The summer is definitely here. The heat is on, the air smells differently and even the people are acting differently. I guess it has something to do with the sun being up longer and the general aura of the place changing into something more pleasant. Rain and snow are not good for being happy and feeling good.

People are setting tables outside, eating outside, taking walks and just being outside. I drove through the city core and it was full of people. Always interesting to observe them and try to figure out who are they and where are they going. Where are they coming from.

Work-day tomorrow. Always fun to walk outside when the weather is good. Music and sun are two good things. Blend them together…you get paradise.

I won`t rant about some individuals which do not know how to behave themselves when in public (as I did here), but will rather focus on the positive elements. Icecream, you scream, we all scream for Icecream…and the likes.

*and after this pointless intro which has absolutely nothing to do with the main text, we switch to…*

I guess the newbie-bloggers are wondering how does a si.blogs meet look like? Are there people involved? Drinks? Nekkid bubiz? All of the above?

As for some reasons, unknown to the writer of this post, the featurette on si.blogs 2k4 Michael did on Carniola is gone (probably due to the fact that he moved the blog and did horrible things to it…ahem…) while the Ablog is currently down (it tends to happen yes) I can only direct you to Vidmar`s blog (ahem, you can give him a hint to pick a name for his blog already cause Vidmar`s blog sounds so…well…) and the sloblogmeet2k4 post.

If you`ll follow me in my time-machine so that we can all go back in time and ponder a thing or two…yes, the legs go here and you hold onto this…now just let me flip this…

*the maq effect takes place* (*the picture wiggles to indicate that we are travelling back in time (or that you should buy a new monitor…*)

it was only by pure chance that I found myself amidst these people that night. Come to think of it, it was random as random can be, since at that time (booming voice) The L Files (/booming voice) did not exist, not even on paper and I was clicking through the links of the blogs I knew (actually A blog I knew, 2muchbeauty), coming upon a blog long gone but not forgotten, “Počasni začetki”. And after I posted a post or two and was technically a co-blogger on one of the first si.blogs, I got in. That and the fact that I went and reserved the place, put down a deposit and made a memorabilia-like banner which everybody signed (going to link it as soon as the gallery comes back online).

It`s always funny to see the faces behind the words for the first time. People like BeeBee, Vidmar.net, Carniola, Novala…up until then existed only as words. As posts. As blogs.

I can still see us now, sitting behind the table, looking at the door to see who else was coming. And they (I was the first one there, me and SPS) all came in, looked around, saw us, sat down and began observing us. And everbody said something like “Hi, my name is *enter name* and my car is parked outside“. The funniest entrance was from Mrwica. She came in, sat down and we all had our eyes on her, total silence all around and she said “Yes?“. We all cracked up.

It`s always awkward to strike up a conversation with the people you meet for the very first time. The fact that you`ve been reading about their lives for the past few months does not help a lot. However, it always helps to have a depressed android amongst the crowd, who feels he`s got nothing else to lose so he entertains the crowd by describing his evil plan how to get a girlfriend. And they all laugh. Once the ice was broken and language barriers overrun (mind you, it was english-german-slovene) it was one of the best times of that era. Which, for me, was filled with sadness and grey things. And the si.blogs meet helped. In a big way.

We all agreed we should do it again. The atmosphere was nice, the conversation did not halt for a second and if it did, we either mentioned public transportation of ljubljana or anaiis and everything started running smoothly again.

Things changed. In a big way (at least for me). I now run the most prolific slovene blog (according to Carniola), ghosts that haunted me are long gone and forgotten and things compared to the past are as day and night.

I am genuinely curious about how the 2k5 edition will go down. I am hoping for the majority of the old garde will show up, if only for the reason to see them again. And I hope that some of the newbies will bite the bullet and take a chance. Either way, although the whole ceremony is still two weeks away, I cannot wait.

p.s.

if you are a si.blog member and want to participate in the event, go sign your name here.