wednesday i'm in love.

It's because there's someone new in my life. Here's how it happened.

This past year, 2012, as you may know, Cave Cricket #2 and I applied for our "unlimited time" residence permits here in The Lovely Netherlands. At the time we applied for the permits, there was a substantial application fee, I'm talking about a substantial amount of money, proportionally speaking, like a couple months' rent.

We applied back in March or something. We got the permits (!!!!!!) in August. Fantastic, right? Two weeks ago, Mara was doing our internet banking and was like, "Uh hey there sparky, did you like buy something for (insert approximate amount of one month's rent) a couple weeks ago? Like, twice on the same day?" Of course I did no such thing, and of course Mara would never say "like" that many times if at all, but anyway: immediately panic sets in, what the fuck did we do wrong this time, cause this is the way you think when you're an immigrant.

But then my dear roommate says: "Ah, wait. Ha. Sorry, that's money coming into our account." Which never happens, I don't blame her for assuming the opposite. I say "So someone paid us twice for something?"

The conversation went on in this vein for a while, I'll spare you the details, but come to find out: this money was from the government, specifically the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization because: in-between the time of our application for residence and their processing of that application, the cost of the application fee was dramatically reduced. And they refunded us the difference between the old amount and the new amount, directly into our bank account.

Maybe I haven't traveled enough but...what other government on earth would do this? I decided to celebrate my not knowing the answer to that question by taking this aforementioned windfall money and purchasing a new love interest, yes that's right I bought a new fucking laptop that actually seems to work and compute at normal speeds. For €500 (here it is, if you're in the market).

It feels like finally getting glasses after years of not being able to see (I guess that's what three years of netbook ownership does to you, makes you appreciate normal laptops again). It does not only one thing at a time successfully, but sometimes two or three. YouTube actually works with video and sound playing at the same time. In general, clicking on something often seems to have the desired effect. ETC ETC ETC. Eeeeeeeeeyyyyyaaay.

Oh, and: Thanks, Government of The Netherlands! You're pretty fly sometimes.

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