BYE BYE BERLIN (well, for two weeks)!!!

And hello Armagh. City of angels and dreams. Well, not quite, far from it. Everything is sort of strange and dull and every new building that has popped up in my absence seems to have been designed along the lines of very large, very imposing public toilets. But, but, but it is the city of home-cooked meals and tins full of homemade mince pies. Good freakin' times. I swear to God I am going to do nothing but eat for the next two weeks. And watch crappy T.V. and annoy my family. Yay yay yay.

But, to be fair, it was hard to leave old B-lizzle this morning, snowy and sunny and BRILLIANT as she was. She? He? I can't think of what sex I think of Berlin as. And I can hardly say "it". The B-town is so much more than an "it". Oh, I don't know. But I shall miss being there, even if I am just gone for two weeks. I am very much in love with my city at the moment. Smile, sigh, cosy warm feeling.

OH TANNENBAUM!!!

Wowee, but do I love Christmas. We just put our tree up and he (namely, Chubby. Last year's was Fatty) looks awesome. Terribly tacky and garish but in the best possible way. We had a great time putting him up, with one of us wedged under the tree wedging newspapers into a pot, with poor Chubby wedged into the bottom half of a tonic bottle. Decorating him was even more fun, helped along by the Flatmate's "Now that's what I call Christmas" album.

We are now having "medicinal" hot toddies and watching Arrested Development. Good times.

On being THAT girl...

Oh god. Office party. Have never been to one before, due to never having a proper job etc etc, may never be able to go to one again. So many bad decisions it's hard to know where to begin. So I don't think I will. Suffice to say that neither it, nor I, were pretty. Certainly not towards the end of the night. Good Lord.

But yes, onwards and upwards, Leute. I am trying to acheive good things this weekend, in an attempt to balance out the baaaad karma that I totally deserve after Thursday night's performance. I did a lot of knitting today. My scarf is about three and a half inches long which is pretty good seeing as I made it so freakin' wide and with freakin' fine wool. This pleases me. In about a year's time I will be able to wear it and I shall do so with much pride.

I have also been reaccquainting myself with Buffy, of late. Namely seasons 2 and 3. Man alive, is that a good show. Comedy, drama, romance, amazing nineties fashion and VAMPIRE SLAYING. Literally, what more could you want? Exactly. We've also been looking at a lot of first season Sex and the City which is hilarious as they all look so alarming. I have now developped a fear that I am going to end up like Carrie in a few years, running around town in the same old odd and vaguely slutty attire calling it "fashionable" and "individual" when really it is just odd and (not even that) vaguely slutty. Think I might need to start paying heed when my mother talks about me getting some "proper clothes". Though I will draw the goddamn line at a trouser suit. Her and my grandmother have been trying to get me into a trouser suit for years and I just refuse, refuse, refuse. There is nothing more hellish and sad as a trouser suit. Though, to be fair, what do I know? At the age of twenty three I've decided to "go grunge" and can often be seen around town in skintight purple velvet and biker boots. Is that acceptable? I just don't know anymore.

ACHTUNG IT'S ADVENT!!!

Which is awesome for many reasons. The first is that you can drink things like Gluehwein and Apfelpunsch like all of the damned time and noone can judge you or they are a soulless heathen with no sense of what is good in this world. This also goes for the consumption of chocolate, Lebkuchen and mince pies. Oh God, I wish I could get my hands on some mince pies right now. They really are my festive treat of choice.

Other things about Advent in Berlin that make me happy, in list form because a) am as lazy as the day is long and b) I have to go soon to the...

CHIRSTMAS MARKET. Love them, love them, love them. And anyone who says anything bad about them ("ooooh, they're so touristy and tacky") is a fool and deserves a bag of coal and a punch in the face. You get to wander round looking at Christmassy things whilst listening to Christmassy songs and eating and drinking Christmassy things. And everyone is nice and happy and smiley because IT'S CHRISTMAS.

That my BVG ticket was cheaper this month as a Christmas present from them, and the fact that any Saturday or Sunday in advent a 2.10€ ticket counts a day pass. How nice is that?! I love BVG. Even if they did fuck up a little, S Bahn-wise, this year. But, come one, the BVG on a very, very bad day still kicks Dublin Bus' dirty, unreliable, overpriced arse all over the shop.

That I get to teach Christmas to the kiddies for two whole weeks. This involves a lot of glitter, snowmen treasure hunts and CHOCOLATE. Awesome.

Got to go, tat to buy, hot things to drink and so on and so forth.