New Year, New Possibilities, New Life
Hey everyone! It’s Pete here!
Wow, it’s been quite a while since I last posted something in here. I have a lot to tell you but first, I wish you all the best during the new 2013, guys!!! I hope you’ve all had some wonderful times partying, drinking, dancing, being around your families or whatever you chose to do! Happy New Year to all of you!
So, let’s begin with the most obvious. Why the hell haven’t I posted anything in almost three months? Well, first of all I decided to become more involved in writing which means that I finally found the courage and inspiration to work on a new book. For a long time I was processing different ideas and themes that I wished to include in it. It wasn’t an easy process mainly because of my lack of consistency. I jumped around for quite a bit but in the end I came up with a couple of good topics that are good enough to write something on.
Other than my continuous work on the book I dedicated a lot of time on reading and watching stuff exclusively in English. At this stage I believe it’s fairly necessary for me to develop my skills in English as far as I can. Undoubtedly, everything that I learn now will be of some use in the future. One of the interesting books I stumbled upon was “The Perks Of Being A Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky. Luckily, I watched the movie afterwards and although I consider it a very decent one, I was still glad I read the book first. It broadened my views on how simple and elegant at the same time a novel can be written. Just in the matter of a couple of days I read the book twice. An incredibly easy read and yet, delivering such strong message.
Reading books and watching TV shows streamed on the Internet helped me a lot during my brainstorming stage for the book. Ideas were being hurled at me all the time and sometimes I was getting pissed off at myself for not being able to catch them all. Despite that I began writing the book in December and it’s still going on. Let’s hope I won’t get stuck. Again.
As you know I was quite interested in all the Mayan predictions and crap like that, which made me read and write a bit about it especially during the past summer. The problem was that as it (the date) was coming I felt even more detached and uninterested. My whole family was talking about the stuff but as I was thinking on other stuff, it eventually left my life. Conspiracy theories and predictions have a useful purpose – to make you think for a bit by taking a different approach to life – but other than that they shouldn’t become a life philosophy. People who get obsessed by such things don’t end up being well. Keeping your eyes shut to the world is not the right way but becoming paranoid because of a couple of pages in a book is surely bad too. The nature of life is hidden behind the balance. To think and consider is very well but up to a point. There should always be time to close the book or the laptop and go do something else.
I’ve spent a lot of time in 2012 thinking and genuinely living in the past. We’ve all done it, we’ve all suffered from it. Life shouldn’t be like that. So that’s why I decided that this year I would give more attention to the external world, to the people around me, to the places I’ve never been to, to the things I’ve always wanted to accomplish. It’s time to do some action and firmly head towards a goal.
Let me be a bit more specific. First, to finish my book is my primary objective. I want to start working something outside of writing again in order to distract myself. Then I will see that my family is firmly set in Germany. My parents deserve to finally get settled somewhere. I will definitely write about that in the future by the way. My family’s nomadic habits have brought us a lot of pain but also joy which I believe should be shared. Finally, I hope 2013 will bring me to places I haven’t visited as I mentioned before. To travel is to know so I have to start getting more serious about it.
I had an idea of creating a channel on YouTube to vlog. I know a lot of people who do it and apparently, it’s known to be enjoyable and I might give it a shot. Blogging will always be there for me, I know it, but why not trying something unfamiliar and possibly exciting. It’s good to jump into stuff you know nothing of once in awhile.
I have a lot of ideas about what I might want to do, but since last year I stopped making plans about it. To plan stuff and live in the future is as bad as remaining in the past. It’s a vicious circle and I don’t want to get stuck in it. Again.
We’ll see how it goes. For now I wish everybody a safe but exciting new year!
Love you all!!!
Pete
Hey, Check Out What I’ve Found On The Internet! #3
That’s a nice picture, eh? Yeah, I thought so as well. It’s always curious to see that scientists can laugh and are capable of having fun. And Albert Einstein wasn’t just the brilliant mathematician and physicist, he was a philosopher and a great writer too.
This week I wasn’t able to come across a huge quantity of interesting stuff for you, but as you might know I am a man of quality and not quantity, so let me start with this essay written by Einstein himself. It’s entitled “The World As I See It” and it’s not a particularly long one.
Please, take a look at the essay before reading further on.
I wouldn’t like to mix my own opinions about Einstein’s writings with the essay itself. It would be a sin to do that. I, like most people, had a quite dull impression of scientists and mathematicians being the dry and unimpressive lot of society. Einstein’s “The World As I See It” proved me so wrong.
Einstein himself, obviously, was extremely poetic and gentle towards things he did not understand at the time. And that is the point of the whole essay. He was somehow glad that there is some mystery to life itself and yet, he was not discouraged by it, instead he kept on working on his theories and studies. He mentions that he is living in times which are the product of the labor of so many people before him, and it was his duty to work and contribute for the future of the next generations. That truly is an amazing and very admirable life philosophy in my opinion. It reveals a person who does not care if his contributions to science are appreciated in his lifetime (which happened to him, nonetheless.) Albert Einstein was a person who preferred to think that his work would help next generations regardless of his status at the moment. That combined with his disgust towards militarism and war make him, I believe, not only the great scientist we are used to think of, but a man who genuinely cared about mankind in general. A true genius indeed.
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Since we’re talking about great writing my next stop would be this article which I discovered recently. It lists the 10 most banned books of all times and why they were banned in the first place. Of all the books on the list I happened to know and have read only “Metamorphosis” by F.Kafka, and I feel almost ashamed to have neglected the rest.
This article stimulated me so much that after having it read, I immediately set out to search for all those books. Somehow the idea of a banned book appears so tempting to me. I prefer to think that if a certain book was forbidden by the owners of our countries, it must be really GOOD.
I am currently reading “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut. I have to warn you that I’m a slow reader so you’d have to wait a bit for my upcoming review of the book. I decided that reviews of these banned books would be the proper way to pardon myself for not having them read earlier. So stay tuned for that.
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Finally, my third and last stop for this week would be this video:
I loved the idea behind this video! Whoever came up with it, is a pure genius!
We all have mp3 players, iPods and what not and music is constantly flowing into our ears. “Hey, What Song Are You Listening To?” shows that people do listen to good quality music and sentences like – “Oh, man, the young generation grows up with such crappy music tastes!” – hold no more. We have a great variety to choose from, but believe me, the good stuff will forever remain good and appreciated.
And the best part of it is that this kind of footage is being shot not only in NYC but all around the world. Just look for it in YouTube.
Pete Noge
7.10.2012
What Do You Want From Life?
Today I had an interesting conversation with my father. We were going to the supermarket to get some beer and other beverages. I was driving.
On the middle of the way I had to stop at a traffic light. In front of my car there was an expensive Mercedes-Benz, two-door, the sport class, the lot. Nice car as a whole. And that was my father’s comment on it. I didn’t add anything else. That appeared to be somehow strange as I’ve always been quite passionate about cars and never missed a chance to show my knowledge, understanding and passion on the subject. My father repeated the question whether I like the Benz or not to which I said:
‘I don’t care, dad.’
My father considered something for a moment.
‘You’ve become so different from what you used to be. What do you want from life now? How have your views shifted?’ said my father.
We reached our destination and entered the supermarket. As the trolley was getting filled up, neither me nor my father tried to continue the conversation. Once we paid for our stuff and started loading it into the car, I resumed talking.
‘Yes, dad, I’ve changed a lot but I am happy with what I am right now. You probably remember well how crazy I was about Top Gear and cars and stuff. (I still enjoy that show, by the way.) Well, I don’t strive to own expensive automobiles or yachts anymore. I don’t want that.’
‘OK, then, what do you want? All I see from you now is a total disinterest towards anything material. You don’t go out as much you used to, don’t want a car, don’t want a girlfriend. What’s going on with you?’ said my father.
‘That’s right. I don’t desire anything of that anymore. I don’t care if I own a car or not. The same goes for the girlfriend. All I want from life right now is that my opinion is heard and appreciated. I’ve discovered a new world where the important stuff differs from what we hold precious in this one. I was overwhelmed by the power of words and that became my path.’
My father is not the kind of person who’s easily convinced by philosophy and abstract ideas. He is the most materialistic person I know. And I was not at all surprised when his next question was:
‘So you want to be a philosopher?’ he asked apparently quite amused. ‘You wanna be the next Socrates?’
‘I don’t think that there is ever going to be another Socrates, dad. And even if someone tries to copy him today, he or she will inevitably fail, because our times are not Socrates’ times. A lot of things have changed. Copying someone is not my way. I only hope I find my definite way of thinking, writing and fully expressing myself.’ I said.
I am aware of the fact that we all live in this three dimensional, material world and I understand that we need “stuff” to survive. But I don’t think that I need excess to live more fully and happily. The ultimate joy a human being could experience, in my opinion, is when he or she creates his or her own world. Give importance to what is truly valuable and cannot be bought or sold, and do not get emotionally attached to anything material. Time will take it all from you.
Maybe I am too abstract in my explanation, but that is how I think and I cannot alter it. And I don’t think that I will. This is me and enjoy doing this more than anything else right now. I don’t know what’s going to happen with me in a year or a month but I am sure of only one thing. I’ll keep on writing. That’s the world I’ve created for myself.
Pete Noge
5.10.2012
Our Idiot Brother
A movie review
*SPOILER ALERT*
It’s been quite a while since I reviewed a movie. I adore watching movies but it seems that nothing was able to catch my attention for a long time. There are decent movies out there, don’t get me wrong, problem is that I didn’t stumble upon anything worth writing about.
“Our Idiot Brother” is not a new film. And it’s not a particular hit either. When it came out last year, I don’t remember seeing any trailers of it, nobody was talking about it, and yet it came out. I particularly like when something like this happens to me. I discover a movie that I somehow missed watching years ago and fall in love with it from the first couple of minutes. It’s so inspiring.
Paul Rudd (Role Models, The 40 Year Old Virgin) plays Ned Rochlin, a guy who was just let out of prison for exemplary behavior. Ned is a hippy genuinely loving anything that surrounds him – his family, his sisters, Nature and particularly his dog – Willy Nelson. (Yes, his dog is called Willy Nelson). Ned is great and tries to help everybody with whatever he can. But that quality of his gets him into trouble way too many times. After being released from jail his girlfriend refuses to get him back and Ned finds himself homeless and jobless. From there he decides to go back to his mother’s house for a bit. Soon Ned realizes that he can’t stay there any longer and the only options he has are his sisters. He knocks on their doors and they let him in. And then one after one they all get fed up with him for messing up their lives and make him leave their homes.
Ned doesn’t do what he does because he is evil or because he wants to. He is an extremely honest man and simply cannot lie. That is his only problem. And that puts him constantly into a series of embarrassing situations from which he doesn’t have the slightest idea on how to get out.
At first all of his sisters, Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), Natalie (Zooey Deschanel) and Liz (Emily Mortimer), are completely desperate and mad at Ned simply for being Ned. They all consider him an idiot who cannot handle his life and take responsibility for his actions. He is a complete outsider even in his own home. He is different and will remain so. But his sisters slowly understand that their “idiot” brother is the only chance they have to pull themselves out of their troubled lives and the decisions they’ve made in the past. Natalie cheats on her lesbian girlfriend with a guy and gets pregnant, Liz discovers that her husband is having an affair with a Russian ballet dancer and Miranda loses a job opportunity and a career jump, all because of Ned.
In the end Ned is arrested again for violating his parole. When Miranda, Liz and Nat finally understand what their brother had done for them in reality, they decide to pull him out. But Ned is angry and refuses to leave his cell. Finally, River, Liz’s son, comes up with an idea on how to bring Ned out. They manage to get his beloved dog, Willy Nelson, from his ex girlfriend. The happy ending follows and the movie ends like it really should and deserves to.
All actors were well selected for the roles they had to play. And all of them did a decent job in my opinion. A lot of people were criticizing Zooey Deschanel lately, accusing her of being unable to act, but I find her quite good at what she’s doing. Obviously, the big star in “Our Idiot Brother” is Paul Rudd. I loved his work on the character. Ned may seem like an easy job that many actors could potentially do. Don’t be fooled though. The funny and adorable roles are often the most difficult because to create a lie out of a lie is fairly easy to achieve but to create truth out of a lie is completely another thing.
When I watched “Our Idiot Brother”, I thought that some stuff was too predictable and obvious for my tastes but then it hit me. We need movies like this not because of their quality, story or actor performance, we need to see this kind of movies because of the message that they bring with them. And the message of “Our Idiot Brother” is more simple and easy than any other – be honest with yourself and with anybody else. Everything was evolving around Ned’s incapability of keeping a secret and consequently lying. But his sisters understood later on that Ned did them a favor when he involuntary and clumsily revealed the very lies they were living in.
Truth will come out one way or another. Nothing can stop it, problem is how we are going to accept it and what we are going to do about it. And when we meet pure-hearted individuals like Ned, trust me – they are out there, we have to try not to push them away. If we don’t, they will change our lives whether we’re ready for it or not.
Pete Noge
4.10.2012
daily scribbles #9
I just had a glass of an exquisite red wine and I am in the right mood to write a bit. It’s been a while since I did a regular daily scribbles post as I was fairly caught up with other stuff. You’ve probably noticed that there had been some changes on my blog and a reasonable amount of new things. But just to spice things up a little bit let me deliver one more thought downpour to the blog.
A couple of weeks ago my father came to live with me here in Germany. Things are worsening with each day back in Italy and he was left with no choice but to leave my mother and my brother and come to me to see if the German lifestyle would fit him any better. Obviously, I am not going to discuss my father’s point of view, but rather focus on mine. Since he came, there has been a lot to do around here and I am glad to be helpful to my father as he needed my assistance in dealing with the bureaucratic stuff. Germany was practically built on that. Papers, documents, cards, numbers, papers, documents and some more papers all flying around annoying the shit out me, my father and pretty much everybody we need to talk to in order to get them. It’s a painful process, but to sign a contract with anybody, first, you’ll need the damned PAPERS.
My father got a few job offers here and there and things have brighten up lately. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, after all. I am happy for him. I wouldn’t like to mention anymore of his or our plans for the future. It’s a family thing. When everything’s done, then it’s time to talk about it. I believe that’s the right way to do it.
Then I watched a few movies that I was waiting for some time. One of them was Premium Rush with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Joe is one of my most favorite actors out there. I seriously dig this guy. I’ve probably mentioned this already on my blog, but hey, I am willing to repeat myself anyway. The guy deserves it. He is THAT good. Premium Rush is an extremely involving and entertaining way to pass a Saturday night with some friends and a bit of junk food and beer. It’s an adrenaline pumping flick with lots of interesting twists and turns along the way. I loved it from the very beginning till the very end. This is not a proper movie review so I am not going into any details but the one thing that I am going to talk about is the effect that the movie had on me.
I am not a particularly sport active guy, I simply enjoy doing things from time to time just for the fun. My fast metabolism allows me to eat all I want and always stay skinny. I’ve never been fat and I hope I maintain my shape during the following years. Why am I talking about sports immediately after mentioning Premium Rush? Well, for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, bicycles are one of the center parts of it. And not just any bikes but fixies. Fixie is the short term of fixed gear bicycle which the protagonist, played by my man Joe, was constantly riding in the movie. These bikes are incredibly light, agile and fast. Or are supposed to be at least. It all depends on how much one’s willing to spend. I have a bike but it’s nothing serious or special, I ride it once in a while but it’s way too heavy for my tastes. Premium Rush performed an “Inception” on me and now I want a fixie. Well, I’ve always been a fan of the light-weight bikes but I didn’t understand them. Now the remaining problem would be to come up with the money to order something worthy on the Internet. And that won’t be cheap, but I am willing to invest as I am feeling that I won’t be disappointed when I get my hands on the bike. I can’t wait to take it for a spin.
Last week my father and I had to make a trip to the other side of the Schwarzwald mountain. When we were at the top of the crest, we stopped for a break and to take some pictures. There wasn’t any traffic, everything was so silent and clean. It felt like visiting a place which few people had ever seen with their own eyes. That feeling was so addicting. It was then when I got a brilliant idea.
You’ve probably noticed that my post lack a lot of things but the most noticeable ones are the good quality photos. Don’t worry though ’cause I am working on it. I don’t possess any photographer skills, and I am quite incapable of operating with Photoshop, but, A BIG BUT, I was kind of inspired by Schwarwald and I felt sorry not to have a better camera with me when I wanted to capture a part of its beauty. I am aware of the fact that nowadays everybody is trying to be a professional photographer. I don’t like that and I am not trying to do anything like that in here. I will get a more powerful camera because I feel that I have to give my blog something more because I believe it deserves it. My pictures would probably appear too amateur to any trained eye but as I said, I won’t be doing that for the trained eyes out there. It’s for my blog and the readers. I am sick of googling for an interesting image that would match the mood in my latest post. It simply isn’t fair.
So bear with me guys, more changes are coming up this way.
Pete Noge
30.9.2012
Hey, Check Out What I’ve Found On The Internet! #2
Leave Facebook, Twitter and your emails for a second! There is so much more on the Internet! Let’s find it!
I’ve always been into all of that pick up artist thing ever since I read ”The Game” by Neil Strauss which, by the way, I highly recommend reading. I had my problems some time ago with girls but with the help of Mr. Strauss a.k.a Style I managed to refine my touch and eventually, become more successful with the ladies.
Recently, I had other things to work onto and my pick up passion was forced out of the equation for a bit. Just a couple of days ago I stumbled upon an article about a YouTube channel called “Simple Pickup” which was created by three American dudes who were completely unknown in the pick up community up till the moment of the creation of their channel. Jesse, Jason and Kong don’t pretend to be any gurus or masters, they don’t pretend to be extremely knowledgeable about anything that they are doing, they just do it. All they possess is a pair of HUGE balls for each of them. Their method is insane, but it works! They are NOT scared of failure, they utterly embrace it and move the fuck on! Simple Pickup’s videos are well edited, well organized, and they’re genuinely intriguing and keep you watching. The boys like to experiment a lot understanding the risk of embarrassment but they just keep on trying. The three clumsy musketeers of pickup are funny, bold, appear to not give a damn and are immensely enjoying themselves while doing what they’re doing.
Here is one of my favorite videos of Simple Pickup where the boys are attempting to pick up some girls while pretending to be in a wheelchair:
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Next on the list for today is this couple’s YouTube channel. These guys are Jesse and Jeana and they really are one hell of a couple. Their channel is practically created for one purpose – uploading their pranks footage. And trust me – they have a lot of it! It’s crazy how they manage to come up with all these ideas of nasty jokes which they constantly organize for each other. But I didn’t find the pranks the most amazing part of their videos. It’s the way they spice up their relationship. Obviously, both of them are extremely cool and can handle the jokes and never get too upset. You could almost feel how Jesse and Jeana love each other even though they shoot their partner with paintball guns or feed each other with wasabi sandwiches. They seem to have a great relationship and I believe their YouTube channel helps them get even closer.
I love this couple! They are so cute and funny, but not always between themselves!
Here’s an exemplary prank by Jesse:
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Last week I told you that I like to use StumbleUpon for when I am feeling like discovering something funny and unusual on the Internet. And just a couple of days ago I found this. And this is a Facebook styled feed of History of the World: WWII. It’s so historically precise and extremely witty. When I linked it to my brother, he just said that it could actually help to a lot of people who are still in school and try to prepare for a WWII exams or whatever.
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I know that speaking of world wars might not be pleasant or funny to anybody, but the next and final piece of this week’s “Hey, Check Out What I Found On The Internet” is not meant to be entertaining at all. Not everything that I link here would be so. I think I’ve already warned you about this. Anyway, recently I’ve been looking for a lot of news and info about Iran, Syria and the current possibility of another military conflict in the Middle East. I am not wishing for it, I am just carefully examining what I already know.
Yesterday, while tweeting and generally messing around, I clicked on a link and before I knew it a YouTube clip started playing. I wasn’t in the mood to find anything political and I wasn’t expecting to stumble upon such useful video. I don’t want to speculate or make any comments on the material you are about to see. It is THAT good. It doesn’t need anything else.
Just watch it.
Pete Noge
28.9.2012
A Life Changing Decision
Life puts us constantly on crossroads and forces us to make the hardest decisions when we are least expecting. It isn’t fair, but nobody said it would be. Fortunately for us we do have help in making those decisions and usually it comes from little things which appear almost insignificant at first glance. They wouldn’t mean anything to anybody else. To us though they mean the world.
I have been living around since my eighteenth birthday. I left my homeland for Italy and since then my life has been relentlessly pushing me forward harder and harder. Now, after almost a year in Germany I am put to the test one more time and again I am feeling unprepared to confront the reality of my choice. Ever since I left Italy and the Academy of Art in Venice, my plans for the future were going to Germany, living on my own, working as hard as I can for a certain amount of time, and finally, continuing my education in a German university. So far so good. I did move to Germany, I did start living on my own and I did work my back off. Life’s plan for me seemed to totally match with mine up till the moment when I thought I had to get back to school.
When I was a little boy, I loved TV. Back in the days nothing was dubbed so that meant that I had to watch a lot of cartoons and movies in English, German, French or whatever the original language happened to be. That was great for me because watching Cartoon Network proved to be way more useful than it appeared. In that moment my love for foreign languages grew. English has always been there first. It had and still has a very special place in my heart. Probably that’s the main reason this blog is in that language. After moving in Italy I discovered that my heart was a bit more spacious than I thought so Italian was squeezed in there as well. Everything seemed so perfect together.
English – that’s Shakespeare, that’s Coleridge, that’s Orwell. It is the language of exceptional beauty and infinite reason. It is melodic, it is logical, it is magnificent. I love it more than my own mother tongue.
Italian – that’s Dante, that’s Leopardi, that’s Pirandello. Emotions and feelings could not be expressed better in any other language. Italian is joyous, tranquilizing, memorable unlike anything else.
And here comes my problem. My hands are full of riches beyond measure, my heart is singing but my head is clouded by thoughts of trouble and fear. My mind dictates to me that going into a university and getting a degree would secure a better future for me. But why would I want to leave what I have and begin studying in German? Why would I want to dump a huge chunk of my soul behind so that my body could survive a bit longer?
I live in Germany, I’ve worked and will continue to work here, I have friends as well, but all of that doesn’t matter because I will never begin to like German. I’ve tried to change my mind about it so many times but nothing would work. My family is wondering and constantly asking me what it is my problem with it. I can’t give them a logical answer. I simply cannot see myself write a single page in this too complicated, disgusting, miserable, hateful, technical and boring language which was meant to be used only in instruction manuals and in banking.
Tonight, I’ve made my decision. And I want to thank Jonathan and Charlotte for giving me the inspiration that I needed. This clip was that little thing I was talking about at the beginning of this post. It would probably mean nothing to others, but to me it meant a lot.
Thank you guys for letting me appreciate the beauty of English and Italian one more time! Thank you for your amazing and breathtaking performance!
Pete Noge
25.9.2012
The List
I wasn’t planning on posting this but I am doing it anyway. You know me guys, I can come up with some pretty surprising shit all the time. After this post my blog would officially become too chaotic to handle. But I do feel like I should write this down.
You know how every girl fantasizes about her ideal and perfect man, her Prince Charming? How should he look like, what should he have and what not? I know it sounds pretty stupid and immature that I should be writing about my ideal chick right now, but since I am the kind of person who usually cares about the little things, I decided that it should be useful for me to just put every detail I fantasized about my type of girl. Some might suggest doing such a list doesn’t make any sense because if I am dating this chick I would know all about her and the date itself wouldn’t be interesting for me. Well, that’s where you’d be wrong. Because if I know that that would be the girl that meets my standards I would seriously do my best not to screw things up. And even then I would probably still do it. It’s just me.
Anyway, some things I mention on this list would be accompanied by an explanation or a short comment, others just purely and simply wouldn’t need anything else. Wow, I am pretty excited right now, I started typing faster than normal. Ha-ha, this might be fun!
Let’s do it!
1. Blond hair – if she’s not naturally blond, some haircut and haircolor changes might be fun from time to time just to keep things on the edge.
2. Short haircut – only if her head and neck allow it.
3. White skin – not the whitest but preferably a bit paler than mine. (Not trying to be a racist here.)
4. Eye color – I am not sure about this. Some people say it’s the first thing they notice about a new person they meet but that’s not my case. I am letting chance decide on this one.
5. Eye lids – please make them naturally long!
6. Body – I’ve always been a skinny guy. Not a particularly tall either. So something like my size would be perfect.
7. Legs – longer legs than mine. Of course.
8. Nails – PLEASE, don’t bite or eat your nails! I hate that! Actually, finger nails are the first thing I notice in a girl. I love those fake nails by the way. If the chick has nice natural ones, it would be even better! But keep them in check! It’s so sexy when they are clean and shiny.
9. Smile – every girl has a nice smile. Well, not all of them. Most of them. My ideal chick would definitely have a charming smile but her smile would be more specific like there is something more to it, but you’d have to know her first to entirely appreciate it.
10. Posture – keep it straight. Walk like a queen. Not too confident or arrogant though. Everyone can sense the royal up-tightness from a mile. And everyone runs away from that. It usually means trouble.
11. Intimate parts – always shaved. It’s a must and I will take no excuses. If you put an amount of creativity into it, I would appreciate it even more.
Number 11 was actually meant to be included into the self care and hygiene section, but since it’s a big deal to me I decided that it would be nice to be up there on the list.
So, once the physical stuff is out of the way let’s get things a little bit more spicy. It’s time to talk about the character and the little things that make everything so much fun.
12. Wit, Intelligence, Ingenuity – yes, I know they are all synonyms but hang on for a second while I explain myself. And the explanation is I DON’T want stupid people around me. Simple as that. I cannot handle ignorance!
13. Humor – that goes hand in hand with wit, naturally. I have a very particular sense of humor which some people seem not to be able to get it. It’s their problem. So a girl who is able to understand even the slightest bit of irony and sarcasm here and there would be the perfect match for me.
14. Musicality – I can’t sing so if the girl I am dedicating this post to can, it would be awesome. But not all the time. I would get an iPod if I wanted music all the time.
15. Dancing – it goes hand in hand with number 14. My dancing skills are pathetic but they are part of my charm. A girl who dances well is always a treat. It helps them control their bodies with such a grace and skill. I adore that.
16. Foreign languages – it would be perfect if she happens to speak at least three foreign languages. And let’s make them different than mine. If I decide to travel with her, we would be able to visit more countries without relying on other people for the translations. And I hate competing with someone who knows a language better than myself. Except German. You can learn and talk that thing as long as you like, babe, just not when I am with you and especially, not in bed.
17. Geek – yes, I want my girl to be a total nerd in some area. Be it a game, be it some random science projects, be it art in some form, be it a YouTube channel. I don’t care. Just let her know something in details. Let her be an expert in something than I am not. It would be great for the relationship. And I might learn something useful from her. That would make her happy as well. A win-win situation.
18. Bookworm – that as well as the foreign languages is a must. She must have read a fair amount of books in her life. We can skip the Twilight and the Fifty Shades of Grey pathetic piles of infinite misery though. And again I don’t want her to have read something that I did. I would be glad to show her my books and be allowed to see hers. I would definitely learn something from that.
19. Extreme care of herself- hygiene, shaving, nails, toe nails, hair, eye brows – all that is necessary to look good at all times. The women stuff. I don’t know much about it anyway. But she’d better do. I just love a woman who knows to take care of herself and genuinely look sexy.
20. No ManEater shit – I’ve dealt with this before. Don’t like it, never will.
21. Being able to hang out with dudes – you can’t stop your chick from meeting with her girlfriends. It has to happen from time to time. But if you’re having a party with some of your best mates, she’d better act straight. It’s always cool when your friends approve of your girlfriend. It’s a good feeling. Of course, I would try to do that with her friends as well. Never had a problem with that though.
22. Passion for traveling – it’s quite obvious but decided to put it on the list anyway.
23. Passion for art – in case her geek self doesn’t involve anything of the sort. I would love if it is painting. That way I could go to galleries and stare at other people’s work with someone else.
24. Is the sport type and can swim well – it’s a must!!! Because I can’t… It’s good to know that you have someone that could pull you out of the water if needed. It’s a long story that I might write about it some other time.
25. Drinks but knows her limits – no comment here.
26. Likes all kinds of music.
27. Doesn’t judge people.
28. Laughs with the innocence of a child.
29. Piercings and tattoos – are OK, only in case they look good on her.
30. Rides bikes and has driving licence – it’s not what you’re thinking. I don’t need a driver for the moments when I am wasted. I would never embarrass my girl like that. The driving licence is when we travel by car so we could switch when I feel sleepy. And the bicycle for when the sun is out and we want to go to the park for a picnic. Yeah, it’s cheesy but I like it. And yes, I’ve met girls who can’t ride bikes. They actually exist.
31. Courage and fears – everybody knows their fears and everybody should try fight them back. The girl I am describing would definitely know hers but would face them courageously once in a while just to make her feel more alive.
32. Doesn’t wear glasses or lenses – I do and it sucks. I hope she doesn’t.
33. Has an amazing taste in clothing – yes, I’ve dated girls who can dress well and others who don’t. It makes a huge difference. And money isn’t always a decisive factor in this. So leave it out of this.
34. Appreciates silence.
35. Isn’t allergic to anything – I am afraid I would forget and make her eat something I am not supposed to. It would be a total disaster.
36. Isn’t religious – this probably has to go way up but I thought it would be clear. Spirituality in some way would be nice but it’s not necessary. Just make her curious about stuff on a different level. It would be good to have someone to discuss my shit with.
37. Pedantic about household, clothes, furniture, etc. I am extremely pedantic about cleanness and order in my house. I would be pissed if I happen to have a messy person around me.
38. Plays chess extremely well – a chick playing chess well really is something, isn’t it? I adore this game and I’ve been playing with my brother for most of the times, but having a different opponent once in a while would be quite nice.
I am done for today. I will definitely add more stuff once something pops into my mind.
There might be some who would blame me for being such a child, but I won’t be offended in any way. I just felt like doing a post like this and I did it. And I think this was a useful exercise. I had many of these ideas wandering the dark corners of my mind for so long. Now since that space is free I could get something new in there.
If you got inspired to do the same, I urge you to get a pen and a piece of paper and get everything written down. The effect once you see how many things you’d like for your ideal partner to have, could seem a little embarrassing at first, but then you will realize that you deserve to be with the exact same person. If you do meet that person, great! If you don’t, don’t cry. Life goes on, just learn to make some compromises, but make sure that it won’t be with any of the points on the list you care most about. Then you might have a problem.
Pete Noge
24.9.2012
Hey, Check Out What I’ve Found On The Internet! #1
Leave Facebook, Twitter and your emails for a second! There is so much more on the Internet! Let’s find it!
I genuinely like discovering all kinds of new and interesting things in books, magazines, conversations and especially, on the Internet. Once I start digging, nothing can stop me. Problem is when I happen to find something exciting and valuable, I don’t usually share it with anyone and that is about to be changed.
From now on I will be posting at least once a week a special article about something that I’ve dug up from the Internet. Links to funny websites, YouTube videos, intriguing scientific articles – yeah, it’s all going to be in there. Everything that I find worth while, will make an appearance on the blog.
Generally speaking, StumbleUpon is my most trustworthy tool while trying to make an interesting discovery online. But other than that I use Google, YouTube and Twitter. I adore when I begin my journey at some well known to me point and eventually, end up on a completely different side.
A couple of weeks ago, for example, I found Andrew Zimmern‘s “Bizarre Foods” series on YouTube and it was a love from first sight for me! That Andrew guy is witty, funny and infinitely enjoying himself while in front of the camera. “Bizarre Foods” sends him around the globe where he visits different countries, meets different people and tries their cuisine. I agree with him when he says that the best way to experience one’s culture is to try the food and all the traditions and rituals along with it. It is one of the easiest methods to break the ice and become friends with your hosts. Visiting a foreign country is always a great adventure for me so Andrew and “Bizarre Foods” are an immense inspiration and source for ideas about future travels.
Today, I watched Andrew visit Mongolia. Other than the movie “Mongol” and some history lessons about Genghis Khan I didn’t know much about this particular country. But “Bizarre Foods” showed me how wrong I was and how much more it actually had to offer to the tourist. Mongolia has definitely jumped on my list for countries to visit in the future. I was amazed by how little those people possess and yet, they manage to have such rich lives while connected with nature. While combining traditions from hundreds of years ago with modern technology like solar panels Mongolians still reside in some of the most desolate places in their country like their ancestors did in the past. Their capital is not as big or advanced as Moscow or Beijing but an interesting place to be nonetheless. And other than the food Andrew Zimmern was trying I managed to get a glimpse at some cute Mongolian chicks as well – quite underrated if I might add.
Here is Mongolia’s episode of Andrew Zimmern’s “Bizarre Foods” :
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We’ll remain on YouTube for now because I want to talk about another interesting series that I’ve recently discovered there. It’s called “Inside Nature’s Giants” and it is not for the faint-hearted. It’s literally about opening up some huge animals and uncovering facts about their organs, bone structures and how they’ve evolved. I had never been passionate about biology while in school because back then I’d had other interests and stuff to do. I had rarely failed a biology test but I never tried to look for anything else once I was done with my homework. Things changed once I discovered “Inside Nature’s Giants” alongside Richard Dawkin’s books on evolution. I finally realized how beautiful, vast, mysterious and genius Nature could be. And speaking of Prof. Dawkins he does appear on “Inside Nature’s Giants” while the dissections are going on. His way of explaining things and sheer passion about science make everything appear so reachable even for people who never had the opportunity to study even the most basic biology.
Definitely check out “Inside Nature’s Giants” – you won’t be disappointed. I will link a single episode but once in YouTube you could easily find the rest. And just to give a few examples of the animals you will see the insides of in this series – a hippo, an elephant, a giraffe, a lion, a python, a crocodile and many more.
A piece of advice - don’t eat while watching. The effect is not good. Trust me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQP5hiO3C4A
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I am sure that’s a lot of material already, but I still have one more discovery to share with you. And it is this artist’s incredible decision to experiment with his art and his body. Bryan Lewis Saunders has created a stunning composition of self-portraits. The interesting part of it is that each portrait had been the result of the effects of a different drug known to man. Some might say Saunders is crazy for doing something like this, but I think he knows that already. He deserves respect nonetheless for putting himself through all of this. Be sure that a part of that experiment might have been pleasant but most probably wasn’t. Take a look at his self-portraits and you will get an idea. Here’s the link.
So that’s it for today. If you have an interesting link, article or video to share, do so in the comments section.
Please use Facebook! I am trying to avoid spam around here! Thank you!
Pete Noge
22.9.2012
How to Create a Blog and Its Theme
A lot of you guys have been asking me lately in the comments section about my blog and its theme. I decided that a specific post dedicated to clearing the matter for you would be more appropriate than responding to each of you.
First of all, when I created this site I was at a very particular stage in my writing career. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do exactly with the blog or more precisely which direction to follow, but I created it nonetheless ’cause I was feeling the urge to write and express myself. For those of you who have been following my progress since the beginning, I am sure you know that petesfilth.com had suffered quite a few changes along the way.
Before going further into the layout or theme section of this post I would like to take a step back and explain the establishment of the site. Recently, many of my readers have been requesting information on how to create a website and which host services to use. And for those people all I have to say is: “Google, my friend, Google!” One would be amazed by how many tutorials and articles could be found on the Internet about websites and blogs. For my part I happened to stumble upon a nice series of videos in YouTube where people were suggesting paths to follow once one had decided to build a blog. There I learnt about the famous combo – GoDaddy/HostGator/WordPress. All of these are names of sites which are among the top service providers for bloggers. And yes, GoDaddy and HostGator are paid services. But despair not, cheap bastards out there, ’cause there is a way for you to create a blog entirely without paying a cent. Just go to Blogger, WordPress or Weebly, get registered and start working on your blog. Trouble is, if you don’t want to have yourblog.blogger.com or yourblog.weebly.com as a name of your blog, you have to go down the road which I took a few months ago. And on that road you will have to open your wallet.
And so I went to GoDaddy.com and purchased the domain name of the blog. All you have to do is check if the domain name you’d wish to use is available and if it is, you are ready to go. That’s it pretty much. GoDaddy provide near perfect service and are always responsive when help is needed. After I got the domain name, I rushed towards HostGator.com, another highly recommended site among bloggers and website freaks. There I got the middle plan, which allows me to have several websites and blogs uploaded on the rented space. And again I must confess that HostGator truly deserve their reputation. My site had never had crashes, had always been up as far as I know, and always loading at decent speed. In a few words I received all that I was promised.
After completing the payment at HostGator, an email with my profile information was immediately sent to me. There was a link to the Control Panel which is where you can operate your site. Since I didn’t have anything uploaded on petesfilth, I needed a software to help me manage the blog I wished. And here comes the final piece of the combo – WordPress. It is a software package which is available for free once you access your Control Panel. You simply install it and only then you can try entering your new blog. If you try that before installing WordPress, you will see a message from GoDaddy.com communicating that your domain has been parked and inactive. Once you have WordPress, that message will disappear.
WordPress is a great program to manage a blog. It comes with tons of extras and a couple of basic themes as well. You could find tons of free themes out there as well, but the problem is they are all simple looking and a lot of people might use them without making even the slightest change. I was aware of this fact so I tried to stick with a WordPress theme for as little as possible. The simple truth is that if you want something nice, clean and appealing, you will have to pay. There are tons of sites providing design services exactly for this purpose. A designer will contact you and ask you a few questions about what you want exactly for your blog, and eventually start writing the code for your theme. I didn’t want to pay for themes, though. So I looked for another way.
Artisteer 3.0 is the program which helped me create the current theme of my blog. I saw a promotional video in YouTube and I immediately knew that was the tool I needed. The problem I had at the time was, as I was using Linux Ubuntu 12.04, I wasn’t able to install Artisteer on my PC. I loved using Ubuntu and didn’t want to go back to Windows but a sacrifice had to be made and I did it. With Windows on I installed the program and began working.
Artisteer is great for many reasons but one of the main is that it allows you to work on themes without any knowledge in coding. It simply gives you the tools to arrange, to change shapes, fonts and colors, to create interesting effects, and all is possible without writing a single code.
I wanted a clean simple design with a picture of myself and the text flowing without stop. Nothing complicated. Nothing out of the ordinary. Currently, I am thinking about making a new theme but for now I am fairly satisfied with what I’ve got.
Finally, I would like to add that today I changed my policy towards comments. I am happy to receive a lot of them every day but lately the spam has been increasing rapidly so from today on, if you want to post a comment, you will have to do it through Facebook. I decided that since nearly everybody has a profile, it won’t be a problem to use it to post here as well.
That’s it for now. I hope the info would be useful to you! Good luck with your site!
Pete Noge
21.9.2012
I'm Pete! I bid you welcome to my blog!
I do not possess a head, but a hive with a million ideas buzzing in and out of it all the time. Pete's filth helps me store the honey and release the steam. I didn't have a clear path or goal when I created the site, I just preferred sticking to the 'random and fun' concept.
I write about my travels, people I meet, books and movies I review, social and political problems I consider important, and so much more.
Enjoy!
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