Ammersee in November

What a bliss when after a rather rainy and unpleasant week the sun decides to show itself again on a marvellous Saturday! Even better if there is some company to hit one of the beautiful bavarian lakes for a stroll.. the weather was perfect and warm, the wind had pushed away all the clouds, gifting us with a spectacular view to the Alps, and when walking through the forests, the leaves covering the path made this nice rustling sound...
Fun fact: there were several windsurfers -- in November!!! Honestly, haven't been that torn between disbelief and jealousy for quite a while..

strange reading

I suppose it is kinda commonplace - nowadays on this big miraculous thing called the Internet (of which most of us are no longer part, but rather connected to - but this is a different story about network politics...) - to read blogs of people one has never met. Still, to me it is news, and I am finding that I would actually like to meet some of them - the ones whose humor is just right and whose language skills stun me with their breathtaking subtleness.

So if anyone has suggestions for brain-trickling reads, feel free to share them with me!

Tribute to my office mates

dedicated to you, and the poor guy who unfortunately could not join us this evening despite our friendly and repeated invitations ;)

one night and one day of real holiday

today i had one of the most wonderful days in a long time at the former place of my grandparents. the setting was as follows:

no mobile phone





no internet or computer






thanks to these uncommon surroundings i've been experiencing a whole set of things which not usually come my way:


sleeping on a bag full of hay, which was quite strange at first, but had a really nice odour, which made me sleep soo well :)


with a very nice sight when waking up (and having breakfast outside ;)


i went strolling round the village,


playing with some calves


and then heated the oven - yes, with a proper fire!


on which we were baking our own bread, some even with fresh herbs.








apart from all these things, i've been re-exploring all the things which i knew as a kid - the whole place is so much smaller now! but it was perfect to be there, enjoy the beauty of it as well as a lot of nice memories of long gone times.

sometimes

occasionally i wanted to write something of my pondering about love.. but then, everyone is speaking about it and still no-one can pin it down anyway.. and also, i'm normally rather fed up by the usual articles and headlines on the subject.

but then, on some days, i get this feeling of my heart opening so much as to enclose the whole world, and i can not do otherwise than smiling at it and all the people i meet. And they smile back. Which makes me realise that i love them all, somehow :)

nice thing of the day

there was a lot of ugly stuff today. however, one thing definitely cheered me up: i managed to solve Rubik's cube for the first time in my life! (of course, as soon as i had finished it, i had to experiment with creating patterns and managed to destroy it nearly instantly.. but then, somehow it does not bother me at all! i'll just try it again ;)

To my friends

Thank you all for being in my life this year! It made it so much richer and colourful and brought a lot of happiness into it.
Thank you also for the difficult moments we had to overcome; I could learn a lot from them, which helped me to grow a bit more to whom I should be (even if the moments themselves were not the most pleasant ;).
And also in good times, I was astonished by your many talents, your friendlyness, your generosity, your frankness, your honesty - just to mention a few. I just hope I also can bring some joy into your lives.

To all of you I wish a peaceful, joyful, interesting, and blessed new year!

Hope to see you again soon in 2009!
:)

24th December

The Birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
[Luke 2:1-14]



A joyful and blessed christmas to all of you! I wish you to be able to leave all the social stress behind and arrive in your heart at what you are actually celebrating: God becoming human, to save every single one of us.

22nd December

back.

it was a wonderful time at my former home - so many nice moments with people that have grown on me and that i missed :)

spending time with you was like a christmas gift: something wished for for a long time, somehow uncertain, and then a lovely surprise!

and i learned something: the most beautiful thing of performing music is to make people happy. of course it can be enjoyable to play for oneself, but it is nothing compared to looking into the shiny eyes of people whose hearts are joyful because you played for them, and the music opened up their heart to the beauty of the world.
it does not always happen, but when it does it's a miracle!

20th December

Life can be so beautiful, once one jumps out of some routine which keeps one so busy that no clear thought comes to one's mind. But once that is gone, you look around and realise how beautiful this world is, how many good things there are, and feel full of love for this world and its inhabitants - Life itself then becomes such joy :)

The thing that makes me hopeful is that this beauty is so varied and everywhere, so one can find it wherever one is. It is 'just' the mindset needed for finding it - which might be a bit more difficult to keep during our selfmade stress of everyday routines; but I do believe it is possible.

16th December

What a beautiful feeling if someone is showing appreciation towards one. Maybe it is not always an easy thing to do, and people often tend to say 'oh, he/she knows very well how much I appreciate them'.
However, I am not so sure of this, and there is nothing we loose when opening up our hearts and telling someone about the joy they are bringing into our lives just by being there. Maybe it takes some courage to overcome our pride, admitting that our life would be less beautiful without them, but what better gift can you give to a person than telling them that you are grateful to know them?

11th December

Snow.. :) It was just lovely to see the flakes swirl through the air shining under the light of the street lamps. Simply beautiful... and so playful! it makes me happy each time I have the privilege to see it.
The sensation of snowflakes melting on my face and sticking to my eyelashes and brows was so refreshing and when I came home seeing my icicled red face in the mirrow gave me a really good laugh and mood.
Can't wait to jump in the snow again! Fingers crossed, the skis are ready, maybe this weekend...

6th December

Day of St Nicholas If you know someone called Nicholas or sth similar you can congratulate them to their nameday today ;)

Or maybe you are searching for another way of showing some appreciation to people around you? You could try sending real paper christmas cards to them... I find it so nice each year you find a card from a friend far away, of whom you haven't heard in a while and you realise they still didn't forget about you. To me this is quality contact, so much better than all this facebooking, just because it is so real.

The only thing about this game is to not write just to get a letter back (but I guess this is valid for all kind of gifts you give). But then, if you think of it, it's not a big problem when you write just because you feel like it :)

long forgotten habits

maybe it was due to my early start this morning, i couldnt really determine it. but the day somehow was strange, time passed very quickly and also i did a lot of things which i had not addressed for weeks or even months. and they all somehow fitted in.
but the most amusing and curious thing happened when i went to the state library to pick up some ordered books. you have to search them by yourself in huge shelves (and it was the first time i ever picked up something there) but somehow i found them immediately, they literally made themselves noticed. one of them was not so big so i decided to keep it out of the big bag for reading on the tube. however, i could not bear to go underground so soon again so i choose to walk to the next station where i had to change the lines anyway. but still, i was curious about that book and opened it up, already walking. and this is when it happened; i switched back into that habit i had as a kid: walking along the streets, navigating nearly without taking my eyes from the pages, my head in another world, reading a book until i got to my destination. the moment of arrival then seems like an awakening, returning from some kind of daydream to reality. and as every sudden awakening it has this strange but pleasant moment of feeling startled - about the place at which you happend to be now.

Happy moment

Everyday I recieve some advertisment on god knows what fancy things and recently this makes me happy for one reason: I rejoyce realizing that I DO NOT NEED all this stuff! :)

my favourite job

sometimes I get lucky - like yesterday: I was so sad already to miss out on my Oktoberfest job due to my projects in Bz, but my moment came and I took the chance to help out in 'my' shop for some 5 hours and as usual it was so much fun! It is just amazing what one can observe from this perspective and what different people come by. In general it is quite a homely atmosphere in the middle of all this chaos, made for a short chat or recommendation which leaves a smile on peoples' faces.
Just the way home is a bit awkward, lined with drunkards and all the mess they produce.. but still all that is covered up by the fact that one somehow belongs to this 'family' of workers behind the scenes of this huge party.

Late Summer

today I was surprised by a visitor in my room: a late butterfly flew into it and sat down on my floor in the sun. there it paused for some moment, displaying its beautiful wings before taking off again..

finished!

i'm done with my first paper!! can't believe it but it feels great :)

about friendship

Sometimes a few moments are enough to take a person you've never met before into your heart, to be as close as if you had known them forever, and to miss them dearly as soon as they are gone. Rarely joy and pain follow one another so quickly, but the state of bliss about this openness is so precious that it outweighs any sadness.

most beautiful solitude

only me and my violin on the stage of the huge, empty room of the Haydn auditorium, no people, just sound