Quiet time

I’m spending an evening by myself. Dieter has gone to bed uncharacteristically early (10:30), the cats are all asleep, and with no TV and no music it’s so quiet here I can hear the tic toc tic toc of the wall clock.

This is just like old times, when I was unemployed. Back then I hardly ever went to bed before 2:30 a.m. I got up late, took a nap in the afternoon and since I didn’t have to get up early in the morning I could afford to get to bed at all hours of the night.

Since I started working again it’s quite different. I have to get up at 5:30, so I like to be in bed around 11:00.
Friday and Saturday night we usually sit up late, sometimes until 2:30 or even 3:00 a.m. We can sleep in the next day, so what does it matter when we extend an invitation to the sandman?

But tonight is different, Dieter’s right hand is broken and this little handicap has been bothering him. I guess we, with two capable hands, don’t quite realize what we have until one of them is out of action.

I could do with an early night too, because the stress of the past few weeks has been crazy. During September there was the running around of condo hunting; October brought stress with estate agents, lawyers and the bank; and if that isn't enough I had to put up with a colleague with the most annoying habit.

This guy was constantly clearing his throat and I do mean constantly.
There were times that not a minute passed without him clearing his throat. Can you imagine once a minute? That’s sixty throat clearings in an hour! I’d like to see anyone putting up with that
It a medical condition he said. Okay then why isn’t he doing something about it? Let him go see a doctor and get some medication to get it fixed. These days there is a remedy for almost anything and everything.

Okay so maybe it’s just me and I’m too sensitive, but I really can’t stand the noises people make. Whether it’s sniffing, snoring or throat clearing ... IT GETS ON MY NERVES!!!

Time management

Some blogger I am. My last entry is dated November 2nd, which means I haven’t written anything in two weeks. Has life really been that boring or have I been super busy with other things? A little of both I suppose.

There was a time that I sat up until all hours of the night, but now that I’m working (for the past three months and one week I might add) I have to be in bed at a certain time.

Of course working gets in the way of blogging too. Not only is there not a moment to spare to put a blog entry together, but at the end of the working day blogging is not exactly at the top of my list.
I usually come home bone tired. After a change of clothing and a short rest with a cup of coffee, there are chores to be done and dinner to be made.
After dinner and some TV there are email messages to be read and replied to and a farm to tend to, a farm at Farmville I mean. Ah yes, who is not playing that game these days? I’m at level 61 with limited crops, but more animals than I can handle.

And soon I will be having even less time. Yesterday we went to pick out wallpaper for the bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bathroom and I’m the one who is going to do the papering. I’ve done it before, you could say I’m an old hand at wallpapering so I don’t foresee any problems, but still, it will take time so there will be even less time for blogging. How do other people manage? Do they have a time schedule? If you know something I don't, I'd love to hear from you.

A bit of this and a bit of that

Those of you who have been reading this blog from the beginning might remember that some three and a half months ago I was bitching and whining about the heat.
The air-conditioning in our condo building had giving up and in a temperature of between 38 and 45 degrees C (100 - 113 degrees F), we were boiling in our units.

I remember sitting in front of a fan, my feet in a bucket of cold water, with a wet towel draped around my neck. All in an attempt to stay cool. The only time and place where it was sort of bearable was at night on the balcony, which is where I wrote some of these blog entries.

Now it’s a different story. Toronto got its first touch of frost last night and this morning it was bitterly cold. It warmed up a little during the day, but not much, the temperature was maybe 5 degrees C (41 degrees F). In the sun it was kind of nice, but the wind ruined every chance of warmth.

I don’t know which is worse, the heat or the cold. I suppose the heat. At least to protect oneself against the cold one can put on multiple layers of clothing, while with the heat there is only so much one can take off.

Still, I’m not looking forward to winter. From now until the end of March we’re gonna have to bundle up in sweaters and coats, scarves and gloves and shiver until our teeth rattle.

While it’s dry it’s not so bad, but oh dear, soon we might get ice and snow and that’s gonna make everything even worse. I like falling snow as much as the next person, and the white blanket does make everything look beautiful, but unfortunately that kind of beauty is fleeting. Soon the white snow turns into a gray mess, starts melting and creates ice patches. Uuuh, I can’t even think about it without shivering.

On a different subject ... as of October 29th we’re home owners. Yep, we bought the condo we’ve been living in for the past six years. During the whole of September we went condo shopping but didn’t see anything we liked. It was basically a case of, what we liked we couldn’t afford and what we could afford we didn’t like. So we decided to stay where we are.

On a different note still ... last weekend Dieter and I played in a ten-pin bowling tournament. We weren’t going to play at first, seeing the entry fee was $50 per person, but in the end we couldn’t stop ourselves. I noticed how much Dieter wanted to play, wanted to test his skills against other bowlers and truth be told I like a bit of competition too. So we entered.

Two squads were to play, the first squad at 12:00 and the second at 2:00 p.m. We played in the 2:00 p.m. time slot. We played four games qualifying and at the end of that round we were in first place.
Next came the finals which were three games round robin.
And we nailed it. We beat our opponents one after another and with only two teams remaining (we and another team) it was time for the slaughter.
Dieter played an amazing game and scored 246, beating the pants off the competition. I didn’t do too bad either and so together we took first place!
Prize money ... (drum roll) $800.
We floated home on Cloud 9.

Is this the beginning of good times to come?