Disentangling the Web

Procrastination

2009-06-09T21:26:00.001+03:00

Have lots of stuff to do, don't feel like doing it, finished writing on my main blog & commenting on all my friends' blogs
so I thought I should update this blog as well
procrastination is my middle name

fact is i have to sort a ton of papers and extract exercises for a test and i really don't feel like it

i won't be sad when this course is over, though it was fun and a nice experience

gotta go, livia will be here in no time and i haven't even started

cheers

Spring is coming

2009-03-27T19:51:00.001+02:00

today was a very warm day and I went to a book fair where I bought lots of stuff, as usual.
i'm happy when it's sunny.
nothing else to write; I'll go watch House... missed him...

It´s a big Universe

2008-10-16T21:12:00.002+02:00

today i got a really nice movie from the Animaniacs, about the Universe:

it's a great, big universe and we're all really puny

i loved it!

long time no write on this blog... I use my wordpress blog... when I have time :)

Chris, the Blogger

2007-10-01T13:55:00.000+02:00

This is an interview with yours truly about the blogging experience, published in my company's internal newsletter.

Reporter: When did you start your blog?

Chris: I started blogging back in March 2004, when there were practically no blogging platforms and my first blog was more in the form of a forum. Then I moved to Yahoo 360 and now I have a Wordpress blog. The next step will be, obviously, to get my own domain :-)

Reporter: What motivated you or how did you come to the idea of having one?

Chris: I've always kept diaries, and when Internet came into fashion it was only natural that I should use this new medium to share my thoughts. Then I discovered the beauty of live interaction with other bloggers, via comments and e-mails... this is the best part of a blog, in my opinion.

Reporter: Why should anybody visit your page?

Chris: Well, I guess my blog will help you get to know me better. For Romanian speakers I have my primary Wordpress blog: http://chrismilla.wordpress.com and I also have one in English, for my friends who don't speak Romanian: http://smilla-smilla.blogspot.com.

Reporter: Which is your favorite blog (apart from your own, of course)?

Chris: I have lots of favorite blogs that I read frequently. I read Suzi and Ina's girlie blogs, they are lots of fun. I read the Book Lover's (although she might say otherwise) blog to find out about new books and what to read. The list is very long, I tell you. But you can browse it all on my blog, right-hand side blogroll.

Reporter: If your intention was to make some money with your blog, what would you write about?

Chris: There are various ways to make money from your blog. You can attract a lot of traffic and the make money from advertisement. However, I blog for pleasure, not traffic, and I hate commercials on web pages. So I would not think about this, but I must confess I have in mind another method to make money from my blog: writing a book. :-) And I'm now taking part in a blogging contest where I'm also going to win some stuff for my blog. You can read my article and vote for me if you like it! :p [commercial moment over ;))]

Holiday Target: Lisbon, Portugal

2007-07-20T11:32:00.000+03:00

The capital of Portugal, Lisbon is famous all over the world for its narrow streets crossed by yellow trams, being one of the few European cities to still use trams as public transport means. Being a city built on 7 hills, don’t be surprised if the tram seems at times more like a rollercoaster!

If you only have 3 days in Lisbon, like I did, here are some things you must absolutely do:

Take a walk around the old center, starting in Praça do Comércio, and continuing on to Rúa Augusta, a pedestrian street with a lot of shops and nice terraces to sip a coffee and enjoy the buzz of the city around you. • Take the Santa Justa elevator, the only vertical elevator in Lisbon up to the Carmo Convent. This Gothic masterpiece was ruined by a major earthquake in 1755 and is today preserved as an Archaeology Museum.

Take a deep breath and climb the Castle hill for spectacular views from the Saint George Castle, located on the highest spot of the city. Every now and then take a detour off the main road and enjoy the view (or, indeed, the beer) from one of the small terrace bars scattered along the way.

Head down to the Tagus river to visit the Cathedral and the Alfama neighborhood, the oldest neighborhood of the city and one that has survived two major earthquakes in the course of the centuries. Lose yourself on the small streets, where locals hang their clothes to dry just above your head or take a tram to enjoy the views without getting tired.

Visit the neighboring towns of Sintra, Estoril and Cascais, to admire old architecture monuments, have a typical seafood meal or go to the beach. The last two are beach resorts where the sun shines all day round, although the ocean is still somewhat cold.

On your third day, explore the western part of the city, and go to see the Belem tower, a UNESCO heritage site that will stick to your soul immediately. Seems to be made of sand and will definitely have you thinking of childhood stories of knights and ladies…
Take your time to explore this 16th century fortress with its romantic loggias and impressive views (that is if you manage to climb five floors on the narrowest spiral staircase!)

Not far from the Tower, you can visit the Jeronimos Monastery, a magnificent Manueline Gothic monument that preserves the earthly remains of Vasco da Gama and Luis Camoes. The impressive building also hosts an Archaeological Museum, and the Lisbon Maritime Museum.

Eat in the numerous restaurants scattered along the way, and don’t leave Lisbon without trying the delicious cream tarts known as Pasteis de Belem.

Boa viagem!

(Have a nice trip!)

*See my pics from Lisbon on Picasa!

This is NOT an abandoned blog :-)

2007-07-06T23:44:00.000+03:00

Despite the weird blogger.com interface in Romanian, I'm still interested in this blog, just didn't have time to update it. It's a bit time-consuming to write the same things (basically) in two languages, but I've decided I'll put here more about the places I travel, and the books I read and this kind of stuff, and leave other musings for my Romanian blog.

It's nice to be able to say Budapest was not the last European capital I visited this year. Just a few weeks ago I went to Lisbon, in Portugal, an interesting and picturesque place by the river Tagus.

I'll write more about this experience very soon.

Budapest

2007-04-09T13:23:00.000+02:00

I went on a "shopping trip" to Budapest at the end of March. I must confess I didn't think we would really go, although we had the plane tickets (Wizz Air) and Diana kept sending us hotel links to check out :-)

The idea came up one day in the office. It was the end of February I think, and Diana was about to go to (or had just come back from?) Rome. We were talking about clothes, and designer's stores and shoes and stuff, and wondering what the closest shopper's paradise was - to Bucharest, of course. So Diana suggested Budapest, and Mih said she wanted to go, seriously now, she really did want to see Budapest and let's do it! Diana immediately opened a browser and found low cost plane tickets, so low cost in fact that a return plane ticket to Budapest cost less than one-way trip to most places in Romania by car/train. So we booked the tickets, Raluca announced she also wanted to go, we decided at some point that boys were to stay out of this "fashionista trip" and on March 30th, at 4:30 in the morning, we were on the Baneasa airport sipping coffee in plastic cups, all 4 of us sleepy and excited at the same time, playing with our IKEA finger-toys and waiting to get to Budapest!

The photos can speak for the rest:

1. sewer lids from the Austro-Hungarian Empire period
2. doors
3. urban furniture
4. others

So I must go to New York!

2007-03-18T00:55:00.000+02:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Midland
The South
Boston
The West
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Si em mor

2007-03-17T18:10:00.000+02:00

I'm obssessed with this song today:

Si em mor, if I die
que el cant siga ja realitat, may the song become reality,
Si em mor, if I die
que les esperances siguen fets may the hopes become facts
i que d'altres continuen and that others continue
el que nosaltres continuem. what we continued.

Si em mor if I die
-quin absurd descans-, - what an absurd rest-,
ja per sempre now forever
lluny de tot el que més estime, far from what I've loved most,
lluny de tot el que més vull. far from what I wish most.

Si em mor, if I die,
que el cant siga ja realitat, may the song become reality,

Si em mor, if I die

que el nostre treball may that our efforts
haja guanyat. be rewarded.

Si em mor. if I die
Si em mor. if I die

This song was written by the Catalan artist Raimon, and appeared for the first time in 1964.

As always, thanks to Cancioneros de Trovadores for the lyrics.

Mayrit

2007-03-17T17:36:00.000+02:00

Jose published a series of great pictures from Madrid on his blog, entitled The Sky Over Madrid.

Highly recommended! :-)

PR Forum

2007-03-17T17:31:00.000+02:00

On Tue., 13th March Evensys organized the first PR Forum in Romania.

I attended two of the 4 sessions, thanks to my boss, Raluca, and here I wrote about the event (in Romanian).

Visiting Romania: Bran - Babele

2007-03-17T17:00:00.000+02:00

Last week-end we went to Bran and spent two wonderful days at a b&b called MIS, very close to Bran Castle (marketed as Dracula's Castle, though it has nothing to do with Dracula) and very nice and comfortable. The landlady is a retired teacher from Brasov and the place was build using EU Sapard funding and is one of the most clean and elegant places to stay in the area. A little hard to reach, true, but on the other hand it's a good thing to be farther from the main road if you want a quiet holiday.

On Saturday we took the cable car from Busteni to Babele. It was a 15-minutes trip uphill, in a spectacular landscape (going down is even more spactacular, like a huge roller coaster, though at a lower speed) and we ended up on the Babele highland, a weird place that looked like the moon to me.

Of course I knew Babele ("the Old Ladies") was a plateau at 2200 m, where you could see, apart from the renowned Old Ladies (two large rocks looking like mushrooms to me), another huge nature-made sculpture called the Sphynx (2216 m). But actually seeing them was very very impressive and I can't wait for the summer, when we will go back to take the 1-hour trip to the Caraiman Cross, which we couldn't see this time due to the snow and late hour (we would've missed the last cable car going down, if we went).

I really liked the feeling of being on top of the world; it was a nice sunny day and the sky was bluer than ever, there were quite a few people up there, taking photographs and having a good time, and the only bad thing of the trip was the fact that the toilet at Babele Chalet was broken. But this will hopefully be fixed by the next time we go.

Stuff I collected over time

2007-03-17T16:54:00.000+02:00

1. A link to an interesting post:

How to make a successful blog

2. "The Career Manifesto" - I don't agree with more than half of the stuff there, though

1. Unless you’re working in a coal mine, an emergency ward, or their equivalent, spare us the sad stories about your tough job. The biggest risk most of us face in the course of a day is a paper cut.

2. Yes, your boss is an idiot at times. So what? (Do you think your associates sit around and marvel at your deep thoughts?) If you cannot give your boss basic loyalty, either report the weasel to the proper authorities or be gone.

3. You are paid to take meaningful actions, not superficial ones. Don’t brag about that memo you sent out or how hard you work. Tell us what you achieved.

4. Although your title may be the same, the job that you were hired to do three years ago is probably not the job you have now. When you are just coasting and not thinking several steps ahead of your responsibilities, you are in dinosaur territory and a meteor is coming.

5. If you suspect that you’re working in a madhouse, you probably are. Even sociopaths have jobs. Don’t delude yourself by thinking you’ll change what the organization regards as a “turkey farm.” Flee.

6. Your technical skills may impress the other geeks, but if you can’t get along with your co-workers, you’re a litigation breeder. Don’t be surprised if management regards you as an expensive risk.

7. If you have a problem with co-workers, have the guts to tell them, preferably in words of one syllable.

8. Don’t believe what the organization says it does. Its practices are its real policies. Study what is rewarded and what is punished and you’ll have a better clue as to what’s going on.

9. Don’t expect to be perfect. Focus on doing right instead of being right. It will simplify the world enormously.

10.If you plan on showing them what you’re capable of only after you get promoted, you need to reverse your thinking.

Grey's Anatomy

2007-03-17T16:34:00.000+02:00

For those of you who haven't heard about it, Grey's Anatomy is a TV show broadcast by abc in the US and TVR1 in Romania (Tuesdays at 21:45). It follows the life and struggles of a group of surgical interns at a Seattle hospital and I really like it. I even took the test to see which character I ressemble and I came out as Callie. I don't know who she is yet; we've reached season 2, episode 2 here and she hasn't shown up yet. But she sure seems a lot like me :-)

Just thought I would share this with you.

"screw them all" day

2007-03-17T16:21:00.000+02:00

I'm a bit behind with this blog - this post was written on my other blog 10 days ago

I usually do not complain about my job on this blog
but if I were to start, today would be a good day :D

RoBlogFest - 18th Place!

2007-03-07T22:12:00.000+02:00

And so RoBlogFest 2007 came and went, and there was a biiiiig afterparty with lots and lots of bloggers (when I realized you had to put your name on a list on the roblogfest.ro website in order to attend the party, there were already 400 & sth people and a maximum of 300 places so I gave up (Suzi couldn't come, anyway :p)). And the contest winners were announced at the party, some of them controversial (in an Eurovision-kind-of-controversy), others well-deserving... but this is less important, since all the top winners are well-known Romanian bloggers and I'm sure it was their internet fame that brought them the votes.

But you must be wondering what WE did, that is to say my blog and I ;))

Well, surprisingly, we ended up on the 18th position in the "Best blogs" category and we're very proud to be in the Top 20, from a total of 215 blogs listed for this category.

As regards the other two categories, Disentangling the Web (Romanian version) came out 23rd in the "Best personal blog" category and 21st in the "Best post" section.

And I'm happy, and I thank all those who gave me my 11 votes :-)

Yours,

Chris

the game of hazard

2007-03-07T22:00:00.000+02:00

Sometimes I play a fun game:

I open one one or another of my favorite blogspot.com blogs , I read whatever there is to read and then I press the "Next Blog" button and read another random blog, then press next again... and so on until I get bored, or I'm late for wherever I'm going, or the Next button simply disappears (on customized pages).

My findings today are:

Carlota Duarte - Sem imaginação - the musings of an 18 year-old religious girl from Portugal;
Raedwald - A London blogger writing a boat's blog :-)
Pala-pala - A French photo blog.
Shelley's blog - A personal blog of a Canadian lady (I must read this one in detail, seems interesting).
The Sociopath Daily - daily postings from the "crazy world" series.

...am I insane, or is it just normal human curiosity to always want to click & see what's NEXT?

Chernobyl

2007-03-07T21:35:00.000+02:00

In 1986 I was about 7 years old and I had no idea what "radiation" meant. My only memory related to the Chernobyl explosion is a dialogue I had with my mother one day in the tram station:

- Mom, why aren't we allowed to go out these days?
- Because of the radiations, Christina. You must stay inside because of the radiations.
- And how are the radiations?
- Well, I'm not sure, but they're very bad for you. If you're touched by radiations your skin is burnt and your hair falls out.

That was all I ever knew about the radiations. I don't remember feeling frustrated for having to stay indoors, like I felt when I had the measles. But a few years later I read a book about the atomic explosion at Hiroshima and recognized the effects of nuclear radiations. It was only then, after several years from the Chernobyl explosion had passed, that I started to worry about losing my hair or my skin, and I would run my fingernails over my forearms every day to see if my skin was falling off. It never did, so after some time I stopped doing it :-)

This entry was initially published as a comment on Sonykus' blog entry, Level 7.

My Visual DNA

2007-03-07T21:27:00.000+02:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

The One Million Masterpiece

2007-03-04T18:55:00.000+02:00

I read about The One Million Masterpiece project on Madalina Macovei's blog on Yahoo 360. She has submitted a drawing of her own that was featured in an OMM calendar.

The One Million Masterpiece is a project aimed at bringing together the drawings of one million people from all over the world in a huge online patchwork image. All the money resulted from this project are donated to charity, as the website states.

I really liked the image below, which is the work of a 16 year old highschool student from the US, called Quian Zhao. On his OMM profile you can see a Flash film that shows the creation of his drawing, step by step. Pretty impressive!

You can also visit Quian Zhao's profile by clicking on the link below. I'm thinking of contributing with my own drawing to this project - what about you?

Waiting for IKEA

2007-03-04T18:50:00.000+02:00

The famous furniture store chain is about to open its first outlet in Romania on March 21st. They've already promoted it in the papers and the city is full of Ikea outdoor commercials; starting from last Friday we even have a dedicated website, a bit boring for the time being, but, hey, it's there!

Last week they also distributed the famous Ikea catalogue to some 15,000 people in Bucharest and the neighbouring towns. They advertise low prices, but judging from the catalogue, they're not really that low. However, the furniture looks very nice and I can't wait for the store to open to see it with my own eyes.

Martisoare :-)

2007-03-04T18:45:00.000+02:00

To me the 1st of March has always meant the beginning of spring and, yes, mărţişoare! Those little "symbols of spring" that we used to offer to mothers, grandmothers and teachers alike, small good-luck charms to protect us in the year to come and make us happy every day. Or at least on the day when we received them.

In the old days they used to be quite standard: flowers in a plastic tube, small pendant-like four-leaves clovers for luck, ladybugs and chimney-sweeps that you could lose in the palm of your hand or the much more stylish and sophisticated models created by the Plastic Artists' Association and available only to a select few.

Today anyone can create and sell mărţişoare and you can see the craziest models on sale in the crowded corners of the town: one-eye monsters and robots, Disney characters or seashell masterpieces. Artists take advantage of this custom to sell mărţişoare of their own making: painted ceramic pieces, embroideries, hand-made jewels and many more. The long-standing tradition has been so well assimilated into the consumer society that we even have a fair-like event in Bucharest, where you can buy presents for your loved ones on this special occasion. And they are - it breaks my heart to say it :) - just about the same kitschy presents you can buy at the Christimas, Valentine's Day and Easter fairs.

I don't know if the 1st of March has the same happy meaning to all of today as it used to have when we were kids. I know that for me any warm and pleasant day in the middle of a cold winter season makes me think suddenly of mărţişoare. To me they are a symbol of the light-hearted days of childhood, and I know the sun has to shine on every 1st of March, at least for a minute or two.

***
Wikipedia: History of the Martisor tradition

A sample generic Mărţişor is the symbol of spring and also a celebration on the first of March. Its beginnings are still a mystery, but it is usually said that it originated in Rome, because New Year's Eve was celebrated on the 1st of March, the month of the god Mars. He was the god of agriculture and signified the rebirth of nature. For the Thracians, Marsyas-Silen, whose cult was related to the vegetation and the land, had the same attributes. The flower and nature celebrations were consecrated to him.
It is said that the Mărţişor originated from the Ancient Roman culture, where March (Martius) was the month of the war god Mars with a double role: both protector of agriculture and of war. This duality of symbols is kept in the colours of the Mărţişor: white and red, meaning peace and war (it might also symbolize winter and spring). This custom can be found in all areas where Romanians live. Bulgarians also have an almost identical tradition on the 1 March, called "Martenitsa".

Digital Marketing Forum

2007-03-04T18:33:00.000+02:00

I've recently attended an event organized for the first time in Romania and entitled Digital Marketing Forum (website/blog). It was an event that brought together lots of people working in the online business, from bloggers to CEO's of internet companies [not that the two couldn't be one & the same :)]

I only attended SESSION IV: 16.00 - 17.00

Interactive solutions to promote your business.

TOPICS:

Search Engine Optimization - How does it help me?
Blogs - Why bet on blogging?
Text Ads - An effective alternative at a small price?
Viral - How to start a chain reaction

SPEAKERS:

Cristian Mezei, Internet Marketing Specialist, Kondiment
Madalin Matica, Director for European Operations, DotCommerce
Doru Panaitescu, Director of New Media, Initiative Romania

MODERATOR:

Dragos Novac, Managing Partner, Krogos

impressions:

Well, I read Cristian Mezei's name as "mezel" (Romanian for sausage & salami kind of products), maybe also linking it to his company's name ("Kondiment"). I was also a bit hungry, why not admit it. But when he started speaking, I forgot all about hunger & stuff, fascinated by what he had to say about search engine optimization and online ad-placing. Though very technical, his speech was extremely interesting and useful and I really hoped to find the presentation online on the event website, but this hasn't happened so far. I googled him when I got back to work and found out he was born on March 26th, 1983, which means he's two days younger than my brother. OMG, I feel so old!

And I really think it's high time my brother started his successful manager career, because I'm obviously not cut out for this. With a little luck I might end up being a successful writer or University professor. It's what I like best!

Here's a funny page, from Manafu: get a first life!

Sort of Evil muahaha

2007-03-04T18:32:00.000+02:00

You Are 36% Evil

A bit of evil lurks in your heart, but you hide it well.

In some ways, you are the most dangerous kind of evil.

How Evil Are You?

Blogger grandma & more

2007-02-21T23:40:00.000+02:00

Well, I won't translate my posts word for word, but I can tell you that this week's highlights on Disentangling the Web, Romanian version, are:

1. the 95 year-old blogger from Spain. She says she received her blog as a birthday present from a stingy grandson [lol!] and has been dictating her posts to him ever since. I imagine her grandson must be 30-something if she's 95, and rather than being stingy, I think he was actually very smart. The blog is very nice because of her way of telling the stories; I haven't read it all, just parts of stories from her childhood and youth in Corcubion and she has a very tender modern-yet-old-lady tone. I've been to a Medieval Fair in Corcubion some 4 years ago and I have very good memories of the place and the people. And I love Galicia, so I'm biased.

2. my participation in the RoBlogFest contest. You can vote for me here! [voting page in Romanian] You will find my blog under 3 categories: Best Blog [Disentangling the web]; Best personal blog [Chrismilla] and Best blog post [Disentangling the web]

3. ... well, I've recently started to develop a very special relationship with a miss Histamine, who's confused enough to give me an allergy to cold when I least expect it. Cold urticaria it's called, and apparently it can also be caused by underlying health problems, such as liver or kidney problems; abuse of aspirins or antibiotics or an allergic reaction to anti-flu vaccines. I don't know the causes of my urticaria; it looks quite ugly and comes out on my face, hands, neck and basically any part of my body that's exposed to cold water/ cold air or wind (even if it's a sunny day). I've been keeping it under control lately with heartsease or Viola tricolor pills. In Romanian this plant is called "Three spotted brothers" for some reason, and Mihai says they're spotted because they take upon themselves all the allergies of the world :-)))

I'm planning to go to the doctor soon, for a full check-up, just in case.

Suzi, here I come! :p

2007-02-21T23:39:00.001+02:00

You Belong in Dublin

Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions.

You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town.

What European City Do You Belong In?

The fatal moment - or the influence of Hollywood

2007-02-18T16:36:00.000+02:00

Sometimes all I want to do is sip some coffee and watch an American movie "with beautiful people". The subject of the movie is irrelevant. All that matters are the characters: a beautiful girl, or an attractive couple; a friendly family of 6-12 members living in a huge house that is absolutely identical to all the other houses around, on a long street, bordered by chestnuts; a young girl with more problems than anyone could possibly take, but with a very cute and calm face... give me any of these people and I'm stuck on the sofa from the beginning till the end.

Whenever I'm tired of my "real life", of the normal people I meet every day and the routine that gets to you no matter what, I turn on the TV and look for a nice movie. The characters of the movie are, of course, supposed to be normal, everyday people. Yeah, right! Like I don't know they're actually perfect individuals that accept all the hardships the movie director sees fit to face them with, just to show us that they can beat anything with minumum effort, in about 2 hours. Always on a good hair day, always perfectly dressed and ready to cope with the hardest problems in the easiest way.

The treacherous moment is similar in all these movies and comes unexpectedly. Just as the boy is taking a difficult u-turn in the most important race of his life, and the parents are watching him with huge grins on their faces... just as everybody's at the peak of happiness, something happens. The boy's head falls on the wheel, the car leaves the racing lane, the parent's expression changes dramatically and your heart stops for a second, even though you know it's just a movie.

Well, it's all about this split second when something irreversible happens and you cannot control it. The second when you break your mom's most favorite vase; the second when your whole world comes apart and you're left to put the pieces back together. I've learned to fear this second. Even though vases can be mended, and lives too.

I still prefer the movies, where things end well all the time and at the end of the two hours there's no sign of the cracks whatsoever.

Winter-spring nostalgia

2007-02-16T13:01:00.000+02:00

On the way back from Baneasa airport, where we went to wait for our "daughter" ("Getitza") and take her home, my head swarms with memories of early school years. I remember an old stupid joke, known as "the ix-pix joke" that we used to tell in 6th grade, scared of being caught and yet happy we could tell a joke that contained "forbidden" words and not get smacked for that.

And I remember my sudden decision to go to the English highschool, in the 8th grade, when I had less than three months to go for the entrance exam and I didn't know any English at all. I remember Mrs. Andronache, our nice English teacher, who managed to overcome her initial surprise when I went to ask her if she thought I could handle an English exam at that point. The answer was obviously NO, but she was too kind to do that to me. "Why not?" she said. "But I have to warn you, we're going to have a lot of work to do". We.

Mrs. Andronache worked with me for more than two months, although in the meantime I had realized the huge gap between my actual knowledge and the level of English required for the exam and I was a little bit scared that I might not be able to pass, after all.

When the day finally came, however, I was calm. I know now that this exam was the most difficult I ever took in my life. It was my first exam; I was in front of a committee of 3 teachers who expected me to speak acceptably (to say the least) in a language I had studied for only 3 months.

Looking back to that moment, I realize how much Mrs. Andronache has influenced the course of my life. I can see myself - 14, short haircut (my father's decision that I could not object to!), green pants and white sweater - possessed by some wild, weird decision, getting up and asking her if she thought I could go to Cosbuc. Against all reason. Cosbuc was the hot highschool of the moment. The place that all the "cool" people went to. I was a library rat. I wasn't supposed to be "cool" and actually I never chose Cosbuc because it was trendy, but because - at that point - it was the biggest challenge I could face.

And Mrs. Andronache saw that - or she was just being kind - and supported me all the way. I hope one day I will be able to do someone a favour just as huge as the one she did to me.

Apart from that, Baneasa airport is as small and boring as ever; Getitza recommends Wizz Air and says they're way better than blue air, and while we were waiting for her plane to land, there was a flight for Barcelona taking off and a voice was calling over and over again for the passengers to go to the boarding gates. I was so sorry I wasn't one of those passengers...

I'd like to go to some nice, foreign place. At least for a year or two.

Bol-ber

2007-02-10T13:42:00.000+02:00

I'm about to watch Volver and I'm very very excited about it! I've been meaning to see it for ages, but somehow I never got around to doing it so far. I'm getting ready for the big moment, reviewing my knowledge about director Pedro Almodóvar and - I guess it's inevitable! - nostalgically remembering my beloved Cecilia Roth! I loved her so much in Almodovar's movie Todo sobre mi madre, that for about a year or so I insisted that everyone call me ChriSesilia ;))

I can't wait to see Volver!!! I saw the trailer and there's a flamenco song at the end that sounds very very good; no wonder, since the singer is the famous flamenco cantaora Estrella Morente. I have a feeling I'm going to have to buy the soundtrack, but let's not anticipate! :P

Mafalda

2007-02-09T13:59:00.000+02:00

Mih brought me two Mafalda books from Argentina. The cover of one of them is featured in this picture. Mafalda is a very very smart little girl, who's quite mature for her age and very much concerned with the future of mankind and world peace.

So far, my favorite episodes are:

Mafalda wakes up and goes to her mother:

"Good morning, mom, do you know if they have destroyed all the nuclear weapons already?"

"I don't know, sweetie, but I doubt it", says the mother. "Why?"

"Oh... nothing", says Mafalda.

And going back to her room, she thinks: It would be nice, for a change, to know that one's life depends entirely upon oneself..."

Check out some Mafalda cartoons in Spanish here.

(to be continued)

Equilibrium?

2007-02-07T18:06:00.000+02:00

I have a green frog with red eyes on my desk. It's climbing a brown ladder (or rather going down a brown ladder, now that I look better!) over an orange background. It's beautiful and I got it for my birthday. It has tons of good wishes on the back :))

Alex B.'s Yahoo Mess picture today represents an old Chinese sage wearing a blue robe. He's standing in the snow and I like to imagine he's Lee, the old Chinese cook from Steinbeck's East of Eden, waiting for Caleb to come home, or maybe looking after Samuel, who has just gone home in his old wagon. Alex says he's not a Chinese cook, but a Japanese Samurai and he's well used to the snow so I shouldn't worry about him being cold. But I think he's Lee, thinking about the correct translation of the word timshel, that gave so much trouble to a number of old Chinese sages.

Now to the subject of this post, I first saw a bottle of Balance in Germany a couple of weeks ago. It's basically water with a fruity flavor and comes in all sorts of crazy combinations: apples, peaches, pineapple, cactus and aloe vera, oranges and rose petals; absolute madness with just 5 calories! :)) The first time I bought a bottle of Balance I was just thirsty and I had a sore throat. It was cold, so it took me some two days to drink the whole bottle (750 ml).

I don't remember what flavor I bought the first time, but the second time I bought the fruity water, I was in a supermarket called Netto and they had a special offer, so I bought a whole six-pack... for the road, since we were leaving for Bucharest the following day. The flavor was: pineapple-grapefruit-aloe vera. Times 6.

I finished it up all by myself, as my family refused to taste it. My brother said I might as well drink water from a dirty bottle of Fanta; it would taste the same!

I recently found out we have Balance in Romania! It's sold in the G'Market stores and OMV gas stations, costs well over a euro and I just bought two bottles!

... when I quit smoking I thought I was free of any possible addiction. Apparently I was wrong.

Disentangling the Web

2007-02-07T17:50:00.000+02:00

Hello everybody!

Disentangling the Web is my Yahoo 360 blog and I've been keeping it for the past two years (wow! time does fly...). I usually write my entries in Romanian, although I have had occasional attempts to write in Spanish or English. Still, Romanian is my mother tongue - and being my personal blog and all, I felt more comfortable writing in Romanian.

Today I give you the English version of my blog - in the meanwhile I've made many friends who can't read Romanian and I'd really like to make my blog available to them also.

I'll basically be translating the posts I publish in Romanian on my other blog.

Enjoy and don't forget I just LOVE comments!!

Disentangling the Web

Procrastination

Spring is coming

It´s a big Universe

Chris, the Blogger

Holiday Target: Lisbon, Portugal

This is NOT an abandoned blog :-)

Budapest

So I must go to New York!

Si em mor

Mayrit

PR Forum

Visiting Romania: Bran - Babele

Stuff I collected over time

Grey's Anatomy

"screw them all" day

RoBlogFest - 18th Place!

the game of hazard

Chernobyl

My Visual DNA

The One Million Masterpiece

Waiting for IKEA

Martisoare :-)

Digital Marketing Forum

Interactive solutions to promote your business.

TOPICS:

SPEAKERS:

MODERATOR:

Sort of Evil *muahaha*

Blogger grandma & more

Suzi, here I come! :p

The fatal moment - or the influence of Hollywood

Winter-spring nostalgia

Bol-ber

Mafalda

Equilibrium?

Disentangling the Web

Sort of Evil muahaha