Semester 20 Chapter XXII: Slow Burns

Man, I’m really feeling this summer. It’s nice to be back home, it seems there are always tons of things to do, I don’t have that much work these two months so I have plenty of time to do stuff… Things are flowing. Last week was really cool, I spent loads of time outdoors, there was a bunch of yoga, meet-ups with some of my favorite people, all felt right. It’s Monday morning, I’ve just finished my first class of the week and I’m gonna use this break to sum up some of the last week’s moments.

 

Where do I start. Apart from the usual regime, all the workouts, all the work and all the things that keep me going, I did some extra cycling, outdoor exercise and even some boxing… One of the weeks when you really had no particular plans but things kept popping up. Managed to hit the swimming pool with one of my friends once, too. I gotta shout out the Coffee Roasters joint right by the river again. Had a morning coffee over there on Thursday and the vibe was fucking spotless. The views, the cold brew, the air… Definitely one of my favorite places in town.

 

On Friday, I joined my sis and a group of her friends for this rave just outside of the city. They organized buses to get people over there and we all embarked at about 8pm. And I really enjoyed the whole thing. It was at this former military base, the venue was very spacious, there was only little light pollution so the night sky looked magical… I had enough time to chat with everybody, I ran into some of other people I know… The flow of the evening was smooth. Got back home early in the morning, walked the dog and later on met my friends visiting from Canada for some coffee. We decided to visit the tower of St. Jacob’s church afterwards – my first time over there. Views were fantastic and I was glad I got to hang out with them once more before they left back for Vancouver.

 

Sunday morning, I joined the social run once more. I really like that I’m getting more familiar with people over there and I’ve also found some with pace similar to mine. So very often, I split with one or two guys and we just keep our tempo for the whole thing. This time, me and this guy did about 18km, it flew by and then it was nothing but good talks, good coffee and all that. In the afternoon, I hopped on the bike and took it to my music bro outside of Brno to scan some locations for our video whose shoot is coming. Stayed there for dinner and eventually made it home at about 10pm. The ride back was quite adventurous as my lights are kinda shit and for the most part, there were no street lights but I made it and then I just kinda turned off. Pretty eventful weekend.

 

Woke up today feeling excited about things to come. Got a whole bunch of things lined up, spirits are high, energy feels right. Hope you guys are doing great and things go just the way you want them to. Keep it light, keep it positive, don’t entertain bullshit and don’t let them fuck with your inner light. One!

Highlights:

• Hangouts.
• Music.
• Running.

Semester 20 Chapter XXI: It Won’t Be That Easy My Dear

Okay, what the fuck is up!!! Here we go again… Got some T.I. in the headphones, fresh off a half-marathon with the local running club, sun is shining, music is flowing, we are good in this motherfucker. Speaking of music, I’ve been dealing with so much shit regarding our project recently. We are still arranging the music video, I’ve been talking to some labels, to some studios, we are making this shit happen. Hope everything falls in place and that there are no major speed bumps on the way. Fingers fucking crossed.

 

So how was this past week? Well, thanks for asking… Work, yoga, running, swimming, some recording, hangouts with some of my people, dinner at my sis’… Kinda surrounded by love. My intentions at yoga classes circle around gratefulness and letting shit go. And some of my latest lyrics revolve around that, too. All feels balanced.

 

After couple of weeks, I had no particular plans for the weekend but that got solved the minute I looked at my phone Saturday morning. A friend who lives in Vienna was on the way to Brno to participate in this cycling circuit race at the Brno Trade And Exhibition Center. I could still register so I did, picked bro at the train station and off we went. Now, I’m a fucking cyclist. Down to my core. But I’m not a pro. Never really invested in a real racing bike, it’s always been some vintage shit. And in my category (road bikes), you had good 12 people out of like 20 arriving on spaceships. So I really appreciated the whole system. The crowd was divided into two groups and they raced each other. First two rounds (of about 500 meters) were warm up and then it was last man standing – so each round the last rider was eliminated. The first half advanced to Final A, and the second half had their Final B. I ended up in the B section but I was just really happy I got to race people on similar bikes (even tho I killed some motherfuckers on carbons, too). And at the finals, I landed second. Was in lead for good 2 rounds but lost it to this guys at the last turn. It was a great race, I enjoyed the hell out of it. My friend was racing fixed gear and that was beautiful to watch. Some amazing bikes, really good riders, great people. Wanna shout out the ladies. Some of the girls were so fucking good. There was only one fixed gear female rider but she fucking schooled most of the guys. The whole event was super nice, it had punk vibe to it, energy was gorgeous. Shout out to the organizers! Now, this event was a side gig of this Pop Messe festival that was taking place at a velodrome couple hundred meters away. So as a part of the whole thing, all riders got free tickets for Saturday night, and we all took our bikes to the velodrome and did two rounds with people watching, cameras rolling… It was all super nice. After that, me and my friend (who’s also vegan) went to Pizza Punk for some well deserved calories. Wrapped it up by some ice cream afterwards. Then I took it home, had a shower, hopped on the bike again and went to check the festival. Met with sis and a whole bunch of people over there, caught a live show of one of podcasts I listen to (shout out to Page Not Found and the Roast crew – love y’all) and made it to catch the Richard Muller performance. Didn’t expect to enjoy that shit that much. We were singing on the top of our lungs and it made me realize that we do have some pop acts that are actually good. The guy is a legend and he had some amazing musicians around… And the crowd was all over the place. Teens were singing, people my age were singing, seniors were singing… The overwhelming sense of belonging. I spent the rest of the evening mostly at the techno stage dancing, chilling, having fun. Wrapped it up before midnight, biked home and called it a day. A really good, spontaneous day.

 

This morning, I did the social run and did the whole thing with the fastest group. There were only 4 of us in it and we had a really nice pace. Was a bit worried whether I’d get tired after all the laps yesterday but it all went without a problem. Got a full afternoon ahead, probably gonna hit one of the outdoor swimming pools in the city later on, all is well over here. Hope you guys are doing well, too! Keep it simple, keep it light, keep it positive, don’t entertain bullshit and don’t let them fuck with your inner light. And if you love somebody, tell them. One!

 

Highlights:

• Racing.
• Singing. 
• Dancing.

Semester 20 Chapter XX: Blue Velvet

Okay, here we go… Another week has passed, time flies like crazy, new memories created, new days ahead, Monday early morning, fresh off my workout, sun is shining, vibe is good. I’m still mostly on my “letting life happen” shit and that takes me places. Wanna send out some positive energy to all the seekers and those who are not afraid to try new things and to get vulnerable when the time comes.

Okay so these past couple of days… Apart from business as usual, all the work, all the physical activity and all… I ended up attending a rap concert Wednesday evening. It was actually more like a 40-minute show in a yard close to the city center and it wasn’t really a concert. More a like a girl playing some instrumentals and mostly reading her lyrics into the microphone. Not necessarily my cup of tea but I respect people going public with their shit. With us finishing our album these days, there is a chance I’ll be standing in front of a crowd with a mic not too far ahead too. Once I manage to handle that, I can judge for real.

 

Thursday afternoon, I went for dental hygiene after some time and right after that I went to this artificial lake just outside of Brno to meet up with some of my friends and to swim a little. Friday morning, I met up with another friend and we fucked off Brno. Straight to the countryside. We went to the same spot I had visited like two weeks ago. Close to Dalešice water reservoir, staying in the ceramic workshop my dad’s friend owns. The weekend was bomb. We walked, we swam, we created, we did some outdoor yoga, we did a bit of boxing sparing, we had fun. See, I’m starting writing just for the sake of writing. Just grabbing a piece of paper and writing rhymes to see where it goes. Feels like stretching muscles, it does the whole process good and man… I do hope I manage to keep my current pace for some time. Haven’t felt this energized creatively in ages. So yeah, some beautiful time over there.

 

Got back Sunday evening, recorded some material and wrapped the week up. I got a pretty busy day lined up and I’m feeling good and grateful. Shout out to everybody out there! Keep it light, keep it positive, don’t entertain bullshit and don’t let them fuck with your inner light. One!

Highlights:

• Writing.
• Forests.
• Moments.

Semester 20 Chapter XIX: More Tunes

Yo, what’s good everybody, here we go again! It’s Tuesday early morning, I’ve just finished my workout, cooking myself some lunch for later, sun is shining, vibes are good and y’all know what time it is. Before I get to it, I would like to express my sincere disgust by the football world championship finals. I almost never watch sports but I decided to give the final game a go. You know, to see the best football has to offer. And man, was that game complete trash. Congrats to Spain – the better team won – but it was pure pain. Gonna give myself a long ass break from all of that now…

 

So what has happened… I thoroughly enjoyed the social run I went on right after the last entry. Ended up doing about 20km and ran most of it with this girl I’d met on one of those before. It was cool, pace was swift, weather was great. Hung out with some people afterwards, one of the good ones. Over the week, I had a healthy amount of work to do and I kept myself busy outside of that as well. Met a whole bunch of people, did all the yoga, all the extra running, all the swimming. Me and my swimming buddy have been talking about taking up boxing, kickboxing or MMA so there’s a chance I’ll get to that soon as well. Now, spiritually I’m definitely more of a runner or a yogi but it might not be the worst idea to spice it up. Plus… I’m pretty sure I can handle certain uncomfortable situations should the ever arrive, but having some solid technique would definitely be better for confidence. Just in case. We’ll see how that goes…

 

This past weekends started with a sauna session with one of my closest friends. Right after that, I took it to my music buddy’s to work on our project. We selected 12 tracks and we sequenced them. So yeah, we’re pretty much looking at an album worth of material. And again, most likely we’re doing this just for us. But I like what this thing is shaping up to be and maybe it resonates with some people somewhere down the road. The last thing to do is to re-record everything, give it some proper mixing and hopefully have some videos done. We are very fucking close.

 

Got back home Sunday afternoon, had a long ass walk in the evening and that was that. This week is pretty chill, I have a ton of yoga lined up, I have some meet-ups and a weekend trip ahead… Shit’s going well. Oh, and I started drinking electrolytes couple weeks back. Had been completely ignoring that shit all the way up until then and it’s crazy how much of a difference I feel. So kids, if your hobbies involve a lot of sweating, go buy that shit. It’s stupid not to. I’ve been also thinking about my winter adventure and that makes me happy. The yoga teacher training is still pretty far but I’ll start booking tickets and accommodation soon. All of it feels exciting. Hope you guys are doing well and your summer is going just the way you want it to. Keep it light, keep it positive, don’t entertain bullshit and don’t let them fuck with your inner light. One!

Highlights:

• Music.
• Yoga.
• Hangouts.

Semester 20 Chapter XVIII: 808s & Heartbreaks

What the fuck is up! Sunday morning, I’ve just finished my workout, I’ve practiced some songs for our little project, sun is shining and I have about an hour before joining a social run after a while. Feeling healthy, feeling good, feeling blessed, hope y’all feel at least as good as me, let’s get to this…

Okay so last week was pretty cool. Monday, I met up with a friend of mine and we went to this outdoor swimming pool for a hangout. Wednesday evening was all bout swimming. Both in the pool and in the city. Just before I was about to leave the house to meet up with my swimming buddy, some apocalyptic storm started. I’m talking hails, I’m talking no visibility, I’m talking like 30 minutes of some biblical shit. When it all stopped, I hopped on my bike and man… Some of these intersections downtown were fully fucking flooded. Like water reaching car windows type flooded. Hadn’t seen shit like that in a minute. By the time I made it to the pool, I was soaking wet. Anyways… Did my 2km, went for a drink afterwards, nice evening.

Thursday, I had a meet-up with another friend of mine and Friday, one of my closest friends arrived to Brno for the weekend. We paid a visit to my music buddy outside of Brno to talk shit and to brainstorm on some things regarding the project we’re finishing. Saturday morning, I hit another yoga class (I’ve done one pretty much every day this week) and around noon I went out to get some running gear. I also hit a sauna in the center which I hadn’t visited before. It’s right next to the main railway station, it has rooftop access and since I got myself the unlimited entry, I was in no rush. Left my phone in the locker, grabbed a book and spent good 4 hours reading, sweating and repeating out in the open with all the views. Fucking therapeutic. In the evening, I met up with my visiting friend once more and then I called it a day.

So yeah, today I got some running lined up, I’ll definitely hit another yoga class in the evening and I guess I’ll decide what to do with the time in between later on. Hope you guys are doing well. Stay safe, keep it positive, don’t entertain bullshit and don’t let them fuck with your inner light. One!

Highlights:

• Yoga. 
• Hangouts.
• Sauna.

Semester 20 Chapter XVII: 39

Hello world, so I’ve entered the last year of my age starting with a “3”. On Thursday, I turned 39 and I feel pretty indifferent about it. I do feel a bit more mature but I’m still seeking. But I also I appreciate finding a bit more than I did. Like when you actually find something worthwhile, it’s not the worst idea to attend to it. I’m not great at it but I think I do steer a bit more that direction. Anyways, I’m still on most of the shit I’ve been on and my mantra is still “trust the process”. Thanks for all the wishes and lovely messages. Sending some love back.

 

So last week… I made it Brno Monday morning. The bus ride from London was not awesome but it was bearable. And the train from Prague to Brno was just nice. Wasn’t event that knackered and work did not feel that bad. I managed to catch an afternoon yoga class and I’ve been to one of those every single day since. They will regret selling me that summer unlimited membership. Seriously tho… Been enjoying it a lot and I take it as a prep for the upcoming training. The more I do it, the better it feels.

 

Wednesday evening, we had a little family gathering. My sis brought a gigantic cake, I got some nice small gifts but most importantly, I was surrounded by some beautiful energy. As always, at one point we pulled out the karaoke machine and spend a huge portion of the evening flexing our vocal skills. Fucking awesome. I worked quite a lot on my actual birthday the day after but in the evening, a friend dropped by, we hung out at the roof of our building and it all turned out to be really chill and cool. 

 

Friday evening, I met up with my music bro to talk about the project we’re putting together and to catch up on some life shit. Saturday morning, I hit another yoga class and then it was off to my sis’. Along with her partner, we hopped in their car and went to the country not too far from where I recently did the charity run and where our dad’s friend owns this ceramic workshop. It’s beautiful out there and I was craving some nature, trees and water. In the afternoon we caught a boat going to a village about 10km away, stopped by at their local brewery and then walked back. Managed to go for a swim along the way. In the evening, I was tired as hell so I wrapped it up early and enjoyed some countryside sleep. I love those.

 

We had a slow morning today with dad and some other people who came as well and later, on the way to Brno, we visited the castle in Náměšť. Been ages since my last visit. Made it back home around lunchtime, had some food, had a nap, did a 14km run and then read for a bit. I have another yoga class coming up in about an hour and I feel pretty fucking great about this past week. Sending some good vibes to everybody reading! Keep it light, keep it positive, don’t entertain bullshit and don’t let them fuck with your inner light. And stay curious. One!

Highlights:

• All the love.
• Countryside.
• Swimming.

Semester 20 Chapter XVI: Reunions

Okay, here we go again. I’m on a bus yet again. This time I’m gonna have an experience. See, as a part of my new traveling policy, I’ve decided not to fly around Europe unless there’s no other reasonable option. So I’m about to hit the road towards Prague in about 30 minutes. And then I got 18 hours on this motherfucker. And then additional 3 on a train to Brno. Most of my friends think I’ve gone mad as there’s a direct flight from London to Brno but somebody’s gotta save the planet. So here we go. Got some T.I. in the headphones, got the second volume of The Calculation Of Volume ready, got a whole lotta snacks and this little blog post to complete. This is going to be a ride.

 

Last week tho… I really enjoyed my time in Amsterdam. Hangouts with my friend were great, weather was beautiful… We attended the World Press Photo exhibition in De Nieuwe Kerk. That was heavy. I try to remind myself regularly but man… My problems are really nice. I deal with where to go next, I deal with feelings and relationships… There are people dealing with completely different things in this world. Respect to everybody portrayed and all the photographers. The venue (former church) was just a cherry on the top.

 

My stay in Amsterdam got extended by a day as on Tuesday I received a message notifying me about cancellation of my train to London. There was some sort of fire damaging power network in Rotterdam and a massive amount of trains got affected. They did allow to re-book the ticket for free but you could tell that demand for that was overwhelming. For some time it wasn’t showing me any options within the following three days but after like 30 minutes of refreshing the page, I managed to secure a spot on a Thursday train with a transfer in Brussels.

 

So Thursday night, I finally made it to London. It was my first time going through the Eurotunnel and it makes me happy knowing there are some high-speed trains in Europe. In China it felt like a standard, here’s it’s all a bit more scarce. What I don’t like is how much more annoying going to the UK has become. I still remember when all it took was a fucking ID. Then it was a passport. Now it’s a passport, 20 GBP and a whole fucking airport treatment. Well played, Brits, really well played.

 

London was fun as well. Been about two and a half years since my last visit and it’s always nice to be back. And it’s good to be in hands of somebody who actually lives there. Me and my friend walked around a lot, we visited a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral (never been there before and that shit makes you fear God), we visited Tate, some cool restaurants. I even squeezed a gym visit and a run in. Pretty full two days.

 

And yeah, now it’s the bus. We just drove into a cargo train that’s gonna take us to mainland Europe and then it’s back home. There are couple of things I’m really looking forward to get back to, recording music being one of them. Got a whole new song that I wrote in Amsterdam and I just need fucking access to a microphone. And yeah, that’s about that. Hope you guys are well, hope you keep it positive, you don’t entertain bullshit and you don’t let any living soul fuck with your inner light. One!

 

Highlights:

• Amsterdam.
• London.
• Gym. After a really long fucking time.