I hope that all of my Chicago mates went to the tenth anniversary Critical Mass the other night. I am quite lonesome in the bike department, all I’ve got is vicarious living through flickr sets, and etc.

In other news, I made the move yesterday. Before leaving my Babushka made Pirozhki with cabbage, my favorite, and then wrote down the most detailed, most lovely Borscht instructions. I bought her a little rose plant as a parting gift, and we decided that sometime I’ll try and get some cheap student tickets to the Marinsky and we’ll go together.

I’m trying my hand at the Borscht tomorrow. The last time I made some, it turned out ok, but I didn’t make a proper Russian bullion, and I just sort of guesstimated the vegetables. It turned out way too heavy in the beet department. Per TP’s instructions I will not only make my buillon with a carrot and whole onion, but I’ll be sure not to keep the pot covered, because otherwise “all of the vitamins will fly out.”

Speaking of, someday I’ll write about the cult of home remedies and “useful” food products. I’ve heard arguments for the utility of everything from potato juice, kasha, to the obvious vodka. In the mornings with TP there was always some health program on the first or second channel accompanying my somnambulent, grouchy yogurt eating. I sort of love and hate this part of Russia. There is only so much garlic you want to stick up your nose when you’ve got an ordinary head cold.

Friday I tried to bring some friends to a “cabaret punk” concert, but something went wrong and we showed up to an empty bar. It’s still unclear what happened, whether I got the time wrong or whether the band, true gypsy-punk style, didn’t show up. Is it correct to say roma-punk? After all I learned this past year about the “gypsy” being an ethnic slur… Seems awkward though, and decidedly un-punk.

Zhenja has apparently come back to Petersburg, so hopefully these mix ups won’t be too much of a problem anymore.

The Irish/Australian regulars at City bar are quite blasted, this sunday evening. Much to the amusement/embarassment of the Russian staff and english-speaking (sober) patronage, alike. And this after all I wrote about American ex-pats being children.

Weekly moment of squalor: a guy asks Eric for the remains of his beer as we wait on a corner of Nevsky. Eric obliges, and we watch him poor it into an already half full McDonalds cup. He moves on to the other half-abandoned bottles on the street.

Autumn here is in full swing, although I suspect it’ll only last for another week or two. Strangely, as the leaves started to change en masse, the weather got warmer. It’s been 20 Celsius during the day for the last several days. Heaven. Yesterday, after the first round of moving via metro I walked around the Summer Garden (now about 10 minutes walk from my house…!), which is lovely enough in the fall to make a fellow question imperial Russian naming choices. As in Chicago, when the weather is nice here everybody is out in the street, and for the most part they were running around the city’s gardens collecting leaves and taking sassy pictures of themselves next to the sculpture. Wedding parties frequent the parks and palaces most days of the week, taking pictures and drinking champagne, but, as you might imagine, days like yesterday bring them out in droves. Imagine getting sick of seeing gorgeous brides…

On the news front, everybody here is pretty concerned about the situation in Georgia right now. My Babushka seemed to think a civil war there is imminent, and the news channels have been leading with news of the protests following the arrest of the former minister of defense. Scanning the western papers today, it doesn’t seem like quite the crisis it’s been made out to be over here, albeit still serious. The Russian response is, afterall, coming after several tense years of relations with Georgia, most recently an alleged flight and bombing by Russian aircraft near the border and increasing violence in South Ossetia.

Also, the results of the Ukrainian election tonight could be interesting. Although I don’t feel like sticking around the internet long enough to find out when they’re posted.

Finally, and keeping in the strangely determined second person style of this post, have you listened to the new Animal Collective album yet? Highly recommend it.