I have been blogging for almost five years now, which is a considerable amount of time, I think. There are many who blogged before me, and blogging has become everyone’s hobby since. So much so, that there are a lot of irrelevant blogs out there, read only by the writer, his or her mum, and a couple of best friends. I think my blog is somewhere between the latter and a slight curiosity, and that’s fine with me. I enjoy sharing my thoughts and my photos from time to time. It’s nice to know that someone might be reading, and it is even better when someone comments or reacts.

All these years I’ve been using the Deviant Brainwave pseudonym, keeping very tight secrecy of my identity. Recently I have been thinking of whether this is still relevant. After all, I’m not writing anything which might embarrass anyone or endanger myself, my job, or anyone else. Also, most of the people who read this blog already know me, and the others can get to know me. So, I decided to come out. One step at a time. I will still keep everyone’s privacy when I need to, unless I get the permission to do otherwise. Here goes:

To everyone out there who doesn’t know me, nice to meet you, I’m Dana (pronounced dah-nah NOT dey-na). You can see my silhouette in this photo, and maybe more will be added later.

During my photography class this morning, in the old city of Akko, I played around with the Panorama feature in my camera, which is usable now that I have an original Olympus XD card and the suitable software.

The picture can be enlarged when you view it in flickr (you can click it to go there), and there are some other pictures from Akko there too.

I have a question I need to throw to the air: where does respect for privacy stops and being anti-social begins?

I tend to give a lot of respect to others’ privacy, but as a result I have been accused of lack of assertiveness, or not being social. I feel the need to give people their personal space in some situations, but I seem to be the only one who does it. Am I taking it too far?

Our upcoming holiday is taking shape. Here’s a summary of a conversation between E. and his friend from Calgary that took place yesterday evening:

We arrive to Calgary on 19 August. The rest of what’s left in this day will be used for food / rest.
On 20 August we will tour the city and rest.
21-22: In Calgary, with Alex and Marianna. No plans at the moment.
23: We take a rented car and start to Lake Louise.
Spending the night there.
24: Drive + hikes on the road from Lake Louise to Jasper park.
25: Leaving Jasper westwards. Sleeping in Kamloops (If have energy – maybe more to the west).
26: From Kamloops to Whistler area (north of Vancouver). Spending the night there.
27: First half – tour in Whistler area. Then drive to Vancouver.  Settling in the hotel. (requires reservation).
28: Victoria / Vancouver island. Sleeping back in Vancouver.
29: Vancouver all day. Return the car? (maybe keep it another day or take it a day earlier in Calgary)
30: Vancouver all day.
31: Vancouver all day.
29-31 – no plans at the moment.
1 September: flight to Montreal. No plans.

Our current To Do list includes:

• Book hotels wherever necessary (Vancouver)
• Plan the eastern part of our journey
• Book car hire
• Pack
• Decide that we’re not cancelling

We’re also open for suggestion and ideas, so if you have one, let me know! (P.: we’re not taking a detour to Florida, and that’s final. Sorry).

The exam came and went (I don’t have the results yet, but I believe I passed). I managed to lower the pressure at work. Even some of the more important administration and bureaucracy work I had is now done.

It’s time to catch up with friends I haven’t seen for ages, with going to the gym, and with over 100 unread items in my RSS reader.

More than anything, I can finally relax…

I just read a couple of interesting things in NME:

1.  Chrissie Hynde is opening a new vegetarian restaurant in Akron, Ohio. If I’m ever in the area I’ll make sure to check it out!
2. Matt Helder from Arctic Monkeys has a few things to say about Live Earth. As much as I am looking forward to some live music, I must agree. With the pollution plains make when artists fly to the gig location, and the power it takes to light everything up (not to mention the litter left behind afterwards), hypocrisy does come to mind.

P.S. #1 – Woohoo – two posts in one day!

P.S. #2 – Yes, this means I’m still not studying.

 It has been a while since my last list, so here goes…

Happy List

1. Yesterday evening I started an Advanced Photography course. More flickr results soon.
2. Flight of the Conchord – Just brilliant. ‘nough said.
3. Looking forward to studying with some Live Earth in the background tomorrow.
4. The pressure at work is supposed to ease soon.
5. My new backpack. It has a special storage area for my laptop & accessories, a special protected area for my phone, little pockets for just about anything, big pockets for everything else and it’s even comfortable enough to use when I walk to work with all that heavy load

Sad List

1. I have an exam on Wednesday, and I just can’t find the inner power to concentrate on revising. This list is one of the results.
2. E’s mum is not well. This makes E. very upset, which in turn upsets me as well.
3. Due to item #2, there is a danger we will cancel our holiday in Canada. A decision will be taken soon.
4. Too much pressure at work recently. Good news at the corresponding #4 on the happy side.
5. I have many excuses for not working out in the past few weeks, and for eating a lot of junk. The result – there are already some trousers that don’t close properly, and I feel like a cow.