| Yawn |
[Oct. 9th, 2004|05:09 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | blank | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Once-Nightwish | ] |
It occurs to me that I never update this anymore. I have no good excuse for why I'm not paying any attention to my livejournal anymore. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that, not being in Russia, my day-to-day life seems fairly mundane to me so I don't really feel like there's anything worth cramming haphazardly in here. When something interesting or exciting has happened, I've basically just been too lazy to bother throwing it up here. Yes, that's right I am lazy. I know how utterly ridiculous that must sound, but take it on good faith that it's true.
( Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi needs not these things )
That pretty much brings everyone up to the present. I don't really foresee a great deal of change occurring in this routine anytime in the near future. Life, overall, is good. Busy, but good. We'll see how much longer that lasts. Until next time, whenever that is.
DC out
EDIT: In case anyone is curious and/or can't see the icon very well, my new icon is a wallpaper for the anime Hellsing. Phenomenal soundtrack, cool characters, well drawn, cool concept, LOTs of plot holes. |
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| Still alive, apparently |
[Aug. 30th, 2004|02:18 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Nightwish-Century Child | ] |
So it's been a while since I updated this thing. I don't know if anyone reads it anymore, so I don't know if anyone cares that I haven't been updating. I kind of assume that most of the people who would read this I also talk to on a frequent enough basis that they're kept appraised of what is going on in my life. That being said, I've found it to be rather therapeutic to get my thoughts out of my head and on "paper" can be good for me even if no one else is really reading it.
With all the craziness that has happened over the course of the past month and change since I got back, part of me is surprised that I haven't turned to this more often to keep things in check and the other part of me isn't really all that surprised that it was one of the first things to drop off my list of priorities after I started getting busier. Not like I wasn't spending enough time in front of a computer screen. Let's be honest, this is me that we're talking about. It just never really appealed to me as a hugely productive use of my time. As leaving for school again has crept up slowly but surely and events have unfolded and, for most intents and purposes, come to their logical conclusions, it feels like it is a good time to concertize all the randomness floating about me into a more coherent order.
( Jobs )
( People )
( Saturday Night )
I think that's most of the important stuff that's been tugging at my mind. Maybe one more before I leave, depending on how things work. Who knows.
DC out |
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| Finis |
[Jul. 21st, 2004|10:05 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Rhapsody-Symphony of Broken Lands | ] |
Just as a warning, this is a pretty graphic post compared to the others. Take it as you will.
( The Fascination ) |
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| Short Update Before the Real Update |
[Jul. 21st, 2004|08:09 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Dream Theater-Take the Time | ] |
There's really two major events that happened in Russia that I haven't written about. The last week of the trip was fairly uneventful. We partied and went to clubs and hung out and said our good byes. That was about it.
( Ghetto Russian Furniture )
( Kill Bill Volume 3 )
DC out (for now) |
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| Home at last... |
[Jul. 12th, 2004|11:02 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | dirty/tired/sick | ] |
Hey all. Sorry for not updating last Friday. Just a quick note to say that I'm back on US soil (and currently sitting in NYC). I'll post a full update when I get home on Friday or Saturday with the last details of the trip. For now, damn it's good to be back. See you all soon.
DC out |
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| I have good news, and I have bad news... |
[Jul. 5th, 2004|09:25 pm] |
The good news is we found Lenin's mother.
The bad news is that she's pregnant.
So was one of the jokes told to us by our tour guide in Novgorod. I thought it was a good opener. She clearly hated the Soviets, and was full of comments like this. So, I'm back in Moscow after my little sojourn to Novgorod and St. Petersburg. It was one hell of a trip, but I'm already getting ahead of myself, since I ought to explain what I did before we left instead of just jumping into the middle of the story.
( Master and Margarita )
I did nothing of interest between Monday night and Wednesday night when we left for Novgorod other than get lost with a bunch of people looking for a jazz club that Scott swore existed. As far as we can tell, it doesn't. Oh well.
( Novgorod )
( Petersburg )
Alright, that was a really really long post, and, I must believe, hardly my most lyrical. I'm pretty tired still and getting ready to come back home, so my brain's not entirely with me right now. I hope all is well with everyone and I'll look forward to seeing/talking to you all soon. One more week! Until then.
DC out |
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| Malenkii Update |
[Jun. 29th, 2004|07:55 pm] |
A a quick update, I'm going to St. Petersburg tomorrow night, and then I'll post more completely on Monday night when I get back.
The only major thing of note is that I did make it to "Master and Margarita" at the Taganka Theater last night. I have neither time nor ambition right now to fully explain why it was important that I go see it. You'll have to wait until Monday for that one. Suffice to say, it was very interesting to see their interpretation of something I've read so many timesand have created in such depth in my imagination. I'm still chewing it around in my mind, but I'm very glad I caught it.
Alright, that's all. Until Monday.
DC out |
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| Tick, tick, tick, tick... |
[Jun. 26th, 2004|01:29 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | Tired, but content | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Orbital-Hacker's Theme | ] |
Before anyting else: hot water is back on. Best thing ever. Now back to your regularly scheduled update.
Somehow I've managed to end up on the back side of my stay in Russia. I'm not entirely sure how that happened, since it really feels like I just got here. Time doesn't like to slow down for anyone, apparently. Since a couple people have asked, I'll be back in the US on July 12th. I fly into NYC, which means I'll probably get to Philly on the 13th, assuming I can find someone to stay with in NYC. I fly back to Denver on Friday the 16th. If I'm going to be where you are and you want to hang out, let me know either by commenting here or by e-mail.
( Classes )
( Art )
( More Nightlife )
On a final note, since the last update, I read the entire Farseer Trilogy again. Yes, it's that good-except for the part in which she uses the word "irregardless" and I want to go on a violent, wolf-like rampage. That is all.
And thus ends another entry of my comings and goings. At the end of this week, our group is heading to Novgorod and St. Petersburg for a few days. I'll probably hold off on updating until we get back on Monday, so I can include our exploits in the "Window to the West" in the update. Hope all is well with everyone. Talk to you soon.
DC out |
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| Runing Windows... |
[Jun. 18th, 2004|08:38 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | Still elated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Soccer | ] |
As I booted the computer today, the title of this post is the message that popped up. I can only hope the makers of Russian computers have discovered the secrets of demonic summoning and have embedded the runes to do so into their operating systems. Awesome.
Boring things first. Class is going fine, nothing much to say there. Yay, now on to more important stuff.
( Watchin a spot of footy )
( Nightlife )
( Kolomenskoe )
There's not a whole lot else to report. FSU kids left today, which is kind of a drag. It was nice to have a group of 25 or so instead of just 3 of us. They were a cool group, too. We'll get it figured out.
As usual, hope everyone is doing well. Talk to you all soon.
DC out |
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| Nightwish! |
[Jun. 18th, 2004|08:25 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | elated | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Nightwish, Nightwish, Nightwish, etc | ] |
This is a post before the actual post and it's only purpose is to gloat that I have tickets to a Nightwish concert on the 28th of August at a place called Cervantes in Denver. I *believe,* though I am not certain, that this is their first major US tour and I'm just totally fucking stoked to be going.
If you know who they are, they're having shows in most of the major cities across the US. You can find them listed on their official website, so check around. If you don't know who they are, download some of their stuff or go pick up one of their CDs (their newest "Once" just came out).
I have an extra ticket, too. $20.00 to whoever wants it and will be around and you can get them online at www.ticketwest.com if there end up being multiple requests.
Yeah. Awesome. Made my fucking day.
On a side note. My mom was very amused that I could buy tickets for a rock concert at a small venue in Denver from Moscow compared to her experiences while she was here in the late 1970s. Heh, crazy.
DC out |
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| Of Country Codes and Manhole Covers |
[Jun. 11th, 2004|08:02 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | busy | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Blind Guardian | ] |
Welcome to week two of "Dan's Life in Moscow" updates. Now that I'm settled in and am actually *doing* things, they should become a bit more interesting. I'll apologize beforehand for length. I know I'm wordy, so this is likely to be long, and I now know HTML for LJ cuts (thanks to Sned and Sarah), so it's been improved. Consider yourself warned.
( Classes )
( Sightseeing )
( Near Death with Cosmonauts )
That's about it for activities. In the next couple days I'll be visiting the World War II memorial, so we'll see how that goes and I'll write about it in the next update.
( Out on the Town )
I think that's all for now. Hope everyone is well. Talk to you soon.
DC out |
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| Farseer-ness |
[Jun. 4th, 2004|08:20 pm] |
One more thing that I forgot to put in the last update.
It's been a long time since I found myself ravenously devouring a book (or series of books, in this case). Probably the last time I did was summer after my freshman year when I was reading Steven King's "Dark Tower" series. Before I left, Chris/Tierus recommended Robin Hobb's (sp?) books, so I picked up the first of the three trilogies, "The Farseer Trilogy." I couldn't put it down. I read all 2000 pages of it between when I left on Thursday and last night around 11 PM. Unbelievably well-written and very imaginative. About the best capitalization on the implicit limitations of first person narration that I can ever remember reading. If you've time and the space on your reading list, I highly recommend you pick it up. I'll wait to read the other two trilogies until I get home.
I'm still picking at the ending in my mind. I haven't quite decided what I think of it. Might need to read the whole thing again before I can make judgement. Hopefully some of you will have read it by the time I get back so I can bounce my thoughts off of someone, but for now it's left a very satisfying taste in my mouth.
Ok, now I'm done.
DC out (again) |
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| Zdrastvyui iz Moskvi |
[Jun. 4th, 2004|07:40 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | relaxed | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | More crazy Russian techno | ] |
Alright, I've checked my e-mail, I've checked all the GS boards (and have been thoroughly disappointed by the lack of information from SimuCon, fuckers), so now I have a half hour to tell you all of the stuff that's been going on since I got here.
( The Facade )
( Food )
( People )
I think that's about all I've either time or energy to write about right now. You can expect about one of these a week, since I'm going to do something way out there and limit the amount of time I spend on the computer. The next one will be more about the stuff I've seen and classes, along with any other good stories I can come up.
Hope everyone is well at home. As always, e-mails and comments are appreciated. If you can think of anything you want from here, let me know and I'll see what I can do to pick it up. Until then.
DC out |
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| Privyet! |
[May. 31st, 2004|03:56 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | excited | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Crazy Russian techno | ] |
Hello everyone-
I really have no idea who is or is not reading this anymore. I don't have enough time right now to really sit down and think out a well-planned journal entry, unfortunately. Still jet-lagged and we've been on a bus-tour of Moscow all of today, so my brain isn't exactly functioning perfectly. Hopefully in the coming days things will settle down a bit and I can find some time to come to this internet cafe (which is all of 5 minutes from my dorm) and actually write something complete. I'm going to have to talk to the people here about disabling the alt-tab function. Really really annoying to not be able to move freely between windows.
For now, Moscow is fucking amazing. There are only three of us on the program, and the other two guys seem to be pretty cool so far. One is from Penn and the other from Clarke which is in Worcester, MA. The latter is my roommate. We've already gotten ourselves thoroughly lost in and around the university, and seem to be getting along well so far.
Classes haven't started yet, so no news on that front. When I update again, I'll make some comment on those.
For now, my remaining time is rapidly dwindling, so I'll call this entry quits. Hope everyone is well. Drop me a comment here or e-mail to corrend@sas.upenn.edu and I'll respond when I get the chance.
DC out |
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| "You're gonna carry that weight." |
[May. 5th, 2004|01:49 am] |
What the fuck does that mean? "You're gonna carry that weight."
I've seen it at least 20 times by now and the whole thing from start to finish probably 7 or 8 times, but it never ceases to mesmerize me. There's a certain contained perfection to it that speaks volumes to me. Sure, it has its flaws and lackluster moments, but the episodes that are on are about as good as it gets. If you haven't seen it yet, find some way to do so.
Yeah, that's right, we're talking about Cowboy Bebop. Adult Swim in all its glory provided me with yet another viewing of the series and the series finale played tonight and despite the fact that I've seen the series and the final episodes so many times, that last line that comes up drives me fucking nuts. If you haven't watched the series and have any desire to not have it spoiled, you might consider not reading anymore. We'll consider that fair warning.
So Spike dies in taking Vicious down. Makes the gun with his hand and says, "Bang!" He then collapses to the floor and "Blue" starts up. Anyone with a shred of humanity in them at this points either starts crying or drinking heavily. You watch all the credits and as "Blue" dies down, the camera has panned up to a night sky from which fades a single star. The screen fades to white and then to a charcol picture of Spike lying dead as the music fades out. Fade to black and in the lower right hand corner where we usually see "See you Space Cowboy" we're treated to "You're gonna carry that weight." As if you're not pissed off enough after Julia's death, Jet's outburst about Spike or Faye's desperate pleadings with him to not go, now you have a dead hero and that god-foresaken line. What weight are we carrying? Is it even speaking to the viewer? I wish I had time to really just sit and think about this one. Maybe I should rewatch all the "big" background episodes (as opposed to the self-contained ones) and see if I can piece something together. Like everything, it'll have to be done another night.
I could not begin to explain why, but that show and the characters really elicit a strong emotional response. Ah well, something to think about as I finish this absurd paper about Lebanon. If anyone has any thoughts on the matter, I'd be more than happy to hear them.
DC out |
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| All of Egypt, Finally |
[Apr. 28th, 2004|05:20 am] |
Ok, I decided that it's been long enough that I might as well sit down and write the rest of what all happened in Egypt. I got that first update in, which was good, but I've been slacking since then. Before things become too faded from my memory, I'm going to get as much of the experiences as I can down here. As previously, I'm writing this to record memories. No promises about cohesiveness or anything else.
( Sunday )
( Monday )
( Tuesday and Wednesday )
Alright, that's it for now. I'll finish up with what happened in Cairo some other time. TIRED!
DC out |
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| Spring Fling |
[Apr. 18th, 2004|02:27 pm] |
Well, Spring Fling was incredible. Nothing quite like going on a three day bender to get you ready to head into finals period. The weather had a nice turn around from high 50s and raiing earlier in the week to low 70s and not a cloud in the sky by Thursday morning. Excellent.
( Fling Craziness )
Which brings me to my slightly hungover but nonetheless pleased current state. Hope everyone else's weekend was equally entertaining. Probably another Egypt update later today.
DC out |
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| Egyptian Sonata, Third Movement-Rondo-Friday/Saturday |
[Apr. 11th, 2004|02:08 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | listless | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Cowboy Bebop-Blue | ] |
As a disclaimer, this post is likely to be long and may or may not have interesting stories and/or cohesive syntax. I'm recording memories rather than writing to an audience. Just so you know.
( Friday/Saturday )
DC out |
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| Egyptian Sonata, Second Movement-Adagio |
[Apr. 4th, 2004|05:31 am] |
Got home earlier tonight. Much too tired and fried to put my thoughts into anything even remotely resembling a coherent post, so you'll have to wait for a few days for me to put things together and get this all worked out both in my mind and on paper.
While it's very nice to be back, the house is in interesting shape, to say the least. I'm sure I'll hear all about it tomorrow. I guess we'll see what happens. More when I can see straight.
DC out |
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