Not a Wet Sandwich

Came back from an Opera (Workshop from last semester performance)
Nympholepsia: Frenzy and Rapture from Baroque to Buffa

Hannah was playing in the the violin in the pit, she was only asked to do so last weekend, but it still sounded great :)

also: raisin soda bread
Osya, make this. It's really easy and very very good.

Movies: The Graduate (which involved a whole lot of me chocking on awkwardness) & Fantastic Mr. Fox (fun fact: I hadn't read any Roald Dahl before coming to college). It was worth the trek to Tremblay to watch it with Lauren :). My dorm-mates quote it all the time, and I had a dream were I did his trademark click/hand gesture, except I can't whistle, so that was left out.

Did I Miss Any­thing?

I came to Bard with this poem in mind. So I haven't missed any classes and try to make the most of each one. It isn't the best poem ever, but still.

sorry for being cheesy.

Did I Miss Any­thing?
Tom Way­man

Noth­ing. When we real­ized you weren’t here
we sat with our hands folded on our desks
in silence, for the full two hours

Every­thing. I gave an exam worth
40 per­cent of the grade for this term
and assigned some read­ing due today
on which I’m about to hand out a quiz
worth 50 percent

Noth­ing. None of the con­tent of this course
has value or mean­ing
Take as many days off as you like:
any activ­i­ties we under­take as a class
I assure you will not mat­ter either to you or me
and are with­out purpose

Every­thing. A few min­utes after we began last time
a shaft of light sud­denly descended and an angel
or other heav­enly being appeared
and revealed to us what each woman or man must do
to attain divine wis­dom in this life and
the here­after
This is the last time the class will meet
before we dis­perse to bring the good news to all peo­ple
on earth.

Noth­ing. When you are not present
how could some­thing sig­nif­i­cant occur?

Every­thing. Con­tained in this class­room
is a micro­cosm of human expe­ri­ence
assem­bled for you to query and exam­ine and pon­der
This is not the only place such an oppor­tu­nity has been
gathered

but it was one place

And you weren’t here

a bit of Dorm

Andres: Can you hear the piano up here?
Me: From the basement?
Andres: yeah
Me: I don’t think so
Hannah: Oh, I think I did. I was thinking that I heard music but I thought it was in my head

Hannah: When I was little, when I would get sick my mom would make me chicken soup with stars in it.

Ice Ice Baby

Grizzly Man (a very weird and troubling Werner Herzog documentary), (500) Days of Summer, Away We Go, The Fall, Pride and Prejudice.
Because there was nothing else to do. But now normal classes have started! I like my teachers so far. Because really very few fysem professors can be as bad as Verity Smith. Books coming in one by one, hopefully by the time I need them they will all be here.
It is easier to walk now than it was before, when the rain froze. Black ice everywhere. Trees streaming light beautifully.

(chocolate cupcakes by hoemance + Jennifer, we also made gingerbread, yum)

Oh Baby It's Cold Outside...

Rosette: Do you have a mandatory meeting today?
Will: No, I have about half a dozen people tripping on acid in my room, and weak acid at that.

oh Tewks.

Margaret, Lily and I helped Cat move from Tewks to Williams. And yesterday I went to a party thing at Williams and met Cat's new roommate Sam, who's...not your standard person at all.
Mostly the party was just slightly drunk/high people walking in and out of the common room, because there was not enough critical mass for it to not be awkward. Disney's Alice in Wounderland was playing on the wall, music and a strobe light. All the lights except for the Exit signs were out. Someone borrowed my swiss army knife to open wine. Security came by and closed down the party twice, even though calling it much of a party is a bit of a stretch, though there were people...and...social mingling, and beer. Williams tried though, and they were so proud of themselves too: looking through the pane into the common room, admiring the party like a piece of artwork. I ended up mostly being in Cat's room (until 1:50, talking)
(I don't know why I remember the time so exact. I woke up at 8:30 today. The earliest I've gone to bed this week was 9:08).
Citizen Science is horrible. Set up for kindergartners, not college students. I'll rant about it once it ends. Some good stuff: Walked on the Hudson river with Sam, Andres, Margaret and Hannah. It was worrying to get off: the edges of the river were less even because of the tide, and some points kinda...wet. And the waterfall that runs into it is still running, not even pretending to be frozen. But overall very very solid on this side of the train tracks.

Went to Redhook a couple times. Made gingerbread with Margaret and Cat. Walked to Montgomery place with Margaret and Jennifer.
and snowball fights.
Wall-E just now (finally).
But also: Citizen Kane, The Dark Knight (again), Knocked Up (handled half of it), Children of Men, Wedding Crashers.

Brifly Discussing "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother"
Me: I don't know, I think my parents did a pretty good job parenting. I mean, if not with me, then with my brothers.
Margaret: shrug the first blintz gets clumped
(I translated "первый блин комом"and its hilarious to hear it used in English)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crFQpOCDfEc
oh, and I'm still getting cultured. Didn't know this song before I came here, 50's seduction song ^_^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hEJQbEYjRg

Winter Break 2010-11

Day one, Dec 18th: massive cleaning of kitchen begins, and continues until I leave.

Day 5, Dec 22nd: I visted my high school with Kathleen and Kristy. Seeing the art department teachers was nice, most of the rest of it could have been skipped.

Esther came to visit on Eloosha's birthday.
Ice skating at Frog Pond, burritos at Felipe's, coffee at the Black Seed.

a bit of dancing and running around and snowball fights :)

Dec 23rd-28th: Sunday River.

I got a fever and then there was a massive blizzard (the one that caused the Sugarloaf lift to malfunction), so I only skied for two days. The usual, conversations, singing to the guitar and eating cup-o'-noodles, ensued.

Day 12, Dec 29th: Sasha and Misha come to visit.
Felipe's, Black Swan.













On the 30th Sima ate oatmeal, as usual.
The next day I went to the mall with Yulka to get New Years presents and made baklava. Then gave Sima and haircut, which he agreed to on the condition that he can give me a hug.
He has been growing it out, claiming to want to be like Mama Koshka (cat). But then he wanted it buzzed like mine. So I cut some of it really short and made buzzing noises and told him it was a buzz cut.
That night, I fell asleep before desert was served. Granted, it was served after 1 am, but still, right there on the couch at the Sabinovichi.

















Day 18, Jan 4th: Today I taught Osya to knit.
and I will give him a haircut too.
that will make three, with Mama too.

tomorrow I leave.

Happy 2011!

This is our New Years tree.
It is crowned with a Rat-Angel, that we got on the Chinese year of the Rat.
Дед Мороз gave me a moleskin notebook :P

There is some history before this (pagan, tzar, Germany, ect), but overall: how Russians ended up with a New Year's Tree:
It was a Christmas tree, like any other, for the orthodox Christians. Then in 1917, the revolution happened and all religious holidays were forbidden.
Communists, yeah. But people need a winter festival of lights. So New Years became popular.
(and now i give up on re-wording it myself)
"However, following the article “Let’s Organize a Nice Fir-Tree for Children for the New Year!” by Pavel Postyshev, published in the major Soviet newspaper Pravda in the end of 1935, fir-trees and New Year festivities returned to people’s homes on December 31, 1935. Yet, it was not until 1949 that January 1 became an official day-off."
from here

and Ded Moroz (Дед Мороз, or 'Grandpa Frost') and his granddaughter Snegurochka (Снегурочка, or Snow Maiden) give out presents, which magically appear at the stroke of midnight.