Category Archives: Random Thoughts

My Blog and I

Back in June angetearz started a blogparade called „Du und dein Blog“ (You and your Blog) where Bloggers were asked to talk a bit about themselves and their blogs(, duh). I discovered this a while back on Twitter and it sounded interesting enough to answer the given questions for myself – and maybe draw some more attention to this place. 😉
Anyway, let’s begin…

The Questions*

 1. Who are you? Introduce yourself!

I’m PoiSonPaiNter, or Anne in real life, I’m a Reader, Writer, Nerd, Blogger, Metalhead and Traveller, but most of all Teller of Stories and an advocate for puns and alliterations. 😀
Oh, and I’m horrible at introducing myself, as you might have noticed, so I’ll just quietly nod towards my about page. 😉

2. Since when are you blogging? And how did it all start?

Officially I started this Blog back in February 2012, but I barely used it (one post per month was the average). The initial reason was that I wanted a place to collect my stories, improve my English and use it for some obscure other project I can’t remember any more. I had been thinking about a Homepage or Blog for a while back then, but when I came up with the name „Random Poison“ I just started it, without much of a plan – though, it’s not like I have one now, but well.
This changed around the end of 2013 and it really took a turn for the better starting 2014. (Curiously, August 2012 is the only month I didn’t post anything at all). Since then the average got up at least a little. 😉

3. Does your environment know you’re blogging? If so, what are they saying? If not, why not?

Yes and no. It’s not that I’m keeping it a secret, it just doesn’t come up that often – or the other party is just not interested in details more than „I wrote about that on my Blog“. 😉
The most sceptic about it though is my Dad, who thinks I blurt out all my secrets, but he’s wary of anything technological, so…

4. Are you using Social Media? And how can one follow you?

I am indeed. You could follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter where I’m most active. But I also have a few others you can find in the menu „Other Pages of Mine“ below.

5. Is there something that bothers you about the blogging world? And what would you wish for? (Dare to be honest)

Apart from the fact that I rarely get any reactions – a like now and again, but comments? They are scarce – is it hard as German Blogger to blog in English. So regardless of how many (German) Blog Parades I participate in, there is barely any feedback from other people than the creators. The only thing that makes sense to me is that the German readers don’t feel like reading something in English, sometimes because they lack the language knowledge, and push the site away without a second glance, without noticing that there indeed are bilingual posts here (like the Märchensommer/Fairy Tale Summer or my Advent Calendars) and even German Short Stories or that they can comment in German and always ask for help if they struggle with a translation…
Well, it’s not like my English reader are any better at this, they are probably scared when the title is German and the post starts in German, regardless of the „Read in English“ Link to the translation…
A part of me is thinking about changing my Blog language to German, the other part enjoys writing in English far too much and doesn’t want to change it – both parts know I’d be too lazy to constantly have bilingual posts…
Other than that: Even if I make a comment somewhere, which is rare as I prefer to actually say something with my comments, it’s not always that I get a reply, though I’m not sure if my comments are just not interesting enough or formulated in a way that no further, decent, comment is possible…but I don’t know, as no one tells me. 😉
What is most frustrating though is that Blogger and WordPress don’t share a comment-notification system…it’s so annoying to check back with Blogger-blogs to see if anyone replied – not to mention the double bot-check… can’t they just do something about that? XD So my wish would be something that properly connects those two, without you having to make two accounts for it…

6. And what do you like about the blogging world?

The uniqueness of each Blogger. It’s amazing how two (and many more) people can write about the same topic, but from a completely different point of view. Take the Guest posts for the Fairy Tale Summer for example: At their core they all talked about Fairy Tales, but they all found a different aspect to it. Or all these Blogs dealing with writing itself. They always find something else to write about and even if they write about the same thing there is no guarantee that they come to the same conclusion. Sure it can be annoying at times when one person tells you one thing and another the complete opposite, but isn’t that the beauty of free speech? That all these opinions can exist and be read and you yourself can put together your own world view?
I also like the interactions over the Social Media and to discover things that I probably wouldn’t even have thought about. 🙂

7. Are you reading outside of your „Blog area“ or are you, as e.g. book blogger, only reading book blogs?

As I don’t really have a „Blog area“ (hence its name „Random“ 😉 ), I’m always reading outside of it. Though I am kind of tired of reading book blogs, probably because everyone is doing it and because it reminds me of my far too long To Read List…

8. Networking is important. Do you have favourite Blogs? Show them!

There are indeed a few

German Blogs

I enjoy reading.
It seems like Joseph of What’s best in Life? and I are on a similar wavelength regarding different nerdy movies/series and it’s always interesting to read his reviews. Afterwards I don’t feel like writing my own, because he already said everything I’d want to say. 😉
Then there is the Weltenschmiede (World Smithy) which always has interesting articles about world building by fruehstuecksflocke and Evanesca – who’s Blogs in turn are also quite interesting, especially today as Evanesca is celebrating the release of „Zarin Saltan“ (Tzaritza Saltan) as part of the Märchenspinnerei, her adaptation of the Russian Fairy Tale „Tzar Saltan“.
As for writing stuff I like the posts by the Schreibmeer (literally Writing Ocean, though it’s probably a pun on Write More – as more and ocean are only a letter apart in German: mehr/Meer), they usually give you something to mull over. Same goes for Frau Schreibseele (Ms Writingsoul) and some of the other Blogs I discovered through the Nornennetz (Nornnetwork).
But as I’m writing in English, I also read some

English Blogs

though apparently most of the ones I enjoy(ed) reading went on indefinite hiatus…
I love(d) the tales Ed told his readers about his ruin huntings in Ireland on Ed Mooney Photography, all accompanied by his amazing photographs.
I enjoy(ed) the different essays about books, readers and reading the girls of BiblioSmile’s wrote – and yes I still haven’t finished their reading challenge from 2014…
The one who is still, albeit randomly, updating is Eve Estelle with her collection of self written poetry and fiction.
And some others still in my Blog Roll „Where I enjoy reading“ the bottom…
But, I guess that’s enough for some exploring. 😉
Those were the questions!
Hope you had fun reading them. 🙂

Greetings from Vienna, where I don’t really have access to my Blog and probably can’t accept your comments until I return.
PoiSonPaiNter
* Questions were translated by me.

Fairy Tale Summer: Winners & What's next

Read in English

Märchensommer: Gewinner und was als nächstes kommt


(Da mehr Deutsche der Challenge folgen, habe ich mal die Sprachreihenfolge getauscht.)
Am Dienstag habe ich zur Verlosung von einem von fünfzehn Bänden der Märchenspinnerei aufgerufen. Es galt eine einfache Frage (Was ist dein Lieblingsmärchen?) zu beantworten, doch leider, trotz für diesen Blog hohe Klickzahlen, haben sich nur wenige getraut es mir zu verraten.

Doch die, die sich getraut haben, werden sich freuen, denn sie sind

Die Gewinner!

Und das sind eure Preise:

Herzlichen Glückwunsch allen Gewinnerinnen!

Bitte teilt mir so schnell wie möglich gültige E-Mail Adressen und vor allem das Format in dem ihr das E-Book haben möchtet mit! Ich werde dann alles an die Märchenspinnerinnen weiterleiten, die dann den Rest übernehmen!

Wie geht es jetzt weiter?

Die Bände sind verlost, den Lurch ist fast durch, da bleibt nur eines: Weitermachen. 😉
Der Märchensommer, der, wie ihr oben sehen könnt ein Banner bekommen hat von Sarah, die sich dafür ein paar Bonuspunkte verdient hat – Danke nochmal! 🙂 – geht schließlich noch bis Ende August!
Am Sonntag gibt es das zweite Rätsel, beim ersten habe ich erst drei Leute, die sich daran versucht haben. Eine davon hat mir gezeigt, dass es auch diesmal etwas zweideutig ist, aber auch das Ergebnis werde ich gelten lassen, wenn auch mit kleinem Punktabzug.
Theoretisch am Montag soll es dann die nächste Märchenfrage geben, aber die ist noch nicht fertig und weiß noch nicht, ob ich sie rechtzeitig fertig bekomme…die Königin hat mich die Woche etwas abgelenkt…aber sie wird kommen! Spätestens am Dienstag!
Am Donnerstag wird es dann einen Beitrag zum #Buchmagie-Tag/Challenge von Blue Siren geben geben, eine Challenge-ception sozusagen. Aber ich habe mir so gedacht: In Märchen kommt Magie vor und Märchen stehen in Büchern, also kann ich da ruhig mitmachen. 😀
Je nachdem wie ich es schaffe kommt dann nächste Woche auch die Rezension zum Axolotlkönig, aber bis dahin werde ich vermutlich schon längst mit dem Mantel angefangen haben. 🙂
Wie ihr seht: Es ist viel geplant!
Seid gespannt und macht fleißig mit beim Märchensommer!
PoiSonPaiNter
_________________________________
Lies auf Deutsch

(As more Germans are following the Challenge I decided to switch the order of the languages)
And of course the content of yesterday’s package, which was nothing less than volume two, three and four of the Märchenspinnerei (Fairy Tale Spinnery) Fairy Tale adaptations.
On Tuesday I started the give give-away for one of fifteen books by the Märchenspinnerei. There was an easy question to be answered (What is your all-time favourite Fairy Tale?), still only a few actually dared to tell me, regardless of the high click count for the Blog.

Famous Fairy Tales in new Garments


Alas, the once who dared, can now celebrate, because they are

The Winners!

And these are your prices:

Congratulations to the Winners!

What’s next?

The books are given away, the ‚Lotl is nearly finished, there is only one thing left to do: Continue. 😉
The Fairy Tale Summer, which as you can see above now as a banner thanks to Sarah, which gained her a few bonus points – thanks again! 🙂 – continues until the End of August after all!
On Sunday the next riddle will be asked, for the first one I only got three answers so far. One of which showed be that it has a double meaning again, which I will count as solution, but with a small deduction of points.
In theory will there be the next Fairy Tale question on Tuesday, but I haven’t written it yet and I don’t no whether I will be able to finish it in time the Queen distracted me a bit this week…but it will come! Tuesday the latest!
On Thursday there will be a post for the #Bookmagic-Tag/Challenge by Blue Siren, a sort of Challenge-ception. But I thought: There is Magic in Fairy Tales and Fairy Tales are in books, I might as well participate. 😀
Depending on whether I’ll manage to do get around to it will you also get my review for the Axolotlking, but until then I’ll problably have started with the Coat already. 🙂
As you can see: A lot is planned!
Stay curious and take part in the Fairy Tale Summer!
PoiSonPaiNter
 
PoiSonPaiNter

Fairy Tale Summer

Lies auf Deutsch
As the weather is getting warmer and my desire to stay inside becomes stronger – and a certain package just arrived yesterday and it’s content keeps calling out to me – I decided to do some special reading this summer. (Yes I know, I still have two challenges I haven’t finished yet, but hey, I just don’t feel like reading any of those books…)

Anyway, let’s talk about Fairy Tales…

As I mentioned before were Fairy Tales a huge part of my childhood. I remember Sunday mornings when my Mum was preparing breakfast and my Dad and I were huddled against each other making up stories of Bucks Bunny, alongside many different characters, saving a princess. I remember Sunday lunches in the living room when the TV showed the Sunday Fairy Tale (Sonntagsmärchen) and all of us watching them for the umpteenth time.
I grew up learning to respect Baba Yaga and Father Frost, I watched a spoiled princess learn her lesson from King Thrushbeard and another finally hearing the sound of the Singing, sounding Treeling (Das singende, klingende Bäumchen). I saw a young man overcome the Fire, Water and Brass Pipes (which I just noticed means „To got to Hell and Back“ and I’m no longer surprised I like the Sabaton song by the same name as much as I do…) and went on many more adventures in old DEFA and Russian Fairy Tale movies.
But it didn’t stop there. For a couple of years now the ARD (a German TV channel) recreate about four Fairy Tales each year and we always sit down at Christmas and New Years and make sure to catch them.
Whenever there is a screening of a Fairy Tale, it is very likely that we will watch it.
It should not come to a surprise to anyone that I only need a short scene to know which Fairy Tale and which version it is. Or that I can quote certain scenes without much thought. 😉 (And people say German television is rubbish, but if they can do one thing it’s Fairy Tales. :D)

„But Fairy Tales come from books and tales!“, you might complain.

Well, yes, of course they do. But in an age were getting children to read becomes more and more difficult it is more likely that they might watch a film version of it. I mean just think about Disney and all the money they make off of their princess-merchandise. 😉
Other than that did Fairy Tales go through several changes over the centuries. Barely anyone knows the original versions of the Grimm Fairy Tales (which were pretty grim, pun intended ;)). You know, those versions where Sleeping Beauty wakes up when one of the two children she gave birth to (and was impregnated with) while sleeping, sucked on her finger? Or the one where Rapunzels prince is blinded by thorns after the witch throws him out of the tower and heavily pregnant Rapunzel looks for him in the desert? Or…but I digress. (For readers with enough German knowledge: Sofian took a closer look at Allerleirauh and Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White and Sleepy Beauty)
I have several Fairy Tale books at home, ranging from collections of Grimm Fairy Tales and other classics, over collections about tales of local stories or witches, up to collections of Scottish and Japanese Fairy Tales. Which incidentally I’ve only skimmed through. But some of the classics have been read to me. 😀
And of course the content of yesterday’s package, which was nothing less than volume two, three and four of the Märchenspinnerei (Fairy Tale Spinnery) Fairy Tale adaptations.

Famous Fairy Tales in new Garments


The Märchenspinnerei is a group of twelfth authoresses that picked up well known Fairy Tales and changed them into something new. Accompanied by thirteen Blogger-Fairies they are publishing a new book for a new Fairy Tale each month. (You can follow them on e.g. Facebook and Twitter)
The published Fairy Tales so far:

and the upcoming (13th June):

I think it’s needless to say, that all theses books (and linked pages) are in German, but it’s a great project and maybe with enough people asking… 😉
When I first learned about the project, I was curious and by now I have the first four volumes at home (I won the first one as signed copy 😉 ) waiting for me to read them.
Which leads me tooo….. *drum roll*

The Fairy Tale Summer

As the Märchenspinnerei books are calling out to me, I’ve decided to read (and potentially review) them this summer. If I manage to get that far, I will also do the same for some of my Fairy Tale collections. So instead of waiting for the dark winter times, where you usually snuggle up to read Fairy Tales, I’m going to do this in summer. Without snuggling up, hopefully. 😀
My time frame will be roughly 6th June to 25th August, so plenty of time for a couple of relatively short books. Not that that ever kept me from procrastination. 😉
If I get around to it, I might also continue with Lost in Translation: The Wesen of Grimm or add topics in regards to Fairy Tales.
I don’t really have a plan for this or even a fancy picture, but if you would like to join me, I would set up an extra page, with some guidelines and we could even turn this into a „challenge“, with answering questions in regards to Fairy Tales or even „book counts“.
And maybe, if I’m creative enough to think of something, someone could win something. 😀

Long story short:

I really like Fairy Tales and there are some great adaptations.
I want to read the Märchenspinnerei books during the summer and you’re invited to join me (in reading them or Fairy Tale-related books in general).
If enough people show interest in this I will turn it into a „challenge“ with questions you have to answer and potentially a price/prices you could win.
Let me know if you want to join, what you’d like to read (books and as topics) and enjoy the  upcoming summer with some mighty fine Fairy Tales. 😉
PoiSonPaiNter
_________________________________
Read in English

Märchensommer

Da das Wetter wärmer und mein Drang drinnen zu bleiben größer wird – und ein gewisses Päckchen gestern angekommen ist, dessen Inhalt nach mir ruft – habe ich mich entschieden diesen Sommer etwas Besonderes zu machen. (Ja, ich weiß, ich habe noch zwei Challenges, die ich noch immer nicht beendet habe, aber hey, ich hab einfach keine Lust jene Bücher zu lesen…)

Wie auch immer, lasst uns über Märchen reden…

Wie ich schon mal erwähnt habe, spielten Märchen eine große Rolle in meiner Kindheit. Ich erinnre mich an Sonntagmorgende, an denen meine Mutter das Frühstück vorbereitet hat und mein Vater und ich im Bett zusammengekuschelt lagen und uns Geschichten ausdachten, wie Bucks Bunny und andere Charaktere eine Prinzessin retteten. Ich erinnre mich an die Sonntagsessen im Wohnzimmer, wenn im Fernseher das Sonntagsmärchen lief und wir uns die zigste Wiederholung angesehen haben.
Ich habe gelernt Baba Yaga und Väterchen Frost zu respektieren, ich habe gesehen, wie eine verwöhnte Prinzessin ihre Lektion von König Drosselbart gelernt und eine andere endlich den Klang des singenden, klingenden Bäumchens vernommen hat. Ich sah einen jungen Mann Feuer, Wasser und Posaunen überwinden (was, wie ich gerade bemerkt habe „To got to Hell and Back“ bedeutet und mich nicht länger darüber wundern lässt, warum ich das gleichnamige Lied von Sabaton so gut finde…) und bin auf viele andere Abenteuer in den alten DEFA und Russischen Märchenfilmen gegangen.
Aber da hat es nicht aufgehört. Seit Jahren erneuert die ARD jedes Jahr um die vier Märchen und  Weihnachten und Neujahr ist es für uns ein Muss die neuen Folgen zu schauen.
Wann immer ein Märchen im Fernsehen kommt ist es sehr wahrscheinlich, dass wir es uns ansehen.
Es sollte also niemanden überraschen, dass ich nur eine kleine Szene brauche um zu wissen welches Märchen und welche Version es ist. Oder das ich gewisse Stellen ohne groß nachzudenken zitieren kann. 😉 (Und Leute sagen das deutsche Fernsehen ist scheiße, aber wenn sie etwas können, dann sind es Märchen. :D)

„Aber Märchen kommen doch aus Büchern und Erzählungen!“, könnte man sich beschweren.

Natürlich tun sie das. Aber in einer Zeit, in der es immer schwerer wird Kinder zum Lesen zu bringen, ist es wahrscheinlicher, dass sie sich eine Filmversion davon anschauen. Ich meine, schaut euch doch nur mal Disney und das ganze Geld an, das sie über ihr Prinzessinnen-Merchandise machen. 😉
Abgesehen davon haben Märchen über die Jahrhunderte eine ziemliche Wandlung durchgemacht. Kaum jemand kennt die Originalfassungen der Grimm’schen Märchen(, die sehr „grimmig“ waren, das absichtliche Wortspiel funktioniert besser auf English: grim…). Ihr wisst schon, die Version in der Dornröschen aufwacht als eines der zwei Kinder, das sie während sie schlief (empfing und) gebar, an ihrem Finger saugte? Oder die in der Rapuzels Prinz von Dornen geblendet wurde, als die Hexe ihn aus dem Turm stieß und die hochschwangere Rapunzel ihn dann in der Wüste suchen gegangen ist? Oder…ich schweife ab. (Für Interessierte: Sofian hat sich Allerleirauh und Rotkäppchen and Schneewitchen und Dornröschen mal genauer angeschaut.)
Ich habe einige Märchenbücher Zuhause, angefangen von Sammlungen der Grimm’schen Märchen und anderer Klassiker, über Sammlungen zu Lokalen Geschichten oder Hexen, bis zu Sammlungen zu Schottischen und Japanischen Märchen, die ich tatsächlich bisher nur überflogen habe. Mir wurden trotzdem diverse Märchen auch vorgelesen. 😉
Und natürlich der Inhalt des gestrigen Päckchen, das nichts anderes als die Bände zwei, drei und vier der Märchenspinnerei Märchen Adaptierungen enthielt.

Die Märchenspinnerei ist eine Gruppe von zwölf Autorinnen die sich bekannte Märchen ausgesucht und zu etwas Neuem verändert haben. Begleitet von dreizehn bloggenden Feen veröffentlichen sie jeden Monat ein neues Buch zu einem neuen Märchen. (Ihr könnt ihnen auf u.a. Facebook und Twitter folgen)
Die bisher erschienenen Märchen:

und ab 13. Juni:

Als ich von dem Projekt erfahren habe war ich neugierig und mittlerweile habe ich die ersten vier Bände Zuhause (den ersten habe ich als signierte Version gewonnen 😉 ), die darauf warten von mir gelesen zu werden.
Was mich überleiten lässt zuuuu… *Trommelwirbel*

Dem Märchensommer

Da die Märchenspinnerei-Bücher nach mir rufen, habe ich beschlossen sie diesen Sommer zu lesen (und potentiell zu reviewen). Wenn ich soweit komme, will ich mich auch meinen Märchensammlungen widmen. Also anstatt bis zur dunklen Winterzeit zu warten, in der man sich normalerweise einkuschelt um Märchen zu lesen, mache ich das im Sommer. Ohne einkuscheln, hoffentlich. 😀
Mein Zeitrahmen wird grob vom 6. Juni bis zum 25. August sein, also ausreichend Zeit für ein paar relativ kurze Bücher. Nicht, dass mich das von der Prokrastination abhalten würde. 😉
Wenn ich es schaffe, mache ich auch mit dem Lost in Translation: The Wesen of Grimm weiter oder schreibe Beiträge zu Märchen im Allgemeinen.
Ich hab noch keinen wirklich Plan dafür oder gar ein fancy Bild, aber wenn ihr mitmachen möchtet, würde ich eine extra Seite mit ein paar Richtlinien erstellen und wir könnten das Ganze sogar in eine „Challenge“ umändern, mit Märchen Fragen beantworten oder „Bücheranzahlen“.
Und vielleicht, wenn ich kreativ genug bin mir etwas auszudenken, kann jemand etwas gewinnen. 😀

Lange Rede, kurzer Sinn:

Ich finde Märchen toll und es gibt ein paar großartige Adaptierungen.
Ich möchte die Märchenspinnerei-Bücher im Sommer lesen und lade euch ein mitzumachen (sie oder andere mit Märchen in Verbindung stehende Bücher zu lesen).
Wenn genügend Leute Interesse zeigen, werde ich es zu einer „Challenge“ ausbauen in der Fragen beantwortet werden müssen und man potentiell einen Preis/Preise gewinnen könnte.
Lasst es mich wissen, wenn ihr mitmachen wollt, was ihr gerne lesen würdet (Bücher oder als Beitrag) und genießt den kommenden Sommer mit ein paar ganz prima Märchen. 😉
PoiSonPaiNter

An Update on Writing

I know there (again) has been a lack of content lately, but this time for a good reason: I’m busy writing stories!
But I’ll get to that a bit later, as today I’d like to talk about writing stuff in general and stuff I did more or less recently.
Two years ago the Bücherstadt Kurier published their March volume including my story „Nebeljagd“ (Mist Hunt). This was the first of my stories that has ever been published in a proper medium and not just on this Blog or on DF.PP Entertainment or in The Forum (back when it still existed 🙁 ).
I remember being so proud of this.
I remember calling my Mum right away after I received the mail with the amazing „You’ve been chosen“-line.
I remember printing out the story and showing it to her and the smile on her face.
I also remember what happened next.
For me those two things will forever be remembered together: My first success and my biggest loss.
Still, that didn’t keep me from continuing, I knew she would have (verbally) kicked my ass if I had dared to do that. Just giving up, wasn’t quite her style. 😉
It took me more than a month to at least be willing to write again, the result being „Ein neuer Tag“ (A New Day), starting there a lot of my writings involved darker tones about loss, flight and/or death.
Part of me used this to talk about my own experiences and thoughts, another part just found it fitting for a characters‘ journey. I believe a prime example of this is Mina’s side-story from my second Advent Calendar.
I’m fairly certain that „Der Weckruf“ (The Wake-up call) was the first story I published on a Blog after it all happened – in retrospective it’s quite a fitting title for the situation – not counting „Der Zufluchtsort“ (The Haven), which was the last story I finished the day before it happened and scheduled for the day after. Still, from there I kind of got back into things.
„Your Picture – A Story“ was (kind of still is, even if I didn’t manage to write anything for it these last couple of months…) a good outlet for me to just explore different topics and characters without going into too much details thanks to the word count. This was also where you could see the changes I mentioned earlier the most.
Another new step I made regarding my stories was/is attending a Lesebühne (Reading Stage) where I read them aloud in front of an audience (in a pub). It’s always a thrill to do that and I’m nervous time and again. Though there is rarely any feedback: A few people told me they enjoyed the stories, someone said the stories I read improved over time, another encouraged me to try my luck with a publisher, others had minor complains, but most of them said nothing. It’s still an interesting experience and with the amount of Short Stories I have yet to read (or write) I have quite some stuff still unknown to the listeners.
Speaking of trying my luck: I also managed to win Eve Estelles’s writing contest, twice, without actually expecting to do so:


With „The Raven’s Omen“ and the „Campfire Tale„, I impressed her enough to let me win and those two are also prime examples of my English Short Stories, as I usually tend to write those in German. The only downside to this is my pessimism coming into play here and telling me I only won, because (it feels like) there wasn’t much competition.
I am very pessimistic (in general and especially) when it comes to my stories, I like them, but I rarely think they’re good enough for anyone else to like them, so it came as quite a surprise when fruehstuecksflocke asked me to become a part of #Projekt24. With „Blind Date„, I hope I made an adequate addition to it. This project will soon be not just available on his Blog, but more on that when it’s officially announced. 😉
With my success here I also tried to add an entry to the Literary Advent Calendar of the Bücherstadt Kurier and some people quite laughed at my take on „The Crib„.
When this year began I told you about three stories I edited/translated for another project, namely: Ein neuer Tag, „The Quest for Ore“ and another one called „Verloren“ (Lost). These three are for Projekt Myra as exchange for some advertisement they did and as they still wanted/liked to get more I sat down to write out another of my organ-concert-ideas (see link Ein neuer Tag) concerning the Dwarf–world, I came up with back when writing The Quest for Ore and drafting Verloren. That story, however, did not want to be a Short Story and has by now roughly 30k of written out scenes and notes under the (working?) title: Der Wunsch der Königin (The Queen’s Wish). It’s still a lot of work to do and I’m still not entirely convinced it fits into the corner of Myra that we decided on – and again, that they really like what I’m writing-, but we’ll see once I’m done. Which I hopefully will be one day and don’t let it go to waste (like Michael’s story that I still haven’t managed to properly write down). Unfortunately I’m already kind of bored of writing out the notes and missing scenes, as motivation plays a rather huge part in my process and when the voice in the back of my head tells me something is not worth doing, then I have the tendency to listen to it, which is awful and counterproductive and absolutely annoying.
Another annoying thing is me jumping between ideas. As soon as one pops up I want to pursue it and everything else is then put aside (like writing this post, when I should be doing something else 😉 ). One of the last times this happened I had nearly/finally finished with last years Advent Calendar and then I somehow decided to write two more stories. The first one was the Christmas story „Santa’s Helper“ that I kind of feel like continuing in this year’s Calendar, though I’m not sure if I really should – any thoughts?
The other was „Winter Moon“ that I did get carried away with and which now has the basics for the twelfth chapters I speculate to write under the working title „Neubrandenwolf„. Though I still don’t know whether I should publish a Chapter a month (close to the full moon) or just publish as soon as I’m finished, Twitter wasn’t helpful for that decision…
The idea-jumps doesn’t make it any easier to get anything done though, quite the contrary. They are especially awful when it comes to the Fanfictions I started over the years that are still not finished yet, especially as I kind of took a year long break from them. Though I did manage to update 3/4 stories by now, even if updating one of the stories was recently postponed by writing the first ~7k version of The Queens Wish and then finished after I dreamed about one of the characters pulling me towards him…
Still, they’re a great medium where you technically don’t have to think up that much regarding the worlds you write in and just can explore different story lines with existing characters. Which doesn’t mean I did not think things through, because that would be impossible for me, as I want things to make sense, even if that makes things more complicated and nearly as bad, as if I thought up my own worlds.
Anyway, a few people keep telling me I have a talent for writing and that I should try sending stuff to a publisher, but the voice in the back of my head, still tells me that I’m not good enough, that the stuff I write is too full of clichés, too boring, too simple and that no one would want/like to read it anyway (hence the lack of motivation at times). I really don’t know whom I should listen to, but that doesn’t mean I won’t keep writing – and potentially improving. All this stuff has to get out of my head somehow. There are still too many stories left untold that I don’t even dare to think about to not get distracted by them…
But don’t worry, you will get a few things to read in the future – whether you like them or not. 😉
PoiSonPaiNter
P.S. Still not any better at naming things. 😉

BAfMW: Not just for Magical Creatures

You think Fantastic Beasts and where to find them is just make believe?
You think stories of Magical Creatures are only Fairy Tales?
Then you are quite certainly mistaken.
Or you simply haven’t heard of the BAfMW, the

Bundesamt für Magische Wesen* (Federal Office for Magical Creatures)

before. 😉

The

The „Bundeslurch“


Existing in the shadows for centuries the BAfMW stepped into the light a couple of years ago to spread the word about and care for the Magical community under the sign of the Bundeslindwurm or Bundeslurch (Federal Lindworm/Amphibian). Responsible for all Magical Creatures residing in Germany the BAfMW tells you, with a twinkle in their eye, how you have to handle your pet-Dragons or how you have to deal with Angels that are suffering from Bird Flu.
With different decrees and reports from current happenings in the hidden world in relation to those happening for all to see, you soon discover that being a Magical Creature (in Germany) can be just as bureaucratic as being human.
Still all lot of good comes from the work of the BAfMW.
How else would lonely Vampires and Orcs find their perfect match if it wasn’t for EliteVampire.de and Orkship.de*?
How else would the Scientists Dr. Acula and Dr. Frank N. Stein have found out that Unicorn-Mare Milk cured the Bird Flu* in certain draconian Species?
How else would Werwolves wanting to enter the United States* have been warned not to do so after a local pack had been hunted down?
Just to name a few.

My favourite decree (Verordnung/VO):
Angels are only (Celestial) Poultry and potential carriers of H5N8. They are subject to veterinary measures to combat the Bird Flu. Their population can be culled if necessary.
sig. Edmund F. Dräcker*
– BAfMW-VO 2014/10-18*

In addition to that do they also make appearances on (Christmas) markets or conventions to be visible to the public eye and inform the citizens about their work.

An important message

What they spread through their decrees and other works is basically just this: Acceptance and Tolerance.
Not just for Magical Creatures, but most importantly for people.
A couple of months ago many different authors – including Evanesca – got together to write fantastical tales about Magical Creatures having to leave their homes and seeking refuge in a new place or struggling to do so. The money collected from this (e-)book directly goes on to help refugees* that have come to Germany and I’m already curious to read it (my copy arrived in the mail on Saturday).
Their newest campaign wants to create a memorial for those lost in the Florida Shooting that happened due to hatred and prejudices regarding their sexuality. They want to create a giant painting on the façade of the Office building including Creatures featuring the likeness of two of the victims and others that suffered similar fates.
If you want to help create this incredible sign against hatred, bigotry and prejudices feel free to check out the campaign page and leave a few Euro as donation.
They need quite a lot to fill that wall and make it stick so no idiots can smear across it.

To oppose Hatred – The Façade Project of the Federal Office for Magical Creatures

(German Version: Dem Haß entgegentreten – das Fassadenprojekt des Bundesamtes für Magische Wesen)
If you need help understanding anything or have questions don’t hesitate to ask – me or the Office themselves through the Homepage or on their Facebook or Twitter pages.
If you can’t help, I still recommend reading through the articles on the homepage, they’re brilliant and quite informative. 😉
PoiSonPaiNter
* All links marked like this are currently only available in German. They’re working on translating them and apparently was I enlisted to help as well, as soon as I get the author rights for the page…

New Year, new whatever?

It’s 2017.

Happy new Year!

Or at least I hope it will be happy and have lots of good stuff in store for everyone…
I mean after all that stuff happening in 2016, we are in for a treat, right?
Let’s do a headcount:
It was the first complete year with just Dad and me. Lots of ups and downs on that front, but that’s family for you. Still miss her a lot. Don’t think that’ll ever change.
It was the year the house I live in was renovated and my flat decided to take a bath. I still haven’t completely settled in again…
And of course it was the year that took away many incredible people and gave us some quite frightening things to look forward to. Though the people-part is arguable. With a celebrity-focused media like we have today it’s not really surprising that they talk about so many celebrities that have died this year, it’s what they do, but I’m fairly certain that before all this there would still be a time where the famous people you loved growing up or in your adulthood would still die at some point, because that’s life. It just wasn’t as broadly discussed as it is nowadays. Everyone knows the major players in popular culture, so of course we all have our own stories when they face their untimely demise. And with cancer and heart attacks being common disease spread across nations, why would they stop before people like them? Just saying…

But it wasn’t really that bad a year…

at least not for me.
I might only have been on one Concert (Van Canto as far as I can remember) and one Festival (Rockharz), but I’ve been to a couple of other just as interesting things.
I spent nearly two fascinating weeks in London with Janzy. A long overdue visit that couldn’t have been better. I’m pretty sure I’ll tell you about it one day.
I had a pretty fun (and exhausting) weekend of Convention-hopping with Schmusi and AnnaTao when we went from the German Comic Con Berlin to the TimeLash in Kassel (Review 2015) on the same weekend. I got to see James Marsters live in concert and panel and talk to two Doctors and Ace, so that was worth it. And we rounded the whole thing up with a visit to the incredible Wind Mill Museum in Gifhorn.
Two of my stories were good enough to be published on other sites (you’ve read about it during my Advent Calendar). A few others where published here and at DFPP Entertainment. A third story also won a minor writing competition again.
It was a great year for movies, Deadpool, Ghostbusters, Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange, to name a few, and I got to catch up with some other movies and series I haven’t had the chance of watching before. I also read more than my usual average of books and even dived into a few comics I haven’t read before.
I wrote a couple of often read posts including my review about Mara and the Firebringer and The Gamers that were (recently) shared by their creators, though the most read ones are still my old ones somehow…(apparently WordPress didn’t do statistics like they did the years before so I can’t link you to an overview here, sorry…)
I also helped fund different projects on Kickstarter, including Nichtlustig-cartoons, Attacking the Darkness post-production and JourneyQuest Season 3. For the latter two I also helped create the German subtitles, which was an interesting experience altogether. Oh, and I also got to coin the Orcish words for „whimper(ing)“ – bawulai(/-lon) and „war drum“ – sabatam (based on „Bawling Baby“ and Sabaton – the band – respectively). 😉 And helped a few artists on Patreon…
Anyway…

What will 2017 bring?

Honestly? I don’t know.
I want to to finally finish a few stories that have been lying around all year while I either finished other stuff or was not in the mood to write at all. There are also a few stories that have a basic outline that I want to complete for a different project to be published with three stories I already prepared for it last year (including The Quest for Ore and A new Day 😉 ) and of course many other story ideas that are still floating around in my head.
Last year (that still sounds weird…) I made good on my self-imposed schedule for a while but then dropped it again after a couple of weeks, so I guess I’ll give it another try at some point…
But right now I’ll enjoy my last vacation days and next week I might be celebrating my birthday (unfortunately not in Dublin at a Sabaton concert 🙁 ) with a couple of friends, we’ll see.

All the best for the New Year!

PoiSonPaiNter

A watchful Halloween

Well, it’s been a while since my last post and I’m not entirely sure why I couldn’t get myself to write anything here, I just didn’t feel like it…
But I did get a few things done – or semi-done at least.

  • I drafted my Advent Calendar and am in the process of typing it.
  • I sketched a special story for a friend and finished the first nine chapters of it.
  • I concluded my participation for fruehstuecksflocke’s #Projekt24
  • I translated and edited two old stories (including The Quest for Ore – reading at own risk as I haven’t included the edits on the Blog yet. ;)) for another project I’ll announce when it’s time.
  • I also finished my entry for Bücherstadtkuriers‘ Literary Advent Calendar. Let’s see if they like it. 😉 (If not, you can read it on the 25th of December).
  • I also was at two conventions (on the same weekend >_<) and at another HGWAnime-Event.
  • And I finished and caught up with a few more series, though I didn’t feel like writing another WWW.

Anyway!
Back to the topic at hand:

Halloween

Just as I did the last couple of years, did I want to write something for this years Halloween.
So far you got: (Childhood) Halloween Memories and some spooky local legends.
This time it’ll be a recommendation of spooky Specials of TV Series or Movies. So have fun checking them out and maybe you want to add your own favourites to the list. 🙂 (Note: I know there is a full list on Wikipedia, but I prefer recommending stuff, that I’ve seen before 😉 ).

Halloweentown I-IV

Movie Poster for the first Halloweentown movie

One of the must-haves for me. It’s quirky it’s funny, not that scary, but scary enough to make little children cringe and most of all: Full of fantastical creatures.
The stories might not be the most innovative – and it still bugs me that they changed Marnie’s actress for part four, as I like Kimberly J. Brown since I first saw her in Rose Red – but they’re a lot of fun and definitely one of those things that just fit the newer sense of the holiday by combining the partying attitude with the old legends and creating something unique. 🙂

Castle – Vampire Weekend

Screenshot from the episode with everyone in costumes

I recently started watching Castle, because of reasons, and this Episode is filled with all kinds of nods and references to stuff the actors (Nathan Fillion, especially) did before.
You have a joke about Firefly, a mentioning of Buffy (which brings an entirely different angle to the table: If Buffy is fiction in Castle, is Caleb then played by Castle in this version? 😀 – and I finally know why Stana Katic looks so familiar; she played the female lead in The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice…) and all of the classic stuff like Dracula, the Wolfman and so much more that makes this episode fun and enjoyable. There is another Halloween Special, but I haven’t seen it yet, so I can’t tell you if it’s good. 😉

Psych – This Episode Sucks

Screenshot from the episode with Shawn and Gus dressed up as Lestat and Blacula respectively.

Full of Vampire references this one might not be a Halloween Episode per se, but still fun enough to add to this list. And who doesn’t enjoy childish grown ups dressing up as fancy vampires that are unable to talk through their fake teeth? 😀
For some reason I also want to add 100 Clues to this list, that is even less of an Halloween-Episode, but it still has the flair of old mystery flicks.

Grimm – La Llorona

Screenshot of the episode of Monrow in a skelleton costume fully woged.

One of the creepiest episodes of Grimm I’ve seen so far – and I’m still missing a huge chunk of the later Seasons…
With Grimm you basically have a set number of things something could be: Human or Wesen, but with La Llorona they add something entirely different. A real ghost? A special Wesen? No one knows and at the end of a terrifying hunt, she’s gone.
Besides: Monroe’s love for Halloween and the fact that Wesen take a break on this day is also quite fascinating.

Honourable Mentions

There are a lot more Halloween themed Episodes or Movies, but I want to leave it at that, you still need some time to go Trick-or-Treating, right? 😉

But if you still haven’t gotten enough spooky stuff do try the original Sleepy Hollow movie or even Nightmare Before Christmas.
Buffy and Supernatural themselves pretty much are constantly Halloween-themed, but there are episodes that are considered Specials like Hush or It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester. And not to forget the twenty-something Special Halloween Episodes of The Simpsons. 😉
Then of course there are all the horror classics, but everyone knows which those are, so I’m now leaving you with this:

Stay save in this spirit filled night and have Happy Halloween – or Samhain! 🙂

Photo of a selfcarved pumpkin with a small and a large eye and a grin with two canine teeth
Have a pumpkin for the way

PoiSonPaiNter

(c) The pictures (except the pumpkin, that ones mine) were taken from the Wikia or IMDB pages of the episodes/movies linked within them. All rights for them belong to their respective owners.

Reader, reader, pumpkin-eater

A couple of days ago Aleshanee shared a post on Twitter by Mikka from Mikka liest (Mikka reads) about what it means to be well-read, in addition DarkFairy posted another review that made me look through her reading challenges and all of this made me think (again).
With my affinity to procrastinate I’d like to dwell a bit on these thoughts instead of what I actually should be writing…

Am I well-read?

Mikka’s points about what it means to be well-read can be basically summed up to:

You’re well read if you read more than one book from all kind of genres – even outside your comfort zone – in differing difficulty.

I agree with her sentiment (and hope the summary is correct) and enjoyed her reasoning leading to this, but what does that mean for me?

I don’t want to make my own definition, I’d like to try using the main points of the statement to try figuring out if I would consider myself to be well-read.

#1 Diversity

The majority of books I read are in the fantasy genre, but thanks to school and different interests I also picked up a few classics and non-fiction books, but that still doesn’t make it that widely spread, even if a few of them differ greatly from my usual reads.

Though, that doesn’t mean that I don’t know things about books/topics/stuff I only have on my to-read list or just heard/read about in reviews/articles.

In addition do I read all kinds of (web)comics, manga, short stories(, fanfictions, etc.) ranging from fantasy up to slice of life stuff, so there is a bit more variation there.

#2 Quantity

Okay, this point is probably the one that bugs me the most. With readers like Aleshanee and Mikka, who read between 100-200 books a year or Evanesca, DarkFairy and SaJaehwa, who manage 30-80 books a year, you have quite some competition.
That is, if you view reading as a competition.
Which it technically isn’t, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel like it.

When I look through my statistics on Goodreads it’s apparent that my reading habits aren’t really that regular. There are years where I haven’t read anything or just a few measly books and then there are years where the book count rises above 20. In total I seemingly haven’t even managed to read as much books in my entirely life as Aleshanee does in a year.

I do consider myself a fast reader, I manage to finish a ~200 pages book in about a week, only by reading on the bus (~1h total) and I think I manage 60 pages per hour on average, but there are times when I either don’t have the time to read (car-commute) or I just don’t feel like it – which is kind of my main reason for not reading – or I’m using the bus to draft stories instead.

Though this does also mean that keeping up with challenges isn’t really my thing. I started two in 2014 (BiblioSmile’s Summer Book Challenge 2014 and DarkFairy’s Alphabet Reading Challenge), that I still haven’t finished as I keep putting other books between actually reading the ones on those lists … I’m just no good with schedules. 😉

It feels frustrating, when I compare my reading list to others‘, but when I think about the (web)comics, manga, short stories(, fanfictions, etc.) I also read – that I don’t have on my Goodreads list – it evens out a little, but it still doesn’t feel the same. Why not?

#3 Difficulty

Because one could argue about the challenge they pose and if you could even count (web)comics and manga as „books“, as they are „just“ stories with pictures.
Though things like The Sandman are quite difficult to read …

Some of the other books weren’t easy either, but being the stubborn person I am I powered through even if it was exhausting at times. I also don’t shy away from longer reads if I feel like reading the book, I just sometimes don’t feel like starting them, but that’s mostly because of the topic.
I also don’t mind just reading YA or not so challenging stuff, though I stay away from the entirely lovey-dovey stuff as I just can’t stand it … I already make fun of the stuff I linked above (not challenging-link), no need to give my jokes more fuel …

I kind of also increase the difficulty by reading books in English – recently I even read something in Russian! 😀 *proud* – which has me not just reading, but learn new words/phrases in the process.

So at least my difficulty is differing, I guess.

Conclusion

Apart from the fact that I chose a ridiculous title* and spread the same alliterations throughout it, do I feel a bit more comfortable with just reading about 20 books a year.

And looking at all the stuff I wrote above: I do believe I’m well-read.
Even if I’m not actually reading that much. 😉

What do you think about this? Do you consider yourself well-read?

PoiSonPaiNter

P.S. If anyone needs help with the German posts, just let me know.
* I blame that entirely on Halloween approaching and me thinking about travelling to Ireland again … anyone interested in accompanying me? 😉

The Odyssey of a Renovation

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you might have noticed that some of my posts mentioned „being on car-commute“ or doing something for a „renovation“ and you also might remember the comment in this post, where I said that I wanted to rant later on.
So, here you have it, but let’s start at the beginning…

A limited rental

When I moved into my first flat – a shared flat – in 2007 the landlord told us that this would only be a limited rental, as the flat was supposed to be torn down in 2011. For us that was enough time, as our A-Levels would be over in 2009, so we accepted (The house we lived in was a five story building and due to a lack of renters they decided to turn it into a three story building by tearing down the upper two floors).
Then my flatmate moved out to pursue love somewhere else before finishing her A-Levels. I was alone in the flat, with the notion that the landlord could send me a new flatmate whenever they felt like it. In 2009 I started studying and stayed in the same town for work (dual-mode studying system, remember?), but as I did not want to share the flat with a stranger that would live ten weeks alone with my stuff, I moved out. I stayed in the same building, but was now on the first floor. 2011 past and nothing happened and they told me/the renters that it would be postponed. In 2015  the notice finally came: We’ll start the reduction in 2016 and will also renovate the kitchen and bathrooms (and more) of the flats (and buildings).
When finally the day came that my old flat was completely gone I posted this poem on my private Facebook page and mentioned the oddness on the other ones (I wont translate the poem itself, but what it’s about is explained above):

Ode an eine Wohnung

2007 sind wir eingezogen,
da hatten sie uns gleich belogen.
Bis 2011 so lief der Vertrag,
so zumindest hatten sie uns gesagt.
Wir lebten, lernten, alberten und lachten
und was wir nicht sonst noch machten.
Dann 2008 da kam die Liebe,
E. trug sie mit sich fort,
nun lebte sie an einem andern Ort
und ich war alles was noch bliebe.
In 2009 begann mein Studium
und ich sah mich nach einer neuen Wohnung um.
Da bin ich jetzt und schau nach oben,
wollt ich doch das Alte loben.
In einem Jahr ward dann gesagt,
die Bauarbeit, die wird vertagt.
2015 dann kam der Bescheid,
im nächsten Jahr ist es soweit.
Vor kurzem begann die Arbeit dann,
und nun ist es auch schon getan.
Die alte Wohnung, die ist weg,
dort wo sie war ist nun ein leerer Fleck.

Regardless of this the construction phase itself – inside my flat and the whole building – had a bunch of very frustrating things happening. A few of those I’d like to tell you about.

Technical difficulties

One evening I came back from work, made dinner and sat down to cosily watch a stream, when I noticed that my Internet didn’t work.
My first thought was that my Laptop had a fault, so I restarted it, without any improvement.
My second thought was to restart my router/modem, still nothing.
The third though was: Did they turn off something during construction without telling me/us again?
As I asked my direct neighbour she mentioned that she had just had similar troubles and a call to the provider had helped.
So I called them and they told me they couldn’t do anything as the company managing the building(s) were responsible (aka my landlords), but he’d try to reach the guy on stand-by duty.
In the meantime I called my landlord and left him a message that they should call back, as Internet, telephone and television weren’t usable.
While I called him the provider called back and told me someone was on their way.
When the guy came he told me that they had turned off the distributor so that the users who still used the old system would call them so that they can attach a loose cable that hung beside my Internet/telephone/television-socket (that’s been hanging around since April and the only thing they told me about it was, that they’d do it later). He also told me that he could only do it provisorily now, as it was outside of his working hours and I should have called them during their working hours or at least be home (how could I dare to go to work)…
He wrote down my number and said that he’d tell his boss to make an appointment with me to do the proper work as soon as possible.
The next morning I went to the workers that were already renovating the other flats and told them about it – according to them it was the providers fault. They wrote down my number as well to make sure I got my appointment. When we left the other building the construction-electrician conveniently recognized the provider-electrician and that guy even had time to work on my socket right away. When he was in my flat his boss(?) came to see him and told him that my flat and two others – that have the same provider – still had the loose cable. Unfortunately he told his boss that he was already finished with my flat, so I couldn’t hear how he should have contacted me.
At last the distributor/socket worked again and that part was done.
Three days later I got a return call from the landlord…(as is usual when I contacted him with questions)…

Watery fun

During the construction we had three instances of water damage.
The second I didn’t notice and only by chance heard about it from my neighbour, as it happened during a weekend and only affected a flat on the other side and the cellars – mine included – beneath it, but I didn’t have any important stuff down there anyway.
The first time was also in the cellar, but started somewhere around my flat. I was just getting ready for work when there was a knock at my door and someone wanted to take a look at my pipes as again there was water in the cellar and someone had mentioned the sound of rushing water. From the bathroom he couldn’t see anything and I told him that I had heard it, but I hadn’t paid much attention to it, as rushing water wasn’t an unfamiliar sound in this old building. So he went outside again to shut down the water first and to get someone else to look at it.
Hurriedly I finished getting ready – using the water before it was gone – and waited for him to return. He then told me that they needed to take a look at the pipes from the other side. Well, my kitchen was still filled with all my supplies, so even them appearing with three people didn’t change that. Without being able to do anything they left and I had half an hour to remove the stuff I had in two kitchen shelves – two weeks before I would have to do so anyway.
When they returned an hour later the worker was confused that the shelves still stood there and I told him, that I simply couldn’t remove them myself.
So we did that and he apparently changed a pipe when I could finally go to work.
On my return my shelves and hearth were positioned towards the wrong wall and there was a tear in my floor covering…(and the board that led to the pipes was still partly opened).
While I was in the flat during the technical incidence one of the workers came into my flat and was surprised to still find me around and asked if he could take another look at the pipe, but had to leave again with the words „next week we’re in here anyway“ as he himself saw – not believing my words – that he couldn’t reach it at the moment as my stuff was more or less back where it stood – at least the shelves – and that they hadn’t left a hole there to take a look.
And now for the grand finale:

A Puddly Ordeal

On that day I didn’t know whether I should cry, scream or even laugh a little.
I prepared my flat for months, weeks, days in a way that the workers would easily have access to my kitchen, bathroom, radiators and windows. I brought almost all my important belongings back home, so they wouldn’t be in the flat when it was open for the workers. I packed everything that was still there beneath tarpaulin and went to stay at Unmeis for the night. I returned the next morning to let the carpenter in, who’d remove the last of my kitchen shelves when my neighbour welcomed me with the words:

Open up, there was water again

After a moment of shock I opened my door and saw a few small puddles on the floor, in my living room the puddles where a little larger and the corner of the carpet that looked out beneath the tarpaulin was soppy.
A look into the bathroom reminded me of a paddling pool: Water up to the door border.
But the best awaited me in the kitchen.
The wall/the strand that should have been removed and renewed the FOLLOWING DAY: Crushed inwards, tiles blasted off and the chute door pressed outwards.
If the damned pipe would have lasted one flipping day more I wouldn’t have had to spent ~two hours hauling my whole – wet at the bottom – inventory into an empty flat – luckily on the same floor – with the help of the carpenter so they could completely rip out my lamination to renew it – as soon as the flat would be dry again.
It wasn’t helping that some of the other workers made jokes about the flat being cleaned well or that the electrician out of nowhere asked me whether I even want to move back into the flat (as he otherwise would remove my other lamps as well).
Nor was it helping that they somehow managed to not give my fridge enough electricity to keep it working and in the process ruin everything I still had in there.
Nor that they moved my stuff a floor up when someone moved into the flat it had previously occupied – and I don’t know if any of my dishes survived either trip as I hadn’t had time to pack them properly.
Nor that I always had to contact the landlord to learn anything new about the status of the flat.
Nor that I’m just so fucking tired of the whole situation and basically don’t even know if I want to get back into the flat if stuff like this keeps happening.
The drying has now lasted for more than a month.
A month in which I could not use my own flat, but paid my bills regardless of that.
Fortunately(?) a part of that time was covered by the Rockharz and me being sick afterwards for three weeks – though I’m still kind of sick, but at least I can work again without annoying everybody with my coughing.
Last Tuesday my landlord told me that they’ll remove the driers – that took electricity from my line – and that soon the actual work will commence and potentially last two more weeks, including my new floor and painting of my walls – I really hope what they have planned for the mould on my bathroom door frame will work and that stuff wont return in a few months.
Anyway, that leaves me in my current situation.
I have to drive from my dad’s place (aka home) to work (Neubrandenburg) on a daily basis, as I only want to bother other people when it’s absolutely necessary. That means I’m in my car ~1 1/2 hours a day, which in turn means, I don’t have my usual time to read and write stuff in the bus, making me lack behind on all those things – again. A few days ago I started listening to an audio book to at least get something useful out of this situation.
So yeah, after that drive and work I’m rarely in the mood to do anything, so posts here will be a bit wonky again until I finally get my flat back.
Just so you know…
Poisonpainter

On a Side Note #4.1: Re-Scheduled

As I told you last time do I want to try writing with a proper schedule.
Right now that doesn’t really work and I just wanted to tell you about it.
For today I wanted to write a post for ferngeweht’s new Blog-Parade, but I just didn’t get around to finish it.

Why?

Well, because my flat is currently being renovated.
Which means:

  • I had to prepare my flat for the renovation.
  • As a Smartphone-not-user do I not really have access to the Internet outside of my flat.
  • I wont even be staying in my flat while they’re busy renewing the pipes in my kitchen and bathroom.

Additionally, will I also be at an In Extremo warm-up concert tomorrow and next week I’ll be at the Rockharz again.
Oh, and there is the whole thing with the water damage that I now have to deal with, thanks to the pipe that could not wait for tomorrow – there will be a rant later on.
So the plan is, that I’ll finish the Blog-Parade for the 5th July (a bit past the dead line, but Sabine gave me her okay) and the next What’cha Watching Wednesday and Webcomic-chapter will be postponed by a week.
As the 1st July also marks the end of the Story Sunday call for prompts you still have a little time to add yours to EveEstelles, otherwise I’m not sure if I’ll pick up the segment or simply use it for my writings outside of Your Picture – A Story and stuff. (My next YP-AS story will possibly be published on the 17th July with a picture by Selenophile Art)
So yeah, that’s the status right now.
Proper work with the Blog will hopefully be possible starting 18th July at least.
Watch out for my Twitter feed to get short tid bits of thoughts and suggestions.
Until we meet again!
PoiSonPaiNter