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December 2005 |
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Friday, December 30, 2005 |
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Shit! ...down time is
quickly coming to an end ;(
Here's a bit of good news, though,
...I found a sushi restaurant that delivers! Not a big deal for
many, but I live too close to Garland to have any Japanese bait shops
available, let alone offer delivery.
One does, however, and she's mine
now!
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Thursday, December 29, 2005 |
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Cheese is just like hot peppers
and porn!
One of the food types I buy when I
want to treat myself special is cheese. I love cheese, more than
any other snack. This was probably induced by working at a
Hickory Farms (cheese shop) for two years in high school. When I
started, making cheese logs and cheese balls, I wasn't a big fan of
cheese, especially the exotic ones. |
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I eventually moved to a
salesperson position behind the counter. My best friend Joel
worked in the same mall. We'd coordinate breaks and go out to
one of our cars to get stoned. Eventually, under the influence
of the munchies, I became an avid cheese lover ;)
Anyhow, I went to the frig last
night to grab a few specimens of some very extreme cheeses that I
bought for the holidays. Every time I open these, and get a
nosefull of their repulsive stench, I wonder why I like to actually
eat them. I mean, these are grotesque globs of rancid
retchedness, most cover with mold and mildew, that are incredibly
appealing to me, ...and I'm not sure why.
Even further, cheese is like
hot peppers and porn, ...as the years go by, I search for more and
more intense versions of the stimulations. It's like there's a
tolerance level that is reached and then must be breeched. Not
sure why. |
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Wednesday, December 28, 2005 |
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Down time is so up!
"I did absolutely nothing and it
was everything I thought it could be!" - Peter Gibbons, 1999
I have nine days (Mrs Bueller!)
of absolutely nothing to do but go to parties and laze around in my
wonderful home. It's only the midpoint of the vacation, and
already I've been to four parties. When I'm
not recuperating from these, I'm eating decadent foods and sipping
expensive vodka here at my house. I haven't rented a single DVD since May,
so I have a large pile of 5-day rentals sitting next to me. I
also have the first half of Season 2 of Lost recorded. I have a
half-dozen games to play, including SiN Episodes ;) I love
time-off! My favorite
party was with my Russian friends, of course, on Christmas Eve. Great food
and great company, as always. I'm usually the only non-Russian
speaking person at these events, so I also get to learn more about the
Motherland. This time, I learned that there are many, many, many
toasts dedicated to vodka and eating. I have heard some of these
already, but many were new. There are special toasts for
between drinks #1 and #2, and #3 and #4, #4 and #5,
...many, many toasts ;) We also sang Russian songs for more than
a few hours, ...such a beautiful language. On its own it is
music to my ears, but then when this language is sung, ...my heart
melts. ...thanks Anton, Elena, and Nikita
for making feel like family! |
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Speaking of Russian, the stylized
picture of a cat on the right has been hanging in my parents house
since I was born, usually in the kitchen. It is a common and
often-recalled tag in many of my memories.
When my dad died, it was one of
the things I took with me, and it now hangs in my kitchen. It is
a cherished piece of the past. |
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The only thing I ever heard about
this cat was that it is Russian. Over the years, even before I
took possession, I have searched for more information about the cat.
This interest grew even more after I found my hunger for Russia a few years ago.
It wasn't until last week that I
suddenly realized (I'm very slow sometimes;) I have this vast and deep
pool of Russian knowledge called
LiveJournal at my disposal. |
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Sure enough, within minutes of
posting a request, I got my answer, ...Russian Satirical Lubok.
Friends sent me
this link showing a version of the very same cat. Very cool!
...thanks to Kotovsky and Lotrin!
A translation of the text in the
upper left corner reads - "The Cat of Kazan, the
Wit of Astrakhan, and the Smarts of Siberia.
Glorious life he led, on sweet foods was fed, had weak farts, they
said."... |
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...I believe I may be this Cat of
Kazan! A few final words
for Mother Russia, ...I MISS YOU!
Grigori, sir, you are a great
photographer and a very lucky man! Readers, go visit
Galitsin News sometime!
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Wednesday, December 21, 2005 |
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For no other reason than to
say "This is one of the best!"...
...people I've ever met.
Thanks for being my friend, Joe! |
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Friday, December
16, 2005 |
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Bittersweet
Chocolates
The lads at id software invited
us to the Stars vs Panthers hockey game last week. We can walk
to the arena from the Ritual office, it's so close. Premium box seats,
great food, even top-shelf vodka. Thanks, guys!
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Last week brought the first cold days in
Dallas, ...REAL cold actually, below freezing. This was the first night I wore a coat.
As I put the coat on, I checked
the pockets. I love checking the pockets of a coat the first
time I wear it for the year. There's usually some reminder of
times gone past, even if only a receipt or something silly.
There was indeed something
special!
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The last time I wore this coat was
in Moscow. I found these chocolates still in the inside pocket
(they are Russian, if you can't read the blurry picture).
I felt both sides of
nostalgia. Remembering Moscow makes me happy, but also a little
sad. I miss that place ;)
...this picture is only
included to show I was, in fact, wearing the coat that night.
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Tuesday, December
6, 2005 |
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I just finished the most rewarding class I've ever taken, and
given. I think that's why, because I got to be a student and a teacher
at the same time.
The class is called Anticipation (www.anteinstitute.org
www.anticipation.info)
and is offered at the University of Texas, Dallas. Great class,
great teacher, great students!
It's difficult to explain
everything here in short updates...
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...but basically Dr. Mihai Nadin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihai_Nadin)
is researching the use of computer games to keep minds active.
It's primary goal is to exercise the brain's plasticity through out
life, and thus keep it fresh and rejuvenating, very similar to
physical exercise.
Even after taking/giving the
first class, I am still more than a little foggy on the entirety of
this new research. I feel like I have been playing in mud
(computer games) all this time making mud pies like a child, and now
this fellow comes along and shows me how to make bricks. I'm not
sure what to do with the bricks, but I can tell it is a very cool
thing to know.
Seneludens is a specific focus
of Anticipation and hopes to find new ways to keep the aging
population alive and alert. It strikes me as humorous that we
are trying to get rusty old farts to become active again by telling
them to take up a keyboard or controller. The youth are
chastised for playing games and thus being "inactive", and now we
are urging the elderly to do just that in order to become active
again.
http://www.anteinstitute.org/pdf/seneludens_robot.pdf
http://www.secretlair.com/index.php?/clickableculture/entry/seneludens_senior_gamers
http://www.igda.org/columns/ivorytower/ivory_Mar05.php
The students were great. If you've ever had the chance to teach,
the ultimate is at the graduate level. teaching smart people is
very thrilling. You sort of point, even aimlessly, and they are
off like dogs on a fox. I was there simply to help with the
level editor, btw.
Thanks Dr. Nadin and the rest
of the class! It was a real pleasure! |
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Sunday, December 4, 2005 |
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Okay, so if I had to pick my
favorite of favorites, the one I'd show to an absent God, or any visiting
aliens searching for intelligent life, ...if I had to select, even above Led
Zeppelin or YES, ...it would be Ludwig Van!
Delicately sipping my beloved (and
authentic!) vodochka and listening to the 9th Symphony, ...and remembering the
whole time that the poor guy was deaf by this time, ...wow!
...if I had to pick, this would be the
one. |
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Saturday, December 3, 2005 |
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I really have been working
long hours since May. 9-out-of-10 of them were great, ...making
levels is up there with eating, sleeping, and sex for me. Still,
not getting enough sleep does some screwy things to your brain.
I've been seeing a shit ton of coincidences for months now, and some
of them are truly weird.
Here's one, ...I'm from New
Haven, Connecticut. I collect things from New Haven, and my
house is a small museum to the Elm City. I have a multi-shelf
library of books about New Haven. I found this one on
Amazon while I was waiting for a level to compile back in June. |
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Most of the books I have are from
the Colonial Era. I was especially interested in
this book, though, because it covered the time when I lived there (1957-1968).
I was really excited when I got the book and immediately scanned the table of
contents. The last few chapters focused on the 1950s and 1960s
when the city saw major renovations and massive attempts to remove the urban blight.
It even mentioned my grade school,
Timothy Dwight School, because it was a brand new school and
represented the new growth and renewal. My
first grade class was the first one there in 1964. So, I
flip back to this chapter and find this picture... |
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...of the school that first year.
Guess who that is walking home one Autumn day in 1964 ;)
Most of the students took the bus to school
(group of kids walking in the opposite direction), but I lived on the next
block and walked. Hard to believe a 6-year old could walk around in a
city alone back then. |
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Anyhow, you can imagine the cool
"Wow! What are the chances of that happening!" feeling I got
when I saw this picture. |
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Friday, December 2, 2005 |
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Ya, ya, ya! No updates since May, ...been
that busy.
Now, I have plenty of time ;)
First thing to show is this incredibly beautiful Khokhloma mouse made for me by
Katya and her artists. Katya lives in St. Petersburg, but her artists are
from Nizhni Novgorod where the art style originates.
I don't know why I love this so much,
but I'm getting a second one made just to frame and hang on my wall. |
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Updated:
Saturday, March 04, 2006 11:54 |
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