Life of Olga

[Olga]

Life of Olga.http://www.fools-paradise.com/olga/CA.jpg
Don't mind the "communist" part. I had this made for me at another board.

This is the third time I am trying to make my own blog.
It's a little tiring now... The first time I wrote a huge entry but then got disconnected and never posted the thing. I saved it in Notepad, and when the time came to switch computers (hurrah for my new one) I cut and pasted it onto a CD. As it turned out later only 1 out of my 7 CDs actually burnt successfully, so I lost that file.
The second time occured today. I made a lovely entry, even longer than the last, and wha-hey! GW entered its Marvin the Paranoid Android mode, i.e. it got upset and went down. The reply never got posted, and when I clicked "Back" I got a page saying "Page Not Found" and got redirected to some search engine.
This time, however, I am fully armed with a brand new Notepad file. I will update it once in a while, and unless my PC suddenly crashes this instant my recurring nightmare will stop taking place.


Right-o...

My name is Olga, I am 16 years of age (born on December the 1st, 1987), I live in Moscow, Russia. I have two sisters, one older than me (Elena, 22) and the other younger (Polina, 2). My parents are together, but I can't say for much longer that will last. I graduated from school on January 28th this year, and plan to enroll at university in Vienna sometime in August, where my specialty will hopefully be Marketing.
Favourites:
a) books. The Master and Margarita (Bulgakov), Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky), the Discworld series (Pratchett), anthing by Rankin, Dahl, Huxley, Wodehouse, Poe or Bloch, American Psycho (Ellis), 1984 and Animal Farm (both by Orwell).
b) films. The Shawshank Redemption, Batte Royale, Donnie Darko.
c) pastimes. Reading, internet, drawing, playing and listening to music.
d) music. Bands: Muse, Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, The Tiger Lillies. Composers: Tchaikowsky, Rachmaninov, Chopin, Liszt, Strauss, Stravinsky, Gershwin.


NOTE: I know around 4 Toms, a few Marks and a couple of Adams. If you see your name menioned here, it might not necessarily be you. I dislike using nicknames that are used at GW or the Muse boards, so if you really feel like asking, ask me directly:
MSN: izrossiis@hotmail.com
AIM: izrossiis

*Cough*
Let the diary begin.


04 February, 2004. 7:41am.

Yesterday began for me at 12:30 pm. After shrugging off my mum's comments on my disgraceful sleeping habits I grabbed hold of the pack of new guitar strings I got at the media market on Monday and began restringing my new-found old rickety guitar. Yes, the one with the cracked neck. I spent around half an hour stripping it of its old strings and putting three new ones when I realised that they were all misplaced and that I'd have to do it all over again, reason being that the instrument was meant for 7 strings, not, 6. It may not be very important, but the sight irritated me, so spent another half hour loosening the strings I had already fastened and tuned and taking them off. After about an hour of grunting and tugging I managed to produce a working and tuned instrument. Ph33r me and my lovely talent with music...
Then I dug out that "TEACH IT YOURSELF!" guitar book and tried to make sense of what it said... No I can play Auld Lang Syne at a rather miserable speed, and can, after a moment's wait, produce C major.
I don't care that it doesn't sound right, Valentina.
Point is, I tried, and haven' failed completely yet...

Mark and Adam sent me some sheet music... Hopefully that'll get me started, and sooner or later I'll be able to play something without sounding like a submarine in danger.

After messing about with the guitar and stalling a phone call with Svetlana I ate and spent some time reading Wodehouse.
I love Jeeves. I want to marry the man.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0140284087.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Then I watched TV, went online for a bit, talked to Erik, Adam and Tom... And then Clue came on, YES! I love Tim Curry. Screw Jeeves, I'll marry Curry instead. Clue = one of the best comedies I have ever seen, end of story. A must see for anyone. I taped it, too, so now it resides in my video collection.
Then I went online again, spoke to... Oh dear, who did I speak to... Ross, Lia, plus the aformentioned people, and got added by Darkstar, whatever his real name is. I think he got a little intimidated by my MSN screen name. Poor guy.
Then I landed into a chat... Got showered by Mark photos (who has, by the way, an incredibly fine body) and watched his staple videos.
Lia looked radiant and adorable in her new white shirt. I can honestly say that she has absolutely incredible looks... I just wish she weren't so self-critical (I KNOW YOU'LL READ THIS GIRL, YOU CAN'T ESCAPE!). The black hair + lots of light and airy clothes = mind-boggling image. I'll do a portrait of her next...
Speaking of portraits, I need to finish of Erik soon.
Yes.

I was stupid enough to upload a webcam image onto Deviantart (Mark, why did I listen to you?) and at around 5 am I got some Canadian guy IMing me. He was odd to say the least... That bloody hat on his head made him like a daft old biddy, and the expression of sheer disgust and shock on his face didn't improve matters, either.
To put it short, he convinced himself that I am a lovely person who has a lovely body to show, and said that he would like to get to know me better.
...Eeeeeeeeeeegggh.
Remind me to find a photo of some granny and send it to him.
Joe suggested that lesbian idea. Something I might try in future. Sounds pretty attractive.


Then I lurched into the kitchen, scared the hell out of my dad and came here to write this entry.
It's getting light... Sunrise...
http://www.fools-paradise.com/olga/Photos/morningglory.jpg
Fear me and my webcam with its wonky lense.

Adios.

Edited by moderator:
First split: here. (http://forums.gamewinners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=334443)
Second split: here (http://forums.gamewinners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=541431).
Third split: here (http://forums.gamewinners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=575581)

[Olga]

I had a dream about David Bowie last night. He was at the house in the country (yeah, the one we'll end up losing. Woo!), along with some other people.
Despite the fact that it was my house, he bought me drinks. Beer, I think. And it was all going swimmingly, he was awesome.
Then we all decided to go on a little hike into the nearby woods, and I ran off to change clothing so that it'd be suitable for the dirt and mosquitos. When I came back down, Bowie was in a Jeep (its engine was revving) outside the house property, with the other people who were around before. I asked where they were going, and they said they decided not to go hiking.
And drove away. Without me. I remember feeling very dejected. :(

I'll start jogging tomorrow. I'll need to wake up at 6, and considering my current sleeping cycles, readjusting won't be pleasant. But I'll do it. And I'll be damned if I won't lose 10 kilos by next year.
Yeah.


Current illustration project coming to a close.
I'm quite pleased with the illustrations themselves, and the idea.
Those illustrations will make their way into a bound book (which is what I'll be working on this weekend, along with the photobooth project), and hopefully I'll produce a lovely piece of work.
...Which is pretty doubtful, and most likely neither A nor T will like it, but to hell with it; I'm pleased with the way they came out, and I think I've done a good job. They'll look entirely different in the book; the colour and practically most of the detail will be gone, leaving only very rough-looking and slightly distorted black outlines, [hopefully] reminiscient of 18th-19th century woodcuts and prints.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/horizontal.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/vertical.jpg

I can't lurk at SomethingAwful anymore. I guess you're only allowed to see so much till they... Shut you off? No idea how that works, though. I need my bank account up and working, FAST, but I'm a skinflint.
I should probably get myself a job.

[Olga]

H. wrote me a terrific recommendation, but the editor-in-chief is apparently on vacation now.
I'm still trying to work out if that's just a polite way of blowing me off or if it's actually true. If it is, then by the time I get on to it it might well be a bit too late, as I'm well into my summer holidays.

I'm living on around $18 a week now. I guess it's an exercise in restraint concerning everything, so it's not too bad.

Watched HHGTTG a few minutes ago. I was actually quite impressed and relieved, since the books are just terrific, and I'd heaкd so much rubbish about the new film. Marvin was a little disappointing (Rickman is cool and all, but he seems to be the ultimate British staple in worldwide films nowadays. Stop it already), and Trillian had the most annoying voice (I had always pictured having her a rather low and husky voice, somehow), but other than that, it was just peachy. I loved Zaphod. I'd also had gripes about Ford Prefect being a black man - not because I have anything against black men, but because I remember quite clearly him being red-headed and very pale, and as a result I pictured him highly eccentric and just really weird in general; man, I can't even think up a decent comparison, but I almost imagined Ford to be like... Langley of the Lone Gunmen, only weirder and looking different.. It's not really the visual aspect I was rebelling before seeing the film, but I simply couldn't picture a black rapper pulling it off. But pull it off he did. Very, very well. And he was absolutely terrific-looking.

In other news, I did a flower photo. And I never thought I would. In my defense, it's for a very very minor contest to occupy me with.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/florakale.jpg

Also, someday I'll make a full-blown project based on this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/rec.jpg
A Portable Record-Player (would they call them RPs?) that FITS in the PALM of your Hand!
So if I ever get the opportunity, I'll probably end up producing tons of vectors with this. Too bad it'll never come to be. A portable record player would kick ass.

Я начала продавать некоторые семейные украшения. За них... Копейки дают.
Хреново всё. Ох как хреново. И мне в том числе.

[Olga]

So I watched a film and devoured a monstrous amount of chocolate.

The film was "Misery". God damn was it a terrific horror movie. Kathy Bates (actress who played Annie) gave what was possibly the best performance in the history of horror.
Wasn't too optimistic about the bloke who played Paul Sheldon, but it wasn't at all bad, either.

Had drinks with director of Helvetica, which is a film about a font. The font. And it's beautiful. I'm not exactly your regular audience because of my major, but it's definitely something everyone can get a kick out of.
Talked to Mike Reynolds of Earthships fame. Look 'em up - it's not some sort of weird DELIVERANCE ON UFOs cult. In fact, it's as... Earth-orientated as it gets. Man builds incredibly durable, and completely self-sustaining and environmentally-friendly houses using trash like bottles and old tires. Film featured his legal clashes with the US government because he wasn't following architectural rules. Damn ballsy geezer.

Our new brief is to make packaging for food; potatoes, tomatoes, eggs, free-range chickens, garlic (...just why that is I can't fathom, mind you), mushrooms, and possibly something else. This line of food needs to show it's seasonal and super-organic and green. Also need to make carrieg "bags-for-life".
Bugger. It's both fun and kinda perplexing. 6 weeks for it, and we'll hold simulation sessions with our tutors and pretend they're our clients. This means that what we come up with has to look professional. Printed and folded and glued together like you just bought it from a healthy and well-organized grocery shop.

Currently on a Jethro Tull kick.

Going to the opera tomorrow!

Also, in case someone on the planet hasn't seen it yet:
http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/6616/grannyya5.jpg


Amsterdam in 2.5 weeks!
I should sketch more. I'm really crafty when it comes to fooling people and making them think I can draw, when in reality I can't draw the simplest shapes if given 10 minutes or something. There's no way I could do a regular comic strip, for example. Ask me to draw a person waving and smiling, and I'll fail horribly. Even stick figures will look wrong. I just can't do it unless I've got it right there in front of me. Not that I should complain, considering I never devoted time to practicing sketching (and those 2-4 hour sessions of nude study in Vienna for over half a year did sod all. I can kinda draw models, but breasts for one thing never seem quite right. They look like cancerous lumps).
My naked, plucked, sprinting (and those clouds of black have to look like the dust it kicks up, but I know that part failed) headless chicken came out kinda groovy though.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/Picture233.jpg
What is it, you ask? Why, it's a sketchbook!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/Picture235.jpg
We're encouraged to make our own. We follow this advice in school for several reasons:
a) It's cheaper (we nick huge A1 sheets of paper from the Paper Room, and then cut it all to size. Covers are stiff cardboard wrapped in linoleum, paper, wallpaper, cloth, you name it)
b) We can do it exactly how we like it. Size, colour, thickness and texture of paper - you name it. My current sketchbook has around 8 different types of paper. Red, yellow, blue, and violet see-through sheets; greyish, thick card; thin white checkered paper; thick recycled paper that's good for inks, and others.
c) We often design nifty covers. Like my CHEEKEEEEN.

Seeing Khvorostovsky (hopefully) and maybe Jose Carreras perform soon. Bela Fleck and Chicke Korea are coming at the end of October.
Want to get a free Muse ticket for St. Peter. This will mean grabbing a train to get there, and maybe not getting back into class the next day (it's an overnight journey, and flights would be pricier), but heck. Might never get the chance again, and I have folks I can stick to, despite not knowing Peter at all.

Re-reading Dune series.

Got an audiobook of Making Money, but audiobooks - despite their undoubtable greatness, such the sort displayed by Bruce Campbell's "Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way" - are difficult for me because if I listen to my player, then it means I'm in public transport, which in turn means my headphones are almost certainly drowned out by the wheezing and shrieking of the underground, trams, or buses.

Hope you're doing well, Julz.

And Mr. Flynn, you still SUCK ASS. But I forgive you now that you've replied. :3


Oh, and I met Dennis Hopper. Got pics with him, 2 autographs, and a couple of conversations. Best man in the world!

Went to an Iggy Pop concert. Wild, wild man. Nuzzled his boots and took pictures. He thrusted at the cameras and generally acted wonderfully obscene.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/iggy3.jpg
Saw Elton John live. Jesus Christ, it's no wonder the man became so famous. He's a phenomenal pianist. I only got to witness "Funeral for a friend/Love lies bleeding" since it was the opening song and photo-correspondents were only allowed for 1 song, but I was IMPRESSED.

GLOWSTICKSSSSS
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/eight.jpg

[Olga]

Finished my book covers!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/iliumtiny.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/ramatiny.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/eontiny.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/ringworldtiny.jpg

I have the opportunity to e-mail interview questions to Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), and to have a 15-minute chat on the telephone with the guys from KISS. I have absolutely nothing to ask any of them, so the fact that I'm missing what sounds like a potentially interesting experience kinda sucks.
(Also, waking up at 2am to try and get more coursework done is getting old)

[Olga]

Thanks for the help, guys!
Finished my book eventually. :) It looks pretty awesome. Here's some shots, but it's much better, much more colourful and exciting in real life. Also, the covers (front and back) move, which is why there are several images to illustrate how they change:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/book2.jpg

Semester's over, pretty much. There is currently an exhibition of our works being held at uni. I'm handing out recycled business cards of mine. I'll probably try and go back to the newspaper this summer if it's okay with the editor-in-chief (it was a damn fine job), but if I get the chance to do some freelance or staff designer stuff, it'll up my chances of getting a decent design job once I go to England.

Recently started taking driving classes. It costs around 2-3 times less to get it done in Moscow than somewhere in England, and involves less paperwork, so it's best I do it now, though I've always been absolutely mortified when faced with the fact that I'd have to drive someday (I hate crossing busy streets, and driving a bike in the city scares me sh*tless. I never wanted to drive a car!).
I hate my driving instructor. :( He's got an incredibly short temper and shouts at me a lot for no reason ("I TOLD YOU TO DO THAT", "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING", etc.). I don't run people over or do anything particularly wrong - we're only just doing stuff on the driving polygon. It's been 2 classes so far, I'm learning to drive a manual rather than automatic, and just because I can't manouevre between the cones like a pro just yet (when you do that zig-zagging stuff between them), it's not a reason to yell when I can't make the turn in time. He also felt me up more than once, and he got worse once I told him not to touch me. I'd have had to bribe him to pass the exam anyway, but now it'll just make the bribe around a zillion times bigger. Bugger!

Summer makes things better.

I need to start building sites. I have my own domain now (thanks, Steve!), but I know absolutely nothing about HTML, Java, or Flash (I mean, I know some Flash, but I've used it only for animating purposes - nothing site-related). I've just gotten Dreamweaver, and AAAARGH it's just so confusing! :( It's just like when I started to learn to use InDesign!

[Olga]

You know what's weird about design? It makes sounds. Sounds of different frequencies. If something isn't right - kerning's off, or the colours don't quite go together, or perhaps the spacing is screwy - you get a little soundless sound in your head.
And when something works, it clicks. And falls into perfect harmony.

I'll never be a genius of design, but these moments when my mind goes "click" are some of the best in the world. Rather like those pleasant (but far less precious) sounds a tennis racket makes as the ball hits it straight into the sweet spot. Thock.

Oh, and I might as well.
It's not perfect, but it's kinda cool. Not the sort of instance that goes "click", but not too bad.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v139/CommunistOlga/withfeeling2.jpg
Printing (poster = A2!) next week. Currently working on the brochure that goes with it. Tough stuff. The blue's a little bright, but when I go to print it'll dull considerably, so it won't be quite as abrasive as you see it here.

[Olga]

Writing dissertations is hard.
I've never really had much trouble with essays in the past. I'd pick a topic (ranging from something dumb like eating dogs and the benefits of pornography to something more current and sensible like the domination of virtual media and gradual vanishing of newsppapers), and find some sources. A week before handing the essay in - and we'll have had the whole semester to write it, which is around 3 months - I'd print them out, highlight stuff that seemed appropriate, quote it and just throw everything in. I'd always get excellent grades, though I'm pretty sure that the reason no one really read our papers was because the Uni of Hertfordshire felt we were slightly retarded and the language barrier made us even dumber, so they'd cut us some slack. The number of words for our final essay could range from 2500-3000; that seemed like an awful number of words for people who studied design, and we all complained about it.

Now we're all working on our final year dissertations. Suddenly the number of words has to be 6000, we have to be very conscious about the number of times we actually refer to ourselves within the paper (i.e. we shouldn't stick "I think" into every sentence), and our essay has to relate to previous essays to show that we have learnt something and have been getting ready for this for years. We also need to bind the damn things and get folios that look like A4-sized bibles: black, hardback, and with gold embossed letters on the spine and front. This retarded sh*t will set me back no less than 30 pounds, and we all have to do it for no goddamn reason.

What I realized, however, is that JESUS CHRIST I will never be a writer. It takes me roughly an hour to write 100 words; that's around 60 hours for the whole essay, and we're working on another project and building a site at the same time.
I've worked as a journalist for a year, and will be working as a reviewer starting from January. I have relatively good command of the language (I mean, I might make the occasional grammar mistake because English just doesn't make sense sometimes, but my vocabulary kicks ass, and all in all the English don't really measure up unless they're lit. majors), I'm not stupid, and I have all the sources I need. The paper should come easy to me but it doesn't; it's eating me up and making my brain swell. Admittedly I chose a pretty cool thesis statement that I'm on my own to prove and I'm drawing some pretty crazy conclusions, but I really hate to think of how some of my friends (who can't say 2 sentences without making at least one mistake) are doing.


Anyway.
Futurists were fascist, ultra-violent and hated women. And they were perfectly open about it. Holy f*ck, it's so weird to know that about the makers of some of the most beautiful typography ever produced. The Dadaists performed similar typographic experiments, sometimes to the point where you could no longer draw the line between Dada and Futurism, but were total hippies. Weird.


Хре-ноооо-во! Эх, как я тебя ненавижу, но у меня всё болит; душа (а ведь я даже не думаю, что она существует), сердце, легкие, сознание - все воспалённо, ноет, стонет. Всё как железо к магниту. Тянет, вот-вот я расползусь, разорвусь на кусочки тела. Ты всё говорил, что любишь. Не я должна страдать, я же отказалась. Так почему погано? Почему тебя не разрывает, не раздавливает?
Потому, что на самом деле для тебя это была на правда.
А я теперь в дыре. В большой, узкой, тёмной и холодной дыре.


Никому не верю.
Хотя нет, верю полным незнакомцам. С которыми потом никогда не заговорю, которые гадости не сделают.


Что за хуйня.


Now the thing I look most forward to is riding my bike. Whenever I do, the journey back always involves riding back up a very steep slope for several minutes, and with my bike's shoddy gears that don't change right I end up panting and wheezing in the evend, zig-zagging in the path because I don't have the strength to keep the handlebars straight.
But it's awesome and I love riding my bike.

I also now look forward to visiting the gym, which is incredibly strange. Having been terrified of exercise all my life suddenly the moments when I move and when I hurt all over the next day are the ones I live for.

[Majin]

Done (http://forums.gamewinners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=575581)

[Olga]

Сейчас хорошо.
Как редко бывает. А хорошо. Я прямо парю - чуть не плачу.
Почаще бы так. И сидр помогает. Но какая разница? Денег нет, дизайн - хуйня, но мне прямо сейчас отлично. Продлится недолго, но всё равно. Вот для чего стоит жить.
Я люблю себя, и мир.

А ещё я люблю футуристов и дадаистов. И ещё кое-что. Личное.