Stupid train, makin' me late

For want of anything else to do since I finished my book and all my friends and relations are unavailable for texting, being either fast asleep thousands of miles away or teaching, I guess I will post an update.

You wouldn't think you could be at a job for 5 months and still be confused 2 out of 5 days each week, but that is the situation I have found myself in. Just when I think I've understood something, I find out it is going to be changed, or dropped, or that it only applies in special cases, none of which apply to us. Even more strange, everyone--including my boss--assures me that this is standard operating procedure at our company. She has even commented on how quickly I seem to be picking things up. (Insert ridiculous astonished emoji.)

Hannah finished her training program and promptly tossed every piece of paper related to it except for her diploma in the garbage. Now she is applying to go college in the fall.

I recently learned there is an American expat group at my company, so I went and had lunch with them yesterday. There was some talk about politics, but I managed to avoid a lot of it. The news the last couple of days has been making my heart race and bringing tears to my eyes, so I am not ready to delve into it just yet, especially with people I just met.

The lack of rain is starting to piss me off. I am not organized enough at the moment to ensure that my new plants are getting watered, and John has kindly been watering them for me when he can, and only slightly snarkily telling me about it. Now we've had two days of likely looking clouds turning out to be lies, and I catch myself cursing and muttering under my breath while walking outside, daring it to rain.

Nee in Germany feels like a nut, but not a coconut, because that shit is gross

Tootling along

I really am amazed at the speed of the postal service here. I dropped an application for a job ticket for the train in the mailbox on Monday for pickup after 4 p.m., and I had the ticket in my hand when the mail was delivered before 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

Once I had the ticket, I decided to go back and double check the bus routes and times from the train station to my new job. Turns out, I won't have to ride my bike. There is basically a shuttle to and from the train station to the job site. So that is one less thing I have to worry about before Day 1.

Yesterday I went to meet my author, but he hadn't made as much headway with the manuscript as hoped, so I came home early and painted two windowframes. Even with the set-backs of his tardiness and the time needed for the oil paint to dry, I should have both of those projects done before starting my job.

Today I went and got my hair cut. The last time I went was right before my job interview in November, and the stylist remembered me and my self-inflicted bangs. John wasn't happy that I'd decided to stick with the shorter (not short!) hair style, but I'm the one who has to deal with it.

Now to see if I can find that knitting pattern I was looking at last night. I have some acryl+mohair yarn a friend gave me, and 4 balls have gone into a thick, giant scarf, but I still have 3 balls left.

--Nee in Germany needs to keep busy

Hand-flapping, ahoy!

I'm steadily closing in on the start date for my new job, and I am trying not to freak out. When I freak out, I start to hyperfocus on logistics, so I am now planning out my daily commute. If we still lived in Heidelberg, it would be a straight shot to my new place of employment, but now I will have to take the train to Heidelberg and switch trains. I plan to keep a bike at the train station since my job site is not that close and the bus does not appear to run in conjunction with the train schedule (what?!). Anyhoo, John bought my bike off our neighbor several years ago, and I have never used it, so it is time to make sure it is in repair, etc. I spent some time online this morning looking for a rear light, a bag I can attach easily, and some rain gear. Yesterday I tried out my new bike helmet -- purple! -- and took my bike for a spin. I think I am going to have to get on it even more between now and Feb. 1 if I don't want to show up dead to my office.

I still have some work to do on my final translation, too, plus some painting to do on the windows. I'm trying not to freak out about those things, but I am a natural freak-outer, I am afraid.

Finally, I heard this morning that Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries had died. She is roughly our age (John and me), and something like that really shakes you. It's not that I really knew anything about her personally, or that I can't listen to her music anymore, or even that I've been reminded that I could die young, too, but it is like another thread connecting me to my younger days has been snipped. At some point in each of our lives, if we live long enough, everything that came before us is no longer there, and we only have the things that came after us. Not that there is anything inherently bad about that, but I imagine it is a serious adjustment, and a constant reminder that we're next.

-- Nee in Germany has lots of feelings this morning

Quick

Apparently there is a series of Detective Conan movies, so I've got to finish this quick so I can go watch one on tv.

Today I put the finishing touches (finally!) on a book I translated and sent it to the publisher. Yay!

I worked on the last section of the second book I translated, but I'm not quite done. Boo!

I put the first layer of paint on one of the windows we are refurbishing. Yay!

I only missed one day of exercising this week. Woo!

--Nee in Germany likes to count her achievements

The sun! It burns!

The sun came out today, and it was the most glorious thing I've seen. I ran to open all the curtains to let the extra light in, and I noticed it had been sprinkling. The Germans say the devil is beating his wife when that happens (rain and sun). Later, I heard on the radio that last month was the third darkest December since they started recording hours of daylight in Germany. It sure felt like it! But now that it is less overcast, it is getting colder. Oh, well, if it is not cold in January, when should it be?

That being said, I bought my first spring flowers on Monday to help brighten the place up. They'll be dead soon enough, but I needed a bit of yellow/orange to counteract the gloom.

I'm within 1500 words of being done with my translation. As John pointed out, this may be my last one ever (thank Gnu).

I like to rub my face on my cat, but she doesn't always like it. John could appreciate my statement to the cat "Thanks for not ripping my face off" from a linguistic perspective as a unique utterance, but otherwise he found it weird.

--Nee in Germany picks cold and sunny over gray and warm any day

Nee's Busy World

I feel like I should be drawn as an animal in a felt hat, a la Richard Scarry, with all the errands I was running around doing today.

John had noticed that something was chewing on the plastic sacks of recycling we store in the cellar/garage until pick-up day, but it wasn't every time, so he didn't worry about it. But then we found a hole chewed into a plastic sack of cat food, with a dead mouse hanging out of it, so he set out 4 mouse traps in the cellar. All but one have disappeared, leading us to believe that something else is living in the cellar and feasting on the carcasses we are so kindly providing. So one of my errands was buying more mouse traps and a live trap big enough for a marten (basically a weasel). Technically, martens cannot be hunted, so we are going to try to trap and release any we catch.

(This is what Germans think of when they think of martens.)

In less rodent-y news, I bought John a bunch of ornaments dripping in irridescent glitter for Xmas, but he wanted something he could put on his desk, so when I saw a pillar candle covered in irridescent glitter on sale at the supermarket today, I got it for him. He could have been more appreciative; he's lucky he didn't end up with a giant, glitter covered suppository.

--Nee in Germany is pooped

Trying to catch up

After flying to Texas, plus the holidays, my sleep schedule is way off. John goes back to work on Monday, so I guess that will help me get back into an earlier to bed/to rise rhythm, which I haven't been able to do myself with my alarm clock.

I made delicious carrot soup today. I usually follow a cookbook religiously, but I don't usually get great results. Since my soup cookbook basically follows one pattern -- saute onions, add veg until soft, add broth and simmer, +/- dairy -- I decided I would do it from memory, more or less, and it turned out better than ever. Also, a dallop of sour cream on top and some fried crouton-thingies are delicious!

This weekend I need to do some "onboarding" stuff for my new job. I am very excited to get the ball rolling on that.

If it will stop raining for more than 5 minutes, I am going to take my bike for a spin to see if it needs any repairs. John has to get his bike into the shop soon, so he can take mine, too, if necessary.

--Nee in Germany helped take down the xmas tree today

Keeping our kayaks ready

It has been raining non-stop for a couple of days now, and the street along the river is closed for the second time since New Year's Day. Luckily, we live way too high up the hill for the rising river to be a problem at our house, but our little village may not be so lucky if the lowest cellars start flooding.

I starting refinishing two windows that had crumbling putty mumble mumble months ago, and today John and I finally got the glass and putty put back in on one of them. I broke a few panes while getting them out in the first place, and it turns out that the windows are NOT the same size, because my replacement panes only fit one of the windows, so now I don't have enough glass to finish the other window. I guess I'll have to write back to the glass dude to see if I can get the glass recut or replaced.

I think we've just about finished our leftovers from New Year's Eve, but it has been a bit ridiculous. John has been drinking champagne with lunch, and we are both stuffed with meat. I'm glad I'm getting back to my exercise routine, or I'd feel even more bloated than I do.

I was away from home most of yesterday to work with one of my authors, but it took us so long, I wasn't able to meet Hannah to do some jeans shopping with her. She went with her boyfriend instead, and I got the bill. I guess I'll wait until the weather improves to do my own shopping.

--Nee in Germany washed her bike in the rain today

Resolving resolutions

Now is the time to think about my resolutions for the new year, but mostly I am just trying to get back on track after the holidays and my recent traveling.

I had been doing one of those 30-day exercise challenges, on top of some stretches, but hadn't had time or space to keep up with it while I was in Texas, so I am starting over on day 1 today. That means I should have gotten through all 30 days before starting my new job on Feb. 1.

John and I had also gotten away from eating so much meat, but our guests over the holidays were big meat-and-potato types, so now that they are gone, it is time to dig our chickpea recipes back out.

Being around my family reminded me that I haven't done such a great job in the recent past at staying in touch, so that is something I want to make more of an effort at.

My only real resolution is to take a hard look at my internet habits and really think about what they contribute to my happiness. There are some personal blogs I follow that I know I will keep up with, and facebook is my main means of communicating with a certain segment of friends, but otherwise I may cut way back. When I was at my sister's, they hardly watched any news on tv, mostly local stuff, and it was a pleasant break for me. I think doing the same thing online will help me feel less anxious this year. Starting my new job will also take up a lot of my mental energy, and I don't want to burn through what's left with 9gag and hyperpartisanship online.

--Nee in Germany has to use her brain, ouch!

Happy New Year!

I guess my resolution is to get back to blogging more. I just read back over my most recent entries, and I realized that all of my postings from 2017 fit on one page, and that made me sad. Onward and upward!

John is underway to Mannheim to deliver his high school friend and family to the train station to return to Paris. They spent several days around Xmas in Paris and at Euro Disney, then came to us for a few days leading up to New Year's Day, and they are flying back out again tomorrow, if the weather in Dallas allows it (people on FB have been reporting icy conditions in north and west Texas).

I myself only got back from Texas a day or two before they landed in Europe. My sister was able to have her surgery the second week of December due to a cancellation, so I hopped on a plane to spend two weeks with her. My mom came as well, even though she had bronchitis and probably should have stayed home and taken care of herself, and my other sister came one weekend to check in on us. When I left, my sister's recovery was going quite well, but she took a turn for the worse once the steroids and surgical drugs finally cleared her system and had to go back to the doctor, but a new round of steroids seems to be helping immensely.

While I was gone, I found out I got the job I had interviewed for the last week of November! I was able to handle most of the stuff for accepting the position via email, and after I got home I was able to get a signed copy of my contract back to them before 2017 was over. I've been so busy that I haven't really been able to think about it, but now that the holidays are coming to a close, I've started dreaming, which is always a sign I'm digesting something.

At our New Year's party last night, my friend was asking if I'd be able to finish my last translation gig (a book) before starting my new job, and I was all, "Sure! No prob!", but I still have 3000 words to go, and I feel less booze-fueled confidant this morning. I still think I can get it done, but there are lots of other things I would like to do, too, and I am less confidant about them.

I'm starting the new year by getting organized, not in a Fung Shui or Marie Kondo way, but by clearing my desk and swapping out my calendars. A little bit of organization goes a long way in making me less crazed (although the leftover lava cake I just had with coffee is counteracting that at the moment).

--Nee in Germany needs more than a little bit of organization