Things are just things...

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?

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.

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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.

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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!

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!