listen to what she says

We are back and I shall start with a lesson I learned during the summer.It was the beginning of Colossal’s summer vacations and I was really looking forward to sleeping in and just relax for a month. There would be no reading emails or answering the phone. The warmth and the sunshine would make me feel happy and energetic (if only for that one summer day we get here in Finland). I would visit some music festivals and take care of the horses. Occasionally I would simply do nothing at all enjoying the peace and quiet of my own home. I was excited and happy to be on vacation.The phone rings - it’s mom calling. I get a feeling I should know why my mom calls me early morning on my first vacation day waking me up. Do you know that feeling? Something is definitely up and you really can’t simply ignore it. It’s you mom calling after all. She called to let me know that she’s just about to drop her cats off at my place. It seems that during one semihectic workday mom has called me and asked if it’s ok that her cats stay at my place during her holidays. I have answered yes without the question actually registering.And don’t get me wrong, I love cats! They are cool animals, very evil, but cool and cute and cuddly. As long as you don’t have to live with them, because they tend to kill and/or annoy you in multiple ways, like jumping on your face while you try to sleep or scratching the furniture or throwing up on the carpet right in front of the door just to prove a point.“Mom, so nice that you brought Jack and James here (my mom has named the cats after James Bond and Jack Bauer of all the fictional characters), when do they leave?” To which mom answers: “When we leave.” You should have seen my face. It must have been priceless. She just casually pointed that out like I was supposed to know what it meant.It seems that during the same phone call when she asked about the cats she also asked if it would be ok for her and her husband to stay at my place for a while at the end of July. They were about to move apartments and didn’t want to stay in a hotel for a week. And don’t get me wrong, I love my mom and don’t dislike her husband! But you know, I ended up with way less of those “I will spend today in my pyjamas watching Netflix and move from the sofa only to the fridge and back” days than initially planned...The most important lesson to be learned here is that it’s not enough that you answer the phone when your mom calls - you should also. Trust me on this.You have no idea how excited and happy I am to be back at workAnd we have one exciting and busy autumn ahead of us! This week the Concerts DLC is coming out on Thursday and there’s also the free update part that includes improvements on the content manager and bugfixes. We’ll be sending our game designer Miska to Gamescom next week as the rest of the team stays at the office continuing the development of Cities: Skylines.I hope you guys had a great summer! Stay tuned for more updatesCheers,Mariina