Elina_Khus

I'm honestly not as much of a reader as I wish I was, but I do enjoy a good book from time to time. I tried to read Metro 2033, which is set in the Moscow metro station, but I never really got into it.

Personally, I like books that let me vacation in other peoples lives. Realistic. No fantasy. I'd say my favorite book that fits that description is called Good Behavior. It is about a woman who just got out of prison and is on probation. She robs peoples hotel rooms, then goes to her motel room and does a shit ton of drugs. She has a kid that is like 7 years old that she lost custody of. One day while she is robbing a hotel room, she walks in on a hitman planning a murder.

I like reading that book and similar books because I don't imagine myself ever being in these kinds of situations, yet they are completely possible. I've never been to prison, robbed hotel rooms, or walked in on a murder for hire. But if I really wanted to take a major detour in life... I could....Or I could just read the book.

I also started reading Orange is the New Black, but I just couldn't get passed how the author writes and her choice of words.

by Elina_Khus; 1725245085; Report

i generally agree, i find it hard to read most fantasy. the book series madeleine and i have been reading, the noumena series by lindsay ellis, is a pretty goof sci-fi series because everything that happens there is plausible to happen to just about anyone... if aliens existed. some fantasy is fine if it involves just regular guys and their lives.

i recently read michael crichton's novel airframe. really good, and it is very down-to-earth. you might like that. it's also quite technical, so you may enjoy learning a thing or two about aeroplanes.

i have played a bit of the metro games (i at least own and have played 2033 and also i have done a bit of exodus i think). i enjoy the lore a good amount, the whole thing reminds me of the quiet place movies... except a bit more military.....

do you prefer print or ebooks?

by iason; 1725465426; Report

Ok, so... both, but at separate times and for different kinds of books. In high school, I was most definitely a print book kind of person. I liked to *romanticize* sitting in a rocking chair by a window with a glass of hot tea and a candle, reading from a physical book. I enjoyed feeling the pages and the physical action of holding the book. College was the first time I actually needed to purchase textbooks, and I found that I would only really read them if they were on my laptop. I guess it’s because of the highlight feature? Also, I'm a big user of the Notion application for notes and such, so it was easier for me to just copy and paste from the eBook. When it came to "not-textbook books," I'd still prefer print books because I would *romanticize* sitting in the library with a good old book (especially one with a good old-book smell wafting at you with each page turn). Now that I have graduated, I actually prefer eBooks on my iPad. Mostly because I have a local library card, so I can use my iPad to borrow some of the titles. Then, I can spend my sweet time figuring out the exact definition of each word. I understand essentially every word I read, sometimes from hearing it used by others or from the context of the sentence, but I want to know word for word exactly what each word means so that I can grow confident in my expanding vocabulary. I feel like if I find a cool word and understand it only from the context of the book or from hearing it said elsewhere, and then use it in a conversation and get told that I used the word wrong, I'd feel immensely embarrassed. So I try to find out the exact definition, and the iPad and library software help with that a lot.

How about yourself? Print or eBook?

by Elina_Khus; 1726115262; Report

print all the way. i cannot wrap my head around e-books and PDFs. i buy print textbooks because only that way will i actually use them and learn. they're heavy to carry around, but i find it worthwhile. literature as well, always print. i also try to keep as many of my notes on paper. the computer is an abyss where you can keep all information, but you may also lose it in the spaghetti.

i understand what you mean with looking up definitions quickly, though. moving to the states i had an e-reader, so i definitely attribute my quick learning of english in part to the fact that i could look up words as i read them quickly, but at this point i don't think that positive outweighs the incomprehensibility of the digital medium...

by iason; 1726170259; Report

Yes Jason, you never answered me.

by Elina_Khus; 1719682888; Report

i eventually did

by iason; 1721186007; Report

Now Jason is the one going unanswered.

by Fawkes; 1724713714; Report

Lol ok here it goes:

I will first discuss my moms side:

My grandmother was born as the fourth and youngest child. Her father was found missing during the war. It was later found that he got a head injury, got amnesia, and didn't know who he was or where he came from. He moved to a different city and started a life there, where he fathered a guy who is now a famous singer. Anyways, back to my grandmother. Her mother and the 4 children lived in the same house as Aunt. The Aunts husband was also going to war. My grandmothers Father and the Aunts Husband made a pact that if one of them didn't come back from war but the other did, he would take care of both families. That did not happen. The Aunts husband survived, came back to the house, and kicked out my Great-grandmother and her children (including my grandmother) to the street. It was almost winter, so they needed to find a house fast. They got a sack of potatoes and walked the streets looking for a house. The potato sack was dragged behind them, and my grandmother sat on the sack while the other siblings walked around her. The only house they were able to find was an abandoned house next to a cemetery. The house was extremely broken down and condemned. They managed to fix it up step by step, except for the basement, that was always flooded. It was found out that the previous owner lived there with his wife. The wife drowned in the basement, and the guy went mad. Anyways, there were able to use the house as a fixer-upper. My grandma loved school but it was tough for her because the teachers would remember her for her older brothers, who were all class clowns or wouldn't study. Eventually she earned respect for herself. Her mother didn't have an education, and would think badly of my grandma for studying. She would call my grandma lazy for going to school and doing homework. My grandma would have to scan the road on the way to and away from school for coins. Whatever the siblings could find would go to the family fund. One time, when my grandmother was picking at the soil path, a carriage with 6 horses appeared and drove over my grandmothers stomach. She was maybe 5 years old, left unconscious on the side of the road. She would remain unconscious for the next 5-6 days. Eventually she woke up from her coma and was nursed back to health. They would also sell eggs at the market for a living. They had one chicken producing the eggs. Later on, my grandma became a microbiologist and worked at the Kazan Veterinary University. This is where she met my grandfather.

My grandfather was born in 1938. His father died very soon after in the Russian-Finnish war, which started in 1939. My grandfather's mother started dating another man, and birthed him a step sister. One day, my great-grandmother was working on the fields when a storm began. She did not make it home from the field, as she got struck by lighting. My Grandpa was left an orphan. His step sister was taken in to be adopted but my grandfather was said to be too old, so he was left to wander the streets. He was about 10 years old. He found a family that was willing to feed him. He joined the army where he excelled in gymnastics. At one point, I believe he became a gymnast? I don't quite remember. He was honorably discharged because he was smart enough to go to university. Fast forward, he became the dean of the Veterinary University of Kazan. An oil painting of him still hangs in the university. He pasted away in 2013 after a long battle with Parkinson's Disease. I miss him a lot :(

Now my dads side:

I don't know as much about my dad's side. My grandfather and grandfather had my dad and his older brother. They lived in a large wooden house in a city I don't remember. My grandfather split from the family when my dad was about 10. A reactor blew nearby the city spreading radiation. My grandmother had to sell the large house and opted for a small studio apartment in Kazan. My dad would go to work after classes at a grocery store. His job was to unload the grocery shipping trucks. My grandmother was an accountant. I think the older brother also pulled his weight in making money for the apartment. Eventually my father left to the top physics university in the country and my uncle became some kind of doctor. Idk if you can tell but I don't particularly like this Uncle. Anyways, eventually my grandmother remarried to someone and died when I was in elementary school. I didn't know her well. My Dads father died when I was in elementary school too. I don't know if I've ever met him. All I know is that he liked to drink but was not an alcoholic.

by Elina_Khus; 1717654456; Report

Now tell me about yours, but you have to tell me stuff I don't know.

by Elina_Khus; 1717654668; Report

i was trying to decide what parts to say, but i guess i'll just do it all, why not.

first the americans, they're simpler:

they were both born and raised in misouri. grandmother was one of seven, grandfather an only child. grandmother was of a poorer farmer's family, grandfather's parents were better off working in more industrial jobs (mainly factory work, iirc). they met in high school (though they technically also just about knew each other for a year as kids) and have been together ever since. my grandfather went to college and became a petroleum engineer, my grandmother got her associates and sometimes worked as a bank teller whenever the time was right to do so. had my mother when they were 22, my aunt five years later. they always have a boston terrier or two, and it always dies by some unfortunate disease. they are diabetic and are always on some diet, except for a couple moments of the year where they just decide to enjoy whatever they want. my childhood name for my grandmother was "mimi". the reason it stuck is because she often has inflamed feet and in greek a boo-boo is a mimi (with the inflection in the second syllable, though we say mimi in the same canter as you say boo-boo). i certainly didn't choose to call her that, but i guess my mom thought it was funny and so she had me call her that or something. i don't know. anyway, they're both good with their hands, though. my grandfather is a woodworker in his spare time. you might have seen some of the things he made me around the house (including the pickup and vinyl stand that's by the television). my grandmother quilts, she is fully loaded on all the tools and her machines take up entire rooms. i don't often use her quilts since i am just not much of a quilt guy (i like all my layers to be soft and fluffy and not heavy), but they're very well made and look really cool.


as per the greek ones, there's a bit more story there.

they were both born pre-WWII (unlike the americans, who were born in the 50's) in epirotic greece. yiayia was 1939, but my pappous might be a few years younger yet, i think maybe either two or four. my yiayia at our village, nikolitsi in preveza, and my pappous up at some village by ioannina city (either georgani or derviziana). same as my american grandparents, my yiayia was one of seven, and my pappous was one of one. my yiayia grew up in nikolitsi fine, of course having to deal with the fear of the axis during her younger years (i think that thankfully the civil war that followed was not as present up there, at least based off of context clues and what i have been told; i unfortunately don't have the best knowledge about 20th century greece's history, just the general events). she did a year of school but otherwise worked the land with her family. at the end of her teens, she got her hairdresser's license, but then when she began working on real hair more often with more real product, it turned out she was allergic so she had to give that up. my pappous meanwhile was sent to an orphanage because his father died during the civil war (i think to communists). side note, we have a portrait of his father, george, and he looks just like my dad, george. his mother, yiayia vasilo went to marry some other man but of course this guy didn't want to father some other guy's kid, so she sent him to an orphanage. yet still, even till his death, he loved his mother and did his best to care for her into her old age. he escaped a couple times, the last time being properly successful and he ended up poor on the streets.


the two of them got married quickly after they met. i hear that what had happened was that my yiayia's brothers set it all up and essentially threatened my pappous into marrying her. i don't know why they chose him. i cannot recall on if he had become to any degree successful yet or not. regardless, they married unhappily and moved to athens. pappous was a womanizer and would often abandon her with my dad and uncle angelo for weeks at a time, doing god knows what. sometimes he'd even bring women back to the apartment and treat my yiayia like a servant during those times. eventually he got up and left to america without even divorcing my yiayia. she worked hard and kept the kids, he continued being him but in the states. during all of this, even back in greece, he began to be somewhat of a business man, trying his hand at all sorts of sectors. mechanic, taxi driver, marble exporter, brick factory owner, ferry line manager, all sorts of things. he of course continued these in the states, especially the marble-related business. he also married an american woman, patricia. i hear he forged divorce papers from honduras or something so that he may seem legally divorced to my yiayia and therefore marry her. at some point, when my father was about 15 and uncle angelo about 13, they went to america to stay with him. they did a year or less of school there before my father had to leave. uncle angelo stayed; he now owns his own marble shop with two armenian fellas, rafi and mano. with patricia, he had two more kids, my aunt mia and uncle alex. same sort of thing happened with patricia as well as my yiayia, except she went ahead and left him. the american free-will, i suppose. anyway, then they all continued living where and how they were. my pappous still going around with women and still being a "business man" (often being a straight-up scammer). he allegedly never paid a single dollar to the government while he was in the states. my yiayia kept working odd jobs diligently, allowing her to gain a comfortable retirement fund. she now lives in athens during the colder times and up in the village in the summer. she visits us in the states every year, though she always claims this year will be her last, that the aeroplane ride is too much. i don't believe her. she still is very mobile and still works her yard. she had covid a couple years ago a month before her visit to the states and she was able to walk to the pharmacy down the road entirely upon her own power on the second day. she's small (like really small, she is prime example of old people shrinking) but very capable. my pappous is long dead now, i think nine years now. he had a slew of health problems because he enjoyed a very american diet. he died shortly after his mother, yiayia vasilo, died. we figure the pain of her passing triggered his system to fail.



i think that's about it. if you have any further questions, feel free...

by iason; 1720287288; Report

Holy moly, that’s quite a story! Apologies for the late reply—I somehow missed your message. This was definitely an interesting read. I’d heard parts of this story from you before, but having it all together, filling in the gaps, and putting things on a timeline really helps with the understanding.

by Elina_Khus; 1726114118; Report

HI!!!

by Elina_Khus; 1717650951; Report

Greetings indeed!

by Elina_Khus; 1715371667; Report

Greetings indeed!

by Elina_Khus; 1715371669; Report

γεια σου Ιασων!

by Elina_Khus; 1715371883; Report