Let it go

Hello, there.
This time of the year usually make us very nostalgic, maybe Christmas Eve is not as powerful as December, 31st but 2016 brought such a turmoil that I'm looking forward to its end.

I'm not THAT desperate as to sing Elsa from Arendelle, this 'let it go' comes from Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke. As a young girl renting VHS tapes in my small home town, Out of Africa was the movie that touched me the deepest because I felt Karen's helplessness. As a teenager in a weird hair phase, I felt for her but more than that it was her struggle to tame both her farm and Dennys Finch Hatton's heart that tugged on me. At the time I thought Meryl Streep's long white face influenced me (it was the first time I saw her), but now I see it's the eloquence in the realization of failure.
A scene I never forget is when in a sudden downpour, the lake she had been trying so hard to build doesn't hold. The employees hurry to rebuild the fragile sand walls and she sighs, hangs her head and says a guttural: 'Let it go, let it go.'
I always remember that.

This is a perfect illustration of 2016.

We had an impeachment of a deeply incompetent lady President (let me not mumble about lost women empowerment opportunities here), saw the Supreme Court work almost exclusively to put order on the Congress' brats and then be challenged by the House leader, the biggest and more gruesome embezzlement scandal that ever existed in this planet, a broken country with beggar states that can't afford to pay salaries, unemployment levels go sky high.
How about the Olympics, you may ask. It was great, so much fun... But prices went up to profit from turists and stayed high, the Olympic Park is abandoned, new subway... well, you know: embezzlement, corruption, 2 governors in jail.
The country and Rio de Janeiro state in such chaos, small business like mine are almost impractical. Some days we feel like Rio is one of those Old West cities with hay balls rolling by.

In spite of all this - or probably BECAUSE  of all this, I managed to write almost daily. As soon as 2016 vanishes, I'll have tons of new stuff to brag about. But frankly, I'd rather wait a few more days and try my hand in 2017.

Very bold of me to wander far from Mr Darcy and Lizzy, but I did. Aside from a reviewed version of Love hurts on Kindle Unlimited, I'll release the full version of Eclipse of the heart and the all new Love inside and out completing my Regency Era Trilogy (aka Moira tries to wear petticoats). And then comes the cats! Lovely Persian cats entwining love stories. Let me take a break to say I'm proud of how this book fitted so nicely around itself.
And a much loved reviewed version of Friendship of a special kind with a few new scenes.

In Portuguese there'll be a lot of new stuff as an alternative version of Prince of Pemberley (JAFF) and a new series of modern fairytales. Maybe these princesses will have an English version...

So, as Karen said: Let it go, let it go... 2016 was tough, but we shall live to see 2017.

Happy holidays!

wash away the bad year, Dennis... Make it all go away... :D

Bright and successful New Year!

C ya
M.

Advices for 2013!

 Happy new year!

2012 was a good year for me, in spite of its even number. Usually years that finish on an odd number are sweeter for me, can't imagine why. I first noticed this when in my cups - let me confide in you, my cups were overflown!! - during a fantastic New Year's celebration in Copacabana.

It was the turn from 2002 to 2003 and that year had been malignant with me. A very wise advice that I'll post here later this week says that 

 

'In time, everything turns into an anecdote. So don't fret too much now.'

 

Thankfully I can't remember what was so bad in 2002 and I'm not planning on trying to remember. Let bygones be bygones. But mercifully a great friend called us on December 31st, 19:30pm.

'Hi, honey. What are you guys planning for later today?' He asked.

'Mmmm...' I frowned. 'We´re going to join the throng in Copacabana and maybe I can find myself a way to drown my sorrows in a midnight sea bath.' I answered miserably.

'My boyfriend's got 4 tickets for the 1st Stage's VIP party at Leme beach? Wanna come?' He offered.

I guess he's deaf 'till this day from the 'YYYYYeahh!!' I shouted.

 

I drank all the Veuve Clicquot I could, not minding my waist, sips of water between the sprkling wine flûtes, eating something, whatever. I drowned my sorrows as best as I could. We danced and sang on top of our lungs, it was awsome!!!

Let's not discuss my January 1st, it was brutal... Let me repeat that: B R U T A L. But 2013 did start with the right vibe and that was when I noticed my 'thing' with odd numbered years.

May 2013 be just great!

May this blog keep getting 2000 visits/month!

May my book keep selling!

May my new book be a similar success!

May we all have wonderful days that will put our bad days to shame!

 

For inspiration, I remebered this old, old, nice and good piece of advice. For me, this is everlasting as Mr Darcy 's charms, Dead Poets Society and Ferris Bueller's Day Off . You may not want to see it everyday (except from Mr D, of course!) but once you get your eyes on it, it's awsome again.

 

 

 

Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young

A newspaper column by Mary Schmich, published by the Chicago Tribune on 01 June 1997.

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Ladies and gentlemen:

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.  

Travel. This is Hot Rio Chick's advice!

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen. 

Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
reblogged from The full text 

Let's have fun in 2013!