Wine in the afternoon

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I know silly excuses are lame, but I feel bad for the lack of updates, so let me explain: As I mentioned a lot of times, the end of the year is quite complicated, and I’ve been studying a lot. Unfortunately, I failed economy and will have to take it again next year. Looking on the bright side, that’s better than passing with a bad grade this semester, because it’s a subject I really must learn in order to succeed in the years ahead. Now I have less tests and papers due, so I’m almost on holidays and I’ll go back to updating more frequently. And I’m getting excited about my schedule for next semester, even though I’ll have a copious amount of classes due to my failing economy and not taking some of my required classes this semester.

This week is going to be chaotic, but really fun. I’ve got a lot of internship work. I’m pretty sure I mentioned it before, but I’m an intern at a major newspaper. I actually only work on the teenager section, which is published weekly. I work with a group of 5 other interns and about 5 journalists, and I do everything raging from suggesting stories, writing on their blog, writing a bit for the paper and doing interviews. Yesterday we had a meeting, and I’m really proud of myself because my suggestions were a total hit. Today we interviewed an Israeli musician called Idan Raichel, and he was incredibly interesting, I’m still amazed. Plus, he gave me his e-mail and told me I should totally come to Israel sometime, which was great for my little groupie heart. Tomorrow we’re all going to see his concert (plus side of this job: free tickets!), and afterwards we’re going to the band contest the newspaper promotes yearly (and I’m VIP, free drinks & food & all sorts of pampering). I’m really excited about all of this, and I’m getting really sad that the internship ends on February, because I’m enjoying it a lot, and I’ve made some great friends there.

Tomorrow there’s band practice, and that’s very motivating and exciting too. I hope everything turns out okay (even though I’m not feeling all that sure about my bass-playing skills). And the day after tomorrow I’m going to the opening of an exhibition, and it’s going to be rad. The artist, Gerard Fromanger, is a friend of my mom, and his work is really interesting. And other awesome plans for the weekend include a killer party on friday and karaoke night on sunday. Unfortunately, though, my modelling gig was postponed.

So, guys, what are your plans for this week? Anything you’re excited about?

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Wow, I can’t believe November is almost over. 2010 is just around the corner, I should start my end-of-the-year obligations already. But let’s get to this month’s Just a Minute (courtesy of August Street).

Listening… to Cobra Starship, Lady Gaga, She & Him, Led Zeppelin, The Killers & Interpol. And a lot more, but that’s just the sort of stuff that has been going on in my head lately.
Reading… Lolita, by V. Nabokov.
Watching… Old Audrey Hepburn movies, The Dreamers, and rock’n'roll movies like Rock’n'roll High School.
Buying… Cookies, Books and a 2010 Moleskine planner.
Wanting… Vacations!
Trying… Not to fail Economy. I think I did well on the test, but not well enough. Let’s see how that goes.
Loving… Jimmy Page, dancing through the night, laying in bed reading all day, daydreaming, my family, writing letters & cards, Christmas approaching.
Making… Lists & plans, as usual.
Writing… Blog content, music lyrics, lists.

Miss Sofia

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This time of the year always means I’m struggling with getting all my grades up, studying for exams, writing papers, doing copious amounts of homework and not having time for myself. Yesterday I came home early from college and spent hours reading my economy textbook and trying to really understand it, and after I was done with it (not exactly done, actually, there are still two chapters to go) I had to plan the documentary I’m doing for my Communication & Art class with a friend.

On a side note, I’m actually really excited about the documentary: It will be a mini-doc (about 4 minutes long) about bass players, and we’re interviewing some of our friends who play the bass. Today we’re shooting, and we’re going to edit it on thursday, after I’m done with my economy test (finally!). Wish me luck, lovelies. If it turns out well I’ll put it up on Youtube for you to see.

But, coming back to the important stuff… I always find it hard to study. I’ve never been a bad student, I go to a great college and all, but actually sitting down and studying and getting work done is always very difficult for me. Over the years I developed some methods, so to speak, to improve my concentration, but they’re not perfect. I get easily distracted, and sometimes I just totally doze off while reading whatever it is that I’m supposed to be reading. So I thought I’d share some of my tips with you, and ask for a little help.

• Music: I know a lot of people can only concentrate when it’s silent, but silence creeps me out. I always listen to music when I’m studying, preferably things I like but don’t know the lyrics to. If I know the lyrics I’ll inevitably start singing and get distracted. Jazz, electronic and classical music are good for studying purposes.
• Food: I’m hungry most of the time. If I start studying and I get bored, I immediately get hungry, and then I stop studying in order to eat. So I have a small snack before starting to read, and I keep a glass of water and/or fruit juice and something to snack on during my reading. I like getting crackers, small fruits (like berries and grape) and peanuts. Chocolate is also good because it keeps me awake.
• Finding the best time: I study well during the afternoon and during the night (and when I say night I mean after 23h). My mind just doesn’t work in the morning, and in the evening I’m usually tired and want to get some rest reading a novel or watching a movie.
• The best place: I have to be comfortable to pay attention. Therefore, I usually study sitting in my bed. But, depending on my mood and on the weather, I might study in the porch, or in the living room’s table, or sitting in a park bench.

What about you? What helps you concentrate?

Miss Sofia

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Today I left the house at 8h30 (way too early for me – I usually get up around 10) to go downtown to update some of my documentation papers. Me, my dad and my sister ended up coming back at 14h, which means the whole process took more than 5 hours – and most of them were spent waiting. This annoyed me to no end, since I didn’t have time for lunch and I was terribly late for college. But, like most things, it had an upside: It inspired me to write today’s post. Yay (see, this is me trying to look on the bright side of life)! So here are my very special thoughts on how to spend the time you wait in line.

• Catch up on your reading. I read more than half of Brave New World (the book I’m currently reading) while waiting. But I suggest taking stuff you have to read but don’t really want to, like school books. You won’t have many options, so you’ll actually get some reading done instead of procrastinating in order to watch Glee.
• Alternatively, do your homework.
• Set your iPod on shuffle and people-watch. The idea is seeing how the music influences your opinions on people. So look at someone, skip to the next song and then try to make up a story for that person. You’ll see how differently you think when you’re listen to Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps and Oops, I did it again. And if you’re like me and have around 13000 songs on your iPod you’ll probably discover something you’ve never heard before.
• If you want, write down the stories you make up for people. It’s an interesting creative writing exercise, and it always reminds me of this book (one of my childhood favourites. If you’ve never read it, I suggest you do, regardless of your age. It’s great).
• Write lists. I love lists, no matter what they are about. Write your Christmas wishlist, a to-do list for the next week (or month, or year), your new-year resolutions, a list of people you love but don’t see enough, a list of things you love right no (I strongly recommend this one if you’re feeling upset), a list of songs that have been stuck in your head for the past few days, a list of movies you want to see but haven’t seen yet, a list of books you want to read and should get at your library, a Top 5 of John Cusack movies (I did this on twitter with a friend once, it was fun. We also listed favourite John Malkovich films and favourite John Hughes movies. I think we were going through a John obsession, now that I think of it.), anything at all.
• Make phone calls and/or send e-mails (if you have a Blackberry, an iPhone, or something of that sort). You know the calls you were supposed to make, and the e-mails you promised you’d respond asap? Well, get it done with.
• Write postcards. If you don’t have anyone to send postcards to, please sign up with Postcrossing (yeah, yeah, I know, I just can’t stop talking about it).

How do you spend your time in lines?

Miss Sofia

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I live in Rio de Janeiro, and it’s been living hell around here. I don’t mean that things have been bad, but it’s been so hot I feel like I’m going to melt every time I step outside the air-conditioned room. Still, the days have been utterly beautiful, and life’s meant to be seized, not sleep-walked through, so I thought I’d share some ideas of things to do on deadly hot days.

• Eat healthy: I don’t feel as hungry when it’s hot, and I tend to eat lighter and healthier things. I recommend fresh fruits and vegetables, and also juices and smoothies. I like to get myself a big jar of grape juice with lots of crushed ice and drink it all. Here’s a list of 101 simple salad recipes.
• Go to the movies during the day: Movie theatres are always cold, and they’re not really full during the daytime. So pick an interesting film, get a big cup of soda and be delighted with soft chairs and cool air-conditioning.
• Take a bath: Not just a shower. Fill your tub with cool water, lie in it, turn up the music and read a book. Bonus points if you add bubbles, rubber duckies and a cold and colourful drink (Cosmo, for example).
• Go to a park, lie down, read and listen to sunny music: Yes, sunny music. Things like The Beach Boys, early Pink Floyd, Duffy, Belle & Sebastian, Little Joy, She & Him and The Beatles. I have a playlist called A Summer Wasting, featuring 916 summer songs.
• Summer movies: Invite some friends over and watch movies about summer, sunny days and vacations (some ideas: Dazed & Confused, The Dreamers, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Vicky Cristina Barcelona) . Cool beverages and a cold room are required. Ice cream is optional.
• Ice cream: Go to the supermarket and buy ice-cream (as many flavours as you like) & toppings (syrup, honey, cashews, cherry, cereals, chocolate bars, M&Ms, marshmallow, whipped cream, whatever). Get together with a couple of friends and make a huge sundae, in a single bowl. Get spoons and eat it while gossiping about the cute boys you saw at the beach earlier.
• Pool party: I wish I had a pool so I could have pool parties. That’s pretty self-explanatory, but some more specific suggestions include a theme (e.g. mermaids & sea creatures), jell-o & vodka shots, loud 90s music, quirky hair-dos and skinny dipping.
• Go to the beach: I don’t like the beach. But I know most people do, so it’s always an option. I think you should include oversized (and/or heart-shaped) sunglasses, 50s pin-up swimwear, a cute scarf, a huge and colourful beach ball, an iPod, sunblock, a trashy novel and coconut water.
• Photos: Go out, take your cameras (Lomo & Polaroids are more than welcome), grab some friends and take photos. Everything looks beautiful under the sunlight. Fancy/strange clothes and props are a great thing too. If you only have a normal digital camera, put the photos on Poladroid when you get home.
• Ditch: If you hate the weather, just close your windows, turn on the air-conditioning, put on mittens and scarves, drink hot chocolate, listen to classical music and pretend you’re spending winter in Russia.

Miss Sofia

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Sometimes I’m feeling bored and demotivated. Luckily, the internet always provides me endless sources of small joy and motivation, such as Weheartit, Tumblr and iCing. Today I’m gonna talk about a tumblelog I just recently discovered: 2009. It contains simple instructions of things to do everyday. Some examples:

• Take a photograph of your entire body under a rug. Upload the photograph to the internet with the tag: juujtq2. When you search the internet for this tag (like on Flickr), you will find people hiding under rugs.
• Find a nice looking glass bottle. Use this to make a modern day message in a bottle. Write the letter on a nice piece of paper. Make your handwriting look nice. The reason for all this niceness is that this can easily look just like litter. Write a letter to anyone about anything. Now take your message in a bottle and put it afloat in a public fountain.
• Try to go to sleep with your eyes open.
• For a week or so switch one of your house plants with one of your friend’s house plants. Consider this a vacation for the house plants.
• Make a flyer that advertises yourself as a walking partner. Put the flyers up in your city. Go on walks with the people who contact you. On the flier, do not overthink the text. Make it look like a street flyer with to the point sentences. Cheesy writing is good.
• Sleep

Please, check it out. And try to do the stuff he says, everything seems so incredible!

Miss Sofia

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Today started off quite bad: I was late for class, had to take a cab (which was expensive, and the cab driver was really annoying), couldn’t really listen to music because my earphones are making a weird noise. No that anything actually bad happened, but it’s just one of those days when nothing is quite right. On the bright side, it inspired me to write a list of things I do to cheer myself up on days like these:

• Write: Whether it’s a journal entry, a poem, a short story or a letter, writing on my Moleskine always makes me feel better.
• Make a list of the things that went wrong: The point is to list them up and then think about how much they actually matter, and how much they’ll matter in the future. Most likely they just don’t really matter at all, and so I feel better. When it actually does matter, it’s a good way to see what I have to deal with, and be prepared.
• Make a list of the things that went right: When I’m feeling down, I need to concentrate only on the bad stuff, but there’s probably some good stuff going on too. Writing the good stuff down makes me feel happier. My list for today includes seeing some friends, eating avocado salad and starting a new book.
• Music, music, music: I can’t stress this enough. I have a special playlist for bad days, called Cafard (it’s the french word for getting the blues), featuring 297 sad songs. Some people can’t deal with sad songs when they’re feeling sad, and if you’re one of them I recommend listening to upbeat tunes (Supergrass’ Alright and anything by Mika are good choices). I just get worse if I listen to happy songs when I’ feeling blue, and I found out that singing along to Creep or Mad World is a pretty good way of feeling lighter.
• Indulge in sugar: Cookies, candy, cupcakes, chocolate, jell-o, anything. Chocolate is good because it boosts your endorphine levels, and it’s even better if you bake your own sweets.
• Watch silly movies: Anything will do, as long as it’s not serious or sad. My top choices are 80s’ teen flicks (John Hughes & Molly Ringwald are a great team), musicals and romantic comedies (the kind with Hugh Grants as the lead actor). Depending on your film preferences, I would also suggest more rock’n'roll movies (Almost Famous, This is Spinal Tap, Detroit Rock City) and horror/action movies full of fake blood (Lesbian vampire killers, Dance of the dead, Reservoir Dogs).
• Call a friend: Talking to people I love is an instant mood booster. So call up your favourite friend, complain about your day and then start talking about the latest Gossip Girl episode.
• Random internet searches: Wikipedia. Click on “Random page”. Read it. Learn something.

What about you? What do you like to do when you’re feeling bummed out?

Miss Sofia

P.S.: If you’re still feeling upset, read this article.