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There are only two ways to live your life. One
is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as if everything is.
- Albert Einstein
| Project Guttenberg - a
wonderful site with a huge amount of free electronic books, stories, and any
other written forms you could think of. If you go there, check out the works
of Somerset Maugham, one of the greatest authors ever. Also worth reading
are some of Mark Twain's less famous works. (Too bad Bridget Jones' Diary is
not there!) |
| Google
- needs no explanation (also, my new start-up page... yeah, yeah, I
know - just like thousands of other people's) |
| CNN.com
- my source of news (since don't have a TV) and also my ex- start-up page
(turns out, it's way too distracting to have a news page as your start-up
page) |
| Sewanee
- one of the most beautiful places on Earth (also happens to be the place
where I went to college). When I decided to go to Sewanee, now I realize, I
really had no idea what I was getting into, but - lucky me! - it worked
out so well. |
| CMU
- my current Alma Mater |
| SETI@Home
& Genome@Home
- two projects to which I 'donate' my spare CPU cycles. |
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ACTIVITIES
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Mafia
- a great game I was introduced to recently, which unfortunately cost me my
good name and earned me the reputation of "she'll look you straight
in the eye and lie" - thank you, Desney!
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Foosball - also a recent interest, and the explanation is
that all of a sudden I found myself friends with some really good players,
so learning and playing is a lot of fun. (By the way, do you know a
good site for foos?).
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| Juggling!
What can I say about juggling - it's fun :-) Again, suddenly I found myself
surrounded by some really good jugglers (yes, my friends are quite
multi-talented), so I got the urge to learn (come to think of it, that's
similar to how I got into CS, but that's a whole other story). Now all I
need to do is practice. Easy!
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| Racquetball - better than tennis, squash, badminton
or any other such sport... and don't let anybody tell you different. One
thing - when you play, make sure you get one of those XL racquets - the
small ones are harder to play with :). And - finally - I have my own racquetball
racquet - makes me feel like a professional player! Actually, last time I
felt something similar was when I bought a hammer. You see, I think owning a
hammer is the ultimate sign of being grown-up and independent.
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BOOKS
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving - a
wonderful book which I have read and re-read several times. Absolutely
fascinating. It's probably one of my favorite books. John Irving is such a great writer. The Water Method Man was
also really good. I hear Life According to Garp is also something I will
like. It's on my to-do list. Update: yes! It IS a great book. I'll highly
recommend it to anyone who might ask me about it. Marty found some scenes a
little disturbing (although he liked the book), so caveat emptor. Another
novel by Irving which I bought recently is Setting Free the Bears. I
haven't finished it yet, but if you liked all the other ones above, you will probably
like this one, too. Typical Irving book about friendship, Austria, male bonding,
love, bears, the meaning of life, and, of course, zoos. Update: certainly an
interesting book, but not among his best works, IMHO, although Kurt Vonnegut
seems to have said "I admire the hell out of this book".
Of Human Bondage, by Somerset Maugham - I have a
friend who is offended by the title, but she is wrong. It's not that kind of
bondage. :-) In Bulgarian, the translation is "Souls in Chains" -
Irene liked that much better. What can I say? Another great book by an
outstanding author. I've also read it a few times, and would reread it again, if
I have time. Here are three other of Mr. Maugham's books that I really liked: The
Moon and the Sixpence, Cakes and Ale, and The Razor's Edge. By
the way, both "Of Human Bondage" and "The Moon and the
Sixpence" are available electronically through Project Guttenberg
(and are free, as everything there).
Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding. A
wonderful-wonderful, really funny, down-to-earth, insightful, "oh my God!
that's me!"-kind of book. All women should read it (and most would probably
love it) - you'll find yourself laughing out loud and lending the book to all
your friends. And all men should read it, too, especially if they claim that
"women are so hard to understand". Read this book and you'll
understand how women think and why they act the way they do (if for some reason
that's not already clear). As Elizabeth Gleick says in The New York Times
Book Review, "... it captures neatly the way modern women teeter between
"I am a woman" independence and a pathetic girlie desire to be all
things to all men". I completely agree with this, although this comment
does not do justice to all the other wonderful aspects of the book. But - read
it and you'll see what I am talking about.
Le Petit Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery - a
wonderful children's story, for young and not so young children. It was written
in 1943, one year before Exupery's death. "The proof that the little
prince existed is that he laughed, and that the was looking for a sheep. If
anybody wants a sheep, that is a proof that he exists." Read the original
French version (let me know if you find a link to the English one anywhere).
-J'aime bien les couchers de soleil. Allons voir un coucher de soleil...
-Mais il faut attendre...
-Attendre quoi?
-Attendre que le soleil se couche.
Tu as eu l'air très surpris d'abord, et puis tu as ri de toi-même. Et tu
m'as dit:
-Je me crois toujours chez moi!
Harry Potter, by J. K. Rowling - of
course! Did you think I would not put this here? You
have to read it to know what I am talking about! Can't wait to see the movie.
Don't know why it's such a phenomenon, though, but here is what happened on my
recent flight to Atlanta: in the shuttle to the airport, I was reading HP and a
girl behind me was reading, too; in the plane, I was reading HP and a guy in the
window seat was reading AND a guy in the aisle seat across from me was reading it
as well - wow! Update: OK, I saw the movie. It was good, but I can't say it was GREAT.
Not one of those movies that you want to see again as soon as you reach the
credits. Monsters, Inc., on the other hand, seems like it just *might* be that
kind of movie. Have to go and see for myself, I guess (the trailer was
awesome!). Yes! Indeed, Monsters, Inc was a great-great movie!
MOVIES
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Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain
(2001) -
a great French movie, directed by
Jean-Pierre Jeunet (the English title is "Amelie").
Really cute,
really funny, really touching. I don't know what else to say - anything else
would spoil it. I thought it was amazing how well the young and the old version
of the character matched. Reminded me of a lot of things from life I had not
thought about for a while.
Go see it if you haven't - it's worth it.
All my friends also love this movie... except for *one* who, although he
also later said he liked it, fell asleep during it, but we won't name
names here and embarrass people. (See what imdb
has to say about it, if you want a second opinion.)
Also, the soundtrack
is wonderful. I think I know it by heart now :) |
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The Piano (1993) -
an Australian
film, directed by Jane Campion. I think I've seen this film more than 5 times
(and that's really rare for me!) and I still like it. Not sure what it is about
it that I like, except that maybe it's so strange and so enchanting. I read
some reviews and was shocked to see that half the people said "best movie
I've ever seen" and the other half said "worst movie I've ever
seen". Oh, well, at least no one will deny it's controversial. I don't
think I liked it much the first time I saw it, though. But I was pretty young
(in 1993 - sure!). I can never watch the finger scene without covering my face,
but overall it's a beautiful film, in a bizarre sort of way. (See what imdb
has to say about it, if you want a second opinion.) |
PEOPLE
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Jacques Prévert -
one of my favorite poets. This guy is
great, I wish I had gotten a chance to know him. Unfortunately he died the year
I was born (on April 11). I don't know what he died from, but judging from
the pictures I've seen of him, it must have been lung cancer - I have
not seen a picture of him without a cigarette dangling from his mouth...
also, come to think of it, I've never seen a picture of him smiling.
Maybe he died of sadness? Very simple poems, a lot of them very brief
and very memorable - masterpieces of simplicity. They are something you
want to read and reread, both when you feel happy and sad. He can talk
without emotion about very emotional things, and he drops his words
casually but so masterfully, just like someone throwing cards into a
hat. Some of his great poems are here. |
| Sergej Esenin -
Russia's "village" poet who wrote some of the most
beautiful and sensual poems I've ever read (although I have never read him in translation,
so can't really imagine how that would sound.) He writes a lot about birches,
love, his mother, sadness, and drinking. He was married to the
famous American dancer Isadora Duncan and accompanied her to America on
one of her tours. Isn't it ironic that "from America Esenin did not
find anything good but the fox-trot dance"? I've been to his
house in Konstantinovo when I was very young, so unfortunately I don't remember
much. All I remember was a mold of his right (or maybe left?) hand, made after
his death. He committed suicide in 1925. As one critic put it, "Esenin died
at the age of 30, tired of life and poetry".
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| Vassil Levski -
a Bulgarian national hero (and maybe now
a saint, too? not sure). Considered the greatest Bulgarian revolutionary against
the Turkish yoke, he is one of the (or maybe even THE) most revered people in
Bulgaria ever. Also called "the Apostle of Freedom" by the people, he
is the only Bulgarian whose personality has never been questioned during the
years (and that means a lot!). In his early 20's Levski (which
means "like a Lion") lived in resignation from the world and
served as a monk (deacon), before he devoted himself to
revolutionary work. He was betrayed, tried, and hanged by the Turks in
1873 (104 years before I was born). His remains were secretly buried, so
they would not become a place of worship. The murder shocked and threw
the Bulgarians into national grief, but did not stop them. Three years
after his death, in April 1876, the National Revolt burst out and
brought with itself the 500-year awaited freedom. His most famous saying
is "if I win, wins the whole nation - if I lose, I lose only myself."
A deep bow from me. |
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Joe Dassin -
love his voice and his songs. He's a French
singer ('singer' is really not strong enough, but for the lack of something
better...) born on 5 Nov 1938 and died of a heart attack on 20 Aug 1980. (Wow -
3 years and 18 days after I was born! Please forgive me, I have a tendency of
calculating dates with respect of my birthday, but how else can I put things in
perspective?) Isn't it weird? For some people - writers, authors, actors,
scientists - we are not sure if they are still alive or not. We never check. It
always feels like there is no way they are not. And then you find out (often
accidentally) that they are dead or have been dead from even before you were
born and you say "wait a second! how can this be true?" But maybe this
is what immortality really is...
"Salut! C'est encore moi,
Salut, comment tu vas?.."
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| Serge Gainsbourg -
the singer-provocateur, the dirty
mouth of French pop. Not really a favorite favorite, but an interesting guy, for
sure. His impact on French music is considered "inestimable". If you
have not heard his "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus", you have missed an
important phenomenon in the songs world. "Journalists, world politicians,
even the Pope condemned the song as immoral." Curious? This same song was
the only French song to ever climb to Number 1 on the English charts. More
curious now? In the States, of course, there was never even the
question of putting the song on the radio. Surprised? It may have been the era
of free speech and free love, but not on the American air waves. But back to
Serge. This is the guy who once said "I have succeeded at everything
except my life." Ahhh - who doesn't like controversial people? (To open
brackets here - what's the deal with all these 'smoking' pictures? Seems
that's the standard pose for all [old] French celebrities...) Serge was born
on 2 April 1928 and died of a heart attack on 2 March 1991, at the age of almost 63, when I was finishing 6th grade. Isn't it interesting how these extraordinary
people die of completely ordinary things, like heart attacks... Read a few good
articles on on Serge. article1
article2
For the interested - his lyrics. |
| Elvis -
OK, since we are doing singers - how can I not
mention the great Elvis here? He's the only person whose poster I have at home -
now that's really special! But how can you not love that deep, smooth,
sexy, breathless (in his later years) voice - and his arrogant, charming, "drive-thousands-of-girls-
crazy" looks. I was not around when he
died, but I can imagine that it must have been something like when Diana died,
and even more. (Actually, to correct what I said, I was around, but I was
only 10 days old - surely not old enough to mourn the untimely death of the
King.) Well, I'll tell you a secret - I understand some people say he is dead...
Don't be fooled - I saw him this summer in Chicago. No kidding. Also, speaking
of The King, I've been to Graceland, his home estate. A few years ago a friend
of mine took me to there, thus sacrificing his "dignity, integrity",
and some other virtuous quality that I forget. But, you know, it would have been
such a shame - living in Tennessee for 4 years and not visiting Graceland. (And
let me open a bracket here, because I have to tell you about this most curious
thing that happened there. First, we took a picture outside, near a sign that
said "Graceland". Then I had to load a new roll of film. After that, I
started taking pictures again and then finished the roll there. When I got back
home and developed the roll... guess what? It was blank! Now that's clearly a
sign, don't you think? If only I could figure out a sign of what... [not
of bad film- loading, I hope] So, that picture outside, near the sign, is all
that I have left from that visit. I hope Dave feels vindicated.) Graceland was
nice, but I don't remember being too impressed. Rather, I thought everything was
too small and tame - but maybe that was because of my very different
expectations. Anyway - what else can I say about Elvis that has not been said
before? Well, that's what I thought, too. |
Things of Interest to Myself (and
probably no one else):
One of my favorite nursery rhymes (and maybe one of the first
ones I learned in my English class is the one about Humpty Dumpty:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again!
And ever since I was a little girl, I've always wondered what "Humpty
Dumpty" meant what what the story behind the rhyme was. So, I was thrilled
when I recently stumbled upon the answer on the web. For those who have also
pondered this question, here's the answer:
( From the East Anglia Tourist Board in England:)
"Humpty Dumpty was a powerful cannon during the English Civil War
(1642-49). It was mounted on top of the St Mary's at the Wall Church in
Colchester defending the city against siege in the summer of 1648. (Although
Colchester was a Parliamentarian stronghold, it had been captured by the
Royalists and they held it for 11 weeks.) The church tower was hit by the
enemy and the top of the tower was blown off, sending "Humpty"
tumbling to the ground. Naturally the King's men tried to mend him but in
vain." (The "men" would have been infantry, and
"horses" the cavalry troops.)
Here's another nursery rhyme which I read for the first time just a few days
ago. For some reason I really liked it.
If all the world were paper,
And all the sea were ink,
If all the trees
Were bread and cheese,
What should we have to drink?
Another rhyme (a song, actually) which brings me to my childhood. Our wonderful
English teacher Elena Dmitrievna (Karavaeva) used to bring a guitar to school
and we would sing together. I wonder where she is now...
Little Robin Redbreast sat upon a tree,
Up went pussy cat, and down went he!
Down came pussy, and away Robin ran;
Says little Robin Redbreast, "Catch me if you can!"
Little Robin Redbreast jumped upon a wall,
Pussy cat jumped after him, and almost got a fall!
Little Robin chirped and sang, and what did pussy say?
Pussy cat said, "Mew," and Robin jumped away.
Strawberry
Storms
Nothing is work, unless you'd
rather be doing something else.
-
George Halas (turns out he's a football player... Hmm!)
OK, that's enough for now to get you thinking. I'll be posting
more as I get more time.
This page was last updated on 08/01/02
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"It is not because things are
difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that
they are difficult." - Seneca
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