My 8's

So I saw this on a blog for a friend of a friend. I don't usually go in for lists, but I liked this one. Maybe they are supposed to be, but for me, my lists aren't in order of greatest importance

8 things I'm Passionate About:
1. My family
2. Good steak (medium to medium-rare, only salt and pepper and maybe lemon pepper)
3. Video games
4. Liberty
5. My country
6. Russian language and history
7. Chinese language and history
8. Books

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
1. Go to St. Petersburg, Russia again
2. See the Red Square in Moscow, Russia
3. Visit Beijing, Shanghai, Taibei, and Huzhou, China
4. Have a son and daughter
5. Learn a third foreign language
6. Earn a Bachelor's Degree
7. Visit many of the major Civil War and Revolutionary War battle sites
8. Get under 200 lbs again

8 Things I Say Often:
1. "Crap!"
2. "Suck it up!"
3. "Sorry."
4. "Get off your back!" (I'm coaching wrestling)
5. "Пошёл бы ты на фиг!"
6. "Здорово, Корово!"
7. "说曹操曹操就到"
8. "What else? Who else? Why else? How else? Where else?"

8 Books I've Recently Read:
1. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
2. Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder
3. Rogue Angel by Alex Archer
4. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgolkov
5. Artemis Fowl by Eion Colfer (actually listened on CDs)
6. The Painted House by John Grisham (also on CDs)
7. Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz
8. Lisey's Story by Stephen King

8 Things I could listen to over and over:
1. Lion King soundtrack (Only the Broadway version)
2. "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by The Crash Test Dummies
3. My wrestlers' names being called at tournament medal ceremonies
4. Bacon sizzling in a pan
5. People complaining when I kill them on Halo
6. Little children laughing
7. Certain Wierd Al Yankovic songs (i.e. "Eat It", "Fat", "The Saga Begins", etc.)
8. Most songs by Chicago

8 Things That Attract Me to My Best Friends:
1. Being teamed up during extreme circumstances
2. Blood relation (My closest friends are my relatives, for the most part)
3. Being able to lean on them and they being able to lean on me
4. Trust
5. Similar senses of humor
6. Being able to talk about similar experiences
7. Paying back borrowed money (I've lost friendships because of this)
8. Similar morals and values

8 Things I've Learned This Past Year:
1. College admissions have changed dramatically, both for the good and bad
2. Not having a full-time job is more boring than working the same job everyday
3. How to cook a roast in the crock pot (not really that hard)
4. CNAs at geriatric hospitals are extremely undervalued
5. The Auotbahn (Germany) isn't as cool as it always sounded to me, but the castles are
6. How to solve the Rubik's Cube
7. You can still win a game on Fantasy Football when half your starters have a bye week
8. Having only one TV channel really sucks

College Registration

Over the last week, I have been registering for college classes. The last time I attended college was way back in 2001. At that time, I had get a large cataloge from the registar's office and serach in it for what classes I wanted. After I found all the classes, I filled out a form requesting a seat in those classes. A little while later, I received notice that I had been enrolled into those classes or that those classes were full and I needed to reschedule that class. However, now it is totally different. Everything is done online. Maybe I'm just really old-fashioned, but I still like to do things in person. I feel like that it is easier to fix problems if I can talk to a person, than if I have to search around a website looking for the answer. I do like, however, the immediate access to information about class size and eligibility. I guess that there are up's and down's to everything being done on the internet.

我介绍我

我性莫叫松亭。我的中文现在不好可是我要在大学学习中文和俄文。我还没开始上大学但是明年我打算上大学。我希望过了几年我在这个网址可以写很多。要是我写了一个错误就告诉我。谢谢。

College

So, I will be starting school for the first time in 6 years next semester. I'm a little nervous about not having the study habits anymore (not like I had great study habits to begin with). I am also worried about taking classes that go beyond the ones I took 6 years ago. I doubt that I remember too much about them. Oh well. I will just have to figure it out. I have around 80 credits, but still feel very much like a freshman. This is only added to by the fact that I will probably have to still go to school for at least 3-4 years. I must say, though, that I am very excited to start my forward progression in my life again. I sometimes feel like I am stuck in a rut. I feel like my memory is really slipping, too. I think that I have not really used it too much and that I am starting to forget things too easily. Anyways, I think that I am having a hard time figuring out exactly how to explain the anxiety and excitement I am feeling.

I am planning on getting into translating/interpreting. As I have mentioned before, I already speak Russian and Chinese. This is what I want to study, with a touch of business. I would like to get a job with an international business that will provide me a chance to go to Russia and/or China every so often (this would be especially good if I could take my family with me).

Great Russian Book

Lately, I have been reading a lot of books. One book that I have enjoyed is The Master and Margarita (Мастер и Магарита). It was written by Mikhail Bulgalkov between the years of 1929-1940. It was finished by his wife after his death in 1940. I initally read half of it in Russian and am now reading it in English.

The premise of the book is hilarious. Basically, the book takes place in Moscow, Russia during the 1930's. At this time most Russians claim to be atheists. One day, a famous editor and a poet meet in a park in Moscow. The editor had tasked the poet to write something proving the Jesus Christ never existed. The editor wasn't pleased with what the poet wrote and tried to show the poet exactly what he wanted. During this conversation, a "man" appears and approaches the two. He is very pleased to find out that they don't believe in God and Satan. Then he disagrees with them about the existence of Christ. This man tells the editor and the poet a story about Christ's trial in front of Pontius Pilate. It is a very strange version, very different from the Bible story. After the story, this "man" then makes a couple of predictions about the two men, which come true through out the book. This man actually turns out to be the Devil and he runs out of control in atheist Moscow. The book contains a very sophisticated satire about how the Devil enjoys atheism.

The book was banned until a censored version was published in 1966. In 1967, an underground network of self-publishers published the censored parts of the book. Finally, in 1973, the entire book was published based on the final fourth edition. And in 1989, the book was published using all available manuscripts (the first edition was burned by Bugalkov in 1930).

For a more in depth look at the book go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_Margarita.

Far Side

I really enjoy Greg Larson's Far Side comics. Here are a few that I found recently.

Jack doing Jack

This clip speaks for itself. (It might have some strong language, the swear words are all bleepped out)