If it's not Raven, it's crap...

Raven vs. The Free & Hanseatic City of Hamburg Isn't it fun how old news becomes current news? I dug up my old court ruling from that time where I had that legal battle to get my work permit. Now I need it because the federal employment agency here in Hamburg has taken going on 5 months to decide whether or not they want to renew my work permit (which is vital for my residency permit). I would very much like them to do so, but, as usual, they aren't making it very easy for me. Over the past few months, I've fretted over my future here in Germany and have even gone as far as researching and tentatively planning to elope with Frosty to Denmark (the Vegas of Europe) just to get these guys off my back. In the end, however, for all the benefits that marriage to a German would provide me -- the disadvantages for him marrying my foreigner-ass seem to be much greater at the moment. Add to that the gigantic hassle that is getting hitched in Germany (please explain to me why th...

Me in my Gold Key t-shirt. If the other person in the picture weren't already a Smithie, this would have been an awkward tour. I volunteered to be a campus guide my sophomore year at Smith. Fairly regularly during the fall semester of that year, less so during the spring semester. I got a free t-shirt. Scratch that, I might have had to pay for it. Still, in general, I can't say that I was a particularly good tour guide, even given the fact that we weren't required to follow any particular script. I brushed up on my campus/college history facts, but I think I was just way too into the personal anecdotes and had a difficult time finding the happy medium between informative and relevant. I don't know if I ever played a role in convincing a prospective student to attend Smith. Somehow, I doubt it. If I were to visit the campus and Northampton, Massachusetts tomorrow, I'm confident that I've pushed out most of the dates and facts that I learned all those nine years a...

Art from a birthday package from Frosty .