Good afternoon, Dear Friends!
As much as it pains me to say, nobody is perfect in this universe. Each one of us has messed up and ended up committing tens, hundreds, sometimes even thousands of mistakes at different stages of life. Regrettably, many of us barely change throughout our lives, what is worse, we persist in our unwillingness to try to understand viewpoints, different from ours, even when the integrity of our very families and states is at stake. The majority of adults are barely versed in discussing politics politely and respectfully. Think of the outline of the breathtakingly gory and relatively lengthy coup d'état, also known as the October Revolution, that had set apart brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, friends, fellow soldiers and officers, employers and employees. In the end, its ramifications paved the way for the ubiquitous expropriation of all private property by the newly-fledge Soviet government, nationalization of all banks and bank accounts in the country, mass migration, famine, the Red and the White Terrors - the list goes on. As Abraham Lincoln once put it so poetically, justly, and eloquently, 'Every man's happiness is his own responsibility'; I would supplement the citation by saying that as long as people will not condition themselves to make their well-intentioned efforts intelligently, assiduously, and last but not least, in a balanced manner, impulsiveness, lust for violence, and shortsightedness will rebound on us and our opponents.  Almost any large-scale revolution leads to devastation, regardless of the political movement one chooses to support and defend - particularly if people deliberately ignore the repeating historical patterns of 20th-century events.

Ever since I turned 10 and realised I would die eventually, like everyone else, I chose cremation. Why? Because, first of all, cemeteries occupy way too much territory and I always thought it would be better to use these plots of land for more constructive and productive reasons e.g. for cultivating more cereals, fruit trees, vegetables etc. or/and for reforestation. Second of all, I believe in the circle of reincarnations and that is the main reason why I don't give a damn about my body (at least in such a fashion) and I'm not that attached to it to waste my time pondering how shall I preserve it and whether my ancestors will occasionally drop by my tombstone and leave posies of faded flowers. And I also conjecture that it's kind of more respectful to commit this precious vessel to the fire because the element fire is the purest element there is and I would rather see my body turned into a pile of ashes rather than rotting in a coffin and being devoured by these disgusting worms, bugs and other creepers. And besides I always wanted to be cremated either in a Viking fashion or under the pyre made by my closest and nearest friends.

There are no "the most intelligent" or "the least intelligent" races on the Earth. Everybody is different and unique in his/her own way and if it comes to discussing somebody's level of intellectual or/and physical development I believe it's better to take into consideration the fact that such a level depends on family upbringing and only on it. If one's parents don't read any books, go on the dole, listen to primitive music, watch the idiot box all day long, drink alcohol, curse like troopers and slap their kid around, it's kind of likely that their kid will grow into somebody similar though it's not an axiom. We can't use somebody's racial origin as a true criterion because there are obtuse, belligerent, evil and violent ignorami among Caucasians, Africans and Asians and we can only judge people by their upbringing and level of cultural development. If we judge books only by their covers, by hook or by crook, conflicts, bloodsheds, mass murders, wars, scuffles and controversies ensue. Humans have to be above discriminations, hatred, blood lust, and anger in general because we are apexes of creation and we're to set examples and strive to become exemplary.

In my opinion freedom is an abstract matter because to some people being free means grabbing a rifle and shooting their neighbours or colleagues for being foreigners, homosexuals, atheists or Muslims, or different in any other way. Other people opine that being free means expressing themselves in public e.g. either walking naked or half-naked, or smoking skank and puffing it's smoke in the face of a copper, getting drunk or shooting heroin and lying catatonic in the street, or covering walls of local museums with graffiti (kind of running out of weird ideas here), and to other people being free means assuming responsibilities for their lives and choices, drawing right conclusions after having surmounted certain obstacles, trials, ordeals etc.; remaining merciful and compassionate to everybody and choosing words carefully in any situation. I believe that one of the best options is to make a synthesis and draw a following conclusion: Freedom is only a matter of choice. We can either prosper and thrive and contribute to other people's happiness and well-being, or we can destroy ourselves and everybody who is dear to us. There are no Freemasons, corrupted governments and politicians, totalitarian regimes, there are no people or governing bodies to blame but ourselves and every nation has what it deserves and reaps and gleans what it has sown. Admitting that fact is making a step closer to improving the situation and gaining liberty. All the rest is up to us. Cheers, Folks! PS Let's not forget that we've survived the year "1984" (rubbing my hands with pleasure and a grin) 

I met many people in life and some of them were Hindus, some of them were atheists, some of them were Evangelists, some of them were Pentecostals, some of them were Muslims and all of them had different characters, temperaments, personalities, outlooks, prospects, education, places of work, but all of them were human beings. And judging from my experience I can tell that religion barely changes anything about people if they want to be and remain caring, humane, kind, thoughtful and nice people. If they are violent and wish to resort to violent means and use long words about Allah, jihad, Jannah, the Quran, Holy Prophet Muhammad as a cover for their lust for blood and destruction then the problem doesn't lie in religion but in people themselves. There are many religious extremists who profess Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, Hinduism, Roman Catholicism, Biddhism etc., we also can use various ideologies and Weltanschauungen as a cover for all kinds of atrocities, mass murders, betrayals etc., but all issues and aftermaths, which usually ensue afterwards, lie in people and in nobody else. It is better to cease blaming Islam and Muslims for all the evil deeds and assume responsibility for everything what's going on in our society. Violence reigns all around the world and it's up to us whether we'll change ourselves or not.

I've celebrated the New Year's Eve with my flatmates Veronica Nicholas and Veronica's younger sister Alice. We cooked, had dinner, drank some red sparkling wine with some pickled mushrooms and olives and all along we have been listening to Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 by Johann Sebastian Bach and joking and exchanging hilarious stories from our recent past aka school years. At 00 am everybody exchanged gifts and approximately half an hour later Veronica and Alice's parents came to call in on us and I drank half a shot of Becherovka for the first time in my life. In a nutshell it was truly the best, happiest, funniest and meatiest (as in the most substantial) New Year I've ever met. Hope that everybody had such a jolly good time as well. Cheers, Folks!

In my opinion public transport simply can't be free because, first of all, such category of service requires certain expenditures, for instance on petrol, bus drivers' engineers' salaries and vehicle maintenance and/or renewal. second of all, according to lies, which our "precious servants of the people" try to feed to us, governments can't provide us with this service for the same reasons, which have been elucidated in the first sentence. and also because public transport usually belongs to private companies Of course everybody (including me) wishes that public transport was free. had it been free, we would be able to save up more money and spend either on clothes, books, music notes, new cello or guitar strings, bouquets or posies for our significant others and music teachers etc.   on the other hand, we just have to find more alternative ways of earning money tax-free or we could strive to become the best at what we do and thus we will be able to earn money and stop wasting out time thinking how everything is expensive and unfair. Life is a cruel mistress, though worth fighting for. I wish all of us luck and more fighting spirit coz there will be a hell of battle in the future and bloodsheds, and triumphs afterwards...

On the one hand I believe that most of us are violent enough already and therefore gun control is truly necessary. To be frank with everybody I abhor all kinds of weapons, from cold steel to nuclear weapon and I believe that availability of weapons is a veiled threat to mankind because it automatically stimulates blood lust and actually makes killing other living beings more real than solving issues, conflicts and becoming maturer, wiser and able to manage anything. and it enables us to devalue this inestimable gift of life into the bargain. On the other hand, human beings can, as a matter of fact, express rage and destroy everything around without any weapons. In any event we always were and always will be aggressive. and even if carrying all kinds of weapons (including pen- and pocketknives) will become illegal, even if the mere thought of using violence against others will turn into a thoughtcrime, unfortunately we will find our way. I think that we have learn to deal with our issues and fits of negative emotions on our own because shifting the blame onto anything or anyone else is the easiest path but eventually it leads to the dark side of the Force whereas becoming a human is the hard way but it yields the best fruits. Trust me, guys, from my experience assuming responsibilities for everything what's going on in life is the only way to remain more or less sane and calm among other people. There are no weapons, there is only our will to remain humane or to lose face.

To begin with, my origin is somewhat mixed - I'm a Russian-Ukrainian Jew, born in NY and raised in the glorious city of Kiev  and I happen to be a staunch patriot of Ukraine, although I've been around the world. I've been to Brazil, Qatar, Thailand, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, also I've been to Switzerland about eight times and frankly I really want to carry on living in Ukraine. As for travelling, I wish I could travel to Iceland, Ireland, the Philippines and maybe Canada

I can't describe myself as somebody who listens to all genres of music since I've pronounced tastes in music. My favourite genre is classical music and my favourite composers are Ferenc Liszt, Claude-Achille Debussy, Joseph-Maurice Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninov, Ernest Bloch, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitriy Shostakovich, Alexander Scriabin, Bela Bartok, Robert Schumann, Gustav Holst, Hector Berlioz, Zoltan Kodaly, Cesar Franck, Edvard Grieg etc. And also, although I'm a cellist, I rather enjoy listening to concerti, sonatas, sonatinas, etudes, preludes, suites, rhapsodies and various pieces for piano, violin, viola, clarinet, flute, oboe etc.

Honestly, my biggest wish is to spend Christmas and winter vacation, generally speaking, with someone whom I love, cherish and miss. alas, this person will be either studying during the following two weeks of vacation or spending them with her significant other...really, so sick of being tormented by unrequited love

If I happen to have a pack of cigarettes with me, I'll be more than happy to share them with anybody. as for money, well, I'm definitely not a millionaire and even if I had some extra money, I would either spend half of it on my mom or actually just give it to her, or I would just put it by for a rainy day. In my opinion it's better not to give it away to strangers. if one sees a homeless and hungry person on the street, it's better to treat him/her to sandwiches or fruits or both.

Realising that I'm responsible for all the choices and consequences that I make in my life has made me happy. Truly. There's nothing better than understanding Your or, more specifically, my faults, mistakes and delusions and seizing the opportunity of remedying at least something.

I believe that "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" by one of the most prominent Soviet filmmakers - Sergei Parajanov, is one of the best films in the history of cinematography. it is some sort of an abstract of Ukrainian Hutsul lifestyle, culture and traditions and simultaneously it happens to be one of the most affecting, touching, lyric and tragic filmed love stories. and believe me folks, it was regarded as a masterpiece back in 1964 and even nowadays it's considered to be among the featured chef-d'oeuvres of world cinematography.

back when I used to be an avid gamer I was keen on "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic", "Star Wars: Battlefront" and "GTA: San Andreas". now that I'm free I can say that life is way more interesting than any video/computer game, it's way to precious to squander and waste it away on virtual reality, characters, plots, battles, fights and other non-existent humbug. Life itself can regarded as the best and the most unpredictable "realistic game" or survival show. 

Honestly, I believe that professional musicians are the happiest people on Earth. I always envied them, though in a good way, because unlike representatives of other professions musicians are actually able to render, share and convey happiness, joy, positive energy and the whole atmosphere of concord. assuredly everybody is different in gifted in his or her own way and hypothetically everybody can contribute to the common wellbeing and development of our society, but I believe that the future belongs to musicians.