Archive for Family
Bachelor life
Learning how to live by yourself in a world of instant digital communication is something else. Here’s an msn conversation I had last weekend with my brother, who’s five thousand miles away:
*****
chico says:
hi, ester
chico says:
all good?
chico says:
how does one turn an oven on, in your opinion?
Ester says:
oven: turn the dial to the desired temperature
chico says:
humm
chico says:
and then what?
Ester says:
that’s all
Ester says:
it should get nice and warm
chico says:
you’re sure that’s all?
Ester says:
is it a gas oven?
chico says:
it is, bc I can hear, like, a gas noise
chico says:
but then it stops
chico says:
bc i have to turn and press
chico says:
but it doesn’t stay pressed
Ester says:
then stop, turn off everything, open the window
chico says:
then it stops
chico says:
no
chico says:
i’ve stopped already
Ester says:
open the window so the gas can go out
Ester says:
then look at the oven floor to see if there’s a little hole
chico says:
no, ester
chico says:
there’s no gas coming out
Ester says:
if the oven is not automatic, maybe u need to light it with a match
chico says:
i think it is automatic
chico says:
bc the guy tested it
chico says:
and i didn’t see him use a match
chico says:
the worst is
chico says:
i’ve kept all the manuals
chico says:
the only 1 i need
chico says:
can’t find
Ester says:
how do you light the stove top?
Ester says:
is there a zappy lightening thing?
chico says:
you just turn and zap
chico says:
like back home
Ester says:
the oven should follow the same mechanism
Ester says:
turn the thingy, and zap
chico says:
but back home
chico says:
is it the same zappy lightening
chico says:
for both?
Ester says:
it is
Ester says:
I think it is
chico says:
ah
chico says:
so it should be the same thing
chico says:
i’ll try
chico says:
it really sucks
chico says:
u keep all the little thingies
chico says:
and just when u need
chico says:
the thingamajig disappears
Ester says:
chico says:
there’s something missing
chico says:
something i’m not getting
Ester says:
it didn’t work?
chico says:
no
chico says:
but i don’t have the least idea
chico says:
i don’ know exactly
chico says:
what will happen when it works
Ester says:
what r u making?
chico says:
pre-made pizza
chico says:
like
Ester says:
ah
chico says:
a little flame appears
chico says:
does a little flame appear?
chico says:
or i don’t even notice?
chico says:
does it make any noise?
Ester says:
i don’t know… wanna take a picture of the oven so i can see?
chico says:
i’m kind of trying something here
chico says:
i put it at the temperature recommended
chico says:
and pressed the lightening
chico says:
i’ll see if it gets warm
Ester says:
Ester says:
hey, i’ve justed posted on my blog
chico says:
i’ve only had gas since yesterday
Ester says:
can i put this conversation as tomorrow’s post?
chico says:
yesterday i made instant noodles
chico says:
you can
Ester says:
where were you eating until now?
chico says:
i spent a month trying to get this thing to work
chico says:
it’s bio gas
Ester says:
cool
chico says:
it comes through a pipe
chico says:
i have, like, a gas account
chico says:
it’s not more cool
chico says:
bc it’s the worst service i’ve ever been served with
chico says:
they needed
chico says:
8 visits
Ester says:
uau
chico says:
involving 3 companies
chico says:
in one month
chico says:
for this to work
chico says:
incompetent people
chico says:
i was very annoyed
chico says:
and even had to pay 360 for a leak
Ester says:
wow
chico says:
that could not be verified
chico says:
it’s complicated
chico says:
to open the oven
chico says:
better turn off the temperature first right?
chico says:
any restriction
chico says:
?
Ester says:
no restriction
chico says:
ahhhhhh
chico says:
now i got it…
chico says:
it wasn’t happening before
chico says:
it needed more confidence in the pressing
chico says:
i turned the thing
chico says:
and pressed the zappy lightening for longer
chico says:
and stared at the oven
chico says:
the oven floor
chico says:
and now the fire caught on
chico says:
i wasn’t giving it enough zap
chico says:
but my anger
chico says:
solved the problem
Ester says:
hahah
chico says:
bc i pressed the lightening for longer
chico says:
today was a tiring day
chico says:
but productive
Finishative
I was talking to by brother yesterday about my usual “problems” (namely, interest in a million things, but in nothing in particular). My brother, in his typical wisdom, diagnosed my problem as “too much initiative, too little finishative”.
He found this neologism in one of those airline magazines. I thought it was a brilliant concept, one that reflects my ailment really well. After all, I deserve a degree of “Professional Beginner”, for all the language, music, dance courses in which I finished the first level and that was that.
The word my brother was using was “acabativa” (we speak Portuguese). I googled it and found 513 links. The one I liked most had as title something like “This must be the reason my blogs have stopped coming”.Which really shows I have a textbook case of finishative deficiency (it sounds so… musical).
Thinking about how I could turn this scenario around, I appealed to blogging once again. So I thought “how would one say “acabativa” in English?” (so I can write about it here). I found 42 results for a google search of “finishiative” and 64 for “finishative”. The sources: sites with advice for sales, business, management, chess strategy, Christian and Hindu sermons…
Moral of the story: I think that a bit more finishative goes well everywhere. Starting with this writing of mine — because even finishatives must start somewhere.
P.S. You might be wondering why I picked the spelling “finishative” over “finishiative”. Reply: while the extra “i” makes “finishiative” resemble “initiative” more, the “i” in “initiative” belongs to the “initi-” root, whereas the “finish-” root is i-less. Maybe you were not wondering about this, nor even interested. To which I say, “oh, well.”
