Oh, and another important thing to do when going to Russia:

I must learn to speak Russian in a normal speed again!

I had to make myself speak slowly, clearly, and completely unnaturally when I came back from Moscow and took a Russian course here in Lund. Now, everyone in Russia will laugh themselves to death at me again if I don't do something about it - fast!

Must ... get ... Internet Exploder 6.

My old Exploder seems already hopelessly outdated, and it freezes on all too many occasions. Certain kinds of damnated advertisements (like the ones at Blogdrive) kill it off instantly, as do certain kinds of pop up windows.

This is particularly annoying now that I'm researching the Separation Wall in the West Bank, since both Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post have that kind of freezing pop up ads on their websites.
Yes, thank Marx for alternative, non-commercial websites, designed for the working man's web browser ...

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤

What to bring when going to Russia:
+ Toilet paper (public toilets in Russia don't have paper - you're expected to bring your own)
+ Small change, absolutely no bills above 100 roubles (no one ever has any change, except perhaps in posh stores and internet cafés in the big cities)
+ My Zenit 312m
+ That babushka-charming way of mine

What you don't have to bring, since you can buy it in Russia:
+ Valenki (felt boots) and other warm clothing (scarves, fake fur caps)
+ Piroshki in all forms, sizes and tastes
+ The world's best chocolate, ice cream, beer (Baltika! <:op), bread, books, etc.

It seems like I'm going to Siberia this winter, to this very place. It's hard to believe! It seems too good to be true, really.
I hope my company, two comrades from Romania, will be fine fellows, and that we will get along well on the long train rides.
I'm a bit nervous about this, too, since I will have the main responsibility as the only person who speaks Russian. But it'll be fun ...

I finally found out that the Oxford Concise English-Arabic Dictionary has the Arabic vowels written out, and promptly ordered it from Amazon.co.uk. It's a nice dictionary ... but, of course, very small.

There are only three entries for 'hairy':
ash'aru, kaththu-shsha'r (or: kaththu al-sha'r, if you prefer that transcription), azabbu.

You have a dominant kiss- you take charge and make
sure your partner can feel it! Done artfully,
it can be very satisfactory if he/she is into
you playing the dominant role MEORW!


What kind of kiss are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Well, yeah, once I had learned how to do it properly. My apologies to those who had to suffer my attempts at 'dominance' before that ...
MEORW = Must Explore ORal cavity Wantonly

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤


Seer


The ULTIMATE personality test
brought to you by Quizilla

You are Form 9, Vampire: The Undying.

"And The Vampire was all that remained on
the blood drowned creation. She attempted to
regrow life from the dead. But as she was
about to give the breath of life, she was
consumed in the flame of The Phoenix and the
cycle began again."

Some examples of the Vampire Form are Hades (Greek)
and Isis (Egyptian).
The Vampire is associated with the concept of
death, the number 9, and the element of fire.
Her sign is the eclipsed moon.

As a member of Form 9, you are a very realistic
individual. You may be a little idealistic,
but you are very grounded and down to earth.
You realize that not everything lasts, but you
savor every minute of the good times. While
you may sometimes find yourself lonely, you
have strong ties with people that will never be
broken. Vampires are the best friends to have
because they are sensible.


Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤


Morpheus


?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

Heh ...

I wanted to buy some granola today, so I would have some breakfast tomorrow. But of course I forgot about it, and only remembered it now that all the stores have closed!! Well, I hope my bread from my freezer will thaw until tomorrow.

By the way, everyone who finds this site through keywords such as "Arab XXX", "teazak", "sexy hairy Arab boys", etc. - please be referred to my website "I Like Hairy Guys". There, you will find what you've been looking for.

While trying to escape my homework by rummaging in my desk drawers, I came across this New Year's card from last year, that I made for my friend Denis Sirotinin (who can be quite inspiring to the point of performance anxiety).



It is a bit interesting, since it is yet another example of how certain family members of mine don't 'expect' me to draw well. For instance, once, many years ago, I drew a quite nice and to-the-point portrait of my mother and gave it to her for Christmas. Since my signature was either very small, or non-existent on the drawing, she instantly assumed that it was my sister who had drawn it, as it was so good ... (But if it had been badly drawn, I betcha that she would have guessed that I would have drawn it!! Yes ...!)

Another example was once, even more years ago, when I had doodled some pictures of Mitsu, of which two looked like crap, while one was pretty okay. Naturally, my mother assumed that I had drawn the two crappy ones, but that my sister had drawn the better one, despite the fact that they were all on the same piece of paper ...

Well, this New Year's card is yet another example of this phenomenon. As you can see, the legs of the rooster look like shit. Now, when my sister saw this drawing, she said, "My god! It doesn't look at all like you've drawn it! Oh, but the legs do look more like your style." Yes, thank you, dear sister. I know you 'didn't mean it like that', but ... well ... it can get a bit tiresome sometimes.

By the way, this reminds me of another thing. When the Japanese manga artist Baron Yoshimoto visited Sweden, he did some action painting as part of his "lecture". (That's my sister in the picture next to him ...)
I've always been bullied for not usually making any 'body sketches' when I draw people. My sister claims that she always does, because that's 'how you're supposed to do it', and 'all the great painters and cartoonists do that'. The fact that I don't sketch the person's body before I start drawing the face, clothes, etc., has in my peer group been widely perceived as yet another example of how I can't draw well.
Well, seeing how Yoshimoto-sensei started his action painting with the outline of the character's face, then the hair, then the neckline and shoulderline of his clothes ... was quite pleasing. At last I know I'm not the only cartoonist who doesn't sketch the body before everything else. Baron Yoshimoto does it like that, too ...! Whee!

At first, Tony Blair just wouldn’t leave me in peace, because he absolutely wanted to take a shower in my hallway, of all places. He just kept whining and whining about it, so I eventually let him. And, as expected, he made a big mess, and made everything, my clothes, my furniture, my carpet, all wet. I was *really* angry with him, but he just kept laughing ...!

Then, the dream changed into some kind of guerilla warfare dream. I was still in my apartment, but now, I was a member of the red guard, and myself and my comrades, among them Lenin, had positioned ourselves there. Suddenly we were attacked, and all my comrades were killed in the battle that ensued, and only myself and Lenin survived. Then, Lenin started to make some kind of trouble, and I realised that he was a spy, who had infiltrated us and betrayed our position to the enemy. I had to kill him! But he just wouldn’t die! I had to empty all that was left in the magazine of my AK-47 on him, until he finally didn’t move anymore.

Now, I once more realised what a terrible mess my whole apartment was, with dead people, blood and intestines all over the place. The guerilla war somehow drifted away, and the dream turned into something more realistic about my everyday life.
I tried to clean up a bit, with shifting success (particularly Lenin’s brain substance was very hard to get out of the carpet). I didn’t quite dare to go throw all the corpses in the trash, because someone might see me and call the police. Then, I realised that I had to go to the university. All the time during the classes, I just kept worrying about the corpses – what should I do about them ...? What if someone found out?

When I woke up, and realised that my apartment actually wasn’t filled with dead people, I was very, very relieved ...

My own header graphic!! Finally I got my ass off the wagon. Now, I'll just have to fill out the space between the head and the photographs below, so that it won't look so silly with the same picture in two places.