Idling at work

I thougt today would be busy, but no. So I'm just waiting to leave for the weekend. The whole department is going on a weekend trip (seminar) so I'm packed and ready to go. For the first time I don't feel like I forgot anything ('cept my camera, but sometimes taking pictures is an interruption, not a pleasure).

I got tired last night, decided to go to bed early and instead get up early and pack in the morning. Even though I bugged myself during the night by waking up and saying to myself, "Do this! Remember that! Pack those!" and thought that maybe I should just get and pack already, I stayed in bed until the alarm went off a little past 5 am. I got up, did my usual doddling (which includes e-mail and news), and had an easy start to the day. Eventually, I was fed, showered and dress and tossing things into the living room that I wanted to remember to pack. The night before I had tried on clothes and had those picked out.

To my own amazement, I was packed and out of the house and on my way to work by 8:15 am. Usually, for weekend trips right from work, I'm strung out and show up late for work, and feel I forgot something (and usually have).

It was well worth tossing and turning for, but yes, I do need to figure out how to calm that brain of mine down. For those of you who have been missing astrology here, my Gemini Moon is one reason for a busy mind, but also Mars in Cancer retrograde can be very sensitive to stress (my stomach can tell you all about that).

Ah, yes, astrology. Perhaps it's time to rename this blog. My interest in charts has dwindled mightily, which doesn't bother me at all, but does surprise those who know me. My interest has dwindled before.

There are decisions to make if I put this particular hobby on the back burner: Redoing my website, deciding whether or not to continue the void-of-course calendars, and whether or not to keep participating in the fledgling Bergen Astrological Club, which I thought I would help start, then bow out, but the thing's looking like a non-starter.

The last meeting had one participant: Me. Good thing I have a Gemini Moon and can have whole conversations with myself. ;-)

Well, weather keeps changing today: Sunshine on one side of the building, rain on the other, and still more than half an hour to go before we're out of here, on our way to the train station.

Trains in Norway... There's only one line out of Bergen, due to the topography here. It's so darned hard to lay tracks across fjords so deep no one knows what's at the bottom. So they laid one track about 100 years ago across the mountains from here to Oslo. Manual labor, every inch of it. Prior to that, there really was no land connection that anyone used regularly; all connections were easier by sea, but that made Scotland closer to Bergen than Oslo was. Weird, really, that Norway's second largest city has only one railway connection. So we're going on that one track, up to the mountains, just on the other side of the watershed. It'll be cold at night (oh, I did forget something: A nightie. Oh, who cares.) and changing weather. I managed to pack for all eventualities except heat.

One thing's for sure: Without my cat there's a lot less fur on my clothes. Makes it easier to keep my black and dark blue clothes nice, but there are times when I'd rather have the cat. No, I don't want another pet. Not at this time. I don't know if ever again. I sometimes wonder if the 14 years I had with Sammy were a healing process, considering everything she taught me, and so to have another cat just wouldn't be the same. Sammy wasn't just a pet; she was a friend, a spiritual guide, an anchor for when I tried to float away. I'm a better person because of that pure goodness on four legs. I think a lot of pets do that sort of thing for their humans.

OK, I think I'm done idling for now. Someone sent me a bit of work to do. Yay!