National Novel Writing Month is upon me...

G´day,

And a literal aehm literatureical aeh...you know authors do it...well whatever greeting to my congregation: Hello Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord, Daniel, Andrew, Scott, Bill and Jan.

The National Novel Writing Month has begun and I am a part of it. It works like this, every participant tries to create a novel with at least 50.000 words between Nov 1st 0.00h and Nov. 30th 23.59h, which means writing 1.666 and 2/3 words a day. It's the 10th year this thing takes place and if you are interested in the history click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanowrimo

Well, the people who organise the whole thing might be good at creative writing but it can be doubted that they are good at creative abbreviationing, I mean NaNoWriMo...sounds like a character from a Japanese anime movie. I can't come up with a good abbreviation either right now but I already wrote my 1.666 and 2/3 words so my creativity for the day has been pretty much used up. And the other thing I have to comment on, it's not national novel writing, it's international but I guess IntNoWriMo is even worse than NaNoWriMo, abbreviationwise.

Apart from writing my daily 1.666 and 2/3 words I would like to do a daily blog during this month as I reckon it's a good way to reflect on what I've written and also I might be able to dispose some ideas here...wait and see...

Well, that's it for the day I have been playing indoor soccer again today, lost again but the potential is surely there. And I've been clothes-shopping with Josara and I also feel quite sick since yesterday so now it's enough for the day...btw for my family, yes, I have uploaded the pictures...so have fun, take care and cya...

The fun to prepare a wedding...

G'day,

And an extra special welcome to my followers, Hi! Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord, Dan, Andrew, Scott, Bill and Jan. I am not sure who of you guys has already had a wedding (as one of the main personnel, not just an innocent bystander) but let me tell you preparing one surely is fun.

The initial combination of two persons with their own ideas, circles of friends and expectations certainly holds enough potential for at least one premature divorce. I'm sure there are couples out there who became ex-couples in the process of preparing their wedding. You can disagree about almost everything and I am really extremely happy that Josara and me are both such easygoing personalities and that we both never wasted too much time in imagining our wedding day as "the most important day of our life". And we are safe in the knowledge that our families are 16.000 kms away...[author's statement: both Josara and me love our parents, grandparents, sisters and in Josara's case even the extended family. The only reason why it is good not to have family at your wedding party is that you will not have this awkward conversation afterwards where you have to explain what kind of people you call friends, especially when they are drunk as wedding parties are more or less the only social situations where your friends and family meet en mass and under the influence...explanation over]

By now most of the organizational requirements are sorted out, location for the wedding, location for the party, if we have some food and what and we even have rings...
Now we only have to decide if we want to get our names engraved or something and maybe get Josara's ring made a tick smaller or if she will wear it on the middle finger which would give it a whole new meaning if you know what I mean...
Apres ring-shopping lunch at Brunswick Street (the good looking part of us)
and me...

The only real problems in terms of preparation we are still facing are

1.) serious problem, what song to play at the wedding and

2.) minor problem, what to wear

I'm still torn between just wearing whatever it is I grab with eyes closed out of the wardrobe or a tuxedo. And I'm so glad that nobody will give me any well-meant suggestions or advice in the clothing department (well, apart from my mum but she doesn't count. It's a natural law like gravity that mums will always think that their sons are complete idiots but I'm used to ignore her advice anyway...). It's one of the benefits to be a man, your fellow (heterosexual) men care for clothing the way you do, it's just stuff to keep you warm or cover your private bits. For females it's different, they have invented "fashion" and to make it worse they tend to decide via committee. So I feel a bit sorry for Josara but well she'll be all right, I guess...

On the other hand the music stuff is really serious. The first fact I got on that was "They only have 4 CDs at the Registry to choose from, so could you choose something?" When I gave it some thought I found that it's much easier to choose the music for your funeral than the song for your wedding. The obvious wedding songs are out of question anyway, I toyed with the idea of having "White wedding" by Billy Idol as it would be so over-the-top but I was not sure if people share my sense of humor. And while I browsed through my music I found the perfect wedding song "Easy living" by Gluecifer: "I'm done with the easy living..." what great lyrics for when you get married...and it's a fucking awesome song but it didn't meet the approval of the bride...Her proposal in return was Leonard Cohen's "Always" which got the no-go by me as it's too much on the true romantic side, you could as well play Nick Cave and in my screenplay a 16-tonne weight would fall down on bride and groom and John Cleese would walk into the camera and would say: "So much for pathos". Two friends of Josara even came up with the idea that we should play "November rain" by Guns and Roses but I'm not even going to comment on this...

So at this point in time we are going for the surrealistic approach: "Call any vegetable" by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. It is not offensive and has nothing to do with weddings/love/big emotions at all. But we are still open for suggestions so if you have great idea, feel free to post it in the comment section...

Saturday we went to Dorje's and John's house fo John's last party there as he moves in with his girlfriend. Ah btw, if anybody is looking for a room in a great house with an awesome housemate contact me for the details as Dorje is still looking...
Dida (one finger drunk), Dorje (two fingers drunk) and Josara (not sure how drunk, no fingers visible)...there are more pictures somewhere on the internets but I forgot where...

Ok, that's all for the day, have fun, take care and cya later...

We have internet again and now I don't have any excuse left...

G´day,

And another special greeting to my followers: Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord, Dan, Andrew, Scott, Bill and Jan.

Yeah, I know I have been slack but I had an excuse: we had no decent internet connection but we finally got the internet back and so I have promised Gaby and Frauke that I'll write the next blog entry today...
First some older pictures I took some time ago...this is Yarra bend a really nice spot in the middle of Melbourne where we walked the dogs...
A Kookaburra...
Rainbow lorikeet...
Josara, Jenny and the dogs...

Apart from dog walking I have been out every once in a while...
Drinking beer with Paul and Pudgey...
watching "Melt banana" with Katie...weird Japanese band...a cross between Ministry, Sonic Youth and Yoko Ono....well, here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nusozpY536Q
Thanks to Joel I have watched Australia vs Oman (1:0 for Australia) which was not the best game I ever saw but the first international soccer match I saw...
Went to see the Dwarves...note the guy on the left side of the stage playing bass...well that's Nick Oliveri and I talked to him later and had a beer with him without even realising who he was until Pudgey told me later...The good thing about watching a gig from the backstage area is that you can smoke indoors...lol

In other news, Josara and me are getting married...
More or less everything is sorted the only open questions are what to wear but I guess we'll figure that out in due time.

I have some more spring time pictures for you:
Willem scanning the front yard
Pixel knows that she's beautiful...
Spring in Australia...
Flowers and bees...sex pure...
More flowers blooming...
Art...
Willem
Willem and Pixel

Well, that was it for today...I promise to update the blog more regularly from now on...have fun, take care and cya later!

Spring again! But did I move backwards or forwards in time?

G´day,

And yet another special Hello to my congregation: Hello Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord, Daniel, Andrew, Scott, Bill (thanks for the CD!) and Jan. I'm now back since 9 days and I was too busy to blog. Well a lot of things happened, most of them good, some were not so good but expected and some stuff really pissed me off. One of the best things is that it's spring here...That proves it...
The trees are blooming...
The flowers are blooming, tooMore flowers...More blooming trees...

Having spring again got me thinking that in terms of summers I had in my life I'm much older than I actually am. I had three summers in a row when I was in Bolivia 99, another three summers in a row when I came to Australia first time in 2006 and then three summers this year. So I could honestly say I had three more summers than most of the people of my age.

But is the summer in the northern hemisphere first or the summer in the southern hemisphere? If you look at it from the meteorological dates the summer in the southern hemisphere would be the first in a year. Summer begins meteorologically speaking on 1st of December and continues until 1st of March, so at the beginning of a new year the southern hemisphere is first, summerwise. But with spring it's different, the northern hemisphere is in the lead there as they are the first to have spring in a year.

According to this logic I have travelled backwards in time but unfortunately only meteorologically so I can't see of any use knowing the winning numbers for the lottery in this year's summer...damn

Well, apart from time travel I have been to the gym and found this sign:
This got me puzzled, I know how to use my towel but it is still beyond me how I should "use" my towel. Do they want me to "use" it as an euphemistic way to express having non-consensual sexual relationships with it or should I just pretend to use it? The possibilities are endless...

Friday Josara and me went out on Brunswick Street where we met Dorje
Well, we had a few...ah while I'm at it can I just recommend Dorje's blog http://dorjex.wordpress.com/ for those of you who like to read a very entertaining, funny and well-written blog...We had a great night and I am happy that both of our lives have turned out for the better after we made certain decisions in the women department...good on us!

Yesterday I went and met up with Katie and Jimmy, those two guys were so kind to let me live with them last year around that time and it was quite fun to re-visit their house.
Well anyway it feels quite surreal to be back in Melbourne, it's as if I have never been away. Ok, some streets have changed a little, the occasional shop has vanished and new ones popped up but all in all it's a 24/7 deja vu...love it!

Ok, that's all for today, have fun, take care and cya

International airports - a comparison

G´day from Australia,

And an extra special "Hello" to my congregation Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord, Dan, Andrew, Scott, Bill and Jan. It's now Sunday morning and I'm back where I belong. This is the same tree I photographed on the morning of 20th of April when I left Melbourne. 166 days later it's still there...

As advertised in the headline, today's blog entry is on airport qualities, especially how they serve the smoker's needs. First contestant Schipol, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Schipol is a quite nice airport. Best thing was the really helpful guy at the BMI desk who managed to organise that I could check my stuff in even though it was still two hours until the BMI check-in desk would open. I said good-bye to my beloved Les Paul in her new flightcase which made up more than half of my baggage allowance...As I have stuffed the case with socks, undies and t-shirts until the guitar couldn't move at all it weighted 17kgs... I was a little nervous if I would see her again in one piece as we all know how luggage is treated by the airlines...

Schipol offers several smoking boxes so the addict can indulge in his addiction. Apart from that I liked the fact that you could buy cold beers in the duty free shop for a reasonable price so I could kill the waiting time smoking and drinking...All in all Schipol is nothing special but a decent airport, no complaints what-so-ever... London, Heathrow on the other hand is plain and pure shit. When I asked at the information desk where to find the designated smoking areas for transit passengers I was told that there aren't any. At first I thought they were kidding as last time (3 years ago) they had smoker's rooms but the guy at the desk told me that Heathrow is now a smoke free airport. If I wanted to smoke I would have to go outside. And in order to be able to go outside I had to get through immigration and customs. I was not sure if they'd let me in again once I checked out but the nice customs officer asured me that if I had a valid ticket nobody would prevent me from getting my flight. I believed him and went out into England for a smoko. The good thing was that I could indeed check in again but when I went to search for another duty free beer they didn't have any! I could have bought any sort of liquor but no beer...The fact that Heathrow provides a "multi-faith prayer room" didn't comfort me but confused me a little. I mean, how does multi-faith work exactly? Do you have to be a catholic jew or buddhistic moslem? Anyway, I wouldn't be qualified to enter as being an agnostic is not faith at all. Even atheists have a faith as they believe that there is no god but agnostics don't believe anything...Well in the end I was happy when I could board my plane and leave the shitty airport there. In my worst airports of all time Heathrow has earned a second place after JFK which is the worst airport I have ever had to spend a night in but that's a different story...Once we were airborne and on our way to Singapore I found that I am addicted to the wrong substance. They even provide needle disposals on the toilet, so a heroine addict doesn't need to suffer withdrawal but a smoker does! The world isn't fair!

After the Heathrow experience I was a little anxious if Singapore would be as hostile to smokers and after 13 hours of non-smoking I was quite ready to risk smoking on an airport toilet but then I remembered that I was going to Singapore where they arrest you for spitting your chewing gum in the street and so I reconsidered the toilet smoking plan as I didn't want to end in a Singaporean jail... but the apprehension was without any reason. Singapore is smoker's paradise!!!

Best smoker's area ever...not a disgusting 2 square meter booth but an awesome outside area with a bar and lots of cactuses. Choice! Even the quite high beer prices couldn't spoil it...Singapore airport get's 10 out of 10 points!

The last leg was not that long, only 9 hours and then I reached Melbourne. I went through immigration and reached the bagguage claim thingy and asked the guy there if my guitar which was "odd shaped" luggage will also arrive on that convayor belt and he said "No worries, sure mate" and so I waited and waited and waited until all bags, suitcases and stuff was claimed and I had my bag but no sign of my guitar. I started to get worried so I went back to that guy and told him that I miss my guitar and he looked at me and asked if I had already checked the "odd luggage" desk? I pointed out that I had asked exactly that half an hour ago and I would be delighted if he could point me into the right direction which he did and Lo and behold! There was my flightcase. And inside it, entirely unharmed was the first true love of my life.

With all my stuff I went through customs and was a little disappointed that nobody looked at me twice but on the other hand I had waited long enough to finally be back in Josara's arms and there she was! Then we went home and I reckon in terms of jetlag it's best just to stay awake during today and go to bed early tonight. Well that's all for today, I'm looking forward to have a walk with the dogs later today and I really look forard to have a nice cold Coopers Green tonight and some nice Aussie food...mjam...

Ok, have fun, take care and cya later!

A night out in Münster at the Nieberding summer party (incl. video)...

G´day,

And "Hi" to my congregation Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord, Dan, Andrew, Scott, Bill and Jan. Last night was my last saturday night in Germany for a long time (until start of December!). I was at the Nieberding summer party and I walked into my past a lot as there were heaps of people I know from way back...
Josie, part of the Pep Stalkers and Christian doing the homosexual thing with Bertie...
Well I was thinking that it had been a good idea to go there by car so I was unable to drink...
...and I gave Christian this awesome sofa-ashtray I found in the basement as I knew he would appreciate it...I would like to get a picture once you have installed that...
Josie
Carsten, former bassist of The Holy Chao...
David, former guitarist of the fabulous band "Weeed" who had the same practicing room as The Holy Chao...he plays with a Reggae-band now...
Christian looking cute...well instead of at 7pm the Pep Stalkers started to play at 10.30pm which resulted in Bertie being reasonable drunk. It was undoubtful Punk Rock, highly entertaining...


The Pep Stalkers live on stage...

Ok, so much for now, take care, have fun and cya

Done my democratic duty and more Frauke pics...

G´day,

And another special greeting to my followers: Emily, Josara, Julia, Cord, Dan, Andrew, Scott, Bill and Jan. Today I was voting. On the 27th of Sept is the next Federal election and as I´ll be in Australia then, I went to vote today. The ballot paper was a little on the long side, so I had to take two pics to show it all...
The upper part of the ballot paper. For the federal election you have two votes, on the left side you vote directly for the candidates from your district, this vote is only counted in your district. The district votes determine who will become the member of the Bundestag from this district. On the right side you vote for the party which is a Germany-wide vote. The results from the right side establish the composition of the Bundestag. Well it´s a little complicated if you really want to know how the German elections work, klick here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Germany
Ballot paper part 2. There are only five parties who (seriously) have the chance to get more than 5%, CDU (Christion democrats), SPD (social democrats), FDP (liberals), Grüne (The greens), Linke (Sozialists). The other will get something between 0.00000001% and let´s say 2% and any party under 5% is considered not elected. I´m curious what will happen with the Pirate-Party which are new this time. I hate the nazis but I like that we have three Nazi-parties NPD, DVU and Republikaner so the canibalise themselfs which is at east better than if they would unite to get all right wing votes for one party... And please note that the Coldplay-listening vegan nutcases also have a party, Tierschutzpartei but I recon they get less than 0.3%..
I belive in Green...

After I voted I went to Gaby for a coffee and big news...since three days Frauke is walking...
standing...
Sitting and looking sceptical, well Frauke was a little on the lively side today so most pics I took only showed a blur...
Even though I really like all the kids my friends have managed to get and I wouldn´t want to give the impression that I have any favorites...I like Frauke...

Well, that´s it for today...I still have two drafts on which I am working but they are not ready to be published yet...take care, have fun and cya...