One year of volunteering

I have not been the most active volunteer ever, but it's been a whole year of cats and dogs stories. I decided to do this mostly because I love animals and I wanted to stop complaining about the problems Romania has and start doing something. Though it's not a "strict day to day job" its impact may be greater.

It may seem difficult to work with animals, because you have to learn want their needs are, but as long as you give them space, it will work out right. Animals express themselves easily and know how to make you see though their eyes as long as you are willing. They might be unpredictable sometimes, I almost got bitten a couple of times due to faulty communication, but the answer is to never panic and act as natural as possible. It surely helps you control your feelings better. This hobby becomes serious when you realize that you actually handle lives and just like a doctor you can never make a mistake during surgery.

It's been a great experience. I fostered a couple of cats, I saved an abandoned dog, I attended animal adoption fairs, I learned more about the medical needs of animals, even learned how to vaccinate dogs, I know what an animal shelter looks like and how difficult it is to feed and clean after 100 dogs, I know more about the Romanian policies towards abandoned animals and that the authorities ignore the problem completely, I definitely learned more about the non existing limits of human cruelty towards other beings.  All these with the help of a group of volunteers (mostly girls) who also turned a hobby into a life saving marathon.

I would like to do more this year when it comes to volunteering. It's not so popular in Romania, but I hope that volunteering will attract more people in time. Volunteering for anything helps and raises your self esteem. It adds a great value to you as a person and helps you learn more not just about different things you didn't learn in school, but also about yourself.

A new year

I spent my last day of 2010 just as I spent the rest of the year...alone...with my cats. I got dressed and ready to go out. I stayed in line at a club with my best friend, and all of a sudden I realized that I did not wanted to be there. The person standing next to me has been out of my life for half of this year for good reasons, and I realized that her return was a bad idea ... I admit my bad habit of returning behind well sealed doors. 2010 has definitely been a year of solitude for me and I feel that I closed up a lot, even if tests would prove me wrong, because I opened myself towards something different.

One of my resolutions for this year is to regain my trust in people, but now I'm not sure I'd like to do that anymore. I have a feeling that is going to be a hell of a year ... I am really confident and positive, and I definitely want to make the best of it and not myself get lost.

Last X-mas I punched your face

Three girls decided to spend their Christmas night out in a club. One of them has been out of the picture for a few months, so Christmas was also the perfect timing for a reunion. These girls decided to go into a club...one that they've been into before and knew it was ok. Major failure...it was full of pigs that night, probably the ones that escaped the traditional Christmas slaughter. It was the first time in my life when we had to call the club's bodyguard because a guy told us that "you either dance with me or I beat you because I'm drunk"....nice pick up line, what can I say. The event was followed by a wave of unbelievably rude remarks that made other desperate guys follow their pig king. What amazed me was that one of them asked as for an explanation on "three girls decide to go out alone for a girl's night out....and you want me to believe it?". We finally left, of course, and I will definitely not step in that club ever again in my life. For the record I'm talking about El Grande Comandante...the newest attraction for the jerks in Bucharest.

One of the points on my resolution list was to regain my trust in people...but if the tyre of unfortunate events keeps rolling...I'll have to stick to who I know. When these things happen I either imagine a nuclear bomb dropped in the middle of this country, or some sort of a Hitler enslaving (just enslave...based on the level of self respect) probably half of this country's characters.