Thinking about time I listened to Pink Floyd's song Time this week. Besides the band's dark yet beatiful and profound harmonies and melodies, I was wondering about how it relates to my own experience. Time is a dimension. Time is a very limited and valuable resource. Time is something to spend with family and friends. It really depends on perspective when thinking about it. The song tells us about a person who initially spends time frivolously, "in an offhand way", until a moment when considers that, well, time is passing. So they run. However, the sun races around faster, "to come up behind" them. It is pretty easy to list things we would like to do or enjoy rather than others that we prioritize or that simply hijack our schedules, like unplanned matters at work or at home. And then we feel the time passing and our personal "to do" list increasing. It's critical that we really put a spotlight on the right priorities and defend them in order to successfully achieve our objectives whenever it's possible (and really unexpected urgent things don't pop up in front of us). We're used to read about time management hints and that we should turn off our mobile phones, disable application notifications, and so on. These are all useful ideas, like the ones I mentioned above, but, when it comes to managing time, it's crucial that we give ourselves a break from the anxious self-criticism and just "seize the day".

Non-native Portuguese speaker situations we can learn from I've just seen this awesome video, on Small Advantages Youtube channel, about mistakes of a non-native Portuguese speaker. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdSnfouTTlE I think sharing what I've seen will serve two purposes: helping me practing English writing and Portuguese non-natives speakers a bit about what not to do (in a funny way) when talking to brazilians. Gavin Roy had been traveling across many cities in Brazil. He shares his experiences through his Youtube channel and talks about cultural differences, what he enjoys, finds weird, and so on. One of his last videos I've seen was about some (in his words) ridiculous mistakes he'd done when learning Portuguese. I'll describe one of them. When he arrived in São Paulo, he struggled to understand why cashiers greeted him with "Good morning/Good afternoon. CPF?" (in Portuguese, "Bom dia/Boa tarde. CPF?"). So, he thought this was a common addition when greeting. So he kept saying that for people he met, which provoked laughs. But it happens it's just that here, at stores, people asks for a personal identification number (CPF stands for "Cadastro de Pessoa Física") when generating invoices (put it on the invoices). That enables us to retrieve, later, part of the taxes payed, since it helps the local government controlling/supervising tax payments. There are other amusing mistakes he did that everyone could learn from. By doing and sharing it with us, I guess he had fun and learned a lot from it.

Do you find weird that many texts in English misuses or do not use commas (and other kinds pauses) properly? Maybe it is just an impression I have, but as I see it, commas are often forgotten, even in news or articles. Or maybe I overuse it, as I usually like to insert parallel thoughts/comments when writing. I'm more used to see it when reading books.

Returnung to The Dark Tower I'm really sick these days. Caught a flu and a sore throat. What would be better than to restart reading a favorite book series in the warmth of my bed? The Dark Tower is a fiction series with western and tolkienian influences: a huge world with gunslingers that have knightly rituals and honor code. I've read almost every book by now, but I need to recap bits of the story from the last book I'd read, "Wolves of the Calla". I really enjoy fantastic literature. Any hints on new series? Game of Thrones is another one I like and read but, for now, I have to wait Mr Martin to sit and write a "bit" more.

Good applications of social networks Very often, people misuses social networks available today. For this reason, many critics argue if these systems have any function beyond connecting people to stablish silly conversations. I think we live in an unique, exciting moment in human history, in which people from many countries have access to culturally rich contents. There's a lot to improve, though, specially if we think about digital education issues, since having access to content does not solve the problem of interpreting content. Education is not my point now, but I would like to share an insightful Ken Robinson's video about the subject: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity. Another good application of these systems is to political engagement. In Brazil, people are becoming more engaged in debates about democracy. Unfortunately, the dialogs are far from a good level of discussions about ideas and proposals. Extreme people very often "scream" against others with different perspectives, but it is a starting point, at least. To discuss is better than to silence. Besides some distortions, in general, social networks offer much more opportunities than damages for growth.

Language exchange There's something I would like to share with our community that could be revealing to some people or just confirm their feelings about learning new languages. Usually when we learning a new language, the "classical" way of choice of everybody to do it is just going to a school to learn lots of grammar rules. My experience is a bit different of it. I've been learning a lot more in the last years, when I took risks to put myself outside my comfortable zone. In general, we are afraid of committing mistakes when learning something. This is exactly what blocks us from learning. Actually, this is strange, because if you are learning, you are supposed to commit mistakes. I lived the things I'm telling you. In 2011, I'd been studying in Oxford (UK) for 3 weeks alone. I'd never ever traveled to another country before. In the first day I was lost (I really don't know how I could be lost in such a small city), which, curiously, helped me because I had to ask people, to express myself, to go home. I'm not saying that grammar isn't an important issue. In fact, even in our mother languages we must be careful of writing/speaking in as good as we can. I'm just saying that communicate ideas freely, in another language, help much more when you begin learning. What do you think of it? Now, I'm looking for language partners, to achieve fluency, to polish my grammar knowledge, put things I learnt in use and help people too. Actually, if anyone is interested in joining my intermediate/advanced level portuguese/english conversation group, we would appreciate. Just add me on Italki and send me your Skype name.