i've taken von's advice and am making arrangements to come home definitely, and sooner. he says, rightly, that since i am getting nothing done here, i might as well go home, because at least i would be happier not getting anything done there, and the bonus is that if i were happier i might be more productive. and so today was spent arranging for train tickets and plane tickets and making going away arrangements. i've changed my return date half a dozen times, pushing it further and further back, but i've now got it changed back to july 1st, so that i can leave next week. verizon, irs, usps, harvard uos, and a bunch of others. the trouble i had with each of them is all too complicated and tedious to tell here, suffice to know it was complicated and tedious. and so i'm coming home next week. i can't deal with going out and lots of noise and people. i just know i'm going to burst into tears in the middle of orchard road or have a panic attack. can we just have quiet parties at home? and have tea and su-lin's baby molten chocolate cake and watch silly movies? or i can borrow the punggol flat and we can have a quiet, adult, sit-down dinner.