Yesterday, I spent the day packing more boxes and starting to throw out what's left in the old flat. I'm amazed how many boxes you can fill with the contents of one flat. Also amazed at the sheer number of books I own. I'm filling two rooms now - the library and the study. And there are more books piled up everywhere. This time round, I'll be clever and kick out all books that I don't need. That will most definitely mean that most fiction will get kicked out - anything below a "desert island keeper" is Oxfam fodder. That's why I like e-books. They don't compete for space with my reference library and I can just delete them when they were bad.
The early evening was, of course, spent watching Germany massacre Australia. After the fourth goal came in, I started to cringe on behalf of the poor Australians, who simply didn't have the momentum in the front. Relying on one striker - who then gets booked/red carded for a yellow card offense - wasn't a winning strategy. Just looking at their faces, you could see the "please make it stop" exasperation, and I really felt for them.
The German side, though... NICE. Having all that youthful exuberance rather than plodding Ballack was so refreshing. I'll never be a fan of the "pig climber", but Lahm, Klose and Oezil were inspired, Mueller the same. Everybody worked hard and showed some pretty nice football. Before the game I thought "okay, we won't have a chance, but give then four years and we'll rock the next world cup" - well, I think there's ample potential to rock THIS world cup now, just keep going on that trajectory, boys.
(And a small voice in my head really wants to see England/Germany - shambolic England with superstar Rooney versus Germany that, by tradition, gets stronger from game to game... a real "tournament team". Okay, granted, that would be war, but how much fun? Of course, I may have to hide the fact I'm German for a few weeks, especially if our boys mop the floor with the "lions" - I'm just glad my accent can be mistaken for Dutch, and, apparently, Canadian, so I'll survive, if I manage to not brag out on the street.)
The mind begins to clear, in any case. The house is coming together. Biggest concern now is that with all the expenses and costs of the last six weeks, I'm skint. Super-skint, in fact. I still have a few reserves squirreled away, but June/July will be very lean months indeed, until I get paid by the new job end of July. I do hope for some royalties payments to help me weather the worst, but I'm not quite sure when they pay. Right now, I only expect a chunk from Dreamspinner - so thanks to everybody who bought "Clean Slate". This month, that money will make a real difference.
The early evening was, of course, spent watching Germany massacre Australia. After the fourth goal came in, I started to cringe on behalf of the poor Australians, who simply didn't have the momentum in the front. Relying on one striker - who then gets booked/red carded for a yellow card offense - wasn't a winning strategy. Just looking at their faces, you could see the "please make it stop" exasperation, and I really felt for them.
The German side, though... NICE. Having all that youthful exuberance rather than plodding Ballack was so refreshing. I'll never be a fan of the "pig climber", but Lahm, Klose and Oezil were inspired, Mueller the same. Everybody worked hard and showed some pretty nice football. Before the game I thought "okay, we won't have a chance, but give then four years and we'll rock the next world cup" - well, I think there's ample potential to rock THIS world cup now, just keep going on that trajectory, boys.
(And a small voice in my head really wants to see England/Germany - shambolic England with superstar Rooney versus Germany that, by tradition, gets stronger from game to game... a real "tournament team". Okay, granted, that would be war, but how much fun? Of course, I may have to hide the fact I'm German for a few weeks, especially if our boys mop the floor with the "lions" - I'm just glad my accent can be mistaken for Dutch, and, apparently, Canadian, so I'll survive, if I manage to not brag out on the street.)
The mind begins to clear, in any case. The house is coming together. Biggest concern now is that with all the expenses and costs of the last six weeks, I'm skint. Super-skint, in fact. I still have a few reserves squirreled away, but June/July will be very lean months indeed, until I get paid by the new job end of July. I do hope for some royalties payments to help me weather the worst, but I'm not quite sure when they pay. Right now, I only expect a chunk from Dreamspinner - so thanks to everybody who bought "Clean Slate". This month, that money will make a real difference.
