misc
Sunday, 15 July 2018
20 Struggles of Wearing Glasses
Some might think of glasses as a fashion statement but those lucky people are blessed to forget some people actually need glasses to see the world around them. This past week I was looking at some Instagram stories and got to one of Sónia's about how naïve people with little to no diopters, a fancy way of measuring someone's blindness level, are. So that got me inspired. As someone who has been wearing glasses for almost 20 years (which is about 70% of my entire life) I feel highly qualified to bring forward the problems of having to wear glasses. In all honesty, this post is also a way for me to vent.
I was destined to have myopia and my childhood was molded by it. I didn't wear contact lenses until almost adulthood and back in early 2000's, when I started wearing them, wearing glasses wasn't in at all. Actually, I would love it if someone could explain to me how not being able to see properly got into fashion. I get the sunglasses part, don't get me wrong. But why, why would you wear glasses with no lens graduation if you don't actually need them? When did being blind become the new in?
So without further ado, let me just enumerate a few problems common to everyone who has over 5 diopters and clearly everyone else doesn't have to deal with:
1 - You won't be able to see anything when you wake up in the morning and thus
2 - It's super important to you to have your glasses within an arm's reach of your bed (what if some emergency happens and you need to quickly leave the bed?).
3 - You won't be able to see anything while taking a shower.
4 - When you don't have your glasses on, you can't distinguish anyone because every face is nothing but a blur.
5 - Which makes going to the beach a very complicated activity (if you don't have any contacts).
6 - Or any swimming activity.
7 - When it rains they get wet and you can't see properly.
8 - They will steam up in surprising and unplanned placed and you won't be able to see .
9 - You need to clean them regularly (and you need to be wearing certain types of fiber to be able to do it properly).
10 - They leave nose imprints.
11 - Changing clothes with them on is a challenge.
12 - When people try your glasses and get amazed by how blind you are.
13 - When they fall off your face.
14 - You can't lie down with them on without squishing and/or
15 - Breaking them.
16 - They are so expensive.
17 - Again, why do we have to pay so much money to be able to see?
18 - After a certain point, the lenses become so thick it's ridiculous.
19 - They also start making your eyes look weird when you have the glasses on.
20 - When you have to get new glasses but you can't see how you look because you don't have your glasses on.
This is our struggle (and I could keep going), so again, why did the fashion industry thought being blind is the new in?
I was destined to have myopia and my childhood was molded by it. I didn't wear contact lenses until almost adulthood and back in early 2000's, when I started wearing them, wearing glasses wasn't in at all. Actually, I would love it if someone could explain to me how not being able to see properly got into fashion. I get the sunglasses part, don't get me wrong. But why, why would you wear glasses with no lens graduation if you don't actually need them? When did being blind become the new in?
So without further ado, let me just enumerate a few problems common to everyone who has over 5 diopters and clearly everyone else doesn't have to deal with:
1 - You won't be able to see anything when you wake up in the morning and thus
2 - It's super important to you to have your glasses within an arm's reach of your bed (what if some emergency happens and you need to quickly leave the bed?).
3 - You won't be able to see anything while taking a shower.
4 - When you don't have your glasses on, you can't distinguish anyone because every face is nothing but a blur.
5 - Which makes going to the beach a very complicated activity (if you don't have any contacts).
6 - Or any swimming activity.
7 - When it rains they get wet and you can't see properly.
8 - They will steam up in surprising and unplanned placed and you won't be able to see .
9 - You need to clean them regularly (and you need to be wearing certain types of fiber to be able to do it properly).
10 - They leave nose imprints.
11 - Changing clothes with them on is a challenge.
12 - When people try your glasses and get amazed by how blind you are.
13 - When they fall off your face.
14 - You can't lie down with them on without squishing and/or
15 - Breaking them.
16 - They are so expensive.
17 - Again, why do we have to pay so much money to be able to see?
18 - After a certain point, the lenses become so thick it's ridiculous.
19 - They also start making your eyes look weird when you have the glasses on.
20 - When you have to get new glasses but you can't see how you look because you don't have your glasses on.
This is our struggle (and I could keep going), so again, why did the fashion industry thought being blind is the new in?
Sunday, 13 May 2018
Eurovision 2018
Despite the fact that I tell myself I really don't care about this contest, every year, without failing, I sit in front of the tv and watch it just to confirm if Portugal is still the worst one. I did have a big surprise last year, but I wasn't very hopeful for this year. I mean, only Spain, Luxembourg and Israel have ever won twice in a row so the bar was set very low for us!
For the most distracted people (or american population that may follow my blog in general), the Eurovision Song Contest is the longest-running annual international TV contest of all time, currently in its 63rd year with over 40 countries eligible to compete. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the competition's winning entry. The final result is calculated with 50% the country's juri vote, whom I have no idea who they are, and the other 50% the public at home and there's usually a lot of politics involved, like neighbours voting for neighbours. For this contest, we bring it all in and we basically have two different kinds of performances: ballads and weird wtf songs.
So last year, Portugal managed to score their first victory, ending the longest winless run by a country in Eurovision history (53 years). Salvador Sobral got us another record as well: the highest scoring winner under the current voting system, with 758 points. And, as the winning country, that meant we got to host this year. Not surprisingly, though, we ended up in last place, back to our usual spot. This time, the UK even managed a higher score than us!
My favourite and, to me, the rightful winner was "You Let Me Walk Alone" by Michael Schulte from Germany. I also enjoyedo "Fuego" by Eleni Foureira from Cyprus with her Beyonce vibes (who ended up in second place), "Outlaw in 'Em" by Waylon from The Netherlands, who brought some country to the competition, austrian Kanye West mixed with Craig David vibes with "Nobody but You" by Cesár Sampson (who was also competing for the trophy right until the end) and estonian Elina Nechayeve with "La Forza" who got a good public vote position. Honestly, though, I would have loved to see the british SuRie with "Storm" win, since despite all the security involved, someone managed to get in the stage and steal her microphone (not shown in the video), but she managed to finish strong anyway (she was given the chance to perform again but declined)! Had she won, next year, after Brexit day, the UK would be forced to host a massive celebration of European unity and diversity!
Honorable mentions go to Ukraine, with a vampire kid who made me Google where Transylvania is actually situated (Romania, not Ukraine), Czech Republic with its MC Hammer vibes, Hungary with its metal-rock, and Denmark's artist who, despite the need of men up in the Wall of Ice, still managed to sing at the contest.
Now, I've given you five good winning potential songs, in my opinion. Those fall into the ballad option of Eurovision songs. Let me now tell you about the winning song, which definitely falls into the weird category. The winner was "Toy" by Netta from Israel, which apparently was a favourite when it comes to the betting pools, and combines a trademark chicken dance, electronic dance song, japanese manga and women's empowerment lyrics. So, as you can see (and hear), it had everything to be a major hit!
All in all, I have a mix of good feelings about the contest. I'm satisfied with Portugal's score - so much pride in fighting for the last place, I like to think we were such good hosts we didn't want anyone to feel sad about scoring last. However, I'm unhappy with the winner. While I get how Netta won, I still feel like my favourite Michael Schulte was injusticed and deserved the trophy. I will definitely be following Eurovision 2019 in Israel and I hope it's even better (read: weirder) than the 2018 edition!
For the most distracted people (or american population that may follow my blog in general), the Eurovision Song Contest is the longest-running annual international TV contest of all time, currently in its 63rd year with over 40 countries eligible to compete. Each participating country submits an original song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the competition's winning entry. The final result is calculated with 50% the country's juri vote, whom I have no idea who they are, and the other 50% the public at home and there's usually a lot of politics involved, like neighbours voting for neighbours. For this contest, we bring it all in and we basically have two different kinds of performances: ballads and weird wtf songs.
So last year, Portugal managed to score their first victory, ending the longest winless run by a country in Eurovision history (53 years). Salvador Sobral got us another record as well: the highest scoring winner under the current voting system, with 758 points. And, as the winning country, that meant we got to host this year. Not surprisingly, though, we ended up in last place, back to our usual spot. This time, the UK even managed a higher score than us!
My favourite and, to me, the rightful winner was "You Let Me Walk Alone" by Michael Schulte from Germany. I also enjoyedo "Fuego" by Eleni Foureira from Cyprus with her Beyonce vibes (who ended up in second place), "Outlaw in 'Em" by Waylon from The Netherlands, who brought some country to the competition, austrian Kanye West mixed with Craig David vibes with "Nobody but You" by Cesár Sampson (who was also competing for the trophy right until the end) and estonian Elina Nechayeve with "La Forza" who got a good public vote position. Honestly, though, I would have loved to see the british SuRie with "Storm" win, since despite all the security involved, someone managed to get in the stage and steal her microphone (not shown in the video), but she managed to finish strong anyway (she was given the chance to perform again but declined)! Had she won, next year, after Brexit day, the UK would be forced to host a massive celebration of European unity and diversity!
Honorable mentions go to Ukraine, with a vampire kid who made me Google where Transylvania is actually situated (Romania, not Ukraine), Czech Republic with its MC Hammer vibes, Hungary with its metal-rock, and Denmark's artist who, despite the need of men up in the Wall of Ice, still managed to sing at the contest.
Now, I've given you five good winning potential songs, in my opinion. Those fall into the ballad option of Eurovision songs. Let me now tell you about the winning song, which definitely falls into the weird category. The winner was "Toy" by Netta from Israel, which apparently was a favourite when it comes to the betting pools, and combines a trademark chicken dance, electronic dance song, japanese manga and women's empowerment lyrics. So, as you can see (and hear), it had everything to be a major hit!
All in all, I have a mix of good feelings about the contest. I'm satisfied with Portugal's score - so much pride in fighting for the last place, I like to think we were such good hosts we didn't want anyone to feel sad about scoring last. However, I'm unhappy with the winner. While I get how Netta won, I still feel like my favourite Michael Schulte was injusticed and deserved the trophy. I will definitely be following Eurovision 2019 in Israel and I hope it's even better (read: weirder) than the 2018 edition!
Sunday, 29 April 2018
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (A Witch's Review)
First of all, let me tell you what this Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is all about: it's a new mobile game, released on this past 25th of April, based on my favourite book series, Harry Potter. So as you might expect if you know me, I was extremely excited to be able to download it and play it myself. It was marketed as a game where you can create your own character and take on the role of a Hogwarts student, experiencing all seven years and taking part in classes while solving a mystery. My hype was all up, as I was expecting sort of crossover between The Sims game and Hogwarts.
It starts in 1984, a bit after Harry defeated Voldemort for the first time, and it features characters known from the books during their student years like Bill and Charlie Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks and teachers who were working at Hogwarts during that time such as Hagrid, Snape, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flitwick and Madam Hooch. We also see Filch and Ms. Norris, who are as detestable as always.
Our journey begins creating our character before arriving at Diagon Alley where twe meet Rowan Khanna who advises us to purchase our books from Flourish and Blotts and we then become friends, after getting our names straight. Afterwards, we get a wand from Ollivanders and we find out we have a brother, Jacob, who went missing and, depending on the answer we select in response, we will receive one possible wand wood and core out of three possible ones. We arrive at Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat asks us which house we're hoping for and then place us there, which will be the same house Rowan was placed in.
Now this looks tons of fun, right? Right. And it is. For a while. We get to complete missions in the story, where we get closer and closer to find what happened to our brother Jacob, and also learn spells, potions and how to fly properly with Madam Hooch (who is somehow better at Divination than Trelawney and manages to name a broom, Firebolt, which will only be released in the future). The problem is that it's an energy-based game. So we're living our Hogwarts magical dreams... until we run out of energy. You need energy to complete most of the game's tasks and then you have to wait for it to fill up to free before we can continue playing. Of course, you can refill your energy by using some gems, the game’s premium currency, but it costs real money. We also have to wait around 3h for the next tasks... It's basically just a very long waiting game... And I don't like to be kept waiting. Also, it's not like we haven't already done our waiting, twelve years of it, in Azkaban!
Another subject I'd like to point out is our characters customization, or the lack of thereof. We don't have a lot of options to start with (we could've had it all with The Sims - Hogwarts Mystery) and most of the actual customization costs either a huge amount of in-game galleons or gems (again, the paid ones) so we're reduced to a short amount of options if you're a poor Weasley, or just don't want to spend money with the game. Even if you're willing to put your actual money in the game, there aren't a lot of options either so I'd save your money.
Finally, let me just mention a few more issues. We don't have access to all locations at once, but rather we get access to them as we move up in years at Hogwarts. For example, I understand how a first-year can't get into the Divination classroom but it makes no sense to me to have the Owlery unlocked only in the sixth year. I mean, I come from a magical family, they're going to get worried if I don't communicate with them for six years! I also haven't figured out the housecup points system, who decides (and how) which house is winning?
Now, will I continue to play this? Absolutely, I will stay with it until the very end, or until there's no more years to level up to (also, I want to know what happened to my brother!). I would even keep playing if Portkey Games added life after Hogwarts such as jobs and eventually meeting Harry's timeline, playing as a side character, just minding my own bussiness, and we happen to cross paths sometimes with Harry and his friends (in Hogsmeade or Hogwarts, for example). Just a suggestion I leave here, leave it or take it, Portkey Games!
Personally, I'm really curious about the whole Jacob issue and I also want to know who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts! What about you, did you install the game? What are your thoughts on it?
It starts in 1984, a bit after Harry defeated Voldemort for the first time, and it features characters known from the books during their student years like Bill and Charlie Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks and teachers who were working at Hogwarts during that time such as Hagrid, Snape, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Flitwick and Madam Hooch. We also see Filch and Ms. Norris, who are as detestable as always.
Our journey begins creating our character before arriving at Diagon Alley where twe meet Rowan Khanna who advises us to purchase our books from Flourish and Blotts and we then become friends, after getting our names straight. Afterwards, we get a wand from Ollivanders and we find out we have a brother, Jacob, who went missing and, depending on the answer we select in response, we will receive one possible wand wood and core out of three possible ones. We arrive at Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat asks us which house we're hoping for and then place us there, which will be the same house Rowan was placed in.
Now this looks tons of fun, right? Right. And it is. For a while. We get to complete missions in the story, where we get closer and closer to find what happened to our brother Jacob, and also learn spells, potions and how to fly properly with Madam Hooch (who is somehow better at Divination than Trelawney and manages to name a broom, Firebolt, which will only be released in the future). The problem is that it's an energy-based game. So we're living our Hogwarts magical dreams... until we run out of energy. You need energy to complete most of the game's tasks and then you have to wait for it to fill up to free before we can continue playing. Of course, you can refill your energy by using some gems, the game’s premium currency, but it costs real money. We also have to wait around 3h for the next tasks... It's basically just a very long waiting game... And I don't like to be kept waiting. Also, it's not like we haven't already done our waiting, twelve years of it, in Azkaban!
Another subject I'd like to point out is our characters customization, or the lack of thereof. We don't have a lot of options to start with (we could've had it all with The Sims - Hogwarts Mystery) and most of the actual customization costs either a huge amount of in-game galleons or gems (again, the paid ones) so we're reduced to a short amount of options if you're a poor Weasley, or just don't want to spend money with the game. Even if you're willing to put your actual money in the game, there aren't a lot of options either so I'd save your money.
Finally, let me just mention a few more issues. We don't have access to all locations at once, but rather we get access to them as we move up in years at Hogwarts. For example, I understand how a first-year can't get into the Divination classroom but it makes no sense to me to have the Owlery unlocked only in the sixth year. I mean, I come from a magical family, they're going to get worried if I don't communicate with them for six years! I also haven't figured out the housecup points system, who decides (and how) which house is winning?
Now, will I continue to play this? Absolutely, I will stay with it until the very end, or until there's no more years to level up to (also, I want to know what happened to my brother!). I would even keep playing if Portkey Games added life after Hogwarts such as jobs and eventually meeting Harry's timeline, playing as a side character, just minding my own bussiness, and we happen to cross paths sometimes with Harry and his friends (in Hogsmeade or Hogwarts, for example). Just a suggestion I leave here, leave it or take it, Portkey Games!
Personally, I'm really curious about the whole Jacob issue and I also want to know who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts! What about you, did you install the game? What are your thoughts on it?
Sunday, 11 March 2018
Simba becomes Simballess!
This is another post about my little cat, Simba, even though we can hardly say he's a little cat anymore now. I like to believe he was born on July 31st (at least that feels the estimation) so that makes him around seven months now, with 3.5kg and with his own Instagram account. He's still a little terrorist and I've no answers for the letter I wrote him about two months ago but there's been little progress when it comes to answering his name. I'm pretty sure he know his name is Simba by now, but most of the times chooses to ignore it. He does respond very well to "Let's go eat, Simba?".
We took Simba to the vet last friday, who told us he was completely developped by now and he recommended neutereing him as soon as possible to avoid problems at home. We always knew we were going to neuter him. It made no sense to us to expose him to the torture the mating season is and we'd avoid all the territorial marking we still hadn't seen but weren't very keen to. So we scheduled it for the next day (do you get the pun in the title now? see what I did there?) and that meant he couldn't eat anything that afternoon and the morning before the surgery. That was the most complicated part because, as a little terrorist, he usually manages to find food we didn't even know it was there and sometimes, goes through various levels of "security" to reach the food such as a bag inside a bag under a lot of tupperwares on top of the balcony. That's how much of gluton he is, it's indeed a real problem!
So the morning after he got inside the transporter fairly easily, unlike every other time and I took him to the vet. Despite being reassured this was a very easy surgery it's a surgery nontheless so I spent the day worried about my "little" 3.5kg kitten. Since he would be asleep, the vet would also take some blood to test him for FIV, which is the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (equivalent to the human HIV) and FeLV, the Feline Leukemia Virus. Both diseases, even the virus themselves are not letal, means his immunity would be reduced and a simple cold means endless headaches since his immune system can't fight it properly. They're very easily transmited: fights, scratches or even saliva and sand boxes. Because we didn't know anything about his past, we were very worried he would test positive for any of these as they will eventually impact his quality of life.
Thankfully, when I picked him up, I was informed he had tested negative for both diseases. He was already awake and ready to go when I got there. The vet told me he could be a little dizzy and aggressive because of the anesthesia and may even vomit, so we would have to keep him confined to a dark room with no food and make water available to him only after midnight. We would also have to desinfect his scars twice a day, which in itself proved to be a challenge because I'm almost sure Simba is bipolar: he is a tiger with us and a kitten with the vet.
He reacted better than we expected. He got out of the transporter like it had been just another visit to the vet. We didn't find him dizzy and he didn't vomit. He was our little old Simba, ready for another one! I think he didn't even noticed something was missing! Yesterday we returned to the vet with him, who confirmed he was healing very well. Of course, it will take a maximum of six weeks for the hormones to completely leave his system, which means we will have to be even more careful with food near him because both his appetite and lazyness will increase, so the risk of getting fat will too. I am not sure if this will make the running like a mad cat disappear, or the nighttime crazy activity but I do hope it calms him down somewhat. Like I said, he is a bipolar cat: oftentimes he is cuddling with us on the sofa and the next moment he is running around like crazy without a purpose.
While talking about this recent news with a friend, I learned that in the first-language English countries you don't castrate your pets but "neuter", "spay" or "fix" them instead because of the torture association with the first word. I guess here in Portugal we're still slightly barbaric because we only call it "castration" or "spaying" but mostly castration. I understand the "neuter" word but I am still not sure what is there to "fix" besides possibly their behaviour.
Do you think we should neuter our pets? Let me know about your opinion and don't forget that you can follow my Simba's adventures on Instagram!
We took Simba to the vet last friday, who told us he was completely developped by now and he recommended neutereing him as soon as possible to avoid problems at home. We always knew we were going to neuter him. It made no sense to us to expose him to the torture the mating season is and we'd avoid all the territorial marking we still hadn't seen but weren't very keen to. So we scheduled it for the next day (do you get the pun in the title now? see what I did there?) and that meant he couldn't eat anything that afternoon and the morning before the surgery. That was the most complicated part because, as a little terrorist, he usually manages to find food we didn't even know it was there and sometimes, goes through various levels of "security" to reach the food such as a bag inside a bag under a lot of tupperwares on top of the balcony. That's how much of gluton he is, it's indeed a real problem!
So the morning after he got inside the transporter fairly easily, unlike every other time and I took him to the vet. Despite being reassured this was a very easy surgery it's a surgery nontheless so I spent the day worried about my "little" 3.5kg kitten. Since he would be asleep, the vet would also take some blood to test him for FIV, which is the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (equivalent to the human HIV) and FeLV, the Feline Leukemia Virus. Both diseases, even the virus themselves are not letal, means his immunity would be reduced and a simple cold means endless headaches since his immune system can't fight it properly. They're very easily transmited: fights, scratches or even saliva and sand boxes. Because we didn't know anything about his past, we were very worried he would test positive for any of these as they will eventually impact his quality of life.
Thankfully, when I picked him up, I was informed he had tested negative for both diseases. He was already awake and ready to go when I got there. The vet told me he could be a little dizzy and aggressive because of the anesthesia and may even vomit, so we would have to keep him confined to a dark room with no food and make water available to him only after midnight. We would also have to desinfect his scars twice a day, which in itself proved to be a challenge because I'm almost sure Simba is bipolar: he is a tiger with us and a kitten with the vet.
He reacted better than we expected. He got out of the transporter like it had been just another visit to the vet. We didn't find him dizzy and he didn't vomit. He was our little old Simba, ready for another one! I think he didn't even noticed something was missing! Yesterday we returned to the vet with him, who confirmed he was healing very well. Of course, it will take a maximum of six weeks for the hormones to completely leave his system, which means we will have to be even more careful with food near him because both his appetite and lazyness will increase, so the risk of getting fat will too. I am not sure if this will make the running like a mad cat disappear, or the nighttime crazy activity but I do hope it calms him down somewhat. Like I said, he is a bipolar cat: oftentimes he is cuddling with us on the sofa and the next moment he is running around like crazy without a purpose.
While talking about this recent news with a friend, I learned that in the first-language English countries you don't castrate your pets but "neuter", "spay" or "fix" them instead because of the torture association with the first word. I guess here in Portugal we're still slightly barbaric because we only call it "castration" or "spaying" but mostly castration. I understand the "neuter" word but I am still not sure what is there to "fix" besides possibly their behaviour.
Do you think we should neuter our pets? Let me know about your opinion and don't forget that you can follow my Simba's adventures on Instagram!
Sunday, 25 February 2018
The Little Victories of a Beginner Cook
Two months ago I wrote about my struggles as a beginner cook and while some of them are still valid (hello, amount of side dishes!), I know I've made some progress since then. I'm slowly venturing into more complicated recipes (still have a long path to walk) and finding a new joy in baking despite the setback of my mixer arriving with the wrong wands so I had to beat the egg whites with my arms only. So today I'm going to tell you about my little victories as someone who recently started cooking.
New recipes
You know when you try a new recipe for the first time and somehow it ends up being edible and even tastes good? Yes, I have been surprising myself with my ability to not mess up recipes or, at least, still making them edible.
My specialty dish
I thought I would need a bit more experience in the cooking art to have a speciality dish (and maybe I do). However, my spaghetti/tagliatelle alla carbonara has been pretty popular. It's what I always cook when we have people over, mostly because it's an easy one and there's barely anything that can go wrong. I'm still not being able to figure out the right quantity of pasta/rice but I've recently been given an utensil that should help me with that (shout out for tupperware!).
People enjoying the food
When I try a new recipe or present my "specialty dish" and people give you compliments (or just eat peaceful without making remarks) makes me really happy. Of course, I am still not 100% sure they're just being polite when trying to assure me it's good but my own tastebuds tell me it's edible so that's something.
Not burn anything
I was never someone who burned my food a lot (I think it only happened once with rice because I got distracted while it was cooking and I was still able to save the majority of it). Still, being able to produce food without it being burned is an accomplishment one shouldn't overlook.
Perfect omelet
A while ago, if someone asked me if I could make omelets I would reply I could do amazing scrambled eggs. Turns out my fear of burning the eggs was preventing me of being able to cook a decent omelet. I am still working on the shape of my pancakes but my omelets now are a perfect 10/10 as I'm already able to turn them properly!
What about you? Any new accomplishments you felt really happy when you started cooking?
New recipes
You know when you try a new recipe for the first time and somehow it ends up being edible and even tastes good? Yes, I have been surprising myself with my ability to not mess up recipes or, at least, still making them edible.
My specialty dish
I thought I would need a bit more experience in the cooking art to have a speciality dish (and maybe I do). However, my spaghetti/tagliatelle alla carbonara has been pretty popular. It's what I always cook when we have people over, mostly because it's an easy one and there's barely anything that can go wrong. I'm still not being able to figure out the right quantity of pasta/rice but I've recently been given an utensil that should help me with that (shout out for tupperware!).
People enjoying the food
When I try a new recipe or present my "specialty dish" and people give you compliments (or just eat peaceful without making remarks) makes me really happy. Of course, I am still not 100% sure they're just being polite when trying to assure me it's good but my own tastebuds tell me it's edible so that's something.
Not burn anything
I was never someone who burned my food a lot (I think it only happened once with rice because I got distracted while it was cooking and I was still able to save the majority of it). Still, being able to produce food without it being burned is an accomplishment one shouldn't overlook.
Perfect omelet
A while ago, if someone asked me if I could make omelets I would reply I could do amazing scrambled eggs. Turns out my fear of burning the eggs was preventing me of being able to cook a decent omelet. I am still working on the shape of my pancakes but my omelets now are a perfect 10/10 as I'm already able to turn them properly!
What about you? Any new accomplishments you felt really happy when you started cooking?
Sunday, 28 January 2018
An Open Letter to My Cat: Questions I Have
As you might know by now, I recently got a cat. You can check his background and some tips of what you should and should avoid doing when you get a cat yourself in my last post. So Simba is around five months now, getting more and more comfortable every day and on his way to become an Instagram top model. We're hoping he doesn't start marking his territory for a while but we know he'll start doing very soon (another trip to the vet will be scheduled as soon as that happens).
While we're very happy he's in our lives, we still got a few issues. And by issues I mean we have some questions we'd love if he could answer so this is my open letter to my cat.
"Dear Simba,
Hopefully you look at us as more than the humans who feed you twice a day and occasionally rub your fur. I know we had a rough start and you took a while to warm up to these humans but after two or three weeks you started showing typical cat behaviours towards us. However, there are a few questions we'd like you to answer because those still baffle us.
1- How can you ALWAYS be hungry?
You've turned out to be a HUGE gluton, dear Simba. You're always begging for food and we can't leave the cupboards open for thirty seconds because you come out of nowhere and when we look again, you're searching for (and most times finding) something to eat. We know you've recently gotten the habit, which we're trying to work on, of climbing onto the kitchen counters to eat the food we sometimes leave there. You've even been able to work around the microwave protection I left on top of my breakfast bowl and managed to feast on it! While we're on it, please let your obsession with the trash can go, the food there is not for you.
You also got recently obsessed with your 4kg food bag and even managed to open the wardrobe it was in to get to it! We're running out of places within my reach but out of yours to hide it in!
2 - Why are you very still and suddenly start running around like a mad cat?
You know the situation. You're standing very still, your tail wagging left and right and suddenly you start running somewhere like your life depends on it. We, humans, are suspicious you somehow have access to a paralel world and when you do that it's because your life is being threatened in that other dimension but we'd like to have your input on it.
3 - What do you see in rugs?
You have an obsession with rugs. I don't know what you see in them but you like to stretch and put your claws out and do some weird movements on them we still haven't understood. You do this quite a lot during the morning, when I'm trying to not wake up, so I will give you food. We'd like to, so please do explan why you do this.
4 - What's up with the bites?
Sometimes we're having a petting session and you're enjoying it very much (I can hear you purr!) and after a while you just bite us out of nowhere. It's a light bite, yes, but what's up with that? Why do you do that and how can we make you see it's not okay to bite us, even if they're not meant to harm (at least I don't think so anyway)?
5 - Why do you ignore it when we call you by your name?
You've been Simba for two month now. We've been calling "Let's go, Simba, let's go eat" every time we feed you. We've been saying your name every time we pet you. Yet, you still don't respond when we call Simba. By now, we're almost sure you just don't care what your name is.
If you know the answers to any of these questions, or any other tips in general (like how to make him stop going after his food bag), please don't hesitate in commenting, because these are truly intriguing behaviours. Meanwhile, don't forget that you can follow my Simba's adventures on Instagram!
While we're very happy he's in our lives, we still got a few issues. And by issues I mean we have some questions we'd love if he could answer so this is my open letter to my cat.
"Dear Simba,
Hopefully you look at us as more than the humans who feed you twice a day and occasionally rub your fur. I know we had a rough start and you took a while to warm up to these humans but after two or three weeks you started showing typical cat behaviours towards us. However, there are a few questions we'd like you to answer because those still baffle us.
1- How can you ALWAYS be hungry?
You've turned out to be a HUGE gluton, dear Simba. You're always begging for food and we can't leave the cupboards open for thirty seconds because you come out of nowhere and when we look again, you're searching for (and most times finding) something to eat. We know you've recently gotten the habit, which we're trying to work on, of climbing onto the kitchen counters to eat the food we sometimes leave there. You've even been able to work around the microwave protection I left on top of my breakfast bowl and managed to feast on it! While we're on it, please let your obsession with the trash can go, the food there is not for you.
You also got recently obsessed with your 4kg food bag and even managed to open the wardrobe it was in to get to it! We're running out of places within my reach but out of yours to hide it in!
2 - Why are you very still and suddenly start running around like a mad cat?
You know the situation. You're standing very still, your tail wagging left and right and suddenly you start running somewhere like your life depends on it. We, humans, are suspicious you somehow have access to a paralel world and when you do that it's because your life is being threatened in that other dimension but we'd like to have your input on it.
3 - What do you see in rugs?
You have an obsession with rugs. I don't know what you see in them but you like to stretch and put your claws out and do some weird movements on them we still haven't understood. You do this quite a lot during the morning, when I'm trying to not wake up, so I will give you food. We'd like to, so please do explan why you do this.
4 - What's up with the bites?
Sometimes we're having a petting session and you're enjoying it very much (I can hear you purr!) and after a while you just bite us out of nowhere. It's a light bite, yes, but what's up with that? Why do you do that and how can we make you see it's not okay to bite us, even if they're not meant to harm (at least I don't think so anyway)?
5 - Why do you ignore it when we call you by your name?
You've been Simba for two month now. We've been calling "Let's go, Simba, let's go eat" every time we feed you. We've been saying your name every time we pet you. Yet, you still don't respond when we call Simba. By now, we're almost sure you just don't care what your name is.
With love,
Vera (the human)"
If you know the answers to any of these questions, or any other tips in general (like how to make him stop going after his food bag), please don't hesitate in commenting, because these are truly intriguing behaviours. Meanwhile, don't forget that you can follow my Simba's adventures on Instagram!
Sunday, 14 January 2018
FIFA 18: My Boyfriend Tried to Teach Me How To Play
After my last FIFA 18 post I tried to show more interest in this game (even though there's still no Sims crossover which, by the way, I've been thinking about and there will be a post soon with a list of ideas EA could implement) so I asked him to teach me how to play.
It was a sunny sunday and we sat in front of the tv. I was playing with Real Madrid against FC Porto (controlled by the game), the boyfriend chose some settings involving players' positions (and didn't explain me one bit), and I had already suffered two goals when the game decided to glitch and the players started playing by themselves while I was only able to control the goalkeeper - I must say they did play better without me controlling them, but honestly there's no need to rebel against me like that. We quit the game and restarted again. During this first trial I managed to learn how to pass the ball and direct it towards the players so that's something.
So the second game starts. Once again, it was Real Madrid against FC Porto. I must say I'd gotten the hang of the pass skill by now. However I now had a new problem: whenever I lost the ball I wasn't able to get it back because my players seemed to never run as fast as the other team, didn't go where I thought I was telling them to go and somehow mine never ended up where I wanted to. By halftime it was 4 null (one of which was scored by myself so technically I scored one goal, no matter it was in the wrong goal). I must say, however, I had 55% of ball possession and 85% of pass accuracy, which is something. These were the only stats I was better than them but considering they had scored three goals (let's not forget I did score one) they obviously had stats on shots and shot accuracy I didn't. They also had 2 injuries and 3 fouls while I had none so again, that's something!
The boyfriend ended up finishing the second halftime for me and scored twice not suffering any goals but he did something with the formation and the tactics during the game so I'm pretty much convinced that if he'd told me about that instead of making me focus on passes I would have been slightly more succefull in this first attempt. I simply cannot understand how they're able to control the players properly, mine never do as I told them!
In conclusion, while EA doesn't do a Sims crossover (I'll patent that idea one day) I think I'll stick to Sims only because at least my Sims do what I tell them to and they're way easier to control! When the boyfriend has a bit more patience to teach me the FIFA ways of playing (and not only passing) maybe I'll be able to win against the computer!
It was a sunny sunday and we sat in front of the tv. I was playing with Real Madrid against FC Porto (controlled by the game), the boyfriend chose some settings involving players' positions (and didn't explain me one bit), and I had already suffered two goals when the game decided to glitch and the players started playing by themselves while I was only able to control the goalkeeper - I must say they did play better without me controlling them, but honestly there's no need to rebel against me like that. We quit the game and restarted again. During this first trial I managed to learn how to pass the ball and direct it towards the players so that's something.
So the second game starts. Once again, it was Real Madrid against FC Porto. I must say I'd gotten the hang of the pass skill by now. However I now had a new problem: whenever I lost the ball I wasn't able to get it back because my players seemed to never run as fast as the other team, didn't go where I thought I was telling them to go and somehow mine never ended up where I wanted to. By halftime it was 4 null (one of which was scored by myself so technically I scored one goal, no matter it was in the wrong goal). I must say, however, I had 55% of ball possession and 85% of pass accuracy, which is something. These were the only stats I was better than them but considering they had scored three goals (let's not forget I did score one) they obviously had stats on shots and shot accuracy I didn't. They also had 2 injuries and 3 fouls while I had none so again, that's something!
The boyfriend ended up finishing the second halftime for me and scored twice not suffering any goals but he did something with the formation and the tactics during the game so I'm pretty much convinced that if he'd told me about that instead of making me focus on passes I would have been slightly more succefull in this first attempt. I simply cannot understand how they're able to control the players properly, mine never do as I told them!
In conclusion, while EA doesn't do a Sims crossover (I'll patent that idea one day) I think I'll stick to Sims only because at least my Sims do what I tell them to and they're way easier to control! When the boyfriend has a bit more patience to teach me the FIFA ways of playing (and not only passing) maybe I'll be able to win against the computer!
Sunday, 7 January 2018
The Family Is Growing (Or Dos and Don'ts When You Get A Cat)
I have been living with the boyfriend for a while now and we had always agreed that once we moved we'd do this since it was something we'd always been looking forward to: we'd go to an animal shelter and get a cat. So we did that. We visited a couple of places to choose (or get chosed by) a cat and there were a lot of internet searches and cat pictures involved in this process. And we eventually fell in love with a little orange one from Amor ao Gato (Cat Love, in English), a small association which helps street cats in Odivelas finding a home, a city and a municipality in Lisbon Metropolitan Area. We were told he was three months old, had been found in a box in the trash and was still a bit scared. We decided to bring him home with us after looking at his pretty little pink snout. We then entered a discussion, going back and forth throwing names, always somehow movie related. This lasted a few days until we reached a final name for him: Simba.
And thus, an alternative title for this post: Dos and Don'ts When You Get A Cat. It's possible this is only the first part of a series of posts. Noobies as we were, we forgot pretty much everything we'd previously read. So here's a few tricks of things we wished we could have done differently or things we've learned so far, hoping to help some beginner cat owners out there:
1) Before you let your new cat out make sure you have covered all the holes your house has. This includes the space between the stove, the machines, the fridge and SPECIALLY that hole you don't even know you have behind the bidet. Yep, he decided to hide inside that.
2) Let the new cat out of the transporter where his space will be (where the food and sand box are) so he knows where everything is.
3) And close the door of said space so he doesn't bolt to an unknown hole you haven't covered yet.
4) If you ignored all the previous steps and the cat ends up in an unknown hole don't try to make him come out of it because he'll get even more scared. He'll eventually grow hungry and tired of being hidden, he'll know where his food is. When the cat finally comes out, quickly do step 3 and then 1.
5) Keep the door closed and spend time with the new cat so he gets used to you and his new space.
6) Be patient on this part of the process. Don't give up. It's a new situation, most likely stressful to the cat so be patient with him. Let him set his own flow.
7) After the cat is more used to you, you can let him explore the house a little bit more, opening one room at the time. Leave the problematic rooms with potential hiding spots for last (such as the kitchen and the bathrooms).
8) Make sure you ALWAYS have your windows closed. And if you have to open it, make sure the cat is not inside the room and then close the door.
9) Don't buy any noisy toys because after a while you'll get tired of getting up in the middle of the night to put it out of reach. Aluminium foil balls work just fine, honestly.
10) Don't switch the cat's food all of a sudden. If they're used to a certain brand of food, start mixing the new food you want to give him with the old one and go from there so he doesn't get gastro-intestinal problems.
As I previously said, Simba was very scared when he first arrived home but we've seen him get more confident every day to the point he sleeps at my feet, joined us on the sofa and decides to join us at the table when we're having dinner (we weren't too thrilled about this last one). We laugh when he decides he's a dog trapped in a cat's body and starts to meow at us whenver we arrive home so we give him food or when he decides to chase his own tail. We took him to the vet last week, who confirmed his age (he's around 4 months now) and behaved so well, I couldn't believe my eyes. I was expecting him to bolt to a dark corner once I let him out of the transporter but he stayed very still and cooperated very well.
We're still trying to make him respond when we call him. We've been calling him whenever we feed or pet him but still with no success. Do cat experts have any tips for this? Or any tips at all, to be honest, as we're open to every kind of useful tip.
All in all, it's been a great expercience so far and we're very happy we gave him a home. Don't buy a pet, adopt one!
And thus, an alternative title for this post: Dos and Don'ts When You Get A Cat. It's possible this is only the first part of a series of posts. Noobies as we were, we forgot pretty much everything we'd previously read. So here's a few tricks of things we wished we could have done differently or things we've learned so far, hoping to help some beginner cat owners out there:
1) Before you let your new cat out make sure you have covered all the holes your house has. This includes the space between the stove, the machines, the fridge and SPECIALLY that hole you don't even know you have behind the bidet. Yep, he decided to hide inside that.
2) Let the new cat out of the transporter where his space will be (where the food and sand box are) so he knows where everything is.
3) And close the door of said space so he doesn't bolt to an unknown hole you haven't covered yet.
4) If you ignored all the previous steps and the cat ends up in an unknown hole don't try to make him come out of it because he'll get even more scared. He'll eventually grow hungry and tired of being hidden, he'll know where his food is. When the cat finally comes out, quickly do step 3 and then 1.
5) Keep the door closed and spend time with the new cat so he gets used to you and his new space.
6) Be patient on this part of the process. Don't give up. It's a new situation, most likely stressful to the cat so be patient with him. Let him set his own flow.
7) After the cat is more used to you, you can let him explore the house a little bit more, opening one room at the time. Leave the problematic rooms with potential hiding spots for last (such as the kitchen and the bathrooms).
8) Make sure you ALWAYS have your windows closed. And if you have to open it, make sure the cat is not inside the room and then close the door.
9) Don't buy any noisy toys because after a while you'll get tired of getting up in the middle of the night to put it out of reach. Aluminium foil balls work just fine, honestly.
10) Don't switch the cat's food all of a sudden. If they're used to a certain brand of food, start mixing the new food you want to give him with the old one and go from there so he doesn't get gastro-intestinal problems.
As I previously said, Simba was very scared when he first arrived home but we've seen him get more confident every day to the point he sleeps at my feet, joined us on the sofa and decides to join us at the table when we're having dinner (we weren't too thrilled about this last one). We laugh when he decides he's a dog trapped in a cat's body and starts to meow at us whenver we arrive home so we give him food or when he decides to chase his own tail. We took him to the vet last week, who confirmed his age (he's around 4 months now) and behaved so well, I couldn't believe my eyes. I was expecting him to bolt to a dark corner once I let him out of the transporter but he stayed very still and cooperated very well.
We're still trying to make him respond when we call him. We've been calling him whenever we feed or pet him but still with no success. Do cat experts have any tips for this? Or any tips at all, to be honest, as we're open to every kind of useful tip.
All in all, it's been a great expercience so far and we're very happy we gave him a home. Don't buy a pet, adopt one!
You can follow my Simba's adventures on Instagram, I'll be sure to keep it updated.
You can also find me @ | | | | |
You can also find me @ | | | | |
Sunday, 31 December 2017
Why Your 2018 Resolutions Are Going to Fail (And Hopefully Mine Won't)
Tonight is New Year's eve, December 31st. Which means tonight a lot of people are going to think about a handful of resolutions and when the clock finally hits midnight and we're suddenly in January 1st of the new year they mean to become a completely renewed person with all their resolutions. Let's be real now, though. By January 15th most of us have forgotten half of our resolutions already and by January 30th we've given up on most of them. All in all, you have 364 days in the year, sometimes even 365. It seems rather silly to me that you have to wait for a specific day to change your life. If you would really want to do it, you can do it on the other 363 days of the year.
Sometimes, though, I understand you need a specific date as a reason to start something new or give yourself a fresh start so the beginning of a new year is usually the most chosen date to do it and that makes sense. I am guilty of this too, to be honest. New year, new me, am I right? (Or, at least, improved me)
So last week I was listening to The Savvy Psychologist podcast, which I totally recommend you listen to, and she was talking about why most people's resolutions suck. There's four main reasons why that happens: they're either too vague, they try to take on a new habit, it sucks or you put it all in and then give up.
Let's break it down, shall we?
Most resolutions are too vague so you need to get specific with this. It's not enough to say "eat healthier" or "exercise more often", you have to set a goal like "working out twice a week" or "cooking vegan three times a week". Like she said, quantification is often the key to specificity and it's only that way you'll be able to track yourself down and know how to check it off.
A resolution about fitting in a new activity is often very dificult and doomed from the beginning because changing your habits is in itself very hard, as we always manage to find excuses to maintain our daily routine and not include this new resolution after a while. The trick here is to make it automatic, as an habit change works better if you link it with an already existent one.
When your resolution sucks, it's a total effort to you and you're forcing yourself to keep it going it's because people need more than sheer force of will to sustain a lasting change. Behaviors persist because they’re reinforced and you need to get something out of your resolution, some kind of reward, even if it's a nicer body. So make sure you're getting something out of it by tracking your progress and seeing how much you've accomplished and how far you've come. On the other hand, you can come up with an immediate reward, something that will make you feel good, and this involves pairing a “should,” like a resolution, with a “want” as a reward after you've done the "should".
Sometimes you go all in for awhile, but then your willpower (and your interest) fades and somehow life gets in the way and oops, there goes your resolution. So go easy on yourself and don't make breaking the chain of daily streaks a tragedy. Just pick it up and restart it again. After all, success isn’t achieved by maintaining a new habit perfectly but by minimizing the downtime between inevitable setbacks and you'll eventually get there with all its ups and downs.
Conclusion: for this thing to actually work out we need to be specific, automate it, get something out of it like a reward and not to be afraid to restart it again. With this said, and hoping I don't reach January 15th forgetting these (hopefully this post will hold me accountable, please ask me how I'm doing it once in a while), I decided to compile my own list of 2018 resolutions, where I tried not to be too ambitious:
1) Exercise 6 times a week, 28 minutes per day. I have already scheduled my workout plan for the next 6 months, so that should help me with this one.
2) Lose at least 5kg.
3) Keep up a daily streak on my German Duolingo.
4) While at it, finish my German Duolingo.
5) Travel to and visit (at least) 3 different countries this year.
6) Read at least 20 books.
7) Cook at home once a week.
So what about you? What are your 2018 resolutions? Do you think you'll be able to hold on to them?
Sometimes, though, I understand you need a specific date as a reason to start something new or give yourself a fresh start so the beginning of a new year is usually the most chosen date to do it and that makes sense. I am guilty of this too, to be honest. New year, new me, am I right? (Or, at least, improved me)
So last week I was listening to The Savvy Psychologist podcast, which I totally recommend you listen to, and she was talking about why most people's resolutions suck. There's four main reasons why that happens: they're either too vague, they try to take on a new habit, it sucks or you put it all in and then give up.
Let's break it down, shall we?
Most resolutions are too vague so you need to get specific with this. It's not enough to say "eat healthier" or "exercise more often", you have to set a goal like "working out twice a week" or "cooking vegan three times a week". Like she said, quantification is often the key to specificity and it's only that way you'll be able to track yourself down and know how to check it off.
A resolution about fitting in a new activity is often very dificult and doomed from the beginning because changing your habits is in itself very hard, as we always manage to find excuses to maintain our daily routine and not include this new resolution after a while. The trick here is to make it automatic, as an habit change works better if you link it with an already existent one.
When your resolution sucks, it's a total effort to you and you're forcing yourself to keep it going it's because people need more than sheer force of will to sustain a lasting change. Behaviors persist because they’re reinforced and you need to get something out of your resolution, some kind of reward, even if it's a nicer body. So make sure you're getting something out of it by tracking your progress and seeing how much you've accomplished and how far you've come. On the other hand, you can come up with an immediate reward, something that will make you feel good, and this involves pairing a “should,” like a resolution, with a “want” as a reward after you've done the "should".
Sometimes you go all in for awhile, but then your willpower (and your interest) fades and somehow life gets in the way and oops, there goes your resolution. So go easy on yourself and don't make breaking the chain of daily streaks a tragedy. Just pick it up and restart it again. After all, success isn’t achieved by maintaining a new habit perfectly but by minimizing the downtime between inevitable setbacks and you'll eventually get there with all its ups and downs.
Conclusion: for this thing to actually work out we need to be specific, automate it, get something out of it like a reward and not to be afraid to restart it again. With this said, and hoping I don't reach January 15th forgetting these (hopefully this post will hold me accountable, please ask me how I'm doing it once in a while), I decided to compile my own list of 2018 resolutions, where I tried not to be too ambitious:
1) Exercise 6 times a week, 28 minutes per day. I have already scheduled my workout plan for the next 6 months, so that should help me with this one.
2) Lose at least 5kg.
3) Keep up a daily streak on my German Duolingo.
4) While at it, finish my German Duolingo.
5) Travel to and visit (at least) 3 different countries this year.
6) Read at least 20 books.
7) Cook at home once a week.
So what about you? What are your 2018 resolutions? Do you think you'll be able to hold on to them?
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