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.

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Btw:

Original Series over Next Generation, but Picard over Kirk.

Leonard, The Big Bang Theory

I agree.

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 You Get To Meet The Delightful And Utterly Fabulous Miss Phryne Fisher

I'm concealing a lot of things. That's what a lady does.

The Fabulous Miss Phryne Fisher in Queen of the Flowers by Kerry Greenwood

I have not managed to lay my hands on any book of the Phryne Fisher series yet. In fact, I had no idea there was any, until I started watching the tv Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries series based on the books.
And what a show it is! Fabulous - as its heroine. Brilliant, glamorous, ravishing, dashing, colourful, funny, witty - all that and more.
And, apparently, moving. First time in I-don't-know-how-many-years I actually felt touched.

Stay tuned.

The Treacly One

Can I take you to dinner tonight? If you like we could order nothing but dessert.

Prince Charming in Bunheads
(Well, he has a name... But if he brings flowers and says stuff like this, he does deserve to be called something more.)

BTW, this whole 'word of the day' and, consequently, writing in English thing started due to Gilmore Girls and Bunheads is the new series from the creators of GG.

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Pity that strawberry season is so short. If it was longer, it would provide me with some chance of getting cured of being a chocoholic.
Anyhow... Let's enjoy it while it lasts.

Stay tuned.

The One With No Smile

In the heterotextual world everything is safe as long as you have a smiley face at the end.

Men at Work [s01e04].

That is exactly why I try to limit the number of smileys I use.
Refraining from appending punctuation faces everywhere happens to be difficult sometimes. It is worth the struggle, though, since it keeps the message real, not exaggerated or trivial. And that is important when online chat is the most common means of communication you have with some people.
And, yes, it is also less safe, when you have no smile to hide behind. Which is probably why keeping this habit under control is not an easy task for most people.
It does not mean I do not use smileys at all - I do, of course, I do, and often instead of a message. I simply try to use them consciously, not automatically.

It is like with cooking and salt - or sugar, for that matter: when you use it too much and too often, you tend to forget what the real taste of your meal is; moreover, you actually loose the ability to distinguish the small details that make the meal one of a kind, you cannot tell what (if anything) makes it special any more.



Stay tuned.

The One Where Karo Becomes A 1/3 Real New Yorker*

Stay tuned.

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^*

The One In One Room With Two Extremely Irritating Individuals For Three Days

Trying to figure out an adequate name to call my parent's new computer, I did a short survey among my friends to find out who was the most irritating popcultural character. The list includes:

• Ross, Friends
• Rachel, Friends // now that I think of it it seems like 'Ross & Rachel' as a couple are horrible as well
• Pink Panther, The Pink Panther // not sure which series, though
• Amber, the 'Cutthroat Bitch', House, M.D. // ha!
• Prince of Persia's nameless protagonist, Prince of Persia (2008 video game) // later on superseded by Klayman from The Neverhood video game
• Gaius Baltar, Battlestar Galactica // can't tell - haven't seen (yet!)
• Alvy Singer (~Woody Allen), Annie Hall // hmmm...
• Joffrey Baratheon, Game of Thrones
• Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter

Their previous machine was only irritating because it was sooo old and slow. Thuth to tell, not its fault that it hadn't been upgraded (hardware, I mean) for a few years, so it could not match the constantly increasing requirements level. Other than that, it was pretty good, reliable even. I thought it was a bit like Joey: logy, sluggish - you would always have to wait patiently, until he finally got the joke and responded.
So now it only fits that the successor becomes the 'Ross'. He's quick, but already stubborn and believes he knows better than everyone else. (But that is only due to 'cutthroat bitch' being too long and difficult, and [just] 'Amber' being to cute a name).

Stay tuned.

The One Where Winter Is Coming

I have just finished a Game of Thrones marathon with friends - to remind ourselves all the plot details and characters before the next season starts. Can't wait. Which is suprising enough, since I love fantasy, but I am not at all crazy about political dramas; and A Song of Ice and Fire is exactly that: a political drama with just a shade of fantasy.
There will be dragons!
But have to catch up with the book first!

In the meantime - GoT intro simpsonised:

Robbie Conal, a graphic artist, said:

Being on the Simpsons... I think in American culture is the equivalent of being knighted by the Queen of England.

Music by Ramin Djawadi. Something different than the main theme this time:

Stay tuned.

The One With A Little Bit Of Magic

If there aren't yetis and leprechauns, what's the point of even getting up in the morning?

The conclusion of yesterday's discussion: people do need some magic in their lives. They do not want to understand everything, they do not wish to comprehend every little detail of the world around them. They crave miracles, long for some small wonders in their everyday life, they yearn for mysteries they have been gradually and persistently devoid of while growing up.

Coincidently, that is also the proof of why Sheldon Cooper cannot be considered a human.

So...

Believe in magic, you Muggle!

Stay tuned.

The One With An Anvil

For it all started with an anvil.

Funny as it may seem, but that's the truth: it did started with an anvil. I was watching Gilmore Girls, one of my personal favourites amongst comedy-drama TV series. And there was that scene where Lorelai kept blabbering... Well, okey, nothing new, she does that all the time and on any subject possible. However, for some reason suddenly an anvil came up, and she went on and on about the general idea of an anvil in contemporary world; she kept making some comparisons and metaphors, even asking ontological questions.
And there I was, sitting and watching - totally blank, having no idea what the scene was all about.
So I pressed space to pause the episode. I opened a web browser and navigated to an online dictionary, where I typed 'anvil' and get my answer:

Anvil

An iron block, usually with a steel face, upon which metals are hammered and shaped.

That wasn't the first time I looked a word up. Or maybe it was, as long as movies and tv series are being considered. Cause, sure, I had done it before with books.
But that was definitely the first time I made a conscious resolution of not letting this word go away, so that I wouldn't have to check it again.

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Since then, I have performed this particular ritual many times: pause the film, check the word, resume watching (or bookmark the page, check the word, resume reading). I do that every time I don't understand a word, a term, a phrase, an idiom - may it be while reading a book, watching a full-length movie or an episode of some TV series. I have even developed and perfected various methods, depending on the kind of word I search for.

It is one thing to find a new word and learn its definition. It is quite another to keep it, not loose it - to memorize, remember the next time and, furthermore, be able to use it. Cause there would be no point to this singular quest of mine if I were to let the word go the very same minute I've discovered it.
So first I stared tweeting a word once a day: each time I chose the one that somehow reflected my day: an event, encounter, or a movie I'd watched, or a book I'd been reading etc. That was easy and natural when I was an expat living abroad.
But I'm also keen on writing, so I thought some kind of 'word of the day' would make a nice leitmotif of a blog. The problem was I had already been running a blog regarding my expat experiences. I believed it wouldn't be a good idea to try and incorporate the words there, for it could make the blog messy and fussy. But since I'm not an expat any more, I've decided to put the concept into effect, start a new chapter of my online life and give myself another opportunity to practise the words I keep adopting.

So that's more or less how the idea of me writing in English emerged and evolved.

Stay tuned for more!