The Gift of a Present

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I want to draw your attention to a happening here in Timișoara over the following two weeks. You know how the bloggers from my city bought supplies for a foster home last Christmas. Well, some of those people are at it again. This time, though, we've got the support of our favorite local university. And we need that since this project is a bit more ambitious. We're planning to gather clothes, books and toys and donate them to a few foster homes around Timișoara (Arad, Oradea, Reșița, Caransebeș, Lugoj and Timișoara -- to be exact) and you're welcome to lend a hand. One gathering point will open tomorrow and will be in the West University halls, first floor by the stairs. We'll be taking anything you care to donate, but no money. This effort is fueled by Porsche Timișoara and is supported by Cristina Putan, Richie Ilie, Dan Șefancu, a Secret Santa and Oana Barbu (who made the alliance with West University possible). If you're anything like me, this is a perfect opportunity to clean up that closet of toys you might have, or to share the joy of reading a good book with a kid that might not be as lucky as you were. And everybody needs a warm sweater in times like these. Plus, free hugs and warm fuzzy feelings, eh?

Be a Bishop, or a Rook!

How many times have you liked a page on facebook and then never posted on their wall? When was the last time you wrote something? I mean something of value. Can you say that you post a photo for 2 that you see or like. Or every 3? 10?! This may be the age of hyperconsumerism, but please don't be just a leacher or a peon or a simple follower. Go. Create!

The Internet Killed Frank!

  • Rather than telling others what you think of them, you now resort to twitter and blogs to channel negative feelings.
  • Rather than thinking about how to help salvage your sittuation, you're thinking "I am sooo blogging this!"
  • Rather than drinking her away, you run off to change your facebook status to single and hope some people notice.
  • Rather than a strong slap across the face, you shout out "I'm forever taking you off my blogroll!"
  • Rather than taking pride in standing straight, you feel comfort in your comfy chair.
  • Rather than trying to make a difference, you just decide to turn away, because there's a lot to choose from.
Well, not you, but maybe you have a friend... The Internet killed being frank! All we're left with is a mass of cosy, harmless sheep, some goats and a handful of people that will tell you what they really think. And, of course, you have a new term for that: "offensive." Well, not you, but maybe you have a friend...

The Sick Routine

He sometimes has to visit the hospital. It's summer so the waiting room is hell's kitchen. A host of elderly piggy-backers sit on the grossly uncomfortable benches. They, the elders, know best, so the doors stay shut, the AC stays off. These are hasbeens from all walks of life. Some wear perfume, some aftershave, others were never too keen on washing. It reeks of ass, piss and 405. No air gets in, no stench gets out, but I digress. He plays music on his iPhone, the youngest thing in the whole hospital wing. The smooth sounds of his carefully hand-picked music library drown down all the mumbling, the chit-chat, the gossip, the political stands, the motherly advice. They are all reduced to mild inane babble, barely distinguishable through Wilson's loud melody. He's asked to put his better eyes to use, to fill out a prescription for an old lady. She is nice to him, overly polite as he puts on his gallant hat. With a perfectly honest smile and a chill in his eye, he draws the pretty letters in their boxes, and is asked to forge the signature. He indulges. I digress again. All you will see here is exactly what will put you off on a hot summer afternoon. The soothing embrace of a cold shower is the faith that keeps you going really. But for them, the unrespected, unappreciated, unloved, unremembered hasbeens, there is no such faith. They rely not on the cold shower, but on the very hell he has to stand in right now. This is what becomes of them, a sorry lot of people so lonely, who feel so useless they see going to the hospital as a social event. We are truly wretched creatures!

Your Privacy Is Still Null

Google Web History

You don't want people seeing what you've searched for? But you searched for that! Are you ashamed now? Why?!

Government Email Snooping

While I don't condone it, how can it hurt you? If you're a gunrunner and you're about to get convicted based on evidence found in your mailbox, I salute that! Other than that, nobody cares what colour your panties are! The police can search your house with a warrant; why not your mailbox?

Facebook Stalkers

You are aware that you can block people, right? Better still, think about why you joined Facebook!

Google Analytics Tracking

If most of the visitors from your site are from jail, or the States, or Japan, wouldn't you like to know? If most of them are running Linux or Mac, wouldn't you like to know? Also, you like it when a site caters better to your needs, right? You like it when they give you more of the stuff you liked before. How do you think they know all that?

Why are you so afraid of the amount of information about you that's available on the net? That information should not come close to defining you as the wonderful, complex person that you are! That information is just peanuts compared to all the feelings you can instill in another person!
And if that is not the case? If the amount of information available on the net accounts for most of you -- If there's little left to find out about you in the real world?
Well, in that case, I'd say your online privacy is the least of your worries!

Zoe Keating - One Cello x 16

Zoe Keating's music any better than her, so just give her a listen.
But I will say this, it's like being picked up by a murder of crows and taken high above the busy city, high up to a place where time slows down and you can let yourself feel each stroke and tap on her cello as if it goes through you, touching and moving around things you might have forgotten you had; and then, as one song ends and another begins, you find tears in your eyes because of something that's neither joy nor sorrow -- her passion. Then you brace yourself for the next ride.