2012-03-04 Must Love Snow

I have been derailed recently. Let me bring this back to why most of you read this. Not to hear my incessant rants but more about my semesters in Russia. In order to not be distracted I think I will go with a bullet point format.

• Happy Birthday Zoe. Sweet 16 eh?
• It stopped snowing, it took about two weeks. It was nice to commute through the snow. Too nice really.
• It is sunny! How strange.
• The elections are today, I have been told to avoid the demonstration/voting areas.
• 2 guys dressed in white ‘Clockwork Orange’ outfits burst onto the metro playing accordions. It was a very strange event. They were not playing for money, simply playing for the sake of playing. I enjoyed it.
• I have tickets to the Zenit - Kuban game next Sunday.
• On the topic of derailing, a tram along the tracks I take home was derailed due to excessive ice. Don’t worry. They only travel at about 20 km per hour. No one was hurt. It delayed my commute by at least half an hour. 
• Saw the Pushkin museum, which was in his old apartment. Not too thrilling. To be honest I think he is overrated. But to be fair his poetry was meant to be read in Russian, something I am not capable of doing.
• There’s an old Lada that is beaten to heck, buried in snow and its alarms just go off for days on end. It has been going on for weeks, the battery seems to be slowly dying as it is not loud, but you can hear it on street level.
• Did you know Russians do not count Europe and Russia as two different continents?
• Watch BBC’s Sherlock Holmes. It is pretty darn good.
• I am cooking and eating more. I get to eat with the family, and Yelena cooks a full meal which has been good for me, and when I go see my friends I cook with them and I am getting much better.
• Title of this entry is in homage to John Cusack of course!

New albums that have been on my commuting playlist:

• Nathaniel Rateliff’s 'In Memory of Loss’
• Girl Named Toby’s 'We Are’
• fun. 'Some Nights’
• M. Ward’s 'Post-War’
• Paul Simon’s 'There Goes Rhymin’ Simon’
• Bob Dylan’s 'Planet Waves’
• Loudon Wainwright III’s 'Attempted Mustache’

Books… 

• Just finished Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday and Cannery Row. Onto Pushkin’s Evgeny Onegin, and after I hope I can start Dr. Zhivago.