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...

1st week lockdown COVID 19

Song of the day: "The end of the world" by REM. It's as good a song as any at this point in time, I guess.

Time for an update. Not the best of times, I fear, but strange times for sure, what with the Corona Virus outbreak that has been sweeping over the world for several weeks. The Netherlands has gone into a tentative shutdown (social distancing), after the virus has started raging through especially Italy and Spain, where it has been the worst in Europe, so far.

So how has the virus affected us...well, no zombies yet, so that is definitely a plus. The way I figure, as long as the zombie's don't come shambling through the streets, we'll do just fine. Other than that, work has shut down until at least the 6th of April, just like all non-essential businesses through-out the country.

Although I can manage just fine to keep busy, in fact, in regards to location, this house is more luxurious for a lockdown than most. Heck, I've stayed in worse places than this myself. It might not be fun, but I can survive a month or two with this quarantine without losing my mind. It won't be fun, it won't be nice, or anything, but I'll be fine in the end.
That doesn't take away that the atmosphere in general isn't completely whacky. I mean, there are hoarders, there are those who don't believe that the virus is as bad, some don't care one way or other, and there are those who are scared out of their minds. I can get my head around most of them, of course, but considering we, the people in general, are not in charge of how things are handled, it doesn't matter one way or other how I feel about the matter, I suppose. Most of us are just along for the ride for now.

Well, guess it is time to catch you up a little on how life has been progressing lately. Work and school had been going pretty well...well, a little bit more of the first and less of the latter, which had made me behind on my studies up until the latest disaster hit.

Before the outbreak we had started looking for a permanent place to live, rather than the anti-squatting gig, but that is now starting to look like we'll have to put that on hold for the time being...especially because we have no idea about how things are going to go. For now we're going to be paid one way or other, but that won't hold indefinitely, of course. The company is not made of money, and if this is going to continue on as long as everyone fears...well, then we have a problem.

School, regretfully has not been completely cancelled. Last Tuesday was supposed to be my first theory test, but this was cancelled, of course, because this was the third of fourth day after the lockdown  and everyone was scrambling. Now, it turns out lessons are going to continue digitally. On the one hand that is great, on the other I am trying to find the rest inside my head to pick up writing again. Bad enough the world at large is hammering at me to pay attention to reality, having to worry about school in the meantime is not exactly my idea of fun. But we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'll be grateful for the distraction.

Unlike me, big brother gets to work still, for now. Despite the sauna being closed for guests, behind the scenes folks are putting in a lot of effort to catch up on maintenance that has been postponed time and again due it being too busy. So in that regard big brother is happy, because he can finally get to stuff that he's been forced to put off over and over again.

Personally I will be spending a morning at work, too, because the kitchen staff have been asked to volunteer with the cleanup of the big filters and such above the cooking areas. The other half of the chefs are going to tackle the big fridges on a different day, so we won't exceed the numbers that are allowed to get together. Nice to be able to catch up with everyone, and since quite a few are going stir-crazy sitting at home, it's also a necessary measure. It will be nice to go out for something other than basic groceries.

But back to before the outbreak: It's been a sad period actually. A very good friend died...the one I mentioned with Acute Leukemia. Regretfully he passed away before I was able to see him again. He kept postponing the visit, saying he wanted to wait until he felt a little stronger, a little better. Alas it never came to that. About three weeks ago the doctors told him there was nothing left to do for him, and a few days later he passed away in his home. His death hit me harder than I expected. Especially because I got the news at work, and of course had to ask for time off so I could go to his memorial. Almost burst out in tears right before my chef, and that is just friggin' unprofessional and embarrassing.

Be that as it may, we did go to the memorial, which was a very bohemian affair, much like he would have loved. Spoke and hugged a long time with his girlfriend of thirty plus years, and listened to the performance of his band involving, (brace yourselves, he was a sound artist) vacuum cleaners. A special evening on the cusp of the Corona outbreak.

Another bit of bad news, it's in the air, I'm telling ya, is that Tenant has taken a turn for the worse. Back when she had her stroke in Spain, the swallowing mechanism in her throat started to have trouble. Over the years this has gotten worse, but lately it got so bad she got a pneumonia due to getting stuff in her lungs, like food and drink. This meaning that she'd have terrible coughing fits. This, in the end, has led to her no longer being able to drink or eat, and since she finds a probe tube straight into her stomach so very irritating that she keeps pulling it out, she is slowly dying. What a horrible way to go! So strange to imagine that with everything moderns science can do these days, there is no solution for something like this. It baffles me at times.
Now if all that isn't bad enough, due to the Corona virus senior homes and nursing homes are in a complete shutdown. Hers included, so rather than have many, many people coming over to visit her in these final stages of her life, there are only a handful that are only allowed to enter one at a time, wearing full protective gear like gloves and such. So horrible if you really thing about it. Luckily they have started her on morphine now, so that should make her less aware of it all...I hope.

On the nicer part, had a visit with my dad last week. He and my stepmom had a lot of leftover tree trunks and such lying about in their yard, which needed to be dragged out to the curb so they could be picked up. A nice afternoon in the sunshine, dragging some odd 3000 lbs of wood while big brother attacked the trunks with the rented chainsaw. Poor thing practically gave the spirit in the end. So much wiry wood. Was good to see dad, although his appearances worry me a little. He's looking tired, and grayish almost. Poor guy really works too hard. Just hope that he doesn't get the virus, because that just might be too much for him.

Studying: Well, I had gotten nicely up to date due to the fact that my chef was trying to bring my hours down a little so they could work in new people, but now with the virus in full swing I am feeling distracted and completely not in the mood to focus on those studies. Coming tuesday we were supposed to have had our first practical exam, which would have involved making a 3 course lunch at school, but I'm not sure if that is going to happen anytime soon if our troubles are going to follow the example of Italy even remotely. Today they had their highest death-tole of almost 800. This means that the Netherlands is bracing itself. So surreal.
It doesn't mean that I won't try, of course, I'm just complaining a little here.

Still working on two individual manuscripts. Commanding Morgan, the prequel to Girl in the Mist, and tentatively called Girl from the Past for now, has its proposal practically done. And Lost Soul is practically through its first edit, meaning that big brother and I can both start reading through it, working out the kinks and such. I am looking forward to this, and if the quarantine is going to happen, that is definitely going to help to get us to sit down and get it done.

The house, well, I got that pretty much in order now. haha Would be weird if it wouldn't be, after more than 8 days into self-isolating. Embarrassing too. Is nice to have it all sorted, though. Though I tend to keep things up, having been busy so much that past few months, I had gotten a little bit behind. Added to that, i have completely thrown around the living room, which led to a hilarious moment later in the evening, two hours after big brother arrived, walking around, eating his dinner, when he suddenly said, "hey you changed it." Seriously, I almost peed my pants, laughing so hard. I'd deliberately not said anything, wondering how long it would take, but no way did I expect it would take him that long. Gawd, I haven't laughed that hard in ages...felt good. As to why I changed it? Well, I figured with the present situation being this severe, a change would be a good thing for my state of mind, at least.

Well, that' it for now, I guess. I will try to keep you posted, and if I can't feel free to look me up on Facebook.