Kicking it at the Shitdisco

As I lay asleep last Thursday morning an arrant sunbeam crept into my room, hunting like a fox across my bed and finishing with a pounce right on top of my nose. It tickled with its warmth like a naughty French maid. "The very first ray of sun since I arrived in Moscow!" I exclaimed to myself in a less stunted, more feeling fashion. Delight unfolded on my face and soon the sun was not the only thing beaming. I sprang from my bed and with a flourish drew back the blinds to look down from my 14th floor shared residence onto the marvel of human ingenuity below; the smoke stacks gleamed radiant, powered by the sweat of the idyllic Soviet factory worker, while the morning train chugga-chugga-choo-chooed blissfully under the sun, hauling in this day's rations of bread and water.

Ok, so I don't have the best view from my balcony, but I think you'll agree it's better in the sun than in the capitalist pig dog cloud that is the usual character of father winter's loving embrace around here.

I've lived in cold places before, and in fact I've even chided people for expecting it to be warm on a winter day just because it's sunny, yet I couldn't help but fall into the same trap myself. Like the tourist I am I put on a sweatshirt and hat, grabbed my camera, but skipped the coat as I bounded outside hoping to capture some images of my daily commute on a day that would make it seem unrealistically pleasant when I reflect back on this time in my later years.



This is where I live. During war drills the walls fold down to reveal a missile silo.

This is the metro station I get off at on my way to school. I chose to photograph this one, because unlike the metro station near my apartment, this one does not look like a piece of shit. If you'll notice, everyone else wore a coat; you know, for the freezing cold.

The area in which the Independent University of Moscow is located is actually very beautiful. Specifically I've captured for you (or more specifically, the little man inside my camera who uses MS Paint and a Wacom tablet to draw what he sees has captured for you) a nice walking street and a large building.

This picture doesn't really do justice to the epic proportions of this building. It's one of seven all-alike around Moscow, I think they were built in the Soviet era for some sort of government function - I don't know, ask someone who speaks Russian. Architecturally quite baller though.

I had intended to continue my photojourney all the way to the university, but my camera slurped the last out of its two double-A juiceboxes as I took this photo, so go back and appreciate it twice because it's all you're getting for now.

Some additional Miscellani, in kids-love-it-Mom-approved bulleted format:

• Ordering food here is a lot like an episode of Arrested Development. I think this video I don't understand puts it best. (Thanks to Val for the video.)
• Soviet-era Sci-fi. At last, a genre that truly speaks to me. I could describe it, but I think it's really better if you just set aside an hour to watch Bolshoe Kosmicheskoe Puteshestvie (or, Big Space Journey). If you don't have the time, just think: Red Space Camp.