Scary, scary.

We had people over today to look at the apartment, to see if they want to rent it when we move out. The guy seemed nice, he asked us a few questions about the apartment (like, how much we pay in electricity, how much noise is there from the other apartments, stuff like that), and seemed interested in renting. So that’s good. He might buy our refrigerator as well - also good.

The library is now packed with boxes, and all the shelves there are empty. We have two or three boxes full of just wedding presents! I can’t wait to start using some of it. We got these really nice wine glasses that I’d wished for, even though I don’t drink wine unless I have to. I wish I did though - it would be nice to have an evening together with Tor and/or friends to drink wine and eat cheese, or to maybe join a wine club. I didn’t even have any wine at the wedding. It just doesn’t taste that good to me, I much prefer soda.

I kind of look forward to the move though. Well, not the moving itself, but the new house aspect of it. Hopefully it all goes smoothly, and no unknown expenses show up. If they do I might have to go see my doctor again.

I got up at 6:30 this morning to do some last minute reading, after having stayed up until 1:30 am to try and read as much as possible before sleeping.

I got through almost everything about Europe’s medieval history.

Then I arrived at the exam, realised I’d forgotten my glasses. Not a good start.

The exam papers were handed out, and… OH NO DEAR GOD NO. Two assignments to choose from: One on the history of Norway, one on Roman history. Neither of which I’d studied much for. I should have been able to write something about the transition from republic to principate in the Roman Empire, but no. My mind went completely blank. No years, no names (except Caesar and Augustus), nothing.

So I sat there for an hour, waiting for the clock to strike 10 so that I could withdraw. Longest hour ever. This is the first time I’ve ever withdrawn from an exam, and I absolutely hate it. I feel like such a failure, even though I know very well that it’s ok for me not to manage everything all at once. There’s a reason why I haven’t studied enough - it’s called depression. Yeah, studying didn’t go so well during that period. So that’s almost two months of studying that I’ve lost.

Now my plan is to see if I can take the exam again in December, which means that the fall semester this year will be repetition only for me - this exam plus the one I didn’t do on Roman history. Damn you, Roman history, you will NOT be my downfall!

If you have a bit of knowledge of the blogosphere and what lurks (or struts) around in it, you will already have heard of social sites such as Facebook, and pay-per-post sites such as, well, PayPerPost. You know their deal, what they’re all about, and most of all - you know that the two are different.

Now imagine the bastard child of these two, and out comes Socialspark, the social networking site that also lets you monetise your blog if you want to. We can sum it up like this: FB + PPP = SS.

Unlike many other paid to blog communities, Socialspark does not rely on Google’s PageRank to determine who qualifies for opps. Instead, they utilise Izea’s RealRank, along with a few other parameters (most US traffic, most female traffic, etc). In addition to this, all links used in sponsored posts brokered by Socialspark include the nofollow attribute, meaning that they should not decrease your Google PR.

Socialspark has its own code of ethics:

• 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
• 100% Transparency
• 100% Real Opinions
• 100% Search Engine Friendly

Socialspark lets you register a blogger account (that’s you!) and attach as many blogs as you’d like to that blogger account. Be aware though that you can not add someone else’s blog to your blogger account. You can then add other bloggers as your friends (and they can add you back, or don’t), and give props to them and their blogs.
On your blog’s page, you can view your stats - RealRank, Alexa Rank and visitor numbers - all presented in both list form and graph form.

Are you intrigued yet? Go check it out, sign up, and add me as your friend! Earn money if you want to, or just connect to known and unknown bloggers if that’s what you’re after. Either way - come join the social revolution of the blogosphere!

How, you say? Well. Tomorrow is my one exam for the semester, the exam in ancient and medieval history. I’ve had two days off from work to study. Have I used those two days wisely? NO. Instead of studying I have, among other things

• Blogged. Duh.
• Browsed the internet for paid blogging opportunities.
• Worried about money.
• Tried to work out how to earn more money.
• Worried some more.
• Walked around in a daze, unable to do anything.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. I need to get a grip.

However, on the bright side, as I’m reading my notes now (some really good and obscure ones such as “long distances, camel.”), I realise that I know SOME of this stuff, which means that if I get the right topic, I should be able to elaborate enough on it to fill 4 pages.

If you’re a manga fan, you might have already heard about the bestselling manga called DeathNote, a supernatural action-mystery manga. You might not know, however, that DeathNote has been made into a live action movie, set to show in only a select few theaters across the US on May 20th (that’s tomorrow!) and May 21st at 7:30 PM. Click here to learn how to get tickets. Included is also exclusive footage and a behind-the-scenes look at how the manga was translated into a live action movie. The movie will also be dubbed into English - good to know for those of you who cringe at the thought of foreign-language movies, and also good to know for those of you who cringe at the though of dubbed features (I know I do!).

Death Note follows Light Yagami, a student who finds a book known as the Death Book. When a person’s name is written in the Death Book, the person will die. Light starts using the book as a means to rid the world of evil, something that does not go by unnoticed - don’t you think your local police might at least notice if the city’s criminals started dropping dead? The police sends a detective named L to investigate, and he soon picks up Light’s trail. Now the two must find out which one of them is “good”, and which one is “evil” - they both believe themselves to be good, fighting for justice and to rid the world of evil.

If you could have one supernatural characteristic, what do you think it would be, and would you use it for the good of the world? Me, I don’t think I’d go for something like Light’s Death Book (a supernatural object) - I’d rather have a more personal supernatural characteristic, like, say, mind control. Then I could easily have convinced the realtor to release us from the house purchase contract. Or the bank to just pay the loan for us. Mmmyes, I can feel myself slipping over to the dark side.

And today is a down for me.

Now I know I should be all happy and smiles, being a newlywed and all that, but life, life isn’t all smiles and happiness. We still have the issue with the house. We still haven’t sold the car. I can’t find my tax slip so that I can change my address online. I don’t want to move into the damn house, yet we have to in two weeks and we need to pack and it’s horrible. I have an exam in three days that I can’t find the motivation to study for. I miss my mom. I miss my dad. I miss my brother. I miss having no worries in life except smaller stuff like having to stand outside in pouring rain, waiting for the bus.

I just need it all to work out, ok? That’s all. I need to wake up one morning and know that I have nothing to worry about. I need to be able to let me shoulders down and breathe properly. I need to not have to put on a fake smile and make small talk and pretend that everything is fine, great, super. Because it isn’t.

Being the close-to-workaholic that I am, I logged into my work e-mail from home today (I had today off to study for my upcoming exam) to see if anything exciting has happened, and there it was.

The e-mail from the union, telling me that if negotiations fail, I will have to go on strike at the end of next week. I Googled a little bit, and found that if I do go on strike, I will get paid by the union, but “somewhat less” than I’d get paid for working. Which means that if I have to go on strike, it won’t just suck for my employer, it will suck big time for me and my finances. I’m already close to tears and/or vomiting whenever I think about our financial situation from June and out because of the purchase of the House of Doom, and this certainly didn’t help.

Dear union, please realise that even though I support the cause, of course I do, making me go on strike will probably cause me and my husband to not eat in June. Also, be advised that if this does happen, I will call YOU and cry about it.

Dear state/government/whoever, GET WITH THE PROGRAM. Just comply to some or most of the changes the unions are after, and we will all be a happier lot (and I won’t have to cut hot meals from our diet).