The house is (almost) complete.

The exams are nightmares.

My car is parked. No thousands of kilometer on the way.
E-Bay-in’ for a new phone. But you know.. it’s difficult without money.

All this to keep you alive. I’m writing stuff.

Meanwhile, please click some advertisements. Just to help me.

I’m right here in front my tiny 12″ monitor, watching it but stuck into a storm of feelings and thoughts, with that bright LCD light against my face, lost into the void.
I smile for a while, a second after I’m like those bittersweet faces that want to smile to not let a tear drop falling down.
It’s all about friendship, a wider one. It’s joy, but also the will to have it more.
Something like around my place (Treviso, Italy) it’s so difficult to find out. Over here is always the same and in the last years, people’s minds changed in favor of a selfish vision of life. I’m bored about that, suffocating between common places and I needed something different.
Isn’t a matter of racism, an hate versus my people (ok, just a little…): it’s a change of perspective.
Have had the possibility to expand something usually isn’t like I would.
Friends, eyes, hugs, laughs, discussions, understandings and misunderstandings among 30 to 40 new faces world-wide.
All in 10 days.

The first time I tried this crazy thing like Couchsurfing, I was amazed about the help, the possibilities. Afterwards, was like understanding if all that was true or only a kind of lucky draw.
I mean, if sharing places and friendship it’s so easy and awesome. If the next time will be like my first attempt.

As you know CS crashed. For me, only one week after my first try. Had no time to get my first reference and friend link, all disappeared.
During the Collective I’ll discover this event had catch at the heart of everyone.

Seems weird reading about it, but the Collective experience bited my (and your, I suppose) soul, deep from the heart.
The weirdness goes higher if you compare when the “wannabuttfuck” thing comes to your mind… and then all this spirituality dues to friendship or strong relations within. Strange how them are related.

This prologue words are the only serious one you’ll read along my posts, I want them not like a sequence of sad remembered things, but moreover a (n hilarious) starting point for the next meetings, laughs, hugs, lunches and dinners, resting time and yes… those fuckin’ chores!

I’ll put it down as funny as possible, without loosing the spirit and the vital soul of our fantastic Collective.

So… was an evening in April 2006…
[The "leggi tutto link" is for "Read more", so click on it!]

What the hell is this “Couchsurfing”?

I heard about it on a famous newspaper in Italy, months before April 2006, and this is abnormal yet: Italy’s newspapers are the last thing where you can find cool ideas.
“oh.. yes.. hospitality… bla bla… Casey Fenton.. blabla.. your couch.. etc etc…surfing….”, sounds cool.
But I’m on my damn examinations about “Communication systems” “Microcontrollers and DSP”, I started again engineering all over again at 27 from scratch, I’ve got no money at all, even for the gasoline and no words about time.

But if I could…

The Fate, you know, is a son of a bitch and happened that I had to make some choices. And happened that on the end of April, early May I signed in Couchsurfing. I had to go to Bristol as fast as possibile, so a borrowed couch was the perfect solution.
Cutting all that story, unuseful for my scope description, guess what… I passed my communications examination! Jokin’.
The story so far is that I experienced my first trip in a house filled by totally stragers and at the same time I felt them like friends in seconds. Also, the situation was like me, 29, them a full (crazy ) family, so what we had in common was the same spirit about that. Different situations that merge togheter. Amazing.

Probably the Fate had make me do that choice to force me to try, I would like to think about it this way.
I had the need of a change. Or be pushed a step forward.

Adrenalized by that, waiting for the end of lessons term, I was like into an addiction of CS. But things were bizarre: the site had problems, slow downs, database issues, but working.
A morning… the message about the crash.
I remember a claim by Serena (Gua) during the Collective like “loosing a family”, not a site or a system.
That was my feeling too underskin, not so aware about, but moving inside. For everyone, I’ll know.

A bouch of days before the crash, during my trip, sucking wireless connection in nice cafes in Bristol, I had to tell this to someone that might appreciate this stuff.

Into my mind, there are only few fellows can fit this vision. To better explain who they are, as in “Lost” TV show, let’s make a jump back in time…

“Hi, how are you doin’? What do you think about a Europe concert in Colmar?”

I ain’t that kind af adventurous, or better, I’m not scared about “on the razor’s edge” situations, but usually I can’t find the time to leaving everything and go. I would to, but I can’t. Except in some occasions.

My close friends know about my addiction to music and mostly which bands and kind of music I’m addicted to.
There are only two events can make me (generally the most of you) move with no rationality: love and music.
We’re going to talk about music this time.
Turned out, a day, that my all time favourite band, Europe, started a european tour.
Yes, 18 years after my first “The final countdown” tape and at least 12 since they broke up.
Why I’m telling you this? Because I was alone, but I wanted to share my “high time” for that with someone.
And, guess it, only few can partecipate to a 800km trip to Colmar, France, in the middle of Alsace, for a Europe concert during the Foire du vins d’Alsace.
At least one of those D’Andrea’s brothers.

I was totally sure about that, even if I called him the day before.
The D’Andrea’s are those ones that feel the experience before doing aftermaths. And I love it.

Back to our days, only them were the perfect CS-fitting guys.

I was totally sure about that.
Then the crash. Stefano din’t even try it. But was so smart to dig in enough to love it.

Here comes the sun(flower)

And the magic occurred again.

21st July, 2006. Preparing myself and filling my faithful Reanult Clio (that in the Europe’s concert vacation, left me stuck in the middle of a cross… but that’s another story) I was thinking about what I was going to do.
Piece after piece, watching the map about the roads, printing the infos from the wiki, was like “Why I’m feeling so inside it?”. Fuck, I din’t bother it so much and after the final check, engine on and go.

Few minutes later, in front of Stefano’s house we’re asking each other why we were joining the Collective with so much enthusiasm, but you know… I don’t have to explain why, you’re feeling it right now.

Gasoline, motorway and kilometers. Our target was close, but few exits before Eisenstadt we had a photo session, amazed by sunflowers staring at the sunset and those modern windmills now integral part of my desktop.

I can’t smell actually… but the air arriving had a magic scent.

Next part is coming, meanwhile go on my Flickr and use the windmills as your desktop!

Appena capisco cosa devo fare, saro’ piu’ esaustivo… per il momento, saluti.

Stare ad uno stesso tavolo con alcuni francesi, alcuni tedeschi e austriaci, mezzi svizzeri mezzi spagnoli, cechi (anche se ci vedono), pakistani, americani e canadesi tra i quali mezzi italiani o tedeschi, comunicare con l’altra parte del mondo condividendo la voglia di conoscere e vedere posti nuovi, aiutandosi… è abbastanza impagabile come esperienza, nella sua semplicità.

Bere fino alle 4 di notte e poi andarsene tutti a dormire ridendo con vari accenti da tutto il mondo. Vedere che alla fine, basta poco per stare bene e divertirsi.

Tutto questo fa sì che 4 giorni (cazzo.. solo 4 giorni!!! ) sembrino un’eternità. Se non fosse per questo caldo fottuto, sarebbe fin troppo perfetto.

Devo ammettere che dormire 3 ore per notte comincia a farsi sentire.

Penso possa bastare, altrimenti andate qui.

E in tutto ciò stamattina ho trovato pure il tempo di andare a Vienna a portare Stefano a prendere il treno.
Da notare che Stefano è il fratello di Marco, l’altro D’Andrea con il quale sono stato ad L.A.. Si evince facilmente che i giretti normali, non si fanno con le succitate persone.