I’m writing this in advance hoping it will be published on your actual birthday, as I will be in Ukraine at the time.
I’m sorry I can’t be with you for your 21st. I hope you are surrounded with people you love who make you happy, and that there’s perhaps a birthday cake. Cake is good.
21 isn’t so significant anymore I guess. You’ve been able to smoke and drink and drive for years (hopefully not all at the same time), and I for one, turning 21 myself in 2 weeks, feel far from all grown up.
So maybe it’s not the age that’s significant, but the fact you were ever born at all. The miracle of life and friendships! I feel truly blessed to have known you 5 of your 21 years, and we’ve had a lot of fun in that time. Every year of your life is the most important, not just because it’s some dumb ’landmark’ age.
You are forever young. 5 years ago we were teenagers coming to terms with the way people work. 10 years ago we still saw the world with misty eyes. 20 years ago you were just a babe in arms… like a baby badger, all pink and new…
Happy birthday, Ick. My rodnya, my brain twin, my gentle beat droppin friend.
With love from Kiev,
Dia x
Goodbye, for now.
The band is in Eastern Europe, and I must go to them.
:)
“ The hardest part of being your friend is loving you so much.
~work~
~uni~
~work~
Fly to Kiev
Fly to Warsaw via Copenhagen
Train to Krakow
Train to Prague
Train to Dresden
Fly to London via Berlin
~rest~
Fly to Copenhagen
BDAY
Fly to London
~work~
XMAS
~rest~
Fly to Las Vegas via Washington and Chicago
NYE
Fly to London via Chicago and Washington
~rest~
~work~
~uni~
I baked a birthday cake. Smeared it all over with frosting, too. Wrote happy birthday, and his name, in icing. Covered it with chocolate drops. Got a big bag of weed and expected to have a nice night in.
Well, I did anyway. But the birthday boy is nowhere to been seen. Hasn’t been heard from in days. His phone is off but, at least I tried.
And complications have arisen which do not work in my favour regarding other matters. But I will try. I must try.
Monty Python’s Meaning of Life is so good to watch right now. My brain can just about cope.
“We start from Kiev in the morning (I pick u up at about 8am). About 10am we arrive to Chernobyl town, cross it, ride close to ChNPP and move directly to Pripyat town. Yr permits allow u photographing and video shooting during all yr trip except several places I will name u during our trip (e.g. policeman posts, etc.).
My experience shows that most of the time visitors are spending in Pripyat town.
What can be visited and seen there?
Living blocks – we can enter empty flats in living blocks and go up to the roof of 16-floors building – perfect view to surroundings. Kindergarten. School. Swimming pool. Carousel yard. Post office. Central Town Square. Food store. Movie theatre. Hospital and maternity hospital. Old river port, etc.
On our way back we make a stop near the Sarcophagus (distance to the Sarcophagus is about 130m).
Next we go to Chernobyl town.
What can be visited and seen there?
Active Saint Elias Church, graves of two Jewish kings, open-air exhibition of fire vehicles really used for firefighting at Unit 4 in 1986, Lenin monument, abandon buildings, Victims memorial, other monuments.
Next, approximately at 4pm we start back to Kiev. On our way when crossing the border of EZ we repeatedly pass through equipment for dosimetric monitoring.
Inside of EZ during our trip we shall see (hope - not meet, because such occurrences are happened) wild animals of different kinds, namely wild pigs, elks, roes, Przewalski’s horses, hares, foxes, wolfs, etc.”
I smell play fodder.
WOAH THIS WEATHER IS TERRIBLE
IT’S SO AMAZING
I ALMOST GOT BLOWN AWAY
If anyone ever asks me about the catharsis in Doctor Faustus again, I will kill them, and eat them.
Hopefully all 2,000 words of that essay didn’t totally suck ass.
I got an email in my uni inbox a few days ago entitled “Do YOU want to be a teacher?” and looked at it and thought, sure, someday, but didn’t open it.
This evening, I got a email from one of my classmates who joined the course late and I gave her my address if she had any questions. As it turns out, yes, she did have a question, concerning secondary reading for our essay due in soon. It’s for our theatre studies class and she’s answering the question “What makes a tragedy a tragedy?”
So, I went on Google and did a little snooping around. I found a book by Clifford Leech that might help, but, knowing it’s too late to order the book, found it online and had a quick flick through it. There were lots of wonderful quotes and good, in-depth analysis and I linked it in an email back to Sarah, along with how to reference everything in her bibliography.
Back in my inbox, the “Do YOU want to be a teacher?” email winked at me. I opened it, followed a few links, and now I’m attending a presentation on campus at the end of the week for a little push in a good direction.
