| (no subject) |
[Aug. 13th, 2007|04:40 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  calm | ] |
| [ | music |
| | joy division - decades | ] |
The Guardian has an interesting comment today: Charlie Booker claims that "Nightclubs are hell. What's cool or fun about a thumping, sweaty dungeon full of posing idiots?"
Well said.
Plus, being bored at work today lead to me stumbling across a website - in german, mind, but it's simple and rather self-explaining - where you can enter your favourite artist or band and it tells you what else people who like that artists listen too. Parts of the results I got were total bullshit, I thought, but other results were quite accurate where i'm concerned.
Not really scientific, but fun to play with and waste some time. |
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| progress |
[Aug. 9th, 2007|04:27 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cranky | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Joy Division - Atmosphere | ] |
We finished laying a new floor - a wooden one instead of the old, yucky carpet.
Laying it involved a lot of hammering and using the buzz saw --> all my neighbours hate me and give me the evil eyes when I meet them in the hallways before I've even moved in properly. Joy. |
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| about spoilers (in general. this post doesn't contain any, I hope) |
[Jul. 19th, 2007|02:42 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  awake | ] |
| [ | music |
| | joy division - atmosphere | ] |
I don't really like the fact that the headlines and front pages of today's papers told me (presuming that the leaked book on the web is real) how harry potter and the deathly hallows will end.
don't get me wrong - I think it's marvellous that no matter how great the security measures, the web and the online community is something that cannot be controlled, where information cannot be contained and you can't keep people from sharing and proliferating files. it has something anarchistic and free about it that appeals far more to me than any concerns about copyright or ownerships issues.
but I thinks it's unfair that people who wanted to read the book without being spoiled had to see those headlines.
personally, I don't mind: I love spoilers. I always start with the last chapter when reading a book. I google before going to the cinema to see how a film ends before watching it. and yes, I googled for those hp7-photos and read (or tried to, parts are rather unreadable) parts of it to know what happens (and yes, I squealed at parts. while being at work. my reputation has been destroyed forever). but I choose to do that because I want to be spoiled. and I know and respect that other people don't want to be spoiled.
and I think it's terribly unfair to do that to them.
edit: after cross-reading twice (not much work to be done today), I think I'm going to like DH. |
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| DIY report, part 1 |
[Jul. 5th, 2007|04:49 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  exhausted | ] |
| [ | music |
| | kristin hersh - in shock | ] |
I started renovating (I have to, to make it inhabitable) my flat. With the help of my brother and under supervision by my father (because I'm an absolute beginner).
So far, we ripped out the floors (all three of them - all my predecessors since the early 80s just put one floor on top of the other).
And I abraded the door frames because I want to paint them.
Three days of work, and my hands already feel like sandpaper. And, considering the state of the flat at the moment, I really can't imagine that it will ever be ready for someone to move in
Next step: abrading the doors. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 28th, 2007|04:27 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | bouncy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | gogol bordello - start wearing purple | ] |
I received the keys for my flat yesterday.
I bought two essential items for my new household already:
- a hairdryer
and
- a teapot.
That's all a girl needs, isn't it?
I have to wait for the new floor (right now, it's a yucky carpet) before I start buying furniture. |
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| On Friday... |
[Jun. 9th, 2007|08:46 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | annoyed | ] |
... I left the house carrying a bag containing clothes for rowing. I arrived at work without it.
Conclusion: I forgot it either in the bus or in one of two tube lines I use.
Chances of getting it back: 1:3? 1:5? Not zero, but definitely not good.
I used to forget stuff at the bus station all the time when I was 11 or 12, but it didn't happen to me in years. Mmmh. Maybe I'm starting to become senile. |
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| I found a flat |
[May. 15th, 2007|04:29 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
The friend of a friend is moving, and I just signed the contract to rent the flat she's currently renting. It's in Vienna's 11th district, about 300 m from the next tube station, but in a dead end street (and therefore rather quiet), with the windows on the side of the interior courtyard, small (~ 47 square meters) but cosy, for a reasonable amount of rent.
Which means I'm finally moving out of my parents' home.
Officially, I can move in on July 1st, but I have to change the floor and do paintwork and get furniture and move stuff and I probably won't be able to get days off from work, so it will probably be August until I'm really moving in.
Brace yourself, IKEA, here I come... |
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| Office pets |
[May. 2nd, 2007|04:40 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | annoyed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | israel kamakawiwo'ole - over the rainbow | ] |
Back at work this week.
Couldn't enter office on my own - security code didn't work anymore.
After a colleague finally let me in, I noticed some kind of brown-black dirt on my desk, around my flowerpots. I thought at first that someone had messed about with the plants on my desk - until the girl on the next desk kindly informed me that we have mice in our office and the little dark things on my desk were actually mouse droppings.
Lovely. |
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| To attend or not to attend - high school reunion |
[Apr. 27th, 2007|07:54 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | awake | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Clash - Rock the Casbah | ] |
I got mail from former classmates today – an invitation for our first high school reunion at the end of June, eight years after graduating.
I’m not sure if I want to go – on one hand, I’m rather keen on gossip and would like to see where the people I went to school with ended up in life so far. On the other hand, I still have contact with the ones I like anyway, and I don’t really want to see the rest of them (otherwise I would have kept in contact).
Hmmm. Difficult decision, especially because I can’t stop thinking about Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion.
Only two days left before I have to go to work again. Meh. I’m going to spend the rest of my holidays watching the second season of Life On Mars (which has finally arrived - thanks for the delay, Amazon). |
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| It’s Summer! And Saddle-Noses. |
[Apr. 15th, 2007|09:09 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | awake | ] |
The weather this weekend was so hot it felt like July or August, not April. I went rowing yesterday. We were not the only ones making the most of the unusual weather - the part of the Old Danube we use for rowing was so crowded with rowing boats, little sailing boats, pedal boats and swimmers we had to go zigzag all the time.
And while I think it’s great that I live in a country where the sight of exposed breasts doesn’t bother anyone (every second boat had – mostly middle-aged – women on it trying to get a tan without tan lines) we almost crashed into another boat at the sight of a man in his 60ies wearing a thong.
Still, you have to admire his self confidence – my arse is far less bumpy with cellulite and definitely less hairy than his, and I wouldn’t dare to wear a thong.
Mmmh. Maybe I should?
Anyway.
One of the books I read recently was about the cultural history of sexually transmitted diseases (I couldn’t resist buying it – it was only 3 euros). It does focus mainly on syphilis, and it mentions that one of characteristic signs of congenital syphilis (= transmission from mother to child in utero) is the so-called “saddle-nose”, which means there’s a flattening of the bridge of the nose.
Ever since I read that, I can’t stop staring at people’s faces and checking for saddle-noses. I do it everywhere: on the bus, on the subway, in shops, in restaurants, or when I’m simply walking along the street. I even do it when I watch telly.
I just can’t seem to stop! |
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| hooray, holidays |
[Apr. 11th, 2007|08:08 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at home | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | peaceful | ] |
Since I started working almost a year ago (and will get the right to another 25 days off soon), I’m currently enjoying my first work-free period lasting longer than a couple of days.
Plans for my three-weeks-long holiday: Sleep in, do whatever I feel like and relax.
So far, I’ve read a pile of books. And watched some DVDs.
I’m not going anywhere, though. No beach holiday, no city trip. First of all, all my friends have to work so I have no one to go on holiday with. Second, pre-moving-out I’m on a strict saving regime.
But I dream of going to the train station and taking the first train, going anywhere that’s far away.
Problem: I don’t even own a valid passport.
Second problem: Sadly, I’m completely unable to do anything remotely spontaneous.
Still. I can dream, can’t I? |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 31st, 2007|08:22 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | radio | ] |
It's saturday morning, and I have been at the office since 8 o'clock. Meh.
At least, there's no one around who has a good view on my screen, so I started the day by reading some online newspapers.
Big media outrage this week because a 66-year-old woman just had a baby (she already has a 35-year-old daughter and another one she had when she was 61) after receiving an egg donation abroad (it's not allowed in this country).
Now, I don't doubt that there are good arguments against having kids at that age, and it does make me a bit uneasy. But what I really miss is the same outrage whenever a man over 60 becomes a new father (be it his first child ever or his first child with his second, third, fourth wife). I don't remember everyone saying "eww" when, for example, Donald Trump did it. Or Mick Jagger. Or Nick Nolte, who has apparently just knocked his girlfriend up. At 66.
Also currently on my mind:
The footage of the British soldiers/sailors held in Iran which I saw on TV yesterday reminds me of the footage from the beginning of the Iraq war, showing a few (7, I believe) American soldiers captured by the Iraqi army. I remember the speculation about their fate in the hands of the Iraqis, and the outrage at the footage being shown on television (which violated the Geneva convention - but is certainly not worse the extraordinary rendition or the refusal to even grant POW-status).
I don't remember hearing anything else about those soldiers and what happened to them. Does anyone remember anything about that?
And I wonder: Is that because there simply was no media coverage, or did I just miss/forget it? Were they ever interviewed after being freed? What did they tell about their times in captivity? Even more interesting: Were they ever asked, years later, what they thought of the Abu Graib scandal? |
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| Bouncers - big bald fat men on a power trip? |
[Mar. 15th, 2007|04:48 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | at work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | the collective breathing of my colleagues... | ] |
Once again, I went to see a band yesterday - Naked Lunch, darlings of the Austrian Indie scene (if such a thing exists) who have an admittedly fantastic new album and played a long (I didn't even stay for all the encores, since I have to get up before six every day), rather melancholic but very enjoyable show.
The reason why I'm even posting about this is the following: The gig took place at a venue called "Arena" which used to be part of a huge slaughterhouse area that was illegally occupied by leftists in the summer of 1976 (Austria's big 1968 moment, a few years behind as everything is in this country). After that summer, the city made sure that the young people could have parts of the area as a venue for concerts, gigs and other stuff.
For a long time, it used to be one of the pillars of local counterculture. In my, er, a bit wilder teenage days I used to love going there - no matter how you looked, nobody looked at you in a strange way, plus it had a really bad reputation (drugwise and else) which I loved, of course - and I still like going there very much. They have this really nice outdoor ground which is great for open-air shows (it's where I sat on straw on the ground while waiting for Jarvis Cocker in January, and where there's open-air cinema in summer) and a few building varying in sizes for indoor happenings. And it's been even nicer since it's been renovated last year.
Part of the charm was the general laid-back atmosphere - everyone used to be friendly to everybody else, people treated each other with respect, I never witnessed any aggressive drunks or fights there. Yes, if you showed up for concerts there was somebody asking to look into your bag and, depending on the concert, most of times you were even frisked, but once you were in there were no more problems. At least, that's how it seemed to me.
But yesterday, it was different. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive about this, but suddenly there are these huge bouncers: Big (huge. to tell you the truth) bald fat (sorry, but they are) men looking like the guys in hiphop videos who clear they way through the crowd for the big star by shoving everyone out of the way. I first noticed them when we were standing in front of the entrance, waiting to be let in (another thing that bugged me: when it says "beginning time: 20.00" on my ticket and I show up at 19.45, I do not expect to have to stand in the cold for 15 minutes), where they stood menacingly and told people that, no, they are not letting people in yet in a rather unfriendly fashion.
I noticed them next time when we were sitting at the back of the hall where there are some kind of steps for people to sit on (except on the right and left side of the steps, where there's some space marked that's meant for people going up or down and not for sitting on). Soon enough, there was no more space to sit and, as always, people started sitting down on the parts marked for going up or down. And yes, I know, the ways to the emergency exits have to be kept free so that people have a chance to get out in case of fire or panic or whatever and you're not allowed to sit there because of that. But you can certainly explain that to the people sitting there in a friendly and calm fashion. There's no need to look at them like they'd just stepped on your puppy, bark "up, up!" at them and wave your bulky arms around like you want to make a fly go away.
Whatever happened to the relaxed attitude? What happened to the respect?
And what will be next? Will there be bouncers at the entrance deciding whose hip and cool and hot enough to get in? |
|
|
| Moaning about standing still – and about hair |
[Mar. 4th, 2007|08:02 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  restless | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Magic Alex - Soft Bomb | ] |
The past week has been a rather shitty one for me – once again I’m having a bit of a mental crisis.
One of the girls at work had her last day this week (she’s moving to Africa to do work for her PhD there), another girl – the one occupying the desk next to mine – has handed in her notice (she’s found a better-paid job with better prospects for further development), another girl told me unofficially that she will hand in her notice next month.
Which, of course, leaves me the only one without any big changes in her life in the foreseeable future. And it’s a rather shitty feeling to see everyone move on with their lives while standing still yourself.
And everyone I complained to about it just told me I should stop moaning and follow my colleagues examples and do what I want with my life. Which leads to the bigger problem, the bane of my existence, the root of all my problems: I don’t know what I want do with my life.
To distract me from my thoughts – and to moan to somebody else about them – I met B. (who moans less about her work but more about the fact that her knight in shining armor desperate to marry and have kids with her is nowhere in sight) last night and we went to see a movie and have dinner afterwards. Suitingly, we chose to see “Notes on a scandal” – starring Judi Dench as an lonely, bitter, manipulative old woman with a cat and lesbian tendencies who blackmails Cate Blanchett into a close friendship. Over cocktails, we then wondered whether that would be us in forty or fifty years.
Whatever. Maybe I should just cut my hair and move to… Newfundland.
Speaking of hair: I don’t get what all the fuss about Britney Spears’ hair is about. Why is it an alarming sign sending psychiatrists into hysteria if she cuts it off? Similarly, the online Guardian today features an article about the kidnap victim surfacing after years of being held in a cellar – apparently, she wants to cut her hair off too, and again it’s seen as an alarming sign of mental problems.
I find it strange that, as a woman, you’re supposed to remove the hair from your legs and armpits and a least part of your pubic hair (otherwise you’re considered either mental, a lazy slob or simply disgusting) but if you decide to cut off the hair on your head it’s considered to be a sign of mental breakdown (or militant lesbianism).
As a form of protest, I decided against shaving my legs this week. Bin the BIC! |
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| Strange week at the office |
[Feb. 25th, 2007|09:20 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | pensive | ] |
After moving into the new office with our new colleagues, the week started with us being decidedly uncomfortable: We did not speak to them, they did not speak to us. Basically, we all ignored each other, everyone staying in their own rooms. We thought they were being horribly rude: Not greeting, not smiling, not talking to us when we met in the halls. And I bet they thought the same about us.
In the middle of the week we discovered that they had been expecting us to introduce ourselves while we had been expecting them make introductions – and after some brave people (belonging to them, not us, I’m ashamed to say) decided to end this situation we all know each others names and greet each other now.
So the second half of the week was much better than the first half – everyone was going out of their way to be super-friendly to everybody else.
So, we’ll see how the atmosphere at the office will turn out in the long term. But for now I have the feeling that the new people are genuinely nice.
Although, they’re very stylish and fashionable. They all show up dressed like on a night out every day. Makes me feel horribly underdressed and wallflower-ish. Don’t like that at all. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 18th, 2007|08:09 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | bored | ] |
My life has been really, really boring lately. Nothing happens. At all.
Maybe this week will bring some excitement: The company I work for is moving. And we will meet a lot of new colleagues we don't know yet because so far the company has had offices in a few different buildings and now most of us are being moved into one location.
But the new colleagues will probably be as boring as the old ones.
And I really bore myself at the moment.
Most exciting thing recently: I discovered Life On Mars. They started showing the first season on some (usually crappy) german channel and I really liked it, even though the dubbing sucked and they cut eight minutes out of each episode. Naturally, I didn't accept that and got myself the DVD, freshly imported from the UK. No matter what your political ideology is, you have to admit that living in the age of online shopping and EU-wide customfree markets has its perks. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 25th, 2007|08:49 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I spent an evening in a karaoke bar</>.
I didn’t mean for it happen – I just went for cocktails with some colleagues from work and former colleagues and current colleagues of former colleagues and so on. And after some rounds, they insisted on going there.
No, I didn’t sing. But everyone else did, badly, and it was a rather bizarre experience.
God, I envy people with enough courage to completely embarrass themselves like that. I simply can’t do it, even when we’re all drunk.
Speaking of embarassment: At work today I accidently sent an e-mail meant for my sister to a whole department of the company I work for.
Oops.
I just wanted to ask her if she has decided to come see the band Naked Lunch with me in March this year, at the very economic price of 13 euros per ticket. So I just wrote: “so, how about naked lunch? 13 euros…” – and then sent it to dozens of people.
I really hope they realize I was talking about a seeing a band and not making indecent proposals to anyone. How embarassing would it be if I got fired for sexual harassment?
Plus: If I would be offering myself as a nude mealtime companion, I’d most certainly charge more than that. |
|
|
| Yesterday… |
[Jan. 21st, 2007|09:07 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  giddy | ] |
Well, as usual, I panicked for nothing and the storm did not cause a lot of damage in Vienna at all, so the outdoor birthday party for the alternative radio station took place without problems yesterday. The weather was really nice and warm, too – we didn’t need gloves or woolen hats and were even able to sit around in the straw they put on the grounds without our bottoms getting cold, which was really lovely and helped passing the time until finally Jarvis Cocker got on stage.
And it was well worth the wait: While his show only lasted for about an hour, I thought it was really great - it did include all the songs I expected to hear and a few I didn’t even know (and, for whatever reason, ended with a cover version of Black Sabbath’ Paranoid). He does have great stage presence and puts on a very good show (even though my sister thought his dancing was really funny), has a fantastic voice (I often find that various singers’ voices are poor and disappointing when I hear them live, but his definitely isn’t) and a very charming way of introducing his songs and talking to the audience. (For the sake of not sounding completely fan-girlish, I’m not going to write about how he looked and what he wore, although he definitely was something to look at.) All in all, I really loved it and was – for the first time in, well, two or three years at least – genuinly enthused and euphoric about a live concert.
I have to say he got a rather lukewarm reception by large parts of the audience, though. That’s the problems with festivals: Everyone goes there because they want to see one or maybe two bands, but no one is enthusiastic about all of them. And yesterday, large parts of the audience seemed to think that the Fratellis rocked (while I thought they were, well, okay, but rather boring – there’s nothing distinctive about them, nothing that makes their music different from most other current bands with names starting with “The –“) while they were less than euphoric about Jarvis Cocker’s show and seemed a bit bored with it.
Tasteless bastards.
Anyway. Afterwards, in my rather euphoric state, we completely missed the right time to back away from the stage and stood right there when radio people cut the huge cake and started throwing pieces into the audience. Guess who ended up with bits of cake stuck to her forehead and in her hair? |
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| “Kyrill” vs. Jarvis? |
[Jan. 18th, 2007|08:26 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
This. Is. Not. Funny.
There’s are huge storm – called “Kyrill” - heading our way. There are warnings to stay inside and put away all the stuff that’s usually staying outdoors (that reminds me, I still have to save my ashtray) and so on.
And when does this storm – probably the biggest we ever had in my lifetime - come?
That’s right. It will arrive tomorrow, one day before Saturday – the exact Saturday for which I’ve got tickets to see Jarvis Cocker (and the Fratellis, the Bishops and a couple of other bands, but let’s focus on the important stuff here) live.
And it’s supposed to be an open air show.
What if the stage get’s blown away? The venue destroyed? Planes grounded? |
|
|
| Oh, bugger |
[Jan. 8th, 2007|09:24 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | annoyed | ] |
We have a government.
A grand coalition.
And, as feared, the social democrats did bend over backwards to lure the conservatives into forming a government with them and let them take all the departments that have real power – finances, interior, exterior, ... Three months ago they narrowly and surprisingly won the elections – and now they stand there with their pants round their ankles. And being proud of it, for no particular reason.
Oh joy. The only hope I have is that this farce may not last for the whole four years. |
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