Saturday, December 24, 2011

What was/is/could/will be the best Christmas present?


First, let's wish everyone Merry Christmas and Happy New 2012 Year!!! Well, many people would say the best present they would get could be world peace, joy, happiness everywhere on Earth... And they all will be right, of course! But that would be for many other people, not only for them, though I support such a wish/present 100, no 1000 %!
Yet, I mean the best personal present... And I guess many people would agree that one of the best presents could be a book? I had a very good one this year, the complete, full edition of Arabian Nights! Can't wait to read it though it's quite a volume - about 900 pages and written with very small font! Actually, it seems it has almost nothing in common with all the other versions I’ve read as a kid, or with any interpretations I’ve seen as movies, though there were some really good ones! It’s not for kids at all, as it seems….
Well, I couldn’t say I haven’t had some other good presents over the years: an original Colmar jacket, chemical set for many experiments I received as a kid, some exotic fishes for my aquariums, a couple of parrots, etc… I guess anyone could point out some good ones too, even much better than mine? And much better than the gift from my greeting card on top of the post? Let it be my gift for all the readers! 
Best wishes to all! Let the wonderful noise of the sea always sounds in your ears! (a greeting of the water dragons' hunters - my Tale Of The Rock Pieces).

http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Allan-Bard-Ivan-Stoikov-Fan-Page-Strategic-Book-Group/121092637984053,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ivanstoikov.allanbard

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Magical worlds or the magic in the modern world.


If you are a fantasy/sci-fy fan, you probably regretted many times that you were not born somewhere else or at least in a different time? Most of my friends who like these genres shared the same opinion too. Yet, it seems I was the one who hated reality so much, that all the people around me thought I should visit a mental specialist. Everything in my everyday life seemed so boring and senseless that I used every moment to dream and search for magical events, creatures, adventures, etc in books and movies.
As years went by, I even began to create my own stories as an asylum to “escape” from the dull, boring reality. My frame of mind was so crazy that I couldn’t bear the sight of modern cars (as they couldn’t fly in the air), I couldn’t listen to all the dull talk about finding a boring (but profitable) job, good marriages, raising children, or about divorces at the appropriate moment. Many of my acquaintances and friends were at one I had probably jumped over the fence of a mental hospital from the inside, as I couldn’t watch any football, baseball, basketball, etc games (the only sport which still can attract my attention for hours on end is surfing), or I felt talking about the qualities of different cars and bikes was equal to suicide… Most of the people couldn’t believe instead of that I preferred to watch shows like Star Trek, documentaries about dinosaurs, interesting facts about history and science, movies about fairy-tales or space, etc.
Yet, later on I realized that such a frame of mind is a certain evidence of a narrow mind (the same as watching and being interested only in soap operas or cars, or sport). After reading some manuals about the mechanism of modern cars (and seeing what was written there was true), I was convinced all these vehicles were as interesting as the coolest space ships and other imaginary machines from the future. When I learned a thing or two about what was inside TV sets and computers (and all the amazing things one could do with these great devices), I realized the famous Terry Pratchett’s words were true: “There is much more Magic in a modern computer than in any gathering of witches.” As to the opinion that the people of today think only about money, power, or more money and power, and are incapable of strong feeling one could find only in fairy-tales like everlasting love, I remember a few events of today that prove the opposite:
A young woman loved her HIV+ boyfriend so much that she infected herself too with AIDS virus, so that they could be together forever. Or the sad story of two youngsters from my native country Bulgaria who suicided themselves jumping under the wheels of a train (as their parents were against their relationship as the boy was a gipsy). Besides, the many wise quotes and thoughts of many writers, philosophers or even politicians of today show wisdom is present in reality too, no only in some imaginary worlds and societies from fantasy, sci-fi genres: Arthur C. Clarke's "Third Law": Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be ~ Thomas à Kempis
The one who asks is stupid 5 minutes, the one who doesn't is stupid for life. Chinesse saying.
A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force of the universe. Wayne Dyer
One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things ~Henry Miller
Always when judging Who people are, Remember to footnote The words "So far." ~ Robert Brault
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. Albert Einstein
Love blinds us to faults, hatred to virtues." - Moses Ibn Ezra
It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui."[Helen Keller]
You don't need superpowers to be a hero."- via Jeremy Smith FB
The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self. - Whitney Young
."Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling."-- Vincent Van Gogh
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward ~ Chinese Proverb
"To go against human nature is the most human thing a human can do." Larry Niven
Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." -Albert Einstein
If you can't laugh at yourself, life's gonna seem a whole lot longer than you like. - natalie portman in garden state
'Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted' - John Lennon
it's okay when we fear the dark, but not when we are afraid of light.
“The greatest wisdom is to realize one's lack of it” Konstantin Stanislavsky
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter ~ E E Cummings
DO NOT RISK GOING THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT TAKING A RISK. Jimmy KoMet FB
"A loan can be repaid, but for a gift one is always beholden."~ unknown source
."You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -Albert Einstein.
"Every society honours its live conformists and its dead troublemakers" Zvonimir Tosic via Linda Goodwin
SENSITIVITY is a strength and it's a mad world that turns it into a weakness.
You know you're an asshole when the voices in your head refuse to talk to you. Author Luke Romyn
Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. - Mark Twain
Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know, that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom. -Death, To Suzie in 'The Hogfather',
There are many kinds of joy, but they all lead to one – the joy to be loved. Michael Ende,
All the problems in the world leadto one - narrow-minded people, from my future Incredible Fututue. etc…
The list could be so long that anyone would find it really difficult to read it all… I guess we are just too accustomed to our present world and forget to see the wonderful magical things that surround us? No one could oppose to that, right?
http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TaleOfTheRockPieces.html, http://allanbard.hit.bg, http://allanbard.hpage.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yw3a5n00FI, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qUA8Avl7ew, http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ivanstoikov.allanbard