Hola! I'm temporarily back! I lost one follower but worry not, I'll be back to the blogging world very soon. Baby G is leaving on Thursday! I'll miss her. :[
Anyway, remember the monthly instalment of The Mercurial Wife Interviews? Well, this morning I'm quite free (Baby G is still asleep! ;p) and it's time to reveal who's sitting in the pink chair for the month of July. Are you excited? I sure am!!
I've always been in love with his blog. I don't know how he comes up with the exciting blog material he publishes and all I know is I'm a big fan of his blog posts. Many of you follow his blog and believe me, if you haven't clicked on the 'Follow' button you're missing out. Big time. Let's get to know him better, shall we? ;p
Visit him at http://mykafkaesquelife.blogspot.com/and follow him, or I'll shoot ya!
Kafkaesque is a term from literature and relates to the topics in Franz Kafka's works. He was a German Jewish writer, who lived in Prague and is one of the best writers of all times. But he's very hard to understand. Kafkaesque is usually used in situations, where a single person is lost and disoriented. When I named my blog after that, I felt that way. I'm not like that anymore, but I kept the name, because it's unique, even though it's hard to pronounce or remember.
2. The art of Nino - Is Nino your real name?
Yes, Nino is my real name. And yours? ;)
TMW's note: You know my real name, don't you?! Ha! I won't tell! ;p
3. Are your family and close friends aware of your successful blog?
Well, my sisters saw the blog few times in the past, but they weren't very interested. Now they probably don't know about it and that's fine to me.
4. We all know the benefits of blogging. According to you, what are some of the disadvantages?
Well, people who start to attack you, even if they don't know you, that's annoying. But after a while you get a thicker skin and ignore them.
5. Have you ever thought of making money from your blog?
I put Google ads on one sidebar a short while ago, but that's about it. I'm very sensitive to the layout and hate to see ads distort my blog's look. So far the clicks on those ads were scarce, even though my traffic is on the rise for a while now. So if somehow I earn one million from Adsense, that's fine, but that won't ever happen. Blogging is my hobby, I'm doing it for fun. No idea what might happen in the future, but for now, I don't expect to earn anything above peanuts.
6. You are the President of Slovenia for a week. What will be your course of actions?
Our presidents have no power, we have a prime minister for that. And if you ask me, I'd not like to be either of them, no way. Politics are pretty crazy in Slovenia, I don't wanna be part of that.
7. We've read so much about Taiwan and Korea on your blog. Any chance of you writing (with pictures) about Slovenian hidden treasures? Like the Bled Castle?
That's exactly my plan. In August my girlfriend and I plan to travel through Slovenia and take a lot of photos. I will introduce the best places in Slovenia and post a lot of photos. I think many people will be surprised how beautiful our small country is.
9. What attracts you to Asia?
That's hard to answer actually. Until my 25th year I wasn't really interested in Asia at all. Then I made a trip to Singapore, which was not planned at all. I just wanted to do something out of the ordinary, something that people, who I knew, have not done it. So I came there, spent 3 weeks there and few days in Kuala Lumpur and suddenly my perception of Asia changed. I was impressed with the people, food, lifestyle, the culture and traditions. I started to learn a bit Malay and later Chinese. And then several other trips followed, to Malaysia, Hong Kong etc.. and then I ended up in Taiwan. I sometimes have no idea, why I go more and more east, why my life's so focused on Asia. But I met some of the warmest and nicest people in Asia and so it's no wonder, that I spent over 1 year all together in various Asian countries. And I want to see more...
10. Of all your overseas trips, which one was the most memorable one?
All of the trips were memorable, even though they very very different. I remember almost every single moment. Some of the most exciting moments were, when I first saw Petronas Twin towers, walking around Penang, gambling in Genting, seeing the Big Buddha in Hong Kong, walking around Macau's historic center, celebrating birthday on top of Taipei 101, but basically every small trip I made in Taiwan was amazing and unforgettable. But the city that impressed me most was Seoul. It's just unbelievable. I hope I can return and spend few weeks there.
11. One thing Taiwan can learn from Slovenia? And one thing Slovenia can learn from Taiwan?
If Taiwan stands for Taiwanese people, then they could learn to be more relaxed. They work too much and sometimes don't enjoy life. Slovenians do, their life doesn't only revolve around the job. Slovenia could learn a lot from Taiwan, especially in engineering and technology, where we could learn how to do good business.
12. Do you think Britain should join the Euro currency? If yes, why? If no, why?
I think they should join. If Germany and France could, why not the UK? I'm a proud European and hope that we stand together in good and in bad and Britain should not be any exception to that.
13. The U.S government conspired the 9/11 attack. So believe many Americans. What are your thoughts?
I used to believe that, too, in the years after the attack. But Bush and his administration made it easy on us, since they never published good evidence to refute those claims. Later I became a skeptic, but now I don't care anymore. I suppose, they did not conspire, but we'll never really know. In the end, it's up to the American people to find out the truth. There are so many Americans who are passionate about that issue, I'm sure one day we'll know more.
14. Mother Nature is very, very angry at us. The deluge of natural disasters since the beginning of 2010 - do you think it's a sign of 'The world is coming to an end'?
Nope, I think it's no sign of anything. Worse things have happened in the past, the only difference was, that the media did not have such influence on people's lives like nowadays. Every small thing is reported, people tweet and retweet, blog and link and we've become part of it. And then we think Doom's day is just around the corner, but it's not. Remember, when there was no internet, only few TV channels and a media, that reported, not made a story? Those were the 90s and sometimes I really miss them.
15. Everybody is giving their two cents on the BP spill. Give me your forty cents.
BP should clean it up and pay for the consequences. What could be done more? I'm sure it'll take decades, before life turns back the way it was. And I hope people stop using this oil spill to attack Obama, but I guess that won't likely happen.
16. Besides Slovenia, which country are you gunning for to win the South Africa World Cup?
Since 1994, I'm a fan of Brazil. But this year, I'm impressed with Messi and Argentina, they play the best soccer so far. If Slovenia doesn't make it to the finals (*pretending to sound serious), then I hope these two nations meet in the final game and then I can only say: May the best team win.
17. Have you ever played football?
Yes, I used to train and play football as a young teen for 5 years, I was a striker like Rooney, hehe.
18. Do you read books? If yes, what genre?
I usually don't read books. I used to read a lot of German literature during my studies, but now I'm not into reading books. I'm more an online reader, reading blogs and news websites.
19. The last movie you watched?
If in cinema, it was Avatar, 3D, few days after I had arrived in Taipei. It was one of the best movies I ever saw. If it's a movie at home, it was Bin-Jip, a great Korean movie, one of my all time favs. I was lucky to see both of them with my dear girlfriend Lily :-)
20. Your girlfriend is pretty. Imagine she didn't speak any English at all. How would you two have communicated with each other?
Thank you. I guess it would be hard for me to be with someone, with whom I couldn't communicate. I guess we'd use sign language or Google Translate, hehe. But in the end, it couldn't last, because good conversations for me are the essence of a good relationship.
TMW's note: MKL looked so pretty in that pink chair, don't you think? You're invited to share your opinions on his well-thought opinions! MKL, it was a pleasure having you on TMW! You know I love you and your girl. May God bless you both! ;p
Who'll be next? Stick by...August is only a couple of weeks away! ;p