Revelations

Has it ever happened to you that you came to an interesting cognition while doing something monotonous and repetitive? Last year I became aware of this when I was going swimming a few times a week regularly. At first I was very 'spectical' ;) because I expected to feel like a hamster in a wheel and that I would get bored pretty quickly. But I realized it wasn't like that at all. I mean, I'm still a bigger fan of the more diverse kind of action, however, I see I can enjoy in a more monotonous kind of recreation too as you can meditate all you want in the process. Well, what I did last year while swimming I'm doing this year while running – last year the weather didn't allow me to run, so I found a water alternative, but this year I decided that nothing would stop me in re-establishing the programme 'Happy feet' and so the Black Death and I have been running around our neighbourhood for a while now. Thus last time I came to two different revelations. Firstly, I realized that Sambo is probably the first and only dog in the world that managed to get the title of European champion first and then (after six months, mind you!) also the title of European junior champion, all in the same year, and to top it all, at an age that already qualifies him as a veteran. If that's not cool… But how can that be, you probably wonder? I advise you to take a look at my older posts; there I already bragged about Sambo winning the European champion title on last year's Eurodogshow in Zagreb. A bit under half a year later, in November, we went on a Belgian roadtrip; there we went to the Kortrijk dogshow that is also a 'Eurodogshow' (don't ask me why and how, but their show is also a 'European' one) and there my geriatric Waffle, thanks to the unskilful ring steward, managed to (unintentionally) infiltrate himself in the selection for the junior winner and even won! Now, tell me if you know of any other dog that managed to do that! I think there isn't one ;).
And so we came to the second revelation – the progress of technology. Once uppon a time, we used to write letters to each other, then we started e-mailing and nowadays I can already wave to my friends and relatives all around the world via the webcam live. But it's not only us, the common mortal people that advance together with time and progress. It happens with the Church too. I tell no lie, the Church doesn't recrute their little sheep on the street or by oral tradition anymore but started using cellular phones or better said short text messages in order to do that. No kidding, the other day I was sitting in the living room, relaxing while watching something very intellectual, when suddenly my phone rings (actually honks) and the SMS said something like 'I urgently need animators for the winter holidays, please get back to me, R. Marjan.' While trying to figure out who the hell could R. Marjan be and what kind of animators he need for what kind of winter holiday, the phone starts ringing (actually laughing) in my hand and the conversation that followed went something like this:
U: Hello?
M: Hi, it's Reverend Marjan!
(the following thoughts went through my head at that moment – who's kidding me, who is Reverend Marjan and most of all, what does he want from me???)
U: Hi?
M: I've sent you a message, but I decided to call you anyway. Listen, I urgently need animators for our winter holidays of the Christian youth and I wonder if you have any time and could help me out? U: Darn, this weekend I have to finish a translation I'm working on and next week I have an exam, so I won't be able to help you, sorry. M: What a pitty… Well, thanks anyway, maybe some other time, right? Bye, have a nice day! U: You too, thank you!
Now let me explain a bit the background and utmost bizarrity of this anecdote: music has always been a big part of my life. In third grade of primary school I started singing in the children's choir, continued in the youth choir and later on in the women's choir. After 8 years of singing in 3 different choirs with the same choirmaster (which is still in my nicest memories) I quit because of certain circumstances. After a bit under two years of pause I started missing singing really bad and let myself be talked intoa test visit of the youth church choir by my friend and neighbour. Being an ardent Catholic (don't take me seriously, I'm a complete atheist) I told myself that it doesn't hurt to try. So I went and to my greatest surprise I liked it, so I stayed for two years. And yes, that's when I met Reverend Marjan :). It's been two years now since I'm no longer part of the flock, but he obviously still has my number and every now and then he sends me a message – and to be honest, he always makes me smile :). In the meantime my poor significant other and my significantly hairy other feel the consequences of my musical deprivation; even though I sing quite well (as it should be after 11 years of singing in choirs) that's not even nearly as fun as singing 'my way', which means that I sing (at the top of my voice, what else) with a nice, authentic Ukrainian accent, providin the songs are in English, of course. Luckily Sambo isn't showing any mental/emotional trauma yet, but Gregor, on the other hand, is already showing signs of despair and I won't be too surprised if he enters me into a choir – maybe some Hare Krishna since I have the Catholics already covered…
And to finish… no, don't worry, enough philosophizing for today. I managed to edit and shorten the clip of our ATV adventure , you're welcome to have a look.