Semester 15 Chapter XXII: Running

Okay, I’m gonna talk some shit today. I’m so sick and tired of Czech politics. It’s a fucking travesty. I’m so sick of all the ass-backwards idiots being so removed from reality or any human decency… So we have this story of this teenage girl who’s been continuously raped for about 3 years by her stepdad (we’re talking 200+ cases of rape) and our courts have arrived to a conclusion at which they felt like giving the guy no jail time is perfectly acceptable. Girl’s attempted suicide three times already, guy’s a violent alcoholic who was recording it all to blackmail her to keep that whole situation going. You kinda feel sick just reading about it all. In light of this recent case, our fucking senate has decided not to put Istanbul Convention in force. And I’m so over all these fuckers. I feel like debating this is really just a waste of words. All you alt-right traditional family LGBTQ+ hating psychopaths… Fuck you and whoever you came with. These things involve real people who have just as much right to live on this planet as anyone else. It’s not cute, it’s not funny, it’s not something that’s even remotely acceptable or tolerable. I really don’t wanna stay on this topic for too long… What am I supposed to say? That domestic abuse is real? That those victims have to be protected? That the whole discourse needs to shift? I’m so ashamed that I’m from a country where these things are this far from being understood. Fuck.

 

On a lighter note, I had a pretty interesting English class last week. In one of my smaller groups, there’s this guy who has showcased this typical Czech racism rhetoric. You know the widely acceptable “I don’t like people of any other ethnicity and I really don’t like black people” shit. The kinda shit you can basically crack at most people in this country and usually get some head nods. So I confronted the guy, was totally ready to drop that class and got an apology out of him with assurance that he’s really not racist and he was just playing. Classic Czech twist on racism. I mean… This shit is so fucking annoying. Happy I didn’t let it slide tho.

 

Okay, back to this shit. Last week was mostly asocial. I got out once to meet up with my Canadian connect once more. There were more of my favorite people in the pub so it turned out to be an entertaining night. On Saturday, I took a train to visit one of my bros outside Brno. We did a non-alcoholic evening (as he quit drinking too) and this morning, we put on our running shoes and did a half-marathon. Took us two hours and we weren’t even pushing it too hard. Weather was beautiful, we ran through villages and fields… Felt good to be alive.

 

On one of my other runs last week, I was passing this elderly woman and I noticed she was talking to me. So I stopped and she really just wanted to say that it’s super nice seeing me running around and that she’s happy for me. That I get to do that. That she’s 90 and she still does her walks in the area but the legs aren’t what they used to be. Which basically sums up my whole attitude towards exercise. I know at one point I’m gonna be sitting in a chair wishing I could do one more run. And with each passing day I’m getting closer. To me, it really isn’t about having a good body (that’s just a bonus) but about dopamine and some basic self-respect. And I’ve been approaching it like that forever. It was cool hearing it from someone who’s made it that far. I thanked the woman, wished her a lovely walk and carried on. It was a nice moment.

 

So yeah, all is going well. Enjoying myself, having fun with work, with workouts, and with all other shit too. Got some more shit to look forward to and I’m currently plotting my next international chapter which is most like gonna happen around April/May. Hope y’all doing well, hope y’all safe and you don’t entertain bullshit. The ultimate goal is not to be a dick to your surroundings. From where I’m standing. One!

Highlights:

• Running.
• Talks.
• Recent weather.

Semester 15 Chapter XXI: Visits & Walks

Hello everybody… This time one day later than usual but sometimes lotta shit happens and there’s simply no time. Everything’s back to normal now tho, I’m in the middle of my morning workout routine, it’s a cold sunny day out there, all feels well. Let’s get to this then…

 

Last Monday, I took my sister and my nephew for some dinner to this Chinese restaurant around the corner and then I went to my dad’s pub once more to support his little gang at the trivia night. This time it was a failure. Can’t win all the time I guess. The evening was still entertaining. On Wednesday, I visited my sister once more for a hangout. It’s cool to properly catch up here and there. One on one, no disturbances. Thursday, I reunited with one of my Canadian connects. The girl is back in town for couple of days due to some family issues. Happy for the opportunity to spend some time with her.

 

And then there was Friday when my friend from Hague arrived. It’s fun showing people around Brno. There have been moments in the past, where I felt sick of the town but I feel that these past couple of years, I’ve found a pretty balanced relationship with it. So there was a reason to go some of these cool restaurants and bars once again, there was a reason to do long ass walks… It was all enjoyable. I did another tour around the local underground system, we climbed one of the towers in the Saint Peter and Paul’s cathedral… Pretty full three days.

 

I just walked my friend back to the bus station and I’m slowly getting back to my regular routine. Got about an hour before work starts. Hope y’all feeling well, hope all is going just the way you want it to and there’s not too much bullshit anywhere in your proximity. Sending love to all my readers. One!

 

Highlights:

• Banks. Visited mine to move some money to fight this crippling inflation. I hate this shit with passion. All of it. 
• My people.
• Brno.

Semester 15 Chapter XX: Rhythm & Ink

OK, here we go again. It’s Sunday morning and I’m still a bit dizzy after a party I went to yesterday. In a good way. Winter is still on full blast here which made me get a new pair of running shoes. On Monday, I went for my run and by the end of it, I couldn’t feel my feet. It felt super weird and I was just hoping that I didn’t fuck them up. Took about an hour for them to get back to life. So yeah, got some solid expensive barefoot vegan shoes which are waterproof and actually isolate… And man, it’s a game changer. Super happy with them.

 

What else… On Monday, I also went out to support my dad’s team at their trivia night. Again, not much of an asset but they won so it’s all good. Wednesday, I met up with two of my friends and we hung out at Alfa café for couple of hours. Super nice evening. On Friday, right after finishing my work, I hopped on a bus to Prague for another tattoo session. At this point, we’re about two sessions away from completing the whole head. And it’s looking badass. After the session, I went to meet one of my best friends to the AVU Bar and to Hvězda in Žižkov after that. All enjoyable. Next morning, we caught a bus back to Brno together and in the evening, we met up again to do some drinks and then go to a party in Fraktal. I really enjoyed the whole event, we stayed until they closed it up (around 7am) and then it was straight to bed. That’s definitely one of the things I like about cities. You just have events like that on regular basis.

 

So yeah, this week has been good. Work goes well, runs and workouts too. Plus the tattoo and all the socializing… Feeling good over here. Hope all of you are doing great and you are staying away from bullshit. Shout out to all my people and all my readers. One!

Highlights:

• Last Sunday, just after walking my friend to the bus station, I went out to play some pool with my sis. That was fun.
• Tattoos.
• Techno.

Semester 15 Chapter XIX: New Beginnings

Yo, welcome to 2024. The world is still fucked, it is still led by either incompetent or cynical assholes and it’s still driven exclusively by profit. The climate situation is still in decay, there’s wars that are hardly justifiable by any means and on top of that we deal with gentrification, AI threatening livelihoods of masses, housing crisis, inflation going off the roof, right-wing radicalization all over the world (hi, Netherlands), the rich getting obscenely richer, the poor falling deeper into the abyss, people hooked (and properly depressed) on social media, and all the other fun stuff. It’s like everywhere you look, there’s a pile of shit but everybody pretends it’s okay. And boy, I hope they’re right. I really hope I’m seeing this all wrong, everything is under control and there’s some kind of sustainable anything at the end of this tunnel. Again tho, having said all that, it still makes sense working on your little self. Against all odds. So wherever life takes you the next year, let it be towards something meaningful, something beautiful and something that actually makes some kind of sense to you. Cause at the end of the day, you gotta find some peace with the motherfucker in the mirror. Without that, we cannot go much further.

 

My year started pretty cool. Last Sunday, I picked up one of my friends by the main railway station in Prague and since it was a beautiful day, we spent most of it strolling around the city center. It’s kinda cool having the opportunity to show people from abroad around. In the evening, we caught a bus to Brno and we eventually spent the New Year’s Eve with my sister and couple of her friends, wrapping it up at the Fraktal club for some techno. Got home at like 8am and slept till 6pm. What a start…

 

The rest of the week was chilled. I got back to work but I also had quite a lot of time to show my friend around, to get her to some good cafés and even to check the Brno underground. Apart from the boneyard (which I only saw like half a year ago; also because of a visit), I haven’t really seen that much. We paid for a tour around the cellars under the Vegetable Square and it was pretty fucking cool. Gotta cross off the other sites at some point. It’s been all enjoyable.

 

It’s around noon now and I’m about to get some lunch with the whole family and then I’m gonna walk my friend to the bus station. I hope all of you are doing okay. I just wish you some peace, love and empathy just because these things fucking matter. Oh, and reasonable amount of money… You know, just not to be stressed about shit too much. Shout out to all my people and all my readers. One!

 

Highlights:

• Prague.
• Getting lost in Brno.
• Techno.