Iva’s WTF site – Squirrelism.net

This entry will be nowhere as inspired as the previous one…which doesn’t mean I’m not inspired…just tired.

The weather is mad. Sitting by an open window in the middle of January as if it was the most normal thing in the world is not normal. Watching TV and seeing how the most of the continent had a freakin’ hurricane 2 days ago is not normal. I so hope there will be some snow. Our Slava is on 31st January and I am used to a snowy one…seems like that won’t happen this year.

So, by the end of this week (eeek, tomorrow!) , I should do the following
- make the template for the site I’m redesigning for work
- finish the site for my friend…that was the first thing I was ever offered to design and we’re doing it only now, after 2.5 years of “consulting”
- contact some other people who asked me to help ‘em as well
- clean up this messy room
- make a list of things I should do next week
- make a new template for Invisible Movement, as I am starting to loathe the current look of the site
- reply to at least some of these piled-up emails, private messages and comments. AGRH.

I need to do the first two…the rest can wait, but it will sure make me busy. O_o The good thing is that I finally got cable internet. “Only” 8 times faster than what I used to have…a true paradise, as I can actually get some serious stuff done at home

This Saturday I read one of the nicest books that I came accross recently. It’s Marley & Me by John Grogan. I saw it in one of the biggest bookshops in the city sometime in December and the excerpts on the back were telling me it was going to be a good one. So, two days ago, I bought it and read it in one evening. And it was not haha-funny at all. It was a great story of how a couple managed to build their life around what was a behaviour equivalent of my hyperactive parakeet (who will get a page of his own soon) and, spiritualy, the equivalent of the tree I grew up with; and how they were maturing together with their pet. So, well, I am recommending you all to read this book. So many books today were written without love, as horrible page-turners, for no reason but to make money and this book makes me smile, because I see so many examples of the rarity that is real love in it: love between two young people, love in a family, love for a pet who did so many good and so many bad things at the same time. Also, all the descriptions are very vivid. If you want to know more about this beautiful book, go to its official site. There are some photos of Marley the labrador himself and stories written by owners of other dogs.

I am really happy these days. I was broke during the holidays, now it changed and I got an opportunity to make myself and people around me happy. So, I decided to take my mom and dad out to the Buena Vista Social Club show on 05th February, while some of the original band members are still alive…and then, since mom didn’t feel like going to a restaurant, I brought a huge pizza from Pizza Hut home. I also decided to buy mom something more precious and I found a nice pendant for a necklace at Swarovski….and it turned out to be a zip puller…here it is. However, the store workers told me that it can be a pendant as well. I liked it more than the one with two things and mom was delighted. She even cried. I am so glad that once, after a bunch of unsuccessful tries, I got her something she really likes. And making people I love happy. I also want to get dad something related to fishing or something for our family car (Ka-r:p), but it’s easier to get gifts for dad as he says what he wants. Who knows, perhaps I will be able to take us all to the seaside this year, as we have not been on such a holiday since 1994.

From top left, clockwise: Hocki Jr, my Lush gift to myself, mom’s gift and tickets for the concert and our biiig pizza!

Other reasons I’m happy…they’re more of a spiritual kind, as I have realised material happiness was useless many times in the past when I had what I wanted and I was alone or extremely unhappy. Ever since the best day of my life, I’ve been smiling and I am not even used to it, my cheek muscles hurt me. It’s someone’s fault…and they’re probably not even aware of how happy they made me. One of my main missions in near future would be to find them and thank them…without too much hugging as I’m known for nearly breaking people’s bones when I’m hugging them…

Many thanks to everyone who wished me a merry Christmas yesterday, especially to Fruity, because she did it twice. And it’s still not late, as we’re weirdos who celebrate Christmas for three days…actually, four days including the Christmas Eve (which was on Saturday), as we’re weird like that.

After having been in the wonderful world of Despair for a little while, I can say this for sure now: people are strange. There’s also the other option, that people are OK and that Iva is strange, but as I have gained way too much self-esteem on one certain day last year, I’ll settle for the first thing. Basically, seems like there are trends in what people’s websites should be like, but, apparently, also in how people should behave? I am saying this simply because, lately, I’ve been running into websites with massive background images (better) and websites of dumb girls whose only thoughts are how to be pretty, how to get laid (because everyone needs to have sex to be cool or something like that?) and how to get drunk. BLAH. I wonder if a person with such amazing goals in life can carry out a normal conversation? The worst thing of all is that there are HORDES of 12-17 years old of that kind. Shouldn’t there be a way to brainwash them or something? Of course it’s fine to be with someone whom you love, to be clean and tidy and moderate social drinking is what most people do…but these kids are taking it to the moron-level. Do they read? I mean, do they read anything else than what’s trendy at the moment and watch any movie regardless of Orlando Bloom or whoever else’s presence in it? I think I’m worried about every new generation being dumber and dumber! Hopefully, someone will prove me wrong.

Oh yes. I’ve just watched the first episode of the season 9 of one of my favourite TV series, Incantesimo. Let’s say that I was not really impressed. The ending of season 8 was pretty much forced out, it was not clear if two of the main characters actually died (one was shoot and the other one fell on the floor after her lover hit the end of her neck bone) and now, boom, nothing has happened, new characters are there, these two are most likely dead and some others have just…err…vanished away? My mother was wondering what happened to a little boy who was adopted by the woman who was killed in the last episode of the season 8 (and who was, sadly, one of my favourite characters…we will miss you, Denise *sob sob*), as he would obviously could’ve only been adopted by his uncle who’s still in the series…? Either way, what’s the point of a series if things like this are happening? >_<

Happy New Year…with a slight delay, as I had no time to post before;)

I spent the New Year’s Eve quietly with mom and dad, eating štanglice [can't explain], some prosciuto, cheese and olives on toothpicks and Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding with raspberry sauce. I was almost feeling like an old friend of mine died, because somehow, I learned to love 2006, even after some of the most painful experiences in my life so far. Maybe because I really loved the last two months? Either way, she’s gone to heaven now and I hope she’s beating the s**t out of 2004, the year that will never be forgiven in my mind, for many many reasons. All my problems date from 2004 and 2005 and 2006 didn’t manage to solve them all, either though I was really trying hard.

The New Year’s day was a stereotype one, apart from the fact that I woke up at five in the morning again. I was looking at the break of dawn from the bathroom window, and then I remembered there was a Tom & Jerry marathon on Boomerang. So, yes, I spent the most of the day watching that and updating Invisible Movement for the first time in 2007. I re-published the whole Albany and East Rutherford special and the Vienna special finally saw the light of the day.

Speaking of Vienna, I also watched the traditional New Year’s concert with mom, but this time it was slightly different, as mom was like: “Did you see this place? Did you see that place?” every ten seconds. I told her that I did see Belvedere, but that I did not see Schönbrünen. In the end, she concluded that I should go back to Vienna and do more sightseeing, preferably during the warmer part of the year, so I could experience Prater at its best and see the royal gardens. What’s with my connections to that city, anyway? Mom and dad made me in Vienna and I left my heart in Vienna, that’s for sure. Every single mention of Vienna gets out another moment from my mind and makes it more memorable. Hearing Radetsky Marsch at the end of the concert reminded me of how my friend Roberta said that one of her biggest dreams is to be at the New Year’s concert someday and how we both concluded that Radetsky Marsch is one of the greatest musical pieces on Earth. All cool people love classical music;)

Even with all this on my mind, I still can’t help remembering those New Year days we were spending at Zorana’s place, with her family and Jasna’s family; eating leftover food from the party we’d always been having there the night before. Us kids were eating on the floor, Zorana’s mom, Mila, was always trying to make us stuff we loved to eat…mostly dough-based snacks and cookies. And we were playing…one of our most common games was a roleplay of a family which was experiencing paranormal stuff. Despite the fact that I was the youngest of all three of us, I was the mother. Jasna was my son, Viki (not really a normal name for a boy) and Zorana was my daughter, Nina. Sometimes we were playing a game where we’d be running an orphanage and dolls were the kids. They all had names, last names and a history file. And when we were not in a mood for anything that special, we were playing with our Lego Fabuland sets. I seriously miss those days and it’s sad to see that Zoka & Jaca don’t miss them. So, yes, Jasna met a random dude in her grandmother’s hometown early this year, got pregnant in March, got married in July, had a baby named AFTER ME in November and she didn’t even freakin’ call me over. I want to go and see the baby, it’s a traditional thing. At least Jasna was actually replying to my texts after her mother gave me the number. I called Zorana twice, she told me that she’s not one of those people who arrange meeting up someone and then never meet up with them; but unfortunately she did that! I deleted both Zorana and Jasna’s numbers from my mobile phone, I am bitter and angry and I wonder how they can forget everything we’d been through as if we had not been best friends for eight years? I just don’t understand them and I am really disappointed with all my friends from the past. Many of the present as well, for that matter. I think it’s my biggest disappointment at the moment and it goes on and on and on…