Skylar’s Blog

Well, more than 7 months after my first post, perhaps it is time to update a bit on things that i have accomplished from that original list. I’m just gonna list things that i did do, and not worry about the rest, some of those things were pretty long term goals anyway .

As of now, i have:

Baked bread from scratch. many times over now. I love it, cooking, baking, it’s fun!! So i have baked white bread, wheat bread, and banana bread, and while i was still at my dad’s house, i had been baking the wheat bread on a fairly regular basis. very tasty! Not hard to do, just mix the ingredients, let the yeast make it rise, punch it down, let it rise again, bake it, and walah! bread! dash gone good bread too Now that i am in own apartment, haven’t begun the baking yet, but i do have the ingredients .

This year i did help immensely with the home garden, and i have been enjoying the fruits of labor since the beginning of summer. now that i am out of the house, i don’t have as easy access to the tasty plants, but i have tried to have some on every visit to my dad’s house. I also built several planters out of the same boards i made that crazy sled out of during winter, and have the planters set up at the new apartment on the balcony. haven’t planted anything yet… soon soon….

The learning of Russian hasn’t been a real hardcore thing, but i do feel like have learned a lot, and have become at least a little familiar with the language. i hear… like… every 3rd or 4th word .

At the end of this spring, i finished up an associates degree! word, not that it will get me far, but i am working on the next step here at OSU in the fall. New goal: B. S. in two or so years.

Remember that t-shirt thing? well, never did actually make a t shirt for cameesa, but did put that stuff on Cafe Press, and… have so far sold 2 tshirts!!!! woot woot! made 5 bucks… split between me and Oksana. wow, profits just rollin in…..

Totally made a white wings.

I was working on Learning the night sky pretty hardcore at one point, but then kinda slacked. I learned a lot, and feel pretty familiar with several of the major constellations, but i would definitely say my knowledge is incomplete. a little harder to keep up with here in Corvallis too, but i think i can handle finishing this one up in the near future.

Though i haven’t really reaped any profits from a website, i have started a project in the direction, in collaboration with my good friend Tom, with Goji Berries Facts. I may consider putting google ads here at this blog as well in the future. At this point the blog does get regular traffic, but not much, and mostly for insignificant and un-focused keywords. Certainly, won’t be pulling in more than a few dollars anytime soon, but money is money.

So, that’s the story. I pretty happy that i could say all that had been done actually. Perhaps the next blog will be an updated list and what i see for myself in the near future.

In other news, I am engaged! And getting married within the month! It’s craziness, but i am filled with Joy

I suppose I haven’t felt the desire to share. .  I guess i figure that a blog  is for fun, not for work, and if i don’t feel like i have anything that i want put out there… then nothing gets put out there.

Sooo, basic update:

Moved to Corvallis, signed up and registered classes for OSU in fall, rescued cat from shelter, cat’s name is Speck, Oksana is here at our new apartment, we have plenty of plans, apartment is nice, cozy (aka small), but nice and modern.  Went to North Carolina a month ago, saw extended family, was wonderful trip, everyone getting a little older, more grown up, except uncle gary, who grows down.  On the tail end of a very strong heat wave with temperatures over 110 degrees fahrenheit, put window air conditioner in sliding glass door and sealed with saran wrap.  very ghetto.  set up first online marketing site, Goji Berries.   getting a handle on the online marketing world, if i spam your blog, no hard feelings.  Oh yeah, this blog got spammed hardcore, lots of stuff about viagra etc.  had to change comment options, so now if you want to leave a comment, you have to register on the blog.   not a big deal, but i promise not to be offended if you just skip it, even if your comment was amazing.  also changed style of blog.  much cleaner, more professional, while still being light on dark, which i like.  have been playing with linux more, setting up old computer to be file server, and maybe web server, stopped using ubuntu and went to Debian.  I liked it at first, but starting to think that linux for brain dead idiots (ubuntu) may have been the way to stay.  so i might go back.  ummmmmm, got netflix! and… thats about all i got…

new russian words to know:

potom = later

moszhna = allowed

panyat = float in the air

beleeko = far away

zamoski = overseas

I don’t know how these words will come in useful, but i hear them in russian conversation, and it helps a lot to know them.

Peace out.

Sigh, three long and wonderful months since I posted. Been out of Ukraine for a month and half already. My bad. The real kicker that kinda stopped the posting was when I was in Ukraine, my laptop hard drive died on me. Had to start from scratch. Was pretty lame, especially when I did not have my xp install disk to install an operating system on the laptop even if I did get new hard drive. However, this motivated me to try a linux install. Once upon a time I did a fedora install on an old computer so as to just be able to use the computer. The computer was really underpowered for what I was trying to get it to run, and tho it worked, eventually I just gave up on it. Fast forward several years, and I purchased a new hard drive in Ukarine, and loaded ubuntu on laptop, which worked very well. I have become a fan! Anyway, many things since then, and with a little luck, I can share lots and lots and lots. But not tonight, cuz I need sleep. Peace.

slova = word

yezik = language/tongue

rooski = Russian

angle-inski = English

zalstra = tomorrow

sputnik = satellite!

Moosar = garbage

Meeyasa = meat (try not to mix up with garbage)

ootra = morning

dien = day

krasnay = red

vecher = evening

noche = night

snieg = snow

chetayoo = I read

shetayoo = I count

gavaryoo = I speak

horrowshow = good/well

plo-ha = bad

loobloo = love

ya n-ye znayoo pa rooski = I don’t know Russian!

 

Well, if you did not know, I am currently located about 6000 miles from you, give or take.  Thats 10,000 kilometers.  The other side of the world.  Chernigov, Ukraine.  Never been to another continent before.  Its different, and the differences are fascinating to me.  Soo much of it is just perception, but to me it feels like a very unique culture.  Or perhaps an interesting combinations of culture.  Small cultural things seem to come from every direction, north, south, east, and west influences combined into something completely of their own.  And its old! Influences can be traced not only from direction, but also era.  And not that I have met nearly enough people to say that this accounts for all of them, but I feel like the people I am with have a profound respect for living, and that in itself if exhilarating.  With all that said, no matter how different and foreign a place might seem, the some things are the same, and that is great as well.

 

The trip here was interesting.  I forgot to sleep before leaving, and I left my house at 1:30 in the morning.  Had plenty of time at the airport, no rush there, but as soon as I got on the first plane, there were problems (typical, I think I have an average of 1 in 3 of my flights and arrival getting messed up at this point).  The weather was really cold (teens in Fahrenheit), and I think that was probably complicating things, apparently they were having problems with a computer controller of the engines.  Back to the jet way we went…. computer got reset.  In the plane I was swearing to myself, as I only had a 40 minute layover at the next airport, and that time was quickly being eroded away.  If I missed the next flight, it was almost a guarantee that I would not make the international flight, and would like be spending a night at an airport.  Figure a 20 hour trip turned into a 36 hour trip- ugh.  However, fortunately, I hit the ground running and just barely made my next flight, the last person on the plane.  And, on that flight, I swear to god, Paul Giamatti, the actor, was sitting just a row behind me with his family.  I wasn’t sure if it was him on the plane, and even if it was, I didn’t want to be an asshole fan-like person.  But I looked up some stuff online after, and it was totally him and his family!  Hehehe, I thought it was cool, I really like “Lady in the Water”, even though everyone else hates it. 

 

From there, I didn’t spend much time in the next airport either, and then it was only 10 hours straight on  one more plane.  Ugh…..  stretched on forever.  I didn’t feel like I slept on the plane very much, if at all, but… somehow I can remember very little of the flight… When I was conscious on the plane, I had Luda to keep me company, my seat mate.  I must admit, she was awesome!  She was older lady that did not speak a lick of English, but she smiled a lot, and was really nice.  And I was able to help her when the stewardess came around with food and coffee and stuff!  Hehehe, I only know so many words, but it was awesome being useful. 

 

Soon enough I made it.  Off the plane and into Oksana’s arms.  Sigh… so nice .  At this point though, the only sleep I have had is bad sleep on the plane over a 38 hour period, and my clock is all kinds of messed up.  Even now, 2 days later, I desperately want to sleep at around 6 or 7 pm local time (10 am back home, which makes no sense at all to me….), and even after pushing it to 10 pm to sleep, I wake up at 5 am and can’t sleep at all after that.  I am trying really hard to force my internal clock, but circadian rhythms are a function of the body that I now realize are far beyond my control.  It’s a little frustrating…. but oh well.

 

I love all the food, but there is sooo much!  Many different flavors on the table, lots of wholesome food, lots of meat, it’s awesome!  Celebration.  And I must confess, I really liked having the first dinner with Oksana’s family, laughing, talking (sorta), and drinking local honey vodka!  It was awesome. 

 

Well, what else… Its cold, but not real bad.  Colder than Oregon.  The weather… overcast, feels like Oregon… maybe a little flatter though.  I walked on a frozen river yesterday!  Never done that before.  Well, now that I woke up and emptied my mind in the early morning, I’m starting to feel that maybe I do have a bit more sleep in me.  Just gotta keep the clock changing.

Funny how some days one feels the creative spark, and some days not. Quote from the Indian to Dustin Hoffman in “Little Big Man” after the Indian comes back down the mountain, “Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

The night sky hasn’t been affording me much to see as of late. Oregon winter = cloudy nights with light rain. First good night in the near future I am still very much anticipating viewing Saturn. Its getting about the right time of year, and i suppose as soon as this next full moon passes and a clear night comes, there will be a prime viewing opportunity. Also, i received a birthday present a little early, seeing as my birthday is Saturday, a set of binoculars. Something i asked for, something that is easy to take with me for viewing the night sky. If and whenever i ever get around to the backpack hiking, they would be something that i would love to have with me as well. I wasn’t very specific when i was asking, other than they be 50 mm objective lenses, a good medium size. And of course i got a great pair of 20 zoom binoculars, but it is an interesting thing what is best for viewing the night sky. Turns out that there is a relationship between the objective lens and zoom power that affects the size of the image presented to your eye. A 20×50 (20 zoom and 50mm main lens) presents roughly a 50/20 = 2.5mm image to the eye. In bright light conditions the pupil constricts to roughly this size, making a 20×50 appropriate for daylight use. However, at night, the pupils can dilate up to as much as 7mm to absorb more light, and when the image is only 2.5mm, much of the pupil’s light absorbing ability is wasted. For night use, with the same size pair of binoculars, it is better to have a lower power set, and as such i swiftly returned my pair for a 10×50 pair. I dislike returning gifts, bu i really like the 10×50’s. I must also say, 20 zoom was really too much for hand held use. They had to be held very very steady to see what you are looking at, and the 10 zoom are much easier to use quickly. Now just for the clouds to pass… or maybe a really interesting looking bird to come by…

I was reading an article on msn the other day about 2008 being the gayest year yet in Hollywood. First off, I must mention that i do not harbor any resentment to the gay community, I guess honestly i don’t harbor much of any strong feeling for the community. However as i was reading the article, I noticed a profound change in my perspective of gays. I can vaguely remember being a high school student, and my perspectives at the time. I would say at that earlier time that the idea of a gay man bothered me. The act, the idea of a man with another man, well, just didn’t fit. I’m straight, go figure. However, at that time in my life, i would be lying if i said the idea of lesbians did not capture my attention (just a little bit, i swear). So, as a very young man, gay men bad, gay women hot. Now I’m reading this article, and i realized a funny thing was happening. Every time I read about a new gay guy that came out in Hollywood, I really wasn’t bothered in the least. However, every time I read about a lesbian in Hollywood, well… my thoughts were, “gosh darn it, she’s gay now!? she’s hot, that sucks.” And damn Ellen marrying this young hot chick, she’s like a sugar daddy? I dunno, I wouldn’t say that lesbians frustrate me, but… you know, the fewer lesbians, the more women on the market, and the more gays, the fewer men to compete with! lol, anyway, seriously not trying to make a political statement, I personally am fine with the idea of gay marriage and rights and whatnot, but its a funny thing how perspective changes.

Well, once this blog is posted i think I’m gonna go make a white wings.

Oh yeah, and I’m leaving the country in two weeks.