in the end . . .

i wound up doing two interviews. one for another paper and one for the local news. the paper went well. i could make eye contact and the reporter was smiling and encouraging. looking into the lens of a camera is unnerving. i started to sweat and when am nervous, i started to speak quickly, which is not that good in a language one is just learning. and i did not watch it.

program was crazy good and met lots of peeps and imbibed prea mult.

on returning home, i return to a somewhat frantic and manic kitty, which is not that unusual. i go in the kitchen and i see these huge chunks of things all in ziggy's bowl and on the floor. i look more closely and realize that baby kitty ran out of food. now i left plenty, but i also realized, upon seeing her again, some added heft to the formerly slender kitty's frame. i think she spent most of the past few weeks comfort eating and gaining weight.

and those chunks in her bowl? well someone looked around and found some dehydrated stuff and put it in her bowl. sadly, it was my food - dehydrated textured vegetable protein. me thinks ziggy was not enamored with the food selection so she took matters into her own paws. i found feathers all over the house and i dont own feather pillows. from the amount of feathers in evidence, am pretty sure that the bird did not make it out alive.

but i ask myself, living on the 3rd floor - how did ziggy, hungry kitty get the bird?

in the news

so we were all learning really really hardcore in class the other day and the Transilvanian Express newspaper came in to do a bit of a human interest story on us. They took some massively flattering pics of us studying (only my class) and i also had an interview with the journalist. All in Romanian no less. she spoke crazily fast and when asked to speak more slowly, she slowed down for about 1 second before she sped up again. am not directly quoted cause i think there may have been some grammar issues. but hey, an interview totally in another language. you can see and read it yourself here. Sadly, there is also a picture and it was an extremely bad hair day. am supposed to have an interview with the tv station today. will try to get out of that one.

days with my father

This is the title of an absolutely beautiful and poignant website created by a photographer chronicling his days with his 98 year old father. please visit. i think is speaks for itself and requires nothing else from me.

her . . .

am currently in Brasov, a german town in the transylvanian alps doing a course in romanian. more on that later (isnt i nice how i always say that but never deliver). yesterday, i noticed a growth on my face near my mouth.

today i went to the pharmacy to get something to put on it. i would like to say before i go on, i never had a cold sore until i came to romania. i got the first one last summer. isnt i nice that i have a memento that will last me forever?

so i go to the pharmacy, wait my turn patiently, and ask the pharmacist in grammatically correct romaian, "do have medication for this?" did not know how to say cold sore in romanian. i swear she shouts "HERPES?" apparently the word is exactly the same in romanian, only with an accent - think her-pez. i was appalled and shamed. all i could do was say umm, i guess.

i mean chicken pox is in the herpes family too, but people dont go around saying that their 6 year old has herpes.

toodles - me and my growth

brains just wasting away

even though i have 3 courses i should be doing work for and studying, this is what my brain is focused on.

i saw a pic of mischa barton the other day and it brought this to mind.

remember the movie the never ending story. that has got to be one of the best movies of ALL time and of my childhood. its one of the reasons i dont like religious movies.
1. i hate being preached too.
2. they tend to be boring. they need to get some jet li in there with some wolverine - not superman cause he sucks - and throw in some keanu reeves for me to watch. maybe am not the target demographic cause i dont think that will ever happen.
3. the never ending story. when i was a kid, i would look at the tv guide and see that the greatest story ever told was gonna be on and would be sooooooooooooooooooo excited. cause my child brain always (not the brightest as this happened many times) confused it with the never ending story - bastion, atreyu, falkor, the child empress. i would be in heaven, on cloud nine waiting for one of my faves to come on. only to be driven into the depths of despair when i saw some dirty people with greasepaint and beards running around in a desert about something or another. this could also be the reason why am not fond of beards and grease paint though i do like deserts.

anyway, back to misha barton and the movie. every time i see her the image of falkor - the luck dragon comes to mind. she kinda looks like him. and i mean this in a super nice way, cause i loved falkor. i wanted one, though it took me a long time to realize that he wasnt a dog being called a dragon but was from east asian mythology therefore not looking like a lizard.

and every so often, i listen to the song and dream. after seeing and loving the movie, i read the book and it was horrible. may have been a good book, but totally ruined the movie for me.

whole lotta not much

its amazing how the time is flying by - before i know it, vacay will be over and will be slogging in away in the mines. em . . classroom.

so in prep for my trip to Brasov for learning and hanging was getting some stuff together. and it was FRUSTRATIN'. went to buy a replacement buckle for my backpack (did i mention that its a bit warm and i sweat profusely). the outdoor sporting good store is a bit out of my way but i convinced myself to do it. and they didnt have one - the jerk behind the counter tries to fob me off by saying that size is rarely used and thats why. LIAR!!! my other bags have used the same exact one. dont lie just admit that y'all are crap. will have to cannibalize one of those bags.

then the hunt for running shoes. went to the sport store of the 10 possible styles - they had one but can i find it in my size? nooooooooo. then i go other places and no dice. i went to 2 freaking malls but no luck. the pair i have now (reebok) ripped. my asics were forgotten at fencing practice and were found then lost again. my poor flatfooted feet need supportive shoes.

my mp3 player was liberated from my possession as i bought cucumber and tomatoes (they are the most expensive veggies i've ever purchased) so attempted to buy a new one. at the store, none have batteries and i couldnt look at the manuals. how am i supposed to know what am spending crazy amounts of money on if i cant try it out. something not appreciated by the clerks. its really frustrating as my language ability is too limited to really let loose on them. always just gotta go away with a curt multumesc.

to console myself and stoke my inner 15 year old boy, i saw the HULK movie. was really enjoyable and tim roth is crazy short. great summer movie. ever since fight club (ahhh. . .) have seriously loved ed norton and it was interesting having a bruce banner who was all kinda skinny and stuff. liv tyler's mouth frightens me. would see a sequel until i get bored. couldnt be bothered to see the spiderman 3.

love the summer movie season - or at least my inner 15 yr old boy does. never seen the mummy movies but am contemplating it as jet li is in it - and the 15 yr old loves him.

toodles

bestfest 2008

tonite i went to bucharests bestfest, the music festival held here during the summer. i like festivals cause its an opportunity to see lots of musicians that you normally would not pay high admission for. also theres the chance to see new bands. they suck cause there's always two bands you want to see playing at the same time. and my feet, my poor aching feet. spending almost 7 hours standing and dancing, my feet need some tlc. but they aint getting any. sadly the cat does not have opposable thumbs (i wish for a mutant cat daily)

was pretty good. i saw Alanis Morrisette, Unkle, and Apollo 44. all played well and i have a greater desire to listen to their music.

Bestfest is done in the middle of the city with housing nearby so they put together one of the best bits, the silent disco. you walk up and there all of these people in an area flailing around randomly. when you enter you are given a set of headphones with 2 diff channels so you can pick the music you want to listen and dance too. was pretty fun and funny when you take of the 'phones and people are just moving around in silence.

alas, am now tired. trying to psyche myself up to go back to see nelly furtado (no real desire) and stereophonics who i seriously love.

sigh. . .

la la li lai lai

do i know what this means? em, no. but last nite, with some friends, i went to a gypsy music concert and it was pretty awesome. it was modern music, so very few pipes (which drive me insane) but traditional instruments (hand drums, accordian, etc) plus electric guitars, bass, and drums. the opening act was a really good serbian group playing similar music

i swear there were like 50 people on the stage between singers and a bevy of dancers. people in the audience were dancing and i learned a few moves from me friends.

on of the funny bits was near the end when this woman in evening wear came out. the rest of the band, who apparently are pretty famous outside of romania, were wearing something close to traditional costumes. she came out threw her arms out, waiting for applause. I turn to my friends and ask if she is famous, because at the beginning of the show we had recitation of poetry by a well known romanian actress (she was also in the the Passion of the Christ- dont know, didnt see it). anyway - not famous. she sang the first verse of whitney houston's the greatest love of all then the band resumed playing music again. its like shes some's girlfriend who has convinced them to let her be on stage. cause she did it badly and at the end she came forward to screech in the microphone.

also there was a famous romanian rapper. the dancing gypsy girls hung in the back, unsure of what to do when the rapping was going on. all in all a very entertaining nite. heres a totally crappy pic.

AHHHHH!!!!!!

am soooooo bored. came back from italy which was pretty awesome, will post some year. came back home, lovely to be home and in bed and all that return home stuff. cat didnt jump off balcony again blah blah blah. now have hit the bad part of summer. havent decided what to do and am going crazy with boredom. have slept and rested up. last night after reading a book, i posted a review on amazon. at 3am. never did it before. never had the time. but apparently do now. the nite before, again at 3am i went on a kitten rescue mission (someone had dumped it and i could hear it crying 3 floors up)

gotta find something to do with self. maybe will start crocheting again.

ha,ha, ha - yay yay yay

wow its been along time since i posted.

the student newspaper did a survey at school. and i was voted the funniest teacher. yay!!! at least i didnt get strangest teacher. and i truly like the kids (except for certain members of year 9) and theyre pretty funny themselves (in a good way).

anyhoo - yesterday was the last day of school. i was almost giddy. now for a 2 1/2 month vaycay.

not too much happening this summer. on monday i go to milan and venice for a week. then i have to do some school work as we are finally (2 years late) shifting to the new campus. will be staying in romania this summer doing a language course and traveling about a bit more, seeing the bits i havent already seen. its a relatively large country so there's lots to see.

this of course if nothing changes.

but the bestest of all - am seeing radiohead in milan. am kind of in training. will be listening to lots of radiohead so can get the words just right. have been waiting for this for more than half my life. its almost like a pilgrimage.