as i was waiting for the library to open its' doors (no, i mean literally standing by the doors, waiting for them to be unlocked. in fact, we were a whole crowd of 15 people or so. and the librarians' never open until it's 11.01 a.m. just to annoy us.) i noticed a new sign taped to the glass of one of the doors.

it had no text on it, just a large black and white drawing of a thing with a black cross over it, signifying that whatever the hell it was, don't you dare bring it into this library, punk. the only problem was, i couldn't tell what it was we weren't supposed to bring inside.

to me, it looked like a really big calculator with a nice big screen and i thought "ah, it must be a pocket computer that might interfere with.. with... uh..." - then i thought it really was a calculator, which puzzled me even more, until i noticed the tiny little antenna on the left top corner. "a-HA!" i thought, "it's a small tv-set?"

it took me 3 more minutes, and considerably worse guesses until it hit me like the slime in "you can't do that on television"... the drawing depicted a mobile phone. DUH! hrm. i never claimed to be a brainy one.

i might, oh... i don't know... leave sweden tomorrow and go back to america... (glancing over me shoulder) ... then again... i might not... (blasé whistling ensues) ...because it's not like it's a big deal or something... noo... i mean, i might bring all the papers i need and i might not... i don't really care... hrm.

earlier this week i noticed that one of my sandals had a fracture on the side of it that threatened to rip through entirely and force me to throw both sandals away. well, i couldn't have that. hence i crammed by duck feet into an old pair of shoes that were half a size too small already when i bought them in 1996, and sure hadn't gotten bigger since, and headed to the shoe-repair guy.

with dread in mind i entered his tiny, adorable shop by the river filled with ... shoes and machines and a scent of leather, and handed my babies over to the man there. he's such a nice man, he lives in my neighbourhood and has always waved hi to me whenever he's seen me. i expected him to tell me that nothing could be done but.. hah.

he told me he'd fix it, reinforce the strap and reinforce the other sandals' strap too to make sure it didn't crack and that they'd be ready for pick up the next day.

i returned the next day (well - yesterday) and not only had he fixed the sandal and put some extra leather in on both of them, he only charged me... four dollars. yes, you heard me. four dollars total for his work and the material. i can't even remember the last time i got anything done for four dollars. (uh, for the record, i haven't had anything "done" on my person, hehe)

can you??

well, gene has calmed me some. apparently the guy i'm gunna live with when (if?) i go back to america really is nice (it's not that i don't trust aziza, duh, but it's always nice with a second opinion, you know?) and, to quote gene:

" He will clean and cook and stuff, so watch out. You might get spoiled. "

hah. i wonder if i scare him enough he'll do my dishes for me? hehehehhe. oh stop glaring, i'll behave.

yesterday i spent all morning thinking of a good way to e-mail gene and ask him if maybe he could pick me up at the charlotte airport tomorrow (..or not) night and drive me to chapel hill. it's not that i figured he'd yell NO in my face, it was just that it was a big thing to ask, i thought, as he'd have to drive two and a half hours to charlotte to pick me up around 11 p.m., and then two and a half hours back.. you know?

anyways. so i get to the library, log into my e-mail and... zing. e-mail from gene sitting there offering to pick me up at the airport on saturday. he figured he'd save me the bus fare. duh. that and i don't have to spend $20 on a cab to the greyhound bus station and wait for a bus to chapel hill at 4.45 a.m. ($30). hehe. yey. people are good to have.

well, i don't want the entry to drag on and on, yet i have been meaning to rant about this for a while now so.. i have a severe crush on a BBC2 tv-show called "This Life" and well - to make up for forgetting to mention it every week i simply made a huge page about the show and put it HERE! i warn you, though - it's a massive page. i just couldn't help myself. *sigh*