The Macedonian

Today the world lost a visionary, and a part of it's soul. Steve Irwin, or more commonly known as the "Croc Hunter", died today as a result of a Sting Ray's sting. His life was an example of selflessness and energy that will live on forever.

Recently I found out that Zorba, the famous caracter from the movie "Zorba the Greek", was actualy a real live person! On the tv show where I first heard this (it's run on TV Telma it's called "Vrti suci toa ti e Skopje", english "Twist it turn it that's Skopje") didn't say much about him except that he lived out his last twenty years here in my home town Skopje like a boheme, regularly visiting the most popular "kafani"-restourants, and that his final resting place is on the city's cemetary!!! Yap, maybe you knew this but this was very new and sort of important for me since such a famous person lived here and i've never heard of him (shame on me...or on the city authorities, THE MAYOR TO BE EXACT). Anyway I guess all of you have seen the movie with Anthony Quinn, but I doubt that any has read the book. From what I've read the book might have a diferent storry to tell. Here is the link of the page where you can read an interesting theory on the matter and afterwards judge for your self, who was zorba and did it even matter to him?! Feel free to give your opinion on the matter (after reading the article which i mentioned), I sence a great discusion here :).

I'm of to by the book... if I can find it.

Some of the pictures are from the "four white walled" room we had and some from the city's pier. No top quality howerver since I took them with my phone, sorry.

At the beginning I must say that I made an effort to write this (about three or four days ago) but just as I came to the end I accidentally pressed the back button on my mouse and... well all was lost, so I got a bit (an understatement) annoyed and decided to do it later, and that later is, well now.

So to get to the thing I'm writing about :). As most of you that regularly read my information and article full blog (I guess this would be an overstatement) know the first of may is a BIG holiday here in the Balkans, mostly because we are very sleep loving people that know when is enough work and we know exactly when to take a break so a two day holiday is never too much. Come to think of it we truly are special kind of people. We have no problem using all day to rest and relax, I mean just living here is tiring let alone working. What UNESCO should do is proclaim Balcanians an endemic species. I bet that the most bohemian, hedonistic man in the world would be somewhere from our loving peninsula. So after realizing that apart form the wars, ethnic tensions, and people trafficking, life here is one big holiday, I'll get back to my original point.

So the first of may came (and by now went) and me and my buddies went to a lovely town called Ohrid (I think you'll find this name pretty familiar) to get our much needed rest and to catch up on our beauty sleep. Taking a buss from Skopje (where we all live) we had a very plesent 4 hour trip to Ohrid, stopping at a place called Straza to take a leak and to eat a couple of the irresistible Mekici (I won't even bother to describe it I'll just say It's delicious and vegetarian - ED :) ).
Ohrid is a very beautiful and history full town with a special feeling to it which you can easily sense but can't explain, it's sort of mystical but in a very pleasant way, but wasn't very inviting when we arrived since dark clouds had occupied the sky above it which clearly meant there won't be any barbecue (that is a must do for all Macedonians on the first of may). We unwillingly accepted the fact that we'll be on burgers instead of barbecue, and went on to see the room we rented by phone (which to be honest costed us next to nothing). I won't lie and say it was a palace because it was just a plain four white walled room with five somewhat comfortable beds, a tiny kitchen and a bathroom. Actually it wasn't a bathroom bathroom, rather a small hall with a shower (no tub or cabin) a sink and the magificent toilet. As simple as it may sound it was all we needed. After unpacking and settling in, we went to get supplies, bier and some cheap wine for the boys, and mineral water, expensive toilet paper, lots of veggies and fruit, and some more of the cheap wine for the girls. Happy and satisfied we decided to get the night on and we let the wine flow. Slightly under the influence we went to see the beautiful landmarks, which look especially beautiful at night, and on the way we met almost everyone from our school so it turned out to be a very fun night. As the evening draw to a close we found ourselves in a bakery blowing on a hot 1/4 of burek in our hands, trust me there is nothing better than getting some burek early in the morning/ late in the evening.
The next day was by far better than we expected. The best thing was the fact that the sun was shining and not much was left of the dark clouds I was telling you about which meant that we would have barbecue after all. We gathered our financial advisors and we all made a donation to the barbecue fund. All set and ready to go (we had the meat, coal, water, coke and beer) we faced an unusual problem, we didn't know where to set up camp. The local hill seemed as a good idea but when we got to it a big sign stating "National Park Galicica" made us reconsider and we kept one searching. After half an hour of sweting and puling bags arround we found the perfect spot where we decided to settle. Shortly after the plesent smell of tasty kebap, steak and barbaque sausage started to tempt us so I had to slap everybody on their hands if we were to have a proper lunch. Finaly the moment came when all was ready and we all enjoyed having lunch in such a peacefull and green place, with buterflies flying arround and birds singing ahhhh a moment to remember. The night was also magnificant. A very popular Macedonian singer, Vlado Janevski, had a gig in the local club so naturaly we went and we had a blast, despite the fact that the avarige waiting time on the doors was about 45 minutes! After the show we stroled down town for some hot burek and tired but happy wnet to sleep at around 5:30 in the morning.
Next day was departure day so all that we did was sit in a cafee and enjoying the beautiful weather and the very tasty cofee. When we got on the bus for Skopje we were pretty sleepy so I didn't notice when we arrived back untill I felt the buss stoping about a km from the bus stop and the drver saying "People I'm very sorry but the buss broke down. Anotherone is comeing so just wait and be patient." what luck I thought, but then I looked out the window and noticed that we were just next to my building, now what do you say about that?! So I said my goodby's with my friends, picked up my ludgedge and before you now it I was being bombarded with questions like "How was it?" "Did you have any toruble?" "Did you have enough money?" and that sort of mom and dad questions :). Politely refusing to answer any I got in bed and resumed my paused sleep.

PS. Since I can't add pictures (I don't know why) with this post I'll put them in another one.

Me and my lil' dog Snuci

Below are a few pictures and they are:
1. Skopje's city square
2. Skopje at night seen from the top of mountain Vodno
3. Me and my uncle Bube (Ljubomir) at the top of mountain Vodno
4. The Millennium Cross on the top of mountain Vodno, built in 2001 as a symbol of the 2000 years of Christianity, and over the Millennium old Christian tradition in Macedonia.

Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop....I'm THE SCATMAN!!!!! That's how my day started today, I got up around 8 AM, the scatman and the sun outside woke me up! Although it's about a degree above 0 Celsius the weather outside is very bright and sunny! Usually on Sundays I go with my uncle on the near mountain Vodno and climb to the peak (not very high but very rewarding once you get there and see the whole city laying down in front of you), but today I'm not. The tracks are all frozen and even if you get up there I really don't know how you are going to get down without breaking something, so, instead I stayed home and I decided to write something, first something for my blog and than something for my book. Scatman really got me thinking a few days ago. You see since I was just a kid (about 6 years old)I loved listening to music but I didn't know the names of the artists or their songs so I couldn't find and buy them when I got older. Recently I remembered of some of those songs and I got them, among which was Scatman too. I love his songs, they bring me back to my childhood, and I remember things solely by listening to the songs. I did some background research on Scatman John (John Paul Larkin), and I learned a few interesting things about him. He was a stutterer and made his living as a jazz musician. He worked on cruise ships and played in Europe. As a child the stuttering had very strong effects on him, and he struggled with it ever since he was borne. Not being able to speak his mind easily, being denied something we take for granted (it's true rarely any of us appreciate the ability to express ourselves freely, and being able to stand up for ourselves and say what we want), he found the music to be his communication medium and he never gave in to his disability. His persistence paid off as he made the hit "Scatman" which circled the globe faster than than anything we've ever seen. His story touched the lives of people from around the world. He's album "Scatman's World" smashed the world record for being sold in more countries than any other album. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1999, and in spite of that he released the album "Take your Time" (which was his last) and kept a positive attitude till the end saying "whatever God wants is fine by me... I've had the very best life. I have tasted beauty". His great heart and soul are depicted in his words "I hope that the kids, while they sing along to my songs or dance to it, feel that life is not that bad at all. Even for just a minute". It is impossible not to admire this man. He should be a model for everyone of us. Understanding that there is nothing that can stop you is the first step towards your freedom! All you need is will and a positive attitude, and life will not be that grim, and things will work out more easily! Don't be afraid to take the scatman in you to the surface and let yourself live in scatman's world, thus making this world a better place.

Wow, is time flying by or what?! 2006 is here and I want to wish you all a great and prosperous year, lots of girls for the boys and the other way around. I had a great time yesterday, new years eve to be precise, I didn't manage to go to the Derrick May gig but it's all good I had a great time anyway and I owe it all to my friends. See Ya :)

SO
ME

This is the first time ever that i have posted anything to my Blogger and i'm quite excited to do it, so this is just a "test run" :) the important (for you) stuff will come later!