Ahoy, mateys!

Since all the cool people are blogging, I thought a little update was in order!

Health

Things have been alright since I got back from Vienna two weeks ago. I didn't quite notice the post-visit blues because I was stricken by post-visit illness instead. Nothing serious, just a nasty cold, and I didn't even have to go on sick leave. I'm mostly well now, save for the lingering cough, but that's going away too.

Yesterday I completed the treatment that is supposed to ensure that I get a normal period this month so that I'm able to start the real treatment: the "anti-hormonal" pill to lower my testosterone, and the birth-control pill that will take care of my micro-cysts and other hormonal stuff. I read the info sheets for both drugs and was pretty discouraged by the content. I know that side-effects vary from one person to another and that they write the alarming stuff down as warning for a small minority of at-risk women, but still. The stuff about hypertension and cardiovascular disease is scaring me. And also weight gain, because I'm shallow like that.

Also something else that's bothering me: I have been prescribed those drugs for two cycles and then I'll have to go to the doctor's on the last day I take the BC pill. According to my calculation, I would be in Finland that day :S That's no good at all. I'm probably going to call the doc to figure something out. Either it's no big deal that I miss the appointment, or maybe she'll give me an additional month of treatment.

Family

On the 16th we celebrated my mother's birthday. Well, the birthday was on the 16th, but we had to do the celebration the day before because my brother-in-law had to go away on business on her birthday. We are a rather low-key family; for us birthdays are just cake at home, no fuss, but this time my sisters and I wanted things to be different. We booked us a table at this great Indian restaurant we like to go to (like once a year) and surprised my parents with a cake (the whole switching off the lights and having all the waiters sing happy birthday with us while they brought the cake out.) The biggest surprise was the present, though. In my culture we value gold a lot. It's the surest investment one could make, and also the most precious present one could give to a loved one. It's also an important part of one's inheritance, and my mother has the bad habit of giving away her jewelry to her daughters whenever there's an important celebration (marriage, birthday, etc.) so sometimes she complains that she doesn't have much left, even though we try to refuse her whenever she gives us stuff, so I decided we would get her a nice ring. It was a bit costly but when shared threeway it wasn't so bad (we are four sisters but the youngest is currently unemployed.) My mother was thrilled with present, which felt nice for change! She's always begging us not to give her expensive presents, and this time was no exception, but we ignored her, and I know she was grateful that we did Now of course, we have to up the ante for my father's birthday in August or he'll be jealous I think we'll go to one of those nice seafood restaurants on the western coast of the city, and I'll buy him a smartphone or something equally expensive!


Work

Something positive on that front, for a change! April is the months of salary re-adjustments (I call them that because our company mostly adds the equivalent of the year's inflation to the salaries, so it's hardly a raise) and I wasn't expecting more than the announced 3%, which would have been the equivalent of about 15 euros. To my surprise, I was given a proper raise of almost 8% which is about 40 euros. That might not sound like much, of course, but it covers my share of the rent as well as the internet bill, so it is good enough

I'm a bit wary though because due to some recent bullshit at work I wasn't really planning on doing much this year (or at least no more than the necessary minimum) and with this raise I'm feeling some pressure to perform. But I'm sure it's just temporary madness and I'll get over it

Relationship and visit

Things are good with Timo. He's been in pretty high spirits lately. He says spending time with me has made it easier to tackle everyday stuff, especially work, so I'm happy. I guess having almost a whole week off for Easter and spending it with his family contributed to his good mood, too. That and the prospect of spending over two weeks with me in less than two months.

Concerning other visits after June, I'm trying to figure out whether to go in September or November. Before you say "September, you stupid! Who wants to wait another two months?" well... I really want to go to Finland end of September for obvious reasons, and because the weather will still be quite nice then. However, Timo and I already agreed on (or rather I nagged him into) going to Germany (again to Würzburg, but possibly also to Munich) in November for that festival we always attend. I don't want to miss it because they just announced some really cool acts, among which is Saint Vitus, one of my favourite bands ever. Some of you might remember my first avatar when I joined the forum: it was the cover of their first album, with their logo written in white on black. So obviously it's very important for me to attend. But if I travel in Sep/Oct, it will be kinda tricky for me to pull it off again in November because my mother is annoying like that. So I'd rather wait until November, go to Finland for a couple of weeks for a proper visit, and then fly from there to Germany together with Timo, which would make the trip double exciting. Anyway, we're still figuring it out and there's still time.

Another trip we are in the process of planning will take place in... March 2015. I know, it's a loooong way in the future, but two of my favourite bands (it's always about music, isn't it?) as well as a bunch of others that I like are going to perform at this festival in Athens, and I thought we could use a change of scenery (we've never been to Southern Europe together) so we bought our tickets! Of course it might not happen since things could change in a year, but I'm sure that even if we cancel the trip we can easily sell them. It's too early to look into plane tickets but in my spare time, when I'm not playing Solitaire Blitz on fb, I like to look at apartments in Athens There is the possibility that we wouldn't be alone, though, as one of Timo's friend expressed interest in coming, but I don't mind having him with us.

So that's basically what's up!