Well, that was fun.

I had an alright time in Vienna. Didn't do anything I planned to do although I never planned anything. Did some unexpected things, which can be expected due to the lack of any expectation. Otherwise, it was quite fun, had a few mini adventures, met some interesting and/or odd people.. not too many, but some. It does seem like a long time ago already, and everything that happened, everything that was said, all the laughs.. just don't mean the same thing anymore. Shit is like that. Yes this year is well underway and I'm not sure I like that.

Getting out.

I've done nothing so far, in this year of 2015. Literally nothing. I know the time for saying.. I haven't... last year is over. It was over 2 weeks ago ok a week ago or a week and a bit, but this is me. I'm able to literally not get out of the house and connect with a single other soul for 2 weeks or more, easily. Ok so it hasn't been that much or that long.. well that long, but I haven't so much as been on a tram this year. I haven't been anywhere.. ok I've been to the restaurant across the street, and a pub up the road, and to the supermarket, and seen the kitties.. but I haven't gone anywhere that requires me to drive there, or in my case, to take public transport. Not once. Not since xmas eve actually but that's all last year and that doesn't count anymore. Today that's changing.. I'm getting on a bus. not a tram but a bus to go to a bus station where I get on a bus and go across a border. To Austria.. to the city of Vienna. That should be nice.

O the excitement.

As far as I know, I have very little going on. I possibly have one thing going on, one day, but that mightn't even happen the way things are going.

Not to be said for the past week.. from my not exactly exciting birthday dinner, to flying off to Amsterdam the next day, having drinks with an old friend (and a new) that night, leaving Erik the next day to fly off to Vancouver (him, not me) and a day in the biting cold and grey city by myself (and possibly old friend, if I could manage to meet up with him without the newfangled technology that the kids have... it did, surprisingly) and then back already to Prague, but not home, to run off to some bar to talk to some guy about a thing.. in the drizzle. Waking up to snow the next day, yes, it really was that cold, not just my imagination. Onto a film set the next day somewhere out in the boonies, though somewhere very nice. Mostly waiting, but still a movie. Finally we close the week with the thing I went to the bar to talk to the guy about.. hosting this thing called a "pub quiz". You may have heard of one. The usual person couldn't make it so this guy, this guy in the bar needed someone else to do it and apparently couldn't find anyone else cos he really hounded me about it. I had some stuff explained but it turned out there was a whole bunch of shit that I had no clue about. It turned out how it turned out.. I reckon I was suitably charming and witty.. 7-8 out of 10 for that.. my score for knowing how the fuck it worked and dealing with the computer and the powerpoint thing and the microphone? About a 3 if we're being extremely generous. 

Anyway.. I'm looking forward to some nothing for a few days, though by a few days or perhaps sooner I may change my mind.

Going Places.

I was just thinking about traveling. Not really all that much, I read something that reminded me of somewhere I went and decided I'd write about it, so I did think about it a little, mostly recently I've been thinking of all sorts of things, the strange things people say, and do, and how they respond to you when you're out and about, like, when you try to do right by a complete strange and somehow that causes you to annoy another complete strange who makes their annoyance known. Or people and their weird ideologies, like robbing big chain pharmacies because capitalism, or something.. toilet line overhear that was btw... as well as people who feel so strongly about their ideologies that they make 2.4 hour long movies about them talking about it, whatever it is, interspersed with clips of stuff.. done well it can be good, done averagely it can be.. let's just say long. Oh and Jesus, cos of the  movie, wondering if he was a kind of plot to get more people into the Jewish god by making him more human or something, like everyone else's gods but not as much as an asshole, as either their gods, or their own god god, the king god rather than the dude god they allegedly made up.

But yeah, going places. Haven't done that for a while. Hopefully will next year, possibly even still this year, that would be nice. A warm place for January.. *picture blurs and goes into dream mode*

Out there.

The world is big. It is. I mean, it's all relative, and compared to the size of the universe and indeed compared to other planets, it's either of average size or downright tiny, but the world is big, it just is.

The whole thing is pretty big, even if you limit that to just this planet which for the most part, is all humans have, and really, it's about as much as we can deal with, I reckon, sometimes even too much, most our lives seems to be stuck in one tiny part of one of the divided up sections of what in some ways is a relatively tiny planet.

Sometimes, you find yourself traveling large distances in one go, modern humans do this often. I have friend doing that right now, someone who's been quite an important part of my life for many years, even those 2 or so years that he was away during those years. Well last night we saw him for the lat time, this time around anyway.. before he went downstairs for a few more drinks before going home to sleep to get up to get ready to go up into the air and travel a large distance in one and a bit days. Less than 24 hours, from this very flat, to somewhere over Eastern Canada, where I'm by my amazing sense of deduction plus internet flight tracking am presuming he is right now*. So, big earth.

I on the other hand, have gone as far as down half a flight of steps outside the door so far today. That's just me, out there, even on the street below is an adventure for the likes of me. I wasn't always like this, that is, I'm not always like this, but, I am like this.

Now compared to Cooley, I do travel much further and more often. She doesn't get out that much though she does have an appointment today, which hopefully will go smoothly. We're going to the vet. So yes, I will get out, but won't actually get any further than Cooley the indoor cat gets today. Anyway, we did this last week, after an appointment with the vet to look at her eyes, when she said we need to bring her in at least once a week to get her used to it, and her. Her being the cat and her being the vet, I hope you can follow.

Anyway, last week wasn't so bad, Cooley didn't like it and was nervous but less so than last time she went to the vet, which was ages ago, and actually got very curious and excited in this brand new room that she got to explore. Hopefully there'll be more of that today, and less of the just being scared of shit. The whole idea is to get it all of that, and none of the other, but that will take time.

*assuming he made the flight, it may have been more than just a few drinks, but we'd probably know by now if he didn't make it.

Yoohoo.. I'm home..

Yes. Home. Very tired. Long trip. Lots of changes and waits. A last trip to Tel Aviv for a few hours with luggage and nothing in particular to do with a few adventures on the way, including being accosted often.. mostly for a ride.. ie money, but also for our souls.. sorta. It's not as sinister as it sounds. But anyway, back home, with the kitty.. she's already as bratty as ever.. and we're settling back in to winter again. Pretty tired at the moment, might go into details at some point.

And I'm there

So.. all the vexing stuff is done with, the waiting, the traveling, the carrying, the waiting, the being interrogated, the waiting, the schlepping, the turbulence, the getting off on the wrong tram stop and having to go back, the numerous versions of what seems like the exact same customs need, the waiting, the traveling at midnight so you get exactly no sleep for one day, the being in a car 6 hours, the changing from one mode of transport, then another, with a schlep and a wait in between ok you get the picture? It wasn't so bad. By the time we got to Jerusalem, well the house we got to rest in for a bit, it was ok. A lot up to that point, but.. as one is done, then you're slightly closer to your goal. Anyway did that and then a long car ride and now we're here. Stayed up even though little sleep was gotten on the plane, barely two hours at best at our rest stop and none in the car, and socialized and ate.. now it's just rest time, and ready for a fresh start tomorrow. We're by the sea, and it's warm here. This is good enough already.

Off on a midnight train..

Yep, I totally am. I am "literally" going on a midnight train tonight, to sunny Eilat. I mean, it's actually due to take off at 5 minutes to midnight and it's not a train it's a plane and it's not going to Eilat it's going to Tel Aviv from where we, at 3am or so will make our way to Jerusalem to refresh ourselves and rest and wait for the ride to Eilat. Which is sunny, and by the sea. Oh it's cold here, did I mention, and snowing, hasn't stopped actually, it's kind of weird in a way, and it's getting colder and should be like.. super cold tomorrow. *smirks* It's like.. mid to high 20s in Eilat. And it's by the sea. *tries not to look smug and fails* So.. for now we've got all the "traveling" part of the traveling to do.. and well.. it's a whole lot of schleppng and waiting and passport control and being in airports and cities in the middle of the night so I'm looking forward to that part being done and being in Eilat, which is warm, oh and it's by the sea, did I mention? Yeah, I'd kind of like it to be that bit. By this time tomorrow, it will be that bit, so I hope for it to be then. Catch ya later.

*counts the days, months*

I'm over this winter thing. I wasn't all that interested in the first place, to be honest. I mean, I like snow and stuff.. but, there really isn't enough of it for the whole time that winter is around, and if there was, I'd probably be as over that as well, like people who grew up with it, and grumble as the snowflakes start falling, turning the landscape all beautiful and stuff.. when kids and dogs come out to frolic and.. ok I like snow. We had another shower last night, well, quite a heavy fall.. it was particularly wonderlandy this morning, complete with snow on the end o the branches of the trees where the leaves are supposed to be. It was very pretty.. of course, this morning was the morning the fixit dudes came in to fix the windows in the bathroom, and they came late, and took their time starting, and then the 2 or 3 hours estimate they gave us for the time it would take turned out to be wildly inaccurate and they were here all day and thus, I have not been out once. Except to go downstairs to buy a few things.. and well, it seems to have melted pretty quickly giving us that "recently snowed and there's some lying about but it's not all that pretty anymore" look. It seems to be like that most of the time, except for when it's just grey, and the days are still to short and to be quite honest it's too cold. And in just under a week we're going to Eilat, a particularly lovely warm town by the sea in Israel so.. nice break from this all. After that we're back, and it'll be March, and it will probably be cold to very cold for some weeks yet and might even snow more and it's not even officially spring until the late part of the month according to these northern hemisphereans which I've never really gotten used to but apparently it's like that.. but, nevertheless it is going to be March.. and March is.. spring, sorta. So it won't be so bad after that. Just 5 days.. and a couple of hours we're off on a midnight flight. Quite looking forward to that.

Note to self.. don't piss off the "service man"

Well.. we went to Nurnberg, just for a day, or a bit less than a day, did a lot of walking around, saw a castle and some other things, ate a bit, not much, cos there are not shops there, and.. had an interesting bus ride home with someone called Bara. She didn't make it all the way to Hlavni Nadrazi however.. the bus attendant or whatever you call her did not like her from the beginning..

to be fair, she was kind of annoying. Very annoying, drinking.. and smoking I think.. not allowed on buses of course, talking very loudly in Czech, English and a few words of German, well 2 which she kept repeating and well..

so that was fun. And overall Nurnberg was ok, it was kind of because of a mistake that we went there anyway, and it's a nice town.. no veggie places were open though, and today, a Sunday, very little was open in general, oh and like I said they have no shops.

But it was nice and I have a lot of pics.

Out of town we go!

It's been ages since I've left the official parameters of this city. It might just be the last time I went somewhere.. which was Paris last year..

*tries to think if I've so much as been just outside Prague*

no... don't think so.. anyway, it's 6 months now, so it's about time.

This one is the good old fashioned, very typical Czech weekend at the cottage, or "chalupa" as we call it. Yes, I have one. I mean I don't but people I'm related to have, did I mention I have relatives in this country.. well I do, I just never visit them except for when my mother visits.. did I mention she's visiting? Yeah well she's not bothering to stop by Prague or anything.. why would she do that.. just having a daughter living here and everything, but she's gone straight to our relatives place in České Budějovice. And this weekend we're all going to their little house in a village just outside of there..

so, time again for us to walk around gawking at the chickens and geese and frogs and acting like kids who've never left the city in their life, to the amusement of everyone else. Should be nice. Plans to be overcast and a bit rainy, of course, but we'll make do.

I'm in Prague now..

but earlier on I was in Paris. Over the weekend I went..

It was good. I might write some more details at some point. Probably not tonight though. I might take this opportunity to tell you that the weather was lovely though, as that seems to be an important detail.

I'm going to Paris soon.

For the weekend. Next weekend. Just been planning stuff, something I don't usually do, I mostly just show up at a place and wander around.. hope there's some accommodation available :) ok, I (or more likely whoever I'm with) usually take care of that.. but otherwise.

Well.. the other person this time has made sure that we planned it well, so we'll see lots of stuff, but hopefully there'll be plenty of time for just wandering and stuff.

Kay so I'm home.

It was a long trip. Long flight to London, not a fun landing. Through all the security bullshit, though we were just transferring. Long wait, well it always seems to take so long, at London. A not so long flight to Berlin, but still. A not fun wait in a long line for goodness knows what in Berlin which turned out to be the passport control which was quite fast.. then the wait for baggage which shouldn't have been long or a wait at all as they were already there, I just couldn't get them because of the crowd of people camped out in front of the conveyor belt including a small child who's mother bothered to call her away from there right after we got out bags. Thanks.

Then the cramming onto the airport bus, being unceremoniously told to move back so we got separated.. s-bahn and walk to our boat. Oh we stayed on a boat, it was quite nice. So after this long, hot and annoying day, we rest a bit, freshen up, go outside and it's raining.

We had to walk because we had to eat, and we needed to change money too. It was late so there was nowhere to exchange. It would have been a nice walk though, if it hadn't been raining, and we weren't so hungry, but it was raining, and we were really hungry.

Finally withdrew some cash, got a falafel and went back. Finally unwound on the bar at the hostel.. on the boat with beer and some cheesy music.

Went back on the train the next day, which was yesterday. That was ok, spose. Now I'm home, and just back from work. I'd quite like another holiday actually.

Well.. it seems I'm almost going home.

I've been here forever, "literally" forever. That is, about 10 days... anyway I'm off tomorrow evening.. to fly to London to fly to Berlin and hang out there for an eve and then go home.. and back to work, and other things that are a clusterfuck of fuckedupness that I need to sort out which I don't want to think about but for today, I'm still in Vancouver.

So.. been to a wedding, a bunch more brunches and lunches and dinners and barbecues, some were fun, some were meh, met a whole fuckload of new people.. at least I think I did because I vaguely remember these people things, anyway I don't remember most of them.

Went to the beach, actually dipped into the water though it was really cold and... some other stuff, wandered around the city, a few bars. Hung around this house a lot. Seems like I've been here forever.. it will be so strange to leave.

Took a lot of photos too.

Hi from Canada.

So, after a lot of travelling, a very long day, with a lot of daylight we arrived in Vancouver yesterday.. the day before.. oh whenever. Now I'm in a house with a huge number of people...

so.. the longest day was, according to earth stuff, on the 21st, ie the solstice, no idea if the Orloj in Prague was working fine.. so let me know if you have that info, I'd like to know if the country I'm returning to is in peril or not..

anyway, we spent the solstice in Berlin, which was pretty fucking rad, if I may use that description, there was a city wide music festival, and every street corner had some music on it, so we wandered around the city, stopping a bit at Gorlitzer Park, and other spots, checking out a bit o music, and some graf here and there.. then settling nearby our hostel at Love Lite, where we drank beer and enjoyed a few bands, with a break to walk back for a rest, past a few more gigs, including the punk/metal fest... which I found enjoyable.

We got to bed quite late.. packed a bit and showed, and up again at 4:30 am. On to the S-Bahn, bus, plane to London, where we had relatively little trouble getting out of customs, and onto the tube into the city. It was a beautiful moment walking up out of Piccadilly Circus tube into heavy rain :/. Well it was nice, didn't rain the entire time, and got to walk to Trafalgar Square and get a photo on one of the lions are a short battle to claim the spot. Then the fun bit, Indian for lunch, and a beer in a charming pub, in the traditional English style.

So.. back to Heathrow, up into the airport, ride on a transit to our gate and waiting.. and the flight. We flew for about 11 hours, west... so it was the true longest day... something like 20 hours daylight.. we flew over Greenland, and Baffin Island and places in the Arctic.. it was pretty cool.. but too bloody long! Arrived in Vancouver.. relatively little trouble getting out except for a kinda long wait for bags, and onto the Sky Train on the Canada line to home! Got to Erik's place and no one was in the house. I think that's the only time I'll get to see the place with only 2, or less than about 20 people because after an hour or 2 everyone began to arrive.. his parents finally came late at night.. and then just one more wait for a few more people to show up... and after about 30 hours we finally went to bed.

So yeah.. pretty tired. Yesterday was hanging about day, more people arrived, we had a barbecue, and stayed in the house mostly, oh I went to the mall, a bit of North American culture I needed to experience.

It's nice to be here, I'm here for 2 weeks so I can settle a bit, and there's lots to do, lots of weddings, bat mitzvahs and dinners... well one each of the first 2 but lots of stuff related to them... so yeah, fun.

Weather's a bit crap though :/

One more thing before I go.

I mean I don't have time.. I still have to pack, and tidy up and.. well, the stuff I didn't get yet isn't gonna get got so.. spose I'll make it.

Been shlepping, rushing, waiting and.. well let's be honest spending plenty of time farting around, it's something I always manage to find time to do, but I've gotten stuff done, so you can be proud of me.

Speaking of.. just before I go, I don't want to forget, you know that thing? The thing I was going on about for like, ever, and never did anything, and then I did something but couldn't show it, and then I didn't do anything for a year and then I did and I fucked it up again, and then I did something else and for some reason didn't upload it, and then a little bit later did more and finally I uploaded an intro to the actual thing I'm doing?

Well this is the actual thing I'm doing.

See ya later.

*yawns*

I'm back. I've been traveling all day and am rather tired. Haven't slept properly or refrained from at least some to ridiculous amounts of serious shlepping for a week. I really don't know what else to say about it all...

*falls asleep*

There's a fair bit going on...

Yes, to me. Not a typical thing for someone such as myself but there it is.

Well I'm in Tel Aviv. In Israel. Yesterday I was in Budapest and tomorrow I'll be in Tel Aviv still but the day after I'll go to Jerusalem. And I'm going to a wedding.

I'd go into more detail but there's kind of a lot of it, but there's been a lot of waiting, a lot of shlepping, a lot of lack of sleep and a visit to the beach for beer and hummus which I think has been my favourite part so far.

Oh and I had 2 castings on the weekend. That was back in Prague before I left. I don;t think I sucked horrifically badly but I don't think I was particularly bad either, except for maybe during the monologue of the first one which was really flat and expressionless but either way who knows what it will equal. I mostly went for practice because I've done so little of any theatre recently and I got that so mission accomplished I spose.

That's about it.