Getting nuts in Bulgaria

Literally. Back from my short business trip in Sofia. And I got the perfect happymaking post for the squirrels (check here if you forgot what a squirrel person is). Everywhere you go you can find these nice kiosks where they sell all kind of nuts and dried fruits. And not only all kind but also "all kind of kinds" :-) - meaning the sweet or salty versions of all kinds :-)
So you can only imagine what I ate for 3 days :-) Absolutely delicious and ...brilliant! Instead of selling chips and popcorn we should really sell these on the streets! Nutritious&delicious snacks :-)

Happymaking for 200 kids

Three years ago I went to Valea Plopului and met the 200 lonely kids. I said to myself that others should hear about them also so I made this web page: www.valeaplopului.com. You can find there all the details. Ever since I visited them and tried to help them out :-) I think about 2 months ago I made them a Facebook fan page and then connecting to volunteers became pretty easy. This Saturday we went there with 10 cars, bought food, supplies and spent some time with the kids. Although it was not easy organizing this and collecting things or money I still feel we didn't achieve too much: they still need houses, appliances, furniture and of course people around them.

However here is a small video I made for them. Unfortunately priest Tanase was not around so you won't see him in this video. Hope this way, more and more people will learn about them and give a hand. If you want to donate or be a volunteer you can find all the contact details on the web page or ask me. See you around :-)

Happymaking & Unemployment

Another post dedicated to the crisis :-) Won't start by saying how wrong we calculate unemployment today (not including experts in lower performing jobs who are always ready to switch or people who although employed look for another job) or by arguing IF there is a crisis (you can check Peter Schiff for this). But will dedicate some thoughts to the unemployed people, to those who got fired these months or those who graduated and can't find any jobs.

We all know the bad things for being unemployed: no money, no professional activity to add to your CV, etc. But let's try finding some good points also:

• you get SOME money
• more time to spend with the family, help kids around with homework a.o.
• more time to do some sport, run, gym, dance (activities you didn't have the time for- assuming they are free)
• a chance to think about what you want to do- maybe you were trapped in a boring job anyway so this would be a good time to think about what kind of job would suit you better. I know it may sound strange but some people won't ever quit a job unless they are getting fired. So think about what you want from life now!
• more time to build the skills you would need for the job you picked above :-) Eg. you decided you would like to switch from consultancy to programming> then start learning and programming, this way you can show your future employer you have some background. Same if you want to switch from HR to Marketing...just take some time and read some book so that you at least know what the 4Ps are :-)
• time to learn a new foreign language. It never hurts, really :-)
• more time for your existing hobbies or new ones: painting, music, watching movies, etc. Would name traveling also but this can be expensive :-) unless you have been fired from a manager position and have some savings.
• enjoy the time off- there are never enough days off and some of us never take vacation because of demanding jobs so consider this a longer vacation :-)
• help others: remember there are people doing worse, so if you got the time anyway give them a hand.
• eat regularly in case you weren't doing this while @work
  

And last but not least DON'T be a shame! Being unemployed is something that could happen to ANYONE right now! And don't worry that someone will ask you WHY: even if people get fired because or low performance or something, the crisis is the perfect excuse for anyone and I guess employers somehow will get bored asking for reasons.

Be happy and keep looking for a job ;-)

Skip Beat

Who would have ever thought that anime would be an inspiration for my happymaking blog? :-)
Of course not all types of anime but happy ones, with teenagers, funny conversations and not horror, SF, etc. And not all anime. But only ONE. One series of anime has the deep purpose of making people LOVE, share love, understand love (that's even deeper than my happymaking :-( )

The series is called SKIP BEAT and tells the story of Kyoko Mogami (the Japanses Happymaker), a wistful yet cheery sixteen year-old girl who loves her childhood friend, Shotaro, but is cruelly betrayed and thus seeks revenge against him. Her plan is to join the LME talent academy and become more famous than Sho. But the president of LME sees the good and deep side of her and challenges Kyoko to join the LOVE Section (wearing a pink uniform) having as sole purpose to make people love and to share love. The series covers many situations and images of selfish people, lonely people, sad or angry people who are tactfully being thought to love, be friendly and driven by other reasons than the desire of being rich&famous.
And of course it also shares the love story of Kyoko and Ren Tsuruga (kawaii ^..^) which I find very very romantic. So in case you are looking for direct actions on how to make people happy & also having the cultural Japanese touch then go ahead and watch Skip Beat! You can watch the full episodes on crunchyroll (for free). Enjoy

PS: My all time favorite anime series remains NANA :-)

Happy Lazas

It's a short post but a long video :-) Wishing a happy marriage, a long lasting love and a true friendship to my dear friends Andrei&Cristina Laza. Thank you for a beautiful wedding at the seaside and for inviting us to be part of it! That was real happymaking :-)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Autumn Happiness

Hello dear readers,

and so we landed in September. I am somehow sad that summer is making its way out, but also happy about what it's coming. For those of you who are still suffering from loosing the beach weekends and can't imagine themselves under the Christmas tree yet, I will gladly present THE AUTUMN :-)
As this is my first autumn at home I am definitely planning to make the most out of it ;-) So here are my tips:

• take long walks in the parks
• spend my weekends at grandma's house and run through the forest, jump in leaves and collect whatever fruits I'll still find (guess there are some blueberries left)
  
• work in the garden: autumn is my favorite time for doing that as it's CROP TIME:-) So just prepare some huge baskets and fill them in with all the goodies you'll find: tomatoes, plums, cucumbers, sweet pears, carrots and so on.
• won't forget to prepare some marmalade, tomato juice and other things I like to eat this winter. As I like cooking these are perfect activities :-)
• collect leaves, seeds and pumpkins and make some nice decorations for my house or for my friends
• also saving some seeds to bake bread ;-)
  
• buy some cacao and tea and start having "hot chocolate evenings" :-)
• bring out all my comfortable and soft sweaters and stash my t-shirts
• oversleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep during rainy weekends
  
• and last but not least take lots of photos with the beautifully colored landscape that fall is always offering. You'll see them soon on my FB page ;-)

That was it, happy autumn folks!

The Happymaker is back!

Howdy, my dear happymakees! In case you were wondering if I somehow vanished on my way back from Germany, then you must know that I was pretty busy finding a place to live in Bucharest, working on my new role, catching up with my family and focusing my happymaking on them as we are facing some rough moments now.

But despite all these I do feel extremely energetic and excited so will tell you more about a dream coming true :-) When I was very young, like 8 or so I was dreaming about becoming an ambassador (maybe I already mentioned that?) anyway this came true once I became a BLUEIQ Ambassador and supporter of social media at IBM :-). Now the dream is reaching a new edge and I will be working for IBM's Global Services business unit in making employees from the European and African delivery centers more and more happy.
YES, a MASS HAPPYMAKING with people from more than 10 countries and all coming from different cultures. Totally exciting and full of opportunities. So in the last couple of weeks I felt my head exploding from many many many ideas on activities and events my team could run with the employees, stories and great facts to be taught about IBM, careers&culture, showing them the fun world of Second Life and bringing them closer to social software. You can even notice the perfect match of my favorite "hobbies":
new job=people+IBM+communications+happymaking :-)

Looking forward to working with many of you IBMers out there and hope that my new journey will motivate many friends from outside and inspire them to never give up on their dreams, work hard on them and be convinced that productive and good ideas which will improve people's lives are worth fighting for ;-)

greetings from the green happymaker!

Happy Bye Germany!

As I'll be leaving my second home country next week I decided to write a few sentences on that :-) Especially as I loved being again in Germany and loved meeting new people both from IBM and from outside. So what I will miss most:

• the location of my lovely house in Hanover, in the old city (= Altstadt, music everywhere, old buildings, tourists, restaurants...gorgeous)
  
• the house itself with the British fridge (especially as I never had such a big house before and probably won't have one in the next 10 years)
• speaking and hearing German (maybe that's the most painful of all as I really love this language :-(....well)
  
• the fruits...some of them are more expensive at home and some not available at all (eg litchi, sharons, etc)
• the spelt (=Dinkel) cookies and cakes (as I don't eat normal flour). But now I've been practicing and will be able to bake them at home ;-)
• the Asian shops and all the ingredients which are so easy to find here
• great Sushi
• the great IT fair> CeBIT
• cheap clothes (however not the shoes, they are cheaper in RO)
• the great infrastructure both for subway and train
• Hanover as a the greenest city in Germany with lots of parks and a great forest. Also the museums, bars and all the cultural activities
• the geographical closeness to other nice cities and being able to be somewhere else over weekend
• some friends I made here, people I got to know at the Romanian church here
• the food at the IBM cafeteria (no cafeteria in Romania :( so will start bringing in my lunch again)
• the sport facilities: affordable swimming pools everywhere and so on
• Glühwein, German Christmas Market
• Irish pub (I know it's not German but still great and located 50m away from my house)
• the Salsa evenings especially last year
• the North Sea, sea lions and white dunes
• the zoo, one of the most beautiful in Germany
  
• the BlueIQ team meeting in Berlin, by far the coolest IBM event while in Germany :-)
• Eierspältze ...some gnocchi made with eggs and flour:-) and drinking Apfelschörle
• buying books...they are very affordable here :-)
• the open air events, music, carnivals and fireworks...great organization and lovely ideas...hope to see that in the next 10 years in Romania
• the customer service...way better than in Romania
  
• and last but not least people minding their own business. you see that less from where I come from but well...there are other things to love about my country :-)

I am sure I forgot many things. Will try remembering them and do them once more before I leave although the time is starting to fly by faster and faster.

Anyway not getting melancholic now, great things and family waiting for me at home :-) Will start with a nice birthday weekend, followed by a relaxing vacation in the country side, helping grandma out with her garden and hiking through my childhood's woods, attending a wedding, visiting my dear mountains and checking in for my new and exciting job...loaded with full #happymaking ammo :-)

So Happy Bye Germany! Schön hier zu sein!

Happy Fairies

Last night I was at a lovely carnival called "Kleines Fest im grossen Garten" (translation-small party in big garden). Although I don't usually write about events I am participating at here, this one was an incredible happymaking time. Imagine fairies running around, giants smiling at you, elephants driving around and talking, acrobats,jugglers, dancers, music, exotic food in Arabian tents, mimes, comedy, flying angels and of course lovely fireworks accompanied by a divine music. Definitely a night to remember in Hannover's loveliest location: the Herrenhauser Gardens.

So in case you are from Hannover (Germany) don't hesitate to go this week or the next one. Perfect happymaking provided by 110 artists from 17 countries. Just to give you a clue here are some photos ;-)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And the Happiest Nation in the world is...

COSTA RICA :-) - via CNN
According to an independent research group in Britain which ranks nations using the "Happy Planet Index," Costa Rica has the most happy people. In addition to happiness, the index by the New Economics Foundation considers the ecological footprint and life expectancy of countries.

"Costa Ricans report the highest life satisfaction in the world and have the second-highest average life expectancy of the new world (second to Canada)," the organization said in a statement. They "also have an ecological footprint that means that the country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of ... consuming its fair share of the Earth's natural resources."

This year's survey, which looked at 143 countries, featured Latin American nations in nine of the Top 10 spots.The runner-up was the Dominican Republic, followed by Jamaica, Guatemala and Vietnam.

Most developed nations lagged in the study.While Britain ranked 74th, the United States snagged the 114th spot, because of its hefty consumption and massive ecological footprint.

The United States was greener and happier 20 years ago than it is today, the report said.Other populous nations, such as China and India, had a lower index brought on by their vigorous pursuit of growth-based models, the survey suggested.

"As the world faces the triple crunch of deep financial crisis, accelerating climate change and the looming peak in oil production, we desperately need a new compass to guide us," said Nic Marks, founder of the foundation's center for well-being. Marks urged nations to make a collective global change before "our high-consuming lifestyles plunge us into the chaos of irreversible climate change."