lazyness...

I have this quote glued to my office monitor:

which should remind me that I need to work hard and long in order to make some of my dreams come true. At least some of them, as many will never come true probably. Not due to their impossibility, but due to my laziness, I guess. For example, two dreams are dear to me, but will probably never come true: I would love to be a writer, but I'm too lazy and like my life too much in order to isolate myself and really write. Although I know down inside that I can. I just lack the determination. And second, I would love to be a librarian, but I know that that job has a lousy pay, so I cannot afford to do it; as I need my money in order to enjoy all my other hobbies...
I love staying up late, but then the next day I'm too exhausted to do my job, let alone write something creative; and the little energy I've got I spend at this desk, earning my bread by solving all kind of problems that at the end of the day leave me dry as bone and about just as creative as a rock. I know I might be suffering from a Faustian illusion, but I truly feel that I am driven by my ambition to sell my soul to the devil for money, rather than be happy.
But one must ride, must eat and drink, right? Wondering why I put them in this order? Because there are just two things that I love better than riding (either a steel or a flesh and blood horse!), and those are reading and writing, but these two I have to shove back in line.
It's also strange how easy words come to my fingers, so to say, as I haven't been writing a single line (except boring office stuff) for a few months now, and this is my true ice breaker. I've been opening a new page on this blog for at least 10 times until now, but each and every time, I would close it without actually writing something. And I used to be good, I used to be inspired by anything. I could just open my folder of "lovely things", with beautiful photos of all sorts and I would start writing like a shotgun.
I've read somewhere toady that writing everyday makes you a writer, not necessarily writing good stuff. I agree and don't agree with this at the same time. I don't agree because I've seen so many awfull emails in my life that I whish at times to kill people for the single fact that they are murdering languages; either Romanian or English, or French, or German, it doesn't matter.
And I've seen materials written by people whom pour their entire soul into the text, but I don't quite get to touch that soul, and although I know I should be moved, I have to say I cannot resonate to their tune.  That is a real problem for me, as I am a firm believer that you do not write only with your head, but most of all with your soul. And it is simple, if the person who reads what I've been writing doesn't get a small feeling of my soul from it; then I haven't done my job right. Then again, I must be the problem for not feeling the soul behind somebody's writing.....
Returning to my idea of laziness, I must be some kind of perfectionist, if I don't want to write if I have nothing to write with my soul, as well as with my mind. The mind is needed in order to write correctly, respect all the rules of good and correct writing, while the soul is the one that gives the spark to the text. I'll write about shoes with just as much passion as about a good book, just as long as I feel the passion for the shoes. Ok, even I've got a limit, and that would be writing about purses....I find them annoyingly non-important, and people give them so much attention! I would prefer a linen tote at absolutely any time, but that doesn't mean I don't have my own share of bags, they are just a little bit on the crazy side and rarely used...(see? I can write about them too!).
One subject I love, but am too lazy to write even about it is food. However lazy, I have gathered  a pretty amount of photos to post on my food blog (my raw path) , and I intend to do that too. I just hope my brain is rested enough to write there too, provided that this ice-breaker works...
And there's one more thing I love to do: walk in the forest, under beautiful old trees, watch up often, see the sun streaks, listen to the birds chirp...but of course, you can read in the forest, eat, or just as well stay and relax...so I usually combine them; and if I can pick flowers of herbs, or even berries along the way, it's even dreamier.
And I love music...I love it so much that at times it hurts, and it always depends on my mood what I'm about to listen. However, there's one genre that will never make me wrinkle my nose, and that is classical music. I was listening to an aria  in the morning in my office, and a colleague said I was special because I could listen to it at such an early hour. But then I just realized I could listen to such music at any hour of the day or night, without feeling that I don't like it. Does that make me a snob or just a weird person? I don't know, but I am a reading, writing, eating, drinking and hiking biker...so why not a classical music -listening one too?And if I started this post with a photo from my office, I will end it the same way:

with the flowers received from my colleague this morning. They smell heavenly, and have brightened my cage a little....

With the promise to write more, soon:

Bisous!

The return of the Dandy

It's been a few weeks now since I saw Beau Brummel, a really really interesting movie:

and I finally understood how the English and any other nation for that matter got rid of the powdered wig and excessive make-up; especially when speaking about men. We know all, however, that with women there's entirely another story.

Well, if you do not find the inclination, or if you just don't have the time to watch the whole movie; I will say that it is basically the story of the main character, an influential friend of the King George of Britain, who has a flawless style in fashion and is the first one to brake the ice and let go of the awful (I must say) fashion of those days. Complete with a delightful nude portrait of one of my favorite actors - James Purefoy- the British gentlemen take style lessons from Beau and thus learn how to impeccably groom themselves and wear wonderful white shirts and black suits.

Recent not so exotic events in my humble experience have made me look around at our modern man, and I just couldn't stop and wonder if maybe the Dandy has returned, but in a manner characteristic to our own age and time.
If you'll pay just a little attention to most of our young men, let's say between 16 and 25, we will find out that recently they have their hair very well groomed, with elaborate coiffures:

so if you ladies out there thought that you're the only ones losing your precious time on the hair stylist's chair, think again. Don't fret, though, since it looks like their coiffures are more elaborate then our own, but they are also fewer than us; so we might still have a chance.

I think I don't have to accentuate very much the fact that the number of men who wax and have their eyebrows plucked is increasing as we speak....

Speaking purely of their aspect; and while I am completely going to avoid the behavioral issues; I am last talking about clothing. Here the age range is way larger; and men have always been preoccupied with their looks; but it seems to me that there are more and more, and even teenagers and young men fall now in that same category.

borrowed picture of Mr. Jamie Campbell Bower from mortalinstruments.org

Forgotten are the days of the long t-shirts and baggy trousers, now we get to see more derriere than we would really care to. However, I'm not going to be hypocrite and say that it displeases me entirely. When well put together, a pair of tight jeans will look awesome, even though I might watch them with a pang of jealousy. Because yes, many guys will look better than we do, my dear girls, sorry to burst your bubble...

 So, am I wrong? isn't this the return of the Dandy? Just to make a point, I've even looked it up in the dictionary:

dandy

ˈdandi/

noun

1. 1.

   a man unduly concerned with looking stylish and fashionable.

   So, I guess I'm not really that far off; and of course I can't stop wondering how women like their men nowadays. I, for one, believe that a little bit of polish ( :D ) never did anyone any harm.    

   
   

   Bisous!

Greek Mythology reinvented....or "The Goddess Test" Series by Aimee Carter

      During the course of our lives, we come to meet hundreds of people, sometimes we like them and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we remain friends forever, sometimes we argue and go on our way, and at times they pass us by unnoticed...
      Partly through our families, through school, through our jobs and last through our interests or hobbies like we use to call them, we come to understand people, and see how they change, evolve or devolve throughout their lives; all we have to do is be attentive. People change throughout their lives, what used to impress and interest them during childhood or young adult days might no longer be interesting on the long run. This is the natural course of our lives, and we go with the flow, even if we do not want it; often not even realizing we have changed substantially over the years.
      I haven't been modest about my "hunger" for reading anytime and with every chance I got. This space is not much different from my real life, what you see here is exactly how I am in real life; as I have one priority, and that is to live as intensively as I can, and reading gives me that something extra that's always keeping me on edge, making me want more. (how geek-ish that sounds, right? ) And I have not changed much along the years when it comes to this. As I used to read books that were too difficult to me when I was little, now I tend towards easier ones, sometimes alternating with material of insight, requiring more thought and understanding than usual. However, my taste in subjects hasn't changed that much along the way, we could say it only broadened, still encompassing what I used to like, but adding more to it with every new exploration in the world of the written word.
One of my first loves as a child, when it comes to books of course, was a book named The Legends and the Heroes of Ancient Greece, and this love will surely not fade away with time; as I still enjoy every new interpretation of these themes. I used to read and re-read all the books that I could get my hands on, and once I've discovered the wonderful world of internet movies, I couldn't stop watching every movie and every new or old variation on the theme.
By simple chance I stumbled upon a new series of books last summer, The Goddess Test Series, and the first book really caught me in the action:



It is such a nice experience to see that old stories come back to life, under the skilled pen of a modern author, who not only brings a breath of fresh air to this old subject, but by doing so she attracts the young public, making their acquaintance with the old myths, whom they would otherwise maybe never be attracted to.
A young girl (best possible heroine - to- be, right?)comes back to her native town with her sick mother, wanting to dedicate herself to the last few months her mother still has to live; but meets a strange and dark boy (who other than her lover-to-be, right?). She is surprised, to say the least, that he has "special powers" and bit by bit falls in love with him. It turns out that these powers come from him being a Greek God, but I'm not going to spoil it for the ones who want to read the books, they just have to find out for themselves; or read about the books on another site. I like my stories to be fresh, surprising, and the worst you can do is spoil the action for me.
Anyway, the second book in the series is :



and it brings Castor and Pollux on the front stage. Packed with action, this book gives you the thrills just by the dynamism of the story, our heroine, Kate Winters is already finding herself married with the powerful god in the first book, but she helps the twins above get away from her mysterious, sad and beautiful husband..... and I will say no more!

Next book,

 

brings the Titans into the limelight! Like I said before, these books are all about the action, dynamism makes you want to devour as many pages as possible, and even though the subject has been filmed and written on for so many times; Aimee Carter still manages somehow to give it such vitality that I was really surprised and impressed at the same time.
The beautiful and mysterious hubby is kidnapped by the only one who can do it: the King of the Titans (how well are you doing in Mythology? who was he...?? should I tell you...??) ...well... Cronus of course (the one who ate his and his wife Rhea's children, remember?); but yet again, I will only divulge that more and more gods get involved in the action, while Kate has to prove again and again how devoted she is to her hubby.



Risking to sound to corny, I have to yet again praise the choices Aimee Carter made when writing these books. If she had put this action in the first book, surely she would have lost a great deal of the suspense and intrigues, but bringing up the action that had happened before the action of the first book in this one, right before the last books of the series, was really a wonderful twist of action.
Managing to link the action from the first books to the characters of the gods as we know them from the initial Legends; like Aphrodite's unfaithfulness to her husband, Zeus' cheating on Hera with every chance he got, Hermes being the real god of lies that we have come to know from the legends of our childhood, and so many other details that give these books extra points from me, makes me just want to recommend the series as a fresh take on a very often reinterpreted subject.

Last of the series:



 Inheritance takes us a nudge further into the new-created story, as Carter raises the stakes in the action of her books, gets Kate pregnant and so much more, but this is also to be read by those who liked the previous books, not wanting to be the one that spoils all the fun for them.

With a love story in the  foreground, and the Greek mythology as a background, these books are surely recommendable to teenagers; but I really don't see why an adult person could not enjoy a little bit of easy action, and let himself or herself be surprised by the creativity of the author in the nice plot of the series. After all, reading is meant to be fun, right?

Wishing to all those that I've managed to convince a great reading, and fulfilling my duty as a correct blogger, I would only like to add that all the photos above belong to Amazon.com, they are even linked to that site, one click away. 

Bisous!

of new beginnings...

It's been a while...

Only I know how many times I've opened this page..starting with a few words, then hit the Delete button...
Not because I didn't have anything to say (because I always have something to say!), but because I needed a change. That's why I changed the aspect of this blog, because I needed a change; it didn't inspire me anymore. Not being inspired by something means, in my vision, having to change to something else, something fresh, and new and inviting...and throwing out the old things that didn't stimulate anymore. Kind of selfish, I know, but that's the only way to move forward for me.
And what better time to start afresh, then in January?  I can think of no better, or more inspiring setting.
So, let's start again on this journey, with renewed forces and fresh ideas, brushing aside all that's dull and uninteresting, annoying and unpleasant. Let's remember what we truly love and whom we truly want to be, and work in that direction, looking back just in order to see further more clearly and to know which path to take.
So, let's put a step in front of the other....

source: www.rideasia.net

and step on the bridge....we have no idea where it will lead us, or how the journey will end...but we'll be taking on life...one step at a time.

Bisous!

Fragment...

" [...] How this is possible, I do not know, but I'm trying a foreboding feeling, like something isn't right, and something has ended, as well as something else has begun. As the Sun and the Moon face each other on the same autumn sky, there can be no mistake in the omen, something will go bad, or some powers in this world are already at work, not understood or known. Wasn't there an old saying...When the Sun and the Moon meet?...used only for impossible situations. Well, if the impossible has become possible in this case, who knows what else can be done? What will the influence of these two gods be for the poor ants crawling on the face of the Earth? But wait, these poor ants as I've just called them have rose above their humble status, they change everything in their path; so maybe the reason why today I'm witnessing this miracle is of their doing. Maybe this sign is meant as a warning, as to dangerous time to come...
A strange thing...to see the moon while basking in the golden light of the last warm sun of the year....autumn is almost spent, winter is coming....
I'll take this as a sign, more as a warning, from the gods, and will humble myself and start looking for an answer. Some ancient scroll must hold this secret...[...]"

Sad impressions on women versus society

Due to some uninteresting events of this past weekend, I've come to think of the sad role we, women, have come to play in this strange society. I may not be the first, not the last to speak about the de-personification of women nowadays, but I really felt the need to put in writing some of the thoughts I've been having for some time now.
The truth is that, although we have emancipated ourselves from the fearful and weak persons we used to be, we have also lost some of our charms due to this struggle. I read somewhere and I can't remember where that we are learned even as small girls to wait for prince charming, our childhood stories are full of beautiful princesses, so that, unconsciously, we are prepared even from our childhood, for a life of aspiring to absolute beauty and the perfect love. Now these are not terrible things, but once the girl who read this stories grows, and she becomes a woman, she will still aspire to be beautiful for this prince charming of hers, and such is her need of recognition, that she came to be this over-labeled, over expectant, over demanding woman that we all come to see one day. Everywhere you look, you can see restrictions into which the modern woman must fit: her overall aspect, her weight, her wits, her career, etc.
Of course you will say that not all women need to fit into this pattern, that there are so many independent women out there who do not feel the need to justify themselves, but I ask myself why must we come to the need to impress even with this rebellion against all the restrictions society throws in our faces, when have we become so twisted and unnatural that we need to prove something that we already are?

source: Google images

 I must admit I am scared to see our young women (not that I am very old, sic!) but I mean the young girls today whom will become the wives and mothers of tomorrow, trying so hard to fit into the pattern. When you feel that society will give you less attention, and subsequently you will have less success if you don't look the part; it is only normal to want to play the part and be the best. I am only saddened by this urge to try and look best for men, because they are the main reason, our " charming princes", which we feel the need to impress.
The nasty part is that young girls are easily seduced, easily impressed and influenced. It is practically impossible, now that women are "free", to pose restrictions on them, and normally, they won't know that to do with their freedom and will surely make a poor job of using their youth to their best advantage, hurrying down a path towards unhappy lives and unfulfilled dreams.
Though I am a convinced feminist, just like my boyfriend and close friends always tell me, I am realistic when it comes to watching women all around me; and no matter how much it hurts me to admit it, this is a man's world. They dictate everything, from the way we dress to please them to the jobs we take, even if just to impress and prove that we are equal.
I felt the need to try to explain that I don't see me better than others, then I renounced the idea, that is not the scope of this post; but I merely wanted to express my thoughts on the sad feeling that I'm having about women being treated like objects, and the even sadder thing that they not only silently agree to it, but they also contribute to this process. I know many will raise eyebrows when reading this, and even more will say that I am not only writing clichees, but that this subject has been so long debated that it lost its shine.
I have to disagree with all of them, because disrespect towards women is not an old issue, but a never ending, never-getting-old one, it happens every day, right under our noses. You will say that nobody forces them to be like puppets, but I say that once you know no other possibility to exist out there, you will do as you see around you, especially if the social pressure demands it.
We have fought to wear pants, and we have fought to wear short skirts, now I see wonderful women, with good jobs and money, wearing almost nothing and reducing themselves to a mere doll, just to please their partners and hold them by their side with fear of another one, more seductive, coming and whisking them away. We think ourselves elegant and original, when in fact we often do not even realize we are passing the thin line between sexy and obscene. I hate the word "sexy", because it is a really really sexist and denigrating word. When have we stopped being attractive and became sex slaves? Because we are slaves to this society and slaves to our own insecurities, and this word expresses all these terrible things in just four letters, to which we aspire so much, without even thinking.
I wonder if our women forefathers, the ones who fought for us to have the right  to wear anything we want, to have children or not, to have a different status in our marriages, to have the jobs we dream of, to be able to speak our minds freely without the fear of being shunt by society would cry over our lost right, over our self-imposed slavery and over our pig-headed insistence to deny the truth... 

I would try in vain to draw a conclusion to this  idea, because this is a never-ending cycle,  I unfortunately have no solution to this dilemma, I have absolutely no idea what we should make, besides demand more respect, and treat everyone else around us like we wanted to be treated ourselves. It is, however difficult to demand respect with our skimpy clothes, short skirts and high heels; if we want to be treated differently, we must shake down the shackles of fashion and society; we must no longer rebel against good-taste and elegance, but try and make people appreciate us for who we are and not for what we look like. Otherwise, we will never be taken serious, no matter how big our paycheck is.