In memoriam

Some pains are too strong to be expressed by words. Some memories too wonderful to ever be forgotten.

To a sorely missed friend.

Dušan Heđeši

04.09.1981 - 20.03.2006

Stella's Winter Dream

On a cloudy March afternoon, little Stella Goldilocks fell asleep in front of her TV in between of two series of ski jumping competition in Lahti.
Everything was strange when she woke up: there was snow everywhere, men and women in tight outfits were whooshing around her on slender skis and the lazy balloons in vibrant colours floated in the air above her head. She new this place because she has been there many times in her dreams. It was the WinterPark land.

Looking around she saw the Hills in the distance and she instantly knew what she must do: she had to get to the Three Hills. She was worried because the Three Hills seemed so far away, and she didn't have any mean of transport. So she hid behind a tree and jumped in front of the first whooshing person that came that way. The poor man was so stunned by her appearing in front of him out of nowhere that he ended up flying head-over-heels and landing in a thick snow few meters from little Stella Goldilocks. Then Stella run to the men in snow, took his slender skies and whooshed her way cross-country to the Three Hills. (Only later she learned about an incident that made the world cup leader loose his title in the last race of the season due to mysterious circumstances.)

***

It was a wonderful though slightly windy day in the WinterPark land. The happy family of three jumping-bears was returning to their humble abode: the Hill. Coming near to their destination, the first and the big German jumping-bear called Martin stopped abruptly and said angrily: "Someone was jumping from my K115 hill!" At these words the second Swiss jumping-bear called Simon looked at the second hill and exclaimed: "Someone was jumping form my K90 hill too!" The third Austrian jumping bear called Andreas, now truly alarmed, looked at the third hill and said: "Look! Someone is jumping from my K64 hill just now!"

The three jumping-bears now looked all at the little Stella Goldilocks as she was landing from the third hill. Their anger subsided as they watched her graciously making the telemark: she was so little, so sweet and had the most adorable gold locks that were floating on the wind. By the time our little Stella stopped in front of them they were all ready to forgive her the intrusion and ask her to stay forever on their Three Hills.

***

The rest of this story stays forever concealed from us, as the so-familiar voice of Mr. Goldstrum woke Stella up from her dream with the start of the second series of ski jumping competition in Lahti.

Me & Mrs. Dalloway

Yesterday I bought the book.

I wanted to read it for a very long time.

It all began with the general knowledge that I ought to read at least something by V. Woolf to stay a worthy literature lover in my own eyes, especially having heard so much about the book and the controversy of its author. I am curious and I love the word controversial.

Then my 'sister' Vesna told me she read the book and that it was really worth reading. At that point I made a mental note: "You must read this book!", discarded the idea of lending it from someone and decided that my little but growing personal library can't do without this book.

This was all before the movie "The Hours". I didn't see it, just heard this-and-that about it, watched the trailer and the US Academy Awards that year. No need to mention curiosity here - it was growing by minute. Then I forgot (almost) all about it. Let's face it, I do have lots of work and other things on my mind. My book-per-year number has been decreasing steadily over past decade to reach shamefully low values.

So recently I thought: "What interesting could I read next?" - "Enough of the 'easy reading' (my dearest fantasy), let's read something serious for a change" (please note the humorous ton of my previous sentence; fantasy is everything but 'easy'). So I naturally remembered my dear, old, unread Mrs.Dalloway.

Believe it or not, the only issue of the book in Serbian is long past sold, but luckily I've found a neat new English bookstore in my town and bought the original. It has always been my policy not to read a translation if I do know the original language (English being the only one for now). It will be difficult, believe me! I've read several pages and knew that I've given myself a great challenge, but the one I'll enjoy very much.

But the best thing of all was not the rapture of finally being able to read this book, it was when I read the name Clarissa in it and linked it to the movie I saw many times before, loved it immensely but never knew its name. I was so excited to have discovered that and now I can't wait to read the book even more.