A few weeks ago Katharina and I walked the Great Glen Way from Fort William to Inverness. Well actually, I started a few miles in, in Banavie instead of Fort William, and we didn't actually walk the last leg to Inverness because it was very long and we needed to pick up a rental car by 4 pm.
18 October 2015
14 October 2015
Whisky Boy
This one was interesting, although again not really my type. I liked that he had interests - but we didn't share many of them. He is a member of the members-only Whisky Society so I agreed to go on a date with him - to see the Whisky Society. The Whisky Society was a strange place. It felt a bit like an Old Man's club and I couldn't see any women who weren't accompanied by a man. The conversation was relatively lively, but we had opposing views on most things. Neither of us wished to go on a second date.
Best thing about Whisky Boy was that he had quit a well-paid job in financial services to start his own business as a photographer.
Number of dates had: 1. Overall experience: 5/10.
Best thing about Whisky Boy was that he had quit a well-paid job in financial services to start his own business as a photographer.
Number of dates had: 1. Overall experience: 5/10.
10 October 2015
Daddy Boy
This one was a dad, a bit older than my target group, and didn't seem to lead an active lifestyle. More the sort of person who spends a lot of time watching telly. I wasn't interested but he sent a nice message and I didn't mind an evening out so I met him anyway. Also, I was still quite new to this and thought I shouldn't be so picky in the sifting phase, he might surprise me. (He didn't.)
Best thing about Daddy Boy was that I kept running into him in pubs in Leith, after I had told him I wouldn't care for a second date. Awkwardness is fun!
Number of dates had: 1. Overall experience: 3/10.
Best thing about Daddy Boy was that I kept running into him in pubs in Leith, after I had told him I wouldn't care for a second date. Awkwardness is fun!
Number of dates had: 1. Overall experience: 3/10.
5 October 2015
Campervan Boy
As a newbie in the online dating world I made a number of rookie mistakes. In my profile, I had a looong description of myself, my likes and dislikes, and my
expectations. Turns out the more I shortenend it the more messages I
got. Another thing only beginners (and very polite people) do is respond to any message that's more substantial than "Hi :)", "What's up?", or "U look gorgeous ;)". I did that. And if people were nice enough in their messages I would go on a date with them even when their profile (photos and self-description) didn't appeal to me. Unless they were in India or 22 years old.
Therefore, I was very relaxed on most first dates. I had no expectations and nothing to lose.
But this was different on my very first date that came out of online dating. This boy was promising. A musician with a proper job, well-read, well-traveled, funny, he liked the outdoors and a simple life. I was quite keen. His picture was a bit blurry though, and you never know if you find someone physically attractive until you meet them.
We had exchanged quite a few messages and agreed to meet in a pub. I was early. I was very, very nervous. This was the second scariest thing I had ever done in my life. The scariest thing was stand-up comedy (*click*).
When he came in I recognised him right away because he was nervous as well. The date went ok - we talked, there were no awkward silences, and I liked what I saw.
We met again a few times every once in a while - but he didn't seem too keen and after a while I had written him off. But then after a few months we ended up going on a trip in his campervan and there's little more romantic than a trip to the hills in a campervan. A few more trips followed, most notably the one to Argyll (*click*) - waking up in a campervan on a remote spot on the coast with a view over the island Jura, sunrise, coffee and a hug, one of my favourite moments in 2014. But then it slowly died - he got in touch less and less often, and I started to pine for the campervan and all the trips I still wanted to do, but the boy himself and I didn't really have much to say to each other. So no harm done!
The best thing about Campervan Boy was not the campervan, although that's a close call! No, I liked that he was really cheeky.
Number of dates had: 10+. Overall experience 7/10.
Therefore, I was very relaxed on most first dates. I had no expectations and nothing to lose.
But this was different on my very first date that came out of online dating. This boy was promising. A musician with a proper job, well-read, well-traveled, funny, he liked the outdoors and a simple life. I was quite keen. His picture was a bit blurry though, and you never know if you find someone physically attractive until you meet them.
We had exchanged quite a few messages and agreed to meet in a pub. I was early. I was very, very nervous. This was the second scariest thing I had ever done in my life. The scariest thing was stand-up comedy (*click*).
When he came in I recognised him right away because he was nervous as well. The date went ok - we talked, there were no awkward silences, and I liked what I saw.
We met again a few times every once in a while - but he didn't seem too keen and after a while I had written him off. But then after a few months we ended up going on a trip in his campervan and there's little more romantic than a trip to the hills in a campervan. A few more trips followed, most notably the one to Argyll (*click*) - waking up in a campervan on a remote spot on the coast with a view over the island Jura, sunrise, coffee and a hug, one of my favourite moments in 2014. But then it slowly died - he got in touch less and less often, and I started to pine for the campervan and all the trips I still wanted to do, but the boy himself and I didn't really have much to say to each other. So no harm done!
The best thing about Campervan Boy was not the campervan, although that's a close call! No, I liked that he was really cheeky.
Number of dates had: 10+. Overall experience 7/10.
Result!
I don't think I've mentioned it here before, but I got a life sentence with the Scottish Government: they offered me a permanent post! Yay, well done me! This means I can stop writing about assessment centres and the likes and talk about more interesting things: Online dating!
I have alluded to giving this a try a while ago. Nearing my late thirties and watching all my friends get married, while not the marrying kind, I wouldn't mind some romance in my life. So off I went, signed up for the online dating, created a witty profile, and waited for the invitations to come.
The idea to blog about the experiences crossed my mind of course, but I had such a slow start with the online dating that I didn't expect it to lead to much material. However, while still not reaching two-digit numbers, I have now had my share of interesting encounters of the romantic and not so romantic kind and would like to share.
I have alluded to giving this a try a while ago. Nearing my late thirties and watching all my friends get married, while not the marrying kind, I wouldn't mind some romance in my life. So off I went, signed up for the online dating, created a witty profile, and waited for the invitations to come.
The idea to blog about the experiences crossed my mind of course, but I had such a slow start with the online dating that I didn't expect it to lead to much material. However, while still not reaching two-digit numbers, I have now had my share of interesting encounters of the romantic and not so romantic kind and would like to share.
21 August 2015
Awwww
Four years, four months and thirteen days ago I lived in a lovely little flat in downtown Princeton, sharing it with my lovely flatmate Sally, and just generally having a brilliant time. That night specifically, we went to the Spring Formal, a sort of semi-formal dance / party event organised by Princeton Uni. We got picked up by my gentleman friend and I wrote about the event in my blog post (*klick*) at the time.
What I didn't write then though was that on arrival at the pre-games there were only couples! And when Sally pointed that out to me I looked around and identified the only single guy in the room. "That guy's single" I think I said to her and pointed at him. She went for it and took him home with her.
Well, they are getting married next year, and I'm taking full credit for it!
What I didn't write then though was that on arrival at the pre-games there were only couples! And when Sally pointed that out to me I looked around and identified the only single guy in the room. "That guy's single" I think I said to her and pointed at him. She went for it and took him home with her.
Well, they are getting married next year, and I'm taking full credit for it!
18 August 2015
Talking
Do you ever have this nightmare where you are asked to give a talk together with your boss and your boss agrees to do the main part and you're doing only a little bit at the end, and then on the day he doesn't show up and it's just you and you haven't prepared his bit and all you have is his cryptic slides without any notes or idea what he meant to say?This is how I was introduced today at a seminar talk my boss and I were supposed to give.
14 August 2015
We care, honest!
My boss and I are moving divisions next week. We are currently working in the centre of the Scottish Government, the Office of the Chief Statistician. This will change as we are getting moved away from the centre to a policy area, Communities Analytical Services, the poverty statisticians. This makes sense, since what my boss and I do is identify areas in Scotland that have concentrations of deprivation. It will be good to work near the people who know all about the different facets of poverty. This also means that we have to leave our nice office in the city centre and commute to Leith instead, 3 miles north.
5 August 2015
Germany
I'm on holiday in Germany to recover from my stressful life in Edinburgh and to warm up. What I'm doing to spend my time:
- sleeping
- napping
- reading
- complaining about the heat
- eating wurst
4 July 2015
Disks
Whoa. I just replaced my faulty laptop hard drive with a solid state disk. It only took 2 minutes, and the laptop still works!
Saves me from buying a new one. Over the last 6 years I've got used to this one!
Saves me from buying a new one. Over the last 6 years I've got used to this one!
18 May 2015
Hexenschuss
I'm having lower back troubles. I spent a big part of last week either lying flat or being in pain or both. But whining is boring, so here comes the bright side:
- I have found a new appreciation for my (usually) good health, and indeed, life in general.
- I have discovered new things that one can do lying on one's back.
- I had the perfect excuse for watching loads of TV and doing nothing else.
- The film "Griff the Invisible" is quite sweet.
- I have become more determined than ever to strengthen my back through regular, targeted exercise.
- My flatmate bought me chocolate biscuits, and her partner did my dishes.
- People, including strangers, who recognised the pain from my funny walk have been incredibly kind to me.
- My boss is the nicest person imaginable.
5 May 2015
Assessment Centre
Today, I attended the first of two assessment centres in May. This one was for the Scottish Government (SG) Graduate Development Programme, a 4-year programme with placements in different SG divisions, to build new leaders.
29 April 2015
And Lastly in April
In other news, I'm helping to run a big Statistics Conference on Wednesday. My boss is pretty much in charge and quite useless to do anything else until it's over, so I thought I might as well make myself useful and help. There will be drinks afterwards.
On Thursday, I'm going to a reception in the Scottish Parliament, hosted by the organisation through which I first got my internship at the Scottish Government. There will be drinks.
On Friday, I'm first going to someone's leaving drinks (drinks!), and then to a gig in Summerhall, Rozi Plain. It's possibly a date.
And finally, today I went to the first prep meeting of the volunteers at the next Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. This will be my third year of volunteering there and the goal is to top my efforts from last year, when I went to roughly 30 gigs in 10 days. I will take half days off so I can sleep and party!
On Thursday, I'm going to a reception in the Scottish Parliament, hosted by the organisation through which I first got my internship at the Scottish Government. There will be drinks.
On Friday, I'm first going to someone's leaving drinks (drinks!), and then to a gig in Summerhall, Rozi Plain. It's possibly a date.
And finally, today I went to the first prep meeting of the volunteers at the next Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival. This will be my third year of volunteering there and the goal is to top my efforts from last year, when I went to roughly 30 gigs in 10 days. I will take half days off so I can sleep and party!
27 April 2015
April For The Win
After a quiet first three months, 2015 is slowly but surely picking up speed.
I got an email on Friday asking whether I wanted to go on an adventure trip that weekend. How could I possibly say no to that?
I got an email on Friday asking whether I wanted to go on an adventure trip that weekend. How could I possibly say no to that?
21 April 2015
19 April 2015
5 February 2015
3 February 2015
Challenges
It's only early February, and I am already embarking on a number of challenges for 2015.
I started a barbershop quartet last week, and the first rehearsal went surprisingly well, even though none of us had done anything like it before. Mind you, my bass wanted a voice recording of his part instead of the piano recording I had made at home over Christmas, to put words and music together. As I couldn't find any recording software on my computer, for a while I was contemplating to just call him and leave it as a voice message. But then I ran into my friend Ronnie on the bus, and his pal Mike suggested Audacity, which is a free recording and mixing software. So home I went and did a quick and dirty recording of the bass part, one octave higher of course. Singing on my own in front of people was challenge number one. To be fair, doing karaoke the other week had helped to lose some inhibition.
I started a barbershop quartet last week, and the first rehearsal went surprisingly well, even though none of us had done anything like it before. Mind you, my bass wanted a voice recording of his part instead of the piano recording I had made at home over Christmas, to put words and music together. As I couldn't find any recording software on my computer, for a while I was contemplating to just call him and leave it as a voice message. But then I ran into my friend Ronnie on the bus, and his pal Mike suggested Audacity, which is a free recording and mixing software. So home I went and did a quick and dirty recording of the bass part, one octave higher of course. Singing on my own in front of people was challenge number one. To be fair, doing karaoke the other week had helped to lose some inhibition.
25 January 2015
Travel for Work
For a number of reasons I am reluctant to write a lot about work, but my job does come with a few perks. I must have mentioned Flexitime at some point, which allowed me to take thirteen additional days off last year. Another one is the trips to the north I do for work. These pictures were taken on the Glenlivet Estate around Tomintoul in the north of the Cairngorms National Park last week where I went on a site visit with the team.
30 December 2014
Chrismanay
Having spent most of Christmas indoors, cuddled up by my parents' wood-burning fireplace, I came back such a wuss that I couldn't sleep in my bed anymore without the heating on. I was permanently cold and boring, and felt very much like just sitting it out, hibernating until spring. But it only took one motivational blog article (*click*) to get me up on my feet again, go outside, and do winter.
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