könig's

KONY 2012

2012-03-07T04:07:00.001+01:00

I'm an absolute twat for not posting in so long, I know. I forgot my blogger password and had to dig through an incredible amount of post-its and scrap paper to find it scribbled down somewhere, so here I am again!

What I want to share with you today is not a laughing matter. I saw that dozens of my facebook friends posted this video, shared it, commented on it. I watched it, and I can safely say those 30 mins were well spent.
I found the video alarming because of the topic it addressed but so deeply inspiring at the same time. It really gives you the feeling that we're not powerless, that we all have a voice and an opinion and that the people of the world can do anything if they set their mind to it.
That will only work if as many people as possible know about this. You don't have to fly to Uganda and roam the forests with a machete to find this guy, all you have to do is follow the steps shown in the video. Or tell your friends, your family, share it, discuss it. Knowledge is power, right? The more you know, the better. So spread awareness.

And just because I don't want anyone to think I'm biased, check THIS out too. Tells the other side of the story. I still think the video is highly inspirational and well-made, and I guess no one questions the fact that Kony is one bad motherducker that deserves to be stopped. Make up your own minds about this, some might think it's pointless to share the video and talk about it, some might think it's the best thing since sliced bread. My opinion is that information is never useless, so sharing the video won't hurt anyone, as long as you consider each angle of the story. After all, we have the internet, we have the means to make up our own minds about anything and we get to decide which causes we support, which is more than a lot of people can say.

Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games

2012-02-21T03:28:00.001+01:00

So I know I've been quiet... But I have a rather good explanation! Last thursday, I bought the Hunger Games Trilogy. I read the first book that night, finished it at 6.45 in the morning. I read the second one on saturday and was already done by 4am and I finally read the third one last night. Apart from the fact that my eyesight has suffered considerably, I'm still left a little stunned, trying to process what I read.
If you haven't read The Hunger Games, don't read on. There'll be spoilers, seeing as I hate having to hint around and not actually being able to say anything about the plot.

I'd never paid the books much attention. It wasn't until last week that I actually started noticing them. People posting the trailer for the upcoming movie on each other's walls, obviously excited. Then I walked into my favourite bookstore, and sure enough - there they were. All three volumes, one copy of each. I scooped them up along with another few books and left the bookstore, not quite sure what would await me.

The first book was absolutely breathtaking. Set in what could be a post-apocalyptic North America, with the democratic system non-existant and food shortages and terror being part of daily life, it reminded me of Orwell's 1984. The all-dominating Capitol who has an eye on everyone, who gets rid of people that rebel against the system and who makes sure it doesn't even get that far by ruling Panem with an agenda of terror. Throw in the Hunger Games and you have yourself a great book.
I couldn't help but compare myself to Katniss Everdeen while reading. I read that a lot of readers felt she was similar to them, I didn't have that. But if you read about a teenaged girl being thrown into an arena with 23 others and having to fight to the death, you can't help but wonder what you'd do in certain situations. I thought the plot was really well developed and gripping, the characters ranged from lovable to infuriating and there seemed to be a turn of events every other page, which made it impossible to set the book down.
The second book was just as gripping, even though I found myself longing for the action-packed situations of the first one. Sure, there's plenty of stuff going on, what with Katniss' love triangle and the Quarter Quell, the beginning of the uprising and ultimately, the huge revelation when the reader finds out District 13 does actually exist. To be honest, I thought the end of the book was a bit rushed. One minute, everyone's in the arena, the next, Katniss has blown it all up, been air-rescued out of there, is told that District 13 exists, District 12 has been obliterated and that Peeta is in the hands of the Capitol. Uhm, wow. A lot to take. What I found hard to understand in the second book was Katniss' refusal to really support the revolution. She'd rather run away and hide in the woods. Sure, her family's being threatened, but isn't that all the more reason to say "Screw you" and fight?
The third book was a huge let-down for me. Not because the writing was bad, not because the plot was bad - I just imagined the story would end differently. I didn't think Katniss would end up playing almost virtually no part in Panem's new regime. Seriously, I was so frustrated towards the end of the book. I spent so much time reading about how she finally realises she has to be the face of the revolution, that she can't be a sulking brat, that she's important and then she gets to the Capitol, it looks like everyone's going to die but NO! Miraculously, the rebels take over the Capitol and it's not even thanks to Katniss. She's pretty useless because she's being set on fire. Sounds harsh and all, but I always imagined that she'd walk right up to President Snow, shoot him, and live a happy life with her mother, Prim and her prep team. Instead, she's set on fire, her sister dies, she kills President Coin and goes completely insane, marries Peeta because there's no one else around and has kids because he wants to. No spirit left. The world has changed but it's as if it doesn't affect her.
I guess there's some truth to the way Suzanne Collins described it. The storyline I'd imagined would have been too much of a cliché, would have been too predictable and therefore maybe boring. But now, it's just horrifyingly depressing! Put yourself in the main character's shoes: You're being sent to an arena of death at 16, forced to kill people. Then, you live in constant fear because you're being blackmailed. Then, you're being sent back into the arena. All the people you love seem to die or get hurt, so you fight your way to the source of all evil, only to never reach your destination. They let you kill the evil President but you come to your senses and realise that won't change much, so you kill the evil President to-be instead. Whaaat?
Maybe I just interpreted it the wrong way, and I must admit I was tired towards the end of the book because it was 6am, but I found myself finishing the book and positively pouting, because if I want a book to depress me, I read history books. Plenty of depressing stuff going on there. But fiction is supposed to leave you with some sort of moral or good feeling... At least that's what I'd hoped for.
Nevertheless, I absolutely loved the books. Just because I didn't get my happily ever after doesn't mean the books were bad. The writing is splendid, the relationship between the characters intricate and twisted, the plot ever-changing and unpredictable - what more could you want? (Well, in my case, more cliché. But I realise how that makes me sound, so I'll drop it.)

Either way, if you haven't read the books, you should. First of all, they've already turned the first book into a film which will come out in March, so the story will be discussed and it'll be hard to avoid, which means you might as well read the bloody books. Second of all, they're just really entertaining. There's even a hint of reprimand in them, comments on our current civilisation and the way we treat our people and our planet. (And third of all, I sacrificed three nights of sleep for this trilogy, so I wouldn't want my efforts gone to waste!)

Things that are wrong in this world Part 1

2012-02-15T23:13:00.000+01:00

There are many things that are absolutely horrible and wrong. I will tell you about a few of those and let you know why exactly they infuriate me.

"Being religious isn't cool. If you're a christian, you support child-molesting priests - if you're muslim, you're probably a terrorist or a chauvinist or both." - This is directed to all atheists who think they're much smarter than everyone else and shove that in people's faces.

Well, fuck you too. Just because your life is really reasonable and you tell yourself there is no higher power and you don't have to believe in anything doesn't mean it's wrong to have faith. It's quite funny actually, because everyone believes in something. Some people believe in the Dow Jones, some people believe in free will and self-determination, some people believe in Unicorns. And some people have the balls to say "Yeah, I believe in God and I pray." I think that deserves respect.
However, those individuals usually find themselves bombarded with questions: "But the ten commandments are so old fashioned, you can't possibly ask today's people to stick to them?!" "You do realise that the Quran doesn't actually tell muslims to blow themselves up, right?"
Don't those people realise that their determination to make other people agree with them is exactly what the Catholic Church did during the crusades?
I won't get into a theological argument now, all I want to say is that it's sad to see some individuals wanting to make other people's lives worse by arguing away their faith with "logic" and "reason". I would love to believe in God and be certain that everything has a purpose. Maybe I do. I don't believe in coincidences and I refuse to believe that there is no higher power. How can you walk through the streets and not believe in a higher power? There's so much love and beauty everywhere, it's just a matter of attitude I suppose.
I know quite a few people who consider themselves atheists. And among those people are a handful that really annoy me, because they literally look down on people that are religious. As though they pity them! I consider it incredibly condescending when I see someone make fun of another's views, just because they don't agree on certain things. Start minding your own business! If people are religious and they're happy, don't try and take that away from them. That's a really selfish thing to do. Go plant a tree or adopt a puppy, or read the Bible and educate yourself. Because you know what's even worse than narrow-mindedness? Unfounded accusations and arguments that lack facts. If you want to kick a Catholic's ass in an discussion, you better have some psalms at the ready...

Anyway, before I start sounding like a mental tree-hugger - All I would like is for people to actually live up to "Freedom of Religion". If you don't believe in something, that's great, and people should accept that. But you should also accept that other people find comfort in faith.
That's my rant for the day, now I can go back to being peaceful and harmonic.

Some music for y'all!

2012-02-14T02:24:00.000+01:00

So I listened to iTunes on shuffle mode and re-discovered a lot of songs I really really enjoy. So here's a selection of five songs that I hope you'll like. (But if you don't, that's fine too I suppose.)

This is just pure awesomeness.

My dad gave me a Kansas album ages ago and this is definitely my favourite song.

I adore Sia, and I really like this song because of the lyrics. Listen closely!

I first heard this when I watched David Lynch's "Wild At Heart" which was a slightly disturbing movie to watch in class at 14 or 15 years of age (talk about responsible teachers, eh?) I finally got my hands on a DVD of that movie and strangely enough, I really like it. And the song - don't think it needs any further comment!

You see, I can't make up my mind about Björk. There's something I really don't like about her and her music but this song is extremely catchy - so after hearing it once I had to listen to it over and over again.

Aaand then there's this one. This song will forever be one of my favourite songs of all time.

While we're talking about "The Police" - less than a month until the Sting concert! Excitement!

So, listen to them and enjoy. If the videos don't work for you because

they can't be seen in your country, here are the titles:

Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son

Sia - Academia

Chris Isaak - Wicked Game

Björk - It's Oh So Quiet

The Police - Message In A Bottle

The Devil Inside

2012-02-12T17:42:00.000+01:00

So on friday my friend and I had the glorious idea of watching this movie. We took our seats and I knew I would regret it. The thing is, movies like that scare the hell out of me. All this eerie supernatural stuff - especially this whole exorcism thing - really gets to me. Much more than gore and splatter movies. And yet I still regularly find myself buying cinema tickets for movies that'll scare me.
Sure, all the tough guys amongst you will laugh and say that those movies aren't scary at all, but I am really easily scared. One time when I got home at night, I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye and it startled me so much I literally yelped. Turns out it was my own shadow.
But yes, anyway, the movie: Like the Paranormal Activity movies, they want to make it look like it was all filmed with handheld cameras. There are some faults in the movie (like the fact that a conversation is being filmed from two angles while there's only one guy with a camera) but they really make up for it when it comes to the possessed people. I'm sorry, but it really creeps me out when people crawl up the walls and break their bones and all that...
In retrospect the movie probably wasn't that scary, but seeing as you're constantly on edge and waiting for the next thing to happen, added to the fact that you're in a large dark room with no real means of escaping the movie - that does make it kind of scary, don't you think? All I can say is that if I hadn't gone out to town after the movie and consumed one too many Jägermeister shots, I probably would have had nightmares.
So if you're into movies like this, especially if you enjoyed the Paranormal Activity movies, I suggest you go check this out. I think the fact that it shows the Vatican's School for Exorcism kind of makes it worth it already, but that's just my own opinion. If you've seen it, let me know what you thought!

How to make bread rolls

2012-02-09T16:37:00.000+01:00

I opened my favourite recipe book today and stumbled upon a pretty simple way to make bread rolls.
So I'm gonna show you how to do it!

What you need:

400gr of flour (type 405)
20gr of yeast
30ml olive oil
200ml of water
two pinches of salt

Mix it all up in a bowl until you have a dough. If it's too sticky, add more flour, if it's too dry, add more water. Make small bread rolls and put them on a plate. Cover it up with a towel and put it somewhere warm, like on top of a radiator. Leave it there for 60 minutes.

While you're waiting for the 60 minutes to pass, pre-heat the oven to 250°C. Put the bread-rolls in for about 10 minutes. Check every once in a while though and take them out when you think they're done.

And there you have them! Really easy so don't be shy to try it.

You, Me & Charlie

2012-02-08T04:27:00.000+01:00

Hello there.
Today, I'm going to recommend a website to you guys. It's called You, Me & Charlie. What it is? That's a bit hard to explain... It's kind of like this huge space where loads of people can contribute to. There's book recommendations, daily inspiration, great playlists and a bunch of other stuff you'll find yourself enjoying. There's interesting stories, quotes, great videos and generally inspiring people.

Now, the next item on my "to-tell" list is about ACTA. If you're familiar with SOPA/PIPA, you've probably heard about ACTA. You might also know that there's a protest against ACTA on the 11th of February (Saturday). In fact, the protests are happening all over Europe! There's one in Saarbrücken I think and there's definitely one in Luxembourg. So if you have nothing better to do on Saturday between 12.30 and 2pm, come along to Place d'Armes and watch a bunch of freezing people. Or count how many people show up in Guy Fawkes masks or have cardboard signs with memes on them. Either way, should be worth it.

And to top this random post off, I'll even post a couple of pictures. You see, having younger sisters means that sooner or later, they'll sit you down and braid your hair. And if you're not careful, your hair will look all wavy, which is really hard to get used to if you have straight hair. I know the quality of the picture could be better, but my camera's health is not exactly improving and now it's slowly starting to lose control over the auto-focus function. I really need to replace it at some point.

As it's now 4.30am over here, I'll try and get some sleep.

Why the Super Bowl reminds me of my math exam.

2012-02-06T02:59:00.001+01:00

The night of the Super Bowl is one of the only nights when people in my time zone are awake at the same time as me. Seeing as there's not really all that much to do at 2am, I decided to watch it too. Here's why it reminds me of my final math exam in school:

- Everyone around me seems to understand what's going on apart from me.
According to my facebook stream, I'm the only one that has no clue whatsoever about American Football. (Okay, not entirely true, there are quite a few that only watch it for the commercials and the halftime show).
When we were handed our exams, I stared at the page and I could read what it said, but I didn't really understand anything. So you can imagine my horror when everyone around me picked up their pens and started scribbling away.

- The longer I stare at it, the less sense it makes.
Seriously, what was the deal with that halftime show? It started out with a Spartan theme, then there were cheerleaders, then gospel singers. Plus the weird combination of artists - Madonna, LMFAO, Nicki Minaj and Cee Lo Green? Any chance I had of grasping the rules of the game went out the window after that Halftime Show because I'm still trying to process what I saw and can therefore not pay attention to the german commentators explaining the rules.
Same in my math exam - I read through the problems, but the longer I thought about them, the less I knew what was going on. By the time I read through the last problem, my brain had already melted a little.

- A lot of people seem to think it's a big deal.
Okay, so the Super Bowl is as important to Americans as the final of the Euro Cup is for Europe I guess. But why do people over here take such an interest in it?? It's beyond me.
As for the exam, I knew there was no way in hell I'd pass it because I didn't care enough to actually study for it and I thought to myself "Hey, I want to study Religious Studies, I'm not going to need maths anyway." Everyone around me - including the people now studying Literature or languages - was freaking out for days, saying how utterly important that stupid exam was. Hm. Curious.

Moral of the story:
There are some things in life I won't ever be able to truly appreciate. Maths, the Super Bowl (and the Oscar's for that matter) are a couple of things on my list. I can sort of see why some people might take an interest in them, but I'm not one of them.
On a different note, can someone please, please explain to me what that Halftime Show was all about?? I'm still confused. So very confused. I'll have to re-watch it tomorrow morning to see if I can make more sense of it.

By the way - According to my stats, most of my readers are from the USA. No offense to you guys, I suppose if you understand the rules of American Football it's really interesting. But I don't. So I don't get it.

Recent Activity In The Food Department

2012-02-03T05:46:00.000+01:00

I am slowly but steadily trying to expand my knowledge of all things involving the preparation of food. I made sushi for the first time for example!

The shape and size was not what it should have been but for a first try, I was more than happy with the result. The cucumber ones are the only ones I eat, I tried the ones with raw fish but the texture kind of grossed me out....

Then today I made Nutella-filled chocolate muffins. Yeah, they probably have 5.000 calories a piece but they're heavenly, just like every other Nutella-filled or -topped thing.

And last but not least I finally found a pizza dough recipe that's not disgusting! Yay! Easy to make and very tasty. To all those that are confused by my pizza topping/s: yeah, this was intentional. That's how I eat my pizza. No cheese. Just mushrooms.

Also, I would just like to take the time to complain about the weather. I realise that everyone's been doing that and you're probably sick of it but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, why is it so cold? I hate it! The roads are all icy so I keep slipping, you can't spend more than 2 minutes outside without frost accumulating on your face and they're predicting temperatures of up to -16°C!! It's madness... Sometimes I wish I could hibernate. Imagine going to sleep at the end of summer, waking up for christmas and New Year's, going back to sleep and then waking up again when temperatures rise above +15°C. Aaah, if only that were possible. Well, anyway, it's 5.45am - good night America, good morning eastern Europe!

The Melancholia Experience.

2012-01-30T23:48:00.000+01:00

I've watched Melancholia exactly two times. The first time was in late August. My friend and I were walking across the annual fun-fair, watching other people pay a ridiculous amount of money to go on rides. After we got food and started to get a bit bored, we walked to the closest cinema - Utopia - to check out which movies they were showing. It was sunny and bright outside, way too warm and about 4 in the afternoon so we figured we'd be the only ones in there anyway. After debating which movie title sounded the most promising, we bought tickets for Melancholia and took our seats in the completely empty theater.
After the movie finished I didn't know whether I felt like crying or sitting in a corner, hugging my knees. If you haven't seen Melancholia, don't read on because this might contain spoilers.
The first ten minutes of the movie were really weird. That whole super-slow-mo thing with the apocalyptic images, along with the music... But then the actual movie started and I was absolutely fascinated by it. Such beautiful images, brilliant acting and a really weird story. My friend thought Part 1 was boring but he's polish so he says a lot of things just to annoy me. I thought Kirsten Dunst did an amazing job. Part 1 is absolutely necessary to explain about the girls' background, their weird family and of course Justine's depression.
When I read the synopsis on wikipedia a day or so later, it said that Von Trier wanted to show how depressed people respond differently to stress than "normal" people and I think he did an extremely good job. In Part 1, Claire is obviously dominant, pushing her little sister and making sure she keeps up with being "normal". In Part 2, Justine takes over, remaining absolutely calm while her sister runs around like a headless chicken. It's heartbreaking to see how detached she is.
I was shaken to the core because the movie made the end of the world seem like such an inevitable, sad (albeit highly unlikely) thing to happen. In the end, we're all alone. We won't be surrounded by our friends, if we're lucky we'll have a couple of family members with us. It's very symbolic in a way, although I might be over-interpreting things here.

I said I watched the movie twice. Once in summer and once this weekend, at 5am, smoking about half a pack of cigarettes while it played. It was weirder in summer, coming out of that depressing movie into the bright sunlight of a late summer afternoon, the shrieks and silly tunes from the fun-fair audible in the background. But it was more terrifying two nights ago at 5am, when no one else was awake and I was sleep deprived.

If you haven't watched it, you should. You might hate it, think that it's over the top and weird, that it's a silly movie or that it's to apocalyptic and obscure. I still think you should have seen it at least once, if only to see Kirsten Dunst's best performance to date.

"Life is only on earth. And not for long."

07 - A song that reminds me of a certain event... Hm. This one: "As If We Never Said Goodbye" by Barbra Streisand.

Pictorial Impressions of this weekend.

2012-01-29T22:04:00.000+01:00

.... This explains why I sleep so little. Don't worry though, this isn't my daily dose,

otherwise my heart would have given up a long time ago.

I found these and decided I had to try them. To all non-german-speakers - they're Curry-Ketchup flavoured. And they're absolutely delicious. I love Ketchup-flavoured crisps, they're the only ones I eat.

An extremely enthusiastic leaning-against-the-sofa photo. (I tried smiling, but I hate pictures of me where I smile so I always look depressed.)

My sister on the train. I love trains, but they're bloody expensive in Germany, compared to Luxembourg. That's an unusual thing to say as some of you might know because usually, everything's cheaper outside of Luxembourg. Only exceptions - Booze, Cigarettes, Red Bull (weird), Public Transport, Petrol.

Saarland is voting again soon because their government kind of crumbled to pieces. So when I was in town I saw all these booths of the different political parties, trying to win people over. I marched straight up to the Pirate-Party and asked if I could become a member. I wanted to sign up online ages ago but I didn't know which form applied to me since I'm such a nomad and switch countries all the time. They handed me the correct one and now I should be an official member of the Pirate-Party Germany soon.

Yeah, I know, I didn't post yesterday so I missed out a day on the Song Challenge - I'll post twice today to make up for it! But first, Day 06 - A Song that reminds you of somewhere. "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" by Otis Redding

Upcoming Games I Have to Buy.

2012-01-28T04:25:00.000+01:00

Hello dear internet users!

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine about upcoming PlayStation3 Games

and he showed me three that I absolutely have to buy.

The first one is obvious.

I find that there is nothing more soothing than running over pixelated pedestrians on a sunny afternoon. Of course, they won't be quite as pixelated in GTA V anymore, but you catch my drift. I love the simplicity of GTA - run around stealing cars, disobey as many laws as you can and drive around in circles. Yay!

The next one is even more awesome:

Alice: Madness Returns. Violence in Wonderland.

The only thing better than Alice in Wonderland is AiW with knives. Maybe you don't share this point of view but after watching the trailers, I knew I would have to buy this game. As they say: "Madness isn't a state of a mind. It's a place. Let's go there." And I'm all up for it. (Though nothing in the whole universe beats the sheer fabulousness of Carroll's "Through the Looking-Glass", which remains my favourite book ever.)

And last but not least:

Let me break it down for you:

You're a cheerleader.

In a deserted highschool.

Killing zombies.

With a chainsaw.

Now that's a plot if I ever saw one.

I mean sure, Skyrim is great and I personally think I make a fantastic dragon-born, but I'm not sure killing dragons can compare to AiW with knives or zombie-killing cheerleaders in the long run.

Now, before you run off thinking I'm some weirdo - let me explain. I'm a very peaceful human being, I don't like arguments and try to create pleasant atmospheres wherever I go. But every once in a while, I feel like driving an animated car over animated people. Or sticking chainsaws into zombies. I think it counterbalances a lot of pent up frustration. The key is not to succumb to excessive behaviour. I don't think sitting around all day playing PS3 is good in any way, but seeing as I have a lot of free time on my hand due to not sleeping a lot, I should get to be violent in a virtual surrounding, right? Exactly.

Song Challenge - Day 05: A song that reminds me of someone. Easy.

"Message In A Bottle" by The Police.

A Photobooth Documentation of Sisterhood

2012-01-27T00:02:00.000+01:00

Going through my photobooth pictures, I found loads of me and my sister. Whenever I have my laptop with me when I see her, she wants to take millions of pictures... We don't look much alike, I know. But I love her to bits.

About half a year ago, me obviously being extremely sexy.

These were actually from her birthday almost a year ago, that's why she looks so über-excited.

...And the most recent one. She's wearing my glasses, I'm wearing her fur-cap (no, it's not my hair)

Seeing as there are hardly pictures of me on this blog, I thought there'd be little harm in sharing these.

At this point I would also like to say that although we have our differences and I don't see her a lot, this little girl means everything to me. So, little sis, should you ever see this (which I doubt): You're annoying but I love you.

God, enough with the emotional stuff, let's move on to the Song Challenge. Day 4 - A Song That Makes Me Sad. Would have to say that it's "Hero" by Regina Spektor.

The Roads Are No Longer Safe!

2012-01-26T00:43:00.000+01:00

.... Okay, that's a lie. But I am planning on doing my driver's license soon, and when that moment comes you should try to avoid crossing paths with me.
You see, I never wanted to do my driver's license. Had my university plans worked out, I would be in Dublin or London right now, but seeing as universities seem to think passing Maths is a requirement for Religious Studies, I was forced to stay in Luxembourg. Anyway, I figured that if I were to live in a large city, why bother doing my driver's license? Now that I'm faced with the high possibility of moving to the Netherlands for university, I had to reconsider. I love trains and busses, but I hate wasting time, so taking the car there and back seems like a sensible idea.
I am, however, absolutely certain that I would make a horrid driver.
Why, you ask? Well, for one, I don't get the whole concept of driving. It seems weird to sit in a metal box and follow other metal boxes on a stone road. And changing gears and all that? God, who came up with that?! Moreover, I tend to daydream and lose focus, especially when I'm thinking about a book I recently read or I'm doing my brain-theater (which consists of me imagining extensive scenarios and how I would behave in such scenarios, so as to be prepared for all situations life could possibly throw at me). Then of course, there's the problem of my virtually non-existent and very infrequent sleeping pattern. Every day, I fall asleep at random. I fell asleep in school, I even fell asleep in one of my final exams. I fell asleep in lectures, I constantly fall asleep in busses and I've been known to fall asleep in night-clubs, despite sitting next to the speakers.
You see, handing me a driver's license would probably not be the smartest thing. Everyone tells me I'll get used to it once I actually start driving and get the hang of it and I pray to God that's true.
I shall keep you informed about the driver's license process and should I ever actually get one, I'll let you know which roads I'm planning on taking so you can lock up your loved ones and stay far away.

Oh, before I forget, it's Day 03 of the Song Challenge. A song that makes me happy - I can only think of one! When I was in 8th grade, we had to do a presentation in music class about a song that we like. I chose this one and was laughing the entire time during my presentation, along with everyone else in the class. I can't really remember why, but ever since it's been my "Happy-Song". I present to you: Trolle/Siebenhaar's "Sweet Dogs"

2012-01-25T00:20:00.000+01:00

To start things off - it's day 02 in the 30-Day Song Challenge. "Least Favourite Song"... Well, I guess it'll have to be a tie between "Umbrella" by Rihanna and "365 Days" by Aura Dione. Hate those songs, absolutely despise them.

After sleeping too little once again and running around from 7am onwards, I pretty much passed out at 4pm and got most of my sleep already. It's a vicious circle, really - I don't sleep enough, try to compensate with too much caffeine the next day, can't go back to sleep till after 5am again and so on.
Usually that doesn't really bother me, seeing as I currently don't have any courses to attend or any sort of schedule to go by, but for a week now I've become restless. You see, I'm suffering from writer's block. Over the past few weeks - nay, months! I've started writing what should be a short-story. This short-story is now no longer short and just keeps on growing but about a week ago I couldn't even put together one single coherent sentence anymore. This becomes increasingly frustrating so I just thought I'd write about my writer's block because it's quite literally all I can think of at this time of day. I read through the pages I already have and get to the end but can't seem to continue it from there. Then again, I must admit that I'm usually most inspired when sobering up from excessive drinking. Odd, I know, but that space of time between blissful intoxication and the depressing clarity appeals to me. Maybe because I don't over-think every single sentence? The thing is - I have the plot of the story in my head. I know roughly how things are going to play out but I can't seem to find my way there. It's like entering a supermarket and knowing exactly what you need to buy (which happens rarely enough) but then discovering that they changed all the shelves around. It's horrid! So, if anyone has any enlightening advice to give, bring it on. In the meantime I'll go back to counting and re-arranging my books. Sometimes I sort them by author, then by title, then another time by colour. What sounds dreadfully boring to most people is actually one of my preferred pastimes! There'll be more of me tomorrow.

Musically speaking.

2012-01-24T00:45:00.000+01:00

Hello internet! What's up? I'm having a pretty good day today despite two hours of sleep and a headache. My fingers are pretty much back to normal and I crossed two borders (Lux-Germany // Germany/Lux) today, which always heightens my mood for some reason.
Anyway, I have loads of music stuff for you. So, first of all, I think you should download the album "Post-Hummus" by Fog Digging Sessions. Let me explain: Fog Digging Sessions is a project that comes up with spontaneous and frankly random songs. They're letting you download the album for free right here and I listened to it and the songs are actually really fun. They recorded the songs at Bonus Noise here in Luxembourg, so go on and check out all those pages and share the love and stuff.

Next on the list is this 30-Day Song Challenge I found on Anna's blog. Check the link with the list of tasks here! Day 1 wants me to show you my favourite song. Okay, I'm sorry, but how can one possibly determine one's favourite song? I decided that at the moment, Florence & The Machine's "Cosmic Love" is my favourite. Here's a video if you're curious:

That's it for tonight.

John Green - Part 1

2012-01-22T22:08:00.000+01:00

I know I've been silent for a while, I know... On friday in town I managed to get two of my fingers caught in a metal door - left index and middle finger. Being left-handed, that kind of sucked. They were all blue and swollen and I couldn't move them so I had to get x-rays done etc. Good news: Nothing's broken and I can sort of feel them again! Which also means I can type again.
This post will be a longer one though, I hope that makes up for the silence.
Today I'm going to talk about one of my favourite authors. He has yet to disappoint me, so here goes:

John Green

John Green wrote "Paper Towns", "An Abundance Of Katherines", "Looking For Alaska", "The Fault In Our Stars", and "will grayson, will grayson" (together with David Levithan)

(I'll be writing about the last two on that list in a new post.)

I loved all those books. I read "Looking For Alaska" first and it really moved me. It's about a kind of dorky guy (Miles) who falls in love with this stunning girl named Alaska. She's all over the place all the time, hard to get through to and the epitome of coolness. Halfway through the book, she dies. Everyone says it was suicide but Miles won't believe in it and spends the rest of the book trying to get to the bottom of the secret that was Alaska, hoping to find answers concerning her sudden death.

It's a book about life experience, frustration and love. It will also make you think about whether knowing the truth is always better than just accepting the official story. I guess this book appealed to me a lot because I could relate to Alaska (a name her parents let her choose because they couldn't agree on a name for their daughter) seeing as I'm usually all over the place too.

"An Abundance of Katherines" is the story of Colin Singleton's quest to enlightenment. Being a 17-year old child prodigy, the only thing he still wants to experience is an epiphany. He is also obsessed with the name "Katherine" (spelled exactly like that, not in any other way) and has dated 19 girls with that name in his life. After Katherine 19 breaks up with him, his friend takes him on a roadtrip to get over the whole thing. They end up in Gutshot, Tennessee, working for a factory that produces tampon strings. Quite an odd storyline, I'll give you that, but it's definitely worth reading. Exploring the mind of Colin is fascinating, even though there are loads of references to maths, which is probably my least favourite thing in the world. This, again, is a story about life experience. However, I think that an even more important aspect of the story is getting over your own narrow-mindedness. Broadening your horizon to realise that your life probably isn't that bad, you've just been living it wrong.

"Paper Towns"

This book really made me think. It's about Quentin, a senior in high school who is about to graduate and his obsession with his next door neighbor Margo. He has been in love with her since he first saw her, but after they found the body of a man who killed himself in a park, they went their separate ways and never really spoke again. Until one odd night, when Margo knocks on Quentin's window and asks him to join her in a night of pranking. They go on a revenge rampage aimed at Margo's (ex)boyfriend Jason and end up breaking into Sea World. Quentin starts to hope that, maybe, they'll start hanging out more after this. What he didn't expect was Margo's disappearance the next day. She seems to have run away. Wanting to find her, he looks for clues in her room, finally convincing his friends to help him find her. He is absolutely convinced that she needs to be saved, and that it is his duty to do so. There are references to Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" - a book that plays a huge part in the book.

The group end up ditching their own high school graduation and drive for hours to find Margo in a so-called "Paper Town" (Fake towns that mapmakers made up to see if people copied their work).

When they find her, it turns out she didn't want to be saved. She's actually quite a bitch and extremely pretentious in her "oh-so-mature-and-sarcastic" view of the world.

I guess this book made me think because I've also thought about what it would be like to just go away. Not that I ever could, I'm way too attached to my life, but sometimes I wish I could just say "fuck it", not care about anyone and leave. But that's just the thing - how horribly selfish is it to just leave like that? People worrying, looking for you... It wouldn't seem right. But like I said, the book made me think. I read it two or three times actually, for some reason I found it really haunting. Personal opinion of course, but that's what I'm here to talk about, right? Personal opinions.

I'll make a second post with the other two books soon, I thought that five book-reviews might be a little too much for a single post.

Look at what the postman brought!

2012-01-18T00:47:00.001+01:00

FINALLY! After about two months, the tickets I ordered have finally found their way to my mailbox. I can't wait for this concert, hopefully the 12th of March will come soon. Presale started on the 26th of November at 10am, so I got up at 9 to make sure I'd still get tickets. I sure hope it pays off, but from what I've seen on youtube etc, Sting is really good live. Again: I can't wait.

Speaking of things I ordered on the internet, I sent another order to amazon today. It's funny, whenever I order something on amazon, I practically sit in front of the door until the parcel arrives. I ordered the first season of "Sherlock" which is about the most amazing TV series I've seen. Seriously, if you haven't watched it yet, you definitely should. It's set in the 21st Century, which gives the entire thing a completely different atmosphere. I think it might just be my favourite adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories so far.

All things colourful.

2012-01-16T20:23:00.001+01:00

So I found a few lighters in my room the other day... I think once you can make rainbows with your lighters, you should stop buying new ones.

My new lamp thing. My little sister picked it out so there was pretty much no way around buying it!

...aaaand a couple of pictures of my walls.

There will be a proper post coming up soon but the lack of pictures lately annoyed me so I decided to upload these.

Sometimes I get tired of things. And then you get the following...

2012-01-15T04:46:00.001+01:00

You know, with this whole 2012 thing going on, I spent a lot of time thinking about certain things. I don't believe that world is going to end in december, but what I do believe is that we're heading towards a new era. Everything seems to be coming apart - dictatorships are overthrown, the unstable construction our modern world was built on (a.k.a "financial market") is slowly but steadily collapsing, more and more people want to voice their thoughts. We are unbelievably privileged because we have almost unlimited access to information, we live in a wolrd where you can say what you think. The internet and blogs made this a lot easier.

What strikes me lately is that there seem to be an awful lot of people around that want to change things. Maybe I just happen to be surrounded by tree-huggers and revolutionists (which is in no way supposed to be offensive - I've hugged trees), but fact is that a lot of us want to take action and change the course of things. If you take a look at the political situation in central and western Europe, you'll notice that a lot of countries focus their policies on an older generation. Sure, people aged over 60 are more likely to go vote than 20-year olds, so in order to win an election you have to aim for the demographic group that represents the majority of voters. But times have changed. Trying to win an election in order to have four years of power whilst disregarding any issues that are further away than the next full moon won't do anymore. Maybe it's time to remember the great visionaries of post-war Europe, like Churchill for example. He wasn't concerned with winning over the public and thereby betraying his beliefs - hell, he wasn't even re-elected after WW2 was over. Did that stop him from voicing his thoughts, from trying to steer Europe in a better direction? No, it didn't. I get so bloody frustrated when I listen to politicians today. All they've talked about for the past two years (and even before that) is Money. It's such a fictional concept, too. Countries lend eachother money that does not, in fact, exist, miscalculate because they don't give a shit about consequences and then everyone starts panicking and predicting an inflation. It's getting kind of old. I'm sick of hearing that I'll have a tough time finding a job, I'm sick of hearing about this irrational power struggle that has about as much foundation as a sandcastle. Whatever happened to focusing on things that actually matter to society? We're supposed to be a Union. I'm not just talking about Europe anymore, I'm talking about pretty much every country in the western civilisation. We have to stop looking out for ourselves all the time and start trying to come up with a new plan, because the way things are looking now, we'll need one. "Why should I care, i'ts not like I can change anything.." I hear you say. Well, fuck you and your bad attitude. If everyone thinks that way, we'll never get anything done. Every great act in history was brought on by a group - hell, a legion - of people standing united, fighting for what they believe in. What society teaches us today though is this horrible mentality of only looking out for what's good for you. I think this needs to stop, and it doesn't have to stop ten years from now or twelve months from now - we need to get our act together soon. You can't change the world overnight, it needs preparation and patience. Everything that happens on this planet has something to do with you sooner or later. What some people don't seem to realise is that everything you do has a direct impact on your surroundings. It's a scientific fact that the structure of water particles changes depending on whether you say nice things to it or insult it. Sounds silly, but it's true. So instead of thinking that nothing you do will ever matter to the world, you might want to try wrapping your head around the fact that everything you do has an impact on the world, even if it's a tiny one that no one will ever consciously notice.

I haven't figured out yet what I can or should do. There are endless possibilites to get involved in things, so it's quite hard to decide. I'm working on it though and I fully intend on playing my part. If there is one thing I can say about myself it's that I can be a pretty stubborn individual so once I set my mind on something, I just ignore all the "no's" until I hear "yes". And yeah, I might come across like an insane person, but that's okay. I think everyone needs a purpose in life and I've always wanted to make things better in some way. I also think that knowledge is the key to doing things right, so I'm trying to read as much as I can, about anything that falls into my hands. In the end, it all comes down to what we choose to do. If you're educated about certain things but you choose not act, that's different to being in the dark about everything and blindly doing things because you don't know any better. So if you'll allow me to give you some advice: Go look for information, cause it's not gonna come running to you. Find out about things, no matter how absurd or trivial they are. There's no such thing as useless knowledge. Okay, granted, I'm not sure that knowing about the extensive history of perfume production will help me in my (extremely modest) quest to changing the world bit by bit, but there you have it.

Any thoughts on this? Feedback is highly appreciated and I doubt that I'm the only person that has thoughts about these subjects. So fire away.

Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

2012-01-11T15:14:00.001+01:00

I went through my bookshelf yesterday and found this book. I can't believe I haven't talked about it yet!

I picked it up about half a year ago. I do judge books by their covers so this immediately caught my eye. It's "The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet" by Reif Larsen. It's a story about a young boy - Tecumseh Sparrow Spivet - who lives on a farm with his conceived older sister, his usually silent father and his failed scientist of a mother. Instead of doing what most boys his age would do, T.S. spends his time drawing things. He makes scientifically accurate drawings of beetles, birds and insects which he then anonymously submits to scientific magazines. He used to have an older brother, but due to an unfortunate accident that involved a rifle and two young boys fooling around, his brother died.

His life drastically changes when T.S. finds out he was nominated for and won a prestigious award, which is to be handed to him during a formal ceremony in Washington DC - on the other side of the country. Not wanting his parents to know what he's up to, he musters all his courage and leaves home, planning on train-hopping his way to Washington. On the way he meets nice hobos, scary guys in Chicago and documents every little thing he sees. As you can see from the pictures, the book is filled with drawings on the side, which makes it a very interesting read.

As far as the story goes, I loved it - until I reached the last couple of chapters. Larsen kind of went over-the-top there. The story lost a lot of credibility, but I still enjoyed reading it. (Which is largely due to the awesome drawings and the smart comments T.S. makes).

If you're looking for a different kind of book that'll entertain you and teach you a LOT of stuff about beetles, trains and maps, this is exactly right for you. (I recommend it to everyone else too though.)

Belief

2012-01-10T15:42:00.001+01:00

Hey everyone, I know I've been quiet the past few days. After that gig on friday night that I told you about, I slipped and hit my head so badly I had a concussion so I've been feeling slightly off. Now I'm all good though.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time thinking lately. I sometimes have phases where I constantly drift off into space, I can barely focus on anything. During those phases I picture my future life, remember half-forgotten moments and generally ponder questions everyone thinks about at some point in their life.
What I spent most of my time thinking about is the power of belief. Not necessarily religious belief, just the power of the mind. But while we're on religion, I might as well start there. I don't necessarily consider myself a religious person. I'm not an atheist, I do believe that there's some sort of higher power, I just don't believe this higher power floats around on a cloud with a long white beard, judging everything we do. I like to believe that someone does watch over us and "arranges" things in our lives differently, so as to challenge us and maybe make us think about our actions. However, I do admire people that strongly believe in God. I don't care which religion people choose to follow, as long as they don't do so blindly. There is hardly anything I respect more than someone who says "I have thought long and hard about this and I have come to the conclusion that catholicism (for example) stands for everything I believe and want to see in other people." People who blindly follow a religion because their family does are a whole different matter.
What I absolutely hate though, are people that say "How can you believe in that? It's not real, it's all in your head". Well FUCK YOU. What is more real than the things our mind comes up with? We process everything in our head, so why do some things have to be less real than others? If you believe in something so strongly that you know it's true, who the fuck can tell you otherwise?
If you believe that you can change your life, that you can be happier and free yourself from some of your more depressing thoughts, then what should stop you? Doubt usually stops you. So stop doubting and questioning everything, throw reason aside and just believe in something until your mind aches. It doesn't even matter what you believe in, whether you choose to believe in a God or you just simply believe in yourself. Believe in U.F.O's, Atlantis or love, believe in the power of music, homeopathy or mathematics, it doesn't matter. I just think that we all need something in our lives that holds such a special place in our minds that it can't be rationalised or explained logically to others. You need something like that because rationality and logic have their limits, belief does not.
If you only believe in things you can explain with reason and logic, you will come across someone who can turn your argumentation upside down. That's why it's so essential to have something you can't explain, because no one can come along and throw counter-arguments in your face until you crumble.

I firmly believe that all the bad things that ever happened to me happened for a reason. I have learned so much from every single experience and it's made me who I am today. Am I proud of the person I've turned out to be so far? Yeah. But that's only due to the fact that I've made peace with the things that happened and believed they were meant to happen. If I told myself that all those things were unfair, not my fault, damaged me or whatever the fuck else, I'd be really unhappy. But I believe in myself and I believe life has mainly positive things in store.

So there, those are my views on that particular subject. As usual I have a lot of trouble writing down my train of thought in a way that might eventually makes sense to other people but I tried my best.

Me vs. IKEA

2012-01-05T23:45:00.001+01:00

Today I had the lovely task of putting together two IKEA shelves. I figured with the right equipment it couldn't be too hard so I came well-prepared!

Of course the first page of the instructions wanted to break my will-power by telling me I couldn't do it on my own. Well guess what IKEA, fuck you! I did it by myself and totally feel like a real badass now. Hah!

It turned out looking pretty much like it should. I payed less attention to what I was doing while building the second one and when I was done, there were a few wooden screws poking out in some places... Instead of taking it all apart and doing it all over again though, I just sawed them off. I also had to use a hammer instead of a screwdriver in some places because raw violence was needed. I guess you could take the IKEA shelves as a metaphor for life: You follow the instructions as good as you can, but sometimes you have to cheat a little or think outside the box to get what you want.

Oh dear god, life metaphors and IKEA furniture? I must be going round the bend. Let me tell you about something else!

To all you people in Luxembourg, I know what you should do tomorrow. You should go to Exit07 at around 8pm for LUMI's album release! E-minor, Yehan Jehan & Antimatter People and Hadrian will be playing too. Entrance is 7€ as far as I'm aware, I could be wrong though. Anyway, it'll definitely be worth your time and money because they are all amazing at what they do. If you don't know who LUMI is, here's their first single, "Curtains" which you can get on iTunes and so on.

That is all from my side for now.

Poetic Staircases

2012-01-04T00:07:00.001+01:00

I apologise profusely for not being able to show you any new pictures. My camera decided to start dying on me after four years now and until I can find the funds to have it fixed/buy a new one, I'll have to make do with older pictures. These ones were taken in a city hall in a small town in Germany where my dad had to go for a work thing. I was bored and discovered this awesome staircase. Courier is my favourite font and although these phrases don't make a hell lot of sense (like most artsy stuff) I really liked it.

Today I finally left the house for the first time since I got back from New Year's Eve. The weather has been absolutely horrendous here but today I started running low on cigarettes, so I decided to try and take on the outside world. It's not even snowing or anything, it's just raining all the time. Most of the time it's not even rain but that undefined humidity that seems to come from all directions, slowly creeping into your clothes and eventually leaving you soaking wet. Ew.

From what I could see, the year 2012 hasn't brought that many changes so far. Shocking, I know! Now that we've reached the year of doom, I sort of expected dramatic things to happen. The ground opening up, spilling lava down the streets, that sort of thing. Apparently I'm just in the wrong place though. In Arkansas, tons of Blackbirds just fell from the sky on the 1st of January. As in, they just dropped dead all at once, which is pretty creepy if you ask me. Then of course you will have heard about the earthquake close to Japan. These things probably would have happened anyway, not matter the year, but of course all the conspirators out there take it as a sign that the WORLD IS ENDING!!!! Personally I think it's bemusing but not alarming.

Okay so on the 1st of April the summer term at my new Uni starts. Pretty late, I know. I haven't decided what I'll study yet, but it'll probably be Catholic Theology. Now, before you go all atheist on my ass, let me tell you that I do not, in fact, consider myself a catholic. I'm just interested in religions and they don't have Religious Studies at that uni, so the options are rather limited. I hope I'm not the only non-religious person in that course, because I'm pretty sure my attitude could provoke a spontaneous exorcism with some of the more hardcore believers. I also attended catholic religion class in school until the very end because arguing with my teacher about the hypocrisy of the Vatican was extremely fun.

Anyway, I still have almost three full months before I start the course. Until then I will continue writing my short stories and other productive things like that. (Okay, I will probably end up playing Skyrim most of the time but that's a different story altogether...)

What are plans for this year? Of course a lot of you will go back to uni soon but what are your plans apart from that?

First post of 2012

2012-01-01T16:59:00.001+01:00

Hello everyone! First of all, I guess I have to say Happy New Year. I'm not quite sure how often I've said this in the last few hours but I'm pretty sure it was a lot.

I really wasn't in the mood to go out last night... Maybe because I only got about 1.5 hours of sleep the night before. To say I felt horrible would be an understatement. Personally I blame the ouzo which I drank for some reason. It's horrible stuff, really, but after a while it gets better. Anyway, I did go out yesterday, saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time, got burned by a stray firecracker and was hugged by random strangers wishing me a happy new year. (So basically, it was like any other NYE) Still, it was much, much more enjoyable than last year. I didn't have to go to the hospital for example! Last year I tripped down some stairs and had to go in for x-rays on the 1st of January, not exactly an enjoyable experience. Oh and it wasn't due to intoxication but due to my complete lack of coordination skills and an inexplicable habit of mine to wear high heels even though I always end up falling over.
Another good thing is that I had no hangover today, got about 9 hours of sleep and there's enough food in the house which means I don't have to go outside in this horrible weather, thank the heavens. The rest of the day shall be spent blissfully unproductive.

Now, I took a look at my personal experiences in 2011. There were good and bad things, "milestones" so to speak and let-downs. The overall feeling I get when I think of 2011 is rather weird. Yeah, I finished school, got my first tattoo and all that but I'm really quite glad 2011 is over. As for 2012, I have no idea what awaits me and where I'll end up. I'll be moving around quite a lot for university (summer term in a german uni, winter term in another country), I intend on reading more books from my "to-read-list" and I want to see some places I've never been to. I'll probably visit a friend in Warsaw during the Euro-Cup in summer, although I think I'll have to leave my Germany shirt at home.
I never really make New Year's Resolutions because I think it's a silly habit. Why do you need a certain date to change things about your life? There aren't that many things I want to change and I guess some of my goals in life will have to be achieved at a later point, not in 2012. This is the first year where absolutely nothing is certain yet. Last year I knew I'd finish school and start university, this year the only thing I'm certain of is my own birthday. You can't be certain of anything these days, not even the weather. Hell, we had 13°C last night. On the 31st December!! No snow in sight, only rain and rain and even more rain.
I sincerely hope that all of you will have a pleasant year with a lot of great things happening. I decided to make a list of things I WILL & WON'T do this year:

WON'T - Build a bunker in preparation of 21/12/12: Apocalypse? Seriously? I refuse to believe in it until it actually happens and I shall not take any precautionary measures whatsoever.

WILL - Try to see things in a positive light more often. I tried that over the past few months and it makes life so much easier. Someone pissed you off? Well that's probably because they're part of the 90% of people that are absolute idiots. General piece of advice: Always assume that everyone out there is an idiot. Most of the time your suspicions will be confirmed and when you find out that someone is not an idiot, you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's a win-win situation.

WON'T - Let the presence of spiders dictate my behaviour. Spiders scare me senseless and when I see a large one, I refuse to move. Mostly because they usually magically appear between me and the only door that leads out of the room, so I have no choice but to stay right where I am. I usually start throwing books or other things at the spider until I flatten it. Then I leave a note warning people about the spider carcass because even when they're dead, I still can't get near them without having every cell in my body shriek and beg me to retreat. I'll attempt to change that this year and I have been getting better at it. I figured out that even though spiders are horribly fast, I can still run faster. (Most of the time)

WILL - Avoid hairdressers. Over a year ago, I had one cut off most of my hair and have been trying to grow it back ever since. However, whenever I get lured into the den of an evil hairdresser and tell them to "Just cut the fucking tips please" I end up leaving with 5cm of my hair and a disgustingly large sum of money gone. This year they can try all they want, I shall resist the evil forces and their salons. What are kitchen scissors for, huh? (Okay, that most likely won't happen because I did try that once and it went horribly wrong.)

So I guess these sort of are New Year's Resolutions. Damn.

Before I leave you all to enjoy your hangovers and the inevitable boredom of 1st of January, I have this song to show you. Friends of mine made this the other day as a joke but I actually think it's really catchy. Cant get it out of my head anymore, try as I might. It'll be up on iTunes too at some point and there'll be a longer version of it, which I will of course link you to.

RK$X - We Bought The Night B**CH

Post Christmas Hysteria

2011-12-27T02:34:00.001+01:00

Ah, the christmas days are over. We ate a lot, we drank a lot, we wrapped and unwrapped tons of presents and some of us might avoid looking at themselves in the mirror for the next couple of weeks (like me for example, went a tad overboard with the dessert stuff this christmas...)
Are you happy with your presents? I certainly am! Got a book about the nine world religions for example, can't wait to read that. My sister gave me this lovely necklace, absolutely love it:

Now, we're only a few days away from NYE but right now, for a lot of people the most important thing is: SHOPPING. And it's meant to say SHOPPING because it's more intense than at any other point during the year. Want to return your christmas presents because you don't like them? Want to spend your christmas money on useless things you'll hate in a month? Want to get rid of all your gift cards in one day by frantically looking for something you might one day be able to use? Then now's the time! As all the shops open again on the 27th, the amount of people swarming the streets is quite epic. I myself will join the merriment and step on people's feet while trying to find a way through the solid wall of flushed people. (They're flushed because a) It's way too warm for this time of year but people still insist on wearing twelve layers and b) 80% of them gained weight the last couple of days which makes it harder to move fast)

What I enjoy most about going to town on days like that is watching the expressions in people's faces. It's sort of a mix between obsession, stress, post-christmas-depression, relief that it's all over, anticipation of NYE, annoyance at all the other people around and high concentration - because efficient germans don't like to waste time, which means they have to plan their route around the shopping centers very carefully. Most of them end up looking constipated.

I myself will buy a new alarmclock. I hope it will be very loud and annoying because nothing short of a large gong will get my out of bed on an average morning. Let's hope I'm successful and no crazy SHOPPING-lady wants to strangle me because I accidentally took something she wanted to get. Things can turn very ugly, I'm telling you.

Anyway, I hope you all had fabulous holidays, look forward to New Year's (even though I don't get the hype... more on that in my upcoming 2011 review) and you're all well and healthy.

Wait, what just happened?

2011-12-24T14:26:00.001+01:00

I don't usually tell you about nights out in too much detail but boy, did I have a weird night yesterday.
It started off with me being dragged to a german christmas concert against my will. I didn't want to go but sort of had no choice... So there I was in the car, sulking, when BOOM three cars crash into eachother right in front of us. The airbags went off, bits and pieces flying everywhere. I've never witnessed a car crash before so to say I was shocked would be an understatement. Luckily no one was hurt (quite a miracle considering the state of the cars) but we stuck around and called the police and ambulance etc. The thing was though, we'd just passed the german border. We were literally 200m from the luxembourgish border but the luxembourgish ambulance wouldn't come and told us to call the germans, even though they were much further away. It took about 40mins for the ambulance and police to show up, so if someone had been seriously injured, things might not have ended well. After making sure everyone's fine, we went on our way to the concert.
Now, about the concert: It's an annual thing that's been going on for about 20 years. The act is Guildo Horn, who competed in the Eurovision Song Contest at one point. He's middle-aged, balding and chubby and yet still insisted on taking his shirt off. As for the music, he took songs like "YMCA" and "Chiquitita" (by ABBA) and changed the lyrics to german christmas songs. Horrible.
Anyway, after about 15 of those horrible songs, he finally said "thank you Trier and good night" and I got all excited because I thought it was finally over. I could not have been more wrong. People asked for an encore and they got one.... It lasted 8 songs. I'm sorry but WHAT?! I thought my ears would start bleeding and fall off. Miraculously time passed and I was released into freedom.
On our way back home, we passed a young couple holding up a sign saying "Luxembourg" and because it was past 11pm and raining, we took them with us. Turned out they'd come all the way from Berlin and wanted to continue on to Barcelona. We had a nice chat with them, and when we got to town I looked for my friends.
Seeing as it was my best friend's birthday yesterday, I knew I wouldn't be home early. We went to a bar and had an amazing time actually. It was great to see everyone again and the music was great. At around 3am we went to my friend's place with a lot of people to continue the merriment.
Seeing as in Germany christmas is on the 24th, I knew I had to get home before dawn because I still had so much to do, so I took the first bus back to town at 5am with a few other people. Only bad thing was that we had to wait for about 40mins until our busses came around so we played tag. (Or tried to, I was way too exhausted already) When I went to my bus-stop two Albanian guys a bit older than me came along asking for cigarettes and started talking to me. I told them my name's Charlotte and I live with my dad and my overprotective big brother which made them leave quite quickly (always works, believe me).
After another bus-ride I finally got home at 7am, collapsed on my bed and got up again 5hours later. Now I'm feeling like a zombie and yet I'm so excited for christmas I can barely sit still.

Anyway, that's my story for today. I hope those of you who celebrate christmas on the 24th don't feel quite as horrible as me! And even if you do, I wish you a great evening and Merry Christmas. Much Love!

Christmas Impressions

2011-12-22T01:11:00.001+01:00

So I finally got round to putting up the Christmas decorations.. Bit late, but still in time! We've had those wooden figures for ages, they're older than I am. I don't like super colourful christmas trees with 3kg of sparkly ornaments so I stick to gold and red. What does your christmas tree usually look like? The other day in town I saw a purple tree with blue baubles and multi-coloured lights. It was kind of like a really bad road accident, I couldn't stop staring!

I'm really quite looking forward to christmas. I love giving people presents and seeing how they react to them. Weird thing is though that I get really embarrassed when I have to open presents myself and everyone's staring... It's kind of sad that there won't be snow on christmas (according to the weather forecast) but last year there was so much of it our guests couldn't make it so I guess it does have advantages to have dry roads on christmas eve.

Do you guys go to church on christmas? I used to, but I haven't been for a really long time. The nativity play is nice but, you know, it's sort of always the same.

The religious aspect of christmas has never really been that important to me. I know it's supposed to be about Jesus being born, but to me it's more important to spend the holidays with friends and family. For some families, christmas is the only time they ever get to together. Of course that might also be the reason so many people get into huge fights and have to call the police... But anyway, I hope you have a nice Christmas. If you don't celebrate christmas, I still with you a very nice weekend!

I have to get ready for some serious cookie-making-business I have planned for tomorrow, so you'll hear from me later.

SCUMBAG NESCAFE

2011-12-19T03:01:00.003+01:00

PLEASE READ: Hey everyone! I was quite shocked to see just how many people found their way to my blog because of this article. I'm sure that some of you might ask yourselves why I posted this or why I think that little Derp should have stayed in the competition.
First of all: I didn't post this because I felt bad for a "random disabled kid". I also didn't post this to increase the number of views this blog receives. I posted this because I read about it on 9GAG and I felt genuinely upset about what Nescafe did. I really did read up on it and read many comments and went on the Nescafe page and all and I have come to the conclusion that what they did wasn't very gallant. Some people have started saying that we all got trolled, that we were lied to and that Nescafe didn't do anything wrong. I see it this way: Something went very wrong and the fact that Nescafe approached the family and offered to sponsor things kind of makes me think they have a guilty conscience. This "occupy nescafe" movement certainly provoked a reaction and that was all I was hoping for. Mission accomplished, I'd say! Please feel free to share your views though, I highly appreciate any feedback and different points of view. Because what I post on here is MY OPINION and not "the one and only ultimate truth". :)

Let me tell you a story. In a magical realm called the "interwebz", a site called 9GAG blossoms merrily. People post funny pictures, memes and ragecomics, make jokes about arrows in knees and 140% elections results. People from all over the world access this page, so when one guy posted his story, it got a lot of attention.
This awesome person has a handicapped little brother, who entered a Nescafe (Hungary) competition that could have made his life a lot better. Other entries included people wanting to build time machines and other stuff like that. In order to win the competition, an entry needed more than 3000 votes I think. Now, after reading about it on 9GAG, an unbelievable 46.000 people voted for this guy's little brother. The consequence? He was banned from the competition. Now, maybe they had a problem with advertising it on the internet or something, but boy have Nescafe got themselves into trouble. After finding out what Nescafe (Hungary) did, the 9GAG community decided to spam the facebook walls. I went to check and I must say I was amazed. I never witnessed anything like it, there are hundreds of posts on Nescafe's facebook wall. Which basically means, they truly disappointed a kid AND they lost themselves a bunch of costumers. Not the smartest thing to do if you ask me. Maybe the situation could have been averted if they'd given some sort of apologetic statement as to why the little boy was excluded from the competition, but this way, they just seem like nasty bastards.

For the full story read this first: click!
Then this: click!
And if you want to join the hating or just see
what the effects of this are, check out this page: click!

EDIT: Oh wow guys, my views just exploded. Now that I have your attention: Spread the news. I feel really bad thinking about that boy and I really think Nescafe should apologise to him because what they did doesn't seem fair. If it was the right thing to do, they should at least man up and explain themselves, because as you all can see, the 9GAG army is not to be underestimated. You guys are amazing, it's awesome to know that so many people feel that this is not fair and want to speak up about it. Taking over the internet, one good cause at a time, eh? :)

Facebook Timeline.

2011-12-19T01:35:00.001+01:00

So, if you have internet, which you obviously do, there's a rather high chance you have facebook too. And if you have facebook, you might have heard about the new "Timeline Profile". If you haven't, let me try to explain it: the Timeline shows EVERYTHING. It's a vertical list showing all your photos, posts, things you were tagged in, sites you "liked", events you went to etc. Of course all that information was accessible before, but never as easy as now. You just have to go to your friend's profile and keep scrolling down to see their entire life since they joined facebook. Because that's literally how far back it goes, to the very day you joined facebook. A few of my friends already have it, some like it, some loathe it. I decided to try it out. If you ask for the timeline profile, you have 7 days before it goes online, which means you can edit your timeline. (I think you can still have your profile till the 22nd of December, then it becomes automatically updated for everyone.)
Now, I scrolled down to 2008 and started reading. That's when I realised that I don't really feel comfortable with people being able to easily access stuff that I'd already forgotten. So what did I start doing? Hiding each post from the timeline. I clicked on each post and chose "Hide from timeline". I did all of 2008 already and a part of 2009. By the time my timeline goes online for everyone to see, I plan to have removed all posts before September 2010. That way, people can't see all that stuff anymore and I can sleep peacefully. It's a load of work and it takes ages but I prefer it that way. Of course it's up to you what you want to hide, but instead of selecting posts to remain, I just hid them all. If you don't put a lot of stuff on facebook and you couldn't care less about what people can see, then congratulations! You saved yourself a lot of work. For me this is the best solution so I'll keep clicking away until my fingers fall off.

COME AT ME, STALKERS!

I guess this is where the countdown starts.

2011-12-17T04:20:00.001+01:00

Yes yes, I know it's been a while... I was busy all week getting christmas presents and stuff. I can't believe it's only one week until christmas eve and two weeks 'till NYE! I feel like barely a month has passed since last new year's eve. I actually witnessed snow tonight for the first time this season. Came out of a bar and thought "Oh hey, the rain turned white and fluffy!" Sadly it's not cold enough for it to stay on the ground, it just melted away... Although actually I'm not too upset about that, considering the snow chaos we had last year. But still, whenever I picture christmas and this time of year in general, I picture it white and covered in snow. We used to be able to go sleigh-riding on a hill in my village when I was younger, but these past few years there's not been enough snow, or there was so much the sleighs would just disappear as soon as you put them down. Maybe this year!
This is also the time of year when everyone comes back from uni so I'll get to see people that graduated a couple of years ago, which is always nice.
Do you already have specific plans for new year's eve? In a way I don't really understand why everyone makes such a fuss about it. I love the fireworks and the general excitement but seeing as my last NYE was pretty crappy, I'll try not to get my hopes up for this one.
Tonight I went out to town for the first time in a while. It was quite fun, bloody cold though. When I got home I made hot chocolate and pancakes and now I'm watching "Friends". It's one of those series that you can always watch. I switch between seasons all the time because I've seen all episodes, seeing as I borrowed the box set from a friend a few years ago. People compare it to HIMYM but I don't really see a connection apart from there being a group of people living in New York City in both series.

Okay anyway! Most of the time when I'm bored I tend to make these things:

Basically you buy these styrofoam (?) forms, a bunch of sequins and the special needles, then you make row after row after row until you get a very shiny sparkly thing. It's very relaxing and you don't really need to actively think about anything so it's the perfect thing to do when you're watching a movie or something. I'm doing a star at the moment. I don't actually know what I'll be doing with all the things once I'm done with them, maybe I'll just hang them up like DIY disco balls.

Hey UK, why don't you like us?

2011-12-12T03:20:00.001+01:00

So I read a couple of articles about what went down in the EU this week. As I understand it, the UK kind of acted like a spoiled brat and put in a veto - the only country that did this. Now everyone's half expecting the UK to part ways with the EU. (I'm not going to pretend that I know a lot about all these financial treaties, I really should take the time to read a few of them.)
Now, what I don't understand is the general attitude the UK seems to have. Ok, you don't want the Euro, you don't really want anything to do with Europe in general, but when it comes to making money the EU is suddenly a great thing? Because let's face it, if the UK leaves the EU they're going to be off even worse than now. Also, most comments I read under the articles talked about the "Franco-German Alliance" as if it was a bad thing. Uhm, I'm sorry but after WW2 it was exactly this alliance that made recovery in Europe easier.
Winston Churchill always inspired me. He was an intelligent man with visions. You know how politicians today only focus on their legislature period? Who cares if the measures they take will have bad consequences in 20 yrs, as long as they can win the next election. Churchill was different. He predicted the Euro actually. (Called it the "Euror" though, as far as I'm aware.) I find it sort of ironic that a few decades later, Britain seems to be made up by 90% eurosceptics.

I think the EU is a brilliant thing and I hate the fact that the only motivation for most countries to join was the financial aspect. Back when the EU was founded, it meant more than that. It was an alliance that was supposed to bring peace to Europe, to unite people that have the same goals and that want more or less the same things. I don't think the EU deserves the "U" anymore because they don't seem to be much of a Union anymore. Again, I must stress the fact that I am no expert in these things and that all views expressed here are based on my personal opinion and how I see things, but nowadays it feels like every country is looking out for themselves rather than trying to be a Union. Of course a government is supposed to look after its own people, there's absolutely no doubt about that, but considering the bigger picture every once in a while can't hurt, can it? Sometimes I wonder whether all the eurosceptics in Britain would really be happier with their lives if the UK wasn't part of the European Union anymore.

Anyway, I suggest that you read this article and some of the comments underneath. You have the usual "I FUCKIN HATE THE EU" comments that lack sense, originality and facts but you also have a few really intelligent comments.

One of my favourites:

Posted by "david": Arrogant europeans never fail to get me riled! The ONLY reason Germany is such a powerhouse now is because of the Marshall plan after the 2WW which gave them unparalled economic impetus while the countries that actually had to pay for a war WE DID NOT START got left to pick up the pieces themselves. They could have been crushed for decades yet we helped them up and this is how they respond.

I was NEVER asked if I wanted the EU or the Euro, like most people in Europe. Yet the arrogant leaders of France, Germany etc. don't care one bit about what actual people want. If we don't agree with them, they start acting like spoilt children and saying 'you can't be in our cosy club then'

FINE BY ME

- Uhm, what? I doubt that guy even knows what the Marshall Plan really was. From what I could see, this david guy spends a lot of his free time making up arguments so he can post mean little comments on websites. Oh well.

Anyway, are there any other views on this subject? And if anything I said is false, please tell me so I can correct the mistake.

Lady Gaga - Marry The Night

2011-12-10T01:55:00.001+01:00

I'm a huge Lady Gaga fan. I think she's really talented, I adore her unplugged stuff and I hate when people judge her by what they hear on the radio... So you've heard "Pokerface" and "Bad Romance", big deal. My favourites include "Disco Heaven", "Speechless" and "Teeth" - you should check them out sometime. Anyway, I think she is absolutely fascinating. Now, whether you like her style or not is up to you but you have to agree that she deserves credit for trying out new stuff all the time.

You might know her song "Marry The Night", it's from her second album. The video to that song is an amazing 14 minutes long and probably the most original music video I've seen this year. It's more of a story, written and directed by Miss Gaga herself. It's weird and overly dramatic and all the other things I absolutely love, including Bedazzlers and denim.

More Muffins!

2011-12-07T18:34:00.001+01:00

When I was in Trier on monday, I happened to find a huge book filled with recipes for cakes, cupcakes, cookies, muffins and so on. I decided that today was a good day to try one of the recipes, so I made chocolate muffins with a mint-cream filling.

Basically you make normal chocolate muffins....

.... then cut them in half and put the cream in....

....put the two halves back together and you're done! They're quite tasty and not too sweet, which I really liked. I didn't stick to the recipe that much because I'm lactose intolerant, so I always have to change these recipes (I can't put normal cream in etc)

For the muffins:

275g flour

3 teaspoons of baking powder

3 tablespoons of cocoa powder

(mix it all together)

1 egg

130gr sugar

80ml oil

100ml soy-cream

200ml soymilk

(mix that together then add the flour mix)

That's enough for about 12 muffins. Bake them at 200°C for 20 mins. (Or less, you should check on them every once in a while)

Then for the mint-cream filling you need

200g cream

1 pack of

- vanillasugar

- cream-stiffening stuff (don't know the engl. name, sorry!)

- powdered sugar

Mix that all together, then add crushed mint leaves. I can't tell you how much to use, you have to figure out how minty you want it.

Movies

2011-12-07T01:26:00.001+01:00

Being the cinema-addict that I am, I have two more movies to talk about! I went to see In Time on sunday and New Year's Eve tonight.

I was really looking forward to In Time. The plot seemed good and the actors are all hot, which are two very important facts if you ask me. The plot really was good: A society where your currency is time. No one ages past 25 and on your 25th birthday, your clock starts. You have one year, and for a cup of coffe you pay 4 minutes, for a busride 2 hours etc. You can get more time by working or borrowing but once your clock runs out of time, you die. So basically there are different regions. The ghetto, where people rarely ever have more than a couple of days on their clocks, and the rich area, where people walk around with a couple of centuries on their forearms. The character played by Justin Timberlake grows up in the ghetto and one day happens to be offered 116 yrs by a guy who's sick of living so long. Tragically enough, that is also the day his mother (Olivia Wilde - my god she is hot.) dies because she miscalculated and ran out of time. Driven by grief and anger and whatnot, JT sets out to harm the rich people. He wins over a millennium in a game of poker with a rich guy, falls in love with the daughter (played by Amanda Seyfried) and then the trouble starts. JT is suspected of killing the guy who gave him the century so JT runs away with AS.... Although I expected the movie to be a bit more tense and action-filled, I really enjoyed it. The ideas are smart, there's this whole "fuck-the-system" spirit going on that I quite enjoy and I really liked the characters. So yes, go watch it.

Now this isn't supposed to come out for a couple of days but I went to a so-called "Ladies' Night" where they show chick-flicks before they come out and you get a giftbag and stuff. I've never been before but I really wanted to see this movie so my friend reserved tickets. Thank god she did, they sold out three of the ten theaters with just that movie. So basically you're in a theater with about 400 other females, which kind of sucks because most of them can't seem to shut up. I nearly punched the ladies sitting next to me because they thought having a conversation in loud portuguese during the movie is an acceptable thing to do. But anyway, the movie: A bunch of pretty big names, from Robert De Niro who plays a dying man in a hospital to Jon Bon Jovi who plays... a rockstar, go figure. Also Til Schweiger, a german actor. It's the same type of movie as Love Actually and Valentine's Day: Many different stories taking place around the same time shown seperately. You have Katherine Heigl playing a chef who got dumped by Jon Bon Jovi who tries everything to get her back, Lea Michele (Glee) and Ashton Kutcher being stuck in an elevator for 8 hours, Sarah Jessica Parker having troubles with her 15-year old daughter and the list goes on. As I do, I cried a lot because touching moments always get to me, no matter how cheesy they are. It's all about that one special evening, the beginning of a new year, new year's resolutions blah blah blah. The movie has a few really funny moments and the stories overlap and intertwine as the movie goes on, which I really like. I suggest that you watch it if that sort of movie appeals to you in any way.

Trier

2011-12-05T19:53:00.001+01:00

After barely an hour of sleep, I left the house at 7.20 this morning to go to Trier. Sounds horrible and it was. But Trier was a lot of fun! Bought some more christmas presents and went to the christmas market. As promised, I took some pictures:

When I got home I felt like I was ready to drop dead. I can't even remember the last time I got up before 7am. It shouldn't be allowed, especially after having fallen asleep at around 6 because I was so anxious to finish my book. Damn you, books!

Move along.

2011-12-03T20:35:00.001+01:00

Do you ever wonder why you're friends with someone? In school, 90% of the people you refer to as "friends" are people you probably don't like. However, being stuck in a classroom with them over longer periods of time sort of forces you to co-habitate peacefully, without high-fiving them in the face with a chair. After you finish school and go your separate ways and probably never talk to most of them again. That's fine and it's happened to me too, but what I can't stand is how whenever you see someone like that again, they pretend that they really missed you.
"AAAW heeeey! Oh my god it's been ages! I totally wanted to write to you but my life is so fabulous, I just didn't find the time *insert 5 minute lecture about awesome life* - but anyway, how've you been? We should TOTALLY get together soon and talk about everything. Okay bye!"
Uhm, what? Do you really want to get together or did you just stop by to tell my how fucking great your life is? And why would you tell me, anyway? Whenever someone asks me what I've been up to and how I've been, all I can get out is "Uhm, not that much. I don't know. I read a lot and stuff. I'm okay...?" because I don't really know what people want to hear. Anyway, I wish people would just come to terms with the fact that they pretty much live in a parallel universe to me. I bet they just feel a huge pang of guilt when they see someone they swore to stay in touch with a few months earlier. In all fairness, I could probably make more of an effort to reach out to all the 200+ people that graduated with me but I don't really feel the need to. School's over and so is our time together. Sure it's nice seeing everyone again and get a sense of nostalgia, but after about an hour or two of reminiscing, I'm fine with going home again. Of course it's sad to let people go but it's even more sad to desperately cling to your highschool acquaintances for another 20 years. Maybe my pessimistic view on these things doesn't exactly make me too popular with those individuals that think "WE SPENT TWELVE YEARS TOGETHER SO I WILL ATTEND YOUR WEDDING AND FUNERAL" but I can't help it! I love meeting new people that I actually have a lot in common with other than the building I spent most my time in. Any views on this? Maybe I'm just an antisocial bitch.

1st December

2011-12-01T00:59:00.001+01:00

Hey guys. Tonight, I went to a concert by Zola Jesus. The only reason I went is because my friend Emina (click!) was the support act, I've never listened to anything by the main act. The opening act was awesome (okay, I might be biased cause she's my friend... but she really is one of the most musically talented people I know) and after we listened to about four songs of the main act, we decided to go somewhere else to get a drink. Which says a lot. It might have been because it's not really my kind of music but I found the whole thing a bit too dramatised. Too much focus on the light effects and stuff and way too little focus on the actual quality of the performance. Personal opinion, but hey.
Anyway, it's the 1st of December! Well, sort of. It's only about 1am. But 1st of December means that Advent Calendars can finally be opened! Yay! (Christmas excitement.. sorry)
I actually went to the christmas market in the city center of Luxembourg today, first time this season. It's awesome as usual, especially at lunch time when everyone tries to get their hands on the fattiest food they can find. I'll go again sometime and take a few pictures so you can see for yourselves. The christmas market in Trier is great too, but it's a tad far away and there are too many tourists for my liking. Trier itself is a rather famous place in Germany because it's the oldest city and the christmas market is haunted by thousands of people each year. If you live somewhere close, you should definitely go at one point, they do have a rather awesome construction in front of the cathedral. Again, I'll try to take pictures. So, I saw the Coca Cola christmas advert on TV.... That's pretty much the most official sign that christmas is approaching. To get you guys into the spirit, I've composed a playlist! For some songs I won't write the artist because there are so many different versions that you can pretty much choose which one appeals to you most.

The First Noél - Bing Crosby
Sleigh Ride - Glenn Campbell
Sleep In Heavenly Peace - Barbra Streisand
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
Frosty The Snowman - Gene Autry
Baby I'ts Cold Outside - Dean Martin
Hark The Herald Angels Sing - Frank Sinatra
Little Drummer Boy
Wonderful Dream - Melanie Thornton
Santa Baby
White Christmas - Louis Armstrong
Happy Xmas - John Lennon
Christmas Lights - Coldplay
All I want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Last Christmas - Wham!

Most of these songs are what Christmas actually means to me. I couldn't imagine Christmas without Wham! for example. Of course the song is going on my nerves but christmas doesn't feel right without it. This is the playlist I listen to a LOT lately, I guess that's why I'm so overly excited for the holidays.

Night Circus

2011-11-29T17:45:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I got my amazon package. I guess I'll be busy for the next few weeks.

Okay guys, this book is absolutely amazing. I was in a bookstore with my friend the other day and found this. I basically bought it because I can't leave a bookstore without buying at least one book, but the cover and the plot really intrigued me too. So I started it yesterday morning and finished it last night. It's one of those books you don't want to put down anymore because you constantly think about how the story might continue... So although I was exhausted, I read on until I finished it at about 4am.

If you want a short overview of the plot: Two magicians pick out students that are to compete against eachother, but the students fall in love so that makes things complicated. If you care for a longer version, here goes: The story plays in the last years of the 19th century and goes on until about 1903. Prospero the Enchanter finds an unusual package on his doorstep one day: his 5-year old daughter Celia. Despite the age, she already has a large amount of talent when it comes to breaking things around her without touching them. Intrigued by the opportunity to start a new game with his "colleague" so to speak, he tells Mr. A. H-- to find a student of his own, the intention being a battle between the two.

Over the years Celia and her opponent Marco work with eachother although Celia never suspects who her opponent is. They work on a huge project with a bunch of other people - the Cirque des Rêves. This is not any other circus. In fact, it's quite hard to describe so I'll just say that the concept of it will fascinate you. As these stories go, Celia and Marco fall in love and everything gets complicated.

I love how the book slowly combines separate strings of stories that eventually become one magical tale. If you're not really into all that wizard wand-waving magic stuff, you should read it anyway because that's not what the book is like at all. It's a story of different lives that all start out in different ways, but at the end of the book they're all tied together. Erin Morgenstern's writing is to die for, so elegant and enchanting. The book has about 390 pages so it's not that long. If you're looking for a book that will take you to another place for a while (god, how cheesy) your best bet would be on this one. Of course all the books I write about are books that I recommend but this time I mean serious business.

Outrageous? I think so.

2011-11-28T22:00:00.001+01:00

So I just came across this video and it really did leave me speechless. I cannot understand why someone would say something like that, let alone with a child on her lap and in a tram full of people.

What do you guys think?

First Advent

2011-11-27T14:13:00.001+01:00

Aaaw. Christmas is almost here. It's that magical time of the year where christmas markets appear out of nowhere, where people eat Gromperekichelcher and pretty much everything that has cinnamon in it. Parents are stressed out, children stop at every second shop screaming "I WANT THAT!!" and let's not forget about the annual discussion about whether or not Last Christmas by Wham! makes you want to shoot yourself.

Adverts tell us what to get for our parents, siblings, significant others and it HAS to be expensive and it HAS to be more awesome than last year's presents. Why? BECAUSE YOU FUCKING LOVE THEM, THAT'S WHY. Or maybe it's just because society tells us that a good book is worthless compared to an iPad. I never know what to get people for christmas, and when you ask them, they either say "Uh, I don't know" or "Peace and health is all I can ask for" (People that say this are usually parents and/or grandparents or weirdos because let's face it - we all want something, we're just too modest and well-behaved to say it because we're afraid of sounding like a spoiled brat)

Despite all the stress and drama and heightened suicide rates and possibly even a snow chaos - I love Christmas. Making cookies, eating too much chocolate, advent calendars, wrapping presents and of course the best part: Glühwein. That hot wine you get on christmas markets. Last year I'd go to the christmas market in town pretty much every lunchbreak with a bunch of people from my class to get drunk on Glühwein. So much fun.

But yes let's not forget about what Christmas is truly about: LOVE. You give presents to one another because you LOVE eachother, you go to church on Christmas eve because you LOVE Jesus, you stuff your face for three days in a row because you LOVE.... food? I don't know. I'm not sure what christmas is really all about. Birth of Jesus yeah, but according to recent scientific research, Jesus was probably born mid-July 6 or 7 BC. So it can't really be about that. Barely anyone I know still goes to church on christmas eve. The only ones that do feel guilty if they don't or they have young children that want to see the nativity play. But it can't be all about presents either, at least I'm naive enough to firmly believe that not everyone celebrates christmas just to get presents. In my opinion it's about tradition (I mean, celebrating christmas is something most westerners do, isn't it?), getting together with your family (although last year a guy attacked his grandma with an iron bar - heard it in the news) and a sort of peaceful atmosphere. It does feel rather special doesn't it? The music is special, the food is different, EVERYONE gets a day or two off work and you know that the year is coming to an end, which always makes me think about what happened throughout the year.

What do you think christmas is about?

dreams

2011-11-25T21:11:00.001+01:00

Do you have a dream? As in, wanting to become supreme leader of the universe or something? I always assumed people have dreams, that everyone constantly works on themselves to achieve something. Dreams change, mind you. When I was younger I wanted to win a Nobel prize. Don't ask me why, I don't remember. I only know that it really intrigued me, maybe because Alfred Nobel always intrigued me. Well, not the guy himself but his invention, dynamite. It was originally intended to make tunnel building easier, until some asshole decided to start blowing up people as well as rocks. Isn't it often like that with dreams? I mean, let's say you work on something really hard and achieve your dream, like so many scientists did. They spent their entire lives developing things that were supposed to help humanity leap forward - until someone comes along, using it as a weapon of mass destruction. Of course "regular people" dreams don't usually have that tragic fate. If your dream is to have your own cottage on a cliff and a dog, I think you'll be pretty safe. (Unless, you know, a hurricane comes along or something.) But I like to dream big, to imagine the least possible things and trying to find a way to get there. I'm never going to invent something ground-breaking, I'm probably never going to be president of a country but I would like to change the world just a little. I'm not talking about saving the planet or saving people from their own stupidity because both (especially the latter) are virtually impossible. But at some point in my life I'd like to be able to say "FUCK YEAH I DID IT." because that's sort of what dreams are about too, right? Getting there and feeling extremely accomplished. Or maybe there really are some dreams that are better unfulfilled. Because if you get everything you've ever dreamed of, there's nothing left, which is pretty sad. So maybe you have to make a list of each and every single one of your dreams and circle the ones you secretly never want to come true, just so you have an overview. That's how I'd do it, but I'm known for making lists about everything. (I have a book of lists, and one time I seriously made a list of my favourite lists. It kind of made my brain hurt a bit.)
So to conclude this weird little monologue provoked by my being alone at home with nothing to do, I'll just say one thing: Dreams are always awesome and nothing to be ashamed of. You want to prove that what is portrayed in the X-Men movies is real? You want to develop one of those memory erasers from MIB? Well that's pretty cool. If you succeed with either of those things, let me know.

Books

2011-11-23T23:12:00.001+01:00

These are the books I'll recommend today. They belong to my favourite books and I've read each one at least twice.

The first one here is Philip Roth's The Humbling. It was the first book by Philip Roth I read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's about an aged actor who finds that he lost the ability to act, which sends him spiraling down into the dumps of his old, depressed mind (to phrase it dramatically). He spends some time in a mental ward, befriends an equally depressed woman and later starts an affair with a lesbian woman. Sounds like a good plot, right? It's rather short but I love Roth's style of writing and while some of the pages made me blush in embarrassment, I couldn't put the book down until I finished it.

The next book is a collection of Edgar Allen Poe's works called Spirits of the Dead: Tales and Poems. Don't let the cover or the title fool you, it's not as depressing as it looks. This book includes The Raven and my favourite poem ever - Israfel. In fact, I like that poem so much that I'll show you my favourite part: Yes, Heaven is thine; but this / Is a world of sweets and sours; /Our flowers are merely–flowers, /And the shadow of thy perfect bliss / Is the sunshine of ours.

This is possibly my favourite book of all time. I've read it loads of times and it still entertains me. I'm not sure whether it's the language Carroll uses or the characters, I constantly find myself chuckling at some witty remark. This book really showed me how you can create magical realms with just a few words, not several fat novels. It also influenced my way of thinking... What if our memory ran backwards? Or both ways? Wouldn't we all just jump off a cliff at some point? I really really think you should read this book, if you haven't already. It might primarily be for children but the ideas hidden beneath the sentences are challenging for all ages.

Now, before I read this book, I read Paul Auster's Invisible. Well, I tried at least. It was quite literally the first book I didn't finish because the story didn't agree with me at all. The almost outrageously detailed way Auster described the sexual encounters between a man and his sister were not for me. But hey, maybe the ending was really good. I wouldn't know. But anyway, "Man in the Dark" is really good in my opinion. It's about an old man who has troubles with his leg after a car crash and moves in with his daughter and his grand-daughter, who just lost her boyfriend in the war. He spends a lot of his time lying awake at night, conjuring up a story. Almost half of this book tell this very story, the other half focuses on the relationships within the family and different ways of dealing with grief. Although there is a part that really shocked me because of its uncensored description of revolting violence, the book really touched me and made me think. So if you're into that sort of thing, I really do recommend that you read it.

This is the last book I'll talk about today. I read this ages ago and also used it in my extended essay in school, the theme was jealousy and envy - which is exactly what this book is about. Poppy Adams' "The Behaviour of Moths" is the story of two sisters, their dark family secrets and the twisted relationship between the two. Seeing as I have a sister myself, I know what it's like to be jealous of someone and loving them unconditionally at the same time. It can be quite hard, although I'm glad to say that my sister and I aren't as unsettling as the two main characters of this book. One of the sisters studies moths - therefore the title - and I actually learned quite a lot about the subject while reading, which was an interesting side effect. You will inevitably find yourself picking a side because the two sisters couldn't be more unlike. One is outgoing, joyful and travelled the world while the other never left her hometown or her parents' house, avoids any form of social interaction and makes up for the lack of friends by being a brilliant scientist. The end is quite dramatic so I won't give away any more, but you really should read it if you want to find out more.

There, that's it. Sorry for the long post but I preferred doing it all at once! You'll notice that I refrained from using the characters' names, because personally I always find it confusing to read a book review that talks about characters I don't know yet. I really hope I got you interested in some of them - if you'd like to, you can borrow the books from me. (This only applies for people living in my country though!)

2011-11-23T20:05:00.001+01:00

After the stress of the past few days I decided to take it slow today - and it ended up being quite a stressful day anyway. Seeing as I am constantly trying to improve my cooking skills, I do browse a lot of recipe websites and came across one yesterday that my mum really liked, so I decided to cook for her.
Making gnocchi is a pain in the neck, let me tell you. It was worth it though, they're really good. I had them with home-made pesto and for my mum I made a redwine sauce. Sorry for all the food-related posts lately, but the truth is I really do enjoy cooking and I have so much free time on my hands that I do much more of it now!

Oh and check this out! I found this at H&M the other day and knew I had to get it. Snow White was my favourite Disney movie when I was a kid, although I didn't see the full movie till I was a bit older because the first part (with the witch and everything) always scared me. Which one's your favourite Disney movie? I can't imagine my childhood without them although I'm not as obsessed as others. I occasionally watch Aristocats but that's about it.

Chocolate House

2011-11-22T23:08:00.001+01:00

Today I met up with a friend who is only in Luxembourg for one semester, showing her a few places. We happened to enter the Chocolate House (opposite the palace, you can't really miss it) and it was great. It was my second time there but the first time was so brief I didn't really have time to look around.
Basically, the main deal about this place are the chocolate spoons. There's a few shelves with different flavours - anything from 35% milk chocolate to 85% dark chocolate, chocolate with baileys or cinnamon or orange or mint... You name it. Then you get to choose between different kinds of milk, dip your spoon into the milk and BAM you have hot chocolate.

my friend had the orange one, I chose cinnamon and took the others home.

Tonight, I went to the cinema (again - I seem to go rather frequently lately!) to see the new Twilight movie. Now, before you judge - I don't approve of mindless hating. If you're gonna bitch about something, you might as well know what you're bitching about. I read all the books and saw the movies and I have mixed feelings about it. I liked the books at the time (when I was 13 or 14, don't remember exactly) and even though some of the moral aspects are a bit dodgy, I still enjoy reading them every once in a while when I don't feel like something all that challenging. For example, I'm not sure that an essentially over 100-year old person watching a sleeping 17-year old is romantic - sounds rather creepy. But hey, to each their own.

Anyway, the movie. I really disliked the other movies and positively loathed the mania they caused because I refused to believe that a whole generation of people could turn into crying, screaming freaks over a - let's face it - average story. The concept isn't exactly new. But this movie was quite well executed and the special effects were really quite impressive. Plus, Kristen Stewart must have taken acting classes because I swear she showed more than one emotion this time, which came as a shock. All in all it was a guilty pleasure. Entertaining and all, which is the main thing a movie like that is supposed to do, right?

Despite all that I still can't understand how vampires went from mean, bloodthirsty and scary to sparkly, piano-playing vegetarians. I mean, Dracula was definitely a lot more impressive, don't you think? But people's standards seem to have changed. I mean come on, Justin Bieber?? It's sad.

LONDON

2011-11-22T00:11:00.001+01:00

(1) Wicked. Pretty much the best thing I have ever seen. Defying Gravity, anyone? Amazing. (2) My friend Anthony's birthday party on saturday evening (3) Picture from the sightseeing tour on sunday (4) me, duh (5&6&7) more pictures from the tour (8) my friend Anthony

Right, so I've had a pretty stressful weekend.. To the airport on friday afternoon, get to London, go to my friend's place to drop off my stuff, back into the main city, going out for dinner & a few drinks, back home - on saturday afternoon we went to see Wicked which was.. well.. wicked. No other word to describe it. I could see it every week without getting sick of it. Then saturday evening it was my friend's birthday party (Happy birthday again, Anthony!) on sunday we went on one of those sightseeing tours by bus which was really fun. Towards the end I could pretty much feel my face freeze off but there was so much to see I barely noticed. Back home to watch X Factor (yay!) then this morning I went to the airport, back to Luxembourg and then straight to Germany, now I'm finally back home in Luxembourg and won't leave the country for a few days. I'm still really hyper and excited, going through all the pictures and everything.. I'll definitely go back soon because there's just way too much I still haven't seen.

Oh and the excitement doesn't end...
STING COMING TO ROCKHAL IN MARCH?? (I'm not usually a fan of the two question-marks but I think in this case it's appropriate.) I will definitely try and see it, presale starts 26th Nov at 10am - tickets are from 66€ I think. Expensive but I really think I'll go. I love Sting!

Okay so all that excitement made my heart stumble so I'll stop now. Might show more pictures tomorrow!

Drive

2011-11-17T16:23:00.001+01:00

This is a movie I saw a few weeks ago and I really recommend that you watch it.

There's not a lot of dialogue going on (in fact, I think you could fit the whole movie's dialogue on one A4 page) but the pictures are beautiful and as I already mentioned, so is the soundtrack.

The movie is basically about a nameless driver (played by Ryan Gosling) who works in a garage during the day and offers his services as a get-away driver for criminals at night. He has very strict rules and never gets caught. One day, he meets a nice young lady (Carey Mulligan) who lives in a flat next to his. He gets closer to her and his son, and that doesn't change when the husband gets out of prison. Ryan Gosling helps the husband to get the money he needs to pay off debts with dubious criminals, but everything goes horribly wrong. After that, Gosling's friends are suddenly in danger and his boss gets killed, so Ryan Gosling goes on a revenge rampage and kills a lot of people - to explain the plot in simple words.

There's a very odd moment when Gosling and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) are in a motel room after everything first started going wrong - she's in the bathroom and suddenly her head gets blown away by a guy with a shotgun. It's violence like that which contrasts with the rather quiet and peaceful imagery of the movie but I must say I enjoyed the movie, even though I'm not usually a fan of exaggerated violence.

Anyway, you should definitely try and watch it, if only for the soundtrack and the hot actors. The end was a bit confusing and slightly disappointing but overall the movie is still one of the better ones I've seen lately.

Photos!

2011-11-17T16:04:00.001+01:00

2011-11-16T22:43:00.002+01:00

My silence is to be explained with a spontaneous 24-hour trip to Germany, I haven't died or lost interest!

I have a lot of pictures to show and my book of the week post is coming up as well, so make sure to check back tomorrow! On friday I'm off to London for the weekend so I suppose I won't be blogging, but I'll tell you all about it on monday. So excited! (Which is obvious from all the exclamation marks)

Anyway, I decided to make this another music-related post. I've been going through my iTunes library to see what I have hidden in the deep, dark corners of my playlists and I found a few artists I really want you to know about. First off is Sia - I adore her. She has a pretty deep voice compared to other pop artists but I love all of her songs. (Especially Bring Night and Clap Your Hands, so I recommend you check them out) The other day I was listening to the radio and Lana Del Rey's "Video Games" came on and for a moment I could've sworn it was Sia - very similar voices.

Anyway, next up is Stars. I downloaded their EP simply because it showed up on my iTunes suggestions list and I loved the cover. It's like that with books too, I know you shouldn't judge a book by its cover and blah but I frequently do. So far I haven't really been disappointed and same goes for Stars. Check out their EP "Sad Robots"!

The next project is called Trolle//Siebenhaar. It's a danish-german duo as far as I remember.. When I was in 8th grade we had to do a presentation of a song for music class and analyse the instruments used, the pitch etc. I chose "Sweet Dogs" by Trolle//Siebenhaar and later bought their album. It's really rather cheerful and one of my favourite songs is Powertrip. Apparently their style is called trip-hop, a term that completely baffled me in 8th grade. But yes, if you're into happy electronic pop (or trip-hop?!) you should give them a listen.

Now I'll move on to individual songs that I recommend.
The first one has to be "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing" by Frank Sinatra. It's taken from the album Christmas with the Rat-Pack so while you're at it, listen to the whole thing. But that one particular song always sends shivers down my spine for some reason. I absolutely love it and listen to it all the time because I don't think Christmas music can only be listened to when it's cold. Quite the contrary, try sitting in the sun in summer and listening to "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow", the absurdity is bound to cheer you up.
Oh and then of course there's Ella Mae Bowen's "Holding Out For A Hero", which was featured in a film I recently watched. She has the cutest voice and I really like that version of the song. I really have a thing for slow, slightly melancholic songs sung by frail little creatures with beautiful voices. But I have to even it out with a bit of Crystal Castles every once in a while, otherwise it gets too much.
The last song I'll recommend for now is College's "A Real Hero" which, again, was featured in a movie I watched recently. The entire soundtrack was amazing and so was the movie itself - I might have to do a whole post about the movie to tell you in detail how awesome it is. (I'm talking about Drive by the way)

So yes, if you're bored you can go and check out all those songs/artists and let me know what you think. I'll update again very soon - it's always like that, I have complete writer's block for a couple of days and then suddenly I feel the need to show/tell you so many things I can't even keep track any more.

Operation: Pancakes

2011-11-14T13:13:00.001+01:00

So I've never made pancakes before but yesterday I stumbled upon a recipe on the interwebs and I decided to try it out! Here's the results:

generally you can say that the first two end up being no more than goo. it takes a while for the heat to adjust etc. but then they end up looking something like this.

I had them with cinnamon and sugar. I mixed the cinnamon with the sugar, until the sugar turned light brown. Of course you can also eat them with jam, nutella or other things!

Here's the recipe:

2 eggs

200gr of flour

200ml milk (I used a bit more because the dough was so firm. Plus I used soy-milk of course)

100gr sugar

50ml sparkling water

1/2 pack of Vanilla-sugar

1 pinch of salt.

Just mix it all up in a bowl and make sure there are no blobs left. It's really easy and it didn't take long at all so you should definitely try it! :)

Shake/Shoot/Strike

2011-11-13T00:27:00.001+01:00

I've hardly ever seen town as dead as it was yesterday. Where on earth is everybody? You can't seriously tell me that all students stay at home and study on a friday night? That would be a shameful thing to do! It's universal law that no work can be done on a friday night, at least it should be if you ask me. I heard a rumor going round that people who are in their senior year at my former school are actually doing schoolwork on friday nights... Imagine that! Oh well, we tried our best to make it a fun night and some even went overboard.

I was going to go to Mess for Masses today but decided not to in the end because I didn't feel quite up to it. I'm really sad I missed it though. Well, as of Monday it shall be my quest to find a job, if anyone has recommendations, do tell please! Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone x

11/11/11

2011-11-11T01:20:00.001+01:00

Guys, you better hold on to your wigs because

TODAY IS 11/11/11 AND AT 11:11.11AM THINGS WILL GO MENTAL!

....Or not, I don't know. Did someone predict another apocalypse? I bet someone did. Some people really are eccentric to say the least.
While we're on the subject of eccentric people, I have a nice little anecdote for you. It was yesterday morning, when I took the train to uni. I usually get the bus but I was running late so I took the train, which leaves 10 mins after the bus. I made it to the central station safely and into my next train too (after running to buy a few cans of Red Bull). I sat there with my friend and we were happily discussing the advantages and disadvantages of Red Bull over coffee when suddenly a bottle of Coke flew down the aisle and a girl only a few years older than me got up to get it. She stopped where we were sitting, suddenly turns to me and asked me in a less than polite tone whether I wanted her to knock my glasses off my face. I had never seen her before, nor did I have the slightest idea what would possess her to threaten me. I think it's safe to say that I was quite startled and the first thought that went through my head was "Oh god, don't punch me in the face, bitch". Now, when you're in a situation like this, you're faced with two options. Either you tell the person to fuck off or you'll make sure they won't ever be able to walk on their own again or you sit there, not saying something and avoiding the death glares. Needless to say I went for the latter option. I would have gone for the first one, but that is only applicable when dealing with a relatively sane person, which was definitely not the case. So I decided to wait until she passed. She went to get her bottle, walked back past me and insulted me and my friend some more before going back to her seat. (I made sure not to look her in the eye, don't ask me why but I had the feeling it would aggravate her even more - kind of like dogs when they feel threatened, you know?)
To say that an awkward silence ensued would be an understatement. It was the most bizarre moment I have experienced lately. The other passengers looked at me with raised eyebrows, as if to say "whaaat the fuuuuck?" and my friend and I decided to quietly get up and move to a different compartment. We burst out laughing when we got there because it was the strangest thing ever - I don't know why but you don't expect that sort of thing to happen in Luxembourg of all places.
Well, we made it to uni safely and without any other disturbances, and I didn't even need extra caffeine anymore, the adrenaline was more than enough for that morning.
And yeah, I guess I'll be taking the bus from now on.

On a lighter note, I'd like to share my latest obsession with you: Downton Abbey. It's a series set in pre-WW1 England and could probably be described as "Gossip Girl set in 1912". I absolutely love it although I've only seen three episodes so far. I highly recommend it if, like me, you love the way they spoke back then.

Right well I have to get up in a few hours - I should've been in bed long ago, I only slept about 4 hours last night, but the full moon or something is keeping me wide awake and full of energy. Might as well watch some more Downton Abbey. Anyway, enjoy the 11/11/11 11:11.11 thing, whether it means the beginning of carnival season (Germans) or a national holiday (French) to you.

Body image and what I think about all that.

2011-11-10T13:16:00.001+01:00

This might come across as a more personal post, but sometimes that's what's needed to bring across a point.
I read an article on The Guardian's facebook app yesterday - it featured this woman and what a surprising reaction her picture triggered when published in a GLAMOUR issue.

This is Lizzie Miller, a plus size model who has trouble finding jobs because most "plus-size" designers hire models with a size 8 - 10 (Miller is about a 12).

First of all, I think she's beautiful. She has such a lovely face and seems to be very radiant. Yet still, she had troubles finding jobs with her figure. Now, according to runway laws, this woman is too fat to be a model. If you can't see the ribcage from the distance, you're too fat. I think that's absolutely bloody ridiculous. Fact is that most women don't look like those skinny women on runways or in magazines. At least not if they eat regularly. I just don't see why a small percentage of women dominate the media and make everyone else feel like they're not normal. We're all normal as long as we don't manipulate our body by not eating enough or exercising too much. I always felt very insecure about myself and I used to pay very close attention to my food but in the last couple of years I've adopted a sort of "fuck this, I like eating" mentality. And I do, I really do. Mostly the stuff that isn't good for me, but I guess that's normal to some extent. If I feel like going to McDonald's to eat fries, then I will. I hate the fact that some people make themselves feel guilty about things like that.

Funnily enough, women like Lizzie Miller are what some people call "real women". I read the comments under the article and a lot of them said something along the lines of "It's so good to finally see a real woman!!" - this in turn pissed off other women that said "I'm naturally skinny and barely have any curves - does that mean I'm not a real woman??" Stop the hating, seriously. We're all real women, like I said before. Discriminating someone because of their body is not something we should be doing.

.....But of course we do. We've been doing it for centuries. It used to be en vogue to be chubby by today's standards - being larger meant you were wealthy enough to eat as much as you wanted. Today, being skinny is sort of like that. We can have all the food we want, but when we see skinny women we think that they have some sort of superpower that keeps them from stuffing their face. Eating is always a bother for me because I'm lactose intolerant and don't really like meat. It's horrible to go to a restaurant and think "It's not about what I want to eat, it's about what I can eat". Which is why I don't understand why people do that to themselves. I mean, of course I understand why, I really do, but why does it have to be this way? My little sister asked me whether I think she's too fat. She's less than eleven years old and anything but too fat. Stuff like that really pisses me off, because you can't in all seriousness tell me that it's normal for girls that young should be worrying about their weight.

I guess what I want to say is that it makes me incredibly sad to see that just because some designers are delusional, so many people put themselves through a lot of suffering. If I could change anything, I'd want people to accept themselves. Maybe your DNA doesn't want you to be skinny. Maybe you should start convincing yourself that just because you don't look like a photoshopped supermodel you're still worth something.

I went shopping the other day and didn't find a single item I liked. The proportions were all wrong and I didn't like the way I looked at all. Sure, the clothes would have looked better if I'd be 10kgs lighter, but to be quite honest: I'm too fucking lazy to do anything about it. I'm fine with how I look so I will only buy clothes that fit me. Period.

And yes, I know that it's probably super cheesy to talk about people accepting themselves and being all happy and content because that's probably never going to be the case. And I also know that some women need to adapt to "beauty standards" to feel good about themselves, I just know how harmful that can be and don't wish it on anyone. Call me naive but I do believe that people would be happier if there wasn't that much pressure from everyone around us, telling us what's socially acceptable and what makes you a freak.

21st Century Kids

2011-11-10T01:21:00.001+01:00

The picture above is obviously staged. I still like it very much because it's almost a parody of today's communication. Sure, we have loads of friends, and we talk to them all the time, on Skype, facebook, twitter, you name it. Everyone's incredibly witty on the internet and everyone is really interesting and has a bunch of personality traits you absolutely adore. When meeting in real life though, things are often more than awkward. Has that ever happened to you? Never really has to me because I never really met anyone on the internet. This week in Germany, a 21-year old woman was stabbed by her cyber stalker. They met on WoW and he moved into her town to be closer to her. After being rejected, he killed her. Of course that's a very extreme case but the message it brings across is very clear: You have no idea who you're talking to on the internet. Take omegle for example, I tried it out once to see what it is and I was repeatedly asked to post the link to my facebook profile. Uhm, no? For all I know you're either a horny 12-year old kid or a creepy 53-year old man who doesn't get enough action from his wife. (I did have a very entertaining conversation with one guy though, he was telling me about the hardships of being a dragon in today's society and I asked him about his diet - he prefers eating women apparently.)
Anyway, It does sort of worry me that some people give their address and everything to people whose faces they've never seen. Didn't your mother love you enough to tell you not to get into white vans with strange men? I'd ask for some sort of proof that you're a real person first. Skype for example, I hardly ever use it, but if someone adds me on skype and video-calls me, I have proof that they're not a faceless zombie, you know what I mean? Oh well, I guess some people are either very lonely or far too trusting. Or maybe both.

That was my lecture for the day haha. So here's the boring social-life update: Went to the cinema yesterday to see Paranormal Activity 3 with C but because of Ladies Night they cancelled the movie so we (being the badasses that we are) went to see "The Thing". It wasn't really "mindfuck-scary" in the sense that you get nightmares and think everyone around you is an alien but there were some parts were I jumped. It's really disgusting in some parts too, so if you get off watching two bodies sort of melting into eachother, creating a fleshy heap of limbs that crawls after its victims, you should totally go see that movie.
Then at home we watched some episodes of the british X-Factor - I'm a sucker for these shows. Hate the german versions because it reminds me of the amount of utterly idiotic people in my country, but I really enjoy the british version. Breaking news - Frankie was kicked off for breaking the "Golden Rule" - whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean. My money's on drug-abuse or alcohol or just general bad-assery.

Anyway, I guess that's all I have to tell. Pleeaase come to Mess for Masses on Saturday, it would be so fun to see more than two familiar faces! (I get really awkward when I don't know anybody)
Good night and all x

SAARBRÜCKEN

2011-11-09T00:57:00.001+01:00

Good news, y'all! Figured out the uploading problem so here are this weekend's pictures. I'll dedicate this post to my lovely hometown Saarbrücken.

there was a 3D lightshow on the main square on Saturday evening - tried to get a few picturs but the results aren't exactly worth showing off.

Saarland Coke! Supposedly has twice the regular amount of caffeine

- it doesn't even taste that bad

now here's a special little shop - YaaYaa. I absolutely love it and go there every time I'm in Saarbrücken. They have the most amazing things, from quilts to cards, from mugs to wrestling masks - I adore it. I'm gonna buy a large part of my Christmas presents there because I'm sick of buying gift cards just because I can't find anything else.

See those owls on the shelf? They're so adorable.

Make sure to visit their website YaaYaa

This was a really old building next to the main trainstation - around this time last year it opened up again, completely new and with loads of shops. It can be extremely crowded, especially before Christmas..

Ok so anyway, this was my little post about my hometown. If it hadn't been that cloudy I would've tried to get a few nice shots of the city but with the weather we had this weekend it wasn't even worth trying... Maybe it'll look nicer with some snow? I'll have to try that out.

Book of the week

2011-11-08T12:11:00.001+01:00

Hey everyone - I decided to open up a new category: Book of the Week. Whether I'll actually post about a book every week or every month is unsure, but I want to write about books more.

This particular one is the one I just finished yesterday. "Bloodlands - Europe between Hitler and Stalin" by Timothy Snyder. It tells the story of the bloodlands - the part of Europe that suffered under both Nazis and Soviets. What happened there is unimaginable for those of us that never really experienced the horrors of war but by reading the book you get a pretty good impression of it.

When reading books about the Second World War, I always have trouble comprehending the sheer numbers of deaths - 14 Million is a lot, I know that, but it's too much for me to visualise or grasp it. As someone once said (many people believed that someone to be Stalin but apparently the quote is not his) "One death is a tragedy - a million deaths is a statistic". To me, that's very true. When you open a newspaper and read about someone who died, there's a name, a picture and mention of their family. When 14 million people die however, all you can do is think "wow, that's.... a lot?"

Anyway, to get back to the book: You should definitely read it if you have any interest in history or that particular period. I have the german version, which was really difficult to read seeing as I did history in english. (I became increasingly frustrated when the USSR was referred to as UdSSr - just to give you an example.) It has about 520 pages, but about 100 of those are made up by the annex. Prior knowledge about the subject is not really necessary, but it does help if you covered the period in class before or read other books about it.

Saying that I recommend this book is probably unnecessary but I had to say it anyway.

When I was younger I used to write book reviews for a literature magazine - the proper way to do it would be to tell you the exact amount of pages, where and when it was published and how much this hardcover version costs, but I decided to skip that part. What's amazon for, right?)

2011-11-08T00:30:00.001+01:00

Hey guys, I'm sorry I haven't been posting much but my photo-uploader has been a bitch and tells me that none of my recent pictures are on my hard-drive. So much I want to show you, argh!

Tomorrow I'm gonna go watch Paranormal Activity 3 again (i love watching horror movies for the second time when the other people I'm with are watching it for the first time - it's so funny to freak them out! evil me.)

Apart from that, there's not much to tell I suppose. I'm going to Mess For Masses on Saturday, it's in Steinfort, close to the Belgian border I think. Loads of Luxembourgish bands playing, you should definitely check it out if you have the time. Although Anna Catherine told me that Death Cab for Cutie is playing in Atelier that evening - so don't complain about not having any options! Oh and on friday Slim Suzie have their record release in d:qliq, so head on over there to check out their music if you don't know them yet.
That's your agenda update for now I suppose. If you have any suggestions when it comes to cultural stuff or nightlife, please tell me!

Oh yeah and I'm thinking of applying for a part-time job in a bookshop. I know most students work in cafés or bars but I'm most comfortable when surrounded by a large number of books :)
So to make up for the lack of new pictures, here's an older one from a night out in August or something:

Last Night

2011-11-04T14:50:00.001+01:00

So I went to d:qliq last night and I think it's safe to say that it was one of the best nights out I've had lately. Not only did E-Minor (click!) blow my mind with her music, there were also many drinks involved. Now I'm pretty much a lightweight so having various shots, cider and beer was bound to make an impression on me. The impression actually lasted till this morning, when I walked into a doorframe. So yes of course I have pictures to show you:

Josiah & Liz Wolf - they played after Emina.

I won't have internet for the next few days, sorry! Have a good weekend everyone. x

2011-11-03T00:48:00.001+01:00

Do you remember being 7 years old and knowing exactly what you want to be when you grow up? Astronaut or princess or pope or whatever. I've wanted to win a Nobel prize since the age of 10 (don't ask me why, I don't know either), when I was 15 I made up my mind about my university course and now all I feel like doing is open a bakery in Cuba. The media always tell us that there's no jobs available, everything sucks and we will all be poor unless we're really extraordinary. You didn't take a gap year and helped build schools in a 3rd world country? You don't speak 24 languages? You didn't attend a top-100 university? Well you're fucked then dear sir or madam. Why are people that want to work on a farm worse than others? Oh that's right because we all think that one day, we're going to change the whole fucking world. In order to do so however, you have to stop being a mere human and start working on your demi-god image. Be the best you can be and then some. There's no space for needs or insecurities anymore, which is probably part of the reason why more and more people suffer from depression. That's not the way I want things to work out though. I'm going to find something I love to do and I'mma kick some serious ass doing it. At least I hope so. You never know, circumstances sometimes force you to do stuff you don't want to do. I'd like to be naive though and believe that with enough will-power, you can do just about everything.

Oh look: it's more Music.

2011-11-02T11:03:00.001+01:00

That's right, I have more recommendations for y'all.
You know how I love Florence & The Machine? Well they brought out a new album and I love it. The album goes by the lovely name of "Ceremonials". You might already have heard "What the Water Gave Me" and "Shake It Out".
In a way it's very much like F+TM's first album, Lungs, but it's a lot darker. Lungs is full of harps and soft voices and adorable melodies but Ceremonials is more anthem-like and strong. To be honest I wouldn't really care what their new album is like, I think I love them unconditionally. Saw them live in Luxembourg last year and Florence Welch is the most haunting and fascinating performer ever.

(Speaking of haunting and fascinating, if you're in Luxembourg tomorrow you should move your behinds to d:qliq and attend this gig . If you don't know E-Minor yet it's about bloody time you do. At least I think so, but I might be biased because I love that girl to bits. Would be great to see you there!)

Anyway, to come back to Ceremonials - You should definitely check it out. I got the so-called "Deluxe Version" of the album and it includes some amazing live tracks.

(still-frame from the "What the Water Gave Me" video. Love her tattoo.)

I just checked out Atelier's page to see who's coming to Luxembourg and I saw that Coeur de Pirate will be playing on the 12th of March '12. I know it's a long way away but you never know how fast tickets will sell out so I'm torn between buying tickets right on the spot and trying to actually find someone else who's going.

Another thought: Was thinking of doing a video thing for my blog where maybe I could sing you guys a song. Any suggestions as to what I should sing? Just tell me in the comments!

Halloween

2011-11-01T02:06:00.001+01:00

So, Halloween.. Do you guys "celebrate" it? Of course it's not as big in Europe as it is in America but it seems to be getting more and more popular. Of course, who doesn't love an opportunity to dress up? I don't really have any costumes myself so I tend to use facepaint and fake blood. It's a mess but I love it.
Sadly I didn't really get round to pumpkin carving this year... It's a lot of fun, even though mine are usually quite medieval compared to the pieces of art some people are able to fabricate. There's something satisfying about ripping a pumpkin's intestines out and using a large knife, isn't there? Of course one should only use these measures on pumpkins.
I sort of feel like Halloween is just a "halfway-thing" between summer and Christmas. I told you that I love Christmas, right? Halloween can be fun too though, depending on what you're doing. Of course Monday isn't the ideal day to go out and party (as I had to find out tonight) but it was entertaining nonetheless. I even took quite a few pictures:

I think I'd make a charming Zombie. But there ya go.

Movie Weekend

2011-10-30T23:13:00.001+01:00

Hello there. I watched a couple of movies this weekend, and I don't think they could be any more different from each other. One of them was "Funny Girl" with Barbra Streisand, the other "Paranormal Activity 3".

Now, as I am a huge fan of Barbra's music, I was thrilled to find the DVD of Funny Girl a few months ago. Somehow, I never got round to watching it, but last night I finally did and I absolutely loved it. She may not be a classic beauty but I was stunned at her performance. She definitely deserved that Oscar. What I find fascinating is how different women and men were back then. In the movie, Fanny Brice (Streisand) has a hard time because her legs are too skinny for example. Can't really imagine that situation today, can you? Ah but the costumes were all gorgeous, I really loved it. There's something epic about the movie, at least for me. And I don't mean epic in the way you'd say "I just had an epic sandwich" - I mean maybe you did, but I honestly doubt it. Funny Girl is now definitely one of my favourite movies. It's a bit long (roughly 2h30mins - even has an "Intermission" part) but so worth it.

Then today, I watched Paranormal Activity 3. I watched the first two parts as well, but always at home, never in the cinema. The situation was almost comical: A movie rated 16+, yet I bet half the kids in that theatre were underaged. Always laughing, whispering, trying to scare each other, messing around with laser pointers and some of the girls were quite literally hyperventilating when it came to the scary parts. Now I know it's debatable whether or not that movie is actually scary but I winced more than once. I spent half the movie with my fingers in my ears and my eyes half-closed too.... I know it might sound weird but I still enjoy watching movies like that. Not sure if it's worth the money/ heart attacks but every once in a while you need mindless weird entertainment. If you watched the other parts, you should see this one too, it's sort of the background story for the second one. Talk about creepy little kids..

Speaking of creepy things, what are you guys up to for Halloween? I'm desperate to wear my awesome glow-in-the-dark skeleton earrings but I need an occasion and a place, so throw it all at me.

Well I think I'd better go to bed soon, this daylight-saving thing got me all confused. Good night everyone x

Wild Animals

2011-10-30T01:14:00.001+02:00

Helloooo! Sorry for the short disappearance. I went to town last night and saw loads of people I hadn't seen in ages, went to Interview & Melusina and had a great time at that party. The decorations were amazing, hats off to the organisers. Some people took the dress-code pretty serious and arrived in full-body animal suits, which was pretty epic. I had to stick to leopard-print shoes and face-paint. Thought I'd show you all some pictures:

random poser-moment at Melu

FACEPAINT! everyone loves it. teehee.

as I said, decorations were fantastic. Proper jungle feeling.

C. was there too, as you can see :)

So yeah that night was great. I got home pretty late, went to bed even later,

got up 4h after that and spent the whole day being a zombie.

Thank god I didn't get too intoxicated last night, a hangover wouldn't have been too pleasant today. Do you guys get hangovers easily? I don't get a headache or anything I just lose all sense of coordination and find myself constantly walking into doorframes, which in turn results in a headache, So I guess hangovers do give me headaches. Haha. (sorry)

2011-10-27T18:21:00.001+02:00

Hey there interwebs,
I have absolutely nothing new to tell you. Nope. I stayed home today because I felt really bad this morning, have successfully avoided almost all human contact, had a lot of comfort food and tea and now I can choose between studying for my latin exam tomorrow or waste my time on 9GAG, memebase, reddit and so on and so forth. BTW for all you rage-face lovers out there: If you have an iPhone, I recommend the "Rage Faces" app. simply click on one of the faces and you can copy paste it into and sms. So much fun! (Plus - it's free, so go on.) Not sure if android has it too.
I started a rage face conversation with my friend yesterday and it's pretty epic.

But yes, just because I don't have anything to tell doesn't mean you have to be all sad, because I have blog recommendations for you! (yaay!)
You should definitely check out Anna Catherine's blog. Seriously. Just do it. It's definitely one of my favourite blogs to read and her posts are extremely well-written and sometimes maybe even a tad provocative (although I always agree with her views)
And of course my friend Kaori's blog. We were in the same year and totally ROCKED OUT during our time at the school's gospel choir together, plus she's drop-dead gorgeous.

(a bit of random cuteness to cheer you up if you need it.

I seriously want one of those. Seriously.)

Ok I might write another post tonight, if not tomorrow during my really really fascinating "introduction to german literature" lecture. Bye!

Mmmh Muffins.

2011-10-26T01:34:00.001+02:00

Today I was bored, so I made muffins. And jam. I came up with an awesome recipe for jam so of course I'll share it with you!

Raspberry-Chili Jam with Orange-juice:

- 2 packs of raspberries

- 1/4 of a large red chili (they're not as spicy as the tiny ones)

- Juice of 1 Orange

- 1 cup of sugar

- cornstarch

Basically you just put everything into a pan, let it simmer for a while, run it through the mixer and BAM you're done. I really like it because it tastes sweet but you still have that "prickling" feeling on your tongue that you usually get from spicy stuff. I'm a huge fan of raspberries so I was really eager to make some sort of raspberry jam!

I also made Kiwi-jam. I made that before but this time I had to change the recipe because I had neither limes nor pears... I used grapes and clementines instead! Just take a handful of seedless green grapes, crush them (it's oddly satisfying, I swear) and add the juice of one clementine. (Use two Kiwis, a cup of sugar and cornstarch as well, that's the full recipe.)

Anyways, after I was done with the jam I made the chocolate dough. This was the first time I made muffins (are they muffins or cupcakes? I get confused...) so I just used the recipe I usually use for a chocolate cake! Here's the full recipe (it's in german, try using google translate if you don't understand it!)

After you've prepared everything, get these little paper cups and fill them up about halfway with the dough, add a bit of jam and then fill it up with more dough. I let them bake for about 14 mins at 180°C and they're fine like that.

after they're done they should look something like this:

Try it out if you have the time and let me know if you liked them!

Good News, Bad News

2011-10-25T10:59:00.001+02:00

You know what annoys me? The news. You turn on the radio or TV, get a newspaper or check some online portal and all you see is bad news. The Euro is failing, everyone's poor, there's ridiculous amounts of debt, there's earthquakes, fires, murders, terrorist attacks, we're killing the planet, our generation will have a tough life, there won't be any jobs, everyone's obese and the apocalypse/rapture is supposed to hit us any day now, seriously.

Well fuck that. Why focus on all the bad stuff? It's making people depressed. If I had the time and skills, I'd set up a website featuring only good news. Listening to the news you'd think that we're all doomed and the planet will explode the day after tomorrow, after all volcanoes erupted and seamonsters crawled into our bedrooms to leave their dental records on our necks.
Smoking's bad for you, your kids are too fat, you're harming the planet, you're a selfish asshole for not using eco-lightbulbs, the water you're drinking has female hormones and traces of cocaine in it and the air you're breathing is pure poison. Now you know. Of course there might be a little bit of truth in everything but come on. What about all the good stuff?
And it's not just the news themselves, it's how they're delivered. I was watching the news last night when all of a sudden, they mentioned Gaddafi's death and showed a video supposedly showing how Gaddafi was beat up. I'm sorry but I really didn't want to see that. Why does every piece of information have to be accompanied by some horrible pictures? To prove that it's true? To make sure everyone understands how fucking horrible everything is? If I could, I'd stop checking the news. I just hate not knowing what's going on (might have something to do with my wish of becoming a journalist at some point) so I can't do that.. So I decided that I'd rely on the free little newspapers you can get everywhere in Luxembourg. Sure, everything's a day late, but they have local news (who's the new wine queen? What are the Schlecks up to?) and Sudokus and oddly detailed weather forecasts. I like that.
And dear newspeople out there, please try to deliver something positive every once in a while. There is positive stuff going on, but with so much focus on the negative, some people have forgotten how to look for it. It should be your job to inform people about everything going on in the world, not deliver the most awful news possible with the most revolting footage you can find.

I want more news like this. Sure, it's not very informative but it did

make me chuckle in my lecture, which is more than any news-website has done in ages.

Album Review - Mylo Xyloto

2011-10-24T19:45:00.001+02:00

Hey there! So I decided to do an album review of Coldplay's "Mylo Xyloto".
I downloaded it yesterday (I'm one of those people that pays for their music. I always buy music on iTunes or in stores, even if it can take a while to find what you're looking for. I think it's a matter of respect for the artist and their work. If I'm not willing to pay for a song, I probably don't like it enough to listen to it more than a couple of times so why bother downloading it?)

Anyways, I've listened to the entire album a couple of times now and have to say I really like it. It kind of lacks the "anthem" feel that their previous album (Viva La Vida) had, but I still really enjoy listening to it. I should probably mention that this is the first complete album I have of Coldplay. I have songs from all their albums but with every album there's a few songs missing because I didn't like them that much.
The album starts off with an Intro - Mylo Xyloto, the album's title. It sets the mood for the entire album and blends in perfectly with the next song. I especially like M.M.I.X, Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall, Paradise, Princess Of China and Up With The Birds. "Princess of China" is the most powerful song I think. It's also one of the only songs where I like Rihanna's voice. (Not that big a fan of hers to tell you the truth). "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" is a typical Coldplay song for me - that's not a bad thing in the slightest. You're bound to know that song, they released it in June I think. I've listened to "Paradise" quite a few times now and I still really like it, which is always a good sign... I couldn't tell you which song is my absolute favourite, I'll find out in a few months. If I still listen to a song ages after I first heard it, I must really like it.
The only song I didn't like all that much is "Major Minus", although I couldn't tell you why. It's not a bad song, it really isn't. Just doesn't float my boat that much.

Overall I really do recommend the album. They didn't reinvent themselves but that's not always necessary - I actually quite like that they stay true to their style. It's certainly not for everyone but if you liked Coldplay's previous albums, I'm almost willing to bet you'll enjoy this one too.

Links to a couple of songs:
Paradise & Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Hope you liked my review. It's not really professional and could be a lot more detailed, but I just wanted to give you all a general impression of the album.

I'm a friggin' artist

2011-10-24T02:14:00.001+02:00

I really want to make up for not posting these past couple of days so I spontaneously decided to do another post.

First of all, there's something very dramatic going on:

I just realised I forgot all my make-up stuff at my dad's, over an hour away. Apart from the fact that my meds were in that bag, I am now facing a truly horrible first-world problem: Will I survive running around without make-up for a couple of days?

I'm fairly confident that I can, unlike some others my age I myself have no problem wearing no make-up -

it seems to distress other people though. I can guarantee that I will be asked at least a dozen times whether I'm ill,

have been crying or not slept at all. Oh well. At least I don't smoke anymore, last time I wanted to buy

Cigarettes without wearing make-up I was asked to show an ID. weeeird.

Speaking of smoking, remember how I told you I quit? Well I stand by that, but I did smoke a couple of cigarettes lately.

I just really miss it. The smell especially.. I know this may sound weird but I do love the smell of cigarettes. Oh well,

guess I'll have to keep sitting in smoke-filled bars and watch others enviously. (Remember: smoking's bad for ya, people. Blah Blah Blah)

Oh and also my vegan experiment has come to an end! Yaay! As I mentioned before it wasn't really all that difficult.

I had a piece of chocolate today and realised how horribly sweet chocolate actually is..

Guess I'll switch to that disgusting 80% cocoa stuff now or just drop it altogether.

I was thinking of trying to give up energy drinks for two weeks but as I'm a very realistic person I would never set myself a challenge I can't win.

Dear Red Bull company, you're very welcome.

Awesome thing about having younger people living in your household: You get to be a kid too. Today I was an artist. Hah.

- proud? yes, fairly.

Sorry for the absence!

2011-10-24T01:42:00.001+02:00

Hey there, sorry I haven't been posting. Didn't have internet all weekend....

So yeah, I went to my audition on saturday and it was so much fun! Course I was nervous but I'm really really glad I did it. I won't know for a while how I did or what'll happen next but I'll definitely let you know.

Apart from that I don't have that much more to tell... I think I caught a cold, I'm so annoyed. I blame the weather, it's too cold and wet outside. And it's really dark too! The sun sets before 7pm, it's so different from the seemingly endless summer nights.

Anyway, seeing as I don't really have anything to tell and I don't want to waffle too much, here's another playlist. You seemed to like the last one so I'll give it another try.

Björk - It's Oh So Quiet

Coldplay - Paradise

Florence & The Machine - Swimming

Sia - Bring Night

Stacey Kent - The Ice Hotel

Ella Fitzgerald - Black Coffee

Corinne Bailey Rae - Trouble Sleeping

Barbra Streisand- Lover, Come Back To Me

Frank Sinatra - Bewitched

Stars - Sad Robot

Regina Spektor - Hero

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Pin

Johnny Cash - Hey Porter

Amanda Jenssen - Greetings From Space

Was darf man preisgeben?

2011-10-21T00:04:00.001+02:00

Facebook, Twitter, Formspring, Blogs... Soziale Netzwerke werden immer beliebter. Doch was sollte man besser für sich behalten? Meiner Ansicht nach gehört nicht alles aufs Internet. Gut, ich gebe auch relativ viel preis. Solltet Ihr diesen Blog schon länger lesen, wisst Ihr wie ich aussehe, wo ich studiere und noch ein paar andere Sachen. Ihr habt aber keine Ahnung, für was ich wie viel Geld ausgebe, wo ich wohne oder was meine tägliche Routine ist. Jeder soll für sich selbst entscheiden was er ins Netz stellt, sollte sich aber auch gleichzeitig im Klaren darüber sein, dass theoretisch jeder es lesen kann. Die Sachen die ich von mir preisgebe halte ich nicht für "zu persönlich" oder fürs Internet ungeeignet und vielleicht ist das leichtsinnig von mir, doch was will man machen... Datenschützer regen sich ständig darüber auf, dass z.B. facebook die Daten seiner Nutzer sammelt. Ja und?! Bei so vielen Nutzern kann man doch nicht ernsthaft glauben, dass jedes einzelne Profil sorgfältig durchgelesen und unzuverlässig verwaltet wird.

Es gibt natürlich Nutzer, die die einfachsten Grundregeln nicht beachten. Freundschaftsanfragen von Leuten, die ich nicht kenne oder die keine gemeinsamen Freunde mit mir haben, nehme ich nie an. Ich nehme auch oft Freundschaftsanfragen von Leuten die ich kenne nicht an, einfach weil ich nicht will, dass sie auf alles Zugriff haben. Es gibt einige Leute in meiner Freundesliste, die nicht nur über 1000 "Freunde" haben, sondern auch alle 10 Minuten irgendwas posten. Wo sie gerade sind, was sie machen und mit wem. "XY ist gerade bei McDonald's, hat zwei Chickenburger und eine Cola bestellt und geht dann mit YZ und AB ins Kino" - Äh, danke für die Info, aber was soll das? Ich behaupte ja nicht, dass alles was ich poste intelligenter oder nützlicher ist, aber ich versuche es mit der Selbstdarstellung nicht allzu sehr zu übertreiben.
Wenn wir ehrlich sind, sind uns die Konsequenzen ja bewusst. Klar, unsere Daten können missbraucht und an Dritte weitergeleitet werden aber ohne facebook und Co. wollen viele einfach nicht mehr leben.
Ich bin mir nicht ganz sicher, was ich von der ganzen Datenschutz-Sache denken soll. Ich finde, dass Aufklärung über die Gefahren des Internets wichtiger sind als ständige Drohungen. Wenn man hinreichend informiert ist, geht man mit persönlichen Informationen auch besser um.

Ich blogge ja erst seit ein paar Wochen regelmäßig und kann deshalb vielleicht nicht allzu viel darüber sagen aber mir gefällt es sehr gut, dass mittlerweile fast jeder die Möglichkeit hat, der Welt seine Meinung mitzuteilen. Man kann über Muffinrezepte bloggen, über Uhren, über Mode oder über Bücher. Für jeden Blog gibt es ein Publikum, man muss sich nur darüber Gedanken machen, wen man mit seinen Beiträgen erreichen will. Führt man einen öffentlichen Monolog, will man die Welt verändern oder will man nur mit Urlaubsfotos angeben? Ich bin mir noch nicht ganz sicher, was ich mit diesem Blog bezwecken will - vielleicht stelle ich ja in ein paar Wochen fest, dass ich eigentlich nichts weltbewegendes zu vermelden habe und höre dann wieder auf zu bloggen! Kann aber auch sein dass ich ein Thema finde, von dem ich denke dass es mehr Aufmerksamkeit verdient und dem ich diese Aufmerksamkeit zuteil werden lasse. Ihr könnt ja öfter mal vorbeischauen und beobachten, was draus wird! Übrigens heiße ich Kommentare und Kritik jederzeit willkommen, also könnt ihr mir auch einfach Denkanstöße geben.

Mehr habe ich im Moment nicht zu sagen aber das reicht ja auch für's Erste....

When there's nothing else to say....

2011-10-20T23:05:00.001+02:00

NYAN NYAN NYAN.

G'night x

PLACEBO

2011-10-20T00:00:00.001+02:00

So I was browsing graphjam and came across this lovely video:

Ok I find the accent a bit annoying but the video is really good.

Now, if a placebo does work, it must all be down to our belief - as the video states. I completely agree with that.. It's all down to attitude, really. When I quit smoking, I didn't tell myself "OMG THIS IS GONNA TOTALLY SUCK", I just decided that I'd quit. I still don't see why people make such a fuss about it. Yeah, I did smoke a couple of cigarettes on a friday night out for example but just because I really miss it, not because I was overpowered. I am very aware of the fact that smoking a pack a day when you're asthmatic isn't the smartest thing to do. Plus, it's really expensive, even in Luxembourg.

Anyway, back to the point.

This video is proof that placebos work as long as you believe in them. Which is why I don't understand why people say homeopathy is a joke. I've been treated homeopathically ever since I was about 2 months old. Right now I'm taking a long-term thing (Pulsatilla LM XVIII) and have been taking it every day for about two months. All I can say is that it does help me.

I never doubted the efficiency of homeopathy as a kid because obviously I was used to it, but then I started reading all these articles that compare homeopathy to tarot cards & whatnot and yes, it did make me look at things a bit more critically. This is the conclusion I've come to:

- I'd rather take "useless plant-stuff" than anti-biotics if it's not absolutely necessary. (I once had a doctor who wanted to give me anti-biotics after he told me I probably had a virus "just in case it's a bacterial thing after all" - wait, what??) Anti-biotics seriously mess with your digestion tract because it kills a lot of the good bacteria you need to digest things, so why do that to yourself if it's not even necessary?

- The homeopathic approach in itself is quite logic, it's just that people don't bother to read up on it to properly inform themselves. Yet they still have the nerve to talk about it as if they'd written a dissertation about the subject...

- If people believe it works, then it does. Why is it so easy to accept that fact when it comes to placebos but not when it comes to homeopathy? I believe in it and it works for me (and everyone in my family for that matter), so why do I always have to defend my point of view against people who really want to make me believe that it's all bullshit? Just mind your own bloody business!

In the end, it's all down to your personal opinion. I truly think that the homeopathic approach is much more sensible than running to the doctor every time you sneeze to go and get four different kinds of cough syrup and an asthma-inhaler just in case it's not a simple cold.

JUST TO MAKE IT CLEAR THOUGH: I am not saying that traditional medicine is useless. Quite the contrary, of course medicine works, I just don't like they way people take pills for everything without questioning their effects and their usefulness. Given the choice though, I'd rather take a homeopathic thing and find out it didn't work than some chemical thing that has 20 side effects. I go to the doctor just like everyone else though (ok maybe I should go more often, earlier this year I had an asthmatic bronchitis for 8 weeks because I firmly believed it would go away if I concentrated hard enough.. Also I couldn't be bothered to do anything about it until it really annoyed me) and I don't judge people who choose not to believe in homeopathy, as long as they don't judge me either. Sounds fair right?

Sorry for lecturing, it just really bugs me how people that are extremely narrow-minded seem to have an almost pathological need to convince everyone who believes different things that they're wrong. Sure, some people might believe in seemingly stupid things but as long as they don't harm themselves or others, why not just let them be?

Music for this kind of mood.

2011-10-19T00:57:00.001+02:00

Sometimes, you feel purposeful. I mean, of course I don't know if you do, but I do. That feeling that you're on the right track or something positive will happen. Most of the time nothing happens, but that's not the point. Right now I have this feeling. It might be the influence of too many carbohydrates and red bull or maybe it's the changing weather but my attitude changed too. I've finally come to terms with the fact that yes, I was rejected by the uni I really wanted to go to, and yes, I am stuck in Luxembourg with not that many people to talk to, but that's ok. It's all a matter of attitude and figuring out what to do with my time.

Anyway I decided to try and come up with a playlist
(be warned though, I'm not saying you'll like these..)

Florence & The Machine - Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) - Live
The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition
Oh Land - Sun of a Gun
Frank Sinatra - That's Life
Frank Sinatra - Bewitched
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Barbra Streisand - Don't Rain On My Parade
Barbra Streisand - Lover, Come Back To Me
Portishead - Glory Box
Otis Redding - Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay
The Police - Message In A Bottle
Nouvelle Vague - Dancing With Myself
West Side Story - Somewhere (odd one out, love it though)
Stacey Kent - The Ice Hotel
Florence & The Machine - Cosmic Love
Marina & The Diamonds - Oh No!

It's a weird mix but these are indeed the songs I listen to when I'm in a good mood. I love everything by Queen, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra and F&TM and if I had the nerve to type them all up, I'd give you a detailed list of all my favourite songs but these'll have to do for now. Right, it's almost 1am and I still have to watch the new episode of House and then get up at 7am.. How on earth did I ever manage to spend two months sleeping only two hours a night?? I feel like I could sleep forever these days.

Frank Sinatra - awesome. plain awesome.

Audition

2011-10-18T17:35:00.002+02:00

OH MY GOD I am freaking out. Ok so about a month ago, I signed up to audition for this German TV show. The audition is on saturday, in Cologne... Just to explain, it's a casting show looking for the next person to represent Germany at the Eurovision Songcontest.. That's how they found Lena, who won in 2010. So yeah, the second season of that show is coming up and the auditions are in Cologne as I said. On the sign-up sheet I had to put down the three songs I want to sing at my audition. I chose this one, this one and this one! Now I'm starting to feel like they're the wrong choices but it's a bit late I guess. Still, the closer the day comes, the more nervous I get. What if I can't move at all? What if I sound horrible? I mean I wasn't exactly serious about this competition but it certainly feels serious now.

Ok anyway, however scary that might be, there are still some other thoughts on my mind..
I have to figure out where the hell I want to study. I'm doing one semester at the University of Luxembourg at the moment because none of my plans worked out the way I wanted them to.. Next semester I'm probably moving to Germany for a month or two, but nothing's set in stone yet.
I'm not going to the UK. Not only is it a matter of principle for me, I also can't really see myself living there. It's a matter of principle because I refuse to pay 9000 pounds a year for tuition fees - not because it's a lot of money but because I find it disgusting that you would make it so much harder for people from less privileged families to get access to higher education.
Ok but anyway, I was thinking of the Netherlands or Berlin. Sure, I could go anywhere in Germany but weirdly enough I'm not really drawn there. Maybe because I've never really lived in Germany and haven't been to that many places, but after living in Lux almost all my life, I find it hard to imagine living in a monolingual society. Of course Berlin is in Germany but I really like it. It's a lot more international than some cities and the people are nice and the quality of living is good.
I'd love to move to Maastricht or Amsterdam too but the courses they offer in english aren't exactly what I'm looking for.. To be able to do a course in dutch I'd have to pass a language test first and I've never had a lesson of dutch in my life so it might take me a while.

Then again, there are billions of universities it seems, does anyone have an idea which unis I could take into consideration?

First all-text post, hope you don't mind! Can't seem to find any pictures and posting a picture that shows flowers seems a tad pointless. Okay, gotta go, bye!

Favourites pt 2

2011-10-17T14:45:00.001+02:00

Ok so this post comes a little later than I'd anticipated, sorry. I was extremely lazy this weekend and didn't really get anything done. I love weekends like that. Now however, it's back to reality and Uni and all that..
Well anyway in this "favourites" post I'll talk about my favourite thing in the entire world: Books!
Yeah some people can't stop buying shoes, I can't stop buying books. I literally can't enter a bookshop without spending at least half an hour and buying at least one book. In the summer I had to rearrange stuff in my room so I piled up most of my books in one corner, which in the end looked like this:

a part of my books is in the living room shelves though, I'm slowly running out of space in my room. I know this collection isn't as impressive as Karl Lagerfeld's (which supposedly comprises over 300.000 books..) but I'm working on it and my bank account isn't exactly happy about it.

these are all my english books, my german books are in the other shelves. (yes, I do separate by language..) I'm pretty sure some are missing so I'll have to hunt them down.

I decided to start this book next. I've read two other books by Philip Roth so far and really enjoyed them. Okay, "The Humbling" is a bit strange in some parts but I really like his style. I might write a sort of review once I've finished this one. It might take a while though cause it looks like I'll actually have to do some sort of work for Uni! Shocking, I know.. :)

Sadly I don't really have time to write any more now, but I might post later today or tomorrow. Bye!

Favourites pt. 1

2011-10-15T03:57:00.002+02:00

Hello there! I decided to do a post featuring some of my "favourites".

this is my fave shade of nail polish at the moment. my little sister wanted me to buy it so of course I had to... :)

a few of my scarves. I told you I have a few! these are the ones

I wear on a regular basis, I still have a few more though.

I'll make another "Favourites" post, including some of my favourite books, music and stuff like that. Right now it's 4am so I think I might go to bed at some point. Have you noticed how bloody cold it is outside? I don't like heat but I'm not too sure I like the cold any better.. Thank god for tea, fire-places and sweatshirts.

G'Night everybody!

@ Uni pt. 2

2011-10-11T10:50:00.002+02:00

Hey there - yes, I am at Uni again. History of Art at the moment, we're doing stuff on photography. It is quite interesting but today I don't have the concentration skills to pay attention..
So I have quite a few things to tell actually!
This is my second day of being a vegan and so far it's actually working out fine. I don't eat dairy anyway and meat never played a huge part in my life.. Still, if you think about it, quite a few things have to be avoided when you're trying to be a vegan. Toast has milk in it for example. Chocolate is a no-go, even cocoa powder isn't 100% cocoa beans. Yesterday I had 2 energy drinks (we'll get to my caffeine addiction later..) lentil soup & wholewheat bread and in the evening I had the pasta me and my friend made with Soy-yoghurt & my Kiwi Jam for dessert. Today I prepared Pumpkin-Gnocchi with carrots and champignons in a Tomato sauce spiked with cayenne pepper, chilies and soy sauce. It all sounds so healthy haha. Ohh I definitely have to show you my recipe for chili sin carne, I could live off that stuff!

On to my next point: I want to get another tattoo.

Here's the one I have now

In case you can't properly read it, it's XXIX.V.MMI. (I got it in July and that's when I took this picture too.) Back to the point: I want a second one. I'm just not sure what to get...
God, why does it have to be so difficult?? A tattoo ideally stays with you forever so I do want to make sure I pick the right one. C. wants to get one too, we'll probably go together.

Oh, speaking of C., I'm staying over at hers tonight. Movies and wine. (Plus junkfood, yaay!)

Good night everyone.

New Stuff

2011-10-10T21:41:00.001+02:00

Hey there, I can finally post again. On saturday I was busy all day helping my dad move and yesterday I was too tired to do anything productive..
After uni today I went to town and made a couple of quick stops at H&M and Vero Moda. Haven't been "shopping" in ages but I needed something to keep my head warm the next few months and of course there was collateral damage and I bought a few other things. Here goes:

pearl earrings and key necklace, both by pieces

two of those hats by H&M divided

quick picture of me wearing one of the hats :)

I also bought a shirt at H&M, don't have a good picture of it though.

Might wear it soon and post a picture!

After I bought those things I met my friend Steven who drove me home (hmm I really should get a driver's license..). We made Pasta with chilies and garlic, was pretty good for a first try. Tuesdays are my longest days at uni, three lectures à 90 mins.. So I'll be at uni from 10 till 15h45. Might go to Christina's place after and watch a few movies. So yes, that's all for now. Will watch Fringe now and pick a new book to read, my "to-read" pile has grown considerably lately..

Autumn's here!

2011-10-08T00:03:00.002+02:00

Hi guys. Today when I was standing at the bus stop at uni I noticed for the first time just how many leaves are lying around. All the trees are going bald! So I snapped a couple of pictures before rushing off to catch my bus to Germany. Tomorrow marks the day of my first complete week without smoking.. God time goes by way too fast.
So yeah here are a couple of pictures from today:

that's me. i'm really glad my hair's growing so fast..

last year I had it cut really really short, if I find pics I might show you!

Announcement!

2011-10-06T14:17:00.002+02:00

Hi internet-people!

I have been extremely bored lately and wanted to set myself some sort of a challenge. Giving up smoking was a lot easier than I thought it would be so I need something a little different.

I thought long and hard (ok, that's not true, it only just occurred to me 10 minutes ago) and came to the conclusion that I'll try to be a vegan for two weeks, starting on Monday, 10th October. That means no chocolate, no dairy, no meat, no fish, no eggs, no nothing. I'm already nervous just thinking about it because it means I'll have to take an annoyingly close look at everything I eat... I'll post about how it's going.

Christina & me last friday night.

I'm in love with Christmas

2011-10-06T00:25:00.001+02:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, as of now there are less than 80 days left till Christmas. Now, some may say that this is a bit too early to get into the right mind-set but I like to be prepared.

What isn't there to love about christmas? Advent calendars (if that's part of your family's tradition..), crackling fireplaces, the awesome smell of christmas trees and cinnamon, the whole excitement that comes with it... Christmas is definitely my favourite holiday so I decided to start it a bit early. As of today (or maybe tomorrow, I'm a tad tired.) I will start collecting cookie recipes, make plans for presents, check whether all our christmas decorations are in order and all the other things you usually do to prepare for that time of the year. Of course it's a bit weird that it's not even Halloween yet but let's face it: It's a bit more than 10 weeks till christmas. You'll spend about 6 of them in denial, then the first advent comes along and you can no longer deny it. You will then spend two weeks getting drunk off Glühwein at your closest christmas market, ask all your family members what they want for christmas and realise ONE DAY before christmas that you haven't really done any of your tasks yet. The thing about christmas is that it's over really abruptly. Have you ever noticed? 24th - 26th December it's all anyone talks about then suddenly everyone rushes to the stores to spend their christmas money or return gifts and then BAM it's the new year already! I really don't like new year's but that might be because I spent the entire 1st of January 2011 in hospital...?

ANYWAY let's get back to the point: How to get into the right mood!
I took the liberty of composing a playlist with my favourite Christmas songs. And yes, I do listen to them all year round. Here goes:

White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
Hark, The Herald Angels Sing - Frank Sinatra
Baby It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Michael Bublé (my fave version)
The First Noél - Bing Crosby

Deck The Halls - just sing it yourself. so much fun. FALALALA
Oh Christmas Tree - not one of my favourites, but I couldn't imagine Christmas without it.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Those songs would have to be my favourites. Then of course there's the classics like "Last Christmas" by Wham!.. Ok I know that everyone always says they can't stand the song anymore but seriously, wouldn't you miss something without it?
That's sort of the whole point of Christmas, you do stuff you don't really want to do, like spend an evening with your really annoying family, drinking your sorrows away or getting your sister the Hannah Montana CD she always wanted even though it makes your ears bleed. I think that's rather healthy for our egocentric society. Do stuff because it'll make someone else happy. And let's face it, the prospect of getting presents makes it worth the effort, right?

Sorry for the random picture but all the other winter/christmas pictures are on my external hard-drive which I can't find... Yeah I have a slight cookie-making obsession and this particular one was made along with about 400 others when I felt the manic urge to spend 7 hours straight making cookies last winter.. Must've been pre-exam madness, although it really was a lot of fun :)

KIWI JAM

2011-10-04T22:02:00.001+02:00

okaaay so I found this site on stumbleupon that had a recipe on how to make tomato jam.. being the tomato freak that I am, I rushed to the store to get all ingredients and immediately tried it out. and while the jam was simmering away, I decided to try and create my own jam... Let's just say I ended up with a surprisingly tasty Kiwi-Pear Jam with Limejuice.
Here's a step-by-step in case you ever feel like doing something similar!

ok so obviously you start by peeling and cutting up the Kiwi's..

the size of the pieces doesn't really matter but all pieces should have roughly the same size.

I used 2 1/2 limes for this. Just squeeze them out, pretty simple..

IMPORTANT: add one pear. didn't take a picture of it cause i forgot.. Ok so you cut a pear into pieces that are roughly as big as the kiwis, throw the fruit into a saucepan, add the limejuice and about a cup of sugar. It depends on how sweet you like your jam but you can always add sugar later!

let it simmer on medium heat for about half an hour to 40 mins. If you don't want to wait too long, just do what I did and cheat a bit... Simply add a few teaspoons of cornstarch. It doesn't taste of anything and thickens the whole thing so you don't have to wait for hours. After adding the cornstarch, wait another ten minutes and then take it off the heat. If you want to you can throw it all in the mixer (which is what i did, cause i don't like the pieces haha)

because of the cornstarch, don't be surprised if the whole thing becomes kinda stiff in the fridge. if you don't want it to be stiff, just leave out the cornstarch.

ok so for this recipe I used:

- 4 Kiwis

- 1 Pear

- 2 1/2 limes

- 1 cup of sugar

- a few tablespoons of taste-neutral cornstarch.

I just randomly tried this out and happened to like the result

so the recipe isn't perfectly balanced or measured.

Just add more sugar or lime juice after, depending on what tastes right for you.

OK BIG QUESTION: what to do with the jam?

I'm probably gonna make a chocolate cake tomorrow with a layer of that jam inbetween,

i really like the whole kiwi/chocolate combination.

of course you can simply use it like any other jam, that's really up to you.

hope you like it!