Paulo Coelho

An ordinary week

Of course this is only in the realm of the so-called “reality”. There is a lot more in my imagination!

SUNDAY

A] Driving to Geneve alone. Six hours and no important conclusion, decision. A couple of phone calls using the Bluetooth device in the car; people cannot hear me, although I can hear them. I asked a friend where the car micro is. He gave me the wrong instructions, as his model is different from mine. I stopped making phone calls. Controlling myself to not think about work, as I am a workaholic, and I made a promise of never thinking about work on Sundays.

B] Gas Station. A fantastic collection of handmade metal models – cars, boats, etc. I always stop in this gas station, and I always check who made these models. Finally, during the week, I managed to send them an email. Hope they will send the catalog. If they do, I will buy 100 pieces and put in my empty shelves.

C] Shower. Nap. Dinner with a friend. She tells me that a man she was dating only wants to make love to her, nothing else. I don’t know what to say.

MONDAY

A] The alarm clock rings at 10:15 – and as a Plan B (Virgos always have a Plan B) the wake up service calls my room. New cowboy boots, bought in Paris – and I am going to a meeting as a Board Member of the Schwab Foundation. Shall I go with these boots, red, white and black? Yes.

B ] Meeting a friend who works in finance for a late breakfast. What is going to happen to the financial markets? He has many answers. I pretend that I believe in what he is telling me, but it seems that everybody is lost in this field. He asks me to sign two books – one being my biography (which I did not write). Nice person. But the financial market is a casino. I don’t have a single cent in any of these funds, bonds, etc. Advantages of being a Virgo: you don’t take financial risks.

C ] Lunch before the Board Meeting. I ask: what is the situation in Georgia? Nobody wants to talk about Georgia. They love my cowboy boots.

D] Board meeting. Very professional, and no stress at all. I love participating, and I learn a lot. This is one of the two Boards that I attend on a regular basis.

E] I forget the documents at the roof of the car, so when I leave the place and turn left, all papers fell in the road. I stop and start collecting the papers. Another board member is leaving, and asks me if I need help. No, it is too dangerous to collect all these sheets in a road full of cars up and down. I will take this risk alone.

F ] Driving back – it took me 30 minutes to fulfill the task on “E”, therefore I will arrive in Paris after 10:00 PM. Calling Monica (please cancel Berlin and Praha, because of the Frankfurt Book Fair – I just learned that I will open the Fair). Calling Alexander (What do you think about the event in St. Moritz?). Calling Paula, welcoming her back to work, and asking her to check why don’t I have comments on myspace (later she tells me that there is another button to approve comments, and there were over 100 to be approved – it is not in the “In” box anymore). Calling Monica: shall we meet in Paris or Barcelona? Paris, she says.

G] Lots of things to think: how to promote The Experimental Witch. How to publish unpublished texts for internet users only (it will take another week to see the first copies online). The postcards in my blog. The meaning of life. The rest is silence, as Hamlet says.

H] Arriving in Paris around 11:00 PM. Expecting to have tons of things waiting for me, because I travelled! To another country! But there is only a few letters and two boxes. I realized that I travelled for a little more than 24 hs.

I] Dinner, computer, downloading “American History X”. Answering emails. In bed around 2:00 AM, reading “McMafia”, on parallel governments.

TUESDAY

A] Breakfast at 10:00. Coffee, milk, orange juice, bread, olive oil. It is always like this, even when I am in hotels.

B] Internet: checking some clippings on my work. Emails to be answered: after many filters, some land in my private mailbox – normally from friends. There are a couple of permission to quote me in books, etc (all of them granted). Interview (by email) to Finland, where a newspaper is going to publish my columns. Reading the news – they are the same, but I still read them.

C] Walking for one hour with Paula – she just returned from vacations. She is going to get married in October.

D] Back to edit books that I plan to put in my blog for free download or to be published on demand. I have so far three titles. We are still testing. Recording a video for a portal. Deciding which day I will record another video on Peace ( next week). Reading an interview of an stupid actor, David Thewlis, in a free metro newspaper, saying that his work in “Veronika decides to die”(to be released next year), where he plays a secondary role, was just “a two week work”. I take it personal. Then I read the rest of the interview, and he is complaining about nearly everything he did in life. I am not taking it personally anymore.

E] Archery. Shower. Internet.

E] I forgot where I had dinner. Watch “Welcome to Sarajevo”. Reading “Herald Tribune” while eating toasts.

WEDNESDAY

A] Same as A, B, C above – except that this time I walked with Maarit, a friend from Myspace that happens to be in Paris. First time that we meet, great person.

B] Monica, my agent, arrives. We talk from 3:00 PM to 2:00 AM in the morning: publication schedule of “Winner stands alone”, Frankfurt, her 40th birthday (I hope I convinced her that it would be more fun to have a party at her apt, instead of hiring a place). The talk takes place at my apt, a café, a bench in the street, back to the apt (Monica hates walking), dinner. I tell her that I am tired – she looks fresh at 2:15 AM, and it was her who had to face this new torture chamber called “airport”.

THURSDAY

A] Same as A, B, above – except that I have breakfast with Monica. Nothing better than a good night sleep to realize some things that were not clear.

B] Monica leaves, back to Barcelona. And I am back to emails, clippings, decisions, permissions, etc.

C] Juliette comes to get the sound system that Monty Shadow gave me as a gift while I was in St. Moritz. It is called Meridian, looks like a toaster, but it is very powerful – they made a demonstration during a dinner for 250 people, and everybody could hear loud and clear. Juliette needs to borrow it for her husband 40th birthday (it seems that everybody around me is turning 40 this year).

D] Walk for one hour. Sandwich. Nap. Archery. Internet again.

E] Writing my weekly column. Reading that The Experimental Witch got an important prize, even before the film is edited. (the prize is about the concept of working with the readers). I want to put in my social communities. But they say I cannot talk about the prize till the final week of September – it is secret.

F] Dinner with Chris. Watching “The Hunting Party”. Reading “McMafia” and “Herald Tribune”. Eating toasts while reading.

FRIDAY

A] Same as A, B, D above. Deciding that I am going to cancel nearly all professional trips and spend more time in Rio, Geneve and Paris. I told Monica I want to give less interviews. She said Madonna gave an interview to Charles de Gaulle airport magazine, so why should I be different? Still, I will be much more selective in accepting interviews (I am already, Monica says, there is no way to convince her).

B] Going to Champ de Mars and reading Herald Tribune there. Spending the rest of the afternoon watching people. It seems that everybody is talking in his/her mobile, or taking pictures.

C] Dinner in Akasaka, a Japanese restaurant, with Paula and Chris. Eating the same – every time I go to a restaurant, I eat the same thing I eat before. Not very creative.

D] Watching “American History X”. Normally, when Paula likes a movie, Chris and I hate. In this case, for he first time, our opinions coincide.

E] McMafia. When will I go to finish this book?

SATURDAY

A] Same as A, B, D above. Paula said during the dinner in the previous night: “you should be more personal in your posts”. I decided to write the what happens in the “real” world, although my world goes beyond this reality.

B] Going to a museum for the first time in four months. Museum Branly: features indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Oceania, and Americas. Thinking that there is something wrong with contemporary art, these people can do much better than the icons of today. But then Monica and Chris said that I am too critical, and I should stop this.

C] Following Paula’s advice: nearly one hour to write this post. If I had to talk about what is going on in my mind during this week, it would take the whole day.

D] Posting and going to watch “Blow”(2007), with Johnny Deep. Good night.