I typed "y"... I am now suddenly, geekily and happily engaged :)

...or "How to propose to a geek girl".

The rumor spreads and everyone keeps asking - how was it? what did he say? Since it was very unexpected, geeky and with so many details, I thought it would be best to write down here and share my happiness with the world.

It was an ordinary Wednesday (November 7). The only 2 things that could be counted as "not ordinary" were the facts that a) I was sick and bedridden on Monday and Tuesday and b) my (now) fiancé was on a business trip in Stepanakert, Artsakh (or so I thought).

The card

On Tuesday evening, while tracking his journey on latitude, I asked him to call and wake me up on Wednesday morning and so he did. I promised I'd get up soon. But since my tummy was till aching, I decided to cuddle in bed a few more minutes and eventually fell asleep again. I woke up a couple hours later to find his messages like "Asleep again?". I started to slowly dress up and get ready to go to work. My friend Lia called to ask me if I was still at home and could take the pocket books I had promised to pass to her. It was around 1pm already. Then it turned out I had to buy my dad's newspapers. So I went out, bought the papers, brought them home and headed to work. (see the bullet points below the post to find out why I described these details)

On my way to work, next to the Charents monument pathway, a teenage boy handed me something. I asked "what's this?", in order to avoid the religious pictures that kids give on streets and ask for money. The boy eagerly replied - "vizitka!" (business card). I took it and saw a nicely designed business card (pictured below).

the QR code reads "Will"

I went on a few more steps and checked the QR code on a side of the card, which read "Will". "Hm.. Interesting", I thought and entered my office.
I told about the card to Azar, my boss. My guess was, that this is some promotion or maybe a puzzle, a quest..

The Facebook tag

In about half an hour I am being tagged on a picture on Facebook. It was in a closed group of AIESEC alumni. See below:

I was tagged together with a bunch of other people.. It had the same logo as on the business card.. and a QR code reading "You". The description was "Cool initiative, guys i am sure you will like this! Detail coming soon!". I started to suspect that it had something to do with AIESEC - some kind of a new project and I was lucky to get the card on the street! The comments on the post didn't shed any light to what it was.

The hack

At 6pm I had an appointment with Kristine, Gohar and Lia (TEDxYerevan organizing team) at The Green Bean Coffeeshop. Kristine had written us a week ago asking to get prepared for a dinner with the US Ambassador John Heffern (who attended TEDxYerevan 2012). We had to discuss our possible cooperation. Kristine asked us to dress nicely, no jeans or suits -- just a cute dress. She also asked me to bring my netbook, since we had to discuss things in Green Bean, before going for the dinner. I didn't suspect anything yet :D
I got there and we started to discuss our stuff. The waiter approached, and I ordered a bagel and no drink. Gohar ordered tea and Kristine insisted that they bring another cup for me to drink too, since i was recovering from cold. I got the Green Bean mug... and it had the "liveit" logo and again a QR code!

I got surprised and started telling them about the card and the picture from facebook... and then finally got to scan the code. Guess what? It read "Marry me?" ..... I blushed and smiled... and then immediately got a call from Azar (my boss), who told me that supposedly panarmenian.net was hacked and I should check it quickly and call him back, since he was outside, far from a computer. I turned on my netbook and opened panarmenian.net. I got this console screen instead (click to view bigger):

I typed "y"...

The waiter, in a white elephant t-shirt, was looking at me and smiling. She led me to the other hall of the cafe to find my Areg. With white lilies and a ring. On his knees.

We were surrounded by friends - who were involved in all this - cheering, applauding ... By that time i was blushing with my full capacity :).. shocked to find Areg to be in Yerevan and to have a ring on my finger...

The story didn't end here.
We sat at a big table with this company and everyone was telling details of the "QRաջարկություն" operation.. Something that was being planned around me for the past few weeks.

Areg's masterplan for THE day :)

It turned out that:

• Areg had created a secret group in Facebook for communicating the stuff for organizing matters. Sharing mindmaps, coordinating everyone's actions for the day. 
• Areg didn't have a business trip that week. It was just to enhance the "effect".. and also have a free Tuesday for arranging the stuff. 
• Areg was near my building since early morning when he called me. He was waiting for me to go out for several hours! Standing! Tracking me on the latitude if I was still there... until his phone drained out... (yep, I feel very very bad about this :()
• Speaking on the latitude.. he did arrange somebody to login with his account on latitude on the trip to Artsakh. That's why I was seeing him there...
• Lia called me to ask if I was at home to take the books with Areg's desperate request. 
• He asked his friend to follow me on my way to work. When i went to buy the papers, I could accidentally see them. They were hiding behind a car :D
• They arranged someone to wait for me near Charents monument, to hand the card. She was available only till 1:30 pm. Afterwards, they were trying to find someone else and in the end approached a school boy having a lunch nearby. The idea was to suggest him some "bribe" for giving me the card. The boy politely refused the money, and after some convincing ("heeey, it's our friend's birthday, we need to give her this card, blabla") he agreed to stand there and wait, only until their teacher (who was almost near) could notice him.
• Areg followed me on my way to work until he was ensured that I read the QR code on the card. 
• Lia had been thinking that I saw her trying to hide near the cafe at Charents monument, but in fact, I didn't. 
• Azar reported in the FB group, that I had told him about the card. He also called Areg when I went out of the office, saying "Объект вышел".
• Kristine had made up the story about the Ambassador and asked us to dress up, because she knew that on that important day for me, I would feel upset if I wouldn't be dressed :)
• Areg had prepared beautiful flower compositions for the Green Bean (partly seen on the picture with the QR code mug). They are still there, decorating the tables in the cafe.
• The hack was created by our friend Tiko and was "enabled" on panarmenian.net by Azar (CEO of PanARMENIAN.Net). It was targeted specifically for the IPs of Green Bean (Areg and Tiko have been tracking cafe's IP address for few days, to ensure it was a static one). While installing the hack on the website, Azar was testing it in our office's IPs, and as a result, the whole editorial was frustrated, unable to work while the testing and installing took place. 
• When I just got to Green Bean, I didn't order any drink, which was a little out of the plan, but thankfully Kristine managed to convince me to ask for another cup for me to drink the tea. That's when I got the mug with the QR.
• There were actually 2 t-shirts with a pixelated white elephant - one for the waitress and one for me.
• Areg had prepared special "Thank you" cards signed by both of us (i did it right there) for all the participants of the "operation". 

So.. this is the story :) I want to thank all of my friends (and the Green Bean staff) who were involved in the organization of this beautiful day.. it's really something that me and Areg will remember forever :)

At the end, there are a few pics...

giving out the thank you card

story of one personal letter

I've got 10 theories. Pick one or more that suit you and the reality the most.

1. you're an ass, that's it. a big fat ass and nothing more
2. you hate me and try all the small stupid tricks just to let me know about it
3. I'm just a dumb little thing making a big story out of that just one unreplied email, one stupid Sunday evening, one clearly harmless "missing in action" thing from that day in the cafe and a stupid chat message on the stupid March 8 day and I've annoyed the hell out of you already!
4. you're awfully too busy to drop me a line that you are, in fact, busy, and we may reschedule the things we needed to discuss for next month/year
5. you heard somewhere that i bite and kick asses of men and decided that you better ignore me than be beaten up by some geek chick
6. you feel that you've been an ass not to notify me that you are busy when you were supposed to, then you had a sorta guilt feeling and decided to avoid me and the topic whatsoever until we both remember it when we accidentally meet again in few years
7. you had a strange dream and woke up feeling that I have some hots for you,  and I'll be chasing you all around and decided that you better avoid the whole story in a gentle ignoring way since you're just not into me
8. you know that you were supposed to let me know that you're not coming and you were kinda sorta very busy these couple of weeks and were actually going to write me.. just now! but I was quicker..
9. you feel oppressed and miserable when talking to me since I'm so much informed in some things that it makes you feel like a loser. and unless i dye my hair blonde and erase half of my brain's hard drive, I will you make feel like some douchebag everytime you communicate with me
10. you are reading this thinking WTF! since you've sent me several text messages, called few times, wrote on FB, commented on my foursquare checkins and got not response. must be that it's me ignoring you.

Action Items

• if you feel that theories #1, #2 are more like you, then you should probably just ignore this message as well and we'll both live happily ever after and hopefully never see each other again.
• if you feel that #5, #9 are closer to the truth then you have some clear problems with confidence and your feminine hormones are just overwhelming you right now and I better leave you alone dealing with this, not to make it worse. just forget, ok?
• you're convinced that #3 is the case and oh, I'm a drama queen ya know.. I think I need some assistance here.. any chance you know a good shrink? [let's rule PMS out, not the case :)]
• If #4 and #6 are close to reality, then it's better that we really flush all this story out to the toilet and go back to the day when you added me on foursquare or I friended you on FB and leave it as it was before. no reply needed to this obviously stupid message.
• #7 Here I'd only say - "Duuuude, you're so not my type.. so calm down, it's just business and maybe I was that stupid to suppose that we could somehow be friends", well sorry to disappoint you then. I'd recommend you reading the following 'cry of my heart'.
• if you feel that theories #8 and #10 are more like you, then you can come and talk to me this Sunday, 2pm at *****. no need to write a reply or anything.  

**If you feel that I've gotten too far writing this smartass message and forgot to mention THE OBVIOUS, which shows you completely guilt-free and me (and my imagination) the sole reason for everything, then again you should probably come join me on Sunday and make me blush and cry and beg your pardon on my knees.

What was this?
my friend got an Android phone and is slowly becoming a geek. there has been some social media miscommunication between us since then. of course social networks made it easier to reconnect, however between all the Likes, Comments, Check-ins, comments on Check-ins, text messages, chat conversations, etcetera we kind of lost contact and it was actually harder to keep in touch :-D

at some point I got confused, as I didn't hear from him for a while. Since i had no clue what was happening with him and I was worried, i decided to let him know about it and at least get his attention :)
* I'm publishing the letter with some modification and with his permission :)


So, if you were him, would you go? :)

on friends and needs

Winter has gone for good and seems like I've survived it! The sun was turned ON as the calendar spring started on March 1 and me, the solar-battery-powered being, has been recharging quite successfully these days.

Finally had some thoughts I decided to share with my blog's readers...

I've been thinking that it would be good to have more people around me that actually care for me rather than needing my knowledge, connections or stuff like that. Every day I get emails/messages/calls asking for information or some kind of assistance and I'm gladly satisfying them within my capacity. I'm one of those pathetic beings that have hard time saying "no" and tend to put others' interests above own convenience and needs. That's how I'm programmed and I can't do anything with that. It's being very stressful, however, to notice how some people take advantage of it, sometimes maybe unwillingly.
Sometimes, with this struggle to help those who need me for business, I neglect those who truly need me in a more emotional kind of way. There might be people who need to talk to me, share and discuss things, just see me... they might think I'm so busy that I can't be spending time with them and so never approach me for that less serious stuff. If you identified yourself with this - I'm truly sorry.

I do really really really need to feel that there are people who like me and care for me and could just call in the middle of the night to hear my voice. Or just ask for a meeting just for the sake of seeing each other, and not discussing business.

Sometimes I'm meeting people whom I need in this emotional kind of way because obviously there are things that bother me and I'd like to tell them to someone and ask opinions.. It occasionally happens that I'm meeting a new person and I feel I could tell my life's story to them, but what happens in reality is that I can't even get a chance to meet them in person.
Here I'm usually becoming a victim of those "games we play"  and stereotypes and can't just explain people why I need them, because what it's turning to be according to them is - that I'm fallen for them :) this kinda sucks.

I want more people sharing their knowledge, discussing things and daily learning with me.

I need more smart, meaningful and beautiful people around me, because that actually affects me, what I'm becoming!

I don't want you to have an impression that I have lack of friends or that I have any kind of problems with them :) I do have many friends and I love them all. Even those whom I haven't communicated to for ages and those who usually need me for fixing their computer related problems.

I have several amazing people around me that are always there for me and this I appreciate greatly.
Most of these people receive long emails from me from time to time (usually on new years eve) and sometimes I can't keep it to myself how I love each of them. I put aside my shyness and turn the sincereness mode on the maximum level and use my writing skills to tell what I can't express otherwise.

on friendship and coins (spiced with some Italian memories)

When I first found myself in Rome, it was August 15, 2006. I was standing at the Termini train station with a feeling that I can't describe. My first trip to Rome was incredible, just unforgettable. Not only because I loved everything about that city and country. It was actually the first place, where I was all alone, all by myself. I've traveled to different countries before, but I've always been with someone, or someone was waiting me somewhere there.
I found myself in Rome, with no clear idea what i want/can do there, having just 3,5 days until my departure to Yerevan. I had a place to stay and there was someone I knew from internet that I could meet. Yet, I was all by myself.

during my first trip to Italy. August 2006

It was then and there I discovered that I'm not the panicking type, and moreover, I can orientate myself quite well in new, unknown places. I can find my direction and never give up when lost. I felt that I could take care of myself and it was a strange feeling. I had thoughts like.. i could get lost somewhere and no one could be able to find me, and some gruesome stuff...
There I discovered that I'm fine with myself. I can trust me-myself and be okay in my own company, just walking, seeing things, enjoying my time.

But Rome was very hospitable. When started walking in the streets, I instantly felt like home. I got a map in the nearest "i" point, and started walking towards the "Colosseo".. It must be that I was too focused exploring the map, that I didn't notice how i came SO CLOSE to it. So when I raised my head, it was right THERE in all its grandeur. I was in my own movie. Or dream.. whatever.

My next landmark stop was the Trevi Fountain. Since months I've been keeping a small 100 dram coin for throwing into it. It was long before I had even thought that I'd come so close to it...

throwing of this coin was sponsored by Haykush :)
ciao amica! (pic from 2010)

It was very crowded (it wasn't so on the photos of it i've seen before) and everybody was taking pictures while throwing the coins. I don't want to go into much details here and will just say that i had couple of lacrime on my cheeks. Both for happiness and sadness. There was no one to take picture of my amazed face. No one to share the moment with. No one who could understand the reason why i want to cry.
There i started to write a text message to the first person I thought of. It was my friend Bagrat - another big fan of Italy (even more experienced than me!). He had never been there...

"Kyanqum chei mtaci vor Hromum arajin angam menak khaytnvem.. u aranc fotoaparati.. Trevii mot em, 100 dramanocn em gcum.. Hesa klacem.. "  /16.08.06/ 

Translation: I would have never thought that I'd come to Rome for the first time in my life all alone and without a photo camera. I'm at Trevi, throwing the 100 dram coin. I'm about to cry. (August 16, 2006)

~~~~~

Exactly 4 years and 2 months and 5 days later I'm again at Trevi. Not alone. Moreover, with one of my best friends - Bagrat. Eating the best gelato I've ever had in my life.

It couldn't be any better.

Bagi and me

And here, I guess, I want to use my time travel machine to go back to the August 16, 2006 and tell that girl who's standing in tears, that she's not alone. I want to pass her what I know now and I'm sure she'll feel it. She DID feel it. Yes, I know for sure ;)

P.S. Bagrat, ti voglio bene!

Vardavar '10 photo exhibition at Lovers' Park

I'm now here to tell you about a very interesting photo exhibition that was launched today at the Lovers Park.

Ara Aslanyan, a talented photographer/designer/illustrator started a photo project called "Vardavar" in 2009, where he photographed his friends during the process of pouring a bucket of water on them :)
note: Vardavar is an interesting Armenian tradition.

Aro himself during Vardavar 2009 project

This year he developed the idea and together with another very talented photographer - Arnos Martirosyan, invited various celebrities to take part in the project. More than 20 show business stars agreed to be poured a bucket of water and be photographed.

the photography process (from aro.am)

The results are astonishing. Drops of water solidified and looking like they have been forced to freeze in time and the process of human faces becoming wet were captured at a shutter speed 1/1000s of seconds. Charismatic face expressions and amazingly captured moments make the photos unique and definitely worth seeing (regardless of the fact you like those celebrities or not).

Images are printed in huge 2x2 meter size and arranged at the trees all over the park. Today, at the opening, many of the celebrities were there to check out and pose with their images.

Organization of a project and event like this is a tough job indeed and there have been numerous challenges (putting it mildly) along the way, but I'm happy for Aro and Arnos that they finally did it and it was really great!

Arnos, Aro and Kristine Pepelyan :) /sorry for my camera :D/

The photos will stay there for only about a week, so hurry up to watch!

Exhibition of graphic design works of my friends in NPAK

Two of my very talented friends have an exhibition of their works going on in NPAK/ACCEA (Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art)

Lia and Tata

On Friday, July 9, the opening took place. It was attended mostly by some friends since the artists didn't advertise it much, but that's a pity!
Both of my friends were attending Graphic Design classes taught by Ali Ansari (a very talented artist! you'll see his works there too). The exhibition is a report of what they have done and learnt during the course (there are also some sketches and stuff they did during classes). There are also Ali's great cartoon works displayed. I loved them a lot.

Here's a couple words about Lia and Tata.

Tata Mkrtchyan

My classmate and a close friend for more than 10 years now! She's an artist and graphic designer by profession and has a very deep personality. She loves the color purple, cute rabbits and fashion.
On the pic she's wearing BW clothes to suit with her works (now you will be able to easily tell which works are whose there :D). Tata likes to hear what people think of her works, so your feedback to her will be appreciated!

Lia Mkhitaryan

One of my brightest friends ever. We know each other from AIESEC, working in the same team since 2006. Lia is a linguist and works in communications field, however she's a very creative and artistic person by her nature and inheritance. She likes film making and also cute earrings. Be sure to send her cheers and feedback on her works :)

Here's the event on FB. It's open till July 23, so hurry up! Young artists need some encouragement and feedback.

Some preview of what you will see there (will also help you avoiding going to a different hall with another exhibition :D)

my talented friends and me :)

Info on the event and photos on bravo.am

Ode to my first ever friend

She was the closest friend of mine. If I would ever consider anyone as such. We've known each other almost since the birth and growing together, understood each other better than anyone else. We were different but somehow we could complete each other. I was shy and indecisive, she was purposeful and witty. We used to be a good team.
She was both beautiful and smart. My role model in many things. I've been learning from her and she was quite an authority for me.

We were sharing our vision with each other, daydreaming about the grown-up lives and how we would walk our babies in the nearby park together.. the way our mothers did with us.

I considered her as someone who knew me better than anyone else, even though she never was fully understandable to me. She was spontaneous and I loved it, just like everything about her. I admired her life and her attitude towards it. I can't overrate the things I've learned from her and thanks to her.
I always give her the credit for introducing me to Alanis Morissette and some other great music. She was always much more advanced and informed than I was.

However something somewhere went wrong. A deep chasm emerged between us. For the recent years I never quite understood her and her actions. And she never let me. The worst of all is that I don't know why and how this happened.

I wasn't present in the most important events of her life of the recent years. I was sparsely getting news about her from other people but never from her. She wasn't in my life either. Sadly, I have been feeling the lack of her constantly and my tries to get closer with her were ineffective.
Even though she doesn't let me in her life anymore, I try to get any news from her and am happy to know that she's okay and happy with her life. Despite my usual optimism, I don't think that we can ever make up for the lost time together and for the missed opportunities to grow up and develop together. Things will never be the same and we won't be the same either.

I know that this is a very important period in her life right now and my thoughts are there with her. I wish I could share it with her, like we always thought it would be.

My Corner of Gratitude and Memories: My Treasury

I have organized a corner in my room, which my mother and sister call "place for gathering dust that can't be easily swept". But for me it's a very important place where I keep my memories: small souvenirs, candles, statuettes, gifts from different people.

I can smell the combined nice flavor of different scents whenever I'm around it and sit to work at my desk (it's on the left side, inside the bookshelf). With this post i want to present my most favorite items.

The items are of the following categories:

1. scented candles of different forms that i didn't resist not to buy, since I'm a candle maniac :D
2. souvenirs of my friends from the places they have traveled and from friends abroad.
3. small pieces of something that remind me of a memorable day or event.

I'd like to mention a notable contributor to my collection - my lovely cousin Gohar, who's lucky to travel a lot for her job. She always brings me nice things :)

Here's are some of the items and the story behind them:

this colorful candle is a gift from Italy from my friend Masha

this original candle was a new year gift from my cousin Gohar

this strange pieces were actually part of Berlin wall - gift from my friend Arsen

this 50ml bottle of Armenian cognac "Noy" with a lable "Анти-кризисант" (anti-crisisant) is new year gift from my former workplace EPEBAH magazine

This cute cat is a native of St. Petersburg - a souvenir from my friend Garik who currently lives there

This egg of clay, with ancient Armenian carvings is made and given for my birthday by my friend and colleague Abo

this happy hen is а gift to myself for Easter from Rotterdam where i met the holiday last year

this compass is gift from my friend Marko Petrovic from Serbia - the one that helped him to get overland from Serbia to Armenia and not to get lost on the border of Turkey and Georgia

this native American dream catcher is a gift from my friend Jared from New York

this painted egg-shaped jewelry box is a souvenir from St. Petersburg from my friend Ani

this Eiffel tower model is brought by my mom, you can guess from where :)

this flower vase is brought by my sister Evelina from Barcelona

this green apple is actually a candle - i bought it since i love green apples, and it smells like an apple!

this ceramic green apple contains an apple-scented candle and is a gift for my birthday by Emma

 

some nice purple scents - birthday gift by my friend Tata

this ceramic (i think it's kind of a hat) is a souvenir from Georgia from my friend Gohar

the typical dutch-style painted small box I bought from Amsterdam, and the heart is from Venice glass and I bought it as a souvenir from Casa di Giulietta in Verona

this cute hedgehog carrying a ladybird is a magnet - gift by my friend Haykush from Moscow

this hello kitty branded box of candies is a gift from Luska from US

 this origami bird is from my Japanese friend Kanako

 orange and cinnamon candle set - bought by me in Padova, Italy.
A reminder of a very nice shop called "Sapo"

this nice candle set was a gift for new year by my friend Ani

this small wooden dachshund is one of my favorites - gift from my younger cousin Karen, he made it at a school handicraft class

this Japanese girl is a souvenir from Japan by my cousin Gohar

this keyring is a souvenir from Chicago from my friend Gohar

this typical dutch souvenir was brought by myself from my second trip to Amsterdam in 2004

these small animals are of Venice glass and i bought them from Murano island

this rabbit is a gift by my sister Gohar from Japan (if I'm not mistaken)

this Nefertiti is a souvenir from my friend Ani from Egypt

this picture "frame" is very old and a gift from my father's friend. That's me and my sis on the pic :)

this golden thingy that can be used both as a bookmark or a pendant - gift from Tokyo by Gohar

perfume oil in a bottle from Egypt brought by my friend Ani

this piggy bank I brought from Netherlands

thingy for lighting incenses - gift by my cousin Gohar from Dubai

this sea-shell jewelry box is a souvenir from Sochi from my friend Ani

this pieces of rocks are taken from Armenian regions, during a trip i'd like to remember

this traditional sweet is a gift from my Croatian friend Iva

this tea box filled by my favorite Sencha Royal tea is a gift from my friend Avet

small souvenir bottle of tequila - gift from my friend Maricruz from Mexico, with whom we spend many nice days in Italian student camp


Using the opportunity I'd like to say hello to all my friends that found their gifts here and to those who will find :))

I love you all, wherever you are!