Updates on personal life #5

Points i'll be covering:
My cat and I
Promotion
Thoughts on suicide
My dA activity

I. My cat and I

Let's start off by saying we're both fine (: Healthy and lazy... both of us. We've both aged one more year since the last personal journal, she turned 10 at the end of March but she's still an adorable loving lady

Many of you know i was complaining for about one year and a half about my weight gain and last week i gathered enough motivation to do something about it too. I started a dissociated diet that does not include starving on June 2nd and i combined it with green tea (with a bit of lemon juice in it so it won't make me sick) and so far i've lost 1,5 kg (i didn't follow it as strictly as i should have all the time). Slow but steady loss is the best For my interested Romanian friends this is Catalin Crisan's diet. I'm hoping by September i'll get down to my normal weight and body; meanwhile i have to go donate blood one last time before my weight drops under 50 kg. And i say September because then i have to wear a formal dress for the graduation ball and i don't feel like buying one for the chubby me, wear it, then lose the weight and then never wear it again. Plus, i have to get in shape to start trying on wedding dresses And ermahgerd i found one that stole my heart, i get excited and emotional every time i imagine myself wearing it.  

In other news, yesterday i took a personality test. If you have time you should give it a chance www.16personalities.com/free-p… . The results were (mostly) spot on for me. In case you're wondering here they are. Feel free to share yours

II. Promotion

I think from now on things worth promoting will be included in my journals and not polls since they go mostly unnoticed ):
1. Keep an eye for Tahog 's wonderful project, Community voices. In every edition an important topic (such as DDs, site simplification etc) is tackled by the people on the team, myself included. It's really interesting to read people's extended opinions on hot topics Here is the latest issue Community voices Vol. 2: Site simplification
Welcome back to the Community voices, first edition filled with opinions! This time we are talking about Site simplification.
I advise reading these journals before reading opinions!

SnazzyDoodle - beta tester
Site simplification doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The article was confusing and hard to read as always. I take it that they are renaming categories, which is ok, and updating notifications to real time, which is great, but I'm not sure if the big deal about it is really well deserved. I think dA is focusing their attention to the wrong areas when they make these changes honestly, the simplification is fine, but they should be working to make the site more of a community and to support new artists, so whenever I see such an unimportant overall change it really just bothers me that their time isn't going to something more important.
2. Artistle launched a new mentoring program called TeamWork 2015 in which you can get actively involved as a mentor or a student, or donate prizes for the winners Project: TeamWork 2015It's that time of the year again: the TeamWork project is back!
For all those who don't know the project yet, here are some answers to all the questionmarks over your head.
Brace yourselves, this journal will be a long one. :bademoticon:
What is the project about?
The aim of this project, hosted by Artistle, is to team up two ( or more) artists to achieve a close and individual learning-experience.
One of the group will be the teacher, whereas the other(s) will be the student(s). (But our teachers will learn through this project just as much, I'm sure )
Teachers will present assignments to their students and provide them with tools, techniques and lessons to achieve the goal they both decided on. In the end we'll present all the finished assignments in a big chat event and on our group page!
There are also prizes to be won, but more on that later in this journal.
We will provide all t
3. A couple of days ago a site suggestion i strongly support was officially posted on the suggestion forum and in a detailed journal. It's about Collaboration Journals. To sum it up, it involves adding a new procedure that allows users to collaborate on and publish the same journals. Like featuring contests winners, for example: a feature journal is made and then posted on all accounts that agreed and offered to feature them. This way the attention would be focused on just one journal instead of 10 and all the faves and comments will be gathered in one place. I strongly and dearly encourage you to show your support on the forum by liking the suggestion (click on this bold text) so it can grab the staff's attention and get implemented, it will benefit all of us. Here is the journal that contains more details about how it would work (props to Andorada for setting this in motion ) Suggestion to dA - Collaborative Journals   Update 2:     
danlev has opened a discussion asking everybody about their opinion on how to practically implement collaborative deviations!
Please give your feedback to him, this is what we were hoping for!

:iconflyingheartsplz:   UPDATE 1:  :iconflyingheartsplz:   
Heidi announced that there are working to implement several ideas! Collaborative Deviations are on the list!


We have feedback from the staff that this is not as easy to implement as it might look... But they listened to us and they are doing their best!

What we need to do now is to patiently wait and give the dA team our love   and support!

4. On the same principle there's Endorell-Taelos 's similar suggestion involving Collaboration Deviations, i also support this and i ask you to go read it and show your support by liking it (click on this bold text). It's on the forum for two years already but a great suggestion remains a great suggestion.  
5. I urge (and beg) you to take this official dA survey, it's essential you voice your opinions regarding future site changes and features and submit your own ideas as well. Together we can make a difference!  

III. Thoughts on suicide

On May 18th i had an unpleasant surprise when i came home from hospital. As i entered my street i could see a fairly large crowd gathered in front of the flat building across mine. There was a police car and an ambulance as well. At first i thought maybe some dudes got into a fight but as i approached the scene i asked a lady what was it all about. I found out that just half an hour earlier a woman around 40 y/o jumped from 6th floor because she decided life was not worth living anymore. It's true that she was sick and money were something that worried her; it's true that previously she had lost her father and sister to cancer BUT she left behind a teenage daughter and a mother that loved her dearly and whom she now crippled for the rest of their life. Both were desperate with pain and i cannot imagine how they felt. Honestly, i don't even want to try too hard. I saw her lifeless body standing where she fell, covered by something the paramedics put on so it would offer her some dignity. Let me tell you, there is no dignity left after doing this; depression is a disease i know dearly myself and no one is denying that it isn't a big problem or even claim it's all made up and you should just "stop feeling bad and be happy" - it doesn't work that way. It's a very serious problem that should be treated accordingly, but suicide is a selfish act no matter the situation (do not confound with legalized euthanasia for the terminally ill patients).

I would expand on this but i don't think it's necessary - anything in life can be solved if you want and work for it, anything except terminal illnesses, so if you don't have those, you don't have an excuse for saying life's not worth the effort. Most people don't give up even then. Please look around you. None of people's lives you know are perfect, even if you see it or not, everyone has their own cross to bear through life, it's either abuse, molestation, rape, poverty, internal struggles, depression, rejection, social pressure, chronic illnesses - and the list can continue. Two weeks ago i met a fantastic lady, so optimistic and kind that it actually made me feel bad. Why was she admitted in hospital? Gall bladder and kidney stones. That's not bad right? Let me mention she was HIV positive for 15 years after a visit to the dentist. Well, now it sucks, doesn't it? She didn't let that drag her down and lived her life fully and beautifully. And imagine how she feels when she has to hide herself so she isn't judged and marginalized; imagine living with that kind of social pressure. Still, she was, as she herself said, "supersonic". Why? Cause life is worth living and doesn't end the minute you are faced with obstacles. Please don't do such a stupid thing, suicide is not the answer to any problems you might have no matter how bad they seem; seek help and fight, if not for you, at least for those you love. Talk about things and accept support from friends, doctors and even strangers and enter a support group. Just don't let it eat you from inside.  

IV. My dA activity

First of all, as much as i would like to become more involved in the community like i used to be this just can't happen until late November, after my residency exam passes. I'll continue doing features though and participate in the projects i'm in at the moment but that's all i can do for now If you want to make me a CV i won't refuse though!  
I decided to remove the "Activity" section from my profile since barely anyone reads those statuses and interacts with me anyway. I'm actually a bit upset about it. I would like to revamp my profile but i don't have either time or patience to work with codes, so i guess it will remain this way ): It'd be nice to have a custom skin for my features too, but... same applies   I would love to make a change though.


As i said in the last journals, "i cannot emphasize enough the importance of routine checkups and doctor visits when something unusual comes up, regardless of how unimportant it might seem to you at the moment. Please don't ignore your health, it's the most precious thing you were born with and you have to protect it". I mean every word of it. And take care of your pets too, either it's a budgie or a cat, a hamster or a dog, they all feel pain and we, as their friends and caretakers, need to treat them as part of the family.
Lastly, don't wait for special occasions to express your feelings to those you love, life is unpredictable and you never know how much time you have left to spend with your loved ones, so make every moment of it count.
I will be back with personal updates when i will have other news for you. I appreciate every message from you, your support means a lot to me. Meanwhile, take care of yourselves and enjoy life!

Love,
Cristina.