Well, looks like I’ve managed to become illegal again. The last time was in September, and then I managed to get a three-month extension. The twist in the spiel is, if I can manage to stay on German soil until April, I’ll get a Green Card. Of course, what happens in-between will probably have a major effect on whether or not I’ll be a hollow-eyed 80 lb. scarecrow by then, selling nickel-bags to schoolchildren to buy coffee and tobacco, but whatever, it’s a start. I think I’ve developed my game plan; stay tuned...

Bureaucracies have their place in the order of things. They bring order and impersonality where it’s needed. It’s the earthly manifestation of the Rule of Law, where the rules apply regardless of identity or circumstance. To be sure, there are good and bad bureaucracies, but the point of it all is, poor and rich alike are affected by the red tape, thereby assuring some sort of lowest common denominator of suffering that unites, feel the love my brothers. Bureaucracies do have their drawbacks, of course. To wit, “going postal” is now officially in the American lexicon. But still, you have to admit that it all looks good on paper, like Socialism or torx screwdrivers.

So, now all that’s left to hope is that I can phone it in for four months and back into the playoffs, to mix a metaphor or three.