I have been absent for quite a while - again! Please forgive me. I have been way too busy enjoying longer days and the smell of spring in the air. I really think it's amazing to wake up when it's light already and to be able to go for a run (ehmm ...roll) in the sun after work. It just fills me up with energy and positivity. It's also great to be able to sit outside at night without being cold...A drink may help, but that's a minor detail. :)
Lately I have been thinking a lot about my future, my wishes, expectations, ambitions and goals. At the moment my life is going into a completely different direction than the one I had in mind. At first, I found it scary, thinking that if I don't follow my dreams now it will soon be too late to do it. That there is no way back. That's what I am like: I am always on the move and although I appreciate what I have, I am never 100% satisfied. I think this is actually what keeps me going, what keeps me wanting to improve every day. I am restless and future-oriented, which is often a good thing but it can also make you go crazy. Seeing as I am crazy enough, I decided it was time to stop it. As usual, M. managed to put my mind at peace by telling me that: "If what you do makes you happy, you'll end up achieving your ultimate goal in life, eventually." Now, I thought I knew what my goal was...I am not sure anymore. But it's ok for the time being. Sometimes you need to let go, you need to stop being a control freak and take things as they come. If it is true that we are the makers of our own destiny, I also believe that sometimes we have to go with the flow. After all, I am lucky to be always busy, never bored (something which, unfortunately, is not very common in this general state of apathy which permeates the whole of the Italian society), and surrounded by an ever increasing number of enthusiastic people.
I have always hated goodbyes. Those of you who know me well know how much I suffer every time I have to leave a place or the people I like - which, in my case, is equal to a life of suffering seeing that, as M. would rightly say, I like almost all the places I end up in and 90% of the people I meet.
As much as I like being a drama queen, I think it's not time for me to move on. Not yet :)
"Oh, I forgot to tell you I am now part of an organisation...Well, I am actually its only member in Trieste...It's called guerrilla gardening." my dad went the other day. I didn't know whether to take him seriously or not, but experience has taught me that when my parents come up with something twisted...it is probably true!
Funny as it may sound, the organisation does exist. It's basically a group of people who want to keep green areas clean and tidy. In order to act undisturbed they often meet in the middle of the night and plant flowers, water plants, fertilise the soil...Their guidelines state that the members of the organisation should limit the use of cars as much as possible (in order to be as inconspicuous as possible) and even educate an older member to carry on with "maintenance work" i.e. to make sure that a specific green area is kept tidy after the action of the guerrilla warriors. I can't help picturing an old guy with a walking stick in one hand and a watering can in the other, looking out for possible enemies approaching and thinking: "Re-vo-lu-ciòn! Hasta la victoria!" :)))
My dad is now one of these guys. He's always been a countryside lad. Someone who loves being in the open air and who spends most of the year with a spade in his hands. Someone who knows that courgettes don't naturally grow in February and who expects his daughter to tell an oak tree from a birch and a willow from an ash tree (although I am not a very practical person, I swear I can do it!). Now, in his early sixties, he decided he needs to spice up his life and become subversive. Result: the other day he almost got shot in the head by a hunter who was alarmed by my dad's suspicious behavior (i.e. clearing a path no one had walk on for the last 25 years or so).
I may not like the idea of my dad dying "on the battlefield" but I am proud of people who care about the world around them, starting from their own gardens and the paths they walk on every day. I also think that a healthy dose of disobedience is what we need to feel alive. I am the kind of person who might come across as fearful, but I am actually not. I am just someone who likes observing people before deciding whether they are my cup of tea or not. I am also someone who is not ready to show undue respect or be nice to someone just because "s/he is the boss". Unfortunately we are not all equal, I know that for a fact, but I am not going to suck up to anyone because it's just lame! I think you get much more from life if you stick to the people you like (and I am lucky to know many!) and simply put up with the ones you don't like that much. Without letting them stamping on you.
To conclude, here's a poem I heard in an interview with Roberto Saviano the other day:
I’m not afraid they’ll stamp me flat. Grass stamped flat soon becomes a path.
I come home after a long day at work. I
am about to start cooking dinner (i.e. turn into a fridge looter and
eat anything that is left over) when I get a phone call from a number
I don't know.
“Hello, can I speak to Dana, please?”
“Speaking.”
“It's XY from the blabla newspaper. I
heard you won a prize and I would like to have an interview with you.
We could do it now if you feel like it.”
My wet dream about food was interrupted
so abruptly that it took me about 15 seconds to reply. I had
won a prize and I was obviously flattered that people found out about
it but...hang on! Who was this guy? And, most importantly, how did he
get my mobile phone number? Slovene people in Trieste all know each
other. If they don't know someone personally, they surely know his
mother or his mother's friend or the friend's uncle who knows someone
who knows the person we are talking about. Does this make sense? It
doesn't to me...Anyway, this is how things work in the place where I
grew up (and this is also why I ran away). Because of this “6
degrees of separation” mentality, which permeates our little world,
it is almost normal to get calls from strangers. I obviously wasn't
ready for an interview straight away. Thanks to interpreting I have
become quite good at improvising, I have to say, but there's only so
much I can do after a whole day at work. So I told the guy (who was
by now talking to me like to an old friend) to call me the day after.
When he did, I just couldn't believe my own ears! He knew where I
studied before going to uni, he knew where I graduated, he knew I had
translated a long and important document last autumn (I am not going
to tell you what it was seeing as it's apparently not that difficult
to find out!). He knew everything, probably even the colour of
my knickers! And (listen to this!) when I asked him if he needed a
photo of me (I have learned that journalists like adding visual
material to their articles), he replied: “Oh no, I'll use the
picture you have on Twitter if that's ok with you.” WTF?!
The sad thing is that it's all my
fault. Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter...and me being a social butterfly
and giving my number to (almost) random good looking guys! I dread to
think how many pictures of me are out there. Pictures I have
forgotten about or pictures I never even knew existed! Let alone all
the random comments on Facebook...God knows how many things people
can find out about me without me knowing. I'm sure some of you just
went: “And keeping a blog certainly doesn't help, you numpty!” :) Scary stuff!
So here I am, ready to spend the Easter
holidays with a lovely wee lassie and mountains of chocolate. No
internet, no photos, no traces in cyber space. Instead, I'll make sure I hug
you all properly when I see you again! ENJOY! :)
I don't get to see my
parents that often these days. In fact, they keep telling me they
miss me more now than when I was abroad. So when we do get together we
have to make sure we tell each other as many things as we can about
our lives. Today was one of those catching-up days. After 20 minutes
of me talking, my dad just went: “You know what? Your life is like
a film: you are young, you have a nice job and lovely friends (may
I add I am also incredibly sexy, rich and successful). Not to
mention all the people you know who are falling in love/falling out
of love/planning to get married/divorce/have babies/move to the other
end of the world.”
I have never thought of
myself as a film star. I actually often think other people lead lives
that get very close to a film plot, not me. Also, I am not a gossiper so I
don't know how my dad knows about all these “scandals”. As for
the number of friends, I have always thought it's good to know a lot
of people (the more people you know, the more you learn), but have
just a few good friends (“pochi ma boni”, as you say in Trieste).
There is also one other reason why I wouldn't classify as a film star: I am not
madly in love with a hot guy (yet :). In any case there are good
films and bad films, the happy and the sad ones. If “living like in
a film” = spending a whole day in the sun (the first one this year!
Welcome back, spring!) catching up with nice people, then I have no
problem with being compared to a VIP.
It's been a long time
since my last blog entry...It's scary to see how the number of posts
per month decreased compared to when I first started writing! The
truth is I've been crazily busy. Working (and trying to recover after
work!) and socialising. I realised I go crazy if all I do is go to
work, come home, eat and go to bed. Luckily I am surrounded by people
who are always up for a chat/a drink. I really think we should never
take friendships for granted (whether it be new ones or old ones).
Although most of the
people who will read these lines are also those I am closer too (and
therefore probably don't need an update through this blog), I'll
still tell you what the highlights of these past two weeks have been.
Some of them are funny, others make me confused. So here I am, trying
to organise my thoughts before the weekend starts. People often say
that those who are messy “on the outside” are very organised
“inside”. I can definitely say this holds true for me: I am a
really untidy person, but I know where I am going (kind of) and I
know what I want (more or less).
- Interpreting at a
conference: adrenalin overdose
- Working for two since
my colleague was ill: more adrenalin
- Realising that I can
go from stage 3 to stage 2 and back to stage 3 in a couple of days:
confusion
- Noticing that, often,
people who call themselves
anarchists/environmentalists/revolutionaries... don't like taking
showers. Yuk!
- Being a passenger in
my colleague's new car: fun!
- Being involved in a
car accident while getting home by taxi: scary shit (more due to the
drivers' reactions than to the accident in itself).
- Planning a reunion
with old friends: excitement!
- Playing with my
friend's baby: cuteness
- Playing rugby: lactic
acid
- Discovering there are
people who are just as fond of strawberry and rhubarb crumbles as T.
and I are
(and realising that rhubarb grows in a drier climate too –
wohooo!): amazement!
- Getting a message
from my parents telling me there are home-grown strawberries in the
freezer. Coincidence or a sign? It's definitely crumble time!
- Realising you've got
friends who put up with you even when you are so tired you are not
able to behave “normally”. Relief (and luck!)
- Waiting to see
someone nice: fingers crossed ;)
- Ending the week with
a chocolate mousse and coffee liqueur. Bliss!
I don't know if it's a physical reaction or a mental one, but once I get past the "I am soooo knackered I want to go to bed NOW" stage, I always get to the "I am hungry but there's no way I can eat" stage. And then it's over. I reach the point of no return. I can turn anything, absolutely anything into a joke.
I invent new puns and plays on words, I giggle like a madwoman, my brain works at fool speed!
I honestly think tiredness is a dangerous thing! It's like being high on laughing gas! It makes you lose all inhibitions and treat anyone like an old friend. I am not sure this is a good thing for someone like me, who's already such a chatterbox. My colleague has just asked me for my pusher's address, saying she needs some stuff too. In her case, I know she's just as crazy as me and I am happy if I can make her laugh. I am more worried about my neighbours who will hear me giggle by myself...And, most of all, I am worried about making a bad impression on peopleguys a guy I don't know that well. Serious people are always better off because they can control what comes out of their mouth (well, interpreters should be able to do it too...ehm ehm). There's a thin line between being funny and being foolish. Intriguing people are almost always mysterious and being funny and mysterious at the same time is almost impossible, don't you think?
A silly post for a silly evening. On a more serious note...Have you noticed that spring has finally arrived?? The first crocuses are out in our garden and it's just wonderful to know that this long and cold winter is coming to an end!
