neviiven’s posterous

 



July 25, 2009

My Life According to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to 15 people you like and include me
(presuming I'm someone you like). You CAN'T use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you
think! Repost as "my life according to (band name)"

Pick your Artist:
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Are you a male or female:
Abstract Dragon

Describe yourself:
Too Real

How do you feel:
Awake

Describe where you currently live:
At My Door

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Berlin

Your favorite form of transportation:
Cold Wind

Your best friend?
Restless Sinner

You and your best friends are:
Weight of the World

What's the weather like:
Complicated Situation

Favorite time of day:
Tonight's With You

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
Shuffle Your Feet

What is life to you:
Spread Your Love

Your relationship:
We're All in Love

Your fear:
Six Barrel Shotgun

What is the best advice you have to give:
Rise Or Fall

Thought for the Day:
Whatever Hapened to My Rock'n'Roll

How I would like to die:
Weapon of Choice

My soul's present condition:
Love Burns

My motto:
Head Up High

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July 21, 2009

the mechanics of ingratitude

trying to make a chart about some of the forces which drive ingratitude is not as easy as it seems. 

In my opinon many conflicts start with a passive act: with the a missed or a misunderstood opportunity (since I am not talking about machine conflicts I will relate everything I am saying to the human behaviour). 
And I am not discussing some obvious forms of aggression towards us which are active causes of a conflict.
 
How can a passive act cause a conflict? Someone hasn't done something, someone has forgotten something and this un-undertaking of action caused us some kind of trouble and therefore causes a conflict with that someone. 

This un-undertaking of action is also unconscious. There are no bad intentions behind it. 
We are often not aware of and grateful for the actions our friends take without us noticing those actions. We react only when there's a major problem. And we react negatively.

And very often we forget to think about all the negative things that could have happened to us if someone or something hasn't prevented them. Of course is hard to calculate this but a little more gratitude can make our lives happier.

Imagine the situation: you see your friend on the street talking on the phone not noticing a car. In the last second you prevent the accident, pushing him to the other sidewalk. If that friend doesn't see the overall situation this would be an aggressive act, he will be pissed and probbaly will slap you in the face. If he realizes your behaviour he will be very grateful and you both will be happy. 

Ok, now imagine that now this guy preventing the incident is life itself. Life can  hardly explain to you why it pushed you on the street. And often you cannot see the overall situation. If you get angry, live would be pissed too. If you realize the possibility that probably this trouble you have now has happened only to prevent something really bad you will not be worrying anymore.

So I'm very grateful for everything. 

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June 26, 2009

collective mind

 I was talking on the phone yesterday when I incidentally looked at my twitter account and read the @antiquiet tweet:

wow. michael jackson is dead.

I couldn't believe my eyes so rushed to the trending topics (few inches away) and surprise, surprise: Michael Jackson Rip,  MJ etc. dominated the list.

I started reading tweets from all over twitter and it looked like he passed away indeed. I updated my FB status immediately  and read an article about the tragic incident.

After few minutes CNN stated that Jacko was still alive, hospitalized in coma. CNN is a pretty important source of trustful information so I thought that maybe someone spread wrong unofficial information. 

An hour passed and the official statement came. The collective mind which produced the trending topics was right.

So this is a good example of how this kind of swarm intelligence works. I'm sure that we will witness many other examples of it: of how it works and the wonders it can produce. 

On another note: let's appreciate more life and the ones we love, admire and have in our lives. Time is precious.

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May 27, 2009

the tendency is in the middle

I was having an icecream that afternoon at work and was listening to a conversation my colleagues had. 

They talked about some new hype things as spotify and I had a revelation. About my middle position in everything.

I've been using spotify for ten months now and heard about it the first time two years ago. I'm observing the facebook posts of my friends and work mates and am bored to see the funny viral twitter video or something that I've already watched/listened to etc. 
They are now discovering twitter and have already heavily adopted facebook, flickr and some blogs. 

Well, I have been writing a blog from early 2006 and have been using twitter for more than a year now. 
And that's the tragedy - my middleness ( I dread to call it mediocrity).

I definitely am ahead of my primar field of connections but way behind the evangelists, pioneers and real geeks. I am bored at parties where everyone is discussing aplusk, the power of the quiz @facebook and the impact of the online reputation but I won't feel well at a high level geek discussion group. I have never hacked a site, it took me ages to put some content online. 

And the terrible thing is that this is not about internet and IT only. An example: I studied business administration but work in an online department. I can make basic websites and have a notion of EBIT and M&A but that was it. 

I studied abroad and am foreigner now in my own country and a foreigner where I live.

And in my privat life. Im kind of party and cool but then very moral and disciplined. Im too friendly to my male friends so they are not really only soulmates but not my boyfriends either. 

My greatest passion music: I can play the guitar but not very well, and I have the 10 x knowledge of my girlfriends about music but still am nothing in comparison to some high fidelity kind of guy. 

I guess I just want it all and still am not decided where I want to belong to. But realizing it is a good starting point: )

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March 9, 2009

the great excuse called recession

print and tv, online media, experts and non-profit orgs repeat it like an anti-mantra for the last couple of months: recession, recession, recession.

the tragedy happens every day: staff reductions, smaller budgets, unpaid work overlaod, loss, downsizing, insecurity, chaos.

this all is very sad. one of the saddest things about it is the motivation collapse and certainly the tendency to false excuses.

people in companies e.g. don't have the motivation to solve problems and find optimal solutions anymore. because you can balme failure anytime on the recession. it didn't work, ah the recession. we tried but...the recession. why to think about it again when...the recession.

it's hard to give your best when not much is making sense anymore but there is no other way. how can things get better again?
try to stay positive: we are so fortunate not the have e.g. war. what do our grannies and grandpas would say about it? they certainly can remember darker times: inflation, hunger, death.

so, until we have our airbooks and can afford to book a trip let's try to give it a try. recession is part of life. and after it often comes growth and stability.

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March 8, 2009

equal in sadness?

just one short visit of secret tweet and you do believe that sometimes life is stranger than fiction. life has changed in so many ways in the last centuries, things have been made easier for us - the inhabitants of the 21st century. but many main issues in human life haven't changed an inch.

nowadays there are many unhappy hearts under a satisfied skin. healthy bodies, perfect smiles, harmonious vitas and social schedules. and still sadness doesn't belong to the issues we learnt to deal with in an ideal way.

we can't avoid sadness, we certainly can pretend that we are fine but in many cases this state is just being assumed by the presence of a happy surface.

lately i have been thinking about the different ways of being sad: some look snow-whity beautiful, some look simply ugly in their craving for luck and love.
and here is another paradox - while some take xanax and become alcoholics there are some individuals who can sit down comfortably enough in this space of deep saddening feelings and write songs like "faith", or sonnets, compose tangos or symphonies and pain(t) chef d'oeuvres. or just express their feeligs creatively - write a blog-post about the sad story -  and not destructively. not just cry like babies or worse - behave like complete retards. this looks unfair to me. why aren't we equal in sadness?

maybe because we are all so different and should accept that nothing however familiar it sounds, isn't the same for two individuals.
and perhaps when stopping comparing we can become happier. why compare with others (often the greatest source of unhappiness) when we are completely different?

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February 23, 2009

the music "tele"-vision

I incidently had a glimps of another "house/rock/*ock of love" show and I said to myself once again: "MTV is so over".

In my teens I wholeheartedly loved MTV because it was the music television. It was all about music and videos. But so much more as well: fashion, hype, integrity.

Since then MTV has been moving continuously on the downward spiral of serving the mass flavor. You know what I mean: dumb dating shows instead of videos, talentless acts instead of substance.

Plus: television is so out anyway. Ok, on its way out. 
I don't know what MTV is doing online but the fact that the twitter population haven't heard of it is self-explanatory.

Maybe the problem is in the definition: when creating an idea never define limits.

Maybe the Music Channel would have been much more profutable and sustainable than the Music Television.

Maybe.

#reinvent

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February 22, 2009

on marketing and shoes

well - I fell for this pair of shoes. 

I cannot afford these shoes right now but this fact doesn't upset me. I like them, they are comfortable and sexy but I can appreciate them anyway.

This is because  I learnt something. The essence of marketing is not selling things but selling ideas.

This is the reason you buy not a watch but a rolex, not a skirt but a valentino, not a portable music device but an apple product.

Every good brand stands for a good idea. The vision of coolness, of wealth, of being smart, being sexy. Good marketing messages provide not information on the product but a feeling of experiencing something you don't have really. 

Buying the product can provide us with that desirable idea and we can actually feel it but this perception won't last long.

Do you remember a happy moment you have and associate it with an object? A car, a fridge, a jacket, lingerie?
I'm pretty sure not. The moments you can qualify as happy are moments of experiencing something, of having someone in your life, of an activity, a feeling, a flow. 

This is the reason why so many people are unhappy nowadays - bombarded with marketing messages of ideas we keep buying stuff and hope that this would help us be happy. 

Trying on the shoes I had instantly an idea in my head: a summer night, italian flair, the swoosh of the sea, music, wine, someone inspirational, something unsaid, me sexy and sweet, the beginning of a journey. 

I had to laugh in the fitting room. Well the vision was great but buying the shoes and being on that italian beach with someone I admire doesn't have much in common.

But beyond visions and feelings like these there's something more. The happiest moments in my life were those in which I experienced a spontaneous amazing chain of happenings which came from the ocean of possibile occurrences in the best, most magical way possible. A miraculous flow born from the chaos. Like a beautiful melody where every note is a different happening in your life.

Well this is something which certainly has little to do  with brands and products.
And with shoes :)

   

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February 21, 2009

the new rubber duck playground

via i269.photobucket.com

as you can read in my last post every nice rubber duck needs a nice playground outside the bathroom. so I just tried to be consequent and got this very fresh springy one for mine.

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February 21, 2009

the saturday afternoon randomness recital

don't you ever pretend to be not yourself or not that cool in order to make someone like you less whatever the reason

don't wear animals, it is ugly

everything you do is what you are

you can change everything by adjusting yourself

be resistent to stupidity of others and be kind and nice to the good ones

buy your rubberduck a playground outside your bathroom

possession can make noone happier than he/she is

try to to one thing at a time - don't eat in front of a screen, even of a beloved screen

smile

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