Monet.

When you wake up confused and feel that you are betraying the duvet by slipping from under it there’s not much that could indicate something will happen.

I’m finally dressed and have zipped my wind-proof jacket up to under my nose. The icy air will refresh me, but it won’t harm me. Walking down the two twelve-step staircases, I check my pockets. It was Wednesday, that Wednesday.

I walk across to the newsagent’s and take a glimpse at the tastefully coloured army of cigarette packs and then some of today’s papers under a scratched plastic cover.

I am there. One question away from it. I ask for the newspaper I want and press my red fingers against the note I’ve just placed on the counter. I get the paper containing all the possible things in the world that could go wrong and on top lays the album. White letters elegantly read “Monet” on a gentle splash of blue. I get my change and walk away. I turn it around and on the back cover of my hardback copy is the list of the painters that will have albums published on. Monet’s impressionist work in contained in number 5, the remaining thirteen are mainly ‘the usual’ – Picasso, Van Gogh. The final album in the series brings along the bold and subtle touch of Dutch artistic world by Rembrandt.

But it’s all about water lilies, umbrellas and words like “Giverny” flowing out of your mouth easily, bringing along a scent of spring and sun. The frozen rays struck the pavement revealing deep shades of gray and dirt. Sunrise – impression. Nothing can go wrong now as I slip the book inside while waiting at a traffic light.

writing on the subject “the best thing that happened today” (in 10 minutes, in class) for my english writing class.

Red sky at night, rocker’s delight.

It must have been six months ago when someone posed the following problem: how do 25.000 rockers take a shower all in the same time and in the same place? The answer? Well, that’s easy: they go to a Metallica concert on a rainy day. It seems that less than a month ago the riddle changed to: how do you get 4000 rockers to jump around in a freezing sludgy pool? The answer? Oh, it’s obvious…

After experiencing a Madonna concert in the last days of August, Izvor Park in Central Bucharest “disappeared”, being replaced by a dry desolated area which constantly released hazy clouds of dust. The real problem was that the location was set as a venue for the Tuborg Green Fest, just a week ahead. But this issue was mostly ignored and the first two days of gigs registered massive attendances, even though this meant you had to breath in a lot of dust. Having set the scorching heat as the culprit, people wished for a cooler, moister weather. Not many gave it a second thought to realize what damp weather or even rain could lead to.

The third day, which was also the closing day, answered their prayer by washing down the whole city. The bone dry ground slowly took in the water it needed and then the excess leveled up. Due to the wavy ground that seemed to have always been caved in a lagoon of sticky mud started to form. The temperature assured its gelid state.

The weather influenced many people’s decision whether to go or to stay indoors. It goes without saying that I wasn’t going to think again. Some friends and I set a meeting point at seven o’clock so that we could get there on time for a drink and then find a place somewhere as near to the stage as possible so that we could both hear and see everything without having our view blocked. We arrived there at half past seven delighted to see that there were less than 50 people around the stage, but horrified at the thought that we would have to move around through all that mess. It was really slippery and people trying to get from one point to another appeared to be swaying. The crowd started to build up and judging from their looks nobody came to see the band before Vita de Vie, whose act should’ve ended by the time we got in the stage area so that the place could be cleared out and Vita have their props and instruments set. For no apparent reason they continued playing and the audience was chanting Vita de Vie’s name in a strong, yet shivering voice. It continued until they’ve decided they were no longer wanted and have exceeded the time given for their performance.

The stage was quickly cleared and instruments were taken in, other instruments were taken out and tested. Microphones, lights, sound checks. My friends and I witnessed everything neatly lined up in the first row. The downpour was falling unnoticed, the audience  - mostly teenagers dressed in colours that appeared to be dark from all the rain water they’ve absorbed – was getting more and more excited as they saw a big Fenomental poster being raised in its place in the back and getting sneak peeks of the group’s members.

The concert everybody was anxiously waiting for started with a delay of thirty minutes and was over in an hour. Vita de Vie’s lead singer knew what we were going through staying out in this almost arctic weather and thanked us often and even joked by giving us advice of how to manage our illness if we caught a cold. It even seemed that the lyrics were plotting everything, because you could see him point at the sky every time the word “rain” was mentioned in the songs and, believe me, that was for more than just once or twice. The crowd was more than just ecstatic and they were singing along to Vita de Vie’s most popular songs such as Praf de Stele, Zale de matase, Beat mort, Varza, Sunetul mai tare, Liber, Totata. Thousands of hands were permanently touching the sky either clapping or showing the world-renowned “rock on” sign with the green Tuborg Fest bracelet glowing. The lights were always changing from a bloodlike scarlet to fresh greens, deep violets and shades of blue. The raindrops became visible in the light that altered the silent, black horizon. The light was also colorizing all the monochrome locks of hair that were soaked up in rainwater and heavily stuck to our cheeks and foreheads.

They sounded so much better live than in recordings because there wasn’t that queasy and annoying artificial background buzzing and all the other sounds that were added as later edits were missing – they only offered a cheap, disappointing feeling. The sound system was a bit too loud in the front where we were but that was so just to cover the whole area. There was also a problem with one of the guitars, but they managed to fix it.

After one hour of amazing music their performance ended, leaving the crowd with so many moments they’ll never forget and probably a couple of days to spend in bed coughing and shivering. Of course, everybody started the chanting routine once again demanding to have the band back on stage for a few more minutes of additional performance. Probably because of the delay and the harsh weather they were told not to return for the encore so that moment was slightly disappointing, but fully understandable. After all we got what we came for and even more than that. The compact crowd was breaking down into small groups that were either heading home or somewhere dry crawling through the sludgy mud.

And the answer to my riddle? Vita de Vie’s gig at this year’s Tuborg Green Fest.

Lavinia PETRESCU – 10 A.
September, 29th.

scar tissue.

scar tissue that i wish you saw

sarcastic mr. know it all

close your eyes and i’ll kiss you,

i’m seriously starting to believe that things can’t get much worse…i’m partially irritated by the fact that we were asked to come over to school (again) to get some damn report cards we don’t even need. i wouldn’t mind it so much, but to go all the way to school and back home just for the darn paper and i also got carried away by some freaky form of holden caulfield nostalgia and decided i had to pen my thoughts and feelings and then post them. it really feels like saying good-bye to some friend who’s supposed to be away for a long time. you feel devastated, you might even start crying and all, you’re clearly having a rough time saying good-bye – it’s way too overwhelming and then, the next day he drops by with the good news – he’s not going anywhere. it sucks after you’ve told him a thousand times that everything is gonna be okay and that you promise to write and all. the funny thing is that you might even wish that the bastard actually left in the first place. well, i got the goddam card, shot the crap with the people i was able to find and then returned home.

the actual thing that’s been bothering me is what happened yesterday. it’s not about school and that kind of stuff. the fact is i kinda think my boyfriend and i broke up or something. the thing that is sad is that there’s nothing we can do, i mean he left town for the summer and so will i in a couple of weeks. he texted me late last night saying some weird stuff that i’m pretty sure he doesn’t entirely believe, all kinda corny and cheesy and all. what’s bothering me even more is that i don’t know what to believe and i have this feeling like i’d let him down or something. it’s sad when you come to think about it. i just hate it to disappoint people and to know that i could’ve done more. the saddest part is that you did something wrong, even though your intentions were good and with a little bit of effort you would’ve blown it so badly.

i’ve decided not to show any emotion and to keep the pain inside, to enclose it, so that everything is as discreet as possible. i’ll figure out what to do and if i don’t i can easily trick myself into thinking that everything is gonna work out in the end.

until then i’ll walk alone the unceasing road of desolation and demolition.

cus with the birds i’ll share this lonely view.

with the birds i’ll share this lonely view.

with the birds i’ll share this lonely view…

(lyrics from “Scar tissue” performed by the band Red Hot Chili Peppers from the album Californication out in 1999.)