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I'm physically and mentally exhausted. The tickets are sold out and I didn't manage to get through... (((

fond of reading

Just a few hours left till the rest of the tickets for the 2009 Reading Festival are on sale. I can't wait.
Tomorrow I'm going out of town to ride a horse! And I'm doing excercises which my student showed me. She's a gymnast and says that I could do the splits (or whatever it's called) in a week or two. We teach each other)

the gap

I was walking home from the children I had lessons with when I saw this old lady selling newspapers. It was bloody freezing, but she had been standing outside for at least two and a half hours because I had seen her on my way to the lessons. It turned out that the papers were almost two years old and she was asking only four roubles for each. Four roubles! It's... well, it's nothing. But before I could say a word she dropped the price to three roubles. I took out all the change I had in the purse and gave her everything. It wasn't much actually, about 15 roubles, but she seemed to be on cloud nine. I feel like crying.

tears

Without any particular reason I have suddenly remembered the three men I have seen crying. Well, maybe not crying, but dropping some tears. The first one was really crying, though, just like a baby... His mother told him that she was allergic and they wouldn't be able to keep the cat. And he burst into tears. I was eight or nine, I think... and yet I clearly remember it. I was in love with the boy and my heart leapt.
The next one was older than me but looked like a teenager. We were interviewing him for the documentary. He was speaking about his youth, his drug addiction and HIV and then about his fears, and the girl who left him when she had found out about the infection. Nobody was looking at him except for L., the director, so that he would look her in the eyes. But I was the only one who understood what he was saying because he was speaking Russian. His voice was trembling. And then there was a pause. I didn't look up at first but he wouldn't start speaking again, so I glanced at him and saw tears running down his cheeks... We all looked away not to embarrass him... But this was one of the most intense moments... Strangely enough, I wanted to kiss him...
The third one... I can't speak about the third one... There were only a couple of tears, but I got so frightened as if the skies were falling on us. I loved him even more after that.
I've been told about other men crying, but thank god, I haven't seen it. My heart would not be enough.

my dream

When I suddenly realised whom I had seen in my dream this night I was so shocked that I stood in the middle of the kitchen with my mouth open. Dear brain, please, don't do that again. Though it was extremely pleasant, we both know that this person does not exist and has hardly ever existed. Let's not illude ourselves...

Although we (V. and me) both overslept, we did have a meeting/interview with our potential employer. And we both liked him a lot. And he told us something that filled my mind with ambitions...

After spending almost three hours at the library (stealing quotations for my paper) I rushed to the post office. Then I rushed home and then back to the office and only then back home. Testa vota!

And I'm still thinking about my dream. Why? Why? Why?

books we read

As I was sitting in the tram reading a book on Gamblers Anonymous (which I need for my translation), I noticed that the old lady in front of me was reading a book on chess tactics. It made me smile.

I dare you!

For the first time in my life I've had 4 lessons with different students in a row. The age of my students ranges from nine to sixty something.
And during all this time I had an unbearable desire to scratch my throat. It seems I'm getting a cold. On the bright side the lessons were getting better and better, and my eldest student proved to be the best one))

three reasons to love life

"The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the water is wet. Life is beautiful."

I especially like the third one.

Californication

I had six episodes left and the only way to resist the desire to watch them all was to download them one by one and prolong the pleasure. But this time I didn't have enough will power, downloaded all of them, and watched them in a row until the last minute as soon as I came home. It is a bit less natural and fresh as the first season, but I liked it anyway.
It made me think about father-daughter relationship and relationship in families in general.
I've heard and read a lot about something special between fathers and daughters... I don't know... I have never felt it... I've always understood my mom better, because... well... because she's my mother. and I've always taken her side. 99%.
And I will never judge anyone because someone else blames him/her. Nothing happens without a reason. And no one is a saint.
And there's another phrase from the series: "No matter what you did, don't give up. Because if she loves, she'll forgive you."
True enough. but what if you've already killed love?

dreaming

I wish I could clone myself and live several lives. Clone number one would be actually number one and control all the others except for number five. She would enjoy books, movies, dates etc. Number two would study hard, attend lectures and do the homework. Number three would work and earn money. So, the first three clones would actually be like three parts of me.
Number four would be different. She would be more beautiful and vindictive. She would be une femme fatale who would conquer those hearts I haven't conquered and tell me (that is number one) how it feels.
And, finally, number five, the one who would not be controlled, would be purely experimental. She would be just like me, but she would fall in love with a different person back at school, would choose a different profession (say, in genetics), would consequently have different friends etc. And then we would see if we end up the same (which I doubt).

downwards

I can't stand falling asleep at the theatre, especially when the play is great and I want to see it, but I just can't keep my eyes open...
I can't stand losing friends and not knowing the reasons...
I can't stand not knowing the reasons in general...
But most of all I hate the feeling that what was to happen has happened and nothing can be done about it.

caviar

don't leave so soon, have some tea with us

My little pupil is charming! She is absent-minded and I have to repeat everything five times, but she likes our lessons and hugs me when I'm leaving and tells me to come back soon.

ideas

I've had a few ideas... One of them is a birthday present. I am going to take a photograph which will make V.'s mouth water and be a little something from myself. I can clearly see two images but I don't know which one will look better in reality... I'll post both if I manage to set the light.

Another thing I've been thinking about is drawing/painting a few scenes from "Vodka Lemon" (an Armenian film we watched last week). I was struck by the ice-capped mountains, the blue sky , the white-haired man, a bed dragged by a truck and an elder couple playing the piano right in the middle of the road. The problem is - I can't draw. or paint.

Happiness

Tomorrow will be two weeks that I've been feeling sooo good! This happiness is fragile, I'm afraid of somebody ruining it, but so far nobody and nothing has been able to do that. Which is promising.
"When I get to the bottom I get back to the top..."
Today I got my "salary" for the bloody four days I worked for the bloody translation agency. The sum turned out to be almost twice smaller than the employer had promised it would be... I guess there's been some cheating. Anyway, that only proves that I've made the right decision and left them before they have ruined my nerves.
After that I spent an hour in the library and I daresay that I start getting involved and... maybe... I'll end up enjoying my research)) hopefully.
And finally, after two classes I had another lecture on English aestheticism, namely on Oscar Wilde. The writer himself begins to bore me, but I'm ready to attend the lectures for the sake of Ast's voice, stuttering, charisma and... eroticism. Mmmmm... Idols come, idols go... and vice versa.
Oh, I almost forgot! Yesterday I stumbled upon this marvellous site http://savethewords.org/ . I adopted three words, but I can't even remember their meanings and I'm not sure whether they really exist and this is not some kind of a joke) But I definitely like the word "magistricide" (it speaks for itself). And I remembered (looked it up again, to tell the truth) another one - pamphagous - which is similar to omnivorous, if I'm not mistaken.

my pride

There is a person, who I'm infinitely proud of. She is so modest that at first she didn't even want to tell me about what she had done. So that nobody could think that this was a way of showing off or playing generosity. But she did tell me, and it made me cry and I am happy. This is so much like Amelie and like HER.

to begin with

I've been thinking about starting a new blog for quite a long time... and it seems that the day has come. It's not that I'm cheating on my good old liveinternet diary (because I do call it diary), but I want this one to be different, to be non-Russian to begin with. I don't know the exact reason why I'm doing it... I guess I'm partly inspired by other people whose blogs I follow (;-)), and partly... by Hank Moody... yes, yes, I've been watching Californication for a couple of days and it seems that I'm getting addicted. There are only two things that I don't like about it - I feel a strong desire to use foul language (especially thinking about my so-called research paper, which is nothing but a piece of s**t) and now my inner voice vaguely resembles American accent... Anyway, another reason is that I've been thinking about what Larry said... that being translators we are not obliged to write, of course, but, speaking about translating into English, we could use a simpler and at the same time more elegant language...So, this is a chance to pratiquer la langue as well.
Good luck to me! Ecco mi qua!
P.S. I almost forgot - whoever may read this blog, please, don't be too critical! English is not my mother tongue after all)
P.P.S. but I don't mind being corrected;-)