Female Lupe

My annual review finally happened on Thursday, with the general view being one of contentment. While this has resultedin a 3% payrise, which is more than the rate of inflation and thus appreciated, it's still a long way off from what I was earning back in the UK, not to mention the fact that I am now running expenses in both the UK and Germany. While there is a possibility of getting an increase in pay further down the line, particularly through a change of job role that has already been mooted, we'll have to see how things transpire. As I still do not have a date for my immigration interview yet - although I have been in dialogue with them over the course of Friday and am hoping for developments next week - I am happy to sit in my current situation and see how things look at the turn of the year, not least because I already have my UK expenses covered until about March. At that point, then we may have to reassess things but there does seem to be the potential for growth here, while it's up to me to ensure we are generating enough money to be able to pay an increased salary. There is talk of me being loaned out to the marketing team to help run our biggest project, which would mean that much would be in my hands, at least until I can take on a more international editorial role which is what I am hoping to do. That is looking like it'll be 2022 though, meaning I just need to bide my time. Therefore, I am happy enough about the current state of affairs and am willing to give it another six months or so, but we'll see where we are in the winter.

We have had a rather quiet weekend on account of wanting to save money. This has been a little frustrating as there were a few last-minute trips to bars on account of the fureigners, once on Tuesday evening and another on Saturday. Alas, on the Saturday at least, the notice was so short that by the time we would have gotten there, the furs would have been close to leaving, but I did feel a pang of regret about missing the Tuesday night shenanigans. However, not going out on Saturday did mean that I was able to drop into the SE Asian furs VR Chat event for the first time in about two months, partly due to the opening up here in Germany but largely due to not having any internet throughout most of July. It was great catching up with the likes of CT and Gao again, while I also got to meet a Vancouver-based Singaporean fur called Gallen, who I had met at some juncture in the past but we weren't sure where. An hour-long meeting turned into two and a half hours, with an additional half hour as we were waiting for our pretty average curry, and it defintiely felt like something of a homecoming.

As for today, we didn't do an awful lot. I held a rather awkward Pony Chat earlier in the day then we spent the evening doing oddjobs around the house - building a new storage case for our fetish gear, cutting the bottom of our curtains and doing some vaccuuming. We were also able to cook our first roast meal in about two months on account of no-one coming around, with us opting for steak, new potatoes and peas along with some Oxo gravy. It was great to be roasting again, as well as drinking wine, while Wolfie also sorted out my new feminine Lupe model for VR Chat. This was reskinned by Viper and is the latest aspect of me exploring my gender identity, having ordered the new version of Lupe back in June. Suffice to say, that I am crazily in love with her and Viper has done an exceptional job. This evening was my first time being her - aided by Wolfie letting me borrow his full body tracking for the experience - and I think this character is going to work well with me. I am a little shy and submissive right now, so will need to develop some more confidence when speaking to people, but I am hoping I can generate a connection that would enable me to come to terms with my gender fluidity.

It has been a busy weekend of VR Chat, Catnip Radio and Stray's Jackbox, with all three highlighting how fortunate I am to have such good friends. We spent from 1-5am on Saturday morning and 2-6am this morning in VR, getting to meet some new Croatian furs and teasing Ferrite ahead of our trip to Finland next month. Meanwhile, it was great conversing with DJ Ulfer and the gang over at Catnip Radio, a really nice bunch of people with whom I feel really comfortable. Finally, Stray is a tit but after they had gone out to Manchester to celebrate Skavi's birthday on Saturday - posting pictures in the Telegram and instilling pangs of sadness over my rather delicious strawberry Spaghetti Eis - we all convened for a bit of Scribblio and Bidiots. The evening ended quite early, but that was okay as we could jump online, while the weather was so hot that we had spent much of Saturday enjoying the sunshine - eating the aforementioned Spaghetti Eis, walking around Spandau and checking out the Warhammer shop. Sadly, the wolf calendar shop was closed - one to go to another time. With money tight and the number of COVID cases climbing beyond 60, we felt it best to stay local. We had hoped to do some fetish stuff, but alas it was far too sultry in the flat to be able to do so. Mid-week it promises to be cooler, so we have plans then.

The only other thing we have done is drop by one of our neighbours on Wednesday. Monika had spent much of her time courting us - visiting us a few weeks back to invite us down, as well as dropping a number of notes and business cards - so much so that we relented. On Wednesday, we were finally fully vaccinated plus fourteen days so it seemed like a good time to visit. She is 81 years old and had spent 10 years in Salford, having developed a delightful accent that only comes through in the pronunciation of certain words - done being one of them. She speaks pretty good English and wanted an excuse to practice it, plying us with a number of Berliner Kindl beers and snacks on her neat balcony. This is slightly wider than ours, plus it had a lot of interesting light ornaments and plants. She kept talking about the squirrels in the rapidly growing tree in our yard. Anyway, she was concerned that she may be boring to some young 'uns like us, but far from it, as we ended up staying for around four hours. She admitted she doesn't have much to do and as she lacks mobility - and her husband Fred is in a wheelchair having lost his leg seven years ago - she doesn't really go out either. I think she was greatful for the company and any fears we had about being gay were soon dissipated when she revealed that she had a gay son herself. He is 61 and may be coming around next time we visit, in two weeks' time. Indeed, we had such a good time that we decided we should try and make it regular, while Monika and I are in regular correspondence like two naughty schoolgirls passing notes to each other in class. I am writing these in German, which really boosts my knowledge, while Monika's lack of knowledge of a few English words has enabled me to plug those gaps (squirrel was one). Furthermore, she is happy to speak some German to me too, which means that's improving as well. Next time, she has suggested cooking for us, which is something I'm loathed to accept, but then I don't want to offend her hospitality. We'll see. Meanwhile, it was reassuring yet depressing to hear her opinion of our housemaster is pretty much the same as ours, particularly in regard to his uselessness. Fred speaks no English, so spent much of the time playing Solitare on the computer, which I felt a little bad about, but hopefully next time we can speak with him properly too. Certainly, it was great meeting such an interesting lady and having an ally around the flats, so we're looking forward to meeting up again soon.