Jason's Daily Notes

I haven't updated in a while. I have been traveling a lot in the last month (Madrid, working from Palma, offsite workshop, and a gezelig weekend in Cochem), and I am not recording my experiences! Bad.

Let's start with this past weekend.
Friday (28 November).
It was the day after Thanksgiving; but there was no Thanksgiving celebration for me in Germany. It was Nick's last day, which didn't feel so sad, but there was a slight unspoken tension in the air. At 4pm we decorated the Christmas tree by the team's table. But I didn't really participate - just had a delicious cookie. A huge after-work party was planned, which was great. We had drinking games (rolling dice, King's cup, beer pong) and a tequila table. Oh my. When the group headed to the Altstadt, I peeled off to get some noodles and then walked home.

(29-30 November).
Bernadet and Thijs invited me to join them, as she had won a weekend at a holiday resort in Cochem, which is located along the Mosel valley in the beautiful wine-growing region of Germany. I took the train there on Saturday morning (fighting my hangover) and arrived at 2pm. Of course the train was delayed (which was ok because I was already running late to the Hbf), and this led to me missing my connection in Koblenz. But no problem.

Bernie and Thijs picked me up with their friend Jacco and we drove up into the surrounding mountains to the resort. The weather was chilly (about 4°C) and dreary. But we didn't plan outdoor activities. The others (Alai, Laura, and Elise) were there. We started by exchanging Sinterklaas gifts, which was a fun game that involved rolling dice, switching/stealing/unwrapping gifts, and 3 rounds.

We also went swimming in the indoor pool; had an amazing dinner made on their raclette; played Twister; played several rounds of Singstar (ABBA and 90s) and ended up watching De Marathon, a good Dutch movie set in Rotterdam. Passed out.

Sunday; woke up and everyone else was already downstairs (9am) having breakfast. We drove into the cty and checked out the Christmas Markets.

Returned home around 6pm. I cut my hair (I was doing no-shave November) but tried not to make it too short; I just wanted it not to get messed up whenever I wore a cap or beanie.

Monday, 1 December.
It's cold. 0-3°C this whole week.
I shaved; end of no-shave November for my face. I'm glad that the stubborn cold sore is away from my chin/lip.
Slept early (around 10pm) until nearly 8am. So I'm very well-rested.
Had to walk to the office.
My laptop programs wouldn't start correctly. There was an update to Office 360 that didn't complete somehow.
Lunch with Francesco - Douro. Was good to catch up; it has literally been months.
Stopped by Woolworth's on the way home; bought gloves and clear tape.
Cooked beef with broccoli, and rice.
Watched House of Cards s2 e5. Getting more into it.

Tuesday, 2 December
Work.
Had lunch (leftover beef with broccoli) at my desk. Did not go out shopping for winter clothes, as I had originally planned.
Had my GDN call. Met with Jon to discuss current efforts. Sent an assertive email to Matt at Y.
Forgot that I signed up for the academy; so I rushed over stressed at 18:15.
Biked home. My new gloves were too thin so my hands were freezing.
Boiled pasta and watched some Amazing Race. Also gave feedback on Luiza's application/CV.
2 weeks until I'm back in LA! Exciting.

Wednesday, 3 December
Team event (Brazilian food + Christmas market) tonight.

I just returned (late last night) from a semi-spontaneous weekend in Madrid. It was nice.

I traveled by myself for the first time in a long time, and it did feel a bit lonely at times, so I was desperate to meet people. I did meet some people from the free tour and corresponding pub crawl (with free shots in every bar).

Weird thing, I brought my laptop but it didn't work at all there. But now, back in Germany my laptop works! Woot. I was convinced that I would need to order a new laptop asap. Oh well, good for me :)

Yesterday, the last day in Madrid, I met up with Viola from CS. We alked around, grabbed lunch, then went on a quest to find a beer mat (coaster), which required some creativity. We then went to the airport together. It was a great day!

My mom is off to Mexico now for a 4-day cruise. She's really into taking cruises now whenever she travels; fancy!

I missed halloween, but that was sort of the plan. I knew I couldn't deal with the stress of finding a creative costume.

My plan for this week is to have my own douchebag jar; I'll put money into it whenever I say/do something rude or insensitive, make fun of other people, or whenever I have a stress attack, or whenever I needlessly complain. Let me see how it goes :)

Ok back to work. It's cold and rainy here :(

Returned from the trivago trip exhausted.

Work was obviously slow on Monday. But I wasn't actually hungover, just incredibly sleep deprived. I fell into the habit of sleeping 9-12 hours each night. I want to wake up earlier, but it doesn't help that the sun rises later (7:30-8am) each day, so my body doesn't wake up until 9:30 or so.

The week was pretty repetitive; getting work done each day, coming home around 7pm and cooking some pasta dinner (Thurs and Fri I had fishsticks) and watching an episode or two of Modern Family before passing out around 10:30pm. I also became a bit more addicted to the 8 Ball Pool game on my phone. I felt myself becoming a little sick, so I took it easy and didn't participate in any sport activities this week.

My videos of the trip (specifically of the train ride back) were shared multiple times, which is very cool.

On Tuesday, we had a publisher visit. She (Lyvia) and her colleague Julia took us (me, Carl, Abhinav) out to dinner and drinks - we ended up at Zum Schlüssel. Was nice but did feel a bit forced. I learned that Lyvia lived in L.A. for some time to pusue her acting/modeling (even though she's short).

After that, I stayed in Altstadt to meet up with the two Couchsurfers (!) that I was hosting: Liza and Tony, from Iowa. They were nice; two Americans traveling as much of Europe as they can in a month. I tried to hold my condescending tone toward Iowa but I couldn't help but make fun of it. We had a beer on the Rheintreppen. It was pretty sketchy. But there, I made two friends: Nico (who studies in Maastricht but is in Düsseldorf for an apprenticeship at the Hyatt hotel where he can take things from their high-profile guests, very outgoing and entrepreneurial guy) and Özgür, his friend. We swapped numbers, and Nico ended up calling me every day afterwards to see what's up.

Tony and Liza left the next day, off to Mainz.

The weekend was quiet. I did not stay at the office on Friday, just had a "meeting" to finalize the people traveling to Belgium next weekend.

Saturday, I stayed in. Went for a run (around Zoopark) in the morning. Tidied up a little bit (i.e. did more laundry, including my shoes). Shared some photos with my uncle, who has been asking for them. Tony and Liza returned, but they were exhausted from traveling and drinking all day in Cologne. So we all just passed out early. They had to leave at 6:30am to catch their flight to London from Weeze, so I didn't properly get to say bye to them.

I realized that I could run out of money at the rate I'm spending; especially with all the travel I have lined up in the next few months. Sadly, I'm not earning that much.

Sunday, also stayed in. But I was feeling a bit healthier, so I went for another run (along the Wehrhahn/triangle route) and did some workouts.

I met up with Nico in the evening. I went to his place in Bilk, met his flatmate Jonathan (who is starting his first day of school, studying social work, the next day), and we then kicked around the football (soccer ball) for a bit, just behind the Bilker Arkaden. And played some basketball (horse) with Jonathan too. Cool guys. I had a pizza with Nico and he showed me how he has gotten into DJing in the last year, which is really impressive. And he told me stories of his time in Australia (about 2 years ago), picking up odd jobs and saving lots of money. He also tried to get me into Trailer Park Boys.

Biked back home and passed out solidly.

Last weekend, I was off on the company trip. All 400 full-time employees were invited to join; we piled onto a chartered train from Düsseldorf Hbf which left at 11pm. The train, of course, had an open bar and a dance floor. And WOW - drinking, dancing, and partying on a train is an experience like no other. I totally blacked out. There was a point when I don't remember anything anymore. I woke up (somehow) in my train cabin but in a pool of my own vomit. yuck. It was the combination of all the alcohol and the train's motion that did me in.

It was light out, and we were just arriving in Austria. The train pulled into Zell am See station. The buses were already coordinated, but it still took some time. I was not feeling energetic at all, and my head was still spinning. The last thing I needed was to sit on a bus for 2 hours winding through the mountains of eastern Tirol.

We got to the hotel, which is a luxury resort and spa with modern facilities and many 4-bedroom "chalets", and we only had an hour or two to drop off our stuff in our rooms and have brunch. It was then time for the trivagolympics. And I was a team leader. Ugh. The tasks involved running an obstacle course, swimming across a pond, and identifying herbs. Not that easy. I was just trying to keep composed. My team included Nick, Tasos, Chusin, Anne, and some other girls. I delegated most of the work away.

That afternoon was spent exploring the pool, spa, and saunas. All of which were very nice. For dinner, buses drove us into town and we had a Tirolian dinner (with one barbecue feeding 400 people). The queue was insane. I saw Mike jump to the line immediately, but I thought to wait. People were waiting for over 2 hours for food. I just got salad bar, which was a smart choice, but I was still jealous of Mike and everyone who got to go first. There was a band playing Schlager music for hours; it was too much. Even though they played "Don't Stop Believin'" I just had to get away from it. I went back to the hotel with Toby, Jamie, and Anne, where we chilled. At 1am we took the bus back to the town, where we joined the people walking to the after party, which was cool and less crowded. Stayed there until 3am, when we bused back to the resort.

The next day was "activity day." First, breakfast, which was an amazing meal, especially with the fruit juicer, which saved me. Every morning, I made myself a fresh carrot, apple, and beetroot juice which kept me going and fended off any impending hangover. I then made my way onto the bus that took us to the river rafting. Again, when we got there, I saw Mike walk past everyone to make sure that he was one of the first. Whatever. I didn't want to be pushy and I respected the people who were ahead of me. We got our wetsuits and changed in a big tent, where we left our clothes and stuff. We then walked back toward the river, where we were divided into groups for each raft. I was on a raft with Justin, Danny, Carla, and some other people from content. we were the 4th boat to leave. And it was fun! Also, it was pretty easy. I hoped the rapids would be stronger! We paddled down for about 20 minutes, and then we got to the finish, and there were all the people who had gone biking cheering us on.

We took a bus (with our seats covered in plastic) back to the rafting set up area, got changed, and then had some lunch. Of course Mike was already there eating a schnitzel when we were still walking off the bus. The generator broke, so only the first hundred or so could eat. I was one of the lucky few. I had a beer and chilled on a seat in the garden. Took the bus back to the resort and rested (only had 1 hour) before our evening on top of a mountain.

Yup, for the second night, we ascended on a cable car to the top of a mountain (Adler Lounge, at 2600m). There we had drinks and appetizers. After about an hour, I realized that the appetizers were actually the dinner! It was a "flying dinner," meaning that we just ate standing there with our drinks; the servers just passing us finger food all evening. Blah. Luckily I found us a table in the corner where we could devour all the food that came to us. I took one of the first cable cars back with Yati and Timmo and Christian. We shuttled back to the hotel, where the bar was to be open all night. That meant drinking and swimming in the pool! Much of my team was doing it, especially Thomas who was well gone. Antonis, Robin, and Martin were there alongside Tobi, Yati, and me. I finished and then went upstairs to the dance floor in my bathing robe, which was fun and attention-getting. Woot! Danced for a few hours, then changed and danced a bit more, but we ended around 3:30 (eating some late night food from the cafeteria).

The next day was "hiking day." We assembled outside at 10:30am and separated into groups, I (reluctantly at first) joined the last group, which was the "easy" hiking group. We took the leisurely path, just along a road, into the valley, and we were the first to arrive at the lunch place! So we got served food and did shots of fruity liqueur (we = me, Martin, Maren, Francesco). Then we walked back with the first group; the point was to maximize our time at the spa. Bokyung had a selfie stick that we were taking pictures with. Back at the hotel, more chilling at the spa, a coffee break, then more spa. However, some of our management was already drunk and decided to terrorize everyone in the sauna, etc. Ugh, it was not a pretty sight.

The evening was the formal dinner at the resort, which was really nice. I drew table #25 and sat with Laura, Johanna, Bokyung, Maya, and Kati (?). Then dancing on the dance floor downstairs. Was nice! Drunkenness of course, but that's what the trip's all about. I rested for about and then returned to dance until they kicked us out, which was at 6am. The last hour was heavy rock and moshing; awesome! At 6, I joined an elite group who went into the pool for a swim. Then chilled back at the chalet with Jamie and Dirk. We decided not to sleep, because otherwise we would have missed the buses. So at 7am we went to breakfast, where we got to say goodbye to all the people leaving for Mallorca. Powered through til 9am, when I picked up my bags (and woke up Nick) and jammed into the first bus I saw.

The bus had to stop twice for vomit. We arrived at Zell am See just 2 minutes before the train was to leave. So we had to grab our bags and run onto the train. Was a nightmare, and it was the last thing I needed in my sleep-deprived zombie-like state.

I slept a couple hours on the train. Played some Cards Against Humanity with the other Americans (and I met Paul). Then I joined everyone who was drinking and dancing for the last hour or two back into Düsseldorf. Yes, it was a hangover party but it was amazing. Best way to return!

The trip was constantly being compared to last year's trip to Sardinia. And it was different, but the expectations were nevertheless high. I mean, it's really hard to beat our partying on 3 boats last year, and this year's trip had more "activities" (hiking, rafting, biking, etc.) instead of just pure partying. But I could see that it was more themed and better organized. People did end up drifting off and each doing their own thing (a theme I notice whenever I travel with a group of people, especially the motivated "alpha" types whom I work with), so it's important just to let yourself be and let others do what they want without forcing your way on them.

So, yes, I had fun. Of course. This is my life, and I would feel so much more miserable if I wasn't a part of this :) I'm so glad to have found the life I have.

I'm back in Düsseldorf - this past weekend was spent in London.

London was great, really. I stayed at Ludo's place. I only got to see him the first evening though, as he spent that night at a lady friends' and then was off to France to see family and run an ultra (120+ km) race through the alps! What?!

That night, I went to Walkabout Temple where I met Bernadet and her bf Thijs, and Asia and her bf Peter. Nice guys. We didn't stay too late; just a couple drinks. I checked out Heaven afterwards. Was alright.

Saturday, I met up with Cece and Abhi - we chilled in Hyde Park, sitting down and having some of her tea, talking about life and business - was nice. I then made my way across town and caught up with Sofia in Angel, in a nice pub along the river. She's got a new position as a PA and working her way up into TV production. In the evening, I was free; tried to meet up with some people online but it fell through. I walked through the city in the evening. Didn't go out.

Sunday = Brick Lane sunday. Met Lilly at Liverpool St - she's not very happy, just started studying computer science but was still too entitled to be employable in my opinion. Ziva soon came, with her friend Carli. We walked to Sunday Upmarket, which was not too crowded, and got our food (I chose Vietnamese this time). Luckily it was sunny out so we sat outside. There was Bernadet and Thijs. Shortly thereafter came some of her friends who joined. A friend whose name I forgot. K-man and his wife. We went to the playground. Along the way, we got some free beer (Fosters radler) and free Vitamin Water. Nice!

We then split up and Ziva, Carli, and I went to Notting Hill for the Carnival. The tube was packed, of course, and it was even more crowded at Notting Hill. There was plenty of music, djs, dubstep, reggae, people smoking weed, stands selling jerk chicken for £4-8. Lots of people were also inhaling balloons. Was an experience. We got out after an hour or two, completely beat and exhausted. At Holland Park station, we found free Ben & Jerry's, which they generously heaped onto us! Win. We then split up; I took the bus back to Wandsworth. But it was my last night in London so I wanted to go out. I had a date with Daniel. He is German, so we were speaking German the whole time :/ it was not captivating for me - he didn't drink and was more interested in his shopping and in eavesdropping on other people. We would have at least hooked up if we could have found a private place. So we said goodbye. Instead of going home, I walked around Covent Garden and Leicester Square for one last time. There, I indulged in some cheap fish and chips before walking back to Charing Cross to get my bus home.

Monday, I got up early, bought a couple things from Sainsburys (tea and crumpets and paracetemol), packed up, left a goodbye/thank you message for Ludo, and took the bus(es) to Liverpool Street. Luckily, I had some time to spare, because a tree had fallen on the tracks and cancelled all trains to Stansted! I had a burger at a pub, hoping for the problem to be resolved within an hour, but no luck. So I had to take a bus. It was raining a steady shower, so I waited in poor conditions before finally getting on the bus (it picked up people at Bethnal Green and Stratford, so it was completely packed on the way to the airport).

I got to the airport, with my boarding pass on my phone (first time!) and breezed through security. Had one last cuppa tea :) and made my flight. I continued reading Outliers, which is a really interesting book. Back in Düsseldorf, it was also raining as I biked from the airport home. So I cooked up some of the remaining food (spiced tofu strips with veggies, in a tomato sauce, over macaroni) and slept.

Tuesday - back to work. It was my first day working with Carolyn. I gave the intro to Display presentation. Mike left for Palma around 1pm. (I'm not really caring as much about him as I did before - weird. I guess I finally realize that he doesn't care about me as much as I cared about him, so there's no point in obsessing over him so much.) Didn't even have time to catch up with all the emails. I stayed at the office until 9pm. Nick returned from bouldering (I skipped it because I wasn't feeling healthy) and we left the office together. Watched an episode of Silicon Valley and Modern Family before sleeping.

Wednesday. More work - I got in late, around 10:45 (I'm just waking up later now). Another training session with Carolyn. More catching up. No lunch today. I got a döner on the way home; the guys there were friendly and chatty to me :)

I was browsing and chatting on Tinder and somehow picked up Steffen (V). He came over to my place, we watched some YouTube and he spent the night. :) Did it before bed and upon waking up. Was actually nice, even though he was cut, but is straighter acting which I like. He's also looking for a bf, so we'll see.

Now off to work - it's 10:15. I have gone 2 weeks without grocery shopping and I'm really almost out of food, haha. Tonight is a team event (minigolf and dinner in Cologne).

I left Düsseldorf Friday evening, finishing work shortly after 5pm and stopping by my flat before catching my rideshare at 7pm. The driver was Markus, who works in a bike supershop on the outskirts of Düsseldorf. Also in the car were Sylvia from Barcelona, who works at Henkel alongside Malin from Paris. And there was Jannina from Korschenbroich (Martin's neighbor). 

We were slow getting out of Düsseldorf because the navi wasn't working and we got on the wrong autobahn. We were relying on my phone to navigate, which drained the battery quickly. Finally we got the navi to work. Which involved cutting through Bochum. There were also some strong rainstorms along the way. I fell asleep, Markus drove along to his house/trance music (daft punk remixes) and by 11:30 we were in Hamburg. 

Matze picked me up from Dammtor and walked me to his flat nearby. His regular flatmates were away for the summer, so there are two temporary renters staying there: Mikhail who works as a show presenter, and Stefan who is doing a work placement. Matze is still studying his international program and working as the de facto program director. 

We drank, including shots of Pfefferlinge, then headed out to the Reeperbahn. Mikhail and his friends were all going to a one day metal/heavy rock festival the next day. We started with Mexikaner shots at Hamburger Berg, then Matze and I lost at kicker and bought Jägermeister. Finally we ended up at the 99 Cent bar near Herbertstraße. 

Returned drunkenly somehow to the flat at 4:30am-ish. Mikhail immediately passed out, while Matze and I smoked a bit before going to bed together. I was surprised by what happened.

It was around 2pm when we were awake and up again. Matze made pasta with red pesto because that is all he had. It was too late for Stefan to make it to the museum as he had wanted. So we just went into the city "for a coffee". We took a bus to Junfernstieg, walked around some posh areas, then went into a brew house and had some beer, which was good :). 

Stopped for a fischbrotchen in the Europa-Passage then took the U4 to the new Hafen City area. The uni building was still under construction, and we walked through a couple construction sites along the way. 

We walked, admiring the modern architecture. Decided on the way back to make burgers for dinner :). Walking back, Stefan saw a Cuban bar near home and got a strong craving for mojitos. We bought burger ingredients at Edeka and returned home to cook them. Was nice. I put avocados in the burgers. 

We chilled, finishing our food then having beers while watching Schlag den Star. Matze's friend Jan joined us and to smoke. We went to the Cuban bar, but they were just out of mint so couldn't make any more mojitos. So I had a daiquiri natural which was strong but the drinks all cost € 7.50. 

We got some beers from the kiosk and met Tina and Stephan (Matze's co-students) there. We all walked to the Sternschanze, buying beers in a pizza store and then making our way to the Grüne Jäger bar where we danced for some time. A group of more girls/classmates joined us. The music sucked, so we left after about an hour there. We walked to Hamburger Berg and  continued the evening. In one bar, they were playing Blink-182 and Oasis, and there we had some Mexikaners and ran into Nicky McC from work! What a small world, and I always run into people here! :)

Continued at Sommerstudio or whatever. It was packed. It was 4am and people were going home. We had lost Stefan to KFC. We took the U-Bahn back, saying bye to the girls in the process, and walked home. Stefan was in the U-Bahn with us. Same as the night before, Matze and I smoked up and then went to bed together. 

Got up at 10:30 due to my alarm. Matze missed his 12pm appointment, so I said bye and found my Rideshare which was leaving from U-Mundsburg. There was a lot of traffic on the ride back, and I was too tired to make conversation with either Reike (the driver who is a teacher) or Asaf (?). We were delayed over an hour due to the traffic backup. 

It's exactly 11 years since I got my driver license.

My life is work.

Robin Williams died two days ago. It's really a big deal, since he committed suicide. Everyone back home seems to be shocked and hit hard by the news. And it seems like people are talking about depression more openly, which is cool.

I have been thinking about home a lot lately. I want to make another business trip there. I can't wait for Christmas. I am thinking about what kind of job I can take back in L.A., and how much I would get paid, etc.

I feel myself reverting to the introverted, shy guy that I used to be before I became all outgoing and international. It makes me sad.

Played beach volleyball last night. Mike was at a team event so he didn't come.

On Tuesday, I didn't go to squash. Because I was expecting our publisher (IM) who was visiting to take me out to dinner. But no, "I'm here with my boyfriend; where do you recommend we go?"

Yesterday we drew the rooms for the company trip. And be "we" I mean Toby. I am doing nothing for it. I feel like an appendage that it just dangling on to Mike's group. Sigh.

Friday night (August 8th) - I went home after work. I had emailed Carolyn to come to the office and meet people. It was raining so I didn't make it myself. I felt kind of bad.

Saturday - I rested. Cleaned up a bit, as I was expecting a spontaneous date, but no. Around 3:30pm I biked to Real by myself. Mike was just waking up. I wanted to spend the day with him, but I am also being respectful of his distance.

It was the beer pong party. I was worried that I would be a bit late, but it was all cool at the end. I took the train to Cologne, buying a 23 € day pass (thinking I would return that evening). Grabbed the U-Bahn 16 and was soon there. When I got off at the stop, I saw Sarah and Galen who were also on the way to the party! Cool beans.

We found the house (easy to find with the noise emanating onto the street). We were on a terrace/rooftop behind the building; directly adjacent was a hotel restaurant/bar with its patrons looking over jealously at our beer pong setup, compete with authentic red solo cups! I joined one of the teams already (A+ B- J) - Sarah and Perri had just played one game and lost. I had to drink all the beer for them, because Perri wasn't drinking beer :P

The night went on; it was fun. Around 11pm we switched to playing flipcup inside the apartment. Most of the other Americans went home at this point. I stayed. Brogie and Nico said that we (Patrick, Phil, and I) could stay at their place for the night, so we were good to party.

I sort of came out to Phil. He had just asked me, and I just straight up admitted my confusing status quo. Was ok.

We went out to a place on Züplicher; I had forgotten my wallet so Brogie was my sugar mama for the evening. We then went to another club where Brogie's friend was working there. It was a big dance floor downstairs. Cool place. Phil was necking with some girl and chatting up her sister. We kept doing shots of Jäger.

Stumbled back to the apartment, nabbing a döner along the way. Was heavy. Passed out.

With the windows closed, it was hot and we were sweaty when we woke up. Pat, Phil, and I stumbled out around 11am, letting Brogie and Nico sleep.

Hangover day. Ugh. Watched 22 Jump street. Tried to secure another date, but that didn't work. I smoked a little j, finished eating the beef with broccoli that I had made, watched some Bill Maher, and then went to bed and finally got some quality sleep.