Portugal travel letter: Prologue

Today i start my soulsearching journey to the westernmost point of continental Europe. Conveniently, it's situated in Portugal, a country i've never been to. So, this trip is meaningful in many ways. I need to look deep inside of me and think a lot, that is why i go alone. The soul is not gonna search itself....

Heh, who am i kidding:) I doubt there's gonna be much soulsearching. Knowing me and my socialising powers, i doubt i'll even be alone for any of the time. There's going to be fun and sun and shopping and salsa and new people and strange coincidences and hopefully a lot more. But i promise, i try to just have a sneak peek into my soul, too!

And now i'm off to my first stop-off. London it is then!

Bridezilla in town

It's not that nothning's happening, a lot has happened, i just haven't written about it. S was in town for a long weekend and in addtion to dealing with some of the wedding stuff to make the bridezilla happy, we also had a very good time. The Friday night dinner got me thinking that the whole circle of closest people around me are not married yet, nor do they have kids. I guess it can be noted that people in groups tend to follow a similar pattern. All-in-all, we are nothing but animals. The fact that S is getting married can only be assigned to the fact that most of the time she's in London, far-far away from us, where J-man can work his magic on her.

Anyways, organizing a wedding is a tough job, especially if all the people around you have different expectations for it and i really don't blame S for obsessing over it. The other thing she obsesses over is the fact that she's obsessing and hence turning into a bridezilla:) But not to worry, she never will, i'm sure of that. And even if she does, she'd make a cute little bridezilla.

The conference

I went to the marketing conference (Pärnu Turunduskonverents) last week. I am well aware that the longer you've been in the business, the harder it is to be surprised, therefore my expections are not so high for those conferences. I thought that, if i find 3 (new) interesting ideas from the whole conference, it can be called a succes. The party usually saves the day:)

Here's the overall numbers:
11 - number of lecturers i listened to
3 - number of lecturers who were good
1 - the one lecturer which was really surprisingly good - make a mental note, if you have a chance to listen to Kristjan Port (he also has a radio program, i believe), he's really worth listening to
2 - interesting ideas that i got (not 3 as i hoped for, but better than nothing and the party was good, i danced a lot, thank you, R)

Some pieces of information worth sharing:
- 70 mio people in the world are blogging
- YouTube was originally a MySpace application
- Nike ownes Converse
- Most of the original computer software engineers were under the influence of LSD (probably)
- The time when we can buy memory chips is not so far away anymore, give it a decade or so, the first solutions are being developed already
- Cindy Lauper was a "fad" and Madonna is a "trend"
- Somewhere in the world is a "power nap" company, which teaches the techniques of effective powernapping - very important, i could be their model student!
- 264 BC the first gladiator fight was held - this can be considered the birth of event marketing
- Walkman was a failed product development in Sony - they wanted to create a miniature tape recorder, but they had 2 obstacles - they couldn't miniaturise the speakers and it didn't record. The Sony bossman thought it could be a niche product for golf-playing executives. However, it got a somewhat warmer reception on the market:)


The best quote, by Kristjan Port (Sorry, this one in Estonian):
"Me elame nii tuulise nurga peal, et geneetiliselt ei sa meid enam ammu eestlasteks nimetada."

18 dresses

I've counted and it turns out i have 18 dresses in my closet (some summer ones are still probably hidden somewhere). If i add all the skirts to the list i think i could be dressed like a lady that i am for almost the whole summer, wearing a different outfit every day. Now, what i still need is different hats to protect my face from the sun...and lose 2 kg-s... and then i'm set for summer. So, where can i get nice hats from?

Rulers Of The Deep - Planet Drum

I do believe i have been living under a rock. How else can it be that i first hear the song on MTV and find it quite good...and weeks later i discover that it's Estonian! Yes, the same song which is currently number 10 in MTV's Dance Floor Chart. Go ROTD and Sofia Rubina!

Sonny J : Handsfree (If You Hold My Hand)

Something to get the Friday night going!

This is a nice book too

Yes-yes-yes, i have bought the book and already started working on it...and that is my next destination. Portugal - here i come! Finally, something really good to look forward to!

Cleaning up Estonia...

It was a beautiful Saturday moring when me and 4 more salsa people set off to clean up Estonia. We were just a small addition to the 45 000 people who took part in this huge action. There is so much garbage in the beautiful estonian forests, you won't believe what people have thrown away and what all those 45 000 people found and collected....cars, washing machines, wooden legs, inflatable sex dolls, bicycles, sculls and sceletons (for reals!) and all kinds of stuff, in addition to the "normal" trash like bottles and building material and and and....Anyway, i believe we came a whole lot closer to a really clean Estonia!

Since one picture tells a better story than 100 words i'll just add some pics to help them tell my story. Pictures taken by Reio.

Life is still beautiful and carefree....

...then it turns a little more sombre, we find our first trash...

...and then it gets really shitty....

....taht's how bad it is in some places...

...thankully, Rain also found some evidence...

...but we did it, it's all just a bit cleaner now!