Considering that I have spent the last eight months with reading, swimming, some scribbling and a lot of general hanging out, October was quite eventful for me. This is one of my favorite months of the year, as the days are still quite sunny and light, the weather mostly warm and autumn is the most beautiful in its full bloom.
I spent numerous hours swimming under the bright blue sky on sunny Indian Summer days, as October was the last month the swimming pool right next to my flat was open. It is now closed for the next six months due to renovation, and I have to find myself a new swimming pool on the other end of town until spring to get my much needed weekly exercise. I just love living literally right next to a swimming pool, having the chance to pop over for a dip whenever I feel like it is simply incredibly amazing and utterly comfortable, and I will surely be missing it. Fingers crossed the reconstruction will be completed on time and the pool opens in April when I can return to swimming under the crispy blue sky again.
On two separate occasions I took a day trip to Lillafüred to enjoy the full foliage and the splendid colors of the Bükk mountains. The trout farm is still one of my favorite places in the area, you just can't beat their superb fried trout with some good old garlic sauce and fries. The owners of the farm have recently opened another trout-themed restaurant just a couple of hundred meters down the road from the farm itself which I was also lucky enough to try out recently. Vendéglő a Pisztrángoshoz is a sort of complementary restaurant to the trout farm, as the latter is only open in the summer months, while the former runs all year round. It is also a more upscale one that offers a wider variety of trout dishes, all very gourmet. Both restaurants are definitely a must if you are in my neck of the woods.
I spent the long weekend with Zsófi in Budapest where we attended Margo Festival, and listened to Veiszer Alinda's utterly entertaining discussion with Dragomán György and another one on a new book of essays titled Feminists Don't Wear Pink. We also watched A Star is Born and I was quite impressed by both Lady Gaga's and Bradley Cooper's performances. I also went to see the World Press Photo Exhibition in the National Museum, and on the 23rd we stood in line for over an hour to enter the National Gallery and see the Frida Kahlo exhibition.
At home this whole cosy, autumnish hygge feeling has really taken me over. I have been soaking my tasting buds in cinnamon lately, I am just crazy about anything and everything spiced up with cinnamon. I baked the yummiest cinnamon buns at least three times in the first half of the month, and I will surely be pulling out the recipe a few more times in the holiday season. I bought a bottle of cinnamon scented essential oil too, and have been burning it with some other scented candles. I also unpacked and put up the twinkle lights in the bedroom, just to make it even more warm and cosy.
On the creative front, I took quite a few photos in October, and I have been getting better sharing them as well. A redesigned, cleaned up and restarted this very blog which I have been more excited about than anything else for a long time. I am full of post ideas, my finger tips are itching to start clicketing on the keyboard, to write in English and to share my thoughts and pictures. Fingers crossed this rush of creative productivity will last this time and I won't lose interest or motivation in a couple of weeks. I am determined as ever, but I always am.
A few days ago I also unrolled this paint-by-numbers picture which I had not touched since last winter and continued painting it. About a year or two ago I was rather keen on paint-by-numbers, so I ordered a few painting kits, but after about two and a half pictures it got boring and fun no more, so I chucked the whole activity in the corner. I would really love to learn to paint-without-numbers, I am planning to attend at least one painting class in November, and paint-by-numbers is a good activity to ease into free painting, simply to get a brush in my hand and dip it in paint.
Probably the most important piece of news lately is that I found a new job, which means I am returning to the editorial room tomorrow. I put hardly any effort into looking for a new job (although I really did give a lot of thought and consideration to how I should move on with my life and what I should do next. Such a shame you can't pay your bills and purchase your groceries with thoughts.), as I only emailed out my resume to a couple of places at the end of August. I got a call back early October, then I had a job interview and I was offered a position the following week.
I also applied for an English content reviewer position at a Lisbon located telecommunications company. On paper I met all the criteria and I would have loved to relocate to Lisbon and try myself out in a new field. I never heard back from them though, so I guess I am not moving to Portugal anytime soon.
The position I did get offered however comes with a decent wage, less responsibility and is less demanding than my previous one, and I will be an online editor again, which is not bad. The last time I started a new job was exactly six years ago, so this does make me kind of nervous, but I am also kind of excited too. Although, upon leaving my previous job, I was pretty sure I would never return to such a rigid position again, I don't have bad feelings now and I don't mind returning to the newsroom and working from 9-5 for a company. I guess sometime in the last eight months I did realize that I do (may?) need such strings, I need a schedule and structure, so I can make the most of my free time. Hopefully this new job of mine won't be as exhausting and soul-sucking as the previous one was, and I will still have plenty of energy left after work hours to do all these creative things I am planning to do in the coming months.
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