Whazzat? You thought I gave up blogging? Nope, though this layoff was mostly intentional, albeit somewhat comically protracted. You see, I was prepared to do some a few wrap-up thoughts as soon as we officially finished the move-- when the final papers were shuffled, the bank account fully drained and closed and so forth. Honestly, I assumed it would only be a couple weeks after the last entry. Well, a couple of weeks turned into a couple of months which turned into a couple of seasons. The main culprit was waiting on a single sheet of paper from the bank regarding our measly 2011 interest. The first request to get this mailed out was January 13. I received it today-- almost 6 months and innumerable emails later, and the only reason we have it now was that some bank rules were broken just to shut me up and make me go the hell away. Hey, whatever it takes.
So really, this whole move from start to finish took exactly 11 months to perform-- in other words, one-thirdof the actual time we spent IN Germany.
More thoughts soon, and then the transition into a Stateside blog. But for now, I'm going to savor my small victory. It's good to finally be home.
Nearly 6 months after the move home, and things are finally settling down here. While I will devote an upcoming entry to the 6-month phenomenon that is curiously a near-universal experience amongst expats (both coming and going), I'm pleased as punch to say that our old neighbors from our Nuremberg apartment building, A&C, just relocated to Portland this week. A&C are Brits, and while I think they will have an easier time settling in than, say, Germans, moving to any country is a process-- and let's face it, the good ol' USA counts as a sensory overload. So while they will have some access to a dedicated relocation agent to get some of the basics taken care of (bank accounts, cell phone carriers), the trials of moving to a permanent place, figuring out where to eat and shop, and a myriad of other issues will soon surface. Actually, we're sort of looking forward to helping-- for a start, it will help us to reacquaint ourselves with Portland, and it's always a gas to look at things through a newbie's eyes. Plus we can help them to blend in quicker-- English or not, they need to know pronto that nobody in Portland carries an umbrella (Gore-Tex baby!), that a quick way to spot a tourista is they pay to use public transit, and that Pabst Blue Ribbon is considered a serious beer here-- really, you can find it at the best restaurants (irony rules here in Rip City). We also plan to introduce our friends to the wonders of trash TV-- sure, we never miss an episode of Downton Abbey (and isn't O'Brien the worst person ever?), but we have Survivor, The Bachelor, and Toddlers & Tiaras to warp their minds with. As with all things immersion, we plan to take this slow, but we're going to have a fun time doing it.
Note to self: remember that I have a blog. Sorry folks, it's been a whirlwind, and I've just returned from another trade show, this time in Salt Lake City (no, I didn't attend Sundance; that was in Park City). I've said it before, but it bears repeating: as an exhibitor, a person routinely faces sleep deprivation, malnutrition, dehydration, mental and physical stress, and (given the Salt Lake climate) exposure to extreme heat or cold. In short, trade shows violate most of the Geneva convention, yet I sign up for the damn things to the tune of at least 2 appearances per year. I'd also like to point out that my rather dubious streak continues-- I always manage to get sick going to trade shows (it's 21,000 people from over 40 countries in a sealed room for 4 days-- do the math), and this time I got bronchitis for my troubles. A few too many fever dreams and some lovely antibiotics later, I'm on the mend.
So while I'm gearing up for more blogging tales, I'm going to give a quick throwaway. In honor of the Ferris Beuller teaser commercial going apeshit viral right now (spoiler alert: it'll be a Honda Super Bowl commercial), I figured I'd take a trip to my past and post a distantly related song. The song fragment heard in the commercial (and made famous by Ferris Beuller's Day Off) is "Oh Yeah" by Swiss band Yello. Yello are an interesting band-- they are still active, and comprise of musician Boris Blank (cool name) and lead singer Dieter Meier (the third guy in the video, Carlos Perón, left the band after this album, and has enjoyed a very prolific career as a solo artist). Meier has a varied CV-- millionaire industrialist, professional gambler, one-time member of Switzerland's national golf team and artist. Yello have had a few club hits here and there in the States, but are pretty influential in electronic music circles in the rest of the world. Anyways, that's a v-e-r-y long setup for this video, 1981's The Evening's Young. It's skittish, jumpy, never quite settles into its groove, but still makes for some fascinating listening. And the video is, well, a product of its time-- glossy neons, glowsticks(?!), and a budget less than a weekend bus pass. But I recall as a lad being absolutely transfixed by this vid when it aired on the late, great Night Flight TV program which showed all sorts of oddballia like this. Take special note of the vocals-- this cat can give Tuvan throat singers a run for their money. Enjoy the weirdness, Oh Yeah:
Knowing that the YouTubes sometimes do not allow videos to air in all continents, if the screen comes up blank where you are, EU readers can (hopefully) see this either here or here.
