Republic of Tatarstan
I’ve already mentioned my plans for this day here, and today I visited only one place I had planned. But I have to say, the birthday celebration didn’t go quite as I expected — and honestly, I didn’t really like it. I hoped everything would be quiet and that we’d just talk together. Instead, there was a host (tamada), and they started playing different games while recording everything on video. Well, okay, the video part wasn’t a problem. But one awful thing happened during one of the games — I was unlucky enough to pick a challenge that said I had to sing a song. Of course, I didn’t do it, because I can’t sing and never wanted to. It was just a catastrophe.
Today is November 1st, Saturday — the last month of autumn. It was my workday, as I mentioned before. The day wasn’t too difficult, and the weather was also nice. The sun didn’t shine, but it was dry and a bit warm. My work tasks were easy and clear, so I completed them quickly and finished my workday successfully. However, I also have some updates about my Turkish SIM card and how I used it for my websites and bank accounts.
Today is the last day of October, and it’s Friday. But tomorrow I’ll have a work day. Next week I’ll have the weekend until November 5. During these days, we have holidays: National Unity Day (a Russian Federation holiday) and Constitution Day of the Republic of Tatarstan on November 6. However, I can’t rest on November 6 because I’m working in another region, and that day is only a day off for companies in Tatarstan. Therefore, I lose one weekend day, and it’s a workday for me. I also wanted to take a day off on Saturday because working on Saturday slightly disrupts my work rhythm and week schedule. From previous years, I clearly remember that when I worked on Saturday, I started to think Saturday was Friday, and it bothered me. Therefore, I don’t like changing my workdays. Also, I forgot to mention one nice thing: tomorrow I’ll work only until 5 PM, which is a short workday, so I decided not to take a day off.
Today, the first part of my day was very sunny and amazing. When I woke up and opened my eyes, I noticed how the sky was deeply blue. Yeah, it made my morning great because outside came a beautiful sunny autumn day. The sun lit up every fallen leaf on the ground. Even people’s moods were higher than usual — everyone had a smile on their face. But after noon, the weather changed to the opposite side. The sky became covered with clouds, and everything turned gray. Fortunately, it didn’t rain, because the gray clouds just floated above us in the sky.
The rain has been falling for the second day, and the sky is covered with autumn clouds. Each drop falls at crazy speed and hits my roof or the area under the window. Because of that, I hear how every droplet makes noisy sounds and disturbs me from time to time. The days are very gray and short now. Already by 4 o’clock, it starts getting dark outside, and by 5 PM, darkness fully covers the streets. However, at that time, the street lights turn on and brighten the roads, even if it’s rainy or cold outside. I just sit by the window, holding a mug of water and some muffins. While I drink my water, I watch the slowly walking pedestrians or the cars driving faster through the wet streets.
This post should actually start with what happened yesterday, because around 11 PM something interesting and nice happened. Well, yesterday, a few hours after I published my post, I got a message on Telegram. That message was from the same freelance client I’ve written about many times before, including in my last post. My client informed me about the bank transaction status — he kept his word and sent me the money. It really surprised me because it happened right after I published my post. I even joked to myself that maybe he read my post and decided to send it after that. But of course, that’s just a joke — he doesn’t know about my blog. It was just a coincidence.
My city was deeply covered in fog. When I got up from my bed and looked out the window, I could only see the tops of the trees and nothing else. But near me, everything was clear — I could see up to about one kilometer. The hill, however, was completely covered, and everything looked white. If I went there, I would slowly disappear into the fog, and nobody would be able to find me. It was a foggy day that brought me unforgettable feelings because I don’t see such weather very often. Around midday, the fog started to fade a bit but didn’t disappear completely. Even at 2 PM, the hill was still blurry and unclear. Then, around 4 PM, the fog grew stronger again, and the hill disappeared once more.
The day was pretty good, and the sun appeared in the sky. I could see the sun all day, but I could only catch it with my camera after 3 PM. Because I spent the day working on my freelance project and couldn’t finish what I had planned. So, when I went for a walk, the sun was still shining. And my walk wasn’t so bad — during it, I saw a white owl sitting on a tree branch very close to me. I wanted to take a photo, but unfortunately it flew away. It was the first time in my life I had seen an owl so close, and it wasn’t very big. I also walked ten kilometers in two hours, visiting all the places I usually ride my bike, and I practiced my English too.
I decided to spend the weekend at home and not go anywhere because on Monday I took on another freelance project. During the week, I could only complete small parts of this project because I was very busy and also working on other tasks for the same freelance client. I had already informed him about it, but now I have some doubts. But another thing is that while checking the full list of tasks, I accidentally skipped some parts of the work. Today, while working, I discovered all the tasks I had missed. On top of that, I gave my client the wrong deadline. So I think I won’t be able to finish it by the deadline. Maybe I could finish it if I worked all day, but that’s impossible because I have my main job. Also, after my workday, I don’t really feel like doing any additional work.
From my post title, everything is already clear. Right now, I have no words, and I honestly don’t understand what’s going on. I couldn’t get that messed-up appointment again, because everything was exactly the same as last time. I saw the same errors, the same notifications saying the appointment was occupied or “try again later.” Also, they only published dates for Moscow. All of this completely ruined my plans, because I wanted to go to Europe for the New Year holidays and celebrate there. Now I need to think about where else I can go for my holidays and start making new plans, because I still want to make my travel plans happen — even if it’s another country.
Today was pretty good because I managed to close three of my old work tasks. One of them I started in June, but I kept putting it on pause because I had other priority tasks or something else came up. As for the other two tasks, they were created about two months ago, or maybe a bit less. The weather was also nice — no rain today. The sky was covered with clouds all day, but sometimes the sun appeared through them. I think it’s much better than being stuck at home all day listening to the rain falling on the roof. So, during my lunch break, I went for a walk and walked for about 40 minutes near the river.
It was also raining today. Even when I woke up, the rain had already started, but it wasn’t very heavy. People outside were walking without umbrellas, and some were even riding bicycles. There was one old man on a simple bike, and another person—a schoolboy—had a very modern and probably new one. All these people were just rushing to their businesses. However, I’ve already packed my bike away for the winter season, and I don’t plan to use it again until summer. It’s already too cold outside, and riding a bike in this weather seems unreasonable. I plan to take it out again next summer—if I’m still here, of course.