Red October

I thought this would be fitting since my domain is Red October. Borrowed most of this from Wikipedia.

A little history - On October 25, 1917 (November 7, 1917 GC), Bolsheviks led their forces in the uprising in Saint Petersburg (then known as Petrograd and later as Leningrad), the capital of Russia, against the ineffective Kerensky Provisional Government. For the most part, the revolt in Petrograd was bloodless, with the Red Guards led by Bolsheviks taking over major government facilities with little opposition before finally launching an assault on the Winter Palace on the night of 25/26 October. The assault led by Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko was launched at 9:45 p.m. signaled by a blank shot from the cruiser Aurora. (The Aurora was placed in Petrograd (modern Saint Petersburg) and still stands there now.) The Winter Palace was guarded by Cossacks, cadets (military students), and a Women’s Battalion. It was taken at about 2 a.m. The earlier date was made the official date of the Revolution, when all offices except the Winter Palace had been taken.

Later official accounts of the revolution from the Soviet Union would depict the events in October as being far more dramatic than they actually had been. This was helped by the historical reenactment, entitled The Storming of the Winter Palace staged in 1920. This reenactment, watched by 100,000 spectators, provided the model for subsequent official films made much later showed a huge storming of the Winter Palace and fierce fighting. In reality the Bolshevik insurgents faced little or no opposition. The insurrection was timed and organized to hand state power to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, which began on 25 October. After a single day of revolution eighteen people had been arrested and two had been killed.

Traveled to Germany last week and stayed with some old friends. They made some plans to see some things while we were there. While it was nice to see them, we really learned a lot about them that I wished I had known before the trip…

On Sunday, we were all talking and they promised to take us to France (2 hour drive) on Monday. We all got up Monday morning and it was cloudy. Ok, so they said Tuesday the weather would be better. No problem as there were no set pans for Tuesday. Was still a bit jetlagged anyway. The women decided to go shopping.

Tuesday came (and almost went). We laid in the bed and never heard them get up. Finally I realized it was 11AM, so I decided to get up. Shortly thereafter, everyone got up. Problem was that while we were showered, dressed and ready to go, they were still not dressed. 1PM came and we decided to eat lunch. They are still not dressed and have not mentioned at all about leaving the house. Just lounged around the house in their pajamas and played with the kid.  Come on, we are on vacation and want to do some sightseeing! We discussed France over lunch. They complain about the drive, they complain that it is already after 1PM and kind of late to go. They complain about this and that. What the hell? So they start getting ready dragging their lazy asses around the house. We decide to tell them to f*** off. Ok, not literally, but my wife tells them that since it is beyond them to get ready in a timely manner that we’ll walk the local town and see some of the buildings and museums there. Meanwhile, they can get ready at their own pace and take us to Stuttgart when we return. We returned about 4PM as agreed and they were almost ready. They take us to Stuttgart and we walk to town square and see some old buildings, take some pictures and all is well. We go to a nice restaurant and have dinner. The day was kind of saved from a total waste.

So, the whole trip seemed to have its issues - always something. We did make it down to see Neuswanstien castle. Beautiful trip, beautiful town. Of course they were interested in this, so they were motivated to get there. Of course, they only thought about themselves while they were there. They ran around looking at stuff and didn’t give a worry at all to us and what we were doing. At one point they left us standing in the street, and got on a horse carriage to one of the castles. Nice. No worries. I am sure they enjoyed the nice smell of the horses farting in their faces. It wasn’t a long walk to the top of the hill anyway. So we did our own thing and had a good time. After that, we headed up to Neuswanstien castle. Was awesome. When we left, they were again nowhere to be seen off doing what they wanted, or so it seemed. We decided to have lunch in the restaurant just below the castle and again enjoyed ourselves. Had the best bratwurst ever. Ran into them at the bottom and they seemed a little irritated with us. They said they had been waiting for us. Waiting for us? That’s funny.

After that we drove to Munich as we wanted to go to Oktoberfest. They had made reservations at a 5 star hotel for us and them. What? A 5 star hotel? It was only 414 euro per night… That’s around $620 per night! What, are we made of money now? There was nowhere else to stay. So we pulled out the AMEX and annied up. I’ll admit that the room was nice, but not that nice. Some friends we have. Guess they have money to burn.

Ok, when we got there Thursday night, we decided we better go to Oktoberfest in case they came up with any excuses to not go on Friday. So again, we walked down to the festival and enjoyed ourselves. Spent a couple hours there and back to the hotel to enjoy our awesome room… Friday morning came and we got up on our own, had a wonderful breakfast (and breakfast was actually included with the room) and went for a walk and explored Munich. Saw a beautiful cathedral and it was just nice to get out and not have to worry about them. Later, we did go back to Oktoberfest. They were driving around and looking for a parking place (and arguing with each other) and they finally dropped us off and left. Agreed to meet us at a designated spot at 3PM. Again, we had a great time without them. Drank some beers, ate some German food, watched all of the drunk Germans and the costumed people. Was a good time.

Drove home after that and I think they were glad to see us go. They had no problem getting up at 5AM to get us to the airport. Dropped us off and said goodbye. No hugs, no chitchat, just goodbye. And we were outa there.

Not all Russian women are the same. Of course they come in all shapes and sizes, although one would think from all the hype that they are all thin and beautiful and oozing of sexual prowess. Well, don’t believe the hype. But do know that if you are attracted to a certain type of woman, you’ll find her.

Russian woman looking for love.

Russian women are all scammers and I have been scammed in the past. I don’t trust Russian women! Now now gentlemen, don’t take it personally. I would say less the 1% of these women looking for husbands are scammers. There are ways to avoid this, one of them being to use reputable agency who does background checks and makes sure each woman is who she says she is. Don’t ruin it for the rest of us by badmouthing Russian women.

Attitudes are very different in Russian women. Ok, this typically is not hype. Russian women are very upbeat and positive in my experience. Although you will find the occasional negative person. But all in all, most Russian women have positive souls.

Doors. Now I cannot say about all Russian women, but my wife has issues with doors when we are out. You know when you go into a store, the doors usually say either Push or Pull? Well if the doors Push, there seems to be no problem. But if they say Pull, well I guess she never had to Pull a door open in Russia. It says Pull on the door 99% of the time, but she never notices. Even after being in the USA for 8 years! So be nice and help her out if she has issues with this or something else. She is from a different country and things may be similar, but never the same.

Doors

The social life of a Russian woman may not be too exciting when she is in Russia, but that will change when she comes to the USA. Or maybe she does thrive in her social life prior to her arrival to the USA. Doesn’t matter. Once she arrives, she will feel somewhat lonely. She will miss her family, friends, and it will be strange that no-one speaks Russian.  Everywhere I have been, there has been some sort of Russian community. Here in Colorado Springs, there is a very large community. If you Google ‘Russian Community in your city’ you may find local blogs, forums, web sites devoted to this. Find out about events, things going on, etc. Your new bride will need new friends, support and other women to talk to and ask questions. Besides, Russians throw some great parties, especially birthday parties and at New Years.

Russian women are well educated. Yes, most are. They are able to attend a University for free as long as they keep their grades to a high standard. You will find many doctors, lawyers and business women in Russia. However, most of them cannot find work at the drop of a hat. There are many things that are different here in the USA. They will need additional training and have English speaking skills prior to going to work, if that is what she chooses to do. So be prepared to support your new bride for a minimum of 6 - 12 months while she prepares herself.

Russian women are great in bed. Ok, maybe I can’t vouch for all Russian women, but I have nothing but positives about my wife. She likes to try new things and she’s never been a prude. She can wear me out.

This weekend we were invited to one of my wife’s Russian friend’s house for shashlik - kababs on the grill for us Americans. We drove for about an hour and finally arrived to hang out.

The woman was making salads when we arrived.  And the dog, we’ll change the names in order to protect the innocent. Did I say innocent? We’ll call the obnoxious small dog Fluffy. Now right away Fluffy was very friendly and enjoyed jumping up on your legs and scratching at us, begging for attention.

Fluffy

We got the grand tour of the house. Of course Fluffy followed along with us as we got the tour and he stopped to enjoy himself along the way. Now I understand most dogs would just stop and lick themselves, but not Fluffy. There was a big stuffed bear upstairs and the dog decided to use one of the bear’s legs for his personal enjoyment if you know what I mean…

So after the show, or tour that is, I sat down and cracked open a beer and waited. The husband was in the shower still, so I had to entertain myself while waiting for him. You know Russian women speak Russian when they get together and unless you speak it, you’re typically on your own.  So the husband finally comes out and says the traditional chit chat to everyone - hi, how are you, etc.

So the husband is telling this story about the cat and how Russians don’t have animals spayed or neutered (the cat came from Russia with the wife). So he’s telling the story about how the cat ended up getting his balls removed.  The funny thing was that Fluffy found a new pleasure post during that story - my leg. So this fur-ball of a dog latched onto my leg while he was telling the story of the cat getting its balls cut off. Apparently the dog still has his balls… Fluffy just kept humping away and I kept shaking him off of my leg. But as soon as I would get rid of him, he would walk around the chair to my other leg and start again! Now having pants on is one thing, but I was in shorts. Talk about a horror movie, this could turn out to be one if Fluffy don’t back off! This dog was about to go flying across the room, but everyone was in there. How to deal with that damn dog? How could I fling this fur-ball into the wall without offending everyone? But wait. Aren’t I the offended one? I finally got up and went outside with the husband to start the barbeque. But Fluffy came along. Fortunately for Fluffy (and me), he was preoccupied chasing a rabbit. I’d hate to think what the rabbit was in store for should he happen to catch it. Maybe a little rabbit love… So anyway, I got a reprieve.

The day went on and Fluffy behaved himself most of the time. Dinner was good, everyone got drunk and we went home. The moral of this story? Don’t wear shorts to a house you have never been to before. They might have a small dog named Fluffy.

This article isn’t necessarily about the untimely death of David Carradine, but more so about the press. This morning my wife made a very good observation. She read about David Carradine found dead news and selected several articles from USA sources and several from Russian sources.

What she found was that the details were different. Why would the details be different?

In the USA news, the guy was found in a closet, ropes around the neck and genitals and ends of the ropes were tied together.

In the Russian news, the guy was found in the hotel room, ropes around the neck and genitals and the ropes were tied up in the bathroom.

What? Was something lost in translation with the Bangkok authorities? Or does the story sound better one way or the other in different languages?

It’s apparent that there were ropes around his neck and genitals and that asphyxiation was probably the cause of death. But ropes around the genitals? Some sort of sex game gone bad?

You be the judge.

David Carradine in Kung Fu