I think I am going a bit crazy with all the traveling I have been doing lately.
Having said that - I am looking forward to going back to Ireland.
The days are going by so fast now that it is hard to keep up with what day of the week it is and where I am suppose to be.
Interesting and difficult at the same time.
Not long ago I decided I needed a change of jobs and scenery and found a better job and quit my old one.
In Europe they have what they cal l'Gardening Leave' which basically means that although I cannot work for my new employer, i am also not working at my old job.
This is pretty cool in the sense that I now have 3 months off this summer until i start my new job on September first. What is even better is that I am stil getting paid to do it!
So what am I doing?
I just arrived back in Boston last week and have been catching up on sleep and catching up with family nad friends I have not seen in a looooongt time.
I will be driving dwon to NYC then Ohio, and Indiana to visit family then down to DC and Philly to visit friends before driving back up to Boston. A few friends want to meet in Las Vegas and maybe I will drive from there to San Fran to visit other friends.
ah yes Summer-Off with pay!
Me likey!
As the warm winter shines into spring and everyone is thinking global warming is not necessarily a bad thing unless you want to go skiing....
I have been going to the mountains a bit and spending quality time outdoors in the Alps and enjoying life while the weather has been nice. A bit of skiing but more aprèschee as they say enjoy the sun outdoors in the snow and drinking hot alcoholic beverages and then enjoying the ladies laying out to get a tan or the ones playing in the hot tubs.... life could be worse.
This weekend was no different as the work week ended and Friday seemed like the perfect day to leave early at 6.30pm. Between the small talk some in english and some in german, it became obvious that most people are interested as to why more Americans never travel abroad.
The topic is one I encounter frequently and get tired of quite easily so not to go to long on the subject, I only state the obvious the America has what most Americans wnat and need adn that most countries are expensive to get to and then treat Americans unfairly based on politcs and not actually knowing real Americans.
Most Americans work too hard to get by and have little financial means to leave their own state let alone go to a different country or part of the US (which will seem to them a foreign country).
What makes life interesting is what we actually do with our lives.
Having returned after a long weekend (srry Christmas weekend) in Prag - I am refreshed and not waiting for New Years to make changes. So having set up my first few ideas for travel in 2007.
I used to travel every month to a new country in Europe during my first 2 years here. The last couple of years have been more about work and less about my own wishes. So after being told I could not go home for Thanksgiving, Christmas and now missing my favorite US holiday The Super Bowl!
So now I am more committed to travel. So although I will be in LDN in Jan and also enjoying a ski weekend in Davos, I will also go to Stuttgart (I love that town) then host a SB party on Feb 4th!
February will also bring possibly Portugal or Spain. If my old work buddy from the US comes over in March we may go to Poland or Spain. In April I will go to Moscow to visit another long time co-worker and his family. So somewhere between middle of Feb and end of April I will be home to visit family and friends, but not sure for how long....
so what about May? not sure yet, but I would like to be in Valencia in June when the America's Cup will be hosted by Switzerland. Yes interesting that a land locked nation could win this prestigious event, but when you hire the best New Zealanders and Australians to use one of the most advanced sailing vessels money could buy.... then you get one. There are things money can still buy - but do they have enough to repeat?
I have been traveling quite a bit lately (yes I know nothing new), but I have also written more then usual. I guess that most of what I have written is more for myself then fo otehrs as it relates to more of how I really think and feel and not what I choose to show to the world.
It is not that I am a dark and gloomy Gus, but more along the lines that I am so frustrated on how things are goin - I need to figure out what I really want to do next. I know what I can do, I know what I could do - but in the end what do I want?
The past few weeks, I have been working on my books and putting together a better idea of what life would be like with a few months off. I could go back to dishwashing or bartending and finish a book - the fact thet I have to give 6 months notice (Swiss law is weird that way) and get paid for it seems to add value to the thought.
So what to do with so much time and still bringing in the the dough? hhmmmm let me ponder the thought... cha ching!
OK - not so simple, but in essence an idea - one that I must consider to keep my sanity and keep from making those around me think I am a complete lunatic (is in my head....).
Between now and the weekend there will be Rudolf (drinking sessions when nose lights up), Christmas Vacation (Rusty we checked all the bulbs didnt we?) and It's a Wonderful Life (Hot Dog!)
So after that I will make daisy chains and laugh, as I will actually be enjoying Glugg (or glu wein) in Prague this Christmas weekend.
Yes a little R n R in a new land.... I will take pictures and write alot more. I will share the pics and a few of the writings.. depends on how mcuh I write for my book, myself and craziness in general.
So although I may write another post before the weekend, you may not check again - so I wish you and your family a Merry Fuckin Christmas! and by golly a the Best God Damn New Year!
breathe breathe in the air.......
time to relax and catch up on life. a swiss styled thanksgiving with proper swiss chicken and all the trimmins - mmmh mmmh good!
starting festivities w glugg (or glu wein) everyone pitched in to help at Paul's place. Mashed taters, stuffin, corn, peas, carrots, cranberry sauce (not sure who found this but in 5 years I have nvr seen it in stores), rolls, salad, wine and for desert - scotch. yummy yummy
lets just say we ate well and relaxed and ate some more... between CSI dvd's and Madden football it was a night to just enjoy....
I am thankful for many things - most of all my family and friends - I know I miss them all and wish I could be with them as this is my favorite holiday. Maybe next year.
I am asked more often these days when will I return home. To be honest, I am not sure but i think it will be sooner then expected.
so I am now back from London and able to catch up on sleep and writing up a few things for work before going in tomorrow.
I think I am coming down with a cold - as is normal when you work long hours and get little sleep. Once your body recognizes the down time is here - it runs it's own version of checks and balances out what needs to be worked on and what needs to completely transformed.
ah - transformation - I am no butter fly and although I was doing well trying to keep the weight off while traveling - it didn't work. I weigh the most I ever have in my life right now - and it is fat - muscle weighs more then fat and fat is not good. My biggest pair of pants are not just tight - but too tight. The belly which might have pushed out a bit is now bulging over.... I am beginning to look like my dad?!
I am too young for this and have not even met the woman of my dreams... who wants an old fat guy? I am no Brad Pitt or Daniel Craig (the new James Bond is out in LDN and will be in ZH next week!) but they are in better shape and they are older then me although in the same age range...
The funny things is I busted my ass this year for work - and they dangled the carrot of promotion - not only did I give them everything they wanted and more in terms of the over all strategy of management and the company. But I also built up new products from scratch that were not even planned!!
Interestingly I have gone from great to terrible in a very short time. Some of it is politics at work and another part of it is senior managers are only concerned about themselves. They have lost touch with the real world evolving beneath them and have their own personal targets in their heads. They set targets to suit their own goals and step out of the way of responsibility and accountability when things go wrong.
Today's senior managers are fearful of their own lack of skill and their inability to lead and motivate a group of strong minded individuals that can deliver everything required for everyone to succeed.
This place is falling to pieces as low level employees continue to rush for the door even though pay raises and bonus's are suppose to be announced soon. People have had enough and are no longer will to wait to be again disappointed after busting their balls all year...
Maybe I care too much about the organization - I have always treated any place I worked as if I was an owner and made sure things were taken care of top down and bottom up. I should sell my stake in this one as it looks as if the share price will be going down.
as the great pumkin flies through the autumn air and thanksgiving eating will soon begin i am stuck work yet again.
it feels like christmas in london as starbucks and costa pedel their seasonal blends. the shops bustle with chubby and chinny non-americans. english football and rugby are on TV - we enjoy ales, bitter and guiness by the pint - no busweiser please
the women wear skirts and sexy boots but talk chav and act essex in their drunkin stooper - all jerry springerish and white trash is too here
gray grey clouds and fog a little rain to quiet the mobs - where are these tourists from? they are all nobs!
i am tired and i am working too hard - i need break called vaction i think - unfortunately not this year....
and in an interesting note - back in Zurich there was a desk move from my area - and people move around desks. They found a 45 caliber bullet. The woman that found the bullet escalated the issue saying it was illegal - were she swiss she would know that nearly every household in swistzerland has weapons and ammunition....
ok time to go home......
you know I was looking for you the other day. I thought I saw you out of the corner of my but when I looked you were not there. Everyone I asked said you were around but did not know exactly where. I tried to think about where you might be but became lost in thought. I tried to retrace my last steps to when I last saw you but could not remember where that was.
so here I am not knowing what to do......
If you are never really all there is there much luck in fully being here?
help my mind i lost
ahhh - a whole week of being in one place and having a real life.
yep - been hanging out all week and catching up w so many people it feels like i am visiting rather then actually living here.
most friends commented it was good for me to get out of my cave... others were surprised i still lived here......... hhmmm not good.
heard y'all loud n clear.....
like anything else to live life you need to be a part of it. stop and smell the roses n shit like that. it it always easier said then done, but at least more people are aware of my situation w work and now understand if I am not around.
so what now? what is next? a last minute trip for one week to London... it would not be so bad if it wasn't for work, but then again if it wasn't for work i would be bitchin about something else.
so another little diddy....
the greenery of the scenery and the blue of the bay
would wish you were anywhere else on this beautiful day
on a train bound for work their faces in newspapers
they remind me of youth on the college campus
whether in khaki's or suits in their business shoes
they ride the train towards their new day
young and thin turn old and fat gray
if they've been here this long, then there is no escape
the women arrive for the train as well
head into the city to make or marry their wealth
a slave to fashion and keeping in style
they run in high heels struggling every mile
it is easy to comment after all the time I spent in cities around the world - that business commute whether by car, train or plane - treats everyone the same
so a few of my friends have been upset that i have been traveling too much and took me out tonight for an underground heavy metal show. Skin and Slayer are coming to town soon and my friends are going nuts. The Kon Tiki Bar in Zurich is a heavy metal place and the band set up next door at Zuri Bar and you had to walk through Kon Tiki to get into Zuri Bar....
small venue really loud and fuckin' awesome! I needed a night out and after a few Hurlimann beers and Jaegermeister shots all was good.
I almost had a sandwich - but one of the grrls backed out and then so did the other one - and we were on the way to their place! we should of had another shot before leaving.....
Anyway tattoos and piercings are always an interest of mine on the female form - hhmmmm lovely!
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