5 Musings and 1 Muse

I am crazy busy at the moment. Work is busy. I come home tired and exhausted, in one of those states where my eyes hurt from looking at a computer screen all day and the last thing I want to do is blog. I am sorry - usually blogging is my relaxation, my sharing time, my playdate with the Internet. But lately all I can seem to do is take off my shoes, heat something up, and pry my eyes open so that I fall asleep at a respectable adult-like hour. Pathetic.

Here are a few things on my mind at the moment, little tidbits of ideas that I meant to blog about but have missed in the haze that has been my existence over the last few days:

1. What on earth was the Brazilian chic thinking when she mutilated her (supposedly pregnant) belly and claimed to have been mobbed and attacked by Neo-Nazis on a train platform in Zurich? Thank goodness this attack was just one big hoax. Shame on her for putting Zurich in the public eye for such a lie.

2. English as ANOTHER official language in Switzerland? Um, don't they already have FOUR official languages? What up? Perhaps the Swiss should have a chat with the US, where we still avoid making Spanish an official language. Cablecom and UBS already have English options... I think they know what their customers are speaking, the rest of the country can follow if they want to communicate with the people - but another official language? Hmmm... sounds like someone wants more paperwork!

3. Who decided that the German language needed to have three gender cases? Why couldn't "THE" just be enough? I am so frustrated by German at the moment. If you speak with me in German and you realize that instead of der, die or das I use a slurring that sounds just like a 'duh' noise, you now know why. Stupid articles. I hate you. I spit at you. You make me sound like a silly cartoon figure perhaps even on the scale of a Borat. Loathe is not strong enough a word. Spat. Hack. Take that you silly language... don't even get me started on Swiss German. Today is not the day.

4. I will be coming home in May for my brother's graduation. I am pretty excited about seeing family and friends, and at the same time I am wondering if they make luggage big enough for the shopping spree I am planning. Then again, I will need to pay $20 per piece of checked luggage these days - pathetic service...not to mention I just got back from a Swiss flight - one flight - no connections and THEY LOST MY LUGGAGE. It has not been 24 hours yet but they better find it or I might FREAK OUT. I had visions today of running against the flow of the baggage carosel and kicking oncoming bags out of my way while screaming, "FIND IT!!!!!!!!!! FIND MY BAG YOU HEATHENS!!!" But I did not because of already negative expat press, see item 1. I had it all planned, too, down to swinging down into the sorting room and making grunting noises while lifting oversized bags effortlessly out of my way to get to my personal effects. Nonetheless, we are on standby. Stupid Swiss Airlines. Stupid bad expat press.

5. The financial crisis continues and UBS is again at the fore, hiding Swiss accounts held by US citizens in a big tax evasion story. Now UBS has to come forth with the customer details and will pay out an $850 million dollar fine. All this ludicriousness, and come March they are going to be charging me a monthly fee for my account... it just doesn't seem fair. I would switch banks if the effort did not make my eyelashes hurt - it is that painful - and if I felt that during this financial crisis some good would come of it. Can we trust anyone with our money anymore? Goodbye coffee house funds, hello coffee cans.

I promise I will get back into the blogging mood soon. Until then, please send me your 'atta girl' pick me ups in a comment, and perhaps link me to a good source of inspiration. I feel another grueling week ahead of me... until then, here is some photo inspiration for you for the week, because no matter how tough it gets, remember it could always be worse:

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