ThisIsVlad

wow, i never thought that my first journal update would be so soon, but now i have a few hours to kill at the airport so i figure i might as well make good use of my time.

yesterday and this morning were a total blur. running on hardly any sleep, i’ve spent most of my time in a daze and the thought that i’m really seriously going to a foreign country for a month and a half has seemed totally unreal. though i’ve spent the last several months totally looking forward to this, all of a sudden my last day has been filled w/ doubt, fear and anxiety. am i gonna survive w/out seeing any of my friends for so long?

this morning joey gave me a ride to the airport and after having breakfast w/ him and caryn, i went to catch my flight. of course, in typical vlad fashion, i didn’t get to the security check point until it was only 15 minutes to my flight. after waiting in the excruciatingly slow line, i began to realize that i would end up missing my flight if i waited any longer. so i talked to an attendant and got to cut to the front (shweet!). unfortunately though, my pants have enougfh zippers to kill a person, so the metal detector beeped when i walked thru it. as i waited for the guy w/ the wand to arrive, i noticed that my flight was leaving in only 2 minutes. CRAP! would i really end up missing my fight?? luckily after scanning my shoes etc, and running at top speed the fest of the way, i got on my flight.

the flight was uneventful other than me exploding yogurt all over the place. doh! and this brings me to where i am now. tokyo airport. it’s pretty exciting to be here. i think the finally everything is starting to feel more real, and the stress is going away. don’t have much to report about tokyo, other than the fact that i went to the bathroom (luckily to pee) and walked by a stall… and there was only a hole inside. no toilet. UGH. not looking forward to trying that out!

also, i’m already acutely becoming aware of the language barrier. for the most part people that speak english can be found, but do i decipher all the crazy signs i’m gonna see? also, i don’t eat beef or pork. how am i gonna get that across to people when i buy food? i bought soup here, and had to talk to 3 different people in order to ask someone if it was beef broth or not. maybe i need to get a photo of a cow and a pig w/ a big cross through it to show people? heh.

-vlad

it’s three days till i leave on my trip to thailand and i can hardly spend a waking minute without thinking about it. this month, as each day passed, my anticipation of going has grown day by day and now is almost unbearable. i cant believe this is finally happening. it’s funny, each time i talk to people that have already gone there, like tim or joey… i see this look in their eyes… a look that tells me that they are remembering one of the most amazing times in their life. i know that some day i too will have that look. i’ll have experienced all the greatness that thailand has to offer.

the thing about this trip, is that it’s really so many vacations rolled into one. it’s so many different experiences all bundled up into one tight little package. on one hand, i’m going to a tropical paradise w/ beautiful beaches, clear skies, and lush rainforests. on the other hand i’m going to a wild backpacker destination filled w/ exciting nightclubs, countless bars, and a party scene like no other. and on the third hand i get to experience a completely new culture unlike anything i’ve ever experienced… a land full of ancient temples and a simpler way of life. but even then, this trip will be so much more than a sum of all of its parts. besides everything that i see and do, it’ll be a chance for me to really test myself. to spend a month and a half away from family and most of my friends. half of this trip i’m gonna spend traveling on my own, and for a guy who’s extremely shy around people i dont know, this is gonna be a truly formidable challenge. Last of all, it’s also a chance for me to spend a lot of time away from anything that i’m familiar with. a time where i will not deal with the daily routine of the 9-5 job or the usual repetitiveness of every day life.

It’s just really amazing that it’s really happening. Actually, this vacation is gonna be the prefect finale for what has been a really really great year for me. it’s weird… i actually started off this year with a promise to myself that i would do something amazing like go to thailand, and that this year, 2002, will be a good year for me. and i was so right. so much has happened. I finally moved to SF which has been something i’ve really wanted to do for many years now. I actually did something artistic, and build a huge art car w/ my friends that turned out a million times better than any of us could have imagined. i got to go back to Russia where i was born and where i’ve longed to go for as long as i can remember. and now to top it all off, i’m going to thailand. fucking incredible.

-vlad

Wow, it’s been a long time since i’ve been to an event as wacky and out of control as this one. The whole thing is basically this mock wrestling match between all these totally insane wrestlers. It’s kinda hard to describe just how funny it is without pictures.

some matches:

these two dudes dressed up as a boy band fighting against santa and his crackhead elf. through the whole thing the boy band guys are doing these wacky dance moves while fighting, and in the meantime santa’s pants are falling off and the crackhead elf is staggering around on stage.

rasputin, this tiny 3 foot tall bearded old man, versus “the sheik of physique”, a huge 300 pound fat guy in a sheik costume. and not only that, but the referee for this match was a guy in a giant hotdog outfit.

and there were a bunch of other totally crazy matches. one of the guys wrestling was
macho sasquatcho, a guy in this crazy furry big foot costume. they also had this dude “el homo loco”, this wacky flamboyant guy wearing a tutu and humping his opponents to death when he got “flaming mad”. his cheerleaders were these girls called the “man-haters” who would go around making out w/ random girls in the audience. some of the wrestlers would actually jump from the second story of the dna lounge down to the ring below. and “injured” wrestlers were carried out of the ring by gorilla paramedics.

i dunno.. basically it was all just nuts. oh, and then there were the tortillas. the ad for the show asked audience members to bring tortillas.. so basically the whole time while this is going on the audience is throwing tortillas like crazy. tortillas are flung at the wrestlers, the announcers, the audience.. everywhere! pretty soon the wrestlers are wrestling in huge piles of tortilla scraps. by the end of the night there was tortilla covering every single inch of ground in the club.

-v

this ended up being one of those kind of weekends where every night is filled with alcohol and fun.

friday night: went to go see christophe’s band, Hoegaarden, play on Haight street. i didnt really know what kind of music they play or what to expect, but they ended up being hella good. afterwards i went to Fake at the cats club. other than the 10$ cover and some lame catty drama, fake was pretty cool. one the menu that night: vodka drinks followed by beer followed by whiskey shots followed by more vodka drinks followed by long islands.

saturday: wake up at 2pm and contemplate how unwise those drink selections were. amidst the throbbing headache, decide not to drink anymore for the rest of the weekend. 5 hours later after driving around w/ joey helping him look for a place to live, we start drinking again. went to tom’s party and had hella fun there. some random things that happened were: people pouring apple pie shots down other people’s throats, huge hookah w/ cherry tobacco, kevin’s friend being so drunk that he pissed in the bathtub… twice, jason’s jesus mask, joey ending up missing somehow and getting locked outside, yan clearing the dance floor by playing neil diamond, and caryn running around wearing not one but 2 different halloween masks at the same time.
on the menu: sake then vodka shots then vodka drinks then beer then rum drinks.

sunday: wake up at 2 pm. once again regret the mixing of different kinds of alcohol. amidst being nauseous i decide that this time i *definitely* wont be doing any more drinking this weekend. sunday night, sharon came over and after drinking some wine and beer (sheez… i never learn!), we go to check out “Incredibly Strange Wrestling” at the dna lounge. i’ll write about that more in a separate post, but both of had sooo much fun. i just really love going to events that are totally out of the ordinary.

and that’s it.

-v

i finally own a ticket to thailand! i picked it up from the travel agency today. i’m taking off on dec 23rd and wont be back till february 1st. a month and a half!! i can’t wait. i’ve been wanting to do some serious traveling for a long time now… wanting to get out of the daily grind and do something totally new and crazy that is unlike anything i’ve done before. now i finally get my chance. Also this couldn’t have come at a better time. Being broken up w/ stephanie (as of last week) has been totally wearing me down and especially now i really feel like i need to get away from it all. Spend some time enjoying life, and also doing a lot of thinking about life and everything else. Coming out of a 6 year relationship is never easy, and i really feel like my world here has been turned upside down.. what better time to rebuild from scratch?

-v

Parking in sf is a major pain. everywhere you go there’s a flurry of red curbs, meters, 2 hour zones, and hardly any spots are available. i’ve only been living here since march yet i’ve already received countless tickets. i’ve gotten tickets for parking in red zones, double parking, parking in driveways, parking over the allotted time limit, etc etc. i *think* i’ve paid almost a thousand dollars in fines so far. *sigh*. the only thing worse than walking up to your car and seeing a ticket on the windshield… is walking up to your car.. and realizing that it’s no longer there. yes, my car got towed yesterday. i parked it in a tow-away from 4-6pm zone, and forgot to move it by 4. so i had to get a ride to the Hall of Justice and 200$ later i got my car back. and the saddest part is… i did the exact same thing a few months ago. same parking spot and everything. dammit!

-v

the weather tonight is the worst it’s been in a long time and the rain is pouring down in buckets. standing outside in the yard, it’s hard not to shiver while i hold the shovel in my hand. right now, i’d rather be doing practically anything than this.. but my parents had called me, and now i’m out here digging. i scoop huge clumps of soil up with the shovel and try to place them in a nice little pile next to the hole i’m making. unfortunately, the rain is coming down so hard that digging is hardly possible. the hole is filling with rain and the mass of water tugs at the walls of my hole. minutes later i’m drenched and on the verge of giving up. i really dont want to dig this hole right now.. or later… or ever. finally i decide that i can dig no more and go in to tell my parents. i guess i’ll just have to leave the plastic bag outside for now….

Rewind 2 hours back. i’m sitting comfortably at work, typing away at my computer, still completely unaware of the cold weather that i would soon endure. the phone rings and i lift the receiver to be greeted by the crying of my mother. wtf? through the sobs i can barely make out what she’s saying. what is she saying? i’m trying to decipher it.. and… and… she’s telling me that… that… huh? what?…. oh. my kitty just died. the cat that i’ve had for 9 years now. the cat that i’ve loved dearly for so long. the cat that i’ve had since high school that continued to live at my parent’s house after i moved out. the cat that’s been sick for a year now… slowly withering away to just fur and bones. that cat that just collapsed today and died. i can’t believe that this happened. i mean, sure, i knew that this would have to happen sometime. but why? why does everything that we love so dearly have to be wrenched from us *like this*… with a gasp… and a shudder.

-vlad

so here’s the other problem w/ my friends having babies. i cant stand babies. no really. i am just so not down. they look really weird, like little alien creatures and are constantly projecting bodily fluids everywhere. unfortunately, this poses a huge problem when i go see people that have babies. see, there is no easy way (in fact no way at all) to tell someone that you find their kid gross. it just cant be done. no matter what, when dealing with parents you have to ogle their child like it’s god’s gift to mankind. and that’s really difficult for me to do. so, the parents show off their child to me and i pretend to be all excited about it and say how adorable it is blah blah blah… when really i just want to talk about anything else.

oh, and then, often they’ll try to get me to hold it. even after i tell them that i wont do it, they often try to insist and it takes a lot of persuasion on my part to get them to stop. the thing is, other than fear of being pooped on, spit on, or god knows what else, i’m also totally terrified of dropping the baby. i mean, shit, i drop stuff all the time… cups, phones, keys, whatever…. and luckily with all those things you can either buy a new one or just fix it. now, if i somehow managed to drop someone’s *baby*, somehow i dont think that it would go over very well. actually, i really wonder if that ever happens. i mean, people drop things. it’s a fact. people trip, fall, and drop things all the damn time. do people ever drop babies?? how often does this happen? would a baby survive this kind of disaster?

i dunno. i’m sure some day i’ll have one of my own, and i’ll finally understand what all the hype is about… but until then i’ll just have to keep smiling and keep my thoughts to myself.

my friend yana had a baby girl the other day. Yet another one of my friends to have a baby. so weird. i still am definitely at the point where i feel too young for my friends to be having kids. aren’t we still kind of kids ourselves? sheez. i guess not. not even close. we’re all adults now.. and everyone has to do adult things. work a career job, get married, pay for car insurance, what have you. i feel so unprepared for this and i’m not sure why. i mean, it’s not like growing up is something that happens all of a sudden over night. it’s not something dramatic that can catch you by surprise. no, it’s gradual… and slow. you have plenty of time to prepare for it, to ponder what’s going to happen, to get in the right mindset…. and yet, somehow it always still ends up being shocking. one day you look around you at what all of your friends are doing, and even at what you’re doing… and it just baffles you how everyone got to that point. someone must have hit the fastforward button on the video tape of your life, cause you shouldnt have gotten to this part yet. right??

-v