For once, something stupid that's my own fault and not my parents'

Oh, so now my parents might be flying me back to Alabama for my friend's August 18th wedding. They've been waffling over tickets for a week but they finally found some that are less than $700 USD and asked me how long I wanted to stay and stuff... and suddenly, I realised my residence permit expires soon. I checked. August 8.

A WORLD OF FACEPALM, OKAY.

They screenprint the residence permit in your passport and in my experience they usually keep it for like a month.

The police are totes my favourite Finnish government agency! They've always been so helpful and nice. Don't fail me now, police! Because it would really suck if I couldn't leave because my passport was still busy and I wouldn't be able to get back into the country.

Cotillion

The last Georgette Heyer novel I picked up for myself, to my surprise and delight, turned out to be one of my very favourites which I had forgotten. I almost cannot praise it highly enough (my one criticism of Heyer, which stands for most of her work, is that she leaves the romances not quite emotionally satisfying, but since it is a universal flaw there's no sense ascribing it particularly to this book).

Cotillion is the story in which Heyer takes that beloved secondary character, the capable and thoroughly loveable but unintentionally hilarious comic straight man, and makes him into the romantic hero - as I have so frequently rather wished someone would do, when reading other books where he crops up as a sidekick or comedic diversion.

Freddy Standen isn't all this book has to offer, though - it also boasts two strong and thoroughly amusing B-plots; several funny and rather unique antagonists; interesting period fashion and vocabulary lessons, and an informative tour of London (all woven in of course); and some classic theatre, party, and masquerade ball scenes (though not to beat the ones in April Lady).