A year´s worth of reckoning in fifteen seconds
Posted by Krisztina on May 13th, 2009 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
“So this is Christmas, And what have you done
Another year over, And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas… I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one, The old and the young.
A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear
And so this is Christmas For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones… The world is so wrong.”
“Happy Christmas, War Is Over” – John Lennon.
All in all, a good year. On the achievement side, I passed the EU interpreter test and began working there: an extremely challenging job which has raised several notches my definition of discipline and preparation.
Also, I was unofficially offered, probably starting a year from now, a fixed contract as a translator at my other workplace (masochist choice, heh, working in two very different jobs at two different organisations each which are on the opposite poles of Europe – but it has worked out well so far) – if this particular org doesn´t ditch its whole language service to save costs, rendering the offer moot in that case. Even so, no worries at all on the working front; rather the opposite.
On the family front, Gran had two strokes this winter, which changed all our plans. I´ve spent the last five months flitting from Brussels to Vienna to work, to Spain for a few weeks to take over caring for Gran, which is mainly the reason I´ve been offline most of the time since before Christmas. But she has recovered amazingly, considering two hospitals had given up on her. She didn´t – and she learned again how to walk, talk, move, think, and generally be about 85% the healthy, forceful and independent lady she was before her illness and she is back in Hungary now. Still, she requires CONSTANT VIGILANCE because her legs can give way suddenly, and if she falls and breaks a leg then that´s it – a wheelchair til the end. Otherwise, she is going to start to paint again, even though she lost her left eye completely; she jokes it should make for an interesting perspective!
My uncle also recovered from his own stroke, but since he doesn´t take care of himself half as much as Gran does -irresponsible, childish men!- we´re wary of anything like that happening to him again.
The Easter Bunny took Wotan´s – Doggus´s – “eggs” a few weeks ago, and recovered beautifully, turning into an even more affectionate and way more manageable little son of a bitch. The breeder is now shamelessly tempting me to adopt another one of her dogs, a black bitch six months old, since Woti is besotted with her (in a -er- platonic way now, of course).
My house is up for sale. It was a wrench, really, but I see no other solution now that I´m away nearly all the time, working, unfortunately Gran won´t last beyond a few months, and Mum doesn´t drive and isn´t getting younger anyway (so sayeth the pot to the kettle, har de har).
So if you fancy living in a small village in a natural bird sanctuary under Unesco, near a lake 100 km from the center of Vienna, need a white elephant with ten rooms, four living rooms and four bathrooms, a big chaotic rose garden with a fruit orchard, and lovely crazy neighbours, drop me a mail :p It won´t be easy finding a buyer, since it´s a bit unusual in size and style, but we´re confident someone will fall in love with it one day (yes, I´m hopeless!).
As soon as it´s sold, we´re moving back to lovely Sopron (those of you who have visited me here will remember the little Gothic jewel of a city nestled in the hills, don´t you?), where we lived once very happily years ago, so that is a comfort. Mum says a flat, I say a row house or a semi-detached with a little garden, Gran says nothing since the poor dear doesn´t know of our plans yet and we don´t want to upset her, as she adores the current batcave nearly as much as the bat.
Otherwise, I think my main achievement was becoming painfully and brusquely aware of the full effects of Peak Oil, and spent all my spare money and energy preparing for it. Vittles, water treatment, medicines, hygiene articles, lighting and energy source, hardy clothes, seeds galore, a library on self-sufficiency. Bar laying out the garden plot in the new home as soon as we´ve moved, I am as ready as can ever be. We won´t starve, freeze, or stand clueless and dazed when the system stops working. Working for orgs fully aware as well if not particularly forthcoming with information about it for the general public has boosted my determination and morale about this dire prospect when everybody else just laughs at it in disbelief and still believes the current “financial” crisis is temporary and manageable. So I´ve done my best there for us, and I think it´ll be enough.
On the negative side, the personal/private side hasn´t advanced one inch. I haven´t had the time to go on looking for a publisher, I haven´t written a line throughout last year, I haven´t had time to paint or garden seriously either, I haven´t been bloody anywhere for even a two-day break.
But with the generous little envelope I got from all the family yesterday, and if Gran doesn´t give us another scare, this time I´m really going to Port Mahon in August for at least ten days.
All in all, I feel well, safe, quite happy, and satisfied that I haven´t wasted time or done something irremediably stupid (well, give me time! :p)
Tonight it´s work and then the choir rehearsal, and then I´ll spend the rest of the time til tomorrow with Rassendyll, who is coming today from Japan just for this one night.
I hope you´re likewise doing okay 
Raspberry truffles all around!
Must-really MUST-see vid (100% worksafe)
Posted by Krisztina on January 12th, 2009 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
In case you missed it, and in case the direct vid link below doesn´t work, cut and paste this link:
(I can´t find the original English version, I´m very sorry; but if any of my German-speaking friends can, I´d be grateful if you could post the link to it below? Thank you very much!)
—————
Short private update: Gran´s not better, but not worse either. She´s fighting. And I have a purely gut-irrational feeling she´s going to make it, if slowly.
Esteven, I was offline and unable to be home these night past but I´m calling you tonight, if it´s ok? Many hugs til then, I´m looking forward to chatting with you again!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR DASHA!!
Posted by Krisztina on January 6th, 2009 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
A bit belatedly, but I hope you had a fantastic day surrounded by good friends, and may this new year bring you health, much joy and success, and above all, peace! (I’m thinking about the terrible, senseless casualties on both sides, and hoping that all your loved ones on the Israeli side are safe.) I would be so glad to see you again in Austria/Hungary… preferably this year!
——————————
Esteven, I am so sorry to hear about your mother´s health *shy hugs* Has there been any improvement in the last days? How are *you*, dear? (more to the point – when may I call you again in these days, at the usual time?)
I´ve been in Spain the last several days. Watching over Gran, especially, but also over Unk who is an intellectually brilliant 67-year old but who has the sense of responsibility and of taking care of himself of a two-year old. He´s HOPELESS. He refuses to stop smoking or even cutting it back to half (he´s at a pack a day), he doesn´t follow the exercises or any of the other plain common sense orders the doctors gave him. I love him but really, these past days his stupid thoughtless stubbornness (did I mention he caught the flu and passed it on to his folks, including Gran who was already sick?) has been harder to swallow than seeing Gran so weak and helpless. But she´s not worse and so far she hasn´t had another stroke so that´s something, at least. We should never have let Gran go where they love her almost as much as we do but where they simply can´t look after her constantly, like we did at home.
So I´ve just come back and now Mum´s on her way there to help keep watching Gran. On the 15th Gran will undergo a new series of tests, mostly because by chance the last ones showed she´s got something in her liver and they want to make sure (we won´t allow surgery, at her age it´s just not done; even if there´s a bad tumour there are medications and painkillers that can help a lot).
The lady who comes here daily to help us with housework and look after Gran (when she´s here, of course) has a friend who is a jobless nurse who, in principle, would agree to come help with Gran as soon as she can travel back home (?). We want to keep her home as long as possible; she loves the batcave, the dog, the garden, she has so many friends here and we want her to enjoy her home all she can.
And when it´s no longer possible, there is a rather modest (for our standards, of course) but very well-run nursing home just two miles away from home, run by the Maltese order, which is quite a nice coincidence, since half our family men are knights of the order so despite the waiting list Gran is welcome anytime and we know they´ll keep her like a treasure – but then she´d only be “parked” there on those days when I have to go to Brussels and Mum works abroad too – we´re both freelancers and can´t just leave work, especially with the dire current work situation everywhere. Other than those days, neither Mum nor I will go anywhere else; we´ll have Gran home with us and enjoy her as long as we have the good luck to have her among us.
My sister called right before I left for Spain and asked a strange thing, “But if you arrive too late, have you done and said all you wanted with Gran? Or do you have unfinished business?” I´m not sure what she meant, but thinking back on all these many past years the answer was no. Gran´s lived with me almost all my life, we´ve been there for each other all the time, we´ve travelled together and read together, we´ve designed and built a house together, we´ve gardened and painted and exhibited and restored paintings together and done so many wonderful things together (mainly where I was learning from her) that I can´t even begin to count the thousands of happy memories of every different sort imaginable we share together. I´m at peace; I´ve done my best with and for her to the last (I hope she can forgive me if it was not enough), and though I love her before all the people in the world and life won´t be the same without her, she´s just too much part of what I am to really lose her when she leaves physically. She´s the best of me and always my role model.
So now we´re waiting to see what happens next. Gran may yet recover enough to return home and we may take care of her for several months yet. At least I hope so!
A big thank you, and quick upsetting news
Posted by Krisztina on December 22nd, 2008 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
Esteven, thank you very, very much for your awesome art volume about fighting ships… I´m speechless! I didn´t know such a gem existed, and that it was possible to anybody outside collectors or a museum to find one. It´s so beautiful, and there are so many paintings and drawings I hadn´t seen anywhere else before… THANK YOU!!
————-
Gran is in hospital, and Unk too. It all happened within a few days and we´ve been in a helpless chaos since – I´m very sorry for the lack of updates, I just haven´t had a normal moment since last week.
Gran´s had a mild stroke. The good news is, she´s not half-paralyzed or confined to a wheelchair, or become gaga or incontinent or a number of other very usual sequels, but she´s lost sight in one eye and hearing in an ear, and she has trouble coordinating her movements, especially with her left side, because she no longer can estimate distances (she keeps banging against doorframes and missing her step, for instance). But her head´s as clear as ever. Just how much she´ll still recover, if she does, is anybody´s guess. She´s really cheerful and patient, and fighting her best to recover control over all her movements, and she´s undaunted by her own little failures when she keeps dropping things, or trying to grab a glass and knocking it over. This means she and Mum will have to move to Sopron very, very soon, where it´ll be possible to find one or more nurses to watch over her 24/7, because she can´t be left alone anymore.
Unk had an accident while coming back home from Gran´s bedside. He says his left arm and leg suddenly didn´t obey him, first he stopped even feeling them, and then gradually when feeling came back he had strong “Kribbel” in those limbs (like ants walking up and down), and it comes and goes since. We have no clue what´s wrong with him; they´re doing several tests now to find out. He´s so strong, he´s never had anything before, so it´s quite a shock. He says he´s not in any pain and doesn´t feel ill and he´s got so much backlog he really wants to be sent home as soon as possible… and we hope he´s right, that he and Gran will be home soon. However, we´re aware that once you have a stroke, however mild, it can happen again at any time to Gran.
Hugs all around and please take care of yourselves, and I mean it. There´s just so much bad news one can cope with.
Iz or Swiv, could you please be so kind to let Flourish know I was so happy for her lovely email and I´ll soon as I can? Thank you very much, and I´m sorry for the inconvenience.
Tales from the woods of Vienna…
Posted by Krisztina on October 26th, 2008 filed in Archie behind me!1 Comment »
My week in a sentence: Went to Zwettl, where I wricked my ankle (the bad one; should have had it operated long ago) so badly I had to spend the next week in bed. As soon as the hospital delivered the splints, I hobbled out and raided a dozen banks to buy gold worth one-fourth of my savings (I wanted as much as a third, but all the main banks were shifty and did their best to persuade me they were out of gold, and wouldn´t I want a nice savings account instead? I lucked out at a small private bank, thank goodness.) Then I stocked up the pantry for six months of food for my family, got a couple dozen more rechargeable batteries, checked that the solar chargers, crank radio, etc. all work, stocked up on water, gasoline and medications, and had someone fix my Internet up again so it runs at least partially before the next brownout. It´s slow as lava right now, hope it uploads some of the pics I made in Zwettl. Gorgeous retreat, highly recommended.
To sweeten your Monday, some fresh autumn views of the monastery and its grounds. Enjoy!
A must-read link; believe and prepare, or suck it up
Posted by Krisztina on October 13th, 2008 filed in Archie behind me!, Crack in the fuselage, Firing to killComment now »
Have you heard of Peak Oil? If yes, please check this link nevertheless. If not, check it with all the more reason; I take my flist for literate and reasonable folk able to discern when the shit´s about to hit the fan, and I hope you´ll take this seriously:
(For questions and more info, there´s a Forum there too.)
That´s just so you don´t say afterwards you didn´t know this was coming; some of you may know this link already since I shared it via email a few weeks ago. For those who didn´t, do spare half an hour of your time and have a thorough look at this site. I really hadn´t meant to spoil your dinner just yet, but it´s started earlier and at a faster pace than even the hardcore pessimists had guessed. So in the off-chance anyone wondered where I am these days, besides abroad working, you´ll find me at that Forum online, and otherwise testing solar gadgets and brushing up on self-reliance manuals and hardware (any of you raised Kibbutzim? Kudos to you, then!).
(Otherwise, a quick private update: my first week ever as an EU interpreter went well (a 7.5 on a scale of zero/awful to ten/brilliant), despite a general transport strike (ever walked 3 hours laden with 20 pounds of dictionaries under the rain on your very first day to a new job to work eight hours and then walked 3 hours back?), a fever on the second day just as I got evaluated officially by my colleagues (score: an average of very good to excellent; I´m glad to have been told where I could still improve), and a heartfelt loathing for Brussels. It´s shameful that the self-styled “capital of Europe” should be the dirtiest, shabbiest, most pot-holey, noisiest, unsafest, polluted, stinking, and sickest cesspool I have ever seen among Europe´s metropolises. My expat colleagues forced to live there for the last 10+ years agree; no wonder so many of them are depressed. In the future I´ll go to Brussels as often as needed because I need the pay check, but as little as possible – and hang on to paradisial Vienna like a barnacle. Otherwise, I went to visit Frency´s tomb – a sad, impersonal walled-up niche affair in a sunless spot – only half an hour away from said city, and then, not finding her folks at home (much, much better so; I had no comforting feelings left to share), dropped a letter with photographs and nice mementoes from her in their letter-box. I´m still rather shaken by her death.
Message of the day, by Michael Moore, and very short update
Posted by Krisztina on September 29th, 2008 filed in Archie behind me!, Crack in the fuselage, Missing Man FormationComment now »
Mini personal quickie: Off to Warsaw til Thursday, human rights conference (fascinating, but on a stress scale from one (nil) to ten, it gets an almost-nine). I´m still not over Frency´s death; hers was one of the hardest letters of condolence I´ve had to write… I need to know why she died so suddenly; but how to ask her family without being obnoxious? When I´m back and have calmed down a little, I´ll select the best photos and letters I have from her, make copies, and send them to her folks.
Those among you reading this who are among my best friends: if your life ever gets tougher than you can handle, for heaven´s sake don´t be a stoic and ASK FOR HELP, that´s what friends and family are for. Don´t reject them, and don´t try to kill yourself. You might succeed. And then, your friends and family will never forgive you. (/quick post)
And now to Michael Moore´s message to his mailing list, which just rocks:
“Friends,
Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies — who must soon vacate the White House — are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.
No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday’s New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:
“Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.
“Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.
“At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.
“Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury’s proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions.”
Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to “consult” in the bailout ( see here ).
The problem is, nobody truly knows what this “collapse” is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn’t know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can’t figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.
And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Falling for whom? NOTHING in this “bailout” package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.
Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What’s this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?
It has everything to do with it. This so-called “collapse” was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people’s home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it’s because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn’t afford. Here’s the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills . Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage “crisis” may never have happened.
This bailout’s mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It’s to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It’s to make sure their yachts and mansions and “way of life” go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!
I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something — NOW! Here’s what you can do immediately:
1. Call This number or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they’ve made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what’s the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.
2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).
3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to find their phone numbers: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ ). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.
When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.
P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we’ll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now ( http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ ) and say “NO!” If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW ( http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ ).
Join Mike’s Mailing List) | Join Mike´s Facebook Group) | Become Mike’s MySpace Friend ( http://www.myspace.com/mmflint )
I just received news a good friend has died, but it´s in Dutch and I can´t make it out – please help?
Posted by Krisztina on September 27th, 2008 filed in Uncategorized1 Comment »
Frency, a.k.a. Prof. Emma Elrond, first ever HoH of Hufflepuff House at HOL, died this week.
I´m so shocked I can´t think properly. She was only forty years old: I don´t know what happened ot her, an accident, or what… she wasn´t ill, at least not at the beginning of August when I last heard from her. Excuse the lack of updates lately, I´m shuttling from Vienna to Prague to Warsaw to Brussels and can hardly get online or catch my breath. I miss you, I´m very fond of you, please don´t give up on me yet, I promise to catch up sometime, as soon as possible. Meanwhile, thank you very, very much if you can translate her death notice for me:
“Haar stoel blift leeg.
Haar stem zal zwigen
Groot is de leegt di zij achterlaat.
Mooi zijn de herinneringen de blijven.
FRENCY HOLBRECHT
Zij werd geboren te Dendermonde op 14 december 1967
en is er overleden op 21 september 2008 in het A.Z. Sint-Blasius.
Zij was de dochter van Frans Joseph en Nicole (+) Holbrecht- De Clercq
Zij was de zus en tante van Karen Holbrecht en zoon Thomas
De bijzetting van haar asurne in het columbarium op de begraafplaats van Lebbeke heeft plaats op vrijdag 26 september 2008 om 16.05 uur.
Rouwadres: Hof-ter-Hertstraat 10, 9280 Lebbeke
Er is gelegenheid om Frency een laatste groet te brengen in het Rouwcentrum Merckx, Koning Albert I-straat 44 te Lebbeke, donderdag, van 17 uur tot 18 uur.”
Russian roulette
Posted by Krisztina on August 10th, 2008 filed in Dog-fight, No man´s landComment now »
First off, I feel for the Russian civilians in South Ossetia. As much as for the Georgian civilians (and the Chechen civilians, and the Armenian civilians in Nagorni Karabakh and – but that´s another whole round of roulette game being played with a silencer… for the time being.) And I feel for the Russian kids being sent off as cannon-fodder by a megalomaniac régime who subsidizes its national ego trips at the expense of its own war veterans, widows, and orphans’ pensions. I also grok Russia’s resentment at his neighbours being misused to station NATO forces (how would the US like to have Russian radar stations and missile shields deployed along his Canadian and Mexican borders?) and that the remains of the once-feared Red Army need to be occupied in artificial wars lest they go totally berserk within Russia now that rotting stolen ammo (by way of an inexistent King’s Shilling) doesn´t sell all too well – or they go the way of other, far less disgruntled armies and topple their puppet Putin in a putsch just as they attempted to topple Yeltsin. The lesser of two weevils festering in Mother Russia’s bosom, if you will. Anything, but civil war again. However, what is happening now in the Caucasus, no matter how often it was predicted before, is only the latest example of aggresive Neosoviet imperialism directed at crushing “lesser” countries which have the misfortune of existing in on a strategic seashore region historically claimed by Russia, not coincidentally traversed by its pipelines – an aggression tacitly sanctioned by the loudly protesting European Union (scared of alienating their main gas supplier) and the US of A (scared of alienating their main partner-in-crime in their so-called global war against terrorism). How did Sir Humphrey Appleby put it? “We shall voice our outrage but do nothing practical about it. That’s masterful inactivity.”
Happy Birthday, Ozfille! (and a quick update)
Posted by Krisztina on July 19th, 2008 filed in Landing safely1 Comment »
Dear Ozfille, I wish you a blissfully happy birthday, full of positive things, and I hope this new year it´ll only improve by and by in all senses; I really hope I´ll be lucky enough to meet you next year – at the latest!
——–
No trascendental news in the Transylvanian boondocks, I´m sorry to report… much work everywhere, several unexpected visits, and a main time-eater in the shape of a seventeen-month-old toddler, the eldest of my cousin, who stayed here for weeks while his mom spent the last few weeks of her second, risky pregnancy in hospital (both she and her newborn son are fine, thank goodness). A lovely, smart, sweet little boy who nevertheless brought to mind with startling, final clarity the many reasons why I´m thankful NOT to have children, and hope never to *wry, extremely tired grin*
You have to love the überpolice State the EU is turning into… by default, you´re all but discouraged to prove yourself a worthy an innocent civilian! it took me three different letters and emails, countless telephone calls, and six weeks to get in my anxious little paws a document from the Ministry of Justice certifying I´m not likely to skulk into the sacred halls of the European Parliament wearing a home-rigged bomb in my pants I´ve no police file (so being held for all those antiglobalisation protests counts for nothing. Sniff. There goes my civil activist pride!) – which I needed partout to complete my hopeful new EU recruit file.
Morale: in Brave New Europe, it´s far easier and more fun to get yourself a shiny criminal record than to prove you´ve kept the straight and narrow.
(Now I´m waiting with patient impatience to get my first contract with them as an interpreter, while I continue to work as a translator and interpreter in Vienna… and growing more fidgety by the day. Have they really got all the documents they asked for? Did I miss anything? Do they always take thiiiis loooong to offer work to those newly admitted to their rarefied system? Et cetera.)
Other than that, as said, no news at all… Except I underwent the seven-year last tests, and I´m clear. Free. Healthy. No methastasis. No trace of leukaemia.
I´m officially cured.
And that is my tiny and humble present to our birthday girl: if I beat it despite rotten odds, others with better chances have even more cause to hope.
Will catch up with your latest postings in the next hours. Til then, raspberry cookies all around 