Renata

Just keep swimming

Renata — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:31:50 +0000

I used to swim in São Paulo and it was the best thing EVAH. Then I moved to Canada and couldn’t find classes close to where I live or where I worked, and lost everything I had learned, which is very bad. I did lots and lots of yoga, and I really love yoga, it is AWESOME (I love it so much I am technically a yoga teacher, but, yeah, that’s another story) but, gotta say, there was a recent McDonaldization of the yoga studios here in Toronto and I am really spoiled when it comes to yoga – I like GOOD classes, not “gym-like” yoga. And these are becoming hard to find. It’s been disappointing to do yoga in most places. Most good studios are not close enough to work or home to become a choice.

Then I started looking for swimming lessons again, and decided to take a look at UofT Athletic Centre, which is in my way home. It is GREAT. The membership is reasonably priced, there are plenty of drop-in programs and I am ok with the prices of the registered programs – they are good. Like, there are competitive athletes who were/are trained there, so my money is sort of funding these people, I like this idea.

I’m now doing two very basic courses, although in the past I’ve been able to swim 2km/day 4 days a week and even learned butterfly, but 2 years outside of a pool is deadly for your swimming skills. So I’m interested in fixing my strokes (I’ve been told by at three teachers I REALLY know how to kick, well… I know I have VERY STRONG LEGS. but ridiculously weak arms) and getting more endurance, so I can join their swim masters club – people who swim like I used to when I was in São Paulo, or more. I’m not really into competition, just for fun.

Last night, by the end of the class, the teacher told me to “swim some laps”, and I started. Since I begun, two weeks ago, I couldn’t do more than 100 yards nonstop. Then magic happened and I kept swimming, 5×1, and only felt tired after 600 yds. And after this crazy swim spree, I rode 10km back home – a mini-duathlon! Of course today my leg muscles ache like there’s no tomorrow, but I rode to work again. In high heels, because I’m classy.

I have another class tomorrow, I’m wondering if I will be able to swim those laps again…

Seven Months

I’m not really Brazilian, you know….

Renata — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:12:39 +0000

A very interesting phenomenon are the friends I’ve made here in Canada who, once they get to know me, get interested in Brazilian culture. The only problem, I’m a HORRIBLE reference for the kind of thing they ask me about – what Brazil exports is what I loathe the most.

Take, for instance, a guy who tried to befriend me by telling his interest in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Being born and raised in Rio, I can only associate jiu-jitsu practitioners to horrendous brainless douchebags. I tried to explain that to him in a nice way, but I don’t think he believed me. A co-worker was being super nice and friendly and told me how much she loved this brazilian music she heard, she felt like dancing to it immediately, and if I could recommend some bands to her – of course it was AXÉ, something I utterly dislike. Well, at least I could help her, because everyone knows Ivete and Daniela Mercury…

I have been asked about movies, bands, and even food I dislike or don’t know, because that’s the reason I left the country: I don’t care/like the mainstream Brazilian culture. I don’t like soccer, Axé, Pagode, Samba, Carnaval, Feijoada (damn, I don’t even eat pork). My favourite food is sushi! I am a fraud!

The next time you need recommendation in asian gore movies, or nordic electronic bands you can ask me. But brazilian art, maybe someone else.

Paul Rabbit on the Academy Brazilian of Letters

A bit of bang

Renata — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:46:44 +0000

Husband is DJing tonight on Dundas West and I’m super happy :D
I suck as a camera(wo)man, but the video is funny anyway :D – you should go, it’s gonna be awesome!

Cultural Shocks

ICS on Desire Z

Renata — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:23:10 +0000

I have this HTC Desire Z for more than a year now and I really love it. I think it’s really sad that, nowadays, a year old phone is considered an obsolete phone. The Desire Z is an amazing phone and I don’t feel like buying another just for the sake of the novelty, even though I broke its glass recently.

Ice Cream Sandwich – Android 4 – hasn’t been officially released for my phone yet, and probably won’t, because it’s an old phone. It doesn’t really matter, because I haven’t been using official ROMs since… ever. I run Cyanogenmod since the very first week, and, more recently – due to the lack of nightlies of Cyanogenmod, ILWT – very interesting and efficient mod, if you ask me + Go Launcher Ex. My phone is fast and the battery lasts a lifetime.

This night I had a bit of insomnia and decided to give this Audacity ICS mod a try. The installation was quick and painless and actually pretty fast. But, hell, the thing is SO TACKY, it looks like one of those “things from the future as seen in the 70s”. I cannot have my phone looking like that. It was also considerably slower than ILWT and there was something about the font face used that really, really annoyed me. I couldn’t stand it for more than 15 minutes.

I honestly hope the new CM9 looks… better. You know, aesthetics is important, too. That’s why Apple makes a buttload of money with that piece of garbage that is the iPhone 4 (I hate that thing, but it’s beautiful, beautiful). Yep, I have one too, and dislike it immensely. But it’s pretty, you can’t deny.

The Windows Phone affair

Ubuntu Rollback

Renata — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:27:19 +0000

If you, like me, think the new Ubuntu is horribly b0rkd and imprecise, welcome! This post is for you! I’ll teach in few easy steps how to rollback to the previous release. It should work for any Ubuntu rollback. First of all, go to the Terminal.

sudo sed -i ‘s/precise/oneiric/g’ /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo vim /etc/apt/preferences and add the following lines:

Package: * Pin: release v=11.10 Pin-Priority: 1001

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

That’s it. You may need to sudo apt-get -f dist upgrade and I don’t guarantee your system will be wonderful after a rollback (you know how these things are…). I hope that helped!

Update: It took me 3hours to recover my Ubuntu 11.10. I should have started from scratch…

Aborto e Casamento Gay

Renata — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 19:12:25 +0000

No related posts.

Spring is Here

Renata — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:18:01 +0000

There are so many things I love about spring!

The squirrels!
The flowers!
The birds!
The cherry blossoms!
Cycling!

Everything looks beautiful, beautiful, oh I love the park and the lake!

But, there’s something I really hate about spring. HAY FEVER. I am back to nasal steroids. Pollen and me, we’re no good friends.

Haircut

Renata — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:05:42 +0000

I’ve been trying to find a way to explain to hairstylists, for a while, that I want my hair to be SHORT, REALLY SHORT. “I want a pixie cut”. “Trim here”. “You can cut it really short”. Nothing worked, and I have been disappointed with my last three haircuts. Thankfully, my hair grows fast and I can try a new cut just a couple of months later.

Today I decided to explain NOTHING and play dumb. I went to the salon and said “HIIII I WANT TO LOOK LIKE EMMA WATSON“. The stylist even had a picture of the haircut and said she loooooved doing it!

Man, if I knew it was that simple!

No related posts.

“E por que você não volta pro Brasil? “

Renata — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:23:58 +0000

Já disse que tem um monte de razões, mas todo dia vejo nos meus feeds de notícias alguma coisa que me lembra o quanto do Brasil eu não quero nem o pó. A última, que merece post histericozinho, é essa notícia que o Supremo Tribunal Federal está votando a descriminalização do aborto de fetos anencéfalos. E tem um rio, um mar de instituições protestando POR ISSO, como se fosse um grande drama.

Tem vários lances errados acontecendo aí. Em primeiro lugar, o que mais me incomoda, é que a essa altura do campeonato, o Brasil já deveria ter amadurecido o suficiente em respeito a direitos da mulher para estar discutindo, e votando, a legalização do aborto. Mas nãããão. Não são nem capazes de falar “aborto” quando querem defender o ponto de vista nas notícias, usam o eufemismo “interrupção da gravidez”. É aborto sim. E é um direito de qualquer uma que fica grávida. Não é problema meu nem de ninguém. Se alguém é contra aborto, beleza, não faz, né? Mas deixa o serviço lá disponível pra quem precisar. Que encheção de saco, mania de se meter na vida alheia.

Em segundo lugar, daí que a mulher ficou grávida e descobriu que o feto tem anencefalia. Acontece. Isso significa que ela vai carregar por meses um feto que ou vai morrer durante a gravidez ou vai morrer logo após. Em casos muito raros, vivem um pouco mais que isso. A lei lá é pra permitir que a moça tenha a possibilidade de abortar se quiser. Se ela quiser sofrer e ver como é um feto anencéfalo (sei lá, tem gente masoquista) e enterrar o natimorto, e curtir sofrimento pós-parto, problema dela também, não tenho nada a ver com isso. Mas se ela quiser evitar isso tudo, ELA VAI TER ESSE DIREITO SEM MUITO STRESS. Mas a bandinha de pessoas que se metem na vida alheia está lá, de pé, patrulhando, e querem obrigar essas moças a curtirem o sofrimento de uma gravidez que vai resultar em um natimorto, mesmo que elas não queiram isso.

O fato é que o Brasil é demasiado machista e se importa demais com a vida alheia. Essas duas coisas combinadas resultam em leis retrógradas e muito atraso social. Como melhorar isso? Eu honestamente não faço idéia. Acho que só com muita educação, e a educação no Brasil vai de mal a pior, então eu vejo um futuro PÉSSIMO nesse aspecto. Eu não acredito no futuro do Brasil. Eu vejo a sociedade puxando o país para trás, pra um conservadorismo que deveria ter sido esquecido. Ignoram fatos, se prendem a dogmas.

O Brasil se parece cada vez mais com aqueles Estados ali ao Sul do Canadá, sabe…

You are my sunshine

Renata — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:00:48 +0000

Having been born and raised in Rio, a city just 22 degrees south of the equator, the effects of sunshine and heat were, most of the time, ANNOYING. It’s always hot, sunny, and hot, really hot. And, believe me, going to school, to work, 40 hours a week, under this neverending heatwave, is exhaustive. The sun is your worst enemy.

Then I spent two years in São Paulo, a bit southernmost, a city with a terrible climate. It can be hot and cloudy, you have a very dry winter – no rain at all for a month or longer – and the pollution levels are unbearable. I am glad I only lived there for two years, my skin didn’t like it. But it got enough sunshine, though.

When I moved to Toronto, I understood why the sun can be important. We are 43 degrees north of the equator, meaning there are days the sun will be shining for less than 9 hours. And you will probably be stuck at the office during those 9 hours. You won’t see any daylight. It gets DEPRESSING after a while. So, when the days start to become longer again and you see the sun outside and you can go out without wearing a parka, you get really happy! Your body is producing chemicals which make you smile again! Birds are singing, squirrels are playing, there’s no reason to be sad. And you MUST enjoy it, because after the summer solstice the days will become shorter again, that’s how planets work.

So, now that the spring equinox has come, I have 4 full months to SMILE with longer days! Hooray for the sun in MAH FACE… NOT! Today is raining, and supposedly the temperatures are dropping for the next week. Well, it was good while it lasted.

Almost Spring. Almost