Anyway, you get the picture: conversations may become cumbersome this year.
Showing posts with label The World. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The World. Show all posts
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Maybe less is more
Are we communicating too much? Because these these days, and by that I mean the holiday season, a lot of communication media (pl. from medium = way) become overused resulting in inefficient communication (e.g. messages are delayed, calls don't get through, bad connectivity etc. - this refers to cell phone networks and social networks, but if we think about it, it can certainly be extended to other "aspects" of life).
Anyway, you get the picture: conversations may become cumbersome this year.
Anyway, you get the picture: conversations may become cumbersome this year.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The 9th floor, Oasis, cooking, Sweden and Sinterklaas
Hmmm, D. H. Lawrence was right about the marmalade and shredding oranges part ("I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It's amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor"). After I vacuumed the hall-way and I cleaned the kitchen and I made myself some poached eggs with tuna, rice and tomatoes, I felt better.
For all of us I hope the winter cheer will be near this year :).
Why did I want to feel better?
Well, because I got a bit of "the blues" myself. A lot has happened these past few months (I meat a lot of musicians, I went to Denmark and Sweden and Germany in a flash trip, I acquainted myself to Sinterklaas - the Dutch version of the Romanian Sf. Nicolae - at his huge parade, I finally figured out what I want to research this year, I've been through a week of hell (class-wise), and I started getting used to the constant rain here...I repeat I started, I'm not fully used to it yet).
Although Malmo in Sweden really relaxed me, although the concerts at Prins Claus Conservatorium were a delight, although the Sinterklaas parade was awesome, although I'm very excited about what I want to research, although I made a looooot of friends here, although I am not that home sick, because Groningen is "crawling" with Romanian students :)) and I see Jeremiah on Skype all the time, although I have an amazing housemate from Romania who takes care of me from time to time :), although I have the distinct feeling that time actually past slower since I came to the Netherlands, well, I still "got the blues thinking about the future".
I think it all started when I my advisor asked me if I wanted to apply for a PhD program and after I spent a whole afternoon on the peaceful 9th floor of my university building. The windows there are round, like a submarine's windows, if a the submarine were at the Nemo ride in Disneyland, CA. Although there were 8 floors beneath my feet and the scenery from above had a certain charm to it, the distinct feeling of sinking surrounded me, and that's when "the blues" started and it's been lingering since.
I hope Oasis will get me into a state of "the blues" that will shock me out of "the blues", an over-dosage of "the blues" so to speak :) (like Seinfeld said talking about cough medicine: Figure out what will kill me, and then back it up a bit.)
For all of us I hope the winter cheer will be near this year :).
Sunday, October 4, 2009
In the south of the Netherlands
After traveling through the whole country - in about 4 hours - we managed to reach Maastricht. Maastricht is in a battle with Nijmegen for the title of the oldest city in the Netherlands. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Maastricht :).
Its cathedrals, tall buildings and clean, narrow streets, it's wall drawings, huge groups of tourists and small water streams under trees and streetlamps are just lovely.
The cities in the Netherlands are very well organized and even an easily-get-lost person like myself can get around. Plus they have delicious food and crunchy ice cream which help with the whole orientation process.
Here's a few pics from Maastricht, the city devided in two by the river Maas:
Its cathedrals, tall buildings and clean, narrow streets, it's wall drawings, huge groups of tourists and small water streams under trees and streetlamps are just lovely.
The cities in the Netherlands are very well organized and even an easily-get-lost person like myself can get around. Plus they have delicious food and crunchy ice cream which help with the whole orientation process.
Here's a few pics from Maastricht, the city devided in two by the river Maas:
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Between the rain and the plain
Groningen is just lovely, but, you have to allow it its few eccentricities in order to really enjoy all the culture, clean air and welcoming people it has to offer.
One of its main "I do what I want" features is of course, the weather. It rains for three minutes, then it stops.
A hopeful creature like myself, was very excited about the sun the first few times the rain stopped, but after ten minutes or so, it starts again and again and again. Still I was able to get a few snap shops of the beautiful architectural mixture that Groningen has to offer. I know it sounds like I'm a
dvertising for tourist vacations, but I actually like the city a lot. All the green and friendly faces do
help fight the moody weather stigma.
Its second "I do what I want" feature has to be the abundance of bikes. They come from everywhere and everybody rides them, from children to old but athletic people. Accidents do happen of course. I have
never seen so many people with crutches in just one day, but clearly a price has to be paid for all he clean air :).
A third "I do what I want" feature includes the eclectic nature of everything, from faces you see on the bus, to the food you find, streets you step on and the discussions you have in a pub, with a bunch of eager students from around the globe (from Nicaragua to Italy to Ethiopia and China).
Diana and I wanted a view of the city yesterday so we went to the 90 m tall Martinitoren.
Where the importance of time is clearly stated, where the wind blew in
our hair and Diana had a little Marilyn Monroe moment.
So far it's been all visiting and coping with the rain and the bikes, which are of course the very enjoyable parts of my stay here. The academic year has begun and survival is my main goal :).
Enjoy mainly predictable weather and mostly accident free streets, while I'll enjoy everything else that HERE has to offer and anywhere else has LESS of :)!
Tot ziens,
Lumi
One of its main "I do what I want" features is of course, the weather. It rains for three minutes, then it stops.
A hopeful creature like myself, was very excited about the sun the first few times the rain stopped, but after ten minutes or so, it starts again and again and again. Still I was able to get a few snap shops of the beautiful architectural mixture that Groningen has to offer. I know it sounds like I'm a
dvertising for tourist vacations, but I actually like the city a lot. All the green and friendly faces dohelp fight the moody weather stigma.
Its second "I do what I want" feature has to be the abundance of bikes. They come from everywhere and everybody rides them, from children to old but athletic people. Accidents do happen of course. I have
never seen so many people with crutches in just one day, but clearly a price has to be paid for all he clean air :).A third "I do what I want" feature includes the eclectic nature of everything, from faces you see on the bus, to the food you find, streets you step on and the discussions you have in a pub, with a bunch of eager students from around the globe (from Nicaragua to Italy to Ethiopia and China).
Diana and I wanted a view of the city yesterday so we went to the 90 m tall Martinitoren.
Where the importance of time is clearly stated, where the wind blew in
our hair and Diana had a little Marilyn Monroe moment.So far it's been all visiting and coping with the rain and the bikes, which are of course the very enjoyable parts of my stay here. The academic year has begun and survival is my main goal :).
Enjoy mainly predictable weather and mostly accident free streets, while I'll enjoy everything else that HERE has to offer and anywhere else has LESS of :)!
Tot ziens,
Lumi
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Let's be SKEPTICAL!
I fell into the allure of the unexplainable a lot of times in my life, but, then again, that tickles my curiosity filling my body with dopamine, so you can't really blame me for seeking the stuff. Still, we can all benefit from the positive part of being skeptical.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Q: "So, what's new on TED?" A: "Something you should ponder for sure."
If you're not familiar with TED, you should know they have ideas worth spreading. Therefore don't limit yourselves to the talk I posted and dig deeper into TED Talk history and other parts of the site: www.ted.com.
Meanwhile, here's an almost 90 year old lady, very coherently telling us something about ourselves that we probably rarely hear:
Meanwhile, here's an almost 90 year old lady, very coherently telling us something about ourselves that we probably rarely hear:
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
12 Angry Men
If you ever wondered why the US justice system states that there must be 12 members in a jury and if you ever wondered why, for a man to be convicted of a crime, there has to be an unanimous decision of the jury, and if you ever wondered how the way we were brought up to the family status that we have when we're 75 can influence our decisions, YOU should WATCH 12 Angry Men, a Sydney Lumet masterpiece from 1957.
Long phraze, isn't it! :D
Here's a glimpse of the film:
Isn't prejudice so so so sad?
The truth is, we will always be different, us humans, and there will always be people who will dislike other people for different reasons. But these are never good enough reasons (even if they're only in our heads) to convict innocent people.
What we think about what happens should certainly be linked to what really happens if we want our decisions to be fair to everybody, especially to us.
...and another thing: I am very glad that BARACK OBAMA is the next US president :).
Long phraze, isn't it! :D
Here's a glimpse of the film:
Isn't prejudice so so so sad?
The truth is, we will always be different, us humans, and there will always be people who will dislike other people for different reasons. But these are never good enough reasons (even if they're only in our heads) to convict innocent people.
What we think about what happens should certainly be linked to what really happens if we want our decisions to be fair to everybody, especially to us.
...and another thing: I am very glad that BARACK OBAMA is the next US president :).
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
I have a Dream
I was talking to a very good friend of mine a few days ago about what's worth doing in Romania, if anything.
It all started from he fact that a reporting crew from PROtv won an EMI for their scene broadcasts. That's great for them. I tip my hat to the talented journalists that managed to beat broadcasting crews from Brazil and Great Britain. But I also have to be a little disappointed about what they show in their broadcasts and also about everything shown about or from Romania that wins awards...that's right...bad things.
How is it that a film about an abortion during communist times won more appraises from international critiques than one about conquering basic human condition and rising above all unpleasant events and misfortunes? (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 day vs. California Dreamin’) How is it that only news about gypsies that allegedly kill ladies in Italy, high school hackers, deplorable asylums and orphanages get into the international public eye? There are a lot of good things that come from our country, just not good enough to overcome the bad ones.
Don't get me wrong now, I am as displeased about what happens in our country: the poverty, the fact that we don't have a decent educational system, the social programs that don't get enough funding although international funds are returned unused at he end of the year, or worse, budgets are used in a blink on fictive operations so that free money can be accounted for, the fact that children are burnt in maternity incubators in the care of inhuman nurses and a lot of other very unpleasant and disturbing things.
All these are sadly very true, but do we really have to accentuate only them when we present something to the international communities? What kind of country are we that we don’t even give them the chance to question the fact that we’re deplorable?
Like Chaplin and Martin Luther King Jr once let to be understood or just plain said it in their speeches, I too have a dream; a dream about people getting along, a dream about a country that can solve its problems by internal means and consideration from all its citizens, a dream of cooperation, a dream in which people actually consider de consequences of their actions, a dream of peace and prosperity, a dream of free education for the masses, a dream in which orphans in orphanages and old persons in asylums are treated like humans and not like rags, a dream in which the public international eye finds our emancipation efforts and the solutions to our internal problems truly commendable, I have a Dream...
It all started from he fact that a reporting crew from PROtv won an EMI for their scene broadcasts. That's great for them. I tip my hat to the talented journalists that managed to beat broadcasting crews from Brazil and Great Britain. But I also have to be a little disappointed about what they show in their broadcasts and also about everything shown about or from Romania that wins awards...that's right...bad things.
How is it that a film about an abortion during communist times won more appraises from international critiques than one about conquering basic human condition and rising above all unpleasant events and misfortunes? (4 months, 3 weeks and 2 day vs. California Dreamin’) How is it that only news about gypsies that allegedly kill ladies in Italy, high school hackers, deplorable asylums and orphanages get into the international public eye? There are a lot of good things that come from our country, just not good enough to overcome the bad ones.
Don't get me wrong now, I am as displeased about what happens in our country: the poverty, the fact that we don't have a decent educational system, the social programs that don't get enough funding although international funds are returned unused at he end of the year, or worse, budgets are used in a blink on fictive operations so that free money can be accounted for, the fact that children are burnt in maternity incubators in the care of inhuman nurses and a lot of other very unpleasant and disturbing things.
All these are sadly very true, but do we really have to accentuate only them when we present something to the international communities? What kind of country are we that we don’t even give them the chance to question the fact that we’re deplorable?
Like Chaplin and Martin Luther King Jr once let to be understood or just plain said it in their speeches, I too have a dream; a dream about people getting along, a dream about a country that can solve its problems by internal means and consideration from all its citizens, a dream of cooperation, a dream in which people actually consider de consequences of their actions, a dream of peace and prosperity, a dream of free education for the masses, a dream in which orphans in orphanages and old persons in asylums are treated like humans and not like rags, a dream in which the public international eye finds our emancipation efforts and the solutions to our internal problems truly commendable, I have a Dream...
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Lights! Camera! HMM?? :D
How do we save the world? Do we each do our little, simple share of planet heroics or do we leave the battle to someone who cares?
Well, everybody should care, after all it's our bloody home. We all know that you should clean your home from time to time, pay your bills, and give it a nice paint job once in a while, in order to make it livable.
If only we could paint the desert green and make it produce oxygen, or train oil stains to give ocean fish nice shade instead of killing them, or make penguins crap ice, so that Antarctica wouldn't run without it in a few decades...if only...
Something we could do though, is the smallest decent amount possible. Here's an example:
Sunshine - video powered by Metacafe
P.S.: The PoetrySoup link is now ready to be accessed :).
Well, everybody should care, after all it's our bloody home. We all know that you should clean your home from time to time, pay your bills, and give it a nice paint job once in a while, in order to make it livable.
If only we could paint the desert green and make it produce oxygen, or train oil stains to give ocean fish nice shade instead of killing them, or make penguins crap ice, so that Antarctica wouldn't run without it in a few decades...if only...
Something we could do though, is the smallest decent amount possible. Here's an example:
Sunshine - video powered by Metacafe
P.S.: The PoetrySoup link is now ready to be accessed :).
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Contrast
I was curious where Bora Bora was, because it's something that I hear people talk about these days. It's a luxury travel destination that the rich can easily reach. I found out that it's in the South Pacific, in the French Polynesia, in the middle of no-land, in the Earth's biggest ocean.
Then I thought about Earth and I remembered a friend told me once that if the world were a community of 100 people, it would look something like this:
I started off dreaming of Bora Bora and ended up feeling privileged.
Then I thought about Earth and I remembered a friend told me once that if the world were a community of 100 people, it would look something like this:
I started off dreaming of Bora Bora and ended up feeling privileged.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Control Freaks
We humans are all a bunch of control freaks, we want to know it all so we cannot be taken by surprise in a bad way and even if there's a good surprise involved, we still want to know what it is about, we want to be in charge, we want to have the power. Proofs of this eagerness to be superior than others or other things have been here for millennia, we wanted to be like the gods we invented, then we invented super-heroes, a modern version of the gods, and we wanted to be like them. There actually are people that really think they are superheroes or some that try, like people that want to do everything and be the best at all that they do.
To sustain even more the "need" to be almighty, Emotive Systems has developed a device called EPOC that enables users to control a computer game with brainwaves, basically you don't touch the keyboard or joy-stick , you just play with you mind.
I can see a lot of use for this in the medical aria, helping people with disabilities get around faster and living an easier life, but, as all invented things can be used for both good and evil, I can also see this device used to control tanks and planes from long distance and taking over rich oil regions without any casualties from the aggressor....yep, very useful indeed.
To sustain even more the "need" to be almighty, Emotive Systems has developed a device called EPOC that enables users to control a computer game with brainwaves, basically you don't touch the keyboard or joy-stick , you just play with you mind.
I can see a lot of use for this in the medical aria, helping people with disabilities get around faster and living an easier life, but, as all invented things can be used for both good and evil, I can also see this device used to control tanks and planes from long distance and taking over rich oil regions without any casualties from the aggressor....yep, very useful indeed.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
What are they doing in Iraq?
The things about Iraq that have been hidden from the public are quite disturbing. There are pieces of the puzzle that gruesomely come together, and they don't construct a pretty or heroic, for that matter, picture. After USA soldiers have come back from Iraq, many have experienced serious behavior changes and psychological damage. In 2008 only, 121 US soldiers committed suicide after coming back from Iraq (9 AM Newsletter).
Here's a film by Paul Haggis that eloquently shows the dramatic personality and social changes that Iraq inflicts in In the Valley of Elah.
Another intriguing display of psychological oddity from the Coen Brothers, you might remember the main negative character from Alejandro Amenabar's Mar adentro (Javier Bardem). Here's No country for old men.
Here's a film by Paul Haggis that eloquently shows the dramatic personality and social changes that Iraq inflicts in In the Valley of Elah.
Another intriguing display of psychological oddity from the Coen Brothers, you might remember the main negative character from Alejandro Amenabar's Mar adentro (Javier Bardem). Here's No country for old men.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Film Frenzy
How does it go?...Let me see...
You start off with a very interesting and disturbing documentary about the flaws in the medical system in the biggest economical power in the world. Micheal Moor's SICKO shows that even Cuba provides better medical treatment for its citizens than the United States of America.
Then you leave documentaries aside and jump into JUNO, a 2007 serious story disguised as a fun one; a film about the issues of an unwanted teenage pregnancy.
After that we hear the lovely soundtrack of ONCE, one of the best platonic love stories I've seen for the year 2007, a love of music and of ex-s in an Irish scenery.
To top it all we add a little box-office type of story, like 27 DRESSES, just to relax the brain with yet another Katherine Heigl film for this year. For those of you who don't know who she is, I'll give you two hints: a star of Grey's Anatomy and the leading lady from Knocked Up.
And we finish with Al Gore's AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, he might be a politician and have a southern accent, but he knows what he's talking about when it comes to the danger of Carbon Dioxide Emissions.
Enjoy films and documentaries that you can really learn something from :).
You start off with a very interesting and disturbing documentary about the flaws in the medical system in the biggest economical power in the world. Micheal Moor's SICKO shows that even Cuba provides better medical treatment for its citizens than the United States of America.
Then you leave documentaries aside and jump into JUNO, a 2007 serious story disguised as a fun one; a film about the issues of an unwanted teenage pregnancy.
After that we hear the lovely soundtrack of ONCE, one of the best platonic love stories I've seen for the year 2007, a love of music and of ex-s in an Irish scenery.
To top it all we add a little box-office type of story, like 27 DRESSES, just to relax the brain with yet another Katherine Heigl film for this year. For those of you who don't know who she is, I'll give you two hints: a star of Grey's Anatomy and the leading lady from Knocked Up.
And we finish with Al Gore's AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, he might be a politician and have a southern accent, but he knows what he's talking about when it comes to the danger of Carbon Dioxide Emissions.
Enjoy films and documentaries that you can really learn something from :).
Friday, February 1, 2008
Funny Fat Film
As mankind progresses, the human body gets more and more unhealthy. That's not a laughing matter, but the following spot is funny as it is ironic.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The TV "dumbelization"
I've been home since this Tuesday afternoon. So far I've spent most of my awake hours doing stuff on my computer (reinstalling, reorganizing and fixing things), but in the background, the TV was on, all the time.
During my computer-fixing hours I've kind of surfed the channels with the remote, leaving it on random programs. After a few hours of just hearing the TV as an ignorable background sound, I started listening...What has happened to TV in general? Do TV program creators consider viewers that dumb or are they on a solemn quest to lower the Romanian population's IQ?
I have unwillingly heard hours and hours of crime news, soap-operas, bad TV shows about who slept with whom, who has had her boobs done in the past week, which girl band looks more slutty, which Chinese guy stole who's baby, who got killed by whom, what politician set what on fire etc. etc. etc..
After I realized the dreadful (at least for me) downfall of the quality of Romanian TV programming, I took the remote and tried the last oasis of smart TV, I could find...the Discovery Channel...great for me that How it's made was on :).
Speaking of smart things to watch, you should definitely have a look at Imax Deep Sea. It's narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet and it's absolutely fascinating.
OK, OK...so it's a little about crimes, but these ones keep the ocean ecosystem balanced...at least when we're not spilling oil in it or do any other mess.
During my computer-fixing hours I've kind of surfed the channels with the remote, leaving it on random programs. After a few hours of just hearing the TV as an ignorable background sound, I started listening...What has happened to TV in general? Do TV program creators consider viewers that dumb or are they on a solemn quest to lower the Romanian population's IQ?
I have unwillingly heard hours and hours of crime news, soap-operas, bad TV shows about who slept with whom, who has had her boobs done in the past week, which girl band looks more slutty, which Chinese guy stole who's baby, who got killed by whom, what politician set what on fire etc. etc. etc..
After I realized the dreadful (at least for me) downfall of the quality of Romanian TV programming, I took the remote and tried the last oasis of smart TV, I could find...the Discovery Channel...great for me that How it's made was on :).
Speaking of smart things to watch, you should definitely have a look at Imax Deep Sea. It's narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet and it's absolutely fascinating.
OK, OK...so it's a little about crimes, but these ones keep the ocean ecosystem balanced...at least when we're not spilling oil in it or do any other mess.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Poor, poor FBI :))) and a little debate
As it seems, not only average citizens don't have money to pay their phone bills and get cut off from the network, the FBI has the same problem.
Feast your eyes on this FBI blunder.
While we're on a USA related topic, have a gander at this little article, I found the comments of the people who read it especially interesting. Apparently everybody is good at politics and social studies :D; don't get me wrong, as a free person of a democratic country it is sort of a duty to say what you think...and resume to that :).
Feast your eyes on this FBI blunder.
While we're on a USA related topic, have a gander at this little article, I found the comments of the people who read it especially interesting. Apparently everybody is good at politics and social studies :D; don't get me wrong, as a free person of a democratic country it is sort of a duty to say what you think...and resume to that :).
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
American Christmas...part 1 - The Departure
Well, little I knew that the visa part was going to be the easiest and less expensive of them all, I would have worried less prior to the interview, by doing that I would have saved myself loads of precious neurons and my skin would have had less wrinkles, but noooo, I had to worry.
Here's a free piece of advice, which I promised myself I would take every time I have something hard to do, but I somehow almost always forget about it...DO NOT WORRY! WORRYING DOES NOT DO ONE GOOD THING FOR YOU. On the contrary, it makes your body anxious, it decreases the power of concentration, it clouds your judgment and it makes you annoying as hell to those around you, trust me, I've been there.
Back to the main topic, namely, my departure, I got my plane ticket (I kind of made a huge hole in the family budget because of that, but I love my parents and some day, I will pay them back, with interest), I got myself a medical and luggage insurance. NEVER LEAVE THE COUNTRY WITHOUT ONE!.
It doesn't cost a lot and it covers a lot of expenses in case of baggage loss, broken arms - I am going to ski after all :D -, flight delays and much more. You can get the travel insurance at any travel agency or insurance firm or in other places that I don't know about yet.
I'm going to leave this Saturday and apparently I'm going to be stuck in two airports about 9 hours in total...that should be fun, all alone in Amsterdam and LA, with no time and no money to visit anything in the cities, 'cause the airports are too far from the airports :)...but I don't want to complain, after all, after about 24 hours straight on the road, I will have to drive about an hour and a half to the place I'll be staying at. I can't wait for the actual travel time to be over and have some fun in a ten-hour-time-difference-from-Romania-zone.
Imagine, although my trip is about 24 hours long, I'll be leaving Romania on the 15th and arrive in the States on the 15th, same day, different continents.
And on a trip related subject, but another kind of trip, namely the carrier trip in our life, for those of you who live and breathe for PR and for those who have the courage to start their own business, in case you haven't heard about it yet, there's a book called "Guerrilla PR", written by Michael Levine. Read it and you won't regret one page; it's easy and fun to read and it has great advice on how to make your own PR campaigns without a lot of money.
I recommend that you read it in English though, because as I have noticed, translations seem to loose some of the charm of the writing and it would be ashame not to benefit from all that this book has to offer.
My next post is probably going to be from the States or from one of the airports on the way, since I'll have so much waiting time on my hands.
Take care of your budgets and don't fall in the holiday-retail-trap!
Best wishes,
Lumi
Here's a free piece of advice, which I promised myself I would take every time I have something hard to do, but I somehow almost always forget about it...DO NOT WORRY! WORRYING DOES NOT DO ONE GOOD THING FOR YOU. On the contrary, it makes your body anxious, it decreases the power of concentration, it clouds your judgment and it makes you annoying as hell to those around you, trust me, I've been there.
Back to the main topic, namely, my departure, I got my plane ticket (I kind of made a huge hole in the family budget because of that, but I love my parents and some day, I will pay them back, with interest), I got myself a medical and luggage insurance. NEVER LEAVE THE COUNTRY WITHOUT ONE!.
It doesn't cost a lot and it covers a lot of expenses in case of baggage loss, broken arms - I am going to ski after all :D -, flight delays and much more. You can get the travel insurance at any travel agency or insurance firm or in other places that I don't know about yet.
I'm going to leave this Saturday and apparently I'm going to be stuck in two airports about 9 hours in total...that should be fun, all alone in Amsterdam and LA, with no time and no money to visit anything in the cities, 'cause the airports are too far from the airports :)...but I don't want to complain, after all, after about 24 hours straight on the road, I will have to drive about an hour and a half to the place I'll be staying at. I can't wait for the actual travel time to be over and have some fun in a ten-hour-time-difference-from-Romania-zone.
Imagine, although my trip is about 24 hours long, I'll be leaving Romania on the 15th and arrive in the States on the 15th, same day, different continents.
And on a trip related subject, but another kind of trip, namely the carrier trip in our life, for those of you who live and breathe for PR and for those who have the courage to start their own business, in case you haven't heard about it yet, there's a book called "Guerrilla PR", written by Michael Levine. Read it and you won't regret one page; it's easy and fun to read and it has great advice on how to make your own PR campaigns without a lot of money.
I recommend that you read it in English though, because as I have noticed, translations seem to loose some of the charm of the writing and it would be ashame not to benefit from all that this book has to offer.
My next post is probably going to be from the States or from one of the airports on the way, since I'll have so much waiting time on my hands.
Take care of your budgets and don't fall in the holiday-retail-trap!
Best wishes,
Lumi
Friday, November 30, 2007
American Christmas...part 0 - The Visa
I've got it, I've got it, by Joe I've got it :D!
I got my tourist visa today, 10 years of traveling back and forth to/from the USA; as long as I have money for the plane ticket and my friends there can provide a house for me, I'm all set to go.
It kind of took me by surprise, after a month of searching for documents, fighting with everyone around me...it all paid out, with interest :).
In two weeks, my feet will no longer be on Romanian soil, but in sweet California, my home from last summer.
A Big Thank You goes to all of you who didn't bet against me and all that supported me through my crazy days!
I hope your Christmas will be a spectacular one, I don't know how mine will be, but, I'm gonna be in the States with a bunch of awesome people, so something at least pleasant has to come out of it.
I've always wanted an American Christmas :)...
Yeah I know it's the OC, but I only wanted the song :D.
The Spanish translation is mandatory, everything is translated in Spanish in the USA, from the milk carton labels to the ride announcement in Disneyland. It's the second unofficial (yet) language.
I got my tourist visa today, 10 years of traveling back and forth to/from the USA; as long as I have money for the plane ticket and my friends there can provide a house for me, I'm all set to go.
It kind of took me by surprise, after a month of searching for documents, fighting with everyone around me...it all paid out, with interest :).
In two weeks, my feet will no longer be on Romanian soil, but in sweet California, my home from last summer.
A Big Thank You goes to all of you who didn't bet against me and all that supported me through my crazy days!
I hope your Christmas will be a spectacular one, I don't know how mine will be, but, I'm gonna be in the States with a bunch of awesome people, so something at least pleasant has to come out of it.
I've always wanted an American Christmas :)...
Yeah I know it's the OC, but I only wanted the song :D.
The Spanish translation is mandatory, everything is translated in Spanish in the USA, from the milk carton labels to the ride announcement in Disneyland. It's the second unofficial (yet) language.
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