Young Man's Chronicles: January 2010

>> Sunday, January 31, 2010

After 2 months of studying in Seattle, my friend Anya is back in Moscow for a while, so we spent some time during the weekend together and had a chance to catch up on life:)

Hanging out in Starbucks and playing Monopoly

>> Thursday, January 21, 2010

It is International Hug Day today, so what you should do RIGHT NOW is go to your neighbors and friends, and hug as many of them as possible!

Meanwhile I found couple old pictures back from 2007, so here they are:

March 2007. With my friend Katyuha

April 2007. Working in a group in the English Camp

Only 6 weeks till spring...

>> Sunday, January 17, 2010

...and only 6 days till I will be done with all my exams at university. That's defintiely good news for me.
After the Haiti tragedy this week, most of the world is trying to help this country to recover from catastrophic consequences of the earthquake. It is so sad and weird to read about so many victims and how neither the local government, nor the local industry seem to be functioning properly, and, most surprisingly, how they were not functioning properly even before the earthquake. In fact, it seems like there is no government to speak of, no functioning infrastructure, no national security force, no economy, no food, no water, and no healthcare system, and none of that existed even before the terrible events of this week.
Meanwhile, there is another country that, at a closer look, might need some help from the rest of the world, or at least it looks like that when you look at the following picture.

Mc'Donalds in Mexico

In other news, one of the Swedish toy companies made a decision to take it to the next step and get ahead of the whole world with their innovative and, um, quite unique, approach to toy-making. Here is their new product - the plush toy "Pee and Poo".

So if you feel like your kid should get a better understanding of a world he lives in, definitely order a new "Pee&Poo" toy on the Internet:)))

All in all, the winter holiday is now way behind, so let's get ready for warm spring!!! (even though it is -20C in Moscow right now):)

The end of Christmas Holiday

>> Sunday, January 10, 2010

It was a lot of fun!

Me with Adel

My friend Vanya is preparing mohito, while I am dancing around:))

1 day before crazy routine starts again!

>> Saturday, January 09, 2010

It's only 1 day left of the long winter-break. And then on Monday I have to be back at work in my office and also pass the rest of my exams at university during next couple weeks. It will be very busy. I so don't want the holiday time to end.

Here is 1 picture from our Christmas hang-out, when we were dancing to some up-beat music. Judging by my face expression, I was really into it:) Though I always am:)))

Meanwhile, in Britain the Music Critics awarded several most promising artists of music-industry with the "2010 Critics' Choice Award". Amongst the runners-up for the new sound of pop is Marina Diamandis, originally Greek, now living in Britain and Scotland, and performing as "Marina and the Diamonds".
Her songs are really great and written with a sophisticated touch, so I do recommend you to listen to some of those: "Obsessions", "I am not a Robot", "Hollywood".

NAME OF THE DAY and (possibly) FUTURE SOUND of 2010: Marina and the Diamonds

Merry Christmas! It's Delicious.

>> Thursday, January 07, 2010

Yesterday I went to church for a fun Christmas celebration - today Russia celebrates Christmas day according to the Orthodox calendar. We had a special Christmas program, a lot of fun time with friends there, great atmosphere and also of course some yummy foods:)
After that I had a crazy boys-night party, which was also extreme fun, and today we have a special mohito-event, where we will be doing/mixing mohitos ourselves:)
Amongst that all I still have difficulty finding some time to prepare for the upcoming exams, so I guess last couple days of my winter-break will be busy with that.

Here is a picture from yesterday Christmas celebration: Me and my friends Andrea and Charlotte

While checking Internet today for some news about how the rest of the world is doing on this Christmas day, I found this quite outstanding piece of news:

January 6, 2010.
Staff at a U.S. bank were amazed when two young girls claimed to have a handgun and demanded cash.
The youngsters, who are thought to be about 12 and 14-years-old respectively, walked into the First National Bank in a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, on Tuesday afternoon.
Police said the older girl handed a clerk a note that told her to fill a bag with money. Her partner-in-crime stayed by the door just out of range of CCTV.

The robbers didn't brandish weapons or make verbal threats, and no one was injured, said Hamilton County Sheriff's Office spokesman Steve Barnett.
Detectives said the clerk handed over an undisclosed amount, including bait dollar bills which can be tracked.
The girls fled across a car park and even managed to evade police dog teams and a search helicopter.One employee was inside the bank at the time of the robbery , but there were no other customers.
FBI spokesman Michael Brooks said he could not recall a bank robbery that involved a minor - let alone two girls - during his five years in Cincinnati.
In 2008, almost 18,000 males younger than 18 were arrested for all types of robbery across the United State, FBI crime statistics show.

About 1,900 females younger than 18 were arrested - a 38 per cent increase from 1999.

The first girl is described as around 12 years old, between 5ft and 5ft 2in, of thin build, and was wearing blue jeans, a dark blue hooded sweatshirt and a baseball cap.
The second girl was between 14 and 15 years old, 5ft 4in, of heavy build and was wearing blue jeans, a black knit cap and a dark blue hooded sweatshirt with the hood up.
If caught, the girls would face jail for aggravated robbery charges.

NEWS OF THE DAY: Kids go totally cookoo for Christmas:)

What happens when you crave for summer in the middle of the cold winter...

>> Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Ok, I should say here that I am definitely the type of person who loves summer and well, um, ... dislikes the winter. I almost put the word "hates" there, but then you know, I prefer to not use too many dead-strong statements, so for now I am just gonna say that I dislike winter with all its cold days. Especially when it's freezing cold outside. Show me the guy who is still talking the talk about global warming and other climate changes. I will just make him live in Moscow for a winter month, and then believe me, he will totally take his words back.
So, to make the long story short, I am gonna say that the SUN melts my butter:)Actually, it not only melts my butter, it burns my butter and even ruins my pan. That's how much I love sun.
With the lack of sun in Moscow these days, I decided to head to a sun-tan studio today to get a bit of a vitamin D and get all positive and energetic:) And also to make my skin look a bit darker and (in case you associate dark skin with healthy skin) a bit healthier.
Well, the result is not so pleasant now. After 12 minutes in that little tanning cabin and like 6 hours later, my skin got dark (positive side!) and.... started itching a lot (negative side!!).
So now I am full of summer energy and itching:))) how cool is that. not cool. I guess, the sun actually burned my butter this time:)
ok, well, to add some positive note, I should say that I've just talked to my good friend Anya (thanks to Skype and its inventors; by the way, who are those wise men??), who I miss a lot. She is now studying in the state of WA and will be back in Moscow just in 3 weeks from now which is great, because again, I miss her a lot:). She also started a little blog of her own, so now I have a bit more daily reading to do:) Check Anya's BLOG here:)
And if you will have a free minute, you should see a movie called "Baby Mama" (I watched it yesterday) with fantabulous Amy Poehler starring (she has been on Saturday Night Live show till December 2008). I have no clue why "Baby Mama" is the only movie with Amy Poehler in it I've heard about so far, but anyway, you've gotta watch it. I promise, you will have a good laugh, and I definitely recommend it to those who seek some nice family time:)

Movie of the day: "Baby Mama"

Happy 2o1o New Year!!!

>> Saturday, January 02, 2010

It's 2o1o Happy New Year!!!
Every time when it's New Year, it seems like another year has gone by really fast, and another 365 days has passed away.
For this New Year night me and my friends had a costume party based on a Russian movie "Stilyagi" (the movie is basically about the Moscow social mainstream of 1950-s - when it was really popular amongst young crowd to make a statement by dressing in outrageously fashionable manner and wear ultra-bright colors), so we all put bright shirts and ties on, and girls put on some bright dresses:)

Me and Sam