Yes, it’s true, my hair color has changed: it’s blond now. Well kinda’. It’s more of a greenish blond. I think I mentioned my friend, Soso the hair stylist, in an earlier post. Well he needed me again and this time it was a lot easier to say yes. I just was damn curious … sorry :).

He got to a real competition this time in Brasov, and qualified for the national finale. Although (and I admit it) I don’t really like what came out, if the jury considered this haircut and colors were good then I’m happy for him. I had a real good time in Brasov, although the preparation and dying the day before were a bitch. The good part: I was the only guy model there were lots of fine extremely good looking ladies … ahem let’s say I should have stayed for the party in the evening :).

An impressive moment at the premiere was when a 15 year old girl (hair stylist) got the first place in her category … It just reinforces what I wrote in an earlier post:

“We’re educated to label people by their abilities, their interests, their education, their hobbies and their jobs. Maybe we should stop and take a look at ourselves. Everyone has something he’s good at, everyone has something they can do best. And that is one of the few things that matter.“

Have a laugh … enjoy the pictures :)

The Lion.

I’m trying to keep up but I’m in an extremely busy period … so bare with me.

Not so long ago I’ve been invited to a friend’s birthday (Daniel). I figured it will be a dull Sunday afternoon and therefore I managed to arrive late :). His father has built a house and an artificial lake with all kinds of fishes lurking inside a few km of Sibiu right near the E81 European road. If you don’t know what to look for you can easily drive by and never notice it. The lake is behind an earth wall protecting it from the constant noise just a hundred meters away.

When I made the first 20m off the main road I was getting mixed feelings about the place … i wasn’t going to stick around for long … what could I possibly do here in the middle of nowhere? After just 50 more meters my perspective changed when taking a steep left turn, the an incredible view unveiled itself in front of me. As you can see from the pictures bellow, the place is amazing, just like a small corner of paradise, in the most unlikely place a hundred meters of a busy road. After that last step, no noise was getting trough … peace of mind, quiet.

Daniel and my few other colleagues from work were waiting form me with the table set and after a session of “all you can eat” we moved on to swimming, boat riding, fishing and other entertaining activities. I for one wanted to swim … and I did … 3 hours long with a brief fishing pause. This day alone was enough to recharge my batteries. I don’t believe I had that much fun for ages. The pictures bellow are speaking for themselves:

Over and out,
The Lion.

Something’s changed. And this time I don’t mean something deep, but straightforward … I look differently :). Why is that? Well there’s a story behind it:

One day as I was sitting at my desk I received a call from a friend of mine, who happens to be a hair stylist. He needed someone (I don’t know why that someone has to be always me!) to work on for a show and the deadline was 5 days away. And I found myself saying “Yes” for no obvious reasons … Didn’t knew what I was putting myself into. The process was the most interesting experience tough. I never knew how much work goes into such a thing, didn’t know how difficult it is to get the color you want, the glow, that you need some math, some color knowledge and some drawing skills to pull this out. The end result you see bellow took about 7 hours.

I didn’t like it at first … then I decided not to give a f*ck of what people think, and instead of getting back to “normal” (something that I was constantly reminded of, every day, by the people around me), I got one step further and changed my hair again. I don’t want to be “normal”, regular, fit a standard or be whatever this society want’s me to be. I want and will be myself, regardless of anyone may think, I am. I want to do crazy and unexpected stuff, if this makes me feel alive, if this makes me happy.

Now, about the show (live in Bucharest) was the fun part, we all got to be models for a day, feel the rush of the preparations of choosing of clothing of, the anxiety of waiting, the excitement of being on stage. For the first time in years, since I left AIESEC, I felt so alive again, I experienced diversity in my own country. Perhaps not cultural diversity but diversity in ideals, diversity in passion and diversity in expression.

When it all ended I ended up in seeing more more than what’s above the surface and show more respect for other people’s work and skills (I may or may not fully understand). It’s not that easy doing what these people do, not that easy being a model either … I guess it’s hard to cope with this different kind of experience till you go trough it yourself.

From the whole experience, one thing stands out: I was with these guys for several hours now, talking, laughing … one of them is just finishing the 12^th grade (high school). I asked him what he’s going to do next. He answered bluntly that this was what he wants to do, this was what he always wanted to do. I can do anything but admire his passion and the dedication … we kinda loose this gradually as we grow old.

We’re educated to label people by their abilities, their interests, their education, their hobbies and their jobs. Maybe we should stop and take a look at ourselves. Everyone has something he’s good at, everyone has something they can do best. And that is one of the few things that matter.

Over and out,
The Lion.

Issues
Till Friday all was done, except a little thing that slipped our mind: Gwen doesn’t know to drive a stick-shift. Imagine: in the U.S., they actually give you the driver license on an automatic shift.

So, I was teaching Gwen about the “extra” pedal called the clutch. Things started OK, on the first try Gwen actually started the windshield wipers. After a nice test ride in the city all was prepared. We went home to pack and started our journey.

Well … not quite, a few meters of the parking lot Gwen managed to place the car in the middle of the road and because being stressed and all she couldn’t manage the fine moves of the clutch and gas pedal required to get the car moving forwards. OK, we moved … in small steps, hick-ups, engine dying, engine start, car shaking, hick-ups engine dying. As this kind of movement was killing the engine, building a long queue behind us and was not getting measurable results, I had to take over and drive a few blocks to a parking area.

After refining my training techniques we managed to get the car moving and circled around the city for about 25 minutes trying to find our way to the Highway circles around Rotterdam. The trip was a nice one, I love Dutch highways … they are among the best in the world. At around 11 pm we arrived in Düsseldorf and Gwen’s friend was waiting for us with dinner laid on the table in the nice little garden behind their house.

The city
In the following 2 days we made extensive walks around the city and alongside of the Rhine. Düsseldorf has about 600.000 inhabitants but in a normal day, the city seems really small. I loved the old castle, the small houses and statues, the fountains, the city parks, the small river harbors, the seamless merge between old and new. The city host many cafes and restaurants blended into the old part of the city that gives them a special flavor and the Rhine completes the picture. It’s nice, everyone wants you as a customer and the chill atmosphere makes gives you complete relaxation.

We bought souvenirs, natural gummy candies, very good ice cream and of course the traditional bratwurst :)

As we walked on the other side of the Rhine, in some remote places small real sand beaches were available. We spent some time dipping our feet in water gathering sea shells and small rocks :).

Amusement park
On the other side of the Rhine a huge amusement park was built just for this summer, so we couldn’t resist the temptation :D.

I went on just 2 rides. The first ride was … ahem … interesting. As I was strapping myself in the seat, and the safety bar coming down I thought: “I won’t scream! I’ve already done this in an airplane.”. No sh*t! I nearly wet my pants and I screamed my head off. These people are crazy! My hands still hurt from the strong grip of the safety bar.

The Second ride was more gentle, but still stirring my insides out. I just wanted to know how it feels. Now I know. I’m not sure I will do it again.

After saying our goodbyes we were on the road again … the wrong one :D. Some turns later, we got onto the highway and the rest of the ride was smooth with no major incidents. I guess we have to thank Gwen that she didn’t manage to kill us in the process. When I look back I say to myself: “That was really stupid … and bold”. :D.

Over and out,
The Lion.

1. Be late to a total of: 6 hours.
2. Change the day of my flight due to delays or other events: 2 times.
3. Make me pay for taxi or food, others due delays: 200 RON.
4. Make me wait at the airport in line for: 4 hours.
5. Make me run trough Milan Malpensa Airport to catch my connection: 1 times.
6. Lost my luggage: 1 times.
7. Bring back the wrong luggage: 1 times.
8. Recover my luggage in: 3 days.
9. Break their own rules about luggage assistance if recovery lasts more than one day: 1 times.
10. Have an inadmissible attitude (flight attendances): 2 times.

The Lion.

I’ve just discovered a very cool video made by two kids. It just shows that with enough commitment, creativity and motivation one can achieve great things. Some call these little movies “better than StarWars” :).

Enjoy:

Cheers,
The Lion.

“Imagine that you’re Alexandra and you are studying economics and as any other Alexandra that studies economics you have to do summer practice at the hospital. You gather four people randomly and take them to the hospital at 8 AM to donate blood. All is good and nice till you find out that:

• one of them drank 8 beers last night
• one just drank vodka this morning
• another is in that bloody (and I mean it literally) period of the month
• and one just came from India, country with high health risk

and therefore cannot donate blood. These special people are Robert, Sh, Dani and Malina … Step away from that edge and close the window! You’re not Alexandra!”
The Lion. :)