either/or

i think that part of the problem with my spotty internet access is the cable - the physical cable, as far as i can tell, is messed up inside the wall. we got a TV last week and i called Cablevision to get us some cable. Argentina Idol here we come, but when we hooked it up to the wall, we only get about 5 channels, all of them in the 70ish range, one of which is mostly german.

Talking with my spanish teacher, she taught us how to say ‘the cable is bad’, which leads to an interesting spanish word. if you say ‘el cable es malo’, it means ‘the cable is bad’, but interestingly, you can also say ‘hitler es malo’, which would mean ‘hitler is evil’.

i wish i could explain the feeling of powerlessness, having a bad cable inside the walls of our new apartment, not knowing who to call, and even if i did, not knowing how to communicate with them. it’s incredibly humbling.