migrationoffice

Here's to WordPress

2006-10-06T14:29:00.000+02:00

I've done it. I like it. And I don't give a damn about moving the stuff I got here to WP. I'll just set links.

Enter anaj.wordpress.com

Old website's infested with a virus

2006-10-06T12:09:00.000+02:00

Those of you who do know the URL of my ooooooold webite (*.de-domain) - don't go there anymore! I've cancelled my registration last months, and some offshore company in Bulgaria has already seized it for their dubious businesses. As soon as you enter the site, a setup.exe will be launched... Mac users can't be bothered, but those windows users who have actually set a link to this page should get rid of it at soon as possible.

WordPress or Blogger?

2006-10-06T11:56:00.000+02:00

Sam has practically already convinced me to move to wordpress with my blog, yet I'd first like to figure out whether I can export this ole blog as is to wordpress - pics and all? Isn't this the age of content syndication?

And: Apparently anonymous comments aren't possible on this very blog - either due to my settings or due to Blogger's restrictions.

If they had been possible, she would have posted this comment re: Marilyn.

“I read somewhere a while ago that Marilyn was a size 16, which is also amazing compared to today’s ‘requirements’ for women to be size 6 or 8. Size 16 doesn’t even have to be fat - it can just mean that you have wide hips, for example. I think Marilyn wouldn’t stand a chance in today’s world as a model and/or film star.”

And someone needs to find out about this trackback function, too. Haven't been able to get my head around it.

A body of the 1950s

2006-10-04T14:41:00.000+02:00

While preparing a seminar lesson on actors and stars, I stumbled upon this centerfold appearance by Marilyn Monroe in the December 1953 Playboy. I had learned about its existence a decade ago when I was a student in an "Introduction to Film Studies" lecture myself, but I cannot remember that we were actually shown pictures.

Isn't that amazing? What a change in body image over the past fifty years. You hardly see such breasts any longer, as modern day pin-ups mostly have silicon implants, which makes their breasts look like melons, little globes cut in half, and somehow permanently erected. I like Marilyn's breasts much better! Also, she didn't go to the gym (i.e. she did some type of work-out, but not of the muscle-defining type that the chicks do these days). There even is an indication of a belly, which I think is quite beautiful, but not muscle-flexing on her arms or chest! And how delicate does her skin look, unspoiled by beach vacations or sunbeds!

Compare this with the "beauty" of UK's Big Brother celebrity Lea, also known as "The biggest boobs of Britain":

I found MM's picture here, on the 4th of October 2006, and I don't have the copyright, neither does the guy who published it in Belgium, I guess. Lea's pic was part of a Sun Online article.

My New Mittens

2006-09-27T17:56:00.000+02:00

A colleague of mine took my picture, not with the intention to take MY picture, but in order to get pictures showing the crochet mittens she made (and might be interested in marketing). I like the mittens, but maybe I dig the pictures even more (I don't like posing, but she took so many of them that a few turned out rather nicely).

Just a brief update

2006-09-15T23:28:00.000+02:00

hush!

2006-09-15T21:49:00.000+02:00

The beauty of an empty tourist ship during sunset...

Aaargh!

2006-09-15T21:46:00.000+02:00

Captain, my Captain, the piano has been drinking! We were running on empty on booze, how he's started to guzzle down the lake itself! Look what he's done already!

Chief Sitting Bull

2006-09-15T21:42:00.000+02:00

...concealed by and within the protuberances of a mountain which is dubbed "The Sleeping Lady from Greece" by the locals....

Traunsee

2006-09-15T21:31:00.000+02:00

Check this out! What a scenic juxtaposition of sea, land and mountain!

Upper Austria

2006-09-15T21:25:00.000+02:00

Paid me ferst visit to Herbert's parents last week, and to Gmunden, the place were he grew up. And it was also soooo very nice... lovely people, lovely countryside, delicious cakes and tangy coffee. Let's hope that 13 is my lucky number!

Long hair

2006-09-15T21:22:00.000+02:00

My hair has become really long now, and is curlier than ever.

Done for

2006-09-05T21:49:00.000+02:00

Ok, I've had it for this year. At a rough estimate, I've spent twenty to twentyfive weekends in the train, on the road or on a plane, with a final spell of four weeks on the CELTA course in Edinburgh.

If I had it my way, all the people I love would come to Austria from now on ... (shhhhhhh... one, the most precious one, is coming back to me tomorrow:-)

Don't shout!

2006-09-03T14:20:00.000+02:00

The other day someone who I thought I liked yelled at me. We had a disagreement regarding the interpretation of a situation, and our views were rather irreconcilable. But even if she had been right (which she wasn't;-), I still keep pondering this incident. What's the point of shouting? Getting the anger off yer chest? Well done, you, it doesn't really enhance the quality of your argument, quite on the contrary. People who shout at you just don't look like people you like any more. They look ugly. They look like someone you don't want to know.

Makes you (me) wonder and question in general why people keep shouting at each other when they actually mean to settle differences. I guess that I have shouted at people a couple of times in my life too, in particular at family (at friends I haven't shouted much, I don't think - *relief*).

Bottomline: Shouting, if justifiable or not, is pretty unattractive. Look at this angry fella: Would you like to chill with this chap?

(That's actually quite an accurate rendition of what she looled like when she shouted at me, I have to say... picture found here: http://www.tarsierjungle.net/gallery1.5/albums/tarsiers/tars_yell.sized.jpg [03/09/06]

Either way I look at it: I just don't like her as much as I did before anymore.

The Edinburgh blog

2006-08-04T20:33:00.000+02:00

..begins » here.

Monster's ball

2006-08-04T20:06:00.000+02:00

An odd sweet treat available in off-license shops in Cologne.

Cologne Sunrise

2006-08-04T19:53:00.000+02:00

One of the coziest parties I had the honour to attend in a while: a drum and bass party in an artists' camp outside Europe's largest bordello:-)

This is the bordello, the Pascha, decorated with a huge tarp with all the falgs of the countries competing in the football world cup. They modified the original motto "Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden (The World paying a visit to friends)" into "the world paying a visit to girl friends". If you lool closely you'll notice that one flag is blackened - that's the flag of Saudi-Arabia. Local muslim groups had threatened the owners of the Pascha when they first put on the tarp:-)

The sun's rising over Cologne - it's been a while that I last saw this.

Art Bodensee

2006-07-28T16:38:00.000+02:00

A few impressions from the Art Bodensee, an art fair held annually here in Dornbirn. Isabella says its mostly crap what they got, and I forgot to take pictures of her work, which of course isn't crap.

An oilpainting, maybe one on one and a half metres. The artists first name was Emil - all I remember...

We both liked this piece and all the other sketches sold by this gallerist. I think this was made by a Ms. Feuchtenberger.

Waiting for Isabella to find tickets for an illegal visitor.

The artists, generously offering tickets.-)))

I had almost forgotten...

2006-07-28T15:11:00.000+02:00

... how to create animations in photoshop. Animated Gifs, yeah! Viva Web 1.0.

Tu felix Austria

2006-07-24T17:18:00.000+02:00

Over the weekend my mum came to visit and we went on an extended hiking tour in the Vorarlbergian Alps. We chose to make our way up to the mountain summit of the Hohe Kugel (1645m above sea level), or "High Globe", which was given the name because its peak resembles the shape of a globe - round, not jagged, covered with grass, not rocky. The view was spectacular, offering us three different, but equally astounding sights:

The Swiss Alps:

The Austrian Alps

Lake Constance

And blueberries, growing wild:-)

Styrofoam is fun!

2006-07-21T07:59:00.000+02:00

Two years ago, I bought eight cushions with styrofoam filling to serve as a multipart sofa. Meanwhile they have become linty and not-so-nice-anymore, so I went to get new cushion cases which turned out to be just slightly too tight for those cushions. I decided to let off a bit of their filling to fill other pillows with it ... and the filling consists of gazillions of styrofoam pearls. I had completely forgotten that there is nothing that is more fun in life than styrofoam!

I used a plastic jug as a scooper, although it constantly electrifies which renders it impossible not to spill any of those pearls which would then literally be glued to everything organic or non-organic in reach.

And in cushion three I found... another plastic jug!

The guys who once first filled the cushion cases must have left it in there... Seems like similar environments engender similar solutions:-)

Incredible though that I sat on this cushion before without ever noticing...

The virus...

2006-07-20T21:41:00.000+02:00

has got me, too. I am beginning to get the kick out of youtube....

It's over....

2006-07-05T09:40:00.000+02:00

Italy's place in the Fifa final is booked, Germany was kicked out two minutes before a possible penalty shoot-out (which if course they would have won...)

Austria Eats World Champions

2006-07-02T08:06:00.000+02:00

... is the slogan of the latest Mc Donald's campaign in Austria... suppose that Germany ought to be very afraid now:-)))

Hot in the City

2006-06-21T13:44:00.000+02:00

This musical event in Cologne on the rugby field near the military ring wasn't very well attended - although it had potential. At the same time, Ghana won its football match against Czech Republic.

Schneeweisschen & Rosenrot

2006-06-13T16:00:00.000+02:00

It was an absolute coincidence that Stefanie and I dressed in such a corresponding manner...

Dutch Signs

2006-06-13T15:57:00.000+02:00

This is cool

2006-06-11T01:04:00.000+02:00

Not enough pics

2006-06-11T00:06:00.000+02:00

Just examined the contents of my flashcard and realized once more that I have the habit of not taking enough photos when on the road... here's is the wee bit I got out of four days of Amsterdam - diddly squat. Sorry, I promise to do better next time!

Een dagje aan de zee

2006-06-10T12:39:00.000+02:00

Met de bus ben je dan in zomaar drie kwart van een uur van Amsterdam naar Zandvoort aan Zee gereden. Mooi weer, mooi strand - lecker!

Noordzeeschuim... het eiwit van de zee. En zo komt het ook tot stand: De zee is een windse mixer:-)

De duinen van Zandvoort... bijna zo goed als Duin 9 in Namibië.

Back in San Francisco

2006-06-09T21:20:00.000+02:00

Went to Amsterdam last weekend to meet Coe Leta and John (yay!); pics from Amsterdam are not ready yet, but I got a CD with pics they took in autumn in San Francisco - these are my favs...

Only the pic at the bottom is slightly older: Cologne in 2002, when the two came to visit.

More scenic than you'd expect

2006-06-02T21:50:00.000+02:00

eastern hessia - former no man's land between Germany East and Germany West - pic by olaf schüler

U:S:o:America

2006-06-02T21:08:00.000+02:00

Baghdad ER
Sound like an interesting movie to be aired in the US. Quote HBO: "12-time Emmy® winner Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill were allowed unprecedented access to the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq. Over a two-month period, they captured the day-to-day lives of doctors, nurses, medics, soldiers and chaplains in the Army's premier medical facility. BAGHDAD ER chronicles those two months, paying tribute to the heroism of U.S. military and medical personnel while offering an unflinching and at times graphic look at the realities of war.

BAGHDAD ER allows viewers to experience the physical and emotional toll of war by capturing soldiers and care providers in personal moments amidst intense crises inside the 86th Combat Support Hospital. Located in Baghdad's Green Zone, the facility was formerly the site of an elite medical center for Saddam Hussein's supporters. Thanks in part to the skill and dedication of trauma center teams like the one depicted in the film, wounded troops in Iraq have a 90 percent chance of survival - the highest rate of war survivors in U.S. history. The selflessness and dedication of those caring for wounded Americans and Iraqis stands in sharp contrast with the chaos of war. "
Make up your mind yourself: » Baghdad ER

This is actually more scary: » herobracelets.org

Quote: "Take a hero into your heart. Wear one on you wrist". Wouldn't sound different if they were sellling Teletubby Merchandise: "Take a Tubby in your heart. Wear one on your wrist." You don't even have to have a hero in your family or circle of friends to wear one as a bracelet: "Each HeroBracelet is engraved with the name, rank, hometown, state and date of loss. Your bracelets will be selected randomly." If you want to mourn your own son or friend or husband, order your customized hero-brracelet which will cost you $3.50 extra. They also have "a searchable database of troops lost in IRAQ and AFGHANISTAN to help you fill in the correct information." I wonder who in the Red Cross (or army, rather?) is in charge of such cooperations. I feel difficulty describing the irritation that this imposes upon a European mind - eventually, it is for a good cause as $2 from each HeroBracelet sold are donated to the "Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund" (may I translate: "Die Stiftung der unerschrockenen gefallenen Kriegshelden" - I am quite reliefed that the German language wouldn't allow a use of the single word Held - hero - to denotate a hero of war; the 'war' would always have to be added explicitly - Kriegsheld)

Follow the Butterfly

2006-05-15T23:35:00.000+02:00

A few pics from the practically the first wedding of people in my peer group that I was able to attend... best wishes: Jana

They got some odd names in Hessia

2006-05-15T17:55:00.000+02:00

Translation: German exclamation for "Ouch!"

Give blood

2006-05-11T19:30:00.000+02:00

For the first time in my life I donated blood today.

It's the second time that I tried; the first time they didn't want my blood. The amount of red blood cells was to low.

An interesting experience; my arm is still a bit numb, but I got a free coke and a Leberkässemmel (a type of fine meat loaf on a roll) out of it. Who said altruism didn't pay?

One way or the other, blood donation campaigns use the oddest logos in the world ever.

And if you're having sexual intercourse with men as a man and say so in your registration form, the red cross might not accept your blood.

Here's looking at you, kid

2006-05-06T22:29:00.002+02:00

A quicky made while talking to Ingo over Skype - his new and improved community pic, or: "Playing bait for Biggy and Mousy - jeez, that's what I call blue eyes..."

Cycling tour to Lindau

2006-05-06T18:49:00.000+02:00

It was a beautiful morning and midday today, so I got on my bike and cycled to Lindau (in Germany), also hoping to be able to call up the "Mitfahrzentrale", a website that acts as a platfrom to connect people who want and people who offer a ride from place to place B. You need to call one of those premium rate numbers to obtain the number of the guy or girl who is offering the lift, and dialing that number alone is worth 10% of the trip you intend to make. Unfortunately the number neither worked from my Austrian phone nor the public phone booth I tried in Lindau:-(((

But at least I moved my butt and legs a bit; it took me two hours to get to Lindau, at a relatively (considering this was me) fast pace; and I wore shorts and a relatively (considering this was me) skimpy top with a leopard scheme. I'm usually not too keen on flashing my fish-belly white skin, and of course I put on sun-screen. Still, it looks, now that I am writing this, as though I got myself a bit of a sun tan. The ride was very nice, temperature not too cold, not too hot, just fine, and I only hit two dead-ends on the whole trip. The cyle track wasn't clearly sign-posted and great stretches of it went cross country (or what would appear to be cross-country to a city dweller; most of ot were dirt roads really) along the shores of the Lake Constance - through my especially tinted super hero sunglasses, the meadows seemed to be even more luscious and the dandelions shone even brighter:-)))

10 minutes after I had arrived in Lindau it started raining heavily, and brisk wind came up. So I put on the black T-shirt that I had squeezed into my miniature bag in a bright moment before leaving home and zipped on the middle part of the triple lengths hiking pants... (quite happy to conceal me and my leopard scheme in amid the passers-by anyway)... but still froze terribly. Stopped by in a cafè for rhubarb cake and coffee; wanted to proofread CVs written by my students, but the place were terribly crowded and smokey from the other tourists and day hikers seeking refuge from the rain. And as usually, the single person with tourette syndrome in this café sat next to me on the the bar of the café, mumbling irritatlingly (and thank God incomprehensibly) away.

So I left as soon as I had finished the coffee; strolled through the pedestrian zone, determined to buy any cheap jersey or jumper that would cross my path, but no luck in the cheap department in Lindau. Finally, I found a kiosk selling coat-like pastic bags for 3.50 Euros; mine was yellow and looked a bit like one of those recycling bags, but did a fairly good job protecting me against the wind and cold.

As a pastime, I took pictures of my reflection as THE YELLOW GHOST in the windows of the meanwhile deserted shops.

Then I began cycling back home , but by that time the weather had become so cold and squally that I got of the path near the Bregenz station and bought a ticket home to dusty old Dornbirn... still without a ride to Andus's wedding, but rewarding symptoms of reasonably sore calves and thighs:-)

Happy soliloquizing Saturday, everyone:-)

Painting on the Waterline

2006-05-06T18:40:00.000+02:00

Summer in the City

2006-05-05T16:05:00.000+02:00

And be true to your school

And another photo report from Cologne

2006-05-05T15:44:00.000+02:00

The garbage people in Cologne... another not-so-controversial piece of art (although a drunk person made a few of the garbage people keel over); name of the artist: H.A. Schult; he also designed the golden Ford auto with wings on the roof of the Museum Ludwig...

Breakfast at Café Schmitz or Spitz (I forget...)

Thank God it's Friday

2006-05-05T15:29:00.000+02:00

...meaning another round of class preparation, grading, and increasing hours of high level policy making (or so we think) is done for... here is a cute pic I found in the sleeve of a CDrom Michael gave me to browse for CLIL articles...

Love in the modern age

2006-05-05T11:15:00.000+02:00

YAY!

2006-04-27T18:32:00.000+02:00

24 hours and roughly 15 minutes to go until I am going to be with my beloved one again:-)
.:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:..:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:..:*~*:._.:*~*:._.:*~*:.

Fuzzy Sunray Logic

2006-04-22T21:20:00.000+02:00

This is bizarre... I took this picture at sundown on the marketplace in frigging old Dornbirn, this is my colleague Craig hiding behind the 'palm tree'. Doesn't it seem as if either the tree seems to model the sunray or the other way around respectively?

The getaway

2006-04-22T21:09:00.000+02:00

Sunday my brother took me to the station in Fulda... he is at the moment shaving his beard to pretend a chin line;-)

Frankfurt, big city, easy to relax (ok, only semi-relaxed in this pic).

Another eclectic observation:

Home Sweet Home

2006-04-15T13:45:00.000+02:00

It's been once more nearly a year since I last went "home", i.e. the place where my progenitors reside (or, more precisely, those of my progenitors who haven't broken with me), and more than 1.5 years before that last visit. Yet some things don't seem to be willing to wear off (and if only I knew what exactly these things were about); after having spent the first night there I wished I had never decided to go back there in the first place. It's nobody's fault, it's just the way it is, but it strikes me over and over again. With three people living there, you might think that some sort of sociability and commotion should be going on, but the place is just (both) empty and cluttered, from the inside and the outside.

And all the laudable plans I had of spending 'quality time' with my relations faltered just as quickly as I can neither enforce sociability upon them nor upon myself as I seem to turn to stone myself when I get there - I basically want to sleep fast until I am able to get out of there again (but you can either book the cheap train ticket or have the flexibility to leave when you feel like it). But I will leave one day earlier now anyway, as the prospect of staying here until Monday seems suffocating. Of course this cannot be the road to reconciliation either, but I am afraid I cannot help it. Yet. Maybe one day I will.

Once more travel pics

2006-04-15T13:28:00.000+02:00

This is a "Sitzcafé" - I suppose they want to emphasize that this is not a "Stehcafé", i.e. a coffee shop where you have to stand while enjoying your café.

The hills, err, the rings have got eyes.

Deutschland's Aufstellung für 2006 - Germany's team formation for 2006 (I doubt we are in for victory).

Sickening light at the Sonic Ballroom.

This happens when you spend a night upon town with the local delinquents.... you will know them by a trail of destruction.

This reads "Plenty of room to make you feel good".

And the walls have got eyes, too.

And here is one for our Austrian friends - the "Sudermanplatz" or "the Square of the Man who wouldn't stop ranting".

Biometric Pictures - Neverending Story

2006-04-10T13:06:00.000+02:00

Sooo... the embassy rejected my pictures once more.... the facial length from hairline to the the point of the chin must add up to 32 to 36 mm, mine is only 28..... Witness the outcome of my next attempt only here, at http://migrationoffice.blogspot.com/, Cheers, mate
Jana

Sex per email, here and now

2006-04-07T15:44:00.000+02:00

Need Sex? The cutest spam I have received lately.

Biometrics

2006-04-05T18:49:00.000+02:00

Germany has now adopted the photography standard required for capturing biometric data (and Austria is also gearing up for it). The last photograph I took myself and which or so I figured was suitable for biometrics (and also accepted by the US embassy in Frankfurt) was this one:

Alas, the German "Honorary Consulate" didn't approve - because my mouth wasn't closed and I was also too pink they claimed (but can you ever be pink enough... is a question is only asked myself in quiet).

So here comes the true mugshot, a picture I had taken especially for this passport - and another proof that my hairdo has gone entirely out of control. Must say though that (while being more than HALF a year older) I don't look half as much like the stale spinster I seem to be on the pic above. S'pose criminal energy (or the appeal of it) has a juvenating effect. This might also be considered evidence of your local photographers capacity. What ever.

Hollywood Lookalike

2006-04-01T15:49:00.000+02:00

Recently someone claimed that my colleague Michael has the same hair as Robert DeNiro...

That person was wrong - Michael has the same hair as Al Pacino:

(Scroll down for another Pic of Michael)

Dä lieve Jott...

2006-04-01T15:43:00.000+02:00

dä wohnt in Kölle....

Open Day, continued

2006-03-28T23:23:00.000+02:00

One other 'attraction' was the reader's corner - at least chances weren't too bad to find an audience here, so I jumped at the opportunity to hog a bit of limelight. How else was I supposed to get rid of the unspilled adrenaline I had accumulated in the mornings when no one showed up for our presentation?

Btw, and as usual, the next day we all received an email from the marketing manager who thanked us for making FH Open Day another unprecedented success - there is forever going to be a striking incongruence between my and her perception of events...

Cologne, pt. n

2006-03-28T23:11:00.000+02:00

A few stray pictures from my last visit to Cologne.

Blue hour in the city.

Jessica's office (with Jessica).

This is by far the coolest double-barrelled name I've ever seen. Hopefully Mr. Kleinbillengeretsches is going to propose to Ms. Trumm soon.

Open Day, pt. 1

2006-03-28T22:59:00.000+02:00

Saturday we had Open Day at our university - needless to say the English curricula weren't exactly sought after, this being a university of applied sciences, but at least it gave us the opportunity to do some 'pool bonding'. Here are a few glimpses of my beloved colleagues.

The BOSS

Colin

Michael

The boys, playful

Myself

Me, the consumer

2006-03-13T19:22:00.000+01:00

There is this supermarket in Cologne by the name of "Kaufland", Shopping County. My 'It' of late-capitalism (i.e. what people in former days called the "subconscious" and blamed for all their animalic desires) is hooked on this place - this week offered the first opportunity in more than a year to go shopping in Shopping County. No frills, no thrills - but shelves 3 metres tall and yoghurt in 84 flavors. I love it. Maybe I'd like to figure out what this obsession is all about, if not one of my resolutions for this new year had been to learn to stop worrying (and love consumerism, for instance). So instead, I'll just indulge.

Follow me to the country of shopping...

Another happy customer looking for her favourite lowest price prepacked bread? Or was she maybe a retail apprentice-to-be on a work placement? She was going through this pile of bread like this for ever. Maybe it was some sort of compulsive obsessive disorder and she just _had_ to align the packages vertically and horizontally? No one knows.

The canned King:

In case you didn't know (I didn't): This chocolate spread was around before that pseudo band was... and according to the hot sheets Nu Pagadi is Russian (Ну, погоди, phonetically correct translates to: Nu, pogodi!) and means: You better watch out (na warte, in German). It was a Russian animated cartoon from the late 60s, early 70s featuring a wolf and a hare, and apparently fairly popular in the Eastern bloc countries.

Read more about this on Wikipedia. Another interesting detail: It seems as if this is the Austrian flag appearing in the image on the product packaging (in the background, on the railing of this boat or raft or whatever).

"No, Mummy, please, not Pomps again....!?!"

Colonians will love that: The inofficial capital's emblem cast in sugar... the sweet twin towers you might want to call them...

And finally, here were are... in the land of plagiarised breakfast cereals' crazy breakfast mascots....

What an appetizing idea for a point of sale decoration!

Yummy, chicken stomach (99 cent for half a kilo!)

Food designers/photographers must enjoy working for the food & groceries industry ("Remember that day when we made this dish of glaced chicken stomach, neatly decorated with peas and parsley? Nothing but cat food, but who cares...")

And to conclude: The lucky fisherman and his catch of fish! Shopping county won't let you down:-)

the most daunting campaign in a while

2006-03-06T22:49:00.000+01:00

I was waiting at the pharmacist today to pick up my cough medicine when this truly terrifying key visual of a cellulite lotion campaign caught my eye:

Some dickhead junior art director (2 months ago he was still a trainee; and since they cannot afford to pay him more, they promoted him to junior AD) must have had one helluva time when he made this. Check this out: It is a "Customer loyalty pass which you are supposed to keep and have stamped by your pharmacist any time you buy a new Vichy Product. I beg your pardon, Sir, buying cellulite products in itself it indignifying enough. Who would want to be subject to the speculation that your butt's skin might be anyhow near to complexion of a leather couch???

And that dickhead AD couldn't even resist the urge to come up with yet another equally daunting composition:

When I advanced in the queue, the woman behind me got to stand next to the brochure dispenser - and she seemed to be equally repulsed.

lexcial variety

2006-03-06T22:04:00.000+01:00

today I had the opportunity to expand my lexical variety and learn about the lexical difference between blemishes, pimples and zits. reason was that I developed a major zit on my forehead, right between my eyes (which is why I have been deemed "our new colleague from India" by my lovely office mates). I think this was caused by my participating in lent: I had nothing but coleslaw soup and apples in the past four days. Anyhow: If you want to be polite, say blemish. If you can allow yourself to be descriptive, use pimple. And use zit only in your peer-group - the word itself seems to be an onomatopoetic derivation from the sound the zit makes when you pop it.

enjoy!

jana

Carnival in Cologne

2006-03-03T10:04:00.000+01:00

Dä Jeisterzoch (the ghost parade)

in ihrefäld

diese jahr mit dem motto

Die Du-bist-Deutschland-Geisterbahn

nä?

inger weedschaft op d'r eck

och noch eens

noch mä jeister

kitty mask

from?

San Francisco!

dä ruusemuntagszoch

noch eens

de kamelle!

Migration office

2006-03-02T20:45:00.000+01:00

is the theme and I finally managed to migrate and commute a bit at least - carnival! I caught food poisoning on the very evening that we arrived which was anything but pleasant. To be honest, and for the first time of my life, I had to puke in the tram, how embarassing is that... and it doesn't get significantly better by the fact that I used my carnival paper hat as a container for the outburst.

Only resolution to be made: I'll never ever have home made sushi again, or at least not in combination with this instant burn-your-throat wasabi powder... (but it was tasty, I swear...)

back on the blog

2006-03-02T20:42:00.000+01:00

funny thing about blogs is that it may happen that you do no longer like what you wrote, or that you do no longer like what happened while you wrote the blog. Either option can easily lead to the urge to erase the old content and make space for something new... and here we go, on the bigger better brighter side of life (or so we hope)...

test test

2006-03-02T20:41:00.000+01:00

who's testing?