The sun is setting outside and we are finally meeting for our monthly coffee date. Since it is so late we are both opting for tea though. The day was a bit crazy and we both have been running errands. And so there was no time to meet up earlier. But now we have settle into the little café and our hot beverages are steaming in front of us. Outside the snow is slowly dancing downwards and we watch it a little before we start chatting away.
If you and I had coffee…
…I first ask you how you are doing with the current state of the world? I egoistically want to hear I am not alone understanding the word Weltschmerz much better than I ever intended to. It has never been this clear, hasn’t it? Opening the news app or just turning on the radio or TV needs some fortifying thoughts beforehand.
If you and I had coffee…
…I quickly add that we have elections coming up next Sunday. And as of today I have no idea who to vote for. All options are questionable. I know who not to vote for. A start. I think that is how I will be voting this time around – by eliminating and seeing who is left in the end. Luckily there are apps and questionnaires provided by political institutions to help navigate the parties programs. I just need to sit down and play it all through, read up and form a decision. It is my duty in a democracy and I will not forgot it. But I should have started looking into it earlier. Sigh.
If you and I had coffee…
…I mention my sleep study which finally took place end of January. I have no results yet. The experience itself was a bit odd. I was rather nervous beforehand. Didn’t sleep at all the night before. Was so so tired by 6pm and wanted to go to bed immediately. Unfortunately I was the last patient to be wried and only done by 10:40pm. And I had to be I the clinic by 4pm. It was a lot of anxious waiting, stress drinking and eating. All this resulted in my being way too wound up to go to sleep at 11pm – lights out, the doctor came in – and running to the bathroom a million times. Every time being doused in station bright lights that woke me up again. When I finally fell asleep it felt like a tiny fraction. I wasn’t aware how tired a body can be. The whole next day I felt like I was the sleepiest person on the planet. Seriously. So I am not sure how reliable the sleep results will be. I usually fall asleep immediately within seconds – didn’t happen – and then wake up in the middle of the night being awake for multiple hours – also didn’t happen. I guess we’ll see. I really don’t know what want the result to be. I want to find a solution for better sleep but I don’t want to have sleep apnea and use a CRAP machine every night.
If you and I had coffee…
…I also share that we have been looking for a new car. Our leasing contract will expire soon and we need to figure out how to move forward. Honestly I don’t want to spend any time thinking about cars. It doesn’t interest me. It is a vehicle to get from A to B. The husband has a few more specific wishes and uses it almost daily. But of course I cannot let home decide on his own. He prepared a big list with all contenders and now we have to go around and test drive them. The first one was today and anther come Saturday.
If you and I had coffee…
…I close with telling you how much fun it is reading The Blue Castle with the Cool Bloggers Book Club. A book I would have never read were it not for the Cool Bloggers. Engie is doing a splendid job hosting again and asking all the great questions. Reading through this book makes me feel like I should serve Beef Wellington some time soon.
We take the last sips of our drinks and call it a night. We are tired, it is late, we feel drained and so it is again a shorter coffee date but at least we managed to catch up. We hung and then we are on our ways.
Have you experienced Weltschmerz? Do you like car shopping? Do books inspire your menu?
7 comments
That was a lovely virtual coffee date, Tobia. I had to look up Weltschmerz, which was defined as world-weariness and melancholy, and so I’d say 100% yes, I am experiencing Weltschmerz. I hope your election goes well. I do not like car shopping. I get attached to a car and don’t want to change! I’m enjoying The Blue Castle too. It’s one of the best books I’ve read in quite some time. Yes, books often make me crave a certain food or dish!
Glad to introduce you a new word. Sorry it had to be this one.
I guess you can get used to a car and then replacing it can be annoying. For me it is that I don’t care enough as long as it drives. Which is strange since I discuss a 10€ purchase for myself forever.
Fingers crossed the election will have a good outcome- even though I am not sure Hörtest would look.
I had to look up what Weltschmerz is… And yes, I do experience that. It revolves around my menstrual cycle. I am 43 and my hormones are slowly getting out of balance and that leads to feeling of melancholy.
Books don’t really inspire my menu but blog posts do :)
Car shopping.. Here is how we did it with my Subaru. We knew we wanted a reliable car, our second Subaru, sow e went to a dealership and I asked for the smallest model they had, they asked the color, light grey or dark grey, I said dark grey, signed the paperwork, thank you and goodbye. I was so easy. I am planning to keep this car until it dies.
Do you like car shopping? Do books inspire your menu?
Count me among those who had to look up Weltschmerz. I generally don’t suffer from melancholy, but these days the world news (and of course most specifically US news right now) is depressing as hell. I think it’s more anxiety than world weariness, though.
I dislike car shopping. We have 2 cars, one is 20 years old, the other is 17 years old. I will keep them until they die. My husband wants a new car, and will drag me out test driving, but when it comes down to payments, he sees that it is better to keep fixing ours if we can. We spent a lot repairing our cars last year early on, but then nothing for the rest of the year, so it came out to about $200 or less each car per month. I don’t know if we can get a new car for that. We’re starting a savings account specifically for a new car, though, so when the day eventually happens, we will at least have a down payment.
Car shopping is THE WORST. It is why we are currently still in possession of a car with 250,000 miles on it that is only somewhat reliable. We don’t know what kind of car we should replace it with and it’s so stressful going to test drive multiple cars and I just don’t want to deal with it anymore. But at some point the car is going to be less and less reliable and then we’ll have to take real action. But until then, I’m ignoring the problem.
I’m glad folks are enjoying The Blue Castle! Our book selection has been hit or miss for CBBC and I’m glad this one seems to be a hit.
I live in the land of 7 months of snow, so yes, melancholy is a real thing here too. There are, I have to say, a lot of winter carnivals and festivals here for people to go to to cheer themselves up with. We just finished our own 10 days winter carnival here, in Quebec City. And in Montreal right now, is the festival of Lights.
And car shopping? I haven’t bought or needed a car in over 15 years living in the city, we just don’t bother. Though sometimes I miss having a car.
Your sleep study sounds AWFUL. I did not sleep much during my study, either. The bed wasn’t very comfortable and how does one sleep comfortably with a CPAP for the first time?! I was really happy when the tech woke me up at 5am and told me I could leave, lol.
I am not a fan of car shopping. Everything is just so much more expensive than you think and it takes sooooo long. I also find it so awkward to do test driving when they accompany you in the car. Blegh.