REALITY MISSPELLED

The patient explorer

2012-01-22T01:56:00.000-08:00

Amongst the lakes, amongst the pines

I hid my most prised possession – my boat.

One cloudless day when sun is shining

I will explore the open waters – in my boat.

I’ll wash it till the musty odour fades away

And moist fresh air feels my lungs – on my boat.

I’ll sail away towards horizon

Until the moon is slowly rising – in my boat.

I’ll scream with joy while I am exploring

The craggy shores that hug the forests – in my boat.

I’ll sit and dream, then writes some notes

All while I am sailing in my boat – one day.

Happy and sad

2012-01-13T03:17:00.000-08:00

When I remember my childhood, it always makes me feel happy and sad at the same time. Happy, because I had a great childhood, surrounded by family I loved and friends, who were always there for me. Sad, because it is not possible to turn back the clock and to repeat the experience.
I wonder if the person who did not have a happy childhood would also feel happy and sad? Happy, because it is in the past and sad because it is not possible to go back and to make it better?
I think we all are looking for something and many of us are looking for something that we did not have in the past. The lucky few are looking for something that they can find or experience in the future.

Going south (Dedicated to Elly McRock)

2012-01-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

Moving without sound Touching the fallen leaves
Unappreciated and alone
Discovering a new world
Without power and electricity;
Without greed and social housing;
Without the tight rope of patience.
Who can move silently like you?
Staring into the night sky
And seeing so many stars
That you could never count them.
They take your breath away.
You are scared. Your heart is rushing.
You breathe fast, you think –you are lost,
Now lost forever, but there is the wind.
It is a fresh cool wind blowing from the sea.
You can hear the sound of waves.
The new world is coming. It is coming
To you today, now, look,
It is what you were looking for!
You are not lost, you just don’t know who you are.
You are trying to find yourself.

Emptiness

2011-12-15T05:07:00.000-08:00

There is this place where emptiness dwells, looking
And feeling around for the next unsuspecting victim.
It crawls into the chest of the guy or the girl, who is impatient
Or lost, or never found. It is a monster, that feeds on fear,
But how can we not feel the fear while living in this amazing city?
The molls that live in the holes, deep inside the ground are blind
And they can not see their fate, but sometimes we are not blind
But choosing to see what is stretched in front of us
For hundred of miles in each direction. Who is the person,
Walking next to you? Is he your friend or your enemy?
In the darkness of the street lights we can not always see what our heart desires,
So we enter the streets full of hopes while we forget our sorrow
And despair, but we find more than we can hold in our outstreached hands.
Some are strong, some are weak, but we are all human.
When the emptiness enters our chest we fight and sometimes
We win, but at other times…. Who is the one to lead the molls to salvation?
And what is the salvation? Who is the king? We are. We are the key
To our future. I just want our present to be a warm place, where
Not emptiness could hide, could hurt, we are outside, because inside is cold.
We sit by the fireplace and listen, while the place lives, it breathes us in
as we are just pollution for its lungs or maybe we are a breath of fresh air
Blowing from the sea far away.

Life is back to normal.

2011-08-16T04:56:00.000-07:00

Almost back to normal. Government is in control again and the law and order has been restored. In a strange way everything that happened brought people closer together. Many of us came out to clean up the damage and to help those affected by violence and looting.
At one point we even had teams of vigilantes patrolling the rough areas!
I think more robust police response is necessary, but also developing a strong sense of community where people look after each other and nobody is forgotten or left behind is the answer to our problems.

All is quiet in London

2011-08-10T02:08:00.000-07:00

First proper night sleep in 3 days. People are out on the streets ready to protect their homes and businesses. The feeling is that if the police do nothing – locals will.
Sadly 3 people in Birmingham, who tried to protect their street, have been now killed.

London anarchy

2011-08-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

The groups of mindless thugs are attacking shops and local businesses, setting some of them alight. The red busses and cars have also come under attack.
It is sad and distressing for people, many of whom have lost their homes in the fires, set off by criminals probably to conceal evidence.
It is even more frightening because some of the politicians like Theresa Mat are still talking about not using harder measures to stop them and putting emphasis on “community police” which clearly is not helping. It is good for her to talk because her house was not burned down and her business was not looted.
Somebody needs to take control of the situation and protect local people. At the moment we are just seeing police standing around with their hands tired by stupid laws and legislations, introduced mostly by the previous government.

Feeling lonely is not an ilness

2011-07-11T03:39:00.003-07:00

Many of us feel lonely from time to time. Today I am one of them. Feeling lonely is not necessarily about not having somebody to share you life with, nor is it about living alone. It is often a symptom of our inability to talk to each other about things that bother us, things that we miss and those that we long for.
I think that longing for a something better and feeling lonely often go together. I had a happy childhood, yet I am one of these people who are not able to look back and simply cherish the memories. I do treasure them, of course, but for me it is not enough.
When I look back at the times when I felt happy and fulfilled I long to go to the same place and to recreate what worked for me then, even though logically I know that the past is gone and no matter how hard you try to repeat your experiences they will never be the same.
Many people take drugs to stop themselves feeling lonely and depressed. It helps some but makes it worse for others, because it distorts their version of reality even further. I have taken pills once and I would never do it again.
I believe that feeling lonely is not an illness it is just a distortion between our reality and our dreams. The stories abound about people who used their feelings of anger and frustration at the injustice of their situation to the advantage of themselves and others. I wonder if is possible to take loneliness and depression and to do the same.

Who is on my doorstep again?

2010-10-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

My Great American Dream

2010-09-27T05:55:00.000-07:00

On a meadow of waving grass
We will lie and look at the sky.
As the night will fall
We will fall asleep
With the birds that are soaring high.
From the morning rain
We will hide in caves
Full of dreams and the fallen rocks.
We will light a fire and
Cook some tea,
Doors are open if someone knocks.
We will look at the stars
In the bright daylight.
We will rock and
Sometimes we will cry.
We will sing in the wind and
While others still linger,
We will make it, you and I.

The cat is not dying!

2010-09-10T04:32:00.000-07:00

A German man has unofficially married his cat after the animal fell ill and vets told him it might not live much longer, Bild newspaper reports.
Well, luckily my cat is not dying. She stopped eating for three days, lost a lot of weight and generally looked rough. I spoke to dozens of animal hospitals, spoke to my bank manager about extending my overdraft (get pet insurance if you have a pet and are reading this!) and was generally preparing myself for the worst.
Then, a day before her hospital appointment, she started getting better. She is back to her normal self now, eating all of her own food and stealing some of ours.
I am so pleased about it. Good day to anybody who reading this!

Wanting to belong

2010-06-28T02:52:00.000-07:00

It was a hot evening, unusual in London. I was driving home through Camden. I saw many people on the streets looking happy. They were all walking somewhere. There were guys with long hair, painted girls in short summer dresses, arty types wearing “unusual” clothes, couples holding hands…
Suddenly I wanted to be a part of them. I wanted to be going somewhere exciting too, either holding hands with my boyfriend or out with a group of female friends. I wanted to belong.
It is a strange feeling, wanting to belong. I often feel it, but I have never been able to describe it before. I think now I can.
It is like dreaming of warm sunshine on a cold winter day. There.

Is you child studying for GCSE exams?

2010-03-10T03:57:00.000-08:00

I keep having nightmares at night. Just to give you an idea, these are the kind of things I dream about-

Who is next to strike in London?

2009-10-13T07:59:00.001-07:00

We had tube drivers, train drivers, bus drivers, fire fighters, baggage handlers and teaches going on strike recently. Now it is the turn of the Post Office workers.
We now hear about new strike almost every few days.
You turn on TV and you wonder who is going to strike today? Which product or service will I have to do without this week?

Firefighters vote to strike in jobs row

Michael Gove: Postal workers are delivering a bleak future for themselves

MP hits out over Post Office strike

Have you say

Read comments on the Postal strike

council workers strike

Teachers strike

Working from home in London.

2009-07-09T05:06:00.000-07:00

With the job vacancies hard to come buy and soaring levels of redundancies many people are looking for alternative ways to earn money or to boost their income.
Here is the one opportunity that I found very useful-
Earn money by doing surveys
GOOD NEWS: Easy and you can do it from your home computer in your spare time. Or you can do it few hours a day and earn up to £100 a week.
BAD NEWS: Can get boring after a while. You have to be patient and like sitting in front of the computer.
There are many websites offering to subscribe you for a small amount of money. Don't! There is no need to pay and many of this sites are scum.
Instead do it old-fashioned way by going from site to site and registering with them. Few weeks later you could be getting dozens surveys a day.
Majority of surveys pay between 20p and £5 a survey. To get paid you need to hit the payout threshold, say £30. Only then can you withdraw your money, generally via Paypal or in gift vouchers.
It is a good idea to open a separate email account before you start or your email ill be flooded with surveys and fair amount of spam which unfortunately often comes with it.
Some surveys companies are better than others but you will learn quickly from the experince and then do more of those that you like. Here is a list of my personal favorites.
MY SURVEY
PANEL BASE
ITS YOUR VIEW
LIGHTSPEED PANEL

Save money in London

2009-01-19T02:34:00.000-08:00

Some people think that this year London is cheaper than before. Others disagree.
But one thing is for sure. Saving money and looking for discounts is becoming one of Londoners' favorite pastimes. There are articles in almost every paper advising us who to spend less and to earn more. Not all of them as useful as they make themselves out to be. For example if somebody is having a whopping 20% off sale and you buy some items at a reduced price you will still be worse off than if you never went there in the first place.
Same goes for discount vouchers. The other day in the supermarket I bought four items that I didn't really need and probably could ill afford. At the time though, I did feel that I was saving cash by doing this (after all I had a voucher for one whole pound off the price of an expensive mascara, fifty pence off an overpriced ready meal and two ten pence vouchers off baking goodies).
However if you are after some discounts or money saving tips there are some helpful websites and publications around. Here are just some of them
SAVE MONEY ON YOUR TRIP TO LONDON
MONEY SAVING EXPERT
DISCOUNT ATTRACTIONS
LONDON DISCOUNTS

UFO in London again. Did you see it?

2009-01-08T03:07:00.000-08:00

I have just read a story about UFO in Lincolnshire, where a blade was mysteriously torn off a wind turbine amid reports of "strange lights" in the sky.
I wonder what colour lights they were? Wherever I read about UFOs before the person claiming to have seen them described the bright orange lights, but few weeks ago I saw strangely bright light blue lights over the North Circular. It is second time I have seen Unidentified Flying Objects in this area. (Read my blog HERE)
This time it was around seven pm and I was walking down the road. It was relatively quiet for this time of the night – not too much traffic. I glanced at the sky ahead of me and was surprised to see five rather large bright pale blue lights above the road junction. At first I thought that they were stars, but they were much bigger and looked closer.
Then I thought that they were the helicopter lights (police helicopters often hover above the North Circular if there has been an accident), but this would require five police helicopters staying absolutely still in a particular pattern for at least few minutes. Also you can usually hear the helicopters from far away.
In this case there was no noise at all.
I walked as fast as I could. For some reason I believed that once I reach the North Circular I will be closer to the lights and therefore might be able to identify them, but before I reached my destination the lights started going our one by one. It was like somebody was very slowly turning off the lights. By the time I got the junction the strange lights were gone.
Did anybody else see these lights or anything unexplained in Greater London area in the last few months?

Keeping warm in winter

2008-12-16T14:27:00.000-08:00

Keeping warm in winter in London is not easy. The problem comes from our houses not being designed for the cold weather. To make it even more challenging winters seem to be getting colder every year. (Apparently it is something to do with global warming :-))
The best place to be for the heat preservation are the blocks of flats and the worst are the detached or semi-detached houses.
Heating up our homes is expensive and choosing the right supplier is crucial.
In August all the major suppliers - British Gas, Scottish Power, nPower, EDF, Scottish & Southern increased rates (see price rise charts). The prices were expected to rise in January but the global economic decline meant it is now predicted there will be a price freeze or more likely a price cut.
Most providers offer special capped tariffs. They lock in at that rate for a set time which means you won't be affected by price rises over that period. At a time of rate hikes, this looks attractive, especially for those worried they can't afford any further price increases.
Those on pre-payment meters sadly pay a lot more than everyone else. If possible switch to a billed meter to save money.
If you currently pay your bills quarterly when you receive them, you can cut the cost by around 10% with almost every provider simply by switching to monthly direct debit.
You can also use the Energyhelpline to switch provider. It also pays cashback of £15 per switch; which means switch to dual fuel (gas and electricity together) and it's £15 or switch to a separate gas and electricity supplier and it's £30 (joint highest).

The perfect cheap date in London

2008-06-27T02:19:00.000-07:00

The prices of going out for a meal in London are on the rise. Some of us are choosing to stay at home or opt for cheaper take-away options. There are still however some vibrant and popular places to go on the date in the capital without breaking the bank. Some of them come highly recommended.
Also check out this article in London Time Out magazine!

Find cheaper petrol in London

2008-06-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

The prices of petrol have recently reached new heights and many people in the UK find it hard to keep the car running. It is especially hard for low income families who have kids and for those individuals who have to travel to work by car due to unavailability of suitable and affordable public transport options.
Motorist in London have been hit the worst with petrol pump prices rising 18.5 per sent in the past year.
Of course some petrol stations still charge better prices than others and if you travel a lot knowing a place like that can be extremely important.
There are currently four or five websites that can help you to find cheaper petrol in you area. Check out those
find cheaper petrol 1
find cheaper petrol 2
find cheaper petrol 3
Other money on petrol saving tips

Going wild in London

2008-05-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

I am confused. First we were told that the bank holiday weekend was going to be warm and sunny, now that it is going to be rainy and gloomy.
What to do in London on a sunny bank holiday weekend? You can take a boat trip on river Thames, go to the park, enjoy your meal on the various pavements (if you like traffic fumes) or you can sit in the garden with a good book (if you have a garden that is).
But what do we do if it is rainy and horrid? You can spend a day at home, spring clearing your house and watching a couple of good DVDs or you can hit the streets of London looking for
wild animals, eating out in Wild restaurants and going to see the Wild Ones at Green Carnation or visit other wild nightclubs.

London without the pink sunglasses

2008-05-19T06:10:00.000-07:00

As the overblown London housing market is slowing down and the economy is heading for even bigger slump, Londoners are spending less money on the luxury and more time looking for bargains. (That is unless you live in Holland Park, Camden Town or Hampstead where some people still seem to be pretty relaxed about dining out two to three times a week in horrendously overpriced local restaurants.)
Many of us are beginning to watch pennies over food and gas bills. For the latter the weather doesn’t help at the moment.
Last night it was so cold that we had to put the central heating on for few hours. This is the end of May we are talking about!
Amount of unemployed people in London has risen by 20 000 this year and finding a job, even very low paid one is no longer a matter of one to three weeks.
This is not surprising with economy headed by Gordon Brown going down the toilet, but it is surprising why has London seen much sharper rise in unemployment than any other place in the UK.

No laughing in the supermarket!

2008-05-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

A woman in a supermarket sees a deal offering 5 boxes of Tampax for £1. She can't believe how good deal it is and asks the manager " Is this deal correct?"
"Yes, madam, 5 boxes for a £1, no strings attached.

Fun on London Underground

2008-05-02T03:34:00.000-07:00

If you live in London, work 9 to 5 and have to travel to work by tube - you know that travelling on London underground sucks.
But those of us who like it here, have no money to move out or are on the verge of emigrating to sunny Spain and ever welcoming Australia yet, but haven't quite managed it yet, we have our small ways of entertaining ourselves:
Reading (the oldest and not the best way, especially if you didn't get a seat)
Smiling at strangers
Growling at strangers
Redecorating the walls
Animal spotting
Singing
Listening to the announcements
Still, if I wake up one day and find that I have as much money as Ken Livingstone, I will do what he does - buy a nice car and get somebody else to drive me!

Fuel prices are going up and up. Have we got the highest prices in the world yet?

2008-04-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

As the oil prices are going up so do our bills. Many poor people are now caught between rock and the hard place trying to get to work.
Unless you live and work in central London public transport is extremely slow and unreliable. Travelling by bus to the other side of London is likely to take hours and doing the same journey by tube will cost you around £8($16) and still will take hours. By the time you have arrived to work, having been coughed at, pressed against and walked over by hundreds of grumpy commuters only totally deluded individual could remain in a good mood.
Driving to work used to be a solution for those living on the outskirts of London, but for many it is now becoming far too costly.
With the oil prices rising the gas bills are increasing also, making it more expensive for people to heat up their homes.
For those who still have some money left at the end of the months and want to get away from it all - flight prices are on the up too, with fuel surcharge increasing by 30%.
We are being told to shop around for the best prices, the trouble is that event he best prices are not necessarily that good. Still if you want to change you supplier - here is a good comparaison website.

Free cinema tickets!

2008-04-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

If you have a mobile phone and Orange is your mobile phone provider you can get 2 cinema tickets for the price of one (valid on Wednesdays if you are resident of UK, otherwise contact you phone provider for details).
All you need to do is to text FILM to 241 on your mobile and they will send you the number you need to quote while buying tickets at the cinema.
Cons: Only valid midweek, not at weekends.
PS If you live in London you can use any Metro or London life free newspapers to check what movies are out and the times they are showing.

London Heathrow airport, terminal 5 - good for people who are not in the hurry to go on holiday and don't care much about their luggage.

2008-03-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

I wasn’t surprised that there were big problems with Heathrow terminal 5 on the day it opened to public. It is called teething problems and it happens.
I am shocked that the disruption at the airport continues now, four days later. I am also in disbelief the way BA treated its customers, cancelling the flights in the last minute, losing luggage, telling people “to lose the luggage if they want to fly on a particular day”, forcing people to sleep on the floor by giving them misleading information that they can only go to the hotel if it cost £100 or less. (Once the word about Heathrow problems got around all the hotels put the prices up way higher than the amount quoted.)
After the first few days of chaos, the reporters were banned from the airport to avoid negative press. I am sure if it happened anywhere else in the world we would by now be talking about covering up and the infringement of human rights. But it is not happening anywhere else in the world, it is happening here, in London.
I am sure BA is doing everything possible at the moment to get things running as they should. I am just wondering how many foreign tourists travelling to, form or through the UK will make this trip their last one.
Luckily we, Londoners, are used to this sort of thing. We travel on the District line that rarely runs all the way and on the Circle line which rarely runs. In a week or so hundreds of passengers ending up without luggage and people missing their holidays will not be the front page news. It will be something else that should be really great but sadly just doesn’t work.

Is Cris Evans right?

2008-03-27T06:36:00.000-07:00

In his blog Chris Evans asks “Why do people, so many of them, insist on going to something brilliant and then proceeding to......watch it all through the camera of their mobile?"
I think the reason of this is more than human vanity. I think it is about time. When you spend lots of time running around doing things, whether it is working, looking after the home and family or both you often end up feeling that you have to rush all the time simply to be on time.
Many people have such stressful and hectic lives that they feel they can not relax until they had a drink, a sleeping pill or hot bath.
Think about it. There you are on a luxury exotic holiday, sitting in a bar and watching sunset. It is day three of your two weeks break. You are feeling warm and relaxed and not in a hurry to go anywhere. This is the most likely situation when you will stay put, watch the world and experience things. There is no need to hurry and take fifty pictures with your camera, so you can watch it later and persuade yourself that it really did happen.
The problem is the situation above is not something most of us enjoy on the regular basis.
Here is an interesting article by Alexander J. Berardi , a healthcare industry entrepreneur and a professional speaker. He talks about spirituality.
It is very good article but it also reminded me about the time when I have just started working for charity. I got talking to this very intelligent woman from a village in Liberia. She looked totaly exosted. She was working on the farm and was very busy, also bringing up two children all by herself. I started talking about spirituality to her, hoping that it will make her feel better, but she just laughed :“Some of us do not have time to be spiritual; some of us have to work in order to eat.”
At the moment, sadly, it is no longer only poor countries where many people have to forget about their spiritual sides and work just to survive. I think this is something that is now affecting more than a few of us.

My computer - fatal attraction

2008-03-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

Do you spend a lot of your time socialising online? Apparently many of us do. It is so much easier than actually organising a meeting with a friend, getting dressed, going out, travelling on the dysfunctional public transport or navigating the busy roads in our cars. Talking to somebody online takes out the effort of doing all the above.
It is easier to meet new people online too, just join any forum discussion or internet chat group. You don’t have to dress well and to look good. As long as you can spell well and don’t use the “f” words every other sentence there will be people out there willing to talk to you.
As the number of people using social networking websites is growing, psychologists are warning about the excessive use of internet network as a communication tool. They say that it damages our capabilities of expressing ourselves and forming meaningful relationships. Sitting in front of my computer I wonder if they have got a point?
In the meantime if you live in London or are coming over for a visit here is a lively London socialising group, which is a great place to meet like minded people in person and yes, you can join online!

Do we know the real TESCO?

2008-03-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

I used to love shopping in Tesco despite some of my friends seriously worried that “it is taking over the world” and forcing small supermarkets out of business.
I liked the range of food, the friendly stuff and of course the fact that majority of their products were reasonably priced.
Well, the people behind the counters are still great but everything else is slowly changing and not for the best.
Many brands that I are used to buy have disappeared or were replaced by more expensive products.
The prices have generally gone up, which I can understand because economy is not doing great at the moment.
What I don’t understand is why I can no longer buy red delicious apples, Chinese cabbage, my favourite brands of muesli and tea but I can now buy ten different types of Polish pickles (which are actually a lot cheaper in a small local shop).
The range of cat food has gone down also. You can now get the most expensive brands or the cheapest own range that the cats simply refuse to eat. There is nothing in the middle.
So what do we do as the consumers to show our unappreciation?
There are of course different supermarkets around but so far Tesco has kept our average spend on food low, allowing us to spend more on other things and in the current economic climate it is important. Prices are rising and it is no longer only people on the lowest income who feel the pinch. Are we in any position to complain?

Happy white Easter, London

2008-03-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

It has been raining all morning,
then it started snowing,
now it is hailing. Happy Easter!

Loves music, loves to dance and doesn't like to spell

2008-03-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

Apparently here in London the type of exercise that we like to do the most is not jogging and not going to the gym, but dancing. Dancing is proving to be such a popular activity that majority of dance classes are overbooked and there are discussions going on about introducing dancing to schools the way we once introduced swimming. Will it work? Who knows.
Some parents say that their children still can not read properly and therefore taking them out of literacy lessons and getting them to dance will not sort the problem. Unlike the US, our country is failing dismally in dealing with dyslexia in children and every year more people leave schools unable to read fluently and making too many spelling mistakes in their job applications.
Other people argue that at least if our children can't read they will have more confidence because at least they can dance.
I have a novellty suggestion on the matter: Why don't we teach our children to do both?

"Global freezing" in London during St Patrick's week

2008-03-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

So what is it like for the average family living in London on this St Patrick’s week? It is freezing cold, although thankfully no longer windy. The current temperature is about +8C in Central London and +6C in suburbs. Not exactly the spring weather, more like December. To make it worse it is going to get even colder tonight with most of the city experiencing subzero temperatures.
It probably doesn’t sound too bad to you if you live in Canada or say Scandinavia, but what you are forgetting is that here, in the UK, surrounded by previously functioning Golf-stream, we are not exactly used to the cold.
People who are well off are usually in the position to either to make necessary improvements to their houses or at least to keep the heating on most of the time. People who live in blocks of flats (not near the corner) will need less heating to keep them warm as their accommodation will lose less heat. The rest of us have to be economical with gas and electricity and therefore we are freezing!
I especially feel sorry for many British pensioners who often have to choose between eating and heating their house.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/02/06/freezing-pensioners-on-the-up-because-of-rising-oil-and-gas-prices-89520-20310542/
Here we come to the second problem affecting many British people, especially families with children and older people – soaring oil and gas prices.
There are figures being released by the government about how much more many an average family needs to find each week, but somehow I don’t think it is true. Many of my friends who used to get on £30 -£35 of petrol a week now have to fork out around £50.
Food prices are another problem. Many families I know had recently to cut down on going out and some of them had to switch to saver brands it the supermarkets just to be able to afford to eat. My weekly shopping has gone up by at least £25. This is despite me choosing not to get any treats for my family and sticking only to the basic wholesome food.
So what are the positives of being in London today? Public transport is running okay this week(unless you need to use Circle or District line) and there are some ineresting festival celebrations still going on
http://www.london.gov.uk/stpatricksday/week/17march.jsp
None of them are free though.

Severe gale force winds batter London

2008-03-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

It is so windy that you have to turn the volume on TV in order to hear anything. But at least we still have the power to watch TV, many people in the South West of the country woke up this morning to find that they have no electricity at all. Trees have been uprooted, buildings damaged and trains and flights delayed or cancelled.
It is raining really hard too. I expect many roads in the area will be flooded. There are currently 44 flood warnings in place in the country.
We still have a day or two of this before it will get better, but hopefully the winds will lose some of its strength on the way here. At the moment the highest recorded wind speed so far is 82mph south Devon. Forecasters warn that more severe weather is on the way.

Alien thoughts...

2008-03-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

An old friend of mine, currently a small star in Hollywood, once told me that he believed his memories were not really his own. He though they were implanted by somebody who had the right technology in order to protect him from losing his soul in this cold impersonal world, in order to help him to survive.
He said that he had vague memories of being on the space shuttle which has crushed down to earth.He was not alone on this space shuttle, but he could not remember the other person who was with him. He did not remember what has happened to the Mother ship either, but somehow he knew that he could never go back. I didn't really believe him at the time, but now I wonder...

Tears and sadness of Mother's Day

2008-03-02T02:11:00.000-08:00

I used to love to give my mother presents on Mother's Day because I knew whether I gave her an expensive perfume, a box of chocolates or a rock from a beach holiday, my mum was going to love it.
She would say something along the lines of “Mmm…This is so nice, I am going to tell all my friends about it!” And she would.
She would also ask me questions about the present, like “What type of chocolates are these? Where did you find this rock? Who painted this picture and why did you choose it?”
It was a real pleasure to give her things.
I used to give Mother's Day presents to my grandmother too. (Just in case my dad had forgotten)
She would always hug me and tell me not to spend so much money on her (regardless of what the present cost).
My mum and my grandma are no longer here with me.
Sometimes my son is around and then Mother's Day gets a whole new meaning, but other days like today he is with his dad and then I just look back and cry.
I wonder if there are other people who also cry on Mother's Day because such a big and magical part of their lives is now missing.
I don’t sit around crying every day. I live my life to the best of my ability, but it doesn’t get better with time either. I am just learning to live with it.
Here is a “Happy Mother's Day Poem” that I have written for my mum and for all other mums, who are loved and missed on Mother's Day.

When the rain has passed
And the tears have dried
And your pockets are heavy with dreams,
I will look through the window into the forest
Where nothing is what it seems.
As you walk on the rainbow
Laden with treasure
And you smile at the children below,
Stars will rise through the air
Heavy with sweat.
I will look up,
I will see them glow.

Strange animal behavior after the earthquake

2008-02-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

Brian the cat has been acting very strange since the earthquake. He has been bringing his ball with him everywhere he goes in the house. He does leave it at home while going out for a walk but, just in case, he hides it...

Earthquake hits London

2008-02-27T02:31:00.000-08:00

Last night around eight pm I started feeling really unwell and nauseous. I wondered why, because all I had for dinner was a bit of popcorn made with olive oil. None of it is a health hazard.
I staggered around the house for about half an hour before retiring to bed early. Just before one am I woke up feeling so ill and nauseous that I didn't think I would make it to the toilet. This is when the tremors have started. I layed in bed not sure whether I was hallucinating because of my illness or it was a real earthquake. Then 10 or 15 seconds later it was finished and I suddenly felt a lot better. A minute later I felt almost completely fine and managed to go back to sleep despite my neighborous shouting to each other that there is an earthquake, banging the doors and speedily vacating their house. My boyfriend, quite typically has slept through the whole thing.

Miserable failure

2008-02-20T16:06:00.000-08:00

Gordon Brown is a miserable failure.

Give this lemon a break

2008-02-11T02:27:00.000-08:00

Today I am sitting at home and waiting for my broadband box to arrive. It should be arriving "between 830am and 6pm. Who makes up such stupid delivery times?
You have to sit at home like a lemon all day, while you could be doing much more exiting things like getting fresh bread or paying some bills. Talking about bills so far this is the only thing that has arrived.
The last few days I didn't even get any junk mail. Just the bills.
Does anybody else realise how sad our lives are? (Ignore this if you have been left a large inheritance or you have recently won the lottery) We work, we eat, we sleep, we pay, we work...
In the last six months I have single-handedly decorated our house, starting with the living room. Guess what? The wall next to the dining table is now covered with splodges already. We all are blaming each other for being a messy eater.

What do women do at work on a rare day when they have no work to do?

2008-02-07T04:14:00.000-08:00

I have chosen The Internet Movie Database as the site I am going to explore as I am interested in films.

SUMMARY

The Internet Movie Database provides a wide range of information relating to films. It essentially provides two services. There are reviews and plot outlines to help you decide on which film to watch. It also provides gossip, pictures from films and other features that are about films in general rather than acting as a film review guide. There is a search facility to help you find the information you want and also links to other sites of interest.

REACTION

I was disappointed with the site. There is none of the glamour and excitement associated with Hollywood on the site. The picture gallery is poor. Only films released in 1996 or later are featured and some films only have one small image. More importantly the site is very slow to use. This is less important if you are looking for something specific and are willing to wait but browsing the site is very difficult as it is slow. The search facility does provide information on a large selection of films. I think I would only use this site to look at the reviews of films I wanted to see. The site does feature a large selection of films but not all features have such a large selection. The reviews are difficult to evaluate until you have seen the films discussed as these are always a matter of opinion and you may have different tastes to the reviewer.

SPECULATION

Two of the major advantages of being online, cost and being up to date, are less important here. The site is up to date but all sources of film reviews and listings are updated daily or weekly anyway and as films are released weekly this is not an important issue. The reviews can often be obtained free (Teletext or local newspapers) or are provided in newspapers which are cheap. The pictures and other information are of a poar quality compared to a glossy magazine and the reduction in cost is offset by this.
When I went into the site I was hoping for a very comprehensive service. For most people the majority of films they watch are on television or video. The real enjoyment of a database such as this would be searching for more obscure films that you have seen. However it is disappopinting that some features such as the gallery are not as comprehensive but hopefully this will grow.
I do not see that there is a great market for this site. The reviews are covered elsewhere in the media and there is nothing here that is "exclusive" enough to make you want to visit. In addition the site is far too slow to make it enjoyable. Attempting to browse the gallery is especially frustrating as a long wait is following by a small picture.
A film site can appeal on several levels: portraying the glamour of Hollywood and bringing home to you (coverage of the Ocsars etc), the excitement and devotion of a true film fan, as an interesting archive to dip into answering questions such as who starred in a certain film or as a review service covering films that are not in the newspapers such as those on video or obscure old films on television. This site only appeals as an archive. It is too cold and slow to feel like it is created by fans and too bland to show the galmour.

A weird thought

2008-02-05T02:37:00.000-08:00

I have just found out this morning that I am not very weird. In fact I am in many ways very much like you. Actually, this is weird.

Mysterious lights in the sky or just an optical illusion?

2008-02-03T06:32:00.000-08:00

The pink something in my bath

2008-02-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

Thanks for nothing, AOL

2008-01-31T03:41:00.001-08:00

Because AOL has now competed my so called “Speed upgrade” my internet connection now is twice as slow and I am no longer able to work from home because in takes so long for me to open and send the emails. I wish they left my connection the way it was…

Do you have PMT? Play the Age of Empires and you will feel better.

2008-01-29T08:43:00.000-08:00

With all the PC games that my son has generously downloaded on my computer ("If you are feeling really upset because you have your PMT you can play them while I am at school") it now takes ages to open the word document and even to simply turn the thing on.
I use it to my advantage. Start the computer and tidy up the bedroom while it is turning on. Click to open the word document and go to put the rubbish away. Move to the next page and feed the cat. And so on.

The army helicopter has just landed at my local shop!

2008-01-28T06:29:00.000-08:00

I was doing a spot of shopping another day and I was really surprised to find an army helicopter parked at Morison's supermarket. Turns out couple of guys were collecting money for the Royal Navy. They were also selling some raffle tickets to win an hour ride at the helicopter.
I have donated some money and also bought a raffle ticket. I will let you know if I win!

Wish me good luck, the Royal Mail and the Carphone warehouse are scaming me!

2008-01-27T08:16:00.000-08:00

The Royal Mail has lost my letter to the Carphone Warehouse. The letter was sent recorded delivery (not a cheap option) and included a copy of my number 4 mobile phone bill and request for the cash back.
Now I stand to lose my cash back (£420 in total).
Carphone warehouse says that I should claim compensation from the Post Office because they haven’t received any letters from me.
They did however send me a text message acknowledging that my letter has been received. They say it was sent to me by accident exactly 3 days after I posted my letter??? What a coincidence!
The Post Office says that all they can refund me is the value of the post stamp.
Which one of them should I go after and will I now need lot’s of good luck to get it sorted?

Good bye pink clouds

2008-01-25T04:22:00.000-08:00

My son will be pleased with me today. I have finally got around to painting over the pink clouds he has on his bedroom ceiling. He had to coexist alongside them since he moved into his new bedroom.
I have been working for a few hours now but the silly little clouds refuse to go away. My son came up with an idea of painting his bedroom black. This way apparently not only the clouds but all the scratches on the walls will disappear. No way.
I am just going to keep on putting new layers of white paint on his ceiling.

I didn't have to go to Lego Land. It came to me!

2008-01-24T03:16:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it was a bit scary...

But most of the time it was fun

Healthy eating is not a good idea

2008-01-21T03:20:00.000-08:00

Healthy eating is not easy for me. First of all, the best way to eat is many times and in small portions. Great idea but I personally find it impossible.
I suffer from really bad acid reflux and take proton pump inhibitor medication twice a day. I also have a not very strong stomach valve that allows stomach acid to spill into my oesophagus as soon as I lie down or bent down. To make it even more difficult, the food in my stomach doesn’t digest for eight hours or so (normal time would be five to six hours).
The solution is to elevate my bed and not to eat anything eight hours before going to bed.
So if I haven’t had my lunch by 3pm, I just have to starve till tomorrow. This, combined with work pressures (you are not allowed to eat at work and certainly not during the meetings) ensures that when I do eat I normally eat loads.
I can take some extra medication now and then, like for example when I go out with friends or when M takes me to local pub, but no more than once a week. If I take it more often, I soon start having liver problems.
I do eat my greens and vegetables when I can, but I hate bland (low salt, low acid, low spice) food. Bland food is something I can eat late in a day especially after an arduous physical excise, but not the first thing in the morning when I just got up.
I miss the late night TV dinners that I used to be able to have, miss a glass of wine during a supper with my family, miss the rich desserts and exotic ice creams I used to be able to have.
It sucks. Welcome to my world.

The easy life of Brian, the cat.

2008-01-17T03:56:00.000-08:00

I have to go and have colonoscopy tomorrow which means no food but lot's of senna and citromag, hours spent on the toilet and various other fun like that. In the meantime it is really busy at my work and I can not leave the meeting every five minutes in order to use the facilities, in the afternoon I have to pick my son up from school and drive him to Kung Fu and in the evening I have to finish work I will be taking home with me before cooking dinner for everybody else (I now can not eat until tomorrow afternoon.) The weather is absolutely horrid and we have run out of bread which means trekking to the nearest shop somewhere between dropping my son off for his class and picking him up.
I really envy Brian the cat at the moment. All he has to worry about is where to sit
a)his bucket
b)the radiator or
c)the plastic bag he nicked from the kitchen table

Why on earth have I got this??

2008-01-16T04:26:00.000-08:00

I have been sorting out through my old CDs and I realised that many of them I kept not because I like them (or even tolerate them) but because they remind me of something from the past. It is like I am scared that if I don’t have that very song to remind me of something in my life I will forget.
Even weirder was that I not only kept the song that remind me of something good but also those that remind me of something painful and horrid I would much rather like to forget.
Any way I have now got rid of CDs that made me confused or depressed. I have kept those that made smile or think. Soon I will go and get some new ones.

Storm raving inside

2008-01-14T03:44:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I feel that the nature expresses my feelings better than I ever could. This is how I feel right now

Losing another person

2008-01-12T14:39:00.000-08:00

I have just found out that my uncle has died. I feel sad and sort of numb. I loved him, he was my family. He was always kind, gentle and always listened to me.
I remember sitting at the dinner table with him and other family members and mentioning something about me passing my maths A- levels. As usual I have blurted it out at the most inconvenient time – my aunt’s friend was in the middle of telling us about the new restaurant she recently visited and so nobody really paid any attention to what I said. Nobody, apart from my uncle.
“Listen to this, Albina,” he addressed his wife, my aunt, “Juliette has passed her math A-levels. Isn’t it good?” Now everybody knew and they could express how pleased they were for me. But he was the one who heard it first.
He loved his closest family most, of course, but he always made time for me too. Whenever I came over, I got extremely well fed (sometimes overfed) and I would try to express my gratitude by washing all the dishes in the sink. He never let me.
Now he is gone. But in my mind he is still here, alive.

Not just a tourist place

2008-01-10T03:54:00.000-08:00

If you were here now you could smell this flowers as well as see them. The smell is delicate unobtrusive yet gently lingering in the moist warm air.

Tenerife North is so different from South. It is green verdant and full of gardens, some with exotic flowers. The last picture is a bird side view of somebody's garden. Imagine, some lucky sod actually lives there...

A weird plant

2008-01-10T03:50:00.000-08:00

I took a picture of this plant while in Tenerife. It looked weird because one of the flowers was missing. It looks like the plant has a mouth..

Gas Aliens are outside my door

2008-01-09T02:31:00.000-08:00

They are fixing the gas pipes. Finally. Hurray!
Not so sure about the common use of certain words though. Ear plugs are in order.

I have superlong legs!

2008-01-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

A woman with a bad PMT

2008-01-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

Cameron Diaz looked different this Christmas...

2008-01-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

A poem about the man rolling down the hill

2008-01-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

Floppy floppy flip flop
Flippy floppy flop flop
Floppy floppy flip flop
Flippy floppy - stuck

Hello 2008..

2008-01-02T05:13:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like waking up to a blood test administrated by the temp butcher (the nurse is sunbathing in Maldives till next week) and then spending one and a half hours in a queue at the Toys Are Us.
Don't ask me why bur the queue I go to is always the slowest.
The shower is blocked and the cat is out of cat food. Happy New Year

Crossdressing Santa

2007-12-25T08:38:00.000-08:00

Naughty Santa

2007-12-25T08:31:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas to all my friends!

My life is a movie. Albeit a low budget one.

2007-12-13T03:06:00.000-08:00

My home is my castle but can my castle be my home?

2007-12-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

My hidden talents

2007-12-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

I am discovering various talents I didn't know I had. I can paint and decorate for starters. Then I can fix the lights, unblock the drains and bleed the radiators.
If anybody is looking for an unqualified but very professional plumber or decorator - I am it.

This is not where I am, but this is where I think I am

2007-12-05T06:04:00.000-08:00

I am visiting my sister!

2007-12-05T04:47:00.000-08:00

I am going to visit my older sister soon. She lives in Germany and has two daughters. I don't often see her nowadays as both our lives are so busy and, with families to support, money is often in short supply. But when we do see each other it is wonderful. We both feel like we never parted.
When I hug my sister every part of her body is so familiar, so comfortable and so pleasantly warm. She also smells of my childhood.
Last time when we saw each other we discussed the good and the bad things in our lives. We were surprised to find out just how similar they were.
I think I am lucky to have a good relationship with my sister. Many of my friends don't. I wonder whether us living so far away from each other made us more appreciative of our bond.
Or maybe we both are such nice and agreeable people that arguments between us are impossible? :-)

Lucky polar bears don't get cold in winter

2007-11-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

What on earth is this?

2007-11-20T11:07:00.000-08:00

I have been going through the old photo disks and found this. I have no idea what it is. Weird!

Banging dilemma

2007-11-19T04:46:00.000-08:00

My neighbours have got the Eastern European builders in. They have been banging and drilling since half past seven this morning. Same every day last week. Same on Saturday. On Sunday it was quiet and I got to sleep in.
Thinking about it, why was it quiet on Sunday? Did they actually take a day off? Did they go and work somewhere else?
The other question is “why can’t builders from Eastern Europe be like traditional British builders?” These newcomers do things totally the wrong way around. Instead of coming in late, they come to work extra early and instead of leaving early they still drill something two hours after the sun gone down.
On the positive side it is very educating having them next door as it gives me the great opportunity to learn foreign languages. For example, last Saturday I have learned a whole new phrase. One of the builders has repeated it to the other so loudly and so many times that I found the words easy to remember.
It was harder to find out what the phrase actually meant. First I asked my older Polish friend who unfortunately went red in a face and refused to translate it for me, but luckily my younger Croatian friend also knew the meaning.
Sadly, I do not think it is appropriate to put the English translation of the phrase I learned on the blog. All I can say that it involved a not very intelligent man, sexual interactions and human undersides. :-)

Under the gray skies of London

2007-11-19T04:24:00.000-08:00

Good life of Brian, the cat

2007-11-19T03:40:00.000-08:00

Surviving London in November

2007-11-15T08:45:00.000-08:00

London is still beautiful at this time of the year, especially when the sun is going down at the end of a bright fine day. But it is also unpleasantly cold, damp and full of traffic jams as people increasingly use their cars more to avoid the nastiness of local weather.
Getting to work (especially if they work just outside of London) during this time is not easy. Public transport is crowded and expensive and self drive during the rush hour is not for the fainthearted. Only the other day some respectable looking fifty plus businessman forced me off the road onto the pavement. It was either that or to be hit by the full force of his dark blue Jaguar. I hope he had a good excuse for cutting in front of me at forty miles an hour without any concern that I had nowhere else to go.

Weird people I met in London South Bank Center

2007-11-13T11:05:00.001-08:00

I am feeling cold

2007-11-12T04:07:00.000-08:00

Freezing cold as I am working on my computer. The heating at work is not functioning. Instead we are using small portable heaters which create funny smell after half an hour and make you feel that the air is made of waves. Cold wave, hot wave, cold wave, hot wave again.
It is cold outside too and I was cold in my bed last night. November is so far away from Spring. At least it is sunny today so I can imagine that it is warm outside.

Peter is feeling hungry and George is being a baby

2007-11-12T04:04:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am directing a low budget movie

2007-11-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

TRANSITION

The story in brief
The story is called “Transition” and is approximately 4 minutes long. The story is about the breakdown of a relationship. It is about stepping into a new life rather than escaping an old one. It is about the lack of understanding between the sexes. About passion and insecurity and our inability to cope with the individuality of a member within our society.

Style of the video
The style of the video is bordering on hard core docu-soap but with a more novelistic approach framed by softer lighting and occasional background music. There is some dialogue but it is stilted with very little conversation as most questions remain unanswered. The mood is sombre and sad, sometimes tense.

Style of shooting
The video will be shot using a few deep focus shots, medium shots during the periods of movements and close ups during dialogue. The initial setting is in a room with a window allowing light to enter, some general lighting can be added if required. No special effects are required, however specific emotions experienced by the actors can be highlighted by the use of makeup. I am planning on using some relevant popular or chill-out music (e.g. KLF) in the background.

Potential difficulties

The limited dialogue means that the onus is on the actors to convey the strong emotions involved without relying on speech.

Potential strengths

Simplicity of the story combined with being thought provoking.

Looking at the cold sky of London and dreaming of the faraway lands

2007-11-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

In October and ...

In November

The streets of London on a rainy night

2007-11-05T05:39:00.000-08:00

Something so beautiful yet so cold...

2007-11-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

The life of Brian the cat. Brian and the Milk

2007-11-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

Weird cactus

2007-11-01T06:27:00.000-07:00

Halloween story about a dragon. Story plan written by an anonymous young writer.

2007-11-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

1 The dragon meets the wizard, they talk. “Why do they run away?” asks the dragon.
2 At the castle the king returns. The people are angry about the dragon, they plan to kill it but he is really a “quite jolly chap”.
3 The king sends his champion to kill the dragon.
4 The knight charges the dragon, the dragon ducks to pick a flower, the horse jumps over and the knight crashes into a tree.
5 The dragon asks the knight why he tried to kill him.
6 The knight says that the dragon planned to kill everyone.
7 The dragon asks if he has any proof.
8 The knight has no proof. The dragon says that everyone assumes he is bad but actually he likes nature.
9 The knight and dragon become friends.
10 The king is angry and arrests the knight, putting him in prison.
11 The king sets out with an army to get the dragon.
12 The dragon and the wizard come up with a plan with the fairies, plants and animals to beat the army and free the knight.
13 The army can’t find anyone but they are picked off one by one until only the king is left.
14 A fairy string trips the king, then a tree springs him up into the sky, then he falls into a lake, a whirlpool spins him out into a whirlwind. He lands in a thorn bush and starts to run away.
15 The wizard uses his magic to make the king’s feet start dancing.
16 The dragon flies through the outer castle walls and all the knights run away.
17 The dragon then flies through the inner castle walls to free the prisoners.
18 Everyone likes the dragon.

The bird of light

2007-10-31T05:19:00.000-07:00

The world of peace and tranquility and ...no comment

2007-10-31T05:09:00.000-07:00

and

Impress your employer.com

2007-10-31T04:42:00.000-07:00

Written by my young relative, who has also considerately saved it in his dads work folder. As a result his father has e-mailed this masterpiece to his new boss…
Now the employer can be confident that my relative’s dad has learned at least 70% of his alphabet.

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY
Z
gdhdgfgghdfyhghgdhfgfgcytgdt465tdgfhtfgdfstgrf bdbvfdbnxvfdbfhdvgfddhghfjfhdejffrld
flfjgkfds;ghjgbjhfhrdnfjdhfjd
tghugfyguf

Happy Halloween to all my friends!

2007-10-31T04:35:00.000-07:00

Phenomena of Marfa's lights

2007-10-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

I really didn’t know much about Marfa’s lights until I came to Texas. My work only took me to Huston and El Paso, but the little place called Marfa was sort of on the way…
Any way, this is what the Wikipedia says about it:
"The Marfa lights or the Marfa Mystery Lights are unexplained lights (known as "ghost lights") usually seen near U.S. Route 67 on Mitchell Flat east of Marfa, Texas of the United States.
The first confirmed report of the Marfa Lights dates to a 1957 magazine article.[citation needed] Earlier oral reports of the Marfa Lights have been attributed to Robert Reed Ellison in 1883. According to the historian Cecilia Thompson, writing in History of Marfa and Presidio County, Mr. Ellison did not record the Marfa Lights in his memoirs written in 1937 but told his family about them and this information was orally relayed by them.[citation needed] No verifiable written sources for the Marfa Lights.
Reports of evidently similar strange nocturnal lights in this area have persisted all through the twentieth century, and they continue today. These reports often describe brightly glowing balls floating above the ground, or sometimes high in the air. Colors are usually described as white, yellow, orange or red, but green and blue are sometimes reported. The balls are said to hover at about shoulder height, or to move laterally at low speeds, or sometimes to shoot around rapidly in any direction. They often appear in pairs or groups, according to reports, to divide into pairs or merge together, to disappear and reappear, and sometimes to move in seemingly regular patterns. Their sizes are typically said to resemble soccer balls or basketballs.
The Marfa lights are elusive and fairly rare. Sightings are reported occasionally and unpredictably, perhaps ten to twenty times a year. There are no reliable reports of daytime sightings; the lights seem to be a nocturnal phenomenon only.
According to the people who claim to have seen the lights, they may appear at any time of night, typically south of U.S. Route 90, five to fifteen miles east of Marfa, at unpredictable directions and apparent distances. They can persist from a fraction of a second to several hours. There is evidently no connection between appearances of the Marfa lights and anything else besides nighttime hours. They appear in all seasons of the year and in any weather, seemingly uninfluenced by such factors. It is extremely difficult to approach an ongoing display of the Marfa lights, mainly due to the dangerous terrain of Mitchell Flat. Also, all of the land where the Marfa Lights are observed is private property, and access is prohibited without explicit permission from the owners. There are only a very few accounts of success in moving very close to observed lights, but those that exist generally describe objects resembling fireworks lacking both smoke and sound."
I have stayed at the place called Alpine, which is about ten to fifteen minutes drive from one the best viewing places in the area. In fact this place is situated roughly between Marfa and Alpine settlements.
I have arrived late in the evening and just the dusk fell, myself and other people gathered there were able to observe the lights. Apparently they do not come on every night and some people came over three or four times from various part of US and have left without seeing anything. This time we were lucky. As the night fell the mysterious lights came on. First we saw them in the middle of the far away mountain, then two more lights on top and eventually the strangely bright red light came on. I took pictures, hoping to get at least some results and so did many other people.
We have spend hours standing there in a cold desert staring intensely at the dimly illuminated landscape. Now, that I saw the Marfa’s lights, I no longer feel it is a practical joke or a gimmick for tourists. I did however notice something interesting.
Like I said the viewing place is between Marfa and Alpine and with the flat landscape you can just about see both places at the very end of the long road. At least you can see the town lights when they come on.
What I noticed was that when the large red light came on in Marfa town, so did the mysterious red light on the mountain. I wonder whether there is a connection between these two events? Or maybe the lights from the town somehow reflect on the mountain surface creating these strange lights that we can see. Possibly it works only with a particular level of light and therefore is influenced by the climatic conditions but not in the way we expect it. Has anybody else got other ideas on the matter?

A place one would want to relax in

2007-10-30T05:33:00.000-07:00

A feast for the naked king

2007-10-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

The leaf

2007-10-17T05:42:00.000-07:00

The sounds of childhood

2007-10-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

When I was a child I lived with my grandparents on the outskirts of the city, not very far from the airport. From my bedroom I could hear the airplanes as they cut through the dark night sky. It was a sad sound, but also restless and evocative.
It made me think of people leading full and exiting lives, travelling from country to country, finding somewhere that felt special and then spending some time there before moving on to the another place…
I remember laying there until early hours of the mourning, thinking about the brightly illuminated busy streets of New-York that are never empty, even at night, and damp narrow streets of North West China where many people go to bed as soon as the sun goes down and sometimes at night it is so quiet that you can hear the beating of your own heart…
Somehow, laying there at night and listening to the sound of airplanes made me think that such life, full of freedom, happiness and adventure was possible. Somehow I knew this longing I have experienced while listening to sounds of the airplanes flying over our house could be fulfilled.
After all, this is how we grow and learn about ourselves - by changing places, by changing our inner world and then adapting to our new selves. But I do believe that I have learned this sense of strange belonging, which stayed with me while going into the unknown from listening to the airplanes during the earliest nights of my life…

Ronald, the pet hamster

2007-10-17T05:05:00.000-07:00

The green South Korea

2007-10-17T04:53:00.000-07:00

Note at the back of the car

2007-10-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

If you are in a hurry - jump!

Understanding China

2007-10-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

Losing yourself

2007-10-17T04:29:00.000-07:00