My movie directing carreer being delayed until further, so the plan B was put in motion. I went to Novi and enrolled at PMF, mathematics. Got my index. I'm an academic citizen now, for whatever that may matter.
The screwed up part was the ŠV-20 form, which wasn't even needed for the faculty nor university, it's for statistics, the state wants to know who its students are, as a demography and by societal position. That's filled when enrolling in each semester, and is completely confused. It's four pages, the last two of which are instructions for entries. The worst were the multiple choice questions, where you need to put yourself into a category, and the categories were picked in such a way that it's completely unclear what they mean. Then you read the instruction and it immediately becomes less clear. Out of the ten that I filled over time, I don't know whether I ever did it right, or whether there was ever a pair of them where I had identical replies to such questions. And I wasn't alone in it, nobody ever knew exactly how that form is filled. The next year I saw a scene where an absolvent (probably enrolling into the eight semester second time) asks a sophomore for help with this form.
By the time you understand that there are no wrong answers, that nobody ever cared about the accuracy of the data, this is just statistics... you already graduated.
Somewhere downtown crossed my path with a guy who had an even longer hair than I, just about the same amount of beard, dozen kilograms and few front teeth less. He asked me whether I needed trips, speaking with an awful lifp (yes, lifp, there's also lishp and lisp), so it sounded like "twips" (he was rolling his arrs*). No, thanks, I'm already nuts as I am.
The weather was nice. All that I remember.
These days dad went to Valjevo for a parastos, some 25 or 27 or whichever year, these guys from agricultural high do stick together.
The 29th being a sunday and dad having been in Valjevo on saturday, is the most probable day when we moved. I can't quite remember whether dad gave me the škodilak for the move or was he driving. If he gave it, then he was with me during the room search... but no, that was Vanji and me in Eči's škodilak (him being present or just having borrowed us the car - as ours was in Valjevo). Possible, I remember being at the steering wheel while Vanji looked at the map and navigating. Felt weird to drive someone else's car, what with fake fur sheathing on the steering. Not bad really, prevents slipping.
If dad was driving, then I went first to fetch her and load her things - bedding, books, some clothing, kvin meri - to avoid parents' close encounters, too early for that, so then we loaded my stuff - the indestructible silk comforter stuffed with raw wool, a pillow, pyjama, what books I had. Me near Fish market in Novi Sad, she in a side street by Cara Dušana, in the basement of a two storey house. Met her roommates - Đenđi was with her in the basement, the other three in smaller rooms around the house. Đenđi is somehow related to the landlord, and her grand-aunt's backyard is back to back with theirs.
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* what is called rolling r in english is normal r here and vice versa
23-XII-2019 - 3-X-2025