2-1-2

Friday night was a bit odd. I got myself all prettied up, and after finishing, I had absolutely no desire to go out. So I stayed in. And looked pretty.

I've reached the one year marker for this third stay in Germany, as I relocated last year on Oct. 30th. Hooray. I remember the excitement back then, the anticipation, the hopes and dreams for an amazing two years abroad. What a naive fool… ha. Oh well. So not everything has materialized to the extent expected or hoped for, but I've altered my expectations (ie. lowered them as far as possible) and am planning to enjoy the next 10.5 months as much as possible. It's a good thing I have a bunch of trips planned. Those will keep me going next year, as well as the process of determining where I'll end up when relocating back to the U.S.

In the meantime, I don't like my current manager (whom I've had since July). In fact, I really don't like him. I've never felt as uncomfortable around a manager as I do around him. The man ignores me beyond any extent you can imagine. He acknowledges everyone else in the group but me. I just get a very cold vibe from him. I think my other managers in Germany made an extra attempt to make me feel welcome, being foreign and all, but this guy has gone completely in the opposite direction. To be fair, nobody else likes him and it is common knowledge that he's a substandard manager. But with me, he's not only less friendly than he is to the others, he just outright ignores me. Even others in my group have noticed.

I guess it's a good thing that I don't get any tasks directly from him. I'm in his group until May, so as long as he continues to sign off on my vacation requests, I can get by. Which reminds me - he has yet to approve my extended Christmas vacation, which has me a bit concerned.

Wednesday is a public holiday, so I think I can handle the 2-1-2 format this week. Let's do it.

Bring on 2007

What a beautiful fall day today. Sunny. Mild. Colorful leaves on both the sidewalks and trees. This is no doubt my favorite season of the year. Spring would be a close second. Then winter. And then summer.

I did it. I booked all my big trips for next year. I myself am a bit amazed. Here's what we got:

February: Rome/Naples/Pompeii
March/April: Chicago/Michigan
April/May: London
May: Hamburg
June: Dubrovnik, Croatia

I'm really excited. Moscow and Barcelona were under heavy consideration as well, but I couldn't be happier with my final choices. In the end, London beat out Moscow and Rome/Italy beat out Barcelona. Good lord, this sounds more competitive than the bidding process for the Olympic Games. But who knows, Barcelona may sneak in there in July or August. Probably not, though. We'll see.

My planned trip home to Michigan in December keeps getting changed in my mind as well. What started out to be a week and a half trip, concluding before New Year's, will now most likely be a three and a half week stay. I had already submitted my forms to my manager for approval, then thought about it some more, and grabbed them out of his inbox. So I think I'll resubmit tomorrow for the extended stay. The office will be closed for two and a half weeks anyway, for which I'll be forced to use vacation time. I'm secretly looking forward to the break from Germany. Well, I guess it's not such a secret anymore.

I Don't Feel Like...Working

I seem to get along well with the older cleaning lady in our office. In fact, I'd go so far as to say she's developed a little crush on me. Or maybe it's the other way around. Wait - EEK. It's probably due to the fact that I'm the only one who gives her any attention when she's around. But this really has nothing to do with any attempt to treat people at all levels of the social spectrum with dignity, respect and kindness. This is merely a reflection of my increasing case of ADD at the office. I look for any and every reason to be interrupted from actually performing work. It just comes so natural these days... Go ahead. Bother me.

One girl in my group at work, for some reason or another, adopted a spanish pronunciation of my name, which sounds like a throaty "ha-SON." This started a couple months ago. Well now it seems to have caught on a bit. I think they enjoy it even more because it always puts a smile on my face when I hear it. I just think it sounds funny.

Song you're most likely to find me shaking my ass to in the apartment these days (in spite of the title):

Scissor Sisters: I Don't Feel Like Dancing

Planning 2007...

So it was a nice, quiet weekend for me. Since Friday, I've felt like I'm about to become ill, but it hasn't broken out yet. Maybe I'll dodge it again. Just took it easy around the apartment, and focused my efforts on planning some trips in 2007. Two flights are already booked, and I'm ready to book the third. End of March I'll be flying to Chicago to help Dean celebrate his 30th birthday, then head back to Michigan until Easter Sunday. I also booked a trip to Hamburg for four days in May. Great prices. Still want to get to Barcelona, London, and Rome, but so far I'm not sure whether those will happen and when. I also decided I want to head to Dubrovnik, Croatia for the week of my 30th birthday in June. I really like everything I've read about it as well as the pics that I've seen - very Meditteranean, bright blue water, tattered medieval walls, beaches, islands, old seaport, etc. It's something different and therefore quite appealing. The only thing preventing me from booking is trying to decide whether to spend a full seven days there (leaving on my birthday) or just 4-5 days (leaving a couple days after). The second option would obviously leave me free to make other plans for my birthday weekend. Hmm...

In other unrelated (or related?) news, Deloitte finally completed my tax return for last year and I'm getting a nicer chunk of change back than expected. How nice. Deloitte's my friend.

I wanted to sneak in another trip before heading home to Michigan in December, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I'm just not finding any decent flight deals to the places I'm interested in visiting. I guess it wouldn't hurt to save the vacation days for next year anyway, as I've pretty much got them all planned out for 2007, including taking the entire month of September off.

Ok, finally got some new pics posted on my website... Not so bad, eh?

Almost Back to Normal

Wow, what a whirlwind ten days. For yesterday and today (holiday here), I promised myself I'd do nothing more than lock myself in the apartment and hide from all civilization until it's time to return to work on Wednesday morning. To say that I was pooped would be the understatement of the year. But it was a good exhaustion - one from seeing family and friends, sights and sounds, and traveling here and there.

I traveled to Cologne last Sunday and arrived in the evening, giving me plenty of time to scope things out a bit - and get my night pics, which turned out amazing. I met up with my parents and oldest brother the following day and things were underway. We toured the city as well as the massive cathedral, including climbing the 500 steps to the top. Being my first time in the unofficial gay capital of Germany, it was a little disappointing to spend the time there with my parents, but maybe next time I can experience the city a bit differently.

We left the following morning for Koblenz by train, then caught the boat there for the Rhine River cruise. Got off in St. Goar and overnighted it there, touring the castle. Continued further on the cruise on Tuesday, hopped off in Bacharach for a few hours, and then completed the final stretch to Ruedesheim. My parents were interested in seeing Trier, Germany's oldest city with Roman ruins, so we took a train there. I had been there once 8 years ago, but it seemed a bit more touristy this time. Still neat, though. So we toured Trier on Thursday, then headed back to my apartment that evening. Hiked up to nearby castle Lichtenstein on Friday and went to Tuebingen in the evening to ride the gondolas. On Saturday morning, we bummed around a bit downtown at the market and they left around 3pm.

By 6pm (hardly time for me to catch my breath), I was on a train to Freiburg to attend Mr. Jochen's 30th birthday party. The neat thing about the ride was that it was like a trip through my past in Germany - it started in Reutlingen where I currently live, along the way we stopped in Bruchsal, where I lived last time (I jumped out and touched the ground just to say I was there), and it ended in Freiburg, where I lived my first time here. Weird stuff! Let's see, we drank, we partied, we sang karaoke, we drank... On Sunday, the official party took place in a large cabin-type setting which was quite nice. Lots of family and friends there. I thought it was cute when little six year old Sophia asked me, "Why do you talk so funny?" Then it was nonstop questions of how do you say this word and that in English. Anyway, it was a very nice gathering in spite of the rainy weather. Just as I was settling into the right mood 5 hours later - with martini in hand, of course - it was time to head home. Back on the train and got in at 1:45am.

So here I am. Everything turned out great - and the weather last week was simply a blessing while my parents were here - but I'm definitely ready for things to calm down a bit for the moment. It'll be good to not be a tourist for awhile.

I'll plan on posting more pics on my website eventually, but for the moment, this damn site isn't letting me upload anymore. Good grief.