Massages and weekend

I urgently need a massage, any good soul out there? Especially one using my dear moxa, those great massages (but, unfortunately smeeellllyyyy!)...

Are you coming?

Madrid 14th September

Faithless

Massive Attack

RadioSoulwax presents:

Nite Versions

Deep Dish

etc

etc

etc

Massive Attack - Live With Me

Another gem!
'Been thinking about you baby...
Live with me.'

Car wash, yeah yeah...

Hurrah, this is the 300th post! Seems quite a lot, hey?

Anyways, yesterday went to the car wash and decided to wash it by myself, without using the tunnel. I've used the pressure wash and behind me there was a large line of cars waiting. Mostly were guys. I felt quite observed indeed. Why did I feel like I was washing my Bichinho like her?

Thai memories

The sun showed up today, bringing with him the summer temperatures again. Bless! Saturday the winds wanted to take us with them, it's was seriously windy and strange...

Well, the winds weren't only bad, also brought a smile from faraway lands! Winds of change, of whatever they want to call them, winds bring change. In my case, maybe not physical change, but some sort of platform. Don't exactly know where to yet, but something clicked inside... The eternal doubt? An answer? Have to sleep on it. Again! :)

Sorry, back on my subjective moods...It's the wind.

In any case, me and my friend decided to celebrate the reentrée from the summer holidays (for most people that's the case, mine is basically the opposite) by dining at the spectacular Thai Gardens next Friday. I'm a lover of Thai food - in Prague we lived practically upstairs one of the best Thai restaurants in town and we used to go there at least once or twice a week. In Lemon Leaf we even got a 25% discount for being usuals and we used to know all the waiters, chefs and of course the Romanian owner.

In Shanghai, Pedro took me to one of the most exquisite Thai restaurants, in a elegant villa once owned by a British gentleman who was the president of the dog-racing course in the 1920's. Lan Na Thai is one of the most beautiful restaurants I've ever been, decorated graciously with gorgeous artifacts from Thailand, India and China. Dining by candle light, in that villa, in the middle of a garden, looking out at the lake...you could be anywhere. But this was in the middle of a busy district of one of the busiest cities in the world. Really amazing.

Then, later on, one of the restaurants that stayed in my mind is also a Thai, this time in Beirut. It's a Blue Elephant restaurant, and once you step in you're transported into a Thai village/paradise, with waterfalls, rustic furniture and plenty of plants. It really is cosy and the food fantastic. It demands good company as the setting is inspirational...

Well, having reminiscenced here, let's see if the next Thai restaurant will also stay in my mind...

THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES -

This song might be one of my favourites. It's a version of 'I don't know why' by the great Stevie Wonder in 1969.
I love this band from when they started, more than a decade ago. I've only saw them live once, in Budapest and it was on a Summer Festival. They had a slot and because they got there late (it was BA's flight strike!) they could only sing for 45 mins... They change their singers every once in a while, but N'Dea is the original girl, she truly is amazing.

To Morrow

To Morrow? hahaha

Rainy weekend

It's raining and it's 16º...

Crazy August!

I already booked my remaining two weeks summer holidays for the second half of September. I only hope the weather helps me this time, as at least one week I intend to go to the beach... I'll be crossing my fingers and little toes for sunny warm weather!!

Why do we yawn? It's all about empathy

"It starts with a tingling, itch-like sensation at the back of the mouth, develops into a deep intake of breath, followed by an equally resonant exhalation - often accompanied by a satisfying groan. To the medical profession it is a "brainstem-mediated bodily response"; to anyone else it's a yawn.
Most animals with any backbone yawn spontaneously but only humans, chimps and possibly some species of monkey suffer from contagious yawning - when the sight or thought of someone else yawning starts a chain reaction.
Why yawning should be infectious has foxed some the greatest minds in science but the latest study into the topic suggests it may have something to do with emotional empathy - we yawn when we see someone else yawning because of our need to empathise with other people." - The Independent

Very curious observation, in fact I'm yawning right now...Are you empathising with me?

Martin Solveig - Rejection

Ah ahhh ahh, rejection...

Say it Right

Very sexy song...

Something funny...

This is Anita, my avatar in the Simpsons, I've simpsonized myself :) Don't I look beautiful? Go and try it!

Taxes

Isn't it great when you try to pay your dues, i.e., your taxes on time and, for some idiotic reason those taxes forms don't reach the GOD Tax Office and you realise you must pay a fine, situated in 3 figures, not to upset that GOD? I remember doing everything on time, since I had to pay a 4 digit figure and on top of that I must pay more for a stupid internet problem??? And because it's August, not even the phone line is working with humans, just a stupid machine ordering us to press numbers.

Arrggh, why can't I win the 54 million Euros of the lottery? Whhhhyyyyyyy???? I know I'd still have to pay taxes, but believe me, I'd PAY for someone to do it for me, just like in Prague, bless!

Earthquakes and macroeconomy...

Woke up this morning with a bit of a twist. The bed was shaking and upstairs I heard the sound of quick steps running. Yes, an earthquake. Apparentely it shook 9 provinces of Spain with a 5.1 magnitude.

I thought I had a nightmare and turned the other way :)

Read The Economist that predicts that Spain will grow 3.7% this year, the highest rate amongst the 13 biggest world economies.

That's from the August view that the magazine does on the macroeconomic situation of the 13 biggies.
After Spain, the hightest growth rates will be in Australia (3,6%), Sweden (3,5%), Germany (2,8%), Great Britain (2,8%), Holand (2,8%), Belgium (2,7), Japan (2,6%), Canada (2,5%), Switzerland (2,4%), France (2%), Italy (2%) and USA (2%).

(Is this too clever for a Sunday?)...

Little cuties

Oddities on saturday

Illustration found here.

What to do in Madrid on a hot Saturday, alone? Everyone is on holiday...

* Well, first of all read the news and the oddities section, like the one of the New Zealand couple who wanted to name their newborn son as 4Real! They decided for the name after seeing the unborn baby on the ultrasound scan and realizing their baby was 'for real'. They're having a hard time with the Registry, as 4Real isn't being accepted and they must choose another name for the baby. They came up with Superman, but they say they'll call the baby 4Real, no matter what! :)

* Last month, after 13 years of persecution in Spain, 'The Loner' was arrested in Portugal when he was trying to rob yet another bank. Spain's most wanted thief, saw himself as a Robin Hood-style figure and said he robbed banks only because they stole from the public. :)

* A giant ''LEGO'' man has been washed up on a Dutch beach but no one knows where it came from or what it is. Read it here and see the video of Mr Ego Leonard. :)

* Footage purporting to show Russian explorers claiming the seafloor beneath the North Pole was in fact a scene from the 1997 film, Titanic. It took a 13-year-old Finnish boy to call a local newspaper pointing out that the footage looked identical to that in the film. :)

See you later!

My DNA....

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

How cool is this? This slide shows my choices about a handful of things, art to favourite treat... Have a go and find out a lot about youself, just by choosing images that relate most to your personality. Love it!

My ten wishes

I'd like to live when men were gentlemen and women were ladies, and everyone knew where they stood. Ideally, I'd like to be roused on a hammock on a tropical beach, where the sand is powder-white and the sea the deepest sapphire-blue, and I'd like to be a writer, writing something I always meant to write, and maybe changing the world forever; if I thought about it, I really need to go travelling much more than I do, with no strings, no visas, just the freedom to move and get away whenever I want, and sometimes I wish I could be an artist, messing around with media and materials, really doing something new. I'd like to make any plant flourish in any landscape, however derelict and however poisoned it may be, and it would be amazing to see the melancholy beauty, the perfect symetry of the Taj Mahal in India. Pets? I'd like a tiger you can cuddle and whose breath doesn't smell of yesterday's widbeast. Finally, I'd like to throw a beach party and maybe I'd invite some tango dancers to amaze us with their sensual moves...

Oscar the cat

This cat you see here is, apparentely, a feline Dr House. He lives in an hospital and he's said to predict who's going to die soon. He somehow senses death and when he does he jumps to the bed of the patients and curls up next to them during their final hours. Read it here.

Vacations from office

Lollipop

I lick your icecream and you lick my lollipop!
Cool beat for summer with intense lyrics and images! Be inspired!

Lost - Lisa Pure

I like it :=)

Interview # 2

She goes:

- Tell me a bit about yourself.

I start babbling....

She keeps her head down, reading the whole CV on the table. Meanwhile I keep babbling.

I finish.
She starts talking.

- Do you know for which position we are interviewing you?

I say that I've applied for 2, being one of them a bit optimistic, but nonetheless I tried, having in account I fit the profile.

She feels a bit unconfortable.

She says:

- We were thinking of an Assistant...(at this point I start winking unconditionally)...Buyer...( here, I stop winking and look around the crowded office packed with boxes of samples of Diesel jeans, Prada perfumes, Guess bikinis, D&G beach towels, Timberland t-shirts, and for a moment I thought it could be ok). But then she mentions the forbidden words: Excel sheets... I woke up and wanted to kill her for wasting my precious time!

- What? Nobody told me on the phone that I'd be sitting for this. I'm sorry, but I'm not interested.

- It was obviously a mistake, sorry about this. The positions you've applied for are already taken. And this one is clearly way below your experience and qualifications.

- Well right it is! You can have it for the next sucker. Not for me, thanks!!!!!!!

I honestly wanted to kill them! Luring me with diamonds (all that merchandise about, after all it's an internet outlet for highstreet brands) and then offering cheap glass! Arrrrgggh!

So, yes, it was another let down!