Morning ritual

the day starts after the second cup of coffee ... ;-)

Well, mine begins after a whole coffee pot sometimes... but yeah, that's the main point, coffee, news, chilling a bit and then... get some work done. Thank God I'm still working home for a while... but soon, I'll have to hurry a bit more to get to my studio.

both has advantages and disadvantages ...
I work in quite a mix: from home, and directly at the customers' offices ...
hurrying, traffic jams, etc.aren't good, but working at home means "no separation" between private life and business ...

As for me, I have no problem to make a separation between home and work. My main problem is that I can't stand that much loneliness anymore. I mean I have a nice social life, but you know, you don't want to go out every night, sometimes you just want to chill home. But if you spent the last 2 or 3 days working home and staying home at night, then you can sometimes find yourself pretty depressed.

Finding an outside studio/office was the best solution. I won't be working for a company, I'll still be my own boss, I won't be in an office environment (yakes!), my roommates will be artists, with whom I'll be sharing technics, projects, coffee breaks, etc. I'll be more fun!

yes, I know ;-)
That's an other point of working at home ...
I have sometimes - e.g. when programming - weeks, when actual seeing nobody!
phone calls with friends get longer all the time ;-)

unfortunately I haven't been out that much lately, I hope that changes when the summer arrives ...

Yes, be careful and get the hell out!!! :-p
I haven't enjoyed being outside as much as I do now that I've been working home for years.
(unfortunately for me, Summer is high season in my working field = my competitors are all taking holidays... !)

summer is more quiet in IT business ... everybody in holidays = no problems to solve ... ;-)

the point because I was just a hand full times out this year is, that since January there's smoking forbidden everywhere :(
So, going into bars without fun isn't the same anymore ...
I'm waiting for warm evenings to sit outside ;-)

You'll get used to it. Here in Canada we've been smoking outside for - wait - two or three years now, and many people smoke here, but everyone finally got along with it (just like as I came back to France last Christmas and everyone was complaining about the law to come, and they all finally got used to it and now appreciate not to smell smoke anymore when they get out of bars or clubs).
Plus, it is a nice way to talk with people you'd never have met if it wasn't for the law... It's just a new habit to get...
During our cold Canadian winters, we still get out for a smoke, but bar managers are nice (clever) enough to have installed heating systems of the roofs of some terraces.

in Munich, there already exists a "new word": "smirting", what means "smoking + flirting"
you wait until someone you're interested in goes out to smoke, and follow for a smoke ... :-)

Hahahahaha Brilliant!!!

Hahahahahahahahahaha

quite a nice idea ;-)
on the other hand, in "closed societies" (meant: weddings, birthday parties, etc.) smoking is still allowed, and many bars now get "Raucherclubs" (clubs for smokers). What means, you get "member" of that specific bar/club and only members are allowed to get in!

That has the negative effect, that if you go out in a city where you don't live in (and a member card is usually for a bar where go to more often), you won't find a bar where you simply can enter, sit down and get a drink! :(

Ouch...
And is it hard to become a member of these bars/clubs? I mean, they have to think that not everyone lives in their cities... I mean... like... tourists... lol
Here and in France as well, after closing hours, if you shut the doors and curtains, then it becomes a private party and people can smoke inside. But not every bar and/or club chooses to remain open after hours. And here in Quebec, clubs and bars close at 3:00 am.
...
...
...
Yeah, 3:00 am...
...
:-(

Well, I think this all here has to settle down a little bit!
Fronts between smokers and non-smokers are somehow extremely fixed up here!
I ask myself "how did this all work out together so long?"

I understand bars, that lose their "main public", some had minus up to 80%! So they only try to get "their people" back!

I used to sit down in cafes when away/on the road, or on sunday with something to read ...
Now i choose "coffee to go", and drink it in the car ... quite no style! ;-)

I know, but the public will get used to it and will come back... I mean Spring just arrived, people will get out again soon...

Remember that before the various laws forbidding smoking, non-smokers had no voice or so little... They just had to breathe the other's smoky air and shut up. Now it's the opposite, and one day people will get along, or smokers will disappear. After all, "Smoking can damage your health" ;-)

I haven't chosen my camp yet ;-)

yes indeed ;-)

We'll see what the future will bring ... politicians already have a new topic though: alcohol *g*
(but that doesn't interest me, since I already avoid that *g*)

Well if politicians were a bit logical, they would do something about alcohol. But hey, are we free to poison ourselves, or what?
I mean, as long as you protect underaged from bad influences (advertising for instance), then let your people decide for themselves.
If you want to forbid things because they are unhealthy, then you have some work ahead...
(but I don't know I don't do booze)
(am I convincing??)
(hahaha)
(BTW I learnt to appreciate good beers and good wines in Germany during my studies, what a corrupting country :-p )

haha, "corrupting country" *g*
I think, I had the heaviest excesses as a youngster!
When 16, you play in a rock band, smoke, drink Schnapps *hicks*, persuade girls to do stupid things ... and feel completely content with yourself and the world!

Life never gets easier again!
After school: military, studies, work, and that's it!
well, politicians and media make massive propaganda to get more children, but that's for sure I'll never have ;-)

So, I don't think youngsters need "more protection"!
The more protection you give them, the more of them will run with guns through schools!

Sure, kids *have* to live experiences... as long as they don't shoot their schoolmates!
But don't you think a responsible society has to prevent companies from making money on them? I mean, if kids want to smoke or drink, they'll find a way anyway, but companies won't reach them so easily... I mean there is difference between tell your kids: "I know you're going to smoke/drink, so here it is, help yourself" and "I know you're going to smoke/drink, I can't be there all the time to prevent you from doing it, but I can warn you about consequences, so that you're able to make a decision the day you're about to use them". Don't you think?

I think life after school gets much easier... At least if you things in order to respect yourselves and your needs. As long as you compromise to fit in a life that's not made for you, then things are going to get harder and harder. It only requires a little bit of courage, faith, resolution (and luck sometimes)... But all in all, if you're loyal to yourself, things get easier. You're more comfortable with yourselves and others, you have more money than ever, you are free to do whatever you want to do... Or am I a daydreamer?

interesting direction of the conversation! ;-)

to the first point:
It's not been meant of me, to "plug a cigarette and a bottle in their mouth" ;-)
so, no ads for drugs in combination with clarifications of the danger (abuse, addictions, etc.) should be enough!
but somehow I think, the extra laws that are or get made "for protection" are a little bit hysteric!
sure, Germany has a huge problem, a lack of newly born, but the results of the politics are - honestly - disgusting!
the final result will be a little bit problematic: on the one hand youngsters who want to break out by any means, on the other hand self-opinionated people who think they're important ...

second:
no you're probably right ;-)
the financial situation is way better, I (mostly) do what I want, I like my work (and that's luck! how many people in the world dislike their jobs!?) ...
but still, I think the described thing above, that specific time until I was "pulled away" (away from my hometown, my friends, my band) by the military ... this time somehow was "the best of my life"!
(although even bad things happened that time, e.g. the boy who sat in school next to me got accidentally shot by his best friend)

I would describe my present situation as "neutral"! It's OK, I'm doing well, nothing really to complain about ;-)
(Is that already tending to "depressive"? I hope not ;-) )

You see where morning coffee can lead you...

1) I know what you mean, I also think sometimes it gets hysterical, exactly, but when ads for alcohol disappeared from French screens, it was a good thing. Best would be to educate people so that they learn what's best for them, how to stop when they're hooked up, etc.

True, you have a problem with natality in Germany, although I find life is easier in Germany than in France, or at least it used to be when I was there (early 90's). Shorter days of work and less stress (or more respect from companies), whereas in France, or at least in Paris, if you leave your office before 6:00 pm, people find funny to ask you if you took the afternoon off... There you have to make extra hours. If not, it means you're not dedicated to your job. [Hence the RTT (working time reduction): they were supposed to help people have normal working hours and open new places for unemployed people, but didn't work so well]
Okay, why was I saying life is easier in Germany?
Oh yes, because in a country where people feel good, they want to raise kids who will enjoy the same life quality. How come it's not the case? Wasn't there a subvention + pension project from government for housewives, so that they would be considered just like any working person? This should convince some people...

2) Yeah any time away is always a great trip (well, to me)... Mine was my Winter Semester at the University of Mannheim. Greatest time ever. But the time I have here in Canada now, is pretty cool too. I think as long as you're curious, you like to meet new people, face new culture, it kicks your a** wherever you are.

Yeah you look about to get depressed, man, Dr. Julie says you need to travel more!
Hahahahahahaha

well, many companies in germany have turned to be the way you just described ;-)

and I've been traveling lately, with the result that I'm working just more in the moment, and I've broken the small finger of my right hand on that boat *g*
(already healing ;-) )

this month, I've quite a schedule: a vernissage of my sister, a birthday party in Hessen, and I visit a five day seminar about "emotional intelligence" ...

I'm sorry to learn this... It's a shame. Unsatisfied/stressed/exhausted employees won't work as good as happy/relaxed ones...

Travelling is for me the greatest time I have the chance to live once in a while. Each time I take a trip to a foreign country I come back stronger than ever. The only thing, when you're self-employed is that you have to work twice more before and after... If I wasn't such a geek, always on the Web, I should be working at this time ;-)

You made a very nice trip with the boat! Wow! Italy and Greece are two amazing countries... I sailed a few times many years ago, in Brittany or in the South of France, it was something special. Unfortunately, although I have sailor ancestors, I happen to be seasick pretty often. Oh well.
Boats can be dangerous... I don't count how many times I received the boom on the back of my head! How did you break your finger??

What a schedule! I can't say I'll travel so much during the next few month (but I was three weeks in India lately hehehe!). I hope I'll be able to go back to France during the summer, that would be great! I haven't seen Paris in the Summer for 5 years. I'm tired of Paris at 0°C with grey skies and rain.

Cheers

the sea was quite rough and I grabbed beneath a strap in the cabin. only the small finger did get the strap and didn't manage to push my whole body weight *knacks* ;-)

I'm feeling also quite good when traveling, but I somehow doing hard to "start" traveling.
This trip was the first since 2005 ...
Also, I'd love to travel through France ... and have nobody to come with me!
(everyone seems to be interested in Greece and Italy, family, friends, ... I don't like to travel alone!)

But I've already been in Annecy, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Nantes ...

Ouch... those damn small fingers with no strength... wonder what they're supposed to be used for? Is it just for the balance of the hand? Hahahahaha

France is great for travelling (except people working in tourism or services aren't the nicest persons in France, but I found that in Greece or India too - tourism and money pervert people lol), either alone or with people - but for me it is like I'll travel in France when I'm old. First because I travelled already pretty much there, especially as a kid, my parents took us to many places during holidays, secondly, because travelling can sometimes be a little hard (accomodation, food, driving conditions) and the older you get the less patient or comfortable you are, and travelling in France is rather comfortable. Plus, France is pretty expensive, and I'd like to think I'll be richer in my old days ;-)

That's why I travel so far away from my home country, before I'm too tired or too old to travel with my backpack.

Travelling alone. Huh, interesting point. I was precisely getting to the idea of travelling alone as I was in India. I've never travelled alone and always thought I'd hate that, but I'm coming to the idea it could be a great experience after all. First because when you're travelling alone, whatever you do, you meet people, you never stay alone that much, except if you're in a desert area ;-)
Second, when taking pictures is one of the reasons you're travelling, being with people who don't worship photography like you do, can be a pain in the a**. You need time to take pix, you need to stay where you are, enjoy the moment, become as invisible to local people as can be. With other people this can never happen. They wait for you, they don't like to be waiting for you, etc.

Yeah well, 'got a year to make up my mind.

looks like a cozy morning :-)

Yes, my mornings can be pretty cosy... No need to rush, huh?

Ca a l'aire sympas les matin chez toi ! :D
Ici a paris c'est beaucoup moin relax ! = lever a 6h30 + dejeuner de10 min + 10 min pour s'habiller, laver +5 min pour souffler et c'est partit pour 40 min de RER hihihi

depuis l'appart a changé mais les matins restent à mon rythme... l'avantage d'être à son compte...
mais ce que tu décris, je l'ai vécu pendant plus de 12 ans en France...