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my roommate was meeting up with a friend in the afternoon to do some boston sightseeing and then having a lobster dinner in quincy. i brought him to the community garden in the morning so he could check out what americans grow in their spare time. soon after he left, i went down the street to a my russian neighbor victor's barbecue. even though victor has lived in the area for more than a decade, i've only just met him a few weeks ago when we were chatting about motorcycles. his apartment is actually hidden from street view, along with an expansive backyard. they set up a fire pit and were grilling shish-kabobs and corn. most of his friends were russian, but it was an eclectic mix, and many had either harvard or MIT connections. there was an old russian jewish mathematician, a russian speaking muslim, an armenian, a somerville townie (who used to break legs for a loan shark), a former BHS graduate (class of 1978), a french woman who also spoke hebrew, a scooter-riding spiritualist who believed in cosmic energy martial arts and conspiracy theories, a high school aged theatre geek, victor's two young adult children, and an israeli girl from the ukraine who spoke only russian and hebrew. she must've been the "looker" ed was talking about a few days ago (i regret not having my camera with me). a smoldering beauty (like some exotic bond girl), she naturally pouted when bored (which was often, since we spoke english most of the time), and spent a month in israeli military prison before coming to the US with her mother (never found out why). i brought my own soda drink because i didn't want to impose, but ended up eating a lot of their food and drinking a lot of their drinks. once all the girls left, it was watermelon for dessert and smokes all around.

i had a craving for chicken wings and picked some up from wing works for dinner. despite the fact that i only got 9 pieces when it should've been 10, by the time i finished i felt like puking. it'll be a long time before i eat wings again.