how shall i put it? things were reaching a critical point in regards to the dressing of myself in even semi-clean clothes. i brought all this stuff and, at many times along the way (usually while standing on sites such as bodies of water, where disposal would be swift and without a trace), have wished to have taken with me far fewer belongings—but then when i put it in the closet here, it all amounts to a little heap of cloth and paper (plus some Gear, but *that* certainly doesn't contribute to the overall heft...). likewise, nowadays i cannot go much longer than a few days without having to locate a working washing machine, the first adjective in the list being, well, *operative.* was all hopped up because there's a machine in my bathroom here, but nothing any of us can seem to manage in the way of cajoling seems to be effective in setting the centrifugal force in motion. have been recycling everything, but today i realised that i needed to take action. since i had *heard* the telltale signs of a washing machine at NA yesterday, carried laundries there, was initially confounded because it was hidden—but managed to wash clothes and hung them out to dry in the playground in the backyard. nowhere near dry by the evening, when i had to leave, so i schlepped wet things back home. ah, the lack of shame that must accompany resourcefulness....

worked with the kids all morning. every thursday is "prepare breakfast" day. usually everyone brings their own and eats in the kitchen. but we made fruit salad and Peca told a story in which 2 bananas and 1 orange figured prominently and, somehow, arrived in a salad together for the rousing conclusion (only part i understood). lots of outside in the sand time. i ended up cleaning game shelves down in the basement until lunch. received more mail; apparently Apple might want to hear the tale of woe regarding my miscarriage-of-information last last summer—the only thing is, they want to speak with me on the phone. obviously i ought to have attended to this earlier, when PST and GMT+1 didn't mean anything monetary.

*news highlight* first serbian language lesson this afternoon. my teacher, tijana, is a serbian/general literature student at the university here and seems quite competent. we met for about 3 hours and then left Noah's Ark to go purchase textbooks. not sure if it's going to work out to meet at NA; having screaming kids running around makes it difficult to concentrate; we ended up taking chairs and going behind the baptist church adjacent to the kindergarten, but this is only a temporary solution. tomorrow we'll meet at my apartment. took tramvaj back into town to the university bookstore, carrying on a conversation about Serbia, as a country and a language, as it sees itself and is seen. it's helpful to talk about prejudice; i'm becoming much more convinced of my earlier (several years ago) suspicion that prejudice simply *is.* it's futile and false to say "i'm not prejudiced," because everyone needs these generalisations (categories) in order to function. the difficulty is when these become separated from reality or shuffled into some mechanism, such as politics or religion. prejudice stands on one side of a triangle; individual experience on another—so i'm never surprised (on theoretical grounds) by the fact that speaking with individuals is always the counter to my own presuppositions, and yet i am (on experiential ones). most people are rational and compassionate (these qualities are inextricably linked, essentially). it's just that the ones who are not are much louder than the rest.

it's hard for me to get home before about 9pm, no matter what i'm doing. daniela has moved in, so we're all here.