I spent most of my teen years away from Russia but Moscow was my home. I was studying abroad — first in the US, then England — but would be back In Moscow for every school break. I missed Moscow during my boarding school years and missed it even more…

It’s a bit cheesy, as is the entire “Greater” movie I watched last night, but I like it. The movie is a biographical sports movie about a kid who persevered with his passion for football and achieved great success before being tragically killed in a car accident (Wikipedia article about…

The prompt is this: write a short story about a runner collapsing near the marathon finish line. You’re one of the runners, and you observe another runner collapsing. My story: The experience was familiar: discerning the red numbers on the clock at the finish line. Are they always red? I…

I respect my stepfather for how his humility and firm character come together. He holds certain opinions but is never patronizing. Overall, he’s a quiet man. The other day, however, he allowed himself a rare piece of advice. It was directed specifically at me. My family moved a lot in…

I started writing on Medium in October 2021 and stayed consistent. My story count exceeds 700. The Medium enhanced stats extension shows a total reach of almost 600K and 300K reads. My first viral story happened already in the first month of writing on Medium. I’m a little embarrassed about…

I was going to take a break from writing today, but then I came across one of my connection’s social media stories where they used Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar soundtrack. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but lately, I’ve heard too many people use the theme for their stuff. For example, the carnivore-diet…

Is it my subjective perception, or do billionaires dominate the most recent news? First, I saw the news about Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s “right-hand” man, dying at 99. Billionaire Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet's right hand man, dies at 99 - UPI.com Charlie Munger, a billionaire who became Warren Buffet's most trusted adviser at Berkshire Hathaway, is dead at 99.www.upi.com Buffet is an icon, but I never followed him closely, so my awareness of Munger was very limited, though I recognized the…

I like this word, even though I associate it with being fired. Not once, but twice or even more, I heard my bosses say, “Alexei, the output isn’t there.” I knew what they meant. I even have another expression for the output of my unsuccessful endeavors. I half-assed. As I…

A disclaimer — this note is not for those suffering from addiction. For two decades I’ve enjoyed alcohol. It was an indulgence and habit, but not an addiction so if you’re similar to me, maybe you’ll find this note useful. If you’re playing around with the idea of breaking your…