A 5 word adventure of a gauche boy

A precocious, but rather gauche boy's eyes were glued to the screen. In memory of his late grandfather, who had been a metalworker all his life, the boy was working on a technical drawing of a lathe on his computer.  His mother was annoyed and confused by his conduct. 'It's like talking to a stonewall,' she mumbled and shut the door of  the boy's room behind her.
(Screen, to stonewall, precocious, lathe, gauche)

An adventure of 5 words

I want to play a game with you. Give me any 5 words in English and I'll write a sketch, a (very) short story, maybe a poem (who knows) in just a few sentences using all 5 of them. It will help me to stretch my writing muscle and, hopefully, will be fun reading. Are you with me? Please, leave me your 5 words in comments, and thank you very much in advance!

Things that turn me on Vs. things that turn me off

• Colour green.  I can just sit and stare at the right shade of green, not too light, not too dark and get the relaxing effect of a half an hour nap. (Vs. colour brown that "gets in your face", massive and obstructive.)
• Intelligent people. Not just people who have BA, MA, PhD and God knows what other academic degree and can repeat unrepeatable phrases from the science magazines. Wise, deep people. People whose wisdom is rooted under their skin, in their life experience and observations. The sexiest part of man’s body is his brain. (Vs. superficial people, which tend to care only about themselves in a rather ugly way.)
• Tea. The kind, brand, sweetness and additional slice of lemon is decided upon while making it. I choose my tea like some people choose their wine. (Vs. coffee which I take as a shot of medicine)
• Curious, flexible mind. No, not nosey and sneaky. Just curious for the sake of discovering something new every day. (Vs. nosiness combined with lack of interest in anything not related to gossip beyond the reach of the hand)
• Picking fruit from a tree in your own garden and eating it on the spot. (Vs. eating food that has travelled across the world and tastes like paper by the time it reaches your table)
• Unstoppable laughter of children for no obvious reason. (Vs. whining and tantrums of the same children. I believe God gave such a long term of pregnancy and a painful labor in order to elaborate in the mother just enough patience to endure anything from the child whose life cost her so much effort. What comes easy, goes easy, you know)
• British comedy shows. The insane Monty Python. The resourceful QI and some other funny yet informative comic panel shows. (Vs. horror films that scare me out of my pants already during trailer)
• Cuteness and silliness of kittens. (Vs. crudeness of some serious people)
• Faithfulness and optimism of dogs. (Vs. unreliability and tendency to pessimism of humans)
• Mother's heart. As they say, becoming a mother makes you the mother of all children; from now on each wounded, abandoned, frightened child is yours. It gives me faith in human race, in which I'm otherwise rather disappointed. (Vs. "children must be seen, but no heard")
• The arts. Any visual arts from sculpture to cake decoration. (Vs. criticism on artistic expressions. Visual art doesn't have to be beautiful. "Beautiful art" is like a "normal human" - a mysterious creature no one has ever seen and therefore everyone imagines it differently. Art has to carry meaning and be interesting, expressive)
• The books that are so well built they become doors to a different world, so fine that you have no doubt in its existence somewhere in a parallel universe. (Vs. many people's fear of free imagination)
• Empathy. I'm affected by empathytis and, as it seems, it's not curable. It makes me physically sick when people seek conflict without a valid reason, "just because", just because they don't always get what they want. Empathy is one of the most beautiful sides of human nature. (Vs. stiff mind of bigots that know everything best and consider others unworthy of consideration).

I realised that my list is endless. It goes as far as a thought can wander. To be continued (in my mind). 

My mind's citizenship

Do you have a favourite book? Recently I was asked a similar question by one of my closest friends, with whom I share passion for language and literature. Some girl-friends sip coffee and share a cake, we sip languages and share books, screenplays and ideas. 

My first reaction on her question was - I don't have one favourite book. If I feel like reading a book after the first page, it makes it special by definition, and if I find it 'unputdownable', as some literary critics love to say lately, it automatically promotes it to the status of favourite. That was my first thought, but then I started to scratch under the surface of my mind, into my soul. 

I asked myself, which is the only book so important to me from the beginning of my literary adventure that it defined something fundamental in me? Which one was the first true adventure via written text? And it came to me. 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll. It was one of my first books that weren't part of school book list thus I was free to choose to read it or not. Freedom of choice usually notably adds to the pleasure of reading. During my childhood in a totalitarian communist country with stiff censorship a book like that was almost a miracle. Now that I've come to think of it, I can't stop wondering how on earth did they approve of it, allowed it to be translated and published. Maybe they were hoping it would show the "true, ugly face of the rotting capitalism", as they loved to say back then. To me it was the door to the limitless fantasy world which has never closed since. As time goes by, I start to see more and more sense in seemingly absurd and purely entertaining parts of the story. Sometimes I can't help feeling like Alice who has to quench her thirst with a dry biscuit or run as fast as she can just to stay put. Not to mention that "the jam is always tomorrow" and never today. I'm in love with the Wonderland, I am a citizen of that mad, surprising, amazing world where you can think of six impossible things before breakfast and no one will roll their eyes on you, as a matter of fact, they will expect you to. Which book do you belong to?

La vita è bella

As some of you know, I live in the sunny lemonland of Italy - Sicily. The place of "dolce far niente". The "EAT" part of "Eat.Pray.Love". What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Italy? Unless I'm very much mistaken, it's the exquisite food. I'd like to add to the thought by specifying that it's not so much about food as such, for people feed themselves everywhere in the world in order to survive. It's more about taste. Italians may be less pedantic at work than, say, Germans, less dutiful than, for instance, Japanese, but if there is one thing that describes them best, it's taste. It's in their DNA, la dolce vita, the mastered sweetness of life passed from father to son in every aspect of life. The beauty and enjoyment of every bit of life. It's hard to find an Italian who, regardless age and gender, can't describe spectacularly the mouthwatering dishes consumed in the latest family lunch. Food here is not only means to fill the tummy and get it over with. It's a tradition, means to get together, to unite, to celebrate life. Every single day. No particular reason needed. Holidays are celebrated at huge family tables, food coming in many courses and impossible to refute even when you feel on edge of bursting open after a long meal.
When I first got here, one of the observations that struck me was empty city streets and closed shops during lunch hours. Where do people go every day from one to four? A meal surely can't take this long. Only when you are embraced by an Italian family you will truly understand it. Again and again it's about all about taste and joy of being. In my opinion it's one of the smartest traditions Southerners have created. Not only because in summer it's too hot to spend noon and following couple of hours outside, but because it helps to keep people healthy physically, as well as mentally. Humans are social animals, as we know. Now imagine a period of the day when you get it all - delicious food (usually a variation of pasta dish, followed by fresh fruit), a bit of rest from work and company of your beloved (when you have possibility to have lunch at home). If there is anything  strict about Italians, and it is so hard to find anything strict in people whom their former and despised leader Mussolini described as "impossible to govern", it is meal times. It's a given. Breakfast with espresso or cappuccino and a cornetto. Lunch with appetising pasta. Dinner with all the meat or fish and lots of different veggies to make your doc happy. Add to that all the positive interaction with your dear ones during meals. That is the essence of Mediterraenean lifestyle - happy mind in a happy body. That's what foreigners seek for and try to imitate all around the world. The recipe for taste of life.

Recipe for perfect parenting

All (sane) parents wish the best for their children, so here is a fool-proof recipe for perfect parenting, based on years of experience. I hope you will find it useful.
Take as many parenting tips as your brain can hold. Take some more, don't underestimate your capacities. Start early, from first weeks of pregnancy. Read weekly updates on how your baby is developing in the womb. So far so good, you can't intentionally go wrong on this stage.
Now baby is born. Make sure you read even more parenting advices on every occurring tiny and big problem like diaper rash, correct burping, bonding, teething, bathing, communicating. For more effect google your question and get the shock of discovering that it could go even worse, that there are moms out there in cyberspace who have it much much worse. Linger on this soothing idea, but not too long. Duty calls, back to work. Take notes of advices you find on anything you can grasp with one hand, while safely holding baby with the other. You got the idea. Now add some more information on top, from your mom, aunt, pediatrician. Don't be shy, a bit more. That will do. Your barrel of knowledge must be full by now, maybe overflowing. Don't worry, you're not alone.
And now we've come to the most important phase. Take all those notes you've collected for months and even years...and let your family pet chew on them. When that's done and over, take the remaining shreds and put into a blender, add some PVC glue and mix well. Pour the result into the mould that your child was made in and keep your fingers crossed for the rest of your life hoping that it will suffice.
The truth is that nothing you can read, watch and hear will help you when stuff actually happens. And stuff  does happen when you have a child! Forget all of the above and just follow your instinct. No mom blogger, pediatrician, aunt or anyone on this planet knows your child the way you do. Follow your guts, they don't lie. There are no perfect parents, but each and every (sane) parent is the best parent for their own child. You are the best. Now relax for 3.32 minutes and listen to some magnificent Bach.

Uphill

No matter how it looks at the moment, life is getting better. Not easier, better. I feel stronger and wiser than I was 10 and definitely than I was 20 years ago. Noone promised life will be fair or easy. But that's the sour-sweet beauty of it. Have you ever heard the story of butterfly being born? If you in your compassionate desire to ease its struggle against the enclosing walls of the cocoon break it open and release the newborn butterfly, it will never be able to fly properly. The effort of pushing against cocoon walls pumps liquids into its magnificent wings and gives it strength to fly. We, humans, are very much like butterflies.  Gentle souls that have to struggle against the rough, sometimes crude life to become stronger, deeper, wiser and more humane. Have a great day, make another step uphill!