Archive for July, 2008

Those Days

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

A new TV ad for Always Ultra. Soft music, animated flowers blooming and dancing and a soft female voice telling us about “those days”. I hate talking about “those days” and I hate calling period “those days”. And I hate making such a big fuss about “those days”. Anyway, the whole ad is an ode to “those days” and how this wonderful company is trying to make “those (horrible) days” nicer for you. And then she says something interesting: those days mean that everything is alright. I never thought about it that way. But as I heard this, I started thinking about it. I started thinking about the fact that a woman is doomed to bleed to know that everything is alright. And I started wondering if we tend to apply this rule to other aspects of our lives – because many women need to “bleed” from time to time in order to recognise that everything is alright. Do men ever need to bleed to know everything is alright?

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

A Croatian starlet/wanna-be-script-writer jut got her own column in Croatia’s biggest daily newspapers (yes, I am envious). Her first column spread over two whole pages and featured three huge pictures of her running over a construction site in a little (very little) black dress, black stilettos and a laptop under her arm. And yes, a halo of blonde hair shining in the sun. The point of the column was that in spite of the construction site in front of her house, she is not giving up her Jimmy Choo stilettos. Tells a lot about the quality of Croatian newspapers. OK, she is trying to make a deeper point out of this – why can’t women in stilettos and perfectly blow-dried hair be taken seriously?! She is angry of her friend who is a lawyer and a very sexy girl but when she is working, puts on a grey suit and pulls back her hair.

I really like women who take over the power and the right for self-expression. But why should you expect to be taken seriously when you style yourself into a invitation for sex? You wouldn’t expect to be taken seriously when you wear a clown outfit or a jump suit to work, would you?

After all, it doesn’t work in practice. Been there, done that -can tell. If you have a serious job, you cannot run around for 12 hours a day on 11cm stilettos. It hurts and deforms your feet. And you’re slow. You run from a meeting to a meeting and you never have the time, nor the possibility to go to the bathroom with your makeup bag and refresh your professional makeup. An in the morning, you have more important things to do (like sleep, eat, have sex or watch news) than spend an hour with a blow-dryer, styling perfect curls. And finally, let’s not forget which effect such a styling will inevitably provoke in a business environment. A bunch of jealous women who will do everything to ruin your career. A bunch of horny bosses who will do everything to get into your pants – and if they don’t, will ruin your career. And a bunch of male colleagues who like you but don’t respect you – and also want to get into your pants but have no power to ruin your career if they don’t.

So very soon, you will learn to prefer wearing flat shoes to work.

Believe it or not – they are better to kick ass.

Good Dog

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

My mom has this little gorgeous Pekinese called ChiChi. Because of his incredible Character, ChiChi also starred in my first book. He is very different from a typical Pekinese – he is lively, communicative, happy. I call him Denise the Menace and now, he is almost 4 years old. Summers on the island with ChiChi were always adventurous – the moment we turned around, he disappeared. His favourite pastimes were boarding the ferry (he adores boats), swimming or chasing cats. So mom and I would spend summers bicycling around the island, screaming his name. But this summer something happened. Either ChiChi grew older or his ass got kicked by a dog or a dog-hater. Whatever it is, ChiChi suddenly became a “good dog”: he is always next to us, he follows us, he listens to orders, he doesn’t want to play for hours. He is even not jumping on us as he used to. Mom and I are totally delighted with this new dog and every now and then, we conclude in astonishment “God, ChiChi is so good this year!” hug him and tell him how good he is. Or we would tell our friends and ChiChi’s admirers (yes, he has some) how he changed into a “good dog”.

But few days ago, I realised this is pathetic. I told my mom that it is sad that the dog lost the energy either because he grew older or got scared because someone kicked his ass and we became – delighted. It reminded me of my experience in the corporate world: I started out fearless, independent, curious and two years later, all the shit I went through, from mobbing to sexual harassment made me calmer, more cautious, reserved. More – depressed. And suddenly, the company LOVED me.

Yuck!

I miss the old ChiChi. I miss the days he was disappearing, was wild, happy and energetic. But I am afraid he will never be the same. He is a “good dog” now.

And me, I am out of the corporate world for one year now and am only slowly starting to get the “good Ana” out of myself. And I wonder if I will ever be the same.

Friday, July 4th, 2008

Yesterday, mum and I had a joined interview. We were asked a tricky question: “When was the last time you were spontaneously happy?”

Great test to see how you’re doing.

So, when was the last time you were spontaneously happy?

Machine need rest

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

Well, this machine also need rest…

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Father’s Love

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

Today, I received a birthday gift from my dad – a TomTom navigation system! I was truly, truly happy about my gift. Because for my last birthday, I received loudspeaker cables or an amplifier or something similar. Something hi-fi. My dad is a true hi-fi freak.

I was telling Andreas, our company’s technical adviser, about the gift and how I believe I am the only girl in the world who gets cables for her birthday – other girls get shoes or bags or jewellery. Andreas looked at me and said “Wooow, your dad really loves you!”

That moment I understood it – you shouldn’t just look at the gift, you have to look at whom it came from. One has to understand that my dad does not have a son and that he is an engineer (ok, an architect). So considering how foreign the idea of shoes/bags/jewllery is to him, I am really, really happy about my navigation system. Yep, my dad loves me. Thanks dad! Love you too!

Albanian Virgins

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Oliver has sent me a very interesting article from Herald Tribune about Albanian virgins. Don’t laugh. For centuries, those women who decided to become men only had to make a resolution, cut their hair and put some trousers on. And – not have sex! Which turns celibacy into the key, meaning they believe it is the female sexuality that makes woman intor a woman. Not her physical or mental characteristics.

So basically, it was possible to achieve equality even in that brutal and very patriarchal environment. These virgins are treated like men. They manage their families like men, they kill like men and rule like men. They hang out with men.

And I was just thinking how we could apply this without any problems. Nothing would change. We anyway wear our hair short, only wear jeans and trousers. And have almost no sex. Aaaargh! We ARE men!!!!!! 

Here’s the link. Thank you Oliver.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/23/europe/virgins.php