Generally, I'm bad with things. I'm clumsy, I'm not careful, I don't think about them and their limits.
I get very sad when they fall apart. I love things that don't. I love things that are good to me.

My new beads broke after 4 days of not very intensive usage.

It's called global fantasy fail. As usual, when I need to come up with an example of whatever, I can't. =(

Every bit as boring as I anticipated. To make the matters worse, we are reading|translating poetry. Personally, I try to avoid poetry whenever I can, and when I can't I make particular effort not to enjoy a single bit of it.

I'm having a very nasty deadline right now. I'll be having it for a week or so, and then there will be another deadline.
It's like my life is returning back to its normal condition.
The bad thing is I can't figure out how to work quicker (I need to work quicker!) if not to cut off all the social intercourse. Still, I feel quite lonely as it is now. =(

My flatmate arrived, she is Ok, rather friendly and active. People say that finns are always silent and keep to themselves, but I haven't noticed so far. Moreover, my flatmate is checking out in the end of January (2 weeks to go!). I'd love to live alone. I wouldn't be able to use her room, of coarse, but, still, I would have bathroom (to give it justice, it must be called shower-room) and kitchen (it's really small, there's no room for 2 people... well, there is no room for chair, say nothing about table, no room to spend time or eat what you've cooked) all for myself. Still, there is a possibility, that if someone is arriving late, I'll have some new flatmate... And all the cool things, like microwave, are leaving me together with my flatmate. I'm not buying such things myself, of coarse, as I won't take them home.
Studies began... more or less. Intertextuality has some potential to be interesting, if the classes will become more lively, more animated. But! The next time we'll have this class, I'll have to lead the discussion of text by Kristeva. Oh, my good. I don't know how to do such things! And, well, I love intertextuality, and I can read Bakhtin, and I can even read his works in Russian (though some Russian texts are more readable and understandable when translated into English), but it doesn't mean that I can understand enough to lead anything!

I have never thought it is so difficult to pick up the courses you want and create yourself a decent schedule. Everything seems to be overlapping, interesting thing are unavailable, I can't pick languages I want, as instructions are in Finnish... I can pick Finnish, maybe Chinese, Russian (don't need to, though) and maybe Swedish. I feel rather strange about Swedish lately. I never even considered looking into it before, but now, when I see some instructions in Swedish... Oh, my God! I can understand some words! It's a lot better than Finnish, really. Do I want to study Swedish or not? Do I have time for it?
And English! I shall remember to take something in it as well.

I'm in Finland now. It's more or less ok, not too cold (though fins are making the great fuss about it during introductory lectures), things are more expensive that I'd like them to be, people are friendly. And SNOW IS WHITE!!! Guess, it's because I live in a small city, some 100 000 people in here (I have no idea if several thousands of students are actually included in the number), but I haven't seen really white snow in like ages!
I have a room for myself, and kitchen and bathroom that I'm sharing with a flatmate who hasn't arrived yet. Hope, she would be nice =) And helpful! Here all instructions on things I buy, like food or cleaning liquids, are in finnish, swedish, norwegian... WRITE IN RUSSIAN ENGLISH, damn you =)

I can't understand why I'm all so tired. The day was nothing too difficult, but still the hell of a day it was. I feel really bad when I have no break in the middle of the classes, no time to eat, to think, to be lazy.
Now I am to do my Deutsch homework, and it's really difficult just to keep my eyes open.

I downloaded some programs for recoding video for palm and turning softsub in hardsub. It's not really good, because I love watching video on me palm, and so a lot of time is going to be wasted, especially night-time. But it's not bad either, because I don't feel very much like watching movies on the PC, and not watching a thing makes me bored. That was my left half of the brain speaking. The right one is excited, jubilant, devastated with happy expectations and not being able to speak at all.

My wish is being granted. Oh, I love the world! This means that I'm to drop the photo classes, the cinema classes, the whatever additional classes I have (I'm all so happy to skip a term of my University studies), to leave friends and home and go to some Northern village. Oh, my. It'll be exploring!

I've grown quite used to the bonuses granted by the paid account status, so just now I kept clicking on the avatar picture in the write new post form and was really surprised that it was quite reluctant to change.

So, about life... so maybe I'll remember how to write in English smth other than essays on stupid topics (TOEFL preparations may be useful, but boring as hell).
I've started with German. To tell the truth, I've started having problems with German, as I usually remember about it at the very eve of the class and at the same eve I have to do my 'Tang Chinese' homework. Tang Chinese (The Chinese Language of the Tang Dynasty) is not as bad as it promised to be. We read about the taoists (they usually appear out of nowhere, mock everyone and disappear), and it's not like '3 pages, read in two days', we do only half a page for each class, and that's bearable.
Our Constitution is being altered (or should I say amendments are being made?), and for quite a selfish reason, imo. Wanting to stay in power is understandable, but really, really, really not wanted. It feels like they'll rewrite the constitution time after time, until those in power will stay in power up to their deathbeds. I'm a little hysterical about it and much more nervous that the majority of the population. But then again, I'm not as patriotic as they are and I don't believe that everything is for good if done by us.

I cross my fingers to get one of my wishes granted. In a month or maybe even in some two weeks I'll know for sure.

Suddenly there are lots of things to do. Lots of things... and all feel not so good without a company.

Autumn is really cold - first time in years. Stock market is hysterical, so everyone is talking about crisis. Ridiculous thing: nothing is suspicious. No war now. Neither the president, nor the prime-minister talking about any changes or inspections of big companies. No mortgage crisis. And stock-market index falling 2 times in 4 days.

Uni started (again). My major now is culture studies, and I'm nearly regretting having chosen it. Our "culture theories" introductory course lecturer is talking about Orthodox Christianity in a language that bears so much adoptions from the language of Orthodox church (which never was Russian, btw), that I barely can decipher the meaning of her talking. I like culture, and I like interpreting things, and the only other major that seemed interesting for me was economics (but I was too afraid of maths and too uncertain of the teaching quality to actually choose it). But christianity! Oh, my. Maybe I should have chosen economics after all.

I've uploaded 2 albums of British Bôa (The Race of a Thousand Camels & Get There), so you can download it here. I'm sorta lazy to do a proper cross-post, just click on "sendspace".

Bôa have done the opening for "SE Lain" (I was never able to live through the series, but the opening is topnotch), and they are good. Wiki classifies them as alternative rock, so be it.

PS Don't confuse them with korean BoA. They are much better. Imo.

I've uploaded an album of Penny Dai. I really like her music, and her voice, and her lyrics. There is sad irony in her songs (or I feel it this way), but they are bright at the same time. And... well, I can't blame people if they never heard about her (She is popular! But on Taiwan. And in PRC too, I think... She stayed among the most popular downloads on verycd for some time.) before I uploaded. But I can start now =)

Her lyrics are interesting, but I don't know if they were translated into English. I translated "Oh! My God" into Russian, but I'd like to compare my version of translation with some other to get rid of mistakes. Interesting fact is that Penny Dai writes her lyrics by herself. I do like singers who perform lyrics written for them by other people, but sometimes it's really nice to imagine that you hear what singer thinks. =)

Youtube and download link under the cut.
( Read more... )

Watching modern chinese opera and enjoying it. What next? Will I wake up one morning and fly? Or will I just wake up in the morning by myself?

*Why is the shocked mood icon so happy?*

Shifted my russian account from plus one back to basic. Not that I do not appreciate that opportunities I was given as a plus user, but I don't like what is going on now. And I don't feel like it is right to stay on that plus account. So I changed. At least now two journals look alike.

I guess now the pictures that I've uploaded to lj will be eventually deleted. Screencaps and photos... So I went through my photos and nostalgia got me.

Well, that's Saint-Petersburg, Russia. These pictures do hold some meaning for me, though they are not really something beautiful.

Flowers and such

( 6 )

Nature (more like scenery):
( 4 )

Home, sweet home (city):
( 7 )


Nothing, but I happen to like it:

HSK was more difficult than expected. No grounds to wait for good results.

I'm stressed and relieved at the same time. On the one hand, that's bad. It indicates that my knowledge is, well, worse than I thought. On the other hand, it's not about pronunciation. Though I know that it would be better if pronunciation would be my one and only problem, I still tend to think that I can fight with the rest of it and win.

First of all, I need to build up speed. I'm working on it currently giving myself less time to do homework...

PS Concert DVD of Jane Zhang (张靓颖) is out and on verycd. And I'm crying. Not sad, but crying. Let it be because of my happiness, not a flu.

"Suna" (2004) is a japanese "dorama" about a guy who killed the man who knew his past. It's strange, and somehow vague, and it lacks logic. I tried to watch it as a detective story (there are murderer and police) and failed. There are too many coincidences, and too many strange things, and police achieves enlightenment in the beginning of every episode, and it does not make sense. Well, as a detective story it makes no more sense than "Crime and Punishment" does. ("Suna" definitely has links to that novel. And this facts annoys me a great deal. I hate Dostoevsky.)
Then I tried to watch it as a thriller. Again, no luck. I'm not sure what a thriller should possess to be one, but I wanted suspense. (None.) And I can't feel for the characters.
Now I somehow came to the ridiculous idea of all the characters being projections of the main character. Otherwise it doesn't make sense (again), but the idea is so strange, that I just can't help thinking: Maybe I just should return to the japanese cinema (TV-series included, anime excluded - I love anime!) later. When I'll be wiser. But what the hell. I hate the feeling "that person understands and I don't". I know: there is art, no simple answers, no final answers... But still.

"Yangs" (2006) is a chinese series. The story is about the famous Yang family, who fought for the Song dynasty somewhere near its downfall. The famous chinese opera (don't know really whether it is the opera or just a part of the opera) "The fourth son visits his mother" is about the same family. And the Shaw Bros. movie "The 14 Amazons" (grabbed via e-mule, uploaded through mininova. Old movies are hell to find.). There were several TV-series based on the story, and the last one (as far as I know) is supposed to have 2 cuts. I have some problems figuring out how the chinese uploaders managed to make at least 3 cuts (I know 3 uploaders - so each has his own version).
The series are very didactic. They communicate the idea of "Emperor is the most important being, he is a tree on which all of us dwell" (I can't but add: why there is nothing about the party?! And, by the way, I've read Confucius. Everybody did. Then, why return to the same point?!), and also "serve the country" idea (I'm allergic to this), and all these is a bit annoying. On the other hand the series are beautiful - by standards of chinese long historical tv-series - and chinese. And there is at least one pleasant to look at man (character of Ye Liuse). And, well, chinese history has the fleur of its own...

By the way, about handsome men. I don't know whether it is subjective of objective but there is none in "Suna". Actors - yes, there are some actors who are handsome, but in the series they are somehow made stylish, but not... not... not human, maybe. I "derive" no pleasure from looking. The same goes to women.

I’ve got the registration, which means I can do anything from going to library to establishing the account… and generally talk to any policeman as a man… well, girl who has nothing to hide.

Code Geass is becoming a really wide fandom, even inside my country. We’ll have a real fandom in a year or two, or I hope so. Say what you may about big fandoms being a crowd of wild fangirls in search for cheap and ready yaoi, I still hope to see some better sides to it. At least more enthusiasm in watching, discussing, drawing, writing, avatar-making, whatever. I wouldn’t have welcomed that half a year ago, when I really enjoyed the way our little not-really fandom was a closed community, where I knew you, and you knew 4 other people, and that was it. And now I read the R2 spoilers and I see a lot which can be done by fans. And the story, I suppose, will come to its end, so that whatever we do with the characters after that will not influence my understanding (hope to develop it at some point), will not ruin the fun of the story for me.
And again, I enjoy enthusiasm, I love reading fanfiction… The trick is how you get enthusiasm and wits at the same time. And how you make these wits speak.
Well, not that I’m going to do anything by myself. I’ll be just sitting somewhere in a corner, eating my nails and waiting for the second season. And reading all the fanfiction of decent quality I can find.
‘Fangirl’ is a qualification which requires some training. XD

Exams over. Flat-business... still in progress.
I'm really lucky as my parents never let their temper loose on me, as it’s all very nervous and depressing since the second half of December for me and from September to Mom.

My precious Russian is going nuts again. I open a book, or even a fanfiction famous for its wonderful style and all I feel is irritation. Sentences are written in a wrong way: too long, too shot or too similar. The ones I write are the same, they are awful, too long, and I use too much pronouns.

Merry Christmas #2 =)