EU JOGO FARMVILLE*!

Se voce e meu amigo no facebook, voce sabe disso.Eu jogo. Eu gosto. Eu me divirto.
E por isso tenho que aguentar muuuita enchecao de saco de quem nao joga.
Ai que saco esse seu joguinho.
Farmville? Ai que porre isso...
E ai eu me peguei pensando duas vezes antes de ir la cuidar do meu gado virtual. Por que "o que e que vao pensar, ne?"
Vao pensar que eu nao tenho nada mais o que fazer.
Que eu sou uma vadia, com todo o tempo do mundo para plantar, colher, cuidar dos bichos...
Que eu sou uma cabeca de vento por gostar de joguinhos bobos
Que

Perai. Para tuuuudo!
E dai que fulano, ciclano ou beltrano pensam de mim? Ou dos meus jogos, ou da forma com que eu educo  ou nao educo as minhas filhas ? E dai que eu uso saltos altos demais, nao penteio o cabelo e gosto de comer carne crua?

Que saco isso. Aos 40, eu deveria poder ser livre pra poedr fazer o que eu quiser, sem ter que dar satisfacoes, certo?

Ai vem a turminha anti farmville anti carne crua / anti salto alto / pro escovas e pentes mil e diz que as minha opcoes interferem na vida (virtual?) deles.

Eu nao convido ninguem que nao esteja no farmville pra brincar comigo, nem pra ser meu vizinho. Eu nao mando cabras, frutas e espinafre pra quem nao tem fazenda. nao vou procurar trufas no nao chiqueiro de ninguem. Eu fico ali, na minha, brincando com os milhares de desocupados internautas que tambem gostam do joguinho.

Qualquer coisa que seja do seu peculio, que tenha a ver com a sua vida, que esteja do lado de la do meu muro, e problema seu. Mas do muro pra ca, a fazenda e a vida sao minhas. E os seus pitacos serao ouvidos, processados e devidamente tratados : como pitacos!

E eu acho engracadissimo quando escuto a famosa defesa: mas as notificacoes vem pra minha pagina! E um saco isso...

Concordo plenamente. e por isso eu me desculpo. Mas pra tudo ha jeito. Ao inves de gastar a sua saliva datilografia reclamando comigo, vai la e  bloqueia a aplicacao, meu querido. Ai eu continuo jogando em paz e voce nao recebe avisos de 5 em cinco minutos , dizendo que tem ovo fresquinho no meu galinheiro ou que eu estou fazendo um pao maravilhoso na padaria da fazenda.

No mais, um beijo imenso e cheio de carinho. E agora da licenca que os meus morangos estao maduros e ehora de colhe-los antes que eles estraguem!

Eu nao tenho nenhuma intencao de te chatear. Se tenho voce no meu facebook, e por que gosto de voce, por que prezo a sua amizade e por que eu respeito o seu direito de ser quem voce e. Por favor, me devolva a gentileza. Seja fofo e me deixe jogar em paz!

* Farmville - joguinho hospedado no facebook. A brincadeira e brincar de ser fazendeiro. Vc compra sementes, planta, colhe, vende, cuida de animais...

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FARMVILLE * I PLAY!



If you are my friend on facebook, you know it. I play it. I like it. I have fun.
And I also have to put up with sooo many complains from people who do not play. And do not like it. 

- Oh that game of yours? It sucks... 

- Farmville? Oh that is so boring ...

And more than once I caught myself thinking twice before going to my farm to care for my virtual cattle.  "what are they going to think, huh?" was what was on my mind.
Will they think I've got nothing else to do?
Will they think I have all the time in the world for planting, harvesting, caring for the animals?
Will they think I am an air head because I like silly games?
Will they...
WAIT! Stop it NOW!

Why should I care what others think of me? Or what they think of my games, or the way I raise my daughters? So what if I wear heels that are too high, if I do not comb my hair and like to eat raw meat?
Fuck it! At 40, I should be free to do what I want without having to explain, right?

But the anti farmville/ anti raw meat / anti high heels / pro brushes and combs and say my choices interfere with their (virtual?) lives.

I do not invite anyone who is not in Farmville to play with me, nor to be my neighbor. I do not send goats, fruits and spinach for anyone who does not have a farm. I will not look for truffles in your sty, unless you have one.

All I do is play with people who also enjoy it! And play with me.

And I think it is very, very funny when I hear : but the notifications come to my page! And that is a pain.
I totally agree. And for that inconvenience, I apologize. But instead of spending your saliva typing skills complaining to me, just block the application, my friend. Then I will be able to play in peace and you will NOT receive 5 warnings in five minutes, saying I have fresh eggs, a new piglet, gold coins or a lost rabbit in my farm. 

I have no intention to upset you. If I have you on my facebook, it means I like you, I value your friendship and I respect your right to be who you are. Please do the same for me. Be cute and let me play in peace!

Now I gotta go. I have strawberries to harvest before they witter.


* Farmville - little game hosted on Facebook.  It is a virtual farm where you buy seeds, plant, harvest, sell fresh produce, care for animals ...

Filha de peixe, peixinho e ! Like mum, like daughter!!

Do you remember when I mentioned I have managed to get people scorted out of the queue at the Stadium in Qatar because they were queue jumping?

Well, same scenario, same game.

Arabs smoke like chimneys. All the time, everywhere.

Imagine a huge stadium. full of Arabs, thousands of them. Cigarettes everywhere, right? Right.

As soon as we got to our place, a guy in front of us lit his cigarette. Lia had no second thoughts:

- Excuse me, the smoke is coming all here, can you please just put your cigarette down?

The guy was so surprised, he just did. And everyone around was looking funny at us, because this is a brand new concept. Not smoking? How come?

Then a second guy lights his cigarette.

Lia does not even think twice:

- Excuse me. ( same drill)

Anita wants to abandon us, she is ashamed. I don't even look at Fabio's face, he was probably red with shame. He really, really, hates conflict!

When the third guy lights his cigarette, everyone automatically looks at Lia, waiting for her reaction.

Amistoso entre Argetina X Brasil - Qatar. Isso mesmo, aquele jogo onde eu'arrumei confusao na entrada e uns caras foram escoltados pra fora da fila pela policia, lembra?

Mesmo jogo, mesmo cenario!

Eu ja comentei que os Arabs fumam MUIIITO? Pois eles fumam.

Estadio de futebol. Milhares de pessoas, a maioria arabes. Cigarros por todos os lados!

De repente um cara na frente da Lia acende um cigarro, ela o cutuca e diz:

- Olha, a fumaca vem toda em mim. Da pra apagar?

O fulano fica tao surpreso com o pedido, que ele nem discute. Apaga e pronto. Todo mundo a nossa volta, fica olhando para a Lia como se ela fosse uma extra terrestre.

Outro cara, ali perto, acende o cigarro. Lia nao se aperta:

- Olha, ta me atrapalhando. Apaga.

O cara apaga.

Anita diz que mudae de lugar. Vejo o Fabio ficando roxo de vergonha.

Um terceiro cara, um pouco alem, acende um cigarro. Todo mundo ja olha pra Lia, esperando a bronca...

Brasil X Argentina - ainda na fila/ BrazilX Argentina - the queue

We were all waiting to get into the stadium. Adrenalin running in our bodies. All excitement and hope.

A nice couple arrive and stand behind us. In front of us, three Asian guys, all on their phones.

 Suddenly, four other Asian guys join them. I feel very uncomfortable and motion to stop them, but when I look at Fabio, I see his eyes begging me not to create a scene. He hates conflict!

I swallow hard and shut up.

The Asian guys continue on their mobiles.

An Arab guy, joins his friend, in front of the Asian crowd - that's too much for me. I hear someone calling him Ahmed, so I say:

- Ahmed, mushkila ( problem)

Ahmed smiles, understands my request and get out of the queue. His friend tries to argue one extra person will make no difference, why do I have to be so difficult. I stand my ground, Ahmed does not come back.

Another Asian friend joins them. This is the drop that makes my glass too full. I ask him to leave. All Asian guys pretend to be deaf, they don't even look at me.

The nice couple behind me come to my aid - nothing!

Then comes the Police. I tell them what happened and all 5 queue jumpers are scorted out of the queue. i do not look at Fabio's eyes again, but I feel happy, very happy!

Estavamos todos na fila. Animadissimos. Atras de nos, um casal simpatico - sem uniforme - impossivel saber ra quem eles torciam, mas como nao fizeram nenhum comentario depois de nos ver vestidos de verde e amarelo dos pes a cabeca, so podiam ser trocedores da Argentina.

Na nossa frente, tres asiaticos, falando freneticamente em seus celulares.

De repente, outros quatro asiaticos chegam e se instalam na nossa frente. Olho pro Fabio. Eu sei que ele ODEIA confronto. Fico quieta, mas a situacao me incomoda.

Um deles continua no telefone.

Nisso um arabe entra na minha frente. Minha paciencia acaba. Como eu ouvi alguem chama-lode Ahmed, eu digo:

- Ahmed, mushkila ( problema)...

Ele sorri, e sai da fila. O amigo arabe tenta negociar, diz que uma pessoa a mais nao faz nenhuma diferenca.

Nisso chega mais um amigo do Asiatico.Minha bomba relogio explode. Eu falo com eles, que tentam me ignorar...o casal simpatico atras de mim me apoia.

Eu peco para o ultimo cara sair da fila. Eles ficam me olhando com cara de jacu.

Chega a policia. Eu aponto os cinco fura fila e todo mundo e mandado pro fim da fila ( confesso que fiquei com medo de apanhar, mas ao mesmo tempo, me senti leve, leve...)

O Qatar esta tentando sediar a Copa de 2022. Eu sei que grana nao falta e que eles ja prometeram consturir estadios cobertos e com ar condicionado. Nao, eu nao duvido. Dinheiro no Golfo, jorra do chao, voces se lembram?

Mas como moradora da regiao ( que eu A D O R O), eu nao posso deixar de fazer algumas perguntas vitais:

1- A copa vai ser em julho. O verao aqui chega a 50 graus - estadio ar condicionado e uma coisa, mas como e que as pessoas vao sobreviver antes e depois dos jogos? Nao, eu nao to de sacanagem nao. No verao, quem pode, simplesmente desaparece daqui.

2- Numa regiao que nao prima pela organizacao, e onde uma versao do jeitinho brasileiro prima, como e que eles vao fazer as coisas funcionarem sem solucos?

3 - O mundo arabe pode gostar MUIIITO de futebol - e gosta mesmo, mas ninguem aqui tem time com historico futebolistico...

Chatices a parte, vamos ver no que vai dar, ne?

Qatar is on the race to host the 2022 World Cup. We all know money is not an issue and they promised to even build air conditioned, totally covered stadiums. No doubt they will, but I keep asking some other questions:

1 - The World Cup is in July - right on Summer. We reach 50 degrees easily. And it is humid. It is simply unbearable to walk 20 meters outdoors. How is everyone going to get around? Where is everyone going to stay before and after the games? In their hotel suites? Locals and expats run from the Gulf Summer. the country is deserted - how are they going to attract that many people to a boiling pan?

2 - In the whole region, people do not respect queues, traffic rules or rules in general. Who you know is a very strong card to play - and it works. How are they going to host a huge event with such poor mentality ?

3 - Arabs do love football, but none of these countries have a team that is good enough, Doesn't it matter?

Let's see what will happen.

and who are YOU?

I was invited to a friend's 40th birthday party. She is French, chic and lots of fun to be with, so when she said she wanted to gather a bunch of creative, inspirational girls to her party, I thought it was a great idea and did not think twice!

I got there, saw some people I know, met some fun ladies and had a great time. Until Nathaly ( the chic French friend), decided to make us play a game. She gave us colourful bracelets and we had to find the other 3 or 4 women who had the same color bracelet. When we gathered our small group, we were to sit together and answer one question:

- Everyone is creative in their own way. What is YOUR way?

Ah??? Creative? I am not creative!!! I am so many things, but NOT definately NOT creative! I had chills coming through my spine. Maybe, If I managed to make people speak a lot about themselves, my turn would never come.

Grace, an asian girl who could easily be in a fashion magazine, is a graphic designer. CREATIVE!! I asked as many questions as I could.

Patsy, have this passion for the war his father fought. She is making a comic about it. She even does the drawing... CREATIVE!!

Fouzia is one of these perfect mum/housewives... she can do everything and is always with make up and a comber hair. How the hell she does that I fail to understand...

Then it was my turn. When I was ready to pretend to pass out to avoid answering the dar question, I saw the light. I am a story teller . I tell stories. That's what I do. Or at least that's what I do when I am in a pickle...

The longer I live, more confused I get

I have some spare time now a days and I found out how fun it is to play online games, so I joined two facebook games : farmtown and farmville. They are both interactive, and you can play with your friends. It is an interesting concept. You have your own farm, but you can help each other,sending gifts, doing small jobs at each other farm.


The new feature on farmville is a cooperative, where you can join your friends and plant/harvest crops in a specific period of time, it is a group challenge and it is fun. I have joined many, I started others. It is always a laugh.

Last week I joined Anida's coop. Anida worked with me in New Zealand, and when she decided to move to another city, I helped find a job there. Soon after, she had a gorgeous baby girl and I sent her some gifts. We were not friends, but we had a good relationship, closer than I had with most of my team members.

I joined, the coop, the program crashed and I was unable to harvest my crops or plant anything new.

Next morning, I get a very rude message asking me why did I go to her farm if I was not even planting the same crops as her (the question was pertinent, but the tone was dreadful). When I tried to reply, I found she deleted me from her list of friends. Let me be clear here. She did not delete me from the game. She deleted me from her network on facebook.

I was disappointed and sad. Since then I lost my interest for the games. I am not prepared to deal with fanatism or obsession. It is just a game!