the time machine

this last wednesday i had a blast from the past, so to speak. recently my friend anya, who i hadn't seen or spoken to in over a decade, got in touch with me through a mutual friend. we started writing each other a lot, and so when i came to st. pete on this not-so-fun vacation we decided to meet up. another friend from the old north st. pete calvary, seriosha, had wanted to meet up as well, so we decided to all hang out together.

i took the bus into st. pete pretty early, because i'd wanted to go to the russian state musuem first. art museums usually bore me (ironic, eh?) but the russian musuem has a collection of ilya repin's work, and he's one of my favorite artists ever. i walked in and bought my ticket, excited to be there alone, and even more excited that the lady thought i was russian and gave me the cheap ticket. ha. i put my earphones in, selected "DeVotchka" just for the extra irony, and meandered through the huge musuem to my hearts content. i got lost a few times. had to sit down for awhile cause i'm bizarrely weak after my illness. but it was great.

then i ran up to the metro stop where we were supposed to be meeting. seriosha was already there; i gave him a huge hug i was so glad to see a friend. we stood there talking for about fifteen minutes until anya showed up. both of us were wondering what she looked like since we hadn't seen her in so long, and if we would recognize her, but we needn't have bothered. she looked exactly the same as i remembered. we set off to go find a chinese restaurant that seriosha liked, talking and laughing the whole way. it was so weird, and so cool, to be walking along the streets of st. pete with old friends. i mean, we all met when we were like 14-16 years old, and now here we are so many years later, and it feels like no time has passed at all.

we found the restaurant, and sat there forever eating and talking and taking pictures. it was seriosha's birthday, so afterwards we decided to go walk to the aquarium and check it out. of course, i'd been there with the kids already, but i didn't mind going again. we wandered around the aquarium for awhile, then afterwards it was already late so we had to go our separate ways. seriosha was being very chivalrous and concerned on my behalf and walked me to my bus stop, making sure i got safely on board. it's a dangerous world apparently.

after the whole exciting and overwhelming day, i crashed pretty early, and was instantly asleep. i swear, this whole trip is turning me narcoleptic. i just sleep wherever i fall lately. but this night i slept the sleep of the very content; it was so nice to see friends again!