Another update

So yeah, it has been a while, but life has been quite busy ever since that first week of the coronacrisis. You're not going to believe this, but I moved house. Yes, sir, I did. An opportunity arose (yes, partially due to the crisis. Just few less vultures like ourselves, out there, looking for a place to live.) We swooped and scooped at the just the right moment, apparently.
It is a lovely place, a stonethrow away from the woods (yay) and technically due to a split level design, with seven floor. Awesome! More than enough space for big brother and me, which was a thing we worried about. Anti-squattig spoiled us in regards to space, but this one hit us both as just right.
In fact, despite there being quite a few things that would need work, I had "yes, this one!" from the moment I walked in. It, the house, and the area just felt like home for the first time in a long, looooong time.

It wasn't a sure thing. A lot of stuff got harder now with the crisis. We had to meet certain requirements (that we wouldn't have been able to meet just a week later) but in the end it all worked out. The house is ours, permanently. Woohoo. Such a relief, especially since the anti-squatting house was starting to look like it was drawing closer to the end. Not that we had to leave yet. We probably could have stayed another year, or so, but time was running out with the roads coming closer and the state of the house becoming less "solid" so to speak. Apparently we were right on time, too, considering the new people that moved in, had a B&E just a week after we moved out. How's that for weird?

Anyway, school has been a pain. I would like to say that I have been enjoying myself, and that I was in a positive state of mind about the whole thing, especially because I passed all my tests so far with decent grades, but I'm not. I don't know what's causing it, really, but right now I just want to get it over with. I need to do my last exam, a test of adequacy, or some such, and right now it just feels like this massive thing, while all it is, is cooking, really. It's not all that complicated, and yet somehow it has turned into some sort of mountain. Grrr

Anyway, this Tuesday is my last exam, so keep yer fingers crossed that I manage to make it, and get it all over with. I sure can't wait for that to happen. I can't say that I liked the experience a lot, but I did well on my dutch and english, so I got something out of it, at least.

Work has been very slow. After having been shut down for more than 2 months, we were allowed to partially open, meaning there is a little bit more than just maintenance going on, but still it is sad to see so little happen there. It has given me ample time to move house, of course, and that is good, but I miss the work, the purpose of it, so I hope that that picks up some, at least, next month where we will be allowed to open with all the facilities, for at least half our usual guests. Big brother was a lot luckier than me in the work department. He's been working more than ever. Son of a gun. So jealous. I only got to help out in the garden from time to time.*sigh *

Books...well, it has been incredibly slow in that regard, too. First househunting, then actually getting it and moving there. Gawd, the move was so much work. Makes me happy that we won't have to do that anytime soon. It put writing on a back burner even though we did manage to send a manuscript proposal out to our publisher in-between everything.

Sad news...yeah. Mom, after struggling with cancer for many years now, passed away in March, just days after her birthday. Even though we saw it coming for a long time, it hit us all rather hard. She was having trouble breathing for some time, and she was starting to have small seizures, meaning that, despite the corona crisis, the sibs were forced to call an ambulance and have her committed to hospital. A bad time for that, but necessary. She was there almost a week, and got worse, considering one lung had filled with more than a liter of liquid, which they drained and cause a bad pain in her chest. Apparently she had a small heartattack the night after that, and passed away the following morning.
Tests showed that she didn't have corona, not that that would have changed anything, of course, but it made her death more sour, since Spain was in in complete lockdown and little sister wasn't even allowed to visit her in her final days. Nor were the sibs allowed to be at her funeral, which made them decide for a cremation.

Despite having prepped myself for the event a long time, it hit me hard, I'll admit. I cried more than I expected, and not being able to work throughout that time, didn't help in the least. It would have been nice not to have had so much time to think about it all, and though I have worked my way through it, I still get hit by it sometimes, when I realize that she won't be able to read this blog anymore, for instance, or that she is not checking out my facebook page, or that we won't ever see each other again. That makes me sad.

Stress wise things haven'g been much better. It impeded on my sleep, so I have been getting too little of that lately, explaining a consistent tiredness. Will need to work on that, but okay, whatever. The only solution to that is just getting more sleep, so I will.

Positive news. A new family member. Since I now have a permanent home again, I adopted a dog. A gorgeous 3 year old Golden retriever from an animal shelter in dire need of a home. Mr. Whitney. He's so lovely, reminding me of how much I missed having a dog afoot. Sure, he has some baggage that he needs to overcome, and he needs to gain some weight and a healthy fur shine to compensate the bad nutrition he used to get, but...well, the pictures speak for themselves. He's awesome! And so quickly gaining the much needed confidence.

*Sigh *
Right now, I am working on letting things go again. On focusing on recovering my equilibrium and basically getting my life in order while I plan on all the wonderful things I'm going to do on my new house. There are walls to take out, a new bathroom and halfbath to install, a garden to set up, and of course a kitchen to plan. So many of those. I can hardly wait...

Road trip coming up!!!!

Song of the day: “Bad Liar” by Selena Gomez. Such cute song. Am not at all bothered by having it in my head.

So this is going to be a real quickie post, even though I owe you guys more than that, after the “radio silence” of the past couple of months, but what the heck. I promise I’ll make it up to you…in part with the news that soon you’ll be able to follow my upcoming trip, with, hopefully daily updates of the where and hows and whatevers of the road trip through the USA together with big brother. Yay!

It’s been and incredibly busy couple of months. I know I have said that before, but besides the vacation coming up, there’s quite a few changes that have been starting to take route.

First off, big brother got some good news, which involves him finally getting a permanent contract at work. Yay, for him. He likes the job. It’s varied, a challenge, and he knows his thing. Can’t ask for more than that.

Second bit of good news is that our book “Girl in the Misty” Finally became a bestseller at all the big outlets online.  It hit various number spots on Amazon.com (in multiple countries, thank you very much) and managed to get as far as #37 of all their books. Wow. On iTunes we got to #10, I kid you not and B&A we actually got till #2 Yay! Was all very exciting for a couple of weeks and an absolute pleasure to see that it was indeed was possible. We didn’t make the USA Today bestseller list, especially because the sales didn’t shoot until two days before the list was made up, but it was close, I think…or I like to think. Hah Received some wonderful reviews, too, not to mentioned tripled our ratings on Goodreads, which is always a good thing.

Thirdly, another job change lies ahead of me. Nothing wrong with the catering one that I had, but an opportunity came up, another offer was made, and I felt I had no choice but to take it with both hands. I’m gonna be a cook. Yes, you read that right. I, am going to be a cook. A paid one at that. And not badly paid either. And it’ll be a challenge, and I really enjoyed it on the occasions that I worked over there, combined with my other job, which was a pain in the behind, not to mention exhausting. Two jobs, and then trying to get another book ready to start sending out? Practically impossible. Got one more day…what do you think? Will I make it? We’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

The new job will involve live cooking, which is a lot of fun, considering you get to talk with people and cook at the same time. Of course that is not all. There’s also prepping work, and cutting and mixing and making desserts…sooo many desserts. That’s the least favorite bit for as far as I’m concerned. Way too much sweetness.

Well, everything is ready for the trip. Bags are packed, house has been cleaned and organized for the house sitters, paperwork taken care of, everything triple checked, route completely set out, stops planned, people to see (at last), places to see and even a big part of our rooms already booked. Starting to get a wee bit nervous about the whole thing. I mean, this is the biggest trip I have done in ages, and to the other side of the world, no less. Exciting and scary a the same time, if you know what I mean. On the one hand, can’t wait to see it all, and on the other hand…OMG! OMG! OMG!

Car has been having some trouble. Both of them in fact. Had to call triple A myself once, because the engine stalled. Thankfully it wasn’t anything serious. Regretfully big brother’s is now also having trouble, so that means we have to deal with that as soon as we get back. Darn it.

Did quite a bit of experimenting with cooking, but the greatest part of that was that I was offered to arrange a big dinner for the CEOs at the company I now used to work for. So much fun. Got to set up a 3 course meal (well, I made a 3 course with three options per course so they could chose) and then serve it, which is not an easy thing, since there were products to order via places that only had order numbers and descriptions, rather than pictures, not to mention a limited amount of time to prep and actually cook before it was serving time. But it worked and everyone was happy and liked the food, so all went well…which was a relief. You know how I can stress about stuff like that. Hah

Well, that about sums it up for me this time ‘round. I hope that internet won’t be a problem for me over there, so I’ll be able to post blogs about the entire trip and let you all see where I’m at.

Looking forward to it.

Change

Song of the day…well, I don’t actually have one in my head right now. Could be because I’m sick as a dog, of course, and drank a bit too much of cheap wine last night, but what the hey, this is worth celebrating: No song of the day!

Right. Where to start? I know, I know, I’ve been writing way too little lately. Life is busy, I fear and at the end of the day I often can’t muster up the energy to be awake long enough to write this blasted blog.

First of, I’m writing this while I’m visiting in Spain. I arrived the evening before yesterday (sick as a dog, I’m sorry to say) meaning that I did get to spend time with my doggies, in bed, sleeping it off. And it was wonderful, piled under blankets and dogs…especially because coming home felt a little iffy at first, when Knight was all remote for all of five seconds, taking the time to sniff the tires rather than me, but once we were inside the car again, he plastered himself all over me, which was also wonderful. I couldn’t keep my eyes dry, of course, same as when I finally got to the house and Sitabah and Dax saw me coming into the courtyard from their window and were screeching and bouncing impatiently, slobbering all over me when I was forced to sit down due to a little dizzy spell…blasted flu.

Anyway, the trip to Spain went well enough, the flight wasn’t too long, and considering I had my new tablet with me, I spent the time well: reading!!! Jennifer Crusie. I just love her work. Time past wonderfully fast because of it.

Did have some busy days before we left. There was the mowing of the lawn, raking up the grass afterward. Spent time with the animals, of course, baked a blackberry tart for Emma, along with a nice veggie dish that only needed to be popped into the oven in the evening so she didn’t need to have to worry about dinner. Had it all ready on time, and were right on the dot when our ride arrived. Of course, once we were in it, and about ten minutes away from the house, some awful smell came up from underneath the car, indicating a problem with the brakes. Triple A had to be called, and a taxi for big brother and me because otherwise we would be late for our plane. I, of course, ended up falling asleep during the ride, very elegant, mouth open, head back, soft snorts right until big brother thankfully woke me up.

Which reminds me, I got news. Things are going to be changing in the near future. We’ve been offered an opportunity to move to the UK , big brother and me, along with the dogs, and grandpa, which is not an opportunity we feel we should say no to…I mean, besides it being incredibly scary, an enormous risk, and so many things that would stop me from making this decision, it is also exciting, in a way, and an adventure, sorta, and flattering , I think, to have been asked, and offered the opportunity…right?
I mean, really, this is going to be a nightmare to get done, the arranging of everything, paperwork, the dogs, vaccinations etc, the actual moving. Oh my gawd, I will get so little sleep, especially since we are going to need to do at least one trip driving over to the UK, if for no other reason than to get Knight there comfortably, and our things, including the car. I mean, can you imagine, 2000 miles to drive in a day or two, maybe three, with at least four, perhaps up seven dogs in the car? Yikes! Shouldn’t think of that. All that is a mountain to climb when it actually gets here.

What else…well, big brother and I had a rather wonderful afternoon chopping firewood. He broke in the new chainsaw (that would be in the UK by the way) while I broke in the new axe…which was awesome exercise. Got a full pallet of it going, which means about an eighth of that work was actually done. Yay!

Added to that, big brother and I took down the roof of a small roman structure. Darn thing was heavy as heck, and it took him several hours to hack his way through wood and glass fibre and then lifted it right off, with a much appreciative audience…of course he was so busy he didn’t realize that he’d left the new angle grinder on the ground where the roof landed, splitting it in two…and then clean up started, which lasted almost as long as the actual break down.
Was so nice to have big brother there, because it gave me time to actually catch breath at times. Before his arrival I was sorta running ragged, feeling homesick to boot, trying to get everything done when there just weren’t enough hours in the day. Running ragged just isn’t good.

I am a tad relieved that big brother was included in the offer for our future, because I was very much afraid that I wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace, and therefore have to say no to the offer. Luckily big brother seemed keen enough on the idea.

As to my state of mind…I find it hard, being part of the reason for change, especially when not everyone is ecstatic about it. I mean it is a big change, and well, it is a tad scary…but scary should never stop you, should it…well, at least I think it shouldn’t…fear is never good to use as a lead, is it? Doesn’t help to realize that though. I’ve got the stomach aches, the lack of appetite, the panic attacks, buzzing in my head, the worries, the stress etc, bugging me, making life unpleasant. Doesn’t matter, though, this is an opportunity that we can’t let pass, so we are going to go for it.

I’ll keep you posted.

Change

My apologies. But there have been a lot of things changing lately, and I just haven't had the time to post a blog. Am in England at the moment. It was an opportunity I couldn't say no to, so here I am, on this little island for the next six months or so. Change is supposed to be good, but regretfully it doesn't always feel that way. Hah.
Will try to put a proper blog out soon, but right now I am still trying to get my bearings.
Gotta go.

Getting there

Song of the day: “Pencil full of lead” by Paolo Nutini. Sometimes if have these types of songs in my head and find myself doing odd little dances throughout the day in the appropriate rhythms. It’s so incredibly cheerful, which is a good influence on my mood. Hah.

Nothing like a bit of sweating to improve on one’s physical wellbeing. Yep. I did a workout this morning, which had my joints creak rather badly, my muscles protest but my brain wonderfully blank. I love that blankness, thank you very much, not aware of anything but the count of reps, over and over again. Wonder if I did enough to be sore tomorrow. Hah. We’ll see. I do need to find a way to hang up my boxing ball, because I need to let off some steam, rather than this air kicking and punching. Way too non-violent for me. *snort*

Since today is my day off, I took the opportunity to experiment a little in the kitchen. I had an abundance of apples and all the ingredients I needed to make some. The kitchen smells wonderful right now, I tell ya. Apple with dried cranberries, coconut shavings and peanutbutter in the vanilla dough. My friggin’ mouth is watering just thinking about it.

You’ll be happy to know that my foot is not too bad lately. The other day I ran around for more than eight hours without it becoming excruciating. That’s what we call progress, don’t we? I like.

The doggies…well, the cramped space is not doing my little pack good, that’s for sure. Knight’s affection at the moment is more than a little painful. When I come home, he’ll be bouncing toward me, grabbing my shoulder, or wrist to gain my full attention, and then bouncing on the bed some more until I put him in a headlock on the mattress. Of course he likes this form of roughness even more, and will lie there writhing, gnawing at any part of me that he can get to like some overgrown puppy. Waaaaay too much energy. Am going to have to take him out for a proper run soon…and then keep him from retiring to the car the moment he’s had enough, and keep him going until he’s exhausted.
The same goes for Sitabah, who has taken it upon herself to wreck my corner of the porch when she considers her lockup has taken long enough. Every other day I will come inside to find something wrecked, and everything shoved off the shelves. It’s as if she’s making some sort of statement with it for sure. Also, she and Dax are even less controllable than before. The moment they are let loose they will do a circuit of the house, searching for something to hunt or eat as if they haven’t had a decent meal in weeks. It’s insane.

The weather is persistently pleasant at the moment. Not too cold, crisply sunny and very dry. We really will need more rain before the end of winter otherwise we’ll be in trouble. Grandpa is using his time wisely and it putting in a vegetable patch, which makes me incredibly jealous. I wish I had the time. Nothing calms you down better than some time in the yard. Ah well, such is the status quo at the moment, I suppose. The gardening will return some day, I’m sure. Did do a rather nice flower arrangement yesterday, which was wonderfully calming, too.

A few days ago big brother got a stomach flu, disabling him from work, and the day before yesterday it hit me too. Most unpleasant, last night I even had a slight fever. Thankfully it’s not to severe, because today I am almost myself again. At least it didn’t bother me during my workout.

The edit is going a little slower, but not bad still. Well past half now, and content with the changes. Some stuff really worked out well, giving a good sense of the ‘20s and its bootlegging gangsters. The humor elements had us laugh, in particular the unexpectedness of it, so…yeah, I think it will work out.

The other day grandpa and I worked on the fences together. We still have to fix some of those due to all the changes, and it felt like old times. Nice, regardless of the cuts in my fingers the work inevitably causes. Strange, huh, how you can enjoy cuts on your fingers and an icy wind biting your skin, just because you enjoy the work. Hah. Big brother is having his fun welding the old gate for recycled use in the yard. A few more days and we’ll have the fence functional again, which will be satisfying.

I am going to enjoy a change of scenery, though. Working outdoors is definitely better for me. Being inside so much is grating on my nerves for sure. I mean really, who wants to be stuck inside when you could be outside digging in the dirt, of piling rocks, or hauling stuff? Not me.

Well, I am sure that there is stuff I’m forgetting, but that is the down side of doing a blog once a week. Details fade from the mind so fast…much like this awesome dream I had the other day. I fully planned to write about it on the blog, but then by the time I was ready to jot it down, the details had faded. Remember that awesome dragon dream I had some years back, and that alien from outer space. This one was of such epic proportions as well. *sigh* Such a pity.

Gotta go. The end of the day is rapidly approaching, and I would like to get some more done in the yard before then.

A change

I'm going to have to make some changes in the blog in the near future. Time is getting more precious of late, and I don't have enough of it, so (for a while at least) I'm going to see if doing it differently will work.

I'm thinking 3 blogs per week, rather than one every other day, so in the future you should be able to come round at Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a new one. If that doesn't work...well, there's always two days a week, I guess. Hah

But not today. Too little time and too many things to do. I'll bring you up to date tomorrow.

Right. I'm off.

Change in plans...yay!

Song of the day: “This woman’s work” by Kate Bush. Had it before, will have it again, I’m sure. Good song, though, so no matter.

I’m running way behind. The days just seem to be too short, and I find I’m incapable of getting everything I want to do done, darn it.

But anyway, good news first (for me good news anyway). There has been a change in plans on the writing front. Yes, yes, yes! After long deliberation and a shared dislike for the plot based story, big brother and I came to the agreement to start on a different story, rather than the one we’ve been struggling with for the past four or five days. Seriously, that many days, ten pages of data, and nothing to show for it with any actual writing. I was getting downright depressed, and while we were watering the plants last night, we decided to just ditch the primary plan and go with something a little more stimulating. Gawd, I’m so happy. I wrote three pages this very afternoon, and already inspiration is bubbling up in my head demanded to be unleashed. I started with a dream scene, and it plays in the late 1800s, so there’s plenty of atmosphere to work with. I love it. Just writing those few pages, had me go through five “Oh, I had no idea that was going to happen” moments. LOVE IT. Hah. Even now I’m regretting the fact that I have to write this blog, otherwise I could have done another piece right now. But okay, there’s fun and there’s a promise I made to myself some odd four years ago about doing this blog thing. Hah. There will be more writing days, I assure you. We’re going for a 100.000 word book, so I’ll have plenty of space to let my imagination go bonkers.

Okay, let’s get down to business. Yesterday, after the usual chores in the morning, including feeding the dogs, it was out to town to pay for the Opel’s insurance. Gawd, that made a fine dent in our savings…and then we’re not even talking about the electrical bill we will be getting some day soon. Yep, after four years of estimates that were about half the real price, we’ll be getting a real one because the meter guy arrived. *sigh* The power company here in Spain is really bonkers, in case you’re wondering. They just send you too low bills (probably to save on having to pay the meter guy, or something) and then suddenly slam you with a bill a mile higher.

There were a handful of groceries to get, but then we were rushing back home to get started on the day. Around one in the afternoon I got down to the basin terrace where I first spent about half an hour cleaning up the field kitchen. It was a bloody mess, and the dishes were a mile high, so it was really necessary.
That done, we did some Spanish, which, for some inexplicable reason didn’t go at all well yesterday. *sigh*

No matter though, right after we got to work on the thriller, but ended up displeased with all the data cluttering up the getting to know our characters. So, while watering, we had the big discussion and ended up deciding that enjoying what we’re writing is just as…if not more important than anything.

Was a little late getting to bed again, which meant I wasn’t my best this morning while going through the morning chores. Next it was time to go down for Spanish, and getting a simple plot written down. Did just that, and started writing. By the time I had to stop (an hour and a half, at most) to make supper, (cauliflower, broccoli and pasta with a cheese sauce) I was psyched about the progress made. This is the part about writing that I absolutely love. Creation. I tend to forget that part after editing for a solid five months or so. *sigh*

Little brother is going to go out for his exams on Monday, the day before his b-day, and he is mighty nervous. So afraid of not passing that he’s making it harder on himself than he has to. Ah well, nothing to change about that. He’s working hard enough to make it, so it should be fine.

The dogs are loving the change of the new fences that allow them to join us on the terrace. All afternoon they’ll be at our feet, snoring on occasion and basically just making a nuisance of themselves. In particular when I start cooking, I’ll have about ten of them getting in my way. Hah.

Tenant joined us again today, and she seemed happy sharing the cool spot. In fact, it was so cool that she asked for a more sunnier spot where she thoroughly enjoyed the heat for a good hour before she settled at the table to help by cutting veggies.

There was watering, and harvesting, and then we hung a cupboard in the field kitchen that grandpa made so we can store food away from the dogs and rodents. It took a moment, but by the time we were done there still was the dog food to cut and then heading out for a jog with Knight joining in (by jogging. Silly dog is just too big. I’m running flat out and he’ll be trotting along calm as you please. Sooooo mean!) and seemingly enjoying the exercise. I did better than the last time. Managed some full out running, a steady jog, and a fast clip walk up the steep incline. Not bad.

The rest of the dogs were mightily upset when we got home, but settled down fast enough, once we got the computers on and got to work on the last stretch of the day.

Okay, that’s it. Gotta go. I’m starving!

Thoughts. What else?

The day started bright and shiny, the sun having chased away the seemingly perpetual clouds that have hung over our mountain for the past week, and giving a vibrant glitter to everything around me when I wake up and let the dogs out.

They are exulting from the sudden change in weather, and for a while Chaos, the Basset, actually settles in a warm patch on my porch, enjoying the downpour of light.
The other dogs rough house about a bit, with Bommel my senior Bobtail watching lazily from the open door until I am finally ready to go down to the main house.

Though I am still somewhat tired, the complete exhaustion of yesterday has disappeared, leaving me actually cheered with the thought of my upcoming exercise for today. My muscles feel sore from the day before yesterday, but warming up I can feel the blood starting to pump through my veins, easing most of the tension that has settled in after the last time.

My usual selection of music gets turned up. The latest Enrique tunes do marvelous for a proper rhythm to bounce around on and pounce the boxing bag.
Forty minutes later, two-hundred, forty kicks, endless slides followed by crunches and push-ups ready done, I'm sweating like mad and hurry towards the shower to warm my skin and wash off the day's perspiration.

What follows is taking down and hanging an enormous amount of laundry, which has piled up during the past few days of incessant rain. It's a pleasant day for laundry, though. The sun shining through the openings of the courtyard roof and a gentle breeze playing with the few remaining leaves that still crown the battered trees all around. The fresh scent of clean nature is invigorating

I feel inspired when big brother comes down and decides to start working on my Sci-Fi Fantasy "Escape" with more enthusiasm than I'd anticipated. He's actually so pleased with the story that I decide to continue working on the sequel of this alien species fighting for survival in the wide galaxy, rather than pour myself into more editing, as was planned.

I manage a wonderful total of four pages in just a few hours, giving me a certain sense of accomplishment, the way successful writing always does. But enough about my day, more important things have occurred on this early October date, and for a moment I want to ponder it and see where my thoughts will lead me.

Apparently it was a historical day today. The first black (well, half black anyways) president in the United States was elected and from what I understand the world cheers.
I don't really understand the fuss, in all honesty. He is human, nonetheless, and to be so exultant about the matter just because of the color of his skin seems to be somewhat... hypocritical, is the word I'm looking for, I think, when it really comes across as yet another form of discrimination, neatly wrapped in the beautiful blanket of "look how civilized Western society has become. We even have a black (half) president now."

The man could have had a purple skin for all I'm concerned if I could somehow make myself believe that he could actually go beyond human nature. Since this is unlikely, if not impossible, things will pretty much continue the way they are, if for no other reason than that human nature will always win.

But anyways, if I were to believe the news reports, the headlines and the rather exultant exclamations all over the Net, TV and whatnot, I would think that the new Messiah had arrived. And that now, that this young man, this politician, is Finally going to SAVE the world from Armageddon... or something like that.

For a moment there, while watching the cheer going on, I had to go check outside if the animals of myths and legends had sprung forth and were now roaming around creating a utopia of a world for us all.
I came back sorely disappointed. Everything looked exactly the same as it had in the days weeks and months that preceded this "glorious" day.

Whatever happened to the general belief that politicians lie, cheat and pretty much sell their souls to get elected? From what I have seen over the years in movies, media reports and the likes, politicians always rate somewhere deep down the "admirable" ladder, right alongside lawyers and car salesmen.

I've followed the entire hoopla somewhat over the months that have passed, and to actually live up to the promises made is pretty much impossible... if not unrealistic. Even if everyone gave up all of their hard earned money to taxes, in time things would be just as miserable, if not more so, in short time.

A recent study in Germany has shown that if all citizens of the world, or even the majority of it, live in relative comfort, with a quality that the average hard working citizen is used to, an entire different planet would be necessary just to be able to supply all that is needed for such a feat. Since this is highly unlikely to occur in our lifetime, and even that of our children and children's children, it is a goal that is pretty much unattainable.

It worries me somewhat that in all the excitement going on -of a new government coming to the rescue by giving the people all they need whether they be rich or poor- everyone seems to forget that socialism and even liberalism (which advocate this noble cause) aren't as successful as the optimistic folks would like to believe.

Take China, the Soviet Union, Cuba and even Korea, their communism stems from the same ideal, and yet the majority of the people suffer constantly under the guidance of a wealthy elite, with no chance of ever achieving more than what they are allowed to do.
It is a beautiful thought, but in reality only the new elite actually benefit from such a government. It starts out marvelously, money pouring into places where admittedly it is very much needed, but at some point that particular resource of taking more from the rich and giving it to the poor, depletes that spring of a very convenient well.
Thus it has always been, and this time won't be any different, I fear.

I know, liberalism and socialism (even communism) are considered two different things entirely by most, but they're really not that far apart.

I come from a country that is often heralded for it's liberal and tolerant society, but with some dread I have been observing the ongoings over there, seeing a country that did so well at the start, struggle miserably as more and more of their own traditions, culture and way of life is being sacrificed in favor of tolerance towards those who want to change it to fit their own needs.

Though I am not at all conservative by nature, I do see the use of it at times.
Conservatives set borders and are willing to defend that border against all cost to preserve their identity against those who would see it destroyed.
Liberals, or socialists if you will, don't set ANY borders. Anyone and anything is free to do as they will because no one is willing to stand up for what they believe in any more.

Admittedly there are downsides to both extremes. Conservatives tend to be overzealous in their religions and traditions, while the socialists/liberals are vastly lacking in both, believing in very little except for tolerance and equality for all.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that we are not equal, and should not be basically treated as such, but in "flatlining" everything and everyone under the "rule" of equality is killing that what would make people extraordinary.

It's something like the phrase "You're special, just like the rest of us". It takes something away from the specialness we all admired so much in the past, and that is a sad thing. In this day and age being an individual, extraordinary and "special" is just another way of equalizing everything into just ordinary, until in the end anything that does not fit into a particular box is eradicated.

But I drift off the issue. As I was saying; it scares me to see how much hope is being placed in just a single man who, even if he were Superman, could never live up to all the expectations that are put on him and those that are chosen to lead such a powerful country for next four years.

He brings hope, or so I've heard on numerous occasions. Which confuses me, since this is considered to be something marvelous.

I am well aware that hope is considered to be important and basically there to sustain us through difficult times, but hope -I often think- is a sneaky thing. Hope is an inanimate, a non-active, element that really doesn't do much of anything, except give the illusion that something might change in the future.
Hope does not make a person DO anything, since hope leaves it all up to fate and does not make anyone put in an effort, when effort and dedication is that which makes any of us achieve something.
Added to that, hope can be just as easily taken away as it is given, making it rather unreliable in my estimation.

For some reason change seems to have been a big part of the political agenda too, and I wonder about it. Change was what happened when 9/11 occurred, didn't it'. The war in Iraq was change, too. The melting poles, global warming, the latest fashion trend, all those events, occurrences and trends are a constant overflow of change that no one can stop of curb. They are a very basic cause and effect, making the world around us a badly balanced scale on any given day.

Change happens every single day, but it is either ignored, cheered or despised. In the end no one really appears to like change at all and what with this latest election, I fear that those who wanted it, are actually going to get it in spades.
The only question remains; will that change be welcomed, or hated by the time the elation has settled and reality starts to make its expensive demands once more.

Only time will tell, I guess. Perhaps this new president will be grand, and perhaps he'll be as ineffective as those who went before him. The demand for a new hope will most certainly be tested through the passing of time, as change is rolling across the globe even now.

Will hope really change the course that has been set?

Let's hope so.