An evening with my phone

I was so tired yesterday that in the evening I just played with my phone and then went to bed early (for me at least), so I was ready to dream. I also read in the guardian about an I phone app that claims to be able to influence your dreams.

I suddenly though if I combined a quark propagator with peroidic boundary fields with a quark field with anitperoidic boundary conditions in time, I would get some kind of SUSY meson. I then woke up to real world and decided this idea was clearly wrong. So I am not going to get any ideas that will win any Nobel prizes.

Last I dreamed about a guy who wanted to get rid of his cat. I suggested taking the cat to someone who works with cats and let them give it away. He was very suspicious of me, as if it was just a way for mee to sleep with the woman who works with cats.

Fear Institute

I went to Regensburg last week. On the train I finished reading: Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute:
by Jonathan L. Howard.  The Cabal character is a Necromancer. In this novel he is exploring a  dreamland, as a guide. What is fun about the character is that he is sociopath, but is slowly learning  to be a better human being. I wasn't expecting the eending.

Liver and depression

I fucking love liver. I am not much of a cook, so I have rarely tried to cook it. I tried it once in Glasgow, but somehow it ended up white. So I didn't try again. I am slightly more confident on cooking now that I can watch stuff on Itunes.

After viewing  a couple of videos I thought I would try to cook liver again.  Some of the videos were not of great quality. One had a woman with a hand held camcorder. She found it difficult to cook and hold the camcorder at the same time. Another video told me that eating liver was good to reduce depression.

In the UK many people don't like liver. It used to be served at lunch times in schools, so many people associate liver with being forced to stay in school.. Anyway below is my stir fry liver that I ate for dinner.

The Cosmic Computer

I like to listen the BBC Iplayer while I work. However, they repeat a lot o stuff, so sometimes I need a new source of spoken words. Over the last couple of days I have been listening to the cosmic computer from LibriVox.  Librivox has volunteer people reading aloud books in the public domain.

The cosmic computer was about a search for a big military computer hidden on a world. It was interesting book -- mostly because it explored macro economic ideas (a little bit) anyway.

The Barmenia scandal in Wuppertal

One of the Germans at work sometimes taunts me by saying "what does the UK make". This is actually a difficult question to answer, particularly as I can  never remember which companies are still owned or controlled by people in the UK. (Don't worry dear readers, I am planning on an England wine tasting session after I have imported some wine from the UK. Punishment with style!).

Near where I live is a big office block for Barmenia. I thought great, perhaps the German manufacturing success will rub off on me, because I live so close. However when I  look on the web, I see it is just a company providing services such as insurance.

So the Germans are hiding their manufacturing plants. One day the UK will be the "workshop of the world" again. Well OK, it is not clear how that is going to happen.

Celebrate Easter by stealing booze in Germany

It seems like a tradition in Germany to try and steal from supermarkets over the Easter period. I was waiting to pay for my purchases. I let one woman go infron of me, because she was only only buying a bottle of booze. I saw that the man behind me had no stuff to buy. He waited patiently. When I was paying, he walked past me to the door. The cashier, who I believe is the manager didn't notice. On Thursday, the same person jumped up and caught someone who walked out of the store with a backpack after not paying for any goods.

Of course I don't know whether they guy on Saturday was actually stealing anything, but the lesson I have learned is that it is better to wait patiently -- rather than to push though the cashier area.

I have read steal this book  but this didn't contain any tips for stealing booze from supermarkets.

I have always thought that after speaking with beggars in the street, that they are all using the same technique Perhaps there is some secret book that that they all read.  Amazon don't sell it though. And typing "begging" into the search box, I just found a book "begging for demon cock". So perhaps I should write my own book on "how to beg" as this will surely be popular in Tory England. And given the way my career is going ....

Warehouse 13

Boohoo, I have run out of episodes. I got from Itunes a series called "Warehouse 13". This is an American TV series about a team of agents who work at a warehouse that contains artifacts, that have dangerous magical powers. The job of the agents is to hunt down new artifacts and store them safely in the warehouse.

It is light stuff, but it is inventive enough to have me watch 3 series of episodes. Being an American series there is a lot of sharing of feelings -- normally this would turn me off, but did I mention there were magical artifacts.

There was a great mini series called "the lost room" with a similar idea. However, that series was darker. It was a pity they never made a longer series.

Cyber Puppets

I have just finished reading Cyber Puppets by Angus McAllister. This was a great story about a strange soap opera that is software generated. It did remind me of Philip K. Dick writings, except much more Scottish. I am sure that Angus gets annoyed by the Dick references, but Dick is way more paranoid . The characters in this book were rationally paranoid in a weird situation.

I got the book after reading about it on the White screen of Despair blog. I am finding that I am enjoying reading books recommended by humans, rather than just relying on Amazon's automatic suggestions. Perhaps I should look for other sources of book reviews.

Shada

When there used to be bookshops, I used to wander around the science fiction section. There always used to be a lot Dr Who spin off books. What sad losers read this books I used to think. My nickname at school was (in my own mind) was "hard man stud", I would not be seen dead reading such nerdy books.

Well 25 years later I seemed to have read  Doctor Who: Shada on my kindle. With a kindle no one can see what you are reading. Why did I read this? It was a book based on a script by Douglas Adams. before the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy,  Adams was involved in Dr Who. The book had been finished off by another writer.

The story was enjoyable and I think I detected some of the comedy from Adams.

Beer and dieting

Sorry another tedious post about dieting and body sculpting.  Last week I went out and purchased jeans with a waist of 34 inches -- rather than 36 inches that I have had to buy for maybe the last 10 years. When I was a student I used to wear trousers with a waist of 32 inches, so perhaps that is my goal. Last weekend I was back at 90 kg, but what will the scales say on Saturday?

Although I have cut down the amount of food I am eating -- I still need to work on reducing my liquid intake (and we are not talking about tea). According to the Guardian newspaper drinking beer may not be the cause of my beer belly. Umm?

I am obviously keeping up to date with the most recent scientific ways of dieting.

Needle

I watched a film called "Needle" last week on Itunes. It was an Australian horror movie, based on some sinister device that a dead Father had left his son. A number of University students were killed by the machine. It wasn't clear why some of the students were killed, because the killing spree was for a specific reason. This was probably explained in the film, but perhaps I had drunk too much beer and missed that important point.

Note the picture is not from the film, but I felt like a mash up....

Night out in Wuppertal

Last weekend I went to the Pavillion club in Wuppertal to hear some live music. The event was called "the sounds of mass destruction". I didn't know any of the bands, but I assumed that it was going to be an evening of metal music.

I had been to the bar in this venue to hear some hard core punk bands, but this gig was my first in the main building.  When I got there i found the music was mostly techno. I am not sure what the correct tag for the music. Most of the music came from laptops. The people working the laptops had various techniques to make their sets interesting. One group had a lot of dancers. The dancers had to be very fit, because their arms were moving very fast.

I didn't dance of course -- I just propped up the bar.

Almost everyone was wearing black (including me I might add). To stand out perhaps I should wear white, but then I would only spill beer on my clothes.

I had a great time and got the bus back. I discovered that they don't open the front bus door in Germany -- you have to exit from the middle or end doors. This was new to me. Hopefully this will not will be my only gig of the year.

On being ugly

I was walking home with my clothes in a big rucksack, after washing my clothes in the Laundrette.
I saw an attractive woman walk my way, but when she saw me, she looked away in a kind of I am not interested in you in way.

Perhaps I was staring at her in a too lustful way and she doesn't find men who limp attractive (when did that happen?). Also it had hard to be cool, if you are unfit and you have just walked up a big hill.
Of course perhaps she was just thinking how she was going to feed her children for tea.

Stealing from a supermarket

 The thief

The shops were very busy today. I was buying some food after work, but there were many big queues in all the stores. I mostly shop in the Kaufpark supermarket that is close to the University.  While I was waiting to pay for my stuff. A man was trying to get pass me pass the cashier. I politely let the guy by. Suddenly another cashier jumps up and grabs the guy trying to get out. He then asked to look in his bag, after seeing the contents of the bag he took the guy into his office.

Wow there is crime in Germany I thought. If I had been grabbed I might have struggled, but this guy just calmly was led into the office.

It reminded me of the time in Liverpool, when two guys left a supermarket to have a fight over who was going to take the last shopping basket.

A few dreams

Fragments of dreams

I started with restless forgotten dreams. I then saw a man in my room with a leather S&M face mask. He reminded me of one the old people with a wrinkly face in the department. I started to get out of bed to go and fight him, when I work up.

Later I was in a car with a very old friend (who I don't see very often) and his new girl friend. We were driving around trying to find a place to eat. I suggested one place, but they didn't like it. We went someplace else. In  the bar we sat down. My friends girl friend told me to stop staring at her. It wasn't clear whether she was talking to me or someone else. I went to the bar to get drinks. I was starting to buy a round, but friend wanted to buy his own drinks. He got some weird green drinks.

I ordered a beer, but it took a long time to come. The staff at the bar started talking that a prostitute was in the bar. It wasn't clear, but perhaps it was my friends new girl friend. Because of the long wait for me my beer, I went for a walk outside, so I could think. I came back into the bar and my beer was ready. I woke up to the morning.

Judge Dee novel

Yesterday I read "The Haunted Monastery: A Judge Dee Mystery". Thus was a great book about a detective, well actually a magistrate in Ancient China. When he is travelling home with his family, there is a problem that causes them to stay in an old Monastery.

It is interesting to read about the rituals and life in Ancient China. Also there were tensions between the Taoists and the Confucians. Judge Dee is a proper detective, because he drinks a lot of tea.

Drive

I rent films via Itunes, but sometimes I end of watching them very
close to the end of the month after the film was downloaded.
I started watching the Drive film. I found the start of the film
a bit boring, because there was this driver and this woman with
her husband in jail. She started to fall in love with the driver,
but then her husband out out of jail.

Dear reader, you may think me a slob but I thought this
is like a soap opera. Where are the explosions? I am a person
who complains when there is no character development in the films and
the actors are wooden and boring, still .... Things started to happen
in the film, but then Itunes told me the rental period had ended. So I
will never know about the last half of the film, where a frantic car
chase had just started.

Human transporter

I was eating some fries in Bruges, when I saw a group of city workers moving in SegwayTM Human Transporters. It wasn't clear what they were doing, but it looked cool, so I thought I should take a picture. But first I finished my fries. That was a bad move, because they had all moved off, but if you look  hard enough you will see them.

Actually I was having a major panic attack, because I was scared I could not use my web skills to find the name of the transporters, because with out the name you have no chance of seeing them.

My holiday in Bruges comes to an end.

So all good things come to an end. My weekend holiday in Bruges was over. I left the hotel and
went to the train station to buy my ticket back to Wuppertal. Obviously the guy selling the ticket spoke English, so there were not problems.

I had to change trains at Brussels. However, when I travelled to Bruges, there was a station called
Brussels-Midi. However my ticket told me to change at a station called Brussels-Zuid. This was confusing. When I got to Brussels-Zuid it turned out to be called  Bruges-Midi again. I guess that is what happens when you live in a country with three different languages.

Food in Bruges

So I got out of the last art gallery in Bruges and I though that is me done with art. I need some wittles to keep my body and spirit sound.

My guide book described a kwak beer that required a special glass. The glass was so expensive that the restaurant required a shoe as deposit -- or so my guide said. The beer was also meant to be 1 L of 8% or 9% strong beer. When I ordered the beer, they didn't ask for my shoe. Also there was probably only 1/2 L of standard beer in the glass. Still it was fun to drink. I ordered Mussles and fries. It was all very tasty -- as it should have been for 40 Euros.

After that I had another beer and then took the bus back to the hotel. A bit later I had a drink in the Morrison bar with a picture of the lead singer of the Doors at the front of the building. It was a local bar with a group of friends drinking in a small bar.

So that was another birthday done.

More pictures seen in Bruges

On the Flemish primatives

After my life changing viewing of the pictures in the Arentshaus, I thought I would finally find the famous Groeningenmuseum, because according to the map it was close. After sometime I found it and realized I had passed it many times.

It was a modern museum with 6 centuries of paintings, the most famous of which are those by the Flemish primitives. The colors were amazing and luckily they were not all about religous subjects.
Below is part of "the judgement of cambyses" by Gerad David -- an early zombie flick painting.

The gallery was arranged by time. The BBC recently had a great adaptation of the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft. This had explorers in a mountain in the Artic looking at the pictures of the "great old ones". At some stage the pictures degenerate with time as the race loses it. I was reminded of this as I entered the modern abstract art part at the end of the gallery.  I am no conservative, but where does art go after Damien Hirst.

Thinking about Brangwyn in Bruges

  On the decline of  the reputation of Frank Brangwyn

After a small Capichino (at a mere cost of 5 Euros0 I was ready for more art. I wanted to find the Groeningemuseum, because it had paintings by the Flemish primitives. But could I find the museum ?Could I fuck -- even with the map I had.

After cursing map makers and geometry I did find a museum that looked to be in sort of the correct place. I didn't see many people going in the door. The museum was called Arentshuis museum.

When I stepped into the ticket counter, the woman who was selling tickets seemed surprised that I was there. I was surprised by her surprise, because the guide book had said that the Groeningemuseum was one of the best in the world. She first tried to sell me a general ticket for all the museums in Bruges, until I managed to get to sell me a ticket for 2 Euros for her museum, but she kept telling me that it was "modern art" in a worried way.
It was becoming clear that this museum didn't contain paintings by Flemish primitives, but I was in polite English mode. It looked as though, she had been wound down by people coming in, mistaking her museum for the more famous one.

So I went upstairs to a completely empty gallery. The air smelled of decay and dust. The light was poor. The work was all by Sir Frank William Brangwyn -- someone I had never heard of. He had been born in Bruges, but he moved to the UK as a child.  I walked around the pictures. The floor was incredibly squeaky, every time I moved the floor  boards groaned. I kept thinking the woman below is listening to me trying to work out if I really wanted to be looking at her pictures. I heard a couple
come in below and try and buy a ticket, but after a while it became clear that they wanted to be in the other more famous museum, so I was left alone in the gloom.

There was a time line on the wall of  Brangwyn's life. It looked very distinguished. He was born in 1867, so I could compare his accomplishments in 1912 with mine in 2012. I wanted to cry bitter tears of failure. The paintings I liked enough, he was a realistic type. I did notice that he travelled to Istanbul and maybe even to Africa, but that didn't radically change his paintings in same way that African art had effected the style of Picasso. That made me sad. From the wikipedia site, it does look as though he was an interesting guy. He wasn't one of those University trained posers, and had even worked with William Morris.

So that is the future. Even if you are successful in life, your legacy could be a dusky and empty
gallery, that at some stage will be closed and his pictures burnt or sold in car boot sales. What is the point of it all?

Anyway my favourite artist is now Brangwyn -- more to be bloody minded than anything else.

I liked the quote below from wikepedia.

  The art writer Marius Gombrich has linked the decline of interest in Brangwyn's works to the decline of the British Empire, pointing out that Brangwyn's bold, vigorous, outward-looking art was suited to the expansive spirit of late-Victorian British society but inconsistent with the inward-looking, less confident, and intellectually effete ethos prevalent in the post World War I period.[14]

Picaso, waffles and fries ...

Second full day in Bruges

I started the day by eating Waffles at a little store in train station. Then I went into the center with a bus, and ate some fries purchased from a little store in the markt area. I think I went a bit wild with eating fries in Bruges, because today I didn't feel like Pomme Frittes for lunch.

I then wandered around the city for a while, just looking at the nice buildings and rivers.

I then went into an exhibition of Picasso's (and Joan Miro) work. Picasso painted a lot, so there were many paintings and it was interesting to see his change of styles. I also liked the fact that he was always learning and talking to new people.

I can now see why people steal paintings so that they can look at them alone. There were not too many people in the gallery but they seemed to get in my way.

Picaso managed abstraction with out painting stuff that required no skill.

End of first full day in Bruges

I ended my stroll around the center of Bruges with a fish stew for dinner. Belgium cooking works for me, because as far as I can tell you get fries with everything (but with no vinegar).
My table was near the door and one of the waiteresses just stared out of the door to look for new customers. This freaked me out a little bit.
The meal cost 28 Euros, but when I gave the waiter a 50 Euro note, he asked if I didn't have anything smaller. This shows that 50 Euro notes are hated through out the EU.

i then worked out how to get a bus ticket on the bus and went back to my hotel.

Escape from Hell

While travelling I read "Escape from Hell" by Hal Duncan. I found out about this book from the white screen of despair run by Gary Gibson.

The book was action packed with a group of people who sent to hell, escaping to hopefully a better place. I enjoyed reading it. It is always good to see people surmount impossible odds.

Johannes Cabal the Detective

It was just warm enough to read outside. In between visiting museums and wandering around Bruges, I read Johannes Cabal the Detective on my kindle. This is the second Cabal book I have read. What is great about the character is that he is mostly immoral, but he does occasionally do good things. In some sense it is like the gnostic idea of god that is basically evil with bits of goodness hidden in it.

My love affair with the guillotine

Museums are not always boring when they contain an instrument of death

I looking through my guide book for something to do that didn't involve beer or reading. One of the museums, called Gruuthuse , looked a boring -- until I got to the sentence that stated that there was a guillotine there. I put down the book and started running (perhaps a fast limp is a better description).

It took a while to find the museum, because it was hidden away. The museum was a meant to show the life in Bruges in the past, which is something I am not too interested in. I am wise enough to know that the staff will think me a bit weird, if after buying a ticket, I just say, "so where is the fucking guillotine?" I rapidly toured the first floor of the building, but couldn't find it.
It turned out to be in the first room, but just standing in the corner. Personally I would get rid of the other stuff in the building and just keep the guillotine well lit.

I was starting at the guillotine ans was just starting to think about life, death, and justice. A family came in starting at looking at the stuff in the room. One of the children went off and started to explore the guillotine on their own. I was just thinking, this might not end well. Then the rest of thye family came over. The father explained to the children, who I think were around 10, what the  guillotine was for, in an educational way.

Sane well adjusted people take all the fun out of visiting museums.

I then took some pictures. I got told off in a museum in Vienna when I tried to take pictures of the car that Franz Ferdinand was shot in, which was the event that started the first world war. I had turned the flash off, so I was worried when I took the pictures, because it was gloomy in there.

I didn't realize how high the guillotine was.

In Bruges and in Bruges

Watching the film In Bruges in Bruges

I watched the film "In Bruges" while I was staying in Bruges. I rented the film via Itunes.
The film had two hit men hiding out in Bruges after a hit goes wrong. Only one of the hitmen wanted to be there, but the other hates the city. The city Bruges is almost part of the actors because it plays such as important part in the drama.

I kept thinking I was there today, but without a shooter.

TV in Belgium and the fate of the UK

My hotel room has a TV that shows TV programs from a number of different countries. I could watch BBC1, BBC2, and ITV1. The local Flemish channels show English language shows but with subtitles. Some people thing that this is the reason that everyone can speak such good English.

So I was channel hopping (zappen). On the UK channels, two had shitty game or talent shows on.
Even worse BBC2 had a program about how the British felt that they were a special people. One of the local channels showed one of the new Sherlock Holmes programs made by the BBC, but with subtitles.

So the local here improve their English while the English nation is brain washed with game shows and propaganda for a lost Empire. So what is the plan to make Britain great again. Are we going to invade India and sell opium to the Chinese? What we don't need is a program telling us "we are the chosen ones."

The Elites of this country need to let go of the Empire idea. OK, many of them have, of course, they are too busy stealing as much money from the country, so they can buy a big castle in France. and retire there. Cutting the 50p tax rate -- very power to the people.

On getting old

So I was 45 yesterday -- that was the main reason I was in Bruges (apart from a massive burn out). This birthday hit me very hard. I got depressed about age and death. One of the problems with no having children is that I am not distracted by looking after my family, but I have plenty of time to go inwards to despair.

I now fully understand the mid life crisis thing, but I am not sure what to do about it.

On a more positive note I actually feel better than  last year, because of the diet and extra exercise. I just need to lose another 10 kgs and work on my flexibility. The last week has been a week of excess, but if I can calm down, than I will be back on track again.

There must be a way to cheat death.

Salvador Dali

So after surviving the lack of breakfast trial, I was ready to do some hard core tourist stuff. I was in the markt area and there was museum for Salvador Dali. When I was between 16 and 23 I was interested in surrealism, but when paranoia and madness became the normality of my normal life, I lost interest somewhat. But still I like Dali I thought.

It was a small museum but still very interesting. I didn't realize that Dali had dome so many book illustration.  He had done pictures for books such as Alice in Wonderland and Venus in Furs. Dali was both a good painter and drawer as well as good at self promotion. A lot of his work was based on philosophy or ideas

There were a lot of mirror in the museum and that freaked me out. I was a bit unsure of reality.

First day in Bruges

My hotel in Bruges is close to the railway station. The web site of the hotel claimed it was either a 20 minute walk (for normal speed walkers) to get to the city center, or take a short bus trip. It took a short while to get a ticket. I got on the bus to the Zentrum. After about 5 minutes I got off at a market. It was a standard market, with stalls selling 5 pairs of socks for 5 Euros. However I was in tourist mode so I was searching for the historical bit and a place to buy breakfast.

After the market  I walled in what I thought was the correct direction. Bruges is a tourist town, so I thought I should find something quickly. I was partly looking for history, but mostly looking for breakfast, because the night before I had just eaten 3 beers and a chocolate bar. But I walked and walked, but I didn't find any cafes or open shops. I thought, this is hell -- I am going to just walk around until  I starve or go mad. At some point I thought I smelled bacon, but I could see no shop or cafe. I shook my fist at heaven.

Just as I thought, well this is it, I hit the man tourist  area. I then had to decide on what rip off cafe to eat at. This took some while and I eventually went into a fast food joint to order a bacon burger, because please remember I was close to death and needed a little meat.

 The burger was delicious and even used a brown bap.

Belgium beer

I got the train from Wuppertal to Bruges on Friday. The train to Brussels from Koln was late, so I got into Bruges train station 20:00. However, most of the shops in the station were closed. This was a bit of a bummer, because I needed something to eat. My hotel was close to the train station.

After I checked in, I found a little shiny modern bar. I knew most of the Belgium beers on offer. I started with a Duvel beer. Duvel beer always reminds me of Liverpool, because I used to drink that beer  after going to the Odeon cinema.  I like beer, but experience has told me drinking more than 2 beers with 9% alcohol content is not a good idea. So after a small glass of Leffe, I decided to be a real slob and go for a Stella. 

I have drunk a lot of Stella beer in the UK, but it doesn't have a good reputation among the real ale crowd, apart from its ability to get you pissed. The beer was poured into a small glass and the head was removed with a knife in  a European manner. (Actually the served dropped the glass when it was half full).

After my 3 beers I got a chocolate bar from the vending machine -- and that was dinner.

Now that I think abut it, I hardly ever see Belgium beer in Germany.

How not to start a holiday

During the last couple of weeks I have been really burnt out. So I booked a weekend holiday in Bruges Belgium. Before I left I thought I should weigh myself. Bad idea, because my weight had gone up to 91 kgs. This is not information I needed to know, before I visit to the land of fries, chocolate, waffles, and strong beer.

Rammstein

So Rammstein seem to a big German metal band. I think that their control over the crowd is amazing. Somehow he makes wearing dungarees cool.


They are very theatrical as well

Stahlhammer

So in my voyage of discovery of German music, today we are looking at Stahlhammer from Austria.

They also do a neat cover of a famous Pink Floyd song.
I like their sound, but I want something faster .....

 Subway to Sally

I have started my discovery of German underground music by listening to Subway to Sally. It is clear to me from the streets of Wuppertal that metal is big in Germany. I tried one song on youtube, because this band were described as Medieval metal, and this seemed interesting enough to try.
The video looks cool, but the sound is not so special, but perhaps I should try more than one track.



 OK, from the live video I can now hear why it is called Medieval metal. But is it prog?
I like these guys more now.

Soap&skin

I was listening to Tom Ravenscroft and he played a track by Soap&Skin. I thought it was pretty awesome. She sounds a bit like Nico. She comes from Austria I believe.



I thought I should explore German music a bit more. I should make it clear that I was thinking of exploring underground German music rather than Beethoven. I could be as cool as Julian Cope,
who wrote a book on Krautrock.

I had a look at the wikipedia page for German bands. Anyway it might make more interesting posts than how depressed I am.

On being slightly less fat

On weight

So finally I have managed to reach 90 kg. I have been lost in a terrible black pit of despair, so I was happy to see this morning the reading on my scales. It makes me think what weight I would be if I had cut down on the booze. I have only lost 6 kg since Christmas, so it all going a bit slow. What is the secret of my success, well eating half grapefruit at breakfast.

Mug wars

The mystery of the broken mugs

What the fuck! I wanted a coffee so I poured hot water on the powder. Ten seconds later the mug imploded. What are the chances of that? Actually pretty high, because the same thing happened last week with a cup of tea. Why are all my mugs exploding. I think it might be due to some plot by the CIA. They know I drink a lot of tea. They are trying to assassinate me with exploding mugs, before I start to do something important in my life, such as err. Of course the other possibility is that the Euro shop sell cheap shit mugs, Another possibility is that I wake in the middle of night and start throwing mugs around, while I sleep. I am more worried about this reason, than the CIA is out to get me. Being an enemy of the CIA is heroic, but throwing mugs around while I sleep is just stupid.

Wired

I have managed to finish another book! This week I finished reading Wired by  Douglas  Richards. It was a futurist action thriller. Some of the ideas I liked, but then there was a bit too much telling rather than showing. And the end went on for longer than it needed. Still I enjoyed it.

Veggie death

 On being poisoned

I was poisoned at work today in the Cafeteria. A couple of people told me it is important to have a few meat free days every week. In the same conversation I couldn't remember when I had a day when I had not eaten meat. I am not hard core about this. I don't start the day with a burger, much as I want to.

After passing my German exam on Wednesday, I totally failed to order a pork stir fry and ended up with the vegetarian stir fry instead, so I was poisoned. I felt weak and hungry all afternoon. I had to eat a big can of tuna to recover.

It used to be that vegetarians were thought to be  bunch of flower hugging hippies, but suddenly vegetarianism is main  stream. They should be forced to eat in a different building, so as not to corrupt the food of us meat eaters. I need my strength.

Stress

Dreams and exam stress

I finally have the final part of my exam in German today, so it is interesting to record my dreams. Also I didn't drink any alcohol last night so my dreams were vivid.

I was walking into a room. I turned around and a figure in a brown cloak was sneaking up on me. I turned around and just managed to get a reasonable elbow shot in, when I woke up. After some reflection, I think the figure was based on the evil person in the dreams in the film "Minority Report."

When I was in another dream I was around a swimming pool. Somehow I had a database of past loves. Although you might start to worry that I am stalking women, it is actually much sadder than that. I was worried about the design of the database. It didn't use sql, but used some associative array data structures in PERL. Somehow the poor design of my database resulted in me losing contact information with women.

My conclusion. I should have taken the online course from MIT on databases, if I really am serious for looking for love. Also I need to work on my martial awareness and combat techniques.

Passport blues

New Passport

If you were to hide a hidden camera near the postbox in my flat. Everyday you would see a per son open his mail box with a look of hope, but then start to cry when he saw emptiness. That person would be me,  because I am waiting for my new passport. Why do I need a new passport? Well for a holiday of course and my old one has run out. I have been nervous, in case there were some problems (like me not filling in a form correctly.)

Or perhaps the seditious thoughts expressed as on this blog.

Passports are now sent from the UK to the address in Germany, but I had to apply to an office in Dusseldorf. When I saw the DHL letter, I was at first excited, because I thought it was my new passport, but then I saw DUS on the letter. I though that is just my old passport being sent back from Dusseldorf. But when I opened there was my new passport -- all shiny and new, all ready to send me to new far flung lands.

I invent a new dish

Below is what I designed for my lunch todays. Chili and beans. I actually regret adding the chillies, because my stomach is on fire. Opinion seems mixed as to whether baked beans are healthy. The beans are healthy, but sugar is added as well.

Father Brown versus the Catholic church

Ok so I was baptised a Catholic, but I never took the communion thing. My family were not religious, when we were growing up. I think I was dragged to church at some stage, and perhaps I even went to Sunday school for a couple of months, but I think this had more to do with doing the right thing rather than anything to do with this God dude. Luckily in those days the churches didn't like young children so much, so that helped me keep out of their clutches.

On the Iplayer is a collection of stories about Father Brown by  G. K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries, even though he is a fat little priest. On one hand I really enjoy the stories, however on an intellectual level, the endings of the stories always seem to involve propaganda for the Catholic Church,  The priest knows more about real life than the rational men of science. To be fair he doesn't use supernatural reasoning. Personally I think a priest detective would miss all the clues, because he would spend all his time ranting about condoms and gay marriage. 

I am slightly against Chesterton, because when I was young I wanted to know about anarchism (as you do). In the days before the internet, all I found was the book " The Man Who Was Thursday", that frankly is not a good introduction to anarchism, but an interesting book.

Now that I look on Wikipedia I see that Chesterton used to carry a sword stick around, so he was a sound man.

Please note that although I don't like this nasty religious business --  I don't feel that this should stop me winning the Templeton prize, for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities, because I could do a lot with the money and prestige..

 Kill speed

I just watched "kill speed" on Itunes. I think I rented it because it was available for 99p on Itunes and it was an action film. I spent a month not watching it, because I didn't really like the plot synopsis.
It was an enjoyable film in its way. There were a lot of plane chases, but the plot was fairly standard.

I do wander what this type of film is doing to Americas, because it does suggest that just be being an American jock, you can fly jets with no training.

Love and cartoons

On love

I had a major panic attack this morning. I turned the TV on, but found no cartoons. How could I wake up properly with no cartoons, but with just lots of cups tea. There were TV programs, but normally there are cartoons -- this has been true for all the four countries I have lived in. However after I had a shower, I saw that spider man was on the TV -- so all was well.

Perhaps I need someone in my life to shake me out of my boring life. About a week ago I was talking to a female in neighbour in the lift. After she realized how bad my German was, she started talking to me in English. She told me that it was bad that I had to walk through a forest to get to my home. She cares, I thought, how sweet. I don't think she was telling me that I was a loser because I don't have a car. I tried to explain that I liked the spirit of the forest, but I expect I came across as a nerdy boy doesn't talk to chicks much. Perhaps I will never see her again. I have already forgotten what floor she got out of.

So you can see why I need to see cartoons on Sunday morning to get me out of bed.

Sharp dressing -- or not

On getting smart

I feel the need for smarting up a little bit. When I lived in the US, I used to wear colourful t-shirts, but it seemed pointless in the UK, because the weather is usually not good enough to just wear a T-shirt.
Anyway I got out of the habit. I don't see so many cool T-shirts on Amazon. But what about this one.

Unfortunately apart from being sexist, the T-shirt needs to be washed in cold water. So if I do pull, I will need some washing tips.

I am not James Bond

On being a secret agent

I awoke last night for a toilet break. I thought, wow I have not had any dreams. When I fell asleep I dreamed that I was a secret agent. I have managed to forget the first part of the dream, but later in the dream I was in a taxi that was travelling towards a museum, where a secret organisation was based. At the museum, I was quickly identified, and I got into two fights, both of which I lost badly. My secret equipment was found and stolen.

Later my partner arrived and saved me. My equipment cam back by teleportation. At the end of the dream I was a supermarket, where I borrowed the keys of one of members of the Wuppertal theory group, who was working there part time. I accidentally took the keys  hope with me.

It seemed a very middle dream about special agents. I also see I think I am a special agent, rather than a secret agent -- no wonder that i got caught so quickly.

Exam angst

 On taking an exam in German

I am in the progress of taking an exam in German. The last part of the test is next Wednesday.
Although I am a "hard" person, I also have a nervous streak. When I was at University or school, people used to hat it when I took an exam. After the test I would go into "I have failed mode", where I would get depressed, because I thought I had failed the exam. For completeness, the exam is B1,
that is I believe close to AS level in German.

After the exam on Wednesday I started to get very depressed, because I thought I had messed up two thirds of the exam. I did manage to fail many of the practice tests we did in class. And when I say fail, I mean a massive failure with 30% score. Luckily the teacher told me I hadn't failed, just I was getting  into failure mode. My mood was bad for the test, because after studying for the test, I found that I had forgotten many of the verb conjugations for important verbs such as werden.
So I had spent the morning writing out the tables, but making many mistakes.
 I also failed the last exam at the A2 level and the pass mark is 66% -- what the fuck.

At some stage I realized I knew the word for fail (durchfallen), but not the word for pass. There is a verb called passen, but my on line dictionary translates this as "to suit" or match, but I will check with my German speaking colleagues.

When I was "revising" for this exam, I found that no one understood what I was talking about. And now that I think about it -- it doesn't make too much sense.

Well how should I relax? Perhaps I will read a little Mark Twain on the German language.

A few thoughts on black magic

My first dream of black magic

I had a dream with plenty of black magic in it last night. I was on an island. I went into a tunnel into the ground. There was a bunker with a locked wardrobe in it. I open the wardrobe with  key, although I knew there could be problems with evil. I looked around the bunker, but delayed too long. The sense of evil increased and I panicked. I couldn't get the wardrobe closed and locked and I had to escape from the bunker by another way. Black clouds were swarming around and I needed sunlight.

On the roof I met a goth chick who was worried about evil, but who almost kept bursting into flame.
I then met some other people who worried about the dark forces swirling around us.

So what does the dream mean master? Well on the positive side I am not actually welding black magic, but somehow I am being tempted. When I was awake I wandered whether black magic could  be used to help me win the Templeton prize. That is not really normal is it, but the Templeton prize is a lot of money? I think the dream was more influenced by watching the end of Merlin (but not the BBC series) on  TV, before I went to sleep.

How I came to love steps

On boxing

I am trying to get fit. In the past I have gone to the gym and done a little weights and used a stepper to warm up. However the University of Wuppertal is on a hill, so I thought I should use the real steps. So when I feel like it I walk down a road to the bottom of the hill, so that I can walk up the steps -- for fitness. If I feel real keen I also walk up the stairs to my office on the 10th floor.

So here are the first third of the steps to my office

Perhaps it will end like the Rocky film. I will run up the stairs and start jumping and down.




Many people have filmed themselves running up the same steps as Rocky. Perhaps when I get a bit
fitter I can be a professional boxer. At the moment I stagger to the top and wander around with my nervous system completely destroyed. Until I get a coffee.

My core

 On having a strong core

After a post about satanism, I thought I should post a saner post -- just in case any future employers are reading. After all, even  Aleister Crowley was a mountaineer, so fitness is important not just for life, but also for the occult.

Apart from being fat, I think my abdominal muscles are very weak. I find it hard to have weight on my stomach.  I have in the past used an ab roller machine, but I have read that it is not good for the neck. Also I am not very good at doing sit ups.

In a book by a hard core weight lifter he recommended an ab-wheel. Mine arrived last week. I can feel it burning my abdominal.

When my abs are strong I will be able to do stuff like invite people to hit me in the stomach. But I remember what happened to Houdini.

Late night porn

When porn didn't help

One of the TV channels in Germany plays some mild porn adverts after midnight. These are mostly adverts for chat lines and feature some nudity. When I was a younger man I would not have watched such TV, but rather I would have turned over to watch an action film with plenty of honest Godly violence.

Last night it struck me that this mild late night nakedness, might give me better dreams. But no I awoke with a confused dream about a physics calculation. I wouldn't mind, but I have had the dream before, and it is not about any project I am working on. But perhaps my subconsciousness has noticed something that will help solve the fundamental problems of physics, if only I would pay attention.
At the very least I now know physics is better than late night (mild) porn.

What not to read in public

On why buying a book by Dennis Wheatley was not such a good idea

About two weeks ago I felt like reading a book by the "horror writer" Dennis Wheatley. He was famous for writing occult novels filled with devil worshipers. He was once very popular, but now his books are almost out of print. So I chose a book on amazon and ordered a copy.

When It arrived I was a bit shocked by the cover. I thought perhaps I shouldn't read such a book outside my flat. I just hope the police come round to my flat. They would see  the book and I would have to explain that I was interested in Satanists rather that Nazis. This would be a conversation that would not end well.

Let us hope that they don't start reading, because a father and a daughter have just done something wrong in a black mass. And the father may turn out to be a hero.

On becoming slightly less fat

More exciting weight news

After a lot of hard core sulking because I didn't make my weight target last week. Being a mature adult, I dealt with my disappointment , by having a couple of beers on Sunday, Luckily I made it to 91 kgs on Saturday. This blog will become very dull, if I record every kg lost. It could be 10 posts to get to my target of 80 kgs, unless I start to gain weight again.

I am reading a book on fitness. The author went on the "velocity diet", where he only drank 5 shakes per day, but ate no food. He lost a lot of weight in a month. The Guardian have a report on an even more radical way of losing weight.  These solutions seem very hardcore to me.

Bait and Switch

I have managed to finish a book. This is the first book that I have finished this year. The book was
"Bait and Switch: The Futile Pursuit of the Corporate Dream" by Barbara Ehrenreich. Barbara is a independent left leaning writer. She wanted as an experiment to get a job at a corporation to see what people were complaining about. However after almost a year she didn't get a real interview, apart from two in sales -- that involved her fast buying the stuff she would later sell.

Finding a white collar job looked a depressing business. There were strange "job coaches" who drew weird and pointless diagrams. There were also networking sessions run by churches. A lot of the job seekers seemed to be broken. Things are bad in the USA, where there is no NHS too take care of them, between jobs.  She spent a huge amount of cash with a CV coach.

Given that I am on a fixed term contract-- I of course worry about being unemployed all the time.
I found it strange none of the IT guys tried to write some code, or learnt a new computer language.

The 7th dimension

I watched the film "the 7th dimension" on Sunday and Monday by the magic of Itunes. Th blurb for the film had something about hacker breaking int the Vatican computer network. The film started badly for me, because it had two women students talking. There is great line in a Dylan Thomas story that goes like: "he still loved her, but he didn't like anything she set or did."  The two students were attractive in a non-verbal way.  Anyway things get weirder as they go to flat where a group of three people are indeed trying to hack into the Vatican,

It was clearly a a low budget film that had some interesting (although) common ideas. Midway through the film, I thought that the two women had hidden talents, but no they both messed up -- and one had to ring there mum up. I did like the goth chick in the flat. She had started out selling wine and beer in a shop, but became an elite hacker. Interesting!

This film is another nail in the coffin of string theory. String theory was not mentioned in a film about higher dimensions. I am no expert in string theory, but I don't think it is consistent in 7 dimensions, it prefers 10, 11, or 26 dimensions.

Carnival

 Carnival time

So were big procession in Cologne and Dusseldorf today. So it is time to remember past Carnivals. Last year, i didn't go either. I watch on TV, but I don't feel the need to wear a big bunny costume, drink lots of beer, and collect sweets from the floats.

I always have great plans for work, but after lunch I start to get bitter, because I keep thinking everyone else is wearing bunny suits and drinking lots of beer. Last year I went out and purchased a coffee maker and kettle -- that seemed very important at the time, but I have only used the coffee maker once. This year I went shopping to ALDI -- more for the walk, but also to try out my shopping basket.

Shopping basket blues

On shopping

There are a lot of budget supermarkets in Germany. For example there is an ADLI sort of close to my flat. One thing that annoys me about these shops is that they don't provide hand baskets. Fucking why?  I am a single man -- I refuse to push around a shopping trolley. They get in the way. I like the feel of the weight of the shopping as I push it around.

In Netto - another cheap German supermarket I saw that they were selling hand baskets, so I laid out 5 Euros and got one. I would feel a bit uncool walking around the city with it, so I keep it in my rucksack outside the shop, because of the shame. Look without a basket I can only buy 3 beers at one time.

I hate cleaning

 On cleaning

When I lived with some friends in Salt lake City,  my flat mates once told me there were scared when I cleaned the bathroom. This always seemed to me outrageous because I could never remember cleaning the bathroom at all. My attitude to cleaning is usually summed up by a quote from Quentin Crisp  that the dirt reaches equilibrium, so why bother to clean.

However, at some stage, even I can't stare at flat full of papers. So I have slowly tidied up  the last two weeks, so my flat is a bit more ordered. Although no doubt if you were to visit my flat of solitude you could swipe a finger in your while glove over the wall and find some dust (I would then throw you out).

Some people may be thinking -- we clean our house every week, so what is the big deal? Interesting question, as I think I am really cleaning my flat rather than studying for my German exam.

Dream goals

On better dreams

At some stage I was scared of sleeping. I was worried about the dreams, and also not waking up.
But now I should embrace my fear. I want better dreams. My imagination is broken, so it needs to be grown.

I read in a book about the history of the literature of vampires. To write better stories, a group of friends, ate rotten meat before they slept. This seems a bit extreme to me.

So how can I get better dreams. What to do? Well I looked on the web and I found this link. I like the idea of controlling my dreams. Why pay for renting a new film, when I can dream myself into new places.  Perhaps I will not bother to get up, just spend all day in bend dreaming. Better still, I could run new particle physics simulations in my mind.

But I also remember a film by Wim Wenders called " Until The End Of The World", where they film dreams and they claim it makes them go insane.

Sill not thin

More about this weight business

Boohoo. My life sucks. I weighed myself on Saturday and I was exactly the same weight as last week. It is so unfair I was hoping to be pass the 90 kg barrier, but no. I have been walking up the big hill to the University and when there is light, I have been going up the 8 flights of stairs to my flat.
Also I had stopped my chocolate fix at 11:00 -- replacing it with an apple.

But it did no good whatever. Of course I did eat a chocolate bar on Friday, but I needed something to settle my stomach for the duration of my German class. Of course my stomach was a little bit upset from the beer from the previous evening.

Perhaps I will have to give something else up to meet my goals.

 Flashpoint

Yesterday I watched a great film called Flashpoint on Itunes. It was a standard police action film set in Hong Kong, however the fighting sequences were very impressive. The main star was not really using kung fu. but more Thai. He had some great moves, one of which made me wince. He threw a person over his shoulder  and them on their head

You can see that the lead actor is very skillful from the "making of the film" video below.
I wish I could do that.




I should mention that I might have seen the film before. There is a scene where there is bomb in a roof top flat that seemed very familar.

A boring dream

Last night I dreamed that I was walking to work. I was naked, but I was carrying a T-shirt. I decided to  have more time for work that I would just put the T-shirt on and not go home to get my trousers. After breakfast at a cafe, I felt confused and decided that I would go home and get my trousers. At the end of the dream I was trying to understand an email from a physicist in the US.

What would Freud made of the dream? My sexual needs are not being made. I don't need a dream to tell me that. It is coming up to Valentimes day and I have no date. Frankly, If I have a dream about my sexual repression and emotional coldness, I would rather have other  people naked in the dream.  I can't even turen to Jung to find some hidden racial  memory from ancient times.

More worryingly perhaps my dream is about my future. In 20 years I will already be senile, wandering around the nursing home wearing no trousers....

On death and pop music

My formative years were in the 80s. I really used to hate pop music. This was the time before the internet, so it much harder to find new music, and we were all force fed pop music. (Of course there was John Peel and fanzines). I didn't wish anyone harm. Certainly any rumours that I keep a little black book with a list of 80s pop stars  that I wish vengeance on, is untrue (its all in my head: Bono, Duran Duran, ...).

I was sorry to hear of  Whitney Houston's death. Perhaps I could have saved her. Even after the drugs and booze, she was still attractive. I could have been her new manager. We would have started slowly.
Perhaps working the Liverpool karaoke scene. There is good money of you can win on one of those nights. I could have helped with the rehab. I would get off champagne and onto something more healthy such as pints of Stella lager. Then I would make my master stroke. Who would be your idol, if you were a sex symbol, but then had problems with drugs. Well obviously, it would be Nico from the
velvet underground. Yes an album of covers of songs sung by Nico would have put her career on a new path.

Dreams of flying and lenohard Cohen

So last night I had a dream where I was flying -- in an airplane. The strange thing was that Lenohard Cohen was in the coach area as well. He seemed happy and relaxed. As the plane took off, he started singing Suzzane (one of his famous songs). Best of all the seat next to me was empty, so I could lie down. I was surprised that Cohen was not in first class. What does it all mean? I think my body was trying to award me for not drinking any beer on a Saturday night.

On Soup

On soup fascism

When I was growing up my mother tried to teach me how to eat soup in the correct manner. Some how  I didn't like tilting the spoon away from me to get the soup into the spoon. It always seemed more geometrically natural to tilt the spoon towards me, so that when the spoon left the soup it went in a smooth arc to me mouth.

Now that I look into this I see that there is plenty of advice on the correct way to eat soup on the web.
In fact in the good olde USA they claim that it is better to eat soup from a mug rather than a soup bowl. There is a video that shows the way my mum wanted me to eat the soup.

I was going to end the post, by saying that I am adult now, so I can eat my soup any fucking way I want to. However, it is coming up to valentines day, and perhaps my soup eating skills will be used as a way to judge my skills as in the bed room.

How fat are you

I was happy to see that my scales told me today that I am 92 kg. There is still a long way to go , but things are slowly moving in the correct direction for my health.

There are various ways to work out what your correct weight is for your height. There is a famous number called the BMI index that tells you what range your weight should be. After looking at the wikipedia page I see that I am now overweight rather than  Obese Class I.

However in my reading -- particularly in weight training , many people don't like to just use the weight, because they are trying to increase their muscle mass. So my own measure is looking to see whether I can see my penis under my beer gut. At the moment this measure tells me I still need to lose
10 kgs or enlarge the size of my penis in some way.

On will power (or lack there of)

I am trying to lose weight. I have had no problems eating less food in general. I don't eat chocolate or crisps in my flat. I don't miss eating half a pack of pringles in an evening. You perhaps will not believe that I eating less food, if you see me in the Mensa. The standard meal is pretty hearty. However, I have replaced pudding with fruit.

Everyday I was eating just one bar of chocolate at 11:00. This week I managed to replace the chocolate with an apple -- but it was so hard. The vending machine kept winking at me. The twix looked so tasty and that mars bar!

There was an article in guardian about a new book on will power. In the interview one of the authors says that will power is like a muscle. You have to train it, but also using too much will power can  tire you out (that is my excuse for buying 4 rather than 3 beers yesterday).

Later in the review he suggests that some sugar can be a good quick fix to improve will power. So I am not sure, whether I should go back to the chocolate bar at 11:00. Anyway the main thing is to stop thinking about food.

Or what about it being deep fried?

Yummy!

The priest

I watched The Priest on Itunes. This film was about a band of super warriors who were priests fighting   vampires in a bleak future. I enjoyed the film -- although it was standard action fare.  I was expecting the bishop at the end to be the bad person behind the scenes. But he wasn't -- he was just annoying.

The cold is starting to get to me

It was a fairly warm winter up until the start of this month. In February it suddendly turned bitterly cold. Every time I walk to or from work, my poor little fingers freeze, even with the gloves. I am beginning to feel bitter myself.

Last night I saw a toy's pistol lying on the road. I thought, some poor child has lost their toy. I was going to pick the gun up, but then I thought, I don't want the little kind learning to use weapons. In 10 years time the little shit will probably shoot me, while trying to rob a bank. Or perhaps with the Euro crisis, the Daily Mail newspaper will get its wish and we will be back at war. The man (or woman) will shoot me when I am heroically hiding in a cave with a bad leg. The kid is crying now, but it will help him become a man (or woman). Anyway it was too cold to do anything but run to the warm embrace of the supermarket.

Tinker tailor soldier spy

So I have just watched the film. It is a difficult film to watch, because I kept thinking about the famous TV series. The film was so much shorter than the series, so everything was very stripped down. I know that I should be able ti get past the series, but I can't. The time of the series is also a history lesson because it shows the time before Thatcher's evil influence started the final major decline of the UK.

Ip Man 2

Well I tunes were renting "Ip man 2" for 99p, so how could I resist? This time Ip man is Hong Kong and starting a martial arts school. The plot was fairly standard, with a big tournament fight at the end, where he beats a nasty English man.

What did make me laugh was that his wife was almost ready to give birth, but she moved out so he could train on the wooden dummy in preparation for his big fight. In fact she gave birth, but didn't tell him so that he wouldn't lose focus. Why can't I find someone like that for a relationship? Not that I fight in many competitions. In fact I dimly remember that something similar happened in one of the
Rocky movies, but that didn't seem as natural as in Ip man 2.

There is a WingTsun school in Wuppertal -- that I wouldn't mind training at. However, they may not be happy to train someone so unfit with a dodgy ankle. I did train a little bit at a JDK club and I liked all the sticky hands. However, some of the classical martial arts have problems. I like the video below, however no one attacks like the way they use in the drill. Still the defence is robust.

On getting fucked up

Like many people I have an  urge for self destruction that is balanced by my cowardice. Sometime I liked to get a bit messed up. For example I was going to buy a coffee maker, but instead I got some sachets of instant coffee and milk. I drink a lot of tea, so sometimes I like to drink something different.

So I drink my instant coffee, but it makes me fell like shit. Still I will persevere. It is a nice way to feel bad. Hopefully the coffee is just bad, rather than dangerous.

On gloves

I don't have a fever at the moment, so
I can tolerate a normal amount of cold.
However, it is now -4 C and even though
I wear gloves, my fingers were cold when
I got to work. It takes a while for my fingers
to warm up. I just have to wander about
my office crying about frost bite, until
I feel human again.

For many Christmases I have got gifts of
gloves and socks. I have to admit I am sometimes
a little bit disappointed with the gloves. It is a sad fact that
women, don't really understand what is important
for a man's gloves. They think that the colour, style and warmth
are important, but a man knows that the most important
things is that the glove properly protects the
knuckles in case you need to hit anybody. It has to be
east to slap someone with the gloves if you want to
challenge a person to a duel. Black leather works for me.
Man amazon in Germany even sells some gloves that have
sand in them to protect the hand. Wow!

Cohen and me

One way to tell whether you are listening too
much to one particular singer too much, is if
your mum knows all the tunes too. When I was at
studying at University, I would come home, open
a can of beer, and put a  Leonard Cohen record
on the record player. And thus the holiday would
pass.

I liked the early stuff best of course, but
I liked the 80s sounds as well. For a long time
he hardly ever made records. I think I only
got the second to last album, but I remember being
disappointed in it.

The Guardian streamed his latest record:
"New ideas". On the strength of that I downloaded
it from itunes. I think it is a great record.
People say he is depressing, but I would say he
is more realisti. He started singing later in life,
so he missed the teanage angst faze.