I really hate my body sometimes...I finally started feeling better after that damn cold. Even the cough was subsiding. And now?? My kidney is starting to hurt. Why?? Why?? I haven't done anything...I'm keeping it nice and warm...I'm drinking fluids (maybe too much coffee, but still). I really don't need this. Grrrrr...I wonder if I can place a Voodoo curse on my kidney. Give it a good poke with those needles. But that would be sort of counterproductive, I guess. Well, actually, the last time I tried, my Voodoo powers really sucked (and I WAS trying really hard, you would be amazed), so I guess it doesn't really matter.

On the plus side: my room finally looks like it's supposed to. Well, almost, it needs a good cleaning and I need to hang one more picture, but at last it looks more like a grown-up room and not a 13-year-old's. I still can't bear to part with my singing banana, though. Nor the talking alien. (The claw is my master!)

What else...I am trying to increase my reading level to where it used to be. But it's hard to find books that really interest me. I just finished Blast from the Past by Ben Elton. While I did like it in the end it took some coaxing to get me through. (Did not help that I had read Popcorn by the same author and hated it. But I think that might have been because I read it in German and the translation was just awful) I need to read more books by him, since he co-wrote Blackadder I'm putting my faith in his ability to convince me. Did I mention that I love Blackadder??

[aside concerning Blackadder, don't complain if you've heard it before, it's one of my pet peeves]
Note to the bastard who I loaned ALL MY FOUR SEASONS OF BLACKADDER and who DID NOT RETURN THEM: It's not fair that you're taking advantage of the fact that I can't keep track of who I gave what to.... I really loved those tapes. The only reason I did not miss them before is that I thought I had given them to my roommate. Which I apparently hadn't. I really, really, really miss them. As soon as I have more money I will have to buy the DVD set.

[/aside concerning Blackadder]*Note to self: Need to stop using html in conversations. Am such a g33k. Glad we covered that.

Back onto the subject of books. Current reading material: For whom the bell tolls. Can't really say that I am enjoying it yet. Then again, haven't really enjoyed other Hemingway books I read. I was recommended Fiesta. Maybe I should have tried that. Hemingway's bell obviously isn't tolling for me (ha, ha). Sometimes I am really upset that I can't seem to discern beautiful language. I don't care about the language. Either it's interesting or it's not. Language does play a part in it, I suspect, but for the life of me I can't get myself to read a book just for the language. That's not a good thing, I feel, but I haven't been able to change it, no matter how often I try to read some of the classics...

Currently, I am participating in a Book Swap. I randomly got assigned a swap partner. I'll send him a book, he'll send me a book...that should be fun. Sent him an e-mail today offering three selections. (Last Chance to see, A Walk in the Woods, Round Ireland with a Fridge as he said he liked non-fiction travel books) Let's see what he answers. I like getting books...don't you? It's such a nice feeling, owning a pile of books that you haven't read, getting to decide which one you're going to read first and then breezing through all of them without doing anything else. It's rather sad when you get to the end of that pile, though. Like I get sad when I am watching a really good movie and it's about to end and I am thinking: "Nooooo...I'd like it to go on!!!" But that's beside the point.

Other books I have lined up to read (not necessarily in that order):

• Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (started it but failed)
  
• Filth by Irvine Welsh (will get it in exchange for Blast from the Past, hopefully)
  
• Complicity by Iain Banks (will I have to buy it or can I also borrow it? I forgot)
  
• Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan (Double Oy Vay. Only fellow Wheel of Time readers can feel my pain here. Note: Hey Pet, I forgot it last time. Remind me on Easter.)
  
• Night Watch by Terry Pratchett (Yes, indeed!)
  
• Billy Bathgate by E.L.Doctorow (on the big "Must Read" pile in my room)
  
• Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee (ditto)

If you'd like to recommend any other books, feel free to comment away. Don't try to recommend books based on the selection above, that's really very random. I'd rather hear what your favourite books are. And why.

Yesterday I did not get to blog as I had planned to what with one thing or another. I was working again at Noe Astro TV and I am delighted to tell you that the future is looking rosy. The astrologists looked into the stars for May and what did they find? Great times are afoot if you are a Taurus. And in case you didn't know, I am. My birthday is May 9^th, if you want to make a note, by the way. Birthday greetings and gifts are always appreciated. And Tauri like me have their Venus in the third house or something and that means Yay May!

On a different note: I would like to use my Voodoo Powers^TM to place a curse on everybody who uses other peoples' credit card number for their own evil purposes. A pox on their houses and may bad karma come their way soon. And my Voodoo Powers^TM are legendary, I might add. Beware!

Now I have to go and finalize my room, put everything into the closet/wardrobe and hang up my pictures, so you'll have to excuse me...

Just woke up and I think I need to tell you that I really slept well for once...hooray!! Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was a walking corpse yesterday because I was so tired..naah. I'll go now because today is going to be rather busy. Tell you all about it later.

Everybody who has ever worked with a complete schmock can feel this guy's pain. Oy vay.

Had to go to University today to talk with my tutors about my final paper. It was a desaster, I think. I'm not really good at writing this paper, because I am so fed up with University stuff. I feel bodily sick when I think about having to go to the library and doing research. And I have writer's block concerning my paper. I sit there, my cursor blinks and I have nothing to say about my subject. So today we were discussing the exposé I wrote, and I knew it was really bad because I just took their suggestions and reworded them without really knowing what I was talking about, because I had not researched one bit of theory. They are probably considering me some kind of idiot...I completely messed up everything. I hate going into meetings unprepared with no real basis for a discussion, all sides wide open for shots anybody can take at you. But I can't make myself interested anymore...

Sometimes I really, really hate going to University. I don't know if it was the right choice for me to go anyway. I mainly did it because everybody kept telling me I should..it was a pity to waste my talent and brains...yadda yadda yadda. Everybody else did it. It was the easy way out. But I always suspected I did not like studying and I actually looked into a trainee program, and I think I would have enjoyed that more. Oh well, the decisions that you make. Now I am stuck with it and it's gotten worse and worse the more it has progressed. Being this close to finishing and still being so stuck makes me really frustrated, too.

Oh well, next week I'll just have to kick myself off the couch and into the library. Work called, too, maybe I can help out a couple of days next week, that'll keep my mind off things and give me some air or whatever is needed to perk me up. Chocolate always perks me up...presents perk me up...hey, I just had an idea: FOR GOOD KARMA SEND CHOCOLATE PRESENTS TO ME!! Of course, you could always invent other things to cheer me up, it's for a good cause. Suggestions are always welcome :)

Some people have too much time on their hands, I guess...A Bible in Lego

I hate it when I wake up and have to feel stupid immediately. When I went and got the newspaper I received a letter from the people where I bought my computer. The RAM broke the other day and they sent me a replacement. And I distinctly remember thinking "What to do with the old RAM??" And then I obviously had a brainfreeze because I did not do what I was supposed to do, i.e. send it back, NOOOOOOO...I threw it out. Now I'll have to pay for the replacement. Stupid, stupid, stupid. STUPID!!!! I could kick myself in the head (repeatedly is best if you ask me). Grrrrrrrrrr. Sigh. There goes even more money that I do not have.

Forgot to add that I actually went to work today...yay!!! Worked with Uli and Tini on the set of Noe Astro TV as coordinator for the guests. Not the most exciting job, mostly I sat around and drank coffee, but someone's gotta do it :)

Yesterday I went to a concert with my ex. So I'm devoting today's blog entry to those two things, starting with the concert.

a) Concert

It was German Hip Hop: Fettes Brot which is pretty damn good hip hop in its own right. And the concert was great, too. Pretty expensive, but good. It was in a strange location...in a theater, but that was only strange at the beginning, in the end it didn't really matter. What I really liked was that they did not just play their songs like on the CD but played variations. Especially the really famous ones..they sang them to a ska beat, to techno, to a different melody...and they pulled it off really well. They are a great live band in my opinion and I always enjoy their concerts (I liked the last one as well, even if that was just a "regular" concert).

b) Ex

Hadn't seen him for quite some time. It turned out to be a really nice evening because it reminded me of why I used to date him. When I think about our relationship in retrospect it sometimes seems to have been messed up, lots of fights, he behaved like an idiot, I behaved stupidly, stuff like that. And sometimes when I meet him (especially if he's in a bad mood), it's still like that. But yesterday was really nice. I always used to be able to talk to him about everything, and I still can. After the concert we went back to my place, had a beer and just talked and talked about things. It's good to think that we still remain friends, because I would have been really sad to lose him. Though I once read that when you're able to remain friends after a relationship, you weren't really in love to begin with. I am not quite sure, if that's true..I think I was then. And while I wouldn't take him back even if he wanted to, I still feel really comfortable with him. And that's just a nice feeling to have. For all the fun I make of him (behind his back and to his face :) he's still a really decent guy, even if things did not work out between us. We talked about that, too and it's quite interesting to hear what somebody liked and did not like about you.I think he's honest about that and it makes me able to view myself from somebody else's viewpoint - and while some parts are not really flattering, some parts are really nice and that made me feel good.

Time Bonus is NO BONUS

Yay, my wardrobe (!!) is finally put together.Thank you, Silke, for your work (pre-sorting the screws is a really hard job, but someone's gotta do it) and thank you, Paul, for pretending to be an elephant (and a lion...and a cow) to keep us entertained while we worked. :) Haven't put all my clothes in yet, I guess I'll finish that today.

Afterwards we tried out the PSII games the neighbor had given me. Turned out they weren't as much fun as they could have been. Smuggler's Run could be fun, I guess (you are a smuggler trying to get loot to a pickup point), but if you are playing it with two players you should have the option of working together against the computer players. There are so many of them and your real life opponent is not really distinguishable from the others (maybe if we had played it longer), so you can't even yell "Ha, ha, I got you!" properly. Afterwards we played Super bust-a-move which we had two opinions about:

a) Looks like it's for children

b) Looks like it's for Japanese people on LSD

It's one of these games where there's just too much on the screen...colours...colours...COLOURS...cats that look like Hello Kitty!...little dragons that yell "Hurry up!"...crazy spiralling patterns...it kept yelling at you and you kind of expected it to yell "Banzaiii" and make your PSII explode.