As part of my plotting to return to Europe, I studied for the first time my finances from the last trip. Of course I had eyeballed the separate accounts periodically to make sure nothing weird was going on, but I hadn't diligently crunched the numbers to come up with figures regarding the overall expense of the trip.
So how much did it cost me to travel for three months in Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, and a day in Austria? (Drumroll please)
$6649.20
or
$2216.40 per month
or
$554.10 per week
Individual results may vary.
Showing posts with label Romania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romania. Show all posts
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Edward Maya's "Stereo Love" Gets a Second (At Least) Cover Treatment
Edward Maya's "Stereo Love" (feat. Vika Jigulina) appeared on the Romanian charts in May 2009. When I visited Kiev, Ukraine in January 2010 the song was blasted everywhere. The tune steadily conquered dance charts throughout Western Europe (for more on the Romanian roll-out strategy, check out this interesting recent Reuters article). Now it's being covered for at least the second time.
Here is the original version:
Dancelovers (feat. Dominika) released a version which I first heard in April 2010. It is a nearly note-for-note clone of the original, but performed in the Hungarian language. It sort of makes sense to redo it in another language if one imagines that there is an audience that would appreciate that.
But this week, on the Radio One charts, I find this useless remake charting. It's done in the same style as the original, and in the English language, also like the original. The English is stronger and more front-and-center, and I will always have a spot in my heart for Velvet ever since hearing her trashtastic take on "Rock Down To (Electric Avenue)," but this is just not worth the effort, in my opinion.
If you know of more covers of "Stereo Love," please post links in the comments area.
Here is the original version:
Dancelovers (feat. Dominika) released a version which I first heard in April 2010. It is a nearly note-for-note clone of the original, but performed in the Hungarian language. It sort of makes sense to redo it in another language if one imagines that there is an audience that would appreciate that.
But this week, on the Radio One charts, I find this useless remake charting. It's done in the same style as the original, and in the English language, also like the original. The English is stronger and more front-and-center, and I will always have a spot in my heart for Velvet ever since hearing her trashtastic take on "Rock Down To (Electric Avenue)," but this is just not worth the effort, in my opinion.
If you know of more covers of "Stereo Love," please post links in the comments area.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
The New Pre-Raphaelites
2010's answer to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood is in Bucharest. It may change the nature of modeling.
In the brick-cellar basement of Bucharest's heavy-metal Club Fire, patrons stare transfixed at a slideshow of photographs projected onto a white curtain. Most of the images are of beautiful young women in ethereal settings. Some of the models pose in sunny Herăstrău Park; strum electric guitars on the rooftops of bleak, Ceauşescu-era concrete apartment buildings; or sit in charming Bucharest restaurants.
The images are the works of photographers and models that are among the most popular on the deviantART website. deviantART serves as a place for artists of all stripes to share their work for critique or comment. Online, the site claims 11 million members from all over the world. (deviantART did not reply to requests for comment on this article.)
"We are all friends now," says photographer Iulian Dumitrescu, 24. He and seven other photograhers and models are seated at a table in Curtea Berarilor, a Bucharest bar in the city's picturesque (and seemingly perpetually renovated) old town district of bars and cafes.
They met through Romania-centric discussion groups on the deviantART website. Using a variety of aliases (among them such poetic nom-de-plumes as "WildRainOfIceAndFire" and "ScorpionEntity"), they have forged a network of artists and models that dominate the deviantART photo forums. While Pre-Raphaelite-style imagery is generally popular on the site (which features many wannabe Ophelias and pensive Medieval maidens), the Romanian clique seems to embody the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood spirit itself in that they are a tightly-knit collective of young artistic visionaries intent on sharing a particular vision of human beauty. However, artistic idealism sometimes clashes with the real world.
"I had some problems with my boyfriend," admits model and student Alice Oprescu ("GoceAlice"), 19. "He was extremely jealous about what I'm doing. I was modeling for another photographer from deviantART, and he was like, 'Oh, you go on a date with him! You are cheating on me!' Oh no! I didn't do that!"
Feeling the pressure, Oprescu posted a message to her followers letting them know that she was taking a break from deviantART.
"To show him how much I loved him, I told him, 'I am going to quit deviantART,' " she says. "He accepted that for a while, but then I said, 'OK you're not quitting the things that you like, so why should I quit on something that I like?' " Oprescu and her boyfriend broke up, and new photos of "GoceAlice" have appeared on the site since then.
Oprescu and photographer Alin Ion ("~Alyn3D"), 19, periodically leave the table in order to smoke cigarettes, because photographer Andreea Retinschi ("=WildRainOfIceAndFire"), 25, recently had 1.5 liters of liquid drained from her left lung due to complications from pneumonia ("Nothing big," Retinschi insists), and cannot linger in smoky environments. Retinschi is a photographer who sometimes models--but do not call her a model first. "I'm not a model. I'm a photographer," she said when this reporter committed the error. "So, change the question!"
Her popularity on the site took time to cultivate. "You have one picture that you notice is getting very popular," she explains. "Then you might have a few others from the same series that become popular. Then your popularity goes low again. So you have to make something else that people like."
On deviantART she is a superstar whose images are routinely highly ranked by visitors. She has had a few exhibitions of her works in Bucharest. But her popularity on the site has not translated into an income.
"I'm trying to make money," admits Retinschi. "Aren't we all?"
When photographer Dumitrescu ("=ScorpionEntity") reveals that he, too, is looking to make a living at his craft, Retinschi exclaims, "Oh, I didn't know that! So we're competition! Were you keeping that a secret from me?"
"I'm not competition," Dumitrescu says.
"Of course you are," Retinschi replies sharply. "Every photographer is competition to another."
Horror stories of naive young women seeking legitimate modeling jobs only to fall into the clutches of photographers with seedier intent are as old as photography itself. In her book American Eve, author Paula Uruburu describes how a teenaged Evelyn Nesbit was carefully guided through the world of painters and photographers in 1900 New York in order to avoid a lurid fate as a pornographer's model. The close-knit, family atmosphere of the Romanian deviantART network helps to protect models from unscrupulous photographers.
"We are like a great family," says Oprescu warmly as she surveys the faces at the table.
"Working with friends as models trains you for when you work with real models," says photographer Razvan Seitan ("~Sykeye"), 23. "You must always reflect the model's personality, because otherwise it will show in the photos that she's struggling, and it's not right."
"When you know the model, the model is more relaxed and she is in her world with you," says Oprescu. She turns to photographer Dumitrescu and notes, "When he takes a shot of me, he takes a part of myself."
Their camaraderie becomes clear when one listens to them swap stories about outdoor photo shoots marred by an unexpected downpour of rain, photographs taken by mistake that trumped their posed counterparts, and batteries dying at inopportune moments.
None of the photographers in the group began by photographing models. Most began with animals, landscapes, and architecture before moving on to family and friends. This past experience of working primarily with natural light, coupled with the expensiveness of indoor lighting, is why many of the models are photographed outdoors.
"Usually we shoot in nature," Dumitrescu says.
"Parks, gardens, anything outdoors," Ion adds.
"Recently, I found an abandoned factory where I did some photoshoots."
"And you will tell me where that is!"
"Yes. In the very distant future I will tell you," Dumitrescu says dryly.
To the average person, the fashion industry's definition of beauty is governed by a mysterious elite of magazine publishers and fashion houses. To become a popular model on deviantART requires only that somebody with a camera recognizes and desires to share a person's beauty with the rest of the world (sometimes that photographer and the would-be model are the same person). The rest is determined by the number of views and downloads of that image from visitors to the deviantART website. Unhindered by the filtering process of the fashion houses, deviantART models may stray from the rigorous Vogue template of beauty, which opens up interesting possibilities regarding the future of marketing human beauty.
"My mother is quite excited about my modeling, but when she is pissed-off she always tells me, 'Oh you're never going to be a model. You're too small!" says the diminutive Oprescu. "But I don't care; I'm still beautiful."
"You have to be 185 centimeters tall to be a professional model," model and illustrator Raluca Porumbacu ("*Roxaralu"), 20, says.
"It's quite disturbing because there are so many beautiful women who are small," says Oprescu. "Shakira, is small, and so is Nicole Kidman. But they are great! When you see a real model in real model photos, you say 'She looks like a real model.' But she's just like a mannequin--a plastic one, a beautiful object and nothing more."
The group is downbeat about the future of Romania, a country where political corruption remains a persistent problem. Some go so far as to suggest that those who gave their lives in the December 1989 Romanian Revolution "died for nothing."
"The government is like a club," says Oprescu. "They eat reindeer and they give us all the bones. We're like dogs."
Oprescu's father died from lung cancer in 1998. Her mother, now under extra pressure as the family's sole breadwinner, lives in fear that she might lose her government job, Oprescu says. Most in the deviantART clique want to leave the country behind.
Ion shares a gallows-humor joke: "You're afraid of 2012? Come to Romania, because we're a hundred years behind."
But through photography and modeling, the Bucharest gang has found a means of escaping a world that is too much with them. And despite their concerns about the country's political and economic future, they remain optimistic about Romanians in general.
"I think Romanian women are the most beautiful in the world," says Raluca's identical twin sister Roxana ("*JustMeOnyX"), 20. "And then Russia," she adds democratically.
"Romanian people are really talented," her sister adds.
"They have great ideas and they really want to pop out from the crowd," says Oprescu.
They say their parents support their deviantART modeling. "They like our pictures," insists Raluca. But in addition to wearing long, flowing dresses and evening gowns, the women sometimes wear, well, less. How do their parents feel about the lingerie poses?
"The sexy pictures are not for parents!" Raluca says.
In the brick-cellar basement of Bucharest's heavy-metal Club Fire, patrons stare transfixed at a slideshow of photographs projected onto a white curtain. Most of the images are of beautiful young women in ethereal settings. Some of the models pose in sunny Herăstrău Park; strum electric guitars on the rooftops of bleak, Ceauşescu-era concrete apartment buildings; or sit in charming Bucharest restaurants.
The images are the works of photographers and models that are among the most popular on the deviantART website. deviantART serves as a place for artists of all stripes to share their work for critique or comment. Online, the site claims 11 million members from all over the world. (deviantART did not reply to requests for comment on this article.)
"We are all friends now," says photographer Iulian Dumitrescu, 24. He and seven other photograhers and models are seated at a table in Curtea Berarilor, a Bucharest bar in the city's picturesque (and seemingly perpetually renovated) old town district of bars and cafes.
They met through Romania-centric discussion groups on the deviantART website. Using a variety of aliases (among them such poetic nom-de-plumes as "WildRainOfIceAndFire" and "ScorpionEntity"), they have forged a network of artists and models that dominate the deviantART photo forums. While Pre-Raphaelite-style imagery is generally popular on the site (which features many wannabe Ophelias and pensive Medieval maidens), the Romanian clique seems to embody the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood spirit itself in that they are a tightly-knit collective of young artistic visionaries intent on sharing a particular vision of human beauty. However, artistic idealism sometimes clashes with the real world.
"I had some problems with my boyfriend," admits model and student Alice Oprescu ("GoceAlice"), 19. "He was extremely jealous about what I'm doing. I was modeling for another photographer from deviantART, and he was like, 'Oh, you go on a date with him! You are cheating on me!' Oh no! I didn't do that!"
Feeling the pressure, Oprescu posted a message to her followers letting them know that she was taking a break from deviantART.
"To show him how much I loved him, I told him, 'I am going to quit deviantART,' " she says. "He accepted that for a while, but then I said, 'OK you're not quitting the things that you like, so why should I quit on something that I like?' " Oprescu and her boyfriend broke up, and new photos of "GoceAlice" have appeared on the site since then.
Oprescu and photographer Alin Ion ("~Alyn3D"), 19, periodically leave the table in order to smoke cigarettes, because photographer Andreea Retinschi ("=WildRainOfIceAndFire"), 25, recently had 1.5 liters of liquid drained from her left lung due to complications from pneumonia ("Nothing big," Retinschi insists), and cannot linger in smoky environments. Retinschi is a photographer who sometimes models--but do not call her a model first. "I'm not a model. I'm a photographer," she said when this reporter committed the error. "So, change the question!"
Her popularity on the site took time to cultivate. "You have one picture that you notice is getting very popular," she explains. "Then you might have a few others from the same series that become popular. Then your popularity goes low again. So you have to make something else that people like."
On deviantART she is a superstar whose images are routinely highly ranked by visitors. She has had a few exhibitions of her works in Bucharest. But her popularity on the site has not translated into an income.
"I'm trying to make money," admits Retinschi. "Aren't we all?"
When photographer Dumitrescu ("=ScorpionEntity") reveals that he, too, is looking to make a living at his craft, Retinschi exclaims, "Oh, I didn't know that! So we're competition! Were you keeping that a secret from me?"
"I'm not competition," Dumitrescu says.
"Of course you are," Retinschi replies sharply. "Every photographer is competition to another."
Horror stories of naive young women seeking legitimate modeling jobs only to fall into the clutches of photographers with seedier intent are as old as photography itself. In her book American Eve, author Paula Uruburu describes how a teenaged Evelyn Nesbit was carefully guided through the world of painters and photographers in 1900 New York in order to avoid a lurid fate as a pornographer's model. The close-knit, family atmosphere of the Romanian deviantART network helps to protect models from unscrupulous photographers.
"We are like a great family," says Oprescu warmly as she surveys the faces at the table.
"Working with friends as models trains you for when you work with real models," says photographer Razvan Seitan ("~Sykeye"), 23. "You must always reflect the model's personality, because otherwise it will show in the photos that she's struggling, and it's not right."
"When you know the model, the model is more relaxed and she is in her world with you," says Oprescu. She turns to photographer Dumitrescu and notes, "When he takes a shot of me, he takes a part of myself."
Their camaraderie becomes clear when one listens to them swap stories about outdoor photo shoots marred by an unexpected downpour of rain, photographs taken by mistake that trumped their posed counterparts, and batteries dying at inopportune moments.
None of the photographers in the group began by photographing models. Most began with animals, landscapes, and architecture before moving on to family and friends. This past experience of working primarily with natural light, coupled with the expensiveness of indoor lighting, is why many of the models are photographed outdoors.
"Usually we shoot in nature," Dumitrescu says.
"Parks, gardens, anything outdoors," Ion adds.
"Recently, I found an abandoned factory where I did some photoshoots."
"And you will tell me where that is!"
"Yes. In the very distant future I will tell you," Dumitrescu says dryly.
To the average person, the fashion industry's definition of beauty is governed by a mysterious elite of magazine publishers and fashion houses. To become a popular model on deviantART requires only that somebody with a camera recognizes and desires to share a person's beauty with the rest of the world (sometimes that photographer and the would-be model are the same person). The rest is determined by the number of views and downloads of that image from visitors to the deviantART website. Unhindered by the filtering process of the fashion houses, deviantART models may stray from the rigorous Vogue template of beauty, which opens up interesting possibilities regarding the future of marketing human beauty.
"My mother is quite excited about my modeling, but when she is pissed-off she always tells me, 'Oh you're never going to be a model. You're too small!" says the diminutive Oprescu. "But I don't care; I'm still beautiful."
"You have to be 185 centimeters tall to be a professional model," model and illustrator Raluca Porumbacu ("*Roxaralu"), 20, says.
"It's quite disturbing because there are so many beautiful women who are small," says Oprescu. "Shakira, is small, and so is Nicole Kidman. But they are great! When you see a real model in real model photos, you say 'She looks like a real model.' But she's just like a mannequin--a plastic one, a beautiful object and nothing more."
The group is downbeat about the future of Romania, a country where political corruption remains a persistent problem. Some go so far as to suggest that those who gave their lives in the December 1989 Romanian Revolution "died for nothing."
"The government is like a club," says Oprescu. "They eat reindeer and they give us all the bones. We're like dogs."
Oprescu's father died from lung cancer in 1998. Her mother, now under extra pressure as the family's sole breadwinner, lives in fear that she might lose her government job, Oprescu says. Most in the deviantART clique want to leave the country behind.
Ion shares a gallows-humor joke: "You're afraid of 2012? Come to Romania, because we're a hundred years behind."
But through photography and modeling, the Bucharest gang has found a means of escaping a world that is too much with them. And despite their concerns about the country's political and economic future, they remain optimistic about Romanians in general.
"I think Romanian women are the most beautiful in the world," says Raluca's identical twin sister Roxana ("*JustMeOnyX"), 20. "And then Russia," she adds democratically.
"Romanian people are really talented," her sister adds.
"They have great ideas and they really want to pop out from the crowd," says Oprescu.
They say their parents support their deviantART modeling. "They like our pictures," insists Raluca. But in addition to wearing long, flowing dresses and evening gowns, the women sometimes wear, well, less. How do their parents feel about the lingerie poses?
"The sexy pictures are not for parents!" Raluca says.
Monday, March 8, 2010
International Women's Day/Lost in Transition
It's International Women's Day, so women all over Timisoara are carrying flowers offered to them by the city's most chivalrous men. At the train ticket office today one older gentleman came down expressly to hand a flower to one of the young ticket salespeople. A college student bearing two roses for some lucky recipients at the Tequila Club just ran past the window of the cafe from which I am writing this. Ah, here come two more guys, one with five roses and the other with one rose.
Weather is sunny, with temperatures somewhere between cool and cold as spring jousts with winter for supremacy.
There are two types of travel stress. One is the "rush to the airport while worrying that you left your passport at the hotel" type. The other is the "I have been vegetating in the same smallish city for the past five days and I need to get outta here" variety.
Timisoara, and the country of Romania as a whole, have been wonderful, but after five days in this city--and over a month in this country--it's time to bid "La revedere" and head for new pastures. Tonight I go to Budapest. The trip by train will be a mere 5 hours; cost of a ticket was about $30. There's a time zone change, so I will be an hour closer to Cristina. :-)
Last activities here are to enjoy a small lunch, drink a final beer (or two) at my favorite little wi-fi enabled cafe, head to the Gara de Nord, mail a package (hopefully) from the post office there (said to be the only one in the city that handles international mailings), and then await my train.
Travel days are always strange; counting down the minutes I have left in the city I am about to leave while contemplating a city I have never seen before leaves me feeling lost between places. It will be a pleasure to wake up in a Budapest hostel tomorrow morning with my attention undivided.
I'm feeling sentimental, but I look forward to visiting some new (to me) countries in the coming weeks. These will likely include Croatia and certainly Serbia, where I am meeting up with a talented band I will be writing an article about, along the same vein as the Gorchitza piece that ran in the Kyiv Post.
Weather is sunny, with temperatures somewhere between cool and cold as spring jousts with winter for supremacy.
There are two types of travel stress. One is the "rush to the airport while worrying that you left your passport at the hotel" type. The other is the "I have been vegetating in the same smallish city for the past five days and I need to get outta here" variety.
Timisoara, and the country of Romania as a whole, have been wonderful, but after five days in this city--and over a month in this country--it's time to bid "La revedere" and head for new pastures. Tonight I go to Budapest. The trip by train will be a mere 5 hours; cost of a ticket was about $30. There's a time zone change, so I will be an hour closer to Cristina. :-)
Last activities here are to enjoy a small lunch, drink a final beer (or two) at my favorite little wi-fi enabled cafe, head to the Gara de Nord, mail a package (hopefully) from the post office there (said to be the only one in the city that handles international mailings), and then await my train.
Travel days are always strange; counting down the minutes I have left in the city I am about to leave while contemplating a city I have never seen before leaves me feeling lost between places. It will be a pleasure to wake up in a Budapest hostel tomorrow morning with my attention undivided.
I'm feeling sentimental, but I look forward to visiting some new (to me) countries in the coming weeks. These will likely include Croatia and certainly Serbia, where I am meeting up with a talented band I will be writing an article about, along the same vein as the Gorchitza piece that ran in the Kyiv Post.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Saturday Night Fever in Timişoara
 |
| From Ukraine and Romania |
Things did not begin promisingly. I walked to the center of town in order to check out a club called Vanilla, but the fancy clothes of the patrons outside discouraged me from attempting entry. I have a general aversion to clubs where the patrons appear to be more concerned about fashion than about the music.
I wasn't really feeling it right then, and very nearly returned to my pensiune. But since the student campus area was on the way back "home" anyway, I decided to swing by the many bars and clubs there to see if anything looked promising.
At about 11:30 PM I climbed the stairs to Q Club. Q Club, located on the top floor of a two-floor (three floors by American measurements) building, was a modest-sized venue with a medium-sized dancefloor. I suspect that in a former life it was used as office space. During this early part of the night the DJs primarily focused on Romanian house songs. Although there was a decent-sized crowd there, most patrons at that point were apparently not drunk enough to brave the dancefloor, so they chilled out on the lounge furniture instead. This allowed one to enjoy the psychedelic laser lights crawling all over the floor.
When the DJ dropped Jay Ko's catchy hit "One," many clubbers stood up and danced by their chairs. Then, a swing-dancing couple took the dancefloor proper. The floodgates were opened. Half an hour later I counted about 40 people on the dancefloor, which is a good-sized crowd for an intimate venue like this one. The DJs shook things up with a multitude of Romanian house hits, including Nick Kamarera's "Reason for Love" (incidentally, Kamarera got his start in Timişoara) and Tom Boxer's "Morena (My Love)" (which got the patrons singing along). Non-Romanian tracks followed, including a mashup of Lady Gaga's "LoveGame" (uh, there was lots of "love" that night) with Madonna's "Celebration." Sander Van Doorn's "Close My Eyes," which features the vocals of Robbie Williams, tore the place to shreds.
Dress was casual, though some girls trashed it up a bit, and there were quite a few young women in stiletto boots. I never considered myself a fetishist, but I like the stiletto boots. I think I'll buy a pair for my girlfriend.
I enjoyed myself immensely, but I decided to move on to the Happy Beer and Steak House. An exclamation of "WTF?" is acceptable. One walks through the small restaurant area, descends some stairs, opens a door, and strolls into an enormous room packed wall-to-wall with people and smoke. The lights are all on; there's no darkness to hide in. It's an unlikely place to find a good dance party, but there it was. The DJs there (photo above) played a ton of good tracks, focusing it seemed on Romanian pop, including Puya's "Change," and Guess Who's "Locul Potrivit."* Coat check consisted of an enormous mountain of jackets piled in front of the DJ equipment.
A guy walked up to me saying he had made a bet with a friend; the friend bet I was from the UK. I'm from America, so the friend lost. I joined that group's table and became engrossed in good, drunken conversation. I took many photos there and emailed the best to my new friends today.
I don't remember when I got back to the pensiune, or even how, which is one measure of a successful night out (the other measure being sleeping in until 2 PM, to the annoyance of the pensiune manager who had made breakfast for me at 9). Oh, regarding blacking out while wandering around a foreign country—this is an incredibly stupid thing to do. If you are as recklessly idiotic as I was in this regard, remember to carry only cash with you when you go out—leave the credit cards and passport back at the pensiune!
Anyway, good times!
* "Locul Potrivit" is a real work of genius, and the video is worth viewing on YouTube even if you don't know any Romanian. The song quirkily addresses the history of Romania since the 1989 revolution, and was released in time for the 20th anniversary of that revolution.
 |
| From Ukraine and Romania |
Monday, March 1, 2010
Backward Romania/Forward Romania
A guy I interviewed for a piece I'm writing told me a joke about Romania: "Worried about 2012? Then come to Romania, because we're a hundred years behind." But in some ways Romania is ahead of the United States. Odd as it sounds, sometimes Romania is even enabled by its backwardness.
For example, the United States has twice as much land line saturation as "backward" Romania. But in part encouraged by this very lack of land lines, "forward" Romania's cell phone market has, like the United States', reached saturation. On average, everyone in Romania has at least one cell phone (the country's telecom companies are very generous about handing out phones to people who sign up for their plans). And in Romania old people really are using those phones. In fact, they're yakking on them during long bus rides all the time. And their ringers are cranked up to deafening levels because they are nearly deaf themselves. I digress.
Romania introduced a "cash for clunkers"-type program (wherein one exchanges one's old and fuel-inefficient car for a down payment on a new car) in 2005, several years before the U.S. tried its own. This program is what contributed to the near-extinction of Romania's classic (and extremely ugly) early Dacia models. Since 2007 I have not seen a single Dacia 500 anywhere (the photo above is of me in 2004 in front of a Dacia 500).
Most Romanians used their "clunkers" money to buy used cars, because new cars are as expensive in Romania as they are in the United States despite Romania being a much poorer country. Used German cars were particularly popular. Germany's used cars entered the Romanian market in part because of Germany's own "clunkers" program. In Germany the "clunkers" were not required to be destroyed as they are in most other countries, so many German cars went from the junkyard to Eastern Europe, where they are being driven by Romanians today.
Unlike the short-lived U.S. program, the Romanian program continues to this day.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Lost Opportunity in Romania
Talk to any Romanian, or at least any of the many Romanians I have talked with, and all will tell you that Romania is a land of lost opportunities. The reason for the loss of those opportunities, most believe, is corruption, which has long been an issue in Romania. The Romanian people believe that their politicians are feathering their own nests rather than investing in the future of the country. Romanians believe that any politician can be--and is--bought, and so nothing improves.
The clearest lost opportunity is in agriculture. It is clearest because the problem can be glimpsed during any intercity train ride.
Romania is blessed with large spreads of fertile land. Farming techniques are charmingly antiquated; shepherds still stand watch over their flocks, sometimes resting one booted foot against the other while leaning on a walking stick. Horse-drawn wagons are a normal sight; carriage wheels criss-cross the tracks of rabbits in the snow.
Which raises an obvious question: Where are the tractors? The seeders? The harvesters and other tools familiar to all FarmVille players?
Yes, it's winter, and in winter there is not a lot of planting or harvesting to be observed. But Romanians will tell you that things don't change in spring or summer. Wikipedia has some footnoted citations about agriculture in Romania regarding the relative scarcity of tractors and the agedness of the equipment currently in use.
Romanians speak of the richness of the soil with pride, as if it were a gift from God. They feel that gift is being squandered by their politicians. It's preventing Romania from moving forward. It's sacrilege.
Friday, February 12, 2010
The EU, Diasporas, and Conflict
Seems most of the problems in Europe and Eurasia are derived from tensions between diasporas that seek either unification with other countries or their own independence, and the governments of the countries that host them. One region that has traditionally had some issues is the one I am visiting right now: Cluj-Napoca, a Romanian city with a sizable Hungarian diaspora.
Romania's Hungarian diaspora is the result of the usual tug-of-war between Central and Eastern European countries that went on throughout the centuries. Only a couple of hours ago I heard high school kids speaking Hungarian, and this morning Cristina and I visited a Catholic church where wreathes decorated with Hungarian flags lay beneath a sculpture of the crucified Christ. To counterbalance this Hungarian-ness there is a more nationalistic fervor amongst "traditional" Romanians living in the city.
But things have been OK here in Cluj, as opposed to the much more worrying state of affairs one encounters in the Balkans, Moldova, Ukraine, and the various Eurasian countries.
The difference seems to be the EU. Cristina noted this morning that the EU makes borders less relevant. Hungarian-speaking Romanians who wish to travel from Romania to their friends and family in Hungary, or vice-versa, can do so relatively painlessly, as opposed to those who must travel from country to country outside the EU.
The difficulties of traveling to Russia are especially pronounced. Even a tourist must jump through a series of gauntlets to get in (this includes the need for an official letter of invitation from somebody within the country; hotels will write these for the tourists who plan to stay in them).
It seems that with more open borders between countries the potential for conflict between those countries would be diminished. While throwing open the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia would be foolish if done tomorrow, it seems in the long run that fluid borders could provide a safety valve for releasing pressure that has traditionally come from diasporas that, due to their present political situations, feel (or literally are) trapped within their countries.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Conversation Between Me and a Romanian Taxi Driver in Valcea
held 5 February 2010
"The song on the radio sounds familiar to me," I say to Cristina. "It might be from around 1999 or so." (I say this because it features Romanian-language lyrics, and most Romanian pop today is in English. Plus, there is something distantly familiar about the singers' voices.)
The taxi driver turns his head. "Yes. It is from 1999," he affirms.
"Maybe it's that group Andreea?" I say to him.
"The group was called Andre. With Andreea Antonescu and...." (He snaps his fingers rapidly as he tries to remember.)
"Andreea Banica?" I ask.
"No."
"Ah! Andreea Balan."
(He snaps his fingers again.) "That's right! How do you know this?"
"I fell in love with Romanian pop music back in 2000, which is a big part of why I visited Romania in 2001."
"Then maybe you can identify this song," he says, skipping to another track on his CD. It's a dance song with a long instrumental opening.
"Maybe Suie Paparude, or possibly DJ Project?"
"No."
The vocals come in.
"Ah. Is it Animal X?"
(He points his index finger in the air.) "Yes. That's incredible. Where are you from?"
"Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America."
(He shakes his head.) "Amazing."
"The song on the radio sounds familiar to me," I say to Cristina. "It might be from around 1999 or so." (I say this because it features Romanian-language lyrics, and most Romanian pop today is in English. Plus, there is something distantly familiar about the singers' voices.)
The taxi driver turns his head. "Yes. It is from 1999," he affirms.
"Maybe it's that group Andreea?" I say to him.
"The group was called Andre. With Andreea Antonescu and...." (He snaps his fingers rapidly as he tries to remember.)
"Andreea Banica?" I ask.
"No."
"Ah! Andreea Balan."
(He snaps his fingers again.) "That's right! How do you know this?"
"I fell in love with Romanian pop music back in 2000, which is a big part of why I visited Romania in 2001."
"Then maybe you can identify this song," he says, skipping to another track on his CD. It's a dance song with a long instrumental opening.
"Maybe Suie Paparude, or possibly DJ Project?"
"No."
The vocals come in.
"Ah. Is it Animal X?"
(He points his index finger in the air.) "Yes. That's incredible. Where are you from?"
"Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America."
(He shakes his head.) "Amazing."
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Valcea, Romania
Cristina and I left Bucharest in order to spend some down time in Valcea, the small town Cristina grew up. It's a comfortable three hour bus ride from the capital. Highlights today included a hike up a hill overlooking the city, a visit to a motel bar that has remained unchanged since communist times (except for the telenovele playing on the nice TV sitting on the bar), a walk through Cristina's old high school, and a tremendous multi-course lunch with beer that set us back only $20.
Cristina's apartment (actually her parents' apartment, but her parents live in America now) has some very nice communist-era touches, including a shelf full of old books. Among these is a fascinating 1970s encyclopedia of home-making for the stylish Romanian woman. This book is full of photographs of trendy furniture that real Romanians during that time period could not possibly have been able to afford (Cristina suspects that the book was a translation of a Western European book, and that the photos of apartments and fashionable models are from other countries).
I also like the old radio/record player on the porch, which includes pre-settings for Belgrade, Moscow, Ljubljana, and Vilnius radio stations.
Cristina's apartment (actually her parents' apartment, but her parents live in America now) has some very nice communist-era touches, including a shelf full of old books. Among these is a fascinating 1970s encyclopedia of home-making for the stylish Romanian woman. This book is full of photographs of trendy furniture that real Romanians during that time period could not possibly have been able to afford (Cristina suspects that the book was a translation of a Western European book, and that the photos of apartments and fashionable models are from other countries).
I also like the old radio/record player on the porch, which includes pre-settings for Belgrade, Moscow, Ljubljana, and Vilnius radio stations.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Prison Break: Alcohol and Coffee
I am switching back and forth between the audio for a Slovenian-based music video channel called Play TV and Big FM, a Deva-based Romanian top 40 station. Play TV's repertoire is quite varied, a mixture of new, newish, and old tracks. It's the old that interest me the most; I study the top 40 charts from over 20 countries every week, but seeing a video for, say, Mysterious Art's 1989 classic "Das Omen" is an education (incidentally, I look forward to the day girls start dressing like the Mysterious Art singers again).
This weekend saw some major freaking out on my part. I thought I had at least until the end of the month of December to move out, but my landlord told me in an email that I opened around five in the morning that I'd have to leave on the 18th. I definitely didn't need that at that particular moment.
Turns out he had made a mistake, I do have until the 31st to move out, and so 24 hours later I am feeling better about things again. But regardless, the time is fast running out. December arrives Tuesday, a week of December will be spent at home for Christmas, and a couple weeks after that I will be on a plane to somewhere.
I find that when I drink too much and then mix coffee into the formula I am susceptible to bouts of extreme paranoia. Waking up groggy from alcohol while my heart is racing from the effects of caffeine means my brain operates drunk-weird at a high rate of speed, which is a terrible combination. The goal this December is to lay off the drink, because it's cutting deeply into my efficiency and making me afraid when I should be problem-solving.
Regarding problem-solving, today I thought about Herschel Walker, an American football player who was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. I read his autobiography where he talked about living with this, and I walked away thinking how useful it could be to have multiple personalities to tackle different problems. This is probably not the lesson I was supposed to get from reading his book. Actually, that would make a pretty good TV series premise, but I suspect it would be too offensive to get the green light. :-D
A friend of mine has now been captivated by the "The Manual," a book published back in 1988 by members of the KLF which instructs the reader on how to have a number one hit. I had read this book many years ago (though I did not go on to have a number one hit), so it is interesting to see it surface again in another person's life. Wikipedia quotes from it: "Firstly, you must be skint and on the dole. Anybody with a proper job or tied up with full time education will not have the time to devote to see it through... Being on the dole gives you a clearer perspective on how much of society is run... having no money sharpens the wits. Forces you never to make the wrong decision. There is no safety net to catch you when you fall."
The soundtrack:
30 November 2009 - beginning 4:09 AM in Slovenia - Play TV
U2 - Magnificent
RIO - Shine On
Ayumi Hamasaki - Fairyland
Soho - Hippychick
Lady Gaga - Love Game
Shwayze - Buzzin
Akon - We Don't Care
Alesha Dixon - Breathe Slow
Kate Voegele - 99 Times
Akon - Right Now (Na Na Na)
The Pussycat Dolls - I Hate This Part
Stevie Jewel - One Last Kiss
David Guetta - Everytime We Touch
Sash! feat. Stunt - Raindrops (Encore Une Fois)
Hillary Duff - Wake Up
Freemasons feat. Bailey Tzuke - Uninvited
Public Domain - Operation Blade
Kidbass feat. Sincere - Goodgirls Love Rudeboys
Ian Van Dahl - Believe
50 Cent - OK, You're Right
Calvin Harris - I'm Not Alone
Velvet - Fix Me
30 November 2009 - beginning 5:09 AM in Romania - Big FM
Andru Donalds - Mishale
Cascada - Evacuate the Dancefloor
ATC - Around the World
DJ Bobo - What a Feeling
Jimmy Cliff - I Can See Clearly
Thomas Gold and Matthias Menck - Everybody Be Somebody
DJ Antoine - This Time
Jessica - How Will I know (Who You Are)
Marc Anthony - When I Dream at Night
Kate Ryan - Ella elle l'a
N Sync - It's Gonna Be Me
DJ Project vs. Deepside Deejays - Over and Over
September - Because I Love You (Dave Ramone Radio Edit)
Big Ali feat. Dollarman - Hit the Floor (Snap Remix Extended)
Jewel - Intuition
Yarabi - Again
Manian - Turn the Tide (RIO Radio Mix)
LLP vs. John Puzzle feat. Chriss - I Miss You (Radio Mix)
Cobra Starship feat. Florida - Good Girls Go Bad (Remix)
Inna - Amazing (Radio_Edit)
AnnaGrace - Let the Feeling Go
Dario Zack feat Starchild - Funky World (Radio Edit)
This weekend saw some major freaking out on my part. I thought I had at least until the end of the month of December to move out, but my landlord told me in an email that I opened around five in the morning that I'd have to leave on the 18th. I definitely didn't need that at that particular moment.
Turns out he had made a mistake, I do have until the 31st to move out, and so 24 hours later I am feeling better about things again. But regardless, the time is fast running out. December arrives Tuesday, a week of December will be spent at home for Christmas, and a couple weeks after that I will be on a plane to somewhere.
I find that when I drink too much and then mix coffee into the formula I am susceptible to bouts of extreme paranoia. Waking up groggy from alcohol while my heart is racing from the effects of caffeine means my brain operates drunk-weird at a high rate of speed, which is a terrible combination. The goal this December is to lay off the drink, because it's cutting deeply into my efficiency and making me afraid when I should be problem-solving.
Regarding problem-solving, today I thought about Herschel Walker, an American football player who was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. I read his autobiography where he talked about living with this, and I walked away thinking how useful it could be to have multiple personalities to tackle different problems. This is probably not the lesson I was supposed to get from reading his book. Actually, that would make a pretty good TV series premise, but I suspect it would be too offensive to get the green light. :-D
A friend of mine has now been captivated by the "The Manual," a book published back in 1988 by members of the KLF which instructs the reader on how to have a number one hit. I had read this book many years ago (though I did not go on to have a number one hit), so it is interesting to see it surface again in another person's life. Wikipedia quotes from it: "Firstly, you must be skint and on the dole. Anybody with a proper job or tied up with full time education will not have the time to devote to see it through... Being on the dole gives you a clearer perspective on how much of society is run... having no money sharpens the wits. Forces you never to make the wrong decision. There is no safety net to catch you when you fall."
The soundtrack:
30 November 2009 - beginning 4:09 AM in Slovenia - Play TV
U2 - Magnificent
RIO - Shine On
Ayumi Hamasaki - Fairyland
Soho - Hippychick
Lady Gaga - Love Game
Shwayze - Buzzin
Akon - We Don't Care
Alesha Dixon - Breathe Slow
Kate Voegele - 99 Times
Akon - Right Now (Na Na Na)
The Pussycat Dolls - I Hate This Part
Stevie Jewel - One Last Kiss
David Guetta - Everytime We Touch
Sash! feat. Stunt - Raindrops (Encore Une Fois)
Hillary Duff - Wake Up
Freemasons feat. Bailey Tzuke - Uninvited
Public Domain - Operation Blade
Kidbass feat. Sincere - Goodgirls Love Rudeboys
Ian Van Dahl - Believe
50 Cent - OK, You're Right
Calvin Harris - I'm Not Alone
Velvet - Fix Me
30 November 2009 - beginning 5:09 AM in Romania - Big FM
Andru Donalds - Mishale
Cascada - Evacuate the Dancefloor
ATC - Around the World
DJ Bobo - What a Feeling
Jimmy Cliff - I Can See Clearly
Thomas Gold and Matthias Menck - Everybody Be Somebody
DJ Antoine - This Time
Jessica - How Will I know (Who You Are)
Marc Anthony - When I Dream at Night
Kate Ryan - Ella elle l'a
N Sync - It's Gonna Be Me
DJ Project vs. Deepside Deejays - Over and Over
September - Because I Love You (Dave Ramone Radio Edit)
Big Ali feat. Dollarman - Hit the Floor (Snap Remix Extended)
Jewel - Intuition
Yarabi - Again
Manian - Turn the Tide (RIO Radio Mix)
LLP vs. John Puzzle feat. Chriss - I Miss You (Radio Mix)
Cobra Starship feat. Florida - Good Girls Go Bad (Remix)
Inna - Amazing (Radio_Edit)
AnnaGrace - Let the Feeling Go
Dario Zack feat Starchild - Funky World (Radio Edit)
Monday, November 23, 2009
Prison Break: Drinking and Talking Part 897
It's Thanksgiving week, and I am thankful for the fact that there are very few people in my office today to see what I look like the morning after a night spent with my enablers at the Park Tavern. The Park has a "if it rains, all draft beers are $1 each" rule. It rained yesterday, and so in this manner the weather has had an adverse affect on my health.
Carson and I met up at the Carroll Street Cafe at 3 PM yesterday where we studied satellite maps of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in an effort to determine an ideal base of operations for me. In each of those countries one has easy access to Scandinavia, where conceivably there would be more money to be made as a DJ. The ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki costs around 30 euros. The trip from Estonia to Scandinavia can be full of surprises.
Of all the emails I sent to Estonian clubs last week there have been zero replies. This puts a serious crimp in my confidence. I feel this is the week I have to buy the plane ticket, so where will I go? Should I just go to Estonia and see if I can make something happen?
The better idea is probably to go to Romania. I have many friends there. I'm comfortable there. I spent several months this year studying the language, and while I am by no means proficient I should be able to do OK once immersed in it. The country is centrally located in Eastern Europe. And there's one cute girl I want to date there as well.
Seems like a no-brainer, but the problem with Romania is that I've been there so many times already that I'm not especially motivated in the same way I would be if I were visiting a "new" country. I'm not especially fond of the club and music scene there lately, either. Romanian pop has changed significantly since I started listening to it in 2000 (I wrote a little editorial about this a while back for BalkanInsight). While it would be sensible to go to Romania, I feel a green light from Estonia would give me more of an adrenaline rush, since their pop scene is so much more exciting to me right now and there would be the shock of the new to motivate me.
But considering the stress I am putting myself under, beginning my adventure in relatively cozy Romania might be the smartest way to go.
Carson told me that, as a DJ, my biggest downfall was my sincerity. What's the opposite of a backhanded compliment? A fronthanded criticism? Anyway, he has a point. I'm quite averse to spinning in many different club environments, as yesterday's Slovenia blog entry demonstrates, and it would be more beneficial to me if I were willing to play the trendier genres. I shut too many doors before I am willing to give things a try, and that inflexibility is not the best way to survive as a DJ in Eastern Europe. "You've got to become Mr. Lava," he said, referring to my fictional alter-ego.
Carson and I met up at the Carroll Street Cafe at 3 PM yesterday where we studied satellite maps of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in an effort to determine an ideal base of operations for me. In each of those countries one has easy access to Scandinavia, where conceivably there would be more money to be made as a DJ. The ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki costs around 30 euros. The trip from Estonia to Scandinavia can be full of surprises.
Of all the emails I sent to Estonian clubs last week there have been zero replies. This puts a serious crimp in my confidence. I feel this is the week I have to buy the plane ticket, so where will I go? Should I just go to Estonia and see if I can make something happen?
The better idea is probably to go to Romania. I have many friends there. I'm comfortable there. I spent several months this year studying the language, and while I am by no means proficient I should be able to do OK once immersed in it. The country is centrally located in Eastern Europe. And there's one cute girl I want to date there as well.
Seems like a no-brainer, but the problem with Romania is that I've been there so many times already that I'm not especially motivated in the same way I would be if I were visiting a "new" country. I'm not especially fond of the club and music scene there lately, either. Romanian pop has changed significantly since I started listening to it in 2000 (I wrote a little editorial about this a while back for BalkanInsight). While it would be sensible to go to Romania, I feel a green light from Estonia would give me more of an adrenaline rush, since their pop scene is so much more exciting to me right now and there would be the shock of the new to motivate me.
But considering the stress I am putting myself under, beginning my adventure in relatively cozy Romania might be the smartest way to go.
Carson told me that, as a DJ, my biggest downfall was my sincerity. What's the opposite of a backhanded compliment? A fronthanded criticism? Anyway, he has a point. I'm quite averse to spinning in many different club environments, as yesterday's Slovenia blog entry demonstrates, and it would be more beneficial to me if I were willing to play the trendier genres. I shut too many doors before I am willing to give things a try, and that inflexibility is not the best way to survive as a DJ in Eastern Europe. "You've got to become Mr. Lava," he said, referring to my fictional alter-ego.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Prison Break: Two Nights of Drinking and Talking
Between now and my departure I am going to alternate between two types of journal entries. One will deal with the psychological and organizational aspects of what I am attempting. The other will deal more specifically with the countries that I wish to visit and my plans concerning those countries. I wrote a bit about Estonia yesterday, so now it's time to turn back to the psychological issues and the planning.
I'm groggy and hung-over from two nights in a row of pleasurable conversation. At Apres Diem, Vaidas and I talked until 11:30 PM, he drinking whiskey and Coke and me downing five Stellas. The fifth Stella was a bad idea, though I woke up fairly alert the next day and was productive.
Vaidas was born in Lithuania, and as a kid he visited many of the countries that lay behind the Iron Curtain. Romania in the late 1980s, before their 1989 revolution, was a big shithole, he said, a country where people begged visitors for soap and cigarettes. It's little wonder that Ceausescu and his wife wound up being executed by firing squad during the revolution.
Vaidas talked about spending $3 a night for a "hotel" in...I think it was Belarus, but we kept flipping back and forth between countries and we were drunk so I cannot be sure anymore. I will say it was Belarus, because this story fits Belarus. In Belarus he stayed in a cabin, and each room had its own fireplace. A babooshka would come in and tend to the fire. He said he gave her a $3 dollar tip. After that she came into his room to throw logs into the fire all the time.
Belarus remains the most Soviet of all the former Soviet states (George W. Bush called it the "last remaining dictatorship in Europe" back in 2005). Without a good and trustworthy friend to travel with it would likely be too unsafe for me to explore this country on my own. I am hoping to find such a friend, because there aren't many places like Belarus left, so it would be interesting to see the country before change comes. Alexander Lukashenko, their President for 15 years now, is going to have to go someday.
Places like Belarus, Moldova, and Russia are among the places where bribing is most rampant, but Vaidas said $3 was enough to get a cop off his case, again I think in Belarus. (Incidentally, in reviewing this story everything in Vaidas's world appears to cost $3.) The art of the bribe is something I hope I do not have to learn, but in the sink or swim environment I am entering it may become a necessary skill.
After Vaidas and I finished with our conversation, we stumbled out into the night where we discovered a long line of teenaged girls and their mothers spilling out of the movie theater. Vaidas asked a mom and her two daughters what was up, and they replied that they were waiting to see the premiere of the new "Twilight" film.
Last night, Nathan, Seth, and I met up in Little Five Points. At the Brewhouse Seth expressed for the first time some reservations about the risks I was taking, affected in part by the things Vaidas had said the night before (Seth had been there for the first half of that conversation). Nathan also for the first time confessed that he initially thought the idea of running off to Eastern Europe was a bad one, but now admits that if I don't do this I will forever wonder sadly what might have been.
Nathan and I wound up at the Yacht Club after we dropped Seth off by his car, and we had an excellent conversation which was punctuated by the brief appearance of two cute Emo girls, one in a flannel shirt, who sat across from us, but then seemed to think that a poor idea and left to join other friends.
After getting home I watched "Survivor" over the Internet, downloaded some songs I'd been looking for via Shareaza in tandem with Pirate Bay (since Google doesn't offer these particular tracks, which were Esmee Denter's "Admit It" and Daan's utterly superb "Icon"). Then I passed out and regained consciousness around 11:30 this morning.
Because I signed up for Google Adsense, I suspect you will see several ads for alcohol treatment. I saw an ad today for help in finding your gay mate. If this sounds like something you want to click on, please do; it will help me out.
It's strange stepping into the commercial world after running the www.kingpigeon.com site non-commercially for about a decade, now, but I need to think about ways to generate revenue because I am not going to have much money when I arrive in Europe.
I told my sister in an email about my plans for the first time today because I need somebody with a physical address I can trust who can collect and deposit (the likely meager) checks I might receive from advertising revenue.
I'm groggy and hung-over from two nights in a row of pleasurable conversation. At Apres Diem, Vaidas and I talked until 11:30 PM, he drinking whiskey and Coke and me downing five Stellas. The fifth Stella was a bad idea, though I woke up fairly alert the next day and was productive.
Vaidas was born in Lithuania, and as a kid he visited many of the countries that lay behind the Iron Curtain. Romania in the late 1980s, before their 1989 revolution, was a big shithole, he said, a country where people begged visitors for soap and cigarettes. It's little wonder that Ceausescu and his wife wound up being executed by firing squad during the revolution.
Vaidas talked about spending $3 a night for a "hotel" in...I think it was Belarus, but we kept flipping back and forth between countries and we were drunk so I cannot be sure anymore. I will say it was Belarus, because this story fits Belarus. In Belarus he stayed in a cabin, and each room had its own fireplace. A babooshka would come in and tend to the fire. He said he gave her a $3 dollar tip. After that she came into his room to throw logs into the fire all the time.
Belarus remains the most Soviet of all the former Soviet states (George W. Bush called it the "last remaining dictatorship in Europe" back in 2005). Without a good and trustworthy friend to travel with it would likely be too unsafe for me to explore this country on my own. I am hoping to find such a friend, because there aren't many places like Belarus left, so it would be interesting to see the country before change comes. Alexander Lukashenko, their President for 15 years now, is going to have to go someday.
Places like Belarus, Moldova, and Russia are among the places where bribing is most rampant, but Vaidas said $3 was enough to get a cop off his case, again I think in Belarus. (Incidentally, in reviewing this story everything in Vaidas's world appears to cost $3.) The art of the bribe is something I hope I do not have to learn, but in the sink or swim environment I am entering it may become a necessary skill.
After Vaidas and I finished with our conversation, we stumbled out into the night where we discovered a long line of teenaged girls and their mothers spilling out of the movie theater. Vaidas asked a mom and her two daughters what was up, and they replied that they were waiting to see the premiere of the new "Twilight" film.
Last night, Nathan, Seth, and I met up in Little Five Points. At the Brewhouse Seth expressed for the first time some reservations about the risks I was taking, affected in part by the things Vaidas had said the night before (Seth had been there for the first half of that conversation). Nathan also for the first time confessed that he initially thought the idea of running off to Eastern Europe was a bad one, but now admits that if I don't do this I will forever wonder sadly what might have been.
Nathan and I wound up at the Yacht Club after we dropped Seth off by his car, and we had an excellent conversation which was punctuated by the brief appearance of two cute Emo girls, one in a flannel shirt, who sat across from us, but then seemed to think that a poor idea and left to join other friends.
After getting home I watched "Survivor" over the Internet, downloaded some songs I'd been looking for via Shareaza in tandem with Pirate Bay (since Google doesn't offer these particular tracks, which were Esmee Denter's "Admit It" and Daan's utterly superb "Icon"). Then I passed out and regained consciousness around 11:30 this morning.
Because I signed up for Google Adsense, I suspect you will see several ads for alcohol treatment. I saw an ad today for help in finding your gay mate. If this sounds like something you want to click on, please do; it will help me out.
It's strange stepping into the commercial world after running the www.kingpigeon.com site non-commercially for about a decade, now, but I need to think about ways to generate revenue because I am not going to have much money when I arrive in Europe.
I told my sister in an email about my plans for the first time today because I need somebody with a physical address I can trust who can collect and deposit (the likely meager) checks I might receive from advertising revenue.
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