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.