| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | My most memorable childhood experience was when my grandfather repaired my bicycle. He found a guy near our apartment block that had the equipment needed, so we didn't have to buy it from a store. Bicycles and their spare parts were very rare in Russia at the time. I was the only person out of two apartment buildings who had a bike, so I had to share a lot! |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | I identify with my grandmother. She practically raised me, and was the sweetest, most kind person in the world. She would give me money for bubble gum and ice cream when she would make next to nothing. She splurged on me and always took care of me. We would play cards and chess, which she taught me, in the evenings until my bedtime, and I became quite a proficient chess player thanks to her! |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | I admire wit, honesty, and truth. People who act the same with me and then without me. I also admire intelligent individuals, who can engage on a wide variety of topics. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | My friend and I were on our cross-country cycling trip, and we were crossing the Texas panhandle when we decided to make a pit stop, re-hydrate, and well, relieve ourselves. We pulled off at a fork in the road, and went about our business, my friend jumping over some bushes for cover, while I ducked down in a small dip near the road. As we had seen no cars for hours on the road, I felt that excessive cover was just too pretentious. So, just as I was cleaning up, I see off in the distance a vehicle coming towards us, to my chagrin, and passing within 30 feet of where I stood, half crouched with a wad of toilet paper I had taken from a Walmart bathroom waving like white tentacles in the breeze, beckoning their attention. As they passed, I saw that the entire family had pressed themselves to the glass, the father, his jaw unhinged hung limply in disbelief, the frantic mother, attempting to jump into the back seats to shield the eyes of her young who had their noses pressed to the glass in incredulous merriment. I tried to somehow cover myself, but the pants were down, and they passed too quickly for me to really hide anything. Lo, I was naked from the waist down before the good, God-fearing, conservative Texan family, and the Almighty himself. I could do nothing but stare back, and as they passed, I heard an uproar from the bushes where my friend had wisely chosen to hide, as he saw exactly what happened. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | I would definitely attend every single Formula 1 race, as they travel all around the world, and have races on every continent except Antarctica. I would take the time between races to explore the country and get to know its culture and history. But one place that I have always wanted to visit is Tibet, which unfortunately due to Chinese oppression is a closed province of China, and very difficult to get access to through the Chinese authorities. I would also climb Mount Kilimanjaro, as after a cross-country cycling trip a friend and I did, we were throwing out ideas of other challenges that we could tackle, and climbing Kilimanjaro was on the top of the list, but of course, time and money were the issues. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | I would pass on the traits of hard work, persistence, and the ability to adapt to your surroundings. These I would emphasize, as most other traits are learned along the way and reinforced by social competence. |
