Respected thoughts

It has been a rather busy week, getting into the swing of things with my new clients. I am still not earning enough to wash my face, but things are looking better than they were this time last month, and I am hoping I can get a few new gigs sorted in the coming weeks. I am feeling more relaxed about things though, enjoying working to my own schedule and on projects I largely care about. Doing most of this inside the furry fandom has been a great boon too. I do feel busier than ever though, which is frustrating despite the lower earnings, but hopefully I'll be able to get into a routine.

On Thursday evening, I met up with Al, having not been able to meet up with him last weekend when I was ill. My illness has abated apart from the cough, which is still trying to dislodge the phlegm in my aggravated throat. It was, nevertheless, a good evening with Al. We met up at Zoologischer Garten and I took him to the huge department store KaDeWe, where we spent a good amount of time pursuing the clothes. Al is into fashion in a way that I'm really not, but I was happy to indulge him in his pursuit. We then went up to the food hall part of the store, where we were given plenty of free samples of licquorice balls from the rather nice but clearly rather bored lady. These were from the same company as the balls I tried at Skavi and Dorje's party, and it was good to taste some others in their range including pink watermelon, yuzu, and lemon. The different flavours worked well with the salty licquorice and although I didn't buy any, Al did, and I am more than happy to come back.

After a trip to Frittenwerk for dinner - where I said Al should by the Mexican fries (the sample seemed to be smaller than usual but no less filling) - we ended up walking to some of the local libraries on Unten den Linden. The second one we attempted was closed to new customers, but the first was open, but I did have to register. This didn't take too long and we ended up walking around this cavernous space. I did feel a little on edge as everyone else there was clearly studying while we were just noting all of the tomes they had, but we were quiet and respectful. The thing that struck me was just how many English language books they had in there. The main space with the scrumpled up newspapers on the ceiling was pretty good, while there was even a modest museum on the first floor that we got to view for about 10 minutes prior to it closing. The exhibit on 100 years of photography in Berlin was pretty fascinating

After this, we headed over to The Castle, which was nearby. We hadn't realised it was going to be quite busy as the opening match of the World Cup was taking place and it was full of Mexicans. We joined the action early in the second half and found a table under the TV, near a post upon which Procyon had placed one of his raccoon stickers at some point. We didn't get too involved in the match - indeed I have barely watched the action thus far as it has been tainted by FIFA's obvious conduct and the conduct of one of the host nations - but it was a fun way to end the evening and we parted company at around midnight.

We were going to be on a cruise around the Baltic Sea this weekend, but my financial situation meant we had to cancel. This meant that we could meet up with Huskyteer, who was visiting Berlin to attend an air show. This was scheduled for the Saturday and, with the ability to take Friday off, I offered to show her around Spandau. This is what I did, meeting up at around 2:30pm at the main railway station and then embarking on a trip that took in the Rathaus, the Church, the old foundations of the city, the Havel and the bridge upon which snipers shot at the end of the Second World War, Spandauer Brauhaus and eventually the Zitadelle. Alas, we couldn't get into the citadel as it was 4:30pm by the time we rocked up and it closed at 5pm, clearly in preparation for a wedding judging by the smartly bedecked people walking in and out of the portcullis. We had a nice snack in a bakery, where Huskyteer kindly bought be borek and where we chatted about all things writing. We then hopped on the U7 to check out the war memorial outside the Siemensdamm headquarters. It was around this time our conversation got quite political and even though we were in broad agreement, I always fear I say the wrong thing when getting to such topics. The day ended in Fuerst Wiacek, which was surprisingly packed at 5pm. It did thin out as the evening wore on, but we had a couple of pleasant drinks that turned into three before Huskyteer had to head back out into the wilds of Muggelsee back to Arakin and Ben's place.

Saturday was when she visited the air show, but I had other plans as it was Al's leaving party. Alas, I woke up feeling tired and dizzy, and fearful that my cough could still be contagious. I thought it unlikely as the main symptoms had passed a week before and I know these things persist, but I didn't want to be a burden. In the end, I didn't go, only for circumstances to fully change. This saw me get over to Neukolln for 7:15pm, where a party of seven were going for a meal at a Ramones-themed vegetarian burger restaurant. I met them there, which was just as well as the directions to CaW's flat in which the party was taking place weren't correct, and soon I was tucking into a Fuck Mac burger, which was their take on the Big Mac. To be fair, it was quite accurate albeit huge, so huge that the burger collapsed as the server gave it to me. She gave off vibes of not giving a shit, albeit in a good way, while the sharing of fries and pitchers of beer added to the communal vibe. CaW and his partner were here, as were Planke and Gabe, the latter of whom I hadn't seen since we had spent time at the Berghain together last November. It was great to catch up. After this, we went back to CaW's and saw Joy Ride, a 2023 movie that focused very much on identity. Essentially following four Chinese-Americans as they visited Shanghai (then other parts of China and Korea), it was a very funny comedy albeit one which also portrayed important messages of racism, family, and the definition of home. At first, I wasn't sure it was something I would like, but in the end, I thought it was very well done with a lot of poignant moments too. After this, I had to head off, making sure to catch Ty Fox's Q&A session on the Bewere Discord channel at midnight. This was an enlightening hour of discussion and I feel I learned a lot, as well as having the ability to ask him some questions.

Today was another opportunity to meet Huskyteer, who had dropped me a message on Saturday evening saying she was going to The Castle mid-afternoon. I arrived at 3:15pm and was the first to turn up, buying a beer before Huskyteer and Ben arrived. We were thinking of leaving pretty quickly as most of the tables were full with a portrait drawing class, with others reserved for the Germany game at 7pm, but many of the outside tables were free until 6pm so we ended up going there despite the inclement and poor weather for the middle of June. Sandy arrived soon after, along with two of Huskyteer's friends from the Vespa society. We chatted about a whole range of things, hopefully I didn't go too in-depth on the furry stuff, and a handful of hours flew by. As many of us were ex-pats, experiences of living abroad were a huge topic of discussion. By the time we got to 6pm, I was already feeling a little tipsy and Huskyteer needed to head back to deepest darkest Muggelsee so we all split up, with me heading back to Spandau just in time to catch the Germany game. They hammered Curacao 7-1, highlighting another reason why I haven't been too engaged in this tournament - 48 teams is nearly one quarter of the entire number in FIFA meaning the competition is somewhat diluted. Still, Wolfie and I shared Domino's Pizza's new and disappointing Philly Cheese Steak pizza and enjoyed the game before I had a quick snooze so I will be awake for the official launch of Doppelfoxx Publishing, which is due to take place within the hour.