For Fuck's Sake - WHY!?!?!? (annoyed)

[clare]

The joke is that Norway is one of the nice countries. I very much don't want to have the counterpart of that experience somewhere where the police are not nice.

Of course I had no drugs, no whiff of drugs, no drugs-related paraphernalia, nothing of the sort. Except if you count long hair and bloodshot eyes as sure signs of marijuana use. I did appear nervous to the customs official. Of course I'm nervous. I've suffered a lot of fits of blue flu in my time, and distinctly dislike the attention of the authorities. This experience isn't going to make it any better!

I reckon it would've been a combination of your appearance and where you were arriving from.

[cold before sunrise]

Took a friend bungee jumping earlier, it was a first for us both. There's a photographer documenting the jump and she looks like a ballerina in hers. I'd like to think of myself as brave and had been excited by the thought of taking a running leap and diving face-first with arms spread... until the moment of truth. My handler on the bridge was nervous I'd grab onto him, I hopped backwards with a scream, and hugged the foam around the rope on the recoil. Believe I also cried a little. (The photos didn't turn out.) This place is crawling with so many pigs I even saw a few on the outskirts of town, 30 minutes down a bumpy road to nowhere, and they weren't there to bungee jump.

[jess]

The joke is that Norway is one of the nice countries. I very much don't want to have the counterpart of that experience somewhere where the police are not nice.

Of course I had no drugs, no whiff of drugs, no drugs-related paraphernalia, nothing of the sort. Except if you count long hair and bloodshot eyes as sure signs of marijuana use. I did appear nervous to the customs official. Of course I'm nervous. I've suffered a lot of fits of blue flu in my time, and distinctly dislike the attention of the authorities. This experience isn't going to make it any better!

I reckon it would've been a combination of your appearance and where you were arriving from.

Yeah, arriving from Amsterdam is kind of a red flag in and of itself, customs-wise. When I arrived in the US from there, a customs official came over to where our flight was picking up our bags with a drug-sniffing dog. The guy looked around, spotted me (the only 20-something year old person on the flight) and had the dog come over specifically sniff all my stuff and didn't do it to anyone else. Guess it was really good I didn't buy my then stoner boyfriend the present he wanted...

[diesel_powered]

This is why I always dress as yuppie business fuck when flying.

Not that I'm ever smuggling anything, but blending is the key to getting through security without bullshit.

[Ignatius]

I forgot that I was wearing a t shirt bearing the image of an uzi and the text "Peace through superior firepower." Didn't exactly mark me as a threat, but I sure felt like an asshole when I realized. No hassles from security, though, which is less common than otherwise for me.

[Bernard]

lost all video from the past two months -- picasa's new release just didn't import it, god knows why

>:{

[davy]

oh damn. 

[clare]

Bastards.

[davy]

If it ever comes up, a GelaSkin is a $20 sticker for your iPod. It has nothing to do with "protection."

Fuckers.

[diesel_powered]

It seems that I have contracted some manner of stomach ailment. This is why I prefer to have all my human contact through the sanitary means of the interweb.

[C of heartbreak]

somebody stole the snow shovel from my front yard and I am about ready to kill

[Bernard]

Oh boo to that -- that's like stealing somebody's lunch. Maybe worse.

[diesel_powered]

At one of the places I lived in Omaha, it was pretty much understood that anything left on the front porch would be stolen within hours. We actually got rid of a fair amount of otherwise unusable crap that way.

[silentsigh89]

we've had a bunch of days cancelled due to snow, and that was a bit of a pain.

Some classes did some online discussion things, required a few posts here and there, made sure you kept up with the reading, posted some lecture notes. Totally cool.

My russian seminar? Required me to be in front of the computer during my class time to take two tests digitally and THEN I had to complete a fifteen minute oral "exam" over the phone to make up for class today. I can't even begin to explain how much difficulty I had deciphering her russian over the phone, nor how stressful I found it to be sitting in my common room and fumbling through. A classroom discussion with all four of my classmates is one thing, but a one-on-one phone exam? Makes me want to die. 

[Bernard]

Ugh, that sounds awful, dude. A phone exam sounds pretty bad in any circumstances (a lot of people are just plain uncomfortable on the phone) but a language exam?

[C of heartbreak]

That is some total bullshit, Beth. But consider it good experience. If you ever apply for a job that requires proficiency in a foreign language, you'll probably have to do a phone interview.

[C of heartbreak]

somebody stole the snow shovel from my front yard and I am about ready to kill

Related to this and still making me angry: When I picked up my shovels at Home Depot, I brought the cart outside and asked this woman to watch my cart while I ran to get my car. She told me to put the cart right next to her car, because she'd had the contents of her cart stolen just then. WTF IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

[diesel_powered]

Were you able to find another shovel? Most of the stores here have replaced them with pool chemicals during the second week of January.

[C of heartbreak]

Yeah, they've been alternately getting shipments and selling out of snow shovels and salt. I got two, not so much because I'm expecting another one to get stolen, but they feel cheap and I'm afraid one will break.

[Ignatius]

Those extruded plastic or aluminum tube shafts do snap sometimes under a load of wet snow. Wood and those ridged pvc ones hold up best in my experience.

[C of heartbreak]

The one that got stolen was wood

My aluminum car brush, which was actually really nice, snapped in half today. I threw the broken handle across the yard in rage and now it probably won't be found until April.

[Ignatius]

Then I curse that stolen shovel with rot and premature brittleness!

[diesel_powered]

Okay, seriously, I'll trade sex for an Aeron chair. I know leaning back in office chairs is a bad habit, but I'm seriously on the verge of breaking my second shitty office chair.

[cold before sunrise]

lost all video from the past two months -- picasa's new release just didn't import it, god knows why

Heartbreaking for a new mum. You should sue.

[diesel_powered]

WHY CAN'T I FALL ASLEEP???