animal planet

...off to see the world

midnight shopping

While half of the world is celebrating, I'm working fast to tie up loose ends and be able to flee from the cloudy city to snowy montains on Saturday.

Last night I went shopping really late and experienced all benefits of midnight shopping at a sports market. There were very few people, lower prices, mignight discounts and no rush at all. I have to admit that I loved it. So now I'm fully equiped to climb up the mountains and stay there for two weeks.

The cat is to be taken to Granny's in the evening today. The presents are already hidden under the fir-tree so that the family could find them on New Year's Eve. The suitcase is almost packed. Life's good!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, dear bloggers!

fun google tag

Thank you, Maria, for Fun Google Tag. As I jusl love various pictures, it's going to be fun.

The rule is to use Google Images to search for your answers to the questions below. You must choose pictures from the first page from the results and post it as your answer.

1) Age of my next birthday

2) Place/places I would like to travel to...


3) My favourite place

4) My favourite thing


5) My favourite food

6) My favourite colour


7) The city I reside now
8) The city I was worn in


9) My college major
10) Name of your first lover



11) A bad habbit
12) Hobby



13) Wish list (max 3)












the tag goes to...

the purring cat
diary of a Polergirl
being brazen
clockwork orange
sounding forth

week-end post

Saturday was great, as a friend called on and brought an amazing Christmas film "It's a Wonderful Life". The story of finding enough bravery to keep on going when times get rough. James Stewart and Henry Travers were wonderful and the film aroused a lot of contradictory emotions. I was laughing and crying and wanted to hug the whole world. A perfect film, indeed.

Sunday was cool as we headed to a punk rock holiday party and listened to some famous songs in a funky music arrangement. The music was weird and merry. I enjoyed it and Jack Daniels on rocks a lot.

The rest of the evening was spent on explaining to my Granny how to use Photoshop. This one was tough, but Granny is a bright pupil, she can now use brushes, text options and resize pictures!

animal planet

"It is in his pleasure that a man really lives; it is from his leisure that he constructs the true fabric of self".

variety

Don't you love the spirit of Christmas? I do, even though I'm not supposed to celebrate it.

Jesus' birth is celebrated in January here and it is a completely religious holiday. While all the fun, presents, binges and family dinners are held on New Year's Eve and are celebrated at night from Decembre 31 to January 1.

It was always a very complicated matter for me, as most of my friends and two ex-boyfriends are form the USA and France, so I know perfectly well what an old-fashioned Christmas is about, as I spent several years celebrating it. Returning here I celebrated New Year and followed Orthodox traditions.

They say "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" , and that is the best advice I've ever got. I'm very grateful that life has taken me to countries with different traditions, that I have met people of many religions and that there are still so much to see.

Adventures are ahead...

a little quote

A friend has just sent this picture and it breathed new life into my work.

Good luck with whatever you do, dear bloggers!

slowing down

Holidays are closer and closer. The office routine is so slow and uneventful that I have enough time on my hands to work on side projects. They are completing The A - team and NCIS episode descriptions for my friend's site; translating Dana Fuchs' blog for her Russian and German fans and translating several medical articles for another friend of mine.

The only disadvantage of all that is computer radiation that hurts my eyes and I have to use eye drops more often. I'd love they present me a computer screen that doesn't ruin eyesight.

La Travia

Sass has posted one fun thing to do, so I joined in. I wasn't actually tagged, so feel free to join in

Fun little exercise

1. Put your iPod (or media player) on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN, NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy this quiz as well as the person you got the note from. :-)


WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Forever and One (can it be called "a motto"?)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Can't Get You out of my Head (It's not surprising as I post on their Facebook pages almost daily).

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Hey Baba (huh?).

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Tu es foutu

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
If Tomorrow Never Comes (makes sense).

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Imperial March. Rage Mix (lol, I'll become alive again)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Superstar

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Mondo Bongo (whatever).

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Casablanka (That's me in the corner of the screen at the 54th minute of the film)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Madoca's Theme ( a terrible music piece, actually)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Julian Beam (the killer's alias?).

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
I feel love (hm...)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Left Outside Alone (dancing and singing in the rain)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
In Your Eyes

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
72 Fast and Furious (cool!)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Red Blooded Woman (you never know)

WHAT IS 2+2?
Indiana Jones movie theme (hillarious)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Indietro II - Destino (whatever).

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Oranges and Lemons Again

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Gotta Get Thru This (makes sense)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Eye Of The Storm

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Jigga that N***a (whatever that means)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Jesus to a Child (Guess, George Michael scares me)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
How I Know You

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Lady Marmelade (hurts my ears now)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
La Travia (huh?)

So much for a fan of rock-'n'-roll :) But I have an excuse, that's the music collection of the office. Anyway, that was fun to do and I'm off to listen to my funeral song again.

mystery

Several days ago I noticed that yellow lights on one of my christmas-tree garlands didn't work. That was weird as they had worked fine before. So I checked the electricity distributor to see that all wires were attached properly, then I counted the tiny lamps to make sure they were in their places. Everything seemed to be in good condition. However, later the red lights went off, so I had to examine the garland again. Nothing was wrong. Sheer mystery.

Today I woke up to see my cat champing somewhere between the branches of the christmas-tree. She saw me awake and dashed away under the sofa. The light went on and I saw a tiny garland lamp cracked under the tree. Eventually my cat had screwed the lamps off.

So now I have to take the crazy cat to the vet to make sure she hadn't eaten a light or two pretending to be an electrician. It's going to be a long day...

animal planet

recreation time

Smell in the kitchen

The old-fashioned holiday spirit has got to me finally and I felt an urge to do something for my family. I invited them for a dinner.

“Oh, - you’d say - big deal”. Well, it is, as I haven’t invited anyone at my place for several years and I’m a lame cook. So the deal was BIG for me. Anyway.

By the afternoon I grew slightly nervous and had a creepy thought to cancel the dinner. Luckily, I was brave enough not to do it. I left the office, did some last-minute shopping and headed home.

The next our was a rush. My grandparents arrived earlier to watch their must-see TV-show before the dinner. That could have been fine, but for granny who entered the kitchen every commercial break to ask how it was going. It was actually going not bad.

I did ruin one frying pan, as didn’t notice that the ring under it was hot. When I poured water in it, the frying-pan burst into hissing, bowling and crackling. The kitchen filled with smog and I heard a voice somewhere in the doorway: “Do I detect a fire in the kitchen?” It’s nothing, - I lied trying to get rid of a smelly, crackling frying pan. I pushed the voice owner from the doorway, closed the door and opened the window. In several minutes the mushrooms and potatoes were braising peacefully in another frying pan and I was making salad to “Surviver” song.

Soon the family were sitting at the table chatting gaily and eating the meals that I had cooked (rather well). Could be better of course, but I’m still proud of myself.

Chasseurs De Typhons

I set my eye on “Chasseurs De Typhons” as the title promised a breathtaking story of brave pilots cutting through wild air currents, penetrating in the heart of it and fighting against typhoons. However the first several chapters were mostly about the causes of typhoons, its nature and disastrous consequences and reminded more of a lecture than of a fiction. The lecture spiced with funny tales and variety of adjectives is fun to read. SO little by little I’ve developed an interest in this drastically destructive, monstrous and brutal natural phenomenon.

(These adjectives sound much more frightening in French, but that’s an English blog, so I'm doing my best to translate)

The author, Pierre - Andre Molene, venerates typhoons so much that even his reader shivers with thrill of a coming disaster. He describes the destruction in an off-hand manner. He writes about a ship thrown on a hospital filled with its sailors, as if it were something usual. At the same time he is thrilled with variety of typhoons, their crushing head and primeval power. Pierre - Andre Molene is also amazed by the science that has created the precision instruments to investigate typhoons, therefore he describes excitedly the battle between the power of nature and the power of science.

The further I read the more I enjoy the book and feel the world spinning around as a whirlpool as if I were in the eye of the storm.

the pic was taken in the eye of typhoon Vera