Obscure Journey

A gunshot in the night [short story]

Publié le 31 Mars 2018 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #original story, #short story, #story, #fiction, #mystery

The incident happened shortly after 1AM, on a Monday. The noise was very loud, sharp and it scared the small and usually quiet community we're in.

The night was quiet as most residents were either seniors or needed their rest for another long week in the office, starting the morning. A very loud BANG! was heard in the night, similar to the sound of a gun getting shot in the movies. After that, everything went quiet again.

Here, nobody owned a gun, nor did people know if the others owned one. This also meant they had no idea where the sound came from. If you managed to get close enough to anyone in the community, you'd also learned they would even speak about such details because it wasn't in their nature to do so, especially since guns were taboo.

Mrs. and Mr. 月山 were also asleep at the time of the loud BANG! but the noise woke them up: it sounded so close to their house.

"What was that?!" they wondered looking confused one at the other. They knew that the occupants of the house nearest theirs, were not in town. Or at least they were supposed to have left some 2 days earlier. They were over the moon because apparently they had won a 5-night getaway, from a TV contest. They were heard saying the trip was to an area well known for their hot-springs, at a really nice but not overly expensive ryokan. According to their calculations, they had yet to return.

A young couple from abroad lived across the street, so technically still close enough to the 月山* house. They seemed like nice people, spoke little and broken Japanese. Some residents were scared of them simply because of the language barrier and other misunderstandings that came with it. Others feared the foreigners because of their cute tattoos, however they never gave the impression of being violent people or the kind to carry guns.

However that night Someone pulled the trigger of a gun and it was still Somebody who called the police.

At around 2AM the police lights and sirens started to fill this quiet neighborhood. An ambulance also arrived, though two more were on their way to the crime scene. When something like this happened, TV station crews usually appeared as well, but maybe this time they will stay away. Or will they?

The doorbell of the house where the 月山 lived rang sharply in that quiet darkness. Voices soon followed: "We're sorry to disturb you, we're the police..." Of course the couple expected them to come to their house. Mr. 月山 went to open the door, just like any other good citizen would.

"But was that really the sound of a gun being shot?" he wondered.

footnotes:

*月 [Japanese: tsuki; Chinese: yue4] =moon, month

山 [Japanese: yama; Chinese: shan1] =mountain

**written in December 2017, published in March 2018

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Winter in Bucharest

Publié le 25 Mars 2018 par Charly C.

We all know that the weather has changed all over the world. This year the changes were more obvious than ever, as the snow reached Rome.

Today, as I type this we're hit by another snow storm that started yesterday. It inspired me to show you guys what Bucharest is like in winter.

I sadly don't take many pictures to begin with, and therefore most of the images below are rather repetitive...?

random street in winter

views from my window in winter

I like snow. But only when it is fresh and clean.

Snow fascinates me for some reason - it can be a field or a forest covered with a thick blanket of snow and I could get into a trance. I see it as a symbol of complete solitude, quietness, retreat and the harshest time of the year.

Sometimes I want to live where it's coldest ... yeah, i have weird ideas. Perhaps it's because at times feel that my heart is that frozen and not caring.

I also see the snow as a canvas and it's waiting for something to be created on it.

various snow men. the 2nd was maybe 2" tall

This is one of the views I like the most: trees covered in heavy snow.

As you can tell, most of the images are from past years' winters. The 2nd snowman above was on the hood of a car. Its hat is a beer bottle cap - how adorable!

It only snowed a few times this year. here are some glimpses.

I hope you likes seeing some snowy scenes from Bucharest. But new we're ready for the spring and summer!

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Being a hoarder

Publié le 18 Mars 2018 par Charly C.

Catégories : #life experience, #life lesson, #advice, #tips, #story

Hello there!

My partner would label me a hoarder - at least in some regards. I totally fit the bill of "don't throw that away as you don't know when you might need it!" In recent years I started to tackle this and I generally stopped trying to keep every little thing.

As some of you might know, I recently changed the platform I blog on. I used the well known WordPress but I think over-blog might be a better option for me. The blog on WP is still there, but hidden from the public. [as a back up >.>]

During this move, I had to look at all the past entries and see if the images are still there, to check the links, and other stuff. To my shock, some pictures were completely gone! Luckily, I still had most of them on my computer, on tumblr, and even on a DVD.

However, one blog entry in particular still had some pictures while others were nowhere to be found! DISPAIR!

So I started to search for them everywhere. And I mean everywhere. The only place I didn't look until the end was a folder called "COPY." Lo and behold! The pictures I thought I lost forever, were there! The ONLY copy I still had of those pictures!

I was quite happy to discover them. I edited them as fast as I could and I put them in the blog entry.

This is not the only time I kept something "for later use" and it was actually useful. But I have a hard time recalling the other times, at this point. I really don't know if I could get similar pictures if I didn't find them, so I'm thankful for being a hoarder.

Piece of advice: You don't really need to keep 5 items of the same type, generally 1 is enough.

How about you: Are you a hoarder? Did you ever find yourself in a situation where you wish you kept something you threw away only to discover it would be useful for X situation? Or did you at some point need something you knew you kept and were happy you did keep that thing?

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a visit to the national art museum

Publié le 11 Mars 2018 par Charly C.

As you know, this is not my first time visiting a museum.

However this time I kinda want to start a new type of posts on the blog: free things to do in Bucharest. These entries will not be regular, but I will make a page to collect these entries, so that you can have a better access to them.

So, the Romanian National Art museum has a special offer for its visitors: free entrance EVERY first Wednesday of the month! This also includes taking pictures - but make sure you don't use the flash!

The museum is split in 2: the Romanian art section and the European art section. I wanted to visit the Romanian part first, and we did so. We thought we could also visit the wing with European art, but we forgot to bring something to drink and we were a bit tired as well. So we decided to visit that wing next month.

This means that at last next month you'll have another blog in this series. YAY!

However, since I could take pictures for free, I took a ton of them! And since they were just too many, I turned them into a video that you can see below!

You can contact the museum here:

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ART OF ROMANIA

49-53, Calea Victoriei, Bucharest 010063

Telephone: +4 021.313.30.30; Facsimile: +4 021.312.43.27

The tickets cost about 15 lei per adult, or about 4USD, and apparently they act as day passes because if you keep it, you can return for another visit. Make sure to bring cash because you can't pay with your card. There is a bank across the street from the museum, where you ca withdraw money though, so you don't have to worry so much about this if you forget.

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Annoying commercials and impossible standards

Publié le 8 Mars 2018 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #ads, #annoying, #beauty, #commercials, #review, #shopping

All of them! It really doesn't matter what they promote because all of them are trying to sell impossible things! This is one reason why we don't own a TV set, even though at times I wish we did.

I'm pretty sure others may have written about it as well, but I still need to rant. You can stop reading, if you don't like rants, I guess. One of the reasons I'm putting this one out is in hopes for more people to be inspired to speak their minds and DEMAND realistic or trustworthy ads. Here it goes.

THEY ARE ALL LIES!

This phrase pretty much sums it up. I could end this here, but I must provide some proof for this claim. Let's start with beauty ads.

MASCARA: Do you know that ad for that mascara that makes the lashes appear 3000 times thicker and longer than they really are? That's a lie! There's no mascara available that gives that much volume. That can be obtained ONLY with fake lashes.

image belongs to its author.

I can't even leave aside the amount of photoshop that went in her eyes - the eye ball itself doesn't look normal at all [#shameloreal] - this ad is full of lies. No human being has this much of a difference between their upper and lower lashes. YES, some people HAVE naturally long lashes, but I've only seen it on guys, for some reason. I also wonder if Gwen is really so self centered in her private life - saying about her own lashes they're outrageous is not a good way to present yourself. I also have to point out that people have all sorts of fine lines on their hands, and that some people have a different skin shade on their hands compared with their faces.

HAIR PRODUCTS

The hair products that are commonly advertised are hair-dyes and shampoos. However those ads are also all lies. If there's a famous face used in the commercial, it's safe to assume they use professional products applied by professionals. Also, keep in mind that some hair products actually make your hair more dry than it needs to be, especially when used by themselves. -Don't tell me you didn't notice this!- To have a gorgeous looking hair you need to help it with some masks or oils (especially after a certain age).

Those ads are made against a green screen, some of the models use hair extensions. They also use some guys with sticks to flick the hair of the model to give the impression of more bounce in the hair. Pretty sweet and deceiving, right?

CLOTHES, ACCESSORIES, GADGETS

The clothes ads are perhaps not all lies - with the exception of the very photoshopped models they use. But that's a well known reality and nothing shocking. What the ads for the products have in common is the complete absence of reality, such as: a normal person will never stay in that pose the whole day, or go to the same places the model was taken to for the photo shoot. This applies to rich people too: they're generally busy getting more rich [more power to them, I guess] but they still wouldn't stay motionless throughout the day like in some ads.

I also don't think an experience will become better or worse thanks to the clothes or accessories I use. For instance, if I buy a bathing suit from an ad and I go to the beach I will still have the same experience as when wearing a 20 years old bathing suit that was not advertised for. The weather would be the same as well, regardless of what I wear.

And please don't tell me I can find the love of my life while running just because I chose to wear a certain watch, like seen below. I also won't have more fun or run [work out] more/ better with it on.

image belongs to its author.

If I choose to work out I'll do so because I want to lose weight, and to find an excuse to flirt. I saw a similar ad in a supermarket - I found it ridiculous. If I go buy groceries that's what I need, not a new significant other, and I'm certain many of you will agree with me.

THE SMILES OF THE MODELS

Could they be more unrealistic? I don't mean their perfectly white teeth, but the smile itself. You might argue that they heard a really good joke, but how many times or how often do we hear a really good joke? Sadly, not often enough.

Some people might even think there is something wrong with them if they can't smile at all times with a big wide smile. They might think there is something wrong because their teeth are not perfect looking and a perfect white color too. The hard reality is that the average person can't really achieve this "standard" and they shouldn't feel pressured to do so either.

I also have the impression I should reach a certain level of happiness if I use those products or brands ... but I don't. I don't think anyone does.

PRODUCTS THAT DON'T WORK

Well, I suppose the whole entry is related to this. However there are some items that do work and they are advertised - pain killers for instance. They might not work for everyone based on their personal conditions and other factors, but do work for a large amount of population.

Here I refer to certain cleaning and beauty items that are supposed to work but do not: there is either no change at all or they make things worse. How many times have you seen ads for products that are used by professionals? Not too many times, right? Because those actually work.

UNHEALTHY PRODUCTS or SERVICES

There are a few words to say here: Coca-cola, McDonalds, KFC. How healthy are they? I thought so.. Not to mention their taste, ethics..... and the list goes on.

These thoughts are my own. The post is NOT sponsored. [how could it be? LOL]

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Coloring for adults

Publié le 1 Mars 2018 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #advice, #book, #impressions, #review

Despite coloring being generally considered a children’s activity, more and more coloring books are printed these days and they target adults.

These books are usually called “Art for Mindfulness” or “Mandalas for Mindfulness” and they’re a perfect way to relax at the end of a stressful day, especially for those who dislike watching TV and prefer a more rewarding activity instead.

Opinions on the book

I got one of these books too, as a Christmas present - I really wanted one. My motive was to have another way to explore my creativity and to express myself, other than writing or cooking.

Please continue reading here!

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