Entries Tagged 'The Balkans' ↓

I have finished and handed in the final draft of my thesis on Yugoslavia in the 20th century.  This has been a huge endeavor and represents 5 years of study, research and travel.  It is done.  I felt good, at the end, in making some bold presumptions concerning the future of SE Europe, and that was it.  Now there is a space in my life…What’s next?  I still have to write some personal words about my goals for photography for the b/w darkroom course I am engaged in and finish the small portfolio I have started.  I can do the lab work next week and write the paper today.  Then I will have finished the semester, take the fall off, and cross my fingers over the spring semester in Greece.  I have begun thinking that even if I do not get in to the school, that I will go anyway for the time and visit the southern Mediterranean during the off season, finishing up my trip with the Greek convention.  In many ways I need a break from the former Yugoslavia and Greece and Turkey might be the ticket.

The date did not happen. I asked and she said ‘no’, but nicely.  The experience put me in an emotional tailspin that landed me on my pity-pot for a few hours.  I lost all gratitude for the above experiences as well as the whole of the past 7 years of sobriety.  I eventually snapped out of it and let it go.

Mom has bursitis in her hip. She also thinks she has been driving her car for the whole year-and-a-half she has been in bed, in the hospital, or whatever.  What a shocker for her.  ”Bullshit”, she said.  ”I can drive…I still have my licence.” “Sorry, but you cannot.”  I guess we should all be thankful that she can fight back, but that’s all he can do.  She cannot win.  She’ll wreck the car if she gets behind the wheel.  Time to keep an eye out.  She might try to make a break for it…

Johnnyboy

After leaving the US, the first news from abroad I heard was in regards to the swine flu…The thought that I might be stranded in Europe was exciting and also a little dismaying.  Anyway, no real chance of that now.  The flight to Vienna was uneventful and I found a really
great AA meeting the night that I arrived. I will be in Vienna for a few days at the end of the trip, so I’ll check out more of the recovery scene while I scope out the museums and cafes.  On the flight over I watched ‘Frost and Nixon’.  There is a great quote about Vienna…’ It’s just like Paris, but without the French! ‘

The Croatian Convention was heartfelt and small.  Only 67 AAs were there, overshadowed by the youthful boisterousness of the NA group upstairs in the hotel. Many AAs did not come because they felt that the combination of the two groups at a convention was a violation of the Traditions, which it is.  Next year the two conventions will be separate, I think, but don’t hold your breath globetrotters.

I went to Bosnia after that and am still here, currently in Sarajevo.  I will be traveling on to Belgrade on Sunday and connect with my sober/clean friends in that city.  I will be there for about a week of meetings and museums and then I am off to Greece and the Greek Convention.  I have been invited to qualify while I am there and I am very nervous about it.

My school work is going well…I am through with last semester and am currently working on the summer session while on the road.

My CBE/PLA submissions have been shot through with annoying bullets by the evaluator, and while I will not appeal the findings and take the 8 credits she is offering me, I was shocked by the tone and language she used to describe my involvement in both the process and the years I worked in the food business.  I think it is best to focus on the Now and Future instead of the Past from now on.

Johnnyboy

So I hit the road April 27th, back to the Balkans for AA conventions, fellowship in Croatia, Serbia, Greece, Bosnia-Herzegovina and endless diesel-like coffees.  I am also conducting the interviews I have spoken about already.  But first, a treatise on camera/shoulder bags for the traveling set–No matter how hard you try, two things are guaranteed when you search for the perfect bag:

1. It will always be either too small or too large.

2. You will end up with a closet full of them.

Since I have some new gear, I have ordered two bags, each from the same company, Domke.  I guess this company is the professional’s choice, so it will be my choice too.  They are non-descriptive and do not look like camera bags.  The first is the Domke F-2 .  It is big enough, but I do not know if it has the pocket arrangement for stuff other than cameras.  The second is the J-1 . This is the bag-of-bags.  I think it’s the one I’ll keep, because like it or not, one is going back.  This means less room taken up in my closet.  It also means that the photograph posted here will not have any unwanted additions.  Maybe my quest is over!  in the Pile o’Bags are two Timbuk2 messenger bags (one which I use a lot, the blue and grey one), one Swiss Army laptop satchel, one Osprey messenger style, a Crumpler camera satchel and a Tamrac camera bag (black) that is alright, but it screams  “Cameras inside, please steal me!”  I think this week I will give away the large Timbuk2, the Osprey, and the Swiss Army laptop case. Anyone want them?  They are great and well made, but they are extraneous luggage.

When I choose the winner next week, I’ll pack it up and post some pictures…

Oh yeah…School is done for the semester.  I am hoping for two more ‘A’s…

Johnnyboy

A pile of bags I do not use that often

I have all but finished this current semester.  I have a project due for a class in dramatics which will round out the whole thing nicely.  I am directing the first scene from the Sam Shepard play ‘True West’.   I have my work assigned for the summer session during which I will write my senior capstone thesis on unification in the former Yugoslavia and be done  with that.  So far so good.

I am still waiting on the results of my CBE work for my previous career and as they have made me jump through many flaming hoops of fiery shit, I have a feeling I will get nothing for my labors.  For Christ’s sake…16 credits?  It’s not like I’m asking for a degree or anything…

I leave for the Balkans on April 27th..23 days from now I’ll be sitting in an airport waiting to fly to Vienna.  I’ll attend the AA convention in Zagreb, head to Belgrade to hang with friends for a spell, and then off to the AA convention in Greece.  This will be my fifth Greek convention and my third in Croatia.  I am hoping for nice weather.  During this time I will also be conducting interviews with Balkan locals in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia about there lives during the Tito years.  There is nothing like field work to pump up the old thesis!

Mom is doing well and we are trying to getb her outside once in a while for some excersize now that the snow has gone away.  The current raininess doesn’t help, but there are sunny spots in our lives here in Somewheresville.

I’ll try to be more bloggish in the future, but to be honest I have another blog that is not so anonymous that I have focusing on these days. I’d show it to you but…

Johnnyboy

I have school tonight, so in a few minutes I’ll jump in the Mini and head off north to Fort Orange and college…When will this end?  I am very close, so close as to smell the ink on my diploma, yet the college is holding me up over a technicality:  They will not accept any of my credits (not to mention the Associates Degree) from my previous school because it is a “technical college”.  What horseshit.  If I had spent two years in the army and learned how to kill…But I’ve said all this before.  How boring.

I panicked this morning when I realized I hadn’t finished my homework for my “Page to Stage” course.  I scrambled and had that and a re-write for my thesis statement done in about 2 1/2 hours. Too close for my comfort.

Mom is doing very well this morning. The exhaustion she has felt seems to have just gone away. Tomorrow she gets a check-up from the MD…

My school has changed so much since I first enrolled, and not in a good way. It has become a place for bean counters and people whose asses expand as they sit for hours on end in their office chairs and eat donuts and chocolate. Not that I have anything against any of those pastimes, but mixed together they are a bad thing.  Gone are the days of Knowledge for the Sake of Learning.  Most pof the current students are there to get one or two courses and move up the executive ladder.  Each to his own, I suppose.  Live and Let Live.  Que  sera, sera…Blahblahblah.  I have 24 credits left to complete, provided the school sucks it up and gives me the credits I am asking for.  I am finished with my required courses…well over, actually.  The rest of my time will be electives.

I hope.

Johnnyboy

I have been on WordPress for about a week now and I think it’s great.  It’s a much more full blogging experience than the other.  I am also searching for a better template, but the one I have now will do.  I am drawn to the simple, direct, and non-denominational formats, so that’s what I will eventually adopt.

My good friend is in the process of updating his photography site, which is a current link here on TeeJayDoubleTee.  He has some great pictures of the Balkans and other shots.  I met up with him a few years ago in Croatia and he has been shadowing me ever since.

I will officially close the Blogspot blog tonight.  Farewell Blogger, dear friend, You have served me faithfully and true.

Johnnyboy