Yes, I too await the story of what has our young Dorothy so agitated.
Now, it’s just one development after another as far as my life is concerned. Remember how I didn’t exactly have a place to live in Panama City? Well, I do now. Yes, that quickly. What can I say? I’m just that good. Here’s what happened:
- Naval officer stationed in Panama City running his base’s part of this program - we’ll call him Ed, because that’s his name - notices there’s a housing shortage.
- Ed petitions his base for any officers who can offer a room to an intern for 10 weeks.
- Several other officers submit their names and brief descriptions to Ed, who then sends them out to the interns.
pi) One officer in particular - we’ll call him John, because that’s his name - includes a far more detailed description than the others, with the result that one of the interns - we’ll call him me, because it’s me - decides that’s the place for me.
ferret) I email John on Saturday humbly requesting to live in his house for 10 weeks.
Q) Yesterday, John responds without an explicit yes, but including his home number and work number, and an invitation to call his house and talk to his wife to set details and ask questions. I take this as a yes.
So, I need to make that call as soon as I’m done. But first, the other development that happened just this morning. See, Monday I recieved the hardcopy version of my acceptance letter to Amsterdam. In response to this I emailed the guy running the MSc program in Theoretical Physics asking when I should expect the financial and housing info. Today I got an answer: First week of May for financial info, two weeks after that for housing. What that means is that I need to accept Dartmouth’s offer (their decision deadline is the 25th), just to have that as a backup in case Amsterdam somehow is too expensive. Don’t worry, I can withdraw from Dartmouth later without a problem. But, I don’t think Amsterdam will be too expensive, as I just went back to the program’s website and it lists tuition at three thousand euro, which would put two years of Amsterdam Grade-A Awesomeness for less than what my parents paid for one year of RPI.
Oh, and about Panama City. I found it on my Google Earth, and I was playing around with the layers, getting a feel for what’s in this strange little city. Malls, one. Major retail, half a dozen stores. Movie rental, one Blockbuster, and a place called “Condom Knowledge.” No, I’m not making that up, and no, I don’t want to know. Supermarkets, half a dozen. Restaurants, a few dozen. Bars/lounges … METRIC SHITTON. There are, no exaggeration, stampedalanches of bars in Panama City, Florida. You can’t read the names on the map, they’re so densely packed in. Guess how many coffee shops are in Panama City. That’s right, none. Not a single place to get coffee, but you can’t swing a dead gator without hitting a bar.
Ah, but the ultimate irony is this: Second only in number to bars in this wonderful town? CHURCHES. They have churches over here, churches over there, churches everywhere. They have churches directly on the beach, with a scenic oceanside view. They have Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Baptist, and Lutheran Churches. They have a Christain Science church, for crying out loud, which makes me sorta scared to go live there. The icing on the cake - they have something called, and once again I am not making this up, Kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses. Okay? Kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses. This has got to be their headquarters. Jehovahs Witness Central, and inside there’s a throne for the King of Jehovahs Witnesses. All those doorbells, all those pamphlets, just part of their masterful plan to take over the fucking world. They’ve already got a Kingdom going. Mark my words, people, this is it. In a few short years they’ll have armies and armies of those confounded Witnesses invading city after city.
… crap.
