Going home alone, because I wanted to be there on 19th, when the st Nikola is celebrated, as the patron saint of the family. Being not religious didn't matter, I took it as a family celebration, specially with me being a gastarbajter, the more the reason to get all of us around the table.
I hitchhiked, as the guys would stay for a week longer and then be absent for their christmas (even though I know they aren't particularly religious either, specially Joška with his marxist education). Took a bus to Délkút rather early in the morning, knowing that the day is short and that the south end of Gemenc is rather far and there's no good spot. Once there, I easily hitched someone to the border - no problem there, and perhaps I could hitch the same guy further, but the wait was rather long, and I just walked over and crossed on foot.
I gave up on hitching at the border itself, what with the guards looking at me the wrong way, so I walked the 200m to Bački Breg, just about the place where they were selling stuff (crosses, pictures of bosnian generals, šajkača, rakija, narodnjaci on CDs...) and found a spot. The next leg of the way took me to Bezdan, then to Kolut or some such place nearby, where I sort of got lucky with the next guy who took me all the way to Sombor, but it was already afternoon, perhaps around 14:00. I tried to hitch further, but the sun was at a bad angle, and nobody was leaving anyway. Gasoline was scarce, the smugglers were getting rich, and nobody was driving much. So I took a bus.
Fell asleep soon, got thoroughly confused. Hearing radio, some official state drone, and wondering how I can't understand a word. Because I was listening in hungarian, and it was serbian.
Accidentally, the Dayton agreement was signed that day, ending the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and lifting the sanctions off the FRY. Which should mean all this insane gas smuggling will just stop.
Four days ago I last logged in into old sezam. I know it's an international call from Szoftex's line, but considering how much the other guys call home, this is short - the process is automated anyway, calls are batch jobs, so who cares.
The standard BBS software they used has somehow managed to import the old messages, but was otherwise harder to use than ZŽ's homemade app - which he took away when he made SezamPro with Dejran and whoever was the third guy. They also made their own magazine, which left the position of the glodur (glavni i odgovorni urednik - editor-in-chief, similar to glodar, i.e. rodent) in the old Računari magazine vacant, which fell on young Stinge to fill.
Anyways, eventually in december of 2025 it became clear (v. 29-XI-2025.) what really happened. Then Stinge said
Ouch, eventually now I noticed this conversations. Yup, crazy were the times, this is just about exactly 30 years since then. Dragiša was dragged in by those two Čačans, backed up by ZMali and twas all nice until the moment we put their software into function instead of the theretofore sezam's - they suddenly started very brazenly to change the deal, guessing they have a large foot in the door and that now I must rely on them.
Probably the first wonder was the „Connected 14400“ on still the old software ;) Don't remember who tipped me off that ZZ and DejanR plan to leave, I remember the panic rushing around town to get 20 modems and inserting them one by one with init string stripped down to 2400 (meanwhile having on the phone line plugged a female RJ11 connector shorcirtuited to give a busy). And then ZZ's circular [letter, not saw], I slept in the staff room those days waiting for it... run from machine to machine, lift the init string, reboot... Nobody read his email first few hours, everyone screamed from amazement with the speed :)
To which Škrba added
When that first attempt went bust, I remember that that Lazar from Čačak, what was his user na me, somehow got my home phone [number], and called me several times in the evening hours. For some only to him known reason, he thought that I can influence Stinge so that Dragiša's software remains in the game. Details I mostly don't remember anymore, because to me that was exactly half a lifetime ago, except one: last time he called after 23:00, with crying voice and panic which made it seem like something extremely horrible is going to happen. When I told him then that now it's enough, that I reallistically have no clue as to what the deal entailed, so I can't delve into any of the situations there, so that I'm prettypleasing him to stop pestering me in the late night hours (or any time at all), he was convinced that I was lying to him, which was to me a trigger to de fakto slam the headset down to him without further discusion (though, with a formal „good night“).
Zlotvor chimes in:
And the other Čačanin was an alcos.
The two had a programming firm in Čačak until recently, but heard that their ways have split.
5-XII-2013 - 18-XII-2025