About

On The Dockyards: How Did This Project Actually Start? (2009–2013)

Welcome to The Dockyards! This was the initial logo of the website (used between early 2015 and late 2019).

At Hard Rock Café Bucharest in January, 2020.

This website was initially created as a separate personal blog on the WordPress blogging platform in late 2009. At that time, its main purpose was to represent a useful digital outlet through which I was able to easily publish and store media content as well as related articles on various subjects (most notably regarding the hobbies and diverse occupations or activities I had as a teenager).

Nonetheless, over the passing of time, this website had slowly (yet steadily) developed into something much more significant. That is exactly why I ultimately decided to take one step further with it in the Spring of 2015 and turn it into a proper domain of its own, after a brief hiatus from blogging which lasted between early 2012 to late 2014.

Therefore, all that any visitor will be able to see here still serves me (and, hopefully, can do the same for other like-minded people) as a useful digital teaching platform on which I was able to save various bits of information, some valuable knowledge as well as some fond memories.

Subsequent Developments (2014–present)

In the historical old town of Sighișoara/Schäßburg (2015)

It was in the Autumn of 2014 that I decided to re-commence writing on a digital platform, after a brief hiatus from blogging (as previously mentioned). In the meantime, I also tried to refine my way of writing by learning as much as I could with respect to web design, primarily in order to aesthetically match the content that I wrote about.

Briefly put, the vast majority of the articles on this website revolve around Ancient and medieval history, but there are also separate series of posts on sports, real-time strategy video games (within the larger category of IT & technology), music, literature, and even films. For more details on all of the constituent sections of this website please refer to the category drop-down menu on the right sidebar.

The decision of naming the website ‘The Dockyards’ was purely based on my utmost love and constant, innermost fascination with the sea or the ocean. In this particular regard, ever since The Dockyards was launched prior to 2021, I have been constantly using header images that depict the sea, ocean, or just water in general. For example, the current header image (as of September, 2019) depicts a picturesque medieval castle close by the seaside in the Irish countryside.

The new logo of the website (in use since late 2019 onwards)

Below you can also take a closer look at the header image history of the website (from 2016 until 2021):

• October, 2016–May, 2017: The reconstructed Ósvör fishing outpost museum at Bolungarvík, north-western Iceland;
• October, 2015–October, 2016: The lighthouse from Reykjavik’s harbour (Nordurgardi);
• October, 2016–March, 2018: The black sand beach at Vík í Mýrdal, southern Iceland, highlighting the Reynisdrangar basalt rocks;
• March, 2018–January, 2021: A medieval castle in the picturesque Irish countryside;
• January, 2021–present: Excerpt from the Flammarion engraving.

The Purpose And Motivation For Maintaining The Dockyards

The main purpose for maintaining this website after all these years is to still share as much information as possible regarding the main topics that I decided to write about in the very beginning when this project was initially launched.

In this regard, my personal motivation has alway relied on bringing as many facts as possible closer to my readership while dispelling historical myths at the same time. Therefore, the main long term objective for The Dockyards as a growing website on the world wide web is to still find itself in the proper, truthful direction of historical accuracy combined with high quality media content.

A Brief Personal Description: Personal Interests And Hobbies

Close to high school graduation (2016)

Some of my most significant interests include universal literature, playing on a series of musical instruments (most notably the acoustic, semi-acoustic, and electric guitars as well as the keyboards), listening to music comprising a wide range of genres (from alternative to jazz-rock fusion; one of the reasons why I’m also the webmaster of The Rockpedia), sketching, economy, and biological research (more specifically genetics).

In my spare time, I also do a lot of editing on Wikipedia primarily as a hobby, most notably on the English, French, and German versions. In recent years however, editing Wikipedia transcended into a daily activity rather than an occasional hobby. Last but not least, I feel I should mention I’m a great CFR 1907 Cluj supporter, through both good times and bad times (also occasionally cheering up for SV Werder Bremen during my late childhood days, yet nevertheless a long time committed fan of Liverpool F.C.).

Additionally, here’s a list of some of some of my all time favourite readings (novels, novellas, and volumes of short stories):

• ‘Siddhartha’ by Hermann Hesse
• ‘Wind, Sand, and Stars’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• ‘Little Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• ‘A Farewell To Arms’ by Ernest Hemingway
• ‘A Heavy Metal Memoir’ by Dave Mustaine
• ‘Tarantula’ by Bob Dylan
• ‘The Lords and the New Creatures’ by Jim Morrison (poetry volume)
• ‘Nostalgia’ by Mircea Cărtărescu
• ‘The Levant’ by Mircea Cărtărescu
• ‘Me, Dracula, and John Lennon’ by Jan Cornelius
• ‘Nadirs’ (Niederungen) by Herta Müller
• ‘The man is a great pheasant in the world’ (Der Mensch ist ein großer Fasan auf der Welt) by Herta Müller
•  ‘Mein Vaterland war ein Apfelkern: Herausgegeben von Angelika Klammer’ by Herta Müller
• ‘Atemschaukel’ by Herta Müller
• ‘The Master and Margarita’ by Mikhail Bulgakov
• ‘Animal Farm” by George Orwell
• ‘1984’ by George Orwell
• ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger
  
• ‘Nine Stories’ by J.D. Salinger
• ‘The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• ‘The Dubliners’ by James Joyce
• ‘Finnegans Wake’  by James Joyce
• ‘Three Men in a Boat/Three Men on a Bummel’ by Jerome K. Jerome
• ‘Pebble in the Sky’ by Isaac Asimov
• ‘Fahrenheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury
• ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley
• ‘The Doors of Perception’ by Aldous Huxley
• ‘Shogun, Volumes I & II’ by James Clavell
• ‘The Pigeon’ (Die Taube) by Patrick Süskind
• ‘Misreadings’ by Umberto Eco

Some of my favourite quotes:

‘If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he’s dead, then maybe he was a great man.’

— James Dean

 

‘The gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.’

— James Dean

 

‘Think you’re escaping and run into yourself. Longest way round is the shortest way home.’

— James Joyce

 

‘Some people turn sad awfully young. No special reason, it seems, but they seem almost to be born that way. They bruise easier, tire faster, cry quicker, remember longer and, as I say, get sadder younger than anyone else in the world. I know, for I’m one of them.’
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

 

‘Smart people learn from their mistakes. But the really sharp ones learn from the mistakes of others.’
— Brandon Mull, Fablehaven

 

‘So many books, so little time.’

— Frank Zappa

 

‘There is no friend as loyal as a book.’

— Ernest Hemingway

Last but not least, I truly hope you will find this website as useful as possible for you as it is has proven to be for me, so suit yourself and feel free to search anything you wanted to come here for in the first place. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

Victor

Personal business card

For work-related inquiries (e.g. guest posts or the like) please contact me over this e-mail address: [email protected] You can also check my Europass CV and work experience on my LinkedIn profile here.

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