After 4 days, I'm back from the Barra Velha beach. It was an ok week, and I'll give you a quick summary of each day:

Friday: We arrived at the apartment before noon. It was a hot, sunny day. After unpacking, we traveled to Laranjeiras, a fairly nearby town with a beach much, much better than the one in Barra Velha - the water is clear and calm. I'm not a big fan of beaches, but I figured that I had to take at least one swim during this trip, so the Laranjeiras water was the one to go for. After that, it was off to the also nearby town of Camboriú. Camboriú is a highly developed city, which caused the beach to become somewhat overpopulated. However, the rest of the city is still great, even if you just want to walk around. Not to mention the beautiful women that pass by. We happened to find this great lobster restaurant, and ordered a shrimp course, which was absolutely fantastic. Never before had I eaten such large shrimp (especially not in such great abundance). I bought The Mars Volta's Frances The Mute at the mall. It was something of an impulse buy, but I don't regret it. Dad got Deep Purple's Fireball. As we headed back to Barra Velha, it started raining. The weather was still very warm, despite all the rain. I spent the night listening to Frances The Mute and some other stuff on my iPod. The night was hot and unpleasant.

Saturday: Now, I'll be completely honest with you: I don't really like Barra Velha as a whole. While the apartment we get to stay at is really nice, the beach and the city don't have that much to offer. As you may remember, the last time I went there, I spent most of the time inside my room, enjoying a combination of Resident Evil 4, the sound of waves outside, and Queens of the Stone Age's Lullabies to Paralyze playing in my head over and over again. It was a really good match, especially at night. While it may sound insane to go to a seaside apartment and spend all the time gaming, it's something I enjoy very much. And the less heat, the better. If you take that into consideration, than this was a most pleasant stay for me, because Saturday was a day filled with rain and very strong wind. I finally got back into Okami and listened to more music on my iPod - thanks to the PS2's USB port, which I used to recharge the iPod.

Sunday: Just about the same as Saturday: lots and lots of wind and rain, I played more Okami, listened to more music. Mom & dad were doing crossword puzzles, and sometimes I joined in. While I was enjoying myself, I was sad because my family wasn't able to properly enjoy the beach, and there was hardly anything else to do. We were having fun together, though. Dad considered leaving a day later in order to get at least one sunny day, but thought the weather just wouldn't get any better, so we started packing.

Monday: The day we left turned out to be the sunniest of all 4 days. Ha! Anyway, we went to a mall in Curitiba. I bought Mark Lanegan's Bubblegum, dad bought Rainbow's Live In Munich 1977 DVD. Now, here's something about me you probably don't know: for me, going to the mall is an exercise in being lonely as ****. Whenever I'm at a mall, whether it's at the movies or just walking around, I always see cute couples, which reminds me that...well...I'm not in a couple. And when there are no couples around, I remind myself that I'm not approaching girls to ask them out. It's not a very pleasant feeling, especially when I go to the mall alone, in some sad attempt to try to prove that I'm ok with not having a girlfriend. Anyway, while I was at the arcade, I saw this very cute redhead walking around all by herself. The time seemed appropriate, so...I invited her to play air hockey. She accepted. We played a nice game, we laughed...damn, she was so beautiful...*ahem*, the match was tied at 4x4. I was playing it easy, but somehow I won. After the game was over, I approached her, and asked something like "so, you wanna play anything else?" She replied with a polite "No. But thanks!", smiled, and walked away. Just like that. Do I feel bad about it? No way! If only because, a few seconds later, I saw her walking around with someone who probably should've been there the whole time. You see, she was now holding hands with her boyfriend.

It was an ok trip. Well...sorta. I'm finally beating Okami, I got a couple of great CD's, and I reaffirmed the fact that I have a supernatural ability to find girls who already have boyfriends - only I'll be the last one to notice it.

Cya later, Gamespotters!!!