I Don't Need a Man

Ok ok, I need my man. That was just a name of a song that inspires me lately. Miss A's "I Don't Need a Man". It is on a constant repeat on my mp3 player for a couple of days already. The song is NOT about hating on men as it might seem at first. It's about not leeching on men or parents, about spending your own money.
Here's the video with English subs and romanization so you can sing along (thanks to popgasa and Kpopfanzone):

There are so many things I wanna do but need money for... I want to travel, want to buy that cute sofa from IKEA, want to sign in for a fitness club membership as well as ATA membership, want to open my own store, want to order a floral dress from a Chinese wholesale website, want to go to a dentist,want Super Junior's 2013 calender (oh my it's so awesome... *fangirl mode ON*) I want to spend my own money though. I'm a big girl now, and I hate it when my parents help me financially during tough times.

I need to pull myself together, get my ass up, and make some changes.

(I have a feeling that 2013 is going to be all about changes~)

Spooky Savings

Oh my gosh, I LOVE after-holiday shopping. After-St.Valentine's is my favorite, 2nd place goes to after-Christmas shopping, but after-Halloween is not bad either. I bought 2 bags of goodies and spent less then 6 bucks!!!
Reese Pieces - 10 cents.
Hot Chai Mix - 40 cents.
Cake mix - 12 cents.
Cute baking cups - 20 cents.
Tights - 50 cents.
Wings - a dollar!!!
etc.

Everything was 90% off.

Not bad, huh?

And the best part is satisfaction from looking at the receipt...

Saved $49.37!!!!
I SO love after-holiday shopping ^___~

Downsizing~

I figured why would I keep 2 blogs if I come here once in a blue moon? So I just copied two lonely posts from "J.O.B." and pasted them here for my future kids haha.
I'll try to blog more often... Hey, I've made some progress: I write in my paper diary every day now. To be honest, I like my diary more - handwriting seems more personal or smth and I can sketch some cute characters there as well. Also, I tend to forget what I want to convey as I type (I'm slow).

Re-post from 20 September '12: What should I do?..

I guess, I'm at the point of my life where I need to think everything through and finally make up my mind.

What should I do?

I was hoping I was done with this question when I went to college. But no, it's not over yet. Will it ever be?

When I was in high school I spent months on thinking about my future. What do I want to do in five, ten years? Would I still be interested in something that inspires me now? What kind of skills do I have to help me get there? Can I make money from that and be independent? Will it be easy to find a job? Well, you got the idea.

In high school I was obsessed with English. At that time, there weren't may books in English in libraries and the Internet was almost non-existent. Whenever I found something in English I felt as blesses as a shopaholic who saw a Versace bag on sale for 5 bucks. English was like a getaway to another world. So I knew for sure - that's what I wanna study at college.

Colleges provided only 3 paths: I could become a teacher (no, thank you), a translator/interpreter (gimme gimme), or a mysterious linguist. I ended up becoming a linguist (alas, I wasn't smart enough in social studies to get into translator/interpreter program). Theoretical and Applied Linguistics - sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, natural language processing, history of linguistic studies, translation, applied linguistics - we had so many subjects but they gave us only superficial knowledge. Only pieces of a puzzle.

Isn't it sad? Five years of college (American evaluation services even considered it a Master's degree) and almost no major-related career opportunities. Of course, if I stayed in Russia, I could easily become an English teacher or, if I got lucky, a translator/interpreter for an international company. I'd been a personal English tutor since my sophomore year at college. I liked it and all, but let's be real - it's an ideal side job not a career. Teaching at school simply turns me off - kids in big groups scare me, and it doesn't worth it for $5/hr. or less. Teaching in special agencies, so-called "English clubs", don't pay much either, although the audience is more appreciative. In order to get a translator job though, one should have years of experience. But where would I get this experience if nobody wanna hire without it? It's a classic Catch 22.

Anyways, I'm in America now. My knowledge of English doesn't make me special here. So I need to come up with a new plan. I don't want to be a server or a sales associate for the rest of my life, but that's exactly what I've been doing for last 3 years. It's so pathetic... But that's gonna change soon. I just need to figure out how.

The majority of people ask "What should I do?" because they don't know what they like and have no idea what's gonna satisfy them, hence it's hard for them to choose a career. My problem is that I like so much stuff. I wanna be a translator, an office worker, a business analyst, an actress, a librarian, a flight attendant, open my own business (restaurant or hand-made soft toys shoppe), work in a bank or an advertisement agency, or be a part of a marketing group. So many things fascinate and inspire me, so I can't choose the one. I seriously incline to being a translator (a have the right degree and skills for that), but that's not a steady kind of job unless I sign a long-term contract with a company. Most of translators in America are free-lance. Also, a serious translator should be a member of American Translators Association (I'm not rich yet to pay $240 for a year membership, if I pay this now I'll have nothing to eat), without this membership one can't even take a certificate exam. This bureaucracy kills me!

So, what should I do? Work part-time as a server/sales associate, save money for ATA membership and   certificate exam, and hope that I'll be chosen over hundreds of other free-lances? Or maybe I'd better got to college and get a degree in business, marketing or management so one day I get a real job? (OMG, if I don't even have extra $240, how am I supposed to pay for college?)

I should make up my mind soon. I'm gonna turn 26 in two weeks. Time passes by, and I still haven't found my dream job. As soon as I make up my mind, I'll do EVERYTHING I CANto get there.

Man, this post turned out lengthy! If you're still reading this, I'm sorry. It must be very tiring.
Anyway, thanks for sticking with me)))

I have an interview at T. in 9 hours, so I need to make some research on the company - I gotta get the job!!!  (Positive thinking. Positive thinking.)

Good luck to me on the interview! Please, keep your fingers crossed for me ;-)

 - Ни пуха, ни пера!
 - К чёрту!!!

(yeah, I'm talking to myself hehehe)

Re-post from 14 September '12: New Chapter

People call me crazy for quitting my job (almost 5 years with the company!), packing my stuff, and moving to another city. No job, no place to stay, no plan, lots of ambitions. Yeah, that pretty much describes the situation)))
I've been living in Myrtle Beach since I moved to the US for a permanent residency. Awesome beach, cool people from all over the world, tons of sunshine and happiness and all this vacation-kind-of-stuff. In summer time. Well, winter is a completely different story. MB turns into a ghost town - no people on the streets, no business, no money, no fun.
So, here I am, Charlotte! Make it or break it, baby (I always suspected that I'm an adventurous type of gal).

Isn't it gorgeous?

I was lucky enough to get here, what's next? 

Need. A. Job. Now.

Man, you can't even get into an apartment without a job! And I've saved enough money to pay for at least 7 months!!! Nope, it does't work that way - one need a proof of employment to get a roof over one's head.

So here I'm finally getting to the point. I'd like to share my journey towards my dream job - the ups and downs, and everything in between.

Stay tuned haha ^_~

"To Do" List

Hi, I'm an organizing maniac (is that the right word?). To think clearly I need to organize my thoughts. Lately, I had so many things going on, so I need to write down everything I should focus on next month.

• GET A JOB (I don't really care what kind of job, McDonald's will do. I just need money to get into the apartment);
• Find an apartment and move there by the end of this month;
• Make yet another resume, this time focus on translation jobs;
• Become a member of ATA and find out what I need in order to apply for a certificate;
• Volunteer in library or some other office setting - I need experience!
• Networking. Networking. Networking.
• Make some soft toys and create an account on etsy;
• Find a full-time job.
• Make some friends in Charlotte.

Wassup!

OMG, I couldn't sign in to my account FOREVER. My oh-so-loved Toshi laptop got killed by viruses thanks to my hubby's friend (hey, David!). So Toshi died and took all the information from hard drive to the grave. It took me almost 3 months to remember my password and gmail address.
Well, I've been very busy these months. Here's some update lol:
   * I've been working about 50 hours a week, sometimes without a single day off.
   * tried to sort out residency thing with my college (they don't want to give me "in-state" although I've been living here for freaking 3 years already!)
   * I'm an E.L.F. now~ (Are there any E.L.F.s or other KPop lovers in Carolinas? #foreveralone)
   * I'm a nerd - I spent 11(!) hours on translating a 5 minute video, learning how to soft- and hard-sub, and posting it online wtf. Well, I did it afterall! Yatta!
   * Trying to learn Korean... so far unsuccessfully ;(
   * And, yeah, I'm a blond now, so be patient with me XD

Don't know how to name this post... well, whatever

One day I was browsing Chinese wholesale websites that sell cute clothes. I really love their floral dresses -but alas!- their M size not gonna fit me...

Anyways, I got inspired by a particular hairdo and decided to give it a shot. 
So here is the original -->

A refreshing french braid! Here's my first time doing it:

It is a perfect solution to change your look if you're tired of your bangs:

Can't even see my bangs! Nothing gets in my eye anymore! A perfect hairdo for a busy work ;-)

What's up!

Hey there! I finally did it, yay! I’ve been thinking about making a blog for months now, but I was too busy or too lazy to start… Yep, unfortunately, I’m a lazy and easily-distracted person, and that stops me from doing zillions of things I have in my mind.  

Well, I’ve been writing in my journal since I went to University, which was about 8 years ago (omg, it makes me feel so old!). So I have about 20 little notebooks filled with my worries, victories, obsessions, ups and downs, creative ideas and plain gibberish)))  Honestly, I’d like some feedback on what I write – that’s one of the reasons I decided to create a blog.

Another reason is me getting fat >o.O< My self-control is worse than my hubby’s handwriting (just believe me, it’s pretty bad).  I went on a trip to Russia to visit my parents some weeks ago, and I gained there 4 kilos (!) which is almost 9 freaking pounds. I can’t even take my wedding band off of my right ring finger! (Note: in Russia married couples wear rings on right hand; a ring on left hand indicates a widowed or divorced person). So to make things right in America I have to lose weight, really. Maybe, some of you will write me nasty comments regarding my pictures (like “what’s up with that belly?” or “what a fat cow”), and that will definitely stop me from skipping my morning exercises)))  OK, I’m probably not that fat, what I mean is that I’ve never weighted so much in my whole life! Man, 9 pounds!!!  I wasn’t skinny before my trip either…

Anyways. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna blog about my weight all the time. There are tons of things I’m into. I’m a huge Asian pop-culture fan, I love to hand-made toys, dance, read, travel, cross-stitch, learn about different cultures and languages. So I’m gonna blog a little bit about everything.

Hope, ya’ll enjoy my blog!