Disaster Strikes!!!!

Over the past three weeks, my i-pod has been frowning and acting in a very poor manner. In the middle of a song, it would freeze. The screen would display as if it was playing, but no music was playing. The actual portion that shows how much time is left in the song would stop though. The i-pod would not shut off and I would need to reboot it. For about a week this worked, but now I get a file and an exclamation point and then it shuts itself off. After a couple of reboots it would work abain. Then last Saturday it would only show me the file and exclamation point. From Emily's experience I knew a SAD face was bad news, so I was hopeful. I went to an Apple reseller and they broke the news; it is a hard drive problem and all I could do is reformat it. Without my computer or music, what good is that? It has been five days without my music and I have been living a different life. I now hear the buses and cars on my way to work, the annoying seagulls at lunch, and cannot pretend like I do not hear the people asking for money for different charities on my way home. This convienient and socially acceptable "anti-social" behavior is now lost to me. I have had an offer from an Aussie friend to give me music if I do choose to buy a new i-pod or a different MP3 player. However, I think I will buy a cheap CD/radio player for my room and get my fill of music then. Oh the disappointment! Only three weeks into my trip. Other than that, life is great. I have a new job that starts next week. I will post more about it when I know more. All I know is it is an eight week placement and I will be working in an inbound-call centre. I will be working as a techie for an internet provider! The shift I selected is 15:15 to 23:15 M-F. The other choice was 7:00 to 15:00 T-S (being to work by 7...ick). My housemates are great. My current roommate moves out next week, but Xavier (the guy I rented my room from) is moving back into our room. He is also from France- Marseille. This afternoon when I returned home from work, Petra (Czech girl) told me "We are like a family, we ask how each other's day is." For the last three days, I come home and there is always someone to talk to. Everyone is very friendly and accepting. I really lucked out with this place: great house mates, location, price. The weather has been pretty bad here, nothing like at home though. Every email I have received has mentioned something about the snow and the cold! Here it is warm and humid, but has rained loads...not really, but it rains every time I do not carry my umbrella. So you can all sleep well, I made it to the beach this week (actually the only sunny afternoon). The wavers were massive and I caught quite a few waves (swimming, no surf board yet). Alright, I am going out with my house mates for Steffy's 24th birthday party; it should be a good night! Take care and shovel hard! Adam