molif | en

Time for some doodles… and that is what came out:

Just to mark the merry mood I am into – today is our 5+1 wedding anniversary with Michel.

Edit: Oh, just got the best surprise ever from our good friend Nixo:

…and he is one of the few people that I will gladly call my friends. Not just some people that I know, but friends indeed. Enrico likes to sing and he do this with passion an pleasure. It was not easy to convince him to let me publish some songs here, because he was worried they are not perfect. It was his first record in studio (friend’s favor) and he was a bit embarrassed to admit that he couldn’t hear well the sound in his headphones.

You may not like his singing, or to feel your fine hearing a bit scratched by his Italian accent. Surely, not everyone will be able to listen this with his heart the way I do. But I really thought that it’s worth to share some of the songs he recorded.

He is just a man, who lives in Italy. His life is not the one he could probably have if faith has not decided to give him a wheelchair. But make not mistake, Enrico is everything but a disabled one. The true handicapped people are the ones that walk around with souls, robbed of tolerance and empathy and minds, damaged by vanity and greed or full with self-pity. Luckily, he is not one of them.

Enrico is a sunny, bright person. A guy which I have the rare privilege to know. His existence is enough a reason to me during the last years to keep me believe that true people are still not extinct on Earth. He reminds me that there is still a lot to be grateful for in this life and that we should value more what we’ve got.

(Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here):

[Flash player with embedded audio of Enrico Trevisan.]

(Just The Way You Are – Billi Joel):

[Flash player with embedded audio of Enrico Trevisan.]

Once he was the reason for me to make my first big travel abroad alone. I’ve met some old and new friends on the road and I found many important things about myself to be true. I could go and do this again and again, because for one real friend everything is worthwhile – even to cross the world.

Here is a video he made in 2007 as a Christmas greeting to all his friends.

What can you make with some ribbons and the tape of some nice frnech champagne bottle?
Brooch, for example.

To remind me of the first real champagne that once celebrated our first year together with Michel.

At least I hope so.
My heart is heavy from thought about people I love and care for. But we cannot find a way to each other.
That’s why I am probably talking with them constantly in my mind.
Who’s right? And who’s wrong?

It doesn’t matters at all…

Meet the letter-eaters:

Love them and don’t shoot, please. When they become grown-ups, some of them will be good editors.

Just wanted to share some photos from a walk outside Sofia – we went to Svoge, away from the prose.
Unseen and strange spiders with human faces, huge and trusting dragonflies, tender poppies, imitating predatory plant – almost like fiction, but it’s true. You only needs eyes to see…

The photos are made by Michel, because the camera is always with him – my part (as usual) is to ask “Shoot this for me, please, no, no this way, otherwise, if you can”… One day I’ll have my own camera!

Finally!!! Will survive the postponed gig of Depeche Mode, most important now is Dave Gahan to get well. But will look forward for Mike Patton & Co to compensate me!

If somebody still doesn’t know, here is the news.

(and I love the city of Bourgas so much that I even think of moving there one day)

Have another one, I’ve got excited:

Who cares a lot? We care a lot!

Four years ago Michel happened to be sick like recently.
Actually, it was more serious then. Few times during the year he fell for more than a week with 40 degrees C temperature.
And nothing could help him, so finally we called for some alternative.
On the stage appeared this sumo hare, dedicated to scare the flu virus and to help Michel get well soon.

First times it was a success. That made him an honored member of the little hand-made society on my shelf.
Then it seemed like the flu got resistant to hare power, so we’ve changed the tactics and decided to visualize our dream little house.
Made with all our love and wish for good health and many more miles together on our bikes, here it is:

My man got well finally, just in time for his own wedding. Then… then we made thousands of miles together and it is very possible that we won’t stop.
The house? It still illuminates our evenings.

I just left my job as an editor-in-chief of the Bulgarian .net magazine (it’s a localized version under the license of the .net magazine, UK). And because I don’t want this text to misinterpreted in any way, let me say that Future Publishing are not involved in this story and all that happened is between me and my Bulgarian publisher.

I started this job (which was a big challenge for me) with eagerness and passion and I know I did my best.

The first issue was a crazy story; it was done in less than four weeks and with the possible minimum of resources. But it was accepted very well by its audience of Bulgarian designers & developers, and so started for me the period of ten months of sleepless nights.

Eleven issues. 5 of them made without the proper help of an assistant-editor and the first three made even without the help of a proof-reader. I constantly worked online with the print designer, who was a freelancer; we also had to work together personally many nights, just before going to print. For months I answered to all e-mails, sent to us by our readers, I took interviews and I was constantly searching (online and offline) for contributors for the magazine. And if you think that “editor-in-chief” is just some kind of a good business card decoration — it is not.

I will always remember many fun situations, like the one when in a frenzy just before going to print we realized that there’s an illustration we don’t have the right to use. Then I made a quick sketch and it went to print. The good side was that nobody complained about this particular illustration.

Every issue was a product of hard work, and I am very well aware that they are not perfect, but at least they were made with love. Lots of love!

It’s a long and painful story for me to tell, and I will spare you most of the details. The main reason for my sudden leaving could be generalized with these terms (usually associated with divorcing couples): “insurmountable differences of personalities”. In this case — differences between the editor-in-chief and the publisher.

Hundreds of times I tried to sit down and to write about it, but I just couldn’t find the right words.

There were many things that could probably turn out better, but they didn’t. I know it’s partly because of my naiveté.

Like I said once, if you do a job with all of your heart, you take the risk to have it broken, but anyhow, it’s the only way I know how to live and work.

When I give my word that I will do something, I am much too devoted to the achieving of the best possible results.
It’s fair to be said that I always keep my word.
The worst sin of mine is probably that I am over-credulous.

I gave a credit of trust to a person who showed me from the very beginning that it can’t be trusted.

What were the chances that one day it will let me down? Huuuge.

And when it happened, I couldn’t even believe it.

So, I am writing this as a warning to other people like me:

Please, don’t make the same mistake.

Don’t focus all your life on work, no matter how attractive it is and how much it seems to give you satisfaction.

Indeed, working as an editor for .net Bulgaria was in many ways a wonderful job.

It was high lath and I jumped it.

The amount of effort I have invested was not remunerated accordingly, but I took this job because I liked the magazine very much and so I worked hard 28 days every month for it to happen.
I had to read and re-read the magazine at least three times on screen before going to print, and this means reading and editing over 300 thousand characters, and it was more than enough strain for my eyes and for my back (which now troubles me seriously).
Despite this, everything concerning .net also gave me the very satisfying feeling that I can do bigger things than I have previously thought I am able to, and so I still feel it as a big personal success.

But as an employee, I failed. I admit that I failed mainly to defend my rights, relying very foolishly on false promises and beautiful words.

I wish a wonderful future to .net Bulgaria, because there is no parent who would wish ill to his child. But I also remind myself to be very, very careful next time, when I give my trust to someone.
Even if for a good cause.

The moral of this story is that you cannot be misused, unless you let yourself be.

A door is closed, but many others are waiting to be opened, and I am happy that I can step up on a new path in my life.

P.S. This job gave me the opportunity to meet and work with unique people.
I want to say thanks especially to Dan Oliver — my English counterpart, and to all of the people who helped .net Bulgaria without receiving anything in return.
Don’t want to mention all of you name by name, for I am afraid I can miss somebody.
I am most happy to know all of you and I will be always grateful for the chance to work with you.
I owe many of you more than one beer.
(Without forgetting my dear husband, who supported me all the time, even when part of the price for this was neglecting our personal life).

Not, it’s not about me.
I am rebelling all the time for this and that, but today I just wanted to present you one guy, who stumbled me in my daily work for .net – Grzegorz Kozakiewicz, or just – pencilrebel.

He is very crazy. And awfully inventive. Skillful.
And for his imagination one could say nothing more than what his site is revealing – see by yourself.

Tha man has also a blog, very naturally. You can see there how he made this whole amazing site.

I am very fond of this particular and rare kind of people – for which there are no imagination limits in the work they love to do.