Surviving my birthday

A few days back I had my birthday. On the exact day of the anniversary of my birth we had a party. An actual cake and and jello and sweets and party-hats party. I had such a party once before when I was six. but this time the celebration was different. We were celebrating life in general, there was joy and love and companionship. It was a special birthday.
Less than a year ago I met my mother. I believe that whatever doesn't suit you in life, you have the divine right to change it, replace it, burn it even. I have changed religion, countries, political parties. I also experimented with my hair-color but decided that my natural color IS a keeper (at least for now!). We have the obligation to form our life to suit us, to be the optimum environment for a happy life, even if sometimes the change comes through pain cuz the old has to make way for the new. So, I have known for a while that my birth mother is not my real mother. She never was. Its not a matter of whether she is a good mother or not, I am too biased to say. But I never looked to replace her, it was not a priority. I though that people can live without mothers. But it turns out having one is a very good idea! Biology knows her stuff, she knows and now I do too, that for the healthy development of a person you have to have a mother. I guess I don't have to explain how mothers are wonderful, most of you probably already know and that is why everybody makes such a big deal out of mother's day. And anyway I am just figuring thing it out now. How to have a mother, how to be a daughter... Its not simple but it's joyous. So my mother, who just got herself a new shiny daughter, wanted to celebrate her. To feel how a girly bday party is. And my mom is wonderful at that, making her wishes true. So there I was, 28yo wearing a birthday hat, blowing out 28 candles, listening to a fairy-tale dedicated to me with a few other adult-children, clowns and fairies! can u imagine? I was there and I can't believe it. 
There are so much more I can say about the day. How it was important to me because I also turned in my thesis, how I love my life cuz my husband is my life, my shiny candle in times of darkness. I can and should mention how the fairies and the clowns are amazing και ανεπαναληπτοι, and they too survived my birthday AND the fairy-tale. Of course it goes without say that my mom baked all the sweets and they were dreamy. But I wont go into that. Because birthday is all about the mother, the daughter and life.

XOXOXO
The fairy-daughter

Survivor!

Surviving is one of our intuitive skills. Finding the way out of a forest, running as fast as we can from a hungry beast (aka boss) is embedded deep in our innermost thoughts. It's actually neither a skill or a talent. Its what we are built to do: survive and create offsprings, Genetic copies of us.Trust me I am a biologist, I know.

And in just three lines I have summarized my life for the past months. I have been surviving, trying to become a biologist and learning how to be an off spring. But all that has ended now. It actually ended on May, 14 (which coincidentally is my birthday, if you believe in such a trivial concept as coincidence).

Now I am in one piece, have learned from experience (is there any other way to learn???) and ready to share (cuz if you dont share it, it doesn't count.)

Therefore, I am back and preparing  a couple of surviving workshops/posts, full with tools tips and such.

So good morning new day, good morning new year..... I don't know what challenges you have prepared for me but I am here waiting to make the best out of them

Keep smiling hangers

Yours trully

The sunbathed Interruptor  

A Name Story

It is one of the main Human forms of communication. We use it to give meaning, define or just pin-point something. Everyone and everything has a name, sometimes more than one. In the circles we enter we can re-invent ourselves by choosing to present themselves with the name we choose. You can have a fb name, a blogger name, your friends call you Mary and your grandma still knows you as Maroula!!!

But what is a name and what does it really mean? The Arabs have names longer than trains (4-5 names), the Spanish try to compete (3-4) and other counties give their own meanings. 

Even if you dont have a tongue twister as a name, your name can still say where you are from. 

Brian Adams---> England

Mixalis HadjiYiannis-----> Cyprus

........... ........akis ------> Crete

etc..
We all have the right to reinvent and make sense of who we are an what we are doing here. That being said, I have to admit that I like my name, Rana. It has always been adequate in describing me and it still is. But out of respect to the blogger world I decided to get myself a screen name... I have noticed that it is an impo factor to the whole page consistency thing so i am taking a leap of faith.
So.... I got to thinking.. What would be my blogger Id? the stronger of all intuitions was a question: WHAT IS YOUR dinosaur NAME? ie if I was a dinosaur what would I be known as? one of my worst quality is that i tend to interrupt ppl while they talk. you see, I am too empathetic for my own good. I really get into the speakers shoes and i know what they want to say! (at least st that is true! the rest its just rude! ) So I am............. The Interruptor
Nice ha! This way, i can have a reminder of what I would like to change in me AND have a cool blog name :) Plus, being a practical Taurus, I know what will i do when I get over my interrupting phase.... I will be: Interruptor X     

T o conclude I would like to quote some of my favorite literature lines, coming from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare:   

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.

Ευ αερίζεσθεν

 Λίγες μέρες πριν την κακήν-κακώς φυγή του 2011 και κάποιους μήνες μετά το Μαρί, ήρθε η ανακοίνωση οτι ΣΤΗΝ ΚΥΠΡΟ ΥΠΑΡΧΕΙ ΑΕΡΙΟ. Όπως μας πληροφορούν πρέπει να κανούμε κολοτούμπες, απανωτά πάρτυ, να ανοίξουμε 5 σαμπανιες (απο τις καλές, δεν θέλω τσιγγουνίες τώρα που βρήκαμε το αέριο) και να περιμενουμε, διότι το χρήμα οπου να 'ναι θα αρχίσει να ρέει.
Γιατι εμένα όμως δεν με καθησυχάζει το γεγονός ότι καθόμαστε κυριολεκτικά πάνω σε 600 000 000 000 ευρώ? Τον υπολογισμό αυτό έδωσε ενας καθηγητής οικονομίας στις ειδήσεις την ίδια μέρa, για τυχόν αυξομειώσεις του αριθμού δεν φέρω καμια ευθύνη, εξάλλου είναι επαγγελματίες στο να κάνουνε το τοσο, τοοοοοοοοοοοοοσο, εκεί που συμφέρει.
 Έτσι, ένεκα και των εορτών θέλω και γω να κάνω μια ευχή-συμβουλή: Ευ αερίζεσθεν! Μην ζορίζεστε, μην συγκρατάτε τα .... αισθήματα σας, .... εκφραστείτε ελεύθερα, καθώς μπορεί και να είναι ο μόνος τρόπος που θα επωφεληθει ο κυπριος πολίτης από το αέριο!(το κ με μικρο και όχι κεφαλαιο, διότι με κεφαλαίο είναι το κεφάλαιο!)
Εξάλλου υπάρχουν άμεσα μειονεκτήματα της εσωτερίκευσης:

Χμμμμ... λαλείς ναν τουτο που φταιεί για της επιλογές που μας έφεραν ως εδώ; για το Μαρί, την κρίση και κατι αλλα που θα φανούν σιγά-σιγά; γιατί ουδέν κρυπτόν υπό τον ήλιο (ή υπό τον Κρόνο, εξαρτάται με ποιόν μιλας!)

Εεε γι αυτό αεριστήτε πέρκει σωθούμε, τζαι εσύ (ναι, εν για σενα τον αισιοδοξο που λαλω) εσυ μεν περιμένεις τα ριάλια... μεν καμνεις κωλοτούμπες διότι εν να τσακιστείς τζαι μεν πινείς διότι εν να γίνεις αλκοολικός. Αερίστου, συνέχισε να αναζητάς τρόπους να περνάς καλά με αυτούς που αγαπάς και να εξελίσεσαι

Καλή Χρονιά σε όλους 

Peace 

out

Dear Baba-Mouneh

Dear Baba-Mouneh*,
How are you this year? I know this is a busy time of the year for you. I am so happy we have this good relationship. I ask, you provide, you enjoy seeing my joy, I enjoy thanking you..... Every year I make a list with eth I would like to have and then they magically appear in my life. I do understand that there is nothing magic about the power of love and will, but it is more cute to put this into the magic realm of the season than the regular, everyday reality.
My list this year consists of little wishes, little stars that i would like to cast upon the heads of the ones I love to take care of them, care for them in times of trouble, provide light in times of difficult choices, warmth when they feel alone, inspiration, wisdom... cuz I am not there for them all the time. Choice, time and distance have come between us in such a way that my presence (physical or inspirational) is either not permitted or called upon.
I know every year my list is all about shoes, clothes and other stuff that would presumably make my life easier but this year my need to protect them from any harm (real or imaginary) exceeds any other.

Not like this! ! please dont give them tattoos!

Or like this!

Something more like this:

so this is what i want this year: stars that shine bright!

thank you! 

and btw also getting me a car cant hurt, cuz I 'm sick of the busses!

XoXo 

Rana 

*Baba-Mouneh is my version of Santa. being of a certain age i know that presents are store bought and that the loved ones in our life are the true benefactors. So my Santa (the one that makes my wishes come true) is an actual person, and Baba-mouneh is a variation of the french term Baba Noel (Saint Nic)

Flirting and other extreme sports

 The following took place between 4am and 4:15am somewhere on the border of Backyard and Pavement, right across the Roses Bush. The events of this tale are not fictional although they have been modified as everything that really happens is digested in order for our little minds to embrace the experience. There are 3 fellows in this tale:
M-> The Man (also known as : husband to R, Cutie, Mr Right, Awesome, Wonderful .....)
W-> Woman (aka: the neighbor who walks up and down the street trying rail in her rebel 10yo daughter)
R-> Rana (aka: the woman that needed surgery to put her jaw back in place)

M is doing some work in the garden, takin care of the weeds, watering etc. A dozen children are playing in the street as always, using whatever the Gracious Lord has at their disposal: bikes, the neighbor's dog, blocks, wood, weeds anything they can get their hands on, and the mothers as always are desperately trying to handle them.

W: I want to have your children (and then a strange silense that seemed to go on forever!)
R, her jaw dropped, hearing mesmerized what this woman is telling her husband. She is sitting behind the olive tree camouflaged and able to just watch this strange encounter
M: (turns his head to look at the person who disturbed his gardening) What?
W: It is not fair! you must have a child, or children. You two are free to go out whenever you want without caring about baby sitting and time frames. You are sooooooo quiet! All the rest of us are running up and down to get them to do things. You are so HAPPY! you must have kids to see what this is all about. I must have your children.
Her rumbling seemed to go on and on, not just verbal but with expressions of rage and desperation as if her world was falling apart and there was only this one thread of hope, one thing she felt she must do : see to it that this man has an offspring, for which i cant blame her. Evolutionary speaking, he IS a HUNK, his genes should go into the next generation, just for the sake of humanity.
M: (being as polite as he can be) It is too early for us but we will have kids someday....
R has now pulled herself together and she is waiting; like a lioness awaits for her pray to do one wrong move. But the rest of the scene unfolds quietly. they exchange some regular remarks about the weather and they go back to their business (railing in children and gardening).

Now to be fair the words "I want to have your children..." were never spoken but it sure as hell sounded like that is what she said from where I was standing. No blood was shed, no hearts were broken but in the course of 15min (and a page long story) we have the illustration of 3 extreme sports: flirting (demonstrated by W), having children (demonstrated by W) and gardening (demonstrated by M). So whatever you might be doing, be aware that it can easily turn into hazardous business, under the wrong circumstances...

BE WARY!!

You... You.... You....

You want life to be easy, friends to come dashing into your life and success to come because you deserve it (and I am pretty sure u do!).
But I believe that we must actively participate in our happiness! Do things that get us to where we want to be or more often where we NEED to be! So i use this motion with friendship and in general with the people around me. In order to make sure that they are here because they want to be close to me and not because it is convenient or they want to fill a void in their life, I test them. I learnt this method from a gorgeous 1 year old gangster that tested everybody around him just to see if their love is enough to keep them patient while he was ripping down the house. So I do the same, almost. I start with small things: send sms, email, im's and wait to see how long it would take for them to respond, then i notice how happy they are if I call them up. Then I move on to more difficult tasks: I ask them to meet at inconvenient hours, bake sth for me "just because". In the rare occasions that someone has survived all this or at least I want to give them the benefit of the doubt (because I selfishly want this person in my life), I give them 1 mission impossible!, something that will have them bent head over heels to do, or at least it seems so for my standards. And then that is it! You are done! you got a pass for the rest of your life!
For the first 20 years of my life I made myself small so that i can fit in the purse of the person I wanted to love me. But I have grown. I have  grown so big and shiny and I have a chest full of treasures at your disposal If you choose to stay by me. So i need people in my life to CHOOSE me.
Dont cut yourself short, Shine your light onto everybody but if you did the work then you have the right to choose the people you keep as gems in your life. I am thankful for the handful I have, and they prove to me everyday by bending head over heals, without me asking, that I have what i need.....

A special thanks to the little gangster cuz anybody can be a teacher <3