The One With The Winter Swimming

8km run + winter swimming in an ice-cold river.

I guess it's about time I started doing foolish things. Better now - people will get used to and won't get surprised in the future, when I'm old(er).

Stay tuned.

The One Where You Look Into The Wardrobe And Think You Have Nothing [Appropriate] To Wear

Oh my, I'm turning into a real woman...

Stay tuned.

The One With The Good Thing About Winter

There's just about one good thing about Winter - that you get to see more sunrises.

Stay tuned.

The One With Either A Good Deed Or Something Like It

An old lady came to me at the library and asked if I had some time to spare.
I automatically said no, thinking she wanted to give me speech about either God or politics, or maybe hand me some leaflets, or something similar.
But then she specified that she was looking for someone to help her finish an official letter that she needed for court; she had a pendrive where the draft document had already been stored; she had a ton of handwritten notes, official letters etc. and she wanted some paragraphs to be added to the document. She knew where the library computer room was (I didn't) and that you could use a computer there to work and print the results, as she had done before with - I assumed - help of some other kind soul.
It felt pretty weird spending an hour with a strange old lady who knew computers and pendrives and such, but still looked like all that technology was kind of magic for her, so she used it as a black box and needed someone to operate it for her.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Origami Cranes

An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane. Some stories believe you are granted eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury.

I've got injured and so I'm not able to act out and decompress the way I usually do - by some physical activity, most preferably: dancing or running.
So I'm making origami cranes in order to, well, just do something that will take my mind off my life.

(Yeah, it's been a tough week... Fortunately, remote virtual hugs help to some degree).

Stay tuned.

The One With Prince Charming.Or The One With The Most Sensible Decision.Or The One With The Problem With Relationships

It's just that - I'm no princess...

But is the sensible choice the right one?

And the problem with relationships is not that you can mess up your own life - that's actually the easy part.
The real problem is: you can mess up someone else's life - and have to learn to live with it.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Wine. Home-Made Young Wine.

Father: How much did you do - 3? 4...?
Daughter: 7.
Father: Oh...

Stay tuned.

The One Where You Turn Up 15 Minutes Late And Still Make It To The Trailers

Big Hero 6

Surprisingly good. Watching this animation was an experience quite opposite to watching Brave - which I had expected to be fabulous and magical, but which turned out a mother/daughter soap opera... I thought Big Hero 6 would be juvenile version of Avengers, but it is actually quite a funny movie. Very predictable and containing plenty of loopholes in the storyline - but since the narrative is fast and the film is visually stunning you do not have time to dwell over some minor inconsequences.

Stay tuned.

The One On Monday Morning

You read and learn how to write clean code.
You feel guilty about having left the mess in the code on Friday afternoon. You're aware it's messy - but there was not enough time to do something about that, you were to busy testing, trying to figure out what to do, and so you let yourself do it sloppily.
You feel guilty and can't wait to make it right first thing on Monday morning. You even dream yourself perfecting the code!
And then you come to work to see the piece of code magically cleaned and made beautifully simple and simply beautiful.
I think that was more educating then if I had actually done it myself.

Stay tuned.

The One On The Third Thursday Of November (Or The One With Four Almost Stereotypical IT Guys And One Least Stereotypical IT Girl)

Cheers!

Stay tuned

The One With The Chance Encounter

Obywatel (The Citizen)

My 6-year-old niece is great at the memo game and beats everybody at it.
The Citizen is like that game. The director shows you a piece and requires you to remember every little detail of it; then, some time later, you are given another piece and required to recall that previous one. If you fail, you won't get your prize, which is the satisfaction of getting the story - the connections, the true motivations - right, and instead of a coherent plot, you may end up with a set of ill-fitted, though still funny, puzzle elements. Moreover, it takes some national and personal self-distance to appreciate the film, since - while staying witty and humorous - it is often exaggerated, reflected in a distorting mirror, and I guess not everybody may like what they see in that mirror.

---

You have probably heard that U2 published a new album. What you might not have heard is that the deluxe edition of that album contains bonus tracks and alternative versions of the original songs. And - as is always the case with U2's B-sides - it's a treasure.
This one is not my favourite from the set of Songs of Innocence - but it's the one that, in my opinion, gains most when listened to in the acoustic version:

Stay tuned.

Th One With The Illumination

Let there be Light!

I was smiling the whole time while coming back home today. I guess it was partly because I had done pretty well at my Irish stepdance classes. But mostly because I had done well at work and made a few lights turn on.
Newsflash: I have a new job!

Rewind.

Getting to know my way around the application I'm going to be developing. Found a bug that nobody else had spotted before (I was the first person to try the application on a computer using Ubuntu OS and equipped with two monitors - which were the only conditions when the fault manifested).
Easily fixable.

Rewind.

First days in my new job. I mostly keep staring at progress bars, download and configure various frameworks. Understandable, since I have to set up my work environment before I can actually start working.
Nonetheless, everything here looks promising.

Rewind.

I had been looking for a new job for almost two months. And it finally paid off. All of a sudden I got responses from almost every interview I had participated in - and everybody wanted me to work for them.
How was that possible?!

Rewind.

I've just quit my job. I got back after two weeks of vacation time and realised it wasn't worth it to stay there a day longer. It was high time for me to move on and find something new, something suited to my talents and my needs.
It was really the matter of now or never.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Luck Of The Irish

Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise.

Riker, Star Trek: The Next Generation

I once stated that the above list should also mention born-on-Sunday girls named Karolina. And I stand by it.

---

Btw:

Original Series over Next Generation, but Picard over Kirk.

Leonard, The Big Bang Theory

I agree.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Two Philosophers and The Psychopath

Boxtrolls

A visual eye-candy. Not a thing to criticise in that aspect. I even I wished that it had been in 3D (and I usually hate 3D, it gives me headache, but this time it felt like a way to emphasize the beauty of that incredible animation technique).
Warning: contains some black humour. And some witty remarks provided by two thugs, supporting characters, the minions of the main villain, who also happen to frequently comment on the narrative, and discuss the dichotomy of good and evil.
All in all - predictable, but, still, funny and entertaining.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Good Polish Movie

Gods (Bogowie)

No masterpiece, but still - a good Polish movie. Which is so rare that it always comes as a surprise.
Tomasz Kot is as brilliant portraying prof. Religa as they say. The story focuses on a period when he struggled to conduct one of the first heart transplantations in Poland, so it's not a complete biography - and that's a plus. Despite the fact that we all know the story, the movie is absorbing, gripping. Adequate balance of drama and humour. A good movie.

Stay tuned.

The One In The Psychiatric Hospital

Literally.

Today there was a guided walk around the Kobierzyn Palace and Park Complex, which houses the Hospital. It had already been too late since I'd done some sightseeing in Kraków... and it was less than 3km from my place - so of course I went.
The complex is almost 100 years old, there are lots of beautiful, historical buildings, and the surrounding park makes it all look more like a setting for a Jane Austen movie - you'd never guess it's a hospital, if you didn't know.
They organise an event like this every season. You can learn about the history of psychiatry in general and about the history of this particular place. All in all, very interesting - totally worth freezing my buttons off.
(Interesting fact: nobody actually knows why the Hospital was named after Józef Babiński, since he was a neurologist...)

Stay tuned.

The One With More Of The Capital City Than Just The National Stadium

Last Sunday there was the Warsaw marathon - took me 4:44 to finish. I have to admit I did not do my best; it could have gone better, but somehow I lacked motivation. Or maybe it was the early hour (a marathon starting at 9 am means that you have to get up around 6 am in order to be able to eat properly before the run). Or maybe insufficient amount of trainings. Well, probably all that.

Some observations:

• great route
• great weather (got tanned)
• perfect overall organisation
• finishing at the national stadium is a nice touch
• such an early start decreases the amount of supporters significantly - the streets were almost completely empty (at least in the first hour)
• having a national tv cameraman following you in a car for the last 10 kilometres can give you a boost you need

That's it for this year. Next year I'm planning to complete the Crown of the Polish Marathons, which means visiting Wrocław and Poznań.

---

Apart from the marathon. I have mixed feelings about Warsaw. There are some nice places there, but one so distant from the other. The city seems too big and designed for cars, not for people.

---

At the Manekin restaurant:

I'm sorry, I have always been bad at math - could you help me...? [with calculating the change]

Good thing those pancakes were really that tasty and I was that tired and hungry after the marathon... Otherwise I wouldn't have stand the long waiting line, the even longer meal preparation waiting time, the messed-up order and the waitress who wasn't able to hold a plate, let alone to subtract some numbers.

Stay tuned.

The One At The Opera Dress Rehearsal

Mephistopheles

I got to see the opera before the actual première (which is tomorrow).
Seems like a dress rehearsal at the opera differs from an actual performance only by the fact that the orchestra is not dressed up. Apart from that - a regular night at the opera :)
And it was good. I mean - really good. Technical aspects, music, choreography - everything and everyone. Loved it.
And now I even feel like reading Faust again (well, it's been too long anyway).

Cheers to having interesting friends-of-friends connections!

Stay tuned.

The One With The Tea Spiced With Corkscrew

Yesterday, while packing, I put my corkscrew into the teapot as a means of saving room.

Today, I unpacked and made some tea. Using that teapot. With the corkscrew still in.

---

I tried to find a nice jogging route, but all there is here are cul-de-sacs, dead-end streets, and enclosed compounds. So, as you can imagine, there was plenty of turning back.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Spinach And Avocado Pasta Sauce

Funny, how memories emerge at most unexpected moments. Turns out it's enough to make good dinner. Or spot a sparrow.

Stay tuned.

The One With Not My Cat

I have been babysitting my friends' cat for the last ten days.

You can get the flat, I can have my under-the-bed. For now.
(Or: day 1)

I'm allowed to lie and sleep all day (aren't you...?).
I'm a cat. A CAT. C-A-T. BTW, that's my spot.

That's MY bed (in case you haven't noticed yet).
I'm going to be generous and let you sleep here -
but only as long as you get up on time to feed me.

Did you sleep well? Oh, good. But that's enough.
Now get up! It's high time you gave me breakfast!
(And yes, I've been watching you while you were sleeping)

I'm going to be gracious and let you scratch me behind me ears. Mrrr.

Mrrrrr. You're a nice girl to have put that laptop away.
After all, I need your lap to lie down and let you scratch my back.

Yep, brushing my belly is also acceptable as a substitute for scratching. Mrau.

What are you looking at? My spot.
No, not your work chair - MY SPOT.
(Be a good girl and scratch me behind my ears, then maybe
- just maybe - we'll talk about who's eligible to sit here.)

Of course that's my spot. Every spot here is my spot.
Told you already. What's not to understand?

My spot...?

What's cooking? (Also my spot. Seriously:
my flat, my kitchen, my spot. Get used to it.)

More photos here.


---

Now I know how people feel around me when they meet me for the first time.
(Being a cat person takes a whole new meaning.)

Stay tuned.

The One That Feels Right

As of today I am unemployed (at least unofficially).
And the happiest unemployed in the world I am.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Raccoon

Guardians of the Galaxy

I only went to see the movie for the raccoon - knowing nothing about the film, the plot, the characters, the makers, or the cast - and it was totally worth it! I don't remember the last time I had such fun at the movies! Wait, I do remember - at the "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" screening. Both films were that kind of sheer entertainment where you do not have to think (moreover - you don't have time to think!) why it's actually so funny, you can simply relax and enjoy.
Ten times better then Avengers.
The only weak point were female characters. Both of them.

Stay tuned.

The One When You Speed Up

There are some things that can make you run faster.
Anger, for instance.
Or thunderstorm.

But I think anger wins this competition.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Guests

We're at your door - will you let us in?

That is what I have been missing most while living in Wieliczka (which - as everybody knows - lies at the end of the world, so nobody even bothers to think about dropping by unannounced)

And when finally somebody actually pays an unexpected visit (even if just for half an hour) it is when I am about to move out...

Stay tuned.

The One Once Upon A Time

Maleficent

Wasted potential. But a pretty wasted potential. Still, not worth the song:



Stay tuned.

The One With The Vanishing Cream

Over the years a few [important] people vanished from my life. Usually the process was gradual - except for one case when I was directly told that I was not a welcome company any more.
Today a question arose whether it is better to be silently ignored or to be told to your face that somebody is tired of you. And the opinion was that it is easier to swallow that bitter pill if it is served delicately, just a hint, something given to understand between the lines.
I do not agree. When a friend let me know me that he did not want to continue the acquaintance I spent one evening crying, I drank a bottle of wine, and - eventually - I got over it. But when someone simply fades away you can never be sure whether it's because of lack of time, or because they do not care so much, or they really do not see that something is cracking here; or it's actually you. You do not know, you can never be certain - but you have hope... and that hope is killing you.
So - no, thank you for trying to spare my feelings. I prefer the clear cut.

From a favourite childhood cartoon - one of many.
And one of many I have never stopped watching.

Stay tuned.

The One Where Zero Must Equal 100%. Whatever That Means...

The Zero Theorem

No idea what to think.
The film is visually pleasing, the actors are convincing, the director shows some interesting ideas and asks important questions. Only, he doesn't give any answers...

Stay tuned.

The One With The Fish

I've got wonderful Friends and I know it.

Turns out, however, that I've got more of them then I thought I had. It's so heartwarming.

Stay tuned.

The One Not At The Campus And That Should Have Taken Place A Month Earlier

ca. 9 AM // btw, I HATE running in the morning

24 minutes and 35 seconds later // or 5 kilometres

I've got wonderful friends.

Stay tuned.

The One When You Try Your Best, But You Don't Succeed

Sigh...

Stay tuned.

The One In The Capital City

And the Warsaw National Stadium was pretty much all I got to see.

Stay tuned.

The One With The Dragons

Today I was

Karolina Stormborn, Mother of Dragons

- as my friend called me. (Unfortunately, she did not finish the race... And I did enjoyed running together, that was a nice variation.)

Though, I only have two dragons (but they are beautiful):

Dragon no. 1, colour: sapphire blue.


Dragon no. 2, colour: midnight blue.

4:42:36 - not great, but not bad either (espacially so soon after the previous marathon).

• Nice route (though I usually hate loops, but this time it was quite ok).
• T-shirt that actually matches my real size!!
• Beautiful artwork on medals (dragons!! D R A G O N S !!).
• Terrible pasta party (I realised that it was another advantage of the Dębno marathon).

I noticed two major changes in the participants, in contrary to previous years:

1. they do not kill each other at the beginning - I guess more people are now aware that there is net time at races;
2. they actually run for the most part: 4 years ago, or even 2, most people switched from running to walking after 20km or 30km, and today of course some of them walked sometimes but that was only a fraction of what it used to be - I guess the Poles have finally learnt how to run!

Stay tuned.

The One With Batman And Robin, And The Dumplings

I went to collect my race package and noticed plenty of people heading for the same direction. I started seriously wondering why on earth so many runners had figured out that they would pick up their packages from the race office first thing in the morning... I stopped wondering when I saw Batman and Robin among them and it dawned on me that most of them were gathering for the students carnival procession and not for any marathon-related purpose... Oh, so that was the reason why the faculty felt so deserted and calm, and peaceful, and a great place to procrastin..., eee..., to work!

My new musical discovery:

Stay tuned.

The One With A Glimmer Of Civilization In The Barbaric Slaughterhouse We Know As Humanity

Grand Budapest Hotel

Fast-paced, nested narrative + a set of vibrant characters played by a cast of movie stars (each and every one of them brilliant!) + black humour, full of absurdities + colourful, characteristic shots.
And a story. The story of a man and a world where

There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity... He was one of them. What more is there to say?
(...)
To be frank, I think his world had vanished long before he ever entered it - but, I will say: he certainly sustained the illusion with a marvelous grace!

The story of a world that had long been gone. Or had never existed. But agreed - the illusion was marvellous!
Music score - as usually with Wes Anderson's films - by Alexandre Desplat:

Stay tuned.

The One At World's End

Saturday

7.30 a.m. I had found a person going to the Dębno marathon and willing to take passengers. There were eight of us and turned out to be a varied company: Tadeusz, the driver, and his wife, both members of runner's clubs (plus his father as a backup driver); their friend, Monika, participant of half-marathons and marathons all over the world; Andrzej, one the fathers of the Cracovia Marathon (!); his friend, Stanisław, who used to work at Wisła with women's volleyball team; and a nice, quiet guy, whose name I never got...
So the journey was full of tales of marathons and sport events.

Slept at the gymnasium, where I shared the floor with a hundred other runners. And a few of my travel companions - despite them being real, well-known sport VIPs (constantly some officials kept recognising them and starting a discussion), they did not bother to get a hotel room or something like that, but instead they just shared our common area.

---

Sunday

Trying to relax before start, I read some running related quotes displayed on a board at the marathon headquarters. Two favourites of mine being:

At the finish line of a marathon you can feel that you are worth the air you breathe.

And if you aren't bone-tired and don't feel like vomiting, then it means you could have run faster...

And to top it all:

Quotations are prosthesis for mind.

Start
Surprised greatly - nobody ran for their lives, nobody tried to get ahead of everyone else and trample me in the process. Amazing.
In company of two of my travel-mates.


5km
Lost my travel-mates. Found my own pacemakers - two guys running at ~6min./1km.


13km
Lost two minutes trying to resolve problems with my mp3player - turned out it was set to repeat one folder and I did not want to listen to the Twilight soundtrack over and over again - I wanted to listen to New Moon (Twilight Pt. 2) and Eclipse (Twilight Pt. 3) as well ;D


17km
The leader overtook us. For him it was 34km - so he was literally two times faster.


25km
Lost my pacemakers when they met some friends who delayed them.


36km
Made it by myself, keeping nice and steady pace. Until my stomach almost betrayed me and I had to slow down.


40km
Saw Tadeusz and Agnieszka heading for the finish line. For me it was still one more turn.


Finish
4:28:20 - my personal best.
And I had seriously feared that I would not finish within the time limit.

After quick shower (no queue - one ladies room seemed to be enough to handle all the female participants), I went to get my recovery meal. A girl - a teenager, one of the many volunteers - immediately came to me and asked if she could get the meal for me, told me to sit down and wait as she would bring me everything. That was so sweet I almost cried. Really, the people were wonderful.

All my travel-mates made it. We got back to Kraków at 3 a.m.

---

What you can say about the Dębno marathon:

• At world`s end.
• The oldest marathon in Poland (how come?!)
• Expensive - the registration fee is extremely high in comparison.
• They provide no sport t-shirts (despite the extremely high entry fee).
• There are no pacemakers ("they could not afford it" - despite the extremely high entry fee).
• Small time limit - 5 hours, whereas it is usually 6 or 6,5.
• Route made of four overlapping circles, very confusing, especially at the beginning.
• Hot spot connection at the headquarters kept freezing.

However!
They also have the nicest, the kindest, the keenest, the most helpful, the most dedicated volunteers! I mean it. Had it not been for the crew, I would probably not count it as a memorable event. They made all the difference. They were everywhere they were needed, they knew everything they should, they helped you before you even had thought of asking. And they smiled sincerely.
Plus all the supporters on the way - also very involved, despite their small number (small town, small villages), very engaged.
So the people made up for everything else.

---

And why all that? The plan is to finally get the Crown of the Polish Marathons and so the Dębno Marathon is the first step (of five).

Stay tuned.

The One With White Chocolate Coated Blackcurrant Filled Gingerbread

I have visited some interesting places in Europe, but I still have lots of catching up to do when it comes to my home country. The cities are what I want to experience particularly. Last time it was Poznań. This time - Toruń.

Toruń's Old Town consists mostly of timber framing constructions, red brick historical buildings and ruins. Oh, and bizarre doors. You can feel it has different style than the cities of Southern Poland. For me, it resembles some Northern Dutch towns.
Plus there is plenty of nice museums and a great science centre nearby.

Some more photos

Stay tuned.

The One Where Life Happens

Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

John Lennon, Beautiful Boy

I'm still here. Not dead or anything. Just busy with life that has been happening to me recently.

And I have even found time to make it to the movies!

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Fast-paced, sometimes extremely witty and stuffed with historical and cultural references (far beyond children's comprehension), sometimes a bit silly, but all in all - enjoyable.

Stay tuned.

The One With 9 Hours

Of Dancing.
9 hours of dance classes within 5 days.
And it looks like it's going to continue this way for the foreseeable future.

Two months ago, when I got an email informing that the Scottish highland classes I attended were to be cancelled, I literally cried.
Now... Well, seems like things are going in a totally opposite direction than what I had expected.

The lucky song that brought the changes:

Stay tuned.

The One With The Scarlett Johansson's Voice

I haven't been to the movies in ages. Why? I guess there was no titles that would catch my attention. Until recently.

Her

A regular story about a man and a woman, and how they discover each other and build their relationship.
Only... she is a bodiless AI.
Does it make the feeling less true? For him? For her?
The most unsettling part is that - with regard to our lifestyle and the currently available technology - the futuristic vision pictured in the movie seems to be within spitting distance, imminent, not faraway at all. Scary.
Beautiful shots, music and wonderfully cast actors.

Stay tuned.

The One Once Upon A Dream

It has been a second time I learnt at the exam almost as much as during the whole course. One adequate question seemed to be enough to force me to rethink what I thought I knew.
An instructive experience.

---

I've had a dream. I dreamed that for a single moment, for just one perfect moment, everything was all right.
And then I woke up.

---

Btw, Melficent is coming and it's coming with a thud!


Rumor has it Angelina Jolie handpicked Lana Del Rey to perform Once Upon a Dream cover for the movie - and I cannot imagine a better choice!


In case you are not familiar with Disney's classics and do not know them by heart as I do - a frame of reference:


Stay tuned.

The One On Monday

Turns out ice skating is like cycling - hard to forget, once you have got the hang of it. (The last time I had been ice skating was at least five years ago, but this time I managed not to run over anyone and stay vertical myself - a success!)
Pitty, my skating boots had fallen victim to me moving constantly out/in various places...

Stay tuned.

The One With The Dog That Rode The Tram

I was on a tram, heading for the city centre. The tram stopped, the door opened.
A dog got on.
The door closed. The dog sat down, calm but watchful.
The tram stopped again, the door opened - and the dog got off and ran its way.

---

Today I have learnt that there is a kind of beer which takes five years to make. Unfortunately, currently not possible to produce in Poland and won't be till the law about fermenting alcohol in wooden barrels is modified.

Stay tuned.