All posts tagged #Rina Tim’s blog

Alexander Pushkin’s Duels

pushkin_duels_1

Every high school kid today knows that Alexander Pushkin was shot at a duel and died in 1837, at the age of 37. Dueling was a sign of that generation, but studying the full list of Pushkin’s duels, strikes me with awareness of how incredibly reckless were men at that time. Here is the list of Alexander Pushkin’s duels.

1816. Pushkin (aged 17) summoned his uncle Paul Hannibal to a duel.
The cause: during a ball, Paul lugged away Pushkin’s girlfriend, miss Loshakova.
The result: duel canceled.

1817. Pushkin summoned his friend Pyotr Kaverin to a duel.
The cause: Kaverin’s facetious poems.
The result: duel canceled.

1819. Pushkin summoned a poet Kondratiy Ryleev to a duel.
The cause: Ryleev told a joke about Pushkin at a high society gathering.
The result: duel canceled.

pushkin_duels_02

1819. Pushkin was summoned to a duel by his friend Wilhelm Küchelbecker.
The cause: funny verses about Küchelbecker, namely the passage about «feeling Küchelbeckery and sickening».
The result: Wilhelm shot at Alexander, but missed, Alexander refused to shoot.

1819. Pushkin summoned Modest Korf, a Ministry of justice worker, to a duel.
The cause: Pushkin’s drunk manservant pestered Korf’s servant, who finally beat Pushkin’s servant up.
Result: duel canceled.

1819. Pushkin summoned Major Denisecich to a duel.
The cause: Pushkin behaved provocatively in theater: he yelled at actors, so Denisevich reprimanded Pushkin.
The result: duel canceled.

1820. Pushkin summoned Fedor Orlov and Alexey Alexeev to a duel.
The cause: Orlov and Alexeev reprimanded Pushkin for being drunk and trying to play pool, which disturbed the others.
The result: duel canceled.

1821. Pushkin summoned Deguilly, a French military officer, to a duel.
The cause: An argument, and a quarrel under unclear circumstances.
The result: duel canceled.

pushkin-pistols

1822. Pushkin was summoned to a duel by lieutenant colonel Semyon Starov.
The cause: a conflict occurred because of a restaurant orchestra at a casino, where both indulged in gambling.
The result: each of them shot the other, but both missed.

1822. Pushkin summoned a 65-year-old state councilor Ivan Lanov to a duel.
The cause: a quarrel during a holiday dinner.
The result: duel canceled.

1822. Pushkin summoned a Moldavian nobleman Todor Balsh, the host of the house where Pushkin was staying during his Moldavia trip.
The cause: Maria, Balsh’s wife, responded to Pushkin’s question in an impolite manner.
The result: both shot, but missed.

1822. Pushkin summons a Bessarabian landowner Skartla Pruncul to a duel.
The cause: Prunkul, as well as Pushkin, were seconds at someone else’s duel; they could not agree upon the rules of the duel.
The result: duel canceled.

1822. Pushkin summons Severin Pototsky to a duel.
The cause: discussion about serfdom at the dinner table.
The result: duel canceled.

1822. Pushkin was summoned to a duel by a captain Rutkowski.
The cause: Alexander Pushkin did not believe that a hailstone can weigh up to 3 pounds (which is possible) and made fun of the retired captain.
The result: duel canceled.
pushkin_duels_6

1822. Pushkin summoned a Chisinau tycoon Inglezi to a duel.
The cause: Pushkin coveted his wife, a gypsy woman Ludmila Shekora.
The result: duel canceled.

1822. Pushkin was summoned to a duel by a General Staff warrant officer Alexander Zubov. The cause: Pushkin had caught Zubov on cheating during a game of cards.
The result: Zubov shot but missed Pushkin, then Pushkin refused to shoot.

1823. Pushkin summoned a young writer Ivan Rousseau to a duel. The cause: Pushkin’s personal dislike for this person.
The result: duel canceled.

1826. Pushkin summoned Nikolay Turgenev, one of the leaders of the Union of Welfare, a member of the Northern Society, to a duel.
The cause: Tugrenev did not approve of Pushkin’s poems, especially, his epigrams.
The result: duel canceled.

1827. Pushkin was summoned to a duel by an artillery officer Vladimir Solomirskiy
The cause: the officer’s female friend, a Sofia, to whom Pushkin was personally attracted.
The result: duel canceled.

pushkin_duels_2

1828. Pushkin summoned the Minister of Education Alexander Golitsyn to a duel.
The cause: Pushkin wrote a bold epigram, so the Minister arranged a rough interrogation, which Pushkin found humiliating.
The result: duel canceled.

1828. Pushkin summoned Lagrenée, a French Embassy Secretary in St.Petersburg.
The cause: an unknown girl at a ball.
The result: duel canceled.

1829. Pushkin summoned a Foreign Office worker, Mr. Hvostov to a duel.
The cause: Hvostov was dissatisfied by Pushkin’s epigrams, in particular, by the fact that Pushkin compared Khvostov with a pig.
The result: duel canceled.

1836. Pushkin summoned Nikolay Repin to a duel.
The cause: Repin was dissatisfied with Pushkin’s poems about him. The result: duel canceled.

pushkin_duels_8

1836. Pushkin summoned a Foreign Office worker Semyon Hlustin to a duel.
The cause: Hlustin did not approve of Pushkin’s poetry.
The result: duel canceled.

1836. Pushkin summoned Vladimir Sologub to a duel.
The cause: Sologub’s unflattering remarks about the poet’s wife, Natalia.
The result: duel canceled.

1836-37. Pushkin summoned a French officer George d’Anthès.
The cause: an anonymous letter, which stated that Pushkin’s wife had been cheating on her husband with d’Anthès.
The result: Pushkin wounded by d’Anthès, and died two days later, on January 29, 1837.

pushkin1-death

Sources:

Вадим Алёшин. Список дуэлей Пушкина, ЖЖ. http://vakin.livejournal.com/1427046.html?utm_source=fbsharing&utm_medium=social

George Steiner. Pushkin’s date with death. https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/1999/mar/14/featuresreview.review1

pushkin_duels_7

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by Iryna Tymchenko on December 3, 2016 • Permalink

Posted in Blog

Tagged #read and learn, #readers choices, #ReadingForPleasure, #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog, Blog

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on December 3, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/12/03/alexander-pushkins-duels/

Tchaikovsky!

tchaikovsky_photo

Everyone in the world knows the name of Russia’s most popular composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), yet only few of us know that he used to be a heavy smoker, loved alcohol, used to extinguish fires in Russia, collected plants for herbariums, and had a real passion for travel. Here are a few interesting facts from the life of the greatest Russian composer.

Tchaikovsky began taking piano lessons when he was 5 years old. Along with his love for music, the boy adored poetry: he used to compose poems since early childhood. However, his parents hoped that he would grow up to work in the civil service. At the age of 10, they sent their son to the Imperial School of Jurisprudence, a boarding school in St. Petersburg.

In 1859, Tchaikovsky honored his parents’ wishes by taking up a bureau clerk post with the Ministry of Justice—a post he would hold for four years, during which time he became increasingly fascinated with music, and finally, at the age of 21 (in 1861), he enrolled at the newly founded St. Petersburg Conservatory. While studying, he gave private lessons to other students. Despite being really good at composing music, he demonstrated weaker results in orchestrating and conducting.

Young Peter Tc, 1863haikovsky

On the day of his graduation concert, Tchaikovsky was so nervous that he did not come to the exam, so his composition was performed in his absence. This made the conservatory rector Anton Rubinshtein really angry, he refused to give Tchaikovsky his graduation diploma. Only five years later, the new rector Nikolay Zaremba allowed Tchaikovsky to pick up the diploma from the conservatory.

Despite his many popular successes, Tchaikovsky’s life was punctuated by personal crises and depression. Contributory factors included his early separation from his mother for boarding school followed by his mother’s early death, the death of his close friend Nikolai Rubinstein, and the collapse of the one enduring relationship of his adult life, which was his 13-year association with a wealthy widow Nadezhda von Meck. His homosexuality, which he kept private, has traditionally also been considered a major factor, though some musicologists now downplay its importance.

Discussion of Tchaikovsky’s personal life, especially his sexuality, has perhaps been the most extensive of any composer in the 19th century and certainly of any Russian composer of his time. In fact, Tchaikovsky lived as a bachelor for most of his life. In 1868 he met Belgian soprano Desire Artot, they felt strong affection for each other and were engaged to be married, but due to Artot’s refusal to give up the stage or settle in Russia, the relationship ended. Tchaikovsky later claimed she was the only woman he ever loved.

tchaikovsky_desire_artot

In 1877, at the age of 37, he wed a former student, Antonina Miliukova. Very soon, however, both of them realized that they mismatched psychologically and sexually. The marriage was a disaster, they only lived together for a few weeks before Tchaikovsky left. During a nervous breakdown, he unsuccessfully attempted to commit suicide, and eventually fled abroad. Some sources say that, due to some reasons, Tchaikovsky never divorced Antonina, so they remained officially married, though lived separately and never met after the separation.

tchaikovsky_and_antonina

Tchaikovsky could afford to resign from the Moscow Conservatory in 1878, thanks to the patronage of Nadezhda von Meck. She provided him with a monthly allowance until 1890; oddly, their arrangement stipulated that they would never meet. Again, this relationship keeps a mystery, which will probably never be cleared up.

nadezhda_von_meck

In the 1870s, Tchaikovsky destroyed his previously written opera “Voevoda”, which had successfully debuted in the Bolshoy Theater in 1869. The same thing happened to his “Undina”, an opera written in 1969, Tchaikovsky destroyed and threw it away in 1873. Luckily, the other eight operas which he wrote during his life, survived.

During the terrible summer fires of 1885, Tchaikovsky happened to stay in Klin, where he witnessed a fire that ruined dozens of houses and stores. Some locals stated that they saw the great composer among those who helped extinguish the fire.

carnegie_hall_ticket

There is another interesting fact of Tchaikovsky’s life, which few of us know: the composer was one of the honorable guests invited to the opening of Karnegie Hall in the spring of 1891. Besides New York, he visited and orchestrated the performances of his works in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

carnegie_hall

Tchaikovsky died in St. Petersburg on November 6, 1893. Some sources claim that he died of a glass of water. In a Moscow restaurant, he was served a glass of unboiled water and became infected with cholera. While the cause of his death was officially declared as cholera, some of his biographers believe that he committed suicide after the humiliation of a sex scandal trial. However, only oral (no written) documentation exists to support this theory. We will probably never know the truth about his death.

Tchaikocsky’s collective body of work constitutes 169 pieces, including symphonies, operas, ballets, concertos, cantatas and songs. Among his most famed late works are the ballets The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892).

tchaikovsky_photo2

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by Iryna Tymchenko on November 29, 2016 • Permalink

Posted in Blog

Tagged #lifestyle, #read and learn, #readers choices, #ReadingForPleasure, #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on November 29, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/11/29/tchaikovsky/

The Life Behind Russian Sayings

pogovorki Russian popular sayings – поговорки [pagavOrki] – were developed through centuries and of course, like everywhere else in the world, are reflections of traditional lifestyle. If you write about Russian life you may need to use some, but they will hardly help unless you understand the “story” behind every saying. Here are a few examples.

Не имей сто рублей, а имей сто друзей. Friendship is better than money.

Literaly, it is translated like “Don’t have 100 rubles, but have 100 friends”. Friendship is very important to Russians, because to them, it is an equivalent of ability to survive. Many animals prefer to live in pecks, or flocks, or herds, and so do Russians. They believe that if you have a lot of friends, you are garanteed against trouble. If you were poor and hungry, your friends would pitch in and help you get what you need. If you feel depressed, you don’t need a councelor – just visit your friend and let him listen to you (you have probably heard about Russian overnight sittings with vodka in kitchens). If you need motivation, go to your female friend (each Russian man tends to have one) and sob out your sorrows to her: she will always know what to say to support you. This is why, if you ask a Russian what is most important in life, the answer will not be “having money”, it will be: “having many good friends”.

С мира по нитке – голому рубашка. If everyone pitches in and helps, you’ll have what you need.

This saying is a follow up to the previous paragraph. It literally says: “take a little thread from the world and a poor (naked) man will have a shirt.” Again, it confirms that Russians have a great love of community, The belief is strong that they can succeed together, while a lonely man is doomed to fail.

Два сапога пара. Two peas in a pod.

The saying “two boots are a pair” does not only remind you about cold Russian winters, it is used to describe two people who are compatible and close. Behind these words, there may be an implication that you’ve got to expect the same behavior from the people who have been friends for a very long time. People learn from each other, they share experiences and opinions, and as Russians prefer communal life to individualistic lifestyle, many have similar looks on life. Honestly, for many people these are not even looks on life, they are just imprints of other people’s opinions, which got stuck to one’s memory and became their views, too. This is why many Russians seem alike in their approaches to life. Two peas in a pod!

В тихом болоте черти водятся Still waters run deep

This is a rough equivalent to the English saying, meaning literally: “in quiet swamp, demons can be found”. The Russian saying is somewhat darker and may imply that the person being described may display unexpected behavior. This saying is always uttered as a warning. Russian history is filled with stories of betrayal: each generation can recall numerous examples of detecting informants, squeals, snitches, and spies in communities which had seemed to be quite supportive and friendly (there are numerous examples of this in literature, too), so this phrase remains popular through centuries. Every child can hear it from mother now and then, from a very early age. I think this may be the reason of the Russians’ odd behavior: with all their openheartedness, they remain a bit suspicious about everyone they deal with, because… who knows? Still waters run deep… In quiet swamp, demons can be found!

Баба с воза – кобыле легче It will be easier without him/her.

“When a woman gets off the carriage, it is a relief for the horse”. This saying is not really a complaint about a woman’s weight (though sometimes this may be the case, too), but a note that it is relieving for the whole company when someone undesired has finally left.

I think it might also be a metaphor to women’s love to talk. If she speaks a lot and then finally leaves, it is a relief!

Нашла коса на камень. He ran into a brick wall.

In Russia, this saying is interpreted like “the scythe found a rock” refers to a common problem that makes you stop what you are doing. Usually, the saying means that some event has interrupted a process, so it must be fixed now. In past, it was often related to farm works. Today, you can hear this phrase during working discussions in offices, when someone repeatedly refuses to agree with common opinion and this hampers the whole working process.

There are hundreds of idioms in Russian language, and really many of them are widely used in everyday life situations. I will share more some day, If you like.

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by Iryna Tymchenko on November 13, 2016 • Permalink

Posted in Blog

Tagged #readers choices, #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog, #Russian language, Blog

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on November 13, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/11/13/the-life-behind-russian-sayings/

About some odd Russian traditions

russian_lifestyle

As I am partially Russian and write about Russians (and Ukrainians), I love sharing about peculiarities of Russian language, culture and lifestyle. Here are a few specific Russian traditions which look quite unusual to English-speakers. The following things are common for all regions of Russia and to some areas of Ukraine:

Not smiling at people with whom you randomly make eye contact. According to Russian logic, a smile is supposed to be genuine and should only be shared with friends;
Dressing up to go to the store or anywhere else, even if you are going out just for one moment. This “rule” is observed by women in the first place, but men in cities and towns also tend to follow it;
Sitting down for a minute before heading on a trip. This is an old tradition that is believed to keep bad luck away from the traveler. Once the suitcases are packed, most Russians will typically pause and sit quietly for a minute before leaving;
Making really long and complicated toasts. Russians also like telling anecdotes as often as possible. When in Russia, expect to hear lots of toasts, lengthy anecdotes, and too much of explaining of every joke;
Answering “how are you?” honestly and fully. Russian logic goes like this: “Once you have asked it, you really want to know the answer, so I am going to give you all the details now”;
Celebrating New Year’s more enthusiastically than Christmas. Even the Christmas tree is traditionally called the New Year tree. Presents are purchased for the New Year celebration. Christmas is good, too, but it is celebrates on January, 7, and feels like the New Year’s aftertaste;
Calling all females “girl”: девушка [dEvushka]. To call up a female waitress, you yell, “Девушка!” (Girl!), no matter how old she is;
Sitting down at the table for a meal and staying there for hours. When groups of Russians get together for dinner, they will sit down, have dinner, and talk. Then they will talk some more;
Always keeping your bags. Russians never throw away any bags, just because you never know when you might need one;
Preparing way more food than is necessary for when friends come over;
Living with their parents. It is quite a common thing that an entire Russian family – parents, children, grandparents – will live together in one apartment;
Meeting complete strangers and then becoming friends with them immediately… especially if there is something to drink, and there is always an abyss of topics to discuss. So don’t be surprised if you are invited over for “some tea” after only 10 minutes of conversation; and
Russians never show up to someone’s house without a gift in hand. It can be a dessert or a bottle of wine if it’s dinner, or it can be chocolates or flowers (never bring an even number of flowers – that would be a funeral tradition). It’s not really important what it is, as long as you bring something.

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by Iryna Tymchenko on November 12, 2016 • Permalink

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Tagged #readers choices, #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog, #Russian language, Blog

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on November 12, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/11/12/about-some-funny-russian-traditions/

When a shy man falls in love…

beach-love-under-umbrella

Men can be charmingly awkward when they fall in love and are too shy to confess about it. It is much easier for a man to give up everything he has, or bravely risk his life, or perform a foolhardy heroic act rather than utter the few simple words, which have been torturing him lately. His heart beats like dozens of drums, his blood boils up, and ticking in his temples is crazy like hell, but all he can say when the right moment arrives is: “I like you…hmm, a lot.”

Here is a snippet from Waiting for the Dance:

…he adored her. He wanted to please her, follow her whims, and spoil her by doing every folly she’d ask for.

Again, she seemed to sense this. “Would you risk yourself to save the life of a woman you love?” She asked.

“Sure.”

“Could you hurt or humiliate your woman to please yourself?”

“Of course not!”

“Would you hurt her if you wanted to prove to her that you were right?”

“I’d never hurt anyone weaker than me.” He was actually offended at the thought. “Why are you asking?”

“I know people who would. Never mind. Listen, Alec, why do people keep thinking that your great grandfather might know some secret about Tershian treasures?”

“I have no idea. Probably, because he did not die naturally. You know, people like making up stories around such situations.”

“What if your family property is still hidden somewhere, waiting to be found?” Her eyes lit up with the spirit of adventure. “Just imagine: old paintings, figurines, cutlery, books – having family initials on them–”

“No. I don’t believe it. After all those years? No.”

Inga continued persistently, like a stubborn child. “Still, if I were you, I’d check for any traces of family property in the archive.”

There was amazing determination in her words. For a second, her tightly closed lips reminded him of the professor. He remembered how Boris also turned a little skittish once. “You are all very persistent here,” he said, “even stubborn. Is this a common trait of all Tershians?”

“I guess so,” she said absently. “If I were you, I’d give it a try.”

He could not help smiling. “You know what? Give it a try. If you find anything that my great–grandfather had hidden in Tersh, it is yours,” he said.

Inga’s eyes opened wide. “What? Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. You are welcome to check for my ancestor’s property, or treasures – whatever you can find, it is all yours.”

“I can’t believe you are saying this, Alec! How can you give it away so easily?”

“I’m not giving it away, I am giving it to you.”

“But why?”

“Because I like you…hmm, a lot.”

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by Iryna Tymchenko on November 3, 2016 • Permalink

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Tagged #lifestyle, #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog, Blog, Relationships

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on November 3, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/11/03/when-a-shy-man-falls-in-love/

The Father Christmas Letters discussed at Mythguard Academy

…from where we can learn a bit about how the ideas got formed in Tolkien’s mind.

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by Iryna Tymchenko on November 1, 2016 • Permalink

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Tagged #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog, Blog

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on November 1, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/11/01/the-father-christmas-letters-discussed-at-mythguard-academy/

Finally… about my book

inga-4 She is a dancer, and a model, and an incurable romantic, who wants to have a big and beautiful life. She gets everything she can from living in a small provincial seaside place in Crimea, but she wants more, a lot more, and finally it happens… a guy from New York, allegedly the luckiest guy on Earth, comes to the town…

Here is a dialog from the book:

Beep–beep, beep–beep–

“Boris? Hi.”

“Inga?! It’s two o’clock in the morning!”

“I know. Listen, I need to talk to you, it’s urgent.”

“Is there a fire or someone got killed?”

“No, but it’s something really big.”

“An elephant got stuck in your bedroom door–”

“Boris, stop it! I am serious. Please, listen to me.”

“Argh. All right, what is it?”

“I don’t know yet, but something big is going to happen in the city.”

“W–what? Is this your big news? Inga, I’ll kill you if you get on my way tomorrow.”

“No. Boris, listen. Mucker just had a long talk with me.”

“Again? What did you do? Crashed his car? Burned his uniform? Sold his badge? Eh?”

“Ah, damn you, stop it! I am being serious and … oh, never mind. I won’t tell you anything at all!”

“All right, Dolly, I’m sorry. Come on, tell me. What is it?”

“Don’t call me Dolly. And don’t interrupt me, okay? So. There’s a treasure. A pile of Tershian gold. It was hidden somewhere in the city decades ago by Professor Markov, a former Museum Director. Also, there’s a guy – Alec Markov – his descendant, who lives in America and is about to visit us next week; he seems to know where the treasures are hidden. Mucker wants to spy on the guy, let him dig up the treasures, and then – well, I don’t know what’s then. Mucker just asked me to support that guy everywhere during his visit, up to the moment when he leads us to the treasure.”

“It was a mistake.”

“What was a mistake?”

“To let you support the guy. You’ll screw it up.”

“Bor’ka! Durak! Shut up, you fool! I hate you when you joke like that!”

“OK, Sweetie, what do you want from me?”

“First, I need your professional help, as I really don’t want to screw it up. Second, I also love treasures, so I thought, why don’t we help the guy find it, but do this secretly from my boyfriend and his dad? We might get our share then.”

“Inga, you must be tired of living. This is suicide!”

“Come on. It’s just a–”

“Inga, do you realize the degree of risk you’ll be facing?”

“Come on, the risk is minimal!”

“You – argh. Listen, go to bed, sleep well, and forget what you just said – forever.”

“Boris, but this is a unique chance! We can’t miss it!”

“You must have eaten something bad for dinner. I say, go to bed now and – ”

“Boris! It’s a win–win situation. This lucky guy will do everything by himself. We’ll only turn up in the right place on the right moment. No one will ever suspect us. They’ll make the American guy responsible.”

“Inga, this is crazy. Your idea is insane.”

“But why? Boris, we want to be rich, don’t we?”

“Yes, we do, but not posthumously. Listen, can you do me a favor? Forget about it and let me have some sleep, I only have two hours left before I have to get up. Bye for now.”

“Boris, wait. Damn! Boris!”

Click. Beep – beep – beep –

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by Iryna Tymchenko on November 1, 2016 • Permalink

Posted in Blog

Tagged #ReadingForPleasure, #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog, #Rina's fiction, #RinaTim

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on November 1, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/11/01/finally-about-my-book/

Success or Luck?

denzel_washington-about-goodluck

Well I can’t agree more with Denzel Washington’s words that being in luck means being prepared to face an opportunity. That simple? Wow!

Through years of watching how luck leaves its traces in people’s lives, I have come to believe that luck is simply a state of mind, which everyone can achieve by developing a certain approach to life and to the surrounding world. Many people, however, misinterpret the notions of luck and success. They try really hard to be lucky, yet give little to no attention to achieving success, while in fact, they shoud be doing it quite the opposite way.

So, what is the difference between luck and success?

SUCCESS is always a result of a process. It reflects the outcome of some effort, which means that achieving success is impossible without certain knowledge, skills, and a set of conditions which must come together at a certain point of time to make success possible.

LUCK has a diferent nature. It does not require any of the above stuff, because luck exists independently of us, it even exists independently of time. It is simply here, and there, and everywhere. Luck always turns up like a coincidence to us, but to luck itself, coincidences do not exist. Luck is permanent, continuous, eternal, omnipresent, and completely independent. The one who can take this as a given, has all chances to become lucky.

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by Iryna Tymchenko on October 31, 2016 • Permalink

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Tagged #lifestyle, #read and learn, #readers choices, #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog, Blog

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on October 31, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/10/31/success-or-luck/

Fear Is the Root of Our Failures

fear1

An exerpt from WAITING FOR THE DANCE. This is what Luck herself thinks about people’s fears:

“In human society, lack of communication has been known as a common fallacy, it always keeps abreast of the human race. Inability to keep dialog leads millions to misery, sufferings and death, yet even today, millennia after people had learned to speak, they still seem to underrate the simplest anti–conflict remedy of all – conversation. Their reason for being so closed up is ridiculous: fear, trivial fear of looking stupid in the eyes of others, because in human society, the one who speaks the least is considered the wisest. Following common delusion, Boris did exactly what other people traditionally do: he said nothing to Inga about the weird situation during their BMW ride with Alec that morning.

Hmm. Fear again. It looks like it rules over each and every decision in the human world. The fear of losing one’s body or having it hurt determines human behavior; fear hampers the work of brain, narrows horizons, limits the mind’s capacity to only using well–tested, familiar behavioral models. It is a funny paradox; the human brain, which is supposed to be trying to free itself from the prison of its vulnerable body, deliberately hampers its own work by continuously producing fear to ensure the body protection against undesired influences, simply because no brain can live without a body! It looks like the Creator’s idea of a bad joke to me. However, people never have enough confidence to judge the Creator, so they prefer to accept things as they are.”

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by Iryna Tymchenko on October 30, 2016 • Permalink

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Tagged #lifestyle, #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog, Relationships

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on October 30, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/10/30/fear-is-the-root-of-our-failures/

Blogging Is an Introvert’s Torture

Female student writing at desk

Blogging is a real torture for me as an incurable introvert.

(Here comes a 15-minute break sipping cold coffee and blankly looking at the line above.)

No. Blogging is not my strong side.

(5 more minutes of heavy thinking here.)

It feels like talking to a wall when you have to share your thoughts to a blog instead of chatting with a real audience. Having spent decades working with large and small groups of people every day, I am used to seeing people’s faces and receiving immediate reaction to everything I say. But blogging makes me feel like I have a sleeping patch on my eyes and a helmet over my ears. I must confess: to me, there is nothing cool about sharing my thoughts to invisible audiences. I guess, I am a bit old-fashioned here.

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by Iryna Tymchenko on October 3, 2016 • Permalink

Posted in Blog

Tagged #fiction writing, #Rina Tim, #Rina Tim's blog, #Rina's blog, #writing, #writing techniques, writing tips

Posted by Iryna Tymchenko on October 3, 2016

https://rinatim.com/2016/10/03/blogging-is-an-introverts-torture/