Nett Dich Kennenzulernen

Nett dich kennenzulernen!  (which kinda sounds like net dich ken-nen-zoo-lair-nen from what I recall of Deutsch 101).  It just means nice to meet you, but most things are more fun to say in German, and so three days in, I say net dich kennenzulernen to 2015.  See, it's fun, admit it, you are rolling your tongue in it right now.

I think me and 2015 are going to get along just fine.  I learned some lessons in patience in 2014.  I turned zoom into zzzzz...well, actually I had little choice in the matter, but I can appreciate the benefits of middleground between the two at this point.  Three days in, I am taking on slow and small progressions.  Checking things off the to do list.  I am of course still waiting on some rather important papers, and making frequent but pleasant phone calls and inquiries on that front.  I got around to packing away my Christmas ornaments.  I learned how to use my little Bluetooth speaker I got for Christmas.  I braved coloring my own hair and said goodbye to blond and hello to auburn.  And pulled out some mad kitchen skills that no one believes I had and made and orange-dark-chocolate-raspberry mousse to quell the impending burn of a spicy Asian dish that simmered all afternoon.  Over the past couple of days I have pedalled away some of my holiday sins on the exercise bike (the one thing I can do with a bum knee), and read a couple of books. 

I spent the day in a flurry of chocolate shavings, chili peppers and Rhiana and Lady Gaga blaring from my little speaker.  My third book by John Green of the week (Paper Towns), awaits, and I believe I am developing a TV crush on one of CNN's advisors on aviation disasters which means I am probably old and the aviation industry needs an overhaul when they are the most recognizable figures I see on television.  I have done courses.  I have photographed everything that doesn't move in the area (which outnumbers the things that do move on this landscape).  I have drunk vast quantities of coffee.  Visited lots.  In short...I am ready 2015.  I am rested.  But...here I am still in Saskatchewan.

So there is little else to discuss except a book review.   I can recommend "The Fault In Our Stars" by John Green.  It's a novel centered around teenagers, but so was the Hunger Games and the Twilight series.  Hunger Games was a hit in both the written and cinematic forms.  Hollywood dealt a severe injustice to the written words of Twilight, which was so well written it moved me to tears in points...and I am not a book crier, except maybe in one Jodi Piccoult novel (was it my Sister's Keeper or Nineteen Minutes?).  "The Fault In Our Stars," is not a classic because of an upredictable plot.  It deals with teenagers with cancer, which is understandably sad and tragic.  But it is the outlook of the characters that make the novel special.  Their humour, their superfluous vocabulary, their unintentional teenage angsty commentary just perfectly captures the spirit of some rather exceptional teens trying to be ordinary in unordinary circumstances.  The book doesn't try too hard to explain it, which I am guilty of in that last sentence, but just catches it right...it flows.

In short, if you find yourself with some extra time and have been wondering what all the fuss is about with this book / movie...grab the book.  Give it a read.  I really enjoyed it.  And that is all I have to report on today.  Guten nacht (which wants to autocorrect to nonsense about gluten).... or good night.