Today was the worst day ever. I have been in the store for 10h and can basically count the people coming in on one hand. There is only so much you can do to pass boredom. I have already eaten a whole bag of katjes vegetarian wine gums. Now I am taken a bit of time to write. Are there any news for you? Up until a few minutes ago there was not really. Until then I would have told you about how I packed my bag-trying not to take anything with me worth stealing and how I got insurance. Maybe I tell you later.
But now I have real news: concert.ua actually released some left-over tickets for the grand final of ESC 2017. So now I am not only seeing the semis live but will be in the exhibition center when the winner of 2017 is crowned (I have something to say about that too). The tickets I got should not only be without restricted view on the stage but should also alluow us to look into the green room, giving us the chance to see the reactions from the delegations when the points are read. Soooo excited! But let me tell you about my travel to Kiev. While the Ukraine is a country of war, Kiev is considered to be rather save. At the same time Eurovision is a really big event and it would not surprise me if some idiots would try to bomb their message across. Let's hope that those idiots are stupid enough to be stopped, so the world can enjoy this music festival. The next thing I was advised about is the corruption and the high level of criminality in Kiev. Well, I hope that nothing will happen to me, but just to be on the save side I bought travel insurance that will cover the loss or theft of my baggage. I also plan on listening to the advise given, to carry valuables close to my body at all times. For this purpose alone I made myself a really ugly waist-bag (my sewing skills really left me hanging on this one) but it should serve its purpose very well. And now this: guess what concert.ua just released... Ticket packages for all live shows in the "gold circle" basically a section right in front of the stage between the fan zone and the stage. 270euro per package. Why? Why? Why? Why did they only release them now? Why did I buy all show separately? Why can I not afford to spend another 270€ on top of what I already spent? Maybe it was not supposed to be this year and next year I can get a proper fan package again. Earlier I said I have something to say about the winner of this year. Let's get to it. Remember a few month back I gave you a first impression of the acts of 2017? Boy, has my opinion changed. Italy has cemented themselves as the winner in the bookies eyes, so it seems inevitable. But that said, I still don't think it is the best entry. Personally, I love a lot of this years entries but I fear that non of them are good enough to win. How sad is that? Breaking point. What happened? There is a chance I lost my purse on my way from work. I came home to such a sweet surprise from my dad that I did not even unpack my bag until later. Then before going to bed I quickly wanted to repack for my flight, just to realize that my purse is missing. I frantically searched everywhere. Even places that made no sense whatsoever, but my purse didn't show up. I actually do not believe I have lost it. For me there are only 2options. Number 1 I left it at work. No. 2 it was stolen from me in the u7. Naturally I hope for option no.1. In any case I have already checked if I can change my flight but the would cost 550€. But there is a Russian flight going out later for 200€. So if all goes to shit I could book a later flight. Unfortunately I could not go back to the schloss right away as it was closed. With that there was not much more I could do. I went to sleep (pretty restless though) and am now on my way back into work with my luggage with me. All I can do is hope that I was just being a complete "vollhorst" and can go straight to the airport with my purse. The schloss was still closed but I was able to sneak in with some staff. I checked the store and my purse was not there! I could not believe it. I looked again. And there it was in the very back of the corner... You cannot imagine my relief when I found it. And now I am already at the airport. Which means I will continue to my next post that I will hopefully upload tonight. Celebrate diversity- see you in Kiev.
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I think I have all the outfits I need for Kiev. Initially I wanted to do one more dress asI still have enough fabric and I don't want it to go to waste. However, I decided to keep that fabric for next year- who knows what dress-style will be my favourite then.
In any case I am now torn between showing you all my dresses now (because I really want to show you what I have been up to) and showing you the dresses one by one on the day I wear them in Kiev for the first time.... Oh and by the way- I am sure I wrote about this already- I won my competition to lose weight. In case I did not write about it or you forgot: I had a competition running with a friend. On his birthday after we had eaten way to much we decided we have to lose weight and we should do it as a competition to motivate each other. So on the evening we both weighed ourself at his place and made a deal. We will step on the skales on a weekly basis and whoever loses less has to buy tickets to the next show we go to together. Now, 3 month later our time is up and unfortunatelly for him, I lost about 9kg (19lb). As I said previously that is not as much as I had hoped for ESC but it is enough to get the free ticket to a show of my choice :) Hello strangers,
it has been a while since my last post. Why is that, you might wonder. Or you just don't give a damn. But then again, why are you reading this? I have been busy procrastinating. So much so, that it is now only two weeks left until my trip to the Ukraine and I need to power-sew through the next days if I want to finish my outfits for ESC. So far I have completed two dresses I am happy with, two dresses I don't like and a jacket. Ideally I want to add a skirt and two tops as well as one more dress. Though I am playing with the idea of a pair of trousers instead of the skirt. Two of the dresses made are for the friend I am going to ESC with. Unfortunately I failed to lose enough weight to fit into my dirndl from last year. I know, I still have 2 weeks but unless I do this really unhealthy power diet, I doubt I will lose 7kg (~15lb). And I have not weighed myself since before the Easter/birthday overeating disaster. Might be that I need to lose more than anticipated. Well, I will see. But that is the other thing that kept me from writing. I am actually going to the gym quite regularly or walk to work. In fact the only reason I am writing now, is that I am on my way from home in a "slow" IC, transporting my really old bicycle to Berlin. I actually have not been on a bicycle since my accident in 2013 and I was really nervous to get back on one. And as you can guess by my description "really old", this bike is not the one I had my accident with but the one I cycled with about 10years ago. And I have to say riding this bike feels funny. But at least the 20min ride from my parents to the train station was uneventful. However, I have to say, I can already feel my butt hurting. Not sure I will be able to cycle from Spandau to my apartment. My backside has 150min to relax :) And on the note of relaxing I will end this entry and rest a little... This was a bad weekend/start of the week. let me start at the beginning.
When I arrived Saturday there was quite some delay in getting my car and the traffic was horrific. As a result I arrived at the planned lunch with some of my friends at 14.50 rather than 13.30 as agreed. The place closed at 3pm. At least I got to see them and we walked for a bit (in the rain). It was nice seeing them though. The evening was really good and I enjoyed it immensely. The next morning I went into town. All went smoothly until the afternoon. This was when I received a text that my flight was canceled. Fortunately I only had to be back at work midday allowing me to re-book a a flight the next morning. The concert was amazing though. Dan+shay had brilliant vocals and really rocked the arena. Great opening act. Hunter Hayes was not my cup of tea and I was glad when Darius Rucker came on next. But he was nothing compared to the next act. I had booked the ticket because of Reba and let me tell you I was not disappointed. Reba was the best. She is pure country and so funny. She even included a dress change for her final number which I was waiting for all evening: fancy! Now with an additional day in Dublin I meet up with my college friend. She like me has quite her job to pursue her career in fashion. Unlike me she has already various people giving her made-to-measure work. Whenever I see her work I am amazed by the elegance and creativity that goes into her designs. She is a true design-artist. However, she struggles finding information and getting support-sounds familiar? When I got back into the car and checked my phone the next text was already waiting for me: the strike continues and my new flight was also cancelled! This meant there is no way I could possibly make it in time for work. I basically panicked. I don't wanna loose my job, I really like it so far. My friends kept telling me not to worry too much as my employer will surely understand my situation. And while I know they are cool and probably won't fire me, I was worried about the impression this is giving: not even in the job for a week and already I am causing issues- well, technically I am. Or causing them.... Where can I claim compensation? Because the strike is due to last until Wednesday I am now taking the 7.20machine to Düsseldorf and then taking the train to Berlin. If everything goes smoothly I will arrive in Spandau at 3pm. Just enough time to run home get changed into work clothing and be on time for the shop. This however means I will have missed 5h in production that I have to make up this week somehow. The night was terrible. I woke up almost every 30-40min wondering if I had overslept. My friends little girl seem to have had a bad night too as I heard her crying a few times as well. When my alarm finally went off at 4.45am I was already dressed and exhausted. And because of that I now have misplaced the key to my friends house. How can I fecking loose a key when it was opening, closing the door and throwing it into the mailbox??? I'm such an idiot. On my way to the airport I also missed the gas station, so I had to drive in circles before getting to an overpriced topaz. Probably would have been cheaper to return the car empty. The flight itself, however, went smoothly, so much in fact that I arrived in plenty of time for my train. Oh and in the meantime, my friends found the key... I left it in the lock on the outside of the door... Let me repeat myself to make sure everyone understands: I am such an idiot!!! Finally on the train. Someone must have tried to kill himself they called for an emergency doctor somewhere between Hagen and Hamm. as a result our train has to take a detour causing a delay of 30min. The Bahn calls it "personenunfall"... I tried to sleep some, but cannot. So I do the next best thing: eat. Two weeks since my last day at PayPal. I miss the team greatly. Luckily I get updated almost on a daily basis by my former coworker and now neighbor-friend. I am glad I'm still in touch with some teammates.
After a few "recreational" days I have now worked for about a week in my new part-time job. And the first thing that stands out are once again the people. I think they are all crazy- and we all know how much I love crazy... I have a feeling I will fit right in. Hardest part for me remains the standing. So far I was only "booked" for 4 to 6 hour shifts and I worry a bit about the day I get an 11h shift. In the meantime I learn all sorts of new things about the retail business: from folding shirts to handling customers (which is in fact quite different to the call handling at PayPal) to the bookkeeping in the stores. I am also learning as much as I can about the brand and fall in love with new shirts every day. My current favorite is naturally a 399€ piece. And I want this. Really! Now, as you can guess, with my new salary I am not really in a spending mood. On top of that, I understandably want the shirt to look not only stunning on the hanger but on me. So here is the deal: I will have to loose some inches. I was already on a loosing mission before but now I mean it. The goal is to loose about 30pounds. That makes about 13€ per pound I am loosing. I am hoping to find myself some sponsors who will donate 1€ per pound I am loosing. Maybe my parents are a good place to start... Regardless, because of my mission I have not started on designing dresses for myself at Eurovision. This brings me to the way more important topic than my dietary plans: Was quitting PayPal the right choice- or have i actually started in my fashion label. At this stage I have mainly looked into the options I have for a start up. And really I came to this conclusion: for the first period where the main focus is the design I will not register a company as my goal is not the revenue generation right away. I noticed during the creation of my business plan that a lot of topics in the plan are not really applicable at the moment. I will however need to look into registering my trademark on the German market. While I had already registered the brand k-eleven in Ireland I need to do so in Germany too. At the same time I have - as indicated above- not started designing for myself, however I have completed the German ESC heart design dress for my the friend I am going to Kiev with. My current ideas circle around the Irish dress. This one will be for myself, but I just don't know that I want the dress to look like. Maybe Ireland is giving me some inspiration. That is right. I am on my way to Dublin right now. Last year I had already booked the tickets for the country2country concert in Dublin. I am really looking forward to see Reba live in action and meet up with crazy Karin. I am also looking forward to having dinner with my "vegan group", to going to the movies with my former photographer and friend Lotte and staying at my favorite models' family home. Having to many great meet ups planned I have high expectations for this weekend back home in Dublin. This will probably be my last visit to Ireland in a long time.. Unless Ireland wins Eurovision- then I will be back in May 2018 the latest. Talking about Ireland and Eurovision: I'm dying to try is Brendan's song for this year. My first reaction was not too positive. I thought he sounds like a child (reminding me of Heintje, a Dutch child star in the 60s/70s). And while I did not actively like it at first listen, I wanted to hear it again. And again. And again. In fact I have probably listened to it 50times by now and I like it. I really do. I can already hear my ESC fan-friends disagreeing with me but this is a beautiful song, that is simple at first and gains power later. It has what I call the "idol factor": most winners' songs from singing competitions over the last years have this climax in the song where the music breaks and then a full power restart. I cannot really describe it, but when you listen to it, you'll know what I am talking about. Will it win? I would hope so, but I don't think so. Will it have chances to at least qualify to the final? I need to check what songs are in the second semi with Brendan to say for sure. But I can see him getting to the final or only miss it by one or two places. I will give a better prognosis way closer to the day. It is always fun to see how wrong I am. It has finally arrived and man I cried. I was so brave throughout the day but on a bright smile that teammates must have thought that I really want to leave and am glad to never see them again. And while I will not deny that this is partially true, it is not the whole story.
For my farewell I had organised that each teammate gets a small cactus (to remind them of my prickly charisma) and a “First aid work kit” (including things like: a red thread, fizz for dull moments, and a good luck charm). I think they liked it. In return the team surprised me with a personalised “SuperKate” Cake…. I knew they were up to no good when they asked for those pictures… I also had some non-alcoholic sparkling wine and naturally all the sweets we caught on the weekend. So one thing is for sure, on this day nobody had to starve. Because of some technical issues I actually had to work on my last day quite a bit, making me not think about it too much. But then the last Huddle, the last time talking to the Dublin team arrived and it was hard. So when we finally hung up the phone, the Berlin teammates witnessed a small tear. I was clever enough not to read the cards they had handed me alongside a voucher for my new fabric source stoffn.de I was really overwhelmed but again, with too many things to do I did not have the time to think about it too long. After work we went to a vegetarian restaurant “Zen House”. I walked by this restaurant a couple of times and was intrigued by the vegan, black rice sushi they offered. However, I ended up being a bit disappointed in the food. It did not taste as good as it had looked. Next time I better go back to basics… whenever next time will be… it is money- savings- time now. Anyways when I said goodbye to the last teammates I almost burst into tears on the subway. At home I read the cards and I was done. While some comments were as expected and not very personal, some really moved me and I am so thankful for the great time. Now having slept about it, I can say this: I am 100% sure that it is the right step to leave, but I am also 100% sure that I will miss a lot at PayPal. Mostly the people. I really hope, that I will stay in touch with some of them, knowing myself and my networking skills, it is going to be hard. Maybe I get to organize an annual get together. So this is the last time for me to say thank you to each and every one who has helped me become the person I am today (this crazy something, that has the courage to follow its dreams)! If you are not sure if this means you too, feel free to ask and I will tell you exactly how! Completely off topic...
Helau and allaaf!!! I've been preparing for this for weeks now and finally we have reached the climax of the "5th season" aka karneval. While I am still struggling with a sinus infection or whatever I refused to let this get into my way of celebrating the best season of all. While I do not really celebrate Altweiber much, I still enjoy the parades. Parades in itself are a pretty absurd thing for strangers to the playful customs in Rhineland: people of all ages (adults mostly hammered) get dressed up in fancy dresses and go out on the streets to watch a parade of dressed up people on foot or in creative wagons, who throw mainly sweets into the crowds. But it is free sweets... Oh I love it! That said I drove to the cologne area on Friday. Again some explanation is required: I grew up mainly in a town right in between Düsseldorf and cologne, the two biggest players (followed by Mainz) in karneval. So I got to see parts of both worlds and I have to say I prefer the cologne. Why, you might wonder. I realized something when it comes to rival cities. There seems to be something in common with the rivalry. Often, I believe, one city is more elegant or fancy while the other is more the “working class” area. I’ve seen it in Dublin (inner-city rivalry), Edinburgh/Glasgow and Düsseldorf/Cologne too. I usually prefer the less posh but more fun cities. This also shows in karneval: When I look at Düsseldorfs’ costumes and parade it seems to be rather sophisticated, elegant but reserved. Cologne on the other hand is colourful, loud and sometimes a bit over the top (sounds a bit like myself). Moving on with storytelling time: We arrived in my home town on Friday but did not really do anything exciting (walking the dog, shopping, and pizza). The first highlight of this weekend was Saturday where we went to Leichlingen. This brings back a lot of old memories! Unfortunately, the Leichlinger parade is not what it used to be. It was way smaller (or maybe I just have gotten bigger). Afterwards we met with one of my oldest friends, who is due to pop in a week and her belly looks like she is going to give birth to twins. I am looking forward to the announcement of the name they have chosen for the child as they will not tell anyone before the baby has seen the first light of day. Sunday was the most successful day. We went to the Schul- und Veedelzoch in Cologne. I really like this because it is not as crowded as the “Rosenmontagszug” (Shrove Monday Parade) and as the name suggests is for the schools and Veedel (districts). This year we had about 55 schools walking in the parade and 48 Veedel-groups (these are associations and clubs and what nots). The costumes were amazing the wagons really creative and we went home with a full bag of sweets. Afterwards we visited another friend of mine and her relatively young dog. He is really not the best example for someone with a fear of dogs. We finished the day of at a local burger place with vegan falafel burger and sweet potato fries followed by apple strudel with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Rosenmontag my cold cought up with me and I was physically not able to go to the next parade. But I did but on my make-up regardless because I enjoy dressing up too much… As we had enough sweets for the team I did not mind too much and was glad to have a quiet day Instagram followers already know, I had sent one application for a job and it was slightly different to what I usually would send. Screenshots below show you what I mean. Funny and bold , matching the feel I got from the company I send my application and got a call for an interview the next day. Now the job itself is not what you'd expect me to do as it is a shop assistance role. However for me I know that I will way more than half me current hourly salary and because I am not looking for fulfillment but means to pay my rent at least.
The interview however, especially that short notice really took me by surprise and while moving an appointment and having a cold on top of a bad hair day, it went quite well. So good in fact, that I had a test day. With that I was standing in the shop two days later, learning the ins and outs of selling a high end product with t-shirts ranging from 39.90 up to 399.90 I learned that this job also required cleaning skills and standing stamina. Having worked in office jobs for the past 10 years this was probably the most challenging part. After the in store experience I was brought back to the manufacturing facilities. Here I learned how crystals get attached to the garments and why these applications can be really cheap but also why they can be extreemly expensive. Even with a lot of automatization with a high end product a lot of manual steps are taken to ensure quality. Well, and a day later I signed my contract for a 20h work week. It is devastating to actually see the impact on my salary especially moving from a tenured full time job into a field where I am a complete newbi. And while we never talk salary I can say that I will earn about 30% of my last paycheck. I have a feeling I will cry on the day I get my first payslip. In any case, please check out my new employer look54.de and when you are in Berlin ensure to buy something while I am working so get commission ;) Second part of my ESC post is all about the music. For the past 2years I have not only listened to the winners of the national selections but actually listened to all ESC entries published. And this is always fun, exciting and really good at times.
This year is no exception. I love the songs. Well as usual I am not always happy about the outcome but you cannot have it all. So where do I start? Though it makes sense to start chronologically, I will not. Let me share my opinion on Germanys' entry first. It's toilet. Well, let me explain. Firstly the show was a bore. Please make it more fun to watch - especially when inviting the world to watch. (Though I admit that some of the jokes made during the show were actually enjoyable). Now, I also think there should have been a group or another male contestant in the show because I am tired of this sweet girl thing we have been trying to recreate for years now. Honestly though, from the cover versions I completely agree with the audience that the Adele song was great. Now the two song choices, they are okay, but need a lot of remastering before sending them off to Kiev. I mean come on the beat is so David guetta it is embarrassing to watch. Plagiarize much? Also I really believe we should send a German song for once. And I honestly believe that a good song in native tongue has chances to win. Having said that I love the Belarusian entry this year. It just makes you smile. Though I am mad at Ireland for it because this song sounds like something Mumford and sons could have sung 2-3 years ago. But then again Ireland has not been making a lot of good choices over the last years. I know Brendan is a good singer but come on! Not a winning voice.... Well I will have to wait for the song, it might surprise me. But can Ireland please send someone like walking on cars or hozier? These are Irish exports that just work internationally. International entries... Let me go through the list and start with the latest news on Albania. Why not send bote, why change it to English? Georgia had great songs this year and I am not happy that they went for a jamala song-alike. I am curiously awaiting the Swedish decision as I am already in love with some of their contestants- and I haven't even seen all. In Iceland I am hoping the votes go for the Icelandic version of whatever song is chosen. Though I could not say that song is, possibly Erna (though a remake of undo), svala, or Arnar and rakel... But I also like Aron and Aron... And then there is Moldova and I am seriously routing for the return of epic sax guy as this will make Eurovision fun for sure. I am not a big fan of the polish entry- which is sad because I generally do like them. That was mostly about semifinal 1 (well except for my rant about Ireland) but then again not many countries in the second semifinal have something to show for yet. Exceptions are Malta, Hungary (again great pre-selection, not sure the best song made it- and I am still listening to Leander kills). Okay, I need to Apollo-gize, but I hate the Swiss entry. Maybe it will grow on me, but I don't think it will ever. As for the big 5, all have announced their entry and from those five I probably like UKs song best- and I think it is boring. Now Italy is growing on me, so I might like it by May. And I have not listened to dance and Spain just yet... So with 14 songs published I think my bet would be for Belarus to win, but then again it is too early to say for sure as all songs can still be changed and too many countries are still about to release their contestant. And looking at the odds, bookmakers seem to disagree and see Italy in the winning position (i don't see that yet) There is no point in trying any longer and finally admit it. It is time to write about Eurovision again. I've been trying to hold off but too much happened. So much in fact I will have to split my entries. So I am going to start with "nightmare Ukraine" and follow by why ESC music is the best yet trashiest music in the whole world.
Why nightmare Ukraine? Let me tell you why. I have not once in my active time in ESC had such negativity happening before an event. With startling news about mass slaughtering of stray dogs to organizational issues leading to resignations all over the place. In between the news that probably nobody cares about and never reached media but is outrages for fans, this year OGAE (the official ESC fan club) members will not get fan packages. Further let-down for us hardcore fans, accreditations will be much more limited than in recent years, probably leading to not getting into the euroclub as I am used. The issues around the ticket sales were just an annoying cherry on top: first the ticket sales date was only published very short notice and at a very late stage (3month before ESC). In addition, the ticket sale did not go smoothly either, and left many people worried. While concert.ua has done a good job in creating an English site, allowing international addresses and numbers to be added, the fear of credit card fraud was high. We will probably only notice in a few month if reports of stolen credit cards emerge again and if I will still have money on my bank account. Talking about bank account, I also spent my last substantial sum of money before unemployment hits my account on fabrics for ESC. I bought several yards of organic fabrics with self designed heart-shaped flag prints. They have partially been delivered and I need to be honest I hate the feel of the organic cotton sateen material. It feels rather stiff and unnatural. Not quite sure yet how to make my dresses, as the designs need to match the fabric. I was hoping for a more flowing material. Also, with one the print is way to big to look good on a small person-good thing I am size extra. On the bright side, I am in love with the the organic cotton knit fabric. It has such a lovely texture. I'm looking forward to getting the stoff'n order containing 3 more organic materials to compare to the spoonflower ones. |
Kate Krausepennyless fashion designer working towards London Categories
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