A Landing

Flying is nice, you know? But if you look on the other side, it's cold, windy like hell and the turbulence makes you feel sick. And when there's overcast and your view is obstructed by clouds, then nothing is there left for you to enjoy. And that, my friends, is the time to land. Refuel, wait for the clouds to break apart, and see if there are any places you could fly to next.

Overall, flying has been a very pleasant experience. I am grateful that everything worked out fine and that the flight was possible. And I am so glad the weather didn't get as bad as to cause an emergency landing or even force a pilot ejection and crash.

On Wealth, And How We View It

Every weekday, I go to school. And every Thursday, we have religion. Our teacher, Marek Orko Vacha, is a very smart young guy whose lessons are always the best part of my day (well, almost always, but they are really hard to beat).

Today, he spoke about christian and other communities, which are a recent (20th century) development in the way people approach their spiritual selves. But that is not the main message I brought home from today's class.

Among other things, he said that in comparison to the Czech Republic, western countries tend to consider wealth not as a sign of success, a guarantee of social status or simply a possibility to live on high standards, but as a resource which can (and should) be used to make this world a better place to live. That means donations to charity, sponsorship of beneficial events, or just helping those in need. I find this approach very inspiring and attractive for me.

Should you take that one step further, you will find that wealth is not only the amount of money or possessions you have managed to gather, but it also includes your abilities and talents. That means that even though you aren't exactly rich at the moment, you can (and probably should) still make yourself useful for those who need it.

My point is: Am I doing enough? Are we doing enough? And how much is enough?


That's just a quick thought. Enjoy your Christmas preparations everyone!

A Life, Numbered

For your amusement, I have created a list of numbers or codes I can remember off the top of my head:

923...my student number

583...my locker number

12/2389...building number of the house in which I live

0600077600...my former tram card number

0000053836...my even older tram card number

188244616*...my bank account number

73764174*
60720921*
60325248*
60491678*
72477407*
27481703*
14014
1188
112
155
158
150
...various phone numbers

67128248...my Czech airlines frequent flier number

253470303...my ICQ number

35/305...my Boy Scout troop

10000...my ZIP code (very hard to remember...)

33901...my grandma's ZIP code

21212..ZIP code of northern Baltimore/Towson border

107...house number of the house in which I lived in the USA (it's in northern Baltimore, surprisingly)

377...train number of the EuroNight Galileo Galilei from Nurnberg to Budapest

306...our class' home classroom
504 512 405 407 409 401 411 301 305 311 309 308 209 212 101 102 107 108 112 028
...all other classrooms, about which I know specifically what is inside

42...The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.

44...my regular shoe size

19-01-15...a sequence used to open a lock that is hanging from my lamp
16-02-28...a sequence used to open a lock that is hanging from my brother's lamp (or wherever he put it)

12881...my former Word Challenge high score

6318 212 214 1111 113 6352 921 911
...various keyboard shortcuts on my cell phone

'impure' (including letters):
2A6 4066
AED 15-32
8A5 9528
...our car license plates

R60...my laptop model

T5500...my laptop CPU

3510i...my cell phone

S30...my camera

A610...dad's camera

A100...mom's camera

R52...Honza's laptop

T60...mom's laptop

SCPMX1E-S...mi Hi-Fi model

e260...my mp3 player

'censored' ;-)

****...my cell phone PIN code

****...my credit card PIN code

**********...my internet banking client number


Note: This post wasn't created to show off my supposedly unmatched memory. For one, I don't have a very good memory, and for two, I just wanted to illustrate how our life is more and more described by numbers. And, for three, I bet each one of you could create a very similar list, probably an even longer one

Eh....

What do Pink Floyd, Tom Petty and Stratovarius have in common?


They are all "Learning to fly".

I guess that is the kind of situation I am in right now... flying doesn't come around by itself, and time to time wind gusts carry me away to places I have probably never wanted to visit.
But I am trying hard, and I really want to get better at all this flying business. I beg your patience.

Let me quote the Book:

"For everything, there is an appointed time,
and an appropriate time for every activity on earth:
Time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to uproot what was planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to search, and a time to give something up as lost;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
A time to rip, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace."

Ecclesiates 3, 1-8.

Flying...

Yes.
It works.
There are no words to describe it.

(and this time it's not python, Pavel)

S. P. Q. R.

I'm back. I'm so glad I actually said yes when my mom asked me whether I want to go to Rome a few months ago. It was a very nice holiday, and gave me time and space to forget about school, translation, you name it.

The flight was OK, even though I was a little bit scared because for me and my brother, it was the first 'solo' flight. We landed at 10 PM and found my mom without any real problems - she was waiting right outside the exit. We also caught the train to Trastevere, tram to Largo Argentino and bus to Ponte Vittorio Emanuele to arrive in our temporary home in a small apartment on Via dei Coronari just before midnight. The alarm clocks weren't set, and so we slept and slept and slept until about 9:30.

The slow start was just fine with me - the only thing we managed to do before lunch was to go shopping. Right after that, we set off for Castel Sant'Angelo. There is nothing of great interest in there, so we just took photos of the exterior and walked on. The next stop was Vatican - St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica. The square is really huge and very elegant indeed - not overdecorated, just impressive. St. Peter's Basilica is a bit different - it's huge, and every single bit is painted or sculpted. Someone must have had great talent and a perfect idea, because the basilica makes a very consistent impression. All the paintings, frescoes, mosaics and sculptures are sort of similar, but each one has something unique to itself (I hope you know what I mean). There are two things I didn't like about it. The ever-present crowds and the fact the Italians (or Vaticanians?) let the people only go around the side naves, but no-one is allowed to enter the main nave. That is so annoying. I hereby openly accuse the managers of stupidity. After spending about an hour and half looking around, we attended a holy mass in one of the side chapels. My mom said that there was supposed to be a boy choir from Belfast, and they were really good - at least what my anti-musical ears can tell. But the mass was in Italian, so I almost fell asleep during the sermon. When the mass finished, we left the basilica only to meet dusk outside on St. Peter's Square. That was perhaps the most beautiful part of the whole visit. Pics coming soon.

On Sunday, we decided to visit the Vatican museums. Therefore, we had to get up at about 6 in the morning - the museums were supposed to open at 8:30, and on that Sunday, they were free of charge. As it turned out, it was a very good move, because when we joined the line at 7:30, it was already about 300m long. They actually opened at about 9:15, and at that time, the line reached about 1km+ - we didn't actually see the end. The museums and collections are first of all very valuable. They are mostly renaissance sculptures, paintings, frescoes (including those from Raffael in four Raffael's rooms), tapestries and maps. They also have a large collection of ancient roman sculptures. And, of course, the Sistine chapel. That is a whole lot of things to see. But because we knew how many people there were and would be, we headed straight for the Sistine chapel (to reach it you have to walk through the whole length of the museums) and decided to see parts of the rest according to the time we would have left. It turned out to be a very good plan, as when we reached the chapel, there were even free places on benches around the edges. The Sistine Chapel is very astonishing and overwhelming. The work of Michelangelo (and other artists) surrounds you not only physically, but somehow also psychologically. Being surrounded by an unbelievably flawless piece of art is a very unique feeling. It is a little bit spoiled by security guards insisting on "no foto" "no pickcha" and "silentio - silentz". Also, at least for me, the place, after some time, becomes crowded by the painted persons - bodies and faces everywhere, no easy geometry to rest your eyes on. But that is a very personal thought. I guess people would be able to spend hours in there without coming to that conclusion.
As the chapel became more and more crowded with real people, we left to search for Raffael's rooms - the second biggest attraction of the place. Apparently, they are right next to the Chapel, but because you are in Italy (of course, in Vatican, but all the guards and evidently, museum executives as well are so very Italian), you have to walk back to the entrance and back again, but turn right one room sooner than to the chapel. Before we finished that phase, the place got significantly more crowded. When we finally reached the rooms, it looked exactly like the queue outside. At least we had time to stop and look at the gigantic works of Raffael, but the climate became more and more annoying. When we left the last room, it was clear we would head to the exit. But guess what - it was necessary to enter the Sistine Chapel again! This time, we wanted to just rush through, but that was utterly impossible - the place was unbelievably crammed! Only by using some moral flexibility did we get outside.
When we stepped out of the museums, it was just about time to rush to St. Peters Square for the Angelus - every Sunday, the Pope appears in the top right corner of his residence to deliver a short message to worshipers gathered on the square. Again, it was more crowded than Times Square at Christmas. The Pope really appeared, his speech was in Italian, he greeted attending congregations from all over the world, and it was over. More like a tourist attraction than a religious experience. But if you want to, you can flip it upside down, concentrate on the spiritual part. But it takes a lot of effort when the guy behind you is talking on the phone.
That much for Sunday morning and noon. I'll try to keep it short from now on.

We were really, really tired. Mom cooked us perfect Italian pasta and we enjoyed a true Italian siesta until about 4 PM. Then we woke up and left for the most beaten path of Rome - Piazza del Popolo, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. The Piazza was quite nice - dominated by an Egyptian obelisk, and guarded by an ancient gate on one side and two almost identical churches on the other. Sunsets in Rome are generally very nice, I recommend spending one of them above the Spanish Steps. Don't forget your camera, focal length 70 - 450 (both ends of the spectrum) recommended :) But again, the place was packed like hell (I'm running out of adjectives here - I mean the same thing as before). Same thing for the Trevi Fountain, which would have been beautiful, had there been less people. There was another fountain we saw - Fontana dei Tritone, which had significantly less people, but stood right next to a very busy street. Enough is enough, we had dinner in a very nice restaurant near Piazza Navona. Real Italian pizza tastes gooooood.

Monday was supposed to cover ancient Rome. Instructed by a good friend of ours, father Vojtech, we didn't actually go inside the Roman Forum and the Coliseum, but had a good look from the outside. The queues for both were very, very deteriorating.
But we did not start there - the route crossed Mount Capitoline, with the monument of Victor Emanuel II., the beloved emperor and consolidator of Italy. The monument is too big for one man. Then, we rested a bit atop the Capitol, looking at the Roman Forum. Next, we walked to Circus Maximus (nowadays just a long field of grass) and to Mount Aventine. After some time, it was the first place which wasn't crowded. We entered the church of St. Sabina, one of the oldest churches in Rome, which is very elegant and comfortable, and we also had a look through Rome's most famous keyhole - the Knights Hospitaller built the door to their gardens so that through the keyhole, you can see the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the middle of a nice alley.
Even though I promised I'll keep it short, I can't miss out one story. As we were descending from Mount Aventine, a man in a yellow Fiat stopped next to us and asked for directions to the Coliseum. We helped him using our map, and he started talking about himself - that he is a manager of Calvin Klein, that he likes Prague (he asked where we were from), and gave us some sort of leather jackets, and said they are each worth 3300 Euro. Then, he complained about Rome (a moment sooner he said he was from Milano) and said he can't buy gasoline from his credit card and if we would give him some cash. After some hesitation, we offered him 5 euro. He seemed very dissatisfied, and when asked whether he wanted the jackets back, he agreed and left. Bugger.
The Coliseum was a classic, nevertheless I was surprised by the immense building - considering it was built two thousand years ago, it is just awesome. From there, we continued towards the church of St. Clement with nice frescoes and the tomb of St. Cyril, who created a whole new alphabet for us, Slavs, and brought Christianity as far north as Prague. The church closed for siesta at 12:30 PM, which changed our plans for the day as we left our guidebook inside :-(. As a result of that, we had nice and slow lunch (until they made it obvious at the lunch bar that we were using their chairs for too long) and a rest in Traian's park with perfect Italian ice cream - they really know how an ice cream cone should taste like. Well, St. Clement reopened after siesta (at 3 PM), we fetched the guide and left for the basilica of St John Lateran.
St. John is a very nice church. Most of all, I liked two things - one, larger-than-life-size statues of the twelve apostles. It is sort of hard to describe the statues - the only thing I can probably say is that they look very real. The other thing is the ambit. It is not very large, but it is decorated by little columns with beautiful examples of the cosmati technique. Also, not many people come there (at least when we were there), which kind of multiplies the impression of quietness, spirituality and meditation.
The last thing we visited on Monday was Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, another one of the five greater Roman basilicas (the other four being St. Peter, St. John Lateran, St. Paul outside the Walls and Sta. Maria Maggiore). It is not that interesting as the other four, because it is smaller in size and less decorated, but it has a chapel to it with parts of Jesus' cross, nails that were used in the crucifixion, a finger of St. Thomas and many other relics. Again, a place with a great spiritual effect. But it was almost dark, and so we left for a bus stop and fetched a ride home (it also started to rain). But that was not the end of Monday just yet. Partly by chance and partly by spontaneity, Monday night was dinner with Ondrej Spacek and his girlfriend. For those who don't know, he used to be a student at our school. His guidebook was much better than ours (Michelin > National Geographic, surprisingly) and recommended a nice restaurant (or should I say pub?) not far away from our place. We arrived there just in time to take the last table with five seats left, only to discover how lucky we were when they brought the food. They served pasta all right, but the meat afterward was delicious. And the price wasn't bad. But most importantly, we had a very good time together, spoke about our experiences from Rome, exchanged recommendations for Tuesday, and when the restaurant emptied, they left for a nice walk home (quite a long one, as it turned out, but I believe they didn't care) and we went to sleep.

And Tuesday, finally. Again, we got up early and walked through the old town toward Sta. Maria Maggiore, where we were to meet with Sister Monika, my brother's former class teacher. The weather was getting worse by the minute, but we managed to quite a few of the renaissance palaces and residences before finally setting off toward the basilica. Luckily, my mom was brave enough to step inside one of them which didn't look very inviting at first, but once inside the courtyard, we were truly awestruck. All over the inside walls were statues, ornaments, windowsills and other decorations which took our breath away, particularly because of the amount and flawlessness. And none of the tourists outside seemed like they were interested, so we had this place all for ourselves.
As soon as we arrived in Sta. Maria Maggiore, it started to rain. We also successfully met with Sister Monika, although it seemed quite unlikely after previous SMS conversations. We spent quite a lot of time inside, and because Monika's guidebook had much information than ours, we felt really informed. The basilica is very rich in decoration, using the first gold imported from America for the ceiling, but also for mosaics and other decorations. In contrast with St. John, for example, it is much more colorful, but slightly resembles the impression I had from the Sistine Chapel - nothing to rest your eyes on, just mosaics, paintings, altars and statues everywhere.
Still with sister Monika, our next stop was St. Prassede, an old church. Its mosaics are very valuable, but for me, all mosaics I have seen in Rome started floating around in my head and bumping in each other - so I don't really remember. Then, Monika left us and went to another church and we went to see the church of St. Peter in Chains, which is interesting mainly because of statues from Michelangelo, and mainly the one of Moses. Again it got very touristy, and so we left after just a few minutes.
Nearby is the Coliseum, and right under that is line B of the Roman subway, which also stops under St. Paul outside the Walls. Our next stop was there. St. Paul is smaller than St. Peter, but makes a much larger impression, because there is by far less decoration. I don't mind that - perhaps there isn't as much artistic value as in St. Peter, but it is very elegant instead. When visiting Rome, try not to miss it, even though it is five subway stops from the Coliseum and thus (almost) unreachable on foot. But it's worth it. Just sit down for a moment and let all the thoughts nibble your mind.
Our last planned sight was Trastevere, a not-so-historical part of Rome, but supposedly very interesting. I was very tired at that moment, but still tried to enjoy as much as I could. Anyway, I didn't find it as interesting as it was described. Went home, packed our things and fell asleep.

And finally. On Wednesday, we had to get up at 4 AM in order to catch our plane to Prague. Or we were advised so by the rental agency to which the apartment belongs. It was a bit too early, but I like airports without stress.

Overall, I must say I loved the stay. I used it very much as relaxation - the week before was very hectic. And some of the places left images and thoughts in my mind which will hopefully never fade away.

Message for David Karas

Dear Mr. Karas,

I am sort of waiting for You to come here. After You finish reading this message, please leave a comment below or email me at pesapes@gmail.com.

I hope we are not wasting Your time. Frankly, all I want to achieve is know how far You can and will go. If You have the time to do what You are doing right now (that is reading this message), then I see You do go quite far - information and knowledge is the most important part of your life. That is obvious and I do not criticize that - You are a detective, after all.

If there is any criticism to be made, then it is about the effect Your actions can have. I don't care if You discover all of my personal data. I've got nothing to hide. But the feeling the "objects" of Your investigation get is the opposite from the good laugh You had when You received the first mail from Quistie. Please be more considerate to people, even if You doubt their ability to become such outstanding detectives like You.

Looking forward to hearing from You,

--Wosel

P. S. Pokud byste náhodou měl problém s angličtinou (což nepředpokládám), napište mi prosím mail a pošlu Vám překlad.

Wonderful Years

A few days ago, on something you might call a film night, I have seen a classical Czech film. The Czech readers may know it, it is called Bajecna leta pod psa (Wonderful Years That Sucked, as it might be translated).
The plot is not very complicated, it simply describes the life of what once was a typical Czech family. It is situated in communist times, and the family, mainly the father and elder son, become very comically crazy.
But the main thing about the film, I think, is to show the communist reality from the point of view of people who do not want to interfere with the regime in any way, but are forced to do so.

That's the moment I want to talk about. I realized what a wonderful time we have right now.
Anyone can do whatever he or she wants. Nobody has to attend political meetings. Anyone can travel abroad. No one is subject to persecution for his political views.

Okay, I just love the freedom, and so I felt the need to share it. I am aware of the many drawbacks democracy has. There is nothing more that I wanted to say with this.


By the way, keep your evening free on the 13. of November. It's gonna be big.

"We live in a free world" Ace of Base: Life is a flower

So Many...

...things I wanted to write about have happened. I don't even know where to start.

So perhaps chronologically. On the 5. of August, me and my family left for Manchester. Our holiday finally started. From the start to the end, I created the holiday for myself. Nobody had the time or energy to talk to me about what their idea of the 14 days we were to spend in Northern England and Southern Scotland. Except for a two or three shots in the dark, like "I wanna go for a hike in Scotland" or "I want to see Blackstone Edge Roman Road". So I searched, googled, read, researched and created a daily plan which consisted of many churches, abbeys, priories and some castles. Oh, and we went for some hikes (Except for dad, of course He always has too much work to do such worthless things like hiking. I understand.) As for the less factual side, I am afraid I didn't bring home any kind of adventure. I came, I saw, I took pictures, I left. On the other hand, that seems like the perfect holiday for our family, as far as I understand my dad, mom and brother. Dad was a bit upset, but he wouldn't take any holiday at all, I guess. We came back on the 18.

Three days after that, my last summer holiday activity started. Me and a couple of my scout friends (scout troop EXIT) decided to take a bike ride from Praha to Bratislava. It turned there was only four of us, and the number actually oscillated between four and five throughout the trip. We had a really good time (rubbishing the Moravians, basically :-D). Bratislava is not a very beautiful city. If you ever get there, make sure you set foot in the "Petrzalka" quarter if and only if you want to see where communists stored people. Otherwise, stay in the old town. And you might want to visit Devin, a nice old castle on a hill above the Donau and Morava rivers.

As soon as I got enough rest after the 430 km of cycling (not that much, considering it took us a week to get there), school started. Speaking for myself, I could've had that postponed at least a little bit.
But anyway. We got new teachers for maths, physics, religion, Latin and sport (I will see the latter one tomorrow for the first time). The religion teacher, Marek Orko Vacha, is the best one. He is actually a biology teacher as well. He also wrote some very good books(Btw thin and very readable). He knows his job, is extremely intelligent and I hope we will learn a lot of what he can teach us. The Latin teacher is a bit, you know, strange. He has probably studied a lot. His behavior is very unusual, though it does not irritate me (yet). Then the math teacher. He looks a bit like the Rumcajs character from a set of Czech fairy tales. As opposed to the other two, he didn' look self-assured at all. But I hope he will snap out and give us the most he can.

So that was all. If you got this far, It means you have quite a lot of time to waste. This wasn't particularly interesting, was it. But I just needed to write it down.

Cyal8r

A Great Day

Never before have I been so nervous while waiting for exam results. Not surprisingly, though, because I was expecting results of the Certificate of Proficiency in English, the highest English language certificate there is. No more prolonging, I got an A! And it was the first time i didn't expect it, really. Throughout the year in Bell Language School (where I attended the exam preparation course), I counted my results after almost every exercise we did. Hardly ever did I get above 80%. Now it seems I did so in the exam - grade A is 80% or better (overall, you can even fail one or more papers, but if the others are good enough, you haven't failed the whole exam).

But for the rest of the day, I wasn't as idle as I could have been. I actually almost finished a video from the scout fair I was supposed to finish until the end of August. Quite unusual, as I always do things on the last day before the deadline. In the evening (or rather night, as it turned out), I helped the scouts from pack 309 unload their things from camp. It is actually a very challenging task to unload 15 bicycles, an old stove, loads of wood and boxes and many other things into the cellar of an apartment house without waking anyone up. But I guess we succeeded.

Overall, it's been a great day. I slept until 10 o'clock.

On My Personal Attitude to Work

I've always seen myself as a considerably lazy person. Partly because of my gift from God, a rare ability to learn and remember new things the moment I hear or see them - at least most of them. That way, I have almost no need to study or prepare for school at home - which gives me lots of space to be lazy. Another reason, I believe, are my benevolent parents. I am never really forced to do anything I really don't want to do. More time and space to be lazy. Yay for me?

Not really. Every time I know I should do something, my mood goes deep down. I sit in front of something boring, such as a laptop screen or a TV, and keep thinking about what I should have done. This goes on for minutes, sometimes hours, and in the better case, when the deadline comes near, I finally get up and create something half finished, making up a story why I couldn't complete it. Don't even ask about the worse case.

But enough whining. Things are starting to change, or at least I hope so. On Saturday, I came back from Scout camp. We drove to my grandma's place and the moment I got out of the shower, I realized I have nothing to do. Normally, I would find an empty TV set and try to kill boredom, but I actually started to search for any kind of useful activity. Very non-intuitive.

And as a rational being, I am looking for a reason. The only one I came up with is that in camp, I had really little time to be bored. However demanding, or even exhausting, it was, I enjoyed the doing, the making, the activity. As soon as I came home, I started to miss this all day long occupation, and I actually looked for something to satisfy my craving for action.

My mood has become much better. I have two main and new feelings. The feeling of being useful, and of having accomplished something. I fall asleep faster. I just need to keep this up. Keep your fingers crossed for me, pleeeease.

If you reveal a completely new side of you to others...

...it's like forcing the Amish to use electricity. They just can't want to accept a new thing that would destroy their own flawlessly operating world, and it's completely understandable that they don't.