I will derive

Aphorism of the day

"One does not learn how to run before learning how to walk. Furthermore, he does not learn how to walk before learning how to crawl."

Mock test =D

Hey guys! How are you? Yeah, its been a long time that I don't write anything here =P
Probably you haven't received your mocks yet, but I had the chance of getting mine before, since I met Henrick yesterday =D
When I left the test I thought I had a horrible performance, mainly because of Use of English, which was still a disaster dispite the little improvement I had. I'm really happy about it, for several reasons.
First, because I shows I'm really improving, and this is a reflex of the classes, and of my own studying at home (Yeah, I'm really studying for this =D). Second, because, in the beginning, I was really nervous about taking the tests this year, but I was starting to feel a little more confident, and the mock showed me that this confidence is a reflex of real improvement, not of just an impression I had.

How about you? How are you feeling about the exam? What about your mock results? What do they show to you?


See ya, guys!
Shimabuko

New (or not) Song

Hey guys, this is the second post I make this week, even though I should be studying hahaha
But this one was an idea that I had while studying, so I decided to post it. I always say that when I'm sudying I put some music on, talk in the msn and look for some stuff in the orkut, right? Well, This song here is one of my favorite songs to listen while I'm studying. It's a little long, but definitily worth waiting ^^

So, here it is: April - Deep Purple

Chapter Two - The proposal

Hey Guys! How are you? Well as promised, I came up with a new post on my "book". This second chapter is a little bigger than the first one, but I had to many things to explain. If you read the last post and wanted lots of answers, I must warn you, there are only a few of them in this chapter. I'm willing to give just a few in each chapter, so that the story doesn't lose the mistery =D

I hope you like it, because I'm really excited about writing this project.

Enjoy!

Chapter Two – The proposal

- So you are saying that I’m a lizard?

- No, not a lizard, a wizard! – Said the stranger in a laughing voice.

The principal’s office was now crowded, since it was just a small room and there were three people and a noisy raccoon inside it. The stranger was tall but thin. He wore round glasses and looked like a young university teacher. He was wearing a dark brown blazer in spite of the heat. Mr. Daniel Holton was quite and shut. He was still trying to understand how that guy knew about the boy and the raccoon, and where he came from.

- By the reaction of you principal I would say that you are the first wizard appearance in this school, and by virtue of that this institution probably isn’t prepared to any of your wizard issues.

- What do you mean by that? My school is prepared to anything! – Said Mr. Holton, finally getting out of his long trance.

- Oh, really? And what do you intend to do in relation to this raccoon and to this boy?

- I… I… I… - Stammered the principal

- That’s what I thought.

At this point Willian started to feel ignored in the conversation and decided to take some more action.

- I’m sorry but it’s me you are talking about, and I’m not being consulted. By the way, we don’t even know your name Mr…

- Oh, I’m sorry. Where are my manners! I’m Boltstare. Professor Henrick Boltstare.

- So Professor Boltstare. Are you trying to say that what happened here was magic?

- Yes, this is indeed what I’m trying to say.

- And that I did it because I’m a… What’s the name again?

- Wizard.

- Right… a wizard. And you are quite versed in wizardry, aren’t you?

- I wouldn’t say I’m versed, but, yeah, I know a little bit about it.

- So, what do you suggest? I mean, we still have a raccoon here and I have no idea of what to do…

- There’s something worse. Maybe you haven’t thought of that yet, but I imagine you have no idea of how did you do it, do you?

- Actually, now that you mentioned it, I don’t! I just thought he wouldn’t feel so empowered if he had a raccoon face and it happened…

- Well, that’s how it usually starts. The problem is that if you don’t learn how to control it, it’ll keep happening more and more often.

- What leads us to my question… What do we do now?

- Well, that’s a big issue… The best option is for you to move to another school. As I said, this institution isn’t prepared to deal with this kind of situation. We’re gonna have to explain this to your parents, turn the raccoon back into a teacher, deal with the transfer, and finally decide what to do in relation to Mr. Holton…

- In relation to me? Wha… What do you mean?

- Well… there is a reason why you usually don’t see people talking about wizards all around… We kind of like keeping our existence a secret. But that’s not the most important thing right now. Willian, would you like to be instructed in magic, even though this means you are going to leave your school, your friends and your previous life?

At this moment, you, reader, might think Willian will have lots of doubts before answering this question, but for you to understand his quick acceptation of the facts you got to understand his life.

Willian was a regular boy who chose not being popular. This way he wouldn’t have lots of friends, but he would be sure that all his friends were true friends. Unfortunately his tactic didn’t work really well. He was feeling let aside by his best friends and didn’t know how to deal with it. As if this wasn’t enough, he had no great skills and the teachers didn’t like him. His parents were always comparing him with the rest of the family, which made him feel he was inferior. Then, all of a sudden he discovered he had magical powers, turned the teacher he most hated into a raccoon and was given the opportunity to restart all his life. Ain’t that a kid’s dream? Why in the world would he say no to the very first good gift he has ever received?

For all those reasons Willian eagerly answered positively the proposal that was being made to him.

Cheers,

Shimabuko

New project - Project school (New book)

Hello guys! Long time no see! It's been quite a time that I don't post anything, don't you think?

Well today's post is a new experience for me. I might say it is an innovative project in my life.
I had already told you tha during my free time I'm a writter... What you will (or won't) read here is a new book I decided to write. For some obscure and misterious reason I have decided to write it in english, so I'm going to post here, weekly I hope, the chapters I write. What do you think?

Well, first let me tell you how this "book" came to my wierd mind. I received, recently, the news about the new Harry Potter movie. This made me think of how important Harry Potter was to me. It was one of the first real books I have read, it was one of the best, and undoubtedly the most inspiring. I allways say that I write because I wanted to cause on someone, the same effect that J. K. Rowlling caused on me. Well, after that I realised I have never seem any other book in the same style as hers. One think led to the other, and I started thinking of this project. The rest is all about my creative proccess and reading about it might be a little dull to you, so I'm gonna skip it.

Finally I had some nice ideas of how to put those thoughts on the paper, and here it is. First chapter, and hopefully there will be a lot more!

Chapter One – The Raccoon

The weather was hot and dry, the sky was clean and with no clouds. The Sun was vigorously shining. This could be called a regular day in the life of a children who was born in Brasília, Brazil’s capital, but it seemed that this statement couldn’t be applied to a 13 years old boy.

Willian was standing astonished in front of a gobsmacked Mr. Holton, the principal of a regular school. Five minutes before, Willian, after an unfair discussion about his behavior, had transformed his geography teacher into a raccoon in front of the principal’s eyes. Unfortunately, this happened to be the first magic performed by him, and being so, he and Daniel Holton found themselves in a loss of words.

After a few minutes, but still a little disoriented, the principal decided to put Ricardo, the former geography teacher and the recently transformed raccoon, inside a small cage.

- Do you have anything to say? – asked Mr. Holton

- Actually, I have… This is the first time I’ve seem a raccoon. I mean, live.

- Do you think this is a joke?! – the principal replied ferociously

- I do not sir… I was just trying to break the ice. Believe it or not, I’m just as surprised as you. I mean, this has never happened before, and even though Mr. Ricardo was, with all the respect, an asshole, I didn’t have the intention to do this. Whatever this is.

- Well, we gotta do something about it. About Ricardo, and about you mainly…

Barely had Mr. Holton said those words, his secretary knocked the door anxiously.

- Can’t you tell I’m busy Fernanda?

- I’m sorry sir… - she felt embarrassed, but the man behind her was really threatening and he was determined to get his message to Daniel Holton immediately – There is this man who wants to talk to you…

- Tell him to wait and I’ll talk to him after I deal with this…. Situation here… - Said the principal trying to make the best choice of words.

- He is saying he knows about your situation and has a solution for both of your problems… The one with the boy and the one with the… Raccoon?

Hope you like it... See ya,
Shimabuko


PS: I haven't corrected it yet, so if there are lots of mistakes, forgive me (telling me would be a great idea), and enjoy the reading...

Lord of the rings - Blind Guardian

Today I wanted to post a song that I really like. It's about the movie, Lord of The Rings. I think watching that video of Star Wars that henrick showed us made me want to hear this song a few more times during this weekend =D

So, enough talking, here is the video:







I know the video doesn't fit perfectly the song, but I'm just not in the mood to look for a better one =P


See ya!
Shimabuko

Writing!

Long time no see! I am aware that I haven't written much recently, but you may excuse me this time because I was studying hard for some tests at school (Yeay! Miracles happen!) but today I was thinking about my blogpost and decided to write about writing. I used to think that writing didn't demand much skills, that all you needed to write a good piece of article or a book all you need is a great idea in your mind, a few spoons of criativity, a pinch of inspiration and of course a pen and a piece of paper.
After seeing some personal failures while trying to write my own book and reading some fabulous texts of some people I respect a lot, I realised it takes a lot more than that to write. I realised it demands organisation, inteligence, skills, and a lot, and I really mean it, of practice. Of course, I'm not talking about getting good grades at school tests or college admission exams, if that's what you want it's a lot easier, I'm talking about writing art! Writing something that you would love to read.
I'm not the most experienced writer, but I try to be a good one, so I'll share with you somethings I like to keep in mind when I'm elaborating a text.

1º - Brainstorm. Brainstorming will always help you to see everything you know about some subject and than help you to analise what's relevant and what isn't

2º You know all the arguments you want to support? Now discover how. Any kind of text need a solid base, otherwise it will fall apart. I remember when I was writing my book. I had a wonderful story for each main character, I had amazing descriptions of each o them, I had created the most wonderful and complete world with it's whole culture and even invented some new alphabets. What happened? I wanted and adventure, I had pieces of this adventure written down, but I had no idea of why the characters wanted to make this travel and I couldn't lead my text where I wanted. I had nothing to support this travel, so I had to give up until I find a reason for them to travel.

3º - Try to link the subject to some knowledge you are good. I always link it to scientific subjects, for example, once I was asked to write about the difference between men and women. I remembered I read something about the diferent development of certain brain areas in men and women. That was the base of my article.


4º Let your imagination grow, think of comparisons you can make. When I was writing about the Amazon Forest, for example, I compared what happens in the amazon with the Chaos Theory. It was one of the best compositions I've ever wrote.

5º Choose a good kind of introduction and conclusion, always having in mind that you have to be carefull not to be repetitive. And remember, the introduction is what first calls the atention of the reader. The conclusion is what causes the last impression and sumarizes all you wanted to say.


That's all I have to say about writing for now. If you disagree about something or want to add something I forgot, feel free to do it!


See ya!
Shimabuko

“I can slay the Jabberwocky” – Is the sky the limit?

“I always imagine six impossible things before breakfast... Six impossible things. Count’em Alice!
1. There is a potion that makes you shrink
2. There is a cake that makes you grow
3. Animals can talk
4. Cats can disappear
5. There is a place called Wonderlands
6. I can slay the Jabberwocky!”
The excerpt above was taken from the movie “Alice in the Wonderlands” and is my favorite scene for several reasons. First of all because of the way the actress says these words. Second because of its meaning. The thing is, everyone has his own Jaberwockys to slay. The only question we have to ask ourselves is “Do I believe I can actually slay it?” If the answer were yes I would be tempted to tell you that then, for you, the sky is the limit. But why should the sky be our limits? If you wanna fly high, why not fly above and beyond anything you have ever been able to imagine? I always think of this when I watch this movie and it helped me a lot to achieve some personal goals I had established to myself this year. So, I decided I am able to slay my own Jaberwockys, what about you?

See ya!
Shimabuko

Mock Test

Well, the previous post was a little personal, some sort of an unburden, so I decided to make a second post talking about the Mock test. Well, I found it a little more difficult than what I was expecting, mainly the “Use of English” – Yeah, you were right… - but I think the result was good. It is important to have a mock test in the beginning of the semester so that we can tell whether we are doing the enrollment or not. Besides that, the test and the first class helped me to see how I still have a lot to learn. About the execution of the test, I must say I don’t really have a pattern, but in the reading, I think what I most usually do is to read the text before the questions, and then just scan through it to find the answers. But what concerns me the most is the writing part of the test. Why? Because even though I love writing, it is always hard for me to write about something someone else has told me to and because I always spend too much time thinking of how to begin the text. This time I waste I have to recover by writing faster, which can be a disaster since my natural handwriting is already not very pleasant to read. But I think I can deal with it somehow.
Well, that’s all I have to say by now, so… See ya!
Shimabuko

Being sick sucks!

Well, that’s something everyone knows, being sick really sucks. But why am I saying this? The main reason is that I needed to write something here, and since Henrick told us to write about anything we wanted, I’m talking about something that is really bothering me. Why? Because for almost two months I have been getting sick at least once a week. And it is not something like a cold, no! Since then I got pneumonia, tonsillitis, gastric reflux and gastritis. I think I have already lost the count of how many times I went to the hospital during these two months and I must say that hospitals are boring places. The nurses keep stinging needles on you whether to take your blood for exams or to inject any medicine. The doctors keep poking your body to see if it hurts anywhere, I know it is important but I’m just tired of it. Unfortunately next week I’m still going to face a endoscopy, but I hope it solves my problems.

See ya!
Shimabuko – Literally sick and tired

Hello folks! o/

Well, this is my blog for the CAE prep course, and as my first post I decided to tell you a bit more about myself since some of you might find it interesting to get to know me a little better (or not hahaha).

As I said before my name is Guilherme, but as my full name is Guilherme Shimabuko Silva Rocha, everyone rather call me Shimabuko or any variation of it, such as Shima, Shimi, Shishima, Shishima Jr, Shi, or anything else you can think of.
I really enjoy reading and writing and about two years ago I created my first blog in which I still post some poems and some stories that I write. I decided to create a new blog for this because I thought the old one might be a little too personal to be mixed with class stuff. If you want to know what I write about, you will find the link that leads to it in the right side of the blog.

Another interest of mine is music. The kind of music that I hear the most is rock. Mainly some old bands such as Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Rolling Stones and Beatles. But this is not the only thing I like to hear, actually I’m a little eclectic when it comes to music. I like MPB and Pop music as well, and I can even stand a few “sertanejo” groups or if I’m in a party I might dance funk even though this is not the kind a music that I like. The only music that I can’t bear in any situation is Axé music.

What else can I say about me? Well As a Japanese descendant I’m quite a fan of Japanese animation, or as we usually call it, Anime. I’m not one of those guys who walk around the school with a Naruto’s bandana, but I enjoy watching it and I won’t spend any time denying it. I also like playing RPG, and there is a dark secret about me and I must tell you. I read Twilight from Stephen Meyer and I did like it =P. It’s not my favorite book or anything close to that, I know it has lots of stupid parts, but I think it is an ok book to read when you have nothing else to do, and I had a good time reading it before it became a best seller. By the way, so that you know, I didn’t (and wouldn’t) spend a single penny on it. I borrowed the books.


I think that’s all for now. See you around guys!

Shimabuko