nedelja, 21. december 2008

Marko Perković Thompson - Kako Mi Je Teško Noćas

.


Don't know what the video is all about... I just love the song. Very much.

torek, 16. december 2008

Nickelback - Someday

More of Trivium (Shogun)

.
I've listened through their new album (Shogun) and I've come to love it very, very much. It's not the kind of music I generally listen to but some of their ideas on this album are absolutely brilliant.
My favourite song from the album would still be "Down From The Sky" but I am discovering more and more superb material on it every time I listen through it.

They're awesome.


Trivium - Into The Mouth Of Hell We March




Trivium - Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis

The first 40 seconds of this song are pure birlliance.




And of course...


Trivium - Down From The Sky




Enjoy!

torek, 9. december 2008

...and other mumbo jumbo

.
My father had a(nother) heart attack a few days ago.
My best friend died in a climbing accident.
I've managed to completely alienate one of the most precious people in my life.

I'm mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted.


When did life become such a goddamm pain in the ass?

sreda, 3. december 2008

"Guns n' Roses" - Better

A song from "their" (Axel's) new album "Chinese Democracy". I must admitt... I love it.



No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better.

No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better

The hardest part this troubled heart has never yet been through now,
To heal the scars that got their start inside someone like you now,
But had I known or I'd been shown back when how long It'd take me,
To break the charms that brought me harm...
that, all but would erase me

I never would nor thought I could
No matter what you'd pay me
replay the part
You stole my heart
I should have known you're crazy

If all I knew was that with you
I'd want someone to save me
It'd be enough, but just my luck
I fell in love and baby all that I wanted was

Now I know you better
You know I'd know better,
Now I know you better

So bittersweet, this tragedy wont ask for absolution,
This melody inside of me, still searches for solution,
A twist of fate, the change of heart kills my infatuation,
A broken heart provides the spark for my determination.

No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
Ooh, no one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better

All that I wanted was
Now I know you better
You know I know better
Now I know you better

(Solo)

I never wanted you to be so full of anger,
I never wanted you to be somebody else
I never wanted you to be someone afraid to know themselves
I only wanted you to see things for yourself

All that I wanted was
Now I know you better
Now we all know better
All that I wanted was

(Solo)

If I were you, I'd manage to abhore the invitation
Of promised love that can't keep up with your adoration
Just use your head, and in the end you'll find your inspiration
To choose your steps and won't regret this kind of aggravation

No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better

Who da man???


.
I da man!!!

torek, 2. december 2008

No more Mr. Superman?

.
My (selfimposed) tempo is finally catching up with me. Big time. I'm burning out. Literally. For the third time in the past three weeks, I have had a physical melt down. That is, I collapse when I come home. Not lose consciousness but rather drop everything the moment I walk through the door and sleep. Or, another way this happens is, I experience a "being chopped down" feeling - I'm studying or doing whatever and all of a sudden, my body shuts down, leaving me unable to do anything but sleep. Not to mention that, when I experience this feeling, I am having an abnormally hard time climbing up into my bed... About 6 hours of classes and anywhere between 2-4 hours of practicals pretty much every day and up to 30 hours of work every weekend to top it off are "finally" taking their toll.

This week is particularly interesting. So far I've had two exams and a presentation on Monday, have two exams tomorrow, and another exam on Friday. And again... 30 hours of work throughout the weekend... What can I say... life is interesting.

I got lucky at work this Sunday though. Although I was supposed to be the floor manager at the casino I work at, I decided to take advantage of the fact that the place was empty and not much was going on and study at the reception desk. My supervisor noticed this and, as soon as the guy, working a shift that started 2 hours after mine, came to work, told me I could go home. Basically, I was at work for 2 hours instead of the 10 I was supposed to do. And so, while my shift should have ended at 1 am on Monday morning, it ended at 5pm, Sunday afternoon.

Some good has come out of all this though. I earn my own money and I appreciate the time I have to myself so much more. I am still pretty rotten when it comes to finances. I managed to blow most of my first salary within two weeks. Considering I started working in order to buy a new computer, I need to figure out a way to save what I earn...

I am still climbing and am getting into it more and more. And progressing surprisingly fast. While my physicial fittness is nonexistent, the basic climbing skills I mastered in Norway are still there somewhere. It's like ridding a bike I suppose. Once you learn, you can do it for the rest of your life.
I did feel very confused for a while though... about climbing that is... after I learned what happened to Nikos... since at the time I learned this, my evening sessions of climbing were pretty much the only thing that was keeping me sane.

People have been bugging me after Nikos passed away. About how I feel, about how I'm doing... I must admitt I was pretty upset by this. By all the discussions about it. By people leaving R.I.P. comments on his wall on facebook. By the fact that there was a blog made to comemorate him. If people weren't able to appreciate him while he was alive, I found it hypocritical to supposedly do it after his death... Why are people like this? Why am I like this? Why can't we appreciate what we have while we have it? Why does it need to be taken away, before we realise how beautiful and special it was and what an irreplacable role it had in our lives?
If it takes a life of a wonderful human being for certain bonds to be reestablished between people, then I think it is better those bonds remain severed.
One thing that also pushed me off balance (pissed me off) was someone mentioning that he is the 3rd person (of our RCN generation to have died so far). While this is true, I was enraged by the fact that someone could consider a person that was and in many ways still is so close to me as "the 3rd".
Sigh.
I felt guilty that I wasn't better at keeping in touch with him. That's one of the reasons I didn't make cheesy comments on his wall on facebook after he died and didn't want to get into discussions about it and about how I feel.
But inspite of this, somewhere in the back of my head, while he was alive, there was always a possibility. A possibility to see each other, once I'd have enough money to take a trip to Greece. A possibility to write to each other, as we did (both, letters and e-mails), for the first couple of years after graduation. A possibility to see each other at our reunion. And this possibility died with him. And it made me feel empty. To realise that he is gone. For good. No more jokes, letters, discussions about religion, fjord jumping, climbing, smoking together... no more anything.
And while the relationship I was in in Norway, and managed to destroy, hurting someone that is very dear to me, crushed most of my heart to death, his death crushed that little bit that was left.
It took me a few moments to grasp the fact that another one of the people that mean most to me are gone from my life and nothing I can say or do can change that.
This realisation hit me while I was in front of our library. I had learnt of his death while checking my e-mail in the library. And as I walked out, I sat down on a bench and broke into tears...


While life has been pretty difficult these past few weeks, I try to keep my chin up. I am being kept alive by climbing and by people that believe in me.

I need to go. I spent too much time on this. Time I don't have.
But at least I got a few things off my chest.
I need to go study... 3 more exams this week... and I have no intention to, as they say, bend over and accept my destiny...

petek, 28. november 2008

W.A.S.P. - Wild Child

.
I am often told that I can't/shouldn't wonder aimlessly through life and should create a goal to strive for... paint a picture for myself of where I want to be and what I want to accomplish in a certain period of time.
I don't seem to be able to do that since I still haven't figured out what to do with my life.

If I had to give this picture-making thing a shot, the intro scene to this video would be it... Where I'd want to be in, say, 5 years time.

The song itself is... ok. I find the band somewhat cheesy... especially their image. But some of the music is very likeable... at least as far as I'm concerned.


torek, 25. november 2008

ponedeljek, 24. november 2008

Trivium - This World Can't Tear Us Apart

.
Andrlinjek... tale je zate! ;)



I was so empty
Self loathing
Before you awoke me
Lived in transgression
Feasted sin
Destroying all I stood for

A world with spreading disease
Legs up for infidelity
They force feed of their stiffened sickness
They promised hiding their rings
To suck down some of the things
That cheat this world into lovelessness

All the pain in this world won't stop us now
For we have each other
All the hate in this world can't tear us apart
This love is forever

In arms we'll turn away
From their ways
We'll live like no other
Together we're hope
Absolute
The only thing that matters

A world with spreading disease
Legs up for infidelity
They force feed of their stiffened sickness
They promised hiding their rings
To suck down some of the things
That cheat this world into lovelessness

All the pain in this world won't stop us now
For we have each other
All the hate in this world can't tear us apart
This love is forever

All the pain in this world won't stop us now
All the hate in this world can't tear us apart

All the pain in this world won't stop us now
For we have each other
All the hate in this world can't tear us apart
This love is forever

sreda, 12. november 2008

Bon Jovi - Bed Of Roses



Sitting here wasted and wounded
At this old piano
Trying hard to capture
The moment this morning I don't know
'Cause a bottle of vodka
Is still lodged in my head
And some blonde gave me nightmares
I think that she's still in my bed
As I dream about movies
They won't make of me when I'm dead

With an ironclad fist I wake up and
French kiss the morning
While some marching band keeps
Its own beat in my head
While we're talking
About all of the things that I long to believe
About love and the truth and
What you mean to me
And the truth is baby you're all that I need

I want to lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonite I sleep on a bed of nails
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses

Well I'm so far away
That each step that I take is on my way home
A king's ransom in dimes I'd given each night
Just to see through this payphone
Still I run out of time
Or it's hard to get through
Till the bird on the wire flies me back to you
I'll just close my eyes and whisper,
Baby blind love is true

I want to lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonite I sleep on a bed of nails
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses

The hotel bar hangover whiskey's gone dry
The barkeeper's wig's crooked
And she's giving me the eye
I might have said yeah
But I laughed so hard I think I died

Now as you close your eyes
Know I'll be thinking about you
While my mistress she calls me
To stand in her spotlight again
Tonite I won't be alone
But you know that don't
Mean I'm not lonely I've got nothing to prove
For it's you that I'd die to defend

I want to lay you down in a bed of roses
For tonite I sleep on a bed of nails
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is
And lay you down on a bed of roses

sobota, 8. november 2008

Freaky

5 cups of coffee. Now were cookin'.
My heart's pumpin' like an oil rig.
4 hours to go.

petek, 7. november 2008

Shitty Day

Today just keeps getting worse. It's 11pm. I'm at work. 'Til 6am.
I'm tired, hungry, sleepy and sad as hell.
Just had two coffees. Doesn't seem to work.

It's gonna be a long ass night.

Dead

I just learned that my best friend is dead.
The bit of heart I had left just died.

nedelja, 2. november 2008

The Coffee Tester

.
It's quarter to two in the morning. 15 minutes ago, I came home from a 10 hour shift at work, that lasted from 3pm 'til 1am. I lost feeling in my legs about two hours ago. I think I walked at least 10 miles at work today.
I have another 10 hour shift starting at 7am... today. And an exam on Monday, at 7am...
Why do I put myself through all this you ask? Well, I need work because I desperately need money (am tired of being constantly broke)... Am in desperate need of my own PC... Want to take my sweetheart somewhere nice... :P
"Luckily", I managed to arrange that I only work weekends. How does that AC/DC song go? I'm on a highway to hell? With me it's more of a coffee waterfall to hell...

Anyway, on a brighter note, work itself is managable and quite amusing at times. In fact, today, I managed to squeeze two solid hours of rewising for the exam on Monday (I swapped places with one of the other guys, and was studying while working in reception).

I'll tell you the story about the initiation I was put through at work last week some other time, since I am simply too damn tired right now.

Gotta run and get some sleep.

Cheers!

Pink - Who Knew

ponedeljek, 27. oktober 2008

petek, 24. oktober 2008

Blunt

.
No sleep tonight. At all. Went to a party, came home, after about 11 hours of partying, to change clothes and pick up my books, and went straight to classes. Murder. Seemed to be the only one that was actually stupid(?) enough to go to class after the party...

Running on 5 cups of killer coffee. Waiting for her to finish with her classes, so I can see her before she goes home for the weekend.

Had two hours of classes and two hours of (optional!) microscopy for an upcomming exam. Barely survived the two classes (although they were quite interesting). Managed to actually go through a resonable part of microscopic work I had to rewise for the exam.
What did I learn from all this? That microscopy, sleeplessness and a hang over don't mix well.

The party itself was... well... mind blowing. Hadn't been to a party in over a year (school...). And as much as I'm not used to the kind of parties we have here, I was still taken aback... by the indecent and vulgar invitations I'd been given (I don't mind compliments... but my stomach turned)... by a total lack of respect for women... people in general, actually... from... other people ... By things people are willing to put themselves through just so they can say they were at some stinking party. I guess I just didn't have all that much to drink... Or am extremely outdated in my views on... morals, for starters (as modern as random fucking around seems to be these days, I find it impossible to accept it as something normal, or ok, or whatever the hell it is to seemingly most other people). Interestingly, while I never was into the whole "let's get wasted" kind of partying to begin with, I now stopped going with it completely... It's just stupid. And sad... that the only thing that you can talk about after a party is the different shades of hammered you and people around you experienced.

This post is messed up. I have a good excuse though. I'm completely bent out of shape. Gonna sleep like a baby tonight... or maybe not... because of all the damn coffee. Naaah... could always sleep... right after drinking coffee, even... why should this time be any different.

All in all, I have a messed up semester in front of me. By what I can gather, the most difficult semester in this damn place. So far, I've been doing pretty damn fantastic (for real). But the difficult stuff is still ahead of me... Plus, I start my job next month. Gonna work the weekends. To earn some money. Since I'm constantly broke.

The partying is out of my system until further notice, so I'm back, ready to blow minds and rock.

That's it from me... for now. And considering my schedule for the next few months... for a while.

Lots o' love!

nedelja, 19. oktober 2008

Siddharta!

.
Obsessed much?

Napoj


Ring


Definately!

petek, 17. oktober 2008

F.U.B.A.R.

On one hand, I've found a solution to a problem that's been weighing heavily on my shoulders for years.
On the other hand, the situation this solution is supposed to solve has been fucked up beyond all recognition a long time ago.

What to do?

Oh... and one of the songs I posted from Trivium... Down From The Sky... I'm more in love with it every time I hear it.

Cheers!

torek, 7. oktober 2008

The wisdom of microbiology

.
What's the difference between herpes and love?

Love doesn't last forever...

nedelja, 5. oktober 2008

Trivium

.
Dying In Your Arms


Anthem (We Are The Fire)


Pull Harder On The String Of Your Martyr


The Rising


Down From The Sky
(I particularly love the intro in this song)


Rain


Requiem
(only audio on this one...)


Kirisute Gomen
(on this one as well...)

četrtek, 2. oktober 2008

The definition of indifference:

Smoking during the break between pathology classes on lung emphysema.

Epilogue:
Jure (merrily smoking): My alveoli are not ruptured!
Roman (also merrily smoking) breaks into laughter.
Jure (after 5 minutes of coughing): That's from the flu!

And thus the saga continues.

petek, 26. september 2008

Foo Fighters - Let It Die

Might have posted this song before... couldn't find a better video... Just listen to the song...

nedelja, 21. september 2008

Andrew W. K. - We Want Fun

Guess what?



That's exactly right!!!

četrtek, 18. september 2008

Puddle Of Mudd - Blurry

I tried posting this song earlier but I couldn't find a video that could be imbeded, so I posted an acoustic version and a link to the original song itself. So, this time, here's (again) another song I am very fond of.

Enjoy!

ponedeljek, 15. september 2008

Sunrise Avenue - Fairytale Gone Bad

A wonderful song.




Subtitle
- Miracle

I think what happened today could qualify as a miracle. In the past week I had two quite difficult exams for which I spent the past 4 months studying for... intensely.
Against all odds, I seem to will have passed both of them (I still have an oral left to pass the last one).

I am mostly surprised that I achieved a good score on the written part of the second exam, since I only had a week between the oral part of the first one (for most exams here you first have a written exam and, if you pass that, you have to do an oral for that same exam, which, ironically, even if you achieve a good score on the written part, is failable...), 'til the written part of the second one... to rewise for the second exam.

I get the schedule for orals tomorrow and the orals themselves start on Wednesday. Once that's over I'll most likely spend a couple of days destroying my liver and afterwards, with the begining of Octobre, the new school year starts.

So, again, in the words of Dexter... study now, party later.

Cheers!

sobota, 13. september 2008

Black Stone Cherry - Blind Man

I am getting bored with the music I'm currently listening to, so I'm desperately looking for something new and different... this looks promissing... for now.

četrtek, 4. september 2008

sreda, 3. september 2008

Stone Sour - Through Glass

Believe it or not, the singer and one of the guitarists are from Slipknot...

torek, 2. september 2008

Yves La Rock - Rise Up

This video had a lot to do with me falling in love with this song...

ponedeljek, 1. september 2008

Foo Fighters - The Last Song

Incoherent

I have been warned recently that some of the videos I post are taken down from youtube or become unavailable for some reason and consequentially can't be accessed from the blog either.
So I figured out, I should put in more effort and write the titles of the videos, in case people want to check them out but can't do so through the links on this blog.

I haven't been posting much lately... and the posts I do put up are more or less videos. That's simply because I'm quite busy and have been feeling quite down lately... or perhaps lost would be a better word to describe it. Lost because I can't seem to be able to figure out what to do with my life. And this confusion is affecting just about every single aspect of my life. I can't concentrate, I can't clear my mind and most tiresome of all, I can't stop thinking about the past, asking myself that one question I hoped I'd never have to - "What if...?". I keep having the most freakazoid dreams that keep me up at night and most of them seem to be about one place and one person (If you are reading this: Yes! I still haven't come to terms with the way things turned out! And I hope and prey to God every day I will soon, because I don't know how much more of this torture I can take!). Combine this with all the pressure I am under because of all the school work, and from my family, also regarding school, and I am in a situation in which I don't know how much longer I can last.
It's like being a mouse, trapped in one of those hamster wheels, chased by a cat. If you stop, you die but if you'll have to keep running much longer, you'll die as well. Plus, there's the constant pressure of not running fast enough...

But then again. As they say, another day, another dollar... And you got to earn that damn dollar, in order to remain... alive. Or, as Dexter would repeat to himself: "Study now, party later."
I'm just worried that once this seemingly endless ammount of work and stress is over, I won't have enough juice in me left to party... or do anything else for that matter.

Over and out.

sreda, 13. avgust 2008

Joe Satriani - Down Down Down

.
Describes feeling shitty quite well.



And boy do I...

torek, 12. avgust 2008

Visitors

.
A group of people I haven't seen since high school graduation is comming to visit.


Billy Joel - And So It Goes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELB6NxrZ7A

sobota, 9. avgust 2008

četrtek, 7. avgust 2008

sobota, 2. avgust 2008

sobota, 26. julij 2008

četrtek, 24. julij 2008

A beautiful, beautiful song!

Someone very dear to me just reminded me of this song...



You only get to live once, so CARPE DIEM!

sreda, 23. julij 2008

NAJ SE TREEESSSEEEEE!!! :D



Siddharta - T.H.O.R.

To je ta kraj brez porazov
tu ni več praznih obljub
ni obnemelih izrazov
sledi obdobje miru

Ne bomo pili le vode
in jedli same soli
izbrisane vse tegobe
samo veselje zori

Za nas
Skrbi
Dovolj
Krvi
Predan
Ponos
Zavest
V nas

Kdor gleda...

Kdor gleda nas iz pekla
naj vidi kdo je del neba
nikdar nas več ne boli
doma na zemlji èudežni

Ne kdaremo več bogatim
sami postajamo to
nobenih bojev predati
ne bo potrebno jih ne bo

Prenehala je morija
izginilo je to zlo
začela se je idila
začelo se je lepo

Kdor gleda...

Kdor gleda nas iz pekla
naj vidi kdo je del neba
nikdar nas več ne boli
doma na zemlji čudežni

sreda, 9. julij 2008

Blaze Bayley

I was recently introduced to Blaze Bayley. Now, for all of you who don't know who he is, go find out who Iron Maiden are, go buy all their CDs (it's a must have, if you want to call your CD collection a good one) and amongst those you should be able to find a couple of albums of theirs that were done with yours truely - Blaze Bayley.

My oppinion has always been that Iron Maiden's music was made for the vocals of Bruce Dickinson and that his vocals were made for their music (although I do like some of his solo work) and I have come to see that many people agree with that oppinion. As a result, Blaze Bayley, singing old Iron Maiden songs while Bruce was away, didn't seem to be very welcome amongs Iron Maiden fans (alhtough I do agree that the songs written by Iron Maiden, while Blaze was with them, suit his vocals very well).

So, as I was saying, a friend of mine recently reintroduced me to Blaze and his solo stuff. And since this is my blog and I use it to write whatever it is I feel like writing, I want to use this fine opportunity to say that I love his solo work quite much.

P.S. : Youtube is amazing.

Cheers!

nedelja, 6. julij 2008

Mr. Big - Dancing Right Into The Flame

One of my favourite songs from one of my favourite bands...
There's no video for the song. The link is just audio with some pics of Mr. Big album covers...

Enjoy.



All alone in the twilight
I'm a shadow in the room
Time is my companion
But it turned its back too soon
Imagination will take me anywhere I want to go
But with my ballerina
Both of us lost in a-
Love light from an old Roman candle
Midnight won't be the same
When I close my eyes
We're dancin' right into the flame
The pciture is fading
Like a vision from my soul
Nothing left but a memory
In the silver afterglow
She may be gone, but not forgotten
Inside my heart, yeah-
But with my ballerina
Both of us lost in a-
Love light from an old Roman candle
Midnight won't be the same
When I close my eyes
We're dancin' right into the flame
My mind seems to wander away
And play me like a fool
I wish it could be like the way it was
'Cause life can be so cruel
But with my ballerina
I live in a dream of a-
Love light from an old Roman candle
Midnight won't be the same
When I close my eyes
We're dancin' right into the flame
Love light from an old Roman candle
Midnight won't be the same
When I close my eyes
We're dancin' right into the flame

petek, 4. julij 2008



I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away

It's more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
till I see Marianne walk away
I see my Marianne walkin' away

So many people have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
Yet I still recall as I wander on
As clear as the sun in the summer sky

It's more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
'till I see Marianne walk away
I see my Marianne walkin' away

When I'm tired and thinking cold
I hide in my music, forget the day
And dream of a girl I used to know
I closed my eyes and she slipped away
She slipped away, she slipped away

It's more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
'till I see Marianne walk away
I see my Marianne walkin' away

No internet

A quick update. Our internet's been down due to modem faliure for the past few days. The problem is now fixed, modem replaced and I'm back 0nline.

A lot of news since my last update, but I don't feel like spending all that much time on this right now.

What am I up to?
Working at our weekend place, helping build a roof extension, playing Travian and being lazy for the time being. Waiting for ljubavi to come back here. Being bored.

nedelja, 22. junij 2008

Foo Fighters - What If I Do?



Back and forth that voice of yours
keeps me up at night
Help me search to find the words
that eat you up inside
I go side to side like the wildest tides
in your hurricane
And I only hide what is on my mind
because I can't explain

What if I do love?
What if I don't?
I'd have to lose everything just to find you
What if I do love?
What if I don't?
I'd have to lose everything just to find you

It's my turn this soul won't burn so throw me in the fire
Trophies earned and lessons learned,
from wicked little lies
We can pave new roads with cold gravestones,
wind them through the pines
Should I stay or should I go alone?
I cannot decide

What if I do love?
What if I don't?
I'd have to lose everything just to find you
What if I do love?
What if I don't?
I'd have to lose everything just to find you

Carolina, Caroline
Carolina, Caroline

What if I do love?
What if I don't?
I'd have to lose everything just to find you
What if I do love?
What if I don't?
I'd have to lose everything just to find you

Carolina, Caroline
Carolina, Caroline
Carolina, Caroline
Carolina, Caroline

petek, 13. junij 2008

LET'S ROCK!!!

One of my favourite riffs of all time from one of my favourite movies (Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey).

nedelja, 8. junij 2008

sobota, 7. junij 2008

sreda, 4. junij 2008

The Journey Through Time

The present becomes the past.
The past becomes a memory.
The memory becomes a dream.
The dream fades away.

Everlasting love fades away.
Soul mates become strangers.
Love and friendship turns into awkward silence.

Unless you make sure
that the present will be a part of your future.

torek, 27. maj 2008

The Bobcat Digger

NOTE: Picture not taken by me... taken from some other website... not the actual Bobcat digger I got a chance to use. Looks exactly like it though.


I drove a digger yesterday. Did some digging and loading with it too. I think I did well considering it was the first time I did anything remotely similar (if you don't take driving a fork lift into account).
How, you ask?


Opening scene:

A cool summer's day. Evening is approaching (late afternoon). Clear sky. Sunshine. A weekend place. Two strapping men carrying boulders around. Sweating substantially. Seems like they're trying to clean up a strip of land of rocks and rubble. One younger, in his twenties, one older, reaching 50. A truck carrying a digger is seen slowly making it's way through the forrest, up a slope, towards the weekend place.


Scene 1:

The owner of the diggger unloads the machine, equips it with the bigger of the two "spoons" he brought with him for the digger, cleaning up rubble as instructed by the older of the two men, previously clearing rubble manually. He's loading the dirt and the rocks onto his truck, previously used to transport the digger, which he, when full, unloads a few meters away, using the material to level the terrain.


Scene 2:

The owner of the digger suggests he has one of his employees come back later with his digger to finish the job.
The jounger of the two men, previously carrying rocks arround, suggests, in a humorous manner, he could finish the job himself in about 15 minutes.
The owner of the digger, not being clear, if he's amused, annoyed or just tired from a long day at work... or all of the above, accepts the humorous remark as a challenge and decides to give the strapping young lad a go at it (the owner was later decided, by that strapping young lad, to must have been temporarily insane, to say the least).


Scene 3:

Ironically, the kid cleans up the rest of the mess within 15 minutes without causing any damage to the "log cabin", the digger or the truck he was loading (...pure ownage).


Note to self:

1. word "previously" used too much in scene 1
2. sentences too long and complicated
3. too lazy to correct/rewrite


Epilogue:

It took a few mintues to master the monster... the two joysticks used to manipulate the "spoon", the joints and the rotation of the digger around it's axis (2 joysticks, each has two functions).
It would take years to master it as well as the owner (what he could do with the thing was simply sick... Darth-Vader-Yoda-master-jedi-using-the-force kind of stuff).
Driving around is fun, since you control each of the two caterpillar wheels separately (... for steering).
There is a sort of a "sweeper" placed in front of the digger (see pic) that can be lifted up or lowered down and is used to balance the machine on unlevel terrain and/or to push stuff around in front of the digger.
It doesn't have a milage meter, it measures it's useage in actual ammount of time (hours, minutes...) it has been used.
It's fun.


Note to self 2:

1a. knowledge of english deteriorating at an alarming rate
1b. start reading books in english to improve and reach former master jedi english skills
2a. would help you in school as well, considering that in the 17 years our country has been independent, there hasn't been a single expert in most of the fields we have to cover in different classes, that would have sat down and wrote a peace of educational literature in our own language and according to the demands of the class he/she is teaching (most of our literature is in english). The few classes that have literature available in our own language, generally have that literature additionally equipt with a booklet including all the (gross) mistakes that can be found within it.
2b. annoying...


Lessons of the day:

The beauty of life can be found in many little things that don't always capture one's attention at first glance.
People don't seem to want to do things, if the only purpose of those things is to help other people (out), without any personal (financial or other) gain (refering to Note to self 2, point 2a).



Peace out,
Spawn

nedelja, 25. maj 2008

Eurovision 2008

I believe no comment is neccessary. There even were a couple of decent songs. And the one that won was... well... never mind.

Here are two songs I liked:





Good night.

četrtek, 22. maj 2008

Another proper update

Well, I haven't done any proper posting here for a while, and that's due to the fact that I've burried myself into booklets and books and charts and graphs and diagrams and pictures of limbs, disected under different angles and at different locations.
What can I say? I have two exams left, and if I finish them by the end of June, I'm free for the summer, which would be the first time I'd have a free summer since I started college. And damn do I want to have a free summer.
That might sound odd, due to the fact that I'll most probably spend the summer working... to earn money, but I'm getting tired of constantly not having any money and so I figured the way to solve that was to, well, get a job... or two.


Other than that, my designing things have progressed quite a bit. The mansion I was drawing got set back a little when my SmartDraw trial version expired, but soon afterwards I realised that I can download models for Google 3D Sketchup (like furniture and stuff... all drawn up and ready to use... and in 3D) and since I was more fond of Google 3D Sketchup to begin with, I can only say screw Smart Draw, and I promise that I'll upload my work once exams are done and over and no more.

Another novelty item is my newly acquired obssesion for owning and fixing up that same kind of car I drove in the post about the infamous road trip. Since they're not exactly expensive this obsession might actually come true for a change.

Lastly, I might have mentioned I'm into motorcycles. Not that much of a big deal. The big deal for me is the idea I have for the kind of motorcycle I would be happy to own. I was thinking about posting some sketches of that as well but so far it seems like it'd be a complicated thing to draw in Google Sketch so that might not happen. Or maybe it will. We'll see.


That'd be pretty much it for now. Life is stressfull and busy, as it has been for years now but everything comes at a price. And considering that there's not all that much I can complain about at this point in my life, I guess stress and an intimidating ammount of studying is an easy price to pay.

Until next time: Take care of and love one another. Oh, and eat healthy. And try to excercise a bit. It does wonders for your brain's oxygen supply... and your figure... and your weight... not good for your joints though... but I guess plusses outnumber the minusses... so go for it.
And don't stress out over things that don't deserve it. And don't be afraid to be yourself... and... Do better things with your time than reading this blog. ;)

Best song ever!



Knjigu piše vitez roda moga
U dalekoj zemlji okovan
Pa je šalje svojoj vjernoj ljubi
Pod zidine grada bijeloga.

Ej, ljube moja, moga oka vilo
Idu dani, ode godina
Da uza me nije tvoje tilo
I da su me braća izdala.

Sude mi, zato što svoje volim
Volim najviše, što sam branio
Moje najdraže.
Sude mi , dušmani moja ljube
Ali ne znaju da je istina,
Voda duboka.

Ej, djeco mila, vite grane moje
Upamtite što vam govorim
Ej k'o ne ljubi i ne čuva svoje
Božjeg lica neće vidjeti.

Sude mi, zato što svoje volim
Volim najviše, što sam branio
Moje najdraže.
Sude mi, dušmani moja ljube
Ali ne znaju da je istina,
Voda duboka.

sreda, 21. maj 2008

ponedeljek, 19. maj 2008

petek, 16. maj 2008

sreda, 14. maj 2008

torek, 13. maj 2008

nedelja, 11. maj 2008

Gastarbeiter weekend and Fićo-trip

Wooohooo! A badass end of a badass week!

I spent this Friday and Saturday working at our weekend place (pouring concrete foundations for a roof extension (if that's what it's called in english) that is going to be put up soon, for those that want to know).
It was a learning and a frustrating experience.

Learning because I had only done this once before (foundations for a field toilet, or as we call it in Slovene, "WC na štrbunk" which would translate into something in the whereabouts of "free fall toilet"). My brother and my dad were in charge of preparing the concrete and I was in charge of building the wooden model that the concrete is poured into.

Pic 1: Left side of the pic: The two concrete foundations for the wooden pillars that will carry the roof extension. On top of the foundations, the wooden models, filled with concrete. The one in the back was the first one made (the one that split). In the front left, the second one, heavily reinforced.

What did I learn? That concrete is a sneaky and powerful m***** f*****. If you don't construct your model properly it gets bent (if you're lucky) or split wide open on top of that, as if it were made of paper and not 1,5 inch wood... which was the frustrating part of the experience. Why? Well, the model was about 25 by 25 cm and 40 cm high. It took a lot of time to position it properly and make sure it was standing perfectly upright. And once it was positioned right, and we started to pour in the concrete, the whole thing started falling apart. Not because it was constructed poorly, but rather because the wood used for it was, as it turned out, in really bad shape.
Heck, the concrete was already half way in, so what to do? Reinforce the model on the spot, which resulted in shifting it out of position...
I did learn my lesson for the second one we did though. Made it indestructable. Don't know how we're gonna remove it once the concrete is dry but at least it won't split like the first one did.

That was the gastarbeiting.

After the work was over, arrangements for lunch turned into a party that lasted pretty much all night long (barbecue, lots of alcohol... that sort of a thing). Before the party started, being starved and realising that the supposed lunch will most likely be a dinner, I went to take a nap.

Pic 2: An improvised fireplace/grill.

Waking up, I was told that my dad and a guy that is helping us out with the work prepared a surprise for me. The surprise was a red Fićo as it is called in my language. A small, red beautiful excuse of a car. So I took it for a test run... that turned into a road trip. That turned into a legend.

Pics 3&4: The beaute.

So, the roadtrip:
I realised whether I wanted it or not, I was stuck at our weekend place to attend the party, since I couldn't drive home: If I took our car home, I had to come back, since my mom wanted to stay at the party for a while but had to go home later, since she had to go to work in the morning. If I took the fićo home, I had to come back, since it doesn't belong to me.
In the end, I took my brother home with the fićo, picked up my sweetheart and my sister at home and drove back. Later we drove home with our car...












































Pics 5-8:
Road tripping.

To make something clear, this particular car dates back to 1985, so it's not exactly a kind of car you get to see on the road every day. It has 4 gears and a maximum speed of about 100 km/h. The engine is in the back, the fuel tank in the front. The pedals are a bit too close together but that is because they are next to the left front tire. The safety belts have a fixed length (which sux, if you weigh over about 90kg). No servo stearing. Does about 150 km on one tank of fuel.
Feels like you're travelling at light speed even at low speeds.
All in all, pure fun.

The car itself draws a lot of attention... obviously. Honking, waving and smiles. The one person, who's inescapable attention it captured most, was the driver we passed on the way back. He gazed with his mouth wide open, while a small lunch box of a car was giving it its fullest to pass him at its glorious 90 km/h.

Last but not least, I will never forget the look on my sweetheart's face, when she realised, I wasn't kidding about comming to pick her up with a fićo.


ponedeljek, 5. maj 2008

Stressed?

Are you stressed? Have trouble concentrating? Can't sleep properly? Feeling down?
Well, there are several things you can do: sports, meditation, medication... Not having time to do sports or meditate, I do... medication.
Seems to be helping. We'll see.

sobota, 3. maj 2008

petek, 2. maj 2008

Music

To me music is a link to the past. Honestly, I don't think I could name a favourite band... a band that is constantly on my playlist. I think the band that got the closest to being it was and still is Iron Maiden.
By a link to the past I mean that my favourite music changes constantly. I fall in love with a band and with their music for a week or two and listen to nearly nothing but that band. After that, I hear something else that immediately attracts me and move on to that, and so on and so forth.
The connection to the past is established when I listen to that music after the period of unreasonable craze takes place. It immediately flings me into the time period during which I was into that particular band and sometimes even recalls a specific memory, which, for me, can be quite an adventure, since I don't have the best of memories.
But a familiar melody doesn't neccessarily evoke a memory. Sometimes, which I believe is a more common response amongst people that like listening to music, it evokes a feeling. Not in a way that listening to a sad songs makes me sad and so on but rather recreating a feeling I felt at some point in the past, while listening to that song.

I think one of my favourite songs of all time would be Wasted Years by Iron Maiden. When it goes off, I am taken back into that bus, making its way to Flekke through the night, on those small Norweigan roads. It brings back the excitement of something new to come. The expectation of a great adventure and at the same time the saddness at leaving the old life behind for an indefinite ammount of time. This description might sound sad but I think nostalgia is the preffered term I would use here, not saddness. The kind of nostalgia that lead into a lot of both beautiful and painful moments.

The music I am currently listening to is Jimmy Eat World.
Here's links to some of their songs I like:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Eh5Ww01cg
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZD8Dnd40EF8
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AViBFyyBSG0
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wU3KBI5qyEY&feature=related

P.S.: Just realised that my trial version of Smart Draw expired. Need to come up with another way of finishing my project. Annoying.

nedelja, 27. april 2008

Poker


Turns out that, somehow, I'm pretty decent at it. Which I don't really understand. I told people I can't bluff, no one believed me and so I kept winning. I must admitt though... I was pretty lucky... beginners luck and all that I suppose. I say that because once I got to know the game a bit better (we played Texas Holdem), I realised what kind of crazy bets I was making... But it was still sweet to see those bets come through.
All in all, I spent a lovely evening yesterday, in the company of a few chaps I am quite fond of, playing poker, eating pizza and chips (with dip!), listening to great music... and lots of laughs. Good semi-healthy fun (had a bit too much food and beer...). The fun lasted until about 2am. But I still managed to get myself out of bed by 9, so that's a good start of a promising day.

Off to studying.

Picture taken from:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-oldwest/Poker1882EganSaloonBurnsOR-500.jpg

sobota, 26. april 2008

The neverending story

Everyone has their own crosses to bear. That's a fact. Some people are lucky to find someone that appreciates and understands them enough to try and help them carry their cross. And some people are even luckier, for the feeling is mutual. But sometimes as true as these feelings might seem, with some people it turns out to be no more than an illusion. Not neccessarily because one of the two is lying, or pretending but simply because human beings seem to be very good at not understanding one another, or not caring to understand.
I am not a conflict person. By that I mean that I often try to ignore problems, instead of dealing with all the difficulties that arise when you decide to solve them. The problem with this is that while the conscious mind may succeed in persuading itself that a certain problem does not exist, the subconscious mind never manages to do so. And so, as a psychologist might tell you, all these unresolved issues pile up in ones subconsciousness. This occasionally results in emotional meltdowns. This portrays itself as outbursts of strong, usually negative emotions that rarely have a solid foundation... in other words... you lose it for no reason whatsoever.
This, in itself, would not be a problem. I mean, everyone has to blow of some steam sooner or later in one way or another. The problem arises in the fact that I generally don't lash out in private, or over random people but around people that I care about and that supposedly care about me, hoping that they would manage to understand, and believing that, unlike random people, they wouldn't bail out while I go through these painful moments.
Painfully enough, it seems impossible to find someone that understands. Even when you try your best to explain your predicament. So, more or less all the time, what people percieve is a generally acceptable person (meaning myself) ranting over some rediculously pointless issue.
The climax of this whole thing is that no matter how much someone claims to care about you, sooner or later, they grow weary of putting up with these outbursts and the discomfort that they are put through by them. In other words, you manage to hurt people you care about most and alienate them in a way you never thought possible, that being the last thing you ever wanted.
So basically, you grow fond of someone and perhaps even develop romantic feelings towards them. And while in the begining of a relationship you reveal what you believe to be your strengths to someone, in time, as you learn to trust someone, you open up your weaknesses as well, hoping they will be accepted along with your strenghts. The problem is, that the relationship gains a great deal of its momentum based solely on the strenghts of the people involved and often enough it seems to lose all that momentum once the weaknesses begin revealing themselves.
I find one of the most difficult situations to deal with in life to be when you have faith in the fact that someone seems to know you, understand you and care about you enough to complement you (by that I mean, thriving on your strenghts but at the same time being able to deal with your weaknesses and through that help you out through your downs) and be complemented by you and then realising that all that faith seems to have been wildly naive.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that just like most people do, I am trying to find someone that I'll be able to make happy and will be able to make me happy and at the same time know the difference between me bitching at the spoon being in the fork drawer because I am actually bothered by it and me bitching at the spoon being in the fork drawer because I am troubled by other things, those other things sometimes being hard to understand and put a finger on even by myself.
The thing that I fear while pondering about this is that because of going through this cycle of trust and ultimately alienation so many times, I might have lost the naiveness and faith it takes to open myself completely to someone, giving that someone a chance to prove their words. I fear that I thus might have that special someone right in front of my nose but am failing to see it.

Hopefully, at some point, I will learn to cope with conflict situations better than I do now. Hopefully, I will eventually manage to channel my subconscious furstrations in ways that won't hurt other people.
Hopefully, at some point, as a result of those two, I eventually won't have any frustrations left to chanel and I'll just be able to be the awesome person I generally am.

petek, 25. april 2008

Architect wannabe

I spend a lot of my time using Google 3D Sketchup and SmartDraw. I have the free version of Sketchup that can be obtained online at http://sketchup.google.com/, while SmartDraw is only a trial version that can be used for 7 days before it expires and can be dowloaded for free from
http://www.smartdraw.com/specials/smartdraw.asp?id=104640&gclid=CJiMz9rw9ZICFQ-lQwodTHQZDw.
While Google's 3D Sketchup is quite an enjoyable experience, I am finding SmartDraw to be quite annoying and nerve wrecking at times (I guess I am being a perfectionist to the extreme here...). Especially once you're used to Sketchup and it's simple use and spot on precision.

So I am making a furniture study using the 3D Sketchup, it's purpose being conservation of space. I'll try to post that once I am fully finished drawing all the models that are floating around my head.
Apart from that, I got a really neat idea for a house (it's slightly insane... sizewise in particular) and am nearly done SmartDrawing an estimate of the ground floor. I'm posting it here now and I guess I'll post the SmartDraw sketch of the second floor and the Google 3D Sketchup sketch of the outside of the house (from different angles) sometimes later (quite later probably, since my final exams are coming up faster than they should be).

As promised, the ground SmartDraw sketch of the ground floor:















I guess I can't convert SmartDraw sketches into jpg. files, so this export-to-Word-copy-paste-to-paint-save-as is the best I can do.
As you might have noticed, the kitchen arrangement still needs work and since I'm tired, out of ideas, and need to go study I'll just finish it some other time.
I just hope all the elements in the sketch are visible enough and make sense.

A joke ending:
A burglar broke into a house one night.
He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables; and when he picked up a CD player to place in his sack, a strange, disembodied voice echoed from the dark saying, "Jesus is watching you."
He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze.
When he heard nothing more after a bit, he shook his head and continued.
Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he heard, "Jesus is watching you."
Freaked out, he shined his light around frantically, looking for the source of the voice.
Finally, in the corner of the room, his flashlight beam came to rest on a parrot.
Did you say that?" He hissed at the parrot.
"Yep," the parrot confessed, then squawked, "I'm just trying to warn you."
The burglar relaxed. "Warn me, huh? Who in the world are you?"
"Moses," replied the bird.
"Moses?" the burglar laughed . "What kind of people would name a bird Moses?"
"The kind of people that would name a Rottweiler Jesus."

(taken from http://www.amazingjokes.com)