Few things that became even clearer during the latest holidays

Holidays are great, they are the best and largest excuses source ever for indulging oneself in things one normally would sorely try to resist temptation to yield to. So I will not bother my two readers with stories of scrumptious food and palate-tickling beverages, sun bathing, dolce farniente, and any other similar activity.

I will resume myself to listing some apparently trivial, yet not all that useless observations (especially for those slower with the synapsing thing).

1. Don't kick rocks. Willingly or not, kicking rocks, small or large, is a habit you should avoid. Walking with damaged toes is scarcely pleasant, and meddling with the metacarpals is hardly more gratifying.

2. People tend to be right especially if something not particularly pleasant is at stake. It is flattering when you are proven right after many have told you the opposite. Unfortunately, being right is not always pleasant, since 'truth' rarely is. Nevertheless, the ability to 'read' into happenings and people nicely butters up one's own self.

3. The conundrum of to tell or not to tell remains as such, a conundrum. If you tell people something personal, rarely will you receive the reaction you expect. Not telling and them finding out anyway equals secrecy and on purpose malevolence. No one ever thinks of the other in such occasion, only about how THEY THEMSELVES were affected (usually this is altogether pointless for the entire situation and participants but for the person in question).

4. Preaching does not mean actually doing what is preached. More precisely, too many preach tolerance while not being tolerant themselves. And God knows we DO need tolerance, from the small, insignificant matters to the huge ones.

5. People are NEVER satisfied with what they have. If it is cold, then they long for hot weather. But not too hot. When they do get it, they miss the familiar cold and claim to prefer it to the hot. This lasts until they actually do get it. Moment when they switch back to hot wanting again. Replace 'hot' and 'cold' with any other pair of antonyms and you have the accurate picture of the human psyche. Now, I'm gonna put on my warm socks, because the cold I was missing when I spent last week under scorching sun is starting to get to me.

Corollary: I do hope this helps humans progress, although the only progress I can fathom right now is in the whinging department.

6. Packing is messier than unpacking. I knoooow, this IS a surprise, but it is nevertheless true.

7. The source of platitudes never dries out. NEVER. :-)


On this note, dear two readers, I leave you to another classic of the Andrews Sisters, this time with Danny Kaye, which conveys number 5 better than I ever could. Civilization... I'll stay right here!

Talking to my hand

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I wanted very much a tattoo. Two cat paws on my back, I was sort of undecided exactly where, either on my shoulder or above the heinie. I have always hesitated. Thank God I did! I would have paid dearly to have it removed by now.

I got a second piercing in my left ear at 18, but I don't really regret it, it is not obvious and I still have some small earrings that I can still wear and they look alright, it doesn't give me a "bad girl" look - it's the tiniest of little holes, how can that give any look at all, you have to squint to see that there is an extra earring there.

Nowadays I see that the tattoos are more fashionable than ever. You can see them on all types of persons, and they are no longer considered repulsive, as they were during the times they were mere sailors accessories.

But I still thank God that I was chicken enough not to get one. That would have been one very permanent youth mistake for me.

I have noticed that among my friends there are very few who have tattoos, and those who have are not exactly on the weekly or monthly roster. Could it be that those who play together, stay together? I suspect so.

I also suspect that with age, the conservatory streak in me gets thicker. I wasn't all that wild to begin with. Continuing the plan with improving myself, I should add - increase the amount of tolerance to things I don't like or agree with. And perhaps letting my hair down more often, although this one is literally very uncomfortable. In the very literal sense, I have always hated the feel of hair on my face, even when I was a child or a teenager. I fancied hair-dos with bangs and hair partly covering my face, but I never had neither, I couldn't bring myself to it, the moment I feel hair on my face, I instantly tuck it behind my ears. This could also explain my expertise at plaiting hair. So, no hair down for me. I should find another synonymous phrase.

I realise this is a very useless post. To make it less so, let's enjoy some more music. The Andrew Sisters - absolutely adorable, singing Rum and Coca Cola. Love them both, the lovely trio and the tipsy-making and refreshing cocktail.

A better person

Everyone in life should struggle to become a better person, or at least this is what the moral precepts teach us. This endeavor is not at all times a successful one. And that is because in the human psyche one can find embedded the conception that we, as individuals, are pretty much as good as it can get, leaving not that much to improve.

One of the social conventions require us not to boast, and naturally, whatever we say is not necessarily true.

But from time to time, indiscernible to our perception, someone truly desires to become a better person.

And here I am, indiscernible to the rest of the world, wanting to become a better person. What would I like to improve then? Well, let's start with forgiving abilities.

I would really like to be able to forgive easily than I do. Fairness is very important to me, and I find forgiving the first time not that baffling. But, as it always happens, people err repeatedly - me included, I have no illusion of myself being perfect. The part I would like to improve concerns forgiving AFTER having already forgiven once.

I do sound elusive, in more than one sense, and I will try to clarify this further.

I am known for writing long letters and e-mails. This is because I like to keep in touch with people who are not within physical reach and because often I express myself better in writing, since I can refine the wording to make it less blunt or awkward as it comes out when I speak. What I would like to focus my attention on now is not the writing part, but the keeping in touch part.

I do not have many friends, but those I have, I want to keep in touch with them. And this means a two way communication. To my disappointment I have found myself in the position where I was the only one trying to maintain a friendship, while the others were too busy doing anything else but replying my attempts to, well, keep in touch. I do not mind being ignored, I do not need attention from everybody, but from a selected few. I enjoy being left to my own devices by everyone else, but I demand the modicum of attention from my friends.

Despite my being quite straightforward in all dealings in my life, I somehow not managed to make myself understood in this respect by a some dear friends.

One of them proved to be a very important disappointment for me, first because I thought we really connected and that our friendship was able to stand the test of distance, and second because we became friends later in my life, when I thought of myself as being much learned and capable of 'reading' people. To my surprise, she stopped writing and never attempted to get back in touch. I sent her an invitation on Facebook, but truly unintentional, since I sent an invite to my entire address book - I know, silly mistake, I sent invites to everyone I ever wrote to, including the consulate in Lyon and in Munich, the doctor and the cosmetician! Embarrassing indeed... Aaanyway, she is now among my friends on FB, but apart from sending me silly applications, she never sent me a WORD. Sad, isn't it?

Now, I realise that the more time passes (it has been more than a year and a half), the more things get simpler and the way to go back to a common ground is getting less reachable.

I would like to be a better person than I am now and be able to get back to being friends with this lady. I just can't and I do not know how could I possible do this.

But I already start to babble and this is not a wise thing. Perhaps I should concentrate on improving that as well...

I realise we humans are flawed and that perhaps this is what makes us interesting and worth the attention in general, but how can one tell if something in oneself can be improved or it is just so definitive that it would be easier to change spots on a leopard?

I wish I were better. But not really a Mighty, Mighty Man :-)



Yep, hubby is back to playing Fallout. Great game indeed.