quelyntr

It's been a long time since I've updated. ... I mean seriously, a long fucking time. People probably think I'm dead or something. No, no, nothing so permanent.

Actually, I just sorta got out of the habit of hanging around my old furry spots, LJ and FurAffinity, so much so that I just sort of disappeared. To be fair and honest, I really don't draw too much anymore. Something earth-shatteringly drastic must ignite any sort of passion I have for art, and I find that I just get tired, bored, and uninterested in making spontaneous art (read: no fucking commissions anymore, unless I get a hot poker shoved up my ass). The only things that come close now are my Russian lessons, usually breakthroughs trigger art.

And my Russian lessons! So, I found someone with teaching experience, a native speaker from Tomsk, to teach me. She has never taught intermediate level Russian, so she only makes me pay her five dollars an hour (fuckin' sweet) to learn so that she can make a lesson plan for others. Think of me as a guinea-pig... a very cute and awesome g-pig. ('-')b Despite it all, I'm still not particularly good at speaking in Russian. I just don't have enough to force me to speak. I find though, that I understand quite a bit, and can follow instructions when someone tells me to do something or writes to me... it's just that if they require an answer it takes five fuckin' years to make a broken response which sounds like I'm a three-year-old kid. I'm kind of like one of those old Commodore 64 games, where you had to wait forever for anything to load. But I digress: I really love my lessons, and I really love my teacher, who is awesome and ridiculously attractive. The only time I miss a lesson is if I've been in a car accident and they have to amputate my leg... or I develop MRSA... or something dire. I mean, I really like Russian... to a fault. I'm almost done with learning about all the fucking grammatical cases! WOO HOO. It's only taken two years! ... hard-ass language. D: Anyway...

So there you go. An update. I'm only keeping this journal active so that I don't have to wade through fuckin' LJ ads and can read Russian journals. Who the shit even uses LJ anyway who is a native English speaker? It's all Twitter and Facebook. Oh...

I have a Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/QuanleePrime. You can add me if you want... but... be warned that I'm really particular about who I add on Facebook. Everyone in my friends list is someone I actually care about and isn't a pain in the ass. Try your luck if you want, but please don't be upset if I deny it; I have enough spam in my life. Also, you can e-mail me on barleylobsterpop@hotmail.com, which, once again, I'm not a talkative person... I don't have time to write endless e-mails, I'll be honest. But there you go.

Anyhow, see you around! I still exist! Yay!

Current mood: calm

Current music: Ярослав Кардэлло - Любовь Это Боль [Travis Crowl Version]

Seriously. If I want to wake up at a certain time, all I have to do is pointedly tell myself, "Wake up at X." What usually happens is I wake up about an hour before the designated time, which is perfect because I require actual AWAKENESS or at least dozing for another half an hour to function in the morning.

This does not work on Thursday, the day after fudge. Alarm clocks are like nails on a chalkboard. I could sleep for a week.

I can tell I have had a 12 hour shift at work, because on hour 11 and a half I start making silly mistakes, like confusing things I never confuse like peoples' orders coupled with that wonderful sense of "Fuck off, I have a half an hour left." Yeahhh.

Current mood: sleepy

Current music: Серёга - Корабли (Boats, Wo Fahrn Die Schiffe Hin)

Means wake up at 23:30 the previous day... to get there a full five hours before my shift actually starts.

And I didn't get any sleep even though I went to bed at 18:00. I woke up and the world spun I was so tired. I apparently am always eager to break my previous record when it comes to waking up early for fudge.

Today's saving grace is I get to go home at 13:00. :D

Current mood: peppy... even before any coffee!

Current music: Баста feat. КРП - Гонки

So for the last month I've been battling the sinus infection from hell; it even put me in the hospital for a small period. I wasn't drinking very much because drinking anything felt like downing a cup of broken glass, so I got rather dehydrated and my sinus infection wasn't responding to the usual stuff very well. I'd like to say I am doing better now. Eh. Eh. ... eh. I am working again, which is probably not speeding up my recovery, but I don't feel like I'm going to start shovelling dirt on my own face anymore.

Ironically I've gotten a lot of reading done though and some Russian studies. There is a book that I simply can't put down that I am incredibly pissed I didn't know about when I was doing that course on Stalin's Russia... which I got an A in somehow. I say somehow because all of my essays were mid 90s and I did all of my discussion questions... but I didn't do the questions quite right in that I didn't respond to anyone after posting my initial volley, so on each question I should have probably received a 3/6. I expected an A- or a B+, but no... a solid A. I'm happy with that I guess. ANYWAY. The book! It is fascinating. My final paper was about how Stalin's regime permanently molded modern Russian society and this book essentially says everything I said, but better and more in depth. Very sexy.

My Russian studies are going alright. I just got through with transportation, and now it's attempting to teach me how to tell time in Russian. I say this every time I start a new core lesson now, but... seriously... telling time will break me. It's so difficult. And it would be difficult to explain why it is difficult, but it really... really... is, probably because the lesson is also throwing in random concepts like half and fifteen minutes. You would think fifteen minutes would be "fifteen minutes" but no. That would be too logical and smooth. Eh. Oh. One thing I have noticed while learning Russian is I can now sorta pick out some words in other Slavic languages, namely Polish. If I sit and read Polish words but say them aloud in a Russian equivalent, I can make out certain things. (I don't think the Polish roll their r's, so I probably sound really funny.) I suppose it is difficult to explain this, but it is kinda neat - unexpected.

Current mood: contemplative

Current music: Каста - Viva La Revolución

It is really, really bad when you wake up at 23:32 and go, "Hey, I should just wake up for my 06:00 shift." I didn't, but that's how fucked my night was.

So I found a new t-shirt company that shipped out the product yesterday; we'll see how that goes. They had some nice shirt options, so it would really suck if the printing quality was terrible on a good shirt. Can't wait! Hopefully that will be here end week.

I want to draw something, but don't know what. A strange predicament: to want to draw, but have nothing to draw. Well. I know what I want to draw... just not how I want to portray it. Sad face.

Current mood: blah

Current music: Лолита - Уходя, Уходи [DJ Miami Club Remix]

My shirt order was cancelled. Do you want to know why?

"Title: Nu, Pogodi! Volk and Zayats
Result: Not Approved
Content Issues: --- Design contains an image or text that is copyrighted."

So... wait. I assume it was balking at the fact that, hey, I used a more or less official picture of a Soviet cartoon for the front design. (I was dinged on a picture copyright... FROM RUSSIA. This... really... is... dripping... with irony - for so many reasons.) But um... if this is the case, why is THIS still allowed? Here are their full content rules:

* No text or images that infringe on any intellectual property rights including, but not limited to copyrights, trademarks and rights of privacy/publicity
* No text or images of obscenity, pornography or nudity that is not artistic in nature
* No text or images that encourage or glorify drug use/abuse
* No excessive violence
* No content that is libelous or defamatory
* No content that can reasonably be viewed as harassing, threatening, or otherwise harmful
* No hate speech
* No content that can reasonably be viewed as discriminatory based upon race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, or disability
* No content that violates or encourages anyone else to violate any law

What. Bondage gear is acceptable, but OMG SOVIET CARTOONAGE... подумай о детях!

Still, nothing can fuck this day up. NOTHING. The only things that could possibly make this day any better are winning the lottery and rough sex.

Current mood: pleased

Current music: Chemlab - Exiled ["Suck On This" Mix]

Mmm-hmm. Unlike yesterday. Yesterday was a fuckstory of some of the most epic proportions ever seen by man or beast. But today I could dip in butter.

Current mood: studying

Current music: Серёга - Мел Судьбы Или Песни Тамерлана

( WIP, again. )

Current mood: sleepy

Current music: Игра Слов feat. Капа - Вернем Позиции

This calls for an off-color "In Soviet Russia" joke. Alas. Today I have some tact, and I have people who would probably break my knees. :/

( Color Progress of Last Post )

Current mood: arty

Current music: Баста - Меньше Слов

Who knows, maybe through sheer terror and indescribable embarassment I have re-found my muse.

( I like 'Ну, Погоди.' )

Current mood: arty

Current music: Каста - Заза И Бака

My fish are such snobs.

They will eat bread, but only if I take off the crust.

Current mood: stern

Current music: Лолита - Никто Не Виноват

( Aleksandra; F/Fox )

Current mood: crushed

Current music: Inna - Love

IMA LOT PLD CAEP IF IT DORPS

... what. Иди спать, сука. >:|

I haven't cared to draw in at least a month. Before that, at least a year. It is almost freaking me out that I desperately wanted to put this to paper.

( Small doodle. )

Sigh. I am being corrupted horribly. I know how to say "can I lick your nipples?" in Russian... which isn't a particularly useful phrase unless you are shitfaced drunk. So, I can go to Russia and ask several pertinent things: "Where is the toilet?", "What is this?", "Can you speak English / Russian?", "Do you understand me?" and "Can I lick your nipples?" What. ... Я такой шлюха. :|

I really don't have anyone to speak to in Russian who can either understand me or has an interest in it, so often I just speak to my fish. "Кто хорошая рыба?" "Вы хотите заплатить кредитной карточкой?" Other nonsense. One of my goldfish is named Button, so I call him Пуговица; another is named Spot, so he gets called Точка. They don't seem to mind being subjected to this wankery. xD

I am recovering well from the incident the other day as well. I haven't formally studied Russian in about three weeks, but I think this time away from my lessons has been very good; I think it all allowed my brain to sort of soak in the information it had built up for the last couple of months and sort it out. So I feel a little more efficient and fluid in my learning despite being a horrible slacker with my work. I also seem to be learning quite a bit from just stumbling about on the internet, even from really strange sources. For example, I was trying to find something yesterday and I got a Russian pop-up that I could read and that made me giggle:



It says:

"New message / Olga Zays (sic, I am sure Russified English for "says"): Hello, don't miss your chance to work and live in America / Click here!"

Gosh, I better jump at this opportunity.

Current mood: hesitant

Current music: Quest Pistols - Всё Пахнет Тобой

Knowing that I spend most of my wakeful time reading lots of Cyrillic writing or listening/watching Russian stuff, and being so tired for the last few days, I suppose I should have seen this coming. I was watching a video in Russian, listening and practicing deciphering the words in my head when all of a sudden my head started tingling and hurting and bleh. Then I realized I don't want to know what they are saying... and really I don't want to hear the language right now, and I don't want to see it or know anything about it and for the love of God GTFO. Then I realized shortly after that I don't want to read anything, even in English, so I put my head on my desk and shut my eyes.

Sensory overload! I think I am just tired. I woke up at 01:30 again. Usually when I am this tired I make myself a quadruple mocha when I get into work. There was one time that I made myself a hextuple mocha (six shots of espresso in chocolate milk) because I was dead tired... and I'm probably going to go that route again today. I don't normally drink coffee of any sort, so I get really twitchy after espresso. But that is okay today. Reeeaaally, it's okay; twitchy > dangerously tired.

(Note: I have a sad story of geekery to share. The reason I keep putting a 0 in front of my early times is because I changed my clock to 24-hour time after being laughed at by a friend for not being able to do the math in my damn head. Apparently PM and AM are not used in Russia, to which my initial response was "Here, have this miniature American flag and STFU." After having used it for a few months now, I can sort of see their point. Here is a picture of my clocks. S. Yep.)

Current mood: so tired...

Current music: Blissful fucking silence

Early-rising insomnia. I think I woke up at 01:30. Bleh.

Wait for it: I will get sleepy at 05:45, right when I have to leave for work. Today's only saving grace is I get to leave early.

Waking up so early is almost pleasant when you really get into it: it's quiet, both outside and inside, it's introspective, and then you can truly appreciate that on the other side of the world the sun is shining and probably lunchtime for a few billion people. Although I woke up too early today (02:45), so now I am ready to go die somewhere. On top of everything, today is fudge day... I will be out until 8:30 tonight, and because life hates me, I have to wake up early again tomorrow.

It is tired time. TIRED TIME. This was going to be a more or less coherent post about something else... alas, I am too tired to keep focused. Now to get ready for work.

Current mood: tired

Current music: Quest Pistols - Будь Со Мной

I found a more or less full Russian clip of Smeshariki and its counterpart in English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3NJDg6KP14 (Russian clip)

http://4kidstv.com/gogoriki/home-away-from-home/126A (American clip)

The rabbit, Krosh, we call "Stroke Blink" in our house... because he always blinks one eye and then the next and it looks like he had a small stroke from being too hyper. But his hyperness is lost in the English version, where he becomes, like Barash, just a dude. Another thing that irritates me is they destroyed their names for American child consumption: Yozhik (Cute Hedgehog) becomes Chikoriki, Barash (Cute Ram) becomes Wolliriki, and some names like Kopatych (essentially, "Son of Shoveller", making sense because he loves his garden) become sad and useless (Boboriki).

Pef.

Current mood: studying

Current music: Стас Пьеха feat. Григорий Лепс - Она Не Твоя

Gogoriki is the American cut-and-dub of Смешарики, a cartoon from Russia. I recently came across two DVDs of Смешарики, without translation and in original Russian, and decided to watch them, at the time not knowing about Gogoriki. It is the cutest show in the world... I'm kind of surprised at how adorable it is. The characters are very lovable (there is no other word), and Barash is my favorite: an unsure, heart-torn poet ram. So... when I heard that this show had been released in America under a different name, I decided to take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hkK7EUDwZc (A clip in Russian. There do not seem to be whole episodes of it on Youtube.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLsbm-ufpI8&feature=channel (An American clip. If you care to see more, there are plenty at http://4kidstv.com/gogoriki.)

... we raped the SHIT out of this show. The voices suck so badly, and the lovability of the show just got crushed. Perhaps the biggest insult is that they made Barash's (now Wolliriki) voice like... just a dude. In Russian he actually tried to sound like a ram and sort of baaa'd his words. (I wonder if this was hard to do in Russian.) In English, he only baaa's at ironic points; in one episode, he just happened to do this on the word "bad". It was so forced. :/ But I find it kinda cute that at certain points in the English version, they either cut out the Russian written words in certain places or they left them if it would be too much work to remove them. I wonder if kids notice this.

Current mood: cold

Current music: Серёга vs. Cацура - Клубная

I try to wake up every morning no later than 4am, to get to work at 5:45am. Yes, my workplace is literally about 1/3 of a mile from my house but I just can't function if I am not actually awake. Every morning, I read Russian news... so much so, that until about two weeks ago I had no idea elections were happening (I had actually questioned, "Which one?"), and until about four days ago I had no idea WHEN polling was. This is neither here nor there.

Usually I read The Moscow News or the St. Petersburg Times because they have a regularly updated English translation. If I were a good student and it wasn't fucking four in the morning, I would try to decipher Lenta.ru. Alas. Anyway, there was a great article today that made me giggle wildly. I just love Russia. xD

"These lowbrow, high-volume pitchmen are in turn enthralled by the movement’s star attraction, the currently unemployed Sarah Palin, who has taken to hinting broadly that failing as both a vice-presidential candidate and as the governor of a state with fewer citizens than caribou is excellent preparation for running the United States. Palin and Co. stand in haughty denial of the fact that Obama’s Big Government spending has actually “cut Americans’ income taxes by $116 billion” – and that’s for “95 per cent of working families”, as the New York Times recently reported. That kind of annoying reality byte doesn’t fit anywhere in the Big Angry Picture, so the Tea Partiers simply can. And perception (plus anger) is everything." Link

Oh yeah, I'm also on disc 2 of 3 in my Russian lessons. Yay. ... Но никто не понимает, что Русский язык - трудный. :(

Current mood: tired

Current music: Николай Носков - Hold The Line