Reshuffling Priorities

First, some weekend reading:

America lives on lawsuits

That's a messy death.

Organization is getting easier.

If only this city didn't run on instant coffee. The french press is my fave, I'm going to buy one this week.

For the Ears. Those of you listening to the audio-coke that is the new DMB album: I hope you have all the songs.

I went to send a text message yesterday. I scrolled through my address book. A process that took a little longer than I have been used to. I guess the rolodex is slowly growing, I'm finally making some friends!

For whatever reason, 6 hours of sleep feels like more than enough today. Maybe it has something to do with the sunshine cutting through the slits in my blinds, or because I spent half of yesterday in a prone position. Regardless, I have noticed a few trends in my life that are starting to develop. I think I can distill some insight by objectively pondering about them a little more.

I have been going to Slovak lessons twice a week. Until this past week I just sort of went through the motions of gawking at my supermodel teacher, taking notes and then immediately forgetting everything. I now find myself developing an active interest and insatiable curiosity in learning this especially challenging language. I think it stems from two contributing factors.

If I was born 5 years later but followed the same path I now find myself on, I would probably discover that the girls speak English relatively well. Unfortunately, the Slovak females in my current age cohort seem to sparse amounts. It's limiting, and made worse by the fact that they remain skeptical of foreigners because of the inundation of English Stag parties. As travel and tourism continue to expand here English is becoming more and more prevalent. The youngsters working at McDonald's and hotels speak the best and with the most confidence.

The second, less hedonistic reason for my desire to dabble more seriously in Slavonic dialect is because of what I dare say is acclimatization to this crazy place, and my need to be more autonomous. I think that to increase my ability to get by, and thusly my quality of life, learning to converse with the locals is the next big step. I confidently ride the bus and buy groceries. I'm still not great with menus or ordering food. It's extremely limiting to not be able to get what you want.

Most critically though, is that I think I am getting the hang of work. In a few weeks time that hypothesis should definitively prove to be true. Once I am banking serious coin on the regular I will have more free time to work on my communication skills, which again, I believe will be critical to really getting the most out of this experience. Until this time I haven't cared about learning, aside from the very basics, because I have had too much other stuff to worry about.

My number one priority is always being able to do what I want, which translates to getting money and getting girls. I think I'm going to start seeing some progress on the accumulation of bills which shall bestow upon me, a few extra hours a week to start learning the local slang.

If I keep adjusting like this I might even start exercising again soon!

My nails need to be cut and filed.