Lapses in Judgement

Because of the break, my sense of time and scheduling was a little messed up. Thus, I had (and still have) been missing a lot of basketball practices. Power forward and muzhik, Vovan calls me up to belatedly celebrate both the New Year, his birthday and general lack of hanging out. I, bearing The Godfather w/ Russian subtitles and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (thanks, Mom), meet him and another player on the street, and I don't really remember a whole lot afterward (sorry, Mom).

The next morning I wake up to my door buzzer and the hum of two women discussing whether anyone is home. The ladies want money to give the guy who is going to install the new door lock to the apartment building. They're also surprised and pleased that I didn't make an attempt to clothe myself. I can't really think so I reach into my coat and hand them whatever bills I have. They take 100 rubles and, giggling, stuff the rest into my underwear. I lay on the couch sleeping or reading most of the day.

Night falls and I still feel terrible, so I gather my strength for the 200 meter walk to the grocery store for a beer and M&Ms. I'm pleased to see that though the smell in my stairwell lingers, the source of the smell seems to be gone. As soon as I close the door behind me I try the combination, the old combination, and it doesn't work. I'm not distraught at this point. I get my beer and candy. Returning to my door, I try the combination again and it still refuses to work. By this time, it's roughly 10:30 on a Wednesday night and no one comes after 20 minutes. No one is going to come either for the next hour and a half, or longer for all I know. It's -15 degrees celsius. I'm wearing really thin, canvas, 200-ruble shoes and no socks. Or gloves. Or a hat. So, I resort to my romantic comedy education and start throwing peanut M&Ms at 2nd story windows, concentrating on those with their lights on. After a few successful shots at one of these windows, it opens and a little girl in her pyjamas pops her head out: "What do you want?" "Open the door. I live here." "What?" "Little girl, give me the code, please, it's freezing. I forgot to wear socks." "Try 140...or 150." "No good. Can you open the door yourself?" Little girl goes inside for a couple minutes and then returns, "No, I'm alone. Good night." I suppose that was a smart move on her part but I don't understand why she had to go inside to make that decision if she was alone. The door code is a three number combination where no number is repeated. This means that the first number can be one of ten, the second one of nine, and the third one of eight. Thus, there are only 720 combinations. I did this calculation as I warmed my hands before trying every combination until I got the right one, a little more than halfway through the possibilities. This calculation is wrong now that I think about it. There are less. It was cold, sue me.