highly unorganized - if not even messy - post

So, I hear people complaining I should write more often. Yeahyeahyeah... Here I am. Writing.

What have I been up to during the last weeks? There has been a lot of photographing, reading, thinking, cooking, laughing and talking... The same as always yet always different... I feel supremely inspired.

Discussions of the last weeks have made me reconsider a lot of my jaunty little-girl-life-concepts. The world weighs much heavier on my shoulders now - but it's as beautiful as always to me. Maybe even more. However, while reflecting and trying to find my way in this jungle of new demands, I remembered a word I heard months ago in an Austrian radio show; it's called Quarterlife Crisis. I started to investigate and came across Erik H. Erikson, the guy we have to blame that the words identity and identity crisis are nowadays everyday-words. To cut it short: I'm reading his book Identity: Youth and Crisis; and I have to say that it's great to read some psychological stuff once in a while.

These are two old demonstrators standing in front of the University building every day. I have no clue what they want and neither do they.

Now I have a nice psychological advice for you:

Wanna make friends? Go paint in public. No matter how bad your art may be, I'll bet you that you'll have made three new friends in no time.

Wanna be alone? Go take pictures. I have no explanation, but the mere presence of a camera will create the aura of an untouchable around you. People will forgo you with at least 10m distance, or even wrap their lunch back in its box and leave the bench they have been sitting on. Haha. They think it's them you're taking pictures of. Ha. Arrogant egocentrics.

Run! There's a camera!

My camera has become some kind of third eye, or second mouth, or however I can express the fact that my Self has somehow decided to shift from linguistic to visual eloquence (I know some people who are probably utterly thankful to hear this). Whatever goes on in side of me at the moment, I haven't the faintest idea of how to put it in words. But a simple click of my beloved Nikon does it. Thanx to the generous donator! :)

Summer waved good-bye

I don't even care to write coherent posts any more. Now I'll be talking about things like music and art and literature again. Because, you know, input is important.

So, first, go and listen to E.S.T.! They haven't payed me to tell you this, so just trust my sincere recommendation. I haven't heard anything so vibrant, luscious and deep in a long time (my favourite: Seven Days of Falling) Erm... and they are playing in Vienna, February 23rd 2007... Ah, by the way, this is some kind of rock-jazz-post-bop. Whatever, trust me, Scandinavians are by far the best European Jazzers. They are! And I knew that before coming here.

If waiting until February seems to long for you and you want something inspiring right now, go to Peter Callesen's Homepage. It's surprising what beautiful things one can cut out of a little piece of paper, and I guess his artform is what some people would call "sustainable".

If on the other hand you happen to be not such an artsy kind of person or/and longing for something deep and meaningful, I highly recommend Gustav Herling's book A World Apart. I'll simply go with Albert Camus and tell you that this book about life in a Soviet Gulag should be published and read in every language. It may seem paradox, but one can actually draw hope from these accounts of the darkest pits of (un)human condition and despair.



Not so inspired to read a book like this in winter? I've got something else, namely Mikhail Naimy's The Book of Mirdad. And when you're done with it you'll have accomplished a whole year's reading, because this is 20 books in one. Just better. And that's all I can say if I don't want to desecrate this piece of art. Thanks to the generous donator!

And now to something completely different:
This is what shadows look like at this time of the year - picture taken at 12:30.

And finally: Voilà Maman: un rayon "godis" dans une vidéothèque. Il y en a un deuxième juste en face. Et c'est presque la même chôse au super-marché... Miamiamslurp...

our bodies are wonderlands...

Bouhou... I missed Grupo Corpo this summer in Graz and I just did the big mistake of looking up the Internet for some videos... Now I know WHAT I missed... *sniff*

Such a clever choreography! Such incredible body control! Such beautiful people! (Brazilians, of course... *arghs*)

At least, these pictures of super-elastic masses of flesh (because I'm sure there are no bones!) make me work out harder. I'd like to know what my dad would say if he knew that I'm currently practicing a Yoga-pose called The Crow? Imagine if he saw me, inelegantly perched on my upper arms with my derrière in the air - would he try to shoot me like the real crows when their croaking wakes him up in the morning? :)

Now that I'm getting better and a more and more authentic crow, I'm terrified of going home for Christmas. Maybe I should skip this pose and focus on something less dangerous. For instance, I could stand like on the picture below and put some red ribbons in my hair - voilà!

Or I could do the Fish and turn into a Christmas Carp (dangerous, too)?

Or I'll play the innocent (Christ-)Child:

Now go and claim that Yoga doesn't save lives!

update

Winter has now become a fact here in Lund. The first snow arrived punctually on November 1st, together with a huge bill for the dentist (85 € for one little filling that had fallen out of my tooth, can you believe it?). Also, our concierge had mercy on us and turned on the radiators. Mh, it's a good feeling to go to bed without dressing like an explorer of the Arctic first (socks, scarf, pull-over, long pants)... And while I'm typing this, I'm drying my toes on the radiator - because now, the snow has gone and true winter has begun and that means: RAIN! RAIN! RAIN! Hihi, but I still don't regret being here (did I mention that it's dark at half past four?)...

I'm a bit disappointed that my camera was not able to capture the snow-storm on November 1st, so please just believe me that we have been close to the end of the world.

Last Saturday I went to the first Halloween-party of my life! Usually I hate dressing up, but I thought that I could make an exception. The party took place in a student corridor, St. Lars, which used to be a psychiatric clinic - and that's just what it still looks and feels like! White walls, huge cold rooms, barred windows, long sad corridors. Perfect for Halloween!

And most people actually had made an effort to dress up as something unusual.

I was The Night, which is easy, because all that you need is a lot of black (black gown, black mask), glitter and stars everywhere (eyes, hair, skin...). But I prepared a little bag filled with surprises (nightmares, black cats, sweet dreams, shooting stars...) people could pick.

I also had the opportunity to do some gender and cultural studies: people, especially men, don't like masks. But while they show respect to a male stranger hiding behind a mask, they think they can do whatever they want to reveal a disguised woman's identity. Conclusion: fix your masks firmly, girls! Pay attention to the hands coming out of nowhere! Don't hesitate to sacrifice your drink or other appropriate items to defend yourself!

Master and Slave at St. Lars' Halloween

Next day I was at the manifestation against climate change. It was all very Swedish: short, unexcited, everything well-scheduled. At least we all got cold enough to warm up with coffee, tea and delicious home-made cake made by the lovely old ladies at Theo's place.

Learn from the Swedes:
5° are still no reason for drinking your coffee inside!