winners

What can I write today? Me, the movie maniac, after the Oscars' night?
Congratulations to all the lovely actors and actresses who were awarded a few hours ago! And my biggest congrats to the makers of "The King's Speech", really the best movie of the year :-)

dinner

Rainy Sunday and dark, sad afternoon ended up with a walk - just against everything winterish, cold, grey and cloudy! And the walk had its effective and delicious finish in a polish restaurant :) I've never been there before and I was positively surprised with the cosy atmosphere, very hospitable owners and the decor, which reminded me of some of favourite cafes back in Poland :)

Here are two pics I dared to take (when no-one was looking) with my phone from the table where we were sitting:



Oh, and what did we have? We ordered a plate with selection of polish sausages, oscypek (special cheese served with cranberries) and a plate of dumplings. Yummy!

March movie plans

Okay, the last post tonight (seems like I'm catching up after a working week??).
I got a new issue our old style cinema's magazine and I'm indeed planning to see a few of their screenings scheduled for the next month. I like this cinema because, apart from being very... old and stylish :) it shows the movies you can't really see anywhere else. So, in March...

"Animal Kingdom", a new movie from Australia, the winner of Sundance Film Festival in 2010:



"Norwegian Wood", based on a story written by Haruki Murakami - an absolute bestseller in Japan and a very popular novel worldwide. Personally, I haven't read this one yet, but I like Murakami a lot...



And finally, "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" by Werner Herzog (in 3D!) - I just read about the paintings in the caves in France a couple of weeks ago and cannot wait to see them... This will a remarkable experience.

April break

And so the tickets are booked!
I finally figured out and decided yesterday when I can go home without spending a fortune and for a reasonable amount of time :) And so it is - my springtime break - starts on the 20th of April and finishes on the 30th. Whole 10 days of holidays, spending time with my family, meeting old friends, but also catching up with some bits I have to do (like a control visit at the dentist, yummy - not!).
Also, for the first time in three years I will spend Easter with my family, at home. Actually I got used to not being with them on every more important occasion, but it will be nice...
I really hope it will be a good, sunny time, since I am not sure how my summertime will look like this year... Might be just staying here and working...

fog again

Good old English fog makes me feel more like it's October now, not February... with this difference that in October we prepare ourselves for long, dark and cold winter - days are getting shorter and and the air is colder. In February days slowly grow in brightness and you can hear little birds singing shyly, as if they were not sure if it's already the time...
I love these foggy days - yes, not morning only, here fog can stay with you from the early morning until late night... Although I miss the springtime sunshine and the clear blue sky. A few more weeks and those days will come too!

And that's the place where I start my journey to work every day (from Monday to Friday:))

Fleetwood Mac

And now, since it's Thursday evening and it's nearly weekend (tomorrow's at work should be fun and easy - we have teambuilding session in the afternoon and I have a couple of meetings in the morning) - so I sit in front of my computer and listen to Fleetwood Mac... mostly by watching videos from their concerts... Can't believe they were performing in Europe in 2009 and I missed that! Would they PLEASE PLEASE come back???
I would give anything to see them live, before they give their last concert... Hope I will have this chance...

cooking

Something I have little time for - don't have enough time to organise and prepare meals everyday... Not this pace of life, not now at least... But tonight I prepared steam-cooked fish (my favourite salmon) with spinach and asparagus :)
We bought all ingredients last weekend, and the whole cooking process took me about 10 minutes - and the meal was very tasty. I am proud of myself :)

marshmallow test

Okay, so here's the deal: American scientists (psychologists, I would imagine) made an experiment on a group of children to measure how their self control works (and some other things). They left each child in an empty room and gave them a marshmallow. The child was told they could eat it straight away, but if they wait until the adult comes back to the room, they would get another marshmallow, so they would have two instead of one.
I watched the video which shows how the children behave when they are being left alone with the marshmallow... funny, lovely, and so true!


You can read more about the experiment itself here and here.

baby names

If you are a girl and you want to be a mum one day, you must have, from time to time, those shorter or longer moments of wondering how would yon call your babies... Since my work has quite a bit to do with children, I see lots of baby names every day and have quite a source of inspiration :) And apart from that, I have a couple of favourite names, which I may "use" one day.
There's also my beloved, who, well, should be allowed to have a voice in the discussion and in making the decision, because of course he would be the father of our babies :) Last Friday I shared my new ideas in the subject and seems like me got to the point where we agree :) One thing done then? Naah, I think this might change a few times again before we'll have to make a final decision, but for now, we picked:

for a boy: River Sky
and for a girl: Summer June

They sound very simple and very hippie, and I love them :)
What do you think - too freaky? Too fancy? I'm still thinking about classic Alexander and my favourite Pola...

quite a foggy day

Today I realised that I just adore fog. It's something absolutely extraordinary, although through years, when we grow up, we get used to things like this...



I don't know if you can see this weird additional dark cloud on the already cloudy, foggy sky? It's a group of birds dancing in the air - they looked really amazing, moving altogether in a natural way, yet with perfectly planned rhythm and direction.

it's weekend again...

Oh yes, I forgot to write about it earlier - and I knew since Thursday... I didn't get the offer :( But actually no-one did! :) So I can say that nobody was better than me really ;) I guess they might have too high demands and expectations from those who applied but actually were never put in this role and it's quite new to them... For me, for example, it's the lack of confidence that crossed me out of the list. And you gain the confidence only by experiencing certain situations... Oh well. I would miss my lovely team anyway, so on one hand I'm happy I'm still staying with them :)

And now it's weekend, so time to relax - first was an awesome breakfast and then gym. What next? We'll see. The rainy weather won't stop us from enjoying life :)

PS I totally got sucked into Fleetwood Mac's music. Can't stop. I'm afraid it can start being annoying soon for those around me. Even my mobile's ringtone is now Fleetwood Mac-ish...

The song that struck me completely is "Silver Springs". The live performance from 1997 shows it all: the history between the two, love and hate, the feelings that remain alive for years... As someone wrote in the comment to the video, this song written back in 70s needed time to mature, and now sounds much better, much stronger... immensely beautiful and moving...
In the age of so-called stars faking their love affairs to drag media attention and to earn more money, this band singing about their deepest, true feelings just because it is the most important thing in life for them, is a musical, artistic miracle. Why no-one learns from them how to be authentic, sing your heart and soul out? Because no celebrity wants this anymore - money is the goal number one, then it's fame and that's all I guess...


But for us, listeners, music lovers, that's what is really important... you can read a few comments to the video on youtube if you need a proof...

go your own way

Today started with a lot of excitement and stress, and finished with a headache - which I am trying to destroy now by soothing my jumping thoughts with tea, biscuits and music. The training demonstration went okay I think, the interview was fine as well. It's really hard to say what news I will hear in the next few days. All in all, I feel quite down - I've always had tendencies to have low self-esteem and underestimate my potential. Today when I saw who else applied for the job, my confidence has fallen from the hill it was climbing slowly for the last few days or weeks. But since I don't know how everyone did, I can still hold some hope...

Going back to music. Today in the morning, by pure accident (my music player is set up on "shuffle") I listened to not heard for long time "Go your own way" by Fleetwood Mac... And now I cannot stop!
This song is maybe not especially soothing, because it's rather a sad one (definitely, in the end it's about a break-up, and on top of that "based on a true story", which was the end of the romantic relationship between the two singers), but to me - it's strangely energising and giving a weird, positive feeling. I think the reason of that might be the situation when I heard the song, or parts of it, for the first time, and the words "you can go your own way", as a separate, powerful sentence, accompanied by amazing music. Together with the time and place where I heard it, with the atmosphere surrounding and the thoughts fulfilling my life at that moment, the song sealed an unforgettable impression on my young heart.


Fleetwood Mac - amazing performance back from 1977. Enjoy this incredible music and simple, but so strong and truthful lyrics - click here (wow, this video was watched by nearly 4.5 million of people!).

Also found a more recent version - from 1997. Still a great band. Today you can barely find songs like this one...

one more surprise

A bite of sweetness at the end of the weekend.
The bad news is - they're closing down yet another bookshop in town :(
The good news is - all books are 30% off :) So I treated myself today to a book that I wanted to have (and read every day) a while ago already. It was cheaper even than on amazon! :)
So, here it is, "A year with Aslan" - a bit of Narnia for every day of the year.

Bafta

Oh, and here's the trailer of "The Fighter" - if you are interested in, not necessarily boxing, but very good acting and well written scenario (based on a true story):



The nominations to Bafta awards were announced recently, which a gives a bit of a flavour of Oscar nominations already :) My favourites are amongst the nominees, so I will have my fingers crossed on 13th February for the awards, and then for further, Oscar nominations :)
The list of categories and nominees is here.

And now - time to go the gym!!! Let's run and spin and warm up all the muscles, and get energized before the next week begins! :)

a bit of everything

Okay. So Saturday is first of all the day when you can finally sleep as long as you want and wake up in a natural way. That's one of the reasons I like Saturdays the most ;)
Yesterday, when I decided to leave the bed, I had to do some "housewifing" stuff - cleaning, vacuuming, laundry. But... in the early afternoon I was done with this all, and I could indulge myself in the "pleasure" time!
And that's the very best bit of the week :)
Coffee and cake in the nearby cafe. A long walk and talk along the sea coast. Sun shining in our faces, people flying colourful kites, little girls running around in princessy dresses, a guy playing saxophone... And then cinema - double :)
We watched "Gnomeo and Juliet" in 3D - a classic romantic story told in a cute, modern and original way :) (with us watching this screening were some one hundred kids LOL), and then "The Fighter" - a really good picture showing the story of world's champion in boxing, Micky Ward, and his brother Dicky, played very powerfully by Christian Bale (Oscar for the best supporting actor this year? We'll see).

Well today it's cold, windy and rainy, so here are some pics from our nearby street and squares full of sun, which I took yesterday.

Friday evening

Fancy some music tonight to relax? Me - yesss! Especially that it was not a only another hard working week, but also a very emotional Thursday and a very busy Friday. Total roller-coaster. A lot of excitement, stress, enthusiasm and a bit of a cry. And working for 3 hours on a project and then losing all data and starting it over again...
But now I am sitting comfortably on my bed, having delicious tea and... preparing for the job interview :) The other parts of the assessment are nearly ready, just need to add some bits and practice. I have three whole days for that. So now I can relax and listen...

million rays of sunshine

That's how the last day of my brother's visit was supposed to be celebrated - the overwhelming clear blue sky and the sun blinding everyone who decided to go out (and today those who could were definitely out - I was also the lucky one who had half day off work!).
We decided to grab a coffee and go for a long walk by the seaside, from the town centre to marina. It was lovely, the air was chilly and fresh, but there was no ugly wind.
I am pretty sure that the sun was shining so lovely also because it was our special day today - exactly three years since my beloved and me are together :)


...and in the horizon we could even see the cliffs! (the quality is not the best, I had only my mobile to take pictures)

work work work

As seen well from the title - it's gonna be about job/career issues this time. And it's because there are a few things that happened (happen?) recently.

First of, and the most fresh - I had an extraordinary situation at work today. I had to call back the customer and I hate doing this, because I don't feel professional enough on the phone yet. But since I knew by the surname of the customer that they are not a native English speaker either, I thought I would give it a try. I started the conversation nicely, told who I was and where I was calling from and what I wanted to talk about, when the woman interrupted asking in my native language if we can speak Polish please, because that would be much easier for her :) And so the conversation developed for the next couple of minutes, when I tried to put nicely into my native words those English, very specific terms that we use at work. "Parental responsibility"? :) I have to say that it turned out to be quite a challenge, but I managed to explain everything and I dare to think that the conversation finished successfully :) And I just wonder, how my colleagues sitting around felt when they heard me speaking this weird language? :)))

Second - yesterday I had my belated feedback after I applied for a secondment in Compliance department. I had a short meeting with HR already, just to let me know that with the number of candidates and high requirements unfortunately I would not have an interview. Now I had a meeting with the manager of the team who was looking for the extra person. Surprisingly, I was told that it's a pity there were other very strong candidates, because they wanted to interview me very much. My application was apparently very impressive and I seemed to be a strong candidate, however there were two stronger candidates than me on this occasion (by the way, isn't it just ALWAYS like this? at least in my case, it is!). All in all, the manager encouraged me to check the vacancy chart often and to "bear us in mind" when looking for a new job/secondment opportunity. That was really sweet :)

Third - at the most important thing that happens recently in my work life I think. I hesitated whether I should write here about it, because whenever I mention some changes, it ends in the same way: FAIL :P
But then I thought, what is to happen, will happen... So, there is another opportunity for a secondment, and it's in my dream-team - well, very truly, probably I should not say that not having been working there ever and knowing REALLY how their everyday work looks like... But, potentially, seeing them from my perspective, knowing what they do from my point of view, and knowing my own preferences and skills, I am pretty sure that at least in this company there is no better place for me. The secondment is for a year. What a great chance and challenge. I looked through the job description and requirements, and I have to say - I have improved quite a lot since I applied for a similar position over a year ago, and, I actually meet most of their expectations. The rest can be worked on :) Unfortunately I belong to this type of people who don't really believe in themselves, and I always keep in mind this possibility that there might be better ones than me... But actually, I found out about the secondment from an email from that team's manager, which gave me a bit of a thought like "maybe they care for me to apply because they think I could do this?". But then I thought that maybe they just know I would be interested in the position, so they kindly let me know. And maybe they also informed others. So no biggie. But then, when I replied that I was interested in the role indeed and I would apply, I got a response that they were glad about that. Well, might seem like nothing really, but... cooome ooon! Why would you say that if you don't really mean it?

If anything moves forward, I will keep you informed :)