Jason's Daily Notes

Wednesday night, 26 February - Toby Arrives
Drank and smoked and stayed in the flat.

Thursday, 27 February - The Party at the Office
Had about 1 hour of productivity before the beers and party started at 11am.
I was really impressed by the quality and diversity of my coworkers' karnaval costumes!
Walked to Altstadt along the Rhine

Friday, 28 February - The "Down Day"
There was an error fare to Los Angeles - round-trip flights from €112! I'M SUCH AN IDIOT FOR NOT BOOKING 5 TICKETS RIGHT NOW.
Work work.
Waldemar's last day.
Jojo's last day.
Party at Victor's place. Biked there with Mike but didn't have any big talk.
It was also Kate's last day (!?!!)

Saturday, 1 March - Köln Alaaf
Bought some food in the morning from REWE. Sorted out Toby and Anton.
"When do you go?" "When everyone wakes up"
Randomly met a lot of people at the Hbf, and we all traveled together.
Became the tour group leader (as usual) and tried to keep the group together.
The group fell apart - Petr and his group split off; Katie and Nick went to Brogie's.
Did not get to meet Sam.

Sunday, 2 March - Recovery
Fixing our hangover with my freshly-prepared beef with broccoli.

Monday, 3 March - Productivity
I chose not to joint the group of people going to Köln today.
Emailed out the details (flight to book) for my bday weekend.
Jogged.
The post office was closed.
Bought food at REWE.
Went to the office

Friday, 14 February 2014
Work as usual. Busy busy busy. Katie gave out Kinder Surprises for Valentine's Day. I'm still upset with Mike.
Drinking after work. Drinking games included horse racing and Irish Poker, both were fun. I bounced home around 10:30pm and packed my bags! :X

Saturday, 15 February 2014
Up early - 4am - to finish packing and to get to my flight. I ordered a taxi to take me to the airport at 5:20am, and got to the airport around 05:40. I had my boarding pass, so I just needed to get to the gate. At security, there was a priority line that I assumed I was not allowed into, so I waited in the other queue.

There was a Russian (?) family of old people in front of me who did not speak German or English. So the security officer told the man to remove the water bottle from his bag, he didn't understand. It took maybe 5 minutes (!) before he finally did it, and he walked so slowly to the trash can to get rid of it. And the older women/men with him - they were the same! All so slow. After about 10 minutes of that BS, I realized that my flight had already been boarding for some time, and I finally saw another security line open at the other end. I dashed there, already with everything in my jacket, and whizzed through. Then there was the passport check, which was also a bottleneck. There was a man who was being interrogated by one of the officers. A couple of Albanian women with a child were in front of me. Not as big of a delay, but still a delay. It was 06:15 and my flight was at 06:30. I should have been ok. But oddly, I didn't see the flight displayed on any of the screens. I rushed downstairs to the gate. The attendants were there. I ran to them, boarding pass in hand. But I knew from the first word they said that it was too late - "sorry..."

So I missed my flight. I begged the attendants to let me on. But the shuttle bus to the plane had already left. Fuck that shit. I begged some more. But there was no other airberlin flight to London that day. I had to simply buy another ticket. Embarrassingly, I had to go through immigration again to re-enter the airport terminal. I went to the British Airways counter, and they had the soonest flight, leaving at 07:15. Ok, I thought, If it costs like €200, that's ok. My return flight is still valid. And I have to get to London! The flight cost something like €245, which I stomached. The woman selling the ticket was new, so she was slow to figure out the system. And when I handed her my card, she said they don't take bank cards, only credit or cash. So I had to rush to find a cash machine. I dashed to the shopping area and did it - the machine charged me a fee of like €4, ridiculous but necessary. I handed the cash over, and soon I had my ticket. I ran to security (which had no wait this time), breezed through immigration, and was soon at the boarding gate. They were just about to start boarding, so it was perfect time.

The flight was mostly empty, maybe 25 people in total. And I got breakfast too - a sandwich. I then filled out my landing card for the UK Immigration people. However, the adventure was not over yet! There was a storm that had passed through the UK overnight; the winds were still blowing but starting to calm down, and there were many residual delays for flights coming into Heathrow. So our flight had to circle above London for about 30 minutes (making at least 3 circles in the sky) before we could descend to land. It was like the world did not want me to get into London that morning! Finally, the plane made its final approach, but as we got close to the ground, winds started buffeting the plane. The plane tilted heavily from side to side. We were only about 200 meters off the ground and the plane was still not steady! Soon, I could see the start of the airport, but the winds were still making the plane rock from side to side. Shit, I thought, there's a good chance the wing of this plane could get slammed into the runway as we land. Ironically, I did not feel stressed about this at all. After all the stress of the morning, a little plane crash was nothing to worry about.

The plane landed safely. Kudos to the pilot for doing such a good job. I dashed out, got to immigration, had my little immigration interview, then tried to figure out my SIM card situation. Finally, something was working in my favor: "In this time of distress, all Heathrow wifi is now free and open for all" - so I was able to connect to wifi, download the API settings, and contact Angela. I got on the tube - my oyster card still had £18 of credit on it, yay! And my phone worked, so I could connect as I was on the tube, yay!

I LOVE THE FEELING OF RIDING THE PICCADILLY LINE INTO THE CITY. It reminded me of my first arrival in London. The weather was clearing up, sunny. People crammed into the train. It was London, it was exciting! Tourists, immigrants, bankers, waitresses, retirees, teenagers, hipsters, nerds, loners, socialites - everyone together in one Tube car. This is life, people! And it's all in London. That is the energy I get.

Last weekend I went to Hamburg. It was great.

• The rideshare there (Friday, 7 February) was a bit of an adventure. It was Christi (the driver) and two female ridesharers in the car with me. We left Düsseldorf, but shortly thereafter, a car on the autobahn notified us that our car's rear lights were out, so we had to stop at a gas station and replace them. Also, the oil tank lid was broken (missing a rubber o-ring) and we drove around for some time to replace it. (This was a bit stressful as we didn't know where to go and all the stores were already closing at 6-7pm). After that, I slept almost the entire way to Hamburg.
• Arrived around 11pm. Matze picked me up at the Hbf and we went to his place (nearby, a student dorm at Berliner Tor). There, we chilled. "Make it strong" I said, haha!
• Next day was slow. We walked a little bit along the Alster, had a coffee, and went to Kleidermarkt, where I bought a nice suit jacket for €25 - deal! We bought some ingredients from Real and made burgers for dinner. Matze invited some classmates over - Kersten, Selma, and Selma's friend.
• We drank quite a bit and then went out around 12:30am to the Reeperbahn (Hamburger Berg). Started with Mexicaner shots, then on to the next bar for some dancing (oldies, funk, disco, classic rock, reggae, oh my!) at Sonnensomething. At the second bar we were at, just across the street, I ran into Saskia! What a crazy coincidence.
• We ended up dancing and at the fischmarkt until 7am. They was a band playing classics rock and roll/50s/60s/70s/disco/etc., which was awesome. Kerstin suddenly went home, which was a disappointment. Matze, Selma and I waited for the sunrise. We ran to catch a ferry across the harbor and parted ways at Landungsbrücken.
• Slept through most of the Sunday. I got up around 3pm, made some eggs, then said bye. I went to Nicki's place just for a quick chat. It was good to see her and catch up with her.

Monday
Got up around 8:15. Had vollkornbrot and frischkäse for breakfast. The sun is rising a few minutes earlier, like 8:30 instead of 8:55, but it still is dim and the middle of winter. I can't wait for longer and warmer days.

Anton is busy and a little stressed over his exams, which start this Wednesday. He also still has lectures this week. I emailed Anselm about the additional bill (for utilities, etc.) for 2013. I didn't realize we were expected to!

I went to work later than usual, around 9:30. I realized that I am giving Kila the impression to always be at work by 9 when really I am flexible and don't care.

Work was full of things to do, just keeping up with our campaigns. Luckily Kila is able to help me with some things.

Lunch: Mensa with Carl, Toby, Nicole, Miikka, Yati, and Rob.

It's cold. I should wear one more layer.

I should also buy new winter clothes (from Primark). But I am stubbornly trying to make it to the end of the month without withdrawing additional cash from my account. Living cheaply comes at a cost.

I am trying to get over Mike. I didn't talk to him at all today, and I resisted the urge to bother him. I need to be my own person, and being so (emotionally and socially) dependent on him is not good for either of us.

One publisher frantically emailed "Jason make sure you have the materials to us by 12pm ET." So I rushed Toby to set it up in one hour. Cool.

I stayed at work a bit late, with Nicole, to plan our trip to London! It looks like President's Day weekend will be it. We'll book the flights today.

I drank no coffee today. Success.

Home. Had some dinner with Anton, then chilled on the couch. It's nice to have a couch in the kitchen.
Trying to make new friends in the area, meeting them online. I know it sounds weird, but it's 2014 people, c'mon!

Friday, 24 January 2013
Work continues to be busy, partly because of my new intern. I am creating tasks for her to do, but I still have a lot to teach her before she moves forward. However, the French team at work is really happy with her, as she is a definite francophile.

I stayed at the office for some beers. Mike was too busy chatting with others (Jules, Nick) to talk to me. I did not go out with Toby, Yati, etc. - I just biked home.

Saturday, 25 January 2013
I was up and awake at a decent hour. I didn't go shopping to REWE, though. I thought I had left my wallet at the office, so I went there but found nothing. (My wallet was just on my desk, d'oh!) Mike was in Cologne with Caro. I had a mini-vent against him and am trying to control how angry I feel that we aren't talking. I just need to get over it, and with time it will feel better.

Francesco and I planned a "spontaneous" night out that turned into a house party at Nicole and Ricardo's in Oberbilk/Volksgarten. It was a bit awkward that her flatmate and her friends were over. It was also not easy to find the flat, and it's doorbell didn't work. But we had fun. Got quite drunk. I stayed and didn't go out to the club. It was raining. I biked back to Mike's place to use the internet outside his door and he and Caro were just returning. I guess I am really jealous that they are together and I no longer have Mike. But I will get over it.

I biked home in the rain.

Sunday, 26 January 2013
I was a bit hungover. Made a nice big "half English" breakfast with Anton (bacon, eggs, beans) that really helped. I just chilled at home the whole day, staying very unproductive. I ordered earbuds and a replacement "yolo" jewelry-holding hand for Nicole (which I broke at the party). I called my mom, and she wants me to write her speech for her before she goes to the Philippines this next weekend. Watched The Wolf of Wall Street, since everyone has been talking about it, I enjoyed it but was also affected by all the hype it had received.

I'm looking to replace Mike. He clearly doesn't care about me as much as I care about him. 

Over a month since my last post... Ooops.

Priorities:

• I can't find my wallet.
• Where could my wallet be?
• It must be at home (somewhere stupid) or at the office.
• Could it have fallen out while I was biking home?
• Could the cleaners have stolen it?
• Could it have fallen into a trash bin?
• I refuse to accept that I won't get it back. Someone must have it.
• I'll go to the police station and bank today.
• Fuck, I don't want to go to work. I want to just crawl into a ball. I also just want to go home. I feel like cancelling Christmas and New Years and just flying back to LA.
• I feel so stupid. Where could I have left my wallet? Am I that absent-minded? I can't be trusted with anything.
• Yesterday was my performance review meeting. It went OK. There were some areas where I could improve, as always, but it was really sobering that I was overall rated as "average." 
• I want to be the best at everything. That's what I was taught.
• I still have very spotty memories of the Christmas party on Thursday, but I did hear some stories.
• The weekend sleepover/get together in the Netherlands was really nice and gezelig! 
• The big day at work was Monday. We had activities and prizes to commemorate the launch of our new identity.
• It was on my way home (rushing) from work that I may have lost my wallet.
• Went to the Christmas markets in Cologne.

I returned to Germany last Wednesday night. It was cold as I expected. Everyone here follows the rules. It does get on my nerves a bit.

I was welcomed back to work with a US/Canada breakfast. Pancakes and bacon, yes! And the sad news that Alexa was leaving; she's moving to South Africa.

I stayed at home this weekend. Went to REWE with Anton. We drank a lot of the chai I brought from India.

Sunday there was a Thanksgiving dinner at Alexa's place. I made homemade mac n cheese and mashed potatoes. Was nice. Nothing too exciting.

Nelson Mandela died.
Obama took a selfie at his funeral.

Work is work. Not much exciting happening. I have a lot to do, but nothing particularly exciting. Hopefully this will change soon, once I get an intern. Oh yes, and I have yearly reviews up soon.

I've been really lazy and just staying at home everyday, going to bed early (like 9-10pm; maybe still some jet lag?), and not even motivated to unpack and wash all my clothes yet. I still haven't gone to the Christmas Market in the city center. It's just too far away and too cold for me to bike there.

I hate this cold weather. And I wish it would be sunny and just cool (like 10 degrees warmer). But no.