OK I admit life overtakes me quite a bit. I wrote the below entry Monday afternoon just before I went to attend the SIYAD (Turkish Film Critics Association) Award ceremony which was going to be broadcasted live and where I had to go on stage to give an award. However I didn’t even have time to post it let alone write a new entry about the ceremony itself. What I did instead was to write a comment about the huge arguments the awards created for the Sunday supplement of the daily newspaper Radikal where my very old friend Nilgun is an editor. Actually I don’t know if Nilgun will be able to find a place for it. All I know is that a blog entry would not have sufficed for this purpose. So here is what I wrote on the afternoon of the 3rd of March:

Already had a hectic day. I started of by going to the gym and if I had known the day was going to be like this I would have postponed it to another day. Anyway, there I saw Bahadir, who is a famous cartoonist. I have known him for ages, from the times I worked at Gunes daily newspaper with Bahadir’s, now wife, Mine. I have already mentioned Mine on this blog, she is the one who writes novels. Anyhow he told me, he and Mine are going to Kathmandu tomorrow. Mine is going to observe and eventually write a book on a group of Turkish hippies who went over there during the 60s and stayed. I am not sure if the book will be on and about this group or if Mine is merely going to use her observations to write a novel. She writes in both genres so it is difficult to be sure. Anyway when I went out of the gym, which is situated at Taksim square (overlooking Taksim square actually) and started walking on Istiklal street towards Beyoglu, who did I happen upon? None other than Mine! We decided that the moment she is back, her, me, and Erel will meet. If there is anyone who has read my very first blog entry, they will know that I had met Erel at the opening gala of the !f independent film festival and made the same promise to her. Let’s see when we will actually meet, accidentally somewhere at Beyoglu, more likely than not.

Then things became complicated. I had to drop by the SIYAD (Turkish film critics association) headquarters to get some invitations for tonight’s big event but no one answered the door, which is not so curious, since most likely every one is at the venue where the event will take place busy with the preparations. Since the headquarters is very near my house (15 minutes walk) I didn’t mind. I came home, ate lunch, which consisted of a self-made tuna and avocado sandwich, then I saw the message from Gencay, asking if I could arrange an additional invitation, since a guy he has been interested in for some time (entirely my doing but that’s another story) wanted to go with him if there was. Actually he already had an invitation and had already promised Inanc he would go with him and had every inclination to dump Inanc if there were no invitations, Inanc being merely his heterosexual friend while the other is a date potential. I said I’ll do smtg.

Then the phone rang and it was Gulengul she wanted to know if there was an invitation since she was thinking of coming. Then she said Cenk was being very gay and putting suits on and off trying to decide what to wear and generally making Gulengul nervous. She on the other hand was claming that film critics usually go around in jeans and t-shirts with cigarette burns in them. The observation is very accurate and I ensured Gulengul a nice shirt on her jeans would be sufficient although there would be people in formal wear as well. Then we gossiped about Cenk and Gencay the details of which I have no intention of disclosing. All I will say is I have decided that I will from now on refrain from giving my opinion to any gay man when they start there endless speculations on who to date and who not to date and whether they should date and what not. I will patiently listen and nod and that is all. I will not get entangled in this mess nor be seen anywhere near the cross fire. Gulengul thought this decision to be very wise.

However then she started asking me questions I had no answer for like will we party after the ceremony, when exactly does this start, aren’t you supposed to be the deputy head of this association, do I need to go higher to get answers etc. Gulengul has a reason for asking so many questions. If she is to leave her baby girl (elfe whom I already wrote an entry about) she has to make the most of it. she can’t just go to the ceremony she has to drink party everything the one and only night a month she goes out. So I called the head of the association Mozer (another very old friend) to ask him where to get invitations etc. he said I should call the headquarters and the moment there is somebody there, go get it. if this doesn’t work, I should give the names of the people to the guy at the door! (this is a classic I have to write about as a separate entry one day) So I called and they said they would be there for half an hour so I had to rush back out. Then just as I entered the damn place, my mobile rang and it was Cenk who had called to ask, surprise surprise, if there were additional invitations!. Thank god this is the kind of event you worry might not be full so its not a big deal to keep on providing invitations if only I didn’t have to run around Beyoglu to get them.

Then I went to my hairdresser (I already told you about him because of Alisa) and told him: “I actually love the way my hair looks at this very moment however I have this thing tonight and everyone says I have to get my hair done and I hate my hair done but … as long as I don’t end up looking like my mom”. Now that it is done I can assure you that I look nothing like her but now I have to get dressed. We (Seda –love of my life- and me) will be meeting with Gencay, Emrecan, Inanc, Cenk, Gulengul and who ever Cenk is bringing at six in front of AKM (Ataturk Cultural Center) where hopefully there will be buses to take us to the venue. So I have to rush.