Obscure Journey

Some thoughts after 6 months

Publié le 25 Juin 2017 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #freelancing, #life experience, #review

Dear readers, 6 months have [almost] passed as I type this, and by the time it will go up, the situation wouldn't have changed.

I think this is a type for freelancers and bloggers alike to draw a line to see if they follow the plan they set at the beginning of the year.

It's a time to think about what we learned, lost, and gained. It's also a time to try and reset goals for the 2nd half of the year if the results are not the ones you expected.

If you're not a business, you'll probably have a harder time setting quarterly goals. :(

WHAT I GAINED

As far as I'm concerned, I don't think I gained much - except for a lot of weight, OOPS . When 2016 ended, all I wanted was a 'different' year, with hopes for a better one. Well, so far so good - it was better than the previous one. I gained 10 kg in about 2 weeks, back in January. As June comes to an end, I still haven't lost 1 kg. Maybe I should go back to this post and remind myself on how that's done. ;)

I also gained a bit of insight into how I can keep myself on a more productive line: bullet journaling. You can read about me discovering it in this post. I can't really have an opinion on how this goes since not even a month passed since I started it, but I think that if I keep at it, I will have more results by the end of the year.

I also gained some insight that proves I'm not as mature as I'd like to be. For instance, it seems that when I decide I want something, I want it RIGHT NOW, despite some other factors clearly stating it is impossible to get. What do I mean?

Last year we decided we'll move to either Canada or France, with later deciding on France - closer to Romania, therefore easier and cheaper to do. I thought we'll be doing this in 2 months tops... but, haha 6 months later and we still have to buy tickets and stuff. It turns out, leaving for another country is more work than I previously anticipated. This pill is a bit hard to swallow, to be honest, and only someone who is still immature will not see it.

WHAT I LEARNED

What did I learn..? Thinking about it, I can't really tell, but let me try...

I learned some Mandarin Chinese - since my memory is super bad, I can't remember if I ever mentioned I'm teaching myself Mandarin. I studied mostly grammar aspects, and soon I will have to start with learning the Han characters [this is what I understood they're called in China].

I also learned that no matter how much I love cats some of them are simply not for me, or that I can't take care of all of those that come my way. That cat found some human to take care of her, but I will be lying if I said I don't miss her: she was hilarious to be honest, despite her destructive nature. But, as I accumulate more years, I realize I need calm and peace more than anything.

I also learned that creative people can't work for other people, at least not in a 9-to-5 environment. While I may not seem so at first sight, this blog is proof enough I'm creative, as well as some of the drawings/doodles you occasionally saw [there is one right in this post, higher up ;) ].

You can also see the unedited version below because I couldn't decide which one I like more. The cursive is how I really write in my dream journal - should I post pictures of it?

I am learning now to be a bit more flexible. For instance, if I plan something in advance, I must be prepared to change those plans. Freelancers or business owners will probably know this struggle more than other folks.

WHAT DID i LOSE

Well, for starters I lost a stable job, or better said I gave it up, but mostly because it was eating my health away. I didn't search for a new one. Well, you might think I have less money coming in, and this might be true. However, as a 'freelance writer' I can tell you I had projects that paid as much as the job I gave up did. Basically, a project lasting 2 weeks brought in as much dough as a month slaving away at the job. [I do plan on writing a blog about my experience in the 'normal' work-field, but I don't know when].

PLANS FOR THE UPCOMING 6 MONTHS

I plan on continuing with the bullet journal I started - I really see it as a good way to keep myself organized and on track. I do recommend it to all my readers. I also need to improve it, as the first month planning didn't impress me. Since I never did this before, I can't now how to do it in a way that works for me - but I will.

I want to workout more - not really to lose weight [as I'm not sure it will happen], but my body simply asks for it [at least at times]. I will hopefully lose some weight as well.

I will study more French - I can read it, I understand quite a bit, but speaking it... that's a whole different story. I will obviously continue with Chinese as well, so this will not even be mentioned. After we move to France [it's a matter of when not if], I will have to find a job [I want to buy a house there, as renting is something I'm done with] and being able to understand and speak the language will be helpful [for obvious reasons]. I also want to apply for the French citizenship [or naturalization] so I will also have to study more about France' history and culture and so on. This thought actually excites me.

AND YOU?

How was your year so far? what aspects will you improve? or do you have any piece of advice for me?

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Exploring Bucharest

Publié le 18 Juin 2017 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #adventures, #beauty, #bucharest, #commuting, #public transportation, #spring

This blog entry is LONG overdue. And I mean, 1 year overdue! wow! So, everything you'll see here was recorded in 2016, but I never got around to do anything with all this material. Today is a good day to show you all that I gathered.

I like looking at old buildings and imagine their history - what did they look like when they were new, what did people think of them, the lives of those that lived in them as well as what did they think of the construction they called "home."

Some buildings are nicer than others, but I rarely discriminate - I'm usually able to see beauty in the weirdest places and forms. All the images are from Bucharest, but you won't see them in any travel guide as they're generally from residential areas. The video will show you both sides of the river splitting the city in half and was recorded in early spring - March, and then a few weeks or a month later.

The next few houses cannot usually be seen by tourists. Well, I also forgot where exactly they are located, sorry.

I know where this one is. On a very quiet street, uptown, in a very posh and expensive area. The street has 2 lanes, one for each direction. In my opinion, the picture doesn't make it justice, or maybe my memory is bad. The roof covers the sides, like a mountain house. I remember it was love at first sight when I laid my eyes on it the first time around.

The next one must have looked really good at first. I really like that patio in the "tower" - it must be my favorite feature of this house.

I wonder if anyone bought this next house. It looks really bad, but I see a lot of beautifying potential in it. Since [I'm pretty sure] it was on a quiet street, the possibilities are quite many for it.

Next, is an old and rather ugly apartment building. I believe its facade was redone, but it simply is not as impressive in my eyes. I forgot why I took a picture of it - perhaps the creepiness factor was what drove me to it. Maybe it looks better in real life? Anyways, you can easily see this one downtown as it is on one of the main street tourists are taken on a double-decked bus.

I also like mosaics. The one with blue tiles can be seen downtown in Unirii Square, in one of the fountains. I'm not sure if all the fountains have the same mosaic design, because I never really paid close attention. Perhaps they're just similar? The brownish one was the floor of a shop uptown, in an old building. That's all I remember.

And if you made it this far, maybe you want to take a short bus ride with me? Tourists don't really get to see this scenery.

Since I'm trying to learn Chinese, i tried translating the video title into Chinese.

You should let me know if you want more posts like this one. I still have some unpublished pictures.

Until next time, stay safe!

[ps: i just started learning Chinese, so please don't be too harsh on me]

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bullet journaling and cleaning

Publié le 4 Juin 2017 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #advice, #bullet journaling, #cleaning, #life experience

If you know me, you know I dislike cleaning the most. However, it's not something I can escape. Nobody can escape it. To make myself stick to a good cleaning routine I decided to use a bullet journal. It seems like it is a good way to keep people organized and productive. I only just started it now in June simply because I just learned about it.

I tried once in the past year, but I failed at following it. I hope to be more successful this time. The main weekly tasks are cleaning on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I started with Thursday’s task, the stove: it needs a single day, because reasons, see below:

Has your stove ever been this dirty? No? How did you do it? I won't lie, I'm envious because I never liked cleaning and on top of that, I wasn't good at maintaining the place clean either I really have no idea how people do it. But now, thanks to my bullet journal I hope to become one of those people.

The first thing I did regarding this mess, was to grab an old knife and start scratching like a scratch card while the stove was cold and dry. The mess is some cream soup that boiled over so my approach worked really well. It was gone in less than 10 minutes and it also worked on the greasy parts - at least some of them. After 20 or 30 minutes of working on it, it looked like this:

Since I'm not as healthy as I used to be [not that I'm very sick, but I get tired really fast lately], I had to take breaks from time to time. I can't know for sure how long it took me to clean it to this state, seen below. Maybe a grand total of 2 hours? 2 hours and a half?

Clearly, next week, my pretty stove will not be as dirty, and it will be much more easy [and fast] to clean.

Let's see some pics - from before and after, for a better understanding:

I do want to mention the cleaning products I used as well, because the end result was not possible with just scrubbing. I used:

- a piece of old towel,
- Axion the grease stripper
- Triumf for stoves and ovens [a Romanian cleaning products brand] - this think strips grease like crazy! and you need to wear gloves when using it, as well as a face mask because it's off-gasing.

So, what is the point of this entry?

I really don't know. I guess, i just want to tell people that even the most difficult tasks can be taken care of, even if at a slower pace. And that if you need something to keep you motivated, bullet journaling can be quite useful.

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