Your Japanese word for today is "panikku"!

Turns out that in nine semesters of the Tsuru program, they've never had anyone bail. So two students suddenly leaving within a week of each other was cause for alarm back at the main office. They sent a couple people over to re-evaluate the program yesterday... we got a chance to voice some complaints about the classes (the senseis really need to coordinate better) and generally give feedback, which was nice.

This has nothing to do with my current mood (and no, I'm not going to explain it).

And speaking of panic...

Dropped back by the lab after classes and a sensei review of my last speech's draft. Hooked up my laptop... and got no connection. Bad cord, I assumed. I tried another. Nothing. I reboot. Still nothing. Fiddle with the network settings... STILL nothing...

Fearing the worst, I duck into winipcfg and find that the gateway data has been lost. This was a problem in another lab, and it refused to correct there; if I hadn't found my current hangout I'd have been forced to dial up from my apartment every time I wanted to netsurf (on a slow-as-hell connection that ejects me every hour). Holding my breath, I mutter a quick prayer, click "Release All", and reset... and the connection resolves.

I still have no idea why the gateway was dropped in the first place, but right now, I'm just grateful to be back in business.