PinkCouture

^ Hey There, TR I am ok. How have you been? BTW, replied to your FB post

Totally digging your set

I think I´m a fan too

Christmas wasn´t that great, so I hope New Year will be better how about you?

^ Mine was pretty much the same. I had a VERY Merry X'mas I broke-up w/ my bf of 2.5 yrs. I hope the new year will be more pleasant and calm (Y)

Oh, I´m sorry for that - especially on Christmas, damn. But I´m sure you´ll find better one soon. And yeah, calmer year would be amazing... for now I can´t even imagine such a thing

^ It was going to happen anyways, but it is unfortunate it had to happened on X'mas. I will be ok eventually. Just need some time (Y)

How have you been?

Oh, weird. My grandma was with us the whole Christmas, and she really can´t get over that my father abandoned my mother... so she kept asking me stupid questions, gaving him names and when he arrived for Christmas she protestingly stayed in the kitchen. Not saying all the other shitty things that happened, so these Christmas were really one big dissapointment.

Even running away to woods didn´t help much... you always take yourself with you, and I took my problems with me too. But today I´m getting better, I had a nice dream and looking forward to seeing friends I haven´t seen for a longer time - tomorrow!!

^ Families can be so unnecessarily complicated and dramatic I am sorry to hear your X'mas wasn't very pleasant. Hopefully your NYE is more enjoyable

How was seeing your friends?

Still nothing, we expect them to come by train today and pick them up with car after work I soo missed them, lol and it seems that there will be my favourite people in the timber hut this Silvester, yay

Do you plan to spend the New Year in any way?

^ Let me know how the meeting went and what you all ended up doing

I am spending my NYE w/ a pal I have known since high school

Oh, it was great, we went to the timber hut in woods and celebrated together... there was only one thing that spoiled the Sunday, but that is something that needs to be resoluted finally (it´s an old thing from times when the timber hut was being built), but other than that it was great, fun and everything.

How went yours?

^ I am glad you overall had a nice time!

It was fine. I did some minor shopping, had dinner w/ a pal I have known since high school and drove around the city a little

Is driving around the city something you do regularly?

^ No b/c I no longer have a car However I am in the city almost everyday b/c that's where I work The part we were driving around isn't a part I visit frequently.

You live in the suburbs, right?

No, I actually live in the city I used to live 15 minutes from center, in a block of flats surrounded by woods, but then we moved to the edge of the city, and now we are surounded by vineyards and woods. It´s wonderful here, but it´s no home.

I would love to move out of here and live in a village, or rather in our cottage on Myjava... it´s out of village, in Slovakia we call these places "samoty" - solitudes. Apart from the main road, surrounded by nature. Wonderful. I have had enough of the city life... I´m not really the type

Do you live in suburbs?

^ Living in the city might be convenient but b/c it is so fast-paced and busy, it is easy to get "lost" in the chaos. Sometimes it makes people apathetic, and not appreciate the simpler things in life that truly matters.

I live in the "boondock" part of a suburb. It is full of trees and animals but nothing like the peaceful image you would expect.

Exactly. People get so pathetic, so... different. They seem to keep forgetting about simple things in life, and especially about how things are done... the city does everything for them - the water, the heat, the food. I don´t like to be so addicted and especially don´t like to be so separated from nature. I don´t feel alive here... at all. Just living.

Oh, when you said "boondock" I´ve imagined a heaven why it isn´t so peaceful?

It isn't peaceful b/c most people don't appreciate the simple things in life and their environment. Also, most people think it is the poor who are the most screwed up when in fact it is usually the middle-class.

I will add your book recommendations to my list! So much to do, so little time *ayi-yi-yi*

I have heard of "The Venturesome Economy". Many good reviews. BTW, have you read "Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man" by Marshall McLuhan. if you have, let me know what you think

That Colombia professor gets out occasional articles in the Journal, Economist, and FT.

No, I haven't. Sounds useful. How has it helped you?

Exactly. People get so pathetic, so... different. They seem to keep forgetting about simple things in life, and especially about how things are done... the city does everything for them - the water, the heat, the food. I don´t like to be so addicted and especially don´t like to be so separated from nature. I don´t feel alive here... at all. Just living.

You know, that's interesting Jennka- you talk about that often yet I still don't fully understand. And I do want to understand. I'm not a nature person (perhaps not yet) and I often think that having all basic necessities being provided to me is actually a privilege of modernity and my income. It frees up energy for working and doing things that I want. I just find basic tasks to be kind of mundane. My brain has de-linked itself from the feeling of achievement or pleasure from performing these fundamental activities.

So I like having my own freezer, food, laundry, running water, bath, toilet, heat, power supplies, fuel, etc. provided to me in the smoothest, quickest manner possible...

In economics terms, you are enjoying a 'public good', free of charge and perhaps by virtue of sheer luck of the draw, being in beautiful Slovakia, and having the happy & complementary social relations. So, when you're in the woods.....

By enjoying these public goods (in 'Marxian or Polanyi' terms) you are thus freeing yourself of the burden of those 'fictitious commodities directly linked with the capitalist system' :-D

I will add your book recommendations to my list! So much to do, so little time *ayi-yi-yi*

I have heard of "The Venturesome Economy". Many good reviews. BTW, have you read "Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man" by Marshall McLuhan. if you have, let me know what you think

That Colombia professor gets out occasional articles in the Journal, Economist, and FT.

No, I haven't. Sounds useful. How has it helped you?

I guess it has helped me "understand media" better??? The book was definitely...interesting. I am pretty sure McLuhan was under the influence and/or on some sort of recreational drugs when he wrote the book. However I give him props for predicting things that has happened or is happening in our communications and media right now (Y)