Justice and Moderation or: Just moderate

So, the last week I devoted to the virtue of Justice. My plan was, to care more about my family, them being the ones who deserve it, work off some Minus on my time account and do something in the workfield. Mostly that went very well. So I could actually tick off three days. That's great, I think.

Now we come to the virtue of Moderation and here is, was Benjamin Franklin wrote about it:
Avoid extremes. Forbear resenting injuries as much as you think, they deserve.

Now somehow I think that a hart nut. Becacuse: these days hardly anyone does give me a feeling of injury, so there is not much to resent about it. What to do then?
Well, maybe I can just stop - for this week - to get myself annoyed about news, that don't concern me directly: people who cheat on taxes. Or people who push themselves into the news or people, who think, that the best in carnival is to get drunk, until every fluid taken in, comes out back and front and out of every pore. And the last aspect is really something that annoys me. With soccer fans as well, by the way. I do not see any sense in getting so drunk, that one can't even lie straight and without being buckled tied. Apart from being disgusting to look at and embarrassing anyway. This really is something, that I resent. Every year. Even though I do know, that it will happen the next year again.

And before misunderstandings come up, I only "resent" this extreme, not the people, who drink a beer or two. Or other alcohol in moderation.

So, that's one point. Then playing and sleeping in moderation will be the other two points. I will try to play less, though I actuall have more time in the coming week, having Wednesday and Thursday off.
Though I do love to sleep long or just lying in bed and being. But, I will curtailed that and at least not do it into lunchtime.
As to playing, I will do my playing rounds, but I won't play for hours on end. Or at the most two hours all in all.

And I could read at home, instead of watching DVDs or  some such thing. Going out today for a walk is possible, perhaps, but not during the week on the height of carnival and certainly not on Thursday, as a woman. It is called - in German - Altweiberfastnacht in english, roughly translated, Old womens carnival. And that should mean, women are allowed to cut off ties and kiss, whoever they want to kiss. But it turned more and more into: men may kiss whichever woman they want on the point, that the women expect that. It is nice for those women who want it, but not, if one does not.

Now, to clear another misunderstanding: I am not against kissing, but I like it to be by choice on both parts. Not because it is a "special day" in the year and some custom decrees it. Just as I like to be jolly and happy, when I like and not, when same custom decrees it. Though there are a lot of people, who seem to be able to be jolly only at set dates. The rest of the year they go to laugh into the cellars. That is a german saying and means: they can't have anyone see them laugh...

At any rate, I do not dislike carnival in itself, as a child I really loved it. It was wonderful. Finding a costume and singing the old songs and looking at the parades, catching candy and then have a party at my uncles house afterwards. All great fun. And going to school in costume was great as well.
Only as I grew up, I looked about me more and recognized, what I described above. That took the fun out. So, I decided to just skip it. But I still like the music and so today you will get some german carnival-songs. You may not all of you understand the texts, which is a pity, but they all have nice melodies, so it is not a complete loss. I don't own any of them, as ever...

So now you have some examples of humour in the Rhineland. These are all songs, sung bei the Cologne-based group Bläck Fööss, that means: naked feet. If you are not German, but speak some german, you might have had problems in understanding all of the text. But fear not: many Germans understand the dialect. It is called kölsch and I really can't write down, how it is pronounced. It is, at any rate, the only dialect, that one can drink as well. We have a beer, called Kölsch.

By the way: I am not from Cologne itself, but from a town nearby and I grew up with the dialect. So I can understand it and sing it (though not drink it, as I don't like beer). Speaking is not so easy, if you want to do it right.

I have on the other hand problems to understand people from Bavaria or Saconia or Friesland. So, everyone has his dialec. Do you have dialects in your country? I wonder...

Her is "Es Spanien Leed" The spanish song: