If You Only Had 2 Hours to Live

...you probably wouldn't spend your morning the way I did.

BUT, I have been incredibly productive.

I think people think that I don't like to take care of things (and I think I help perpetuate that belief), when in reality I'm someone who, if something gives me anxiety, I totally jump on it.

Anyway, at 9am when everything opened I just ran through my list of undesirable tasks. I had tried to take care of things earlier since I woke up at 4:45am, although I wouldn't say "jet-lagged" since I'm never on a normal sleep schedule anyway.

Baggage Reimbursement

* Called Continental to check up on reimbursement for the stuff I had to buy in Doha while my bag was vacationing in Paris. Continental told me that I had to work with Qatar Airways.

* Called Qatar Airways and was told I needed to get the documents together, write a formal claim latter, and fax it.

* Wrote the letter, assembled the documents, copied them, and faxed it (and I even included my internet charges at the hotel since my fictional wireless card was in my suitcase and I had to use the internet at the Sheraton -- I figure the airline should pay!).

* Went down to Rockefeller Center to H&M to return stuff I'd bought before the trip but couldn't use since it didn't arrive until the last day.

Columbia Hold

* Went to the law school financial aid and met with two people to discuss the hold and was told to go to the center for public interest law to get clarification on the disbursement of my summer funds.

* Went to CPIL and got confirmation that my money will be deposited bi-weekly starting mid-July (aka: way too late to pay my bill and register). They told me to go to the main university financial aid.

* Went to CU financial aid (note: the hall is FILLED with gigantic flat screen tvs with lame messages like "Registration and Financial Services are now integrated into the same office for ease of student access" and then a photo of a fake lawn fades onto the screen -- GLAD my tuition increases are paying for this crap!). I explained that all my summer checks were deposited BY Columbia into my Columbia account and therefore went directly to paying-down the balance I owed Columbia, and I told them that I am a humble serf. They removed the hold :)

Birthday Gift

* Went to the bookstore to get a Chinese reading book for Curie's girlfriend's birthday tonight, but didn't find any I liked, asked Curie if gf had read Wild Swans ("probably not"), and does she read ("not really").

* Went to the Librairie de France in Rockefeller Center and got her a cute TinTin book where TinTin goes to China :) [she's into French stuff...kind of]

GREAT AND USELESS NEWS

Finally, while I was between the French bookstore and H&M, I got a call from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva asking if I still wanted to work there this summer. I told them that I had to take another offer in NYC and that it's too bad because they were my top choice (even though the big human rights guy here at Columbia told me not to work for them, I still would have -- it's a great "in" to the UN, I'd be in my favourite country all summer, the funding is WAY better for CU students who go abroad, AND I'd be with Swissy). The woman on the phone told me that this happens, sometimes, and that she regrets that no one called me sooner, because I was on a list of accepted interns and she doesn't know why no one called (I mean we aren't even in school, anymore, for God's sake! And I sent my application in DECEMBER!).

Anyway, it's a huge compliment since, according to the public interest director, they hadn't taken a Columbia student the last several years.

Pretty productive morning, huh? :)

Now I just need to email the ICTJ to firm-up my arrival on Monday, then relax and prepare for 3pm French Open tennis (since of course stupid US barely covers it, and certainly not live).

VC