The Problematic of the Unproblematic

I have an excuse for not writing: a) over the weekend, the sun fried my brain and made me dumb and happy. b) since, I have been in meetings starting at 8 in the morning, ending at 8 at night. Over the weekend, I was grateful for the sky, the flowers, the rivers and forests, the birds and the bees and throwing a boomerang (without any success, but it was fun anyway). Could we learn something from the boomerang? I am sure we could. Depending on the wind, it flies this way or that way, depending on the angle it is thrown, it returns or crashes to the ground. Totally fascinating. They are also easy to loose, especially when thrown in a field with high grass or whatever grows on fields. You think you know exactly where it landed, but once there, it is nowhere to be found. It may have hidden stealth qualities! Since the weekend I have been less grateful generally and the more my brain came back to life, the less grateful I became. Oh well, it is a process. Processes are there to mak...

After writing about deleting people on Facebook yesterday I felt really bad. So bad that I did a 180 in my own bed. Let me tell you, waking up where your feet should be is a rather traumatic experience! And I lost two buttons on my pajamas. I got over it with the help of, among other things, the latest Glee episode. OMG, it is full to the rim with the bestest quotes ever! Don't you just love it when you can hear the writers laughing in the background because they must have had so much fun writing the episode?! Sue Sylvester: "My parents were famous Nazi hunters, so they weren't around a lot" or "I just lost my train of thought because you have so much margarine in your hair" or "I thought I smelled cookies from the tears of elves weeping that live in your hair" ... LOVE that woman. I want to be like her when I grow up. And I want some cutie like Will Schuster around to torment. Later in the day, somebody dared suggest that this deleting-frien...

There are days where I seriously consider deleting all my friends on Facebook. Ok, maybe not all of them. I would keep some. But only a selected, few; the most precious, most loved. There are so many out there that annoy the living hell out of me! And I am pretty sure I have the exact same effect on them. Sure, sure, you can hide these people. But that's just not the same. Blocking them? no, sorry, that's too radical. I believe in second chances. If they absolutely want to be friends with me even though we annoy the living hell out of each other --- fine. Just ask me nicely and I'll think about it. But it's like with anything else: the more you get of something for free, the less value it has (ummm, ok, that might not be true for money you get for free... ). So, how pathetic is it that this thinking about deleting people makes me feel ... good? That it feels like punishing without reason, which equals feeling powerful? Must I go see a shrink because this is some sad l...

all I want is fall into bed and sleep, sleep, sleep, but something is keeping me ... it's Supernatural! I mean ... "They kidnap Lilith's personal chef who disguises itself as a nurse, stealing newborn babies for Lilith to devour, to question her. Meanwhile, Dean is kidnapped by the angels and brought to a room without any exit where Zachariah explains to him that the angels are not trying to stop the final seal from being broken—in fact, they want to start the apocalypse, for it will cleanse the earth and bring Paradise." Who can say no to this??

Grateful for all the excitement you bring into our lives, Eyjafijallajökull! Or may I call you Eddie? Eddie, Eyjafjallajökull is not even your name, you do not have a name, you poor thing, Eyjafjallajökull is the name of the glacier you are currently melting down. And I hear you are on 1666m altitude? So you are one HELL of a vulcano! Take care and carry on your good work!

today, grateful for this!

Vampire Diaries is becoming interesting, right before the end of season 1. Or is it just me in my not-sure-what-I've-got-but-I'm-not-fully-functional/healthy state? (surely also the reason why I post pictures of Ian Somerhalder on this Blog) Who knows what kind of tricks my brain is trying to play on me. I actually had to watch certain moments twice because the information seemed too complex the first time. So what's with the rings? Can I have one too? They are really ugly, but having a ring that brings you back from the dead seems useful. Spartacus continues to be the most awful show I have ever seen. I do write this also as a future reminder to myself, in case I forget. I do wonder who in their right minds wants to see so much manliness? And who wants to hear things like: "beg for your life, little rabbit?" or, my favorite: "A Gladiator does not fear death. He embraces it. Caresses it. Fucks it. Each time he enters the arena, he slips his cock in the m...

Today's big topic shall be Expectation Management. It is the solution to all our problems. For example: Writing one good sentence a day is absolutely sufficient if you think about it. Who says we have to write more? Ok, what if we write NO good sentences a day? (like me today) Expectation Management will help. Why did I expect to write a good sentence today, well knowing that Wednesdays I teach and don't have any time to write at all? I should have better managed my expectations from the minute I woke up! Expect less of yourself, I say, and you will not cease to surprise yourself. Expect less of everybody and everything and life will be paradise. (I am grateful the child is in bed already)

I received an email from Seymour Hersh last night. He wants to meet and to chat. About cyberwar. He is probably going to be the most famous person I will ever meet... Or maybe that was Jerry Dale McFadden and the rest of the Mavericks back in 2000 and 4 or 5? Not sure. At least I only have to choose between two famous people, because that's all I ever met in my entire life. vs. [btw: Am I a bad person for asking myself, now, after the initial euphoria has worn off a little:"why does Sy [as he is known to his friends] want to meet me in Zurich and not in New York or Washington DC?"] In my after-Sy-Hersh-wrote-me-an-email-high - it was late and I was tired - I promised a beautiful young man to write something about American Idol and Glee today. So here goes: Thinking about American Idol makes me think about fame. More specifically, our desire to partake in fame more than we actually want to have fame ourselves: being famous is far too much work, really. (Not tha...

day 20: thankful for words such as oxymoron, soliloquy, mischievous, sobriety. I just like them. when I think them, something resonates within me. I must have often spoken these words in an earlier life, I think. And I am eagerly awaiting the Oxymoron's diary, which makes me like 'oxymoron' doubly. day 21: thankful for sun, fun, and nothing to do. Only you my Schatz on the Luftmatratz (at least in my mind). I had a look at where I am going to spend many a weekend this summer. There is a 50m pool there. Not saying anything more, or you'll all want to come. Can't have that. day 22: is that today? you know something is wrong with your life if you can't keep count of your days. I think Internet connections should be much much faster. So fast that if we wanted to download a movie it would only take 10' max. And I want Facebook to be as exciting again as it was when I first started using it 2.5 years ago. And I want a burger from Zic Zac , now! Because I can...

Oh man, the urge I have to get my bass out of confinement and start shredding some mad Black Metal tune! It is very fortunate that I believe in always satisfying urges at the earliest possible moment. So, this weekend, the house will quake and quail! as will all the neighbours! and so will I! because my fingers are going to hurt like hell!! I am just so grateful it's the weekend (almost). And yesterday, I was grateful for the same thing. Seeing that "being grateful it's the weekend (almost)" is something to be grateful for on at least 2 days a week, it has great value for someone trying to be grateful at least once a day, which is a hard task.

Watching an episode of Supernatural in which the sound is not in sync with the video and I hate it. And I hate that blond thing named 'Jo' (<-- that's the woman over there). The www informs me that I am not the only one (at the time of airing of this episode, which was in 2006, at least 10 Mio. women disapproved of her - leave Dean alone, you skinny little thing!). I am also informed that she dies in Season 5 Episode 10, that is last November. RIP. Other main characters that are killed in series: - Robin of Sherwood (--> that's him with Lady Marianne over there). Just terrible! stupid, stupid Michael Praed who thought he could become more famous elsewhere and probably ruined not only his career but also one of the best TV shows every made. (because in came Jason Connery, who should have left acting to his dad). - Michael Scofield from Prison Break. But only at the end. Didn't bother me at all. - Kara Thrace in Battlestar Galactica. No, wait, she comes ...

Today, I am grateful for seeing a baby chameleon. Baby chameleons are supposed to bring you 77 years of luck and only 7 days of mishap during these 77 years. If I could choose I would choose 7 days of mishap in a row to get it done and over with. But then, these things usually don't turn out well, as we all know from the fairytales. Like in the Fisherman and his Wife. I am also sure that if I got three wishes and would wish in my first wish to have all my wishes fulfilled for the rest of my life, something would go wrong (= I would be punished by the fairy who grants me the three wishes). So I would have to come up with something different. But what?

I am so grateful for being offline for 4 days! Or was it 3 days? Anyway, what a beautiful concept it is. (even though I must admit to cheating a little. I used my iPhone to check email and to have a peek at Facebook)

I am grateful today for sleeping a lot

I tried to work on an article today but failed miserably. Not only was I greatly disturbed by the snow this morning (which sugarcoats the Üetliberg!! !!), I was also lacking the energy to start doing some serious thinking. However, I have great hopes for my article. Especially for the subchapter called "the Problematic of the Unproblematic". I don't know what I am going to write there yet, but I like the title a lot.