Crazy dream

I am in Spain, Madrid I think, trying to find a hostel for the night. I walk into one and they say they are all booked up for the day, but that I should come back the next day. They say, "We have free cake after 6," and I say, "Some hostels have free champagne after 6." Then I walk out, wondering if my data plan works in Spain so that I can post about the incident on facebook. Then I think about calling my friend in Madrid and see her on the street right away. Next, I keep walking and for a brief moment I see St. Petersburg's skyline in the distance. It is so beautiful glistening in the dark, I start to wish that I was there instead, and decide to make a movie about the city set to this one particular song.

Next, I walk up to the waterfront (back in Spain) and a bunch of people are crowded up there. Out of nowhere a huge black and white ship appears, as if from the past. And people are yelling "Teddy Roosevelt is on that ship!" The ship starts moving and I start running after it. It gets faster and faster, turns into a train, and I am flying really fast to keep up with it. Finally the train gets too fast, and I can't keep up. I stop, turn around, and wonder how I'm going to get back into the city.

beautiful!

Polyresin Elephant

Girl in the Rain

Dancing at 2 years old. Amazing.

Watch "2 year old dancing the jive" on YouTube

Japanese Scholar

NYT: With Citizenship, Japan Embrac

"Dr. Keene was accepted by Japanese scholars because he has what Mr. Tsujii described as a warm, intuitive style of thinking that differs from what he called the coldly analytical approach of many Western academics."

My first smartphone :-)

I got a new phone and I'm trying out the speaker option. It works perfectly wow. So my first thought on the smartphone - it makes it much easier to do everything at the same time.  You don't have to switch devices. It really makes it easier to get things done. 
Impressed!!

They can't put anything on the internet that isn't true.

My favorite commercial :)  It is quite funny.

- Чего, Мась, преподносит?

- Жизнь, как говориться, преподносит нам сюрпризы.
- Чего, Мась, преподносит?

Students and Teachers

After I started teaching, I began to understand why my own teachers had always conducted classes in a certain way.  I always thought of myself as a good student - I did my homework, and I was never disruptive.  Nevertheless, I did so many little things, that broke the flow of the class, without ever realizing it.

One of those things is covering your paper as you work on individual assignments during class.  When I wasn't sure of my answers I always tried to hide my paper as the teacher walked around the class.  I felt embarrassed if my answers were wrong.  Now I realize how important it is for the teacher to see how the students are understanding the material.  As a teacher. if I see that the students are struggling, I think that I have described the material badly.  If I see that several students are struggling, I might interrupt the activity and explain the material again.  I only one or two students are struggling then I try to work with them, so that by the time the others are finished, everybody is on the same page.  Either way, the reason teachers assign individual work in class is to have the time to make sure every student is understanding the lesson.

On the other spectrum from not understanding - is working ahead.  When you understand the new topic and catch on to the concepts, you think - I'll just keep working, the teacher is just repeating herself anyways.  But for a teacher, one of the most important factors is to keep everybody together.  When students work ahead, they stop paying attention, and they might miss directions on a group activity or something like that, causing unneeded breaks in the class, and taking away attention from others.

Pay attention to your teachers!  They are there to help and only help!

Look - it's a scientist!

In San Francisco's famous science museum, California Academy of Sciences, exchibits are spread in globes and rooms separated by transparent glass walls.  As you walk around you see butterflies, rainforests, penguins, and all sorts of spectacular exotic things.  However, besides being just a museum, the Academy provides science laboratories and functions as a place for scientists to do their research.  To keep in style with the rest of building these laboratories are also shiny and high-tech, and visible to all through glass walls.  As tourists stumble from parrots to penguins you inevitably hear parents telling their children, "Look! It's a scientist!"

Colbert

"If Americans cared about evidence, wouldn't we be doing something about global warming?" - Stephen Colbert

It's what's inside that matters :)

Don't worry Be happy

***

Life opens up when you do.

Liu Bolin

Liu Bolin paints himself to blend in to his bakcground.

Окрошка

Fragrance Ads

One of my recent passions.

Small Things Matter

As average modern-day people, we tend to get so overburdened by minor everyday problems and setbacks, that we overlook the easiest solutions.  We label our problems as 'unsolvable' without having even tried.  We settle with having to deal with the problem for the rest of our lives instead of considering to fix it.  We are taught to focus on larger goals - on the 'big picture' - and we aren't left with enough time to mind the smaller bumps in the road.  So our ultimate goal, whatever that might be, gets patched with all these minor struggles, and soon we are left wallowing in a pile of indiscernible issues.  I think that all these issues should be fixed.  Whether they seem silly and unimportant, whether it's the kind of problem that you're afraid to tell your best friend about for fear that they'll laugh - if they are taking away from the comfort and joy of every day existence, they should be fixed.  Only once we learn to overcome the little things, will we have the right kind of time and energy to give to the larger endeavors.

Shoes are reaching new dimensions

Labels are for Clothes

If only 7 billion people saw this and agreed on this.  Seems so simple!  What's the matter?

Never Ignore the Goals of Others

I was talking to a friend and said something that, for me, was just a simple every day action.  As a huge surprise to me, what I had said offended him greatly.  This simple, innocent, in my experience, action meddled directly with the success of the goals of my friend and many others.

And so I realized that a small action of one individual, even one that seems utterly insignificant to you, can have a huge outcome and affect on others.  Whenever we ignore, discard, or dismiss a piece of information, a plea for a donation, a request for our attention - we overlook the goal, aspiration, or purpose of somebody else.  Perhaps it is not our responsibility to respond with 100% eagerness to the wishes of others, but it is our responsibility to allow their ideas inside our own mind, and give them at least a moment of consideration and thought.  Many times, you'll notice that their path is not so far away from yours.

I think we can trust him

"I think we can trust him."
"Why are you so sure?"
"A person who keeps his porn in a folder labeled Video/Porn doesn't have anything to hide."


- Думаю, ему можно доверять.
- Откуда такая уверенность?
- Человеку, который держит порнуху в папке "Видео/Порно", скрывать нечего. 

Руки Женщины

Руки женщины должны дрожать от подарков, ноги от секса, а сердце от любви.

A woman's arms have to tremble from presents, her legs from sex, and her heart from love.

~~
   

take a smile

real eyes

Saw this written on a wall downtown.

Realize
Real eyes
Real Lies

iPhone