3 kg's

Popeye and me, we're very close.

Mostarda di frutta

During this period of banning carbs, I have to think very carefully what to eat. Cheese is fine, so is bacon, meat and anything holding only protein and fat.

I have no clue as to how much my very favourite mustard fruit holds. But I don't care one millimeter. I LOVE mustard fruit. It is very close to food I could live on, if I only have to choose one thing. The others are strawberry and chocolate.

And cheese.

Wikileaks and Assange

Tonight there was a live chat in a newspaper with Assange, and I spontaneously sent my question in. It got published! Here's the conversation: Annika: The impression from the press is that this is a conspiracy against you, attacking Wikileaks. What I wonder is if there is any substance to the charges. Can you give any comment to this without compromizing the ongoing investigation? Julian Assange: There is a lot of pressure. We should not let people who want to detract from the seriousness of pressure recast it into a conspiratorial cartoon. That is not how real life tends to work. This case has been going for six months. There are many people and many complicated agendas. Ok, so elegantly avoided to answer my question, but I can see why. But it was cool that my question was good enough to get in there. Only 14 questions got published. Gosh, I'm good!

Milking

Since about three weeks I am free from the constant pain in my shoulder and arm. I am becoming a new person. I am also doing physiotherapy every day, both by myself and with the help from friends. Stretching that tendon that hasn't moved in two months is painful, but I am slowly starting to see progress. Would say I am up to 90% mobility. Not sure I will ever regain 100%, but I am hopeful. Now is the time to start milking favours for all its worth. Me in whiny voice "I can't carry, can you please get a box of wine from the basement". Haha. And no, it wasn't planned! A wee bingo-wing left, but in a few weeks I plan to start doing push-ups. Haha, like I ever would!

Negotiation skills

Got an email today from an old boss. He is moving on to another job. Then telling me that I would've been proud of him, he was apparently very greedy in the negotiations. What? Me greedy? I think he might refer to the time I was negotiating with him and managed to raise my salary with about 40%. Him back then: "why do I feel like I am a loser in this negotiation?" Me back then: "not at all. you basically are paying me a wee bit more for doing two jobs". I won. And it's now history. Except for none of us have forgotten :).

The Jesus frog

I have become a fan of a quiz show. It is fun to sit in front of the computer, shouting the answer before the contestants do. Well, at least those times when I know the answer.

One of the questions were about a biblical name to the largest frog in the world.

Me: "The Jesus-frog!". Turned out to be the Goliath-frog. Who would've known.

14 million

Was walking into town today and passed a kiosk, displaying these Swisslotto coupons. Stopped for a moment, looked at the coupon and realized it has changed since I last put any money on lottery. Decided to move on. Later in the afternoon I picked up a Blick am Abend (free paper) and read an article about Swisslotto having a pot of 14 million today. Maybe a sign? So I overcame my fear of filling in the form (6 crosses in each box and something called Plus which I still have no clue what it is) and have now submitted my numbers. You know, I may have won 14 millions today. Who are my friends now?

Spa

I am unusual. This is no news to me, and shouldn't be to anybody who knows me. I'm thinking about this spa thing that everybody thinks is great. Getting pampered, bathed, drained in oils, being exposed to all sorts of strange aromas, and getting people I don't know touching me. I don't like it at all. I have enough problems with the hairdresser I visit twice a year, and who insists on massaging my head while washing my hair. I hate it. Don't touch me! I especially hate those who think they know massaging and want to practise it on me. Get it over with asap. But I seldom say so, I endure and try to be polite. Silly me. It's just that it would seem impolite to decline, after all they try to do their best. But I'm sorry, my body is mine and unless I say so, pls stay away. PS. Hugging is ok, as long as it's brief :)

Welldressed

I know what you think, that's so not me, but I need to buy a fancy dress for some events this year. One of'm being my...hmmm...birthday party. Even years. Time to get the friends together for a do. Turns out a friend of mine have a dress she only used like once or twice. Dark blue. Not sure, since we do not share the same fashion taste (what fashion taste does Annika have, you ask? And rightly so), but I am eager to try. Otherwise I will try the designer she suggested (was actually invited to go there with friend but declined since I thought fashion is not really my thing). Looking at the website I kinda regret it. Nice stuff!

Offended

This seems to be a week of being offending, and saying sorry. Skype incident only one of'm. One of my friends is a regular reader of my blog and also one of the few who comments. Mind you, she doesn't always agree with me but she gives her opionion. Which I appreciate very much. Now she hasn't commented for about a week, so sent an email asking if I offended her too. Recent occurrances in my life has made me a bit cautious. She answered something like "what are you on about?" and "I'm not easily offended". Turns out she's been away and hasn't had time for the blog. And this is a bit inside and doesn't make sense to most people. Today another friend told me I had offended yet another friend. This another friend has given me no indication to that, and so was surprised. When asking her, she didn't know what I was talking about. Phew. Think I might be going mad here.

Skype sound

Friend of mine called today to check on my status after recent events. On the old-fashioned phone. Since we last time talked about the "new" invention Skype I suggested that we'd do that instead. For free and you get a pic to go with. After having problems with the set-up (from her side), me thinking how friggin difficult can it be, I realized that I had not put my sound on. So she could hear me, but I couldn't hear her. Which led me to believe the fault was entirely on her side. These technology "idiots". And then it turned out to be my mistake. Oops. Sorry friend.

Carrot soup

Friend was over today, and we had agreed on making carrot soup (she's on a soup streak for the moment). She gave me the ingredients, carrots (kinda obvious), stock, onion, salt, pepper and paprika spices. That was it.

Then it turned out that I was supposed to have a piece of equiment that purees things. I dunno what normal people have in their kitchens, but a puree thingie is not something I ever missed in mine.

We improvised with a mashed potatoes thingie from what I would think would be the early 80's. And guess what? It worked.

Soup was delish.

Diet progress

It is now a week ago since I started on the no carb diet. It has gone very well. It has certainly helped that people have made me so upset I got that metallic adrenalin taste in my mouth. Losing the appetite kinda goes with that. But yesterday evening when watching telly I started to vacillate. First seeing a guy eating a banana, I started dreaming of having fruit. Any fruit would do. Not that I eat much fruit otherwise, but now I craved it. Second, I saw somebody eating noodles. Mmmm. Again, noodles not part of my normal diet but now I really wanted it. So far so good today, but it ain't over until the fat lady sings. So to speak.

Compromize

Nah! My cousin called me today and we talked about many things, he mentioning compromizing. Nah, that's so not me. Was looking for a category to put this item into, and to my surprise I haven't named one of them "ME". How can I have overlooked this? Isn't I THE most important person? Well, at least on this blog I am...

Democracy, hell yeah!

These days the politics is a lot about Egypt, and what follows in its footsteps. People have finally stepped up and demanded democracy. Good for them. Churchill: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." (from a House of Commons speech on Nov. 11, 1947) . I am both a fan of Churchill (he wasn't exactly big on feminism) and not. But I gotta give it to him. He was great on quotes. A few examples: A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject. A joke is a very serious thing. A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed. And one of my favourites. At least for the moment: Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. So in conclusion, Churchill being English and all. I gotta give it to'em. Not every one of them is stupid!

1000/10000

Was meeting with my neighbour today to discuss the minutes from the building association meeting we had a few weeks ago. It is written in German. We are supposed to go through the paragraphs and if we do not object, the minutes will be approved of in a month. I read through it, and found only three things that were not correct. Two things were spelling mistakes, which is really funny considering I am not fluent in German. The last thing was about my cats, my future cats, that I wanted to get into the minutes to avoid problems in the future. My neighbour pointed out that I should insist of having "some time in the future" re my cats rather than "next year". Thanks for that. But the really important thing was that the real estate guy hosting the meeting wrote in the minutes that 1000/10000 of the owners were present. That is 10%. We are four owners. So even if one of the guys is really skinny, it is not correct. In minutes, that will be preserved here in Switzerland until the end of time, you have to be very precise. 10% of the owners mean that anybody in the future can object to the decisions that were taken and agreed on. No good. So the real estate guy now has an email from me. Are you surprised?

Getting rid of "friends"

Apropos nothing special I went through my contact list on email today and reduced my list of contacts from 155 to 91. In some mouseclicks I deleted people. I have only once been on Facebook with a fake name, I just wanted to see what it was all about. I was always a bit wary of that way of communicating, these having gazillions of "friends" of Facebook made me cautious. And recent events have made me even more cautious. So I have decided that I will keep the people who have been good to me (and remember, I have an elephant's memory!), and the ones who were just entering my life temporarily or people I haven't spoken to in years - sorry, but goodbye. Did the same on Skype, not that many contacts there but if I never speak to you, what's the point of keeping your id? So I think the message is, my circle of friends I am very protective of, the rest of you, just fuck off! Ok, that was a bit hard, but you get the message. No need to keep people around you who are making you miserable. Life is short. Surround yourself with the people you like, live your life the way you want and try to be as happy as you can. See? You don't have to pay a therapist loadsa money. You can get the advice for free here on the blog! Edit: Ok, was reading thru and just wanna point out I don't have 91 friends. I have 91 CONTACTS. Big difference.

Goodbye Bulgaria

Since Tuesday I have been more upset than most times in my life. I won't go into details about why (more than you read on the blog already), but have after careful consideration come to a conclusion on how to handle the future relationship with my close ones. First of all, Bulgaria will not ever be mentioned again on this blog. Second of all, after speaking with a good friend from Romania tonight I kinda understand why this argument started in the first place. Not that I agree or anything, but it opened my eyes to certain things. So goodbye Bulgaria. In my mind, you no longer exist.

Balls are stuck

Friend of mine went to the boat exhibition in Düsseldorf a little while ago. The sales guys wanted to sell him a new boat, and he was very keen on getting one. But after the whole selling gig, treating him to drinks, giving him the whole show, he told them the truth. And this because he has been in the business of selling his whole life. He said "if you want to sell me something, you do not have to convince me, but my wife". Haha.

Beep-beep

When talking about this argument with one of my friends he suggested to send an email to Bro saying "Grow up. Stop being stupid." or similar. As much as I appreciate his suggestion, I am not thinking it would help anything. However, thinking of rounding up a bunch of friends, instructing them to send similar messages is kinda making me laugh. Thinking of an inbox going beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep in all eternity. Yes! That would be funny, if the matter wasn't so serious.

Poor Peter

After the argument with gf I haven't felt very good. Sleeping problems. Walking around, having doubts about myself. That kinda thing. In these kind of situations I revert to my friends. I don't want to be a bad person. I realize I am not perfect (!), but I really do not think I am that bad. So 6 people have now read through the blog plus that I talked to one relative, and none of them can understand what the issue is. Why do we have an argument? In my mind, people who have an issue with somebody else contacts them (or me) saying, I have a problem with what you said or did. Then we talk about it, and in 99.9% of the time we understand each other and the problem is solved. And "poor" Peter called me this evening. Peter is a very good and old friend of mine. We do not talk every week, more like twice a year, but he phoned me this evening and got the whole story of the family drama. Poor Peter! I texted him later to say "sorry you got me at a bad time, did you want to tell me something?". He responded "nah, just wanted to check that you were all right". Talk about good timing.

Prada vs Dior

Bet you're a bit surprised to see me blogging about fashion. Probably the understatement of the year. But yesterday I took a walk with a friend in town and on Bahnhofstrasse there are plenty of expensive fashion stores. We browsed the windows at Prada, and I couldn't help laughing out loud. Really ugly stuff that cost like 2,000 francs. I wouldn't be seen dead in this so called fashion. My friend told me he would end our friendship if I would wear one of these dresses. And rightly so. Dior on the other hand had fairly nice stuff. Not nicer than you can find in H&M though, but definitely 20 times more expensive. Qualitywise I could imagine that it is a tiny difference, but who wants to pay so much for a piece of clothing that anyway is out of fashion next year? Good thing that this doesn't bother me. I am happy to wear the same year after year after year. My current favourites are the two sweaters with a zipper in front. The only thing I could wear when I wasn't able to move my arm. Gotten so used to them, so am reluctant to suddenly change. All changes aren't good :). And even though I think my friends would appreciate me dressing up once in a while, they are happy with me for being me. That's more important than any clothes in the world!

Mövenpick...and wine!

Spontaneously I got invited to go to Mövenpick today. Am not very fond of their icecream, but am of the guy I was going with so went. That was a little piece of heaven I tell you. No icecream in sight, but room after room with wine! A fantastic wine cellar, that I never heard about before. And we got to taste! Both an Amarone and something else I cannot remember but that was fabulous. My friend was buying a lot for his wine cellar, despite that he already has so many bottles that he doesn't know how many. But I am proud to have introduced him to my house wine (3.25 a bottle on sale, 4.25 full price), which he liked so much that he went and bought a whole box himself. This resides proudly next to his quite exclusive collection. Funny.

Assura

When I was operated on some 7 years ago I had a small argument with my insurance company. They refused to pay the taxi ride home from the hospital (not part of the policy), disregarding that I saved them thousands of francs going home a day early. It wasn't about the money, I just thought it was stupid. But I didn't want to prolong the argument over something so small. My next contact with them is now because of my operation. And since I can use some of the money I paid for deduction in the tax return, I sent them an email asking for an overview of the cost. The next day I received it on email. Unfortunately some of the bills were missing so sent another request for an updated version. A day later they called me to say everything is in process, and that I will receive the new version in about a week. Think about how easy it is to resolve a conflict just by communicating! Well done Assura.

Croatia

In the late 80's I had an idea I wanted to help the world. So I applied to the United Nations, saying I wanted to join the peace force in Croatia. My CV got me all the way into the short-list, thousands applied, but it all ended when they phoned up my reference. He was my current boss, and being him he was honest saying something like "she's very good, but she's difficult". Not entirely sure what he said but in hindsight I should've chosen another reference! So I never went to Croatia, but funnily enough I'm still friends with the former boss. Still not sure why :).

Mailing the polizei!

I just sent an email to the police. It gives me a warm fussy feeling somehow. That somebody in the other end sitting there in his uniform reading it... And I did it in German! Ok, so that makes me think of ze German coastguard, which is so not sexy! But still funny. Nothing has happened but the lake police wants to have email and mobile numbers in case something happens to my boat. Good idea.

1 kg

When I saw the doctor last time he told me I can start lifting with my right arm. Since I am keen, if not to say really really really keen, to get rid of my bingo wing I took his advice seriously. Other people would probably have gone out buying a 1 kg weight, but being me I am using a kilo of coffee. It's great, because the bag is soft so the grip works. Then I'm watching tv, while moving arm up and down. Suppose the one good thing is that there is no bingo wing whatsoever on my left arm. Popeye may have to wait a while on the right, but definitely going in the right direction. So to speak. Except for that I soon have to open the coffee bag, machine is running out. And buying a kilo of sugar like doc suggested seems like a waste. I don't use sugar. Yes, another coffee bag is the answer.

Blind, deaf and mute

Love is blind they say. Sometimes I think it's deaf and mute too. Apropos nothing special.

V day

Yesterday (well, looking at the time it was probably the day before...anyway, not important) I had two messages relaying friendly love. Valentine's day. It felt good, being remembered by at least two friends. Met another friend this afternoon, and kinda offended him by saying "I didn't get a msg from you yesterday!". He told me he was going to and fro about it, and ended up thinking 'Annika is just gonna say fuck it regarding a romantic message'. Told him that a Valentines message doesn't necessarily have to be a romantic one. Can also be a sign of friendship. Good to know I have at least two friends!

Guilty until proven innocent

Since Bro grew up (the first 14 years of his life was of no interest to me, who wants to speak to an unintelligible person?) we have been good friends. In terms of meeting up, talking and in general being friends. We share a lot of memories. Apart from having the same parents, we have shared many memorable moments together, we have travelled together, we have done stuff. Together. Since a month that ended. Today we finally spoke, after having no contact for more than a month. That feels weird in itself. I have only been sick three times in his lifetime. One time was when he was 9 years old and he can hardly be blamed for not remembering (had 39°C fever and was quite miserable). The next time was 2004 when I had a cyst removed from my ovary. No big deal that he didn't care. In December last year I had the shoulder operation, but despite that I flew to meet his gf's family. On his request. And now I apparently have offended his future wifes family. I really don't know how. He claims it relates to the blog, but at the same time tells me he hasn't read it. Went back on the blog to read it today, and cannot see how I offended anybody. But since I do not want the gf's parents to think that I did not appreciate the visit I sent an email addressed to gf's parents but to gf, asking her to translate. Got an answer from gf: "see you at the wedding". Yes, avoiding the issue is gonna solve the problem. Good luck Bro!

a. A.

It is not always easy to understand ze Swiss. Last week I got an email saying I had to be at Affoltern a. A. Well, as far as I knew Affoltern is a suburb to Zürich and AA means Alcoholics Anynomous. Very weird. When asking an aborigin (i.e. local from Switzerland) I got the information that a. A. means am Arsch. At the ass (of the world I would imagine). Hmm. Really I think it means am Amstel (or similar), at the river Amstel. But I'm sticking to the translation I got, am Arsch. And yes, there are two Affoltern. The one I knew is Zürich suburbia. The other one is located a. A.

Bug

Sometimes I forget what I once have learned. For example that it's a good idea not to have a glass of water on the floor beside the bed. A sturdy mug is much more difficult to push over, and even if I do it doesn't break so easily. Anyway. The other morning I was removing this mug, and guess what!?! I found a dead bug floating around in it. Yikes. So now I've learned that it's not a good idea to take a swig of water in the middle of the dark night either. At least there are no carbs in bugs.

Styling?

Saw this guy today. He was quite young, not sure he had reached 20. I am quite certain he had had his hair styled, but to me it looked like he came straight out of bed without passing a comb. Oldfashioned, me?

Jil Sander sucks

I'm in for a bit of a challenge the coming months. Sitting still for 2 months haven't done me any favours weightwise, and I need to be gorgeous (again!) in June for the wedding. A nasty experience today made me almost explode, and will help in achieving my goal. Took a walk into town and passed this shop with some quite nice gowns in the window. Decided to browse around, in order to form an idea what's available in shops these days. You all know I'm not keen on shopping, so totally the right thing to do. Was met by this "lady" with a stiff upper lip, and asked her about the purple (!) gown in the window. Guess what she responded? Oh, we only have sizes 34 and 36. Guess where I won't be shopping. EVER! Jil Sander, avoid avoid avoid!!! PS. I really hope she's on commission!

Basel

Had some friends over for dinner tonight. They came all the way from Basel. No pics, don't know what I was thinking about. Not like me to forget, but since they've been here before, you can look'm up on previous items if you can be arsed. Sleeping girl and ze Welsh. Only, and I have to point this out, she didn't even take a nap tonight! And I had a weak moment, so promised that during the year 2011 (this year, oh dear!) I will go to Basel. Leaving zone 10 in Zürich, venturing all the way to a foreign city. Actually, been there once many moons ago, but didn't see much. Went straight to the bar and back to the train station. But with the promise of haggis, I will be brave! Watch out Basel!

Gib es zu mir!

Yes, and since women speak about 24,000 words a day, and we all had saved up, you can calculate what 5 women said in one evening. Hint: it had a lot to do with men!

And how German-speaking people talk to each other in bed. We English-speaking do not agree that ze German language work in bed, and when the two of us "normal-speaking" people brought up ze question we were met with silence. Mind you, a brief one. But it kinda set the topic for ze evening. V funny.

Turquoise

Friend has a turquoise colour scheme in her flat. Very tasty I must admit. Good thing I remembered when I bought her the candle holders you see on the pic. Also very much like that it's painted in the corner. Very cool.

Food

Yeah, it was almost like we had to kill our meal. But gotta admit, the main problem was getting out of Zürich. Due to all the construction work going on, the gps kept on directing us to roads that didn't exist.

Coming back was like a 20 minute cruise. No problem whatsoever.

PS. Those "tigers" had names. If I could only remember what they where.

Bauknecht

Apparently it is rocket science for companies to plan when workers are to show up. I was given the time between 8 and 10 this morning. Woke up by myself at 7.45, and decided not to shower since workers are usually not cute. Big, huge mistake. Guy showed up 9.30 and was hunky. And there was I in my sleeping gear with no makeup or anything. And not only did he fix what he came for, he also did something in the freezer that I didn't even know was not correctly set up, as well as changing something in the oven. Next time I have an appointment with a construction worker, I will be up on time, showered and dressed up. Just in case.

Wellingtons

Tomorrow I and some friends are venturing out in the Swiss outback. We are leaving zone 10 in Zürich! Scary business. We are invited to a friend who lives in the middle of nowhere. It's at least half an hour drive out of the civilization. Thinking I might have to go buy some Wellingtons. Very worried I will have to kill the food before we get anything to eat. Me, the adventurer!

Invite has arrived!

Nice to know I'm invited for Bro's wedding.

Talk-talk-talk

Somewhere I have heard that men speak 6,000 words a day, and women 24,000. After meeting with my friendgirl today at three in the afternoon, and we only ran out of words (not really, but we decided to give them a rest until tomorrow evening when we'll meet again) six and half hours later I am inclined to agree. And it never gets boring! I am so happy I wasn't born a man!

Waving

Think I wrote about this before, but this is a thing I have grown up with. When you leave my place, I always stand in the window waving you goodbye. My parents used to do it, my grandparents did it. It's part of my inheritance. Ok, so my grandparents used to do it from the doorstep, they lived on the ground floor, but the meaning is the same. Most of my friends I had to teach, they used to leave without looking back. Now they do. It's good to know I am leaving traces. I also require from my friendgirls to send me an sms when they are home. Today I got "Home! Sleep well, we hear us tomorrow :)". Me responding: "Yes we see us soon :). Gad we are damaged!". Her: "Hell yeah, but lovin it!". If you didn't get it, it's a straight translation from German to English. Not pretty, but workin' 'ere. Switzerland, we love you! We can only hope you love us back.

Designer piece

Went to do the planning together with my metal construction guy today. My second piece of furniture of my own design (new career?). It's gonna be lush.

Two dvd storage racks made of the same stainless steel as my kitchen shelf. Nine shelves on each. Each shelf taking 30 dvd's. Placed in a corner with a mirror 45° in the middle, and to top it all off, purple light coming from behind the mirror. Unique!

Delivery time? At least a month, and probably more. But it's gonna be worth the wait!

Clean bill of health

Saw the doc today, and finally I can start stretching the arm and shoulder even after the point of pain. This is because the tendons and ligaments have become shortened due to inactivity after such a long time, and that I no longer risk rupturing the tendon again. It's not pleasant, but this is another sort of pain. It's only painful as long as I stretch, and fortunately the other more constant pain is going away more and more. I reckon that I in a month or so will be back in full force. And with full mobility. What a relief!

Brunch

Yesterday I was invited to a friend for brunch. We had the works. Eggs, bacon, toast, gipfelis, marmelade, coffee, tomatoes and mushroom. A real English one. We decided it was such a good idea, that we want to repeat it. Talked to some friends today, and they agreed. Every other Sunday, or perhaps every third Sunday depending on agenda. Reminded me of Utrecht. We were a group of friends who alternated making brunch. Only, in the end we just got tired of all the shopping, cooking and preparing so we ended up meeting at 12 o'clock every Sunday in a pub. Googled it, and lo and behold, it still exists. De Poort. But when we used to go there, it was more...hmmm...how can I put it...genuine. But it was fun. Four nationalities meeting in Utrecht. We ended up speaking all sorts of languages, especially later in the afternoon when the brunch was done and we reverted to "perhaps we should have a beer?" at like four or five. Good memories.

Monday in Zürich

In Zürich it is like spring has arrived. It was about 17°C and sunshine today, and a perfect view of the mountains from my flat. Took a walk with the neighbour and a kid, who btw behaved today. Hardly any screaming at all. Not a bad start to the week, except for I haven't been out for ages and wanted to perhaps pay a visit to my bar. Closed due to personnel party. Hmmm. So they get to party, and I don't? Perhaps not just a good start to the week after all...

Airbag project III

Finally got a report over the 24 hours the Airbag project lasted. The outcome was like I expected. On the + side she actually wore the bag for 24 hours, but because she wasn't in pain like I was (and still sometimes am) she forgot not to move the arm occasionally. Totally understandable. The problems she ran into was the same that I experienced. Major one to shower, wash hair and wipe yourself after a toilet visit. Especially difficult after No 2. 'Nuff said. Also waking up every so often trying to find a comfortable position. Ok, so she did take it easy the whole day. Ended up eating things ready-made, and not cut food and cook. So all the problems I ran into during the 6 weeks she didn't have to experience. On the - side she didn't report every hour as requested "too difficult to text with the left". A bit weak I thought. But all in all, she actually did it and the project gets an APPROVED stamp. PS. She mumbled something about me doing a similar project for her. Hmmm. Can't wait!

Airbag project II

Text at 01.38: "Not enjoying this fucking bag at all! Feeling more sympathy by the minute! Got my coat off finally though, and writing this since 10 min! Promise will (try to) sleep with this on otherwise got sleeping pills to help. Talk tomorrow. Goodnight." Try do this with pain. Well, actually it helps with pain because you cannot do anything else but sleep with the friggin bag. Everything else hurts. To be continued.

Airbag project I

A mixture of object "this is no problem at all" to spectators, thinking otherwise. Especially enjoy the left-hand writing into the guest book. If only I could read it!

Another one bites the dust

I like to test my friends when they come visit.

Arbeit macht frei, oder?

Experiment starting

At 20.00 precisely tonight my very own Stanford experiment is starting. Good luck sweetie!

Oh, btw the "airbag" has been used day and night for 6 weeks so might be a tad sweaty, hehe.

All lit up and ready for party

Blue

Good to see our presents being used. Was visiting a friend who had implemented the colour scheme I chose for him. Nice.

Happiness is...

when I find a forgotten box of housewine in the basement. Might come in handy tonight when having some friends over for spaghetti and meatballs. Weird this is, yesterday going from almost overdosing on painkillers to today feeling just fine. These tendons are unpredictable. Hmmm, just like me, coming to think of it.

Either or

Sometimes I get really tired of the arguments that religious people have. I don't care which religion, but when you question them they seem to form their own version of the religion they say they belong to. Like Christianity, an eye for an eye, and then the argument will be: "well, it was a long time ago and doesn't apply anymore". Well, what else doesn't apply anymore? Or like Hinduism. Sitting under a tree meditating and think that is gonna help the world? Yeah, right. Islam? Yes, it's a really good idea to oppress women, not allowing them to vote, but insisting burkhas is a good idea. Hide yourself woman, and don't have an opinion. Not to talk about the Vatican state. A bunch of "eunuchs", thinking that homosexuality is a crime. While probably bonking their brains out. Nah, I resigned 1989 from shit like this, and I ain't gonna change my mind.

I'm zorry

Have been watching a couple of investing journalism programs about IKEA. They try to get at "poor" Ingvar, just because he buried some billions of money in Liechtenstein. Did anybody really doubt that he was rich? And that he made a few bucks on selling his furniture around the globe? Well, if anybody did, they were stupid. What the journalists really are upset about is that he didn't admit it. He kept on claiming he was "poor", having given away the IKEA rights to a foundation in Holland. So what I say? Would you feel better if the guy who furnished more or less the whole world would be living in a shack? Anyway, the reason I'm writing about it is that they had a German professor giving hiz opinion, and hiz English was hilariouz. I'm sorry, but if you want to be taken zeriouzly, learn ze language ;). PS. Not talking about grammar here, since my German lacks a bit of zat.

Money

Money doesn't make you happy is a good old cliché that happens to be true. Which is probably why it's called a cliché in the first place. What money does is buying you comfort and peace. Never having to wake up thinking where the next meal will come from, or how you can afford to pay the rent. When I go out with my friends I would like to play on equal terms. If somebody has less than I, I don't mind paying some more. What I don't like is when somebody is starting to use my generosity. Then I get irritated. And if I go out a lot with the same friends I pay once, maybe twice, perhaps even three times, then he or she pays the fourth time. No problem with that either, since in the end it always equals out. What I do have big problems with is if somebody turns me down. I offer to pay, and it consistently is turned down. And I happen to know this person doesn't have my means. The fact that I may have paid more over the years doesn't matter. Tonight I'm invited to a friend like that. We shall have a talk. If he once more turns down my offer to pay going out, it will be the last dinner we have together.

Clumsy

I dunno what's with me, but I'm gonna blame the arm. I keep on dropping things. It's ok if it's a pan or something just gliding out of my hand on the stove but worse is, I drop glasses. And today catastrophe! I dropped one of my favourite ashtrays straight on the stone floor. Again, a thousand pieces to handpick up but also hoover. Which I can nowadays using mostly my left arm. This ain't good. Gotta have to stick to using old plates and glasses. And be really careful with the precious ashtrays!