poor man

now officially in deep shit. i didn't work nearly enough hours last month, so i have a third of the cash that i need to get through the month. if i get sorted with the flash boss, that'll sort me out with another third... and i'm still in shit :(

yesterday, i went to the tax bureau on my way to the interview - i was saddened by how quickly and easily i could prove that i'm a poor student with no money. i have 0% tax until i start earning real money.

---monday:

i woke up super-early to go over the texts for our introduction to american culture class - good texts! wordy, but fun. i walked out into a rainy, cold morning wearing my ski jacket. good thing, as while we were all crammed together under the more-or-less ineffective shelter waiting for the bus there were peals of thunder and the rain came bucketing down.

the first class wasn't too bad, although their was a problem with the microphone and i began to suspect that god doesn't like us repeating winthrop's sentiments; we received a sign in the form of terrifically loud and screechy feedback..

between classes i managed to catch an italian wearing a hat for a second, and he reluctantly agreed to meet me for ten minutes. i returned to our class on shakespeare: this intro class kicks ass! afterwards, a few of us went to fight with the secretary about getting our grades back for the freudian analysis paper (it's way overdue), and a couple of us had a subdued lunch before going our separate ways.

the meeting was cool - i didn't have time to change into something "decent", but the guy (it appears) that i'll be working with seems to be the real deal. he wasn't dressed any more formally than i was and we sat talking about everything for a couple of hours. i then hit the office for a couple of hours, then met with my nemesis for beer and story-time. not only did the retelling inspire me to spend some time writing it down as an addendum to the lie behind the lie detector, but the argument turned interesting.

unfortunately, interesting isn't good when your girlfriend's waiting for you to help her with an assignment :/

---while we were at the pub, the woman from the cable company (HOT) called again, after disturbing me at dinner last week. again, 9pm. she was flabbergasted to hear that 9pm isn't a convenient time for me to be getting calls from her. is it just me who doesn't think that cursing a customer before putting the phone down on him isn't the best way to provide a service?

---today:

after a bit less than four hours' sleep, i dragged myself out of bed, walked home, shaved, showered, then did the bus to jerusalem thing. the instructions provided were easy enough to follow, and, as usual, i arrived too early.

awkward.

the day cost me a lot, in the way of lost work hours and travel and food expenses. the symposium was a lot smaller than i'd expected, too. but i'll be damned if nine of the twelve speakers weren't fascinating and full of inspirational ideas. i learned a lot, and although i was tired and my legs *really* hurt i had a great time of it. i even met a couple of interesting and highly intelligent people.

the second-last presentation was the worst, though. the guy read his entire presentation, stopping for a breath at every comma (and those were plentiful) and stopping at each period. not only did it take an eternity to get it over with, it was really tough to follow what he was saying :S

i met nystire's sister after i left, and she walked and talked me to the bus. my head was still spinning from the overload and exhaustion... i met nystire at the central station, and we chatted (mostly about civilization: me paying the station a shekel not to piss on their walls :S

the bus ride to tel aviv was quick, because i had my eyes closed for most of it. the guard at the gate had no problem with letting me in because he recognized my hat. i love my hat ^_^

wr and i were too late for the mckinsey presentation, but it turned out that one of the team leaders there to talk to potential candidates is a friend of mine... i was disappointed to discover that they only hire full-time. especially since they're on campus, and advertising for "students". dammit!

i had dinner with wr and his girlfriend at the vegan place across the road from me, and as she's a political vegan the two of us had words. loud words. i did manage to keep a civil tongue, though, and she got what i was getting at eventually. i don't care what people choose, but i do care if they don't understand the choice they've made.

i rushed home, changed, and met up with pg and her mom to join the rollerblading group. it was a fun route tonight, but i was too tired by the end of it...

pg bought me an orgasmatron! gods, they're awesome ^_^
bedtime.