It's hard living without dreams. I like to plan! For awhile my "dreams" have been no more meaningful than "go out to the canyon for the day" or "take enough classes to make more money next year." Shallow, but there are benefits to not thinking too hard.
That said, I don't know how when or where Point A took place, but Point B (or L, maybe K, to be more realistic) is Jupiter, Romania.
Mike and I are hot to go to a Black Sea resort. I can't remember how this happened, but it probably started with Wikipedia. What with our current schedules, one of us is usually lying on the sofa while the other one pulls Wiki duty. Sometimes both of us are reclined and out of keyboard grasp, though, and those are the exciting times when we mentally arm-wrestle to see who can successfully be the least curious. "You go." "No, you go." "I went last time." "Well, I can live without knowing. I'm sure we won't forget." (tick... tock.. tick... tock...) - and half the time we both give in and start typing. It's just as well: whoever does the research will soon be sending links of photos until the other one can't stand it and has to roll over and look.
Right now we can barely negotiate Plan Z^27 in the event of Mike finally winning the Green Card Lottery this year, but we're all up in this Eastern Bloc seaside holiday, filing knowledge for the faraway first available opening in the budget.
First off, how can you resist a name like "Jupiter, Romania"? In my peripheral visions of Romania I expect things like gruel and castles and gritty Fellini-knockoff seascapes, but this photo shows a more joyous landscape. Near Jupiter is Venus, Saturn, Neptun, and Olimp - who knew? Imagine the postcards!
Second, there is this, from the Wikipedia article on nearby Mangalia, a town otherwise getting by on its draws of an annual music/culture festival and Scythian tombs:
The natural cure factors are the water of the Black Sea, which is chlorided, sulphated, sodic, magnesian, hypotonic (mineralization 15.5g), the sulphurous, chlorided, bicarbonated, sodic, calcic, mesothermal (21-28°C) mineral waters of the springs in the northern part of the city, in the area of the beach between Saturn and Venus, the sulphurous peat mud, rich in minerals, which is extracted from the peat bog north of the city (expected to last another 250 years) and the marine climate, rich in saline aerosols and solar radiation that have a bracing effect on the organism.
Chloride! Sulphur! Sodium! Other Mineral Grits! I just enjoy the word "bracing" too much and am suckered in by the idea of "taking a cure" while asking locals lots of questions so I can hear that accent. (I sort-of have a Romanian friend back in Texas - you could listen to her talk until the wolves howled nearer.)
However, Jupiter is not unlike (one of) its namesake(s). Just like the planet that is nothing but gas and therefore will only swish about any pennies you throw in, it's hard to find pretty lodging in Jupiter, Romania. Witness this Google result of decidedly Soviet-era highrises.
That's why we started looking at the Rex Hotel in Mamaia. Five stars and only 115 euros/night in June? HmMm! Jupiter is only a couple of miles away, but Mamaia seems like such a party beach. Mike and I aren't even beach people. In fact, Mike will not get into the ocean, and he lives in a place known for its clear blue waters and clean sand beaches. "You mean we are going all the way to the Black Sea to be healed by mud that costs hundreds of dollars a handful at the spa, and you're not getting in the water?!" "Well, maybe." And that's the best I can expect from him. Nevertheless, he's excited to go. Jupiter's mighty gravitational pull strikes again!
And maybe we will stay in Jupiter: this page is rather reassuring that it's all good.
I'm sure this is all a ways off, but I think we should learn Romanian to prepare. It's a Romance language, so I have a prayer, and Mike is long overdue for learning more than pidgin Irish from me. (It makes me weep that someone with such a talent for accents doesn't care a fig for learning languages, save for fun together-y purposes. And I, with ears of rusty tin...)
Unfortunately, about thirty minutes before the muses delivered this holiday inspiration (I totally Tivo'd Xanadu last week), Mike and I started learning Hungarian. (It's at times like this that I wonder if I shouldn't be completely happy with our relationship after all, and **** the geography woes.) Mike picked the first word of the day, which was hirii. We were learning Hungarian because I have this Hungarian name and, you know how Catholics get specific saint protection based on their names and birthdays? Actually, I don't want to bother explaining the Point A on that idea, either. My brain is definitely all about destination.
(However, I never should've tried to explain saint patronage to a veteran MUDder/WOWer/gamer like Mike. "You mean, like, you get special spells?" "Yes, but what I don't know is if your name is Michael and you're also born on St. Michael's day, do you get double protection/interference or are you somewhat cheated?" "Yeah, do you get shield block and heal, or do you get a single more impressive item, like sanctuary?" Sadly, Mike will read this later and correct me on which spells/skills he actually said.)
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