CIP
Sofy:
I have been forced to listen to the same song over and over and over and over and over again. It’s a very good song, it’s called Por Mais Que Eu Tente, by Marjorie Estiano. But it’s the type of song you listen to once and not over and over and over and over again and over again.
For CIP, which is this community service thing that my school does, Alvy and Cary and this other girl and I have to sing that song. In front of a bunch of people. I’m nervous. What if I don’t get it right or mess up the lyrics or trip on something or sing off-key or Alvy and Cary and this other girl don’t come and Ms. Hogan (since I think she doesn’t like me that much) makes me sing all alone in front of everybody?? And it’s in a classroom, so it’s gonna be crowded and we’re gonna have a small “stage”. And I’m sure I might be sounding completely irrational, but I’d feel better and more confident if we were in a big stage, a real one, even if it had to be in front of more people. Because I remember when Alvy and I were up there in third and fourth grade and we sang in the Talent Show, we would look at each other and smile and sometimes even giggle and no one would notice. But if we’re like, two centimeters away from the audience of course they’re gonna notice.
And also, I don’t think there are gonna be microphones, which is another problem. Ms. Hogan already said that we all (well, at least Alvy and I) sing to quietly, and it’s not as if we can make our voices louder. And when we’re up there, if I don’t have the microphone to grip onto, you know, my hands are just gonna be all dangly and all, and I’m gonna feel uncomfortable. And where am I gonna look? I don’t wanna look at all the people I don’t know, but if I look at the people I do know, like Ms. Coggio (who I seriously hope doesn’t watch us, by the way) or Gio D. or something, I’m gonna either start laughing or I’m gonna blush and look down and get even more nervous and faint and ruin the presentation. And probably crack my head open too, because the floor in that classroom is really hard. I really hope we get microphones.
Oh, and this weekend I watched that movie with Hugh Jackman, you know, the one about the tree whatever thing. I hated it. It was SO boring. The only movies worse than that one are The House of Wax and The Blair Witch Project.
Big Talent, Small Stage
Alvy:
There is this girl, named Ashley Tisdale, she is an actress/singer, and most of you might know her from High School Musical. In my opinion, I think she made a mistake by accepting Disney’s offer and participating in their movies and recording their soundtracks (Although the song “Kiss the girl” in which she re-recorded, is pretty good.) Ashley Tisdale is very, very talented, of course that she’s good in not only singing, but in acting as well, and her Disney rolls are actually pretty good. The only problem is that she is not an “official” singer, taken seriously because Disney is holding her back, totally. Imagine you, if you had a great voice, only recording 2 tracks per year because you only record soundtracks, and people don’t take her seriously because everything she produces has the Disney trademark in the middle, and that ain’t no media attractive. Now, High School Musical brought only ONE good thing (Because everything else is terrible) In which is to make her realize that recording soundtracks aren’t her thing, she wants to record REAL albums, and her new album will be released in February, and I bet there are a few singles along the way. Ashley Tisdale’s talent was showing since she was young, and she even sang in the White House when she was twelve. What kind of company (Disney) would make her career be held back, with so much talent? And who agrees with me that Disney is like a singer/actor-machine? Disney is now transforming actors into singers through their television series and movies, it was nice in the start, when great idols were discovered like Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff, and now Ashley Tisdale (Although she’s part of Disney’s “new singers” generation) Half of the world’s singers population has or is working for Disney. And you know how they make their voices listenable? by totally “computerising” them, like that girl, Vanessa Hudgens, um, hello, ain’t it obvious that her voice is totally “messed up” with? compare her voice to Christina Aguilera’s and you’ll understand.
I’m so against this Disney factory of singers, because singers should be discovered for their talent, and not because they’re famous.
Sex Appeal? Synonym For Media?
Alvy:
Here in Brazil, we have a Television program in MTV called: “Tribunal de pequenas causas musicais” and it talks about some media-related stuff, and today’s topic was how sex affected music in a wrong way, as to become the center of attention and leave the song as background. That can be true, but then why make music videos? well, girls dance and all, but who watches thoes cartoon-like music videos? just like I was talking about the “The Pussycat Dolls” they are good-looking, they make all of their video clips a HUGE success, (Not for me, only, but they show up everytime! and I’m not being perverted, OK?) because of their sex appeal. Well, coming back to the subject, I don’t think that there would be a music video that would win an award and is about this huge woman and her face, even if she HAS a beautiful voice, media doen’t work that way (Sofy and Cary, I think you feel the same!) first of all, my favorite singer IS Christina Aguilera, and if you’ve seen “Dirrty” then you would know why I’m defending the cause. The program reached the conclusion that there is too much sex appeal in the videos, 75 PERCENT! EW! what would be of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Christina Aguilera and all these singers without their sex appeal in their music videos? they would become fat, and ugly (Not Christina) and just sick, I bet all of thoes retards that voted to that 75% will dislike the idea of seeing a big world-trade-center-big-fat-woman singing in a boring music video where the only thing that shows is her bloated face. HELLO WORLD?! WHO AGREES WITH ME!? (And I have no problem against fat people, it’s just that media sets up a model for us, these very skiny people and all, and if they set these trends, and we’re OK this way, then it’s going to look very weird and abnormal to see these things we’re used to seeing become total past, especially when related to weight, and by the way, we would be full of health problems, and make McDonalds and these fast food things rich because we would only eat their chicken thighs.) Does anyone else agree with me? (I know I may seem repetitive, but I just want to make my point VERY, VERY clear.) The title of the post may make me seem super perverted and stupid, but I am telling the truth, I don’t know about Sofy, but I think Cary will support me in this cause (OK then, girls imagine Ricky Martin fat in a music video, swimming in the Atlantic Ocean of fried chicken, while he ate them all… every single one.)
Back To Basics
Alvy:
Past week has actually been pretty normal, (And if you know me, then I bet your level of “normal” is far “normaler” than mine) but a few highlights should certainly be stated.
This Sunday, Aly, Paty and I went to the movies again. We had to watch a weird, but funny movie, The name is barnyard. After, we knew that Paty’s mother would come pick her up at 6:00 pm, and it was like 5:45 pm, so we already felt sad for having to leave so soon, since we never saw each other for a long time (My other post about “Alice The Great” and the story of the shopping mall was in 2004/2005) so we hear Paty’s cell phone ringing and we expected to hear that she would already be picking her up, but it wasn’t, she told her that she would be on her way at 6:30, we had 45 more minutes! We ran to a candy store called “Honey Honey” and I don’t think I have to mention what we bought, because it’s already clear enough. Later on, we ran to our favorite make-fun-of-others-shop, “Tok Stock!” unfortunatly, there was no freaky girl, or freaky boy to make fun of, tough luck. But, there was furniture, and where there is furniture, there is mischief. The funniest thing was when we got to a living room area and there was a couch, when suddenly, I remove one of the pillows to sit down, I see this pine (Just imagine someone doing the same thing, but not noticing the pine and sitting on top of it!) I burst out laughing, and I asked who did that, it was Paty. We walked around a little more, then we left.
So, Monday we did not have school, so I remained the whole day watching television. I just love Mtv, so I was watching Mtv all day. There is a program here called “Disk” that names the most voted music videos. One music video you should watch is “Buttons” by The Pussycat Dolls. Although it may look a little “sexual” because of the dance, or even by the fact that when the girls pass through a grey tunnel, they kind of remove their jackets and reveal less clothes, but even though I may seem perverted, the music is perfect, and I like the part in the video in which smoke comes out of their hands and when they touch the ground, it becomes fire… it’s pretty cool. The only pitty is that Christina Aguilera’s new music video, “Hurt” was still not released in Brazil, you should search in Google to find it, because it’s a great music video and a great song. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the stupid Stink bug eggs hatched and that before they did, they became yellow, and we could see the interior of the sicky, weird, discusting, and stincky eggs.
My life is back to normal now, NO missing cat, NEW trips to the mall with Paty and Aly, TOTAL hatred towards my character foil, Renato, LOVE towards my great friends and family, especially Sofy, Cary, Aly and Paty, and I can’t forget, my pets. Thanks to these things, I am happily alive, and hope to continue this way, my life is Back to Basics.
Best Day Of My Life
Alvy:
Today, I was happy all day long, due to the fact that I killed every single pain that was tearing my heart apart.
To start with, I am reading a book called “Memoirs Of A Geisha” and it’s clearly, the best book ever, everyone should give a shot reading the book. So, I did’nt really finish the, I’m still in chapter 8 or 9. Sofy and I agreed to come to m house and watch the movie, in which I rented. The movie is PERFECT! I loved it. Few movies are made that greatly, with a story that captivates you until the end, and it’s also a non-fiction movie, which makes us ponder on how reality used to be (It was not easy at that time, by the looks of the movie) and the ending is really romantic and finishes with the perfect frase (In which you will have to watch to know) I really recommend this movie/book. After we were done with the movie, we came up to the office and do our homework. After one boring 30-minute homework was done, my sister and my mother came in with a bunch of bags of a great pet supermarket full of stuff for our “petit” Crystal. Sofy’s father was heading to come pick her up. After she left, the day only began. I had worked on a poster for portuguese homework, and when it was done: “voila!” it was the most beautiful poster I had ever done in my life, and felt very satisfied for completing my homework. I came back up to the office and was looking at a “Celebrity Deathmatch” episode with Madonna vs. Michael Jackson. In the middle of the episode I hear a scream, the words that were shouted could not be heard, so I came down, I then hear my sister cry. Preparing my heart to what I would be ready to see, I see a giant furball, but it is’nt any furball, it was MY furball, called PRINCE! (My missing cat!) (In which, strangely enough appeared one day before his birthday.) It was the happiest moment in my life. I jumped up and grabbed him, hugged him, and then put him to eat, since he was starving. When I put him down, I saw this huge scratch he had won in a cat-fight. I could’nt blieve my eyes, who would have guessed that my ipod-free days, my prayers, and even other’s prayers could have made a 12-day disappearance turn into a 12-day vacation?
P.S. I would like to thank Sofy for supporting my cause (ipod-free days) and any of you guys who also helped Prince find his way back. Thank you!
Alice The Great
Alvy:
I wanted to dedicate this post to one of my dearest friends: Alice (Aly). We actually met through other friends. And later on, we only walked together. We had a great time together in 5th grade, teasing other people and all. Until she left school, but although we don’t see each other daily… we still maintain contact. I will now introduce her to you through two anecdotes.
The first one was in a 5th grade school day. We used to tease a girl named Talita (Maybe due to her height difference compared to ours.) Talita used to be a little, tiny girl, and with exceedingly long hair. Alice was much better in ruining lives than I was, so there she was, walking up the steps to get to her class, and looked through the balcony. In our school, there is like a hill, that’s more of like a “bucket” hill (Because he hill is straight and stores a bunch of leaves, I’m serious, the leaves were more than a million over there, if a child fell there, it is bound to never be encountered again…) So, Alice was walking through the hall, met with her friends, and saw some girls who were passing “gloss” on their lips. She then looks at Talita, who was ALSO passing on gloss (Talita had this “thing” that she had to become popular, so she would either give presents for the popular kids, or immitate them, so the fact that she was wearing gloss, was to become a popular kid.) Alice only stared at her, and when Talita was done, she just threw the gloss into her locker (In which by the, had no lock). After some days, weeks, months passed, Alice wanted to check: “What happened to the gloss?” she opened the locker, and saw some weird melted thing in Talita’s locker, if it was’nt for the glass bottle, she would never have known that it was “THE GLOSS.” She was so discusted that she grabbed the gloss and threw it high into the air, until it reached the “bucket hill” the gloss was never found, ever again…
I am no longer the evil person I used to be, although that person sometimes takes control, (I just can’t help myself) I am much lighter on thoes whom I hate… but lately, there is one person who released that malevolent entity again…
The other story had taken place at the mall. Aly, Paty (Another great friend) and I decided to meet at the mall and we walked around. We watched the Pink Panther (Don’t Judge) made fun of thoes people that made “robots” of themselves in a cell-phone store, etc… Here in Brazil, there is a store called “Tok Stock” and it’s a decoration place, in which they make up a few rooms (Like for example, the get one of their vacant places, and put up some cheap walls, and decorate the room with couches, rugs, tables. Or in other words, with their merchandise.) So, Paty, Aly and I were walking when we see this guy that is meditating in the sample room (Is he weird or what?) I mean, REALLY meditating, even with the continuous “UUUUUUMMMMMM” sound. We went to the other room and laughed for 2 minutes, then restarted our walk. We looked at very beautiful sample rooms, then we got tired, sat down and started to mess up with other people. Alice stuck her head from the balcony and shouted at a lady: “Hi! do you remember me?” and the lady would always hesitate, until at the end she said that actually she did remembered her, which was weird, because she didn’t. Then we see this 10 year-old boy that was holding one of thoes ducks that instead of having legs, they have wheeles, you know, thoes baby ones. We laughed so hard at him, it was a ridiculous sight. After he walks by, we see this girl, this HIDEOUS girl. Her head was totally a stretched circle, her eyes were tiny and black, she wore huge glasses that covered her whole face, nose up, and had “puff” long hair, as huge as a dirty-blonde-poodle. She walked around, and suddenly, she put one of her feet behind the other and started to float, we then saw that she had a tacky pair of thoes roller-shoes. We laughed so hard that I think that we got 5 kg thinner. Everytime they passed, we would laugh, then stop, laugh then stop, until a scary woman jumped at us and asked: “Do you have a problem with my kids?” Although we did, we couldn’t say that. “No, can’t we laugh now?” she just left, and told her husband. In our way out, we heard her stupid husband say: “Hey, you there, where are your parents? GUARDS!” Alice ran away so quickly that Paty and I took a while to find out where she was.
These two stories prove how Alice and I are great friends, and will continue like that, even in separate schools, and with separate lives, we will find a way to meet and put the gossip to date.
The Evil Green Goo Lady
Sofy:
This isn’t something that happened today, and it actually happened quite some time ago, but Alvy and Cary said I should write about it, so here.
Alvy, Cary and I have sort of a ritual when we go to lunch. We eat, we buy TicTacs or Mentos, we go down to the soccer stands, stay there talking and listening to music, and go back up to the lockers. So a couple of weeks ago, we were going back up to the lockers. There are three stairs we can use, the library one, the elementary computer lab one, and the one close to the nurse’s office, which is the longest one. We used the one close to the nurse’s office.
The stairs are really narrow, so only two people can walk side-by-side. Since Alvy and Cary were listening to Alvy’s iPod together, they walked behind me, next to each other. So that we could talk better, I turned around and faced them, walking up the steps backwards.
“Sofy, you’re gonna hit.”- Cary said, looking at me seriously.
I thought she was saying that I was gonna trip on the steps, so I just looked at her like she was crazy and continued walking backwards.
Suddenly…
I BUMPED INTO SOMETHING BIG AND SQUISHY
I turned around and found myself staring straight at the boobs of someone that looks exactly like that lady from Monsters, Inc. That one that wears glasses and is made of, well, green goo.
But I forgot a detail. BEFORE I actually turned around, my hand involuntarily reached up and patted whatever I had bumped into.
So I turn around and my hand was resting on the boobs of the green goo lady. I look up at her face, stare at her for two seconds, and scream. I screamed REALLY loud.
This was one of those flight-or-flight situations that we learned about in Science class. I could either stay and say sorry and handle the green goo lady’s stare, or I could run away and let Alvy and Cary take care of this mess.
I chose flight.
I quickly turned away and ran up the stairs. I literally flew up those stairs, I’m serious. For a minute, my feet didn’t touch the ground. But then I remembered that humans don’t fly and got guilty about leaving my friends behind. So I stopped. But I was actually going so fast that when I wanted to stop, I couldn’t stop right away. So I tried to stop, but I didn’t really stop. I tripped.
So I’m sitting there, all sprawled out on the steps, and I slowly look up at the green goo lady. (Who was actually, like, two steps behind me, which means that I hadn’t been going that fast at all.) I give her an embarassed smile and say ‘I’m sorry.’
Green goo lady just stares. She looks at me with mean and beady eyes, and she looks SCARY. I look over at my friends, and they have now stopped laughing like crazy and are staring at the green goo lady, eyes as big as mine. Then she leaves. Alvy, Cary and I were so quick getting the heck out of there that we didn’t have time for checking, but I could swear, that if we had, there would be a trail of green goo left behind where she walked.
About To Lose A Friend… But Already Won Another
Alvy:
Today was the worst and one of the best days of my life. To begin with, you all probably know that Ms. Coggio (Gina Coggio) is a great friend, to Sofy, Cary and I, so there we were, on our own, living life and laughing near the drinking fountain, until Cary shouts: “Oh My God, What Is That?” and then, I look at where she was pointing.There, in the little “ramp” heading to the art room, were two 6th graders and Ms. Coggio (And here comes the worst part…) SOCIALIZING! I told Cary: “We have to do something about this!” we made a “mean people” march and butted in the converstaion. The 6th graders became uninterested and intimidated by us (Who wouldn’t after the march?) then they said: “Good bye, future teacher” (Or something like that) How dare they say that! and Ms. Coggio even seemed to have fun while talking to the little “Intruders” Humph… But they’re going to see… (Evil Laugh, like the ones that sound like Muahahaha)
After I arrived home, I sat on the couch and asked about Prince to Ana (My maid) and she told me that he never showed up since last friday. I became a little sad, although I already expected that answer. The phone rang, and I answered. “Alvaro, could you come out for a minute, I have a surprise for you and your sister!” I hung up the phone. I then saw my mother searching through the seat next to her’s. “It’s Prince! She found him!!” The thoughts of finding him again ran through mind until she pulled out a small little figure. The car’s glass was dark, so I couldn’t see too much. When I looked out through the window, I saw the cutest thing, we just won a new little Lhasa Apso puppy! “I’ve read she brings luck, let’s see if she brings Prince back!” I smiled and held her tiny little fragile body. My mother read the printed page of info about the Lhasa Apso, I heard the words China, calm, and elegant a couple times, I spent some hours with her and then my father came and robbed her from me.
The title of the post might make you think that I am substituting Ms. Coggio for my little Crystal, but that isn’t true. Ms. Coggio is a great friend (Although she stares at me for a long time when I make fun of her, like the way she says a word sometimes.) and she is also a great teacher (But you know what, now that I’m describing them, Crystal and Ms. Coggio are’nt THAT different…) And you know what, if Ms. Coggio is substituting us for the 6th graders, then I will substitute her for Crystal… (See, Ms. Coggio, told you that I would talk bad about you in “On Our Way.” I’m Hazardous!) (And smart, um, hello, Vocab!)
Memoires Of My Soul
Alvy:
If you have read my first post on “On Our Way” you would know about the promise I have made monday and will spend 3 days iPod-Free. I would really become sad if the promise did’nt work, not because of me missing all my music, but because my cat would still be gone, and that disappearence is really bringing me down, I always find myself thinking: “Here am I, having fun, with the best friends life could give me, and I don’t have Prince by my side… Were might he be?” and I just cover my thoughts with guilt.
I just know that the first song I want to listen to is “On Our Way” by Christina Aguilera, just by Prince’s side, and yeah, our blog was named after the song, since the song relates to our friendship (Sofy’s Cary’s and mine) so I could be with all of you together. I’m really in the mood for music (In which I will be able to listen to tomorrow.) because songs help me express myself and maybe release some guilt I feel for leaving Prince alone. I feel like I’ve lost a part of me, since I remember when I first saw him in the pet store, he was a tiny persian kitten, with round little paws and cute little blue eyes, we already had Xuxa (Beige-colored female cat) at home, my mother was unsure if to buy him or not, we fell in love with him, we admired him playing with the others, and we just had to buy him. After some money was spent, the woman told us: “Since it is raining outside, be careful, because he is fragile and might get sick.” I held him in my arms, and felt his hot fur, we went inside the car, and just stayed, enchanted, paralyzed, and numb in the same position staring at him, and playing with him for the whole day, eventually, he grew, and Xuxa got pregnant, she had 6 kittens, and we got to keep one, Pakita, now with 9 months old, Pakita is very happy, and her mother’s best friend. Everything changed after Prince disappeared, Xuxa became frightened and vulnerable, and my mother, who loved Prince (she called him her “Faithful cat” because he always jumped onto the table and sat on top of the bible, with his paws on the pages, and that seemed like he was reading it.) You have no idea how much I cry writing this, so many memories, drawn away by something that I’m not even familiar with. No song in this world can draw away what I feel right now, only my friends can, I’m really needing a friendly shoulder to cry on, and I can always depend on my friends, especially Cary, Sofy and even Ms.Coggio! (We told you she was the best teacher, she’s a great friend + teacher) just remembering happy moments with my loved ones already bring a smile to my face.
Things We Don’t Get About This World
Sofy:
Last Monday, Cary and I were walking down to her guitar class because I was staying till five at school and I had nothing to do. So we started talking about things we don’t get about the world and came up with some pretty weird stuff.
First of all, we don’t get why people always sleep after having sex. ALWAYS. Neither of us has ever seen a movie where after the bed stops shaking and the couple stops moaning and stuff, they just get up and go for a cup of coffee. Never. I don’t get it. Is sex really that tiring?
Then we thought about why there are oranges on the power lines. I don’t know what they’re called, I just know that they’re round and look like oranges. I came up with this one, and Cary said that the oranges are there so that the wires don’t bump together, but that’s too boring. Like maybe they actually are oranges, and they’re there because their orange energy prevents the wires from sending off electrical rays and frying people. (I’m not sure that happens even without the oranges, but it could…)
Another thing we don’t get is why birds don’t die when they sit (do birds sit?) on the power lines. It’s like they have some protective barrier against electricity. Maybe it’s their feet. Birds always seemed to have weird feet to me. They look so rough, and rubbery…and they only have four fingers. (Is it toes? Claws?) How can anyone survive with only FOUR fingers?!?! But I guess they’re useful for the birds. They might be what keeps them from dying everytime they want to go sit on wires.
Why, when you’re in your car, and you’re stopped next to a bus, the people in the bus always stare at you? Seriously, they ALWAYS stare at me. And they don’t have nice faces, either. They don’t smile…It’s creepy, because it seems as if all the people inside the bus are looking at me. And they always seem sad or angry.
The last thing we don’t get is why people kill themselves by slashing their wrists. Okay, I know that some people shoot themselves or drown themselves in the tub, or hang themselves from trees. But a LOT of people slash their wrists. I mean, why would people want to end their lives like that? It’s so slow, and painful, and bloody. Don’t people commit suicide to get RID of all the pain and suffering?
