Vodka really is wonderful thing. I am totally sloshed, and I'm having all these revelations, which I will forget tommorrow. Somehow, this makes me sad. I take another shot. I've decided that the Russians did a beautiful thing when they invented vodka. There's some quote in a book about Rasputin I read about vodka that still makes me laugh. I wish I could remember it. I'm too drunk to get up and go to the bookshelf to find it. 1. Mhat is the meaning of life? I've decided that the meaning of life is sex. We were put on earth to procreate, so let's do it. People make such a big fuss over "the meaning of life" when it's staring them in the face. People are just liek animals, except that they do certain things differnetly, thanks to the opposable thumb. I wonder if animals have a karma sutra? 2. Why do people make such a big fuss over relationships? See above. Fuck. I'm too drunk to express myself. I give up.

How are you feeling today Isoide? Vodka is a good thing,I,m not sure about your version of life,but I,m sure thats how it started.

One day inspiration hit me. I wondered to myself: What would it be like, to mix vodka with tang, and then throw in a couple orange tic tacs? I haven't found out yet, but tropical rum with tang is pretty good. Did you know there's actually a rum out there called redrum? Yep, it's pretty good stuff.

I feel fine. I never get hungover. If I drink too much, I kind of stagger the next morning, but today I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed. It's raining here. So the world looks doubly clear even though I broke my glasses. Er...the world always looks very clean and fresh when I drink, and also when it rains. Maybe I should sleep some more.

JESUS CHRIST YOU ABUSE ALCOHOL. tang is NOT a mixer, people! neither is jose cuervo margarita mix.

Chaser is for the weak. That goes for mixers too. How can you appreciate the delightful flavour of liquor if it's being disguised by some nasty non-alchoholic liquid?

Because your objective is to get fucked up as quickly as possible, without all the grimacing.

Oh. I rarely grimace. And I get fucked faster if I don't have my liquor cut. I just have to remember to drink water now and again.

tonight rich is picking me up after work and we're going to palamino for drinks and pupus before we go see the old movie Witness for the Prosecution - directed by Billy Wilder - at the movie museum. seats 20, reservations required. but anyway. i'm going to go up to the bar and say: "Stoli's, splash of soda, with a twist" in an effort to appear hip and cool with the uppity after-work crowd there. heh.

I've always wanted to ask for a Clan MacGregor's with a touch of urine, just to see if the bartender has a sense of humor. But I've never felt it was worth the possiblitly of getting on the bad side of a bartender.

Its never good to annoy the one mixing the drinks, or the one fixing the food.

I was a professional bartender until last month. Your instincts are correct.

What are you now Markus?

Sometimes if I'm in a store or public place and the worker is rude to me,I kinda run my words together, with a big smile on my face, say "Fuckyouverymuch!"

I'm a telecoms engineer, working on the data side of the house, including Internet operations. Not quite sure how that happened.

I like Stoli straight out of the freezer, when it gets nice and thick. Had a Russian friend once and, damn, his mother could cook. The father would sit us down before dinner and start on pouring round the vodka. Little shot glasses. Neverending. And you had to down them as soon as they were poured, otherwise it was an insult to the host. I like that freezing cold rubbing alcohol taste. It warms you inside. I can see why Muscovites drink it in the dead of winter. I like gin too. Love that juniper smell. Tanqueray, tonic, limes. Nothin' finer. Although I find it's better to wake up from a vodka buzz than a gin buzz -- gin dries you out too much.

Nostrovia!

Yeah, "Nostrovia." That was the word I wanted to add to my previous post, but didn't know how to spell it. Thanks Czarina

Not sure of the spelling myself,but I've been know to utter it a time or two.

There is no defined spelling in English, it's all just a transliteration from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet. I'm not even going to try to find the correct font to slap it up here in the original. Which brings up the question: do you have a Russian connection, Czarina, or just like the name?

I was given the name many years ago, by some comrades,er,friends.

To the revolution comrades,crush the capitalist scum............or not.We could just drink instead.

Today was a really shitty day. All day today, it didn't matter what I did, I got shat upon. My art teacher was just really hard on me, and he's my boss. I had to write in scores on this sheet of paper, and when I was done I set them down on this table with the handed back work. Got shit for that. Don't ever put the score sheet out here. Okay, I understand. I was told that earlier today, I don't know what I did that time tho, I don't even think I did it, but he doesn't like excuses. Later in Printmaking class I was being too messy, getting ink on the newspaper, and then another scolding for my area not being tidy, "oh hmm well I guess it does look fine, pardon that." And that's just a few, but the scolding was consistent, all through my fucking printmaking class. I just wanted to give up. I did a monotype today, it's where you take ink, roll it onto a thick sheet of plastic, move it around here and there to make a picture, put a sheet of paper on top, and then you run it through a roller. My fucking borders were not clean, I got scolded for that. In my mind I'm just thinking, "FFFUUUCCCCKKKKKK." I tried making conversation, "So how was your weekend?", "Oh pretty good, I painted." I tried explaining how mine went, and it's like he wasn't even listening. So what should I do? Should I even try to talk in there, should I try to be weird, or just keep shut? It tottally pisses me off, I kind of wish he'd fire me so next quarter I could just go to olympia instead. Or maybe I should ignore him altogether, I can't always do that, but when I can maybe I should. I don't know. Jina, what the fuck does this have to do with alcohol? I have some Baja Rosa strawberry liquer I'm eyeing. I promise not to abuse it.

I think I like the "ts" transliteration better than "cz" for "tsar/czar." when I see "czar," I mentally pronounce it "char," because that whole "cz" thing looks so polish to me. char. charina. chechoslovakia.

jina, i'm a printmaker. let me know if you need any tips. use neoprene gloves when handling your ink, and then take them off to deal with your paper. voila, clean hands. you can buy a box of neoprene gloves at walmart or someplace like that, it's like ten dollars for fifty pair. i'm sorry that you're getting yelled at.

i saw my Declan Devereaux, my dentist, at the swanky after hours bar we went to yesterday. he's the most amazing dentist ever, and he has a small following of believers. i wish i could get my teeth cleaned four times a year instead of just two. he dyes his hair too. blonde, then red. last night he was light brown with highlights and it looked very nice. i think he was on a blind date though. and then last night i had a dream about him.

I also prefer the 'ts' over the 'cz' as a more accurate representation of the sound, but erased it from my post thinking for some reason it might be impolite to say so. I'm curiously non-offensive at times.

Thanks Agatha. My art teacher still sucks, I've vowed not to try and be friends ... or friendly with him, it's pointless.. It's wonderful that you're a printmaker. I was thinking about giving one of my prints as part of the art exchange, you'll have to see it, I want to know what you think. Where did you go to become a printmaker? You still work at Kinkos? I like calling it Kinky's. I tried going to the Red Coral this weekend too and it's no longer. :(