Hello. My name is Amy...

....and I'm an Alias addict.

Since I've been back in Germany, I've done exactly three things. One, I had (and seemingly continue to have) a throat infection. The little bugger seems impervious to all the antibiotics I throw at it. It's probably bird flu.

Two, I started my new job at the USO in Mannheim. After nearly two years of volunteering with the USO here in Heidelberg, it's amazing to show up, do exactly the same thing I was doing last week for free, and GET PAID for it. If only I'd known that they would pay me for it in the first place, I never would have done it for free! (Wow - taken out of context, that last sentence could definately end any hope I might have of a career in politics.) The people at the USO are great; they're the same folks I've been working with for these last couple of years. And best of all, the job is extremely low stress. My most important assignment every day is to ensure that the refrigerator that we sell cokes out of is fully stocked. After my last job, which involved a level of stress that oozed out of my eyeballs and pooled on my desk in icky little puddles, this job is like a vacation.

Three - and this is where the addiction part comes in - I've been watching Alias. For those of you not familiar with this most excellent show let me update you. It stars Jennifer Garner (she of the new-and-improved Bennifer fame) as a wig-wearing, ass-kicking, super-secret-squirrel-society-type spy with subplots upon subplots about naughty Russian spy mothers and cold, Mommy-killing fathers, and evil geniuses around every bend. We're talking waaaaaay over the top here, people. And I love this show. I love it so much that I think you have to spell it with a 'u': I luv this show.

I never actually watched it while it was in production (I think it's off the air now, non?), but those wonderful folks on AFN started rebroadcasting the series from the beginning about two months ago, and I got hooked. Happily for me - but sadly for my addiction - my husband sent me the first four seasons while I was away in the States. You know what that means, sports fans - that's right, I've sat in my apartment all week long, doing nothing but feverishly watching Alias episodes for hours at a time.

They say the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.