- Leah Rieck's book Sag dem Abenteuer, ich komme - she started out in Munich and travelled the world on her motorcycle, alone. I loved how down-to-earth it was, it didn't glorify the places she visited. Reading it gave me the final impulse to hand in the application for my sabbatical in three years. Now I just have to sign up for Spanish class at uni.
- Being sick - good for losing Canada weight. And getting better really quickly, too! I was already prepared for a horrible flu but after one feverish, painful day I was as good as new! Strange magic.
- Andre sending me a very old photo of himself, sitting in a 90s bedroom, shirtless, playing a red electric guitar. He has long-ish hair and looks up into the camera. He looks like a seductive young Kurt Cobain.
- Reading Meike Winnemuth's book about gardening. Another book which kinda gives me the desire to have my own garden. Well. For now I'm just sprucing up the balcony.
- My new Dyno vinyl label maker. Exactly the right thing for someone with a passion for sorting, labeling and organising.
- Eating ripe peaches and strawberries.
- Wearing my cowboy boots from Montréal. I love making click clack sounds while walking.
- More literature: Finally reading Hesse's Siddhartha for the first time. / Bela B Felsenheimer's debut novel. / A very pretty graphic novel I got in Québec: Anne... La Maison Aux Pignons Verts / And another feminist dystopia, one of my favourite genres: Christina Dalcher's Vox.
- An evening with Maxim and Martina at Flex. Playing pool with the computer scientist and his girlfriend from New Zealand. Needing help for the foosball match - fortunately the guy from Kairo was on the spot. Grasovka and Gauloises on a Monday night. Living a little, you know? / Related: getting better at pool even though I have to play with idiots #horribletinderdates
- Finding that sticker of Grumpy Cat saying "Don't be racist - hate everyone!"
- This list here is list number 100 of my Things I Love series. Ha. I've been doing this for a really long time now.
- Long days, short nights. Twilight. Riding my bike in the evening. The smell of lilac in the air.
- Reading about multipotentialism; thinking about my passions, skills and interests. Maybe it's time to expand my portfolio. Get myself out there. Take on a part-time job or find a new project.
- The little bird using my balcony as a playground.
- Lit Cities - Where do you want to travel to? Just pick the right book. This literary world map will help you choose.
- Me, the Queen of Bad Dates, the Realm of Being Single and Sky-High Standards despite Insecurities Galore sometimes needs to hear something like this.
- Making my own crisp bread for the first time. With sea salt, rosemary and pine nuts.
- Avocado green and beetroot magenta next to each other on a sunflower seed bun. A great colour combination.
- Virginia Woolf inventing the ODTAA (One-Damned-Thing- After-Another) Society.
- Seeing a girl one morning from the tram window. She rode her bike downhill in the morning sun without holding on to the handles. She wore a light jacket and the wind pushed it back over her shoulders. She looked free.
- I love finding partyblowers in men's pockets. That's why I sometimes put them there. I think it started with Hannes after watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the cinema. For my birthday, Manu got a green one for his leather jacket. I always instruct them to keep it there for me to find next time.
- Drawing a stripper greeting card for Sarah because I didn't think Leoni was able or organise a real one for her.
- Waiting for Lexi in front of the water fountain at Prinzregentenplatz when I saw a bunch of balloons rising up in the sky in the sunshine. I hope someone made a wish. Or a little kid was crying, who knows.
- Spending time with Lexi! Bun and litchi mojitos as Thao, ice-cream at Ballabeni. Watching the cats at Katzentempel from outside. Shopping at Edited, Words' Worth and Mikado (where I ran into Dani who showed me his Harley... what a coincidence).
- Also: somehow motorcycles are a recurring theme at the moment. I'd like to get a scooter or my motorcycle driver's license.
- I'm a big fan of sculptures with little legs.
- "Everything about this aesthetic is working! Can I buy you a drink?" (Jonah) - one of the best pick-up lines ever used on me. Sadly - of course - by a weirdo toymaker with a bimbo fetish. But hey, he had a very nice voice.
- The yellow cascade blossoms on the tree in front of my balcony.
- Watching videos by a foster mum for rescue kittens.
- My birthday! I treated myself to ramen and pistachio ice-cream at Viktualienmarkt in the afternoon. In the evening I met Barbara, Maike, Lena, Obi, Lexi, Yanic, Bibi, Manu and Frank at Keg. It was karaoke night so I sang the Pina Colada song and I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight by Cutting Crew. I made a fool of myself but that's fine. Gin and tonic and having an awesome time with my friends helped me get over it. I even got super nice presents: a colour-changing umbrella from Bibi (whose eyes looked especially beautiful that day), a book about epic road trips and &otherstories earrings from Lexi and Yanic, a Rivers of London graphic novel from Barbara and Maike and Lena and Obi gave me a happy llama DIY kit (such fun!) and a voucher for a hike with alpakas and llamas. My mum gave me Avène Antirougeurs face cream and a plant holder. Sounds weird but both items had actually been on my wish list.
- Frank and Manu's bromance. They just kept talking about Quake, ignoring me completely. It's fine. I did a good deed by getting those two together.
- An afternoon at the cinema watching Detective Pikachu with Manu, Isi, Andi, Dani and Martin.
- The power of imagination: I get a physical reaction when I imagine cutting my finger on the edge of a metal can.
- Planning on making a collection of hand sculptures and prints with different materials and media.
- Taking part in iraville's little drawing challenge (#drawthisinyourstyle) - she posted an illustration ('Matcha Girl') and asked her followers to use it as an inspiration to draw the same motif in their own personal style.
- Drawing more in general. Actually using the huge set of Polychromos coloured pencils I bought.
- Wolfgang Herrndorf's poem Das Elend und die Welt.
- Motto week at school. Getting to wear your pyjamas to work is awesome.
- Going to England with the students. There were some small incidents but all in all I had a very good time. As a matter of fact I'm one of those rare teachers who enjoy class trips. Everything is better than routine. So we stayed at a host family with a small zoo - they had three cats, their son brought another one on the first day, and in the garden we'd get visits from foxes, seagulls and the neighbours' cat, too. Sara's Iranian cuisine was amazing. So much better than anything we had in a restaurant that week. Her granddaughter Liana was quite a handful but adorable. I love it when children have a British accent. I had never been on the Dover-Calais ferry before and seen the chalk cliffs.
may 2 2019 ∞
jun 16 2019 +