Go with the flow

I am ready for a drunken night in Zadar and will be departing towards my pub in about... well as soon as my hair dries off. I am getting lose today in order to have an excuse for not drinking tomorrow, in fact tomorrow I am taking the car with me, as a precaution.
I believe it is going to be a hell of a night, school being over and all the dull students coming back from their universities.

It is probably going to be very hard packing tomorrow and gathering all the stuff I need for my snow trip. I will probably end up forgetting something at the last minute as I did with my god damn passport I left on my kitchen table in Zagreb. But it is all been taken care of and the passport found its way safely in my pocket. Thanks to a good friend who was kind enough to go to my place and ship it with the first bus line.

The punk rock belt i ordered 2 weeks ago still hasn't arrived and I am slowly getting pissed and irritated. Wearing baggy pants without a belt while snowboarding can quickly bring you in a shameful situation if you get what I mean. Fortunately my darling offered me her own belt until mine arrives safely. I am so grateful and happy, she is so sweet...

Another post from the road

Hey there people! My favorite time of the year is approaching and in spite of the usual happiness from being able to spend quality time with my family, I am kind of sad because I will be apart from my darling for a whole week... Fresh powder on the snowy Dolomites might cheer me up but that simply won't bee enough. Another gratitude to modern tech for enabling me to keep in touch with her.

I am currently on my way back home from Zagreb and gathered all the necessary materials for my study and final thesis. The subject of the thesis is going to be Hedging and Financial Instruments such as Derivatives as a form of Risk insurance. I am at the process of gathering books and materials in order to read them before I leave for London for my internship. Another cool news is that the Dropkick Murphys ara playing in London during my stay there. There is even a slight possibility that my friends from Croatia will join me for the show. Let's go murphys.

Another problem during this time of year is getting everybody an appropriate Xmas present, which is kind of hard for me considering the fact that my mom's and little bro's birthdays were in November and I can't seem to find the creativity of originating another set of individual gifts. I kind of gave up yesterday and decided to buy something at the last minute in Italy. But fortunately I thought of a small Delicatessen store in Zagreb and bought the whole family a small box of chocolates, considered to be among the top 10 chocolate boxes in the whole world. Don+t even ask how much I paid for the God Damn box. It cost me a small fortune. Hope that the will like it.

I will be in Zadar for the next three days and leave for Italy on Saturday. A good thing is that on Friday there is a punk show and Pasi a band form Opatija are playing along with my bro's band again. Hope I wont get drunk and come home late. We need to depart quite early and the smell of cigarettes and alcohol wont help my father on his 12 hour or less drive. I probably wont exaggerate on the drinking, a thing I am not able to say for my brother.

A Proud Kid

The thing about my parents is that I really enjoy spending time with them. They really define the word cool even though occasionally we have our issues and people tend to piss off other people. But I can say proudly that we're a happy family.

I especially enjoy the company of my mom, we have the same personality and character and tend to enjoy the same things in life. The thing about her, that fascinates me the most is that we tend to enjoy the same literature and I am so proud once I give her a recommendation about a read and she reads it and likes it. Most of all when the subject book is one from the punk rock world I idolize and live by. She accepted and discovered that being a punk rocker means thinking differently in a positive way and expressing yourself in order to make a change towards a better and n+more moral world. Not a lot of parents get that and think about their kids attitude as delinquent, meaningless and short term. I am in it for life and she realizes it. I sometime think of her as having a punk rock attitude herself.

Actually during the time I dedicated to write this post, she is quietly reading and giggling to the wit of Jim Lindberg and his humorous parenting guide. I don't even have to say what she thought about Greg Graffin once she read his book/correspondence about religious dogma. She adored hem and still does today.

Shakin' Like A Dog Shittin' Razorblades

While the rest of the world is worrying about current political issues, oil spillovers, ecological hazard, war in Iraq, insurgent suicide bombings and other sinister and horrifying atrocities, I for once don't care that much. My mind is currently at another place, anticipating the outcome of tonights rendezvous with my darling. I was yearning for this day for more than two weeks and am still suspicious and frightened. I really got the chance to get to know her in the last few weeks, thanks to modern technology but it seems all to artificial.

I am on my way back home for the rest of the week and still don't know what to say to my family about the reason of my repeated, prolonged and sudden comeback. Who cares, the mind simply stops working rationally once it falls in love or is experiencing even a slight particle of the love germ. I can afford the luxury of being irresponsible and juvenile once in a while, I just hope it won't affect me in the long run.

Comeback Kid

Hey ho, I am back for two day to settle some stuff here and then it is back to Zadar. I believe it will be Thursday afternoon after collage. There is a lecture about studying abroad and I am very interested in that as you probably know.

The weekend was very drunk and full of fun stuff and hilarious people. Saturday culminated with my brother overdrinking himself at about 11 pm puking all over the place and just being a zombie. I wanted to drive the poor bastard home but fortunately my friend offered to do it instead, she not drinking and all. I must have looked funny holding the car keys and a bottle of beer at the same time. She was mercy full, because I would have ended up without a drivers license and maybe a limb or a head. Anyway, worth the effort...

Once again a big thanx to Vedrana for driving me back and forth.

Born to lose

Oh my god am I feeling Johnny Cash lately. I really don't know is it the weather or what but his songs just fit... The ultimate rebel and outlaw, heh....
I am leaving for Zadar this afternoon, because my friend id visiting her boyfriend, so she kindly offered a ride home. It is probably going to be quite nice to visit my friends and family, even for a single day. I might get a chance to taste some of my moms cooking, if I am fortunate enough. I am also facing money problems because I have been on a spending spree, being Xmas time and all. I got a hold of quite some cool apparel and am really excited about it. I'm not regretting it one iota.

I also started reading the book The Punk Rock Dad written by the author Jim Lindberg , the prominent lead singer of one of my favorite punk rock bands Pennywise. The book is an amazing retrospective of his life, the beginnings of the band and his maturing from a deviant adolescent to a responsible family man, still sticking to his guns and not forgetting his roots. Most importantly the book presents an handbook for future and current parents based on his experience with his three daughters, which in his own words changed his life completely. Here is a sentence i particularly like, and think describes the book perfectly: " It's kind of someone warning you when you are about to go on a particularly frightening roller-coaster ride or you're about to watch an extremely scary film. Of course you should go; they just warn you that you're probably not really prepared for what you are getting in to...."

The Catcher in the Rye

I just finished reading The Catcher in the Rye for the second time and simply adored the book. There are quite some attributes about Holden's personality that I can assimilate my self with. We are both atheists and are reluctant towards violence, thats being pacifists and all. Another similarity is that we both tend to react and experience things emotionally.

The first time I read the book was in high school, which was part of compulsory reading. I now think that I wasn't mature enough to appreciate and comprehend the book fully and am glad that I decided to read it again, only this time in its designated language, English. I find that a literary piece is best experienced and enjoyed in the language the author has written it.

Is it normal

I couldn't seem to notice all the bodybuilders in the gym, all looking like they were chunked out of a fucking mountain. I mean, in my opinion this is not normal and I don't think a person can look like that without using additives that build muscles and are not natural. And besides that dedicating your hole day just to look like a gorilla is kind of absurd. I respect the effort and dedication, but a person can be healthy without that also. Besides that, I don't think that their sex life is that great, seeing stuff in the locker room makes me never want to be like that.

Aspiring Excellence

Hallo there. It has been quite some time since my last post. I've been going through a rough period in life and just didn't find the time or to be more precise didn't want to find time. But I see that writing has been my passion and that I just couldn't bare another day without writing. It is also slacking my writing skills, something I will find quite useful or necessary in the near future because I am seriously planing on enrolling on a foreign postgraduate study and a patterned English test is necessary wherever the hell I go.
Just to show how serious I am I decided to write this quick post even though I am late for Gym practice and just to bee brief, training is going swell and I really feel the difference and will be quite ready for my snow session this Christmas.

Another thing you will find from now on on my blog is a lot of gibberish, because I plan to write as much as possible in order to bring my writing skills to perfection. Excellence, something we all aspire.

Back to normal, well sort of...

The longest brake in my short correspondence with this blog took place last week and now it is time to go on. The thing about my repeated trip back home in fact turned out quite great, the aftermath being excessively different. The plan was to come home for treatment and mom's birthday... By the way, she loved my present and devoted the time to read it immediately.

On the night of my return, I went out just to say hi to some of my friends, but thats when She came and things took a slight different turn. I was so excited that I ended up braking my allegiance to Straight edge, partying every night until I came back to Zagreb and in the same time sad, because she had to go away for some time the next day... One of the reasons I neglected the blog is another sort of correspondence that took pace soon after, now occupying the most of my day. I discovered that I lack character when it comes to alcohol, but this is only when I visit Zadar, where it is impossible to resist and even the best show sings of weakness.

Here are some light motives of the bygone weekend, as I will write some more anecdotes later this day.

My Cold Aggravated...

...and I am upset with my nose, draining all day long. I am having lots of vitamins from fruit and eating a lot of vegetables. I made a marvelous lunch from fresh produce I bought from the marketplace in the center. I simply adore red beet and mixed with boiled carrots and potatoes, with a pinch of fresh pepper and olive oil makes a excellent remedy. As an appetizer I had some young beady cheese, mixed with basil, olive oil and parsley, accompanied with whole wheat bread. All organic I suppose.

There is a possibility for me to go to back home again tomorrow, because I've been offered a ride back and forth. I am still not quite sure, since I have some stuff to do here... We'll see how things turn out. Ohh, the main reason, my mum's birthday as I might have pointed out already.

Shunning (Deliberately avoiding)...

Looks like I am again postponing the post about last weekend. I did everything just to avoid doing so because there are pictures in my mobile phone I am reluctant, in fact lazy to transfer, so the whole point of witting something is meaningless. I even did some slight remodeling of the blog layout. Still looking for a better background, I just don't want it to bee to noisy...

I got a slight cold, and my nose was killing me thought the ride to collage. It is freezing weather outside and somehow I've managed to convince myself to ask a friend to have tee with me in the neighborhood cafe.. I haven't seen her in a while and it was really nice to catch up on stuff. We suffer from the same problem of which she and I only know =).

In order to cease the cold I took advice from my mom and drank or ate a glass of lemon juice smashed along with the slices of the peel from the lemon, honey and Propolis (good for the throat)... Mmm, just imagine the expression on your own face after drinking this.

The aftermath of a punk weekend

There is probably not going to be any sense in this post but anyway just to bee brief, we totally got annihilated this weekend and my head feels like a mosh-pit took place inside. I am back in Zagreb and got a lot of stuff to do, but just cannot find the energy to do so.
The punk show on Saturday was awesome, tons of people from all over Croatia piled in probably the smallest concert hall on the planet. There was mud, glass puke and piss all over the floor and I can't even imagine what it would be like to clean my shoes. I've torn my pants on the concert and managed to glue them together with duct tape, lost my cell phone in the pit but fortunately a girl returned it back once my bro announced it on the mike. I wanted to buy her a beer later that night but lost her (forgot what she looks like). My brothers band was terrific, the play just the kind of punk I like and did some excellent covers of the Bouncing Souls and Dropkick Murphys. The rest of the lineup was also great, a retrospective of all the punk bands in Zadar currently active. There was even a reunion of an old punk band called Trn u oku.
The next day I was so hung over that I spent the whole day sitting on the couch watching TV... Still not completely revived and I need serious detoxing. As for the civilized part of the weekend in Zadar I will try to write something about that once my brain stops being on stand by.

Home at last...

And listening to Nofx with a mug of freshly made coffee, doing nothing important gives a summerish note to it...
I had a lot of plans for this morning, but decided to go with the flow and not plan anything. I was reluctant on going to make a new ID card at the police station anyway.

I didn't want to go out last night but the misfortune of going out of eye lens fluid, made me take a walk to the all night drugstore. My brother gave up on my being in Zadar so I got a call to come for a drink in the pub. Ended up like smelling like an ashtray and being accused of taking hard drugs. Apparently I had wide eye pupils. Newsflash, you could cut the fucking smoke with a butter knife, it might as well be the cause.

On The Brink Of Winter

Being on the road and seeing snow for the first time this season reminds me of how soon I'll be riding the fresh powder on the mountains of Italy with my board. It is my favorite rime of the year, not just because of my extreme and vigilant hobby, but because I will be able to spend some quality time with my family. Even though snowboarding trips for people my age include going with peers and friends, partying and getting drunk, I get a lot of that during the year so I don't regret going there with my family. There are always weekend boarding trips I can go with my friends, usually settled in the last minute... But being Christmas time and all, even though I am a devout secularist, I like to spend that time with my closest, and that is the core essence of Christmas and every other big pious holiday. Another a bit less important reason is that going with them allows me not to worry so much about the budget and enjoy the pleasures of Italian gastronomy, an equally important part of winter ski trips.

I would have written a post earlier on the trip but I had to piss so bad before the stop that even a slightest move would have caused a catastrophe. I was the first one out once the bus stopped, and was releasing the body fluids for about 3 minutes. What a relief it was.

I will stop now since the bus got off the freeway due to a tunnel closure, prolonging my already painful trip for another hour. The thing that keeps me going is mom's soup waiting for me home.

An Istrian Delicacy

As presented, the turnout of todays cooking frenzy was excellent. The procedure was quite easy and done as the pasta, in this case Istrian Fuzi, is cooked and mixed with the Truffle sauce. The only problem with the dish is the expensiveness of the ingredients. The pasta is two times more costly than the normal one and I wont even say the price of a small jar of truffle and porcino paste. But the smell that carried out the room once the meal was done, was definitely worth the effort and the financial means. The truffle aroma is simply divine.

Frosty Mornings and Sunny Days

Two more days and I will finally taste my mom's cooking, sleep in my old room, hang out with friends and feast my eyes with the exhilarating see sight.

It was quite cold this morning and you could still see the frozen grass and leaves in the park I passed on my way to Gym, just before the sun shone brightly, leaving the door open for a beautiful day. Walking to collage needed only a thicker hoody instead the additional jacket and waring sunglasses after a long time made me fell like its summer again. Well, not for long since I heard that there is a snow storm ahead, coming before the end of the week... Just hope it won't produce a traffic collapse on the route to Zadar on the day of my homecoming.

Tomorrow, Truffle pasta for lunch. Can't wait to see and taste the outcome of my gormandizing habit.

O Hill, Three C

An amazing weekend is behind me. Spending time with friends and my brother made me wanna visit Zadar next weekend, which I already decided to do. One of the main reasons I'm going is the 60th Marriage Anniversary my grandparents are celebrating. Imagine what a wonderful life the must have had, living together on the same island and falling in love as young sweethearts. This is romance at its core essence.

I laughed my guts off this weekend listening to Cars (a friend of mine) outbursts, one of which was the title of this post (a mixture of two TV serials). You should have seen his Italian 2am phone call to a girl he talked for the first time, truly hilarious.
As for myself, I sustained on drinking heavily because while my guests were sleeping until noon, I had to prepare and rehears the seminar I held today. The outcome was great and for the first time giving a presentation in front of 222 people (the assistant passed a attendance list so he counted the presence) wasn't so hard and my stomach had only a tinny butterfly, just one... I burst with content.

An unsettling end to a weekend was getting pulled over driving my friends car by the police. I was looking for a parking place downtown to meet with him and somehow found my self on a taxi-only lane, only 50 m long. Guess who suddenly appeared on the end of the lane. They pulled me over, and even though I tried to reason with them and set forth that I rarely drive a car in Zagreb and didn't do it on purpose, they took my drivers license data and told me to expect a minimum of 2000 kn fine letter, 6 month license confiscation and three negative points. Is this really necessary for such a meaningless and benign misdemeanor. I still wander if their lack of tolerability was generated by ZD plates on the car, we will never know. ACAB

A rainy day and I am angry with my brother

It is supposed to rain the whole day according to the weather forecast early this morning. The day started very early so I can revise my seminar materials and prepare properly all in order to bee free in the afternoon to spend time with my bro. Soon after that, I went to the gym to work out a bit before meeting my brother some time around noon. I got soaked wet going back home, but it didn't matter since I yearned for a shower.

But as always, my irresponsible brother called in the last minute saying he is just departing and will be in Zagreb around 5pm instead of the previously agreed time. This kind of disrupted my previous planned schedule and I was furious. On the other side, it gave me time to study a little bit more after lunch and enjoy a quiet afternoon with coffee and a good read.

Here's a peek at what I made for lunch, Polenta squares with tomato sauce and ground Fior di monte cheese. Very nice, but I think it will probably be even better once it cools down.

Book Fair

The lecture in Income and Corporate Taxation I had this morning was quite interesting. We were solving Income taxation exercises, which I found quite easy since I had similar syllabus on a third year subject, so just had to revise the matter. You cannot believe the crowd participating the lectures. Some people didn't manage to grab a seat so they had to sit on the staircase.

Soon after the lecture, I headed home because it was lunch time, and I set my mind on the leftover lasagna, which was absolutely delicious and in my opinion even better than yesterday. I need to remember getting a new supply of wine tomorrow because this bottle is drying out...

The Gym was quite intensive today since the gym trainer pushed me to lift heavier weight, in order to strengthen my legs, which is essential for snowboarding. I have a bad feeling about tomorrows waking up. I'll continue my workout tomorrow morning since my brother is coming some time around noon, so we are going to have lunch together and wander around the city.

The reason he is coming is the book fair that is taking hold this week, which all the high schools in Croatia tend to visit, but is mostly about getting to Zagreb and having a good time and if possible, as in my brothers case, staying for the weekend and going out. But, what a coincidence, my friends from Zadar are also coming this weekend and it appears, everybody is counting on me to provide a place to stay. I narrowed my accommodation to 3 people including my brother because I still have to prepare for the seminar on Monday. Just to give you a hint, I had 6 inquiries.

I already visited the fair and was quite disappointed. Even though it is a book fair and the prices are lower, the books are still expensive and you can get a better deal on Amazon for almost every title, so tonight I am going to explore the prices online for some of the books I find interesting. My moms birthday is soon and I've set my mind on buying her a book about Wine, which I'm sure will be the perfect present.

Some Old, Some New...

The day is almost ending and I finally got the grip to write something meaningful. Yesterday was the PMI conference day and it went well. It is not the kind of thematic that is core to my study, and the target audience weren't exactly students, rather Project Managers and Business people, b it has been a great experience. There were a couple of international lecturers which I found quite interesting, especially Peter de Jager, a prominent lecturer, writer and consultant, who with his characteristic wit introduced the problem of implementing changes in organizations, and the turmoil it encounters. Another thing I found quite astonishing was that the moderator of the event was Goran Milic who I find is one of the best and leading journalists and hosts on the scene. He conducted the whole event brilliantly.

The catering at the event was excellent, there was a variety of foods and deserts and everybody was satisfied. The whole event ended up with a dinner and a cocktail party inside the hotel. The cocktail party was kind of a presentation of the first Croatian Luxury Vodka, which already had a worldwide prominence. The few of us from the Faculty of Economics stuck together feeling like dissidents throughout the conference, and small talked while drinking cocktails. At the end of it all, I felt like I had one drink too many.

Today I had lunch with Gogo at my place, cooking my famous Vegetarian Lasagna, before which we went to Mercator to buy some groceries I found missing. I am all so proud of the basil plant I bought cheaply, since the last one kind of came to an end. You be the judge. The end result was tremendous and the excess is earmarked for my lunch tomorrow.

I've also had my first training at the Fitness Studio today, and really hope I didn't push it too far for the first time. We will see how my muscles feel in the morning because I have a lot in plan for tomorrow and cannot afford to lay in bed with a muscle fever...

Getting Fit For Winter

The lessons at Collage passed trough very quickly, but weren't that much interesting. I was surprised to get a call from my friend, near the ending of the lesson. I called him back immediately afterwards to see what was up. I thought he was upset with me for something, since he rejected my two calls last week. It appears he was visiting Slovenia with his girlfriend and had scarce credit to answer international calls. We settled for coffee which took place downtown 15 minutes later.

After an amazing lunch my mom sent me yesterday, which I am not going to reveal right now for fun sake, I decided to pay a visit to the local Fitness Studio to get informed about their terms and fees. It is quite close to my neighborhood and the monthly fee isn't that expensive, I decided to enroll starting Wednesday since tomorrow is conference day. I hope they have a fitness instructor available that could help me get started on a training program and give me some pointers. Got to get in shape for the Snowboarding Session this Christmas, being my favorite time of the year.

Praise Technology

Just found out a very cool new feature on my Sony Ericsson mobile phone. After taking a picture, you have an option that automatically sends the picture on my blog here along with text and everything. So even when I don't have my laptop or computer with me, say I go on a trip or something, I can easily manage and send posts and pictures. Actually the picture of my lunch I made today was sent directly from my cell, I am still getting hold of it but find it quite easy.

A friend invited me today to see the house he has in the suburbs of Zagreb under the mountain of Sljeme, which is his sanctuary to escape from the busy and most of the times noisy city. It’s not that fancy but enables you to have a barbecue with your friends, get a glimpse of nature and fill your lungs with fresh air within a 10 minute drive from the city.

We were back just in time for me to prepare something I set my mind on and gathered ingredients yesterday, Vegetarian Lasagna with Soy crumbs instead of ground meat. It was amazing and quite simple to make. I hardly have some leftovers for tomorrow's lunch because the fork just kept going in my mouth. I sometimes amaze my self with how good of a cook I am.

I am expecting a package from my parents back home tonight. My laptop is finished so I will have to send this one back tomorrow after lectures. My mom also sent me some food and fresh groceries from the marketplace in Zadar, which is famous for its quality produce. She also made me my favorite sweet, Apple pie, and my dad filled me in with a bag of tangerines from the garden. The disappointment this year is that our Kiwi tree didn't bring any single piece of fruit as opposed to the previous year when we didn't know what to do with the abundance.

Oh boy, the following week is going to be a real feast...

A midnight mile...

Last night I did some stuff I officially denounced, but I promised my friend that I was going to go out with him. We were supposed to go to his friends house and have a few drinks but ended up getting real drunk. I've managed to escape somewhat by midnight on the pretext of having an arrangement with a friend in the morning which is actually true.

I ended up walking a full mile home along the riverside of Sava listening to my iPod having quite a pace. I really needed some fresh air and I figured that it would take me longer if I waited for public transportation.

As for the arrangement, I am meeting with a friend for coffee in about an hour after which we are going to watch our friend play an ice hockey match. I haven't been to an ice hockey match since I watched the NJ Devils play the NY Rangers last year in Jersey. Can't wait to smell the ice.

Crossroads & Illusions

The beginning of the day seemed like nothing was going my way, you know... I kept forgetting stuff, bumping my head into stuff, running on ATMs that don't work and the thing that pissed me off the most, insufficiency of pencils that actually work. Is it really possible to grab three pens that ran out of ink from three different sources?

I decided to take advantage of a relatively uncrowded day at the faculty and submit the application form for the annual Deans Award and make the yearly student ticket for public transportation. I took the effort to walk as much as possible since it was the first sunny day in quite some time and I was finished somewhat by 1 pm, just in time to make me some lunch, a nice mushroom avocado sauce, which I served with brown rice. Unfortunately I ran out of red wine due to the redness of my bank account so I had to settle with plain water.

As for the rest of the day, things got much better. I got a call from an agency that informed me that I was invited to a Project Management Institute (PMI) conference on Tuesday in Hotel Sheraton on the recommendation of my faculty. At first, I was dubious about how the faculty knew my cell number, then to remember that the application form I submitted today required my phone number and address. The lady on the phone told me that they invited 5 students from the Faculty of Economics to attend the conference as guests, and that it is quite useful since there would be a lot of prominent international lecturers. She asked me to give her my e-mail so she could send me all the details. After looking at the program I noticed that it was a whole day event and decided, even though I had lectures at collage, it would be definitely worth going off.

I still wonder what would have happened if I decided to stay home this morning...

Oriental Bar & Punks Sheltering

It is the day after Halloween and I am drinking coffee at the Avenue Mall which is diverted since today is a national holiday. I just needed to change the usual habitat and as long as possible avoid cleaning my apartment, which is another story. I will have lunch out today, probably in a restaurant I used to go to when my mother was here on business.

I was generous enough to host some of my friends who are going to London today. They came yesterday and needed a place to stay. They are kind of messy so I was prepared for this all along. I needed a general cleaning anyway so I just postponed it for today.

The last couple of days were quite dim for me. I didn't feel well and energetic as I used to. I think it is due to getting drunk on Saturday, so I am definitely making a stance: "NO MORE DRINKING". I felt it affects my reading abilities and enthusiasm. I really hope to rest this weekend and regain my energy.

Later this afternoon I made a plan with a friend from Zagreb to have coffee with, which is another thing I need to reduce. And also, I need to shorten my presentation which is put off for another week, so my decision to stay in Zagreb this weekend and not to go home, so I can prepare for the seminar, was in vain.

My laptop went dead two days ago. Bad timing because of the seminar I am writing so I had to send it immediately to Zadar for repair. My mother was generous enough to send me her own until mine is fixed so until then I have unlimited access to the Internet, using her Mobile Internet Access Card. This allowed me to watch a lot of Daily Show Episodes online, which I fancy a lot. The wit of John Steward is brilliant.

As for my cooking, I made a Black Risotto yesterday for the first time and I wasn't satisfied with the way it turned out, taking in mind the standard set by my mother, who possibly cooks the best Black Risotto on the face of the planet. Practice makes perfect.

I also set my mind on making Guacamole in the near future. Love avocado, so it should come naturally. Thank you Bill Cosby.

Beatsteaks

The weekend started with an announcement that Discharge canceled the show in Mochvara due to an illness of the bass player. I was a little bit disappointed because of that but either way, the Beatsteaks were the once I was expecting.

The friend from Makarska had a little incident in the city center. He and his friends were mistaken for two football fans from Split and fiscally assaulted by Zagreb's football fans. They barely escaped alive and had to leave Zagreb the same day. Oh, the stupidity and meaningless intolerance of football fans. Come on, the guys just came to see a punk show.

That evening I ended up at a friends birthday party watching people getting wasted and for some reason having the urge to bake bread. To bad I had to leave before the they finished baking. I went home earlier because I had to finish my seminar presentation before noon tomorrow.

The next day we were going to have a party ant my place before going to the concert and since I was so enthusiastic about Pero visiting me, and meeting his girlfriend and her friend, which I absolutely loved and are amazing and open minded people, they got me drunk with all the booze that they brought in after a whole month of abstinence.

The concert turned out great. Overflow was amazing and I was so proud too see them again, being a prominent band from Croatia. By the time the Beatsteaks came up to stage, I was quite drunk from all the rounds my friend made, that my good judgment weather this was the best Beatsteaks concert I attended was clouded. Anyway I had lots of fun.

We had dinner at Boban on Sunday night before Pero left and I had some of the best pasta in Zagreb, recommended from Pete's girlfriend, who enjoys the same things in life and likes similar restaurants as I do.

More to come later this afternoon....

Concert Abundance

First of all I would like to say that I visited the Scholarship Fare and made some good contacts and gathered useful information. I was given a handout of a London private postgraduate school which has a spacial offer for students coming from Croatia, but the catch is you still have to pay a tuition sum and your accommodation expenses, which are quite high in London. Another cool scholarship is the one from the American embassy, which if you get picked pays for everything. Here you have to pas an international English language test and a preliminary test of knowledge in the field you are interested in.

Since all my posts absolutely cannot pass trough without a food experience or retrospection I will just say that I perfected my sushi skills. I received my order of smoked tofu and for that reason made avocado, tofu sushi rolls. Just look at my masterpiece.



I also went to Vrutak Vine shop, and ended up with two sorts I haven't tried before on the recommendation of the personnel working there, all from the San Pedro wine makers of Chile. One is a Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 called Castillo de Molina, which according to Vrutak staff , resembles Caliterra Cabernet Sauvignon (one of my favorites) at more favorable price. The other is a Shiraz of the same wine maker, an up the ladder version of Gato Negro Shiraz called 35 South, which I opened yesterday and found it quite good and rich flavored but not much of an improvement from Gato Negro version.

Last night was the start of concert rich weekend. I went to Kset for a British Ska punk band which made quite a show last night. They have a female vocal with a very funny voice. I first thought their songs were in Japanese, she has a very high voice that in a few occasions pierced my eardrums. Another downturn was that the venue was packed and there was no air inside so I almost collapsed a couple of times.
My friend from Makarska is coming this afternoon and we are going to see Discharge play in Mochvara tonight. Ohh, almost forgot, Pero is also coming later this day to visit his new girlfriend and for the catch of the month, Beatsteaks playing a show in Zagreb with Overflow as the opening band. He keeps saying that he is going to stay at my place, but he will probably end up at her crib, I truly hope he will.

Another ting I found out this morning is that I have to finish my part of the FDD seminar I'm having with my colleagues, by Sunday. This happening during my friends stay is highly improbable, so I have until 2pm today to get that done. A rainy day outside goes in favor...

Writing a Resume

A terrible tummy ache woke me up and I am still dubious about the cause of it. Was it something bad I ate?
I have spent the morning writing a resume or curriculum vitae for the Scholarship Fair taking place at the University Library tomorrow. I am hoping on getting a scholarship for postgraduate study next year and my top priority would be a international one, New York would be a dream.

Later on I went to collage for two lectures I had this day and suddenly I realized my ache was gone. The lectures lasted until 3pm and I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

It has been raining non stop since yesterday so I came home soaked. This is a downside of having no umbrella during rainy days, e e e e.

Since I decided to make eggplant lasagna tomorrow, AGAIN, so I quickly made a tomato sauce for tomorrows recipe, a part of which was meant for todays lunch. I even added some zucchinis and a carrot sliced into small pieces which I served with brown rice.

Hope the rain stops by tomorrow morning, because I need to go to collage for a seminar and a meeting about a presentation I am having with my colleagues before I go to the fair. I also have to do the CV copies, copies of the materials for the presentation and copies of materials for my mum's project. It is also my friends birthday so I have to take care of a preasent. Oh, busy, busy, busy!

The Apple Pie Frenzy Continues

If there is a title to name this day, it should definitely be "Leftovers Day". I've truly enjoyed the rest of the Sushi from the party the previous day. It was not that bad although I decided, the next time I make sushi, it's going to be vegetarian, because it can probably last longer in the fridge.

I had coffee with my friend this morning and invited him for a taste of the magic. He is really a good friend of mine but a bit of a copy cat. I think that the pleasures in life and interests I seem to enjoy are quite new to him. But he embraces and becomes quite keen to them. He loves the cuisine I am keen to, which is mostly vegetarian since I'm reluctant to meet, he loves my cooking and has, on my incentive, become quite found of red wine. I order not to sound pompous and arrogant I am not going to say that he is idolizing my life stile.

Any how the peak of the day was desert. Another frenzy started once I opened the Apple Pie box mom sent me. They were even better the next morning once the apple juice kind of moisture the pastry. Just couldn't stop. There are only four left and I am saving them for tomorrow.

Sushi Party

Since the day I experienced the magic of Japanese cuisine for the firs time in New York, especially Sushi, I just fell in love with it and have been waiting for a chance to make it myself.
We decided to make it today and went to a supermarket to buy groceries. We decided to make ordinary rolls filled with smoked salmon ( I wanted to go with raw fish, but since I had company, I didn't want to gamble, so at least all the ingredients were edible) , avocado and smoked tofu. We managed to find everything we needed in a near supermarket, so we were all settled to make our first sushi.

The most important part is to prepare the rice right. It takes about an hour to do so including cooking and cooling along with the procedure in between. Another hard part is rolling the stuff right, and the first few tries didn't turn out right, bits falling off, Nori seaweed not sticking well etc... But since there was so much rice and filling, as we went on, we got the hang of it and the result was excellent.


After we finished with the preparation, the feast could begin. We drank some Rosemount Road Red which was a tremendous choice to go with it. Fe managed to finish the first plate and were full before we could start with the other one, so I have leftovers for tomorrow. Another thing was that my mom sent me some Apple Pie made with brown sugar. I wanted to try just one piece, but the taste was so good that the the final number was a dozen. I am so stuffed right now that it is a miracle that I am even writing this right now . I'm dozy and I should probably go to sleep, but am reluctant to do so because the Rocky Horror Picture Show is playing on TV later this night.

Anticipating the Oriental Saturday

Saturday, a Sushi party is taking place at my place. It was an idea that came to my mind during coffee I had with my friends Franciska and Lara. We were supposed to go and by the groceries with my aunt's car but unfortunately she is on a business trip to Hvar co the car is not disposable. No worries, we are going shopping by foot, less carbon-dioxide in to the atmosphere. My only worry is how I to get to Vrutak and buy a few bottles of red wine for the event. I will try to make the effort of going there alone earlier in the morning. I am aiming for Gato Negro Shiraz, a good choice for a bargain price.
This is the firs time I am actually making Sushi, so we will see how my experiment turned out. I hope I won't disappoint them.

Another ting I noticed looking again at the bookstore add is that the 20 percent discount begins today, so my purchase yesterday was in vain. Well not exactly in vain, because I would have bought the books anyhow and the total price wasn't that big so the discount is neglectable. As I went trough the first pages of JPod, I find it quite witty and amusing.

A Eggplant & Zucchini dish with Wildrice

Wild rice, something I haven't tried before... But I find it quite a refreshing change to original or even integral rice and am definitely going to prepare it again. Alongside wild rice I prepared a tomato veggie sauce. A combo of eggplant, zucchini and carrots seasoned with fresh basil, garlic and a touch of soy sauce. Absolutely magnificent, finished with a glass of Casillero Del Diablo.




Another thing i found today browsing trough the Internet is that a local bookstore is having a 20 percent discount on foreign titles so I went to town and bought myself two new books. One is JPod a novel from Douglas Coupland, the bestselling author of Generation X and the other is God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens. A book about how religion poisons everything, and how a moral and humane life can be achieved without pursuing religious dogma.

The Starting Kit

Nothing like a fresh mug of Turkish Coffee to boost the day. Trough out the years it has become my expertise to make a fresh pot each morning, and the day just not the same without it. The pot I am using is already missing the handle and you can only pour a limited amount of water in it because it has two holes somewhere above the middle. I could easily buy a new one, but I am determined to stick with it until I graduate, it grew to my heart.

It is a cloudy morning and I still don't know what to expect of the day. Fortunately after a little bit of reading, I will someone have someone who is going to have coffee with me in the Center. I have almost finished reading Alan Gereenspan's book, and am currently in the middle of the chapters covering the emergence of socialist counties of East Asia, countries like China and the "Asian Tigers", their transition from planned to market economies and their struggles during the process. It is an amazing book and it helped me a great deal to understand how world markets and economies work and the historic battles countries had with ever present problems in their national economies.

Dwelling...

The mornings in Zagreb are starting to get cold. I've experienced that the last couple of mornings when going to collage. At least it is still sunny during the day...

I concluded that I have to to make more sense with this blog and express my opinions, in as few sentences as possible, instead of just making it another boring day to day diary. Making a point as clearly as possible is the power of good writing and you can achieve this only by writing simple and precise. It is my wish that with this blog I advance my writing skills.

I am also trying to persuade my friend to go with me on a shopping trip this Wednesday to Graz. There is a tourist agency organizing the one day shopping trip each week with a bus. I think she is still hesitating because the bus leaves at 5.30am, but I think the trip is going to be worth the effort.

Everybody is amazed with my eggplant lasagna recipe and willing to come over next time I make it. I am considering doing them again this week, maybe even tomorrow because my mom sent me o whole eggplant sack along with my Sainte Catherines shirts last week.

Todays picture is a simple recipe I made for lunch. Pasta made with olive oil, garlic, anchovies, capers and black olives topped with fresh basil. A Mediterranean dish. Real simple, real healthy...

Weekend

This weekend passed in a frenzy musical tone. Friday I was all set to go to Borongaj for the opening of the new student campus where a big concert was going to take place. I met with a lot of my friends this week, and mentioned going to the concert. It appeared that I made arrangements with everybody I talked to so I was supposed to go there with everybody, which is physically impossible. The other problem is that nobody knew where the new campus was situated and how to get there.

Domagoj called me and said that he will pop by my apartment after lunch. We had some beers and listened to music after which we took off to pick up a friend who was on the way to Borongaj.
Reaching the venue was a nightmare. It took a tram, a short walk and two buses to get there, we just had to follow the crowd.
The concert took place under a big tent and there were tons of people there and the whole event was organized professionally, from police squads, toilettes, medical service to food and beverages.

We just came on time to see Kud Idijoti play and they were excellent. An old punk rock band from Istria always worthy for a good show. After them came The Beet Fleet, in my opinion the best hip hop band in Croatia, and they really kicked ass.

The night definitely didn't end quickly after the show. I've seemed to miss the last bus home so my cross town marathon started at about half pass midnight. It took approximately one and a half hours to get back home. Going home with my two drunken friends didn't help getting home quicker either, one of which had to pass by my neighborhood. But I had fun going with them so I don't regret it.

The next day I wasn't sure if I was giong anywhere that night, but inviting my friend Gogo over to lunch made me change my mind. We decided to go to Boogaloo to see Đubrivo play after watching the football game on TV. Croatia was playing a qualification match against Israel.
I've made my famous whole wheat pasta with veggies and soy and it was simply delicious. We started talking about wine after lunch and somehow found ourselves on the way to Vrutak wine cellar buying red wine. They really have an excellent choice of international wine for a reasonable price.

I was amazed to find the new Rosemount Estate Road Red which is a mixture of Shiraz and another sort, which we opened later that night. It was truly fabulous. A rich grape, fruity flavor with a dark Rubin color and and amazing smell. I found myself a new favorite...

A Divine Meal

I made my eggplant lasagna recipe for lunch today and it was truly magnificent. So tasteful, healthy and simple, the colors are amazing as you can see from the picture. After that a nice glass of Gato Negro Shiraz and you have a perfectly balanced meal.

My friend with whom I had coffee earlier this day refused my invitation for lunch, doubting my culinary skills. After lunch I've sent her a MMS of the plate and she quickly changed her mind and regretted not coming for lunch.

Another good news is that the price of HT equities jumped 6%, which was exactly 1 Kuna above the bid order I had placed, so I've managed to sell half of my equities and make a 50% profit making it a capital gain of more than 4oookn.

Rubik's Cube

A cloudy day of having no actual obligations was offset by trying to solve the most popular toy ever made, The Rubik's Cube which was kindly given to me by my friend who defaulted on that matter.
I got started by looking for some simple tips on the Internet, just to get me started.

I found out that the simplest, now that I think of only way to solve it is by going to three layers solving each of them respectively. There is an algorithm for each level and as you go on, they get heavier, have more moves and are more complex to solve, because of the limited amount of movement.

The first layer I solved quite fast because it is the simplest, but the second one gave me quite a ponder but I got the hang of it soon enough. A for the third level, I start to think that it is impossible to solve. After numerous attempts, which all got me on the very begging of the puzzle, I went on the Internet and found out that the algorithm to move cubicles on the last layer contains somewhat 16 moves, which is scary, so I am starting to doubt my abilities.

Well, at least it is getting me thinking and sharpening my mind. I will give it another try today, since there is nothing in particular to do, except I am cooking vegetarian eggplant lasagna, mmmmm.

First lecture

My day started a little bit earlier than usual. I woke up at about 6:30am in order to gather all things necessary to go to the Brokerage Office and place a bid order to sell my equities in person, because I figured that it will be impossible to reach a broker by phone. I started with a healthy breakfast (a bowl of fruit cereals) and a mug full of my favorite fluid, being coffee...
Soon enough I found myself riding the city tram towards the Center, and was surprised that the construction work on the one of the tram lanes was finished and that after a full year I have direct line to collage. This is quite nice during Winter Blizzards.

There was already a small queue once I came to FIMA (the brokerage house) since it wasn't open for another 30 minutes. Standing in line I was quite surprised about the ignorance of the people waiting, because non of them didn't have a clue about what they are dealing with and what they still had to go trough.

After a while a broker came out and asked for people who already registered their equities and only needed to place an order. It appeared that I was the only one , so the broker had quite a hard time explaining to the rest what they needed to do in order to sell their stock.
Another brutish and uncivilized, quite obese lady tried to run me over and cut in before me but the broker kindly gave notice that I arrived first.

Unfortunately, the price of the stock fell 3.5% so my order didn't get trough today. I am really optimistic about the price increasing these days, but some financial annalists are predicting it to be somewhere around 350-380 this week, and my bid was 389 so we will see.

Later today I had my first lecture in Income and Corporate Taxation, actually it was just an introduction so it lasted only a few minutes. After that I had lunch with Miha at his place. We had Whole wheat pasta with Milanese Sauce and fresh basil. It was truly delicious!

I already have some arrangements for this weekend. It seems that in occasion of opening the new campus, the university has organized a free concert and Kud Idijoti will be playing there, so a lot of people I know are going to be there. Can't wait!

Good Riddance

It is finally time to say fer well to my home town because I'm leaving for Zagreb this afternoon. It has been and amazing 4 months of leisure, but its time to start living as a student again. Quite frankly, it has become a little bit dull and lifeless since everybody's gone back to the university, but that also got me time to charge my batteries , relax and enjoy a good read before going back.

I've packed my bags, had a real good home cooked meal, filled a bag of tangerines picked from the tree in my garden and am waiting for a my ride. It is a beautiful, sunny day and I am glad I've experienced it here in Zadar.
Ahhh, the comforting tranquility of Summer has finally come to an end.

Sinister Rouges first official race

Yesterday was the first time Sinister Rouge raced on a regatta since we purchased it, and the turnout was more than we expected. After we spent the whole summer practicing and testing the boat, we decided that Mrduja is going to be the boats first regatta, and damn, was a exciting one.

Thanks to my friend, who voluntarily transfered the boat to Split the day before and was waiting for us there, my father and me, who were the rest of the team, headed towards Split the morning of the race. According to the weather forecast, we weren't supposed to be blessed with good wind, and the race was 20 miles long, so do the math...

This year was a record breaker , according to the number of participants. There were 324 participating sailboats, and it was a magnificent sight to see them all on the race line in front of Split harbor. The start was scarce of wind, so having a good strategy was essential in order to be the first to get fresh wind once it appears, and drift forward.

We got a excellent start and managed to distinguishes ourselves from the rest of the stagnating mass, even tough we didn't have a essential sail used in conditions with scarce wind.
At the end of a 5 hour race we came in 77th and just second in our group of 20 boats, which was a tremendous result. The best part was finally getting a chance to eat something, because there was no time to do so during the race, after which drinking a cold Heineken felt like heaven.

The awards ceremony took place at 8:30pm, where we received a big trophy for second place, after which we headed home. I was exhausted and slept like a baby once I feel on the bed. It was truly a day to remember.

HT stock hit the market

I , along with somewhat 350 000 people, was quite anxious this morning to see what the outcome of HT stock hitting the market would be. And as expected the the enormous interest produced stock hitting its peak at 419 3 minutes after the market opened, producing also a short period collapse which was fixed promptly so the trading continued soon enough.
Toady the most sought out persons were stock brokers and it was almost impossible to reach one. This resulted in brokerage houses taking measures of protecting themselves against angry ''citizens'' not being able to become billionaires the very instant moment the stock hit market, by hiring security personnel.

I want of that luck to get in touch with my broker and claiming a bid warrant to sell my stock. The thing that got my hopes up was reaching the Depositary Agency and registering my stock with the Brokerage House, but that is as far as it got. The equity finally settled at a fair price slightly above 370, which is actually a good profit margin for the ones lucky enough to sell their stock. Better luck on Tuesday when the market opens up again, because of Monday being a national holiday.

Now for some reading and later this afternoon I might go out, being Friday and all. Just need to come back early enough because we leave at about 7 am towards Split for the race tomorrow. Cant afford to drink this evening so a have a sharp mind.

A busy day for the Financial System

I've been up since 7am persistently fighting on two fronts. One of them is reaching my stock broker and another to reach the Central Depository Agency to register my shares of T Com with the brokerage company. The lines were busy all day and eventually I found out the phone system at the Depository crashed. I will try my luck later this day. It appears that every person in the country is trying to find a broker and register their shares. The stock hits the market on Friday and everybody is eager to be the first in line to sell them tomorrow. The only problem is that the financial system of Zagreb Stock Exchange is fit to conduct the maximum amount of 20 000 transactions a day and there are 150 brokers available on more than 300 000 people that actually bought the stock and every one of them is willing to come out with a profit.
It is going to be an interesting day tomorrow and I have a deep concern that the market is going to crash.

A bus ride home

I am actually heading home right now, so this post is bound to happen from a bus ride, thanx to broadband mobile connections . Ahhh the magnificence and ease of modern technology. Too bad its also the cause of our ecological ruin.
Back to the cause of my early trip back to my home town. There is a sailing race this Saturday taking place in Split and I am participating on it with my sail boat UFO22 called Sinister Rouge. The biggest problem is transporting the boat from Zadar to Split because it is a small boat and it doesn't have an inbuilt engine. Thats why we are going to have to tag it along with a bigger sailboat also heading towards Split this Wednesday and I have to go with them.
This also gives me a chance to have a fair fer well party with my friends on Saturday night. After that it is back to Zagreb.
Oh, I almost forgot. I've stumbled down on some news regarding the new ecologically friendly Google search engine called Blackle, which due to its black background saves energy. Apparently monitors require more power displaying lighter screens than black, which is quite logical. It's the small steps that count, so that is why I took the effort to change my homepage from the regular Google to Blackle.

Route 66

Yesterday was a quite busy day and I've been on my feet from early morning. First of all I had to go to the university to meet with my buddy Miha , who has been of great help during my years of study and a grate friend. We had coffee in a bar near the faulty building.
I've applied for the government scholarship this year, which I really hope to get and will be a tremendous financial relief for my future plans. The final scholarship recipients will be announced in late January.

Another important thing was closing the contract with my stock broker and registering the IPO stock of T-Com I purchased with the brokerage company. The stock is going to be listed on the market this Friday and I have a good hunch the price is going to go up, so I'm hoping to get out with a profit.

The afternoon plan was to go with my friend Bo eye shopping in the new Avenue Mall in Novi Zagreb. A really impressive building with lots of different designer stores, restaurants, gadget shops, cafes and a large cinema multiplex.

Already exhausted, I decided to make another stop before I went home. I met with Zlatko an old punk friend who was going to a rockabilly show in the bikers bar Route 66 which was quite near my neighborhood. The band playing came from America and attracted quite a crowd, which was also a downfall because the venue/bar was really small and people were struggling to catch a breath and some to catch a sight.
Anyway after a few beers I decided it was time to go home and call an end to the day. I've put my headphones , pushed play on an Alkaline trio album and hit the road.

My neighborhood is a construction mecca

It is quite fascinating how a good after lunch read and coffee brake can be abruptly interrupted and spoiled by the most annoying sounds of construction work. There are new buildings around mine growing like mushrooms. Plus there is a guy directly above my flat doing remodeling and making quite a racket. Hope that thing will get more quiet once the hardcore studying starts.

A new beginning...

Today is the day I turn a new leaf in the book portraying my life. I am back in Zagreb for the beginning of my senior year at the University. It is probably my most important year which is actually going to determine the way things will go in my further life. So many things on my mind these days that I am actually not quite sure where to start, but I'm positive that...(I was jut interrupted by my mother calling to see how I'm doing. Good old mum, she is the expert of picking up the time to call). Anyhow I am sure that I will manage to stress out the crucial things going on in my life as time goes by. Actually this blog will probably be a good way to clear my head and folder the things bothering me at the time.
This is it for today because, more to come in the arriving days. Now it is time for some reading, to be exact, Alan Greenspan's The Age Of Turbulence and than off to bed cause I had a real rough day.