Going to BaLDS!

I'm going to BaLDS (former BLDS) tomorrow! During the whole week I've had doubts whether I'll get organized and search for people who'll go but finally there's a positive answer!
It will be my first AIESEC seminar after leaving the organization and I feel quite strange. I've never thought about what it's like being "on the other side". It's really something new to me but I'll have to get used to that.

Today, six months later I see that I still keep my values no matter what new challenges I face or other mindsets I collide with. I have proven that I have the potential to make a real change in my microcommunity exactly because I have never lost my faith in good.
And because I very often fall into deep thoughts and bore people around me with my moaning, I stop here.
From now on I'll think more about the exciting moments that await me tomorrow. :)
I'll keep posting updates these days. :)

Am I preserving the environment?

YesterdayI watched Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth". I saw and heard nothing new and yet I was bewildered by the fact that although I've always known that we have a serious environmental problem, I haven't done anything in particular to minimize the negative effect of my activities.

Do I save energy?
No. I keep my laptop turned on during the night in order to listen to the music. Can't I use the mp3 player with rechargeable batteries insted? Or simply set the laptop to be turned off in 30 minutes as in the meanwhile it's running on its battery only?
No. I leave the lights turned on in a room I'm not using at the moment. There's some improvement though - recently I've started noticing and turning it off.

Do I save water?
No. I waste water when having a shower. Can't I turn it off when I'm not under it?
No. I use loads of water for cleaning and dishwashing, also for washing clothes (which ar eonly for hand-wash). Can't I close the tap when no water is needed?

Do I separate garbage?
No. Although containers for separation of waste are already placed across the city, I don't collect the garbage separately. Is it that time and space-consuming to do it?

There are a lot more things to say and do, but I guess if I just do these simple things, I might really make a contribution.

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the
shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser
gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain."

(Batty, "Bladerunner")

Time is never enough to cherish all moments a person has, and never will be.
Time is relative.
Time is a creation of our imagination.

Moments will return. Like the tears in rain. The tears go deep into the soil with the rain...The soil which feeds us...We grow...and other tears fall...and the cycle is closed.

About the 50th anniversary of the EU

This is what I wrote yesterday evening:

...

I am sitting in front of the TV and watching the live concert from Belgium which is a part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the European Union. I'm watching and I have the strange feeling that there's something wrong about it.

The idea was to show performers from all of the 27 member countries. And the fact is that for two hours only a few countries have been presented: Italy, Belgium, Germany, UK, Spain and France. I'm wondering where the diversity is.

I can understand: it's a show and there is competition. In order to win against the competitors it has to show something familiar, something easy to be "sold". So the other countries - "eaten by dogs" as we say in Bulgaria.

Is this the entertainment reflection of the economic attitude? If the market laws are viable everywhere, then I guess the answer of my question is obvious.

But probably the more important question is whether this policy should continue? Let's forget about entertainment, let's talk about geopolitics.

It's clear enough that nowadays the European Union is suffering from an illness for which a cure hasn't been invented yet. While the Union was initially established for the purposes of free trade and cooperation between country members, and with the vision for peace in Europe after the hard years during the WW II, 50 years later there's a need for refreshment.

Europe today is not quite different from what it's always been: an area with smaller or bigger patches of nations, mixed ethnic origins and common history with sometimes opposite perceptions in neighbouring countries.

Once perceived as the centre of the known world, today the continent is struggling to remain on the top. With the dawn of the industrial revolution and the rise of the information technology revolution, the continent's problems have turned into only a small part of the huge information flows crossing the world.

After the "reunification" of Europe in 1989, the polarized two parts of the continent have officially become "one". And while the unification of the geographic definition of Europe has never happened - as Europe as a continent has always been one, it is mostly considered that the impact is mainly on the economical/political definition of Europe - or the European Union.

Facing the fact that Eastern European countries could be and already are members of the Union, the past divide of "us" and "them" and the belief that being "us" is better than being "them" is no longer a fact.

But till now there probably hasn't been much improvement in the mindset of the "old" members. I agree, major changes happen in the long run, but this may include changes both in the positive and the negative direction.

Being together means having identical values and a common vision. No common vision and values - no existence in the long run. Or at least no meaningful existence. Thrown in the backyard of the world by the BRIC or reaching a synergy growth - the choice is clear.

And the path…?

A random one

I'm sitting in my bed with the laptop on my knees, and in front of me there's the blank page for my next post on Blogger. The song which I'm listening to is "Sacral Nirvana" by Oliver Shanti. I've got a memory connected with this song. I remember the National Planning Conference 2006 at which I was a facilitator...and a MCVP elect. I remember the hills of the Rhodopi mountains, the smell of incense (resin) from the pine trees. I remember the intensity of the whole event.
I talked to Angel for a while only a few minutes ago and again memories returned from the conference. Like me explaining some financial stuff to him. That was one of the few moments I was an acting MCVPF.
Now it's "Song For Ancestors" by Juno Reactor and I slowly go into another moment of the past. As if the wind is blowing straight in my back and making me walk faster down the slope in Slatina. I shiver each time I hear it.
Now the rain is falling outside. The wind is blowing which makes the cables hanging from the top of the block to wave around and hit into the facade, producing creepy noise coming as if from within the wall. The moisture soaks through the panels the block is built of and they make straight greyish marks on the green walls of the room.
Soon the garbage will star being collected and the sound of the truck engine will interrupt my first dream for the night.
Let's go now.

The existence of a superior power

I know it's a wide topic. Or I'd rather say a topic without an end. But sometimes some things just come to my mind and cannot be
hold.
I was listening to the song "A Sea Named Solaris" by Vangelis and I remembered a book I've read a long time ago - "Solaris" by Stanislaw Lem. It's one of the classics of fantasy books. I've always loved such topics but only when questions of existance are implicated.

Certainly there is a superior power above us but our minds are not capable of feeling it and understanding it. Only narrow-minded ones would believe that human being is on the top of the pyramid. Although there are people who use their imagination, for most of us the only word we come up with is "supernatural". Why supernatural? To whom? To us, of course. But it's not "super", it's purely natural.

For some live forms it's natural to read minds and to materialize thoughts. It's us who can't and therefore don't believe in it.
What should happen so that we believe? Should we acquire supernatural force to finally believe? Would we ever have it? Is it within our unexplored 95% brain capacity? If yes, so what should we do to develop it?

The truth is that we are not ready yet. Great capabilities bear a great responsibility. If this is our path, then we are only just in the beginning of it. While there is no conscious desire for knowing better ourselves, we'll remain where we are now. And the "super"-natural will remain hidden for us.

There's a long way to go...

A place where 192 countries meet

Yes, it's a blog!
People from all over the world post about their countries. you can find all about history, culture and customs, cuisine, latest news, society, etc... I guess the blog is a new one and not all 192 countries have representatives. So if there's anyone interested just check out whether your country is waiting for one. As far as I can see, there's only one representative for a country permitted, so - sorry, Bulgarians, the place is taken (not by me, unfortunately!)

Here's the link:
http://topics192.blogspot.com/

Human memory

How is it possible human memory to be so selective? How is it possible some memories to appear on the surface and affect us deeply and others we want to recollect to be insufficient to fight with the firstly described ones?

Is this fact a part of another fact - that our actions and feelings are pre-defined and no matter what we do, what is "written down" under one's name will definitely happen?

It takes huge efforts to overcome memories and associations flooding one's mind when hears about or sees something familiar.

I only wonder why I keep having bad associations for one thing or another. Does this have something to do with the fact that very often I react more emotionally rather than rationally.

So the question is: what is the correlation between memory and emotions. Is it 0 or 1? Or perhaps somewhere in the middle?

What would have happened if...

...a single particle hadn't gone in the way it had during the creation of the Universe?

..."just" imagine???

...you will need to go through the process of imagining till the end of times...

And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time...

.....

Lord Of The Dance - Celtic Dream

...

Sofia

...

Warsaw in March



...

The Bulgarian song for Eurovision

A song which really deserves being the winner in the Bulgarian contest for the Eurovision finals in Finland.



More information about the performers Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov:

http://www.elitsatodorova.com/
http://www.stoyankoulov.com/public/html/home/home.php

Purple and beautiful

Two things, one feeling. It was the 1st of March and while people made martenitza gifts to friends, relatives or just to acquaintances, I saw two things with slightly different colour.
The first one - in the garden in front of the office I work at. Quite unusual for that time of the year to see such flowers in their best shape, but not unusual when one knows about the extraordinary climate changes in the past three days. On the 28th of February it was snowing. On the 1st of March it was sunny. Today it's been gloomy and raining.
The sunsets in late winter can't compete with the summer ones, but this one is the most beautiful one I've ever seen.

Bulgaria vs. Europe

I've watched an animation "Italy vs. EU", but this one now is my new favourite. It's pure truth and I don't know whether to laugh or cry. : ) Anyways, here's the clip itself: