So I haven’t posted anything for awhile, and I don’t want you to think that it is due to laziness. Well, due solely to laziness. Many reasons contributed to my lack of BA updates, such as:

1. I am annoyingly meticulous about what I write, in that I second-guess every word or phrase before writing it. I am doing it right now (I decided against writing, “every word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, etc.” in the last sentence because it seemed redundant and hardly lovable), even as I try to throw caution to the wind and just type what I mean as quickly as possible, before I can go back and erase it. This has been a flaw for me ever since I can remember; I never revise my work, having spent ages on it to begin with. In fact, this flaw combined with procrastination and disgust about the subject matter* resulted in a perfect storm of academic suckitude more than once in college. So from now on, my posts may not be quite as coherent or organized, but at least I will get my thoughts up before I forget the nuances of my experiences here (Grr. That sounded overly pretentious, but I am leaving it alone, damnit!).

*A primary focus of my Comparative Literature major was reading works in their original language. So when one of the books assigned for “Literature and Film of the Cuban Revolution” was a translation from the English version, I thought it pretty ridiculous. The author didn’t even write the Spanish translation, and it seems contradictory to a major theme of the book to read a version in Castellano. So that paper didn’t go so well. Ahem.

2. Our internet in the apartment ranges from barely adequate to completely non-functional for hours at a time. Granted, I could write a post in Word or Pages and then paste the entire thing, but that would be sans the links, photos, clever pop-culture references (heh, I take that one back) that make blogs fun! We have been to various Wi-Fi cafes, but my laptop battery is pretty pathetic (no doubt my fault, as I never bothered to calibrate it). Plus, Max and I take advantage of decent bandwidth to make calls or play games. And the cafes have their own inconveniences, like having to get a new access code every 45 minutes (avoid The Coffee Store for internet, but not for coffee. You have to pay a little extra from a chain to receive something not burnt or weak in Argentina) or waitresses flat-out refusing to help (Via-Via on Chile between Defensa and Balcarce has the bitchiest woman I have ever encountered. I may have to write a post just about her) or networks disappearing periodically. And taking the subway to get to a cafe is a pain in my messenger bag shoulder and taking a cab kicks my bank account in its stomach ulcer that is leaking funds at a horrifying rate and…excuses, excuses. And here’s another one!

3. It is extremely cold in our apartment on normal days, and it has been unbearable lately. Of course, I do feel pretty luck to have been around for this weather anomaly, and the pictures on Max’s site are really lovely. But it is so cold in our living room right now! The radiator works whenever it feels like it, and it is in the upstairs bedroom. Heat doesn’t go down, or so pop science has told me. Our guests may need to bring sub-zero sleeping bags just to survive. And I can’t bring my laptop upstairs for more than hour due to the battery reason mentioned before. I am pretty sure that Max would be upset if I moved the transformer (We may go to see Transformers! aka “Loud Cars Smash Bang Twist Shia” just to get into a warm room for a few hours. Ratatouille, however, was really cute.) to the bedroom and Apple toys are twice as expensive here, so I won’t be buying adapters anytime soon. Hopefully, the Antarctic air will blow away soon, and I will be able to walk around and do something worth blogging about.