The war between Russia and Georgia which happened, August 7, 2008 was very tragic for Georgian people. This shameless aggression by Russia has left hundreds of innocent people dead and over 200,000 lost their homes. Russia needs to recognize that  Georgia is an independent country and it has the right to choose its political orientation. But appears to want to show its power to the world that they can do anything they want. Steven Pifer, a former deputy assistant secretary of state and ambassador to Ukraine says, “They don’t want to rebuild the Soviet Union, but they do want to sphere of influence” During this war many young Georgians died. Some kids lost their whole family.  How can they grow up? What are their lives going to be like? How can they live with a normal life after losing everybody and everything?  One day I was watching the Georgian news where they showed a four years old girl. In two seconds, she lost everything. After an exploding bomb she lost the whole family and she became blind. Countries that launch war probably do not realize that they put hatred into the hearts’ of  young people. It will take many years before  Georgian people recover from the impact of this war. Especially, the young people who lost their friends and  parents. Some of them might never recover. Also, it is going to take a long time to restore destroyed cities. Countries need to help and support each other, that is what makes world happier and peaceful. The peace is something that lot of people take for granted but wars like in Georgia remind everyone how fragile our world is.

The whole summer media was talking a lot about high gas prices. However, now when gas price is half of what it used to be, media doesn’t talk about it.  Some people wonder what caused this. I think one of the main reasons is economic crisis. Prices for crude oil have fallen from record high $147 per barrel to $45 last week which is the lowest level in over 5 years (according to Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy, www.eia.doe.gov). Growing concerns about the global demand for gasoline is caused by current financial and economic crisis.  High unemployment rate in the US means that there will be less people driving to and from work daily which will reduce demand for gasoline even more.

Protest against Greek police started after, two police officers shoot 16 years old boy in downtown Athens. Protest started in Athens with more than two thousands anarchists. Other anarchists joined this protest in Thessaloniki too. Protestants left twenty four policemen injured, damaged and burned thirty one stores, nine bank branches, and twenty five cars, including six police car.(L.A. Times) Protestants shout slogans against Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis. Once in Georgia a policeman killed twenty years old boy, and nobody even arrested this policeman. People were very mad and protested this action. However, protest in Georgia was more peaceful and protestors didn’t hurt or destroy anything. I think that what happened in Greece is very sad. To kill innocent 16 years old teenager is very wrong and police need to know that they can’t do whatever they want to people. They shouldn’t cross a line. However, I think that they way anarchists protest is really wrong. Why they would break somebody’s car, or house, or store, who doesn’t have anything to do with police or killing this teenager. These protestors ruined many people’s businesses and it’s not right. I think that when people protest it shouldn’t hurt innocent people. People should protest more peaceful way.

Talking about drinking I remembered the other day I was reading in the newspaper that in Amsterdam are closing brothels and marijuana cafes. It was really shocking for me, because even one of the freest countries in the world have some freedom issues. People who agree to close these places think that it’s going to decrease criminal. I think that it has both advantages and disadvantages. Disadvantage is that this was the only place where prostitution and marijuana was legal and that’s what made this place very special. Many people were eager to visit this place and experience something new. Also, many people lost their businesses. Advantage is that it’s people going to start living with healthy and normal life. And I agree that criminal and violence is going to decrease. I think that it’s good for native people and bad for foreigners who loved to visit that place.

The other day I was watching a show, where a journalist was asking people on the street what drinking age limit should be. It’s a big issue in every country. Different people have different ideas about this topic. I don’t think it’s a good idea not to let teenagers to drink. Because one is always eager to reach something, which is unreachable, especially young people. In the United States most teenagers drink anyways. So, if it would be legal they could drink at home, around family rather than outside, hidden somewhere: for example in the car. Georgia is a wine country, many families make their own wine, so there isn’t drinking age limit. I always could have a glass of wine, so I am not crazy about drinking; it’s not anything special or new for me. I think that people at the age 18 should be able to drink. If they can vote why they can’t drink?  It doesn’t make sense to me.

The other day I had a huge argument with my friend about video games. My friend Maria has a younger brother. He is 12 years old and plays video games all the time. I think that it’s horrible. So, I was telling to Maria why her parents don’t limit his time in front of the computer. She thinks that nothing is wrong with playing video games. She told me that if kid has fun with something why we should forbid that. However,   think that playing video games for a long time is very harmful for kids. It can damage their nerves and ruin their brains. I’ve never played video games but every time when I see somebody playing, I see killing, blood, and violence. I think that kids who play these games, when they grow up will be able to kill people, because they did these the whole childhood and it’s not anything different for them, because that’s what they were doing the whole time. Maria was telling me that her brother is not going to kill anybody that it’s just a game. However, there are some kids who are easily influenced and these games have really bad influence on them. I think that more news, entertainment, and technological improvement we have violence growth more. I don’t think that in our grandparents and parents generation was so much killing, and violence as today.

Public transportation in Los Angeles is horrible. I don’t know any city except Los Angeles which doesn’t have a subway. Bus system is terrible because nobody knows when bus is going to show up. If you don’t have a car in Los Angeles you can not go anywhere. I just moved to the United States and I don’t have a Californian driver’s license yet. So it’s very hard for me to move from one place to another. If I want to go somewhere I have to call to my friends or my cousin to pick me up and bring me back. If you ask somebody in Los Angeles why they don’t use public transportation they’ll answer that everybody drives in L.A. However, if government would get new, better public transportation many people would use them. It would be great for students, because we could save more money and it’s more convenient.

I love fast food restaurants. It’s so easy to go there and eat for so cheap. However, it’s very bad for our health. When I lived in Georgia my mom used to cook for me all the time. But when I moved to the Unites States I ate fast food a lot. So after three months I went back to Georgia and everybody was telling me that I looked very unhealthy. Also, I gained a lot of weight. I think that fast food is a big problem in the United States. We have some fast food restaurants in Georgia too. However, there are not as many as here, and not many people go there. People prefer to cook at home. Also, fast food restaurants in Georgia are not as unhealthy as here. For example, McDonalds in Georgia is so much better. The buildings are better and very clean. The founder of McDonalds in Georgia always controls food there. Because many kids go to McDonalds and their health is very important. Eating habit and our health are very important and we have to pay attention to it. WE HAVE TO TRY NOT TO EAT TOO MUCH FAST FOOD.

When presidency candidate John McCain chose Sarah Palin as a vice president candidate of the Republican Party, everybody was talking about her. People became very interested in her private life. They were saying things like: Oh, she’d better take care of her kids. When people found out that her seventeen years old daughter was pregnant they thought that it was Sarah’s shame. However, I don’t agree these people. First of all most women can take care their jobs and family together. I think that people who were talking about her were mostly guys who still believe that women can’t do work and take care of family, and women who don’t have good life and are jealous of women who have successful career and private life. I appreciate all the women who can be leaders and especially in charge of country. People would never say the same thing about a guy, that he has a family and needs to take care of it. So, it means that our society still has old style of thinking, and I think that they need to believe that women can be good leaders and have successful families.

On my last visit to Orange County, I visited my favorite music store “Virgin Megastore” in Orange.  I noticed signs all over the store advertising big discounts and inventory clearances. They told me that store will be closing in the beginning of January which would be the closure of the last remaining Virgin retail store in California. I was sad to hear about it, because I really enjoying going to the store, listening to new CDs, and reading magazines.  But the retail sales have been decreasing for past few years as more and more people download music from  itunes or amazon or make online purchases for CDs and DVDs. I like downloading the music but going to the store to listen and purchase CDs is still a completely different experience and I will sure miss.