07-IX-2026.
For the frendz parti she prepared natur steaks in curry, didn't since long ago, so let's. This time I even helped some - scrubbed the bathroom, chemistryless, just mirko rag. In the process I removed some of the silicon they used sixteen years ago to seal the shower cabin to the tub and wall, it's old enough to be somewhat brittle and can be rubbed off. And I even ground the coriander in the old pepper mill, swept the big room while she went to buy wine, there, some benefit having me around. Around this time the temperature decreased enough to stop turning the airconditioning on.
At five past seven I got in the car and dialed Dragana, rang all the way and nothing. Aha, the phone is down to gee two, I didn't reboot it... when was it, ah yes, three days ago when I becunted over Žeks's time server, which is always some six-seven minutes ahead, so found out how's that done under linux, and let it into the home network a bit and lo, all of a sudden it was in sync to the second with the table [clock] which gets its exact time by radio from Germany. After it booted, I saw she tried to call, so I called her back, got her on first, here I'm almost ready, just to get dressed, I'm pretty much naked in the apartment all day. „Stay so don't touch anything, I'm coming up“ - the line works each time. As if anything happened the one time when I did find her so. So I picked her up, and she goes on how Borče called ten minutes ago to say he's just about to call a taxi to come pick her up. What the taxi, it's a whole year since we started this custom of you guys collecting guests (except her, has no car)... eh, he forgot. I drove them the sideroad, behind the shooting range, to avoid the main street in my area, because its sewers had another period of breathing out strongly.
I suggested that Borče should sit in my chair, to hear better, cause we have the new speakers, which wasn't accepted, the shots were already lined up for me to fill them. The music was rarely heard anyway, the lulls in the conversation were rare and few. I did add to this so-called graduatonal playlist during the day, from hundredten titles to hundredsixty, mostly picking titles which would be recognized, from the period 1969-1974. I already had some ten by Dragan Stojnić, her favorite, the sarajevski dandy, just for her [and her sake too]. Borče asked whether she ever heard the guy in live performance, what heard, was with a friend back in the day when he sang in the old Bečkerek, and she really had a voice, sang with him, and he heard her, got interested, and later came to sit with them. Along came Petar Kralj [Peter King, really his name], drunk as a slat, and Stojnić also drank... And then he came up with an anecdote about Paja Vuisić... how he always finds the time to memorize such things. And yet it's been five years since the last one about Picasso, the production seems to have ceased.
He began listening to jazz lately, said he loves the blues but says the jazz guitar is much more complicated, many blusers claim they're not up to the task. Um, jazz guitar, as I hear it, is minimalistic, you don't need the machine gun speed but rather measure, how to say it with fewer string pluckings. But then we went on about blues, and I disparaged it as incestuous music („what does he call his chick? baby, mama“) and specially „Hey, Joe“, which is a glorification of femicide... and found more examples. So I gave him a running translation of what it says, and he „well how could I have known“, „well now you know“.
So we grilled hi too about the shot of 17th of march, that Dragana made of us and he promised to forward it to us and still didn't. And he managed to find it on his phone, and poked around it and didn't manage to send, will do the next day. We'll see, I'm not hoping. He managed to, finally, after so many years, spot the ashtray from a šinobus in our bathroom. There we went on again about the male and female brain, the male concentrating on the task at hand while the female does everything at once. Except when driving, there the male sees everything at once while female doesn't.
The news I expected, to hear where will we do our parastos this year, was not. Nobody bothered to organize anything, so we probably won't be doing it at all.
We drank the cherry and it went well, and he didn't get one shot ahead of us, as he usually is prone to, kept the rhythm with me. After the grub, the „tri roze koze“ wine (three pink goats), two bottles were downed. I poured the last glass to Dragana on the sleaze, while she was in the bathroom. I knew she'd refuse it offered, but would accept, grudgingly, if it's already poured. She complained a little, but then another Stojnić came up and she got pilafed away... Which altogether helped that between 23:40, when she first mentioned packing up to leave, and the actual departure we spent two nice hours. All in all, it was good.
She managed, it seems, to finally find a fragrance which won't air away in hour and a half, which is near impossible to find last couple of years. When I washed [my] face the next day, there were traces of it on the towel. And foursome years ago when she took the eos70 to take shots of us, the two minutes that she leaned it on her brow sufficed for the smell to stay on it for tensome days.
The kittens died off again, their mothers didn't care of them much, maybe because of the draught, or they maintain the population density that way. There's food enough, that's not the problem, despite the hedgehogs cleaning out their plate regularly these days, they lick it smooth, but they're in the night shift, when the cats already ate for that day, and will get more the next. So, the state is the same as at the beginning of the year - Suši, Rundek, Vafl and Zelena.3. Eh, no, one gray [one] of the new one remained, so far.
During the afternoon nap I dreamt real SF, something about a couple, when they finally got together and became lovers, they started doing some miracles, during which they suffer a lot, there's a lot of singed skin and burnt hair, but then they come out of it younger each time... and then so much younger that they forget a lot of it, and then there's no miracles until they relearn the stuff, which they will do each time they're attacked. Their enemies' only way out is to either hit them more often and more strongly, so they'd become so young to forget all the skills and each other, or to leave them alone long enough until they get too old. Eh, if I could be bothered to write a few thousand more words to it, there'd be a book.
In the evening, um, she said she mostly abstained from drinking, so not to mess up the serving... So we finished the bottle, and then I, not that I really had to, dressed up to go out to pour pear, so we had one more of it. And we didn't get up late, and I didn't even nap much after lunch, was actually half aware and heard all the music. For lunch we meant to eat the last of last week's beans, but the dumplings in it seem to have launched a fermentation, she didn't like the taste, so we treated the cats with it, and lunched the leftovers of the curry.
Went to buy hen fodder and cigarette paper in the afternoon, then went on to Optima, to deliver a kilo of pear to that guy who fixed the airconditioning, didn't do that in five and a half years, and now I had an extra reason, to brag with the eighth grandchild. In the evening nothing, solitaire (we fell in the last month and a half, from 66% to 63%, cards won't [serve] an honest man), she watched chinese AI videos, me reading from the tablet and spinning fes so the onscreen text wouldn't distract me. If the photos do, that's usually when I notice, in the corners, something I never did before, there's interesting findings there. She lied around midnight, and I said I'll do so two cigarettes later. If I light them 15-20 minutes apart in the morning, it's near 40 around midnight, so this second [one] was around half two. Then she got up, lit one, said she just couldn't sleep. We smoked those, and laid, drinking wasn't on anyone's mind, and we fell asleep nicely. I even had starts, as it happens when I'm too tired or whatever, aha, I'll sleep nice now. Well fuck, after a couple of hours I woke up, went to decant, came back and just didn't feel sleepy at all. I knew it'll pass and then I'll sleep like a cannon. And it was so, when it was already light outside. Of course, slept until noon.
Thursday, 10th. Finally ran out of jučetina so we ate fresh for lunch - the allchinese of chicken liver we bought in Svetofor last time. And she finally made a pašteta, so had to also make a loaf of bread to spread it on. Apart from one pepper, half hot lara, everything else was our homemade stuff, including tomatoes, excellent, dark red, sweet.
Then Lena called, regular time (which is now moved from tuesday, few times in a row), so we saw them all. The little Filip is rounding nicely, looks around and converges eyes quite well. Eats fine, sleeps, everything. Tanja was merry likewise, full of energy, fired up a few new gags (now „podigni“ (lift [me]) is not „pogini“ [die, as in battle], it's „pougi“). Half an hour later, Go called, because Anita had gut cramps or whatever, sudden runs in [her] sleep, then headache, nausea, fever. She came to near fight yesterday with her neighbor friend around posting a video of her, that was fierce, then they made peace but then first the neighbor had similar symptoms and then... Eh, she solved the problem and now has to suffer the healing. And she came while we talked, leaned [her] head on the couch backrest, and slept so for half an hour while we talked. Baba listed the recipes (blackberry leaves tea, rice), she'll be fine.
Friday. Two evenings we drank nothing again, and I counted on a nice sleep. And I got it, lasted me two-three hours, and then I probably slept several five minute bouts. I was already of a mind to just get up and smoke one, it helps sometimes and sometimes I wake up fully, so after second or third I get back and fall sound asleep, two hours later. But it was dawning already, it's a bit late for that. So nothing, I kept trying until eight. I know that I noticed her returning from the bathrom but not when she left, and that of some fifteen minute song I heard the last five. And then I got up, and functioned quite normally until after lunch. Two hours' nap and I was like new. The heavenly fragrances permeated the house, she was cooking two batches of soup stock at once, one poultry, of backs and wings, to pour into bottles (liter ones for tomato, they're the best to pour from), and of a cow's bone for later.
Lena posted a comment from somewere, with a picture on top from that interview she did two years ago with those two guys and then below „from a failed painter to a "programmer" by only one book... that's why we have it as we have it“. Another one asks „can [we have] some tldr?“. Third „ouch mother no wonder the IT is in such decline“. There, she said, what the internet thinks of me. Nina: „so the audience, so the comments“. Go: „Two idiots are not the internet. IT's just two ugly buildings in Belgrade“. I: „internet is many more idiots“.
By evenings we forgot the fragrances, guess we got used to them. The entertainment was interesting, and then the pear almost smelled like some other fruit - for her, of quince, for me to apricot and plum. Was it because she tried some fragrance from Lidl, which resembles some green fruit to me, or because of the soop, no way to know, even by the fourth [shot] I still wasn't clear. And we slept fine, at who knows which late hour, and I kept thinking how I have now returned to regular diurnal.
Saturday. Today I should be with my class, this is the saturday nearest to eleventh, our term. But not a word from anyone. Where did that selforganizedness go... And somehow feels easier this way. It's not as much a problem that now I'd have to prepare so much more than before - first of all to fix the water, to mow the parts I haven't even walked this year, even to restore the missing inventory. The problem is to remember everything, and still something would be missing, no matter how much I'd prepare.
The soup really turned out magnificently, as always, and I welcome it every time, regardless. After lunch I fainted, luckily I didn't have to visit Sokol to schedule the van inspection, did that on the phone in the morning. I napped so foundationally, that I put four good hours together.
Nina called in the afternoon, we saw Linda and then Sanda. Raja's new amplifier arrived. We didn't talk too long, this was a kukung šou, and when she was done, went away to feed the children.
It got cold suddenly, but still no rain. I switched to a long sleeved shirt, and we closed the windows. She lied around midnight, me around half three, slept fine, for less than an hour, and then all like friday. It seems I'm in a period of fucked up sleeping rhythm.
Ditched the shorts and took jeans in the morning, we're done with that. Look, now I can't tie the belt on the last hole... It's either that these are the jeans which are somewhat tight, or they're fhicker by that much. Well, 5cm of belt is 4mm in radius, the thickness may well be that much. I napped almost an hour after lunch, that much will do. We arrived without a hitch, even found a wide parking slot, by some smaller truck, nobody wants to park near it.
The little Filip was already awake, while Tanja was asleep. I'm still not taking him into [my] hands, until he's at least two months of age, but baba did. He's disturbing mom's sleep to an extent, wakes up whenever he unhooks from the tit or drops the pacifier. And yes, I recognize my head shape - the skull, the concave temples, the arches above the eyes, top of the head. And the mouth... on two-three shots resembles the late grandmother. There, something from her.
Then we took Tanja to Valter again for a wee čorba, all as usual. She wore the new dress, all self-important. This time we were prepared for her tricks, so we let her a full tour and discharge of all the gear on that nearest playground. There she field-tested the portable potty, nice gadget, a frame with collapsible legs, spread a bag over it and discard it after. When collapsed, it's not larger than a longplejka [yup, an LP] an inch thick.
There was a couple of „see I uptouched it“, now she can reach a few that she previously couldn't, and to hook herself to hang from it, hey see me. Eventually baba had to carry her, all of 4-5 meters, then she agreed to stand on the scooter and let baba pull her, so we quickly got up. I made so many good shots during the day, that I was unable to select the usual fisix to put into the squad chat, but rather posted two-three dozen on Dropbox and shared the link.
And then she again said, without asking me, that we don't need coffee, but no, I got my žuta minuta (yellow minute), had to take a nap. Found a small pillow and lied on the floor, knowing Lena won't be surprised, she remembers I did that a lot back then in Amerrhicah. At first I failed at sleeping, Tanja took that as play, but Lena convinced her that I need to sleep a little. Ah, someone's sleeping on the floor, needs to be covered. And of course she donned two mirko rags on me, just like she does for her teddies and bunnies. I shook with laughter and thought my chances for sleep were forfeited, but then I did catch some fifteen minutes of quality delirium. And I didn't mind the noise - Tanja was rumbling around, my ladies were talking and handling Filip's needs. It was when Milan returned with Api, it's the latter who woke me up - not barking, panting.
And I drank that half coffee, i.e. same amount of coffee in just half the water, and it all fit nicely. We even departed late enough to have the sun low enough to it didn't blast into my eyes while climbing the Bežanija [slope]; it was dark just at Perlez, we got home at 19:45, all okay. I saw Dragana called, called back „didn't you just miss a turn? It's not until a week from now.“ „nope, not that, just remembered you have no viber, and Čarga is composing a list of those who'll attend on saturday, IV4 is meeting, same place“, „ah, that, okay, see you“.
So I dd the shots, then Go called. The Zeka (Zack) did her house in Virginia Beach, few details pending (he ordered windows for once Lena's room and the big befroom, they came in wrong size, and few other bits), so now they're weighing renting against selling. Renting is a headache, but then so is the money - if they sell, what to do with it. We wouldn't know which is worse, we're long out of the game with either market, our advice would be worthless. Anita was at friend's, she healed already but now is too sensitive to some smells. Neša grew another bit more and grew another muscle, this time in the forearms. Was handsome, stayed handsome, grows into more so. We saw him touch the ceiling, though he had to stand on toes.
Then we parted and sat to have a few, which went swimmingly. To avoid desctruction of this good shirt by using it as a pyjama, she found me some tee shirt, served quite well, and I slept until ten. Don't know when we hit the hay, the last look at the clock was at half three, don't remember how much before the end was that.
After I performed my morning rite - coffee, burundi, news, rečko/dečko (wordle and quordle in serbian), I went to wash the van. First I scraped some two hundred dry cherries off its roof, some of them stuck, the horrors, and then went with a mop over the roof. Didn't even squeeze it, just waved it around to remove as much clotted dust as possible. The neighbor lady spotted me there, so we had a chat. There was another comment on Stole, because he dug a ditch around the birch, at about a meter of radius, less than a hand deep. Devil may know what was that supposed to do, and we agreed he's not at right angles since long ago. (and he isn't, but not this time - the tree is withering and he watered that ditch, trying to save it) Another thing, there's pears. Well, I don't know, we made enough rakija for the year, and this is about the time for our vacation... And I saw they had about a ton of pear unsold, in some wooden cases, meter and a quarter square, on the lawn. I evaded any straight answer, bragged about eighth grandchild... Because a Lala will see with his wife first.
And then to Maris for a carwash. Counting on his shrinkflation, the time per token being shortened, I took four, and thus got ten minutes late to the inspection. Just as I was leaving the wash, a message came. I first thought it's from the inspection outfit, but then I remembered I always give them my landline number, which they don't keep anywhere, it's always on a post-it which they discard. And what I scheduled, I did from the landline. Well if it's not them, I'll check when I get there. While I waited for the inspection to get done, talked with the owner, mentioned people we both know, and he said he doesn't know anybody anymore, goes around and people greet him and he doesn't know them, what he knew are dead or moved out, fuckme if I know. Ah, I was over that phase ten years ago, now nobody even knows me. Five times to town, I get one or zero people who recognize me, same town but they replaced the people, or replaced me. Asked what happened to the neighbor (who had a truckers' b'n'b and a tavern with pečenjara, then closed it all and rented the whole house to the Chineses). Said the Chineses hosed him, just packed and left. He did get some money out of them but they also stole stuff from the house.
And about that message, Vučić treated us 27500 dinars of our money, may he carry himself to 15:00 (v. house dictionary).
So I returned from inspection, stayed awake until almost half four, and then while I was at it the landline rings. The neighbor lady. Because, while I was asleep, she went out to check the pears, fine, why not, but the neighbor was somewhere at a funeral, so the children took the message. And now she called, and agreed on one box, which is about 350 kilos, and we should haul it a wheelbarrow at a time, chop one and go for the nex, so not all at once, we have no room to store them. Okay, we'll start in the morning. It doesn't feel hard to do, we like that work, and it's only fair - last year when nobody had fruit, they kept it for us. Now when everyone has fruit and they have too much and don't know what to do with it, we help them.
And the funeral... a guy didn't reach forties, a limphome*, gone. How did they ever manage to make it indecent to ask whether he was vaccinated...
Watched the carrying of boxes with signatures for the students' list to RIK (republic electoral committee), two-three line feeds simultaneously (blockade.info, globus, white). A good celebration, some 10000 total (6000 initially, 7600 during the walk, few thousand waiting at the RIK). The girl with the tambourine (from Novi Pazar?) stole the show, she could dance until morning, live fire. Vučić must be sitting and chewing [his] balls, wishing he had 5% of this celebration, sheer joy and enthusiasm.
The way I understood it, we'd take the wheelbarrow to them, fill it (not far, next yard after Stole), take home and chop, go for next. Which is why I woke up earlier... and then it turned out we did nothing until mid afternoon. Her grandsons helped some, they'd push a whilbarrow with just one crate, and my missus ours with two crates, and I'd take the crates and stack them in the garage. The price a tidbit, 15000 for 300 kg, and these were parsed for rotten and damaged, all clean, we ended with mere kilo or two of discard (stems mostly). I strained the same muscle as twelve years ago when we got that planer unloaded, one crate was unexpectedly heavier, but nothing horrible, just an „ouch“ from time to time, and in smaller font at that.
We chopped some 80kg that afternoon, just for one hundred liter barrel. After dinner I called Carp to brag a little, and we had a long chat like real people, and as experts - he went on a course to learn servicing of serekeš, and heard lots of stuff there. Fuckit, the damn contraptions operate on a Windowses expee! Low consumption, not demanding, gets the job done. The hardware it needs can be found for mere twony yourows.
Then we celebrated the extension of the season, and it again happened that the bottle was one shot short, and again I didn't adjust my wardrobe to go out on the terrace to refill.
Wensday, 16th. Hard time waking up, coffee, cigarette, second, third, read the forum, the news... She already went to the garage and started chopping. During my last wakeup cig, Dragana called. What now? Jozda said „better you call him, me he will fuck off again... to bring the music for saturday, what they have is shit, it crows but doesn't reach five meters“. Ah, okay can do, and I didn't fuck him off for himself, it's that he called me to return to the committee, no going back, once I exited I exited.
We managed to chop it all and wash the buckets by 18:00. Two barrels of 100, one of 120, two and a half of 60. That should be thirteen stills, but we'll see. I had to go buy sugar once more, the 5% came out at 16kg, which is actually 5,3%, rounding error, close enough.
Lied at 23:00, eyes assemblable**, got up at 5. Which isn't bad, won't have to do much during the day :). Couple of hours proved to suffice.
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* I wrote that and then thought the whole week how to find a better context where to insert the gag in english - limphome -- limp home.
** „oči mi se sklapaju“ - my eyes are shutting closed, but 'sklopiti' also means assemble, put the parts together.
Mentions: Anita Jennifer Berger (Anita), Api, Bečkerek, blockade, burundi, čorba, Dragana Vitas, eos70, fes, Filip Nastić, frendz parti, Gorana Sredljević (Go), homemade, house dictionary, IV4, Jelena Sredljević (Lena), Jovan Zdanić (Jozda), Linda Sredljevich Aquilla (Linda), Mališa Borkovski (Borče), maturski parastos (parastos), Milan Nastić, mirko, Nenad Berger (Neša), Nevena Sredljević (Nina), Ostoja Čaković (Stole), pašteta, pečenjara, rakija, Ryu (Raja), Sanda Sredljević Aquilla (Sanda), serekeš, šinobus, Tanja Nastić, Tasa Radenkov (Carp), Velemir Prokin (Čarga), in serbian
8-IX-2026 - 26-IX-2026