Me, Myself & I – Page 4

Me, Myself & I, Professional Life, Travel

30 – Shouldn’t I be…

September 25, 2012 6 Comments

Thirty. Yep, that’s how old I turned this summer. Sounds really old to some people – sounds really young to my grand-parents. Looking back to my teenage years and early twenties, thirty was definitely the grown up crowd. You were supposed to be established in life, have a career, be wise and know everything and overall just be a grown up, mature, and serious person (unless you fell into the rare category cool adult).

So here I am, officially 30 and hopefully a cool adult and not a super serious old fart. I’ve definitely done some cool worthy activities but at the same time my silly inner ear infection induced vertigo has definitely made me feel like the lamest old fart. Le sigh!

I gave a very mature speech as the maid of honor at one of my best friend’s weddings – yet it was much less formal and more fun than the other speakers (I think they were yet at least a decade older though). But a weekend later we had tons of fun being silly at a roller skating rink for my birthday and the after-party at a bar included a burning taxi (how is that for coolness, huh?!)

I suppose your thirties are the decade that you can balance fun with life’s serious sides. I’ve been able to go on vacations because I finally have worked enough years with my company to have a comfortable (wait, there are never enough) amount of vacation days and my rainy day fund is filled so savings can go towards fun trips.

It’s interesting to leave that phase in my twenties where I would still ask myself “What do I want to do with life after college?”. I doubt I will be changing too much in my career now and I like where I live. It’s kind of nice not having to worry about that for a while. I still have goals, personal and professional, but it’s nice not having to figure out a grand master plan right this minute. Though looking back at what I thought I’d be doing at 30 from five to ten years ago I feel like I should be much further along in the grand scheme… Anyone with me?

Owning a dog, and a car and living in a two bedroom apartment as opposed to sharing one or inhibiting a studio makes me feel grown up. And my furniture somehow matches (mostly anyway… shhhhh desk that I found free on the streets)! Yet I somehow feel that I should be able to paint my place’s walls and perhaps pay a mortgage rather than rent. Perhaps I should drive a car that doesn’t squeak when I round a corner (OK my driving might be part of that). And shouldn’t I have gotten promotions and raises (OK that might be because of my visa and the stupid recession but still)? And shouldn’t my facebook photo albums show me in exotic places like Tel Aviv, Costa Rica, Edinburgh, and on Mount Fuji? I feel like I am failing myself a little bit in all those categories.

So anyway, here’s to more personal development and no stagnation!

Me, Myself & I

Import

August 24, 2012 No Comments

I’m importing my old 2006 to 2009 blog entries from my glorious 20s from sannasblog.wordpress.com to this blog. Sannipanni has been accompanying me since my childhood all the way now into my 30s and I even use it for my crafts so here we are, labeling the blog with its appropriate name.

flat-sharing, flatmates, Me, Myself & I, USA

Moving

January 31, 2009 13 Comments

Well happy New Year!
So I have thought long and hard (for about 2 minutes) about what to do with this blog as my usage has decreased dramatically. But then I realized that I am a horrible emailer, too, when it comes to keeping in touch. I think your best bet right now is facebook. Therefore the blog stays and I pledge to blog more frequently – so say maybe once a month. 😉

OK so let’s look back to last year ( oh no, I didn’t even write a 2008 summary entry like I normally do. OK here it is: 2008 was a craaaaaaazy year! Joined the gym, lotso fun days and nights, lotso boys, firefighters!! work was good, GObama craziness, recession…. I think 2009 will be a much slower year but nonetheless really good.)
So anyway, mid December I was going to fly to Germany finally after 13 months of being away when my landlord told me 2 days before my flight that I would have to move out ASAP. Uhm grrrrrreat. Luckily he let me leave my stuff there – but I had to move everything into the little bedroom. Faantastic… not.
So I went to Germany and had a lovely time with my family and my friends and went to Berlin for my visa interview (piece of cake – easiest ever “So what do you want to do in the Unites States? OK and what do you analyze in your position as market analyst?”). Celebrated my grandpa’s 90th birthday and Christmas and New Year. Hung out a lot and well after 3.5 weeks it was time to go home again. I was getting kind of antsy sitting at my parents’ house when I had to find a place and move. I slept a bit at Frankfurt airport and had an uneventful flight next to a Hungarian lady who didn’t speak much English or German but was super sweet. Only watched one short movie and well eventually we landed and after waiting forever for my bags (had wanted to take only 1 suitcase but since I had to bring back some stuff for my new apartment I took 2) Ash picked me up and drove me to my car. M stopped by at my place to welcome me back and then I went to bed.
Most of you know how it is when you land in the US, you wake up super early the next morning. Thankfully Target opens at 8 so I grabbed a coffee from Starbucks and then went shopping for some bed linens. Since my old apartment was completely furnished, all I had was a pot and a kettle, some cups, 3 towels from when my family was here and 2 fleece blankets. Yeah. Oh and a big ass TV from Andy but that is still at my place since it’s so friggin’ heavy. So I went to Target and shopped for tons of stuff – just for my bed. Actually opened an account with them that day because saving 10% seemed like a smart idea after I saw the total (and apparently Target gives credit cards to everyone because I got approved and I did a mistake in my SS# so if you want one, go for it). So afterwards, it was around 11am by then my friend/co-worker Sauro came over and helped me pack up the stuff that I hadn’t packed yet and we moved me to his place.
It was the nicest thing, after I got kicked out of my apartment I had asked if I could stay with him for a bit until I’d found something new because I know another friend had lived with him for a while, too. He was the sweetest thing, totally agreeing from second 1 and helped me move and showed me how EVERYTHING worked and told me to use everything I wanted and then he went away to travel for work for almost a month. Perfect roommate!!!
In the mean time I started furniture shopping and apartment hunting. I wanted to live in my old neighborhood preferably with a patio or balcony and a pool and of course at a reasonable price and with lots of light in the place. Back in Germany I had surfed around a bit and found a nice apartment community close by, pool, fairly cheap and nice floorplans. I made an appointment and also another one for some place around there (just to compare and stuff). Checked out the just-to-compare place and it looked awesome! Hardwood floors, super bright (facing south and west), a balcony, good rent, 1925 building (seriously looked like an old European apartment with glass doorknobs and stuff) BUT no hook-ups for washer and dryers. Well, that did it for me, I mean duh, that’s a major no-no. College days are OVER! So I didn’t really pay attention to the rest of the place, small bathroom yadayada.
OK next up was the apartment community. We toured two more of their properties and they were all kind of dated but ok and well the place that I had looked at over the internet looked great! The model unit was awesome, lots of light, a balcony, a pool, rent was ok. So i asked which units were available here and she pointed me to the only available one. Ground level, facing north/east, no railing around the patio, kind of facing the woods. Hmmmm. I came back the next morning to check out how much sun light you would get at that place and well it wasn’t much. but still, great floor plan, pool, patio…. So out walks the guy that lives in that unit. Me: oh hey so do you live there?! he: yeah but i’m transferring up to the 3rd floor because someone just broke into my unit. OKAY! So that settled that for me.
Later that day I looked at another apartment. A little further south, not so walkable to my old neighborhood but alright, right on the lightrail, lots of light, balcony with a wide view into no where facing west (hello beautiful sunsets). Washer and dryer included in the apartment, fairly new constuction, good price. So I tell the guy, yeah I want it! He tells me yeah there are a few other people that said yes and he would let me know tomorrow. Hmm. Well of course the next day he tells me: My wife and I have decided to give the place to a couple as in these economic times we are more comfortable renting to two employed people rather than one. Blah. WHATEVER! Discrimination!!!! Ugh! I’m telling you, apartment hunting is sooo frustrating!!!
So I kept browsing Craigslist for apartment listings and told the lady from the apartment complex that I’d take any other unit but the one they had available. Luckily there’s tons of space at Sauro’s place but it’s reallllly far away from everything (except work – that’s really close by). And our friend Stani is moving in TODAY so it’s getting quite cramped. Well, so the place that I had looked at first (1925, no washer/dryer hook-ups) came back on Craigslist and wow, with washer and dryer hook-ups!!! So I called the guy and said, hey I want it. I was expecting something like yeah maybe, why don’t you fill out an application and do handstands and cartwheels and then we’ll see. But he just said OK. I was like WHAT?! Uhm, ok…. So I went and signed the lease and kept wondering about the place and trying to remember it because I had kind of zoned out after I heard the no washer and dryer hook-ups part.
Ha, eventually I got the code to the lock box and was able to go in there again and well I still really liked it. Saw some more details that I didn’t like so much, like there’s no storage in the bathroom and it’s kinda old as in dusty and nasty blinds. But oh well. Eventually they put some appliances in. First there was the range’s hood. Brand new. Ok. Next up was the dishwasher – new – really basic (like think about what my grandparents got in their kitchen but new). Yesterday when I checked out the latest development I saw the stove and refrigerator. Had a good laugh!!!! Soooooo old!!! Soooo nasty!!!! Thankfully some guys came by later and cleaned them but I’m still thinking they’re gonna die soon. LOL.
Well, I cleaned the place until 10pm last night, bought lots of curtains to cover up those nasty blinds, put the shower curtain rod and curtain up and now I just need to get my furniture. Waiting for the Italian to get over his hung-over and show up here to move my last boxes (I already moved tons of stuff by myself in the little golfie) and pick up my new sofa and table and chairs. Lala.
Yay new place! 🙂

Health, Me, Myself & I, USA

Sick Puppy

October 21, 2008 7 Comments

So ever since my friend Jens left 5 weeks ago I’ve had a throat ache on and off and have just been feeling a little blah. I felt fine one week and then blah the next. Rather annoying but I thought it was the weather change and all the stress going on with work and all these visitors (who I truly enjoyed but it was a lot going on). I kept taking my good old German medicine and the throat aches left me again. Well, last week on Monday after a tremendous amount of fun at the Nascar race (touch football, moonshine, redneckin’, BBQing, sitting on a state trooper’s bike) and more weekend fun with Rich and Scott here, I woke up with pretty bad throatache again. OK nothing new. Annoying but whatever. Well Wednesday I was fed up with it as I could feel that it was my tonsil that was swollen and hurting me. Went to the urgent care center (I love those, doctors offices that are open before and after work and where you don’t need an appointment) expecting to get a prescription for antibiotics and good.
After some confusion from the nurses (uhm you already asked me all those questions) they took my temperature, which was up, and a strep test. You know, the one where they poke long cotton swabs in your throat. Gag! Well that was negative. So the super nice doctor lady comes in with this box full of vials and needles and she’s like: we’re gonna take your blood. Yikes!!! Didn’t expect that!!
Long story short, I got out there and grabbed my “wonder mouth wash” (lidocaine, anti allergy, and anti something else mix that completely numbs your mouth) and some antibiotics. Cool stuff, you only had to take 3 pills and that was that. My tonsil got better instantly. I had some stomach cramps after the first pill but was fine thereafter. Yay!
Then the doc called sometime later to tell me the back-up test for strep was negative. Cool. Today they called me with the back-up results for the blood test (quick response test had been negative, too) and as I had already suspected, it’s Epstein-Barr virus that has been bugging me and making me feel iffy all these weeks. Sounds scary but it’s really not, just very annoying. Does mono or Pfeiffersches Druesenfieber ring a bell? Makes you feel fatigued, have fever and sore throat. Some people get so sleepy they can’t get anything done but most people don’t even have any symptoms. And I’m not some outcast or whore for having it ;-), 50% of children have it and 95% of people under 40. Kinda like chickenpox, once you’ve had it you’re done with it. And no, kissing isn’t the only way you can get it, it’s airborne, too, or you know sharing a drink etc can do the trick. Yeah yeah. Oh and great fun, it can last weeks!!
Annoying. I wanna go back to the gym and I wanna feel super healthy again (though I feel really good today, hopefully it’s pretty much over by now) but I guess I’ll continue taking it easy, eat lots of fruits and go to bed early. Sigh. But yeah no worries, it just sounds scary. And hey, odds are you’ve already had it ;-).