Some overdue notes from a busy time
Jun. 11th, 2011 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lyornWell, the teeth are not so much new as different. I had two more of my wisdom teeth out on Tuesday, and (especially compared to last time it was a piece of cake: No power tools and very little general unpleasantness, and the whole thing done in 45 minutes. But now my mouth feels different and my tongue is encountering edges where there weren't any before, and I talk funny.
Anyway, where was I these last few weeks?
Frightfully busy, mostly. I'll try to just talk about a few highlights to try to keep my recollection of my life in some kind of order.
Work
Today, I got a paper at work through review. Having the paper done means that the project is done, and that is an embarrassingly large weight off my shoulders. That nice little programming project which I could have done in two weeks when I was 16 took me five months. Five f***ing months, WTFBBQ? One month of not successfully extracting myself from my previous projects, one month of having no clue how to start, one month of getting lost in the perl libraries, one month of staring at the whole thing like a rabbit at a particularly hypnotic snake and thinking with rising panic how much my life sucks, and one month, you know, finally doing that stupid thing.
General discontentment
Could I do it better today? Probably not. When I fear that I cannot do something, my mind just goes blank until I have found something other to keep my thoughts occupied. And the more pressing whatever issue it is becomes, the less I am able to marshal a single useful thought. I just stare and hate everything and wish I could be someone else, somewhere else.
I spend entirely too much time in that state of mind this year. I also spent entirely too much time pursuing stupid arguments with stupid self-righteous and judgemental people in stupid fora, and playing stupid mouse-clicking games. I spend entirely too much time being afraid. I hate being afraid. It makes me so unproductive.
Music
Some stuff, of course, happens, as it can't help but. Last Sunday our choir was singing at the annual choir concerto in the park, which is far from my favourite performance place. It's either too hot, or too cold (usually both, in that order), it has too little seating and too many blood-drinking insects, no place to safely store your gear, and as we always sing last, we are never warmed up enough, or at all. The only redeeming feature is that this concerto always shows us off as big fish, albeit in a very small pond. We are good, even when we aren't, and people like us, even if we wonder why. And I got to wear my new clothes.
Shopping
The Friday before I had generously offered to my co-workers to be in office, despite Thursday being a holiday and nearly everyone taking Friday off, but they didn't take me up on that offer, thank the FSM. So I could go shopping for flowers for my balcony with I___ in the morning, and meet Ceridwen for an afternoon in town later.
With![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
flederkatz's help I had finally got around to getting the balcony made cat-safe with a 2 metre high net, so I could go there again without fearing for the cats. Now it was high time to make it not only safe, but liveable. I___ and I got the usual bunch of petunias, some Plectranthus, a hanging strawberry, as well as oregano, honey melon sage, rosemary and lemon verbena. The thyme had survived the winter again (that's one hardy plant), a tiny shoot of coriander had come back, and the tomato plant that K___ and had given me for Easter was doing well. So now my balcony is looking extremely nice, smells well, the strawberries are ripening, the tomatoes are growing, and the cats are very happy about the extension of their territory and cuter than ever.
The city had it's "shopping Friday", same as last year, but I didn't find it quite so much fun. Maybe Ceridwen and I didn't happen to be in the right places at the right times. Anyway, we bought coffee (flederkatz got me a coffee habit), had ice cream, and went to the cinema to watch the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean"-movie. It suffered from a stupid female lead, in my opinion, and I suffered from my legs hurting very badly from sitting still for so long. Still, it was fun enough. And the weather was brilliant the whole day and the night was beautiful.
Blaue Nacht
Talking about beautiful nights, about a week earlierflederkatz and I had been to Nuremberg for the "Blaue Nacht": a long evening full of art and culture stuff with all the museums open and shows on all public places. Flederkatz has a way of stuffing every day with enough action to last me a week, so on that Saturday, we had been cooking, playing "Blue Planet" with G___ and mad_freddy, slept a little, and set off into town in the early evening. Which, note to self, was too late!
We had selected about five or seven close-together things we wanted to see, starting with a show at the planetarium. Want to know how many we managed? Two. Yepp. Two. In six hours. When we arrived at the planetarium at nine, all tickets except for the last show (starting at midnight) were gone. We took two of those and set out with no clear goal, came to a church where a performance had just ended, entered to see the next one but discovered that it would not start until ten, and we were hungry. So we left again and got Fish & Chips at a food stand (those were very good), then walked a short distance to a small exploratorium-style museum of sensory illusion. Where we had to wait in line for about 45 minutes before we were let in. It was fun, and I liked that they did not go "haha, your puny human senses are so easily fooled" but instead said, "and this is why our perception is set up this way -- the very same effect that lets you fall for illusions helps you make sense of what you see!" When we left, it was half past eleven. Through some dark alleys we hurried back to the planetarium. The show was a space journey, starting from Earth and going past the planets of the solar systems to the outer rim of the Milky Way, and beyond. There were very good images of the Moon and of Mars and of some of Jupiter's moons, sadly none of the new ones from Neptune. And I had some trouble staying awake.
The night was still going nicely when we came out, even though most of the shows had closed at midnight. We took the subway to the cinema and got tickets for "On Stranger Tides", only to learn that after 1 am there wasn't a coffee to be had in all of the giant, twenty-screen cinema complex, despite the movies running until half past 4 in the morning. We could have got beer, or something stronger, or soft drinks, but no coffee. So, seriously miffed, we returned the tickets and went into the general direction of home.
Only to be waylaid by a beer garden with live music. And coffee. We sat outside until the band stopped playing, had a smoke and felt alright with the world.
We finally made it home around three or a little later, and while it had been mild enough to sit outside in the city, it was only 8°C when we arrived.
For all it not going to plan, we still had a great evening. But next time we'll make a better plan!
Other things
We also played some RPGs, celebrated I___'s birthday with lots of cake in the afternoon and a big pot of Chilli con Carne in the evening, and saw "Sucker Punch" at the movies, which was surprisingly good and clever. It took us the drive back to indentify all the interlocking dreamscapes and who was controlling them. It should be played in Mage, though Werewolf might create very interesting effects. (We always sketch RPG adventures from the movies we see.)
And that's pretty much it, and I'm already backdating this big time, because I wanted to do a proper write-up, but I just cannot seem to get around to it, so better post it now.
Anyway, where was I these last few weeks?
Frightfully busy, mostly. I'll try to just talk about a few highlights to try to keep my recollection of my life in some kind of order.
Work
Today, I got a paper at work through review. Having the paper done means that the project is done, and that is an embarrassingly large weight off my shoulders. That nice little programming project which I could have done in two weeks when I was 16 took me five months. Five f***ing months, WTFBBQ? One month of not successfully extracting myself from my previous projects, one month of having no clue how to start, one month of getting lost in the perl libraries, one month of staring at the whole thing like a rabbit at a particularly hypnotic snake and thinking with rising panic how much my life sucks, and one month, you know, finally doing that stupid thing.
General discontentment
Could I do it better today? Probably not. When I fear that I cannot do something, my mind just goes blank until I have found something other to keep my thoughts occupied. And the more pressing whatever issue it is becomes, the less I am able to marshal a single useful thought. I just stare and hate everything and wish I could be someone else, somewhere else.
I spend entirely too much time in that state of mind this year. I also spent entirely too much time pursuing stupid arguments with stupid self-righteous and judgemental people in stupid fora, and playing stupid mouse-clicking games. I spend entirely too much time being afraid. I hate being afraid. It makes me so unproductive.
Music
Some stuff, of course, happens, as it can't help but. Last Sunday our choir was singing at the annual choir concerto in the park, which is far from my favourite performance place. It's either too hot, or too cold (usually both, in that order), it has too little seating and too many blood-drinking insects, no place to safely store your gear, and as we always sing last, we are never warmed up enough, or at all. The only redeeming feature is that this concerto always shows us off as big fish, albeit in a very small pond. We are good, even when we aren't, and people like us, even if we wonder why. And I got to wear my new clothes.
Shopping
The Friday before I had generously offered to my co-workers to be in office, despite Thursday being a holiday and nearly everyone taking Friday off, but they didn't take me up on that offer, thank the FSM. So I could go shopping for flowers for my balcony with I___ in the morning, and meet Ceridwen for an afternoon in town later.
With
flederkatz's help I had finally got around to getting the balcony made cat-safe with a 2 metre high net, so I could go there again without fearing for the cats. Now it was high time to make it not only safe, but liveable. I___ and I got the usual bunch of petunias, some Plectranthus, a hanging strawberry, as well as oregano, honey melon sage, rosemary and lemon verbena. The thyme had survived the winter again (that's one hardy plant), a tiny shoot of coriander had come back, and the tomato plant that K___ and had given me for Easter was doing well. So now my balcony is looking extremely nice, smells well, the strawberries are ripening, the tomatoes are growing, and the cats are very happy about the extension of their territory and cuter than ever.The city had it's "shopping Friday", same as last year, but I didn't find it quite so much fun. Maybe Ceridwen and I didn't happen to be in the right places at the right times. Anyway, we bought coffee (
flederkatz got me a coffee habit), had ice cream, and went to the cinema to watch the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean"-movie. It suffered from a stupid female lead, in my opinion, and I suffered from my legs hurting very badly from sitting still for so long. Still, it was fun enough. And the weather was brilliant the whole day and the night was beautiful.Blaue Nacht
Talking about beautiful nights, about a week earlier
flederkatz and I had been to Nuremberg for the "Blaue Nacht": a long evening full of art and culture stuff with all the museums open and shows on all public places. Flederkatz has a way of stuffing every day with enough action to last me a week, so on that Saturday, we had been cooking, playing "Blue Planet" with G___ and mad_freddy, slept a little, and set off into town in the early evening. Which, note to self, was too late! We had selected about five or seven close-together things we wanted to see, starting with a show at the planetarium. Want to know how many we managed? Two. Yepp. Two. In six hours. When we arrived at the planetarium at nine, all tickets except for the last show (starting at midnight) were gone. We took two of those and set out with no clear goal, came to a church where a performance had just ended, entered to see the next one but discovered that it would not start until ten, and we were hungry. So we left again and got Fish & Chips at a food stand (those were very good), then walked a short distance to a small exploratorium-style museum of sensory illusion. Where we had to wait in line for about 45 minutes before we were let in. It was fun, and I liked that they did not go "haha, your puny human senses are so easily fooled" but instead said, "and this is why our perception is set up this way -- the very same effect that lets you fall for illusions helps you make sense of what you see!" When we left, it was half past eleven. Through some dark alleys we hurried back to the planetarium. The show was a space journey, starting from Earth and going past the planets of the solar systems to the outer rim of the Milky Way, and beyond. There were very good images of the Moon and of Mars and of some of Jupiter's moons, sadly none of the new ones from Neptune. And I had some trouble staying awake.
The night was still going nicely when we came out, even though most of the shows had closed at midnight. We took the subway to the cinema and got tickets for "On Stranger Tides", only to learn that after 1 am there wasn't a coffee to be had in all of the giant, twenty-screen cinema complex, despite the movies running until half past 4 in the morning. We could have got beer, or something stronger, or soft drinks, but no coffee. So, seriously miffed, we returned the tickets and went into the general direction of home.
Only to be waylaid by a beer garden with live music. And coffee. We sat outside until the band stopped playing, had a smoke and felt alright with the world.
We finally made it home around three or a little later, and while it had been mild enough to sit outside in the city, it was only 8°C when we arrived.
For all it not going to plan, we still had a great evening. But next time we'll make a better plan!
Other things
We also played some RPGs, celebrated I___'s birthday with lots of cake in the afternoon and a big pot of Chilli con Carne in the evening, and saw "Sucker Punch" at the movies, which was surprisingly good and clever. It took us the drive back to indentify all the interlocking dreamscapes and who was controlling them. It should be played in Mage, though Werewolf might create very interesting effects. (We always sketch RPG adventures from the movies we see.)
And that's pretty much it, and I'm already backdating this big time, because I wanted to do a proper write-up, but I just cannot seem to get around to it, so better post it now.
