What's up, all. It's been a long time since i rapped witcha. For that, you can blame my chink roommate. What kind of native-born Tawainese is unable to properly maintain a server? That shit was down for a few weeks, and only because we moved. I heard through some secret sources that he had to hire an Indian, Patel Pyranish, to get the server up and running again. Don't let that get out to the public, lest he is stripped of his Tawainese citizenship.
So here i am living in Prague. Living in a foreign city is radically different than visiting it. You are more a citizen, and less a traveller. No pressure to see the sites, since you are here for months. It is more about learning the day-to-day stuff, such as where to buy public transport passes, what brand is the best milk, and where to wash your socks. Plus, I am working 9 - 5 during the week, so i only have the weekends to look around. Those of you may find interest in the fact that I have become a morning person. Apparantly, my internal clock has always been on European time, so once I got here, it was corrected. In bed by 11 PM, up by 7 AM, every morning. Awake, full of life and energy. I even drink tea. Mark in the mornings with tea. Not sure i like it.
Weather has been alright so far .. hmm .. actually discussions on weather are usually quite boring, so let's move on from that topic. Of more interest is the financial improvements made by my move to Prague. All consumables are radically cheaper. By this, I will say that the average beer costs me 90 cents, and the average sit-down dinner costs three dollars. Groceries for two weeks cost us about fifteen dollars. Rent is paid by my agency. A full month transportation pass is fifteen dollars. No car .. no insurance .. no phones .. This all means I went from spending about 1000 dollars a month on expenses in SF to about three hundred dollars a month in Prague. And that is mostly on beer and food.
The city itself is self-explanatory. There are old buildings and churches and cobblestone just about everywhere. I work on a small hill next to the czech national church and cemetary (the coolest grave there is a simple plot of grass with a simple headstone that has two first names on it, man and woman, and the phrase "keep laughing") .. walking to work every morning in autumn trees along the ramparts of a five hundred year old castle is a bit different than driving down 101.
After work we'll go get a couple of beers with dinner, or see a movie (those are cheap too .. saw kill bill last night for three bucks, large popcorn and coke for an additional two bucks) .. the apartment i live in is relatively new, but there isn't much to do there .. no internet or video games. We have satellite tv, but all it gets is German TV (which is some odd shit). So it is back to reading .. Tom Clancy for now, as i am too tired at the end of the day for some actual thinking.
Taj will be out here in one week, so that will bring a bit of home into a foreign place.
And finally, none of you give a shit, but my fantasy football team is undefeated at 6 - 0. Taj made an erroneous statement that he was tied for the best record in the leage at 5 - 1. Actually he is tied with no one. I have the best record. Like the Carolina Panthers.
If my roommate can keep the servers up for more than six hours, i'll try to keep this thing updated. I shoulda made friends with an Israeli.