Savaitės apžvalga Nr. 1 | Weekly highlights #1

• Susitikau su krikšto mamyte. Atsiplepėjom už visus metus - dviems užsiėmusioms merginoms ne taip paprasta rasti laiko susitikt. Trūksta man tokių susitikimų, pasikalbėjimų; nepaprasta šiluma užlieja, kai galų gale pavyksta.
• Gavau dovanų šias nuostabias riešines! Iškart tapo dalimi manęs - nė dienos be jų.
  
• Sužinojau nerealų Kijevo kotletų receptą. Įkelsiu, kai išbandysiu ir prifotkinsiu, tad laukit pranešimo "Kijevo kotletai pagal krikšto mamytę".
• Išlaikiau 2kyu egzaminą. Nors mokytis dar liko milijonas metų, bet aš didžiuojuosi savo progresu.
• Seneliai atvažiavo aplankyti! Iš Klaipėdos! Ne taip paprasta išsiruošti tokiai kelionei. dėl to dar labiau džiaugiuosi, kad jiems visgi pavyko.
• Susimačiau su draugais ir draugėmis. Pasivaikščiojom, pasigrožėjom miestu, pasiplepėjom. Kaip visad: nuo kasdienybės iki egzistencializmo. Buvau įkvėpta džiaugtis kiekviena akimirka ir branginti tai, ką turiu.
  
• Draugas papasakojo visai įdomaus žaidimo variantą - Džokeris.
• Pasigavau slogą. Kadangi sakoma, jog ji gydoma praeina per savaitę, o negydoma per 7 dienas, aš apsišarvavau kantrybe ir visu maišu nosinaičių.
• Trečiąjį kartą pravedžiau treniruotę mažyliams "Zebriukams". Mielybės! Nujaučiu, kad pasiilgsiu. Pilna istorija bus stripsniuke "Sensei for a day".
• Kartu su rudens lygiadieniu trumpam savo du pasaulius sulyginau ir aš. Kol skridau virš Europos. O tuomet Lietuvą pakeitė Anglija, o vasaros padykiškumą suvalgė rudeninės atsakomybės. 
• Stebėjau, palaikiau ir išgyvenau kiekvienas lietuvių rinktinės varžybas Eurobasket 2013 čempionate. Su sidabru, be galo didžiuojuosi!

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• Met up with my Godmother. Had almost the whole year experiences to discuss - it's not that easy for two businesswomen to meet up. I miss her and our talks a lot, and the warmth that fills me up.
• I got these gorgeous wrist-warmers as a present from her! They became part of me at an instant and now there's not even a day without them.
  
• Ever heard of Chicken Kiev? Gloriously tasting meal. Especially when made by my Godmother. And I got my hands on the recipe; now can try to take over the world. Muahahaha! But I'm the good fairy and will post it as soon as I try it out and make loads of pics. In Lithuanian though, so get your dictionaries ready, haha. Look forward to "Kijevo kotletai pagal krikšto mamytę".
• I passed the exam for 2kyu. Even though the more I learn, the better I know that I don't know anything, I'm still proud of my progress.
• My grandparents came to visit us! For you to get the idea of how big this is, there's a pic below. Grandparents live by the seaside in Klaipėda (point A) and we live in the capital Vilnius (point B) - straight across Lithuania. It's not the biggest country in the world but the journey still takes more than 3 hours in a car.
  
• Had a couple of meetings with my friends. Walked around the Old Town - just how beautiful it is! And chatted. As always - from everyday stuff to existentialism. I was re-inspired to enjoy every moment and appreciate all the things I have.
  
• A friend told me an interesting game called Joker.
• I cought a cold... My nose won't stop running during the day and will be completely blocked during the night. *annoyed*
• Trained "Zebriukai" ("The Little Zebras") for the third time. Cuties! I have a feeling I will miss them. Full story in the post-to-be "Sensei for a day".
• Following the autumnal equinox I have switched my worlds from Lithuania to the UK and from summer mischievousness to the responsibilities that autumn brings.
• Watched and lived through all the Eurobasket 2013 games supporting my precious Lithuanian national team. Who, by the way, took second place and secured their place in 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. So proud!

Džokeris | Joker

Iš kaladės atrenkamos kortos - vienas džokeris ir skirtingų skaičių tiek, kad iš viso kortų būtų tiek, kiek žaidėjų.

Kiekvieno raundo pradžioje žaidėjai išsitraukia po vieną kortą, pasižiūri nerodydami kitiems, o džiokeris prisistato.

Džokeris sugalvoja užduotį, kurią turi vykdyti 1-3 žaidėjai. Pasiūlymą turi patvirtinti bent pusė žaidėjų.

• Jei sugalvota užduotis nepatvirtinama, džiokeris turi galvoti naują užduotį tol, kol sulauks patvirtinimo.
• Jei pasiūlymui pritarta, džiokeris pasako 1-3 skaičius (priklausomai nuo užduoties), kurie turės vykdyti užduotį. Žmonės, kurių kortos ir yra paminėti skaičiai, privalo užduotį vykdyti.

Įvykdžiusius užduotį galima apdovanoti taškais, gėrimu, saldainiu ar kitu sutartu atpildu.

Smagaus žaidimo!

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The number of players is counted and the same amount of cards are taken out of a deck - one joker and others are numbers.

At the beginning of every round the players draw a card, do not show it to others and the joker reveals itself.

Joker has to think of a task for one to three players. His suggestion must be approved by at least half of the players.

• If the task is not confirmed, joker keeps suggesting until approved.
• If the suggestion is confirmed, joker says 1-3 numbers (depending on the task) and people with the cards stating those numbers must fulfill the task.

The delivered task can be awarded by points, drink or anything desirable.

Have fun!

The birth of budget journey planner

Summer of '11 brought a loss for my grandparents when two of their beloved granddaughters were lost forever. In other words, went to study abroad - one to Birmingham and the other to Milan. As I'm the lucky one to be based in the architecturally stunning and all-year-round sunny Birmingham, I decided I can't stay there for the 4 years straight and want to see the world. First step, obviously, visit my cousin.

Ryanair is a glorious creation that helps dreams come true! The price is pigiau grybo - a total bargain! Date is great too, so I bought the tickets:

A thing to mention before the rest of the story: these are to be my second and third flights ever and it's the first time I planned an international journey on my own. Umm... or any journey really. Can you smell it? The sweet smell of failure.

So I bought the oh-so-cheap tickets. Surprise - administration fees aren't included! Plus £6, plus €6. Flying not from and to Birmingham? Plus £6.5 to go to Bristol (yay, Megabus!) and £8.8 from Liverpool (no megabus, trains ain't cheap...) Ever thought that airport is not IN the city? Plus £9.6 total. Milan airport is also known as Bergamo. Why you ask? Because it's closer to Bergamo town than Milan itself. Plus €10 for a return ticket. In the end my budget journey summed up to closer to a £100 then initial £11.

Fun fact: to have at least a bit of cash for Christmas presents (mine was clearly the trip) and all kinds of English sweets for my brother I did as many psychological experiments (they give cash for that!) in a week as I possibly could, earning £99. Experiments included low current running through me and my head being connected like Lukas' in "Aurora. Vanishing Waves" (pic below. Awesome movie btw). 

Were extra expenses the only thing I forgot to consider? Do I look like a thoughtful girl? I'm totally blond in my heart. Departure from Bristol is at 8am, Birmingham to Bristol is more than 2 hours, add the time to the airport. No means of intercity transport possible during the night. Panic?! Not really - I still have two weeks to learn teleportation (illustration below). Casually not falling asleep I realised sleep is not that crucial - I can come to the airport the night before. Just how to ensure I won't get kicked out if the airport closes (happened to my cousin)? Browsing through the internet (can't fall asleep anyway, so why wait) I found a truly wonderful website http://www.sleepinginairports.net/, which told me not only whether the airport closes but also if it has free wifi, where the softest spot to sleep is and everything I wouldn't even think of. It became one of my check points.

So here I was: tickets bought, morally prepared for my first night at the airport and ready to go on an adventure. For my experiences of the sunny Milan read the post "One short day in the capital of fashion".

Happy ending: this fiasco turned out to be great experience and stimulus to travel more. Actually cheaply next time. I guess I stepped one more step up the ladder towards my dream as I noticed my friends asking me for advice on travelling, especially on budget. Still loads to learn and loads to see!

TED - idea worth spreading

Do you know what the greatest prime number is? Have you made stress your friend yet? Don't know why 'x' is unknown? Ever wondered how great movements are started? Forgot what the meaning of life is or want to see what others think? Don't think a wooden skyscraper would stand? Check out TED.com!

TED homepage

Brief history and introduction

TED - Technology, Entertainment, Design - started in 1984 as a conference on the West Coast of USA to bring people from these three rather different worlds together and create space for sharing ideas.

Now it's known worldwide with the annual TED Conference in the traditional location, annual TEDGlobal - very international version of TED travelling around the world, and TEDx - mini version of TED organised independently but fitting the same format (both Vilnius and Birmingham held these but I managed to miss them! *extremely annoyed face*).

Conferences consist of talks and presentations, each ranging from 3 to 18 minutes, and music or comedy performances in between them.

Talks

However, my passion are the TED Talks - on the glorious website http://www.ted.com/ they have uploaded every single talk and performance from every single conference. To watch for free. How awesome can it get?

You can choose from more than 1500+ talks and the number is still growing. The talks are stunningly diverse - funny, inspirational, scientific, philosophical, informative, persuasive or just beautiful. They range from 12 year old expressing what adults need to learn from kids (left an indelible impression for me - http://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak.html) to Buddhist monk telling you what the habits of happiness are (http://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness.html).

Tired of reading? Take a break: John Legend - True Colors

My favorites - when once isn't enough

Only twice or thrice I have come across a talk that I turned off before finishing just because I was bored. All of the talks are exciting and if I shared the ones I liked on facebook, my wall would contain like a third of the TED website. But there are a few to which I return every so often and watch as if it's the first time again.

Hans Rosling. Usually just his name is a description enough - he is awesome. The way he presents statistics, his jokes, the ideas he put forward - everything makes me want to watch him again and again.
http://www.ted.com/speakers/hans_rosling.html

So beautiful, just so so beautiful. I listen to the first poem whenever I feel down. Or up. Whenever, wherever. I just listen to it from time to time to keep me going. Beautiful. Sarah Kay - If I should have a daughter.
http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html

To finish up, check out the funny ones. Until you find your most beloved ones, here are mine:

http://www.ted.com/speakers/maz_jobrani.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/julia_sweeney_has_the_talk.html

First day at work: prepare for trouble and make it double

Kids, I'm going to tell you an incredible story, the story of how I went to my first day at work. I had such an unforgettable experience twice already and if you think yours didn't go perfectly as planned or are afraid it won't, take some popcorn, have a good laugh and rest assured that first impression is not as important as it's painted to be (still important though, don't get too relaxed).

My very first first-day-at-work was when I was working at my part time job with agency 'Off to Work', which is providing catering staff (waiters, bartenders, cashiers, hosts) for all the various venues and events. My first shift was table waiting at a fancy restaurant in National Indoor Arena on an event called 'Jesus Christ Superstar' - rock opera starring Tim Minchin, yay! (I love 'im love 'im love 'im!) ♥

All excited I have checked the time, place, directions, transport and uniform/dress code like a billion of times and, with my heart pounding louder than the cars passing by and having doubts on each turn I take, I managed to come to the place nice and early. Getting slightly lost in the confusing backstage'y part of the building wasn't a problem - when you're an off-to-worker, you recognise each other by the lovely black smart Primark trousers and then just follow to the right place. Not quite stalking - when two people go for a long romantic walk and only one of them knows about it - 'cause this one sure ain't romantic.

Once I got to the place and greeted the wrong manager I was put to work. Oh, all the excitement!: folding napkins, arranging cutlery on the tables and popping champagne bottles - what can be better? A bit before arrival of guests I was told that I won't be waiting tables but doing the reception instead. Nothing too difficult, just greeting guests with a gigantic smile on your face while balancing a tray with 12ish glasses of champagne or juice. Now people who know me have noticed I have trembling hands. I know that too, so I had a practice round - lifted a tray, walked around, put the tray back, pretended to refill the glasses - phew! - I can do this. Yes I can. However, people who know me even better know that when I'm nervous, my hands are shaking like Bart's head when Homer is strangling him. So I was standing there, just to the right from the entrance, holding the heavy tray on my left hand and putting on my super-duper-lovely-trying-to-hide-I'm-nervous smile when first guests were entering the room. Then... I'm not sure what exactly happened then but I felt my field of vision narrowing down to only the glasses on the tray which now was more vertical then horizontal. Glasses full of the properly posh and expensive champagne were sliding down in slowmo, I was trying to catch them with my right hand while tilting the tray towards myself - better on me then the guests, right? Joking. Did the tilting motion instinctively since the only track on the broadcast was Consuela's 'No, no, no' on loop. And every time louder and louder. Suddenly I got my eyesight back. Not my vocal abilities though, thus when a couple of colleagues came running to me asking if I'm alright I was only nodding. I was standing there, all drenched in v.expensive champagne - here's some consecration for you! In the mean time I bet my face was not the most client-pleasing because my manager told me to go to the kitchen and take 5mins for getting myself together. I was surprised by how comforting his tone was. I was expecting getting shouted at.

The rest of the shift was smooth (provided the lady didn't die - I'm pretty sure the waiter gave the plate with something-free meal for her husband instead of her and I didn't know how to bring this up. not funny, I know. not being so irresponsible anymore.) and even funny. From today's perspective, then it was just scary and depressing. My coworkers comforted me by telling a story how a waitress spilled red wine on a lady's white coat and saying I wasn't as bad, and mocked me saying that champagne is usually consumed as a drink rather than tonic or lotion and, when I needed extra glasses, telling me to look for them on the floor. Where I left them. Broken. Manager too, frequently inquired if I'm all good and thanked me for the smile after the shift. In the end, that's what matters - smile is the eraser and antidote to any failures.

This is just the beginning of the amazing adventures of employed Agota. Her journey is destined to be packed with non-stop action, millions of smiles, heart pounding failures and endless excitement. And as her story unfolds, we'll unlock the magic and mystery of a most wondrous place, the incredible world of Employment. Stay tuned for the next episode '8-week Taster of Dream Job' for her experiences in the summer placement from the massive-facepalm-worth first day to heartwarming last good-byes.

Pin your interest

Many, oh so many times I've seen my dearest friend using a site with loads of awesomely cute pics. Looked at her scrolling down endless page, clicking on some of the pics, uploading pictures of the crafts she made herself. Looked cool but I didn't quite catch the point of that. However, you can run but you can't hide - a few weeks ago I've discovered how great pinterest.com is and now I can't imagine how I could have survived without it for so long.

Pinterest homepage

Firstly, you can find absolutely everything there: funny and ridiculous stuff I spend hours on 9gag for, useful health and beauty advice I'd normally google, lovely outfit and hairstyle ideas I'd watch tv shows for, yummy recipes and all kinds of crazy or genius ideas I am so definitely gonna adapt. There're also categories I still haven't visited (and can't say I plan to) like history, celebrities, cars. Definitely something for everybody and all in one place.

Use it as easily accessible storage for ideas, information, photographs and to-read/watch/do/goto lists. I used to have endless bookmarks list in my internet browser of the posts, pictures, videos I like to come back to or adorable DIY ideas and instructions. Actually, make that two - one list on my laptop which stays in the UK (poor kiddo is too afraid to get on the plane...) and one on my daddy's laptop back home in Lithuania. Half of the things always get lost. Not to mention photos which I can't access if I'm not on the right side of Europe. So now I use facebook for pictures with faces and pinterest for all the other ones like my crafts and places I visited. Thus, have everything always accessible - handy!

"Your Boards" section

Spread ideas and inspire yourself. Wanna share something you've done? Want to share something you've found absolutely amazing? People following you will see it and might pass it on. Beautiful. Not sure about others but I am definitely not the only one sometimes wanting to do something beautiful, arty, crafty, but just not finding that bit of inspiration. That's when I open pinterest and start fulfilling the ideas I've been collecting.

An awkward thing that gives additional plus for pinterest on my scale - organising. I love organising! Putting each thing in a different box - pinning it on a separate board in this case. I still haven't figured out why I have folders in a folder which is in another folder (some people say overly organised surroundings show how unorganised your mind is. That's a whole different topic though) but I am pretty sure why I like observing and comparing with others - I believe the way you sort your pins out, the way you name your boards, it says quite a lot about how you see and prioritize - sort out your life. Anyway, organising just makes me happy, hihi.

Peek inside a board

All in all, I love pinterest. I don't think there was another keynote in this post. Ciao amigos!