividly the noise of the floorboards creaking when you walked in. But the most impressive thing was what my Dad said about the exhibits. There was a wax face of a woman, and the nose was missing. It was so gross and terrifying to a perhaps 5yo -can't remember how old I was. Well, I guess the woman suffered from some sort of flesh-eating disease, but my Dad said she was like that because she got a germ from drinking water from the faucet. That was totally ENOUGH for me, I was so deadly afraid I'd never drink water from the faucet (in Brazil the water is not exactly safe to drink as in the US).

I also remember this field trip we took in kindergarten, to this huge firehouse. AMAZING! The firefighters demonstrated so many things, they jumped from buildings, they used a rope to go down a wall, they slid down the poles. Oh, yeah, there was the thick white foam we played with. I remember the white cafeteria, the sandwiches and the little cups of groselha juice (yuck, I hated that, I drank nothing). We had another field trip to the beach, and I deadly afraid of going into the water because the kids found this huge sea urchin, and I didn't want to hurt my feet. Oh well...

Bringing the past back has its price. I had an argument with my Mom yesterday. She can't believe I remember this stuff. My friend's daughter turned 9 - I feel old! - and had a manicure to celebrate her birthday. So I reminded my Mom that I also had my first manicure when I was 9. I grew up around women mostly - 4 aunts and 1 uncle (I'm also the oldest of all my cousins and there was only one boy). So, naturally, I watched everyone getting their nails done - one time my Dad's cousins came over with blue nail polish on and I thought it was the greatest thing ever. Anyway, just about every week I was asking my Mom if I could have my nails done. Finally, at the occasion of my cousin's baptism, she finally gave in. As my Mom was doing my nails, my 6-yo sister walks in and demands to have hers done too, which my Mom promptly agrees. What? I waited so long for this, and my sister just gets it with no effort. Just to add insult to injury, my 3yo cousin wanted to copy us so my aunt did hers too. I was devastated.

So I had an argument with my Mom that the oldest kids always suffer, since they have to conquer everything, and the younger ones just "get lucky". She agreed with me, since she's the oldest of 4, and my Dad is also the oldest, so I complained to her that they should have been more responsible, that they should have denied my sister to get her nails done until she was 9.

But life is not fair, what can I do? Everything that took me years to get, my sister just had it handed to her. Except, of course, her driver's license. THAT she had to wait 3 more years to get. Oh yeah, but she can't ride the bus to go to her friend's house and do a group assignment. I'd have to drive her... Oy vey!

"You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."

I have waited so long for this, and it's finally here!

This afternoon we watched Alice in Wonderland 3D (or rather, "Underland"). I don't know how to put it in words properly...

In a way I was disappointed because the movie wasn't exactly what I expected, and because our seats were on the side of the theatre with a railing in front, which kept reminding me we weren't really in Underland. On the other hand, it was still great and Tim Burton once more showed his greatness as a film maker.

The art direction is just too awesome to describe and I bet Colleen Atwood had a blast designing the costumes. For some reason the red playing card guards kept reminding me of the Star Wars stormtroopers. But that's the geek in me... LOL

How wonderful was it to hear the lovely voices of Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman playing the cat and the caterpillar. Talking about Alan's familiar voice, Hubby exclaimed "it's the guy from Harry Potter" (seriously, I'd expect more from a guy married to a Bachelor in Film).

Johnny Depp is once more delightful as the Madhatter. His character has the most unique accent, crazy laughter, and flows easily between the thin lines of normalcy and madness. On a more detailed note - I saw the folks at Imdb caught that too - one pupil is more dilated than the other, which denotes brain injury.

Helena Bonham-Carter' Queen of Hearts - or rather, Red Queen - stole the show along with the Madhatter. So much that I was pulling for her and the Jabberwocky. The White Queen was just too plain and boring - Yawn! - and the eyebrows rather distracting.

Oh yeah... Unfortunately there was a moron who did not silence his cell so we were subjected to the ringing through a portion of the film. I say OFF WITH HIS HEAD!

Breakdown, not Breaking Dawn

I wrote this review for my book club, so I thought I should publish it here as well. BTW, spoilers galore below. If you haven't read the book and will be mad at me for spoiling it, don't read this - although I think I may be doing you a favor, saving your time and $$$$.

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

Great! My son has learned to lie - really well, may I add. So well, he duped his father into believing it.

He told his father I had allowed him to take my Nintendo DS to before/after care school. I was never asked anything. My husband, knowing the elementary school wouldn't allow video games on the premises, left the device on the daycare cubby. What a genius idea, no?

Little guy is very sneaky. He knows that, at home, he has to ask every time he wants to get his hands on it.

When I arrived to pick him up, I found the DS and was furious. I picked it up and immediately noticed the game cartridge was missing. Of course, he didn't take a regular game cartridge, it had to be the R4 with all my games in it. There were games in there it took me weeks of practice to get where I was and I bet it's all lost now.

When I picked up the console, I noticed the label with my name on had been wiped clean, as if someone had tried to take it off. But I can't bluntly accuse anyone of stealing it, so I have to be polite and just ask if everyone happened to see if it *fell* somewhere (virtually impossible, since you have to push the game inward in order to come out).

Long story short, T has been grounded for 2 months without video games or TV. I just hung up on my mother, who said this is exaggerated, he's only 6, bla bla bla. Riiight....

And the husband was grounded too...

"Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream"

It's year 2154 - no, they never said that but it's on the video log. A paraplegic marine is sent to Planet Pandora to fill his deceased twin brother's shoes in a mission: to infiltrate the native Na'vis camp and get them to move. Or else...

Translated: Blue Zebra-Human Hybrids playing Pocahontas in 3D

Don't get me wrong, the 3D is freaking amazing and it's probably the most expensive movie ever made. And every penny shows! Visually stunning and very entertaining. But the storyline is very predictable, already done many times before.

Definitely a must-see in Real3D or Imax. It will certainly not have the same impact if watched at home (even on HDTV).

Fortunately the 3D just gave depth to the movie and didn't bother me too much. I got a little dizzy in the beginning, and then got used to it.

BTW, I'm pretty sure there will be a sequel.

Snowmaggedon 2010

The DC area is buried in snow. During the past 7 days, we've had roughly 4ft of snow.
Hundreds of thousands of people were without power, and people are still stranded at home since the streets weren't properly plowed until today.

Our deck is completely covered! I don't know if we'll be able to grill anything before the 4th of July. It took us 3 days to shovel the driveway.

Oh, how much I hate this white sh!t...

So much to do, so little time - 2009 in review

The year went by quickly, again. It seems time flies after you turn 15, and hits the speed of light once you turn 30.

2009 started with a blow - my grandfather passing away. And it ended really well, with Sean Goldman returning to the US and the fact we were able to spend the Holidays with my family in Brazil (something I hadn't done since 1998).

One of the highlights of the year certainly was seeing Cate Blanchett live doing a Streetcar Named Desire at the Kennedy Center, in November. Okay, I'll rephrase that: one of the highlights of my life!!!

I also bought a new car in July and have been driving around quite a bit - all the way to Toronto, for example. Spent Memorial Day week at the theme parks in Orlando, went to NYC and had a blast with friends, been around quite a bit. Oh, that includes my first time ever protesting - at the Bring Sean Home rally in March, in front of the White House; first time at a press conference - Congressman Chris Smith introducing HR 3240 in July; and my first Congressional Hearing - Left-Behind Parenting testifying before Congress in December.

Of course, let me gush over my little T, who started kindergarten and turned 6 in a great Spongebob-themed birthday party prepared by yours truly.

I am also happy to report I read more books than in 2008, which included the Twilight Series (not Saga), which I have a love-hate relationship with.

Push (Sapphire)
Water for elephants (S. Gruel)
The Weight of Silence (Gudenkauf)
Middlesex (Eugenides)
Breaking Dawn (Meyer)
Kabul Beauty School (Rodriguez)
Eclipse (Meyer)
New Moon (Meyer)
Twilight (Meyer)
The Other Queen (Gregory)
A Reliable Wife (Goolrick)
The Virgin's Lover (Gregory)
Color me Butterfly (Marlow)
A Long Way Gone - Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Beah)
Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury)
Watchmen (Moore)
The Vampire Lestat (Rice)
The Sleeping Beauty Proposal (Strohmeyer)
The Queen's Fool (Gregory)
Letters to Ebay (Farkas)
Smoke Screen (Brown)

Seen in theatres in 2009, but not written about due to lack of time...

New Moon
Couples Retreat
Toy Story 1 & 2 (3D)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Julie & Julia
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (3D)
The Proposal
Up! (3D)
Night at the Museum 2
Monsters vs. Aliens (3D)
Coraline (3D)
Marley & Me

It was about one movie per month, which is pretty good for a parent. Best movie was Up! Pixar does it again, and Carl reminds me so much of my husband's late Grandpa. I was in tears during the beginning of the movie - who wasn't?

Well, Happy New Year, everyone! Health, Peace, and $$$ in your pockets as well (cause we need it, right?). Here's a wish for better days!

How cool is this?

LOST'S LAST SUPPER