SICK.

I've been sick all week. It's been exciting and also gross. I've just been festering away in a pit of my own snotty tissues and those sticky wee caps from medicine bottles that you can never be bothered to rinse. I am have the sexiest cough this side of emphesyma and today I had to force myself to take a shower for the first time in days. I have been consuming Vitamin C by the truckload, ditto paracetemol, Haribo and Ritter Sport. Ugh, ugh and damn. On the plus side it does seem I am over the hump and hopefully normal working service will be restored tomorrow. Not least as I really need the money. Us freelancers can't just malinger endlessly, you know. no work, no pay and so on and so forth.

On the plus side, when one is sick one can indulge in certain behaviour that would otherwise be deemed "slackerish", "sluttish" or just plain "unseemly". This is fun, as any slacker, slut or general layabout will tell you. If only I had the balls to just all out join their ranks. But no, it's stupid social conformity for me. At least for the time being...But yes, stuff one can do when one is sick that one otherwise cannot:

1) Not get dressed all day. One can wear amazing outfits at will. Like the all-black-leggings-and-thermal-vest-ninja-suit I am currently rocking. I can also heartily recommend the cashmere jumper'n'tights look. But the KEY thing here, ladies and gentlemen, is that as an invalid, when you should need to leave the house (for provisions like Ritter Sport and DVDs), you can simply put on your coat and cardigan and NOTHING ELSE to go to the shops. You're sick, it's totally acceptable. What kind of society judges the ill? Exactly.

2) Watch amazingly soppy films like "My Sister's Keeper" and bawl your face off the whole way through (seriously, it will BREAK YOUR HEART) and blame the resulting swollen face and depressed demeanour on your illness rather than your succumbing to Hollywood tug tug tugging on your heartstrings in the most predictable of manners.

3) Listen endlessly to terrible, amazing mid-nineties American "alt" rock. Oh the joys. And, again, illness = NO JUDGEMENT.

So yes. Being sick does, to an extent, suck. But all clouds have their silver linings and what have you, and I've got Night Nurse for later. Hurrah!

You know what sucks?

Winter. I am so sick of the fucking weather. It's so bloody cold. It takes you about a million years to get dressed because leaving the house without at least seven layers is unthinkable. Today it felt like I was wearing, give or take, everything I own. I could barely bend my elbows or knees. I was wearing longjohns, for the love of God, which means, of course, that I will probably never get any attention from the opposite sex again. Though, to be fair, it takes so much energy just to get undressed these days I'd probably have lost any desire to do anything but lie there and go "gee, it was cold today" by the time I got down to the nitty gritty/longjohns anyway. Le sigh.

Less drama, more dance routines.

Yup. It needs to happen. Less time spent endlessly analysing one's life over and over again until it all seems meaningless (like when you say your name out loud over and over) and more time spent choreographing. Thanks to Mark who, however briefly, went along with the impromtu routine I started about 3 a.m on Saturday morning. Note to self, simply screaming "MAAARK!!! DAAAAANCE ROUTIIIINE!!! NOOOOOW!!!" and sort of repeatingly bashing him with your shoulder so that he roughly follows the direction of the moves you're doing is not exactly "being a choreographer".

Speaking of Friday night though, it was freaking awesome. We all (literally, ALL. Was there anyone I know that wasn't there? And if so, why the hell weren't you?) went to Kleine Reise, which is fast becoming one of my favourite places in Berlin. It's a really good size, has speakers in the toilets and is run by some really nice boys. Plus, pretty much everyone there is Irish which means PEOPLE TALK TO YOU IN THE QUEUE FOR THE TOILETS/CLOAKROOM/BAR and YOU CAN GET AS DRUNK AS YOU DAMN WELL PLEASE. Victory in our time.

Another awesome piece of news was told to me on Friday night by a lovely Texan (at least I think she was Texan. God love her, I think I was incoherently rambling on and on at her for hours. Thank you, whoever you were, for not punching me right in the face. I would have done.) and that is that another Mexican place is opening on Skalitzer Strasse 81 (or has opened. Details hazy...). Better still, it's an extension of Maria Bonita which I have previously ranted and raved about. Oh I am going to go there soon and eat lots of things and drink beer and be HAPPY.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go eat some waffles in Kauf Dich Gluecklich. Happy Sunday!

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.