i’m right back to normal working life, getting there around 11 and leaving at 8. go through some stories, try to get pictures from a German agency who apparently only consists of one person. talking to michael hennessey about his cause (ironmanforkids.com). we ended up at the sunset bar with a friend of mine, talking…
Read morephone calls
me: so what have you been doing lately? you: studying, going out – yesterday i had barbecue with my friends. me: wow, why didn’t you call, i would have loved to be there. you: stefan, it was just people my age. me: what ?!? you: you’re nearly 30, you’re too old. me: … i love…
Read morei won’t be left
i sometimes wonder why i am so easy to hurt. the past four or five weeks at work were hard and still i felt good about what we did, because we were a great group working together, spirit and weird songs on youtube included. but that was in graz. not that i feel bad back…
Read morethe day before the last day
amazingly enough this group of around 20 people has worked nearly four weeks without doing major harm to one another. we laughed, cried, sang, ate, slept, played, joked and fought throughout the euro 2008. the late nights and long days took its toll and still it’s been a truly unique experience. oh and don’t forget:…
Read moreties that bind
on buying an apartment, old people do that. they buy apartments to settle, grow even older, see their children being born, raised, leave and come back with grandchildren. we decided to buy an apartment in klagenfurt. a huge step. our very own place. ties that bind. for now i trust in my inner voice. the…
Read moreand if…
for the first time in my life i can imagine myself having kids. i believe.
Read moreheartbeats
And you, you knew the hands of the devil And you, kept us awake with wolf teeth Sharing different heartbeats In one night. I believe.
Read morelosing on defense
the news came in late, a local football player had committed suicide without an obvious reason. i worked late and we started shifting things around at the newspaper making room for the sad story. it kicked in and like robots we took the story through its paces: police, biography. we made it just in time….
Read moreand then again
sweden-greece. salzburg. 30.100 people. national anthems. no catcalls. first “du gamla, du fria” then “hymn to liberty”, silence, applause. shivers down the spine, the swedish colleague next to me tears in her eyes. beauty. peace. i believe.
Read moreit’s only a few
the euro has arrived at klagenfurt. germany and poland kicked off yesterday putting an end to months of preparations in and around klagenfurt. so far it has been a peaceful come-together of people simply wanting to enjoy football. as always there are a few exceptions. and sometimes they seem to ruin it for everyone around…
Read moremaybe it’s just me
Silence, why won’t you listen Maybe it’s just me but sometimes it’s impossible to breathe A violent whisper Maybe this time it won’t heal Maybe this time it will bleed until I’m free I believe.
Read morewhen i ruled the world
I used to rule the world Seas would rise when I gave the word Now in the morning I sleep alone Sweep the streets I used to own (Viva la vida, Coldplay) Cheesy title, great song. I believe.
Read morefor the love of the game
the passion never dies. and as in hockey (or any other sports for that matter) once you have reached your goal, the road there suddenly seems like the easiest one you have ever walked. I believe.
Read moreruhig und leer
sometimes the hardest things is to realize that you don’t belong to something anymore. or that you never did. and those things you really feel you belong to are thousands of miles away. Und wird manchmal das Herz zu schwer Und wird ihr Atem ruhig und leer Dann denkt sie sich zu ihm. I believe.
Read moreit’s raining and i love it
today we all got an email from our editor-in-chief. i love it so much, i’ll keep it in my inbox. In accordance to what I answered to one of our readers, I ask all of you who are responsible for putting the weather forecast on page one to make sure it’s written in a neutral…
Read morea new summer rising
i was standing down at the waterfront. one of our friends had recently opened a new bar there. it stretches out in the lake and if you stand really close at the edge, it feels like the lake is all around you. it’s the place i have always come to when i was home and…
Read morenow we are free
to me being a journalist is more a calling than a job. i never wanted to become one, but once i started i instantly felt it was the right thnig to do, to believe in. i suppose that’s why the setbacks hurt even more. especially if you figure at some point that the energy and…
Read morea miracle drug
The songs are in your eyes I see them when you smile I’ve had enough of romantic love I’d give it up, yeah, I’d give it up For a miracle, a miracle drug, a miracle drug God I need your help tonight Sometimes I wonder about those small things I consider being problems in my…
Read morepersistence
sometimes it’s all about pushing things through, about making decisions, about falling and rising again. or as winston churchill put it: we shall not fail or falter; we shall not weaken or tire. i last saw it on a poster in a window in canterbury, kent. his message never lost its power. i believe.
Read moresome moments
We’re burning down the highway skyline On the back of a hurricane that started turning When you were young I believe.
Read morestumbled upon
never have the nations of the world had so much to lose or so much to gain. together we shall save our planet, or together we shall perish in its flames. save it we can – and save it we must – and then shall we earn the eternal thanks of mankind and, as peacemakers,…
Read morethe big yellow house
it’s been nearly seven years since i first moved out from home. off to sweden i went and after a short break in between onwards to finland. i just looked up what i wrote about leaving the place i called home for 20 years, it was more a question than an answer: would you trade…
Read morerecords meant to last
another case of doping in austria, one more round of endless discussions. and it made me think of paavo nurmi. my grandfather told me about him when i was a kid. i didn’t know where he was from or what he actually had done, but my grandfather told me he was someone he looked up…
Read moreFound on an old postcard
Und in den dunklen Nächten fällt die schwere Erde aus allen Sternen in die Einsamkeit. Rainer Maria Rilke I believe.
Read morean eternal flame
i’m slowly starting to get sick of the International Olympic Comittee. while the olympics games still claim to be a peaceful come-together of nations it has long gone astray from its original cause. so it seems like bitter irony when IOC-spokesperson Kevan Gosper condemns the protesters all over the world and especially those who stepped…
Read morememories at the coffee-dispenser
whenever i needed comfort and solace as a kid, it would be waiting only a flight of stairs away. i’d sneak into my granddad’s room and within a couple of minutes i would sip away on a mug of hot ovomaltine sitting in one of his chairs. grandad died 12 years ago and the only…
Read moregrowing up
it’s realizing that some things can’t be changed, but secretly believing that you are wrong. i believe.
Read moreEarly Days
There’s a good chance that before we met there were days I’d walked right past him But now I’m seeing him tomorrow or maybe the day after I have to tell myself to slow down, it’s early days still Anything can happen and it probably will It’s early days My mind’s just put on boxing…
Read moreliving dreams
the call came in when the day, another sunday at work, slowly started leaning towards its end. it was one of those calls you neither expect not wait for to happen. it was a colleague of mine, asking for advice. very specific advice, advice on one of my dreams: working or attending colleage or at…
Read moreideas worth spreading
it’s those little moments when you doubt if the path you have walked so far is the one you want to walk up to its very end. and then there’s moments that re-assure you that will it might take some detours, some one -ways and dead ends to ultimately understand that while the path is…
Read morejust a little of that human touch
if i’d ever have the choice the newspaper i’d love to work for would be the new york times. not for the name, the reputation or its history but because it has resisted – please call upon on me if i am wrong – giving up common sense and sensibility. not only did i enjoy…
Read moregod bless
we walked for half an hour and even though if i knew where we were map-wise, we were lost. it was classic, we got off the ship at nassau and just tried to get away from the thousands of other tourists. it’s something i’ve always stuck to: get away from the crowds, the groups –…
Read morewhy we miss roger waters
i knew it was there. i was in the words of the cab driver, it was in the smile and chat with the waitress, it was there in the love of the russian immigrant and it was in the gentle optimism of the jewish ex-army-girl. i took me some time to warm up to it…
Read moreall gone to look for america
america was always a dream to me. i can’t really tell why but most likely – and as for so many people who came – it felt like the promised land, where everything was possible, where you could achieve if you only try hard enough. now being 27, it’s my fourth time here (having seen…
Read moreGone but never forgotten
Today we buried my Nan. She was an amazing woman and I doubt that these words can do her justice. She could cook anything and make it taste good, sew anything and make it look good and say anything and make it sound good. She was an optimist and refused to believe that anything was…
Read moreReconciliation
Today marks an historic day in Australia. You can’t turn back the clock and right past wrongs, but when you do something wrong, or know that a wrong has been done, you can say sorry. See the full text of Kevin Rudd’s speech below: “Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest…
Read moreI still got my feet
In just a glance Down here on Magic Street Love’s a fool’s dance I ain’t got no shoes but I still got my feet I believe.
Read moreholding out in the cold
i looked up to the stands. few people come and see us. i had given up on seeing her there but there she was by herself in the cold. i don’t know when we will have kids on our own and what and how they will grow up to be. what i do know however…
Read morethe greater game
from the moment we laced up our first skates, we were hooked. the digging, the dangles, the top-shelfers and the tilts. morning, night and in our sleep. we play, because once we take the ice, we forget that anything else exists. no problems. no hassles. only hits and hat-tricks, one-timers, slappers, sick saucers & backhanded…
Read morewhere have all the friendly people gone?
astrid and me had a day off – which we, quite frankly, needed. a long list of things to be done had piled up. so we started at the taxation office where i got the code to do my tax declaration online. the lady behind the counter was ok, though mechanical in a way –…
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