Tuesday, January 16, 2018

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

No comments: