Знаю я, ты помнишь обо мне

I have successfully tracked down a song I heard in Ukraine in 1993, and this is such a feat that I am in awe of my own prowess. Since I don't speak Russian or Ukrainian and yet have a memory for syllables, this song and whatever I remembered of it has haunted me since those early days in Ukraine when we sat in the basement at Viktor's restaurant, eating beefsteak (which was pork) or chickens that had starved to death, finishing up with ice cream out of the finger bowls that we had just used to wash dill off our hands, and listening to a v. earnest band that was trying to entertain us. But the song is "Странник мой", and the lines I remember apparently translate into "My wanderer, my baby / You are not sleeping at this hour. / I know you remember me." This feels like what Taylor Swift would sing if she were Russian, so this checks out.

sssanyway. Ukraine is heavy in my thoughts, and it has moved a bit into my actual day job, which makes it both inescapable and also feels good-ish that I'm not just ignoring it during the day. Today was a long day, since I had a lot of work to do. But I skipped out at 4:30 to get my hair cut, and it was long overdue - I think I got my hair cut sometime during the Delta wave, if that tells you anything, and I've been trimming my own bangs since then. Unfortunately, I think that my bout with covid in January has caused some hair impacts - I feel like I'm losing more strands than usual, and my hair is tangling more frequently. This is a defcon 1 situation (yes, more important than Ukraine) because I'm incredibly vain about my hair and feel that its sleek texture and perfect chocolatey brown color with infinitely interesting red/blonde/white strands means that I am blessed by God (you may think I'm joking, but seriously, my hair is a blessing, and my storytelling ability / people skills / empathy / strategic thinking are all secondary).

So, I got a haircut and added a moisture treatment, and it feels great. I also let the woman upsell me on waxing my eyebrows, which I am not vain about because they look like my granddad's (see: why I have bangs). But I was her last client and she didn't want to go home, so now I look slightly more presentable.

Then, I met up with Sarah-Frances at FNG, which is a block and a half from me ([censored] and I had tater tots there) - it recently reopened with an up-leveled menu, and it was a delight. My hair or my personality scored us a free old fashioned, as per my old skill level at bars, and then we had a super tasty dinner. All in all, it was great to see SF and great to know that the bar closest to my house is a contender for top hangout in the aftertimes.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!