Craptastic

After a lovely weekend, this has been the fourth day in a row with hail.

Rediscovery of the bubble bath

I didn't go out (much) this past weekend because I had a stomach ache (or a hangover, whatever). I decided to have a good weekend in and indulge myself with a bubble bath. Although I hate walking past Lush due to the sensory assault, I had read good things about their bubble bars. I wasn't sure if I wanted to splurge so much money on a product that could only be used once or twice though, but then I figured...meh, give it a shot and if I hated it, I would have something to curse. Well, let me tell you, the splurge may well have been worth it. 

I bought a Lush rose jam bubbleroon because I like the scent of roses and also because it looked like a macaron. Following online recommendations, I broke it in half and proceeded to use my hands to grind one of those halves under the running bath water. I then walked away to get my kindle, and then sat back and let the bubbles build while reading my worries away.

At some point, I looked at the water and was greeted by this sight:

HOLY SHIT, ALL THOSE BUBBLES!!!

And they lasted pretty long as well. So yeah, if you're looking for a nicely scented bath with epic bubbles, this'll do the job. Word of warning though - there was some pink residue and online commentators said this needs to be washed out otherwise it can stain.  

Nach-Oktoberfestgrippe

A number of people I know are currently ill. This list includes:
Swiss Chris
Sarah
Caro
Laura
Susi
Thomas
Christian
Myself
There can only be one reason - we all partied too hard during Oktoberfest.

In other news...

I am now writing as a blogger for a science magazine. Given that this is published under my real name, I am hesitant to provide a link here. 

If you're interested in reading these entries, please send me a message. 

Perfect colour vision

I have it

Test it for yourself here!

I'm back!

I've been on vacation for the last week - entries coming soon!

Passed!!!

I passed the in-house unit exam of my German school. Hopefully it will be good enough for the powers that be!

Roses

Carlinho moved to Karlsruhe today (boo!). But as a going away present since I'm such an awesome friend, he got me some roses (yay!)

Purdy.

And okay, he also got me a bag of coal - leftovers from a bbq we both attended!

I clearly needed sleep

This weekend has been one of those glorious long May weekends due to Catholic holidays, and people planned a number of events that I'd agreed to attend. Now, I'm not sure exactly what I've been doing for the last few weeks, but I've clearly been very tired because I seem to be waking up 10-15 minutes before I was supposed to meet friends at said events.

Cases in point - a brunch had been organised at the moderate time of 11am. I woke at 10:50 and furiously had to fire off a message saying that I would be late. I had also agreed to go clubbing (heh), with the planned meeting time of 10pm. Due to feeling tired during the day, I chose to take a nap at 6:30pm. OVER THREE HOURS LATER, I woke up and had to fire off another text saying that I was (clearly) going to be very late. Thank god it was a long weekend and for my very understanding friends!

I think I need a life?

First of May, first of May...it was a relatively nice day and no work...so I decided to do my laundry and go to the gym.

Yep. Need a life.

Jubei?

I saw a familiar fluffy white butt the other night!

OMG! It's like Jubei came across the ocean and someone tied him outside of Rossmann!

Wrecked

For the last couple of weeks, I've been feeling pretty tired. And when I say tired, I mean despite staying home during the week and sleeping (relatively) early, I've been waking up late and feeling like I could do with more. Hell, Ziad even pointed out to me at a party that he'd never heard me say, "I'm tired" before - and he's seen me dance for 4 hours straight.

I chalk this feeling up to a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'm in the second half of a course of antibiotics and I think fatigue might have been listed as one of the side effects. Secondly, I don't think I've seen the sun in two weeks. I think my melatonin levels might be out of whack and not able to determine when I'm supposed to be awake. Thirdly, work has been a bit of a shit and that is never motivational.

Short week, long week.

Monday (6th Jan) was a public holiday so this is only a 4 day working week. Despite that, this week already feels like it's been dragging on forever as we all get back into the old routine. And so, despite it being only the second day of the working year for many people (not for myself, obviously), many of us are already saying, "I need a holiday."

In non-Oktoberfest related news...

my paper is online! No links here, just in case strangers figure out who I am!

What's been going on?

To be honest, I'm not really sure. I feel as though I've been busy for the last few weeks (which is part of the reason why I haven't been updating this blog as regularly as usual), and yet...I seem to have no evidence of what I've been doing. Anyway, here's a rundown of what I know has been going on.

The heatwave continued and pretty much everyone except myself died.

In fact, it was so like Melbs that with the lack of rain and hot weather, the grass at work turned yellow! Germans would ask me if the weather made me feel homesick, and I would reply with a, "Not really. The summer is like this in Australia...except we have this kind of weather for 3 months instead of 3 weeks!" Shadya has also been getting comments about how she must be loving it since she's Colombian except, like Australia, all buildings in Colombia have airconditioning and she's also been dying. When you've got a few days over 25C in a row, one really begins to appreciate the wonders of German insulation in a really bad way...

But during those super-hot days, me and my work peeps went to Yen-C, a newish hot-pot restaurant. As the only Asian amongst the crew, I was happily boiling my seafood in the spicy soup base while watching everyone else sweating like crazy from the heat and soup while grappling with getting their noodles out of the pot. The decision was unanimous - everyone thought it was delicious and would like to return! But during the winter and not a 30C day.

I finally read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander. A time-travel/historical epic/romance novel, it has kinda inspired me to go to the Scottish highlands and see if I can find my own Jamie Fraser! Although...I'd probably have to travel back 200 years in time and my princessy-ness would mean that I'd die before he could rescue me.

Job searching is being conducted. My contract will end at the end of this year and I have made the somewhat scary decision that, as much as I love academia, it's a great job but it's a shit career, and so I would like to leave. *GULP!* I'm hoping to nab a job in medical writing though. I think this would be a great job for me :D Fingers crossed, my friends.

Resubmission

After working like crazy (sometimes) over the last month, I have managed to resubmit a manuscript! Now fingers crossed it will be accepted!!!

Blogging delay

Blogs are coming! I've been on holiday for the last week and I need to sort photos out!

Endlich Sommer!

I swear, every year that I've lived here, I keep saying *THIS IS THE WORST SUMMER EVER!!!* But really, this year has been THE WORST SUMMER EVER, with record floods across Central Europe. Hell, Fabi's hometown is up in the Bavarian Forest and about 1000m about sea level, but due to its proximity to the Danube, it's been flooded and evacuated.

BUT NOW! The weather was over 25C today and, even better, it is PREDICTED TO GO OVER 30C later in the week!!!! I'm totally looking forward to getting my summer dresses on again :D

Candy Crush Saga

Okay, I've realised what I've been doing rather than updating my blog - playing Candy Crush Saga.

That crap is addictive. Keep away. 

Russian Friend

I have a new friend who happens to come from Russia. And while some might argue that one must be beautiful in order to be my friend anyway, I'll say it - she is really gorgeous. Long dark hair, big dark eyes, great bone structure...she's so attractive that she inspired the following conversation...

I'll just re-iterate - HAHAHAHAHAHAHA