User:Buryatia

Was born and raised in San Francisco, California. I've lived in various places across the US and the world. I am with my wonderful girlfriend, Leslie, and our crazy apricot poodle, Gus. Leslie is studying finance and wants to pursue a career in Banking while Gus has recently finished his degree in "i like to sleep, eat and go wild" and is perfectly happy with lifetime unemployment. Leslie, Gus and I aren't sure where we're moving next, but I suspect Nancy in France but lol you never know we might just end up in Timbuktu! And if you were wondering, I am an entrepreneur working in the procurement/trading and marketing sectors. I might go for a masters in a year or two but that depends on how my current projects pan out.

When not at the office, I devote time to reading. Mainly modern history. Specific interest in the world in the era of total war, i.e. from the end of the 19th century to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Periods of greater interest : World War II, the Reign of Terror, Stalin, identity and Soviet culture, Nazification of Germany, Decolonization in the context of France, Mao's China, Sino-Soviet split and its ramifications, etc.

A close second is anthropology, particularly the anthropology of arctic and sub-arctic tribes from the Ihalmiut to the Chukchi to the Buryat. Though in recent years I've developed a fancy for the tribes of the African equatorial rain forest. By extension, I've been reading a fair amount on African history as of late. Over here, I've been fascinated with the interplay between tribal religions and modern life (paths in the rainforest by Jan Vansina is great) ... for instance, using Krio tribal traditions to rationalize cannibalism during the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone or using toothpaste tubes as an analogy to describe spiritual exorcisms of sorcerers in the swamp forest of the republique de congo. I also enjoy reading travelogues (well, ones that aren't boring - e.g. Peregrine Hodson, Ryzard Kapucinski, et al.) From time to time, I can be caught reading literature but generally I stick to semi-historical tomes - but yes I very much enjoy V.S. Naipaul and Graham Greene.

I'm very much drawn to the Arctic, it's my dream to visit Nunavut, Alaska, Siberia, and Lapland. The mystique of the auroras, the arctic ocean, and the native peoples intoxicate me with daydreams of spending part of my years there. What a cool privilege it would be to hike through the Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska, climb the peaks in Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, take the crazy M-66 highway for a seven hundred mile journey from civilization up into the Siberian outpost of Yakutsk, or commune with the arctic ocean on the gravel beaches at the northern tip of Norway! On the other extreme, after spending a few months in West Africa, I've fallen in love with Africa and want to explore the continent in more detail. I'd very much like to undertake the classic overland route from Gibraltar to Dakar, and, if God wills, the less traveled route from Douala to Libreville via old Macias' torture chamber, Equatorial Guinea.

Other than these things ... hum, I like to cook (though laziness gets the better of me and I often settle for less (but incredibly tasty) stuff like mac and cheese, grill cheese, etc.). lol things are hard when Leslie makes a mean pot-au-feu and frankly I love it when she cooks! I love confit de canard, steak tartare and all those yummy things that make you look beyond the stink of france and fall in love with the place - and yes tomme de savoie is the best cheese ever and French saucissons are the best in the world. I love herrings, especially when served pickled with sour cream, chives, boiled potatoes and eggs, and a good bowl of borscht! - oh rye bread, lots of butter, a russian salad and a good strong pot of black tea. hum Beef strogonoff always tastes good as does Hungarian goulash - and many other dishes Hungarian. I also swear by Korean, Vietnamese and Sichuanese (one of the best dishes is an asian version of carpaccio, thinly sliced beef "cooked" with lemon, tossed with cilantro and a few herbs/sauce and served fresh!). Oh and one of these days I want to eat like an arctic native or a centrafricain ... that's right, raw seals, reindeer and bush meat (as long as they're not endangered of course!)

I love music - all sorts (in no particular order) : Serge Gainsbourg, Francoise Hardy, Gigliola Cinquetti, Velvet Underground, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Jean-Claude Vannier, Simon & Garfunkel, Sergio Endrigo, Salvatore Adamo, and on and on. Mainly european stuff from the 50s and 60s but also an eclectic mix of favorites from the homeland and other places around the world. speaking of which, recently, I've grown a liking to Ethiopian music by Mulatu Astatke, Congolese soukrous by Tabu Ley, Grand Kalle and others, and East Asian pop from the 50s and 60s.

Lifelong fan of the San Francisco 49ers. Once in a while you'll find me rooting for the Oakland Raiders. Also support Michigan Football (Go Blue!), Paris Saint Germain (a soccer club), the Korean and French national soccer teams, Tom Watson and Miguel Jimenez (the cigar dude).

Oh and by the way, my userid, Buryatia, it's a region in Russia that's home to a siberian tribe called the Buryat - i initially wanted buryat and buryatrider but strangely someone had already picked those ids. hmm ....