PIE JOUST

TRAWLING

I was talking to a guy (Steve) in a hostel in Sevastopol Ukraine. I had mentioned that the way some of the women I've seen dress (all over the world) is like 'trawling'. With all of the rapists, perverts etc that are out there, the way that some of these women dress concerns me. Steve said that the women dress this way 'for themselves' - to 'feel better about themselves'. I said that's true but if I strapped $100 bills to myself to wander around to 'feel better' about myself, what sort of idiot would I be?



AMERICAN CUSTOMS

From Chris

Lawn/yard/garage sales. George Carlin talked about 'stuff'.

From Pete

The only USA custom I can think of is Thanks Giving. There is also that custom/tradition of calling a "sporting" event world championship or world series & only have people in the USA participate :P



LOGAN'S PHILOSOPHY ON PARENTING

Some kid was being a brat, kicking on a sign and such. The father came up behind him, grabbed him and gave him one measured swat on the backside. The kid cried, the bad behavior ended and the family moved on. People say to me "Logan, you're not a parent, you don't understand blah blah blah..." This condescending attitude omits two facts - first, I was a kid and know it from the 'swat on the ass school'. Second, I see the results of the pussified 'lets talk to the kid and give him a time out'. The result is you get bad, out of control, bratty and annoying children that would be put down (along with the parents) in any civilized country. I'm a big fan of the measured 'swat on the backside' to keep the little monsters in line. It seems to raise better people. Where there are bad kids, I blame the parents for not being the kind of people that are willing to admit defeat, kill the kid and start over.



ABOUT LAST NIGHT

Shawn, Adam (the huge guy who owns this hostel I am in as well) and I. Three bottles of vodka. Good people, good conversation. Heavy drinking. The good stuff (starts with an 'X' but it's in Cyrillic so who knows what the fuck it is) after it's been in the freezer till it gets thick is dangerously good. The last thing we had is some filthy shit with a pepper in it. The pepper fell into my glass, naturally I had to eat it. Fortunately, I was way too drunk to taste it or care. I've noticed that in Ukraine, putting away partially full bottles of alcohol isn't really acceptable. I think that may be a hold over of a Russian tradition.

Needless to say, I slept well that night.



RUSSIAN VOCABULARY

"Peh - Joust" (remember it as 'pie joust' - it sticks better) means 'you're welcome'. Or, if we say it in American English, 'you're welcome, bitch'. I have been teaching American English to a whole lot of mutherfuckers here and they really seem to enjoy it.



SHITTY WITHOUT, NICE WITHIN

Adam (the huge hostel owner guy) was explaining to me why the buildings in the Ukraine look like shit on the outside. It is because they have no 'home owners association'. They just recently started selling off all of the previously state owned homes to people. Nobody thought ahead to the common areas. Hence, the common areas usually look like war zones and the insides often look nice. Planning fail.



CURRENT PLAN

Essentially, I want to get to somewhere to lie low and recharge my finances. Western Turkey is pretty pricey so I'm going to get there then eventually to Georgia. If I don't mind Georgia, I can lie low there for awhile. Hell, if I can live cheaply enough there, I might lie low whether I like it or not. If I absolutely hate it, I'll go to Gary's house in Thailand and rent it from him till he gets back. Gary is a friend I've made in the hostels here in Ukraine. He's been talking about how cheap and wonderful Thailand is and it has me very tempted - but I'm feeling pulled to Turkey and Georgia right now. We'll have to see if my gut (huge, huge gut) is right on this one.

In talking with Adam, he came up with something interesting. He said that I really don't seem to care too much about the tourist stuff in the various countries - I just enjoy visiting with the natives. Hence, I can go to a cheap country and do that instead of a tourist destination spot during the high season. Like Sevastopol.

I did try to go find out how much a boat (very close here) to Istanbul was today but naturally the office was closed with notices over it saying it had failed a fire inspection and would be closed indefinitely. This translates into 'they failed to bribe the right people and are now out of business'. I will try again tomorrow.