Another long day...

Made longer by the fact that I don't want to spend tomorrow morning, before work, reviewing the translations that are due.

At any rate, I finished both documents, checked them, and sent them off a few minutes ago. And I am completely, thoroughly, enhausted.

This is not to say that several worthy subjects for LJ essays did not cross my mind during the day. They did. Unfortunately, they seem to not have much "staying power."

One item had to do with the fact that here it is, the end of the first quarter of the year, and I've not done very much to assess my progress vis a vis my New Year's affirmations. Having stated that, it's kind of hard to develop that into a theme, other than to note that any such progress will be achieved only through constant attention to the matter.

But that's not news.

News is hearing from Galina that she'll be driving to Tampa to look at a real estate deal. She should be there for about a week. I am not terribly enthusiastic about it, but am not quite sure why (i.e., is the ostensible reason - my perception of Tampa as not exactly a low-crime city - merely a rationalization for something else?).

Then again, if you play those sorts of mind games too much, your brains turn to mush and start gushing out your nose.

* * *Something LJ friend prester_scott noted in a post recalled some very old advice I received when I was a newbie on the job in Moscow: The Powers That Be expect you to break the law in some low-level way (e.g., sell your blue jeans to a black marketeer), else they will take an unhealthy interest in you.

The theory, confirmed by other sources, was that if you led a completely "legal" life and never dealt in the black market, it was as good as taking out an ad in Pravda (not that you could) that said "I am a U.S. spy!" For only a spy would have (a) the discipline and (b) a need to avoid such temptations as exchanging dollars for rubles or selling Western "paraphernalia" (blue jeans, cassette tapes, etc.). And with the KGB being as cynical as the next intelligence organization (if not more so), nobody'd actually believe you were as blameless as you actually were.

The result? Increased surveillance to catch you red-handed (pardon the pun) with the evidence. Or, if they couldn't figure out just how you were acquiring and passing on valuable state secrets, they'd arrange for someone to walk up to you and hand you something that looked like a state secret (but wasn't) and then immediately arrest you (this result actually happened, if memory serves, to a U.S. journalist).

The opposite side of the coin involved the huge no-no of getting involved too extensively in the black market. That kind of action would also have an unpleasant result.

But I've prattled on enough for the night. It's late, and sleep is something I'd sell my jeans for, right now.

Cheers...