Another weekend crept up on me and I found myself in the middle of it. When this one came along, it seemed like yesterday was Tuesday... didn't it?
Well, I've gotten used to the rapid and almost unaccountable passage of time just as I've gotten used to the climate changes that have upended the seasons in my part of the world.
In this context, Weekend Engagement has also reached week 140. That is, it has been happening for 140 weeks, that is 35 months, that is almost 3 years!
In this almost anniversary week, 
I found the Time Capsule idea interesting, so I will try to respect the requirements and refer to this topic.
I saw a time capsule in a city in Romania, in Iasi, where I lived for almost a year. It is buried in front of the town hall, I have some photos somewhere but now I don't think I have the strength to look for them. I don't remember what they buried there, my memory doesn't work so well anymore. There are time capsules that are not buried, quite the contrary, they were sent into space, I remember one put in a space sonde that left the solar system. Of the many objects put in that capsule I only remember that they put a Beatles song in it, which I enjoyed and which creates a link with my virtual time capsule... or, if I think about it, it seemed to be Beethoven's 9th Symphony, "Ode to Joy".
My Time Capsule
Now the time has come to say what I would put in a time capsule, just three personal items, then be dug up two hundred years from today.
I would put a coin, a photo, and a DVD.
The objects that people would choose to send to future generations can be of great diversity, chosen by each according to their personality and imagination. The more diverse people choose objects, the more helpful it could be for those who find them to build a picture of society in the past. My guess is that if the evolution of human society proceeds smoothly, without interruption, then our descendants over 200 years from now would know everything about us, with enormous libraries of data, images, and sounds. If evolution were to come to an abrupt halt, say following a cataclysm, and traces of the past disappeared, then our objects would make some sense.
My point is that I would put those objects there not with the worry that those in the future would understand something. I would put the objects there to save them from loss or destruction... even though what I'm about to say doesn't apply to two of my chosen objects.
A coin!
I refer to a copper coin, from the late sixteenth century, called in German - Kreuzer.
The coin's German name derives from the (double) cross engraved on the reverse; one of the crosses is inset, and the second cross is the Cross of St. Andrew.
In German Kreuz means "cross".
The Kreuzer was first issued in Tyrol in 1271.
It circulated in the southern regions of Germany, in Switzerland and in the Habsburg Empire and its successor, the Austrian Empire, and then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and thus also in Banat, Bukovina, and Transylvania, until the end of the 19th century.
Source
I grew up in Bukovina, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I found this copper coin in the garden of the house. It had the year 1789 engraved on it. I liked it so much that I carried it with me all the time. Big mistake... it was stolen! If I still had it now I would definitely put it in a time capsule...
Because I don't have it anymore, and in order to respect my obligation to put three items, I would put a credit card in its place!
A photo!
My first contact with pop-rock music was in the mid-60s, when I could listen, with difficulty, to a few Beatles songs!
Why do I say with difficulty? Because those years of my adolescence were also the years of the consolidation of communism in my country, Romania. The consolidation of communism came with the total denial of cultural values, in fact of all Western values, with the denial of individual freedom as it was in the democratic world. It was almost impossible to listen to music, watch movies, to read western newspapers or magazines.
By happy chance, I went to high school where children of the communist nomenklatura were studying. Instead of following communist dogmas, they were the first and only ones who had access to western culture. They had the vinyl of rock bands, they had famous Western magazines. With the help of these colleagues, I could listen to that forbidden music, and I could see magazines and newspapers. In one such newspaper, I found the address of the Beatles Fan Club in Liverpool. I sent a letter to this Fan Club and, to my great astonishment, I received an envelope containing a confirmation that I was a member of that Club and a signed Beatles photo! It was one of the most valuable things I had. A rarity at the time. It would be an even greater rarity now, but I don't have it anymore. It was stolen!
I can't show the photo now but I did a search and deduced from John Lennon's appearance with a big beard and long hair that it was taken around the time of the Abbey Road album.
I'm glad I re-listened to the album. It gave me great pleasure and triggered nostalgia for my younger years! You can listen to Abbey Road here.
Screenshot from Youtube
In its place, I would now put in the Time Capsule a photo of my granddaughter Ilinca.
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This is in the event that in the future people's physiognomy might change somewhat and then they will be able to see the image of a beautiful child from the past.
Both the coin and the Beatle's photo were stolen during military service. I did this military service, which in Romania is called "army" for one year and four months. During this period I stayed in a barracks with a regime close to prison.
In order to relieve myself from this harsh army regime I took with me both the coin and the photograph and both were stolen. If I had them, I would definitely put them in the Time Capsule!
One DVD
I guess I can call myself a cinephile, I mean, more precisely, I was a cinephile, in the 7th-8th decades of the last century. I saw a large number of films then. They were my window to the world, as long as other possibilities of information (travel abroad, TV, newspapers from other countries) were not accessible. I became a cinephile not so much through study as through practice. Practice meant watching hundreds of films at the Cinematheque, a kind of film archive.
My favorite film is BlowUp, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, the great Italian director. The film tells the story of a fashion photographer in London, a new character emerging in society, a character who will become increasingly important in Western society.
Quote from critic Judith Crist (written on the DVD cover)
Professional photographer Thomas saw nothing. Or saw everything. Enlarged excerpts of surreptitiously taken photographs of a romantic couple in a park reveal a murder that has just taken place. Or does it?
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I could write a lot about this film but I've already gone on at great length.
These are the objects I would put in a Time Capsule that would sit in the ground for two hundred years. I don't have such a rich imagination that I can imagine what those who dig up these objects would understand.
I just think that if I could teleport myself 200 years into the future and find this box, I would be very happy!
I've gone quite a bit over the ideal posting size and this will probably upset a few people who read this post, especially 
I apologize for overstepping but at the same time thank you for this posting recommendation which prompted me to remember objects dear to me and made me enjoy writing!
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