lechumur

To them

2010-09-12T20:42:00.000-04:00

A lot of things have happened since I last wrote, and while on the outside it might seem that my life is still the same, I feel like an important change has happened within me.

At a street fair today I heard Suzanna Holland. Her singing reminded me of Irish folk tunes and Simon & Garfunkel's "Are you going to Scarborough Fair"; it felt familiar and dear to me. I was standing near the woman for a long while, listening and reading about her life.

Suzanna was born in South Africa and from her childhood she was blind. Her father wanted to make sure that her blindness didn't affect her life and from the early days taught her to combat fear and do anything she likes, walk anywhere she wanted, and live independently. She wrote that she almost hated when people rushed to help her when she didn't ask for help and that she didn't want any special treatment just because she couldn't see.

The snippet that affected me the most was the one where she talked of her mother. Suzanna and her sibling lived far away from their parents and didn't have close contact with them anymore. One day their mum got hit by a car and died almost instantly after the collision. Eyewitnesses of the event say that when asked who they should call and inform of an incident, mother replied "No one. There is no one". Her dead body was left unclaimed at the mortuary for a long time and her children didn't know of what happened to their mother. Suzanna wrote that when they found the body, she felt that seeing their mother all alone in the strange place of dead was the worst punishment they could have received for their neglect of a parent.

The stories that Suzanna wrote about her childhood are touching and encouraging, and her singing is kind and soothing. She is a stranger to me, but for the time that I was reading her life snippets and listening to her guitar, I felt close to that woman. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

This blog post is to our parents.

To know or not to know

2009-09-21T00:11:00.007-04:00

I finally finished the "Freedom writers" book that I've started reading a few weeks ago. Such an incredible book! I've seen the movie about 2 years ago, but it doesn't even compare with the power of the book and the message that it holds. I never could have even imagined what some teenagers go through in their early years!

And now I decided to follow the "syllabus" of Room 203 and read the same books they did. I started with "Night" by Elie Wiesel (winner of the Nobel peace prize) and now am stupefied. I read about the German concentration camps before, but nothing so powerful and scary as the "Night". Burning children, women, and elders in the ovens... It just sounds like a bad nightmare, an explosion of someone's bad imagination. Thinking that there were people who supervised and supported these "methods" (oh, what a cruel word!) sends shivers through my body. What could possibly drive those people to perform such horrors, what went wrong within their minds?

Reading about the Holocaust made me wonder if we are to see more of these. Or what's more scary, maybe there are some happening this very minute and I just don't know or choose not to know...

What does Google do for Russians?

2009-08-08T07:04:00.002-04:00

In relation to my earlier post, I wanted to note that I did a similar "survey" in Russian. Not to be biased or anything, but I found that in Russian people were way more creative in their questions. Here are some of the top ones that I've seen pop-up in google suggest (one word question word was the only thing I typed) :

What? (Screenshot)

- What happens if you throw a crowbar in the toilet?

- What does it mean when a girl wears a ring on her thumb?

- What happens if you switch on beam lights at the speed of light?

Where? (Screenshot)

- Where is the G point?

- Where are the little apples?

Where to? (Screenshot)

- Where did the little apples disappear?

Why? (Screenshot)

- Why is Putin a crab?

- Why don't girls like me?

- Why isn't Russia an America?

- Why me?

How much? (Screenshot)

- How much does you dead body cost?

- How much does a kidney cost?

What for? (Screenshot)

- What is a Scroll lock key for?

- What is punctuation for?

- What are men for?

Where from? (Screenshot)

- Where do children come from?

- Where do sniffles come from?

- Where does dust come from?

Google suggestions on life

2009-08-08T06:15:00.003-04:00

Why am I always curious about the random things? Maybe I should ask google. Start typing "why am I" and you'll see what the world wants to know about themselves :) Hehe, that was my entertainment for the last hour: seeing what people are wondering about. It was quite enlightening, so I decided to share. Enjoy!

"Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria" definitely took me by surprise!

And I found out that actually google answers the relationship questions pretty well too :)

1. He wonders if she likes him, she wonders if he likes her...

2. Both are ignoring, avoiding, and pushing away each other. How did that happen? She's acting distant, b/c he's not calling. He's distant, b/c she's playing hard to get. She's mad, b/c he's not a solider officer!

3. She wouldn't talk, b/c he wouldn't marry. She wouldn't call, b/c he wouldn't propose. She wants him to commit, he wants her to swallow. She wants him to call, he wants her to text.

Indeed, Google knows it all!

Loneliness on the net

2009-06-14T19:22:00.006-04:00

About 2 years ago I read a book by a Polish author Janusz L. Wisniewski "Loneliness on the net". It starts with a young woman sending an email to a complete stranger, b/c she was feeling very sad and lonely and wanted to share all her thoughts with someone who didn't know her true identity in real life. Stranger turns out to be a Polish scientist working in a renowned Munich lab. From that moment on the two start talking online, sharing all their thoughts, memories, and dreams. I wouldn't tell what happens to them afterwards though, in case you're curious enough to read the book.

So I remember staying up till 3am just to finish the last pages. I found the book fresh and original; and even though I was disappointed with the ending (it was too sad), I loved it. I probably learned about the DNA from that book more than from my biology classes :) In general, there were so many interesting (and maybe a bit random) facts about the world in the dialogs between the characters, that I even got curious enough to read up on some of those topics later on.

Anyway, so last week I got my hands on the movie that was made a few years ago based on this book. I was truly amazed with the quality of the Polish cinematography :) Here are some extracts from the movie:

It was very sensual and touching, but sad again :( The soundtrack was incredible too. So in case any of you were curious in seeing something from East Europe, I would highly recommend. Although, one disclaimer: the movie is quite slow and talks are prevalent to action, so if you have no tolerance for such things, then don't watch it.

Remember those pre hi-tech times?

2009-06-05T01:47:00.006-04:00

Lately I've been thinking how much different our lives are now compared to say 10 years ago, communication wise mostly. It's incredible!

In pre-email era, we used to write letters on paper and mail them via regular post, waiting sometimes for weeks for the envelope to reach its destination. Now we just send emails! And paper letters are luxury, like flowers.

If we were going with some friends to the movies, we would arrange in advance the time and exact place, b/c there were no cell phones and we couldn't just call and ask "Where are you standing now?"

There was just no possible way of telling all our friends something at once in a random point in time. I could shout out of a window to tell something to numerous strangers, but you didn't get much more than that. Now there's facebook with walls/status updates/...

Remember the times when we brought photo albums to school to show how great our summer break was? Now again - there's facebook. Everyone can look at our pictures whenever and wherever they please.

Remember the times when we didn't have Internet at home? If we wanted to go to a theater play or even to the movies, we had to buy a special magazine that listed all the cultural events in the city, their times, places, and prices. Then you had to physically go somewhere and purchase the tickets with real money. No online shops.

If we heard a song on the radio that we liked, we rushed to write down its name and the name of the artist. Otherwise, there was no way we could ever get a hold of that song again. I wouldn't even mention that cassettes and CD's were the only ways of getting your hands on music.

News? Oh yeah, that's what newspapers and magazines were for.

Had a question about something? No google, no themed forums. Yes, you had to ask your friends, relatives, go to the library, or even write a letter to a newspaper/magazine!

And what about those old times, when you could see your tv show only if you rushed home and was in front of the tv in the right time? No TiVo, no DVD/VHS-recorders.

Oh, and then there were times when you had to ask people how to get somewhere, because there were no google maps, no iPhones, and no android phones. Hehe, and your friends had to draw you maps of how to get to their place with all the streets, turns, and reference points marked.

Seems so long ago! And how would I even have shared these thoughts with you then, 10 years ago? If I wasn't a journalist or a writer, I just simply couldn't. For better or for worse :P

Use your fan to blow up matress

2009-06-04T01:34:00.001-04:00

Yup, just learned today that you can actually use your hair fan to fill a blow up mattress with air. Works incredibly well and fast!

Hello Santa Barbara!

2009-05-25T02:46:00.003-04:00

So here's a map of where I went yesterday for a drive :) You can see how I almost made it to LA: it was less than 100mi to the city.

View Larger Map

I must say: the trip was great! It was long and extremely unexpected, but I finally got to put my feet into the Pacific that was not freezing and I get to drive through Santa Barbara - the city whose name I heard from when I was 3-4yrs old.

There was this american soap opera called "Santa Barbara" broadcasted in Russia in the 80-90's and it was the longest soap opera in history as it kept going for 10 years (oh yeah!). Now I don't even remember what it was all about except that there was a man with a funny name "C.C." (I always thought it was his full name and in my head I spelled it like "Cici") who was the head of the Capwell family, then there was a young woman with really long and blonde hair named Eden and she was married to a man named Cruz. Cruz always reminded me of a gorilla (probably not too flattering for the actor, but oh well) and I thought his name was ridiculous. What kind of person is called Cruz? Haha, if only I knew then that in 15 or so years for the weekends I regularly would be going to a place with the exact same name in it - Santa Cruz. I never questioned "Cruz" in Santa Cruz though... Strange.

In any case, for me, the "child of wilderness" at the time (ok, maybe not wilderness, but still - those Santa Barbara houses and beaches shown in the soap opera seemed like shots from another planet to me back then), it seemed not possible at all that at some point in my life I would visit those places. That's why this trip yesterday was so incredible.

Oh yeah, and then SB was the first american show ever broadcasted in Russia, so everyone in the country was watching it with open mouths. The name "Santa Barbara" itself became a common expression meaning "something unnecesary long, complicated, and "soapy".

Anyway, so here's what the intro to SB looked like. I still remember that first few seconds with the gates! After 15 years :)

Why do men never wear hats anymore?

2009-05-25T02:30:00.004-04:00

Stumbled upon this question when seeing a rare scene at the street: a man wearing a hat in the evening in the city. Why don't men wear hats anymore? Is it because they're tired of taking it off to greet every woman they know?

Forever 21

2009-05-23T03:16:00.003-04:00

When I was 16, I thought that in a few years I would have a better idea of what I want to do and who I want to be. Ha! Gonna be 21 in a few weeks and I still got no clue, but now I know that most people are like that. I guess up to my last breath I will keep wondering what this whole life was about.

My good friend once asked me what I thought my dream was. Years pass, but I think it's still the same. I always wanted to make a photograph that would win a contest and get published. Years pass, and I'm still working on that one :)

Ziehe ich?

2009-05-12T22:58:00.006-04:00

Well, since my blog has a little "paper basket" logo on top, I figured I can throw some more garbagé in it. Last yeat I developed this passion for copying photographs from ads in the magazines and then this kind of drawing became my own kind of meditation. Thought it would be nice to post some pictures here for a change :)

Beware: I do not want my drawing abilities to be criticized. It's the silly thing that I do and silly things cannot be judged. I'm in no pretense that I'm a great artist, so no need to remind me of that :)

So this was sep 08 (this is what happened when I was by myself on a 9-hour flight upset and restless):

This was Dec. 08 (in the madness of final projects and exams). What inspired the middle one is pretty obvious if you look through my past blog entries, and the last one was just dedicated to my lovely sis, who loves crows.

These 2 are just still shots from 2 Russian cartoons "Hedgehog in the fog" and "The tale of tales":

And these last ones were again just from the magazines:

The quality of the photographs is not all that great, so my apologies for that. The camera has given up on me in the past few months.

2009-05-09T04:07:00.001-04:00

For the first time I went driving today by myself with no destination! At night! It was like a dream. About 100mi after - I am home again, but feel changed :)

2009-05-07T02:59:00.000-04:00

For some reason I put my alarm for 7:59 instead of 8. I guess, it's just more fun that way :)

Eifman

2009-05-03T23:19:00.003-04:00

Oooh, and on Saturday I got to see "Eugene Onegin" performed in Berkley by Eifman ballet. I was very skeptical at the beginning, because it's modernized ballet and I've never seen a good one from that kind. However, after the first 10min of the performance, all my skepticism has evaporated and then I was just hoping that the dancers would never stop. In all the movements of the dancers there was something so sensual, so candid, that I felt like we, the audience, were almost intruding in their life.

The choreographer is just brilliant! I didn't think that without the classical moves of the ballet one could make such an enchanting performances. Oh well, in cases like this I'm always glad to admit that I was wrong in my assumptions :)

It was sad to leave the theater though, because everything there was so magical and the world outside was more trivial. I should learn to make magic myself - there's the plan!

May!

2009-05-03T22:42:00.007-04:00

A new month. Once again. For the first time, I'm actually writing from my balcony, where I'm sitting under the blanket in a chair. Very classy, isn't it? :) I'm thinking that if I make some hot chocolate (I actually got some real Swiss one in the cupboard!), then it would be just like a setting from some book. Hehe :)

Anyhow, what inspired me to write today is the Relay race that I volunteered for. It's a 199mi race from Calistoga to Santa Cruz that serves as a fundraiser for Organs R Us that promotes the need for organ donors. The race is to be completed by a team of 10-12 people, so each of the members runs about 10mi overall, which is not too bad, but through the whole race period (about 30hrs) all the non-active runners stay together in the van and follow the active runner, b/c every 5-6mi the runners must be changed. I've seen those people today after they've been in a race for >24hrs and had 0.5-1.5hrs of sleep max, and they have been extremely cheerful and polite. The mystery of human kind :)

Oh, and then we've seen this man who apparently does the whole race (199mi!) all by himself every year. For some midway points he orders pizza, quickly eats the whole thing on the way, and then just keeps going. Incredible! Such a determination and strength of body!

Together with 2 other people we were helping out at one of the numerous exchange points, so we had to coordinate the arriving/depating vans with the teams and make sure that all the runners cross the traffic safely. Sounds simple enough, but with the rain and heavier traffic it gets a bit tricky :) For the first time in my life I got to direct the traffic a bit though! With just one hand I could actually stop a car on Hwy 9 and with a wave of another hand let someone go :) I felt empowered. To be fair though, I did my best to never stop the cars on the road unless it was absolutely necessary.

And the moral of the story is..? There are some really great people doing some incredible things out there in the world. I've got nothing more to add.

Update (May 7, 2009): Dean Karnazes is the name of the man that ran all the 200mi by himself :)

2009-04-18T21:21:00.002-04:00

4.5 hours of rollerblading! I just love California :P

PS: My feet seem to give me an attitude now.

2009-04-18T16:58:00.001-04:00

Public libraries are incredible! You can get latest DVDs, study books, audio books, and even whole operas on CD. Why would I go and buy any of these now? :)

2009-04-18T12:33:00.001-04:00

Going to color Easter eggs today. Exciting! Just need to find egg paint somewhere...

Lent

2009-03-12T23:46:00.004-04:00

"Does this have milk in it? Yes? Oh, sorry, then I'll have something else" - yup, that's me these days. Never would have thought! No milk products, no meat, no fish, no sweets, no alcohol, and no white bread till Easter. No, I am not religious, but with a friend of mine we have thought it would be interesting to challenge ourselves to fasting, and Lent seemed like a very convinient opportunity.

Supposedly, fasting is designed to inspire you to think less about the mundane things and concentrate on the issues of the soul and mind. I was curious and felt really bold, so I went for it. It's been 2 weeks now and I didn't cheat so far. What's the point? There's no one but myself to deceive. So here are a few notes about my experience so far.

The first day of Lent is the hardest one, because for the whole of Monday you can't have anything but water. And, of course, the whole Monday food is all you can think about :) A sad thing is that without food I got no good reason to get a break from actual work, because usually I take a walk to get some snack or tea/smoothie. Also, without lunch and dinner I don't really get that much communication with people. Monday was a sad-sad day, and I did not feel inspired or uplifted at all. I was hungry, lonely, and dissapointed with myself for starting the experiment at all.

The days afterwards were much better. Surprisingly, even though there are many things you can't have, there's still something left to choose from: rice, all kinds of other grains, potatoes, vegetables (raw/cooked), fruits, and nuts. Oh yeah, there's also tofu that I will not eat raw again unless forced to; when cooked, it's quite tasty though.

Last Sunday fish and eggs were allowed, so I got my hands on herrings (don't frown, it's a Russian thing) and fresh-baked, still warm, delicious Russian bread. To enjoy this feast I went out with my roommate to some hills in Los Altos, from where we could see the nearby area quite well. It was a lovely Sunday indeed! Bread tasted very special and it came in the right time, because I was starting to consider giving up on the whole fasting idea.

Living without the meat for 2 weeks was alright, even though on some occasions I really felt like having some. What tortured me in the past days and still does is the lack of desserts. I have delicious chocolate waffle cake and a box of fantastic turkish delight at home, as well as a few boxes of girl-scout cookies with choco & peanut butter. I wouldn't even mention all the things I have to pass by in the cafes. Today was the hardest day so far in these terms - I really craved for some chocolate cookies, but instead had to crunch the pistachio (ok, that's not such a bad trade-off).

2 weeks in and I still question myself about the whole thing over and over again. Did I become more spiritual and less materialistic? Do I feel enlightened? No, I am still the same person, no major changes. However, there's something to it: major challenge of your will power; you have to learn to control your desires and not give in. This is the one thing that keeps me going: I want to learn whether I can do it or not. There is still a bit more than a month left though, I think, so we'll see.

In general, I have noticed that now I can push myself a bit further with the other things: I can find a reason to run for a bit longer, to stretch a bit further, and etc. What's important is to start out with a challenging goal that you are capable of reaching, then you will feel good upon achieving it. Starting the run without knowing where the finish-line is can be quite demoralizing, and I don't suggest doing this.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention what the other people thought of my experiment. Well, first of all, there are only about 6-7 of them who know of it. One always tries to corrupt me and suggests I have something sweet, go to a party and drink something, or just forget the whole thing and enjoy the "pie party" on the weekend. Not really supportive, but then the feeling of contradiction towards him inspires me to continue. Second of all, people who don't know about the diet restrictions do not really notice anything. I still always have a full plate of something, I don't complaint out loud that I can't have meat or desserts. Instead of sweets, I always get fruits now and it feels pretty good most of the time.

The greatest thing of all is that I never feel painfully full after my meals. I always feel well energized, happy, and grateful that I could find at least something to eat that follows the restrictions :)

In the moment of doubt I asked my mum today if I could give up now. She wisely has said that it was only up to me, but since I was still fasting - there probably was something important in this for me.

Life will be so much easier if I start eating everything again and can join my friends for the desserts and food/drink-oriented parties, but it will be the same life I had before. Now when I feel sad or lonely, I can't just have something sweet and move on - I have to come up with some interesting ways of distracting myself or curing the light melancholia, and it's been an interesting path to walk on so far.

Every day is a challenge, but I keep going in the hope of finding something new that will make my life more fulfilling. I think it's worth a try, right ;)

PS: Just thought that maybe I got such a comfy life these days that my spirit is not challenged anymore, so I'm coming up with the artificial ways of shaking it. Crazy!

MD - CA - MD - CA

2009-01-12T11:04:00.003-05:00

Haha, I just got "excellent" news: I'll have to fly back to Maryland from California next week for a day. It's kind of funny given that tomorrow I'm flying *from* Maryland *to* California - for the permanent move.

It all started on November 11, 2008, when I was driving around 12:30pm out of campus for the dentist appointment. I've never driven in that part of the university and noticed a kind of segregated parking lot on the left from the road. It was all just a matter of seconds, but when I turned my head back to the road ahead of me, I've noticed that I have just rolled over the stop sign. That stop sign made no sense, since there wasn't even an intersection at the spot. I started breaking, but then I realized that I was far beyond the stop sign and all I was doing now is just breaking for no reason in the middle of the road. So I continued my way.

Only a second later it hit me that the stop sign was designed to ease the exit from that strange segregated parking lot that grasped my attention. How I wish that the stop sign caught my attention beforehand...

Anyway, a few seconds later I realized that there was a police car behind me with lights on. What happened afterwards is probably quite clear. The shocking part was that I got a fee of $90 and 2 points on my license! Ok, so first of all, I was driving 20-25 miles/hour, under the campus speed limit, so the stop sign was my only fault. Second of all, I have a completely clear driving record - I did nothing wrong since I got my licence. So, of course, I was devastated and very upset.

A few days after the incident I mailed my ticket back in with the "Pleading guilty" checked. I've decided I'd go to court and try to explain the situation - maybe I'd be able to get the points off my license. Really, I thought it was unfair that some friends of mine got away with speeding 20 miles over the speed limit on the highway, forgetting the license at home, and driving 10-15 miles over the limit in the city. Some of them were just required to attent a driving class again, but none got points on the license!

A week ago (almost 2 months after the incident) I called in to check on the status of my ticket, but the policeman didn't turn it in yet. Since I was about to move to CA in a week, I realized that I'd have to take a day off work and fly for a day back to MD for the court. Today I checked on the ticket again and haha - my court date is next week! So tomorrow I'm flying to CA and in about 1.5 weeks I fly back to MD for the court. Fun-fun!

I really hope that I would be able to get rid off the points on the license, otherwise I paid both for the flight fare *and* the insurance increase for the next 3 years :(

The New Year - the Clean Year

2009-01-03T17:36:00.009-05:00

Oh wow - I haven't done any posts since last year! :P Well, it does really seem like a whole year has passed since then, because there were so many things happening.

Winter has not been snowy at all so far here in Maryland, so our holiday season did not really feel like one. It was even around +10 - +15C a couple of times and that completely killed the mood for any celebrations. It did arise the mood for travelling though, which I did in its fullest. I've gone to a few beaches in our state and Delaware, went snowboarding in Pennsylvania, and am flying to Massachusetts on Monday to see some friends. I'm also off to CA in about a week - but that's a permanent move.

Since I had all this time on my hands and lots of my personal things to go through, I have decided to find good homes for all the stuff I did not need myself any more. All the books I did not need or want any more went on Amazon, all the papers with one clean side were stacked for future reuse, and all the clothes/shoes/soft toys/etc. that were of no use to me were collected into a big bag ready for the donation to a local non-profit organization.

Looking at that bag for donation I have suddenly realized that probably I'm not the only one in my apartment complex who has some stuff they don't need any more. It's just not everyone has the wish to research where to donate the items or the time to go and actually deliver the bags. That's why I figured my help could be of use. Since I was donating my own things anyway, I might as well take the things from my neighbors and donate their items too. First of all, with enough bags I could just order a truck pick-up that would come on behalf of the non-profit organization to collect the items at my apartment complex. Second of all, all my neighbors have the convinience of just bringing the bags to my apartment and not worrying about anything else.

I talked to our Residents Services in the complex and they helped me out with the copies of the flyers which I put in every building in the complex (~15, I think). In the next week I have received a few phone calls and emails from the residents: all of them had a few bags full of items in good condition that they were ready to donate. I'm still in the process of collecting all of them at my place, so there is work left to be done, but so far I'm very happy that I got some responses from the neighbors :) If any of you ever have the time and the wish to do something like this - do it! You would help both yourself, your neighbors, and the non-profits.

Once I got in the mood of cleaning up my place from the unused items, I've decided to do the same for my parents. After days of work I finally realized how much more advantageous it is to buy music online rather than on physical CD's and to rent films instead of buying them on DVD's just to see the movie once. In general, I was amazed at how many unused things exist in our homes that just sit in the corner, collect dust, and take away the space. I suppose, one can say that my big New Year resolution is to avoid bringing those things into my home as much as possible. Let the Qi flow :)

Hm.. what else is happening with me? Ha, I've done my first knitting: the leg warmers that I dreamed of for so long. Not sure if there will be any more knitting in the nearest future, but so far it has been quite entertaining.

The New Year of 2009 so far does not feel any different than 2008. I guess, such differences can be felt only in the childhood, when we look for magical transformations anywhere we can. In the adult life the "make-overs" are a bit of a challenge, but are quite worth the effort nevertheless. Maybe the change of the last digit in the date does not bother you in any way, but there are still a plenty of reasons to look at your life and see what you would like to adjust there. This is what I dare to suggest to all of you :)

Oh yeah, I do have one actual New Year resolution: wear a skirt at least once a week :) Getting out of the jeans' comfort zone once in a while should do me some good.

New life

2008-12-18T19:59:00.005-05:00

What can I say? I have taken my last exam today and now I'm just waiting for the commencement ceremony and an official bachelor's degree diploma in mail :) These are some exciting times!

Of course, my sleeping schedule is completely messed up after this semester, but this will probably fix itself eventually. I still cannot believe that there will be no school projects or exams in the nearest future, and surprisingly this makes me a bit sad: there will be no staying up late because of a homework due in the morning, no choosing of classes for the next semester, no lectures to skip, no silly chattering with other students in the hallway, no campus events to attend, and no spring or summer breaks to look forward to. It is amazing how one gets used to certain things in 4 years!

All the nostalgia aside though, I was going in metro today and barely stopped myself from smiling: it's not every day that you get a degree! It feels like a century ago when I was taking my freshman classes, and now I am all done.

Life does not stop at the graduation though (some actually say this is where it starts, but I completely disagree). I might be out of school, but I can still attend ballet classes elsewhere and continue with drawing as much as I like. Of course, there is a great and exciting move to California, a new job, a new home, new places to go to in the evenings, and new people to meet.

A life to come is a bit too new and scary, but then I got my family and my good old friends, so I'm sure it will just fine :)

PS: If you don't give yourself a present, then where else will it come from? That's why I took matters in my own hands and for my new life I went out and bought myself a gorgeous new dress :P

TemperTantrum

2008-12-11T13:37:00.002-05:00

I'm very excited to tell that there was an article in Chronicle about our class project! Our professor (Ben Shneiderman) has invited the reporter to our lecture with presentations, and that's how we got publicity :P

The comments on the article are pretty strange though:

"How about professors that are too boring, or are too loud, or rooms that are too crowded, or weak wi-fi, or not enough hot chics in a class or…" - I don't think any of those problems can influence the sustainability on campus. So yeh, maybe someone who is more concerned about "not enough hot chics in a class" can work on these suggested projects.

"Instead, I spent my time studying and learning" - and we are doing exactly what? It might seem that developing a simple tool like TemperTantrum is easy, but the visible simplicity of the tool does not always reflect the amount of work that gets put into it. One needs to investigate the problem, research the previous solutions to it, find credible sources confirming that the new solution can be more efficient, come up with the design, implement a prototype, conduct usability studies, and then revise, revise, revise... There is a lot of learning to do! And who thinks there isn't, then they should just go ahead and try it for themselves first.

"Is this a paid job for the students?" - no, it's not! It's a class project, and we work on it, while having 3-4 other classes and sometimes actual paid jobs too.

Anyway, it's great to know that Chronicle cared enough to publish an article about us! Thanks to Jeffrey R. Young for taking his time to write about TemperTantrum :)

"Demon seated in the garden"

2008-12-10T00:51:00.002-05:00

For my art class I had to write a critique on a 2D design, and I've selected one of my favorite paintings: "Demon seated in the garden" by a Russian painter Mikhail Vrubel (XIX century). Here it is in all its glory:

The palette of emotions radiating from the painting is just amazing. That's why I couldn't resist to post the image. Now, how can modern art even compare to this?

Another very famous painting by Vrubel is "Swan princess". It is quite stunning, I agree.

Vrubel loved the "fairy tale" theme very much, so that's why the demon and the swan princess.

Maryland Dance Ensemble

2008-12-08T00:49:00.005-05:00

For my ballet class, I was required to go and see Maryland Dance Ensemble performance on campus. Since I had to write a report about it anyway, here is what I thought of my evening in the theater.

My previous experiences with the modern performances were quite upsetting, but I went to see Maryland Dance Ensemble with an open mind. Unfortunately, it has been a great disappointment. The ideas of the compositions were obscure and their presentation on the stage was not appealing or esthetically pleasing.

The piece that I liked somewhat ("Ella at Duke's Place") was the very first one, because it involved the most movement on the stage and I could see that it required a substantial amount of work to create such a coordination of the dancers. However, the moves often seemed abrupt and transitions between the positions were not smooth.

The piece by Sharon Mansur ("here/there.. (for one)") was the most puzzling of all. The flapping of her arms did remind of nature, but in a childish sort of way. The composition seemed extremely simplified, and there was a great lack of variety in the movements of the performer. The piece did not seem to require any dancing experience at all, and it was quite shocking, since from the “About the Artists” section of the program I learnt that Sharon Mansur is actually a faculty at the University now. She might be an exceptionally skillful dancer, but from her performance I could not tell if she was. Oh, and once she left the stage, for a few minutes a projector showed some amateur videos of this girl surrounded by plants. As I read later, it was part of the "multi-media" composition. What is wrong with the single-media on stage?

Overall, I thought that the lack of motion and rhythm were the greatest problems in all the compositions. There were a lot of still and expressionless positions, but not nearly enough of dynamic pieces. The mystery of the music and “dances” did not personally enchant me, but rather evoked irritation and confusion. The lack of technical skill presentation was a great cause of my inability to take the performers seriously.

For half of the first act my sister & I actually barely kept our laughter within ourselves. I have been to theaters many times, but on Friday it was the first time that I have ever left for home during the intermission. We just could not bare the performance anymore.

Holiday season

2008-12-02T21:12:00.006-05:00

"Giselle" ballet has been spectacular. I must say, San Francisco ballet is one of the best ones I've seen so far. The dancers are incredible: so expressive and amazingly talented. It was my first time at "Giselle" in my life, so I was not prepared at all for the second act with willis, and it scared me quite a lot. Never have I thought that a group of beautiful ballerinas in white wedding dresses and veils could look so dark and disturbing. Here is a picture from an older performance:

But inspite of the darkness of the ballet, I completely loved it :)

Today I went to a graduation celebration that our university president has set up for some students at his on campus residence, and it was so beautiful there! Christmas lights, numerous poinsettia plants everywhere, red tableclothes, xmas cookies, and cute cocker spaniel running around. The amazing thing of all, they had 3 chocolate fountains there! Felt like a fairy tale, because in real life there are no chocolate fountains. Then it finally hit me: Christmas is almost at the door, and my graduation is running right in front of it!

Oh-oh! It's also December 1, a new month already.

World on fire

2008-11-29T20:57:00.017-05:00

As I looked at the BBC News frontpage on Wednesday, my heart sank. There were a few terrorist attacks in Mumbai, 2 of them in the major city hotels. It is not until today that things seemed to get under control, but there are many people dead, many more injured, and most of those who follow the news are still in shock.

Alright, nowadays we see the words "bomb exploded" in the news so often, that many of us just skip over most of those articles. Nevertheless, I doubt that many skipped updates on the situation in Mumbai. In relation to the attack on the Indian city, media started to recall all the tragic events in Europe from the past years: explosions in Madrid, London, and some other cities. I haven't heard anyone mention the terrorist attacks in Russia though, but memories of those were the ones that suddenly became fresh in my mind after I heard about Mumbai.

September 1-3, 2004

1128 children & teachers are taken as hostages in school in Beslan on the 1st day of classes in the new academic year

350 dead, 500 injured

At the time I was still in Moscow, but already graduated from high school. Because of this, luckily, I didn't get to learn how it felt to go to classes to your school after the tragedy in Beslan. Everybody in Russia and around the world was shaken: those were innocent children taken as hostages. They did not start wars, some of them were just starting to learn to count - how could they be blamed for anything?

Dead bodies were small. And countless.

February 6, 2004

A bomb explodes in one of the trains in Moscow metro during the rush hour

40 dead, 122 injured

It was a perfectly fine day at school. We were writing a composition in my Literature class at high school, when our teacher went outside the classroom and returned a few minutes later with a concerned look on her face. She told us that there was an explosion in Moscow metro and many were injured. Many of us, students, took that same metro to school every day and our family and friends too. Everyone in the city did.

No one in my class had relatives or friends in that train, but we were all shaken nevertheless. A few days later my casual ride in metro did not feel so casual at all: if I could walk instead, I'd have rather done that. Every time the train closed doors and went into the tunnel, I couldn't stop thinking about those people who went into the tunnel just like that too, but never came out of it alive.

October 23-26, 2002

850 hostages are taken in Moscow theater during the evening performance and most of them were not released for 3 days

129 dead, >700 injured

In the morning of Oct. 24 I was just on my usual way to school, taking a ride in marshrutka (a mini-bus). I was very sleepy and barely paid attention to the surroundings. The driver had the radio news on, and suddenly everybody in marshrutka started discussing something. Once the news reporter told the story in brief again, I couldn't believe it: a huge theater was taken under the control of terrorists in the center of the capital, and no one could do anything about it for the whole night! It all sounded so unreal and ridiculous that I've decided it was just a joke. It wasn't though.

For the next 2 days I kept going to school, and the people in the theatre stayed in the theatre. We listened to the radio updates between classes and watched the news after school at home. Media was covering all the tiny details from right outside the theater, and terrorists were watching those very news inside and learning all those tiny details as well.

In the morning of Oct. 26 I came to school and there my classmate said that a rescue operation took place in the theatre and hostages were getting to hospitals now. Some of the terrorists changed into civilians' clothes though and fled the scene together with hostages. When I was going home later in the afternoon that day, it seemed like the city was in one big traffic jam: some of the roads were blocked or had police check points on them. It tooks hours to get home, but at least I was home and safe.

The theatre was near the metro station "Dubrovka" and the performance was "Nord-Ost". These are the 2 words that are so widely associated with the tragedy now. After the terrible event, theatres put out checkpoints at the entrance just like in the airports. We went for the "42nd Street" performance just about a few weeks after the Dubrovka tragedy, and I couldn't stop myself from throwing glances at the sides of the hall the whole time. My imagination was drawing pictures of people in masks breaking in. But luckily there was no one this time.

August 8, 2000

A bomb explodes at one of the busiest pedestrian underpasses in the center of Moscow

12 dead, 140 injured

I was far away from the city for 2 months, but my mother and sister weren't. When we learned about the explosion, we called up both of them immediately. My mum was fine, but none of us could get through to my sister's mobile. The underpass on "Pushkinskaya" is huge: there are entrances & exits to metro, numerous little shops, the exits of the underpass lead to major city streets and fancy shopping & dining areas. It's all in the center of the city, and my sister often went through the underpass. It was also a very popular meeting point for friends or couples.

My sister's number was unavailable just because the battery on the mobile ran low. She wasn't at the scene at the time of explosion. She was there a day ago though, picking up her photos that were developed in the little shop in the underpass. It's good that the pictures were not late by a day.

The underpass was fixed up later on and I went through it many times later on. It was as alive and as crowded as always. If not for the small memorial tablet, you wouldn't even know that people died here. The City life must go on.

September 4,9,13,16 of 1999

A series of massive explosions happened in apartment buildings in Russian cities Buynaksk, Moscow and Volgodonsk

300 dead, >1000 injured

I was in the last year of my middle school and I remember how frightened we were with my classmates to hear that not one, but 4 major explosions took place in the apartment complexes. 2 of those were in Moscow. I remember that even my father became concerned with the situation, and he couldn't be shaken easily. Residents of the apartment complexes started to organize meetings and put doors with code locks on the entrances. There were active rumors about bombs that were found in many other complexes, so everyone became very attentive of people hanging out near the buildings.

I was an impressionable child at the time, and when it was time to sleep, I was afraid to close my eyes. It seemed like as soon as I do, an explosion would take place and that would be the end of my short life or the beginning of some torture. I never got to hear an explosion though, so my life is still going normally.

These are only the ones that shook me the most, but unfortunately the list (machine translation of a Russian wiki page) is much-much longer. The list of the people who was directly affected by these events is even longer. I don't have an illusion that one day there will be peace in the whole world, but I can still hope for it. Until then though, we should not panic, but we also should not pretend that the world is doing fine as far as we're concerned.

There are many awful things taking place around us, and some of them seem distant and completely irrelevant to us. But hey, have you heard of 6 degrees of separation? Think about it. Hopefully, separation by 6 is the closest you'll ever be to the victim of a tragedy.

I just wanted to pay a moment of silence to all of those who died, wherever it was: Moscow, Madrid, London, NY, Mumbai, or any other city.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T14:39:00.005-05:00

The last 2 weeks have been quite interesting and now I don't even know why I felt sad in the past days.

So, first of all, I won an iPod shuffle (1Gb) in the competition in one of my classes. It is not even the prize that I am happy about, but more the victory part. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately?), I already have an mp3 player, so now I need to find some good foster parent for the poor iPod. Will try to think of something interesting here.

Secondly, I have gone to the university "Midsummer Night's Dream" opera performance, and even though it was not the most brilliant opera I've seen so far, it made the Friday night great nevertheless.

Thirdly, not being able to find anyone free on Sat. night, I went to the movies by myself to see "Slum-dog Millionaire" in DC. Such a great movie! A bit depressing, but touching. After that, I drew for a couple of hours at Starbucks and then got myself a book and read it later at home till the arrival of the night.

Fourthly, the ballet performance in DC that we went to yesterday had an interesting turn-out. When I was buying the tickets, I was sure they were for the San Francisco's Ballet dancing "Giselle", because this is what the online event description was stating. When we came to the theater and got the program brochure, it listed some strange musical and dance pieces for the current date and then Giselle for the weekend dates. I was devastated and quite upset, since I was really looking forward to seeing a full ballet.
Have to admit, the dance pieces were quite interesting and the dancers themselves were extraordinary good too. I was still upset about missing the "Giselle" though, so later at home I wrote an email to the theater saying that their online event description never stated that SF Ballet will dance Giselle only during the weekend and that on the other days they will just dance "misc". My hopes were not high, when I wrote the complaint, but at least I wanted my voice heard. So what do you think? Today I got a response with an apology and an offer of 2 free tickets to the Giselle performance on Sunday! I guess, there is good customer service somewhere in the world after all :P

The fifth thing would be that I tried doing pilates today and found it exceptionally good. The exercises are challenging, but it is a great work out and somehow is soothing for the mind. Maybe that's something I'll continue in the evenings after the graduation.

Oh, and of course before I had all this great time going out, I barely slept during the week, working on all of my school projects and studying for the exams. Just mentioning this, so that no one feels bad about not having free time, because quite often I don't have much of that either ;)

P.S. I am thankful for all I have. I really-really am now! And I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Google & Russian students: know your users

2008-11-10T23:00:00.001-05:00

Just learned today that Google Ru has compiled into the video set results of the surveys held in various Russian universities. I think it's a great way to find out who exactly your users are. So here I've just tried to put together the stats.

As the average results from MAI (Moscow Aviation Institute), for example, state, girls there want to have a family at the age of 24 and guys - at the age of 28. I've heard a whole bunch of "20", "22", "23" answers from both genders in the video though.

It would have been interesting if Google (or someone else for that matter) did a similar survey in the US universities. I'm not particularly interested in the marriage question, but all the questions in general.

Videos mention the following questions and the average statistics for the students of Russian universities:
- how many of the university lectures do you usually visit (~68%)
- how much time do you spend daily at the university (~5-6hrs) and afterwards on homeworks (~2-3hrs), in the internet (~3.5hrs)
- in how many social networks are you registered (~1-2)
- how many emails do you send daily (~5-12)
- how much tv do you watch daily (~20min-1.5hrs)
- how much do you read daily (~2.5hrs)
- how many books did you read in the past months (~2.5)
- how much do you work daily (~2.5hrs)
- how much do you usually spend daily (~$8-10)
- what historical figure impresses you the most (Peter the Great, Stalin)
- what book should be a must for everyone (War & Peace, Crime & Punishment, Master & Margarita)
- what film everyone should watch at least once (Forest Gump, Fight Club, Requiem for a dream)
- who from the currently living people inspires you the most (no one, Putin, Madonna, Medvedev)
- who do you want to be when you graduate (owner of their own company, work in the industry, work for the government)
- where do you want to work after graduation (Google, Microsoft, their own company, IBM)
- what monthly salary would you like to have after graduation ($1000-1800)
- in what Russian city would you like to live after graduation (Moscow, St Petersburg)
- in what country would you like to live after graduation (Russia, England, Germany, France)
- at what age would you like to get married (23-25)
- how many children would you like to have (1-3)

With the questions that required word answers, there were some more top answers and they varied between the universities. Just though I'd mention that to keep the stats fair.

Errors on servers

2008-11-09T00:31:00.000-05:00

I finally brought myself to writing a good book review on LibraryThing.com and felt quite proud once done. 2 good paragraphs on "Into the wild" and there - I click "Submit" and get an error page, a point of no return. One should always copy good and long writing into the buffer before submitting! Or sites should just better handle errors and not loose essential materials :( Very upset.

Interview with Diana Vishneva.

2008-11-08T13:08:00.001-05:00

I've been looking through the various ballet videos on YouTube and found an amazing interview with Diana Vishneva - the star of Mariinskiy Ballet in St Petersburg. The interview is all in Russian, so somebody asked for an English translation. I did a quick and rough one of video Part 3, so please forgive me for any mistakes :) Enjoy the read!

"Giselle" is probably one of my favorite plays. It's a masterpiece in the romantic ballet kind. There's nothing better in the classic ballet than a first act of "Giselle". Of course, it's my personal opinion, but many people would probably share it. When I was celebrating my 10 years in theatre, I specifically chose to perform this ballet. It is a disclosure of an inner actress of the ballerina.

Of course, there is one name that is always associated with "Giselle" and it is Olga Spesivzeva. The photos of her in this ballet are widely discussed: her poses, her individuality. She brought a lot into this ballet; she basically dedicated her whole life to it. After her there was another famous ballerina - Galina Ulanova. She had completely changed "Giselle", but nevertheless got on the history pages as another famous Giselle. Dancing "Giselle" after such stars is a great responsibility: you always have to add something to it; you cannot just dance it plainly. This ballet is all about the individuality of the prima: you cannot hide behind the technicalities of dancing or implementations of the particular movements, because it is not them that make this ballet so special.

I was preparing for this ballet for a very long time, setting the date for an opening performance 3 times and every time cancelling and pushing it further away, because I didn't feel ready: it seemed like some nuances were overlooked. It is only when I danced it for the first time that I realized: you cannot just train yourself for dancing Giselle. It is a type of performance that can be improved only by giving a show after show. Of course, this is somewhat true with all the performances, but with “Giselle” it is crucial: you need to understand all the nuances, find your own way of dancing, and bring out your inner gift of acting.

There are 2 completely different acts: the first one is mundane and the second one is completely surreal and weightless. It's usually easier to do well in the second act, because the first one is much harder. It is harder because of its apparent simplicity, naïvety. Of course, a lot depends on your partner and a contact with him as well: he can be of great help or completely useless. Every performance is different and unique, and you never know how it will go with your partner: what he would do, how you would be able to respond to it, and what kind of things would develop between the two of us. But, of course, something always will occur between us: the magic feeling that you so wait for and that audience so impatiently expects to see. In this duet sometimes even I start to believe that everything on the stage is for real. I know it's just a performance and I only create an image, but it feels like all the events are real.

Preparing for this ballet always makes me feel special. I think one can dance it through the whole career and always learn something new about it and add some unique things to it. With experience you will start to perceive the role differently and through the performances you will sense a whole new set of emotions within you.

From a pure technical point of view, the first act has this one capricious combination of turns that need to be done perfectly. You are deep in the mundane image and you act and dance accordingly, so, of course, when the time for this combination comes - you feel disturbed and bothered, because suddenly you need to concentrate on some technicalities that you don't even feel like doing.

In the second act the arms and poses are very important: they are flying and weightless. The position of your head is very important too. You need to make it all look unreal, create an image of a spirit - so you would suddenly stop on the tip of your toes or do these movements when you look like you are getting deep into water. And, of course, you should not make any noise with your shoes. If you create some sound when you pretend to be a spirit, then you can say that the whole second act was completely ruined."

Spirits of the past

2008-11-07T01:02:00.000-05:00

I think it is really sad how we get close to people only to separate from them later on. We get into arguments, find it hard to understand each other, our life roads diverge - and there, we never see or talk to the person ever again.

Ok, there are betrayals and there are cases when you don't see the real face of the person right away. And yes, of course there are those situations, when you just get bored with each other. But what about the rest? What if you stop talking to someone, but you really miss them? You get hurt, you get angry, but if even months after that you still miss their friendship, why do you have to keep forcing the isolation on yourself?

I do not see why relationships with other people have to be in black and white: either we get along most of the time or we should just stop communicating as a whole. What if there is this gray middle: we don't get along quite often, but we feel sad and lost when separated?

You cannot bend all your relationships to follow one law, just like you cannot grow all plants with the same amount of water and sun: there are sunflowers and then there are mosses, there are cacti and then there are water lilies. Maybe with some people we are just like cacti and water: we dry out without them and we deteriorate in the excess of their presence.

Commercial

2008-11-02T23:26:00.000-05:00

I think, this has been one of my favorite ads for some time :) Searched for it 2 years ago and had no results, but now with the YouTube one can find anything.

Re: Good Deed

2008-10-26T23:37:00.000-04:00

Recently I made a post about how I lost my organizer and then how a nice person returned it back to me (http://lechumur.blogspot.com/2008/10/good-deed.html). Well, we had a very long chat over coffee a few days ago and I think that now not only I know what is due when, but I also have a new possible good friend :)

Books in dust

2008-10-26T20:17:00.000-04:00

Year 2002:
- One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives
- 42% of all college graduates never read another book again

That's scary! I don't know why wouldn't people read, it's such an exceptional experience. Maybe you never visit France, but read Hugo and you'd feel like you did. You might know nothing of life during the French revolution, but read Dickens and you'd probably get a better sense of events than from a history class. Reading is a cheap, worry-free, and comfortable way of traveling and learning more about the world. No, do not stop socializing or visiting other places, but keep in mind that not all people are available for a chat and not all places are easily reachable - that's where the books come in handy.

Source of stats: http://www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm

2008-10-22T22:56:00.000-04:00

According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), cancer is the second most common cause for death in the US (2004). It accounts for 23.1% (~550,000 people) of population deaths and loses only to heart diseases with 27.2%. So about 4 out of 10 people die in US from a malignant tumor in their body. In the world overall, in only one year of 2007, 7.6 million people had a fatal case of cancer.

These are just the statistics, the so called "dry numbers", but I look around: among my close family and close friends 5 people had the tumor. This is mad!

What's the key to avoiding the disease? No one has the perfect answer, but a healthy life style is at least a way to reduce the risks. Don't smoke, avoid chemicals and radiation, eat more fruits & vegetables, do sports, take more time to rest.

Would you like some spam in return for your help?

2008-10-22T21:50:00.000-04:00

I did several blood donations with American Red Cross in the last 2 years, so now they have decided to thank me by spamming me with the calls on my cell phone. Today, for example, I have received 10, and only on one of them the person actually started speaking to me, the others were just silent.

A similar thing happened at the beginning of the year and after getting quite irritated, I demanded that they stop calling me and said that when I want to donate, I would just come myself - no need to remind me. Unfortunately, I had to say this to 3 people before the calls actually stopped.

Is it just me or there is something wrong with getting spam phone calls in return for your blood? Seriously, is that the way to encourage more people to do good? I know the proverb says "If you do good, don't expect it in return", but it mentions nothing about getting spam in return.

I seriously did not expect anything like that from such a respected organization as American Red Cross and before I choose to donate again now I'd think twice.

Dreams

2008-10-21T00:34:00.000-04:00

I'd like to have a really big bookcase filled with the stacks of books in them, so that I can read all the time. Oh, heaven..

Respect

2008-10-13T01:54:00.001-04:00

One of my good teachers once said: "With respect you can do anything you want". He was referring to the now common "No offense" phrase and how contradictory the phrases that it forms are: "No offense, but you suck", "I'm gonna offend you, but you don't get offended". Is this part of being politically correct?

Kittens with mittens

2008-10-09T21:31:00.000-04:00

I was at my apartment, and the door was open. Out of nowhere an animal rushed in: looked like a cat, but was bigger, more like a lynx. She ran through the hall and stopped. The cat was looking at me in an aggressive way, so I thought it would be best to wave my scarf at her to show the way out. The cat did not appreciate the idea at all: she started hissing and showing her teeth, managing to even successfully bite me once.

Quite scared and irritated at the same time, I finally started pushing the cat out of the door. Only then I've noticed that on her front paws she was wearing.. mittens! From all the fighting, the mittens started to crawl down, and by the time the cat was out of the door, the mittens were off the paws. The cat gave me a sad look, quietly sat down, and started to put her mittens back on.

I felt ashamed of myself. How could I be so cruel? From the scene of the poor creature pulling her mittens back on the paws, I was almost crying. And then I woke up. Kittens with mittens, huh?

School

2008-10-07T22:13:00.000-04:00

An interesting thought appeared in my mind today. In our lives, first we spend years and years with our family members, breathing in the air filled with their habits, characters, and tastes. Later we "leave the nest" and with the forming persona within ourselves we start looking for a person, in the atmosphere of whose character, habits, and tastes we'd like to continue living our life.

Then it seems like our childhood and youth are the school of relationships. Nature assigns the people, who we should learn to communicate with, and once we are done with these classes, we are free to choose our own surroundings. Does this mean that in life before we choose something for ourselves, we always have to go through a preparation course with things chosen for us?

Good deed

2008-10-07T21:58:00.000-04:00

On one of the days last week I had an unpleasant conversation with one of the group project teammates and afterwards was quite irritated. Later I rushed across the campus to the library with a bunch of things in my hands. I read my emails on the laptop and there were some disappointing news there as well. I looked for my weekly planner to write in some meeting, but the planner was nowhere to be found. I clearly remembered that I carried it in my hands on the way to library. Awh, the day was not going well. I ran along the whole path that I took when the planner was in my hands, but there was no sight of it anywhere. All the friends' birthday dates, all the projects due dates, all the exam times, some of the contact information - it was all gone.

I returned to the library quite upset and sad. Some time later, when I was working on the project, I got a text message on my phone: "Your planner is in *** on a desk in the back of the room". I sent a "thank you" reply and rushed to the specified room. 40 minutes of waiting until the class finishes in the room and trum-pum-pum - I got my planner back! There are good people in this world, I was sure. I texted my savior and offered to buy a cup of coffee to express my gratitude. No, we didn't fall in love and lived happily ever after :) Instead, we had a wonderful conversation over coffee and then I walked home with a warm feeling: there are good people in this world and they will help if you are in trouble. If you know this, then nothing will scare you. Well, almost nothing.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2008-09-27T19:33:00.000-04:00

Going out on a weekend morning - what a brilliant idea! Why don't people do this more often? Instead of sleeping in late and then complaining of a lousily spent day, why not start it from having a nice cup of latte and a croissant? Life ain't bad, you just have to learn to appreciate the beauty of it.

Does it really matter where we live and find the beauties of life? Being on the edge of a decision about my future, I wasn't sure, what the answer to the question was. Is it really the place that brings the best in us or is it just ourselves who do this? How do you decide, where you will be a happier person? How do you find out which things will be better for you? Do you just go and try or do you think it all through very carefully?

2008-09-07T02:21:00.000-04:00

La Douleur Exquise

What color is the most popular for the cars?

2007-12-19T18:21:00.001-05:00

Dedication

2007-10-25T23:45:00.000-04:00

I want to say 'thanks' to the person who taught me to fold t-shirts neatly. The cute piles that now lay in my wardrobe always make me smile, sometimes even leer.
- Silly & weird me