28-VI-1970.

(date corrected to two weeks later after seeing the photo of the diploma)

The federal competition of KMT (clubs of young technicians), which didn't actually exist in this context. We were representing our schools at the municipal level, then our municipalities at the province level, then the province at the federal level.

On 25th we got into our bus, and made a stop in Belgrade - we had to buy me a "montage table", which is the film editing gadget, for 8 and super 8mm film (there was a sprocket that you turned around, it had cogs at different spacing and different diameters on either end), a backlit projection screen and manual control over the reels - plain cranks. And a splicer, another gadget, purely mechanical, whereby you'd cut the ends of the film, file the surface on either side, then apply acetone glue, press it and wait. Then hope for the best. Most of the time it would work, but then there would be some joins which just wouldn't, and you had to cut yet another frame until it would hold. Strle kept one joke all the time: "don't stupid yourself" (literally, though the exact meaning was "don't do/act stupid").

Hey, we had a bus for ourselves! Which means the rest of Vojvodina had the other bus or two. We were a strong city then, indeed. And I think at least six of us from Zmaj, and even both of our lecturers were on it - Miloš (ship and airplane modeling, we were rather strong in those, at least four of the ships on the picture were done by his sekcija) and Dimče (cine tech and electronics).

We had lunch near Niš, at Amerikanac's motel. His wife thought I was a girl (yes, I wore the prom outfit and my hair was already somewhat longer, the strategy worked), but bailed out on time. At the next table there was Đorđe Marjanović, the famous fake rocker. He was the most popular singer, he sold more than six million records (albeit most of it in USSR). The stories of him being a rocker were just clues blown out of proportion, there was nothing spontaneous in his numbers. He knew exactly when to step closer to the audience, take off his jacket, swing it around and throw it overboard, it was all calculated. He even took acting lessons. So there he was and, guess what, I went and asked for an autograph, and got it. He was curious about my appearance - well at 15 I haven't had the grownup's voice, the need to shave wouldn't appear for another year (and even then, once every couple of months would be enough), so he eyed me up and down to check whether I was a boy or a girl. And I still remember how he looked - worn out, vast bags under his eyes (whose else). But he was still decade or two away from stroke. I didn't bother to keep the autograph, I didn't even like him much. It's just that he was a well known figure and that I would have the guts to approach him - so I did.

The trip took whole day, we arrived around 21:00 or so. We slept in something like a hotel, probably the practicing grounds for the local hospitality high school. That's when I first met Živa. He was a sack of fleas even then, I wrote down some of his lyrics, which were hilariously mismatched pieces of known folk songs - a line from one, the other from an unrelated one.

In the morning of 26th we met the rest of the Vojvodina team. Three girls altogether, one from around here (which, almost fifty years later, I discovered was Bilja, showed her the pictures and she confirmed that it was her... we met before we knew each other), two from Pančevo. But I fell in love with another one, a skinny blonde from Macedonia - and she looked kind of impressed, and we mostly went together during that shooting, but after that she vanished. She didn't do too well on the rest of the competition. Funny name, though: Trajanka.

There was a general technical prowess test (mostly multiple choice, mimeographed on plain bad paper), then the branch test (mine was kino, i.e. moviemaking), then the practical - shoot a spool of 2x8 mm tape, then when it's developed (don't remember whether we had to develop our own or they took them somewhere) edit it into a 2-3 minute silent story. I aced it all. Don't even remember what I was shooting, only that it involved a walk around the old houses of Ohrid. I think that was when I first tried to walk barefoot as much as I could. Trying to impress her or myself, who knows. But it worked - I learned to not feel the pebbles under my feet.

We also had time for some sightseeing - walked up the hill to see some ruins and the landscape. Took a trip to the church or st Naum (a cultural heritage), the whole bus of us. I sneaked some four shots inside, which would have cost 5 dinars apiece, behind the custodian's back. Actually we said 500 dinars, still speaking in old, pre-1963 dinars, so I wrote the amount down as "half a monkey" (the 1000 being a monkey, jumping easily from hand to hand). There I crossed the cold little river just to impress Duda (mostly impressed myself - her I didn't see until 2010 again, but then she remembered me, and was married to Džole; she was a cousin to Dimče). I saw, later, her and Bilja together on some shots - by some accident, I still have the negative, hence the photos. She was with me all the time.

I had to share bed with Živa once, because my roommate fell asleep but locked the door first.

During the montage and the projections I found it attractive to chew a bit of 8mm film. Somewhere in the back of my mouth. Later I discovered it was my first wisdom tooth coming out.

During the ceremony of awards, I happened to sit next to some American dude, and practiced my English. Turned him into a fan of Vojvodina, so he was sincerely rooting for us for the duration. I won the first place in my category, and the prize was an EI Niš transistor radio, with FM (one of the first I ever saw, but I remember knowing the difference to AM), model Haiti, which the guy pronounced hay-tee, and I corrected him to huh-ee-ti.

On the trip back... well it was a night ride and I sat with Duda. She actually kept a seat for me. I remember she had that mini skirt (years later, it would have been called dopičnjak, but back then the expression wasn't invented yet, or I just haven't heard about it) and I practiced all the tricks to pretend that I wasn't looking. We talked about who knows what, for an hour or two, the incessant broom of the bus and the darkness being the romantic background. The only thing I remember was that she had very long hair the previous summer, and it was unbearably hot, so she cut her hair... in mid september, when it didn't really matter. She said I liked the way I talk. But friends only, she has burned herself on some guy before, and doesn't want to get into anything. So I fell half asleep and was kind of feverish from all the excitement, but in the end nothing really happened and we didn't meet again for a number of years; we'd only hear bits about each other from Dimče. [wrong, I forgot that I ran into her a few times over the next 3-4 years]

We arrived at Zmaj around noon, took pictures with our diplomas and medals, and I walked home. News: mom is sewing a bathing suit for Ivka. Also, it's been established that mom's grand-grand-grandfather is the same person as Tejka's grand-grand-grandfather, so technically she's my aunt. While I was out, Feri with wife and daughter have visited. The girl is now a real big girl, too bad we haven't met this time.

I went to take a nap around 16 or 17 and told mom to wake me up around 19:30, but Tejka came and woke me instead. More news: we'll meet in Borik. They're going there one day ahead of us. We'll pick uncle Staja on friday and then all meet there. So I'll have company. Relatives only, eh? Good one.

On 30th I took the two monkeys (i.e. 2000 old dinars) that I didn't spend in Ohrid, to treat the gang on ruža. I meant that as a surprise, but was welcomed with cheers. Of course, Tejka and Dragana trumpeted it out to everyone.

(now that I think of it, both Trajanka and Duda are blondes. hmmm... how they all like to talk with me and then it gets nowhere)

Meanwhile, BS&T played in Bucharesti, which ended in riots. There, didn't know about that until now.

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Mentions: 07-IV-1976., 26-I-1989., 09-II-2018., Ács Ferenc (Feri), Biljana Lajković (Bilja), Borik, BS&T, Dimitrije Josin (Dimče), dopičnjak, Dragana Vitas (Dragana), Duda, Dušan Starkić (Strle), Ivanka Tomašić /Čardić/ (Ivka), Miloš Šandorov, ruža, sekcija, Slavica Tejin (Tejka), uncle Staja, Vesa Suvačarov (Džole), Zmaj, Živa Ravajlović, in serbian

5-IX-2012 - 15-V-2026