Living with Plan B

Move, moving, moved

2009-05-14T23:06:00.000+02:00

This blog will no longer be updated at this address, it has moved to a new address:http://livingwithplanb.derieg.comI originally set up "Living with Plan B" as a way to keep everyone who cares about Christopher informed about when he was in and out of the hospital in 2005/06, although Paddy said from the start that it should be about him too, and it has evolved from there.Not very long after I

Irrational Peace

2009-05-05T20:47:00.000+02:00

I write this while I know I should be studying. In the past week I have been surrounded by events that have me built up incredibly and then shattered everything again. I don't quite know how to deal with all this, I feel it's important right now to concentrate on my exams but never forgetting that the world will always continue with or without me. That's the terrible thing essentially. The world

School-Class-Struggle

2009-04-30T15:34:00.000+02:00

I have now officially finished school. Yesterday was my last day so now I am officially accepted to do the finishing exams for which I have 36 chances all in all, and if I don't pass in 36 times I don't deserve it.Shortly before we finished though the heated debate about the teachers having to work 2 hours more a week without any compensation went into its last round. Now it seems that they have

Pictures at an Exhibition

2009-04-18T13:14:00.002+02:00

pic00044.jpg Originally uploaded by aderiegThe beginning of the end of school started Thursday evening with the opening of an exhibition. Christopher, Paddy, Ernest (who belongs to our extended household) and five girls that I unfortunately don't know very well, presented the work they have been doing for two years for the Higher Level Visual Arts course for the International Baccalaureate. It

Bean

2009-03-24T21:01:00.001+01:00

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, so people all over the world are writing blog posts about women in technology that have inspired them. Ever since I read the first announcement of this, I have been thinking of all the wonderful women I have enjoying reading and reading about, some that I have even have the pleasure of knowing personally, who have inspired and encouraged me. I am very fortunate to know

Mid-March, not yet spring

2009-03-14T13:32:00.002+01:00

February / March is birthday season at our house. On February 19th we celebrated Paddy’s 17th birthday – as usual, in the middle of semester break. Somehow it seems much easier to grasp the idea of Christopher being nineteen (in May this year) than of Paddy being seventeen. Seventeen seems to sound almost grown up, and the combination of "my little guy" and "almost grown up" somehow just doesn't

Queen Paddy

2009-01-21T22:12:00.002+01:00

QueenPaddy1.jpg Originally uploaded by aderiegLast Friday was the school ball for this year’s graduating classes. Since Christopher, Paddy, Seth, Sascha and several other people we love will graduate this year (barring any major disasters), Peter and I wanted to go and celebrate with other parents. Despite the dissatisfaction with some of the ball committee’s decisions, which has been expressed

Quiet Christmas

2008-12-25T16:01:00.001+01:00

It was already quite clear to everyone in September that Christmas this year could not possibly be a joyous time for any of us. While we were in Michigan Daniel took us to the “biggest Christmas store in the world”, but I think none of us were really in a frame of mind to try to imagine looking forward to Christmas. Right at the start, a display rack with big, round, yellow “happy face” ornaments

I don't want to wait for 2068

2008-12-19T21:52:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure that this is the right place to post this, but I can't think of anywhere else where it might be more fitting. In a sense I guess you could argue that this has plagued my mind since yesterday afternoon.I had art class yesterday afternoon, and since there was a soccer-tournament in school, we were all of three people, besides our teacher. In any case, we talked about developments in

Another memory for Joseph

2008-12-10T15:54:00.002+01:00

Looking for something else, I happened to find an email that I wrote to Amy about Joseph's visit to Austria by himself, when he was 13. So here is another memory for Joseph:Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 00:12:44 +0200 (MEST)From: Aileen Derieg To: "Amy D. Boehms"Subject: Potential young opera loverI just had a lovely chat with the three boys when I went in to say good-night and tuck them in. Since we are

Memories of Joseph

2008-12-04T23:24:00.002+01:00

Joseph left a note on Facebook asking for memories, so memories of Joseph have been going through my mind all day. The little boxes on Facebook are too irritatingly small, though, so I needed to move to a different space to start writing.So this is for Joseph:The day Joseph was bornWhen we got the news that Amy had finally had the baby (Peter and I had been looking at the return date on our

My grown-up household?

2008-11-22T16:14:00.000+01:00

Having become much too slow and unfocused to keep up with the amount of work that I used to be able to accomplish, the work just keeps piling up and I just get more tired and frustrated. Somewhere at the periphery of my attention, however, I am aware that some things have changed. For example, I no longer live with small children.The other day when Christopher came in, he poked his head in

Not enough sleep

2008-10-21T21:08:00.001+02:00

This morning we were all up sometime around 4 am. Theoretically, Peter and I didn’t really have to get up. Theoretically, Christopher and Paddy really are old enough to get themselves up and organized and off to school in time to be on the bus to Munich with their respective classes without support from their parents. Theoretically.Practically, however, it somehow didn’t really seem quite

2 sentences

2008-10-14T13:24:00.000+02:00

How am I to write a blog-post if I'm in a position where I feel it hard to write anything. Not to seem melodramatic, writers-block simply is a pain. I just read through all the latest blog-posts and feel the need to write something about Amy. About how I don't really want to add another post, but feel that

How are you?

2008-09-28T15:42:00.001+02:00

It seems such an innocuous, commonplace question, but it was one I had a serious problem with in the US. When a cashier in an enormous supermarket greeted us with "How are you guys doing today? Everybody having a great day?", I was almost shocked. My mind started racing with possible responses along the lines of "not a great day: we have just come from viewing our sister's body at the funeral

Amy

2008-09-19T20:03:00.001+02:00

Who am I writing for, if Amy is no longer reading this blog?Even though I know that Amy is dead now, and I even found it surprisingly comforting carrying the box with her ashes in it, I have the feeling I am still watching for her to show up online, make a funny comment here or on Facebook, send me an email with a joke, a rant, her professional advice (which I might or might not heed) … Over the

Baby, you can drive my car

2008-08-22T22:28:00.001+02:00

Christopher_driving.JPG Originally uploaded by aderiegLast Thursday when Peter, Christopher and I went to Wilhering to see yet another summer theater production involving a number of friends, Christopher drove.It was the first time I had ever been in the car with Christopher driving. At first I had to consciously remind myself not to think about a car being a potentially lethal weapon, not to

That was then, this is now

2008-08-22T21:22:00.006+02:00

Since Paddy always complains about the ridiculous pictures I take with my phone, when I was looking for something else recently and found our old digital camera instead, I decided to try that one. I especially wanted to take a picture of the construction site below our balcony that has been driving us mad all summer and add it to other pictures of construction sites in Linz to express my

Short summer days

2008-08-16T22:13:00.001+02:00

Is this summer over already? Where did it go?Sitting on the balcony this morning, I was surprised – but then again not surprised – to see that the leaves on the big tree in the next garden are already beginning to turn. Somehow I feel as though I am still in some kind of a daze trying to keep things straight in my mind. No doubt my dear sons will tell me I am just getting old.First there was the

School's out - but not forever

2008-07-05T22:32:00.001+02:00

Yesterday was the last day of this school year. If all goes well, Christopher and Paddy only have one more year to go together.If all goes well.Yesterday, as the city was full of kids everywhere celebrating the start of their freedom for nine weeks, I felt irritated, almost resentful – jealous, maybe? Since Christopher – despite his overwhelming enthusiasm for the Spanish Civil War and the

Disorganized modern household

2008-06-15T00:19:00.000+02:00

Peter and I both have some vague, hazy recollection of having noted the arrival of a bill for cable TV and discussing which of us would pay it, although we can’t remember now how many months ago that might have been and which decision we really reached at the time about which of us would pay it. Apparently neither of us did.Recently it seems that someone had the bright idea of trying to watch one

Lost Month

2008-06-08T17:10:00.000+02:00

Now where did May go?In part, of course, May went to Berlin for a few days, where I enjoyed an art marathon with friends at the Berlin Biennale. Another part of May went to Amsterdam, where I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the Eclectic Tech Carnival that I co-organized in Linz last year.What was more or less overlooked along the way was that I became the mother of a grown-up son: Christopher

April is the cruelest month

2008-04-30T20:11:00.002+02:00

"April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land"T.S. Eliot, The Waste LandSpring has always been a stressful time for us. Since Peter always needs to have instruments ready to show at the international early music exhibitions in early June, which he then delivers to his customers after the show, he is always under a lot of pressure to have the instruments finished in time for

Half a century

2008-03-19T11:40:00.001+01:00

50th birthday party Originally uploaded by aderiegToday is my 50th birthday, and it feels good. Fifty years – that’s half a century, and to me that sounds reassuringly strong, secure. A number of people at my birthday party on Saturday expressed concern that it might bring bad luck to celebrate before my actual birthday, but I don’t see it that way. The party that my three men organized for me on

What happened to Seth's foot

2008-03-12T23:00:00.001+01:00

On Sunday Jean pointed out to me that in my last blog post I neglected to answer the question that I actually raised in the course of the post: What happened to Seth’s foot? At that point I realized that Les had already pointed that out too, but I forgot to respond to Les’ comment (sorry Les!).So in case other people have also been wondering for all of ten days now, this is what happened to Seth’

Some days are like that

2008-03-02T14:21:00.004+01:00

Some days are like that. Some weeks even, and in this case maybe even the whole month. Maybe it was the extra day that threw everything off. In any case, I have the feeling now that I’m not quite sure how we have already ended up in March.The past week should have been a return to “normal life” after the semester break, but not only was the semester break not particularly refreshing, nothing has

Sweet Sixteen

2008-02-20T21:40:00.002+01:00

Paddy on the guitarOriginally uploaded by aderieg As of yesterday, 19 February 2008, Patrick would now be old enough to get a driver’s license, if we lived in the US. Since we live in Austria, he is now legally permitted to drink alcohol. To be honest, I am rather relieved that Patrick is not interested in either of those possibilities. Living with Patrick is fascinating, occasionally challenging

Unfit

2008-01-25T21:37:00.000+01:00

Christopher is unfit for military service. This obviously does not come as a surprise to anyone. Of course, there are many reasons why Christopher and military service could not possibly fit together, but now it is official.Like all 17-year-old male Austrians, Christopher received a letter from the government some time ago with instructions to report to a local center to register for military

Christmas? What?

2007-12-18T20:45:00.000+01:00

It has been several years now since we have gone away for Christmas, even longer since we had visitors here. Without people gathering for Christmas, it just isn’t really very exciting. However, I hadn’t actually completely repressed the whole idea – until this year.Without the happy anticipation of visitors/visiting to look forward to, we have at least started thinking about Christmas and getting

Simultaneous rewind and fast forward

2007-12-01T18:21:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago, Paddy suddenly decided to play the guitar. This was a mildly surprising new development, but that’s the way Paddy does things. He just does. With guitars lying around the house readily available, his cello background, his long Martian fingers and long golden hair, and his lovely singing voice, it was clearly not at all a bad decision.Paddy playing the guitar, however, has plunged

Entertaining Men

2007-11-11T22:11:00.000+01:00

When I think back on the time when the boys were little, what I remember most is a feeling of being trapped, a sense of impatience, constraint, sometimes even desperation. I remember standing in the kitchen with both hands in the dishwater feeling simply lost and hopeless: Christopher must have been about four years old, and he heard something on the radio that caught his attention, leading to

It's a book!

2007-11-06T21:21:00.001+01:00

Art and Revolution Originally uploaded by aderiegToday I actually held it in my hands for the first time, and it is a real book. All the letters of all the words are distributed neatly across some three hundred pages as though they had always been there. For over a year, though, those words were not neatly printed on pages, they were jumbled in my head and scattered through countless files on

My Lost Men

2007-11-02T20:40:00.000+01:00

In a way, it feels a bit like living in a zombie film. I just hope this is a spoof zombie film, and not a real horror film. At first, it just seemed a bit odd, or maybe it was just that Peter was sick and unable to work .... But then the telltale signs started multiplying, and now I am realizing that it is not only my three men: countless people all over Linz have already been infected.First

A Poet and a Dancer

2007-10-20T18:32:00.000+02:00

Yesterday Christopher went to Vienna to take part in a “Poetry Slam”, a competition reading of original poetry. He has been going to poetry slams in Linz, where he even won first prize one night, so he was one of three people from Upper Austria invited to take part in the national competition in Vienna last night. He didn’t make it into the finals – the top four – but he only missed that by one

Long Days

2007-09-29T15:27:00.001+02:00

School started for the boys on September 10th, but the first week was mostly chaotic, trying to figure out schedules and taking care of administrative and organizational tasks. For their final (unless something goes horribly wrong) two years, they will be preparing to take the International Baccalaureate (IB) at the end of next year. That means they have very different kinds of classes starting

And they're off again

2007-09-14T18:27:00.000+02:00

I have just come home from the train station, where I said good-bye to Christopher, who left with his class to spend a week at a language school in France. When I got home, I found Paddy packing to leave early in the morning with his class to spend a week at another language school in a different part of France. I'm already feeling lonely.Since school started this week, they have both been very

Paddy's illustrated map

2007-09-04T22:28:00.000+02:00

Since I kept pestering Paddy about putting his pictures online so that everyone can see them, he started to put them on Flickr the other day, but there were too many and they are too big for that. I suggested he could just make some kind of an album and put it on the Derieg web site, but naturally that was too simple for him.Instead he made a map and linked the pictures to it:Paddy's map

Return of the young rain gods

2007-09-03T18:32:00.000+02:00

Last Wednesday, at about nine in the evening, our young travelers returned to Linz by way of Prague. As the train pulled into the station where we were waiting for them, Peter pointed out that it was coming from the direction opposite to the one they had left in, so they really had come full circle. As they got off the train and announced that they were starving, they brought with them the rain

Not quite as planned

2007-08-15T09:54:00.000+02:00

When I got up Sunday morning I found a text message on my phone from Patrick: “What was the name of that dead guy?”They had obviously reached Portbou by Sunday, and by the time I contacted Paddy they had also remembered that the “dead guy” was Walter Benjamin, and they had found his grave and put stones on it as a token of respect – one for me as well.Several hours later Peter received a text

And they're off ...

2007-08-08T21:20:00.001+02:00

Ready to go Originally uploaded by aderieg(More pictures here)Over the past few days I have had some serious doubts about this trip, but they are on their way now. At 5:10 this morning Paddy, Christopher, Sascha, Alex and George were on the train together headed for the first stop of their three-week interrail trip: Venice.We had something of a crisis on the weekend, when we went with Christopher

Seth and Paddy bake a cake

2007-08-01T22:35:00.001+02:00

Seth and Paddy bake a cake Originally uploaded by aderiegFor some mysterious reason, Paddy and Seth decided to bake a cake today.There has been a lot of talk about cakes recently, because in the play "The Last Days of Humanity" that most of my household is involved in, there is a horrible scene where the "officers" eat cake as they sign execution orders, and while Sascha is being marched off to

Christopher got his hair cut

2007-07-21T23:09:00.001+02:00

Christopher got his hair cut Originally uploaded by aderiegIt was a toss up for some time, but now there is no longer any doubt about it: I have the longest hair in my household. While I was busy at the Eclectic Tech Carnival last week, there was some collusion between Peter and Christopher, and the result of that was that Christopher went to get his hair cut the day before the opening of the

Enough Food for the Last Days of Humanity

2007-07-07T13:03:00.000+02:00

This morning I had to rush to get to the shops in time before they closed at noon, but I just made it. At the butcher's shop, when the woman started packing everything up for me, I had the feeling I had bought enough to feed a small army. Then I realized that I actually need enough food to feed a small army.Literally a small army.A considerable number of people from my permanent and extended

Paddy in Linz Again

2007-06-30T18:09:00.000+02:00

Paddy got home last night after three weeks in Thailand. He arrived bearing gifts (lots of gifts – his Thai host family was overwhelmingly generous!), full of wonderful stories about his adventures with strange food and the intricacies of communicating without a common language or point of reference. Although he seemed to find delicacies like fish stomach and soup with legs a bit challenging, his

SQUEAK!

2007-06-22T18:49:00.000+02:00

Did everyone hear a loud squeak last Wednesday?That was the sound of Christopher passing French this year.Yes – deep breath – he passed. Not exactly with flying colors and certainly not without a tremendous supportive effort on the part of a substantial number of people, including Peter, Paddy, Sascha, our former neighbor who teaches French at another school, Christopher's French teacher ... But

From Paddy in Bangkok

2007-06-14T15:19:00.000+02:00

As much as I'd love to make a blogpost... I'm afraid I'm yet again confronted with a rather... tricky situation. Blogspot is thai all over. However, I'd be delighted if you post this yourself.Ä³Ï· ·é ·¿·à´· ¿Òà ¹¿Õà· Â àÃÃ¿à´Ã ¿´ ¿èËÃ¹àWow... Isn't that great? This keyboard is bizarre.Anyway..Dear everybody,I'm having a wonderful time! The food is much less intimidating now that I've been

In case you were wondering

2007-06-09T12:24:00.000+02:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who asked about Paddy’s film.Getting to Salzburg for the screening turned into a major organizational crisis, but we actually all got there in time for the start of the screening (since it started late). The 25 films we saw were very impressive, but watching them, seeing the other participants among the audience, we realized that Paddy really was the youngest

Somehow I feel like a Joni Mitchell song

2007-05-29T22:42:00.000+02:00

... and the seasons they go round and round ...Yesterday was Christopher’s 17th birthday. Yes, this guy:... and the painted ponies go up and down ...Somehow, 17 is beginning to sound alarmingly grown up.When he was little, he used to need me to organize birthday parties for him in the garden, provide entertainment for the mini-machos from kindergarten that I could dangle by their ankles if they

This Week

2007-05-22T21:29:00.000+02:00

I need to get rid of this stupid bug that seems to have taken up residence in my sinuses now, because there are a number of exciting things coming up this week that I want to enjoy.First of all, it appears that we may have to see about renting a bus or something to transport a substantial number of people to Salzburg Friday evening. Of all the films entered in the competition Instant36 by about

Last Week

2007-05-22T21:25:00.000+02:00

Just a day and a week ago at about this time, Peter and I were eating sandwiches in Central Park in New York on a lovely spring day. It was a short visit to New York, but it felt like a luxurious holiday. We had a comfortable hotel room, enjoyed nice meals with nice people, wandered around, saw “A Chorus Line” on Broadway, spent lots of money and wandered around a bit more. For the flight home,

Budding filmmakers

2007-05-05T15:31:00.000+02:00

When I got up this morning, I was a bit surprised to find Paddy and Sascha wide awake and obviously ready for action. Somehow they ended up signing up to take part in a competition that involves making a short film within 36 hours on a certain theme, and they were just waiting to be given their theme. That was a few hours ago. In the meantime an impressive crowd of actors has arrived at our

Touching down at home base

2007-04-03T00:05:00.000+02:00

We have all been busy recently, but for the moment we have all touched down at home base to regroup, so to speak.Over the weekend I was in Vienna taking part in an exhibition and a day of presentations. I was so nervous I was in pieces before I left, but in the end I had a great time, and I think my part actually went surprisingly well:cyber feminism past forwardThere were so many cameras there

Representative Christopher

2007-03-22T22:02:00.000+01:00

Christopher has packed. Allegedly. Tomorrow morning he is taking a train to Potsdam to take part in the European Youth Parlament, where he is apparently going to be wearing a suit (from Opa) and tie (from Grandpa) all week, as he discusses the future of Europe in the committee on culture and education. As reading material he is taking along study guides to Noam Chomsky and Karl Marx. This could

Not too bad

2007-03-01T13:00:00.000+01:00

While a flu is normally considered a miserable state, it is infinitely preferable to meningitis, so we are all very relieved that it now appears that Christopher is just suffering from an ordinary miserable flu.The night wasn't too bad, but he still had a fever when he woke up, so Peter persuaded him to take a Voltaren tablet and we called our family doctor to ask him to come by. The doctor

How long and how short a year can be

2007-02-28T22:56:00.000+01:00

It has been a whole year since Christopher's last episode of meningitis, and we were all beginning to believe it was over. Tonight it doesn't look that way.Yesterday afternoon he was tired, but since he didn't get a lot of sleep during the semester break, we figured that starting back to school again wouldn't be too easy for him. When he complained about not feeling well, I thought it was

Pictures!

2007-02-18T19:32:00.000+01:00

Patrick as MozartComic Christopher VenticelliMore pictures:School gallery

Mr. Mozart

2007-02-17T13:48:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was the last day of school before semester break, but Paddy slept late and missed most of it. When he did get up, he looked well rested and cheerfully announced, "Mozart is dead and I'm free." I think that probably also applies to my entire permanent and extended household in general.Looking with some dismay at my inbox, I find it somewhat difficult to comprehend that the rest of the

Cinderella sons

2007-02-06T15:54:00.000+01:00

Today at lunch Patrick announced that he had managed to get a ticket to the school ball on Friday after all. I have to admit, I had not realized before that this was actually an issue, but I was pleased that he is pleased about it. The ticket he got, however, is for a couple, so it appears that he will need to persuade his on-stage adversary and real-life friend to go with him and be prepared to

Changes

2007-01-27T01:07:00.000+01:00

Tonight "Mozart" and "Salieri" are rehearsing their lines in the living room, which they plan to continue doing until they have to go to school for an extra rehearsal in the morning, and Paddy's friend Vedad is supervising. I think Vedad is probably the most patient human being I have ever met. In the meantime, I'm hiding in the computer room, and since I just switched to the new blog software

Busy days ahead

2007-01-26T22:31:00.000+01:00

After going through the calendar with the boys the other day and marking fixed dates on both the online calendar and the one hanging on the wall in the hall, and we now have some impressively large blocks coming up. February: Paddy plays Mozart in the school production of Amadeus, then Paddy turns 15, then we have semester break, but I have not yet been informed of any major traveling plans at

A New Year

2007-01-04T20:49:00.000+01:00

As arbitrary as our current time-keeping systems are, the new year is off to a good start for us. I am feeling quite optimistic, as I am convinced that things can only get better.On New Year's Eve Peter and I celebrated our 20th (!) wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful party with a delightful group of people, but the odd thing was that afterward everyone was convinced that there were ten of us

The in-between days

2006-12-30T14:11:00.000+01:00

The time in between Christmas and New Year is one of my favorite times of the year. It is a time of no expectations, no deadlines, no pressure. Of course that is not entirely true, there are naturally certain things that need to happen before the end of the year, certain bills to be paid, things that have to be turned in. Of course Peter and I have both been working this week, but working during

Christmas 2006 in Linz

2006-12-25T21:49:00.000+01:00

Since it is only just noon in Albuquerque now, it is too early to call and talk to everyone there, so it seemed like a good time to write a blog post about Christmas in Linz.In many ways it feels as though we have been quite self-centered and more or less oblivious to everyone else around us this year. Until last week it really felt as though Christmas just wasn't going to happen at our house

Christmas starts to be fun

2006-12-23T19:23:00.000+01:00

I think I've figured out the trick: let all the organized people who take this whole Christmas thing very seriously get finished with their shopping early, then only the disorganized people not too bothered with tradition and consume and doing everything right are left over on the last few shopping days. I have been meeting a lot of friends in town in the past few days, and since none of us are

Why don't my children listen to me?

2006-12-16T21:21:00.000+01:00

When Christopher came home last night, I was happy to see him, because I didn't really feel like waiting up for him any longer. I didn't really feel like sharing a pizza with him at two in the morning either, but before I went to bed, when I saw him looking very much like his father getting very comfortable on the couch, I told him to be careful not to go to sleep and let the pizza burn. He said

My talented sons

2006-12-04T23:38:00.000+01:00

Last week I was seriously annoyed with the boys, because they were always so busy and always making plans and never had time for anything I wanted them for. Then last Thursday they spent the afternoon in the cellar with two of Christopher's friends making a music video for some competition that Christopher and his friend wanted to enter. When they finally reemerged in the evening and showed me

Worst case scenario

2006-11-13T20:35:00.000+01:00

Since Christopher is repeating a year at school, he and Patrick are in the same year, but mercifully not in the same class. However, they do have the same math teacher. They each have a math test this week, so obviously they are studying the same material.Christopher is surprisingly, almost uncharacteristically not bad at math. It is not a coincidence that math is one of the subjects he managed

Too many interesting things to do and think about

2006-11-05T21:24:00.000+01:00

There are far too many interesting things to do in this world, too many interesting ideas to pursue, too many interesting people to correspond with. And being only one person, sometimes I have the feeling I just can't keep up. And why is it that the most interesting things always seem to be least associated with financial remuneration?Sometimes I can convince myself that the problem is not that I

New Things

2006-10-29T23:03:00.000+01:00

We don't like new things at my house.Old things that are familiar are much more comfortable, even if they have certain eccentricities and idiosyncrasies. Once you get used to them and figure out the tricks to make them work, you know where you are and what to expect. This applies to things like clothes, especially shoes, computers, various kinds of switches, pots and pans, and most of all to

Paddy the Hero

2006-10-29T21:38:00.000+01:00

When Paddy first got home from South Africa, we were concerned that he seemed so subdued and stressed, but he soon recovered his sense of humor and started singing along again with the highly eclectic selection of music he listens to all day at the computer.Listening to his accounts of his experience and his concern for the other kids, I was under the impression that he was better off than most

At least I had running water

2006-10-17T17:52:00.000+02:00

After one week I have finally returned from the hole that is the hilltop-luxury-shanty looking down on Mossel Bay. I was not pleased. Not with the place. Not with coming back. I'm not easy to please apparently.First we spent a two nights at a hotel in Cape Town. Nice. Spacious. Showers. Bed. Roof. ... Then we met Mossel Bay. When we arrived in Mossel Bay (or at least the shanties near it) I felt

News from South Africa

2006-10-15T20:17:00.000+02:00

Since we had not heard from Paddy nor from any other parents of his classmates about how things were going in South Africa, it was more than a little alarming to get up Friday morning and read a mail to all the parents saying not to worry, the situation was not really as dire as it sounded at first, and our children are all safe.Later that day we received a message from Paddy and a communication

At this moment Paddy is somewhere over Africa

2006-10-08T22:49:00.000+02:00

The reason why I haven't been updating this blog so often lately is that every time I look at my inbox and my work calendar, I start imagining people waiting for email replies and translations, who might see from this blog that I am at the computer, but not actually working or replying to emails. So I apologize to everyone who might still be waiting to hear from me, but since I am not being very

School days

2006-09-26T22:18:00.000+02:00

Christopher was supposed to post the results of his exams to the blog himself while I was in Berlin, but he obviously didn't. In case anyone hasn't heard the bad news yet, he failed both exams, so he has to repeat the sixth year. He unexpectedly ended up having to do Spanish the first day, and he came home crushed that he failed, but he sat down and wrote a well argued letter to the minister of

Last day of the summer holidays

2006-09-10T17:15:00.000+02:00

It is a warm, bright Sunday afternoon, but no one in my household is out enjoying it. Today is the last day of summer holidays. Tomorrow Christopher has a French exam, the written section at 7.30 am, the oral section in the afternoon. Then the same with Spanish the next day. He has to pass both of these exams to be able to continue with his class at school, otherwise he has to repeat a year. We

The pleasure of reading

2006-08-08T14:11:00.000+02:00

Yesterday afternoon I finally got new glasses. These are bifocal glasses with a seamless transition between fields for distance and fields for reading, and if all goes well and there are no major adjustment problems, in a few weeks I can get new computer glasses as well. Today I am still exploring where the "blur zones" are and how I need to stand and turn my head to be able to see clearly

Gigs and Stuff

2006-06-25T19:18:00.000+02:00

These past few weeks, were rather stressful (this is however a relative negativ word for this). We had gigs almost every week. Two of which were band contests, in which we won one and got second place on the other. Which is very positve, since we have now won a recording in a studio and 70 €. Also people have now started to know us, which is also very cool. This is very good for my ego... hahaha.

Counting down

2006-06-09T17:46:00.000+02:00

Last week I registered my business license as inactive, the health care and social insurance office changed my status to "dependent", I wrote all the bills I could and passed unfinished work on to as many different people as possible. Today I closed my office, stopped having my email sent there and changed the answering machine to say that the office is closed for the summer and to stop notifying

Coffee crisis

2006-05-30T21:50:00.000+02:00

Household appliances and devices with any kind of mechanically or electrically driven moving parts generally have a limited lifespan. I have heard again and again that they are designed that way. When they start malfunctioning, unexpected things often happen, which can usually be worked around or dealt with in creative ways or just – gracefully or not – accepted.No coffee in the morning is not

Sixteen years - Happy Birthday Christopher!

2006-05-28T21:35:00.000+02:00

This morning I woke up remembering how happy I was waking up sixteen years ago today. I had been in pain for months on end, because of the ruptured tubal pregnancy before, and it seemed an absolute miracle that all of that pain could have magically turned into this whole friendly little person.Christopher was covered in dark hair when he was born – on his head, on his back, on the edges of his

Setting a date

2006-05-28T21:07:00.000+02:00

After my visit to the eye doctor on Tuesday, I called the hospital where I had the operation two years ago, the same one where Christopher has spent so much time, but first they said they couldn't give me an appointment for the preliminary examination until mid-September, operation three weeks later. I was in shock then, because I couldn't imagine struggling on like this all summer and then not

My dim view of things

2006-05-23T16:18:00.000+02:00

Even though I threw a fit on the phone the other day to convince my eye doctor's assistant to squeeze me in as soon as possible, rather than waiting another week for the appointment I made some time ago, somehow I was still hoping that the eye doctor would just tell me to stop being so hysterical and give me a new prescription for my glasses. That didn't happen.He did demonstrate to me that my

No happy end for Romeo and Juliet

2006-05-20T22:40:00.000+02:00

On normal school days, mornings don't work at our house unless the radio is on. Without the familiar rhythm of alternating news headlines and music, we all go into a sleepy daze and forget to keep moving. On good days, the music program after the headlines at 6:30 plays Tchaikovsky when Christopher finally comes out of the shower, and Christopher comes to life and becomes happy and relatively

Freedom on two wheels

2006-05-20T21:40:00.000+02:00

Christopher has had a cold all week. Although he has required an alarming quantity of paper handkerchiefs and tends to appear less than normally intelligent when he is obviously not getting enough oxygen to the brain, it is just a cold and can be dealt with. In part, this means that his mother needs to tell him to wear shoes and socks instead of sandals, for example, but this is only mildly

Patrick's pet chair

2006-05-06T14:24:00.000+02:00

After such a long winter with so much snow, spring finally came a few weeks ago, bringing sunshine and warmth. So what do teenage boys do, when it is sunny and warm outside? Patrick and his friend Vedad started spending most afternoons playing pingpong in the cold dark cellar.In the cellar one day, however, they found a miniature chair, which Patrick decided to adopt. Now Patrick and Vedad go

Brotherly bickering and general fluffiness

2006-05-04T02:02:00.000+02:00

When the boys were little, sometimes they would be sitting peacefully across the table from one another, and then suddenly the mood would change and one would say challengingly to the other, "You're fluffy!" or something equally nonsensical. A full-scale battle would then erupt within the blink of an eye. I realized then that seeking to maintain total domestic peace and harmony was simply not an

Backs from Japan

2006-05-03T16:52:00.000+02:00

When Peter came home from Japan, he brought these beautiful T-shirts for all of us. Christopher's says "Samurai", mine says "Ocean", Peter's says "Soul", Patrick's says "God".Monami, if you are reading this, a special thank you from all of us (and your sweets were wonderful too).

Days of Rest

2006-04-23T12:33:00.000+02:00

Christopher started making me nervous Thursday afternoon, because he didn't look good at all and was very low and tired. Friday morning he got up and made breakfast, but then he just shook his head and said he wasn't going to make it, so he laid down on the couch and just stayed there until Saturday morning. I was edgy and having trouble concentrating all day as I kept going in to check his

Our studious household

2006-04-19T23:18:00.000+02:00

This morning the boys and I managed to get up and get moving on time, which is always difficult after holidays, but in a way it feels as though it is hardly worth the effort for such a short week. Tomorrow they only have the first two hours of school, because all the teachers (apparently in the whole city) have to go to some kind of pedagogical conference. In other words, we have to get up at six

Somewhere over Central Asia ...

2006-04-18T21:51:00.000+02:00

... that is about where my husband should be now, hopefully sleeping peacefully in a comfortable business class seat on his way to Japan.A friend came to drive him to the airport this morning, but since an eleven o'clock flight to Frankfurt is considerably easier to face than the usual six o'clock flight, Patrick and I went along too. The problem with eleven o'clock is that there is more traffic

Quiet Easter, quiet afternoon

2006-04-17T19:21:00.000+02:00

Sleep is good.It was obviously good for Christopher to go to bed at 8.30 in the evening the other day, because he got up the next morning looking more refreshed than he had all week - and promptly entered into major battles with both parents about having to "work so hard". Yesterday evening when I spoke with Jim and Sara on the phone and they asked how he is, the best I could say was that we

Is it because we fight, or is that why we fight?

2006-04-14T21:17:00.000+02:00

Since he got virtually no sleep last weekend and has been hanging out with his friends until all hours every night, it is hardly surprising that Christopher has been looking exhausted and completely lacking any energy all week.This afternoon we had a "discussion" (he said it wasn't a fight, but that's what it felt like to me), and I was feeling terribly angry and disappointed in him for just

Our wonderful washing machine

2006-04-14T21:08:00.000+02:00

Christopher started doing the laundry the other day, but then when Peter put his little bits of sandpaper in, water starting coming out of the soap compartment. After cleaning up the water on the floor, I took the filter apart and found a piece of plastic in it, so I figured that had caused the problem and ran another load. When water started coming out of the soap compartment again, it seemed

Easter break and no alarm clocks!

2006-04-12T21:44:00.000+02:00

It was good to get away with Peter for a weekend, even though the hotel was a bit of a disappointment: over-decorated with kitsch and seriously under-staffed, and it was frustrating to be presented with a wonderful breakfast buffet but have to spend 20 minutes chasing someone down to get coffee, and the sauna was nice, but they ran out of sauna towels in the afternoon ...So on the whole, I think

Parental dilemma

2006-03-31T10:22:00.000+02:00

This morning I got up quite cheerfully, thinking that Peter and I will be escaping this afternoon. Then Patrick walked out complaining that his throat hurt and his head hurt, and I checked and he had a fever.Bad news.Patrick insisted that we should still go, he would be fine, Christopher was seriously offended by the insinuation that he would not be able to look after his brother well, and we all

Where did this month go?

2006-03-29T21:41:00.000+02:00

Last week I got to go to London for a few days to gather information from artists and art people there that might be useful for their counterparts here in Linz. Since I ended up spending the better part of both Wednesday and Saturday sitting in airports, I really only had two days to meet with people, but it went well and I enjoyed it very much. It is amazing how much work can accumulate in just

Up and down and all around

2006-03-17T23:00:00.000+01:00

This day has been so crazy, I completely forgot about posting an update to the blog, until I received a very thoughtful message from Jean.So this is the update: Christopher's temperature stopped rising yesterday afternoon, so he went to school today and has had a normal day. He still seems a bit tired and a bit low, but otherwise all right so far. I suspect this means that another episode is

Time - passing, stopping

2006-03-16T12:39:00.000+01:00

Outside, through the window or on the balcony, it always looks the same, just an endless succession of gray days. I have been working hard to get enough things finished so that I can go to London next week, just measuring time in numbers of lines and pages translated, so that I sometimes forget why I want to go to London. At least I have a brand new Austrian passport now, since yesterday, so I

It's someone else's turn to do the dishes tonight

2006-03-14T20:44:00.000+01:00

Since I have been working all evening, I just went in to make more tea - and I could hardly find the kettle! Obviously no one was specifically delegated to wash the dishes yesterday, so at lunch time I had to quickly wash up a few things I needed. So now there are dishes from yesterday, breakfast and lunch today, and on top of that Christopher made scrambled eggs for himself and Patrick for

My stateless state

2006-03-14T18:04:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to Vienna, to the US Consulate, where I renounced US citizenship - officially, solemnly and irrevocably. Now my US passport, which expired last December, is marked cancelled: "bearer expatriated self". Tomorrow morning I have an appointment to get the document that will declare me an Austrian citizen. Today I am stateless.After 27 years, it was certainly time to take this step,