merry christmas

... and a happy new year!

The end of the year. It's here. As suddenly as every year.
[rhyme unintentional!]
And, again, I am immersed in late-time present buying, frantic baking of Christmas biscuits, and how-the-heck-are-we-supposed-to-drive-home-without-spending-more-on-the-ticket-than-we-did-on-Christmas-presents-? deliberations.
Oh, what a peaceful time of the year.

As you might have noticed, I did not manage to write a new blog entry since God knows when. As such, you might be pleased to hear that my new years resolution this year includes writing more regularly. And first of all you will get some comment on what happened during the last quarter of the year - I already collected the topics =) .
Hope, you're looking forward to it as much as I am.

For now, I wish you all a very merry Christmas!
Have a happy holiday, and find some time to spend alone and with your loved ones.

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

to whom it may concern

... thank you.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

"may our heart's garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers"

The best laid schemes

... o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain
For promis'd joy.

How very true... -.-

we like to move it move it

... well, not every minute of it

We are moving to BCity at the end of the month and thus I am sitting between piles of cardboard boxes and heaps of odds and sods. You wouldn't believe how much stuff you accumulate in 6 years. I mean, I had lots of things before we came to the city of R. but the number definitely has not decreased, since. Though, this time, I am willing and able to winnow all that stuff and throw away some of it - something I did not have the heart to do, last time. Fortunately, I started early enough with packing so that I hope to actually be ready and done when the pantechnicon van comes to a halt outside.
Well, we'll see how I manage...

For now, I've got things to pack and cardboard boxes to pile.
So far,

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

as i have not been able

... to formulate anything since the end of may

I decided to rather look on the Internet for things I'd like to show you. Either because they are hilarious or true or both. Or maybe someday or another something useful will crop up here, too.
This is just so that all of you whom I can't see on a regular basis still know I'm out there and thinking of you.

For now, something that falls into the category of "both":
Mitch Benn and The Distractions - Everything sounds like Coldplay now



I hope you enjoy!

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

where the heck has june gone???

... no, seriously, I mean: where has it gone???

I don't remember half of that month. Every day went past, and I was glad it was over, in the evenings. Not because anything bad happened but just because it had been exhausting.
And now it's halfway through the second half of July already and I don't know much about this month, either!

Well, let's see; I might be able to draw up something like a time scale - for July, June is completely lost to the depths of my memory.

The beginning of July was marked by an increased number of choir rehearsals as we were approaching our semestral concert. We had normal (i.e. weekly) rehearsals, men's rehearsals and women's rehearsals, a Saturday rehearsal, and a dry run. PLUS the actual concert, of course ;) Which was great, of course ;)
No, really, we had a very good time on stage and the audience reacted really well to our "show". It was pure fun.

Now, the week approaching the concert brought a very pleasant suprise for me: H. !
He showed up for a week of vacation with his family, and we spent two very interesting evenings which I greatly enjoyed. It was sad to part again.

Another parting happened just a week ago: C. left for Spain!
She'll have (and, hopefully, enjoy) 3 months of Spanish summer and I am slightly jealous of her ;)
I'm more concerned about her late return, though, as we will have already left for BCity and I'm afraid I won't see her again until the beginning of December (if I manage to attend choir weekend) :(
At least, we had a wonderful last "girl's night" and she will receive a postcard every week, written from the k2.

This week it got very obvious at work that high season had started as we had to deal with an increased number of dumb-ass customers. My next post will be concerned with some of those...

For now,
"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

it's never too late to learn

... what you should not have for breakfast

Today I learned that having coffee, potato chips and jelly babies for breakfast will upset your stomach.
Strange that I had to become 25 in order to find that out.
And stranger even, that common sense did not prevail over my stupidity.

I'll have cucumber for dinner.

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

missing out

... on the real things

Flittering and fluttering from one thing to the next - all day.
Noticing the great weather only in between.
Thinking "When I'm done with this task x, I'll spend some time in the sunshine and wind."
When you're eventually done with this task x, you realize there was something you had planned to do.
But you can't remember what it was.
So you go on to doing the next thing.
And by and large you miss out on the great weather.

And thus, by and large miss out on the real things, in general.

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

friday wisdom blogging

... "The truth is

that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

- M. Scott Peck -

"may our heart's garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers"

sorry to myself

... "For hearing all my doubts so selectively and

For continuing my numbing love endlessly
For helping you and myself: not even considering
For beating myself up and over-functioning

To whom do I owe the biggest apology?
No one's been crueler than I've been to me

For letting you decide if I indeed was desirable
For my self-love being so embarassingly conditinal
For denying myself to somehow make us compatible
For trying to fit a rectangle into a hole

To whom do I owe the biggest apology?
No one's been crueler than I've been to me
I'm sorry to myself
My apologies begin here before everybody else
I'm sorry to myself
For treating me worse than I would anybody else

For blaming myself for your unhappiness
For my impatience when I was perfect where I was
Ignoring all the signs that I was not ready
For expecting myself to be where you wanted me to be

To whom do I owe the first apology?
No one's been crueler than I've been to me And
I'm sorry to myself
My apologies begin here before everybody else
I'm sorry to myself
For treating me worse than I would anybody else

Well, I wonder which crime is the biggest?
Forgetting you or forgetting myself...
Had I heeded the wisdom of the latter
I would've naturally loved the former

For ignoring you: my highest voices
For smiling when my strife was all too obvious
For being so disassociated from my body
For not letting go when it would have been the kindest thing

To whom do I owe the biggest apology?
No one's been crueler than I've been to me
I'm sorry to myself
My apologies begin here before everybody else
I'm sorry to myself
For treating me worse than I would anybody else"


- alanis morissette -

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

friday wisdom blogging

... "We must learn to reawaken

and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn."

- Henry David Thoreau -

"may our heart's garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers"

some days, some people

... are nonviable in the outside world

Me, for example.
Today was such a day, and today I was such a person.

Everything was alright as long as I stayed indoors. I had coffee with Robert, waved a fond goodbye to him, checked my e-mails, ate something, searched for 2 very important letters that had gone astray (but didn't find them, of course), and decided to go to my bank.
Going to my bank was necessary because of my lack of viability in the outside world.
I've forgotten my PIN...
(You know how easily I forget things - my PIN, obviously, is one of those)
"Never mind!", I thought to myself. Just go to your bank and tell the clerk that you, as a person aged mid-twenty, have forgotten your PIN, just like any Eighty year old with Alzheimer's would do...
Nevertheless, I went there, described my case to them, and was told to hand in my cash card. Which, of course, I did. Unfortunately, I was told that, as I had two days ago failed 3 times to key in my correct PIN (which is extremely easy when you've forgotten the right numbers!), I would be sent everything new by mail. Next week.
My cash card was chopped in front of my very eyes and I, hardly believing the impassive manner of the clerk, just so managed to withdraw some money, before being send home with a nod and a smile.
Should I mention that, somewhere between the cashier's desk and home, I lost the money I had withdrawn?
(Though, I don't remember the clerk actually giving the money to me. Which, as you and I know, does not necessarily mean, he didn't give it to me...)

Bloody hell! How stupid can 1 person be???

Now I have little money to speak of, no cash card, and another PLUS is: I can't transfer any money because for my bank I am some form of a persona non grata as long as I don't have a cash card.

I should have just stayed inside! I should have called my bank because of the PIN. I should have paid attention to what I did with the money.

Maybe that's something I should realize in general: Pay More Attention.
Or just stay indoors.

So far:

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

insomniac's lyrics

... sleep is soo overrated

"almost home we get lost on our new street, and your grieving girls all died in their sleep" "bury me in honour, when i'm dead and hit the ground a love back home unfolds" "sometimes is never quite enough" "i'll be sticking right there with it, i'll be by your side, sailing like a silver bullet, hit 'em 'tween the eyes, through the smoke and rising water cross the great divide, baby till it feels alright" "maybe we don't want to live in a world where innocence is so short" "do what you want, i don't care, tonight i'm in the hands of fate" "it's been a long way coming and long will it last when it's last day leaving" "i'll take everything in this life, i'll join everyone when i die" "nothing and everything, all at once" "the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone" "oh these little earthquakes, doesn't take much to rip us into pieces" "i'm sorry that you've turned to driftwood but you've been drifting for a long long time"

"from all of us here, we wish you a good night of sleep, and God bless you, my friend"

friday wisdom blogging

... "We don't see things as they are,

we see them as we are."

- Anais Nin -

"may our heart's garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers"

what i learned

... in the last few days

You can have a great time with people you know quite well, and each time discover something new that you like about them.
You can have a great time with people you just met half an hour ago, and be able to let them go at the end of the evening, knowing that there will be somebody else to have a great time with on another day.
You can have a great time with people you haven't seen in a long time, and discover a so far unknown side of them.

You can have a great time with everything when you give yourself up to the moment.

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

i will celebrate and i will guide them

... rehearsal Saturday and my second time

This weekend was rehearsal Saturday. A good part of the choir met at a local community centre in order to spend the next 7 to 8 hours learning new songs. Rehearsal Saturday is always fun and especially the food and the lunch break (as well as the coffee break) is what people look forward to. Our conductor in particular advises everybody 2 weeks in advance to bring along some delicious dishes to rehearsal Saturday but then only eats about 1 small plate of one of the dishes... Strange.
Usually, rehearsal Saurday also means a small number of games being played, so as to get acquainted - the new singers to the old ones, and vice versa. As at least one of those games tends to be played without shoes on, I even reminded Robert to wear clean and undamaged socks! But no Lena appeared, S. came about 2 hours late, and no games where played. Bummer! =(
Nevertheless, it was a good day, especially, as we rehearsed one song that was completely new to the choir and I am sure will sound wonderful in the end! I will celebrate!

Monday meant my second time as a guide - and two tours instead of just one. The first one was not as much fun as I had hoped it would be. For some reason, the tourists seemed to not really respond to what I told them. And it is really hard to find out wether you are doing a good job if nobody reacts to you! Serendipitously (what a word! =D ), there was a second, and different, tour on that day - and this time I was not a guide but a host, so that some time in the future I would be able to and allowed to guide that tour as well. It was a huge (and slightly unpleasant) surprise to me, when the actual guide asked me to take over some parts of guiding because she wasn't feeling very well. I did my best, and as the guests knew I was still learning, they received my efforts well.
This second tour was 2 hours longer than the tours I had done so far and I must admit, after 7 hours of guiding, of organizing and keeping track of things and persons, of being present and available, I was knackered! I went to bed early (by my standards) and though I had planned to listen to some music so as to get properly sleepy, I fell asleep as soon as I lay in bed.

Wednesday (tomorrow!) will be my next tour... Keep your fingers crossed ( - might be easier than "daumen druecken", concerning eating and writing ;) - ) and wish me luck.

for now

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

friday wisdom blogging

... "People spend a lifetime

searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is, the only place they ever needed to search was: within."

- Ramona L. anderson -

"may our heart's garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers"

my first time

... as a guide

On Tuesday, I assumed my new job as a guide for cruise ship tourists.
I had been nervous for the last fortnight, had slept badly, falling asleep with thoughts of how to say things, dreaming of tours I took with faceless tourists, and always afraid I would do something wrong.
By Monday evening I was a nervous wreck.
Edgy, moody and bad-tempered - and poor Robert had to put up with it.
Tuesday morning however, I had to face it. And it went really well =)
As clouds and occasional rain are a bit daunting to cruise ship tourists, I only had to manage a group of 20 plus middle-aged people who were well aware of the weather conditions, and well prepared for it.
I followed the route, told them what I had planned to say, occasionally saying more in order to temporize (we had taken-off a good 10 minutes early and I had to "deliver" them at a certain place at a fixed time, so I had to keep them entertained), and generally had a great time. "My group" was good-humoured, interested and very nice. They enjoyed the tour, and so did I.
And I was really taken aback when I bid them farewell at the ship and was not only tipped but also hugged by some of the guests!
It was a great day. Hopefully, my next tour will be just as enjoyable.
Wish me luck next Monday!


(P.S.: And for all of you who wondered, what my final decision was, last Sunday (sleep & cuddle with Robert, or stay awake and do some work) - I got into bed and cuddled. Truth be told, it was not so tough a choice ;)

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

music stick

... found at Tiefsee Tagebuch, thrown to Pixelamazone's Bimbellotterie

Carefull, it's a loooong one!

Name a song... (Nenne einen Song...)
that makes you sad (...der Dich traurig macht)
Sigur Rós - Untitled 1
that makes you cry (...bei dem Du weinen musst)
Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again
that makes you happy (...der Dich glücklich macht)
Hans Zimmer & Lisa Gerrard - Now We Are Free
that immediately puts you in high spirits
(...bei dem Du sofort gute Laune kriegst)
The Proclaimers - 500 Miles
that makes you want to move along to it
(...bei dem Du nicht still sitzen kannst)
Koop - Come to Me
that you think is too short (...der Deiner Meinung nach zu kurz ist)
Iron and Wine - Naked As We Came
that means something to you (...der Dir etwas bedeutet)
The Fray - How To Save A Life
that you could listen to non-stop (...den Du ununterbrochen hören könntest)
Billy Boyd - Edge of Night
that you love (...den Du liebst)
So many. Too many to find and list them all.
that you own but do not like (...den Du besitzt, aber nicht magst)
Alanis Morissette - An Emotion Away
that has lyrics which apply to you (...dessen Text auf Dich zutrifft)
Alanis Morissette - Would Not Come
that belongs to a soundtrack (...von einem Soundtrack)
Counting Crows - Colourblind
(Cruel Intentions OST)
that you have already listened to Live (...den Du schon live gehört hast)
Alanis Morissette - 21 Things I Want In A Lover
that is not in English or German (...der nicht auf englisch oder deutsch ist)
Carla Bruni - Quelqu'un M'a Dit
that is sung by a woman (...der von einer Frau gesungen wird)
Tori Amos - Silent All These Years
that was made by a solo artist (...eines Solokünstlers)
Badly Drawn Boy - A Minor Incident
that is from your favourite band (...Deiner Lieblingsband)
Coldplay - Everything's Not Lost
that is from your earliest childhood days (...aus Deiner frühesten Kindheit)
"Wer will fleißige Handwerker sehen?"
that you identify with (...mit dem Du Dich identifizierst)
Among many, many others:
Alanis Morissette - Incomplete
that you would sing to your heart-throb
(...den Du Deinem Schwarm vorsingen würdest)
Thomas D. - Liebesbrief
that is good for kissing and cuddling (...zum Küssen und Kuscheln)
Jorja Fox - Under 41
that reminds you of your last heartsickness
(...der Dich an Deinen letzten Liebeskummer erinnert)
There is no song that I connect to heartsickness. None in particular.
that is about sex (...der von Sex handelt)
Keith Caputo - Upsy Daisy
that reminds you of a vacation (...der Dich an einen Urlaub erinnert)
Herbert Grönemeyer - Halt Mich
that you think is embarassing you like it
(...der Dir peinlich ist, dass du ihn gut findest)
Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On
that you like to listen to when getting up
(...den Du gern beim Aufstehen hörst)
Kristofer Astrom - How Can You Live With Yourself
that you like to listen to when falling asleep
(...den Du gern zum Einschlafen hörst)
David Gray - From Here You Can Almost See The Sea
that you like to listen to whilst driving a car
(...den Du gern beim Autofahren hörst)
Air - All I Need
that has already helped you in a situation
(...der Dir schonmal in einer Situation geholfen hat)
Alanis Morissette - That I Would Be Good
(way more than 1 siuation)
that annoys you (...der Dich nervt)
Actually, any song could annoy me after a while. There is none in particular at the moment.
that makes you furious (...der Dich rasend macht)
I have now spent one week trying to think of a song that makes me furious but could not think of one. I am sure there are some! I just can't think of one of them...
that you learned to love through a friend
(...den Du von einem/r Freund/in lieben gelernt hast)
Rosenstolz - Laut
(Antje)
that you are listening to right now (...den Du gerade hörst)
Coldplay - Fix You
that is by a band that no longer exists (...einer Band, die es nicht mehr gibt)
4 Non Blonds - What's Up

Phew! What a job!
Hope, you all enjoy this list =)

for now

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

"you said we would stay awake!"

... "and you took me seriously???"

A conversation between Robert and myself, about 20 minutes ago.
Yep, it's 5 a.m. and, yep, we're still up and awake.
Dawn has come and I probably could watch the sun rise in about half an hour.
Robert however, has just decided to go to bed, and now I have to decide if I should stay awake on my own - not that I haven't done that before, the question is, whether I want to today - or go to bed, too - risking that I might not be able to fall asleep or might wake up at half past 11 (by alarm clock, of course) and feel totally knocked out.
If I stay awake I could do some research for my first guide tour on Tuesday and tinker with the flyer and poster for the concert. If I go to bed I could cuddle with Robert.
Tough choice.

I shall let you know how I decided.

for now

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

friday wisdom blogging

... "We must learn to reawaken

and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn."

- Henry David Thoreau -

"may our heart's garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers"

leer waer die welt

... und ohne sinn

Three little pictures of Ralf Koenig's "Archetyp" - a cartoon about the Flood and Noah's Arch. It is very funny, in general, but these three pictures are the last of the whole cartoon, and the most important ones to me.
Literary property of Ralf Koenig and FAZ, all rights reserved.

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless, you my friend"

sleeping stick

... found at Tiefsee Tagebuch, thrown over to KATHA

Favourite sleeping position? (Lieblings-Schlafposition?)
To fall asleep: On my stomach. When actually asleep: On my back.
Do you have any going-to-sleep ritual? (Hast Du ein Einschlafritual?)
Open the French window to let in some fresh air, switch of the lights, get changed, stand outside for some seconds, close the French window and cuddle into bed.
Do you have a cuddly toy, comfort pillow or the like? (Hast du ein Kuscheltier, Knuddelkissen o.ä.?)
Yes. It's a whole gang of little rascals, actually.
What do you do if you can't fall asleep? (Was machst Du, wenn Du nicht einschlafen kannst?)
Stay awake. (What a question =D )
What size is your bed? (Wie groß ist Dein Bett?)
4'8 x 6'8
How many pillows do you have? (Wie viele Kissen hast Du?)
One. As I do not have more than one head, I think one is an appropriate number of pillows.
Left hand side or right hand side? (Linke oder rechte Seite?)
Depends on which way you look at it... If possible, the side that faces the door or the side that is "open" (as opposed to the one confined by 2 walls).
How are you roused? (Wie lässt Du Dich wecken?)
Usually: By my alarm-clock. Preferably: By kisses and cuddling.
Are you getting up immediatly or do you stay in bed longer? (Stehst Du direkt auf oder bleibst Du liegen?)
I stay as long in bed as possible. Only when I am really looking forward to something or something important is about to happen that day do I get up immediatly.
First thought at awakening? (Dein erster Gedanke am Morgen?)
What's the time?????
What do you do in order to wake up? (Was machst Du um wach zu werden?)
Drink a cup of coffee.

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

friday wisdom blogging

... "One's first step in wisdom is

to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything."

- Georg C. Lichtenberg -


Exclusively for Friday wisdom bloggings, a new and more apt quote:

"may our heart's garden of awakening bloom with hundreds of flowers"

memory and remembrance

... in unforeseen places

Today, I got out an album I hadn't listened to in the approximately last 4 years.
And it is amazing how my memory works! I forget things that happened yesterday but I remember song lyrics and melodies that are years old. I could sing along to each song and only forgot those parts of the lyrics, I hadn't been able to remember the first time...
But the more interesting aspect of getting out things from some time ago, is the inner reaction.
With every book that was read before and every album that was listened to, come the feelings and ideas from last time. And those get mixed up with today's feelings and ideas. And if you get out that book or album or whatever some years later, again, you will receive the feelings and ideas of both times before.
It is like an unintentional time capsule! One that you store up every once in a while.
I love it.

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

memory gaps

... what the heck did i do yesterday???

I am 25 years old (if I remember correctly - I do have some problems to define my age, sometimes); I haven't drunk any alcohol within the last fortnight (as far as I remember); I didn't get a heavy cosh (not that I would remember if I had but there aren't any bruises on my head)...
So why is my memory as bad as it is???
As I sat here, thinking about what I could write as my new post, I wrung out my brain in order to remember what I did do yesterday that might be worth mentioning. I haven't found out what I did. Not even a hint! It's like a BIG blank in there.
I do have some form of idea about my Thursday activities. Most of Wednesday is a blur but I remember that I went to choir and had a great time there, and afterwards in k2.
Could anybody please enlighten me about yesterday?!
Speaking of enlightenment - I had a chat conversation with Doreen! Hah! I've got 1 thing :) And one with H! 2 things! :D
Well, maybe all those other important events will come up sooner or later, too. Or maybe there just weren't any? How would I know.

Maybe I should write a diary, so as to remember my activities later on.
Probably would forget to wright, though...

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

friday wisdom blogging

... "full awakening comes

when you sincerely look at yourself, deeper than you've imagined, and question everything."

- adyashanti -

This is a new "category", inspired by older posts of trekkingwithtigers - which was "friday cat blogging". As I don't have too many cat photos, you will have to put up with weekly bouts of lores - not my own, of course. ^.^
But, hopefully, you will find inspiration or at least new food for thought. Let me know what you think about those wisdoms!

For now

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

incomplete

..."One day, I'll find relief,

I'll be arrived,
And I'll be a friend to my friends who know how to be friends.

One day I'll be at peace,
I'll be enlightened,
And I'll be married with children and maybe adopt.

One day I will be healed,
I will gather my wounds, forge the end of tragic comedy.

I have been running so sweaty my whole life, urgent for a finish line,
I have been misssing the rapture this whole time, of being forever incomplete.

One day my mind will retreat,
And I'll know God and I will be constantly one with her, night, dusk and day.

One day I'll be secure,
Like the women I see on their 30th anniversaries.

I have been running so sweaty my whole life, urgent for a finish line,
I have been misssing the rapture this whole time, of being forever incomplete.

Ever unfolding,
Ever expanding,
Ever adventurous,
And torturous,
... but never done.

One day I will speak freely,
I'll be less afraid and measured outside my poems and lyrics and art.

One day I will be faith filled,
I'll be trusting and spacious, authentic and grounded and home.

I have been running so sweaty my whole life, urgent for a finish line,
I have been misssing the rapture this whole time, of being forever incomplete."


- alanis morissette -

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

call me two face!

... 'cause that is what i look like

Sun bathing on Easter Sunday didn't turn out very well - too much sun, and that from just one side. Makes me look a bit like Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face in Batman Forever.
Without the maniacal vicious grin, of course!

I don't think that I am too heavily burned so I hope my skin will not start to peel off!
Still, if it turns out worse than what I hope for at the moment, I'll just try to follow The Kinks:

"We don't feel as ugly as we really are
When we turn off the living room light."

;)

Besides the sunburn, Easter was fine. Good Friday meant a family meeting at my mother's where the cutest nephew of the world had to put up with the whole family at once for the first time in his life - poor bloke! I'm glad the day didn't turn into a flurry of flashbulbs and nobody used babytalk.
Easter Saturday we spent at Paula - sleeping long, shopping foods, playing Wizard and eating self-made hamburgers in the evening (soy-based vegetarian hamburger-meat replacement for me) whilst having a gaming night with friends of Paula. It was fun and a very relaxing day.
Easter Sunday meant getting up (too) early, heading to the train station without having had a coffee (a failure that was mended whilst waiting in the train station) and meeting up with the rest of Robert's family. We headed off to spend the day in a large park area in the north east of the city where we sat in the sun, ate lots and lots of eggs, fruits and sweets and generally had a good time. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling very well and consequently spent most of the time in a deck chair (hence the sunburn on one side of my face - I didn't turn the chair accordingly to where the sun stood).
We got back to the city of R. yesterday evening and had a very relaxed day today, again. TV, books, computer games, fresh summerlike air on the balcony, and a Pizza for dinner, each. And lots of chocolate, of course =D
*sigh* Why can't every day be like this?

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

i am officially

... a student of the university of R.!

Again.
On Saturday I got a letter by the university saying "Dear Ms. Lupin, Herewith you get permission to start your studies of choice at the University of R. [...]."
Not that I actually plan to do any studying - but I already transfered my tuition fee and am awaiting my certificate of enrollment and my ticket for the term any day now. As soon as I get those, the job-centre is getting a copy and I will not be unemployed anymore. Hurray!
By now, I am not really unemployed anymore, anyhow - on Friday I had a "casting" for a summer job (showing around American tourists from cruise ships) and within the next fortnight will attend training sessions in order to learn the facts and techniques. Unfortunately, this means I won't be able to attend the first 2 rehearsals of the term. =(
I am really sad about this as I had been looking forward to rehearsals starting again since the end of January!
Now, what wouldn't we do for money...

I think I will just sing in my head during the training session, and attend the choir crowd in the k2, afterwards.

for now

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

happy happy happy

...april first!

Wether you are a fan of playing pranks on friends and family on April First or not, there have been quite some good April Fool's Jokes from officials and companies in the last decades.
My very favourite one is a prank by the BBC in 1957 - a documentation about the annual Spaghetti harvest in Switzerland... =D
There were actually people who believed it. Well, I think the BBC could have shown anything in those days ;)

I hope you had a fun day!

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting (/watching), and God bless you, my friend"

iron and wine

..."the sun will rise

What if you were told that the sky would fall tomorrow night
Would you run and hide or go and play?
What if you were told that a boy named Cain was right outside
Would you run and hide or go and play?

A smile will bring a smile, a pail filled with rain
Your mothers milk will dry, the sun will rise again

What if you were told that your lover's hands were dead and cold
Would you run and hide or go and play?
And what if you were told the only point to life is to get old
Would you run and hide or go and play?

The sun will rise again and again and again"

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

tautological institutional claims

... make things even more complicated :(

As I am planning to enrol for theology so as to regain status as a student (rather than being an unemployed person), there are quite some things to be handled. For example, for my request of matriculation I need a certificate by my health insurance, stating that they actually are insuring my health. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, eh? Well, seems it should be!
As I called my health insurance company today they told me, in order to get said certificate, I have to send them an attestation that I am a student at the moment - which of course I am not.
So I am not allowed to become a student because I am no student?!
Forunately, the insurance company woman was very friendly and promised to send me an attestation of insurance, when I promised solemnly to send my certificate of matriculation as soon as I get it. Hopefully, everything will work out fine, seeing that the deadline for matricuation requests is next tuesday...

Why do I have to forever and always be short of time?!?

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

snow snow snow

... alrighty it's snowing out there.

no matter what the weather later will be like, I am so Not going by bike.
*shivers*

my fiancé is

... a graduate physicist!!!

Robert's defense was yesterday and it was a successful one. I am so proud of him and I was way more nervous than he was. We didn't celebrate yet, besides having a relaxed evening watching "Pretty Woman" on TV. But we're planning to have a night out at the end of the week.
So now, we are 99% moving to BCity in the course of this year. It will be strange to say goodbye to our old university town, full of wonderfull experiences and friends, and start a new phase of our lives in a completely unfamiliar city. We'll see how we manage...
This afternoon I'm meeting up with Franzl, whom I haven't seen since our concert at the end of January as she never seems to find the time to attend choir-meetings on Wednesdays.
I am thinking about going into town (where I'll meet Franzl) by bike, as it's wonderful out in the sun. On the other hand, some hours ago there was sleet on the balcony and the weather does look unsettled. I've still got some time left so we'll see...

For now:

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

if you ever wanted to

... learn the names of the presidents of the united stated but didn't know how:

here's to you one of my favourite youtube-videos, the presidents song!
Unfortunately, it was made before the election of Obama, but still, it shouldn't be hard to remember that there's 1 more of them. ;)
It's catchy and easy to learn - and you never know when you're going to need this knowledge... ;)

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting [/singing], and God bless you, my friend"

those books i read

... in 2008

a long way down - nick hornby - 4 suicidal strangers meet on the roof of a tower block on New Year's Eve and together find their ways back into their life. One of my all time favourites, I'm sure.
a spot of bother - mark haddon - A newly retired man in his late fifties discovers a lesion on is hip and quietly begins to lose hins mind. A really entertaining read, though unfortunately, with an equally abrupt ending as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time which is by the same author.
dämliche dämonen - royce buckingham - An orphaned boy guarding demons in an old Seattle house, left to him by his demonkeeper mentor, has to get back the most scary of the lot before it starts eating its way through town. More of an expended short story rather than a novel but still quite entertaining.
firmin - sam savage - The 1960's end of a Boston neighbourhood written from the perspective of a literate rat. A great idea and well realised.
harry potter and the deathly hallows - j.k. rowling - The final and concluding book of the series. A bit extensive in parts but as entertaining as most of the others, plus I liked the epilogue!
high fidelity - nick hornby - Mid-thirties former DJ is stuck in a really deep groove after breaking up with his last girlfriend and eventually starts asking himself the big questions of life and love. Full of musical references, funny and witty.
how to be good - nick hornby - A mid-thirties GP panics when her formerly misanthropic husband becomes a very good person overnight. Hilarious and yet thought-provoking.
imposture - benjamin markovits - A young woman falls in love with Lord Byron's personal doctor and almost double John Polidori, whom she mistakes for the famous poet, and thus getting him into the predicament of his lust for celebrity and the truth. Interesting and sad.
life on the refrigerator door - alice cuipers - Refrigerator door messages of a mother and daughter during a year of crisis. Touching and drawn from life (though not based on a true story).
mieses karma - david safier - Self-absorbed moderator is reincarnated as an ant and tries to gather enough good karma to ascent the ladder of reincarnation. Funny and entertaining.
slam - nick hornby - A 16 year old skater boy is suddenly facing a man's problems and trying to deal with them. Warm and moving, yet quite predictable.
the chameleon's shadow - minette walters - A bomb changes a young Officer's complexion and soul - but has it changed his personality enough to become a murderer? Thrilling, full of turnarounds and very entertaining. Maybe even better than The Dark Room.
the end of mr. y - scarlett thomas - Uncovering an exceedingly rare and potentially cursed copy of a book by an eccentric Victorian scientist, literature expert Ariel is swept into an adventure of love, sex, death and time-travel. Quaint, exciting and an ode to the life of mind.

Of course, these were accompanied by a number of books I reread, such as The Lord of the Rings, Stephen King's Der Fornit and The Girl who loved Tom Gordon, parts 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the Harry Potter series as well as more or less all books of Henning Mankell's Wallander series - all of which I can sincerely recommend.

Maybe you would enjoy one or two of those books, too! If I got you interested, just ask me and I'd love to lend them to you.

But for now

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

i want popcorn

... du du du dum du dum

That was this evenings topic =D
Meeting at Steph's place at eight in order to eat as much popcorn as volitional and managed - and bringing along some veggies so as to make it look like we're living healthy. And actually, we did eat those veggies! Though for two different reasons:
1. You just can't spend the whole evening with just dry, greased, sugared corn without getting a sugar rush.
2. We were three people and only two packages of popcorn - the first of which was utterly destroyed within 15 minutes of its making. You can do the maths for yourself =D
Whilst eating we had fun watching photos and little videos of choir-"events", most of which I hadn't seen, yet.
And as my stomach feels full to bursting right now, I think, I can officially say that I'm in no need for popcorn anymore in the near future. Veggie sticks I'm coming! Yay!

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

changes

... make life worth living

Today, I decided to finally change my hairstyle - something I had planned to do for quite some time already. So I went to the hairdresser, had to wait about 15 minutes and then spent three quarters of an hour having my hair combed, smoothed out and cut, one strand at a time. And then over and over again. Until, finally, the hairdresser was satisfied and I was pleased.
All in all it's a wee bit longer than I had originally planned but maybe this canges according to the way I treat my hair. I've got some interesting "experiments" ahead of me ;D
So, all in all, a worthwhile expenditure.

A photo might follow within the next few days.

For now:

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

musical input

... is what I need!

Searching the web for some pastime today, I found that there must be millions of bands and musicians that I've never heard anything of. And even those I do know are mostly incomplete. That's why I decided to broaden my horizon and ask you as my readers for tips on music!
Originally, I wanted to subsequently list all musicians and bands I know, so you would have an idea about what I already listen to. But I decided to just let you tell me whatever you think I might like.
Sooo:
Please tell me what bands and musicians you like and I might like as well!!!
Just write a comment (you will find the comment function right underneath the "article") and tell me :)

For now

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

"old absolutely doesn't mean

... right.

I don't care how old your tradition is,
Or how old your belief is,
Or how socially accepted it is.
Old absolutely doesn't mean right.
It's not cool to eat a tiger.
It's not brave to hunt whales.
It's not spiritual to drink bear gall bladder.
It's not clever to hang a deer head on your wall.
It's not a public service to kill sharks.
It's not patriotic to club seals.
No matter how sanctioned or revered it is.
It's violent and it's ugly and it's soulless.
Just like slavery,
And child labour,
And police brutality,
And genital mutilation,
And ethnic cleansing,
And lynching,
And torture,
And rape,
And military dictatorships,
And Holy wars,
They're old, too.
Old absolutely doesn't mean right."

- unknown -

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

maybe we're still awake then!

... tomorrow at 8'25 a.m....

Today we had a do-nothing-but-fun-stuff day, more or less. We slept until past 1p.m. - hence the quote above - and whilst I went to return yesterday's DVD (Burn After Reading) and get our weekend shopping, Robert did the washing up. Then we had lunch (at about 4p.m.) and watched a bit of TV. Almost 3 hours ago, Robert decided to play a computer game and I decided to do nothing. We have both been quite successful, since. :D
As Robert is working in the stadium tomorrow and I've got nothing much to do, I might go on a little bike tour - my first this year. But I will have to see how the weather is.

so for now

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

"the only way out

... is through
the faster we're in, the better
the only way out is through, ultimately
the only way out is through
the only way we'll feel better
the only way out is through, ultimately!"

I must admit, it took me quite a while to see the truth behind those lyrics. And, still, I am unsure whether I want them to be true.
Waiting, and hoping things might change, things might vanish. That is so much easier. Safer.
Procrastinators of the world unite ... tomorrow!
But waiting is boring, too, and it's stressing you out. It gives you a much better feeling when things are, ultimately, happening!
You just need to have the heart to make things happen.
Get going and do the things that have to be done. You will feel much better afterwards.


Don't wonder at this post - I'm mostly talking to myself...

"from all uf us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

today my friends

... is the world day against cyber-censorship!

I think this gives good reason for everyone to consider censorship and its pros and cons.
"Pros?" you might ask. Do I want to be told which informatin to get, which texts to read and which photographies to see? Certainly not!
On the other hand, censorship prevents the circulation and spread of immoral contents such as child pornography or pro-nazi ideas. And who of you wouldn't want to put a stop to those?
Unfortunately, "immoral content" is a matter of opinion. And who should be the one to decide about it? Governments? Religions? Impartial experts? Everybody for themselves?
Censorship is related to questions of individual freedom, legal capacities, self-protection, the protection of vulnerable others, fears, trust and ultimately a person's position within society and world.
Go get thinking about it. Find your own point of view and compare it to those of others. It might just deliver you a new insight on who you are.

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

though shallst not

... eat spaghetti with butter and cinnamon in close proximity to thine laptop!
Otherwise the laptop will be splattered with butter and you will have to spend half an hour cleaning it up. Just as I did this afternoon.

... brew thine coffee stronger than thine heart is!
Otherwise your heart is going to flutter and you will feel like it is trying to break out of your chest. Quite like mine did today.

... stay up until past 4 am!
Otherwise you will be tired and restless and might have a bit of a stomach ache all day. Which describes my own condition rather well.

Nevertheless, I spend a pleasant day.
I went to the Brummels and got an update on Mrs. B's life. What a woman! Never stands still for one minute, she does! We agreed on me coming back for the summer time and I am very, very happy about it. I hope everything will work out fine.
After missing the next train back into town I spend my time of waiting with drawing up a to-do list for the next few days. Quite some steep hills ahead of me... When I finally got into town I met up Robert and together we finished his diploma thesis. It's done!!!
Tomorrow he is going to BCity by train (poor bloke has to get up at 5!) to get in touch with his potential new doctoral adviser and working group. He's got to give a presentation on his thesis and I think he will do alright.
Unfortunately, due to finishing the paper - and having to print out three copies - we didn't manage to join the choir-crowd at the k2. It was just way too late and Robert was particularly tired (easily understood).

Now, as I am quite tired, too, I will follow the third "commandment" of today and go to bed.
So until next time:

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

when people get creative

... and by people I mean myself. ^^

About a week ago I found a gaming page online. The games are numerous and diverting but the most interesting part of that website is Sketch Star - a program to create animations.
You get up to 100 blank pages, colour them in a typical online-colour-game fashion and you get a flip-book or even a cartoon! (depending on how many pages you colour how accurately...)

My first animations were mostly about colours and recurring patterns. And my favourite of those is:
the clock.



It's a bit psychedelic after a while but I really enjoyed making it.
So, if you've got some spare time go and get creative! Make your own cartoon!

I am happy that this time my favourite goodbye does actually make sense:

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting and, God bless you, my friend"

billions of billiard balls and a blindtextgenerator

Billiards is just not my game.
However often you prod those stupid little balls with your disobedient cue - they never seem to get fewer! Admittedly, this might be due to the fact that you start a new game every 15 minutes and all the balls you did manage to put off the pool table are put back on it... But nevertheless!
Actually, I had a good evening with beloved friends and I wouldn't want to spoil it with negativ comments on billiard. I just don't like loosing continually and do hope to stay away from pool tables in the near future.

Besides a billiard-filled evening I spend most of my time today on the internet.
And I found an interesting device - the "Blindtextgenerator", a filler text generator.
For all those who don't know what a filler text is (half an hour ago I was one of you!):
It is a randomly generated text with the characteristics of a real written text and is used to stand in for a part of a work that is not yet written but so you can display a layout or at least a sample of fonts. Some of those texts are long, like a paragraph, e.g. "Lorem ipsum" (see here for the original text). Others are as short as one sentence and contain all letters of their respective alphabet (=pangram), e.g. "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
So, to whom besides layouters might this be interesting?
Basically everyone who has to wright texts!
Whenever you have space to fill or want to see how things might look in the end, this is where the Blindtextgenerator comes into operation.
Of course, there are more than just one of those generators on the internet but the following one has translations of many languages: lipsum.com.
Use it! 'tis helpful!

for now

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"

in all beginnings dwells a magic boredom

... or something along those lines.
I can tell you, being unemployed means 3 things:

• boredom
• so much boredom that you start to clean your flat on a daily basis
  
• even more boredom

And you start to do a lot of things to fight this boredom. Like reading blogs of people you don't know. And starting to think it might be a good idea to write a blog yourself. No matter how few things of interest there might be in your life.
Well, i'll have a try to be more adventurous in the days and weeks to come, so I might be able to write something interesting.

If you're interested in where my idea of writing a blog comes from:
http://trekkingwithtigers.blogspot.com/


But for now, I shall quote dear old Bob Ross

"from all of us here, we wish you a happy painting, and God bless you, my friend"