Me teeth are falling out, my arms have gone grotesquely(sp?) skinny, I've got the beginnings of a pot-belly and I'm losing my hair. Kids, don't take speed. lol, What a drag.

http://www.gairspace.org.uk/media/thoreau.swf

Horrible stuff. I bet you don't need it either. You strike me as someone who's fully wired with just your natural body chemistry.

There's only one excuse to take speed: if you're fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad. My dad, a Russian speaker, got hold of medical records from each side and found both the Germans and the Russians troops were fighting on prescribed benzedrine, washed down with, respectively, schnapps and vodka.

I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons.

I think I would want more than bloody speed to take part in that, what a nightmare that mustve been.

I took speed once, and liked it...... but because of that I never took it again, as afterwards I watched quite a few friends get seriously screwed over on that and other drugs....

Kids....... dont take ANY drugs, it really aint worth it.

Not just street by street fighting, or house by house, but room by room. I'm just getting into the music of Shostakovich and someone sent me this.


Viktor Kozlov - Clarinettist. Played in the first performance of the Leningrad Symphony during the siege of Leningrad.

During the war I served as a military clarinettist in the Orchestra of the Leningrad Military Headquarters. I was based here in Leningrad throughout the siege and we played concerts in military hospitals and at various meetings.

During the period of the siege and the hunger, the Radio Committee Orchestra stayed in the city. It was only a small orchestra - about 25 musicians. Mravinsky's Orchestra left for Kuybyshev .

Shostakovich lived here for the first year of the siege here where he managed to write the first two parts of his 7 th Symphony. He was then told to leave the city for Kuybyshev where he completed the final two parts of it and they decided to premiere it over there in Kuybyshev .

The people of Leningrad found out and asked, if the symphony was dedicated to the city of Leningrad , and to the siege of Leningrad , how come it was premiered over there? After some time the Radio Committee Orchestra received the score and began writing out the instrumental parts. It turned out that the orchestra would need 80 people while they only had 25. They announced over the radio that they wanted musicians to come to the Radio Committee and play in the orchestra. So people began arriving but they were old people - the younger ones were all in the army. They took in violinists but they had no wind instrument players so they turned to the army and asked if they could use us. That's how I ended up playing in the orchestra as a clarinettist.

We began our rehearsals - it was during the peak of hunger when everybody was starving - we were sitting there playing not having had any food. The first rehearsals were only between 15 and 20 minutes long. Those of us playing wind instruments couldn't play properly - we were unable to hold our lips, we couldn't strain and our lips became weak. Slowly the rehearsals became longer, and then on 9 August 1942 Shostakovich's 7 th Symphony was performed at the Philharmonic Orchestra premises in Leningrad . It's interesting that the Germans were sending out tickets for 9 August also saying that they were going to celebrate their victory at the Astoria hotel. It was precisely on that day that Shostakovich's 7 th Symphony was performed to show them that the city was still alive and functioning.

The audience received us very, very well. There was a lot of applause and standing ovations - one woman even gave the conductor flowers - imagine, there was nothing in the city then and yet this one woman found flowers somewhere. It was wonderful.

The music is very complex and it was very difficult for those who were not musicians, but at the same time it touched people because it reflected the siege. This was war time and everybody felt they understood this music. It was very moving and emotional for everyone. People were delighted and astounded by the fact that such music was played, particularly during the Siege of Leningrad.

It is very difficult for me to think about it. This music affected you so very deeply - it perfectly reflected the siege and the life of the people of Leningrad ... and ... when you remember it ...

Of course the music played a big role in raising the morale of the people of Leningrad , particularly during the blockade. When they say that he composed it from a Communist point of view, it had nothing to do with politics or communists. He composed his music the way he felt and the way it should be.


Source

I love a dog. He does nothing for political reasons.

It was a terrible time, the poor russian soldiers were treated so badly by their own officers during the war.....one clip of ammo each, but one weapon between two men, when the first fell the second picked it up and advanced.
Not to mention the fact they would not accept retreat, and would actually shoot their own men if they tried to run back out of the line of fire.
In some ways the russians were worse than the bloody germans, at least they treated their own soldiers fairly well

I fucking love Shostakovich - fuck knows about the war but we're all on it here lol.

http://www.gairspace.org.uk/media/thoreau.swf

I'll have you know that heroin does the same thing, darling. Just about all "hardcore" drugs will, to varying degrees, and based mostly on genetics or concurrent habits. The point is, you survived the damn drugs. If now all you care about is vanity, then you really haven't learned your lesson.

Something I keep saying to myself: "I didn't survive my own self-destruction for YOU." (not meaning you, BP, but in general, according to the fools I meet who don't need an explanation of the crap I've done in my life but who ought to know better for not doing anything with their lives at all).

why have I gone light headed?

"It takes 47 muscles to smile and 17 frown, but it doesn't take any to sit there with a dumb look on your face."

Listen baby, who are you to say what someone has/has not done with their life? You seem an OK guy but yeah, I'll admit to being vain - I'm a good looking lad ( so I'm told) and I losing my looks will be a drawback but as for people doing nothing with their lives, well I dunno, I'd rather stay on my estate, with my friends getting wrecked n that, than waste my time getting a job/carreeer/education and generally learing someone else's script.

http://www.gairspace.org.uk/media/thoreau.swf

Getting a raw deal from life may be an excuse to get off your face (the generic "your", not specific to anyone here!) but my own view is that when shit happens is the very time you need not to be off with the fairies.
The WW2 Russian Front may be an exception but even there I suspect I'd much prefer to be fully with it, and let natural selection take care of things.