i talked to my professor about the whole thing that happened during the exam. he was not only friendly but gave me one very specific impression: that there is always a way to work things out. in his case he smiled, asked me to do it again tomorrow and hoped i learned my lesson. i…
Read morein dubio pro reo.
i studied until 3am for this exam today and in the morning riitta questioned me through the 40 pages again. i felt so prepared when we got there. i really felt like i could make it. halfway through the exam i put my hand in my right side pocket, where i had among the other…
Read morethe nighshift
it’s always pretty cool to do a nighshift at the newspaper – well “nighshift” basically meaning to be working for the economics section until 8 pm from which on our colleagues from the local news desk take over to finish everything up. just take our 6 pm conference for example: today philips fired 150 people…
Read morea lake of dreams
if you are from klagenfurt you basically grow up with it, it’s always there – to swim in, to walk at. essentially “meeting at the lake” has a special meaning for us people here. it smells like fresh-cut grass and a light breeze in the summer and feels like a long quiet walk in the…
Read moreJack for the restless
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars… 
Read moreremembering, jan. 18, 1996
Silence, like a whisper Maybe tomorrow it won’t be here So tomorrow we could teach them Some new styles You’re such a killer So shoot me down again It won’t hurt when the killing is done by a friend Silence, like a whisper So this is all we need The fully air conditioned sound of…
Read moreThe man comes around
And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder: One of the four beasts saying: “Come and see.” And I saw. And behold, a white horse. There’s a man goin’ ’round takin’ names. An’ he decides who to free and who to blame. Everybody won’t be treated all the same. There’ll be a golden…
Read moreat home far away from home.
it’s late and riitta is sleeping just room away from me, while i can’t get any sleep. the day has been far too exciting. we drove from ruka, down to kuopio and then to jyväskylä. right now i am sitting on hanna’s and mikko’s couch and i feel incredibly happy. to riitta it must seem…
Read morethe taste of Austria
Do you know that feeling when you taste something and it evokes such strong memories that it can almost transport you to another place? I felt that today as I was eating some typical Christmas sweets, sent to me by good friends in Linz. Even here, sweltering in the Tasmanian sun I found myself dreaming…
Read more2005.
there were new friendships made, and old ones awakened. babies were born and memories died. but i love my life and wish you the same for 2006. i believe.
Read moreon sleepless roads the sleepless go…
went to bed at 2 (late-night packing is part of the package) and had to get up at 5 to catch the early flight to frankfurt. now sitting in terminal b and waiting for my connection to helsinki. time passed so quickly, it feels like it was only days ago, when it was still summer…
Read morerilke for the sleepless
Die Blätter fallen, fallen wie von weit, als welkten in den Himmeln ferne Gärten; sie fallen mit verneinender Gebärde. Und in den Nächten fällt die schwere Erde aus allen Sternen in die Einsamkeit. Wir alle fallen. Diese Hand da fällt. Und sieh dir andre an: es ist in allen. Und doch ist Einer, welcher dieses…
Read moreone exceptional journey
first i felt like a prisoner in my own home. i hate nothing more than being forced to stay at one place, being the ever-hyperactive child that i am. but then again it’s the first time in weeks if not months, that i have been able to really relax, sit back and read, read and…
Read moreand isn’t it ironic…
so basically i am still stuck at home, my fever doing limbo on the thermometer. to add to the beauty of it all, i had to cancel work for tomorrow (- 100 euro) as well as tomorrow’s game which led to my coach totally ignoring my calls – all i got was a simple “ok”….
Read morechristmas, the bad way..
instead of being really able to enjoy christmas i had to spent it in bed. well i was able to go to midnight’s mass with tommy, but right after that an angina threw me right off my feet. so now i am bored and lonely (riitta is in finland, remember) at home…the thought of going…
Read morei loved you in my fashion.
i got a message from sanna just right now. to be quite honest it hurt, it hurt because i wouldn’t have expected it. and even if all of this has been put away some time ago i cried. because i loved her in my fashion. All colours bleed to red Asleep on the ocean’s bed…
Read morewalls to be torn down.
weither it’d be a book or a movie: sometimes i got moments full of inspiration. moments that show me that there’s a thousand walls in this world, a thousand walls to be found and torn down. that’s one thing i have been thinking about lately: what do i believe in? ethics? morality? i try to…
Read moreFamily is key.
I love my family. Not just my Mum and my Dad and my two sisters, but my extended family also. It is only in the last few years that I realised that compared to many of the people I know I spent a comparatively large amount of time with them during my childhood, particuarly my…
Read moreWir haben nichts gelernt.
Die aktuelle Ausgabe der neuen Kirchenzeitung druckte wegen eines “Versehens einer Redaktionsmitarbeiterin” einen Leserbrief ab, der die Existenz von Konzentrationslagern in Österreich leugnet: “Religionslehrer mögen andere Prioritäten setzen, als Mauthausen-Besuche zu organisieren und der Schuljugend Einrichtungen zu zeigen, die nachweislich erst nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg für touristische Zwecke errichtet wurden.” Autor dieser Zeilen ist Siegfried…
Read morethe calm in the chaos
My mind is so chaotic as my life has been lately, that I almost don’t know where to start. Semester and the the committments that come with it are now gone, but it’s straight back into grant writing frenzy this week. On the upside last week was full of good news as I got 2…
Read morerun.
I’ll sing it one last time for you Then we really have to go You’ve been the only thing that’s right In all I’ve done And I can barely look at you But every single time I do I know we’ll make it anywhere Away from here Light up, light up As if you have…
Read morenot quite there.
i learned a nother lesson last night and yesterday: setbacks are the essence of life. whenever you’d think you’ve reached some status of perfection, life, god or whoever will teach you how vulnerable you actually are. i admit it, i am vulnerable. but then i build strong moments by myself. there’s is always, always a…
Read morefiction in the space between
I know I posted these lyrics here already but then it’s a song that has njever failed to get me into a somewhat cloudy mood. Thinking about my life, the picture I have of myself, the picture others have of me and what I consider the true “me” out of these. Fall has pulled its…
Read moresinging my own song
The last two weeks I’ve been more sick than for years, sick enough to need a week off work. It’s been a frustrating time as I haven’t been able to get out and do the usual stuff but it’s also been a time for reflection. Coincidentally at the same time I’ve made contact with someone…
Read morebig cars are thirsty
My neighbour is having a barbeque tonight to celebrate finishing his patio. Consequently there are over 10 big 4 wheel drives parked outside my place. Seems like a kind of crazy situation to me, especially when we live in the middle of a city. I had to bite my tongue and keep very quiet when…
Read moreeverybody needs an alibi every now and then.
Stone blind alibi I will eat the lie Find the word Could break any spell that binds you Prayers like ammonites Curl beneath the lights How I long to Bite any hand that feeds you more Where d’it all go wrong My Friday night enfant Where d’it all go wrong My Friday night enfant All…
Read moreme fido di te.
and i trust in you, even if my actions and decisions might not always indicate that i believe that you are watching over me. i always have to smile, when grandma tells me, that i should go to church more often. i don’t need a church to belive in you. i’ve had auch a great…
Read morebut if you never try you’ll never know.
and i am trying hard – when i was working in villach i sometimes had a distinctive feeling, that this would be it for the the rest of my life. it might sound pretty much stupid for a 24-year old to say that, but i think i stopped dreaming sometimes. i totally stopped. now some…
Read moreof being free and its consequences
uni-life has got me again. there’s a thousand things to do organize, study, write. dad helped me out with money – so thinks are hanging okay. just have to limit myself down to almost zero expenses, besides the apartment and a few extras. overall this will be a tough two years to come – but…
Read moreThe legacy of Nobel
Today the Nobel committee made their first announcement for 2005, and those who know me and my fascination with these prizes will understand my delight at hearing the news. Congratulations to two great Australians, Prof Barry Marshall and Dr Robin Warren on being awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine “for their discovery…
Read moreabout poker chips, student loans and free ringtones
the mass of comment spam on mindwork really drove me to the edge. as of today everything should be fine again however – thanks to spamkarma2, a highly configurable solution to prevent comment spam on blogs like this. by the way: i manually erased one comment from a visitor, to one of emily’s posts. please…
Read moreTo the good people, wherever they may be
Every time something happens to shake my faith in humanity, without delay and always without warning, it is miraculously restored. This time it came as a great double whammy. The comforting words of old friends, who no matter my failings never lose their faith in me and at the same time the beginnings of a…
Read moremore than this.
basically i am broke. but i got something that feels more it’s worth more than having money, more than what i used to have: independence. i am going back to college, going back to the road i left (for good reasons, but nevertheless) two years ago. so many things happened in between – and i…
Read moreThe good hurt
Lately I’ve been on a bit of a fitness kick. Not for any particular reason but it just seemed like time. Tonight was the first night of the new tennis season and right now I’m aware of just about every muscle in my body, even ones that I didn’t think you could use playing tennis….
Read morePeace One Day
“Peace is not something you wish for; It’s something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.” – Robert Fulghum Something for all of us to think about on this, the International Day of Peace.
Read moreone step up
still no decision – but, and this seems logical to me: i have to get going education-wise. i can work for the rest of my life, but that degreee won’t ever come back. so i guess i got to do, what i got to do – quit my job. go back to uni, get those…
Read moreabout comments (2)
comments are open and available for unregistered users as well again. i re-adjusted the spam-filter. we’ll see how things work out. i believe.
Read morecapturing the moment
They flocked to the high sierras again yesterday, with the sun, moon and mountains again in perfect alignment to capture the same image as Ansel Adams did 55 years ago. As I thought about how much I would have liked to be there to experience this moment it occured to me that cameras and other…
Read morein the raw
I know that it is not because here I am home alone on a rainy Friday night, but weekends are still the hardest time. Finally stripped bare of the usual layers of protection I carry, a false security that can trap you and keep you from ever getting close, here I am, just me, in…
Read moredreams of the city by the bay
June feels so long away. I’m seriously thinking about a little trip to the Bay Area before then. Will it be the same? Am I the same? I can’t wait to find out. Is it April yet? I forget sometimes how slowly summer passes You disappeared into Departures Only half a year ago It seems…
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