after several turns around the sun riding this water dripping blue haze rock i come to a halt. i come to a halt and contemplate . before me i see and sense a sun. burning gently in bursts you can never predict. in awe, acknowledging my heart freshly lit ... i stare.

 

a woman. TALL s i l k y legs , a raw smile that melts half the greek gods i know and a deep answering question on each reply she flashes my way.

 

my eyes grow as big and powerfull has the oldest and most beautiful leaf tree you have ever felt the shadow of . Windy eyes. a long warm and embracing bright shadow that caresses your hands, arms and lips.

 

Once i shiver i remember no more what was before.

i find myself breathing my big bang. a universe expanded.

a feeling named love has just

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So ... swimming through my Twitter stream there was someone sharing a link to some surprising photos from Afghanistan.  There were nice photos of the 60's,  where all seemed much more modern that Portugal for instance at the same time. Modern, relaxed and just plain nice.

 

And i tough what happened here ? here's my very short findings on this subject.

 

I'll start in the very begining of the XX century when Afghnaistan was amidst their War of Independence from the British.  Fight here ... fight there and so on. More or less independent with strong British influence.

 

Around 1919 we have King Amanullah fighting for progressive reforms such as woman's rights, educational rights, and freedom of press. He travelled to Europe and got impressed with the modern movements there so he started a very liberal path to modernization going much further than other countries already on the same path like Turkey (Ataturk) and Iran (Rezah Sha).

 

Among those changes were tax increases and compulsory military service. Also poligamy and children marriage were forbidden and enforced with an ID provided by the government.
Rural backward independent areas were not happy with the central intervention on private affairs.
 Tribal leaders lost all power as everything went through the new central government system (military recruitment, law interpretation, etc.) The Reaction of Afghan Clerical and Tribal Forces to this social change led to Khost Rebellion defeated in 1925.

 

Eventually the king was murdered by a highschool student. Afterwareds came King Zahir Shah  who ruled since 1933 for four decades. First with lots of reforms with mixed results and from 1953 onwards with a close connection to Soviet Union. Afghanistan remained neutral during WWII. Afterwards benefited from USA and USSR cold war and their foreign investment led to building Afghanistan's main highways, airports and other vital infrastructures.

 

In 1978 comes the SAUR Revolution by PDPA party who overthrew the King and abolished the monarchy.  Soviet Union sent thousands of military advisers to support the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) new government. Civil war waged by guerrilla mujahideen (the same tribges that fought Westernization) against government forces countrywide. It was in part a City/Countryside class war.  By mid-1979, the United States had started a covert program to assist the mujahideen.

 

The Soviet war in Afghanistan lasted nine years from December 1979 to February 1989. Part of the Cold War, it was fought between Soviet-led Afghan forces against multi-national insurgent groups called the Mujahideen. USSR was fighting religious extremists and the USA was fighting Comunism.

 

After the war the Islamic State of Afghanistan was created. Taliban were a political force.

Taliban grew and eventually the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was born.

Förra helg reser jag med min flickvan till Bergen för fosta gång. Vi ville att resa där för mycket år .. se att fjordar och vackert natur. Naturen var så vackert där. Du behöver mycket pengår att äta och dricker(alkohol) i Norge .. men vatten är gratis och bra. Om du vill också reser där ... bara gå ! Du kan äta Showarma och andra delikatesser ... de som är mycket billigare :) Norge är bara vackert.

*Och du kan se och prova en Tesla bil om du vil :)

Today i had 2 glimpses of a not so distant me. I had freshly arrived from my Portuguese natural habitat into the Indian subcontinent. The sensations overload may be too much to put on words, but that's exactly what words do ... cascade feelings onto words. My first 24 hours in and around New Delhi and the sequence of events that led to my first night in northern India seemed to have washed away all my beliefs , strenghts , hopes and fears. Not reborn , just awaken and alive. That night was a night of discovery, first and foremost of the people around me. Who's . What's. How's. Those came up every few minutes. The place was as far away from my hometown bed has i had ever been. When i'm away i allways close my eyes ..see the earth globe and think how far or how close i am to home. Home being where love is. We were staying in a sparkling white sand beach on the banks of a river that a few kms down shall be named Ganges. The tents were setup but noone dared go inside and miss the starry night in front of us all. There were monkeys. Deers. Cows. Bears. "We must watch over the fire all night long!" was the advise given. I asked why and the answer sounded alien to me. Bears. I laughed just to be pointed towards 2 small and shinny points in the dark. "There. A Bear. Not big. No problem. probably wants some food". 

How i miss to be warned of a bear in my life. 

Varanasi. After a week wandering alone i'm met by friends. I tell you now .. you will never in your wildest dreams be alone in India. Never. There we were, the four of us, not alone on some uneventfull street (it's a lie .. an uneventfull street does not exist in India). One of us thinks it's a good time to get an haircut and the oportunity presents itself a few meters down the road. All roads seem to be an inifite succession of (im)possibilities waiting to happen. Lucky for the rest of us a nice looking place just in front of the barber shop is offering beverages and Chamuças. My grandmother does some mean Chamuças and i'm so happy to compare hers to the world we have in common between India and Portugal foodwise. On the old rundown radio sounds a music we all feel inside is the perfect theme song for that moment. The song was Shiva Moon by Prem Joshua remixed by Maneesh de Moor. I know this so well because we bought the CD later that day from a friend of a friend of a girl we encountered on the street. a street. Can't remember the haircut result. I think to myself how i travel around the world to experience the daily routines the (un)eventfull moments. And how much i love it. Having an haircut in Mallaca, Malaysia. Sleeping the Saturday morning in bed in Vienna with some delicious pastries. Going to the cinema in Ljublana with a monster popcorn bag. Playing basketball in Paris under the RER. Getting my Singapore shoes renewed on Mustafa once again. at midnight. 

Those are the moments. 

This year, around April or May i decided to finally look for a place to play and learn a bit about Beach Volleybal. I had seen posters,websites and tournaments being announced everywhere , but had never decided to take the last step.

This time around i did. I just repeated what i had done a few years earlier when i wanted to play basket somewhere around Lisboa. So i wrote a few clubs told them i was a young promise in world basketball and one of them answered. We went on to remain unbeaten thoughout the year. (please change the word unbeaten for winless in the previous sentence) . In fact we won 1 game against portuguese TV powerhouse RTP. (you lame tv show hosts!!!) It was a great time and altough we didn´t have much of a team we had a great time togheter and i could do what i liked most at the time .. play Basket.

Now that i´m older than your average teenage kid , time had finally come for me to stray away from Basketball and turn to one of those Summer sports i couldn´t stop playing in those everlasting afernoons in Sao Martinho do Porto, ever since late afternoon soccer became a no-no due to the ammount of people on the beach. Beach Volleyball.

Here in Barcelona i found an amazing group of people that regularly get togheter to play beach volleyball. What more could one ask for ? I learned a whole lot with them and specially from the blond girl in the picture who´s now going to live/work/study in Kiwi land. This was our last trainning session with Susana in charge of the whole gang. (in the picture we had already taken a cup or two of a nice Moscatel brought by Charlie - last in the back of the picture)

I think i´m finally ready to beat those brothers we almost allways lost to, in the Salgado tournament we managed to organize year after year in the Summer. At long last i know what they mean with those finger gestures players do ... took to long to learn !!!   If you´re in Barcelona , if you´re coming to Barcelona and you like/love to play BeachVolleybal ..just bet in touch with me/us.

http://www.getvolley.com/

O único arroz que eu como. Sim. Eu como arroz. um arroz. o único. Existe um restaurante em Barcelona, quem sobre o Passeio de Grácia, direcçao á montanha pelo lado direito e depois de passar por "La Pedrera" de Gaudi, encontra. Encontra uma avenida que corta o passeio de Grácia em Diagonal, as pessoas de Barcelona, chamam a esta grande avenida que corta Barcelona em 2 ... Avenida Diagonal. Aqui as pessoas sao prácticas. Olha para a esquerda e para a direita e atravessa sem hesitar , o tempo que tens é justinho. Chegas a um toldo branco que tens as letras "Da Greco".

Nao percas tempo a olhar lá para dentro .. porque nao se vê nada! O que eu posso garantir é que lá dentro é como o vento dos séculos em Torres Novas ... se nao conheces, paciência. Entra sem medo ..a porta parece de um castelo, grande, grossa e pesada. Dentro é um outro mundo. Um mundo de esculturas impossiveis. Quadros modernos, classicos e renascentistas. Um cozinha aberta aos convidados. Candelabros, Girafas e Poltronas. Se tens sorte , já vês ali juntinho á cozinha um enorme (enorme!) Parmegianno com arroz dentro. Sim .. este arroz é cozinhado dentro do próprio queijo. A melhor opçao para mim , sempre é pedir a "Degustacion de Pastas" ..sao 3 pratos de Pasta ou arros. O melhor é que á parte de estes 3 pratos também te trazem pequenos pratos com a comida que as outras pessoas da tua mesa pediram .. e caso hajam pedido o mesmo que tu , trazem pratos que as mesas cerca de ti pediram .. isto é fantástico !!!

Para mim ..e se posso escolher livremente o sítio onde quero ir a comer aqui em Barcelona ..sempre esolheria o Da Greco. Que delicia de arroz ...

After last year learning spree on Exchange Technology, Microsoft has recognized me as an Active Professional. I'm sure there were lots of people with the same recognicion , but it still feels good anyway. 

I'm now in the middle of a Novell course and have already May booked for 2 weeks of Lync 2010 and Sharepoint 2010 with exam certifications on both.

Afterwards, Forefront and Ironports. Count on me to become a MAP (Microsoft Active Professional) for life ...

08:16 Hem entrat al avió i despres que un Venezuelano s'hagi oblidat del seu DNI ... Vam baixar tots del avió i tornar a entrar al mateix lloc ... Aqui tenim les fotos de nosaltres mirant el avio desde fora , a dins del bus i un altre vegada a dins .. amb molt de sono!

09:09 Agafem per menjar un Bag de M&M, 1 Muffin de chocolata i un te pel coll de la minina! El nostre flight attendant es de Belo Horizonte. E fala portugues como la Anna! Ara queda 1 hora per arrivar a London Gatwick...

  

10:34 Hem arrivat tard. El avio va parar al mig del sud d'inglaterra i vam tenir que caminar uns 6kms a dins del aeroport. Vam perdre el primer bus de Easyjet i el seguent ja estava plé, tot per culpa del DNI del noi de Venezuela ! Ara a esperar ... en el fred intens que fa al carrer !

 

13:35 Hem arrivat al hotel , la noia russa ens ha informat del esmorzar i que el codi per entrar al B&B es el 5456 (aixo es secret). Per la wifi la password son 10x0 . Dinem en un lloc de menjar de Sri Lanka i India, molt a prop de Buckingam. El primer plat molt picant i els segons MOLT bons ... Chicken Tika Massala & Samossa (£29.43)

17:38 Tornem al hotel despres de passajar per Buckingam , St George Park , Tamesis etc. Hem jugat amb les ardillas un montón i hem agafat a Victoria Station uns Muffins per la nit! (£4 per 4 Mufins... En una capse super fixe que portarem cap a Barcelona). Casi no trovavem la nostre clau numero 3 al B&B... Tenen un equipo de Noias Russas treballant tote la estona al hotel . Nem a dormir , estem MOLT cansados daquest primer dia de Sol a London Town...

Yesterday , after a long long long time of doing 0 to stay in shape , i got home , dressed up (down) and went for a run. Not any run . a Zombie post-apocaliptyc run . 

This is what all these hyper-mega-smartphones should be doing with our lives ..changing them ! One really smart inmersive game for the iphone (in the meantime, it will arrive in Android someday) combines real world jogging with Zombie Drama to dwelve you into a storyline that makes you run for real ! So , yesterday i installed Zombies Run! on my Iphone and hit the streets. Streched for around 29 seconds , hit the start mission button and started running . I was briefed on what was happening and when they told me to run, i was already in Eroski (half a km away from home). Gotta be less impatient next time...

I'm told that i'm Runner 5. Yesterday i wasn't able to finish my very first mission in part due to bad planning and not knowing how much time a mission lasts .. i usually never ran more than 15-20 minutes but yesterday i went all over up to 26 minutes... so i guess that's good enough. I've read that mission 1 lasts around 40 minutes... after that you keep collecting stuff but with your mission already finished. Today i'll have another try .. let's see how it goes. I do want to be accepted in the survivors colony.

This thing does work in at least 2 things :

1. Disable Couch-Potato Mode and make you run out there on the real world.

2. After getting you to run ,they throw Zombies at you ..and make you really run faster so that you escape them .. doesn't matter how real they are , you DO NO WANT TO BE EATEN ALIVE! ...so you run . away. from them. all.

After running for 20 minutes i had to run like hell to escape a former runner who was bitten and now chased me ... and she ran fast. The bips and the Zombie noises are  really good in making you run . It's a game .. but a really entertaining one.

Recomend everyone this game : Zombies Run!