Birthday pastries, pants, and taxes

I turned a quarter of a century old this last tuesday. The day itself was alright, I had to do some tuesday things, including an interview in the middle of nowhere, but I managed to get dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, so that was good.

My real birthday party was on Saturday, and I commemorated the event by purchasing a kilo of delectable pastries from the Arabic bakery down the street from my house

I (kinda) managed to not eat all of them in one sitting...small victories!

I also went shopping for new pants because this happened:

I've been workin with two pairs of old, faithful trousers for the past couple of years. As I bent over to get something out from under my bed, the nether region of these H&Ms decided to give up the ghost. So, I decided to go shopping. It was about time...

I also (quite unhappily) received a very strongly worded letter from the Finanzamt in Berlin, saying that I have to provide them with tax information from 2012 to 2013, and that I'm not allowed to freelance, and that I've been told multiple times. 

letter of death

While the first point is necessary (I guess) The second and third are completely not true. Since receiving the letter last week, I've paused and reflected on this predicament. Granted, I freaked out a little bit at the beginning but, I'm not the scared and unsure Anfänger that I once was. This isn't my first time dealing with German bureaucracy, and I'm certain I can figure out a way to deal with this. It's still kind of irritating that every time I have an issue (housing, work, university, thesis, whatever) the thing gets resolved for a few weeks only to be trumped by yet another problem. Oh well, like I said, this isn't my first time at the goat rodeo, and it probably won't be my last.