Homework

Interior of the Church on Spilled Blood
St Petersburg, Russia, November 2004

I just finished typing up my notes from last week's Russian class. My head is swimming a bit. It involves switching my keyboard back and forth between US English layout and a phonetic Russian layout and remembering which key is which.

Why are you taking this class?
Почему вы выбрали етот класс?

I want to continue [learning] the Russian language.
Я хочу продолжать русский язык.

Or, alternatively, because I'm nuts.

Perhaps the more appropriate illustration is Ilya Repin's painting of the barge haulers:

One needs to see the original in the Russian Museum in Petersburg. A stunning, devastating work depicting the toll of the most grueling, menial labor. Heartbreaking.

OK, so that was a pretentious analogy and utterly unworthy of me. The painting depicts their lives and I am only writing about two hours while sitting comfortably in my home.

It's the week of bad illustrations, after there was a newspaper article whining about the difficulty of living on $500,000 a year in New York City. Excuuuuuse me? You're looking for sympathy?

Realized I still have homework to do before 6:30 p.m. tomorrow evening, using cases I have not yet learned. Oh boy! I know what I will be doing on my lunch hour. Better pack frozen leftovers so I don't waste time walking to Twisters for a burrito.

Oh yes, I am a notorious procrastinator.
--the BB