The fact is that Alexei and I really don't have that much in common, on the surface -- which makes my profound attachment to him all the more important. After a long, horrible day in the gravel pit, I can crawl into his beneficent aura and start flourishing like a young vine under the Gro-Lite. I get tall and green again. There're traditions of people who get a kind of deification simply for being truly kind, sweet, fun (like some of the Taoist immortals): Alexei will most certainly be visited soon by the cinnabar dragons seeing to this matter. His halo will be pink edged with blue, and will generate pleasing sounds akin to someone noodling on the lower registers of a Wurlitzer. If I were you, I'd light incense to him now and avoid the rush.