Ohhh you lost
Ohhh you lost all
you lost all
you lost all

An Other Update.

Ref: Schmap Paris Tenth Edition: Photo Inclusion

Hi [me],

I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo has been selected for inclusion in the newly released tenth edition of our Schmap Paris Guide:
Cluny Museum
If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then this same link will take you directly to your photo in the iPhone version of our guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see exactly how your photo is displayed and credited in the iPhone version of our guide at: Cluny Museum.
Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - please enjoy the guide!

Best regards,
[named] Editor, Schmap Guides

[to be continued..]

Yesterday's interaction with the authorities has been brief and unsatisfying; after the compulsory (?) 1h wait, I was sent back to procure 'the original' [i.e. a new document] certifying that my parents agree that I live in their house. And this, my friends, might not have been much of a big deal if the starting situation had been different. But as we stand, and as I've explained the lady behind the desk several times, it's the exact same office of the authorities that owns 'the original' certificate, which I had given them 4 years ago, for pretty much the same reason: new Id request. And yes, I find this absurd: Do legal acts stop producing legal effects once the original document had been archived? Because I'm not convinced by this point. If the time duration of the named certificate is unspecified, shouldn't this suggest that it produces legal effects until revoked? Or something along those lines?
Yes, I was angry. I still am, for that matter. And yes, this is still absurd to me.
Do tell if it makes more sense to you.

Aaand [an]other Lyrical Break [Subtext/ed or Theme/d: Free as a Bird]

And this is the tune to go with the images.

Punctuation marks: The Metas -- Revisited

Timing is a strange thing, if you think about it. Yet usually we don't think about it, unless it's referred to as 'bad'.
Not this time! :)

Though I'm not really certain whether I've managed to stir your interest when I first wrote on this topic one week ago, I'm pushing my luck with some freshly-out-of-the-oven news:

Sarcasm punctuation mark aims to put an end to email confusion

Expressing sarcasm in the written word can be a dangerous business, as anyone forced to apologise for sending a tongue-in-cheek email will confirm.
Now a US firm has come up with an ingenious solution to this very real problem – a new item of punctuation.
The SarcMark, as it has been named, is designed to be used in the same way as an exclamation or question mark.
Anyone concerned that the irony of their email or text message might not be appreciated by its recipient can use the symbol to close their sentence, thereby avoiding awkward misunderstandings.
The symbol – a dot inside a single spiral line – can be installed onto any PC running Windows 7, XP or Vista, as well as Macs and Blackberry mobile devices.

Keep reading the rest of the article on Telegraph's website.

Remember Time Management?

It's that useful concept which, when properly applied to real life situations, prevents one from tidying up one's room at 3.21 a.m. when in need to be appropriately composed throughout the following day. [Bummer!]

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

quoting Douglas Adams, here.

Dear Mr. Neagu Djuvara, Thank You

The first and most easily discernible thank you is for the storytelling: being a storytelling aficionado since I know myself, I need to be grateful and express my appreciation on this level: Mr. Neagu Djuvara is an amazing storyteller, and I thank him for it. I've seen his words but, most importantly, I've heard them: I've heard their intonation, their fluency, their subtle notes - they are storytelling in form and content, a harmony of meanings.

The second layer in this thank you note is for who he is and all the implicit along the explicit that comes along his presence.

And the third is a very particular one - which makes it even more special: this is to thank you for voicing out loud on the Romanian National Television that which I only have the chance to tell to my friends, the opinion that the necessary condition for Romania's real change of attitude rests with the establishment of an independent tribunal invested to judge communist and post-communist crimes. The opinion that as long as impunity will continue to be the rule rather than the exception, only sadness and hurt can come about. Of course, Mr. Neagu Djuvara had phrased it differently - but I am his most grateful fan still.

Bad Neighbourly Karma?

About one year ago, it seemed that any new place to which I might relocate would have fully functional construction sites nearby; it's what happened in RO, NL, and then PT.
Until last year. All of a sudden, constructions were either done or temporarily closed and it all felt relieving!
But this time around, it's a different issue altogether: earlier this year, some very unfriendly downstairs neighbours who were throwing a party in the middle of the night started pushing us around and swearing/ yelling at us when we went to ask them to turn it down a tad.. [And the rest of this story is better buried untold, as it brings back more-than-unpleasant memories].

Today, first thing in the morning, upstairs neighbours [tourists, mind you] start throwing stuff around the house. Sounds incredible? J. goes upstairs to ask them to calm down a bit and it all ends with the freakin' b*tch screaming at us along the lines of "Call the Police, if you will, but I couldn't care less!".
..
Now, in this new world we're living 'love thy neighbour' is obviously not applicable; but why should that turn to 'One must do all within one's reach to piss off the neighbour'?
What's the story, Neighbours? Is it Karma?

P.S. It's not only in Romania that walls are too thin, by the way. :)

This is not about Relativistic Electromagnetic Mass Models

But it is about a Dust Distribution Theory: MY Dust Distribution Theory.
And no, neither is it about charged dust. Unless that charge refers to its quality of making us discontent of having it around.

What am I talking about here? - The common house dust.
What about it? - I do have a Theory, more precisely a Distribution Theory. What I have been noticing in my observations is that:
1. Dust is much more visible when expecting someone's visit compared to days when such visits are not expected. That is to say that the visible distribution of dust is dependent on visitors.
2. Dust piles up much more quickly when I am busy doing some-important-thing else. That is to say that the speed of dust distribution is dependent on the density of my own schedule.
3. Lastly, the distribution of dust technically changes in situations where I am here by myself compared to those when I am here +n, where n>0, n being an integer number [not a fraction]. This is to be understood in the meaning that dust distributes differently [less visible, possibly more hidden] when I am here by myself, compared to situations when I am here in at least one other person's company [more visible, in the absence of any dust storms or other visible Dust Distribution events occurring].

Drawing the line here is formulating the Theory, namely: Dust distribution has its own will, and it has decided to act against me. It will increase visibility in shameful situations and subsequently decrease it when we're here by ourselves.
That's It, Dust! I said it, and now the World knows it! You've been exposed! [laughter ensues]

39 minutes after the middle of the night...

I recalled a childhood favourite: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego - file types incompatible w/ my Ubuntu but maybe you're curious.. here's the Wiki entry.

[old news:] The Times Top 200 Artists of the 20th Century to Now

on Times Online: here.