Cool Down, Relax, Take it Easy

This beautiful armchairs stand in front of human resources department in one Zagreb hospital. They haven't got a place in the spotlight and they seem forlorn and cast aside but actually the place they have been put in is what has kept them beautiful. Condition of material and seams on the chairs is exquisite and they look like a couple of well dressed and elegant ladies lost in conversation.

Serenity Squeal

There was no divorcing on Monday. Oh, well... had I not been prepared for another episode of 'Believe It or Not' I would have been propperly pissed. But I had been prepared, sadly. Everything is postponed for October so nobody could say Croatian Justice Department dilly-dallies. In the meantime my offspringess and I went for a walk after yesterday's rain and we shot some great photos of our neighbourhood.

Divorce Day

And here I am now, sipping coffee behind Family Court in Zagreb, seemingly placid on the outside, waiting for court session to start. It has been two long years now, filled with anguish and resentment, learning and search for understanding. Sometimes people say that after such a excrutiating experience that they feel a different person alltogether. Sometimes they're smarter, or calmer, or beter tacticians. I can say that this is all true and also not true. Perspective has changed and time has passed but nothing has changed substantially - I believed in my words and actions then, and also believe in them now, I don't feel I have misslead anybody and I don't harbor any resentment for trust spent in this relationship. Formal part of this relationship may be over today but personal part - love, trust, togetherness - that was all gone long before formalities were questioned.

Stubicke Toplice

Today we went to Stubicke Toplice to check out how's the water. Stubicke Toplice (Stubicke Spa) are about 30 kilometers from my house in Zagreb and going there is very nice and relaxing drive with not much traffic. Toplice themselves are on a beautiful, forested patch of meadow between two gentle hill slopes. Water is warm, about 30 degrees Celsius, in pools with various depths (40-170 cm) and oddly refreshing. I enjoyed swimming in it very much and have also caught some sun. Around noon it was too hot so we packed up and went home, hungry and tired, yet very pleased.

Irreplaceable Rijeka

After we finished work today we went for a short swim to Pecine. I used to live in Rijeka and my heart still breaks every time I leave for Zagreb. I miss everything about her; sight of the sea through the window, rustling of bay leaves in the evening breeze, crackling sound in my ears on a low air pressure day, even the smell of oil refinery on a hot summer afternoon. Swimming through wonderfully refreshing sea I did not think about anything, just enjoyed the moment. I almost cannot remember when I last did that.

Morning by Drava

I've been staying in Osijek for two days on business and it is truly wonderful. There is lot of work but Osijek is beautiful and quaint and people are so friendly and approachable that I'm stunned speechless. Yesterday evening we went to dinner to Zelena Zaba (Green Frog) restaurant and had fish perkelt with home made pasta and it was finger-licking good. We slept in Zoo hotel, with Drava silently flowing by our window. I feel so rested and at ease, all my somber mood from few days ago flowed away with this beautiful river.

Perhaps, it has been speculated, optimism confers a survival advantage by helping people cope with adversity.

... but does it really? Does optimism really offer survival advantage by helping people cope with adversity? And which terms it stipulates? And what is the price for such luscious arrangement?
There actually are answers to these questions. Sadly, many of them I already know and sadder still they only serve to strengthen my belief that "people" is unjust aggregation of individuals who steer their life by interpretations seldom comparable by content even when caused by immediate and proximate common experience.

It was, nevertheless, beautiful day here in Zagreb and I went for a brief walk to reward myself for being such a good and efficient little trooper today and writing a big chunk of my research paper. I also had some company and consequently an opportunity to socialize, communicate, learn and emote. We ate pretty good kebabs and sat in the shade on Opatovina, listening to Histrions rehearse for their grand opening of "Histrion Summer" tonight.

Sun Spots

Waking up is beautiful this summer. We have just watched Tristan & Isolde, my friend and I, and by watching it together I have, for the first time, realised just how much difference openness to experience makes. "You don't have to understand here to be here" Charlie Crews says and it reverberates through my experience... rearranging stuff that's already there - shuffling it around like plastic bag in the wind. And it is what it is, this lack of experience needed to be able to continually re-interpret the situation in the film. It is an absence that rolls the dice, just as experience would if there was any. Sun spot both illuminates and blinds.