(no subject)
I've got stuff to do, and things are certainly going on (in a way), I'm just having problems doing them. It's the usual conundrum of not a lot to do, but too much time to do it. Because if I finish, then I'll just have nothing at all.
The Santa Barbara LGBT Film Festival is starting to get busy, as I'm still running programming from afar. I've owned that part of the process for the past two three years that it's becoming odd to be detached just enough that I feel like I should be apathetic. Usually I watch nearly everything that comes through the office. I filter out the absolute shit, which makes everything faster as other people don't have to watch it. Can't do that this year, and people seem to be moving slower, so it makes me nervous. I've gotten good at reading people's taste levels, and processing their commentary appropriately (I realize this sounds very elitist, but it's not. I never dismiss anyone's opinion). I've done it with enough people now, and with a large enough volume of films, to make it work smoothly. A big part of the process though is actually seeing a certain percentage of the same stuff they're watching, which I'm not.
There are about 50+ films that have been submitted online, and I SHOULD be watching those. I've watched maybe 15-20 so far. It's just hard to work up the will to since I know I'm just a small part of the process. I do the logistics well, but it's the actual programming I really love. Sigh.
I have another writing project I SHOULD be working on. For all the right reasons. I mean, for ALL the right reasons. But I'm still stuck in the ruminating phase. I sit and think about it, stare at it, think about it some more, and then gingerly put my toe into the water. Once I get going I do move fast, which is usually great, but it's the first part that's always torture for me. There's no rush to on one hand, but there also is. I feel like I should be taking it ten times more seriously, but I also know if I force my hand too much it's just worse in the end.
I started going to a gym last week called Kieser Training, which is a chain across Europe and the UK. They're conveniently located just around the corner (yet it takes 10 minutes to walk for some reason) and focus solely on weight training. I don't know if I've brought up the subject before, but I loathe working out and everything about it. My mom has encouraged me to seek out a gym and such, and also offered to pay for it, but the idea of a gym disgusts me. By which I mean your average gym. Treadmills and bikes and ellipticals and "classes" and all that. I never, ever understood the appeal of walking on a treadmill outside of prolonged periods where you can't go outside. Like living in the arctic. Or on a space station. I'd much rather just go out and walk. Hate it.
This gym, at least, is focused and structured and uses a lot of data and everything. Right up my alley. They set you up on a series of machines, each pretty highly specialized on specific muscles (I think I saw one just for ankles), you do 90 seconds or so on each, and move on. It's quick, easy, and understandable. I can walk and such on my own, but I can't do anything like weight training. Every 20 visits they meet with you and update your routine and so on. Germany being big on contracts and all (but what gym isn't?) I had to agree to a year to sign up. Not that, God willing, I'll be here for another full year. I really hope I won't. But I plan to go every two days (they recommend once or twice a week, which doesn't feel like enough to me). I've lost 99.8 pounds as of Saturday (so very close), and the weight loss has slowed down. Which is expected. I've avoided an exercise routine for as long as I could I figured. We'll see how this goes. I don't expect to be all muscular or anything, but I hope it helps.
I've been playing LA Noire, which I was greatly looking forward to. It's a great game to be sure, but I'm just not into it that much. I find a lot of the logic it uses to be incomprehensible. Mainly its lack of flexibility. Also, I appear to be terrible at it when I shouldn't. I second guess my gut, then get it wrong. So I change to go with my first instinct, and I'm still wrong. It makes it frustrating. I've taken to playing with a guide so that I can compare what I think with what is actually right. Because I'd rather get it all right the first time then struggle through it later.
My weekly class in Kassel is wrapping up in next week, and it's the majority of my income from teaching. They don't seem to be interested in doing more classes right away (summer is a very busy season for them), so I wrote Berlitz to see if they still had openings. If you remember from November or so when I interviewed with them it appeared as if they offered me a full time position in the interview, but then offered nothing a few days later. It was very depressing as that kind of income would have been a major blessing for us. If I worked for them full time, I'd be making more than Chris. It would help. They didn't like that I had no previous teaching experience. Now that I do I tried again and they want to meet for another interview next week. New person this time. I'd like to be optimistic, but I'm starting to get over that whole emotion.
I have started teaching on the phone as the school I work for is launching a new phone lesson service. I teach 30 minute classes, at 10 Euro per half hour. In theory, once they're up and running fully, I could make just as much, if not more, than I make now. But I can't depend on that. But it's been an interesting thing so far. And at least I don't have to take a 14 Euro train for an hour each way to do it. I don't even have to put on pants!
Time to go see Harry Potter 7 part 2. I can't tell if we're excited or not.
The Santa Barbara LGBT Film Festival is starting to get busy, as I'm still running programming from afar. I've owned that part of the process for the past two three years that it's becoming odd to be detached just enough that I feel like I should be apathetic. Usually I watch nearly everything that comes through the office. I filter out the absolute shit, which makes everything faster as other people don't have to watch it. Can't do that this year, and people seem to be moving slower, so it makes me nervous. I've gotten good at reading people's taste levels, and processing their commentary appropriately (I realize this sounds very elitist, but it's not. I never dismiss anyone's opinion). I've done it with enough people now, and with a large enough volume of films, to make it work smoothly. A big part of the process though is actually seeing a certain percentage of the same stuff they're watching, which I'm not.
There are about 50+ films that have been submitted online, and I SHOULD be watching those. I've watched maybe 15-20 so far. It's just hard to work up the will to since I know I'm just a small part of the process. I do the logistics well, but it's the actual programming I really love. Sigh.
I have another writing project I SHOULD be working on. For all the right reasons. I mean, for ALL the right reasons. But I'm still stuck in the ruminating phase. I sit and think about it, stare at it, think about it some more, and then gingerly put my toe into the water. Once I get going I do move fast, which is usually great, but it's the first part that's always torture for me. There's no rush to on one hand, but there also is. I feel like I should be taking it ten times more seriously, but I also know if I force my hand too much it's just worse in the end.
I started going to a gym last week called Kieser Training, which is a chain across Europe and the UK. They're conveniently located just around the corner (yet it takes 10 minutes to walk for some reason) and focus solely on weight training. I don't know if I've brought up the subject before, but I loathe working out and everything about it. My mom has encouraged me to seek out a gym and such, and also offered to pay for it, but the idea of a gym disgusts me. By which I mean your average gym. Treadmills and bikes and ellipticals and "classes" and all that. I never, ever understood the appeal of walking on a treadmill outside of prolonged periods where you can't go outside. Like living in the arctic. Or on a space station. I'd much rather just go out and walk. Hate it.
This gym, at least, is focused and structured and uses a lot of data and everything. Right up my alley. They set you up on a series of machines, each pretty highly specialized on specific muscles (I think I saw one just for ankles), you do 90 seconds or so on each, and move on. It's quick, easy, and understandable. I can walk and such on my own, but I can't do anything like weight training. Every 20 visits they meet with you and update your routine and so on. Germany being big on contracts and all (but what gym isn't?) I had to agree to a year to sign up. Not that, God willing, I'll be here for another full year. I really hope I won't. But I plan to go every two days (they recommend once or twice a week, which doesn't feel like enough to me). I've lost 99.8 pounds as of Saturday (so very close), and the weight loss has slowed down. Which is expected. I've avoided an exercise routine for as long as I could I figured. We'll see how this goes. I don't expect to be all muscular or anything, but I hope it helps.
I've been playing LA Noire, which I was greatly looking forward to. It's a great game to be sure, but I'm just not into it that much. I find a lot of the logic it uses to be incomprehensible. Mainly its lack of flexibility. Also, I appear to be terrible at it when I shouldn't. I second guess my gut, then get it wrong. So I change to go with my first instinct, and I'm still wrong. It makes it frustrating. I've taken to playing with a guide so that I can compare what I think with what is actually right. Because I'd rather get it all right the first time then struggle through it later.
My weekly class in Kassel is wrapping up in next week, and it's the majority of my income from teaching. They don't seem to be interested in doing more classes right away (summer is a very busy season for them), so I wrote Berlitz to see if they still had openings. If you remember from November or so when I interviewed with them it appeared as if they offered me a full time position in the interview, but then offered nothing a few days later. It was very depressing as that kind of income would have been a major blessing for us. If I worked for them full time, I'd be making more than Chris. It would help. They didn't like that I had no previous teaching experience. Now that I do I tried again and they want to meet for another interview next week. New person this time. I'd like to be optimistic, but I'm starting to get over that whole emotion.
I have started teaching on the phone as the school I work for is launching a new phone lesson service. I teach 30 minute classes, at 10 Euro per half hour. In theory, once they're up and running fully, I could make just as much, if not more, than I make now. But I can't depend on that. But it's been an interesting thing so far. And at least I don't have to take a 14 Euro train for an hour each way to do it. I don't even have to put on pants!
Time to go see Harry Potter 7 part 2. I can't tell if we're excited or not.