Monday, March 18, 2024

And Just Like That...

 

...I wrote almost 20.000 words and submitted my master thesis 10 days before the deadline. Whoop, whoop. Interestingly, it didn't really feel like a very taxing project at all and I have to say I enjoyed the process. Unlike my first thesis, back in the 1990s, little AI-helpers (hello, automatic transcription of audio files!) made life SO much easier and not having to physically go to your academic supervisor's office during their office hours but write them an informal e-mail and receive feedback within 24 hours also helped immensely and made the whole experience so much less frustrating and faster. Now I only have to tick off my final presentation/defensio if our chaotic contact at our alma mater ever communicates the time slots and then I'll be able to say I "collected" another academic title in my 50s, LOL. 

Monday, March 11, 2024

Change


Last week I submitted my request form to switch to a 4-day work week starting with May. This means that I will have Fridays off and be able to enjoy 3-day weekends EVERY week. Whoop, whoop. I am really excited and it did not take me long to make up my mind when my company offered this to all its employees about a month ago. The deals is that you have to commit to working either 32 or 36 (which I took) hours/week on 4 days for at least two years if you want to get a onetime "reward" payment. The latter (even though rather generous) was not my main motivation, but rather I had found this model attractive for quite some time. Postponing things for when you're retired really is not the wisest choice f because you never know if you'll get to experience old age healthy and mentally sound as well as financially independent. I'd rather enjoy life as much as I can in the present before bookmarking it for the future. So here's to change and long weekends!

Monday, March 04, 2024

Jinxed?


A few weeks ago I caught myself thinking "I feel SO happy and content with my life right now, it almost feels too good to be true. Am I going to be "punished" for even thinking that alound?" Not long after that I was dealt the answer in the shape of a somewhat rude awakening (see previous post for more context, among other things) that you could...possibly...if you are superstitious...which I am actually not that much...interpret as a "YES, stupid, well you did ask!"  
It's interesting though, how we often tend to get suspicious if we feel we are consuming more than our allotted "fair share" of luck or happiness when in fact we ALL (well, not those nasty dictators or other horrible persons, obviously) deserve it in bottomless-brunch-quantities.

Monday, February 26, 2024

Not all Fun & Games

 

Last weekend Highflier and I finally went to my hometown, two weeks later than originally planned due to me getting Covid the week of my birthday. It was coincidence that Highflier could join after all, which seemed like the icing on the cake.While it was great to see my parents and also get the chance to do a bit of (almost water) skiing, it was also really depressing as my father's health had deteriorated since I last saw them around Christmas time and on top of that he was in an extremely deflated, anxious "endgame" mood, making it difficult to cheer him up and let him consider different options to alleviate the situation. Being an only child to ageing parents (my Dad is turning 80 later this year) who live 300+ kilometres away and - same as me, vice versa - tend to keep bad news from me until the moment when they have to involve me is the material for a hefty dose of anxiety every now and then. I mostly manage to remain positive and not let my vivid imagination get the better of me, but sometimes I do wish everyone could just be healthy and happy ALL the time, pretty please.

Monday, February 19, 2024

BRB

Pressing "Pause" for a moment here. Be right back.

Monday, February 12, 2024

Blessing in Disguise

I had been looking forward to last weekend, getting Highflyer to request time off work well in advance. We were going to spend it at my parents', going skiing (both of us had got a ski pass for Christmas for my staple Carinthian ski resort), eating cake on the occasion of my recent birthday, etc. Well, then I noticed a certain, very familiar "off" feeling at the back of my throat as I was out for dinner with friends on Thursday night and immediately took an antigen Covid test when I got home that came up with a faint pink test line. Bingo. I took another test on Friday morning when I already had a full-on throat ache and yep, there was no denying it. All winter I had joked that I felt like a scorpion or cockroach, being the only person who did not fall sick before Christmas when everyone in the office came down with the flu or Covid. It was just bad timing as we were all set to go, my Mum had prepared everything and the weather was picture-perfect. Bummer. Then I saw the positive side. What, if I had only realised I was sick when I was already there, had kissed my parents "hello" and passed the virus on to them. My dad, who is turning 80 this year, has a severe chronic illness and so far - at least as far as we know of - managed to avoid the virus, so I really would have beaten myself up if this had been the case, regardless of the outcome. Neither the mountains nor the cake or my presents are running away so it's just a matter of postponing something nice and I am very grateful I only had a sore throat and runny nose, but no other symptoms.

Monday, February 05, 2024

Ancient

 

Last week was my 52nd birthday. Among the gazillion of wishes I received that day, I got a particularly heartwarming one by one of our team's interns, whom I hang out a lot with when we're in the office together. She's 26 and it reminded me that I was an extremely prejudiced brat when I was her age and genuinely found it weird to socialise with people twice your age as I had an image of them being half-dead and super boring. Well, some of them probably were, but my own Mum is the best example that age is just a number and you can be full of ideas and projects, no matter how old you are. When I started at my first job there were two colleagues who I am still in wishing-one-another-a-happy-birthday touch with. One of them is two years older than me, the other about 13 or so. I liked them both and got to know them really well over the 9 years I worked there, but naturally gravitated more towards the younger one, who was closer to my age and in a similar situation in life (recently graduated from university, lived in Vienna and had a boyfriend) than the older one who was married with two teenagers, commuting from rather far away by car and train as she and her husband had built a house in the village she was born. For me it was like a fascinating "study project" to see that they were friends just like anybody of the same age group. I remember that years she quoted her new boyfriend as saying he just realised that the other colleague was almost a generation older and felt a bit relieved that it apparently was not just me.
Well, since then I've come a long way and made friends with people beyond my age cohort in both directions, including "dating" somebody considerably older than me for a while. I still admire these Gen Zers in the workplace who treat the old farts like one of their own. Well, coming to think of it, maybe this privilege is extended only to those who treat them as equals in the first place...

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