[показать]I officially declare Thanksgiving to be my most hated day of the year. This holiday, which is traditionally accompanied by mass murdering of poor turkeys, a very obsessive consumption of various fattening delights -- such as stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce -- and family get-togethers, is no more than just another reminder of how far away my own family is. Every single person I know is spending this day with his or her relatives, the downtown has been dead starting from 3 pm when all the stores were shut down, and practically every house in our quiet suburbs has its dining room lights on. While people around me have been busy doing grocery shopping, cooking, and chatting away at the holiday table, I, for lack of better alternatives, have spent most of this day watching "House" re-runs. Oh, well, since I'm not planning to start a family of my own in near future, there is nothing much I can do about the situation; therefore, I'll just try to do my best to ignore the whole thing. Fortunately, there are only two family holidays in a year, so it shouldn't be difficult.

Nevertheless, following a pretty corny Thanksgiving tradition, as a true American in training, I have to figure out what I'm thankful for this year. Perhaps the most important and obvious thing I should be grateful for is being given an opportunity to see my mom for the first time in almost three years. Also, this year I have finally come to a conclusion of what my career aspirations are, which is a wonderful thing taking into consideration that I've spent all the years since finishing school having no clue of what I want to do in my life. Today, my studies are no longer something I do because I have to - I absolutely love learning new things about economics and finance; being able to understand what the heck they are talking about in all those business news channels feels pretty great as well. I'm even thankful for not being able to move to NYC this winter because it wouldn't have been wise if I did. I still don't know if I will be able to get into Student Ambassador Program, which will let me study free of charge for the next two semesters, but even if I don't I am much better off finishing my current college and moving on after that than quitting in the mid-way and starting all over in New York.

There are still a few things that I want to accomplish before the end of the year, but even though the past eleven months were not the most exciting ones, they have certainly been an improvement over the previous year, which is another thing to be thankful for.

[показать]Сегодня совершенно неожиданно практически подошла к концу моя эпопея с калькулюсом. Зайдя в registration office, чтобы записаться на сдачу теста во вторник или среду, я узнала, что, не считая сегодняшнего вечера, ближайший тест можно сдать не раньше следующего понедельника. Принимая во внимание, что в весеннем семестре по выше упомянутому предмету преподается лишь один класс на 30 человек и что регистрация началась уже как неделю назад, такой рассклад меня более чем огорчил, так как шансы на то, что класс все еще был бы еще открыт через неделю едва ли можно назвать обнадеживающими.

К сожалению, сдавать тест сегодня я не была готова ни морально, ни интеллектуально. Ситуация, к тому же, осложнялась еще и тем, что в 6 часов вечера я как обычно работаю. Приняв все эти факты в рассчет и не преминув немножко посетовать на судьбу, я первоначально решила, что ничего тут не поделаешь, и записалась на тестировение в следующий понедельник, питая малюсенькую надежду на то, что может каким-нибудь чудом мне улыбнется удача и я успею зарегистрироваться. Обдумав всю ситуацию, однако, я решила рискнуть и в очередной раз набраться наглости, чтобы попросить Джона отпустить меня в колледж на пару часов вечером. Заручившись согласием своего работодателя, я перенесла тестирование на сегодня, не питая, однако, больших иллюзий по поводу успешного завершения данной авантюры.

Несмотря на то, что я с переменным успехом готовилась к этому тесту около месяца, материал, изложенный в учебнике, я смогла усвоить лишь поверхностно, и в мой первоначальный план входило пролистать книжку еще хотя бы один разок сегодня и завтра. Как однако известно, человек предполагает, а Бог располагает, поэтому, с немногим больше чем надеждой на успех и кусочками знаний разбросанными по закуткам моего мозга, в 6 часов вечера я пришла в testing center для определения своей судьбы, как минимум, на ближайший семестр и, как максимум, на остаток of my undergraduate studies (т.к. прохождение Calculus I and II является требованием для перевода в один из универов, который меня больше всего интересует).

Тест проходил на компьютере и состоял из 20 вопросов среднеей сложности, которые, по идее, должны были адаптироваться к моим правильным/неправильным ответам, в правильности половины из которых я более чем сомневалась. Представьте мое удивление, когда, по окончанию тестирования, преподаватель, которая его проводила, сказала мне, что я не только успешно сдала тест, но и набрала самый высокий балл, который ей когда-либо доводилось видеть. Как я выяснила немного позже, для зачисления в Calculus I было необходимо набрать 68, моя же оценка была 108! Разумеется, для меня навсегда останется загадкой, что является причиной столь высокого балла. Я, конечно же, предпочитаю списать сие достижение на мои экстраординарный умственные способности. Другое, менее лестное, объяснение может заключаться в заниженных требованих колледжа, либо более чем плохих знания математики среднестатистического сдающего.

Больше всего меня однако позабавило то, что преподаватель, впечатленная результатами моего тестирования, предложила мне сдать еще дополнительный тест, который позволил бы мне перескочить сразу в Calculus II. От данного любезного предложения я поспешила отказаться, так как не думаю, что мой мозг выдержит даже самое мизерное количесво математики как минимум до начала следующего семестра. К сожалению, несморя на успешное завершение тестирования, вопрос положительного исхода мероприятия в целом все еще не решен. Моя попытка зарегистрироваться на класс сегодня вечером не увенчалась успехом из-за того, что, будучи студенткой с более чем 24 кредитами, мне, как выяснилось, необходимо получить одобрение моего advisor-a прежде чем зарегистрироваться на класс. Завтра буду бегать по всему колледжу в попытках этого advisor-a где-нибудь выцепить.

[показать]It's been almost a month since I've decided to try revising all the topics of precalculus on my own in order to be able to pass Calculus I placement test and skip both precalculus I and II. Unfortunately, it seems that all the forces of nature have been working very hard to put as many hindrances on my way as possible. First, I was sent a wrong textbook by amazon, which set my preparation back for at least one week. Then, I was sick as a dog for one whole weekend, which, taking to consideration that weekends are pretty much the only time I can really devote myself to studying Math, was very unfortunate. In addition, the teachers seemed to agree to assign as much homework as possible just when I needed some extra free time the most.

During these few weeks, I decided to give up more than once, mostly at the moments when my brain was about to start boiling from all the information I was trying to retain. Having skipped a day or two, however, I suddenly remembered that giving up was not my thing and that I should look at the whole preparation challenge as at a small-scale test of my willpower and determination. So I opened the book again and read about sines and cosines, permutations and combinations, linear and quadratic equations, logarithmic and exponential functions, matrices and determinants, sequences, series, probability and many other things. At the moment, I have only one chapter on Analytic Geometry left to revise.

To my great surprise and satisfaction, I still remember pretty much all of these concepts from school. The problem, however, lies in the fact that I find it difficult to keep all of this information in my memory simultaneously. For example, having read a chapter about Trigonometry, I can solve pretty much all the problems in the textbook without any problem. Unfortunately, a few days later, having studied another chapter or two on a different topic, I tend to forget many things I learned about Trigonometry just a few days ago. Taking into consideration that, in a few weeks, I managed to review a year worth of precalculus material, this tendency does not surprise me at all. However, as far as test I'll be taking in a few days is concerned, this is definitely not a good thing. At the moment, I think my chances of passing it are 50/50 assuming they allow graphing calculator, which is not very promissing :((

[показать]I'm taking English Composition this semester, and even though, after acing Comp I last spring, I didn't have many fears about this class, I wasn't too happy to learn that we would be studying literature during the following 15 weeks. I sure like to read, but expressing my thoughts about literary works on paper has never been my favorite task. As you know, I do write occasional reviews here, but the majority of them definitely lack any of the qualities that make up for a thoughtful and worthwhile criticism. Moreover, I write these reviews not because I enjoy expressing my opinion about books so much but because, this being my least favorite part of writing, I want to challenge myself in hopes of one day getting a little better.

Right now we are almost two-thirds through the program for this semester. The first month or so was devoted to short stories by different American authors whose names (with exception of Faulkner) I have never heard before. I enjoyed to a certain degree most of the stories we have read, my favorite being "A Rose for Emily" and "Parker's Back" and, in general, would say that it was a time well spent. Next came the poetry, which, having read more poems written in English in the last month than ever before, I came to absolutely hate. Based on what we had to work with, I came to conclusion that English speaking poets do not see any sort of rhyme to be a necessary attribute of their works. I will even go so far as to say that I enjoyed reading Russian translations of Shakespeare's sonnets much more than their originals. Below, for example, is one of the poems by William Stafford that we had to read:

Some time when the river is ice ask me
mistakes I have made. Ask me whether
what I have done is my life. Others
have come in their slow way into
my thought, and some have tried to help
or to hurt: ask me what difference
their strongest love or hate has made.

I will listen to what you say.
You and I can turn and look
at the silent river and wait. We know
the current is there, hidden; and there
are comings and goings from miles away
that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.
I certainly do not see how this can be called a poem and why it is worthy of being printed in a textbook. Yes, the words are very well chosen and the sentences are embellished in many ways, but, in my opinion, the same could have been much better said in prose. Our book tried to justify publishing this kind of creations by saying that it is a choice of words, not a rhyme, that is an essential component of a good poem. I most definitely disagree with it - both are equally important, and neither rhyme alone nor a choice of words make for a beautiful verse. Take classical Russian poetry, for example: the works of our greatest poets are incredibly melodious and are a joy to read due to both a subject matter and various types of rhyming. Having struggled through every single one of the poems we had to read, I once again came to a conclusion that English language is just not poetic enough. No wonder, neither Pushkin nor Lermontov are widely known here - the beauty or their work simply cannot be translated into English.

Unfortunately, my next assignment will be a poetry one, and judging from the first paper I had to write for this class, it will be a tough task. It took me forever to come up with something to say about symbols in one of the short stories we have read during this semester. I ended up choosing "Parker's Back" because it seemed to be the most symbolic one and have spent almost two weeks trying to put together 800+ words research paper basically out of a thin air because, considering that the story was hardly a groundbreaking accomplishment by an author, there was practically no information to research. I ended up just writing what I knew the teacher would want to hear and, to give it a look of a research paper, sprinkled a few of those very few suitable quotes that I was able to find in most of the paragraphs. This, to my great satisfaction, worked very well, end I ended up with an "A".

Long and boring, posted mostly for me

[показать]Today, I've had a chance to get first-hand experience of American court system from not less than a witness stand. This afternoon, I was testifying in court case H. vs. M. on behalf of my employer. As you can probably guess, the hearing was a part of a prolonged custody battle between John and his wife that has been going on for more than three years. I was informed by John about a possibility of having to provide a testimony when I interviewed for the job more than two years ago. I certainly was not too excited about the possibility but told him that I'd do it because I really needed that job. For the past two years, however, I have been hoping that my testimony won't be necessary.

Of course, the major reason of my lack of desire to be a witness in the case was the fact that, in theory, my F-1 visa does not allow me to work in the US. Even though I'm 100% legally in the country, I was afraid that this little inconvenience might be brought to the attention of the Judge during the hearing. Every time we had a discussion with John about the possibility of my testimony in court, I told him about my concerns but was assured by him many times that my visa issues would never come up because they are not relevant to the case, and if they did, his attorney would object. I tried my best to make John let me out of our deal, but he continued to insist that I have nothing to worry and left me no choice but to acquiesce.

So, today, at around 12 pm, we arrived in the court - a large building in Queens, NY that looks inside just like all those courthouses in the movies. I expected to be on the witness stand for 3 to 4 hours. The easy part of the process began with John attorney's questions, most of which had to do with Chad's daily routine, my responsibilities, and John's parenting. I was just a little nervous, mostly because there were a lot of people in the courtroom waiting to talk to the judge's paralegals, and I did not expect to speak in front of the audience. Surprisingly enough, it was rather difficult to find the right words in order to correctly convey my message. As it turned out, I'm not much of a speaker under pressure; so, I guess, I won't be running for office any time soon :)). With this being said, this first part of the hearing went pretty well, and, according to John, I did a fine job on the stand.

Next came the turn of Chad mom's attorney.... Guess what his very first question was! Not surprisingly, "Have you come to the US with J-1 visa?" As soon as I heard him saying this, I knew that I was screwed. As I expected all this time, not having anything bad to say about me personally or my testimony, they've decided to come after me in terms of the legal aspects of my residence in the US:

More Courtroom Drama

[показать]I have to finally start paying more attention to the details of the process of getting my Associate's degree because, otherwise, it will take me five years to finish my studies in a two-year college. With all the multiple changes of my major, I'm already stuck with at least 4 subject that, even though might be transferable in future, won't count towards my current degree; to make matters worse, a few days ago, I found out that, in order to have a shot at transferring to one of the universities I am interested in, I have to complete Calculus II before applying.

This is a huge inconvenience, because, up until now, I was planning to choose Precalculus I/Statistics combo that fulfills Math requirements in my college. Calculus I and II is another alternative, and I have never considered choosing it because I haven't done any Math since taking SAT in 2007 and any SERIOUS Math since finishing school. That I absolutely have to take Calculus pretty much means that Statistics will become yet another subject I've taken that doesn't count towards my degree. The bigger problem, however, is that, in order to be allowed to take Calculus, I have to take Precalculus I and II or pass a placement test!

Had I know this earlier, I would have taken both classes during two of the three semesters that I have been attending college. Now, however, it will take me 4 more semesters to have all the Math classes I need unless I pass the placement test. Of course, spending 2 more years in community college is not an option, so I have 25 days before the beginning of the priority registration for Spring semester to review all the topics of both Precalculus I and II that responsible students who do not screw up with their classes all the time spend two semesters learning.

I've taken a look at these topics and most of them seem familiar from high school math, but, nevertheless, it is going to be quite a challenge to relearn them in less than a month. A few of the topics I'll have to become familiar with are different types of functions (linear, rational, inverse, logarithmic, exponential), polynomials, graphs, factorials, permutations and combinations, binomial theorem, synthetic division, etc. I'm actually getting more and more scared as I write this!

[показать]I can't believe that I have finally finished this book! It took me five whole months to do it, which, taking into consideration that I'm a very fast reader and generally enjoy most of the fiction I happen to come across, is unbelievable. During these five months, I've actually returned "Catch-22" to the library two or three times when I got particularly frustrated; then cooled off a bit and tried my best to gave it another shot. Not surprisingly, having finally turned the last page of "Catch-22", I can officially declare that this Joseph Heller's "masterpiece" is the worst book I have ever read. So far, it is the second book on the list that I hated, but comparing to it, "Clockwork Orange" actually was a very easy and enjoyable read.

To be honest, I can't even tell what "Catch-22" was about. Moreover, I have a very strong suspicion that Heller was on crack when writing it. The whole story is based on life of a young man, Yossarian, who servers in the US forces in Italy during the Second World War. This story, however, is no more than a collection of chapters devoid of both chronological order and meaning that constantly jump from one topic, character, or event to another. All of the events happening in the book are an absolute nonsense, which, I guess, is supposed to be satirical or at least funny. I did understand that, in choosing this style of narration, one of the author's intention was perhaps to criticize how absurd can bureaucracy in the military or elsewhere be, but, unfortunately, this understanding did not make reading the book any more pleasant.

To summarize my experience, I can just say that "Catch-22" is a pretty long book, and I was confused for the most part of it. I could hardly keep track of the characters and events, which only added to my frustration. Only a few of hundreds of absurd situations described by the author have made me laugh, but it definitely was more of a hysterical giggle caused by my brain boiling from all the confusing information. If the author, indeed, had some point he wanted to bring across, he has lost me after just a few chapters. Finally, "Catch-22", in my opinion, is similar of some of those very abstract paintings, like "Black Square" by Malevich: People claim to admire them because some bunch of drunken critics once said that it was a good thing, but quietly think that it was a total waste of both paper and their time.

Осталось прочесть 15 произведений списка

[показать]I have finally found time to do a big clean up of my closet! I had a bunch of stuff lying around since my first months in America, so today I've decided to throw away everything that I haven't been wearing for a while or at all. Once again, I came to a conclusion that I should never ever buy stuff that is cheap - it might look nicely when you try it on for the first time in the store, but, for some reason, after I bring it home and let it hang in my closet for a while, I begin to absolutely hate it. I have also more or less figured out what brands I should stick to based on how much I wear a particular item from that brand and how long it last before loosing its shape.

Here are my conclusions:
GAP - even though I'm not a big fan of this brand, their pants fit me the best and tend to keep their shape for a very long period of time. On the other hand, I don't like their knits because they usually get all stretched out after I wear them for just a few hours. Overall, I've noticed that GAP's stuff that is made out of regular fabric is of much better quality and tends to stick around in my closet for much longer.

Calvin Klein - I have started to buy this brand because it is one of a very few carried by Macy's that I actually like, and I mostly shop in Macy's because of a big store credit I have with them, from which, by the way, I promised to self-made to get rid of :)). Again, I cannot claim to be a big fan of the brand, but very often find nice things of a very good quality on their racks.

Tommy Hilfiger - just like with CK, I started to buy this brand because it is sold in Macy's. I'd say that it is very similar to CK in the type of clothes it carries and the quality. This year, for example, after looking for a while, I've decided in favor of TH winter jacket that I absolutely love. Again, I wouldn't say that the overall concept of the brand is my style, but I can alway pick something I like from their section of the store.

Ann Klein - it is my favorite brand for the money for office looks. Since I don't work in the office I have just a few things from AK that I wear only on occasion with exception of my very favorite jacket that I purchased 50% off in AK outlet store two years ago.

J. Crew - I think this is my favorite brand out of all we have in our Mall. I absolutely love their fabrics and concept of, what I would call, casual chic that I believe J.Crew represents. Of course, a lot of their stuff is out of my budget, so I shop mostly on their sale racks, and only occasionally allow myself something from the current season's collection.

American Eagle - this store used to be my go to place for casual stuff, but now I find that I have outgrown it. In addition, most of the t-shirts I've got there look like of a piece of crap after just a few washes; some even got little holes in them. I've noticed that my AE clothes tends to go in the garbage pretty soon, with exception of their jeans that I actually like a lot considering their price.

Banana Republic - I like their outerwear and can occasionally find a nice thing in the store; I have just a few items from them though because things I usually like are way too expensive, and, in most cases, I'd rather spend this money in J.Crew.

There are certainly many brands that I like much more than the ones mentioned above, like Anthropology, BCBGMAXAZRIA (which, of course, I don't have money for), Free People, etc., but none of them are in our Mall, and I no longer order clothes online. As far as the ones I don't enjoy so much or at all, I'd say they are Bebe, which I find a bit trashy even though I myself have a few things from them, Express, which is just blah, Guess, which I just don't care much about even though they do carry some cute things, Charlotte Russ, which I don't think is even worth mentioning, Forever 21, which I just hate, H&M, whose stuff I like in the beginning but come to hate a few weeks after, and Old Navy, where I usually shop for stuff to wear at home...

Shoes - just today, I got rid of 5 pairs that I have never even worn. I've noticed that with shoes it's all about the price: I tend to throw away or stop wearing any shoes original price of which is cheaper than $70 (for flats), $100 (for pumps), and $150 (for boots) after having worn them only a few times (oh, and I've recently become a huge boots addict! I believe there are 8 pairs of them in my closet right now). I don't, however, give a damn about shoes brand as long as they look good - whatever Macy's or Nordstrom carries is good enough for me.

Having calculated the approximate cost of the stuff that I have thrown out during these 3 years, I once again came to a conclusion that shopping for cheap clothes ends up actually being more expensive. I still, for example, have J.Crew things that I bought a year or two ago hanging in my

[показать]У нас сегодня выпал первый снег! Нет, Sussex County не просто припорошило, его в буквальном смысле замело. Выехав из дома в 7.30 утра в пиджачке, я в припрыжку помчалась обратно за пальто, как только окончилось собрание бизнес клуба, так как за один час, судя по ощущениям, температура упала градусов на 10. Как же я все-таки не люблю зиму! Я по-настоящему теплолюбивое создание и поэтому провожу большую часть года непрестанно жалуясь на холод. Нью Джерси, да и тот же Нью Йорк -- совсем не мое место в плане климата, и, если бы так сильно привыкла к жизни на восточном побережье, я бы ни на минуту не задумываясь перебралась обратно в солнечную Калифорнию.

Возвращаясь однако к моей обожаемой теме учебы, которая скорее всего вас всех уже достала :)), на вышеупомянутом собрании, я оканчательно убедилась, что являюсь полным бараном. Оказывается, в нашем колледже существует программа под названием Students Ambassadors. Ее суть заключается в том, что студентам, которые обязуютсь посвящать 60 часов в семестр помощи в организации различных мероприятий, колледж прощает оплату за обучение вплоть до 12 кредитов в семестр. То есть, если бы я знала об этой программе с самого начала обучения, на сегодняшний день я могла бы ни копейки не потратить на свое обучение. Вторым открытием для меня стало то, что те стипендии, на которые нас уже третий семестр уговаривают подавать заявки все преподаватели доступны в том числе и для international students. У меня такая мысля уже давно в голове бродила, но я больше года ленилась или забывала задать этот вопрос моему куратору. В общем, на данный момент лень и безалаберность стоили мне около 8,000 баксов. Дать бы себе пендаля под зад, да не получается.

Хорошие новости заключаются в том, что, если я заполню application в этом семестре, то при благополучном раскладе за следующий семестр мне платить не прийдется. 100% гарантии, разумеется, нет, так как, если я не ошибаюсь, желающие принять участие в программе должны пройти какой-то отбор, но даже маленький лучик света в бесконечном мраке немножко поднимает настроение. Deadline заявок на весенние стипендии был, к сожалению, два дня назад, поэтому тут я точно пролетела. Зато меня теперь можно поздравить с почетной должностью вице президента бизнес клуба, которая на меня свалилась совсем неожиданно. Дело в том, что в первый год я не пыталась учавствовать ни в каких внеклассных мероприятиях из-за моего дурацкого рабочего графика. Я думала, что и в этом семестре не сложится, так как многие встречи интересующего меня клуба должны были проходить утром, когда я собираю малого в школу. Не знаю каким чудом, но три недели назад я набралась наглости и попросила Джона разрешения подготавливать все, что нужно Чаду для школы, вечером, чтобы я могла учавтвовать в утренних мероприятиях в колледже, на что он любезно согласился. Как же мне, новичку, удалось заполучить должность вице президента? Это на самом было проще простого, принимая во внимание то, что в клубе на данный момент вместе со мной всего четыре участника :)) Разумеется, упоминая о своей громкой должности в application при переводе в четырех годичный универ, я собираюсь эту мелкую деталь умолчать. В общем, не зря я два четверга подряд подрывалась в шесть утра, чтобы попасть на утреннюю встречу и потом торчала три часа в колледже до начала обеденного класса!

З.Ы. последние несколько дней составляю новый план Барбаросса, о котором, скорее всего, поведаю в ближайших выпусках своего дневничка. Stay tuned :)

[показать]I've just wasted a few minutes on Facebook to determine what famous literary character I am. Of course, no one takes this type of tests seriously because the answers are build in a way that every single person can find his or her own traits in it, but reading them is always fun especially when you find more than one similarity.

"You are Jane Eyre from Charlotte Bronte's classic masterpiece. You spend much of your life torn between the desires of your heart and the choices you feel are most logical. You're a smart person who is very resilient, romantic, strong, and forgiving. You have a lot of love to offer people, if they're willing to look past your eccentricities to find it.

You spend much of your time in a state of humble, thoughtful silence, yet you're not afraid to get assertive when the situation calls for it. You've never been one to conform to society's rules, even if that means making unpopular decisions. People will try to change you, but you'll never let them. Above all else, you're a Romantic with your own set of beliefs and desires. In the end, everyone knows you're going to make the right decision."

[показать]To my great surprise, I'm beginning to fall in love with...French. It has taken me so many years to appreciate this beautiful language, and now I can hardly believe that I used to hate it so much. Of course, I have no one to blame but our school teacher. For five long years, we've been studying French as a second foreign language, and there is no doubt that Ms. Whatever Her Name Was did her absolute best to make a good half of the class believe that it was one of the most difficult languages on Earth. I remember very well being so confused during the first year of studies that, after struggling for a while, I decided to stop trying all together. I missed a good half classes during the remaining four years and, only by pure miracle, was able to get a B in my final transcripts. Not surprisingly, when it was time to choose the second language to study in the university, three of my classmates and I (we all majored in English in the same college) were unanimous in picking Spanish. To my surprise, shortly after beginning to learn Spanish and, of course, Latin, I realized that French was not even a tiny bit harder. I quickly came to a conclusion that the only thing that prevented us from getting some command of this language at school was a systematic lack of any coherent explanations from our teachers. It really pisses me off when I think about it now: How is it even possible to be so bad of an instructor? I believe that even I, having just a tiny little bit of knowledge, could have explained the material much better.

On the other note, my experience with learning French now is beginning to confirm the notion that it is twice as easy to learn each new language; to be honest, I used to be a little skeptical about this idea. Today, however, I can clearly see the difference: it is so ridiculously easy to understand grammar concepts and memorize new vocabulary that I can hardly believe it. I don't know whether it has to do with some knowledge of French I miraculously was able to retain from my disastrous school experience, learning Spanish for two years, or an overall improvement in my understanding of written and spoken English, but I can easily grasp an idea not only of all the texts offered in our textbook, which, I admit, are very easy, but also of some articles and excerpts of literary works I had chance to read online and of French movies with subtitles. Taking into consideration that I've been studying French actively only for a little over a month, I find it very motivating, and it is definitely a much faster progress than the one I had with Spanish.

Unfortunately, my French class in college still leaves to wish for much better. It very much reminds me of the way they used to teach us English in the kindergarten. Most of the time in class is waisted on stupid games and listening to the teacher reading us texts and dialogues from the textbook. He seems to not even think about explaining us the reading rules so that we could try doing it ourselves. As far as our written assignments are concerned, Mr. Proulx says that he doesn't care about mistakes as long as he sees that a student tries his or her best (translation: I don't feel like spending any significant amount time correcting your papers and giving a feedback). I give him the thumbs up, however, for realizing and admitting that this class is wrong for me. Just a few days ago, he asked me to stay after a lesson and suggested that I take Intermediate French instead, which would have actually meant skipping two semesters! Unfortunately, there is only one Intermediate French class this semester and it is offered the same time I have Microeconomics. So I have no choice but to waist time and money in my current class. Our super expensive book is good for both French 101 and French 102, so I'm planning to finish it this semester and next semester, instead of spending more money on a class of a questionable quality, I'll purchase Intermediate French textbook and try to finish it on my own as well. The plan is that, by the beginning of the next school year, I can skip right to Advanced French. With this being said, it kind of makes me wonder what the f* they do in classes if I, who knows practically nothing as far as French is concerned, qualify for Intermediate level class... So, for everyone who is considering taking foreign language class in some American community college, I'd recommend to think twice and pick your level carefully; I won't be surprised if, having taken, a few months of lessons at home, you'll be able to do well in super-mega-advanced class in the US.

[показать]I'm so sick of living from paycheck to paycheck! Just a few days ago, I paid all my credit card and college bills and thought that I'd be able to relax and save some money until the next payment dates; unfortunately, it wasn't meant to happen. No later than I deposited my paycheck for this week, I found out that the freaking bank charged me 70 bucks for two overdrafts. The first was clearly my fault -- I keep forgetting that, every time I buy gas, it takes a few days for the transaction to come through.

So, yesterday when I went to do some grocery shopping and instead of paying cash used my debit card, I had an overdraft of $1.57, for which I was charged a fee of $35. The second $35 charge, however, totally pisses me off -- I have this automatic transfers of $5 a month from checking to savings account, which I was advised to set up by my banker. Of course, they absolutely had to transfer this money when the balance on my account was already negative. What kind of system is that? Supposedly, it should help people to save, so what idiot came up with an idea of making a transfer when the balance is already negative?! Thanks, dear Chase, for saving me -35 dollars. REMINDER: Cancel the damned service!

The whole thing wouldn't have been such a big deal some other time, but today it became the last drop. For no particular reason, I've been feeling a little blue for the past week, so loosing these 70 bucks, especially when I'm trying so hard not to spend money on clothes and other unnecessary things, was a hard blow...mostly because I have nobody but myself to blame. It went like a snowball after that: I started to think about how tired I am from being where I am and not having a choice, of watching my stupid classmates who don't give a shit about their education but still have a thousand times more opportunities than I do, of not being able to have normal job where I could use my brain once in a while, of not being able to leave the country because of all these stupid visa status vs. visa stamp distinctions, of constantly loosing my focus and making no headway, and many other things. How did I deal with all these thoughts? -- brownies, of course. What other choice does a reasonable (insert sarcasm here ) girl like me had?

On a different topic, it kind of freaks me out that, every time I open vkontakte, I see some of my friends or acquaintances getting married or giving a birth. No, it doesn't make me jealous -- I think that, in most cases, 22 is way too early for taking a burden of raising a family upon yourself -- but it does make me question my own choices...not because I think that I should start looking for a future husband right now, but because, to be honest, I'm not planning on embarking on this quest for the next 8-10 years. On the contrary, I'll try to do my best to make sure that nothing and nobody interferes with my plans up until the moment I succeed or fail miserably. If it means not having a real life for the next eight years, I'll just have to deal with it. Some will argue that I can have both, but I don't see it this way, at least not for what I consider my goals to be. Unfortunately, at the moment it's all big words and dreams and not enough action. I know that, as far as studies are concerned, I work twice as hard as most of the people I know, but it is not enough. I keep stumbling on little things and can't figure out a way to manage my time effectively -- to work on extra things without forgetting about what I actually have to do for college, to do my best in classes, but keep in mind that doing just that will not take me far.

Once again, however, there are endless hurdles on my way. For example, I would just love to take an active part in our college life; I have plenty of leadership qualities and could have brought a lot to the table had I participated in any of the clubs. Unfortunately, I do not have time because of my job and I can't change jobs; things will most likely stay this way until I graduate. Neither do I have an opportunity to take unpaid internships because I'll have to starve and live on the streets if I do. So how much is 4.0 GPA worth if by the time I finally get Bachelor's degree I will have neither real work experience nor any college achievements other than academic ones? What am I going to write on my resume or tell on my first job interview -- I changed dirty diapers for the last 5 years? Won't all those dumbass Accounting majors in my class who don't have a clue about what the teacher is talking about have more chances to find a decent job because they are not only allowed to be employed in the US but also have been getting real work experience for all these years? What am I going to do with my Accounting degree from American university if I have to go home after I graduate? Wouldn't it have been

[показать]It took me forever to finish this little book, and I don't have enough words to describe how much I hated it. In a few words, "A Clockwork Orange" is a famous dystopia that portrays a very dim future where crime is a favorite pastime of the majority of teenagers, violence is an everyday occurrence, and fear is a common state of being. The story is presented from point of view of the narrator, a fifteen-year-old juvenile delinquent named Alex, who is an embodiment of everything that went wrong with the society. Throughout 21 short chapters of the book we follow his troublesome journey that, among other things, includes rapes, murders, imprisonment, and brainwashing. New York Times called "A Clockwork orange" "a brilliant novel...a savage satire on the distortion of the single and collective minds."; I found it dull and almost impossible to read.

For me, the worst part of the experience was that A. Burgess has chosen Russian language to create Nadsat argot that is used by the narrator. To get some idea consider this, "There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs. . .and we sat in the Korova Milkbar. . . .The Korova Milkbar was a milk-plus mesto and you may, O my brothers, have forgotten what these mestos were like, things changing so skorry these days. . ." All these Russian-English mix is made even worse by the fact that the author intentionally uses broken English to make the language of the story even more unusual or, in my opinion, simply unbearable. I bet those critics that gave the book so many accolades to the author's creativeness as far as the whole invented argot as concerned have no idea how much of a pain it is to constantly switch between English and Russian words that are written in English letters.

The language, however, is not the only thing that makes me dislike this book. I also did not care for the plot that, had A. Burgess not come up with the whole "stick as many Russian words as you can so that people have no idea what you're talking about" idea, would have been way too simplistic. Unlike "1984" that is also a dystopia, in my opinion, it just does not carry its message well enough. While reading about endless violence and trying to figure out what the sentence means, it is very difficult not to forget what the whole point of the story is. It is obvious that vivid descriptions of rapes and murders are revolting and make the reader not want to live in a world like the one described in the book, but the author, for example, never says why the society is stuck in violence -- is it regular people, mass media, or politics who are to blame? -- and finishes the book with a very strange and pessimistic message, with which I could not agree less.

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I've had Facebook account for a while now but have been mostly using "vkontakte" and ignoring its American forefather. Now I'm thinking about bringing some life to my Facebook page, so if any of you, guys, are there feel free to add me.

[показать]Я заметила, что беспорядок в квартире очень сильно на меня влияет. Признаться честно, я не являюсь большой аккуратницей и лишь с трудом переодически заставляю себя развесить всю одежду на вешалки, перемыть гору посуды в раковине, закинуть грязные вещи в машинку и т.д. Я конечно же могла бы списать вечный бардак на большую занятость на работе и в коллежде, но думаю, что дело все-таки в элементарной лени. With this being said, где-то раз в месяц на меня все же находит бзик и я привожу свою комнату в состояния идеальной чистоты. В такие дни у меня полностью сносит крышу: я развешиваю вещи по виду, цвету, и длине рукава, расставляю книги чуть-ли не по алфавиту, навожу порядок в холодильнике, начищаю до блеска плиту и раковины, и разбираю барахло, находящееся во всех бесконечных ящиках, которыми заставлена моя комната.

Не так давно я стала прослеживать тенденцию: когда моя комната находится в приличном состоянии, я превращаюсь в абсолютно другого человека, такого каким мне хотелось бы себя видеть -- я перестаю откладывать дела на завтра, делаю все уроки, слежу за своим питанием, занимаюсь зарядкой, стараюсь вовремя ложить спать; я превращаюсь в механизм, который может работать без остановки 24 часа в сутки. Чем захламленнее, однако, становится среда моего обитания, тем труднее мне поддерживать такой темп - когда комната находится в состоянии легкого беспорядка, я начинаю халтурить с уроками, периодически закидываю какую-нибудь дрянь в рот, смотрю телевизор или без дела торчу за компом до часу ночи и на следующий день едва могу нормально функционировать.

Это продолжается пока все мои когда-то красиво сложенные вещи и разложенные по полкам книги не оказываются раскиданными по полу и всем стульям, а стирка не начинает вываливаться из корзины для белья; в этот период времени состояние моей комнаты очень четко отражается в моем поведении -- я превращаюсь в своего рода амебу, которая не может заставить себя оторвать зад от дивана и заняться чем-нибудь полезным, при этом усиленно набивая рот всем, что только душа ни пожелает... пока через несколько дней или недель вдруг не оглянется вокруг и не начнет, как сумасшедшая, развешивать одежду по цвету, расставлять книги по алфавиту и снова учиться, учиться, учиться.

[показать]I finished this book yesterday and, to be honest, do not see why it is considered a must-read by whoever put together "30 Books Everyone Should Read Before Their 30th Birthday". I realize that this list is pretty much an arbitrary collection, but I still would expect books included into it to have a little more value. I would not say that "The Tipping Point" was a bad book -- on the contrary, it was a page turner -- but I did not quite understand what Gladwell's message was.

In a few words, "The Tipping Point" is a non-fiction work that has to do with what the author calls social epidemics. In the very first chapter, Gladwell claims that, having read the book, one will know how to create a social epidemic of his or her own. He then proceeds with numerous sociological and psychological studies in order to prove that most of the big things that happen in the society are a result of seemingly minor actions by a few special individuals; he calls them Mavens, Sellesmen, and Connectors. The author also explores a few factors -- such as the stickiness factor and the power of context -- that, according to him, determine whether any kind of enterprise is going to succeed.

Trying to bring his point across, Gladwell uses pretty much every single sociological study that I was told about in Sociology 101 last year. While I found reading about these studies in his book to be much more interesting than learning about them from the textbook, I did not find premises that the author derived his conclusion from to be strong enough. It just seemed like Gladwell took every single study that is out there and twisted or interpreted it to somehow fit within his argument. I also did not find his ideas to be groundbreaking: most of them are just common sense and do not need to be supported by any scientific evidence.

In general, it is a good book to read if one wants to see how sociological studies can be useful. To be honest, even though I found Sociology to be interesting because of our amazing instructor, I did not quite see the point of all the experiments we were told about. Yes, it is nice to know that people act in certain way depending on situation they are in, but what is the point on knowing that if there is pretty much nothing we can do to change this behavior. Having read "The Tipping Point", however, I can see that these studies provide information that can be later used to take advantage of certain standard behaviors of individuals and, contrary to my previous idea about usefulness of these studies, control or modify social behaviors.

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