Bloggering Time

A couple of days have passed and boy did things happen... Starting Wednesday night where the decision of going or not going out for a beer could have gone both ways since the prearranged time for going out for one was around 8pm and I got a call a bit passed 10pm to leave my flat. I was on the verge of telling my friend to piss off after which I would go straight to bed, but a little voice inside my head made me go out instead. Good decision!
At the early stages of the night, I was under the impression I was only going to have one beer at the pub after we met with my friends collage buddies. I was wrong. The first beer we ordered was so tender and smooth it went down my gullet in one instant pour... The next six came in like a charm. We ended up buying more beers in a 24/7 gas pump shop and drinking them with a girl and her friend in a park. The girl seemed to fancy me and by the end of the night, the two of us ended up at my place making out, the night ending with both of us getting lucky in my bedroom. Sweet.

Next morning, we had coffee and I quite enjoyed her company so I invited her for lunch this weekend which was actually today. The only problem, it seems, is that she is starting to give me signals that she wants something more and that I am not capable of doing. Not that I don't like her, nor that I wouldn't give it a shot if we were in different circumstances, but currently the situation is much complicated and I am still not sure if I am capable of coping in an relationship, not with the prior one ending dramatically.



Well, lets move on to an different agenda happening yesterday night. My friend invited me for her famous cheese cake which was something divine. She even managed to get fresh strawberries for the topping. It was so delicious I ended up eating 3 pieces. The downside of it was that it was so full of calories from all the cheese, sugar, eggs and butter so it is not good to eat as much as I did.
I kept my promise and made sushi and this time it was splendid, the best I ever made. The difference from the previous time I made it was that there were so abundant, a full platter and a whole plate full of them, the other, cucumbers in it like in real California rolls along with avocado tofu and salmon. Gotta make that soon.

Spring in it's core essence

A totally different day has emerged and it is starting to feel like Spring. The sunshine and freshness of the air just makes you jump out of the couch and go outside. This is exactly what I am going to do. I promised a friend of mine who I am helping with a concert he is organizing in Zagreb in June, to give him a visit in his music shop. We are trying to get the band to appear on Croatians version on Good Morning America. After that I will probably go for a cup of coffee in the towns center and read the daily paper.

Regarding lunch, I already decided that I am going to prepare the leftover package of Seitan Chicken fillets with soy cream a bit of Porcino mushrooms and rice as a side dish. I have been eating Seitan for the last two days, but I simply love it and don't mind at all. I was also surprised with the shake I made in my blender after the gym. I've put in a banana and an apple with a bit of milk to keep it fluid and was overwhelmed with how good it tasted. Will have to buy more bananas though.

A Depressing Day

Quite a dull day from the beginning of it. I woke up quite early and after having breakfast I did some workout in the gym. It was quite a cloudy morning and just as I entered the gym, a pouring rain started so it got me kind of worried how to get back home. Fortunately the weather settled by the time I finished so during my walk home all I got was a few drops and quite a chilling wind. Couldn't wait to get back home for a hot shower and it felt absolutely satisfying.

I did some studying of the Croatian insurance law and the reading material from my Insurance course along with a bit of translating terms I am well aware in Croatian but never used in English. I have plenty of time left and am sure a will prepare for the meeting the best I can. I was going to do some more investigating this afternoon but got a call from my friend who was supposed to call me this weekend in order for us to meet so he can lend me the book I inquired 10 times so far and imagine, the first thing he asked me is whether I was going to come and pick up the book. After telling him that I don't need it any more and that it was important for me to have it a couple of days ago, he got to the issue he was calling me in the firs place and that is the paper he asked me to rewrite and that he needed it by tomorrow. Without opinions I told him that I am going to do it this afternoon and send it to him, which I did.

Sometimes I truly feel like I am being taken advantage of. This is not what friendship should be like.

Bucking up on charm

Looks like I've managed to erase my version of Babylon dictionary while installing the newest version of it which apparently isn't covered with the license I have. That is a total setback considering I find it essential for my day to day writing. I've managed to install a trial version this morning but am going to ask my mom to send me her version on Monday.

I am starting to prepare for the meeting with Stefanos next Sunday and will have to cover a lot of ground. Firstly I need to read the Charm book once again and write down important points, I also need to learn a bit about his firm in order to show that I am interested in it. A thing that struck me the most about the firm when I stumbled across their web site yesterday is that they are an environmentally friendly company and give a great deal of attention to the environmental awareness. I also need to revise a book about insurance and risks I passed in collage emphasizing on the underwriting law in Croatia which is important for starting a brokerage insurance firm here. Things I already know but need refresh. Lastly I need to clear my thoughts on why I think this opportunity is good for me and why I think they should bring their faith in me to do business with.
If all of these elements settle in I am sure that I will leave a good impression on Stefanos and that he will become more optimistic about his business venture making it a good investment.

Welcome to Genoa

I got an interesting call from my mom yesterday about the job I am working on getting soon. It was about a call from Iain from Groupama London who confirmed to her that they are very interested in me working from them and that it would be a good thing for me too meet them for diner next Monday in Split for the boat show. He also told her that considering the fact that I need specialization in order to work as an underwriting broker it probably would be best for me to acquire knowledge in Genoa where Groupama has offices and since Genoa is the second largest nautical center in the Mediterranean a perfect introduction for the business they are starting. He also mentioned Paris as one of the destinations considering that Groupama's headquarters is situated there. I love Italy and never so far been in Genoa nor Paris and am sure I would love it there and have a good time. I will try to negotiate a few weeks of London also since it is my favorite city I've been so far.
I am also guessing that on my meeting with Stefanos he will also suggest some time in Greece where Cape4 has their offices but will know more after the meeting which I am really looking forward to.

Back to Zagreb, I have serious suspicions about dredgers and trucks behind my building where there lies a hedged space just perfect for another building to sprout. That meaning that considering I live on the second flour and have an abundance of sunshine currently, by the time the building gets done, the sunshine will perish and the beautiful view of the park from my room window will vanish reflecting only another persons vegetation on his balcony. I still have some doubts from the way things look right now, but will probably find out soon. I just don't see the logic in investors building new compounds in time of a financial crises and recession and the housing market bubble ready to burst any second. It is just plain stupid.

Windows of Opportunity

After the disappointment of not going to Sarajevo with my friends due to the lack of space in the van I've decided to stay in Zagreb until my meeting with Stefanos who is coming from Greece for the Boat Show in Split. A good friend of mine from London arranged a meeting in Zagreb on the 29th so we can get acquainted and talk possible future collaboration. I really tend to leave a good impression and will prepare accordingly so I don't leave space for failure. I am optimistic and enthusiastic about the business he is starting in Zadar and see it as a good opportunity for a future in my home town.

Being in Zagreb is not as I expected it would be. The upside of it all is the fact that i still have my membership in the gym here and I don't have to pay 40 Kunas per day like I do in Zadar. The downside is that I have to live with my brother again who is kind of a slop and tends to leave a mess everywhere he gets a chance to. That leaves me with a cleaning afternoon in order to get thing back in order.

I am also kind of disappointed in some of my friend and am starting to get the feeling some of them are taking advantage of me. I had quite an unpleasant night with one of my friends who I was supposed to meet. Firstly he was talking on the phone during most of the time we walked trough his neighborhood and secondly he took me to a grill restaurant that reeked of meet so badly that I was willing to burn my clothes once I got back home. and thirdly, even though I made the effort of writing him a paper about Back Scholes for his Masters dissertation, which in my opinion should be enough, he wants me to write in in the form of a dissertation with all the references mentioned have to genesis from the original scripts of the scientist who elaborated the theory, in this case god damn Balck and Scholes in person. And on top of it he wants me to write a whole other paper that was supposed to be a part of my thesis but was left out due to derivatives already verging from the number of pages patterns of a graduation thesis, for a conference in Belgrade we were supposed to attend and present the theme. All in all, this is to be one of the conditions for his academic advancement. I stood there in utter disbelief, drank my Spritzer and decided to go home disappointed.

THe only thing I asked of him was to lend me the book about Insurance and risk in order for me to get prepared for my meeting, and he didn't show a slight interest in it. I decided not to ask any more.

Snow books adventures and wild rovers

Where to begin... It has quite some time from my last post and I didn't mean for it to take this long. I was supposed to write at lees one post from Nassfeld about how things were in the Alps but unfortunately didn't find the strength after hard days of work. And boy were they awesome. The weather was beautiful and sunny and the slopes were breathtaking. Some of the best I've seen in my almost 20 years of skiing experience, especially for the ever expanding snowboarding fanatics. People running Nassfeld ski arena took snowboarding very seriously and arranged a nice snowpark with ramps, funboxes and small and large jumps, some of the jumps spread through other slopes. They also prepared a huge halfpipe, which I wasn’t capable to manage jet being the fact that you need better and in my case more safety gear like a helmet. 

The food there was nice and tasty, even though we stuck with the same restaurant on the slopes since I only eat salads and fruit in the middle of skiing. Afterwards in the apartment we ate some of the best salmon and cheeses I've ever tasted. The last two nights we made an effort to go to Hermagor which is a small town community where the local town council is and had dinner in one of their local restaurants where I had one of the best vegetarian pizza ever, rich with all sorts of veggies and mozzarella tender as butter and tasteful as it was Mozzarella Buffala itself. The plates there looked so abundant that the last day we went for a dinner last night celebrating my parents 23rd anniversary and had amazingly prepared fish and veggies along with quite a decent cabernet sauvignon.

While I wasn’t skiing I was soaking the brilliance of Jordan Belford and his amazing and unbelievably true stories in his latest book Catching the Wolf of Wall Street. The book was so wonderful and interesting that the only thing that could stop .me from holding it upright was the overwhelming tiredness catching up on me around 8 pm. I still managed to finish it by the time I came back home since I did most of the reading during the ride back home. By the way I will really have to look for a synonym book which would definitely help me expand my writing skills. A thing I caught from the wolf himself. 

 

I am of to Zagreb today fleeing from my hometown. There are some friends I really miss there and cant wait to see them and spend time with them. There is also the issue of going to gym and taking some time away from my parents. I will be back soon.

 

I had a wicked and wild night for St Paddies last night drinking enormous quantities of the old black stuff which was in utter disbelief quite cheep in a local pub. I have a massive hangover and can’t wait to take a brisk walk out and catch some air. The best part about last night was drinking a pint with my parents before I went out while watching the Flogging Molly DVD. My mom is a truly sophisticated and cool woman. 

Road trip and the weekend behing us

Looks like that glorious day has finally come after a week of anxiety, disappointments and hopes, my family and I are finally going to Nassfeld for a couple of days of snowboarding. Well, to be exact it is going to be until the end of this week so I am going to have plenty of days for maximum enjoyment of all the wonderful slopes Austria has to offer. We are about to depart sometime noonish, rigt after we have a light lunch.

As far as the weekend goes, things were kind of hardcore as expected. Got totally smashed on Friday and went to Preko for the Shkraping festival which is a combination of jogging, walking, orientation and jumping over razor sharp rocks. We arrived there for the fun part in the afternoon, meaning drinking and terrorizing artists who were preforming that night. To spare some details, the whole evening ended up us getting in the wrong boat for Zadar and instead of 3 am going back at 7 am. Not a lot of time to get some sleep so I ended up arriving home for breakfast and being a dead beat for the rest of the day.

On Monday I finally received the books I've ordered, just in time for me to read them on the trip. I started reading Catching the Wolf of Wall Street yesterday and adore the book already. I am off to the gym here in my neighborhood for some workout before the trip. Still need to pack all my stuff and head for Austria.

Home for the weekend

I am off to Zadar in an hour for the weekend still not quite sure when or if we are going on the snowboarding trip to Austria. I am starting to bore my self with the whole issue, but good things are worth the while.
I had dinner, packed my stuff and cleaned the house not to get back in a mess. The day is absolutely beautiful and I've managed to have coffee to go from Daily Fresh with my friend on the sun. I was supposed to go with my relatives in their car but they suddenly postponed the trip for next week and left me in a conundrum whether to go today or not at all. I managed to buy the last ticket for the bus ride home.

I have some more stuff to pack so I'll be heading off now. Don't wanna miss the bus and tonight's drunken hangout at the pubs.

Back and forth

Another great disappointment was bound to happen some time and accordingly the snowboarding trip was yet again canceled because my dad got ill. I am starting to doubt that I'm going to see any good slopes this season and I was so looking forward for today's trip to Zadar. Now, I am king of reluctant of going home and will probably spend the weekend here in Zagreb drinking Guinness in the Irish pub downtown, well at least that's the plan for tonight I made with a friend of mine.

The gift my friends planed for me for my graduation finally arrived and they gave it to me yesterday. They kept it secret for about a month and teased me ever since. It is a drawing of a Croatian author Hrvoje Sercer, perfectly framed for me. I did some research and found out he is quite a famous modern painter, a naturalist and a visionary his motives oftenly being animals and cities. The drawing that was given to me is one of a bird holding on to a disturbingly shaped sun. I simply love the srawing.

I am off to downtown for a coffee, reading news and doing some shoping for todays lunch. I am still not sure what I'll be making but have my heart set on some pasta.

Radio Nowhere

Oh my dear, is Bruce Springsteen wonderful or not. I've downloaded his album Magic yesterday and been enjoying it ever since. This makes me take a trip down memory lane when I visited Asbury park and the club Stoned Pony where Bruce started his career. Asbury lanes are breathtaking, such a romantic place to be. Wish I could go back there some day, and see Kate and the whole gang once again.

Looks like there is a big chance of me going snowboarding after all this week. The whether forecast for the weekend is good and if an apartment reservation we inquired gets confirmed, it is off to Nassfeld on Friday. Can't wait to hit the slopes and fortunately some fresh powder. Aw,
snowboarding is my passion.

I promised my friend I am going to write him an article about the Black Scholes method of valuating options, which is a part of my thesis. He needs it for a lecture he is giving at the PGS class. This shouldnt take long, so I will probably deal with that right about, now.

A Giant Letdown

I received a call form my dad that the snowboarding trip is canceled due to bad weather forecast this week. I was so looking forward to the trip and already planed the whole week accordingly. Hope that the weather will serve us better next week.
The impact of the forecast can already be seen here in Zagreb. It is a cloudy day but the temperature is fortunately quite favorable so I'll probably take a walk to the town's center for a coffee.
I am really looking forward cooking today's lunch. I have a mixture of different beans, lentils and barely that will make a great sup along with potatoes, carrots and a few slices of smoked seitan. This is not the first time I made this dish, but seitan will be an addition I haven't tried. We will see how it turns out. It is about time for me to post some pictures and that is exactly what I'm going to do later this afternoon.

Second Attempt

After the initial effort this morning, I decided to postpone this post until something interesting actually happens on this day. And so it happened. After my initial walk to the market to buy fresh milk for my daily cornflakes and muesli rituals, puzzlement on what to prepare for lunch, I got a call from my friend to join him and his wife and baby for a walk in the park close to his home. A beautiful sunny day was upon us, the only downturn was the high wind.
We took a brisk walk and had a coffee at the parks cafe terrace after which I was invited for lunch. That solving my kitchen conundrum, I kindly accepted. After the wonderful lunch and a couple of slices of apple cake I headed back home looking forward to my gym time later this afternoon.
I am up for some reading later this evening, just before I go to bed. I have a book I need to finish, so I can return it back to its owner.
Speaking of books, I ordered two titles from Amazon.com today, one having to do with becoming more charming in conversations and the other is the sequel of the Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort. Can't wait to get a hold of those two.
Also to mention a wonderful news, I am finally going snowboarding this year. On Thursday, my parents are going to pick me up in Zagreb and we are heading to Badkleinkirchaim for an extended weekend of skiing.