An: 2014

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My Brain vs. The Computer and The OS

Replica of Zuse Z3, the first fully automated analog computer

Dear Readers,

Ever since my brain was damaged, I became very interested in how this „pretty” organ works and how mine is working, in particular. In nearly all articles that were read to me, the brain is often compared to a computer and unanimously described as an electric network. If this is the case, everyone of us owns a very powerful computer without even knowing. All sorts of associations between my damaged brain and a computer/ an OS come to mind.

If my brain is a computer, then I’m functioning on a Pentium 1 Processor, with 126 MB RAM, with no graphic card and broken sound card. The default OS is Windows 98. read more

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Sunt la 2m de margine și mă gândesc…

My version of six feet from the edge

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„Sunt la doi metri de margine și mă gândesc că poate doi metri nu înseamnă chiar atât de mult în jos.”

Există momente în viață când treci prin evenimente care te fac, la propriu, să simți că tocmai ai lovit pământul. Am descris odată acest sentiment ca și cum viața te-ar lovi puternic în fund și te-ar împinge de pe acoperișul unei clădiri turn. Deși nu poți opri cădere, iar alta nu poți face decât a aștepta să lovești pământul, nu poți nici să nu auzi vocea vieții râzând în spatele tău și spunându-ți: „Prostule!” Uneori ai zăcea acolo, pe trotuar, spart în mii de bucăți, dezintegrat. read more

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„6 Ft from the Edge”

My version of six feet from the edge

Dear Readers,

„I’m six feet from the edge and I’m thinking that maybe six feet ain’t so far down”. There are times in life when you go through events that make you, quite literally, feel like you just hit the ground. I once described this feeling as if life kicks you in the butt so hard and pushes you off a tower building. While you can’t stop the fall and wait to hit the ground, you can’t also stop hearing life’s voice laughing behind your back and telling you: „You fool!” Sometimes you would lay there on the pavement, broken into thousands of pieces, disintegrated. read more

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May I Serve You Some True Blood, Ma’am?

Fooling around with grapefruit juice after finishing True Blood

Dear Readers,

(The Big Red Haired Fox, Ana, keeps telling me that the blog gets more hits and visitors each month, so, I am upping the formula to readers and will talk to you as a whole from now on. Do not feel depersonalized on me now, I care about each one of you, especially if you are not a hit and runner.)

The idea of writing about the thick blood issue was seeded in my mind a while ago, but decided to hear another doctor’s opinion on the matter, before posting something. This last doctor confirmed some of my beliefs. read more

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The Road to Perdition (to Bucharest)

Catalina, T. and M. at JIKO Clinic, Bucharest

Dear Reader,

I named this post as I did because last time I was in Bucharest I nearly lost my life. As you can imagine, I am now in the city with my sister and my mom for more tests, procedures and alternative therapy. It doesn’t feel like perdition any longer, but I still have time to change my mind about that thought. Hopefully not (added later: I haven’t changed my mind).

For a while now, my family and I have been thinking about finding better and more open minded doctors to help my case. However, a trip to Bucharest would have been difficult. Through a strange chain of events, a person we haven’t heard of in 18 years (his name is T.) showed up out of the blue and offered to help. For a few weeks, I kept changing my mind about this trip ( I believe I was very scared). But then, more help was offered, all stars were aligned and I was forcefully dragged out of my beloved bed I was glued to for the last 10 months, to come to Bucharest. read more

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„A song that no one sings”

Dear Reader,

Do you know what the word „vermillion” means? It is a word I a first heard about nine years ago, in a song „Vermillion Pt.2.0”, by Slipknot, but I was never interested in finding out what it means. Until this morning, when I asked The Big Red Head Fox ( Ana) to tell me the definition.

Vermillion is an alternative writing for the word vermilion.

vermilion= a brilliant red pigment made from cinnabar (mercury sulphide)(Oxford Dictionary)

origin. It comes from the Old French word „vermellion”, which was derived from „vermeil”from the Latin word „vermilculus”,the diminutive form of the word „vermis” (worm).The name originated from this word  because the color is similar to the natural dye made by an insect, Kermes vermilio. read more

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Un cântec pe care nimeni nu îl cântă

Dragă cititorule,

Știi ce înseamnă cuvântul „vermillion”? Este un cuvânt pe care l-am auzit prima dată acum aproximativ nouă ani, într-o piesă „Vermillion Pt.2.0” de la Slipknot, dar nu am fost niciodată interesată să aflu ce înseamnă. Până în această dimineață, când am rugat-o pe The Big Red Head Fox (Ana) să-mi spună definiția.

Vermillion este o scriere alternativă pentru cuvântul vermilion.

vermilion = un pigment roșu strălucitor obținut din cinabru (sulfură de mercur) (Dicționar Oxford) read more

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Dar îmi place când mă învârt în strânsoarea sa

Massive Attack - Heligoland

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Voi începe ideea de „Stuck on Replay” cu o melodie de la Massive Attack, „Paradise Circus”, pe care o puteți asculta mai jos.

Ai fost vreodată atât de obsedat de o melodie, încât nu o poți scoate din minte? În cazul meu, „Paradise Circus” a fost doar o ceașcă de ceai timp de aproximativ 5 ani, când am ascultat-o ​​prima dată la Radio Guerrilla, La Unica Radio con Cojones. Așa că voi fi foarte entuziasmată cu cuvintele mele de laudă. Și, promit, este singura dată când voi face asta. read more

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„But I like it when I’am spinning in it’s Grip”

Massive Attack - Heligoland

Dear Reader,

I’ll start the „Stuck on Replay” idea with a song by Massive Attack, „Paradise Circus”, that you can hear below.
Have you ever been so obsessed over a song that you can’t literally get it out of your mind? In my case, „Paradise Circus” has been just the cup of tea for around 5 years, when I first listened to it on Radio Guerrilla, La Unica Radio con Cojones. So, I will be very high with my words of praise. And, I promise, it is the only time I will do so.
Do you know how hard it is to peak the right ringtone for your phone? You have a dozen songs you like, and you simply cannot decide which one you like the most. So, you end up choosing all of them and setting them separately for different people. Well, not in my case. This song has been the ringtone for my phone since the moment I heard it, and never changed once. I remember feeling so proud of my choice every time the phone rang, especially when I was in crowded places, where other people were able to hear it too. Some of them would even smile at me.
The song gave me courage to talk to a guy I liked back in college. It was a brief conversation and we didn’t speak again, but, in any case, someone really, really cool took notice of me.

It is, also, the last song that I heard before loosing my hearing, last year in December and it is the first song that I started to sound like music, when my hearing began to heal.
Ana changed her ringtone to this song, as well, to help me recognize it and understand it better. Every time her phone rings, Pufi The Yorkie gets really excited and jumps all over the place. He believes that my dad is at the end of the line, which he is in most cases.
I get excited because Hope Sandoval’s voice sounds sweeter and sweeter right from the words „It’s unfortunate…”. read more

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My Soft Spot for Crocheting – The End of the Saga

My Soft Spot for Crocheting and Yarn Bombing

Dear Reader,

This post’s title says that this is the end of the saga, but I really hope that this is not really the end. Today’s post will include things that I omitted or forgot about in the previous posts and a few personal thoughts based on my experience so far.

If you are someone who used to know me back in my teens, you will ironically ask yourselves: „What? Catalina didn’t become some badass  leader, manager, lawyer, journalist, advertising agent, or something like that?” No. I didn’t become anything like that, even if I was that nerdy in school. read more

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