Taxes

It's said that there are two constants in life - death and taxes, so i was quite pleased to hear that might be able to get rid of these. Alas, not death - i'm not immortal just yet (although working on it, believe me) - but taxes, when i found out that, as a foreign national, depending on the status of a particular treaty, i may be exempt for taxes for the first two years i'm here. After calming down, i made my way over to the accounts part of MUSC to see what the score was. Typically, this isn't such a good deal after all. Y'see, for two years, i would have been tax-free, but then if i'd stayed for one day over that two year margin (which i intend to do if offered the opportunity), i would've had to pay tax including ALL back tax from the previous two years - pretty shit, i'm sure you'd agree. Having decided that i don't want to live on virtually nothing for the third year that i'm here, i generously decided to waive this right and give Uncle Sam his thirty pieces of silver every year. At least once i've filled in the paperwork.

On other fronts, i checked out of the hotel this morning and have now moved into my rather pleasant apartment. Thankfully it has very high ceilings - particularly useful in my case as it also has ceiling fans (not that jumping into fans can do much damage according to this study on the Discovery Channel i saw the other day). Admittedly it's rather empty at the moment - with just a bed besides the usual fittings - but i can manage the minimalist look for a bit. Well, one day. Am hitting the stores tomorrow on a spending spree. Before you know it, Hotel Clarke will be open for business!