Envelope / Develope

I was raised in countryside, by my grand-parents, a busy family, growing vines, cultivating fields with corn, potatoes and grains. My parents brought me back in the city when I was 5 or 6. They visited me during the week-ends but mostly I was living in a village, in the rhythm of the seasons. I still remember waiting the bus who came from city and hoping my parents are getting off it. I was loved by an extended family - my grandparents, my grand-aunt and other relatives. Although I stayed there for a few years, everybody knew I will live in the city, when the school years were to start, so, somehow they handled me differently. I caught all the bad and the good from people surrounding me, in Romania's countryside of 80s: - I was drinking wine at 4 and suffered an alcoholic coma - I learnt how to curse like an adult, with colorful language. I remember, after coming back to the city, how atrocious I cursed an adult. He was totally struck by the contrast between my age and the sti...

I always tried to take the good part from everything that happened to me: life events, encounters with people, traits of people, unexpected circumstances. I was aware that in some conditions the dark sides of anyone can get out and spoil your day. You may confront them, fight against the current but in the end if they cannot master the evil parts by themselves is hard to counter-balance the turn of events.There is no rationale in their behavior, most of the time is an ingrained believe, preconceived ideas reinforced by biased judgement, mixed with anger. Even assisting as a spectator to the dark side exhibition leaves you tarred and puzzled. It happened with my uncle, a smart military officer whose life was consumed by alcohol, with some relatives when certain events where unfolding (family reunions) and the list can continue. You cannot avoid people because of the dark corners of their life but you can dance around them to not provoke the daemons. The whole problem is to be ...

I was feeling small, in the diner, in Bath, New York. I am a 6.3 feel adult, 210 pounds, so not that small. But all people around me where in a different category. I started to have a queasy feeling that food might be one of the culprits, or maybe the hard work. Looking at their hands, work was out of the question. Is the same food in all North America that we consume, isn't it? I asked for the menu, for breakfast, and then I understood why. The "Specials" had at least 10-12 ingredients, meat was present in different ways - bacon, sausage, lard, salami, veal, chicken. The plates where large and prices cheap. Food was plenty but nutrients in it were missing. It was a systemic problem in a three days trip at Watkins Glen area, upstate New York - cheap food, no much variety, mostly from frozen bags/containers and not much flavor. I remember eating a salad, in full summer, and it didn't have any sweetness in vegetables. I felt like ordering cooked carton in each di...