The world moves fast. And people… they don’t wait for you to move with them. They move along. Each on their path, each with a desire to spin Earth their way. They climb rocky cliffs or cross the seas by air or by boat, they run the extra mile, they carry a torch or burn out too soon, but anyway you look - they put the huge mechanism that stands behind it all in motion.

And you, my friend? Where are you in this journey? What methods do you prove to be skilled in? What are your ups? And when you see the downs acoming, are you able to get up and fight them?

I’ve been asking myself these questions over and over again. Not for mere observation, but with determination and a will to carry on. The curse I came under, the spell that binds my feet is… lack of hope. There are some other aspects to it which I will not display here, but one thing is clear: the world is moving. And I should be moving along.

I can’t stop and stare at my feet. Must look above and see beyond the veils of clouds, where Hope dwells in full splendor. And even tho I lack the energy or will to break the chains, I have to. There’s no one who can do it for me. Not one.

Some people are born with the power to rule the twists and contradictions of the mind. Some others train hard to obtain this skill. And others live under a permanent defeat.

My question is not whether the latter group makes it or not in this challenge. My question is how can I be like those who have what it takes (whether obtained or born with).

One step would be to train the mind to adopt certain frames and leave out the negative energies that create imbalance. Easy to say, hard to do. One is more likely to abandon the race before they take the start, because the road seems long and narrow, and only a skillful few have reached the aim.

I believe, in time, you and I can obtain this “redundancy” of positivity if we learn to listen only to those things that build and shape us up. Collect positive vibes from positive people with whom we surround ourselves willingly, determined to make this a permanent change.

I have to say there’s no “right” way to do it and no “wrong” way to fail. Do keep in mind the world is spinning fast and listen to your heart…

My first contact with the concept of blogging was in 2003-2004, when I began researching for my college application. Because I had a friend who studied Comm & PR with one of the most renown colleges in Bucharest, I followed his lead and discovered the European Association of Communication & PR Students (PRIME). In one of their newsletters, my friend had interviewed Mike Manuel, who at that time appeared to be a famous blogger with Media Guerrilla. I learned about blogger.com and soon set out on a small blogging journey myself.

Needless to say, my blog was soon abandoned as schooling priorities kicked in. Plus, none of my friends really understood what the heck a weblog was, other than a journal I could keep as well in ink & paper. They did not bother to comment on my articles, let alone take up blogging themselves. That was my first online failure, so to speak.

Moving to Bucharest to attend college opened a whole new world of possibilities.

I was spending so much time online because I was eager to learn more. I didn’t have a home connection or PC yet, so for a couple of months after we moved I was kicking on the bandwidth of Bucharest’s Central Library. Quite expensive at that time, but boy it served me well! I soon found an Internet café close to home and started spending my nights in there sometimes until the sun came out.

It’s then I made my first connections which followed in real life, and spent hours & hours exploring websites such as DeviantArt.com (the first and biggest community of digital artists) and PR blogs with fervor and passion. In my head, this web-wide world of pixels all made sense. More sense than the rigid paper courses I was being lectured in college.

Soon enough, college went priority no. 2, and as a result I dropped-out to pursue my dreams.

Don’t know if it was a smart or a bad a move, but surely it gave me the necessary time to start another blog on Yahoo’s 360° platform, which led to my 1st job as a web-content editor/copywriter (and my 3rd job IRL).

Because I didn’t quite have the basics of a full-time job involving high responsibility (my prior jobs were short-term and part-time), I kinda had to face a painfully slow integration and assimilation process. But as time went by, I figured out it takes a very committed person to go along this path. And after some while, I understood my heart wasn’t fully there and I had other plans in mind.

I wanted to succeed as a Project Manager, event organizer (as I had gained some experience while volunteering w students associations) and online author.

Needless to say, stepping off from one job to embrace another in the same field but with a little more perspective, turned out to be an even more challenging task. Not long after starting, I kinda landed on my face, bear hands. Took me some time to recover but…

Now, I’m at a point of starting over, reassessing and hopefully going for the things I love.

Looking at you from this side of the screen, I wonder:

• What’s your general experience with/of www? 
• What are some of the apps, platforms & services you use online?
• What are some of the services that have an offline correspondent (e.g. eBanking) you are more likely to use on- than offline?
• How many of the folks you have met online became your friends in real life?
• What has been your deal-breaker at work so far? Would you consider quitting a full-time job to become a web-entrepreneur?
• What dreams are you willing to pursue no matter what?

Have a look at the current project I’m involved in. Might just give you a little inspiration for the day.

We all begin the best of luck with little failure. 

People who have started out on a quest - be it a new business, marriage & family, a voyage trip around the world, coming-out or giving birth - they all faced-down a stumble block along the way, but mostly in the rough beginnings.

I started my journey when I was 20 years old.

Working in the online industry takes some preparation, I believe. Some time digging in the fine touches of working with web content and communities. I didn’t fully have that in advance, and it cost me quite a slow head-start. 

See, I had experience with web content from the view point of a small blogger. I started blogging for fun, in 2004, when it was still an emerging trend in .ro. So I could say I was an e-content producer in a way, before it turned into a full-time job.

But never had I thought how much more beyond that it meant to be a web-content editor. Because it means putting yourself both in the shoes of the giver (producer) and the receiver (user). Plus, I worked for one of the most renowned Romanian web-agencies, on the website of a grand telecom corp. Which means double the effort to pay attention to details, keep the message clear and appealing to users, and sell.

But let’s not go too far from what shook my head today.

My story is that I’ve been roaming in the land of www for longer than other people my age, and for purposes higher than merely check e-mail and chat with anonymous peeps over IRC (tho this is how I and other teens have started). I was looking into social networks and blogs as the tide began to raise, and the transition form web 1.0 to web 2.0 was being made in .com. I didn’t know much about .ro because my first quest began outside its borders.

To say the least, Romania hasn’t fully achieved maturity in web 1.0, tho it embraced some aspects of web 2.0 quite enthusiastically (we’re - proudly or not - the most users of Hi5.com). But the average Romanian computer & Internet user (from 5-7 mil., as stats estimate) is likely more appealed by checking e-mail, browsing online newspaper editions, chat & rave around forums, than blog or comment on opinionated blogs, or produce video/audio content (podcasts). Hence, it can’t always be a reliable source for citizen journalism or have an advised opinion on and about web.

There are just a few strong, opinionated voices that have been there both in 1.0 and 2.0 eras, web entrepreneurs that nowadays are called upon to share their knowledge and experience in conferences or student gatherings. They are the trend setters of Romanian online.

But the industry is still young and growing.

There’s plenty of room for the New Generation of entrepreneurs and web-literates to take the lead. The problem is: how long have they been on the web? And moreover, how much does this really matter?

Getting back at me, I first took contact with the Internet back in ‘99. I started with the use of IRC, as it was a popular trend, esp. with teenagers. Then, in 2001 I set up my first e-mail account on Hotmail, followed by another on Yahoo!. For some 1 1/2 year, MSN.com had been my all-in-one info platform. I only turned to Yahoo! in 2002-2003, and discovered a whole new aspect of web community. I began using its services and dropped Hotmail once increased e-mail storage on Yahoo! was available. Soon after, I discovered the Internet can be a fruitful source of knowledge and more.

(part 2)

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*Read the related articles as well. They sure helped me have a broader view.

How does one begin to write of all the things they’ve been through in the past few weeks, without having their fingers cramp in a rush on the keyboard?

I’m likely going to tell you a story in here. But until I’ve figured out where to start, here’s a little teaser. Well… two.

E nevoie de donatori de sange pentru o prietena care a fost calcata de tramvaiul 41 in Crangasi. Se zbate intre viata si moarte. Cine vrea sa faca o fapta buna — dati tel la unul din numerele 0727415307 sau 0765186757, persoana de contact Diana Nicolescu (sora celei din spital).*

Detalii despre accident aici.

Donatiile se fac la Sp. Floreasca, L-V intre 7:30 am - 12:30 pm, pt Alexandra Nicolescu.
Sora victimei mi-a spus: “Orice grupa de sange este buna pentru ca se face schimbul in spital.”

Daca nu poti ajuta altfel, da mai departe acest mesaj. Multumesc.

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*via Alexandra Pop

Vruz - muchas gracias.