After yesterday I don’t quite trust the momentary dry weather outside my window. When I left home to drive to work yesterday morning it was raining. It felt like it rained all morning. In the early afternoon before I drove home there was a short reprieve in which I managed to pick up my favourite bread at a bakery near the office. Most parts of the drive back home I drove in torrential rain. It lessened to only a drizzle when I had parked my car, but the moment I unlocked the front door there was a loud rumbling from above and sure enough the torrential rain continued.
To compare it to LAST Friday…
My 2nd day back at work – at the office this time – was okay-ish. I’m really glad that it was a short week for me. I was only away for a week, but I still like to ease back into things. I’m really glad and grateful for the one new-ish coworker I’ve began to work closest with. We get along well on a personal level and they bring in so much skills / knowledge I feel I still lack for being in charge of this big project of ours (of mine?). They are around 40 (unlike the other two which are mid-20s, fresh from uni, both great as well, but not as experienced) and have worked in various academia / science centred jobs before, which is different from public administration, but this outsider perspective is so helpful for me. From time to time the self-doubting part of me needs reminding that I as well have skills and knowledge and to stop questioning everything I’ve done before. But besides that, I’m really happy about being able to work with them.
I also had bit of chat with another coworker about our memories of the pandemic years and our reaction to it. Brought on by them wondering if it’s irrational to wear a mask while travelling to their vacation place this summer just because they caught COVID while travelling to the same place in 2022. All I said was “Do what you feel is right and don’t care about anyone else” and told how long I was still masking while using trains or being in a room with lots of people (in theatre and such) for a long time. I told them that the novel I’m reading at the moment is set in 2020 and how COVID and restrictions and all is mentioned in it and we started reminiscing a bit how weird that first year really felt. This last trip to the UK was the first for me that felt almost “normal” as in like pre-COVID times. I haven’t been wearing a mask anywhere and I wasn’t even worrying (much) about it. I noticed it a few times, pondered for a few seconds and then decided: it’s ok, I feel safe enough. I guess that won’t ever go away.
But I also re-stocked on COVID tests yesterday, when I saw them at the store and knew I only had one left at home. You’ll never know, do you?
This post was supposed to be written last night, but I made the mistake to lay down for a nap in the late afternoon, which I know from experience messes up my sleep, but I was soooooo knackered. I slept for over an hour and stayed in bed for an even longer time contemplating to get up and make some dinner, even though I wasn’t even hungry. Or just stay lounging in bed. The bed won. Around 21:30 I finally got up to close the blinds in the living room, turn off to my mobile phone etc and then lay down again. As you can imagine I had a good night’s sleep and I guess I needed it. Oh, before I turned off the phone I went on Instagram one last time and saw Frank Turner posting that we could comment with questions for the Q&A he’ll do about with the filmmaker Aaron David Roberts about the “50 States in 50 Days” documentary. So of course I had to chime in with a few.
Not much more to report on a grey and rainy Saturday. I finished “Happiness Falls”, the novel that had me hooked for the last few days and have to admit that I felt a bit let down in the end. I need to gather my thoughts for my Storygraph review. I just had expected a different ending, which probably is my own fault? I need to think on that.
Now comes the once again difficult decision which novel to start next? What am I in the mood for? Strangely enough I’m still not in the mood for any TV shows, old or new. Well, I’ll probably be having “Gilmore Girls- A Year in the Life of…” on for the next few days while having dinner and such, whenever I need a bit of a distraction. I’ve just been through the whole 7 seasons for the umpteenth time. I used to watch / binge so much on TV for such a long time and now I just can’t be bothered. Maybe I should spend some time figuring out why that is and how to possibly change it. My mind seems to not want to focus on any new TV show plot for longer than a few minutes.
But I also wonder why I feel the need to watch any (new) TV shows at all? I guess it’s the old high school dilemma of wanting to be in the know of what’s considered “cool” at the moment and to be able to have an opinion on all the shows, I know a few of my friends are / have been watching and enjoying. The need to belong to a social group, I guess. Basic human behaviour.
At the moment I still can’t really be bothered though.
