MIA: October
Has anybody seen October?
October was marked by physical discomforts, learning, preparations for my trip to Austria and a blur of crafting activity.
I picked up a sweater I had started for Search in June, and made a commitment to finish it by halfway November. It's big and it's charcoal grey, but the construction is rather interesting and I'm now in the part where I have to read a chart and add a motif in a second colour. I need to pay attention if I don't want to make mistakes, and I'd rather not produce a lopsided skull.
To distract myself from the charcoal grey, I threw in half a dozen small colourful side projects, among which mittens for all the family members I am planning to visit.
Next Saturday I'll leave for Austria, to spend 4 days with my family. I would like to visit my aunties and see my brother, but I can't really stay longer unless I find a way to bear being separated from Search, the cats and this apartment.
Brother has completed yet another step in this academic career last week - he has now been declared capable of teaching at university. Unfortunately the celebration took place two weeks too early for me to attend - all the more reason to visit him in Vienna next week.
I'm rather enthusiastic about this trip, as it's been about 14 months since I last travelled to Austria. Usually I get antsy around the 9 month mark, but I had two weeks vacation in August and breaking November is always a good thing to do.
I hope I can keep up with my parents' sports activities though.
I also have to think of ways to conceal the true length of my hair. Mum will probably try to talk me into having it cut.
We've been e-mailing a lot lately, sometimes twice a day! I notice that it's easier to feel in touch and understand what her messages mean than when I let too much time pass.
When I'm not working or knitting, I'm studying. I read a couple of books in the last months and listened to tons of pod casts. At first, the audio book "The Buddha, Geoff and me" intrigued me, but I soon learned that it's based in a form of Buddhism I cannot really identify with. Actually, I find it quite scary. I did however read another book that's based on that school of thought, albeit to find out if I can read it in a critical way, or how I can substitute their more doubtful practices with something that makes more sense to me.
"You don't have to sit on the floor" was much more appropriate for me and after working through the other four books I ordered recently, I might just attempt reading Tenzin Gyatso's "Buddhism in Tibet" again. When I tried that last year, without much knowledge of any of the basic concepts, it caused me a headache.
When I travel to work, I enjoy listening to Ajahn Brahmavamso's dhammatalks. He's a London-born Theravada monk, now abbot of a monastery in Australia and his talks are rather improvised. He loves to tell stories and isn't too high and mighty to tell the occasional lame joke.
So if you observe me chuckling on the train or while I'm walking, worry not, it's just the monk in my ear.
Morale is good, energy is good. Both was confirmed by my GP last week. I did not go see her because I was feeling great though. Quite the contrary.
After Search's two week struggle with an infected, yet removed wisdom tooth, just as he got back to normal, I fell sick with a kind of tummy bug. Vomitting at work (luckily my student never showed up) and at the train station, tossing and turning during the night and waking with a slightly elevated temperature, Search sent me to my GP as soon as she was in. She does know her share about Chinese medicine (she always checks me for my energy by pressing certain lines on my wrists) and is not too fond of knock-out medication, so we took the slow road to recovery.
This bug took two of my comforts from me: chocolate and coffee. I'm staying away from both of them at the moment.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot.
Ajahn Brahmavamso
October was marked by physical discomforts, learning, preparations for my trip to Austria and a blur of crafting activity.
I picked up a sweater I had started for Search in June, and made a commitment to finish it by halfway November. It's big and it's charcoal grey, but the construction is rather interesting and I'm now in the part where I have to read a chart and add a motif in a second colour. I need to pay attention if I don't want to make mistakes, and I'd rather not produce a lopsided skull.
To distract myself from the charcoal grey, I threw in half a dozen small colourful side projects, among which mittens for all the family members I am planning to visit.
Next Saturday I'll leave for Austria, to spend 4 days with my family. I would like to visit my aunties and see my brother, but I can't really stay longer unless I find a way to bear being separated from Search, the cats and this apartment.
Brother has completed yet another step in this academic career last week - he has now been declared capable of teaching at university. Unfortunately the celebration took place two weeks too early for me to attend - all the more reason to visit him in Vienna next week.
I'm rather enthusiastic about this trip, as it's been about 14 months since I last travelled to Austria. Usually I get antsy around the 9 month mark, but I had two weeks vacation in August and breaking November is always a good thing to do.
I hope I can keep up with my parents' sports activities though.
I also have to think of ways to conceal the true length of my hair. Mum will probably try to talk me into having it cut.
We've been e-mailing a lot lately, sometimes twice a day! I notice that it's easier to feel in touch and understand what her messages mean than when I let too much time pass.
When I'm not working or knitting, I'm studying. I read a couple of books in the last months and listened to tons of pod casts. At first, the audio book "The Buddha, Geoff and me" intrigued me, but I soon learned that it's based in a form of Buddhism I cannot really identify with. Actually, I find it quite scary. I did however read another book that's based on that school of thought, albeit to find out if I can read it in a critical way, or how I can substitute their more doubtful practices with something that makes more sense to me.
"You don't have to sit on the floor" was much more appropriate for me and after working through the other four books I ordered recently, I might just attempt reading Tenzin Gyatso's "Buddhism in Tibet" again. When I tried that last year, without much knowledge of any of the basic concepts, it caused me a headache.
When I travel to work, I enjoy listening to Ajahn Brahmavamso's dhammatalks. He's a London-born Theravada monk, now abbot of a monastery in Australia and his talks are rather improvised. He loves to tell stories and isn't too high and mighty to tell the occasional lame joke.
So if you observe me chuckling on the train or while I'm walking, worry not, it's just the monk in my ear.
Morale is good, energy is good. Both was confirmed by my GP last week. I did not go see her because I was feeling great though. Quite the contrary.
After Search's two week struggle with an infected, yet removed wisdom tooth, just as he got back to normal, I fell sick with a kind of tummy bug. Vomitting at work (luckily my student never showed up) and at the train station, tossing and turning during the night and waking with a slightly elevated temperature, Search sent me to my GP as soon as she was in. She does know her share about Chinese medicine (she always checks me for my energy by pressing certain lines on my wrists) and is not too fond of knock-out medication, so we took the slow road to recovery.
This bug took two of my comforts from me: chocolate and coffee. I'm staying away from both of them at the moment.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes.
That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot.
Ajahn Brahmavamso