Hi, I am Anamaria Todor and welcome to my blog!
I am a Computer Scientist with a playful and literary twist.
I am originally from Brașov, Romania, but I have been living in Denmark for more than 10 years. I split my time between Falster and Copenhagen, sharing the beautiful chaos of life with my wonderful hubby Adrian and our two cats Anna and Elsa (Frozen pun intended).
I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cultural Studies.
I also have a Master of Science degree in Computer Science, the Digital Interactive Entertainment track at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
I have spent a lot of time building things, in roles ranging from full stack developer to CTO. Lately, I am a Principal Solutions Architect at AWS.
You can find out more about my skills and professional journey on my LinkedIn profile.
Read below! ⬇️
I have always loved writing. In time, I understood that I experienced the world better and more fully if I put it on paper. Writing is a mindful way to process one’s feelings, and also to think things through. Hence, this blog was born. Throughout time, I’ve written here on and off, sometimes about matters of tech, sometimes about matters of soul. Irrespective of how much I’ve written though, I like having it around as a testament to how my thinking, hopes and dreams have evolved throughout time.
You might have noticed that the tagline of this blog is ‘of mice and cybermen‘.
It is a playful nod to both Steinbeck’s Novella “Of Mice and Men” and Robert Burns’ poem “To a Mouse”. While both Burns and Steinbeck try to highlight that a human being’s endeavors are just as fragile as those of a mouse, my purpose with this blog is to reflect on what it means to remain human in the Age of AI. Both through my readings and experiments, but also through how I experience the modern world every day.
I have been taking photographs since forever, almost. I’ve been on Flickr for a very long while, and I still have images for sale on Shutterstock. If you want to follow me visual adventures, let’s stay on touch on Instagram. You can see the latest sample of images from my Insta account below.
Reading… where do I start? It taught me everything I know and allowed me to live so may lives already. I think I could give up a lot of things in life, but reading is definitely not one of them. Below are some of my favourite authors, with some of my favourite quotes, in no particular order. Just so you know where I am coming from.
What happens when people open their hearts? They get better.
Haruki Murakami – Norwegian Wood
Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life… You give them a piece of you. They don’t ask for it. They do something dumb one day like kiss you, or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like maybe we should just be friends or how very perceptive turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It’s a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. Nothing should be able to do that. Especially not love. I hate love.
Neil Gaiman – The Sandman Volume 9
It would be terrifying to believe that in this harmonious universe, which is complete and equal to itself, only human life happens randomly, only his destiny lacks sense and purpose
Mircea Eliade
I got my first computer when I was four, and I grew up with video games. I thinky the first game I ever played was Supaplex, but I have very fond memories of Push Over as well.
A special place in my sould is occupied by all LucasArts point and click adventure games, with a personal favorite being Day of the Tentacle. Another guilty pleasure of mine is Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.
My favourite game in the last 10 years? The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.
I still game every chance I get, so if you want to game together, let’s connect on Steam.
