Last post of 2006

Another year is almost over, and I'm using this last weekend of 2006, to look back at what good happened to me during it. First trip across state borders,albeit to Bulgaria but still,summer vacation to never forget, etc... Also some not so good things happened but I've managed to overcome many of them.

For 2007 i don't have some grandiose, detailed plans. I know what i like and what i would like to do with my life. I don't have some big material wishes, cause however important that thing is still a THING after all. But if i would have to put something on a list of wishes, i guess that would be - 1) a loving girlfriend 2) more illustration/graphic design work with people which appreciate my work and don't see me as a servant with "visual arts" talent.

I'll be 26 this year, and it's about time to become truly independent - mainly financially from parents, cause that would change many things for the better and it would help me, as well as them and our relations wouldn't be so "I love you, my dearest piece of shit". :) That means stop doing things for low fees or pro bono, just because I hate saying no to my friends, because they are my friends. This month i had a situation in which i couldn't do something that I said I will do pro bono for one of my friends, because I had lot to do for university or for some real, paying jobs, and my friend got pissed at me.... No more situations like that, I promise to myself

Merry Christmass

Merry Christmas, for all those who celebrate it tomorrow. I just hope it's white... and happy, of course

UP

Yeah!! I'm getting better and better. I finally feel like my lungs are not the size of two retarded peanuts which are going to burst after every step... But that's behind me now. That also means that I can drink Coke for the first time in 4 days.

One tip for anyone who reads this and is from Belgrade - If you like theatre and have someone who likes theatre too (cause it's comedy and there's always more laugh when there are more than one) go and see short (90 minutes) but more than excellent comedy - "Dve mirisne ruzhe" at "Pozorishte na Terazijama". It's named like it's some emotional, feminine drama or some mexican day-time soap opera, but in fact it's very light and very funny, originaly Spanish play). Perfect for these cold and foggy days.

Napokon sam malo ozdravio!!! Ne osecam se kao da su mi pluca velichine dva retardirana kikirikija koja ce da odapnu posle svakog koraka. Sad je sve to samo proshlost i sto je josh vaznije mogu da pijem kocu opet, odnosno po prvi put posle 4 dana.

Mali savet za sve one koji citaju ovo a iz Beograda su - obavezno, ali obavezno odgledajte predstavu "Dve mirisne ruzhe" koja se daje na sceni Pozorista na Terazijama. Naslovljena je kao da se radi o nekoj emo, feministichkoj tragediji ili nekoj latino sapunici, ali osim sto se radi o originalno spanskoj predstavi, predstava je bash naprotiv odlichna raspevana komedija, savrshena da vas razveseli u ovim jezivim i vlaznim danima prekrivenim maglom.

Samo da kazem, karta i to za centralnu lozhu je 450 dinara, sto je stvarno smeshno malo znajuci da za parter u drugim pozoristima treba dati duplo toliko.

Sinusoida

Gore, dole, gore, dole....tako nekako moze da se opishe moze moja zivotna situacija u poslednje vreme. Prvo treba da potpishem ugovor, pa onda me mega ishejtuje jedna devojka ni krivog ni duznog (dobro mozda ne totalno, ali kada nece da saslusha minut sama je kriva), pa onda dobijem neke ponude da radim logoe sto je mega kul i sto mi uvek zaista imponuje, pa zaglavim bronhitis od koga mi se nista ne radi i ceo dan se vuchem u pidzami i totalno se ponasham kao moj machor koji spava 20 sati dnevno...Ali dobro uskoro ce valjda i ove magle po gradu da nestanu, mozda i snegu mogu da se nadam za Novu godinu i Bozic. A onda dolazi i moj rodjendan. 26-ti...lele.Secam se kada sam kevi rekao da nemam ni najmanju nameru da se zenim pre 30-te. Sada to deluje nedovoljno daleko, posebno kada vidim kako se lako veze koje traju godina raskidaju...Ali necu vishe da vas smaram, idem da pojedem josh neku kashiku meda. Bolje i to nego antibiotici.
Ovom prilikom ne kachim nista novo, nego par starijih radova koji mi dosta znache.

Up, down, up, down - that pretty much describes my life in last couple of days. First I get to sign first professional contract, then a very (maybe too much dear) dear girlfriend makes me feel like a piece of crap with no reason, then I receive offers for couple of logos and that's always cool, then I catch a nasty cold which transforms me into a zombie which sleeps 20 hours per day. I finally understand the life of my tomcat. But there's always a hope for something better. Maybe soon the fog will disappear, and the snow will finally arrive before New Year... And then my birthday !!!! 26th...Couple of years ago, I've said to my mother, that I won't marry before turning 30. Now I feel like i should bump up that milestone :)

This time I'm not posting anything new, just couple of oldies I really like.I hope you like them too.

First Professional Contract / Prvi profesionalni ugovor

Napokon je i taj trenutak dosao! Ove nedelje trebao bih, nadam se, da potpišem prvi profesionalni ugovor sa nekim domaćim klijentom. U pitanju su ilustracije pevača predstave tipa američkog vodvilja (pevanje, kabare) u stilu postera za holivudske filmove, iz njegovog zlatnog perioda (50-te i 60-te). S obzirom da sam, za skoro sedam godina poluprofesionalnog rada na polju grafickog dizajna i ilustracije, sa domacim klijentima uvek imao "polulegalnu" relaciju, sa plaćanjem striktno u keši, ovo mi mnogo znači kao prvi korak ka nekom sigurnijem, profesionalnom stanju stvari. Da ne moram da se mislim kako će me neko "zavrnuti" za veliki deo

honorara i nestati. A što je najsmešnije to mi se dešavalo samo sa najbogatijim klijentima.Izgleda da ,u ovoj zemlji, zaista najbrže do para dolaze oni koji su se davno rastali sa svojim moralom i obrazom. Ali to ne mogu da menjam, barem još ne.

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Finally, that moment has arrived - I'm signing first professional contract with local client. After almost seven years of working at the level which is in no way professional i finally made to this level, where i won't have to worry about being paid for something I've done and delivered to the client. The contract is for the series of illustration which will be used for posters, invitation cards and programme for 10 cabaret, vaudeville style plays. Illustrations will be portraits of actors/singers and will be done in style of movie posters from Hollywood's golden era (50s and 60s). In couple of days I'll be posting first one, i think...

It's been a while ...

Couple of days ago I have heard, for the first time in a long time ( must be a year or two even) with a friend of mine, whom i first met in the "early period of my Internet existence", back in 97. In those days I was joining mailing list ( do you remember those, they were like today's forums or blogs) with all sorts of topic, ranging from WW2 and WW1 battleships, computers, java programming, graphic design etc...Many of those topics are no longer interesting for me, but one of those mailing list was, i can't remember the mailing list site, but the name of the list was Evolve-Create.it was for discussions about evolution or "divine" genesis of life.

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I mentioned a friend - well i got to know her when i was a member of aforementioned list. Her name is Elisabeth Allen, and she's American from Zimbabwe. Or maybe i should say Zimbabwean (I'm not sure if i got the right name for the citizens of Zimbabwe), who currently lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, USA.
Elisabeth's not exactly my age - she's little younger than my Mom, but she's an exceptionally kind person who wanted to remain in touch (e-mails and letters) even during '99 bombardment of Serbia, and never was limited to the "CNN view" of my country and our situation at that time. During all that time we found out that we have lot of in common - my childhood was in a way marked with constant wars and she's, in a way, a refugee from Zimbabwe, cause she and her family left that country, not only because they were looking for better future in States but also because they wanted to escape the regime of Robert Mugabe.

Somehow, i guess when my system went down couple of years ago (thank you Mr Gates) I have lost her contact email and we haven't heard from each other ever since. But last week i got her email and it made me very happy. It's like finding something or someone even after you've given up all hope. Not much changed in her life, thankfully every one's is OK, as they can be. Main difference is that her son Brendan, who is 22 now have joined US Army and is now on tour of duty in Afghanistan. I guess it's stupid to compare them, but thank god, it wasn't Iraq. He's in US Air force, but not in flight units but as the Army engineer. Though it doesn't change much since afghan fighters don't really care which insignia a soldier wears.

That wouldn't be so special, especially to you, a blog reader who doesn't know my friend, but to me that last fact changes so much. Before that I wasn't much interested in US Army operations and in a way had little sympathy for their fights in Iraq,Afghanistan and other parts of Islamic world. From the start of post 9/11 operations I thought that they were just wasting time and money because the core of terrorism isn't a building or weapon, which US army can destroy or take away. Core of terrorism is an idea, I'm not sure which one, but if you don't fight it with another idea of same strength, you will never defeat it.

It has been 5 years since 9/11 and those two operations have achieved very little, so little that it's not hard to believe that their goals weren't simply democracies in Afghanistan or Iraq. Before i go too far, i just wanted to say that now I'm involved in those wars on personal level, at least partially. I only want my friend to have her son back in good health and one piece. I don't care who wins...

On the other subject, my life is ,these days, limited to the architecture studies (Master degree), graphic design freelancing and drawing in the free time. I don't really have much energy left, so i go out only twice a week. And it has been like that for almost a month. Somehow workload is always biggest in November. At least I'm doing the things I like but it's not a relief when it's 2 am and you still have two hours or work left and you should be back on your feets in 5 hours. Well at least I'm saving for a trip abroad. I'm hoping for 9 days visit to Amsterdam, but i'm not sure about that. But i certainly won't be staying home. Every change would be good.

Btw here are two more drawings, i've done in last couple of days.

Crtanje je nesto sto me opusta, makar crtao i chudovista i nakaze kao sto je ova groteskna karikatura jednog mog prijatelja. Mada se nekada zabrinem kada vidim koliko nakaza, sam nacrtao u poslednjih par godina. Ali kapiram da je bolje i to nego da radim "belo". Mislim da mi je dovoljno sto se drogiram slatkim i mesom.

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Drawing is for me, more than a hobby. It soothes me and relax, even when i draw grotesque caricatures of good friends, like this one. Though I sometimes freak myself out when I see how many abominations I've drawn throughout the years. But i guess it's better than to "draw white lines on the table"... :) It's bad enough that i eat too much

Pozdrav svima !!! - Hello everybody!!!

Do današnjeg dana sam mislio da je blog izmišljen samo za egomanijake, koji misle da sav običan svet prosto umire čekajući da čuje šta se u njihovim, samo njima samima,interesantnim životima, dešava. A onda sam, postepeno, i za mene neprimetno, počeo da redovno posećujem par blogova poput bloga Amerikanke, trenutno nastanjene u Beogradu - http://desperateserbwife.blogspot.com/, i bloga http://myfathershand.blogspot.com/, koji posecujem zbog veoma prostih a i dalje veoma efektnih portreta coveka koji je veoma talentovan ali zbog parkinsonove bolesti, više to nije. I sam veoma često, mada ne toliko dobro kao taj čovek, crtam i uopšte izražavam mnogo češće i mnogo bolje vizuelno nego jezički, pa mi je ta tragična situacija nekako postala veoma lična i nešto što proizvodi pomešana osećanja.

I eto tako sam nekako došao do današnjeg dana, kada sam shvatio da blog i nije tako loš ako se shvati kao mesto gde se okupljaju tvoji prijatelji, koji to ne mogu u "stvarnosti", ma kako to zvučalo. A u poslednje vreme, imam dobre prijatelje, što Srba, drugova iz gimnazije koji su otišli u inostranstvo i koje možda godinama neću videti, a i stranaca sa svih meridiana. Zato će ovaj blog biti dvojezičan, ako me ne bude mrzelo da kucam sve dvaputa. Nadam se da neće.

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Up until today I thought that blogs were invented for egomaniacs who thought that somebody is actually interested in what's happening in their lives, which are frankly only interesting for themselves. But then, somehow unintentionally, as a reflex, I started visiting two blogs. One is - http://desperateserbwife.blogspot.com/ - blog kept by an American woman living in Belgrade, which gives an interesting perspective of a stranger, visitor living in my hometown. Very informative and it makes you see what are the real flaws and also good sides of my Belgrade. Other one is - http://myfathershand.blogspot.com/. This blog is interesting cause it run by children of man who is very talented artist but now suffers from Parkinson's disease and can not continue doing the "thing", the same thing, which also my greatest hobby, maybe even more than that - drawing and painting. The story of Mr Samuel Wray is somehow very personal for me, like i can identify, what's of course rubbish, with him.
But that's how i got here and now. Today I realised that blogs are not so bad after all. They could be usefull for keeping in touch with many friends which you cannot see in real life, cause they left the country and ended 10 000 miles away in some far town, which you can only see on some screen. This is something i do. so i don't lose what most important to me - friends.

But again, maybe I'm just an egomaniac who thinks someone actually gives a shit about me :).

C'est la vie