Maybe the reason the Roman Empire fell was that its inhabitants were just sick and tired of asking, "should this be in the dative or the accusative?" and instead said, "[expletive] it, we'll just stop …

Did I ever write about sterile tears? They remind me of the problem of symptoms. I was about to take some sterile tears in my eyes the other days. Then I thought that dry eyes …

Or perhaps, given the foci of my Russian classes lately: Verbs of Motion II: They're Back, and They're Going to Tell You How They Got Here! I went to the Hermitage for the first time …

In the past two weeks (my goodness, I've been in St. Petersburg for two weeks), I've had two dreams somehow involving Hillary Rodham Clinton. But, even though my alarm clock by my bedside ticks really …

George Orwell wrote 1984 after reading We and Brave New World. (I'm reading We right now -- or I guess I should call it Mui, since I'm reading it in Russia and it was written …

Classes here in St. Petersburg have been actual work. And I'm not just talking about homework. Every day it's exhausting to go through six hours of struggling through it all in bad Russian. At least …

I went to Tsarskeyoe Selo today. Rather fun. I find the gardens more enjoyable than the herd experience through the gilt-trip palace itself. I'm off to the LUG meeting really, really soon. More on Catholicism …

Went to the Marinskii Theater and slept through the odd-numbered acts. Good naps! And, I'm taking a course on the Russian press. Today we read an article from 1997 on "khackeri" and "freakeri" and intellectual …

Yesterday I finished reading Angela's Ashes and started reading We. Catholicism appeals to me, in the same way as I imagine it appeals to a lot of people, what with the unconditional redemption and state …

A question for the ages, asked by John, whose computer at an Internet access facility locked up. More about cafes I've been to here during my eight or nine days in St. Petersburg, and -- …