Jason's Daily Notes

It's cold. I packed my backpack for work, preparing for Badminton (but I decided not to play today).

We had a team meeting/breakfast again today. It was pretty chill. Thomas is away from the office so everything is ok.

I went to the bank and sorted out (1) my address, (2) my new TAN list, and (3) my travel plans for India.

Lunch was the leftover breakfast foods, with Nick and Mike and Toby.

Met with the new interns (Rob and Miika) to introduce myself and Toby.

I work better when it's quiet.

Mike lost his wallet, and he felt pretty upset about it. He went home around 4:30. I looked in the bathrooms and around the office for the wallet. He found it eventually inside his couch cushions.

It was raining the whole afternoon, so I stayed inside the office.

Dinner was penne with sun dried tomatoes, and a vegetarian cordon bleu.

I posted a job posting on Reddit and got over 50 responses in a few hours. I spent the evening responding to them before going to bed.

Thursday, 31 October 2013
It's Halloween. I wear my Inigo Montoya costume to work. Mike is Woody. He pulls off the costume well.
Interviewed a girl in my costume. Hilarious.
It's also the kickoff of Movember at the office. We all take a group picture.
Not much work gets done.
Stayed at the office drinking, with Nick the American. We (Lisa and I) bike to the Altstadt and meet with everyone else. Katie is rocking the Elektra/sexy skeleton, and Toby pulls off the Mad Hatter really well. We went to Sigrid's and saw everyone there. Danny and Betty were really good as the smurfs, and Yati was a cool F1 driver.

Friday, 1 November
Day off! I didn't end up going to Hamburg, Amsterdam, or Belgium at all. Just stayed in the whole weekend. I am starting to watch videos to prepare myself for India.
In the afternoon, I helped Mike move in. Well, actually: Mike arrived with his dad (driving a van with a trailer full of furniture and everything for the new apartment), and then "bad news - I forgot my key." So they had to drive all the way back to pick up the key! I waited at the office and actually got some work done :). Then, around 9-10pm I helped moving everything into the apartment.
It rained. I didn't go out. I just slept. (I have been sleeping a lot lately, probably because of the lack of sunlight these days.)

Saturday, 2 November
Went shopping with Anton. He wanted to get some weights. We went to Real, where we met Francesco. Bought stuff for the flat (baking tray) and a bunch of chicken to cook for dinner. I decided to go to Bonn the next day.
Trammed back home and baked the chicken in a lime-cumin marinade. Also made homemade guac and tortilla chips.
Ended up drinking with Anton and Badi in the flat. We then went out to the bar where Badi works (Zogel) for a couple more beers, then to the Altstadt (Schaukelstühlchen) for more drinks. We were admiring the crowd. Phil and Jennifer M were there. I was quite tipsy at the end. Anton and I didn't join Badi and his friend who went to Mauer. Instead, we walked to the Nordstraße station and caught the U-Bahn just in time!

Sunday, 3 November
Day trip to Bonn! I went with Anton, and met Valentin, Marina, and Marina's friend Leona (who was visiting from London - she also went to LSE and is now doing economic consulting!). We took the train there. Along the way, Anton was impressed with Cologne's cathedral so we decided to stop there on the way back. I was also making my usual semi-offensive jokes; Marina loved that her car key was now a brick.
Bonn was nice; small, but pleasant to walk around. We wandered quickly around the park, then the river, and in the city. Saw Beethoven's birthplace (but didn't want to pay to go in) and had a delicious filling meal and beers at the brewery Zum Stiefel (the Boot). Surprisingly, stores were open this Sunday!
Already bored and wanting to check out more, we hopped on the (slow) train to Cologne. We explored the city, walking through the cathedral and the city. We wandered all the way to Zülpicherstraße and got another drink at a bar there. Leona had to return in time for her flight, so we returned to Düsseldorf (I slept on the train).
Anton and I cooked some more chicken (the cutlets that weren't spoiled).

Monday, 4 November
The 2 new interns started: Rob from England, and Miika from Finland. I went to lunch with Carl, Toby, and Miika at Vapiano.
Mike had the day off, but he nevertheless stopped by the office to sort out ordering his Internet and finding a mattress for his apartment (he was sleeping on an air mattress).
After work, I walked Miika to his new flat. He moved into Mike's room. What a coincidence! I then went home and cooked some eggs. Then I went to the other company flat to see Yuti. Chilled with her and Nicky and Annalia and Kate (and Carlos). Chatting about their trip to Amsterdam, India, nakedness in Finland, and Breezerslets (new Dutch word, lol). I then stopped by downstairs to say hi to Sabrina and see how her trip to Belgium was. Matilde was also there, and so was Rob (the new British intern). He was feeling a bit ill so I offered him some lemon ginger tea.
It was really cold at night. Close to freezing. Got home and slept around midnight.

I was awake before 08:00, but I took my time getting ready, browsing the internet, and cleaning up, so I didn't get to the office until around 09:15.

Work is very routine now. Nothing too interesting happening. I don't have much motivation to push creative ideas or take much initiative. I'm occupied just keeping things going at the status quo.

There is still no answer from my intern, Kila. She needs to decide. I'm already interviewing other people.

For lunch, I biked to What's Beef burgers. I figured, why not? I had wanted to go there for a long time, and I was really annoyed that everyone else had gone there without me. I was also feeling particularly jealous of Mike again, for going to Mongo's restaurant last night and saying that there's no way he would go there again because it's too expensive.

I'm slowly getting prepared for my trip to India in less than 3 weeks! But first, halloween. People don't know my costume, except for the Americans. Nick is really excited for it.

We celebrated Jon's birthday by surrounding him at his desk in an ambush. There was delicious cake and "Windbeutel" (cream puffs). Mike couldn't remember the Dutch name for them (soesje).

Also, what am I going to do this weekend? I.e. where am I going to travel? There are no available hostels in Amsterdam or in Hamburg.

I went to Badminton after work. It was raining a bit on my way over. There were just 3 of us - me, Yuti, and Chusin ("Ohm") who is from Thailand and new at the company. They were both better at badminton than I was. But it was fun nonetheless.

Back at the apartment, Badi had two friends over for dinner. They left as I showered. Anton and I had dinner (I just fried up some veggie frikadelles) and lit up a dooooooobie. Watched an episode of Archer which is pretty interesting. I could get into it.

I need to get a new bike bell. Maybe I'll go to the store.

Katie and Victor came over last night, and well, I was still feeling the effects of our sampling the whole day at work.

The clocks went back one hour, so it's at least getting light at 7am, but dark by 5pm. I have been sleeping a lot. Last night, I went to bed around 9:30pm and didn't wake up until 7:30am.

It was a very relaxed, chill day at work. Just doing my daily tasks. Playing around with GDN.

There is a big storm that is hitting southern England today. But over here in Germany, there were periods of rain showers, but mainly it has been very windy! But I love it; the air feels fresh and clean.

Lunch: leftover bolognese + Sardinian pasta in the kitchen with Toby.

Toby and I are planning an academy session in 2 weeks.

Mike had a team event - Mongo's restaurant. He gets the keys to his new apartment on Wednesday, and Friday-Sunday he'll be moving. (I need to stop thinking of Mike all the time. It's making me feel less secure and happy about my own life, which makes no sense.)

I can't find my blue folder. It is important - in there was my TAN list (for banking) and the receipts for my work permit, which I want to be reimbursed for. I don't know where they could be! I came back with the folder from Amsterdam. It's not in any of my bags, or anywhere in my room (I cleaned my room and went through everything this past weekend), nor is it anywhere at my desk in the office. Hmm...

Went home and watched an episode of HIMYM before going to bed early around 10:30pm. I guess this lack of light is really making me tired!

Last night, I crashed my bike. I was on my way to Mike's place from Stadtmitte (I had just rushed to the two costume shops to buy my Halloween costume, and had also stopped at Ho's supermarket). I wasn't paying too much attention, and my bike fell into the tram tracks. I got a bad scratch on my lower right leg, and my left knee got bruised. They will be sore for the next few days.

Mike was stressed because he found out that a big release he was working on had very incorrect data. "I'll have to stay until 10, 11pm," he said. But he was home (Tod couldn't get the data before the end of the day). So I joined him for dinner - we made an asian stir fry thing which he really liked. We stayed in, gezelig as usual, and watched The Road to El Dorado (Mike said I looked like one of the characters) and some Big Bang Theory.

Got up, got ready, then went to the bank. I transferred money to Anna S. for the Justin Timberlake concert ticket. I then went to Kaisers and bought breakfast for the team (it was my turn). I showed up slightly late, so our meeting was at 10:30 instead of 10.

Work is the same; there isn't too much excitement for me. I'm writing a blog entry.

It looks like I'll finally get Kila as my intern!

Went to Salsa dancing after work. My partner was Isadora. The instructor only spoke Spanish. It was pretty good, not too difficult. I'll go back. :)

Stayed after for some beer/pizza at Ratingerstraße with Sabrina, Mathilde (the new Portuguese girl who lives in my room in the flat), Alessandro, Kevin, Hyemee, and Estela.

Biked home. Made ramen. Called home. Slept. (Last week I had been sleeping 10+ hours a night, now I'm only getting 7 and it is making me tired.) Whew!

Walked to work again.

The weather is cold and rainy, showers passing by every hour or two.

Work is much of the same. It's not bad. Just monitoring my campaigns and pushing to optimize. And uploading new pictures, etc.

Lunch: went to the Mensa, with Toby, Francesco, Mike. Robin and Franco joined us after going to the bank. Toby managed to pay for Mike's food, and it was only €1.50 per person (student price).

Dude, it's been 6 months since I started working here.

I'm struggling with whether I should move to Stadtmitte. Everyone is living there. But I don't want to seem weak and do it just because my friends are there. I have to do things for myself. Is that stupid? I mean, lots of people move near their friends, right? I do need to spend less time with Mike.

What am I going to do about this apartment search? Part of me doesn't want to move out, if it will be so much more expensive. I feel like I'm just copying Mike.

I also feel the same way about a lot of things - for example, the clothes I wear and what cologne I wear. I really feel it's important to have my own style, but I can't really have that when all my clothes are bought here. I don't want to be a follower. But is that really what makes me a leader? Fuck, I don't know what to think anymore. I just want to get all the attention. I guess I do have an American style, I'm not as naturally well-dressed as all the Europeans here. Just keep it simple.

Fuck, I still don't have a halloween costume. I'm getting so slow at doing things lately!

I also hate not having a bike. It just makes me want to stay inside all day.

Left work at 6:30. There wasn't really anything to do. Stayed in, cooked a can of soup (eintopf) and watched Glee and New Girl and some TED talks. Slept early, and woke up 7am, and now here I am!

Canadian Thanksgiving.

The sun rises really late now. It's 8:20 and its barely coming up. I decided to come to work earlier today, because there's so much to do on Monday mornings.