Fact #3 about Denmark: Danes and karting mania

Today we had one of the best team building events at work. All of us headed for a karting race in Copenhagen and raced there in teams of two for about 3 hours. It was the first time I ever tried the go-karts. Bumper cars and racing against children in small karts doesn’t count.

Anyway, although in real life I am a really sucky driver, to my great surprise I was quite good at karting. Probably because speeding and bumping into others was OK here. And I also suspect the fact that there weren’t any distractions along the lap also helped, most of my accidents on the road were because I got distracted by something else .

But continuing along the title of this post, all the Danes in my team were really good. It seems karting is a big hobby in Copenhagen and people are doing it on a regular basis. There are even special clubs at work places for people to join and go kart racing every other week. It’s a bit ironic I thought as most of the Danes and Danish government advocate (actually the government enforces it through their huge taxes on cars) for less and less cars.

The kart racing is also pretty expensive as most things in Denmark, but usually if there’s a club at work for this, the company will pay for part of the expense.

So, yes, a really fun event today, did not love the (a bit) dirty suits and heavy helmets very much but at least it was better than the last event where we had to wear sumo wrestlers suits

Funniest baby–Jack Jack from The Incredibles movie by Pixar

Divorce rate

Last post started from the thought of the upcoming office Christmas party which generated the thought about divorces which drove me to look up divorce rates in the Nordic countries. Not very surprisingly, the divorce rate in Scandinavia is the highest in the world. Only Norway has the lowest divorce rate among Scandinavian countries at about 42%.

• Sweden 55%
• Finland 52%
• Denmark 46%
• Norway 42%

I forgot to look up Iceland, but anyway…

So basically we could safely assume that almost half the marriages will end up in a divorce. This happens in Scandinavia where people marry usually very late after they’ve already been living for years together and had several children together. If a marriage is to happen so late, we would assume is very unlikely to end up in a divorce. And it still does, for 50% of the marriages.

In the 50% that’s left of the marriages we can still assume that there is some percentage that don’t get along and would end up in a divorce if it wasn’t for the kids or other things that make them reconsider the divorce. But those people are still unhappy and on their way to divorce so we could assume that actually the percentage of marriages that fail is greater than the ones that succeed.

With these percentages in mind, I’m thinking that “until death do us part” doesn’t make much sense anymore besides it actually being a stupid old phrase. Turns out there’s a greater chance that something else will get in the way before death gets there. So maybe the whole attitude towards marriage it’s not the right one.

Seems that marriage does not have the same significance it had hundred of years ago (at least not in the developed countries, we should not forget that India still has a 1.1% divorce rate ).

Marriage it’s not a bond for life anymore, but more a way of celebrating the fact that after a long time spent together, two people are still able to love each other and be part of each other’s life. And that’s actually quite an accomplishment.

With every more year spent together people should be happy and grateful that they are still together. If you think like that it’s much harder to take your partner for granted as it usually happens in marriages (because of the “till death do us part” thing). If you scratch that phrase and replace it with “till we are not happy together anymore”, then since you know that your partner will leave you once he/she’s not happy anymore or you could do the same thing, I think it’s going to be much easier to appreciate and be grateful for your partner and your happiness.

qed

Fact #2 about Denmark: Best time to buy a house

This is funny, but as Homer would say: “It’s funny cause it’s true”.

One of the first things I learned after coming to Denmark was that Danes get very very crazy at the Christmas parties, crazy drunk that is. And when you’re drunk like that most of your inhibitions disappear.The result is that married people end up having sex with other married (but not to each other) people from the aforementioned parties.

Thus, the best time to buy a house in Denmark is after Christmas because that means that the wild Christmas party sex happened and people are getting divorced and in a hurry to sell their house and split the earnings.

I guess this was true mostly before the financial crisis, but you never know …

The Big Bang theory

So last Sunday was a lazy lazy Sunday in which I started watching “The Big Bang theory” after one of my geek friends couldn’t stop talking about it …

A bit annoying at the beginning, it turned out to be the funniest shit I’ve watched in a long time. Going to my top favorite comedy series along South Park.

Four geeks and a girl as main characters along with some other sporadically appearing characters most of the them from the geek side also or just the odd kind of people side.

My favorite bits: when Howard (Jewish engineer with a Masters from MIT who still lives with his mother) and Raj (Indian astrophysicist who cannot speak when girls are present unless he’s drunk)  are confronted by Leonard’s mother about their imaginary homo marriage. Her theory is that because these guys could not get girls they have created a gay marriage between them to compensate for their need for affection. Of course the guys are desperate to prove her wrong (because of course they’re not gay). 

Depression awareness

I am still shocked over a news I found out yesterday about a former college colleague of ours who died this week by committing suicide. It’s only 2 entries apart from my posting about the death of my cousin and I know my blog is going to become depressing, but I feel so sad about the news that I wanted to write it down. I didn’t know her very well before, we spoke a little during college, shared the same classes and went to a couple of parties together, but she was a person you could not not notice. Very bright, loud and joyful with that specific intelligent sparkle in her eyes. It’s so sad that she’s already gone without having enough time to show the world her brightness and intelligence.

I didn’t know before because we didn’t stay in touch at all, but she had a blog, parts of which I read yesterday. Really interesting writing, she was so very talented. I think a good part of it was written during her depression years, it is about her battle and it feels a bit depressing or maybe it is like that because we know she’s not here anymore and because her life’s end was so tragic, she lost the battle.

Rest in peace Ana, http://afreuda.wordpress.com

I wanted this post to be about her and about the disease that I dread so much and that doesn’t have merely enough awareness – depression. And about the way people look (judge) at other people who are affected by this disease.

You see, Ana was studying psychology during her last years, almost her entire blog is about this. Would you think that a shrink would be able to commit suicide? You wouldn’t expect that a girl who studies psychology would be able to be depressed, right? But would you expect a doctor that treats cancer patients, to get cancer? That of course it can happen, cancer can affect anyone.

And depression can affect anyone. It is a disease. It’s not a choice.

She knew she was sick, she didn’t see it like something was wrong with her, she was still the same person as before, but suffering from this disease. 

Her blog describes very well the way she felt and the pain that felt almost physical. It was like her brain was defected, she knew it was defected and that she has to fight it, but she just couldn’t control it. She took medications, consulted doctors and shrinks. She did everything.

What I am the most annoyed with is the way people look upon this disease.People that think it’s just a sign of weakness and if you “quit being stupid” you could easily snap out of it. Can you do that with cancer? WTF.

And the way people look upon the ones who die by committing suicide. Like it is a sin. Well, taking the word “sin” literally is a sin, but that is wrong. Depression is not a choice and thus taking your own life because you were affected by depression is not a choice. Why should this be a sin? Why should you condemn anyone because he was sick? Isn’t this just another discrimination created by old narrow minds?

Fact #1 about DK - Cycling in heels

It’s not uncommon in Denmark for women to cycle wearing heels and mini skirts. If you ever visited Copenhagen during the summer and if you’re a guy, this would have been probably one of the first things to notice.

And from my experience, it is far easier to ride in heels than walk in heels

Kelly Rowland

My new fav dance song.

Commander

And a tip for being able to listen on repeat (as I so annoyingly do): replace youtube with youtuberepeat in the song URL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w  ==> http://www.youtuberepeat.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w

About V.

More than a year ago something happened that changed me. 13th of December 2008. It was the day that my cousin died. I’ve been thinking about that day a lot lately. Somehow I avoided it until recently. You ignore it and hope it will go away.

It wasn’t only the fact that he died when he was only 33 years old, but the way he died. He committed suicide.

My cousin and I were very close when we were little, like I was with almost all my cousins. In our family these bonds are very important and my cousins were always my best friends while I was growing up.
He was 6 years older than me, the oldest of us all. We were enjoying so much hanging out with him as he always had all these interesting things to tell and teach us. And he always had plans and dreams … of what he was going to do with his life…
He was the person who first taught me how to ride a bike. I remember how scared I was that day. He held the bike at all times while I was riding. After a while I got used to it and he was only holding just the side of the chair until, without me knowing it, he let me cycle alone. I managed to ride the bike without any help for exactly 10 seconds until I realized I didn’t have any support. And went straight into a bush But from then on, it wasn’t that difficult anymore ...
He was always joking and seemed to be the most stubborn and strong person you could imagine. I just cannot figure out how someone like that would be able to commit suicide. I thought that people who were choosing to do that must have been very weak. And he definitely wasn’t. He was also a very religious person and since the church is strongly against suicide, his act came more as a shock.

Lately I read a lot about depression and suicide and people who had to deal with this.
The reality is that depression is a very serious disease which is not taken seriously. In most cases people fit depression into the same category as a simple cold or flu. Something that is not serious and that will go away when the weather outside gets better. But without professional help, it rarely does, it almost never does. It isn’t something you can just snap out of by your own will. Without help it becomes deeper and deeper and although to the people around it might look like the person affected by it is getting better, he’s actually trying more and more to hide it. The depression that leads to suicide is characterized by deep despair and hopelessness for a very long time… So that the only way out seems to be death. The best article I found on depression is this one: http://helpguide.org/mental/depression_signs_types_diagnosis_treatment.htm
It helped me understand that this wasn’t something that he really wanted. It was just the disease. And the fact that this happened to him who was one of the strongest persons I knew, could only mean that this disease like any other disease can affect anyone and it’s not a shame to accept it and seek help.

Although I understand now what he went through, the pain doesn’t go away no matter how much I would read and understand over the subject. For the family and friends it’s even more difficult when someone dies by committing suicide. Besides the pain suffered over the loss, the feeling of guiltiness makes it worse. When something like this happens to someone close to you, you cannot not wonder “What if I..” Somehow, with his death, the despair and hopelessness has been transmitted to his friends and family … During the first months after, my heart was pounding every time I heard my phone ringing. I became more sensitive to all kinds of news. I wanted to put an end to my long distance relationship as soon as possible and spend all my time with my husband not only the few days a month we had before. I also considered many times to move back to Romania so that I could be as close as possible to my parents and sister.

It’s hard dealing with the death of someone close to you especially when it happened in a very very tragic way. This kind of event just makes you realize how powerless we are… But I think it would be a mistake to accept the powerless and surrender yourself to despair and depression... No matter how much we cannot control life and death, I think the best you can do is live your life in the best way you can … Do whatever you want whenever you like, break as many rules as possible and don’t be afraid.

After his death, we wanted to do something that would help us remember him not only through our own memories. I knew he was writing poems and we tried to look for them and  publish them but unfortunately they couldn’t be recovered. Maybe this is a reason why I started my own journal blog. Because I would have loved to have a journal of V. to read right now.

Miss you V.

Cafe Coyote y Cantina

This was the best place we ate at so far while in the US. Check out their site.
It's not a fancy restaurant, just a local San Diego restaurant (cantina) in the Old Town. We were there during an American football night, the place was packed with supporters (latinos and not only) who were drinking and eating nachos. It was noisy and cozy at the same time and finally one place where the AC was not on max power on.
I think all the waiters are Mexicans but they speak a perfect English.
The best thing about the place was the food and the tequila. A lot of tequila choices from $5 to around $100 a shot (it was more like a double shot actually).
They make the best and probably spiciest salsa sauce I have ever tasted and the tortilla soup was awesome. I never had tortilla soup before but with my upcoming cold and all (all this AC mania finally got to me) decided to try it. It’s a very interesting combination I wouldn’t thought it would work so good ever before. It’s a chicken broth with chicken pieces, lots of chili, tortilla noodles and … wait for it.. avocado and cheese. Pretty tasty and as everything spicy I’ve already put it on my fav’s list. Will try to make it at home.

Relationship theory

Rambling….
This is a theory I haven’t applied and I don’t intend to apply. I am happily married to the most wonderful man on Earth! And while I was probably one of the lucky ones to find the man with whom I will spend all my years from now on and knew that from our first dates :), there are so many people around me who just cannot seem to find the right person. And I’m just thinking that maybe in some cases there just isn’t the right one…
If we think about it, marriage, wedding and even the whole monogamy thing are just enforced upon us from early childhood by our parents, relatives, society in general. There isn’t actually anyone who can prove that after some point in your life you can be monogamous and spend the rest of your life with that one person – man or woman...
Maybe people weren’t supposed to function like that. And maybe the whole procreation thing wasn’t supposed to be like that. If you think about it, animals mate in general with several partners along their lives and have children with several partners. Maybe people should function the same way. There shouldn’t be one person you should look for but more along your whole life. You shouldn’t have children with only one man/woman but with many – along the life, not at the same time of course…
From a Darwinist point of view this could mean evolution. More genes will cross as you have children with more partners thus more chance for evolution!
So maybe, all those screwed up marriages are not as fucked up as they might seem but just the way things should work towards evolution. And if your parents don’t live together anymore and have other children, maybe this is the way things should be as well and you should be glad you are as unique as you can be. And maybe if it seems that you cannot find the right one, then maybe you should accept the idea that it’s all about the moment, there is a right one at this moment, but no one can guarantee that it will be the right one in 7 years… Of course this doesn’t mean that you can make all kinds of compromises just because you only think about the present and accept anyone… But Forever is such a hard word…
Bla bla

About Americans

 

We are spending our honeymoon in US – East and West coast. It is my fourth visit to US but the first one with my husband. We landed in New York and spent a couple of days there and then flew to Las Vegas and West coast. We’ve been in the US for about 10 days now and I think we’ve seen quite a sample of people while visiting the main cities on the east and west coast.

For me, 80% of the Americans look about the same, no matter if they’re woman or man. There is a certain limit of weight you can put on after which you just cannot look too much like your old self. You start to resemble another kind of people and lose most of your distinct face characteristics. That’s like 80% of the Americans no matter the skin color or gender. And then there is the other 20% of people who are probably expats, New York or LA people.

Every time I see one of the “weight challenged” Americans I cannot stop making the association in my head with all those fat people from Wall-E. Here’s what I am talking about…

And here’s an image of an American.

Can you spot the difference?

The California highways are full of commercials with numbers you can call for a lose weight program and the irony is that the people they use as models in those ads aren’t very lean either. The weight problem it’s so out of control that now an overweight person becomes a model. Most of the Americans are probably morbidly obese already. And that’s in California where I thought people should eat healthier (with all the sea food options and all…)

I think that’s one of the reasons I like Europe (Denmark especially) more. I love my organic low fat milk and cereals in the morning (I think I never ate so many eggs per day in my whole life –a normal omelet is made of 3 eggs here!), no junk sauce salads and organic fresh veggies and meat. US has a LOT of good points about it but food seems to not be one of them…

Continuing my research on that…

The artist’s vision or the client’s vision

 

Which one is more important?

 

I got to thinking about this especially while analyzing my wedding preparations and all the vendors I had to deal with. I know vendor might sound like a harsh word in Romanian, but this is the term used in English. In all the cases here I was the customer.

But I’ve also been in the other situation while designing clothes for my friends. So I think I kind of understand both ends.

I’m not gonna bore you with all the details, I’ll just write down my conclusion.

It is evident that the main judge of the end result is the client. He has to like the outcome because he commissioned it, he’s paying. And the artist/vendor, especially if he is at the beginning of his business, besides getting paid, he also gets to building a portfolio so he actually gets a great deal out of all this. So if the client really knows what he wants, then he needs to get that.

I was just discussing this with some friends the other days and we came to the conclusion that the greatest vendor of all is the one that doesn’t care that much about his vision/style or at least it doesn’t shove it into the client’s face: “Oh I can’t do this hairstyle/dress like you want it cause it’s not my style”. A great professional would be one who before beginning his work would try to figure out what the clients want and who they are. Would be one who didn’t give you any trouble during the preparations and at the end you would see that he read your mind.

I experienced this with my wedding decoration vendors. I had absolutely no push back from them, they listened to everything I wanted (I actually had a clear vision of what I wanted :) ) and at the end they surprised me.Everything was just like I imagined it or even better: like they’ve read my mind. They didn’t come with any claims about their vision, their style; their style could have very subtle been seen into my vision, but my vision was what mattered to them. And yes, because they were so great, I am going to work with them again and recommend them to others.

From the vendor’s point of view, I could say that I wouldn’t be able to accept a request from a friend who came to me and asked me to make her a very classic office suit. These kind of clothes are not really my style, at least not yet, so I am going to say “no” from the start. But after I accept a commission from anyone, then I am going to make sure I’m designing her what she wanted or if the client doesn’t know exactly what she wants, then I’m going to try to figure her out and see what would fit her best.

Glam glam!

Dana’s fairies fashion

LiveJournal Tags: etsy,painting

My friend Dana is a very talented artist and she just opened her shop on etsy. For my wedding she gave me as a present one of her paintings. I love it so much.

Check out her shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/danapopa

Glam glam!

Romanian weddings

LiveJournal Tags: wedding,romanian,aromanian

I decided to write this post because I was searching for something to direct to some of my friends from abroad who are coming to my wedding, but I couldn’t find anything that would apply to more contemporary weddings in Romania.

I think the first thing worth mentioning is that weddings in Romania are big compared to other weddings. I think 120-150 people attending a wedding is very common. Once I attended a wedding of 400 people. I guess nothing can surpass the Indian weddings ( with 500 to 1500 people invited) but still it’s quite a lot of attendees.

I also have to mention that I am not 100% Romanian, I am Aromanian or Macedo-Vlach (see here  for more details) and thus we have slightly different traditions.

Romanians/Aromanians are orthodox and the Orthodox church only officiates the religious ceremony. To actually sign the wedding certificate you have to go to the city hall. Most of the couples do the city hall thing in the same day with the wedding just before going to the church. We preferred to not make a big fuss of this city hall event (which is usually held in a cold office like room somewhere at the city hall – not really the place to hold a party or come with 50 people after you). We did it 5 months before the actual wedding and went only with my sis and our parents.

Here is the video: http://www.vimeo.com/9257899

The weddings take usually place on a Saturday. The groom and his family are the drivers of all the events.  They start the day by going to the Godparents’ house to honor them. The Godparents are a couple (usually it has to be a married couple) who are the protectors of the couple, they should guide them. The church demands that you have Godparents when you get married. Nowadays couples that are not married are sometimes allowed also.

After going to the Godparents’ house, the groom, his family and the godparents go together to the bride’s house. It is there when the groom and the bride meet for the first time that day. The groom gives the wedding bouquet to the bride, the bride says goodbye to her house and they all go to church together. For the couples that have the city hall ceremony in the same day, before going to the church they will stop by the city hall.

The groom enters the church at the Godmother’s arm and the bride at the Godfather’s arm. The first in the church are the made of honor and best man who are holding the wedding candles.

The church ceremony is very beautiful, it is now that the groom and bride are crowned and their wedding bands are put on their fingers. However the church ceremony doesn’t involve the usual wedding vows that the Catholic weddings have. The bride and groom don’t speak during the wedding ceremony. It is a very beautiful ceremony especially if the church is an old one with a choir. The paragraphs read during the ceremony though are still very old, they still mention that the bride has to obey the groom … :) Like that would ever happen nowadays :)

After that, there comes the reception which usually starts around 8 in the evening and lasts until around 5 in the morning or earlier but usually not earlier than 3am. Sometimes between the church ceremony and reception, the couple goes for a photo session and the other party attendants can go to change into a more formal attire. In our case there wasn’t any photo session between the church and reception, we all went straight to the reception.

At the reception, 4 courses are served usually plus desert – the wedding cake. Romanians drink a lot so expect a lot of good wine and other alcohol.

The receptions have usually bands or DJ’s. Romanians and Aromanians dance a lot of hora’s, which is a synchronized dance into a circle with everybody holding their hands. It can get to very fast speeds and it is very much fun.

The dance is usually opened by the bride and groom with a waltz or any other dance of their choice. Then the godparents and parents join. And then everybody else.

At some point during the reception, some of the bride’s friends will kidnap her and the groom has to pay a ransom for her. This consists usually in the groom holding a speech, doing a dance or singing (putting himself in all sorts of embarrassing situations basically :) )

There some more traditions like the taking of the bride’s veil off and putting on a hat or scarf, flower etc, tradition which would symbolize the fact that she is not a bride anymore but a wife. This is done at the end of the event. However not too many people hold this tradition anymore. I didn’t. I didn’t even have a veil :)

There is also the throwing of the bouquet, also at the end of the event. When the previous tradition is held, then the veil of the bride would go to the girl that caught the bouquet.

Another tradition which I think is borrowed from the Americans is the one where the groom gets off the bride’s garter … with his teeth. Some striptease song on the background for that as well. This event wasn’t part of our wedding, but there are still people who do it.

Another custom which I completely forgot about was the one where the bride writes on her shoe soles the names of her single girl friends. At the end of the night whose name is erased from the sole, means she’s gonna get married.

I hope I covered most of the traditions that are still kept. I have omitted some Aromanians traditions, but for that I will follow up in another post.

Anyway, if you have any questions or would like more details, just leave me a comment on this post.

Until next time…

Glam glam!

Oh Africa

LiveJournal Tags: songs,dance,african

By Akon. And the song from the Pepsi commercial - South Africa WorldCup 2010.

Oh! And according to myfooddiary, 60 mins of African dance burns 2879 calories!!

Glam glam!

SATC 2 preview

LiveJournal Tags: fashion,SATC,New York,movie

Tomorrow is SATC 2 premiere in Copenhagen and I am going to be there. Together with my friend Iulia. We are meeting first for a coffee and then straight to the cinema premiere. Can’t wait. We agreed we both are going to dress up so I can’t wait to take some pics of us dressed up like this.

In the meantime, I browsed to the already uploaded pics of SATC 2 on IMDB and enjoyed so many of the outfitts. Here are my favorites.

Could not not love SJP’s dress at the premiere. Bold color and she rocks it. Much better than the other bold color dress she worn at the first SATC movie premiere (The green McQueen dress with the green huge fruit hair piece). Did not like that dress at all although it was my favorite designer’s. This one instead is really beautiful.

I like Cynthia’s look in this movie. I like mostly her makeup and hair, I think the looks the most naturally beautiful in all 4 of the girls. Liked the way she accessorized her black dress with the chandelier earrings and the nice silver brooch which reminds me of the brooch Carrie herself wore with the Vivienne Westwood wedding dress.

I also liked these clip earrings, bold color and clean design. Goes very well with the makeup. Would be very interested where these earrings are from. If any of you readers knows it, please ping me.

Jennifer Love Hewitt rocks this grey body con which she paired very nicely with the mink shoes.

This is a shot from the movie and my favorite outfit of the movie. I like the dressy, laid down combination. The skirt color is very bold and the design of the skirt is really dressy but paired with the Dior T-shirt creates such an interesting combination. That’s what I like mostly about SATC – the way it breaks the rules and creates outstanding outfits through pairing up unexpected items. I think fashion is art is so many ways.

I don’t know if the following shot is from the movie or not (it might be from the premiere), but I like SJP’s outfit, the black and white classic combination but modernized by the long bold necklace.

Cynthia again is very beautiful in this movie, her face is so naturally beautiful. I like the earrings as the only jewelry piece and the blouse which surprisingly has these amazing studs on it.

Statement jewelry is huge in this movie it seems. Love Carrie’s necklace.

Again a very beautiful shot of Cynthia. I especially liked this pic because she wears the dress from the official SATC 2 movie poster and the color is the same that my bridesmaids will wear.

Could not miss the classical SATC 2 image and the one that is the official movie poster. Again statement jewelry, edgy purse and aviator sunglasses.

The 80’s looks are really funny. Can’t wait to see the movie and see where they used these shots – the context.

Love also this old Carey laid back look. I think it’s the first time I see her wearing all stars.

And of course the shot in which all the 4 girls have these amazing dresses and are enjoying their vacation.

Will be back with impressions on the movie after I’ve actually watched it.

 

Glam glam!

Romanian music gone famous in Denmark

LiveJournal Tags: Romanian,song

This song seems to be a hit at every party and on the main music channel in Denmark – The Voice. The singer is Edward Maya and is Romanian. I am not crazy about the song but my friend, Roxana is :) Thanks Roxana.

Glam glam!

Planning a wedding can be a mental challenge :)

LiveJournal Tags: Wedding,video,funny

 

Glam glam!

The biggest loser

LiveJournal Tags: Workout,the biggest loser,fitness,weight loss

Here is a very interesting story I read on a forum and written by a guy who participated in a “The biggest loser” competition at work. It shocked me a bit, so I am embedding it here.

[…]
I actually participated in a "Biggest Loser" contest at work with 6 other co-workers. We all agreed to buy in for $500, and the winner got to keep the pot (3K). We had 8-10 weeks (can't remember exactly but it was just over two months).
When I agreed to join, I sized up the competition and felt that most of them (if not all of them) would start strong and eventually cave in and fall off the wagon. I thought MFD and a steady 2-pounds per week would be enough to win it (i.e. slow and steady wins the race).
Turns out, 4 of the 6 did just that ... started off like gangbusters and then fell off and basically out of contention. What I didn't expect was that two guys would go nutty (a la The Biggest Loser show) and pull out all of the stops to lose weight.
Both of them immediately dropped down to something like a daily calorie intake of 500-800 calories ... which given that we were all in the 250 range, was insane. They began losing 4-5 pounds per week, every week. In a very unhealthy manner, they were starving themselves. One guy would have an orange for breakfast ... and a piece of grilled chicken with mustard for lunch ... that was all. The other fellow decided to eat only a small breakfast and dinner, and skip lunch entirely. He also began training for a half-marathon (despite only getting about 800 calories per day).
I realized I was in trouble when half way through I was down 12 pounds (and very proud) and they were already close to 30 pounds.
The real scare came at the very end. Both of them were battling down to the wire ... and for the last 3 days, one guy fasted entirely. He just ate a multi-vitamin every day. As a co-worker, it got worrisome because he was weak at work, having a hard time focusing or staying awake, and said he was even starting to hallucinate. He also did a colon cleanse that last 3-4 days as well!
The other guy, who was training for the half marathon, came into work at 4 AM on the day of the weigh in and ran in a water-proof suit for 3 hours to intentionally dehydrate himself for the weigh in. After his 3 hour run, he was pouring large amounts of water out of his suit's boots into the sink ... He lost 8-10 pounds in water weight that morning alone!
So, the final tally was that the winner had lost 53 pounds in just over 8 weeks, and the guy who came in second (and fasted) had lost 51 pounds. I was the tortoise, and lost a whopping 22 pounds in 8 weeks, finishing 3rd.
The sad part? Both of the guys who lost the 50 pounds gained it all back within 6 months. I am still 25 pounds down 1.5 years later.
So what bothers me about the concept of the biggest loser, is that you shouldn't play games with your health. The concept of a competition based primarily on pounds (and not more healthy factors like body fat percentage, resting heart rate, metabolic rate, muscle increase, diet, cholesterol levels, etc) concerns me. It's more of that typical American "magic bullet" smokescreen, where everyone is more worried about minimizing the time spent to lose weight, and not worrying enough about losing weight in a healthy manner and improving your overall health in the process.
[…]

I totally agree with his resolution.

Glam glam!

The East European mentality

LiveJournal Tags: East european,west european

I couldn’t not notice how different East Europeans are compared to the west/north part of Europe inhabitants :)

I’ve lived in Denmark for 3 years and I know other Romanians, Bulgarians, Polish, Russian people who have lived here for about the same time or even more. Most of the people at work are Danish or one of the above nations so although out of the East-European bubble, I am still in contact with a lot of people from there.

I think I’ve changed a lot since I first have arrived in Denmark. My whole mentality is changed more towards the relaxed Danish way and away from the desperate Romanian way.

I think desperation is what characterizes most East-European people. It’s probably because of the many years spent under communism  which meant denial of access to the food you wanted, information, travel and so on. All this denial made the Romanians chase their food, information etc with much more desperation. Almost like animals. I said it before that when I go to Romania, I feel like I am in a jungle. People behave like animals, you can see it in the supermarkets, on the street, in any shop, cafe, restaurant.

I can definitely understand the way people are in Romania, it is very difficult to change when you live in the jungle with no contact to civilization. And with all that I can notice that the younger generation is moving towards the new modern mentality and expectations from life.

Sadly though I can also see that the people living abroad, despite all the civilization and change of environment, remain the same sad people they have been 3 or more years ago when they were living in Romania or other East European country.

Here is a list I am working on with the differences between East-Europeans and West-Europeans:

- An EE person will chase the cheapest available supermarket in the whole city and go there to buy food. An WE will just buy it at the closest available supermarket.

My opinion on the above: the time you spend on the way to the cheapest supermarket is also expensive. You could just spend that time doing something that will bring you more money or just spend it in a better way. And if that stuff is that cheap, doesn’t usually mean that is also less healthy?

- When an EE needs to buy a present for someone, the only thing that matters is how cheap it is and not if the person will like it or not. What I noticed on WE and Danes usually is that if they are really close to the person they are buying the present for, they will really put a lot of thinking into it and a large amount is also spent. If it’s someone at work, they are usually as cheap as the EE, even cheaper.

My opinion on the above: I have always thought that it’s better to not buy someone anything than come with a cheap and crappy present that he/she will want to throw away immediately after you leave. I don’t believe in “the gesture is what counts”. Well if you really want to count, buy the person something he/she will appreciate and this will mean spending some money. Else, just say “Happy birthday” and that’s it.

- An EE is desperate to not miss any opportunity. WE concentrate on what it matters to them.

My opinion on the above: agree again with WE. If you are so desperate and want to achieve everything (be good in languages, sports, etc etc) you will just end up being average in all (and that’s optimistic). Just concentrate on what you’re really good at. Specialization is key.

Glam glam!

Not the best day of my life

 

Yesterday was really not the best day of my life. I was very unlucky for most of the day and it ended up with losing my jacket at The Happy Pig.

Went to bed late last night after an evening with the girls. Alarm didn’t ring the next day and woke up rather late compared to the 8:00 hour I kinda got used to get to work. Two trains were cancelled, the third one delayed with as much time that it could actually have the fourth train.

Missed the shuttle bus and had to walk to work from Skodsborg. At least it wasn’t raining that much on the way there.

Work was rather successful, but I still had to stay until late to finish it. Lots of bugs though. And staying late at work meant I missed the movie I had scheduled to see with Bu and Esben. Notified Bu some time before the movie, but Esben had already bought the tickets so I still had to pay the ticket for the movie I didn’t see because I was at work.

Smitha let me know that she couldn’t take the wedding bands so now we have to start all over again with all that also.

Went to look for some jewelry in the city, all shops were closed of course and based on window shopping all were too expensive and ugly. Nothing solved there either.

Went to my favorite restaurant to eat, they were fully booked so although very sorry, they didn’t have a seat for me. I had to eat a sandwich (from my other favorite sandwich place).

Tired, went at home and had little time to prepare for the club. Brought one of my nicest jackets, which I also didn’t wear almost at all.

Everything ok in the club, Danish beer, discussions, dancing, pics, laughs and then decide to leave. Couldn’t find the ticket for my jacket (and I didn’t event want to leave my jacket at the dressing room in the first place because I was only wearing a t-shirt. But I was forced!). the fat ugly lady there didn’t want to give my jacket because I didn’t have the ticket although I described the jacket very well, spotted among the hangers and also gave her the brand. Mad fat lady.

Gaurav and George are the best though, stayed with me one more hour to look for ticket (couldn’t find it) and Gaurav gave me his own jacket to get home.

So yes, no jacket, unlucky day, but fun and I wouldn’t forget for some time. :)

 

Glam glam!

Wedding: Pre-wedding

I haven’t written in a while on this blog mainly because I have been sick twice in only a month and also so so busy at work and with all the wedding preparations… I am busy right now also, but I managed to take a small break. Finally!
So, this post is about the photos from our pre-wedding photo session by Marius Barbulescu. The pictures are also on his blog with a full story of our photo session - in Romanian though…
He is a Romanian wedding photographer and when I told him about my idea for the session – fashion oriented – he seemed really excited about trying out this new thing although it wasn’t really his expertise – fashion photography I mean… I am so happy we did the photo session because it really came out great, perfect, just as I would have imagined it and we have now some really great pictures with us for years to come.
I wasn’t too much into the love showing pictures, I wanted them to be more edgy and fashion and he really understood what I wanted. Maybe better than me :) His pictures have a common vision, you can really see it even if if they are taken in 3 different places. I had only some vision for the winter forest photos, but from the ones he uploaded to the blog, I liked most the parking lot ones (the blue tones). That was his vision completely. It’s nice to see such talented Romanian photographers.
The fashion in this photo shoot was around rock which is pretty much my style. I like wearing and designing rock inspired clothes.
The whole outfit it my creation from skirt, corset, headpiece to belt. I used small Swarovski crystals for the flowers on the headpiece and belt. The corset is made of ivory silk voile and has duchess lining. The skirt is made of bridal ivory tulle and the outer one is made of the same voile used on the corset. Out of all the work, I think I liked the most working on the details like the flower accents, the details on the edges of the corset and belt (I also made a matching necklace but decided in the end not too use it).
Another very fun part of the whole outfit was the makeup which was rock-chick with MAC products and also made by myself. It persisted so good with all the snow and water from the photo shoot into the woods. My hair was done by Angelica and my shoes are from Replay (cool rock brand that I love).
I wanted to dress my boyfriend in a more daring outfit, but he had a cold so T-shirts and ripped jeans were out of discussion, plus it isn’t really his style. In the end we decided for something less daring, but still on the rock side – because of the dark colors…
In the end I was very happy with the outcome!
The photos were taken in a forest around Bucharest, Romania, in a parking lot and coffee place (Hobby Cafe) in Bucharest.

 
 


Glam glam!

Wedding: Photo Session pictures

We had a small pre-wedding photo shoot after the City Hall Ceremony.
I wanted the theme to be Winter Fashion. We have a small preview of our photo session from Mihai Iovanov (he came with our photographer to provide lightning and to get more experience).
I am embedding the links from his blog with the pictures that I liked best. More pictures on his blog: http://www.iovanov.eu/ I think he did a great job.

 





 
 
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Wedding: City Hall Ceremony video

Because we are going to have a big wedding in July, we wanted a very small and intimate civil ceremony. We didn’t like the way so many people gather at the Romanian City Halls for a “ceremony” that resembles the “ceremony” when you get your passport or ID card. It didn’t look like anything that we wanted to celebrate with a lot of people. It was just a paper we needed to sign. No need for our close relatives to be there. So we did it very quickly with only our parents and sister attending. I liked it very much. I think we avoided the strange feeling that we would have had if we would’ve done all the rituals Romanians do.
I guess I think this way probably because I lived in Denmark for quite some time and here this is the way people think and are doing these things …
Anyway, we have a small video with the small city hall thing.

Makeup: I like Raul Flores

LiveJournal Tags: makeup,photos

I discovered him by navigating through fashion pictures on Flickr yesterday evening and I completely adore his fashion makeup.

Checkout his photostream @:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/biteandscratch/

Dance: Contemporary dance

My 2 favorite ever contemporary routines from “So you think you can dance” are these ones. The first is a routine by Mia Michaels and is my all time favorite.

And I also loved an older – also by Mia Michaels:

Wedding: Done deal

It’s almost a done deal that my civil wedding ceremony will take place on the 30th of January. It’s going to be a very very small ceremony. Only me and my fiance know about it so far. We’re going to invite our parents to a dinner outside and without them even suspecting we’re going to stop at the city hall and get married. Wearing jeans. Oh, the photographer also knows! And my sister :)

After the ceremony, we’re going to a nice restaurant and on one of the next days we plan on having a small photo shoot. And that’s all. Simple done deal. Our church ceremony and reception will take place on the 3rd of July so in about 5 months from the city hall ceremony.

Photo: I like

I like her photos. Very nice portraits although they are all black and white. I guess it works for portraits. I like more color though.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catalina_filip/

And while I’m it here’s the results of the AAFR (Romanian Photographers Associations) 2009 competition: http://www.aafr.ro/noutati-131.htm

Glam glam!