8th March… iLike!

I wasn’t planning on writing a post today. God knows I have a list full of “To-do” things. I say “list”, more of a mental note. (I’m not really the list type of person). But it’s 8^th March!! It’s International Women’s Day and for some, Mother’s Day!

Sure, some might say that it’s another commercial day, such as Valentine’s Day. But let’s be honest, what isn’t commercial nowadays? Every celebratory moment becomes an excuse for people to buy: cards, postcards, gifts, flowers, balloons… You name it; it’s out there on the market. Living in a society driven by consumerism and all that.

Back to the 8^th March. You know what I like about today?

First of all, it’s a beautiful day. Let’s start with that. The sky is blue and almost cloudless, the sun is shining and my thermometer shows 8 degrees outside.  Wearing a skirt it is then!

Secondly, all the positive statuses my friends have on Facebook. Sure, most of them are women (and 2 or 3 lost guys), but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling seeing all this optimism on the Internet, as well as the countless lists of achievements women have had throughout the years. It has brought the “I can do it like a brother, do it like a dude, grab my crotch, grab my hat low like you” movement Jessie J brags about with the “Can’t Hold Us Down” attitude Christina Aguilera advertises.  Today, you’d like to think you can have the best of both worlds (with a bit of struggle, that’s true, but that will be a subject for another post).

Plus, opposing the positive statuses girls have, you get the misogynistic, chauvinistic comments of some of the guys. Personally, I’m enjoying those just as much. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for the emancipation of women and equal rights, but you know, it’s one of the few days when guys admit they don’t even know how to make a sandwich! (Asking the women to do it for them and all that is clearly a sign of helplessness. Man flu?!). It’s the day you have events like these

with comments like this…

(Click on the images to view them better)

On a more serious note now, it amuses me because most of the comments and pretending not to care, is usually quite the opposite to how they really act. (Hidden cameras should be installed to show the moments of this day when they talk to their mothers, sisters, girlfriends and wish them a nice day, or give them flowers and cards). Plus, they’re all jealous International Man Day on the… When is it again?! June? No, wait… October? (…Google…) NOVEMBER! Meh, who cares?! They’re not getting pretty flowers anyway.

Lastly, I like it because it’s an opportunity that clearly reminds you to show you care. Sure, love and respect should be showed every day, a regular thing, like flossing should be. But who actually flosses every day?! When it comes to flossing, The Oatmeal described it best:

You get the analogy, right? If you are one of the few people who actually both flosses and shows his/her love and respect daily to the people in your life, than congratulations to you, Outstanding Sir/Madam!

But for the rest of us, more mundane souls, it’s a good opportunity to take some action. Take it as a day with a constant reminder to show the women in our live how special they are and make them feel appreciated. And no, I am not talking here just about the guys doing that. We all have mothers, grandmothers, sisters, friends… heck, even enemies (pink stink bomb anyone? I hear they come in different colours nowadays).

So:  Happy International Women’s Day everyone!! and Happy Mother’s Day!!

Congratulations to the women for being as awesome as they are and congratulations to the guys for being lucky enough to have them in their lives!

Who needs rationality and straight logic anyway when you can use circles and mazes?! As a woman, I’m telling you they’re overrated! Plus remember: in all the stories the straightest path is always the dullest one…

 

“Linda, Ich Liebe Dich!”

Starting a blog has been an idea I was flirting with for quite some time, both by my own initiative and by the suggestion of others. However, there was a key point when I actually decided I will create one. A moment when I realised that there are things out there that not everybody knows about, and that need to be shared because as simple as they seem, for me they are extraordinary. That and sometimes I just want to talk about things… Everyone knows I am a bit of a talker.

What made me transform my flirt into an initiative was a love story. But it might not be the love story you expect.

Last summer, I visited my friend in Berlin for a few days. Amongst other touristy things that simply had to be done, we went on an alternative tour around Berlin: street art, statues, scribbling on walls which might not mean anything for the general passerby until an explanation is offered. Who knew it was such a big thing there? There were so many things I found inspiring on this 5 hours tour.

(Yes, 5 hours!! By the end of it we were both dragging our feet, dreaming of a cold latte and wishing we had camels to ride around. How cool would that be though? Doing the alternative tour of Berlin on camels!! Non-traditional right there! It would certainly make it easier to observe the drawings better, than zooming in your camera to see the ones high up on the walls. By the way, did you know that it’s illegal to do street art directly on the walls in Berlin? However, as long as you do it on paper and then glue it to the walls you’re good to go!)

But, back to the story… At one point in our tour we reached a dodgy, narrow passing, full of street art. And amongst other stories each of the drawings had, there was the story of the man who was looking for his Linda. It was an artist that had decorated the walls of the area Friedrichshainer, if I’m not mistaken, with different posters with different motives and drawings but with the same main theme: “Linda, where are you?”, “Linda, come back to me”. And as the guide told us it went on for a while, posters covered the walls of Berlin as a man was mourning losing his love and being away from his beloved Linda.

 

His persistence caught people’s interest and soon there were other messages appearing for both him and Linda, his lost love. People moved by his love and persistence were asking Linda to go back to him, while the ones who saw his initiative as too intense were advising Linda to have a nice life away from him. There were people telling the artist to move on and find a Brenda or Christina not understanding what’s so special about “Linda”. A real debate was created, reaching even radio level.

“Will the real Linda please stand up?”, the radio was singing.

(Note: As I was not in Berlin at the time and this story has been transmitted through word of mouth, this statement, as well as the camels I remember seeing other people riding around in Berlin that summer, might not be completely accurate… But I could swear there were camels, how else would I have gotten the desire to do the tour on one?!).

People wanted to know the woman who managed to create such a stir, the magnificent woman who made a poor man lose his head so badly and robbed him of his heart. Yes, us women, as the malicious creatures as some describe us, can do that.

So imagine everyone’s thrill when the beauty with golden locks floated down from the sky on a rose cloud and revealed herself… (that would have been a nice image, don’t you think?) But that’s not how it actually goes.

Someone did step forward in the end: the artist. Only to confess that there was no Linda. And there had never been. Not as the ravishing woman people imagined anyway. This is the point in the story where you can let yourself be disappointed by the turnout of the events or have a bit of patience and wait until you get to look at the whole picture. Because, in the end, it is still a love story, but a love story for street art. Some call it graffiti, others call it drawing, some call it nonsense… there was one who chose to call it “Linda”. The street art so many artists and others are so passionate about, and love so much that some even risk their lives dangling off high buildings or bridges in their attempts to make a statement…

…or spend hours and days and even weeks completing…

…by just asking a question…

… or telling a whole story through their images.

(Thank you to my friend Chantal for the pictures in this post.)

 

The truth is people love mysteries. And it was a clever artist who decided to use that to test the effectiveness of the messages on the walls. What can be said? People were hooked. The debate it created was the obvious proof that street art is still as relevant as it has ever been, if not more. The story is enough to give any street artist wings to create with the awareness that there are still some, who in their busy everyday life routine, full with mobiles, newspapers , ipods and daily worries, find the time to notice the marks left on the walls.

In my opinion, the story is an inspiration. Ladies, honestly, who amongst you wouldn’t want the man you love to fight for you like that? (Unless he’s slightly unstable and overdriven, in which case you should find a rock and hide under it, for safety. Definitely not behind a wall: he might choose to put a poster on that.) The story of the man who wanted to see if street art was as inspiring as ever, created an urban legend. The type that makes you stop and think about when you hear it and then you feel the need to tell others about the awesomeness of the idea. Just like I did.

 

 

Night Rambling: As personal as it gets…

We all have our demons. They might frighten us, haunt us, make us reflect or wonder. Our frights are there, they are universal and exist within all. I am no exception. And as tonight they start being present, twirling the thoughts in my mind, like a bad dream. And I remember a superstition. I would say it’s Romanian, but I don’t have the proof for it. It is said that every time you have a bad dream, something dreadful, scary or regretful, you should say it out loud, share it with someone. By doing so, you prevent it from happening, from becoming more than just a bad dream and turning into an actual event. I guess it’s the same logic that applies to the wishes you make when you blow out the candles from your birthday cake or wish upon a shooting star?

I haven’t decided yet what this blog is going to be about or how to make it that way. It’s a work in progress, something I am still figuring out, like a lot of other things. For the time being, I’ll just say that it is about whatever I decide to publish here. Those couple of lines is my apology for the seriousness of the next post… and my way of saying I hope it will be one of very few. But sometimes people need to let things out. And this time, writing about it to no one in particular, or better yet, myself, seemed to be better than talking to someone specific about it.

Anyway, it is the superstition I mentioned which made me decide to write my troubling thoughts and publish them here. However, this time I hope it will only half-work, just for the negative: a way of making the troubling thoughts disappear and make the positive ones shine. No one reads this anyway, and it’s a way to get them out. So here it goes:

<<I’m in one of those moods again, the “What am I doing with my life?!” mood. It’s weird when it happens, you know. I start asking questions for which no answer exists yet… I’m asking myself and the truth is I don’t know. My solution for coping/ignoring it atm? Transfering all my music from cds to my portable hard drive. Because that’s something I’m good at: ignoring things, finding excuses, postponing… “later” seems to be a recurring theme in my way of thinking. Not when it comes to others though, just myself…

I am a dreamer. It’s the surest thing I know about myself. Most people would say it’s not a bad thing. I would agree with them if my ability to dream would be matched by my ability to make things happen. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I dream, imagine and create. I get lost from the banality of the day to day tasks by running away in my imagination where stories are created and characters are born. It’s something that no one knows about me. I empathize with my characters; I can create and recreate a situation until I get it right… or have the impression to have gotten it right. I know their feelings. I experience joy, grief, happiness and sadness. I can live them so intense they bring out… Well, it doesn’t matter. That’s another thing about me. I tend to go on and on about things. I talk too much, I write too much. I don’t know the meaning of balance. It’s something I am struggling to obtain as much as I am trying to figure out “what next?”.

Why mention I am a dreamer? Because it is what brings me to my next point. I have a lot of ideas, I have a lot of plans. Most of my family would say I have a lot of talent as well… wasted talent. I get ideas, I plan them, I start making them reality… then, I stop. My dilemma. Theoretically, my plans would work amazingly well. Why do I stop? Why can’t I find something that keeps me engaged? That keeps me interested, convinced… with a desire to keep going and doing it. Even now while writing this, I feel like stopping. Will my life be a thread of unfinished things? Will I just start things to leave them “In process”?

I make decisions only for them to be dropped after a while. I am too comfortable to move my ass into gear to DO them for a long run. I am too lazy to change my daily routine to carry out my decisions. I want to better myself, to be a better version – to be an acquisition for the people in my life. But, in the same time, I am perfectly comfortable being myself, the way I am now. With the “We can do it – it will get done eventually” attitude that has kept me going, even if last minute until now. However, sometimes I feel that making it on the edge, learning things on the edge is not enough. That I need to give more.

And the paradox: I know I can be better. I know I can achieve anything if I put my mind to it. I know I have the brains to do it; I am lucky in that perspective. Like my family said, I would probably have the talent to do it as well. They always believed in me, in my capacity and in my ability to accomplish things. Sure, maybe proving to be a smart kid from very young contributed to that, but I was always taught that there isn’t a thing I can’t do if I put my mind and heart in it. What’s keeping me back? Why is being comfortable NOW more important than making my imagination reality in the long-run?

There are so many things I don’t know, so many things I still need to learn. Patience is one of them. I am the most impatient person. When I don’t know something, I’m burning to know. I can’t wait to get on it when I have a plan; the fact that I might not even complete it doesn’t matter. If I could only learn that, to develop and nurture patience in my life, so many of these issues wouldn’t be anymore.

I’m scared. I’m scared my dreams and my ideas are too big for my capacity of doing things. I’m scared I will always leave them for later thinking there is time, until one day there won’t be time anymore. I’m scared time is passing by and I am standing still. I’m scared that so many people have made so many sacrifices for me, have given me so much and that I won’t be able to give them as much in return. I’m beginning to realise that life is short- I’m scared to lose the ones I love, I’m scared I won’t meet people’s expectations, I’m scared of rejection, of not being understood, of misjudging people, of being wrong. But the thing I am most scared of is wasting my life. Of waking up one day, in the distant future and realize I haven’t achieved a lot, that my journey was just a trail in the sand, washed away by the waves.

Achievement is such a subjective notion. Those who know me will realise it’s not about glory and fortune. For me, it’s about leaving a trail that lasts, making a difference. Not necessarily on the global scale; the tiny microscopic one is just as precious. I don’t want to calmly go through life like a duck floating on water. I want to stir things up before arranging them; I want to spread fireworks and firecrackers. I don’t want quiet and silence, I want laughter and music and shouter. I want the soundtrack of my whole to be a tune. I want to be hard to forget. Or not necessarily myself, but what I stand for, once I figure it out. I want to leave an impression.>>

 

Just another WordPress Weblog?

Well, well, well… After a lot of thought and encouragement (= persuasion and nagging), a blog has finally been created.  Creating a blog is not that hard you might say: all you have to do is sign up and wordpress.com does the rest for you. How true!  But getting there, for me, at least has been the difficult process. Why? Well, it goes like this:

Why would the world need another blog? There are so many out there on the World Wide Web, it’s ridiculous! Blogs on news, on food, on travelling, on how to attend to your baby’s needs ( both the breast-feeding type and the going-out-for-dinner-with type), on cats, on dogs, on origami, on fashion, on how to create the perfect business, on how to keep the perfect business once you’ve created it, on why you shouldn’t create a business at all (we are still in recession after all), on universities… You get the picture, right? You name it, Google or Bing will find it!  As simple as that.

So as a firm believer in Gandhi’s “Speak only if it improves upon the silence” quote, I have to ask myself how would my blog improve not the silence, but the crowd of  existing blogs queueing up to be read in a way I can imagine people were doing in Eastern Europe before ’89 to buy milk. But that’s a blog entry for the future… Unfortunately, I cannot provide the answer to this question now.

I decide to go ahead with it and create it, even though I have left that question unanswered. Like I’ve been advised by my friends in a lot of situations, I’ll “see how it goes”.

So far wordpress.com has been simple to register to and use. I created my account quite fast: deciding on the words that will go in the link was the toughest thing. So wordpress makes it straightforward: you write some basic infos, you click and voila! You are the proud owner of a free blog.

I did find some inconveniences. The words “masked ramblings” do sound pretty cool (or with no apparent sense), but they were not my first choice. I couldn’t use a lot of my first choices because the names were already taken. “First come, first served!”, that’s fair. But when wanting to read some of the posts of the smart people who decided to steal my potential blog names by going ahead and creating theirs first (pfff!) I found that a lot of them weren’t available any more: deleted or suspended. As I’m sure a lot of people know, taking care of the environment is one of the biggest trends of the present. Recycling is being encouraged everywhere. What does that have to do with my taken blog names? Simple: recyclable names! Instead of just being thrown away and left to rot on the Internet without a purpose or whatever redundant domains do, they should be put back on the virtual market. Finding a suitable name  for your blog is difficult enough without having to go through the process 6 times, especially when you see the PERFECT name taken by someone else who is not even using it.

Another thing that is slightly discouraging is the tag line your blog welcomes you with: “just another wordpress weblog”. How…ordinary! It was one of the first things I changed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not planning on revolutionising the world with my “masked ramblings”, but I’d like to think or better yet, hope, that it might be something different. The effort for a good beginning has been made: the words in the link have been thought and re-thought about, all the themes have been browsed to decide exactly THE ONE I like most, most of the details have been considered. Call me a perfectionist and details-obsessed person, but I believe that when starting something new, everyone aims for a good, almost perfect start… a sign that the follow-up can only get better!

So the leap has been made and the posts will come. And as the 1:32 am on my clock becomes a 1:33am, I’m wondering: Just another WordPress Weblog?