Old friend

   I think i can say that today i am happy. Don't jump to conclusions; i didn't fond a better job, I didn't found a way to overcome all the problems and issues in my life and of course i didn't found the secret to immortality( you would like that published on the open source community so everybody could benefit from it no?). I found a Friend. A friend i thought that was lost into the unknown. But He's back.
    Now you will say : what a big fuss of nothing like this... We constantly finding and loosing friends and we are not making such a fuss of it. Nope this one is different... Think of him just like you would think at your adolescence best friend, because that is what he was for me, the one that impatiently throws himself in front of you to defend you in a fight, the one that gently looks over your shoulder when you are almost close to make a huge mistake, the one that cheers and feels happy with you when your combined efforts finally pays off, the one that with a shallow whisper will guide your attention to a girl he likes but he does not have the courage to speak with, the one that can sleep and dream at the next day spent with you, that kind of friend.
    I thought i lost him some 20 years ago when he and his family fled this country to a better future, leaving me here, without hope, and without even saying goodbye. I constantly tried to make contact with him but first the communism years, after that the day to day struggle to live, prevented me from finding him. Now thanks to a social network so popular these days, i found him (actually he found me). We spoke on the phone for about two hours and honestly it felt like the time was back in the 80's when we were in my back yard conceiving radios and power amplifiers from scavenged parts from old TV sets. It was like the 20 years of silence were gone in a flash, and everything was like it was before. Just two friends sharing a good time. Now everybody has such a friend. So what the fuss about this one to become a post in a blog? well i have to thank this guy for teaching me two things: Value of friendship and electronics.
    I never lost the hope that i will at least hear something about him, the idea of loosing him forever wasn't something i wanted. He was and he still is in my heart my best friend. The words are scarce to describe the countless days we spent together, dreaming of some SF devices we will build, making plans for the jobs we would like to have, the girls we would like to have...These were the basis for our friendship. And despite the fact that we are hundreds of kilometers apart, he is still my friend and  he will always be. I have to thank him now, for the passion he had for electronics. He showed me what it is and made me a part of his joy of building working wonders from electronic components. I know that you will laugh so loud about what am i about to say... Back then when i was a nerd, when we just met, i asked him to build me a light show from LED's. From my point of view what he was doing was pure magic wizardry, but for him it was just plain diode, transistor, resistor, filter,etc, connected in a meaningful way to make a music activated light show. I was so amazed about what he did, and i was so nerd that i actually bought a few resistors and diodes just because i liked their colors not because i needed them in any way. I do not know if he remembers that day but that was the day i submitted myself in learning the electronic wizardry. He showed me the basics and i was like in a constant dream, learning how to connect, solder, calculate to make my first circuits. After almost 20 years i remember those days like they were yesterday.  I, now that i found him have to thank again him, because despite the fact that he left the country he was never lost for me. The passion he fed into me was the link that kept me from forgetting him, and the only thing that pushed me up in my career. So, my friend, Thank you for giving me a job, a reason to be happy, a dream to dream to and a way of life. The only thing i can give back to you is this: You are and will be, whatever reasons will take us apart, My Best Friend. You never left because i was keeping you in my soul every day. So instead of saying to you welcome back i will say, "Salut ma".
   

we don't care if you live or die but don't forget to pay your social insurance fees!!!

  I didn't comment for a long time on social turmoils that throws
the average Romanian into despair. I ignored the rampant raise of
the gas price, the inexplicable raise of the food and especially
vegetables price, ( or the total absence of Romanian grown
vegetables from our market, or the sand like taste of every to-
mato, cucumber, etc bought from the supermarket), the also
inexplicable raise of the rent payed to the banks when all of the
banks reported multi billion ROI's, i didn't say a word. But this
one is over my capacity to understand. So, according to the following
link you will not be eligible to have a hospital bed if you are not
"seriously sick". By seriously sick, according to the rules stated
in the institution regulations, you must be very close to heaven
in order to get hospitalized assistance. And like any other Romanian
rule, this one was kept under the carpet until 31 of the month, to
be thrown publicly, and the application date...guess what.. is on
first of next month. Nice no? This , like many other rules, will
start again the Russian roulette with the lives of the average Romanian
contributor, and of course it will generate a new way of pretending
money from the unfortunate ones who need hospitalized care but does
not fit the proposed rules. Of course you will hear, on the deserted
of qualified doctors but filled with ill people, hallways of the hospitals
dialogs like:
- Please Doctor X please help him. He's sick.
And the doctor with a superior and greedy look in his eyes will say:
- Miss Y, i cannot help you. unfortunately he does not qualify within
the new regulations, and making a significant pause, unless...
The desperate woman will pick up the line and say:
- I will be grateful sir... please i will try...
And with a twist of his head will leave the unfortunate woman and say:
-I'll see what i can do... but i do not promise anything....
So our miss Y, will go home and start begging for money. This will
be the hardest thing to do for her. But she will do it because despite
the fact that she and her ill husband are struggling to live from
two low paychecks, the monthly payments have to be made, to the bank,
the grocery, the phone company, electricity, gas, etc. She will get
another job or beg or do anything to get the necessary amount to
please the greedy doctor who, benefiting from a wrong law, holds
the bread and the knife.
Do not think that the imaginary discussion above it's just imaginary.
NO. This is actually happening already in our hospitals. But for
other reasons. Now the Med's have another reason to exploit.
Forget Hippocrates welcome Judas.
And this is not enough. The law is made so the government can cut
more of the funds from the Health and Medicine and redirect these
funds to other sectors where they can benefit. There are hundreds
of examples where the officials, empowered by the current or former
administrations granted bids for millions of Euros to virtually
unknown companies. I will not go into details explaining whom did
what and when. If you know how to read, you will find them. Lurking
in the newspapers, on TV, on Radio.The general idea is that with
nothing to sell, big time of course, only a few state owned companies
have remained unsold, they had to redirect their attention to other
fund sources. So they began cutting from Health, Law Enforcement,
Rural development,etc. And if i said Rural development don't be
misled, We need roads, water, electricity, sanitation, medical care,
schools in the rural area not churches, sport complexes, statues and
administrative buildings. But as a Romanian singer said " We cannot
spoil money from building schools and kindergartens", and they
build what they want to.
It's funny ( sad type) to look at our governors and officials,
stepping on each other toes, spying and spreading fake rumors about
each others illegal activities, all of these done with a single scope: to
be the one and only beneficiary of the big fat revenue when the
company will be sold. this is Dimbovita politics. ( Dimbovita a
river that crosses Bucharest. In the old times this river was
smelling very bad due to the sewer pipes flowing into it. Now
despite the fact that it is covered, it stinks from the politics
conducted here).
So , to quote again the same Romanian singer " Give us rain, give us sun,
we-re so fucki'n resistant", we will endure this idiotic new set of rules.
And we will prevail. We will do the same as we did until now, we
will steal, we will cheat, we will beg, we will exploit just to
live a crazy life here. And when we did everything and we will consider
that it is enough, we will pack a bag-pack of clothes and we will
fly tho other countries in hope of a better life. Leaving behind
everything we fought for, everything we dreamed at and unfortunately
some of our beloved ones.
Let's hope that we will never say " the last one shuts down the light".