Hope it will never happen!

This article - http://www.bfm.ru/news/2009/07/23/skajp.html - makes me feel that these people are not able to see a situation from a broad perspective. Their greed makes them blind. If they really do this - let mobile operators and Internet providers take control over Skype and ICQ - they are going to end up with millions disappointed users who will stop using Skype and ICQ and switch to alternative instant messengers. Who will win?

What's next? E-mail???

Round 4...

I am going for TOEFL. I haven’t rescheduled my exam - my 4th attempt. I am very determined to pass it this time but when I think about speaking part of the test I feel fear shivering down my spine. I hope that there will be no any puzzling speaking questions that make me freeze up and stare hopelessly at the screen :); like this one – “Talk about an event from the past that you would like to relive.” However, I have worked through such type of questions. But you can never be sure what the test makers have come up with and what a surprise they have for you :)
Yesterday, I met with my brother’s wife. She came over to Moscow for a couple of weeks to settle some issues with their flat. She said that Dasha (their daughter) did not want to speak Russian. She says that it’s much more convenient for her to use English. She sometimes doesn’t even use the endings correctly, which is not good, of course. However, I wish I had such a total immersion in English…

Last week I had a talk with one of my colleges at work. He told me that his friend’s father (who is a colonel in army) offered him to come over to an army base to see military exercises. Moreover, he told him that it was going to be a good chance to drive a tank, try out a submachine gun or throw grenades. I was a bit surprised and asked him how it might be possible for an ordinary person to be there and use the military equipment and ammo that are supposed to be used only by military personnel. I also asked what would happen if the top generals learned somehow that his friend’s father let a civil person enter the place intended solely for military staff and use the ammo…

Today I am going to answer sixteen TOEFL speaking questions. I feel that I really need to answer all the questions I have found on the Internet because they seem to be quite similar to the real TOEFL ones.
I am still not sure whether I should reschedule my test or push my luck. However, luck is the last thing one should count on when dealing with this test. :) Actually, it doesn’t work at all in this case. But I am tired of my incessant attempts to pass this terrible exam. I have tried it 3 times already with moderate outcomes. :( I also think that I have invested too much time in preparing for the TOEFL while GMAT is even harder and actually more important for admission. However, I need at least 100 score on the TOEFL. My current 86 doesn’t look impressive at all. Given the fact that the competition is going to be fierce because many people who lost the job have decided to go back to school, it does make sense not to be satisfied with anything that lower 100 and work harder. Worker bees get the honey. :)

Today I was on my way to the swimming pool when I was exiting from the subway station and witnessed a woman whose right heel of one of her high-heeled shoes got stuck in a kind of gully grating. A policeman that was standing not far from her noticed it and said.
-You’d better watch your steps. You should have kept your heels high above.

As I could notice she was a bit embarrassed as well as frightened to broke that high-heel of the shoe. As I could tell she was a bit embarrassed as well as frightened to have broken the heel of her shoe. I do not know what happened next and how much time passed before she managed to free herself from the trap. I just went past her hurrying up to get to my destination.
Maybe I am exaggerating and making a mountain out of a molehill but that case made me think that very often people stand just like that policeman saying their banal and pseudosympathetic words that do not help at all. We like to be on the safe side watching someone’s disaster from our vantage point and feeling deep inside that we should be thankful to our fate for being so lucky in comparison to others – others who need our genuine help; not the patronizing attitude which actually gives nothing but makes the situation even worse.

My name is Dmitri. I have created this blog for improving my English language skills. It is intended for being used as a study aid in polishing my English. I am going to write about anything that comes to my mind on a regular basis. My aim is to achieve the necessary fluency so that I would be able to describe any topic I want to using a perfect and grammatically correct English. These topics may include my own life, my traveling or language learning experiences, local news etc.

Currently, I am having some problems with writing and speaking (speaking is without a doubt my primary issue). The lack of memorized language constructions for expressing my thoughts (as I call it) often makes me think too much when I want to say or write something in English. I hope that this blog will be a great way of developing the fluidity of thoughts as well as getting rid of grammar mistakes I am still making.