"Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967" Lyric Video

Walt Grace's Submarine Test, January 1967 - John Mayer

Walt Grace, desperately hating his whole place,
Dreamed to discover a new space,
And buried himself alive,
Inside his basement, tongue on the side of his face when,
He's working away on displacement,
And what it would take to survive.

'Cause when you're done with this world,
You know the next is up to you.
And his wife told his kids he was crazy,
And his friends said he'd fail if he tried,
But with a will to work hard,
And a library card,
He took a homemade, fan-blade, one-man submarine ride.

That morning, the sea was mad and I mean it,
Waves as big as he'd seen it,
Deep in his dreams at home.
From dry land,
He rolled it over to wet sand,
Closed the hatch up with one hand,
And peddled off alone.

'Cause when you're done with this world,
You know the next is up to you.
And for once in his life it was quiet,
As he learned how to turn in the tide,
And the sky was a flare,
When he came up for air,
In his homemade, fan-blade, one-man submarine ride.

One evening,
When weeks had passed since his leaving,
The call she'd planned on receiving,
Finally made it home.
She accepted,
The news she'd never expected,
The operator connected,
A call from Tokyo.

'Cause when you're done with this world,
You know the next is up to you.
Now his friends,
Bring him up when they're drinking,
At the bar with his name on the side,
And they smile when they can,
As they speak of a man,
Who took a homemade,
Fan-blade, one-man submarine ride.

 

Song by John Mayer

Charles Dickens - Great Expectations - Chapter twelve

After the fight episode, Pip starts to think about what happened and the consequences if someone knew about it. Pip believes that maybe somebody would be waiting for him when he returns for the first time to "the scene of the deed of violence", or, even Miss Havisham would take some sort of personal vengeance. But the incident goes unmentioned during his visit.

For months Pip continues to visit Miss Havisham pushing her in a wheelchair. "Over and over and over again, we would make these journeys, and sometimes they would last as long as three hours at a stretch." 

In these meetings, Miss Havisham starts do inquire Pip about his plans for the future. Pip says that he was going to be apprenticed to Joe. Internally, Pip believes that Miss Havisham is going to help him, but in fact, what happens is the opposite. "But, she did not; on the contrary, she seemed to prefer my being ignorant. Neither did she ever give me any money - or anything but my daily dinner - nor ever stipulate that I should be paid for my services.”

Because Pip is kind of waiting for something from Estella, maybe a kiss again, he is not aware of the intentions of Miss Havisham. Estella starts to drive him crazy, changing her behavior, and being conducted by Miss Havisham. There is a passage when Miss Havisham murmurs in Estella's ear "Break their hearts my pride and hope, break their hearts and have no mercy!"

Partially because of his elevated hopes for his own social standing, Pip begins to grow apart from his family, confiding in Biddy instead of Joe and often feeling ashamed that Joe is “common.” His sister and Mr. Pumblechook are set aside as well. The first because of the manners with him and the second for being supportive of the daily bullying. 

"While Pumblechook himself, self-constituted my patron, would sit supervising me with a depreciatory eye, like the architect of my fortunes who thought himself engaged on a very unremunerative job."

One day, Miss Havisham offers to help with the papers that would officially make Pip Joe’s apprentice, and Pip is devastated to realize that she never meant to make him a gentleman.

See you on chapter thirteen.

Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)

Charles Dickens - Great Expectations - Chapter eleven

Another day, and another appointment at Miss Havisham's house. Pip is welcomed by Estella who conducts him to the meeting where other people are waiting for. The meeting today is in another part of the house, as Pip describes as " a gloomy room with a low ceiling, on the ground floor at the back."

There are three ladies in the room and one gentleman as Pip profiles as toadies and humbugs. Over the chapter, Dickens manages a series of dialogues among these characters in a way to introduce them in the narrative. 

They left the room, Estella and Pip have a sort of disagreement when she finally slaps his face. After that, they go upstairs and met a gentleman groping his way down.Pip gives a complete description of the man saying "He was a burly man of an exceedingly dark complexion, with an exceedingly large head and a corresponding large hand. He took my chin in his large hand and turned up my face to have a look at me by the light of the candle. He was prematurely bald on the top of his head and had bushy black eyebrows that wouldn’t lie down but stood up bristling. His eyes were set very deep in his head and were disagreeably sharp and suspicious. He had a large watch-chain, and strong black dots where his beard and whiskers would have been if he had let them. He was nothing to me, and I could have had no foresight then, that he ever would be anything to me, but it happened that I had this opportunity of watching him well."

Pip meets Miss Havisham, who sends him to another room and introduces him to some bizarre things,  like one table that she wishes will be laid when she died. After a while, Miss Havisham asks Pip to call Estella. Estella comes with the others, the three ladies, and the two men. Once again, Dickens introduces these guests and now it is clear that they are relatives visiting Miss Havisham. 

Estella, Pip and Miss Havisham return to her room just after the guests went out. There, Estella and Pip start to play cards. After that,  Pip goes to the garden where he meets a young gentleman, who evokes him to fight. 

Dickens describes the fight with a richness of details that I could almost feel and visualize everything that made part of the scene.

It looks like some kind of practice plotted by Miss Havisham and Estella, some part of a big plan for Pip. After the fight,  Estella allows him to give her a kiss on the cheek. He returns home, ashamed that Estella looks down on him.

See you on chapter twelve.

Steve #2

Steve once attended a job interview. It was in a company that he was dreaming for a while. The job position was exactly what he was looking for.

During the interview, Steve said that one of his major fears in life is not having enough time to achieve all of your plans and dreams. Up to now, he doesn't know why he said that. It wasn't even an answer to anything questioned. It was only Steve being Steve.

Based on this statement, possibly, the interviewer asked if Steve wasn't just a dreamer, without any achievements. Maybe he was suggesting that Steve was one of those guys who used to write a "to do list" in a notebook, opening and reviewing the list every day without any concrete goal.

So, Steve tried to enlighten his idea saying that he had accomplished many of his plans during the year, and in the years before, and before. It was really true, at least in Steve's mind, indeed.

The interviewer's face wasn't the best after that, but Steve kept confident about his selection for the job. 

After a few days, Steve received a call from the company saying that he wasn't selected. How is that? 

He thought about what went wrong. 

Probably because he was too honest saying that one of his plans and dreams was to work for the company. Perhaps if he had lied, as a bunch of candidates used to do, he would get there.

As far as I known him, he will stay stick to his guns, without any changes.

John Mayer - Born and Raised (Live on Letterman)

"Born And Raised"

Now and then I pace my place
I can't retrace how I got here
I cheat the light to check my face
It's slightly harder than last year

[CHORUS]
And all at once it gets hard to take
It gets hard to fake what I won't be
Cause one of these days I'll be born and raised
And it's such a waste to grow up lonely

I still have dreams, they're not the same
They don't fly as high as they used to
I saw my friend, he's in my head
And he said, "You don't remember me, do you?"

[CHORUS]
Then all at once it gets hard to take
It gets hard to fake what I won't be
Cause one of these days I'll be born and raised
And it's such a waste to grow up lonely

I still got time, I still got faith
I call on both of my brothers
I got a mom, I got a dad
But they do not have each other

[CHORUS]
So line on up, and take your place
And show your face to the morning
Cause one of these days you'll be born and raised
And it all comes on without warning

Steve #1

So, Steve has made some decisions about his life.

Here are some of them:

    - Nobody will know anything about his personal life anymore;
    - He will try to stay sober for one year;
    - He will try, for some months, follow a balanced diet without sugar, sodas and change coffee by tea. When eating, he will try to choose better what to eat.

Of course that Steve is a complex guy, so there are many other things that he is planning and thinking about. His head is a real mess

Lucky for you Steve.

Charles Dickens - Great Expectations - Chapter ten

Pip is willing to become uncommon. In order to accomplish his plan, he starts to attend the course ministered by Biddy, Mr. Wopsle's great-aunt.

Pip spends some pages explaining the content of this weird course. He even agrees that this experience would take time to reach its ends.

By the end of the day, Pip goes to a pub to bring Joe home.

'I had received strict orders from my sister to call for him at the Three Jolly Bargemen, that evening, on my way from school, and bring him home...'

Joe is there, smoking his pipe in company with Mr.Wopsle and a stranger.

Pip describes the stranger as 'He was a secret-looking man whom I had never seen before. His head was all on one side, and one of his eyes was half shut up as if he were taking aim at something with an invisible gun. He had a pipe in his mouth, and he took it out, and, after slowly blowing all his smoke away and looking hard at me all the time, nodded.'

The stranger offers Pip to take a seat on his side, but Pip refuses and seats beside Joe. After that, the stranger asks Joe and Mr. Wopsle what they wish to drink. Joe says that is not used to 'drinking at anybody's expense but my own', but accept the drink, as well as Mr.Wopsle.

Pip sees the stranger stirring his drink with the same file that Pip stole for the convict. The stranger gives Pip two pounds, which Pip later gives to Mrs.Joe. He continues to worry that his aid to the convict will be discovered.

See you on chapter eleven.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Chapter nine

When Pip arrives at home, his sister starts to interrogate him about Miss Havisham's house and everything linked to the visit. His first attempt was to give short answers to the questions, what was promptly refused by his sister.

Therefore, after a lot of pressure coming from his sister and Mr. Pumblechook, demanding for the narrative of his experience, Pip starts to tell what happened there.

“I felt convinced that if I described Miss Havisham’s as my eyes had seen it, I should not be understood.”

So, Pip begins to lie. He lies that Miss Havisham lives in a black, velvet carriage that sits in her mansion. He lies that he ate cake on gold plates and drunk wine in the carriage. He lies there were huge dogs eating veal-cutlets in silver baskets.

Also, he lies they played with flags. In his story, Pip, Estella, and Miss Havisham each had different colored flags, and they waved them around out the windows of the coach—which sounds like some bizarre piece of performance art.

Pip reaches a limit of lies and he thinks that it is better to stop, otherwise, his sister and Uncle Pumblechook could suspect that everything came from his imagination.

Later in the night, in the forge, Pip confesses to Joe that he made everything up because he's so bummed out about being "common."

“Towards Joe, and Joe only, I considered myself a young monster...”

Joe advise Pip saying that – “If you can’t get to be uncommon through going straight, you’ll never get to do it through going crooked.”

Pip goes to bed thinking about all the differences between Joe's house and Miss Havisham's house, and how so much had changed that day.

See you on Chapter ten.

Visit Sao Paulo - The DON'Ts of Sao Paulo, Brazil

What I learned from running.

I have never been an athlete until the end of 2014 when my wife invited me to go the gym. Go to the gym was one of her plans to start 2015 in shape. My first thought was 'what?', but as I am married to her and I have the principle to 'never leave one soldier behind", I said - 'yes, let's do this'. 

I ran 1 kilometer that day. It was like I had run a marathon, (at least, that was what I imagined), but I felt something good inside on me. I kept going to run with her in the days and weeks following. She was my coach. I improved my running from 1k to 2k, and then 3k, and 4k. Today, almost 3 years later, I am training four times a week to run my first half marathon (21k) in November. 

What did I learn from running? To be mentally strong, to never give up, to be disciplined and most important, believe that everything that I target in my life I am capable of accomplishing. Why? This journey from 1k to 21k (November) wasn't always easy. I had moments when I thought - 'Why am I doing this?', 'I think that I can't finish it', 'I will stop it ', 'I can't do this anymore'. All at once, I always found energy out of nowhere to finish the training. 

Today, in any area of my life, when I see myself in a difficult situation, I remember all my practices and suddenly an inner voice starts to say for me - ' You can accomplish whatever you want!'.

I have to say thank you to my wife who always gave me support and was responsible for the beginning of this journey. 

My childhood friend Alexandre and I, after running Half marathon of Florianópolis in 2016. He ran 21k and I ran 10K. Thank you my friend.

 

See you all and success. 

Too many people in their 20s make the same mistake when they take a new job

Natural Intelligence - People

I was wondering whether the companies are focusing much of their efforts in this trending (big data + AI), forgetting the core of management - strategy, organisation and leadership. More than that, are they forgetting the need for humans?

Accordingly with Ridderstrale and Birkinshaw in their new book - Fast/Forward, "Many companies are more comfortable analysing and debating than acting decisively and intuitively". Furthermore, "The default assumption that more and better information is always better actually cramps companies’ ability to move fast." 

Imagine that you have a huge data system (big data) with all the information about your customers and potential new customers. What do they like or dislike, where they live, work, have lunch and dinner, what is their favorite team in the NFL, what sort of car they use to drive and better, they wish to drive. In other words, maybe you would know them more than themselves.

Now, imagine that you have an AI system working all this information and giving you a mountain of options to approach your client. We would assume that the presence of people in this process is dispensable, or even not so important. Also, we would think that this is the path to success. 

I agree that all tools are well received helping the management of companies, but I believe that we would never forget that people will be always running them. Once, one of my professors told me - "Competitive differential is something that only you know how to do. Moreover, it is something unique, singular."  When I think about that, I always get the conclusion that people are the only "material" that is singular in this universe. 

From the moment that everybody is doing the same thing, (big data + AI), it is no longer a differential. On the other hand, if you have someone in your company, unique, singular, he/she is your competitive differential. So, take good care of them.

See you all and success!

Quotes - Peter Lynch - Beating the Street

These are some of Peter Lynch's outcomes about the market's behavior. I thought captivating and I am sharing them with you.

He says that we should memorize and repeat the following quotes at the shower, to save ourselves from making mistakes in the future. I will make short notes for each one, reporting my own experience.

"A good company usually increases its dividend every year" (I've never thought about it. It's something to cover from now on)

"You can lose money in a very short time but it takes a long time to make money" (True, you have to be patient)

"The stock market really isn't a gamble, as long as you pick good companies that you think will do well, and not just because of the stock price" (People who think that stock market is a gamble, in general, put their money in options. I've already done it myself and it wasn't a good experience)

"You can make a lot of money from the stock market, but then again you can lose money, as we proved" (The important is act as an investor - thinking in a long term)

"You have to research the company before you put your money into it" (Don't follow the flock)

"When you invest in the stock market you should always diversify" (True!)

"You should invest in several stocks because out of every five you pick one will be very great, one will be really bad, and three will be OK" (Interesting)

"Never fall in love with a stock; always have an open mind" (I have this problem sometimes. I really fall in love for some stocks - I am being honest.)

"You shouldn't just pick a stock - you should do your homework" (As I said before, don't follow the flock. Someone once told me - make money demands a bunch of effort!)

"Buying stocks in utility companies is good because it gives you a higher dividend, but you'll make money in grown stocks" (Following the advice of the master Warren Buffet)

"Just because a stock goes down doesn't mean it can't go lower" (Never buy stocks because they are under the line, they can go deeper)

"Over the long term, it's better to buy stock in small companies" (This is exactly what I am doing right now. May be small companies would have a better governance)

"You should not buy a stock because it's cheap but because you know a lot about it" (Ouch!! I did a lot of that - but I learned)


Bye and success to you all!

The Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham

"To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information.

What's needed is  a sound intellectual framework for making  decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework."

Warren E. Buffett

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Chapter eight

After a night in Mr Pumblecook's house, Pip is taken to Mrs Havisham house after breakfast. Arriving there, they are greeted by a young lady. Pip describes the house as "... was of old brick, and dismal, and had a great many iron bars to it. Some of the windows had been walled up; of those that remained, all the lower were rustily barred. There was a courtyard in front, and that was barred..."

Oddly, the young lady allowed only Pip's entrance, leaving Mr Pumblechook on the outside. Mr Pumblechook says goodbye to Pip saying that would be good if Pip did not disappoint her sister or "... who brought you up by hand ..."

 
Pip outlines the young lady as "... she seemed much older than I, of course, being a girl, and beautiful and self-possessed; and she was as scornful of me as if she had been one-and-twenty, and a queen ...". She is Estella.

Conducted through the house, Pip gets a room where there is an old lady. " ... in an arm-chair, with an elbow resting on the table and her head leaning on that hand, sat the strangest lady I have ever seen, or shall ever see ..." That lady was Mrs Havisham.

Being seen by her, Pip is invited to play. In the first moment, Pip is a little scared, but is comforted by Mrs Havisham, who says that there is no reason to be afraid. After be reluctant in playing cards with Mrs Havisham, Pip calls Estella under the command of Mrs Havisham. All seated at the table they start to play cards. Estella has a look of disdain on Pip and he knows that. Mrs Havisham asks Pip why he is so patient with Estella although she only diminishing him and says bad things about him.
This is an interesting passage from the book:
‘She says many hard things about you, but you say anything of her. What do you think of her?’
‘I don’t like to say,’ I stammered.
‘Tell me in my ear,’ said Miss Havisham, bending down.
‘I think she is very proud,’ I replied, in a whisper.
‘Anything else?’
‘I think she is very pretty.’
‘Anything else?’
‘I think she is very insulting.’ (She was looking at me then with a look of supreme aversion.)
‘Anything else?’
‘I think I should like to go home.’
‘And never see her again, though she is so pretty?’
‘I am not sure that I shouldn’t like to see her again, but I should like to go home now.’
‘You shall go soon,’ said Miss Havisham, aloud. ‘Play the game out.’

So, Pip goes out with the promise to return after six days. When in the courtyard, Pip decides to explore the limits of the land. Pip has some strange views about a woman hanged ,and he believes that Mrs Havisham is the woman in his views. Frightened, he leaves the house and heads to his home.

In the way, he starts to think about everything that happened.
"I went along, on all I had seen, and deeply revolving that I was a common labouring-boy; that my hands were coarse; that my boots were thick; that I had fallen into a despicable habit of calling knaves Jacks; that I was much more ignorant than I had considered myself last night, and generally that I was in a low-lived bad way". 

See you on Chapter nine.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Chapter seven

It seems that Pip is changing his views about his father's figure. He is questioning how good his father was to his mother and his family.
"I should have formed the worst opinions of that member of the family"

 
Pip is getting classes with Mr Wopsle great-aunt. He is now able to read and write - the latter, not very well. Pip describes Mr Wopsle great-aunt as "... a ridiculous old woman of limited means and unlimited infirmity!"

 
There is the introduction of a new character, Biddy, Mr Wopsle’s great-aunt’s granddaughter. She is an orphan like Pip and basically, she manages a kind of "shop" that Mr Wopsle’s great-aunt keeps at her Educational Institution.  Pip sets out her as "... her hair always wanted brushing, her hands always wanted washing, and her shoes always wanted mending and pulling up at heel."

 
Pip writes his first letter to Joe with great effort. When Joe receives the letter and reads it, he starts to cry emphasising how good is Pip. However, Pip suspects that Joe doesn't understand all the matter of the letter. Joe confirm that he understands only his name in the letter - J O E, but he imagines that the whole meaning of the letter is gorgeous.

Joe starts to describe how his childhood wasn't easy, with his father restricting his access to studies and how he had to look after his mother in order to avoid his father brutality.
Pip is surprised when Joe starts to emphasising qualities in his sister and bringing recollections when they met each other in the early days.
"... your sister is a fine figure of a woman."

 
Also, Joe remembers when he asked her if she was ready to move with him and have a life together. Thus, Pip's sister said yes, but with one condition - bring Pip with her. 

Mrs Joe arrives at home with Uncle Pumblechook after a day in the market's farm. She bought new clothes for Pip and says that from now on he will play at Miss Havisham house. Pip describes Miss Havisham as "... an immensely rich and grim lady who lived in a large and dismal house barricaded against robbers, and who led a life of seclusion."

 
The purpose of that idea, and may be who had the idea was Uncle Pumblechook, is to teach good manners to Pip. The chapter closes with Pip going to Miss Havisham with Uncle Pumblechook. 

See you on Chapter eight.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Chapter six

Basically, chapter 6 is a narrative about Pip's regrets. He has a strong and lovely bond with Joe. 

"...I loved Joe - perhaps for no better reason in those early days than because the dear fellow let me love him..." 

Pip is broken for not be capable to tell Joe, the truth about what had happened in the pantry.
What keeps Pip from telling the truth is the fear of losing Joe's confidence.

"I ought to tell Joe the whole truth. Yet I did not, and for the reason that I mistrusted that if I did, he would think me worse than I was. The fear of losing Joe’s confidence,and of thenceforth sitting in the chimney-corner at night staring drearily at my for ever lost companion and friend, tied up my tongue"

See you on Chapter seven.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Chapter five

The sergeant comes into the kitchen with Pip. One hand holding handcuffs and the other on Pip's shoulder. He wishes for Mr Joe services, to fix the handcuffs. They aren't working properly.
Joe says that he can fix the problem, but it will take two long hours and a few preparations. The soldiers help Mr Joe with all arrangements and he starts the job.
Pip is twice relieved. The presence of the soldiers there, made Mrs Joe forget about the pie, and he thought that the handcuffs would be for him.

Mr Wopsle asks the sergeant what is the purpose of the excursion. He answers that they are looking for two convicts that escaped from the hulls. Pip is worried about. He is sure that the two convicts are the same that he had encountered one day before.
Joe's job has done,  and he invites some of the members of the dinner to go with the soldiers and look for the fugitives. Mr Pumblechook and Mr Hubble declined. Mr Wopsle says that he would go. Joe asks Mrs Joe whether Pip would go or not. She approves but says "If you bring the boy back with his head blown to bits by a musket, don’t look to me to put it together again." Here again, Dickens has made masterly use of good humour.

After receiving orders from the sergeant to keep in the rear, and speak no word after reached the marshes, Mr Wopsle, Joe and Pip leave the house. When they arrive at the same place that Pip was a few hours ago, Pip starts to think that maybe the convicts could think that he is responsible for the chase. Walking through the marshes they come to the old Battery, there the soldiers stopped. It seems that they found someone."Here are both men!’ panted the sergeant, struggling at the bottom of a ditch. ‘Surrender, you two! and confound you for two wild beasts! Come asunder!’ It's the Pip's convicts."

After being handcuffed, both convicts start to blame each other. One saying that he was the victim of attempted murder and another denying the accusation, saying that he was only trying to return the convict to the hulls, therefore helping the authorities. "The other one still gasped, 'He tried - he tried - to murder me. Bear - bear witness.’

‘Lookee here!’ said my convict to the sergeant. ‘Singlehanded I got clear of the prison-ship; I made a dash and I done it."
After a long walk, they returned to the prison ship. There the convicts were locked again.

See you on Chapter six.

Unit 4 - Writing - Essay

Essay

Low-cost airlines have revolutionized travel - but at what price?

Pros

- Allowed more people to flight;

- Improved the economy system of cities and countries.

Cons

- Quality of the service has decreased;

- Overbooking;

- You have to pay for everything but the flight.

More than before, we've seen plenty of traditional airlines companies changing their business and offering low-cost flights. Over and above, dozens of new airlines companies around the world, have been created with this purpose. This shift is changing the way people are currently using the system. It's clear to all of us that low-cost companies have revolutionized travel - but at what price?

The highest contribution of the low-cost airlines is to allow access to a wide range of passengers, something never seen before. Right now, more and more people can travel by plane, mainly because they can afford the cost of the airline tickets.

In addition, these flights have been improving the economy system of cities and countries. The more people travel, the more people spend money buying things and increasing the local markets. It's money in movement.

On the other hand, however, to keep the low price of tickets the airline companies have been decreasing their quality of service. One good example is the overbooking. The premise of low-cost airline companies is to have full of the seats occupied. So, in order to get this, plenty of times the passengers have to face overbooking. Finally, besides the low price of the tickets, the passengers have to pay for everything that is not included in the ticket regulation. For example, passengers have to pay for on boards meals, size and weight of checked bags, change of flights, etc. Frequently, the final price paid for the tickets is almost the same given for other companies including everything mentioned and other advantages for the passenger.

To sum up, although low-cost airlines had given access to millions of passengers around the world, who had even thought about flying before, the quality of service delivered is below the acceptable in most of the time. Thus, I believe that the price paid for travel with low-cost airline companies could be high in the end.

See you!!

Why does time pass?

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Chapter four

Mrs Joe is busy doing the arrangements for Christmas day when Pip comes back from the Battery. She asks him where he was, and he answers that he was hearing the Carols. Joe is in the kitchen as well, trying to avoid Mrs Joe "cross temper"

Dickens writes with his sense of humour, describing when they have breakfast, served by Mrs Joe."So, we had our slices served out, as if we were two thousand troops on a forced march instead of a man and boy at home..."

Pip describes the way that Mr Joe dresses as being quite unconventional."Nothing that he wore then, fitted him or seemed to belong to him; and everything that he wore then, grazed him".

Also, he describes the way that Mrs Joe insisted on wearing him like a boy coming from the Reformatory, reaffirming his feelings that "I was always treated as if I had insisted on being born, in opposition to the dictates of reason, religion, and morality".

Joe and Pip go to the mass at the church, and there they meet Mr Wopsle, the clerck of the church, as well as Mr Hubble, the wheelwright, and Mrs Hubble. Likewise Uncle Pumblechook. All of them were invited to have dinner at Mrs Joe's house. When Joe and Pip got home, "they found the table laid, and Mrs. Joe dressed, and the dinner dressing, and the front door unlocked (it never was at any other time) for the company to enter by, and everything most splendid"
At that moment, Pip is well worried about the last night robbery, but there is no signal that anyone had discovered something about.

Mr Wopsle is the first to arrive, in sequence, came Mr and Mrs Hubble and last, Uncle Pumblechook, who Pip was not allowed to call uncle. Uncle Pumblechook is described as "a large hardbreathing middle-aged slow man, with a mouth like a fish, dull staring eyes, and sandy hair standing upright on his head, so that he looked as if he had just been all but choked". Moreover, Mrs Hubble as "a little curly sharp-edged person in sky-blue" and Mr Hubble as "a tough high-shouldered stooping old man, of a sawdusty fragrance, with his legs extraordinarily wide apart".

During the dinner, Pip is bullied by all members of the table except for Joe. "I might have been an unfortunate little bull in a Spanish arena, I got so smartingly touched up by these moral goads". With all "pointing their fingers" to Pip, Joe is the only one who always aided and comforted Pip. He is even called "Swine" by Mr Wopsle or "Squeaker" by Mr Pumblechook.

Mrs Joe offers brandy to Uncle Pumblechook, the same brandy that Pip had filled up the bottle from the tar-water jug. When drinking the brandy, Uncle Pumblechook fell something wrong and spits all the liquid on the table. Dickens again, describes the scene with good sense of humour "I held on tight, while Mrs. Joe and Joe ran to him. I didn’t know how I had done it, but I had no doubt I had murdered him somehow"

When his sister goes to get the pork pie, Pip is so horrified by the situation, she will discover the robbery, that he runs always by the door " ...and ran for my life". Outside, he meets some soldiers who held out a pair of handcuffs on him. 

See you on Chapter five.

BRASILEIROS COM INGLÊS PERFEITO | Treine seu listening com SmallTalk #10

Michael Kiwanuka - Cold Little Heart (Live Session Video)

CAE - Reading - Multiple Choice

You are going to read an extract from a story. For questions 1-6, choose the answer (a,b,c or d) which you think fits best according to the text. (From Flo - Joe UK)

HOME COMFORT

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon, the lull (a temporary calm) before the storm of Monday morning madness of alarm clocks, traffic jams and deadlines. The clock struck (to make known the time by sounding) three and Rebecca’s elbow still rested on the arm of the tapestry-covered sofa. With her fingertips, she began caressing the rough piping (trimming stitched) that ran along its seams (the joining of two pieces). Simultaneously, the toes of her left foot moved back and forth across the edges of the sheepskin rug (a floor covering). This action Rebecca found comforting; it reminded her of being at home as a child when she used to sit in the family sitting room, her toes playing with the fringes of another kind of rug. Her mother would snap at her to stop it, so of course, she did it all the more (even more).

Rebecca had a sudden whiff  (to inhale an odor) of the glue that Katy was applying to make one of her artistic creations. Her daughter was seated on a cushion right in the middle of the room, looking like an island, surrounded by a sea of cardboard cut-offs, sequins, felt-tip pens, and pristine sheets of white A4 paper that she had disobediently pinched from her father’s study. She really should be working at the kitchen table, Rebecca thought, but I don’t have the appetite for the outburst that might happen if my genius-daughter-at-work is disturbed. Every three minutes and 50 seconds Katy got up to replay Kylie Minogue’s version of ‘The Locomotion’.

“Why don’t you listen to the CD all the way through, Katy?” her dad said, who was sprawled out on the other sofa. “You’d like the other songs as well.”

“Nah, too boring.”

Rebecca glanced at David and then said, “I could do with something to perk me up.” Her words trailed off with a heavy sigh, and then a yawn. It was the first in a series of hints that she would like him to get up and make her a cup of tea.

On the lamp table next to the sofa, she noticed a letter that had been delivered a week ago, advertising exercises classes and a slimming club. She had kept it on the table as a reminder, or perhaps to conjure up the same kind of magical effect that people believe in when they splash out on membership to a fancy gym without going near the place more than once every two months.

“Have you seen this flyer?” she said to her husband. “Just the thought of going for a workout makes me want to go and lie down.” Once more she didn’t get a response. “Who’s going to make the tea then?” was her third and most blatant (mean so loud or insistent as to compel attention) attempt to get a drink before she died of thirst.

He stood up. “I suppose it’s my turn. Again.” He went off into the kitchen while Rebecca, the victor (winner), snuggled (to curl up comfortably or cozily) a bit further into the sofa. Charlie, who’d been asleep on the sheepskin rug, now started up with his own brand of baby chatter. He was attempting to cover the whole repertoire of vowel sounds this afternoon, like a singer performing warm-up exercises. Then, occasionally, he jammed (to force one's way into a restricted space) his fingers into his mouth to make a sound approaching an elongated ‘w’.

He lay underneath a baby gym, which consisted of a tubular frame in patriotic colours of red, white and blue and a top bar, from which dangled two clowns, one on a swing and one in a position that Rebecca thought was called a pike. (It was a long time ago that she had achieved her gold star award in the trampoline.) Once Charlie made eye contact with Rebecca, his happy babbling began to turn into a grizzle.

Does Charlie want feeding again?” Rebecca asked in the baby voice that irritated them all, herself included. She bent down to scoop her son up.

“Mum, he doesn’t want feeding again. You’ve only just fed him,” Katy said.

“I’ll try – just in case he’s hungry.” In the kitchen she warmed through the mush of potatoes and broccoli that Charlie liked and took it back through to be with Katy.

Luckily, the baby was actually ready for a feed, which meant that Rebecca not only saved face with her daughter, but showed that she had no need to feel guilty about sending her husband to make the tea. David walked back in the sitting room that very minute, her cup of Earl Grey with its delicate scent of bergamot wobbling in its saucer. In his other hand he clutched a large mug. Rebecca gave him a warning look that dared him not to put the cups down on the oak blanket box that served as their coffee table. Its surface was already scarred by two rings where hot drinks had been carelessly placed directly onto it.

“Thanks. You’re a treasure.” She settled down to feed Charlie, knowing that her tea would be the perfect temperature to drink in one go by the time he had had enough. 

“Where’s Katy got to?” David said, after a few minutes. The answer came from upstairs as they heard the sound of their older child passing through the curtain in the doorway of her bedroom. It was likethose beaded curtains that used to be in fashion when Rebecca was a child, but instead of beads this one was formed from a dazzling collection of pink, purple and silver shimmering plastic squares. She couldn’t remember which one of them had named it the ‘jingle-jangler’ but it was very apt.

1	Rebecca’s mood at the start of the story is
			calm and reflective.
			cross and irritable.
			restless and agitated.
			sad and upset.
2	What action does Rebecca take with her daughter?
			She reprimands Katy for making a mess on the floor.
			She asks David to speak to Katy.
			She appeals to Katy to play a wider range of music.
			She does nothing in order to avoid a fuss.
3	What is Rebecca’s attitude to the letter lying on the table?
			The adverb’s claims are misleading.
			She hopes it will prompt her to take up exercise.
			It makes her feel more motivated.
			She thinks the slimming club is good value for money.
4	When David first leaves the sitting room, Rebecca is
			relieved that her baby is awake.
			surprised to hear her baby chattering.
			guilty that she’s being lazy.
			glad to have got her own way.
5	Rebecca is worried when her husband brings in the drinks because
			he might trip over Katy’s equipment.
			he doesn’t like the smell of her tea.
			tea is dripping from the saucer.
			he might damage an item of furniture.
6	The curtain referred to in Katy’s bedroom
			is identical in design to one from a previous generation.
			makes a tinkling sound.
			is made up of unusual colours.
			keeps out the light at night.

Answers - 1(a), 2(d), 3(b), 4(d), 5(d), 6(b).

See you!!

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Chapter three

It's the morning of a damp day, and Pip goes to meet the mysterious man. All the way to the Battery, he feels bad because he stole so many things from this house.

When Pip arrives there, he sees a man hiding on the marshes. Despite be wearing the same clothes as the man from the last night, and have the same iron leg, he is not the same person. He is another convict who, in their last meeting was hiding in the woods. The man sees Pip, hit him and then flees.

"And yet this man was dressed in coarse grey, too, and had a great iron on his leg, and was lame, and hoarse, and cold, and was everything that the other man was; except that he had not the same face, and had a flat broad-brimmed low-crowned felt that on"

After that, Pip sees in the distance his terrible fellow, the legitime, limping and waiting for him. The man seems to be cold, wet and starving. Pip gives him the file and all the food. For a moment the man seemed to be gentle with Pip, but when Pip mentions the other convict he encountered in the marshes, the man becomes violent and threatening again.

"He held me by the collar and stared at me so, that I began to think his first idea about cutting my throat had revived."

Meanwhile, Pip leaves the Battery and the man starts trying to unleash the iron leg with the file.

See you in Chapter four.

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Chapter two

The second chapter is basically an introduction to the character of Mrs Gargery, her husband Joe and the relations among them.

Pip describes his sister, Mrs Gargery as being twenty years older than him. She is not a good-looking woman, with black hair and eyes and a "prevailing redness of skin that I sometimes used to wonder whether it was possible she washed herself with a nutmeg-grater instead of soap". Also, he describes Joe Gargery as a fair man with curls of flaxen hair on side of his smooth face, and being "a mild, good-natured, sweet-tempered, easy-going, foolish, dear fellow - a sort of Hercules in strength, and also in weakness".

Mrs Gargery and Joe Gargery

When Dickens uses the term "by hand" to write about how Mrs Gargery raised Pip, he is intentionally ambiguous. Originally, 'by hand' meant be nursed by someone other than ones biological mother (maybe by bottle). On the other hand, writing 'by hand' evokes using her hand corporally against her husband and kids. 

"Having at that time to find out for myself what the expression meant, and knowing her to have a hard and heavy hand, and to be much in the habit of laying it upon her husband as well as upon me, I supposed that Joe Gargery and I were both brought up by hand".

After running away from the church, Pip arrives at home and meet Joe waiting for him at the kitchen. Joe warns him that his sister and "Tickler" (a wax-ended piece of cane) were looking for him for a while and that she was furious with his absence. 

"Tickler" in action with Mrs Gargery

The only thing crossing Pip's mind was his obligation to "the man with an iron leg". Trying to accomplish his task, Pip stirs a piece of bread at that night, and early in the morning Pip goes to the kitchen and steals "some bread, some rind of cheese, about half a jar of mincemeat (which I tied up in my pocket-handkerchief with my last night's slice), some brandy from a stone bottle...... , a meat bone with very little on it, and a beautiful round compact pork pie". Also, Pip steals a file (knife) from Joe's stuff.

After that, Pip runs to the marshes to meet the mysterious man with the "iron leg".

See you in Chapter three!

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Chapter one

Chapter One

The first chapter is an introduction to the main character, Philip Pirrip, or as he used to call himself, only Pip. He never knew his parents, and the only likeness that he had about them, came from his imagination looking at their tombstones. 

Pip had imagined his father as a "square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair" and his mother "freckled and sickly". In that hard days, Pip had five brothers who died as well. Now, they rest beside the tomb of their parents.

Pip lives with his sister in the marsh country in south-east England. One night, Pip was at the village churchyard when one man arrives. The young boy describes him as a "fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head" 

This man seized and turned him upside down, searching for something in Pip's pockets, but the only thing that he had was a piece of bread. Inquired by the man about the purpose of his presence there, Pip says that he was only gazing his parent's graves and that he lives a mile from the church.

A photo of the Kent graveyard on which Dickens based his description.

So, the man demands Pip to bring a file (knife) and a wittle(a mispronunciation for victuals or vittle - which means food) in the next day morning in order to let him alive.

Actually, he was an escape convicted man and the "iron leg" that Pip refers is some kind of a ball in a chain with a leg cuff.

Pip runs through the marshes heading his home and for a while stops to see if the man was still there, and he was, limping and looking at him. Pip was so frightened that he started to run again, but this time without stopping. 

See you in Chapter two!

Wuthering Heights - Review

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë was first published in December 1847. Ever since then, many editions of this masterpiece of English literature has been released. In the isolated English moors, this gripping romance with its flawless narrative will hook you from the very first page.

Wandering the streets of Liverpool, a gipsy boy called Heathcliff is found by Mr Earnshaw, an English Landlord. Deciding to adopt the boy, and bringing him to live at Wuthering Heights, Mr Earnshaw could never have imagined that he would be starting a ruthless, passionate story of love and revenge.

Catherine, Mr Earnshaw daughter, starts a close relationship with Heathcliff, arousing the fury of her brother Hindley Earnshaw. After the death of his father, he starts to managing Wuthering Heights and to mistreat Heathcliff, forcing him to work hard and revoking his education access.

A man called Mr Lockwood rents Thrushcross Grange, a manor house owned by Mr Heathcliff. He meets Nelly Dean, a housekeeper who grew up closer to Hindley and Catherine. Trying to answer all the questions raised by the new tenant, Nelly Dean starts to narrate the story of Heathcliff and the residents of Wuthering Heights.

Written in such richness of details, Wuthering Heights caught my attention and provoked my feelings. I could fell the atmosphere of the moors. I could imagine the characters as well as their countenance. On the other hand, this meticulous description can bore the reader who is not used with the method. Another relevant point is, to have been written in the 18ths, Bronte writes using a fancy and not usual vocabulary for the present day.

Finally, I strongly recommend this book for everyone who feels the need for extending their vocabulary, mainly English students, while reading a wonderful and unique novel.

See you.

Keys to Power - Law 31

Words like "freedom," "options," and "choice" evoke a power of possibility far beyond the reality of the benefits they entail ( to make something necessary, or to involve something ). When examined closely, the choices we have - in the marketplace, in elections, in our jobs - tend to have noticed limitations: They are often a matter of a choice simply between A and B, with the rest of the alphabet out of the picture. Yet as long as the faintest mirage of choice flickers on, we rarely focus on the missing options. We "choose" to believe that the game is far, and that we have our freedom. We prefer not to think too much about the depth or our liberty to choose.

This unwillingness ( The quality or state of being unwilling to do something; reluctance ) to probe the smallness of our choices stems from the fact that too much freedom creates a kind of anxiety. The phrase "unlimited options" sounds infinitely promising, but unlimited options would actually paralyze us and cloud our ability to choose. Our limited range of choices comfort us.

FROM THE 48 LAWS OF POWER - ROBERT GREENE