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Friday 27 April 2012

gorgeous, yet wet, spring

27 apr 2012

avenue campus an hour ago - photo taken from my mobile phone

this spring has been wet, windy, and cold, apparently as it has always been in england.
we've had days when it gets complicated to even go out because of the torrential rain or the strong wind.
we've had beautiful days, when all is joy, here combined with an insisted chill factor :-)

please bring mild weather and more sunny days, spring.

Tuesday 24 April 2012

well done, ying

24 april 2012


our friend ying wang, from china, has just passed her viva [the final phd examination]. i am very happy for her. i have witnessed many shortcomings she went through during the process of her phd. she just said that many times she thought about giving up on the course, but did stay instead.

i remember that she, like me, had many long unproductive spells, desperating and 'uncontrollable' in her own words. now she is here, ellegantly dressed up and nearly done with everything. the examiners gave her a month for minor corrections, with the main body of her research considered fine. yey!!!

i won't list problems here, but we who do a phd know how it can become at times . . . i feel so much more encouraged from seeing ying success. we have talked a lot about our difficulties. but there are also soooo many positive things that happen, too. sharing and supporting are keys words all the way. very nice indeed.

cheers to ying and to perseverance!

Friday 20 April 2012

my new toy

20 april 2012


yey!!! my new toy is in my hands already. thanks to suggestions from mike, candido neto, and ana i got to the decision of buying this one canon, which i had been dreaming of for quite a while. i ordered it on tuesday evening and got it yesterday. excellent timing for the delivery. i was in the office yesterday when the delivery man phoned me to say he had a package for me but no one seemed to be in the flat to get it. that was an unexpected phone call with good news. hehehe we then agreed that he would take the parcel [a box, as he said], to gateley hall, the place all mail larger than our mailbox are delivered to. of course i came home earlier and went to collect it at gateley. battery is charged, had a few tries. am happy!!!

vinyl records

20 april 2012


are you buying vinyl records these days? what do you think about it? they said just now at breakfast that people are buying them because they need something 'physical' to see and touch since we no longer need
cds, because we can listen to them on mp3 files.

i was surprised when i first saw vinyl records being sold at concerts here. i thought they belonged in the past, full stop. mike has a massive collection of vinyl records and says the sound is much better than the one from a cd. i am not sure about that. but i think it is interesting to come back to a larger form of organizing music. i actually like it and find it romantic and very musical. i also think it gives us a special mode when we listen to vinyls.

Sunday 8 April 2012

our sarah menezes on the bbc

8 apr 2012



i was very pleased to see our judoka sarah menezes on the bbc news this morning. they told her story and how she is good at judo. she is coming to olympics in london. yey!!! the bbc went to the 'remote state in brazil' as they called piaui, to interview sarah.

way to go, girl!!! very happy for you and wishing you all the best!!!