Alwayshappy

Thank god

Yup. Yesterday we just got food from the snackbar and tonight we'll probably go out for dinner, or order in Chinese I read that the temperatures will be down a bit the coming days, so yay for that We really don't mind heat on vacations, but only because you're on a holiday....and because the day usually ends in a hotel room with airco Hell, we were in Las Vegas mid-summer (50 degrees back then near the Hoover Dam), even the heat there.....no, that would be a lie, the heat there was horrible at least we experienced temperatures above 50 degrees

It was easy to predict at some level though. In our old appartment there was only one big window that could be opened, but we could barely open it, because the window was so big (as big as a wall, officially it's not even named a window, just don't know what the English word for it is ) and there would just be too many insects entering. In this appartment we have like 4-5 windows that can be opened properly, so there's more movement of air within the appartment. It's still getting hot, but when we open a few windows the temperatures are doable, especially when the sun sets.

There with you regarding Tom Cruise And Wonder Woman.

Ah, well, perhaps she'll improve the story more with her own fantasy, but usually .. I'm happy with more Alexis Bledel though. Will probably watch S1 soon. I read an article on gold derby that people actually expect her to win guest actress in a drama.(Emmy experts predict Drama Guest Actress: Alexis Bledel (‘Handmaid’s’) - Goldderby). For her sake (and my own ) I really hope she gets at least a nomination, would be great to have her name out there. But I believe it when I see it. I gave up on Gilmore Girls even being nominated (biggest snub would be Lauren Graham), so this would make it a bit better

Can imagine those first few days are always hard Hope you two find a great holiday destination!

Gelfling

It's already down from yesterday but it's going to take longer to be cooler inside so we'll see. Hopefully it'll happen before the next heatwave. But hey, Trump, you're totally right, it's all normal, nothing to be worried about and no reason to get anyone on it or anything. It's a liberal con.

"Hell" is right. Hot damn! I guess it really is Sin City

Yup. That's *exactly* the situation we're in now. I mean, it stays open winter and summer alike but basically it's like having a hole in your apartment, there's no air flow unless you have another window to open.
And indeed, it's not something you find anywhere in the English speaking world so they don't have a word for it but they call it a bay window, which is slightly different.

Honestly it almost made me mad just because the movie's ass has been kissed by so many people I know who are praising it for being so feminist and all they had to do was put a female director at the helm and voila, people are so blind sometimes. The movie is so much the opposite of feminism, it's almost offensive. So it was directed by a woman, woohoo. But the character is treated like a child and an object, and she has nothing to do for most of the movie but stand there and be "stunning" (they say it a loooooot) while Chris Pine's character is the real lead.
Maybe they should let a guy direct and give the script to a woman next time. I think that will improve things.


Oh no. The show runner is a man. Again. You would think that this show would kinda need a female perspective but nope. Male showrunner.

Yeah but once you've watched season 1 you will get how it makes no sense for her to be back (or alive really). I'll probably won't watch season 2. Not because of Alexis being back (actually I loved her character) but because it's a clear signal of what's to come and now that they are going beyond the book, and since I thought nothing that wasn't in the book made sense or was interesting this season, I think I'll just leave it.


She will be nominated for sure. There are a lot of big names in the Guest actress category usually but her turn was memorable and honestly I don't think anyone could have been in the part and *not* get nominated out of it so since she did a good job...

Thanks. It's getting harder and harder really. I guess time doesn't help and biological clocks ticking don't help either. Especially when friends keep getting pregnant all over

Alwayshappy

Past few days have been a blast...temperature wise. Thank god.

Yup, Sin City for sure We're pretty sure we never want to see Las Vegas again. It was nice to have been there at least once, so we can tell the story about the heat and the more general: ''we were there!'', but the city is not our thing. Gambling is not something we're interested in. We only visited, because it was the perfect place to visit the Grand Canyon from. Grand Canyon

Hm, watching Handmaids tale is going to be interesting then. Would it have been better if the show only aired 1 season?

Yeah, that must be tough Just remember that your time will come. With things like that...they always arrive when you least expect them to. Will never happen on your own time-schedule

Gelfling

So we're back! And due to technical issues, the post counts will be done but no penalty for being under minimums (and it's a good thing too because we're far from the requirement )

Yeah I've been told it's an acquired taste. And all the people I know who went there got married there so that's saying a lot (and none of their marriages lasted so I guess it's not a great sign)

I'm not into gambling either and the whole city feels like a theme park on outrageous riches. That's definitely something I'm not into. Forced Opulence. Not for me

Now *that* I'll see one day! Probably on a larger road trip through the US. I'm told it's humbling and I can't wait to see it.

Very definitely yes. The showrunner doesn't know what he's doing and the story is something too strong to just fiddle around and "play with the universe" as he said. There's no playing. It's too intense a universe to be playing in it.

Thanks I know in my heart we'll share a life one day. And if it doesn't happen soon enough for us to have biological kids, we'll adopt. But she's a Scorpio and well, she'd love to have the experience of giving birth. I get it and I would love to have a little ladybug who looks just like her so hopefully we'll make it work. But if we don't, I'll have her and that's enough for me.

I must admit it's been even harder since her brother had a son. He looks so much like her. He's awesome and I love to spend time with him but he always makes me even more impatient

Do Jos's nephews look like him? (I can't remember if your sister has kids but I know his brother does)

Alwayshappy

Yeah, I noticed the site was down quite a bit. Annoying Glad it won't influence the post counts

Well, good thing we didn't marry over there then Must be a good sign! Can surely advice you to visit the Grand Canyon yeah! It was really impressive to be there. Wish we had more time back then though. We went there with an organised tour (starting in Las Vegas)....never again A road trip in the USA is still on our wish list aswell, but won't happen till we have a car at home (for practice) and I have my driver license. There are so many beatiful parks in the USA! We only visited Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, but there are plenty more (though someone could argue Hawaii is a park on its own ). There's a reason why USA is our favorite desination.

So true! Noone knows what the future may bring. Will keep my fingers crossed for you though!

I really don't think kids are in our future. Right now we just have cats...and it's already stressing at times and it already takes away a lot of freedom and with kids...
Then again...we haven't made a final decision yet. Who knows where our heads are in five years. If we go for kids we will probably adopt. In any other scenario only one of us is the real dad and that's not something we'd want.

You're right, one of Jos' brothers has three kids (ony nephew). Yes, I often tell Jos that he reminds me of him. Quiet, shy, but when he's playing....quite active ). Looks like him too (from the outside). More so than his actual father

wardengrill

yes, me too


Planning the next trip is always a good distraction and yes, the plane tickets are insane, I searched the other day for the domestic flights and even that's insane

I totally understand Oh, it would be great having a house with a pool One can dream

And did you find something interesting in Italy or Portugal?

I have a few days off right now and so far I'm spending it mostly on Netflix Also it's very hot here again but it's still not that bad, I wonder when the real heat wil come...

And how about you?

Gelfling

I'm still thinking of closing in July though.

Hey Ingmar

yeah I tried that once, not in the US but I promised myself never again. You just never have time for anything you like, and you spend hours in stores that give kickbacks to the guides

Yeah you can't do that with only one driver. Although honestly American cars drive themselves. It's almost boring.

I think pets are more restrictive than kids and btw how is it going? Is he better?

Yeah we talked about it and I must admit it's something to get used to. But then again, I never wanted to spread my genes and all the BS that goes with it so I'm fine with being "the other parent".

Awww Aren't genetics a funny thing? The first time I saw the 3D echo of our nephew, I knew right away that he was going to look like Joana. And he really does, even his personality He's more like her than like his Dad or his Mom.

Kaaate how was your weekstart? (since you don't have a weekend and you're off at the beginning of the week, I made up a new word in your honor. Don't tell Shakespeare )

Well I studied enough Italian (10 years all in all!) to know the dark side of Italian world. I don't think a week was going by without us reading or having to translate/discuss a newspaper article about a corruption scandal, a judge getting threats for a corruption investigation or an organized crime related event

They make up for the rest of the year in those 2 months but that's stupid, really. If prices were lower, they'd get way more people than they already do.

As long as you also have a watchdog. My uncle had a pool for a brief time (before his kids drained all his money ) and he never knew he had so many friends before every weekend was like a pool party.

Flights are cheaper to Portugal for sure. But then I'd like J to also go away instead of staying in her own country for the holidays.

Don't even think about the heat! You're going to jinx yourself
It is much cooler here, thank the Gods, so work is easier and I'm catching up with all the classes that clients just canceled last week when it was 40° so work work work.

Still having problem with our landlord and the agency and it's seriously stressing me. They just keep either ignoring us or answering like we're morons or something. We asked why our rent was suddenly increased by 35% and after 3 emails asking the same question, we finally get an answer that they "merely converted in current euros" WTF does that even mean?? "Current" euros???! What the hell is that?
They just thought that the rent was too low compared to other places in the area so they increased it, illegally, even though our current contract runs until next June. So yeah we're going to have to find a new place and move and fight for months not to have to pay the money they say we owe them.

Brilliant

Other than that, all is well. Spending too much time away from home to be reading anything or gaming and I'm going a bit stir-crazy from it but I'm doing "focus exercizes" to try and stay in the moment instead of spending all my free time stressing over my lack of free time

How's your social calendar these days?

PetiteFleur

Hey there! These past two weeks have been crazy (but totally unproductive, I'm pissed off with my employer ), and then FF had its issues, so only getting back here now.
While yall seem to have heatwaves, we have unusually cool summer here. I'm not complaining actually, because I hate heat, but it's usually around 23-27°C this time of year, and this year we've only had like 5-6 days in June above 22°, which is... strange I only hope it won't hit us later, which is quite possible, last August it was around 28-35° the whole month and I was dyyyyyiiiiing.

Tell that to my cats
They never miss the opportunity to steal some cookies, or marshmallows, or even white bread!! when it's not hidden in the far corner of a cupboard. And one of them actually got into the cupboard a few times to steal some halva, and when I took it from her once she ran after me hissing and snarling. She obviously has a sweet tooth, that one

He seems to have a thing for dictators, considering the number of films he has about them. As if being against the US establishment somehow negates all the ***t they do to the people of their own countries.


Trump Twitter Library

Oh, and Colbert went to Russia last week. I envy him, because he visited St. Petersburg, and I love that city, but the last time I was there was almost 4 years ago (and that was my last real vacation, now I can't even afford to go to the nearest city (~200km) to meet with friends more than once a year ).


Can't wait to hear what he has to say about his trip.

They are, sometimes
And they couldn't be any more different. One is really friendly with everybody and would let anybody pet her, I sometimes feel cheated on She even grabs my hand with her paws all the time to be petted

And the other would hiss at anyone who comes near her. Except me, ofc

wardengrill

Do you have some other place in mind where we could stay in touch? Some other board here?



aaaaaah that's so sweet thank you So my weekstart is pretty nice I was at a lecture yesterday at the university where my friends goes, about
efficiency I'm not really into this kind of personal coaching stuff and such but it wasn't that bad

At least they make up with great wine and food for that


Exactly. And I guess more people would go by the sea for example, I mean from where I live it's like 6 -7 hours by car to get there,maybe more people would go there for the weeekd if the prices weren't that bad.


I can imagine


Ah that's right, get away for holiday must be a real get away


I will try not to Easier with some cool drink in a hand

Oh God doesn't sound good ;/ and yeah, current euros they're must be kidding or something

I hope you will find a nice place and will not have this kind of problems anymore.

I hope it helps! You need some relax time

Nothing special, I wanted to see some friends in Cracow but well,one is going to the festival and the other gave birth like two weeks ago so not the right time

Gelfling

Hey Kate

I'm sure we could colonize some OT thread somewhere like the one on the TV board maybe

http://www.fanforum.com/f40/off-topi...bout-63185444/

It's not being used a lot and I'm sure nobody would mind
I was thinking of the Movie Board but it's used more although I'm sure nobody would mind us dropping by either.

Great first weekstart

That actually sounds like a very efficient way to use your weekstart

Me neither and it's not for lack of trying but I guess my personality is resistant to efficiency and self improvement, at least as related to organizational skills (I have none)
My sister is the complete opposite. She's still a mess, don't get me wrong, but she fights it and uses her considerable organizational skills to create order out of chaos.

Did you learn anything you are going to apply to your daily life?

true. And amazing operas and art. It's quite binary really

:nod; that's why smart cities like Porto make deals with airlines like Ryanair and give them huge discounts on the use of the airport so they can keep their prices low. Result: Porto was the number one tourist destination in Europe in 2015 and 2016 (and most likely 2017 as well) and the money they lose on the airport, they make in taxes everywhere else. Airbnb, hotels, restaurants, shops, tours etc

Especially if you need vacations from your family

oooh like what? something girly?

They just decided that our rent was too low compared to other apartments in the area so they hiked the price and they are hoping we roll with it

Nothing helps like spending 5 seconds in my ladybug's arms, I'm afraid and that's weeks away. But I'm looking for alternative solutions

awwwww new babies are the perfect time to get Moms away but yeah another few weeks maybe. Or at least you can visit and bring booze.



Anna! you're back in the OT!

Yep. Same here, mostly due to the heat and I'm pissed off at my employer too except I'm self employed so it's also counter-productive but whatever.

Yep last year we had a late heatwave. I remember because that's the week J came and we were supposed to have a romantic week getaway in a small town near Paris and we spent most of our time at the hotel with the AC... which was not bad either but you know

yeah I have a friend with a cat and he lives in the countryside in the UK. He hunts for his food now. But he used to lick the butter off the butter knife and even walk on the stove while the milk was on to lap it from the pan crazy cat

and good taste, obviously.

That's exactly that. He's so naive that he believes the enemy of your enemy is necessarily a friend. Hmmmm nope. And honestly, Putin's only concern with the US is that they are c**kblocking his powerplay. Well, at least they used to. Before the Orange Monster took residence.

But hey everything is well and good in Russia, right? You're all millionaires. Oh no wait...

that tweet. He's killing me

Awww that's the exact opposite of my nephew
He only likes certain people to cuddle and pet him.

so this one is exclusive

Alwayshappy

We did a few organised tours, but none were as bad as the Las Vegas one. It was a Chinese tour (which we didn't know), so we were stuck with a loooooot of Chinese people. Nothing against them, but because there were so many the guide was also Chinese, so she would talk 30 minutes in Chinese, only to translate it in 2 minutes. Good thing we weren't there for the info, but purely to see the Grand Canyon. Not that the other group tours were so thrilling, but at times it was the only option we had. Won't do any more in the future though, we found out how we prefer to travel, so we'll just do that.

I'm sure Jos could drive in the USA, but because we don't have a car here and he hasn't driven a car in forever he doesn't feel comfortable riding on holidays. Understandable. Told him he could do a little training to feel comfortable again, but he really wants more experience than that. Good thing there's enough to see without a car. But there are certain countries/regions we're skipping right now due to that. Iceland. West-Coast USA (roadtrip), West Canada, etc. Ofcourse we saw the west coast, but not as much as you can see on a road trip (a lot of parks mainly).

We're not sure how the cat is doing. We haven't noticed any diarrhea lately and it looks like the amount of times he throws up on his throw up days are decreasing slightly, so that's a good thing. The bad thing is that the throwing up is still happening +- 3 times a week. Like I said..there's less, so we try to hold on to that. Vet said that some cats just need time to get used to food and that it could take weeks.

Last week we had a visit from the cat-sitter we found online. She sounded awesome on the phone and in real life she was even better. She loved photographing aswell, so that's enough for me No, you could see she did this as her main profession. Her whole family was in on it. Told her about the sick cat and she said that it wasn't a problem at all. Makes it easier for us to go on a care-free holiday. Knowing the ''accidents'' are also going to be handled We're also asking a neighbour to check in every now and then. Not to check up on the cat-sitter (who visits our house twice per day), but to make sure they get some attention in the afternoon too. Even just a pet or two can make a difference. Our cats are really human oriented, so they'll miss us.

Your landlord...wtf Current euro's?



Anna, your cats are cute

Gelfling

and we got our "customization" just in time to close. Pink, beige and brown wow

Back to Stylish for me

wardengrill

sounds good As longs as we have something, I'm good


Yeah, I had to start with something Next week is not going to be so fun though, more work is coming

me neither I always feel like those people tell the others how to live and I don't like that Even if sometimes I can agree with them

I'll try See how it works



Too bad not everyone thinks that way ;/ Here the most popular destination is Italy apparently, you pay half the price or even less than for a ticket for a domestic flight


When it's hot as hell,I'll take almost anything


Awful really :/ Hope you will manage to find a good solution



I certainly plan to do so

Gelfling

Hey Kate I always think about you on Saturdays when I'm bummed I have to work because at least I have Sundays off

Yeah we'll have our OT

How come?

that's exactly how I feel every time I go see the doctor. She smokes, eats junk, "works" 12 hours a day and she tells me I should work less and "mind what I eat"? Bitch, I know more about nutrition than you do so don't give me the "do as I say and not as I do" speech

Well let me know. Even though my ladybug loves me as I am, it's a fact that my mess is driving her crazy sometimes and I wouldn't mind putting some order into my madness

Damn, that's brilliant... or just weird

Good to know if I ever serve you drinks
My mixology style is "everything but the kitchen sink" and it's not for everyone

Good. New mothers need to relax and talk grown up... AND to get loaded with booze. And actually some booze is good if you're breastfeeding so...

Sorry, Ingmar, I was so disturbed by "our" new board that I didn't even see your post yesterday

that sounds... not very instructive

Plus with the amount of information available at large online, before and during the trip, it's just as well to do things on your own time and look up whatever you are curious about.

You did good in Hawaii but I get that there are places where having a car makes things easier. For me, honestly, having to drive outside of a crazy traffic urban area like Paris is already a vacation. I love to drive but it's out of the question here.

Sounds much better than the last one. And a cat person always is a good start.

I know, right? And it took them 6 months to come up with that?
I asked how they arrived to the new total and what was the "current" rare of exchange between franks and Euros. Waiting forever for a reply...
We're going to get aggressive though because it's ridiculous.

Alwayshappy

Exactly! We're already searching for travel info weeks before our departure, so that we have every bit of information we need in advance. Easier to just figure things out ourselves, and save certain destinations untill we have more riding experience.

Driving in any big city would drive me crazy too

It really is. Must take a lot of energy.

Had a nice dinner on Thursday evening. The ex of one of Jos' brothers lives in New Zealand now (she left 6 years ago iirc), but she came around for a visit, since she had to be in London anyway. So we had dinner with Jos' brothers and the current fiance (thankfully enough they liked eachother, so no jealous bitch fights ).

For the last few days I'm doing my best to find the best photo spots in both Berlin and New York. It's really giving me joy. So many great spots and I am really looking forward to photograph there (with something more serious than my iPhone )