Speaking of Bananas...

Have you seen the latest John and Andy?

To Whom It May Concern

Hello, friend! It has come to my attention (via "SiteStalker" ...ahem, I mean SiteMeter) that there is a fellow Mac user gallivanting about England, who has been kind enough to visit my humble blog quite regularly. Who are you? Do I know you? Could I get to know you? If you'd rather not leave a comment but would be willing to ease my curiosity, go to my profile and email me. Cheers!

Sometimes Bananas Are Salami

This afternoon, between battling life-threatening cramps with what amounted to about 10 doses of Advil (sorry if that’s too much information, but this is real life, people) and removing my still-damp-and-stinking-of-mildew-and-won’t-fully-dry-this-side-of-April-because-of-the-humidity clothes from the line, I made a quick trip to the grocery store. Shopping is my chore this week, and we were out of fruits and vegetables.

The small open market down the street was already closed for the day, and the next little shop I came across only offered frozen fare. I went to the next closest store and gingerly picked out the lucky produce that would be fortunate enough to grace our table. Everything was pretty sub-par: bruised, unripe or overripe, smattered with an unidentifiable liquid, and kind of smelly.

A lady who worked there was stocking a bin full of pumpkin seeds. She kept sifting them through with her hands, not for any perceivable purpose, but more like a kid in a sandbox- absentmindedly, maybe out of boredom or maybe because it was fun for her. It was sort of icky, but sort of funny, and every 30-40 seconds she popped a small handful in her mouth and chomped away.

At the other stores we usually shop at, you have to weigh and price your produce yourself before taking it to the checkout counter, but I looked around and didn’t see any scales or weigh stations, so I proceeded toward the registers. As the checker was scanning my stuff, I was rooting around in my purse trying to find some small bills and change.

Pack of gum {beep}, toss to the side.
Pre-packed carrots {beep}, toss to the side.
Bunch of bananas {…}, Houston, we have a problem.

The checker held up my bag of bananas and said,

“(mumble, mumble) …salami…”

I’m thinking, “Salami? That’s clearly not salami.” So I just shook my head.

“(mumble, mumble) …saLAMi!” She shook the bag and pointed back to the store.

Shrug. “Ne razumijem.” (I don’t understand.)

Then she performed a little scale charade and I got the picture. Of course, when I approached the checkstand to begin with, there were no other customers in sight, but now there were 6 or 7 people waiting impatiently behind me and my cart. They kindly parted and I squeezed through with my wares. After some investigation, I figured out that I needed to take the stuff to the meat counter to be weighed. Ahhhh, salami.

It was smooth sailing from there on out. I guess you learn something new every day.

House Party

A few weeks ago, as classes were getting started for the year, we invited all our old friends over for a party to kick off the semester.


Taylor, me, Allison, Doda, Jadranka, and Ines



Sanja, Marta, Sunny, and Kamelija







John, Tomislav, and Igor










Ivan, Alex, Danijela, and Čočo














Andy and Čočo take parties very seriously.

Welcome to the Neighborhood

This is the street we live on.















Here is the somewhat intimidating entrance to the Medical Faculty building.








The Philosophy Faculty








This is a fountain outside the Technical Faculty, and the nice amphitheater-inspired seating. It’s completely trashed, which is kind of sad.

Deepest Apologies

Regrettably, I see that I misspelled Jack Handey's name and left out the "e." Thanks for the warm response to the post. Now you all know, if you want to encourage me or brighten my day, just send me a Deep Thought.

Cute Baby Alert

This kid is pretty spankin' cute. I can't wait to hang out with her in January.

Some Jack Handy Goodness

For some unknown reason, I quite enjoy Jack Handy quotes. Andy sent some to me the other day just out of the kindness of his heart. Here they are:

~Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself. Mankind. Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.

~Children need encouragement. So if a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he gets a good, lucky feeling.

~Whether they ever find life there or not, I think Jupiter should be considered an enemy planet.

~When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmm, boy.

~Even though I was their captive, the Indians allowed me quite a bit of freedom. I could walk about freely, make my own meals and even hurl large rocks at their heads. It was only later that I discovered they were not Indians at all, but dirty clothes hampers.

~The wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe. but the stupid man will just lay down on some seaweed and roll around until he's completely draped in it. then he'll stand up and go, "Hey, I'm Vine Man."

~ When you're going up stairs and you take a step, kick the other leg up high behind you to keep people from following too close.

I Want One

This is pretty awesome, if you ask me. More info here.