Nobody Told Me I Almost Died Today!

So, here I am taking a break from revising my thesis (so much harder than writing it, btw), and I decide to take a 5-er and check out my news feed on Facebook. Lo and behold, almost every post is about someone going to an end-of-the-world party, and the whole time I'm thinking "Wow, and here I am sitting with my thesis on a Friday ni... Wait?! Weltuntergang? Wasn't that last year?" Only to see, of course, the more, errrmmm... reputable sites informing me that an asteroid was about to whiz past the earth.

NBD, though, because I checked my news feed five minutes after it apparently went by.

Good thing that whole Armageddon thing would probably mean no people would be left on the earth, cuz I'd hate to be that guy who was tolling away on a humanities project (which most people consider to be totally not worthwhile at the best of times) as the world ended.

I hope you would have had a cooler dying story than me, that's all I can say.

But, for the record, were I to totally almost-not-really die again, I'd totally still be kickin' it with them antislavery women-folk.

Back Home

I'd like to say that the past week was sort of my bridge week between vacation and the real world. I spent last week in the wonderland that is Allgäu, giving myself time to get back into academic-mode without the pressure of laundry, flat-cleaning and other things that come with living in your own flat.

So, while I managed to churn out an entirely adequate fifteen pages of text, I also managed to do some things that make me sublimely happy:

- Catching up on an entire season of Army Wives. (Yeah, I got addicted when I was an army wife. Sue me.)
- Playing MarioKart on the Wii most evenings and being amazed that there are still enough people playing on the internet with each other.
- Enjoying staring out the window at Grünten.
- Spending time with one of the most important people in my life.
- Eating copious amounts of good food I would never buy for myself such as Smarties yogurt, peppers stuffed with cream cheese, popcorn and watermelon (Like it was a bowl of ice cream. Please see below.)

 

Tomorrow, it's back to the grind of getting up at 5:30 rather than a comfortable 8:00. What does my week consist of? Work, rushing to get papers done and handed in, and trying to arrange my flat in a presentable manner for when my mom and step-dad come to visit next week. (!!)

 

So... Yay for that. I guess.

(I just want more watermelon.)

It tooks me 26 years to realize the benefits of a real vacation.

When it comes to my education (which could also be called: "fear of the real world" or "never-ending pursuit of intellectual fulfillment"), I work relatively hard. I take classes at a distance university on the side for funsies, and I exclusively read secondary literature for projects on the train. In the last years, I've gone on plenty of "vacations", which were normally marked by me only working three or four hours per day on university work in a foreign country rather than most of the day at home.

I don't do it because I have to. Almost everyone I know gets by on far less.

I do it because I love it.

Still, that being said, I'd been at my breaking point for awhile. As much as I looked forward to my trip to Montreal, it scared the hell out of me since I'd promised myself twelve days without work. Why, you ask?

Because the last time I took a break like that was after my BA, and I was so bored after a week that I enrolled in distance courses just to give my brain something to do other than go to work and sit in front of the TV for a couple hours before going to bed. That drove me mad.

I admit, there were times in the last weeks when I just wanted to cruise JSTOR for some literature, and if I'm being honest, I did do a teeny, tiny bit of primary source research for an article I'm writing.

Yeah, I cheated. I did about an hour of work in twelve days, which officially marks the laziest I've been in years.

It's been a slow go getting back into it. Yesterday, I only managed some reading. Today, though, I'm back into writing, and am already a good thousand words into my day. I feel better again, a bit like I did this time last year before things really started piling up. The joy is back in it, and I'm grateful.

I recognize it took me going away and leaving my books behind, but I'm so glad I actually took a "real" vacation for once.

Yay for vacations! When's the next one?

Rain, Rain, Go Away

So, if anyone is having a particularly happy day that would be spoiled by a whole lot of complaining, maybe reading today's post isn't the brightest idea..

That being said, what gives?!

Where should I even start? How about with the weather? The weather is one of those stupid small-talk topics that people always complain about, right? Now, don't get me wrong -- I'm happy there's no such thing as a proper winter in Germany. Should I have to endure another Canadian winter ever again, know that I probably won't make it. You'll probably find me frozen onto the side of some tree muttering in German like a crazy person. Or something. So, as happy as I am that the winters here at their worst hit about -15c, I could do without the constant cloud cover and threat of rain. And I thought the migraines I got in Calgary because of the Chinooks were bad! Ha! It's a good day in Germany when I'm not in bed, clutching at my skull and begging for death. Besides, Maxie hates the rain. He won't go for walks in it. And when he's not going for walks, he's hyperactive. And THAT is annoying. Migraines + Bouncing Maxie = Anger. And who said I wasn't any good at math?

And in other news, I hate online classes. Okay, I'm lying a little. They're awesome because you can show up in pyjamas and fluffy socks to do your schoolwork. Oh, wait. I did that when I went to face-to-face classes, too. Never mind about the pyjamas then. Because not only do group projects in a real university suck; they suck online, too. They're even worse. Just imagine trying to co-ordinate slackers that are stationed across the globe who could care less about some history requirement. And then, there's me. History major, trying NOT to fail a stupid group project because some people have no respect for deadlines or capitalizing letters. There have been so many days this past week where I've wanted to throw my computer at the wall. And to be fair, my computer didn't do anything. If anything, my MacBook rules (chipping unibody aside). 

And then there's Maxie. As if he's not hyper enough, he had to lick up a bunch of coffee grinds that I'd spilled on the floor. I was just grabbing a broom and dustpan to clean up when, BAM!, my mess had disappeared. I probably wouldn't be too worried if it weren't for the fact my dog is hyperactive on his laziest of days. Shoot.

Did you honestly think I was done complaining? Ha. No, I'm not finished yet. I still have a paper I have to write on Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises," which I had decided was the worst book in history before it was even assigned for my Literary Criticism class. But I'm writing on it instead of my other options because I was too lazy (errr.. I mean busy) to read a new 600-page novel and write a stupid paper on it. And, finals next week, too. If only that meant a break for me. Unfortunately, it only means that in two weeks, my next semester starts...

One year.. just one more year. 

Oh, who am I kidding? In just one more year I'll find something new to complain about!

Bah. 

I apologize if you actually read through that, by the way. That must've been painful...

Maxie and Other Random Musings

Literally, he eats anything we put in his bowl: toast crusts, lettuce, tomatoes, and even (as we discovered today) raw rice. Seriously, dog, what gives? Some of his favourites are pickles and oranges. I've got no problem giving him oranges, except for the fact I've got to pick them up after he digests them. You know what I mean... Here, he is eating some zucchini that was a couple of days from hitting the garbage.

In other news, my spring semester is finally close to being finished. I'm pretty much sick of writing essays criticizing literature that I don't care about. I'd rather write about some drastic historical event any day. I just have to keep reminding myself -- two more weeks.. just two more weeks. 

Also, I'm flying to Finland in June to visit a friend of mine. We met while we were both working in Cologne. She's one of the loveliest girls in the world, and I'm excited to see her and finally meet her boyfriend.

That's all for now...