Carpe Diem et Noctem - Yes, we can...

The NEW YEAR is approaching at lightspeed...this is for all you bloggers out there...you know who you are :-)

Firstly: May we have the strength to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to change the things we can change and and the wisdom to know the difference.

Secondly (another good motto): Sing like there's nobody listening and dance like there's nobody watching!

Thirdly: A musician once said the following - fail, try again and fail *better*. (Don't shy away from failure, it's part of the process!)

And lastly: Be your *best* friend...don't expect too much at once - one step at a time - and be kind to yourself whenever you fail...just like a really good friend.

Vive the sparkle!

I'm really glad that I met you guys - thanks for your inspiration and your comfort!

A VERY HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL 2009 - Lots of Happiness, Love, Health and May your wishes, hopes, dreams and aspirations come true - if they shouldn't...well, at least you tried!

2009 will be a very good year...

Cleo has inspired me to do the following...write about:

Something you've always wanted to do - learn to play the saxophone (I have one at home, but I haven't yet had the time to learn it properly),

Something you're afraid of doing - taking the plane (the HORROR!!),

Something you've been putting off - renovating my place (that was planned for next year anyway),

Plus...take Flamenco lessons (I have been wanting to do that for ages), eat better, take better care of myself, find Mr. Right (LOL).......and......most importantly......live in my "own accent" (to my own drum so to speak) - as Emma so eloquently put it.

...and realize these plans/intentions within the next year (if possible)...

Well, let's see how much of that I will actually put into action :-)

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE continued...

The West-Eastern Divan is a very special symphonic orchestra that was founded by Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim in Weimar/Germany in 1999 in light of the on-going bloody conflict in the Middle East. The musicians who are between the ages of 14 and 25 are recruited in countries like Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and Tunesia. The name 'West Eastern Divan' refers to a collection of poems by J. W. Goethe.The text below is taken from their website and it states some basic truths:

"The orchestra is a humanitarian idea. [...] Our project may not change the world, but it is a step forward. It is an ongoing dialogue, where the universal, metaphysical language of music links with the continuous dialogue that we have with young people, and that young people have with each other.We don’t see ourselves as a political project, but rather as a forum where young people from Israel and all the Arab countries can express themselves freely and openly whilst at the same time hearing the narrative of the other. It is not necessarily a question of accepting the narrative of the other, let alone agreeing with it, but rather the indispensable need to accept its legitimacy.

We believe in only two absolutely necessary political ideas:

- There is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

- The destinies of the Israeli and Palestinian people are inextricably linked and the land that some call Greater Israel and others Palestine is a land for two people.[...]

It is my belief that although music cannot solve any problems, [...] our project is very much in opposition to the cruelty and savagery that denies so many innocent civilians the possibility to continue living, fulfilling their ideas and dreams. It also shows me that so many lessons of the past have either been forgotten or never understood. [...] How long will it take for people in the region to accept this and remember that the past is but a transition to the present and the present a transition to the future? Therefore, a violent and cruel present will inevitably lead to an even more cruel and violent future.Every member of this orchestra, regardless of their origin, shows a remarkable amount of courage, understanding and vision by coming here. I would like to think of them as pioneers in a new way of thinking for the Middle East. [...]"

[Daniel Barenboim]

I've posted the link to their website below (see label).

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE...

I've just turned on the news...it seems that we are on the brink of a new war in the Middle East. Two hundred people have died today, more than 750 were injured, and the death toll will most certainly continue to rise.
The "Holy Land" it seems is the most un-holy place on Earth. Only two days after the birth of the Messiah, shortly after Ramadan and during the celebration of Chanukka, more than two hundred human beings have died in the Holy Land - the 'epicenter' of three world religions.
What on Earth does this say about said religions and their followers in the first place? Despite preaching peace, the followers of said religions don't seem to get along living in the same spot. How pathetic and sad...
I am taking nobody's side...except the side of the victims...it is generally the common man and woman who pay the price. Instead of a peaceful get-together, people were granted a day of carnage and turmoil today.
This is yet again a glaring testament of our short-comings, of our utter inadequacy and our complete inaptitude as a human race...

Will those who rule the masses ever wise up?
I highly doubt it - as they aren't the ones who DO THE DYING - others do the dying in THEIR name!

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!

GIVE THE PEOPLE - regardless of their ethnicity and/or their religious belief - A FRICKING CHANCE!
It is my profound belief that MOST people seek a peaceful life - if only you let them have it.

I lit a candle for world peace in our cathedral on the 25th - in vain it seems...

This is a truly sad after-Christmas and the on-going bloody conflict in the Middle East is a glaring FAILURE for all of mankind.

Dead cats...

I collected a parcel at the post office the other day, I wasn't completely awake I guess (sleep apnea is all I'm sayin') and the parcel reeked like Hell.

The very FIRST thought that crossed my mind was: 'Oh my God, somebody has sent me a dead cat, or cat excrement...Why, why would anybody do something like that? Is this some prank in poor taste?'...questions, questions, questions...

Turned out, the parcel was from dear friends who live in Northern France...real Ch'tis (Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the upper tip of the French Hexagone).
They had sent me x-mas presents along with a delicious (yet incredibly stinky!) Maroilles-cheese...I swear, it smells like a FULL (!) diaper.
Once I had realized that the parcel was mailed in France, I knew what was inside, hahaha...that was incredibly sweet of them...however, sitting on the bus, with a parcel that smells like a full baby diaper, I almost cursed them for having sent me the cheese...I'm pretty sure that some people thought that I had been shitting my pants prior to getting on the bus...and they sure had a lot of fun with that parcel inside the post office (now that I think of it...maybe that explains the angry, hateful glance of the man behind the counter at the post office...LOL).

PS: If you guys ever get the chance to see the film "Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis" WATCH it!! You'll laugh until you cry...well, I did...maybe because I know some real Ch'tis :-)


At any rate, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Hanukkah, what-ever-you-celebrate and a fantastic NEW Year 2009!
Joyeuses fêtes et bonne année 2009!
Frohes Fest und einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!
Feliz navidad!


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Shit, I got tagged...:-)

Say something...say something...say SOMETHING! Shit, what can I say...six secrets, six interesting things about my (*dashing* LOL) personality...think...think...THINK...

OK OK...here I go...

1) Major teenage crush - John Lennon (not very usual, considering the fact that John Lennon wasn't among the living anymore when I started having a MAJOR crush on him)

2) I once threw my baby brother down the staircase during a fight - he played "dead" on the floor and gave me a massive shock (because of which I almost 'killed' him subsequently).

3) I almost had something published at the age of 13 (almost doesn't count, does it...:)

4) My first boyfriend was nine years older than me (I was 16, he was 25)...the age gap between us was one of the reasons it didn't work out in the long run.

5) My best teenage friend suffered from schizophrenia...she was my very best friend and just like my first boyfriend, she has left indelible marks in my heart.

6) I had a crush on my Irish (ex-) colleague...he had a girlfriend - of course! But since, I've had a "soft spot" for the Irish...'Grand! tanks, Dan!' (Gawd...I hope he'll never see this LOL)

Dignitas...

I gotta get this off my chest somehow...I talked to a friend of mine who's father currently suffers from ALS - the disease that killed my father...
She told me that her father was considering going to Switzerland in order to die a "humane" death...euthanasia is illegal here (even if you're terminally ill), you have to go to Switzerland where you can "legally" kill yourself - if I may word it that way...My friend is absolutely devastated as this feels like she was bidding farewell to a father who is off to a foreign country for his execution.
It's a shitty solution, it really is...but what's the alternative? I had never told her - until tonight - how my father died. I had made this secret deal with myself that I would never tell her. But I breached that deal tonight, because I realized how devastated she was at the thought that her father might go to Switzerland to take his life. It's shitty, it's terrible, it's cruel...but the alternative is just as cruel...if not worse...
I told her that this was perhaps the only power her father still had over his life, a life in which you're condemned to witness your own decay fully "awake"...powerless...more and more depending on the help of others - even for the most banal things like eating, drinking, going to the toilet.
I had to feed my father towards the end, hold the glass up, against his lips...that kind of life is an endless chain of humilations...it's indignant.
The possibility to terminate his suffering could prove to be a major relief for my friend's father - even if he doesn't realize his plan in the end...it's the back door, the emergency exit - an exit that he can take whenever he wants to.
I told my friend tonight that my father suffocated for nine long hours until he was finally released from Hell...It's a terrible situation, no matter how you look at it...both scenarios are equally horrid and scary...
The only positive thing about Dignitas (that's the name of the organization in Switzerland) is that it allows terminally ill people to have a little bit of control over a life that they normally have no more control over - as much as this "possibility" offers a safety-net...'if shit hits the fan, I'm outta here'...

People shouldn't have to choose between two evils of such magnitude, but that's life...in light of the on-going bs that some people seemingly need to stage in order to have something going on in their pathetic and miserable lives, I can only say...use your time wisely...and don't waste it on negative shyte...life as such is hard enough at times, and instead of being one another's Devil, it would be smarter to be supportive of one another...we're all in this together, aren't we?