Who's afraid of Wirginia Woolf? Edward Albee's play

What makes that couple , George and Martha, going ?, the cruel games they are playing to each other ?, the fantasy they are living in , and how they are bringing it in the real life ?, is it love somewhere behind all hurtful things they are throwing at each other ?, sure it is love , what else could it be?
It made me laugh and made me ask myself if I could live in a relationship like that? maybe , maybe not , I have no idea .

"And of course, who's afraid of Virginia Woolf means who's afraid of the big bad wolf . . . who's afraid of living life without false illusions" - Edward Allbee

read it , if you want to be a little intrigued and intelectualy chalenged .

Let's pretend

Let's pretend that we are smart enough to leave this life as it is
Let's pretend that we can avoid dreaming
Let's pretend we are grown ups , and we know how grown ups do things
Let's pretend we are dam good people
Let's pretend we are not selfish
Let's pretend that little miracles don't exist
Let's pretend everything and let's see what's left of us after that

B

Jose Saramago – The Gospel of Jesus Christ

The Jesus Christ Gospel is something that each Christian knows, but this book caught me and caught me good. Why?
As a child I spent three months of the year at my grandparents, on the country side and there each Sunday everybody went to church (even the dog came with us and waited for us outside the church), listening or understanding what the priest was trying to say, wasn’t the point for me. I don’t remember understanding anything at that time but I heard the biblical story of Jesus Christ. The way that biblical story was presented was something like this, he was born that time at that location, he did that and that miracles, he died for us and most of all he was God’s son. Call me ignorant but this is all I knew about him, and I always wondered how he was as a child? did he have friends? Did he go to school? , what did he do between those miracles what was he thinking? but I didn’t dare ask questions like that. Now Saramago came and wrote the answer for all my questions in this book, don’t forget it’s all fiction, but it’s funny, profound philosophical, considered to be a blasphemy by the church.
This is what God told his son: “You will be the spoon I deep into humanity and bring out filled with people who believe in the new God I intend to become. Filled with people You will eat. There’s no need for Me to eat those who eat themselves”

Read this book if you dare :-), you have to be a very open minded Christian to read it.
It’s FABULOUS.

Obsessions 2

All of us have obsessions, we are obsessed by things we have or we don't, we are obsessed by people and their evilness or by their goodness, we are even obsessed by our stupidity, we are obsessed by other people's lies, and their cocky attitudes.

We are easily frustrated by things that are not important, we love or hate with no limits, and whatever we choose to do we can easily destroy the subject of our love or hate, but we usually don't care about this, compassion is not something we care or consider. We are only interested about ourselves, we have a habit of over-analyzing every small detail of our feelings, and we love hear ourselves talk, just to look interesting we tell over-exaggerated tales. We love to complain hopping that someone will console us, we have friends and love them, we have enemies and it is better if we don't know them, we have unfulfilled dreams, but each of us can visualize a lovely place where we can imagine ourselves happy.

We make many mistakes, and we feel sorry for a while but we would much rather forget them,
we don't afford to be sincere because being sincere it is considered a weakness, we talk a lot and say nothing, we wish somebody will read our minds, and we don't know how to say "I am sorry".
We wish for somebody’s love, which doesn't love us, we wish for somebody's appreciation who doesn't appreciate us, we wish for somebody's understanding who doesn't understand us, what's wrong with us???

And I still believe that people are good.

Obsesii

Toti avem obsesii , suntem obsedati de lucruri pe care le avem sau nu , obsedati de oameni si de rautatea lor , sau de bunatatea lor , suntem obsedati uneori chiar si de stupiditatea noastra , suntem obsedati de minciunile altora , de prefacatoria celor din jur , de stratul de bunatate pe care unii preting ca-l au.
Suntem frustati de milioane de chestii total neimportante , putem ura sau iubi necontrolat si nelimitat , si oricare din cele doua lucruri le-am face putem usor distruge persoana in cauza ,dar asta nici ca ne pasa, nu ne prea caracterizeaza compasiunea. Suntem interesati numai de persoana noastra, altruismul e un cuvant pe care multi tre sa-l caute in dictionar , facem o pasiune din a ne analiza si super-analiza fiecare mic sentiment, si vrem cu tot dinadinsul sa fim auziti, sa parem interesanti, sa povestim lucruri fantastice care de cele mai multe ori sunt niste exagerari enorme.
Ne place sa ne plangem in speranta ca cineva ne va consola, avem prieteni si ne pasa enorm de ei , avem dusmani si e bine daca nu-i stim , avem vise neimplinite care ne macina incet facandu-ne mai rai si mai batrani, si fiecare dintre noi are un loc favorit, un loc in care daca ar ajunge ar fi fericit.
La sfarsitul zilei , inainte de a adormi ne imaginam acel loc , poate fi o poienita , malul marii , varf de munte , nu conteaza ce e , important e ca putem vizualiza locul in care ne-am putea linistii. Iar cand suntem linistiti, atunci suntem oameni.
Facem multe greseli si multe erori , si ne pare rau o vreme dupa care ne place sa le uitam, nu ne permitem sa fim sinceri pentru ca sinceritatea se considera o "calitate oamenilor slabi', vorbim mult si nu spunem nimic , asteptam ca cei din jur sa ne citeasca gandurile, nu stim semnificatia lui "imi pare rau" si nici nu suntem dispusi sa o invatam.
Cosideram ca viata ne e datoare, ne plangem si suntem nemultumiti , visam iubirea cuiva care nu ne iubeste , visam aprecierea cuiva care nu ne apreciaza , visam bunatate de la cineva care nu ne-o poate da, visam intelegere de la cineva care nu ne intelege, ce dracu e wrong cu noi !!!!!

iar eu tot mai consider ca toti oamenii sunt buni .

Infinity

"Do you want me to tell you something funny?"
"What about? "
"Infinity. But it isn't complicated. I mean, you don't need a degree in -"
Francoise waved a hand in the air, tracing a red pattern with the tip of her cigarette.
"Is that a yes?" I whispered
"Yes"
"Okay". I coughed quietly. "If you accept that the universe is infinite, then that means there's an infinite amount of chances for things to happen, right?"
She nodded..
"Well, if there 's an infinite amount of chances for something to happen, then eventually it will happen - no matter how small the likelihood"
"Ah"
"That mean somewhere in space there's another planet that, by an incredible series of coincidences, developed exactly the same way as ours. Right down to the smallest detail."
"Is there?"
"Definitely. And there's another which is exactly the same, except that palm tree over there is two feet to the right. And there's another where the tree is two feet to the left. In fact, there're infinite planets with infinite variations on that tree alone..."
Silence. I wondered if she was asleep. "So how about that?" I prompted.
"Interesting" she whispered. In these planets, everything that can happen will happen"
"Exactly"
"Then in one planet, maybe I am a movie start"
"There's no maybe about it. You live in Beverly Hills and swept last year's Oscars".
"That's good"
"Yeah, but don't forget, somewhere else your film was a flop"
"Oh?"
"It bombed.The critics turned on you, the studio lost a fortune, and you got into booze and Valium. It was pretty ugly"
Francoise rolled on to her side and looked at me. "Tell me about some other worlds" she whispered.
"Well" I replied."That's a lot to tell"

The Beach- Alex Garland

Seeing by Jose Saramago

A book about us , seeing people ,
A book about political power and madness
A book about avoiding to see the truth and killing it
A shocking book ...

"when we are born, when we enter this world, it is as if we signed a pact for the rest of our life, but a day may come when we will ask ourselves Who signed this on my behalf ? "

The Zahir - Paulo Coelho

One of my friends told me, when I was complaining about not knowing what to put on this blog , that I should put my comments about the books I read, and I did it once and now I don't know what to say about this book, the plot is not great but it really doesn't matter much , what is great is the way the author describes how a long term relationship like marriage can fall apart and why. There is so much truth in what he is saying that reading it is painful sometimes.
I asked myself "would you read this book again in a few years?" and the answer in "no", but I bought it, because I know a few people who should read it.

You know that daily question "how are you ?" and the answer automaticaly comes "I'm OK" , this is how this book is "OK".

Who's your friend?

It is a saying “tell me who’s your friend and I will tell you who you are”, and I always tend to get into long debates trying to prove that isn’t true, but it is.
It’s like a reflection of what they are on your soul, I look at my friend, and I see her being warm, nice and I think that I am the same and this makes me feel good, but the worst is when your friend is mean, unkind and then following this logic the conclusion is that I am the same and that makes me feel miserable.
If somebody makes you feel bad is not your friend , right?

Reading Saramago's Blindness

Amazing book wrote in a very original Saramago way, a book about "seeing" versus "understanding". Did you ever imagined yourself and all people around you going blind? how life would be then? how things important today when we can "see" can become totally non important when we don't see, how people can terrorize others in any conditions , how life can be like in a horror movie when things are getting out of control. Whatever the answer is I am sure you can't imagine the world described by Saramago in this brilliant fiction book.


I do recommend this book to all of you who read Camus Plaque or Garbriel Garcia Marquez fictions and you liked them, and to all of you who want to understand why we can't see the same shade of white.

"I don't think we did go blind, I think we are blind, Blind but seeing, Blind people who can see, but do not see"

EllaBella

Hi , my name is EllaBella and I am a girl, I like to eat chocolate ,strawberries , bread and butter and I love bedtime stories, my mom reads them for me because I am little and I don't know how to read yet. I love those stories, they have good endings, most of them are about little animals having little friends and solving together little problems, and I learned that the problem you have is as big as you are. I have a small problem because I am small too , I had a friend, he was a butterfly, I gave him chocolate and he liked it , I gave him strawberries and he liked it , he even liked bread and butter and he loved my mom's bedtime stories, but one day I couldn't find him anymore, do you know where he is? Did you see by any chance a nice butterfly trying to have a bite out of your chocolate or bread and butter or listening to people stories? If yes, please take care of him now that you know what he likes.

many thanks
EllaBella

Walking back

She was running, she looked down, her feet were stuck tightly to the ground, she closed her eyes and she was running.

In her run she saw her friends but she did not stop "I will be back soon " she was waving and she kept running away, she saw her dad - "wow, I miss you so much" she said, but no reply came and she just kept running, she was passing by houses, buildings, cars, mountains, she could even fly high to the sky is she wanted to, but she didn't want to.

”I have to get there ..., I have to reach that place before I get lost ...", and she kept running , it was cold, dark and raining, and at one moment she just stopped running she FOUND it , she found the place, it was a nice lifeless place , just dark ground , no plants , no flowers ,nothing around. She sat down , looked around , opened her left palm , made a little hole in the ground and put the only thing she was holding in her palm in it , a THOUGHT, she laid back put her hand under her head and waited , watching the sky and waiting , and suddenly the thought bloomed , and everything changed, the place wasn't dark and sterile anymore it transformed itself in a beautiful garden , a white garden , all the flowers were white , she stood up, she cried and start walking back.

The End

Debate on schooling

Poate daca iti scrii parerile o sa fie mai usor de combatut, sau poate mai usor de inteles.

Scoala si de ce e bine sa mergi la scoala

- pentru un copil in primii ani de viata e foarte important sa-ti intareasca sistemul imunitar , ce loc mai buni sa culegi toti microbii din lume decat scoala cunoasteti?

- a face parte dintr-un grup in care toti membrii sunt de varsta ta , toti vorbesc si se poarta ca si tine si care nu iti face observatii de genul 'puneti jerseul mama ca e frig"

- nu e loca mai bun decat scoala sa inveti si sa intelegi diferite culturi , poti citit sute de carti despre cultura chineza, americana sau hindusa dar o sa- intelegi mai bine daca o sa incerci sa-i cunosti

- scoala e miniatura a ceea ce adultii numesc "societate", unde altundeva poti mai bine sa intri in contact si sa stii sa-i recunosti mai tarziu caractere umane ca : mincinosi, ambitiosi , fraieri , lasi , conducatori , condusi ai ocazia sa realizezi ce esti unde vrei sa ajungi

- consider ca daca e sa inveti orice materie e mai bine sa o faci de la un om care a studiat subiectul ani de zile si stie ce vorbeste .


- iti faci prieteni si vorbesc aici de adevarati prieteni pe care ii ai toata viata , si asta pentru ca facand parte din acelasi group/clasa ai aceleasi preocupari aceleasi probleme aceleasi plangeri , inveti cum sa-ti prezinti si sa-ti sustii parerile

Home schooling

- sunt multe cazuri in care asa ceva este necesar, sau e o solutie, ca de exemplu copilul nu poate sa mearga la o scoala din diferite motive , sau parintele are o educatie pedagogica la baza si e capabil sa faca aa ceva , dar in acest debate nu e vorba de cat de bine cineva invata matematica acasa versus matematica la scoala ci e vorba de ce toti copilul ar fi bine sa merga la scoala.

- chiar daca un parinte are posibilitatea si banii sa ofere facilitati mult mai meseriase decat scoala totusi nu poate oferi copilului socialul pe care scoala il ofera ( vezi capitolul anterior :-) )

Free education

- na asta mi se pare de categoria SF, stiu ca aceasta afirmatie o sa-mi aduca multe critici dar sincer acuma , nu vad cum un copil fara sa fie intrumat de cineva o sa ajunga sa aiba un minim de cunostinte cand ajunge la maturitate

- consider totusi ca asa ceva e posibil in perioada in care copilul ajunge la universitate si dupa cateva cursuri realizeaza ca el este interesat in cu totul altceva , renunta la educatia universitara si porneste pe propriul drum , invata pe cont propriu - Bill Gats, Larry Ellison si inca multi altii :)


Personality- is the sum total of what a person is- behaviours, thoughts and feelings- that endures throughout life.

- stau de cateva minute si ma gandesc cum scoala pe care am facut-o mi-a distrus personalitate ? am facut scoala in perioada reposatului intr-o societate in care parerile personale nu erau bine venite deci si scoala era ca si societatea. Scoala nu era curioasa de parerile noastre vroia doar sa ne prezinte parerile ei , asta ar fi trebuit sa ma transforme azi intr-o persoana care nu are nici o parere sau daca are nu e in stare sa si-o spuna (totusi nu cred ca sunt asa ).

Astept pareri , opinii , nu ma deranjeaza polemicile si nu le iau personal , doar ca uneori ma obosesc :)

"never trust anybody who doesn't have an opinian" McEnroe - Rolland Garros 2007


-

Octavian Paler – Romanian writer

I remember reading his books as a young teenager (and as an old one too :)); trying to understand his philosophy, looking for deeper meaning in each word he used and when I received the bad news that he passed away this month (May 7 2007) and I started getting emails with “his last interview”, “his last article” … I remembered this poem, I totally forgot about it for a long time. I recall those days when I was trying to understand the “I learned…” part and probably being young and without much life experience I did not understand it :)
Because I did not find any translation of this poem I decided to translate it for you, my friends. Enjoy.

I learned by Octavian Paler

We have time ...
We have time for everything
To sleep, or to be all over the place,
To regret mistakes and do them again,
To judge others and find excuses for ourselves,

We have time to read and write,
To correct our writings, and regret what we wrote,
We have time to make plans and never complete them,
We have time to fantasize about impossible things
and later on to look into the ashes of them.

We have time for ambitions and diseases,
To blame fate and the details,
We have time to watch the clouds, TV commercials and shocking news,
We have time to not answer questions,
To postpone the answers,
We have time to kill a dream and recreate it later
We have time to make friends, and lose them
We have time to get lessons and forget them later on,
We have time to get gifts and not understand them.
We have time for everything.

But we don’t have time for a little kindness.
When one does they are dying.

I learned some important things in my life and I would like to share them with you.
I learned that you can not make somebody love you
All you can do is to be a lovely person
the rest … depends on others.
I learned that it does not matter how much I care
others don’t.
I learned that it takes years to win somebody’s trust
and it takes just a few seconds to lose it.
I learned that doesn’t matter what you HAVE in life
all that matters is with WHOM you have it
I learned that in the first 15 min you can impress somebody by using your charm
after that you have to come up with something smart.
I learned that you don’t have to compare yourself with what other people are best at
you have to find out what is your best
I learned that it does not matter what happens to people
what matters is what I can do to help.

I learned that each episode has two faces
I learned you should part lovingly from those you love
It may be the last time you have the opportunity to see that person


I learned that you can run a long time after you said that you are exhausted
I learned that heroes are people who do the right thing
when it is needed
not caring about the consequences

I learned that there are people that love you
but they do not know how to show it
I learned that when I am upset I have the right to be upset
but I do not have the right to be mean

I learned that you can have long distance friendships
the same applies to love
I learned that if somebody does not love you like you wish
It does not mean he or she does not love you from the bottom of their heart
He or she will occasionally hurt you
And you will forgive it.

I learned that it is not enough to forgive others
sometimes you have to forgive yourself
I learned that regardless how much you are suffering
the world will not stop
I learned that your past can have an impact on your personality
but you are responsible for what you are going to become
I learned that, if two people get into a fight

it does not mean they do not love each other
And the fact that they do not fight does not mean they love each other.
I learned that sometimes you have to put the person first and not their actions
I learned that two people can see different sides of the same incident
I learned that indifferent of the consequences
those who are honest with themselves are the winners in life
I learned that your life can be changed by strangers in a few hours.
I learned that when you think you have nothing to give
your friend can call for help, and you will find the strength to help him

I learned that talking and writing can help to heal your pain.
I learned that you spend too little time with people you love the most…

I learned that is very hard to know when to be nice
so you do not hurt people but you still sustain your opinions

I learned to love so I can be loved in return