Eva Marasca

Posted on April 15, 2014 by evamarasca · 1 Comment

[M] is for Mathematics

{[(Orange + Violet) x (Mercedonus + Magpies for a wedding)] – Ladies dancing} x (Mercedonus – Ladies dancing) = Gates of Valhalla

[(Ladies dancing x Dowgate) – Ladies dancing] x Calling birds = Gates of Valhalla

(Vibilia – Ladies dancing) x Calling birds = Gates of Valhalla

CXXXV x Calling birds = Gates of Valhalla

Gates of Valhalla = Gates of Valhalla

{[(2+7) x (13+3)] – 9} x (13-9) = 540

2 | Orange = second colour of the visible spectrum

3 | Three Magpies for a wedding

4 | Four calling birds (Twelve days of Christmas)

7 | Violet = seventh colour of the visible spectrum

9 | Nine Ladies dancing (Twelve days of Christmas)

13 | 13th Roman month = Mercedonus

16 | Dowgate, Alphabetically the 16th Ward of The City of London

135 | CXXXV (in Roman numerals)

144 | 144 Vibilia – asteroid

540 | 540 Gates of Valhalla

Numbers are fun.

M in the A to Z challenge.

Posted on April 14, 2014 by evamarasca · 3 Comments

Marika met Joe in a City bar where she was collecting empty glasses from the tables in exchange for a paycheque. She was in London only three months and her English was still something that needed improving. He didn’t mind the wrong expressions she used and he made an effort to correct her. She was learning a lot just by talking to him. So when Joe asked her to stay after work one day, she didn’t mind.

They started dating. She was so happy that she found an Englishman for a boyfriend. The envy and jealousy of her flatmates were obvious (at least that is what she liked to imagine). She lived in an overcrowded three bedroom house in Edgware. She liked some of the co-habitants, some not so much, some she never saw because they were always working. Joe made her life better. He persuaded his boss to give her a job in the office to file documents and enter data to spreadsheets so she didn’t have to work in a place where drunken men were making advances on her. It was a dull assignment but she didn’t argue. She was thrilled to be in the same building as him. Not that they had many chances to be actually together during the working hours. Joe was very busy.

He suggested she moves in with him after two months. He was worried about the long travel from Edgware to City and dangers she may encounter. His flat in Waterloo was immaculate. Joe had a cleaning lady that came over twice a week but she felt she should do the chores herself. She was the lady of the house now – she would take care of her man. Joe agreed and suggested to her to stay at home; he earned enough.

They were so happy.

L in the A to Z challenge.

Posted on April 12, 2014 by evamarasca · 4 Comments

[K] is for K.O.

K is an underused letter in English. Crazy cat ate cream and custard. How many Ks have you heard? Four. But all you see is C. It is not fair. K has defeated me. Or it also may be the amount of alcohol I have allowed to enter my mouth today. It was my mom’s 60th birthday yesterday. Today it was the family party. Serious family stuff was on the agenda. Serious talks, serious tears. Ending in serious lack of coordination between my brain and my fingertips. I am K.O.

K in the A to Z challenge.

Posted on April 11, 2014 by evamarasca · 5 Comments

[J] is for Janka

Janka is my sister. She is the younger one so she has not suffered the ‘naming after the parent’, unlike me. In my family, a tradition has been born (with me) where the first child is named after a parent. My mother did that and both of her younger sisters too. The tradition has started with them and will stop with us. By us, who are exposed to the confusion, loss of privacy as our letters were constantly opened by our parents, and endless explaining – no, the person you are looking for is actually my mom. Our traditions don’t last very long. With each year we add to our age, more alterations are being made. Not even Christmas traditions are safe. Easter was banned years ago.

Marasca is not my real name. But I feel it is my true name. I was given the surname printed in my passport after my father. I am not my father. I am a half of my mother too (btw it’s her 60th birthday today). So I have taken half of her maiden name and half of my father’s name and mashed them together. Mara-sca. I think it sounds great. It compliments my first name (which I actually don’t mind that much). Plus it is also a type of sour cherry. And I love cherries.

J in the A to Z challenge.

Posted on April 10, 2014 by evamarasca · 1 Comment

[I]…..ism(s)

Absurd Behaviour Creates Determined Environment.

Founders of Global History, as Identified by J. K. Liberty, Modernized Nature.

Occasional Progress Quietly Reconstructed Science.

Transformation of the Universe is Vital.

Warmongering X-ray Yearned for Zen.

Philosophies

NB | A-Z challenge within A-Z challenge no 2

NB2 | Warmongerism, X-rayism, Yearnism and Zenism are made up (obviously)

NB3 | ‘Western Xerox Yawned Zealously.’ was a runner up. (Westernism, Xeroxism, Yawnism and Zealism are equally made up.)

I in the A to Z challenge.

Posted on April 9, 2014 by evamarasca · 4 Comments

[H] is for Helpful Suggestions

Always Behave Confusingly

Don’t Eat Frogs

Grow Hair Inside a Jar

Kindly Lie More

Note Obstacles Quarantined

Proudly Radio Survival

Talk Under Vanilla Water

X-ray Your Zebras

NB | A-Z challenge within A-Z challenge

H in the A to Z challenge.

Posted on April 8, 2014 by evamarasca · 1 Comment

[G] is for God

or more specifically G is for a godly presence. London City’s train stations have suddenly been populated by leaflet givers spreading the holy words. I am not entirely sure what to think of that. I should really ask them rather then speculate though. But here is my theory anyway:

City = Banks = Money

Money = Greed = Sin

=> City needs saving

How badly do you want me to get into the morals of free economy and social injustice? Exactly. I could spend hours on research, studying statistics and then write a lengthy paper that would look at all the angles, all the arguments, consequences, relations, pros and cons etc. I could. But I will not because deep down I am a sinner too. Not because I’m greedy or because I don’t care for others. I am worse because I do care. I help charities. I am doing my best to preserve our planet. I am aware. But I still take my paycheque and pretend I cannot see the bad guy who is giving it to me.

G in the A to Z challenge.

Posted on April 7, 2014 by evamarasca · 1 Comment

[F] is for Feeling (insert emotion)

This is how I see it. Signing up to the A to Z challenge was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Having to write a post a day was a daunting prospect however as soon as the calendars changed to 1st April and I was ‘forced’ to produce an entry blog, my perspective has shifted. I have been very busy at work recently and coming home staring at yet another computer screen was the last thing on my mind. I felt unhappy, tired, demotivated.

However this challenge (that felt more like a chore before it even started) has turned out to be a rather pleasant experience. And ‘rather pleasant’ is a textbook example of an absolute understatement. I feel happy, inspired, creative – still tired though as somehow my social life has been derailed and taken bit of a crazy path. I love writing. I am always happy when I write. Even if the things and emotions I write about are not particularly positive. I love words and that you can play with them as if they were Lego bricks; building towers that are sometimes strong and tall and sometimes they tumble down and you have to start connecting the bricks again raising a more solid structure.

Yes, it is challenging to find the time every day and come up with a post that you are not ashamed to share. But truth to be told, I am more worried what I will do when I wake up and the clocks will say 1st May.

F in the A to Z Challenge.

Posted on April 5, 2014 by evamarasca · 3 Comments

[E] is for Excel Spreadsheet

I have written a short story about hell. I apologize, but it was a funny kind of story. There was quite a positive response to it so I have decided to continue and I have written couple more drafts and I am harbouring few more ideas and maybe one day when I try really hard and dedicate my time to hitting the letters on my keyboard I might even finish writing them and give birth to a collection of short stories.

What has writing short stories to do with Excel spreadsheet? Not much. Though it would be quite interesting to write a story in excel format, numbers are words too after all. Excel in this case, has more to do with hell. According to my friend with whom I have discussed my story. His job is to prepare models, statistics, charts etc and he lives and breathes excel spreadsheets. He gave me one of the best descriptions of (his) hell ever. And I can’t use it. Not because he copyrighted the line but because it deserves its own story. And it is not a story about hell and charts. It is a story about perceptions, attitudes and observations. It is also about how fast we need to learn new things these days. I am a child of the 80s and a teen of the 90s – I remember rewinding music tapes with a pencil. I remember when computers were a rarity – even more so as I am also a child of a post-communistic country struggling with democracy and ‘free’ economy. But I also remember how easy it was to learn and embrace new technology.

I am deeply settled in my PC ways. I love my keyboard commands, left clicks and right clicks and creating folders and subfolders on my multiple drives has become a slight obsession. I own a smartphone, a tablet, a mp3 music player and an e-reader and I don’t think I would be able to survive in a world without internet. I am tech-happy.

Then something unimaginable happened – my laptop refused to start up. I pressed the power button and the machine just sadly hissed its last breath. First, I panicked (as you do when your world is at the end) but I managed to scramble bits of common sense and got it repaired. The new graphic chip survived less than two months. I panicked again. And bought a Mac. The ‘ctrl’ key doesn’t do what you expect of it. I couldn’t function for good two weeks without freaking out. But I have learned new keyboard tricks (the ‘cmd’ key is pretty much the PC’s ‘ctrl’) and I’m fluently skipping from Mac to PC without any hiccups. However I am still grieving over the loss of ‘Del’ key.

‘Hell is an excel spreadsheet’.

E in the A to Z challenge.