ThisIsVlad

In two days i’m taking a 9 day trip back to russia. It’s hard to even begin to describe the excitement that i’m feeling. My parents took me out of russia when i was only 3 years old, and i have never been back since.

It’s weird. I’ve lived pretty much my whole life here, 23 years, and yet still i totally feel a strong connection to the country in which i was born. Even though i don’t really do russian activities, or talk in russian very often, i still definitely feel that i have this core russian-ness about me. I just feel that in so many ways, i really understand russian people. i know where they are coming from…. what their mindset is. And yeah, granted, pretty much all of the russians i know are also pretty americanized…. but there’s still this weird common bond that all of us have.

It’s gonna be so weird to all of a sudden be somewhere where *everybody* has that common bond. every person i see will have that same core and inner culture that around here i see so rarely. i’ll be hearing russian spoken everywhere. i’ll be eating russian food… and seeing russian sights. i’ll be totally immersed in it all.

It’s always nice in life when you can connect w/ people about your past. for instance, pretty much everyone i know now used to go to raves, and on a certain level we can all connect in that way. we all shared a certain lifestyle, certain experiences, and music together.. and because of that there’s this common feeling that we all have. even if i met someone i didn’t know, who used to go to parties, i’m sure we could have some great conversation and bond over past experiences that we shared… even though we didn’t share those experiences together. in that same way, i feel like there are so many russian past experiences that i share w/ millions of people that i don’t get to reflect on quite as often. and now here’s my chance. a dream come true…..

-vlad

i was driving thru a parking lot today when the car in front of me suddenly comes to a halt and then proceeds to just sit there like a dumbass for 2 minutes. as i’m getting more and more annoyed by this, the car then just backs straight into my car!! great. just fucking great. so we both park, and as i’m checking out the new large scratch on my car, the lady in the other vehicle just gets out of her car… and starts calmly walking away as if nothing happened! WTF!! i was *so* pissed!

so i yell at her to come back and start yelling about how she hit my car, and what the hell she thinks she’s doing etc etc. at this point she starts trying to say that the scratch i’m pointing at is old and that she didn’t make it. Luckily, there was a witness on the scene who saw the whole thing and confirmed that it was her fault. then she tries to say that if it was her car that made the scratch, why does her car have no damage? but, we walk around to the back of her car and sure enough, the back of her car is scratched up too. So as it stands, i’m right, she’s obviously dead wrong, and i’m also flaming pissed that she’s been trying to weasel her way out of this.

but then

she hands me a hundred, and starts begging me not to report it and gives me this whole sob story of how she’s only a lowly housekeeper and has no money and just cant afford to get in trouble for this. i start to say how 100 just isn’t gonna cut it… but then she just starts begging me and pleading w/ me. fuck. now what? so i stand there looking at this middle aged woman, with her thick accent and old beater car.. and all i can think is.. what if it’s true? what if she’s just some poor immigrant w/ a shitty job, barely scraping by, cleaning houses so she can support her family. meanwhile i’m on a break from my high-paying silicon valley tech job, driving an acura, and living the good life. can i really fuck her over just to fix a dumb scratch on my car? what’s the scratch worth to me? what’s the guilt worth to me?

the whole time that i’m thinking this, the woman is just muttering “sorry” over and over and begging more and more. what can i do? i just couldn’t do anything. i would’ve felt horrible. so i say fine and leave.

driving away… all i could think was as to whether or not she was telling the truth. was it all a lie? was she just pretending to be poor and win me over cause i’m such a sucker? who knows? i guess i’ll never know.

-vlad

I’m going to burning man again this year and the group that i’m camping with has actually decided to build something this year. we’re building this art-car that’s going to look like a huge rubber ducky. Not only that, but the car is going to be covered w/ small toy rubber duckies so it’ll basically end up a huge duck made out of smaller ones. It’s pretty exciting to be involved in an art project of this scale. I can’t wait to finally get it out to the playa and drive it around.

I’m including a few photos we took last night of the car. I know it looks like we’ve hardly made any progress, but keep in mind that a lot of parts of the project have been built, but just not attached yet…

-vlad

i absolutely despise cingular. i signed up for a 1 year contract w/ them last year and have been counting down the days to finally end my service. they are the absolute *worst* cell phone provider of all time. my reception totally sucks and my calls are dropped every damn day. every single person who i’ve ever talked to that’s experienced cingular says the same thing too… “they suck!!”. in fact, they’re even getting sued now cause they suck so bad. sheez! so today i finally switched back to verizon. thank god! no more cingular for me. phew.

-vlad

i went on popcorn anti-theater w/ steph last night. it was soo fun! Basically, it’s wacky theater on wheels. you get on a bus, and they drive you to several totally random locations around the bay area where you get to see random bizarre performance art. Also there are performers on the bus that do crazy stuff the whole time too. By theater, they don’t mean hamlet and shit, it’s more like psychotic randomness. for instance:
at one stop the performers stood in front of a hotel and ended up waking up the hotel guests by singing songs about masturbation thru a megaphone.
at another stop, all of the people on the bus got to try out either shooting a real flamethrower or throwing molotov cocktails.
at another stop a performer plays dead kennedys punk tunes on an accordion.
at another there is some random puppet show about killing babies and eating sausage. total insanity.

The whole thing is such an adventure. you never know where you’re gonna end up next or what they’ll do (or make you do) next! Oh, and the whole time while you’re on the bus… everyone is getting completely drunk as hell, passing around beer, liquor, weed, etc. The popcorn crew do this once a month and every time they come up with a completely new show. i can’t wait to go to another one.

-vlad

I’ve been getting a lot of love letters in the mail recently. sometimes 2 or 3 of them roll in per day. Unfortunately, these letters are from the Washington Mutual Bank. see, washington mutual loves me a lot. they can’t get enough of me…. and each of their letters tells me of a new $18 overdraft fee. I hate Washington mutual.. and i wish i could just end my relationship with them. Unfortunately, i need them in my life, and just wont leave.

-vlad

so i’ve had this journal for a few weeks now. as you can see, it’s still completely empty. i’ve been trying to decide whether or not i really want to write in this. i mean, do i really want my private thoughts etc left on the internet for everyone to read?? anyways, i finally promised heather that i’d put in at least just one post. especially since she went out of her way to get me that little code. so here it is. my first post!! exciting eh?

-vlad