There is still Hope for Mankind

Today I saw 2 kids, about 10 of age, kicking a football in the heart of the city. Moreover they were shooting it against an empty wall. And then I instantly became filled with joy! It reminded my of my childhood when I could have spent an entire day kicking footballs at walls with my buddies.

But that was not the only reason; the other one is the hope that the image gave me. It's been at least 5 years since I've seen kids playing outside in a random location. And now I saw these two on a cloudy Sunday morning, at about 5°C, having fun with that ball. So, there is still hope for this whole civilization. I thought that the new generations were completely drown in the technological virtual world and that we would end up the way we were depicted in Wall-E, screen-equipped floating couch-potatoes. This proves me wrong and I was so happy about it! 

Gradina cu maracini

Sunt momente cand nu te mai poti abtine si simti nevoia sa iti exprimi indignarea. Acesta este unul dintre ele.

Niste prieteni vor veni intr-o scurta vizita in Romania, si printre altele vor sa vada Palatul Parlamentului; asa ca am inceput sa ma interesez in legatura cu modul si conditiile de vizitare. Evident, nu exista un site oficial al obiectivului turistic Palatul Parlamentului, desi este unul din locurile cele mai cunoscute de pe la noi; dar pe diferite pagini mai mult sau mai putin private se gasesc cat de cat informatii. Si aici vine gluma:
Iata diferitele tarife in functie de continutul vizitei (sursa):

• Vizita standard: 25 lei
• Vizita standard + subsol: 30 lei
• Vizita standard + terasa: 35 lei

Pana aici toate bune (preturi un pic cam mari dar locul merita), in plus lumea e pasionata mai mult de o terasa decat de o pivnita (desi depide ceea ce gazduieste pivnita respectiva); acum vine delicatesa :
Biletul cumulat Standard + subsol + terasa costa 45 lei, adica cu 5 lei mai mult decat suma suplimentelor individuale pentru terasa si subsol. In toate vizitele si excursiile pe care le-am facut in diferite tari care scot bani frumosi din turism, care, fara falsa modestie, sunt intr-un numar demn de luat in seama pentru a sustine premizele afirmatiei, un bilet cumulat era mai IEFTIN decat suma supliementelor; ei bine la noi, nu ca nu e egal cu respectiva suma, ci e mai scump.
Adaugand la asta faptul ca in calitatea sa de capitala europeana, Bucurestiul nu dispune de un ghiseu, fie el si cat un chiosc de bilete care sa aiba rolul de Oficiu de Turism si de unde sa poti primi diferite informatii, sau ca orice deplasare, pana la fosta Capitala a Culturii, spre exemplu, se desfasoara in timp record...de negativitate, toata povestea cu caricatura aia de frunza e mai mult decat o gluma proasta.
Nu de alta dar adevaratul brend de tara (eroare intentionata) tot aterizeaza la Baneasa cu curse charter de vreo cateva saptamani.

Cluelessness

There are certain surrounding phenomena that occur permanently but for which I fail to find an explanation. They just happen, like Murphy's Laws.

One of them is related to cords, like earphones, chargers etc. I guess you all noticed that no matter how or where you place them, I mean, neatly put in a corner of a drawer or just thrown on the table, when you'd want to reuse them after, let's say, 8 h later, they'd be all tangled-up. In my opinion there should be a public grant for the research on the wire morphing that could clarify this capacity of an apparently inanimate object to mix itself up.

The other one would involve time and its ability to dilate and contract depending on the activity or the lack of one. Actually, when you're doing something is quite normal not to see the time go by, but there are other situations that lack logic. Like, when you get bored and try to make the hours go by, but no matter what you do, even developing a new quantum mechanics theory, the clock will always show that only 2 minutes have passed.
There is also the opposite, and that happens to me a lot: sitting purposeless and doing infinitesimal stuff, and realizing after a quick glance at the clock that half a day just vanished. This, mixed up with the 'tonight I'm going to bed early' saying is a perfect self-fueling match-up.

If you have some personal thoughts or other experience that are beyond human reason please share.

Update: found a new one, that's generally true in my case even though there're many of you who would disagree. It's about getting up a couple of minutes before the alarm goes off, but on out-of-routine occasions. In general, one gets used to a schedule and thus the body is able to predict the getting-up hour; but when you have wake up a 6h30 on a Sunday morning to catch a train , things seem to get more difficult. Still, you are surprised to open your eyes and notice that it is 6h27. I guess there's some kind of latent adrenaline rush that bumps you out of bed at the exact moment, but I have no really idea about how that happens. 

Home Sweet Home

Reading one of Rucsy's posts reminded me of something that it wanted to talk about: the idea of 'home'.

Once, when returning from one of my field trips, and as the train got closer and closer to Lyon I told myself: 'Almost home...' then I realized that the saying 'Where I lay my self is Home' kinda suits me (See that rock that's my pillow! - geek joke)
So after a deeper analysis it got to me...home is where I live long enough so that the any occurring external stay would seem relatively short. For example, a place where I lived 6 months is considered home compared to a couple of weeks round-trip out and back in that place; this could even extend to a one day trip during a week long stay. For instance, and this is a bit sad, I often recall more of a I'm home feeling coming back to, let's say, Strasbourg after a 2 weeks holiday at my True Home.
In this case I would say that I have no home, since I don't associate the universally generated feeling for Home with a particular place or surroundings. Or, more poetically, the whole Planet is my Home, which might be actually true...even though there are rooms that I prefer to others. 
I guess that in my mind the notion of home is related to routine, to the ordinary everyday life, once again time-relative. And it would seem that it has nothing to do with a specific environment or certain people (parents most likely). Because I do get the fuzzy felling when I'm about to see close family and old friends but it is not dictated by geographical coordinates.
In short, Home = spot where I currently live and hold an activity, more of a HQ.
So, am I a mechanical nutcase that doesn't get what really matters out there?...your turn, now: Where's or What's your Home?

Consume or Be Consumed

A couple of hours ago, I did my weekly survival shopping and I couldn't help noticing the staff of the supermarket (the Crossroads one) and especially the phrase printed on the back of their work uniform:
Comment je peux vous aider à mieux consommer?
  ( fr. for How could I help you so you would consume better?)
 Well, the English translation might be a bit shady, here consume means eat, drink, use and all other regular activities you might have with their products. But I emphasize the use of this verb: with all the debates about reducing all sorts of consumption (energy, water, food...) and having a more responsible way of life, the Economy Bosses are still developing the idea of a consumption society. I mean they could have said: How could I help you so you would choose better?, but NO, our brain must be focused on consuming, on spending money in a mechanical manner.
I would go even further and point out alternative meanings of this verb which are: use up, deplete...
This could be, in fact, the next unfortunate step the human society has to take. But, I'm am not here to overthrow the system, because, sincerely, I don't know a better one, I just want to point out the more or less subliminal messaging. So my advice would be: keep the Machine going but be careful with that Warning indicator, it has to become the priority and replace the speedometer.

Something that has less to do with consumerism but more with velocity: why do people feel the need to slow down their walking pace or even stop in the middle of a way where there are no possibilities of passing them (like escalators, tight corners, door ways...); and I've noticed that the probability increases when you're in a hurry.

Off-topic no.2: Another stringent need of pedestrians is to spread out on bike paths even though the rest of the sidewalk is free, and often to got deaf at the same time; also, the more difficult to avoid they are, the slower they walk...

Cat on a Hot Slate Roof...

This late afternoon, through the window of my 6th floor...