1. I discovered that, to my great shock, I no longer detest Sinatra. I actually preferred his music to Pitbull’s last night. That must mean I’m now very old.
2. I also discovered that I can still party until 6 am, which must mean I’m still quite young.
3. Although both N and I dance really well separately, we can’t dance together to save our lives. He constantly tries to lead! And what are the chances of that working with me? Curiously, we’ve never had any power struggles in other aspects of our lives. I mean, we’ve had tons of struggles because ours is a very intense relationship but never as to who’ll lead.
4. The New Year’s address by Ukraine’s president Poroshenko was a lot more festive and optimistic than last year’s. This is understandable given that last year he was addressing the nation (and supportive immigrants) in the midst of very intense hostilities at the front. This year, although the war with Russia is not over, there was major positive news (and visa-free travel regime with the EU! a free trade zone!) to report.
5. The Russian New Year’s concert was a lot less opulent than usual. Compared to what the Russians usually put on, this year’s show was downright beggarly. And the reason why we couldn’t watch the Ukrainian show instead is that our immigrant TV subscription service doesn’t transmit Ukrainian programming live. Which is a huge oversight.
6. I manage to buy books even in the midst of New Year’s festivities. (Thank you, the beautiful people who gave me Amazon gift cards!) Next year, I will not be doing any academic writing but I hope to get a bit of reading done instead.
7. N can’t have TV playing in the background. If there is TV on, he’ll have to watch it and won’t be able to talk. I’m the exact opposite in this and many other ways, and that makes us fascinating to each other.
8. I’ve done something to my brain that makes me no longer capable of enjoying mystery novels. I read the most recent installments by my formerly favorite Lisa Gardner and Michael Connelly (finished last night) and was hugely bored.
Happy New Year and let’s all have as much fun in 2016 as we can.
Happy New Year!
Clarissa's Blog 
\ The Russian New Year’s concert was a lot less opulent than usual.
Yes, I noticed it too and was disappointed by it.
An optimistic good RL New Year story (in Russian):
http://naiwen.livejournal.com/1357643.html#comments
At least, I see it as good because of the Jew’s fate, but haven’t understood who were мятежники. The main hero is called вчерашний крепостной, so they wouldn’t be the people who freed him. I haven’t studied much Russian history, so am confused.
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As good a place as any for this OT:
Do you remember the picture of the fight in the Ukrainian parliament that was as perfectly compsed as a painting?
Here’s another picture, of a New Years street scene in England (Manchester, I think)
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CXo0_ZsWAAAeCUm.jpg:large
There is so much going on and it’s just perfectly put together.
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“Classical style battle paintings” – I just came to think about Odd Nerdrum’s 1977 painting of the alleged murder of Andreas Baader. (I do not believe he was murdered)
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