Odd-one-out

2008-02-12T10:46:00.001+01:00

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me...

And I'm feeling goooood :-)
Very excited. This is the last message from my flat in Valenciennes. Heading off in a few minutes to my new construction site in Saint Avold and my temporary flat in Saarlouis. Feeling pumped with energy and intend to severely kick ass. Finally something new worth writing about!
Will post some pics and stories soon.

2008-01-01T15:55:00.000+01:00

Ruling off 2007

Aaaaand I'm back. Being the lemming I am, here a short recap of 2007.

On the pro side:

First big project I can call my own
Apparently got great feedback for the work I did in India
Spent some nice days in Munich, Bahrein, Brussels, Amsterdam and Nürnberg
Got a cool apartment in France

On the contra side:

The cool apartment is in a tiny sh**hole
France sucks
Didn't do remotely as well on the project as I would have wished for
I hate Paris ...with a passion
Was pretty much alone for the first half of the year (only 3 colleagues on site and non of them interesting to spend time with)
Family affairs yet again

....as far as the contra side goes, I could go on and on and on. On the bottom line 2007 sucked. I remember that after a rather desaterous (apart from Spain) 2006 where I thought it wouldn't be that hard for the new year to be better, I was proven wrong... BIG TIME. 2007 was bad on a different level though, because the thing that went wrong I can actually change, well, most of them.

2008 welcomes me yet again with the possibility to start over. End of January I'll start a new project in Saint Avold, France, which is so close to the German border that it will allow me to move back to Germany. Yes, I'll move again (REALLY hate moving). For now I booked a furnished place near Saarlouis which looks rather nice and will make the start easier and gives me the chance to concentrate on work and, of course, after work activities. Already know 2 people living there, so that might make the start even easier.

Well, to follow the lemming path, here a list with new year resolutions for 2008.

2008 will rock! ...and if it doesn't, I'll make it!
Letting go a bit, meaning: not overthinking everything, being more stupid and silly at times and just enjoying myself more ...really looking forward to how that will turn out ;-)
Meeting more people. Really hated the 1st half of my stay in France, because the lack of social interaction just got me down. You know that I'm not really the person to sit in the corner not talking to anybody, and even though I hate the beginning of making friends (can't I just hand in a CV and a short summary of my personal life so far pleeeeeease?), I need people to spend time with besides work colleagues
US trip! If I can make the time, I will embrace my girly side and do a shopping trip to the east coast. Arrival 5kg luggage, back 2x23kg. Now that's a grat new years resolution, isn't it?
Apart from that, the usual blahblah resolutions that might forgotten by the end of January - work out more, smoke less (or even quit?!?!), read more.... you know the drill ;-)

Here's to 2008, a year that is bound to make history (...just like any other year btw ;-) )

2007-08-26T19:20:00.000+02:00

And AGAIN...

...imagethrust doesn't display my pictures! Maybe I should take it as a sign to change the design of the blog. Until than the frames will remain empty.

2007-08-24T20:31:00.000+02:00

France is bigger then I thought...

A few weeks ago a colleague and I talked about places we've worked at. I really thought I've been around a bit, but then he told me he worked in a geo-science lab in Antarctica for 16 months. Antarctica is rather big so I thought it couldn't have been that bad - until yesterday. Turned out he only worked "near" Antarctica, on an island that belongs to France. To understand what "near" means, check the pictures ;-) Am deeply impressed (and wonder how much allowance you receive for staying there).

2007-08-23T23:27:00.000+02:00

Puhhh...

...managed to recover everything.

2007-08-23T22:10:00.000+02:00

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

$§)%§=*$)=§/?*!(§#&%"=!""#!!!!!!!!!!!! Those stupid wankers from Imagethrust deleted my images!!! Of corse they are NOT on my laptop (except for the pirate-me) because I created them when I had different one :-((( Will check on my external drive, but don't think I have them. I really liked them and it took ages to come up with that.

Pissed now!

2007-08-20T21:14:00.000+02:00

Half-brain weekend and whole-grain bread

Damn, another month over and I didn't manage to update my blog...
However, here I go:
Work: Still love my job, still hate my construction site. 'nuff said.
For the rest: don't even remember what I did with all the time on my hands, so I'll start with the weekend of the 11th. The 15th was a holiday here in France so I took the chance and took Monday and Tuesday off. On Friday evening I was on my way to Amsterdam to finally see Niek's place before he moves out. Swiched my brain off and simply enjoyed hanging out, tried to by sneakers (and failed miserably), had japanese pancakes for the first time in my life and tried to be a good co-pilot on the motorbike Niek had for the weekend. All things considered, I had a lot of fun and recharge my batteries :-)
On Monday I went home, enjoyed some mum's cooking and met Sandra (which was more than overdue!).
After days like those it's even harder to return to a place where people don't really know you, but it's good to know that I can at least say that there actually are people that can rightfully claim to do so. That's something, isn't it? ;-)

...today, after yet another 14h workday, I stopped by at the supermarket to at least try to fill my fridge. This time I passed an aisle that I never set foot in before: The BIO corner! (No worries, I still think that nobody should hesitate to show those animals their rightful place in the food chain (which basically ends in my tummy) and that pesticides are nothing more than a free-of-charge add-on by the food industry.) As my eyes scanned the products, all of a sudden the lights went dim, a spotlight illuminated a small place on the shelf and I could have sworn I heard church choir music; there it was: whole grain bread!!! 'BIG DEAL' you might say, but yes, in the land of baguette and soft wannabe-bread it IS a big deal indeed. It's way too expensive, it's not even remotely compareable to German bread and it's Bio... but it's mine, Mine, MINE!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!!
(ok, definately need a proper holiday, but that's another story)

2007-07-20T20:38:00.000+02:00

Magical weekend

I've never been much of a book worm. The first time I got totally hooked up with books of a series, I was about 6. The series of "Ich und meine Schwester Klara"is my first memory of books I loved (besides the fairy tales my mum read to my sister and me). It's not like there was much to read, but the mere thought of it makes me smile. This episode was followed by everything from Astrid Lindgren. Pretty standard those days. The next time stories soaked me in was when I read my first Sherlock Holmes story at the age of 12.

Ironically the detective stories lead to my first criminal act: I stole a book from the library! Well, I didn't actually steal it. They had a compendium of all stories ever published. It wasn't produced anymore (would have cost about EUR 6,- if available) and the equivalent compendium of books would have cost about EUR 80,-. So I borrowed it, went back a couple of weeks later and told them that my little cousin had finger painted most of the pages, paid the 6 bucks and left. Can't count the nights I spent reading in it under the blanket.

Tomorrow another obsession will come to an end: The last installment of the Harry Potter series will be published! In January 2000, I had never heard of the books, my flatmate gave me "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". She said: read it, it's really good. I was slightly biased by the children-book cover but was proven foolish instantly. 2 days later I went to the bookshop and bought the first two books. Then I had to wait 5 moths, which felt like an eternity, for "HP and the Goblet of Fire". I remember driving to a park near by and reading it in one go. Then I had to wait - 3 YEARS - until "HP and the Order of the Phoenix" was released. In the meantime I discovered the audio books read by Stephen Fry leading to the habit of listening to some chapters while going to bed - kinda preserving a childhood habit. The 5th book was read in the garden of a hospital as my flatmate was stuck there with a back injury. When "HP and The Half Blood Prince" was released, I was in Shanghai. Despite my love for sleeping in I took a Taxi to Pudong at 8am to go to a bookstore, drove back to my apartment and only stopped reading for ordering take out. Tomorrow, 7 1/2 years, several re-reads/listenings and web site visits of fan pages to be up-to-date, later, it will come to an end. I'll get the book, close the curtains and accompany the trio on their last journey. Mind you despite my curious nature, despite the temptation of getting a copy that leaked on the Internet and despite the NY Times posting a review on the 19th I managed to remain completely unspoiled!

It's "just a book" and it doesn't really matter, but regarding those 7 1/2 years it will change everything. Reading a book for the first time is a moment that can't ever be recovered. Reading this book will change the perception of all the times I've read or listened to its predecessors. I'll never be able to read one of the books again without knowing how the story will end. No theory I might have had, no idea that sprang to my mind over the little hints carefully hidden in the books, will have a meaning anymore. Despite this seemingly bleak future I can't wait to get up tomorrow, buy the book and start reading. If you don't care about the books, think of it as being given a sealed box 7 1/2 years ago, only getting a hint what it might contain every now and then, but without the possibility of opening it before July 21st 2007. And then the day comes, you can open it and everything you ever guessed will be confirmed or smashed. I'll finally find out where Snape's loyalties lie, what Aunt Petunia meant when she talked about "that awful boy", if the trio will make it through, if Harry is a Horcrux, who will live and who will die... I'll finally know.

I feel thrilled, anxious, excited, sad and happy at the same time. I know that some might say it's childish, I know that some might say it's stupid and I definitely know that I couldn't care less what some might say ;-)

"Deathly Hallows", here I come!

2007-07-20T20:14:00.000+02:00

Another month gone by...

...and France still doesn't make it to my top-5-countries-to-live. Ah well, time will tell.

Last week, after 6 months, I went back to Munich for the weekend. Only thing I can say is that I miss it even more than I did before. Getting there proved to be rather tough though - left Valenciennes at 5pm and thought I'd make the 850km in about 8 hours... 8 hours, 550km and 5 traffic jams later I came to the conclusion that, even with a proper commercial background, not all calculations can be correct. With my eyes closing way too frequent and a rough week in my bones I decided to pull over to the next parking lot and get some sleep. 5 hours on the backseat of a VW Golf with 13° outside might not sound too pleasant, but believe me, I never slept as sound before!
The following days I spend in Bamberg at our yearly commercial site manager convention. The alcohol consumption of some colleagues lead me to the conclusion that the company sponsors a 2nd liver once you worked 15 years continuously for them ...only 14 years to go then. However, despite the constant lack of sleep, the realisation that alcohol on a daily basis is not my bag and that men, after drinking stupendous amounts and sleeping 2 hours look the same in the morning while women somehow...disintegrate, I had loads of fun!
To make the week perfect I spend the weekend in Nürnberg. Even though I was tired and exhausted from the week, it was great spending time with friends, playing poker till 6am and celebrating Chris' 30th b-day with a big BBQ.

All in all a nice (yet toxic - liver wise) week. Thanks to Ela Chris and Tof for your hospitality. I'll try to live up to it when you visit.

2007-06-23T19:14:00.000+02:00

Oh boy!

Sorry, REALLY been out of it. Why? Well, it took about 2 months for my home internet connection to be activated - but that's a lame excuse. It's more that, at the moment, France still sucks for me. No new colleagues arrived up till now, my counterpart is still an pain in the ass and I really didn't see a point in writing down complaints... think that's boring. However, I'm back and won't write about work or boring weekends - that's bound to change once new people arrive and I'll let you know. For now it's mere thought posting. Hope you're all fine and didn't give up on checking my blog - guess I'll see when you leave comments ;-)

2007-04-03T22:28:00.000+02:00

I Wish I Was An Ant
at least today

Did you ever wonder about the fact that the human body is relatively weak compared to its dimensions? …well, at least mine is. It becomes quite obvious on days when you decide to go on a shopping spree to IKEA to furnish your apartment! I filled literally every inch of my car with furniture or what is supposed to become furniture after I remove the cardboard and build it. Not only that my once more taste exceeds my budged (which is why I ended up there), it exceeds my strength as well (mind you, this didn’t even include a wardrobe or bed). All in all I loaded 130kg of furniture and carried them into my apartment – solemnly! That’s when it struck me: Human beings are degenerated – muscle- and stamina-wise that is. Every animal I can think of can do something incredible compared to its size: they can carry heavy loads, jump high, run fast or dive deep. How unfair is that! Ah well, what gets me through the night is the fact that an ant would have a hard time mending a shelf and that, no matter how superior some of those animal powers might seem, it’s ME who takes the front-row-spot in the food chain which means that I could eat any of them on toast. MUHWAHAHAHA!!!!!

2007-03-24T15:15:00.000+01:00

Dear Diary

Today it's raining... AGAIN! I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, my only permanent colleague is on vacation for 2 weeks and my technical counterpart, who's only here for 2 days per week, is giving me a hard time. Almost nobody can (or wants to) speak english and I changed the hotel for the 3rd time, cos non of them was free for the time I need it. ARRRGGGHHH!!!!

....never been able to write a diary for longer than 3 days or so. I think it's some sort of self preservation. When bad things happen or you're having a hard time, one year later all that seems totally insignificant and you forget about how you felt back then. No need to remind oneself of stuff like that.
Right now France sucks for me. I don't know anybody, I don't have any colleagues here and I didn't get the chance to unpack my suitcase because I had to move around. However, the outlook is not too bad. I found myself a nice flat right in the center of Valencienne, which is 30 minutes from work and a rather nice small town. My place is all new, 3 rooms, balcony, 75m2. I'll move in beginning of April and then I have to furnish everything so I guess end of April/beginning of May you can come over and visit :-)
I'll be in Germany for 3 days, but in Offenbach, so I don't think I'll get to see any of you, but I'll also have to hand in my holiday schedule for this year by end of next week and I'll make DAMN SURE it includes Oktoberfest and Bocholter Kirmes!
Oh, the reason that you didn't hear from me earlier is that there's only one internet café and right now we have neither phone nor internet on site. If you want to give me a call just send me an SMS and I'll give you the "Phonenumber of the week" from the hotel I'm staying at.

2007-03-11T23:04:00.000+01:00

Sleepless in S... ahm ...Manama
Manama is the capital of Bahrain

Back from my trip to Bahrain ...and what a trip it was! Met a lot of my colleagues that flew in from all over the world. As expected I was the only girl - and I'm NOT complaining - even though it was a bit weired. Got little sleep going to bed not before 2am with a constant level of rest alcohol (jez, these blokes can drink!) and getting up early. Aditionally i dig arabian countries. As a blonde it's just great because every time you I walk up to the bar to order drinks or ciggies (yep, already back to smoking *blush*) some Saudi/Bahrainien/UAE guy said 'Don't worry, consider it covered' So I didn't pay most of the time :-) Almost missed my flight cus got back at 4:30am the last night and had to get up at 7am. Had agreed to meet a colleague at 8am in the lobby, who called me up at 8:15am to ask if I was still in bed. I WAS! SHIT! Everybody who can claim to know me a little, knows that I don't function before 10am, ESPECIALLY NOT without a shower and a coffee (coffee is not AS mandatory as the shower). However, forced by the fact that I - for some unexplainable reason- didn't hear my alarm clock ringing, I had to dump all my stuff in the suitcase and hurry down to the lobby within 10 minutes... without coffee ...WITHOUT SHOWER! AAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!
My flight was delayed by 2hrs, so I slept the morning away in the b-class lounge and, later on, on the plane.
Tomorrow it's time to head off towards Frog-Land. Tuesday I have an appointment with a relocation company that will show me around and help me find a flat or a house. I'm confident that I'll have something until the end of the month and hopefully buying furniture 'n stuff won't take too long, so by mid of April you can all come to visit! At the moment I think I prefer a quiet place on the country side to one in the city, because Valencienne (which is the next bigger city) is 40 klicks away and I don't see myself commuting every day - as I said, don't function before 10, so every additional minute of sleep is appreciated. I'd rathe live close to work in a small house with terrace or garden. Seems like they have some stand alone houses that are about 80-90sqm which would be perfect for me. Ah well, that's all speculation, so I'll just go and see what that area has to offer.

2007-03-03T20:14:00.000+01:00

Goodbye Paris...

...hello Bahrein! Well, almost. Still at Paris. Got drunk at the Emirates business class lounge. Predicting a smoooooooth flight :-)

2007-03-02T17:36:00.000+01:00

*cough*

...that's all I have to say at the moment. Well, not ALL, but once I open my mouth that's what comes out. Apparently I haven't totally defeted my viral flu :-( Really takes forever this time, but hopefully the sun of Bahrein, I will face during the next week, will help to get rid of it.
Apart from that I stopped smoking. Not really free willingly, but the flu sort of forced me to do so. I decided to take that as a sign and just didn't buy new fags. Not as hard as I though. I'm quite sure that me and the ciggies will meet each other again, but for the moment I'm smoke-free!
I'd give you a short "first impression" of my stay in Paris, but I have to reflect a bit to decide if I like it or not. Until then I'll stick to Meg Ryan's little song she sings on the plane in "French Kiss"...
...I hate Paris in the springtime. I hate Paris in the fall. I hate Paris in the summer when it sizzles, I hate Paris in the winter when it drizzles, I hate Paris...

2007-02-28T09:58:00.001+01:00

Attack from inner space

I haven’t been posting for a couple of days and this time I have a valid excuse: I’ve been sick! And I’m not talking “bit-of-a-headache-and-running-nose”sick. As you know last week I was supposed to work with my colleagues in Offenbach who will be my German back office for the next 2 years. On Tuesday I thought ‘Man, I don’t feel too good’, so I went back to the hotel. Then everything happened rather quickly: fever, more fever, headache and even skin ache! It was evident that I had managed to catch the flu that’s all over Germany at the moment. I wanted to go and see the doc, but I couldn't’t, because moving seemed to be a bad idea in general. I didn’t even have a bathtub at that bloody hotel room, hence I ended up sitting under the boiling shower for an hour or so to try and activate those white forces within me. Let’s say I wasn’t too successful. I was stuck in that little room until Friday when I finally managed to drive home. It was only a 2 hour drive, but when you have fever 2 hours can be veeeeeeeery long! I had planned to meet some friends during those few days in Gelsenkirchen, but I cancelled everything and nursed my tormented lounges. Today, exactly 7 days after all that started, I’m ok(ish) again. Still a bit off lane, but should be fine in one or two more days.
This whole episode made me think about the impact of little things. I’ve never been a big fan of theories such as the butterfly-effect or that one voice speaking up can actually change something. However, a tiny little virus made its way through my vanes, entered a cell, dumped its DNA there and forced it to be the new center of production for the viral forces which would do exactly the same with other cells. This microscopic piece of protein managed to take me out of the game for a whole week! If a virus can do this, imagine what a single person can do when it knows the system it’s working in and how to work it. Maybe small things can make a change after all.

2007-02-15T01:18:00.000+01:00

Revelations

Went out with 2 of my cousins tonight to a club I've been to 5 years ago. The whole thing is divided in 2 areas - kiddies and adults. 27 is a funny age: You're too old to party with the kiddies (have I ever been 18?) and too young to disco-fox the night away with the older ones.
Apart from that the club is located in the center of the Ruhrgebiet, the area I grew up. Tonight, more than ever, it showed that I have outgrown all this. The people here are very down to earth, which is a good thing to start with, but I feel like I don't belong here anymore. This will always be the home of my family, but my home? Don't think so. It is a bit like the first time you beat your parents playing cards without them letting you win - there's not much significance to the single event, however something changes and will never be the same. Tonight I came to the conclusion that I will never come back and settle down here. I knew that before, but now it seems irreversible. It is a bit sad, especially because I don't know where I'm going and seeing that I don't even have a physical home at the moment (will be end of March before I finish traveling and get myself an apartment). But maybe that's normal and the way things go?!? Hence I'll move around as long as it takes to find a place I feel at home.
However, tomorrow is "Altweiber" where giant groups of girls all over Germany swarm out to get drunk and enjoy themselves - I'll join in and see if a few pro mill change my point of view.

2007-02-14T16:53:00.000+01:00

Let's face the music and dance

I'm back from my Germany/Spain holiday trip. What can I say?!? It was GREAT!
I started my tour at Munich with a 'girls night out', getting tipsy and talking the night away. The weekend was very relaxed and I took the time catching up with my friends. Monday I drove over to Heimertingen to see Torsten and get my financials in order. We had planned to spend Monday and Tuesday until noon on my investment stuff, but that was somewhat interrupted by his girlfriend who went into labour that night and gave birth to a littl baby girl. Congrats my friend, she's a beauty! Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at Nürnberg with Chris and Ela who were once more the great hosts they are. On Thursday I drove up to Frankfurt Hahn for my flight to Valencia. Unfortunately I picked a day where Europa was struggeling with the side effects of winter aka. snow. Took me 4 hours to get to the airport which were followed by a 2hrs delayed departure, a more than bumpy flight that took me back to my severely neglected christian roots (means I was praying for survival) and another 45 minutes on the plane after landing waiting for a bus to take me to the terminal. However, my stay at Spain outweight the hassle of getting there BY FAR! Thanks to a great host I has a lovely time, enjoying the local food, the sun, the mountains and the company. Completely recharged my batteries.
So what's next? Will see some friends in Gelsenkirchen these days, Saturday a b-day party of one of Niek's mates at Cologne (kindly no phone calls on Sunday before 2pm!). Monday I'll be off to Offenbach to meet my backoffice team for my France project and then back to Gelsenkirchen for the weekend. After that 4 days Paris, one week Bahrain and then: my site. To be quite frank: I'm a bit nervous. But there's no way back so I'll see it through and kick ass ;-)

2007-02-01T08:43:00.000+01:00

BACK!

After 30hrs on the road I'm back home with 2 1/2 weeks of hoidays ahead. Time to lean back, relax and do nothing...
Or not: Tomorrow I'll be off to Munich for the weekend - everybody's there and has time, so I decided to squeeze that in. Monday/Tuesday I'll visit Torsten in Heimertingen to get my financials in order. Tuesday evening I'll crush in on Chris' and Ela's place in Nürnberg, Wednesday a SHORT visit of my backoffice in Erlangen, then back to Nürnberg, Thursday I'll be on my way to Frankfurt to catch the plane to Valencia where I'll stay from 8th till 13th. Then back home for 2 days, then a short trip to the suburbs of Amsterdam (Niek, hope that weekend's fine with you?!?).
...at least I can't be blamed for wasting time ;-)

2007-01-30T06:20:00.000+01:00

Road trip...

...ahead! Since it wasn't certain when I'd be actually leaving (wait list for the 1st) no train ticket was booked for me. So I'll be going on the trip back to Germany by car today meaning: Leaving 6pm tonight, arrival at Mumbai airport at (hopefully) midnight and departure at 3:25am with a 1h stop-over in Frankfurt before I arrive in Düsseldorf one hour later.
...maybe I should give my mum a call that I'll be coming 2 days earlier than expected. Thought about surprising her but taking a close look to the clothes I took on this trip I don't think I'd make the last bit from D-Dorf to Gelsenkirchen without catching a cold. So I'll call her up later.
See you in Germany ...or wherever ;-)

2007-01-28T20:10:00.000+01:00

Big shadows and dim light

Ok, about time for a review of the last month. It took me long enough to get around to write about it, because I was hoping I’d collect some more positive stories to tell, but with only 3 days to go I surrender. I was hesitating what to write – mum always said “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything”. Sorry mum, but not talking about it won’t make it go away, therefore I can share my experience just as well. Working on this construction site was challenging in so many ways that I won’t even attempt to cover them all, but I owe you an impression.

The setup
Gujarat (the state I’m located at) has some particularities. First of all: it’s a “dry” state which means that alcohol if prohibited and you can only get it with a liquor licence. Therefore photocopies of every site-visitor’s passports are taken to get one and purchase alcohol. Reminds me a bit of my dive-guide days in Egypt where we collected the passports from the new arrivals to buy booze at the local duty free shop.
A lot of the local Hindis are “Chain”, which is a religious group within Hinduism the values life above everything. Thinking of India most of you think of holy cows, but here EVERY animal is protected, meaning Gujarat is a veggie state. Somehow they get chicken, pork and even meat to our canteen – I don’t ask any questions how it gets there! However, the food is pretty good.

Camp life
You can’t go anywhere because Surat, the next city, is 90 minutes away and even there is nothing to go to. Mumbai is a 6hrs car ride from here, and seeing that I worked almost every weekend a trip there was totally out of bounds. I realized that I’m not a camp-person. I don’t need an unreasonable amount of variety or solitude, but living and working together without the possibility of withdrawing yourself every now and then can be tiring. Being management makes it even more complicated because people walk up to you in the bar (after you’ve been at the office for 12 hours) and lay down their oh-so-important problems (‘TV channel 19 doesn’t work’, ‘The dart board needs mats because the darts go blunt when they drop on the floor’, ‘The menu hasn’t been published on the notice board’). Against my true nature of being helpful and saying yes to everything I drew a line implementing a policy of not talking business in the bar. To say that this behaviour wasn’t appreciated is an understatement and the ‘offer’ to raise their issue during my working hours was rarely taken. I met a few nice people, but I certainly wouldn’t win a popularity contest here. Most of the people around here are divas and I’d rather herd a bunch of spoiled only kids than all those freelancers – at least the kids could be bribed with some ice cream!

The lazy tiger
Disclaimer: If you’re Indian and NOT like described as follows, step forward and I’ll apologize!
I consider myself as quite open when it comes to foreign cultures, but my stay here made me a little …let’s say reluctant when it comes to that.
When it comes to Indians one has to distinguish between A) those that got around a bit and B) those who never left their country. Having met a couple of Indians before (A), I didn’t have any prejudices – NOW I DO! Here you only find category B! Therefore the following conclusions:
1. Getting an honest answer from an Indian at the first attempt is as hard as picking up a guy in a gay bar: impossible! I’ll try to believe that it’s a cultural thing, like in China (despite knowing that it isn’t).
2. They are a lazy bunch, the lot of them. Tiger stat my a**! The workers on site turn up at 9-10am instead of 7:30 as they’re supposed to. They are totally resistant to learning as if you poured water in a glass without a bottom.
3. I seriously doubt there is a term in Hindi for hygiene – only explanation I have for what I’ve seen.
4. The infamous head-jiggle (I’ll gladly show you what I mean when I see you next time) manages to freak out everyone, cause a “yes sir” or “yes madam” it usually accompanies gets automatically reduced to “I have no idea what you’re talking about” by this.
5. Corruption is daily business. Examples: Some local “Dons” of Akhakohl Village tried to “provide” the cars and drivers for our sites – for twice the price you’d usually pay. They consider it their god-given right to do so and made their point by beating up the drivers we hired.
A colleague brought some tools on his way back from Germany. He went to the customs to declare them and wasn’t willing to bribe, because he needed a receipt to claim the money back later on. The customs employees were severely disappointed, so he ended up spending 4! Hours with the guys, paying 70% import tax on the tools, getting his personal stuff checked as well and had to pay 300 bucks for bringing 2 laptops instead of one. The boss of them bid him goodbye with the words “So, did we learn something today?”
6. Our client had the plans for the site long before works started. The entrance to our camp would have been a 5 minute ride by car. Once the camp was built, the client built a wall blocking the entrance. Requests to open the spot where our cars were supposed to drive through were rejected, because the entrance points to the west and therefore bad spirits could enter the camp. What strikes me a bit odd is that they’d actually allow a break-through once we settle a couple of open points in favour of the client.
7. We had a huge lay down area planned. After the works started, the client decided that this area is actually the energy centre of the whole construction area (Feng Shui is BIG here). So they fenced it, built up some little hills and trees and now go praying there while we are struggling to store their stuff all over the site.
…I could go on like this for hours, but I guess you got an idea.

Personal ‘low’-light
A colleague got seriously sick and despite trying to convince him, his boss and the general manager of the severance of the situation, I got told off to shut up for political reasons. 4 days later he got so sick that he had to be hospitalized, so I found myself visiting him at the hospital (2hrs drive x2 after 10hrs at the office), making the camp doctor stay with him to take care only of him, a private nurse to compensating for the understaffed hospital crew, re-scheduling his flights, organizing wheelchair assistance for his trip back, calming down his wife and keeping her up-to-date… no complaints about that. Our employee, my job. What REALLY pissed me off was his complain to the commercial site manager I was deputizing for that nobody took care of him! UNGREATFUL PRAT! I worked my butt of for him and he doesn’t even remotely appreciate that. Gladly the commercial knew what I had done for that guy and therefore could evaluate that statement, but still…

Personal highlight
Met 3 nice sub-contractors (the ones I was supposed to visit as announced in the previous post).Unfortunately their plans changed and they had to come here, but they brought the promised king prawns I had been promised, cooked for me and we had a great time during their visit. Awesome!

On the bottom-line
First of all I developed great respect for the commercial who has been doing this job for almost a year and will stay at least another. I know that he has a tough time here and that I’d probably surrender. I bow myself in awe!
So, how do I feel after all that?!? Defeated? …naaaah! It’s only been 4 weeks that will make me appreciate the much easier work-conditions I’ll find in France, now knowing it could be that much worse.

In the end every day reveals perfection, by what it is or what it is not.

2007-01-21T11:30:00.000+01:00

Update...

...has to be postponed to another day. It's Sundy 4pm and I'm at the office, that's all there is to say at the moment. The local commercial manager will be back tomorrow morning - hope I can go back to work a reasonable amount of hours by then. ...can't wait for my holidays!!!
A small highlight might be coming up - was invited by 3 of our sub-contractors to their house near Mumbai next weekend - could combine it with a trip to the project office. Hope I can make it. That'd be fun :-)

Bottle indicator: only 3 fingers gone - but put quite a lot on the slate at the bar, hence the bottle-indicator-system is officially worthless!

2007-01-16T13:12:00.000+01:00

Alive...

...but busy as hell. Promise to make a full grown post this weekend.

2007-01-05T04:28:00.000+01:00

Hello from nowhere!

After my short post from yesterday I took a shower and went down to the lobby waiting for my pickup... which didn't show up - and the driver was also supposed to bring my train tickets! The Shatadbi Express I was supposed to take to Surat seems to be quite popular, so there were no tickets available, so I decided to take a driver to take me to Sugen directly by car. The driver was available for 10am, so I went back to my room and got myself a few hours of sleep.
The trip to Surat was... interesting. I thought Shanghai traffic was crazy, but replace the tiny cabs of with big, colorful trucks, add some tuktuks and imagine everybody honking ALL THE TIME on unmarked 7 lane roads, and you get an idea. Also people crossing the highway just like that is totally normal. However, after 6hrs, 5 almost collisions and 1 close call I made it to the camp. It REALLY is in the middle of nowhere. Next bigger city is 90 minutes from here, apart from that the site is surrounded by fields and some huts, that's it. The camp is nice and I'm sure 4 weeks won't be a big deal to see through, but I also know that I couldn't do that for longer. I'll take some pics during the next days to show you the area.

Bottle indicator: Still full, but was at the camp bar with the boys yesterday, so that doesn't mean anything ;-)

2007-01-03T23:04:00.000+01:00

Bomba(y)astic
sorry, but the wordplay doesn't work with Mumbai ;-)

...at least that's what I can tell from the 5 minute trip from airport to hotel. But let's start at the beginning of the still unfinished trip.
I departed from Nürnberg after a way too short night - was staying at Chris' and Ela's place and we got hooked up playing Buzz, and all of a sudden it was 1:30am... siiiigh... the thought of getting up only 5hrs later wasn't too thrilling! Flew from Nürnberg to Frankfurt and then to Mumbai. Flight was fine, especially because a miracle happened: I SLEPT! Unbelievable, isn't it? Never managed to sleep on a plane before without mixing some chemicals with a little Vodka. Glad I got a little sleep, 'cause here's my schedule before I finally arrive on site:
1:30am: arrival in Mumbai
2:30am: check in Hotel
5:15am: transfer to Mumbai central station
7:00am: train to Surat
11:00am: arrival at Surat and pickup to Sugen
1:00pm: arrival on Site ...finally! (and hopefully)
Decided not to sleep at the hotel, 'cause I SO KONW that I'd miss my pickup and therefore the train ...sounds like me, doesn't it?!?
When I get there I reckon I'll take a shower, change clothes and start working cus I only have 3 days with the commercial site manager (including the weekend *sniff*) before he leaves for a workshop and vacation.
Stay tuned for holy cows, camp reports and updates on my mood indicator that comes in for of a bottle of nice rum I purchased at the duty free shop.

Bottle indicator: full!

2007-01-01T14:37:00.000+01:00

Don't look back in anger

Happy New Year everybody!
I'll skip the detailed review of 2006, let me just say that - apart from finding a great job and seeing how great the friends I have actually are - 2006 sucked! So instead of looking back I decided to check the box behind the passed year and move on. Regarding new year resolutions: don't have any! Only hoping for a year with loads of fun while continuing my quest for happiness!
2007 started off nicely with a fun party at Andre's and Isi's place who proved themselves as the great hosts they are yet again. Tonight will be filled with packing my suitcase once more and tomorrow I'll be off to Erlangen - fingers crossed for Sixt giving me a BMW once more ;-) If the Indian embassy worked fast enough I'll be flying to India on the 3rd, if I don't have my visa it's the 4th. Looking forward to sun and warmth, leaving cold and rainy Germany behind.
Will post as soon as I have network access there.

2006-12-09T22:19:00.000+01:00

Success!!!

Found all the stuff I need for tomorrow's bake-o-rama in Valencia - well, I had to improvise a tad 'cause there was no vanilla sugar, but I found vanilla husks, so I could make it myself :-) Oh, and there were only whole hazelnuts, so I put them in a pot stamping them with a wine bottle to get them semi kinda grinded. Sounds boring, now that I'm writing about it, but I'm so excited that I get to bake this year after missing out of it last year in Shanghai.

2006-12-08T20:11:00.000+01:00

Holy cow, part 2

In an earlier post I told you about my boss intending to send me to India, which in the end didn't happen. Well, now it will. Everything is agreed with the local construction site manager and the project management, so the blank spot between Spain, holiday and France has been filled with a 4-5 weeks stay near Akhakhol, 30km east of Surat. I'll be heading off on the 2nd of January and think about squeezing in a short holiday on the Maledives afterwards, seeing that they are rather close. And I really think that I'll need some holiday after that!
The construction site is rather colse to a big city, but with the traffic a trip into town takes about 90 minutes, so they built a camp for the employees to live in. Will be nice to get to see how that kind of site will suit me and will probably make me appreciate my own site in France with my own flat and the freedom to move around.
However, the India trip is faaaaar away, almost 4 weeks, so let's have a look to the closer future. This weekend I'll try to get in some Christmas mood, despite sun and warmth: I'll bake cookies :-) I don't have an oven in my appartment hotel, so I get to use a colleague's kitchen - will have to pay him off with some of the results, but that's only fair ;-) Still not sure what I can bake 'cause as it seems the Spanish aren't into baking - if they want a cake they just buy one. Hence it's quite hard to find the required ingredients, but going to Valencia should do the trick. I'll keep you updated on the results.

2006-12-02T22:39:00.000+01:00

Autopilot

Back from my not-even-24-hours-trip to Germany. The contract for my project has been signed on Thursday, few minutes before midnight, so there's no turning back: I'll be moving to France end of February! Seeing the first 3D-models of the power plant and pictures of the surrounding of the construction site took a great bit of the uncertainty away - only to be replaced by panic! When I get there I'll have to arrange so many things - negotiating contracts with real estate agencies, car-rental companies, catering... and set up the whole administration. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!
Will HAVE TO start to work on my french, seeing that it will be a one-woman-show for the first few weeks, so there's nobody to help me out with that :-( But enough about work.

I made my first ryanair experience. Since all the airlines have been cutting down on their service level, there was no big difference. Something that was different though, compared to my other Spain-Germany trips, were the weather conditions. It was one hell of a bumpy ride and finally the recommendation of having your seat belt fastened during the whole flight made sense to me. The best part was the captain announcing that the weather-conditions at Frankfurt-Hahn were too bad to proceed with a manual landing procedure (clouds only 40 meters above ground - didn't know that was possible - and fog with 20m visibility max) and therefore flight security regulations instruct an autopilot landing. WTF??? He explained quite a bit about which parts of the landing would be regulated by the autopilot, but I didn't bother listening. In general I like to have as much information as possible to decide myself which parts are significant and which are a waste of brain capacity, but when it comes to flying I couldn't care less! I get on the plane, I get off the plane. You guys do the rest. Period! Ignorance is bliss, especially in this case. As you can conclude from me making a post, I survived ...even though I had my doubts every now and then ;-)

The 2nd autopilot experience of the day was picking up the rental car - the airport is appr. 130km from Offenbach, so I needed a ride. I developed a strategy for getting a nice car from Sixt - you just book a navigation system as additional feature. Seems like they don't have any for the economy class, which equals a VW Golf, so once again I was hooked up with a BMW 320i :-) WRRROOOMMMMM!!!! However, the navigation still has its flaws, seeing it led me into 3! dead end roads before I decided to switch it off, get near a highway and then switch it on again.
The flight back was shit as well, but it held a nice surprise in store: I met a couple of Frenchies that were not too bad ...actually quite nice! Must be the first time I met French guys that seemed likable. Could it be that there's hope after all?!? Maybe there's a light at the end of this tunnel that isn't a train.

2006-11-26T18:15:00.000+01:00

My private Babel

Christmas is just around the corner and since the local construction site manager is not here, I'm in charge of finding a location for our Christmas party. The set-up is rather simple: 80 people, food, 2h open bar. Valencia is full of possible locations, so you'd think it shouldn't be too hard to find an appropriate venue ...THINK AGAIN! Diana and Esther, the funny, lovely and very capable secretaries, have rummaged the yellow pages for about a week and nothing they found matched the requirements. Therefore I went to Valencia today in order to find something. I ended up at the beachfront of Las Arenas where plenty of restaurants are lined up. Most of them are tourist traps with low quality food and sky-high prices, but glancing at the visitors' plates showed which restaurants deserved a closer look. I ended up entering one that looked rather promising. '¿Hablar inglés?' Mind you, these are the only words I can say in Spanish (and most probably even those are wrong). The shrug of the waiter boded ill, and the search for someone who could speak English remained unsuccessful. I tried to call up some colleagues to help me out, but non was available, so I fell back to hand-foot language and we agreed to talk again on Tuesday (at least I guess that's what concluded our "conversation").
IT SUCKS NOT TO SPEAK THE LOCAL LANGUAGE!!!!!!!

Why do we have different languages anyway? Well, I know there are rumors out there in the field of historical linguistics, containing tribe evolution, ice ages and such, that could explain why I ended up lost in translation. But linguistics are a rather boring field for a blog entry, so in this case, despite being a devoted atheist, I prefer the Bible version to visualize the roots of my dilemma. (Don't fret, still godless, but it doesn't hurt to know what you don't believe in). Always funny to see what people come up with when they lack a scientific explanation ;-)

The pics are outtakes from the Brick Testament.
Genesis 11:1-4: The whole earth had one language and was of one speech. As they migrated from the east, it happened that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they settled there. They said one to another, 'Come, let's make bricks, and bake them thoroughly.'
They used bricks for stone, and asphalt for mortar. They said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we are not scattered across the face of the earth.'

Genesis 11:5-6: Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of mankind were building. Yahweh said, 'Look! They are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do.'

Genesis 11:6-7: 'Now nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them! Come, let us go down there and confuse their language, so that they cannot understand each other's speech.'

Genesis 11:8: From there Yahweh scattered them abroad across the face of the earth. And they stopped building the city.

Genesis 11:9: That is why it was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth.

THE END

2006-11-24T19:17:00.000+01:00

Get crackin' or die trying

Apologies to my devoted blog-readers, it's been a while since the last decent post. It's been a tough week for yours truly. Worked my butt off to get my desk clean while feeling the constant urge to return to my hotel and find some shelter under the sheets where nobody can find me. I love this place and my job, I really do, but it's time for a break (or a breakdown). At least I got enough work done to get some welcomed peace this weekend. However, enough of that rubbish, just a little stressed out - will be aloft again in no time!

Sooooo... what's new?!? Today I received an invitation to the kick-off meeting for my project-to-be. Takes place on the 1st of December in Offenbach, so I'll take a plane on Thursday evening to attend, flying back on Friday after the meeting. Will be interesting to get to know the people I'll be spending the next 2 years of my work-life with. I also got to know when I'll be starting (approximately): End of February! Before that one or two weeks in Offenbach to bound with the project office, another construction site to learn a bit more and hopefully some holiday.

The fact that I'll be actually doing this - that I'll be moving to France, that I'll have my own construction site, that I'll be a boss lady - finally sunk in... and I feel light shivers of panic crawling up and down my spine. I guess that's normal, 'cause it's a new county and a new job, but I can't wait for the relief that will come over me once I get started and realize that it's all doable. I start to become a circus artist, spinning plates in order to entertain the audience (a.k.a. boss, employees and colleagues) and prove to myself that I can actually do it, so in the end I'll either gather applause or laughter, but whatever happens, I'll gather a shitload of experience.

Hang in there ;-)

2006-11-14T19:06:00.000+01:00

I always knew...

...that at some point I'd be able to show you that it pays off to work on a construction site :-)))

2006-11-13T21:34:00.000+01:00

Christmas a.k.a. the yearly struggle for THE present

Quite a few days have passed since my last post.
Reason: Believe it or not, I just didn't have anything to say and nothing remarkable happened. Sooo... I'll squeeze in something random.
Christmas is already lurking to make its yearly leap on us. Luckily Spain kinda spares the dreadful 4-months-in-advance decoration flood that seems to break in over Germany's shopping malls since a few years back. Even though the first "Lebkuchen" have found its way into our office containers, I still resist the urge and will wait till the 1st of December. *be strong, BE STRONG!!!* ;-)
Since I've already been asked about wishes for my b-day and Christmas, I've been hovering around that question and... failed to answer it. I seem to be able to come up with cool presents for others easily, once I put a little thought in it, but for me? Never! Of course I can say what I want, but if I can pin-point it, it will never make a good present. Guess it's because the most important part of a good present is that it comes as a surprise. Once you say out loud what you want, and someone gets it for you, it will never have the same effect as something picked for you with a certain intention, may it be something you can use or something that's just meant to make you smile.
Talking about things that make you smile, remember the tmx Elmo I told you about in an earlier post? Now that is something I would have liked for Christmas, seeing that it's childish, useless and something I would prob. never buy myself but like to have. Just read about it and, as expected, after hitting U.S. stores mid of September, it's almost sold out in North America and already achieves 3x its purchase price on ebay. I remember reports of the first Tickle-me-Elmo invasion a few years back, where parents would pay a s**tload of money to prevent a giant Christmas drama they would have had, if Elmo didn't make his desperately anticipated appearance under the Christmas tree.
Ah well, maybe I'll get myself one after Christmas. See you next year, Elmo.

2006-11-05T17:27:00.000+01:00

Aaaand back...

...in (still) warm and sunny Sagunto. After freezing my a** off during the last days, this is a great change. Ran into a colleague at the airport, so I got a private shuttle service to my hotel. I asked the receptionist if they offered internet access here, and they do... for 2 EURO PER HOUR! Ahhhmmm... no thanks. Fortunately someone else close here left his WiFi open, so I have the access for free :-) Low connectivity though, but hey, I'm not complaining. Only staying one night anyway, as for tomorrow I decided I'll move back into the apartment hotel I stayed last time.
This time I'll FINALLY do some sightseeing during my stay. Valencia is very nice and I got massive complaints for not having photos to show, therefore I'll make sure that I'll bring some when I get back to Germany - which is actually not too long from now, 7 weeks to be precise. "...driving home for Christmas, lalalala"

2006-11-04T14:05:00.000+01:00

Another week gone by

and what a week it was. I pretty much spent the week as prdicted.
Highlights: Tapas party at Yvonne's place in Munich, All Saints party night in Nürnberg with Chris, Ela, Isi and some of their friends and a successfull attempt to buy a new suitcase in Düsseldorf.
A big thanks to all my hosts during this week aka Christof, Yvonne, Chris and Ela, Niek.
Great to know that you don't have to return to your hometown to actually come home :-)

2006-11-01T23:51:00.000+01:00

Goodbye...

...Siemens SL55. After approximately 5 years it's time for me and my old mobile to split up. We had a nice time, sharing private messages and drunken late night calls. Our relationship went rather rocky in the end and culminated in the SL55 deleating my phone numbers. That's when I decided that it's time to move on. Long story short, I proudly present my brand new phone: Sony Ericsson K610i . It was love at first sight. Let's see how long we last ;-)

2006-10-31T17:09:00.000+01:00

It's final...

...this time for real! Forget Thailand, Oman, India, Bahrein, Finland and all the other places that were potential destinations for my next training session.
The weeks till Christmas will be spend *drumroll please*... in Sagunto!
'Wait a tick, you just left' you might say, not being able to surpress a mocking smile. Well, that's pretty much what I said, but this business has many surprises in store, at least for me, so I'll pack my bags and will be off for Spain on Sunday. Looking forward to it :-)

2006-10-29T13:37:00.000+01:00

Northern Exposure

I left Sagunto behind and, after a heavily packed 9 hour trip, arrived save and sound in Munich. I had to leave just when I started to settle down a bit. I met some very nice people and would have loved to stay longer, but until I get my own construction site, I better get used to the thought that I’ll have to leave people I like behind, over and over again. Ah well, that’s obviously part of the job and I’ll learn to deal with it – hopefully ;-)

That said, it’s time to move on.
After getting used to the thought of spending November in India and December in Spain, my boss managed to surprise me once more. Till the end of the year I’ll be working in Finland, replacing the local commercial manager. Work will be slightly different as this time it’ll be a nuclear power plant that’ll play host to my “training-on-the-job” session. I’ll give you more info about the location in another post. As you might have realized by now, you have to take the Finland information with a pinch of salt – there are still 6 days to go till my plane leaves and that means my boss has 6 days left to reconsider and send me somewhere else. I’ll keep you up-to-date.

However, let’s sneak a peek to the closer future:
During the next days I’ll enjoy the hospitality of various friends: Christof, whose couch is just as nice as it used to be during our DVD sessions, is first to be blessed with my presence *cough*. Today Yvonne will be my host – this way I can just stay there after the tapas-evening she organized. Monday morning I’ll be heading off for Erlangen to get some office work done. Chris and Ela, who just moved into their new flat in Nürnberg, will accommodate me for 2 nights – looking forward to catching up with them! Chris told me there are some Halloween parties at Nürnberg and that Tuesday we’ll paint the town – can’t wait!!! Wednesday it’s time to drive (prob. Hungover) up to Gelsenkirchen where I’ll re-organize my mobile wardrobe (e.g. suitcase) and exchange the summer clothes for frost-proof stuff and visit my family and friends. Thursday will be spend at Düsseldorf where I’ll crush in on Niek’s place for the last time, as he’s moving away soon. Friday it’s ready-for-take-off-time again – the wheels are in motion.

2006-10-29T01:12:00.000+02:00

Braindead

I so failed in my attempt to make a decent post containing a little flashback, a brief preview of the next days and the weeks to come. It's the first time that I wrote a whole page that appears to be for the bin as it lacks wit, fun and structure - just dreadful!
I'll review that wish-wash tomorrow, so you'll get something worth reading. Promise!

2006-10-23T09:51:00.000+02:00

Time flies!

Only 5 days left in lovely España. But where to go next? The boss still didn't call me and India is sorta out of the picture once more. However (as far as I know) I'll leave on Friday to spend a nice weekend in Munich catching up with most of you, the Erlangen for 2(?) days and then we'll see where work takes me. See many of you next weekend!

2006-10-18T20:51:00.000+02:00

Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars...
...if the US are fine with it, that is.

Today it leaked that, undiscovered by the public since October 6th, the US government released their "National Space Policy". Reading it sent shivers down my spine, and those were no good shivers. You should take the time to have a look at it; click here.
My favorite part of the policy is the principals-section, here some outtakes:

"The United States considers space capabilities -- including the ground and space segments and supporting links -- vital to its national interests. Consistent with this policy, the United States will: preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space; dissuade or deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so; take those actions necessary to protect its space capabilities; respond to interference; and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests."

Basically that means: The universe is ours, hands off!

"The United States will seek to cooperate with other nations in the peaceful use of outer space to extend the benefits of space, enhance space exploration, and to protect and promote freedom around the world"

I feel so much safer, now that I know the US will no longer limit the protection of our humble lives by taking "preventive measures" (e.g. attack everybody who has oil) on earth, but preserves the right to do the same from space.

It was just the next logical step for good ol' Georgy boy to reach out for the stars; it's quite obvious that 50 are not nearly enough to dictate. Therefore he finally makes use of his fundamental right to take his destined place as "Master of the Universe".

2006-10-17T16:01:00.000+02:00

Holy cow!

Yet another update on the next weeks. My boss called and filled me in on his plans for me. I don't even dare to say that something's fix, but only one confirmation is missing and, after returnig from Spain, I'll be off to India!
The city, the site is located near by, is world famous Surat. Never heared of it? Me neither. For further information you can check here.

I'm looking forward to it, since I've never been to India and probably wouldn't have traveled there myself. Whatever is waiting for me, at least I put the right clothes into my suitcase ;-)

2006-10-17T01:44:00.000+02:00

Another sleepless night passing by...

so I find myself randomly surfing the net, once more.

However, let's get to the funny part:
Imagine you left puberty and patheticness behind. You entered University and managed to established yourself as someone who's actually considered cool... finally! It's your 20th birthday, everybody showed up and this is supposed to be the best b-day party ever, until someone says: look what I found on the net!

Every time you enter the audi max, someone will greet you with a happy "RRRRRRRAAAANNNGGGAAAANNNNGGGAAAGGGAAAANNNGGGG"

Well... reminds me of supposed-to-be-cool self made radio shows with my best mates when I was about 8. Thank god there were only audio tapes for recording and no such thing as "you tube" back then! Leave no traces behind ;-)

It's 2am, so let's try to get some sleep, shall we?

2006-10-10T21:55:00.000+02:00

Ode to Icecream
spelled with a capital I intentionally, since I established a very close relationship to it ;-)

Today it's time to make a post that's been overdue for quite a while. Time to write about Icecream! But not any Icecream, no: THE ICECREAM!!!
When I went into a local supermarket, I was thrilled to see that, right next to the entrance, they had a freezer packed with pints of my favorite Icecream brand in the whole wide world: Ben and Jerry's. The first time I saw it there, I resisted the temptation, as I didn't have a freezer back in the hotel which would have "forced" me to eat it all in one sitting (not THAT excessive ...when it comes to Icecream). But last Saturday, when I moved into the apartment hotel, I finally had a klitchen.. with a fridge... with a freezer compartment! Therefore I didn't waste any time and got myself a pint of frozen happiness. Even though I hasitated in the choice of the victim, I decided to give a new flavor a chance, and lord almighty was I rewarded. I proudly intoduce to you my new favorite flavor: Fossil Fuel!

The online describtion sais:

"Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Chocolate Cookie Pieces, Fudge Dinosaurs and a Fudge Swirl

You know this flavor is going to thrill the socks off your inner paleontologist, don't you? If you never believed those great excavations in your dreams could come true, just wait until you come across your first fudgy pterodactyl or tyrannosaurus fudgius. This flavor's fueled with all kinds of fudgy little dino dudes, as well as plenty of crunchy chocolate cookie fragments to snag your spoon on, & deep swirls of primordial fudge that just might yield a sunken stegosaur or two. Enjoy!"

In my humble opinion you can summarize that by saying: it will at least take 1 hour to whipe that grin off your face. If you like Icecream and are willing to give it a chance, I ensure you won't be disappointed!

That's it for today ...feel magically drawn to the freezer 'cause I think I still have a bit left ;-)

2006-10-09T12:50:00.000+02:00

Keep on moving!

With all the stuff going on last weekend, I somehow forgot to mention that I moved! I left my beloved hotel behind and moved into an apartment hotel. I really like it there, cause now I have a livingroom with kitchen and a seperated bedroom. Didn't take any pics by now, but at least I can show you the location - I also missed giving you a big picture of where I'm actually staying, so here you go:

I'm located in the east of Spain:

Sagunto is about 30km north of Valencia:

And this is where I was and where I live now:

So, now you know ;-)

2006-10-08T17:56:00.000+02:00

Professional amateur at work!

Being the internet addict I am, I wanted to make sure that my laptop doesn't catch anything, so I installed spybot several weeks ago. Yesterday I stumbled across an article that recommended to run a program called "escan" as this is connected to a database always containing the latest mal- and adware. This is when it all went down!
I installed the program and let it scan my system. Everything went well and when I was asked to restart my laptop,I did... but during the startup it turned out that escan and spybot aren't the greatest friends, so I ended up with A BLANK SCREEN! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
When I tried to reboot the system, the startup procedure didn't even make it through the startup anymore. Do I really have to describe the horror I experienced? Visions of me calling the IT in Erlangen, kissing my personal IT-guy's ass to help me fix it without making a big fuss, sending in my lap top (including my films and music that are surely not supposed to be there) and the whole bullshit that follows when amateurs think they could fool around with the system.
To make a long story short: thanks to a combination of patience, intuition and luck I managed to fix it myself ...only took me 4 HOURS! :-(

2006-10-07T00:01:00.000+02:00

Can't buy me love!

Ok, I KNEW this would happen at some point, but I didn't expect it THAT early.
I ran into a colleague in front of the hotel and it turned out that he's been traveling the globe for about 30 years and had loads of construction site stories in store. Therefore I agreed to go for dinner with him. We had a drink, great food, wine and a nice chat. My alarm bells started to ring when this 50something guy let slip a few ambiguous comments and asked me how old my boyfriend was. Smelling the rat, I joined in and said 27. He found this unusual and mentioned that he wouldn't mind being with a girl who's 30 years younger 'n stuff. Ahmmmm... ok?!? He payed, and I let him - for those comments that was the least. So he asked what we'd be doing now. I said I was sleepy and wanted to go home since I had plans for the next day. When we got near the hotel he said he was thirsty and wanted to have a beer at his room. I said I only wanted to phone my BF and then sleep. In the elevator he offered the "beer" another time and I repeated my plans. He only asked if that would do it for me and I answered with a straight yes.

Being a woman I might not always know what I want but I certainly know what I don't want.
HOLY SHIT! AT LEAST RESPECT THE BASIC PRINCIPELS!!!
1. If you want to lay someone, search in your category (age and/or level-wise).
2. If you are a grandpa I might help you crossing the street, THAT'S IT! Invest the 40 bucks in porn DVDs or hookers - it will get you much further.
3. I could NEVER be that desperate! There are much cuter, younger, potent guys running around. Even if there weren't any, I would rather choose between becoming a lesbian or a convent girl than that!

I hope he got the message - in case he didn't I'll reveal one of those principels to him... out loud... in front of his colleagues ;-)

2006-10-05T00:35:00.000+02:00

Who needs sleep?

Well, I do! I love sleeping, I really, really do: long, deep and peacefull!
But unfortunately the Sandman forgot to stop by my hotel room yet again. 12h (or more) working-days with 5h (or less) sleep can't be healthy on the long run, can they? Tomorrow I gonna curse myself for not getting enough sleep (AGAIN!), promising to myself, while pouring down the 3rd cup of coffee, that the next night I'll make up for it by turning off the lap top/tv/Ipod early to dedicate at least 8 hours to my favorite inactivity - and of course I'll break my vow whithin the very same breath. You really know that you lost the fight when you start counting down the hours till you have to get up again... "If I fall asleep now, I can sleep for 6 hours" ..."5 hours"... "4..." gosh, screw the bastard who invented the clock!
I'll just hang in there until Friday blesses me with its presence.

2006-10-02T22:31:00.000+02:00

The boss calls...

...and I follow.
Here the latest version of the endless "Where will I spend this year"-odyssey:
I'll be staying in Spain till October 27th, intend to spend the weekend in Munich and then I'll be in Erlangen for the following Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I'll be flying off to...
well, the boss said he has to check that. He favours to send me to Qatar or - and that is new - somewhere to the United Arabian Emirates! We have a construction site in Dubai and one in Bahrain, as far as I know - all cool with me.
But that will only be a short excursion of 4 weeks as the plan is to return to Spain in order to work there the whole December. Don't know how I feel about this right now - spending my b-day, Christmas and New Year's without anybody I really know... I'll let you know once I figured it out.

2006-10-02T00:02:00.000+02:00

Believe it or not...

...but I actually found someone who's even more ticklish than me!!! Not much more, though, but still ;-)

only funny with sound

2006-09-29T16:28:00.000+02:00

Ahhhmmmm.... ok?!?

Just to give you an impression of how quick everything here changes:
10am: I'll stay here till the end of the year. Definately!
1pm: The local site manager makes up his mind and decides to stay instead of taking the new assignment, and will therefore only take his holidays, which is 2 weeks in October and the whole December. So I'll stay over Christmas and New Year's.
4pm: The site manager informs the bossboss about his decision and tells him that, in his opinion, it makes sense for me to stay here anyway. Bossboss thinks that it might be better for me to see different construction sites before I start my own, but has to discuss this with my direct boss first.

On the bottom line the only thing clear by now is that I'll stay here for the next 5 weeks - after that... I have no clue.

2006-09-27T20:30:00.000+02:00

HOLY SHIT, I'M A CONSTRUCTION SITE MANAGER!!!

...well, you might think that this is no news, but it actually is!
Ok, as most of you know, the original plan for me was to stay at Spain for 5 weeks to get some on-site training, then Thailand (siiiiiiigh) or Qatar till the end of the year, so once I would start my project in France I'd have about 3 months of training once I'd take some responsibility. Sounds reasonable, doesn't it?
But life takes a sudden turn every now and then, and as the local Contruction Site Manager walked through the door today and closed it behind him (this door is ALWAYS open), I knew something was the matter. To make a long story short: He'll take a new assignment and therefore I'll be the local manager till the end of the year! In the meantime they try to find someone who speaks Spanish and can do the job after me. Doesn't sound THAT bad, right? Think again, 'cause there's a rub in it: He'll leave mid of next week, which leaves me 5 working days and a weekend to learn the job. AAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

...but there's a good side to everything: I'll abandon my beloved hotel room soon (only a few days) to move into an apartment, so if anybody feels like having a short-trip to the south of Spain, you're more then welcome!

2006-09-26T14:59:00.000+02:00

¡Viva España!

I arrived save and sound in Sagunto, which is about 15min by car from Valencia. Can't say anything about how work is going to be, since the local construction site manager will only be back tomorrow, but the first impression is that everybody is rather relaxed and I can wear jeans and t-shirt - love that!
What I can do is to give you an impression of where I'm staying.
Soooo, this is my hotel: It's very close to the beach, too :-)

And this is my room... I think it's the first time that the catalogue-picture looks exactly like the room itself. What else... maybe it's worth mentioning that it has still 28°C and that I got a company car (ok, it's a white Seat Ibiza, but it's new and since I'm in Spain, driving a Seat is ok(ish) ). Friday we have a "keep up the good work"-party from the construction site and I've already been invited to join a fireworks competition and a local feast. All in all I think I can stand the thought of spending 5 weeks here, easily ;-)

2006-09-20T22:10:00.000+02:00

Today I’m saving your life…

(ok, this post became MUCH longer then I intended it to be, but I guess if I could take the time to write it you can read it just as well, don’t you think? ;-) )

…or at least 94 minutes of it. I just happened to watch the most PATHETIC movie ever. Maybe it’s a waste of time to read this review, but by writing about it I kinda make up for watching it. Understand what I mean? No? Ah well, just read it!
Ok, the movie’s called “Dinner with friends”, starring Andie MacDowell, Dennis Quaid, Toni Collette(?) and Greg Kinnear. ANY movie starring Andie MacDowell should be labeled “Don’t!!!” in the first place (Groundhog day and Green Card are exceptions, but certainly not thanks to her), so I should have known better… I’m loosing track again, so on with the review. Summary: Two couples in their late thirties, who have been friends for many years. One couple breaks up, the other couple is devastated. The separated couple gets new partners, new lifes and becomes happy while other couple questions their relationship and the long term friendship because of their friends’ new found happiness, but decides in the end that things are actually good the way they are. That’s about it.

The verdict:
#1: I am determined to hate that film. It’s like a road movie – I hate road movies! You get to know the people and accompany them for a certain period of time in their (usually meaningless) life. No setup, no complication, no retard, no climax, no resolution. I’m really old fashioned (e.g. simple) when it comes to movies: If the knight doesn’t kill the dragon and saves the princess, I’m not happy and would like to sue the box office for stealing my money. Where’s the point in watching a knight on his way through the woods, reflecting on recollections of his meaningless life? Boooooooring! (In case he commits suicide in the end, he’s forgiven!)
#2: No music, except for the end. Maybe it’s the editor trying to tell me “This conversation is far too meaningful for you to be distracted by such a random thing as music”…well, thanks for robbing the opportunity to actually not listen to the crappy dialogues for a moment.
#3: Don’t tell me what to do! I like to figure out the message of a film myself, in case there is any. It doesn’t have to be served on a silver plate with a giant neon-sign saying “precious advice”, thank you very much. It was like reading an American “life quality” book about how a marriage works, how to cope with changes and how to “preserve the magic”. WTF?
End of movie criticism, I think you got the general idea.

On with on-topic - off-movie statements.
Personally, I make a huge detour around general-life-advise books, because I don’t need or want books to tell me how I am supposed to see things.
Therefore, my humble opinion on that matter: if you are married to someone and every day you turn the keys to your not-yet-paid house and you feel like all of a sudden a heavy weight pulls you down every time you walk through that door, is it so hard to tell that something is obviously wrong? Maybe it’s something you can work out, maybe not. You’ll realize by talking to your better half and find out if you can cope with it. Go figure and bare the consequences. Some people are better off being separated.

And relationships in general? Watch out, big bummer news coming up: People change! Shocking? It gets better: It’s ok, because it’s part of the deal.
The matter of the fact is that the person you fell in love with is the person he/she became before you were together, and the other way ‘round. You don’t give up (all of) your individuality by becoming part of a couple, well, most people don’t, so you will naturally develop AS WELL based upon the person you were before you became part of a couple. That can result in nasty surprises as well as in good ones. Some people change intentionally to please their partner, but you can only change so much, and maybe in the end there’s nothing left of you. Compromising in little things is fine, but giving up who you actually are? Not really… at least that’s what I think.

What it all comes down to is that people are different, and personality-wise the setup for a happily-ever-after couldn’t be worse than between men and women, but I always thought that a relationship is not supposed to be work, it’s supposed to be bliss; it shouldn’t make your life more complicated but put you at ease. Down at the core I’m a hopeless romantic, so I think if you are lucky enough to find a certain someone who you love and, equally important, share the same wavelength with, chances are good that you can happily grow old and wrinkly together. Enjoy the things both of you like together and be happy for the things that make your partner smile like a child the night before Christmas, but that you’ll never understand.

…maybe I should start writing general-life-advise books and become f***ing rich ;-)

2006-09-17T15:04:00.000+02:00

What is art anyway?

After 2 weeks I finally got off my ass and saw a bit of of Tours with some other students. The main attraction is the cathedral, which is located only a 1 minute walk from my house. I have a weakness for cathedrals, certainly not because of their utilisation but because every cathedral is a piece of art. If I think about how long the production of a tiny facade-fragment must have taken, I can’t help myself but love it.

We also visited a few museums – Tours has a loads of art collections.The enormous amount of paintings and statues made me wonder what qualifies it as art. Certainly, all of the pieces must have taken hours to manufacture and are technically outstanding, but so are some chairs/tables/sofas and still they are not generally considered as art, then again you have modern “art” where someone paints 3 canvases blue and sells them for 500k. It might sound strange, but to me 99% of the pieces exhibited at a normal museum are not art. They are well manufactured pictures, not more. To me art is something that releases an emotion; something that makes me smile, gives me the chills or intrigues me in a way I can’t explain. If I find one single painting in a museum that does that, the visit was totally worth it. The best example to show you what I mean is my favorite painting “Skrik” also knowen as "Der Schrei" by Edvard Munch”. ...actually there are 4 versions of this painting, all in different styles. This one's my favotite.
It is exceptional in so many ways that words can’t express how awesome it is (at least to me). In the museum right around the corner I found a painting that managed to creep me as well – not as strong as “Der Schrei”, of course, and the photo can’t nearly mirror the desperation and angst you can see in the eyes of that woman when you move really close to it, but it gives you an impression.
(click on the pic to enlarge it, so you can have a closer look on the eyes - then you'll know what I mean) Over and above that, I found a painting that made me smile – not because of its content. It seems like there was a time when it was easy to get away with plagiarism. On the description it said “Inspired by the Mona Lisa” Well…it’s a bit like shopping at the fake market in Shanghai and find a shop where they sell sneakers with a sign saying “Inspired by Adidas/Puma/Nike”. Hilarious!

2006-09-07T21:57:00.000+02:00

Dreams, sweet dreams....

...being a student again makes me feel like my head is about to explode every now and then as paying attention all the time is harder then I remembered it to be. My daily rendez-vous with the Sandman whole-heartedly anticipated these days, hence my thoughts turn to one of my favorite playgrounds once more.
In dreams begin responsibilities, at least so wrote the poet. Maybe. Could it be we take our dreams too lightly, those images from places unknown? Could they in fact be angels in flight, our souls aloft? You know, recent experiences have made yours truly take another pass through the metaphysical thickets. As unlikely as it may sound in this rational age, I emerged on the side of those that cannot help but put their faith in that which cannot be explained easily. What else can you do than be open to your dreams, to embrace that distant shore? Because our mortal journey is over all too soon. I found a quote that summerizes it all quite eloquently: "Those cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples. The great globe itself. Yea all which you inherit shall dissolve and like this insubstantial pageant faded. Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff as dreams are made on and our little life is rounded with asleep." (In case the author is still alive he may stand up, so I can pay tribute) Sleep well, y'all, and enjoy the trips those night trains take you on.

2006-09-07T12:40:00.000+02:00

A series of unfortunate events...

...well, I have't been adopted by the Baudelaire family, and Lemony Snicket is not trying to hunt me down (in case you don't know what I'm talking about, you should read more!), but I feel like someone or something else is. As if the last months weren't desasterous enough, the whole farce reached its peak last weekend, so I ended up on the Dutchie's floor, disturbing his first night of peace after 6 long months (still sorry, but I'll make up for it). On Sunday I took my flight to France and, still at the airport, I received my welcome gift by being charged for lousy 5kg of excess luggage. 30 bucks $#(_$*#'{!!!!!! On the flight I wanted to wach the DaVinci Code on my laptop, but the format couldn't be recognized, so I didn't do anything. After my arrival I talked the time away with an Australian rockband that was touring the globe for 2 yeas (pleasent exception) and thereby underestimated the distances on Charles de Gaules; I only made the train by running with my 25kg suitcase, a bag and my laptop. At Tours my host femily was supposed to pick me up. Guess what: nobody was there! So I called the mobile number I had been given by the school, but since my french was hardly enough to order a drink, I only understood that the woman on the other end of the line wanted to meet me somwhere at 7pm (it was 5:30 back then) and that she proposed to take a walk through the city in the meantime - with 30kg of luggage?!? yeah, sure!!! The Frenchies I asked for assistence to translate weren't much help either. At 7:15 the dad and one of the girls FINALLY picked me up. The "car" was already packed to the roof already, 'cause they had just returned from their holidays, and by trying to fit the suitcase in the care they broke its wheels - now I need a new one :-( The took me to their... let's call it house. To give you an image: I think Marc Dutroux would have felt quite comfortable there. Ancient and no maintenence since the French revolution... shitty room and a bath"room" with a mixture of tub and shower where not even a midget could stand properly ...ah well. I carried my crap to the 3rd floor, chatted a bit with the family (Oui... non... huh?). Later on daughter No.2, the mum and the dog arrived. I was instucted not to run in the garden 'cause the dog doesn't like it - fine with me. I went to my hammock in disguise pretty early and waited for the Sandman. Next day started fine: Nice school, good teacher and the realization that my french is not that bad after all! Spirits high I went "home" with the dog greeting me with loud barking, the moment I opened the gate. After opening the dooor I'd let him sniff so he'd know that it's ok to let me in - and he did. So I put my crap in the kitchen and wanted to climb the stairs to fetch a towel to do my homework in the garden. Apparently the dog is a bit forgetfull, so he decided that it is NOT ok to go up there. He made his point by biting me in the leg.
Long story short: I went back to the school to ask for another family, went to the doc to get a vaccination refresh and moved in with a new family the day after.
Now I live in a house in the city center, have quite a big room and 3 boys in their twenties around. I hope that family proves to be as promising as it seems at first glance.
Next time I'll give you a little tour through Tour.
A bientôt!

2006-09-01T22:56:00.000+02:00

Breeeeeathe....

It's been a tough week, challenging both professionally and personally. However, I know, I still owe you a detailed report on farewell-party No.2 - sorry, but I'm I still need pics. Only thing to say by now: Thanks to everyone who joined or wanted to join. I'll miss all of you and will make sure to give you a visit everytime I'm in Munich. *sniff* ...ok, enough of that sentimental stuff!

Back to business. Last week I got my last introduction talks at Power Generation (PG) HQ - everyone is kind, helpfull and trying to make my work easy. Just great.
Wednesday I headed off for my first leadership workshop. Yes, me will be a boss-lady. Watch out, peasants, I'll make your days living hell if those fields are not tilled well ...MUHWAHAHAHA!!!! *cough*;-)
Met a lot of interesting and nice people - since it was a PG-exclusive training, it helped a lot to get to know a bit more about my new employer and the large variety of tasks covered. Perspictives are more than promising.
Today I drove up to Gelsenkirchen where I'll stay till Sunday, when I'll be heading off to France. Got my host's address and details today. The letter was in french and I was pleasently surprised that I understood almost all of it! Maybe my french is not as poor as I suspected it to be :-)
Attention, Madames et Messieurs, j'espére temps très palpitant. A bientôt!

2006-08-25T09:11:00.000+02:00

Weeeekend...

...is here :-) It'll be my last official Munich weekend. Can't wait!
You won't believe it, but since Tuesday my travel plan's haven't changed at all. Still going to France, still going to Sagunto. "Coincidentally" I have a short stay in Munich between those 2 trips (arriving on Saturday and leaving for Spain on Monday), so I can go to Oktoberfest. WOHOOOO!!!! Currently I'm struggling to get my luggage logistics settled. Have to get the rest of my stuff to Gelsenkirchen for storage, but have to leave a bag in Munich with my stuff for Spain and some stuff for Qatar, and another bag in Erlangen containing office and winter clothes (should be cold when I get back).

Update: Boss said I might go to Thailand instead of Qatar. WHEEEEEE! Keeping my fingers firmly crossed :-)))
See many of you soon!

2006-08-22T13:35:00.000+02:00

And again...

...things have been changed. But this time everything's fixed!!! (or at least that's what I hope). Yesterday the language course agency called and told me they had no place for me to stay in Aix en Provence, therefore I changed the destination. I'll get my classes in Tours instead of Aix now. Côte d'Azure would have been nice... ah well, maybe next time.
Spain plans have been rescheduled as well: It's 5 weeks instead of 7 and only 2 weeks substitute instead of 4 ...bit relieved. After that I'll squeeze in a Munich weekend (27th-29th of October), then back to Erlangen for a few days and after that off for the next construction site.
That's about it.

2006-08-21T11:24:00.000+02:00

Viva l'España!

As mentioned before, in my new job nothing's fixed, and today it showed. My boss told me this morning that, after my language classes in France, I'll be staying in Sagunto (Spain, near Valencia) for 7 weeks - 2 weeks training, and then I'll substitute the local commercial for 4 weeks while he's on holiday. ...2 weeks of training on the job are hardly enough to do the job properly and mind you, I don't speak Spanish AT ALL!!!! AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! Can you tell I'm a little nervous?!? However, I'll do my best and hope it'll suffice. At least the location seems to be nice (check out some pics): long beaches, historical buildings... all in all just the right place to build a power plant ;-)

2006-08-17T17:57:00.000+02:00

Aix-en-where????

The next weeks start to take shape. My language course has been confirmed :-) From September 3rd till the 23rd I'll have a 3 week crash course in Aix-en-Procence at the Cote d'Azure. It's a tough program, but the sea and the weather will ease my heartship ;-) PG is rather giving when it comes to training. For details you can check here ...my program is No. 87 (Französisch, Seite 3).
Right before heading off for France, I'll have my first leadership workshop.
Apart from that I'm looking fw. to the weekend, which is of course packed once more, but will be nice to empty my head for a few days.

2006-08-15T18:02:00.000+02:00

2nd day...

got my new laptop today! Slim, fast, light, black... I love it! In case you care, click here.
At least the next few weeks start to take shape. My direct boss wants to send me on a 3-weeks french intensive course somewhere in France, once my time in Erlangen is up. He'll think about where to send me for training on-the-job, so I might get an update on that during this week as well.
Also I learned that I will not be part of SAG anymore, when I start working in France, but will be transferred to the local company (but I get a return guarantee). Therefore I'm no longer a delegate when I get there, but I'll get the same payment as if I was one ...kinda complicated, but it sounds like a fair deal. Only remarkable other thing to report is that I got up at 6:45am two days in a row already, which is WAY too early, but troubles me much less then I would have expected. Aaaaand... that's all for now.

2006-08-14T15:37:00.000+02:00

Parlez-vous français?

...well, a bit, but as it seems by now I might speak it properly soon. Nothing is fixed, but as my boss told me they intend to send me to Pont sur Sambre ...in case they get the contract. Pont sur Sambre is a small french village, located in the north-east right at the Belgian border, and has about 2500 habitants.
...so you get an idea.
Not quite the world trip I expected, but it's cool with me.
Since the contract hasn't been signed by now, they will take the time and give me loads of training before. Next 2 weeks (instead of 4) Erlangen, then more than one construction site for training on the job. These sites might indeed be located rather far away... I'll get more information tomorrow.

2006-08-13T16:33:00.000+02:00

Too hungover

for a decent post. Had a great weekend! Now packing and then off for Erlangen. A detailed post with pics will follow.

2006-08-11T19:04:00.000+02:00

Who needs sleep anyway...

The last days were a bit exhausting: packing, transporting all my stuff to Gelsenkirchen, taking care of family matters, meeting friends... loads to do and little sleep.
A "first time" was yours truly taking the train down to Munich. I almost managed to miss the first connection to catch the first of my trains. Obviously train riding has many advantages to driving yourself, such as watching DVD, sleeping and watching funny people. However, taking the train only confirmed what I had known in the first place: I'm a driver, not a passenger! Sitting around and just waiting to get somewhere is simply not my cup of tea. Ah well, I gave it a try.

After arriving at home I unpacked my stuff and headed towards Heimertingen to do what I neglected far too long: I made the first step to get my financials in order by Torsten who checked all my contracts, questioned me about professional and private objectives and thereby started to customize a concept that suits me fine. As usual my visit was accompanied by great cooking of Tanja and pleasant chats about our lives.

Today I took the time to recover from the last days and will conclude the evening with one or two hours at the Kölsch place around the corner. Apparently I'll need the energy, as I've been instructed to be ready tomorrow at 2 pm, with a packed back, for pick-up by Thomas and Marion who will take me... I have no idea where! The whole gang managed to keep it secret, apart from occasional teases that lead in no direction whatsoever! Being the incurious, patient an... oh, who am I kidding!?! I'm DYING to find out what's happening tomorrow!!!!!
Make sure to check back what they did with/to me.

2006-08-08T00:45:00.000+02:00

Haushaltswarenmesse 2006

Tuesday, 1am. The first annual Haushaltswarenmesse just ended.
Andre came up with the idea to exchange stuff that appears useless to oneself but someone else might enjoy. So Chris, Ela, Tof, Britta, Andre, Andrea and myself met up at our place to exchange all dust collectors we gathered through the years. What can I say: It was great! I got rid of almost everything and everybody was happy with the exchanged goods. Afer that we had beer and bullshit at CiP and continued a bit at our place after the Biergarten closed.
Tomorrow (or better today) I'll drive my beloved route from Munich to Gelsenkirchen for the last time, as far as I know. (...I misused the guests to load the Sprinter I rent with the stuff I'll put into storage in Gelsenkirchen).

Sleepy now and tomorrow will be a long day. Sleep well y'all!

2006-08-06T17:26:00.000+02:00

Sunday, lazy Sunday...

Ich hab ganz konsequent
den ganzen Tag verpennt,
jetzt brauch ich sehr viel Ruhe
für Dinge, die ich heut nicht tue.
Ich fang ganz spontan
überhaupt nichts an,
das zieh ich eisern durch,
konzentriert und ruhig
bis ich drüber einschlaf.

Ich les heut keine Zeitung,
ich hab heut keine Meinung,
bin außer Dienst gestellt,
heute dreht die Welt
mal eine Runde ohne mich,
dreht sich ohne mich.

Ich mach heute blau,
das mach ich ganz genau,
ich bleib präzis hier liegen,
das muss ich heut noch fertig kriegen.
Ich mach heute frei,
stör mich nicht dabei,
das ist jetzt ziemlich dring'nd,
wenn es nicht gelingt,
muss ich morgen noch mal ran.

Ich hab heut keine Ziele
und keine Wir-Gefühle,
ganz egal, wo du bist,
wenn du mich vermisst,
dann tu es heimlich, ohne mich,
tu es ohne mich.

Ich les heut keine Zeitung,
ich hab heut keine Meinung,
bin außer Dienst gestellt,
heute dreht die Welt
mal eine Runde ohne mich,
dreht sich ohne mich.

Annett Louisan - Die Trägheit

2006-08-03T17:59:00.000+02:00

Wohooo... revisited

In an earlier post I reported on my questionable record on the Gelsenkirchen-Munich trip. The police finally charged me for it: it was the distance. 20m instead of the required 56m. 80 bucks and 2 points in Flensburg.
Can consider myself lucky that they didn't measure the speed as well.

2006-08-03T00:32:00.000+02:00

YEAH!

I made it! I actually managed to change my blog layout. It's not as easy as you think, at least if you have no clue of programming html whatsoever. Don't think it's final, but after fighting html source codes for a few hours, my motivation for dedicating myself to a long photoshop session was kinda low.
However, this is my first shot and I like it.

2006-08-01T00:41:00.000+02:00

FREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Goodbye to pretence, bitches and pointless tasks! PG, here I come :-)

2006-07-30T22:18:00.000+02:00

Leave old baggage behind

Yet another weekend passed. Friday I took the time to visit some friends outside of Munich to catch up, have BBQ and self-made booze in their garden. Talked deep into the night, just the way I like it. Saturday I got punished for forgetting that it was holiday start in Bavaria and that holidays ended in some northern regions. The 70km drive took 2 hours. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!
However, Saturday was spent with a shopping marathon, Sushi at Sushi&Soul in the evening followed by barhopping. Veeeeery nice.
Today I've been a good girl and started working off the list Ela and I made during breakfast. I booked train tickets for my drive back from Gelsenkirchen (YES, ME TAKING THE TRAIN! ...but only this one time!!!). Additionally I started packing - already managed to reduce 6 boxes to 3 by throwing loads of stuff away. Having carried most of it around several times during the last few years, makes me wonder why I didn't do that before.
Tomorrow is my last day in hell. Therefore, to keep the Christian pattern, I'll gather 17 of my disciples and conclude the day by watching Life of Brian open air dedicating myself to spirits ;-)

2006-07-25T21:01:00.000+02:00

I'm getting old...

...I have no other explanation for realizing that technology is passing me by!
And... you have no idea what I'm talking about, right? So let me explain: I'm beyond bored with the layout of my blog. So I thought I should change it. I surfed the net for nice templates but quickly had to face the fact that, following the true nature and purpose of templates, they totally lack uniqueness!
I have a clear vision how I'd like everything to look, I can photoshop the frames and thereby create the images I need, but WHY THE F***ING HELL am I not able to create a page??? Every bloody geek can do that, so why can't I???
Well, I know how tho use a WYSIWYG-editor like frontpage, but since I don't know the requirements for a blog layout, how to index and stuff, that bit of knowledge doesn't help, does it. So what to do now? I'm helpless, clueless and it bugs me that I seem unable to get that apparently simple task done.
AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I might find a way or I might get bored and find another pointless task to distract myself. Because this is what it's all about! Distracting myself from starting to work on my to-do list of things I have to get done before I leave this place... personal claim management, taxes, packing, etc. All important, all pressing, all... utterly boring. So I simply follow my oh-so-beloved compensation pattern of doing pointless stuff to kill time until the last minute, when I can't get around it anymore. I always do that, despite knowing it's wrong and that I'll hate myself for not getting 'round earlier, but in the end it always works out, so why change? ;-)

2006-07-24T10:20:00.000+02:00

Favorites

This weekend was filled with them!
Friday I spent a very relaxed evening at my favorite Italian place which serves the best pizza in town... at least in that's what I think.
Saturday night I was out with some of my favorite people ending up in my favorite boozing spot. Fell through the door around 5am which lead me to another favorite "activity": sleeping loooong into the day.
Sunday 2 Asperine and a shower took care of my hangover, so I could head off to see my currently favorite German band Silbermond at the open air on Königsplatz. Awesome :-)
As for tonight, another favorite is waiting: Will see Bodo Wartke, my favorite piano comedian, who I've longed to see since 2 years. Can't wait!

2006-07-20T20:13:00.000+02:00

Being human is a complicated gig…

…at least good old Nitzsche told us so. Even though he was a nutcase in the end, he was right. There's a dark side to each and every human soul. We wish we were Obi-Wan Kenobi, and most of the time we are, but there's a little Darth Vader in all of us.
Point is, this ain't no either-or proposition. We are facing dialectics, the good and the bad merging inside of us. But what can you do? Run? Hide? Not really! My experience is that you gotta face the darkness and stare it down, own it!

So get going, give that dark night of the soul a hug and love it to death.

2006-07-20T12:09:00.000+02:00

Katrin vs. Police, Chapter 241

On my way to Marion’s b-day party I was determined to get wasted! Surprisingly the initial decision to go for “Weinschorle” instead of beer made that wish vanish, so I spent the night chatting and laughing instead of getting royally wasted. It was a great evening and after only 2 of those wine-water mixes I figured I could drive instead of being forced to use public transportation. Since Andre’s living near my place and Andrea & Torben were heading towards her place, which is on the way, I gave them a lift.

After making the small detour to Andrea, we were on our way again. Suddenly I saw a police car on the other side of the road and the two policemen, who parked it there (against all traffic regulations!), were waving me out. DAMN, I’M BUSTED! I had almost no alcohol, but police makes me nervous and 2 of those things can get you over 0.5 eventually. When the guy asked me for my license and registration documents, I had to dig it out of my messy trunk where my lap top bag was stored. I asked one of them to give me his torch, ‘cause it was rather dark and my bag was a mess, as usual. He looked a bit irritated, but gave it to me. They checked my documents with the crucial question already hanging in the air. Docs were fine, and then he asked the question: ‘Did you have any alcoholic beverage?’. I admitted that I had 2 Weinschorlen. ‘That’s all?’ ‘That’s all!’ The guy made a theatrical break, gave me a suspicious look and after 4 ENDLESS seconds said ’Ok, have a good drive home’
WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! THEY LET ME OFF THE HOOK!

Andre and I had some ciggies and loads of fun making up possible remarks for policemen stopping you:
‘May I see your license?’ - ‘WHAT? I gave that to you 2 months ago. If you lost it you’re in deep trouble, Mister!’
Or simply ignore the questions and, after a while, state in a baby voice: ‘My mum said I mustn’t talk to strangers’

We went on like that for a few minutes, making me laugh in tears. All of a sudden I remembered the 3rd Weinschorle and the 2 shots I had. They totally slipped my mind! Additionally my car’s technical permission expired 2 months ago. So luck was on my side this time.

Andre navigated me to his place via some shortcuts, so I wouldn’t get checked again. After dropping him off, I proceeded home… for about 1 minute. Then I saw a red light waving me out, held by a guy with a reflector vests in the familiar “Police” design. SHIT! I stopped and the guy started his standard phrases. I told him that this was my 2nd check tonight and offered my documents. He asked where I got checked and then refused to check me again but wished me a good ride home instead. I got away AGAIN!

HOLY SHIT, what a lucky girl I was!

2006-07-10T22:37:00.000+02:00

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.... (aka former "dream"-jobs revisited)

I still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test

When I was a child of 5 I wanted to become a professor, because I figured those people knew everything. Of course I didn't have a clue what a professor actually did and that there was more than one kind, but to me that didn't matter at all. Alternatively I wanted to become a binman, or binwoman in that case, because they were allowed to stand outside on a truck while it was driving and they only had to work once a week... well, at least I thought so.
Next thing I remember is a tramway ride to school when I was in 5th grade. A boy from our neighbourhood, who was in 8th grade by then, asked me what I wanted to do after finishing school, and I answered that I wanted to be a manager. Of course I had no clue what a manager did, hence I was kinda confused when he asked me what I intended to manage. School itself didn't help finding the right job for me either. After the final exams I considered to work in advertising or to study marine biology, literature and theater sciences or economics... always had a soft spot for renaissance. Unable to make a choice, I decided to become an Industriekauffrau, because that would only take 2 years of apprenticeship and would leave all doors open.

I've been working as an Industriekauffrau ever since, even though I had second thoughts more than once, 'cause it never felt right. Back in 2002 I wanted to make a change and had serious thought about studying architecture, but it was too much hassle, so I didn't apply. After that I started to fill out applications for the Cooking Institute of America, but I never sent them. While staying in Shanghai, I applied at the University of Tübingen to study Media Science and Techniques, even flew to Germany for an interview. I got accepted but I didn't go for it.

For being unable to make an actual change I got what I deserved: I ended up in a boring job with a boss I hate (that's mutual btw) and colleagues I despise. That was the straw that broke the camel's back! I've had it with pretending that I cared about what I was doing! And this time I did it: I bit the bullet and made a change! Starting August 1st I'll become a Commercial Construction Site Manager somewhere in the world. Of course my vision of the future never included a yellow helmet and a jumpsuit, but if that's what it takes, I dig it.

Looking back, my former dream jobs have not much in common, but one thing is identical: I always wanted to be exceptionally good! The mere thought of being a star architect, a chef with Michelin stars, an ad writer with world reputation or a famous script writer used to make my eyes glow. The premise to achieve the exceptional is to love what you do, to develop a passion for it. Otherwise you'll fail. Simple as that. I lacked passion for 6 years, but now the glow in my eyes is back! I get the chance I've been longing for ever since, the chance to make a change, to become exceptionally good after all. Somehow I managed to stop myself from moving on for 6 years by going with the flow, too lazy, too afraid of giving up something I never really cared about. I have no idea why, but maybe I was waiting for the right opportunity. And here it is! This time there is no 'maybe', no turning back. For the first time in my life I didn't simply go with the flow but made a decision. I'm still afraid. Afraid that I might fail, anxiety that I will suck, that I might be entering a one way street from the wrong side with a giant truck only waiting to run me over. But I'm ready to bear the consequences. The feeling that I have right now, that excitement, the glow in my eyes, the tickling in my belly and the urge to go out there and kick ass, the feeling I was craving for ever so long, outweighs the risk by far.

I start to realize that you don't actually choose what you become. You become something and then it's up to you to find the right job that matches your abilities and potential. Until you find this, you'll keep on searching because something will feel wrong. You can tell by feeling like a pretender, weaseling your way through, afraid that someone might blow your cover that you keep up ever so attentive, never feeling the desire to exceed anybody's expectations. If you feel like this, it's time to move on!
There is a saying that there is nothing you regret more than a chance that you didn't take... and it's true. However things will develop, at least I'll never have to look back and ask myself "What if...?" ...and that feels daaaaaamn good!

2006-07-09T17:47:00.000+02:00

Wohooo...

broke my own record by speeding down to Munich in 4:50h... not bad for mummy's Golf and 650km, mind you there were a few construction sites and some thick summer rain inbetween.

Got caught by a speed camera though :-( ...or did it flash because the distance to that RETARD, that blocked the lane INTENTIONALLY AND EVIL-MINDED!!!, was too small??? Could be both.
Mum will find out soon when she gets mail. Ah well... she was always complaining for not having an recent pic of me anyway. There you go, mum. Got a pic taken by professionals, who take that kind of pic every day.

The wheels are in motion!

2006-06-23T23:35:00.000+02:00

Night and day,

black and white, down and up. Recent events made me think about how life takes us through this roller coaster ride over and over again. While we struggle to push ourselves to the bright side, we are pulled back into the shadows. The universe shows us that it prefers balance: electrons orbit their proton core, moon orbits earth, earth orbits sun and so on. Gallaxies collapse, just to be reborn over and over again.
Could this be our fate, to be caught in endless circles that lead us to the beginning, no matter which road we take? That would mean, however you attampt to escape the twilight, you’ll bounce back, ricochet into the dark, just to end up where you started from. Could it be that all of us are convicts of dualism?

Well, I don’t think so. Atoms can be fissioned, black holes can trouble gravity systems and convicts get parole. These are all exceptions, but who wants to go with the flow anyway?
Break out and become a convict on the run!

2006-06-15T17:17:00.000+02:00

Dreams...

...are postcards from the subconscious; inner self to outer self, right brain trying to cross that bridge to the left. All too often they come back unread: "return to sender, address unknown" That's a shame, because there's a whole different world out there - or in here, depending on your point of view. Indeed, for all we know this very moment could be nothing more than vapors of our own imagination. As Bertrand Russell mused, "I do not believe that I am now dreaming, but I cannot prove that I am not." Point is, there might be more to those nocturnal journeys than has previously been considered or accepted.

2006-06-01T19:30:00.000+02:00

If that isn't an impressive CV!!!!

Click on the image to enlarge it

2006-05-29T19:50:00.000+02:00

Red Hot Chili Peppers

It took me a while to like their latest release "Stadium Arcadium", but it finally found its way to my musical heart. The reason why it took so long was my dislike of the released single "Dani California". First asked how I liked it I said: "Sorry, but to me this is not RHCP. This could be played by any other band" ...well, call it female intuition or coincidence, but it seems that I was right. Not only that this song "could" have been played by another band, it actually WAS!
An US radio presenter stumbled over an undeniable reasemblance with Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's last Dance". Don't believe it?
Check yourself!
...ah well, let's simply assume that they were incredibly drugged and weren't aware that the music they "created" was penned by Tom Petty, savely stored in their record-shelf, instead of their heads.

2006-05-26T21:58:00.000+02:00

Dear George W. Bush,

I think it's about time to say "Thank you!"
Thank you for being the stupid cell-accumulation you are, as because of you there's one thing I know for sure:
If a guy like you can be the political leader of the U.S., there is nothing I cannot achieve!!!

1. "I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport." —Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 2001

2. "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." —Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004

3. "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

4. "There's no doubt in my mind that we should allow the world worst leaders to hold America hostage, to threaten our peace, to threaten our friends and allies with the world's worst weapons." —South Bend, Indiana, Sept. 5, 2002.

5. "There's an old...saying in Tennessee...I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee that says Fool me once...(3 second pause)... Shame on...(4 second pause)...Shame on you....(6 second pause)...Fool me...Can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tennessee, Sept. 17, 2002.

6. "See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction." —Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

7. "The ambassador and the general were briefing me on the -- the vast majority of Iraqis want to live in a peaceful, free world. And we will find these people and we will bring them to justice." —Washington, D.C., Oct. 27, 2003.

8 "I'm looking forward to a good night's sleep on the soil of a friend." —on visiting Denmark, Washington D.C., June 29, 2005

9. "Wow! Brazil is big." after being shown a map of Brazil by Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 6, 2005

10. A TIE BETWEEN:
"Rarely is the question asked, 'Is our children learning'?"
—Florence, S.C. Jan 11 2000
"The illiteracy level of our children are appalling." —Washington, D.C., Jan. 23, 2004

2006-05-21T20:21:00.000+02:00

My new crib!

I just found the place to settle down and grow old: five swimming pools, an eight-limousine garage, and mosaic floor made of 24-karat gold leaf in the downstairs study. Located in the greater area of Hampton Court Palace and Buckingham Palace, weather might be the only thing causing trouble every now and then. I'm ready to move in any time ...well, once I gathered the 150 million USD together that this humble home costs, that is ;-)

2006-05-21T02:02:00.000+02:00

No, No, Never....

just returned from what was supposed to be a glorious night in German "Eurovision Song Contest" history. We had a nice and catchy song, a sympathic band and signs pointed to a top 5 result. Well, to make a long story short, we finished 15th. 15th!!! WTF? How could that happen? I am totally disappointed. Finland made 1st place; ok, they looked like a fuse between Klingons and Orks, but the song was ok(ish), therefore congrats to Lordi.
I'm not saying that we should have made 1st place (ok, we should) but at least 2nd. Check back later to read my indefeasable reasoning on why the few points we gathered are ridiculous and, if the voting countries had voted as they were supposed to, we would have achieved a top 5 ranking.

Till then sleep well (unless your county is one of those that gave us less than 8 points, that is ...which is every country that made a vote in that contest)

2006-05-18T20:45:00.000+02:00

Catching up

Lazy, lazy, laaaaazyyyyyy... sorry, but you better get used to that. So here a short wrap up of my last weekends.

Czeching out Prague

My posse

First of all: Prague is, and always will be, one of the coolest cities ever! It's fun, it's beautiful and it's cheap. We had a weekend full of fun, drinks and soaking in the atmosphere of Prague.

We started at something around 7 in the morning (IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!) Our one stop train trip developed into a 4 stop one due to construction works on the Czech side of the border. We spend the time entertaining ourselves with a can of beer ;-)

A can goes to Prague

Prague impressions

Sandra and Christof bravely drinking the world's most disgusting cocktail

What a weekend :-)

"May"be I was drunk

The weekend of May 1st started off with and awesome pyjama party at Andre and Isi's place. Being the great hosts they are, we spent the night eating, drinking and being girlish. Mind you, we had two guys desperatly trying to retain their manhood, which is not too easy when you have to get through the total wellness portfolio, containing facial masks, hair masks, manicure and stuff. Even a desperate cryout of "How gay can it get???" didn't stop us. Veeery funny!
My plan to take it easy the next day was supposed to be secured by meeting Andre and Isi at "Coellner Paragraph" for one or two beers. The twinkle in Andre's eyes accompanied by the words "7,50 Eur for 1 hour of open bar" sorta ruined my (half-hearted) attempt. Several cocktails, Köllsch, a group of soldiers, a few longdrinks and shots later I found myself falling through the door at 4:30am, realizing that there was no way I'd manage to get up in time for our May biketour.
Got up later and joined the group in a Biergarten, but due to a general, inexplicable unwellness, I skipped drinking ;-)

Last weekend

was fun as well. Niek came to Munich for yet another b-trip. Finished work early and got to one of my favorite small Biergärten. Evening was spent at "Lotterleben" and a bar from another planet. Think Niek described it quite well. Saturday held a great birthday party in store. Anne Barbara made the great decision to have a BBQ at the Isar. The sun decided to support the great mood and I met old friends and new ones. Also I got myself branded as "The Bacardi Girl"
What can I say ...as a pirate rum is simply your thing.

2006-04-20T20:30:00.000+02:00

Life is sweet!!!

I feel great! Spring is here, managed to leave work early and tomorrow starts a 4-day Prague trip that can't be anything else but awesome. Why? Because I'm traveling with the same mates I spent a great weekend in Amsterdam 3 years ago. While unpacking my boxes I found 2 quick snap cameras (those you can use only one time). I managed to postpone their development for 3 years... now have a guess where I used them.
The pics will be developed and safely stored away, because I'm quite confident they could endanger promising careers ;-)

Best of all, after 4 endless months, I'll see Sandra again!!! Additional to all the anticipation of this trip, she made this beautiful day perfect by sending me an Easter basket :-) How sweet is that!

2006-04-15T21:44:00.000+02:00

Easter

Happy Easter everybody!
I hope you all enjoy the few days off, spending time with friends and family, doing whatever makes you happy.

Disclaimer: The following post contains blasphemic statements - so if you are sensitive when it comes to your religion you better refrain from reading it.

I've been wondering how Easter developed from being the time to celebrate the resurrection of Christ (all you believers out there might still do so, but the masses don't) to an easter-egg-searchorama and another what-did-you-get-me day? Don't get me wrong, the last place you'll find me is a church, but still... I mean, how could the most important religious holiday in the Christian liturgical year become just another commercialized feast where children expect their parents to buy them gifts?

Nerd Alert: Wikipedia says it were German Protestants who wanted to retain the Catholic custom of eating colored eggs during Easter without introducing their children to fasting. So they made up the "Osterhase" aka Easter Bunny aka Spring Bunny instead. For the kids this explanation was perfectly fine.

And now? Since it's a Protestant rite, being a baptized Protestant myself, I'm fine with it. But what about those poor Catholics that lost their children to commerce? How can you save them from slipping to the Protestants and re-introduce them to the genuine meaning of Easter? They are still small and influenceable, so you better act NOW before it's too late!!!
'But how can I save them???' you might ask. Well, I have an idea! Use the patterns they've grown accustomed to, like the bunny and the eggs, and blend them subtly with Catholic iconography! This might do the trick.
Happy conversion!

2006-04-15T21:10:00.000+02:00

Here I go...

...this is what the world was waiting for: another Blog! But how is this one different from all the others out there in the blogosphere?
Well, actually it isn't, but it's about me - and since I'm not famous (yet), I think that makes it quite unique. So, without further ado, happy reading.