A friend in need's a friend indeed, a friend with weed is better

Somebody once sang in my ear, in a crowded place, "Every me... and every you" in a silent voice, whispering a breath of his soul, and looked at me with eyes meant to make me remember, after years, that it was indeed only me and him back then. Regardless of the people around us and cut away from time, we were alone for a fraction of time.

I will remember that on the 13th August, when Placebo will be concerting at the Arenele Romane. Go for tickets here.

Always stays the same, nothing ever changes,
English summer rain seems to last for ages.

I’m in the basement, you’re in the sky,
I’m in the basement baby, drop on by.

(Placebo, English Summer Rain)

Hable con ella - Talk to them

They say a man is a two-face, who shows sharp teeth at work and then plays angel back home (most women are the same, by the way). In cutting my way through the corporate jungle, I’ve experienced many people who showed one face at work and a completely different one at leisure or under different circumstances. In my (at first) inexperienced mind, there was at first confusion about which face one should work with when deciding on a way to handle that specific person. The secret lies in tuning yourself to the situation and the person, reflecting their attitudes and gestures and (most especially) their words.

Have you ever noticed how your colleagues, parents and friends react when you answer them by using the same words they use? The feedback comes in a friendly tone of voice; a verbal conflict is less likely to arise. People tend to see themselves in others and the sense of foreign scares them and makes them uncomfortable (that’s stopping short of saying aggressive).

There are some communication experts who will never let you see their true face, and there are people lost in translation, who will tell you everything you may want to hear and then get lost in their own mis-understandings. Let the person in front of you be your guide, dip into their emotions and you will find the way to getting past their alternative faces and unmasking their true self.

When you’re here
every thought I ever had becomes clear
But when you’re far the only light I ever see is the Stars
And when you go, the feelings burn as they grow
Cause to me, to me you’re Beautiful
(Reamonn - Josephine)

Give me endless summers - Lord I feel the cold

Have you ever lost a lover, a friend or parts of your family – not through sudden death, but by slowly becoming strangers? Have you ever felt how much you have hurt someone by not being there when they needed you? The pain only comes long afterwards, when you feel their dear presence not any longer near, like a blank inside you that will never be covered by anything.

It all starts with small refusals to go someplace together - because of lack of time we always say (and know that there is more to it) - that damp getting-used-to pattern we know, that shallow i-do-not-need-more feeling, commodity to do anything else than the daily routine and a strong conviction that those who are near will forgive our smallish thinking and their dismissal. They do, indeed, but even the most patient cannot feed their picture of you only from memories.

After some time, when you realize that work is not all there is, and only calling your dear ones from time to time is not a solution, you want to go back and reconnect. But time can seldom be lived simultaneously by human beings. There is awkwardness around these meetings, unless the connection is stronger and not outlived. There is that feeling nothing new can be said, although so many things have happened in the mean time and there are worlds to share. You often find you’ve forgotten the words to their heart. That cold look they bestow on you, seemingly asking why you haven’t dropped a line for long, can only be surpassed by getting back in touch and regaining faith in the relationship. Some of us often do this when it is too late.

After great pain, a formal feeling comes
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Toombs
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?

The Feet, mechanical, go round
Of Ground, or Air, or
Ought A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone

This is the Hour of Lead
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons recollect the Snow
First-Chill-then Stupor-then the letting go

(Emily Dickinson, After great pain, a formal feeling comes)

Don't you think?

Lying to ourselves efficiently is the one thing every one of us can learn beyond perfection. I already wrote about the world we build for ourselves, in thinking that we alone can know, that we alone can live, dream and build edifices of lust and what we are so used to calling “performance” and “success”. In flying so high and in aiming to worlds beyond belief, we forget about ourselves, forget where we left off and what we really used to be like.

There is in each of us a real picture of ourselves and the way we are. Each one of us has but the amazing power to paint another picture, as close as possible to what one would like to be regarded upon. This creates a world of masks, through which only the bravest can still see the real face. All others either get lost or become somebody else – without even noticing it.

Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face
(Alanis Morisette, Ironic)

I want to live in fire

I felt compelled to write this after someone asked me in reply to this post how the Apocalyptica concert on the 31st May in Bucharest turned out. Then Mihai’s review through his music reminded me I wanted to write about the concert. And here is the tale from A to Z, the way I experienced it and maybe the way it was meant to be.

On arriving at the Arenele Romane at 19.34, 4 minutes after the concert was supposed to start, I learned an important lesson: NEVER arrive at a concert on time. It’s the same as with parties: the sooner you get there, the less fun you have. The opening of the concert was done by two Romanian bands of uncertain descent; the first one was Bucium I think, and as far as I remember played a sort of Phoenix-copycat music. The second sounded like Nightwish reloaded, with a wannabe Tarja shouting in a high-and-false-soprano-voice into the microphones that were configured for the four cellos. I prayed them out…

The concert itself left nothing to be desired (but to live in the fire they played… :-)). The Roman Arenas were well filled up by the time the Finns showed up, all dressed in leather and carrying their world-famous cellos. The intro was given by “Path” of course, an earlier melody from their Metallica reinterpretations, the ones which originally made the four classic music students famous. For the most part of the concert they played tracks from their newest album, “Amplified: a Decade of Reinventing the Cello.” The interesting part (especially for those who have not listened to more than The Cult and Inquisition albums) was the drums. What surprised us that night was the way a live rock concert with bass replaced by cello and accompanied by drums could tear our senses apart and put them back together like Apocalyptica did. I breathed in the energy as I let myself carried away on metallic tunes on classical instruments – excellently played and amazingly rock.

I want to live in fire

with all the taste I desire

it's all good if you let me dive

with some sharks on the ground

you lose your routine

you lose your routine

cause I found my path

(Apocalyptica, Path 2)

You pulled my sleeves around my heart

A short note about courtesy – since everyone is already discussing the Reader’s Digest’s Global Courtesy Test. There is more to courtesy than just a nice carton PR smile and trying to seem nice when all other gestures say something else. The essence of courtesy is being at peace with the others and appreciating them for what they are: persons (this is to say I love my team ;))

PS: Come to Sibiu – my hometown - sometime; I think you’ll note the level of courtesy of the people there to be above the one in New York… ;-)

Because you're gorgeous
I'd do anything for you
Because you're gorgeous
I know you'll get me through
(Babybird, You're Gorgeous)

Transit

… and so I’m back after a “short” break, which lasted just about long enough as to think about the new topic focus of the blog (some people told me it was rather on the literary side of the matter and that perhaps I should consider wrapping things up – or start publishing in some freaks’ magazine :)).

In the mean time, some new developments took place at work, my team is approaching an important deadline, everyone is tired out and stressed, but the team mood is just as good as it gets and we are really enjoying the project and the constant challenges (about 2-3/day, and if you consider that each has implications in further parts of the project plan, which needs to be modified accordingly, you might grasp the fun of the situation).

Today I will write about a topic that is dear to me: transit. It all started with asking myself what people think about when commuting from one place to the other – be it on bus, car, or by climbing stairs. Most think about nothing probably, they either put one leg in front of the other and mechanically reach the top of stairs, or just look out of the vehicle window and sing themselves some little song while the landscape changes. Some might think about what awaits them when they reach destination, or about the current issues that bother them. But generally, this moving is just some time to waste Is this transit? Is this what we do when moving from one phase to another in our lives, too? Just mindlessly taking on the change and only wondering about it when it is too late… ?

There’s a famous quote saying “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. ” (John Lennon). I can’t help wondering that planning might not be the solution to achieve success… and be happy.

Sing woman, sing for the year
Sing for the love, sing for the tears
Sing woman, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away

(Aerosmith, Dream On)