ive got to admit its getting better. getting better, all the time...

or is it. really. or is it...

no, no, it is. i miss my little patty park's posts, but rumor has it korean internet is the suck right now. or thats what i managed to understand from your message, patty! im totally on the calling-you-back bandwagon, i just dont want to call at 3am and wake you , so ill have to plot the call 13 hours ahead of time...

this side of the pond is status quo. re: the accident -- after being perpetually screwed by this taxi driver father-son-duo, i decided to take it to the Man. i left repeated messages for the police officer who came to my accident-- of course, he did not return any of them. in the process, when i finally spoke to someone at the station, it was revealed that i was apparently very mistaken and it is apparently impossible to file belated accident reports. some might say the police officer lied to me. adding more frustration to the puzzle, the police again acted like complete d*cks.

shortly there after, i called the son/taxiowner to threaten filing w insurance again, filing a police report, suing in small claims court-- he casually remarked that he had just gotten off the phone with the police. if you are reading between the lines here, you will similarly be confused: why was he on the phone w the police? the only rational explanation i have (considering that the officer threw away my preliminary accident report, refuses to call me back, lied to me, and was overly friendly with the cab owner) is that the police called *him* to tip him off about what was going on. lets talk corruption, shall we? ill spare you all the further nasty details, involving multiple conversations with this son/owner, where i again threatened litigation and whatever else-- the highlight was when he offered to have the PT fixed himself:

"just take it down to my shop, we know the guys, they will fix it for you in a few hours. we will have someone take you from the shop to work, and then when youre ready to leave work, you call us."

"um, excuse me? who is this 'someone' you are referring to?"

"oh, my father."

"you want me to get into a car- with the man- who HIT me? you want me to ride in a vehicle with the man responsible for this damage? you have GOT to be kidding me. absolutely no way."

"ok ok, maybe we can get you a rental."

stew on that, will you? in the end, i offered to get one more estimate on the car, and if he wouldnt accept at that point, i was going to take it to the higher powers. so this morning i woke up super early, went to the autobody shop, and faxed the 3 estimates over with a very strongly worded cover letter- akin to the following:

"two options here buddy. (1) you pay me, certified check, plus 3 days car rental at $40 each, by 5pm today, OR (2) i filed a report with the police, i filed a claim with my insurance, i sue you in small claims court."

surprisingly? i got a call moments later agreeing to meet me later today with a certified check or cash tonight. lets see how this plays out...

i just cant wait for this to all be over, thats all.

in other news, the week has been full-steam ahead. i can barely believe that next week is my last week of work... it seems so surreal. ill be wrapping up everything, cleaning, and sadly saying goodbye to a lot of great friends. boo! i am getting more and more used to the idea, but it still feels so far away.

on a lighter note, ive had a super busy calendar so far.

monday night we had another eating adventures, this time at naoe, a small 17-sear omakase restaurant that involves the young chef making whatever he desires: we started with a bento box with 4 sections: going counter-clockwise - bamboo rice, mackeral sashimi with fresh wasabi, octopus stewed in its own broth, fried eggplant and clams with a sweet/tart cherry sauce, and homemade egg tofu with uni sauce and crab liver. i mean.... insane. we had the whole restaurant to ourselves, and had an amazing time. after the box, we had frozen sake (almost like sake sorbet) made by the chef's family in japan, as well as 6 more pieces of sushi. late night, celebration, our last miami eating adventure.

tuesday we trekked it out to game night at the standard, successfully winning the final round of trivia. our prizes are yet to be given (they ran out!) but for now we are calmed with some spa passes to sit in their sauna/etc for this weekend. its so funny how silly and relaxing game night can be- i would have never thought it would be the kind of thing id be into, but its just so flashbacky-low stress, combined with prizes. how can you say no? another late night though.

yesterday was justin's birthday, so we again went out to dinner- the same place carla and i had gone weeks before, barbu, and the owner/chef was there & remembered me, which was very cool. after a few hours of leisurely eating, byob-ing, and toasting, we headed to lucky strikes to bowl until about 1am (with of course, a few moments in the photobooths to memoralize the evening). even though im terribly tired, i feel like ive got to seize all of these moments! its frantic.
tonight, hopefully after we exchange the certified check with sketchball owner, ashley & anton are making dinner for the 6 of us (adrian, rachel, justin & myself) in their new apartment, as a goodbye. so surreal, again. justin & rachel have their last days tomorrow, and rachel & ashley will be out of town next week, so it really will be le end. until i leave here though, ill be sure to keep the energy up as much as i can... ill post pictures once i get a second!

xoxo