The Rest of 2007 and a Monologue
Making a summary of five months in a single blog post is never easy, especially if there was a lot of things going on in that time frame. But try I shall nonetheless...
August was a pretty dynamic month, I kept track of "relevant" events for some time until finally giving up with it altogether. What I did was mostly reading art theory, learning new things in Photoshop, Illustrator and playing around with Reason, which was introduced to me by OrkAA after his thorough electronic music lecture (this actually had a number of consequences later on). On one hand I kept going out with 207 crew, which gave me numerous opportunities to challenge and rethink some social norms and practices, such as intolerance of slow eating (I'm a slow eater), purposefulness of going out for a coffee as the main form of keeping in touch with friends and associates (it just seems flawed to me), trying to understand why we allow barkeepers to get away with such high margins in drink prices (more accurately, what influences the Demand and how to change it), why do some men have such a dominant predatory attitude towards women (this one in particular encountered some strong reactions). As usual I wanted to dedicate a few blog posts to it but I just didn't take enough time to do it.
On the other hand, a substantial part of my August life gravitated around Reason and consequentially OrkAA. Instead of writing blog posts, I was making beats and studying the software manual. There were a couple of notable parties at OrkAA's and elsewhere - the one where everyone (especially the sneaky Sumo!) was trying to force me, the handicapped person with my right hand incapacitated beneath a thick layer of plaster, into using drugs, and another, make-a-pizza party. Meanwhile Trnfest was going on (it was actually the only thing going on), which made KUD a frequent destination of my travels in the evenings and also during the day, since OrkAA and I at one point decided to attend a music production and DJ-ing workshop (this two-day trip could be turned into a really long post of its own).
Of course, August didn't last forever. September brought a more balanced rhythm of life - or so it seemed at first. My right hand was finally healed, I continued playing with Reason and other apps, started running again and still had at least as much fun as before. But the peak of the month was certainly International Autumn Feminist School, internally known as "femi-yu camp". Participating in this week-long camp (don't let the word camp deceive you, we were actually situated in a neat hostel) in a quiet karstic village near the Italian border was actually a continuation of those series of events leading from July to one of the Trnfest nights when I bumped into B. It was certainly a very positive experience, not just because of the refreshing sunny karstic days but also since it fit me so well... it's amusing to look back and see the various roles I played... from being a tourist guide for the Serbs to the hostel janitor and even being in charge of it (for a short period of time) at some point. Though it got pretty intense with all the lectures and workshops, it was also fun - especially when the Dutch group joined us (two small notes to self: 1. carced kitchens do not exist; 2. being a pasture ninja in the middle of a moonlit night does not assure one's balance).
October brought along a new studying year, this time with a different policy analysis and public administration program and new classmates. I haven't decided if the change was for better or worse, but I'm inclined towards the "better" version, despite the fact that most of the subjects are brand new (and professors themselves have difficulties explaining the requirements) and the only classmates worth talking with are mostly outlaws from the majority's point of view (what is it about this cold "professional" attitude that everyone has, it's as formal as in a strict workplace) - but in a way, this is what I like the most, a bit chaotic and being on the edge, far way from mainstream.
I spent the first October weekend in Belgrade at the Queer festival, where our Serbian friends from Autumn feminist school were having their annual event. The festival wasn't all that special, but meeting familiar Serb and Croat faces from the camp (along with some new ones) was worth the trip, which was in itself an urban adventure - starting with the train ride there in a compartment with elderly people hitting to one another, continuing with experiencing the city vibe and finally having fun in the evenings.
After coming home I got involved in activities of AT, going here and there, partying every once in a while, doing some regular work for school, practicing singing and mostly running out of time to do everything I'd want to - my blog's to-do list kept getting longer and longer. And so November went by, December came and with it assignments for school, which took way too much time, though I still managed to attend classes regularly, thanks to my bicycle-train-walking transport combo. I've got pretty used to riding the bike in the cold - which is something I'd never believe if a year ago someone would tell me I'd be regularly bicycling in below-zero temperatures.
Talking about the cold - I bought a kaffiyeh yisraelit, also known as shemag, not because it's warm and looks cool but mainly because I really disliked all the "freedom scarves" with black diamond pattern that people wore around me, knowing (or not - I don't know which is worse) what it actually represents. It's a bit ironic since kaffiyehs became popular in Israel long before they started appearing in the West, but even though it's passe in most of the hipster circles and kinda expensive, I still was extremely happy when getting this Orthodox Anarchist's overpriced creation.
As I am finally finishing this brief summary of five months in only a few sentences, you might be asking yourself - as I was - why I've left out so much. The answer is not all that complicated: I concluded that writing a diary for anyone really doesn't suit me any longer, at least not in current form. When writing about myself I am usually writing for myself and anyone else who might stumble upon the readings, hopefully finding them useful in some way. This means that some details get rephrased, obscured, censored, all for dear reader's convenience - basically, it becomes a dialogue. But a diary really should be a monologue - rich in detail and meant for me and myself only, a sensational juicy monument of now to my future self.
Even anonymity would probably not make much of a difference... or would it? I sincerely doubt it, my viewpoint is that presumption about potential multiple receivers causes too big of a change in the output of communication to be ignored. Of course, I have some second thoughts about this. Since I'm not too big of a believer in privacy, meaning that privacy is an escape and only hampers social liberty, this monologue hypothesis might be wrong.
However, it still leaves me a great deal of things to be said in the form of a dialogue, and even those meant only for a true diary will eventually be published in one way or another. But until then, I am splitting this blog into two parts - one for me and one for everyone.
August was a pretty dynamic month, I kept track of "relevant" events for some time until finally giving up with it altogether. What I did was mostly reading art theory, learning new things in Photoshop, Illustrator and playing around with Reason, which was introduced to me by OrkAA after his thorough electronic music lecture (this actually had a number of consequences later on). On one hand I kept going out with 207 crew, which gave me numerous opportunities to challenge and rethink some social norms and practices, such as intolerance of slow eating (I'm a slow eater), purposefulness of going out for a coffee as the main form of keeping in touch with friends and associates (it just seems flawed to me), trying to understand why we allow barkeepers to get away with such high margins in drink prices (more accurately, what influences the Demand and how to change it), why do some men have such a dominant predatory attitude towards women (this one in particular encountered some strong reactions). As usual I wanted to dedicate a few blog posts to it but I just didn't take enough time to do it.
On the other hand, a substantial part of my August life gravitated around Reason and consequentially OrkAA. Instead of writing blog posts, I was making beats and studying the software manual. There were a couple of notable parties at OrkAA's and elsewhere - the one where everyone (especially the sneaky Sumo!) was trying to force me, the handicapped person with my right hand incapacitated beneath a thick layer of plaster, into using drugs, and another, make-a-pizza party. Meanwhile Trnfest was going on (it was actually the only thing going on), which made KUD a frequent destination of my travels in the evenings and also during the day, since OrkAA and I at one point decided to attend a music production and DJ-ing workshop (this two-day trip could be turned into a really long post of its own).
Of course, August didn't last forever. September brought a more balanced rhythm of life - or so it seemed at first. My right hand was finally healed, I continued playing with Reason and other apps, started running again and still had at least as much fun as before. But the peak of the month was certainly International Autumn Feminist School, internally known as "femi-yu camp". Participating in this week-long camp (don't let the word camp deceive you, we were actually situated in a neat hostel) in a quiet karstic village near the Italian border was actually a continuation of those series of events leading from July to one of the Trnfest nights when I bumped into B. It was certainly a very positive experience, not just because of the refreshing sunny karstic days but also since it fit me so well... it's amusing to look back and see the various roles I played... from being a tourist guide for the Serbs to the hostel janitor and even being in charge of it (for a short period of time) at some point. Though it got pretty intense with all the lectures and workshops, it was also fun - especially when the Dutch group joined us (two small notes to self: 1. carced kitchens do not exist; 2. being a pasture ninja in the middle of a moonlit night does not assure one's balance).
October brought along a new studying year, this time with a different policy analysis and public administration program and new classmates. I haven't decided if the change was for better or worse, but I'm inclined towards the "better" version, despite the fact that most of the subjects are brand new (and professors themselves have difficulties explaining the requirements) and the only classmates worth talking with are mostly outlaws from the majority's point of view (what is it about this cold "professional" attitude that everyone has, it's as formal as in a strict workplace) - but in a way, this is what I like the most, a bit chaotic and being on the edge, far way from mainstream.
I spent the first October weekend in Belgrade at the Queer festival, where our Serbian friends from Autumn feminist school were having their annual event. The festival wasn't all that special, but meeting familiar Serb and Croat faces from the camp (along with some new ones) was worth the trip, which was in itself an urban adventure - starting with the train ride there in a compartment with elderly people hitting to one another, continuing with experiencing the city vibe and finally having fun in the evenings.
After coming home I got involved in activities of AT, going here and there, partying every once in a while, doing some regular work for school, practicing singing and mostly running out of time to do everything I'd want to - my blog's to-do list kept getting longer and longer. And so November went by, December came and with it assignments for school, which took way too much time, though I still managed to attend classes regularly, thanks to my bicycle-train-walking transport combo. I've got pretty used to riding the bike in the cold - which is something I'd never believe if a year ago someone would tell me I'd be regularly bicycling in below-zero temperatures.
Talking about the cold - I bought a kaffiyeh yisraelit, also known as shemag, not because it's warm and looks cool but mainly because I really disliked all the "freedom scarves" with black diamond pattern that people wore around me, knowing (or not - I don't know which is worse) what it actually represents. It's a bit ironic since kaffiyehs became popular in Israel long before they started appearing in the West, but even though it's passe in most of the hipster circles and kinda expensive, I still was extremely happy when getting this Orthodox Anarchist's overpriced creation.
As I am finally finishing this brief summary of five months in only a few sentences, you might be asking yourself - as I was - why I've left out so much. The answer is not all that complicated: I concluded that writing a diary for anyone really doesn't suit me any longer, at least not in current form. When writing about myself I am usually writing for myself and anyone else who might stumble upon the readings, hopefully finding them useful in some way. This means that some details get rephrased, obscured, censored, all for dear reader's convenience - basically, it becomes a dialogue. But a diary really should be a monologue - rich in detail and meant for me and myself only, a sensational juicy monument of now to my future self.
Even anonymity would probably not make much of a difference... or would it? I sincerely doubt it, my viewpoint is that presumption about potential multiple receivers causes too big of a change in the output of communication to be ignored. Of course, I have some second thoughts about this. Since I'm not too big of a believer in privacy, meaning that privacy is an escape and only hampers social liberty, this monologue hypothesis might be wrong.
However, it still leaves me a great deal of things to be said in the form of a dialogue, and even those meant only for a true diary will eventually be published in one way or another. But until then, I am splitting this blog into two parts - one for me and one for everyone.
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