I have no idea where I got this quote from

"Say you could trade in what you are and give away everything that's special about you for a plain ol' regular laugh, would you?"
"Well, the me I wish I was would say 'no way'. Would say you gotta keep on fighting stupidity. Every mind you change is one less dumb fuck on the bad guys' side. But me, I'm afraid I'm a common. I'm feeling I'm a lot less optimistic I can affect the kind of change that makes a squirt's piss difference in this world and I'm so fucking tired of fighting."

Hot hot hot

"You don't know me that well. My mad face and my happy face are the same."

All's good in the hood

There are times when I'm so freaked out about everything it overwhelms me. But then all I want to do is go home and be safe from all that. My place is a safe house. It's the anchor I need when I feel like I'm drifting. And although people keep telling me how my neighborhood freaks them out, is too far or too poor, I love living here. A lot. My parents live on a middle class street and growing up there I used to think the same about the area I live in now. But then a weird string of events resulted in me attending school nearby for two years. That's when I learned the talk about street gangs was all bogus. And that a marginal public school can offer good education with the right teachers and colleagues.
I now live in the most densely populated area of my city. But apart from an occasional lover's quarrel in the apartment from the fourth floor (they moved out anyway), it's the most quiet area I've lived in. In the summer I can hear the crickets by night and in the winter I can smell the oak underneath the snow. I live a couple of minutes from the forest. It's a great area to live if you have a dog. There's dozens of them playing in the grass every evening. And it's a nice place for children too, if you can't afford a house. There's sports fields and a park every hundred meters and I'm always surprised how many little people there are around here. People jog, hike, bike or motorbike around here. They go for picnics and they gather in the block's garden for a chat. There's nothing fancy about it, but it's home because it's so cozy. My cat is especially excited about the birdies living under our roof and nesting in our trees.
I've wanted to write about this for a long time. I want to remember the days I enjoyed here in case I move away, which is a thing I've started to consider, but it's still a long way ahead. Right now it's super hot outside and in here the temperature is 10 Celsius degrees lower. I can hear the turtledoves and some very distant voices of kids playing. No cars, no smoke, no crappy music. It's bliss enough for me.

Birthday girl!

I'm turning 26 in a couple of days. I'm 26 and the world can't miss a single opportunity to make me feel like a little girl every day. There's chores and readings piling up, there's people I need to deal with, there's aging I start to worry about, and there's a huge black hole where my future plans should be. And still, I eat chocolate for breakfast, I sing to myself on the street, I wear age inappropriate clothing and my bed sheets have bears at a country fair on them.
And because I am a little girl at heart, I demand presents, tons and tons of them, for my birthday! I want a picnic and I want cake and I want people to tell me I'm still so young. I've been thinking about a wishlist. This is my wishlist and everything here is things I want to buy for myself, but cannot afford to yet or cannot find them anymore. So here it is.

1. Unif Hellbounds

These shoes look so wicked and have such great reviews in terms of comfort, I couldn't stop thinking about them for weeks now. The platform is huge, but there is barely any arching, so they're made in order to never be taken off. I wouldn't :D

2. Kindle Wi-Fi

Every time I get near a Kindle I skip a breath. You people know my bookworm addictions and now that I have this huge collection of Kindle books on my laptop, that I read on the smart phone's screen, all I want is a really good e-book reader, one that does not reflect light, gives me the opportunity to store and categorize my library and is slick and beautiful, just like the Kidle.

3. Moschino I Love Love

After working for almost a year in a perfumery (as a L'Oreal beauty adviser), I've tried virtually every fragrance there was on the market at the time. Though I had love for a Versace and maybe a Hugo Boss, I hearted Moschino's Cheap and Chic collection most, out of which I declared I Love Love to be my favorite perfume yet. It's fresh and fruity, but light and adorable. However, I've always seemed to find a reason not to buy it, although it is one of the fragrances in the medium priced category. Soon, very soon :P

4. Movie reviewer's notebook

I saw this a couple of weeks ago and I heart it so much. I seemed quite expensive, so I didn't get it, but my heart seems to have become set on it. It's a notebook I found in Carturesti, in the gift thingies area. It's a hardback spiral bound red and something notebook, with a monopoly man on the cover, and has sections for making lists of films to see, for writing reviews and for making personal tops. I wish I got it then. If I can spare some time, I'll hop on a bus and go looking for it this very week.

5. Graphic novels

Can't explain why I never bought Persepolis, as every time I walk into a library that has it, I want to walk out with it in hand. It's not that I was crazy about the film, although I did enjoy it a lot, but the story in itself and Satrapi's bittersweet humor and insights into what women's personal "hidden" lives are like sold  me instantly.

This one my boyfriend wanted to get me, but I said no, as we needed to save every penny for upcoming concert trips. Still, the more I read about it, the more it puzzles me and, as a blooming fan of writing about social change and recent history through graphic novels, it is definitely going on my list.

6. Baking stuff

My list seems to be populated with things I can get, I should get, but always find an excuse not to. In the case of muffin trays, it's the sizes that throw me off. I own some silicone shapes I use when baking and they come in three sizes, so I never have to worry. The tray, though, it's either super large or super small. I yet have to find the right one or buy them all. I'm also thinking about buying a tart tray, as it's a super fruity season and they are virtually some of the easiest things to bake and ornate, except for sponge cake. Sponge cake is entry level and my mom gave me a tray for that the day I moved out :) And in order to fulfill my baking dreams, I definitely need to get a large bowl to mix batter in. My mom has two of the huge Tupperware collection, so maybe I'll starve for a week and get me one of those. Or just a stainless steel one from Ikea I saw downtown a while ago.

7. Even more Tarot cards!

 

The Book Depository had a sale on some super lovely Tarot cards with baroque cats. Yes, that's right. It sounds insane, but they are totally adorable! It's kind of expensive right now, so maybe I'll wait a while. It would make the fourth or fifth of my card sets. I already own a silly Great Trumps set with cats in love, but I'd like myself some full-sized feline Tarot, to make my card studying more fun and have the cards purr me stories.

Yep. That's my crazy current wishlist. Most of all, though, I'd like to get fit, stay healthy, get plenty of rest and create the physical conditions to work at full speed and enjoy what I have thoroughly. Lately I've been overworked, overtired, and quite ill, and I feel like people around me don't get to enjoy the real me, but a zombie or jumpy me, constantly complaining and in the mood for nothing. So here's to a good healthy summer and happy times!

Dear April,

You may take all your grey days in this grey city and shove it up... whatever. I can hardly wait for green, never ending green and grass that waves under the wind. I want blue to meet this green and I want to feel the sun almost burn my skin  and hear the millions of bugs around me as I sit in a hammock with a good book. So screw you, April, with your thunderstorms and religious holidays and your false hopes for rebirth, when all you gave me was a slight depression. I'm heading towards shorts and straw hats, lemonades in the shade and ice cream whenever the hell I want to, towards the end of this damn semester and no more gloomy afternoons. I'm writing to say goodbye, April, as you were bound to hit the road anyway. But see you next year, and please bring flowers and hypnotically fresh air next time, instead of Thursdays I can hardly get out of bed.

Rewind. Play

It's Easter morning and the cat is purring next to me in bed. Some seconds ago she yawned and meowed at the same time and it was so adorable I almost grew some sympathy for those crazy mothers who post tons of pictures of their babies on the internet. Caring for and nurturing another creature makes us better people and I hear it also helps fighting depression.
I haven't written here in quite a while, although I promised myself I would every week. Eventually, I got a push when I saw my friend's post on Mischievous Sweethearts, our blog that's been asleep for an year or so. Some things have changed since then, many have remained gloriously the same. I got in for PhD and last semester I taught the seminars to Introduction to Sociology, while this semester I'm doing Statistics and Social Policy. It's pretty much easier than I imagined and I really like teaching, although I always had my doubts about that. I haven't really been to my classes, as they overlap with the teaching, but there's time to catch up.
My baby boy and I, hopefully joined by many friends, are going to quite a bunch of concerts this summer. That list I had in my head when I was in high school of the bands I desperately wanted to see will almost be completely crossed over! Cool thing is the Transilvania Tattoo Expo falls right in between the festivals we already got tickets to, so June is going to be a blast for me. I love it we get to have so much fun together and I can almost touch the awesome summer coming our way.
Oh, what else? I've been cooking this and that, but not nearly as much as I wish to. However, I'm training to become a muffin master. Cupcakes will be the next natural step and in-between, I might try sponge cakes as well, my grandma's specialty. I always thought baking was hard and not fun at all, since I've always been more of a souffle and casserole kind of home chef. But we get along just fine, cake batters and me. I know I've said I'll be posting recipes tens of times, but maybe one day I can curve my excitement while cooking and take some pics and notes.
I have a new photo blog as well, I only started a month ago. The idea was to post a photo every day of something that made my day better. I've already slacked off a couple of times, but I keep posting and that's a good sign. So I'll make a couple of banners here with links to Mischievous and my Tumblr blog. Other than that... There's plenty of time to write, I guess, I just find excuses to spend my time watching TV shows and reading A Song of Ice and Fire as if it were "crack on paper".