Month: August 2003

Movie day. We started out with Olga by watching “Rabbit-Proof Fence“. Although it was a good movie, it didn’d fill me enough. Lots of nice scenery of Australia, but the plot is simple and action is mostly absent. So, I call up Hazard and we go to his place to watch something more disturbing – “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life“. Hilareous was it. Very brave movie even for our time. Lots of church humor and Douglas Adams atmosphere.

I came home and felt almost filled with movies, but my appetite for some cheap action with lots of fighting and blood was still high. I went through the pile of CDs with DivX which my brother gave me recently, and came across “Evil Cult“. It’s one of the early Jet Li movies. Chineese martial arts movie, so to speak. So I watched it. I didn’t like it much, although I am a fan of cheap chinese butt-kicking dancing. The fact that the movie was all in Chinese didn’t have to deal with my disliking it though. :) Martial arts were good as they were, but my position on fighting in movies like this is that it should be one guy fighting another one guy fighting a bunch of others. I don’t like a bunch of guys fighting another bunch of guys. It’s way off the style. :)

In other news, it’s my grandmother’s birthday today – Happy Birthday, Grandma! :) Though I doubt that she will ever read it – she’s from pre-Internetic generation. :)

Lots and lots of reading about photography. Photo.net guys are doing a good job for beginners like me. David Barnes did a nice 6-part article. Digital Photography review has a Learn section. And of course there is a bunch of other tutorials and links.

All these photography reading urges me to make a choice and plan for the purchase of the digital camera. I am still fixed on Canon Powershot G5. :)

Slow day in preparation for the night shift in NOC. Small discussion with Hazard over phone about the wishlist and the staff to order from Amazon.co.uk. Finally I’ve decided to get both some books and some DVDs. :)

Hazard also sent me a useful link to the page on Cyprus government’s site about the procedure of getting the citizenship via naturalization :) . Check it out here.

Hunger as always at the middle of the day, so Olga and I decide to check out this new place called “Shrimpy” which is supposed to be good with shrimps and other sea creatures. We, of course, picked up Hazard on the way, since he is the always-hungry type of a guy. :) And he had a map. And he is a nice guy…anyway :)

Shrimpy turned out to be ugly and depressing. They never change their oil, so the food smells bad and has the black staff all over it. Even on the french fries. Portions are small and rather expensive. Carlsberg, as usual, saved the day. And they serve draught too! First time is our last time here, I guess.

Depressing sea food pushed us for some compensation so we go to Kanika to enjoy some Sophie’s ice cream. Deliceous, as usual. :)

Since I have a lot of time until the NOC shift starts, we go back to Hazard’s place again and watch “Donnie Darko“. Nice movie, but a big long and slow at times.

Beach and traveling day. For some reason we couldn’t wake up Lev, so only three of us went to the trip. This time we headed for Pissouri Bay Beach. Nice place, excellent views, warm water, green grassy fields around Columbia hotel. Wooden sun umblrellas on the beach. Watersports with yachts and all the other staff. Sandy beach. Mostly. Lots of stones though on the beach and on the bottom of the sea. But still rather enjoyable. :)

Some Russian food thereafter. Lev finally woke up too, so we picked him up. Olga felt dizzy (or couldn’t stand us anymore.:) ) and stayed home. But we continued with “Lost Highway” at Hazard’s place. Then we went for some hotdogs on the beach and long discussions about everything and anything. Then Hazard dropped home and we had the final pint with Lev.

After all of that I am getting firm on the idea of getting Cyprus citizenship. Russian one doesn’t give me much, so I have nothing to lose anyway. :)

Trip to Larnaca in the evening to visit Svetlana and Yannis. Apparently, they cooked the best sea food meze (collection of dishes) that I’ve ever tried. Everything was there: fish, shrimps, octopus, squid… Very nice!