Realignment

This is one of those wretched days during which nothing significantly bad has happened but which one feels awful about anyway. Basically, a giant crisis of self-worth. Realistically, putting together an essay of any sort wasn't going to happen and I couldn't think of anything held in reserve, though there must be stuff somewhere around here...

But we're talking about our own awesomeness today, apparently. Nothing could be more contrary to how I feel about myself right now, which is probably the best possible argument for taking a shot at it, as recommended by annotated_em. This is actually enough of a problem for me that my first response is along the lines of, wait, what am I good at? What can I do? Nothing! & that I'm still struggling to move beyond that stage.

But let's try.


- I'm kicking arse at Swedish. I've gone from a handful of words and a few stock phrases in February (e.g. "Kan jag få en kopp te, tack" and "vill du har lite te?", because this is actually genuinely what our lives revolve around - go on, guess) to being able to carry out simple conversations and understand rather more complex ones. I've watched several films in Swedish and followed the plot and I've read a whole bunch of children's books. And you know what's even more awesome about this? I'm not being formally taught yet. This is how far I've got before I've had a single lesson. Jag är jättebra, faktiskt.

- I make pretty amazing chocolate brownies. At my previous workplace they were the stuff of office legend, and useable as bribes.

- My writing has a distinctive voice which feels like it's mine, and I'm proud of the degree to which I can convey mood and a sense of place. Right now I feel like my writing is really anchored in landscapes that are important to me and that it draws a lot from that, and I like that.


Well. I guess that didn't kill me.

Who'd have thought.