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