The Ups and Downs of Early December

It was a brooding, November sort of day, but weak sunlight in the afternoon as well as a pale purple sunset were a welcome change of pace from monotonous rainfall.

My Greek class was cancelled, so I went on an unnecessary trip to campus. But I analyzed the bulletin boards before leaving, took an impromptu architectural tour on the way home, and generally enjoyed myself. The ice and snow have of course melted from the streets and sidewalks, and it's a relief that it is safer to cycle again.

Greatly impressed that I'd managed to wake up before 9 a.m., when weirdly I've found myself struggling to wake up before 11 a.m. throughout the past month, I went on a few errands.

At the zero-waste shop I stocked up on pasta, chocolate, dried mint, apples, and vegetables. The Mediterranean cookbook I'm working through has a hispi cabbage and roast hazelnut recipe next, but aside from the cabbage, pumpkin was on the shopping list too for the sake of a pumpkin eggnog recipe.

The pumpkin eggnog was fine. The youngest brothers certainly appeared to appreciate it. But the pumpkin type at the store had more of a watery, squash-like flavour and colour, so I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about the result.

Then I went to an organic food store hoping to find Christmas delicacies, but it didn't have many aside from Christmas punch and tea blends.

Working briefly at a Christmas market selling lanterns two weeks ago has made me re-think the value of money again. A 20€ bill that I'd have earned by sitting at a laptop last April, now represents 1.5 hours of standing while trying to engage with dozens of strangers, remember the sales pitches, keep the booth presentable, process and respond to ongoing coaching from my boss, and gift-wrap the merchandise quickly and accurately.

Anyway, now that my amateur choir's Christmas concert is over, I can devote time and energy to journalistic outings again. But there's also a big Greek homework backlog to reduce; I've done a bit of that this morning.

Besides I'm thinking of recording myself at the piano, as the Christmas concert has nudged me back into regular playing.

The plan to give myself daily Christmas presents, mentioned in the last post, fizzled out a long time ago. But on the whole I feel pretty happy and I think it served its purpose.

I've also put myself on a diet because of recent depressive episodes. More fruits and vegetables, more water, more protein; less sugar and processed food: I figured that these guidelines certainly wouldn't do much harm, and I do feel more awake.

That said, I think the depressive episodes likely come from 'crashing' after a few intense weeks of covering pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protests.