A characteristic of the normal child is he doesn't act that way very often.

Why do children want to grow up so fast? I think they simply do not see all the advantages of being a child. They don't like be treated like a child and want to become like the adults they admire. "Foolish tiny humans", as Eric Northman would say. I'd give everything to be a kid again. Of course I don't remember much of my early childhood but what I do remember is worth coming back to.

What kind of child was I? Naughty, I suppose. As an infant I used to sleep during the day and cry at night. Old habits die hard, I still prefer working at night and sleeping long. Plus, my Mom always says that when she put my brother on a blanket and gave him a slice of bread that would keep him occupied for a long time. With me the situation was quite the opposite - it was enough that she turned around and I was already gone. But at least I was cute :)

This picture was taken in May 1992 when I was ~2.5 y.o. at my cousin's parents-in-law's. Mr. B. is a photographer and we (me & my bro) needed pictures for something, hence the huuuuge ribbon in my hair and the pretty dress :)

My favorite playground was my Grandma's backyard. Me and my brother were allowed to do nearly anything there, so we even build a "ladder" once :) I don't know how old we were... In our early years of primary school I suppose. There was quite a lot of clay there, a pile of sand that we adapted as our sandbox, a foundation of an old and long knocked down barn, a shed full of straw, hens, ducks and most importantly CATS - the best place ever for me and my brother. And the best part was that my Granny used to live only 4 houses away from ours, so we could easily visit Her as often as we wanted, which is why we used to spend more time there than at home :D

Thoughts on Pyrkon

It's been almost a month since Pyrkon I would like to say that we had a great time. Even tough we spent whole 3 days there, we didn't manage to see everything we wanted to, for example, we missed The Festival of Dwarvish Song "Bellow it by yourself (or with friends)". I don't know why none of us actually paid attention to it, since it's awesome! Check this out:

WARNING! If you like elves - don't watch it! As you probably know dwarves and elves are not very fond of each other and that's the main theme of most songs. Plus, they tend to use promiscuous language.




And to let you know what you've missed, here's a short report from the event. And please, notice that Jakub Ćwiek is always perfectly aware of what is going on around him :) (0.57-1.02)





And a pic from a meeting with Jakub Ćwiek, taken by me sitting in the second row :) I think I love this guy even more after Pyrkon. Not only does he write fantastic books but also is very entertaining and fun to hang out with :)

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence.

Of numerous tracks on my playlist I think I would like to share with you 3 songs in 3 different languages that dominate my playlist. Polish, Japanese and English.

First, a song that I immediately fell in love with the first time I heard it and have loved with undying and untainted love since. The song is performed by Robert Gawliński of Wilki (who has an incredible gift of making songs that I can't help but like, just F.Y.I. :)). This song was written by Grzegorz Ciechowski for the TV series (or film) Wiedźmin - doesn't actually matter, both suck. The soundtrack and the cast are the only things that save this series form being an utter failure. How is it even possible to make such a pitiful series having Sapkowski's books to base on? I'm going off-topic, sorry about that. Enjoy the music.


Polish part was not so hard. Let's proceed to my favorite Japanese song (I'm saving the toughest choice - English song - for the end). My favorite Japanese band is called Orange Range and comes from Okinawa. The band was formed in 2001 and consists of 5 guys playing alternative rock. Their songs are often used as openings to anime and that's how I came across them. This particular song always makes me feel positive and the video makes me laugh :) Embedding this video is disabled, so here's link: >click<

And so we've arrived to the hardest part. My English favorite. Because of Supernatural such bands as AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult appeared on my playlist and took control over my mind, pushing Muse, Guano Apes, Paramore, Three Days Grace aside. But... I don't know how many of you have heard about a Swedish band called Sabaton. They are doing a great job giving tribute to those who gave up their lives in wars. They became famous in Poland after singing "40-1" and praising courage of Polish soldiers fighting in Wizna battle and those who died in the uprising in Warsaw in 1944 in song "Uprising".

This song may not be my absolute favorite but I think it's important to know that such songs exist.

OMG, I hope so!

As some of you probably know I'm a great fan of TV series Supernatural. At present we're in the middle of 6th season of the series and each and every fan wonders if we will get to see another season. The answer is probably YES!

Everyone is really optimistic about it and, as Jensen Ackles (actor playing Dean Winchester) said, it is highly improbable that CW will end Supernatural when Smallville is coming to an end. If that's true, I'm even willing to forgive them the month-long break in the middle of the 6th season (no Supernatural until April 15! That's simply cruel...).

I know that for most people this is not even worth reading, but I'm totally crazy about Supernatural and that's what keeps me working for over a month. Link to the article is in the title :)

Let me invite you to Pyrkon...

Yeah, but what is Pyrkon?

In brief, it's an annual meeting of all fantasy fans, that takes place on the first weekend of spring in Poznań (this year it's 25-27 of March). The main aim of the event is to spread fantasy in all forms: literature, films, comics, games, etc and maybe get some blood, for on Saturday the 'bloodbus' will be waiting for all those who want to donate blood.

There's over 300 hours of lectures, meetings with writers and publishers, games tournaments, RPG and LAPR sessions and quizzes in about 20 different rooms, so no one should feel ignored. Personally, I look forward to meet Jakub Ćwiek and Maja Lidia Kossakowska - two of my favorite Polish fantasy writers :) and to learn some Japanese during a special lecture.

Last year over 3000 people participated in this event (the line was so long that it took me almost 3 hours to get tickets!) and this year the organizers are expecting even more people. Hopefully, this time lines will be shorter, for Pyrkon for the fist time is taking place in MTP, not in a school in the outskirts of Poznań.

For more information you should visit Pyrkon's official website HERE. I hope I will see you there :)

The craziest fairytale ever!

That's what you get when you give me and Wirrer a microphone ;)

Beware!

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

To be honest I can't imagine my life without books and the most difficult task for me is to find one that I like the most.

At present I would probably say that my number one is The Painted Man by Peter V. Brett, but when I think about my childhood there are two books competing for the title of the best and I can't really decide which one I like better :) The first one (in chronological order) was 

and at some point I had three different copies of the book. The first one I received from my mom's friend for my First Communion and it was a beautiful, illustrated version. The second I was given as a reward from school for being a good student at the end of my second grade, and finally my friend gave me one copy for my birthday and when I laughed that this is my third copy of that book, she replied: "Oh, I thought it would be the fifth". I can't help but roll my eyes when I think about this incident, but it doesn't change the fact that I will always love "W pustyni i w puszczy":)

My other favorite book hasn't got any fascinating history behind. I got some money for my birthday and my mom decided that we should buy me the book I borrowed once from my cousin I didn't have time to finish, meaning "Ann of Green Gables" (and all of its sequels some time later).

Home, sweet home:)

Good evening my dear readers, it's Monday.

My first task is to write a few words about my home. And even though I have been living in Poznań for over two years, my home is still in Drawsko and that's the place I'm going to describe.

Drawsko is a village located north-west from Poznań and it is home for over sixteen hundred people, including me and my family. I hope the maps clarify the exact location and no one will ever ask me: "Hey, you live in Drawsko Pomorskie, right?". No, I don't. Finito.

 

This photo (click it to enlarge) presents an aerial view of my village, river Noteć and woodland in the background (and all over the area, I'm afraid. Hooray for Puszcza Notecka :D) - a paradise for those who like picking mushrooms.

The building circled is my home (click the photo to enlarge). My home is so well hidden among other buildings that even I had a problem finding it first time I saw this picture. Plus, everything looks different from the aerial view. 

The pictures are a few years old and now everything looks quite different. The big lindens by the main road are gone, the road itself is much wider and there are nice sidewalks and lawns on both sides. I saw the village changing and it makes all the difference. In fact, the change was so great that many of my relatives felt stupefied and didn't know where they are when they came to visit us after the make-over. But it's very nice to hear comments like "What a lovely town!" from tourists and I don't even bother to correct them that officially it's still a village.

Last thing is plan of my village with names of places in our slang. You have one and only chance to see a place that has a name starting with 'y' (Yndzel) and notice that we've got Brazil and America in Drawsko :)
Maybe some other time I will tell you a few words about traits of Sorbian culture in my area and 'vampires' and ghosts haunting Gruszki.

I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did. 

For further information you can go HERE or just ask me:)

Not a Scorpio anymore?!

Can you believe it? Scientists have decided to add one more Zodiac Sign. Most of you are probably thinking right now: "Nooo, I like my Zodiac Sing. I don't want a new one!"

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no, nothing has changed (unless you are two years old) More information you can get in this video:
Oh, and take a closer look at Scorpio. I, as a Scorpio, can only say that I feel cheated ;)

[EDIT 19.01.2011]
I'm sorry, I didn't realize the video is too wide for the blog. Unfortunately I have no idea how to change its width :( I'll try to find out but I cannot promise anything.

Hello world

Here I am, blogging... Again ;) It's a different kind of blog, but still it's a challenge and another website to remember about ;) Well, that's all for now. See you next time :)