On social media I once considered dumb

For a long time, I was one of those people who shocked others when I revealed that I didn't use Facebook. I really didn't see the point of it, and I thought it was dumb, how much time people spent on it. Eventually, years after the first of my friends to get it, I reluctantly and begrudgingly signed up. And then I proceeded to almost never, ever use it, except to view the occasional photos or event info that existed nowhere else.

More recently, however, not only do I find myself using it continually (and being one of the shocked when I now meet people who don't use it), but my hackles tend to go up when people pooh-pooh at it, and I even find myself defending it now and then.

It made me consider exactly what has changed since once upon a time when I never used it, and it seems to boil down to two main things:

First, the world has become a smaller place for me. Part of this is because of people graduating and moving away, and part of this is because I've met people abroad... but much moreso now than ever before, the people I know and really want to keep up with are all over the place; very few of my friends even live in the same city as me. We all have our own separate lives, and we're busy with hugely varied schedules, so it's nice to have quick updates on at least the major highlights (and often a lot of minor ones) even when there's nothing specific we'd be inclined to, say, email one another about.

Second is that one of the main things I do whenever I have a big enough chunk of free time is dance. This, of course, requires somewhere to go dancing and people to dance with, so being able to keep up with goings-on in the dance scenes relevant to me is huge. There are lots of different events and socials and workshops organized by different people and dance schools, and it's hugely convenient to not only know what's going on when I happen to be going to Toronto (or, perhaps more importantly, have something to plan around so I can go for the stuff I'm interested in), but also have a rough idea of who's going to be at what. Maybe this wouldn't be as big a deal if I were out dancing several times a week (as was the case during my Summer of Freedom) and could keep up by word of mouth, but alas... time is far more scarce these days... and even in this scenario, having events listed all in one place is super handy. The Events feature is also of great utility when trying to wrangle my various scattered amigos into the occasional get-together.

There are other reasons I use Facebook these days, but those are the most important ones, and the ones which perhaps most rationally justify my reliance on a form of social media that part of me still hates.

UPDATE: I like how I happened to post this just before Facebook decided to revamp the homepage layout to something that makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon.

Epic. Fail.

Brasil II: São Paulo

I have returned to the land of snow! Boo... I'd planned to blog about my trip while I was on it, but I guess I ended up feeling more like doing stuff than writing about what I was doing (shock). And now that I'm back... well, there are many bits and pieces that I want to write about, so I will do just that: write about bits and pieces when the inclination strikes me.

I hadn't particularly wanted to go to São Paulo, but since I was already flying through, I figured I may as well spend a couple of nights there. En route from the metro to my hostel, I covered over half the length of Rua Teodoro Sampaio -- and man oh man, I have never seen so many music stores in my life. Not just in one place, either: I'm pretty sure the total number of music stores I've seen over the course of my entire life has at least tripled just from walking down that street. Musical instrument stores, I mean. It's insane. Not to mention awesome. Guitars, drums (of every type and size), violins, guitars, cavaquinhos, berimbaus, guitars, pianos, pandeiros, guitars... oh yeah, and then there were the guitars. I still can't believe I made it through this gauntlet of beautiful, shiny temptation without buying a new guitar... Especially since I spent a good couple hours in various stores trying out several. I'd been told while in Rio (to my surprise) that guitars are actually a lot more expensive in Brasil than in Canada, so I'd already sort of pre-decided specifically not to buy one... but in retrospect a lot of the prices, in this area at least, were actually alright... a supply/demand thing, I suppose? In a store I visited in Salvador, the same model of one guitar I'd really liked was a good R$200 (~$125 CAD) more expensive. I almost wish I'd just gone ahead and bought it... would've been really nice to have a guitar to play while I was there. But yeah, I don't even want to think about what hauling a guitar around, in addition to my bag(s), would've been like... definitely didn't pack *quite* light enough for that.

Brasil I: São Paulo

I'm getting much better at packing light. I could've done better, but this time was certainly a step up from my previous trips anywhere (even some weekend-long "trips" to Toronto): one backpack and a little bag-o'-important-stuff (the contents of which could have fit into the backpack). Win!

The trip down, being a direct flight, was much better than (i.e., half the duration of) last time, so I actually had the energy for the 2-hour bus/subway-ride + 20-minute walk to the hostel... saving me the R$100 (~$70 CDN) a taxi would've cost me. But the bus ride was actually the best part of my day so far: I chatted with some locals and a tourist from Porto Alegre, which was lots of fun, not to mention great exercise for my very rusty Portuguese. I'm continually surprised by Brasilians. One of the women I was chatting with on the bus invited me to stay at her house for the two nights that I'll be here in São Paulo. I couldn't believe it! I was so touched, and I really wanted to accept, but I wanted to be in the area where my hostel is, so I didn't. Maybe next time...

Preparations

I'm slowly inching my way toward starting to pack for my trip. I'm determined to pack even lighter than I did last time, my goal being a single not-entirely-full backpack. Some things that probably seem excessive but which I plan on bringing are a Portuguese dictionary and language book (not a phrasebook... I plan on doing some actual studying while I'm travelling), as well as a notebook and my sets of flash cards (of which I need to make more before I go... they take forever to cut and hole-punch :|!). I am torn about bringing my netbook. Part of the reason I bought it in the first place was for this sort of thing, but this time I am doing quite a bit more travelling *around*. Last time I stayed in one city and could therefore safely deposit my belongings at the hostel and not have to worry about them at all for the whole two+ weeks. This time, not only am I travelling through three cities, but for the first two there's going to be quite the trek from the airport to my hostel, meaning I'm reluctant to go completely broke on taxis, let alone twice. Normally I'd be fine about wandering my way through the city since I blend in well enough (pretty much all Brasilians I've met have told me I look Brasilian... whatever that means, since Brasilians can look like anything :P)... but the giant backpack is *just* a little conspicuous. (Just a tad.) I think it'll probably come down to whether it'll fit nicely in my bag along with everything else. :|

But my preparations so far haven't consisted solely of deliberation! I finally booked my hostel for São Paulo. I don't know why I put it off so long, considering it's the first place I'm going, but it turns out I was just in time: a day later and I wouldn't have been able to book online! :| I also went out today to exchange some money, and then I went to Shoppers looking for these little plastic travel tins to put cream-type stuff in. I didn't find what I was looking for, but I did find this:

Which is a bajillion times better! :D!

I can't even begin to express how much I love containers. It's probably a bit unhealthy, the extent to which I do. I can't explain it. My friend suggested that it's because they're practical, which is probably true. But even that fails to fully explain the intense satisfaction I derive from finding the Perfect Container. I mean, when I come across some sort of nice box or bag or tin, or even bottle/jar (or envelope), I always want to take it and save it for some kind of special use. And I'll try to think of things I could use it for, but if it's a *really* nice container, I don't want to hastily assign it to some purpose and then not have it for something that it's even better suited for. So it'll just end up sitting somewhere collecting dust instead of containing things! (Travesty!) BUT! On the rare occasion, I'll have some particular item(s) that I need to contain -- they could be multiple instances of a single item, or various types of items, or maybe even just one Important Item -- and I serendipitously happen across a Perfect Container! It holds all of the items and is just the right size for them: little to no extra room for them to roll or jumble around in, messing up their Perfect configuration. The Perfect Container does exactly what I wanted it to do -- nothing more, nothing less. And actually *putting* the items into the Perfect Container and then basking in their Perfect Containment: inexplicably satisfying!

So I must admit, the container (set) that I purchased above is not a Perfect Container. It has more bottles and tins-of-various-sizes than I actually need. But I do need some of them, and think of all the things I could put in the others! (Not that I'll be able to decide what to put in them...) But that's not all! It's specifically a carry-on toiletry set, so it conforms to the "three-ounce containers in a one-quart clear, sealable plastic bag" thing. The bag is exactly one quart! So awesome! And obviously it's designed for the bottles and tins it comes with, so no extra loose space for them to jumble around in! :D!

I think this is the most gleeful anything has made me in the last couple of days. Including hearing that my iGEM team is getting funding that we're going to use for DNA synthesis (which is really, really awesome). Make of this fact what you will.

Actually, on second thought, it probably ties with finally finding the elusive *good* guava Juice at Zehrs, on my way from the currency exchange place to Shoppers. :9

Quando eu volto ao Brasil...

On Monday afternoon I'm leaving for Brasil: I have a short two-and-a-half weeks for this trip (including a day of transit on either end) before I hurry back to start classes again in January. In retrospect, I must have been just a little bit crazy to go to Rio by myself in the summer. I've spent my entire life in southwestern Ontario and, until a year or two ago, had been to barely any cities other than the ones I've lived in. I'd only ever flown a couple of times since I've been old enough to remember, and both times were direct flights, only a few hours long, with friends who knew what they were doing... so really all I had to worry about was not losing sight of them. My next step up from that? Three different planes, 24 hours, and 8500 kilometres south to a major city in a country whose language I didn't speak. Alone. (For additional perspective: I'm ashamed to say that at this time, I didn't even know how to use the TTC. Like, at all. Total public transit n00b.) Yay adventure! In any case, not only did I survive Rio unscathed, but I'm fairly certain that I leveled up a few times in my Travel ability, plus learned a little Portuguese along the way. But more than that: even in the short time I was there, there were several moments when I felt -- more than I'd ever felt before -- like I belonged. Kind of strange, not even speaking the language, but so it was. To live in a place where such great music and dance are everywhere...

So I'm going back, for another all-too-brief stint, to get a taste of a couple more parts of this amazing country. This time, I'll have a couple of nights to sample São Paulo, then a few days in Salvador, and finally a week in Natal, where my Brasilian friend (who lives in Toronto) will also be visiting his dad there. So this time I'll have the benefit of knowing a local! And not that Christmas has ever been that huge of a deal in my family, but since I will be away over Christmas and missing out on extended-family festivities, it'll be nice to at least be spending it with my friend and his dad. :]