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...and now also back at work
Aug. 17th, 2011 12:02 pmYesterday was the first day, and it wasn't all that bad. Tackled email backlog, had Macedonian lesson, and was of course happy to be back with the lovely colleagues (the fact that Jasna, the Queen of Pain, is on leave, might have increased the happiness...) I also got rid of two looming and somewhat procrastinated tasks between yesterday and today.
If it wasn't for the heat, everything would be as near-perfect as it gets. Or raher, I wouldn't even mind the heat if I slept well, but the nights are quite hot and windless. So, even though I get enough sleep, it's not top quality sleep. No change in sight, either...
The good news is that I managed to snaffle a cheap ticket to Warsaw, i.e. I'm going to visit Gabriele (the one from Ankara) from 16 to 18 September. I'd originally planned to go Skopje-Vienna, stay overnight, and do the same on the way back, but the ticket prices increase exponentially. € 311 is enough; no need to pay over 700 --crazy, isn't it, that for € 700 I could go from Vienna to New York and back?
There isn't a lot of noteworthy stuff to report.
I got stung by a wasp last Friday -- sublime irony, because in the south-eastern part of Austria they are having the worst wasp year like evah, and nothing happened -- and now I know that I'm mildly allergic. Or maybe not so mildly, but the beast didn't live long enough to give me the full dosage. Anyway, I spent two hours shivering and with gooseflesh, very very unpleasant, and am going to get some kind of first aid kit next time I go to Austria. If it's a hornet, and it lives sufficiently long to get rid of all its venom, I might not get away so lightly. Let it never be said that I don't learn from experience.
Oh, and there's a piece of extraodinarily great news, which I forgot to write down last time: not only will I get a bigger flat once I'm back in Vienna, but it'll be my old (and very much beloved) flat, just with one additional room. This is totally squee-worthy, because I like living on the mezzanine. Plus, the rent won't go up by much, which is also excellent, given the salary plunge once I go back. Luxuries like gym will be affordable that way.
Given this very good news, the idea of going back in 2013 is becoming rather attractive -- Vienna offers so much, and even though work will probably be quite boring, the quality of life won't be bad.
The HP series re-read did not lead to a herd of plot bunnies coming my way. It was more like reading not-so-brilliant fan fiction, especially books 6 and 7. I still can't quite understand why on earth the editor(s) did not or could not do a better job. The excessive use of the verb "thunder" -- not in a weather-related context -- *must* be enough to make even a half-decent editor's hair stand on end. Besides, somebody ought to have told JKR that, if a person reading tome 6 hadn't read tome 4, "Harry had the familiar feeling of falling blablabla" won't tell them much about what a Pensieve looks like and what entering a memory feels like, and if they *have* read it, then those repetitive phrases will do more harm than good.
It might also have been a good idea to decide whether one means to write for children or (young) adults. As things are, from PoA on the plot and characters are too dark for children (meaning up till 12 or 13 years), and the sense of humour and sometimes crudely parodistic characterizations are too blunt and infantile for (young) adults.
One detail I found indescribably contrived and jarring: Voldemort giving the defenders of Hogwarts one hour to tend to their wounded and mourn their dead. Yes, I know what the hour is needed for, but puh-bleeding-lease, gimme a break! Of all the unbelievable things, this has got to be the most unbelievable, even if we take the necessity of the villain being a stupid twat for granted.
Enough righteous indignation for now. Time to eat my salad, and maybe play a bit of mahjong afterwards.
If it wasn't for the heat, everything would be as near-perfect as it gets. Or raher, I wouldn't even mind the heat if I slept well, but the nights are quite hot and windless. So, even though I get enough sleep, it's not top quality sleep. No change in sight, either...
The good news is that I managed to snaffle a cheap ticket to Warsaw, i.e. I'm going to visit Gabriele (the one from Ankara) from 16 to 18 September. I'd originally planned to go Skopje-Vienna, stay overnight, and do the same on the way back, but the ticket prices increase exponentially. € 311 is enough; no need to pay over 700 --crazy, isn't it, that for € 700 I could go from Vienna to New York and back?
There isn't a lot of noteworthy stuff to report.
I got stung by a wasp last Friday -- sublime irony, because in the south-eastern part of Austria they are having the worst wasp year like evah, and nothing happened -- and now I know that I'm mildly allergic. Or maybe not so mildly, but the beast didn't live long enough to give me the full dosage. Anyway, I spent two hours shivering and with gooseflesh, very very unpleasant, and am going to get some kind of first aid kit next time I go to Austria. If it's a hornet, and it lives sufficiently long to get rid of all its venom, I might not get away so lightly. Let it never be said that I don't learn from experience.
Oh, and there's a piece of extraodinarily great news, which I forgot to write down last time: not only will I get a bigger flat once I'm back in Vienna, but it'll be my old (and very much beloved) flat, just with one additional room. This is totally squee-worthy, because I like living on the mezzanine. Plus, the rent won't go up by much, which is also excellent, given the salary plunge once I go back. Luxuries like gym will be affordable that way.
Given this very good news, the idea of going back in 2013 is becoming rather attractive -- Vienna offers so much, and even though work will probably be quite boring, the quality of life won't be bad.
The HP series re-read did not lead to a herd of plot bunnies coming my way. It was more like reading not-so-brilliant fan fiction, especially books 6 and 7. I still can't quite understand why on earth the editor(s) did not or could not do a better job. The excessive use of the verb "thunder" -- not in a weather-related context -- *must* be enough to make even a half-decent editor's hair stand on end. Besides, somebody ought to have told JKR that, if a person reading tome 6 hadn't read tome 4, "Harry had the familiar feeling of falling blablabla" won't tell them much about what a Pensieve looks like and what entering a memory feels like, and if they *have* read it, then those repetitive phrases will do more harm than good.
It might also have been a good idea to decide whether one means to write for children or (young) adults. As things are, from PoA on the plot and characters are too dark for children (meaning up till 12 or 13 years), and the sense of humour and sometimes crudely parodistic characterizations are too blunt and infantile for (young) adults.
One detail I found indescribably contrived and jarring: Voldemort giving the defenders of Hogwarts one hour to tend to their wounded and mourn their dead. Yes, I know what the hour is needed for, but puh-bleeding-lease, gimme a break! Of all the unbelievable things, this has got to be the most unbelievable, even if we take the necessity of the villain being a stupid twat for granted.
Enough righteous indignation for now. Time to eat my salad, and maybe play a bit of mahjong afterwards.
