TED: Roger Doiron - A Subversive Plot

Such an inspiring and fabulous idea.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

I wish all of you a wonderful christmas, Hanukka, weekend or whatever it is that you are celebrating. Enjoy some peaceful days with your loved ones, have fun and calm and celebrations.

Christmas Fantasy

This is how it should look like outside, right now. Instead Leipzig is experiencing a grey day with drizzle and therefore a wet cold that creeps into ones bones. Going by the forecast the next three days aren't going to be any better, weatherwise. So I have to resort to other things to get myself into a christmas mood.

My favourites for this are: "White Christmas" with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, hot chocolate tea (Yes, there is chocolate tea, but you have to search to find a good one. I've succeeded just this week after 2 years of search!), candle light, christmas music (currently I LOVE the christmas longplayer by Michael Bublé), watching "Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel - Three wishes for Cinderella" and if all else fails: watching the christmas scenes of the first Harry Potter movie.

What I'm not too fond of is the grocery shopping before christmas, however it has to be done and so I'm off now to get it over with. My treats for completing this will be the new issue of the "Happinez" mag and going to watch "Sherlock Holmes - A game of shadows" with Chris this evening. Only to get up at 4:24 AM tomorrow morning to get to work. *ugh*

By the way, what do you do to get into the christmas mood?

I wish all of you a stress free Friday before christmas. Don't get this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/

PS: I've just realized that I have taken more than 4000 pictures this year!! Mostly they are digital, but still: WHAT AN ACCOMPLISHMENT! Wohoo.

Hawaii Black sand beach on Big Island

So, yesterday I unpacked, installed and used my next step to independence: my sleek black HP laser printer.* Today I'm preparing for the next step towards independence.

* Yes, I know, my life is terribly boring. But I have really nice friends. My friend A brought me some waste tokens, so I can now get rid of my old tape deck.

Winter solstice - finally

The longest night of the year and from tomorrow on days are getting longer again. Finally, sigh.

San Francisco Sunset

In between - Mauna Loa

"In between" is a description not just for the Mauna Loa in the above pic which I took standing on Mauna Kea right next to an awesome observatory, but it also describes how I feel at the moment. In between. It feels kinda weird, good and bad luck have struck a fragile balance during the last few days. For example, I was the only one out of my group to have to work today, bad luck, however today every worker got a little sweet christmas present, which is good. So yeah, in between it is for me.

Can't sleep therefore some pics of O'ahu

Not the usual stuff you'd expect for Hawaii pics, right?

Hawaiian mood

Okay, so this picture might not symbolize Hawaii for you, but it does for me. Why? Well, it was the best day of the year 2008 for me, my trip to the Mauna Kea Observatories. It was a Tuesday, we were picked up at 1 PM at a frozen yoghurt shop. We've enjoy driving up over the plateau and then to the middle station (where we had a nice Dinner) before we drove through the clouds and even higher up to the observatories. It's beautiful isn't it? We've witnessed the most extraordinairy sunset and afterwards we were watching stars through a telescope that the guide had brought with him. I don't remember the tour guides name, but he was fantastic. I've loved every minute of this tour. As I've said previously, 2008 was a great year for me.

Enjoy your remaining Sunday and have a good start into Christmas week.

Leipzig Street Art - Snail mail

Oh how I wish that I had had this idea. However, I didn't, I just took the picture of it for your amusement.

Have a great weekend.

Hawaii again

next year? This would be quite some fun, but it's not in my goals. My main goal for next year is independence and this doesn't add up with another Hawaii vacation next year. Sadly. *sigh*

But I've made some major steps towards independence and a brilliant 2012. Yesterday I finally got rid of the big paper boxes in my cellar, that had been waiting for this happening for about a year. I also threw the trash books into the paper trash container. And I've ordered my HP laser printer. Which is a major step towards independence for me. I've also got my new water kettle, but this is a story for another post. And through getting rid of some of this stuff I've also lost a wee bit of unnecessary bodyfat. I'm constantly under 59 kg now! Wohoo. Next is the 58 kg. But no more weighing for at least one week, don't want to get too obsessive. XD

I've also send out 7 postcrossing cards this week, which is above my normal weekly limit of 4 (budget restriction). However for December I've given my communication budget a few extra euros, because it is so much fun to send out smiles and holiday / new year greetings. Next year is the chinese year of the dragon, which means good luck and since dragons are my favorite magical creatures I think this means we have an awesome year ahead of us.

So, how are your preparations for 2012 coming along?

Why 2012 will be an awesome year and NOT the end of the world

Ranking years I'd say 2008 was a definite 7 (with 10 being AWESOME). It was the year I've been to Venice (job), Edinburgh (marathon vacation, but no marathon due to lack of training after the halfmarathon in April 2008), Paris (job), Besancon (job) and San Francisco and Hawaii (Marathon vacation, again without the marathon). What an amazing year. After that everything went downhill till January 2011.

Next year is going to be awesome because we will make it so. Don't listen to the proclaimers of the end of the world. Their song is getting old and boring. How often have they proclaimed the end.

And look we are still here!!

Yes, we face severe problems, however we are working on their solutions. People don't give up so easily anymore, instead we fight together for the ideas and the stuff that is important to us. Don't believe me? Just look at this past year: the Arab Spring, the help and prayers for Japan, Occupy Wall Street and then the politicians and diplomats working in Durban between the cleaners after the official end of the conference to accomplish a treaty, and all the amazing stuff people do in their very own communities, but that doesn't get recognized by the big media.
And besides what do you prefer to be looking at the end of the world or an amazing year ahead of you? Well, there is no question what I'm prefering and it's a fantastic new year filled to the brim with beauty, fun and exitment, chances and challenges. Remember what the ninth Doctor in Doctor Who Series 1.2 "The End of the World" said? "You lob. You spend all your time thinking about dieing. (..) But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive."

Tell you what, I'd rather put my energy, imagination and thoughts towards surviving than to the end of the world that some stupid bloke decided would happen next year on a randomly chosen date. One can only predict the future when you create it and I will create my none other than amazing future. To all of the end of the world proclaimers and believers I have just one thing to say:

Piss off.

Nope not screaming at them, because that would be wasted energy, energy that I can use better for my amazing here and now and future.

Do you join me in creating a fantastic new year?

A triangle

Preparing for 2012 - in a good way!

How was the year 2011 for you? Did you like it? Was it a good or less good year for you?
If I had to rate 2011 for me I'd say it ranged somewhere between 2.5 and 3, on a scale from 0 to 10 with 10 being AWESOME! 2010 was a 1. So there is plenty of room for improvement and I certainly plan to make 2012 a fantastic year. And to get a headstart I'm already preparing for the amazing things that will happen and that I will make happen. ;-) So you might ask what it is I'm currently doing. Let me tell you:

1. As I've already told you before, I've drawn up a budget. I use it even for this month already and it comes along nicely.

2. I've set goals for 2012 and have written them down. All of them are measurable, some are easy to reach, others need perseverance, patience and a pinch of good luck too. Setting goals is another first to me.

3. I'm getting rid of clutter. This has been an ongoing battle for the last three years. I've gotten rid of tons of clothes, shoes, books, video and music tapes, and unnecessary stuff in general. However I still haven't reached the clutterfree state that I want to achieve. So I started with sorting out on Sunday, again. Since I couldn't do my usual Sunday thing due to my ill health, I've used the time to sorting out receipts, postcards, boxes and books.
I've sorted out 80 (in words EIGHTY) books. And that is, even though I had given away a ton of books in 2010 before I moved into my own flat. And you know what is really freaking me out?! I still have at least the same amount left if not even more! Some of the books weren't fit for giving them away, so they went into the paper trash straight away. Most of the others I'll give to the public library and the rest I'll sell or they follow the others to the trash can too. (Whatever it takes to get rid of them before the 31. December of 2011!!!)
I'll also get rid of my old tape deck. I don't own any tapes any more and haven't used the deck in at least 6 years!

The funny thing about the getting rid of clutter is I really have to kick myself to get started (or re-read "Colin Cowie Chic" or "Clear your clutter with Feng Shui" by Karen Kingston {Blog: http://www.spaceclearing.com/html/blog/}, then I'm suddenly in the right mood), but as soon as I have started I get so much into it I almost can't stop.
Sunday I stopped for two reasons only a) I was exhausted (darned cold) and b) the paper trash can was full. ;-) I truly wish I could've also brought the tapedeck to the recycling center, but they are closed on Sundays and I need a 2011 bulky waste token to bring it in.

So, how do you prepare for the new year? Like to share your ideas and traditions?

Wood leading to the sun

Have a fantastic new week everyone! It's going to be brilliant, with Mercury going direct again and us all making the best of it.

Sunday - Chris taking pictures

Good times: Sunday bikerides with Chris!

Sheer Beauty

Enjoy your weekend!

The sun outshines it all

The wood in the window

This was actually one of my first lomographic pictures.

Looking up

Beautiful isn't it? Have a great day.

The door to Alices Wonderland?

Ahh, how I wished I could go there now. Instead I'm at home and my nose is preparing for a marathon, means I'm sick. Hopefully all of you are healthy.

Beauty at the roadside

Good morning, I wish everybody a fantastic new week. I took the above picture this spring. It's a good reminder, that beauty is everywhere around us and that we just need to take a closer look. Open our eyes to the beauty of our world. Just a few minutes I was lucky enough to catch this:

A rainbow. Just outside my window and literally a few seconds after I had taken this picture it was gone. So, whenever you see something beautiful, stop to appreciate it in all its glory, you can always spare a second or two for these things. And it's those moments that make our life beautiful and worthwhile.

TED: 3D atlas of our Universe

Isn't this fantastic and beautiful? I wish I could create something amazing like this.

Nature's colors vs. human grey

Enjoy your Sunday everyone.

Almost Stock Photography

Don't you think? I really like this picture, it says sooo much depending on your very mood. I took it at the Darss, on the way to the High Dune near the Pramort. Ah, how I wish to go there now. Instead I'm going to Chemnitz to an art exhibition with my parents. Since the weather is nice, I'll take my lomo with me. Tomorrow is Pampering Sunday for me, meaning lots of home spa treatments followed by amazing coffee and pondering time at my local Coffee Culture. Which is less expensive and makes a much better caffe latte then Starbucks. Plus you get to collect stamps which leads to the free 13th coffee or food item. Beat that Starbucks. Okay, it isn't that cozy as Starbucks and they don't have free internet access, however after the first coffee it starts to grow on you. One word of advice though, their hot chocolate has a weird taste so there is another point for Starbucks.

Otherworldly

A double exposure. The striations are from the scan of the positive, I think they give this picture a very special edge. At first I was annoyed when I saw this jpg, but now... It is really funny but I really like trick photographies much better than the normal ones.

Since it is December 1st, I've opened the first door to my christmas calendar. I've found a drum. What did you find?

Perspective

I'm currently changing my perspectives quite a lot. For instance I never used a personal budget to reach my goals, but since yesterday I'm working on my 2012 budget. Yesterday I drew up the rough draft and today I'm tweaking it so that it fits my goals for 2012. This way I'll know if I'm on track to my goals or if I lost orientation. Do you draw up a yearly budget?

A grass forest

Changing one's perspective is often quite helpful and in photography it leads to beauty such as this.

Sanssouci details

Good Morning. Isn't it fabulous? A new week has started. With possibilities abound. Let's make the best of it.

Thankfully I'm back on late shift, therefore I have more time on my hands to get my stuff done and check out your blogs.

How was your Sunday? I enjoyed mine thoroughly. Sleeping in, taking a looong shower, dressing up and going into town to enjoy Caffe Lattes and write down the epiphanies I had this Saturday. As a matter of fact I wrote so much, that I filled up my moleskine notebook and am now switching to my red knitted cover benetton notebook that Chris gave me as an early christmas present, one week early. Awesome.

Sanssouci geometry

Have a great weekend.

Circles

Fresh green! *happy sigh* In Leipzig fresh green has become quite scarce, in fact green in general has become scarce. But it's the cirlces that I really like about this picture.

Today, I went to another event of my club "Kreatives Leipzig e.V". We've had a tax consultant answering our questions. It was really interesting and his answers will help us all a lot. I tell you it is soooo helpful to have joined this club. I just love it.

Geometric Forms embedded into Nature and the joy of a full mailbox

Going through my pictures today, while preparing my next few posts, I just realized that I currently totally like photographies that show architectural structures and therefore geometric forms embedded into nature. Thus the new series on this blog that comes without a certain schedule.

Today I took the afternoon off, since I was pretty tired and that even with 7 hours of sleep last night! 
I seriously went to bed at 7:30 PM and turned of the light at 8:15 PM. However it didn't seem to matter, when my alarm clock rang at 4:33 AM, I nearly fell out of the bed. 

Yesterday was kinda interesting. Somehow the Universe seems to want me to befriend Tuesdays again. If you read this blog you probably know that Tuesdays and I aren't the best of friends. I have no problems with the other days of the week, but Tuesdays always tended to be a bit off. 
Sooo, during the last weeks, Tuesdays were the days when I found nice postcards in the mail. Yes, plural. However yesterday, the Universe had gotten out the big guns: 4 postcards, 1 letter and the second hand book I had ordered I found in my mailbox! I dare say this was a very happy day for my mailbox and me. *grinning from ear to ear* Especially since the letter contained a christmas calendar in card form from a dear friend. It seems as if all the letter- and cardwriting I do starts paying off and my friends are getting around to using snailmail again. ;-) Because last week I got a letter from another dear friend and the week before that I received a card from another friend who wasn't even on holiday but answered to the letter I had send her before.* After all she is checking her physical mailbox daily, but she checks her emails only every few weeks or so. So it's actually faster to use snailmail with her, how fun is that?!

* I'm not telling you that my letter was six pages long and she only used one postcard. Ahem...

Tree patterns

Aren't those trees amazing?

The curious pattern of tree bark

As a matter of fact I'm endlessly fascinated with tree bark and its patterns and trees growing patterns in itself.

Well there is a 6-day-workweek ahead of me, with lots of stuff on my to-do-list besides my job in logistics. Nevertheless my mood is astonishingly fantastic, might be that I've already became an active member at the creative club I've joined or that I had a beautiful and successful day yesterday or that I paid myself my first "fatmoney".

I hope you are in a good mood too and make the best of your new week. What have you planned to make it special? I'll have another pondering Sunday on my coffee shop with one free Caffe Latte. Wohoo.

Mmmh

Today I'm in a pondering mood. Going to a meeting of Kreatives Leipzig e.V., which is the local club of creative people that I've joined recently, yesterday evening gave me a lot to think about. And so did the meeting with DaWanda-Artisans on Monday. So the next few days I'll do exactly that: pondering things related to my art and what I want to do next and the big picture for the future.

Apropos picture, the one above I took in the Ozeaneum in Stralsund. Which is in my opinion way too expensive. But find out for yourself if you like it and if it is worth the fee.

Soon I'm meeting up with Chris for a stroll and chat and after that I have a chock full to do list.

Did you stumble upon things to ponder this past week or month?!

In need of comfort

You know: I literally HATE the month November. Its not a dislike but pure HATRED. It is grey, it's cold, what's even worse it is a wet cold that creeps into your bones, the days go unbearably shorter day by day by day, the people around us become irritable, the year end crazyness gets to everyone, this month plainly just SUCKS.

On days like this I need comfort. Comfort to me means: a warm cup of hot and awesome tea*, a thick and cosy planket to curl up in, a good book to read**, cooking and enjoying dinners with friends (in my own flat, so that I don't have to go out), watching good movies with friends including nice popcorn, watching Harry Potter 1 or 2***, warm footbaths, finding letters and postcards from friends in my mailbox or looking at pictures like this above and remembering the joy of the moment. This picture I took at the Teeschale Prerow, which is an awesome, cozy and really comforting teahouse on the Darss. The two balls aren't icecream but homemade whipped cream, in fact it was the best whipped cream I ever had in my life. I just LOVED it. The cake was good too, but the whipped cream certainly was the star. I loved the whole experience. My Dad and I were sitting in this little nook and thorougly enjoyed our tea and food. One word of advice if you want to visit the Teeschale and the Darss in general, go during the off-season. It has many advantages and you actually get a table at the Teeschale and can enjoy your food in relative quiet. During the season...

What is comfort to you? What helps you to wind down and losen up?

* currently I just loooove verbena tea
** for example "Elegance" by Kathleen Tessaro
*** the others are too cold and provide no comfort

Taking on a different point of view

Guerilla knitting in Leipzig.

Smiling Sunday: What makes ME smile

I've been thinking what is my goal for San's Visual Art, what is my calling and these days I think it is to make you smile.

So I'm starting this new series called "Smiling Sunday". I start with me today and next Sunday...

What makes me smile?
- Seeing kids on a freezing November day eating icescream
- Eating my first "Zimtdackel" of the season
- Finding a postcard in my mailbox
- Sitting down in a comfy chair with an awesome Caffe Latte at Coffee Culture on a Sunday morning to enjoy some thinking time
- Watching a beautiful sunset
- Dancing in front of the bathroom mirror while waiting for may clothes to soak
- Sending a postcard to friends and random people around the world
- Thinking of my phototours with Chris
- Finding new comments on this blog and reading them
- Thinking of my friends
- Looking up at a beautiful nightsky and seeing millions of stars
- Taking a stroll along the beach
- Playing Scrabble with friends
- Seeing someone with fantastic style or an awesome accessoire
- Finding the first "Christmas" apples (Red Chief) in stores and indulging in eating them
- Eating something really good
- Listening to "A marshmallow world" by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin
- Watching "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and "Mary Poppins"
- Talking for hours with friends on the phone
- Writing a real letter to good friends
- Finding awesome handmade locally produced stuff on DaWanda, like this notebook
- Listening to Rupert Everetts and Colin Firths version of "Love is in the Air"
- ...

And what makes you smile?

Can I go to the sea please? Please? Pretty Please?

I think this speaks volumes.

The calm at the sea

Sometimes I need pictures like this. On the one hand yesterday was quite successful, I've made myself an amazing lunch, I clicked with my hairstylist and therefore have a cool hairstyle that fits me to a tee, I finally through out tons of garbage, I've succeeded in eating healthy grain- and sugar(!!!)-free, I got the ingredients for kimchi including korean hot pepper flakes. So yeah, quite a day. However my mood was rotten. Today will hopefully be better, well, I've started it with an awesome breakfast-omelette, so it should be a nice day.

How are you?

Fog city

Personally I really like fog. Fog that lets you see only 50 meters is my favourite. I like how it rolls in the light of lamps and how it obscures the world, how it makes the world slow down, how it turns down the noise. Therefore I really like this weather we have in Leipzig at the moment. It's quite unusual to have heavy fog several days in a row, but now we have an I love it.

The best experience I ever had with fog happened in Edinburgh. I was walking down Princess street. I walked from the southern end to North Bridge. When I started at the southern end it was sunny, coming up to North Bridge I could barely see the next 30 meters. It was truly amazing to see the fog rolling in. I was probably the only person to enjoy it.

New Product: Starting with Holiday Cards - PK 84

And this is another of my holiday- and K-inspired postcards.

You like it, then you can buy it here: San's Visual Art - DaWanda-Shop