Would I lie to you?

Aussa from Hacker. Hooker. Ninja. Spy recently wrote a post in which she listed six things about herself, five true and one false. She then chellenged her readers to a) guess which statement was not true and b) create their own blog post with five true statements and a lie. My life not being nearly as interesting as hers, I knew I wouldn’t be able to come up with any really good things (especially with everything I’ve already revealed about myself on this blog!), but with nothing else to write about today I decided I might as well give it a go. So, can you guess which of the following five “facts” about me is not actually a fact at all?

1. While at university, I got paid to kiss one of my friends.

2. When I was 17, I got incredibly drunk at my mate’s birthday party and threw up all over the floor (and myself)  in the toilets.

3. I could read before I started school

4. I was conceived on my mum’s 19th birthday

5. One of my earliest memories involves checking under a car for bombs.

6. During my first year at university, I had a one night stand with my flatmate’s ex-boyfriend.

That’s it! Take a guess at which one you think is a lie… and if you feel like joining in, please give me a link to your post. I will reveal the correct answer in a few days…

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My life in music

I stole this idea from The Laughing Housewife, whose version you can see here.

Put together a musical playlist of songs that describe your life, including what you hope your future entails.

I was born in 1983, precisely 18 days after my mum turned 20 (product of a teen pregnancy. Shock, horror!)

My dad and later my step dad were both in the army, so the family moved around a lot. I got used to always being the new kid.

When I was 12, my step mum died. She was only 29 years old – the same age I am now!

A year later, I moved up North to live with my dad.

For university, I went to Nottingham (half way between my parents at the time!) to study German and International Relations. My degree included a year abroad. I came to Karlsruhe – the first time I’d left the country by myself!

After a turbulent three month relationship with an American (who I’m still friends with – he’s now married with his second kid on the way), I started a relationship with Jan. Six months later, he went of to the US while I returned to England to finish my degree.

After nearly two years of long distance relationship (after graduating I moved to Austria for 10 months), I moved back to Germany to finally be with Jan. I had been a language assistant in Austria and loved it. In Germany, it was hell and a major part of why I decided becoming a teacher was not for me! So I signed up for a Master’s in Translation instead.

While I was studying for my Master’s (online), I did an internship at a translation company, then got a job as a translator, which ended after 10 months for economic reasons, before ending up at the translation company where I work now just over three years ago.

And my hope for the future?

(Apologies if any of the music doesn’t work – for some reason the sound isn’t working on this computer).

It’s official!

My degree certificate arrived today, and very nice it looks too! So now I’m now an actual qualified translated and can  officially  call myself Beverley of Confuzzledom MA. Or even BA MA if I so desire. Or is it MA BA? I have no idea which comes first. The higher one or the one I got first? Hmm. Anyway, exciting stuff. I called Jan to tell him and his response was “So what type of drink should I buy to celebrate with on the way home”. I then reminded him we still have champagne (actual champagne!) in the fridge plus an unopened bottle of sparking wine that’s been sitting around for over a year now – don’t ask me how that managed to happen! So it looks like there’s going to be a celebration. Only a miniature one though cos I have work tomorrow…

How about some good news?

It seems that my last post struck a cord with people. My stats haven’t shown that many views for a while (35 yesterday in case you were wondering… yes, I’m that popular. *sarcasm mode off*). Anyway, in all the confusion and mixed up feelings I completely forgot to mention my good news… I got the provisional result for my dissertation yesterday (subject to approval by the exam board). I got 70%! For my non-English readers… that’s actually good! Yes, I know it’s 30 whole percent less than 100, but if you bear in mind that you can’t actually get anything about 85% it puts it in perspective. Plus I was only aiming for a pass, which would have been 50%, so I’m happy. The mark becomes official on 5th July.. hopefully it won’t change too much, if at all, then all my marks will be added together and I’ll find out what I’ve got for the whole degree. And at some point in November I’ll finally get my certificate. For now, though, I shall sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that my Master’s is in the bag and I don’t have to do any more assignments… at least until the next time I decide to inflict an OU course on myself. By the way, if anyone was thinking of buying me a gift for my birthday in August, OU vouchers are always appreciated 😉 (I jest, of course. I’m not even going to be in Germany on my birthday this year). Right, I’m off to spend some time with my boyfriend now. I started a ten-finger typing course this morning, which ran from 9 – 12:30 (and it’s every Saturday from now til 24th July. Woe, woe, woe) so the only thing we’ve done together today is weekly food shop. Not much fun. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone 🙂

Nothing to say, but I’m saying it anyway

Hmm, another new week. I seem to have entirely missed most of last one. All I remember is that it involved working like a mad woman all day then returning home to work like a mad woman some more, but this time on something that I’m not getting paid for. And all this while trying to recover from my monster cold. I’m all better now though, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know. And the dissertation is moving forward. I even managed to have some fun at the weekend, which is something that hasn’t happened in a while. On Friday night Jan and I went out for a meal then some cocktails with a friend. It was 2:30 by the time we got in and I was up again by 9:30, but the reminder of what it’s like to have a real life made up for the tiredness.

I also started putting some things in boxes on Thursday evening. It wasn’t much, and my place is still as chaotic and crowded as ever, but it’s a start. Somehow actually starting to pack things away makes the move seem so much more real. I’m hoping we’ll be able to get the keys soon, then we can go in and do some measuring so we can figure out where to put what. We already have a list of things we need to do – and buy. I think another trip to IKEA will be on the cards fairly soon. Not until after payday though. My university are now demanding money from me again. *sigh*. Thankfully this is the last installment, so hopefully they’ll leave me alone after that. Unless of course I have to pay for the privilige of having my certificate sent out to me. That is a bridge that shall have to be crossed when I come to it though… I have to pass the dissertation first!

The chocolate box of life

As Tom Hanks once so aptly pointed out in his role as Forrest Gump, life is like a box fof chocolates – you never know what you’re gonna get.

Most of yesterday was pretty relaxing. I stayed at Jan’s on Tuesday night and since it was a holiday we decided not to bother getting up too early. Once I finally did decide to get out of bed I spent the next few hours lazing around reading Stern (a news magazine) before watching an episode of The Thin Blue Line while we ate something. Finally, at 4pm, I decided it was time to make my way home.
Back in my flat I took down the Christmas decorations then started to tidy up. I didn’t get very far though – I’d just finished cleaning the loo when my Grandma phoned (I wonder what the chocolate equivalent of scrubbing the toilet is? A mouldy one perhaps that everyone forgot about several Christmas’s ago and which has been lurking in the supposedly empty tin ina threatening manner ever since?).
I couldn’t really do any housework while on the phone so instead I decided to upload my photos from Italy to Facebook. Then, once the grandparents had hung up and tea (tuna and potato bake) was in the oven I was hit by a sudden pang of conscience and found myself checking my university e-mails for the first time in… ohh, at least a month. I discovered that I have to write a progress report. Or, to be more accurate, had to write a progress report. It was due in on 31st December. A definite strawberry cream moment right there. Or ‘strawberry dream’ as Quality Street call them… as if that’s going to fool anyone into thinking they might actually taste nice. So it looks like I’m going to be spending the weekend trying to rustle up some kind of progress report. But first, I have a wedding to go to. At Castle Frankenstein no less! Let’s just hope there are no scarred monsters or mad scientists waiting for me up there…

Catching up

After another weekend away from the blogosphere I am slowly, slowly starting to catch up with all the blogs I like to read. If I haven’t left you a comment yet I will soon… there’s just so much to get through!

My friend’s visit went well. There was lots going on, but we managed to fit everything in and get her back to the train station in time on Sunday. So I think we can label the weekend a success.

And now, after over a week of day trips, fun and visitors, today’s task is to write and submit a proposal for my dissertation, which I will hopefully be starting to write in September. Wish me luck… I’ve never written a proper dissertation proposal before! (For my Bachelor’s dissertation we had to submit a plan but it was nothing like what I’m expected to do for this one!)

Resolution Recap

It’s almost June already. How the heck did that happen? Surely it was only just January?
Anyway… since we are now nearing the sixth month of the year I thought it would be a good idea to dig out my new year’s resolutions and let you all know how I’m doing with them. Goodness knows why I though this was a good idea… perhaps I just like torturing myself?

Soo, resolution number 1 was to try and improve my relationship… to be a better girlfriend and try to make my boyfriend happy (God, remind me why I chose to make the hardest one number one?). I also said that I was going to give it a year, and if my relationship still wasn’t going anywhere I would leave – walk away and let Jan figure out exactly what it is he wants. Much as I would hate to do that, at the time it seemed like the most sensible solution.
Well… if this were a school report the verdict on that one would be “could try harder”. I have managed to be a little nicer… at least intermittently. And as long as I have access to the internet we seem to be arguing less. We’ve also managed to have the occasional talk about things without Jan either going silent or changing the subject and me either crying or shouting, neither of which has the desired effect. OK, so we’ve only managed that about twice, but that’s still two more times than zero. And I still have the rest of the year to work on this…

Number 2 was to become better at work. This mostly involved becoming more emotionally intelligent, less socially incompetent and a good project manager.
The least said on this one the better (mostly because I don’t like to say too much about work on here just in case). I do still have a job though, which is something. And I seem to have got better at pretending not to be utterly terrified when phoning customers. Now I suppose I just have to work on not being utterly terrified.

Number 3. Stop procrastinating. Don’t leave university assignments til the last minute. Actually do the reading that’s set for each week.
I have now actually handed in the assignments for my last two modules, so this one isn’t relevant any more (unless I fail text lingusitics, in which case it will become horribly relevant again soon). But with those two assignments I did exactly what I told myself I wasn’t going to do… left them til the last minute, rushed to buy some books in a complete panic and just about managed to get them finished in time for the hand in date. I think we can write that one off as a big fat FAIL! And next year is thesis time. I already have my suspicions about how that’s going to turn out…

The fourth and final resolution was to get out more and meet up with actual rela live people instead of socialising entirely through my blog and facebook.
I don’t think I really need to tell you how this one is going. I mean, you lot read my blog, right? How many times have you seen me mention a night out or a meeting with friends? My point exactly… (Although I did meet up with a friend on Friday night. She moved to the Netherlands 5 months ago and I hadn’t seen her since so of course I made the effort. And I went to the Maifest at my old student residence. But other than that not much socialising going on over here… especially since my flat became connected to the internet).

Well, that’s the lot. Now you tell me how you’ve been getting on with your resolutions. Only if you’ve failed miserably though… you wouldn’t want to depress me now, would you? 😉

Normal service can resume (tomorrow)

Just a quick post tonight because I am tired. I worked hard all day (translated over 2,000 words!) then came home and finished an essay, which I have just handed in. It’s now 20 past 10 (which isn’t really that late I know) and all I want to do is sleeeep… preferably until next week, but as that isn’t an option until 6:40 tomorrow morning will have to do.

But… I have internet! The men from Kabel-BW were here today and after about an hour and a half, during which we had to collect the keys to the cellar from my downstairs neighbour then head aaall the way back up the stairs to disturb my poor next-door neighbours (who were having tea at the time) to get into the loft (the entrance to which is in their flat) where the men spent ages trying different cables to see if any of them actually caused power to flow through the cable sockets in my flat… yes, it’s all very confusing. The nice men did eventually manage to get it sorted though, and they left me a modem and a telephone, so now I have a landline and, much more importantly, access to my lovely, lovely blog and to facebook and my email and all those things I have been missing sooo desperately.! I worship thee oh Kabel-BW, providers of the internet!

And now to bed. I shall write something more interesting tomorrow. After I catch up on all my favourite blogs. I have missed you all, my dear blogging friends, and I shall be round to see you as soon as I can. Promise!

The last night

It’s my last night in the student residence.
By this time tomorrow I’ll be moved in to my new flat. I’ll even have a little bit of furniture.
Wow. I can’t believe I’m actually moving out. 2 and a half years I’ve been here. It’s been a while since I’ve spent that long living in one place. Even at uni I lived in various different places (halls in first year, house with friends in second year, then year abroad in Germany and in final year a different house with different friends).

I still have soo much to do. I need to finish packing. I need to clean. I need to take out the rubbish, sort out which food is coming with me and what can be given away or binned. And I only have until 11:30 tomorrow to get it all done. So of course today had to be the Friday that I wasn’t able to leave work on time. Some of you may remember me mentioning that we get to leave work at 4pm on Fridays, provided we work til 5:15 every other day of the week…
Well,  today I was lucky to catch the 22 minutes past tram (I ran and reached the platform about 30 seconds before it did). Yesterday it was nearly 5:30 when I left. And on Tuesday I stayed for an extra 15 minutes so that I could leave early on Wednesday for Spanish. The one week that I would have liked to get home and get things done I’ve ended up spending more time at work than ever. The Law of Sod as my dad would say…