Holidays, ahoy!

[wiseheart]

Actually, I've just realized that two days of Chrismas break are already gone. Drat. The good times always go so quickly! But I got a lot done.

Our concert on Saturday was a great success, and I managed to deliver my contralto solo without embarrassing mistakes. My entire fanclub was there, all three of them: Mum, her colleague, and the colleague's hubby. They're a small fanclub, but devoted. They come to all our concerts.


Christmas baking was finished last week, so no more pain with that. But we bought the Christmas tree yesterday, with the time-honoured method of walking to the vendor with the halter and saying: "I need a tree that would fit into this halter, about as tall as I am, and would you, please, carve the trunk for me so that it would actually fit?"

The vendor took it very seriously, apparently. The tree looks exactly like me: short and broad and taking up all available space. Okay, it looks a lot better than I do, but again, it's a great deal younger, too. ;)

I baked a Hefezopf yesterday: a plaited cake of yeast dough, with an... erm... experimental recipe. The original one said marzipan should go into it. We both hate marzipan, so I took Kandierte Früchte instead. I didn't have fresh yeast at home, so I took the dried version. And I added an egg to the dough, because really, you just don't make that dough withoug an egg. No way. As a result, my Hefezopf is tasty, but rather hard. But Mum likes to chew on it, so it's okay.

Today, we went to the chiropodist's and to the hairdresser's. Now I look almost civilized. We also bought the meat for Christmas, and the red cabbage and other foodstuffs. Now all we have to do is to decorate the Christmas tree. Yay!

Got nice prezzie for Mum: I had all the pictures taken in her hometown during our summer visit developed and made actual photos of them. On paper, so that she won't need me to switch on the laptop for her when she wants to go nostalgic on me. She also gets a bag of chocolate-covered raisins. And I paid the trip to Vienna for us both, so I hope it's all right.

It's a stupid thing to have name-day on Christmas Eve. We celebrate name-days as well as birthdays over here, and since Mum and I share the same given name (something that I couldn't forgive her as a child), it's always a strain around this time to find the right present. *sighs*

Anyway, tomorrow I'm due to that audiology test I should have done years ago, beacuse of my tinnitus, but never got the time to do so. I don't think they can do anything to help - Granny had it, Mum has it, and I've had it for the last four or five years. The smart books say, it could be caused by stress and/or by a noisy environment. Well, bless them - what else do I have at school?

I'm also due to an ultrasound examination in January, just in case the blood vessels in my neck are calficied and that causes the whole thing. And if it does? What am I gonna do against arteriosclerosis? Rub my blood vessels with vinegar?



The annoying part is, that at the time I've got all the crap done that I didn't have the time for during term, the holidays will be over, too. :(

Comments

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Actually, my only given name is my mother's third name (yes, three given names - my grandparents must have been slightly insane to burden both their children like that), but the only one she ever used. She hated having three names so much that she gave me only one, the shortest at all.

Now, given the fact that both my name and my surname contain 3 letters only, you can imagine the awkward silence when I introduce myself and people are waiting patiently for me to say something else. And I'm like "no, sorry, that's all the name that I can offer". *g*

Of course, when I have to sign all those certificates and stuff, a really short name comes in handy.

[jilba.livejournal.com]

You are the second person I know of to have only one given name and for the same reason, Mum having 3 given names.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Actually, it isn't so unusual in Hungary to have only one given name. About half the people I know have only one; which, IMO, is more than enough. I mean, no matter whether you like your name or not, by the time you can legally change it, everyone has gotten used to it, including yourself, so what's the sense in having more than one?

Of course, I know people who hate their given names so much that they use a different one - not in official documents but everywhere else. It would drive me mad, always having to keep in mind which one to use at which occasion. *g*

[jilba.livejournal.com]

I often used to think about changing my name, but, as you say, I'm used to it now. I could have used my middle name, but that would have created confusion with another person, so I didn't bother.