Weird Happenings

For the past week I've had a super acute 6th sense.

First, this girl I haven't seen for a few months. Last Monday I thought I should give her a call and invite for coffee, but something always got in the way. Two days and a lot of wishing to call her later she texts me. After 4 months of silence.

Yesterday I thought I had totally neglected my father who also happened to not call in a very long while. Today, I got a call...

This weekend I wondered about hosting someone from CouchSurfing but never did change my profile that says I'm not available. Today I got a call from a friend from hometown who's hosting a guy from Germany who happens to need a couch in my city. Ha!

I didn't hear back from a friend of mine worrying he was angry at me. 5 minutes ago... ta-daaa... an e-mail in my inbox.

There've been a few other things, which I just can't recall right now.

But it's creepy. I can come up with good enough logical explanations. But it still feels creepy!

Whatever I'm thinking about, has been coming my way. 

Acute intuition syndrome.

I wish it became chronic.

Thursday 13: Blogging Disturbances

Thursday Thirteen

I've been actively reading blogs for years now, and there are just some things that can drive me crazy. So I wonder... am I the only one disturbed by these?

• Lovely background and font color combinations: bright white on black, orange on red, pink on purple etc. It hurts my eyes.
• Font size. Small font size. It hurts my eyes. Large font size that makes posts into looooong articles is a problem, too. Not too many people get excited about long articles, and even less about adjusting font size through their browser.
  
• Handwriting-like and other pretty fonts. Eyes...it hurts my eyes to read you. (It's just occured to me that too much said in Italic is not fun either;) Sorry for that).
• Never ending side bars that turn your first visits into a long scrolling experience.
• Non-customized design. I know that customizing the way your blog looks can be challenging but it's worth at least a small effort. If you haven't yet, please go make your "place" more personal. Everyone will benefit. Seriously.
• No personal photos or at least a fake "this is me" picture. Maybe it's just me but I want to see you the way you see or would like to see yourself. Of course, a picture from a cartoon won't satisfy my curiosity but it'll give me a better idea of who you are.
• No "About Me" info. Again, it is you behind what I read, and I want a fast overview, as reading the archives might take too long for me to care to read.
• Only 1 post on the "front page", unless there's a good reason for that like WW or TT have got. People are generally not in the mood to search for more, if it's not available.
• Word verification. You have no idea how many times I had to rewrite my comment because I guessed the word wrong. I understand word verification, if the blogger is super popular or writes about something very specific attracting spam. Otherwise, it can be an unnecessary precaution.
• No images embedded in posts. Walls of text without any visual elements pressures me into clicking on "Next".
• Constant misspelling, obviously, especially by native speakers. Everyone makes mistakes. The question is how often...
• Comments approval. I know many have this option on, but really... if there's negative feedback, you'll get it anyway. So what's the point? It seems easier to delete what you don't like than to constantly approve. Maybe one day I'll understand.
• Limited commenting options. Well, this one just kills me. There are so many options available for commenting nowadays... and I still constantly have problems with leaving something nice for you to read. Fine, I'll keep quiet. And most likely will stop reading. Monologues can be fun, but one-way communication gets old fast, doesn't it?

Ah... it feels so good to get this off my chest.
So what is it that annoys you, aside from the content?

Other participants are listed here

Wordless Wednesday: Rainbow

Ha!

I got the key. I turned 25 this past weekend and got the key to his place.

So what now?

The small town he lives in is neat. So neat I didn't mind spending 4 hours getting there on Friday night to leave with the 5AM train on Monday. But living there?..

I grew up in a 2 million city. I am living in a 5 million city. Yes, I lived in American countryside and was happy but hey!! I was 40 minutes away from a 16 million city by car, whereas here it's 1 hour to a somewhat decent 300,000 city?! Am I capable of surviving in a place where there are only 25,000 people and no place with a proper tea assortment?

I rode in a taxi looking at the pretty treas all covered in fluffy snow (sorry, the photo is from August;)) and thought about how beautiful it was. The town is like a playground with pine trees growing in your yard. It's a beautiful and safe and perfect place... for families with children and elderly people.

Since I am too young to legally retire (though God knows how much I'd love to!), and since a key to an apartment is not at all an invitation to child bearing... I've got to think it all through.

The scary thing is that I can't figure out if I'm missing out on life rejecting the idea of moving or is it that I'll definitely miss out on LIFE if I do move.

Ugh! Choices! They make everything so complicated!

P.S. Just finished reading Llosa's "Bad Girl". Despite projecting the Bad Girl's character on a certain woman who seems to have finally embraced not being the center of one's world I loved the book and would recommend it for reading. The translation I read it in is pretty good (which is exactly what I expected from my friend and mentor), but I would so loooove to reread it in Spanish!! Travesuras de la Niña Mala...

Secret Pleasures : French

Very soon after I started dating cheri N. I stopped going out and would take a long walk after work at most. It’s some weird pattern that I noticed to have. Good girls don’t go crazy. They go home. And who cares that the place is empty and that only my laptop and a few teddy bears wait for me there 5 days out of 7?

As weeks passed by I was getting lonelier and lonelier, though still turning my nose up at hosting CouchSurfers or going to CS meetings (my major source of socialization in our beloved capital where I’m on my own ever since I left my ex of 7 years).

And then I signed up for a French course… Well, now I live to make it to Tuesday, then Thursday during the working week and then the weekend, obviously, when I am finally not alone.

Ironically enough, my teacher’s name happens to also be N. So two N. are keeping me sane if not alive these days.

It feels so good to be studying again, especially now that I am the only person I am doing this for. It is not to get a degree, not to get a good grade, not to please Grandma or impress relatives and neighbors. It is to get a laugh, stretch my brain and laugh some more. I finally got rid of my A student complex and don’t care about making mistakes or sounding stupid. Fine, I’m still competitive as hell but it’s not at all in the way.

Learning French is definitely my secret petit bonheur that is not so petit to tell the truth.

What is yours? What helps you get through the week? Well… except for blogging;)

Willow Tree Love

In a couple of hours I'm leaving to spend the weekend with DBF who happens to live in a different town  due to job requirements. So I spent my lunch break looking for a gift for our small anniversary. I don't think our somewhat established tradition includes gift exchange but I couldn't resist when I saw this:

'Miss You'. Photo from Willow Tree site.

It's a small statuette from Willow Tree by Susan Lordi whose works melt my heart. I first discovered her thanks to a teacher who gave me Susan's statuette 'Freedom' as a fare well gift when I was leaving the States. Ever since I've been in love...

'Freedom'. Photo by me.

I know that men don't really care about all this "girly" stuff and I don't expect to see something on his face you'd see on mine if someone gave me a Willow Tree angel, but 'Miss You' speaks better than I could.

If these things weren't so expensive here, I'd buy them aaaaaaall. I think they are absolutely gorgeous!!! Don't you?

Wordless Wednesday: Vacation

Petit Bonheur for Morning Hours

As I am waiting for a call from my boss getting all stressed out about missing yet one more French class because of working after 6PM... I decided not to dwell on negative thoughts and instead share a great video with you.

Ta-da... Yoga basics. Sun Salutation A.

Video downloaded from here. You can find lots of other great video tutorials on that site.

My goal is to do Sun Salutation A every morning after waking up. Yoga is not as hard as some people say but not as easy as some might think... either way, it is extremely rewarding.

Try it and you'll see!

Will You Marry... Not?

For some odd reason 'marriage' has been a hot topic for the past several days. And every time it's brought up in a conversation with DBF, I feel kind of lost. It must be a culture shock or smth:)

A 30 y.o. friend from France thinks it's time for him to create a family. Naturally, he is considering his current girlfriend. I wouldn't be surprised if the above mentioned friend popped the question tomorrow. But for DBF it would seem strange and not "normal". Apparently, it's not normal for a French guy to propose after 5 months of dating... and no, feelings alone are not enough. (Wait a minute... is it the same in the States?..)

Surprised, I get on Skype to discuss the issue with one of my good friends, now residing in suburbs of Paris. She consults her husband and... He says they wouldn't have gotten married (after almost a year long relationship by the wedding day, mind you), if it weren't the only way for them to be together. In fact, most of his friends live together for years adopting pets and getting pregnant without getting married.

This insight left me with a better understanding of the way things are in France, as well as realization that I should finally stop asking for insights not to stir anything up by accident.

To be honest, Western approach to relationships is slowly winning here over what we have been used to. Nevertheless, we are still way behind. And marrying the person you love after half a year into your relationship is not the shortest and most romantic term. 

rings by andrew english

What's up with Westerners postponing or even refusing to get married? Is it because they are oh-so-responsible and thought through? Or is it more related to all the complications a very likely divorce may bring?..

Another thing is that... who prefers to postpone or give up on a wedding? Men or women? You might point out that gender based generalizations are wrong but come on... to me the general answer is pretty obvious;)

P.S. Big news: DBF will get keys to his new apartment tomorrow! Yay!
P.P.S. I am totally in love with the rings in the photo!!! Your partner's finger prints on the inside... who could have thought?!

2011

I know that numbers are just numbers and that "new" years don't change the way things are. But it feels relieving to have entered a brand new year leaving everything bad behind, in the "old year". I like this kind of New Year magic...

2010 wasn't bad. But things seemed to draaaaag... All happy events were complicated at some point, sooner or later. And all in all, I got tired. Of waiting. Waiting for everything to finally work out and settle.

2011 feels fresh and new. I have my hopes up and goals set. And 3 wishes... made while the clock was striking 12.

Wishing everyone a very happy and fruitful New Year!

May all our wishes come true!:)

P.S. Don't you love new Christmas tree decorations my Mom and I found?