Itching

Last Saturday as the weather was mild, I got a little carried away and bought herbs, lettuce, 6 different varieties of tomatoes and red pepper that I planted in the garden the following day. Well, as so often my impatience paired with optimism laughed me in my face 3 days later morning frost turned them into green ice-sculptures and less than half of what you can see in the photo survived. I was ready to do it all over again this past weekend, but then exercised restraint and told myself to wait until after Easter in order to prevent another unceremonious abortion of my overzealous gardening ambitions. Has this happened before, possibly last year? Yes. Will it happen again? Very likely.

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. 

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!

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.