This weekend, I have attended a wedding of my former Cub Scout leader and a Girl Guide leader - both of them very nice and kind people, and frankly, essential to keeping our 35. Scout Group afloat.
I wanted to share some thoughts on what happened, even though I am afraid there isn't anyone who is actually reading this. Nevertheless:
Friday: I met up with three friends, one of them being a driver and a car owner, who offered to drive us there. A traffic jam on the D1 highway had us stop in a shopping mall, but waiting didn't help. Luckily, the jam was not very long. It grew darker and after some time we got lost. No problem, we noticed it and found a way to get back on the right track. But due to many factors, the driver didn't quite make the turn and we ended up in the field instead of being on the road, luckily unhurt but shaken. The car was damaged, and because we weren't sure what was wrong with it, we tried to stop passing vehicles to help us. Somebody did notice us after a while, and helped us get the car to a gas station, from where we phoned another wedding guest who was able to arrange a free pickup for us. But there was more to come.
Saturday: long sleep, lazy preparations, wedding start at 1 P. M. Nice venue - the castle in Jindřichův Hradec is lovely and their wedding hall is quite adequate for the occasion. The speech was a little strange, but who cares, really - I can hardly imagine that couples ever concentrate on what the celebrant is saying. Then, they had a family-only wedding reception, while us (=friends) continued to the pub where the full reception with everyone was to take place. There were loads and loads an loads of food in all shapes and sizes, and it was our job to actually transfer it to plates and dishes in order to create a decent celebration. This party started at 7 P. M. It included all the food, loud music, dancing - you name it. You might know I'm not exactly the party type. But after some time, my activities also included dancing, talking to people and drinking - but no alcohol, just 3 litres of Kofola. And then the list got even longer, quite to my disappointment, because the majority of the guests was drunk. So, I did things like removing a friend of mine from the dance-simulating grasp of a local alcoholic (of course I was far too late to claim any merit whatsoever, but she thanked me anyway - I guess she really didn't like it), watching people pass out, wake up and drink again, and at about 4 A. M. I carried two drunk people out of the pub and could finally fall asleep myself.
Sunday - most of it was mentioned under Saturday, but all of my activities were strictly mechanical - walking to the bus stop, changing trains now and then, sleeping, eating.
Overall, I have had one hell of an eventful weekend, and however happy I am for the newly-weds, I still can't quite forget the other parts which sort of spoiled the fun.
Maybe you are used to things like this, but for me it was a bit of "Kulutrschock" - that's basically why I'm writing about it.
WTYL.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
On Holidays
Here it comes - another boring post with nothing to say... whatever
A brief summary of my summer holiday activities, if you are interested:
Scout Camp - two weeks, cool thing. Weather so-so, mild nerve stimulation - Some of the Boy Scouts - whom I found myself leading - can get annoying. Really annoying. And I don't remember, and neither does my leader - a scout actually leaving the camp because he didn't like it (...)
"Orko Camp" - officially titled In Watermelon Sugar - 10 days, organized by our Religion teacher Marek Orko Vácha (mentioned in one of my older posts) and friends (Probably more by his friends, he really doesn't have that much free time, but what do I know). Perfect. Cool people, much better than I expected, cool program - games, talks, religious things. And, of course, nature. I feel like it would deserve much more describing, but it somehow doesn't form into words. Sorry. But it was really great.
Family vacation - Four days driving through France - to O Cebreiro, Spain (border of Galicia state). Stops on the way - Strassbourg, Equisheim, Lyon, Vienne, Avignon, Carcasonne, Some Pyrenees, Burgos, Leon. Hihlights - Strassbourg: lovely town centre; Equisheim - village, probably even better than Strassbourg, perfect houses, compact center; Avignon - the papal palace; Pyrenees - nature, views, mountains; Burgos - nice large cathedral with attached monastery.
Seven days of walking to Santiago de Compostela - 20-26 km a day, done usually between 6 AM and noon, to avoid the sun and secure a free space in the pilgrim shelters. Best thing: people. All sorts, but somehow set to be friendly - There is something indescribably positive about the pilgrimage.
One day trip to Cape Finisterrae - "end of the world" - a nice place, worth a visit. Some people carry on and walk here from Santiago.
Four days return drive to Prague - stops - Bilbao, Bordeaux, Tours, Chartres, Troyes, Metz.
Highlights - Bilbao: Guggenheim museum in the evening sun; Tours: quite a nice city centre, similar to Strassbourg; Chartres: BIG cathedral; Metz - Early morning empty cathedral
Happy BackToSchool everyone!
A brief summary of my summer holiday activities, if you are interested:
Scout Camp - two weeks, cool thing. Weather so-so, mild nerve stimulation - Some of the Boy Scouts - whom I found myself leading - can get annoying. Really annoying. And I don't remember, and neither does my leader - a scout actually leaving the camp because he didn't like it (...)
"Orko Camp" - officially titled In Watermelon Sugar - 10 days, organized by our Religion teacher Marek Orko Vácha (mentioned in one of my older posts) and friends (Probably more by his friends, he really doesn't have that much free time, but what do I know). Perfect. Cool people, much better than I expected, cool program - games, talks, religious things. And, of course, nature. I feel like it would deserve much more describing, but it somehow doesn't form into words. Sorry. But it was really great.
Family vacation - Four days driving through France - to O Cebreiro, Spain (border of Galicia state). Stops on the way - Strassbourg, Equisheim, Lyon, Vienne, Avignon, Carcasonne, Some Pyrenees, Burgos, Leon. Hihlights - Strassbourg: lovely town centre; Equisheim - village, probably even better than Strassbourg, perfect houses, compact center; Avignon - the papal palace; Pyrenees - nature, views, mountains; Burgos - nice large cathedral with attached monastery.
Seven days of walking to Santiago de Compostela - 20-26 km a day, done usually between 6 AM and noon, to avoid the sun and secure a free space in the pilgrim shelters. Best thing: people. All sorts, but somehow set to be friendly - There is something indescribably positive about the pilgrimage.
One day trip to Cape Finisterrae - "end of the world" - a nice place, worth a visit. Some people carry on and walk here from Santiago.
Four days return drive to Prague - stops - Bilbao, Bordeaux, Tours, Chartres, Troyes, Metz.
Highlights - Bilbao: Guggenheim museum in the evening sun; Tours: quite a nice city centre, similar to Strassbourg; Chartres: BIG cathedral; Metz - Early morning empty cathedral
Happy BackToSchool everyone!
Friday, July 24, 2009
On Silence
I love silence.
I miss it when I don't have it. That's one of the reasons why I always look forward the summer holidays, and especially the summer boy scout camp.
This year, I arrived on site (near Jindrichuv Hradec) a few days early, and the place was completely free of people (except for one other Scout), cars and sounds I am used to from the city.
And only there, other things come to replace city life.
Birds and sunlight wake you up instead of an alarm clock.
A creek flowing behind our log cabin (not exactly made of logs, but what word would you use?) is the last thing you hear before you fall asleep - instead of cars, buses, trams and trains.
The sound of rain on the roof, which passes unheard in an apartment building, is suddenly a reliable weather forecast (the more it rains, the sooner the sun comes back).
Wind playing with trees all around reminds you of our planet's lungs.
I know silence is near.
And then, the birds take a nap, the winds quiet down, the rain stops - and there comes Silence, my beloved.
We enjoy ourselves. I sit down and Silence is right next to me. I close my eyes and let Silence surround me.
Nobody disturbs us. Peaceful moments pass, one by one. Every one is worth remembering.
Then, without warning, Silence disappears - with a little breeze in the birch trees or a gentle bird song.
My day continues, but now it can't be spoiled - I met Silence in all of her beauty.
Have you ever met Silence?
'Silence is sexy' - Blixa Bargeld, leader of Einstuerzende Neubauten
I miss it when I don't have it. That's one of the reasons why I always look forward the summer holidays, and especially the summer boy scout camp.
This year, I arrived on site (near Jindrichuv Hradec) a few days early, and the place was completely free of people (except for one other Scout), cars and sounds I am used to from the city.
And only there, other things come to replace city life.
Birds and sunlight wake you up instead of an alarm clock.
A creek flowing behind our log cabin (not exactly made of logs, but what word would you use?) is the last thing you hear before you fall asleep - instead of cars, buses, trams and trains.
The sound of rain on the roof, which passes unheard in an apartment building, is suddenly a reliable weather forecast (the more it rains, the sooner the sun comes back).
Wind playing with trees all around reminds you of our planet's lungs.
I know silence is near.
And then, the birds take a nap, the winds quiet down, the rain stops - and there comes Silence, my beloved.
We enjoy ourselves. I sit down and Silence is right next to me. I close my eyes and let Silence surround me.
Nobody disturbs us. Peaceful moments pass, one by one. Every one is worth remembering.
Then, without warning, Silence disappears - with a little breeze in the birch trees or a gentle bird song.
My day continues, but now it can't be spoiled - I met Silence in all of her beauty.
Have you ever met Silence?
'Silence is sexy' - Blixa Bargeld, leader of Einstuerzende Neubauten
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
On My New Hobby
As you might have noticed, certain strange things started happening recently. For example, I was able to recognize the class and nickname (!) of a locomotive just by looking at it. Or I knew where you could get by train directly from Prague, and/or where you had to change trains in order to get somewhere around Europe. And few photos appeared on my facebook profile, and their only motive was a train (the description contained the class number and the nickname, of course). And, what probably most bothered you, I started talking to you about railways more and more often.
That sums up my new hobby: trains. It is as unexplainable as being a fan of a certain sport club - the less you know why you are doing it, the more enthusiastic you are about it.
It is quite possible I am growing crazy right now. Please keep a close eye on me and if I get too obnoxious or obsessed with it, tell me ASAP. But for now, there are very few things that got me away from my (very comfy, thinking about it now) computer chair in the last few weeks - a camera and a busy railroad within cycling distance is one of them. Expect more pics soon!
P.S. If any of you by some weird chance own a DSLR sensor cleaning set that I could borrow, please let me know.
That sums up my new hobby: trains. It is as unexplainable as being a fan of a certain sport club - the less you know why you are doing it, the more enthusiastic you are about it.
It is quite possible I am growing crazy right now. Please keep a close eye on me and if I get too obnoxious or obsessed with it, tell me ASAP. But for now, there are very few things that got me away from my (very comfy, thinking about it now) computer chair in the last few weeks - a camera and a busy railroad within cycling distance is one of them. Expect more pics soon!
P.S. If any of you by some weird chance own a DSLR sensor cleaning set that I could borrow, please let me know.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
On an International Scandal
Sueddeutsche Zeitung (GER)
Le Monde (FRA)
Le Temps (CH)
MF Dnes (CZ)
F*** Paroubek, Communists, Tlusty, Schwippel and the two green b****es.
Le Monde (FRA)
Le Temps (CH)
MF Dnes (CZ)
F*** Paroubek, Communists, Tlusty, Schwippel and the two green b****es.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
On the Velvet Revolution
Hey! A post! It's been some time, hasn't it?
First of all, this post is intended mainly for my Czech readers, but actually I don't think I have any other than them, and I will also try to keep it comprehensible for everyone, even if the main idea might remain hidden for those who don't know what the Velvet Revolution is.
So. (If you don't have much time, skip the first paragraph (or leave it for later))
Our History lessons , as they proceed along the historical timeline on and on, entered the 20th century some time ago. Our teacher specializes in that part of history, and so she decided she will give us some individual homework for it. That way, I got to create two papers, or maybe reports or even essays, I am not quite sure what the English term for what the Czechs call "referat" actually is. One of them was about two people important for Czech history in the 20th century, and the other was supposed to be about some sort of unsolved but still important Czech problem from recent history, a so called skeleton in the cupboard ("kostlivec ve skrini" would be the Czech metaphor for that). The people aren't that important, but my choice of this "skeleton" turned out to be very inspiring indeed.
I wrote my paper about Ludvik Zifcak. He was a secret agent of the StB, the communist internal intelligence service which was infamous for various acts of terrorism, torture, political imprisonments and other nasty things. Now as I said before, I hope you know what the Velvet revolution is - in short, it is a revolution which took place in (former) Czechoslovakia in winter 1989 - spring 1990, and essentially changed this country from a communist and totalitarian regime to a democracy. And what do Ludvik Zifcak and the StB have in common with it? Probably more than you would expect.
The first and most important part of the revolution was a student demonstration on 17th November 1989, which was peaceful (even though not legal to the extent it was carried out to), but on "Narodni trida", close to Wenceslas Square, was stopped, surrounded by state police and brutally dissolved. That's the moment things started changing - more demonstrations, general strike, new government, another new government, new president, free elections, democracy.
The problem lies in the first demonstration. Some people say that the StB actually had reasons for letting it happen exactly the way it happened, that means leading the people to Narodni trida and beating them up (and even spreading a rumor about a student dying in the fray - that student was to be played on Narodni trida by Zifcak). Among these people is Vaclav Bartuska, a student who attended the demonstration and was later a member of a commitee that was supposed to supervise the investigation of the events of 17th November. And this guy has got some proof for that - if you want to learn more, just read his book "Polojasno" ("Partly Cloudy" or "Partly Clear", but I guess it wasn't translated to English anyway).
Of course you can choose not to believe that - but then you have to deal with some facts - for example photos of the demonstration which show Zifcak among the people leading the demonstration, or Zifcak's interrogation, in which he uncovered the whole conspiracy.
Now to the main idea. I do not want to force you to believe some conspiratorial theories. But two things are quite clear:
1) We will never learn the full truth about the revolution. There are so many questions to which answers are known only by people who will never share them - because it would harm them or someone else, like the Bohemian-Moravian Communist Party.
2)Perhaps more importantly - the Velvet revolution was not an idealistic peaceful change from dictatorship to democracy. It was not so that dissidents decided OK, let's do it, and convinced the people to demonstrate again and again and to go on strike. I would like to use a metaphor here:
I think people tend to believe that it was like a chess game between the good and the evil - the nation being the pawns on the good side, the dissidents among the other pieces (and Vaclav Havel being the good king). But actually, I think a more realistic chess game would be between the gray and the red, where all the dissidents and ordinary people are just like the queen on the gray side, but all the other pieces are someone else - the revolution could never take place without many other events and circumstances - such as political liberalization in Hungary, but also supposed internal communist disputes, or disputes between the USSR and Czechoslovakia. Of course, the red side couldn't be beaten without the gray queen (most probably), but the queen surely couldn't win alone. And it has not been the victory of the good side, it has been the victory of everyone who wasn't directly associated with the regime (therefore gray vs red). That's why we now have StB agents all over government institutions and offices, and communists aren't banned, and so on.
Had I been a student who took part in the revolution, with all my democratic ideals, I would have been extremely angry about that. The only reason why I am not is that for me, the Velvet Revolution is history. It is an event, an important one, but just as important to me as any other historical event of the same format, like, for example, the opposite of the Velvet Revolution, 25th February 1948, when the communists took over. It might seem frightening, as for people who did live through the revolution I can imagine that their view is completely different. But I suppose that is how the future generation will consider this revolution, and everyone will have to get used to it.
Wow, I actually managed to write down the idea I wanted to... but probably in an incomprehensible way. Anyway, if you are reading this, you must be a hardcore reader of my blog :-D Thank you for that.
P. S. my paper (in Czech) is available at http://uloz.to/1440400/zifcak.doc
If any of you actually read that, you win a free "kobliha" for being a super crazy maniac hardcore reader. Just let me know you did it.
First of all, this post is intended mainly for my Czech readers, but actually I don't think I have any other than them, and I will also try to keep it comprehensible for everyone, even if the main idea might remain hidden for those who don't know what the Velvet Revolution is.
So. (If you don't have much time, skip the first paragraph (or leave it for later))
Our History lessons , as they proceed along the historical timeline on and on, entered the 20th century some time ago. Our teacher specializes in that part of history, and so she decided she will give us some individual homework for it. That way, I got to create two papers, or maybe reports or even essays, I am not quite sure what the English term for what the Czechs call "referat" actually is. One of them was about two people important for Czech history in the 20th century, and the other was supposed to be about some sort of unsolved but still important Czech problem from recent history, a so called skeleton in the cupboard ("kostlivec ve skrini" would be the Czech metaphor for that). The people aren't that important, but my choice of this "skeleton" turned out to be very inspiring indeed.
I wrote my paper about Ludvik Zifcak. He was a secret agent of the StB, the communist internal intelligence service which was infamous for various acts of terrorism, torture, political imprisonments and other nasty things. Now as I said before, I hope you know what the Velvet revolution is - in short, it is a revolution which took place in (former) Czechoslovakia in winter 1989 - spring 1990, and essentially changed this country from a communist and totalitarian regime to a democracy. And what do Ludvik Zifcak and the StB have in common with it? Probably more than you would expect.
The first and most important part of the revolution was a student demonstration on 17th November 1989, which was peaceful (even though not legal to the extent it was carried out to), but on "Narodni trida", close to Wenceslas Square, was stopped, surrounded by state police and brutally dissolved. That's the moment things started changing - more demonstrations, general strike, new government, another new government, new president, free elections, democracy.
The problem lies in the first demonstration. Some people say that the StB actually had reasons for letting it happen exactly the way it happened, that means leading the people to Narodni trida and beating them up (and even spreading a rumor about a student dying in the fray - that student was to be played on Narodni trida by Zifcak). Among these people is Vaclav Bartuska, a student who attended the demonstration and was later a member of a commitee that was supposed to supervise the investigation of the events of 17th November. And this guy has got some proof for that - if you want to learn more, just read his book "Polojasno" ("Partly Cloudy" or "Partly Clear", but I guess it wasn't translated to English anyway).
Of course you can choose not to believe that - but then you have to deal with some facts - for example photos of the demonstration which show Zifcak among the people leading the demonstration, or Zifcak's interrogation, in which he uncovered the whole conspiracy.
Now to the main idea. I do not want to force you to believe some conspiratorial theories. But two things are quite clear:
1) We will never learn the full truth about the revolution. There are so many questions to which answers are known only by people who will never share them - because it would harm them or someone else, like the Bohemian-Moravian Communist Party.
2)Perhaps more importantly - the Velvet revolution was not an idealistic peaceful change from dictatorship to democracy. It was not so that dissidents decided OK, let's do it, and convinced the people to demonstrate again and again and to go on strike. I would like to use a metaphor here:
I think people tend to believe that it was like a chess game between the good and the evil - the nation being the pawns on the good side, the dissidents among the other pieces (and Vaclav Havel being the good king). But actually, I think a more realistic chess game would be between the gray and the red, where all the dissidents and ordinary people are just like the queen on the gray side, but all the other pieces are someone else - the revolution could never take place without many other events and circumstances - such as political liberalization in Hungary, but also supposed internal communist disputes, or disputes between the USSR and Czechoslovakia. Of course, the red side couldn't be beaten without the gray queen (most probably), but the queen surely couldn't win alone. And it has not been the victory of the good side, it has been the victory of everyone who wasn't directly associated with the regime (therefore gray vs red). That's why we now have StB agents all over government institutions and offices, and communists aren't banned, and so on.
Had I been a student who took part in the revolution, with all my democratic ideals, I would have been extremely angry about that. The only reason why I am not is that for me, the Velvet Revolution is history. It is an event, an important one, but just as important to me as any other historical event of the same format, like, for example, the opposite of the Velvet Revolution, 25th February 1948, when the communists took over. It might seem frightening, as for people who did live through the revolution I can imagine that their view is completely different. But I suppose that is how the future generation will consider this revolution, and everyone will have to get used to it.
Wow, I actually managed to write down the idea I wanted to... but probably in an incomprehensible way. Anyway, if you are reading this, you must be a hardcore reader of my blog :-D Thank you for that.
P. S. my paper (in Czech) is available at http://uloz.to/1440400/zifcak.doc
If any of you actually read that, you win a free "kobliha" for being a super crazy maniac hardcore reader. Just let me know you did it.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
On Healthy Society (Because It Is Inevitable)
Originally, maybe a few months ago, maybe a few years, "healthy society" had a very peaceful, harmless and let's say impersonal meaning. That meaning is now irrelevant - the reasons will be explained below.
Due to some unprecedented mistakes I have made, "healthy society" changed its meaning and became a very vague and probably useless term. It also became public for the first time. Apparently, that was one of the reasons for the downfall of that phrase. Later on, without any further interference of mine, "healthy society" shifted meanings over and over again. It started a life of its own. I cannot say all of the definitions were bad, but they were not even close to the original. There have even been attempts of some sort of rehabilitation, but still.
Nowadays, "healthy society" is quite peaceful again, but still does not resemble the original in any way. It has become very personal and describes things that have almost no connection to the first definition.
One more thing, which I need to mention in order to help myself calm down and get going:
"Healthy society" (the phrase itself, not the contents or any of the meanings it has gained over time) has been one of the reasons for the landing described in one of my older posts. And I have a reason to think it was also one of the causes of the takeoff itself (but in one of the older meanings). That is the main reason "healthy society" became a very personal and many times harmful thought. It is one of my greatest regrets - publishing the phrase, and letting it wander away from its original meaning.
(...)
January has been quite a nice month, with skiing, ice skating and some dancing as well. One would leave the school out, but you can't really do that, can you? :-/. And looking at the rest of the school year: end of February (three weeks) - a week long holiday, then one month till Easter, another one and we have a week of the so called "Sport Course" and the final exams week, and that's the end of May - that means summer and the main holidays are getting closer! W00t!
Due to some unprecedented mistakes I have made, "healthy society" changed its meaning and became a very vague and probably useless term. It also became public for the first time. Apparently, that was one of the reasons for the downfall of that phrase. Later on, without any further interference of mine, "healthy society" shifted meanings over and over again. It started a life of its own. I cannot say all of the definitions were bad, but they were not even close to the original. There have even been attempts of some sort of rehabilitation, but still.
Nowadays, "healthy society" is quite peaceful again, but still does not resemble the original in any way. It has become very personal and describes things that have almost no connection to the first definition.
One more thing, which I need to mention in order to help myself calm down and get going:
"Healthy society" (the phrase itself, not the contents or any of the meanings it has gained over time) has been one of the reasons for the landing described in one of my older posts. And I have a reason to think it was also one of the causes of the takeoff itself (but in one of the older meanings). That is the main reason "healthy society" became a very personal and many times harmful thought. It is one of my greatest regrets - publishing the phrase, and letting it wander away from its original meaning.
(...)
January has been quite a nice month, with skiing, ice skating and some dancing as well. One would leave the school out, but you can't really do that, can you? :-/. And looking at the rest of the school year: end of February (three weeks) - a week long holiday, then one month till Easter, another one and we have a week of the so called "Sport Course" and the final exams week, and that's the end of May - that means summer and the main holidays are getting closer! W00t!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
On the Absurdity of Dada
stream
parish
iceberg
bridge
drive
friends
byte
disease
XMAS
Japan
time
youth
castle
danger
grass
flood
ecoterrorism
snow
A Cliff, VII.B
parish
iceberg
bridge
drive
friends
byte
disease
XMAS
Japan
time
youth
castle
danger
grass
flood
ecoterrorism
snow
A Cliff, VII.B
Sunday, January 4, 2009
On Friends
Have you ever stayed up till quarter past five AM alone?
Have you ever gone ice-skating in the dark alone?
Have you ever asked a policeman stupid questions alone?
Have you ever taken funny pictures of yourself, posing with an apple, alone?
See what I mean? But sometimes you don't even need to do unusual things. For me, it's often enough just to sit down and talk and talk and talk... And I feel fine, I feel like it's the only thing I need.
What would my life be without that?
A big thank you to everyone who makes this world a better place for me to live in.
Have you ever gone ice-skating in the dark alone?
Have you ever asked a policeman stupid questions alone?
Have you ever taken funny pictures of yourself, posing with an apple, alone?
See what I mean? But sometimes you don't even need to do unusual things. For me, it's often enough just to sit down and talk and talk and talk... And I feel fine, I feel like it's the only thing I need.
What would my life be without that?
A big thank you to everyone who makes this world a better place for me to live in.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)