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Tasking

January 20th, 2024

Town Square, Dubai


I miss "tasking" without the "multi". I was in the car listening to my Spotify and analyzing that, even though I listen to that guitar jazz playlist all the time, I don't really know the artists or the songs, because I never stoped to only listen to it, I long did it while driving.


When I was a kid, things were (relatively) more expensive, and I didn't have my own money. So, to buy a record of the artist I liked, it was an odyssey. All started with receiving my weekly allowance from my dade. Of course, one week wasn't enough to buy a record. I would get R$10.00 every Saturday. The cd's were between R$16-30. I had to save a few weeks worth of allowances to purchase the CD. once I had the money, off I'd go.


Back in the 90's and early 2000's, we also didn't have Amazon, or any kind of internet delivery. There were some catalogs, and T.V. shopping, but not even close to the scale we have today, specially here in Dubai, where I live in a building with a supermarket in the garage, and I can still buy online and have groceries delivered.


On a Saturday morning, I would take a buss from where we lived, a neighborhood called Pantanal, to downtown Florianópolis, where the music shops were. We didn't have local places to go. Every shop would be either in downtown or in the mall, which the CD"s were often more expensive.


The bus ride would take from 25-35 minutes, and I can still remember every single street and turn the buss would make. The name of the buss line was "Volta ao Morro - Pantanal - Saída Norte", and the company that operated it was Transsol.


The bus was light blue and gray. The stop where I'd would get it was just a few meters from my building. Every 15-20 minutes, a bus would come, but on the weekends, it was from 30-40 minutes apart, so I needed to schedule well and be on time.


The entrance to the bus was from the front. We had to go up on a 4 step curved starcase. The driver was positioned on the left side and between his seat and the steps and oor, was the bus engine, which the cover usually served as extra seats or as a place to put backpacks and grocery bags.


There were just a few seats on the front of the bus, that was separated from the back by the "cashier", or "collector", who would collect eh tickets or the money from the passengers. To the left side, there were 3 lines of 2 seats; and, on the right, there were 3 single seats, being the first one reserved to the elderly and those who needed special conditions. The other 2 seats were the "prime" ones. The were basicaly the "first class" of bus seats. Everyone wanted to seat there, with no one on their side to chit-chat or rub shoulders. I often would just pay my ticket and would go to the very back.


The ride would start and the first thing I always remember seeing was a billboard to the right side that was placed on an empty lot neighboring my building. After that, the bus would make a sharp right corner and go down on a hilly part of the street, where to the left was a little market where I used to buy Milka ice cream, and to the right it was a big condo complex with 4-5 towers, where also lived one of my first crushes, Priscila. A few metters down, to the left, there was some big houses, which I always admired, and just after that, it was Armazém Vieira, a very traditional tavern in my city. There, the bus would makea another right turn, and we'd continue our journey to Downtown.


Once we'd get to the Downtown Central Station, I would go straight to the store. The goal was to walk fast and aware of potential smugglers and pick-pockets. To get to the store, I would cross a square with a bunch of people selling all kind of stuff, from kitchen towels to stove drain cleaner. I would then go up to the first street to the right, called "Álvaro de Carvalho", where of the stores were. They were the biggest one, and often they had everything, specially the new ones. If they didn't, I would go to others.


At the ARS building, there was one store speciallized in rock - I don't remember the name, because we always called "Kurt's", which was the owner's name. Looking back, that place was like the comic store, from the "Big Bang Theory".


Once I'd find the CD I was looking for, I'd take it to the cashier and pay for it. They usually put it into a nice bag and handed it to us. With that precious bag in my hands, I would take the bus back home.


During the ride back, I would open the case and start to go over the insert, a little book that contained the lyrics and some pictures of the band. Sometimes, they would have a page with the equipments that were used to record the album and other details and information. Those 30 minutes until I got home also served as a build up of excitement to listen to this new album I just purchased.


At home, I had a small cd player in the bedroom, but at the living room, we had the big sound system. It had a vinyl, cd and cassete tape player, and a radio. Sitting in front of it, I would put the headphones on, place the cd inside and press "play" and listen to all of the songs, one by one, without skipping, listening and reading the lyrics, and just enjoying the moment.


I miss "tasking", without the "multi."We did less things, but accomplished much more.



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