A short "chat" in 2021...

 Hello, good people! Let's have a chat! Well, sort of. I ramble and you read. Alright, now, all jokes aside, I really need - again - to do a little update and kind of a new "intro" to my blog after this long absence. I have symbolically chosen this month, March, for doing this, because all good things rise and grow in spring. Also, I have deliberately not posted anything during the odious year 2020. The reasons, I think, are easy to guess.

I want to keep this blog post as short as possible (and I know what "short" means to me when I'm writing), so I will "attack" only a few ideas.

My last blog post here dates back to December 2019. Little did I know at that time that over the next 12 months I will have to move and change my place three times, change my environment, my jobs and adapt to a lot of new things. All these apart of the THING that has descended upon us since March 2020. 

At some point in my life, during the first two or three months of last year, I was SO busy with all the abrupt changes happening in my life, that I have barely touched my laptop. So, no, I couldn't even reply to the comments, much less to post again. 

Then it came what we all know. And with this occasion, I have learned - in a hard way - how important it is not only to keep your cool in times of crisis but also to be surrounded by people who do the same. Because if you're not, then your life may be turned upside down. Being able to think clearly and be rational when anything bad happens is of most importance. Acting and reacting in a hasty manner not only messes up your and other people's lives, but it can also leave those around you with bitterness in their hearts because you give them the impression of being irresponsible and, in some situations, even cruel. I was left with such a bitter taste, so I know. 

Obviously, I am not talking here about global politics and how the general public has reacted to all this planetary mess. No, I am talking about the way THIS has affected our daily lives and our relationships with those around us. 

Also, last year in March I've lost one dear soul. Just one year earlier, in 2019, I've lost another one. I am not gonna insist on this now.

Fast forward to 2021. We are floating on the same sea - the sea of the unknown. I have recently started a training. Or, at least, I think I did... Because due to the lockdown everything is moving sloooooowwwllllyyy. Too slowly for my needs. 

And I can't wait to start real courses, you know, the "old fashioned" type of courses where you don't have to stay between the same walls, on the same chair, staring at the same screen. Not an online course, but a normal one. Because online courses, as good as they are, they all have this flaw - they require you to do the same thing. And, at some point, they all look and feel the same. Add to that the network problems and other technical issues, and you have a good reason to leave everything and go out to run to calm your nerves.

Anyway, I intend to take some information from that training and use it here - indirectly - as an inspiration for my blog. 

So, for now, that should be all. Regards!

Returning to you, my silent eyes...



In this blog post, I'm gonna do what every blogging “guru” tells you that you should NEVER do when writing in your own blog: I'll talk about myself. Well, mostly. But there's a reason why I have to do so and I'll explain it a bit later. But firstly, let me tell you a story... A real story.

I would suggest you to grab a cup of something. Quite long text ahead.

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We all come to this world with all kinds of gifts that later on in life, as we grow-up they tend to fade out somehow. In my childhood, one of my gifts was to sing. In fact, this used to happen to me in a very natural and spontaneous way.

Because of that, my kindergarten teacher (God rest her soul as she has passed away two years ago) has asked me to sing on stage. Later, my primary school teacher did the same. All my "musical performances" were part of our artistic activities at kindergarten and school. We had several such artistic events every year and it was entertaining.

Then, the '89 Romanian Revolution happened and for some unexplained reasons, they kind of stopped. One of a sudden there was no money and no interest in organizing such shows. They were considered to be... Communist.

I never understood how celebrating the seasons, wearing a bee-like costume or dancing and reciting poems about the nature of the motherland can be considered Communist. Maybe the poets themselves were Communists. Or maybe suddenly patriotism was the new enemy (as we were now embarking towards the globalist Capitalism).

Or maybe the Romanian Revolution, just like the French one, was enthusiastically “guillotining” everything, good or bad alike. Or maybe all of the above is true... But anyway, I digress.

I remember those days even today. In most cases, I and my colleagues were usually wearing costumes. Some of us were singing, others reciting poems, others playing instruments or dancing. Two of the best pupils were the presenters and “hosts” for the show. And others were just staying there and having good fun.

I wasn't nervous about singing on stage. Not at all. Singing was in my nature, and being there, on the stage was for me nothing but another interesting and fun experience. Much more fun than the usual classes.

Then, one day, it happened. I was on the stage for a final rehearsal. I was singing my favourite song: “Motherland, my mother told me, is like the swallow bird...” and then I saw the eyes. The attentive eyes of the audience - the few parents that were sitting on the chairs assisting us.

At that moment for the first time in my life, I became self-aware. For the first time in my life, the stage became a frightening place to be, where singing was torture. And for the first time in my life I had to do great efforts not to lose my voice right in the middle of the song.

Up until that moment, it was all fun. Because it was about me doing what I was doing usually: singing. And, hey, if the song is listened to by other people than, say your neighbor or your classmate then it's more fun, right?

Well, when I have realized that those eyes could actually see any of my possible mistakes I simply got scared. From that moment on, I made all that's possible to turn down any invitation to sing for other people. I preferred to stop singing at all (or to sing only when being alone) than to risk making fool of myself. That high was the level of my fear!

As you can see, it was an irrational fear. Because I already had this musical talent quite well developed and I also had some experience. But these facts simply DID NOT MATTERED to me.

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Now, how is this story connected to our subject? Well, when I have checked the statistics of my blog I saw the eyes, YOUR eyes. The eyes of the silent readers of this blog. Despite my long lack of activity on this blog, you kept visiting this corner of the web. And this honors me and also scares me. So much so, that I shied away from writing for almost 4 years.

But not anymore! I guess that my internal drive to write has become stronger than the shiness. And I feel I have interesting things to share from now on.

During the four years that have passed since my last blog post here, a lot of things have happened. I've changed jobs, devices, operating systems, intellectual tastes and even, - partially, at least, - world views.

It's only natural that all these changes have to and will be present on this blog in the future. I'll share with you the things I've learned or those I'm still learning. Things that have marked my last 4 years of online absence.

Well, actually, overall, my absence lasted a lot longer than that, as I grew kind of reclusive for some reasons, and I didn't socialized much. The reasons are too many, but one of them is work. Especially during the spring of this year 2019, I was, at a certain moment, literally so busy that I couldn't afford to chat more than, let's say 5 minutes, much less engage in long conversations.

At that time, in spring, I had 3 (yeah, three) jobs at the same time and my schedule was so, so tight and clearly planned that I could barely breathe.

I feel guilty for all those people who turned to me for help during that time. I couldn't keep up with my promises and/or their expectations of me. I apologize to them with this occasion. And I apologize not only for that particular time in spring but I also for all the previous moments when I couldn't respond and help.

I also want to thank you all for having the patience to bearing with me until the end of this blog post.

And, as a very short note, I'll just count here several word that can describe my last 4 years of absence: Dell laptops, Ubuntu, narcissism, beauty and health...

Well, now that I have finished this text, I have to admit one thing: every time when I was tempted to just restart my blogging activity here without giving any kind of explanatory intro lines, I felt instantly kind of guilty. Because I think you deserve some explanations, excuses and also, my gratitude. You, my eyes...

Doing business without having an email address?!

Image source: webhostinserviceindia.blogspot.com

Four days ago I was phoned by someone who made me a job offer. He needed my services to promote his national and international(!) projects and to find him new partners and sponsors.

I have spent some of the most puzzling 25 minutes of my life and our conversation had the most surprising end for me. The guy was aiming high, as I have said: two local projects, later to be extended nationwide and a third one international (!) who needs to be promoted.

To be frank, I had the impression that I was talking with a dreamer. Not that I have something against dreamers, but I prefer those who keep their feet on the ground. Still, I said that I should give it a try and do some research before I give any judgement. So, after about 25 minutes of blah-blah, I insisted on the idea that, in order to promote something I have to know what I'm promoting and what message to give to the people, what tools to use, etc, so I asked for some data (.pdfs, links, documents) to study. And, logically, I have asked him to give me his email address. In the next second, the most surprising answer hit my ears:

  - I don't have an email address. I'm not into things like Internet and stuff. I'll keep contact with you and the collaborators on the phone. And if you need any information, just give me a call and take notes on a piece of paper. 

I say to myself: Jesus! A man without an email address! And I thought this species was extinct. More than that, a business man running three large projects but not having a humble email address! That's really, really odd to say the least. My grandmother doesn't have an email address but she is not pretending to have an inventor patent to sell and she is not planning to contact other big companies!

When I ended the conversation, my feeling that I'm dealing with an unrealistic person was increased. And the feeling of wonder about it stayed with me long after the conversation was over.

One thing is sure: Nowadays, no one can do real business without having an email address. And not having an email address brings, among others, a great loss of credibility.