Chapter XII: One Final Resolution

Quote of the month: " 'Cause every moment I'm with you, it's like I'm holding on to Heaven."

Songs of the month:    The XX - Last Christmas (Wham! Cover)
                                  Nickelback - Holding On To Heaven

                                  Metallica - Master Of Puppets

  

        Happy Holidays everyone! I am terribly sorry for the delay caused, but due to the promise I made and all the exam session just one step away from them, I couldn't focus on the blog, because it would lead me to overkill. Still I promised you a 3-Pack, one being released tonight and the other 2 following these days. Without wasting any more time, let's not waste any more time and lay waste upon the highlight reel about this amazing trip I had these last 12 months!

Part I: Santa's Dirty Helper

           Beginning December, wasn't the way I wanted. As you may recall from the last chapter, I went back to Cluj, coincidentally with my roommates leaving in that week for a 3-day weekend. I then realized how much a fool I was, because, I could have met a lot more friends in that period of time, because most of them were returning in that same period. I was sitting alone in my room, to the point of going insane and starting to rant about this whole day of December 1st, which is supposed to be Romania's birthday, when all the people come together and unite, while I am stuck in another city all alone, and away from everyone. Then, Roxana texted me that she was mortified by all my comments, because she was feeling way too let down by everyone, and that I, of all people was the only motivation for her to keep moving on, but then when she saw I was myself so pissed off at life, she started being emotional.

          Wasted no time, called her right on the spot, and tried to calm her down. In a weird way we have this magic to make ourselves feel better when talking, and so it was. I told her to stop the panic, because there's nothing worse that could happen to me right now, then to feel her sorrow. Then I told her why exactly this day bothered me, and then we got to the condolence part, where we both felt a lot better, growing the longing tenfold. Great stuff right here that once again makes me think that the chemistry between me and her was flawless (because we're the exact same person).

          The next 2-3 weeks were extremely heavy for me, because I had a lot of labs to attend in time, for a decent vacation, and all of them were difficult to be far fetched. In the end I managed to attend all of them, then one thoughtful day, I got some extra money from Mamma Melvin to "finally have some fun". At first I was like, YEY! I can finally do some stuff, but then I realized I was 1 day away from home. Then this bright idea about the 3rd and last concept I bringed this year brainstormed. 

          I bought 5 special presents for 5 of my favorite girls this year: A rare marzipan chocolate bar, an iron pendant, an iron trinket, a glass trinket, and a potato muppet that grows hair when it gets wet on the head. Finally after I reached home, I met my long-time friend Alex (0), and marched our way to Melvin's for a snack and gossip. I then told him about the idea I had with these stuff I bought for those girls, and he thought I was really wanting to make a statement with them. Truth be told that's what I was intending, because those (girl) friends didn't knew how much I like them, as my general appreciation was mostly equal. I was originally planning to give 1 present at a day, all the way to Christmas eve, but then something strange really happened.                   

          First of those girls (and my favorite from 2012) was obviously Roxana who wasn't doing meditation hours at 2 PM. Then I said, hey, the best of those presents is only hers, so I surprised her, said Merry X-Mas and gave her the muppet. She was so shocked of my return and present, that our chemistry level literally went beyond Space and Heaven. It was just like that, we realized, it really doesn't matter how much we're around each other, every moment we were together, would make us turn off the conscience, leave the world outside, because nothing at all that would ever make us feel, like anything's real, was turned into gold. Neither of us could wait to meet again, because it would turn into an epic story along the way. After gifting her, we had one of those Condolence hugs™ that would never end. We went to the ridge where we shot the final scenes from the "Unforgiven Farewell" movie on a snowy landscape on the exact same spot, where we last did that infamous hug. We relived those moments again, as this time would literally make us hold on to Heaven.

          Something even funnier funny happened after that. I got a call from Alexx (Afri) and he asked me if I wanted to go to a movie called "The Hobbit" tonight. I replied affirmatively, and he asked me if I can go to Diana and her sister to get money, 'cause they would've liked to come too. Nevertheless, I went with Roxana to their residence, and asked for their share, telling me that they changed their mind and can't come anymore. Instead I told them that it's OK, because I still have something for them (those being the iron pendant and iron trinket). They were so shocked they jumped in my arms of happiness (and yes, that was 3/5 girls at the middle of the day gifted). Afterwards I resumed my time with Roxana and went shopping for clothes. Kinda weird the sales lady from there told Roxana to come after me in Cluj, but still, very good quality time spent together. Had a lot of fun up to that point. I then wished her farewell, because she was going to her village that day, and the next time we would meet would be on Christmas aftermath (more about that in Part 3) and 2 more times after the New Year's Day. Nevertheless, just golden time spent. 

          After waving goodbye to Roxana I went to the movie with Afri. It was OK-ish even though we both expected a lot more from it. So we went to prepare for tonight's event at The Rock. I was so excited because it was the first time since it's opening in September I would finally manage to reach. It was also an Classic Old-school Music night, which made even better. Arriving that palace dressed up in my old Metallica T-shirt, I met again like 20-30 familiar faces, while they where shocked to see me again after 3 long months with grown hair and all. Some of those familiar faces were also Cipry (Vegas), his girl Adelina, Justin, Dana, Vatushel, and Laura (the asian one). Back in the day I thought Vatushel and Laura were doing a one-night stand (without knowing they were actually together), so I entered troll-mode and started teasing them with live recording on my phone camera, driving them insane. That was real fun. Leaving the jokes aside, I remembered the last 2 girls I liked the most were also there, those being Adelina and Laura, so I dragged the separated them from they're respective boyfriends (both of them thinking I was stealing from their noses) and gifted them the last 2 presents (Ade the glass trinket, and Laura the chocolate). Same story here, they were both anxious about the presents, so they jumped and hugged me in happiness. 

          Then I went on to finish this amazing night with some well deserved sleep, and finishing my chores as "Santa's Dirty Helper" (NOT Little) all in just one day. The next morning I congratulated all those 5 lucky girls on Facebook and wished them a Merry X-Mas and Happy Holidays in case we wouldn't meet, all of those girls replying with very positive feedback. Most people were really asking, why did I did what I did? Answer was pretty easy for all those questions. Just like the The Hug-A-Mania Ro-Trip Tour from late February, and both Amsterlypse editions, I did this because of my friends. I love all of them good, bad and evil. And to show my appreciation I've done this last thing, to make some of those girls happy. After reading Part II, I will speak about the rest of the vacation how it went, my highlight reel in New Year's Eve, that epic night, and finally that one last wish I had for 2013.

Part II: That Weekly Music Video That Inspired Me This Month #4

          I will now give to you TWMVTIMTM #4 in which I will express my feelings upon an amazing friend of mine called Roxana with these lyrics from late Nickelback, Holding on to Heaven. My take on it - it's either about getting back together with that special girl after a recent/short breakup, or it could possibly be about a new and budding relationship - with someone incredible! And make that relationship more important than anything. Enjoy!

Part III: That One Damn Happy New Year

           Moving on to Christmas, I was so anxious for meeting all of my friends again after such a long time, referring to the first ones from childhood: Alex M., Christian, Marius, Alex (Micu'), Diana, Sabin, 0, and surprisingly Radu my ex-general school mate. Soon I would turn the Christmas Eve and Day into a 10-Day Holy Christmas Reprise, as I was slowly but steadily bringing back all of my friends not necessarily the first ones, but also the new ones (all that I mentioned earlier in Part I and many more), mixing things up with a blast of highlight reels. All of those days were just amazing, as we relived some great memories at Melvin's, and some past stories being revisited. We did everything. Talked, drank some, laughed insane, played games, hugged, gossiped, told stories, play Rummy, watched movies, remember epic moments, reliving epic moments, created epic moments, everything.

           From a distinct side, of the story I got somewhere near the New Year's Eve, and really thought, OK it's resolutions time. But I really didn't had any idea what more could I want. Everything I said I was going to do, was accomplished in this amazing year of 2012. Also, it was that day, when Papa Melvin would like to party wild, so I really had to find a way to escape my home (in hope of being in a better environment). So the first I called was Laura, who was happy to take a long walk with me in the city for a little chit-chat. She asked me about a lot of stuff she wanted to ask to me for quite some time in the flesh, like how is it to be a student, who is Roxana and what's this connection between us, the success over this year's events I managed to do, and some of my favorite moments this year, while I asked her what was the shtick between her and Vatushel, her favorite moments, and advised her about choosing a faculty wisely. I really made an easy to understand resume about this year for me. I made it very clear from exactly one year before this 2012 will be my year. And so it was, I made 3 movements (those mentioned earlier in Part I), I started this blog to keep track with my lifeline, I got into college, I kept all of my friendships alive (well almost all of them, in fact all of them, you'll see near the end of this post), and I made a movie that solidified my personality concerning my friends. Then I told her everything about Roxana, and she was impressed, both on this relationship I have with her, but also on this wild year I had. Then we got to the resolution part. She said she wishes this year to be better, to have more money, and great friends, while I still didn't made up my mind about what to wish. 

           Anyway, I left her home, gave her one last 2012 Scorpion-hug™ wished her a Happy New Year. Then it happened to me. Arguably the the best damn happy new year I ever had. It started with me meeting Alex M., Micu', Cipry and Ade a little later after the walk, when Alex M. unveiled to me a very mind-numbing secret he's hidden to me for such a long time (for peacekeeping I will leave it that way, won't unveil it). It continued with going to his place, and laughing at some very old movies with us and drinking/dancing weird. Later that night at approximatively 10 PM, I received a text message in my thought, a typical Happy New Year SMS we all get tired of, but surely not from a person I was expecting. 

           After  3 and ¼ months of complete silence, it was now her turn to break character and tell me that she doesn't want me to end this year thinking I was forgotten by her, or didn't meant anything to her and in finally telling those 3 heavy words with 8 peculiar letters. It was Andra. My reaction to this: I was shocked for the first like 10 seconds, then laughed maniacally because it was something like that secret Alex M. told me. Totally didn't saw it coming. Nevertheless I opened my heart at least this time and after a few more text messages, I invited her to begin 2013 the same way we did in 2012, and stop by at Melvin's. In her words, she was really relieved to see that I wouldn't even end 2012 like she thought, and that I'd still really really really like her. So this renewed friendship got back on track. 

           Short in between story, I rushed my way home to wish my parents a Happy New Year and all that stuff, and make some popcorn for the boys. Surprisingly I didn't found any of them home, so I called Mama Melvin. She couldn't hear a thing I say, when I asked her where are they, she was shouting "Happy New Year!". After asking her the 8th time she finally understood what I wanted to say and told me she's with Papa Melvin and some neighbors at a local concert in New Year's. So I rushed to that place with fireworks flying everywhere, drinks falling to glass shatters, people wishing "Happy New Year!" left, right, front and behind, and a crowd hard to pass with 3 packs of popcorn on a carry. Finally I saw my parents wished them "Happy New Year!" and rushed back to Alex M.'s. 

           A little later that night, we met with Sabin who got just in time for the fireworks and nearly got us killed with them, then we laughed uncontrollably because we managed to pass them by our skin of our teeth. Resuming the fun back at Alex M. I remember having a very shameful moment to Alex's dad, but that was also a memorable laughing-to-tears moment. After everything was done I would say goodbye to all my friends and go home, meeting Papa Melvin who was getting ready for work that exact same morning. This was surely That One Damn Happy New Year, I never thought I would ever get to see. So many shocking, yet deliriously memorable amazing moments, and all of those in less then 10 hours. I would rate this Happy New Year a perfect 10, for not wasting a second for having fun and total nonstop action.

            All in all, I can say 2012 was the best damn year in my whole life, and I can't imagine anything better than this, but if I could, this would be my one last resolution for 2013. To make just as big as 2012, if not even better. I want to keep these 3 (soon 4) movements, I want to keep all my friendships alive, because I'm a dead man without them, I want to have success in the next days as a student in college, I want to extend my barriers to Cluj, I want to stay alive (even if it means, clinging down the line by the skin o' my teeth), and in the end I want hugs that really mean something from people. My people. My world. My kingdom.

Thank you everyone for reading Chapter XII, and for watching a wild road of a young punk who molded into a better man, all thanks to his friends. I loved sharing these stories with you, and as you may notice, I will keep this blog for one more year to see where it goes. 'Till then I'll wait 1 more day to finish writing January's Chapter XIII: Captive Honor. Thank you for all the support you gave me in the last 12 amazing months, and here's to another amazing 12. God bless you all, and peace!



Photo of the month:

You friends are the reason why I'm still holding on to Heaven...

    

Quick announcement regarding the future of the blog!

Hello, as you might've saw, I had a big delay trying to write Chapter XII. Unfortunately I am in the exam session, and I can't focus on writing material at the moment. I will probably release a 2-pack post, Chapter XII and Chapter XIII (yes, as you might've guessed I will still keep writing), but no earlier than mid-February because that's when the session will be over. I have a ton of new material to write about and so less time, I will promise you this will happen. Thank you for your understanding, and peace!

Chapter XI: The King's Vow

Quote of the month: "Your love is like a guitar solo. It makes my heart beat like a drum."

Songs of the month:    R.E.M. - Everybody Hurts
                                 Michael Jackson  - Cry

                                 Nickelback - Don't Let It End 

           Good day everyone, how's your life? Mine was pretty loaded, since it had a lot of obstacles in the way for benefaction, but for me there was no intention, I started believing in fate again because it has renewed in my path to survive in the last days before returning home, and also made me make a vow to remember why I got to this stage, and who helped me get here. Without any further ado let this chapter commence!




Part I: You only live once


           When I'll be a dad, I will surely tell my kids about this story about when I had to choose between having fun and starve, or steadily eat and breathe calmly to my way home. You see, the schedule for college was getting more and more difficult since mid-term exams were coming up and I had to nose-dive into my notes. It was tiresome work, but in the end I managed to pass all of 'em. It was quite itching to see that I got out with unexpectedly smaller marks than I was betting for, but hey, it's college. Stuff like this always happens when you have to make your professor enjoy your paper while reading it. Whatever...Next I checked my wallet for this month and I had to give myself a big slap to the head because I was running low on funds. I mean, I had a lot of money, but like 80% of it was for the transport straight home and back. I wasn't allowing myself to touch that sum no matter what. But you see, when you see, I made a new friend and colleague called Vlad who's a high profile stud, and shared a big love to Hip-Hop and Jazz music. We had a similar taste in that genre, so we hooked up in an instant. One day, he asked me if I will come to a concert with Dragon AK-47, a hip-hopper who was releasing his newest album in our very city in that very night. I was quite blown away by the offer, and accepted, but totally forgotten about my financial tripwire. Nevertheless, that night started 2 gateways: a funny drunk dream, and a financial nightmare.

             We got whiskey running through our veins and went straight to the Old Irish & Music Pub from Cluj, (The first hit from the nightmare here, a bottle of whiskey + the payed entrance 8$). Even funnier is that bottle wasn't enough so we bought 2 gigantic beers each (15$ for 2 big beers). The party was so freaking wild, and the Dragon finally arrived, all of it's rhymes and flows making the crowd go crazy. After the concert was done, everyone gone home either drunk or drugged, but happy. I for one had to pay for one of the cups because for some reason it disappeared and I don't remember how because I was way to drunk (Cup insurance 10$). After that I was going home and drunk-dialing my best friend Alex 0 to tell him about everything at like 2 AM in the morning until the phone battery died. Saddened I finally got home in one piece (I have no idea how), and gone to sleep. I had to pay for a ticket for crossing the street illegal (25$) but that was at the end of the month, even though it's not part of the story I stuck it here to sum up the nightmare. The next morning I woke up with a headache, deaf ears, a slimmer wallet, a big hang-over, no cap or scarf (lost them at the pub ~30$ value) and a giant scratch on my belly which not even today do I remember how the hell I got it (Priceless). The overall experience of the concert was epic nevertheless, but the penalty was hit on my financial status as I lost a total of 80$ and easily compromised my return to Slatina. I was quite pissed by everything, but most of all because I was seemingly stuck here in Cluj with lesser money.

           What can I say... You only live once, and stuff like that needs to happen if you want your life more enjoyable, at least I didn't lost my wallet. And it's a wonder I didn't lost it, because It actually saved me from being stuck here and in the end return in time to Slatina. But more on that later in Part III.








Part II: That Weekly Music Video That Inspired Me This Month #3





          I will now give to you TWMVTIMTM #3 in what I would call a personification of how I will remember all my friends at home in one of Michael Jackson's last music videos produced while he was still alive, called "Cry".
          The themes of "Cry" are world issues such as isolation, war, and brotherhood. It also suggests if everyone pulls together as one, then they make a change to the world, with Jackson singing, "You can change the world/I can't do it by myself"."Cry" was promoted by a music video, or "short film". The music video was directed by Nicholas Brandt, who had previously worked on promos for Jackson's other singles, "Earth Song" (1995), "Childhood" (1995) and "Stranger in Moscow", all of which were from Jackson's 1995 album, HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The video was filmed in six different locations, five of which were in California and another in Nevada. People featured in the video included members of a real life gospel group. The video does not feature Jackson, as he refused to appear in it. This is rumored due to the ongoing rift between the pop-star and Sony at that time. Music critic Mark Brown of Rocky Mountain News felt that Jackson cries the lyrics "I can't do it by myself". The song's lyrics and themes are similar to the ones in Jackson's 1988 single "Man in the Mirror" and his 1991 single "Heal the World".Jason Elias of Allmusic thinks "Cry" is a moody and reflective piece of material reminiscent of Jackson's Quincy Jones-produced ballads for Bad, and indicates the song's themes are those of alienation and sorrow rather than love. He believes the strength of the strings, the competent backing vocals, and the keyboard figures prevent the listener from convulsing with laughter at Jackson's "oh-so-pained delivery" and interjections of "Hold on" or "Oh my!". Jon Pareles of the New York Times called the track the "change-the-world-song" and wrote that the single "applies its grand buildup to one of pop's strangest utopian schemes", which was asking everyone to cry at the same time, at which point Jackson may answer their prayers.The themes of "Cry" are world issues such as isolation, war, and brotherhood. It also suggests if everyone pulls together as one, then they make a change to the world, with Jackson singing, "You can change the world/I can't do it by myself"."Cry" was promoted by a music video, or "short film". The music video was directed by Nicholas Brandt, who had previously worked on promos for Jackson's other singles, "Earth Song" (1995), "Childhood" (1995) and "Stranger in Moscow", all of which were from Jackson's 1995 album, HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The video was filmed in six different locations, five of which were in California and another in Nevada. People featured in the video included members of a real life gospel group. The video does not feature Jackson, as he refused to appear in it. This is rumored due to the ongoing rift between the pop-star and Sony at that time. Music critic Mark Brown of Rocky Mountain News felt that Jackson cries the lyrics "I can't do it by myself". The song's lyrics and themes are similar to the ones in Jackson's 1988 single "Man in the Mirror" and his 1991 single "Heal the World".              Jason Elias of Allmusic thinks "Cry" is a moody and reflective piece of material reminiscent of Jackson's Quincy Jones-produced ballads for Bad, and indicates the song's themes are those of alienation and sorrow rather than love. He believes the strength of the strings, the competent backing vocals, and the keyboard figures prevent the listener from convulsing with laughter at Jackson's "oh-so-pained delivery" and interjections of "Hold on" or "Oh my!". Jon Pareles of the New York Times called the track the "change-the-world-song" and wrote that the single "applies its grand buildup to one of pop's strangest utopian schemes", which was asking everyone to cry at the same time, at which point Jackson may answer their prayers.
       

Part III: Too stubborn to die, or to leave without saying goodbye





             During that week prior to my return back home, I must have been in the most crappiest mood yet. No money in the pocket, no insurance that I can come back home, no idea what I can do to get there, nothing. But you see, there's a funny part about fate. If you desperately want something to happen, sooner or later, you get your wish. In that moment all I wanted was to come back home to Slatina and I didn't cared about anything else. I missed my family, I missed my cats, I missed my room, I missed Alex 0, I missed Roxana, I missed Micu, I missed Duda, and to be more direct I missed everyone who was my friend there. Then wonders started happening. Granny sent me an extra 20$ to hold on to them until Black Friday, so I can still eat enough (obviously no parent at home knew about what I've done in the past weekend). Then Vlad was eager to give me some extra money that I needed for the travel. It was like magic. But this time, fate also placed a condition on me, frankly making me stop buying any other unnecessary stuff up to and including Black Friday. So starvation was starting to give me a chase, but it was worth it. I would still manage to feed myself healthy one way or another and have enough money to go back home. As always, fate challenged me again in my wish, as I had to catch the last bus in the last minute, but still it would happen. I could breathe relieved, have cool will travel.

              After exactly 2 months of absence, of which the last 7 days were hard go through, and of those 7 days, 8 hours of travelling were just bone-acking I would finally rest-assure step on Slatina concrete, and meet Alex 0, Roxana, Micu, Cipry, and Adelina who were waiting for me at Neverland. I was so happy to see them I nearly broke down by all the ecstasy. I hugged everyone in joy, and told them all sort of stuff that was going on back in Cluj. Going to my 2nd story home with 0 and Roxana, I was greeted by Mama Melvin, who was waiting for me with all sort of goodies, like cake, juice, beer, food, you name it. We had a very long night just talking about everything since I was gone from town. It ended with a long walk on the road to Roxana's home before hugging/saying goodbye to her, and then a tour to the now renewed city of Slatina with 0 as my guide. We also discussed about a lot of intimate stuff we had on our minds going for quite some time, which made the tour even greater. After hugging/saying goodbye to him, I went home to get some well deserved SLEEP.

            The next day, I had a rude awakening by Papa Melvin who was anxious to see me again, and make me sleepwalk to the kitchen and talk with him about everything in detail. That afternoon he went to sleep ('cause his batteries were out after), and the next in line was my auntie Andreea who was charmed by my now grown hair. In that evening I was invited by Duda and her kin of girls to come at a pub that opened recently called 11M. Reaching that place I opened the door, looked sideways and the first 2 girls I saw from Duda's kin, her cousin Adrena and Anca were staring at me like they couldn't believe what they saw, then we jumped in each others arms 'cause of the longing we had for each other, then done the same thing with the other girls, Patrice, Maria, Andreea, and finally Duda. It was a very warm welcome that was full with hugs, high 5's, kisses and "We missed you!" chants I all adored. They weren't the only known people for me out there, because I asked Duda to lead me to the bar and on the way I met Moka and Florin who were sitting at a nearby table, and good ol' Laura who was there waiting for me. Lots on known and now "unknowns" for me out there, a lot of them happy to laugh at almost everything we chat. Later that evening I went on to meet with Micu and 2 of his colleagues from school to the Grill and feast on some Shanghai Chickens while discussing faculty life.

             The last day home was yet another rude awakening from Papa Melvin (who now has a renewed love for me and how I am), this time to go shopping. I got back home loaded with clothes and shoes, and was greeted by Grandma who gave me an extra 50$ for entertainment value (in my mind I was like "Okay..... I really need to come back home more often!"). Then I met with my long time friend from high-school, Tedy and his girlfriend Catalina who were eager to see me again. Going to OHP, we talked about all sorts of stuff, from bar-tricks I learned from Cluj, to even more personal issues I am dealing at the moment with my future and Tedy's. But still a few beers would always do the trick for us, and make us pass through them like Moses crosses the Red Sea. We then went to Grill for some more chicken, and who do I meet there? A long-lost ex-med-mate of mine, called Nico who I could barely recognize. The same song and dance, we kissed/hugged/talked about where we are now and some great memories at Radu's Meditations. After that we said goodbye, left the Grill feasted on the chickens with Ted, and then took my 2nd last farewell of the day with him. In a side-story I was constantly texting with Roxana to see her one last time before leaving.

             After leaving Tedy, I was rushing my way to her block, on the way buying 2 gingerbreads for us. She was really doing an effort trying to get out and meet me, since she had a lot of work to do, and her parents were really skeptical about her leaving home, that's why I was doing my best to get there in time, and live up to every moment with her. The last 60 minutes outside with her were just sweet. We really stood shocked after realizing that we are one and the same person. Like clones, only of different genres and ages, we had a lot of things in common, from our obsession to sugar, to bad luck, to our hatred to some people, to how we ration, how we never had somebody to always listen and actually care about what's happening with us, to even our condolence hugs, which have become a unique thing for us. Those were probably the most enjoyed 60 minutes from my return back home, because I would finally have the chance to talk to someone who is just like me, and Roxana would do the same. She told me she still holds grudges against her parents, the BAC, and how she is always under-appreciated by everyone, while I told her to keep her head up and to basically cheer up because I was in her spot 1 year ago, and now it's a better world for me. She would be happy to keep my advice and joyful to talk to someone who is just like her. One last condolence hug and a goodbye kiss would be followed by our farewell, and a vow I made to her, that I'll be there for her no matter what.

             Last night to sleep then off I was back on that road, synchronization being the keyword here, as in the same day, I woke up, wished farewell to my parents, got in time for the bus, ate lunch, and got to the seminaries, and finish the next day's homework in time. As always I would ask myself, how did this all happened? Obviously it was fate, and the fact that I was Too Stubborn To Die, Without Saying Goodbye, because this is what made me do the vow I mentioned earlier:

                When skies are dark, and no sunshine's through, I'll be there for my world, for any of my friends who are in need for help. This is what I shall call "The King's Vow" something I especially aim for Roxana, because she is like a clone of mine, and more important, she was there in my hour of need. Always. Now it's time for me to be there for her too. Always.



Thanks for watching this "Black Friday" edition of a return post from my blog, I hope you enjoyed my experience this month that made me push to the limits, to get what I want, and for supporting me throughout this year. One more post next month called Chapter XII: One Final Resolution, will be a turning point for me as I will decide to keep writing about my life, after this 1-year "contract" expires, and also will cover the last college days of 2012, the end of the world (yeah,right...), my winter holiday, and many more stories I will be glad to tell, at least one last time. I wish you all a good night, and peace!
Photo of the month:

Fate always helps you. So.....

Chapter X: A New You

Quote of the month: "Father Time. You were once my friend, now I know I can't hold your hand....."
Songs of the month:  Megadeth - Wake Up Dead
                               Nickelback - Far Away 
                               Three Days Grace - Pain

          
                What's up guys? Just a minor delay this time, so I guess I can still handle it. I was busy like every day and night with college, it's quite tiresome work. For this month I have first insights about this faculty where I am, the longing I had to fight for like forever (and still do it) and a split for people I already known so far. Waste no time and begin reading!

Part I: How in the 4th dimension of hell did I got here?

               

                ...is what I said when I finally got into the college-home from UTCN. Because it was still under renewal, it had a lot of things missing here. Some of those stuff are the following:

- Heat for the radiators/water = No shower for 1 week (My God)

- Shelves = Nowhere to put your stuff and bury yourself with 'em

- Curtains = The sun is burning me alive

- Wardrobes = You're backpacks become all-in-one wardrobes

- Desks = Your lap is going to be hot all the time now that you don't have where to put your laptop

- Good roommates = You will now be stuck with 3 hungarians (Worst of 'em all)

                The last thing is probably the worst experience I had of anything in my entire life. Since none of 'em were romanian and they have a habit to gossip in their own language it's been a real problem I had to face, not the desks, not the wardrobes, not the curtains...the f*****g hungarian roommates. They were just horrible to just watch, I mean you meet them you tell them that you're not native with them, and suddenly you become the minority between them. One of them was an ugly 4-eyed stinky bastard who was snorting snuff 24/7 and he was acting like I was his bigger brother and ask me about every pointless detail about anything. He was also paranoid because I had his mom's phone number and he begged me not to tell her that his son is an addict (Sigh). He was the only loser who didn't had a laptop and was a cadger for the others to get his dose of internet (mostly me). Another one of them was a weird curly guy who was acting like he's metrosexual and had kleptomaniac tendencies with my food. I sworn him every time he tried or managed to steal anything. The third and last one of them was a weird guy who looked like an orphan and couldn't speak any bit of romanian (so yeah, at least I can practice my english with him) although I don't remember having a problem with this guy other than him being hesitant to any proposal of mine. So yeah, so far my first month was a real nightmare from this perspective, but wait... THERE'S MORE!

                The 1^st day at the faculty was quite weird. I had mixed reactions from it. A room full of students (~200 of 'em) and rectors/teachers/engineers/students that finished their college years who each had something to say. The rectors were pretty rough on microphone, stating that they're glad we chose a faculty were you had to take an exam to be in it, and not "via a dossier" (they obviously took a shot at the UBB Faculty of Informatics) and warned us about their domain's difficulty. Nevertheless they wished us the best of luck in our 1^st year as students and hoped for us to finish the faculty after 4 years and not 14 (wait, WHAT?). The engineers were more inspirational and put over the faculty for it's job to create careers, while the teachers were opening our minds about the faculty concept and it's main property of letting you manage your time more freely. The students that finished were the funniest to hear, because they were literally hinting us that it isn't that hard to finish it like everyone says and that student life is really fun once you get to walk on your own feet. Our timetable was made once the groups for RO and EN were made. I was surprised to see how many people managed to get to the EN group because it was very small (like 50 people) and some of them even have english issues. The labs/seminaries were the most important part of this play, while the courses where like "meh" and not that important, except for those that would assure your an extra point for the final exams.

               Thankfully I would still meet with Ionut the Pope, the guy with whom I lived for a week during my summer mission to get into the faculty and relive some of those fun beer get-away wanders in the city. I owe him a lot for helping me get through with my rough mood and introduce me to some of his friends from home, and the irony is that he owes me his life (funny thing when we were crossing the street I pulled him aside before a high-speed car would run over him, got a good ol' hug for that). Still he would be busy with his stuff at architecture, and would postpone any meeting for the time being. The money was also a big issue here, because I was very limited, and mostly everything here was quite expensive to purchase. I couldn't get through and now I renewed a cigarettes addiction which was driving me crazy once I got a free one from a group colleague. I couldn't beg for my parents to send me more money, because they weren't in a good position with the economy for now either, I wouldn't borrow any dime from anyone, because I am not the that type of person to borrow money, and more than surely I would not slang or steal because that is just against my principles.
                My longing for friends was really killing me the most, because after making that video I lifted a double-edged sword: I would either keep that bond with them, or I would let it go to stay focused on my work. Nothing but demoralizing moods were hitting me for the longest period of time I ever had to deal with, not to mention the deepest depression I had so far. From that point forward I wasn't thinking that things were going to get better, because I was so struck to the point that I wasn't feeling any pity for myself or how I feel, like "Yup, this life's a joke". And I was also asking myself this question over and over again...How in the 4^th dimension of hell did I got here? I just wish I could take the pain away, but I really couldn't bear to hold any longer... It reached a point were I really wasn't feeling alright for quite some time (not to mention I caught a cold 2 times in a month). Thankfully some good stuff would slowly start rolling at the end of this month, but that I will tell in Part 3.

Part II: That Weekly Music Video That Inspired Me This Month #2

               

                This time I will be a little bit more commercial friendly, and say that this song inspired me the most this month. Nickelback is getting criticized often and I don't know what for, because they are an awesome band and most songs have a clear message which ends with a good taste in your mouth. The video starts with a couple in bed, when a cellphone rings and the husband is forced to leave. It is revealed that he is a firefighter, and has been called to help fight a forest fire.As the song moves on, we see the firefighters dropped right into the middle of the fire by a helicopter, which quickly overwhelms them and forces them to retreat. The husband goes back to help a fallen firefighter, and watches the helicopter leave without him. After the husband sees the helicopter leave, a large, fiery tree is seen falling, presumably onto him. This footage is inter-cut with his wife watching the news about the fire.Later, she receives a phone call, and breaks down, as it appears that she has been informed that her husband has died. She rushes outside to see several firefighters emerge from a truck...including her husband, covered in soot. She rushes to him and hugs him, and the video ends.

The band's lead singer and guitarist Chad Kroeger described this song on the Tour when in Australia as the "only real love song" that Nickelback has. He described many others as "being about love" but not solely about "being in love".

Part III: Pain

               Moving on, I was still wondering why do I have to bear all this? Why do I have to be happy with what I have when I can't? No doubt someone who would've been in my shoes would commit a mandatory suicide but I realized that life is a joke for a reason, and I thought I had to make some changes in my life. I had a longing for most of my friends so I needed to talk with them one way or another before I would become a paranoid. I managed to keep that link with my friends and I talked with mostly everyone from my hometown via Cellphone/Facebook/Y!. I will praise 3 people the most for helping mend this wound. #3 Mamma Melvin for doing everything possible to try and put a smile on my face and tell me that everything was going to be alright someday. #2 Alex (0) for still being my best friend and mirroring this thing I am going through, because he is in an even tougher position now that he is in his 2^nd year as a Biology student and knows we both are on tough positions for now. And #1 Roxana for doing all of above, and sharing this mood with me because now she is in the position I was exactly one year ago before finishing high-school and preparing for the baccalaureate and no one was there for her. I was boosted by my request to help her in her hour of need to feel better, because she was there for me, and now it's my turn to be there for her too.
               I was driven the following week, and the week after to make progress in making myself feel better no matter what. I managed to persuade the administrator to move me to another room, which sadly was at the last story of the building, but at least I had everything I specified earlier and needed a lot, and as a bonus, not only were the new roommates jacked-up behemoths but they were also very friendly and had similar tastes in music like I have, not to mention we had 2 gigantic Speakers, 2 fridges and the keys to the washing machine/clothes dryer. The money would start flowing at a better rate, now that the mandatory stuff I needed for this student life were bought (bus subscription, food booklet etc.) and now I have a more stable financial state, but still needing improvement, because I became a quite hungry sod. Le coup de grace was managing to attend all the courses/seminaries/labs and stop being late all the time like I used to in the past. Before I would be late at school with 30 minutes or so, now at college I hear my alarm which literally can make you Wake Up Dead (no pun intended to Megadeth, their song is my exact alarm sound) I fight my sleep for 3-4 minutes and start preparing for school in time. The next step is understanding and slowly handle the subjects from the stuff I am learning here.

             No doubt harder stuff are still coming up in the future at college (that means even more difficult challenges) but I'll say this, I'd rather feel Pain than nothing at all, 'cause apparently you have to keep stepping it up on high-gear, because sometimes...it's Hell until you get to Heaven. And that's a lesson I learned in the past 30 days. College slowly creates A New You, and you can either handle yourself, or you're on a ride you'll wish you forget.


             Thank you everyone from farsight, I am glad that you are still interested in this story of my life, and I hope you liked this new lifestyle I had to get used to in the past 31 days. Chapter XI: The King's Vow will be the place where I will tell what's happening in continuation at my student life and my long-awaited return to my hometown of Slutina, all of that at the end of November. Until then, all I can say is thanks and peace!



Photo of the month:

These new faces are looking for a king of their world...

Chapter IX: End of an Era

Quote of the month: “It’s something that you are, something that I’m not”

Songs of the month:  Megadeth – À Tout le Monde

                               Nelly Furtado – All Good Things (Come To An End)

                               Metallica - The Unforgiven (yet again)

               

                Good day my friends! This is yet another delayed post, I’ll try to be a lot more punctual since it’s the 2^nd time in a row I’ve done this, but basically starting with college, I am putting up with quite a tough schedule and I didn’t had much time for writing stuff on paper, with all the stuff going on up to this moment, it’s probably the best time to begin writing before I get caught into other stuff.  Let’s not waste any time, kick the chair!

Part I: What will you remember, when I’ll say goodbye?

               

                Going in with the beginning of this month I was graced to have the time of my life with like 80% of all my friends, and lived up some great moments to be remembered with each of them. Kicked things off with Andra’s last visit at Melvin’s watching “Ted” and laugh our asses off at the movie, cuddled, hugged, ate sweets, the typical stuff we’d do & as a bonus I showed her a movie which was a recap of the history between the 2 of us up to that moment which sparked into a “speechless” feeling (no pun intended to MJ, his song was playing after that movie). That was possibly the best day we had together as best friends, as it stuck some shivering memories for both of us. On the other hand, a week before my departure we had a dispute, which left us 2 betrayed by one another, and even though some ultimatums were given, at the moment we would stay unforgiven one to the other. It’s a pity things between us ended on a bad notch given the rich history, from “Sunny buddies” to despised human-beings, but at least I can remember I priced every moment with someone who I cared about at the time. I won’t get into detail what happened because it isn’t the right place to tell. I’ll just say this, there was no St. Anger emerging from me this time(for those wondering), and it’s just an ego mismatch we had to deal with, something none of us can solve this problem for now, but another bitch can do it (her name’s “Time”).

                
          Moving on I enjoyed being next to one of my oldest friends and ex school-mates Radu “Ray” Bud who was dealing the same issue I was also facing, only that he was going to leave at the half of September, and stood next to him to play any card game, pool game, board game, or even the old-school Worms game among others such as chatting about different subjects. His group consisting of Razvan Dinca, Bobo, Alin Echo, Marian and others from their kin were also entertaining as hell, and damn smart from diverse points of view, I don’t remember having any problem with any of them, and I am also wondering why I didn’t hanged out with these guys from like a long time ago? Meh, I’ll have to give credit to the Amsterlypse concept from last month, a big advantage being that you meet a lot of new and great people. Once Ray left Slatina, the group dissolved and Ray was happy to know he left on good terms with everyone, and know that some other friends (me) would still care to be next to him.

                Non-stop laughing, visits to pubs, and the first ever Dubstep/DNB event from our city would wait for me, Micu, Diana, Duda and her girly kin. I can name a crazy night when Duda was pissed off for not pulling it off as a rapper in an outfit and literally roll on the fence laughing while she was whining. The Dubstep/DNB event called “Dedicate Control” was just fantastic. You had great music, a considerable amount of alcohol and energy drinks, non-stop  filming/photo shooting, people who were only meant to be there (and not some unfitting stereotypes) like skaters, people who just wanted to bust a move, adrenaline-dance junkies,  Justin (all of above), pretty girls, and all of the people I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph. All of this + 5-6 hours of continuous dancing and sweat = Best Party Event Ever. I’d say kudos to Duda for being the organizer for this joint, ‘cause it was damn worth it.

                At the fall of the month before leaving, I was busy with a farewell tour I was doing throughout the whole week, and I can say it had it’s sad parts, it’s movie-taped parts and it’s last hug-goodbye parts. All of those things were making me want to ask every friend I met so far, “What will you remember when I’ll say goodbye?”, I was really starting to be a little athazagoraphobic (fear of being forgotten) and started wondering if this whole road was actually meant to make me feel sorry for leaving or if I meant to mind my own business and go to college. But after hanging out with a now great friend, I realized that question isn’t necessary. How? I’ll talk about that in Part 3.

Part II: That Weekly Music Video That Inspired Me This Month #1

               

                One major change you’ll see at this blog is that from now on, I will post what’s written on the title of this part, because I’m pretty burnt out of ethical/philosophic ideas/problems. Don’t worry, ‘cause this isn’t the end of it, I will probably return in the near future with that stuff when I feel I’m ready, but until then I’ll let some songs on Part II, that I found very powerful from a lyrical standpoint.

Since I was facing the problem of losing all my friends one-by-one and wanting to have my last farewell with each of them, this week I chose this Megadeth song from their ’94 album called “Youthanasia”. As lead guitar/singer Dave Mustaine would say, “This is not a suicide song, what it is, it's, you, it's when people have a loved one that dies and they end on a bad note, you know, they wish that they could say something to them. So this is an opportunity for the deceased to say something before they go. And it was my impression of what I would like to say to people, if I had say, 3 seconds to do so in life before I died I'd say to the entire world, to all my friends, I love you all, and now I must go. These are the last words I'll ever speak, and they'll set me free. I don't have to say I'm sorry, I don't have to say I'm going to miss you, or I'll wait for ya. You know, I'll just say I loved you all, good, bad, indifferent, I loved you all.”. So after you’re done with this song, proceed with Part III. Enjoy!

Part III: So as you read this know my friends…

                So we’re at the last week before the departure, starting with 19^th of September and ending with September 26^th . If you remember what you read in the first part, I said something about fearing of being forgotten and wondering if this wacky road I roamed for 13 years was actually worth it. Truth be told, I wasn’t too anxious to find out because I wanted to do a lot of stuff before leaving, and time was running out way too fast. I remember one night everyone got home at 11 PM, and that was a shock because all of my friends would be home like 4-5 hours later. That moment made me realize that there wasn’t much too do, but to follow up to them. You know that song from MJ called “You are not alone”? That song was running through my head over and over again because I wouldn’t have any idea who could actually free me from this loneliness. All of my friends were up for that, but now most of them are extremely limited in timeslots, while others found other stuff to do. So yeah, I would go home saddened, and in my darkest hour, I was starting to think about the departure and my longing for friends more and more…

                BUT THEN…(I know everyone was expecting these 2 words), Grace did shine on me, and one of my newest friends Roxana, texted me. We played a little chit-chat, I told her my situation, she told me that she was pretty bored, and wanted to go eat some jelly with someone. My answer to that proposal was more of a “Yes”, I didn’t managed to know Roxana better because she was away from the city to the village the whole summer, while I was busy with my college stuff in the mid-summer. Sure we would still text, but this would be the first time we would ask each other out for a walk. And so it was, we would exit our homes, then just walk our way to the other’s home, hoping on meeting each other on the road.

                We met, we condolence-hugged each other, and off we gone to a little walk in the city with 3 packs of jelly (and boy did we got ripped-off for them). Reaching to stay at a bench we started remembering some funny moments at Master Radu’s math/physics meditations, talked about the future for each other, and also discussed with her about some of those pesky issues I was dealing at the time. She  concurred to my overall-mood and said that no matter what can actually come in my way, it wouldn’t last long, because she always saw me as a friend she can always trust. She also told me some stuff that were happening in her life that weren’t easy to swallow. She told me that she understands my mood, and that she knows how much it sucks that you can’t be heard by anyone, and she’s been there too. Then, something strange happened, we would start encouraging each other to be stronger and face our respective fears. A neat idea hit me and I explained what I wanted to do, and asked if she was up to help me with it, an idea she was happy to say she would love to help me. That idea consisted of me doing ~10 seconds of taped footage with 90% of my friends when we hug, and construct a theatric movie in Sony Vegas Pro 11. It was a tiresome and a quite difficult quest to accomplish, but in the end, I got everything I wanted, and took my farewell with every remaining friend on the city, Roxana included, who was instrumental in helping me get the footage (funny thing we condolence-hugged like 5-6 times while going home and saying those last words before leaving her).

Reaching home I packed some of my stuff, and 6 hours later I would get another rude awakening to get to the bus in time. After that I did my farewell with my parents who were anxious about everything going on and they wished me luck in college. After reaching Cluj I would start catching some last footage on tape and start composing on the movie for like 3-4 consecutive days, with almost no sleep, waited like countless hours to upload it on Vimeo, because there was no internet connection, and I had to use a wireless stick that could upload at 30 KB/s which was pretty horrendous since I was doing it with a 300 MB movie. In the end I would manage to succeed and post it everywhere (Y!/Facebook/Twitter etc.).

Upon it’s completion, I was tearing endlessly as I was watching the solo part from the movie, and not long after watching that movie I made I got tons of positive feedback about this movie being extremely emotional and very well done. Roxana was the first to give her feedback, and in her words she would say “this movie is sooooo f*****g awesome!!!” and would be happy to say she could help me as I thanked her. Some other friends were shocked about how great this movie was, and some of them even cried at it because they really didn’t expect it to have such a strong storyline, ending and message. I’ll stick both the synopsis and the clip here for those wondering what the hell is this movie I keep rambling about:

“Melvin is a darksider clone of the original form of one man called Robert, which is built from clusters of friends and memories who had a place in Roby’s heart. Since Roby is the babyface, Melvin is still a steady friendly form but more of an anti-hero, easily observed by antics such as being often ironic, extremely sarcastic, annoying, more open-minded, takes decisions instantly, irresponsibile, underhanded, sadistic, evil, taunting, egotistical for it’s wealth, yet, a more mature personality than Roby, and is very loyal to any friend who helps him, thus forming the Roby Melvin character.
Later this summer Roby Melvin left Slatina for Cluj to prepare for college, and earlier with a month he started having several nostalgia attacks with all his friends and their moments. The last nostalgia attack is manifested in the form of a vision; in Cluj when he receives an envelope that contained 8 blank pages. Roby out of frustrations for his longing of home, started writing on each page keywords that defined most of his friends. Once he was done with the writing, Roby is being immediately struck by his strongest nostalgia attack yet and now appears in a ridge from his hometown sightseeing everything amazed, and starts gazing upon those now written pages as they suddenly became collages with his friends until ultimately he is hit in sadness when he reaches the last page and remembers his favorite thing about all of his friends: the hugs.
Deprived by the sorrow caused to himself, Roby Melvin leaves the papers down and sits to his agony looking at the sky, until an ethereal form of a great friend of his named Roxana appears next to him, cheers him up, tells him that he can get rid of all that pain for missing his friends/family here by keeping these memories he created with him, and hugs him. Roby feeling better he decides to do so, than Roxana disappears and then Roby comes back to the real world in an instant second.
The ending sees Roby Melvin smiling happy that all those blank pages he doodled have now become photos all his friends he dreamed of in his vision, realizing that the nostalgia attacks are over, and that his goodbye is just for now.”

There you go. So as you read this know my friends…I’d love to stay with you all, but I have to go in a better place where it’s far, far away. This may be the End of an Era, it may also leave some memories behind, it might as well be a goodbye, but this is not goodbye forever, this is just a goodbye for now, because I will return, and we will keep creating history with each other no matter who you are.

I want to thank everyone for reading this yet another delayed Chapter, I hope you enjoyed every moment of my new blog format, and those little pieces from my life stuck into here. Chapter X: A New You will hopefully be ready at the end of October and will keep the same format as this one. Hope you like this, and that movie I have in store for you (be sure to play it on full-screen). Good night, enjoy the movie, and as always, peace!

https://vimeo.com/50419506

Photo of the month:

How I want to remember all my friends

Chapter VIII: All Summer Long

Quote of the month: “Expect me even more unexpected”

Songs of the month: Michael Jackson – In The Closet

                              Wiz Khalifa – Young Wild And Free

                              Metallica – Nothing Else Matters

            Hello my dear subscribers! Again, I am sorry for the delay, but there were certain events this month that prolonged the story of this chapter and they weren’t necessarily good events like I thought it would be. Whatever, let’s begin…

Part I: This is the summer I always dreamt of

            Kicking of August was a bit weird because all of my friends left to their own trips to Black Sea, and I had to stay postponed until they would return. So I had to find new occasions to hang around this city, luckily, Robert, my ex-colleague, called me and asked if we could have a class reunion in the form of a barbeque grill, which I was happy to join. I was a bit skeptical about this meeting because Alina was also joining and we were still ripped apart after that scandalous fight we had in April (see Chapter IV-Part 3). Nevertheless, I would still keep my cool, and we would all meet at the RFC and take off first at a gas station then at the local LIDL market for provisions.

            Reaching the gas station, Robert left me and Alina in the car alone while he and Ivan were fueling it up. Then for the first time in 4 months, Alina opened her mouth to me and asked me if I am still pissed off at her. I told her that she’s damn right I’m still pissed because she wouldn’t say a single word to me all this time and prefer to let this one slide away. She then told me that she is sorry for everything (something I wanted and really didn’t expect to hear from her), and I forgave her. After that we all went off to the camping spot. We had a lot of fun and discussed about diverse subjects such as how many failed exams everyone had in college this year (luckily I was clean this time). There even more teases about me and Alina to get to second base, such as a bubble bee stinging her, and asking me repeatedly if she was going to be alright, she spilling some juice over her accidentally and asking me for some wet wipes, and Simona’s endless innuendos to make me care for her. My respective responses to her after barely accepting her apologies were the following: I calmed her up, and told her to wash that stinger from her foot every day, I gladly helped her with wet wipes and we ate all the food (since we were the last people to actually do it) and to give everyone what they want, I kissed Alina later that evening on the forehead leaving everyone else in a state of shock, and Alina in a shy yet happy mood (yeah, ain’t that cute?). After the trip was over I would lead Alina home and talk about our disagreements in the past, make a recap about everything else we missed these past 4 months and laugh aside all those happy memories we had together. In the end I hugged her and kissed her again on the forehead, telling her to don’t be sad, and everything is alright now before going home. Great stuff, knowing that one of my main tasks this summer was to bury the hatchet with every remaining friend, and Alina was one of those people, a little later I would also reconcile with my dead-ex (not now guys) and forget about everything, and move forwards to our lives as sole people the other person being at a ~1-2 second scroll-down.

            Coming back from their vacation I would start promoting the Amsterlypse: Revenge which was coming up in mid-August and already spark interest into joining the party. Besides the usual invitees that joined the Amsterlypse from May, there was also Diana, Duda and her girl-friends (so much win) Ray Bud and some of his friends, and 3 of my ex-colleagues Tedy, Gotzy and Flyvius, and many others. That week was very similar to an American Pie style movie, judging by the fact that 6/7 of those days I stayed drunk and we would party so hard we would reach to a fight with my neighbours. Diana my best friend, as crazy as she acts when she is drunk was just wonderful, because she was the right person to have the time of your life with, same story with her sister Duda and her cousin Adreena. What pleased me even more was accomplishing my objective and bury the hatchet with the very last person who I haven’t seen/spoked with for like 2 months, and that would be none other than my best friend Andra. What’s even more interesting is that we buried the hatchet in a very anti-climatic way, we finally got eye to eye and then hugged it out, effectively leaving the past behind and resume our amazing friendship. Even though there were incidents and paranormal activities during that period, I can say the Amsterlypse was a success and it accomplished everything I said it would be: An all-out party/nightlife/gaming station/social place/dance floor extravaganza. My parents on first sight were glad that they found the house in one piece (thanks to my friends for helping me clean the house up).

            Everything up to that point was giving me the thought of  “This is the summer I always dreamt of…..” and if the schedule was right, it really would have been marked like 11/10 for me, but then I started receiving a lot of bad news (I’ll talk about that in Part 3).

Part 2: Nostalgia attacks and this loneliness are both killing me

What is a nostalgia attack?

         Nostalgia attack  (nɒˈstældʒə əˈtæk) -  A swift and sudden hit to a human being’s brain with a bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.

            Nostalgia attacks started hitting me day by day, night by night, and that because of the fact that I have a lot of amazing memories here in my hometown, most of them becoming extremely significant after this year, since they became so great of events that more than half of them I wanted to stick on a blog and remember of them later for being just a great time capsule to stand in.

         

   They are not necessarily good hits, because a nostalgia attack hits me quite hard, in the sense of making me have severe headaches as a certain story in my past is put to rewind then on fast-forward back to the present day in a very short time, something like 2 months of a story being recapped in 2 minutes.

        

    I get hit by very hard stuff like the times during my meditations, the trips I took to Bucharest/Cluj/Craiova or any other city, the divergent courses I had with a lot of friends, The Amsterlypse, The Andra Storyline, the sacrifices I did to pass my exams, the battling with my vices and my health issues, the struggle between me and my personalities, and many others.

         

   It’s even weird that I am already starting to miss all those great times, and after any nostalgia attack nowadays, no matter how much of a man I can be, I would usually break down and cry, because I know soon they will just be memories to be left alone. Soon I will leave Slatina for Cluj and begin a new life there, and I also know that I will miss my friends and family than the city because of those event, soon I will be all alone, and I will have a huge longing for all the things I accomplished, all the situations in the past that I managed to breakthrough, and all the people that I loved and was loyal to.

            Nostalgia is a neutral virtue for me, it doesn’t hurt me bad, but it doesn’t make me feel better at all. I may have become autophobic or athazagoraphobic or simply paranoid, but one thing is for sure: These Nostalgia attacks and this loneliness are both killing me. The most hardest part of letting them go of course, is saying “Goodbye”…

Part III: There are no happy endings, but you can do your best to build one

            Alright, so we had the first 3 weeks of this month just shining in gold, making me think that this summer is flawless, and that it is so much enjoyable than my favorite summer from 2009. But suddenly bad news started appearing:

My parents learned about the Amsterlypse (as they wouldn’t at least know about what’s with it) but it wasn’t the party that deranged them, it was the fact that in the first day of being home alone we were so unleashed some of my friends were rowdy and started arguing with some of my neighbours and that pissed my peers off. They gave me a long talk about me being irresponsible and that it wasn’t moral and that they’ll think about letting me go to my trip to the sea with my ex-colleagues and Alex (Micu’). I just did my shtick with the hushed tones and felt sorry for everything, I wasn’t really buying into their story of not letting me to my vacation because they promised me for a long time.

But to make my mood even worse, later that evening, my ex-colleague Robert called and told me that our trip to the sea will no longer hold due to personal issues that the girls had with our trip and that left me and Alex (Micu’) withdraw our dreams to have fun for one more year, because that would leave just the 2 of us to go to the trip and that wouldn’t have been that much exciting or enjoyable.

After hearing all that crap to that point I was quite disappointed and angry, then of course, the icing on the cake, I learned from Diana right after I finished that phone call that she broke up with his boyfriend, and that just left me brain-scarred. So much crap in one day of August 22^nd  and it was enough to make me, Diana and her cousin drown our sorrows in a park with some alcohol. Other than that I would try to make her feel alright, for the sake of what’s left in this summer.

Oh God, at least we could enjoy one last thing we promised to do this summer, and talk with Alex M. to go to his village so we can spend some quality time with him, and also help him do the harvesting this year. Me Alex M., Micu’ and his brother Christian were able to do so and actually have a great time on a more rustic area and relieve all our tensions. We’ve done a lot of stuff there, like help harvesting the corn, laugh at some cretin memories, listen to a lot of MJ, eat together at each meal, go to the Jiu river to bath (even though this year it was so deep I couldn’t see my knee, just being sarcastic), watch movies, watch wrestling, do some damn funny commentating on the crap they were doing at some shows, play League of Legends (yes, we also had wireless internet), ride the bikes to the forest, take some pictures, and also do something uncommon we would want to do for a long time and play chess in the basement.

On a side story I would also begin a rehab period to try and quit smoking.

Reaching the last day I was glad that I could finally stop this habit, that was holding me back from being healthier or try to grow bigger, not to mention that it would often irritate some of my non-smoking friends such as Micu’ and his brother. While I was sitting on my bed with my laptop, Micu’ entered and sat on his bed to start play on his brother’s laptop and a few seconds later I see a news feed on facebook from our national news channel about when school is beginning and I asked him if saw this. He told me that it’s on 10 September, while I told him that this news just broke and said it would be on 17 September. From that point Micu’ were having an argument hence why I am back to smoking again; no one special to make happy here. Even on the way home I would sit next to him and we would ignore our existence and stay pissed to each other. Once I got home, a lot of buzz was going on with this situation between me and Micu’. But we put our differences aside, and got some things of our chests that were strangling us for some time, and similar to the earlier story we would hug it out, and put it behind ourselves, to an even stronger friendship.

That arguing affected me to a certain point, but no matter how I behave, I still love all of my friends no matter what, and in a special way to with each of them. In my trip to the village for example, I was texting every night with my rebound friend Andra and effectively managed to get closer than ever after she texted me “Good night, I love you!” and after a little thinking and a deep breath I replied to her “Good night, I love you too!”. In her words, she told me that her reaction was: saw the message, sat on the bed, looked at the message again (because, she wouldn’t believe it), and then started crying. The same thing happened at 5 AM in the morning in the last day when I was struggling with sleep, and this time we told each other that we miss ourselves. At home, we had the best time of our lives since we met. We talked about our crushes, about the texting, we ate waffles/chocolate/biscuits, drank shots of juice, watched and laughed our asses at the “Ted” movie, hugged the guts out of each other, I showed her a tribute movie about all our memories that left her speechless (no pun intended to MJ), we took many photos, we danced, and ultimately sealed this day with those 3 sincere words and hugs/kisses. That was the best day we had together as best-friends and we were anxious to surpass that day in the future for the bar was set pretty high, and I told her to expect even more unexpected. Maybe that’s the thing about life, there are no happy endings, but you can do your best to build one, and actually enjoy this masterpiece of a book. And it’s not just to make it all day long, it’s all night long, it’s week long, it’s all month long, it’s all summer long, probably even all life long also.

Thank you everyone for reading this new story about my life, all in all I can say this summer was damn great, even though certain events came in the way, it still overshadows the summer in ’09 and I'll probably rate this summer like 10/10, so right now it’s my favorite one. I will stick the last chapter from my hometown at the end of September after I will do the hardest part from my to-do list and that is to have my farewell from everyone. Chapter IX: End of an Era will be waiting for you! Peace!

Photo of the month:

Face-off: Chess edition