Month: February 2023

She Said Movie

I finally watched “She said” over the weekend. I knew it was a great movie and wanted to watch it for a while, but somehow, finding a place online to watch it was challenging! It is not available on Amazon, and it was not on Hulu (I do not use Hulu, but while searching for a place to watch, I decided to accept a free month of Hulu, which they sent to me for my birthday). I finally found it on Apple TV (yes, I also accepted three months free of Apple TV, it came with my new iPhone, and I am going to drop it because I do not use it!)

So, I finally watched it. What a great movie! I do not want to write at length about it, it just checks all the marks. Watching it, I could not stop thinking about how deeply sexual harassment is enrooted in all aspects of our life. I recall my teenage and young adult days, and even later – I can’t believe to which extent it was expected! We never thought about complaining, it was just a force of nature you had to consider. I realized one small but rather astonishing fact while watching – we never thought kissing against somebodies would be abuse! You were not raped, what you are complaining about?!

The movie emphasized one more time the power of numbers and the importance of everybody coming together and raising their voices against whatever evil we want to fight.

Anne-Sophie Mutter

I went to her concert on Sunday – it was a matinee performance, so I took mom with me. It is always hit or miss (I never know whether she will enjoy a performance or start critiquing random things). This time, it was a miss – she said that the music didn’t engage her and then proceeded to criticize the musician’s clothes and other unrelated stuff. But enough about that.

Anne-Sophie Mutter is one of those artists who are so well-known that it feels like they “always were around,” and you might be unsure whether they are still alive. It was almost the case this time: I knew that she was the most famous violinist for the past twenty five years. The program mentioned her “forty seven years of performing.” So when you see her coming to stage in a bright pink strapless ball gown, it feels surreal :).

She is great. The concert lasted for two hours, and she was on stage all the time, and then did three encores!

The second part of the concert was “The Four Seasons,” and it was as great as on this video:

The First Day Of School!

In the Soviet Union, kids started school when they were seven. Although we had a “prep” group in the detskiy sad, it still wasn’t considered “school.” Going to school meant that you were “a big kid,” and everybody counted the days left until their first “September First” (the official start of the school year countrywide). Very soon, the novelty would vanish, and at least half of the kids would start to hate school, but it was not the case on the first day of your first school year.

During summer in Estonia, Grandma Fania gave me lessons. I could read decently by that time, but she also taught me cursive, and we did a lot of writing exercises. I have no idea why she did this – it was by no means required. Possibly, she kept the memories of the Gymnasium in the Czarist Russia she attended – to be admitted, you had to demonstrate the ability to read, write and do basic arithmetic. Or maybe, she just wanted me to be in the top of my class from day one.

In any case, I was ready and excited. I had my new school uniform on with the “holiday” white apron, and I had flowers in my hand – that was also a must for September 1 – the flowers were given to the teachers, and everybody had to have a bouquet.

The school was less than ten minutes walk away, but I was afraid to be late!

Continue reading “The First Day Of School!” →

Video From My Birthday Party

I just realized this post was sitting in the drafts for two weeks!

Bureaucracy

I finally finished mom’s citizenship application (I could not submit it because the government payment website was down for maintenance :), but that’s fine, I will submit it on Monday). Anyway, it was one of these things sitting there, annoying like hell, and you can’t do anything else because you know you have to do this first, and then everything is stalled.

I am finally done, but I will be happier when I pay the application fee and it is officially submitted. It looks like things are moving fast these days, so I hope her application will be processed soon.

Now, I need to submit all the remaining documentation for my taxes. The fact that I had a long questionnaire for my tax returns sitting there at the same time as my mom’s application was sitting there, and both seemed equally urgent, didn’t help any of the two processes. But now, I should be able to finish both!

It’s ridiculous how I spend weekends these days – trying to catch up with things instead of relaxing and recharging. But it does not look like I have alternatives.

Fighting Forward!

It used to be an annual Planned Parenthood fundraiser celebrating yet another anniversary of Roe/Wade. This year is different- for the first time, the defenders of reproductive rights gathered after Roe/Wade was gone.

Despite that, the event was very elevating, and I left the event inspired. Everybody is determined to fight relentlessly to defend women’s bodies and the right to choose.

Dick Durbin
Jennifer Welch

Antis were blocking the way to the venue (anything new?!), although not that many. And escorts were protecting the guests :). I thought I would be alone (I didn’t share my plans with anybody), but I met two escorts who invited me to sit together, so it was even more enjoyable.

The only time I attended this event before was in 2016 when I got discounted tickets for my friend and me. This year I decided to give more to Planned Parenthood by buying a non-discounted ticket. And I also gave money during the event.

We will keep fighting!

Volunteering

This week is all about volunteering, and overall it is one of these weeks which are “overloaded” with different activities.

Tuesday was an ODS day. I didn’t go there for six weeks (not because I didn’t want to, but because our volunteer coordinator was unavailable). As usual, when I am away for a long, and when lots of residents leave and lots of new ones come, it is challenging to start developing new relationships again.

Besides, I was asked to make a salmon soup, and I accidentally burned the leek, and there was no extra. I had to substitute with onions, but that’s an unacceptable substitute, so the soup didn’t come out as good as it should. I need to come and make it one more time soon!

Today, The Night Ministry had a career workshop so residents from different programs could prepare for the career fair for next week.

It was organized exceptionally well, and I was happy to tell the staff how awesome it was. It was the first time The Night Ministry had such kind of an event, so after the youth left, we talked a little bit about how it could be improved even more.

All is great, but I am really tired, and tomorrow, I am going to the Planned Parenthood fundraising, and of Friday, I have friend’s birthday.

At work, two projects are finally moving, and also, I started my Advanced Postgres series for my co-workers, and also, there are two million little things related to the conference.

So it feels like I am busy 24X7,and still have too little done!