Happy Puppy, Smitten Kitten, Power Bunny

Posted on May 23, 2015 by Diana

1430977741554Do you know the feeling when a lot of things are happening but it feels like nothing really happens? I can see some things just passing by me and I feel like I am stuck doing the same stuff over and 1430977739853over again without any progress.

 

Anyhow, I just found out that I should become an author. Or at least this is what Facebook told me when 1431544112284I did a silly test where you answer 10 questions and your future is displayed for you with tips on how to live it as well. Before I follow those tips I will just stick to my own way of enjoying things. Like the trees that are in bloom and the beautiful sunsets above Kungliga Tennishallen that I see from my window or the bunnies that rule the grounds from the apartment buildings to the metro station. These are the small things that make me smile.

 

On top of that I still plan around 1431541283366tennis and music. Whenever I have the chance I make time to enjoy a tennis match, to tremble a bit in front of the live scores website or to feel the thrill of a new song that I stumble upon because I have the talent, gift or just good luck to recognise good music when I hear it. 1430672342461These are the things that make my heart beat a little faster and send a smile on to my face. I am still stuck on the emotion of the home tournament doubles final and I periodically check live concerts happening somewhere near.

Last but not least and with the biggest importance, I often feel like a Duracell Bunny running on Energizer (read coffee instead) especially when I spend week-ends in school reading and writing. Being an evening person more than a morning one I have a bit of a slow start and coffee helps with a boost that is strong enough to last me through piles of textbooks, online articles and Billboard Charts. So with that being said I now go back to Vivaldi, coffee and Brian Longhurst.

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BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy 2015

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Diana

With tickets bought weeks ago it was again time for the home ATP tournament. I couldn’t miss such an event. Little did I know what was in store for this year. I didn’t have much time to spend watching tennis, or better said, not as much as I would have wanted, so I had to plan my visits to the tennis courts very, very well. I got there on Monday just in time to see Borna Coric battle 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 past Sergiy Stakhovsky.

Stakhovsky vs Coric

Stakhovsky vs Coric

Everybody talked about the talented young player from Croatia so I was among the few who wanted the Ukrainian Stakhovsky to win. Second match I saw and the reason why I was actually freezing there was Marius Copil vs Mikhail Youzhny. For those of you who don’t know, I am a huge supporter of this Romanian tennis player. Come to think about it I support and follow closely all of our players, even so, it was a match I couldn’t miss. Marius started the match in force but got lost on the way while the Russian player needed time to get used to Copil’s strong serve but adjusted his game very well as the match went into the third set.

Copil vs Youzhny

Copil vs Youzhny

The good quality of the game showed by Marius towards the end of the match couldn’t, unfortunately, keep him away from an early exist from the singles draw: 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. After this match I just went home, it was too cold. For this reason I spent the next day taking care of myself and periodically providing my organism with aspirin and paracetamol. As on Tuesday I couldn’t make it to a doubles match with a 100% Romanian team (Copil/Ungur),  the next stop was Wednesday evening when I wanted to see Florin Mergea playing with his Indian partner Rohan Bopanna. To my disappointment the opponents pulled out and Florin and Rohan went directly to the next round where they would face Copil/Ungur. On Wednesday I ended up watching Bolelli/Darcis vs Frystenberg/Garcia-Lopez. Not a bad match, not bad at all especially if you are a doubles fan such as myself. The Italian/Belgian team won 3-6, 6-3, 10-5.

Bopanna/Mergea vs Copil/Ungur

Bopanna/Mergea vs Copil/Ungur

Thursday things changed, my cold seemed to go away, I got myself some warmer clothes and I spent quite a nice time watching some tennis and drinking lots of warm stuff. I was impatiently waiting for the match made out of 75% Romanians. It really hurt to see Bopanna/Mergea playing against Copil/Ungur. I didn’t quite know who to support so I just watched. I honestly expected a better match from the Indian/Romanian team so I was a bit confused and disappointed but happy that we had representatives in the doubles semi-final: Marius and Adrian were on to the next round 6-4, 7-6.

Tipsarevic vs Simon

Tipsarevic vs Simon

The other matches that I saw were Youzhny vs Monfils (1-6, 2-6) and Typsarevic vs Simon (5-7, 4-6). Friday it was another story, a sunny and warm one. I saw three beautiful singles matches. Garcia-Lopez vs Rosol was the first one, a re-edit of the 2013 final but this time the Spaniard moved on as the winner: 6-4, 7-6. Not bad, especially because I like Guillermo, he reminds me of the good ol’ days when the tournament was full of Spanish players. The second match I watched was Simon vs Gimeno-Traver. I think that after winning this tournament 3 times, Gilles Simon can’t get himself beyond the quarter finals and it is a pity because he is a good player and a crowd favorite. He bowed to the Spanish player 6-7, 6-4, 6-2.

Bolelli vs Monfils

Bolelli vs Monfils

Bolelli and Monfils was a match that I wanted over as fast as possible just to get to the moment when Marius and Adi would play. I was just too impatient especially because they were playing against a very good doubles team: Flemming/Marray. We all know Flemming from last year’s tournament and we will never forget Marray, he is half of the team that made a nightmare out of a certain Wimbledon final for some Romanian and Swedish players and tennis fans. This match was not going to be easy but after a first set won, a second lost, the match tie-break made the 50 people left to freeze while watching scream and heat things up for our boys just enough to give them wings to fly to the final: 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 and the doubles final had Romanian players for the 4th consecutive year. After Horia Tecau announced that he puled out because of an injury, I don’t think anybody thought or dared to dream about cheering for Romanians in a final. Well, these two very amazing guys proved us wrong. Sunday was going to be a very interesting day. Saturday was semis day. And sunburn day. Gimeno-Traver and Vesely offered a beautiful match and the Chech player moved to the final after a 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 win. Everybody was eagerly waiting for the second semifinal between Garcia-Lopez and Monfils.

Garcia-Lopez vs Monfils

Garcia-Lopez vs Monfils

I like Monfils, he is very talented and quite spectacular but I don’t like that he pulled out of the tournament two years in a row, nor did I like his attitude during this match. He seemed like he didn’t want to play, weather he was injured or not I don’t know but his on court behavior made me feel like he showed no respect for his opponent or the audience. I think he just wanted to go home. And he did, Garcia-Lopez won 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. As every year I skipped the exhibition match.

Copil/Ungur vs Monroe/Sitak

Copil/Ungur vs Monroe/Sitak

Sunday started with the doubles final. Oh my, was I excited…and afraid…and in need of a shot of whiskey. More shots actually. Our boys were playing against Monroe/Sitak. They started the match well with a break but lost it immediately after. They also lost serve and saw themselves one set down. The second set looked good, they had a break but lost it, managed to stay in the game and break their opponents again and push the match in a match tie-break. And that’s when insanity broke loose. Every person cheered, Marius and Adi easily went to 4-1, but what seemed easy soon turned into an emotional roller coaster. It was fast 5-5. Then 8-5 and 9-7 for our boys but a few minutes later Monroe/Sitak had a match point. It was saved… then another one, and another one. It seemed only a matter of seconds before the guests were named champions. Marius and Adi signaled the audience to cheer louder. So we did. Loud, louder, the loudest, through all 5 match points that the boys saved just to let it all go the moment we heard: game, set, match: Copil/Ungur. It was unbelievable, I was shaking, I was clapping and cheering and I was so so happy and proud. Their first ATP final, their first title on home ground. It seemed a dream but it was real.

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

I spent the next 40 minutes in the shade and after I calmed down I entered the men’s singles final: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs Jiri Vesely. I had to have a favorite and of course I picked the Spanish tennis player. What I saw was a very beautiful match, I wanted to see more, especially because it was the last tennis match for this year, but the guys wrapped it up in two sets: a double 7-6 and Garcia-Lopez lifted the trophy on his second attempt, 2 years after his first. And of course “Stand Up (For the Champions)” was played, you can’t have a proper tournament in Bucharest without that cheesy song. It actually sounds amazing in the tennis context. Now it’s time to wait, again, for another year. It’s a bit strange that I wait a whole year for this event and it passes in just a short week but every year I say: and what a week it was! Game, set, match, championship 2015: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Marius Copil/Adrian Ungur.

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And the light danced in the sky…

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Diana

It all started with a conversation in the kitchen in which I was informed that someone posted a message on a student FaceBook group that said that there was a big chance to see them all over Sweden. After dinner I went to my room, checked FaceBook, saw the info and thought “that would be so cool”. About 40 minutes later, at around 9 pm, another message appeared on another FaceBook student group and that message was: “Northern light above Lappis right now”. It took me exactly half a second to realize that I will storm outside the door in 3 minutes and return after I searched every dark corner I could think of.

So soon after I found myself on the subway towards the main campus (Lappis) but I either arrived there in a calm moment or didn’t know where to go because I couldn’t spot anything. But instead of giving up I took the bus to Vaxholm, gorgeous city 30 km away from Stockholm, a city I was lucky enough to call home last year. It was very strange to head there so late without actually going home. I also had only two buses I could ride back to Stockholm so I had about 35 minutes to see what I was going there for. I got off the bus and I saw the beautiful dark sky… and a few stars. So I started walking on the main street, staying close to the bus stops, heading towards the only darker spot I could think of: the field I could see outside my window last year. The moment I reached the end of the main street and arrived behind the town church I saw the curtain of light moving high in the sky. I spent the next 20 minutes rushing to the dark place without even looking where I was stepping, stopping every now and then when the light got brighter. When reaching the field I realized that the Northern Light was right on top of me, not on the horizon, but right above my head, and to my left, and to my right, it was everywhere, flowing or cascading. And it was so quiet. I didn’t exactly want to leave, I wanted to see more but I had to return to town. And when I got off the bus at Tekniska Hogskolan I saw a splendid display of Northern Lights defying all city lights. It was a burst of color that lasted a few seconds and I was there to see it.

Unfortunately my phone is not smart enough to actually take a picture of what I saw but do you know all the pictures you see online with the Northern Lights? What I saw might have not looked like that all the time but for the few seconds when it actually did… wow!

For such a northern city (says me coming from the south-east) this phenomenon is quite rare, I am amazed how Stockholmers seemed more interested in St Patrick’s day than in the lights. I mean, hey are both (mainly) green but… On the other hand it was quite short notice as they are quite hard to forecast. They seem to stick around till Saturday so maybe one of these nights we’ll meet again. I was more than delighted to make their acquaintance.

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Here We Go Again!

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Diana

There comes a time in someone’s life when he or she decides to make a change. This doesn’t happen because things are bad and they need to take a totally different turn, it can also happen because another door opens and the temptation to go through it is bigger than the desire to stay. Or maybe just as strong. I did go through this once before about 4 years ago. And again now. So I stopped what I was doing, I got out of my comfort zone and took a step into the unknown that I hope is going to be friendly to me.

IMG_20150201_163941But since 4 years ago until now I’ve had some good experiences in an environment that was once strange and cold and became warmer and warmer mostly because of the people I had the opportunity to work with and to have around as managers, colleagues and sometimes friends. I learned a lot. I made mistakes. There were times when I loved it and times when work and projects made days fly by. There were also days when getting out of bed to go to work was the worst thing ever and only the cup of coffee waiting for me at the office made me drag myself halfway across town. But I always tried to do my job as best as I could. I learned how to be a colleague, a team player, a subordinate, a team leader, a friend, a listener. I’ve learned how to smile when maybe I didn’t feel like it, to leave my personal issues at home, I learned to face my fears and open my mouth and talk, I am sorry I didn’t do it more often because maybe I could have said more smart things. 10425384_10203771443542873_529003041466965400_nI learned how to take responsibility for what I do wrong and how to work more in order to make things better next time. I learned how to communicate. And at the end I found out that it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be to leave all these things behind.

I’ve seen the sun set above the city so many times, I spent late evenings at the office, saw the moon rise above the park, saw the dim outline of the mountains from my office and went through projects with my trusty coffee cup to my right.

Time to move further. Thank you everybody and best of luck to all of us!

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European Figure Skating Championships

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Diana

Out of the blue, 2 days ago I decided to go to the European Figure Skating Championships to see the ice dance finals. It was very unexpected and not on my “to do” list but I always wanted to attend an official skating competition. In the end skating has been in my life long before tennis as both my grandmother and mother loved the sport and followed every competition that was broadcast on TV. Skating evening meant that the whole family would be in front of the TV set watching closely and listening to the comments. However, the moment I wasn’t at home anymore I lost my interest in watching and following the rankings. That was pretty much the same time I started focusing on watching tennis. Still, I felt that this time it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss. In the end ice dancing was my favorite part of a championship and even now I still watch some old dances performed by teams that competed 15 years ago like this one:

So this year I had the opportunity to see live how such a competition takes place. When you watch it so close it is even easier to realize the difference between the first pairs that go on the skating ring, the ones that will hold the last positions in the final rankings, and the ones that fight for a medal. The first teams are quite slow and their dances have nothing that you can call spectacular. They do have a lot of grace, some teams at least, but there is nothing that leaves you breathless. But when the competition reaches its peak and the best of the best enter the skating ring for the warm up, you can actually feel the excitement and the tension that gather around. Some contestants can’t handle this tension and they miss, this is what happened to the Russian pair that was in 2nd place after the short program and unfortunately it made them loose any chance for a medal. I liked the fact that some teams went on the ice and appeared to have fun and just enjoy what they were doing. Only they know how much effort they have to put up with to actually focus on what they have to do and give the impression that it is actually easy. I liked how the Italian team Charlene Guignard/Marco Fabbri danced to Irish music and, of course, I liked the French team, Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron

Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron

Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron

who was the best team by far and the final scores showed it: there was a 9 points difference between the 1st and the 2nd place. There was also a 9 points difference between 2nd and 3rd place, the silver going to Italians Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (defending champions) who had a very expressive dance, and the bronze going to the Russian team of Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin.

What I didn’t like was that the venue was more than half empty. I think that happened because the tickets were extremely expensive. I managed to find some at an acceptable price but honestly now, why have expensive tickets and a half empty venue when you can have cheaper tickets and a full house?

All in all it was a nice experience and a beautiful event to attend. Now I know what it feels like to freeze next to the skating ring while watching the contest. I hope I will do it again one day.

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