The main news is that I made a big mistake and I'm paying for it. I double-counted a class, thinking it could fulfill two requirements, but it didn't, so now I'm taking a summer school class. I'm not quite a B.A. yet. This class, Russia After Communism, really interests me, and Professor Steven Fish is great. But it's Monday through Thursday, 4-6pm, so I can't work full time. Yeah, I feel a bit foolish when I think about the debacle.

On the up side, I finally got an A+ at Cal, in Linguistics 5. Yay!

Job search: (Alexei, upon learning that I'm looking for a job, said, "I hear they hide under bushes and logs.") I've sent out several customized resumes and cover letters in response to job openings, but no one's called me for an interview. I got started working with one temp agency, but business is slow for temps, and another agency told me that they won't handle part-time temps, and I'm one of those right now.

Triumph: I only watched about 45 minutes of random daytime TV on Tuesday. I watched the German equivalent (in English) of "Entertainment Tonight," and I watched the first half of a cooking show. All quite educational. I can now manage a passable German accent while saying "Gerhard Schroeder," and I know a trick for seeding tomatoes (cut them in half and, before slicing them, squeeze them above a garbage bowl or sink).

Biker Sumana: I've been practicing and actually using the bicycle. I can now get going from a standstill pretty well. On Tuesday I rode most of the way up Milvia from a little north of Adeline to Center Street, although at times I had to chant to myself "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay" because I was rather scared of cars and my own ineptitude. By yesterday I basically could ride continuously without too much fear between home and downtown.

As suggested by Kevin, I visited The Missing Link, a bike store and repair shop at Shattuck between University and Berkeley Way. Now I have a fixed-up bike, a lock, and (courtesy of the University and six dollars) a license.

And today: triumph! I used elbow grease and WD-40 and a wrench to remove annoying water-bottle holders from my bike. It's great to exercise control over my environs.

Books: I finished Crime and Punishment and P.G. Wodehouse's Much Obliged, Jeeves. Crime and Punishment had a surprise ending (like Law and Order! You won't believe the twist!), and when I was down this morning, I reminded myself that I really don't want to be like Raskolnikov, letting my romantic-depressed urges make me unproductive and sullen. The Wodehouse, one of his later works, was less masterfully plotted than, say, Very Good, Jeeves. But it still had amusing turns of phrase, and it kept me occupied on the BART, so reading it was worthwhile.