Dear diary,

Today is my first day out of the shipping box. I had a really hard ride to my new home. :( First I had to survive the unkind treatment of the storehouse people, who bounced me around as if I have nothing to break.

Then it was that mad truck driver, who obviously didn't care about modern break systems in cars... I don't think he knew how softly one ought to push the gas pedal either. I was all over that big truck! Oh, well... Finally I made it to my new home, where I was very happy to just imagine the soft hands of my owner on the other side of my box. Then I met him - face to face! Then I wasn't happy no more.

Do you know how intimidating it is to be treated like an object?! Even more so - like a baby object! He unwrapped me with a smiley...

Did you know that currently this is the oldest available image on Dreamstime? :) It has been downloaded 10 times and viewed about 3500 times, and it shouldn't be a major surprise that it's owned by our dear Serban.

You can currently buy the full rights of it for $3000 and be the cool guy/girl who bought the (currently) oldest image! If you're feelin' stingy - use your free credit to buy it in small size. You'll have history in your hands! Well... sort of. :)

As for me - I've written history! :)) Now I have to somehow find out what was on image with ID 1 and what in the world happened to it... or just hope for a revealing comment. :)

Piracy... It's a hot issue, but also a very much neglected one (I believe). There have been several threads on the forums throughout the time related to this, but I'm going to be a bit more challenging in my article towards you, myself, and whoever else comes along. :) So, if you're here for your morning coffee reading - be prepared! :)

First, why the lion? Ha! Well, I find it overwhelming - powerful, big, out of control! I chose to put it as an illustration of how most people I've met feel about piracy. It's true that the issue is of the magnitude of war but I think we can do better in "taming" it. Here's what we need to address in order to get there:

Pitfall #1: Piracy Doesn't Affect ME! Yeah, right! It does affect you, it affects me, and it surely...

I've been meaning to write on that for a while already, but now that the current month's assignment is communication I decided to not be lazy anymore. :)

It's already a given that a large city will have a significant number of foreigners. It's also a given that once you meet with the Internet face to face you'll also stumble across people from cultures and places you would not have met otherwise. Naturally, sooner or later you'll start exchanging information with these - whether orally, in writing, face to face (even that phrase has more meaning, but I don't refer to web-cams now :)) or on-line (here come the web-cams!)... Often you might not even notice you've communicated with someone, yet they received a "message" from you.

The fact is: a culture...

People talk, people sing.

People dream, people try.

People smile, but people also lie.

Ask a teenager - What is love?

- Butterflies in the belly?, they'll immediately say.

Youngsters!, you reply. They don't know... But you do:

People are hurt, people are torn.

People fail, people never return.

People are left behind, but then again - many are not.

That's confusing! What is love?

Love lasts long, and love also forgives. Parents will say love requires nothing, their kids will say love is... a hug. The hurting ones from above might call love nasty, but then the many who are not declare it amazing.

I'm not a poet. I'm in love... But then again - what is love?

* love: never ends,...