Jenue's Blog

The Macy Gray concert didn’t disappoint. There were two opening bands, Terra Renae and Miu. Both bands were entertaining, but we were all waiting patiently, in uncomfortable seats, for Macy.

Macy was magnificent. Her band was marvelous. And Mayaeni, the lady guitarist and singer, was a rockstar in her own right. The audience appropriately gasped and cheered as she debuted her solo.

This concert paid tribute to Macy Gray’s 25th anniversary. She’s like fine wine. Age just made her even more amazing!

I’m so amazed at how well this class is put together. So many interesting people from so many places, yet every single person in this class is like-minded. Learning German is obviously our common goal, but there’s something else. I don’t know what it is, but it’s a comfortable feeling. You know the saying; it takes a village to raise a child. I think this class is slowly becoming the village that teaches German.

Today’s interesting lesson is the use of the verbs sollen and wollen. Mit sollen gibt man wieder, was man gehört oder gelesen hat. Mit wollen gibt man wieder, was jemand von sich selbst behauptet.

In English: Use the word sollen when you are repeating what you’ve heard or read. Use the word wollen when you repeat what you claim about yourself.

The rule seems easy enough, but I don’t usually use the words sollen and wollen in this context. I will need to practice. A lot!

I was unfortunately not able to attend this class. I’m struggling with some health problems at the moment. I’ll wait a week to see if it goes away by itself before making a doctor’s appointment. I have absolutely no faith in my general practitioner. Finding a good doctor is so difficult!

My German lesson will have to wait until I feel better. Hopefully I feel better soon because I really do feel like crap. 🤒

In this week’s German class, the lesson(s) that stood out the most are:

Expressions using color.

• Wer sich sehr ärgert, ärgert sich grün und blau.
• Eine Person, di alle kennen, ist bekannt wie ein bunter Hund. (negative)
• Was nicht perfekt ist, ist nicht das Gelbe vom Ei.

In the 5-hour class there was a lot of teamwork and expressing of ideas and opinions. I was able to work well with my small group as everyone was very respectful and considerate, even though I’m the weakest speaker in the class.

I doubt if I'll ever be a strong speaker, so I’m focusing more on reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and improving my general German grammar. If decide to speak I want it to be as clear and concise as possible. Writing in German is difficult. There are way more rules than written English. All I can say is that I'll do my best. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Today my family taught me how to pronounce the German Z. Because apparently, I’m doing it all wrong. It’s something like “tsZ.” We also practiced the German R. My R sounds too Yankee. Oh My! 😂

I recently started a B2 German class. I’m way out of my comfort zone, but I knew that would happen before I signed up for the class. It’s intentional. I need to change and pushing myself out of my comfort zone is the only way to begin.

I plan to blog about something new that I’ve learned from every class. My takeaway from the first class is: “Hätte hätte Fahrradkette”. That’s the equivalent to the English, “Could have, would have, should have… but you didn’t.”

I’ve never heard this German expression before. I’m thrilled to add it to my vocabulary. 😊

Today’s Easter Monday and I woke up to the headline that Pope Francis has died. I think it was quite cruel that one of his last meetings was with JD Vance, the VP of the newly corrupt USA. From the Pope's body language, I don't think he wanted to meet with Vance.

I am a devout protestant. I was raised in the German Lutheran Church, but as an adult I feel more comfortable in the Baptist church. Although I’m not Catholic, I am sincerely saddened by the death of Pope Francis. And in the same breath, I am intrigued to see who the next Pope will be.

I hope everyone had a very blessed Easter. Happy Spring to my non-Christian friends. 🌷🐝

Rest in Peace Pope Francis. †

I'm so excited I got Macy Gray concert tickets. Yay!!! 🙌 Oh my gosh, I'm so excited.

I was looking for a new song to satisfy my mood and found this gem. 🔥

I don’t know anyone who appreciates daylight savings time. Today the clocks jumped ahead one hour. It’s crazy how that one missing hour messes with your head. Everything just feels a little off.

Can we please stop with this silly tradition? Flamingo’s birthday was changed by daylight savings time. On the day she was born the clocks fell back one hour. She would have arrived at midnight 12:17, but unfortunately the clocks were altered that day and it was 11:17 pm.

She and her great-grandmother would have had the same birthday! I remember Uroma eagerly waiting for her arrival and was super excited about sharing a birthday.

We really dislike daylight savings time.

Everyone seems to be excited about this new drug that will supposedly regrow missing teeth. And I admit, at face value, this seems like good magic.

But I’m worried because this drug can’t target which missing teeth it grows back. The video said that it will regrow ALL your missing teeth. Most people have their wisdom teeth removed, and that’s considered missing teeth. I really wouldn’t risk having all 4 of my wisdom teeth grow back!

Mongoose had all 4 of his wisdom teeth removed plus two other adult teeth because his jaw was overcrowded. This drug will grow all of his teeth back. Yikes! 😱

I understand that for some people this might work though. And who knows, maybe someday they will figure out how to target specific teeth. I’m curious what the side effects are, but I'm also hopeful.

Today is the 4-year anniversary of the removal of my last wisdom tooth. I had a hard time waking up after the surgery and had to spend the next five days in the heart station. It was a traumatic time for me, so every year since then I’ve been silently celebrating March 8th as the day I lived. Is that weird?

I live next to an apartment building where predominately elderly people live. Today I watched as they carried yet another dead body out of building 8, on March 8th. I’m starting to think that 8 is an unlucky number.

A mighty thank you to the dental surgeon for removing that awful tooth without breaking my jaw while somehow managing to evade nerve damage. You will always be awesome in my memory.

I’m not a prude. There’s nothing wrong with showing a little shoulder, a little leg, a little back, or even a little midriff. And yes, you can find me on a beach wearing a bikini. But this bare all, show all trend is just vulgar. Ladies, no one wants to see your cookie jar, your cakes, or your croissants. 💀

Big Dan, mă bucur că m-ai căutat din nou, dar nu înțeleg mesajele tale. Te simți bine? Sper că eşti bine, şi îți doresc o zi minunată. ❤︎

Fluturi sunt întotdeauna frumoși 😉

It’s really nice checking things off my to-do list. It’s funny how just doing the little things can make you feel accomplished.

I now have all the required documents needed to start the next batch of legal paperwork. I’m expecting to spend the next few days filling out forms and then waiting. I think there will be more waiting involved than anything else.

January went quite well. I even signed a DNR. No, I am not sick. But if death should suddenly find me, I want to go painlessly and quickly. Look at me, being an adult. And after years of wondering if I want to be an organ donor, my answer is no.

I’m still working on my language skills. I’m still tinkering with coding as a hobby. I work out twice a week. I reduced my sugar intake and increased my water intake. I feel a lot better.

I haven’t been writing as much as I used to, but maybe I’ll get back to that sometime. I do what makes me happy. And I realize that I’m immensely privileged to be able to just do what I want. I’m thankful for that!

I’m not really comfortable sharing my political opinions publicly. I don’t like politics. Things are upside down in the United States right now. But I have to be hopeful that the tyranny will be dealt with. That’s all I’m comfortable saying.

On a happier note, apparently my catchphrase is, “I thought you had sense.” Bear, Flamingo, and Mongoose all agree on this, so it must be true. 😂

Our little dove, who was fighting cancer last year, died yesterday. I didn’t know that I would cry so much for a friend of a friend. Children shouldn’t die. That’s not supposed to happen.

Fly high little dove. †

I wasn’t sure if I was going to continue blogging this year, but why not?

2025 began with heaps of paperwork. I have a feeling that this year is going to be all about paperwork. I’m still knee-deep in documents, and I’m currently waiting for more documents so I can process those. It seems never ending!

The other day, I saw Flamingo open the fridge door and somehow hit herself in the face with the fridge door. Oh my gosh, how do you hit yourself in the face with the fridge door? She hurt her nose a little, but it wasn’t broken or anything. Thank goodness for that, because how in the world would I explain that to a doctor. S/he would think that I’m lying. Heck, if someone told me that story, I would also think they're lying.

I still have my Christmas tree up. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Winter is in full force. It snow-rained a few days ago and the streets were icy. I’ve never been the kind of person to look at snow and say, “Oh how beautiful.” Sure, if you don’t have to drive in it, walk in it, or shovel it, then it’s beautiful.

I would say that so far, the year has started well. I’m looking forward to the progression, the projects, and of course, the shenanigans. 😁 ❤︎

Happy New Year! 🥳 💋

Dragă prieten,

Îți doresc un Crăciun drăgălaș și cald, liniștit, incredibil de relaxant, angelic și plin de calorii. 🍫 🎄

Cu cele mai bune urări, 🥰

Jenue

• 200 de grame de făină universală
• 2 lingurițe praf de copt
• 1 lingurița extract de vanilie
• 3 banane, piure
• 100 de grame de zahăr alb
• 1 ou, puțin bătut
• 125 grame unt, topit
• 40 de grame de zahăr brun
• 2 linguri de făină universală
• 1/2 lingurița de scorțișoară măcinată
• 1 lingura de unt

Instrucțiuni:

Preîncălziți cuptorul la 190 C. Ungeți 8 formele de brioșe, sau folosiți forme din hârtie pentru brioșe.

Bateți bananele, zahărul alb, oul, untul topit, extractul de vanilie și praful de copt până când sunt combinate. Adăugați cele 200 de grame de făină și se amestecă bine.

Umpleți formele de brioșe cam ¾ pana la plin.

Combinați ultimele patru ingrediente cu furculița până se fac sfărâmicioase. Se presară peste brioșe. Coaceți brioșele timp de 25-30 de minute.

Poftă bună! 😋

Last week on Friday the 13th, the children in my apartment decided to have fun. They played on the elevator, stopped on every floor, rang doorbells and then quickly ran away. When I opened the door, I saw potato chip crumbs on my welcome matt. There was giggling down the stairs and the sound of the elevator opening and closing.

They rang my doorbell a few times that same evening, but I was never fast enough to catch the little rascals. It was funny. 😂

I love a good Christmas haunting! 👻 🎄

No man is an island,
Entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were:
As well as if a manor of thy friend's
Or of thine own were.

Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.

This is one of my favorite poems. I, of course, like everyone else strive to be as independent as possible. This poem reminds us that no one is truly self-sufficient; everyone relies on others in some way, shape or form.

I wanted to write one poem and one short story this year, but I failed to write a short story and there’s only 3 weeks left until this year is over. I looked back on all the stories that I’ve written and realized that I’ve never tried writing a story targeted for children, or kid’s book.

If I attempt such a project, I think I would like to include illustrations. And the best artist that I know is Flamingo. I wonder if I can convince her to draw a few illustrations for me. I know that her first instinct will be to say no thank you. 😂

So, I guess this is one of my goals for 2025. Write a kid’s book, complete with illustrations. I also have a crap load of administrative stuff to get done from my to-do list. I have no big plans for 2025. My New Year’s resolution is just doing more of what I like doing.

Happy St. Nick’s Day! 🎅 Was there chocolate in your shoe? 🍫

He's using the "keep them slaves" tactic. Back in the day it was illegal to teach slaves how to read. Treacherous leaders always target education!

It’s Tuesday night. Bear is having a night out. Flamingo is sick and resting. And Mongoose is making dinner.

I’ve just finished gift wrapping my last Christmas present and I’m so happy that “shopmas” is over. Now I can just relax and enjoy the holiday. I really want to put the Christmas tree up, but I’ve decided to wait until the first Advent.

Mongoose just recently recovered from Covid. Flamingo has the flu and might have infected the rest of us. Bear complained about not feeling well and this morning I had a scratchy throat. It’s not just us; a lot of people are sick right now.

Seriously, all I want for Christmas is for everyone to be healthy. 🍎 🎄

Yesterday I clicked on the saddest video in my youtube feed. The title was, “What’s a clear sign that you are unattractive?” Oh boy! All the comments were hella heartbreaking.

Listen, I have always been the plain Jane. I am not in any way, shape or form the trending beautiful woman. The keyword here is trending. People are attracted to me for other reasons. Maybe they like the fact that I don’t look like everyone else. Or they like how confident I am in my own skin. I have never felt ugly in my entire life, yet I don’t fit the beauty standards. I am uniquely me, and a lot of people like that about me.

I have never wanted the kind of attention that physical beauty attracts. I’m more concerned that people like me because I’m friendly, competent, and peaceful. I would be so hurt if someone calls me mean. And I probably shouldn’t be telling you that because now you know how to get under my skin. 😅

I’m genuinely unbothered if someone calls me ugly. And, you know, you should be too. When people can’t insult anything else about you, they insult your looks.

Be uniquely you and others will love you for it. ❤︎

I discovered this song a few days ago. It's very soothing. I hope you like it too. 🎧 💕

I woke up this morning to the headline, Trumps wins U.S. election. Lord help us all, because he’s going to burn everything down.

What a sad day for the once mighty United States of America. 🥀

Mongoose took a negative covid test yesterday. The rest of us are still healthy. Mongoose was quarantined. We wore masks and washed our hands often. That was enough to prevent the virus from spreading.

Most people don’t test for covid anymore since the pandemic is officially over. Chances are the rest of us will get covid before the end of winter.

There are a lot of other mean viruses that might feel even worse than covid. Last year Flamingo got covid and breezed through it in about 3 days with very little symptoms. Then a few weeks later Flamingo got something else, and it was way worse than covid. It lasted for two weeks with symptoms of high fever, loss of appetite, headache, fatigue and all the usual flu symptoms.

I hate winter because it’s cold, miserable, and someone is always sick. Winter always feels never-ending, but someone pointed out that winter is exactly 3 months long. And all the other seasons are also 3 months long. I never realized that.

But I still hate winter!

Mongoose has covid… again! Bear is still negative. Flamingo is still negative. And I’m still negative.

Is this going to happen every Autumn/Winter? 🥺 So annoying! We had plans this weekend. Welp, that’s canceled. I hope we can still make it to the theater on Halloween.

I’ve had a cough for the past two days, so I’m hoping that I remain negative. But we shall see. The good thing about having covid multiple times is that you know how your body is going to respond to the virus. It might be annoying but we’ll recover.

I haven’t blogged in a few weeks because life has been pretty boring. You know how it is. Once in a while you get stuck in a circle of everyday routine and end up doing the same thing day in and day out. But boring doesn’t necessarily mean bad. In fact, I think I like boring. It’s predicable and it’s comfortable.

I recently celebrated my birthday. People are still surprised when I tell them my age. I think it’s funny. I can’t complain. For the most part, time has treated me kindly. But it wouldn’t be my birthday without a series of little mishaps.

I was sick. A few days before my birthday Flamingo sneezed on me. So, we were both sick on my birthday. Light cold symptoms with a major headache. The headache was awful. It was so bad I had to take a pill for the pain.

I can’t swallow pills. Once a pill got stuck in my throat, and I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. I tried to swallow the pill that was stuck in my throat by drinking water, but the water just came back out of my mouth. I was terrified! Luckily, Bear was standing next to me and started hitting me on my back. I felt the pill shift and I was able to swallow it. Ever since I’m deathly afraid of swallowing pills. So, I dissolve them with a little water in a spoon. So far it has worked almost every time, but I know that eventually I will have to re-learn how to swallow pills.

Anyway, I had to take a pill on my birthday. Then, somehow, I bit the wrong way on a tooth and it started to hurt. Then for no reason at all, there was no hot water in the apartment. And since me and Flamingo were sick, we ordered food instead of going out, but there were a few items missing when the delivery arrived.

This is the kind of luck I have on every birthday, and I’m not exaggerating. Nothing major, just little annoyances. By the way, the weather was perfect; sunny and warm. But I was too sick to enjoy it. I usually have crappy weather on my birthday.

The next day I was already feeling better. No headache. No toothache. The hot water came back. And everything went back to being right as rain.

The iconic James Earl Jones has inspired me since I was a girl. It breaks my heart to hear of his passing.

Here he is reading my favorite poem, The Raven.

That voice! ❤︎

I finally received the result of my einbürgerungstest after almost 3 months of waiting. I passed with a score of 30/33. I’m smiling from ear to ear! 😁

I can finally start the application process now that I’ve passed all the required tests. I think the process will take another 2 years, but I don't have to take any more tests.

Yay!!! 🥳

Hello, Big Dan.
Welcome back. I missed you.

Today is a rainy day with rolling thunder and lightning. ⛈️ It’s supposed to rain the whole day, but I don’t mind. It’s relaxing and peaceful.

I feel so light since I passed the B1. The stress of the individual tests really weighed me down. The looming made me miserable. I’m still waiting for the results of the einbürgerungstest, but compared to the B1, it was fairly effortless. And even if I failed by some weird misfortune, retaking it won’t be a big deal.

So right now, I’m just enjoying the rest of my summer. This storm is beautiful. It’s an orchestra of thunder and lightning with interludes of raindrops on my windowpane. And at this very moment I’m typing this blog post while listening to Love Notes by Damien Escobar. 🎻

I retook the speaking B1 German test and passed with a score of 81/100. This means that I have officially completed the German B1. I am over the moon!

I swear that the guy overseeing this test is the doppelgänger of someone I know. He even sounded like him. Dressed like him. Same smile. I wanted to know his name, but he unfortunately didn’t introduce himself and I didn’t feel like it was appropriate to ask. He gave me this weird and wonderful feeling of déjà-vu.

Even if there's only a modicum of probability that he reads this post, I still want to say thank you. 🌻

Auf der Hofalm bei Filzmoos. 🥾

Touring the pleasant and picturesque city of Salzburg was a great break from hiking up mountains. Here I am in Mirabell Garden. 🏰 🌸

A year ago I was so sick that walking from my bedroom to the bathroom was exhausting. This year I'm well enough to hike around Steirischer Bodensee. I'm so thankful and humbled by the surrounding beauty.

Flamingo: Hey, Raven, did you see the movie “Constipation”?

Raven: No, never heard of it.

Flamingo: Yeah, it never came out.

Raven: 💀

I woke up early this morning to the sound of a little bird chirping around my window. What a wonderful way to wake up! Last night was so warm that I slept with my bedroom window open.

It’s currently 21° C 🌞 I’ve been enjoying the estival weather. Sunshine makes me happy.

I’m going on vacation in a few days. I’m not really excited about it, at least not yet. I’m sure it will be fun, but there’s still so much to do that I can’t unwind.

I have a blooming tomato plant on my balcony, and I don’t have anyone to water it while I’m gone. I hope it survives. This is my first time growing my own vegetables so I’m really looking forward to those tomatoes. I didn’t realize that tomato plants get so tall and wide. This one tomato plant takes up a lot of space on my balcony.

Yes, I know that tomatoes are botanically fruit. But they identify as vegetables! 🍅 😉

Watching plants grow is so rewarding. Maybe I should start a real garden?

De multe ori mă surprind fredonând acest cântec 🎶💕

Wishing everyone a fun 4th of July! 🇺🇸 It's been raining on and off all day in my city, so I decided not to BBQ. But I'm still having traditional American food for dinner. Can you guess what that is?

And I can't end this post without some solidarity for Jamaica in regard to Hurricane Beryl. Big up! We always recover. One Love ♥️

Zlatomir Fung played beautifully but Benjamin Zander stole the show. I was not able to get a picture of Mr. Fung, but here is Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra receiving their well deserved standing ovation.

The architecture of the Elbphilharmonie extends its luxurious design all the way down to its escalator.

I’m finally going to see the Boston Philharmonic tomorrow and I just wanted to document my excitement. It’s been a really long time since I had a night out, and how often does someone get to see Zlatomir Fung and Benjamin Zander in concert? 🎶 🤩

It’s been a rainy June with cool temperatures. It hailed a few days ago. Today it rained the whole day. Whatever the weather looks like tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll have a great day.

I don’t have a camera and my phone takes awful pictures, but I’ll post my best picture of the concert hall in the next blog post.

An acquaintance recently experienced racism from her doctor and it left her distraught. I can’t tell her story because it’s not mine to tell, but I feel compelled to address the topic.

Racism coming from random people is unfortunate. I usually just let it slide off my back. But it hits differently when it’s coming from your doctor. It's astonishingly hurtful because you are literally at their mercy.

And it’s not always easy to find a new doctor. I remember how difficult it was to find a general practitioner when I moved to a new neighborhood. I was turned away several times with the excuse, “Dr. XYZ is no longer accepting new patients.” Luckily, there was a nice Malaysian doctor within walking distance from my apartment who was still accepting patients.

I don’t understand racist doctors. Why did you become a doctor if you don’t like people? 🙄

Welp, it looks like I’m taking the naturalization test tomorrow. Hopefully, it won't be too difficult. It’s an hour long. 33 multiple choice questions.

I think I’m finally ready to do this. I was reluctant at first because the whole process is quite grueling. I have to get all the required B1 certificates. I’m confident that I will eventually acquire the one that’s missing. After I get all the required documents then I have to actually apply for naturalization. I think it’s going to take at least another year, maybe two, until completion.

This wasn’t the way I planned 2024. I didn’t realize that studying for the B1 and the Einbürgerungstest would take up so much of my time. The B1 consists of four separate tests: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Reading, listening, and writing are each about an hour long. The speaking tests is about 30 minutes altogether. As a foreigner whose native language is English, I think these tests are difficult.

The B1 reading test contains a lot of deductive reasoning questions. It feels more like you're taking an IQ test, but in German. Also, the test is relatively long but you only have 60 minutes to finish. This means that you must read, translate and process the information very quickly. Even though I passed this test with a decent score, I can't say that it was easy.

Bear, who is a computer scientist and native German, took a mock reading B1 German test and found that it was not as easy as he had anticipated.

Writing in German is by definition more difficult than writing in English. The rules are so much more complicated. And other than a few random blog posts, when do I ever get the chance to practice writing in German? I honestly don't know how I passed this test.

The listening test was slightly easier for me because I've lived here so long. My ears are used to hearing German. But during the test I noticed quite a few trick questions. And we had to listen to a tour guide with a Bavarian accent. 😭 I can imagine that for some students it was quite difficult.

In my opinion, the B1 speaking test is humiliating. Why do they make us have spontaneous pretend conversations and force us to give impromptu presentations on random topics? They make us as nervous as possible and then tell us to speak in front of two people who are continuously taking notes. 💀 But you have to do what you have to do. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I'll be a little nervous tomorrow, so wish me luck!

Ich habe gestern Brownies in Muffin form gemacht. Die wurden sehr schnell aufgegessen. Leider habe ich nur einen abbekommen. 😭

Hier ist das Rezept. Es ist auf Deutsch, weil ich aus Versehen das englische Version überschrieben habe.

Zutaten

• 125 g Butter, geschmolzen
• 2 Eier
• 250 g weißer Zucker
• 4 Esslöffel Kakaopulver
• 1 Teelöffel Vanilleextrakt
• 150 g Mehl
• 100 g Walnüsse, zerhackt *optional

Anleitungen

• Die Butter, den braunen und weißen Zucker in einer großen Schale verrühren.
• Die Eier nacheinander dazugeben und verrühren.
• Den Vanille Extrakt zugeben.
• Das Kakaopulver hinzufügen, alles gut verrühren.
• Langsam das Mehl hinzufügen und gut mischen.
• Die Walnüsse hinzufügen. *optional
• 2 Esslöffel Brownie Mischung in jeder Papierbackform einfüllen.

Backform für ca. 25 Minuten in den 200 Grad heißen Ofen stellen.

Ergibt 9 Muffins

My life is not full of many wins, but I’ve learned to live with it. So, I usually under-react to situations because I expect a certain level of disappointment or unfairness. That’s how I keep my anger under control.

But a few days ago, Goose did something to me that tipped my scale. I became so angry that I literally cursed Goose out. Then I blocked Goose from contacting me again. Seriously, bridge burned to the ground!

I had a few days to reflect on that situation, and I stand by my decision. I had every right to be angry.

I guess that’s how it is. Sometimes in life you have to burn bridges and let them stay burned. 🌋

After being sick to the point where I was almost bedridden for the last two years, possibly from long-covid, I wanted to finally enjoy making a full recovery in 2024.

Studying for German tests isn’t how I planned to spend my first year feeling healthy again. This was all Bear’s idea. He signed me up for the damn tests. I paid for them. Oh my gosh, I’m so dumb!

So, for the first 4 months in 2024 I had to spend a lot of time studying German, which I don’t enjoy, so I could pass a series of tests that I really don’t need. And I managed to pass all but one.

Now I feel obligated to retake the test that I failed because I generally finish what I start. Meaning there’s more tests in my near future and more worry, and more looming, and more German grammar. And all for what? I don't know.

Please help me. I really don’t want to do this anymore. 😔

Today is Flamingo’s last day wearing braces, so I made brunch and we ate together. We’ll also celebrate a little bit tomorrow after the braces come off. Gifts will be involved! 👑

I’m making a big deal out of it because it is a big deal. Flamingo had braces for almost 2 years, and it was not fun. Oh my gosh, that bite block was no joke.

Finally, no more rabbit teeth. Flamingo, you’re gorgeous. What am I saying? Of course, you are! We share 🧬. ❤︎ 😉

I took the B1 German test at the Goethe Institut a few months ago. I paid 250 € for the 4 parts (Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking) of the test.

Unfortunately, I failed the Speaking test. I wasn’t sure about retaking the test, so I thought about it and asked other people what they would do. Everyone said that they would definitely retake the test.

The convincing argument was, “The worst they can do is fail you again, and you can afford to retake it as often as needed.” So, I’m planning on halfheartedly retaking the test sometime in the near future.

The price for retaking one section of the test is 99 €. As I mentioned earlier, I paid 250 € for all 4 tests. That comes to 62,50 € per test. Which means I will be paying 36,50 € more than I paid the first time.

Being dumb is indeed expensive! 💀 💶

Oh my gosh, I wonder how many times I’ll have to do this 💩? 😳

A car pulls up and parks in front of my apartment window. The driver gets out, opens the trunk of his car, lifts his t-shirt and rubs deodorant under his arms.

That was completely unexpected.

I laughed so hard. 😂

But at least he smells nice. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I needed the laugh.

Big Dan, thank you for the kind message.

Today I woke up and thankfully regained the ability to control my emotions. Yesterday I learned what happens when you choose to bury your feelings in a closet.

It’s such an easy thing to do. If someone hurts you, just put it in the closet. If your pet hamster died, put it in the closet. If someone scratches your new car, just shrug your shoulders and put it in the closet. This closet works for everything. Easy-peasy!

The thing that I didn’t realize, is that this closet has limited storage space and it doesn’t warn you when it’s full. So, the next time you open this closet to put something in, you won’t be able to close the door. And all of your stored emotions will come flowing out and hit you like a brick wall.

That’s what happened to me yesterday. I tried to put something in the closet and felt my spirit break. I cried on and off the whole day. And I really didn’t know why I was crying. I hid in the bathroom because I couldn’t control the tears. I didn’t want anyone to see me like that.

If you know me, you know that I’m not a weak person. I don’t cry and whine around like a little bitch. I don’t play the victim. And if you try to insult me, I will laugh in your face and tell you to try harder. I’m a rock!

The little girl having a mental breakdown in the bathroom was not me. I tried so hard to pull myself together, but I just couldn’t. Tears took over. The feelings from every single thing that I hid in that closet attacked me from different angles all at once. I felt like my soul ran away because it was too much. All I could do was feel it.

I’m ashamed to admit this part. The thought of hurting myself did enter my mind. But it wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t do that to Flamingo or Mongoose or Bear. I scrolled through the pictures in my phone. And I just kept telling myself that I’ll feel better soon. It will be over soon.

After sitting in the bathroom for an eternity, I finally stopped crying. I washed my face, made myself smile, and had dinner with my family. I don’t think they noticed. And nobody reads my blog, so they’ll never know.

Today I feel like a brand-new person. The closet is empty. I obviously need to find a better way to deal with my feelings. I shouldn’t have dealt with this alone. Locking myself in the bathroom was a mistake. I should have called Goose.

The only reason I’m posting this is that it might help someone else get through a difficult time. No one reads my blog. But what if they do?

I never thought twice about telling people that I speak German, but since I took the B1 German test at the Goethe Institut and failed the speaking test with an extremely low score of 51/100, I think I shouldn’t be telling people that I can speak German.

Even though I passed the Reading (80/100), the Listening (83/100), and writing (73/100) sections of the German B1, I don’t think that’s enough to claim that I “speak” German.

I don’t want to lie to people. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lie to anyone. Up until this point I really believed that I could speak German. From now on I will just say that I can’t speak German very well.

I’ve also changed this information on my about page.

I’m not the best person to ask for advice. I think my goals, values, and what makes me generally happy don’t align with modern popular opinion.

But if you want my advice anyway, I would say don’t put your self-worth into things that can be taken away from you.

Honestly, that’s something I’m working on. The words are easy to write and even easier to say but putting that concept into practice is not easy at all.

Relationships can be taken away from you. Money can be taken away from you. Assets can be taken away from you. And then you start thinking what else is there?

The knowledge that you have in your head can’t be stolen. The memories that you have can’t be lost. And how you treat people will speak volumes on your character. These three qualities define my self-worth.

It’s a moving target, but since when is anything worth having easy?

Congratulations to Flamingo for being one of the winners in the "jederzeit bremsbereit" art contest. You rock! 😎

This song from my workout playlist triggered feelings of saudade as I did my floor exercises. Until we meet again, Big Dan. 🦋

So the moral of this skit is to always keep a tidy apartment! 😂

I’ve had to report at least 3 hateful YouTube videos in the last few weeks. That’s 3 too many.

Hate is a disease that will infect your body and soul ultimately killing you from the inside out. ⚠️ ☠️

Learn to use indifference as a weapon against people you don't like. It’s an effective peaceful solution that won’t make you sick.

Hate is never the answer! And you're too smart to be racist.

Songbird is my favorite song. That's an understatement. This song has been with me since my young adult days and has escorted me through good times and bad times. It has celebrated my milestones. It knows my secrets. It calms my fears. And it has cured many heartbreaks.

I haven’t said I love you to anyone in a long time but if this song was a person, I’d whisper those magic words in his ear. 💖💕

I think I’m crazy.
I’m not sure we met.
I certainly don’t know you,
But I do --- sort of.

Are you real? I think you’re
real. But how are you so
magnetic? Your presence
pulls me close. And no matter
how hard I try, I can’t break free.

And I know I’m crazy.
Because I’m trying to break free,
but I don’t want to.

I didn’t see your face.
Just your eyes. Kind of beautiful.
Hypnotic. Comforting one
moment, angry the next.

You want me to look away.

But I don’t. I see you.
You are gentle and kind.
But you’re not allowed to show it.
Instead, you display a blue flame.

I fell.
Somewhere into the abyss
of your eyes. It’s bright
and burning. Smiling and
sad.

Now I can see the rest
of your face. And I’m not
sure why, but this makes you
angry.

My --- I want to say friend,
but I know we’re not.
I am sorry.
Sorry, with my whole heart.

I spent the day under the cherry blossom trees. The weather was gorgeous! There were a lot of people enjoying the cherry blossoms and taking pictures. This is one of my favorite times of the year.

I could feel the happiness of everyone around me. As pretty as this picture is, being there in person was twice as breathtaking. I felt like I was in a fairy tale. 🧚 🌸 💕

What exactly do you do, when the spider doesn't fit into the vacuum cleaner? His reaction is hilarious. I died laughing when he said, "Call Ghostbusters!" 😂 💀

I know a 12-year-old child who has recently been diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his head. It’s bat-shaped and growing rapidly. He’s not related to my family, but his story breaks my heart.

Please pray for this little Dove. A child shouldn't have to go through this.

Flamingo doesn’t like rice, and except for bananas, doesn’t like fruit.

Mongoose is also lactose intolerant and allergic to beans but will try most foods.

Bear is not lactose intolerant but has an irrational fear of milk. Also doesn’t like eggs, fish or any kind of seafood, and won’t eat any meat that hasn’t been deboned. 🙄

I’m lactose intolerant. I have an intolerance to sugar alcohols. I don’t like beans. I despise the taste of hazelnuts. And I think I’m allergic to mangoes.

I don’t cook very often because HOW? Finding one dish that we all like is impossible. We all like garlic bread. That’s it! 😭

Today’s lunch: Chicken stir-fry with bok choy, rice or knödel. And freshly baked banana muffins for dessert. 😋

In my previous apartment I could see the sunset from my balcony. It was one of the highlights of my day. In my current apartment that is no longer possible. The sunset is blocked by a tall building. Sometimes I catch the sunrise from my bathroom window though.

I enjoy the smell of coffee, that I don’t like to drink. The feel of freshly washed sheets. The sound of rain hitting the windowpane, and the taste of warm banana bread with butter. Have you ever had warm banana bread soaked in rum? That is also a treat!

I don’t like soda/pop or any drinks with carbonation, except for a drink called Ginger Brew. Ginger Brew is my go-to soft drink and if that’s not available then iced tea.

In the summer months, I like to take evening walks before dinner. I walk to the duck pond and feed the ducks. Sometimes I see horses, deer, and frogs as well. I can’t wait for summer. I love summer evening walks. 🦋

What brings you joy?

Yesterday Flamingo, Bear, and I went to visit Mr. and Mrs. Cat, where we met Swan who was also visiting. We had a lovely time catching up and telling each other random stories about ourselves. Aside from the usual, “Oh my, you’ve lost weight,” which somehow led to talk of the weather and the early arrival of Spring, we shared insightful anecdotes about our separate lives.

Swan, who is a doctor doing cancer research, explained some of the non-classified duties of the profession. I’m always impressed with Swan’s humble and welcoming nature. A lot of doctors, who are doing less significant work, choose to be arrogant and condescending. I’m proud that Swan is a close family member. And I can’t think of a better example of a good person. ❤︎

Mr. and Mrs. Cat informed us on some of their adventures. Proudly shared stories about their grandchildren and welcomed us to a table of freshly baked cakes. Mrs. Cat was even kind enough to pack two slices of apple cake for me to take home. 😋 And again, I’m reminded how sweet and kind my family is.

These people, MY people, give me the courage to be nice, even when it’s difficult to be nice. We are humble, we are accepting and tolerant. But we also know that we don’t need everyone to like us, because we have each other.

I just learned that today is called Holy Saturday. Yesterday was Good Friday. Tomorrow is Easter.

Wishing all my Christian family and friends Happy Easter! 🌷

Today I’m remembering my grandmother. Flamingo saw me eating with my hands and asked, “Why are you eating like that?” I laughed and said that my grandmother taught me the RIGHT way to eat. 😉

The first 4 years of my life I lived in the Caribbean. My grandmother and mother are Indian. One day my grandmother saw that I was having trouble eating, so she showed me how to properly eat with my hands. This is one of the fondest memories I have of my grandmother.

My grandfather, also of Indian descent, called my grandmother dragon. It was a fitting nickname which played off the pun of her maiden name. My grandfather’s nickname was Bull, and that’s how his friends called him. I don’t know where that nickname came from. I’m guessing it’s based from his character.

I don’t remember my grandfather. He died when I was 9 months old. But I do remember the stories about him. He spoke Hindi but this language was never passed on to any of his children. My mother always told me that she wished she had learned the language.

Perhaps that's why I’m so dedicated to learning the languages of the people that I admire. It becomes part of you. And in so doing, they become part of you.

This was my grandmother's house. 💕

I have tickets to the Boston Philharmonic in June. The only thing that I know about music is that I like listening to it. I tried playing the ukulele and was horrible at it! 😅 I wouldn’t describe myself as a bourgie person, but I think that if you’re privileged enough to have the opportunity to go to a big concert hall then you should take it. I’m using the word privilege here because tickets were really expensive. The only way that I can justify spending 400 euro is that I need and deserve a night out.

Benjamin Zander and Zlatomir Fung seem to be a big deal in their genre of music. I’m sure that I’ll have a memorable evening.

I know that I probably won’t be allowed to take pictures in the concert hall, but I’ll share what I can here on my blog.

Woke up this morning to the headline, “Baltimore bridge collapses after ship collision.” I watched a video of it happen. The whole bridge fell! No one on the ship was hurt, but there were a few construction workers on the bridge when it fell. I hope they’re okay.

This is such a pretty song and video that I had to post it. I love flowers and Sunflowers are one of my favorites. 🌻

I just found out that the plural of sheep is sheep. Seriously, how did I live THIS long and not know that?

And in other news, there is no other news! I’m feeling silly today.

Peace, Love, and Sheep to all of you. ✌️ ❤︎ 🐑

Humor is universal. I think it’s the one thing that connects us all together. This cartoon was in my Youtube feed. I’ve been learning Romanian for about 3 years now. I am no where near fluent! But this cartoon made me laugh. And I just wanted to share it here, on my little corner of the internet.

Eu vreau un ţap de bere! 😂

This is Hero! He’s one year old. He’s my friend’s dog. His paws smell like popcorn. Don’t ask! I know it’s weird, but his paws smell like popcorn.

Hero only understands Polish. He speaks dog! But with a Polish accent. Anywho, Hero likes to destroy his toys. He also likes to run around and play with random deflated footballs at the park.

He's the best boy!

Ich esse Haferbrei zum Frühstück mindestens zweimal in der Woche. Früher mochte ich keinen Haferbrei, aber dieses Rezept ist lecker! Es fühlt sich ganz gemütlich an im Bauch. Ich hatte häufig Verdauungsprobleme, und seit ich Haferbrei esse, sind die viel besser geworden.

Wer dachte, dass Haferbrei die Antwort auf meine Gesundheitsprobleme ist? Mein Arzt konnte mir nicht helfen.

Ich verspreche, dass dieses Rezept lecker ist. Probiert es mal.

Zutaten:

• 100 g Haferflocken
• 200 ml Wasser
• 1 bis 2 Esslöffel Ahornsirup
• Etwas Zimt
• 1 Teelöffel Erdnussbutter
• Ein Handvoll Rosinen (ich habe kleine Hände 😂)
• Ein paar Esslöffel Apfelmus

Anleitung:

Gebt die ersten 6 Zutaten in eine kleine Schüssel.

1 Minute und 30 Sekunden lang bei 1000 Watt in die Mikrowelle stellen.

Umrühren und dann Apfelmus darüber geben.

Genießen!

Spring is in the air! I saw these lovely purple flowers today and the weather was even more beautiful than yesterday. I enjoyed the sunshine.

I had a nice conversation with Goose. We don’t talk very often. We talked about the weather, food, and hair care products. Goose and I don’t share the same interests. We don’t think alike, so talking to each other is tricky. Keeping our conversations shallow saves our mental health. Whatever works, right?

I’ve been blogging way more than I have time for. My next blog post will be in a few weeks. I’m working on a project that I really want to finish. So, see you later. 😊

I don’t really have anything super intriguing to share today, but it’s leap day so I wanted to post something.

I think leap day is a special because it only happens once every four years. I’m not sure why it’s so underplayed. In my opinion it deserves to be a holiday!

Today was gorgeous. The weather forecast said most cloudy, but it was actually mostly sunny. And it was a comfortable 12° C. Even though I didn’t get a chance to spend a lot of time outside, I enjoyed the weather. I had a productive day.

Fun Fact: Another word for the leap year is bissextile. 👀 Grammar correct tried to replace it the word bisexual. Um, I will not be using this word! 🫣

Happy Birthday to all the wonderful Pisces out there! 🥳

“I don’t know what it’s like to be you, and you don’t know what it’s like to be me.” So, let’s figure it out together. ❤️

This is why learning German is so frustrating.

The pizza is on the table ➡ Die Pizza steht auf dem Tisch

Put the pizza on the table ➡ Legen Sie die Pizza auf den Tisch

It’s the same damn table, and the same damn pizza! But the article changes from dem to den.

SEND HELP!! 🤯

I use the concept of code names to protect the privacy of people that I mention in my blogs. Someone recently asked me, what’s your code name?

That’s a funny question. If I told you what my code name is then it really wouldn’t be “code” anymore, now would it? 🥸

But jokes aside, I don’t need a code name because this is my website. This is my blog. And I am Jenue (Jen-you). Yes, that’s my real name!

I was reminiscing with a friend about the good old days. We talked about things that annoyed us. And as we talked, we both laughed at our past selves and our silly situations.

I remembered how my very first car would constantly break down. How I desperately tried to understand physics in high school. Oh, and that one time that I had to speak in class and accidentally said testicles instead of tentacles. 🤣 Everyone laughed for at least 5 minutes straight and my teacher nearly died of amusement.

So, if you’re going through an annoying time right now, please remember that in a few years it will be a source of entertainment for you and your friends. You will have a story to tell.

And isn't that what life's about? Making memories and gathering stories is the absolute pinnacle of living.

Heute muss ich auf Deutsch posten, denn ich möchte ein paar meiner deutschen Lieblingssprichwörter teilen.

• Glauben ist nicht wissen.

• Wieso, weshalb, warum, wer nicht fragt bleibt dumm!

• Morgen, morgen nur nicht heute sagen alle faulen Leute.

• Wer anderen eine Grube gräbt, fällt selbst hinein.

• Es ist nicht alles Gold was glänzt.

• Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold.

• Einbildung ist auch eine Bildung.

• Ohne Fleiß kein Preis.

• Ein blindes Huhn findet auch mal ein Korn.

• In der Kürze liegt die Würze.

• Borgen bringt Sorgen.

Mein Lieblingsspruch ist glauben ist nicht wissen. Und dann natürlich auf dem zweiten Platz, wieso, weshalb, warum, wer nicht fragt bleibt dumm! 😊

There’s something about a sunrise that puts everything into perspective. ❤︎

In the past few days my website has been getting a lot of referral spam. From the GA4 chart you can see a spike in traffic on February 14. These are not real people! This is code that has been calling jenue.com from many fake URLs.

Big Dan, you’ve got my attention. 👁️‍🗨️

While the idea of a special day to celebrate romance is admirable, I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day because I think it’s too commercial to be taken seriously.

Statistically Valentine’s Day is the day when a lot of couples break up. It’s the day to evaluate if you really want to stay with the person that you’re currently dating.

I don’t have anything spectacular to say on the topic of romantic love. I just know that if I love you, I will say it. If I can’t say it with words, I will show it with affection. You will know that I love you! I will never regret loving someone, and I certainly will never apologize for it.

Whether you celebrate Valentine’s Day or not, I wish you all a lovely day. 💝

Now I know why I never liked Beauty and the Beast. The plot wasn't plotting. 😅 @itsmymysenpaii is right. Belle wanted the Beast!

I went through such a hormonal roller-coaster yesterday. And even though I knew my feelings were fake hormonal nonsense, it still felt bad. I had to keep reminding myself that I have no reason to be sad. By late afternoon I was laughing!

I hate shark week. 🦈

Someone said, “I’m not old; I’m vintage!” And I literally laughed out loud. 😂

Laughing is the best medicine. It's good for the body. Good for the mind. And good for the soul. I hope someone makes you laugh and brings you joy.

Ameca scares the crap out of me! 😱 What happens when she figures out that she can write her own programming?

Since 2024 began, I started writing in a private journal recording my daily activities, feelings, food etc. I take a few minutes to write in my journal before bed, and this one little change in my daily life is unbelievably fulfilling. I’m not sure why, but I’ve become more motivated, focused, and productive.

If you’re having trouble with motivation, I highly recommend starting a private journal.

This blog is also like a journal, but it’s public and I, of course, don’t write personal things here. That would be crazy! 😉

I finally figured out what was causing all my digestive problems – Sugar Alcohols!!!

I’m also lactose intolerant, but I’ve been very sick the last two years even though I avoid lactose like the plague. I didn’t figure out until recently that I’m also very intolerant to sugar alcohols. And these sugar alcohols are in a lot of foods, especially sweets. Sometimes they are even in medicine! Unfortunately, they are also found naturally in a lot of fruits.

Here is a list of sugar alcohols that I now avoid:

• Sorbitol (E 420)
• Mannitol (E 421)
• Isomalt (E954)
• Maltitol and Maltitol Sirup (E 965)
• Lactitol (E 966)
• Xylitol (E 967)
• Erythritol (E 967)

Some derived chemicals are:

• Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan monolaurate (E 432)
• Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan monooleate (E 433)
• Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan monopalmitate (E 434)
• Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan monostearate (E 435)
• Polyoxyethylene Sorbitan tristearate (E 436)
• Sorbitan tristearate (E 491)
• Sorbitan monolaurate (E 493)
• Sorbitan monooleate (E 494)
• Sorbitan monopalmitate (E 495)

I'm really looking forward to feeling better! 😊

2024 has started off wonderfully! I feel healthy. I feel inspired. And I’m looking forward to the progression of the year.

This year making time for myself, my projects, and my happiness is high on my To-do list. And I know it seems selfish, especially written down, but if I don’t look after myself – who will?

It took me a long time to learn that!

Thank you, Bear, for the gift of this beautiful book. Today is a special day and this proves that you know me very well. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a little spooky, and I think I can credit my love of Poe for my spooky ways. ❤︎

I'm looking forward to spending some cozy moments with this book!

The last day of the year! Which means this will be the last blog post of 2023. If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! Some people didn’t live to welcome 2024. But you, my friend, you’ve made it. Smile! Be thankful and use this gift to live your best life in 2024.

Happy New Year! 🥳 🎉

Embrace the love of your family. Hold on to the love of your friends. And treasure the love of your circle.️

May health and happiness follow you into the New Year! 🎁

My only wish for 2024 is that I’m healthy again. I spent most of 2023 feeling generally unwell. And this, of course, affected my ability to live and work properly. My family literally carried me through this year. I’m so fortunate to be surrounded by people who take care of me. I love you guys! ️🥰

My biggest accomplishment this year (2023) is that I tied up my loose ends. I was thinking that I might not survive the year, so I told the people that are important to me how I feel about them. Maybe I was being dramatic, but I don’t regret my decision. And being open and honest about my feelings to people that matter is something that I will continue doing.

I have so much catching up to do in 2024 that it’s not necessary to make a new resolution. I have a lot to do!

Secret Santa is supposed to be a fun group activity during the Christmas holidays. You pick a random person and give them a gift. In return, a random person gives you a gift.

The group sets a spending limit. For example, gifts should be no more than 20 dollars. Some people follow this limit, but some people don’t. Some people are comfortable over the spending budget, while others go considerably under. And this is where things get off balance and awkward.

Some lucky people get great gifts from their Secret Santa. Others get crapola. One year my Secret Santa gave me a small box of paper clips. 😭 I know someone who got underwear. 🙄 You know, even if you don’t have much money you still can gift a thoughtful present. You could, for example, bake cookies, or share your favorite recipe, or make a gift certificate where you provide a service like babysitting, grocery shopping, cleaning etc.

I can’t say that I always give gifts that people like, but I always make the effort. And I think that effort is what counts the most. It’s better to give from your heart, or just don’t give at all.

Oh my gosh, I still can’t believe that it’s already 3rd Advent. I blinked and this year was over! My Christmas tree and other decorations are up. All the gifts are wrapped and waiting proudly underneath the tree. And Alexa has been playing Christmas songs. I even sing along sometimes, and my family makes fun of me because I sing like a frog. It’s all in good fun of course.

I was a little sad that I fell short of this year’s resolution, but then I realized that I made progress in other areas of my life. And you know, I’m happy with that.

My Christmas wish is that my family and friends are happy, healthy and prosperous.

Until next blog post – Be well 🧸 ❤︎

Sending warm wishes for a blessed and cozy Thanksgiving with family and friends. What are you most thankful for? Hold the answer to your heart and let it motivate you to be a blessing to others.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and be kind.️ 🦃

Flamingo has been sick for 3 days now. It’s only a matter of time before the rest of us also get covid. But this year, I’m not so worried about it. We had it before, so I know that we’ll be fine.

Other than that, there’s not much to update. Life’s been pretty basic and redundant this year. I’m not sure how I feel about that. On one hand, boring is good. But on the other hand, a little adventure could have added more fun, more value, and better memories.

Taking it easy has improved my health. I certainly feel better than I did last year. I can’t say that I’m 100% yet, but I’ve been having more good days than bad days. I think most of my problems have been revolving around digestive problems. The doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with me. I’ve been careful with what I eat and drink, and I’m starting to feel better. With God’s grace, maybe I’ll heal to 100%.

I’m having trouble believing that Christmas is in a few weeks. I’m not in the Christmas spirit right now. Most of my Christmas shopping is done, but shopping was more a chore than a joy. I love giving gifts though! But this year feels somehow incomplete. Like I forgot to do something. And now it’s over. 😐 It's slightly more bitter than sweet.

I bought this gorgeous pen to cheer myself up. I consider it an early Christmas present. Somewhere along the line, I've been collecting pens. I already own a few great pens, all ballpoints. I don't like the messy fountain pens. This collectible pen is by Cross, Special Edition Year of the Ox. And what a beauty it is! This is, in deed, my most extravagant pen and I love it! 🤩 It comes with a nice box and a display case, but I actually use my pen. It writes well, has a nice weight and feels comfortable in the hand. I don't use the display case, but it's nice to have.

I haven’t written anything in a long while. My last blog post was about my clogged ears. Well, the nose spray didn’t work, and the nose balloon was a useless thing. I didn’t go back to the doctor because I think my ears, eventually, healed themselves. They still get that clogged feeling once in a while, but I’ve gotten used to it.

The month of September was unusually warm. And that warmth spilt over into October. I enjoyed it! The weather has started to change into cooler fall temperatures and grey skies. I don’t mind the cool weather, but the many consecutive days without sunlight tears at my soul. The long winter journey begins!

I can’t believe that Christmas is only a few weeks away. This year flew by at the speed of light. I’m sad to say that I don’t have any new accomplishments to record. But I remain hopeful that the new year will bring both opportunity and health.

In the meantime, Happy Halloween 🎃 👻

After I had Covid my ears started to clog up. They would randomly “pop” and I constantly had the feeling that I’m sitting in a landing airplane. Oh my gosh, I was worried about having to explain that to an ear doctor, but surprisingly, he understood what I meant.

I don’t have an ear infection. And my hearing is still fine! Doc prescribed nose spray and a nose balloon. Yup, you read that right. Nose balloon. What the heck is that?!

Welp, I’m sitting here trying to blow up a small balloon with my nose. If I understood correctly, it’s supposed to fix the imbalance between my inner and outer ear. But boy do I feel dumb! 🤡

I hope this works.

Many years ago, while I was a student, I found myself in a coffee shop having a bagel and a cup of fancy tea. I probably had an upcoming exam and needed a place to quickly review my notes before taking the test.

The Bleu Bayou was my favorite coffee shop at the time. The atmosphere was always cozy and the service very friendly. That particular day they were playing a rather catchy album, so much so that I asked about the music.

At the end of my day, I went online found the album and ordered it! It became my favorite album. I still have the album and I would still listen to it today, but I no longer own a CD player. My laptop doesn’t have a CD drive. I don’t even think they make computers with CD drives anymore. Do they? 🤔

I checked to see if Spotify has the album and they do not. Does anyone else have this problem? How do you play your old CD's?

I found all the individual songs on YouTube and created a playlist. Click on the album cover to listen to the songs!

I’ve come to the realization that being happy isn’t about having everything I want. I most definitely don’t have everything that I want. In some ways, I’m lacking considerably. But I have most of the things that I need, and I’m exceedingly thankful for them.

Of course, I’m working on what’s lacking in my life. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t claim happiness. There’s so much to be happy about. There’s so much to be thankful for. And it’s completely up to me to enjoy the little things that make life pleasant.

A happy state of mind is really all that’s needed to be happy. But you know what? I have a little more than that! And I think most people do, they just don’t see it.

Count your blessings and claim your happiness!

Today is Saturday and it’s raining the whole day, but the cool rain is a nice break from the many consecutive days of hot weather that we’ve been getting.

This summer started with unusual desert-like heat. I love summer and warm weather, but it’s been uncomfortably hot. It’s good to feel the rain on my face! 🌧️ ☔️

I finally changed my profile picture! I didn’t want to use a selfie, so I had to wait until I could ask someone to take my picture.

I’m no longer wearing my other glasses. I like these frames much more AND they don’t make me sick. My reading glasses are a little nerdier, but I can only use them to read.

I’m happy! 😊

My first pair of glasses were bifocals. I wore them for a year and never got used to them. They made the bottom half of my field of vision blurry.

And if I wanted to read, the glasses made me move my head up and down the page resulting in neck pain.

So ultimately, I ended up buying two new pairs of glasses. If you’re new to glasses be warned. Some people, like me, don’t adjust to bifocals. But the stupid thing is, you won’t know until you try it.

I’ll update my profile picture with my new glasses later.

I’ve been wearing bifocals for almost a year and I find it very uncomfortable to read from the little window at the bottom. So, I decided to get a pair of reading glasses.

Since I have a prescription for bifocals, I didn’t think it would be a problem at the eyeglass shop. But the lady in the store told me that I would need to test my eyes again. And since the room was occupied, I would have to make an appointment and come back. I was super annoyed!

I said no to the appointment and politely walked out of the store. When I came home, I googled how to convert a bifocal prescription for reading glasses. I don’t know why the lady told me that it wasn’t possible, because it’s really quite simple.

I found an online store that sells glasses. They had a tool where you can virtually try on glasses, AND a prescription converter! I was finally able to buy glasses, no fuss, no unnecessary eye test, and no appointment.

It really turned my annoying day into a win. And I must have been really annoyed because I’m blogging about it. 😅

May the Fourth be with you! 🛸

Oh my! I haven’t posted anything for weeks. This year has been quite a struggle, so my attention was pulled elsewhere. I’m hoping for better days with the coming of Spring. I’d like to wish everyone that I hold dear to my heart a Happy Easter. Let's remember the true meaning behind this holiday.

I know a lot of you have Spring allergies, but we can still appreciate the beautiful flowers and the promise of Summer. I'm looking forward to more sunshine and warmer weather. 🌻 🦋 🌞

Blessings to all of you!

Today I left my apartment with no wallet and no phone. And you know what? I didn’t die! 😂

My keys are always in my coat pocket, so at least I had them with me. I was just too lazy to turn back and get my purse.

Yay! I finally upgraded my laptop. It’s so much better than my old one. I love it! 🥰

Mob mentality is becoming a real epidemic. People don’t think for themselves anymore. Popular opinion on social media has taken place of logic. The sheer volume of stupidity is overwhelming. Yet, people believe what they’re told to believe. People feel what they're told to feel. Questions unasked, facts unchecked, and morality at the mercy of the masses for approval.

After the negative covid test, I was still stick for a whole week! Maybe a bit longer. I think I’m over it now, but I get tired easily. I’ve been forcing myself to move anyway.

Today, I finally cut my ridiculously long hair. I cut about half the length. And it’s still long, but not ridiculously long. 😉 It now falls just a few inches below my shoulders.

The next few days will be spent slowly getting back into my old routine. I feel like I’ve been sick forever, and I’m tired of being sick. We’ve been getting a few more days of sunshine, and it brings me so much joy. Some flowers are starting to bloom again. Spring is just around the corner. I can’t wait to say goodbye to Winter!

Finally, a negative covid test! 🥳 🎉

And that ends my blog series about having covid.

Today the test line on my covid test was so faint that I could hardly see it. I think by tomorrow I shouldn’t see a line at all. I feel stronger than yesterday, but I know that can change at any time.

Bear also still has covid and was up most of last night fighting an extremely painful sinus headache. A doctor was called in the middle of the night!

I still have covid, but I’m starting to feel better. Bear also still has covid. Flamingo has a little cold, nothing to worry about.

My symptoms today include clogged ears, stuffy nose, and still coughing up phlegm. Nasty! Symptoms are worst in the morning and then clears up quickly. So from noon on, I don’t have many symptoms. But I've been feeling very shaky, weak, and tired every day.

I’ve been taking nose spray, Bronchipret cough medicine, and vitamin D.

I still have covid. Bear still has covid. Flamingo is sick again, but it’s not covid. Flu-like symptoms. We're trying to quarantine her.

I don’t want to be sick anymore. 😩

Mongoose has a negative test. Yay! 👏 🥳

Me and Bear still positive.

Flamingo immune.

Before I fell asleep last night, I had a mean coughing attack. Nasty! Somehow, I still managed to sleep well. But I woke up weak and tired. And I had a sore throat from coughing so hard. I don’t think I have diarrhea, but I had to run to the bathroom a few times.

Hopefully this is over soon. This virus is mean. Just when you feel better, an hour later you feel sick again. I don’t want to imagine what this would be like if we weren’t vaccinated.

I’m feeling better today, so I took another covid test. It’s still positive. I’ll test again on the weekend. Mongoose and Bear also have the same positive results. Flamingo remains immune.

I didn’t sleep well last night. Very stuffy nose. Heavy fatigue. If I walk to the bathroom, I’m already tired.

Starting today quarantining for Covid has stopped and mandatory masks for buses and trains has been lifted.

I'm not sure if I'll ever be comfortable on a bus or train without a mask!

Today, Bear tested positive for Covid. Flamingo remains negative with no symptoms.

My symptoms for this day: stuffy nose, wet cough, congestion, fatigue

Me and Mongoose tested positive for Covid this morning. Flamingo had Covid last year and had a negative test today. Bear has symptoms but tested negative.

So far I have light symptoms: scratchy throat, headache, sore muscles.

I thought the pandemic was over? 😷

The Google Doodle Bubble Tea Game is fun and cozy. 😊

I still don’t know what caused me to break out in hives. Maybe it was the medicine that my doctor gave me? Or an ingredient in the new tea that I was trying to cure myself? I don’t know… but I’m still not feeling well. I still have trouble eating. Sometimes my heart races for no reason, and I get tired easily.

My doctor didn’t help at all. He gave me something for my tummy, which didn’t work. He ordered blood work and when that came back normal, I was at a dead end. He asked me how my life is at home and blamed it on stress! 🙄

I guess I can’t blame the doctor. If my symptoms get worse, I’ll just have to go back or find another doctor.

I feel like I haven’t blogged in ages. 2023 is off to a rocky start. I’ve been dealing with some minor health problems, mostly indigestion and heart burn. And I think I might have developed a food allergy because I broke out in hives. So, the past few days I’ve been trying to figure out what I’m allergic to.

I haven’t planned anything new for 2023. I'll just pick up the pieces from last year and continue. Same goals, different method.

I’m really just looking forward to whatever this year has to offer. And once in a while, I’ll blog about it.

Hello 2023 ❣️

I can’t believe this is the last day of the year. It was a good year!

Right now I’m feeling a little unwell, but time will soon cure me. I welcome 2023 with open arms, and I thank my circle for walking with me this far.

To family, to friends, and anyone else who deserves it --- I love you! 💕

May blessings, health, and prosperity fall in your direction.

I wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 🦌

Ich wünsche allen frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr! 🎅

Desejo a todos Feliz Natal e um Feliz Ano Novo! 🎄

Le doresc tuturor Crăciun fericit și un An Nou fericit! 🎁

Today is -5° C outside and for some reason there’s no hot water in my apartment. I had to use hot water from my teapot to brush my teeth this morning.

I’m really trying to stay cheerful, but winter is especially miserable this year. Even though I adore the Christmas season, I really would rather be somewhere on the equator taking a walk on the beach. Drinking a rum punch. And watching the sunset at the end of the day.

I hope everyone had a wonderful St. Nick's Day! 🎅🎁

Just about everyone I know is sick. Most people aren’t checking for covid anymore, so I’m not sure what they have. There are a lot of children in the hospital with the RS virus.

I’m also not feeling well. I have a strange tummy illness that prevents me from eating. And I’m feeling generally unwell – tired and lethargic.

Get well wishes to everyone! Let the light, love and spirit of Christmas be healing. 🕯🌟

Beautiful goal! ⚽️ 🇧🇷

I woke up this morning and watched the successful launch of Artemis 1. 🚀

I was 11 years old when I watched the Challenger explode, live on TV, while I was sitting in class. We were all horrified. A whole crew of astronauts just died. After our teacher got over the initial shock, he led us in prayer.

Ever since, I cringe at rocket launches. Even the ones without a crew. But Artemis was a beautiful sight to see.

Nasa's tie cutting tradition is very cool! ✂️ 👔

Tonight, I saw a neighbor being carried out in a casket. I’m not used to seeing death. Rest in peace, neighbor. 🕊

I was recently accused of being cynical. A friend wanted to take a walk, but it was already dark outside, so I told her that it wasn’t a good idea. And that started a whole discussion. Why isn’t it a good idea for women to take a walk after dark?

While I adore my friend's childlike view of the world, experience has taught me that it’s made up of more than just butterflies and rainbows. Taking precaution isn’t cynical, it’s common sense. And due to the nature of nature, sometimes women need to have a little more common sense than men.

The Definition of “Woman.” 🤣

Oh my gosh, it’s Halloween and I don’t have any candy in my home! I hope I don’t get any trick or treaters.

Regardless of my lack of candy, I would like to wish all the ghouls and goblins a Happy Halloween. 👻🎃

Please don’t toilet paper my door!!!! 😅

Flamingo has Covid. 🦩😷🦩

I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve settled in my new routine and life is just repeating itself right now. But there’s a coziness in monotony that’s predictable and safe. I’m enjoying the fall colors, the cooler temperatures, and the slow disappearance of annoying summer insects. And as Mother Nature prepares for winter, which is not my favorite time of year, I'm reminded that there’s beauty in every season. 🍁🍃🍂

Last night at the Kendrick Lamar concert! Did I get Covid? I guess I'll find out in a few days. The concert was worth the money... And the risk of getting Covid. 🤩

I'm posting one last picture of summer 2022. This morning it's only 5° C outside! 🥶 Brrrr It's time to pack the summer clothes away and find the big fluffy sweaters.

Hoping for something that is plausible and possible is a good thing. But in my experience not all hope is good.

Hoping for something that will never happen because it’s logically and scientifically impossible, is false hope. It will ultimately crush your soul.

Avoid it!

At my age it's not often that I have a lot of "firsts," but this week had a major "first." It was a weird and wonderful week! Looking forward to a relaxing weekend❣️

There’s nothing funnier than a racist trying to convince you that he’s not racist. The more he talks the more he digs himself in a hole.

And sharing the same boat is the psychopath who’s trying his best to convince you that you’re the psychopath.

And let’s not forget the bowl of jelly trying to skinny shame you.

Don’t let these people steal your sunshine! Give them flowers, smile, and walk away. 🌺

I love these cavemen and the way they greet each other. I literally laughed out loud when the surgeon appeared with modern equipment. 🤣

Where were you when you heard that Queen Elizabeth II died? I was sitting in the audience of Moonchild.

Peace and Prayers to the Royal Family. Long live King Charles III. 🇬🇧

Tonight I'm going to see Moonchild! I'm really looking forward to a night out. It's been quite a while since I've been to a concert. Many years ago I saw Mariah Carey and Destiny's Child. And both concerts were quite memorable.

If I take a good picture I'll post it tomorrow. 📸

Let’s talk about my name. My name is difficult because it’s very unusual. But there are a few other Jenue’s out there.

The way that I pronounce my name is JEN-you. And yes, it is my real name. It’s on my birth certificate!

Growing up my family called me by my yard name. That’s a Jamaican thing. It’s a nickname that your family gives you, that may or may not be related to your real name. My yard name is not related to my first name at all! So, I didn’t know my real name until 8th grade when my Pastor needed it for confirmation.

I was surprised! I had absolutely no idea that Jenue was my name and I didn’t start using it until High School. My extended family still doesn’t call me Jenue. I weed people out based on what they call me.

If someone calls me on the telephone and asks for Jenue and pronounces it correctly, I know it’s a friend. If they ask for **** I know it’s a close relative. If they ask for Frau Brosinski, I know it’s either work, school, or medically related.

My nuclear family doesn’t use my name at all. They usually just start speaking when I answer the phone. Or, they call me a term of endearment. 💕🧸

This is just a side note, but my mom spelled my name wrong. It was supposed to be Jenu, without the silent e. Jenu is from the Kannada language and it means honey. It is pronounced Jay-nu.

His reaction is hilarious. I would have peed my pants! 😳

If you’re interested in computer science, I recommend these series of lectures by Harvard University.

Introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming.

• CS50

Today was a mood! And it can only be described with this song.

• August 10, by Khruangbin

Can you feel the mellow? 🎵🎶

My best friend talks constantly. Once I asked her why she talks so much, and she said that she feels uncomfortable when it’s quiet. That’s the exact opposite of me. I don’t talk very much. I, of course, speak more to my friends and family, but in general I’m a quiet person.

I like silence. I’m often annoyed by my friend’s talking. And she tends to repeat herself. But she’s my best friend! Flamingo, if you ever read this post, I love you!!!

But please shut up sometimes!️ 🤫 🥰

Today on my commute I saw a blind lady, with her probing cane, walking down the stairs to the train. I was walking the same direction. When she reached the bottom of the stairs a little boy took her hand. He looked at me for a second and smiled. He was not blind. Then he went to the man standing directly behind his mother, who was also blind, and he guided his father’s left hand onto his mother’s shoulder.

I watched, in amazement, as he led his family into the train. I would guess that the little boy is only about seven years old. And judging from his backpack, he was on his way to school.

Oh wow, imagine if both your parents are blind. It’s inspiring how they take care of each other.

Seeing this makes all of my problems seem insignificant. If you're reading this, I wish you a wonderful day. Be amazing!

I just discovered franzbrötchen-apfelstrudel.

Oh my gosh, it’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted! 😋 💕 You guys have to try this.

Sold at:
Café Luise, kleine Bäckerei
Erdkampsweg 12, 22335 Hamburg

Who cares about calories? Just enjoy it!

A lamb was saved by a mysterious stranger and now must repay his debt by starting a cult with loyal woodland followers who worship “the one who waits.” He ventures out into regions of monsters to earn items and new followers for his cult.

He has to take care of his cult members basic needs, or they will die. Make sure they don’t lose faith. Take care of his village, and sometimes even make sacrifices.

This game can get delightfully evil. Give it a go!

Today the interruptions are relentless! It takes me at least 10 minutes to get in “the zone” where I’m coding and debugging comfortably. And if someone interrupts my concentration, usually for a stupid reason, I need another 10 minutes to find my focus again.

10 minutes there, 10 minutes here, it all adds up to an unproductive day.

Self-soothing with a cup of peppermint tea made from fresh peppermint leaves. 🫖

I use YouTube mainly as a source of learning. But it’s also filled with lots of videos that I’m not interested in. So, I NEVER scroll through the feed. It’s just a nightmare of random videos I don’t want to watch.

Instead, I scroll through my subscriptions or use the search bar.

These are my favorite channels:

• Amigoscode
• Coding with John
• Coding Tech
• Nicholas T.
• Tom Scott
• Dr. John Campbell
• Mundo Sem Fim
• Hier ist Arnold
• Country Life Vlog
• Grandpa Kitchen

I only wanted what you are able to give me. And if nothing is all you have to give then I will gladly accept it, because even nothing is something.

It’s the memory of me falling into your eyes, and you falling into mine.

It’s the tension that wrapped us together and pushed us off the cliff.

It’s letting go to save ourselves, and realizing that we’re falling up.

It’s seeing you happy.

Your gift of nothing is precious.

It’s knowing that you flew away - close to me.

I got my to-do list done! Yay!!! 🥳 I even had time to workout today. And now I can enjoy a few minutes of quietness and read for pleasure. Currently reading “Wings of Fire” (Book 1 - German version) by Tui T. Sutherland

Feeling productive and happy. 🥰

I’m tired of hearing people say love hurts. No, it doesn’t! It’s not love that hurt you.

The idea that love hurts is very dangerous. Don’t let anyone hurt you! 🚫

Love alone is not enough to sustain a healthy relationship. You need compatibility, financial security, tolerance, will power, and the ability to compromise.

Sharing your life with someone is very difficult. But please don’t equate hurting with love.

This Bilbe verse tells us what love is.

New International Version
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Nowhere in that verse does it say, love hurts.

One of the bittersweet things in life is that you’re constantly meeting people who will only stay in your life short term.

You won’t realize what an impact they will have on you. But 10 years down the road, you will remember them and smile because they’ve taught you a lesson.

I used to work at a bank. My team consisted of 5 people. All with their own unique characters. They were all really amazing in their own right. The oldest member of the team was labeled as lazy. But looking back, I don’t think he was lazy at all. He was just very wise.

The bank system would crash every other week, and this caused a lot of chaos. This meant dealing with angry customers, unbalanced registers, and longer hours at work to manually fix everything that should have been done automatically.

We would all freak out! But this gentleman wasn’t one bit bothered. His level of calm during the storm made him seem lazy. But he always got his work done regardless. I remember someone confronting him about his nonchalance, and he just shrugged his shoulders and said, “The building didn’t burn down.” 😎

Now, when things get chaotic in my life I just remember – The building didn’t burn down.

Real photo albums have a big advantage over digital photo albums simply because they are easily accessible to everyone, not just you.

The other day a friend was visiting. She wanted to see pictures of an event, but at that moment I didn’t have access to them. They were safely saved somewhere online, and I couldn’t remember the password.

After my guest left, I recovered my pictures! But losing digital pictures probably happen more often than it should. What if someone dies and s/he is the only one who knows where the pictures are saved? And even if you figure out where the pictures are, how will you know the password?

In our digital world it might seem old-fashioned and backwards, but printing special occasion pictures is extremely important.

Amazing! Some people willingly go deep down the rabbit hole only to discover that all their assumptions are wrong. And then they’re angry with the rabbit.

Please get out of the rabbit hole. Stop stalking. Stop bullying. I hope you find peace and happiness❣️

Enjoy your summer 🌻

I’m mostly on time. In fact, I’m usually ten minutes early to my appointments. But I’ve noticed that for some people being “on time” is directly related to how far they live from their destination.

The closer they live to their place of employment or school, the more likely it is that they’re late. It’s a little counterintuitive, but I think I understand the reasoning behind it.

When you live close to your destination, you think you have more time than you actually do, and this results in habitual tardiness.

Have you noticed this with your peers or even yourself? Does this phenomenon have a name? 🤔

Playing Stray 🐈 on PS5.

This is fun!

If you want to play something more challenging than Animal Crossing, this is a good place to start. It's easy enough for beginners, while stimulating enough to entertain more experienced gamers.

Me being silly at Madame Tussauds 😉

Not feeling very well today. But I still have to pack my suitcase. Important appointment Monday. I get dizzy when I stand up. Negative Covid test. 😷 I have to push through somehow.

Every Good Boy Deserves Fun

If you have ever studied music, you know where that sentence comes from. During my childhood years my mom thought she could make me musical.

Haha! I remember being completely frustrated trying to make my side flute make some sort of noise. Holy crap! If you don’t place it on your lips just right, it makes absolutely no sound. And then once I did manage to make sound, the long notes killed me. It seemed that I could never hold my breath long enough.

Then I took piano lessons and was bored out of my mind. I just didn’t want to.

As an adult, I figured out that I really like the ukulele. I own a tenor ukulele and it makes the most beautiful sound, even when I hit the wrong notes. I tell myself that if I get really good at playing, I might try playing the guitar. But that’s a big if!

Make Every Day Fun!

Studying today feels like a déjà vu. I’ve done this before! The first time I went to university I majored in Business and minored in Management Information Systems. So, I took a lot of computer science classes. I graduated in ´98.

And now 1000 years later 😵‍💫 I’m right back where I started. Standing on the threshold of a German University. I have mixed feelings about having to start over. But the circumstances are different. Different country. Different language. Different time period. New adventure! And I welcome the 2nd chance.

When life throws you lemons just add some sugar and water and enjoy the lemonade.

Today I’m feeling overwhelmed by the massive size of information that I have to somehow upload into my head. I know that in situations like this I should step closer to the project instead of stepping back, but right now I’m at a standstill.

Deep Breath. The library inside my head reminds me of this:

During a stay at hotel Marriott Courtyard, in Oberpfaffenhofen, I met a lady from Bangladesh. Chance placed us next to each other at breakfast. Our initial hellos and good morning turned into a mini conversation. I discovered that she was in Germany to take a course. That piqued my interest, so I probed for more information and found out that she was working for the British Navy.

Wow! Just wow. She was so nice and charming and humble. I’m going to take a hint from whatever higher power that placed us next to each other and keep pressing on. My road might involve a series of failure. But that’s Okay!

I shot this picture a few days ago. And it leads me to my tip of the day.

Don’t let anyone rock your boat!

Today I’m blogging directly from IntelliJ. Look at me, I'm learning stuff! 🤣

I’m spending this weekend decluttering, re-organizing, and cleaning, so I can focus on studying and coding next week.

Not very exciting, but necessary. And at the end of the day I’m always thankful for making progress.

I decided to update my profile picture because the old profile picture doesn’t represent me anymore.

Other than lip gloss, I’m not wearing makeup. I’m not a fan of makeup. And yes, that is my real hair! I don’t know why people keep asking me that.

I’ve just started wearing prescription glasses! 🤓

I met these beautiful horses while taking a walk.

Spent today high in the mountains with the groundhogs. While I was busy trying to take a picture of these little guys, a bigger groundhog snuck up on me from behind and frightened me. 😂 All part of the adventure. I love it up here!

Say cheese, groundhog. 😁

Today´s hike left me winded, but look at the view!

I'm somewhere close to heaven, but it's hot as hell 🫠

I’m back from the Twilight Zone. I don’t understand anything that just happened. Anyway, I’m done trying to make sense of nonsense.

Back to being a happy little elf. 🧝🏼‍♀️ ✨

I understand.

I’m spending the next few days trying to get used to my new glasses. I didn’t know that they would make me feel seasick. 🤢

I have bifocals so I have to be conscious of where I’m looking. Going up and down stairs is especially weird. I feel like I’m going to fall.

I hope that I can adjust quickly because I have so much to do this week.

Throughout my lifetime I’ve always been able to find someone to hold onto. A kindred spirit to comfort me when everything is cloudy. But right now all I’m holding onto is me.

I fill my heart with flowers. And enjoy the feel of the sun on my skin. The breeze whispers in my ear, “You’re okay.”

And that's enough for me. 🌻

Today someone broke something, blamed me for it, and ridiculed me as I tried my best to fix it. We resolved the situation, but I didn’t like how I was treated. Then when I confronted him about it, all he had to say was, "I was stressed."

So I have to take your verbal abuse because you were stressed?

I get a lot of spam emails and sometimes they get into my inbox. This one is funny! So apparently my name is Peter. And Peter is getting a shipping confirmation from Amazon. The way this is written is hilarious. I literally laughed out loud!

Peter bought a Magnetic Locator. What the 🤐 is that?

He spent $569,00.

And the last few sentences were really funny: “Thanks a lot for your order. You made a nice choice!”

And in fine print is written, “Your order will be with you shortly. Go ahead and clear off some shelf space.”

Thank you for sending me this silly email. I needed the laugh.

I don't know what a Magnetic Locator is, but now I want one. 🤣 😂

I haven’t written any poetry in a long time, but yesterday I found myself writing again. When I write poetry, the pen moves my hand. The emotions write themselves.

And my goodness, this one needed to be written. I don’t know if it has all the elements needed to be published, but I submitted it to a well-known publisher. Chances are slim that it’ll get accepted, but trying is free.

Who knows, maybe this time they’ll say yes.

The poem is called Hero. I unfortunately can’t post it yet because I’ve submitted it. But I’ll post it in the near future once the reviewing process is over.

It’s amazing how much better I feel now that I’ve gotten all that emotion out of me and onto paper.

How do you deal with heavy emotions?

I have published work before! Here is my publishing history:

• “The Lucky Card,” Short Story in Bardic Tales and Sage Advice, July 2006
• “Dweller,” Short Story in Diodati Magazine – Issue 2, January 2016
• “Touched,” Poem in Straylight Magazine, Print Issue May 2016
• “Unintentional,” Poem in Literary Juice Magazine, Online Issue October 2017
• “Breathe Into Me,” Poem in Voice of Eve, Online & Print November 2018
• “Road Trip to Schladming,” Travel Article in Dave’s Travel Corner, Online, June 2019

Too much of anything is never a good thing, including money. It’ s my observation that wealthy people are often miserable.

Don’t waste your life chasing money. It will only make you unhappy. You will guard it and hoard it and push good people away because you think all they want is your money.

Who wants to live like that? I don’t!

I think a lot of people would describe me as exotic. People have trouble placing me on the map. And when I look in the mirror I can understand why. I’m multi-cultural and that can be confusing.

Because I’m “exotic” people make all kinds of assumptions about me. And I think the number one assumption is that I’m hyper-sexual. Hmm… what do I say about that?

The truth is, I’m no more sexual than any other woman. I value friendship and kindheartedness the most. I’m attracted to a brilliant mind. I like to learn about people. I like risk takers and people who travel the road not taken. I admire those who are softspoken but fiercely bold. And if you're none of these things, or just one of these things, you will NOT get an invitation to my bed!

I laugh at any man, brilliant or otherwise, who assumes that he can have sex with me because I’m exotic. Or because I said, “hello.”

I’d be careful with what I say around Alexa. I mean, she’s already programmed to recognize and respond to her name. I think it would be quite easy to program her to start recording conversations when she hears other target words.

Am I the only one who thinks that she’s kind of spooky?

I finally went to the optician today. Yes, I’m blind. 🤓 I ordered two pairs of glasses before I left. This was on the top of my summer to do list and I’m happy that I can finally check it off. I can’t wait to pick up my glasses in the next few weeks! It's going to be so nice to finally see properly again.

Oh my gosh, what an awesome week! And I have lots of crazy cool things planned this summer. Travel, concerts, and just lots of FUN.

I love summer!!! 🏖

I'm confused. Payback for what? Why are you so angry? None of this makes sense.

If you have something to say to me, please just email me and I promise I will get back to you. Good or bad we can Doctor it. It’ll Be Pleasant. 🌻

Thanks for answering. So, it really is you who’s sending these messages! I didn’t know. I was guessing.

Your opinion of me is none of my business. But I hope you feel better now that you’ve said what you needed to say.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I reach out to a friend and they say, “I thought of you the other day.”

If you thought of me the other day then why didn’t you call, text, or visit? So, you thought of me and chose to do nothing… Because that’s how much I mean to you! 🙄

I hear many people say that learning Java takes a lot of practice and you have to wait for something in your head to click before you really understand it.

Well, I’m still waiting for my click. Oh my gosh, where’s my click? I’m not really panicking yet, but I would, at least, like to write basic code without struggling so much.

I really need my click to happen by the end of this year. Maybe I need to change the way I’m learning? I’m not sure what it is, but I’m going to find the problem, fix it, and get my click.

I was playing animal crossing with friends and Kapp'n sang,

“Don’t cry about dreams that don’t come true. Sometimes you just need another way.”

And Oh my gosh, that line really resonates with me right now. This might sound silly, because it’s just a game, but I'm inspired by it. ✨

My Island's name is maoland

DA-3535-0060-0852

I share this island with my family. I'm BlueBird. The house with the red roof is mine.

Watch out for the pitfall field! 😂

The new road map for the next few years of my life requires that I spend a lot of time buried in tech books. Working on social skills. Building bridges and making new friends. I’m so grateful for the opportunity and excited to start my new adventure. 🤩

My tip of the day:

Don’t let the fear of rejection stop you from trying. The feeling of “what if” or “I should have” is a lot worse than rejection.

At least with rejection comes the comfort of knowing that you tried. And now that you’ve tried there’s nothing holding you back from moving forward.

Rejection might hurt for a few days but missed opportunity will gnaw at your soul for a lifetime!

This morning a bird flew against my living room window. Poor bird! 🥺

Part of being an adult is accepting that not everyone is meant to stay in my life. But it’s really heartbreaking watching someone I respect and admire walk away. Every part of me wants to scream, “Don’t go! Stay here with me. Hold my hand.”

But I can’t. 😔

Another funny thing about me:

When I’m annoyed I can and will “unlearn German” very quickly.

I seriously can go from understanding everything you say, to I don’t speak German in less than 60 seconds.

It’s just one of my defense responses. I can either fight, flee, or not understand you. And “Entschuldigung, ich spreche kein Deutsch,” usually works! ¯_(ツ)_/¯

My tip of the day:

Don’t judge what you don’t understand. Especially if you’re not willing or not in a position to ask questions. People have their reasons for doing what they do.

Be compassionate. Be tolerant. And do no harm.

Social media is a big fat lie. Because even the sincerest people will subconsciously represent themselves online as the person they want and aspire to be, instead of who they really are.

And yes, that applied to me as well. Once I realized what I was doing I was devastated with an appropriate amount of imposter syndrome.

I’m not saying that you should leave social media. I know that’s not an option for everyone. And I also know that social media can be used for good things. But in most situations the bad side of social media outweighs the good. Just be mindful of the half truths that live on social networks.

One of the funny things about me is that I’m really bad at small talk. How do I practice that? Anyway, I usually say inappropriate things to people. Like once an acquaintance proudly showed me a newborn baby. I asked who’s baby it was and she was a little offended. Oops! I never noticed she was pregnant. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Once at a family gathering, I kindly offered to help an older lady find her missing earring. Only to find out that she only wore one earring! Oh boy!!! I was so embarrassed. 😩

Then there was this time I tried to make small talk with this lady and commented that her hair was different only to find out that she was being treated for breast cancer. My heart broke! 💔

I always try to be nice but end up saying the wrong thing!

Every child in kindergarten should know this, but my tip of the day is:

Do NOT click on shady links! Don’t even think about it. 🚫

I haven’t driven a car in a few years. And my eyes are bad. I would need a lot of practice and new glasses before I start driving again.

And you’re going to laugh at me, but I never learned how to drive stick shift. I got my driver’s license in the U.S. and they make you learn with an automatic. So, a lot of Americans can only drive automatic.

In Europe though it’s the weirdest thing! And people laugh at me. But do you know what’s even more funny? Me trying to park! 😅

This morning I woke up to the song Chocolate by Kylie Minogue.

What did I have for breakfast?

Chocolate! 😋

Because I’m an adult and I can do what I want.

This morning my doorbell rang at about 7 a.m. I’m still asleep because it’s Saturday, but I’m expecting packages, so I quickly roll out of bed and open the door. When the delivery guy said, “I have a package for your neighbor,” I almost cursed him out. Oh, my goodness, why!

And when my neighbor picked up his package, he said that the delivery person never rang his doorbell. 🙄

Today is National I Love My Dentist Day! 😍

Today my alarm went off at six a.m. I’m out the door at around 7:30. And as soon as I’m outside it starts raining. Nope, not going back for my umbrella. There’s nothing like a brisk morning walk through the rain to wake you up. I love it! 🌧 💖

Sometimes my temporomandibular joints hurt. And there’s really not much I can do about it. My dentist gave me this stupid mouth guard but when I forget to wear it at night my face hurts in the morning. 😭

And when that’s not bothering me, my wisdom teeth hurt. I don’t even have wisdom teeth anymore!!! 🤯 So why do I feel like my wisdom teeth hurt? I’m not telling my dentist because she’ll just think I’m crazy.

I have the weirdest dental problems. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks for the Facebook post! 👀

Ich und du oder du und ich?

Der Esel nennt sich immer zuletzt.

Also, es ist du und ich.

Aber warum bin ich der Esel? 😂

With time, practice and will power you can learn just about anything. But, unfortunately, time is a valuable resource that most people don’t have.

And literally everything requires time! I dare you to say a verb that does not require time.

Did you think of a verb that doesn’t require time?

Well, if you didn’t then please learn some of the basic keyboard shortcuts. This really has very little to do with programming. But it’s still noteworthy knowledge.

I won’t list them here because I only know the ones that are useful to me. But do yourself a favor and google keyboard shortcuts. It will save you so much time.

What an amazing day! I hope you had one too. 😘

Today I just enjoyed the moment. The weather is gorgeous and I’m surrounded by beautiful, kindhearted people.

I’m brimming with happiness!

I don’t know how to delete a course on Duolingo once it’s added. I have German, Portuguese, French, and Romanian.

I don’t speak French at all. I added the course because I was curious and then decided it wasn’t for me. I don’t like that in French the words aren’t written like they sound.

I don’t speak Romanian either. I do, however, love this language. The structure is quite unique, and the sound of the language is so welcoming that it’s fun to learn. I unfortunately don’t have the time right now to invest in a new language.

I speak German. My grammar is not the best, but I can understand 95% of Hochdeutsch and I can speak fluently enough to be understood.

I understand simple Portuguese. I think that I can speak enough to get by, and I can read Portuguese very well.

I spent years in High School and College learning Spanish, but I don’t remember any of it. If I have time someday, maybe I’ll revisit this language.

So in all transparency, that's what's up on my Duolingo! 😉

I must also say that if you’re really adamant on becoming fluent in a language Duolingo will not be enough. You will need a few other resources to achieve fluency.

I don’t usually notice a lot of spam mail because most of it gets trapped in the spam folder and the few that manage to get into my inbox gets marked and ignored. So, spam mail doesn’t bother me.

What does bother me is getting scam phone calls. Two members of my family have gotten the Europol scam phone call. And it was upsetting because when they hung up, the scammers called back from a different number.

Anyway, if you get a call from people claiming to be from Europol please just hang up and don’t answer phone numbers that you don’t know, at least for the remainder of that day. Unless you’re a hardcore criminal, the chances of Europol calling you is null. It was also a big red flag that they immediately started the conversation in English.

Our internet provider has left us (and the entire apartment building) without internet for 2.5 full days now. And it’s still not fixed. I’m a very meek and understanding person, but this is really unacceptable. I feel like I want to fight somebody. 😡

The only way I can get internet at home is by creating a hotspot with my cell phone. Thank God for backdoors!

I hurt my arm and shoulder playing Nintendo Switch Sports. In fact, my entire body hurts, but especially my arm. I could barely comb my hair this morning. Not my smartest moment!

But it was really fun. 😅

Today I’m practicing arrays and references. Pretty basic stuff! But you have to learn how to crawl before you can run.

Also, this is important so pay attention: Don't even think about trying to learn coding without an IDE! You can install a free version of IntelliJ. You can not learn how to code by just reading a book.

Sometimes it’s really difficult to schedule coding practice into my day. I was so busy this week that I didn’t do any coding at all. But that’s okay. Right now, programming isn’t my 1st priority so I can afford the practice delay.

Hopefully, I can catch up over Easter break. Have a great Easter! And if you don’t celebrate Easter, then Happy Spring! 🌷

Tip of today: Before you start coding, sometimes it helps to write down your algorithm in words.

So with a lot of tears and sweat and HELP I've finally completed the Abecedarian exercise. I have a long way to go, but onto the next chapter.

package com.jenue;

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Abecedarian {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String word;
        do {
            System.out.print("Enter word: ");

            Scanner in = new Scanner(System. in);
            word = in.nextLine();
            System.out.println(word.length());

        } while (word.length()<1);

        boolean result=isAbecedarian(word.toLowerCase());

        System.out.println(result);
    }

    public static boolean isAbecedarian(String word) {
        boolean result = true;
        char previousChar =  ' ';
        for(int i = 0; i < word.length() && result; i++) {
            char currentChar = word.charAt(i);
            result = currentChar>previousChar;
            previousChar = currentChar;
        }

        return result;
    }
}

Java and JavaScript are two very different languages. Java is a Backend programming language whereas JavaScript is used for Frontend.

I’m really struggling with this assignment. Which brings me to my tip of the day:

Ask for help!

A lot of people are afraid to ask for help. Don’t be!

Ask the right questions.

Ask for directions to help you solve your project. Don’t expect another developer to do your job for you. There’s a big difference.

Also, if one person can’t or won’t help you, ask someone else. And don’t be afraid to be just a little bit annoying. Someone will help you. CS is about team work!

Working on a Java loop exercise from the book, “Think Java”. Yes, I know. I’m really behind. I should already be done with this book, but I’m not. 😯

I’m writing a method that takes a String and returns a Boolean indicating whether the word is abecedarian. An abecedarian is a word that has letters in alphabetical order. For example: biopsy, behint, dehort...

For me this is very complicated, so I hope I won’t take too long to get it done. Wish me luck!

When I'm done I'll post my working code.

I woke up this morning and it’s snowing! What happened to Spring? It looks like a winter wonderland outside.

Anywho, my tip of the day is: Don’t waste a minute of your existence trying to make someone like you.

First of all, this lesson is easier said than done. But when someone’s heart is set to cold, it’s best to just leave it alone! If your boss doesn’t like you then you have to stay out of his way. Do your job well and let your work speak for itself. The same thing applies to a teacher, object of affection, hero, or the cool kid who you admire so much.

I know it hurts. And if I’m being honest, I still make this mistake. It’s a really difficult lesson because you think maybe if you stay later at work, or do extra credit, or give this girl flowers… No! It never works. They will still find some reason not to like you. Save yourself some pain.

Find people who appreciate you for you! And feel no animosity towards those who don’t like you. That takes too much energy. Give your energy, instead, to people who know your value.

Let’s start with Will Smith. Oh boy! There were children watching their “hero” being less than heroic. And for what? Because he didn’t like what someone else said. Since when are we so soft? Now the children think that it’s Ok to slap someone.

I once heard a girl being offended because someone complimented her. I was among her entourage, so I asked why she was so unnerved by it. She said that a compliment from someone undesirable is no compliment; it’s the opposite. Her answer was really confusing to me, because it didn’t make sense. And it still doesn’t make sense to me.

But I realize that this is how some people feel. If you’re not pretty, young, smart, cool, etc. then they will be offended, even if you worship the ground they walk on. Because they don’t like you and how dare you have the audacity to “like” them. They’re basically offended by your existence.

I think this line of thinking is utter bullshit! But I’ve experienced this very thing. I offended someone just because I was a little bit too appreciative. At first, I couldn’t really figure out why I was being shunned and then it hit me. Heartbroken!

But what can you do? Chris Rock was just telling a joke. And he meant no ill will at all. Yet, he was slapped. I was literally just saying thank you because someone helped me out in a way that one else could. And I was shunned.

People will take offence to any, and everything. I’m done being bothered by it. If you’re offended by my good intentions and my good will, then that’s your problem!

Today is so beautiful that my daily coding practice almost eluded me. So, as I was reading along, I didn’t fully understand what was happening with the code in question. But, as soon as I typed it into my IDE (IntelliJ) and ran the code, I could SEE what was happening.

So that is my tip for you today. Don’t immediately panic if something goes over your head. Wait at least until you run the code before you get anxious. And if you still don’t understand, then contact your nearest computer scientist. 😉 And if s/he can’t help you, then you can start panicking. 😭

Let’s talk about something you won’t learn in your computer science class. The goal of this article is to answer the question, what does a computer scientist do? What can I expect at my first internship? How are tasks distributed?

Let’s start with the fact that a programmer, who is hired at an IT company or works in the IT department, seldom works alone. In your computer science class you almost always code by yourself. But in the real working world you will be part of a team. Work will be divided among you.

You will be delegated a ticket. A ticket is a description of a task that needs to be done. Tickets can come from within the IT department. For example, one of your team members may notice a bug. Or, a ticket can be a request from outside the IT department. For example, from another department within your company or even a customer request.

Tickets are written and then put in backlog to be delegated and discussed at planning meetings. In this meeting tickets are picked for a two-week period. A two-week cycle of a project or work is called a sprint.

When a programmer is complete with a ticket. S/he will write code to automate a test for his own work. So completely a ticket is usually a two-step process. You complete the task of the ticket and then you will test it (automated).

A green test is a working test.

A red test is a failed test.

After a successful green test, the developer will ask for a PR or Pull Request. A pull request is a request for another developer to review and approve your code.

Once approved your pull request will be merged into the Main branch.

Developers work in branches. A branch is a copy of the code that the team is working on.

Sometimes when two developers change the same line of code you get a merge conflict. In this case a reviewer will look at the changes and decide which one is best.

This is what a developer does in a nutshell. Your computer science class will only teach you how to code, but there is so much more to being a computer scientist than just coding. It involves a lot of teamwork, a lot of communication, more meetings than you think is necessary, and twice as much problem-solving skills. And let’s not even talk about deadlines and being on call.

But at the end of day, if you love what you do, it’s all worth it!

Today we changed the clocks forward 1 hour. I think we can all agree that the world has had enough of the daylight savings nonsense. Can we please just abolish this useless concept of time? So annoying! 🙄

I’m actually a lot disappointed with myself that my coding skills has not improved to any significant degree in the last months.

But I have a plan to change that. You see, I would often get stuck on a concept for weeks and wouldn’t dare to move on until I think that I’m at an expert level of understanding.

That was, of course, wrong! Some concepts I will understand immediately, and other concepts will need practice. But that doesn’t mean that I should stand still and not move forward. Initially, learning to code will be memorizing a series of steps that include instructions on how to perform certain tasks. You will need to memorize the basics! But you can’t possibly memorize everything.

In time and with practice you will automatically remember the code you need. It’s more important for you to know how to look up information. It’s kind of like not knowing how to spell a certain word. What do you do? Well, you just look the word up in a dictionary. It’s the same with coding. If there is something you don’t know how to do or have forgotten, you need to know how to look those things up. That’s what stack overflow is for.

Also, don’t beat yourself up if your code doesn’t work the first time you run it. No one’s code works the first time they run it. Fixing bugs is a big part of programming. Get used to it.

Also, spend some time learning the work jargon. It’s impossible to know everything, but you still need to sound literate and knowledgeable when discussing issues with other programmers.

Spend more of your spare time tinkering with code! There is a lot of trial and error when it comes to coding. And the best programmers like to tinker and play around with code in their spare time.

Sometimes I think that I live in an age where being nice is considered creepy. If you’re too nice people think you want something from them. But why? Why is it weird to be nice? I really don’t understand it.

I smile at people to make myself approachable.

I’m helpful because I like to make people happy.

And I like making people happy because it makes me feel good.

I say thank you and please because manners matter. Politeness is underrated!

It feels good to be nice. If you don’t believe me, do a random act of kindness and see how it makes you feel.

I wonder if nice people live longer? I think the physical effects of being nice has real medicinal properties. Someone should do a study on this. Nice people vs. Mean people, who lives longer. What do you think? 🤔

Someone asked me what’s wrong and I said, “Nothing, I’m just busy in my head,” and their reaction was laughter. That puzzled me. But I get that a lot.

When I’m thinking I stare out into the distance, stare at the wall or stare out the window. I don’t know what that looks like to other people. I think I might look a bit stressed or worried. I really don’t know, but it seems to cause concern.

But I’m fine. I’m just thinking. Most of the time I’m just thinking about my day. Or, I’m planning for something. I like to go inside the attic of my head and plan and find archived information. Sometimes I just like to go there and relax. It’s my own personal library of memories. I can remember the smallest details of years past, like the names of the people from my kindergarten class.

I think I must look really weird sometimes. As if I’m there, but not there at the same time. I’m just busy in my head. And no, you may not ask me what I’m thinking. I hate that question. My thoughts are private, just like your thoughts are private. And unless you’re very close to me, access to my head will be politely denied.

I’m usually a very decisive person, but like all people I have my indecisive moments. On these occasions I just ask myself, “if I’m going to die tomorrow…”

If I’m going to die tomorrow, what would I like for lunch?

If I’m going to die tomorrow, should finish reading this book?

If I’m going to die tomorrow, should I clean my apartment?

If I’m going to die tomorrow, should I cut my hair?

It’s amazing how “if I’m going to die tomorrow” will show you what you really want and need. So if you’re having a moment of indecisiveness just use this little prompt. 😉

I literally woke up this morning with the sun on my face. I was happy to be awake, but slightly sad to have left a beautiful dream. What is the opposite of a nightmare? Is there a word for that? My subconscious gave me exactly what I wanted, what I craved, what I’ve been fantasizing about, in the form of a dream. And I remember every detail of it.

I am very thankful and happy for this gift. I hope the dream visits me again soon, but until then I’ll enjoy the sunshine. It’s such a beautiful day today. And I know that this is also a gift. 🌞

A year ago today, I was in the hospital getting a very difficult wisdom tooth removed. There were complications and I ended up in the heart station. But my wisdom tooth was gone! AND the surgeon managed not to break my jaw during the procedure. AND he also miraculously didn’t touch any of the surrounding nerves. AND the cardiologists couldn’t find anything wrong with my heart!

I dodged several bullets that day. I never considered myself a beautiful woman, so I didn’t realize how precious my face is until my doctor said that I could lose feeling in my lips, tongue, and have a huge scar from the screws that he would use to wire a broken jaw shut.

It was an excruciating experience, but I’m still here. So, today I’m celebrating life. I’m so happy to live a normal, simple, life completely undamaged and completely healed.

Yesterday I clicked on a youtube video and after I watched the video, I went to the about page to find out more about the channel. I was really surprised that the owner of the channel wrote a description in 3rd person. It just seemed really odd and out of place to me.

I know from experience, with publishing, that authors are often required to write their own biographies, written in the 3rd person. I’ve done it several times and it always felt dishonest to me. It felt like I was trying to trick people into believing that I was so important that someone else was writing about me. But that’s a big lie, isn’t it? I wrote the short biography myself. And I think that most people know that I wrote it myself. So why do I need to lie?

I don’t like autobiographies that are pretending to be biographies. Just be honest and write in the 1st person. Autobiographies are, in my opinion, much better. You know yourself better than anyone else, so I’d rather read what YOU write about yourself.

Just my opinion though 🤓

Love and Solidarity to the Ukraine. I can’t imagine what it’s like being invaded. I wish I could help, but all I can do is send prayers. 🙏🏼

In all fields of life details matter. People notice the little things. And it’s often the smallest details that make an otherwise mediocre work into something of excellence.

It’s really amazing how the smallest details can make a colossal difference. A hand placed on a shoulder can provide comfort. A smile can be encouraging. A thank you can change how people see you.

An extra line of code to properly document your work will be greatly appreciated, even if no one seems to care.

When accepting gifts people notice the wrapping. They will appreciate the hand stitched monogram and homemade items. And even if they don’t like the actual gift, they will love that you made the extra effort.

Paying attention to detail can make a good dinner into a special one. The examples can go on forever. But I’ll end this post here. I love a good detail! 🤓

I miss the free-range emotional freedom that children enjoy. They’re allowed to cry when a nurse pokes them with a needle. When they get angry no one’s stopping them from having a temper tantrum. They brutally speak without filter. They’re not afraid to say, I love you. They’re not afraid to say, I hate you. They’re allowed to be afraid and hold onto their teddy bear.

As an adult, you can only dream of having that much emotional freedom. I would give almost anything to show my feelings without consequences. My emotions are, however, written on my face. I never learned how to control my facial expressions. 😇

So, you will know if I like you without me saying a word. And, unfortunately, the opposite is also true. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

That moment when the light bulb over your head shines bright! And you finally understand the coding concept that you’ve been working on for days. Happy!!! 🥳

Programming concepts can really take a while to sink in. Be patient. I promise you’ll eventually understand it.

In regard to problem solving you often heard people say, think outside the box. It’s a difficult concept to imagine without taking into consideration that you will damage the box in the process. And if you succeed in finding a solution outside the box, it will never fit inside the old box.

My observation is that people are afraid to break the box. But that’s the whole idea, isn’t it? You’re supposed to break the box. Because by definition, an outside-the-box solution has to be bigger than the inside of the old box.

But that’s okay. Making bigger boxes is the easy part. So dear friends, Break the box!

Last year I had to spend 5 days in the hospital because of a very difficult wisdom tooth. And ever since I’ve had a recurring dream where I’m lost in the hospital and I can’t find my way out. When I finally find an exit, my doctor is guarding the door and won’t let me leave.

Strange dream. I don’t like hospitals and I usually hate doctors, but this doctor is different. I like him. I trust him. I’m not afraid of him, but for some reason I always wake up when he touches my hand.

Then I realize that he sent me home. And even though I'm happy to be back in my own bed, I want to know what's behind the door that he was guarding. Why did I wake up when he touched my hand? I want him to escort me through the door. But so far it's always the same dream...

Is there a word for the place that stores the souls/people that will be born? I know this is a weird question. But I hear children talk about this place all the time. They would ask, “Mommy, where was I before I was in your tummy?” And then they are really confused when their parents tell them that they were not in existence yet.

I’ve pondered this question and haven’t found an answer. Religion offers no clue as to where souls or people are kept before conception. It only talks about death. But if there’s a place for people who are no longer alive... Shouldn’t there also be a place for people or souls who are not yet born?

I think the children are right! Where is this place? What is this place? And why don’t we know about it?

It’s 44 days until the end of Winter and I’m really looking forward to Spring. Getting through Winter has always been a struggle for me due to the lack of sunlight where I live. I haven’t figured out a solid working solution yet. I take vitamin D supplements, but it really doesn’t change my mood. In the Winter I tend to feel more sad, depressed, and lonely compared to the other seasons. And I generally feel physically unwell. I know that, for me, my body and mind is directly connected with sunlight. On sunny Winter days I feel a lot better, but they are unfortunately few.

44 days is still a lot of days to go, so I try to keep my mind busy, my body fit, and self-soothe with comforting foods and happy music.

How do you survive the Winter blues?

We all need financial security and enough money for the basics and a little bit more. But, my definition of luxury includes things that can’t be bought with money. In my opinion if you can buy it with money, it’s not real luxury. Again, I’m not saying that financial security isn’t important.

I'm saying that you don’t have to envy your neighbour’s electric Porsche. If you look at the Porsche in terms practicality and need, you might notice that you don’t even want or need an electric Porsche at all. And if take it a step further and imagine yourself owning it, you might feel just a little bit ridiculous. Because it’s just an expensive status symbol!

Now count all the things that you actually have that are, in my opinion, real luxury: Family, friends, healthy children, love, peace, safety, a sense of accomplishment, a healthy mind and body, happiness, a purpose, knowing that you’re not alone, and a fulfilling occupation.

If you have two or more of the luxuries on my list, then you are indeed very rich! Don’t waste your time chasing an overabundance of money just to buy unimportant things. Spend your precious time creating happy memories instead.

Verschlimmbessert is my new favorite German word! It means, when you try to make something better but end up making it worse. Yes, one word means all of that. And it’s a perfect example of German efficiency.

I’m wondering why I’ve never heard this word before, but I will be using it very often from now on. 😉

I want to know the name of the tech guru responsible for making the iphone as slippery as possible. Because the idea is actually kind of diabolical.

I can imagine that tech meeting going something like this:

I think Dr. Evil was also invited to this meeting, for whatever reason ¯_(ツ)_/¯ But his suggestion of encasing it with cactus needles 🌵 was narrowly out voted.🐈

Does anyone have a more subtle way of making fun of the peasants?

Then someone says,

How about we charge them lots of $$$$$ BUT let’s also make the phone as slippery as a snail’s bottom so it will fall off of every surface known to mankind and then they’ll have to spend even more $$$$$.

Then someone else adds,

AND let’s not include a phone charger any more. They can use their old chargers! OR spend even more $$$$$ replacing it.

YES! The peasants!! Let them eat phone!!!! (insert evil laugh here).

I just found out that drinking 8 glasses of water a day is not only a myth, but a straight up lie. I knew it! I always thought that was too much water and could never drink that much. It’s enough to just drink when you’re thirsty. Your body knows what it needs!

I remember when people used to carry around water bottles like they were living in the desert. Now it just seems silly, doesn't it? 😅

A new day! The sun is shining and I’m feeling a lot better. Today is Saturday and I’ll spend a good amount of time reading “Think Java, how to think like a Computer Scientist” by Allen B. Downey & Chris Mayfield. I’m already on chapter 6 and I’ve done the exercises to this point. I was really disappointed that there are no answers to the questions in the back of the book, but it really forces me to be resourceful and that’s an important part of learning Java as well. I do recommend this book. It’s written so a child can understand it. And the exercises are actually quite fun and challenging. It will take me a few weeks to work through the rest of the book and I’m really looking forward to it.

Today, I will also stop by Amigoscode on YouTube and listen to his tutorials. Check him out if you’re interested in coding. His channel has a lot of good content.

I would like to only blog about happiness and sunshine but life isn’t always like that, is it? So, today I’m going to be real with you. My soul feels like it’s on fire. I’m tired of being disappointed. I’m tired of feeling alone and invisible. 💔 But I still have hope that tomorrow will be better. Send hugs!

This year has definitely been a roller coaster ride for me. At one point, I honestly didn’t think I would see 2022, so I’m really thankful to be here. I’m curious to see what the future holds and prepared for the new adventure.

To those of you who walked with me in 2021, I love you and wish you a Happy New Year!

This is my bucket list of countries that I would like to visit, in alphabetical order. Right now, with all the covid mutations, I’m still very uncomfortable traveling. Heck, just going to the grocery store is a big deal. But maybe someday… 🛩

• Australia
• Brazil
• China
• Japan
• New Zealand

I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a very beautiful New Year filled with health, joy, happiness and success.

                                              🎄

Ich wünsche dir frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr mit viel Gesundheit, Freude, Glück und Erfolg.

                                              🎅

Desejo-te um ótimo Natal e um Ano Novo cheio de saúde, alegria, felicidade e sucesso.

I’m vaccinated for Covid with Biontech. They tell me that I need a booster. Okay, I’m willing to get a booster shot with Biontech because that’s what I was vaccinated with. But now they’re telling me that I can’t have Biontech because I’m over 30; they don’t have enough and Moderna is just as good.

No, I don’t want Moderna. And if Moderna was just as good as Biontech they would have no problem at all giving it to people under 30 years old.

I would even offer to pay for the Biontech booster, but I don’t think that’s an option.

So, I guess I’m taking my chances with Omicron. I refuse to get vaccinated with an inferior vaccine just because there isn’t enough of the good stuff.

This whole situation just feels wrong.

Update: 31-12-2021

Today I was vaccinated with Biontech! Apparently, the rule is not set in stone. I went to the vaccination center and the Doctor just asked people what they wanted. Easy peasy, no fuss. So, if you’re over 30 and they refuse to give you Biontech I would recommend that you just go somewhere else.

Coding is exactly like learning a language and since I speak 4 languages, I’m hoping to polish my coding skills quickly. Trial and error is key. Practice. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Sometimes you might even want to make mistakes on purpose just to see what errors you will get.

• Understand the task
• Start with what you know in Main
• Debug as you go along
• Build your code little by little
• Document your code

Coding is also like writing a story. Other programmers should be able to look at your code and know what you are trying to do. Practice the jargon so you can communicate concisely with other programmers. Towards the end of the initial learning phase, coding will become more and more a team effort and communication will be essential.

Yesterday, after dinner, I ate a tiny piece of mango and then immediately threw up. There was nothing wrong with the mongo. I shared the mango with my family and none of them got sick.

This isn’t the first time I threw up from fruit, but I don’t think it’s an allergy. You see, I’ve noticed that if I eat fruit first (and have nothing else) it stays in my tummy. I don’t get sick. But if I eat fruit after a meal, it will make me throw up.

The fruits that have made me throw up include: mangos, bananas, pears, and grapes. Apparently, I can eat these fruits individually but not together with other foods.

Isn’t that the strangest thing? Has anyone else experienced this with fruit? I didn’t think that such a small piece of mango would make me throw up, but I was wrong!

Pressing On

I find myself in the uncomfortable situation of having no plans for the future. I had a plan, at least I thought I had a plan. And then someone told me that even if I reach my goal, I would still have to do X-Y-Z to move forward.

The discouragement was devastating. I stopped and did nothing at all. The only thing that I accomplished this year was getting my bad wisdom tooth removed. It was a horrible experience. I somehow ended up in the heart station of the hospital because I had trouble waking up.

Sometimes I wish that I hadn’t. Then at least I wouldn’t have to figure out what to do with my life. ~ Deep Breath ~ I have no choice but to press on. Without encouragement. Without support. Hoping that somehow, I’ll be okay.

And you know, I think I will be. I don’t break so easily. It’s time to move forward. If no one believes in you, you have to believe in yourself. And on my journey, I will be a source of encouragement and sunshine for others. 🌞🌻

I’m curious why 9 people clicked on the same story? I wrote “The Lucky Card” in 2006, so it’s kind of weird that so many people are interested in the story now.

I got the idea for that story because several people told me that I’m a good luck charm. They were convinced that good things happen to them when I’m standing nearby. Funny, right?

Anywho, if you have questions please ask. My e-mail address is on the landing page. I usually answer my messages in a timely and friendly manner.

Gift Giving

I love giving gifts! And the gift giving season is indeed upon us. If I give you a gift it’s because I love you, or I want to say thank you, or both. You will know why. 😉

But as much as I love giving gifts, I’m also very cautious about doing so. The whole gift giving process can get a little political. For example, what is an expensive gift? What is a cheap gift? I think you know where I’m going with this post. What’s expensive for one person, may not be expensive for the other. And you might not share my opinion about what’s cheap. As a rule, if you are not close friends, a gift should fall in between expensive and cheap. But that can be a little tricky.

For example, good perfume is always expensive. But I could never give an adult cheap perfume. I’d rather not give anything at all. The same concept goes for jewelry. I mean, why would I give someone that I like something that will turn their hand green? I won’t! So, what do I do? If I’m not allowed to give a person an expensive gift, then I stay away from perfume and jewelry.

Giving someone a ridiculously cheap gift is always a big NO for me. But there are many times when giving expensive gifts is inappropriate. For example, giving an expensive gift to your child’s teacher… BIG NO for obvious reasons. Also, giving expensive gifts to those who might feel obligated to give you a gift in return is a no.

With all this said, here is a list of gifts that I like to give:

• Notebooks or journals
• Scarfs and gloves
• Chocolates
• A nice pen
• Unisex beaded bracelets
• Homemade jar of cookies
• Gift baskets: Food or Cosmetics
• Bath bombs or salts
• A nice silver brooch (for women)
• Silver cufflinks or tie pins (for men)
• Blankets
• Fancy coffees and Teas
• Coffee or tea mugs

Gifts that I love getting:

• Hugs and Kisses 🥰
• Compliments (Yes, please flatter me) 😅
• Chocolates
• Socks (Because I always have holes in mine)
• Home-baked goods
• Keepsakes (like Christmas ornaments)
• Gift baskets
• Plants and flowers

I spend so much time chasing unattainable rainbows that I’ve been missing out on enjoying the stars that I’ve caught. I usually don’t make new year’s resolutions but this year I’ll make an exception. So here goes… I’m officially declaring my New Year’s resolution:

I will make my best effort to spend more time in the moment, appreciating and enjoying what I have.

Now that it is written, it shall be done! 😂

I’ll still be chasing rainbows and butterflies, because that’s who I am. But if I can spend more time in the moment and less time chasing, I’ve already won.

Do you have a New Year’s resolution?

In my family St. Nick’s Day is special. And I would like to extend my cheer to all of you. May your hearts be filled with joy and warmth during this cold winter season.

I know that the holidays can be sad, stressful, and difficult. If you’re having a hard time right now just remember:

Everything passes

Keep breathing

Someone loves you (and you might not even know it)

You’re made of stardust!

I made these ascii hugs and kisses Christmas trees and would like to share them with you. Just copy and paste. If the tree doesn’t paste completely in alignment you will have to adjust the spacing. Works really well in g-mail and looks amazing if you add color. So if you're tired of using the same old emojis give this a go. Tis the Season!

    _\/_
     /\
     /\
    /x \
   ♡/°°\o
   /o ♡ \
  /°°°°°°\
 o/x ♡ x \♡
 /°°°°°°°°\
/__x__♡__o_\
♡    ||   ♡
   \----/
    \__/

     
      § 
     <§>  
     'o'
    .♡.'.
   .'.'x'.
  o'.♡.'.♡.
 .'.x.'.x.o.
.♡.'.o.'.♡.'.
   [_____]
    \___/ 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate it. I live in Europe so today’s just a normal workday for me. When I lived in the United States my Caribbean family celebrated with traditional Caribbean food.

My mother used to get all her ingredients from a little Asian shop on Old World 3rd Street. The shop owner, a sweet little ancient and wise man, always had everything we needed. He even had canned ackee and Cock flavored soup mix. And for those of you who don’t know, stop laughing, it’s not what you think. Just google it!

Anywho, don’t forget to be thankful and create lots of good memories. Try to enjoy the little annoyances because someday you’ll look back and realize that these were the good ole days.

Be the sunshine. 🦃 Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃

A lot of people have left social media and I’m one of them. In my opinion social media is doing more harm than good. I’ve been social media free for about 3 years and it was the best decision for my mental health and productivity. I kept Youtube for watching videos, but that’s it.

It has been quite a while since I’ve had a blog and now that I’m not on social media anymore I realize that I miss it. This will be my little corner on the internet where I journal my journey through life without oversharing, without likes, without followers and without fake friends. There will be no stalking and no nonsense here!

At this point in my life I find myself going back to coding. And this is where I will chart my progress, writing down what I’ve learned and how I’ve learned it because it might be helpful to someone else. This is also where I will post holiday greetings and spread sunshine.

More sunshine, more flowers, more power! You’re welcome to stay a while and vibe with me.