novobrd/artane ii

I took these shots today. It was sunnier, and i had a frog in my pocket.

novobrd/artane i

It's my first time that i've traveled to NovoBrdo/Artane. Can't remember the last time i left Prishtina. It felt good to see the parts of Kosova that you don't often see. I can say that it was beautiful. It was so good that i went there twice.

no comment.

jazzfest.

I just could not go to a single night of the jazz-festival. We went on the last night, when the entrance was free. Eremira did her share.

water Rugove.

Teff just handed me this bottled water that i've never seen before. It is the new type of bottled water that will hit the market very soon, and it's named after the source from where the water comes from: mountains of Rugove, in Peja, Kosova. They say that the water comes directly from the springs in those mountains, and according to my taste buds, i'd have to agree to that because the water has no funny smell. Other types of bottled water that i drank here had this smell. I know, water is not suppose to taste, but it's because of the minerals that they add that the water smells funny. Here is a taste of what will hit the markets very soon, a quick sneak peak:

you never knew.

I never thought i'd find Shyhrete Behluli at that pile of records. It is amazing on the sheer types of records that man had.

hidden treasures.

Me, nii and anita were walking toward eluise, and at this minimarket, anita spoted these vinyls:

Imagine, this guy was selling bread, butter, coke and other stuff, and there, in this cupboard he had a collection of these. It is hard to imagine how a store that you go in a buy milk, bread and the newspaper also has some music material that dates back 25 years ago. This truly is a treasure chest of old vinyls. And it was under a bread-shelve of this store selling milk and butter. The owner was a passionate fan, and that's why he collected them. If anyone's interestend, he is willing to sell them. All of them.

annonymous comments.

I have ignored it once, but i cannot continue doing that again. Some prick is sending me annonymous comments on some of my posts. The nerve of this guy sending annonymous comments! And i do not get it why this guy hates me, because i know he or she does. I mean, come on, it's just a blog. Can you judge a blog? Or why do you even try to give some comments about my subjective posts. You might not like some of them, so just close your eyes and ignore them. Or at least write in the right and proper manner and I might delete any of my posts that are deemed as offensive to someone. And yeah, please state your name the next time you make a comment. I state mine, so be fair and state yours too. Here is the comment i was given:

"Why do you ignore your own "intellectual" background, probably you still eat on the floor and ajvar is your favourite dish, and you still look at it like country food or refer to it like something old-stylish? C`mon face your reality, cheers, eat your "krelan me duça" and spice it with a little bit ajvar..."

Trying to overcome my perplexity about this comment, i do not have the slightest idea how can a picture of ajvar (which i love) attract this sort of comment? Was i trying to say that ajvar sucks and that it is a delicacy for cave-men? I am sorry but you are very mistaken to even think that way! I love ajvar, and that's why i put the picture on my blog! Anyways, i do not know why i even bother explaining the situation to that annonimous guy. But i had enough. And for your information, i have no clue what "krelan me duca" is. I'd be glad to taste it though, if you offer me some. If you want some ajvar, just tell me and i'd be pleased to give you some of the special ajvar that my grandmother makes every year.

sore-throat day

It is awfull when you wake up and find out that your throat has been invaded and is now inhabited by sting bees, who for some reason put a lot of nails down your throat. Yes, I have a sore throat. I do not know why, but I will put the blame on those Iraqi insurgents, Kim Jong-ill, Iran, the instant temperature drop by 20degrees (celsius) or smokers. I was out last night with nii and virtual-girl, and cigarette smoke & heat was killing us. So, the culprit of my sore-throat day I think is the cold&cigarette smoke. You cannot go to a decent place without having smoke fill your clothes, hair, and skin. I hate that, because I smell like a cigarette. I have some tablets and a lot of cups of tea at my premises, and I'll keep using them until those nails & bees leave my throat alone. I should also get in shape for the radioshow tonight. Leutrim, a great friend of mine, will be my guest.

Shoemakers make shoes. Does the snowmaker make snow?And who is the snowmaker anyway?

shiver/snowedge.

It's official. The first snowflakes have finally arrived in Prishtina. As soon as you put your foot outside of the office building, cafe, your car, or your house, your face will be frozen: rock+solid. I don't mind. I like snow+cold. You get the feeling that you are on top of some mountains, battling all the mother nature's fierce elements, and you are about to descend. People scramble in the streets to get to their homes. It has not snowed that much, and much of it has dried up. Let there be more snow on our streets to: cover our trash and give us a bright sight.

If the mailman deliveres mail, does the snowman deliver snow?

during class.

Evilbottledwater: What do we have here?
HarmlessLabelostick: Errm, nothing bottledwater sir.

Evilbottled water: I am gonna water-solubl-ize you and dissolve your ugly face.
HarmlessLabelostick: Please mister bottledwater sir, i did nothing to you.

PassingbyStudbottledwater: Hey you! Pick somebottle of your own size!
EvilbottledwaterTurnedsmall: I was just asking for gum.

PassingbyStudbottledwater: I suggest you to get out of my sight! you prick!
EvilbottledwaterTurnedsmall: eeerm... deal.

The message of the story: never sit bottledwater and labello next to each other at a dinner party.

starpower.

This Friday, professors Irwe Metzger (New Venture Development), and Besnik Bislimi (Micro/MacroEconomy) invited a group of students to participate in an "experiment". I had no idea what was that about, but accepted their invitation. We played a game called STARPOWER, a game that examines the pros and cons of how leaders can apply power for maximum effectiveness in the government.

orbitedge.

I don't know why, but i keep finding Wrigley's Orbit chewing gum pieces on my bed. Strange, but they keep appearing. I don't remember any dreams with chewing gum, or me grabbin a piece late in the night. But i found the third one today. in two days, three pieces of gum. Maybe my bed is sitting under an unexplored chewing-gum mine. I could sell them at $34 per chewing-gum barrell. Or maybe the chewing-gum fairy is deliberately putting them on my bed. Thanks.

blankedge.

i've just figured out that i am sitting near the laptop, listening as i exhale/inhale, staring blankly at it. i know that i had to do something. oh well. i hope that by writing something i will unravel the deep blankness that has covered my memory.

It was thursday and i was at this Job Fair that the American Chamber of Kosovo organized. it was supposed to be all about students looking for possible jobs. it turned up that these companies had nothing to offer, except expose their new products and fancy accesories for the cameras. it sucked. But i walked around and talked with people, took pictures, and it was fun for me. but i feel pitty for those lost souls who came to look for jobs at a place where nothing is offered. Or wait, yes, they might offer you a pen and brochures with their company's logo splashed around it. If it was up to me, i'd never organize this kind of Job fair again.

Friday was a school day because we had Bajram on Monday, so we had to make for the lost class. i also had the radioshow from 7PM. so i had to skip class, make an 'intelligent' excuse, and leave for the radio station. anita and nita came, which was nice. really enjoyed having them around, taking pictures of everything. i present anita as my "virtual" co-host, and think of many stories around her imaginative character, and i adopt those stories around the show. it happens that some people really thought that anita was 'virtual'. i wanted them to believe that that was true, but in the end i told them she was made from flesh and bone. nita was the photographer. this reminds me: create a blog for the show! i'm doing it right now. cannot wait anymore.

Still trying to work things out for the EdgeSoup magazine. The quarter is nearly over and we are not near to the quarter of the work that should have been put in. It might be that i was pretty busy with work/classes, but edgesoup is behind. Don't know why but i just imagined Gael Garcia Bernal telling me that edgesoup is late in his accent. cool.

Last night me and nita were at ariana's birthday party (nita's friend). it was a house party. the house was nice, the drinks were mixed, there was live music (played by Shpat, he also played live on the show), and the whole atmosphere was warm and comfy. I did not regularly hang out with that company, but it was find nonetheless. end result: everyone got drunk and headed to SprayClub (or so they said). I grabbed a night owl, me and nita sat on its soft-feathery skin, and flew away into the night. That was it.

Oh another thing. The whole daylight saving time thing cought me off-guard. I thought it was 10:30, and woke up, only to find out that it was 9:30. ahh. But i got to see the day as she woke up in the morning.

edgesoup.

Just received news that i have to be at 8AM at the Grand Hotel. i don't know why they call it "Grand" anyway. it is a shitty hotel with even shittier personnel. but i have to be there. so i must sleep some time soon. i also received news that the indieshow on urbanFM will stil run at the same time/day. that's cool, and me and anita should open a blog for the show. podcasting would be also cool. not as cool as provoPODCASTing, but to some degree. anyways, i'm thinking about the content of the new edition of the EDGESOUP, the auk student newspaper. i have to think of people that can write and help contribute at the newspaper. or wait. i'd like EDGESOUP to be a mag. i'd also like to have a lollypop right now. but that's different. really, i put the mag idea aside, but now i'm kind of thrown into it. it's exciting! well, it's not that easy to manage all those things, since there are only three of us (teff, eedn, and me). there are some that want to help us (students), so that's good. but i have this feeling ... plus nita has offered to help me do the design/layout, which is a tremendous help. we'll work this weekend on the cover and throw some ideas on the design. still, i have to drag people and 'incite' them to write something. i can't believe why won't they: they are not restricted to anything! their writing can contain foul words, and they can say almost anything about anything! (well, there never actually is an "everything"). but it's okay. as long as the excitement level keeps building up in my nostrils and hair, that's good.

i totally had something else in my mind, but so totally forgot. ah yes. this guy at work, he started arguing about a story in the daily Express. he kept pointing at the writer for saying that "clubbing" is something that we do, and that the author should have not said: "girls chose tallava/turbo-folk music and totally boycotted the clubbing scene that was on display that night at SPRAY in the form of DJ Dzierzek (i think). he continued: why should we like to become something that we are not, we should not pretend that we enjoy the clubbing scene when in fact we are just faking it. i got angry and "raised my voice" because we ARE for any kind of music, because we ARE like anyone in this doomed world, and we can and SHOULD be exposed to any kind of music. not just stick to the same old same old. it's frustrating because it's like someone telling you that you cannot reach the jar on top of the cupboard. it's not fair and short-sighted. i don't blame him. he is not that much 'exposed' to some things. anyways, i thought this should be a great topic of discussion in the next radio show ... maybe this friday.

how can anyone say that "we should not listen to some sort of music, because we are not 'built' for it." i find that offensive and scary at the same time. clash/clash. slash/slash. violence is not the answer. talk. grab your hands under the cherry tree, hop on a unicorn and fly to the bright multicolored rainbow where you lick the crystal rays. have some edgesoup.

kaleidoscopish

What a night. a vodka-schweppes and a 1 1/5 glasses of wine ago ... naah. it sounds too Jack Sparrowish. there were a couple of sparks tonight that made it so special. okay, first, lets start with #1: bajram! well, since it is her night, bajram (a girl, hate it why everything has to be male, that's why Bajram is a "female") deserves the applause and all those women/men that went to burst their ears off with that loud turbo/folk music. disguisting, but none the less, the first spot! second: i want to congratulate nita and her new hairstyle. she looked gorgeous tonight. third: anita! how could i forget my dear anita! she was wonderful as always, but that mini-skirt made here even more wonderful. it took me a while to spot the skirt that was mini-in-size. but she looked nice. eremira was full-of-laughs as always. she liked eluise. so, that made me like her even more. then at #6 comes the police patrol. yep, the crawl like cockroaches at night, stopping almost everyone, flashin their flashlight, sounding so sober and awake, their faces wrinkled as though the sun was splashin its rays upon their faces. but all of this passed. not to mention of friends from Belgrade with whom we spoke in Serbian! that was neat.

have work tomorrow. sorry emir kosturica, could not watch one of your movies. better luck next time. i'm a bit drunk, half-baked and much-loved. it was a night-out to remember. it had every flavor you could ever wanted. plus the extra-special that the cooks give you when you tell them that the steak is not like you ordered it. kaleidoscopish.

lovemondaymovie.

damn. i missed my blog. nearly forgot that i have one! but people kept reminding me to update my blog. so here i am: ready to push that Publish Post button (as soon as i'm done writing). i just love this monday. this however, does not coincide with the fact that today is Bajram (a muslim holiday, marking the end of Ramadan), but because time came to an almost actual stop. really. i thought that today time will fly away (as my parents did today: flocking from cousin to cousin, wishin them a happy bajram). But i was thrilled that time was 'on my side' for once, although i sense it creeping away from me. big deal. i had enough of it.

Today was day 2 of the my rare movie-days. Last night i stayed up until 3pm watchin The King (gael garcia bernal plays in it), which was great. i regret watching the movie Waiting, which was supposed to be funny considering the cast it had. but i was not surprised i ended up dissapointed in the end. The King is great. Next i watched Everything is Illuminated (Elijah Wood), and the french movie God is great, i'm not (with Audrey Tuatou), which was equally good. I have yet to watch another movie left, the one from emir kusturica: when father was on a business trip. i'll watch that later. Yes. 4 movies in 1.5 days. that should satisfy my thirst for movies, because i was dehydrating from not seeing movies in these couple of months. ahhh. much beetteeer.

so, today i was sandwiched with movies and my pillow. i tried to be as lazy as humanly possible. could not do it, but i managed pretty good. i'll do some reading because >FINALS< (i marked it this way intetionally... to signify the importance) week is coming and it will soon be here. beirut is here by the way.
hate tuesdaynomoremovies.

what makes me*ME

just a few minutes ago, Bardh asked me a question about this project that he is working on. the question was plain and simple. Bardh: "What makes you a Kosovar?". For someone that considers himself a Kosovar, you'd think that i could answer this in an instant. but my brain went into overdrive and locked itself ... no idea, no thought, no nothing! Man, Bardh's question really stalled my brain. and you're hearing this from someone that says that he's a kosovar. neat. but i can't tell you how happy i am on finding the answer to this question: dokuFEST makes me a kosovar! yes, the annual Documentary Festival that is held in the beautiful city of Prizren, Kosova, makes me a KOSOVAR! The answer to this question came after 6minutes of brain-cell and kosovar history crunching ... then i spat dokuFEST.

just wanted to express my happines about this. thanks Bardh. you're great. i'll be a test subject if you need any for you project. you can't imagine how happy i am about this. yes, you can't imagine. and stop trying to imagine it. dokuFEST.

apples, photocopied papers

Time flies. Sure, flies fly too (fly fly fly ...high). Especially when there's a big photocopy machine in front of you. I can say that i was to some extent a photocopy-boy (if there's a notion like this). The smell of paper coming out of it made my stomach like a bag of bees. I guess Mates of State wouldn't have mind if they played next to that photocopy machine. The space where the photocopy machine is it's spacious, and their organ and drum could fit in perfectly. I'd have to stop the photocopy machine though: the noise would have made it difficult to hear their soft voices that overlap each other. i could have given a bunch of papers to Kori, so she could do all the photocopying, while me and Jason would have played with little Magnolia. After I've done all the photocopying and prepared a bunch of documents, i was ready for my reward: a bloodish red sweet apple. I savored it, and got my senses re-acquainted with that flavour that i thought i lost. Man, i haven't eaten fruit in a long time. However eager I was to set my teeth into that juicy apple, i'd trade it to have Mates of State by my side, perform. I'd even go as far as sharing pieces of that apple with them.

Yes, i am in love with Mates of State. Not in love as in "i love your shoes", but rather as in "i love you". You should have probably figured that out by now. I've got love written all over me. wait, i think they're ready to play in the office here. i should go unplug the photocopy machine and chop down every apple tree. go ahead Mates of State. play at will.

webcam idea

Yes, this is the webcame i got. Well, my grandpa got one for himself, and called me in the middle of class to check if i wanted one too. Sure, i said yes. He got two webcams yesterday (after which i gave him the money for the webcams and he could not remember why i was giving him the money). That's right, my grandpa, a 74 year old man. He just won't settle down, but keeps on asking about some software applications (mostly about typing). My uncle is in London and my granpa wants to talk with him now and then about stuff (politics mainly). The cheapest way to go around this was to use Skype. I had to install Skype in my grandpa's PC and told him that he needed a webcam. I also said that it will then be easier if we both had webcams, so that i can speak to you about the problems or computer-related questions you might have. Or he might want to ask me to help him find his glasses. The result: me and my granpa are now webcam-and-mic equipped and ready to try them out (first i have to install the webcam for him).

Hope that this marks a new wave of communication between us, and a quick solution to all of his computer-related problems. Let's hope so. goGrandad!

fall fashion

wet cops.

The only time that i don't have my camera around, something worth taking pictures of, happens. I just witnessed a fight between some men, and someone that these men considered "lesser" men. I felt really sorry for that. Some girls were screaming and they must have called the police, because the police car almost squashed me, as its tires came to a screaming stop. The moment they stepped out of the car, the police looked at me as if i was the suspect. Luckily, the girls that were with those guys that were involved in the fight, pointed out the men that were walking away. Still shocked from the rapid response from the police, i was in for an even better surprise: The police actually ran like in one of those cop movies, and 'apprehended' the bad guys. It was so cool to see the police run like that in a rainy day and catch the bad guys. One of the guys that was involved in a fight is a hairdresser. I do not know but I think he is gay, and him being gay was the problem. I feel sorry for the fella. The two guys that the police chased after were arrested and sent to the police station.

This was the only action i got out of this rainy day. It's 1:51 AM, and i should go to bed.

technologySucka - goAmish

After two of my colleagues paniced that one's laptop might have crashed/burned, because the laptop suddenly died. I went and checked what happened. This is what I found. This was the reason why the laptop suddenly died and did not respond.

telephonestand.

stencils! emerge!

A friend of mine - Rasha - made the stencil in the first pic. I don't know who did the second, but i'd like to see more of these stencils 'emerge' around the city. Not just bus stops.

Fly Route66

Printing Machine Day

Yesterday, I visited a printing press. I had to conduct a "Quality Check" of some booklets that we were printing. Could not stand the smell of printed paper.

decentralized pizza.

after plasticelastic.

-radiot.

That was it. It was a full 4 radio shows that i co-hosted together with Lok. This week he's going to Thessaloniki for his studies.