Below are the 11 most recent journal entries recorded in Миша's LiveJournal:

Wednesday, February 28th, 2007
11:35 am	well, nothing ever goes as planned and I haven't finished, actually, continued my originally invisioned saga about our trip to Yellowstone. now, with addition to the family, i don't think i'll ever be able to write anything coherent. it's amazing how much time a little thing can demand and how little sleep one gets trying to figure out what a particular cry means. as for a neurobiologist though, it's the best ever experiment - to witness the development of a human being; from reflexes to the most perplexed behavior. on a different note, while staying home for a few weeks, i was able to download a great selection of free-improvisation jazz - evan parker, han bennink, cecil taylor, alex von schlippenbach and peter brotzmann. absolutely fantastic. i can listen the whole day and do nothing else. too bad malish (a.k.a. the baby) does not appreciate it yet. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, July 8th, 2006
9:30 pm	yellowstone part 1.1 i meant to write some sort of a summary of our trip to Yellowstone National Park (YNP for future references) as soon as we got back but then found many reasons to postpone it. now, as memories slowly started fading away i want to leave them here so that i myself one day can revisit dusty corners of the past. There were 4 of us. that's the best number for any trips if one of the goals is to save some money. Any number that's multiple of 4 should work. airfare to Bozeman, MT (the closest "big" town to YNP) was close to $500 so we decided to fly to Salt Lake City, UT for $230 and rent a car. SLC is 350 miles away from YNP (as opposed to 90 miles from Bozeman). Originally we were supposed to arrive to SLC Saturday morning but due to the last minute cancellation of our flight we got to Utah in the evening. it was not difficult to find an inexpensive hotel around an airport. we got a brand new Chevy HHR (with only 600 miles on it!). Roads out there, in the wild west that is, are wild and empty, just the ramp was bigger than Mass pike. our plan for the next day was to check the enfamous mormon temple in SLC downtown and then go straight to YNP. to be continued... (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2005
2:19 pm	john cale yesterday i went to see John Cale concert at Middle East, Cambridge, MA. for those who don't know who he is - he is the dude who made that squiky sound on the first velvet underground album. for those who don't know VU - it's too late to save your souls. so, several thoughts crossed my mind while deciding whether i should go or stay home: (1) my uttermost respect for his early contributions as a musician; (2) his producer impact, who knows what would have happened to Stooges w/out Cale. they would not have that boring 10-min long "we will fall" song for sure :) the only thing against going was that i did not like anything that he made in the recent years. so... the first 2 outweighted the latter and i went. overall, i liked the show, not so much for the nostalgic feeling his persona projected but actually for the music. the opening act, to my surprise, was "Venus in Furs". I thought only Reed can sing that piece. it was pretty damn good. the rest of the set was predominantly a promotion for the newly coming album Black Acetate. Very rocky but accessible music with 2-3 outstanding songs. Would I buy the album? Probably not. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 1st, 2004
4:05 pm	monadnock between Maine and Fells we chose New Hampshire. Maine was on the top of out list of desired escapes despite the distance and Fells was somewhere on the bottom of the pile. With all the folks out on a wild for the memorial day weekend (i don't know whether those solders dies so we could have monday off) - no reservations were possible for maine (acadia park) and Fells was too close; so decided somewhere in between (thanks to syarzhuk) - mount monadnock. henry thoreau and ralph emerson visited the place, so they say. not that i particularly like their work but with their names the place gains some kinda subliminal recognition. bullshit, of course, but nevertheless. i haven't hiked for decades and therefore completely forgot what it is like. neither did i have any expectations. we took binoculars, big camera, apples and sushki (russian-style "stale" bagels. when i asked a park ranger "what's the easiest trail" and hear "not here" i was a bit puzzled. white dot trail up, white cross back - it took us 5 hrs of slow pace walking. what it's liek to be on the top of the mountain? i can't help remembering Beavis and Butthead episode where one of them peeped into a hair dresser's blouse. i guess, he saw a contours of her breasts after which he philosophically pronounced that to see breasts was like being on the top of the mountain. i guess, maybe our next hike to Mt.Washington can confirm that. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 19th, 2004
9:32 pm	zed and two naughts :) i was reading an article by Vonnegut posted on someone's page. there was a comment by a corky person nullifying Vonnegut's knowledge about numerology and who invented what (in regards to roman numerals vs. arabic numbers). i've found an interesting site descibing the history of Zero http://www.mediatinker.com/whirl/zero/zero.html unlike many other sites this one has some references so at least a sceptic can look further. i also found a letter from pan pal dating to 1990. i visited my parents and saw a pile of old stuff such as National georgraphic maps. cinira asked me "what is it?" referringt to a postcard. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 24th, 2004
1:07 pm	dream incorporated since 30% of our life is sleep it must be for a purpose. REM is quite interesting but can also be (if exposed), a can of rather dirty worms. i recently saw for a Nth time Alexandro Jodorowski's movie "Santa Sangre" - a very original and stylish remake of "Psycho". today i had a dream similar to a scene from the film. the scene is actually inspired by Jung's teachings. A snake was crawling inside my jeans, very slowly. it's sleazy skin was rubbing against my leg. i was overwhelmed with horror and physically almost paralyzed. i've become frozen in my posture and was waiting for the beast to make its journey along my body. people were watching with mesmerizing owe. in the background of my mind thoughts of poison and death were recurring with high frequency. the day earlier i was reading an anti-religious article - a rather detailed analysis of the new testament where character of jesus was presented not as commonly accepted son-of-a-gun (oops, g-d i meant, an honest typo) but as a satan. evidences were multiple and convincing even though one has to be careful about looking at citations taken out of the context. for the curious ones click here here is an excerpt from a truly g-d's gift to humanity, the web. sorry for not mentioning the source. it's in relation to jung's psychology: Symbols of the shadow include the snake (as in the garden of Eden), the dragon, monsters, and demons. It often guards the entrance to a cave or a pool of water, which is the collective unconscious. Next time you dream about wrestling with the devil, it may only be yourself you are wrestling with! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 13th, 2004
12:11 pm	sleepy time i've recently noticed that the most productive time for me is night. i've always known that night is great for a number of reasons including shoveling snow under moon light, watching Howard Stern at 11, reading Murakami in a reclining chair while smoking (once quit smoking - lost interest in reading), and sex on occasions, but only recently i figured out that night is also great for mental work, especially between 2 and 3 am. the only bad consequence of that winter morning dim light and fat birds' singing don't look very optimistic and inspiring any more. pillow and swan down blanket are quite comforting especially during REM. one of my most adventurous dreams for the past month or so was at its full blossom. i was hunting a criminal in a scientific laboratory setting, a lot of suspense was going on. i just loaded my gun and took a great position, i was very familiar with the laboratory exits and entrances and i hid behind a shades on the door and had the most opportunistic view of the door through which a criminal would walk. as i was intensely concentrating on the door with my finger on a trigger, sly syarzhuk called about some boring mundane stuff. i was worried that his call woke up my girlfriend. i had hopes that after devastating effect of his call, i could find comfort in her arms, but to my surprise i was the only one on the bed. stabbed twice in one morning (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 27th, 2003
4:51 pm	feels much better in my short life experience, i've witnessed a lot of death. much more that an average person ever needs. ironically, i was afraid of death since kindergarten. i could easily induce crying simply by thinking about death and impossibility of live after one's death. i could not believe in the finite life span. it was unfair for the world to go on functioning without one's life. it was some kind of a mysterious state - trying to imagine the world without myself in it. everything related to death gave me creeps. the word "morgue" inspired a great fear. despite my envy to my frinds who sneaked to see autopsy through cracked windows in the neighborhood's hospitals, i was mortified to go there with them. as a kid, i lived in a house build in early 30-s to accommodate KGB people who worked across the street. a lot of them were in their 70-s when i grew up. a lot of them were communist party's members. once they died, their bodies were brought to the middle of the yard and tenants paid their last respect. along with bodies (just around the corner) there were mattrasses drying. sometime, when the person had some connections with the military, a truck full of young privates with AK-47 was waiting nearby. i loved spending time with soldiers touching machine guns. however, once the infamous mourning music started, i tried to hide somewhere to avoid watching the scene. but it was impossible thanks to peer pressure. on some occasions i was forced to go to funerals. if using the language of colors, i thought that death should be an explosion of a purple ink among rotten exotic fruits. something disturbing and violent and cruel. something like Brakhage films with just cold colors and needles. in my aolescence, i worked in a recovery room in a hospital which specialized in patents with all sorts of tumors. as a result, some patients never returned home. death in the hospital was not as i imagined. death , at least in my experience was very pale and cowardly. very much like an early morning after a blizzard - quiet, cold, and white. it took patients while they were unconscious. they were too weak to struggle. the first experience with real death came when my grandparents moved in. their death was violent. slow, agonizing, with my mom screaming. still vivid in my memory. when showing my girlfriend the beautiful New England foliage, she noticed that leaves are dying. with awe we watch the death. i never thought of it. for the first time i've realized that i adore death. last week, driving to boston from hartford, i was absorbed into colorful palette of trees and bushes and fallen leaves. remarkable scene. an inconsiderate asshole cut me on the highway even though here was no one behind me. at that moment, it seemed outrageous and i did something that i've never done before. i flipped him and i felt extremaly good after that. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
11:45 am	the times they are a - NO changing i was reading russian news earlier today (http://www.nns.ru/chronicle/) and was quite amazed by one of the articles. well, to be more precise, i was amazed about the recently adopted law in Moscow. i'm not sure how far it spreads in russia. the title is called [Столичным школам запретили "Хэллоуин"]. the terminology used in the news reminded me of an old article in youth magazine "Rovesnik" written in early 80-s. no collapse of the regime was on the horizont and thus the author fully indulged in calumnious verbiage or, in other words, in bullshit. the article was about the demoralizing influence of western music. so now, 20 years later, listen to these phrases: "отмечая этот праздник, дети подвергаются большой опасности (как физической, так и духовной)"; "наличие в мероприятиях "Хэллоуина" элементов религиозного содержания противоречит светскому характеру образования в государственных образовательных учреждениях, разрушительно для психического и духовно-нравственного здоровья учащихся"; "пришли к выводу "об однозначно негативных последствиях "Хэллоуина" для учебно-воспитательного процесса и его участников""; "директорам школ рекомендуется создавать новые формы совместных школьных праздников для детей, педагогов и родителей "в соответствии с базовыми ценностями русской культуры"; Maybe all teenage problms in the US are due to excessive Halloween celebration. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 21st, 2003
1:23 pm	i was updating a view of my bedroom the other day, basically, changing a table/desk location to give a room more autumn look. now i just have to place some dry leaves all over the floor and the picture will be complete. in any case, as i was removing drawers from the table i've noticed a spillage of black ink. it was hard to see since most of ink poured uner an old notebook. i gently took the book and realized that it was my old diary. the pattern on the cover was well imprinted in the artificial wood of the drawer, thanks to the Parker ink. after washing the cover, i opened the first page. it dated 12 years back. i was 16 then, almost 17. very intertaining. pages are filled with fake anti-parental rebelion, increased hormonal levels, teenage horniness and adolescent maximalism. hard to see myself there. it could have as well been my niece who has just turned 18. it could have been anyone, i guess. what does, then, distinguish me from anyone else? at what point in life can we say with certainty that one is diverging from the dull surrounding of others. well, i'm being kicked out from the computer. something to think about though. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, October 20th, 2003
3:16 pm	i'm a newcomer, thanks to syarzhuk. more is coming (1 Comment |Comment on this)