...and life stepped in.

27 December 2007

Today was going to be all about wealth. Had it all planned. Then life got in the way, as it kinda does.

A great guy from California - Joe - becomes the first reader to help get a kid off to the dentist. Thanks, Joe. The most urgent two are Monstrinho and Flavio. Just for those who think so what, as if it could make a difference: Last week Daniel dropped into the community after a three-day absence. Flavio was lying listlessly in front of his house, white as a sheet. Hadn't been to school for two days, or slept, because of toothache. Looked like he was dying, which is what he was probably hoping for.


DANIEL: flavios real bad i need money
PAI: What's wrong? And there is none
DANIEL: he need the dentist URGENT
PAI: Can't be done
DANIEL: have too hes real bad
PAI: Forget food and buy Tylenol
DANIEL: Thanks

It was just two bucks but no one there had it. Solved his agony in just half-an-hour. Sure, it didn't FIX anything. Next change in the weather will spark another round. Remember that their houses don't have running water, let alone a sink to brush their teeth in. So we ain't judgin', just fixin'. The sinks are on their way... we just need more traffic, so email me to everyone.

Back to Joe and the dentist. Daniel jumped a van and flew up to get Monstrinho. NO WAY was he going to be murdered by no dentsit!! So Daniel had to bring Palhaco along to hold his hand.

Get there, and dang! the dentist has decided today would be a good day for a holiday, so is closed. Sheeesh. This is sooo common here.

Now, it's 40C and the kids are sweltering. I get a round of text messages.


DANIEL: where r u
PAI: Home. Kids ok?
DANIEL: we at the beech
PAI: Where??
DANIEL: they never been. ever
PAI: What happened to the dentist?
DANIEL: he probably here too

So of course I go to the beach. What an astonishing day. These kids have actually never seen the ocean, and live less than an hour away.

Daniel took them to Flamengo Beach, as it is a much calmer beach than Copacabana [no waves], and more family oriented.

Even so, it took him half-an-hour to coax them to put their feet in. They said it was too big. Then Palhaco was thirsty and took a mouthful.

Daniel! he spat it out. You brought us to the wrong beach!

What do you mean?

This water here is salty!

Remember, he is eleven. I think we have our work cut out...

Notice how proudly he is wearing his new underpants! See Blog 02 December for that story.

Of course after a while they were never leaving. Daniel treated them a 50 cent icecream and a 30 cent kite. They went to heaven for a while...

Even more, Daniel SOMETIMES gets it right. He organised them to travel without paying fares - well, they both look five years old, right? So he took them on a day of firsts.

Instead of just a boring old bus, he took them on their first ever train ride, first metro ride, first time ever on an escalator... Check out their day on the Gallery

It is hard to live with Daniel, trust me, and even harder not to love him.

Join the Clown Club and receive daily fotos and weekly videos not available on the site. Only $10 a month, help Daniel launch more Projects.

Sign up for a year and gain a $20 discount.

  • 5 easy steps to set up del.icio.us.

    1. What is del.icio.us?

    del.icio.us is what is called a 'social bookmarking' site. And exactly what does THAT mean? Well, when you like a page, you can add it to your 'favorites' on your computer. That's bookmarking. What del.icio.us does, is allow you to do the same thing, BUT share your bookmarks with everyone else, and be able to browse through theirs. Since del.icio.us asks you to TAG your articles [money, technology, mortages etc] this makes it very easy to find good, interesting articles that interest you. Kinda like google made easy, cause you get articles selected by real people, not some computer algorithm!

    2. My 'favorites' works perfectly well, thank you. Why should I bother with del.icio.us?

    Apart from the sharing capacity mentioned above, del.icio.us allows you to access your favorites from any computer, anywhere - not just your work or home computer. It's called flexibility, it's extremely useful, it's now 2008, and why not.

    3. How do I sign up?

    The simplest way is to click on the link here - it takes you directly to a very simple form: JOIN del.icio.us. Once you sign up a username and password, you will be asked to install two tiny buttons in your toolbar. They are tiny, non-intrusive, take up no space. The instructions are extremely simple and cover all browers.

    4. How can I best utilise del.icio.us?

    We are all about traffic, right? And you want as many hits as possible. Because your visitors will be coming from tagged bookmarks, they are pretty much directed traffic, the kind you want. The kind most likely to follow through by clicking on your ads, as opposed to DIGG traffic, which is just hunting for excitement.

    Again, once set up, it's very low maintenance with the possibility of going viral.

    5. How do I add the del.icio.us bookmark logo to my page?

    This is a great way for people to add your page to their favorites with a single click. More, you - and they - can see just how popular [useful? valuable?] your page is! See my example below. Click here to get it: del.icio.us bookmark

  • Popular Blogs