Dec
7
Live It Like Beckham
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Everybody knows David Beckham. He has become a global brand, whose mere autograph on any product, from toilet paper to luxury fragrances, is worth billions of dollars. Everybody looks up to him, every football player-wannabe dreams of being like him. That’s a fact.
However, would you ever picture David Beckham playing for Lokomotiv Plovdiv or Hartlepool News? Or, have 80% of Beckham’s fans ever so much as heard of these two football teams? I didn’t think so. That is because a Second League team couldn’t even dare to dream about getting their hands on a player of Beckham’s caliber. Why? Name, financial means, career perspectives…when it comes to reasons, sky is the limit.
While having dinner with two dear friends today, I started thinking about this. No, not about David Beckham, although he is quite an eye-candy, but about the “leagues” that life always seems to divide us in and, moreover, about the way we spend our existence switching from one league to another. But until when?
When we are in our teens, we’re part of the Little League and anything can happen. We dream big dreams, we fantasize about the bright future awaiting us and never dare to even think that we might end up elsewhere than side by side with the Champions.
As we grow up, we learn that the dreams of our youth were good dreams, but that only the best of us can make it to the top, where true success resides. Most of us regard them as lucky and think of them as enviable people who got their big break in life. People who have everything. However, ironically, as high as you go up the success ladder, the fewer your options are.
If David Beckham would one day decide that he’s too bored with playing for the Los Angeles Galaxy and would entertain the idea of finding a new team to play for, do you think it would be easy? Of course, if money, fame, name wouldn’t mean anything, Beckham could go play ball even for Bihorul Beius (for the uninitiated, that’s a Third League Romanian team) and consider himself happy. However, knowing his value, it is highly unlikely that he would ever do that. Consequently, this narrows down his options. Firstly, there are only a few football teams in the world that could afford him and out of those only a few that he would honestly fancy playing for. Secondly, those football teams have their own local stars so it is not so impossible to think that some of them wouldn’t have an empty spot for Beckham anyway.
Why am I doing this funky math? Well…because there are moments in the life of every successful career-oriented woman (or man, for that matter, I don’t want to be discriminatory in any way 
), in which she/he inevitably feels a bit of a Beckham. Only the goal is not playing for Manchester United, but finding love, and the essence does not reside in the money, but rather in the similar grounds that two people share. Successful women or men are often told that they are picky, that they are looking for something that hasn’t been invented yet when they should just settle for what is to be found at arm’s length. However, I am asking myself the question again - would Beckham play for Lokomotiv Plovdiv? The answer is a bitter “No”.
When intelligent and career-driven women or smart and successful men are looking for love, their options are sadly narrow and scarce. Not because they are conceded or looking for wealth and fame, because deep inside what every person honestly desires is feeling respected and loved, but because they are aware that they cannot “downgrade” themselves to fit the aspirations and ego of the commitment-challenged men or respectively those of the shallow women around them. That in order to be happy, they have to be able to be themselves, and that implies finding someone to love that inner self that they love. Someone who doesn’t feel threatened, intimidated nor scared by the presence of a strong person in his or her life.
They say that everything that comes to us in this life is a blessing in disguise, even the rough times that we have. And some say that loneliness is the price that one must pay for having a permanent seat in the Top 10. However, as a woman like a thousand others, who believes in love, I refuse to buy that. And, to all the other successful women (or men) out there, I can only hand out this piece of advice: just carry on dreaming, believing and searching…until you finally find a “Los Angeles Galaxy” of your own”
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May
20
The Angels on My Doorstep
Filed Under Diplomacy & History, Travel & Personal Experiences | Leave a Comment
This is a true story about special people, people who have lived and died but through it all they left behind so much love and infinite proofs that the faith in God and in all the good things that life has in store for each of us is the only salvation there is… These people are for me the closest thing to saints, as they are the living proof of what Jesus Christ wanted us to learn. Yes, they did it the hard way and without ever complaining about anything. And if someone were to ask me one day how I portray the angels in my mind, I would just look up to the sky…and think of THEM…
At the beginning of the XXIst century, Profira Zavelita saw the light of day in Cernauti, the North of Bucovina, part of the Romanian territory that later ceased to belong to Romania, being from then on part of Ukraine. Daughter of Samuil Zavelita, mayor of Cernauti, descendant of a Polish aristocratic family - von Zavelita and graduate of the University of Vienna, Profira met Toader Luchian, the man who was to become her husband and the love of her life.
All the people who knew them, all the people who ever had the chance of being around them, they all talk about their love as ,,that special kind of love that few people have the luck of ever encountering in their lifetime”. Only…love isn’t always the ending of a story, as life is almost never easy and linear, as the story rarely continues with merely ,,…and they lived happily ever after”. In fact, their story truly began at that point. Behind their ,,…and they live happily ever after”, laid a continuous fight, a world-shattering faith and an incredible courage. Not only love. In their story, love was merely the invisible veil that sheltered their drama and kept it all together…
When Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union, Profira and Toader decided to leave Cernauti, along with their family, giving up on on all their possessions, in order to start a new life in Romania, far away from the communist regime. As their leaving was actually eloping, Profira and Toader escaped through the woods, by night, with only a bag with clothes on them. They reached the Romanian land and settled in Banat where through hard work and struggle they managed to rebuild their lost home. Sadly though, the story does not end with an “…they lived happily ever after” here either.
In 1950, the newly-arrived communism in Romania embarked on the so-called “collectivization”, which meant putting into practice the principles of communism and declining the right to any private possession, as everything was supposed to belong to the “state” and to “the people”. Profira&Toader’s family, along with all the intelectualls of that time, were reckoned to be “a threat” for the communist movement, as they were part of the bourgeoisie that had fled the soviet domination in Ukraine and they were considered dangerous for the future of communism in Romania.
Awoken in the middle of the night and embarked on cattle wagons that would remind us of the horrors of the Holocaust, thousands of people were taken away and forced to leave all their possessions. They shared the railway wagons with their cows and horses and were taken to the middle of Baragan, a barren and deserted lowland in the South of what is now Romania. Only there had the communist regime considered them to be far enough in order for the “threat” to be annihilated. With a devilish fierceness, they were taken 50 kilometers into the lowland, where there was absolutely nothing…no living soul… And as if this wasn’t cruel enough, the communists had already arranged for families to be torn apart, so that the grandparents would live more than 30 km away from their children and their grandchildren.
In small, miserable houses, with no electricity or heating, thousands of people who used to be professors, doctors, scientists…all found the strength and the courage to build in that deserted place a school, a church, an administrative building. Everything making use only of the strength of their hands and “armed” with faith in God, with courage, with the determination to survive…
The youngest of Profira and Toader’s daughters was only a couple of months old when they were taken to Baragan and was raised there by the age of 10, studying in the elementary school to the erection of which her parents had contributed and having as teachers some of the greatest intellectuals of that time. People whom, just like them, had had the “misfortune” of being two honest and two intelligent for an absurd communist society in decay.
Samuel Zavelita, Profira’s father, once the mayor of Cernauti…lived for the rest of his life in the dust of Baragan lowland, in a miserable adobe house. Nevertheless, up to the last day of his existence he continued to wear his suit, like a true gentleman, and to impeccably polish his shoes, with the same discipline as 20 years ago, when he entered the Cernauti Town Hall. His sad fate had done nothing to change his habits nor his relentless trust in the fact that a man cannot be brought down to his knees unless he willingly accepts it.
In 1960, when the forced domicile was lifted, Toader began fighting to bring his family back to the world, to fulfill his and Profira’s dream of getting their daughters into college, turning them into ladies. He had secretly saved the documents of a house in Botosani, that he had bought before the nationalization in 1948. He went to the Town Hall and presented the situation, asking for the right to live in the house he had bought years ago and which was the only possible place for him and his family to turn to, since they had been left with nothing. Nonetheless, the answer failed to arrive.
In that very moment, Toader and Profira took a step that few people would have had the courage to take…they took their daugthers and left for Botosani, armed with faith and with justice on their side. As fall was approaching, two of their daughters had to start highschool and the youngest one had to finish the 8th grade. Toader and Profira were firm in their decision : their three girls would get to study and make better lives for themselves. They settled in their cart, on the front yard of the house that was rightfully theirs, although the officials refused to admit the inevitable.
For 6 months, their 3 daughters went to school day by day and got excellence awards for their study. All that…while living in a cart on the front yard of a house. Every time Profira talked about this, the tone of her voice would suddenly become sad, almost dramatic. She was too strong of a woman to cry, but one could read the tears out of her lips when she talked about those times. “At night, the people from the house, the tenants of that time, would unleash their dogs and set them on us just to scare us, hoping they would drive us away like this…”
Finally, the decision was taken at the Town Hall, somehow forced by Toader and Profira’s relentless fight. The house was given back into their possession and the tenants that lived there, that had been tenants to the state, became THEIR tenants. The same people who used to unleash their dogs to scare away the family that endured winter in a cart…those same people had become their tenants. In life, what goes around, comes around…
Their three girls studied in Botosani, then left for college in Bucharest and became engineers and architects. Toader and Profira remained in the house they had obtained through such a struggle…but only until the fatidical moment in which the communist regime found another way of tormenting them - the start of the demolition era in Romania. Thousands of people were driven away from their houses once again, as the state had to build blocks of flats, since houses were another sign of the ,,dangerous bourgeoisie” that threatened the communists.
For the third time in their lives, Toader and Profira were left with nothing. That house they had fought for, with sweat, tears and sacrifices…that house doesn’t exist anymore. On the place where it once stood…only blocks of flats. Tens of them… They became tenants of a small apartment in one of those blocks of flats. Ironically, on the same street where their house had stood once.
Toader couldn’t cope with this last shock, he simply couldn’t come to terms with the idea of having built 3 houses and then having lost them one by one…to finally become a tenant of the communist state. It was a thought that he never made peace with until he died.For those who met him, he will live eternally in their memories as a brave and honest man, who fought his entire life for the things he believed in. For family, for love, for what was right.
Profira found herself alone, without her lifelong-companion, but nevertheless blessed with her daughters’ love. She continued to help them and to raise her grandchildren with the same love and commitment that life never managed to take away from her. That love and commitment with which she raised…me, the baby that used to climb into her arms, look her in the eye and ask in a sweet childish voice “Com’ on grandma’, tell me that story again…”.
With patience, infinite love and tenderness, she raised me as well and a great deal of the person I am today I owe it to her. Because, yes…Toader and Profira are more than the “characters” of this true and dramatic story. They are my grandparents. The people whose learnings I carry with me, in a silent corner of my soul, the people whose blood runs through my veins and the people that I have pledged myself to make proud. My fight is theirs too. And each and every victory I will ever have will be their victory as well…
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Apr
5
Pretend that You Love Me
Filed Under Travel & Personal Experiences | 2 Comments
Growing up, there was a song that I really liked, called “Lovefool” and sang by The Cardigans. It was a nice and catchy tune and I enjoyed singing it around the house. However, looking back now, I realize that I was actually singing the tune that most women in this world carry inside them every day and the one that even I have found myself singing at certain points in my life. “Pretend that you love me”, “Fool me, go on and fool me”? What’s with all that? Do we really need somebody to sweet-talk us at any cost? Do we really feel so unloved sometimes or do we aspire so much to the love of a certain person that we actually need him to sugarcoat the truth so that we can handle it?
Why do women want and expect to be lied to? And no, I’m not being harsh here, it is actually the truth. There are moments in the life of every woman when she explicitly wants to be lied to. Moments in which we feel vulnerable, unattractive, neglected or whatever else and, even if that resides mostly in our mind rather than in the clear-cut reality, we need our fears to be defeated by our “significant other’s” words.
“Honey, do I look fat in this dress”? Let’s face it. You wouldn’t be asking that if you didn’t have at least a small hunch that you’ve been going a bit off your chocolate and cookies quota for the month and definitely not unless you had experienced the slight tightness of your once flattering-loose jeans. So….why do you ask a man if you look fat? You know that he wouldn’t make the difference between you plus one kilogram and you minus one kilogram. Well…the truth is…in that very instant you simply want to hear the liberating words “No sweetheart, you haven’t gained one single gram”. You know it’s not true and probably…he just made an educated guess on what the best answer for his peace of mind would be. However, why do we feel so insecure sometimes?
Men have no problem going around with extra-kilos on, with unflattering t-shirts with stupid logos splashed all over their chest nor with uncombed hair, yet feeling just as confident as if they were wearing the most expensive Armani tux. Have you ever heard a man ask you “Sweetie, do you think my bottom looks too big in these trousers?”. Please! If a boyfriend of mine were to ever ask me a question like that, let’s say he would instantly become my ex-boyfriend. Why? Because we simply don’t expect to hear something like that from a man’s mouth and we consider it a tacky thing when we accidentally do.
However, we need reassuring all the time. “Do you still love me?”. “Why are you so quiet? Are you tired of me?”. “Do you think that girl across the room looks hotter than me?”. OK, let’s say that some women really have the tendency of exaggerating. I know the case of a couple that split up because he made the unfortunate and in his mind totally love-declarative remark that “I truly see you as the future mother of my children”. The outcome? She slapped him and left crying, slamming the door behind her and yelling “I never want to see you again. You want to see me spending my life in the kitchen, cooking and washing dishes!”. Sad but absolutely true story. And no…not even in his worst dreams had the poor man implied such thing. He simply wanted to make a romantic and loving comment about the future that he was envisaging with her, or at least that he had envisaged up until the moment in which she put on that scary tantrum. To his misery, nonetheless, she read into it exactly what she wanted to read into it, that is - what her fears, complexes and insecurities had dictated her.
What would happen if we would wholeheartedly take the risk of being our true selves? Of simply not wanting everything to be perfect, of allowing ourselves the luxury of acting childishly carefree, of “irresponsibly”ditching our make-up for at least one day and of simply taking for granted that we DO deserve to be loved and that we don’t need lies, nor sweet-talking, because we can handle whatever comes along?
Women are extraordinarily strong, sometimes stronger than most of them think they actually are. Whether it is to protect their family or merely for defending an idea they believe in, women can become true fighters. Just like Eleanor Roosevelt once coined it “Women are like tea-bags. You never know how strong one is until you throw it into the boiling water”. Nonetheless, most of us are afraid of not being beautiful enough, intelligent enough, attractive enough…or…fill in the gaps with any other adjective enough. If we were turned into these skeptical human beings by past experiences, sad love affairs, personal failures or whatever else, that is beside the point. We often times use these white-lies as our protection-mechanism to defend us against what we don’t know if we could actually handle.
Next time you will feel the need to ask your boyfriend, husband or whoever else a question such as “Do you think I am beautiful?” or “Do you honestly think I gained weight”?, just take a deep breath, wait 30 seconds and do some quick soul searching before uttering the actual words. If you are smart, and we both know you are, you will realize that you don’t need him to give you his awkward, “God-I-hope-I’m-saying-the-right-thing” kind of answer. You know that you’re beautiful and if you think you’ve gained weight, well sweetie, you probably have..so see what you can do about it. Because yes, it’s all up to you. Every time, with everything. Always. No exceptions. So why in the world would you need pretends when you can have the real thing?
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Mar
23
There are a lot of phrases going around about people who drink. Some are said to be “funny drunk”, while others are “bully drunk” or even “lame drunk”. However, the need of coming up with a slang to describe our degrees of drunkenness is simply the result of a growing trend of people being constantly drunk and enjoying it.
People who hook up, kiss and develop relationships or…the closest thing to that, in an environment dominated less by heart-to-heart affinities and more by the concentration of alcohol in the blood. People who meet one night and forget about each other the next morning because the effect of the rum and vodka is gone, people who don’t know a single thing about one another and who in most cases only have in common the firm conviction that red bull and whisky is the best combination to start your night with. And, without being judgmental, I cannot help but wonder if drinking your way through life really makes you temporarily happier or at least more carefree.
Often times I have complained about not being a successful catch for men when I am going out in public places, that in spite of my charms I’m sometimes inexplicably feeling somewhat the “ugly duckling”. And in most cases I have repeatedly wondered about the reason for which “Mr.Right” never revealed himself to me in any bar, pub or any place where people under 18 are prohibited to enter. As charming and witty as my general presence would be for a guy (needless to say modest), whenever I go out in a bar I seem to be as attractive as the multicolored wallpaper behind me and in spite of my ingrained self-confidence, it has often times made me think about the hidden reasoning.
Tonight, I might have found the answer to that question and it is reassuringly simple and obvious . However, sometimes you need to take the long road instead of the short one and the trip is worth the wisdom that comes with being in experiences that you had never even dreamed about before. Tonight I truly realized not only that my lack of success with men in bars isn’t an insult, but it finally dawned on me that it is actually a compliment. It comes to bolster what I have always known deep inside, that I am definitely not the easy, one-night-standish girl that you might find in your average bar, make out with and forget all about the next day. And yes, I already knew that before tonight, however I couldn’t help not think why I felt so weird whenever going out, like I was all alone in a huge crowd of people who were playing a game unknown to me.
Yes, I am indeed looking for love. Aren’t we all? Nonetheless, I am more aware than ever that my love is not to be found while I am sipping margarita in a local pub and will certainly not look like the guy that feels like declaring his affection for me after two shots of tequila. They know it and I know it. Actually, to tell the truth, it’s written all over my face… Although I am a girl and, as strange as it may seem, girls often times need confirmation of their chare ms, there comes a moment in one’s life when one must realize who the target is.
Frankly, you cannot market Chanel No.5 for people who are looking for a fragrance to put on when they’re going to play football with the boys. It simply doesn’t work that way. And you know what? That’s absolutely beautiful. Cause, would you really want to sell Chanel No.5 to somebody who doesn’t make the difference between Chanel and something you can scoop at the local Sunday market? It would simply be a waste.
I don’t have anything against people who prefer themselves drunk rather than sober. It is their choice and it makes them happy. However, I enjoy my sober presence far more than my drunken one. This is who I am, without make up, without masks, without rum and vodka to sweeten everything up. This is me. Real, straightforward and sober at all times. And the man that will stand side by side with me will love that real me, that “me” that would reveal itself to him in the absence of whisky or tequila, that “me” that is just there, any time and any day. And, more importantly, he won’t need 4 grams of alcohol in his blood to see me beautiful, cause I will see myself beautiful in his eyes at all times.
That is what I am looking for, and probably more than ever before, while I was sipping my coke in a crowd of occasional couples, I had the inner conviction that he is definitely not there… that he will never be there, in that crowded and smoky place. That we will find each other somehow, somewhere, away from this sweet and bitter drunken world where everything has a one-night expiry date. And the best thing of all is that…this is exactly how it’s supposed to be.
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Dec
26
I confess…I fall in love easily when it comes to music. I always discover new artists and new songs that I like and let myself be carried away by them. I think music is the most wonderful expression of our feelings, it’s the gift made by God to rejoice in when we’re happy and find soothing of the soul in when we’re sad.
Lately, I’ve fallen in love with so many songs that when I turn my iPod on the choice is overwhelmingly hard. Since I live in London I’ve been going to so many musicals that it’s now hard to imagine my life without them. Musicals are a WAY OF LIFE. Indeed…it’s all about the joy of singing, about expressing everything from loathing to love through songs…about feeling your soul vibrate along with the stories presented to you on stage. And this is something I had never experienced before.
Here are some of the musicals I’ve seen in London:
AVENUE Q - quite an original musical, with singing, dancing and…tadadam…puppeteer-work. I’ve never been into Muppets and Sesame Street so I was quite biased at first, thinking that it will be just one more boring show for kids. Well NO. It was one of the greatest and funniest shows I’ve ever watched. It’s incredible how those actors could sing and maneuver the puppets…it looked like true magic. GREAT, GREAT SHOW.
My favorite song from this musical (although most of the songs are funny and cheerful, this is the only sad one and I liked it because it’s amazingly true and deep).
There’s a fine, fine line (sang by the character Kate-Monster)
There’s a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;
There’s a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;
And you never know ’til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.
There’s a fine, fine line between love
…and a waste of time.
There’s a fine, fine line between a fairy tale and a lie;
And there’s a fine, fine line between “You’re wonderful” and “Goodbye.”
I guess if someone doesn’t love you back it isn’t such a crime,
But there’s a fine, fine line between love
…and a waste of your time.
And I don’t have the time to waste on you anymore.
I don’t think that you even know what you’re looking for.
For my own sanity, I’ve got to close the door
And walk away…
Oh…
There’s a fine, fine line between together and…not
And there’s a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got.
You gotta go after the things you want while you’re still in your prime…
Cause there’s a fine, fine line between love
…and a waste of time…
WICKED
The untold story of the witches of Oz. Based on “The Wizard of Oz”, it recreates the untold story of the Wicked Witch of the West. An incredible musical! Just like Alice in Wonderland and Gulliver’s Travels, which are thought to be children’s books but there are so deep and meaningful…WICKED is not a play for kids. Not in the least. It’s something that you have to watch and hear with the heart and the mind, not only with the eyes and ears. The characters are incredibly real, real people…with ups and downs, with happiness and sorrow…the narrative is so true and so well-anchored in everyday life, although it’s about princes and princesses. It’s about the perceptions that make up our lives, about fitting in and sticking out of the crowd, about being accepted or not, about following a dream and being crushed to pieces by people. It’s an amazing experience, indeed.
Two of my favorite songs are “I’m not that girl” (about finding love and knowing that it’s not for you…)and “No good deed”(an incredible song…so deep, so symbolic, about the way our actions are seen by people, about the way the balance between the good and the bad is tipped by…again, perceptions).
“I’m not that girl…” (sang by character Elphaba)
Hands touch, eyes meet
Sudden silence, sudden heat
Hearts leap in a giddy whirl
He could be “THAT” boy
But I’m not “THAT” girl…
Don’t dream too far
Don’t lose sight of who you are
Don’t remember that rush of joy
He could be “THAT” boy
I’m not “THAT” girl…
Ev’ry so often we long to steal
To the land of what-might-have-been
But that doesn’t soften the ache we feel
When reality sets back in
Blithe smile, lithe limb
She who’s winsome, she wins him
Gold hair with a gentle curl
That’s the girl he chose
And Heaven knows
I’m not that girl…
Don’t wish, don’t start
Wishing only wounds the heart
I wasn’t born for the rose and the pearl
There’s a girl I know
He loves her so
I’m not that girl.
NO GOOD DEED (Sang by character Elphaba)
No good deed goes unpunished
No act of charity goes unresented
No good deed goes unpunished
That’s my new creed…
My road of good intentions
Led where such roads always lead
No good deed
Goes unpunished!
Nessa!
Doctor Dillamond!
Fiyero!
Fiyero!!
One question haunts and hurts
Too much, too much to mention:
Was I really seeking good
Or just seeking attention?
Is that all good deeds are
When looked at with an ice-cold eye?
If that’s all good deeds are
Maybe that’s the reason why
No good deed goes unpunished
All helpful urges should be circumvented
No good deed goes unpunished
Sure, I meant well -
Well, look at what well-meant did:
All right, enough - so be it
So be it, then:
Let all Oz be agreed
I’m wicked through and through
Since I can not succeed
Fiyero, saving you
I promise no good deed
Will I attempt to do again
Ever again
No good deed
Will I do again!
LES MISERABLES
Comments are useless. It’s the timeless story of Victor Hugo, made into a musical. The longest running musical in the world. Beautiful songs, superb acting, a setting that vividly recreates the French Revolution. GREAT! Also very deep in terms of the ideas conveyed by the plot. It goes beyond Hugo’s work and extrapolates the social class differences after the French Revolution. It SO reminded me of the world we live in now…of the people who are now personalities and persons to look up to…people who have no depth, only a superficial and attractive outside.
MARY POPPINS
An exceptional musical. From all points of view. All these wonderful actors flawlessly singing and dancing for 3 hours, LIVE! Amazing special effects, with Mary Poppins floating over the public attached to almost invisible strings, Bert singing and DANCING on the ceiling (no joke!). I would even dare to say that some of the special effects were better than those from the actual movie. No flaws, no flat-singing, no wrong step. PERFECT.
My favorite songs are “Feed the birds”(classic one) and “Anything can happen if you , let it”. In that theater hall I couldn’t help not thinking of my childhood…of how much I adored Mary Poppins-the movie. Of how I had dreams of seeing all the wonderful places in which Jane and Michael were going with Mary Poppins. Well…guess what? I’m in London now and watching the Mary Poppins musical. Those of you who say it’s not true that “anything can happen if you let it…”…I dare you! Bring it on!
Also, I’ve had a moving experience at St.Paul’s Cathedral, because I had always pictured that place related to the old lady in Mary Poppins, selling packs of crumbs for birds. There was no lady there…however there were a lot of pigeons and even in the church, there was one poor pigeon who had a hurt leg and was living inside St.Paul’s. He would sit on the bench with you, while you were praying, looking at you with his gentle eyes. It really touched me. If divine signs exists, and I know they do…this was definitely one of them.
Anything can happen if you let it
Anything can happen if you let it
Sometimes things are difficult but you can bet it
Doesn’t have to be so
Changes can be made
You can move a mountain if you use a larger spade
Anything can happen, it’s a marvel
You can be a butterfly
Or just stay larval
Stretch your mind beyond fantastic
Dreams are made of strong elastic
Take some sound advice and don’t forget it
Anything can happen if you let it
Will soon seem certain
Thought at first it may sound clownish
See the world more upside-downish
Turn it on its head then pirouette it
If you reach for the stars
All you get are the stars
But we’ve found a whole new spin
If you reach for the heavens
You get the stars thrown in
Anything can happen if you let it
Life is out there waiting so go and get it
Grab it by the collar, seize it by the scruff
Once you’ve started living life you just can’t get enough
Anything can happen, it’s official
You can choose the super or the superficial
Sally forth the way we’re steering
Obstacles start disappearing
Go and chase your dreams you won’t regret it
Anything can happen
(Anything can happen)
Anything can happen
Anything can happen
If you let it!
JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TEHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT
Based on the biblical story of Joseph, who is Abraham’s favorite son and whom is sold as a slave by his envious brothers. However, the story is only the background and the pretext for superb music, composed by Andrew Lloyd Weber. Special effects, jokes, dancing, music…and a beautiful idea…of pursuing one’s dream, no matter what.
My favorite song: “Close every door to me” (sang by Joseph, in prison)
Close every door to me…
Close every door to me,
Hide all the world from me
Bar all the windows
And shut out the light
Do what you want with me,
Hate me and laugh at me
Darken my daytime
And torture my night
If my life were important I
Would ask will I live or die
But I know the answers lie
Far from this world…
Close every door to me,
Keep those I love from me
Children of Israel
Are never alone!
For I know I shall find
My own peace of mind
For I have been promised
A land of my own
Close every door to me,
Hide all the world from me
Bar all the windows
And shut out the light
Just give me a number
Instead of my name
Forget all about me
And let me decay
I do not matter,
I’m only one person
Destroy me completely
Then throw me away…
If my life were important I
Would ask will I live or die
But I know the answers lie
Far from this world
Close every door to me,
Keep those I love from me
Children of Israel
Are never alone
For we know we shall find
Our own peace of mind
For we have been promised
A land of our own
MAMMA MIA
Based on the songs of ABBA (a group that I always loved and always will). The show is amazing! I wasn’t expecting that much when I went, but it’s totally worth its fame. Actually, they are presently turning it into a Hollywood movie, starring Meryl Streep. The story is hilarious, the songs are INCREDIBLY fitted into the plot, one would swear they were written for “MAMMA MIA-the musical”. Basically, Sophie is the main character. She’s lived with her mother for her entire life and never knew her father. Now she’s getting married and her biggest dream is having her father give her away at her wedding. She secretly reads her mother’s diary and she figures out that 3 men can be her possible dads. So…she sends all three of them invitations to her wedding, hoping that she will find out who her real dad is. The situations deriving from it are hilarious and in the end…somebody else will end up tying the knot. Wonderful musical, great songs, GREAT dancing and…most of all…FUNNNY!!!!
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
The classic story of the most famous musical ever written. One of the finest pieces of work ever composed. That says it all!
And plays:
THE MOUSETRAP - The longest running PLAY in the world, based on Agatha Christie’s police story. Great suspense, twists and turns of the plot…a totally unexpected ending. GREAT!
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
At the National Theatre, a very modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s work, starring ZOE WANAMAKER (for Harry Potter fans, among whom I don’t include myself, she is one of the teachers at Hogwarts). Exquisite actress and very nice play. I’m not too fond of Shakespeare’s comedies, I like the dramas more, but it was nice.
Moreover, on Saturday I’ve been to the Royal Albert Hall, at the WHITE CHRISTMAS CONCERT. One of the most wonderful experiences I’ve ever had. Christmas carols, people singing along with the choir and the soloists (incredible singers, all of them). GREAT!
While living here, I’ve also gotten to know and love singers such as Michael Buble (he is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! Think Jazz + Dean Martin + Frank Sinatra…and you got Michael Buble), Travis (search on YouTube “Why does it always rain on me”, “Sing”, “Love will come through” or any other of their songs), Manic Street Preachers (Welsh group, their songs are profoundly social, they sing about the world and about people, as they really are. My favorite song is “If you tolerate this, then your children will be next”. Look it up on YouTube, it’s worthwhile), Loreena McKennitt(Irish and amazing).
Everything revolves around music here, for me… My title (taken from The Sound of Music) reflects that…cause my dreams are really awake to the sound of music.
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Sep
15
I never used to like autumn. For as far back as I can remember, autumn always made me feel sad, always gave me a feeling of stillness and utter gloominess, similar to the one that the last chapter of a sad love story leaves on us. The autumn rain, its coldness and its dark clouds always reminded me of Emily Bronte’s “Withering Heights”, in which the two lovers Heathcliff and Cathy never end up together. I always picture that book in the dim colors of autumn…
Nevertheless…something changed last fall. Just like in one of Emily Bronte’s books, when the heroine falls in love with the man she used to despise, this past year I fell in love with autumn. It happened unexpectedly, there was no moment of revelation in which I said “I think I’m falling in love”, it just happened..like it usually happens in life.
I lived in London right next to Regent’s Park. Although I grew up next to Tineretului Park in Bucharest and I know it by heart…I can truly say that Regent’s Park is probably the most beautiful park I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t have statues, such as Vigeland Park in Oslo, it’s nor that famous, nor that full of life and people like other parks in the world. It is, however, the park in which I’ve witnessed…yes…witnessed…the most wonderful autumn ever. It’s in this park that I’ve for the first time in my entire life the urge of laying down on the yellow and reddish carpet of leaves, laid back and facing the sky, counting the clouds in the sweet drunkenness of the fresh autumn air.
It is Regent’s Park the place of my morning strolls, with a bag of nuts in one hand, for feeding the squirrels(that would just look at me with their big curious eyes) and with the camera in the other, taking photos of this amazingly beautiful nature. Every time I see Regent’s Park I feel incredibly lucky just for being there, for being able to lay my eyes on the fresh green grass, on the perfect yellow leaves, on the cloudy but beautiful sky…I truly feel and am blessed…
Regent’s Park is actually the park of my college in London. Webster University is part of Regent’s College, along with London School of Business and other 5 academic institutions, so I get to walk through Regent’s Park on my way to classes. During the breaks, I would just buy a sushi-set from the cafeteria and sit on the green grass to eat it, it was my little way of spoiling myself and enjoying a beautiful sunny day.
If you’ve ever seen ,,American Beauty”…being in Regent’s Park constantly reminds me of the scene with the plastic bag “dancing” in the air. And the words of the boy: “How can you stay mad, when there’s so much beauty in the world… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world I feel like I can’t take it, like my heart’s going to cave in…”.
And indeed…there is so much beauty in the world. You just have to keep your eyes wide open so that you can notice it. And try to have your heart open as well…
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