Dear me

Ah, summer is in a full swing right now, and with temperature rising up to 30+ I enjoy every moment of it. Well, I’d like it even more, if I had any vacation days to lazily spend by a lake or something, but since I’m just fresh out of my trial period I have none, so have to make do with the lazily active afternoons after work and weekends. And during lunch break hour, which, quite happily, recently has been just pleasantly sunny and hot with no crash boom bang to scare the sh*t out of me ;)
The other day I’ve rented a city bike and pedaled to the park in search of some cozy spot in a pleasant shadows of some trees, and I’ve found one right next to the Vilnelė river. Ah, memories! I’ve spent so many good time there. But I’m never admitting I’ve done anything illegal as a teen though. Nah, never *lips sealed and cross my heart*
I’ve totally forgotten that the Vilnelė gets this great during summer. I must admit, thoug, that the lush great meadow of a river was very pleasing to the eye. The regular inhabitants did not seem to mind the excess of greenery too.

A nice shady spot under the tree. What could be better on a hot hot day?

the Vilnelė river is as lush green as the grass on it’s banks

and it even has blossoms! just like a real meadow should have :D

Mind, these guys don’t seem to care they’re swimming and fishing in a meadow

and this forget-me-not? first I’ve mistaken it for some water plant – so close to water it grows, and only later I’ve seen my error

a lovely couple of looms. Just love to watch when they start diving

But wait, there’s more. That’s what I’ve found among my change this morning

Haven’t seen this commemorative coin before, so when I’ve first noticed this one among other coins, my first impulse was that I’d been given some foreign currency or something. Just as I’ve thought there were only 1 Litas different commemorative coins, I’ve find out there’s also Kurėnas’ edition. What else did I miss? If I’ve missed anything, I sure must some catching up to do before it’s too late, since January 1st, 2015, we start saying good-bey to our Litas and saying hello to Euros. I’m not set against EU currency like some, but I’ll sure will miss Litas.
And then today a piece of good news came to my e-mail. It started with “Dear Ms., we’re happy to inform you that you’ve been (wait for it) ACCEPTED”! Yay! All I have to do now is to make sure I’ve sufficient funds to pay for the pleasure :) Come autumn, I'm back to school, yay!

Karate Kid

I’ve been invited to a picnic on Saturday afternoon, so I happily packed my picnic kit – some wine, some snacks and a blanket to sit on – and off I went to enjoy a good time. After a short hike down the slope, we chose a nice and pleasantly shady spot near the river for our picnic, and started enjoying ourselves. Wine and food combined helped a lot :)
Our picnic was well on its way, when this man on a bicycle sped past us and settled a short distance from us on a sandy part of the river side. Since it was a public place, we did not pay the guy much of an attention at first. But it all changed in a few minutes.
Girl friend. ‘Look! Look! D’ya see what HE is DOING?!’
We all turned to look and OMG I could literary feel my jaw fall –  there’s this guy doing all crazy stuff. He was rolling in the sand like a seal at first, then he probably tried to swim on it, then he jumped up and started kicking and punching the air karate, thai chi and whatever else style. We just kept on watching unable to turn away for a while.

Girl friend. ‘Is he drunk, or what?’
Girl friend 2. ‘I’d bet he’s high.’
Me. ‘That is crazy. Who could’ve thought we’d get this sort of entertainment in a place like this.’
Girl friend 2. ‘Yah, that’s entertainment, but I sure hope he does not come any closer to us.’
Male friend. ‘I bet he’s doing all of this to impress you.’
Us. ‘Who? what?’
Male friend. ‘Well, there are three of you, and I’m your only male companion, so he’s just showing off.’
We laughed at this notion in unison. The thought that some one might think THIS sort of showing off might impress anyone in his/her right mind, was just so ludicrous. Then we got tired of watching the ‘show’ and stopped paying much of an attention to him, but an occasional glance towards him to check what else he might’ve come up with. This lasted for an hour at the very least, and the guy just kind of became part of the scenery, though, I admit, quite an eerily one. Then our male friend exclaimed in a hushed tones, ‘Hey, I was right! He’s coming over to us.’
Dang it. None of us wanted to deal with drunk, high or simply crazy person, but there was no way to escape that, so we kind of braced for the worst, and our male friend shifted his position just in case he needed to defend any of us girls. Sure enough, the first impression of the karate guy up close wasn’t any better than that of from a distance. He came to us holding a fist sized rock in his outstretched arm, and for a short moment I really thought that he is going to be all violent. By the looks on the faces of my girl friends, it was obvious they were readying to flee. Luckily, the guy turned out to be non-violent.
Karate kid. ‘See what I’ve got here? It’s a granite!’
Male friend. ‘Yup. It’s a nice piece of granite.’
I don’t remember much of the conversation that followed, since I was still ready to jump at run at the time, and I surely did not want to encourage the guy to stay any longer with asking any questions or joining in in the conversation between to men. My lady friends shared frame of mind entirely. Probably since only our male friend deigned to talk to him, the guy soon ran dry with what to say, and ten minutes (or like eternity) later finally departed, letting us girls let out a breath we’re holding.
Male friend. ‘See I was 100 percent right. He DID want to impress you!’
We laughed at this. Laughed out loud and wholeheartedly. We kept on laughing and giggling unable to stop ourselves. Then the guy pedaled passed us with a scornful look on his face and shot a comment at us.
Karate kid. ‘I came over here in hopes of finding meself a girlfriend, but what I get is mocking. I’ve lived in Canada and USA, and THERE I was never laughed at.’
Passed this point I think all of us were rolling on the ground with laughter.
But I must tell ya, this was hellava funny, though totally ineffective pick up technique for sure :D

Back to a drawing board

Summer is here, and once again I'm full into planning my road trip. If I could, I'd go on it as soon as possible, but, quite unfortunately, I'll have to wait for mid-August and for the sole three day long weekend this summer. On the positive side, this leaves me with plenty of time to plan
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zsSjI9rstLlc.k4QXk7dSPgpY

Everything is for the best

there’s some light even in the dark of a night

Well, I sure hope that it is. After a give or take half a year at home and with no other income but unemployment allowance and some of my own saving, I’m more than eager to do anything, but get the hell out of here and actually do something. On the plus side, this long vacation was a useful break after almost 3 years of work work work with only few get-aways for a day or two at the most. On the downside, I’m never comfortable with watching my savings just melt away… Anyway, so far this break was mostly positive, so I’ll just try to keep it that way. So let’s just look for all the positive outcomes of this situation:
* I am full of energy, well rested, and ready to move mountains (though hopefully I don’t have to  or I might end up with some nations angry with me if I move their Alps)
* If all works out as planned, this is going to be my last week at home (a cautious hurray goes here and fingers crossed)
* I’m finally out of the ‘cage’.
What ‘cage’? The ‘cage’ of my own in-box thinking. Since for a couple of years I’ve been thinking about going back to school for my masters degree, and since I wanted to get this degree in a totally different field than my BA, that meant I needed to take some additional courses and only then would be eligible to apply. Problem was that I’d have had to pay both for the courses and for the masters studies. And money is always an issue for me – I’m never easy with parting with greater sums, and I’m even less attracted to the thought of taking a loan. So there you have it – a wish to go back to school and insufficient funds of my own to get me through 3 years at school. Well, after a couple of months at home, with much time spent outdoors and with somehow a much clearer head and brighter perspective, I had this eureka moment – why was I so fixated on getting the masters? I could achieve the very same goal and at much much lesser costs by starting over and getting my BAcc or BAE at college level instead of masters in the same field at pricey university. And so the plan has been hatched: step 1 – get a job, step 2 – back to school.
Making these plans public is like making a promise so I’d not back out at the very last moment. And hopefully principle of men making plans, and gods laughing at them will not be applicable just this once.

Under the magnifying glass

For starters an old joke:
Consul : What is your name?
Arab : Abdul Aziz
Consul: Sex?
Arab : Six to ten times a week
Consul: I mean, male or female?
Arab : Both M ale and female sometimes camels
Consul: Holy cow!
Arab : Yes, cows and dogs too
Consul: Man,……… isn’ t it hostile?
Arab :Horse style, dog style, any style
Consul: Oh dear!
Arab : No no, no deer they run too fast.
Then a quote:
‘ <…> Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it’s the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will, too…’ (Hope Floats, 1998)
I find myself today somewhere between a scary beginning that might be and a certain level of being lost in translation while out there looking for THE Job. How is it going then? Relatively well since I’m still on track and still hopeful, though numbers in my bank account might not agree to that at all. So on the one hand I’m still looking for something to really catch my eye, where I would get this vibe of ‘I WANT to work here’ and all. But on the other hand, I’d like to get THE job already and like NOW or I just might end up shooting myself with a door handle, that’s how bored I’m getting with having too much spare time. Oh, I now hear voices of some of my friends asking me why wouldn’t I just start something of my own rather than look for yet another employment. Well, while self employment is certainly an option for many and many people out there, I just don’t want that for myself, not now, and possibly not ever. So that’s why I keep on browsing job ads and sending out my CVs. Until I do, I have loads of time to waste, many ads to read and reply to, and then an interview here and there to attend to.
It now feels good that after all that pre-holiday and post-holiday dead calm there’s plenty of activity in the job market, and after more than a month of complete silence things are, at least theoretically, starting to look good. Fingers crossed that I’ll get my 8 to 5 in no time at all. Wish it was one of the two options I’ve interviewed for recently. If not, then moving on to other possible right ones for me. My ‘magnifying glass’ all set and tweaked to spot all the clues for the right position I’m still in the wild hunting :)

Since this is like the second break in my career, I can dully note that sometimes when working 8 to 5 I get to the point that I just dream to have lots and lots of vacation days and spare time on my hands to waste, to read some book, to visit some museums or something else you want to do but never actually do. But when you actually end up having loads of time, it might not be all that fun at all. Oh, the first month is great I’ll give you that. It’s like a perfect vacation with ideas for what should I do next just bubbling inside and all, but sometime into the second or third month this honeymoon is suddenly over. Cinema, museums, reading, exercising, etc., etc. are still on, but the joy is all gone, and I start to long for doing some work instead of this ‘party’ thing. Money, though not yet under water in that area, is also becoming an issue. Once you’re short of regular income, here comes the dreaded ‘Do I really NEED to buy this?’ instead of sometimes so pleasant impulse shopping, partying, etc.

I come undone

Fast forward a week and I'm out of here. I've already referred in my previous blog entry that my current job is like a life in Hell-mouth straight out of 'Buffy the vampire slayer' TV show, but soon all bad is to as and I've finally given my two weeks notice and now I feel sooo relieved. A better job (and by now I think that ANY job is better than this one) is still just an uncertain prospect in my future, which I'm sure is soon to come to life and get some material form, but I just could not stand staying here for any longer or I would be risking becoming one of those surly faces I'm facing all day long at the moment. Up until this experience I've thought that a promise of 'friendly co-workers' and 'friendly working environment' was just that - words to describe something obvious and a must-have for ANY company. Turns out, this small yet so essential part of good job might sometimes be missing, making in turn a good on paper job to something entirely different.

Some compromises work for the best, but if they don't then they just don't and it's time to move on. And since I'm already feeling I'm becoming one of them - eternally unhappy, grumpy and dissatisfied co-workers of mine - it is better to move on than to dwell on the thought that all is bad, all is dark, managers are fools, etc. No job should be a battle for staying afloat and sane. 

Just kill 'em all

No no don't worry I'm not on some killing rampage or completely out of my mind, but there is some killing involved in my activities on almost daily basis. But I'll get back to it a little bit later.

First of all, let me begin with telling that I've never been a damsel in distress, and I never intend to be one, if I can help it. I enjoyed fairy tales and their happy endings and all, but I just never could understand why is it that men characters in those stories usually were the ones having all these exciting adventures, and the ladies were either left behind to just wait, or they mostly were these annoying damsels in distress waiting for their rescuer. I've never wanted to be a boy, but neither did I ever wanted to be this helpless girl. I wanted to have the adventure of killing some dragon, discovering some Wild West territories or flying some spaceship Star Wars' style, etc. for myself. Since until my early teenage years I was happily tailing my brother and his boy company, including all of my summers spent in a company of my all-boy cousins, I've never even questioned myself, if climbing up that tree is girlish or not. I was having a time of my life up in those trees or while making some arrows for a hand made bows, and was basically doing anything the boys did, but those few things I thought were stupid. Anyway, I've learned to kick ass and fight in a proper way - no hair pulling and scratching at your opponent's face like some girly girls do (though that technique is SCARY, and could be quite efficient from what I've seen).

Then the day has come, when I was no longer wanted in this company of the boys. My brother - a teenager now - was more interested in girls and other stuff the boys at that age do, than playing with his little sis. So, after years and years of running with the boys, I've found myself playing with the girls my age, and often thinking how playing family is so much much more boring than playing football. I think this was the time, when I first decided, that I'd never be this helpless girl, who is stuck with cooking, while some men are out looking for a mammoth to kill.

Don't get me wrong, I've never wanted to be a manly lady, a man or anything like that, but in my opinion a princess in a ball gown was just as good for some sword fight as a knight in his armor. Only the princess in this case had the advantage of two worlds - fighting like a man, or running from the fight without a risk of being called unmanly or a coward ;) Cheating, you'd say? Screw that! If I cannot open a jar, I'd ask for help, but I still have a trick or two up my sleeve if this help is unavailable :)

I have some phobias and frights; I can work some of them, and I've come to terms with the others. It's like I'm afraid of heights, yet I can climb up real high for a picturesque view to enjoy. On the other hand, at the mere sight of a mouse or some snake I'd be gone in the opposite direction in a moment, fighting back a panicky noises coming from my throat. And that's OK. The thing about being a knight as opposed to the unlucky damsel waiting to be saved is to take charge of your own decisions, life, and not just sit waiting for life to happen while you skulk.

So now we're back to the killing part. Since August is well known for wasps getting very active and bothersome, it's no surprise that this summer is no exception. But a late night exercise on an almost daily basis of killing up to some 3 nasty wasps at a time, which dare to bother a sleepy princess while she's getting ready for hers good night's sleep is way too much. That is when the princess gets all mad and tunes into her 'kill 'em all' slayer mode.

How's killing a few angry wasps for a lullaby for you, eh?

An unexpected beauty

Sometimes even a "road kill" is a piece of art :)

The Final Straw

Since the company I’ve happily and proudly worked for the last couple of years is no more on the map, anticipating this unhappy event I’ve been looking for another position since like the New Year. In April I’d thought I’ve found myself a ‘jackpot’ in a form of an offer to come and join this quite well known international company. In theory and on paper this job offer was more than tempting – good salary, great benefits and appealing international environment, and more. This made me think I was joining a team of professionals where I could fit right in. Alas the very first weeks in my new job proved me wrong on like almost every single aspect.

I’m not so sure if my own definition of ‘professionalism’ is an exact match to that in a dictionary, but I strongly believe that only the very few of this new ‘team’ could be in any way described as professionals. Never in my life before have I’ve met so many people in one place which are so unhappy with their work, holding so many grudges towards one another to the extent that more than once I’ve witnessed people making ugly faces as they pass someone on their ‘bad list’. Oh, and I’m not even talking about all that angry gossip and buckets of shit they throw like out of the blue on one another at all times. The whole experience strongly resembles some sort of ugly war in which no one is safe and can at every moment get a stab to one’s back.

For the first month or so I was given an openly cold shoulder from like every single member of this new ‘team’ – none would speak to me but say ‘good morning’ and ‘good-bye’, unless they needed me to do something for them, etc. In my previous company I have enjoyed working in a tightly knit team of people who were all friendly, professional and thus at any point, even on a really bad day, I could say out loud ‘I LOVE my job’ and be true in every aspect. So, try to imagine my initial shock when in this new job I’ve found myself right in the middle of some sort of ongoing war. Oh, I was warned during the job interview that climate within the company could not be described as ‘friendly’, but never in my life I could have imagined that things could be THAT bad. In the very beginning I believed – ah, blame that on that streak of my personality which always tends to look for the best in others- that with time people would warm up to me and things would then get rolling smoother. Hm… in a way it did. Some of co-workers started at least talking to me, well, at least during coffee breaks or lunch i now was talked to, but whenever it came down to doing business… At this point I’m totally stunned with the fact that a company with nonexistent communications whatsoever and and with no respect for one another somehow manages to be operational and is able to do business at all.

I’m not sure how, why and when this total cease of internal communications has started nor why this ‘war’ has begun in the first place, nor at this point do i even care about ti, but these couple of months were hell and nightmare, and I’m just giving up. Fuck ‘em, but if I get shouted at and am bullied just because I am doing my work, or trying to do my work, I’ve nothing else to say but bid them all farewell until I haven’t lost my own humane face and respect for myself.

Being shouted at for no other reason but just because I’m new and don’t belong to any of the ‘alliances’ was the final straw which dipped the scales once and for good in favor of quitting. No one should be treated like shit at work, that’s simply all kind of wrong.

Colors of June

The grass is always greener on the other side

In mid-June I’ve traveled to Helsinki through Riga to participate in this rather boring internal health and safety training. Well, if I’m completely honest with all of you out there, the training in itself wasn’t all that boring, and presenters did their best to make this training good, but… There is a huge ‘but’ – even though I know in my mind that HSE is important, and it helps save lives, health and all, I still find everything related to the subject yawn-worthy and extremely boring. Well, that’s just my luck as it seems. In almost every single job I ever had somehow I always end up being in one or another way responsible for the subject and matters of HSE. More so, when I was interviewing for my current position (which is not so great as I’ve learned by now, and not just because of the boring and unwanted HSE part), I was clearly told by the manager that the company has HSE matters fully covered, and that they won’t require me to be involved in the subject but for a few translations now and then to make group policies and other materials available in local language.
Alas here I am – not the sole responsible person for the HSE in the company, but still involved more than I’d like to be, and that pisses me off greatly. Damn.
During my career I’ve seen plenty of corporate meetings and training sessions, but this one was different from the very start. First of all, none of the participants were given an agenda for the event prior to its start. Strange and unusual though it seemed, the goal of the organizers, as it was revealed eventually, was to prevent participants from coming ‘too prepared’. And it sort of worked pretty as none of participants knew what the training was going to be about in more detail and thus none could happily just to daydream or drowse to the end.
So I’ve spent a day and a half in this hotel conference room learning things I did not really want to learn, and was almost literary killed by the fact that the agenda of the said training was so tight there was literary no time between training session and compulsory evening/lunch parts to get out for a half an hour of fresh air. Ah, if only I’d have known that this was just the top of an iceberg!
The first clue to what was yet to come was the fact that on the second day the training session was wrapped up quite early in the afternoon, like around 2 p.m., and we – me and my manager with whom I came to the training – came to realize that there was way too much time to kill until the flight Helsinki-Riga would take us homeward bound. If I were on my own, I would have used those extra 3.5 hours for some shopping or sightseeing, but being in tow with the manager, I sort of had no choice but to follow the lead and ended up spending hours and hours at the airport with no book to read and only a smartphone and a free Wi-Fi access at the airport to keep me from shooting myself with a loose door handle out of sheer boredom.

that's pretty much most of what I've seen of the Finland

After long hours of waiting finally the time for boarding has come and we hurried to the gate only to learn that our flight was delayed by half an hour. This would not have been much of a problem if it were a direct flight, but since we had to transfer to another one at Riga airport and the layover between flights was that of half an hour, this made for an ‘oh, no’ moment. The crew of the plane really did their best to catch up for the lost time, but as soon as we landed in Riga bad news became even worse. Our connecting flight to Vilnius has not yet departed and those who were fast to the gate could still see the plane attached to the boarding gate, alas we were denied access to the plane since we were to the gate like 5 minutes past the time for ‘gate closing’, and the lot of twenty something passengers could do nothing but watch the plane leave without us on board.
By the time everyone gathered at the AirBaltic ticket counter, tensions grew and people were getting real angry. Judging from the comments of some other unlucky fellow passengers from Helsinki flight, I’ve learned that it’s not so uncommon for AirBaltic not to wait on their own delayed flight even if for not all that much of a delay, and that some of people already have tasted more than once during their travels that buying a plane ticket not necessarily means one is going to actually fly. Seems that coming on time sometimes is an issue with them, but they never fail to provide a bus on such cases, and our bus was like ready at the moment we’ve reached the airport AirBaltic ticket counter, as if they were pretty confident Helsinki-Riga flight was to be delayed for much longer time, either they were never even intending on waiting on us in the first place, or whatever.
While some of the left-behind passengers seemed eager to fight for their rights, and willing to dig their heel deep and stand their ground to the very end, all I wished was to get moving, get to that damn bus and start rolling home.

finally on the move and homeward bound

It was almost 9 p.m. when the lot of us has finally departed from Riga to Vilnius on the bus. Instead of a relatively short flight Riga-Vilnius, I was now facing a more than 4 hours long bus trip to Vilnius, and having sat doing like nothing for the greater half of the day, I did not feel very happy about being robbed of these extra hours of my time. But at least with every turn of the wheels I was getting closer to my destination.
I love Latvia. I love its many castles and so similar yet a bit different nature from that of Lithuania. I like people of Latvia, even those surly and unsmiling, since it’s just like being at home there and yet not. I even am already planning to visit a couple of spots in Latvia this very summer. But on that never ending day I really could not wait but to get out of Latvia as soon as possible, and signs marking the Latvian-Lithuanian border were like the best thing I saw that day and inwardly I cheered and punched the air. Looks like home, smells like home, it must be home, even if the actual home was yet hours away.
There is a saying that thy neighbor’s grass is always greener, but like for once I could not disagree more. The grass is always greener on the other side, only this time I thought it was greener on the ‘right’ side of the border.

Swimming through a meadow

Through out the whole day at the office I was longing for a good ol’ walk, alas rain which started at lunch did not want to give up. While a warm cascade of summertime rain might be fun at times, and good rain boots combined with a cheery umbrella might add to the fun, this rain was of a much nastier temperament – cold, slow, and boring to the very bone. Thankfully it stopped at last, and I sprang into action at once. Since my friend who often joins me on such walks decided to pass on this one, I ventured on my own, bravely treading through some sloppy wet ground, hiking some forest paths and hitting a nowadays mostly unused due to some  road constructions tarmac road. Then I came to this meadow…

to be or not to be

On the other side of it there is a stream with a stone crossing. After a moment of hesitation and weighing pros and cons of crossing this lovely yet very VERY wet meadow, I opted to get my legs wet a bit. While where I’ve entered the meadow its grass was low and only came to my ankles, as I went further the grass grew higher and seemingly wetter. To be or not to be, I asked myself, and deciding it could not be any worse I continued soon to find myself almost literary swimming through the wet meadow. I’d say meadow swimming is quite fun, though a little bit warmer dew would’ve made the experience even more pleasant. Anyways, in the end I reach the stream, only to find that its usually shallow waters has risen a bit and some of the stones in the crossing are now under water. Plunging into a stream murky with all this excess rain water wasn’t very tempting, but it was either two steps of faith or going back the way I came. Uh-huh, one swim through the meadow is quite a limit for a day. So ahead I went into the stream.

one can usually cross the stream with dry feet. Not this time

Wet feet and clingy wet capri pants aren’t the most pleasant pf experience on a day with temperatures only as high as 17 C, but a good adventure and a gulp of some fresh air after a tiresome day at work was so refreshing :)

wet yet almost shinny clean toes :D

Taking care not to step on any of the many snails which crawl from some hidey holes after each rain I proceeded homeward bound.

Through the forest once more lay my path

 On my way I noticed this rather strange painting on a pine’s trunk:

Aliens go this way.
I hope humans are also allowed to take this road. Anyway at least I did

Do I look like an alien? I sure hope I do C: Otherwise what's the point in taking an upside down pic ;)

 I used to live on the edge of the forest. Still do, only nowadays the forest has shrunk a bit and its edge had to give way for a new road.

And finally a home stretch – a road to be

Summer time

Since on last Saturday summer has officially started, I could not waste a minute of the perfect weather and opened my swimming season. Ah, good thing that so close to my home there is a lake which I can be easily reached by foot or – if I want to get there faster – by bicycle.

just some 10 minutes of pedaling and there it is…

2 kilometers are like nothing when I’m driven by the desire to plunge into water And since the swimming season is open, why limit myself to sunny days only? Any day is a swimming day unless it’s really too cold for that.

almost some sort of a personal heaven on Earth – green and soft grass, water, and a pleasant company of two ‘guys’

Also the company on those not so sunny and not so hot days are so much better and so much quieter too

That’s what I call good company, when I’m up to enjoy some solitude Their swimming costumes are also were dashing and catching the eye

On the more serious note, I’ve switched jobs like a month ago. Since the job offer was like grab it or loose it, but in either way I’d loose by then my current job, I took my chances and plunged deep into new water. What can I say? I’m starting to dot some ‘eyes’ already, I can state that I’ve forgotten that some companies could be such… joy killers. If I cannot find at least something to enjoy in this new company, then I’ll be back to looking for something else.
Like a neighborhood where my new office is located, there is something fishy about this new company. Can’t yet put a finger on it, neither can I tell if I really can’t find anything to like about this new job, but for a while I’m still about to give it a fair shot.

One of the ugliest of new neighborhoods in Vilnius. Built on a former landfill, with buildings rising up to 12 story high – as if it’s NY or something, and with building so close to each other that some balconies come so close to each other that it seems one neighbor could climb balconies to visit another in the opposing building. Concrete jungle which leaves me rather depressed and sorry for every one living there