My parents split up when I was 2 or 3 years old. Then my father moved to Rio de Janeiro, and I was raised by my mother in Belo Horizonte, with very sparse contact with my father. My mother was an accountant; she died in 1986. My father is a retired colonel of the Brazilian Army, alive and well at 88! He has lived in Rio for over 30 years but has recently moved to Campinas, where he is living with one of my half-brothers and his family.
I was my mother's only child, but I have five brothers and a sister on my father's side. So my father has seven children, from three different mothers. (He has never grown a beard, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were blue... :-) Four of my brothers are older than I (ages ranging from 53 to 63), two younger (23 and 21). The eldest could be the grandfather of the youngest! Two live in Belo Horizonte, two in Rio, one in Campinas and another in Ribeirão Pires, a city of Metropolitan São Paulo. I was not raised together with any of them, and have had only rarely any contact with them. I have eleven nephews and nieces, ages from 15 to 36. Notice that my eldest nephew is almost my own age, and 15 years older than my youngest brother!
Like most Brazilians, Portuguese with generous drops of Negro and Native blood (or DNA, if you prefer). As a whole, I have a Caucasian biotype, and my skin is very light and sun-sensitive, but my hard, curly hair, my hundreds of tiny dark patches and my thick lips are indicative of some African ancestry. Native ("Indian") features are not evident, but I reportedly have some such ancestry on both sides of my family.
I was one year ahead in school, and I was in the last high-school year when I was only 16, while my classmates were 17 or 18. I didn't know exactly what to do, but I had dreams of an academic career - as a kid, I had always wanted to be a scientist. I liked Biology and Chemistry most, so I decided to study Medicine, which I thought would give me a solid background for my later research (Molecular Genetics was my main interest). At the University, I soon discovered that I hated Medicine, but I didn't go after some other thing for two reasons. The first was that in spite of the horrible working conditions of most physicians in Brazil (low pay, overwork, stress), the prospective physician's proud mother still gets thrilled by the profession's glamour and social status - it means nothing to me, but my mother would go over the top with the mere suggestion of me doing anything else. The second reason is that I had not the slightest idea of what else to do. When I found out that I liked computers, I was already in my fifth undergraduate year (out of six). Having already come that far, I decided to graduate first, give my diploma to my satisfied Mum and then go after what I really liked. And that's what I've done!
First of all, I don't think I've wasted them. It was hard for me to go through Medical School, but it has been a great life experience. Second, even if those six years had been wasted, it would be better to waste six years than the whole rest of my life, doing something I didn't like. I'm sure I would be unhappy as a practicing physician, and therefore a mediocre professional. I could never be good at something I dislike.
Belo Horizonte (sigh!)
Belo Horizonte is not a small town - it's the third largest city in Brazil, with about 2.5 million inhabitants and nearly 4 million in the metropolitan area. But unfortunately it has become too small for my very specialized career. But I keep an eye on my beloved hometown, which has been growing and prospering a lot, and one day perhaps I'll come back.
Yes: Blumenau, Olinda, and Fortaleza (Brazil); Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, and Bariloche (Argentina); Santiago (Chile); Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, and Dallas (USA); Venice and Verona (Italy); Heidelberg and Berlin (Germany), and of course London (England)! I would say that other than my hometown, San Francisco, London and Buenos Aires are my favorite cities. Rio de Janeiro used to be a fantastic place when I was a kid, and it remains the most beautiful city I have ever been to (with a very honorable mention to San Francisco), but unfortunately Rio is a pale shadow of the great city it once was. However, I returned very favorably impressed from a recent visit to Rio; things seem to have improved a bit there lately. São Paulo, where I live now, is an ugly, grey, mad metropolis of 16 million inhabitants, but I love its cosmopolitan atmosphere and endless opportunities.
I have none. But this doesn't mean that I'm an atheist. It only means that I'm too free-thinking to follow any formal religion or denomination. You could say I have my own personal religion, I'm satisfied with it, and don't worry about this subject.
Not of the usual kind: I don't collect stamps, don't do handicraft, etc. My leisure time is spent chiefly listening to music, reading something, going to the movies, surfing the Internet or doing something else on my PC.
I have a very eclectic taste. I have around 200 music CDs, and letter "V," for example, includes Vivaldi and Van Halen! But I tend to favor the instrumental part over the lyrics, and have a penchant for progressive rock from the '70s: Pink Floyd, Genesis (as well as Peter Gabriel's solo works), Supertramp, Jethro Tull, Mike Oldfield, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Renaissance, Camel, Focus, Premiata Forneria Marconi, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, etc.
I also like some groups of more mainstream rock (U2, Dire Straits, The Police, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Talking Heads, The Who, Roxy Music), The Beatles (a category of its own), and some new age material (Vangelis, Shadowfax, Nightnoise, Osamu Kitajima - but no "relaxing" or "meditation" crap, and no such syrupy kitsch as Kitaro or Yanni, please!).
I like a few avant-garde artists (Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, Peter Gordon, Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Patrick Gleeson), and love the contemporary jazz of Pat Metheny, Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek, Michael Brecker, Chick Corea, Jean-Luc Ponty and Wynton Marsalis. In Brazilian music, my favorite artists are Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Paralamas do Sucesso, Rita Lee, Ná Ozzetti, Chico César, Egberto Gismonti, Naná Vasconcelos, César Camargo Mariano and Antônio Adolfo. And my favorite classic composers are Mozart, Beethoven and Vivaldi.
It would be a VERY hard choice... I think it would be either Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, or Supertramp's Crime of the Century, or Keith Jarrett's sublime The Köln Concert, or Jethro Tull's Bursting Out, or the Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed, or most probably something by Mike Oldfield (Ommadawn, Incantations, Exposed or Amarok). God, I couldn't take just one!
I used to go to the movies more often than I have done lately, but I still love the "Seventh Art." I like almost all kinds of films, except "action" movies of the Stallone/Schwarzenegger type (ugh!).
Here are some of my favorite titles of all times and styles, and their directors, in no particular order:
I could easily name 100 other great films - that's why I have purposely omitted all of charming, old-time Hollywood!
I hate them! I change channels on TV when they broadcast sports, throw away the sports section of the newspaper without reading, and try not to even notice when there are Olympic Games or a soccer World Cup. Needless to say, I don't practice any sports. I find them too boring to watch and too tiresome to do.
Yes, but less often than I should (they're so expensive here in Brazil!). The best ones I've read have been The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, 1984 by George Orwell, The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (although I didn't like Bille August's film of it), The Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan, and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. But listing book titles is unfair to Edgar Allan Poe, whom I definitely love and who mostly published short stories in newspapers, gathered unevenly after his death in many different books. I also love sci-fi, and Arthur C. Clarke is my favorite author (particularly 2010: Odyssey Two - the book, not the film - and the Rama tetralogy). But I have also read all of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series and loved it! The first book of Dune by Frank Herbert is also great, in spite of its somewhat reactionary tone. But do you know what I really crave about? Atlas. Geographical maps. The more detailed, the better! A Brazilian proverb says that "everyone has a little bit of a physician and of a madman". I guess I have more than a little bit of both... :-)
I am 1.67 m tall (about 5'6") and weigh about 105 kg (230 lbs.). I have white skin and dark brown hair and eyes. You can see what I look like at my photographic gallery.
Yes, as far as I can remember. But I don't worry about it anymore. I couldn't say I like being overweight - it does bring some problems - but I have long ago tired of dieting, and decided to accept myself as a chubby guy, period.
I like many things, but let's start with the cuisine of my homeland. Having to choose just one favorite dish, I guess it would be canjiquinha com costelinha, a typical dish from my native Minas Gerais State, a stew of coarsely ground hard corn (of the kind you use as bird food) cooked with onions, tomatoes and pork ribs. I also go wild over hummus bi tahine, that wonderful Syrian-Lebanese purée of chick peas with sesame paste, eaten on bits of flat Arab pita bread with lots of chopped raw onions and a dash of olive oil. I love barbecue - the way it is made in Southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, only with salt and without those strange sweet sauces they use in the USA - rare, bleeding! I like Italian cuisine, and cook a wonderful lasagna and dried mushroom risotto, among other things; I also love German, Syrian-Lebanese, Mexican and Chinese cuisine. French? It's no doubt the planet's richest cuisine, but it depends on the ingredients of the dish - I love foie gras and gigot d'agneau, but not bouillabaisse or canard à l'orange, for example. And nouvelle cuisine was a joke without any fun (or taste). Japanese, Scandinavian and Iberic cuisines, as well as the famous cuisine from Bahia State in Brazil, have too much fish and seafood for me to like them. Finally, I love cheese, any kind, except goat cheeses.
Lots of things... Fish and seafood (I hate absolutely everything from underwater!), chicken and duck (but I like turkey and foie gras), peanuts, prunes, raisins, olives, green peas, most raw vegetables, any fruit (but I do drink some juices)...
Mate-Couro, a soft drink made from two Brazilian herbs. Unfortunately, it is only found in Belo Horizonte, where its small factory is. Even there it's not very easy to find. But I do well with a Diet Coke (or Diet Pepsi, whatever), or a glass of freshly pressed orange juice, or even sparkling mineral water. I also love most teas, especially Earl Grey and Formosa Oolong, but I hate coffee. (Definitely NOT a typical Brazilian in this respect!)
Do you insist? Well, it's unlikely that I will ever die of liver cirrhosis, but I will drink a frozen margarita, or a vodka caipirinha. Some liqueurs: Chartreuse Jaune, Bailey's (no ice, please!), Drambuie (even though I hate whisky!). I'm not very fond of beer, but will drink a glass of draft. And I love good wines, even though I rarely ever drink wine. My favorite is any good Tokáji from Hungary, followed by some ports and some Alsatian Gewürztraminer, and Auslese and Kabinett whites from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region of Germany. Chile produces some magnificent (and surprisingly inexpensive) reds, such as Cousiño Macul Antiguas Reservas. And I have tasted Dom Pérignon champagne only once, but it was unforgettable!
Yes. A little less than a pack of cigarettes a day, a little more on weekends. Rarely, a pipe of mild tobacco. Sorry if this shocks you, but I smoke with lots of pleasure and no guilt at all. But I'm a conscious smoker: I respect non-smoking places, I won't blow smoke in your face, and if I visit you I'll go outside so I won't leave your house smelly (unless, of course, you smoke too). I will also gladly put out my cigarette if you politely tell me that it disturbs you, but in return I expect you not to look down on me and not to make a long speech about the hazards of smoking - I find this kind of attitude far more disgusting and rude than my smoking could ever be to anyone, and it makes me really angry! But otherwise I don't take any drugs. I don't need them, and do very well without them, thanks.
Yes. I think any normal human being is. But it's about life that I'm more concerned. However, I should say that I'm more afraid of old age than of death. If I become an old man like my father - lucid, active and healthy - then it's OK. But I would hate to be a crippled person, a nuisance to other people.
I am very myopic (short-sighted) at around 8 degrees, and have some asthygmatism (impaired directional resolution of lines) as well. So I'm nearly blind without my glasses. I have been wearing glasses for 30 years now, and feel comfortable with them. I have thought many times of switching to contact lenses, but I think they demand too much care, and I have never really felt the need to use them. As for surgery, my myopia is probably too high to really benefit from it - I would probably still need glasses, so it's not worth the significant risks of surgery.
Because I like it! Paraphrasing a friend's saying, "if God had intended men to grow hair on their faces, He would have made them with beards..." I first grew a beard when I was 21, but I had almost no moustache at that time, so I shaved it all off after a few months. I insisted again at 24, and I have been bearded ever since. There have been a few brief interruptions: I have shaved my beard away a few times (for example, when I had to undergo a small surgery on my face), but I felt horrible. That strange man in the mirror couldn't be me! Sometimes I will switch to a goatee, and I don't look bad, but it's difficult to keep, and I miss my beloved "facial carpet," so I'm soon back to full beard. I think I look fine with a beard. You disagree? Well, that's how I feel better, so what's the problem?
All the men on my father's side of my family snore very loudly. I have been told that I do snore, but I've never heard it... So I suppose it mustn't be very loud.
Goytá.
| Home
| Name
| Self-Interview
| Photographic Gallery |
| Computer-Related Topics
| Résumé
| Medical Informatics
| E-mail |
This page is hosted by
Get your own Free Home Page