what's in the avatar?

since even @paul_irish yesterday asked me about it, here the story of my avatar.

Spoiler: Nothing To Do With Tech

This is one of those posts where you won't find anything techie, nothing to learn, think of, or related to what I do daily on my life so ... feel free to abandon this page if you are not interested in knowing what's on my avatar, and no offense will be taken :-)

Another Blurry Precedent

If you are asking me "why is that blurry?" I'll tell you later on, however the first time I thought about using this image I had similar reaction: "is it OK to use a blurry image as avatar?"
One of the most inspiring developers I've learned from in my past is Dean Edwards. Since Dean never bothered to change his blurry avatar, and I've no idea how many asked him about that, I thought it was OK to actually chose an avatar, no matter what it is, and stick with it as long as you want ... the face? Well, I am not even slightly as photogenic as Paul, or even the blurry Dean, plus I suck at making selfies so can you just keep recognizing me behind that non-sense image?
If you can, then it's time to tell the what, the when, and the why :-)

Keep Dreaming

One of the best friends of my childhood has always been an inspiration for me: he is a traveler, a dreamer, a story teller, a funny company or a shoulder to cry on, and last few years also a great father of 2 wonderful children.
We called him "the actor" since basically ever because of his ability to mimic people, imaginary characters out of books and fables, and also put yourself into a different surrounding because of the unexpected acting he'll might just start doing without any notice.

That was his vocation, and that is what he has studied for, dreamed about, sacrificed, to actually concretely become a real theater actor.

Acting ain't easy life, neither an easy income ... not everyone in the field does Hollywood movies and you could find thousands struggling to reach the end of the month but no matter what, they'll keep the show up!
In few words, this very dear friend never gave up and even if we are thousand kilometers from each other, he is ultra busy, and we actually have zero time to interact with each other or simply spend an evening together, I keep following his life achievements with shows he's creating with his wife too since both are wonderful actors, and have many story to tell you in a show, or during their teaching.

A Special Event

Not only I was happy knowing that my friend was getting married, I also believe that wedding was one of the best I've ever been in my entire life.
Family and friends were the one that prepared the entire wedding cooking, making cocktails, serving food and drinks, dancing folkloristic songs and even playing live music on the stage!
Yes, that has been for me one of the happiest moment of my life for a person I always admired and an event that was probably the most anti-formality wedding I could imagine within Italian culture ... OK it was never ending, and I was drunk as fuck, but when I took that picture behind a crowd of good old friends, hard to group again all together, old friends that were having fun at one of the best organized events I've been ... well, all I can say is that every time I re-think about that day, I feel that happy time again.

... After That

I kept following my dreams, keep trying and studying harder, improving my skills, writing post and Open Source software every time I could, exploring new countries, changing few companies, getting married with the most wonderful girl I've ever met and I am still running behind all achievements this friend of mine already completed ... damn it Luca, I really wish that all of us will never stop running!