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What'cha Watching Wednesday #2

And we continue with the second instalment of What’cha Watching Wednesday.

What am I going to do?

Each Wednesday evening I will publish a post in which I collected the thoughts I had throughout the week while watching the latest or any episode of a series or maybe even a movie.
Depending on how my time allows it, the comment will also be for those that I watched that day.
You’re warned: There will be Spoilers.

Let’s start

Sleepy Hollow – Season Two, Episode 18: Tempus Fugit (Watch Date: 26.02.)

Well, last week I ranted about not liking Katrina’s character development and now she’s dead…
But frankly I care more about how Ichabod will deal with having lost both his wife and his son on the same day, than about their actual passing. In regards to characterization both of them were spent: Henry’s story expired with him turning against Moloch, and her grief was turning Katrina useless.
It’s a pity the writers decided to move her that way, as she would have been a good magical addition to the team, but like this it seemed more like they were going for love-triangle (or square if you include the Headless Horseman).
I really hope they wont turn Abbie and Ichabod into a couple, that would so ruin their chemistry…
Though while getting rid of a stagnating character was a nice turn of events, it also felt a bit rushed and we unfortunately did not stay in the 19th century for long…
It was only a one time deal. 🙁
At least as far as this season goes, who knows what they’ll come up with if the series is renewed for a third season.
Just like Agent Carter, I do hope it will be.
The premise is just too interesting to be dropped…

Marvels Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. – Season Two, Episode 11: Aftershocks (Watch Date:04.03)

So, Agent Carter finished and now the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are back and I have to say that it was a nice start into the second half of the season.
Not too rushed, but not too slow either, some of the lose ends were brought to a nice conclusion, though I still don’t like that they killed off Trip. Back then it felt like such a wasted death, but with Skye struggling to comprehend her change it gains some meaning.
Bobbie and Mac seem to plan something bigger, might even be Hydra spies, Fitz protects Skye’s secret from Simmons, who seems to be a little too forward with her solution for what happened.
I always liked Fitz and Simmons and their chemistry, but since their separation and the weird re-union, I prefer Fitz on his own. He seems to still have the compassion, Simmons is currently lacking, though I do hope his condition will improve soon, as it is a bit tiring to see him helpless each episode – and yes I know it was a heavy injury, but characterization-wise does it get boring soon.
All in all some interesting developments and nice character development in this episode.

What were you watching?

What episodes or movies did you enjoy throughout the week?
Anything you’d recommend checking out?
Let me know in the comments below!

Final Words

Things have gotten in the way all week, so unlike I anticipated, again only two episodes.
PoiSonPaiNter

What'cha Watching Wednesday

Soo….as I’m following a couple of series and the Reading Together works quite well for keeping track of thoughts regarding my current reads and I kind of did something like this with this post already, I thought, it was high time that I rant a bit about what I’ve seen in the past week in a more appropriate setting.

What am I going to do?

Let’s start

Sleepy Hollow – Season Two, Episode 17: Awakening (Watch Date: 19.02.)

I do believe I haven’t mentioned yet that I am watching this series, but tadaa: I do.
It’s a really interesting concept and even though it had me confused more than once throughout the first season, do I still enjoy it.
It has great characters and interesting foes.
Anyway, from the beginning I kind of felt odd about Katrina. She never really fit into the group or at least tried to fit in and her arrogance and stubbornness made her dislikeable to me. Her whole obsession with Henry/Jeremy(, whose own madness is brilliantly portrayed by John Noble, though the portrayal does remind me of his role in Fringe) is just so…annoying…for a lack of a better word. She just doesn’t want to move on and keeps going in circles characterization-wise, up to the point were she drives herself quite mad. I get that she is a mother, but that’s just weird character development.
Though there is one upside to this: A set-switch to the 18th century, with Abbie now being in the wrong period!
Can’t wait for the next episode to see that happening and I just hope it wont just be a one time deal…

Agent Carter – Season One, Episode 8 – Valediction (Watch Date 25.02.)

I can’t believe this season is already over…
When I read last week that the upcoming episode would be the finale I was utterly shocked. It was far too soon to leave Peggy (and Jarvis I feel the need to add him here).
It’s such a fun and great and cool series and Hayley Atwell is just such a beautiful and brilliant actress. James D’Arcy does a great job as well and it’s just such a joy to watch those two interact.
Right after the first episode aired I wanted to watch more and I dearly hope the series will be renewed for another season – and many more after that.
The finale followed the slow narration of the previous episodes, but it is still packed with action and incredible fight scenes. It’s just fun to watch.
I really enjoyed the progress Peggy’s colleagues Thompson and Souza made in regards to their view on her, and even the late chief towards his end (that kind of still doesn’t bother me). Though I have to admit, that I find it confusing that in this series the characterization tables are turned.
Where there is barely any depth to the women in pretty much every show or movie, here the men are portrayed quite shallow. (Hence my apathy regarding Dooley’s passing)
For a series that does so much good in terms of representation (especially for women) this is a bit unfortunate. Still, this might as well have been due to the low amount of episodes, as we did get a few glimpses at the main male side characters‘ actual personalities.
But all in all great series and a great finale.
And I really want to see more of Peggy’s adventures!

What were you watching?

What episodes or movies did you enjoy throughout the week?
Anything you’d recommend checking out?
Let me know in the comments below!

Final Words

I start a new regular thing and I nearly managed to only watch one episode the entire week. Go me! Luckily I couldn’t resist watching the finale of Agent Carter right away, so you get two thought-thingies.
Next week will most likely be more, as I now have to catch up with all the episodes I’ve missed.
PoiSonPaiNter

Three Years

Today marks the third anniversary of my Blog.
Another year has passed and I’m still blogging.
It was a really good year, until it got quite awful towards the end and any improvement will probably take a while.
But that’s beside the point.
Today I’ll announce the winner of my little raffle a few weeks back in honour of my 200th post and this anniversary as well.

As a reminder the prices were as follows:

#3: A Clue Writing Story written from your clues (setting + five clues)
#2: A Story written from a title you chose or for a picture you took.
#1: A Story of whichever category you like (e.g. clues, title, picture, even a Fanfic would be alright)
And without further ado let’s skip to the good part:

The Drawing

For quite a while I had only two participants DarkFairy and Gabriele.
The third participant commented earlier this day and was lucky to write before I finished this post.
Yet, as that one only left me with an „XXX“ as name and an E-Mail address that looks fake am I not able to include her/him in the drawing. (Though I do have a suspicion of who might be behind that alias…)
Therefore the race is between Fairy and Gabriele and is concluded by the throw of a dice.
If the dice lands on an even number: Gabriele wins the first place.
If the dice lands on an uneven number: Fairy wins the first place.
As I don’t have a physical dice here – at least I can’t think of a place where I put one – I will use this side: Virtual Dice.
So, let’s role….

And the Winner is…

Gabriele!

That leaves Fairy for place #2!

Congratulations!

As for you „XXX“, if you’re participation wasn’t just a ruse, I will grant you the third place and for the next time, please use real contact data – at least for the duration of the competition, afterwards it can be changed to fake data.
For all of you these rules still apply:

With this post and the upcoming comment to your comment I have informed you of your price. If I don’t hear back from any of you within a week the price will be assigned anew – or due to the lack of participants: cease to exist.
Suggestions for either of the prices have to be decent (no propaganda for violence, racism, pornography, etc.)
- In case of the picture: You have to own the rights to it.
- In case of the Fanfic: It would be nice if you choose a Fandom and characters I know.
The Story will be written in a reasonable time frame ranging from one week until six months after receiving the instructions (Sorry, I can’t say how things will work out during the next few months). Further delays will be announced.
The Story will be as long as I see fit, but at least 800 words.

I’m curious what stories await me.
And maybe for the next anniversary I think up something better than a story.
Cheers, to the new year!
PoiSonPaiNter

Fernweh

Throughout this year I suffered a severe case of Fernweh and ferngeweht’s Blog-Parade gives me the final nudge to finish the post I started back in May.

For quite some time now I have this urge to travel, to explore new places and to simply be somewhere else.
Though until a few years ago I rarely did any of that as I was either too young to go on my own or to shy/insecure to do just that. Or too busy with riding back and forth between my home, my workplace and my place of study.

A shared experience

I don’t know why, but my main argument against travelling on my own is that I can’t share my discoveries with anyone right away. And writing a Blog post about it is just not the same as having someone with you, who is living through the same things as you.

Well, and as no one wanted or could accompany me, I instead set out to visit people.
Thus my idea to travel a bit through Germany was born in 2012 so I could at least see a bit of my home country, before I explore others as well.

Since then I managed to find people and places to visit each year.

In 2012 I saw Frankfurt, Köln (Cologne), Bochum and Raunheim for the first time, but I also paid another visit to Kassel, which became one of my yearly destinations.

The next year saw me not just visiting people but also attending two festivals in between.
Let me tell you, this is not an easy feat …

This year again was a bit different, as the first three days I travelled completely on my own, simply stopping whenever I felt like it. The rest of that journey I met up with family and friends again and it ended in the Metalfest, but I’ll give you a full review on that when I find the time.

Even with having these journeys and travelling to festivals in different places all over the country (this year: Geiselwind, St. Goarshausen, Ballenstedt and Hildesheim) and spending time in Berlin, Rostock and Hamburg for concerts and other events, my Fernweh wasn’t cured.

Then it hit me in July:

I hadn’t been to another country (for more than a day) in SIX YEARS

And I was no longer surprised that the urge remained. Following different travel-Blogs wasn’t really a helpful thing to do either.

To be able to cure my Fernweh for a little while, I knew I had to make a trip outside of Germany.
Luckily I had a couple of vacation days left to think up something.

Again, I was confronted with the fact, that if I wanted to travel for a longer time, I would have to do so on my own. I possibly would have done it, but after scrapping my initial ideas and creating a variation of them a friend and I spent Halloween on the Emerald Isle. It was a great remedy.

Not even a month has past since this trip, but the effects are already wearing thin and I can feel the Fernweh crawling up again (especially while writing this post)…

Because Fernweh for me is …

the urge to see different places.
the yearning to explore new things.
the restlessness of the wandering mind.
the wish to be somewhere else.

I’m not sure if my Fernweh was ever as strong as it was this year, but it does become quite bothersome at times. Especially when you want to leave, but aren’t able to because of work, money or other reasons.
But it let/s me discover new and interesting places every time I succumb/ed to it.

And these are the ones I’ve been at so far* – in Germany:

Google Maps of my Destinations

I’m sure that my Fernweh will lead me to more place, even outside of Germany.
Ireland was just the beginning. Sweden, England and others are already calling loudly for my attention.

I’m not sure where I’ll actually end up and when that’ll be, but I do plan on at least making one trip abroad next year as well – even if it’s just for a weekend again.

Regardless of my own struggles, I wish you all save travels.

I’m certain that I will not cease to explore new regions and places thanks to my Fernweh.

PoiSonPaiNter

*No guarantee for completeness. I most likely forgot a bunch of places or left them on purpose.

I’ve apparently watched too many crime shows…

Yesterday we had our office Christmas party and instead of the usual feasting we attended a Crime Dinner – or Dinner Crime, as they called it – for the occasion.
It was a quite interesting experience that I’d like to talk a bit about.

The premise for the event was as follows:

„You’ll be attending a fashion show where an award for street fashion will be given to an unknown designer. During the ceremony a murder will take place and the killer has to be found.“

This means that throughout the evening and between the meals, we would get to see a couple of actors perform a crime play. It also meant, that some of my colleagues had to pose as models or other characters that didn’t have text-roles…

The whole set-up already started on our arrival, when one of the actresses introduced the people entering the hall by stating their name and fashion label.
Luckily we arrived before she started doing this more excessively.
She did look me up and down, but she either couldn’t decide on a label or didn’t want to say anything due to the „Don’t you dare“-look I think I had on my face…

Before any courses were served we got to see the first scene that was pretty much the introduction of the main characters and the basic storyline. Shortly after it the speculations started on who would be the killer.

Yet, I turned the conversation to look at who will become victim instead and presented my theories to my colleagues that sat at my table.
They found it reasonable and we shelved the conversation until the next scene.

When it was over I stated:

„Now it’s clear that she is the victim. She just got poisoned with this-and-this. Though probably by accident.“

The amazed look on my colleagues faces was quite priceless, when they thought my words through and agreed with them. 😀

Needless to say in the next scene that character did indeed die.

Still, I re-phrased my reasoning in regards to the motive and the killer. What I had previously anticipated didn’t really make sense to me any more, so the one I assumed should have been killed instead, was now the one I believed was the murderer.

Again I presented them my theory and they partly agreed, seeing my points. But we also gave other theories a try and discussed them while we were at it.
Some solutions seemed too obvious to be true, so we dropped them quite instantly.

Still, when it was time for us to write our suggestions for murderer and motive on a piece of paper four people at our table wrote my conclusion down as well. The other’s weren’t that interested in correctly solving it and wrote silly solutions instead – though I know of one that still agreed with me.
Well, I even went as far as to add the murder weapon…

Then it was time for the big reveal.
The suspects were driven into the corner and questioned by a freelance, hobby detective and finally the murderer cracked.
And what can I say?
I was right.
I correctly guessed the murder weapon.
I correctly guessed the murderer.
My motive was just a tad bit off from the correct answer, but it still somehow fit, as it was still a part of the reasoning.
I even managed to pick up a thing that was only revealed in the conclusion, but I hadn’t mentioned that to anyone. When the murderer made a certain comment I had that thought in mind, but by the point we gave our solutions it wasn’t really the part I picked for the motive, as I wasn’t sure if it was just a random statement.

Now this makes me partly quite satisfied at solving the crime, but also a bit, well, frightened.
The conclusions I drew from what was presented were logical to me, yet the other’s didn’t think of them before I said them.
I know a bunch of other’s in the room guessed the murderer as well, but at least someone from the table next to us was impressed I got the murder weapon as well…

So is this because I’ve watched too many crime shows (Psych, Sherlock, Grimm, Elementary, etc.)?
Or is this simply because I’m an author and I have a mind for picking apart the hints presented in a story?
Or were the other’s just not interested enough to notice these things?
Did I just pay too much attention unlike the other’s around me?

Guess I’ll never know, but it was still an interesting and fun dinner.

What about you?
Have you ever solved a crime before it was officially solved/others could have a chance to do it?

PoiSonPaiNter

P.S. Apologies for keeping this quite vague, but if anyone wants to attend the same dinner I don’t want to take away the fun for them. 😉

Flipping Unicorns…

As I just noticed something again, after I had forgotten about it for a while I thought I might as well rant a bit about it. It’s not like I was already trying to sleep and this topic kept creeping back into my mind…
Unicorns are common in different mythologies and stories, yet I don’t even really like/care about them, but for some odd reason they still cross my path time and time again…
Probably the first unicorn I ever came in contact with was the one that was meant to be captured by The Valiant Little Tailor. A ruthless beast that tried to pierce him with its horn, but ended up stuck in a tree.
The other one was obviously The Last Unicorn, the beautiful lost creature that was turned into a human to save it from a ruthless king and his brutal Red Bull. Back when I still regularly played the accordion in music classes we frequently played the titular song. It wasn’t easy and quite long, but worth it.
While I never replied to the unicorn thread in The Forum its portrayed style, that I picked from the get-go is indeed called the „Unicorn Style“, which also uses motives displayed in the movie.
I didn’t think about it much when I wanted to have a more vicious version and ended up adding a black one to my short storiy „Wissen ist Macht“ (Knowledge is Power) and gave it a rather nasty role…
For quite some time I did not really notice any unicorns until one faithful day at Wacken last year, when DarkFairy called out:

„Look he has a…Pony with Horn…a Unicorn!“

If you remember my story about Karl the Moose, who was supposed to be a Pony with Horn you might remember that if it hadn’t been for simple coincidence I would now have a plush unicorn head hanging from my wall…
Again some time past, but the more festivals I attended this year, the more people in unicorn or brownie costumes I saw running around (some of the full-costumes I mentioned here) and it got even worse when Anice and I where at the Gloryhammer concert during the Rockharz and they started talking about

„Undead Unicorns of War“

As I had fun back then I listened to their album „Tales from the Kingdom of Fife“ (which I am going to review one day) and the refrain of the song you can find in the video below became a long running „earworm“ (Ohrwurm; a song that is stuck in your head) for me soon after.

Nearly all throughout my stay at the Book Hotel in July did this line never leave my mind:

„The Unicorn Invasion of Dundee“

I don’t know how many times I told my mum these five words during that weekend, but it was often and I’m still doing it when I’m around her and they are stuck again.
Recently I had a conversation with both Anice and, I think, Unmei (the girl from the bus) about Pottermore and somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered something about my wands core.
Three guesses as to what it is? Well, you probably only need one, as it is in fact Unicorn hair…
Which is quite interesting as my wand wood is Laurel and their abilities seem to be quite contradictory… (Unicorn: Faithful, Laurel: Easily swayed when the user is too lazy for the wands liking).
Anyway, I just re-discovered this and thought I might as well ramble a bit about it, before finally hitting the hay.
Honourable mentions also go to the unreal unicorn from Doctor Who’s Agatha Christy story „The Unicorn and the Wasp“ – with my favourite companion Donna – and In Extremo’s singer „Das letzte Einhorn“ (The Last Unicorn).
I’ll probably remember more unicorns when I try sleeping again…
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the quotes and the video from „Tales from the Kingdom of Fife“ lie with Gloryhammer and Napalm Records.

The Soundtrack of my life – excerpt

Instead of the 20th Weekend Guess, I wanted to finally cover something Fairy posted over at Darkfairy’s Senf a couple of months ago:

Which song stands for which chapter of your life and why?
(translated from the post)

As I already contemplated the different chapters of my life in a couple of posts and am able to think of a few songs, I guess I might as well do her the favour and write about it – instead of so many other things that are still unfinished, again.

Though instead of choosing a song that would best describe that part of my life in retrospective I chose the songs that have affected me at at those times, which is also why this is only an excerpt as I can’t remember all of them.

Live, PoiSonPaiNter

During my time in the Secondary School (Realschule) I was one of the most avoided people around, but as I described here, was there one song in particular that made me rethink my behaviour: Leb (Live) by Schandmaul.
In particular the lines were they describe a person barely straying away from the flock, unable to lift their head from the road before them and not seeing the nice things that life provides for them. I rarely looked up or went out on my own during that time as the few people I considered friends back then usually had to ask me out. It’s probably not a surprise that I know more about cartoons and anime from that time than about parties and celebrities.

When I changed to Grammar School (Fachgymnasium) my soundtrack changed as well. The defining songs that created my alias (see: link) became more and more important to me. Edguy’s Wash away the Poison and Painting on the Wall became synonyms for how I felt when nearly no one around even thought of interacting with me. During this time the interest for Metal that was spurred shortly before I learned about Leb was broadened to new bands, including Avantasia. This resulted into one of my favourite concerts at the Wacken 2008, my very first festival.

With Avantasia came new songs, most prominent amoungst them Memories. This song accompanied me into the beginning of my studying years, just as the instrumental song Reqiuem for a Dream and Invasion, Treachery and other songs from the Bleach soundtrack frequented my player. The epic-like scoring of the songs just made me re-listen to them over and over again. It just felt like with this „background“ music I could accomplish anything. Even though, in Invasions case, it is still misspelled in the play-list and I still mishear the lyrics …

Fear, Anger, Mighty Canines and Knight Shoes

Towards the end of studying more Metal came into my focus due to me attending a couple of more Wacken (2010, 2011, 2012) and the Metalfest. Through this I re-learned about Powerwolf and Sabaton, but also about Letzte Instanz that would provide me with a song that I can no longer listen to while thinking. For many people their studying years become the best years of their life, I can’t say the same for several reasons. One of which is the fear of losing my mum when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2011, which made Ohne Dich (Without You) such an emotional song for me.

On the opposite emotional scale did Alestorm’s Keelhauled provide me with the needed stress-/anger-relief whenever I turned up the volume while driving and sang along just as loudly.

Powerwolf and Sabaton on the other hand gave me songs that just grabbed me and took me along with so much energy that I do not grow tired of hearing them, even after seeing each band live for several times (six and four times respectively).
Prayer in the Dark and Saturday Satan also managed to get into the Soundtrack for the book project of Fairy and me: Warlords (its own Blog: dfppentertainment.wordpress.com), but the most defining one is Sabaton’s Carolus Rex. It not just perfectly portrays our Nameless King, the whole album reminded me of something I had forgotten for some time: My home town used to be Swedish during the reign of Karl XII. (aka Carolus Rex). 😀 Regardless of that do the songs of both bands, like Ruina Imperi and Amen & Attack, still hold enough power without additional (personal) meaning to them.

Currently my new soundtrack is still in progress, but To Hell and Back and Resist and Bite are some of the songs I currently can’t skip when they start playing.
In a way did my Soundtrack change from moody and relatively slow to fast power numbers with strong lyrics and rhythms. This is also portrayed in the way I am now, as I became more outgoing than I used to be a couple of years ago. I am no longer bound to a flock, I travel or attend concerts on my own and pretty much do things the way I want to do them. And I am fairly certain that music played a major role in this development.

PoiSonPaiNter

P.S. If you are interested to have a go at this again, feel free to use my translation, but don’t forget to mention Fairy as original Blogger.

National Pride

I had already started drafting this post a while ago, but as the FIFA World Cup just started and Germany are playing their first official game today and I still have my memories of visiting the KZ Memorial in Ravensbrück I wanted to reflect a bit on the National Pride of the German people. With ideas to cover some language stuff and views on Germans in shows and movies (like Sherlock and Grimm) I simply wanted to express my thoughts before I dive into those topics.

I have lived my whole life in Germany, I was born and raised here, yet I do not feel any sentiment for my nation, even as citizen of Germany.

But why is that? Why can I not be proud of where I am from?

Everyone knows about the horrid history an Austrian bestowed upon the Germans where, even seventy years later, we still have to live with the repercussions, prejudices and fears. It is not easy to see the good things our country has to offer with that background. National sentiment or even national pride, let alone patriotism – which all can be some kind of synonyms for each other – is all in all a weird thing in Germany.

The evil flag

To underline my point I’d like to quote this comic from Scandinavia and the World by Humon:

*Sweden, Denmark and Norway are waving the German flag to congratulate Germany on his birthday.*
*Germany panics*
Denmark: „Don’t be like that, Germany. It’s just your flag.“
Germany: „Yes, but what if I felt pride from you waving it?! Then what would happen?! Bad things! I’m not allowed to feel pride! People die when I’m proud!“
Denmark: „Your flag is harmless. You’re even wearing it.“
*Germany looks down at his shirt and freezes in fear*

Like Humon describes it in the comment for the comic do (some) Germans only wave their flags during sport events. During World Cups it’s also common to decorate your car with flags hitched on the doors or attached to the exterior mirror. You might even be frowned upon if you do not support our team by wearing flags on your clothes or as painting during public screenings of the matches (which is called „Public Viewing“ in German by the way).

At every other time, showing the German flag seems to imply Nazi tendencies and people frown at you for keeping the flag after the game. Needless to say that every flag „vanishes“ just when the tournament is over – or Germany failed at some point, which makes this whole deal totally ridiculous.

Unfortunately there are far too many cases were this prejudice is indeed true. Even in our day and time, where you would think everyone knows of the wrongness of Hitler’s thinking there are people that follow in his belief that everyone not-German is bad. I am more than glad that there are institutions trying to get a hold of these people and their political parties.

Things to be proud of

I personally can not be proud of Germany as a whole, as it has far too many things I do not agree with, but there are things I am indeed proud of.

For one do I really like the general living standards. While not everyone has a proper flat and the prices differ greatly, it is great to have all these possibilities. If you find a place, you can live where ever you wish and only have to get through tons of bureaucratic nonsense to do so. In every town/city there is at least one supermarket (my home town with not even 3.000 inhabitants has four) and you have at least a chance to get from one place to the other without having your own car (taxis, public transport, even planes). It’s not always easy, but it is possible.

With all the frustrating things the state can throw at you (taxes, fees, etc.) it also does good (payment during unemployment, support for businesses, schools, children) and supposedly tries to help its citizen.

What we/I also can be proud of are the people that became known not just here, but internationally.
We are the home of important scientists like Albert Einstein and Konrad Zuse (first functioning computer); famous poets/writers like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller, but also inspiring musicians like Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friedrich Händel; just to name a few.
The music tradition even continued with bands like Blind Guardian, Rammstein and Edguy.
And let’s not forget our current chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel. 😉 As bad as people talk about her, I think she at least managed to improve our (political) image quite a bit.

But I think the thing I am most proud of is our language.
As I wrote here do I really like my mother’s tongue and I am quite certain this is not because it’s the language I have known since I am capable of understanding spoken languages.
I really like how you have so many different ways to formulate what you want to say. Of course each language has something like that, but I also like the words that are used, especially the older – and in a way more sophisticated – ones. Though I am (ironically) at a loss for words when describing why I simply love my mother’s tongue. I just do …

A look from the Outside

As I mentioned above do we Germans still have to endure the aftermath of WWII.
Many people still seem to have a quite negative view on my country and our politicians seemingly try to better this in an awkward “we’re not like that any more”-kind of way. It’s always strange to see officials interact, mostly when the other country is one that is still sceptical about us.

If a German isn’t classified as Nazi, the next picture is the Lederhosen-wearing Bavarian, which really isn’t a German “standard”. Interestingly is Bavaria not really seen as actual part of Germany by most Germans and therefore this picture couldn’t be more wrong.

The third picture people have of Germans are the weirdo tourists who expect everyone to speak/understand German and demand their German bread everywhere. I can understand the bread part as I quite enjoy German bread (probably another proud-thing), but I already mentioned what I think about having to speak in a different language if you are native in the land and will not get into detail here.

Let’s not forget the over punctual hard-working engineer, who doesn’t really exist as people are either on time or take at least the academical quarter.

But there are also people who like Germany at least for its travelling properties and I can agree to that as I have seen one thing or the other on my travels (report 2012, 2013, 2014 follows soon) or on my way to festivals or concerts and stuff.

If you like, you can tell me in the comments how you see Germany and the German people. For me it is always interesting to encounter people from other places and to see what is different and what is similar in our countries/cultures/customs/etc.

Other than that can I only conclude this post by saying: I am glad that I live and grew up in Germany, but I couldn’t proudly say “I am German” as there are still far to many things I don’t agree with.

PoiSonPaiNter

Alles neu macht der Mai

The title is a German saying that derives from a poem from 1818 by Hermann Adam von Kamp and can be roughly translated to: „Everything new May will do“ though the proper English version would be „April showers bring May flowers„. Either way this proverb essentially means that May brings about change.
Literally speaking this of course refers to the now more steady weather (there is another saying that goes: „April, April der weiß nicht, was er will“ – „April, April, who does not know his own will“ that refers to April’s changeable nature) and Spring now slowly turns into Summer, causing vegetation to flourish, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.
Needless to say the first of May is also a national holiday here in Germany, a kind of Labour Day where all kinds of demonstrations are also a common thing. Let’s not forget the 30th of April that is celebrated quite differently as „Dance into the May“ („Tanz in den Mai„), Walpurgis Night or even Beltane.
Oh, how I’d like to take part or watch a proper celebration of one of the latter two…
We merely gather up to chat on the meadow at the base of an old castle and watch the hustle and bustle of people that enjoy the more village fête like character of the feast.
Anyway, on a more figurative level the new stuff May can bring about is change for a person, a life so to speak.
As I mentioned before did a new chapter start for me at the beginning of the month, as I officially became employed and received my degree at the End of March. But as April had thrown quite a bunch of stuff at me, both positive and negative, I have yet to find my footing and rhythm in this new chapter, though I will continue searching for it
Still, May also brings about some changes of its own.
For example am I starting as monthly writer for The Extremis Review and still don’t know what that’ll be like. (On that note: I have added the page and some other pages I am reading on occasion into the Blogroll, so you can check them out if you are interested)
Besides that is this May also the start of the festival season with the Out&Loud (former Beastival) in Geiselwind. DarkFairy and I will be attending it for the first time and quite a bunch of planning needs still to be done – I hopefully get my latest investment (an adapter for my headset as my new laptop only has a connector for speakers) in time so that we can at least discuss everything properly, instead of having to type everything.
Other than that did I spontaneously buy tickets for a concert of Bela B. (from Die Ärzte) whom I wanted to see live on his own for quite some time now.
On the weekend after the concert (10. May) will also be Germany’s version of the Free Comic Book Day, though I am not sure if I can actually participate in that as the nearest Comic book stores offering the comics are in Schwerin, Rostock and Berlin, all of which are not really around the corner from where I live.
I’m still curious to find out what other new things this May will bring, though I do hope the amount of good things is higher than the bad ones.
PoiSonPaiNter

Spring-Cleaning

To be honest: I am not much of a cleaning-person.
But with spring around the corner (the 20th is the official beginning of spring) the topic of spring-cleaning comes to mind.
Or it would, if you are a person that participates in such things.
The practise of spring-cleaning seems to come from several different places as I just found out.
For one it derives from actual thorough cleaning of the house after a long winter using the first warm days of the year.
For another the cleansing is done in anticipation of the Jewish Passover (or Pesach) feast.
And some other possibilities (including apparently something similarly done close before New Years Eve – „New Years Cleaning“ – in Scotland and other countries).
Regardless of where it came from it symbolises this:
Getting rid of old stuff for the new year.
With spring starting around March the year is already three months in, but I guess doing something like this during the winter months isn’t the best idea. (Regarding all the mud and darkness usually around that time).
But why am I writing about this instead of other way more important/interesting topics?
That’s simple: I’m currently cleaning my flat as I will be having someone staying over for the weekend and I needed a break from that…
I kind of think my flat wasn’t this clean in quite some time as I myself don’t really care about dust and chaos. But if you have a guest, you kind of want them to feel comfortable and to enjoy their stay.
So cleaning it is…
And contemplating about the process and what good it might bring to apply it to other places.
As I said before: The essence of this activity is to get rid of old stuff for a new year (or new start if you wish)
With my studying having ended (I’ll pick up my certificate on Friday) another chapter of my life is closed.
A chapter that took me four and a half year to get through.
A chapter that was full of struggles and failures, but also some good things too.
A chapter I have finally finished.
Though I still cannot believe it or be happy about it.
Everyone keeps telling me „You’ve done it, be happy!„, but somehow I can’t be.
I’m not sure if this is because I haven’t really gotten it into my head that I’m really done or I am still too disappointed of having had so many failures and bad marks.
Probably both.
Though I would like this to changes with me (finally) holding the certificate in my hands.
Unfortunately I doubt that will actually happen as my mind is already occupied with the new chapter, without having checked off the previous one…
And a lot of variables for the new one are still open and it seems like I have to make some quite difficult decisions during the next few weeks/months…not really looking forward to that…
So getting rid of that old stuff is not going to be easy.
Maybe I should focus on the other old stuff that is the actual stuff I own.
Where I am chaotic in regards to my flat, I consider most of my files and documents on my various hardware-thingies to be quite organised (with exceptions of course), but I still think I could organise them even better.
I don’t really understand this contradiction, but I can’t really stand it if documents aren’t filed properly into folders and those folders are categorized as well – and so forth.
Though I do have fits like that when it comes to cleaning too.
I don’t mind my chaos most of the time, but every now and then I just grab things and move them where they actually belong, just because it annoys me to see them not being there.
Or I rearrange things so that they are placed exactly as I think it would be the right way to place them.
Or I rearrange other peoples hoods if they are dishevelled.
Or…but I digress.
Spring-Cleaning.
Getting rid of old stuff for a new year. A new chapter.
Guess I’ll have to do some more cleaning in my mind before I can properly start into my new chapter of life.
So while I’m tidying my place and driving around and spending time with my guest, I wont be able to write a proper post this week – either.
But there will be another Weekend Guess, probably on Sunday this time.
As far as spring-cleaning for the Blog goes: I guess you can kind of see the Re-Wri-Day and the new theme as such.
Hope your spring-cleaning goes better than mine. 😉
PoiSonPaiNter