V

In this forsaken place a battle is on to save a piece of heart.

There is no hope in sight, there is no hope inside.

The ghostly whirlwind dashes to the ground all wolves. There is a maelstrom of ice and snow and all you hear is clapping wings.

Between the strokes with silver feathers and dusty stars all over, between the drops of blood and howls, she looks at him concerned and speaks, just loudly in her head.

“I can’t give up right now. I have to buy him time so I can buy me freedom.”

And as she finished her own thought, he’s right there in her mind: ”I won’t be gone until they’re gone”.

She got his heart by now.

The maiden and the whirlwind – IV

She struggled with her fears, she laughed, she cried, she danced all day to feel alive for only one more time before the night came.

And in the veil of the moonlight she wears her bright star at the wrist; she holds her head up high and smiles looking at her reflection mirrored in the silver blade.

“I fight for first and last time in this life. I know what I want and I am going to get it at all costs. If they will sense my wish for death they will not kill me and this… this is unimaginable.”

She steps in front of the stone angel with the open arms and gazing at the stars she waits.

Full with rage and hungry for her powers, they also wait.

“They have come a long way to find me and now when they can take me down, they hesitate?”

Enemies of hers, the wolves are caging her in slowly.

And paw by paw and claw by claw they fill the night with howls.

One move, one jump, one bite and blood starts coloring the snow. Warm scents choke up the air.

Bleeding from the shadows, he looks amazed and hits with anger the wolf who bit his arm.

The maiden and the whirlwind – III

“I watched her this morning while cutting her hair by the river. For a second I even got the impression she wanted to stab herself in the heart but she didn’t.

So I followed her home and I saw how light-hearted and confident she is despite that little moment of insanity I thought I was witnessing. I did not talked to her, for we live in two other worlds. And I know for fact that mine would not accept her.

She’s human, but not quite, she’s different in a way I can not explain and I’m certain she sensed parts of what I am. Parts I’m not proud of.

She does not belong here.”

It’s a terrible thing to know what you want, and to know you can not have it at all.

The maiden and the whirlwind – II

Walking back from the river through her oaks garden she stops looking at the gates, breathless but her heart racing like million musical notes on a violin string.

“Finally”, she says in soft voice as she sees the footprints. And she just stands there; not feeling the bitter wind blowing through her hair, not feeling the cold flakes melting on her skin.

She looks sadly happy in the grey light of the morning. Dreaming her dreams with eyes wide opened, looking far away over the treetops high, barefoot in the snow.

This is going to be the season she waited for so long. Starting with the midnight sun she is going to be no longer by herself.

They are there.

The wolves are back on those lands. They are finally coming for her.

To rip her apart, steal her magics and end her pointless so called life.

The maiden and the whirlwind – I

Bent over the river’s creek, long bright hair with highlights of green like the oak leaves touching the freezing water, she watches her reflection while cutting short fringes with a silver blade.

“Did anyone ever notice that I’m not getting older? If they all think I’m a young strange bourgeoise with overwhelming desires like walking barefoot in winter, not combing my hair and wearing stardust  then so be it. I have never imagined such a life for myself. I mean, life has an ending, mine doesn’t. So what am I ?”

And the last piece of cut fringes is carried away by the cold river.

She never felt so alone and sick in all her immortality. Endless youth and magic become a burden over the ages.

Thinking about all the men in her life, all the mortals that come and go like seasons, it’s hard to see beauty, joy and love in witnessing nature’s vanity. There are no witches, warlocks nor magicians left on these lands to give her the gift of ordinary life; only humans stayed.

“How come they all disappeared one morning without any notice? Why did they left me? Did they have a choice?“

And while she’s caught up in her thoughts, the wolves are sniffing the snow and taking her trace while passing through the gates. She left them opened. What’s the point in closing something if there’s no one to open them?

She rises up her head, puts the silver blade to her waist belt and inhales the cold air. It gives her shivers and makes her think of stormy weather and wings touching the sky while exhaling.

“Something is about to happen. Maybe what I’ve waited so long for.”

Tattoo

Ca tot povesteam mai demult despre Michelangelo Electric, iaca-ta-ma intrata pe mana unui Michelangelo brasovean.

Pasiunea mea pentru arta tatuajului a capatat contur in sfarsit si pe corpul propriu, dupa ce in ultimii 4 ani mi-am tot spus ca la un moment dat voi face si pasul acesta cand voi gasi ceva care sa ma inspire si sa ma multumeasca suficient incat sa-l port cu mine tot restul vietii.

Si cum designul a fost ales, a urmat cautarea artistului.

Am vrut sa fie din Brasov si sa-mi placa nu numai tehnica si talentul ci si locul in care-si desfasoara activitatea.

Astfel din doua saloane bine cunoscute am ales EliTattooStudio.

Recunosc, faptul ca si-au renovat si site-ul si salonul in intervalul in care eu cautam sa ma redescopar a contat mult.

Asa am ajuns ca intr-o dimineata de sambata sa-mi las pielea pe mana lui Gabi Tomescu, fotograf profesionist de obiecte motorizate aflate in miscare si artist tatuator.

Intreaga experienta a fost peste asteptari: o locatie faina, ceva piscaturi (nici vorba de durere), o mana usoara (cam ca a dentistului meu) si sfaturi practice de ingrijire a “artwork”-ului.

Daca va ganditi vreodata sa va pictati inima si sa va pictati sufletul iar Brasovul e in drumul vostru, ii puteti face o vizita lui Gabi. Sunt sigura ca va fi pe placul vostru.

P.S. Si cu asta am taiat si primul lucru de pe bucket list-ul pe care l-am facut de curand.

Poetry – I

I am dreamy and sloppy, I wonder at scars

I hear pianos, I see only stars

I pretend to be careless, I touch the blue skies

I worry for nothing, I cry at goodbyes

I am dreamy and sloppy

My first Haiku

Haiku comes from Japan and it’s a form of poetry that usually paints a picture of something in nature. Haiku starts with a vivid image in the first line followed by an interesting transition in the second line which leads to a different image or thought in the third line.

With Haiku, rhyme is not as important as the form. The form is the 5-7-5 syllable pattern of the lines.

I saw a star fall,

Made a wish, kissed her goodnight.

Whispering wind sings moon lullaby.

How to – making an envelope

On Wednesday I have my conference presentation. All it’s good. The paper was finished long time ago and the ppt file I managed to have it done last Friday so I can have the time to actually prepare my speech. But, as you can see, this is not going to happen’ any time soon ‘cause I’m always doing something else then the things I’m supposed to.

And today I made envelopes, from calendar paper. I event took pictures to make it like a tutorial.

Here I go. You need:

• paper from magazines, calendars or wrapping paper
• scissors, glue
• maybe a pencil and a A4 sheet

My calendar paper is bigger then an A4 sheet so I had to cut it using the A4 as a model. If you are using a magazine cover you don’t need to cut anything yet, it’s already rectangular.

Next you fold the paper into three parts, two equal ones, like you were to fold it in two, leaving the upper part smaller.

Then, fold about 1 cm margin along the both sides of the paper.

Now you cut the margins from the bottom and the upper part.

You fold the remaining margins and put the bottom part on top gluing it. Or you can let the margins on the outside like I show you in the pic but I don’t usually do it ‘cause I don’t like the way it looks.

For a more elegant envelope you can cut the top flap with curved corners.

And that’s it.

You have a fun, colorful and big envelope to send to someone you love.

Social Reader mood detector

For some time now I’m caught into a research project held by the Curtin University of Technology from Perth, Australia regarding the role that blogs and other online media have in the formation and maintenance of relationships and communities.

I have been randomly selected as part of a small group of bloggers and blog readers and invited to play with a new blog reading software named Social Reader. With this tool you can keep up with the blogs/feeds you read (all just in one spot, rather than hopping all over the web) and the conversations among bloggers.

From time to time the developers add new improvements such as the one that impressed me the most today: a feature that indicates the mood of blog posts and comments, as well as estimates how well different bloggers know each other.

They want the posts depending on the author’s mood to be ranked automatically by colors. For example red is for rather angry, blue for feeling sad, yellow for happy and so on.

Anyway, I’m telling you this because I also had to complete a survey on this topic and the questions were very well put and consistent that it got me thinking in a different way about this project.

Although I find it difficult and not quite exact for the system to automatically classify a post by some words that are supposed to indicate a certain mood, my biggest concern is that colors aren’t enough.

It’s quite difficult for me to think of colors in a certain predetermined way. For me yellow doesn’t mean happiness but boredom or sickness, orange would be more appropriate for this mood; blue is not necessary feeling sad but also being serene, calm, you know, chillin’ …

Sometimes you feel awfully happy or lovely let alone and emotions like these can be mismatched.

So, I made the suggestion that the colors should be on a more wide variety and, if possible, chosen by the post author.

I saw bloggers that add a song of the day at the end of their posts and sometime I do that too.

I think that songs or lyrics describing your mood would be more appropriate. This way you can check out someone else’s song to see what it is about and at the same time you would be aware of what he’s feeling and also what you feel when listening to it.

Oh, there was also a question asking if you would want to know how friends from your social network are feeling and why would you want that or not.

For me it would be nice to know what they are feeling in order to connect and interact in a proper way and not being intrusive. Also, another reason is that I’d like to coordinate my mood with someone else’s, to experiment different feelings or intensities on my own.

Overall this project is quite interesting and addictive for me.

Now, how about you?  What do you think about this mood detector and how would you do it?

Cum se face – brosa din sticla

Facand ordine prin sertare am dat peste perechile mele de ochelari demult apuse. Cum nu m-am indurat sa le arunc atata vreme am zis ca ar fi bine sa  gasesc o noua intrebuintare cel putin lentilelor pentru ca, in cazul meu, nu pot fi refolosite.

Asa ca le-am transformat in brose.

Pentru a refolosi lentilele vechi de sticla aveti nevoie de:

- lentile

- adeziv pentru sticla, hartie, etc.

- hartie de impachetat sau hartie din calendare vechi ca in cazul meu

- foarfeca

- ac de brosa

- adeziv ceva mai rezistent pentru a lipi acul de brosa

Decideti care este imaginea care va place pentru a fi designul brosei.

Aplicati lipici pe partea din spate a lentilei, adica pe acea parte care era orientata spre fata voastra atunci cand purtati ochelarii.

Potriviti hartia pe suprafata si presati usor lentila astfel incat surplusul de lipici sa dea pe dinafara. Cand considerati ca hartia s-a lipit taiati surplusul din jurul lentilei cu foarfeca.

Odata ce s-a uscat puteti picta spatele lentilei si apoi puteti lipi acul de brosa.

Nimic mai simplu! Spor la mestereala!