Whine

I try to keep things all happy and cheery on this blog, but sometimes you just gotta whine. So, if you don't wanna read it, go away. Really, it matters not to me.

So, I'm just stressed and all out of sorts. I'm in this wierd period of limbo...waiting for some big stuff to happen, but not knowing when or how it will come about. I know that our lives will change soon, but the not knowing, and the waiting, and the feeling that others have my future in their hands and I have no control over that is very, very unsettling. I know this all sounds very vague, and that's the point...and the problem. It's all very vague on my end as well. People keep asking me about when and where and how...and I can't give them answers as I don't know myself.

Plus, adding to my angst, I took my car to a dealer to sell it. They offered me a fair price (pending a check-over of the car), lower than what I wanted, but ok. In accepting their offer, I turned down another offer I had gotten that week. I left the car with the dealer while I was in London.

I called them this morning to see what was what with my car and the pending sale. The bastards have dropped their offered price by 28%!!!!! Lower than the other offer I turned down! Fuckers, the lot of them. They say that there is a "crack on the fog light", a dent, and that I haven't had any service on the car since 2002. That is a total and complete load of bullshit. I TOLD them I had complete records. And I am having them faxed over as I write this. And for them to drop the price that much for a dent, a cracked headlight and a lack of service records? When I told them about the dent, I told them I had complete records, and that they knew the car is 8 years old but in good shape? If they are THAT worried about a fog light and an oil change, fuck them, I'll go have it fixed myself. I don't see those things being worth over $4000!!! They are totally trying to screw me.

I was willing to drop the price maybe 10%, but 28%???? I have a massive credit card bill to pay, and selling the car was going to be my way of taking care of that. God I'm so frustrated.

I could sell it myself on the classifieds, but that is a whole other set of problems, dealing with wierdos calling, wanting to drive the car, etc., plus there is some Norwegian rule that if someone buys the car and something goes wrong, I am responsible for it, or something. I don't know the whole details and I am finding it very hard to get a whole story. It's times like this when being an expat REALLY SUCKS. The helplessness you feel when dealing with another culture, set of rules and language is really soul-sucking.

Rich left for the US today. And I'm kind of jealous of that, and the fact that I will be here for more than a week, by myself and, frankly, bored out of my skull, is a drag as well. I feel so vibrant and alive in London, and when I come back to Norway, (sorry Norwegians) I just feel closed off, bored, and lonely. Everything is expensive, everything is the same, and there are only so many brisk and refreshing walks you can take. Not having a job is killing me. I need to get out of here, somewhere I can work, ** and soon.

I wonder if I can get a cheap flight to Amsterdam this weekend. A visit to a coffeeshop is sounding damn good right about now.

** If you go to the "reader's respond" link on the left sidebar of the Aftenposten, and scroll down a bit, you'll see some interesting letters from frustrated people whave written about the lack of jobs for us "furners" here. I'm not saying that it's IMPOSSIBLE to get a job, but it damn sure feels like it. And I don't want to work at an old folks' home or as a maid! I gave up trying to look for jobs long ago.