Ziray Studio Labs

I’m thinking about spending Christmas in Budapest again this year. Last time was in 2006, so while it hasn’t been that long, it’s been a while. I promised everyone I’d go back last summer, but I had just started a new job and I didn’t have the money to do it. So I promised to return this summer so I could to the Sziget festival, watch the Red Bull Air Races (highlights) and see the fireworks for one of Hungary’s holidays in August. However, I forgot about the fact that since my job involves toys, we’re totally swamped with projects for the holiday season all summer up until October. Christmas in July! and August! and September!

Christmas gives me a great opportunity to leave as we get a week off anyway and then I can use some paid time off (PTO) to extend that vacation. So I’m thinking of taking a week and a half off before and after that Christmas holiday and make my vacation 4 weeks long.

My roommate Gabe’s parents live just north of the Hungarian border in a small Hungarian town in Slovakia. It’s only a few hours train ride to Budapest. We might also stay over in Dublin on our way back to Hungary since he has friends there he wants to see and because I’ve never been to Dublin or Ireland for that matter. And yes, the Guinness factory will be on the list of places to visit. I hear it tastes better than in the U.S.

Also, my Russian friend Elena, who I went to school with at Corvinus might be in Prague in December, so I guess I *have* to go to Prague and see her. Oh darn, Prague. Last time I was there, I went with my friend Tristan and Izzi and had such an awesome time. Gabe hasn’t been in a while so he’s excited about coming with me.

I definitely want to spend a few days in Budapest and see my friend Kriszi and that gang, Tristan, my old advisor Krisztina and others who I haven’t seen since I left. I also want to pick up some Corvinus college t-shirts and maybe a sweatshirt. The thought never occurred to me to buy any university swag while I was there, probably because I was a poor college student who had just enough money to eat. Now I’m rich (even though I’m still paying off the tuition from Corvinus AND Virginia Tech).

Traveling in Europe

I just wanted to mention, that traveling in Europe is so much easier than in the US. I never want to travel here. In Europe, it’s almost effortless (at least for me it is). I like to fly fapados (lit. wooden bench) airlines and all airports have train stations within walking distance and those will take you into the city or anywhere else for that matter. From there, mostly all cities have a great network of buses, trains, subways and street trams. You honestly don’t need a car, as long as you don’t mind having to walk your fair share. Having a car would be more of a hassle than anything else.

I travelled alone for 2 weeks once, from Hungary, to Germany, to Switzerland, to Slovakia and back to Budapest and never once had a problem with transportation or wish I had a car. I actually enjoyed it since in Europe, people actually talk to each other on public transportation and I would always meet a ton of people just randomly. Which is why, I suppose, I get kind of upset when people here won’t even return a ‘hello’ or my favorite: “howdy.” So anti-social!

It says a lot about a culture when you have large areas within your city where cars aren’t even allowed to go. It’s amazing how nice it is to be able to walk around a city and not have to cross any streets or worry about getting hit by cars. In NYC you have to cross a street every 100 feet or so. There’s a stark contrast in attitudes and it’s obvious in the construction of a city.

So I encourage everyone to just brave it and travel Europe (again if you have already). I keep telling myself I don’t have time to go back, but when will I have time? I’m still young and stupid and so now is as great a time as any to just take off like I don’t have a care in the world.

It’s been a long road and the end is not yet in sight. But the story is now able to continue today, as I received my pilot’s certificate! Actually, I should say I had it renewed, but after about 8 years of it being expired, it’s like new again. There was a lot of trouble this time in getting it, and the fact they kept shipping my papers to an old address in New Jersey didn’t help expedite the situation.

The Story so Far…

It all started when I was 15 years old starting my flight training at a little airport in New Jersey. I got my first certificate when I was 16. In Jersey, at the time, the age to get your license was 17 (now it’s 18). You can only have gotten your permit at 16, so I was soloing airplanes before I was even allowed to drive a car (even supervised driving). What sense that makes, I know it not.

I took a short break from flying after my flight instructor got a better job flying private jets. I started it up again when I moved down to Virginia to attend school at Virginia Tech for my bachelor’s degree. Virginia Tech actually has an airport on campus, so it was very convenient. However, my new flight instructor wasn’t very friendly and on a student’s salary I couldn’t afford it.

Fast-forward six years and here I am now, with a newly issued certificate and ready to pick up where I left off on my training. Except now, gas prices are 50% more than what they were and I have to train in Cessnas (which are ugly airplanes). My home airport is not the Virginia Tech airport anymore but instead it’s the New River Valley (NRV) Regional Airport (PSK), which is about 30 minutes south of Blacksburg (near the NRV Community College, if you know where that is). It might take me another 10 years to get my license, but I’ll eventually get it!

So, now on to the cross country flights and studying all my flight text books again! I should have my actual license by this time next summer if all goes well.

Keep the blue side up!

I have a little project doing and I am curious to find out a few things from people: If you moved to a country of your choice (not in North America), where would you go, why, and what are at least five things you would miss most about your country and town/city that you live in now? Or if you want, what are at least five things you’d miss about the country you’re from.

I’ll go first:

1. Family - Is seeing family 1-2 times per a year enough? That’s as much as I see my family. I need to take advantage of telecommunications technologies more (video chat, etc), but does that replace physical presence?
2. Friends - I have friends scattered all over the world already, so I know what it means to miss friends you’re close with and deal with the fact you may never see them in person again. Thank god for e-mail and Facebook!
3. Shopping - This is a bit superficial, I admit. However, when you live in a country where you can’t find your usual comfort foods from back home, for example, it adds to the stress of living abroad. For example, there’s no Hershey’s chocolate in Hungary (I know, how backwards of them!) and there’s no Túró Rudi in the U.S. (Americans don’t like cottage cheese chocolate bars?! SOO DELICIOUS!). Also, with store names like Tesco and Profi, you wonder if those can match up with the Wal-Marts and Krogers you’re use to in America.
4. Language - We all have only one mother tongue (ok, some of us have a father tongue too), but if you move to a country where they don’t speak your native language, communication (one of the most fundamental requirements of society) becomes hampered. In America, everyone expects demands you speak English. In other countries they are thrilled beyond belief if you attempt to speak their language. Think about that for a moment.
5. The little things - In the end, isn’t it all about the little things? Things such as hand gestures, street signs, restaurant etiquette, using services such as postal mail or absentee voting, and television you don’t really think about until you move abroad. Simply put, all the little things and the object they add up to.

To be honest, I really only miss #1 and #2. I see #3, #4 and #5 as differences, not necessarily bad. Just because it’s different doesn’t make it bad (contrary to the thoughts of many people of a certain nationality). I personally love differences and do all I can to meet different people, do different things, eat different foods and experience the different in life. That’s why I’ve lived/live where I have. Growing up and living in the same place is fine for some people, but I’m built a little differently.

Blacksburg has been great to me. It’s been different enough for me to keep me happy. I found a community of Hungarians (including my roommate) to hang out with. I have good friends from Germany, Italy, Iran, Turkey and a number of other countries. Only in America (in select parts) can all those nationalities be friends (and date in some instances). Think about that. How truly wonderful is that? It’s like world peace in our little piece of Virginia called Blacksburg.

If we all lived, learned and enjoyed the differences of others what would we have to hate? I know, it’s corny. But if you ever wanted to know my motivation behind anything I do, it’s to live differently and experience as much as I can.

 

My Project

So my little project is this: What is holding people back from experiencing what they really want to do in life?

I hear people say, I want a motorcycle, I want to learn to fly, I want to go sky diving, I want to go to Europe, I want to learn a foreign language, I want to… So what’s holding you back? Money isn’t the issue. You have most of your life to save up for it. You don’t have to do it right now. Make a list of things you want to do and go for it; have a plan. Besides, what’s a life without dreams?

So if you could help me out in my little project, leave a comment below with your chosen country and at least five things that’s holding you back from uprooting and moving abroad to that country. If you want to share other thoughts having to do with what I’ve mentioned above I’d love to hear them and you’d be helping me out a great deal.

Thanks! Köszi! Danke!

 

My friend from Iran just finished his PhD. To celebrate, his wife threw him a party. Looking for any reason to cook, I wanted to try a Turkish dish and bring it to the party.

The original recipe was called Stuffed Eggplants (Karniyarik, which means “split belly” in Turkish). Unfortunately it needed several tiny eggplants and here in America, there are only American eggplants, which are of course, American sized. Also, the recipe called for ground meat. I neglected to buy any and I don’t usually have any in stock anyway, so we altered the recipe.

Another friend from Iran came and helped me with it and she was a big help. It’s nice to cook with someone who actually knows what they’re doing. You can look up the recipe for Karniyarik, so I’ll provide the one we made up here. It might have a name, I can’t imagine this combination hasn’t been tried before. If not, I’d like to dub it a Turkish/Iranian/Hungarian dish.

 

Open Faced Eggplant Cutlets

2 Large American Eggplants
Mild cheddar cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese
1 White onion cubed
Parsley (fresh is best)
1 tomato, diced
1 tomato, sliced into thin half moons
Green banana peppers (one or two should do it)
Ground Pepper/Sea Salt
Olive Oil

Continue Reading »

I recorded this song just to capture some music I had in my head. It’s not meant to be a final version, but more of a “stream of thought” in terms of music (though edited). I still need to go back and gather those thoughts into a comprehensible “song” that has all those melodies and harmonies that makes music so structured, or not.

The recording goes along with its own first draft lyrics which were also created from stream of thought writing, which is inherently unstructured and mostly incomprehensible. So, you won’t get to hear the lyrics anytime soon (because I can’t sing).

This is probably as far as I’m going to go with this particular song. I just threw it together because people often ask what songs I’m playing when I play my guitar. I’m just making junk up as I go along, and this is the junk I came up with so I thought I’d share.

I hope you like it, feel free to critique it as I’m always trying to improve! Oh, and I know the timing is a bit off. I need to invest in a metronome.

I present:

Michael Ziray - Perfect is the Enemy of Great

 

Aside: The title comes from a Voltaire quote (my translation): ”Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.” The song’s lyrics are actually about a girl and knowing that perfection is the goal, but by no means the finish line.

I started this song over a year ago (March 2007?). I worked on it a bit since then but completely lost the direction I was going with it and gave up trying to make anything from it. Thus, I think it’s probably one of my worst songs. However, in the interest of finishing what I started and the fact I hate to leave things without closure, I decided just to cut it short and finish it up.

This one doesn’t contain any stock loops and is created entirely note by note in Apple’s Garage Band.

I present:

Michael Ziray - Undeserved

I hope you enjoy!

 

Ingredients:
———- 

2-3 kilo pork
2 kilo sour cabbage
3 onions
2 quarts sour cream
salt & pepper
1/2 cup Sweet Hungarian paprika

Optional:
Caraway Seeds
Bay leaves 

  Continue Reading »

Recently I bought the Garmin Edge 705 to track my training. I wanted a GPS unit that I could use running, cycling and also in my car. The 705 is slightly larger than a cellphone and is extremely light (less than a cellphone). It mounts to the handlebars of your bike or you can purchase a car kit to mount it there as well.

Continue Reading »

My roommate’s birthday was on Friday and to celebrate we threw him a party. It was also a house warming of sorts since we had just redecorated. The total cost for the project was about $800.

For the final touches (in addition to the last post), we bought two throw rugs for the kitchen and two stools for behind the bar. The crown molding was put up along, the bookshelf was put up and stocked with my favorite books and everything was simply cleaned. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to do had I not been motivated by people coming over.

Continue Reading »

So I came up with this crazy idea a few months ago that I wanted to do something that took a lot of will and was something that not a lot of people have done before. A friend of mine kayaked 500 miles down the Missouri River and while I am planning on doing that as well (or something similar), I wanted to do something a little bigger and a little more ambitious.

Continue Reading »