Back to life, back to reality

This summer didn't go as planned, that's one thing I can definitely tell you.

This summer was supposed to be all about vacation, relaxation, and creation. I finished all of my work projects, and knowing what was coming after the summer, I had nothing to worry about in terms of income. Finally, I could rest. I planned on creating jewelry, painting, sleeping, exploring new parts of Paris that are still unknown to me, even after 6.5 years here, I planned on cooking and going to the gym, and, of course - writing on Steemit. However, after coming back to France from my trip in Israel, I bumped into some difficulties that left me sleep-deprived, stressed, in constant pain, and in general - quite devastated.

So, what happened?

Well, life happened. As it does, every time I plan a peaceful period where I can rest and do stuff other than work, something happens and things go wrong in various different ways. So was the situation this time, too.

1. Heat wave
   Have you heard about the heat wave that hit Europe in July and most of August? Well, if you haven't - good for you. If you have, though, or worse - if you happened to be in Europe this summer, you probably understand what suffering I (and many others, of course) went through. 30-38 degrees Celsius (86-100 Fahrenheit for those of you who prefer weird units) all day long, for almost two months. No air conditioning at all, not even an option to install one because of stupid municipal laws. Heat. Heat. Heat. The buildings are build to capture heat, not release it. Also, I live on the top floor and my windows are heading south, so double hell on me. At some point you realize you just can't sleep, work, and even think. I think that near the end of that heat wave, my brain just turned into a mush. Later on, I saw some of the work I did on those days, and immediately apologized to the client. I just couldn't think, and it was very evident.

2. Cats!
   So, I have tow cats, Rushmore and Alexa. They love each other and got together very well for their first 5 years together. One day Rushmore got scared of something, became very aggressive, and got Alexa so scared, that she just wouldn't let him near her anymore, even after he went back to being his normal self. This happened right after July 14 (independence day in France) and winning the World Cup of soccer, so we didn't get much sleep on the nights before, plus noise, plus fireworks. The cats were scared, stressed, and confused in general. And then this.
   Only now, in the beginning of September (1.5 month after the incident with the cats), they are starting to get back to normal. I'm glad to say that I can sleep an entire night now, which is wonderful.

3. Pain
   All of the above, plus the fact I had to spend quite a few nights sleeping on our lovely sofa (which is, while comfortable, still not a real bed) because of the cats situation, plus the fact that the new office chair I bought proved to be hellish for my back, caused me to basically live in constant pain and not be able to concentrate on anything. Plus I was really upset and easily irritated for quite a while.

4. Medical issues
   As a person suffering from an autoimmune condition, my worst fear was to develop another one of those (which is a serious risk when you already have one such condition). This summer, I spent quite some time and have given a considerable amount of blood to see if that was indeed the situation. It seemed like my body went nuts and started producing massive amounts of cortisol, which is also known as the "stress hormone". So yeah, I was in stress most of that time, but this was just not normal, and we were worried. However, about a week ago the doctor finally confirmed that, at least on this aspect, I'm right as rain, and have nothing to worry about. SO I'll stick to my rheumatoid arthritis, but only with that, at this point - which makes me very happy.

5. Phone
   My poor old LG G2, 5 or 6 years old, decided that it was time to go to a better world. The problem was that I had no replacement for it. During its dying period, its camera stopped working, its battery seemed to run out about 10 minutes after I unplugged it, and I had to take my "life support" charger with me at all times. It wasn't fun, it wasn't efficient, I hated it.
   And so, we welcomed Newphy (my daughter's choice of name for the new phone) to our family - a midnight-blue Honor 10 phone. I'm very pleased with it, and since we managed to get it delivered right before our trip to Amsterdam, there are also good photos I'll share with you soon.

So, I don't know exactly how I'll manage my posting scheduled from now on. I have a very busy few months ahead of me, and there are quite a few travels planned, too. There are also new projects coming up, which will require my attention. We'll see how that works, and make it work anyway.

I'm very hopeful about the near future, and I wish you a very, very good autumn, and... keep in touch. I know I'll try :-)