2009

United States of America

January

de Young Museum

 

California Academy of Sciences (only the view from outside)

February

California Academy of Sciences (the view from inside)

Japanese Tea Garden

 

Pacific Ocean Beach

Alcatraz

Portugal

April

  

My City

July

  

 

OPTIMUS Alive Festival - Metallica

Festival Marés Vivas - Lamb

I only have half of the year here, first because I still have a lot of photos in my camera, second, because I took a lot less pictures in the second half of the year. :) 

Nonetheless, it still is a good wrap of the year that just ended.

After 3 months of absence I came back

Uau, until yesterday I had not realized that 3 months have already passed since my last post. I knew that I had not updated in a very long time, but not that long... I am sorry for such a long absence, no good explanation is available. The only things that I can say honestly is that I have been lazy, lacked inspiration and, after September, time.

Like I said a few posts back my new life adventure started in September, since then I moved to a new town and started having a 2h commute every day (the choice was mine, but still it is tiring). I have also started going for swimming classes a few days of the week. Most of times I get to the end of the day and feel like not going, but in the end it feels really good to go and not think about work and work related stuff for 1h30m.

What else? I met a bunch of people and am still in the process of getting to really know them. I just spend to much time with them everyday. It gets really tiresome for someone who is used to be by herself and likes to be by herself. That is also one of the reasons I go swimming, I only see these persons twice a week and they have nothing to do with work. Its refreshing!

As you might have notice the blog has new look (the previous one lasted for more than a year) and I took out the photo section, since it does not make sense anymore. 

I want say here that yesterday I read most of my posts from last year and it made me miss San Francisco. It is hard to believe that I have been back for 9 months already (exactly yesterday). That is more than the time that I spent there... In some sense that time seems both longer and shorter. Those were 7 months and half filled with events and memories.

This time a year ago: Independence Day @ San Francisco

It's hard to believe but a year as already passed since I first arrived in San Francisco.

Even though I did not write anything on the 30th of June, the actual day that I left Portugal, I spent most of the week thinking that it's been a year. I remember that at the time I was really happy to be able to be in the US for the 4th of July, because I know that it is an important date for the Americans. Unfortunately, due to heavy fog (what a surprise fog in San Francisco...) at the end of the day we were not able to see the fireworks. However, during the day we went visiting the outskirts of San Francisco and went to Muir Woods National Park to see some Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens).

Here are some of the photos that I took at the time:

Crossing the Golden Gate Birdge for the first time. (You can actually see how heavy the fog was that morning...)

First time stepping on a beach at the Pacific Ocean.

Just something I found curious.

Some of the great views surrounding San Francisco.

A fallen redwood, showing the actual age of the tree, it was born in ~989A.D. and fell in 1930.
Several important dates are marked.

Actually, the July 4th is also a holiday in my hometown. :)

Golden Gate Bridge by Night

Golden Gate Bridge
(08 11 08)

Just because...

Sunset @ San Francisco Pacific Ocean Beach 07 02 09

A random thought or photo... or maybe not so random...

After being back for a week, I finally did what I had said I would once I got back home (actually I did it last friday, but I got to lazy to post at the time), I straighten out my hair to see how long it got after almost 9 months without being cut.

And what is the importance of this?, you may ask.
It's not importante at all, I'm just letting my girly instincts surface for a bit. :)

I also said that I would take a picture to show to everyone, hence this post. :)
This picture has another reason, I have never had my hair this long, and I'm going to cut it to a surprising length next friday...

PS - It seems that I may be in a good path to fulfill my new year's resolution of more posts, even if it is about something has uninteresting as my hair.

I'm back home

After two flights, one to cross the States and another to cross The Pond (a.k.a. the Atlantic Ocean), I'm back home. I´ve been for few hour already, but I had to keep myself busy so would not fall a sleep before the right time.

Other than tired I'm fine!

The last 24h...

Right know it's 7h58 in the morning... So I have 24h and a few minutes remaining in San Francisco. :)

What to do with the remaining time?!
Finish packing, go for brunch, go around town and most of all enjoy the day.

There were few times that I thought that time was not going by, but, like always, in the end it has gone by quite fast.

Well, I do not have much more to write. See you when I'm back home.

Time goes by fast...

...which is no news for anyone. :)

At this moment I'm still in San Francisco, but the countdown as turned into less than a week. Exactly one week from know I will be approaching Portugal, flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Uau... It's thrilling and scaring at the same time. It's still too early to make sense of everything that has happen for the past 7 months, I need distance to gain perspective, I need time to look into myself without any bias, to take a deep breath and relax. But I can say right now that it was an awesome adventure, with it's usual ups and downs, however I'm completely sure that the final impression will be positive.

My internship is complete. Friday was my last day, such a strange feeling... the time spent there was pleasurable, the people that I met are great and I loved working with my supervisor (the best one that I had by all means!!).

Right now I'm tired beyond measure, I fall asleep everywhere either in the Muni coming home or at a friend's house after dinner. It's really embarrassing!! I cannot really fight it... aiaiaiai

This week will be dedicated to go around town saying goodbye and enjoying the last days in this city. As for the to do list that I talked a few days back it was finally completed today.

• SFMOMA - check
• Asian Art Museum - check
• de Young Museum (not included in the initial list) - check
• California Academy of Sciences - check
• Japanese Tea Garden - check
• San Francisco Pacific Ocean Beach - check
• Glide Memorial Church (also not in the initial list) - check
  
• Alcatraz - check

All these things in 1 month... I had 7 to do all these, but, as the good Portuguese that I am, I left it for the last moment. There where a few times that I thought that was not going to be able to do everything that I wanted... it's seems like I proved myself wrong.

Once I'm back in Portugal and settled, I will post the photos and videos that I made during these visits.

I had so many ideas of what to write in this post, but, as usual, I forgot most of them and got sidetracked...

Just to let you know that...

... in exactly one month I'll be in the middle of my journey back home.

The real countdown has begun. It's that time when you start feeling that you really have to start making the most of the time that you still have, going back to the places that you like and visiting the ones that you sill have not gone to.

I started visiting these "I really wanna go to" places last week, with a visit to SFMOMA (San Francisco Modern Art Museum). It was a very interesting visit, got to see paints by Dali, Frieda Kahlo, Matisse, Duchamp and others. I have a strange relation with modern art, sometimes I really like others I just do not understand it... but I think that happens most of the times.

There still a few other places that I want to go to: Alcatraz, the Museum of the California Science Academy and the Asian Art Museum. Let's see if I can make them all...

Even though I'm late:

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!! :D

I hope that all you entered in this new year in the best way possible! And that we can all have a eventful year, with plenty of good surprises and challenges. :)

And I, sincerely, hope that I am able to post more often then last year... it seems that did not start that well for this particular resolution...

Do not forget to: HAVE FUN THIS YEAR! :)

A very unusual Holiday Season

Through out my twenty something years of life there as been a constant in my Holiday Season: my younger sister... This is the first Christmas that we have not spent together. It's, for a lack of a better word, utterly strange.

In spite of not having spent this holiday season with my family, things were not as bad as I had expected them to be. :) It did not have the feeling of Christmas, but it was not as depressing has it might have been. Maybe because I was able to talk through the day with all my family, and I was even able to see some of them using this fantastic invention called Internet. Since I was able to talk to them things were less difficult. This was really important for me, since I strongly believe that Christmas is the season to be with your family.

Considering the distance to Portugal, we were still able to maintain a few traditions, namely eating a bit of bacalhau (codfish) and some traditional sweets (rabanadas and sonhos de abóbora).

But what was really unusual was the 25th of December... After having eaten some lamb with 3 of my friends, we decided to go ice skating... It was fun!! (I'm still able to feel the aches through out my body from the 1h30 we spent in the ice rink...) Never in my live I would have guessed that I would go ice skating on December 25th...

Macy's store @ Union Square were the Ice Rink is located

Our feet, ready to take the ice ;P

The Christmas Tree at one of the ends of the Ice Rink.

PS - I only fell once and I wasn't skating, I was standing "still" try to do balance my self in one leg (doing aviões)...

Yesterday was Remembrance Day for me...

This weekend we had Sofia from San Diego visiting us, and consequently we (me and Inês) went around San Francisco to show her the town. It seems like she loved it. :)

During whole of yesterday several events brought back a lot of memories or made me think about my family. During the afternoon there was a special presentation of jet planes by the Bay. Every time one of the jets did one specially wicked stunt (being it a loop or a flying upside down or pass by really near us, making you feel as if you where going deaf because of the sound of the engines) I only thought about my father and how much he would love to see that (Acho que ias adorar Papá!!)
(Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at home, so I did not take any photos...)

After that I went to downtown, to Union Square, and ate, once again for me, the fantastic cheesecakes from The Cheesecake Factory, a sin waiting to be eaten. At this moment I thought about my Mom and her companion and also my sisters. They would have love that. It's just too much of a temptation. ;)

For dinner we had sushi, to be more accurate we ate Maki, better known as Sushi Rolls. At this time I could only think that I will miss this so easy access to Japanese Food when (and if) I go back to Portugal. I also thought that my younger sister would have loved this. Even if in the country that she is right now she can get easily eat it.

After dinner I went clubbing for a bit. The club itself is nothing special and yet again I had troubles with my drivers license, since most people don't believe that the person in the picture is really me (at the time I took my drivers license I was 18 y.o., I had really short hair and now it goes all the way to my waist...). So once again, I had to show my passport to prove that I really am over 21. (To be honest I find this a bit hilarious...) At first the music was a bit lame, really nothing special but after a while they started to play a lot of musics that brought back memories of my sisters and cousins from when we where little. From Madonna to Michael Jackson, going through Eurythmics and Depeche Mode.

The Depeche Mode music that they played was Enjoy the Silence (which because of more recent memories makes me think a lot of my younger sister). So, in honor of those times here is the video:

Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence

(credit to MrAerinosigor13 @ YouTube)

In the end it was a very good day. And I have to say that I think that most of my family would love to come here, specially my sisters and my cousins. :)

Juno Reactor @ The Independent, San Francisco (23 09 08)

Words cannot describe how awesome yesterday's concert was!!! It was above everything that I expected... The band was great, the audience was really into it and the energy levels were off the roof. Pure, raw, positive energy, that lasted for the 2 and half hours of the concert.

The background canvas.

I was mesmerized by the sound, the show, the dancers and singers and definitely by SUGIZO. The man has such a cool and calm aura around him, but when he picks his guitar... I do not even know how to describe it... only seen live, that's how awesome he looked to me (but I might be biased...). For a few minutes we where also able to seem him play his violin, but it was for such a short amount of time and not the kind of music to show his skills. But I'm not complaining, on the contrary, I'm more than happy to have had this opportunity.

SUGIZO

I really lack the words to describe the show in it self and the emotional experience it was to me. There are very few first time concerts that have moved me emotionally, in fact there is only one other. That one was the beginning of my "love affair" with Lamb, but the major difference is that I really didn't know anything about Lamb and this time I already had some background information on Juno Reactor. I got to know Juno Reactor because of SUGIZO, by reading his blogs and by the background information that I found about him. However, yesterday was the first time that I payed attention to their music and I can say that this is one of the cases that live is much better than recorded. Nothing can surpass the energy of a great live concert.

From the leader of the band (Ben Watkins, he was in such a position on stage that he was almost unseen for the entire concert, except for the few occasions that he picked his guitar and came to the center stage), to the British female vocalist, the Jamaican male vocalist, the South African dancers/drummers, the drummer (I'm sorry but he is the only one I have no idea about his nationality) and, of course, the Japanese guitar player, every single one of the was giving their best and just enjoying themselves. They almost looked like a band that played together all time, for how in sync with each other they where.

The male and female vocalists and one of the dancers/drummers (this man dancing, was something beyond words...)

What else to say?! I danced and enjoyed myself for the entire concert, needless to say that today I felt exhausted but also recharged of positive energy. I was really needing something like this. Definitely in my TOP 5 concerts, and I think you can guess the position... :)

What to add... If you have the opportunity, go see them live!! It really is worth it!!

I also recorded some videos but I was to close to the speakers, so the sound is very distorted. The only exception was the first one, in which they were entering the stage (has soon has YouTube allows it I'll upload it and post the link/video here).

Time for the long overdue post...

I've been wanting to write ever since the 3rd of August... But for various reasons, must of them related to laziness (*cough*) we arrived to the 19th of August without a single update.

So why did I want to write since that particular date?!

Because, on the 3rd of August we went to Stern Grove Festival, a free entrance festival with a lot of good performances. On this day the performances held were the responsibility of SI*SÉ (myspace) and Bajofondo (myspace). The two concerts were amazing, but Bajofondo completely stole the afternoon...

If you follow the myspace links you'll get a taste of the vibe of each of these bands. Both are from the electronica field, but while SI*SÉ is in the trip-hop area, Bajofondo is electronic tango, so in the end the vibes are completely different and the last one is more danceable and festive (and I love trip-hop, one of my all time favourite bands is Lamb). Which was in complete accordance with the vibe of the festival (yes, I've notice the over-use of the word vibe, lol).

The venue (if we can call that a venue, the concerts were held at Stern Grove Park) was completely full, there were no places to sit. By the end of Bajofondo's concert almost everyone us jumping up and down and dancing to the sound of the fabulous music that could be heard. In the last music everyone (not everyone, but a lot of people) jumped on the stage and started dancing with the band. I have a small video showing this (yes, it's mine).

Bajofondo @ Stern Grove Festival 03 08 08:

To hear the complete music please follow this link -> Bajofondo - Los Tangueros (credits to romeropablo @ YouTube).

All this to say that: Bajofondo rocked!! And that in San Francisco you can go to fantastic concerts without having to pay anything!! :D

After this fantastic concert, almost everyone went to our place to eat a so so (fantastic, :P) feijoada, also known as bean-oada, cooked by Marcos.

Other than that, we have been blessed with a few sunny days that have felt as heaven. On these days, which happen to have occurred mostly on Saturdays, we went around the city. Namely, we went to the Financial District, Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf (on this last day, that was this weekend the weather was terrible, cold and misty..).

On Fisherman's Wharf we were able to eat fish (which is a rarity here) and see seals. I have photos of the seals (as soon as facebook stops his tantrum I'll post the link for them in the usual place).

I also returned to the Japan Center and bought a gift for myself, Sugizo's (myspace) last release: Cosmoscape, that is a collection of the 10 years of Sugizo's solo work. It was worth every cent that I payed for it. :D

This is a very short summary of what has happen this month, but sincerely I'm not that inspired to write... sorry...

More to come in the future, whenever I'll get the mood to write. (Sorry, but it really depends on the days...)

It's been a month...

Who would say that a month could go past so quickly?!... Everyone!! lol

When you are doing something new and exciting time just flies by. And that was what happen in this first month in the States. To think of it, I almost didn't have time to think of what was going on, of where I was. So many thing happened at the same time: searching for a place to stay, moving in, in the mean time facing jet-lag (so bad that on my first night here I fell a sleep on the restaurant..), going out, meeting new people, starting work, welcoming the ones that arrived after us and saying goodbye to the ones that welcomed us.

At this moment the balance is positive, even though most of the city is still to explore and tons of things are still to be done. :)

A month has passed, 6 and half to go (the countdown has begun).

Booka Shade was...

...simply phenomenal!!!

Tomorrow I'll edit with a video, if I find one.

EDIT: Instead of one you get two videos!! Enjoy!! :)

Booka Shade - Body Language (live)

(credits to physicalfilms @ Youtube)

Booka Shade - Charlotte

(credits to physicalfilms @ Youtube)

Last Week

I feel like writing but I don't know what... isn't that strange...

Things here in San Francisco have been going great. Lots of parties, not that much of sightseeing and lots of new acquaintances that have a great potential to become good friends (I'm sorry!! But I'm not one to call a person a friend so easily. However some have already a special place in my heart and others are getting there.)

This past week has been quite hectic. Starting on last Sunday our "welcoming party" (C11 interns) commenced their return to Portugal which ended yesterday, hence the parties and dinners. From what I saw I know that you guys really enjoyed your stay here and made a big effort to pass us that message. Thank you for your warm welcome and even though the time we passed together was short it was full of good memories. I hope to someday see you all again, but must of all I hope that this 8 months full of experiences will become a good foundation for your personal evolution.

The only sightseeing of the week was a short trip to Haight Street (Sis I think that you would like this street). The once heart of the Flower Power and Love Revolution. It really ended up being a short trip and I wanna go back to see more of it and maybe take some photos, because even though I took my camera I didn't took one photo to show for it... It's an interesting neighbourhood full of Zen shops but it also has some more commercial ones. We entered a second hand clothing shop, that had from 50's swimming suits to 80's evening gowns and everything in between. Very interesting. :)

Ohh, and yesterday the weather was great, the best that it has ever been since we came. I was able to wear sandals!! Yuppiii!! But today its cold again and grey...

What more to say?! I think that will be all for now. Don't forget to go see the photos, the links are on the right side bar and please say something.

More photos...

I just uploaded a new photo album and more will come this weekend...

So, if you're interested, go take a look. :)

Pleasant surprises...

Sometimes a simple pleasant experience can come from the most unexpected and innocent act.

The most simple gesture can lead you exactly to the right thing for you at that moment. And you can even be unaware of how much you were needing it... You might have a slight idea, but not the full grasp of it. In the end, it might have been your subconscious giving you a heads up when you decided to do that simple gesture or ask that simple question.

The problem is that you might feel the need to repeat it, but you know that either it was a one time thing or due to circumstances that are out of your reach your time is very short.

But at least you experienced it and it will remain a good memory. :)

And sometimes things have the meaning that they have because they are random events.

P.S. - Just another random thought.

P.S. 2 - I want to write much more but I really don't know how to express the thoughts and feelings that are running around my head.