http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com Pompompom... posterous.com Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:14:30 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/9eBq-0vxVyU/you-must-first-have-a-lot-of-patience-to-lear http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/you-must-first-have-a-lot-of-patience-to-lear <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Chickenpatience" height="396" src="http://getfile5.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/IGM0Coc4iZiW1HK3MUfCvsqWHT8GgeKIeYiKN42liLeZfM9nCs8mgdG9uObx/chickenpatience.jpg" width="400" /> </div> <p></p><div>Without patience, no nice home made pizza dough, no chocolate mousse, no bolognese sauce, no tasty risotto.</div><p /><div>It took me 32 years to learn to be patient but now I got it. </div><p /><div> If only someone had told me it would come through cooking...</div> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/you-must-first-have-a-lot-of-patience-to-lear">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/you-must-first-have-a-lot-of-patience-to-lear#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/9eBq-0vxVyU" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/you-must-first-have-a-lot-of-patience-to-lear Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:42:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/hHfHwGHyrvQ/countries-are-like-pupils http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/countries-are-like-pupils <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://getfile6.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/5Jf1dGiJjrxLiLbRnY129vDr7oi4lhrGeeI2IGc9BbB5IYuU9K5WSCKDgloi/bart-a-une-mauvaise-note.jpg"><img alt="Bart-a-une-mauvaise-note" height="451" src="http://getfile7.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/ZfTdGlLr2sIGokuuDATN14IJi3gCNsgw1riAqVkr8VP6wxzUk9tstDMJe4Tv/bart-a-une-mauvaise-note.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">Yesterday French President Sarkorzy announced an increase of general VAT to 21.2 per cent from 19.6 per cent. </span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">As expected, people are not happy about this change.</span><p /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">This morning, I read a tweet from Valerie P&eacute;cresse, the Minister of the Budget (<a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/vpecresse">@vpecresse</a>). She said </span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /> <em style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">'13 pays sur 27 en Europe ont des taux de TVA &gt; ou = &agrave; 21%. Plus int&eacute;ressant encore, les pays les plus "sociaux" Danemark, Su&egrave;de sont &agrave; 25%</em><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">' (=13 pays in Europe have VAT = or &gt; 21%. In some of the more 'social' countries like Denmark or Sweden, the VAT is 25%).</span><p /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">Is this tweet supposed to make the French increase ok?</span><em><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;"> 'Oh, that's fine, we won't be the country with the highest VAT'. </span></em><p /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">Whenever a government makes a decision that increase taxes or lower benefits, they seem to always justify and explain the changes by comparing the situation to other countries. </span><p /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">When I was a kid and I was having bad results at a school test, my parents never accepted that I justify my bad results with comparisons to other pupils. They were telling me that they didn't care if everybody in the class had failed their mathematics test, they wanted to know why I wasn't prepared enough for the test and why I failed it.</span><p /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">After reading Valerie Pecresse's comment I thought exactly the same... no one cares that half of the countries of the European </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">Union </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;"> have worse or similar results. What you need to explain is why you were not prepared enough to avoid such a bad result and what you are planning to do to make it better next time. That's what really need to be explained.</span><p /> </p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/countries-are-like-pupils">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/countries-are-like-pupils#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/hHfHwGHyrvQ" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/countries-are-like-pupils Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:25:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/4fi_fydLfDs/mea-culpa-to-yoga http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/mea-culpa-to-yoga <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Yoga-egypt" height="341" src="http://getfile7.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/RTXc6otS4wMQd8Gbxkf4bxyrRRYJo8iy6Ke0JdJaaVqINghiYpWtC0odHsvD/yoga-egypt.jpg" width="455" /> </div> </p> <p><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">I believe I had not much of an understanding of what yoga was </span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">until I moved to the UK.</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;"> None of my friends in Belgium or France were doing this activity and therefor I never questioned what it was.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">About 4 years ago, a friend of mine here in Bristol started yoga. And it became fast an obsession for her. She was doing yoga a few times a week, was buying and reading yoga books, became a vegetarian, stopped drinking booze and for a while, she couldn't talk about anything else than yoga. She became a true miss Yogi Yoga. It reached the point where I sometimes was avoiding to see her because I couldn't bare hearing about yoga anymore.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">Based on this first meeting with yoga, I got the idea that yoga was a kind of obsessive mediation activity for wannabe hippies.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">I never intended to try myself, thinking that I was way too down-to-earth for it.</span><p /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">With time, I met more and more people attending weekly classes. Some seemed totally obsessed by it, some seemed just to be normally enjoying it.</span><p /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">Last year, my friend became a yoga teacher and started to teach in town. I declined the invitation to join her class but I was very happy to see her doing well in the field of her passion.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">Yesterday, she flew to India where she will be teaching and practising yoga for a few months. She won't be teaching in Bristol until this summer. </span><p /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">Her last class was last week. And I finally went.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">The idea of yoga had grown in me for so long, it was about time that I get a real opinion on this activity.</span><p /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">And I must say that yoga is nothing of what I thought it was!</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">I went to my friend's Ashta Led class and after just 10 minutes of practice I started to think that my body would never survive 90 minutes of such intense activity. </span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">If yoga has something of meditation due to the attention placed on breathing, it is however rather an exhausting physical activity. It's proper sport!</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">I had to stop a few times to drink, to rest and I thought a few times that I would just pass out on my mat. </span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">Now I shouldn't probably have joined an improver class for my very first lesson. </span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">My body hurt for a few days but I felt good after the class. And I discover that my friend is a very good yoga teacher.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">She is now gone for a few months but I am thinking to join a beginner class until she is back.</span><br style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,sans-serif;">And maybe when she returnes, we'll have a chat between misses Yogi Yoga.</span><p /> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Picture: <a href="http://www.travelvivi.com/yoga-tours-worldwide/">http://www.travelvivi.com/yoga-tours-worldwide/</a>)</span></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/mea-culpa-to-yoga">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/mea-culpa-to-yoga#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/4fi_fydLfDs" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/mea-culpa-to-yoga Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:25:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/5HNMqI5vLpc/sometimes-i-dont-feel-like-blogging http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/sometimes-i-dont-feel-like-blogging <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://getfile2.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/9xuCLcUf0UkQjLqTvCfTXF8nFDM6GCcTS8rSD9RpO1bsXsbY2WjsNgPZV6OW/nuages.jpg"><img alt="Nuages" height="259" src="http://getfile3.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/XoRoy1wn1ivjOzYXhJGpEHjSGCNf0iBQvSBIZRMUlGuLeijPuEUmRgCVX8go/nuages.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Earlier today I realised that I haven't blogged for over a month when I thought it had been 2 weeks or so.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">It had been a few days that I was thinking that I should write a blog post about something. But whoever has a blog would know that </span><em style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">'trying to write a post about something'</em><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;"> is a tough job on a blog.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Either you feel like blogging, either you don't.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">These days, I don't feel like blogging.</span><p /> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Blogging is an exercise requiring to stop, look back, analyse and comment.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">These days I just feel like being and living.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Of course I am living things that I could comment about,&nbsp; such as how ashamed I feel about my home country right now or how much I dislike every sentence starting by </span><em style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">'You should have...'</em><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">I could come up with a funny post about the Christmas traditions in the UK and wondering why people keep bothering eating turkey and Brussels sprouts on Xmas day when clearly everybody would love to eat something else instead.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">But as much as I am still a world observer, I don't feel like being a world reporter right now.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">This will come back, most likely.</span><p /> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Over the last year I have sewed stuff, written stories, made fimo modeling, made animations movies, made hula hooping videos, made bags, made lomography pictures and many other things, By doing all these things I learned one thing about myself. I learned that I only can do these things when I feel like doing them.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">I can't write a story or make a bag if I am being asked to do so.</span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">I can't force myself. </span><br style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;" /> <span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">And right now, I don't feel like making things.</span><p /><span style="font-family: verdana,sans-serif;">Right now I feel like eating chocolates and drinking wine. There is a time for everything, he!</span><p /> <p /></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/sometimes-i-dont-feel-like-blogging">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/sometimes-i-dont-feel-like-blogging#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/5HNMqI5vLpc" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/sometimes-i-dont-feel-like-blogging Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:15:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/tYnoDML85_E/everything-starts-from-a-dot http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/everything-starts-from-a-dot <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://getfile6.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/64x0GILPgNCD2x4cGcjAZYsK1QOhKCQ2z7fUBqEWsDXXkuUuShurzxEaXFw8/Kandinsky_Circles_Post.jpg.scaled.1000.jpg"><img alt="Kandinsky_circles_post" height="332" src="http://getfile4.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/tqCehU0yZXOi7PoWhT2stv1EjjbPQcoDkEZAkYwuqOo50ms0B658LuXZoaQa/Kandinsky_Circles_Post.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p>The name Wassily Kandinsky might not ring any bells to you but the chances are that you have already seen some of his art in some of your friend's flats.<br />Indeed,&nbsp; reproductions of his painting '<span><em>Farbstudie Quadrate'&nbsp; - image used to illustrate this article - </em></span>are (used to be?) sold at Ikea and are (were?) a very good seller.<br /> Kandinsky is a Russian painter who was born in the second half of the 19th century <em>(and dead in the 20th)</em> and who is credited with painting the first purely-abstrack work. I personally like a lot some pieces of his work and if you don't know anything about him, I would recommend that you check his work - make a search in google and you'll find many results.<p /> Kandinsky did not only paint during his life. He as well produced some theoretical writings about art, based on his own experience and his observations of other artist's work.<br />In his writings, he analyzed the geometrical elements which make up every painting: the point and the line.<br /> <span style="font-size: small;"><em>'Everything starts from a dot'</em>, <span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">wrote Kadinsky in one of his book.</span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><p /> It's true, everything does.<p />From the first drawing of a child to the master piece of a well known artist, from the X signed by an illiterate to the best selling novel of the year, from a music note to Edvard Gried's Peer Gynt, from the first step of a baby to the 100 meters world record.<p /> A few weeks ago, I saw my sister-in-law showing to my niece how to draw circles. She was drawing a dot and telling her daughter to draw a loop from the left of the dot to its right and come back to the dot. A tough job the first few times for a 3 years old child.<br /> I had forgotten that a circle starts from a dot. From that learning, I only remembered the final result: the circle. But a circle starts from a dot. And to be able to get a circle from a dot, it requires work, time and perseverance until one day, when we start drawing circles effortlessly.<br /> The same goes for everything in life, every project, every challenge, every relationship, every story, every achievement. <p />Yes, everything starts from a dot.</span></span></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/everything-starts-from-a-dot">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/everything-starts-from-a-dot#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/tYnoDML85_E" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/everything-starts-from-a-dot Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:01:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/foH4k8fmjOw/double-rainbows http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/double-rainbows <p> <p>Until a week ago, I had never heard of double rainbows. I didn't know it was possible at all to have double rainbows.<br />But in the last 7 days, 3 of my social networks contacts saw one in different cities and posted online pictures of this phenomenon.<br /> Last Tuesday in Paris, end of the <a href="http://bristolculture.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/double-rainbow-over-bristol/">week in Bristol</a> and Sunday in Reykjavik.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://getfile0.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/xI2fNb8GvLFfe9Nqt9DLmC4zlDg56GYU0dpRI2UGKJEpPHLM2YysCVazkdDw/bristol-double-rainbow.jpg.scaled.1000.jpg"><img alt="Bristol-double-rainbow" height="374" src="http://getfile8.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/ruHOXJUmNRndZzNU2L7l9M7E9AXvTZbmff0CytR3ihxKryghjBA99GfPHNup/bristol-double-rainbow.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> <a href="http://getfile3.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/S6H9yR2IM7kP01m6mWBe1izM6vVXQohte8pOZNY2MsJXKJ2idEVEj3KwVn0u/paris.jpg"><img alt="Paris" height="281" src="http://getfile4.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/X2UaNbOFmX8FNG17GxdTUrYrS1aMiwSauDip8W7WhMIGoMNL6yPsAGmO8K1f/paris.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> <a href="http://getfile8.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/fj3kuYzVd8TTHse0CFoiHkx28qn3mLNZC65yptCHjkvmOuj5K1MsmPfUlsLF/Reyjkavic.jpg"><img alt="Reyjkavic" height="373" src="http://getfile9.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/BiepixNq8oVs2bkAx8JCOJtKIuB46OeF6l1hOCjvWHBWvCr3r5UPvA8FsQxo/Reyjkavic.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> <div class='p_see_full_gallery'><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/double-rainbows">See the full gallery on Posterous</a></div> </div> </p> <p><br />Beautiful, arent' they?<p /><strong>But how do double rainbow work?</strong><br /> <em><br /></em></p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><em><span class="commentBody">A secondary rainbow is produced when there is one extra reflection of light within the water drop. As some light is lost each time it hits the edge of the drop, the secondary rainbow is fainter than the first. It appears higher in the sky because the light exits the drop at a larger angle</span></em><em><span class="commentBody"> (50-53 degrees) than the primary rainbow (40-42 degrees)</span>.</em><p /></div> <p><strong>Does it mean there there are two pots of gold?</strong><p />I'm afraid that no, there aren't two double pots of gold. There is actually even not one. Because..<p /> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>(...) everyone sees a different rainbow. If you are looking at a rainbow and walk to a new position, the light you see in the new spot will have been reflected by different water droplets to the light you saw in the first spot. This is also why there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - there is actually no end of the rainbow. A rainbow does not actually exist at a particular location in the sky - it all depends on your location and the position of the Sun. </em></div> <p><br />But with or without pots of gold, they are beautiful!<p /><br /></p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">You can read more about this beautiful phenomenon <a href="http://www.mrscienceshow.com/2010/07/science-of-double-rainbows-omg-what.html">here</a>.</div> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/double-rainbows">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/double-rainbows#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/foH4k8fmjOw" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/double-rainbows Mon, 31 Oct 2011 05:22:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/xd4lQ6Jc-fE/people-and-their-cats http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/people-and-their-cats <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Cat" height="276" src="http://getfile4.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/zMzr5KlYvEJboWHAhzlioKLgRmJatCGSWHm4aSE6rDx4Ja5ITB7jaKwGHVtR/cat.jpg" width="400" /> </div> </p> <p>I have been censoring myself for months on this blog but today, that's it. I can't stay quiet anymore on this topic and I have to tell you how big my issue is with that one.<br />Guys.<br />Here is the truth.<p /><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-size: medium;">I don't understand people who loves cats.</span></strong></span><p /> <br />Oh don't take me wrong, I have nothing against people who generally like cats as an animal. No, I'm cool with that.<br />I personally like cats. I think cats are charming pets and I used to have loads of them when I was a kid.<p /> What I really don't get is people who loves cats but seems to ignore the fact that cats are animals and they behave with their cats like if they were human beings.<br />Here are just a few of the things that totally puzzle me<strong>:<p /> People who sign for their cats on the xmas cards they are sending every year.</strong><p />No your cat is not wishing me a Merry Christmas.<br /> Actually your cat doesn't know what Xmas is. Or if they do, they certainly believe that Xmas is that cool period of time where they can play in trees IN the house because they owner brings one inside the house! And because their owner loves them very much they even hang some red and silver toys on it for them to play. Wow, Christmas is really cool!<br /> Ahem!<br /> But even if cats had an understanding of what Xmas is all about, cats don't write. So don't sign for your cats.<strong><p />People who try to make their cats walking on 2 legs only.</strong><p />Cats have four legs and need to use the four of them to walk.<br /> Stop trying to make them walk like men. Once again, they are animals. If you want a pet at home that will one day walk on 2 legs, make a baby. Babies are human beings. Cats are not and all you will manage to do by forcing them to be on two legs is to injure them. If you love cats - <em>and I know you do </em>- avoid hurting them.<br /> A few years ago, a friend of mine was training his cat to stay on 2 legs for long period of time. The cat eventually got a lumbago and required drugs injection to get the pain relieved.<strong> </strong>True story. He of course didn't dare saying to the vet what happened to the cat. I am however pretty sure that vets all get similar cases.<strong><p /> People who confuse their cat being <em>rude</em> with their cat being <em>cute</em>.</strong><p />If your cat jump on the table every time your start eating your dinner, sorry but it isn't cute. It's rude. So don't tell me :<em> 'My cat is so so cute. She always wants to taste my food before I can eat' </em>(yes, I really heard that one!).<br /> Your cat doesn't want to <em>'taste'</em> your food. Your cat wants you food. Point dot com<strong> </strong><em>(as heard on the TV this weekend).</em><strong><p />People who kiss their cat on the mouth.</strong><p />Your cat is not your lover.<br /> Don't kiss your cat on the mouth, it's disgusting. Or if you do, keep it quiet and don't do it in front of your guests. You know that your cat spend their days licking their body and even, their er... ass. Would you kiss a man/woman if you knew that person had spent the entire day licking their bum? No you wouldn't! So why would you kiss your cat's mouth?<strong><p /> People who would prefer not sleeping ok than having to kick their cat away from bed.</strong><p />You let your cat sleeping on your bed - ok fine. I won't waste my time commenting on that one.<br />But please, don't let your cat&nbsp; invading all your space and stopping you to sleep properly. A cat is tiny and don't need much room. Don't let it sleep right in the middle of the bed if it makes you having bad nights. If your husband/wife was taking all the space in your bed, you would tell them, surely? <br /> Why behaving differently with your cat? <em>(Not that I am suggesting that you should have a talk with your cat... your cat wouldn't understand.. because your cat doesn't understand the words you say. Sorry)</em><p /> No, I don't get it.<p />But the truth is that I wonder if there is not something wrong with me.. Because I sometimes feel that 99.5% of the population seems to be totally cool with these above behaviours.<br /> I don't have a cat anymore, so who knows,&nbsp; if I had one, maybe I would sign for my lovely one on my Xmas cards...<br />But I swear to Bastet* that you never will get me kissing a cat on the mouth!<p />...unless it's a very cute one ;-)</p> <p><p /> <em>*<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastet">Bastet</a> is a feline goddess of the Ancient Egyptian religion</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><br /><em><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Note:</span> this post is a bit exaggerated, of course - its point is just to be funny.</span></em></p> <p><span style="color: #666666;"><em> It's true that I don't fully get why people are so crazy of their cats but I have no issue with that.</em><br /><em> I had a few dinners with friends in the last months where easily one hour of the conversations each time were all about stories of their cats and I couldn't help to think that these people should start having babies. Because all these stories would make more sense if the word cat was replaced each time by the word baby. This gave me the idea of writting this post.</em><br /><em>I like cats and I like my friends who have cats.</em><br /></span></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/people-and-their-cats">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/people-and-their-cats#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/xd4lQ6Jc-fE" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/people-and-their-cats Fri, 28 Oct 2011 05:49:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/VnAX8BUFokA/xs-and-os-a-user-guide-oneweekonebag-4 http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/xs-and-os-a-user-guide-oneweekonebag-4 <p> <p><em style="color: #999999;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Note</span>: my challenge for the next 12 months is to create a new design for a bag every week. Read more about this project <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/my-new-project-one-week-one-bag" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /> If you want a copy of this bag, send me a mail: me [at] cecfrombelgium. com and I'll make one for you for the tiny price of 5&euro;/4&pound;+ postage.</em></p> <p><em style="color: #999999;">If you hadn't seen the other bags have a look <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-1" target="_blank">here</a> , <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-2" target="_blank">here</a></em> <em style="color: #999999;">and</em><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/oneweekonebag-3"> here</a>.<br /> <span style="color: #666666;">_____________________________________________________________________</span></p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Xx" height="320" src="http://getfile0.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/81EabEl1LDk6alViqa14ATAz3h5ykrDy9Gq0p4uWoxS6HHgVM1Shvo1lYbAA/xx.jpg" width="452" /> <a href="http://getfile4.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/rNOGL7W1mpkgwBsSx2AN3LqO8JPjafufUMj0SxyLrMPACMmQv7tX7YijVCdJ/xbag.jpg"><img alt="Xbag" height="820" src="http://getfile5.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/KiNsm4aLutjX8nPXWy9Y1qc7nFrI2S4apZ7fC8xUOHVdGSKRrLMHXJ668ZEE/xbag.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> <div class='p_see_full_gallery'><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/xs-and-os-a-user-guide-oneweekonebag-4">See the full gallery on Posterous</a></div> </div> </p> <p><br />If you know some English speaking people, you will have noticed that they sometimes add x's and o's at the end of their mails, sms or messages on your facebook wall.<br /> Sometimes they will sign their message with an initial and will add a cross after it, like this: Cx,<br />Or they could add the x before the initial, like this: xC<br />Sometimes they won't sign the mail or message, assuming you already know who wrote it and they will only end their message with a x.<br /> Sometimes, they could end their message with 3 x and their signature: xxx,&nbsp; Cecile.</p> <p><br />You probably know this, these crosses are their specific way to send you kisses in written communications. <br />But why is it?<br />And what does it mean exactly when they use crosses, when in real life, as you know it, English people are not fan of kisses?<p /> <strong>The origin</strong><br />It seems that the use of x at the end of messages find its origin in the X used as signature by illiterates.</p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>It comes from times when people couldn&rsquo;t read or write, so couldn&rsquo;t sign their name. They would be required to kiss the ring of a priest and then write their mark, which would be an X, which was the way they were saying they had made the mark in the presence of God. So X became synonymous with kisses.<p /></em></div> <p>The religion, of course! Everything seems to find its origin in the religion. Even <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/when-religion-makes-the-world-eating-pancakes" target="_blank">pancakes day</a>!<p /><strong>How to use x</strong><p />I questioned a few people and they told me they would use it at the end of a message to close friends, usually to girls and to members of their family.<br /> Girls would avoid using them for guys unless their relationship as friends is clear already.<br />Guys wouldn't usually send x to other guys.<br />People wouldn't</p> <p>send x to their boss or their colleagues unless they are more than<em> just </em>colleagues and unless they are colleagues that you would kiss on the cheek in real life.<br /> In doubts, the usual way to tell if someone find a x inappropriate is whether they do it back or not on a reply.<br />Everybody seems to agree that x are sent only to people that you would greet and depart with a kiss or a hug when you seen them physically.<p /> <strong>What about the use of multiple x's </strong><p />People tends to send between one x up to lots depending on happiness and the content of the rest of the message they send, with an average of maximum 3 x's.<p /> <strong>What about the o's</strong><p />If everybody knows that they mean 'hugs', I personally don't know anyone who use them.<br />They seem to be used by Americans and younger generations.<br />There are some rules to use them:</p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">- they can't be used on their own<br />- they need to be used together with x, like this: xox</div> <p><br /><strong>My own experience</strong><p />These x's can confuse me. When guys I barely know send me x's at the end of sms I always wonder how I am supposed to take these x's.<br /> I remember that a few years ago, a colleague definitely not closed to me, sent me a text with a few x's at the end after a work dinner. It puzzled me. <p />I do generally think it is being overused since I see x's everywhere, almost if it was more a way to mark the end of a message rather than really sending a kiss.<p /> And that's the story behind the bag #4 of my oneweekonebag little project!<p /><p /><p /> <br /></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/xs-and-os-a-user-guide-oneweekonebag-4">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/xs-and-os-a-user-guide-oneweekonebag-4#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/VnAX8BUFokA" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/xs-and-os-a-user-guide-oneweekonebag-4 Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:58:25 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/DaTHkbKpIQ8/oneweekonebag-3 http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/oneweekonebag-3 <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Petzi" height="528" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/Ha22iLl6WTPqifLTqZSCSd5NdYePMXZByQhro39yH0dQIhyIdp65tRJHJbOY/petzi.jpg" width="396" /> </div> <p></p><p><i style="color: #999999;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Note</span>: my challenge for the next 12 months is to create a new design for a bag every week. Read more about this project <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/my-new-project-one-week-one-bag" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /> If you want a copy of this bag, send me a mail: me [at] cecfrombelgium. com and I&#39;ll make one for you for the tiny price of 5€/4£+ postage.</i></p> <i style="color: #999999;">If you hadn&#39;t seen bag#1 and bag#2, have a look <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-1" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-2" target="_blank">here</a><br /> ________________________________________________________________</i><p />When I was a child, my parents bought for my brother and myself some books written by a Danish team and officially called Rasmus Klump. They were not children novels, neither proper comics books. They were comic without speech balloons, the text being written below each image.<br /> The books were telling stories about the main character, <b>Petzi </b>(the name of the books in French), a bear dressed in red dungarees with white dots,  and his friends Pingo (a.. penguin of course), Riki ( a pelican), Caroline (a little turtle) and Amiral ( a seal). <br /> In one of the first books they build a boat that they use  in all the other books to travel the world all together.<br />In the second or third one, my favorite one, they all go to Petzi&#39;s home and his mom make pancakes for them. <br /> Every time I have pancakes I have a thought for Petzi eating pancakes, I can&#39;t help!<br />I am surprised that no Petzi merchandising exist nowadays, I am sure someone could make some business with this lovely bear wearing dungarees! I have been looking for a Petzi printed bag or t-shirt but never found anything. <p /> In Bristol, some people can have a very strong accent from the south west. It&#39;s not always easy to get what people says, especially when it comes from older people from the old working class.<br /><b><i>&#39;Y allreet, my luv</i>&#39;</b> is a sentence you would hear a lot if you were visiting Bristol. All what people are meaning when they say it is basically &#39;hi&#39;. It seems they ask you if you are allright, but it&#39;s just really a way over here to say &#39;hi&#39;.<p /> Petzi + Y allreet, my luv = the story of the bag of the week! </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/oneweekonebag-3">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/oneweekonebag-3#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/DaTHkbKpIQ8" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/oneweekonebag-3 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:23:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/lhv9DTPbr_A/do-you-listen-to-music http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/do-you-listen-to-music <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Listeningtomusic" height="500" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2011-10-17/EeGefbwCzeChAzqhzdmmJgBqcayatpyJofcaEwtAfihpzsEFkfwxmctvExlg/ListeningToMusic.jpg.scaled500.jpg" width="500" /> </div> Today I have a simple question for you:<br /><em><strong><br />'When was the last time that you listened to music?</strong></em>'<p />I am hearing your answers:<p />- At work earlier<br />- In my car on the way back to home<br /> - When I was preparing dinner<br />- When I was writing a mail to a friend/updating my facebook status<p />And I would tell you : <em>'No, you didn't understand my question. I didn't ask you when was the last time you heard music. I asked when was the last time you listened to music?</em>'<br /> When is the last time that you played music not to have background melody while doing something, but really because listening to music is what you wanted to do? When was the last time you really paid attention to the music you were listening? <p /> Until 1877 when the gramophone (phonograph) got created , listening to music meant watching and listening to musician playing live. You couldn't listen to music while cooking or working, Enjoying music was a whole activity itself that people had to planned in advance. Only if you were a king or something like that could you have got on-demand music at anytime of the day or night.<br /> When the gramophone appeared in the 19th century, it was a revolution! Someone found a way to record and reproduce sounds! <br />But still during a while, listening to music stayed an activity as such, family members and friends meeting together around the device to listen to music.<br /> Over the past 135 years, music recorders, players and technology evolved in a way resulting that today, music is everywhere, all the time. And it's a great thing! I love music and I love to be able to listen to music on the go pretty much when I want.<br /> But don't you think that by consuming music just that way we are missing something?<p />Recording an album for an artist is time consuming. Months and years of work. Writing the words, composing the music, producing the album take times. And what is making the difference between a great album and a random one is in the details and in the patience of the artists involved.<br /> By playing music while doing something else, we don't really listen to it and probably miss a lot of it.<br />Listening to music while doing something else is like listening to your son/wife/friend/husband while reading a book or coding some phone applications. You hear them but you are not really listening, are you?<p /> What is your favorite artist?<br />Without thinking too much I would say that my favorite band is The National. And I like M83 a lot too.<br />When was the last time I really listened to them? Paying attention to their music? Doing nothing else than listening to music?<br /> The last time was such a long time ago that I couldn't answer.<p />And you, when was the last time you listened to music?<br />If you can't answer the question but define yourself as a music lover, I think it's time for you to book some time with yourself and your favorite artist. When you are ready, put your favorite album in your player, turn off your phone and laptop, sit in your sofa or lay on the floor.<p /> It's time to listen to music!<p /> <br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/29RvK7OI2Fg?wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="417" width="500"></iframe></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/do-you-listen-to-music">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/do-you-listen-to-music#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/lhv9DTPbr_A" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/do-you-listen-to-music Sun, 16 Oct 2011 04:08:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/DEBgBwQ8ymc/the-amazing-hoop-race-go-team-bristol http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-amazing-hoop-race-go-team-bristol <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Amazinghoopracemsmall" height="155" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/B8bV7dhd9H1J5nRR8P821xTTEaCZobXPpR16jt3sVRaod1Stwvf9eGq2FZaD/amazinghoopracemsmall.jpg" width="300" /> </div> </p> <p>Last week I was writing <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-amazing-hoop-race" target="_blank">here</a> that my friend <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/hannah_sage" target="_blank">Hannah</a> and I had submitted a casting video for a global hula hooping competition. <br /> So how did that go?<br />We got selected together with <a href="http://www.hooping.org/2011/10/amazing-hoop-race-meet-the-teams/" target="_blank">13 other teams</a> (10 American ones, one from Australia*, one from Israel, one from London and us) and we got explanations together with details about our first challenge on Thursday afternoon.<p /> <strong>What did we get ourselves into?</strong><p />The Amazing Hoop Race is inspired by the American tv show Amazing Race, which is,&nbsp; as I now have learned:<p /></p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;(...) <em>a reality television game show in which teams of two people, who have some form of a preexisting personal relationship, race around the world in competition with other teams. Contestants strive to arrive first at "pit stops" at the end of each leg of the race to win prizes and to avoid coming in last, which carries the possibility of elimination or a significant disadvantage in the following leg. Contestants travel to and within multiple countries in a variety of transportation modes, including planes, balloons, helicopters, trucks, bicycles, taxicabs, rental cars, Jeepneys, trains, buses, boats, and by foot. The clues (cryptic hints) provided in each leg lead the teams to the next destination or direct them to perform a task, either together or by a single member. These challenges are related in some manner to the country wherein they are located or its culture. Teams are progressively eliminated until three are left; at that point, the team that arrives first in the final leg is awarded a grand prize.(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amazing_Race" target="_blank">wikipedia</a>)<p /> </em></div> <p>The hooping race will follow the same rules and will make us travel around the world as well, but.. virtually. We'll have challenges to make on our way that we'll have to document with videos.<p /> <strong>What was the first destination?</strong><p />Thursday afternoon, we got some information about the game and the first mission (see information <a href="http://www.hooping.org/2011/10/the-amazing-hoop-race-let-the-games-begin/">here</a>).<br /> Not familiar with the the American game, we first got very confused. And I personally would have stayed confused if I hadn't had a clever team player to clarify the whole thing and understand the cryptic message.<br />It was easy to understand we had to make our way to the airport (virtually or not) but we couldn't get what else we had to do. We knew it was not just the airport thing but with only these sentences to enlighten us, we were a bit puzzled: '<em>Upon landing in our first Amazing Hoop Race location, you will need to find the Vista Point for this leg of the race. We have a feeling this first leg will have you going in Circularidades.'<p /></em>Friday morning, Hannah sent me a text saying: 'I figured it out: we need to do a Brazilian Samba video, by Sunday!'<br />How did she find it?<br />She made some google search with the word <em>Circularidades </em>and she found <a href="http://bambambam.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/ola-amazing-hoop-racers/">this website</a> with a message waiting for us! SICK. I would probably have never found out and we know now that days later, some teams haven't found this website yet neither.<p /> Hannah and I met on Friday lunch time and we decided to make our Brazilian video on that night, in a Brazilian party in a club in town <em>(lucky us, a Brazilian night in Bristol the right weekend!)</em>. I wasn't super enthusiastic by having to go in a club <em>( the doctor having told me the day before that, based on the x-ray, my broken toe would need 4 more weeks to heal</em>) but I got my positive cap on and started to get organised for it.<br /> Hannah got us tickets for the night and some feathers, I made us some team hoodies and we found someone to be our camera operator.<p />We met at the club a bit before 11pm and tried to get in. However, the doorman didn't like the look of our hoops and we got asked to leave them in the cloakroom! <br /> When we got in there, there was some capoera taking place on the stage. We watched them for a bit and then went upstairs to get our faces painted.<br />Hannah went later talking to the organiser of the night, asking if we really couldn't make a tiny video on their terrace. He agreed and we got our hoops released!<br /> It was a bit tricky to hoop there due to the lack of space but we managed to make some moves. <br />We then got downstairs and tried to make it on stage. A samba dancer who was about to start a performance together with the drummers told us she would love us to join her on stage. We waited with her for a while but after 40 minutes, we decided to call it a day and left the club.<br /> We made a few more moves outside the club and that was it. <br />It took us about 3 hours on that night!<p />Here is the result (if the video doesn't play in the post, check it out on youtube):<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4u50Bsm1zkQ?wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="417" width="500"></iframe><br /> <strong><br />What about the first challenge?</strong><p />The first challenge was to get 20 people hula hooping in an airport.<br />Being pretty sure that it's forbidden to film in an airport, I called them on Saturday morning to ask authorisation to film just for a few minutes. They gave us their ok as long as we were there at the quietest time of the day for them: 1pm.<br /> At 1pm, we were there with plenty of hoops! A security guy got asked to stay with us to make sure we were behaving well and we started asking people to hoop with us.<br />Hannah was very professional and highly motivated in her way to ask people's help and we easily got 30 people hooping with us. Travellers being in Bristol airport that day must have seen something unique happening there!<p /> Here is the result (if the video doesn't play in the post, check it out on youtube):<br /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EsZJ8b2SI_U?wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="417" width="500"></iframe><p /><strong>So, what next?</strong><p /> The deadline to submit the videos is tonight at 9pm PST.<br />All teams will then be rated for<br />&nbsp;<span class="commentBody">1) The airport challenge (1 point/traveller hooping) /20 points<br />&nbsp;2) The Brazilian video, rated by our 'host', the blog</span> <a href="http://bambambam.wordpress.com/">Movimento BamBamBam!</a><span class="commentBody"> owner / 40 points<br /> &nbsp;3) Public vote - we'll let you know when the votes are opened / 30 points<br />&nbsp;4) How fast we were to make the 1 and 2 /10 points<p /> The 3 teams&nbsp; with the less points will be out of the game this week. I am confident we'll make it ok.<br /> We'll then get new cryptic information <em>(probably on Thursday again)</em> to find out what our new challenge and our new 'virtual'destination are.</span><p /><strong>Our thoughts on the game so far?</strong><p /> 1) Time consuming! We didn't know it would be so demanding! Together, the airport and the Brazilian video took us about 5 to 6 hours of shootage and about 8 hours of video editing for both videos. Hopefully not every week will be so demanding!<br /> 2) Money consuming! Tickets for the Brazilian night + feathers + airport parking + petrol = money! Next week we'll find a way to make the challenge without spending money. <br />3) It's fun and exciting!<p /><strong>Lessons learned so far?</strong><p /> 1) Have a clear idea of the final result expected before filming. I had an idea before going to the club but it didn't completely work to plan. Next time will be planned better.<br />2) Don't talk when hooping &gt; it looks crap on the video<br /> 3) Keep in mind we need space to hoop<br />4) Avoid dark spaces<br />5) Don't do stupid faces on the camera, it's gonna end on the web!<br />6) Give a rest to the toe if you want to be able to hoop/walk ok ever again in your life<p /> And that's it for the first week!<p />Spread the word about this competition to all your friends and colleagues because we gonna need your help to get the maximum of votes!! We have a Facebook Fanpage to make it easy for you to follow us. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amazing-Hoop-Race-Team-Bristol-Hannah-Cecile/178465748902840" target="_blank">Click here.</a><p />Go Go Go Team Bristol!<p /> <em>* Team Australia should be your second favorite team because... they are in Bristol!! Stacey relocated to Bristol a few weeks ago and Clare is in Bristol for a few weeks. So, if you get to vote for 2 teams, give them as well your support. Go Team Australia!</em></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-amazing-hoop-race-go-team-bristol">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-amazing-hoop-race-go-team-bristol#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/DEBgBwQ8ymc" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-amazing-hoop-race-go-team-bristol Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:25:14 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/EEtcvBBLSR4/tell-them-that-i-am-young-and-beautiful-is-be http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/tell-them-that-i-am-young-and-beautiful-is-be <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/TQnCEiIZAOfesJBcxWHDVrcWN26zWaM8EoDw4oUnf6lR5T0TTlZqnE265wW3/tell-them-that-017_2003579b.jpg"><img alt="Tell-them-that-017_2003579b" height="313" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/iriWaafRkt4EzFMzcN07DA3zqS4u2lA2Mqgh7ihdZZUmbI48w4i2bzhtvMqH/tell-them-that-017_2003579b.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <p>Sometimes we have days that feel so bad that if someone was asking us at the end of it &#39;How was your day&#39; we could answer &#39;like a very bad week&#39;.<br />At 7pm, emotionally drained,  there is only one thing we want to do: go to bed and sleep 24hours.<p /> Yesterday I had one of these days. And when I came back home slightly after 7, I really felt I could just go to bed.<br />But I had planned to go to see a play with a friend on that night, so despite a huge wish to stay at home, I grabbed my stick one more time <i>(oh yeah, I am now walking with a stick.. still the toe...)</i> and I walked to the theater where I arrived just before the play started.<p /> I have been to the theater a few times in Bristol in the past years and I never got impressed. Either I couldn&#39;t understand a word, either I could understand words but didn&#39;t get the story, either I could understand the story but didn&#39;t like it.<br /> However, the play yesterday was at the circus school of Bristol &#39;Circomedia&#39; and for having already seen a few circus shows there, I was hoping that this time, I would enjoy the play.<p />And indeed I did!<p /> <strong>TELL THEM THAT I AM YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL</strong><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> by </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><strong>Marcello Magni &amp; KP Productions</strong></span> is a brilliant, funny, touching play with the finest stage actors I got to see so far.<br /> During two hours, the 4 actors on stage together with one musician <span>tackled themes of love, friendship, truth, greed, and sacrifice</span> and told us seven stories inspired by proverbs, old tales and real dramatic events. The dialogues are well written, the actors are fabulous, the director did a perfect job and so, when after two hours,  I realised that the show was over, I wished it was only a quick break before they come back on stage to tell us a few more stories.<p /> <br /> <strong>TELL THEM THAT I AM YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL</strong><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> is </span>still on tonight at the Circomedia and if I were you, I would go! <br /> If all theatre plays were as good at this one is, I would be in theatres every nights!<p />Details <a href="http://www.circomedia.com/events-at-st-pauls-church/">here</a><p /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/8776201/Tell-Them-That-I-Am-Young-and-Beautiful-Arcola-Theatre-review.html">Picture</a><br /></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/tell-them-that-i-am-young-and-beautiful-is-be">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/tell-them-that-i-am-young-and-beautiful-is-be#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/EEtcvBBLSR4" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/tell-them-that-i-am-young-and-beautiful-is-be Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:33:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/IZG4lIdNdqQ/rahul-gandhi http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/rahul-gandhi <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/jyANmLoan7Fc1SE6uEDUUkuYAnFU8Eid4Tppe0PV3vGOMFOMSDWlgFBGU9QL/sonia-gandhi-rahul-gandhi.jpg"><img alt="Sonia-gandhi-rahul-gandhi" height="354" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/gLQsMdV8J1rpcQmWiVMujaMZqRacdSn0cxVgote36TVdELw8bNX19wcbyNJs/sonia-gandhi-rahul-gandhi.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p>Rahul Gandhi is the son of&nbsp; Rajiv Gandhi, the 6th Prime Minister of India and of Sonia Gandhi, the current President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India.<br />Rahul Gandhi is the grandson of Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, who was the third Prime Minister of the Republic of India.<br /> Rahul Gandhi is also the great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was India's first Prime Minister.<p />Rahul Gandhi's father, grand-mother and great grand-father were all assassinated.<p />Rahul Gandi , 41 years old,&nbsp; is a member of the Indian parliament and some says he <em>may</em> become the new prime minister of India early next year (<a href="http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/rahul-may-become-next-prime-minister-1.887002" target="_blank">read article here</a>).<p /> Would it have been possible at all for Rahul to become something else than a politician?<br />Could he have became a cricket player?<br />Could he have had a whole career in the technology industry <em>(he was in 2002 one of the directors of Mumbai-based technology firm Backops Services Private Ltd)</em><br /> Being born in a family that has had a major influence on the course India took after winning independence from the British settlers, could he have made another choice?<p />And would his choice of career have been any different if his dad hadn't been killed?<p />In his address to the people of Amethi <em>( a city and a municipal board in Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Nagar in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh)</em> during an election campaign a couple of years ago, he said <em>"There is a work that my father had started, a dream he had dreamt. I come to you today saying&hellip;allow me to turn that dream into reality"</em>.<p /> Which make me think that the answer to my question is <em>'maybe'... but maybe not'</em>.<p /><span style="color: #666666;"><br />On the picture, Rahul and his mother Sonia. Picture from </span><a href="http://liveindia.tv/" target="_blank" style="color: #666666;">Live India</a><p /> <em style="color: #666666;">&lt;Time spent to type this post: 58 minutes&gt;</em></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/rahul-gandhi">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/rahul-gandhi#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/IZG4lIdNdqQ" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/rahul-gandhi Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:10:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/-RshBc--G4U/one-week-one-bag-2 http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-2 <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/ZhaO7goBCvoTaaFDf9b1M6jaZAacGIC35WyTpELcBQ8bg2qyLTeoQQtThI7r/bagstateofmind.jpg"><img alt="Bagstateofmind" height="294" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/kXTdZWqrWmLza05OPuQz4DjhGeOULB6mCvnDtm2U988w5iGOu97G6t9HAyvp/bagstateofmind.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </p> <p><em style="color: #999999;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Note</span>: my challenge for the next 12 months is to create a new design for a bag every week. Read more about this project <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/my-new-project-one-week-one-bag" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /> If you want a copy of this bag, send me a mail: me [at] cecfrombelgium. com and I'll make one for you for the tiny price of 5&euro;/4&pound;+ postage.</em></p> <p><em style="color: #999999;">If you hadn't seen bag#1, have a look <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-1" target="_blank">here</a><br />________________________________________________________________<br /></em><br /> The last general election in Belgium took place almost 500 days ago, on the 13th June 2010.<br />The NVA (<em><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Flemish_Alliance" target="_blank">wikipedia:</a> Flemish right-wing, conservative and liberal movement that promotes civic nationalism.^{<span>&nbsp;</span>} It is part of the Flemish Movement, and strives for the peaceful and gradual secession of Flanders from Belgium.</em> )&nbsp; won the election in Flanders, while the pro-unity Socialist Party won the elections in French-speaking Belgium. <br />Due to major differences between the two parties on a community and social-economic level, government negotiations have gone on for almost already 500 days , breaking the world government formation record of 249 days, previously set by.... Iraq in 2010. <p />Recently, the 4 major french speaking parties together with the major Flemish parties decided to exclude the NVA of the negotiations <em>(yes, in Belgium, winning general election doesn't guarantee a party to be in the government)</em> and they finalised this weekend their reform proposal.<br /> If this is a big step that they achieved indeed and if this means that Belgium have now some chances to get finally a government in place if not in the coming weeks then at least before Christmas, the less optimistic ones however don't believe that this means that the Belgian politic crisis is over.<br /> Belgium is about to get a government without the winning party and in two years times, Belgium will already hold new general elections that will more than likely get the same winning party, which party will push for even more reforms of the country since their main objective is to gradually obtain more powers for both Belgian regions <span style="text-decoration: underline;">separately.</span><br />So we can, without any risks, bet on a new similar crisis in two years from now.<p />On this topic, Jean Quatremer <em>(a French journalist specialised in European matters)</em> said on Friday on the Eurointelligence website:</p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>'So is the end of the crisis? One can seriously doubt it. Flanders has always believed that federalism is evolutionary, which means that the disembowelment of the central state is likely to continue.(..)&nbsp; <strong>All future Flemish demands have already registered on the political agenda. The separation of Belgium will continue. The agreement has not created greater cohesion between the two sides. They Belgians will not be living closer together.</strong> </em>' (see full article <a href="http://www.eurointelligence.com/eurointelligence-news/home/singleview/article/an-agreement-that-will-accelerate-the-breakup-of-belgium.html" target="_blank">here</a>)<p /> </div> <p>His article didn't please Belgian politicians but I personally believe that he is right.</p> <p>The political crisis in my home country + having been abroad for about 7 years now made me wonder a lot recently about what a country is.<br /> What is a country today? What is a nationality? What does this mean to me?<br />How do I care about Belgium? How do I care about Luxembourg? How do I care about England?<br />Is a country just a geographical region? Is it more than that? Less than that?<br /> Could a country be just a concept, an abstract idea?<p />A state is <em>'an organized political community, living under a government'</em>. <br />In the current absence of a central government for the country <em>(this is not entirely correct, the previous government is still in place until the new one is formed, but they have limited power)</em>, and when the disembowelment of the country seems programmed, can we still say that Belgium is a state?<p /> Isn't Belgium, nowadays, mostly a state... of mind?<p />And that's the story behind oneweekonebag#2...<p /> <br /><em><span style="color: #666666;">- Post written while listening to the Spotify playlist</span> <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://open.spotify.com/user/losinspa/playlist/6rvNBz66buUO19hpN9Oepg" target="_blank">Belgium While It Lasts</a></span></em><br /> <em style="color: #666666;">- The curious pattern in the design (little rounds) is not part of the design but due to me doing something stupid when making the bag. If you were asking me a copy, the result would be plain black.</em></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-2">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-2#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/-RshBc--G4U" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-2 Mon, 10 Oct 2011 23:56:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/AIlCP2u5DYw/where-did-1-my-power-of-concentration-go http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/where-did-1-my-power-of-concentration-go <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="What-is-evaporation" height="304" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/LPjyDpybZmn5Wo6FTYp8aepPTxliirzPhuyi6ExpaL8Yt3lqOZZgXy426KfL/what-is-evaporation.jpg" width="490" /> </div> </p> <p>Everyday I'm a little bit more aware and worried about seeing my power of concentration evaporating.<p /></p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">9.15 am:&nbsp; I start reading a press article but I see a little one (1) appearing next to the facebook tab opened in my browser, warning me that I got a new mail/message/event invitation that I feel I have to check right away. So I leave the article to go to facebook but then I hear a twhirl/twitter sound notifying me that someone sent me a direct message there. I therefore go on twitter and by the time I read my message I have completely forgotten that I was reading an article. <br /> I decide to look for jobs, so I mean to open the Monster website but I end on Amazon instead <span style="color: #cc33cc;">[2]</span> <em>(one of my recurrent mistake, see one of my previous post '<a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/archive/1/2011" target="_blank">Monster vs Amazon</a>')</em>. I don't close Amazon right away because they are advertising on their homepage the <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0035KKMLO/ref=s9_simh_gw_p200_d2_g200_i2?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&amp;pf_rd_s=center-2&amp;pf_rd_r=1VN1GDMRDCP48G39KG6Z&amp;pf_rd_t=101&amp;pf_rd_p=467128533&amp;pf_rd_i=468294" target="_blank"><span>Retro Quad Roller Skate</span></a>&nbsp; that I want <em>(if you feel like buying me a present, my shoes size is 4/37, thanks)</em>. I don't buy anything because I don't have any money to spend and I finally go on the Monster website, thinking that when I have a job again I will buy these lovely rollers.<br /> I start looking for jobs but I get distracted again by the little (3) next to facebook. 3 new notifications! There must be at least one important thing out of these 3 notifications!&nbsp; I switch to the facebook page and see that it was only two event invitations and someone who 'liked' the link I posted earlier in the morning on my wall.<br /> I check the 'most popular stories' on the homepage and I see the new status of a band I like <span style="color: #cc33cc;">[3]</span>, they say <em>'<span> Our album comes out same day as the Beach Boys Smile Sessions and Bieber's Christmas album. I like to think we fall exactly between the two.</span></em>' I start typing a comment <em>'<span>ahaha that's a selling point!'</span></em> but I am not sure that 'selling point' is the correct English expression so I make a search in google and read the content of a few pages about <em>selling sentences</em> and <em>selling point</em>. I come back on Facebook and type my status.<br /> Once I have typed it I think I must be really bored to waste time commenting band's facebook status and I go back on Monster because I want a job <span style="color: #cc33cc;">[4].</span><br />I search for project manager roles and find one I am interested into. I decide to apply and click on... 'Apply'.<br /> I need to type a cover letter. I know I went for a similar role last week and I want to check what I had written for that one. I go in gmail and make a search in my sent mails <span style="color: #993399;">[5]</span> using the word 'cv' as keyword. I scan all the results but can't find what I am looking for. <br /> However my friend Anne Laure sent me a mail called 'Debrief of the weekend'. I have to read it. <br />I read it and then reply, it would be rude not to!<br />After that, I go to the loo and make a cup of tea on the way back to my desk. I see my hula hoops and grab one to play a little bit.<br /> I see a new (1) next to the gmail firefox tab so I stop hooping and go back to my laptop. Anne Laure replied to my mail. I reply to her new mail, it would be rude not to.<br />I see the Monster tab opened and I feel guilty. I close all the tabs with the exception of Monster and I commit to not open facebook or gmail until I have sent this application.<br /> I start typing my cover letter but as usual I have doubts about some expressions to use. I make a google search and find a cool website called <a href="http://www.askamanager.org/" target="_blank">'Ask a manager'</a>. I find the answer I was looking for but I keep reading the blog. After having been through 10 articles I subscribe to the RSS feed.<br /> I go back to my cover letter, say everything I wanted to say and only need to add a last polite sentence. I open gmail to steal such a sentence from a previous application. But Anne Laure has replied to my mail so I have to read her mail, and reply because.. it would be rude not to.<br /> I find the sentence I am looking for, I copy and paste it, go through a spelling check and finally hit the button 'Send application'.<br />11.15 am: I open facebook, I have no new notification. But I see someone commenting about some French news on their wall. It makes me remember that I had started to read an article earlier in the morning and hadn't finished it. I search for it and resume my reading, about 2 hours later...</div> <p><br />The above story is pretty much real and rather typical for me. I don't seem to be able to concentrate much when I need to do anything web related.<br />When it comes to read a book, edit a hoop video or make the design of a bag I seem to be much better, which makes me think and hope that I haven't lost all my power of concentration. I maybe don't seem to control it well with the web opened. Which is tricky when it comes to apply for jobs.<br /> I have this concentration issue as well when I write post on my blog. And even in the case of this specific post, when I tried not to leave the page, I failed 5 times, marked by the <span style="color: #cc66cc;">[numbers]</span> in the post itself (+ 1 in the title). Here is what distract me each time:<p /> [1] I want to type 'power of concentration' but I am not sure it's correct language so I leave the page to check it.<br />[2] I make a search to find the link to my previous post.<br />[3] I go on facebook to copy the status I am referring to.<br /> [4] I see a little (1) in the facebook firefox tab and leave the blog to check the notification.. it was just a notification because someone has posted a link on the page of the Bristol Hoopers group. <br /> [5] I see another little (1) in the facebook firefox tab and leave the blog to check the notification.. it was a friend liking my last post on the wall of 'The love of it' group. You know, the group of lovely nutters I told you about this weekend.</p> <p>What about you? How does your concentration behave when you are on the web?<br />Did you read this post in one go or did you get distracted ?<br />Did you finish what you were doing before starting to read this post?<br />And by the way.. do you remember what you were about to do when you got distracted by me?</p> <p><p /> <a href="http://www.theinnovationdiaries.com/1203/what-is-evaporation/" target="_blank">Image</a><p /><em style="color: #666666;">&lt;Time spent to type this post: 1 hour 3 minutes&gt;</em></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/where-did-1-my-power-of-concentration-go">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/where-did-1-my-power-of-concentration-go#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/AIlCP2u5DYw" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/where-did-1-my-power-of-concentration-go Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:20:36 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/8PcBZ12kfF8/congratulations-peter-durand-but http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/congratulations-peter-durand-but <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Can-opener" height="247" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/wH0RuoI12DEVba3yaZQaLfq6SPfykr8w7G3t6DPpOdMEoiS5VuIfKjPvkq0h/can-opener.jpg" width="252" /> </div> <p>Tin cans are a brilliant invention. Really.<br />What a genius way to preserve food for long periods of time. <br />Congratulations Peter Durand, John Hall and Bryan Dorki... our meals owe you a lot.<p />BUT.. I have a but.<p /> It&#39;s been now two hundreds and one year since Peter Durand got the clever idea of tin cans.<br />However, I am a little puzzled, annoyed and fully irritated to ascertain that 201 years after the date of this brilliant invention, it&#39;s almost impossible to find any can openers that really can open this bloody cans!<br /> In my grown up life I bought many of these, from the cheapest one to the most expensive one and I am tired to always end in what feels like a battle between me and the cans!<br />If often I succeed in these these battles, it&#39;s never without finishing with juice on my clothes or/and with the help of a knife to finish the work!<p /> So, could someone please create a can opener that will make it easy to open these cans in a near future or shall we wait until the 300th anniversary of the death of Mister Durand?<br />Mmmm?<p /><br />Note: if you want to know more about the history of tin cans, have a look <a href="http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/tin_can.htm" target="_blank">here</a><br /></p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/congratulations-peter-durand-but">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/congratulations-peter-durand-but#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/8PcBZ12kfF8" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/congratulations-peter-durand-but Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:01:33 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/udiVfq0w_mg/for-the-love-of-it http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/for-the-love-of-it <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Img_1585" height="214" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/eu5CAFMj7weQD9K2UXyo1tBS9alLHjTeu0k0baTgGPrEAGJ9aMRd1uMluXLB/IMG_1585.jpg" width="320" /> </div> <p>Doing things just for the love of it is the best possible reason.<br />In Bristol, I have the chance to be surrounded by crazy nutters having fun ideas and pursuing them for this very good reason . It&#39;s inspiring!<p /> Steph lives in Bristol and has very serious degrees in <span class="fsm fwn fcg">Electronic and electrical engineering as well as </span><span class="fbProfileBylineFragment"><span class="fbProfileBylineLabel">one in Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies.<br /> But as passionate as she can be by her job, she is as well totally passionate by life, people and their marvels.<br />Together with seven of her friends she created a group in Bristol called <a href="http://www.theloveofit.co.uk">&#39;The love of it&#39;</a> which is today counting more than 1300 members.<p /> Their group is</span></span><span class="fcg"> <i>the source of all knowledge for good wholesome fun. It is a place where you can share ideas, plan events and get involved in such things as:<p /></i></span><i><span class="fcg">Night swimming - Den building - Picnics - Camping <span class="text_exposed_show">- Board games - Road tripping - Rockpooling - Lomography - Pin hole camera making - Couch surfing - Cheese rolling - Hole digging - Star gazing - Scrabble - Sand castles - Making things - Kite flying - Treasure hunts - Campfires - Tree climbing - Story telling - Hula hooping - Water fighting - Hitch hiking - Beach Olympics - Book swapping - Wild swimming - Doodling - Conker fights - Outdoor cinema - Inventing things </span></span>- ...</i><p /> In October, aside some other activities they are organising a workshop to <i>&#39;crochet a beard or moustache for your loved one&#39;.<br /></i>Why crocheting a beard,  would you ask?<br />JUST FOR THE LOVE OF IT!<br />Isn&#39;t it beautiful?<p /> Earlier this year, Steph started an origami project.<br />Because she likes making cranes and she realised that behind each crane she is making there is a story to tell, she started a blog called <a href="http://1000-paper-cranes.blogspot.com/">1000 paper cranes</a>. <p /> On her blog she says:<p /></p><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><i>I love making paper cranes, and each time I make one, I realise there&#39;s a story behind it. So my challenge is to make 1000 paper cranes over the coming days, weeks, months, (years?) and write about each one...<br /><b>Why a crane?</b></i><div><i>Well, firstly it&#39;s the first origami I ever learnt to do, and is fairly easy to teach other people to do. It&#39;s also a symbol of peace, and one I really love.</i></div><div><i><b>Why one thousand?</b></i></div><div><i>Well, initially I was inspired by a song called &quot;A thousand paper cranes&quot; by a band called Mono, but there is also a Japanese legend that anyone who folds a thousand cranes will be granted a wish. </i></div></div><br />She has now already made 600 cranes since she started the blog!<p />During the summer she got the idea of an origami bombing. So she made 200 cranes and placed them patiently in a tree in the area of town where she is living.<br /> One of her friend filmed the whole project and made a lovely video of it.<p /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WiZCpaBc4mE?wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="417" width="500"></iframe><p />Isn&#39;t it lovely?<p />And it was made, just for the love of it ♥ ! </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/for-the-love-of-it">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/for-the-love-of-it#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/udiVfq0w_mg" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/for-the-love-of-it Sun, 09 Oct 2011 02:38:08 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/U3qBGywFlsU/the-amazing-hoop-race http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-amazing-hoop-race <p> In November last year I started to weekly take hula hoop classes here in Bristol. I had a hoop long break over the summer but I resumed attending classes in September, full of energy and desire to learn new tricks!<br />Last week, my friend Hannah forwarded me an email about a global hula hoop competition for teams of two (<a href="http://www.hooping.org/2011/10/the-amazing-hoop-race-casting-begins/">The Amazing Hoop Race</a>). It sounded exciting but in order to take part in the competition the teams had to submit a casting video by Saturday (yesterday) night. I told my friend that I would have loved to do it with her but I can&#39;t jump or dance with this <i>(taking bloody ages to heal broken)</i> toe.<br /> On Thursday, our teacher Emma sent us a mail suggesting we should team up for the competition and do it. <br />I was about to reply that I sadly can&#39;t with my toe but then I saw she added <i>&#39;it&#39;d make for an interesting challenge doing the weeks videos without using one foot!&#39;</i>.<br /> And she is right! Fair enough I feel a bit disabled with the hoop these days and can&#39;t really move how I would like to, but it&#39;s just a game and it&#39;s fun!<br />So I put my video director on and met Hannah on Friday after work to shoot a little videos, together with the help of our friend Elin as camera operator.<p /> And here you go, here is our casting video!<p /><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m7Wm2qJzY1o?wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="417" width="500"></iframe><p />If we are selected we will have to take part of weekly hoop challenges and produced one video a week. It should be very exciting!<br /> Although, I&#39;m as well a little bit scared now that I&#39;ve seen some videos made by other teams. Plenty of great hoopers there, able to do absolutely great moves! The competition is gonna be tough!<br />I need my toe back!!<br /> However, since this hoop competition is video based, it won&#39;t be just about how good we are at hooping but as well how good we are at making videos. And making cool videos is as exciting as doing hula hoop moves! </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-amazing-hoop-race">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-amazing-hoop-race#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/U3qBGywFlsU" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-amazing-hoop-race Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:13:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/opwBS4rJ330/the-difficulty-of-knowing-what-people-are-tal http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-difficulty-of-knowing-what-people-are-tal <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Dinnersky" height="318" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/t97fMJ035D2ATIA36iCycEabRaJllQzCmfDk00BgSMfuaRRWATrb5G9HbHQR/dinnersky.jpg" width="480" /> </div> </p> <p>You know it, learning a language with a teacher during millions of hours won't prevent you from misunderstandings when using the language in real life.<br />At school you are taught the language of the books, without much nuances. But as you know with your own language, a word can have various meanings depending of its context or depending on the country and the region where you are.<p /> For example, at school, I learned that in English, the morning meal is breakfast, the noon one is lunch and the evening meal is dinner. <br />However, I now know that it is not always the case.<p />A few months ago I got invited to a friend wedding. On the invitation, my friends were requesting the guests to make their choice in regards to the Wedding Breakfast.<br /> Wedding Breakfast?<br />That is puzzling to call a meal 'breakfast' when you know you're not going to have it until late in the afternoon.<br />A bit of search on the web indicates us that the reason why it's called that way is that people used to fast before the communion and therefore, the 'break fast' would have been the first meal of the day, after the wedding ceremony. The name was kept by tradition <em>(or maybe just for the joy to confuse people!).</em><p /> Recently, a friend invited me for dinner at her place. The day before she told me<em> 'so I&nbsp; will see you tomorrow for tea'</em>. It confused me and I thought I had maybe misunderstood the invitation. I didn't say anything because I was free as well in the afternoon so I didn't mind seeing her for a cup of tea instead. But when she told me she was planning to cook pasta for us, I got totally confused. Pasta for tea? When she suggested that we meet at 7 I realised that I had understood right the first time, we were meeting for dinner, not for tea.<br /> My friend explained me later that the word tea for the evening meal was used in some regions of the country as well as by the working class or by people with working class origin.<p />Here is what I found about that:<p /> </p> <div style="margin-left: 40px;"><em>'Prior to the industrial revolution, when most people worked in agriculture, the workers would come home at lunch time and eat their main meal then. After the industrial revolution, the working classes could not come home at lunch time and so the main meal of the day took place in the late afternoon, or early evening -- the same time as the afternoon tea of the rich. This meal became known as teatime. It was a High Tea if it contained hot and filling foods and just Tea if it comprised mainly of breads and cold cuts. A High Tea consisted of whatever was available -- bacon, eggs, meats, stew -- there were no hard and fast social rules for this meal except that it would always be accompanied by copious amounts of tea. </em>' (via <a href="http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/taste/tea.shtml">Timetravel Britain</a>)</div> <p><br />However, some people use the word dinner as well for lunch, as 'lunch, the meal you have at noon'. Confusing, he?<p /> Wanna be confused even more?<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner">Wikipedia</a> tells us that originally,<em> the word </em>dinner<em> is from the Old French&nbsp; disner, meaning "breakfast", from the stem of Gallo-Romance </em><em>desjunare ("to break one's fast").</em> So now dinner mean as well breakfast? <br /> Could a word be any more misleading than that?<p />I didn't find an efficient way to avoid confusion yet so my only advice for you would be to check with your friends what they mean whenever they ask you if you are up for tea/dinner/lunch with them. And if you intend to invite someone, use just the word meal in your invitation and specify the time.<p /> Good luck!</p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-difficulty-of-knowing-what-people-are-tal">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-difficulty-of-knowing-what-people-are-tal#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/opwBS4rJ330" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/the-difficulty-of-knowing-what-people-are-tal Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:16:00 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~3/0UeOg582GRc/one-week-one-bag-1 http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-1 <p> <p><em style="color: #999999;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Note</span>: my challenge for the next 12 months is to create a new design for a bag every week. Read more about this project <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/my-new-project-one-week-one-bag" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /> If you want a copy of this bag, send me a mail: me [at] cecfrombelgium. com and I'll make one for you for the tiny price of 5&euro;/4&pound;+ postage.</em><p /> 10 days ago I had to spend 3 days stuck in my sofa.<br />Not sat but lying on it due to a painful toe.<br />Since I don't have a TV and couldn't do much in that position I looked for a television series to stream on my laptop and selected the unheard of '<a href="http://www.prettylittleliars.com">Pretty Little Liars</a>'.<br /> I should have switched to something else after the first episode really, but since I didn't have much to do, I watched a second one and then it was too late. The Pretty Little Liars got me!<p />So what is Pretty Little Liars all about.<br /> Basically it is a mix between <a href="http://www.cwtv.com/shows/gossip-girl">Gossip Girl</a> and <a href="http://www.cwtv.com/shows/90210">90210</a> <em>(er yes, I have already watched these as well... but I got the flu.. ahem..).</em> Four girls aged sixteen going to school, dating guys, having issues with their parents and getting weird/blackmail texts from someone unknown signing each text with the letter A.<br /> The summer before the time of the first episode, their friend and little group leader, Alison, disappeared and got killed. The girls know more about that night that what they said to the police and therefore, they kind of investigate the death of their friends themselves. The unknown A sometimes help them, sometimes play with them.<br /> They lie a lot, but without lies they wouldn't be the Pretty Little Liars<p />I watched 34 episodes. 34 episodes of 40 minutes. <br />I won't make the quick maths to find out how many hours of my life I lost during these few days. Too much. And I still don't know who killed Alison and who A is! But bet I can live without knowing the truth.<p /> In the last episode I watched (S02E12), the character Spencer Hasting said to her boyfriend <em>(careful, spoiler spoiler spoiler)</em> Toby :<em>'<strong>You know the Hastings&rsquo; motto: Why enjoy today when you could be <em>worrying about tomorrow</em>?&rdquo;</strong></em>. I found this sentence genius and it made me feel better to have watched so much of the series. Suddenly it had been <em>(kind of) </em>worth wasting so much time.<p /> And that is the story of oneweekonebag#1<p /></p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="04102011412" height="588" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/Kr88r2QrVZ17pDc5NcEVbdQb0vxlFdQJTcNEceCWUpO2ZvudStCLn5zJyvYo/04102011412.jpg" width="330" /> <img alt="Img_1129" height="329" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/cecfrombelgium/t8nFS70RL1ktpE3rZL9yr2cdGipjzSq3ktaC9LkSd60V6zKbCVdjbrRhkB0h/IMG_1129.jpg" width="247" /> <div class='p_see_full_gallery'><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-1">See the full gallery on Posterous</a></div> </div> </p> </p> <p><a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-1">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-1#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/CecsBabblings/~4/0UeOg582GRc" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/1312511/cec.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5Aqe4G9AA6PL Cecile cecfrombelgium Cecile http://cecfrombelgium.posterous.com/one-week-one-bag-1