Daily Routines

Kyle (who never leaves the house without a camera) says that people are mistaken about good photographers. He says that most of us think that professional photographers take good pictures because they are exceptionally talented or have super equipment. According to the Professor, even though talent and equipment are big factors, one of the most important reason why good photographers take great pictures is that they take MANY pictures EVERY DAY.

I don't doubt this because I've heard a lot of people say the same about writers. Good writers become excellent writers by writing every day.

Memphis Sunset.

So now I take a camera with me everywhere I go and try to write here more regularly. Hope you'll help me keep at it.

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Happy Friday!

Tonight we are staying in, looking at slides that Kyle took over this past summer.


What are you guys up to?

Friends with websites

When I am down and out, I look at my friends' websites. Today, I give you three of them... for hope and inspiration:

Mary Maxeiner is my American mom. She paints, works with ceramics, runs a fabulous antiques shop in St. Louis (that I still need to visit) and is generally, one of the most creative people I know. The website is a Christmas gift from yours truly... so she can exhibit some of her work. It is a work in progress and I will give you regular updates when she has new pieces up.

Jo Carubia, who I mentioned in my note yesterday, keeps one of the best writing blogs that I have come across. I am meeting her for drinks tomorrow. Item No1 on the agenda is to bug her to blog more often.

Nina is my Twitter friend. We got connected over our shared obsession with Rebecca Walker. After some (not-so-subtle) encouragement from me, Nina created her first blog in which she writes about her experiences teaching high-school English.

Be sure to visit them and do share the web-spaces you visit when you need a little pick-me up.

Confessions and nightmares

I wrote an email to my mother-in-law, aka American Mom, telling her what we've been up to: we were sick but are better now, spent Halloween watching a scary movie with friends, freaking out about THE ELECTION. I didn't really think twice about it. And then I get an email back from her. She wants more details!!!

Now, how do I confess that not only did we not dress up but we watched a "horror" movie titled The Hole?! I worry she would be disappointed.

That's what you get for marrying a Bulgarian, she would tell Kyle. First, you stop celebrating Halloween and then before you know it, you are spending your Friday nights watching Keira Knightley movies!!!

American, again

The other day prof. Grady and I went to a place called Irving's. As we were adding half $ half to our coffee, we started talking about the new cups they were using. MUCH better insulated... just SO MUCH BETTER, really. We leave and start walking down the street and keep talking about the cups and how wonderful they are and how great it is to be able to just HOLD your coffee and not feel like your hand is about to turn into charcoal and fall off.

That's when we realize we have already slipped back into being American. We expect fast, reliable, high-quality service + convenience, convenience, convenience everywhere we go.

I've got mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I feel like I'm turning into a more uptight version of myself. I want things and I want them NOW. On the other hand, however, this uptight version of me is significantly more... relaxed. So I'll think twice before I complain about this.

Jens Lekman, as suspected, is a very nice guy

Prof. Grady is doing a 12-Days-of-Christmas thing where each day he writes about a 2007 record that he's especially enjoyed. The first one he talked about was Jens Lekman's Night Falls Over Kortedala.

Earlier today:

Petya Kirilova: petya.kirilova [at] gmail [dot] com
to: jens [at] srvice [dot] com,
date: Dec 16, 2007 10:14 PM
subject: two of your songs and a mistake


Hi,

My husband and I were just talking about you today. We both have put a song by you on our Best of 2007 lists. His favorite is The Opposite of Hallelujah and mine is Black Cat. Which, turns out, is actually called Black Cab. And here I am telling you about it like I wasn't embarrassed enough.

Have a great day,

Petya
Sofia, Bulgaria

AND:

Jens Lekman: jens [at] srvice [dot] com
to: Petya Kirilova petya.kirilova [at] gmail [dot] com>
date: Dec 16, 2007 10:31 PM
subject: Re: two of your songs and a mistake


Ha ha !
sweet.
/ Jens


The K-G's are smitten.

A hard day's night

After a difficult day at the office, my husband took me out for falafel and we ended up getting tipsy on martinis at 703.

Difficult completely changes its meaning, when your someone special's got your back.

Beer and Bach

The first time I went to a party in the States I took a long time to get ready. I dressed up and did my hair and make-up. Wore heels and made sure I smelled nice. I was taken to a frat party, where everyone kept asking why I was so dressed up. I was so confused that I couldn't even fake a decent response. I later learned that college kids in the States, unless the situation demands otherwise, prefer to be comfortable and casual to dressed-up. Any time.

I will always remember that sense of sheer confusion and stupor I experienced as I walked through the doors of the frat house. It felt like I was in a movie and it was only a matter of seconds before the fat foreign kid threw up on my red pumps. I also thought it was pretty damn funny and promptly entered the bathroom to laugh it all off and compose myself.

The reason why I am bringing this up now is a K-G outing that took place last night and produced a very similar combo of confusion, stupor and delight at the total randomness of the event. See, we read about the Herbert von Karajan festival a little while back and were very much looking forward to enjoying the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra LIVE in Sofia. I mean, it was going to be a MAJOR event in the middle of what’s been a mostly peasant summer (all social activities have been limited to consuming massive amounts of food or liquor or, most often, both). It was our chance to do something that required a little more brain, something cultural…something that would make us feel less like we live in Europe’s underbelly (hate Churchill for saying that about the Balkans, by the way) and more like we inhabit a vibrant European city that I hope Sofia will become some time soon. So, we planned for weeks and then last night got a little dressed up and grabbed food and drinks and hurried to the garden of the National Theater…to find out that there was no orchestra in sight. Only a big-ass video-screen. Airing Mtel commercials between classical acts.

OK, OK…had we thought a little bit about it, we would have figured it out earlier. I mean…Mr. Karajan’s been dead for many years now (RIP) and the announcement did mention that the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra would be conduced by him, so we should have guessed there were no way in hell that it could all happen LIVE. But come on, people, the organizers could have done a slightly better job at providing clear information on what exactly it was that they were trying to do. For one, I wouldn’t have worn the world’s most uncomfortable pants and would have sported jeans instead.

All confusion and mild embarrassment aside, however, it was an awesome evening. The selection of pieces played was amazing and the sound was surprisingly good. Also, the combination of classical music with the super low-key venue was fantastic. Felt super relaxing and romantic and summery and we didn’t feel completely out of place with our sandwiches and cheap beer in hand.

They are showing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons tonight, which always reminds me of airline commercials, but we might be going again. Nothing can make a falafel taste better than a little bit of violin in the background.

Surprise!!!!

wanted to surprise Kyle and take him go-cart racing today. He was surprised alright. Mostly, by the tropical storm that started JUST as we set foot at the race track. Ah well...what is one to do...We raided the vending machine and, in true Kirilova-Grady fashion, took pictures instead.

When the rain stopped, we came home.

My massage therapist loves my husband

Our company got us a massage therapist! She comes to the office twice a week and gives people full-body massages. She uses mandarin orange oil and works magic on our tired backs. As she was doing her thing last night:

Therapist: Do you exercise?
Me: Aha. My husband and I run in the park.
Therapist: See, I could tell. Your back is not stiff at all. What about your diet?
Me: Well, my husband's vegetarian and I am almost a vegetarian. I like кренвирши с кашкавал way too much to give up meat completely.
Therapist: I could tell you take care of your body. Do you like to cook?
Me: Actually, no. My husband is an excellent cook.
Therapist: You tell your husband I send him my greetings. He seems to be every woman's dream, takes great care of you.

She could tell I got a good man simply by looking at my back... Isn't it interesting how our mental health contributes to our physical well-being?

We LOVE-LOVE-LOVE this guy

My husband, who among other things started skateboarding long before it was cool to skateboard, is a great admirer of street art. Thanks to him, I have started to notice some of the cool graffitti around Sofia. Like the one in this photo, for example:


It's really awesome and we both LOVE-LOVE-LOVE the work of the guy who created it. Luckily, it's all over the city and we get to enjoy it on a regular basis.

Doesn't the guy from the wall appear to be rolling his eyes at me and thinking "Oh, there we go again! This is JUST what this city needs: another parkour wanna-be!"

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Photo by Prof. Grady

Never Say Never

I don’t think that when a person starts a blog they have a particularly good idea of what they would like to write about. They THINK they have an idea, but that idea usually shifts as they go along. That’s not a bad thing, I don’t think. To the contrary, it’s oftentimes a sign of maturation and growth. If I am correct on this one, BOY, have I grown!

Like I said, when I started blogging I didn’t really have a good idea what my blog would be about. BUT I was pretty damn sure that there was this one thing I would NEVER EVER write about: SPORTS.

But see, things happened and people get married and their husband turns out to be really interested in baseball and college basketball. He also happens to be one super articulate and very persuasive fan of the NCAA Basketball Championship. So, here I am, bringing your attention to the fact that the tournament starts later today. And that, in addition to being sort of excited about it, I have done the unthinkable: I have filled out a bracket and contributed FIVE AMERICAN DOLLARS to a friends-only gambling pool, hoping and praying that North Carolina and Florida make it to the finals in Atlanta and Florida wins the Championship.

Now in addition to playing Bulgarian scrabble and taking jumping pictures of each other, our little family has yet another favorite pastime: GAMBLING.

Jump!

The Professor and I were going through our pictures and discovered that we have a tendency of taking jumping photos of each other. Here's some proof from earlier today:


If you see a spastic Bulgarian girl and a skinny American boy being complete dorks out in public, please come say hi.