2006-10-13 | Nature strikes back
Greenhouse effect, global warming, air polution and forest logging, the list of environmental crime is long. Many say that nature will strike back one day and claim its place. But I wouldn’t have expected it to happen in my very own room only a few minutes ago. However, nature’s perfidious and ingenious way of showing its power and will doesn’t seem to stop at small households any longer. And her methods are truly erratic!
Thus it happened tonight: Initially, I considered the mosquito, that feast on me, to be the cruel malefactor, yet I didn’t realize he was only a means to an end for something much bigger, that had supposedly been planned a long time before. Hence I stayed clueless until finally, after a long search and chase, I discovered the mosquito sitting on the wall, a little bit above my shelf. Unfortunately too high to be caught by hand, I decided (still clueless) to confront the blood-sucker with my pillow; or rather crush him with it.
It wasn’t until the pillow’s recoil from the wall though, that I discovered the whole truth. Because that exact moment was used by the cactus to cling himself to the pillow and jump into the deep with a death-defying leap.
Not to kill himself, no, but to escape his prison - the too small plant pot - and enjoy his freedom at last. With ease he broke the pot’s walls, just to help Mother Earth expand herself in the same breath as well. And so she did instantly by reclaiming a good quarter of the carpeted floor.
Suddenly I was reminded again by nature, who the stronger one is! But I understood the warning, fondly and tediously gathered the soil back together and gifted the cactus a bigger, cozy pot. Meanwhile the cactus thanked me effusively by putting his spines in my fingers.
At last, peace has returned and the cactus is standing proudly alongside his mates in his new home on the shelf. Furthermore, I regained the requisite respect for nature and the carpet will also be cleaned and cared for tomorrow. So remember this little anecdote and bear in mind: Nature always holds the privilege and you have to live in harmony with her!
But wait, what’s that?! I hear a hushed, penetrating high "Sssssssssss". Haven’t I even caught the mosquito?! But NO, I’ve learned my lesson! Oh, cactus, don’t lead me into temptation! Mosquito, come and suck me empty.
2006-09-11 | Holy Moly
During lunch today the TV was on and there was a live broadcast of the Pope’s visit in Bavaria. The news reporter on site was mentioning repeatedly that the Pope would just be "a stone’s throw away from him". Could it be the reporter was a Protestant?
2006-08-09 | Back under one roof
The chlorine smell of the public swimming bath still hovers in the air, though I’m back home and the sight of the gorilla in the hot tub forges back into my mind once more. What a big, hairy, bulky beast! Or was it a werewolf? After all we have a full moon tonight, in the outdoor pool you could spot a large round white disk in the sky. (Nope, it wasn’t a UFO!) Besides that, the day passed quickly and could’ve been more spectacular. But at least everything’s back under one roof now!
2006-07-05 | Knocked up by euphoria
The Soccer World Cup is almost over for the german team but not for Germany itself! We can still make it third place in the fight for the best soccer nation. And as the host, Germany has to care for the world championship to end as great and peacefully as it had begun. It is fascinating to see the german people being caught by such an euphoria only because of sport!
Even I, rather a football grump, have to confess that I don’t understand why I got drawn into the plot so much this time! Joy and good vibes have overcome the whole nation, no matter if fans or not. Let’s keep an eye on not losing that again so soon! Because you can also become world champion by other means!
2006-06-25 | Swimming season
Fuck, who let the water out of the pool?!
2006-06-03 | Where are you heading?
If you’re looking for a better future there is one to find in Munich!
2006-05-20 | The Top-Model
Already from last year but I guess that doesn’t belittle his beauty...
2006-02-09 | Why do we become adults?
Slowly we get the feeling that something in our generation has changed which hadn’t been so obvious before. School days date a long way back, most of us are at university, at work or already make plans for the near future. Gone are the days of unconcerned living for the day, at least for an indefinite period. You cut the cord to your parents, stand on your own legs someday, you are independent and have to make your own decisions for yourself and your life. Maybe you won’t realize at first that your responsability is growing all along, too. When you’re a kid you normally don’t have to worry about the problems of daily grind, a secure future or a daily dinner. You live relatively fancy-free and can plan your afternoons the way you like without thinking of the problems of tomorrow.
But as time passes and the older we get, the amount of things we have to care for rises and we have to bear the consequences for unfinished and missed businesses. We learn from defeats, perhaps there will be situations which badly disappoint us and make us become more precautious, distanced and deliberate towards other people. Competition rises in work environment as well as in social environment. We have to stand up to others if we want our interests and wishes or even ourselves to be heard and noticed. The simple and open exposure to other people out of childlike naivety will eventually turn into some sort of affective and restrained association which is assessed and calculated and a result of social norms and rules we have submitted ourselves to when we grew older.
So is it responsibility and hindered environmental stress of society that let us become what we generally call "adult"? Is it the adaption to a system in which we have to fear the loss of our reputation if we don’t follow the rules? Is it the fear of getting disappointed again because of emotional behavior and therefore being more egoistic? Or is it maybe even resignation we have developed out of experience and which makes the adult child become desensitized and cool bit by bit? In the past we used to say that adults were boring, don’t understand us and that we’d surely never become like them.
Nowadays we self mostly don’t understand kids and teenagers anymore and feel way too old in clubs if we still happen to go there at all. Now we discount something as childish behavior when we want to let ourselves go one more time, act carefree and "inappropriate". And often this sort of emotional behavior can only be reached again under a certain level of alcohol. Then we forget our limits and norms once more for a while and are able to tell another person our feelings freely (or unintentionally?) without thinking of the potential subsequent shame at that very moment.
So have we become adults at last, too? At least our age places us in this category. But also our behavior has changed, even if it is not visible right away. But has it changed to the better or the worse? The answer only knows everyone for himself.
