i met a new boy who speaks russian. he's from ukraine (or is it The Ukraine?) during our conversation i said, "i feel like this should give me some street cred; i've read a ton of russian novels."

he reacted exactly the way any sensible person would to such a senseless comment. he asked where he could get books in russian. i told him, no, i didn't actually READ them in russian, they were just russian, translated. he looked even less impressed.

i did, however resist the urge to tell him that i had a big soviet propaganda phase a few years ago. so that's good.