Monday Morning Coffee

My Morning Coffee - my picture

Early Monday morning, the day is chilly and the sky looks ragged with rips of golden edged clouds and light. It's December at last, the shortest working month... hopefully. People got their Aguinaldo(*) and most have already spent it. Some are yet to receive it, some should receive it, but won't because their employers are like that. In this sense, it always fills me with sad amazement how some people are able to find all sorts of justifying as to why they are entitled not to pay what they are legally expected to, and pretend that they are the ones acting acording to the law.

My aguinaldo came and went, now I'm back to being as poor as I've always been, but at least I have no more debts on my credit card (well, there was a Black Friday and I had been in dire need of clothes and stuff!). The stuff for the Christmas Gifts is somewhere done around the 50% or so, so that's also "under control". However, my mail and my List of 13 isn't under control. Something will have to be done with that. I'm definitively lagging with the readings, so I'll have to pick up with those during lunches (saving that time for my indexed magazine), and then picking up as much as I can.

There are also other stuff to take care of, such as my personal finances, which I haven't been logging... since I arrived. What do I mean by that? Well, while in Budapest I took the habit of checking weekly all of my vouchers and log them on an Excel sheet. My bank keeps my electronical balance, but while doing this I actually saw were my money went. How much I spent on books, how much went on food, on clothes and so on. It was quite an eye opener. However once I crossed the Atlantic I stopped doing it, so now I have four months worth of vouchers I'll have to organize and log in a new Excel sheet. It would have gone like that for a long time - and eventually give up on the idea and stash the vouchers in an envelope. However as I was keeping them in one of my Ikea boxes, and since I'll be working on two smash book projects a place to park all my materials and inspirational bits is in dire need, so the bill box was selected for that. As result I had to take out all the bills and vouchers yesterday, and start by sorting them by month. The task itself was HUGE so I didn't go into sorting them by day, by card (thanks Hyne I no longer use eight cards) and then doing the logging. This will also take time, but since it's not in my list and my finances are well, I'll tackle slowly.

The smash books will start on 2013, but then there's nothing stopping me from gathering all the little accesories I'll need to make them unique and fabulous, right?

I sip my coffee, I check the binder full of uncathegorized vouchers and check my work e-mails, my list of tasks and set forward for a week of stuff to do.

(*)Aguinaldo: pronounce /ah-gi-NAL-doh/. An extra monthly payment paid by law to all workers. It's amount equals the average of the monthly payments of the last twelve months. Consequently, if someone hasn't received a salary in all of the last twelve months, those months count as if paid $0. The aguinaldo must be paid between December 1st and December 20th.

A fabulous day after all

Oh goodness, wasn't I upset yesterday? ^_^ Well, my fault, I'm just not taking my life in my hands, or rather I'm not managing well some of my relationships, and lo there the results. Then again, let me place the blame somewhere else too - though I shouldn't -: this is the fault also of my friends, my family and my significant relationships, including my current, beloved boyfriend. And yes, I'm including also all of my penpals - former and present - and online friends, so YOU, dear reader, are most likely included and sharing the blame. But "what blame?" you wonder. How can YOU, dear reader, friend, family, significant others from past and present (Hello Kari! ^_^) could possibly be to blame for a current crappy relationship with someone you have nothing to do with and you don't even know? Well, that's because you ALL are wonderful, loving and perfect, and I've got lazy, and haven't practiced my skills at keeping people at bay or smacking their heads when they are going past what I'm willing to take. So there! Thank you for being such perfect and adorable and loving people and being so wonderful! Now I'm at loss dealing with someone who won't follow your incredible example.

Oh, don't you look at me like that, you know you are wonderful and that I love you a freaking lot. ^_^

Any follow up on "sucky relationship"? Nah, too soon for that. I am currently auditing my feeling about the whole thing, and analizing why am I adamant about pulling out once and for all, and whether that's what I want and what I really, really want in this case and generally. That's some soul searching to do. Hn, shall I let it all out through smash booking? ^_^ Nah, prose works much better, I'd say.

Now, yesterday wasn't a horribly bad day, if you ask me, as I had other very pleasant experiences. First, I drove to a part of town I don't drive often, (not on those routes), and I discovered new ways and new skills of mine behind the wheel! No, I didn't do anything stupid, no stunts, only discovering routes I normally knew by walking, but not by driving, and rediscovering old memories that helped me navigate around the fabulous University City.

Yesterday I had this meeting in a different district, so I drove there. The meeting - scheduled for the morning - stretched all the way into the afternoon, and it was wonderful. Yes, hard to believe, but it was! The meeting actually became a tremendously productive work session where we made a lot of important break throughs and possibly saved weeks of work to our teams. Also, since I was there, I went to eat to this fabulous little Mexican restaurant Dragonfly and I have met at, but also where Skylar and I went often to lunch either to celebrate something or to talk over sensitive issues that shouldn't be voiced around the gossip vultures of our environment. Lunch was fabulous. I only missed the mandatory tequila, BUT I was on duty, and driving, so no Don Julio for me.

Once the work session was over, I decided to drive up to the University City and try my luck at enrolling for Archery. I've been rejected for three months in a row due to lack of space. The day was sunny and beautiful, and after a biker protest due to a punitive raise in yearly vehicle taxes, the streets were empty, while drivers realized that the roads were open again. I went through the streets nearly deserted, as those streets are never seen, and got to the University City. With little searching I found the enrolling-paying cashier and there was space for me! So, guess who's going to an Archery class? Me!!

Then drove to a coffee place closer to home, where I met with a friend for some talking, and found the perfect paper to reply to a penpal of mine. Ah, perfect paper! You have no idea the difference that makes. I have a stack of acid green paper that simply doesn't cut it for me. Try as I may, it spoils my letters, really! So after much thinking I changed my pen, changed my paper to a smoother and simpler notepad paper, and the pen flows with the speed of thought, and thoughts come easy and fluent like love.

Yes, yesterday was a perfect day all in all, and even that rant, that sucky relationship was nice - now in perspective - as it made me see by comparison, how incredible, how wonderful and how deserving of all the love the world has to have you all are.

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Tuning Skills and Going Homemade

Clothes are like fanfiction - at least for me: you have idea of what you want, so you go looking for that and you find everything in the world, but not the one thing you are looking for. Often, as it is my case, the things you find don't really please you. So, as with the fanfics, where after having searched for a story with particular characteristic and not finding it, one has to write the fanfic one wants to read; so with clothes, the logical outcome is that when you don't find what you want to wear, you must make it. Now, making clothes isn't an easy business, as you should get the pattern you want - maybe transform it to fit your desires - and then cut the fabric and sew it.

For someone not used to sewing much - my most prolific time was when I was a kid and I sew dresses for my Barbie dolls - even cutting the fabric can be a challenge. I had once made myself a pair of trousers and a skirt, but that was a very, very long time ago. So, wanting to sew, I decided to tune my rusty skills with a simple project, and so I did the little tote bag you can see in the picture. It was made following advise from blogs and watching youtube videos. And let me tell you something, making it isn't as easy as it's shown on the Internet. My bag, even if simple (and it's lined), and with changes I didn't seen in the blogs and videos I watched, didn't turn up as sharp as it was supposed to. It does work fine and the mistakes are small - from far and when full of stuff you can't really tell them - so I'm pleased. ^_^

A while back I sew a bag for my yoga mat, and that turned out quite sharp, but that's basically because I did the whole project by hand. My problem is sewing with a machine. Now, I won't sew my clothes all by hand, so yes, I need to get sharper with the machine. That means, that probably more tote bags are lining up in my close future. Wish me luck!

We Have Sheers!

Our apartment looks different again, better, if I may say so, and the reason is simple: we hung our sheers from the windows. And Goodness Gracious! The difference it makes! Light isn't harsh in the room, though that has never been a problem, but the windows themselves have smoothed as well. The ugly gas pipes get somewhat better hid from sight, and the unslightly, discolored window frames are also discreetly taken away from the view.

We had bought the sheers perhaps a month ago, but didn't get to hang them, since it demanded time. We have three windows and for each of them there's a pair of sheers that need to be fitted. My boyfriend's job was to get on the ladder and hang the sheers twice - one for measuring them up and once when they were finished. My job was to measure the sheers, calculate the exact lenght with the expected 4% shrinkage (I totally love that IKEA tells you about this!), and then mark the lenght by ironing the part that would be the edge on each of the six sheer panes, then put in the fixing strip (a sort of plastic strip that sticks to the fabric when it's ironed to it, normally used to stiffen the fabric, but also to make a hem without stitching), and cut the excess fabric. It wasn't a short job, but we made it today at last, and I'm pleased with the results.

After visiting my penpal Trish on the weekend, I must admit that I'm quite ashamed of our apartment, as it isn't as taestfully arranged as theirs, but then again maybe I'm just being silly. There's no way, after all, that an economist who has spent most of her life in the tropic, could possibly compete with a consumed, professional interior designer and furniture connoisseur who happens to live in an artistic, tasteful town, where everything is just delightful.

Be it as it may, my boyfriend wants me to take pictures of the apartment, so he can upload them on the Real Estate web, to get a feel of the price our apartment could get. Realtors, you know.

I had plans for today, but none of them got completed. I was supposed to go to the Post Office, since I so brightly forgot to give my postcards to Trish - living with her kind offer - so she would post them for me from Braunau to my penpals. I think it is about time I start thinking about going to the doctor to get some "old people pills" prescribed. My memory is really, REALLY bad (maybe I sould start thinking also about getting a pillbox, so I can keep my medication in order for the future). Then I wanted to go to IKEA on a double mission. For once, the new collection would enter in August, so what better chance than right not to get a feel of what pieces of the old collection are leaving the scene and thus being sold at reduced prices. And we need two desks. Urgently.

The other reason is to search for small bottles. I'd like to take with me a few elements of Hungary that will accompany me wherever I am. Since the traditional elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) are kinda hard to get - due to the air - I was thinking about the five elements of Chinese philosophy (Wu Xing: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). The idea of it came to me the other day, when I was once again marveling at how different the soil is from that of Costa Rica. I guess I can't get over the pale, sandy type of earth we have here. I've already located the source for all of my elements, decided on each of them BUT I haven't found the bottles. Naturally plastic bottles won't do it, because I kinda want to keep the "organic", old, natural feeling to them, AND I need them also to contain water, so wood boxed wouldn't do it either. Now, the bottle you see in this picture is what I'm thinking about, in a small size, say 7 cm (3 inches) high, or with a 1dl capacity. That's all I need. I don't want to take the whole Danube with me, along with half of the Roman Excavations. But you know what? Getting these small bottles is impossible. I'm not kidding, it is impossible!

Upon this, and having bought in February some spice jars, I thought about making it happen with spice jars.

Well, the trip wasn't made, so we shall see if I can unglue myself from bed in time to go to IKEA and take a quick check around the kitchenware and see where can I hunt down my bottles. It doesn't help my case knowing that Amazon.com has them and sells them. :-( Why!? They wouldn't make it in time! (Not like I won't buy them! I will).

I'm packing - I just finished my first packing try out today - but I still have a lot of stuff to pack and to get. I at least want a mini cauldron (you would too, if you would have eaten that FABULOUS bogrács stuff I had! Wish I could pack a real size one and tons of venison... that would make me happy), and then some replicas of medieval time swords (mini!) and jewelry I saw being sold at one of the museums I visited. I'll still visit my favorite museum, but I doubt there's anything left for me to buy there, as I've bought all the Empress Sissi books and souvenirs I could get my hands on.

Well, tomorrow is a new day, and the cleaning lady is coming, so I'll have little time and plenty to do. ^_^

A Break from Daily Philosophy, to some Daily Life

Yesterday's post turned out hard to read, right? For posterity I may go back on it and liven it up, because personally I believe that the topic is quite interesting - you know, talking about immigration, and how nobody can actually say that they've always-always belonged to the place they live in, nor can anyone say that they have a millenary culture that hasn't changed a bit since the begining of times. However the reason for it being so dull and hard to read - I presume - is due to the lack of pictures and my trademark colored text, which I use for highlight. If you have ever wondered what's my system for coloring, if colors and bolds or italics mean something, the answer is "not really". I pick the colors when I open the palette, see what colors I've used and which colors I feel like using. Perhaps normally I tend to used green to mark myself or my personal thoughts, fuchsia for religion or divinity, red for importance of shock, often aggression and violence, dark red for gore and supernatural, and blue for the things I don't like much... though I've used blue also for the things I do like, only for a splash of color. But anyway - I just derailed there - the reason why I didn't do that was because I was blogging from a train, on my way home from Mezőkövesd, where I had accidentally left my mouse (and half my power cord too). Have you tried to use your laptop without a mouse? And get online and blog without a mouse? Some parts are tricky, like I forgot how do you shut down a window or open a new page in your browser, but the rest is simple, only tedious.

Yesterday I went to visit Mama and Papa at Mezőkövesd, but I went without my boyfriend, who has been burried in work up to his eyeballs. So, instead of driving there, I took the train. On my way there I had the mouse and the cord, and so took out the laptop, the mouse and the mobile internet and started drafting up the post without any particular embellishing. Ideas and refining would come later. At Mama's place I then took out the laptop, charged it - I had used it on battery on the train - while we had lunch and then partook in a delicious traditional meal made in a caudron, outside over an open fireplace. The expression in Hungarian is "bográcsozás". It was my first one and it was DELICIOUS! It was basically a thick soup made with pork hoofs and venison, and it tasted like Heaven on Earth.

Inspired by Dragonfly's enthusiasm for photography and her beautiful pictures, I decided to experiment around the garden and took a few (okay, plenty) of pictures myself, from which I'll show you here some.

Waterlily

Flower Alone

Careful Close up under light brise

Flower cluster

Flower field

Household farming.

Families sow their yards to produce their own food.

Then, when I packed my things to go home, the mouse and part of my power cord (the one that's easily replaceable, thanks Hyne) decided to stay there without my conscent. I knew of the mouse the moment I decided to inish my blogging on the train, because I was going to get home quite late (I was arriving at the train station at 10 pm). I new about the cord when I've got home and decided to charge up my laptop. Oh well, after the holidays are over I'll go get myself new ones to have while I go back to Mezőkövesd to get the ones I left there.

Today the day was more calm. It's a Sunday-Monday holiday called Pentecost (also Whitsunday). Don't ask me, don't look at me, I don't really know much about this. Due to this even the stores that open on Sundays were closed, and so will be closed tomorrow too, which means that I'll only get to replace the mouse and the cord on Tuesday. However, by then I might also be able to get some photos printed out.

 I've decided that it's time to continue the embellishing of the apartment, and what better to make the place more lively and more of a home than to hang pictures from the walls? Naturally things are never easy, so I'll have to go over my picture archives and start selecting those I want on the walls. Pictures of us, pictures of the family - though this seems more on the line of "pictures of my family" for there aren't many pictures of my boyfriend's family around - so I'll have plenty to do from here to Tuesday. Then again, not like I can complete many of my repeating tasks from my List of 13 during this time. However, I believe it's fair to let you know that I'm getting ahead with the task of making myself June jewelry. I'm not entirely satisfied with the results yet, and basically because so far I was used to get already made chains for the necklaces, and here I have to make the chain link by link. Also, though I have wire sticks with a stopped on the bottom, there were a few only, so I made my own with bead stoppers, but they have given out sometimes.

For this set I used a picture from a book I've got recently as inspiration, but the one I'm making isn't hitting the mark with me. I guess I still have a lot to learn. :-) But that isn't taking away my desire o continue doing it, but rather make me want to see what else can I do and how can I come closer to the concept I'm looking for.

In beading, one of the biggest limitants are the materials: you don't always get to work with the beads and materials you really want, BUT you can work with anything as long as you get around it and know how to make it work. Beading, in the end is an art part knowledge and part experimenting, and that makes it more rich and more magical. Well, we shall see how this goes on in the future!

Hard to Get Black

The "List of 13" already made my day. It's really awesome to have something like this, like a box  containing 13 adventures to complete before June. I planned to get the first task done - had even checked out some pieces I wanted to try out on the Internet - but it happens that getting black clothes is far harder than you'd imagine. Yes, buying black clothes is a veritable nightmare.

Today I checked out a Marks&Spencer, a Tatuum, an Esprit and an MNG, looked at hundreds of clothes, tried out at least 15 dresses and bought a Grand Total of none. Yes, four stores and 17 dresses later I've bought none. It was already hard to fund Summer-fitting black clothes based on cut and fabric, but then, as I tried the selected ones on, non of them fitted me well or were well cut. For once, I discovered that I'm not a 12 (US sizes) as I thought (or a 14, as I originally thought), but an 8 (which is weird, because I actually gained weight), and yet the clothes didn't fit me. Smaller clothes were too tight on the wrong places, and bigger ones drowned me, while those that were supposed to be good weren't flattering at all, with odd angles, with tight and loose spots at the wrong parts.

In this quest I realized one sad thing: prints and colors are often used to disguise the imperfection of the clothes made. Also, the simplest cuts and shapes can reveal the biggest flaws and shortcomings, and today I seem to have found them all. However not everything was lost, as I managed to complete the second task: get myself (at least) a pair of black jeans. This one was a very happy, very joyful experience. Without thinking I went to a Levi's store, where I simply said to the sales guy that I wanted a black pair of straight cut jeans. Without searching all over the place, he went for the perfect cut, and pegged me for a pair three sizes smaller. The sweetheart, he didn't know I always get a pair one size bigger since I like my pants just a tad big (I hate to wrestle myself into my pants, or even the feel of clothes being snug, and prefer that soft, slight looseness of clothes a bit stretched out. I know jeans normally stretch, so you are supposed to buy a pair that's very tight, but I still prefer them already bigger).

Slipping into the perfect pair, at the perfect size was like a dream. Legs sliding around my legs, waist line somewhat bigger than my waist, but that's nothing a little fitting can't fix, and hips just perfect. Why can't everything be this simple?

To finish the day, I tried to complete my first movie of the week, but I couldn't bring myself to watch either Battleship nor 21 Jump Street, so I went to my favorite café restaurant, and ordered a delicious Raffles Singapore Sling and some washi rolls. Both of them were to die for. So I checked also the cocktail of the week.

I'll give the first task another try tomorrow at a different commercial center, and also try to slide in one of the movies of the week. If things go well, I'll also try and get two things I'll need to prepare for two more of the tasks, but that will be a secret until tomorrow. ^_^

I've been thinking about making this List of 13 something constant in my life, or at least for a while. I've already been thinking about new tasks to add, new little adventures and tasks to include. 13 is a magical number for all the ideas and thoughts it provoke, so that's why I'd like to keep on that the number of tasks and adventures I'll set for myself. I haven't decided to the period I'll give to each List of 13, maybe 4 weeks for each, so that in a year I get 13 lists as well... from Full Moon to Full Moon, or Waxing Moon to Waxing Moon, New Moon to New Moon... who knows. The ideas are good, the projects and lists are fun. I'll decide when I make up my mind about it... and maybe by the time I make my next list.

A Day of Small Adventures

Perhaps today is going to be yet another one of those days - like Tuesday - that I won't be sure I've lived. Damned, I need to get serious with TV shows so that I can set a day tracker in my life. Today I just kept forgetting that it was Friday, and though you may ask why do I need to know which day am I in when I'm not working, well, because others do and businesses keep different hours and Wednesdays, as I recently discovered, the movies can be seen at a reduced rate.

There was no "level 2" and nothing particular to nag at my nerves today, but as my boyfriend prepared to go out to work, I though about yesterday, and how I wanted to go to the movies (after having gone on Wednesday after Level 2), but I didn't go for I was too lazy and otherwise occupied with being lazy, watching some TV, reading some political/financial magazines and busying about the Internet; I though that maybe today would be a good day to make it up for what I left undone. As an after thought, I smiled thinking how on Wednesday - for Level 2 - I acually dressed according with the color of the day suggested by Llewellyn's Witches Datebook, without knowing. I wore brown head to toe and was looking SMASHING in it.

I had gone for the beads, as you know, but haven't bought all I needed to string up a decent set, so I thought that today was just perfect to go over there and hit the glasses and little compartments with beads and make magic. After having taken a look at my book on jewelry, it was easy to go there with a purpose, so I came out of there with a hefty bounty of many, many colored beads of different sizes and shapes, loose, packed in small bags and little tubes. The owner of the tiny place was nice to me and gave me a 10% discount considering me already a "regular". The place was buzzing with ladies so at home around beads and jewelry supplies, talking about the techniques they were most versed in, and referring to bead and supply details I have never heard before. To my amazement, I was quickly included in the conversations and was part of sharing the experiences of how we love to make jewelry, but end up with more pieces than what we can wear in a lifetime. I believe my friend Dragonfly-cr can perfectly relate to that.

From there I rushed to the movies at a close-by commercial center - just like I did in Wednesday. My mission was simple: The Raven followed by The Avengers. I thought I was going to see one good movie followed by one bad movie - but I wanted to see the bad movie to get the jokes on Internet about it. As it happens, I saw a lame movie followed by a comic-comic movie. Thor was handsome, and so was Captain America, and Scarlet Johanson's sidekick, and IronMan was the heart of the movie... though I had to keep myself in check so I wouldn't shout "Go Sherlock!".

These are my third and forth movies of the week, as on Wednesday I saw the terrible "The Woman in Black" followed by "Dark Shadows"... which was just as disappointing. It was like I went to see - and paid! - a really bad episode of Supernatural, with no plot at all, and lacking the two handsome Winchester brothers and their slash, and then went to see a washed down version of "The Monster Family meets Beetlejuice". Oh well, at least today I saw The Avengers and there were handsome guys in it.

Haven't hit the movies so hard in ages, but then again, if I don't do it now that I've the time, when else would I do it? Only, just for insurance, next time I'll hit another movie complex, so that I don't get to be the regular-regular who watches two movies in a row... like I do.

People really don't come to the movies much in Hungary. The Raven was deserted, and the premier was yesterday. Well, The Avengers was full, and the premier of it was weeks ago. Wonder how will it be for the premier of Brave.

In between the movies, I went to have some light, late lunch at one of my favorite restaurants: Leroy. Though this was the one where I can ask for gyozas - and they prepare them superbly - I wanted something new. I asked for a Miso soup - which was particularly horrendous, tasting too much of vinagre - and completed the order with a Tennessee Highball (Jack Daniels, giner ale, lime) and an order of hamachi sashimi. Believe it or not, that was my first order of sashimi of my hole life. I wanted something light, something wholesome, and what could be more wholesome, more healthy, more light than fresh, raw fish slices?

Well, I didn't regret my decision. The order contained three thick slices of hamachi  - which I understand is white tuna - fresh and juicy, served with the mandatory ginger shaves, some wasabi and a siding of cucumber. The pieces were simply exquisite, and each nearly melted in my mouth as I took a bite from them. Perhaps it's not the cheapest thing one can order, but it was amazing and absolutely worth it. Then of course, maybe a Tennessee Highball wasn't the proper drink for it, but it was all amazing and got me out of the fiasco mood after The Raven and ready for the Avengers, even if I had to deal with Ms. Johanson's annoying acting. There goes another actress falling off the wagon, forgeting the requierements of her craft in the name of a fame gained on their physical atributes... Pitiful.

At least the sashimi was good.

So, adding it up, I tried new things and I hit also the old ones, and from all of them I reaped fabulous experiences and a great chance to relax, lay back and enjoy life, because that's what it has been given to us.

Fit

Some time ago I bought for myself a fitbit ultra, which is this thingie that counts your steps, and how many calories have you burned and stuff like that. Since my friend Dragonfly-cr started running and wearing one of these to measure her performance, I was pondering getting myself one of those, basically to start running too. I wasn't planning on running here, though, as if I do I would mainly be running away from robbers and kidnappers (my neighbourhood has proved that safe...), but I do was planning on starting to run in Hungary, preferable at the Margit Island, which has a lovely running path made of something that's soft and feels cool. This things are called "pedometers" or something like that. Checking them on the Internet wasn't all that easy, mind you, as there were features I didn't get, and none of the mentioned things were clear about whether you need something else to go with them. Also, with prices running from $20 to $200 there was no way I could pick safely something that was really good and what I needed.

Luckily when boyfriend and I were flying back from Dominican Republic, I read on the plane's magazine - Destinos - (we went on Taca) about the fitbit. A page in two languages dedicated to explaining shortly this device made me decide that this is the one I'll get, and so I did (specially because I could get it in plum, not necesarity in blueberry, as you know that blue and I don't get along very well). The fitbit came with an internet page where you can track your progress and keep your statistics. Calories consumed, calories burned, activity, mood, and so on. A real delight for someone so into keeping track and tabs like me (who have been keeping tabs on my weight, not like it changes and not like I would do a thing to change it!), however... my Hyne if this is a hard thing to get by! The fitbit is all nice and cute, but it doesn't seem to be accurate. I climb 15 flight everyday to get to the office, and it says I climb 22. I end up climbing from 29 to 44 and the counter says 75 to 88. I walk distance of five meters and it claims I've taken 500 steps. What am I? A geisha??

The page also gives you an account on the calories you have eaten, for which you log every single food you eat. It's nice and cool, and rolls out a list from where you pick what did you have, and that's okay, and all, but it gets me thinking, that getting fit isn't as easy as one would think. With a thingie like this, it's not only a matter of will, it's a matter of patience. Does this really motivate? And in general, if you have a sendentary life like mine, how further do you get with a program that keeps you in front of your computer logging in your weight and every single snack bar you chew?

My goal isn't to lose weight - what for? I'm fine the way I am - but to keep myself healthy, move and keep my body well. That's why I go to yoga classes too, so is a dashboard to work with keeping me from effectively be more active or is really helping me, thoughI don't know that yet?

Rattled and "Starstruck" in a Good Way

I'm shaky. I can't explain - maybe won't - but I'm so shaky right now! No, not too much coke in my system, but I've got... shaky. Topics for posts pile in my paper agenda - ah, the perks of going old school and planning on paper! - but right now none on them are up on my plate for the post at hand.

I received some unsettling information regarding a future plan I have on the cooking (non reasoned, just it seems that I won't get things exactly the way I want them, and sure, that can make me shaky with the fits of my upset control-freak self), but that doesn't mean that my plans - set in motion millions of years ago, nailed into place, hammered into shape - will be altered in the least. I'll fight and claw and tear up and punch if I have to, but I'll get my way. Always have. (Still, I'll be lighting a couple of candles just to make sure things are going smoothly and whatever the conditions, my further plans fall into pace with them.) I keep saying myself "no biggie, we will tackle it", and hope-believe I've the muscle it takes to get things done the way I want them. However - never the less - this is something I didn't need. An extra pound to carry around for this project. Oh well, didn't I say that God doesn't give us more than what we can carry? And haven't I said that it isn't God picking our load but ourselves? So, I bet you I can tackle this thing and still read my mangas and witchy books (I'm into reading witchy books right now).

I've got a message from the past as well. Oh dear, I think thinking of it also adds to the general shaking. When I thought all ties had been severed - though I have never forgot those ties as they were quite a milestone in my life - a small multicolor spark shot up in the air and made the memories real. Do you know the feeling? When a memory is so sweet, of such a fleeting moment in time, that after some years you start wondering if it was actually real or simply a trick of your mind? Well, this spark lit up the memory and brought it back to life. Right now. At yet another life changing point of it.

I'll take it as it looks like: a good sign. Things may look dire, may look obscured, but in real life, what lies beneath - even if facing a period of loss and confusion - is the brightest of all lights and the coolest of all paths. Thanks, my friend, you are a shooting star!

Welcome June

The Wheel of the Year keeps turning, and we've hit June already. Like many, we marvel as not long ago it was January and we were rising our glasses of champagne (or our beer jars, each to its own), cheering for 2011. From a composition of long and short days, some where the hours seemed eternal, others where the minutes were simply not enough, from bill to paycheck, from pushing the cart of our projects down the road of the calendar, to the checklist of things accomplished and things to still tackle.

It is summer for some, a season of long days, full of sun, full of heat, short and vaporous clothes and the mandatory bottle of water, sandals, dark glasses and hat, threat of heat waves and all the nasty things it can make to you. For others it's the season of thunder storms and hurricaines, tropical storms, rubber boots, trench coats and umbrellas. For yet others it's the time of winter.

For me June is the month of my birthday, but also my Black Month, and today is the first day of it.

It's kinda funny that after several years going through this, the first day is always kinda hard. Casting away all color, picking out only the black, getting into that mind, striving to get all my stuff organized, worried I'll have not much to wear and so on, then only to end the month wishing I could keep the "all black" yet another month with me. Black is certainly addictive.

Perhaps this month, if time proves enough, I'll try out my hand at sewing a few pieces I feel like I need, but I can't find in stores. Yes, sewing. Now, unlike common believe dictates, sewing isn't always cheaper than buying clothes done, as you must consider that you probably can't get the supplies (fabric, needles, threads, buttons, etc.) as cheaper as the factories for you don't buy on bulk. Sure, sewing can be cheaper in certain cases, but not in all. However what sewing does have - if you have the skill, and the skill is acquired by practice and will to improve - is the chance to get you exactly what you want. Sure, in the begining you can start working out of patters from Internet or magazines (like I do ^_^), but with time you are able to lower or push higher the waist, make the dress longer or shorter, tighter or more flowy, change the sleeves, change the neck or clivage... possibilities are endless, and they are not tied to fashion or disponibility on the stores, nor you have to wonder about making sure to boil the clothes before wearing them for only Hyne knows where they've been hiding before you purchased them, or who had them on.

Haven't sewed in a while, so we shall see what comes out of my next project - if I man up for it. However, what I did do was starting a project of jewelry. Yes, more, jewelry! ^_^ Didn't take a picture, but yesterday I dared to try out and make a spiral pendant for a "floating" necklace (I call floating the necklaces that are made with transparent thread, thus often it looks like the pendant is magically suspended from the collar bone dip), inspired by a teenie piece I've got one day with a magazine. The original is a simple, inexpensive necklace threading on some of this transparent line four iriscident beads and in the middle of them a wire spiral with iriscident beads. Things like this make me think that, when looking for inspiration, every source is a chest of treasure. Also made a pair of pendant earrings. A project I haven't finished is an eight thread necklace, which I plan to mix and twist to create a thicker effect later on. That one is yet to be finished.

This is my June, so far. How's yours?

A day at the Beach

This Friday my folks, my boyfriend and I went to the beach. Our plans for Kari's stay (particularly mine) didn't come out as I would have expected, mainly due to the lack of time for preparation, and because my next week vacations are pretty much tinted with the parole status or probation, meaning that I can't really leave the GAM (Gran Área Metropolitana, or Great Metropolitan Area) since I'm on call at any time my boss needs me, in relation with the CE project. It is giving me a royal headache. Kari isn't quite pleased about this, since he's already used to us always hitting the road, staying at some nice hotel and having loads of fun, taking a dive in the ocean (him taking a dive, I'm simply swimming in the safe parts), eating "exotic foods" and talking about plans for the future and stuff like that. Yeah, that totally sounds like postcard lovers, which I hope we are not. Ewwww! Nothing more disgusting that being lovey-dovey Love is postcard lovers.

On Thursday I washed my hair, and I was a bit wary because, well, everybody knows what Ocean air and water can do to hair, right? Well, mine didn't got saved from the "treatment".

The program for Friday was to go to Bajamar, so that Dad could proudly show off around the 1800 m2 lot of weed and nothing at the beach, where he pretends to build his ten cabins next year and blah, blah, blah. That's so lordlandish from him! In any case Kari was impressed, and liked the lot. I don't like itr much because there's nothing there. There's this beautiful beach, but not a bench, not a hut to change, no nothing, There's just nothing there. On the neighbouring lots there are already little huts or houses built, and here and there some signs of civilization We have a fence, a tree and something looking like a path, that's now walkable, so we can make it from the road to the shore, but there's not one scrap of shadow. That's death to me.

Dad and Kari

Me, Kari and Mom

This is the Beach at Bajamar

We took there a few pictures and I was sorry we couldn't get into the ocean there, since it looked so cool, but we were supposed to go to Parrita and meet there with my brother, his wife, kids and in-laws. We had to stop, though, at Jacó for breakfast, since we left home around 6 am (Dad's idea) and nobody had eaten decently since. Kari also wanted to have Gallo Pinto for breakfast, with salsa Lizano, and well, who are we to deny him a simple pleasure, right?

The Family at the Beach

Ati's wife and in-laws at the back, with his younger son, and our folks and his older son at the front

We met with my brother close to his in-laws' place, and then we went to some beach where they like to go. It was, interesting, to say the least. They had so much furniture out there, rocking chairs, plastic chairs, a table, a grill, Fernando's crib, and LOADS of food. To Kari's delight, there were coconuts, which they collected from the shore, and swiftly him, then my brother started opening for everybody to drink. I didn't get one, because I don't like them. Dani, my older nephew don't like them either, and yet he insisted I had one. Dani is a serious piece of work.

Kari and the Coconut

Ati opening an coconut and Dani checking on his Dad.

Do this really needs captions?

Kari, Dani and I. Dani purposefully closed his eyes.

The visiting was interesting, and a bit awkward. Kari asked me to present him around, but I couldn't since I barely knew anyone. I believe it should have been Ati's or Yuly's place to present us. Dani, my older nephew and my favorite, was running around the beach, playing in the Ocean, which he loves to madness. Him, who has always been wary about Kari, started to come closer to him, speaking his name for the first time, and showing interest in him, though he was still very shy. It's hard for them, since Kari doesn't speak Spanish, and Dani hasn't never really spoken Hungarian, and whatever knowledge he has is deeply burried and he's not comfortable showing it (though he has surprised us a couple of times).

Kari got a headache from the sun, so at the end, though he was dying to go bathe in the Ocean, I was the one pulling on my swimsuit and getting into it. There why my hair ended up like the rough end of a broom, and why today I'm doing the full treatment with keratine masks and the whole shebang.

We went after with the in-laws to their place, where we were offered a cup of coffee before leaving back to the GAM. Now this is when things get interesting.

When we went we took the new highway, a highway that makes the usually 2 hour trip last only 45 minutes, but which is, all in all, over 20 times more expensive, in toll fees. You see, in Costa Rica, the highways that are privately managed charge a max of $0,19, and this one, known also as Autopistas del Sol (the constructor) charges in several segments, and costs around $4,10. The trip wasn't as short as it was supposed to be, but it was a bit shorter.

On the way back we took the same road thinking it would be shorter and that we would be home quicker. Well, as it turned out to be, nothing was farther from the truth. Naturally, the road had the same cost, but, as it turned out, the newly build highway, given in concession from the Costa Rican Government to Autopistas del Sol was collapsed. There were other privatelly owned highways give you two to three lanes for $0,19, Autopistas del Sol gives you one line in each direction for $4,10. From tollbooth to tollbooth the cars barely moved, turning the whole thing into a parking lot. If this happens twenty years after building it, I would understand, saying that the highway's capacity has already been surpassed, but this highways has less than a month, two months top since finished and it can't take the amount of cars taht would circulate through it.

It took us over three hours to get home, seeing in the way many cars turn and take the old routes.

There was no lesson there to learn, none at least that we wouldn't already known: corruption has consumed the country. Why to spend so much money in a highways that offers basically nothing to the people, for an overly inflated rate? To pay favors and let private corporations milk money out of the population. It is shameful.

My Third #pintotour

Today was one of those few Sundays when I wake up early. It wasn't because I had insomnia, but because I had plans: I had an appointment with other Twitters from Costa Rica. As in the other Twitter appointments I've attended, this was a traditional breakfast, marked with the hashtag #pintotour. For anyone who has gone to one, this symbol and nine letters mean an appointment to make friends and spend a great time always at a great location.

Today's location was a restaurant called Chubascos at Fraijanes. This is located in the province of Alajuela, close to the Poás vulcan. I had no idea how to get there, and so I arranged with my best friend Mario to meet in Alajuela at 8 am to grab the bus to Fraijanes. Now, in order to get to Alajuela at 8 am I had to wake up at 6:30, which I did, get showered, dressed and up to go. It was one of those few days where I actually woke up on time, and got out of the bed right away. Could just hope it was the same for work ~ However, as it happens often for me, I forgot that on the weekends, particularly on Sundays, buses tend to hold to a much more "lax" schedule, so the freaking bus wasn't showing up in the Heredia-Alajuela direction even though two had gone in the opposite direction.

The day, however, started sweet, calm and smiling, like any day that promises to be simply great.

Bar La Palma, on my way to the bus to Alajuela 

A bus stop on my wa to Alajuela

...and this is Alajuela

...and this is the bus stop... half of it.

Like some sort of goofy tourist, I went on taking pictures of just about anything in the attempt to catch the feeling of the day at the other end of my objective. The daily landscapes and motives flashed beautiful before my eyes as I happily rode to my appointment with my 140-character friends. I was a bit sad because @sancarlena77 wasn't going to be there, and hoped to meet @Amaretto, who at the end never showed up. :-( However I was happy because I was going to see Mario again, who was supposed to bring me the information from the Tecnológico de Monterrey about the Economics Postgrad Programm. - Mario forgot it, so we'll have to meet again this next week. -

We've got to the bus stop of Fraijanes Lake, before which a line of local tourists in flat shoes, jeans, shorts and cotton clothes waited with their backpacks filled with hard boiled eggs, sandwiches wrapped in paper napkins and stashed in ziploc bags, bottles of beverages and maybe here and there a homemade beverage poured in a reused bottle of soda. In Costa Rican tradition these low budget local tourist are known as "comehuevos" or "egg-eaters" due to the fact that back in the day when there weren't so many choices of carrying food without it getting spoiled, many of them brought loads of hard boiled eggs for lunch. The bus left the station on time, but kept loading more and more people on the way, and all of them packed up with the distinctive egg-eater clothing and backpack.

 On the way

23 Km to Poás Vulcan

...and still on the way... 

the trip alone proves to be so amazing!

in moments like this you say: Costa Rica Rocks!!

Mario and I talked on the way about a hundred and one things from politics to what's great in Korea and so. We pushed our cameras out in the window and took more pictures of just about everything out there. It basically didn't matter where we pointed at, everything was an amazing objective and HAD to be captured. I asked him over and over, taking the chance presented by the #pintotour and the picture taking, to revive his blog, Dankenzon for All, which I really love, and I'm not just saying that. In my heart a little candle of hope lit up, as he might, perhaps, write again there and I'd be reading him again.

Finally, with a 15 minute tardiness, we arrived to Chubascos, where only the Sosa Siblings were sitting at a tiny table. The whole entourage was beyond magical. Tall trees and fresh mountain air, with a small, gentle meadow stretching for the view. The ragged, spotty shadow the branches and leaves made gave such a delicious sunny-fresh feeling to everything, it was like wrapping yourself in sun scented clean blankets. The Sosa siblings sat at the terrace twitting their fingers away, silent and acompanied by two white mugs of black coffee - no sugar. Francisco's smile picked up the race with the sky, so bright and shiny and delightful it was, and Evelyn, well, Evelyn was plain beautiful, gracing the place like a delicate princess with her sweet face, beautiful hands and graceful gestures. The waitress approached us (at our bidding, I shall add) and asked us how many people would be coming, to decide how many tables to put together. I found it a bit rude that she said it would be senseless to put together four tables just for four people. The words had barely left her lips when twitters started pouring in. They came in couples and trios as they met in the entrace, some taking a moment to take a few pictures for the Twitpic, or their own blogs and sites. There was @AceCostaRica and his calm, nice manner, and his wife, whose youthful charm always hit the note of every gathering.

Felipe was also there, phone-camera in hand taking all the official pictures of the breakfast. Julian came with his wife, and set the stronger note of the gathering, with pointier remarks and faces to match them. He's amazingly expressive.

 

The table is set!

 

And set both sides!

Four tables soon proved to be little and we squeazed closer together. Three menues for thirteen people were hardly enough, so many took pictures of it and consulted it from their iPhones. As I looked around the table, and so many iPhones were flashing in the hands of the twitters, it made me think about the company I work for and their position about this handheld. A matter of decitions made up there can't really dictate what happens on the daily life. It made me also wonder about the rest of the Public Sector and how far from reality our Government falls. 

This is the kitchen, or part of it

Laughter came along the menu as Mario did the honors of reading it for the benefit of all. Most of the presents ordered "pinto", while I, true to my custom, ordered a HUGE tortilla, fried eggs, sour cream and a coke - no ice. I sipped my black coffee happily while the Sosa siblings picked on me asking me how come I come to a #pintotour and have no pinto. The coke raised a few eyebrows again, but I hope it will stop being strange after a few more #pintotours, which I hope to share with them in the future.

HUGE Tortilla (handmade) and platanos 

Yay! Food! Delicious, yummy food!

The food was to-die-for, even though we had to wait for it until we were famished, starved and ready to dive head first and wolf up the whole thing. It was somewhat unpleasant to have to wait so much for the food, but then it proved to be so much it kind of made sense that they sarved us before hand. It was just DELICIOUS!!

The waiting and the eating was peppered up all over with talk, comments and an enriching exchanges of opinion. Mario shared his theory about why the Middle East was so important to some, tying it to the Summerians and lore on allien intelligence manipulating mankind. It did raise a few eyebrows, others joked around, - me among them sorry to say, but I'm not much of an OVNI fan - and others simply cheered when Mario's food finally arrived. It was actually the only meal received with a round of applause. Pictures were made as we had fun, and we all just felt awesome.

The crowd grew close, homely and those of us who didn't knew each other before were soon following and sharing like life long friends. Each of these meetings offer always such a nice, friendly, civilized environment, open and polite and always leaves you with the distinctive desire of sharing more. This was not the exception, and how would it be, when you meet so many nice people!