31-V-2014.
The big maturski we were preparing for months, more or less. Of course a dozen things went wrong, because they were prepared the wrong way, so it goes. Anyway, the 40. anniversary of our matriculation, all three gimnazija together.
There are at least three kinds of people who don't come to these events. One, the dead (Bajče, Tejka, Jolpaz, Sneca...). Two, those abroad (but Strle came from Boston and one girl from Toronto, specially for this, and Baki came from Bosnia, which counts as abroad nowadays). Third, those who are ashamed to show their face - for either the 1500 RSD is too much for them, or they don't think they look representative enough, or they think of themselves as failures and wouldn't stand even the most benign questions (Zova, for one).
Met in front of the city theatre, with pretty much all of us organizers (Dragana, Borko, Jozda et al) among the first. Of course I met many people whom I didn't see for 20 or 30 years (like one guy from the army - same platoon, then same city, and never met him... but that's not the weirdest, there's another guy whose dad had a vineyard next to my dad's - never met him either).
My job was to organize a slide projection. I had collected about four hundred shots from my own archives (all those hours of reshooting old negatives starting to pay off), plus a few dug up by one guy from the 2nd gimnazija, and a few from Žuca; used IrfanView to build a slideshow. Put that on a laptop (Lena's old gugolj) and took that behind the scenes. Ever since that theater festival in 1972 I had no reason to find myself there, but now did and enjoyed it. Took a few nice shots there, with the two actors who actually had a part in our "solemn academy" (as this kind of show is called) patiently posing in the pose I tried to catch - repeating it as needed.
Took a few minutes to mingle in the lobby, and met a girl (ahem, did look girly, amazing - we are all 59 now - rich bangs, hair of well chosen color, lips still full, face young enough, tits to wear as medals) whom I first didn't recognize, then remembered (she was in my class only the first year, then opted for social studies and got shuffled into IV2). Within a minute she announced that she's been a widow for a while, kids are grown up and... Thanks, I'm a grandfather the third time as of just nine days ago... but no, thanks, not in the mood. You may look good as much as you want, no dice. (note: some time that summer I saw an obituary; the name matched but the name isn't that uncommon, the image was inconclusive, could be her. Only five years later I got it confirmed by her classmates that it was her.)(another year later I learned that she choked on a fishbone, which stayed lodged after three surgeries)
Of course, first we all stood up and sang "Gaudeamus igitur" (only two first stanzas, as we never learned the rest). The current school principal (son of the guy who was city mayor in 1972) made a short speech, not failing to mention the photographs (my slide show was rear-projected all the time on the big screen above the choir), and then that idiot from 2nd gimnazija made his speech, which was awful - all the political garbage of the last 20 years crumbled in... he even got a round of applause halfway through it, but didn't get the message (to cut it short and get lost).
The show went as expected. The school choir (probably its 40th generation or so, we guess we were the first) sang a little nostalgic ditty, originally by some cheap hotel-wave croatian band, about them old times, but their rendition was very par for the course and touched a few soft spots. Then the actors came and did their shtick, very nice (actually composed from bits of Čehov and Aleksandar Popović and some of his own, by Radivoj Šajtinac, the best known local poet). In the end, two guys from the old Tetka Ana band sang a few of their songs (from that famous single that never made it, as it was published in the fall of 1980, when all the suspended production was released in a rush to normality, after the couple of months of being on hold after Tito's death).
Then, as per tradition, a walk over to gimnazija to have a class, of sorts. I was ready to shoot the whole logbook, but didn't because it wasn't there - these were brought for 2nd and 3rd gimnazija but not for 1st. Well, another slip. During the walk over, BTW, Savka found time to tell me how she always respected me, but was somehow wondering why there was always some distance between us (she's also still looking rather good, very little wear and tear). "I commend your courage, I usually don't make such confessions before third beer, and well the reason is 'stay away, cop's daughter, no less', stupid as it may sound today, but then we were scared of getting involved". "But he's such a mild guy...". "We didn't know, and didn't dare ask... so it went by". (Actually, from the PTA meetings, my dad often reported that her father always had something to say and it was towards more discipline every time). She's actually on the plump side, with some signs of ankles swelling - probably the heaviest altogether from the whole class - but actually looking quite well. Still, I don't know how much would I have to drink to hit on her. There's such thing as "not my type", mostly related to her voice and manner of speech. Also, once I got it into my head that her face is somehow bird-like, I couldn't unsee it. Not even "in some other life".
Marko Bozon being dead, and his next relief (Radoje) too, we turned to Sonja, who accepted gladly. So we sat around in our old classroom (which is an incredible echo chamber, I didn't understand half of what was said). I took a detour to the IV4's classroom to take a few shots there, and then walked Sonja to half the main street. There was a street musician, a rare thing in this city, who played something to my liking (from "Atomsko sklonište", perhaps?) so I dropped 20 or 50 RSD into his guitar case. Took a cab home - could have taken the car, really, as the backpack with the laptop was getting heavy, but then one never knows if this morning session may end with drinking. Well, no takers this time.
Mongol was the official photographer, did well and did fast.
Lena came home, with another round of troubles with Zlija being settled - they're going to Cyprus to meet Željko in a few weeks.
Had some talk with Suez about running one of the last (penultimate, it seems) conversion from dbfs to SQL somewhere, and I had the conversion script ready but couldn't possibly run it myself, as I'll be gone in an hour. He was reluctant to run it but then agreed. Later I heard it ran without a hitch and went just fine.
(left, wih glasses, L.; Gavra, Ksenija behind him, Žuca in pink; Pasa in black; Dragana in red)
Caught the bus at 19:30 and had luck with rain - it sort of started when I was already inside. From my IV5pp there were Kristina, Oli Boj, Savka, Mima, Milica, Jasmina, Dragana, Sredljak, Bajlo, Baki, Siške and me, with Sonja at our table. The table we got was just too close to the music, and the band ("Anđin san" - Anđa's dream, but actually a pun on Clavel's "Shogun" which was broadcast here in the eighties) wasn't too bad, and from time to time they would guess which generation they are playing for. The drinks were standard, I had one "quince" brandy (not even close to what dad used to make), then got one of my own (I brought half a liter - not remotely enough, but infinitely more than anyone else brought, and too bad I didn't have larger pockets or sleeves... smuggling drinks into a party which lives on selling drinks is a time honored tradition of ours), then another one of theirs, and it didn't really catch. So after dinner I paired with Dragana to share a kilo+kilo (of wine and mineral water, to make špricer) which lasted us the rest of the evening. The party was a huge success, and I made about a hundred shots. The only trouble was that I miscounted the number of chits (for the 1500 RSD everyone got two drink chits and one dinner chit) so I paid mine twice... well, that's for the sales they lost on the brandy I brought; I also paid for the badges (which was supposed to be taken from the money collected, but that got lost too) and the bill was actually 1600 per capita (after recalculating bla bla bla) so I paid that extra 100 a head as well... felt generous, as my little way to right the balance of the cosmos. I had enough free rides, free drinks and even a few dinners in my time, when I needed them or even when not but couldn't afford most of the time, now I'm probably better off than anybody else present, so it's my turn to return the favor.
From Dragana I got a fresh gossip: some girl (yeah, I know, also 59, but still a girl) said "now I wish he was enamored in me instead of Oli Boj, it would be pictures of me over there instead". Which is almost right except it's completely wrong - I did have an eye for her, briefly when I was 14; these shots were taken two to four years later, when she just found a way to insinuate her body in front of my lens almost every time. She was good looking, though, but still most of those shots were her idea, not mine. Largely, I don't care - let them think whatever they like, it's same to me.
(later I heard that it was actually Oli Boj herself who spread the rumor, „he was in love with me which is why he made so many shots“... yeah, right, okay, you win, and five years later I replaced at least three quarters of her shots with some other shots)
(note: writing this in Byo, six years later, I went through my diaries from 1969, and found that I was seriously considering her, almost courting, most of the year, along with another girl or two, yet nothing happened and it passed)
It continued after midnight.
Mentions: 03-IX-2016., Branislav Bačikin (Bajče), Branislav Rade (Baki), Byo (Byo), Dragana Vitas (Dragana), Dušan Starkić (Strle), Gavrilo Taroški (Gavra), gimnazija, Gradivoj Sredljev (Sredljak), gugolj, Ilija Ćirilov (Zlija), IV4, IV5pp, Jasmina Vlajin, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Jovan Zdanić (Jozda), Kristina Birčanec /Lungur/, Ksenija, Mališa Borkovski (Borko), Marko Damjanov (Marko Bozon), maturski parastos, Merima Tabarski (Mima), Milica Erceški, Nenad Bajlo (Bajlo), Olivera Stojanović (Oli Boj), Pavle Džeferdarević (Jolpaz), Radoje Maletin, Savka Čajkanić, Siniša Savin (Siške), Slavica Tejin (Tejka), Snežana Stojanović (Sneca), Sonja Savković, Spasenija Višnjić (Pasa), Suez Lima, špricer, Zdravko Smetovački (Zova), Željko Nikolović, Žika Šašić (Mongol), Živana Armatović (Žuca), in serbian