El Jaleo by John Singer Sargent

El Jaleo by John Singer Sargent, 1882. On display at Isabella Gardner Museum, Boston, Mass.

One of my all time favorites. I still remember the first time I saw it at the cosy Gardner Museum. It extends over an entire wall. Takes your breath at first glance and holds you in captivity. I stared for what seemed like too long but not enough. It took some convincing to walk away and at least glance at the other paintings.

Fervent passion and sensuality are in-your-face. The dancer leaning back, her fingers and elbows meticulously curved. The musicians over their guitars. The contrast of black and white, darkness and light. Look at her skirt... leaves you breathless.

Painting by John Singer Sargent. It´s geometric and carefully thought through. Monochromatic umbrellas, the "rainy" lighting, water in between cobblestones all portray the tranquil mood of a rainy city day. There´s even a certain politeness about it.

It´s quite large and found at the Art Institute of Chicago. Definitely worth a visit.

Progress on Bankers´ Pay?

It´s been announced the Ken Lewis, Bank of America´s CEO, will give back $1million of his $1.5million yearly salary and receive no bonus for 2009. He will step down as CEO end of 2009.

Giving back $1million is barely a scratch to Lewis, who´s retirement package and stock options are valued at $69.3million (minimum).

All banks and bankers should be severely punished for what they have caused to the financial system. They should be penalized financially since everything they do is for the money in the first place.

What´s a little unfair is that banks which still owe money to the US government are being penalized and scrutinized while others who borrowed from TARP funds and already paid them back to the US government are allowed to proceed scotch-free. Goldmans Sachs is going to pay record bonuses to employees this year. GS CEO Blankfein is all smiles, all the time. It´s quite annoying. When the financial crisis bit him and Goldman in the ass, he went crying to the US government and all is ex-GS pals asking to become a "bank" able to hold deposits and borrow funds from TARP. GS then takes the borrowed TARP funds, gambles in the market, makes a huge profit (I will admit they are very smart and know how to make money, be it in a completely unethical manner and feeding off the less powerful (ex: the individual American investor)). They take their profits and pay back the government with interest (isn´t that polite) and their crisis is over. Because GS now owes nothing to the US government, party time continues! And who pays for the mess GS and many other financial institutions contributed to? We, the American tax-payers, do. Not only do we suffer from investment losses but we also foot the bill for the institutions who caused our losses AND made money off our losses. Yes, that´s right.

Shame on you Goldman.

Girls Getting Dirty

I thought it was a joke... Maybe I´ve been two years too long living outside the USA...

Ladies playing tackle football in their lingerie? What chauvinist got away with this idea?

Well, I think it´s funny and it´s going to be HUGE, considering all the horny perves in this world. Next thing the LFL (Lingerie Football League) has more viewers than the NFL. I guess women are just not privileged enough to play football in clothes. That would just not be interesting...

www.lflus.com (notice "us" in the URL... does that mean they´re already planning a global expansion?)

check out the videos on the site. These girls are ruthless. They fight and even pull each other´s underwear. Girls getting dirty (that´s a good name for the league).

Melasma, the luck of being a woman

Some of us are blessed with beautiful, flawless skin. I once was.

Guess I should have listened to my mom when she insisted I not spend working-day hours at the beach with no sunscreen. So after years of tanning with no sunscreen, tanning beds during Vandy winters, and birth control pills, I am now permanently stained with Melasma, or sunspots.

Oh, sunspots? You can go to a dermatologist and get those taken care of, no big deal. Yeah right. No one actually tells you that there is no cure for Melasma. Once you get them, you´re dying with them. Unless someone comes up with a cure before our wrinkles "cover" them up.

A woman usually has a genetic disposition for Melasma. This gene + the sun = sunspots. Or, gene + hormones (birth control or pregnancy) + sun = sunspots. Some (very lucky) women never get them. For the ones with a tendency, learn to embrace your sunspots because they are here to stay.

Six months before my wedding when my sunspots were visibly bothersome, I decided to visit a dermatologist in Sao Paulo. If there was ever a time a woman wants flawless skin, it´s on her wedding day. I visited the office of Dr. Shirlei Borelli, who was recommend by a friend as a wonderful doctor and not too expensive (the latter is not only false, but she is the most expensive in this city of 20 million people). After 3 treatments, lots of money spent, avoiding sunshine at all expenses, and wearing SPF 60 everywhere but to sleep, my sunspots were less noticeable and easily concealed with make-up. So my wedding photos came out beautiful, with no spots to be seen.

Honeymoon consisted of 8 days in French Polynesia (paradise) and I was not about to avoid sunshine or sit under an umbrella. It was so nice to get a tan again and get rid of my greenish-ghostly color. Even though I applied and reapplied SPF 60 about 5x per day, the stubborn sunspots came back, this time bigger and darker than before. All the money spent for treatment down the drain...

So why am I posting such a gloomy story? Because I have discovered what could be the light at the end of the tunnel! Well, not exactly a cure, but my new beauty routine for normal skin has considerably decreased the appearance of my sunspots.

Here it goes:

• Facials every two months (You don´t have to go to the very expensive places. Ask for referrals from friends and choose an esthetician that really cleans your pores).
• Morning routine: Wash with facial cleanser and tone. You MUST use a moisturizing cream with sunscreen, even if you will be indoors most of the day (fluorescent lights are just as bad as sunlight). I highly recommend MELORA C. Manufactured in Europe, this foam sunscreen is rich in vitamins, (5% Vitamin C), non-greasy and easily absorbed. It even works great as a primer for make-up.
• Nightly routine: Wash with facial cleanser and tone. On the first night, apply a small amount of TRI-LUMA cream (contains 4% hydroquinone) directly on the sunspots. On the second night, use the moisturizer Vichy NeoVadiol NUIT all over your face and neck. On the third night, apply La Roche Posay Biomedic LHA Serum to the entire face. You will feel a burning sensation for about 1-2 minutes. On the following night, use the Vichy moisturizer again. Continue the cycle, alternating between the stronger agents (Tri-Luma and LHA) and the moisturizer.
• DON`T forget to use sunscreen DAILY, especially after using the stronger agents, as your skin becomes very sensitive. If you do not, you will notice redness and the treatment goes to waste.

Good luck and until they find us a permanent cure!

I miss my girls

I moved to Brazil two years ago and since have felt even more distant from my girlfriends. My core group of girls are my Vandy roomates. To be frank the distance started to grow between all of us the day we graduated and went our separate ways. We moved to cities all over the US and some of us went abroad. It's been 10 years, reunion is this October, and I have to give credit to the few that have put forth a lot of effort to keep in touch. Of course in a group of 12 girls, you have a few, maybe 3 or 4 that you have more affinity with. It's normal. These you manage to maintain more contact. The others end up drifting and you still care about them and end up hearing through so and so who saw so and so and said so and so. Let's face it, nowadays, it's nearly impossible to keep in touch with long-distance friends, especially 12 of them. 3 is difficult enough. We manage to arrange a trip where we can all meet once per year. But as the years pass by, fewer and fewer show up. The importance of these meetings starts to diminish. Now with babies in the picture, the priorities are different. I'm lucky if I get 2 minutes on IM. Maybe as we get older we are supposed to give less importance to friendship. Maybe I only feel this way because I have no kids yet. Or maybe long-distance friendships are just too difficult to maintain. So what does that mean for me? I moved to Brazil and have no real friends here... yet. And I miss my Vandy girls. I miss the youthful connection we shared and can still draw upon when we are together.

And let's face it, real girlfriends are very hard to find. I only wish I could snap my fingers and start living Sex & The City.

I'm hoping in some way, my blog will bring the girls together. Maybe they'll find 5 minutes in their day to keep up with my thoughts and make a comment or two. Because at the end of the day, I know they are same person, but I just want to know how and what they are doing. Feel a connection in some way, even though we are so far away.

I'm a Blogger!

Goes to show how technology today has made possible something a non-techie like me would have never imagined possible. Yes, I can type with all 10 fingers but I know nothing about software, HTML, blah blah blah, but lookie here, I have my own blog!

Why does anyone have a blog? Some actually have useful advice to share with the world, others only think they do and therefore only add to the noise. Others want to draw attention, a quest for "net fame". As some suggest, start a blog to highlight yourself professionally and give your career a boost. I find this possible, but unlikely. I guess you could get to know a possible candidate via his blog, but his blog would have to be career focused and you'd basically get the same information on a phone interview. If the blogger actually stated his political view, mentioned his marital problems, or complained about his sex life, none of this information would be useful for his getting the job!

So why did I decide to start a blog? I've kept a journal since I can remember. I used to have a daily journal, a goal journal, a dream diary, even a food/calorie journal. I guess I've always liked to write things down. I seldom read these old journals, so I guess the writing itself helps me organize my self and my thoughts. Now I use Notebook (Microsoft) to keep my entries organized. I love it. After so many years typing, I'm realizing my hands are no longer fit for writing. My hand cramps after writing one sentence. My handwriting is barely legible. And I hardly know how to hold a pen. It just feels uncomfortable. Typing is much more comfy. So I guess I'm turning this blog into my Notebook online, with some restrictions of course. I guess I shouldn't put all my thoughts and problems out there, especially since I've taken Penelope Trunk's advice to use my own name. Why I took that advice I will only discover with time.

And in also taking her advice, no one will read this post so this is just practice writing.