I’ve written a while ago that I panicked because I got seriously fluffy during lockdown and decided to get in shape.
Do you want to know how it’s going?
Aug 29 2021
Homelife entry
I know, I know I am late with this entry. There is a big chance that I will finish publishing the entries for August in September, but this is my blog, and I can do whatever I want, including posting some entry with a date set in the past.
Why am I late? Because I am human, that is why. After my day spent in St. Andrews, I ended my day with a gym session and pool and went to sleep. I slept until late on Sunday, and then spent the whole day wrapping up my book. Yes, I’ve finished it, Chapter 13 and an upgraded version of the Appendix are now ready to be submitted to the guys that do the grammar corrections. I expect I will have to read my own book with more attention than I wrote it, because those idiots seem to be allergic to the passive voice and tend to remove it without any care for the technical meaning of phrases. I can bet 1 billion dollars that I will have to write an entry on this blog with their idiotic changes.
Another thing that I did on Sunday was to see Jungle Cruise, yes the movie. I was pleasantly surprised. It seems The Rock can act, but what surprised me the most is that he and Emily Blunt had some chemistry. It is a fun movie to watch, it is a toned down, female centred Indiana Jones movie, perfect to watch with your kids or with some guests.
Since my friends came back from the seaside, I ended the night with a StarCraft match. So, my brains was pretty busy and I had no time to concoct something up for this blog. I am sorry! I’ll make it up to you next time!
Stay safe, stay happy!
Aug 28 2021
The connection between Scotland and Romania you probably have no idea existed
As a child with an overly Catholic mother, up until leaving the nest I practiced Catholicism with a lot of fervor. Looking back at that period of my life, it made sense. Mostly everything in my life sucked, there was no hope that my parents would make it better so of course I was willing to believe that there is an all-powerful entity that decided everything happening in the world and if praying and doing all this entity wanted me too would make my life suck less, I was willing to do it. I was a child growing up in a poor toxic family, and my belief in God was the only hope. I truly believe this is how people get to be religious, just take away all the hope and then give them a sliver of it and they will do anything you ask them to.
When I was living in Ramnicu-Valcea, in the church entry hallway, next to the sacrarium (the holy water basin designed to wash your hand, so you make the cross sign with a clean hand) there was a statue of St. Andrew. My mother and the priest of the church at the time told people that St. Andrew was the saint that fulfilled wishes. So, people would pray and fill the box under St. Andrew’s with money hoping their wishes will come true. I was one of them, I was a child and instead of using the little money I had to buy something for myself, I would put it in that box and ask St. Andrew for my parents to be happier, richer and to start being better parents to me and my sister. As you can imagine, that did not work, and I lost my faith in St. Andrew’s powers by the time I was 12.
I am mentioning St. Andrew because yesterday I’ve spent a whole day in St. Andrews. St. Andrews is a seaside town northeast of Edinburgh, on Scotland’s east coast, is part of the kingdom of Fife, the one I currently reside in. It has a population of 16800 people, and I can only assume this number does not include the students. Although small, St. Andrews used to have one of the biggest and most opulent cathedrals in Scotland and its ruins are still impressive today.
So, what is the link between St. Andrew the patron saint of Scotland and the saint I used to pray to as a child?
Continue reading “The connection between Scotland and Romania you probably have no idea existed”
Aug 27 2021
A short one
I am out of ideas what to write. The last two days have been pretty dull, I did nothing but work, workout and read. I could tell you about the issues I’ve fixed at work, but that won’t be interesting for most of you.
What I can tell you is that somehow after the dinner with my neighbor from this Wednesday we’ve got to talking and somehow, she mentioned somebody from her acquaintances that took their own life. A dear friend of mine did the same last year and another person that was going through a tough time from my friend group was having questions about the meaning of her life and she was considering it too. Thankfully, she is fine and when I am writing this she is way better. Me and a lot of friends have supported her as much as we could, and it worked.
I did however felt sad for the other friend for a long time. I thought I could have done something, and I didn’t. Then the sadness and the sorrow subsided, and I reached a conclusion. My neighbor confirmed my conclusion as being her own as well and I feel wiser for reaching it so early in my life. When people are in so much pain, that the only way they think they can find peace is by ending their life, there is not much you can do. All you can do is to be relieved that at least they are not in pain anymore, that they are finally at peace.
Stay safe, stay happy!
Aug 26 2021
The damn convection oven
You probably know by now I love cooking and I love baking. The cake I like to do the best and it 99% ends up being glorious is The Cheesecake. There are even a few recipes on this blog.
The other type of cake I like making and eating(dooh!) is the Victoria Sponge Cake. In the UK there is a special type of self-rising flour that is perfect for it and the recipe is very simple.
The cake that I will make as soon as I have a lot of time is called Egyptian Walnut Cake, and that is the best cake I’ve ever made or eaten.
I also like making Upside Down Banana Cake.
Aug 25 2021
Manual labour
In Romanian we have this expression “what you do to yourself, with your own hand is called manual labour”. If you are not dirty minded, l’ll just mention it to give you some insight into the Romanian culture: sometimes the construction “manual labour” is a synonym for masturbation, but most times it actually applies to situations when you do self-sabotaging actions.
Monday was my last day of vacation before going back to work. I was a little disenchanted about it, because we are currently in the process of testing and patching a huge release and things were a little stressful when I started my vacation. So, I crossed my fingers, wished my colleagues the best and hoped by the time I am back they will be finished with it. Turns out they weren’t and, they really missed me. So, it’s back on the horse I guess.
During the day, I did the usual, work out, write some code, cook, clean, etc. I also broke the mechanism that releases the water in my toilet. The mechanism to release the water is not that complicated, I’ve fixed toilets all my life, in all the places I’ve lived before, I should have been able to fix it. So, I took off the wood panel the button used to release the water was on to expose the basin so I could fix it. Turns out, the mechanism of my toilet is not as simple as the ones I was familiar with. I tried to understand quickly how it worked, I failed. So, I just stopped the water from flowing continuously in my toiled to reduce the waste and decided to call a plumber the next day.
Don’t you dare think you know where this is going! :)))
Aug 24 2021
The loveable a**hole
I like to take some vacation days around the time my birthday is each year. It is this tradition I’ve made for myself. Until the pandemic hit, I used to travel on my birthday, but last year and this year I had to get creative. Since I have a book deadline in September (usually), I try to get most of the work done before my birthday and try to keep the week free.
This year I’ve taken a long holiday from 13th to the 23rd of August. If you’ve read my August entries, you have an overall idea of how I’ve filled my days. Still, there are a few details missing.
