Possible projects for Paula in the Netherlands

(Brilliant, just brilliant - wrote another post a few days ago and forgot to mirror it here. Which is still better than the one I wrote yesterday and lost entirely when my computer wouldn't hibernate and I had to shut it down by pulling out the battery. Sigh.)

I don’t mean work; I’m sure I’ll have plenty of projects to keep me busy there. But outside work, I need something to distract me from living alone – or rather, something to take advantage of all the extra time I seem to have when I’m on my own.

1. wine (because good wine is comparatively cheap there). I need some kind of constraint; I estimate I could go through a full-sized bottle in a week or so, because I don’t want wine every night and I don’t like to go through more than half a bottle max at once). Organic wines? French ‘garage wines’? It might be best to ask the guy at the wine store, and that way I can base my choice on what they have.

2. Perfect my New Orleans shrimp. Ted always thinks mine is too sweet – I’ve concluded I should probably leave out the Worcestershire sauce entirely. I’ve still never gotten it as good as a few restaurant versions I’ve tasted.

3. Perfect something involving beef chunks, like beef stew or boeuf bourguignon. We didn’t like the beef there all that much – the steaks weren’t cuts we’re used to (or weren’t great, but it may well be us not knowing how to deal with them properly) and we didn’t like the texture of Dutch ground beer, so the obvious solution seems to be a dish that involves cooking small chunks of beef for long enough to soften them. Or I could adapt my chili from ground beef to beef cubes.

4. Knitting: I could do something like knitting everything in the Favorite Socks book, but really I learn something from each individual project; not sure I need an overarching theme.

5. Travel? Given how much I saw of the Netherlands last time, I probably won’t worry about it.

6. Shopping: need to learn to shop a bit more like a Dutch person. If I can’t go to the local Eindhoven market (Tuesdays, and I’m at work) I need to check out the Woensel market north of me (on Saturdays, and not an unreasonable bike ride). The markets are the best place for fish and produce and probably also cheese. Also, I need to find a real butcher; I bet that would get me much better mean than buying it in the grocery store.

7. Rowing: I should really pick something specific, like an upcoming race, and plan my training to prepare for that. Also, I need to get in better shape in general so my clothes fit, but I'm sort of hoping that will come naturally with more walking and better eating, as well as continued exercise.



I suppose I could do a reading challenge, like reading fifty books by writers of color, but reading is my necessity and my refuge; I don’t want to make it into work. And I hardly have a need to push myself to read more! Though I’d be very happy to broaden my outlook and my reading; if people have suggestions for authors you think I’d like, particularly ones that might broaden my horizons, I’d love to hear those.

I’d appreciate suggestions for other projects that might be fun to work on during my time of living alone. Last time I lived alone (the three winter months in Worcester, MA, during which I started my first blog) I did far too much shopping, and that’s not really either desirable or even really possible, thanks to more limited store hours and lack of storage space.

copeless

This is expanded from a comment I wrote elsewhere, because as usual other people’s writings were needed to prompt me to realize what’s going on with me.

Today for at least the third week in a row, Ted and I have been bad and skipped two workout days in a row (one planned day off, one “can’t face this, set the alarm later” day). He’s grossly overworked, and I’m running out of cope myself; reporting to not one but two company VPs with sometimes conflicting goals, preparing for an international move that’s coming up very fast and not one but two other intercontinental trips before then…. (one of which I still need to write a trip request for). It’s getting to that point where 6AM workouts just feel like yet another burden and I’m rapidly running out of cope.

Another reason we’re so tired, though, is because we skipped two days in a row last week, then as a result worked out four days in a row. One thing we’re both finding as we get older is that age doesn’t necessarily mean less intense workouts, but it does mean more need to recover. Those four workouts in a row are also what made us too tired to have any fun last weekend, which is a ridiculous waste. So right now, just for the moment, I’m giving myself permission to go easy on me when I need it. I will need to give myself another day off after a couple on, just to break that vicious cycle.

I’m not all that happy with the shape I’m in at the moment (notable pudge around the middle, too many clothes not fitting, erg distance is feeling very long again) but I’m hoping that geting back in shape will happen more or less naturally after I move: more walking, getting back on actual water, food that seems to suit my body better.

I also haven't been writing any poetry lately, and I'm not going to try to force it; since that sort of writing is not the main thing or one of the major things I do I don't want to make it into a 'should' or another burden - that seems like a bad idea for me. I don't think I have the brainwidth to be creative at the moment - I'm knitting, but that's following a pattern. (The next project will be creating my own pattern, but that's working out a simple idea I had long ago.) Whatever, if something is supposed to be for fun and doesn't sound enjoyable just now, I'm not going to foist it on myself.

to do

Erged this morning, yay. Funny thing, considering how often I feel like I am goofing off: I just noticed I have erged over a million meters so far this year – not bad since Concept II’s “year” starts May 1.

Question: Since I just looked at my watch and there are about four hours until I can leave work, why does it feel like I’ve been here forever? Answer: probably because I’ve been here six hours and left the office less than 12 hours before that (#(*&%$ Toastmasters.)

The to-do list below is mostly for my own reference, but it robably helps explain yesterday’s entry.

To do:

• For S. Africa trip (mid-Feb):
  • Fill out trip information and medical forms (Mountain Travel-Sobek is thorough about trips they arrange.)
  • Figure out what clothing I need on trip.
  • Get vaccines for yellow fever and typhoid and pills for malaria.
  • Buy new camera body (and spare general-purpose lens) and figure out how to use it, despite high probability of instructions being in Chinese
• For trip to Netherlands (first week of March)
  • Figure out who I want to meet with and let them know
  • Fill out trip request
  • Tell coordinator when I want to look at apartment
  • Schedule dinners with friends? (I didn’t last time and felt guilty about that)
• For move: (tentatively scheduled for April 5, with packing in the week before)
  • Meet with coordinator and tell him what I’m taking (scheduled for tomorrow)
  • Decide what I’m taking in fine detail
  • Purchase things I can get here but not there (e.g. large packages of Q-Tips and Glad-Lock bags from Costco, because I find brand-name makes a difference in those)
  • Retrieve my boat from Yi-lan and get it near my apartment for the movers
  • Move as much as possible of what I’m taking into my craft room (and what I’m not taking out of it) to simplify for movers and reduce risk of mistakes

Of course these are all on top of all the work to-dos and other normal life stuff everyone has, plus staying fit enough so I don’t embarass myself when I get back to rowing on actual water.

Mirrored from Dichroic Reflections.