i got my work permit! yay! so now i could apply for a social security card doing which would enable getting driver's learner's permit and driver's license in the future. so we had to apply today as they weren't working on saturday. however i thought it would be after Michael came home from work. so i woke up, and went directly to my computer, yet my eyes were half-way open. i messaged Michael to tell him something and he said:
- hey! for lunch i'll come get you and we will go apply for the social security and then have lunch together.
to my question "what?.. oh... when?.." he basically replied i'll head out now but i can leave in half hour to give you some time. i said i could be ready in 10 mins which was a lie and he knew it :D then i started getting documents together and talking to mom.
she was all alarmed and flipping out about a new swine virus found in Mexico. which isn't the best thing to tell to a person who just woke up and already found out she had to get ready NOW().
now people i don't know what you have heard but here is the situation.
the virus started in Mexico and whoever got it died THERE. but people there also die from a hnormal flu and a lot of other things one of the simplest reasons are that they don't have clear water to drink in a lot of places. so that's Mexico. here in America there have been registered 40 cases as i'm typing this. yes you have heard that Ohio is among the states with registered case of the virus. there was only ONE case - a 9 year old boy, who just came back from Mexico. his school is closed now and he is fine after spending some time at the hospital. do you know how many fatal cases have been in America? NONE. so calm down. what for government declaring emergency situation - oh god it's America! they have to! at the airport the security level is ALWAYS orange which means everybody is on alarm. Obama stated that there is a need to be cautios but there is no reason to be scared or panicing!
that much on the matter. then after i discussed and investigated all this and told mom to calm down Michael came and we left. later as it came out my social security card will be ready within 2 weeks. we still went to see if i could get the learner's permit. we were told the paper stating that we are waiting for social security was enough (which we had), but i also needed to take a written test on traffic laws, but the place to do that wasn't working on mondays. so we got the book on traffic laws and left for lunch.
Michael pretty much thought i could take the test without reading that manual because it's a multiple choice test and there are questions like:
-if you see a speed limit sign does it mean
a) you can't drive faster
b) you can't drive slower
so yes if people are not complete idiots they can pretty much handle that :D
however i'll read the book and we will go this week. so then i got home, talked to mom and played WOW.
then Michael came home and in a very excited voice said "hey come here!"
i showed up in the living room and saw Michael going through some mail.
he read the paper to me... which said "welcome to America". thanks guys! you are greeting me kind of early - i've been in this country for only 5 months! you should have waited a year at least! wow what a speed. anyway... the paper said
"congratulations, your process of adjustment of status is finished and you will get the permanent residency card (green card) within 3 weeks".
and the next letter actually contained the CARD!!! it was unbelievable :D!!! i got my green card!!!
the ridiculous thing is... i haven't gotten my traveler's permit yet... which i also don't need now along with the work permit :D i needed those only while i was waiting for the card :D:D
so now we're done! and we can move!! we already looked up some very nice houses and if there are any for rent we will definitely go for those. but that's a different story :)
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
weird days
Saturday
seemed to be a nomral day, nothing extra-ordinary. just the head was kind of heavy. When Michael arrived from work and we went to have dinner, it appeared to me that i really didn't havy any appetite and that food as a general concept seemed disgusting to me. and the head started really hurting, so we went home. Michael went to an electronic store to get a movie, and i stayed at home to "pray to the porcelain god" (new expression i added to my vocabulary, it's expressive and i really like it :D ). when he came back i didn't feel any better to my surprise. i retook the medicine, curled up on the couch and we watched "21". oh God i don't remember when was the last time i felt so sick... and it touched me how sweetly Michael took care of me :) my big bear is the best :D
Saturday
i woke up around 10, as i went to bed around 12 last night. i stretched, got up to look at myself in the mirror. i got really scared at the sight in the mirror :D so i went to take care of it, even applied a mask (!). the mask was blueish, and i thought if Michael woke up on accident and went to bathroom, it would've been really funny :D "walking sleepily... opening the door, and a blue face stars at you" i started giggling as i was imagining all that. then after i was done, and checked myself in the mirror i was satisfied with what i saw.
i went to play WOW a bit, then woke Michael up to say "I'M HUNGRYYYYY". we went to "Rolly Polly" where you can have a normal-sized normal salad (which is not just chopped lettuce with some rare tomatoes). Michael calls it Irina-sized salad :D.
the day was sunny, the weather was good, and every creature, every little bug, and even programmers wanted to go out and spend some time in the sun. we went to the beach first. Some people were flying kites, and some crazy people were getting a tan!
then Michael took me to a park. we went to Hidden Valley this time. it was a far ride and on the way i saw a lot of blossoming trees and flowers in people's backyards. i'm sorry i couldn't take pictures of those as we couldn't park the car in the middle of the road :(
However i took some photos in the park:
Bear on the tree, and a cat on the tree :D
This I took through the windshield:
then we went home tired from walking. i changed into a dress, and we went to Steve and Nicole. they were ready, and Nicole looked great in a skirt. then we got into the cars and went to... restaurant Europa which we usually call "the russian restaurant". For Steve and Nicole it was something interesting and so foreign i guess.
the waiter approached us and from his first words i knew he was Russian or so. i told Michael.
- how do you know?
- from the accent.
- his english is good, don't be mean.
- i'm not being mean :D you will see ;)
then when we were ready to order food, i asked:
- "Russian salad" is "Olivie" right?
- Da!
- Khorosho!
but that was practically whispered so nobody heard. and on me saying see? he speaks russian. Steve said i didn't hear anything. i said fine fine.
then the waiter was back with some bread and butter (which was awesome), and he said:
- you are russian right?
- partly :)
- oh! i'm ukrainian.
- oh i'm partly ukrainian too :D
- where from?
- Armenia :D my mother is half-russian half-ukrainian (i omitted the pollish part not to confuse the poor guy even more)
- oh great! i'm from Odessa.
- ahh that's great!
(later when i told mom about this she asked "Odessa is great! what is he doing in Ohio??" on which i said "hehe and what am i doing there? :D:D")
Michael admitted his defeat. and i explained to him that it's like... Russians recognize each other at once. it's something like an instinct (or accent i'd say), or it's like every Russian sends waves of Russian frequency which only other russians can catch :D:D
the food was good. Steve and Nicole seemed to enjoy it too. and they loved "russian salad" very much. Michael wants me to get recipie... for him to make it i guess :D:D i gave up on kitchen activities. seriously it's not my thing...
then we went to the vodka room. the waiter insisted on girls wearing the fur coats (which were by the way very nice and i'd say expensive) and there was also one russian hat to wear which was given to Nicole :D she looked cute and Russian in that outfit :D we drank the vodka shots and went to sit at the bar. by bar here i mean the bar stand inside the same dining hall we were at. the bartender was the same as last time. he was really funny again.
Michael and the bartender whose name is Michael too :D (in the background :( )
Steve hiding his face as always. Nicole with thumbs up as always. that lady was very nice and sweet. the bartender said "it's my fiancee. she just doesn't know yet" :D
Michael and vodka :D he is happy about the size of that bottle :D
the bartender asked what ladies would like to drink. and then... it seemed to me i saw cognac. i asked if they had it. they did - of several kinds. Mike suggested Cavassier. i agreed, Nicole chose that too. And ohh that was good. it was good to have some cognac, i almost forgot how it makes you warm, and what it smells like. The taste reminded me of Armenian cognac i liked. it was kind of cheap back then, but now mom informed me that the price went up. i think it was called "tonakan" and produced by "Ararat".. anyway. Nicole didn't seem to like cognac that much and she ended up giving me hers. so it was the second glass of cognac after a vodka shot. bartender was walking around, making jokes. when i was done with the second glass, he looked me straight in the eye and said "you are being a pain the ass" and poored the third glass for me!!! i started screaming "no no no!!" on which he said "yeah sure after i poured it, she started saying 'no no no!!' but not before i did!" but really he did it quickly and i didn't expect him to! so by the time i realized what was happening he already poured it!
but it was cognac... and mmm how could i leave it there? so warm and lonely. so yes i drank the third glass. which by the way came free. After that we left. Brian and Linzy wanted us to meet with them at some bar. i was like "nooooo more alcohol! i'm good already!". we went home, and it was obvious to me that i wasn't going anywhere even without drinking. i told Michael to go, and went to try to pray to the porcelain god... but i decided that cognac was too good, and changed my mind and went to bed instead. the lights of my mind switched off immedeately. i only remember i told Michael to go see Brian and Linzy, and to let me sleep :D it was 10 PM.
Sunday
woke up twice last night to go drink some lemonade. my body knows how bad it will be in the morning after drinking in the evening so i always wake up to get something to drink. too bad we didn't have orange juice, but i decided lemonade will do it.
the second time i woke up was at 6.30. i went to bed and was trying to fall back to sleep for half hour. i failed. Michael started tossing and opened his eyes for a moment... to see my eyes staring at him. at first he just closed the eyes but then opened them again and stared back.
- jeeze! somebody is wide awake!
- mmmm yes actually..
- what time is it?
- 7 AM..
- wow!!!
- when did i go to sleep last night?
- 10 PM...
- that's why...
so i got up, with some hangover. after a shower i checked my mail.
to find a message from one of my best friends. the subject was "i'm not well" so it was like a cold shower to me. i opened the email... to find out that person was missing me badly and had desparatelly fallen in love. i got another set of emotions, which was like a hot shower :D i'll assasinate that person someday. what's wrong with you people? falling in love is a good thing! be happy! so i'm charging my phone to talk to that person (who will assasinate me if i give any details here) to find out WHO has stollen the heart.
p.s. hehe found out! that's cuteeee!
seemed to be a nomral day, nothing extra-ordinary. just the head was kind of heavy. When Michael arrived from work and we went to have dinner, it appeared to me that i really didn't havy any appetite and that food as a general concept seemed disgusting to me. and the head started really hurting, so we went home. Michael went to an electronic store to get a movie, and i stayed at home to "pray to the porcelain god" (new expression i added to my vocabulary, it's expressive and i really like it :D ). when he came back i didn't feel any better to my surprise. i retook the medicine, curled up on the couch and we watched "21". oh God i don't remember when was the last time i felt so sick... and it touched me how sweetly Michael took care of me :) my big bear is the best :D
Saturday
i woke up around 10, as i went to bed around 12 last night. i stretched, got up to look at myself in the mirror. i got really scared at the sight in the mirror :D so i went to take care of it, even applied a mask (!). the mask was blueish, and i thought if Michael woke up on accident and went to bathroom, it would've been really funny :D "walking sleepily... opening the door, and a blue face stars at you" i started giggling as i was imagining all that. then after i was done, and checked myself in the mirror i was satisfied with what i saw.
i went to play WOW a bit, then woke Michael up to say "I'M HUNGRYYYYY". we went to "Rolly Polly" where you can have a normal-sized normal salad (which is not just chopped lettuce with some rare tomatoes). Michael calls it Irina-sized salad :D.
the day was sunny, the weather was good, and every creature, every little bug, and even programmers wanted to go out and spend some time in the sun. we went to the beach first. Some people were flying kites, and some crazy people were getting a tan!
then Michael took me to a park. we went to Hidden Valley this time. it was a far ride and on the way i saw a lot of blossoming trees and flowers in people's backyards. i'm sorry i couldn't take pictures of those as we couldn't park the car in the middle of the road :(
However i took some photos in the park:
Bear on the tree, and a cat on the tree :D
This I took through the windshield:
then we went home tired from walking. i changed into a dress, and we went to Steve and Nicole. they were ready, and Nicole looked great in a skirt. then we got into the cars and went to... restaurant Europa which we usually call "the russian restaurant". For Steve and Nicole it was something interesting and so foreign i guess.
the waiter approached us and from his first words i knew he was Russian or so. i told Michael.
- how do you know?
- from the accent.
- his english is good, don't be mean.
- i'm not being mean :D you will see ;)
then when we were ready to order food, i asked:
- "Russian salad" is "Olivie" right?
- Da!
- Khorosho!
but that was practically whispered so nobody heard. and on me saying see? he speaks russian. Steve said i didn't hear anything. i said fine fine.
then the waiter was back with some bread and butter (which was awesome), and he said:
- you are russian right?
- partly :)
- oh! i'm ukrainian.
- oh i'm partly ukrainian too :D
- where from?
- Armenia :D my mother is half-russian half-ukrainian (i omitted the pollish part not to confuse the poor guy even more)
- oh great! i'm from Odessa.
- ahh that's great!
(later when i told mom about this she asked "Odessa is great! what is he doing in Ohio??" on which i said "hehe and what am i doing there? :D:D")
Michael admitted his defeat. and i explained to him that it's like... Russians recognize each other at once. it's something like an instinct (or accent i'd say), or it's like every Russian sends waves of Russian frequency which only other russians can catch :D:D
the food was good. Steve and Nicole seemed to enjoy it too. and they loved "russian salad" very much. Michael wants me to get recipie... for him to make it i guess :D:D i gave up on kitchen activities. seriously it's not my thing...
then we went to the vodka room. the waiter insisted on girls wearing the fur coats (which were by the way very nice and i'd say expensive) and there was also one russian hat to wear which was given to Nicole :D she looked cute and Russian in that outfit :D we drank the vodka shots and went to sit at the bar. by bar here i mean the bar stand inside the same dining hall we were at. the bartender was the same as last time. he was really funny again.
Michael and the bartender whose name is Michael too :D (in the background :( )
Steve hiding his face as always. Nicole with thumbs up as always. that lady was very nice and sweet. the bartender said "it's my fiancee. she just doesn't know yet" :D
Michael and vodka :D he is happy about the size of that bottle :D
the bartender asked what ladies would like to drink. and then... it seemed to me i saw cognac. i asked if they had it. they did - of several kinds. Mike suggested Cavassier. i agreed, Nicole chose that too. And ohh that was good. it was good to have some cognac, i almost forgot how it makes you warm, and what it smells like. The taste reminded me of Armenian cognac i liked. it was kind of cheap back then, but now mom informed me that the price went up. i think it was called "tonakan" and produced by "Ararat".. anyway. Nicole didn't seem to like cognac that much and she ended up giving me hers. so it was the second glass of cognac after a vodka shot. bartender was walking around, making jokes. when i was done with the second glass, he looked me straight in the eye and said "you are being a pain the ass" and poored the third glass for me!!! i started screaming "no no no!!" on which he said "yeah sure after i poured it, she started saying 'no no no!!' but not before i did!" but really he did it quickly and i didn't expect him to! so by the time i realized what was happening he already poured it!
but it was cognac... and mmm how could i leave it there? so warm and lonely. so yes i drank the third glass. which by the way came free. After that we left. Brian and Linzy wanted us to meet with them at some bar. i was like "nooooo more alcohol! i'm good already!". we went home, and it was obvious to me that i wasn't going anywhere even without drinking. i told Michael to go, and went to try to pray to the porcelain god... but i decided that cognac was too good, and changed my mind and went to bed instead. the lights of my mind switched off immedeately. i only remember i told Michael to go see Brian and Linzy, and to let me sleep :D it was 10 PM.
Sunday
woke up twice last night to go drink some lemonade. my body knows how bad it will be in the morning after drinking in the evening so i always wake up to get something to drink. too bad we didn't have orange juice, but i decided lemonade will do it.
the second time i woke up was at 6.30. i went to bed and was trying to fall back to sleep for half hour. i failed. Michael started tossing and opened his eyes for a moment... to see my eyes staring at him. at first he just closed the eyes but then opened them again and stared back.
- jeeze! somebody is wide awake!
- mmmm yes actually..
- what time is it?
- 7 AM..
- wow!!!
- when did i go to sleep last night?
- 10 PM...
- that's why...
so i got up, with some hangover. after a shower i checked my mail.
to find a message from one of my best friends. the subject was "i'm not well" so it was like a cold shower to me. i opened the email... to find out that person was missing me badly and had desparatelly fallen in love. i got another set of emotions, which was like a hot shower :D i'll assasinate that person someday. what's wrong with you people? falling in love is a good thing! be happy! so i'm charging my phone to talk to that person (who will assasinate me if i give any details here) to find out WHO has stollen the heart.
p.s. hehe found out! that's cuteeee!
Friday, April 17, 2009
photo progress
i remember how in Armenia i was running from one bookstore to the other looking for books on photography and photo-magazines. the books were rare and expensive, the magazines... there were none in fact. i only knew this book-exchange place where people could resell books and magazines, and obviously some photographer was reselling some of his stuff.
now here is the other problem - there are shelves with books on photography and shelves with photo-magazines! and at first it kept startling me and i couldn't decide what i really want and how to choose from that at all! however with time i found out that good books are rare anyway and most of the books is for beginners or kind of intermediates. Authors fill the books with their portfolio photos (printed large of course) and there is basically not that much of a text in that big book... so i started looking at smaller and thinner books, or rather books not on photography but on some part of it - like composition, exposure, filters,... and most of them were great!
i think it's the same way with many subjects - programming being the other example. the majority of those thick books will give examples of code, exercises, detailed explanation,... and the authors consider that the readers are not only newbies but also are dumb. Michael can tell more on the subject :)) i have him instead of the book and the internet :D
speaking of which, he restarted teaching me programming. it's fun! i love both photography and programming, but what i especially like is switching between the two. that way once i get tired of any i can spend some time doing the other thing. oh and what's fun about him giving me homework is when i don't do it it's very easy to get away with it - i just give him kisses and make "big beautiful eyes" :D hahaha
OK, to the point... i don't know how it is with other people, but when i take several photos of the same thing i can't decide which i like the most later on! and it gets worse when i try using photoshop, combining images, creating "the best". before i was torturing mom, showing her all the variants and having her choose, now i'm torturing Michael sometimes. and the funny thing is they both usually chose the same picture as the best. but i feel like i need to be able to evaluate it all by myself - because showing several variants ruins the general photo impression...
for this and only time i will ask the audience which is the best?
and this series...
now here is the other problem - there are shelves with books on photography and shelves with photo-magazines! and at first it kept startling me and i couldn't decide what i really want and how to choose from that at all! however with time i found out that good books are rare anyway and most of the books is for beginners or kind of intermediates. Authors fill the books with their portfolio photos (printed large of course) and there is basically not that much of a text in that big book... so i started looking at smaller and thinner books, or rather books not on photography but on some part of it - like composition, exposure, filters,... and most of them were great!
i think it's the same way with many subjects - programming being the other example. the majority of those thick books will give examples of code, exercises, detailed explanation,... and the authors consider that the readers are not only newbies but also are dumb. Michael can tell more on the subject :)) i have him instead of the book and the internet :D
speaking of which, he restarted teaching me programming. it's fun! i love both photography and programming, but what i especially like is switching between the two. that way once i get tired of any i can spend some time doing the other thing. oh and what's fun about him giving me homework is when i don't do it it's very easy to get away with it - i just give him kisses and make "big beautiful eyes" :D hahaha
OK, to the point... i don't know how it is with other people, but when i take several photos of the same thing i can't decide which i like the most later on! and it gets worse when i try using photoshop, combining images, creating "the best". before i was torturing mom, showing her all the variants and having her choose, now i'm torturing Michael sometimes. and the funny thing is they both usually chose the same picture as the best. but i feel like i need to be able to evaluate it all by myself - because showing several variants ruins the general photo impression...
for this and only time i will ask the audience which is the best?
and this series...
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
hanging out with Nicole - part 2
excuse my laziness... that's the only reason why the post came so late.
so after we were done with Nicole's college, ... and ULTA (which is an evil evil place of... make-up, hair products and just anything the girl might want), we went for a walk in the park. met some people with dogs, saw some squirrels. right as we entered the park we saw flowers! and of course we took of our cameras and started crawling on the ground around these tiny first spring signs... here is what i've got:
and from the side it looked pretty funny. i guess me and Nicole made some people laugh - whoever saw us on accident :D
I'm not a flower but Nicole took a picture of me too :D
oh no! she saw a bird! just kidding :D
then i believe we came over our place as i wanted to show her some photoshop stuff... and then it started. we found this indiana-jones-lego game among x-box games and started playing. oh god... we played for several hours and still couldn't get enough of it :D it was so fun!
and the other day Nicole came over to show me her new hair-color (on which i commented: so what color did you dye your hair?.. :D ) and we sat down to continue the game. and what did we find out? somehow we didn't record the game!!! so now we have to start from the beginning :(((
p.s. happy Easter everybody! by the time i get to it in my postings it will be too late :D
so after we were done with Nicole's college, ... and ULTA (which is an evil evil place of... make-up, hair products and just anything the girl might want), we went for a walk in the park. met some people with dogs, saw some squirrels. right as we entered the park we saw flowers! and of course we took of our cameras and started crawling on the ground around these tiny first spring signs... here is what i've got:
and from the side it looked pretty funny. i guess me and Nicole made some people laugh - whoever saw us on accident :D
I'm not a flower but Nicole took a picture of me too :D
oh no! she saw a bird! just kidding :D
then i believe we came over our place as i wanted to show her some photoshop stuff... and then it started. we found this indiana-jones-lego game among x-box games and started playing. oh god... we played for several hours and still couldn't get enough of it :D it was so fun!
and the other day Nicole came over to show me her new hair-color (on which i commented: so what color did you dye your hair?.. :D ) and we sat down to continue the game. and what did we find out? somehow we didn't record the game!!! so now we have to start from the beginning :(((
p.s. happy Easter everybody! by the time i get to it in my postings it will be too late :D
Thursday, April 2, 2009
hanging out with Nicole - part 1
Me and Nicole wanted to go out for an outdoor photosession. she picked me up and we went to her college first. There was this exhibition - all works were done by women.
It was mostly about colors - all works were very bright and their strongest point was supposed to be the color. to tell the truth, i believe a 5-year old kid could have drawn some of them. but it's considered art, so i'll shut up :D.
oh and prices were ridiculous. it the ones that actually had a chance to be bought were priced realistically - from $100 to $200, and the overpriced ones were just pretending to be so expensive to say "it's high art, you are ignorant if you don't get it." of course, this is my opinion. here are the works that i liked at least a bit, and ones that i loved.
$3500 (only the painting)
$695
$1800
$200 (i liked this one)
$200 per piece (my second favorite)
my MOST favorite - i loved this one, it's something i'd consider buying really
It was mostly about colors - all works were very bright and their strongest point was supposed to be the color. to tell the truth, i believe a 5-year old kid could have drawn some of them. but it's considered art, so i'll shut up :D.
oh and prices were ridiculous. it the ones that actually had a chance to be bought were priced realistically - from $100 to $200, and the overpriced ones were just pretending to be so expensive to say "it's high art, you are ignorant if you don't get it." of course, this is my opinion. here are the works that i liked at least a bit, and ones that i loved.
$3500 (only the painting)
$695
$1800
$200 (i liked this one)
$200 per piece (my second favorite)
my MOST favorite - i loved this one, it's something i'd consider buying really
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