Let There Be Rain...

And so the winter weather has begun to set in... I will be very honest with you; I do not like the winter. At all. It's dark, it's cold and it's horrible. Winter is a time of the year when I wish I could just stay inside, light a fire and spend the next three or four months happily ensconced on the couch with a cup of tea and a good book (or a couple of good movies, or why not both?)

In The Netherlands (where I'm seriously wondering if I want to stay) winter means dark and rainy. At least in Sweden (where I grew up) we get snow, which (even though it's none the warmer) at least lights things up a little. Here it's just gloomy and damp. Oh, and let's not forget the hail! I was pelted by the pesky little things when I was walking home from work the last couple of days! And not tiny ones either, huge ones... The size of small puppies! Oh ok... Maybe not quite that big, but you get the picture. It hurts when these hit you on the top of the head!

I will simply have to steel myself and will the next few months to go quickly. With a nice break for Christmas which is a holiday I enjoy very much, so time can go a bit slower for a few days there. (5 weeks and counting!)

Status of synopsis: This is getting embarrassing...

Assorted Thoughts

It's weekend! (which means no work... huzzah!)

Today it is exactly six weeks until Christmas. Which really means that Christmas is quite soon... This knowledge fills me with childlike glee and makes me positively giddy. Quite sad one might think, but personally I'm just glad that one can still be happy for such small things.

I went to IKEA today with my sister and they had all of their beautiful Christmas decorations out for sale. I've decided that this year I simply MUST have a little Christmas tree. I can get lots of nice decorations at IKEA and it'll all be going up on December 1st and stay until New Year's! What can I say? I love Christmas and I want to be in the spirit of it as soon as I can.

The other day I went into town to look for a winter coat. I met with less success there than at IKEA. For some reason I couldn't find a single one that I contemplated buying for more than about five seconds (which is what it took me to get a little closer for a good look). The one that I actually thought was ok my sister said was too similar to hers, so I couldn't possibly buy that one. (Hmm...?)

I've reserved tickets to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on opening night. (Which is 23 November, about a week later than the rest of the world... I'm very upset!) I must admit, I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. I buy the books the moment they're out and I watch the movies as soon as I possibly can. If that makes me into an outgrown child, then so be it. (Besides, Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy is very, very ... um, very... sexy.)

I've bought the first five seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD. (It's a guilty pleasure of mine...) and just started watching them. Very sad the whole Buffy-Angel thing, but I just have to say that Spike is yummy-yummy. (He just arrived in Sunnydale, insane-Drusilla and all.) Oh, and Xander is cute.

Been buying some CDs as well. (I don't know what's gotten into me...)
1. Nickelback - All the Right Reasons
2. Robbie Williams - Greatest Hits
3. Green Day - American Idiot
4. The Corpse Bride (Soundtrack)
5. Pride & Prejudice (Soundtrack)


Status of Synopsis: Still not started. *sigh* I have absolutely no inspiration. Maybe I should just dig a large hole and jump in.

Halloween

The group (dressed up ones), me, my sister and my friend.

Watch it, or I'll poke ya!

If I blow long enough, will it fly away?

Status of Synopsis: *cough* Still not started.... *cough*

Back to Reality

I've been back home for about one and a half week now after my vacation in Florida and it's not really until now that I'm starting to get back into the rhythm of things. I miss Florida and my very good friend there, and I hope that I can go back some time soon (thinking maybe first two weeks in March or so). I'm now back at work and after some initial panic (I'm not enjoying myself very much in my current position) I'm mellowing down a bit and feel somewhat resigned to my current situation. I was actually sick for two days last week, I brought back a nasty cold from Florida (don't ask me how I managed to get a cold in a hot place like Florida, I've not quite figured that one out myself) and ended up lying in bed feeling bad and having a terrible headache.

About work, well... To make a long story short I'm not comfortable there. I'm having some problems with some less-than-friendly colleagues, but I also don't really like the work itself. If at least one of the things was something I enjoyed, then it'd be better, but failing in both regards... Well, let's just say that I don't enjoy my working days.

My contract ends in May next year, and I'm thinking I might just leave at that point, unless something drastically changes, which I doubt. It would be nice to go back to Sweden for some time. I'll have a little bit of money saved at that point, so I could move back and stay at my mom's house while looking for a job. Maybe I could go on an extended trip to Florida at that point too, would be nice. I'd love to move there for a bit, just to do something different for a while, but America isn't a country that allows for easy access, so that's not something I can just do. We'll see what the future holds though.

Tonight I'm going to see a movie with my sister in the cinema. Brothers Grimm. I have no idea what to expect, but it's about fairy tales and directed by Terry Gilliam, so it can't be completely without merit.

I have Friday off, which is very nice. I'm taking the opportunity to have lunch with some ex-colleagues and then I thought I'd try and do some cleaning in my apartment. Then as a general plan I have a bunch of things that I need to get started on:

1. Write a synopsis for my manuscript.
2. Edit chapter 3 according to some suggestions I got.
3. Send manuscript off to Golden Heart contest. (there's a deadline here, it has to reach the Houston office by 2 December)
4. Get back to working on manuscript #2 which needs some extensive work on the first 10 chapters before I go ahead and write the rest.

Well, it looks like I've got my next few weekends planned already. :)