Life stories that normal people never experience – told with humour and a dash of smart analysis
exploring life before and after medication, the loss of intensity, and the strange calm that follows. A journey from madness to mellow. Bittersweet trade-off between wild intensity and calm, ordinary life.I still ask myself what I need more—to be with the man I love or with the son I love.
What is the cost of this freedom?
Ordinary life of a normal person Read Post »
Love is… A quest for a bug zapper while the beloved is frozen in terror – insects all over the house. She rushes to rescue him. While he always rescues her – from bears and her nightmares. She tests limits – he survives. Growth through mutual, manic devotion.
What are the reasons to stay far from home and family? Freedom. The freedom from our parents: mine – from my parents, my son’s – from his. So we all live in different places.
I still ask myself what I need more—to be with the man I love or with the son I love.
What is the cost of this freedom?
A midnight flat tire on Vancouver Island’s loneliest road. Rescued by a bear hunter. We hiked more than 50km – with a bear trailing us, and more – a cub peeking from behind a tree. We followed wolf tracks, slept beneath lighthouse skies, and watched the sunset blaze over the coast. Well, even the “Graveyard of the Pacific” has a tender heart.
Cape Scott Lighthouse: Bears, Flat Tire & Moonlit Beaches Read Post »
This piece explores how bathing differs across Canada, Russia, and the UK. It brings back memories of five-minute cold showers under the watchful eye of a landlady in London, prison-style rules from a Canadian corrections officer, and even the odd excuse to start a romance during water outages in Moscow. Because every summer in Russia, hot water disappears.
A lady finally meets a psychiatrist who cuts through her misdiagnoses (Biporar? Borderline? ADHD?), she gets the shocking truth: she’s just a “banal creative hysteric”, just a dramatic creative soul. No pills, no disorders—just a hysteroid personality type, craving admiration and creation. Now she’s torn: relief or disappointment?What is the cost of this freedom?
Completely banal creative hysteric Read Post »
Over a fancy breakfast, there’s an encounter with celebrity-turned-propagandist. Once, he scolded Bernays’ manipulation tactics; now, he deploys them, velvet words masking war. From Moscow secret bars to the red glow of the Kremlin, sickly perfection and impeccable beauty becomes oppressive, and truth slips through polished rhetoric.
What is the cost of this freedom?
Nightingale’s Lies, Michelin Mornings and Flawless Moscow Read Post »
Royal bedrooms don’t save you from loneliness if you’re not allowed to scream, kiss, or laugh outside the etiquette. When you’re raised as a princess, everything is handed to you — but you live by someone else’s rules. To descend into the ordinary, you end up sleeping on a mattress in the kitchen.Is freedom more important than propriety? Or would you choose luxury without freedom? I still ask myself what I need more—to be with the man I love or with the son I love.
What is the cost of this freedom?
Delayed flights, vanished luggage, lost passport, airport meltdown, French-Canadian bureaucracy, grief, stubborn optimism, and a ‘little black dress’. Real-time chronicling of a chaotic route via Toronto, Montreal and Dubai with Emirates as the unexpected hero and Air Canada as the ultimate mess-up.I still ask myself what I need more—to be with the man I love or with the son I love.
What is the cost of this freedom?
Flight Vancouver – Moscow Read Post »
Immigrant Longing: When a Stranger’s Mother Feels Like Home. J brings his spectacular mother to Starbucks, a desperate hug blurs borders between “here” and “home”.
In Memory of Kirill Seryogin: Kamchatka Guide Freeride Guide Read Post »
Disguised behind sunglasses and a Tilley hat, she lives as “Lesbian Brenda” – hiding from coworkers, motherhood, and expired documents. Her children prepare to fly alone to Moscow. One never to come back to Canada. She’s blocked her mother and her ex. It feels like living in a The Academy of Fools sketch – a clown released from the Cuckoo’s Nest.What is the cost of this freedom?
Brenda the Lesbian Blocks Her Loved Ones Read Post »
A reflection on family, distance, and the immigrant experience. Envy to Starbucks’ happy families. Memories of Moscow mornings – grandfather’s stories, grandmother’s pancakes, father’s steady presence – clash with the loneliness reality of a new life abroad.
A marketplace purchase spirals into a surreal encounter with three strange men, a house of fake Klimt paintings and gaudy antiques and a reincarnation of David Bowie if he was 70. The real horror? Realizing why we ignore danger: fear of rudeness outweighs survival instinct. J just laughs and fixes everything.
The Bed Frame Story Read Post »
Immigrant Longing: When a Stranger’s Mother Feels Like Home. J brings his spectacular mother to Starbucks, a desperate hug blurs borders between “here” and “home”.
Watching shows with J is always a surprise. His life’s more interesting than any script. I laugh: “Netflix made another show about you.” With every show carving into his past and wondering – so different – how to make it together?
A messy Starbucks barista and her germaphobic partner clash over laundry, hygiene, and stubborn habits – boots get hosed down, clothes are “arrested,”. How would love survive if two people are so different? Or does the negative attract the positive and thus evolve into something stronger?
Arrested Clothes and Hose-Washed Boots Read Post »
From quiet suffering in Moscow to Caribbean cruises in Canada, this reflection contrasts how different cultures treat aging, love, and dignity in the twilight years.
Starbucks Seniors vs. Soviet-Era Suffering Read Post »
At Starbucks, the supervisor is part floor general, part therapist, part janitor. They orchestrate workflow, assign roles, motivate the team and occasionally drown in milk. It can be a real-time battlefield delegation. Leadership here isn’t about barking orders – it’s about laughing through the chaos and making sure everyone survives another shift with a smile.
Supervising at Starbucks Read Post »
A love story without bars, alcohol, no drunken kisses, no drama-fueled nights or sleepovers — just two very unusual people building something rare, raw, and real. It’s so unusual that it looks like a glitch.
Glitch in the Universe and 29th of February Read Post »
House-hunting in Canada — with impossible wish lists, hidden “perfect” homes, and a real-estate Jedi who saves the day. Dreams of Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen and foggy mornings for “aesthetic sadness,” the house happened to be on the street with the cutest ever name -‘Quail’s Run’.
During a trip to Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island, craving love, a wish was made by Fairy Lake. Two dragonflies alighted, teaching that dreams matter. By October’s end, the perfect dragonfly – the one and only – was found.
The Dragonfly Wish Read Post »
Reflective story about finding unexpected joy in taking out the trash, complete with backyard bears, folding boxes at Starbucks, and the quiet pride of adulthood.
Recycling Meditation, & My Backyard Bear Read Post »
A peaceful, rainy stroll turns into a panic attack – deepest fear – worms. Those harmless, wriggling creatures that invade the sidewalks after rain. Tiptoeing between them in horror, romance rain is gone. So why are we afraid of worms?