I am a worrywart. I don't deal well with stress. And to be honest, the whole homework, Scheinjagd etc, is getting to me. I worry about deadlines and like what if for some reason, I am very unlucky and don't get to see a prof and end up missing a deadline cos of that? After last sem's fiasco, I feel so tired...so jaded. I feel like a failure. I mean if the exam is so important, why didn't they make all the requirements clear at the very beginning? Arrgh. I have to see THREE DIFFERENT professors/lecturers, before I can go to the Prüfungsamt (Examinations Office). I have to get all of it done before mid November. And everyone knows how crazy it gets at the beginning of the semester, when all the new students are desperate to see the profs. Ugh. But I HAVE to do this. I know I have to! Well, at least one of the profs will have office hours this Friday. So I can go see him. Will probably be kiasu and camp outside his office at least 30 min before the official time. I so need to see him...then I'll see from there lah. I hate all this running around and waiting.

I also hate homework. I finally managed to finish my first term paper this morning...which means it actually took longer than I planned for it to take. I really should go right on to do the next one, but I'm just so braindead at the moment. The main reason for the delay was a printer problem. My Canon Pixma refused to print colour. Considering this was a colour-coded paper, it was very important that there was colour! There ended up being gaps in my paper. :( And not to mention, I'd wasted like 12 sheets of paper! Then I tried deep cleaning. Only cyan came out. Magenta and Yellow were not to be seen anywhere. Then I tried again and again and again. I didn't have a new ink cartridge, except ONE, which I knew was crap. Never buy ORINK ink cartridges. They suck. Anyway, then I saw a little magenta and a little yellow...but neither of these colours came out at a concentration that was anywhere near acceptable! Now...I actually HAVE a NEW printer...which mean I wanna sell this one off. But how in heaven's name am I gonna do that if I can't figure out why it's not working? Are the nozzles jammed? Do my ink cartridges suck? Is the printer just lousy? Well the same thing happened to my CANON i255, except to the black ink. Never found out what happened to that. Anyway, after deciding it was a lost cause, I decided to install my Brother MFC, which is gorgeous, might I add. Installation was a breeze. BUT, the problem came when registering the silly thing. They kept asking for a VALID serial number. There is only ONE freaking serial number, isn't there? But noo...strangely enough, they refuse to accept more than a certain number of characters...and I assure you that the number is less than the serial number. So hello, what number is it? I tried it without the letters. I tried the first few characters...and I tried the last few. None of it worked. Finally, I threw in the towel and decided to register later. The problem is, I still wouldn't be able to register it without knowing what the f****** serial number is. I am considering asking my dad...but knowing him, he'd probably tell me what I already know...and that'd piss me off, even though I don't wanna be pissed with my dad. You see, I used to never be able to get along with him...and I always screamed at him and argued with him. But now, I wanna try to get along. And it went pretty well these hols, except for the last 2 days, when I was trying to pack my bags and he was trying to give me stuff and remind me to do things and all that...I just snapped. I don't like being told what to do. No one does, I guess, but I'm particularly rebellious sometimes. I don't have weird piercings or tattoos...and I don't go clubbing or stay out late...but I rebel in other ways.

My suitcase is BROKEN. It has a hole in it and a gaping one at that. My dad would say to claim for the damages, but to be honest, I didn't notice it until today, so how can I claim? Sigh. I can't carry a broken suitcase home, can I? And this happened despite the 2 FRAGILE! stickers I pasted on it. Bleargh. Can baggage handlers read?

I just really had it up to there this morning...so I decided to go to IKEA. It's pretty far away. Takes about 40-50 minutes to travel there from my place. I went to hand in my assignment first...that's when I chanced on one of the lecturers. Pity I didn't have my Scheine with me...if not, that would've been settled. She advised me to come back at the end of October, when it's less crazy. Sigh.

So anyway, I got quite a fair bit accomplished today. I checked how much was left in my bank account...unbelieveable how much money had disappeared! Then I went to buy some stamps and post some postcards. Then I went to IKEA...well, ElbePark actually. I was hungry by the time I got there, so I stood in line to get a Riesenbratwurst mit Brötchen. It was pretty cheap..1,80. It tasted so good. I know they're not good for me, but I love them! I don't eat them very often, of course...but in winter, they taste especially good. Man, I'm getting hungry...think I'll cook dinner and then continue this.

Ok, am back with dinner. It's wholegrain fried rice. It's quite chewy...and filling. I actually like wholegrain stuff. I think I am one of few people who don't think wholemeal spaghetti tastes like cardboard. I would buy wholegrain spaghetti all the time, if it wasn't so much more expensive than your regular processed wheat spaghetti. But, I have a 4,5kg sack of fragrant jasmine rice...so that's what I'll mostly be eating in the coming months. Maybe I'll buy wholemeal spaghetti the next time I go to the supermarket. Was supposed to go today, but I couldn't carry much after the IKEA visit. I wanted to buy an armchair, but I would never have been able to carry it home. Am not fortunate enough to have a car, or to have a boyfriend who owns one. I bought a wooden box, a new floormat and 2 photoframes. The mat was 100x170...so it was already a bit hard to carry. The box weighed 7kg. I actually bought it cos it was lighter than the other thing I'd wanted to buy. I don't think I could've changed bus/tram 3 times while carrying something that weighed 11 kg. I wanted to buy IKEA food too, but didn't. I did go to the supermarket, but all I bought was milk, 2 cans of veg, 2 apples and a bottle of Fanta. The Fanta because I was so thirsty. I sat down for a while to drink some Fanta...then I carried everything and braced myself for the trip home. It wasn't TOO bad...only bad thing was that it was so hot! It was pretty cold in the morning at around 10am when I left...so I had on a relatively thick jacket over a sweatshirt. I took off the jacket as soon as I could put my things down. I was nearly sweating when I reached home. My room is hot too...thanks to central heating. I have to use a fan at night (I close the windows cos of the noise from the street). I should be thankful, since most people worry about heating costs and would rather wear winter clothes at home than add to their already scary energy bills. But, I wish they'd tone it down a bit. It is like summer here. I could walk around in my underwear and not feel cold at all.

Anyway, then I watched TV. I really love low-brow tv man. I am a closet fan of courtroom series, which are actually made for housewives and the otherwise unemployed. But I can't help myself. There's a cute judge in one of them...and usually, it's interesting to see all the different ways the truth comes to light. Not all cases are interesting of course...but some are...and they keep me fesseled to the tv the whole afternoon...from 2-5pm.

While I was watching TV, I assembled the box...it was pretty ok, except for one corner which refused to let itself be screwed in. Bleargh. The mat stinks...but maybe the smell'll disappear after a while. I hope anyway. But the mat makes my room look a lot better. It covers some of the really ugly dark grey/black (or whatever the original colour is) carpet. It's blue with houses on it. It's a kiddie carpet...but the rest of my room looks like it belongs to a 12-year old anyway. :) I haven't figured out what photos to put in the frames yet..so I'll leave that for another time.

I really should start on my work. But I totally don't feel like it today. I probably will never feel like it any day, but I just want ONE day to myself...to relax, to run errands...to do nothing. Maybe I'll watch "Die Blechtrommel" or Friends. I hope I don't fall asleep at 8pm again, like I did last night. I feel like such a koala...sleeping so much and all. I need to break out of this weird habit man...I'm wasting my day!


Anyway, Berlin was really fun. I love Berlin! It's so grand on one hand...and sleezy on the other. It's like a jigsaw puzzle...and it's amazing how there used to be a wall separating the 2 Berlins. I think the Spree is gorgeous. I am so going on a cruise the next time I go there. I took lots of photos and would've taken more, if not for the fact that my camera ran out of battery. The only sad thing was that the weather wasn't so great...unlike the last 2 times I was there. I went shopping and got a pair of Ampelmännchen earrings. Ampelmännchen are the red and green men on your traffic lights. They are slightly different in Berlin and Dresden (and maybe the whole of the former German Democratic Republic) and there's this campaign to save them...you see, the new traffic lights that are popping up no longer have this unique Ampelmännchen and they are dying out. They're like cult figures, really, especially in Berlin. I also bought some summer wear that was on cheap sale, cos of the coming winter. I won't get to wear them for a long time though, I guess. Hope I can still wear them at the end of winter. Winter makes me hungry all the time!

Oh...and I managed to sign up for Swedish today..it was close man...can you imagine...registration opened at 10:00am...and by the time I got my registration in at 10:01, there were only about say 35 places left, out of 100. Is that scary or what? I wonder what it'll be like for Spanish tomorrow. I hope I can get a spot. Spanish, Italian and French are the most popular really...I wanted Czech cos it's more exotic...and being kiasu...in case I don't get Spanish tomorrow...I signed up for Czech just a few moments ago...so if I can't get Spanish, at least I'll have another language to fall back on. The good thing about online registrations is that you can back out anytime. I thought about doing classical Greek or Latin...but I guess I'd rather learn some living languages...I can take up the others at my own leisure I guess. We'll see what happens about the Spanish tomorrow.

I have lots of things to do..so much so, that I cannot decide what on earth I want to do. I have many books to read...some mails to reply to...shows to watch...homework to do...etc etc. Homework I'll leave till tomorrow..but what to do tonight? Plus, I get the feeling that I am going to start my awful habit of not finishing a book before I start a new one again! Think maybe I should go to the library tomorrow...see if I am more inspired to do work. Haha. Like real.

Ok, have decided to write emails...then will probably think about what still has to be done over the next few days.