Goal #10 Book #5 Serdar Ozkan - The Missing Rose

    One day I saw a tweet by Paulo Coelho about a book which is not his but a Turkish writer`s. It was The Missing Rose (Kayıp Gül) by Serdar Özkan. He was saying that it was a great piece. So I decided that it would be the next book I`d read. And I did read it.

    I have to confess, it was not as great as I expected it to be. It was almost ordinary except the content. In the beginning I was shocked to find out that its form was almost of an American one and I found it tasteless. It crossed my mind that I drop it, but I was curious about the ending at the same time. Also, comments suggested that it was the Turkish Little Prince, so I had to read it, since I have not read the Little Prince yet. I was also interested in searching for oneself in a journey through time, mind and space. Kept on reading, and reading....

    The last feeling I got was something approximating Coelho`s work but not quite there yet. I was not satisfied with the flow of the events, very content with the oriental taste in it, disappointed with the repetitive nature of some aspects of the characters and overall Americanness. It should have been deeper, with more layers into the character analysis and more oriental emotiveness. Very wise sayings of the great thinkers of orient is not sufficient, spreading a few phrases of wisdom does not make a book great. Many things actually looked disconnected or as least not that well connected.

    Would I recommend the book? Yes.

    Although, it was not my taste, it may be of your liking. It is also short and fluent so why not taste it :)

Goal #5 Revising the List

    Goal #5 on my list was something like this "Revise my goal list on the first day of each month and evaluate my progress". I will do that now, on the 4th of March.

    I have downloaded my list on 43things.com, it is as following:

• 1.Rent my own room
• 2.earn my financial independence
• 3.update my blog daily
• 4.create a travel book about my future destinations
• 5.revise my goal list on the first day of each month and evaluate my progress
• 6.gain 3 months of experience in a decent company
• 7.learn water marbling
• 8.excel in sumi-e painting
• 9.submit 100 works to Deviantart
• 10.earn at least 100$ on Etsy
• 11.read 100 books
• 12.watch 100 films
• 13.read all of the National Geographic Magazines in my library
• 14.read all of the japanese mangas in my library
• 15.take more photographs
• 16.open a bank account
• 17.graduate from school
• 18.Read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
• 19.learn yoga
• 20.Try 30 new recipes in 2013
• 21.meditate in a buddhist temple in Nepal
• 22.Try new recipes.

    Let`s take a look

1. I had a small fight with my parents about moving out and it didn`t go well. Both parties got very emotional and no real discussion was done at the end. We shut up and never talked about it again. They told me that I can move out when I get married. Shocking news for me. I didn`t know that my parents cared so much about what other stupid people say. I feel kinda disappointed. I understand though. I have to be patient, because the time will come for me to set sail. 
2. Financial independence, hmmm... Being very lucky to find a good job in no time, with minimal effort, I am now trying to keep up with the high tempo of my life and to do my best. In short, with school and two jobs that pay fair I am pretty content.
3. Oops! That goal is one I have hard time accomplishing. Let alone finding topics to write about on my blog, I hardly find some time to check the news on the net. After starting to work full-time in the beginning of February, because I feel tired every night when I get home, I do not have motivation to think about anything but not thinking about anything. I will try updating it weekly.
4. Traveling seems like a distant dream to me for the next couple of months. Besides having no motivation to consider this goal list of mine, I have no motivation to create a travel book or anything of that sort. Maybe I will recover that goal in the summer, when the good weather will fill my heart with high hopes.
5. Revising the goal list was something I wanted to do for some while now. After two months, this are the results.
6. "Gain 3 months of experience in a decent company" God loves me, that is for sure. Even though I did not pray for or try hard enough to realize this, one day everything worked in my favor. It has been a month now, I will probably hang around here for at least a few months.
7. I was very enthusiastic about learning water marbling in January. I lost interest, or let me say, I lost track of what I really wanted to do, after starting work. I realized that I still very much want to learn water marbling. Currently I am saving money for a starter`s kit and courses. I want to concentrate on this in summer.
8. As well as water marbling, sumi-e painting is another thing I want to postpone until summer and improve to a certain extent.
9. That goal requires some serious work. Again, in summer.
10. Money money money... Water marbling hopefully bring much money. I know I am stupid to exploit art for commercial reasons. :( sorry, but I have to make money to survive.
11. I have read five or six books so far. I wish I could read faster and did not waste my time on the bus staring into space. Last book I read was The Missing Rose of Serdar Ozkan. I will next read The Little Prince of Saint-Exupery. (Blog entry about the book is on the way)
12. Watching 100 films seems easier than reading books. Only problem is that I don`t. I used to watch so many movies. I do not know at what point I lost interest. However, I will definitely work hard to accomplish this goal in 2013.
13. Although I haven`t read all of the NGMs in my library, I got my friend to bring me some old issues of NGM from Japan. Hahaha! How silly! :) That`s for studying Japanese, so my priority is the Japanese ones.
14. I have started reading on of the girl manga series I bought. You may have heard of this one. It is called NANA. I had watched the anime, than I bought the series while I was in Japan, now I am reading the first volume, there are 21 volumes in total.
15. The weekend before the last, my boyfriend and I went to a place I had never gone before. There I took some pictures, some of them I liked. I think I will do such day trips more often, because it is a really good opportunity to practice my skills in photography. (Blog entry about the day trip is coming soon)
16. Opening a bank account I found unnecessary. I already had one, which was, and partly is, under control of my mom. Lately, I told mom to stop managing my account and let me handle my own business. Let us consider that I have completed this goal.
17. I will be graduating from school in less than a year. I will look at this goal next year.
18. Maybe after reading The Little Prince, I will read this book. I cannot promise though.
19. Learn yoga? I may start taking classes very soon. Apparently, there are cheap classes from interns at some yoga institutes. I can start next month.
20. and 22. Try new recipes. I have baked cake and muffins, salmon and prepared a dish of cooked vegetables. I will write about it and upload some pictures soon, hopefully. I want to try preparing a soup or grilling some meat.
21. Meditating in Nepal... Will definitely do someday. Not so soon though.

    Wow! Being silent for a month, and look what comes out of me in an instant. Man! I needed to write so bad. And I feel so good :)

    See you next time!

Granpa Moon Game

    Tonight there is a full moon in the starless night sky of Istanbul. I have to tell his story.

    Full moon has a very special place in our relationship with my boyfriend. We see the "Granpa Moon" (that is how children call him in Turkish) as a protector of our relationship and us personally. It may be because of that he was in the night sky, watching over us, at times when we were really happy and joyful. Every time he smiled upon us at times of happiness, we looked up and thanked him and prayed him to keep protecting our love and asked for more happiness. I know it sounds veeery cheesy, but we are such romantics, that we don`t care how other people would think of us and about our little game of love.

   I have another game to share with you: 

   Granpa Moon Game

   I had this weird game of mine since I was little. I would look at the moon, not just the full moon but every state of moon is important to me, and I would interpret his expression (the moon is a round cute face in my imagination), his emotional state and what he is doing. Some days (or should a say nights), he would be very happy like he has seen an old friend while he was wandering the streets of the old city, or some days he would look sad or sleepy or angry or whatever. I would play that game every time I encounter him in the sky. For example, the other morning, there was a half moon on the morning sky and it looked completely like a juicy slice of melon. I was happy for some minutes.

    After playing many times, I came to realize that what I attributed to be the Granpa`s mood is in fact my mood at the moment. In an unconscious way, I was analyzing myself and than making a judgment about it and than expressing it in a quite implicit way. Granpa Moon was my shrink for long years. I do not recall that I have told anyone about my story with the moon. I taught the game to my boyfriend though. he has been playing with me for some time now. I wonder how he feels while playing. Maybe I will ask next time.

    Although, as human beings, we are capable of being happy over very little details of ordinary life, it is that most of the time we don`t pay attention to our surroundings, small details or very obvious big things around us. I am not saying that everyone can be happy by merely looking at the moon, but why not try playing my game?

Let's Talk About Sex!

    I'm taking a gender studies course on human sexuality this semester. It is the first week of school and I'm doing some reading about the historical aspects of the topic.

    There is a part about the social constructionist view. It summarizes the sexual script discourse of Gagnon and Simon . They basically argue that our perception of our sexuality is a product of our social interactions -or something like that :P-. It is also argued that our sexuality continually reconstructed by experiences both internal and external. Three dimentions are given for sexual scripting (i.e. "the processes of interpretation and negotiation of the layered symbolic meanings by which the self is created" (p. 15)): intrapsychic, interpersonal and cultural.

    Especially the interpersonal dimention captured my attention, for it emphasizes the everyday nature of sexuality. I will quote here:

    "Interpersonal scripting emerges from and is deployed within everyday interaction, not only in negotiating sexual activities but also in talking about sex with others." (p. 16)

    Upon reading above text, I stopped there for a second and reflected upon my personal history. I realized that in the course of past 2-3 years, while growing as a person and developing a Self, I experienced a remarkable change in how I see sexuality and how I conceptualize my own sexuality. Everything related to that change in Self happens gradually and it is not independent of time and space. As I have got more comfortable talking about such matters with others and encountered more people, every one of them with their distinct self and sexuality, the changes I'm experiencing became more liquid, I'm becoming more flexible, yet more solid at the same time.

    I don't know if I'm making any sense to you. Sometimes an urgent need for expression emerges from within. A shortest moment of enlightenment manifests itself through my writing.

    Lastly, I would like to share a random experience I have had yesterday. There was a moment when I saw a part of  myself in another person and it lead me to thinking...

    

    A year ago or so, a friend of mine was giving me advices on how to overcome the negativity of a break-up and forget about the ex-boy/girlfriend. At one point he said that he went through a period of "ruthless unconditional sex" during the process of recovery. I was shocked for a moment, because up until that moment my perception/conception of him was more of a conservative individual. I never thought that there would be such a turning point in my life, both in terms of the quality of our relationship as friends and the realization about my misconceptions of people around me. Moreover, it made a contribution to my view of sexuality as an everyday notion. My friend being so open and open-minded helped me become a better person.

    

    Yesterday, when I was chatting with another friend about sexuality and my problems, I got a comment like "I didn't know that you were such an open person, before we started talking a few months ago." Apparently, he thought of me as a more conservative person.

    Isn't it funny that no one actually knows the other person unless he really talks with the other in an open, unprejudiced and straightforward way?

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References

Jackson S. and Scott,S. (2010). "Conceptualizing Sexuality: From Kinsey to Queer andBeyond," , Chapter 1 in TheorizingSexuality. Maidenhead: Open University Press, pp. 5-23.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_script

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PS. If you think there has been any act of plagiarism throughout the text please warn me about it by e-mail or comment. It would be an unintentional mistake, since I'm still an amateur on writing papers.

Mixed Up: About Work, School and Everything Else

     I`m so sorry that I couldn`t update my blog ever since I`ve started working full-time. As I had expected, working full-time is a pain in the a... I`m content about my job though. Managing social media accounts of our clients is okay. Enough about the job. Let`s talk about fun things.

     I`ve been experimenting with my cooking. Last couple of weekends I tried different recipes. A salad with broccoli and cauliflower and different types of muffins. Although first muffins were complete disaster, I managed to make good ones last night. I will post the recipes very soon. I have taken some photos of my raspberry muffins.

     Tomorrow starts the school!! Omg, I never thought I would be so happy. After working full-time for three weeks, going back to school is like going back to kindergarten. Only problem is that my advisor doesn`t approve my schedule because there one or two hours of conflict with some of my classes. It will be fine though. I`ll take care of it. 

     Another thing about the lost three weeks is that, since I got tired of working working and working, which I think decreased my creativity and effectiveness and a great deal of happiness, I experienced some tense unhappiness and anxiety about my love life. Valentine`s day was both a disappointment and a step forward to healing. I was a bit neurotic that day. I got disappointed because not everything went how I wanted it to. Then I fell again into the deep dark places of my mind and got an acute depression for a short while. 

     Saturday morning I met with a friend from my department who has been of great help to me for the last year. We talked about some teachings of Buddhism and so. I asked for help on how to overcome my negativity and start living in the moment. He gave me a couple of tips:

     1- First, you have to BELIEVE that you will get what you want

     2- Be POSITIVE in your ACTIONS and THOUGHTS

     3- There is a TIME for everything and it`s not in your control, so be PATIENT

     4- IMAGINE yourself as you have what you want

     I didn`t have time to go to the gym for a while. Yesterday morning I could finally do some workout. It would be great if I didn`t wake up this morning to find my body in pain all over. I ran to the living room, which is the biggest room of our flat and started doing some yoga. In approximately 5 minutes I was feeling much better. I am also planning to start taking some yoga classes with my friends. We`ll see how it goes.

     That`s all for today. Recipes will come soon. Hopefully I will read some more books too. I forgot to mention, one of my classes for this semester involves creative writing. I am looking forward to school to begin.

Goal #2 After the first day of the new job

    Third day on my new job...
    Content... So far...
    Tired though...

    Here is a dairy entry from three days ago:

    Today was an important day. My mind says so, because I didn`t get much sleep yesterday night, a thousand images and ideas and endless possibilities crossing my mind and crossing again. Man! Don`t I get anxious at such times XD

    First day on the new job... No, it wasn`t boring. But soo much tiring. A lot of information trying to find a way to settle in my central nervous system. On the other hand my system was giving error of overload. I think I have a headache. I don`t know because it cannot process any more info, either external or internal. 

    Tomorrow I will take the day off -yeah and it`s only the second day- for some personal business to take care of. When I get back on Wednesday, I`m expected to have made a good schedule in order to work more efficiently. However, I don`t have the slightest idea about what I will do next. But it`s okay, because I got a positive feeling about this. And if I believe it to be positive, then everything will turn out to be positive. Yeah. I believe in that :)

Goal #18 Learn Yoga (New Goal!!)

cat yoga by ~katiecandraw on deviantART

   Actually it's been a while since I've added this goal to my list of new year's resolutions on 43things.com. For the last couple of months it has been in my mind to start learning some yoga and practice it on a regular basis. I`ve thought of taking yoga classes offered by my university as a physical education class, however I never got the chance to register for it. Then I got myself to type "yoga" on Youtube. I`ve made a playlist out of a few yoga and pilates videos.

   Yesterday I woke up in the morning and my body was so sore that I couldn`t move a bit. I thought I`d caught a cold. I needed to get up and do my daily stuff and I didn`t have any cure but yoga. I watched a couple of those videos, tried doing some of the simplest moves. Miraculously I was feeling soo much better after I was finished 15 minutes later. I did it this morning as well. I intend to make a habit of it. 

   I`m putting two videos I liked for you to try something new for yourselves :)

Goal #10 Book #4 Tom Butler-Bowdon - 50 Psychology Classics

    Fourth book of the year, I bought more than a year ago in India. I was on my way back home at the airport waiting for my flight when I decided to buy this book to further study psychology for my personal growth. 

Tom Butler-Bowdon - 50 Psychology Classics (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2008) 

    Amongst all of the psychology books listed here below are the ones I`m interested in reading. Books marked with * are the ones on my immediate reading list. 

• *Robert Bolton - People Skills: How to assert yourself, listen to others and resolve conflicts (1979)
• Robert Cialdini - Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion (1984)
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention (1996)
• Erik Erikson - Young Man Luther: A study in psychoanalysis and history (1958)
• Alfred Kinsey - Sexual Behavior in the human female (1953)
• Fritz Perls - Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and growth in the human personality (1951)
• V.S. Ramachandran - Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the mysteries in the human mind (1998)
• Martin Seligman - Authentic Happiness: Using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment (2002)
• *Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton & Sheila Heen - Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most (1999)
• *Robert E. Thayer - The Origin of Everyday Moods: Managing Energy, Tension and Stress (1996)

Goal #2 I've Got a Job!!! :)

   Hey there! I have tremendous news for you :) Finally, I`ve got a decent job in a PR company here in Istanbul.

    Last Monday while I was sitting around at home doing almost nothing useful, I got a phone call out of blue. It was about the part-time job application I had done online at some website. A PR company wanted to interview me that same day if possible. I think my brain stopped working for a few seconds after the call, because I was so excited, since this would be my first proper job interview. After getting dressed -a skirt and a jacket; unusual clothing for me- I rushed to the adress they gave me, which by the way is very far away from my home and the city center.

    I was interviewed by the General Manager and I got a very positive vibe from that place. After it was finished, I was not as much excited but a bit anxious, because I didn`t think I had done a good job. In the evening of that same day I was called for another interview at another company. O_o wow! What`s happening? Why all of a sudden I`m having calls from everywhere? -I know two isn`t a crowd but the next day there was a third call :P-

    Anyways... In less than 24 hours guess what happened :) I was invited for a second interview. The manager told me that they wanted to work with me! I didn`t expect that, seriously wtf?! I wanted to shout out my happiness :D Luckily I was able to keep myself in control and listened to what the manager had to say about my position.

     Apparently, my responsibilities include monitoring the trends in the social media, social networking sites, monitoring the PR activities of other grand companies/organizations on such sites and creating content compatible and effective with new methods of communication. I will watch what`s happening and make plans and designs accordingly.

     I still can`t believe that I`m blessed with such opportunity. Although I don`t know much about PR or HTML programming, I believe in myself that I can pull it off. I`ve already started to read about PR and web design. I`m also watching what is going on on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr and so on.

    Last time I told you about the tutoring job. I managed to cut a deal with that party as well. So at the moment  I have two part-time jobs, with which my income next month will exceed my old expectations about the future. I may be able to rent my own room or apartment by the end of this summer. And that thought keeps me motivated to do my best.

    I like dreaming about the better things to come. Once you believe in something and wish for something from the bottom of your heart, the universe responds to that in a most generous way.

Goal #12 Ağustos 2007 NGM Türkiye

    Aralık 2012'de dünyanın sonu geliyor diye ortalığı velveleye veren insanlar Maya takvimini kaynak olarak gösteriyorlardı ya, işte o Maya uygarlığının yükseliş ve çöküş dönemleriyle ilgili oldukça kapsamlı bir makale içeren National Geographic Türkiye'nin Ağustos 2007 sayısını okudum geçen hafta.

    Maya uygarlığının Orta Amerika'da kurulmuş olduğunu zaten biliyordum. Yeni öğrendiğim şey ise onların aslında pek de o kadar barışçıl bir topluluk olmayıp savaşçı geleneklerinin olduğuydu. Tarih boyunca savaşlara sebep olan insanoğlunun açgözlü doğası ve aşırı üreme nedeniyle kaynakların yetersiz kalması gibi nedenlerin çoook eskilerde de benzer şekillerde yıkıcı sorunlara dönüşmüş olması hiç şaşırtıcı değil, lakin düşündürücü. Tarihin tekerrürden ibaret oluşu korkutucu.

    Geçen senenin Eylül ayında Meksika'ya yaptığım gezide, Maya şehirlerinin kalıntılarının bulunduğu ülkenin doğu topraklarına ziyarette bulunma fırsatım olmamıştı. Daha çok ülkenin güneybatı ve merkez-güney bölgelerinde eski Aztek toprakları olan yerlerde geziler yaptım. Tabi bir turistin yapmaması gereken ama benim gibi bazı şapşal turistlerin yaptığı gibi bölge hakkında ve bölgenin tarihi hakkında herhangi bir araştırma yapmadan yollara düşmüştüm. Dergideki bu makaleyi okuduktan sonra şunu fark ettim ki ben hala Aztekler hakkında doğru düzgün bilgi sahibi değilim. Okuyacağım bir sonraki NGM'nin Aztekler hakkında bir makale içeriyor olmasına dikkat edeceğim. Şu çekmiş olduğum fotoğrafta gördüğünüz büyük Aztek şehri Teotihuacan hakkında daha fazla bilgi edinip, kendi gözlemlerimi de katıştırarak güzel bir yazı ortaya çıkarmayı umuyorum :)

   Dergide Güney Amerika'da And Sıradağlarının bulunduğu batı kesiminin farklı bölgelerinde havadan çekilmiş manzara fotoğrafları yer alıyor. Gelecekteki planlarım arasında Güney Amerika'da bir süreliğine yaşamak varken bu fotoğrafların benim için ne kadar büyük bir motivasyon kaynağına dönüşmüş olabileceğini siz hayal edin artık :D Fotoğraflara buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

Goal #10 Book #3 Neil Gaiman - 1602

    Book #3 of the year is a graphic novel, Marvel 1602, by one of the best, Neil Gaiman . He is famous for The Sandman  series which I haven`t read yet. 

    I was not at all interested in reading graphic novels before I went to Japan for the student exchange program. There I tried reading manga and it was ok. But still it was not my thing. After coming back to Turkey, I took a course on "the Art of Graphic Novel" and finally it was my chance to appreciate this genre as a distinct form of visual art. 

    When reading 1602, since it had an essence of science fiction, I found myself in the many worlds of Ursula LeGuin, who is one of my all time favorite artists. After I`m done with the book, while doing my research about Gaiman, I found out that he was influenced by her and many other writers of science fiction. I`m only happy about sailing back to my imaginative universe.

    You can guess who I will read next, right?

    I have LeGuin`s "Lavinia" in my library waiting for my attention :)

Goal #10 Book #2 J.R.R. Tolkien - The Hobbit

     As my second book of this year, I have just finished The Hobbit!

     Years ago when I was reading the Lord of the Rings, I could not imagine there would be a book as beautifully written and more entertaining. The Hobbit exceeded my expectations and raised them a lot higher for the future books of fantasy genre I will read someday.

     Every year around this time of winter I have the need to read fantasy. From the boring and cold and colorless life of the winter to the warm and magical lands, fantasy fiction takes me. Ever since I was a little child without good friends and any siblings to play with, fantastic tales have been my savior. They would take me to new worlds of endless possibilities. I would daydream for hours and hours. I still do sometimes.

     With little Bilbo I have traveled through a time there was not and actually there was. I could hear the sounds and smell the dragon`s breath. And I have seen many a dawn and dusk through his eyes. It was a thrilling adventure we had. We were there and now we are back again.

     I will keep on dreaming of the far away lands of my own imagination and leave you with some images of our little adventure I have collected on the internet. Enjoy!

a long long adventure with hobbit by *breathing2004 on deviantART


hobbit by *Pervandr on deviantART


hobbit or there and back again by *Pervandr on deviantART


02: The Hobbit - The 3 trolls by ~ritchat on deviantART


The Hobbit by ~moonytash on deviantART

Goal #15 #2 Fırında Somon Fileto

    Şu işim çıktı, bu sınav vardı, bilmemne oldu moralim bozuk yazamam şimdi derken, blog yazmayalı baya olmuş.

    Haftasonu neler oldu neler! diyebilseydim keske. Kitap okumak ve mutfakta harikalar yaratmak haricinde pek bir şey yapmadım. :) Mutfakta yarattığım harika ise en basitinden, tembel işi bir Fırında Somon Fileto'ydu.

    Güzel görünüyor ama değil mi? 

    Yapılışı daha da güzel ve basit mi basit. Tek kişilik, 30-40 dakikalık somon için işte malzemeler:

    150-200 gr. somon fileto

    1 orta boy soğan

    1 orta boy patates

    1-2 diş sarımsak

    1-2 defne yaprağı

    Karabiber

    Zeytin yağı

    1 limonun suyu

    Pişirme kağıdı veya alüminyum folyo (doktorlar alüminyum folyoyu tavsiye etmiyorlarmış)

•     Ben daha az yağlı olsun diye somonun  derisini attım. Atmadan da yapabilirsiniz. Bu durumda balığın derisi alt tarafta kalmalı. Patates, soğan ve sarımsak miktarını damak tadınıza göre ayarlayabilirsiniz. Zeytin yağı kullanıp kullanmamak da size kalmış.
•     Patates, soğan ve sarımsağı dilimliyoruz.
•     Pişirme kağıdının orta kısmına zeytin yağı koyuyoruz.
•     Balık ve diğer malzemeleri kağıdın yine orta kısmına gelişigüzel diziyoruz. (Nasılsa her şey pişecek, sırasının pek bir önemi yok.)
•     Karabiberi ve limon suyunu da bolca serpip döktükten sonra,
•     Bütün malzemeyi pişirme kağıdıyla güzelce paketliyoruz. Açıklık kalmasın ki kendi buharında yağında güzelce pişsin.
•     Önceden ısıtılmış 180-200 derecelik fırında 10-20 dakika arası pişiriyoruz.
•     Bol yeşillikle servis ediyoruz.

    Afiyet Olsun!

Goal #15 #2 Baked Salmon Fillet

    It has been a hectic weekend and I have fallen behind on my blog.

    It is not that I haven`t done anything for my progress, it is just that I once again let bad things affect me too much and my emotions took over my reason. Let us leave such matters to time and let us have a delicious meal: Baked Salmon Fillet! 

    

    I googled for some recipes and then improvised a recipe. I cooked only for one and it took about 30-40 minutes in total. Here is how it goes:

  The ingredients are rather uncomplicated.

  150-200 gr. of Salmon Fillet 

  1 medium sized onion

  1 medium sized potato

  1-2 clove(s) of garlic

  1-2 bay leaf

  Black pepper

  A bit of olive oil

  Juice of 1 Lemon

  Baking paper (or aluminum foil)

•     I threw away the skin of the fish, but you can choose to cook it as it is. If with the skin, make sure tht the skin is on the bottom. How much potato or onion or garlic you put depends on your liking. You may also choose not to put any olive oil.
•     Slice the onion, the potato and the garlic.
•     Put some olive oil on about the middle part of the foil.
•     Put the fish and other stuff randomly or in order (it doesn`t matter, because everything will be cooked anyway)
•     Put some black pepper and a lot of lemon juice (mmm yummy)
•     Wrap it all up with the foil.
•     Cook it in an oven pre-heated at 180-200 degrees Celsius around 10-20 minutes.
•     Serve the dish with lots of salad.

    Bon Appetit!

Goal #18 Flowers in the Pot

     Here are my yet to be grown flowers in the pot.

     I bought some flower bulbs of various kinds. At least one of them has to be a red (or pink) tulip, and one of them a hyacinth. I have read something about that having pets and growing plants takes away the stress and helps you live a better, happier life. So, I've decided to grow some flowers this spring and I've bought a fish or two for my grandmother to make her happy.

     I bought them a couple of days before the New Year's Eve and I had  been planning to plant them ever since. What kept me from doing that was that I was a bit too busy and lazy to go buy a pack of soil at the flower shop, which, by the way, is not even one block away. Then last week there was a snow storm on Monday which hit Istanbul a big time. The life just stopped for everybody and nobody left home unless necessary. And I was one of those people who did not take one step out of the door. When everything was back to normal, snow melting, cars moving through the city safely, pupils going to school with grumpy faces after a few days of snow break, I decided to complete an unfinished business and went to buy soil.

     Shopping for soil and bulbs part was easy. What took some time was to dig out the cactuses we had have in the pots that I wanted to use. I spent quite some time cutting frozen cactuses and digging them out of frozen soil. After all that was finished (ok I admit it is not finished, 'cause there are still a bunch of roots in the soil which I did not bother to dig out completely since I could not wait any longer to see my future flowers in the pot. I just hope those cactuses do not grow back and kill my tulips), I waited for the soil to get unfrozen, and then I've planted the bulbs and watered them.

     The photograph above is the first shot I took for the series. My plan is to take a series of photographs documenting the growth of my new babies. I'm hoping to witness some beauty that I, myself, would help coming into existence. I think if I achieve this goal, it will be a great motivation for my future goals. The reason why I will try to take photos of it regularly is because I believe it will help me establish an order to my disorganized life.

     (I sometimes get inspiration to write in fairly good English (for a foreigner). Usually those are the times when I read a book in English. Currently I'm reading The HOBBIT!!! It's marvelous!)

Goal #15 #1 Tarçınlı Kek (Cevizli ya da Çokodamlalı) ve Kek Yapımında Püf Noktalar

    Şu an itibariyle çok basit tarifler dışında yapımında en usta olduğum tarif işte bu Tarçınlı Kek tarifidir.
    Yıllar önce kimliği belirsiz bir kişiden aldığım bu tarifi uzuuuun zamandan sonra ilk defa 2013 yılbaşından 3-4 gün önce arkadaşlarıma hediye etmek niyetiyle deneyip, harikalar yarattıktan sonra ikişer gün arayla erkek arkadaşım ve ailesi ile anaannem ve babaannem için yaptım. Hazırlanması 15-20 dakika, pişmesi ise 35-45 dakika sürüyor. Buyrun :)

(İki hafta önce yaptığım için fotoğrafını koyamıyorum. Bir dahaki sefere inşallah...)

Eklenme sırasına göre Malzemeler ve Yapılışı:
- 3 yumurta (iyice köpürterek çırpıyoruz.)
- 1,5 su bardağı şeker (daha az koyabilirsiniz ama daha fazla koymayın çok şekerli olur. Yumurtalar ile iyice karıştırıyoruz, şeker iyice eriyip, karışımın rengi çok açık sarı renk alana kadar.)
- Yarım su bardağı süt
- Yarım su bardağı sıvı yağ (televizyonlarda 1 su bardağı ile yapılan tarifler dönüyor, aman ha! sakın! bu haliyle bile yeterince yağlı oluyor. Sağlığınız için yağ tüketimini azaltın.)
- Tarçın (tarçının belli bir ölçüsü yok. Ne kadar sevdiğinize bağlı. Yalnız dikkat edilmesi gereken nokta; tarçın sanıldığı gibi tatlı değil aslında hafif acı bir baharattır. Güzel bir tat verir ama aşırı tarçın katarsanız, kekiniz hafif acımtırak olabilir.)
- Bir paket vanilya
- Bir paket kabartma tozu (isterseniz kabartma tozunu un ile karıştırıp ekleyebilirsiniz.)
- 2 su bardağı un (Unu yavaş yavaş ekleyin, karışımda topak kalmayacak kadar çırpın, karıştırın, ezin.)

* Normal un yerine Tam Buğday Unu kullanarak veya ikisini karıştırarak da yapabilirsiniz. Tam buğday ununun karışımın kıvamını fazlaca arttırdığından ve keki sertleştirmesinden dolayı, normal un ile tam buğday unu karışımının toplamda 2 su bardağından az olması gerekiyor. Tam bir ölçüsü yok gibi, o yüzden göz kararı.

* İsteğe bağlı olarak tarçınlı keke dövülmüş, parçalanmış ceviz veya çikolata damlaları koyabilirsiniz. Cevizi keki kalıba dökmeden önce karışıma ekleyin. Çokodamlaları ise keki fırına sürmeden hemen önce karışımın üzerine serpiştirin. Son anda yapın çünkü dibe çöküyorlar. Havuç veya elma ile yapılan tarifler de var sanırım.

* Önemli!!! Kek karışımını kalıba dökmeden önce yapışmasını önlemek için kalıbın içini sıvı yağ ile (kimileri katı yağ kullanıyormuş) hafifçe yağlayın ve her tarafına azıcık un serpin (eleyerek veya elle serperek yapabilirsiniz).

*Kekin pişip pişmediğini kontrol etmek için keke kürdan sokup çıkarın. Üzerinde kekten parça kalmazsa pişmiş demektir.

*Piştikten sonra keki fırında bekletmeyin. Fırından çıkarıp 5-10 dakika demlenmeye bırakın. Sonra kenarlarını dürtükleyip, geniş yuvarlak bir servis tabağına devirin. Hemen bıçakla kesmeye kalkmayın, parçalanabilir. Biraz daha soğuduktan sonra kesilip servis edilebilir.

Afiyet olsun!...

Ohh mis :)

Goal #12 Şubat 2007 NGM Türkiye

    Bomboş geçirdiğim karlı bir günün ardında (08 Ocak, dün) bugün kendime bir faydam dokunsun dedim ve listemdeki hedeflerden biri için bir iki saatlik bir okuma yaptım.

    National Geographic Türkiye'nin Şubat 2007 sayısını okudum. 

    Derginin Tarihten Sayfalar kısmında 1972'de yayınlanmış, Afganistan'daki Kırgızların günlük hayatlarıyla ilgili yazı beni derinden etkiledi. Orta Asya'ya yakın olan soyumdan gelen titreşimler ara ara hissedilir içimde, bu tip makaleler okuyup, Asyalı insanların fotoğraflarını görünce. Bazen Asya'da ata binip sadece ufka doğru gideceğim günün hayalini kurarım.

    Kalp krizinin sebeplerinden ve tedavisi -veya geciktirilmesi- için yapılan çalışmalardan, kalp ameliyatlarından bahseden "Kırık Kalpleri Onarmak" makalesinin oldukça ciddi ve bilgilendirici olmasına rağmen, yukarıda gördüğünüz resmin geçtiği "Hawaii'nin sıra dışı kurtları" makalesi ilgimi daha çok çekti.

    Her gün iç içe olduğumuz hastalık ve dertleri değil de normal yaşantımızdan çok uzak olup, dünyamızın her köşesinde aslında bize çok yakın olan bu fantastik yaratıkları okumak hoşuma gitti. NGM'nin internetteki kurt fotoğraflarına buradan ulaşabilirsiniz.

    Karadeniz'in meşhur hamsisi ile ilgili makale de eğlenceliydi. Doğru düzgün balık yemeyen biri olmama rağmen, makaleyi okuduktan sonra canımın hamsi tava çektiğini gösteren gurultu sesleri yükseldi karnımdan. Hamsinin mevsimi ne zaman acep? Alsak da tava yapsak.

    Okyanus kıyılarında yetişen mangrov ağaçlarının oluşturduğu ormanların önemi ile ilgili, su ürünleri (karides vb.) yetiştirilen tarlaların bu ormanları ne şekilde tahrip ettiğini anlatan "Orman Denizi" mutlaka okunmalı. Bir gün bu mangrov ormanlarından birinde kaybolmak dileğiyle...

    Not: Hamsi mevsimi Aralık - Şubat arasıymış. Demek ki bu haftasonu evde hamsi pişecek :D

Update on Goals / Hedef Güncelleme

    I've added a new goal to my list for year 2013.

    Goal #17:  Take more photgraphs! (I felt the need to take more photographs and more beautiful ones, when held my camera yesterday evening to take pictures of my sumi-e. I know how great it feels when I manage to take some beautiful pictures occasionally.)

    Below is a picture I took during my trip to Mexico. Every time I look, it makes me smile :)

    Yukarıdaki fotoğrafı geçtiğimiz Eylül ayında Meksika'da çektim. Her defasında beni gülümseten tatlı bir fotoğraf :)

    Dün Sumi-e masamı görüntülemek üzere makinemi elime aldığımda aslında onu ne kadar özlediğimi anladım. Fotoğraf çekmeyi gerçekten çok seviyorum. Çok nadir de olsa birkaç güzel kare yakayabilmek beni öylesine mutlu ediyor ki. Hep daha fazla, hep daha güzel fotoğraflar çekmek istiyorum. Dünkü anın heyecanıyla hedef listeme yeni bir hedef daha ekledim.

    Hedef #17:  Daha fazla fotoğraf çekmek!

Goal #8 First Sumi-e Trial after Two Years

     So here is my very first Sumi-e that I've done at home.

    My skill in Sumi-e painting seems to be degraded a good deal since I came back from Japan. :( 

    I hoped for doing better than this, but still this is actually satisfying. My excuse is that I don't have the right type of paper for painting Sumi-e. I looked at the blogs of professional painters and apparently one has to use Mulberry Paper, which I don't know where to find here in Turkey.

    

    Below is a picture of my working space. It's upside down though. The light was no good from the opposite side. 

    Anyways... I'm working harder than before to succeed in realizing my dreams and completing my goals in time. This was another step I took today, with a brush in my hand and my desire for art in my heart. :) Next step is easier now. (^v^)

İyi Olacak Hasta

    İyi olacak hastanın doktor ayağına gelirmiş ya, benim de doktorum geliyor yolda :)
 
    Dünkü yazımda yazdığım gibi dün bir iş teklifi aldım. Bir anne çocuğuyla ingilizce oyunlar oynamamı istiyor. Bugün iş için görüşmeye gittim ve oldukça olumlu geçti. İşi bağladım yani :D İşin uzun süreli olacak olması, yaklaşık iki yıl sürecek olması o kadar sevindirici bir şey ki. Uzun bir süre sabit bir gelirim olacak. Yaşasın. Kendi evime çıkabilmek olarak koyduğum 2013 hedefime ufacık bir adım daha yaklaştım. Allah'ım sana şükürler olsun. Yalnız bununla da bitmedi güzel haberler dizisi. Sabahtan eski dönemden arkadaşlarımla buluştum ve içlerinden birinden aldığım bilgiye göre benzer part-time iş ilanlarının bulunduğu bir site daha varmış ve oldukça cazip geldi kulağıma. Birazdan o siteye göz atacağım ve yüksek ihtimal hemen üye olup iş aramaya devam edeceğim. Bir yandan okul olunca sağlam bir gelir elde etmek zor oluyor.

    Bugün bir şeyin farkına vardım ki, bu tür iş teklifleri ve fırsatlar hep tam da en çok ihtiyacım olduğu zamanlarda geliyor bana. Birinin beni yukarılardan, kenarlardan köşelerden koruduğunu bilmek, sevilmek gerçekten huzur veren bir duygu. O kadar mutluyum ki :)

    Gün içinde gerçekleştirdiğim bir diğer şey de Murathan Mungan'ın kitabındaki son hikayeyi okumak oldu. Dün bitiremeden uykuya dalınca bugüne kaldı tabi :P "Geçici Kesinlikler"deki fantastik öğe aklımı başımdan aldı tabi. Oldum olası en sevdiğim edebiyat türü fantastik edebiyattır. Fantastik edebiyat denilince herkesin aklına ilk önce bilmemnenin kılıcı, falanfilan üçlemesi vs gelir. Ama benim sevdiğim hikayeler içinde ejderha ve elften ziyade günlük hayata yedirilmiş doğaüstülük vardır. Olabilirliği daha yüksek olan hikayeleri tercih ederim. Olabilirliği yüksek ama aynı zamanda imkansız, karanlık, mantıksız görünen olaylar, karakterler, mekanlar... En yakın zamanda sahaflara gidip Mungan'ın diğer hikaye kitaplarına el atacağım. Mesela yarın :) (P.S. eskiden yaptığım gibi sıfır kitap almıyorum artık. Hep ikinci el, hep eski, hep kendince bir geçmişi olan, üzerine eski okurunun kokusunun sindiği, içine hatıralarının işlediği)
     Bu arada, bu son hikayeyi okurken eskiden okumuş olduğum başka bir kitap geldi aklıma; Kadim Gültekin - Hayalet Aşk.

Goal #2 Finances and a New Job

     Once again the universe is working in favor of me. I got a new job offer! Although it sounds very serious, it is only an ordinary tutoring job, because I only give private language lessons sometimes.

     I made a "To Do List" a couple weeks ago and one of the thing on the list was to update my profile on a website where you can find students to give private lessons on various topics. My specialty is teaching foreign languages, ie. Japanese and English, and Turkish for foreigners. Yesterday morning I did update my profile and a few hours later I got a call from a mother asking me if I can teach her baby girl some English, playing games with her, and for a very long period she wants me to work for them. :O

     Tomorrow is the day. I'm gonna meet her and her kid for an interview. If I get this job, it will be such a relief. I did some calculations about my income (which is none at the moment) and my expenses, and if I get this job, I'll be able to make more than I spend. I may get a chance to save some money for a change.

     About being independent, I told my mom that I wanted her not to check up on my bank acount every other day and giving me money that I don't ask for. For the first time, I'll have to manage my finances on my own. I think it is another huge step for me and it's a bit scary (the thought of bankruptcy :S), but still I'm eager to take that step.

Goal #10 Book #1 Murathan Mungan - Eldivenler, Hikayeler

           "Wow! I took the first step. I feel so motivated.
        Not only this book marks a beginning in my life, the author made it to my list of favorite artists.
        The author is a Turkish writer and the book containes his short stories. The light and dark feeling of it reminded me of both Paulo Coelho and Patrick Süskind, who are my favorite writers.
        I think I’ll read more of his writing."  my entry on 43things

      Uzun zamandır aradığım bir şeyi bulmuş olmanın sevinci var içimde, dışımda, etrafımda.
      Hikayeleri okunaklı ve dokunaklı bir yazarı daha keşfettim kendimce ve daha çok okumak istiyorum. Motivasyonum tavan yapmış durumda :) 
      Kitaptaki hikayeler arasından en çok beğendiklerimin bir listesini yapayım dedim az önce. Sonra bir baktım ki kitaptaki tüm hikayeleri yazıvermişim :D 
    
      Bakalım bir sonraki kitap ne olacak :)

Dreams...

     Hello everyone!

     I`m writing this blog in order to keep track of my progress this year.

     I have finally decided to take action to realize some of my dreams and made a list for myself, of the things I need to do this year.

     I will share the list here, but for now let me talk about my philosophy.

     My dream is to help create a world with less conflict and no wars, where people understand themselves and each other. I`m hopeful of the human kind. Is it possible for one person to change the world? Maybe... Maybe not... But at one point one has to start the change or be a part of the change or just be the change. 

     I`m studying psychology at the university. After taking some courses of cross-cultural psychology and going abroad to study in Japan, I had the chance to experience a multicultural life. All of the Japanese were talking Japanese and acting Japanese, my roommates were from United States, I met with Europeans and Latins for the first time, and it was the first time I had ever been away from home, living all by myself. 

     It was a life changing experience for me, because it has changed my view of my self, the world and the life. I have also had the chance to observe peoples behavior. (Not only in Japan but also in India, Mexico, France and Greece etc.) I tried to apply everything I had learned in class to the real life situations. What I have found is that almost every conflict is actually a problem of interpersonal communication. Lack of listening, lack of control over one`s emotions, lack of knowledge about proper ways of communication, lack of respect to other person`s beliefs, lack of knowledge about cultural differences... Such shortcomings are what cause the conflict.

     I`m planning to study intercultural communication and cross-cultural psychology further. The more I am exposed to different cultures and people, the better, the stronger the basis of my studies will get. I don`t want to be biased. I need a broader world view and mor tolerance for differences. For that, I need to know myself and accept me as I am, then I need to learn to accept others. After all that, I want to make a change by teaching people how to accept and how to love.

     My goals for this year focus on improving myself in various areas of my life, e.g. independence, art,  gastronomy etc. Here they are:

1. Rent my own room. (I want to celebrate New Year at my own place next year. I want to be able to live on my own. It also bothers me not being allowed to stay over at my friend`s or boyfriend`s place.)
2. Gain my financial independence. (Since my scholarship ended a few months ago, I`m using my parents money.)
3. Update this blog daily. (I think this a crucial goal, because it is important for me keep my persistence. Every time I start doing something with a really high motivation, I always give up after a while, because I`m not very persistent on anything. But not this time. I won`t let myself down.)
4. Create a Travelbook. (I need to gather information about the countries I want to go in the future. I thought about writing it in a notebook manually, but I realized it would be more efficient if I do it digitally, since I will have to use the internet to do my research. My Travelbook will consist of the related entries of this blog.)
5. Revise my goal list and evaluate my progress monthly. (Keeping track of the progress will help me determine my efficiency in work- and study-related fields and also in my daily life.)
6. Gain work experience at a decent company. (Since I don`t have much work experience, except working as a foreign language teacher)
7. Learn Water Marbling. (It is a traditional turkish art form practiced for the last 2-3 centuries. I thought that if I wanted to travel around the world, I needed to work independently and earn money with some kind of handcraft or something. Then I thought of learning this art form. Although my intentions of learning it are not as pure as it should be, I love the art and I believe I can pull it off.)
8. Excel in sumi-e painting. (I took courses of sumi-e while I was in Japan. I still have the technique in me, but I need a little bit of practice. It`s another potential way to make money. However, I paint only because I have so much fun when I`m doing that.)
9. Upload at least 100 works on Deviantart. (I had an old account there, but since I'm changing everything around me, it's also time to change that account.)
10. Make at least 100$ on Etsy. (I plan to sell my paintings and marbled papers on etsy.com. we`ll see if it goes well.)
11. Read 100 books. (I thought I could read about 100 books this year, 2 books a week. I`m not very confident though, `cause I read really slowly.)
12. Read all of the National Geographic magazines in my library. (After adding this goal to my list, I calculated again and concluded that I can read 52 magazines and 52-75 books in a year if I do 1 magazine and 1-2 books per week. I don`t understand why I need to calculate so much :P)
13. Watch 100 films. (That`s more realistic than the others. I used to watch a lot of movies, but recently I`m addicted to the TV shows streaming online all over the internet. I need to go back to the old ways.)
14. Read all of the mangas in my library. (I bought a couple of manga series in Japan. I will finish reading them hopefully by this summer.)
15. Try out 30 new recipes. (I will have to learn how to cook if I intend to live on my own.)
16. Graduate from school. (I must graduate at some point. The sooner, the better.)

     I got the idea of doing such list from a random book I picked at the university library. The title is  "Dream it, List it, Do it!" I learned about a website called 43Things.com. People set goals for themselves and they share them with others. It`s somehow encouraging and motivating. You can check my account.