Dr. Filomena

and thanks for all the ticks.

Yours,
____dr. Fil

After last year’s success at the night-time race around Lake Bled (see the Cream Cake Night Run at Lake Bled entry) organized by the “Knights” (“Vitezi dobrega teka” translates to either the Knights of Good Running or to the Knights of Bon Appetit), they put on a repeat performance last Saturday night. Once again, it was a 10 km race around the lake at 10 pm.

The event was a huge success in terms of organisation. This time around, runners wore microchips to keep accurate records. Results were published online almost in real time. Club members were located at the right places to direct the runners and warn them of any potential problem spots. I may not have the problem, but some slightly taller people have to watch their heads running underneath slanted rocks. Water was being handed to runners at two spots along the route. The goody bag was even heavier than last year and I saw some were sincerely enthusiastic about the tiny lamps attached to headbands, for example.

Some things change and others always stay the same. So while my sister was not as slim this year as she was for the first run (compare to the photo from last year’s blog entry), she walked around the lake and I’m sure she’ll run the track again next year. And while last year, Pengovsky was at the Rolling Stones concert in Belgrade, I spotted his Radio Kaos T-Shirt at the finish line this time around. Bravo!

Many things did not change, however. Lake Bled is still a gorgeous setting for a race, the tourists sitting in the restaurants and taking a stroll were giving us all boosts of energy by cheering us along. We heard Slovenian, English, American, German, Croatian, Italian, French, Slovak and Russian languages at the least! Thanks, you guys! And it wasn’t just the public that was international. Quite a few runners were, as well. In fact, the second place among women went to a lady from Newcastle!

above: that’s me running backwards to give sis a shot at well, taking a shot

T-shirts were a hoot once more. They read “A jih uhka 10 u en noč?” (“Can ya do 10 in One Nite?” in Gorenjska dialect). And the most important bit – the exceptional Cream Cake that was served to everyone who finished the race. Again, forks were handed out in the place of medals and again, the cream cakes seemed to work like magic as Sunday morning really was easy.

I am now a proud owner of two pierced-handle fork medals. And with the way “Vitezi” are keeping it up, I can’t wait to add next year’s to the collection!

This year was a bit special, I must admit, as the race was held  on what would have been my Mother’s birthday. So it was extra special to be there in the company of all the people I feel the closest to.

Some photos from the event: Nočna 10ka

And while we wait for the third “10 at 10” event, many of us are planning to run around the other Slovenian Alpine lake, Lake Bohinj in August. Details on the 11th Race around Lake Bohinj on 9 August can be found: here.

Photo by dr.filomena: Butterfly (moth?) grounded on Mt. Triglav (click to enlarge)

I just cannot believe my bad luck! Just as I decided to go back to law school, I found that everything I learned a long time ago is now obsolete and I will truly have to start from scratch.

I was quite aware that based on the 49:26 vote in the National Assembly back in May, a new Criminal Code will enter into force in Slovenia on 1 November 2008. I was furthermore aware that contrary to what I was once taught, Slovenian criminal legislation has introduced life sentence, semi-public records of pedofiles and several other novelties.

I admit that I did not know, however, that Slovenia introduced additional definitions of criminal offences, such as the “Meeting of People” (sestajanje oseb), “Grand Filth” (velika svinjarija) and “Minor Filth” (majhna svinjarija). I thank Minister Mate and Prime Minister Janša for the pointers!

I do not think law books by some dusty old Professors compromised by the system of yesteryear will come in handy in any respect. I have resolved to study by watching live TV broadcasts from the National Assembly and reports from news conferences held by the Government’s Ministers.

If I fail an exam, I will know exactly whom to blame! And whom to ask for deus ex machina assistance.

Photo by dr.filomena: Rinka Waterfall (click to enlarge)

hodim po robu
miže
in tipam pravo pot

prsti se zlivajo s skalami
pozdravljajo drobne kaplje
ki drvijo mimo
in se ne zavedo, da so

dokler se ne umirijo
daleč od izvira
najdejo mir in globino

jaz pa še kar hodim
miže
in tipam pravo pot
brez strahu
se vzpenjam in padam

vedno v tvojo dlan

photo by dr. Filomena: a snail in the Alps

I must apologize to this blog’s fan for not having written anything in a long time. Time, along with the other three or five, is another dimension I find difficult to escape from. Though second-hand smoking in Dutch coffee shops that have recently gone tobacco-clean might help somewhat.

Just a couple of sentences on music, however, before I delve back into work.

Music means the world to me. It wakes up every atom of my body and lifts my spirit. (Which in turn helps me lift a broom and do some housework, for example.) Music fills me and takes me places I wouldn’t see or feel otherwise. It’s an essential part of my existence.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of enjoying the concert of La Scala’s Philharmonic orchestra at Ljubljana’s Cankarjev dom and the feeling was incredible. Everyone on the stage could have performed as a soloist. And I cannot imagine that anyone among them does not wish to a certain degree that she or he’d been given the opportunity to show off their mastery. And yet they performed as a team, perfectly in tune with each other, every one of them taking the spotlight at one point of the evening or another while the rest subsided ever so gently and courteously for a moment.

The end result was complete harmony that radiated a true love for music and the smiling faces in the orchestra sent out a loud and clear message:

La vita è bella!

Once I get you up there, where the air is rarefied
We’ll just glide, starry eyed
Once I get you up there, Ill be holding you so near
You may here, angels cheer – because we’re together

Come fly with me, let’s fly let’s fly away

When I feel Blue
All I have to do
…

Back to nature, my friends. Going for a trek in the mountains may be one of the few ways to escape the Big Brother’s all-knowing eye. In the country where Privacy is or rather used to be one of the very top values not to mention human rights.

I just came from a lecture by the former CEO of one of the largest and most successful European-based multinationals who made several comments on how democracy in its pluralistic form is terribly inefficient and who claimed that the fact that nowadays the more people oppose the system the more highly regarded they are in terms of academic prizes is unnatural. As he put it, back in the days of tribes, people who opposed the way the society worked were killed. As humanity progressed, they were tolerated. Now, they are awarded. Right.

Just after that, I heard that the fact that I listened to Schnappi das kleine Krokodil (more than once, as well!) would now be known to Viacom due to a US court ruling. What the $#% does Viacom care if I like a certain crocodile??? He’s cute! I will follow developments with regard to this issue with great interest as the US court ordered Google to divulge the database that contains the unique login ID of the user who watched any YouTube video, the time when the user watched it, the IP address (unique online identifier) of the computer used to watch the video and the identifier for the video (source).

I wonder how many Americans still have that ‘over my dead body’ gut response to corporations collecting their information. Isn’t it Google that is launching an online medical record database system where you can keep all your medical records and your entire medical history with diagnoses?

Collectively, people’s hindsight is gradually degrading from 20-20 to 09-11.

Repeat after me. We are all individuals.

Mountains, here I come!