Starting over

Well, I will not throw all my believes over board as quickly, as is healthy. But I shall work more steadily at it.
I do have help.

I found, that books find me. Sometimes they come into my life, before I am ready, but they are there, when I need them. And among them were the books, that I have mentioned in my last post.

Just as books find me, so does advise find me or general help or "new" ideas or any idea to help me on. I have been partly open to to new ideas, but as a person of habit, I did not follow any new idea as I might have. Added to that, I do not follow new ideas, just because everybody does. I might follow them later on, but not - in general - when they are at the height of their success or in many heads and minds.

I came to trust myself there. When I find, that upon meeting an idea, I like it instantly or it speaks positively to me in some way, than its time for me has come and I pursue it. If it comes to me and I dismiss it withouth even a flicker of interest, then its time for me is not there.

I have had contact to awareness and indian philosophies and ayurveda before, sometimes I was interested, oftentimes I wasn't. But lately I found, that more and more information comes to me into one direction or some from direction, so maybe it is time to starting over to something new.
I only have to get this into according with my school and learning time. But it will come, I do not worry.
What really grips me and is good, will stay with me. So I will just wait to receive and act upon.

Reading. Fast and slow

I "took" the title above from a book called "Thinking fast and slow". I bought it, but haven't yet read beyond the foreword of one of the authors. But that was very interesting already.

Right now I am still reading "Dying to be me". I am still reading it, because I am a slow reader. I used to think this a bad thing, because I could read so many more books, if I could read fast. But the books of Anita Moorjani and before that of Dr. Dyer made me think: why would it be bad to read slow? It isn't really. That was my recent epiphany on my walk home from the train.
I read in my speed (nice rhyme by the way) and I relish every word of a good book. Like the one I am reading now. Sometimes I re-read passages I liked best. So reading slow for me is a very good thing. Just as reading fast is a good thing for others. Or reading in a tempo somewhere inbetween is for yet other people.

I sometimes read aloud to myself. It seems to make me feel thoughts out better. I only do that though, only by myself. Because when a "friend" heard me do that with some italian I was reading (we were learning italian in Florence at the time), she wondered, because in her book, only half-wits did that.
Well not only them. Full-wits sometimes do, too. But that is her problem.

At any rate: I read slow and I came to the point, where I only read what I like. I give every book a try though. That is, because I have found in all my years of reading, that some books are good, even though I did not think so to begin with. But at some point, if I find I don't like it, I read the end. If I like the end and want to know, how the author got there, I read on. If not, it's a tosser. I am not wasting valuable reading times on books, that make me nervous or angry or sad anymore either.

I do not only read romances or crime, I do read non-fictional books and biographies or auto-biographies, mainly of musicalstars of the 50ies. Like Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Julie Andrews, Leslie Caron, Gene Kelly, Doris Day, Deborah Kerr, Danny Kaye. It is interesting.

I do sometimes like books, where I can learn something and I read those very slowly. Like "At Home" or "A small history of nearly everything" by Bill Bryson.

Right now, after reading the book "Wishes fulfilled by Dr. Dyer" I ordered "Dying to be me", "The Power of Awareness" by Neville and "The Moses Code" by James F. Twyman. I also downloaded the Moses Code Meditation Music. Though I still have to learn more about Meditation, so I bought "Meditation for Dummies". I also attended a speech about awareness by Thich Nhat Hanh. I also got a book of his from a dear friend, called (I didn't find an english title): The blossoming of the Lotos".

So I am going that path now and I will see, were it leads. But I know, that I will always come back to "Dying to be me". To remind me, what Mrs. Moorjani learned and what I learned from her books.

One thing I thought I might do, is changing my habits to an ayurvedan style, according to my dosha (type?)
As far as I could find out, I am a kapha-vata-type. Somehow that seems a very complicated mixture. But I seem to be more of a kapha, than a vata. Or I would be a vata-kapha-mix (sounds like a breed of dog or cat, doesn't it? Well, I like cats, so I don't mind and my chinese starsign is dog, so that is o.k., too.)

Anyway: I will explore that more deeply. Any suggestions about books or anything in that direction is highly welcome! And so you might read more of me, as I step on that path.

Since it just came to my mind, let me end with the title of a song, sung by Doris Day:

Enjoy yourself! It's later, than you think!!

 

Anita Moorjani

I have found  this  on the internet. It is a picture of the Hay House Publishing House, as can be seen.
But I thought this a very good thought and wanted to share it here. Legally, I hope.

Recently I read the book "Wishes fulfilled" by Dr. Wayne Dyer. And he spoke of the book "Dying to be me" by Anita Moorjani. She describes her Near Death Experience (NDE), how she got there, what she  learned from it and how it changes her life.

Though I do not wish anyone, what she suffered, I am convinced that her experiences with death can help everyone. I have only started her book, but I like the way she writes about her experiences with life, expactations, uncertainties and such. In some parts, I could relate with it.

Then this morning, while comuting to work, the guy who drove the train (can't remember the right word),
wished all and everybody a lovely day and reminded us to love life and people around us, smile back, be happy and just be happy to live.

The reactions were mixed. Even my own, within myself. But since the day had not started too well, I came to the conclusion, that those were just the right words to get my day on the right track again.
Since then (about 8.30 am CET) I am on a high of good mood, even though the weather is not the best right now. But I am truly thankful for his words and wish I could have thanked  him.

That's it for now.

Aaaaargh!!

My i-Pod got set under water. It was my own fault though. Now I have to save up for a new one. Well, maybe it is a sign. Maybe I am to save my ears or to take more care of my surroundings? Well. Don't like it.
But I shall live with it.

Then at home I looked for a book by Max Frisch, Homo Faber. But it turned out, that I do not have it.
That would not bother me so very much, but I wanted to give it away. So I had to write to the woman and confess. I am ashamed, but I couldn't help it. It is a shame, though.

On the other side I was asked to help with an english text. To check on the correctness.That was fun.

When I called my sister, she asked me to prepare this years christmas present for my parents. I never made a calendar with photos, but it is a nice idea and I'd like to try myself in this. So: I learn something new. Not too bad.

And I shall by a desktop PC, after Christmas or so. We shall see.Well, that is it for now. Short, but snappy...

New impressions

In preparation for my knitting orgy in the two weeks before the first Noel, I rented a couple of audiobooks and DVDs.  As I might have written, I like to listen to something while I knit.

This time I rented some books I don't usually choose:
The Cherry Garden, by Anton Tschechov
The Voyage in the Moonlight by Antal Szerb             and
Miss MacKenzies Courage to love by someone I can't remember right now.
And Murder on the Leviathan by Boris Akunin.

Also some Martha Grimes-Stories and Arabelly by Georgette Heyer

I am not so very big in to eastern european or russian literature, but I thought I'd give it a try and I wasn't disapointed. The story by Antal Szerb was very well written and read and
timeless. It must have taken place bevor 1945, because that was, when the hungarian Author was killed, but it could have taken place in my place just as well.
It was a strange world to me and yet there was something in it, that seemed familiar. So I can really recommend it.

Also The book by Boris Akunin - so far as I got at least. Well written and well read. I am  curious as to the Cherry garden or should it be orchard? I have heard of it. I guess I chose that, because in book of the week on BBC Radio 4 last week, they talked about Russias former people, those being the nobles of Russia, who have  been thouroughly eliminated. This is not a judgment, it is a statement. I don't see it as my job to judge other countries deeds, because I do  not know enough about them. But there are no more Nobles notable in Russia.

At any rate: in combination with this book of the week, I felt it a good idea to emerge myself into another world. Maybe I shall read some more of Russias or Hungaries literature . I was a bit disheartened after Anna Karenina, Doctor Zhivago and the beginning of Oblomow. But there are sure to be other good authors and I'll find them...

Everyday life in Germany

I have been wondering - over the years - how every day life might be in say the UK or the USA or Timbaktoo or Botswana. And then I wondered, what I know about every day life in Germany. And
I came to the conclusion, that it is not much. That is, because there is no common every day life anywhere.

Then again, there are common denominators: in Germany, where we have peace, it is easier to live, than it is in Syria or Northern Ireland or Afghanistan. There it is about surviving every hour of the day, every day of the week and every week of the month. Anywhere, where you live in peace, you get easily discontent with your lot. If you compare yourself with people who have what you want or just have more of whar you want.

I heard - several times - that in places, where every one has the same or everybody has nothing, people are more content, than in the lands of plenty. Because here is enough, we forget what we have. And one part of what we have is the peaceful everyday life. I take my example, which really is the only one I can give:

currently on weekdays, I get up at 5.00 am and get ready to catch my bus at 5.49 am. Then I travel to the main station of my town, where I change to a train. With that train I travel to the next bigger town, at central station, I change to catch another train to another town, where I change into another bus to get to my place of work. I arrive at about 7.10 am. Now, for a lot of people, that is no distance and not a long time to get to work. For me, being used to a maximum of 30 Minutes commuting from door to door, that is a very long travel.
Being a civil servant, I work 8.12 hours a day, so I finish around 4.00 - 4.30 pm. Then I travel back, only for the last leg of the trip I walk. I might go to do some sport (very seldom though) or do some grocery shopping. If I finish by 4.30 pm, I arrive at home around 5.45 pm, without the shopping and sport or so.
After work I might do some housework or go to choirpractice on a wedneday or just play on my computer, read, knit or - like today - bake a bread in my new automat. So I have a very quiet life and I love it. I am not into hustle and bustle, but prefer to stay quiet, whenever I can.

Now, other people are married and/or have children to care for or a lot of hobbies that they have to leave the house for or care for a sick person or relative, work in shifts, don't work at all, for different reasons, so there everyday life is very different from mine. I don't envy them, but I am not sorry for most of them either, because I am sure, that in the cases, where is a choice, they chose that lifestyle for themselves. Wether they know it or not.

Still, I wonder, if life say in Botsuan or Mumbai or Istambul, Ecuador, Toronto, Moscow, Shanghai, Kawashima, South Africa is very much different from mine or others I know.
Is it easy - as it is here - to live as a happy single woman and work for oneself, decide for oneself, act for oneself or are there problems to live as a single person, whatever sex in their country?
I always imagine - for instance - that in poorer countries you have to work together with others. To pool money, time, power, abilities material, just to secure your basics.

It just went through my head and I wondered.

Weekend-Slump

Because I am a couch potato at heart, I like my lazy weekends. It is not always possible, but sometimes I just shove everything away and am lazy. I read, I knit, I play on my computer or my nintendo or paint (by numbers, because I am not THAT creative). At any rate, instead of going to yoga, I stayed home, had a brunch, cleaned up a little in the kitchen, knitted, read, played. It is just great fun.

Now for some people, I suppose - though I do not know - that is a fate worth than strangulation: staying home, seeing nobody, hearing nobody, having no outside contacts at all. For others - like me - it is sheer heaven to stay put.

I do like to go out, too. Occasionally. But I do prefer to stay at home on my days off. And a day off by my definition is a day without people. I get cranky if for a long time I don't get a day entirely to myself. I even had times, when I got a disgust of people and couldn't stand anyone near me.

Which brings me to somehing else I do not like: people getting to close, where it isn't needed. I do see, that in a bus, train or tram or standing in line somewhere, it can't be helped, but where there is space, it should be used. I once sat in a wagon in a train, all alone, meaning, there were a lot of free spaces, when a woman got in and sat herself opposite me. Now: the lady was very friendly looking and maybe she does not like to sit alone or thought, that she would do me a favor. Still, I did not like it, but could hardly get up and sit somewhere else, without being impolite at any rate.

What is it with people, that they want to be close and surrounded by people all the time? In winter, o.k., when it is very cold, it is very good to be close to warm each other, but at other times? Not my idea of idyllic. Well, I will have to live with it or run amok. And I don't like running amok. It is stressful and hurtful to others and it is not other peoples fault that my protective aura has a very wide span...

So back to being an couch potato. I have been already lazy on late Saturday afternoon and didn't write here. So I decided to ament that, since I thought, that some reader might miss my writing. But next year, when I will have to write exams, you will have to live with little  texts anyway. This is the training phase. Enjoy it..
And enjoy the rest of sunday...

Pageviewers

I have now actually over 100 pageviews under my belt. So to say. It may be way less than other blogs have, but for a little blog, where I only write down a thought or two or on a good day three (in one post), it is actually rather nice. And this is the first blog I ever wrote, so:


THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! WHEREEVER AND WHOEVER YOU ARE!!

 And as I wrote before: you may comment, if you wish. Just no politics and no religion and english or german or maybe a simple dutch, as these are the languages I can read without help...

 

Downton Abbey

I just love it. Maybe because I already loved Upstairs-Downstairs. It is so much fun, well not all fun. With the Great War, the Inheritance Problem, Bates and his - fortunately and finally late - first wife....

But Dame Maggie Smith in herself is a winner. She is a genius. Every film I have seen with her so far just showed off the talent. Great!

Hugh Bonneville, too. He is great. I have seen several Films with him and heard one radio-show as well.

So far I have only seen the first two series and the christmas-special, but as soon, as the next DVD-Box is out, I'll buy it. And then watch it in about one go.

I can't watch it now, because I can't watch via my PC. It already doesn't like YouTube anymore and switches itself off and I do have a very fast connection... :-(
Well, was getting a new computer anyway. So there is no real worry. And DVDs are possible.

In the third Series there is Shirley MacLaine (I am never sure if I spell that right), she is great, too and she is almost exactly my Moms age. I say almost, because I know neiter, when my Mom was born (the hour, I mean), nor at what time of day Shirley MacLaine was born. But who cares.

All the other actors are great talents as well. I just don't know them so well. But it was sure nice to get to know them now.

Anyway, I love the series and I will not wait patiently for the DVD-Box...

The Peanuts

My favourite Peanut ever is Peppermint Patty. She just is SO cute. Very loveable. And next in line is PigPen, followed closely by Linus.
I always loved watching the Peanuts. They're quirky and enchanting, but I always felt sorry for poor Charlie.

Garfield was another character I really liked. Especially because he was so lazy. I felt some sort of a connection with him. Plus I did love lasagna. Though I do prefer pancakes with meatloaf if I had to choose.

This is just one of those short notes again. Because I had to get up a 5 pm and I will have to for a loong time, too. Then I had to get washed and brushed and dressed and take a breakfast and be ready by 5.40 am, because I wanted to take the trash out on my way and buy a couple of rolls for my lunch and the bus comes at 5.49 am. But I got it done, I always do.

Tomorrow, I have more time, albeit 5 Minutes, because I don't have to take the trash out and I don't have to buy rolls. Perfect. Tomorrow will be a very long day though, as after work I shall do some sports. I did not go to yoga yesterday and so I have to start over again tomorrow. So: get up at 5.00 am, get to work and back (after work of course), then go straight to sports, do some little shopping and go home. Afterwards I will just scramble together some food, get ready for wednesday and be off to bed. O.k., I shall write a little bit here.

So, not all that short a post after all. Good Night now...

Last day of my holidays

So, the last holiday-day.  I slept in for the last time, I did a facebook-excess for the last time and I finished another cap, just to start another one. All the while listening to BBC Radio 2,
First Steve Wrights Sunday Love Show. That guy is very cynical. Than Sunday Wogan or so. This time it was actually very nice. With Lenny Henry among others and Sir Terry was not as insulting as the previous times I listened to a show of his. And then, to round it off, EPOS, which is of course: Elaine Paige on Sunday. Love the shows and from next week on, Barbara Windsor will sit in. I like her a lot. Though I do like Elaine Paige as well.
Now a break and then Paul O'Grady. Very funny as well...

That is it for today. Yes, I did not write yesterday, so I apologize to my reader. I will perhaps have more to write when I go to work again....

Cheerio.

 

Count your blessings

At times, when I read and hear about hurricanes, like Sandy lately, I really do count my blessings again.
Not just because I live in a part of Germany, where hurricanes are very seldom to not existant. But because I have such a good life. I have a wonderful family, great friends, nice colleagues that I met over the years.

My own flat, where I can do what I want. I have a secure job and no problems to get to and fro. Well, mostly. Right now I have rather a long way to com(m?)ute or longer than I am used to. But that again is a blessing, because this way I can read all those books, that I collected or knit or such. Usually I do get a place to sit. I have a job-ticket, with which I can get around easily and cheaply.

And then the general things of course: I can walk and talk and sit and see and hear and smell and feel.
I can read and write and count and I speak two languages at least and am about to learn a third. I was able to go to school withouth problems, am currently in my third apprenticeship, I can drive a car, though I don't own one. I can go shopping and reach the shops within 5 Minutes.

So my life is good and I have every reason to count those blessings. And I do. Not only, when other are hit, but when I go to sleep, sometimes, when I wake up. Sometimes during the day. I am lucky, I can say.

Therefore: Thank you God! Well done, as ever...

Mrs. Miniver

I have never seen the film, but I can see, that I might like that. Also, I have never actually read the story, but I am following it - again - on BBC Radio 4 extra. About a year ago I also heard the story of the "real" Mrs. Miniver. It is interesting and said somehow. But it is told in a nice way. 

So, I shall go on listening to the story and maybe try to get the book and the film. Sounds promising.

Also: I bought the newest Professor Layton story, only to find, that it is for the 3 DS. So what now? Do I give back the game or do I buy the 3 DS....

That's it for now...