(j) Metamorphosis
It's been a while since my last journal entry. I guess this means I've been really putting in a lot of time into my current occupation with financial consulting and learning the ropes.
Anyway, here's a general update.
Life as lived: I've been concentrating on work and self-development and I have a lot of inputs to process and many new insights. As I was driving my car yesterday morning (... shut up brain!) to meet the antiquarian and his friends costumed at the yearly Roman Festival of Augusta Raurica, I had for the first time the impression that some changes were beginning to take on shape, like the first feeling of something competing metamorphosis. Unfortunately, later that day, when I was driving home, I was mostly just exhausted and today I woke up with something of a headache. Sun and dehydration most likely. It's gone now.
What I'm happy to note is that last week I completed some tasks within what I for the first time felt was a useful amount of time, whereas normally I tend to feel crushed by external demands and keep procrastinating until lose all credibility. The important thing now is to persevere.
Transportation: By now JP has cost me about 1000 $ in repairs this year. Well, I never said this was a new car. I hope it'll hold long enough for me to save up enough cash and then decide whether I want the "old-timer" restored or get something else. Esper is in sporadic use. Big Blue is out of fuel, which would provide an ideal moment to replace its leaky fuel valve and get the rust problem in its fuel tank taken care of. Soon as I have the cash... As for Justy: That bike is no more. I left it at the mechanic last year and when he called to ask whether he should do anything about it or get rid of it, I told him to do the latter. This now has the advantage that I could cancel one of my two motorbike insurance policies. Now Esper and Bigby are running on just one policy. Can't have more than two vehicles on one. Unless you apply for an "old-timer policy". Then I'm told you can have seven vehicles to one policy and one license plate. But whatever you've got has to be a certain age and you sign that you won't drive more than a limited amount of miles a year with any of your old vehicles. (Hmmm... putting all the miles together, you still could get around a lot.)
Imagination: As part of my communication skills training I heard that our dictionaries sport three times as many adjectives to describe unpleasant or negative things than there are to describe pleasant or positive ones.
Incidentally I've recently isolated 4 basic states of mind:
1. joy
2. fear
3. sadness
4. anger
Self-reflection: Attending the Roman Festival yesterday in Augusta Raurica - a site with some local Roman ruins, most notably an impressive theatre, and a 20th century house of Roman style, now sporting a museum - I was costumed as what might best be described as a 4th century Celt. But being the way I am, I went for practicality and personal preferences more than anything shown of women from that epoch in museums and history picture books. A few people gave interpretations of what I was. Thus I ended up with 2 votes for seer, 2 for valkyrie, 1 for fighting woman. I should keep this up until I get a statistically relevant number of votes. :-)
Quote: "Der Dinkel ist das beste Getreide. Die Seele des Menschen macht er froh und voll Heiterkeit" (Spelt is the best of all cereals. It makes the soul happy and full of cheer.)
Response: °Hildegard von Bingen didn't know chocolate. :)*
Still, that spelt bread I bought at the Roman Festival tastes rather good.
Anyway, here's a general update.
Life as lived: I've been concentrating on work and self-development and I have a lot of inputs to process and many new insights. As I was driving my car yesterday morning (... shut up brain!) to meet the antiquarian and his friends costumed at the yearly Roman Festival of Augusta Raurica, I had for the first time the impression that some changes were beginning to take on shape, like the first feeling of something competing metamorphosis. Unfortunately, later that day, when I was driving home, I was mostly just exhausted and today I woke up with something of a headache. Sun and dehydration most likely. It's gone now.
What I'm happy to note is that last week I completed some tasks within what I for the first time felt was a useful amount of time, whereas normally I tend to feel crushed by external demands and keep procrastinating until lose all credibility. The important thing now is to persevere.
Transportation: By now JP has cost me about 1000 $ in repairs this year. Well, I never said this was a new car. I hope it'll hold long enough for me to save up enough cash and then decide whether I want the "old-timer" restored or get something else. Esper is in sporadic use. Big Blue is out of fuel, which would provide an ideal moment to replace its leaky fuel valve and get the rust problem in its fuel tank taken care of. Soon as I have the cash... As for Justy: That bike is no more. I left it at the mechanic last year and when he called to ask whether he should do anything about it or get rid of it, I told him to do the latter. This now has the advantage that I could cancel one of my two motorbike insurance policies. Now Esper and Bigby are running on just one policy. Can't have more than two vehicles on one. Unless you apply for an "old-timer policy". Then I'm told you can have seven vehicles to one policy and one license plate. But whatever you've got has to be a certain age and you sign that you won't drive more than a limited amount of miles a year with any of your old vehicles. (Hmmm... putting all the miles together, you still could get around a lot.)
Imagination: As part of my communication skills training I heard that our dictionaries sport three times as many adjectives to describe unpleasant or negative things than there are to describe pleasant or positive ones.
Incidentally I've recently isolated 4 basic states of mind:
1. joy
2. fear
3. sadness
4. anger
Self-reflection: Attending the Roman Festival yesterday in Augusta Raurica - a site with some local Roman ruins, most notably an impressive theatre, and a 20th century house of Roman style, now sporting a museum - I was costumed as what might best be described as a 4th century Celt. But being the way I am, I went for practicality and personal preferences more than anything shown of women from that epoch in museums and history picture books. A few people gave interpretations of what I was. Thus I ended up with 2 votes for seer, 2 for valkyrie, 1 for fighting woman. I should keep this up until I get a statistically relevant number of votes. :-)
Quote: "Der Dinkel ist das beste Getreide. Die Seele des Menschen macht er froh und voll Heiterkeit" (Spelt is the best of all cereals. It makes the soul happy and full of cheer.)
Response: °Hildegard von Bingen didn't know chocolate. :)*
Still, that spelt bread I bought at the Roman Festival tastes rather good.