Dr. Filomena

For a change of pace from the serial killer night I accompanied my university professor aunt to a debate in Cankarjev dom held by Društvo Zares on the topic of proposed changes in Slovenian legislation pertaining to higher levels of education. Društvo Zares literally translates to the For Real Club and is a group of people planning on forming a political party soon.

I will make no comment other than that I found the group of the present people to make for an interesting combination and that I was most impressed by the representative of the Institutum Studiorum Humanitatis. Oh just one remark, though. Everyone seemed to listen attentively except when the speaker happened to be a student. Humm.

Evo, pa sem bila pofočkana še jaz. Včeraj ni zneslo, ker sem bila na zanimivi predstavitvi knjige dr. Karmen Šterk: SERIJSKI MORILEC. Normalen psihopat patološke matere. Ampak evo, po bubašvabinem naročilu nadaljujem s serijskim popisom sedmerih naključnih dejstev o blogerjih.

1. V osnovni šoli sem pri športni vzgoji raje zunaj igrala nogomet s fanti, kot se v telovadnici raztegovala s puncami. Moja specialiteta je bila obramba. Zaničevala sem barbike in karkoli v roza barvi. Bila sem edina punca pri tehničnem krožku in uživala v rezbarjenju, izdelavi zmajev itd.

2. Do dveh let nazaj nisem pila kave, alkohola, nosila kril ali visokih pet. Potem sem priredila rojstnodnevni koktejl žur, ki je presegel vsa pričakovanja in približno od takrat ne drži nič več od naštetega. Celo prej prezirana roza barva je našla mesto med oblačili (prva ostaja rdeča). In oblekice so zakon! Aja, edino kava ni več aktualna. Pravi čaj mi bolj sede.

3. Zanima me skoraj vse, zato nekako vedno počnem preveč stvari naenkrat. Na primer dve službi, faks in par hobijev. Posledično sem včasih nevzdržno tečna. Je pa res, da mi nikoli, ampak res nikoli ni dolgčas.

4. Imam hud odpor do vojske. Ne razumem, kdo si lahko želi imeti službo, katere cilj se je naučiti, kako se pobija ljudi. Če tega ne bi hotel nihče, ne bi bilo vojn ane. Z največjim veseljem bi prepovedala prodajo vseh otroških igračk v obliki orožja. Že vrsto let je vse, kar si iskreno zaželim za novo leto, da bi bil na svetu mir. In to ne da bi kandidirala za kakršno koli misico.

5. Moj prvi računalnik je bil ZX Spectrum +, ki sem ga dobila za mislim da 8. rojstni dan. Od takrat sem hooked. Online sem že 12 let. Tretji dan po prvem priklopu na net sem imela svoj prvi HP, v htmlju from skreč. Internet me je popolnoma fasciniral. Toliko informacij in toliko ljudi na doseku klika.

6. Rada imam ljudi in uživam v pogovorih. Prepričana sem, da se lahko česa novega naučim od čisto vsakogar, ki ga spoznam. Malenkost s tem v povezavi se zelo rada učim tujih jezikov in veliko potujem. V lastni režiji, nikoli z agencijami. Moja mikrica ali avion/rentakar, pa ajd gremo!

7. Moja krvna skupina je B+. Daj kri tudi ti!

Z največjim veseljem bi predala štafeto, ampak sem tukaj precej sveža in se bojim, da so vse blogerje, katerih prebliske z užitkom prebiram, za svoje žrtve že izbrali drugi.

EDIT 29/6/07

V strahu, da me ne bi doletelo sedem let nesreče v ljubezni, bornega kmetijskega pridelka, nesposobne vlade itd., vseeno predajam štafeto… Prosim, nadaljujte s po sedmimi dejstvi o sebi ali svojih alteregih:

Saška

Peter

Valentina

Ateistek

Michael

Češpov njok

Chef

Today, I attended a very interesting presentation of a new book by dr. Karmen Šterk: SERIJSKI MORILEC. Normalen psihopat patološke matere. (SERIAL KILLER. A normal psychopath with a pathological mother)

The presentation and debate took place in the summer garden of the Jazz Club Gajo in Ljubljana.

L->R: Damjana Žišt (one of the newspaper journalists who covered the case of Silvo Plut, Slovene serial killer who took his own life in May 2007), author Karmen Šterk and Sandra Bašic Hrvatin, both of whom taught classes Nina and I had taken at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

I just loved dr. Šterk’s style during the debate. Some of the comments she made were priceless. I’m sure we all learned a great deal about serial killers with a quick overview of the most famous cases, a look at how theory on them evolved over time, what they had in common. We may all have heard of the levels in the prison hierarchy with the greatest con artists at the top and pedofiles at the bottom (they lie about their crimes for fear of not-very-kind treatment by fellow inmates), but did you know about the hierarchy among serial killers? It’s a two-tier system. On one scale, the top dogs are the ones with a system, with a plan and the bottom is occupied by the mere “butchers”. Additionally, however, the cannibal variety are ranked from top to bottom depending on whether they on what parts of their victims they consume whether they are raw or not. The lowest ranked here being those who cook and use spices.

The difference between male and female serial killers, the latter making for 10% of the total, seems to be that men kill to achieve excitement and women kill to avoid it.

It was probably some sort of a subconsious thing, but I kept getting drops of the delicious strawberry sangria all over my beige shirt and white trousers. Considering the topic being discussed, the effect looked rather interesting.

I’d love to have the recipe for the sangria, but only heard the basic one for a serial killer. Take the favourite child of an over-protective mother (who had an alcoholic father) and make sure the bitchy, demanding and ambivalent mother keeps sending him mixed messages by being both protective and sadistically abusive. Throw in an absent father and you’ve just about got it.

Extra extra, read all about it!

Amazons take over Adriaan’s house in Srednja vas and start producing Walnut Brandy!

Wow, what a weekend. Again! Having had some very interesting real estate work on Friday (selling a flat on prime location in Ljubljana city centre makes for meeting a whole new set of people) and finishing a translation job late in the evening, it wasn’t all that easy to get up early Saturday morning, but the chore to run was a fun one. Meeting central heating system experts in Bohinj to inspect the house and come up with a plan. I learned so much! Had no idea about the heating systems in private homes being run over the internet or phone line. So you’re in Sicily for New Year’s and just before returning home you go online, set the house temperature and upon your return home, you hardly know you’re back in an Alpine country? Cool. I mean… hot!

It rained cats and dogs all Saturday, which was kind of disappointing, but did allow me to get to know Uncle Frank (actually his name is Franc, pronounced FranTS) much better. I invited him over for a cup of tea, then took him to the big supermarket that had just opened in Bohinjska Bistrica, where we had a cup of coffee. Actually, coffee and spritzer. Franc did, anyway. We were joined by a friend of his who happens to be very active in the local volunteer firefighter brigade. We talked and talked some more. These men have such abundant knowledge of so many different issues. Walking encyclopaedias just waiting for someone to let them share the stories.

Back at the house Franc cooked for the both of us. He made a delicious meatloaf of sorts. He soaks groats over night, then mixes them in with a mixture of ground beef and pork along with a touch of salt, lots of garlic, quite a bit of fresh parsley, some onions, a whisked egg shapes a loaf and puts it in the oven for about 45 minutes. Again, we had a long talk.

Late in the evening, Mattie and Joan finally arrived. It was lovely to see them both again! We visited with Franc and you guessed right, we talked forever. Franc taught us about various medicinal herbs, made coffee and served walnut brandy. The arnica ointment he had made soon was put to good use on a bruise.

My suggestion to climb Komna the next day was greeted with laughter as apparently it came as not much of a surprise. When I told them I usually start out around 6 am, the element of surprise kicked right back in, though. We compromised on 8 am.

The morning was beautiful. After a nice slow breakfast we started out at about 8.30. The first half an hour was not very promising and I was a bit afraid we wouldn’t make it to the top. But easy does it and slowly, but surely, we made progress. There were so many people walking up that path it was amazing. The now familiar path offered those same beautiful views and again, all of us were amazed at the beauty and variety of the flora. It changes with elevation with ever new flowers catching your eye and new fragrances permeating the fresh air. Aaaaahhhhh…

We reached the top in three hours. I will post photos when Joan downloads them from the camera. Had a nice lunch at the Komna cabin. I don’t think the girls has either “jota” or “mineštra” before and the “golaž” was different from what they expected. I looove jota!

Impressive

Slightly disappointed that we found no arnicas or St. John’s wort for Franc, we returned to the valley much faster than climbing the mountain. Made it back to the house around 4 pm. Joan and Mattie did some gardening. Then we all had a cup of tea together at which point Franc decided he’d teach Joan how to make walnut brandy. Oh, I made Joan stretch so as to prevent sore muscles next day and Franc wisely remained silent, but a look at his ever-smiling face was worth a thousand words. Perhaps he thought we all really needed that brandy, eh? 🙂

Joan and Mattie gardening

Uncle Franc

But first, there was another enjoyable chore to run. We drove off to a lovely place 12 km away with a house for sale that Joan might be interested in:

Pretty House with Potential

The area was lovely. Complete peace and quiet, back to nature sort of environment. The owner’s daughter who was showing us around ran the same charity race as I did – see those T-shirts do serve a purpose 🙂

Upon return to the house, Uncle Franc had us chopping green walnuts in no time.

Chopped green walnuts

After the approximately 35 walnuts were chopped, we put them in a contained and added almost two litres of brandy made by the local fruit growers. We wrapped it tightly and placed in a sunny spot where the mixture (stirred occasionally) will wait and mature for three weeks before other ingredients will be added. These include sugar dissolved in water and sage. Then with a bit of magic, the end product will be wonderfully fragrant and rather strong liquor.

Phew was that a long day or what! We deserved a nice dinner and ended up strolling over to Pri Hrvatu where Joan treated us to a delicious meal and great red wine Cabernet Sauvignon barrique over which we made plans on bottling our own walnut brandy. We have already come up with names and labels. If you’re interested, get in line quickly as this “Vrhunski Orehovec – prva letina” (top quality walnut brandy – first edition) produced by “A & A” (Arh & Amazons) will come in truly limited quantities 🙂

I drove off home to Ljubljana. I hear the ladies woke up feeling good and not broken up from the mountain walk at all (I’ll bet it was the stretching, Franc’s eyes rolling or not!). I hope they come back soon so the Amazons can go back in action!

PS: remember, clicking the images will show you larger versions, but the quality is poor as they were taken with my old cell phone. Will publish Joan’s pics when they come.

Brskam in brskam po računalniku, še vedno v pričakovanju novega fotoaparata. Jonas, skoten poleti 2004, je bil (pazi – izbruh neskromnosti) eden izmed najlepših perzijskih muckov, kar jih je kdaj ugledalo svet v Sloveniji. Na žalost je imel manjšo napako. Od določenih dveh zadevic je imel samo eno. Tako je namesto seksi perzijskih deklet spoznal Žigo, malega moža s posebnimi potrebami. Zgodila se je ljubezen na prvi pogled in interakcija med njima je bila resnično ganljiva. Sčasoma pa je deček razvil alergijo in kljub zlomljenim srcom ni šlo drugače, kot da se je Jonas preselil. Zdaj živi pri super družini na Krasu.

Tri tedne stari Jonas

Pettedenski mačkonček

Jonas pri treh mesecih

Jonas in Žiga

Jonasov 1. rojstni dan

Če mi kdo namigne, kako se s HTMLjem vključi avi datoteko, dobite pa še mini filmček Jonasa z bratcem Idaredom 😉

EDIT – 25/06/07

Po tem, ko sem si snela stiskalnico avijev, ki mi je 30 mega monstrum skrčila na 2 mega in se registrirala na YouTube, prilagam en mini posnetek za hec. Tu sta Jonas in Idared.

…jih objavim še nekaj? 🙂 opisi sledijo…

Na Rdečem trgu. Dedek Mraz? 🙂

* * *

Katedrala sv. Vasilija Blaženega

* * *

Borš in kvas pri Matroški

* * *

Carski top

* * *

Fabergejeva mojstrovina

* * *

Obleka Katarine velike

* * *

Vojščak

* * *

Vernisaž

Ob zadnjem obiskom Moskve decembra 2006 me je med potepanjem po mestu zaneslo tudi v manj opazen muzej v bližini Rdečega trga, “Novo manežo”. V zanimivi zgradbi je bila postavljena obsežna razstava ob pomembni obletnici.

Bolj kot se stvari spreminjajo, bolj ostajajo enake, eh?

Žal fotoaparata nisem imela s seboj, vseeno pa sem napravila nekaj posnetkov s telefončkom:

Kako pomagaš fronti?

* * *

Zelo zanimivo… preberite sami (klik poveča slikico)

* * *

Kaj je fašizem

* * *

Zgodovina se bo ponovila

* * *

Striček Sam a.k.a. rodna mati Rusija

* * *

Po prejšnji petkovi izkušnji sva danes s taisto kolegico končno našli pravo mesto za medslužbeno kosilce. Domačno okolje, zelo prijazna lastnica in super hrana sploh niso slaba kombinacija.

V Čompi na Trubarjevi 40 pripravljajo pečen krompir s prilogami po originalnem bovškem receptu. Cele pečene gomolje krompirja, kot so ga nekoč v žerjavici pekle babice, spremljajo mesne in zelenjavne priloge.

Opravičujem se za slabe fotke, posnete so bile s telefončkom 😉

Pečene bučke z mozzarelo (in seveda v srajčki pečenim krompirjem)

Pečena zelenjava (brez nadaljnjega v spremljavi v srajčki pečenega krompirja)

Zadovoljni gostji!

Skrajno prav nama je prišlo, da sva se z Mišo prej slišali po telefonu (040 542 552), se dogovorili o tem, kaj bi hrustnili, in naju je ob dogovorjenem času že pričakal okusen obrok.

Naslednjič morava poskusiti gobice!

Vsak dan bolj nestrpno pričakujem novi fotoaparat. Moj šestletni se je upehal že davno tega, vseeno pa je bil z menoj že marsikje. Malo sem prebrskala računalnik in našla nekaj fotografij, ki bi bile sicer lahko bistveno lepše, če bi se prej odločila za novo mašinco (ali pa šla na tečaj fotografije?), ampak kljub temu, da niso konkurenčne bubašvabinim, obujajo lepe spomine.

Key West, na primer, je bil nekaj res posebnega. Ne Karibi, ne Amerika. Original. The Conch Republic!

Najjužnejša točka ZDA. Dva pljunka od Kube.

Sončni zahod na Key Westu

Vsi ste slišali za Route 66. Tole pa je št. 1!
Od Key Westa vodi na sever po vsej vzhodni obali ZDA.

Pred nevihto

Srednje pekoče?

Bi, ne bi? Bi, ne bi? Še eno lazanjo, prosim!

Bodoči vudujski pripomoček?

Studying on Šmarna gora – that’s the way to do it

To my friends who’ve expressed a slightly masochistic yet commendable interest in learning the beautiful if not simple language spoken by the two million lucky individuals living on this tiny piece of Earth that nature has been so generous to. And a few more scattered around the world. You guys have my respect. You already know your basic Ps and Qs, so here’s your homework:

1 ena
2 dve (f, n) / dva (m)
3 tri
4 štiri
5 pet
6 šest
7 sedem
8 osem
9 devet
10 deset

11 enajst
12 dvanajst
13 trinajst
14 štirinajst
15 petnajst
16 šestnajst
17 sedemnajst
18 osemnajst
19 devetnajst

(=> najstnik = teenager M; najstnica = teenager F)

20 dvajset
21 enaindvajset (ena-in-dvajset)
22 dvaindvajset (dva-in-dvajset)
23 triindvajset
.
.
.
30 trideset (tri-deset)
31 enaintrideset (ena-in-trideset)
32 dvaintrideset (dva-in-trideset)
.
.
.
40 štirideset
50 petdeset
60 šestdeset
70 sedemdeset
80 osemdeset
90 devetdeset
100 sto

101 sto ena
102 sto dve (f, n), sto dva (m)
.
.
.
200 dvesto (dve-sto)
300 tristo
400 štiristo
.
.
.
1000 tisoč

1001 tisoč ena
1002 tisoč dve
.
.
.
543,678 petsto triinštirideset tisoč šeststo oseminsedemdeset

OK, the Ps and Qs just to keep them fresh in your memory

Prosim – please
Hvala – thank you

Dober dan – good day
Dobro jutro – good morning
Dober večer – good evening

Na svidenje – farewell (a formal bye-bye, e.g. leaving a shop)
Lahko noč – good night

Se vidiva kmalu = We (two) will see each other soon
Se vidimo kmalu = We (three-or-more) will see each other soon

A bonus one:

Še eno, prosim – (I’ll have) another one (f, n), please (e.g. “beer” or “drink”)

class dismissed