23rd December

Prepare for tomorrow:

Tyli naktis, šventa naktis!
Viskas miega, tik dar vis.
Motinėlė ten budi viena.
Kūdikis su meilia šypsena
Ilsisi, miega ramiai,
Ilsisi, miega ramiai.

Tyli naktis, šventa naktis!
Pildos dieviška mintis:
Viešpats, tapęs mažu vaikeliu,
Žada sieloms malonių gausių
Savo šventu gimimu
Savo šventu gimimu

Tyli naktis, šventa naktis!
Vyksta meilės paslaptis.
Angelų giesmė skamba nakčia,
nešdama piemenims žinią šią:
Jau Išganytojas čia!
Jau Išganytojas čia!

also possible:

Klusa nakts, svēta nakts!
Visi dus. Nomodā
Vēl ir Jāzeps un Marija
Kūtī, Dāvida pilsētā.
Jēzus silītē dus,
Jēzus silītē dus.

Klusa nakts, svēta nakts!
Ganiem Dievs novēl Pats
Dzirdēt eņģeļus slavējam,
Tuvu, tālu skandinām:
Kristus - Glābējs ir klāt!
Kristus - Glābējs ir klāt!

Klusa nakts, svēta nakts!
Dieva Dēls, Tava acs
Mirdz mums dievišķā skaidrībā.
Nu ir dvēsele pestīta,
Jo Tu dzimis par mums!
Jo Tu dzimis par mums!


or if you are a conservative person, stick to the original:

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht!
Alles schläft, einsam wacht
Nur das traute hochheilige Paar,
Holder Knabe mit lockigem Haar,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh,
Schlaf in himmlischer Ruh.

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht!
Gottes Sohn, o wie lacht
Lieb’ aus deinem holdseligen Mund,
Da uns schlägt die rettende Stund’,
Christ, in deiner Geburt,
Christ, in deiner Geburt!

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht!
Hirten erst kund gemacht;
Durch der Engel Halleluja
Tönt es laut von fern und nah’;
Christ der Retter ist da,
Christ der Retter ist da!

either way, oil your voices so you can fully join in tomorrow night! :)

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!

21st December

a rather interesting way to produce sql injections... ;)

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.

19th December

As I'm currently kinda traveling I am afraid that this calendar will lack some entries.. however, i got something funny and geeky in the mail which is too funny to not share.. enjoy the spirit :)

                      _/\_
                      > _<
                      /` `.
                    .' ' o \
                   ( ()   @ '.
                  .-'  *_.-'-;
                .' 0 Q    ()  `-.
               / @     o .   *   )
               `-...-""-    '-~'`
              _.'`  Q *   0   @`-.
            .'    o   .     *    '-.
           / @     .___.~-'     ()  `\
          (    ()    *    Q'.__Q   *.'
           '-.-' `--._  @         ``-.
         _.-'   @      __.-'~'-.  @  `-.
       .'    *    ..-'       o        0 `)
      /  0.-~-._       0  *    _.~-.*__.'
      '._       ()  '-.____.-'Q     . '-.
         ;--' Q   *         *     o    @ '-.
      .-' *   '.___ ..~ - .    0     ()   Q '.
     / @    o       *       _.''~.._____.--'`-.
    '-.___Q   .  0     ()     @     *    @`;_*8*_
    .':.  `'c___c   .___.-~  Q  o .=..=.   |\ \\ |
   /.  ':.  /. .\  0     @  _____((-\/-))__|\\ \\|
  ; ':.  ':.\_T_/: _______ |-__-----||-----| \\ \|
  |.  ':.  /`   `\  ||__||_|_\/     ||     |\ \\ |
   \:.  ':(/     \) |""  |____|\    ||     |\\ \\|
    '::.__'/';-;'\ (=)==(=)==(=)\"""~~"""""| \\ \|
          ()/   \()

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?

15th December

Two interesting observations: it is scary how quickly anger and frustration can come back, even after a good achievment. and it is as astonishing how good it can do to then let things be and do something else. it is a real relief then to find that people also see other abilities in oneself and even choose to rely on them and one can give them a hand to do something amazing.

14th December

inauguration of my personal skiing season! :) it was great fun, nice snow, nice company, and will be nice muscle pain by tomorrow morning. again there were many nice thoughts in my head, but now i'm too tired to put them down... maybe some other day :)

13th December

It sounds so trivial, but it is so difficult to get it right: to put the appropriate tone in what you say. If you think of it, this is not so surprising - in the end one is trying to firstly squeeze some thoughts or feelings into concrete language, which already can cause so many misunderstandings. secondly, very often one has a more or less conscious opinion about the person one is talking to and conveys a lot of this in one's manner of addressing them. this might not even be wanted, but bears the potential to seriously (and miraculously) upset the other one. So if some totally unexpected behaviour happens in communication, it could be a good indicator for taking a closer look on the issue.

12th December

At the beginning of this advent calendar someone asked me to put some pictures of christmas-romantic munich, and finally this town has done me the favour of putting on some nice white fluffy coat. it is really nice, especially further out of the centre, where the snow makes everything so silent, peaceful, and pretty.

I even found a new friend which you can see on top of the page :) And I found a hilarious idea for a gift, if someone desperately feels like giving one to me..