Honeymooning

We are off to our Honeymoon tour of the American South:

- Philly: drinks, and friends, and shopping and making sure Ashley didn't forget all the Bulgarian he learned while visiting for the wedding, and packing a truckload of Prof. Grady's vinyl collection to take to his mom's house.

- Bloomington: to see Brooke and check out what the hype is all about. I am hoping for good bars and cheap eats and a little bit of thrift store shopping.

- St. Louis: to visit Kyle's family (my family now, too) and their little cocker spaniel Sophia.

- Sewanee: because I haven't been there since graduation and the place is way too important to me for Kyle to not have seen it yet. Meeting up with my favorite college professors!!!

- Memphis: to visit the fabulous Dr. J who's already promised to take us to Graceland.

- New Orleans: because Kyle is giving a paper at the annual Semiotics conference and I am more than happy to play spouse-of-an-academic and go shopping while he does conference stuff. In all seriousness, New Orleans is a place I've wanted to visit for years...

Also, I am hoping for good weather and cheap motels (the kind that make you feel like you're in a bad 70s horror film). And Prof. Grady...well, he hopes for good weather and burritos.

If you happen to live in any of the above-mentioned places...or have a detour in mind...well, let us know. We might be coming your way anyway!

Blast from the past

Back from Varna. Spent the last few days at a renovated communist monstrosity of a hotel.


Some things change and still, they feel like they never did. Total blast from the past.

How've you been?

Fuck, was I...

In a comment she left like 34 seconds ago, a little girl I've recently "met" through the good workings of the Internets, said she's having a "not so glorious day". Strange, I thought. My day was not so glorious either. Not that anything bad happened. Everything was fine. Just that... I won't be telling my grandchilren about it either. I mean, I had shopska salad for lunch and ate truffles for dessert does not make much of a story, does it?

But then I got home and we ordered pizza, watched an episode of Weeds and now we are both working to Jenny Owen Youngs' wistful What the fuck was I thinking...And I realize that some days are better off being not so glorious. They are meant for reflection and quiet love and, hell, a little bit of melancholy too.

Hope you all are doing well. Especially you, girl. :)

Life...in a sentence

A website called OneSentence, telling true stories in just one sentence, has been making me smile for the last two days. Here are some of my favorites:

- The last night of camp, when the counselor announced "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands," no one clapped, but one kid did flip him off.

- Unless she could come up with another five dollars and some odd cents within two weeks, Whiskers had to deal the fact that I'd accidentally purchased dog food.

- I thought the anti-depressants were working until I came back to work.

- I knew it would be a bad day when the bagel place told me they would have to fill the rest of my coffee cup with decaf.

- Asking a software engineer to fix your computer is like asking an historian what he did last night.

- I held my father's hand as he died in that hospital room and realized I'd never held his hand before that moment.

- I worry he's just waiting for the last Harry Potter book to come out before he kills himself.

- I was out of prison for nearly a week before I stopped waiting for other people to open doors for me.

- I thought I'd love being a stay at home mom until I realized that I would always be in the house with a kid.

- I slept with your pillow every night while you were gone because it smelled like you, but now... it smells like me

Go, go! See it! And then come back and report what you found!

Why the wedding ring should be worn on the fourth finger

Just came across this explanation of why the wedding ring should be worn on the forth finger. Try it!!! It's awesome!!!

There is a beautiful and convincing explanation given by the Chinese.....

Thumb represents your Parents
Second (Index) finger represents your Siblings
Middle finger represents your-Self
Fourth (Ring) finger represents your Life Partner
& the Last (Little) finger represents your children

To understand why you should wear your wedding ring on your fourth finger, do the following:

First, open your palms (face to face), bend the middle fingers and hold them together - back to back. Secondly, open and hold the remaining three fingers and the thumb - tip to tip(As shown in the figure below):



Now, try to separate your thumbs (representing the parents)...: they will open, because your parents are not destined to live with you lifelong, and have to leave you sooner or later.

Please join your thumbs as before and separate your Index fingers (representing siblings)...: they will also open, because your brothers and sisters will have their own families and will have to lead their own separate lives.

Now join the Index fingers and separate your Little fingers (representing your children)...: they will open too, because the children also will get married and settle down on their own some day.

Finally, join your Little fingers, and try to separate your Ring fingers (representing your spouse)...: you will be surprised to see that you just CANNOT... because Husband & Wife have to remain together all their lives - through thick and thin!!

I would like to rid the text of the underlying assumption that marriage is the one and only way to happiness, but other than that, I am cool with it. Now, all I need to figure out is why in Bulgaria, we wear our wedding rings on our right hand and in the States, people wear theirs on the left. Our multi-cultural family has had numerous conversations about that and has decided to follow suit depending on the country we are currently in.

We are getting ready for some serious ring-switching NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***
via KnockOut at Quoteland.

True story.

Kyle’s mom Mary and her husband Tom went to Italy on vacation. They stayed at a restored Medici palace, which, believe it or not, is still in the hands of the grand-grand-grand children of the Medici Royal Family. Kyle’s mom was filled with awe. She loved the place but also felt extremely nervous to be in the presence of all those royal people who still lived/worked at the palace. One morning, right before breakfast, she runs into a Medici woman. Mary’s thunderstruck. She tries to get it all together, thinking, Oh my god! What do I say to her?! Bonna serra?! Bon giorno?!...?!?!!

So she stops for a second, looks up at the woman and says: Guurrrrrr!!!

Then turns around and runs away.

Work-related

Work-related browsing took me to the coolest collection of antique Bulgarian irons.



Fascinating, isn't it?

Clothes and porn

In a cross-atlantic ICQ conversation earlier today:

Petya: Are you wearing any of your Bulgarian stuff?...pause...Dude! That totally sounded like a line from a porn movie.
Cristi: That's alright. I've worn the flowered jacket so far. I love the top, but I need to get the right bra for it. I'm too big to go free style in such a loose top.
Petya: Kyle and I went back to that store and got 4 pieces for him too.
Cristi: Nice
Petya: Everyone I know gets so lucky there. Everyone but me.
Cristi: Now THAT sounded like a porn line. Some guy just needs to respond, I'll get you lucky and start taking off his clothes.

Aaah.

Mid-day madness

An elephant asks a camel: "Why are your breasts on your back?"
"Well" says the camel, "I think it is a strange question from somebody who's dick is on his face".

Love and sex

"Viagra may promote feelings of love: In a rat study, it tripled the release of oxytocin, known as the "love hormone." Researchers suspect it does the same to people. Previous studies showed that "oxytocin-sensitive cells in the brain play a role in the neural control of erectile responses." Old idea: Viagra promotes sex mechanically, by boosting blood flow to the penis. New female idea: Viagra can promote love, not just sex. New male idea: Viagra can promote love, thereby getting me more sex."

Thought you'd care.
via Slate

Eeeeww

Don't know if I am too drunk or what...but...my wine tastes like prosciutto. Eeewww.

First day

Here are some photos from our wedding-wedding:





People keep asking what was my most favorite thing about the day. I keep avoiding answering the question because it is a difficult question to have to answer. But...if I have to...

Towards the very end of the evening, most guests had already left. Ina and Mike were still there and so were the parents. Several other people too...finishing up their last drink for the evening. The waiters were putting things away and what was left of all the decorations were some candles at the bar and most people seemed not to notice us anymore. Kyle and I danced to Bright Eyes' First Day of My Life.

Bright Eyes: First Day Of My Life

This is the first day of my life
I swear I was born right in the doorway
I went out in the rain suddenly everything changed
They're spreading blankets on the beach

Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
Now I don’t know where I am
I don’t know where I’ve been
But I know where I want to go

And so I thought I’d let you know
That these things take forever
I especially am slow
But I realize that I need you
And I wondered if I could come home

Remember the time you drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
And I thought it was strange you said everything changed
You felt as if you'd just woke up
And you said “this is the first day of my life
I’m glad I didn’t die before I met you
But now I don’t care I could go anywhere with you
And I’d probably be happy”

So if you want to be with me
With these things there’s no telling
We just have to wait and see
But I’d rather be working for a paycheck
Than waiting to win the lottery
Besides maybe this time is different
I mean I really think you like me

That dance is my favorite thing from that day.
The happiest I have been in my entire life.

High on Weeds

Remember when Prof. Grady and I finished watching the Sopranos and got depressed because we couldn't find another cool show to watch? Well, don't worry about us NO MORE. We discovered WEEDS. Not only is the show FUNNY, but the music director shares our taste in music! They had Death Cab for Cutie do a cover of the song that plays during the opening credits!!!!! Ironically, this also makes me feel kind of old. People my age are having such grown-up and high-profile jobs as selecting the music for super-popular TV shows. And I thought I had a lot of responsibilities...

Speaking of old, are you guys as disappointed with Britney's performance at the VMA's as I am? So boring! One could not sit through the whole thing without the help of a joint, I swear!

P.S. Got the complete Season 1 and Season 2 soundtrack of Weeds! Thank you Qrassio!

The meaning of compromise

The best thing about our wedding was getting to spend time with our families and living through moments that everyone knew would become treasured family stories to be told at family reunions and dinner parties and…well…blogs…over and over and over again.

Here’s a little conversation that took place between my sister Ina and her boyfriend Mike-from-Texas:



Mike: I would really like to move out of downtown Bremen. I would like us to get a small house, the two of us and my roommate. And get a dog.
Ina: OK. But I would prefer we lived in an apartment in downtown Bremen.
Mike: Well…OK.
Ina: Only, that I would not want to share a place with your roommate.
Mike: Err…OK.
Ina: And, actually, I don’t think we should get a dog.
Mike: But, Ina! That’s not how these things work. We’ve got to compromise!
Ina: Yes, you are right…(pause)…Maybe, we can get a dog.

The little one, she too comes from a family with a long tradition of women who do not know the true meaning of the word compromise.

PG-13

Prof. Grady and I watched Flashdance last night. He kept telling me I should prepare for a bad movie but for some reason I did not believe him. I though, come on, I know it’s not GREAT…but it’s fun. Well, I should have trusted him, given that the last time I saw (and loved) the movie, I was 5.

All quality judgments aside, though…

People!!! That movie is VERY SEXUAL!

I can’t believe they let kids watch her take her bra off from under her sweater!!!

Cashmere Mafia

The new ABC series, Cashmere Mafia, premieres some time later this fall. The show tracks the lives of “four Manhattan women bonded by their Ivy League educations and executive success”. The show is meant to be (you guessed it) “a thinking woman's Sex and The City”.

Now, my initial response is to squeal with excitement over the possibility of having another Sex-and-the-City-type show to drool over. I mean…seriously! Apart from the shoes and the fashion…just think of all the funny one-liners!!!

***

Charlotte: Imagine, being blind and not being able to see a beautiful day like today. Can you think of anything worse?
Anthony: Stonewashed jeans and a matching jacket.

Carrie: I just love Sleeping Beauty! The music, the sets, the costumes. It's so romantic!
Stanford: You only like it because she sleeps for a hundred years and doesn't age.

Samantha: I don't believe in the Republican party or the Democratic party. I just believe in parties.

Miranda: I had often fantasized about running into my ex and his wife. But in those fantasies, I was running over them with a truck.

***

Still, from what I’ve read so far, that Cashmere Mafia business…gives me the creeps. For many reasons, like:

- The fact that it is set in Manhattan, like, there’s nothing worth depicting anywhere else. I dread the fact that “NEW YORK” will be “the fifth main character” in the series. It’s bad enough that Woody Allen made a career out of that…and that Sarica Jessica Parker (TM: Prof. Grady) does not shut about it…

- I hate the fact that the show seems to be trying to correct some of the “mistakes” of Sex and the City. Like, don’t know if you remember, but one of the BIG criticisms about Sex and the City was that it was largely a “white” show. So, what do they do this time? They invite Lucy Liu to play one of the leading parts. Because, you know, having one Asian American woman on a primetime TV show means that the network does not racially stereotype? Puh-lease!!!

- In an effort to create a show for/about thinking women they come up with “four Manhattan women bonded by their Ivy League educations and executive success”. How fucking simple-minded is that?! When are people going to stop measuring women against male standards of success?! Does anyone (man or woman) benefit from that?!

And, yes, I know that I am reading too much into it. And, yes, I know that it is a little bit too early to start bashing the show (given that I have not seen a single episode and all). But the way people talk about it has given me yet another reason to be absolutely amazed with contemporary media’s complete inability to figure out what to do with us women. They have figured enough out: they know they have the power to battle stereotypes. But, unfortunately, in response to one stereotype, they participate in creating another. Some committee in a big conference room somewhere sat down and decided: We need to start showing more successful women on TV. We need to get rid of the stereotype that all women are motherly and domestic. So what do they do in turn—create a show about cut-throat ambitious women in corporate jobs. They don’t want to create a show about quiet women, being subservient wives to their husband. So, instead, they add a lesbian character into a show. Big fucking whoop!

Now, I need your help on this… Am I wrong in feeling that women deserve more options…at least on TV?!

This little life of ours...

It’s my first post-wedding day at the office, an unusually quiet day here at the Netage premises.

- I am happy to find out that the new office manager has started putting Vafli Borovets in our snack-box. That, to me, is enough of a reason to recommend him for promotion.
- Catching up on my blog-reading, I find the following paragraph written by my dear friend Stefan:

онзи ден светофарите около телевизионната кула не работеха
аз закъснявах за интервю с татяна лолова
и го казах на таксиметровия шофьор
той мина в насрещното
после по трамвайната линия
и някак на косъм успя да се промъкне
без да го блъснат

- I am asked if I am interested in attending a three day PM training course in Varna at the end of the month. Hell yeah, I’m interested.
- Talking to Prof. Grady we agree we are both looking forward to spending quiet time at home. Just finished watching the last season of the Sopranos, though, so we need to find a new show to be addicted to.

This little life of ours…it’s a good life.