h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi, remember me? I'm going by a new name now 'cause "Lost in Germany" didn't seem all that appropriate for someone who was back living in Ireland - Although if I think about it, part of my brain probably is still lost in Germany (or at least that's my excuse!)

Anyway, just thought I'd pop by to say hello before I run off to the library (the pure JOY of final year )

violagirl

Well, hello there.
Nice seeing you in here again. I thought you'd dropped off the earth for a while, since I hadn't heard from you in quite a while.

So, you're back in Ireland now? Not going back to Germany for another year of studies? The excuse that part of your mind is still Lost in Germany is good enough for me.

Oh well.. Just saw you leaving that message there, so I thought I'd reply.

See you around.

yeah, did kind of drop off the face of the earth for a while - access to computers was a bit of an issue for a while and thensuddenly H2G2 was gone.

Have had a really rotten day - I mean the worst possible, and I'm a little tipsy at this stage, so I'm going to go to my bed, and I'm sure I'll talk to you over the next day or so!

It's good to talk to you again

violagirl

Yeah, the sudden disappearance of the Guide was a bit surprising. To cope with withdrawal syndrome from the site, I had to go buy the book and re-read it.

Worst day possible? Ouch, that doesn't sound very good. And solving it by having a few drinks sounds like a good idea. I'm tired. I don't like getting up this early in the morning. I've done that for too long now. I need a vacation.

Anyways, I'd better go see if I've got any work waiting to be done. I'll speak to ya later.

It was the drink that added to the "worst day ever feeling"!! Strange I woke up this morning feeling fine & have been smiling all day, despite the fact that I got a rejection letter from a job I applied for.

Must have had a nice dream that cheered me up

violagirl -- who is going to do some study now - honest!!

TGIF! I'm tired and I just want this day to be over so that I can go home and go back to sleep.

Isn't it nice when you wake up the day after you've had a really rough day and it seems as if all your troubles from yesterday wasn't really that bad after all?
Did you get any studying done yesterday? I was so tired of work yesterday afternoon that I had a chat with my family, thus rendering me unavailable from the phone which meant that I couldn't work during the last 45 minutes or so of yesterday. I think I'll do that today as well. Worked pretty well yesterday.

Well, if I don't hear from you before the end of the day, I wish that you'll have a happy weekend.
See you on the other side.

Weekend? What weekend??!! Well, that's not strictly true - even though I did spend ages studying on Sunday it was with the hangover from hell that I earned on Saturday night (best friend's 21st birthday - we made punch, need I say more??)

And I got all my hair cut off - it was half way down my back and now it's short short short.

Actually, come to think of it - I had a rather cool weekend Of course that's gone now, so I've got to head for the library once again

violagirl (who should at some stage actually pick up her viola and play it )

Sorry to hear about the hangover resulting from that birthday party. Say a belated Happy B-day to your friend for me, will ya?

I have to say that the weekend passed fairly quickly this time round, as has the first half of the week. I can hardly believe it's wednesday already today. Wel, it could have with the fact that I've started training some american football, and both monday and tuesday was filled with so much residual pain from sunday practice, that I just blocked them out.

Anyways, we're already halfway on our way of getting to the weekend.

ok, let me get this straight - training? You mean voluntary exercise, rather than having to run for a bus?! Fair enought!

Am trying to avoid as much of the whole exercise thing as possible - at least until the summer. I don't believe in exercise in the rain But then, saying that, it's nearly time for the sailing season to start again, and I'll be back in my little boat soon enought, I suppose that counts as exercise, but don't tell anyone I said so!!

Today is going to be one LONG day. Lectures and study all day and then German conversation group at 8.00pm. It'll be midnight before I get home. And another early morning tomorrow (why did I let myself in for it all??)

Anything nice planned for the weekend?

Yes, voluntary exercise sessions. Twice a week, for about 2-3 hours each session. Good fun, though. And since I basically haven't done any exercising whatsoever since I moved here, I'm almost dying each and every training session so far (both of them). I'm a bit sore from last night's training session. Didn't get home until about 11pm last night.

I would say that sailing could classify as exercise. I mean, you have to skip about in the boat to keep it upright, don't you, to maximise the use of the sails.

You seem to have a really nasty day ahead of you. I've only got work today, and then I'll probably go home and go to sleep for a while.

The only thing I've got planned for the weekend is another training session on saturday. 1pm-4pm or thereabouts. That would probably mean that I'm spending most of sunday feeling sorry for myself, wondering why the hell I decided to take up american football practice.

skipped the conversation group thing last night! My flatmate from last year was going to go with me, but she had been out on the tear on Tuesday night and went straight home after our 1pm lecture yesterday and there was NO way I was going to that group on my own!

Yeah, sailing does involve lots of jumping about, but it's only a little boat, so that's not much exercise - it's the slipping your feet under a little rope and leaning out the side to balance the boat that is good for you (so I'm told). It's kinda fun too Although the thoughts of getting into the freezing cold sea, even with my wetsuit on, don't exactly appeal to me at the moment!

True.. The prospect of going to test the temperature in the Atlantic by going swimming doesn't really appeal to me at this time of year either.

I had Japanese class yesterday. I was so tired that I didn't thik I was going to stay awake through it all before I went up there, and when I got up there, I found that I was the only one there. That was pretty fun, though. Got to learn some phrases and stuff that you normally don't go through in bigger classes.
And I really should go home and just go to sleep tonight, because I'm dead tired, but I know that I'll probably be up until around midnight anyways... It really sucks. I'm going to be dead tomorrow... *sigh*

Japanese - cool!! I just found out that I've been offered a job in Japan next year - for definite (up to now I was confident but not too sure!). I don't know if I'm going to take it or not - I've basically got to wait to see how another interview goes for a job that I want more than the Japanese one.

So I'm all cheery and happy this morning (don't worry, it'll all change as soon as I get into the library!)


-- violagirl

You were offered a job in Japan? Cool. Doing what?
The Japanese class I'm attending isn't really serious or anything. It was part of an initiative to get people interested in other languages and stuff. And since I've been pretty fascinated with Samurais and Japanese Feudal history and culture since I saw Shogun (tv-series with Richard Chamberlain) about a decade ago, I jumped to the opportunity to learn a bit more Japanese.

Good to hear that you're feeling cheerie today. Myself, I'm trying to convince myself that I don't have a cold, while aching pretty much everywhere from practice last night. Thank goodness that I've got friday and monday off because of Easter weekend, this weekend...

- crawling out of library and realising that there is still life out there! --

Morning!

I've been such a busy girl over the past week or so. Easter is always hectic, and that's before you start adding study and exams and interviews and .. and ...


I'm going to be teaching in Japan. I don't know where yet, because I think they wait until the acceptances are in before assigning postings. So basically I could end up in the back end of nowhere! I have to say I'm quite nervous about the whole thing. Germany was different - it's not so far away, it was easy to come back, and I spoke the language. Japan will be a challenge.

Well, back off to my little hole in the library, only to come out again when it's dark.

No weekend plans for little ol' me - books, books and more books

Good to see you survived Easter. This year, Easter was sooo nice and quiet, almost on the virge of boring. With no money, it's not easy to do a lot of fun stuff.

This weekend will be different, though. As I am an American Football fan, I'll be in heaven this weekend. European League starts this weekend. Going to Hampden tomorrow (Saturday) to watch the SCottish Claymores take on Frankfurt Galaxy. Going to be great.
Then on Sunday, I'm going to go to Football practice myself. And the rest of Sunday, I'll probably be slumped in front of the TV, trying to figure out where it hurts the most.

Pay day on Tuesday.

Pay day ... as in being given money?? Wow!! Not something I'm used to these days. Not a happy person today. I have to get a medical done for this job in Japan which is gonna cost £40 - so no drinking for me this weekend. God I can't wait to finish college!!

OKay, let me get this straight.. You were more or less offered a job in Japan, yes? And still you have to pay for the medical yourself? Isn't that a bit weird? Are you going to have to pay for the air fare over to Japan as well?
I'm sorry, it just seems a bit weird, that's all.

Today is pay daay. Woo hoo! At last I get to have some money to do stuff with.

Speaking of money, BTW, I think the banking here in Scotland is a bit strange. I deposited a cheque for £45 last saturday (17th) which I thought would take about three to four days to clear, giving me access to it this past weekend. When I checked my statement on saturday (24th) it said that I had gotten the money into my account, which I thought was good. That way, a payment that I knew I needed that £45 for, would go through. Unfortunately, the bank has a policy of showing the amount on it's way in from a cheque that has not yet cleared on the statement as available on the account, even though it's not available to use. This cause the payment I was supposed to do yeaterday to bounce, and me getting a phone call from the company that wanted the money.
Is it just me, or is that just really really stupid as well? Showing on a statement that you have money on the account that you cannot touch? It wasn't even listed as Pending! If it had been listed as Pending, I would have accepted it, but it said that it was already in my account! Gaah!! This is NOT a good week!

Sorry for unloading all this on you.. Had to tell someone.

poor you! I am not a fan of banks and cheques, they do the exact same thing over here. Also when I was away, it took longer for the transaction to be noted on my account, so once I took out money in Germany to pay for a train ticket to the airport. When I got home, my account balance was over a hundred pounds. So, I thought, great that's me covered for the next week or so until I get a job. Two days later when I go to take money out, I'm told there's nothing there. It had taken them nearly a week to note the fact that I'd taken money out in Germany!!

There has got to be an easier way!!

They pay for the flights over and back, but not the medical. I figure that as there are about 6,000 people taking part in the scheme from all over the world, refunding medical fees would just be too difficult. They also probably figure they are paying us enough over the year.

I got the medical done cheaply in the student health centre though, so it was ok. Have to go now and get the blood test part of it done. Had to be fasting, and since I've been up for nearly 3 hours now, with no food I am very very hungry

Banks are evil and must be punished. I can't understand how they can mess things up as much as they do. One of my colleagues got an extra 100 pounds on his account by mistake (the bank's fault) and since he thought that the amount of money he had on the account was correct, he thought he was covered. Then, when he tried to withdraw money, he was told that there was no money on the account, and the bank staff didn't know why. A couple of days later, he got a letter from the bank telling him about their mistake and that they had taken the money again and hoped that it "hadn't caused any inconvenience". He was not a happy puppy....

I guess if you had to choose between paying for the air fare to Japan, or paying for the medical, you'd be more inclined to choose to pay for the medical. And if you can find somewhere that can do it cheaply (like you did) it's not that bad.

Well, I hope you had a good weekend. Talk to you soon.