Exams
I had another exam today, the last one before the final exams the second week of December. Uff. It was a very difficult semester. I am going deeper and deeper and it seems more and more difficult but eventually it will become easier once we are exposed to more practice hours and have a chance to see how all this knowledge we have been putting into our heads is applied. At the moment my classmates and I feel tired... The regular winter madness of PQ is also tiring - it seems that the only place the US dollar has any value these days is the US so all the people from other places abroad come for shopping and then to dine at PQ. There are crowds and crowds of tourists on weekends... Sometime ago I thought that I would rather dance on a pole than work in the office again ("wole tanczyc na rurze niz pracowac w biurze" - tak ladnie sie po polsku rymuje) and I started to now think that maybe I would rather dance on a pole than work in a restaurant... or rake the leaves in Central Park... but the one great benefit of working at PQ is flexible schedule so I'll stay... I decided the only way I can survive in NY the next two years is by going away on vacation every time I have a break from school. So this time I will go again to Colombia - to go on a hike in the mountains this time, and to take a boat down the Magdalena river and spend a few days at Tyrona again, hanging on a hammock, doing nothing in particular, resting from never ending tests and exams...
Steve Brown, my former colleque and friend at FSG, left FSG last week and before he left he asked the last of his famous "Steve Brown's questions" (from time to time he would send us - the people who worked or formely worked at FSG and kept in touch - a question which we would ananomously answer and then he would send us all the compilation) which was "What would you do if you knew this was your last day (of your life)? And people said they would see their family, cook together, go for walks, spent time with those they love, etc. I also read in a book somewhere that when people die they always say they regret they didn't spend more time with their loved ones, enjoying nature, having conversations, going on vacation to see other places. Nobody ever says they regret they didn't spend more time in the office, making more money to buy this or that or making sure their bosses are satisfied. What is regretted are the feelings and emotions one never experienced or didn't experience enough of. I guess what I am saying doesn't apply in some places in the world so much but it applies to NY. I found myself in a situation where I don't have the time for meeting with friends but it's a specific temporary situation of going to school and working at the same time. But my friends who work in offices report how the office crew works around the clock and even comes to work on their days off... Even if one loves his or her job the balance and harmony between different aspects of life is needed. Here's what I found in the Swedish Institute (the school I attend) catalogue: "Arranging patients with time for self-care, fun, family, volunteering or travel creates a practice that can be satisfying through many stages." I hope to be able to do that one day -- instead of spending half a life on the NY subway...
Enough of complaining. Instead of complaining I started working on something that maybe will make the time more flexible (and save me from dancing in the go go bar eventually). For some time I have been thinking about launching a gallery and e-store with jewelery. I don't remember if I mentioned it on the blog before but I encountered a lot of beautiful hand-made jewelery during my travels. I would love to be involved in presenting it and distributing it in places where it is not known, for some profit for the makers, some for me and the general joy of dealing with these beatiful works of art. So I started preparations. My neighbor Greg is working on the gallery and e-store websites, I got some nice silver and amber jewelery from Poland to start with, and I hope to start operations in January, after I come back from vacations. I will register "the company" as SYRENA - the mermaid of the Baltic Sea. I like mermaids - the mythical creatures inhabitating oceans and seas. I wanted my Syrena to be a strong and wise woman and feminine as well. Greg made her so. I am sure she came in his dreams and introduced herself and then he painted her... The website address is www.syrenaart.com so you can get a glimpse of the Syrena when you log on. I will let you know when the website is fully done.
Steve Brown, my former colleque and friend at FSG, left FSG last week and before he left he asked the last of his famous "Steve Brown's questions" (from time to time he would send us - the people who worked or formely worked at FSG and kept in touch - a question which we would ananomously answer and then he would send us all the compilation) which was "What would you do if you knew this was your last day (of your life)? And people said they would see their family, cook together, go for walks, spent time with those they love, etc. I also read in a book somewhere that when people die they always say they regret they didn't spend more time with their loved ones, enjoying nature, having conversations, going on vacation to see other places. Nobody ever says they regret they didn't spend more time in the office, making more money to buy this or that or making sure their bosses are satisfied. What is regretted are the feelings and emotions one never experienced or didn't experience enough of. I guess what I am saying doesn't apply in some places in the world so much but it applies to NY. I found myself in a situation where I don't have the time for meeting with friends but it's a specific temporary situation of going to school and working at the same time. But my friends who work in offices report how the office crew works around the clock and even comes to work on their days off... Even if one loves his or her job the balance and harmony between different aspects of life is needed. Here's what I found in the Swedish Institute (the school I attend) catalogue: "Arranging patients with time for self-care, fun, family, volunteering or travel creates a practice that can be satisfying through many stages." I hope to be able to do that one day -- instead of spending half a life on the NY subway...
Enough of complaining. Instead of complaining I started working on something that maybe will make the time more flexible (and save me from dancing in the go go bar eventually). For some time I have been thinking about launching a gallery and e-store with jewelery. I don't remember if I mentioned it on the blog before but I encountered a lot of beautiful hand-made jewelery during my travels. I would love to be involved in presenting it and distributing it in places where it is not known, for some profit for the makers, some for me and the general joy of dealing with these beatiful works of art. So I started preparations. My neighbor Greg is working on the gallery and e-store websites, I got some nice silver and amber jewelery from Poland to start with, and I hope to start operations in January, after I come back from vacations. I will register "the company" as SYRENA - the mermaid of the Baltic Sea. I like mermaids - the mythical creatures inhabitating oceans and seas. I wanted my Syrena to be a strong and wise woman and feminine as well. Greg made her so. I am sure she came in his dreams and introduced herself and then he painted her... The website address is www.syrenaart.com so you can get a glimpse of the Syrena when you log on. I will let you know when the website is fully done.
posted by Asia Kabat at 6:46 PM
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