A while ago, Safiya asked me to tell her a few things about me. Randomly chosen, no real given direction. So after a long time, I am finally doing what I promised her.

- I really cannot watch horror movies. I am too afraid and get way too scared. And when I am dragged to see one, everybody who's with me laughs at me. My jumping off the chair in fear is actually quite hilarious.

- I started taking Latino dancing lessons. With a tango twist :)

- I am back to daily reading habits. When I quit that, I feel really awful.

- I want to children: a boy and a girl. But I am also likely to have twins (family thingie). What if they have the same sex? I have not decided what to do in that case.

- I am addicted to milk with chocolate. It's the only thing I drink at work.

- I dream of having my own business and making it work :D I also have more specific plans on this issue, but will share them later on :P

- I have a lot of online friends that I haven't met in person and I can't wait to do so sometime, hopefully in the not so distant future.

Anyone else feels like sharing?

Last night we stopped for pizza on our way home. Ordered it and decide to eat it there, at one of the tables placed on the sidewalk. When we were about to start, a woman came and sat at the table near ours. She was old, poorly dressed and looked a bit sad to me. But she was not asking for anything...

I had no idea what to do. Offer my help? Back off? My friend Cristina did have an experience with a beggar throwing money back at her in a moment of anger at life...What was my big problem? I'll tell you!

If someone looks at me when I am eating and really craves for (or I think he/she really craves for) what I am eating, I can no longer eat. Yes folks. Where does this come from? Legacy of the Communists actually. See, when I was about 4 or 5, good food was scarce. And one afternoon, when my dad was taking me home from kindergarten, he noticed they had brought salami at the some shop near our house. There was a huge queue. And he left me there, waiting for him to get his salami card from home. Well, yes, there were cards for everything: meat, bread, oil, milk. You could not buy anything without one and you certainly couldn't buy more than allowed on the card.

I spend about 20 minutes queuing, with this huge fear that the salami will be over before my dad came back or that I will get in from of the saleswoman before he returned and I will be thrown out from the queue. He got there in time, and as I had been standing there for so long, my dad asked the saleswoman to cut a slice for me, and I took a bite instantly.

As I was small and the salami sold there had a pretty large diameter, I got to bite once more before exiting the shop. And my dad said: "Alina, please put the slice in the bag. Some other children, whose parents didn't get to buy them salami, might see you. And they'll cry when they get home." I obeyed instantly, remembering my fresh fear they will run out of salami.

That is why if someone looks in a certain way to what I am eating, although everything is now available for purchase, I can no longer it. Not everyone can afford everything I can, and I am pretty obsessed by this.

What did I do with the lady? I only ate half the pizza and left the other half on the table. It was her choice to take it or not. No offense, nothing imposed. I still wish I could have done more...And I still cannot understand how some can still praise the Communist period!

I might have mentioned this before, but I'll say it again: Romanians are so crazy about celebrations that they also celebrate name days. So if you have a saint's name, on the day you celebrate that saint, you also celebrate your name. More presents, more fun!

May 21st is the day when to saints are celebrated: Constantine and his mother Hellen (Elena). As my middle name is Elena, well, celebration on the way. I thought of going and buying some sweets for work, but it's too crazy around here. New version to be released at 6 pm etc. So I will postpone it.

Anyway, I had completely forgotten about this. But D remembered yesterday. So he got me some really nice stuff. A new bathing suit (yeah, I have a problem, I admit, I always want more and more) and two Orhan Pamuk books. The best present on this name's day! So thanks again, D! :)

You know you're a geek when you go out with the "girls" (read female employees in your company, a handful at best), and you spend four hours eating and talking about mail servers, log levels, how the programmers see it, how the client understands it, better promotion alternatives, new tasks, future road map, etc...

How do you know there's still hope? You girls also manage to crack a few jokes and laugh your hearts out. So, this is an official statement. Your truly has become a geek. But I can see my problem, admit it and seek treatment :p

I do feel piled higher and deeper these days...I just love this phrase. I also happen to be a great fan of the comic. Actually, it is the only comic I have entirely read. Yes, people, their whole archive! From day one. And then registered to receive emails every time they upload something new. Why do I relate to this particular comic? Should I remind you I've kept postponing turning my paper in for...ummm...two years? True, I have a different type of job and a second University whose classes I attend, or pretend to attend, but still...Procrastination is no stranger to me.

In other news, I love signing email with this shiny, grand looking, job title. I am actually doing that job, kind of, I have the tasks and the responsibilities. It seems a bit unreal still. But I love it. I love getting home dead tired, I love not knowing when the time flew by and it's 5 pm already. I am sure, however, I will love it more when I will actually believe I know what I am doing.

What I love most? Keeping in touch with the press...Ironic, isn't it?

Late replies to comments, rare updates, not exactly my style, is it? Well, I have a perfectly good explanation, but I do apologize for keeping you waiting for the Athens stories and photos. I hope to have them all uploaded this week though.

Just before leaving for Athens I got news. The marketing and PR manager had resigned and I had been assigned to all her stuff. Press releases, contacting journalists, keeping in touch with the press mainly, writing all sorts of marketing materials for the site, newsletters, etc. Well, I had never before written a press release. That is about to change now :)

I am happy with the new tasks. I really needed the challenge and it's all in the direction I wanted to follow from a certain point on. It also means lots of work, as I am alone for now and I still have all my technical writing tasks. I do feel everything is pilling up and soon enough I'd be practically buried in work. Help is coming though, in about a week.

As for the weekend...Well, I was quite tired and postponed everything that could be postponed. So I spent most of my time going out, shopping and not doing anything that would need my brain to actually work. It was the first weekend entirely spent with D and it was pretty great to be honest. Things seem to be settling down somehow. And it all looks bright and shiny.

Well, wish me luck with the new assignments! I will do my best to stop neglecting my readers, promise :)

Do you remember my list? Well, this is what I actually got done...

Today has been one of those days when your head swirls and you have no idea how time passes by. One gets to the office, turns the computer on, grabs a cup of coffee and starts working. A blink of an eye later, it's lunch time. You then come back, more tasks, a brief meeting announcing more to come. Another blink of an eye later...OMG, it's 5.30 pm already! Soon I should leave and I still have plenty to do.

Yes, we have all had such days. My problem? I absolutely love it. The challenge is there, real, keeping me under huge amounts of pressure, but it has the effect of an adrenaline rushing extreme sport. I missed it. I am glad it's back!

I have walked blindly through many springs. As I worshiped summer, nothing else mattered. Spring was just a passage to summer, a messenger saying it will soon be warm and brightly sunny again.
This year something happen. Like all my senses were suddenly back to life. Pink and white flowers, fresh scents, everything seemed to surround me and elevate my soul. Open it to beauty, to touching perfection, to healing.
Small incidents really do not matter. We should never allow ourselves to be caught up in them. Always pay attention to the bigger picture, take a few steps and gain perspective. Easier said than done. But time does take care of everything. And one day you wake up with your soul and mind of peace. Ready to move on, to experience again.
Weirdly enough, this is the second time in my life when just when I thought nothing will feel right again, it all came back to me. Myself, my thoughts, my heart. And I always achieve this on my own, a few days before my birthday. And then...every piece than was shredded takes its rightful place. And I am whole again, with my soul wide open.

First and foremost, today is my dad birthday. So Happy Birthday Dad!!! :)

This is seriously the warmest month of March I have ever experienced in Romania. I know it is not good, I know it is a sign of global warming, greenhouse effect and all the damaged we have caused our planet. But I can't help loving it and enjoying every day.

The trees have blossomed. You can see white or pink little flowers everywhere. There petals falling and being taken far, far away by the wind. Different perfumes surrounding you from everywhere. And the feeling it will all turn green in a few more days. That vivid, fresh, spring green that I absolutely love!

It all makes you forget about the cars, the "fresh" air, the crowds everywhere, work, problems and everything else. All I really want to do is take a long walk, starting in the morning and finishing it at sunset. I almost did that on Saturday. I might do it again this weekend.

Patrick Dempsey, the most recent one. Great surgeon of Grey's Anatomy.

As part of my real attempt to getting to know a little about Linux and Linux distros, I have spent the last two hours reading installation and configuration instructions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. It has been delightful...Yeah, I again feel like there is so much I need to know. To quote the status message of a friend quoting a forum post author, "I know shit, but some shit is still unclear". Well, the amount of unclear stuff seems to keep growing and growing.

Anyway, tomorrow I will gather all the bits and parts of courage hidden within me, and give a try to install the distro on the 6 CDs now staring back at me :) Will let you know how it goes. If I fall in love with Linux and decide to quit Windows, I'll again let you know.

I have no idea why. Maybe because my trip home helped me refill my batteries. Maybe because it's like going to a sanctuary when I stay at my mom's - all the bad things are left out, forgotten and loose their powers by the time I exit. Maybe because I am completing some projects and I am more involved in the ongoing and new ones. Maybe because spring is here.

Well for one of these reasons or for all of them, my week has started perfectly! Although I woke up late and did not do everything I had planned. Anyway, I am full of hope and ready to deal with everything. There will also be a treat, ballet on Thursday.

I hope you all have a similarly fresh and shinny start :)

The moment I enter the apartment, I feel at peace. Ploiesti is indeed my home, my refuge, the place where I grow stronger, where my wings are healed and I receive the gift of flying high again, time after time.

My mom is the high priestess of this sanctuary: the guide, the oracle, the one showing me the light, the one loving me regardless of anything. And she's also packing the house with goodies if I'm here.
It's nice to feel you are getting away from the day-to-day world, with its issues, problems, routine, nags and every other burden it entails. It's like the time is half-stopped while you recharge your batteries, train and prepare yourself, then go back for another round.

I wish I had time to come here more often.

As spring is here, I felt the need of a new skin for Words of a Broken Mirror. So I took a template from here (free), and with a lot of help and patience from Ryan, I managed to also modify it to finally please me.

Hope all of you like the new look.

The last round of packing...The house seems so empty without my things. And almost no traces of my passage trough here can be seen. But I remember. As every beautiful memory I've ever had here is back to haunt me one last time before my going.

I wanted different reactions. They did not come. A door being closed forever. This is how I see it. The end of all remaining possibilities. A change of path that alters some of the possible futures. But I chose. The time, the place, the words not to leave behind.

Moving to another sky...

Stelele care cad
Nu pier
Stelele care cad
Se duc pe alt cer