OCEANS AWAY

The good, the bad, and the ugly

Filed under Daily Life

Ready for a long catch-up post? Good! I feel like I’ve been gone for ages when really I’ve just been an idiot of epic proportions and buried my head in dealing with the clean-up. Meanwhile, you guys probably didn’t even notice that this blog was down for the better part of the weekend. That’s alright. I cared enough for all of us.

Let’s begin with the most recent: I spilled milk and muesli over my trusty Toshiba laptop – a laptop that, only three years ago, replaced my precious Sony Vaio over which I spilled a full cup of tea. In other words, a worrying pattern is emerging. One that, I can tell you from experience, makes you want to punch yourself in the head. Can we not spill various breakfasts over expensive electronics in the future? EXCELLENT. — So the Toshiba is toast. Or fried. Or drowned, probably. It won’t even start up, just offers a deafening high-pitched sound that comes close to the most effective fire alarms I’ve heard. Not sure what that’s all about. (Maybe it’s trying to say, STOP KILLING YOUR COMPUTERS WITH LIQUIDS, EEEEEEEEEEE.)

Funnily enough, I did buy an Eee. An Asus Eee. To replace the Toshiba. It’s tiny and pretty and practical, and it was cheap – as far as laptops go. So far I’m impressed with its battery life, the keyboard, the build-in webcam, and its light weight. It does have a seriously tiny screen, though. About half the size of the Toshiba. It makes editing photos a pain in the ass but – on the other hand – I’m hoping that it’ll make for a much better travel companion than its predecessors. One can only hope that it is also more water-proof than its predecessors because, apparently, I DO NOT LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES.

(Another sore spot: the lost data. Most of my good pictures are saved on Flickr or external hard drives. So are most older documents and TV series and movies, actually. All my music, though, is on that Toshiba. Along with my most recent resumée and all links to available positions I had researched. — I don’t even particularly like muesli, you guys. MOTHER EFF.)

Cologne Carnival, last Friday: This seems like it happened forever ago. 11:11am on 11/11 is the official beginning of Carnival season and Cologne generally goes crazy. The fact that this year was 11/11/11, even, crazied things up a notch to FULL-ON MADNESS. I assume. I’ve never experienced Carnival in Cologne; maybe it’s always like this. Downtown was filled with the cheery, costumed masses – with cop cars and ambulances and music and alcohol – while I was sitting at my desk nine floors above, digging my way through Excel sheets and scary € amounts, simultaneously thankful for the distance and sad not to be in the very midst of it all.

Carla and I did venture out for coffee during lunch and got a taste of it. I hated Carnival in Aachen and Maastricht. But here in Cologne, it seemed like it could be fun. Let’s see if I still agree with that sentiment in February, when Carnival season draws to a close; when SHIT GETS REAL.

So what’s with the yellow?, I hear you ask. Well, son, I needed change. I don’t think there’ll be as many photos posted here in the near future so, for better or for worth, I’ll focus more strongly on writing. I needed a blog layout that reflects that. And since I couldn’t come up with anything decent myself – certainly not on the new laptop without any software – here’s a text-oriented premade theme with some happy yellow slapped on top. My mind is still too preoccupied to care about the originality of this blog’s design. Thank you, €200 muesli.