Have a freaky Halloween folks!

Be the creepiest you can be.

 And here it is, ladies and gentleman, the first Jack-o'-lantern I ever made!

Okay, gotta run. I'm still in the negotiating phase and my conscience is being self-conscious.
(Not sure if that made sense)

A cat appreciation post

I am going to tell you a story that not many will get to hear.. it's the story of my -not so mysterious- kat. 

 Have I mentioned he's not a normal cat? Nuh-uh. Oh well, I'm not allowed to reveal more than this following photo:

This is how Grimus appeared into this world.

He started as a little Yoda..

Just sleeping like a boss all day long

And explaining me the organic chemistry

But then he wanted power. 

And got very greedy. Started stealing everything I had or bought. Like food:

Problem?

Clothes

MINEEEE

It feels.. quite enjoyable.

And napkins, when I was sick.

But then I decided that's it, I need to teach this cat some manners. 

So now he's back to being a normal cat.

Just sleeping all day.

And being awesome. 

But now that his first moustache of wisdom has grown ..

..it's time for its metamorphosis.. 

Into what? i yet don't know..

On a side note, I am procrastinating since yesterday, just pushing off all the work I have to do until the very last moment when I'll start to panic because I will realize I don't have enough time to do everything on time. Oh well, it's funny how interesting everything else gets when you have work to do, isn't it?

More time, better sleep

These weeks I've been playing around with my sleeping schedule, because I need a new and better one. What I need is good, resting sleep - not necessarily long, and more free time because no matter how I'm trying to split it, I never end up finishing all I have to do in one day.

So I tried going to sleep at 10 pm, or a little earlier, and waking up normally - at about 7am. It's such an enjoyable sleep, full of dreams and everything, but not at all resting. During daytime I'm tired and irascible and really not in the mood to do anything but sleep more. Then I also tried going to sleep at about 1-2 after midnight, and waking up normally, which was okay, deep sleep, also resting, but can't remember any dreams. And last night I went to sleep a little after 11pm, maybe it was midnight, I don't remember, and woke up at 5am. It put me in an extremely good mood, was laughing mostly out of anything, I don't know, might be the tiredness saying its word.

So, I've looked up some sleeping schedules, and I'm thinking of trying the Biphasic one, which supposes sleeping twice each day. It involves a 90 minute nap and 3/4.5 hours of core sleep. Found some examples:

75-80 minutes beginning at 19:30
4-4.5 hours beginning at 01:00

vs.

12:30-5:00 am – core sleep (4.5 hours)

6:00-7:30 pm – nap (1.5 hours)

Biphasic sleeping can :

• reduce the total number of hours you spend asleep (as noted above)
• increase the quality of sleep during these periods
• improve both clarity and frequency of dream recall (nice!)

What are the downsides of Biphasic Sleeping?
The main negative aspect with both biphasic and polyphasic routines is simply that they are uncommon. It may become difficult to interract with monophasic sleepers in a timely manner (although a polyphasic routine emphasises this distinction much more than a biphasic one does).
Other than that, there is little that can be said against biphasic sleeping. As with any transition in your life, the first week or so will be a little more difficult than the rest - but only slightly. It is no worse than the jetlag you might experience following a long flight.

There also is the Uberman Sleep Schedule which goes like this: you take 6 naps that are 20-30 minutes each and are spread throughout your day. So you might have your naps at 2am, 6am, 10am, 2pm, 6pm, and 10pm. Since I'm not home for almost half a day.. I couldn't really do that. Here's an experiment:

I'll start from today, going to take a nap right now. Will keep record of how everything goes.

Extract from The Stranger by Camus, pt. I

"Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure. The telegram from the Home says: YOUR MOTHER PASSED AWAY. FUNERAL TOMORROW. DEEP SYMPATHY. Which leaves the matter doubtful; it could have been yesterday."

"Never in my life had I seen anyone so clearly as I saw these people; not a detail of their clothes or features escaped me. And yet I couldn’t hear them, and it was hard to believe they really existed."

"What struck me most about their faces was that one couldn’t see their eyes, only a dull glow in a sort of nest of wrinkles."

"For a moment I had an absurd impression that they had come to sit in judgment on me."

"I had nothing to say, and the silence lasted quite a while"

"To my surprise each of them shook hands with me, as though this night together, in which we hadn’t exchanged a word, had created a kind of intimacy between us."

"Now, in the full glare of the morning sun, with everything shimmering in the heat haze, there was something inhuman, discouraging, about this landscape."

"He was walking with carefully measured steps, economizing every gesture."

"..and I pictured myself going straight to bed and sleeping twelve hours at a stretch."

"I remembered it was a Sunday, and that put me off; I’ve never cared for Sundays."

"After that I stayed in bed until noon, smoking cigarettes. I decided not to lunch at Céleste’s restaurant as I usually did; they’d be sure to pester me with questions, and I dislike being questioned. So I fried some eggs and ate them off the pan. I did without bread as there wasn’t any left, and I couldn’t be bothered going down to buy it."

"It occurred to me that somehow I’d got through another Sunday, that Mother now was buried, and tomorrow I’d be going back to work as usual. Really, nothing in my life had changed."

"Before leaving for lunch I washed my hands. I always enjoyed doing this at midday. In the evening it was less pleasant, as the roller towel, after being used by so many people, was sopping wet. I once brought this to my employer’s notice. It was regrettable, he agreed—but, to his mind, a mere detail."

I really enjoyed reading this book. I was able to identify with the character on some deep level, plus the uncommon descriptions and the attention which was drawn to details was quite amazing. This might be the first book I'm considering re-reading. 

Go away.

Replace day with weekend. So glad it's over. And this following week will be quite overwhelming too. All in all ..

Actually I'd be pretty content with one week of solitude. I've been around way too many people for just 3 days. *Emotionally drained*

Welcome, October.

This month will be pretty exciting; well, besides the fact that is autumn, that the weather will get colder (so it won't feel like June anymore) and that the landscape will be more colorful - oh, and almost forgot: there will be crunchy leafs I can step on (it's a cool feeling, don't ask).
Also, I just found that this Saturday there will be a meteor shower called Draconid, and my country is the one that has the best visibility, ha!

"Romania is the “perfect” spot to watch this “once in a lifetime phenomenon,” Vauboillon said. He added that the meteor shower includes thousands of billions of comet particles entering the atmosphere at very high speeds.
“To give you an example, everybody knows that in August there are many falling stars and everybody can see them without a large telescope. It’s very easy, you go outside, open your eyes and there they are. In October, there will be two and even six times as many falling stars than in August. It’s the perfect moment to see them. (…) I strongly recommend that you go watch them,” Vauboillon said. The phenomenon was last seen in 1946 and before that, in 1933. He explained that the Draconids will be visible in the entire Europe and western Asia."

Jeremie Vauboillon, prediction specialist at the Sky Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation Institute (IMCCE) in Paris

 I think this is the first time I'm happy for living here. On 30 October we'll get back to the GMT+2 time which will be quite confusing for a while, but I'll get used to it like always. I just don't see the point in the whole thing - it's not like most people care to save the energy.
And I'm pretty excited about Halloween. We kind of never really celebrated it, but last year I did with some friends.. twice - and it was awesome. This year I want to find a better costume/makeup and I want to sculpt a pumpkin. It will be pretty cool.