theodore's birthday (57/365g)

my first baby turned 16 today, and was not enthusiastic about his newfound right to buy alcohol or stay out all night. he'll be allowed to vote in the upcoming elections.

A 9am rehearsal with eva b. for women's concert, and then i met with brian in the city to buy food without packaging. it's VERY expensive to buy food without plastic, but the nuts and raisins are very good. on his way there, brian got a nice 50euro ticket for answering his phone on the bike. i feel guilty now for calling him.

i picked up theodore's violin from getting fixed another 370 euros. 

then i drove felix and brian to the airport for their trip to york. it was a borrowed e-car, with a 30km range when we left, and the airport is 10km away. i thought, why not park and charge real quick at the airport before heading back, but the thing wouldn't charge, and the cable wouldn't get out of the car either. i put it in but couldn't take it out. i totally melted down in the parking lot feeling completely alone and stupid, especially because i had apparently left my phone at home. the info-desk inside told me to go waaay far to the other side of the airport to the parking attendant, who told me to go to the info-desk. on the way two people at a car rental also told me they knew absolutely nothing to help me. the info-desk let me call brian, who was only reachable because his plane had a slight delay. he told me i had to unlock the car again in order to take the cable out. the info-desk lady walked me there and took the cable out. woohoo, i made it back with 12km to spare and i was annoyed with myself the whole time. that was my stupid tax for the day. 3,30euros for the hour i spent parked at that horrible place.

did kammermusik with dario and dropped my bike off for repair. low-key celebrated theodore's birthday with centa and henry and a guggelhupf, and then enjoyed my downtime alone on my hands and knees scrubbing the kitchen floor.

packing in piles (56/365g)

Eva was here to rehearse at 9am, and I was still groggy from sleep. She was a bit sick too, so our rehesraal was dementsprechend. I cooked a full meal before leaving for my baroque violin lesson. So happy that Dario is back! Got to play a sonata by Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre, which was so nice. 

Then I went to kG, where I got to help carry artworks inside for the next exhibition. At home I found Brian and Felix still not packed for their trip tomorrow, and little piles everywhere. I helped Felix find clothes that are the right size for him, and also cooked an entire "fantastic" (felix's words) second meal for  everyone. - edward's favorite. Linsen mit Spätzle

We all went to bed way too late, since the packing lasted till almost 10pm.

chained trip* (55/365g)

Rushed to get to a frauen rehearsal on-time only to find that Eva had forgotten. Sofija (Eva forgot!) - We rehearsed a string duo zu zweit. 

i was alone at work for most of my 4 hours - kind of left in charge. 

Niko an I met up at a cafe and chatted books until the cafe closed, and then we went for a nice walk along the Mur. we would have walked the whole time, but I still had my viola on my back, and I don't enjoy walking long distances that way. I learned that he has hyperphantasia, and that his mother died after being struck by lightning 20 years ago.

I went directly from there to the conservatory to record sad music with Philipp for Edward to possibly use in a memorial video for lydia.

And from there, I went upstairs one flight to where Sina had a room key and we made ourselves a nice work evening - first time it actually worked out after talking about it for years. we stayed until conservatory closed.

I am brutally tired from the day of essentially one chained trip.

* Trip chaining is a relatively new way to look at the series of trips made by people every

day, and at its most basic level, a chained trip includes a stop on the way to another destination.

plastic fasting (54/365g)

Lots of house cleaning, very cathartic. Also scraped the door some more - the end of this stupid bathroom door is taking forever. Last three times has been "the last time"

YSOP ensemble rehearsal, where i was so happy that Philipp showed up again, and also so happy to go out to eat afterwards at ginkos

I practiced with Henry, getting him to do another few lines of music. 

Talked a long time with Labeeby - who gave Felix hair style advice which coincided exactly with the hair-style advice that Peter gave him independently.  

Made curry and basmati rice.

We've decided (well i decided for everyone) that we are going to try for no plastic as a family - that makes it hard to buy some types of food, but it does mean more homemade bread and yogurt. so, kind of a win. i just really hate how much plastic we go through, and i'm totally tired of it. if we make it through this fasting period i'd be happy to keep up the plastic fasting.

i'm so often invisible (53/365g)

While throwing away a flyer for a photo competition that was laying on the floor today I noticed the deadline was the 22nd. "Long past" I thought, and then... "Oh, that's today!" 

First I tried to figure out how to do double exposures on my sony (you can't do them in camera) then I took out my old pentax and did it then. 4 times on the shutter, two double exposures of me, quick edit, and submitted. I was very proud of myself.

I also wrote a very nice mini tribute for Lydia, which I hope Rainer will read at the funeral.

Started reading Invisible Women  - which I realize Brian read long before I had ever heard of it. It makes me soooo angry!

no colombas at the market today, not even for ready money (52/365g)

Irmi asked me to get 10 huge italian easter breads from Hofer, so I went there with the Lastenrad, but there were no breads available so I just ended up driving that big bike to work for no reason - almost tipping over once for taking a curve too fast and almost getting run over for taking a curve too slow. Very entertaining. 

After work I left the lastenrad and took the bus home, using the time to catch up with Joerg and Edward and Carina on the whole Lydia stuff. Back at home Brian had made a glorious chili, which we enjoyed. Then I practiced a lot with Henry who seemed receptive to learning a new piece on cello finally. He's working frantically on the entertainer right now on the piano, which is driving me a bit mad. Brian promised him "ragtime lessons" in the US, but i guess it will be me figuring out how to get those and from whom.

popcorn > popped ears (51/365g)

Snow day.... So much slushy snow - brian and i shoveled the walk in our pajamas (i was barefoot) 

Jacky left this morning after a light breakfast

Rubinig fixed our heater, which had made a loud pop when henry had turned it on a few days ago - luckily no singed eyebrows or anything else worse.

Brian and I did bureaucracy for contra and got the ridiculous messages back. it's really amazing how terrible the bureaucrats here are.

The pudding I made tasted like cardboard, nobody knows why. 

While I was sitting reading a book suddenly my ears closed up and would close up again as soon as I popped them. It stayed like that the rest of the day, which was very annoying and very worrying. Cars driving down the road sounded like jet engines.

We watched back to the future ii with Nina. Too violent for me