I'm wandering about our house...
The air conditioner is covered in dust: last summer no one switched it on to endure the heat.
The TV in the sitting room has not been switched on since months, and the last time it just monitored the transfers from the digital camera cassettes recorded in May.
The Blu-ray player we used in STICCON is back where it belonged, but never used since.
Every box I brought back from the Reunion is still closed, untouched. I don't need any of the items inside.
My eyes linger on the Sanyo on the wall. I switched it on once and I can't bear the thought of switching it on ever again! The blue armchair is covered with pillows and blankets, no one had been sitting there since ages!
There are so many DVDs and Blu-rays still wrapped in their plastic that I will never watch, not to mention all 2013 issues of "TV Sorrisi & Canzoni", unread.
The wardrobes containing all books and magazines and memorabilia are closed since last year. The computer near the back window is silent and dusty, and so is the Mac that we used for a job than does not exists anymore!
Several months ago I naively thought that my biggest trouble would be to face a decision between two paths. I could freeze our house as Alberto left it, leaving everything ready for any friend to come and share it. Or I could transform this same house in a kind of museum, restaging rooms to show the various stages of our adventurous 26+ years together. Now I know I would do neither because all the things in the house will be soon be gone.
Whether all things will be used to pay a debt we never thought we had, or given away to friends who could put them to good use, the result is the same: the house will be empty, not frozen in time nor a museum. Simply empty.
But after all, things are just things. Aren't they?
Saturday 21 December 2013
Friday 6 December 2013
My ultimate webtiquette!
I had my first clash with netiquette when I was very young, I guess three or four, and my mother kindly reproached me because I was being rude to someone - I hadn't said "good morning" or something the like.
There was no internet back then, I know, but the very basic concept of what now it's called "netiquette" is... "etiquette", or "good manners", so what is rude in the "real" world is rude in the "virtual" world.
I have no intention of patronising anyone, but since I've been unsuccessful in finding one simple set of netiquette rules that could encompass all the spectrum of social web activities, I decided to sum up my own.
Here is my very short list of rules.
---
1 - Think before you type. Read before you write.
2 - Do not treat others in ways that you would not like to be treated.
3 - Truth does not belong to you. You have opinions and points of view - express them clearly but do not impose them to others.
4 - Passionate confrontations are enjoyable, heated conflicts are not! And quiet conversations are better!
5 - Don't spam! Spam is not cool!
6 - Do not feed the trolls. And don't be one!
7 - Do not post copyrighted material to which you do not own the rights. Or ask the owner first. Acknowledge your sources.
8 - Stay on-topic. A joke or a pun is entertaining, a long digression is not.
9 - Google it or search a Wiki before asking. Truth is not there either, but to satisfy your curiosity is really easy nowadays.
10 - Remember that your words will last - everyone, everywhere in the world will be able to read them now and in years to come.
----
That's it.
I should not even feel the need to write these "rules" of mine if all of us used common sense on the web as we do in real life. I know that virtually no web service ask you to subscribe a set of rules like these when creating your email, or your profile, but... come on!, in the real world there is no form a child has to sign in order to behave.
Being polite and civil is not something you have to do because you're forced to by law!
There was no internet back then, I know, but the very basic concept of what now it's called "netiquette" is... "etiquette", or "good manners", so what is rude in the "real" world is rude in the "virtual" world.
I have no intention of patronising anyone, but since I've been unsuccessful in finding one simple set of netiquette rules that could encompass all the spectrum of social web activities, I decided to sum up my own.
Here is my very short list of rules.
---
1 - Think before you type. Read before you write.
2 - Do not treat others in ways that you would not like to be treated.
3 - Truth does not belong to you. You have opinions and points of view - express them clearly but do not impose them to others.
4 - Passionate confrontations are enjoyable, heated conflicts are not! And quiet conversations are better!
5 - Don't spam! Spam is not cool!
6 - Do not feed the trolls. And don't be one!
7 - Do not post copyrighted material to which you do not own the rights. Or ask the owner first. Acknowledge your sources.
8 - Stay on-topic. A joke or a pun is entertaining, a long digression is not.
9 - Google it or search a Wiki before asking. Truth is not there either, but to satisfy your curiosity is really easy nowadays.
10 - Remember that your words will last - everyone, everywhere in the world will be able to read them now and in years to come.
----
That's it.
I should not even feel the need to write these "rules" of mine if all of us used common sense on the web as we do in real life. I know that virtually no web service ask you to subscribe a set of rules like these when creating your email, or your profile, but... come on!, in the real world there is no form a child has to sign in order to behave.
Being polite and civil is not something you have to do because you're forced to by law!
Tuesday 3 December 2013
What friends are for!
There is an old Irish blessing saying "May your hand be always stretched in friendship and never in need". I would like to add a note: "But when in need, stretch your hand and friends will come".
When I met Alberto I know I've been blessed with the kindest man I could have dreamed of, but with him they came too - friends!
I never had long-time friends in my life before - despite being very social, my friendships never reached beyond the moment: when I finished school, I lost my schoolmates, when I moved to another city contacts with next door friends faded.
I'm not blaming anyone... it just happened this way.
Until I met Alberto, and his friends.
Until I forged new friendships with our friends.
And they remained.
You are still here, my friends, and you're helping now that my hand is stretched out in need. You're helping beyond my everyday survival. You're helping because you're giving me hope and a future to think about.
I know that's the true call of a friend.
That's why I'm blessed to have you!
Thank you, again and always!
When I met Alberto I know I've been blessed with the kindest man I could have dreamed of, but with him they came too - friends!
I never had long-time friends in my life before - despite being very social, my friendships never reached beyond the moment: when I finished school, I lost my schoolmates, when I moved to another city contacts with next door friends faded.
I'm not blaming anyone... it just happened this way.
Until I met Alberto, and his friends.
Until I forged new friendships with our friends.
And they remained.
You are still here, my friends, and you're helping now that my hand is stretched out in need. You're helping beyond my everyday survival. You're helping because you're giving me hope and a future to think about.
I know that's the true call of a friend.
That's why I'm blessed to have you!
Thank you, again and always!
Saturday 23 November 2013
The Day of the Doctor
All I have I would have given gladly not to be stand here today.
But here I am, and I cannot not celebrate the way we would have!
In my mind's eyes there will be another presence in my house tonight, laughing and enjoying Doctor Who 50th anniversary as well.
This is another momentous moment for me, like with Into Darkness back in May in London. With Star Trek I wished I lived in parallel universe, with Doctor Who I wish I could go back in time and change things!
But alas... reality is something else.
Well... The moment has almost come... cell phones switched off, Facebook closed, Twitter closed... just my screen will be on for "The Day of the Doctor".
Happy 50th birthday, Doctor Who!
But here I am, and I cannot not celebrate the way we would have!
In my mind's eyes there will be another presence in my house tonight, laughing and enjoying Doctor Who 50th anniversary as well.
This is another momentous moment for me, like with Into Darkness back in May in London. With Star Trek I wished I lived in parallel universe, with Doctor Who I wish I could go back in time and change things!
But alas... reality is something else.
Well... The moment has almost come... cell phones switched off, Facebook closed, Twitter closed... just my screen will be on for "The Day of the Doctor".
Happy 50th birthday, Doctor Who!
Wednesday 20 November 2013
Tilting at windmills?
Did my friends rightly convinced me that I have no way of fighting off giants from what I see as the "calling card" of the Star Trek Italian Club on Facebook? Or, unlike Don Quijote's, those are real giants and I have to fight them off?
I listened to my own "Sancho" and his advice: the more I tried and have the STIC parlour on Facebook a quiet and cosy place to chat, the more I damaged it. I stayed away, leaving the group so that it will be taking care of itself, with STIC members and fans happily returning without having to do with the armoured hidalgo I became.
The group went on without me, so Sancho was right and I was wrong.
But then...
Why do I still see giants there? Why the people I care for stay away from it?
Could it be that Sancho was wrong?
Could it be that those were not windmills?
I simply wonder.
Tuesday 19 November 2013
Of learning about audio and video
Wiring in our house has been done for having Internet access in every room, connect all computers, and record and play from every player watching everything on every screen.
In my other life, when I was whole, we managed to enjoy almost anything anywhere, but in these last long months I have neglected most of our "wired house". I didn't feel like watching anything alone, except while curled up in bed. And the TV set there is old and not connected to the rest of the house!
Despite all this wiring I am still at loss when I have to pass information from a computer to another, or to play something that I recorded somewhere else. So preparing all videos for the conventions is something I dread. For STICCON I managed to connect a couple of media players to one computer, and that’s been enough. But for the impending Reunion I had a more difficult task to accomplish: to record from a source that was not connected to a media player with only a vague idea how to connect it.
Today, while I was trying to get the job done, these has been my thoughts...
Why I cannot monitor video from the media player through RCA jacks puts into its RCA sockets?
Why I can only hear audio (and with a disturbing "Daleks effects" in it)?
Why the media player does not record at all (monitor or not) from the source?
Why I can monitor the media player only now that I put the RCA jacks into a RCA-Scart adaptor and inserted it in the media player Scart socket?
Why I can hear and see perfectly now?
Why I can record now that I inserted our old VHS player between the source and the media player through RCA-Scart and Scart-RAC cables?
Why?
I still don't know the answers. It just works.
That's the wrong way of doing things, though. Because if I'd have to repeat the whole thing I will have no knowledge of how to do it, and my memory will not be good enough to remember the wiring I used today. In a few days the media player will be disconnected and brought to the Reunion and when I'll be back home I will not surely remember which goes where!
If Alberto was here it would be a piece of cake!
And if I had listened to him more than I did, I should be able to do it again... Alberto’s always insisted that I learned how things worked in details. And I always listened, but not enough. Actually I did not care enough to remember properly because I unconsciously thought that any effort on my part would be pointless - he would always be there to teach me, wouldn't he?
Alas... he is not here and I didn't learn.
In my other life, when I was whole, we managed to enjoy almost anything anywhere, but in these last long months I have neglected most of our "wired house". I didn't feel like watching anything alone, except while curled up in bed. And the TV set there is old and not connected to the rest of the house!
Despite all this wiring I am still at loss when I have to pass information from a computer to another, or to play something that I recorded somewhere else. So preparing all videos for the conventions is something I dread. For STICCON I managed to connect a couple of media players to one computer, and that’s been enough. But for the impending Reunion I had a more difficult task to accomplish: to record from a source that was not connected to a media player with only a vague idea how to connect it.
Today, while I was trying to get the job done, these has been my thoughts...
Why I cannot monitor video from the media player through RCA jacks puts into its RCA sockets?
Why I can only hear audio (and with a disturbing "Daleks effects" in it)?
Why the media player does not record at all (monitor or not) from the source?
Why I can monitor the media player only now that I put the RCA jacks into a RCA-Scart adaptor and inserted it in the media player Scart socket?
Why I can hear and see perfectly now?
Why I can record now that I inserted our old VHS player between the source and the media player through RCA-Scart and Scart-RAC cables?
Why?
I still don't know the answers. It just works.
That's the wrong way of doing things, though. Because if I'd have to repeat the whole thing I will have no knowledge of how to do it, and my memory will not be good enough to remember the wiring I used today. In a few days the media player will be disconnected and brought to the Reunion and when I'll be back home I will not surely remember which goes where!
If Alberto was here it would be a piece of cake!
And if I had listened to him more than I did, I should be able to do it again... Alberto’s always insisted that I learned how things worked in details. And I always listened, but not enough. Actually I did not care enough to remember properly because I unconsciously thought that any effort on my part would be pointless - he would always be there to teach me, wouldn't he?
Alas... he is not here and I didn't learn.
Saturday 16 November 2013
Reunion o non Reunion? Questo e' il dilemma...
Ciao a tutti!
Scusatemi fin dall'inizio se questo mio post suonera' strano e confusionario ad alcuni di voi.
Avevo aperto questo blog per spiegare a tutti gli amici, anche quelli che non sono su Facebook o Twitter, il perche' della mia partenza per l'estero. Partenza che non sara' piu' immediata come avrei scritto.
Alcuni di voi sanno di cosa parlo, altri no...
Mettetevi comodi.
Vi risparmio i dettagli (sarebbe lungo e noioso e poi alcune cose e' meglio che non le dica pubblicamente!) ma sappiate che sono in grossi guai economici: dopo la morte di Alberto ho avuto problemi con persone che hanno tradito la nostra fiducia (mia e di Alberto) e il lavoro che facevamo e' diminuito gradualmente nel corso degli ultimi mesi fino a scomparire praticamente del tutto a fine ottobre.
Come spesso ho detto a molti di voi, le uniche tre cose che mi tenevano viva e attiva erano il lavoro, Star Trek e lo STIC (e nello STIC inglobo tutte quelle realta' "collaterali" nate con gli amici conosciuti tramite il club: il Paiolo, i DWHU, ecc).
Il lavoro non c'e' piu'...
Star Trek e' in "stand-by" fino al prossimo film...
Mi resta lo STIC, che pero' e' solo un hobby.
Rimanere viva psicologicamente va bene, ma ci sono bollette e tasse da pagare e dunque dovevo assolutamente trovare un nuovo lavoro.
Fin dalla scorsa primavera sapevo di poter contare sui nostri risparmi fino a fine anno, ma altre promesse sono state disattese e... per farla breve: ho calcolato che a febbraio sarei rimasta con zero centesimi in tasca!
Nelle ultime settimane dunque la ricerca del lavoro si e' fatta frentica. Ma... la situazione in Italia e' quella che e' e non ho trovato niente: sono troppo vecchia persino per essere assunta come baby sitter o per fare le pulizie!
Cosi' ho guardato all'estero. Per fortuna conosco l'inglese e nonostante la recessione colpisca anche le isole britanniche, lassu' ho trovato molte opportunita'. No, non sto parlando di lavori, solo di opportunita', ma meglio un'opportunita' del nulla!
Un paio di queste opportunita' hanno rischiato pero' di farmi saltare la Reunion: se i colloqui andavano in porto starei preparando la valigia per partire sabato prossimo e cominciare a lavorare lunedi'!
Ecco perche' avevo aperto questo blog: per comunicare che sarei stata assente alla Reunion... e gia' nello scrivere queste poche parole avrei provato un dolore immenso: la prima convention dello STIC che saltavo dal 1988! Sarei davvero riuscita a mancare l'appuntamento?
Per fortuna non sono costretta a scoprirlo adesso: saro' a Riccione e mi divertiro' con voi invece di leggere del vostro divertimento sui social network!
Certo... ora sono al punto di partenza: niente lavoro, niente soldi.
Forse pero' c'e' una cosa diversa: ora ci sono delle opportunita'!
Potro' inseguire quelle opportunita' e magari partire all'inizio dell'anno prossimo. Con calma.
Il blog restera' qui e lo usero', ma intanto...
... ci vediamo in Reunion ed e' questo l'importante!!!!!
A prestissimo!
Scusatemi fin dall'inizio se questo mio post suonera' strano e confusionario ad alcuni di voi.
Avevo aperto questo blog per spiegare a tutti gli amici, anche quelli che non sono su Facebook o Twitter, il perche' della mia partenza per l'estero. Partenza che non sara' piu' immediata come avrei scritto.
Alcuni di voi sanno di cosa parlo, altri no...
Mettetevi comodi.
Vi risparmio i dettagli (sarebbe lungo e noioso e poi alcune cose e' meglio che non le dica pubblicamente!) ma sappiate che sono in grossi guai economici: dopo la morte di Alberto ho avuto problemi con persone che hanno tradito la nostra fiducia (mia e di Alberto) e il lavoro che facevamo e' diminuito gradualmente nel corso degli ultimi mesi fino a scomparire praticamente del tutto a fine ottobre.
Come spesso ho detto a molti di voi, le uniche tre cose che mi tenevano viva e attiva erano il lavoro, Star Trek e lo STIC (e nello STIC inglobo tutte quelle realta' "collaterali" nate con gli amici conosciuti tramite il club: il Paiolo, i DWHU, ecc).
Il lavoro non c'e' piu'...
Star Trek e' in "stand-by" fino al prossimo film...
Mi resta lo STIC, che pero' e' solo un hobby.
Rimanere viva psicologicamente va bene, ma ci sono bollette e tasse da pagare e dunque dovevo assolutamente trovare un nuovo lavoro.
Fin dalla scorsa primavera sapevo di poter contare sui nostri risparmi fino a fine anno, ma altre promesse sono state disattese e... per farla breve: ho calcolato che a febbraio sarei rimasta con zero centesimi in tasca!
Nelle ultime settimane dunque la ricerca del lavoro si e' fatta frentica. Ma... la situazione in Italia e' quella che e' e non ho trovato niente: sono troppo vecchia persino per essere assunta come baby sitter o per fare le pulizie!
Cosi' ho guardato all'estero. Per fortuna conosco l'inglese e nonostante la recessione colpisca anche le isole britanniche, lassu' ho trovato molte opportunita'. No, non sto parlando di lavori, solo di opportunita', ma meglio un'opportunita' del nulla!
Un paio di queste opportunita' hanno rischiato pero' di farmi saltare la Reunion: se i colloqui andavano in porto starei preparando la valigia per partire sabato prossimo e cominciare a lavorare lunedi'!
Ecco perche' avevo aperto questo blog: per comunicare che sarei stata assente alla Reunion... e gia' nello scrivere queste poche parole avrei provato un dolore immenso: la prima convention dello STIC che saltavo dal 1988! Sarei davvero riuscita a mancare l'appuntamento?
Per fortuna non sono costretta a scoprirlo adesso: saro' a Riccione e mi divertiro' con voi invece di leggere del vostro divertimento sui social network!
Certo... ora sono al punto di partenza: niente lavoro, niente soldi.
Forse pero' c'e' una cosa diversa: ora ci sono delle opportunita'!
Potro' inseguire quelle opportunita' e magari partire all'inizio dell'anno prossimo. Con calma.
Il blog restera' qui e lo usero', ma intanto...
... ci vediamo in Reunion ed e' questo l'importante!!!!!
A prestissimo!
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