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2002-08-01 Entry: "Two Days In One"

Wednesday passed pretty much without incident - one of the DVDs I'd ordered from the UK turned up (which does tend to indicate my plan to import any obvious tv type stuff that the US seems dead set against releasing may be workable), and I tried the bar in the complex (well, I really went in there for food but stayed at the bar afterwards. The barmaid, whose name I didn't catch, was the spitting image of a girl in the UK, and although it's vaguely feasible that she's now working in a bar in Texas, I think it's more likely that it's a different person!

The food was passable (if overlarge), the people were friendly, and the beer was consumed in too large a quantity, but otherwise it was a good evening.

Thursday meanwhile managed to qualify for a bit more comment.

First the girl at work who co-ordinates the whole move for the Phone Company was in - and I could find out what to do with my contract (which I was apparently supposed to have gotten four copies of and gotten it signed before leaving the UK, but no-one had told me this... they'd just attached it to the bottom of an email and said "Here it is, we'll go over it by phone" and I have no recollection of the actual phone call - I have a horrible feeling we missed it due to my brief bout with surgery) - hopefully I'll still get paid even without the contract, but we'll have to wait and see. Then she waves some more forms at me... form overload! When I finally get everything sorted, I manage to phone the social security hotline and, after playing 20 questions with the guy on the other end, get my number... hooray... now I can actually start doing stuff!

Of course, by this time it's too late to actually open a bank account, so I put that on the list of things to do tomorrow, and head home for the complex "sass and jazz" evening by the pool. Hey, it's free beer (and nachos), and some vaguely pleasant jazz music (although I wouldn't want to be standing out in that sun playing a trumpet). After an hour and a half of that, I retire to the bar, where I proceed to fall out with a guy who tries to buy me a cocktail - I've had plenty enough beer to drink, the last thing I need is random spirits trying to confuse the issue! I vaguely manage to patch things back together but it wasn't much fun...