Been doing stuff. I don't think that I'm going to take this flat. They want six months rent in advance in spite of the fact that I make £45/hour and have £30,000 in the bank. It's because I'm self-employed. If I was employed at Subway, it would be no problem.

I offered three months and if they won't accept that, fuck them. They've already demonstrated that they're incompetent assholes, I didn't like the flat, and after some research I discovered that the landlord is Indian.

In other news, went to the dentist today. Oh man, talk about unpleasant. Not in the way one might expect for a dentist visit. It was just a checkup. Normally, in my experience of UK dentistry, you go in for a "checkup" and on that same day they do whatever procedures are necessary.

Not here. It was strictly a checkup. They took x-rays. Then the salespitch begins. "We can do this, it's not so good, it's the cheapest option. We can do this, it's the middling option, it costs more. Or we can do the super-duper option, it will last a lifetime, and it costs £10,000".

Highly unpleasant. I didn't need any serious work done. It was just replacing fillings but then it's like you're transported to a used car lot.

It was US dentistry. Everything is a scam. You get smiling assholes all around you from the minute you walk in and everything is a con. They're trying to push as many procedures on you as possible and you have to make a decision right then and there based on the advice of the salesman/dentist. It's disgusting.

I'm there for medical treatment. Do what's most sensible. You're the medical professional. How do I know the long-term benefits of white fillings over the regular kind, if any? Is a crown necessary? Then I'll take a crown. But if it's not neccessary, don't give me a crown. I mean really.

Extremely unpleasant. Not something I've experienced in the UK before. In the US, of course. The whole system is based around screwing the patients out of as much money as you can. But I thought that the UK was more about patient care.

Finally, got a last minute job offer. Hey, great. Three day case. It's my first job in six weeks.

It's from a guy who hasn't paid me for a job I did seven months ago. So I said I can't do it unless he pays me. He says he would. Why has it taken this long? Why does he only offer to pay when I have him over the proverbial barrel? They ignored my emails, never returned phone calls, and didn't even answer the phone when I called because they knew it was me.

Now he's ready to pay. As it turns out, when I checked my diary, I realised that my ladyfriend was visiting on that day so I can't do the job anyway. So I don't expect to get paid for that job ever. Unless he needs me to do work for him again.