Back and Better

I ran for about 30 minutes. It was pretty nice and I could enjoy the fresh air and the dark and almost empty streets. Pi isn't home yet. I stopped by the indoor pool to see if I would be there when he was just leaving coincidentally, but it didn't happen, so I continued to run.
Here's my round as far as I remember it:


Jamie's first run

I guess that I run about four kilometers or so, but that's really just a guess.

Current mood: Better than before. Maybe I will really keep up running. I hope I will.
Listening to: Nothing again.

Depressed Woman Running

I get home and I am a mess. Right now it's all too much (don't ask for details, just know that our life isn't full of joy at the moment) and I don't know how much more I can take and not break down. I would love to just stay in bed and cry but I don't think that's a smart thing to do. Pi isn't around, he went swimming, so I decided to go outside and run. I probable won't last very long, I haven't run in a long time and even back then I wasn't in great shape. But I have to get out of here now. Being alone inside will just make me more depressed than I already am. So I'm off.

Current mood: I said it. I will be better soon, but right now, I am not fine.
Listening to: Nothing.

Emotionally Wrecked

I learned today that you should not read the last 80 pages of 'The Time Traveler's Wife' on the train. I spent about one hour trying to hold back my tears as best as I could, still I couldn't prevent my eyes getting watery. I didn't cry though. At least not while I was on the train.
I spent the whole evening yesterday reading and starting on page 300 and something I finally gave in and started to cry. This is especially unusual since I hardly ever cry over books. I cry easily over a TV show or a movie, very easily, but it takes a lot to make me cry over a book. Well, this one did it. And I'm still an emotional wreck. I finished the book this morning and I find myself thinking about it and then I want to be home and be in a bed and cry into my pillow. Sniff.
Although this first paragraph contains mild spoilers I hope I didn't actually ruin the joy of reading this book for anyone. Because you should. Definitely. And you too.

I read that Hollywood already got the film rights, which is okay for me. I don't mind movies based on books as I know other people do. But then I read (and I hope it's just a rumour) that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston want to be Henry and Clare. Oh no, please, noooo! I don't even not like Mr. Pitt and Mrs. Aniston, but they are so not Henry and Clare. I couldn't even tell you who I think that (in case there is a movie) should play their roles, but I can tell you who shouldn't and those two are on that list.

Now I have to find something new to read, since I got so hooked on this book that it didn't take me more than four days to finish it. I still have Vanity Fair, but that doesn't compare and I find it very exhausting. I usually have no problems reading books in English, but Vanity Fair uses that strange old language and I think I don't even get half of the allusions and idioms and I get all mixed up with the names, so I can't usually read more that 10 pages in a row. And this book is really long.

Current mood: Oh, please, don't ask. This world just is unfair.
Listening to: Nothing.

Not Again!

I shouldn't post from work. This is the second time a long post got erased accidentally. I wanted to tell you about my frustrating search for jobs on the internet, our evening at Helene's place and a lot more and now I lost all motivation.
Also, I'm still searching for jobs in another browser and get distracted from writing all the time. So I'm not going into all that now. Have to find my motivation first. Here kitty, kitty. Here kitty, kitty.

Anyway, I am back at work and listening to Moneybrother's Stormy Weather on repeat (that's a song, not the name of a complete album). It's nearly dark out there and I need to stay until at least 5 pm. I don't like this day. Is it Friday yet?

So, the short version of the weekend comes right here:

Friday: Went to Helene's place to have dinner with Andreas S. (not the one I work with, unfortunately I know six Andreases, but you are only likely to meet three or four on this blog) and Helene and had a really good time. In retrospect I think that Pi and I talked a lot this evening, nearly too much. Hopefully they didn't mind and still want to see us. I got to know Helene a little better and she is a really nice, sweet person.

---
I just realize that I'm all alone in this part of the office now. Everybody else has left and went home. If I wasn't so keen on leaving also, I would be really happy right now. I like being alone in the office.
---

Friday (Part 2): Andreas made Moussaka for dinner and we had ice sandwiches for dessert. At 2 am (Yes, that's right!) he drove us home, since there weren't any busses going back that late.

Saturday: Stayed home, except for the grocery shopping. I made asian noodles with chicken, omelette, carrots, onions and spring onions, ginger, little corn cobs and sweet pepper and we watched TV and did stuff. I really don't remember exactly. Also, my parents came by to get a CD and took us into town with my mother's brand new car. She got a Renault Kangoo again, but I like the colour better and it has a lot of cool things the old one didn't have. I started to read 'The Time-Traveler's Wife' and I am more than happy with that book. I'll tell you more soon.

Sunday: Wanted to stay home but couldn't. Well, we were only out for about two hours, but my original plan was to not leave at all and that got spoiled. Lambert called because he had some computer problem. One of his daughters had tried to install Sims 2 on their computer and didn't quite succeed. I guess what I learned was that you should never ever upgrade DirectX9 from DirectX3. When was DirectX3 standard anyway? Was I born yet? So their graphics card collapsed and Pi had to try to make it work again and of course succeeded. The good thing was that they had bought cake and we had a little afternoon cake and coffee time, which was actually nice. Nevertheless we had to stop watching Alias for it. But we actually finished the first season on Sunday and I could finally unpack season 2 which had NO spoiler on the box. Thank you, Andreas. Nicely done, keeping me from opening a package for more than a week. I also finished another level of Spellforce and now I have to fight against the undead Korshar and his undead commanders, I took a long bath and I continued reading TTTW.

That was my weekend (Friday inclusive). The weather right now keeps me tired all the time. It's always grey and cold. It makes me want to spend my days under a warm, cozy blanket.

Current mood: Wintery (the good wintery feeling, when I still like the cold and the dark, the bad wintery feeling will start in about one month when I'm sick of winter and start to long for spring).
Listening to: Stormy Weather by Moneybrother.

Quick Question

Can someone please tell that guy on the other side of the partition that just because his phone has a hands-free option it doesn't mean that he has to use it for every damn call he makes?!? I really don't need to listen to all his phone-conversations. I don't.
It's just plain nerve-racking, that's what it is. And stupid. And, you know, a little bit childish. It's just showing off and it makes me think that this guy has nothing important to do after all.

Current mood: Still want to go home.
Listening to: Safe and Sound by Sheryl Crow (I'm having my Winamp-playlist shuffled now)

Thank God It's Friday

Today I couldn't get up as early as yesterday. I kept hitting the snooze button until it was 7:30 am, then finally decided I needed to get up somewhen and it might as well be now. It's not even like I was especially tired and needed the sleep. It was nearly the opposite. Every time the alarm went off I was awake. It was more that the bed was so warm and cozy, so I kept snuggling under the blanket with Pi and enjoying the warmth.
I am so happy that it's close to weekend now. After all the stress I want to really be able to relax. It's not that I really had to work that much for my tests, but I am always amazed how stress gets you even though you don't feel that stressed. It was even worse when I had to work on my project for the finals. I didn't even have to hurry, I was under no great pressure at all, still once I was done I was so tired for three whole days I couldn't believe it. Bottom line is, I need the weekend.

Pi is going to Krefeld today for an interview at some company. I don't really know what they want from him and I think he doesn't know a lot of details either. Hopefully it will turn out to be good. Then tonight we are invited for dinner. I still don't know if I should leave here early and go home and try to relax a little bit or if I should just stay at work longer and go straight to Helene's place from work. I haven't made up my mind yet. On the one hand I would love to get some rest, on the other hand it would be a good thing to do overhours again. For now I'm still here.

I have no idea what I could do here. I'm also not motivated enough to look for something to do or ask someone to give me something to do. I'm a really lazy trainee right now. Not happy about it. I hope my attitude will change for the better starting next week. I can't possibly be at work for two more weeks without anything to do. I am planning to do the presentation (which is another necessary part of me finisching my training) on my project, but apart from that... well, we'll see.

I had a day off on Wednesday. Since the weather was nice enough for the season (meaning: no rain), Pi and I decided to take a walk. We didn't have any specific idea where to go, so we just took off and walked by the indoor pool (because Pi wanted to check the prices) and then up Kölner Straße. We then kept walking and decided to try to go all the way to Wiesdorf. I didn't even know how far that would be, but I figured considering the nice fresh air that we would have no problems making it. It was a really nice long walk and I am happy we did it. It sometimes takes some convincing of Pi to drag me outside but I usually give in because I know he's right. I can be very lazy, especially when I have a day off. Of course we made it to Wiesdorf. I checked it later on the internet and now I know that we must have walked about 5 kilometers. Not exactly an impressive distance, but still a long walk.
We then walked around the pedestrian precinct, going into shops every now and then and mostly had a nice time, then took the bus back, got a little something to eat in Opladen and went home. An afternoon nicely spent.

By the way I asked Pi if we should start to try running again. We tried to back in Bonn, but my motivation ran out pretty soon. Now I think I may want to try again. Only I would first need to get some running clothes. Shoes I have somewhere, appropriate clothes not so much. I always want to try to do something good for my body and health but I never actually do it. I've never been into sports and I might never be. But I'm willing to give it a shot.
There's this girl here at work who I worked with from time to time. Her name is Kerstin and she's about a year older than me (I guess). She always talks about how she spends her time running or swimming after work and I admire her for that. Then she told me that back in school she wasn't into sports at all. She just started after her graduation when she already was a trainee here and now she's doing 20-kilometer-runs and everything. Anyway, hearing this made me think that maybe there is still hope for me, if I can just get over my laziness and just start it.

I just talked to Pi. He called me on my cell and I called him back from the phone at work (naturally). He's already on his way to Krefeld, apparently his interview got scheduled some time earlier. This most probably means that we are both indeed going home before we go to Helene's. I might even stay here longer and try to catch the train Pi is on on his way back, so we can get back home together.

These last days I'm back at the piano some more. I have some ideas for songs in my head and constantly repeat them and change them and try to get the right lyrics together. Songwriting for me is mostly a trial and error thing. I just start something and with time it either gets together or it does not. This might be the right time to draw your attention to the soundfile I added to my profile for this blog. That's really actually me singing and that was really actually me and Pi composing. I have some other mp3-files on my other website. You can go to http://www.jamieaffolk.com and listen to them.

I got another mail today with an invitation to a birthday party next weekend. Unfortunately it's on the same day my father wants to celebrate his birthday. I'm kind of torn, but not really. I guess we'll go to that other party, especially since we hardly see Joerg (who invited us) and I see my father a lot. Apart from that, I think it's really nice that he invited us. We are not really that close and have only met at other people's parties so far, so I was really surprised that he thought of us and asked us to come. We can still go and see my father a day later or so. I hope he isn't too disappointed when I tell him. He was really disappointed when I didn't invite my parents to my birthday party two months ago and I had a hard time convincing myself that it was perfectly normal and okay not to invite your parents to your 24th birthday.

I think that's enough for now. I will now try to amuse myself with something else. Or, if I'm very lucky, I will find something useful to do.

PS: For lunch I had canelloni filled with ricotta cheese and I guess what was spinach and again a little salad. At the moment I'm going all vegetarian at work.


Current mood: Can't wait to get home.
Listening to: Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus (I can't help it. I really like that song.)

Things To Do When You're Bored, Things To Listen To Because They're Great

As you might have heard I was bored at work today. Amazingly there's a site called http://www.bored.com offering a lot of links that promise at least a little distraction and sometimes fun.
I also tried www.lifesucks.com, www.borednow.com and several other names to see if somebody was smart enough to get those domains, but I wasn't lucky. Maybe I should get those domains. Then again I already own three domains and hardly ever update them.
So you don't need to try those two links, cause they don't exist. The first one does. If you find any links with similar names, please tell me. I wasn't really creative today and didn't try but a few names before I got frustrated.
Another site I found was http://web.okaygo.co.uk/apps/letters/flashcom/. It's like a interactive fridge-door with magnetic letters to shuffle around. You can try to actually make some words but the most likely case will be that you never get to finish just a four-letter-word, since up to 75 other people try the same. At least at first I thought that you should try to get together some words. Then I realized that maybe the real goal or more likely the real fun of the 'game' was to just destroy somebody's word just when he tried to finish it. That's mean, I'm aware, but also a lot more fun. Also, you could try to sort letters by color and or just make large heaps of letters. It's very confusing and really destructive and when you're caffeinated and/or drunk and/or bored like hell it's hilarious. Apart from that, it's really very stupid. (Yeah, like I care.)
Then I found http://www.getannoyed.com, which is basically a site with tips how to annoy other people. Not that I need any tips for that, but on the other side, you never know.
So much about that.

The second part of the title refers mostly to my new discovery. Go, go and buy Moneybrother's 'Blood Money'. It's so great. I first heard of him on Sarah Kuttner's show and then tried it out. This album is just amazing. I find it hard to describe music, so I try to do this as easy and quickly as possible.
The really short version: Go get it. If you don't like it, please don't sue me.
The slightly longer version: It reminds me a little bit of the New Radicals and I love that album as well. Only Moneybrother is more fun and cares a little less about actually being able to sing. He still manages to pull it off.

Other things to add:
1. I realize I made some mistakes (mostly typos, only there was this one sentence that really made no sense). I promise to edit my posts really soon and make them as errorless as possible.
2. Something else. I forgot.
3. I am back to playing Spellforce. Yesterday night I fought battles again undead armies with my 70-man army of elves and dwarves. Now I have to fight even more undead armies. But I am very confident that I will win.
4. I plan to install Sims 2 on Pi's computer really soon and then build families inspired on some TV show.
The options are...
a) Smallville characters (which would most likely be a lot of fun)
b) the contestants of one of the seasons of The Apprentice (note: I don't need to control them all at one time and they don't necessarily need to live all together in one house)
c) the cast of Joan of Arcadia
d) the cast of Charmed
e) the cast of Lost
My favorite one is b. Only I would have to decide which season I prefer. And it would be a lot work to design all the characters and build them houses. But I'm really open to suggestions and new ideas.

Tomorrow evening we are invited for dinner at some friends, or actually a friend and his new girlfriend who I only met once at my birthday party. She seemed really nice, but I have to admit I didn't really got to talk to her a lot that evening. I guess I'll know more about her soon.

Current mood: A little bit tired, obviously talkative and really fine.
Listening to: Stormy Weather by Moneybrother (told you).

Why Murphy Was Right (Part I)

Wow! That sucks. I just wrote a real long post telling you all about Tuesday morning and accidentally erased everything. Is there no recovery function here? The irony is that I just tried to copy everything, so that I could at least restore it if anything bad happened while I was writing. It just backfired in a really screwed-up way.
You know what?
I'm officially offended. That's not fair. It just isn't. It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't already written so much.

Are you there, life? Well, thanks for just gently kicking me in the stomach when I most needed it.

Anyway, next try. The funny thing is that the title of this post fits even better now. Not that it makes it any better. I'm just saying.

At the moment, I'm at work. Right until Tuesday evening I thought I wouldn't be back here until next Monday, but apparently I couldn't have been wronger (I don't care whether this word exists or not). So I am back here and I'm already bored. There's nothing to do and the little I could do I don't want to do right now. But I'm already doing overtime. This blog will probably blossom in a way you haven't seen before. I have so much time at hand when I'm at work, it's unbelievable. I can't believe I actually get money for this. On the other hand, I really don't get a lot of money, so no wonder my motivation sunk to a new low-point again. (Remember I started this blog because I was bored at work.)

I originally planned to tell you all about Tuesday morning and how I became a firm believer in Murphy's Law, but I'm not doing that now. I did it. It was a desaster. It was erased.
So, I will tell you about that tomorrow or whenever I am willing to go back there, but not now.

Now I will write about all the lovely little things that helped making my day not a complete disappointment. I'm actually talking about work here. To be honest, I'm not really talking about work but about this company and more this building. Work hasn't gotten any better.
I got up today at 5 am. No typo. I actually managed to get up and not hit the snooze button twenty times before I was willing to drag myself out of the bed. I am very proud of myself. This also means that when I leave here at 4 pm (as I plan to do) I will have done approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes overtime. I have to work overtime these next two weeks, so I can take an additional day off and make my holiday complete (starting at December 13th and I'm not coming back until January).
I took the train at 5:43 am and arrived at work at 6:37 am. I know the exact time, because I can see it when I 'check in' with my company card. Andreas arrived about one minute later, by the way, but he already left which is why I can write here in peace without him hanging around my desk all the time. He doesn't know that I have a blog and I'm not sure if I want him to know, especially since he appears frequently on this blog. Whatever.

What I did today:
1. Filled out the form for taking my holiday in December. I have 12 days of holiday left to take so with the extra day I want to take off I get the whole last three weeks of December. Yay! I can't wait.

2. Got my new company ID card, which looks pretty much like the old one (the picture is nearly 2 1/2 years old, I don't even look like that girl on the card anymore - well, I actually do, only with shorter hair) but is way cooler due to some technical improvements, which I'm not going to try to explain to you, because I didn't understand them at all. Just know that it is cooler.

3. Was bored. A lot.

4. Went to see and distract the MaTA-trainees who are working on their programming project for their finals this week. I'm neither telling you what MaTA stands for, nor am I going to try to translate it or describe it. When they are done with their training they will be a little bit like us only they actually learned something during their training and their training is a lot more expensive than ours. And the company loves them for no particular reason. They just love them. Which is why they get all the good courses and we have to beg to get some crappy ones. Anyway, two of the four MaTAs are really nice and the other two are not. To give you names, Anika and Philipp are the nice ones and Stefan and Anett are those that we don't like that much. Only we call them Stefanett, because they are more like one person with two bodies. I have never before seen two people who constantly agree with each other on everything like those two do.

5. Had lunch, wholewheat pasta with vegetable sauce and a little salad. I ate really healthy today. Proud again. Patting my back.

6. Ranted about the exams. I actually did that before lunch, so now you know that this isn't really a chronological account of what happened today.

7. Marveled about the lovely new things here.

8. Was bored some more.

That basically covers it.

So, I would like to write about those lovely new things now, but I don't think I have a lot of time left. I will just get to the very best right now.

We have an all new 'coffee bar' here in the company. Yay! I'm not even a big coffee-drinker, but this is just great and bound to suck all the money from my pocket. Today I had a latte machiatto with vanilla syrup and a café au lait with caramel syrup. I'm so happy. I will most probably have at least two coffees a day now. Which isn't really that healthy but I also don't really care.

Got to go now. I just got a text message from Natascha. She gave me some scented candles for my birthday which were just great and I need more now. But apparently she got them from a store with changing offers, so I don't know if I can get some more. Damnit.

Anyways, I need to pack my things now and leave or I won't catch my train.

Current mood: Caffeinated.
Listening to: I'll Find A Way by Rachael Yamagata.

And Murphy Was Right!

I know that now!
What happened today that convinced me of the absolute correctness of Murphy's Law, I will write about that later when I am even more relaxed than I am right now.
Everything is over, the tests went fine as far as I can tell. I don't think that I did excellent, but I guess that overall I did good and for now that's fine with me. Ask me again when I get the results and see if I am ranting then.
By the way, I will not get the results until... well, a really long time from now. They weren't even bothering to tell us when we could expect the results, they were just like 'Don't call us to ask. Just... don't.'

So I just called our new favorite pizza delivery service. According to Pi they have the very best pizza and according to me they make very good salads and the best pasta in Leverkusen (the pasta still doesn't top my favorite two pasta dishes made by two different delivery services back in Bonn, but it is really good).

Today we're having:
Pizza Bolognese (although they write it Bollognese, but that's either a typo or simple ignorance) for Pi
Salad Nizza for me (Oil-Vinegar-Dressing)
Tiramisu for both of us

If you want the same, just call the number below!


Best Pizza in the World (Order Here)


PS: Jamie, thanks for the cheering me up. From what I can tell so far, it helped!

Current mood: Happy. HAPPY! And a little bit hysterical. That goes with the demise of the stress. Naturally. And Happy.
Listening to: Nothing right now.

Studying. Finally. ...and Freaking Out.

I have only very little time, because I just recently realized how much I don't know and probably should, so I'm really busy today. I learned all new things about networks, routers, switches, gateways, TCP/IP and stuff and I can honestly say that I have absoultely no idea what it all is about. I'm more trying to remember the disadvantages and advantages of all those things when compared to others, because it's likely that there will be questions like that.

I still have some work to do, but I decided to set a time limit and just stop at some point this evening and try not to think about it too much. Which won't work, but it sounds like a nice plan.

So, you can all wish me luck for tomorrow.
Or, if you're not willing to do that you can wish me one million dollars. I won't hesitate to take the money and fail the test, but since I don't think that's an option, just wish me luck. I can definitely need it.

Current mood: A strange mixture of all kinds of different feelings. Anxious, scared, excited, even kind of happy.
Listening to: Nothing. (Are you kidding me?)

The 15-Minute Blog

Yes, because we have to leave in 15 minutes, so this is all I got.My parents invited us for lunch today, first it was dinner, but then something came up, something with my mother and my aunt and a concert and obviosuly I didn't really listen to what my father was saying, anyway, dinner changed to lunch, so that's where we're going.
Yesterday I did nothing (I repeat: nothing) for my exams and I don't really feel bad about it. I feel more like it was a good thing to have a day where I completely relaxed. And I will still think so if I can get over myself and do something today and tomorrow. If I can do that, everything will be fine. So we watched a lot of episodes of 'The Apprentice' and here's the good thing: Since both Pi and I are no native-speakers (concerning English) we can claim watching 'The Apprentice' as some kind of educational learning-English thing and be completely oblivious to the fact that we watched about 3 hours of junk TV. Though, you...? Can't.

I also took a bath and I originally intended to read some more, but I ended up enjoying the hot water and really just relaxing a lot. The books were there but remained untouched.

So, 7 minutes to go.

I keep realizing that I am incredibly pale. When I was younger I always thought that I was a dark type which was mostly because I have brown hair and brown eyes and was even asked if I had Spanish or French or whatever ancestors (which I do not, so don't bother to ask) a few times. Now I know that if I ever come close to one type, I'm definitely winter. Mostly because I'm really pale. One time I was in an elevator with Andreas, who is as red-head as can be, with you know really red hair and freckles and everything and there was a mirror and I had to realize that I am paler than he is. Why do I tell you this? I have no idea. It must have been the first thing that came into my mind and I'm running out of time here.

So, with 3 minutes to go I'm just gonna stop here. I got new shoes by the way. My mother bought some second hand and they fit and I'm happy. So I'm gonna pull them on right now, and then up and leave.

Current mood and Listening to...? No time for that.

Studying. Not.

Another short post. I've been trying to study for the last 1 1/2 hours or so, but I couldn't really concentrate, mostly because my hatred for the IHK grew with every minute I spent doing one of the old final exams. The tasks and questions are so damn stupid. They are either too easy or they are just wishy-washy, so that you have no clue what it is they want you to do or they are too difficult, and that mostly in the sense that there are a lot of things that I have never heard of before neither at work nor at school. In my opinion that means that I will probably never need to know. Or, in the not so likely case that I will, I consider myself smart enough to type in that particular word into the google search box and get the information I need. I hate the IHK. Hate 'em. All.

By the way, can I somehow use footnotes using this system? Because that would be really, really cool. Just saying.

So for the moment I stopped studying and I think I will watch some TV now befpre returning to my books and papers later this evening. I was so tired when I came home, but we had to first fo to the post office and then to the small computer shop up on Kölner Straße (which most probably means nothing at all to you, but for the sake of detailed description, there it is) because as far as Pi can tell, what is broken in my father's computer is the controller. The main problem is that the computer doesn't recognize any of the hard disc drives anymore and they were connected with a RAID system. My computer actually did recognize them, but couldn't access any data, so we figured that the discs themselves most likely are not broken, which is good news so far, but that something must be wrong with the connection between the two HDDs. So, to make boring computer stuff that even I have no clue about short, Pi is trying to get a new controller and we hope and keep our fingers crossed that the controller really is the problem , because if it's not, we have to find something else to blame for the breakdown.

Where was I... Yes, I was tired and we had to do a lot of things before I could actually get home. Pi said something about me being quite exhausted and getting used to it lately and he's right. I tend to lie down and just fall asleep and then sleep really long those last days, but as I said, I was really tired. So I made myself comfy on the couch, watched about 45 minutes of 'Sarah Kuttner - Die Show' and then fell asleep. The first time I woke after just 20 minutes or so and I really should have gotten up then, but of course I didn't, because I was oh-so-comfy wrapped in the blanket, so I fell asleep again and this time I slept for one whole hour. So, you thought your life was boring? Ha! I bet you know better now.

What else is there to write? I finally got my monthly cooking magazine...

awkward silence

You... don't look at me that way.

more awkward silence

I said: Don't. Look. At. Me. That. Way.
Really.

Confession #1: I get a cooking magazine. Once a month.
Confession #2: I subscribed to it.
Confession #3: I'm really very proud of it.
Confession #4: I get all excited when I know a new one is coming. I'm starting to talk about it approximately 5 to 7 days before I get it.

Okay, now that I finally got that out, can I please continue. My new cooking magazine is great. I particularly fell in love with two of the cakes, a panna-cotta-thing with gingerbread-flavour and stewed oranges, filled orange-crêpes, some sauerkraut-toasts with apples, and some very nice ideas for a Christmas menu. And I finally have an idea what I could give my mother for Christmas. They have a recipe for cinnamon-liqueur in there and that's just what I think my mother would like.
Andreas fell in love with all the cakes. But it's not like that I didn't expect that.

If I get my scanner to work, which at the time is not the case, I might scan some pictures, so you can see all those great meals, desserts and whatever I am talking about. I'm so thrilled! I love my cooking magazine.

I think I really wrote enough now. This entry is longer than I expected it to be. So I'll save writing about the strange weather we had here today later.

Current mood: Since the weekend is near, very fine.
Listening to: Me typing, Pi playing the piano.

The Pleasures of Rewarding Myself

Warning: Short post. I'm really tired, but there will be more today when I feel a little more relaxed and motivated.

I just thought that once my finals are over (at least the written part) I will reward myself for that - even if I screw up, at least I did it and it will be over.
So, I thought, it will be either some books (I am thinking about 'The Time-Traveler's Wife' and 'Remember Me' (by Christopher Pike - I think 'Remember Me' is supposed to be a children's book but I liked what I read about it, so it's on my wish list) or a new board game (most likely 'Jamba' one of the new games of the two-player series of Kosmos games).
Or, most probably, both.

I'm both scared of Tuesday and eagerly awaiting it. I can't wait to get this over with. The waiting's always the hardest. I can't stand it any longer.

Current mood: Tired, exhausted, those other adjectives that mean about the same.
Listening to: nothing.

Human Kindness Is Overflowing

Here's the thing. You don't really want to know how it went at school, because I would get pissed thinking about it, but...

I came home pretty early and went to the post office to get my package from Canada (yay! Alias!) and there was this guy with his little daughter (the daughter really is just a part of the description here and has nothing to do with the actual story) and obviously he wanted to fill out a form for some money transaction and was in urgent need of a pen. You would think that a post office with an integrated bank counter would have enough pens flying around for customers to fill out forms, but I know now that they don't. Anyway, I offered him my pen to fill out his form, so here's my good deed for today. I don't consider it so much a good deed but just the abilitiy for a sensitive observation of what people around you are doing and being nice enough in the right situation. Whatever.
So, after that I went to the supermarket to get a little something to eat and I just had two things when I stood in line and the woman whose turn it was next noticed that I only had very little and let me pay first. I just thought 'Well, being just nice from time to time really pays off.' It so seemed like cause and effect that I really don't want to label it as common coincidence.

So, I'm in a pretty good mood, because I was nice to someone and in return someone was nice to me. Way to start a day (only my day didn't actually start then).

And I can't open my package now, because Andreas told me there is a spoiler right on the box's cover and now I'm scared and have to watch the last four episodes of season 1 before I can even take a look at my newly arrived Alias-DVDs. Great. Thanks a lot, Andreas.

Current mood: see above
Listening to: Single by Natasha Bedingfield (I really like 'These Words')

Catching Up, Catching Up, Catching... Wait. Stitches in the Side.

Just a short post before I will return to the living room and watch something on TV I will NOT TELL YOU ABOUT. Because it's embarassing and stupid and I'm too intelligent to even consider it, but it's guilty pleasure at its best and I can't resist. If you really want to know just scan tonight's TV guide and you will have absolutely no problems finding out. If you want to go that far, do it. Otherwise, just know that I'm not proud of myself.

Okay, so what I wanted to do in the short time left is to make a list of all the things I want to write about so that I have something to cling to whenever I feel blog-lost.
So here it goes:

• The wedding - it was one big day with a lot happening which probably is why I couldn't bring myself to write about it yet. It was just a lot. But hey, I already showed you pictures!
• Boardgames - yeah, well. It might be interesting though, at least I will try to make it interesting.
• Maybe, but it might already be too late for that, but I might write about what little I would like to share with the world about the U.S. election. On the other hand I try to be very careful with political issues, since I made the experience that they are usually very hard to discuss via the internet for several reasons.
• My job/training. Although I like to forget about it once I'm home. Still, it might be nice for those few of you who actually read my blog to know what it is I'm doing and ranting about so eagerly.

So far that's it. Although I guess there's more that I just forgot.

News for today: My father's computer is broken, my cousin's most likely to go abroad for a year (when did they grow up, they used to be so young), and Katharina, a 12-year-old girl we know watched 'Ring' which her 16-year-old brother borrowed from me and is scared to be alone anywhere near a television now. I am really truly sorry for her. I am 24 and that movie creeped me out completely (YES, I was afraid of my television and I'm willing to admit it) so I don't even want to think about how it must have affected her.

Current mood: Running, speeding to the living room. Guilty pleasure time.
Listening to: The sound of me typing and Pi calling to remind to come. Now.

Weekly Freezer

Welcome to the first Weekly Freezer, my blog's first column, which at least might be a real novelty in that it is the first column that is bound to suck from its very start. Nonetheless I present to you today's freezer complete with a detailed description of everything that was in it by the time the picture was taken.


The freezer today

There's really little ice cream left and just one piece of chicken, because I needed the other ones for a yummy asian meal. The plum cake was Pi's idea, not mine. I tend to want to really bake a cake when I want some, which is once a year or so. I'm really old-fashioned that way.
And the ice-cubes... Well there have to be ice-cubes in the freezer, otherwise I would be really sad and a little bit grumpy.
Tune back in next Monday for an all new Weekly Freezer.


Current mood: Well, wasn't that fun?
Listening to: Little Joe by Katell Keineg (I've said it before)

Changes? Hell, No!

Not so much, anyway.
I got to read a little bit in my books and actually take notes, but all in all that would sum up to about one hour of studying compared to a lot more doing unimportant stuff. Well, at least I guess something is happening. Maybe because the exams are on the 23rd November and I can't wait that long to get started anymore. I'm promising all of you (and mostly myself) right here, right now that after writing this post I'm going to learn some more. Big promise. Huge.

So, I'll keep it short for tonight, which is going to be easy since there wasn't much happening today.

We had a nice breakfast, which we don't have too often, with everything starting with my all favorite 'nougat-creme' which must contain about 1 million calories a glass and is pure sweetness (and not metaphorically speaking) and ending with three sorts of cheese.
Apart from that the big thing was watching Joan of Arcadia and bawling my eyes out. I won't tell you why, because I'm spoiler-allergic and don't want to ruin anything for anyone. It was just not fair. Why do they make me like characters that much, when they are planning to do that?!? Shutting up now.
I also realized that I'm never gonna make the 50,000 words for the NaNoWriMo, but I'm keeping that blog for the time being, because I think that maybe I'm gonna work on it nevertheless. Only not any time too soon.

In the afternoon Pi and I went for a walk. It was around 4 pm when we passed by the new sushi restaurant (which I still can't believe exists here... this town is so not-sushi) which made both our eyes glow, but it doesn't open until 5:30 pm so we were way too early. So we just walked around and then back home. But I hope we will go have sushi there somewhen soon. We have to, especially since I don't want the place to be closed.

I originally planned to do a 'News from the Freezer' column thing every week on Sunday, but I haven't been able to take a photograph yet, so there most probably will be nothing today. Maybe the whole thing is a stupid idea, but I want to try it and we'll see whether it will be boring after two weeks or whether I will be able to actually make it a little bit funny at the least. It's worth a shot.

That's it for today. I will now keep my promise and go right to my books.

Current mood: Feeling a headache coming (never good), all in all content.
Listening to: On Yer Way by Katell Keineg (another great song by one of my favorite songwriters)

Please Tell Me How To Do It!

Why, for heaven's sake, can't I pull myself together and actually do something useful? Another perfectly wasted day and I just know I have things to do. The only thing I accomplished today was catching up on Charmed a little more. Strange enough the two episodes I watched were actually pretty good, especially since I'm not so satisfied with the sixth season so far. Anyway.

Yesterday Mücke came to visit us and stay over night. He and Pi wanted to do some computer stuff, mainly using Mücke's computer to burn some backups on DVD. Since we don't have a DVD burner Pi was happy to use Mücke's computer and organize his data a little. But somehow we wouldn't stop talking over dinner, so we talked for like six hours or so, then tried to watch 'The Salton Sea', but both Mücke and I fell asleep somewhere in the first half, so Pi stopped the movie and we all went to bed around 2 am or something like that. We had about 3 1/2 bottles of wine, so we were all pretty drunk. But it was both really interesting and fun.

So today the boys finally got to do whatever they wanted to and I spent most of morning and early afternoon on the couch.
Then my mother called and said she wanted to come over and bring us fruit cake. Again. No, she's not baking fruit cake every single day, but - apperently - a lot these days. When she came, Pi and Mücke had just went off to town (don't ask me what for, cause I don't really remember). She wanted to go see my grandfather then, so she asked me if I wanted to come to, since I haven't seen my grandfather for like three to six months (yes, shame on me, I KNOW!) and after a long search for Pi's keys (he had taken mine, of course) I came with her. I was a little bit shocked (although I was prepared) how much weight my grandfather lost during those last months. Then again, he's 93, and I consider him to be pretty 'fit' for his age. I mean you can still talk with him, and as far as I know he's in no great pain, despite of all the little problems his age brings with it. So my mother made him lunch and we stayed there for what I would guess was about half an hour. He even told me to say hello to Pi, which I always consider very sweet. Then we went to a second hand store to look for new used shoes for me, but it was closed already, so we just went to get some turkish 'fast food' (Döner and Lahmacun) for my Dad and the three of us at home.
All in all it was really nice to spend a little time with my mother. I had planned to call my parents all week ( I figured that one week after the US election would be long enough), but somehow I always forgot.

What else? I can't believe it's Saturday. I'm pretty overwhelmed by the idea that the weekend isn't over yet and I have another complete day free. Somehow my feeling for time got all wuzzy. I also have a free day on Thursday and Monday. Please, let me be able to actually seize these days! I'm so sick of my laziness lately, yet I can't bring myself to do something halfway useful. This has to stop!

Okay, that's it for today. Oh, I think I'm going to tell Pi about this blog. I haven't told him so far, because I thought I might want this to be all for myself (and the world apparently), but I think he knows something is going on and I don't want him to get confused about it in any way. I figured it would be just fair and it would save me all the strangeness of keeping a secret from the very man I want to share a life with. Any thoughts on that?

Current mood: A little bit tired, all in all really balanced.
Listening to: Quiet by Rachael Yamagata (love the girl)

It's A White World

It's snowing here. I got up this morning and it had actually snowed over night and still was. Even now it hasn't completely stopped, although it's more snow-rainy now, but still. It wasn't snowing in Cologne when I got on the train back home but it was definitely snowing when I got off the train in Opladen. I thought this was strange because there's usually not a big difference between Cologne and Leverkusen (it's a fifteen minute train ride, so obviously it's not that far) and it should even be warmer here because of all the industry, but whatever. I like snow.

I didn't like today's snow that much because I had to walk to the train and I had to realize that my shoes are not made for weather like this and I even think one of them has a few tiny holes, so that water finds its way in pretty soon. I couldn't wait to get back home, so I could finally take them off and defrost my feet. Bad shoes, bad, bad shoes.

So, maybe some more about the day before yesterday, I still haven't written about the freezer disappointing us.
It's really not that big of a story, although I would be freaking out, if it had turned out that our freezer was broken, which it is not, so I'm not freaking out. Anyway, Pi noticed that there was some water in the kitchen and I was pretty sure it was coming from the freezer. I was right, if you need to know. For some reason out freezer wasn't so freezing anymore. So we (mainly Pi) decided we needed to defrost both fridge and freezer, which pretty much ruined our plan for a cozy evening on the couch, but whatever. We had water in the kitchen. Near cables. Near electricity. Never good.
So we emptied freezer and fridge, threw a lot of stuff away, because it had been in the freezer for approximately ten years or so. I tend to forget/ignore things in our freezer, because I just can't imagine the best before date could already be over. So we defrosted the whole thing, put the food back in and that was that. Although the freezer was still leaking when we went to bed it wasn't in the morning. So whatever was wrong, it's gone now and hopefully will never come back.
Good thing is, our freezer is empty now. Proof is below.

I'm pretty tired again, I can't help it. So, I'm gonna stop for now and enjoy being home and warm.

But first some wintery (I'm pretty sure that this word doesn't exist, but I really don't care) impressions (taken from our balcony).


Let it snow!


Let it snow some more!


Current mood: Ready to get comfy.
Listening to: Nothing.

Our Freezer Inside

So, for everybody out there interested in that, here's the exclusive view into our freezer after the cleaning up and defreezing. Looks nice now, doesn't it?
Today will be a series of somehow connected posts, because I can't find enough time to write a real long one, so I'll just post fragments when I can spare five minutes or so.


Freezer Inside


Also, I need to wash my hair now.

Yesterday (Mostly)

Yesterday Andreas came over here after school, because we needed to work on a short presentation about DSL for school. We approximately spent 30 minutes on the presentation, more than an hour on cooking and eating and the rest of the time on telling each other how incredibly bored we were. At least we could finish the presentation so far. We just need to read a little bit more about it, so that we actually know what we're talking about, but that will be fine, I guess.
I made some chicken and vegetable curry for lunch, which was really good. Naturally, cause I can cook. I really can. Then we had ice cream for dessert. (Strawberry Cheesecake and Phish Food, if you need the details, and now I know why I stick to B&J. Häagen Dasz is not quite as good and unpronouncable.)
At about 4pm I walked Andreas to the train station. I think with his holy trinity of entertainment in his bag (that is the newest episodes of Lost, Joan of Arcadia and Smallville) he had a strong desire to get home.

About the other stuff that happened, especially our freezer giving up, I will write later. Right now I'm getting terribly tired. I think it is the weather, but I'm not so sure. It's finally getting winter here... quite cold and often grey. Not the kind of weather I like best.

It's Online!!! And Useless As Ever!

Just a short post before Pi and I go play boardgames. No, I'm not kidding.

Anyway, I wanted to announce the all new version of serriste which I just put online. Okay, part of it has been online for months now, but I finally made everything fit for the new layout, so you can actually go look at it now.
Bad news is, I still have all these nonsense filler texts to replace with more readable stuff, but I will work on that later. So, there's not much interesting to read, though hopefully that will change soon. Now that I went from frameless to frame-based I might actually think about updating from time to time, so I'm a little bit more motivated now.
It looks nice, too.

Serriste

And you should really not be so judgmental about boardgames. They're great. And really expensive.

I cleaned up my desk a little, mostly sorting all the papers. I have at least three printed versions of my project documentation (part of the final exam of my training, don't ask) here, a lot of useless stuff from school and a really nice and revealing 'written chat' of Andreas and me during some UNIX-course. I think about scanning and posting it, although I guess it's very hard to follow (especially with the little German every now and then) and you might actually not like me after you read it. But I still might. Worth the risk. I just hope Andreas won't mind.

Current mood: Since I've accomplished something, I'm really fine.
Listening to: Reason Why by Rachael Yamagata because this is one of the best albums of the year.

Bedtime Coming Close

Another post only because I feel like it...

Today's dinner was part of the game 'Empty-the-Freezer'. So we had chicken with french fries and croquettes plus peas and cauliflower. Basically, everything that was in the freezer, still good and could actually be mixed together.
For dessert we had B&J and Campari Orange, only I always add a little bit of grenadine to mine, because I like the extra-sweetness. We bought the Campari for the cookies I made, so now we can have a little cocktail in the evening. Very nice.
By the way, I don't actually think that this is even slightly interesting for anybody. You read it anyway, didn't you? See?

I'm very tired now and I think I'm going to get ready for bed, go to bed, read like two sentences from the book that is closest to me and then sleep (hopefully safe & sound).

Bitching Around

Okay, so the top three news on tonight's RTL news are:

1) The national holiday won't be moved from 3 October to the first Sunday in October, because... something.
2) The police is searching for eight year old Felix in Lower Saxony in what they said is one of the biggest search operation since the Second World War (yes, they actually said that).
3) Obviously, the Germans spend more money on DVDs than they do on tickets for the movie theaters.

Okay now, these are our problems??? Well, the second one I would actually consider sad news. A kid is missing and that's never, never good.
But this national holiday thing? And DVD vs. the movies? Oh, come one... PLEASE! Isn't Arafat dying? Isn't there a war in Iraq and supposedly umpteen other regions of our world? Aren't there more than 4 million people without a job in this country? Just saying.
I mean, RTL isn't the broadcasting station with the greatest reputation for, you know, good television, but its news are usually very good, but this...? I don't think so.

Anyways, about the DVD vs. the movies: I admit I haven't been to the movies since (oh god, this is gonna be awkward and embarrassing) Van Helsing. Yes, I have seen Van Helsing. Yes, I actually went to the movies, bought a ticket and saw Van Helsing. Voluntarily. And I enjoyed it. Van Helsing. Yes. YES, that crap movie with Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale and the vampires and those other things. Of course it's crap. You are supposed to not think watching it. Didn't you know?
Where was I?
So let's say I haven't been to the movies in quite a while. And you know why? Because I can't stand those dubbed versions anymore. And the chances of a good German movie are so f***ing rare that I usually miss when one is playing. That's why. I want originals.
Oh and by the way, if any DVD-shop is reading this: You should really think about your price strategy. I still think it's strange that I can get all my DVDs cheaper when I order them in CANADA than here. (And, for the most part, sooner as well.)
So, okay, I don't really contribute to the economical well-being of this country. I don't go the movies and I order more than half of my stuff from Canada and the U.S.A.
I guess, I'm done here.

And the national holiday thing? I really don't want to bitch about that right now. Let me just say this (and this goes to our politicians, especially the ones with nothing better to do): I know that this isn't a holiday with great celebrations going on there, so for that matter, you might as well kill it, but moving a national holiday to a flexible date is just wrong. I am willing to work on a holiday, so take whatever holiday you want and make it a normal workday, but that idea you had? Was bullshit.

Obviously I only have to say something about the unimportant stuff. But then again I guess there isn't much to say about a kid missing. Only that this is just so much more important than that unimportant stuff.

Current mood: I came, I say, I bitched. I'm all okay.
Listening to: The news from the living room and Pi playing the piano.

Untitled (so far)

I just got home from school. I should have stayed home, but that's what I usually think about school and today wasn't that bad after all. I think I'm gonna skip the first four hours tomorrow, especially since Andreas told me that there won't be anything about the hours we missed without excuse on the final school reports.
So I had to get up early today, but turned on the computer anyways, especially since I wanted to read about the voting results of the U.S. vote, but nothing was definite yet. It seems that it still isn't. I expected the difference between Kerry and Bush to be very small anyway, so I'm not surprised about what I read on the internet so far. We'll see.
The last days haven't been that interesting though. We were invited to Howard's birthday on Sunday and really had a nice evening and a great dinner then. I also took some pictures, but I won't post them now. I don't want this blog to become a photo-album, so I will only post pictures every now and then. Howard is leaving for Manchester today and will return to Australia after a week or so, but hopefully he'll be back next year. I guess it's all a question of money. We would love to go to Adelaide for a vacation, but although we wouldn't need a lot of money there, we just can't afford the flight. I definitely need to get a well-paid job once I'm done with my training, but I still hope that Pi will find a job soon.
Final exams are coming closer and I still haven't studied a bit for them. I should though. The good thing is that I'm pretty sure that even without any studying I would at least pass them. But honestly - I'm too ambitious for that. So hopefully I will pull myself together soon and not be disappointed by the results.

I also try to take part in the NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, this November, but I haven't written more than 350 words so far. The goal is 50,000 and I don't see how I will ever manage to reach that wordcount, but I want to try anyway. The idea for my story is very vague, I guess I'll just make it up as I go along (which is basically the idea behind the project as I understood it).
So you better not read what I've come up with up to now since it's just 350 words and I have no idea where it is going or whether it will be any good. If you can't help it, it's my other blog. If you have any ideas, I'm open to that, just don't be too critical... remember - it's just for fun!

Current mood: Kind of tired but happy that school was over at 11 am today. Literally saved by the bell.
Listening to: Drum loops Pi is working on in his room.