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1. I'm not sure why I've been blogging so much recently.

2. If I posted this just 37 minutes later, it would say "September (11)" on the sidebar. I saw that yesterday and was amused (is that morbid? or inappropriate?), but now it'll say Sept (12) which is not special.

3. What I forgot to say yesterday is that I rearranged my room this weekend. I like it better. I should do that more often, maybe.

4. About three minutes ago I said the words "come hell or high water" to my roommate. That's such a stupid expression. What does it even mean? What made me say it? I never say that.

some many

1. I hate naming things. Titles for school papers, titles for blog posts, subject lines for emails. It's really difficult. I'm not creative.

2. I went to Tulsa with my photographer friend Nicole today to assist her while she shot a wedding. It was really interesting. For more than one reason. I'm not a photographer. I didn't know anyone there. I've been to about three weddings that I can remember. Actually, make that one. I've only ever assisted once before, so I pretty much always felt like I was doing something wrong. And it was my second time in Tulsa since my family left it, and neither time did I see anyone I know there. That's weird.

3. I was talking with my family on Skype the other day. And it's pretty awkward, actually. I sit on my bed with my laptop, wearing the headphones with the microphone. And then I talk. But what am I supposed to do while I talk? I have nothing to hold onto or look at. And I can't move cause I'm attached to the machine. So...I felt awkward. Then I was talking to Emily and trying to read someone's blog at the same time (I try to multitask a lot, and usually unsuccessfully). It didn't work and I wasn't comprehending what she was saying. Then I realized that she is my sister, thousands of miles away, whom I won't see for a long time, and I am paying for this phone call. So I played Spider Solitaire instead.

4. I watched The Princess Bride with Amanda this evening. And we ate ice cream and pizza. I'm kind of being a bum. But it's such a classic movie..."You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!" Very nice.

5. I know there was something I wanted to put here but I've forgotten. I do this a lot.

6. I started all six points with the word "I." I'm a loser.

not so enjoyable

A lot of my posts recently have been about homework. This one is not going to break the trend. So, you ask (or do you?), what is it that is not so enjoyable?

Staying up late.

I'm not good at it. But unfortunately, I'm also not good at managing my time or my life. These two inabilities are doomed to collide on nights such as this, when I have a 5 page paper due in 11.5 hours. I started writing it about three hours ago. Miraculously, I have already passed the 5-page mark. But the problem is that I'm not done, so I will have to finish writing and then go back and cut out. So it's 3:37 a.m. and I have a couple more hours of work ahead of me. Joyous.

I hope my paper comes out at least slightly more coherent and intelligible than this blog post.

I re-discovered the awesomeness of easybib.com. My bibliography took approximately 6.78 minutes. Oh, and I also discovered (speaking of free advertising) Google Scholar! So much more sophisticated than regular Google. I felt academic. My research for the paper was completed in maybe 12.94 minutes. (this is approximate. I did the research a few days ago, so I don't remember exactly) What would I do without my technology....

actually, I would get my work done faster. This technology stuff is so distracting. But I'm rambling. Back to Bosnia and the Bridge on the Drina...

The Closest You Can Get To Enjoying Homework

Ingredients:
a good night's sleep
Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85 (is that right?)
poetry by A.S. Pushkin (namely Я помню чудное мгновенье and Я вас любил)

Directions:
Sleep. Then sit, listen and read. Enjoy.

page 250

When I actually get around to doing my reading for class (an ever rarer occurrence, it seems), I find such interesting quotes. First the one from Solibo that no one else seemed to appreciate, and now this one.

"But in life there is nothing solved, or which can easily be solved, or even has any chance of being solved at all. Everything is hard and complicated, expensive and accompanied by disproportionately high risk...Man is tormented all his life and never has what he needs, let alone what he wants."

from The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric

That seems really hopeless. I'm glad that I can look forward to something after this present life, which has a bit more to offer.

free advertising

I have finally managed to call my family in Russia. Using SkypeOut. Highly recommended. Skype.com. You put money in, put in their number (in this case, my dad's cell over there), put on the headphones (must include microphone), dial, and talk! Seven cents a minute connects me to Russia. Magic. So it's been good. I miss them, but it's good to hear that they are doing well. The sisters are in school. The house is nearly set up. So I thought I'd post some pictures of them and their new home.

click to enlarge.

First a travel picture. Isaac had a little leash/harness on him to avoid airport or train station runaways. Free-running autistic boys + foreign places = parental nightmare. Notice the sisters conked out on the baggage. Fifteen hours at the Moscow train station between flying and training, plus jetlag, makes any sort of softish surface inviting.

they made a weekend trip to my uncle's house a few states away. He runs kids camps here in the summers

the next few are of Nalchik, the city they are in. this is an outdoor market (bazaar):

typical traffic scene? (these are hard to caption when I've never been there)

VERY typical Soviet-era apartment buildings. I love the tree-lined streets of the fSU, though

more city

These are of Chechnya. This building got bombed out during one of the wars of the 1990s. Much of the capital city has looked like this for years, but there has been lots of rebuilding recently.

Chechen bazaar. Some things to note: the sheeps' heads and intestines sitting out on the crate. Not an uncommon sight in these parts. Yum yum... Also the truck in the background. It says "bread" on it, and yes, that is bread inside it.

more bazaars, and more raw meat out for the flies to get ahold of. Old ladies make for good pictures. (babushkas, you might call them)

my house has wireless internet

Blogging is a good way to avoid the real world.

The rest of one's life.

...homework assignments.

the sound of silence

"Silence is speech...from the word you build the village, but from silence you construct the world. What's more, there's as much silence in speech as there is speech in silence. Who fears silence around here? Silence rings and resounds and means as much as a voice. It's a question of ear..."

-- from Patrick Chamoiseau's Solibo Magnificent

The culture I am living in now is deathly afraid of silence. Somehow silence has gone from being "golden" to being "awkward." Why?

at least the (background) music industry has profited from it.

I should have added awkward to my earlier list of overused words.

I guess it really is "a question of ear." I enjoy a good silence. Other people so badly need to fill it that they end up cramming in inanities and useless words and conversation. To me, that's more awkward than silence would have been.

Silence can be powerful. Or useful. Or comforting. Or comfortable. It's easy. Why is that such a big deal?

more multitasking

Well, Boris Godunov is running along smoothly. Not too much more of it left, I don't think. But meanwhile, I thought I would post some pictures of the kinds of people my family will be running into. They are from my dad's visits there the last few years. By the way, I have heard from them and they are there, safely, and settling in, buying furniture, etc. Sounds like fun. Okay, the pictures.

I just really like pictures of people from other countries. Especially kids. So hopefully you do, too, and you enjoy these.

Борис Годунов

Some of the most overused words by my generation are:
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Insane (and all synonyms)

People nowadays enjoy hyperbole. I can't think of any more right now because I am watching the opera Boris Godunov on my computer right now. In Russian. I am at about 2 hours right now, out of three and a half. It's pretty close to unbearable, so I've resorted to multi-tasking. Could somebody teach me how to enjoy opera, please? My ears hurt.

bona fide

This came in the mail the other day. Now I'm a real Russian student.

1320 pages.
Shipping weight: nearly 4 pounds.

Not exactly a pocket dictionary.

and they're gone

They flew out of Newark, NJ yesterday morning. Newark-London-Moscow. Then 12 hours in Moscow, then a 36-hr train ride to Nalchik, in southwestern Russia. They are on the train right now, I think, and should get there by Friday-ish.

Here's who's going:

my dad:

My mom doesn't allow many pics, so this is from last fall, with a token shot of me and sister (who doesn't want her name to appear on google searches):

Emily is 11:

Dina is 9:

Carrie is 5 and just lost her first tooth:

Isaac is three and is wearing a skirt around his neck. He has too many older sisters:


I can't be bothered to flip the last two, however you do it. So that's my family. I love you guys, and I'll miss you...

ps--I just realized my other brother didn't make it into a picture. Oops. He's in tennessee. I owe you one, bro. I'll make sure you appear in a random shot next time...