The last few years of this blog have been very hit or miss, as you know if you’ve been reading it. Or trying to when I do publish a post. I have been so hit or miss that without actually looking I would venture that several posts have started with or contained some sort of apology for the length of time or delay since the previous post along with a promise to do better. As tempting as it is to do that again, I’m going to do my best to refrain, from doing either. Instead, I’m going to share with you why it has been a challenge to keep up with the posts.
Before the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, I was going to a local blues jam regularly and it generally gave me plenty to write and post about. And I did that. But then we went into lockdowns and isolations and I didn’t know what to write about. Should I shift my focus to this idea or that idea? I even tried. I wrote a series of posts about the idea of manufactured need. Most of it didn’t feel right enough to keep posting about. So my posts would be varied and mostly catch up posts on things I was doing at the time. Along the way there was more art in the posts than music but I still wasn’t sure about what to write about. What to share. What you would want to read about.
I still don’t know for sure. But I’m going to take a stab at something and see how it goes. Hopefully you will enjoy reading the posts and I can get more in the habit of posting regularly again. It’s going to take some work though.
Before I get to that, I have an update on that trip to Germany. It happened. I had a great time. I was happy to be in Germany, and super excited to get to try to use the German that I’ve spent so long trying to learn. It wasn’t perfect but it was enough to get by in a few cases. And even enough to get positive comments from some of my colleagues.
As a reminder, the trip was for the day job. I spent my first week there working in the office and meeting with colleagues in different areas so I could get a better understanding of technologies that are being used and how they might be leveraged in the US offices. I enjoyed meeting my German colleagues and having conversations with them either over dinner or lunch in the cafeteria. All in all they were great, welcoming and helpful.
The second week of the trip I took vacation and was mostly on my own, though a couple of my colleagues did check on me to make sure I’d made it to my destinations since I was traveling by train for the first time. I went to Hamburg for a couple of days and then Berlin before returning to my starting location to catch the plane home. Hamburg was cool, I didn’t see everything I thought about seeing due to me not properly planning much. I did see some cool things though. One was the museum of arts and crafts. They had an exhibit about the history of water and it’s usage. That was quite interesting. I also found the Chocoversum. The chocolate museum. I have a new appreciation for mosquitos. I also made it to the viewing platform of the Elbphilharmonie, though not the full tour. That was quite a view.
From Hamburg I went to Berlin. I rode the hop on hop off bus and got to see many of the well known places. I did not hop off to see the museum island. Though it is something I would go back to see. I had arrived through the main train station and noticed that it was four floors but hadn’t really registered how very big the place is until taking the bus ride past it. I have more appreciation for the gentleman who pointed me to the correct exit for grabbing a taxi because, wow. The station is huge. I ended up being in Berlin on a holiday, reunification day as it turns out. For those that don’t know, holidays in Germany are much like Sundays in that there is very little open. Transportation, restaurants, and museums are pretty much it. All good. I booked the trip to Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam for that day. That was fun. What made it especially fun was our guide. She turned up in style with black faux leather pants, a bright orange puffer jacket, a small backpack, and 40+ years of tour guide experience.
As I said, it was a great trip. And I have to thank my colleagues because they helped me with booking my trains and my hotels in Hamburg and Berlin. I also learned a lot about how I would travel again. Starting with, a smaller bag, and even two bags instead of just one. I had one very large bag and it was really too much for me to manage well. I did it but, I would have managed better with smaller bags. And, even though I could have got all my goodies in it coming back I was concerned it would have been overweight as just the one bag so I purchased another smaller one for all the goodies. Some of the other things I would have done differently include, plan a little better, choose a central location and take more day trips, even if that meant an early train there and a late train back. I also now have a better idea of what I would want to see and even how to go about finding some off the beaten path sites and attractions.
And for the question some ask, ‘would I go again?’ Absolutely. I plan to. I just haven’t decided when. I felt very comfortable in Germany and particularly enjoyed Berlin. I liked seeing the contrast of the cold war era architecture next to the restored older architecture. And it was in Berlin where I found the Caran d’Ache store for art supplies so that certainly helped.
The trip was quite impactful for me on a personal level as well as day job professional level. Personally there was all that I’ve shared as well as the general impact travel tends to have and more. Professionally, day job speaking, I came back with a lot of work that needs to be done. Some I knew about, some was hinted at, and some had been set aside, all of it big projects and undertakings. And because of that, as well as other work that was underway when I left on my trip, the day job has generally been taking it’s toll. Which can make it difficult to find the energy, physical and mental, to work on the things I want to work on and to create the things I want to create. And yet, things are still happening.
I’m making some changes to my art store. I’m setting up a gift shop feature so you can find the merchandise items easier. And I’m setting those up so you can just order them. You won’t need to worry about if they are going to look good when you get them or any thing like that. I’m setting the art on the items in a way that I want the art to be viewed. This should make things much easier for you. As with the day job, there is a lot to still do here. And there is a lot more that I want to do so expect some incremental adjustments as I work to improve things. And yes, there will be more art added.
I have three pieces of art back from the photographer and a couple of pieces that I can scan or have scanned that will be appearing on the store soon so look for those. I did some Candy Corn art for Halloween. That was fun. I also have another watercolor painting finished that will need a trip to the photographer. And at a suggestion of one of my Taekwondo friends I’m working on some Candy Cane art. I’ve done more than one piece. I did one in watercolor first and that will need to go to the photographer. Another one is pastel and small enough that I can scan it. And I’ve got one more I want to do that I’m planning to do in watercolor as well. That’s not all that I’ve got in mind. I am planning the next Taekwondo painting. I may do something different with it and I’m excited about it. I have another painting that I want to do, I’ve done part of the sketch for it, but that one I want to surprise someone with so you’ll have to wait to hear more about it once it’s done. And I have another one I want to do that I think I’m going to try acrylics, again. I will need to be patient.
So yes, the trip was good and now there is lots of art related stuff happening. Art being created and the store getting updated. Maybe that will give me more to write about. Cheers!