Journalled on Friday, 15 September 2023 | Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro: 21 degrees, warm, sunny and slightly cloudy.

It is another Friday, marking the end of the week. Has this week been productive? Yes, but not as much as I would have liked.

I recently went to Copacabana and unexpectedly ran into an old flame. We ended up grabbing coffee and catching up on our lives. I have a deep affection for this person.

I wish I could have helped her more, but unfortunately, I did not and do not have all the necessary resources. She is a hardworking, skilled individual and a genuinely nice, good human being.

However, like all of us, we can be our own worst enemies. I have tried to show her how to significantly improve her life, not just for her but also for her family and those around her. Unfortunately, she has. I hope she does, because she is a wonderful person, and I want her to achieve everything she desires.

It is not that I know everything or want to help everybody, but when I see someone I feel could help, someone important to me whom I care about, if I can help and direct their talents, I try to do so.

The person I have in mind is a small businesswoman with the potential to make a lot of money in the future. However, to achieve this, she needs to make some minor changes to her business and herself.

Hard work alone is not enough to guarantee prosperity or business growth; it must be channelled or used intelligently. I hope she finds her way, because she is extraordinary and deserves success.

It was nice to see her and talk with her. Whenever we are together, there is always a lot of laughing and joking, with genuine respect, and I also feel admiration without bitterness, animosity, sarcasm, or irony.

I went to a shop in the same mall where I used to have my English school to buy some silicone for my bracelets from a store I know there. When I arrived home, I updated “The Long Gringo” blog and made some improvements to continue developing the site.

On my second site, “Place Beads,” I have almost finished designing 90% of the layout. I need to add photos of the bracelets and enable the online shop, and then we will be ready to go.

“PlaceBeads” has been a steep learning curve compared with “The Long Gringo.” Nonetheless, it is all good. In another six months, I will be able to create a WordPress site in a day or two, rather than the current week or two weeks. It is all worth it.

We need to gain both money and experience, preferably at the same time, which is ideal. However, the worst situation is not gaining in either, so we should consistently be gaining in one or the other, and, in the best scenario, in both.

Sometimes, we may gain money but not necessarily experience or learning. In another situation, we could gain experience, but not necessarily money. The ideal situation is to gain in both at the same time. The worst situation is to be gaining in neither.

If we gain experience but not money, it is an investment. In theory, these investments in intelligence should give us a return in the future. So, we could say that experience is, in some ways, already money waiting to be earned or received.

I teach classes without fail every day. As a teacher, I follow three rules for giving good-quality classes: Quality, Entertainment, and Reliability.

Quality is knowing and executing your craft well for the client, even if the client does not often realise it.

Entertainment in a class is essential for keeping it engaging and ensuring that time passes quickly. No one learns from a boring class. I always use my dry, sarcastic sense of humour in my English classes, adjusting the dosage based on the student. Not all students appreciate or understand it.

Lastly, reliability is crucial. A teacher must be dependable in all aspects for their students, showing up for classes, keeping promises, and maintaining high-quality instruction and technical understanding, among other things.

So, this has been my working week.