Ten five one

I saw this on Green Duckies and thought it was a nifty idea.

Ten years ago I had been in Stuttgart for just over a year. I had been unhappy in London for a long time, it took two years of therapy for me to work up the courage to say "I want to leave", to feel that the person called "I" was entitled to want anything.

I was working as an architect in a partnership which has since dissolved acrimoniously, but at the time we were a great team, almost an ersatz family. The economy was booming, there was lots of work (too much in fact, we were working 60-hour weeks) and we were earning good money - which we then threw out the window with both hands, as the Germans say. We ate in restaurants nearly every night (who wants to cook at 11pm?) and went clubbing every weekend.

I had taken evening courses in German, and so had a basic grasp of the language, but was a long way from being fluent. Richard Powers mentions in Galatea 2.2 an effect of learning a language through immersion in the adult world: the vocabulary one acquires is comically tilted towards the practical and professional. It's absolutely true, I learned the word for "government health and safety inspector" long before I learned the word for "shoelace".

Five years ago I started work (unpaid) on the database project which now dominates my life. It began quite harmlessly, very small and simple, and grew into a monster. I was still working as an architect, but times were no longer so good: it was hard to scrape together enough work to fill a 30-hour week. I started to burn through what little money I'd saved during the fat years.

By this time, my German had improved to the point that it was better than the English of anyone I met, and I could read most books without strain. (I complained to a friend how difficult it was to read Thomas Mann, and he replied with a laugh that the majority of Germans found him difficult too; he thought that my expectations were unrealistically high.)

One year ago I was broke, owing money to absolutely everyone under the sun. The database had grown to a full-time job in terms of hours, but still paid only a pittance. My horseracing buddies and I had just won first prize in a competition, and we spent the summer and autumn working on the project - before the money ran out and the developer put everything on hold, where it remains to this day.

By now, I was reading more books in German, than most of my German friends did. I still had difficulties with grammar, but was amused to note that my grammar was better than that of some native Germans.

One year ago next Monday, I started blogging (there will be more about this on the day).

Yesterday was a slow day. I sat in the kitchen (the weather had turned cool, so the balcony was not an option), drank tea and finished reading John Updike's Licks of Love. I answered some e-mails, read some blogs, and put in a few hours' work testing the database. I can't remember whether or not I walked in the morning.

Today I spent an hour on the phone talking to a possible new customer, explaining how to use the database. I don't really mind doing this, it is always interesting to hear what people actually do on a daily basis and how/whether this fits the way the database works. Most of the best features have been suggested by users.

What I do mind, is when the sales crew hand such cases over to me because "we can't solve her problem" - and the first minute's conversation makes clear that they never tried to identify her problem, let alone solve it. Verdammt nochmal, do I have to do everything around here?

Tomorrow is Slim's birthday. I will send her an SMS at midnight, and call her during the morning to sing a certain song into her delicate shell-like ear.

Five snacks that I enjoy Spanish green olives stuffed with anchovy, I could eat them by the kilo. Pringles sour cream and onion chips. Toggenburger biscuits. Polish sausage, sliced paper-thin. Blueberry yoghurt.

Five songs that I know the words to Sorry, but I know the words to every song that I've heard more than twice. It just happens that way, it's not something that I work at. It used to drive my sister crazy when we were kids.

Five things that I would do with $100 million Go around the family and pay off everyone's debts and mortgages. Buy a specific piece of land in Saskatchewan, and build a winter house on it. Buy a not-yet-known piece of land in Switzerland or northern Italy and build a summer house on it. Take a steamer trip up the Amazon River to the opera in Manaus. Learn to drive.

Five places that I would escape to Switzerland, Finland, Venice, rural Saskatchewan, and Newport RI (offseason).

Five bad habits Laziness. Procrastination (not at all the same thing!) Being content to live like a slob. Lettings months go by before contacting friends (or family), not replying promptly to mail. Not switching the damned computers off at a decent hour.

Five things that I like doing Reading, listening to music, talking to friends, going to the opera, travelling.

Five things that I'd never wear Anything that is fashionable now, or has been fashionable in the last ten years. I gave myself a wonderful birthday present some years back, while I still lived in London: I would in future wear only clothes that I found comfortable, and to hell with how they looked. The funny thing is that people say I dress much better for it.

Five TV shows that I like I hardly ever watch TV; excluding movies, the total is less than three hours a week. There is very little on TV that is as interesting as what's on my computer.

Back in the days when I watched TV regularly, I liked South Park, Married with Children, Roseanne, The Simpsons, Frazier.

Five biggest joys of the moment Planning how to spend my share of the winnings from the competition. Anticipating how much spare time I will suddenly have on my hands, when I wrap up Version 2 of the database next week. That winter is coming, the mornings are getting perceptibly cooler. Blogging and reading blogs. Parsifal by Richard Wagner.

Five favourite toys iBook, iPod, the internet, the local public-radio station, walking around town. Whadda ya mean, "those aren't toys"? <sings>It's my blog, and I'll cheat if I want to.</sings>