4 lovely men from a lovely place
Nov. 21st, 2009 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcI awoke this morning with jet-lag induced torpor. The sort that fairly paralyzes one's reasoning and locomotion. Should I....or should I....or maybe I should...?
You get the idea.
But thankfully I had visitors around whom to build an active day. Tomaz (paterson_si ), Igor (not on LJ), Viki (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vksi ) and Mitja (mitjablazic ) took time out of their busy, rich lives to drive a couple of hours from Ljubljana to Zagreb. Tomaz and I have been online friends for many years: he and Igor hosted me for a weekend a couple of years ago. I have admired Mitja and Viki's activism for many years. Almost single- double-handedly, they have agitated for anti-homophobia legislation and challenged family law to allow same-sex marriage. They've been assaulted for their work and still experience harassment. But recently they won a huge victory in Slovenia's Constitutional Court, one that is forcing Parliament to deal with same-sex marriage. Mitja also works as a journalist.
It isn't every day you meet people who are veritably changing their world--for the better.
As often is the case with moving from 2 (online) to 3 (F2F) dimensions, it takes a bit of time to warm up to one another; today was not exception. But there were so many things I wanted to ask Mitja about his work...and it's easy to make a connection when that sort of spark is there. Like many European men they have a sophisticated, nuanced understanding of English. Including humour. That helps too.
We wandered around the town, chatting, and eventually found a nice italian restaurant for lunch. Jet lag has buggered my appetite, but this was the first hungry-at-the-right-time moment I've had on this trip so far. The meal was good; the company wonderful.
In the end we spent more than half a day together, which was really nice. As I get older I find it in some ways harder to travel on my own. A wee bit of loneliness and jet-lagged circadian rhythms aren't a great combination. Good company makes it all go away. The lads were even so gracious as to offer some gifts. *wipeschocolateoffface*
Hvala guys!
You get the idea.
But thankfully I had visitors around whom to build an active day. Tomaz (
paterson_si ), Igor (not on LJ), Viki (vksi ) and Mitja (mitjablazic ) took time out of their busy, rich lives to drive a couple of hours from Ljubljana to Zagreb. Tomaz and I have been online friends for many years: he and Igor hosted me for a weekend a couple of years ago. I have admired Mitja and Viki's activism for many years. Almost single- double-handedly, they have agitated for anti-homophobia legislation and challenged family law to allow same-sex marriage. They've been assaulted for their work and still experience harassment. But recently they won a huge victory in Slovenia's Constitutional Court, one that is forcing Parliament to deal with same-sex marriage. Mitja also works as a journalist.It isn't every day you meet people who are veritably changing their world--for the better.
As often is the case with moving from 2 (online) to 3 (F2F) dimensions, it takes a bit of time to warm up to one another; today was not exception. But there were so many things I wanted to ask Mitja about his work...and it's easy to make a connection when that sort of spark is there. Like many European men they have a sophisticated, nuanced understanding of English. Including humour. That helps too.
We wandered around the town, chatting, and eventually found a nice italian restaurant for lunch. Jet lag has buggered my appetite, but this was the first hungry-at-the-right-time moment I've had on this trip so far. The meal was good; the company wonderful.
In the end we spent more than half a day together, which was really nice. As I get older I find it in some ways harder to travel on my own. A wee bit of loneliness and jet-lagged circadian rhythms aren't a great combination. Good company makes it all go away. The lads were even so gracious as to offer some gifts. *wipeschocolateoffface*
Hvala guys!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-11-21 07:54 pm (UTC)But what is even better is the company you had. They are all wonderful persons (and attractive men). :)
*remembering how she felt after the bus journey from hell to Ljubljana* Tomaz just said, "Dari, you need rest - desperately!" and sent me right to bed. LOL
By the way, I'm going to meet one of the gay-right activists on my native blogosphere in Sofia tomorrow. We more or less made friends online - it's not as personal as LJ there, but we've exchanged private emails. He is very intelligent, and a very strong person, things here in Bulgaria being much worse than in Slovenia. I'm one of his very few online allies, and there are practically anonymous strangers posting homophobic comments to his (wordpress) blog all the time...
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 10:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-23 12:37 am (UTC)