Kickin' it disillusioned style.

UPDATE: The translation people called this morning; they want me to come in tomorrow morning to do a sample translation as a test. Fair enough. Bring it on!

It's getting harder and harder for me to muster up the energy.

Let me catch you up a bit on the back story: the Barbanera (calendar) people have yet to get back to me. Last I heard we were supposed to meet up right after the new year. I contacted them twice, asking what the deal was, and I received a vague we'll have our people call your people response. Yes, there's still a chance that they're figuring things out, but I'm also thinking it's entirely likely that they took my ideas and research (which I was never paid for) and decided to run with them on their own. Time will tell I guess, but Disappointment #1.

Disappointment #2 is that I had another job interview yesterday - an interesting one, basically it's a translation company based here in Perugia (5 minutes from home) that's looking for full-time translators. I thought the interview went really well and they practically offered me the job on the spot. At the very end of our meeting, they said they would call me by the end of the day to set up an appointment for when I should come and sign the contract and, basically, start working. So I was excited. Well, I got their phonecall yesterday and they very vaguely said that all of their current translations are too technical for me and that I should come in on Tuesday or Wednesday to see if they have something more 'adapted to my abilities.'

What the hell? Ok, so YES, it is still possible, in both situations, that I am overreacting. Sure, I may get there on Tuesday and find a contract waiting on 'my' desk for me to sign. Sure. But I am tired. I feel like I am in this painful tug-of-war power game that I just don't have the stamina for. I'm not built for these kinds of schemes. I'm American, dammit: if you want me to work for you, tell me. If not, tell me. This psychological pull-release playground is just becoming too much for me to handle. Walking in stiletto heels through quicksand.

Update to follow.

Camouflage

Pajamas = slippers = sheets. Andrea said it's a good thing these pajamas didn't come with a hood or he might not have been able to find me!

Moby Dick

Last night we went to see the latest Teatro Morlacchi production in the 2007/08 show subscription. At the beginning of the year, we chose 5 shows we wanted to see, then the sixth one was mandatory, and this was it.

Quite frankly, I was *not* looking forward to it. I despised "Moby Dick" when I read excerpts of it in high school, and I despised it again when I was forced to painstakingly make my way through it in my 19th Century American Literature course in college. And so I was pleasantly surprised last night, I'm happy to report.

Despite a stand-in reader for the role of Ishmael (befor the show, they announced that the main actor had been in a car accident!), the actors were very good. The adaptation ingeniously filled the spots of Melville's minute descriptions with sign language: the actors recounted many of the tales of the 'Pequod' and its crew with elegant hand gestures and quiet whistles and music. The stage was stark and the only mark of color was the blood red velvet coat of Captain Ahab and the Captain of the 'Rachel' and the red wine the mates drink on board.

Overall, I'll give it one and a half thumbs up. After all, it's not their fault that I hated the book!

Side note: I totally never knew that "Starbucks" got its name from the first mate of the 'Pequod.' I kept being pulled back to reality, every time they mentioned his name on-stage.

Rain, rain, g...get the hell outta here already!

Deeeeepressing! All these days of doom and gloom rain are the cause for some serious blechiness on this end. Am trying to occupy my mind with thoughts of sunshine and puppies and rainbows, but that's actually just making me want to throw rocks at my copy of the Dalai Lama's "The Art of Happiness" currently sitting on my coffee table. Ah, the irony.

Just for fun....

3III years old today.

As you can see from the picture, Andrea has slightly over-estimated my age. Either that, or he's going Roman Numeral on me. I hope it's the second.

These past few weeks have been very unusual. Andrea and I left for our winter holiday/honeymoon in Vienna and Prague on December 24th and had an amazing time.

Vienna is elegant, rich, stoic with luxurious castles, exaggerated Barocco and endlessly naughty pastries (viva the Sacher!). We stayed in the best hotel with an outrageous suite right smack in the center of the city and some of the highlights of the visit were the Schonbrun Castle, the Royal Castle in the city and the Hunterwasser house just outside town. The people were, well, Austrian, but I found them polite, and the city was on the quiet side, so there was something incredibly intimate about stopping at one of the many kiosks along the foggy Stephansplatz to eat a frankfurter with my gloves on in 0-degree temperature.

Prague, as a stark opposite to Vienna, is pure energy and color and inspiration (or, for you witty ones, inSpiration for all its amazing spired views). Prague still is very Eastern European and so there's definitely an air of unpredictability to it, which was actually near frightening when the sun went down - especially on New Year's Eve. Here the unanimous favorites were the view from the top of the municipal building in the Old Square and Karluv Most bridge and tower. But the *real* winner goes to my new favorite: Pilsner Urquell beer! The downside to Prague was our hotel, as it was in the New Town, which meant we walked over 20 kilometers (about 13 miles) every day on uneven, cobbled streets. It was tiring, and I literally spent the last 3 days limping (as quickly as I could) through the days.

At the end of it all, on New Year's Eve, unfortunately we got the call that my Grandma Natalie had passed away. We were able to finish off our last day of the trip and then instead of returning to Perugia from Rome, we continued back to New Jersey where we stayed for the funeral and shiva until we got back yesterday. It was good to see the family, even if it was for an unhappy occasion. It seems like when I don't have any concrete plans to visit, something happens (good or bad) that makes the plan for me, divine intervention.

Which leads us to today, January 8th, my birthday. I am 33 years old today and, while last night the thought of having a birthday in the midst of such confusion was making me unhappy, today I'm feeling good. I like the symmetry of the number 33. I like the roundness of the year 2008, and I feel good about what it has to offer me, though most of it still, of course, remains to be seen.