From 10:30 AM until 3:20 PM, I tested people and did office stuff frantically. You've never lived until you've had multiple people who you rescheduled with come in unexpectedly when you already have lab members engaged in the task. Working that around was fun, not too terribly painful.

At 3:30 PM, I did my best imitation of a bat straight out of hell and flew to my apartment to meet the moving guys from Mailboxes etc. at 4:00PM. In my rush to move through the turnstile at the public transit station, I forgot that you need to put in a coin..then I remembered that you need to go slowly through such things, for that is what they are there for. Hopping on one foot and subsequently feeling my package to be in imminent danger, I rushed down to catch the train, knew that the balls were intact, and breathed a soft sigh of relief.

My breath was later taken away when my shipping costs totalled over 450 dollars. Now, I had paid less than half that with the same company 3 months prior...and I can't adequately put into words how insufferably depressing it is to be put back even more.

My refund checks still haven't come through, but I have enough to live. Again, how I will start to pay back my family and afford my incredibly badly timed jaunt to Europe is beyond me. I actually thought I could peruse the lifestyle of a social class that was higher than the one I was used to. Having been smacked down by the vicious hand of realism, I subsequently wonder why in the hell one even bothers in the first place. This is a passing whim, however, soon to be replaced by low-grade annoyance as I go off to the library to make a last run on copying journals for my supervisors. Sure they say that if I can't, it's not worry at all, but I very well know how the English language works in the business environment.

But there is a bright side to all of this: it will be over soon..and hey, at least all I have to do now is pack, take care of more subjects, and get a taxi reserved...in some obscure way I guess making copies is sortof my downtime. Oh yeah, and I have to make a 20 minute presentation, but that'll be a snap ("science people" are allowed to be "quirky," which includes Mobi snippets at inappropriate times, pictures of alcoholic beverages to explain spatial reasoning, and bad puns.)

So all in all, the price of moving sucked, not sure what to do about finances, but there is a bright side...and the balls are intact.

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