out in the city

Dave and Gillian came to visit us (and New York) last Thursday. People often compare having an apartment in New York City with having an apartment in Moscow. Every single person you know, sometimes not particularly well, would come to visit you.

Fortunately, Dave and Gillian are good friends of ours, and they are wonderful guests who do not make your life complicated while staying at your place. Quiet opposite - they just make everything more fun! We did lots of cool things with them over last weekend !

On Friday we went to the baseball game at Yankee's Stadium. The Stadium is soon to be demolished, and they had s big count down of games before it will happen. Our game was 68th or something :) The weather was cold and windy, and thus it was unpleasant outside, but it was an exciting crowd around. Overall I had fun, even though I didn't have any idea what was going on most of time at the field.

On Sunday we went to see Macbeth with Patrick Stewart playing the leading role. And again, I didn't understand anything. I mean, I understood who killed whom, but not what they were pronouncing while raising their swords. I was counting minutes till the time when I decided a decent play was supposed to end, and was very happy to leave. Though I have to admit, that it was obviously very a well acted and staged performance, it was just me (and larger half of the audience) who did not understand Shakespeare language on the fly.

One easy-to-understand thing we did was a trip to the Bronx Zoo. I loved it, since you don't feel pain when looking at the animals there. They obviously have pretty good life there, very well taken care of and well fed. I want to go back there when Tanya comes - it will be a fun thing to do!

Our friends are living tomorrow, so we will catch up on all our tv shows and sitting at home time before going to Vermont for Miles's graduation (and my birthday)!

Video Games Live

This weekend, Mike and I went to the Video Games Live concert, which was an amazing experience. It was an interesting compromise for both of us: games and going out. As a result, it was the perfect night out, when both of us were pretty happy.

It was my first time at Beacon Theater, which I heard so much about. Honestly, I found it very ugly. Huge woman-warriors statues and ceiling decorations looked more like an exaggerated parody on a theater, rather then something tasteful. The entrance hall was very narrow, so people were jammed in the vestibule. We came early, and got a chance to buy a souvenir t-shirt for Mike.

I very much enjoyed the concert, which was very entertaining. Everything in the United States is entertaining, even the symphony concert! The audience was encouraged to cheer and applaud during the performance when they recognized the piece of music they like. The orchestra and the choir performed my favorite intro to the Civ IV game, and many more video games music pieces, which were very powerful and of a good quality.

Also, I died my hair red Sunday night. It looks totally awesome!

I am back, I promise

It's interesting, but one has so much more free time when employed rather while being free from any obligations. Months of January, February and March went by so quickly and unremarkably that I can hardly remember anything I did at the beginning of this year. At the same time, I didn't have time for anything, I never posted a single note on this blog.

I can't remember anything from January. In February we went to Rochester. Mike was sent to the training from Columbia during the St. Valentine's week. We continued our tradition of going out of town for the 14th of February by combining it with some technical classes in the morning for Mike. We stayed in a very nice hotel Woodcliff, where we had very nice dinner and spa massages to celebrate the year since our engagement.

In March we had an interview for the green card. It was crazy stressful, especially considering that we had to get up at 5:30am that day in order to make it on time to Garden City, NY. I didn't hear from them since then.

At the end of the March, at the time of my desperate job hunt (still never heard from anyone!), my old job Penny Lane Studios asked me to work for them temporarily. It means I can be here until I find something else. It works for me, and it works for Penny Lane. Yay!

Since I started this job, I caught up on all of my emails, planning and arrangements. I participated in St. Michael's meetings, and I plan to do more. I am going to the gym. Not too often, but still more then before! I got so much more free time, that I am back to write my blog again.