Today's been a shitty day (LT update 2)

As evidenced by the events detailed below, today got off to a rough start when I got to work this morning and read an email from my mom, telling me that my grandmother has died at age 80. I think we had all hoped that she would make it until my cousin's wedding this fall, but a very sudden stroke over the weekend took away that possibility.

Frankly, I'm surprised she didn't make it longer. Growing up I always thought a tractor trailer could hit my babushka of a grandmother and the truck would have come out the more damaged of the two. If you've ever been to or studied Russia, you know that you don't fuck with old Russian ladies. Anyhow, of all the relatives, she probably had the most impact on my life, since she was our day-care in our early years. Growing up the daughter of fresh-off-the-boat immigrants, she knew the importance of education even if she was a dropout. She taught me letters and reading well before I even entered kindergarten, maybe even before nursery school. Depending on what type of educational philosophy in which you believe, it's possible that she's a deciding factor in my academic success.

That was not a great way to start the day. Next, I got to sit at my desk for seven fucking hours and do absolutely nothing because everyone in my department was busy. I've asked other departments if they need help with things, and for whatever reason, they don't want me. Fannnnn-tastic...

Then, I came home to discover that my computer (or computer charger) is busted. I don't know which... and I probably won't until I get back to the States. It doesn't bloody matter, though, since either way I'm equally fucked. Our TV gets about 12 channels only one of which (the news) is in English, so I guess I'm going to read a lot now. And I can forget about watching my DVDs on the TV because we don't have a goddamned DVD player. We've got a VCR though, booooyyyy howdy. Thank god Euro 2008 was on TV or else I might have had an incident tonight...

Just a stellar day today.

Monday had a bright point, though, I'll give you that. There's a bar here owned by an Irishman or a Brit or something. It's called the Dubliner (name's Irish, owner seems British) and it's about a 10-minute walk from the Embassy. Every week they have a trivia night (in English) and the winner gets a certificate for a free dinner there. That's a good deal, since it has food that it at least recognizable to an American and isn't McDonalds. Anyways, TheFulbrighter and I won this week, so I get a free dinner. Nice. Did you know that if a barcode begins with "978" then it's a barcode for a book? No? I didn't think so. That's why I have a free dinner.