Items

Sorry for triggering your "help it's a history lesson get me out quick" impulses with that last post, there. I'm going to have to learn to bake, or something, so that I can share tidbits that other people are actually interested in. Though I do appreciate how many of you said that you actually were interested in what I was talking about. Even though I'm not totally sure I believe you. Anyway, let's get over that little blip with a nice, normal post. Here we go.

Item the 1st: A few people asked what I got Torsten for his birthday, and now that I've given it to him, I can say here what it was: two almost-courtside tickets to see the Dallas Mavericks, Torsten's favourite NBA team, when they come to DC to play the Wizards. And also, a Lacoste polo shirt because he had one that he loved and it has mysteriously disappeared. He liked (or claimed to like) both gifts very much. Although the shirt made him a little sad because while it is the same style as the lost shirt, and what he liked about that shirt was how comfortable it was, it isn't the same pattern, and he misses the original shirt. Also, he says thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes. He read them all last night, and smiled a lot.

Item the 2nd: Speaking of gifts, last night the picture frame we had ordered for Torsten's grandmother arrived, but we got home from Torsten's birthday dinner after our building's package room had already closed, so I had to wait until this morning to pick it up. Torsten had already left, so the plan was that I would grab the package right when the room opened at eight a.m., put the picture in the frame, tuck the frame into my suitcase, and leave for work. Except that then? The frame? Turned out to be absolutely enormous. Like, it's for an 8x10 picture, but the damn thing must be at least 18x24, if not more, with all this glass for the picture to "float" in. Meaning that there was no way I could fit it in my suitcase, and even if I could, all that glass would probably break. So we are bringing just the photo, and we will have to find a frame somewhere in Germany to put the photo in. Whoops. That's what we get for doing everything at the last minute, I guess.

Item the 3rd: There were 13 things on my stressed-out pre-Germany list, and I completed nine of them yesterday. Another two will be completed today. That leaves two that won't get done. One was clean the living room. No big deal. The other was learn German. DAMN. I SO thought I could get that done in a day. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?

Item the 4th: I took your sage advice and decided to do a mix of post types while I'm in Germany. I have a couple of guest posts arranged, and you guys will love them, because these people are hand-picked by me and their own blogs are so, so good. But I won't ruin the surprise by telling you ahead of time who they are. I also packed the USB cable for the camera so that I can upload pictures while we're there and post them. I'll also probably have enough time while we're there to write a few normal posts, and maybe even read some of yours. I'm still trying to figure out how to incorporate Flibberty's suggestion of little interactive puzzle game things. I'm hoping the answer to that one will just sort of... present itself to me while we're in Germany.

Item the 5th: It's a little weird to me that this is like... a trip abroad, but also just a normal trip off to visit the family, the same way that we hop in the car some weekends and drive to North Carolina to see my parents. Except that this requires passports. Three of them, between the two of us. This will be the first time that I use my shiny new British passport. And I'm very happy about that, because it means that I can go through the same customs line as Torsten when we get to Germany, so if there are any strange questions in German, he'll be there to help. Though I don't think there will be, as European customs officials tend, in general, to be much nicer than American ones.

Item the 6th: My suitcase is huge. I dragged it on the bus this morning, and all I can say is, if I ever even think about taking a suitcase on a bus again, will somebody please slap me? I could barely get it up the stairs on the bus, and then it barely fit in the aisle, and everyone gave me dirty looks, and it was just generally horrible and I sat there feeling like a pariah the whole time. And my suitcase is beautiful and purple and should never have bad feelings associated with it.

Item the 7th: Torsten is trying to forbid me from shopping in Germany, including Christmas shopping, because the dollar is so weak right now. Let's see who wins that battle, shall we?