Procrastination

Or why selling you soul to the devil comes with a price tag. ;) It is always nice to get regular work from good paying clients, but it is usually not the most entertaining stuff. Right now, I should be busy for at least two months, with nice deadlines, so this is basically good news. If the stuff wasn't so boring I could fall asleep the minute I start translating .... Yap, that is the price of this kind of project and as much as I can be totally über efficient in normal life, I turn into someone with the attention span of a teenager with ADD as soon as I start working on that special project. And I discovered I am as good at waisting time then I usually am at multitasking, when it comes to it.

Internet is evil, Facebook is evil, blogs are evil, even news are baaad.... everything that takes my eyes of the actual work is right down amazing this days. When I start doing accounting in advance and making phone calls I avoided for six months, I know it is bad. Until I realize how many words are left, three days before deadline. And I always deliver the same quality, whether I like it or not. So, this is why I am doing a night shift, sipping Red Bull and making small deals with myself: when I get 2000 words done, I can read for 10 minutes. 3000, and I can start downloading a show or a movie for later on. Right now, writing a blog is the reward for reaching the daily output I set myself.

So, Facebook is banned until files delivery on Friday and the only pages allowed are online dictionaries for now. And please, don't Skype me to chitchat because I won't stop for hours, just to avoid getting back to work.^^

I guess I am a bit spoiled, so used to love my work that translating stuff for money only is a new experience. :)
I am a sprinter, give me an impossible challenge and I make it happen, but I am not a marathon person, steady and boring is just not my thing.
So, the minute I get my hands on a juicy project, I am so going to dump this* ... work security is totally overrated.^^
*No, I will not leave the client with nobody to do the work, I will just pass it on to someone who is more likely to enjoy it

The small things :)

Sometimes, it is just the small things that put everything back in perspective... After a very dull weekend (sick, working, bored, too many things going through my head), Monday started, well, like a classical Monday. Alarm clock at 5, still sick, so checking mails with one eye open and hoping for nothing urgent. But things started to lighten up, because of people, and it turned out to be a great day, after all.

Starting with going out to buy a fresh juice on the street, the guy that sells them always has the biggest smile and pressed two extra oranges to make sure the glass was really full, joking with Manuel, the portero, who got me my weekly water supply, getting my Internet fixed in one hour instead of two days... And it went on like that all day long.

From Kilgray support who couldn't fix my server (thanks win server update for screwing up my cloud server AND my memoQ server) but responded in 10 minutes and worked on it 2 hours, to the cloud server hosting company with 24/7 customer service that reboot your server straight away with a phone call.

Not to forger the happy customer writing to thank us for the extra mile. By then, I was already working with very loud music and singing along, but then, I got the sweetest phone call: my cleaning lady told me they have to format their computer and they have no idea what it actually even means, so I offered to pass by this week to fix it. It is something I never do anymore, but I kind of miss the days when I got paid for it, lol. So, her husband called today and it sounds like I am in for a family afternoon on Saturday... Like, it is going to be an event. ^^ I really look forward to it, I already mt two of her kids, but I have the feeling the whole family is going to be there and there will be food. :)

Speaking of food, I am starving this days, when Isa is not there to take care of me. ISA, COME BACK :)))

Stopping after the whirlwind of the last month has been kind of weird, lots of things to reflect on, decisions to make, and this is not my favorite activity. In order to avoid that, I am going for dinner and drinks with Alvaro.^^

Up to date

Ok, after posting 3 months worth of pics, I am back to present. Which surprisingly consists of me being sick and tired, lol. After this very interesting and exhausting two months,I gave in today and the plan for the weekend is not to leave my hammock, to take care of this nasty cold, eat, sleep, rest and not work too much. Hoping to be back in shape by Monday. :)

THE Island again :)

After over a month not being there, I was missing it a lot. But surgery and travels came in the way, I couldn't wait to get 24 hours in paradise. And I did:

The bump in the road and back to fun

I started feeling sick in Bahia Cinto, but thought that taking it easy and popping a few pills would do the trick. Well, how wrong I was... After the 4 hours bumpy bus ride back to Cartagena, I was in so much pain I couldn't breath. After taking all the pain killers I could at the same time, I got better after a few hours, if I stayed curled up in a ball without moving at all. The next day, Tuesday, I gave up around noon, I couldn't stand the pain anymore and asked Päm to go with me to the hospital. They hooked me up to an IV but told me I had to go and see a doctor urgently.

 I looked one up the next morning and made an appointment for Thursday morning. The pain was still hard to stand and not going away anymore by then. Well, after meeting the doc, it was pretty clear that I needed surgery asap. It was first scheduled for Saturday, but after my great insurance declined the surgery, it was postponed to Monday. In I went Monday morning, out Tuesday at noon. The next 2 weeks were spent recovering *and working way to much* at home.
 Recovery should have been 3 weeks but,I was asked to go to the GDC in San Francisco on behalf of a company, as a consultant. I would kill to go the GDC anyways, and being offered to go there for a company I love, well, saying no was not an option. I was a bit worried when I still couldn't walk 3 days before leaving, but I made it just in time. On the way to San Francisco, I had 8 hours layover in Miami and I decided to grab a cab to have a look at South Beach. Omg, that was a surreal experience. Arriving from Cartagena, it was a plastic and glitter overdose... Everything and everybody is just over the top. Drinks are served in bucket size, the smallest drink I could get was still half a liter. I sipped on that Mojito for a few hours, people watching, and decided to never ever go back to Miami.^^

The GDC was great, exhausting, overwhelming and fun, as expected. Apart from a weak moment one afternoon when I had to go and rest for a few hours, I made it, meetings and parties, the full thing. :) As usual, by the end of the week, I had no voice left and was pretty much done, but I wouldn't miss it. The week after coming home was pretty hectic, catching up on work, taking care of the follow up and wrapping everything up before Saturday, when I had to go to Bogota for Blanca's wedding. Waking up at 5 every morning, anybody? :)

Friday night, everything was done and I decided to go out with Rémy, Annabelle and her brother who was visiting. You do know what happens when you plan an early night because you have a plane to catch in the morning? Yeah, exactly:

I still don't know how I made it to the airport the next morning, but I did. Altitude sickness hit me bad again, but I made it to the wonderful wedding Sunday morning, before heading back home in the evening. Working at the airport, in the plane and back home, because I planned to go to THE island with the French bunch on Tuesday, so it was clear that work was coming in like crazy (I swear, they can smell it^^).

 But Monday night, everything was under control and beside having to take the laptop with me and stand up at five to sort something out on Wednesday, I was good to go. :)

Bahia Cinto

After spending a few days in Cartagena, we (the bunch with the addition of Alvaro and Christophe, my neighbor) were headed to Tayrona national park. We rented a house in Bahia Cinto,a beautiful secluded bay in the middle of the park. What sounded great on paper made for a very long trip: 4 hours to Santa Marta, an hour of shopping for food, ice and drinks, an hour on dirt roads in the park (sorry for those who had the crappy taxi, lol, some were lucky and traveled in the fancy 4x4 belonging to the owner of the place) and 20 minutes in a boat. A very small boat on a very rough sea... But it was all worth it! The bay was incredible, the house simple but nice and we spent two very relaxing days, eating fresh langousta, enjoying the hammocks and generally being lazy. :)

And back to Cartagena :)

January started in a whirlwind with me coming back on the 5th, to find that things had been stolen from my place (printer, external drive and mobile Internet stick), after allowing my landlord to rent my place while I was away. Blanca arrived the next day to spend the weekend, so nice seeing her after such a long time. I started preparing for my visitors : Flo, Päm, Stella and Julian, arriving for two weeks at the end of January. I wanted to make their stay so special they would come back for sure. The rest of the month was a blur of work, more work, occasional drinks with Alvaro, Patricia, a concert with Mari and more work. Finally, the day arrived and I welcomed the bunch. :) We started the first day with a champagne breakfast @ Mari, that ended up being more of a few hours of tasting the cocktails before heading to the Cafe del Mar for Sunset.

The next day, we were headed to Isla Grande, with a new addition: Annabelle and Rémy. We had a great time, I really enjoyed sharing this place with all of them.

Christmas time in Europe

Arriving in Vienna after a pretty uninteresting flight felt weird. I have been gone before, but Vienna was always home and this time, I felt like a foreigner, home was the place I just left. Thanks to Päm's warm welcome, the few days in Vienna were great despite the cold. Next, I took a flight to Nice and a bus to Gap, to spend Christmas with my family. Nice was awesome, I had a 6 hours layover and spent it in the sun at the beach, felt almost like home:

The bus drive to Gap is so beautiful, it takes three hours but I enjoy it every time. Holidays mood came up very quickly, setting up the tree and listening to Beau dommage while enjoying my mum's delicious food and French wine.

The actual Christmas day was a very French affair: the first time in many years that so many of my Dad's side of the family made it to spend it together, meaning they were about 20 of us for lunch. French family lunches for special occasions are to be taken seriously: five hours of eating and drinking, starting off with champagne and followed of course by a different wine with every dish. My uncle is an incredible cook, and with the help of my aunt, they set up a meal that will be remembered... :)

A few days later, it was back to Vienna for a great New Years Eve spent playing LA Noire and drinking champagne with Flo, after setting up my shiny new lap top.

Time flew by in Europe and 3 weeks seemed more like one, just enough time to meet friends, family and to get going again.