bureaucracy.

Today was horribly bureaucratic.

Here are the things I got accomplished:

1. I got taken/printed out passport photos.
2. I sent in my Jaipur confirmation materials, sans $400 deposit.
3. I deposited my check.
4. I picked up/paid for my contacts. (These last two hardly seem like "accomplishments", until you realize how unwilling I am to run boring, essential errands.)
5. I bought two books--"The Bloodless Revolution" (vegetarianism philosophy/history book [with pretty cover!] to help with ENST final [12-15page?!] paper), and Beginner's Urdu Script, because my Hindi prof believes that learning the Urdu script is essential to knowing Hindi, and damned if I'm starting next quarter without an intro.
6. I called AT&T about how our DSL is suck-city and can never connect (how dare you suggest I'm stealing someone's internet right now..), and scheduled a guy to come in and fix life.
7. I got to the West Side, I ate in a fine, stuck-up vegetarian restaurant, I came home.
8. I finished my IS project circa 12:30AM in the Reg.

Here are the reasons I wanted to gauge out my eyes repeatedly:

1. CVS is low on the cool factor and took an hour to get my passport/personal-for-family photos processed and printed. This put a dent in my errand-run and I ended up going to campus, then back, to look at/buy some books.
2. After I had the pictures my phone died and since I had a dinnerrr arrangement I had to come back to the apartment to charge the phone, and also get all my confirmation stuff around, and then I had to go back to campus to the REG--to get random information and then blah blah blah boring stuff involving emailing study abroad people about all my conflicting program/funding/deposit issues.
3. I laid down a staggering ONE HUNDRED FIFTY FIVE DOLLARS for like TWO MONTHS WORTH of contacts. WHAT?! That's more than the frigging check I deposited, which I was oh-so-reassured by. I now have to wait until next Friday to have like, ANY money at ALL. I mean, I know I have special oxygen requirements or whatever, but this is just frigging ridiculous. Think of the books I could buy! The impoverished families I could feed! My own impoverished mouth I could feed! All this I forgo for some floppy little eye adhesives? LAME.
4. The AT&T conversation was easily about two years long. Listen--I don't need to talk to 4 different people to hear the same thing 4 different times. If I wanted another opinion, I'd go to a bad doctor and then go to a good doctor. I just want some DSL, so I can check my email once in a while and see if study abroad people/scholarship people have gotten back to me, or if a prof has suddenly assigned something I have no time for. That's all, kindly AT&T folk. Send a man with a toolbox, and we're done here.
5. I accidentally broke a pane of glass in my door out to the front balcony. Seriously. This is no time to get all Popeye on the apartment; that'll probably be coming out of the $2 left in my bank account.
6. Someone I know got frigging jumped, increasing the number of people I personally know who've been attacked in Hyde Park to an uncomfortable figure. Which is desperately frustrating in a way that requires a much longer, separate post to even begin to touch on.
7. Dinner was surprisingly circa $~90, and was paid for by my friend's boyfriend whom I just met today. And none of us were satisfied with it.

Zen.
Zen.
Zen.

In other news, happier news, I got into the University of Chicago PUNE program. Which means..

(drum roll, please........)

I am going to India this fall, no matter what.

I want 2283957 times more to go on the year-long Jaipur, but regardless, I am getting out of here. Thank sweet Jesus on high.

1:55AM = sleep now? OK.