relatives

had an interesting conversation today. ofc half of it was said jokingly

we've discussed who can be considered a relative, and my opponent said that only a person related by blood is considered a relative.
i indicated that by this logic children would be considered relatives, while a husband wouldn't.
my opponent said, well, then husband is considered a relative too, but only he and people connected by blood.
then i asked what if one had several husbands?
it appears that the one you love the most is considered a relative :)

such a relative term it is, 'relatives' :)

extract from skype conversation

[...] for example today i saw sci-fi earth in my dream, earth 40 years after meeting other sapient life in galaxy, they only started showing up at earth.

The otherworldly species were pretty much like humans, but they had more developed DNA, some telepathy and such and they regarded us like 'little stupid brothers'.
i was talking to one.

i was irritated by his attitude.

and he was saying that everywhere he went he met ppl who didn't like looked down upon, but to fix that mankind should evolve
ntn else to do if u r really inferior to someone
and also they brought their own mafia down to earth, the worst representatives came to earth to make a living from exploiting idiots
sth like that
u can imagine that society.

it was also mentioned that since we can't cross-breed, lots of human girls are employed as prostitutes [...]

Probably that dream was inspired by the madness that's going on in this country - the damned Euro 2012. When it ends I'd be relieved.

People who come here for Euro must perceive us the same way as above-mentioned visitors from another planet. Lol. It does feel like we live on another planet sometimes.

Ukrainian realities

Ukrainian realities:

people who have survived WWII cannot find means to survive in 'free democratic Ukraine'

people who have survived USSR repressions cannot find means to survive in 'free democratic Ukraine'

'children of Ukraine' who experienced hunger in early 1990's are scared their children would experience the same thing soon

re-distribution

One gets mixed feeling upon stumbling on something he/she created (we're talking about paid work atm) for someone on someone else's website.
The first reaction is 'Hey, wtf, that's mine! They stole my work!'. Then you understand that even if they did, they stole it from that someone who paid you to do it. And if they don't care, why should you?

Un cadeau d'anniversaire

J'ai eu des ennuis au sujet du cadeau d'anniversaire que je souhaitais offrir à mon ami.
J'avais acheté pour cette occasion un e-book en offre limitée. C'est pourquoi j'ai dû l'acheter à l'avance. Cependant on ne peut échanger les articles au magasin uniquement dans les quinze jours suivant l'achat.

J'ai tenté de convaincre mon ami qu'il accepte mon cadeau trois jours avant l'anniversaire, afin qu'il puisse le teste, et l'échanger en cas de problème.

Mais il est devenu en rage tout en me le refusant.

Je suppose que c'était une mauvaise idée. Mais je ne vois pas pourquoi il est si important de recevoir des cadeaux précisément le jour de l'anniversaire.

酒と喫煙

あなたは、どんな飲み物が好きですか。この場合の「好き」は、よく飲むという意味です。

この国の若者たちはソーダとビールが大好きです。この人たちは大人になって、ビールはウォッカに変わります。
ウォッカでも、別の酒でも、結果は一つです。全体的に、ウクライナの市民は酒を飲み過ぎる傾向があります。

理由はマスカルチャーと消費社会論だと思います。ウクライナでは牛乳はビールより高いです。牛乳1リットルは1.25ドルぐらいで、ビール一瓶は1ドルぐらいです。よく探したら安いビール1リットルは牛乳の値段で買えます。

そしてジュースは、ソーダの値段の二倍です。普通の消費者の感覚では、ソーダ2リットルにはジュース1リットルより得です。
それで不健康な習慣をつけられます。

後で、悪い習慣を取り除く事はとても難しいです。

ウクライナの道で１４歳の子供たちがシガレットを持ってビールを飲む事を見たら、驚かないでください。酒と喫煙はウクライナの若者たちの罪です。

Steampunk

Finished reading Kady Cross 'The girl in the steel corset'  and 'The girl in the clockwork collar'. Still trying to find proper steampunk books I guess.
Anyhow it was OK and even enjoyable in some parts, so I think author deserves her kudos. If she'd stayed true to 'more steampunk, less romance' line in second volume, it'd be even good. Good book.
As it is I can recommend only first volume, since it's more fun reading and story flow is generic, while in 2nd book it is a bit... artificial. You almost can feel author's tension to come up with next scene. May be a result of over-editing, though.
Who knows. 
Hm, but I like the cover of the 2nd book better :)
The concept of the world is good, though. Kudos. 

This one is closer to definition of steampunk than series i recently finished - Parasol Protectorate by Geil Carriger [Soulless, Changeless, Blameless, Heartless, Timeless] - but nevertheless not quite steampunk enough.

More jokes in this arrangement of books, but also less sense and more vampires and werewolves, which don't really fit into my perception of steampunk. Oh yeah and too much detail on CLOTHES. Really, the writer must have prized her wardrobe research, but to me it all was just blah-blah-blah dress. Provide illustrations, if you want people to crave for it :)
Also these series are a bit special because when I was reading it I had a strong feeling it was written somewhere right after WW II. Figures, the last book only came out in 2012. Lol. After giving it some thought, I decided not to judge whether it is a good or bad thing.Speculating is pointless. It wasn't the language, though, but ... the contents? Not the old-wrodly charm you can find in works of classics of 20th century, no, just ... something that gave a feeling of it being old. Can't ascertain what it was.