saudade42’s blog

Seems like that anyhow. Gee, what was I BB? (BB = Before Blogging) Most of the readers won’t even remember this archaic period. So, that’s it: the bottle is thrown into the sea. Problem is the message inside is not perfectly clear…yet. In fact I don’t know why I finally take the plunge. What I know is that I am feeding myself on a daily dose of other bloggers stories, since years now. Maybe it’s just a question of going to the plate myself at last. Like if I was feeling I secretly belong to the team and it was time now to come out of the closet. One thing is sure: nobody asked me to do it. And a few more: I have nothing to sell, I don’t know what to expect, I am not particularly mad about someone or some system. And probably the last blow: I am embarrassingly happy with my life, my wife, my kid and my dog. Is it a doomed start? Let’s see. If not, we can start a conversation about movies, recipes, world music, photography, software, Internet, sailing, environment, tourism, French and Quebec culture, Brazil, US strange whereabouts…among other subjects!

In fact, I see three possible reasons for this outburst of exhibitionism: for myself (ego?), for my family (legacy?) or for the sake of belonging to one addictive extended net family. (The me too syndrome: an altruistic drive to share combined with a egoistical push to learn always more) The answer is probably a combination of the three. Time will tell the role and proportion played by each component. Being retired also helps, even if I feel sometimes like having less free time now than when I was working!

Four timely events have also taken place during the last week:

1. I read an article in Wired magazine about the new Vox blog Service.
2. I got a charge of adrenaline and compassion when viewing this astonishing  video - in fact a whole series -  made by someone a lot more old, adventurous and wise than me, geriatric1927
3.  I checked the Vox product on the web and fell in love with it instantly; (simply too easy to pass by)
4. The final blow being viewing some refreshing picture of Mena and Ben; how can you resist belonging to a family with such parents? More exciting than Adam and Eve, for sure.

I should probably have chosen to speak in my native tongue – French - but many reasons push me towards English, as imperfect as it may sound. I will talk about it later. Kudos BTW to Vox team for their quick implementation of a French version of the system.

So, to conclude this very intimidating first issue, I will give you some hints of things to come: yes, like my mentor geriatric, the numeric part of my user

name gives you my age (with a twist, in fact!); Yes, I know you can hide these things on the Internet, but what the heck! I had no aesthetic surgery either. The other part of the name alludes to what has been for me since my childhood a mythic Brazil; but now is a reality to discover and to share.

Finally, I may have been presumptuous to talk about a whole bottle thrown into the sea. Anyone can see such a big object! NASA, FBI or NSA will surely discover it somewhere around the globe and denounce the foreign spy lurking in me. Here we are talking about a very ambiguous blogger who is not sure if he wants an audience or not. So the identification with a more humble drop of water thrown to the sea would seem more appropriate. But again this circle is very vicious and I can’t stop thinking: what if some minute ripple effect occurs? Of what significance for the rest of my life could it be? Taking the plunge is the only way to know. Giving shyly a little about me, drop by drop, page by page, and opening the field to other’s meanderings. Thanks Eleni for this week music find and  gentle accompaniment.