Telecom network guys are nervous because at least 10 telecom network users want to use the telephone network exactly at times when the telecom network is unavailable, no matter the reason.

If they don’t get their mommy, daddy, aunt, son, daugther, fuck buddy or whomever they call right fuckin’ now – the world is going to end.

So, telecom guys are nervous, because there is the extreme ammount of pressure on their shoulders.

You don’t save the world every day, now do you?

People who believe in God are blaming the Satan or other evil spirits that because of them, humanity was expelled from the Heaven.
Satanists blame God for the same thing.

Both groups are partially right, for we are in Hell. There is no greater hell than this hell on Earth.
There is also no better place to purify yourself.

However, nobody had expelled us from Heaven. We have all voluntarily went out.
We can all voluntarily go back in, too. But we have decided not to.

We prefer to live our lives in fear of mistakes, fear of challenges, fear of thinking, fear of feeling.
We like better to be mediocre, than to strive higher.

Someone once said – if your path is too easy, then there is a good chance that you’re going the wrong way.
And I firmly believe that.

Primordial rule:
“Seek the truth not through others, but through yourself.”

1. “People are stupid, they will believe something because they want it to be true; or because they’re afraid it might be true.”

2. “The greatest harm can result from the best intentions.”

3. “Passion rules reason, for better or for worse.”

4. “There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.”

5. “Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.”

6. “The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.”

7. “Life is the future, not the past.”

8. “Deserve victory”

9. “A contradiction can not exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole.”

10. “Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one’s self.”

11. “You can destroy those who speak the truth, but you cannot destroy the truth itself.”

Today I was traveling back home from job on foot and looked at the people that were driving on a bus. Not sure, but it looked like it was warm and cozy in there, but nevertheless, I got stunned by the dead faces I saw in there. They were standing still and staring out. Just as if they don’t go home, but like it’s their final journey. Then I looked upon myself and felt my chains have left me…

It seems that the only way not to be chained in this life is to leap out of this existence. More you leap out – less the impact on your inner peace.

To be out of your body and out of your logical mind is called death, although I’m not sure is that the death, or this what most call living is the real death.
I’ll stick with the widely spread explanation. “Civilized” one. For the sake of discussion.

I have chosen to die in this life.
And until something or someone again gives me the reason to live and to be shackled, I believe I’ll choose to stay dead. Out of logical mind. Out of body with at least the better part of me.
I guess I’ll even put the effort not to be dragged in again, unless I wish it so. That’ll be the day.

I suggest you, noble reader, try the same. Leap out and try not to come back. Maybe it’s the only lesson we need to learn.

Being able to look directly at the Sun with your eyelids fully open and without your eyes being hurt and all until you start seeing a channel between you and the Sun itself.
It is possible and beautiful.

Although I have never been so sad, I believe I feel kinda liberated.

It seems that the time has come to excel in art, to excel in love, to excel in friendships, yet I am sitting alone in a quiet room. Only me and the quiet computer humming.

Looking for muses, looking for lover, looking for friends.

Tonight, everybody seems to be where they want to be.
Me? I’m just making music and have a toothache.

It’s interesting. Betrayal has such a powerful grip on the mind. It’s almost like a python. It can squeeze out all other thought, suffocate all other emotion until everything is dead except for a rage. I’m not talking about anger. I’m talking about rage. I can feel it right here like it’s gonna burst. I feel like I wanna scream. Right now, matter of fact.

But it’s not the problem you’ve been betrayed. You’ve been helpless. And when you have finally been able to do something – you’ve let us all down.

The ultimate battle, or path in every life ends once you are victorious over yourself.
Not before. Not after.
It is up to everybody, however, to make himself aware of the reality of such moment in the sea of everyday illusions.

It seems that I have been in darkness of my own mind for a long, long time.

It found exceptionally easy for itself to build extremely bad situations for me just because it seems that I haven’t allowed myself (or perhaps I was, simply put, lazy)… anyway – I haven’t allowed myself to take charge and control.

Now that I at least begin to work on that, it seems that it got used to the power it had and won’t so easily let it go.
Bloody corruptionist!

Had I make so big mistake not to kill it long time ago? Should I kill it now?
Will I have a minute of happiness until I do? And when I do?

Is the nothingness the only fulfillment?

Guess it’s because I’ve no life
Guess it’s because of me
Sitting here crying out frustrations
and digging the dust of old memories

A lamp, pictures in the head
and silence
The computer hums for itself.

Walls are not at all a happy sight
bathed in the light
so that every scratch can be seen

Music doesn’t even miss here
conciousness goes to sleep faster in silence
Maybe I should take a pill
like all of those who I call cowards
(or they just use the tools and are the natural part of evolution?)
and go to sleep
just to sleep it all over

What kind of mind tar is this
For fuck sake this sounds lost
Is it that why my head aches so bad
and why my back is hurting?
Just too much of rocks on these shoulders

Sleep tight all my loves.
I’m here guarding…

Just now I have realized how much of my lifetime I have spent on many things, but missing the ultimate one – enjoying them.
Seems that I have simply forgot to be happy. That is about to change, because life without enjoyment is not worth living.
Thank you for that – you know who you are.

Every warrior of the light has been afraid to enter a combat.
Every warrior of the light has betrayed and lied in the past.

Every warrior of the light has lost faith in the future.
Every warrior of the light has trodden a path which was not his own.

Every warrior of the light has suffered because of unimportant things.
Every warrior of the light has doubted that he is a warrior of the light.

Every warrior of the light has failed in his spiritual obligations.
Every warrior of the light has said yes when he meant no.

Every warrior of the light has hurt someone he loved.

That is why he and she are warriors of the light:

They had endured all this without losing the hope to improve.

Look at it
At the very center of your attention span

When it’s still
It will present the reflection admirably

Yet as always
The mirror is flowing away

(So must you. Follow it and don’t stand still.)

—————–

Pogledaj ga
U središtu tvoje pažnje

Kada je mirno
Pokazaće ti savršeni odraz

Ali kao i uvek
Ogledalo se izmiče

(Moraš i ti. Prati ga, ne stoj u mestu.)

What was most magical in my childhood was transformation. Death itself was seen as a brief stopping point on an endless soul journey that could turn a peasant into a king and vice versa. With the possibility of infinite lifetimes extending forward and backward, a soul could experience hundreds of heavens and hells.

Any drop of water inside my body could have been ocean, cloud, river, or spring the day before. I remind myself of this fact when the bonds of daily life squeeze too tight.

Today, while I was travelling back home from job, I have silently lowered my consciousness and reached out with my inner self.
I only found how, unfortunately, the world is devoid of the light of real humanity.
I  so wish for this to change.

A student was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. In his project he urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical “dihydrogen monoxide.”

And for plenty of good reasons, since:

it can cause excessive sweating and vomiting
it is a major component in acid rain
it can cause severe burns in its gaseous state
accidental inhalation can kill you
it contributes to erosion
it decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes
it has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients

He asked 50 people if they supported a ban of the chemical.

Forty-three (43) said yes,
six (6) were undecided,
and only one (1) knew that the chemical was water.

The title of his prize winning project was, “How Gullible Are We?”

He feels the conclusion is obvious.

Go not to the temple to put flowers upon the feet of God.
First fill your own house with the Fragrance of love.

Go not to the temple to light candles before the altar of God.
First remove the darkness of sin from your heart.

Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer.
First learn to bow in humility before your fellowmen.

Go not to the temple to pray on bended knees.
First bend down to lift someone who is down-trodden.

Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins.
First forgive from your heart those who have sinned against you.

When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself rests in silence, then begins the path of the supreme.

“The probability of DNA chains putting themselves together exactly in necessary order to become alive is about the same as if Guteberg would toss the hand grenade onto his printing press and after the explosion all the letters would be in their place for the printing of the Holy Bible.” – Unknown author

I will forever stop trying to achieve Zen.

I can’t chase it. I can’t resolve it. It is unreachable for me.

I can’t come to it.

I’ll let it come to me.

Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s “Trinity” test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea’s two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).

Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing”the fear and folly of nuclear weapons.” It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.

Nuclear tests 1945-1998 – Watch it on Youtube

Sixty times these eyes have looked upon
the changes of autumns.
Long enough I have learned about the moonshine.
I don’t ask anymore.
I listen only to the voice of pines and cedars
while the wind is still.

Ryonen, buddhist monk, Japan, 1857.

On the night of 10th of February 2011, a little star descended from the heaven and made me the luckiest and most proud man on the Earth. Irena gave a birth to a little angel. My daugther.
Eight hours later, in the morning, this little star was ascended back up to heaven. And then, touched by her presence, I felt the deepest sadness and sorrow that a man can feel.

Today, I feel both the sadness and happiness.

I’m sad because she is not with us.
But I feel happiness now, for I know how big blessing she was.
With belief that she was special and that she just have chosen us and will be back some day, I’m sure we will all meet again.

She left just temporarily.

Rest in Light, my dearest child. For you are the light of Heaven.

=====

Noću 10. februara 2011. mala zvezdica se spustila sa neba i napravila me najsrećnijim i najponosnijim čovekom na svetu. Irena je rodila malog anđela. Moju kći.
Osam sati kasnije, ujutro, mala zvezdica se ponovo podigla na nebo. A tada sam, dirnut njenim prisustvom, osetio najdublju tugu i žalost koju čovek može da oseti.

Danas, osećam podjednako tugu i sreću.

Osećam tugu jer više nije sa nama.
Ali osećam i radost, jer znam koliki je blagoslov bila za nas.
Uveren sam da je bila specijalna i da nas je odabrala. Uveren sam da će nam se jednog dana vratiti i da ćemo se sresti.

Otišla je samo privremeno.

Spavaj u Svetlosti, draga moja Zvezdice, jer Ti si svetlost sa neba.

Enlightenment is not imagining figures of light but making the darkness conscious.

As soon as he died, a man found himself in a very beautiful place, surrounded by all the comfort and beauty that he had dreamed of.

A figure dressed in white came up to him and said, “You are entitled to anything you want.”

Enchanted, man did everything he had dreamed of during life. After many years of pleasure, he sought out the figure in white. He said that he had experienced everything and that now he needed a little work to make him feel useful.

“That’s the only thing I cannot get for you,” said the figure in white.

“But I’ll spend eternity dying of boredom! I’d much rather be in hell!”

“And where do you think you are?”

A Zen master had hundreds of disciples. They all prayed at the right time, except one, who was always drunk.

The master was growing old. Some of the more virtuous pupils began to wonder who would be the new leader of the group, the one who would receive the important secrets of the Tradition.

On the eve of his death, however, the master called the drunkard disciple and revealed the hidden secrets to him.

A veritable revolt broke out among the others.

“How shameful!” they cried in the streets, “We have sacrificed ourselves for the wrong master, one who can’t see our qualities.”

Hearing the commotion outside, the dying master remarked:
“I had to pass on these secrets to a man that I knew well. All my pupils are very virtuous, and showed only their qualities. That is dangerous, for virtue often serves to hide vanity, pride and intolerance. That is why I chose the only disciple whom I know really well, since I can see his defect: drunkenness.”

(from Paolo Coelho’s blog – http://www.paolocoelhoblog.com)

The professor begun the class by taking the glass full of water in his hand. He picked it up and lift it in the air and asked:

- What do you think… how heavy is this glass?
- 50 grams, 100 garms.. 125 grams, 300 grams – students tried to guess.
- The truth is – said the professor – I have no clue myself. And until we measure it, we won’t be sure. But the purpose of my question was something else. What will happen if I hold this glass up in the air, let’s say for a couple of minutes?
- Nothing – replied one of the students.
- All right. How about an hour?
- Your hand will start to ache – replied another one.
- That’s quite correct. But then, what will happen if I just hold it like this the whole day? – professor insisted.
- Your hand will start hurting more and more, then your muscles will paralyse because of the pain. In time, you’ll have to go to see the doctor. – replied the same student.
- Very good! – said the professor calmly – And while all of this is happening, do you think that the weight of the glass had changed?
- Not in a bit! Of course not! – the students replied in choir.
- Then what is the source of the pain in my arm and muscle spasms?

Students were now suddenly quiet. Confused. It was one of these riddle situations and all together were thinking hard to find an answer.

- What should I do in this situation to get rid of the burden and pain in this situation? – professor asked all of them.

After some more silence – the answer came:

- You should drop the glass!

Professor nearly jumped.
- Yes, that is the answer! Let the glass go! Drop it! The same thing happens with your problems and your heavy thoughts. To think of them for a couple of minutes is normal and nothing is wrong with that.
If you do, however, hold them in your mind for the longer periods of time, you will feel the pain. If you persist in holding them, you’ll be paralysed. You won’t be able to do anything else.
It is very important to think of and to draw the conclusions from the things and situations that happen in your life, but it is even more important to know how to liberate your mind from them at the end of the day. How to let them go, how to drop them before you get to sleep.
You’ll save yourself from the lots of stress and strain and every morning you’ll wake up fresh and shiny.
You will feel that you’re filled with a new strength and you will cope up with your problems with more ease, whatever your situation may be.

A man met an angel in the desert and gave him water.
“I am the angel of death and I came to get you,” said the angel. “But as you were kind, I will lend you the Book of Destiny for five minutes; you may change what you want.”

The angel gave the man the book. As he was leafing through its pages, the man began reading about the lives of his neighbors. And he got discontented,
“These people don’t deserve such nice things,” he said. With the pen in hand, he began worsening the lives of each one.

Finally, he reached the page of his destiny. He saw his tragic end, but as he prepared to change it, the book disappeared. Five minutes had already passed.
And right there, the angel took the man’s soul.

Pessimist complains about the wind.
Optimist expects the wind.
Realist adjusts the sails.

The real Friend is a person who induces the positive thoughts and feelings in you.

Whoever does not – is not your friend.
The art of life is not to think of them as of your enemies.

Making the real Friends out of them, however, is your ultimate success.

“You cannot play god and then wash your hands of the things that you’ve created.
Sooner or later the day comes when you can’t hide from the things that you’ve done anymore.”
- John Cavil

Another good man had died yesterday and I’m not sure should I mourn or rejoice: Whether to remember him by this last mourn, or to remember all the good times, places and happenings.
I’m sure that he would prefer the happy ending, and I will not object to that.

Rest in peace, rest in light, old friend.

One day scorpion was heading on its way and stumbled upon the river.
That was an impassable obstacle for it, and so it started thinking how to go across.

Conveniently, at that time, the fox was coming to the river, too, planning to go across.

“Please allow me to jump on your back and carry me across the river. I’ll be in debt to you always” – said the scorpion.

“Why should I do that ?” – replied the fox – “you are going to sting me and I’m going to die”

“Please help me” , said the scorpion, “I’m not going to sting you, because if I do, you’ll die and I am going to drown, too”.

“Hm… you have the point” – fox replied. “All right, I’ll help you. Here. Jump on my back.”

The scorpion jumped on the foxes back and in the next moment, the fox started swimming over the river.
When they were half way across, scorpion suddenly stung the fox.

Feeling that her life is fading out, with her last breath, fox asked the scorpion:
“Why have you done that? Now you are going to die, too…”
“Yes, I know… but this is my instinct and it is a part of my nature. I found that I can not go against that” – scorpion replied.

They both died.

“The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky? the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through our veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of the pony, and man all belong to the same family.

The shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water, but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you our land, you must remember that it is sacred. Each glossy reflection in the clear waters of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.

The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you must give the rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.

If we sell you our land, remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

One thing we know: our God is also your God. The earth is precious to him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator.

Your destiny is a mystery to us. What will happen when the buffalo are all slaughtered? The wild horses tamed? What will happen when the secret corners of the forest are heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills is blotted with talking wires? Where will the thicket be? Gone! Where will the eagle be? Gone! And what is to say goodbye to the swift pony and then hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.

When the last red man has vanished with this wilderness, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, will these shores and forests still be here? Will there be any of the spirit of my people left?

We love this earth as a newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. So, if we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it, as we have cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you receive it. Preserve the land for all children, and love it, as God loves us.

As we are part of the land, you too are part of the land. This earth is precious to us. It is also precious to you.

One thing we know – there is only one God. No man, be he Red man or White man, can be apart. We are all brothers after all.”

I am not sure who had said this before, but I have (again) came to believe that existence around us is only a reflection of our consciousness.
More of this existence we had created by ourselves – more it will reflect us.

… you really can’t live from your smartness. Living from other people’s stupidity, however, seems to be the way to go.
Isn’t that sad?

You see this goblet? For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it.

It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it.

But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’

When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.

Expect the glass to break.

And accept it.

You won’t change inevitable facts — they will happen, eventually. And if you expect it to happen — even see it as already happening, before it happens — you won’t get so upset.

You won’t overreact. You’ll respond appropriately, but not overreact.

You’ll smile, and think, “I expected that to happen. The glass was already broken. And I accept that.”

You’ll have peace of mind. And that is a welcome surprise.

One day a schoolteacher asked everyone in the class – “What would you want to be when you grow up?”

One pupil said they want to be a professor, another said “a doctor”, another one ” a soldier”… “engineer” … “spaceman”…

When it came to the last one – he said “I want to be happy”.

“I’m afraid that you haven’t understood my question” – teacher replied.

“Yes, I understood it correctly, but I’m afraid you do not understand life” – replied the boy.

I have found this on a GoDaddy Website and it is said by Mr. Bob Parsons – its founder. It is about 16 of his rules in life. Interesting reading.

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
I believe that not much happens of any significance when we’re in our comfort zone. I hear people say, “But I’m concerned about security.” My response to that is simple: “Security is for cadavers.”

2.Never give up.
Almost nothing works the first time it’s attempted. Just because what you’re doing does not seem to be working, doesn’t mean it won’t work. It just means that it might not work the way you’re doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn’t have an opportunity.

3. When you’re ready to quit, you’re closer than you think.
There’s an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: “The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of “undefined consequences.” My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you.”

5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
Remember that old saying, “As you think, so shall you be.”

6. Take things a day at a time.
No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don’t look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward.
Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide.
Remember what General George S. Patton said: “A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”

9. Measure everything of significance.
I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10.Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
If you want to uncover problems you don’t know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven’t examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you’re doing.
When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance.
Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around.
In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you’re doing as anyone else, provided that what you’re doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair.
Life isn’t fair. You make your own breaks. You’ll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).

14. Solve your own problems.
You’ll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you’ll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: “You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others.” There’s also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: “A wise man keeps his own counsel.”

15. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16.There’s always a reason to smile.
Find it. After all, you’re really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother.
He always reminds me: “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time!”

When God was giving the brain to the people he did the best job possible. Everybody thinks that he/she has enough. This is an old saying that I remember from the time when I was a kid. I haven’t quite caught its meaning until I have grown up, but the really interesting fact is that more I look at people – more I see that this saying was nothing but the naked truth.

You might ask yourself why, and I won’t even try to explain.

As my friend once said – “When some people come to you – you grab yourself by the head. When some other people come to you – you kiss them in their heads.” I must add – the former are seen much more often.

1.If anything can go wrong, Fix it! (To hell with Murphy!)
2.When given a choice — Take both!
3.Multiple projects lead to multiple successes.
4.Start at the top and work your way up.
5.Do it by the book…but be the author!
6.When forced to compromise, ask for more.
7.If you can’t beat them, join them, and then beat them.
8.If it’s worth doing, it’s got to be done right now.
9.If you can’t win, change the rules.
10.If you can’t change the rules, ignore them.
11.When faced without a challenge, make one.
12.”No” simply means begin again at the next highest level.
13.Don’t walk when you can run.
14.Bureaucracy is a challenge to the be conquered with a righteous attitude, an intolerance for stupidity, and bulldozer when necessary.
15.When in doubt: THINK!
16.Patience is a virtue but persistence to the point of success is a blessing.
17.The squeaky wheel gets replaced.
18.The faster you move, the slower time passes, the longer you live.

Businessmen from Harbin to Hong Kong spend ungodly sums on feng shui. After consulting the most sought-after geomancers, they build artificial waterfalls in front of their office buildings, and plunk massive jade carvings in their foyers, all to direct good fortune their way. They’re gambling that all this good feng shui will cancel out the bad karma of breaking contracts and other commercial skullduggery. But as this ancient story shows, all the mystical qi-directing in the world doesn’t overcome the force of our actions.

So, here it goes…

Thousands of years ago there was a feng shui master famed not just for his skill but also his fiery temper. One sweltering summer he got a commission from a rich family to assess a burial site, in a range of mountains far from his home.

It took him five days of hiking to reach the site and another day to complete his work. After resting in a mountain cave, he packed up his geomancer compass and writings and trudged off on the long trek home. The going was exceedingly hot, and by the second day of the return journey he had run out of water. He was out of the mountains and saw rich fields of rice ready to be harvested, but could discern no wells.

He did see a young woman with three children in the distance, working a field, and so he headed towards them. The woman and children all ceased their labors, winnowing the stalks of rice, to stare at the feng shui master and his fine clothes.

“I beg of you, kind lady, a bowl of water. I’ll never make it back to my home alive unless I have some water.”

The woman hurried to the shade of a nearby tree, and hoisted a large pitcher of water, which she uncorked and poured into a wooden bowl. But before giving the bowl of water to the feng shui master, she tossed a small handful of chaff on the water’s surface.

The hotheaded master felt a surge of fury well up. He snatched the bowl from the woman without a word or sign of gratitude. Try as he might to gulp the water, he had to continually blow away the chaff in the water to the side, and drink it in small sips. Convinced that he had been gravely insulted, he plotted revenge as he drank.

“Where do you live?” the feng shui master asked the kind woman.

“In that hut at the edge of the field, with my three sons,” replied the woman. “My husband died some years ago. With these sons of mine to feed and care for, life is difficult. We are poor, but we work hard and manage.”

The feng shui master gazed off at the hut for some time and the land surrounding it. “It’s no surprise you have to work so hard and fare so poorly,” he told the woman. “The feng shui of your house is most unfortunate. As long as you dwell in this place you will know only poverty and naught of prosperity. But I can help you. On the other side of that mountain lie an abandoned field and a ramshackle old house. The land needs cultivating, and the house many repairs, yet the feng shui there is superb. I recommend that you move your family there as soon as possible.”

Both the woman and her sons bowed to the master and thanked him over and over for his sage advice. He simply hefted his bags and set off down the road without a word in reply. Not a twinge of remorse did he feel for sending them off to a “Five Ghosts Death Site”, a place so exceedingly inauspicious that it would be a miracle should one of her sons live to reach manhood. The master felt it fitting retribution for the insult he had suffered.

Ten years passed by the time the feng shui master had cause to be in the area again. Remembering the family he had cursed, he made a point of stopping by to witness their ill fate. As he approached their house, the woman, older but still graceful, and quite prosperous looking, came out and bowed to him.

“I don’t suppose you remember me.”

“Of course, master. How could we forget one as kind as you? Since moving to this new place our lands have been uncommonly fruitful. Out of the abundance I have sent two of my sons to study for official posts, and my third son will soon take a wise old tutor. Won’t you come in and allow me to prepare a feast to thank you?”

Not long after, the feng shui master sat full of salted duck, roast pig, and a dozen other dainty viands. He gazed in bafflement at the plastered walls and rich furnishings. “How could this have transpired?” he wondered. “The site is still a magnet for the worst kind of feng shui, and I don’t see any charms about with which she could protect herself.”

At wit’s end, he confessed to the woman. “When I was thirsty, you gave me water. But instead of giving me pure water, you tossed chaff in just to spite an old man. That’s why I sent you here, to a place of ill omen, a Five Ghost Death site. Yet you and your family prosper. This goes against everything I’ve ever learned.”

The woman listened, her eyes wide, but in the end threw her head back and laughed. “Don’t you see? It was an extremely hot day, and I could see what a state you were in. As thirsty as you were, you would have gulped the cold water as fast as you could, and most likely have dropped dead from the shock. With the chaff in, you had to blow on the water and sip it slowly. I was only trying to spare you from harm.”

At last the feng shui master understood.

“I am an old fool. I sent you to an evil place, yet no lasting evil can come to you. Each and every day Heaven and the Buddha bless you for your kind heart and benevolent actions.”

Mima Radio – one of my favorite stations, had closed down temporarily.
While I was sad that it stopped, I was at the same time quite happy that Irena’s and my friend Paul (the guy behind MimaRadio) is starting a new page in life.

He, on the other hand was happy to help us to continue the legacy of MimaRadio.

Check it out at www.mimaradio.com

After the complete darkness, even the smallest light looks like a Sun.
It is important, however, not to indulge yourself in believing in illusion that it is really so.
One should rather keep improving that source of light in every moment of one’s existence.

1. If you ask me technical questions please don’t argue with me because you don’t like my answer. If you think you know more about the topic, why ask? And if I’m arguing with you…it’s because I am positive that I am correct, otherwise I’d just say “I don’t know” or give you some tips on where to look it up, I don’t have the time to just argue for the sake of it.

2. Starting a conversation by insulting yourself (i.e. “I’m such an idiot”) will not make me laugh, or feel sorry for you; all it will do is remind me that yes, you are an idiot and that I am going to hate having to talk to you. Trust me; you don’t want to start a call that way.

3. I am ok with you making mistakes, fixing them is my job. I am not ok with you lying to me about a mistake you made. It makes it much harder to resolve and thus makes my job more difficult. Be honest and we can get the problem resolved and continue on with our business.

4. There is no magic “Fix it” button. Everything takes some amount of work to fix, and not everything is worth fixing or even possible to fix. If I say that you just need to re-do a document that you accidentally deleted 2 months ago, please don’t get mad at me. I’m not ignoring your problem, and it’s not that I don’t like you, I just cant always fix everything.

5. Not everything you ask me to do is “urgent”. In fact, by marking things as “urgent” every time, you almost ensure that I treat none of it as a priority.

6. You are not the only one who needs help, and you usually don’t have the most urgent issue. Give me some time to get to your problem, it will get fixed.

7. Emailing me several times about the same issue in the same day is not only unnecessary, it’s highly annoying. Emails will stay until I delete them, I won’t delete them until I’m done with them. I will typically respond as soon as I have a useful update. If it is an urgent issue, let me know (see number 5).

8. Yes, I prefer email over telephone calls. It has nothing to do with being friendly, it’s about efficiency. It is much faster and easier for me to list out a set of questions that I need you to answer than it is for me to call and ask you them one by one. You can find the answers at your leisure and while I’m waiting I can work on other problems.

9. Yes, I seem blunt and rude. It’s not that I mean to, I just don’t have the time to sugar coat things for you. I assume we are both adults and can handle the reality of a problem. If you did something wrong, I will tell you. I don’t care that it was a mistake, because it really makes no difference to me. Don’t take it personal, I just don’t want it to happen again.

10. And finally, yes, I can read your email, I can see what web pages you look at while you are at work, yes, I can access every file on your work computer, and I can tell if you are chatting with people on an instant messenger or chat room (and can also read what you are typing). But no, I don’t do it. It’s unethical, I’m busy, and in all reality you aren’t all that interesting. So unless I am instructed to specifically monitor or investigate your actions, I don’t. There really are much more interesting things on the internet than you.

Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.

Once upon a time, there was a little sparrow. He was just an average sparrow, flying around and stuff.
It was a cold winter day, but our sparrow was flying around very cheerfully. After all, he had a bunch of food in his warm nest and was pretty happy about that.
As he wandered around, he didn’t mentioned that it’s getting darker and colder, and before he realized it, he found himself lost on the outskirts of the big woods…

He sat on the branch and started thinking what to do, but since it was dark, he couldn’t find his way home. So he sat, hoping that someone will arrive and help him out.
Noone came and it just got colder and darker…

After many hours, our little sparrow felt that his strength is wearing out, and by time, he felt sleepy. Little did he know that when you feel sleepy on a big cold – it’s not a good sign. Not at all.

Finally, exhausted, he lifelessly fell on the ground. He saw a bright light coming out from the sky and he knew he was dying. He felt quite comfortable and warmth started spreading through his body. He felt that he is lifting up to the sky, to the light and finally he heard beautiful music followed by a…

“Splat!”

The big cow, without even noticing him, just eased on her stomach (or should we say “laid her brick”) on our little sparrow who was on the ground.

“Other than the smell, it’s not bad at all” – said our little sparrow once he got warm and cozy below the cow’s shit.
A hour later, he even started the joyful chirping. He was a happy sparrow, thankful to his destiny and good fortune.

What he was about to learn soon is that a cat was walking around in his vicinity. That, itself would not be a big problem, but alas, cat was very hungry.

So, cat, who heard the joyful chirping, also thanked her destiny for being good to her and providing such an easy meal.

“It smells like shit, it looks like shit, but it’s actually delicious” – cat was thinking for herself. She dug out and gulped our little sparrow. Poor sparrow didn’t saw it coming.

Our story ends here, but there are couple of facts to learn from it:

1. The one who shits on you is not necessarily your enemy.
2. It’s not always bad to be in deep shit.
3. The one who takes you out of the deep shit is not necessarily your friend.
4. When you are in the pool of shit – keep your mouth closed and do be quiet.

… I’m thinking of becoming a “small man that lives in the radio”…

Heck,  I have even caught myself secretly hoping for a new political turmoil, just to be able to work on the radio as I did many years back…

Then the kids came and I had to run for money, and as I did, I have ran away from something that was my dream. Does that come with age, or do I prefer to call it “necessity” ? Guess I’m still too scared to admit. 

While I’m (again) running after my courage – listen to the Internet radio station that I gave myself into a little bit. At least it’s comfortable to know that I have helped someone.  http://www.mimaradio.com  

I’m not exactly sure how do you guys manage to be so cheerful and happy now that the New Year is finally there.

All the usual fuss about it, Christmas, presents, shiny streets, traffic jams…
No, I am really not happy when I need to spend two hours to get to the downtown, just because it’s New Year. Otherwise it takes up to 45 minutes.

Then, on the first day of the New Year, you wake up, but you can’t go and buy milk and bread as every other day.
What’s even worse – you had to buy all of that a day or two earlier, like we’re on a brink on nuclear cataclysm… Carrying 10 kilograms of different grocery bags is not my way of entertainment.

Kids, of course, won’t let you sleep after the night that you have spent awake. Same as every other day.

Then, if you decide to eventually go out – you need to keep smiling to your neighbors, because if you don’t, they will spend the year gossiping about how bad you are and trying to find what the heck is wrong with you. If you’re completely unlucky, they will even try to help you.

I don’t even want to bother listing all the news feeds why do I really don’t see any reason to be happy in New Year.

The only good thing about it – only if you’re lucky enough – nobody will call you on 1st of January.

Conclusion – New Year sucks.

A Man died too young.

He was just an ordinary guy who run the store close to my apartment.Man who would simply come to the store at 7:00, who was always there when I went down to buy some bread and milk.  

Man with whom I had never used to talk about hard things, and with whom even the hard things seemed easier. Maybe that was why I was under the illusion that nothing is hard when I enter his store…

- ” Mornin’ neighbor”

- “Mornin’, what’s up?”

- “Ah, those kids, you know… blah blah”

- “Ahh, don’t be like that! I like them when they’re all over the place”

- “May I have bread, milk, and a cigarettes for Irena?”

- “Yeah, anything else ?”

- “No. That’s all. I need to wait for the payment for more luxuries.”

- “Ahhh! No! Here’s a chocolate banana for little Marko”

- “But, you don’t have to…”

- “Oh, shut up! Marko, here you are!”

- “Goo-goo(that was Marko’s way to say ‘thanks’)”.

- “Thanks man!”

- “Have I told you to shut up already?”

… and then he smiles.

For some simple reason – he loved all kids, but he really loved Marko.

Just a simple man.  And there is too few of them these days.

We all miss him.

.

Today,  I have decided to remove couple of technical related posts. Reason behind that is – it is boring to read, and there are most probably thousands of websites that can write about tech stuff better than me.

So, ummm…. to cut long story short – I have left what’s more about me here.

Tonight,  Jare (our cat) had fell of the 5th floor. We just heard “swish”, then a pause, and then a “splat” at the moment when it hit the ground.

Before you ask – all is good (at least it looks like it’s good). The damn son of a bitch used a tree to slow it down and he even splatted on the grass and not on the concrete. This is the third time.

I like that cat, really. If he was a man, I would take him to the pub to celebrate his new birthday.

Nevertheless, Irena and I had a beer. Jare was satisfied with the attention he got from other cats.

I’ll leave thinking to the noble reader.

This morning, when sun came up, I had my first and second morning coffee – I have stumbled upon something which I’d like to share:

Every Morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes.
It knows it must out run the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning if Africa, a lion wakes.
It knows that it must out run the slowest gazelle or it will starve.

It doesn’t matter if you are a gazelle or a lion.
When the sun comes up you had better be running.

Maurice Green

I don’t think I should say anything else for today.

Here is a good recipe for living in Serbia, if you’re an IT guy:

1. sell all your stuff
2. buy a cow, or since the cheese is better and goats are cheaper – buy a goat instead
3. go to the mountain (no flowing water, no electricity, no phones…)
4. make cheese, eat cheese
5. come to Belgrade and sell cheese to the suckers that will pay from 3 to 30 times more than the real worth of it, just because they live in Belgrade.
6. repeat steps 4 & 5 until you get rich
7. when you get rich – put all the money in high tech business.
8. hire the suckers who are like you were before you read this recipe, pay them little, ask them o work 20 hours/day
9. repeat until you get old and catch some terminal disease from too much “sex & drugs & rock’n'roll”
10. die happy

P.S.
If you say  “moooo” or “baaaa” while you are selling your cheese – they will pay even 50 times more, because the food they buy is all healthy and natural and that is very popular today.

So here it goes. It will be short:I don’t like waiting for everything, my net traffic being sniffed, my shitty laptop that died on me, even more shitty apartment in which I can’t run after my kids (it is expensive, oh, yeah, of course) and in which I broke my smallest finger on the left foot and twisted it so hard that I needed very strong will to put it back as it was…What else? (rethorical question)Oh yes… all the cats that produce the same amount of shit as they are elephants. I like them, actually. But I don’t like the smell, if noble reader knows what I mean.Finally I don’t like living here and being unable to travel anywhere without a fuckin’ visa. This sucksAll in all – it is very important to tell that Air Manx (Ira) does not have anything to do with all written above. Do not make any false assumptions!She is one of a kind supportive kind of person that everybody would die to have with them. My kids are lovely, too. Although they can freak the shit out of me sometimes.Now that I wrote all of this I am beginning to think that it actually doesn’t suck too much except the visa thing, and the fact that we’re the 3rd… no… 4th world country.Maybe I’m a fuckin’ terrorist, who knows. I live in Serbia, and that’s probably enough.  &%$#%&#@##@%!!!Almost forgot the old lady from the flat below ours that threatens that she will break the hell loose if our landlord doesn’t fix the broken sewer pipe. And I should be a fuckin’ messenger… this sucks, too. They always kill the messenger somehow…(to be continued…)

(continued) … the old lady finally broke the hell loose.  Stalked us like a professional hitman, looking if we’re going to drop the garbage out.  And when we did…