Obscure Journey

As you already know I like doing things with my hands. I like coloring, or I like "improving" my clothes like I did these pants. 

The jacket I decided to embroider is off white, and from H&M, but from at least 2 years back. I doubt you'll still find it - when i bought it, it was sales season. I also haven't seen anything similar anymore. This jacket is pretty long, as it reaches below my butt. Its fabric also feels sturdy, and doesn't really let the wind through. I wish it had a hoodie - maybe I can MAKE one in the future? LOL. 

So the jacket has 4 large pockets on the front. The 2 on the chest have a flap, while the ones on the lower part have a bit of a different shape. I thought the jacket looks too plain and that I needed to do something to cheer it up, give it a bit of a fresh air. What better way to do this if not with some embroidery? And not just any type of embroidery, but specifically Romanian.

So i searched for something in the book with Romanian embroidery I own and I also searched online. And I found the above design, completely black, originating from the Moldova area. 

I can only remember finding it on a Romanian online book store, and they were showing pictures of a few pages from inside the books they had listed. And U copied the model on paper. 

I had no idea to start to embroider the design. It looks easy enough, especially if only one color is used. Another problem was the fabric as it is woven, but it uses a special type of weaving that makes it hard to count the threads. And if there's one thing to know about Romanian embroidery, is that it counts the threads in order to make a pretty, even design.

I decided to put the paper on the pocket, and to proceed with sewing through the paper. I didn't want to break the paper, at first, but i really had no idea or indication anywhere, on how to do it. 

As you can tell from the image above, it worked pretty well. Except for when i was done,and i had to break the paper. Can you guess what happened? The thread was loose. If you'll look carefully at the next 2 pictures, you'll see what I mean.

Since I already embroidered one pocket, I had a better idea on how to proceed with the design, on the next ones. I didn't take pictures, but I'll try my best to explain if you want to reproduce it - but please give credit to the Romanian people.

If you'll use a fabric on which counting the threads is easy, it's even better. You basically need a 20 * 20 grid, as there are 20 rows and 20 columns.

If you use 2 colors:

Start with any of the red squares, but not the middle one. You embroider 2 rows of 2 crosses, then jump to the design in the corner that would be above it, and embroider in the same direction. When done, jump to another square, then another corner, then another square, then the 3rd corner, another square, then the one in the middle, and then the last corner.

You'd have to turn the fabric almost with each jump from the corner to the square. A lot of turning would happen when working on the second color as well. 

If you look closely, you'll notice 2 rectangles that intersect one another. I found it easier to work on them if I stat with the longer section, then the edge, then the shorter section, then jump to the next longer section, and so on. 

If you use a single color:

I suppose that for when embroidering in a single color, the design would be easier, since you'd have to work on rows. I didn't want to work it all in black because I thought it would look too austere in a way. 

As you can see, i managed to finish the embroidery. It was pretty easy too, once I got used to it. But of course I also cheated a little bit. With the design copied on a different paper, i poked holes with a pencil, to mark the fabric with a visual guide. 

I didn't cheat perfectly, as you can probably tell. The crosses are not all the same size and are not perfectly aligned either. It took me 4 days in total to complete, with just a few hours per day. I'm pretty happy with the design, i think it's cute and cheerful, and that it looks quite authentic. I have nothing to compare it to, so i'll just stop here.

See you guys!

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

We all know we live in a highly consumerist society, or era better said. This can easily be said about technology, clothes and even food. 

Technology these days is poorly made ON PURPOSE to be replaced often. Why do you think Apple releases a new iPhone every 6 months or so? their excuse is: "we added a little fix" or "we improved this little thing," and so on.

The same can be said about clothes - at least about what we call fast fashion. Except their excuse is "that you MUST keep up with the trends." There are of course several other aspects in our lives where we're told "this season you MUST buy this or that in order to impress" and the list goes on and on. 

You know what? you must not keep up with any trend! you must not impress anyone with newly bought stuff either! 

You know what? I've had it! a long time ago. And as a result I did all I could to stop buying new items. At least on full price. There are only a few exceptions, because I can't find everything discounted or as second hand. I also started sharing with A coats, shoes, scarves, tshirts - mostly because that's all we can share, since A is much tinier than me. 

Below are some of the stuff A gave me - i chose to show you 3 pairs of pants. One of the pairs is pink and thick sweat pants, which is one of the most recent "gifts". The oldest is the pink silk pair with an over-sized upper part, while the black pair are some ripped jeans for which i must lose some weight. 

I started buying clothes only when there are sales, or from discounted boutiques - so basically the stuff other people didn't like anymore. Let me give you some examples below: 3 pairs of jeans from an discount outlet and 2 tshirts on clearance from a known store (fast fashion, which I'm not very proud of, but I figure that sometimes it's ok if there's an item that we really really like. it's more wasteful if the stuff gets destroyed, in my opinion, and a shame for the work of someone.) 

And yes, 2 of those pairs of jeans are identical, because they fit me so well, and they are so comfortable. The material and the seams seem of pretty good quality as well, and the price was unbeatable - 10 lei a pair! (about 2.5 USD?) The darker large pair is also made of a good quality fabric - thick and heavy, and not stretchy at all. I thought they're designer, but i think they're fakes. Meh! 

I also checked the clearance section of another fast fashion store, but the men's section. I found 2 pairs of jeans that i really like how they look and feel. See them below as well, in the 3rd picture.

I also got some clothes and footwear for free, from a "swap shop" event I found on facebook. There's a jeans jacket, 2 pairs of boots, and some tshirts.  A got a few dresses as well, and a flannel shirt. I'll include a pic of a few of the items, not everything. 

One of the tshirts I got had a few holes in it, that I didn't see when i chose it. I didn't think much about them, and I decided to mend them somehow. 

Speaking of free stuff, remember my post about the expensive stuff I simply found? That's another way I fight consumerism. or by using facebook groups like freecycle, where people give away for free, the items they don't need or want anymore. 

I mentioned earlier I mended some clothes. Luckily, these days fashion is very permissive and allows patches over patches as well as destroyed garments. 

On the tshirt with little holes, I used some clear nail polish to prevent the holes from getting bigger. Then i proceeded to sew on, by hand, some small patches or (printed) ribbon. The ribbon was used as a tag on some other item A got from another outlet (i think). 

Another way we saved some money and fought consumerism, was to share some of the clothes we own.  The easiest is to share the jackets and the shoes, like in the picture below. But granted, we can't share all the shoes nor all the jackets. 

The home clothes and socks are other items we share, just because it's more convenient this way. 

I want to hear from you, how do YOU fight against consumerism, and if you have any other tips for me. :)

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

We wanted to relax for a bit and get out of city. Since we have Ciel we can't go on a vacation like most people: Ciel needs someone at all times and it's not familiar with strangers. He also barely eats by himself.

We decided to leave for the seaside in the morning and return at night. With all the preparations I still had to return to get a scarf I forgot. When we got to the train station we learned the train would be 45 minutes late, but in reality it was an hour late.

While we waited, we got some pretzels for the road, as to avoid spending a lot of money on food.

The train was also over sold so we had to stand because there were no more seats available. Luckily A found a chair in first class and sat for most of the ride. Our tickets were for 2nd class. The train was also fast and had some air conditioning.

When we got to the resort, we found the beach quite fast. We had to find a seat as this was one of the most popular resorts at the seaside, so it was packed!

Here, we have too pay for chairs and umbrella, but not if we sit directly on the sand. However, we need umbrella and they're only available next to the chairs. The price was some $6 for a chair and they only take cash. The guy charging for the seats was gypsy and we suspect him off having stolen my phone.

I had the phone on me some 5 minutes before finding the right place, and I noticed it gone after the guy left. I also kinda felt something.. Like something was sliding up at the back of my pants, but I ignored the feeling.

The guy returned to see if we found cash, and in telling him we don't have cash, just the card, he started to be verbally agressive. Then we openly accused him off stealing, and he insulted us. We left and I managed to use A's phone to lock mine. Then I asked a to text my phone and ask for it to be returned. A lifeguard called us and met A and returned the phone. But! The lifeguard had no business to be in the place where it went missing. I literally walked between other chairs and the lifeguard has no reason to do so. Here claimed he found it.

I think the phone was returned because they couldn't use it or resell if it was blocked. I'm glad I have my phone back, but I lost some videos I took in the train, for I also erased it's data.

In the end we managed to find some other chairs and we didn't pay for those. We stayed some 2 hours there I think.

We managed to go in the water and it felt nice as it was warm, despite the rather dangerous waves. Lifeguards were constantly on the lookout for people going too far and calling them back. The limit to the deep water was set pretty close to the shore too.

We found a place to eat and rest and recharge the phone a bit. Then we went on the beach again. This time we went in a different area and were forced to pay for chairs as there was no sand, just smashed seashells that were cutting into our feet. We spend some extra 2 hours there with constant visits to the shore. Of course I collected some seashells too.

Then it was time for us to return. Before leaving, we bought a bag, some sun glasses for A's mom, some sewing needles for me, a rabbit keychain, and some bracelets.

The return train had seats for us, but it was smelly! There was little luggage space too though we only had 2 bags and As purse. The trip was also longer and most of it happened in the night. There was a really beautiful sunset though. Once in the city, some 3 hours later, we managed to catch the last bus home too.

I fell asleep as soon as I got home, after checking on Ciel and seeing he actually ate by himself. He does that when he stays alone for too long.

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

I don't know why thrifting is (at least for some) addictive. If you don't know what thrifting is, let me tell you: buying pre-worn/used or second hand clothes and items. Gross? maybe a little bit, but once you give your clothes a good wash, who's going to know? The worst is with stuff you can't really clean like electronics or books, but many other things can be easily washed.

DISCLAIMER: Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a commission. I used these affiliate links to give you the option to check the book out, for yourself, if you so wish, through a well trusted seller. While I will be very glad if you decide to buy any linked item, the decision to do so or not, belongs to you. Thank you for reading!  

At the beginning of October I found some plates at the trash. Most of them were broken, but i did find a whole one, another one chipped and cracked a little, but seems to still be good for use, or at least as decoration, and a coffee or tea cup without a handle. I took them. In fact this is not the first time I found used porcelain pieces thrown away. But these ones are special because they're branded Zepter and ... well, Zepter stuff is VERY expensive, as you can see from the link. The chipped and cracked plate alone costs some 100 Pounds (that's more than 100 Dollars, and a bit more than 100 Euro). The cup costs almost 100 Dollars if i remember correctly, and the other plate was the cheapest, at some 22 Dollars maybe. 

These are part of some china sets for 12 people, with more than 60 pieces per set. Each set has all the plates needed to serve a meal, and apparently are made by hand. The bottom line is that I would never pay so much for my plates, no matter how much i like them. 

These items were brand new, but full of dust, making me think they broke in storage or during transportation. Regardless, they were trash for whomever threw them away, and a treasure for me since I can't afford them and wouldn't buy them even if i did afford to.

Out of these items, the chipped plate has yet to be used. I'm waiting for some special occasion of sorts. You can have a peak at them in the pics below:

Now I want to talk about a few other ceramics I found thrown away. First there is a tea pot for 2 cups of tea. I didn't have one till then, and I have been using it almost all the time since. The teapot linked is very similar to the one I found.

At the same time with the tea pot, i found 2 small plates - probably saucers from some coffee set. One I use to feed the cats on, and the other one i kept for human use. I get a lot of use from both, so I'm happy.

The third item found was a ceramic strainer, for tea. It has some Chinese details on it, I used it quite a lot, so yay for me. And the last thing i found at the same time was a coaster made of a weird material that also seems anti-slip. It gets used often, so it's a nice find. You can see below a few pics of my treasures.

I just realized, my findings don't end there. Recently, our neighbors got rid of some stuff, like some old armchairs, some pieces of wood, a mannequin bust, and other stuff. I believe they also installed some wooden flooring. 

I took in some pieces of wood i managed to put together into a small table on which i can also sit, if i need to. Or stretch my legs on when sitting on the couch. It's not stable on all the sides, as you'll be able to tell from the pictures, but it's something I didn't have and that gets used. 

I also got 2 pieces of the wood flooring - they were thrown away, as most likely they needed to adjust the length of some of the board. A smaller one is used as a larger coaster and the other one as support for my laptop when i want to work with it on my lap. 

All in all, I did find trash, but I also found good use for it all, with one exception, as mentioned above. 

Most of the pictures I took today, despite having the items for quite some time. 

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

Romania doesn't traditionally celebrate Halloween. However, it so happens that thanks to the movies, series, and kids learning English in schools, this October event made it somehow in our lives as well.

Of course, over here, we only have the more commercial aspect, and so far, nobody goes Trick-or-Treating. Over the past years, I've seen young adults on the streets dressed up and with weird make-up on going to or leaving some Halloween party. 

We never really cared about it - we never dressed up,  never put make up on, never nothing. However, over the past few years, we always did something: going out to eat, or searching for ghosts downtown, or carving pumpkins. 

I will showcase our past October 31st adventures, and hopefully will be able to explain a little as well. Not all the pictures are nice though, so be warned. 

The earliest pictures I found date back to 2015. That year, around Halloween, i believe I was working the 2nd job I talked about in this post. 

Halloween that year was a grim one for Bucharest and for Romania in general, as a fire devastated a nightclub and 64 people died in total. The fire happened on October 30th, and you can read more about it here. 

I don't remember much else from that year that happened. It seems we went to an Irish pub on the evening of 31st, after the fire. I can't remember what we had, but the place was decorated for the occasion, and I vaguely remember it being full. We barely found a table. I think it was an OK evening out, all in all.

Sadly, for the year 2016, I have no pictures, no memories either. At the time, I was working as cashier in a supermarket. It was a tough job I had no time to go out and have fun. One of the reasons were that the job was also pretty far from home. 

These pictures are from last year, 2017. The big pumpkin is the decoration of a restaurant downtown. I don't think it was real, but I can't be sure as i don't remember if i touched it or not. 

We decided to carve pumpkins, just out of curiosity, and to do something fun. I remember we had a lot of fun while carving them. We took some pictures too, but I can't find them anywhere. I must have lost them somehow. 

One of the pumpkins was already a bit "injured" but we didn't see it before bringing them home. We had to keep them in water with bleach, to try and kill the bacteria, but the black spot still managed to enlarge quite fast. I think we kept them for about a week before we had to get rid of them.

We also tried to go find ghosts downtown, but I can't remember which were those. Perhaps we went before the 31st, or I deleted the pictures. In any case, we didn't find any ghosts because Bucharest is not known for its haunted places. 

This year, I decided not to celebrate Halloween. Mostly because it's a pagan celebration, and it's still this year that i decided to become closer to God. I can't have fun because it's Halloween as it would be against my beliefs. 

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

This blog entry is long overdue. At least a part of it. and at this point I'm not even sure I can still write it. but I have pictures i'd like to share ... or at least to keep safe somehow. 

So far, I have attended 2 cultural events in Bucharest. Or at least tried to because the first one didn't happen anymore because there was a strike organized by the organizers themselves. 

This happened in April of 2016. The weather was really nice at the time -sunny and all. I think we wanted to see Swan Lake but I can't be sure it's been too long back. 

We got there, got in, and we were waiting for the show to start. Except, we were waiting, and waiting, and half an hour passed and no ballet started. I took the chance to snap some photos there, as you can see below. 

In the end, the leader of the orchestra, or something, took the microphone and he announced there will be no show, that they're in a strike, and that we'll receive our money back. 

It was one of the biggest failures we could experience. It surpassed the failed shopping experiences from here and from here. Though, if i compare those 2 experiences with the failed opera, they might reach the same level. 

At least I got a few nice shots? And we might go again this year. We'll see. 

This is an event that happened in October 2017, and was related mostly to South Korean culture - history, linguistics, and other aspects.

The event happened before noon, and it had free snacks, with croissants and mini cakes. I remember this big guy there, was taking and taking more food. We couldn't really eat at that hour, but we tried to, since the food and refreshments were free, and some of the cookies looked fancy, thus expensive.

Still in the hallway, at the entrance, there was an art exposition. I forgot if they were real paintings or just prints. They were representing various landscapes from across South Korea. Most of them were breathtaking. However i forgot who their authors were - Korean artists or Romanian students who visited Korea. Next are some of the glimpses of the stuff going on before the highlight of the event. 

The venue where the contest was held was pretty small, however, we had very good seats with perfect view of the stage. The contestants were sitting on the first row in front of the stage, and there were 2 stages of contest. When the first part of the quiz was done, maybe 6 out of the 8 participants went on the stage, and they kept on being eliminated until first 3 places could be named.

The public could also participate in extra pop quizzes, still related to the Korean culture, and yes, it included questions related to K-pop as well. The winners received CDs or posters with Kpop music or artists, and other goodies, but all related somehow to Korea. The couple on the stage, in the images below were the hosts, and the man in the last picture was the Ambassador of South Korea to Romania. 

I wasn't lucky enough to win anything - mostly not fast enough to answer? haha But somehow, the event was pretty fun overall. 

I do remember that afterwards, both of us were pretty drained mentally. This was despite having eaten some of the goodies, having drunk and the event not lasting for all that long. But I suppose, the Romanians really are vampires, after all, huh? hehe

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

Lately, I have heard many people saying "i'm so woke" or "he/she/.. is so woke! wow, i'd like to be like that".

However, there are a few steps to take to become "woke" - and gosh, can I not use this word? i can't staaand it!! Anyways. What does it mean to be "awaken" actually? hmmm, the way I see it is a state of mind in which the person:

• is somehow above all the mundane things and events,
• these don't affect the person anymore, as they feel unimportant
• sees the deception of the world 
• (the individual) feels wiser as a result
• feels that what matters more is related to spirituality, food for the soul, prayer, meditation
• may try to change their eating and shopping habits 
• may act more level-headed

There might be other aspect and features I didn't mention here. Others might find another "definition" to the term. 

I don't have much more to say as intro, so let's see the steps. Oh, it will take some time until you become "awaken," so be warned. I can't tell how long, as each person is different. 

STEP 1

Give up your TV, radio, news paper, and all the magazines. WHY? 

They're tools of mass brain washing. If this sentence made you laugh or scorn, perhaps you're not ready to awaken. And there's nothing wrong in that, as not everyone is meant to awaken. Please read this article I wrote about how annoying commercials are, and maybe you'll give this step another thought. 

You probably know that all the traditional media mentioned above transmit news that is approved (especially in certain countries), sometimes made up (yea, fake news does happen), and through the programs and articles they present and the manner they do so, they try to influence your opinion and tell you how to think. - and yes, i also try to do this through my blog, i'd like to think that because i have only the LORD and my conscience to answer to, i don't do things out of malice, or for my own gain..  i'd like to think someone will find my writings somehow useful.

But i'm going off topic there. The mentioned media can also decide how much to disclose of the info they have - hence 'fake news' can easily happen. The practice can also be called misinformation of the masses. 

If you have subscriptions to publications that are a must for your job, then keeping those should be fine. 

One last thing here - if you think you were only checking for the weather/zodiac/[insert whatever] segment, you could surely find a free app for it. But haven't you wondered why isn't the weather forecast always accurate with what happens outside? or the daily zodiac?

By the way, you'd also be saving some money by giving up the items i mentioned here. yay or nay? 

STEP 2

Get off of all your social media! WHY?

Social media is closely related to mass media. But that's not everything there is to it. Social media is also filled with a lot of negativism, and toxic people. These two aspects alone are enough to stop you from awakening.

This is especially true for those individuals who react in an intense manner to most things they see or read. These people somehow feel that what they just saw or read has an impact on their own life. Although, on another hand, these strong reactions could actually be a signal that the person is quite ready to awaken. 

The thing is that some folks might fall under the pressure coming from their friends, no matter they're on or off line, because they're that easily influenced. Giving into that pressure, that can be more or less obvious, could mean they won't "wake" as fast or as easily. 

Again, if your job is somehow related to social media, then this step can't really be implemented. Perhaps, just try to limit your online presence as much as you can, by having dedicated time slots for specific activities? I don't know.

STEP 3

Start researching and learning! WHY?

Do you know how those "awaken" people became so? Mostly by studying and reading. They study and read everything they can get their hands on. They do give the impression their preferred subjects are philosophy, religion and spirituality, politics, conspiracy theories, and on and on.

A person that reads a lot can only become wiser and smarter. It's really as easy as that. Don't be surprised when at a point you'll feel like you have nothing in common with your friends anymore, as this may happen at some point.

I think this is about it. some 3 easy (enough) steps for you to consider if you want to be a "woke" person. 

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

All living creatures have needs, and being able to take care of them is important. We clearly generally know the type of public toilets we can come across in our home-towns. But how about when we're abroad, or in cities we don't know? 

I obviously haven't been in all public toilets in Bucharest, but I have been in quite a few, and I can give you a few tips of where to go if nature calls. 

First of all, people can find public (and eco-) toilets on the side of the street. They're not the best thing to walk into, as they smell and are quite small, however if nature calls and you can't take it anymore, they'll have to do.  

The picture below is the toilet my grandparents used to have, in the countryside, near Bucharest. They recently revamped it, to look a bit better, but I haven't been there yet to see it. 

Next public toilets in which you can just walk into are the ones in the shopping centers and malls. In my experience, these can be a hit or miss when it comes to cleaness and smells. There are cleaning ladies doing their job on the clock, but sometimes they get overwhelmed as well, or maybe the toilet gets flooded. 

Overall, these toilets are cleaner than the ones on the side of the street. Many of them have a pretty standard design. While some have a rather unique design. For instance, one of the malls that opened quite recently, has an upside-down design, if i can call it that. When i walked in it, i thought i went to wonderland. 

Retro looking sinks and other elements were attached to the ceiling while the fittings you were supposed to use were modern. I believe there were actual toilet seats inside the stalls, hanging from the ceilings, that were fitted into lamps. I surely got dizzy, and expected to fall at any moment, but luckily it didn't happen. Surely this was on purpose, and the feeling I got was because it's not normal to see on the ceiling stuff that are usually on the floor.

If you're going to a cafe, restaurant, or bar, toilets are generally even more clean. They can also have a more unique design. For instance, the restroom at Starbucks coffee in Unirii Square has a really nice look. See the pictures below. 

The first sink is found before entering, and I like it more than the others inside. The wall decoration is really cool too. 

Some locations have more stalls, while others have just one for each gender. There could also be a situation where both genders have to use the same toilet. Well, whoever needs to use it will have to wait for their turn, of course. 

Do's and don'ts in a Romanian public toilet

Do expect privacy: the doors are generally hitting the floor and there is no space between the door and it's frame. 

Do expect to be able to lock the door the stall. We don't like to have to hold the door with our hands, though it could be helpful at times.

Do expect to find toilet paper. The Eco toilets might not have it though.

Do check to see there is topper paper in the stall, before you do your business. 

Don't throw the used toilet paper in the toilet- there are small trash bins in the stall for it, or whatever other trash you have. The toilet can get flooded if TP it's thrown in it. Some people don't follow this rule and flooding and smells happen as a result.

Don't under any circumstance sit on the toilet, nor climb it. You can sit if you have weak legs, but put some TP on its edge. 

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

This post also doesn't need more explaining. If you want to be a writer, you need a better vocabulary. Hopefully this post will be of help, and a starting point. 

I generally use a popular search engine to find synonyms to words I noticed I "abused" in my writing. 

DISCLAIMER: i don't own these pictures. they have the Tumblr page I found them on, on them.  

Does someone have a panic attack? this is what you can do to help, and even make others like you.

Disclaimer: Pictures are not mine! I found them on Tumblr and i forgot their creator. I'm pretty sure they won't mind me sharing.