This dialogue did actually happen. But it might not be correctly re-written all the way, as my mind is blurry late at night and early in the morning and the conversation was in Romanian. And of course, because it was a mix of seriousness and fun making, therefore the idea, out of the context, is what’s important here.

The result was that it got me thinking. Yes, at certain times in our lives, we get trapped into a certain situation, a certain lifestyle and certain actions. The “stuck in a moment you just can’t get out of” idea. It happens to all of us. We are too used to a certain situation, we prefer to let it be instead of doing our best to get out. The eternal circles we get trapped into.

But there is still something I do not agree with. The use of the word “cannot”. I cannot help it. I can’t change it. This is who I am. I vote for “will not” here. “I am not exactly happy, but it’s not bad enough to do something about it. Or it is but I’m too lazy”. That is what I am fighting against. We are limited enough to also build additional limits that we refuse to surpass. Obstacles to stumble upon should only come from outside.

I am convinced we are the only ones with responsibilities and duties to ourselves. We have to strive to make our lives better, to go to the depths of our soul and discover what we need to make ourselves happy, to be faithful to our beliefs and our dreams. Cause otherwise, as Bart said once, no one else will.

All that said, I am never cease to be amazed by how people learn to love their misery, their unhappiness. Yes, what is yours is different and special, your problems are the most important ones just because they are yours. Still, don’t get attached to what does not make you ultimately happy. There are a lot of things to be keen on. Why choose the ones that harm you.

Hosted by the Nottara Theatre, this was the best theatre play I had seen in many years! The kind that makes you think and rethink everything. The kind that makes you feel someone has seen deep into your heart!

It is called “Ma tot duc” (I keep on leaving). Well, the translation is not perfect, but I have no better idea right now. Oana Pellea and Miahi Gruia Sandu had made our night perfect. And I am sure this night will stay with me forever. Just like some other plays I’ve seen at the Equinox Studio in Ploiesti.

I could tell you what the play was about. But telling its story is really not impressive. It has to be seen, experienced, lived…I believe there is something to learn for everyone, hidden between its multiple layers.

The play was followed by a very interesting conversation with the two actors. On theatre, different types of audience, the play, their experiences. They said people in the audience who were on the verge of breaking up, actually got their relationship sorted out and continued it after the play. One of my colleagues said she would have expected quite the opposite. I think it highly depends on circumstances.

The effect I felt? Well, I felt some things I was only barely feeling were said out loud. Thoughts I had postponed were brought into the spotlight and dealt with. And I made my peace with them. I also made my peace with letting go, with unhappy endings.

Indeed, the world is filled with nobodies, with lonely people, though we refuse to see it most of the times. We should acknowledge it: our loneliness, others’, then work on it. Facing all we actually wish to be gone, and then change whatever we can. Indeed, we need to live with our eyes, minds and hearts wide open.

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Later you said. I was not surprised later never happened. Yes, you have this habit of postponing things indefinitely. Important and unimportant alike. You should pay more attention to the important ones. Life really waits for no one. One day it is simply over, regardless of your actually taking the time to live it or not.

Even to this day, I can perfectly remember a conversation I’ve once had with Diana, a girl I thought closest to me at a certain point of my life. We were at McDonalds, in Ploiesti. Sitting on the terrace, drinking Coca-Cola and smoking Kent 8. We were young, smart and cool, that was our image of ourselves. It was towards the end of the school year, we were finishing 11^th grade and we were talking about how University years would be like.

We were portraying a future image of ourselves. We saw each other in a few years, meeting for lunch or dinner, clubbing and shopping in Bucharest, going to romantic dinners and taking trips to the seaside, to the mountains and to other countries on our own. No parent or teacher supervision. And of course, academic success/glamorous career a certain business dress code!

Well I do all that. I meet my friends for coffee, lunch, dinner or late drinks with my friends. I have had my share of romantic dinners and of trips I will never forget. I work and sometimes use the business dress code, mixed with a little personal flavor…I also have a car, which was like the top of my dreams.

So I managed to do all that, all that we were talking about, planning in detail. I am surrounded by different people though. And is this really success?

I also remember precisely my professional wishes were to 1. become a writer and 2. manage a hotel/hotel chain. I only have a decent shot at the last one. Writing has somehow turned into something similar to a hobby: the blog, the occasional diary entries (my most affected by influences pieces of work actually), the articles I write for work.

I also remember that, whenever I’d make a wish, it would never be a wish for love. Not because I did not think of it as important. But I just thought it is something that comes with the territory: the loved one, saved just for me, as it happens for everybody. I thought love to be the one gift humans always receive to get through with their lives, to make the then kinder, full of hope, better. Now I just think it’s something the lucky ones find at a certain point. No one knows for how long…

Adolescence is that special period of one’s life when one grows wings and is convinced anything is possible. While time passes, society convinces you there are certain limitations. There are none. No real ones, I mean. Just the ones we make up to justify what we cannot do. Because we need someone or something to blame for everything we are not able to achieve.

It seems like every time I manage to get enthusiastic about something, it all falls apart for some reason. So, lesson number one: never get your hopes up! It generally reduces the disappointment rate.

Cloudy winter weather, doubled by the few hours of the day, seems to cause depression for a large number of persons. Therefore different countries try different remedies, more or less sophisticated.

Sweden is counting on the calming and relaxing effect of the color white. Therefore, there are many cafes in Stockholm where all the furniture is white and the people waiting on customers wear the same color. Such cafes also ask their customers to take off their shoes and wear a long white robe.

Israeli researchers are trying something else: electromagnetic impulses. This is medical treatment; unlike the relaxing hours spent in a white café, but it seem to be helping a lot of people.

So, what do we do in Romania? Well, not much, until it gets really bad. For the rest of the cases, there’s always chocolate, for those allowed to eat it! Thank God higher forces are thinking of us…The result: a bright sunny day with a 12 C maximum temperature. The same predicted for the weekend: 16-17 C temperatures, sunny and bright weather…So what, we won’t have snow on Christmas? It gets ugly and dirty too fast, so no help in the whiteness there…

Mediterranean heat, thank you for coming our way!

Photo and original story from EVZ.

Tags: Depression, Antidepressants, Winter

Brilliantly put, mister Vasilescu! Too bad you forgot to mention the remaining 20% of the hotels, with 3/4/5 stars are usually more expensive than those in Bulgaria, Turkey, the rest of Europe and the rest of the world if you look hard enough. Moreover, the “all inclusive” packages are a mystery for most of them. Then there are bad service and “could not care less” employees…

Oh and there’s the other cause: infrastructure! I have to agree here, up to a point. Do you really think that if the 3-4-5 stars hotels would offer attractive packages, doubled by tour operators to mix them with nice little flights would not help much? As for the 1-2 stars hotels…Don’t you think many of them are fine where they are? Why would they invest more to upgrade their ratings?

I agree though, most of the hotels will be soon closed. Yes, the EU accession will bring lots of changes. And as Romanian who own hotels have no idea how to manage them, there will be foreign investors who will come and make tons of money from it. The smart way that is!

Tags: Tourism, Romania, Hotels, Travel Destinations, FPTR

Based on an OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) report, if the global warming continues, less sky resorts in Europe will be covered in snow for a sufficient period (estimated at about 100 days per year). The country facing the strongest negatives effects is Germany, followed by Austria, Italy, France and Switzerland.

The story is simply taken from NewsIn, it presents the OECD report and stops at that. Where is the part where the Romanian situation is analyzed? Any thought on how many such resorts could be affected? It’s not that hard, just run a search and find out how many of the sky slopes are situated at altitudes lower than 1500 meters. I am sure journalists working here have been to Sinaia! And the names help: Cota 1400 (as in 1400 meters???). No? Not easy enough?

I sometimes wonder why, given such stories, a person living in Romania and being genuinely interested in certain fields can never get quality information. Why should one get a subscription to a press agency and then search on their own to get the real deal? Is it because all publications are understaffed, pay too little or just don’t care?

The mere sound of someone speaking English because they do not know Romanian is not supposed to make you angry. Not all people know Romanian. And this might be news to you, but Romanian is rarely needed by foreigners.

Besides, you might stumble upon a guy that is way to pacifist and open minded to contribute to your picking a fight with him. So you will just end up looking stupid and feeling frustrated, while the rest of the world is having fun…

The appearance of gullies, revealed in orbital images from a Nasa probe, suggests that water could have flowed on the surface in the last few years. Story here.

Well, it could also be liquid carbon dioxide or dust, but dreamers will choose to believe it was water. Who knows, maybe the Moon will not be our first colony after all! So, let me know when you see Martian land sold online.

So at our darkest times, we need a long bath, with strange and mystical scents. The electrical light is no match for the mythical atmosphere we are trying to create. So we never turn it on, lighting a few candles instead. We think, rewind, replay, erase or keep. Then we get out of the water. Feeling tranquil, rested, ready to face more.

Taking a look out the window, the moon might catch our eyes. Belittled though by the strong lights of the city…We stare at it for a while, remembering ancient paths over the great night skies…Then there’s the sound of the cars…

So it’s back to civilization…All the brightness…And everything some of us still love…For how long?

The trip is only 12 miles and should only take about thirty minutes, but the ambulance crew turned it into an eight-hour roundtrip to Manchester.

Story from here. The reason why it's alway best to have someone with you who actually knows the way. Old fashion maps and even complicated GPS system can lead you to another planet at a certain point.

George tagged me to recommend one book and one book only, and justify my choice. All in one paragraph…Well, this is quite a hard task to carry out…I could recommend dozens of books out of different reasons and choosing just one is trickier than it seems at first.

After giving it quite some thought, I stopped at a book that requires some considerable prior reading. A bit about religion, a bit about politics, a bit about economy, a flavor of psychology, all doubled by lots of vivid imagination to be able to take a glimpse at the world described within. I am referring to Dune (the first book or the entire collection, depending on the amount of time you have right now; yes, I am cheating a little). A world from far in the future, far in the skies, deeper in meanings as you turn pages. Quite a research of all human future possibilities and an amazing story at the same time. Frank Herbert put anything you might look for in it: adventure, passion, love, struggle, cunning, strategy, leadership, spirituality, history and philosophy. All in science-fiction clothes.

Further tags: Bart (for when he finishes moving his blog), Naomi (because she needed an idea for a post anyway) and Ryan. Of course, who ever else is inspired may join this little game.

So try the book and tell me what you thought of it. Anyway, if this one is not your type or your main interest at this point, just pick up another one and read it, as I assure you it would put your mind and time to better use that other activities of choice.

Chosen because it sends a strong message, different from the "all is perfect, I love you, I can't live without you" line Beyonce has previously used. Also because the message is hidden behind an awkward grammar and behind an interesting misuse of "must".

A 26 year-old Romanian is accused of illegally accessing over 150 computers employed by US public institutions, thus causing over 1.5 million dollars worth of damage. The institutions include NASA, the Energy Department and the US Navy.

Victor Faur, risks 54 years in prison if found guilty, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the Federal Prosecution Office. The American Government believes that Faur is the head of a hacker organization called “The white hats team”, which aims to break into the US official institutions’ computers simply because they are considered as the safest in the world.