For the First Time... since a long time ago

Hi doves!

"It is hard work (to build a good habit), my friend" - one told we some days ago. Now, I hope, you would understand why I keep claiming this is my weekly Friday post, despite of the fact that I haven't written a post for probably more than 3 weeks and it's actually Monday, not Friday. I'm trying hard to build a good habit, my friends!

How have things been with you? Leave your witty comments after the post, I'm looking forward to reading them. Challenge my ability to respond to witty comments: )

This week's list - are you ready? Of course you are! For the First Time in my life:

• I have celebrated Halloween. I was Shuffle Box. Who is Shuffle Box? I was Shuffle Box... before they stole my costume at some point of the night. Now you can only see Shuffle Box in the video to the song Party Rock Anthem and a couple of other songs. He's the guy with the box on his head and shining lights for eyes. All the girls love him and he's the best dancer in the videos... Yes, girls loved me as well (I'm pretty sure there are a few girls who still love me without really paying attention to the absence of a box on my head). So many people took pictures with me. Everyone was ecstatic to see me dancing on the dance floor. Girls, just touching my butt is not really allowed, OK? Thanks! So I had the best Halloween party EVER (which is not that surprising, considering that it was my first Halloween party ever). Seriously, it was amazing! You can check out my pictures on FB ( FB is a shortcut for FBI, but I'm just too tired to type this additional "I" at the end).
• I have been ice-skating for the second time in my life. It was the first time I was doing it for the second time. I successfully started moving on the ice in the intended direction. I have also decided to become extremely good at this sport before leaving Michigan next May. Of course, you've all heard the saying about good intentions, so let's wait and see.
• I have decided to grow longer hair. I want it a bit shorter than shoulder-length hair. In order to accomplish this I'll have to avoid cutting it for about six months. I'll have to get used to using hair gel in the mean time, as I'd like to look like SOMETHING during this long interim period. I'm expecting to get an additional centimeter of hair each month. Still, we're currently negotiating the monthly growth rate with my hair, so I still have good chances for a couple of additional millimeters per month. I'll let you know once we sign the contract.
• I have been reading Richard Branson's "Losing my Virginity". This is one of the most exciting and enjoyable books I have ever read.
• I have organized a silent party. We had our MP3 players and IPods on - everyone dancing to their own music. The feeling is as if you are in two worlds separate from each other - your own world and the one surrounding you. We had a good time : )
• I have had the most complex exam in my life. It was in Finance and... yes, I did good. Old people say: "Don't sell the bear's skin before you've killed the bear." though. It sound appropriate in the situation as we still haven't got our marks.
• I have bought a chest freezer for the Formula Racing Team. We're building our car out of carbon fiber, which has to be stored cold. This has been my first real contribution to the team We're all so excited about what's ahead of us this year! : )... Brady and I went to Caledonia to pick up the freezer last weekend. It was so heavy, that I almost started thinking that it may have been overweight...
• I have learned the word "road kill". Road kill is basically any animal killed by a car or truck on the road : )
• Throughout these three weeks I have been feeling as if I was flying! I have been smiling at an extremely high rate per hour - higher even than what it usually is. I felt as if I was hanging in the air, so relaxed and happy. Floating on a soft comfortable cloud up in the air. I have been waking up with a smile on my face and I have been going to bed with a smile, just to keep it while dreaming. I have just had a good period with a lot of positive emotions - that's how it can be explained... I guess. : )
• Felix, Ariel, Max and I went to Cleveland last weekend. Initially we wanted to go to the German city in Michigan, where they have the only one in the world, I think, licensed be the German government Oktober Fest, apart from the one in Germany. We decided against it and instead picked Detroit as out destination. Before leaving Bulgaria, the president of IIE (the organisation that awarded me my scholarship) told me that a research showed that there is a 74% chance to leave Detroit in a... coffin, if you happen to visit it. We got a bit scared, as everyone has been telling us all kinds of stories about the city. "However, if you know the right places to go and the right people, it can be really safe in Detroit." - that's what most Americans have been telling us. Now. It's too hard to imagine two Germans, a French and a Bulgarian knowing the right people and places in  Detroit. That's why, while I was packing, the guys decided to go to Grand Rapids instead. For two days. You haven't heard of Grand Rapids? That's why we though that it might be a better idea to go to Chicago instead. Finally, we ended up on our way to Cleveland. It was right after Felix had paid his parking ticket... the first out of three violations he committed in a day and a half. Cleveland is a great city! It's not something fancy and highly populated, but it's good. The central area is quite nice. The ghettos - well... Did you know, by the way, that rock and roll was "invented" in Cleveland? A radio DJ called this type of music "rock and roll" in his radio show in 1952 for the first time. Since then it's grown its popularity I think. We saw a true American fight in a bar in Cleveland. We spoke to some members of "Occupy Cleveland". We also played American Football in an industrial area (no longer operational). Of course, we did visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They treated us almost as celebrities and we didn't need to pay 22 dollars for our visit. There was a rock concert in the hall. During the night, we decided to go to a cemetery and just walk around to see if it was as spooky as in the movies. We have been respectful to the old people and were quite humble, so yes - we were behaving ourselves. There are so many emotions that are still crossing my mind and soul, that I can't really put them down properly yet. What I can say is: Thank you, Felix, Ariel and Max. It's not too sugary to say this... no?

To summarize the list up till here, during the past three weeks I have seen and experienced a lot. There is nothing better than finding the right balance in life and enjoying it in its entirety. The list goes on now:

• I have also been feeling sad during the last week. I don't know if this should be on this list, but as long as I'm the one who makes the decisions on what to be included and what not - then it's on the list. Pure sadness - that's what I call it. Sometimes it turns out that hanging in the air, feeling as if you're flying has it's hidden challenges to offer. Then you start falling towards the ground, still residually happy and... getting ready for crushing. It's not the crush that I had difficulties with (I've crushed so many times - in different ways), but getting used to no longer being able to fly in the same way you have been doing it for a considerable amount of time... I'm glad I had the opportunity to fly, though! : ) And I'm already smiling again. Even with those moments of sadness, I have had three beautiful weeks. As I'm now on my way to departing from unhappy feelings, there is no sense in asking what was the cause of this condition of mine. Let's say that it may have been the change of the seasons : )

Dear friends, this is the list for the past three weeks. I hope you've enjoyed it and that I helped you get to know me a little bit better. In my next post you can expect stories about my endeavors in management and... other unexpected things : )

Have a sunny week and remember: To reach high, you need to aim high!

Best,

Yavko

For the First Time

Good morning Michigan, USA in general, Bulgaria, UK and Ireland!

I haven't been able to update all of you on what has been happening to me For the First Time in my life during the last two and a half weeks, as I was too busy to be involved in it! But you know I did this sacrifice for you, my sweet readers! : )

I'm introducing the concept of Kitchen Economy in this post.

Also, any resemblance with real people and places should not be surprising and is most probably intended.

Let's begin! Throughout the last two and a half weeks For the First Time in my life... That's my weekly Friday post, by the way! : ) For the First Time in my life:

• I have rented a car. Technically I haven't, because another guy was driving, but I inspired the whole trip. We have ridden a bike from the university campus to Lansing Airport to pick the car up - it was no more than 8 miles... We started our ride late in the early hours of the day - Lucas and I. It lasted from 7:40 am to 9 am. On our way to the airport a small poodle-like looking dog almost ate me together with my bike! Honestly!
• I have been squeezed on the front seat of a rental car for about 15 minutes because of the two bikes occupying the back seat!
• I have spent more than 8 hours stuck in a car with an Australian (Lucas) and two British (Louise and Andy). We had so much fun!
• I have been digging sand for an hour trying to get our vehicle back on the road. Lucas has decided to check if an Economy car can drive on the sand. Hm... No, Lucas, it turns out that it can not. : ) 
• I have never ever enjoyed digging in the sand so much!
• I've been to Lake Michigan. 
• I've swam in the just a bit chilly waters of Lake Michigan in... October! : )
• I have been turned into a mermaid on the beach.
• I have played "Sandman". The first rule is to start playing immediately after going out of the water, which in our case meant going out of the water after the 4th minute, as it really was chilly. The second rule is to start rolling into the sand. And no, Lucas, there is no third rule saying that you can throw sand in other players faces!
• I have been willing to buy a pumpkin so much that I've actually almost dreamed about buying one yesterday night. "Almost" sounds pretty close to having actually dreamed about it! 
• Other people have been sending messages to my friends via my mobile phone, without me knowing that. Thank you for that, Lucas! : )
• I have tried the German wine Jacob Demmer - thanks for your good choice Juliane!
• I have enjoyed having fresh air with Felix, Max and Ariel, whatever that means to you : )
• I have been to the opening of the basketball season at Michigan State University. It felt like NBA at certain moments! The coach of the men's team arrived on a micro Top-gun jet! There was a lot of fire, many lights, there was the HUGE cube with screens above the court. There was a Norwegian with me as well... Thanks, Christian!
• I have been to a bar with Rhone Eppelheimer - it turned out that there is a lot more in common between the way Americans and Bulgarian think and have fun, than I've ever thought.
• I have realized that generosity and kindness pays back. I risked loosing a lighter trying to help a stranger but... again, it payed back! I can't go into more details, I'm sorry. Be sure I enjoyed myself, though! 
• I have joined the Operations team of the Formula Racing Team at MSU. It turned out that it was a lot more expensive to build a small Formula 1 type car from scratch than I thought. We are making the body of the car from carbon fibers. In order to do this we need a module that we can't manufacture ourselves that costs 50 000... And this is only a tiny part of the expenses. So... it is going to be an exciting year for the whole team and in particular the Operations team , who have to find sponsors to make our adventure to the First Prize in all planned competitions possible : )
• I have started drinking at 9 am on a Saturday. At 10:30 we were already having tequila shots... However, this is not alcoholism - it's called "tailgating". Basically because of the fact that the American Football team has got a home game you are allowed to drink on campus. It is a tradition to support all Spartan teams, if you study at MSU. As a real Spartan, I could not refuse to offer my support! Yes, we have won the game, although Ariel found out about this about 4 hours after it finished. : )
• I have taken a picture with a human-like alien, dressed entirely in green. Obviously the MSU Football team is quite popular not only oversees, but also overspace.
• I have started writing an essay which can earn me 1000 dollars and... haven't yet finished it... two days before the deadline.
• I have participated, in the invention of the Kitchen Economy. This is a science that strives to explain the world and the forces behind economic events entirely relying on... kitchen equipment. It's at the same time better and worse than the "Ketchup Economy" - if you're not aware of that one, you should google it yourselves. I'm not supposed to explain other people's theories, right? In a nutshell our Kitchen Economy runs on kitchen tools and supplies. Different countries, as Norway for example, are built from napkins. Bulgaria is a glass of milk. The bears on the North Pole, which actually outnumber the people there, are salt and the latter are pepper. Eyjafjallajokull - for short also known as "the volcano that erupted in Iceland last summer" - is a can of pepper. And if we go into currency then I should quote an article by.. myself:   ‎"In an ideal world, where people use banana currency, one banana exchanges for two oranges. The exchange rate between oranges and apples is 1:3. Then... please, Trine, remove the saltern from the napkin - there are no volcanoes on this island!...I was saying that then one banana exchanges for six apples..."  You should have been able to get a fairly good idea of what the Kitchen Economy is by now... Co-inventors: Trina, Kathrine, July, Anna, Ina, Louis, Tiaan.Trina has been pronounced the official finder of this whole new branch in scientific thought.
• I have promised 6 girls a mention in this post, for simply enjoying the way my butt looks, while claiming to be "just checking out" my new jeans. So: July, Tiaan, Kathrine, Trina, Anna, Gil - thank you for being so kind to inform me that my jeans look so good... on my nice butt : )

Let me stop here, before I've mentioned how a girl with whom I had been dancing fell off the stage and... no, no. That's about it for this week. : ) 

Please do me a favor and be enjoying yourselves seven days a week. If you can do more than seven days a week - sounds even better! : )

Best,

Yavor

For The First Time

Ho-ho-ho! Merry Sunday!

How are you doing, my classy friends? : )

As the tradition goes, I'm publishing my weekly Friday post on a Sunday again. I know you'll enjoy it and I know many of you have been waiting for it for a whole week, so... let me begin with the list of stuff that has happened to me For the First Time in my life during the past week! : )

For the First Time in my life:

• I have not invited my friends to my birthday party last Friday. I didn't have a birthday on Friday, neither had I thrown a party, but at least everyone not invited didn't show up. It's always good to know there's somebody you can rely on!
• I have seen a squirrel EATING an acorn, after I saw one digging an acorn the previous week. 
• Have realized that there are so many squirrels on campus that one could easily do research on them using sample sizes of 700! (The most appropriate statistical test to use, if you have two samples, should be a z-test, for those of you who are interested...)
• Have missed breakfast several times, as I've slept in... Actually this one is REMOVED FROM THE LIST, as this is not something I haven't done before. Ask Kevin,Lucas and Chris for confirmation.
• Have been studying until 5 am and then on the following day until 5:30 am, which resulted in a total change in my daily regime so... I couldn't fall asleep until 5:30 on the next day too...
• I've played pool at 4 am... with myself. I told you that I couldn't sleep, right? The good thing was that I actually managed to win the game!
• I have woken up 10 minutes before my exam started. (One small clarification here - this was For the First Time since I've been in the US.) Of course I passed the exam : )
• A teammate of mine has started a conflict with me on the basketball court, after a wonderful game that we won... He spent about 5 minutes, barely being able to take a breath, explaining to me that I was... talking too much. I just remained silent and... then exploded into laughter with the rest of the guys on the court.
• I have been in a bus with 40 exchange students from all over the world. I have enjoyed it SO MUCH!
• I have been accused of stealing my own banana from somebody else. It eventually turned out that the person has taken my banana for her own. They all look a lot the same, don't they? I was thinking, maybe if we were issuing picture ID cards for the bananas it would be easier to recognize them. But then... we'll have to name all the bananas in the world, keep record of their family history and remember their date of birth, if bananas are born at all! In addition, the problem will remain unsolved, as there are too few experts in telling the difference between a picture of a banana and a picture of another banana.
• I have stopped thinking about issuing picture ID cards to bananas.
• I have seen a real jukebox!
• I have seen a naked alien!
• I have seen a plant eating naked aliens!  
• I've seen a person insert a 5 dollar bill in a vending machine. order a can of Mountain Dew and... have the machine returning dollar bills for about 5 minutes! I'm serious! They got about 30 dollars back... AND the Mountain Dew! AHah I was impressed by their honesty, though. One of the guys called a supervisor and explained that they were looking for a dollar fifty... not 40 bucks! The supervisor pressed a button, the machine stopped returning dollar bills and... started returning coins... dong-dong-dong-dong-dong-dong. These guys could have become rich, but obviously haven't been told that it doesn't matter how you've earned your first million, as long as... you keep adding more millions to your account - was it?
• I have been on a roller coaster! We went to Cedar Point with the aforementioned exchange students from the bus. hAHhaha I can't explain the feeling to be on a roller coaster with words... AHhah You should experience it yourselves! My recommendation is to add a bullet "to ride a roller coaster" on the list of things you want to do before you become 50, unless you have it on the list already : )
• Felix has told me that when I'm riding a roller coaster it sounds like: "Ho-ho-ho! Ho-hooo-ho-ho-ho!"
• I have been to a haunted house and... No. I'm not telling you about it. What happens at a haunted house, stays at the haunted house!
• I have had candies in the form of a skeleton on the way back home. They were pretty good, I have to admit! : )

These are the headlines of what's happened to me during the past week. : ) I want to thank you for reading it! And I want to thank all the people with whom we've been laughing together and having fun during the past seven days!

Thank you! : )  

 Best,
Yavor