We’ll be right back after these messages…
Alright, I have to turn out the lights for a short bit. If all goes well, things will be resettled today and then it’s simply a matter of waiting for Romtelecom to feel like it wants to go ahead and re-establish phone service and fire up the internet connection at some point in time. Ha!
In the previous post about moving, I forgot to mention her wonderful collection of garden gnomes. Here’s my favorite of her lawn decorations. Just look at the sick twisted joy on his face, carrying some sort of smoking pipe as the dog pokes around his crotch…
…what’s that all about!?
In the meantime, how about some interesting video clips from Romania? Enjoy the laughs and surprises in Ameroman’s collection.
April 26th, 2006 at 7:50 pm
Some of those were hilarious!
April 28th, 2006 at 12:28 am
Totally off - topic but … oh Steaua, how could you?
April 30th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
This is a really nice blog. I got rerouted to it from Arlington’s bogol, and I discovered I bumped into someone whose trajectory is the reverse of mine. Go West, young man, I told myself, and I didn’t stop until I got to East Baltimore. I’ll be sure to check your blog regularly. Nice skewering of that sleazy-ass motherfucker Arapasu. Once again, it takes a foreigner to hold a mirror to us. But at least I’m a Protestant, so never had to swear allegiance to that fascist pedophile.
And now maybe I can do a bit of linguistic unpuzzling for you. Romanian “magazine” were never meant to carry (periodical) magazines. The origin of the word lies in the French ‘magasin’ (cf. also Romanian “magazie”–a warehouse, a storage shed). The general semantic idea was that ‘magasins’ were places of storage. Have you ever wondered why a periodical is called a ‘magazine’ in English, by the way? It’s because, in mid-19th century France, ‘magasins’ came to denote figuratively literary warehouses–printed collections stocked with sundry useful and/or entertaining bits of information.
May 1st, 2006 at 11:05 pm
never did get the ‘Gnome’ thing :-)
thanks for the laugh.
May 5th, 2006 at 1:27 am
I’m just now crawling back online as Romtelecom has seen fit to give me telephone service, but I still don’t have broadband.. so, there won’t be any media-rich posts for now.
Trav - I couldn’t agree more!
Shrinkmama - Yeah, that was a bit disappointing. I was just starting to get myself into pub mood in order to enjoy the local atmosphere, but it was snuffed out all too soon.
desargues - Thanks and welcome! Baltimore, eh? I’ve got a couple friends out that way… if you’re into Queensryche, you’re a shoe-in to make new friends. Otherwise, I suppose you already have some. =]
Thanks for the tip on the french source of the word. I already knew better than to think of the English word for “magazines” but your explanation goes a bit further in helping me to decipher some of that madness. Not that I find it natural at all…
Kyah - Me either! No matter where the suckers are, it just seems goofy. But then maybe that was the point all along.
May 5th, 2006 at 9:50 am
Well I missed you :)
May 6th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
yeah, i’ve been missing my regular fix of romerican. i actually had to study for my exams rather than slacking and reading your blog…
May 6th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Trav - I saw your remark about the pomegranate juice and you sent me into a tailspin over it. 2 cartons later I was satisfied, but stop teasing me!
Mamaliga - Sorry for unscheduled sabbatical, but I’ve had to take some ongoing education from the Department of Post Communism at the Unversity of Life. It’s a tough course, but it’s opening my eyes a bit. (And driving me to drink.)