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

Well, I do have a bike, so I could use that. The problem with that is that if I use my bike, I'd have to get up about half an hour earlier, just to be at work on time every morning. And I hate getting up in the morning. Besides, I'm not sure if it's working properly. I bought it off a colleague of mine that moved in to Glasgow, and he didn't have anywhere to put it, so I thought it would beb a good thing to get some exercise and stuff. Bad thing was that it has a flat tyre right now, and I don't have the time or the tools to fix it. And since I don't have any money, I can't buy the tools needed to fix it, which means I can't ride the bike anyways.

I think I'll do nicely this month, even though I don't have any money. As long as there's stuff in the ccupboards, I won't starve. And I won't starve anyways... As long as I have lunch at work each day, I'll be fine.

Your boss seems really lame. Why not open the place if it's reasonably warm and it's not raining? Who cares if there's any sun?

I think that if I'd go for a weekly paid job, I'd most likely go for some sort of a delivery kind of job. Maybe the Chinese Take-away restaurant downstairs from where I live needs a delivery guy...? Who knows? Oh well.. I'll manage.. I've got pasta, rice, canned tomatoes and onions at home, so I'll be fine. I think I can harrass my roommate into lending me some money tiil next pay day.

pasta, rice, canned tomatoes and onions?? Why that's a feast!!!

In deed it is.. And since my grand mother used to work in a school kitchen, I have learned that one always need to have a lot of spices and flour and stuff, so I can always throw something together. And if all else fails, I'll just have to start emptying the liquor storage. At least then, I won't care that I don't have any money.

I certainly agree with the spices thing - it makes even the cheapest pasta and tomato mixture into something edible. My best friend here is so obsessed with her herbs and spices that she had over triple the allowed weight on the plane coming over here - she just couldn't leave home without her spices!!

I'm being really good on the alcohol front at the moment (well, since Friday anyway). I've got to try to get some of this alcohol out of my system - only problem is that the going away parties are going to start really soon - I suppose if I really wanted to be healthy I could offer to be the one making sure everyone else gets home - although we don't really need that here (someone is usually conscious enough to get the name of ONE student res out - and we all crash there!)

She had triple the allowed weight just because of her spices? That's alot of spices. ONe of the people that came over here at the same time as I did last year had about 40 kilos over the limit, just because of her clothes. Then, when she left in april this year, she had 65 kilos over the limit. Somehow, I doubt that she had heard of the new invention, called "Air Mail". When I came here, I had about a week and a half's worth of clothes, and then I had found a place to stay, so my folks could pack stuf and send over to me. That's worked out great so far.

Going away parties can be lethal. That's where I had that damned tequila race about a month ago. I did not feel good the day after that, I can tell you. I was just lucky that my roommate wasn't home that day, or I would have probably bit hhis head off if he had as much as tried talking to me.
The notion of crashing at someones place because noone can afford to go home, or can't remember where they live happens alot here. Especially those who come over here and see this as a loong vacation trip to another country usually has difficulties finding their way home during the weekends.

I have to admit that I was nearly as bad with the clothes! I was about 30kg over the limit (boy did I pay for that!!) - although a lot of it was college books (I hadn't realised that it's kind of cheaper to send books by post).
Considering that I have collected so much STUFF (I can't think of a more accurate description) I'm dreading what it's going to be like going home. My friend who went home on Saturday was charged 40DM for being above the limit - I think I should keep a few hundred Marks just in case!

Watched TV for the first time in months yesterday - I finally found a time when the TV room next to the student res was empty - so I watched trash until after midnight - bliss!!

I'm not sure how much it costs to send stuff through air mail from Germany, but I know that a colleague of mine (another one) found it to be a whole lot cheaper to just pack everything up in crates and ship it home through the mail instead of bringing it on the plane. The other colleague, the one with the "over-the-limit" packing didn't have to pay anything for it. They just told her that it was over the limit, and that she was supposed to pay for it, but if she promised she'd think about it next time, she didn't have to. I don't know how, or why, they decided not to fine her for it, but she did the same thing twice, and got away with it.

When I went to school about three or four years ago, there was a whole gang of us that never went to bed before 1 am. We stayed up and watched tv, talked, played pool and ate (we came back from the class room at 10.30, so we had to start cooking when we came back or we'd starve) until the wee hours every night. And during weekends, we rarely went to bed before 3am, because we didn't feel like it. That was bliss. I can't say that we did learn very much, but it was fun.

only coming back from class at 10.30!! What sort of slave drivers for teachers had you??

4th of July meant the pub was jammed with Americans last night, but they all went home by 1am! (obviously not hanging around with us Irish long enough ). But it was a VERY interesting evening.

Well, we didn't come back from the class room until 10:30, but that was more self inflicted than anything else. Classes ended at 4pm, but the class room was the only place on the school premises where we could hook up to the Net, so we stayed there as late as we could each evening, and that was 10:30pm. So our teachers didn't have anything to do with it.

I was out with my roommate and a couple others last night. I said I didn't have any money to go out, but my roommate wanted me to come along so I got to borrow some money from her so I went out anyways. Then our unruly colleague that didn't have to go to work today didn't feel like leaving, so I haven't had very much sleep tonight. And being tired with a trace of a hangover from the drinks from the night before isn't a very good combination when you're going to work... BUt I managed to stay awake during the morning, so I guess I'll manage til I get home after work...

Once you´ve made the morning, it gets easier, becuase then you start counting down until you can actually get home.

Big party tonight - or that´s the plan, and you know what happens when you plan something to be a big party - it dies! Already one of the guys has pulled out and my flatmate from last semester is talking about having to get up for work in the morning. I may have to tie her up and drag her kicking and screaming!!

I´m working at four and I can´t decide whether to stay at the computers or spend an hour doing irritating paperwork. I think paperwork can wait til tomorrow! (It´s always such fun with a hangover!

You're absolutely right. ONce the morning has pased and you've had a couple of shots of caffeine into your system, it usually gets a whole lot easier. Problem is when you actually get home after work is done and you don't have anything particularly interesting to occupy your mind with (not that I'm saying that work is particularly interesting, though).

Hmmm, I do know what you mean about the big parties. About a month ago, we (well, I did) tried to think of something where all the Swedes here in Greenock would come together for a gathering, and decided, since the weather was good at the time, to go for a barbecue. Just very informal, everyone brought whatever they wanted to eat and then we could just chill out. Well, Invitations were sent out, and a bunch of replies came back that people would come. The day of the barbecue, there was me at the site of the barbecue and noone else. "Oh, joy", I thought and went home again, thinking that it's no use trying ot get something together, cause noone'll come anyways when you try tocome up with something. And then there are people that never come to anything organised that complain that nothing ever gets organised. Happy days...

Oh well. I guess that's the way it goes.

Try having something like that happen when you are trying to celebrate your birthday!! 19th birthday party in our local pub - and only three people showed - my best mate didn't show. it's ok revenge was had

Birthday parties? Never really had any good birthday parties for myself. Main reason for that is probably that my older brother's birthday is the day before mine, so he got the birthday parties with his friends, and I got the birthday parties where our relatives came to visit. And it was always like that. And if he didn't have any friends over for his birthday, the relatives came on his birthday and celebrated my birthday as well. You can't imagine how fun it is to always get your birthday presents a day in advance, and never on your real birthday.
Last birthday was spent in front of the tv, watching a rented movie and eating Chinese take-away. A rather successful birthday, I must say.

What was the revenge, then? You got me curious.

The revenge kind of happened without me having to do anything about it. One of the girls who was at the party was so furious with my mate that she told the girls mother! Normally that wouldn´t be a problem, but for some reason my best friend´s Mum adores me, so she went mad at her daughter and she wasn´t allowed go to some big party the following week.

Now I know that it doesn´t seem like much of revenge - but if you knew this girl, you´d realise that having to stay in on a Friday night is probably the ultimate torture!

This year´s birthday was MUCH better. My friends organised everything and when I came home from an exam they were already drinking. I got sent to get ready, and then was made sit down with a glass of wine as they did my hair and make up! And the night just got better.

I can imagine the torture she thought she got. I've had a few colleagues like that in my days. Keep them in on a friday night, and they go berzerk.

I would suspect that this year's birthday will be a bit more festive. After all.. On that day, it was a quarter of a century since I was born, and those birthdays usually get pretty big.

Yep, it's the milestone birthdays that are always good. I even got TWO 21st parties (one when I was at home at Easter and one here the day of my birthday) - I can't decide which was best (although I remember a lot more of the one at home )

I have to say that between 20 and 25 there isn't much fuss about the birthdays, cause they aren't any milestone birthdays. At the age of 20, the last obstacle between you and your uninhibited alcohol consumption is eliminated, and after that, you don't really have anything more to celebrate until your 25th birthday.
At 15, you get to start driving motorised vehicles, such as mopeds up to 50 cc engines, at 16, you get to drive motorcycles from 50 - 125 cc engines, and start driving cars under supervision. At 18, you get to take your drivers licence test for motorcycles over 125 cc engines and for cars and you're allowed to vote and are generally considered an adult (strictly legally speaking, that is ) but even though you get to vote and all that, you still can't buy liquor for domestic use. You can go out, to a pub and get really pissed, but you can't buy your own alcoholic beverages for use in your own home until you're 20. That is, as I said before, the last obstacle between yourself and uninhibited alcohol consumption.

20?? That's unfortunate! For us it's 18, whether you are in a pub or buying at an off-licence. Of course there are all those annoying pubs that only let you in if you are over 21 (trying to keep as many rowdy students out as possible!)

We have those too. Usually, the night clubs and pubs in Sweden has either a 21, 23 or a 25 year limit, where it's different limits for different genders. So, it can be a 25/23-night, where women over 23 gets in, but the guys have to be 25, and the same with 21/18, or 23/21. And that kinda sucks, if you're a whole crowd of people around the same age (let's say 22) that are going out at night, the girls in that group would be allowed entrance in a 23/21 club, but not the guys. And how much fun would it be for the girls of that crowd to go to a 18/21-club with a heap of "young'uns" just cause their male friends can't get in anywhere else???

That´s a kind of interesting idea - letting girls in younger. Never heard of it before.

I´m out of here on Monday morning (a week earlier than planned). I decided that I´d go home early and surprise my parents - so if I´m not around for a while it´s because I gave my poor mother a heart attack!