Why JamieJakov?

January 4th, 2014

I have been asked this question multiple times, and would always give a tl;dr version. Now I can finally tell the story in full.

So where did this obscure nickname come from? It all began a long time ago when I just started going to Klass English Language School back home in Riga. It’s wasn’t really me learning English, it was more of practicing it, so that I wouldn’t forget. Anyway, the real reason I got given this nickname is because of a peculiarity in pronouncing my name in English vs Russian. For English speakers, pronouncing my real name (Vadim) isn’t too hard, just a bit awkward as the name is unusual for this part of the world. For Russian speakers however, pronouncing my name naturally, in English, is very hard, as they are used to the Russian pronunciation. So as a result, they end up saying it with Russian pronunciation, and thus messing up the whole sentence due to the changes between Russian and English pronunciations. Thats when I realised that, I needed a solution for this.

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2013 Retrospective

December 31st, 2013

2013 is almost over, just a few hours left in this year, and I can say it was an amazing year. So much has happened in my life, so many things have changed and I continue to expand my skills and to improve on what I already have. Lets go over the events that happened so far.

For my birthday on the 1st of February my parents got me a DSLR camera right before our trip to Melbourne to watch the Australian Open and Fiji. This sparked my interest in photography and I now I carry my camera to almost all important events.

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New logo, new design, new life!

December 24th, 2013

WildFlower

I have had my blog for a year and a half now, first post being on the 20th of May 2012. In this time I have managed to change web hosts and themes. Now I believe is the perfect time to improve the design I have been using ever since I moved from wordpress.com to private web hosting – Wild Flower. Today, on the 25th of December, I would like to present my new blog theme Ring-O.

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Congratulations and Farewell

November 24th, 2013

Farewell Dinner

All good things come to an end. Like, for example, calling people up and making bookings, checking new residents in, and welcoming new staff to the team. There comes a time when we must part with the ones who have become and unforgettable part of this small group who help function the system that is urbanest Quay Street, the ones who we call family. Of course I am talking about our beloved Community Netwokers – Wilmer and Megan. They are finishing their degrees at university and they are either going back to their home countries or seeking other future prospects. Both of you will be greatly missed, you have truly become part of the family and we can not imagine life at urbanest without you.

To celebrate the building being full for semester 2 of 2013 and to bid farewell to 2 members of you big family we held a dinner. Nothing classy, just the TV room, some food and a cake! Overall it was a very pleasant dinner, and we will all miss you guys! Please visit once in a while, or at least message us!!!!

Here are some photos from the night, most taken by our new Community Networker – Darrell:

flickr_logo

力家Museum

November 18th, 2013

powerhouse

So since the weather in Sydney hasn’t been that great lately, my girlfriend at the time – Amy and me decided to go the Powerhouse Museum, which is so conveniently located only 5 minutes away from where I live. Amy hasn’t been there since middle school, or something, and I went there last when the Harry Potter exhibition was on in 2011, I think.

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Weekend with Drawing Circle

November 11th, 2013

DC_Goya

As you know I am the screenings director for Anime@UTS and an active member of JASS, but as of last year I also joined a newly formed club called: the Drawing Circle. As the name implies its a club of artistic people who love to draw, sketch, design and just make pretty things. Well I have quite a few friends there and so I decided to join as well, cause why not, however I haven’t really gone to any events, aside from the joint Pokemon event with the anime club. So now that I am dating a girl who is pretty much an exec of that club (not really but kinda), I though it would be nice to come to their events as well.

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Halloween Horror Screening

October 29th, 2013

AnimeHalloween

Tonight, just a few days before Halloween itself, Anime@UTS & JASS held its first ever horror movie screening! With around 40-60 people there, I would say that this event was a huge success.

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境目、移動する子供、外国語

October 24th, 2013

境目につての私の経験と考え

境目とは物理的な線にかぎらず、空想的ないもしない分離線である。例えば、地球が形作った時代に生み出した大陸や季節の境目が今まで残っている。そして現在世界では人間が樹立した経済的や政治的や社会的な境目も存在している。

私はラトビアにうまれたので政治的な境目を自分で感じた事がある。ラトビアは欧州連合に入った前に欧州の国に旅行するのは大変だった。普通に国境線で５時間ぐらい待たなければならなかった。しかしバルト三国は欧州連合に入った後に国境線はなくなり、旅行時間も減少した事が大進歩であった。国々の政治や政府は変わってないのに国と国の「境目」はほとんどなくなった。

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Anime@UTS AGM 2013

October 8th, 2013

uts anime 2013 exec team

Remember last year when I became the screenings director for the UTS anime club? Well that just happened again! On the 5th of October we had our AGM and elected a new team for 2014. Our beloved president Lexi had to step down as he will be graduating next year, then our amazingly talented and hardworking secretary – Clara ended up leaving our ranks as well, and also our 2 photographers, treasurer and vice have been replaced. I can say thank you for your hard work, and I hope to see you around.

Our new execs (going left to right):

  • Grace – Arts Assistant
  • Meig – Secretary
  • Cindy – Events Coordinator
  • Chloe – Arts Director
  • Ruben – Webmaster
  • Baek – President
  • Keo – General Relations
  • Me – Screenings Director
  • Tac – Photo/Videographer
  • Ravi – Vice president
  • Allan – Treasurer

Lets have an awesome year guys! I will be leaving for my exchange to Japan in April though, kukuku.

Visit the official website to read more about this meeting.

Hardest languages to learn

October 5th, 2013

International communication concept

You know there over 180 countries in the world and most of them have their unique language. Have you ever wondered which would would be the hardest to master? Well I know 5 languages: Latvian, Russian, English, German and currently Japanese. Out of those I would have to say Russian is the hardest to learn (its my mother language though). Recently I stumbled upon this article which tries to answer the question of which language is the hardest, and I was very surprised by their top pic. Here is the link so you can read about it yourself.

Learning languages is amazing.