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August (Entry 15)
There are still 5 more days of August, but we are headed to Japan for 10 days on Wednesday, so I figured I'd knock this out.
The month started out fairly crappy with our visas for Czechia being rejected - they were willing to push his forward, but for me, I have to meet the requirements of "family reunification" so my marriage license (which is a perfectly normal, legit marriage license from teh state of California) has to go to this "apostile" place to be certified and then it and the certification have to be translated into Czech. So the license is off in the mail to this place and who knows how long all this is going to take. We are supposed to already be in Prague; his job is supposed to start Sept. 1. Obviously that's not happening. I was pretty bummed about it all, but at this point, I'm like whatever. We will probably go in November, even without visas, for two months. Christmas in Europe sounds pretty cool! I have to be in OK in Jan for work, so I'll come back, and depending on whether or not my visa is approved, I'll go back in spring from 6-8 mo, or later in the year for just 3 months. We'll see.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a Japanese vacation, which I'll write more about later.
This month was more social than usual - we had a barbque out at our little house on the prairie for E's lab. Then we spent a long weekend at Beaver Lake (Arkansas) because my old friend S and her husband were there to spend time with his family. That was really nice (although I was rather sick for part of it) - have not seen them in four years, I think, since I was last in CA for their marriage! I also saw my grad school friend R one Saturday. And I seem to have made a friend at work - this woman M, from the graphics department. We have lunch more or less once a week, which is nice. We have also hired two new people at work who I am training, so that feels like a lot more social stuff interaction too, though it's work, not fun.
What else? I'm up to 79 books for the year. I highly highly recommend The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss. The protagonists are Mary Jekyl, Diana Hyde, Catherine Moreau, and Beatrice Rappaccini. Now if I know my cohort, you are already squealing in delight. It's Victorian/Edwardian Monstrous Girl Power mystery solving club, with Holmes and Watson thrown in for good measure. Read it. I'm sure you'll love it. Book 2 adds in a Miss Van Helsing, but I'm saving that for the plane ride to Japan.
My persistent low-key attempts at health improvement have paid off - it's taken me 8 months, but I'm down 15 lbs. I remember when I could lose 15 lbs. in 8 weeks, so this feels glacially slow. Weight loss is not my primary goal - increasing my strength and stamina (and hopefully not dying in my 50s) is, but weight loss is a sort of inevitable (and let's face it, rewarding) byproduct of eating better and moving more. So yay me.
The month started out fairly crappy with our visas for Czechia being rejected - they were willing to push his forward, but for me, I have to meet the requirements of "family reunification" so my marriage license (which is a perfectly normal, legit marriage license from teh state of California) has to go to this "apostile" place to be certified and then it and the certification have to be translated into Czech. So the license is off in the mail to this place and who knows how long all this is going to take. We are supposed to already be in Prague; his job is supposed to start Sept. 1. Obviously that's not happening. I was pretty bummed about it all, but at this point, I'm like whatever. We will probably go in November, even without visas, for two months. Christmas in Europe sounds pretty cool! I have to be in OK in Jan for work, so I'll come back, and depending on whether or not my visa is approved, I'll go back in spring from 6-8 mo, or later in the year for just 3 months. We'll see.
In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a Japanese vacation, which I'll write more about later.
This month was more social than usual - we had a barbque out at our little house on the prairie for E's lab. Then we spent a long weekend at Beaver Lake (Arkansas) because my old friend S and her husband were there to spend time with his family. That was really nice (although I was rather sick for part of it) - have not seen them in four years, I think, since I was last in CA for their marriage! I also saw my grad school friend R one Saturday. And I seem to have made a friend at work - this woman M, from the graphics department. We have lunch more or less once a week, which is nice. We have also hired two new people at work who I am training, so that feels like a lot more social stuff interaction too, though it's work, not fun.
What else? I'm up to 79 books for the year. I highly highly recommend The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss. The protagonists are Mary Jekyl, Diana Hyde, Catherine Moreau, and Beatrice Rappaccini. Now if I know my cohort, you are already squealing in delight. It's Victorian/Edwardian Monstrous Girl Power mystery solving club, with Holmes and Watson thrown in for good measure. Read it. I'm sure you'll love it. Book 2 adds in a Miss Van Helsing, but I'm saving that for the plane ride to Japan.
My persistent low-key attempts at health improvement have paid off - it's taken me 8 months, but I'm down 15 lbs. I remember when I could lose 15 lbs. in 8 weeks, so this feels glacially slow. Weight loss is not my primary goal - increasing my strength and stamina (and hopefully not dying in my 50s) is, but weight loss is a sort of inevitable (and let's face it, rewarding) byproduct of eating better and moving more. So yay me.
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Slow & steady in the Health Improvement department would be good signs, I reckon.
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Technically, yes - but don't forget there are very few internal borders in Europe, and those there are don't tend to stamp your passport, although I think they will if asked. But there are no borders between Germany and the Czech Republic, unless there is a state of emergency....
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I enjoyed the Goss book too (though not the asides as much). I’ve got book two here, ready to go when I have a chance. :)
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