It has been over two years already, but tonight, I booked my first flights for a work trip and at this point at least, I have survived unvaccinated and without being asked to show a vaccine passport. The trip isn't until April, so there is still time for change, but at this rate, it won't be due to what is almost "forgotten Corona", it will be due to war. Though, I am flying in the opposite direction, to Norway.
I have never been there and it is on our list, so my wife is a bit jealous. However, I suspect that if she knew what I was going to be doing there, she wouldn't be overly envious, as it looks like not only will I be taking part in a sales kickoff for the entire time, I will still have to do my normal job on top. 16-hour days, not including the social side, which I hear is going to be intense itself.
Still, it is good to have a chance to get away (especially paid for by work) and hopefully it will spur my wife onto getting Smallsteps a passport, and hers renewed. Since we haven't travelled for so long, hers is out of date. But, it is really important to get Smallsteps' organized, as I need it in order to get her dual citizenship, as she can hold both Finnish and Australian status simultaneously.
That is even more important at the moment with what is going on in the world currently, especially since Finland shares a border with Russia. Although I suspect, that if Russia did indeed attack Finland (which is part of the EU), that would signal the start of WWIII and it might be better to be kicked from the game in the early rounds, rather than weather the storm until the radiation gets me. However, I wouldn't mind being able to get my daughter somewhere safe if there is a chance and Australia is pretty safe, since people like kangaroos and koalas - though the snakes and spiders might attract negative attention.
But, world conflicts aside, I am actually a little bit nervous about travelling as even though it shouldn't be an issue, this is the first flight I will be taking since I had the stroke and my fear is telling me that the pressure change will cause issues. I don't care about dying all that much, but dying on a plane? That would suck and would likely put a bit of a downer on the trip for my colleagues too - though I would hope that they'd honor my wishes and weekend at Bernie's me around the ski resort we will be staying at.
The other thing that I am weirdly worried about is, if the days are going to be so filled with group activities, when the hell am I going to find a chance to post? Normally when I travel I have at least the evenings to myself as I am travelling alone, but this isn't going to be the case. I would be pretty pissed if the reason my almost 5 year posting streak ended was because of a job. I might have to do something I have never done before - pre-write some posts.
While I don't always get to sit down and write a post in one sitting, pretty much as soon as one is written, I will post it immediately. I don't see the point in timing when and where, but I do try and stick to some kind of schedule, which is why my second post of the day is generally around the same time as this, as this is when I have time to write it - after midnight. I think the other reason is that I am just not good at planning ahead, so I write what is on my mind at the time and post it, because if I wait, it will no longer feel relevant to me.
And another "concern" is whether I am going to have a chance to take some photos, as normally when travelling I will take a few hours somewhere and wander around with a camera. With colleagues around, it is just not the same, so hopefully I will be able to sneak out for some personal space. Taking photos of life abroad is probably the best bit of the trips for me, the rest of it is pretty much take it or leave it - though I don't mind having hotel dinners and a glass of wine from time to time.
I don't mind a glass of wine, anytime.
What I think I might do though, is instead of pre-writing posts, I will keep them more casual and related to the travel events perhaps. Despite what some people think, I actually put a fair bit of thought into most of my posts, because I hope that there is some actual usage in them, rather than just for easy consumption or entertainment purposes. This is debatable though!
"Valuable content" is an interesting discussion, because obviously it is subjective at the individual level, but what I have found is, at the group level, it is far less subjective. Over the years I think it has become pretty clear that most of the time the rewarded content and the people who get rewarded regularly, are the ones who are generally offering something general people find valuable. Not always of course, but looking post by post doesn't tell the story.
I don't know what is valuable to everyone else, but for me at least, if I don't find what I am writing interesting enough, it will not be written at all. This post for example is not overly interesting, but since this is the first trip for me after travelling so much prior, it is something that is a significant change to the routines and, something to look forward to, which has been slim pickings over the last couple years, as most of the time I have been sitting right here, in front of a screen.
It is good to be away... Soon.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I always schedule my posts a day in advance and it feels good to know I'm a day ahead so I have a sort of 48 hour buffer. I do fly alot on business and then most of the time we end up at some bar so this is how I get around it anyway. Best of luck in Norway. I hear it's expensive but hopefully you will have the company card. 😀
I wish I could schedule like that! I write and post on the fly - my brain doesn't plan well for the future!
Never drink and blockchain... unless a professional at both ;D
It is a sales meeting, and while I am not a salesperson, they tend to buy drinks ;)
Same! The majority of my writing is spurred by a quote/event/etc. that happened in the moment or if it is about a past event, it's because something in the moment spurred that memory. I feel like pre-written posts would lose that raw immediacy. I also have a whole file of topics to write about (when ideas that come to me in the moment but I don't have time to flesh them out), but many I never get to because I look back on them a few days later and they no longer feel worth writing about. Btw, a 5-year posting streak is impressive!
I have the same issues! I used to keep draft ideas in a Wordpress account, but had over a thousand that never got worked on :)
It is a good habit though, but looking back at some of them it is clear, I need to take better and more meaningful notes, as often I have no idea what the post was going to be about .
Yes! Often, though, I'll remember what the post was supposed to be about but whatever quality made it interesting to me at the time has faded. Sometimes I'll write it anyway, but usually it ends up being a hard slog, though occasionally the act of writing revives my interest in the topic.
That sounds like both a lot of fun as well as just an exhausting mess. I don't really know I could hang with that, working for that long then going out and doing things lol maybe once but more than a few days? Hell no! Was never my scene lol
I hear you on some of the trepidation. With any luck, we will be getting on a plane ourselves in a couple weeks to go look at houses in the warmer climates! We are hesitant on passports. I don't know if we will ever be leaving the country again, on principle that it's nobody's fucking business anything related to my health other than I'm standing in front of you.
This is a Monday to Friday thing, so I am not sure how I will recover...
Hopefully the passport thing will change there too soon. Going to Norway, there are essentially zero restrictions now. Most of the Nordics are open similarly.
Damn that's a long time lol
I hear you on the posting thing as well haha. We were going to drive down to where we want to check out and spend a month there but driving 4 days then spending a month in the area, I wasn't sure how I was going to get any posting in for at least a week and I was concerned about it lol. It's funny when you have a good streak going and enjoy posting, giving it up is almost like a drug! Granted I schedule 99% of my posts now lol a lot easier for me to manage.
Exactly what I was thinking! lol You could take a break from posting you know, s vacation of sorts. Why do you feel compelled to post twice a day? And I doubt there are very many who would say you don't put enough thought into your posts. They are nothing if not thoughtful.
It isn't feeling compelled, it is habit and I enjoy it. It is a challenge that I get to face each day and meet and, it has helped me improve in many ways. It is kind of like racing around a track in a car, not posting is like crashing on one of the laps - sure, the other 100 laps might have been been without incident, but it is the crash that ruins the race :)
Ah. I can see that. As long as you don't lose sleep trying to get those posts in. You're so consistent!
Kremlin denies plans for mobilization of reserves. But trains from Siberia carrying materiel have been seen. I don't think he's going to give up on Ukraine. I predict 10 million refugees from Ukraine before summer. Ukraine will suffer great losses of life, both civilian and military. But Russia will suffer great military losses, too. Russia's economy will be toast. I'm hoping the US will bring in serious numbers of personnel and materiel and station them in Germany just in case. If Russia starts making moves, they can be deployed to the Poland and Baltics. I wonder what business our president will have in Washington on Friday.
I think this might lead to the downfall of Putin, as ordinary Russians will start to turn against the government and likely, the military will not turn on its own people this time. But, he will get increasingly desperate, so will get increasingly violent as time goes on.
I think there should be enough forces in Europe, not to need the US to come in at this point. I was just reading - they are still buying Russian oil, because stopping would increase prices in the US. A bit lame?
It's still unknown how the Russian public will react and what they can do if conditions get really dire. I was told some debit and credit cards have stopped working while other still work just fine. My brother-in-law is an automation engineer working for a German company. He was told his employment is not in danger. He's working remotely and got a raise not so long ago. If his employer pulls out of the country, he might find a job with a company some of his friends founded. Their projects are mostly domestic.
I'm guessing the sanctions will impact the economy in a gradual manner. The government has said it will step in and mitigate the effects on the banking sector. But who knows what will happen in a complex system like an entire national economy.
The mobilization rumor is just that, a rumor. I think Russia still has enough power to finish the job. The losses will be significant, of course.
It is a different generation than the past conflicts and, the infrastructure is different too. I think they are going to struggle in many ways and if they aren't appeased, they will revolt and fall into a fast, downward spiral of division.
Essentially, things are still being handled centrally and as a result, while Moscow might be okay, it will be the outlying points that see the worst localized hardship. Will they just sit and wait to be "saved" by their government? There is a big difference between Russian people and Russian state and I suspect that if given the opportunity, they would oust Putin. This might be that opportunity.
If Ukraine is posing such a problem, how are they expected to march across Europe? I don't think the argument stands up that Europe is next. Move onto EU soil and things change. Well, if they go nuclear - it is WWIII and we are all likely better off not surviving, if we could.
I wonder what would have happened if back when the EU track was open for Ukraine, they had taken it.
If history is any guide, Russians are good at tolerating hardship. Putin has built a pretty powerful police state. Of course, if he is perceived as being crazy or making blunders that are too serious, then it could get difficult.
For Russia to march across Europe, they'd have to mobilize their reserve. As we speak, the economic capacity needed for that is being dismantled and I don't think China would stand for that for a second, so no support from China.
Yeah in history they did tolerate hardship, but the last 30 years after the fall of the USSR has raised a different generation. How many under 30s really want to fight a war, let alone a war against countries they might have traveled to on holiday to go shopping? Countries where they have friends from the Internet in? Does a millennial want to fight for their country?
I think the culture of what those reservists might look like, needs to be considered.
Will head to bed and sleep on it :)
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This is just WAYY too accurate. If I don't find it interesting enough then I might just end up abandoning the whole thing. Even if I am mid-way or have written into a 1000 words already, chances are I'll just read it twice and backspace the whole thing haha.
I haven't travelled since the outbreak of coronavirus. I missed travelling. I was thinking about it this summer due to the relief, but a war has broken out. I don't think that Russia will attack Finland because Findland is not a member of NATO yet, as far as I know.
That's a mood.
Those sound like long days x_x
As hilarious as your colleagues Weekend at Bernie'sing you around the place would be (we'll just ignore facts in favour of a good fiction for now XD) you're much more fun not dead :)
I'm looking forward to your posts when you are there. Work commitments aside, it will be interesting to read what your observations are.
Annabelle 😊
Dear @tarazkp , Are you imagining a way for your family to evacuate abroad because of a possible Russian attack on Finland?
From an East Asian point of view like me, I don't expect Russia to attack Finland.
I guess Russia wants to neutralize Ukraine.
China will provide economic aid to Russia by importing Russian oil and natural gas. China will try to conquer Taiwan while the US is interested in Europe.
I now expect Russia to overcome Western interference and take over Ukraine.
As long as China is backing Russia and Western countries do not attack Russia, Russia's purpose will be achieved.
The United States and Western Europe will never go to war with Russia for Ukraine's sake.
I know you! You will find a moment to slip one in. Maybe even give us a little Norway. I have not been there since 2000!
I hope you get enough downtime, although it doesn't sound like it. I made everyone renew their passports last year because... well, it felt better and you just never know when you might need it.
I think you will feel better once you get in the air.