Just keep swimming

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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…

I’m not really Brazilian, you know….

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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.

ICS on Desire Z

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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.

Ubuntu Rollback

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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.

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

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

  3. 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…

Spring is Here

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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.