Go away, you sad people who come here looking for advice on Vampire Wars! Read the friggin’ help file! Sign up for the damned Facebook groups!!! Use your brains!!!!

You know Murphy’s law. This week is proof positive that it exists. I’ve mentioned, I think, that I was stupid enough to extend at work to cover the time until my replacement arrives (not that it matters. I’ve got six weeks max, and she’s not even been processed for approval). That means, of course, that I have to drive to the office every day. Mark is spending four days in the States. He is scheduled to return a few hours after I leave for Munich on Saturday. What happens on the day he’s supposed to leave? Rufus gets sick. The poor pup has a very bad cold and cough. I end up staying home using leave I don’t have and need elsewhere while Mark sets off on his trip all worried. We have two more doc appointments for immune booster shots, one is Saturday at noon. The other one requires me to skip lunch tomorrow so I can leave early. And I wasn’t even supposed to be here today!

That’s all well and manageable, if you get appropriate rest in between. I took a great bath yesterday, read a bit, relaxed a bit, walked the pups with Anke and Daisy, went to bed early. Schmusi whined. All night. After having whined all day already. Then it started raining like crazy. Then a humming from the living room nearly drove me insane. Then I got up and checked on Rufus (he was sleeping soundly on his pillow). Then the alarm went off. Murphy, you old bastard, I’ll kill ya! Now you all need to excuse me while I go looking for some matches I can use to prop open my eyelids…

Last night, I said goodbye to the Lily Pad. I’m going to miss it. It was a great place. We had two comfortable years together.

I’m still at work. Every day, I wish I could hit someone. Mostly myself, for being stupid enough to offer an extension to cover my company’s ass until my replacement arrives. Turns out, it’s highly unlikely she’ll even make it by my firm “no more of this crap” date in November. And I’m stuck. Beam me up, Scotty!

SSIW is having a launch event at the Senedd in Cardiff in December. It kills me that I won’t be able to go. This would really mean something to me.

But then I console myself with the fact that in a week, we’re going to the Night of the Museums. Then we’re having a pumpkin carving party. Then it’s Halloween. Then Thanksgiving. And then… throw off the shackles just in time for the holidays! If that’s not a silver lining!

Aka spam. It’s been coming. People think I’m stupid enough to auto-approve comments. Tsk, tsk. You REALLY think I need some idiot generating German language bullcrap under a fake name that points to a porn site? Or a gambling page? Get a grip. Get a hobby. And get lost. Echt.

Or: game over. In any case, I am soooooo (no, wait, SOOOOOOOOOO) bored with Vampire Wars that I am categorically refusing to go back there any more. As long as the farming’s fun, you’ll find me in Farmville or looking for eggs to feed the Hatchlings, but this idiotic, pointless collecting of “powers” and beating of unsuspecting players has to end now.

For those who remain unconvinced that I actually do have an offline life, you may go visit Flickr for the latest travel pics.

Welcome to Monday.

You know how when you get busy, time just flies by? I’m packing up the Lily Pad while juggling all those Vista upgrades and accreditations at work while planning my vacation while starting a new blog (yup, schon wieder). We don’t need to discuss work, let’s just say it’s not very interesting but I’m happy when things work.

Due to Labor Day this coming weekend, I’m looking at a glorious four day respite from office chair warming activities. Claudia and I are going to Cardiff where I will possible try out my newly learned Welsh and potentially fail fabulously, but who knows. It’s nice to go away with someone who’s so enthused about the opportunity, and I hope that despite the not-so-hot weather forecast we’ll have lots of chances to bring back pictures.

The new blog is named Tees Tease (teestease.wordpress.com) and currently still empty. It was inspired by the fact that a lot of my beloved t-shirts from all over the world seem to have fallen prey to the hot water wash and therefore will be donated to the clothing collection. Before that happens, though, they will be photographically documented on that site. I am rather attached to some of them.

Now, I must find out why my fax machine won’t use the tray it’s supposed to to print faxes. You have been informed. I’ll see you with new material next week. Dabo!

Having recently discovered the convenience of renting movies online and watching them on the laptop, I now regularly look at the week’s top movie rentals. Yesterday I found “Love and other Disasters“, starring Brittany Murphy and a bunch of other people. I had wanted to watch it anyway, because I think Brittany is adorable, so I downloaded it.

Brittany’s character Jacks was born into an English-Spanish family, grew up in the United States and now works at a fashion magazine in London. She shares a flat with Peter (Matthew Rhys, still cute) who’s a gay screen writer looking for success in the movies and in his lovelife. Because of the obvious reason, as Peter points out to her later, that she’d do anything to avoid getting hurt in a relationship, she carries on an on-off relationship with James. Her best friend, over the top Tallulah, is currently shagging a hot Jamaican named Freedom. So far, so good. One day, Paolo – assistant to the magazine’s star photographer- shows up on a shoot and Jacks decides to hook him up with Peter, who’s fallen hopelessly in love with a man he hasn’t met yet. Naturally, chaos ensues, but all ends well.

Different: every once in a while, the scene is set up by typed instructions as from a script that appear on the screen. Funny: whenever Peter disappears into his fantasy while something completely different actually happens. Disastrous: Brittany as Jacks. Jacks’ favorite movie is “Breakfast at Tiffany’s“, which she expresses by modeling her style largely after Holly Golightly’s, but that doesn’t mean her acting should be so forced when nobody else in the film pretends to be stuck in a Sixties flick. Sorry, but I’m taking points off for that. All in all, though this is solidly fluffy evening entertainment, even if I will be glad to just once watch a movie like this in which I don’t have to see the main character’s gigantic preggo belly in the final scenes…

If you’ve paid attention to European news during the last couple of days, you’ll have taken notice of 13-year-old Laura Dekker from the Netherlands who wants to take two years off from school and sail around the world. Perhaps people would just kind of coo and say something admiring, if she weren’t planning on doing it alone. Laura wants to beat the world record for the youngest person to circumnavigate the Earth solo. Her parents firmly support her wish. The Dutch government, however, has pointed out that she is obligated to attend school, since she is a minor, and has threatened to take her away from her parents. The enraged parents, in turn, have stated that if their home country attempts to prevent Laura from sailing, they will leave and go to New Zealand, where the girl was born (incidentally, on a boat).

Opinions are pretty much split down the middle. One half of all comments calls the parents idiots and unrealistic dreamers, point out how dangerous it is for someone that young to just gallavant off by themselves for two years, and more along those lines. The other half adopts the rather American attitude that individual freedom should weigh more than the supposed needs and wants of a government that should rather keep its nose out of people’s private business.

If I were a parent and this were my daughter, I’d be supportive too. But I’d also be scared. 13 is very young. Girls (and boys, for that matter) at that age are still children, no matter how mature or knowledgeable they may appear. However, I am not familiar with the rules and regulations of this kind of adventure. Perhaps “alone” wouldn’t really be “alone”. Laura would need supplies, for example. At some intervals, she would have to have contact with other people, seafarers or otherwise.

I’m not convinced that something like a solo trip around the world gets any less dangerous the older you get. Perhaps it also depends on the route you take, but as we know, Amelia Earhardt, Roald Amundsen and a host of other famous explorers disappeared, despite their experience.

It’s also not true that Laura would simply abandon school for two years. With the help of satellite connections, she apparently has developed a plan for remote instruction. So schooling and homework remain part of her life. She would not necessarily fall behind on anything. Here, it is merely the rigidity of the Dutch school system that is keeping her from a more flexible way of getting her education – somewhat ironic in a world that makes the demand of flexibility of adult employees.

Someone mentioned in a comment that rescue, should it become necessary, would be expensive. Who should pay for it? This somewhat caustically assumes that a teenager will most definitely get herself into trouble, whereas an adult (or an older teenager) would not. I’m quite certain that whatever insurance Laura’s parents have will have something to say about that, and that her parents, experienced sailors themselves, have considered this extensively. Whatever the cost would be, it would be the same for any other sailor in distress and is therefore, in my opinion, not an argument against this trip.

Despite all this, though, there are only two arguments for Laura’s cause: first, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, truly. She will never be 13 again, and the chance of beating this particular record will never come again for her. Second, sailing is in her blood. It is her passion. I believe that even with 24/7 supervision, taking her away from her parents and locking her up in a home will damage this girl or turn her into a juvenile delinquent.

Still, forming a valid opinion is nearly impossible. Of course, the media only represent the barest of facts in the case. No side is being argued out but in hints here and remarks there. The decision on what will happen to Laura is scheduled to be made tomorrow.

Sometimes one must go back to go forward. I simply could not get on with lesson 20 last week, so over the weekend, I went back to 16 to do some review and get the grammar down better. Today, I’m finishing the review on 19. It’s going well. Very well. Hopefully, it’ll continue in this manner. After all, I’m thisclose to being finished with the course!

About The Edge of Love… I very much like Sienna Miller as Cat. In fact, I thought the casting was superb. As with all movies about little snippets out of a person’s life, it leaves you wanting more (ideally), so I’ve been reading up on Dylan Thomas a bit. Very interesting. He should, if he could, consider himself very lucky to be played by the incredibly sexy Matthew Rhys (my motto: one more good reason to say something in Welsh!!), because even with the extra slobby pounds packed on, Matthew looks better than the soft, pouty poet ever did. He also has a better voice, as proven by a recording I was able to listen to on BBC Wales the other day, read by DT himself.

Our Celtic dinner was wonderful, although about half the guests didn’t make it this time. And yet, there was plenty to eat and lots to laugh at. We exchanged recipes, tested our way through a variety of mets, ciders and Drambuie, and learned that Breton fairy tales are probably best appreciated after smoking a good doobie or two… because the ones we read aloud seemed to have been written after exactly that kind of activity.

On Sunday, I nonchalantly jetted down to GAP for the day to go hiking and to dinner with the hubby, and Monday, being a training holiday, I lazed around the house and got caught up on my magazines. In other words, it’s all good. Tonight, I’m hooking up with Daniel Craig and Sienna Miller in Layer Cake (rented after I saw that it was classified as a thriller), and I promise to upload the pics from the brew course pretty soon.

Where have I been all week? Sweating with the oldies! It’s HOT in Germany, don’t you know. But you won’t hear me complain, nu-uh. In case all those whiny krauts haven’t checked the calendar lately: it’s August. It’s supposed to be hot.

But moving on…. I don’t feel like a complete post to review Ice Age 3D, because it’s been a week since we went to see it. I will say this, however: for about 90 minutes, it was good entertainment. The story was ok, although I’m sure I’ll forget it as quickly as I did the two predecessors. It was about friendship and family and the fact that we’re all a little patchwork. This was my first 3D flick, and I’m looking forward to the next one. Since you’ve read this blog long enough, you can guess what it’s going to be. Yup. G-Force! Since I can’t seem to catch the 3D versions in OV anywhere, I suppose I’ll have to forego hearing Bill Nighy (big fan, me, in case I hadn’t made that clear previously) and just live with whatever German actors they scrounge up.

On the homefront, I wasted $2.99 on iTunes to rent Paul Blart – Mall Cop. Sadly, this movie marks a return to early Adam Sandler films, all of which can be collectively forgotten, unless you’re very young or immature enough to enjoy fart jokes and being whacked over the head with a stupidity hammer. Watching Paul Blart was a similarly excruciating experience as the one time I made the mistake of paying money to see Dennis Spade in Joe Dirt, although as far as I know, Adam Sandler cannot be blamed on that one (his company produced this thing). Sorry, Clifford, but I have to disagree with you on this one. It’s not a complete catastrophe, however, because Kevin James (Paul) and the adorable Jayma Mays (Amy) actually have chemistry. Next up on the home movie front: The Edge of Love. For the heck of it.

Otherwise, I am dismayed about being stuck at lesson 20 in Welsh. I am attempting to correct minor listening mistakes before they accumulate, while at the same time I can’t seem to muster the concentration to really get through the lesson. I’ve started three times and abandoned it halfway each time. There are only six more after this. So close, and yet so far…