December 4, 1957 is the day I was born. My father said: "It would be better if he died." He hated red-headed. During the war in their village were Nazis. Most of them were redheaded. Six months later I almost bit off my tongue, when I fell off the porch. "Would be better if you did"- my mother said later. I probably talked a lot. The scar is still preserved. I didn't go to kindergarten, I was brought up on the street. It was fun. Perhaps that is why I do not go in the general line. First time I quit smoke four days before school. Then like everyone else: school, college, army Staff sergeant. Then medical University. Quit in three years, because disappointed: most men were in the hospital because they drank or smoked, and the women, because their husbands drank or smoked. Then worked in a factory technician electrician, assemble and adjust marine cannons. In 1989, first came to work abroad. It was East Germany. And I saw the difference. Then I worked in Poland. Began to feel the difference. Then worked in India. That's it. I became ready to be free. While I was preparing the Soviet Union collapsed. The country where I was born no longer exists. But needed money to educate my children. There devastation and the only way I've seen in America. In 1997 I arrived in New York. I worked a lot, changed 11 companies. Electrician, driver, manager. Got the American experience.
About the Author: December 4, 1957, the day I was born, my father looked at me and said: "It would've been better if he died." He hated gingers. During the war in their village were Nazis. Most of them had ginger hair. He never fully got over it. Too bad. Then, six months in, I almost bit my own tongue off, falling down our house porch. "Would have been better if you did, actually"- my mother said later. She wasn't joking, I probably talked a lot. I can feel the tongue scar even now. Further down the line, I didn't go to a nursery, and the street was my playground. With the tough street culture, of course. Damn, it was fun. Perhaps that is why all my life I stay out of the mainstream. See for yourself: I first quit smoking four days before my first day at school. I was probably six. Then a few years like any other life: school, college, then joined the army and became a sergeant. Then the Medical academy. Quit it three years in, realized it's not my thing: most males ended up in the hospital because they drank or smoked, and females, because their husbands drank or smoked. Done with that. Time to start work to make a living. Got an offer from a machine-building plant as an electrician, assembling and setting up the electric filling of a main gun on a torpedo boat. USSR defence industry, hardcore stuff. In 89, my first business trip outside the iron curtain: East Germany. And there I saw the difference in the day-to-day life first time. It's like being brought up in the jungle and then suddenly walking into a supermarket on a Xmas sale. Absolutely mind-blowing. Then I was sent to work in Poland, felt the difference even deeper. Then India. And that was it. I was a fully trained citizen of the world and ready to set myself free. While I was doing the prep, the Soviet Union became history. The country where I was born and bred no longer existed and my job was gone. I needed to feed the family and get the kids education. The only way I saw this happening was an escape to America. Land of the Brave, huh? So in 97 I landed in New York. Worked my ass off, changed 11 jobs in 18 years. Electrician, truck driver, bookstore manager... and a New Yorker. Got the complete American experience. I'm still here.