Journalled on Monday, the 18th of September 2023 | Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro: 33 degrees, hot and sunny.

It’s Monday, and it’s sweltering.

Last weekend was hot too; even São Paulo, 440 km further from the equator and south of Rio, was sweltering.

It’s El Niño’s fault, and the forecast for the next five or six days is the same: temperatures almost touching 40 degrees Celsius in winter. I had an early class at 7 a.m., and at 8, I was racing down the street with Perola to the park. I wanted a quick workout before my next class at 10 a.m.

I spent the rest of the day teaching classes, working on posts, and resolving issues with the “PlaceBeads” website. Yesterday, I found a WordPress course on YouTube focused on building sites. It helped me solve some problems.

Before I found this course, I felt a bit lost, but I still needed to work through all the courses and address some issues. I aim to have the “PlaceBeads” website 99.9% finished by Friday.

I love YouTube. For entertainment, it’s much better than TV, especially for niche interests, hobbies, and the latest news. You can’t beat it; there’s nothing better. What other platforms can provide you with so much information quickly and enjoyably without asking for payment? We “pay” by watching ads, but nothing is truly free. Nonetheless, nothing else comes close.

It’s all there as an educational platform to help you improve yourself in some way or another. The truth is, you won’t learn if you don’t want to. Ultimately, it’s up to us to take control of our lives.

Everything is right in front of you, waiting to be utilised and understood, or at the very least, to learn how to make the most of what you have, using your most essential tools: your mind and your health.

Even if you’re not at 100% with either, you can still make an effort; there’s no harm in learning something new to improve. It all comes down to us!

So, the second site is almost done. The main outstanding issue is my dental treatment.

I have always been afraid of the dentist since my mother took me to one in England, where we lived when I was 6 or 7 years old, and he took out four or five teeth in one go. From that day on, I have been petrified of going to a dentist; it would be easier to get into a cage with a lion than to go to a dentist.

Over the years, I have tried to take care of my teeth in Brazil, but I started and then stopped. During my last separation, the stress was so intense that I lost one or two teeth. On one occasion, during my birthday lunch at Cibele’s, I bit into something, and a tooth fell out.

Since then, I have realised the importance of taking care of my teeth, especially as I get older, and I don’t want the problem to worsen.

In addition to plastic surgery, Rio is Brazil’s capital for dental treatment, particularly for implants.

There are more dentists per capita in Rio than in any other town or city in Brazil. Ten years ago, there were 23,000 dentists in Rio, though I’m unsure of the current number.

I found an excellent dentist just 100 metres from where I lived in Copacabana. About a year ago, I started treatment with Doctor Thomas, who had to extract some teeth to place screws for the implants.

Due to the situation in Brazil, the treatment was put on hold for several months, but I now want to resume and complete as much of the treatment as possible before going to England.

Doctor Thomas is excellent, and more importantly, I trust him, which means a lot to me. If I can go to England with the initial part of the treatment completed and my teeth reasonably good, even if they’re not perfect, I am happy with that. Next year, I can complete the treatment when I am back in Rio.

Imagine: I am going to England, building new businesses, getting in shape, and getting my teeth fixed. What a year! I have sent a message to Dr Thomas’s secretary to arrange an appointment; I am waiting for a reply.