Svetlana Shargorodskaya's Journal
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| Sunday, June 19th, 2011 | | 3:27 pm |
did i mention i'm in jerusalem?
and have been for the last half a year. but i'm too lazy to send out postcards this time around. well obviously this LJ is dead. i don't even feel like deleting the spam comments anymore. the most online presence i have left is couchsurfing - complete with my latest geographical location for all the stalkers out there. http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/cityofspheres/also! if you want to get in touch with me, my phone number here is if dialed from the united states 972 54 980 0313 if dialed from israel 054 980 0313 and, to top it off, my email is the same user id as this livejournal, at yahoo dot com | | Saturday, August 7th, 2010 | | 1:40 am |
| | Monday, February 1st, 2010 | | 7:41 pm |
The icy roommate - a New York Winter story for the Moth
- Is that a SPACE HEATER? Do you KNOW what that's going to do to the electric bill? Ah, my roommate, the heat Nazi. - How about I just pay a bigger portion of the utilities? She didn't like that idea. Our calculations for who pays how much utilities were already so complex that only a quantitative analyst from Goldman Sachs could follow them. - We'll talk about this AFTER I have my cigarette. But I really wasn't looking forward to this conversation, so when she stepped outside I just locked the door behind her. She never takes her keys or cell phone, so in a few minutes she was banging on the door and being like LET ME IN...and I was like - Well it's the same temperature inside and outside house, so what difference does it make? Of course I was going to let her in in a few minutes, just as soon as I finished watching this video on youtube...but you know how those youtube things are, I clicked on another link and then another...then I realized half an hour had passed and I was like Oh shit. I opened the door...but she was gone. I walked down the street looking for her, then down another street, and found myself in an unfamiliar part of town, all warehouses and lofts. One of these buildings was transparent, like glass, so I came up to take a closer look at it, touched it...and it started melting beneath my fingers! It was made of ice. - You like it? I turned around and saw this guy with the oddest beard and moustache - they were covered with icicles that moved and jingled when he talked. - This is your place? - Well the landlord let me have a great deal on it, because of the economic crisis. And also because I've converted it into a loft, I've built out the entire inside myself. Wanna see? - It sounds really cool, no pun intended, but I'm in the middle of looking for my roommate. - Perfect, she's already here. So I followed him inside. The inside was just like the outside - even the pipes and the wiring were ice, twisting up on the ceiling, the drywall was ice so you could see what looked like the wood frame inside of it, also made of ice. - The best part about this is that I have so much space to work on my art. He pointed to a fire pit in the middle of the floor. That's gotta be breaking all kinds of fire codes, I thought, but then I saw that this fire was very different - the logs were ice, the flames were black and grey, and instead of radiating heat, this fire just made everything around it colder. Next to the fire, there was a pile of little bodies, pigeons and rats and even a cat, all cold and stiff. - Have they frozen to death? - They were only a little bit frozen when I found them. To really freeze them, it takes more work. With that, he picked up a rat and held it over the cold black fire. The poor rat first turned white as snow, and then it became more and more transparent until it was completely ice. He did this to each animal in turn, and then gathered them up. - Now we'll take them to the gallery part. I built all those rooms to store and exhibit my work. I followed him further into the loft. The first room was full of ice birds, and he added the new ones he had just frozen to the collection. The next room was for the ice rats, cats, and dogs. In a smaller room there were tiny intricate ice roaches and ice flies. And the last room, of course, was ice humans. Most of them looked like they had been homeless, with their ice bags and ice shopping carts. But the newest addition was my roommate, all ice, still with that pissed off look on her face. And when I saw that look, I remembered all those times I wanted to hit her, but was afraid she'd call the police on me...again. But now she was defenseless, so I came up to her and gave her a shove. She fell and broke into a thousand icy shards. That was very satisfying, but she was the one on the lease, so without her, I'm going to have to find another place to live. So I'm looking for a room - this is just a substitute for a craigslist ad. Let me know if you or anyone you know has a room available. Thanks. | | Sunday, December 20th, 2009 | | 1:06 pm |
jewish refugees from yemen
So while browsing one of Clint's links I came across an article about how Jews in Yemen were being attacked and killed the last couple of years, and how some of them are coming as refugees to the United States. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125693376195819343.htmlAnyway, having been a Jewish refugee myself, it would be cool if I could help them out somehow...like my ESL teacher and HIAS and other volunteers helped my family a lot when we came here. It's a bit intimidating since they're extremely conservative and religious, but I figure I'll just put on a long skirt and see what happens. Also they speak nothing but a Judeo Yemenite Arabic dialect, plus some of them perhaps a bit of Hebrew. EDIT: Well that went wrong in ways I could not have remotely imagined and am not at liberty to disclose here. Makes for a great story, though. Especially when told to the rabbi and other members of Machar (my Secular Humanist "Judaism" "congregation" a.k.a. atheist people of Jewish ethnic background that party together on Jewish holidays) | | Friday, November 20th, 2009 | | 8:17 am |
my halfassed translation of a mind-blowingly creepy song
Ti Bi Bo, by Venya D'rkin ( Read more... )Main points in English: Doll with sharp teeth... I love my doll I cut it with a knife I broke its arms and legs... Hang in there, The ambulance is on the way Today you'll be my wounded doll I'm the doctor What do we have inside, let's see?! Inside you're just the same as anyone else! Ugh!!! Boring! Main points in Spanish: Muneca con dientes afilados... Amo a mi muneca... La cortaba con un cuchillo, Le rompia las piernas y los brazos Aguanta un poquito, La ambulancia esta en ruta Hoy tu seras mi muneca herida Soy el medico A ver, que tenemos adentro? Adentro eres igual que todos! Joder!!! Que aburrido! ( Read more... )original with music at: http://www.chitalnya.ru/work/11825/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pQDqa76nIYTo make it even creepier, the songwriter died of cancer at age 29, likely as a result of being exposed to radioactive materials during compulsory service in the Russian army. Gratuitous obligatory poll:
Poll #1487951
Reactions
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3
So...how did that strike you?
View Answers
| Sure, makes sense. |
   1 (33.3%) |
| Eh, whatever... |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| No, jeez, WTF?! |
| 1 (33.3%) |
| | Monday, November 9th, 2009 | | 6:39 am |
something ain't right...
Ugh, turns out I haven't been logged in for weeks, and only noticed it now, so I was missing all yallses locked posts. That's what you get for trying to protect your privacy on the internet, all you post-lockers you. Anyway, this was written about September: Over the space of about two weeks, half a dozen people who had just met me commented that I seem sad and tense. To which my initial reaction was "go fuck yourself", but by the fourth or fifth time I was wondering whether it was their being out of line or whether it was my being irritable. Now, if any of you, my dear LJ readers, told me that I looked out of sorts and inquired about my well-being, I would appreciate your concern. But when a person who's known me for about ten minutes says that he senses "an inner sadness" in me that I am "trying to cover up by smiling" and shares his advice about "turning that frown upside down" or about holding my shoulders in a way that evinces less stress, that strikes me as intrusive and manipulative. Intrusive because he's trying to read my mind and analyze me. Manipulative because it seems he's trying to get a particular kind of response from me - one where I open up to his suggestions. And it's not even a matter of justifying my feelings, because if I actually talk about whatever problems might be bothering me, these people seem bored and dismissive. It's not that they're asking "what's wrong? is something bothering you?" but rather "what's wrong with you? why can't you control yourself better?" To which my default answer is "I guess my brain chemistry just isn't up to par! Oh noes! (And also, why don't you go fuck yourself?)" And I posted it after being annoyed in a different way today and yesterday (8-9 Nov): Strangers telling me I need to stand up straight. Yesterday my reaction was once again a straight-up "Go fuck yourself". Today it was said by the hostess of a party I was attending, so after considering fleeing, I just sat there and wallowed in the "OMG, why am I not working really hard to improve myself" pit for hours. No seriously. Yall know me better than these people do. I trust yall to not have ulterior motives. So you get to tell me in a poll!
Poll #1482857
A Better Svetlana
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8
Which of the following improvements do you support?
View Answers
| Better facial expressions |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| Better posture/movement |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| Better vocal inflection |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| Other! Choose your own Svetlana adventure! |
| 7 (87.5%) |
| | Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 | | 7:49 pm |
it's that time again - rooms available
Three rooms in College Park for about $400-$500 each. One of them is huge. The mentally ill roommate and two other roommates moved out. Leaving me, Ramsey and Cypher (a couple), and James (a student). And our landlord has decided that if we don't find new roommates ASAP, then we all have to move out. 5001 Odessa Road College Park, MD 20740 It's a 15-20 minutes walk to Greenbelt metro. Less than a minute drive to the intersection of 95 and 495. Lots of street parking, washer/dryer, internet, Rock Band!... | | Friday, August 7th, 2009 | | 2:58 pm |
learning to drive stick is incredibly fun! is there anything else like it?
Yesterday I had a lesson in driving a stick shift. Apparently I did marvelously well, reaching third gear in my first(ish) lesson and stalling only twice in two hours, and even that only while starting uphill. But more importantly, I loved the process of being confused about the theoretical basis of it while having to concentrate on something physical, and being threatened with disastrous consequences if I messed up. The combination of focus and adrenalin was amazing! Exhausting, too. It was way better than sex. How can I feel this way more often? Various extreme sports that involve high speeds come to mind, but I really hate the idea of getting injured...dancing lacks the danger element, yoga failed to make me feel this way for years, martial arts involve attacking people...Although recently I discovered that I enjoy friendly wrestling, which I regarded as weird and annoying all my life, I imagine that real wrestling is nothing like that. Perhaps I am a much more physical person than I've previously thought, but I don't know how to pursue it further. I guess I want to feel fear, but not actually get hurt... Any suggestions? | | Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 | | 12:24 am |
i'm back from Madrid
The post-Madrid blues aren't hitting me quite yet...but still my current plan is to apply for a 12-month residency visa in Spain, and in the meantime perhaps give the US one last chance to prove itself by living in downtown Manhattan, if I can wrap my head around the logistics of that. Although when I lived in Williamsburg, which is pretty damn close, I felt I wasn't fully taking advantage of it...But the suburbs, be they in Brooklyn or in College Park, just aren't entertaining enough anymore. Perhaps the only difference between Spain and the US is that over there I can afford to live in the center of the city...Sorry to whine so much like a spoiled brat, but coming back here last year really sucked, and I want to avoid feeling that way again. In other news, apparently my College Park room no longer floods every time it rains, the way it had been doing for the last four months. Hey, next thing you know, the room in Brooklyn might have electricity or something. | | Sunday, July 12th, 2009 | | 2:44 pm |
i meant to say something earlier...
So for a few months now I've been lurking. That is, reading without commenting. Sorry :( I'll try to improve on that. I failed to mention that I went to Madrid after all. I came here June 1st, purposely missed my return flight on July 1st, and am now here indefinitely (well, either until I get called back to the US, or until I have to pay rent again August 1st, or until my European tourist visa expires September 1st.) My US phone is totally totally broken and I seem to have gotten a number of text messages that I have no way of viewing, so if yours is one of those, I'm not ignoring you, it's the phone's fault :( you can leave me voicemail or email this ID at yahoo :P Anyway, I'll post an update when I get back. Yeah I know that according to the results of the previous poll I should have gone to London...this doesn't mean I don't value your advice; I just didn't have the nerve to deal with a new place. | | Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 | | 7:49 am |
Once again, the summer is here and I don't have to be around for a while. So, why not thrust myself into yet another unfamiliar stressful environment and see how freaked out and depressed it'll make me this time around!
Poll #1406437
where to?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9
a month in:
View Answers
| London |
| 5 (55.6%) |
| Kiev |
| 3 (33.3%) |
| Madrid, again |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| somewhere else. where? |
| 1 (11.1%) |
Also, i was way too half-assed to make any birthday plan. (I really thought I'd be out of the country by this point, but I'm still here, dammit.) In spite of my lack of planning, the birthday still arrived...so come over to my house and we'll build towers out of legos together. Except I don't have any legos, so bring them with you. Also my room flooded again so we can't have sex in there, sorry.(Whoa, shouldn't have told you that, there goes any motivation you might have had to actually come over here.) Seriously though, apparently one of my roommates is going to make a cake. Anyway if you're at all interested in coming over or celebrating elsewise take the poll or leave a comment, I'll check them when I wake up on the couch in the late afternoon, and then, seeing the emptiness, drown my sorrow in an ill-conceived internet dating encounter.
Poll #1406443
tonight
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4
let's meet up somewhere
View Answers
| does my house qualify as "somewhere"? |
| 2 (50.0%) |
| mayorga coffee in silver spring |
| 1 (25.0%) |
| tryst in adams morgan |
| 1 (25.0%) |
| somewhere else, where? |
| 0 (0.0%) |
| | 6:59 am |
| | Monday, January 26th, 2009 | | 1:41 am |
| | Monday, December 22nd, 2008 | | 4:47 am |
Four rooms in College Park for about $400-$500 each
Our evil roommate is officially moving out, and now it's just me, Radha, and four empty rooms. 5001 Odessa Road College Park, MD 20740 It's a 15-20 minutes walk to Greenbelt metro. Less than a minute drive to the intersection of 95 and 495. Lots of street parking, washer/dryer, cable... | | Thursday, August 21st, 2008 | | 3:11 pm |
post-Madrid syndrome; SpaWorld!
Whereas in Madrid all I did was to go out all the time, now that I'm back I feel like I just want to sit at home and work on my projects (improving in singing, Hebrew, Spanish, and linguistics), with the help of various websites and gadgets. I'm not sure whether to give in to this mood or to consider it unhealthily antisocial and try to go out in spite of myself. Paradoxically, I simultaneously want to recapture the Madrid mystique, without having to fly there again. Where is that US city where, when you walk out into the street or other public place, you see people randomly singing and dancing, and someone hands you a beer?
Poll #1245944
Madrid-like cities in the U.S.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9
Where is the next Madrid?
View Answers
| New Orleans |
| 5 (55.6%) |
| Nashville |
| 2 (22.2%) |
| Miami |
| 1 (11.1%) |
| Other |
| 1 (11.1%) |
For a completely different world that is neither Madrid nor U.S., I have recently discovered SpaWorld in Centreville, VA. It is one of the three largest Korean bathhouses in the U.S., constructed at a cost of 15 million dollars, and features ( Read more... ) http://www.spaworldusa.com/ | | Friday, August 8th, 2008 | | 1:19 am |
new address in DC
5001 Odessa Rd College Park, MD 20740 Still got the place in NYC available, not sure about when I'll phase it out. | | Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 | | 3:42 am |
party - good, communist - bad
Well, after getting my connectivity and food needs met, and somewhat getting over the constant touching, I started to like this place a whole lot better. In fact, I have completely fallen in love with the street life, and rather spoiled in that I pretty much expect people to be partying in the street at all hours, so much that I'm not sure how I'll readjust to the United States. Last night was the best one so far - dozens of people dancing until dawn to an improv jam session of flute, drums and guitar. ( Read more... )(The atmosphere of festive shiftlessness may be due to the fact that I live in Lavapies, which is considered by everyone to be the worst, ghettoest neighborghood of Madrid.) At this point, my top peeve about this place is how much people here hate capitalism as practiced in the United States. ( Read more... ) when they say that they don't like how in America people work really hard, work a lot of hours, and consume a lot, I just want to shake them. So, to summarize, tomorrow I am returning to a place of less partying and more capitalism! | | Thursday, July 31st, 2008 | | 12:04 am |
| | Thursday, July 17th, 2008 | | 10:09 pm |
my inner yankee triumphs over my inner Gogol Bordello
Now I realize how comfortably US-like Chile and Israel were. Here I feel like a horrendous yankee gringa. In good news, before coming here, I thought that the US was doomed and that the euro was going to kick the dollar's ass. Now, looking at this freakshow up close, I have faith that the good ole US of A will triumph over this mess. To sum up the culture shock, I will describe my first encounter with Madrid. Awakening from my first post-flight nap at 2 A.M., I venture out of the hostel to find something to eat. There is nothing, nothing edible in sight. I start asking passerbys...and suddenly see a group of people, two playing guitars, them and two more singing, about a dozen dancing. Just so, in the middle of the street. One of the ladies, who looks like she's past 60, grabs me by the arm, gives me a sip of her beer, and starts whirling me about in a dance. ( Read more... )In summary, here's what I want to say to these people: put down your guitar/beer/joint for just a minute and make me some fries/sell me a phone/install my internet, please! And quit effing touching me. Yes, I realize this makes me sound like a totally cranky, grumpy, unfun bitch. Gogol Bordello would be deeply ashamed of me. | | Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 | | 7:23 pm |
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