London Calling

I guess London is one of the destinations I want to go every year. No matter how long you’re staying – a week or four days – you always end up feeling that you haven’t done everything you wanted to do. I for one haven’t managed to try all the vegan restaurants I was interested in, as I didn’t want to force my fellow travel companions to eat vegan food. 

Oxford Circus tube station

One thing I can recommend is going to Churchill War Rooms. It is worth every penny and you can spend at least a day. You get an audio guide, see the rooms where decisions were made and where people spent the night. In the center of the museum is the heart of it all, an interactive museum concerning Winston Churchill’s life and the history surrounding him. Unfortunately, we had a lunch date with Yauatacha Soho, so I had to run through part of the exhibition. Yauatacha is an outstanding place for dim sum. Starting from 14:00 you can get a fixed menu for two people for 30 Pounds (15 each). The dim sum was excellent and they managed to serve a variety of vegan dishes.

Yauatacha Soho

Another highlight of every London visit should be Boiler House on Brick Lane. I managed to get the last burger from Pomodoro e Basilico, which is 100 % homemade and vegan.

If you fancy some nice cocktails or an excellent dinner in a stylish bar or restaurant, go to sketch. The vegan main dish was to die for. Sadly, the Gallery is so loud that I would recommend just going to the Glade for a few cocktails. The best drink in my view is Pimm’s Lemonade. It is Pimm’s No 1 with ginger ale and – depending on the bar – fruit.

If you want a chill-out day in between, go to Greenwich (free) or Kew Gardens (15 Pounds). You should definitely plan a few hours or a day off, because London is very exhausting.

Greenwich is a nice area in general so explore a bit. If you want some good beer or good food go to The Greenwich Union. 

Sky Garden

Other places worth mentioning: Tate Modern, The Blackfriar pub, Borough Market, Sky Garden

Next stop is Bangkok. Wheeeee!

Library

Next to the VHS (adult education centre) next to where I live is a library as well. So today, after enrolling for my second semester of the French course, I thought I’m going to check it out. And I almost got lost! Oh dear! It’s not big, but it has enough interesting stuff. Also plenty of music CD’s from Spice Girls to Björk, classical, jazz. So I ended up taking more than I wanted. When I go to the main library at Urban Loritz Platz, I’m never taking more than one or two items. It seems they have too much or the things I want I cannot find or it is not there. I used to go to the library very often, when I was living in Uxbridge (UK) and would take four books at least. I haven't been to the library in over a year. I just rediscovered it recently. We’ll see how long it lasts.



Yesterday at the rehearsal for Tanz die Toleranz Josef used music for the warm-up and I had more space (front or second row FTW!). Also we made two groups, which always helps! The piece comes slowly together. But it is still a long way until perfection. Oh dear! And the music! You cannot really count it and I don’t know it very well so I don’t have any feeling for it either. We’ve still got four weeks to go.

The unbearable lightness of being unemployed

As the weather is not inviting at all to do ... stuff, I might as well write another rant about my situation here. I got a few invitations for interviews in Austria waiting for me. And I am so grateful, one can’t imagine! It really seems a slightly bit easier to get work after a few years of experience in your pocket. It might sound presumptuous, but maybe the UK thing did help as well. But I won’t wait until the money really comes in to get a nice flat in Vienna. This task might be a bit harder though, with us still being abroad. Those estate agents with their commission are not making it easier!
What else? I am waiting for a few pounds from the UK (tax refund), the council (Council Tax) and the water company (thanks again for non-metered water!).
My family (parents and sister) is coming on Friday. We will explore London and hopefully Brighton. I haven’t been to Greenwich yet. So please! Rain! GO AWAY!
On Saturday is The Big Dance 2008 on Trafalgar Square. If you are in London either come and see or come and dance! There are still around 400 places left. I would’ve liked to do more during this event, but the weather was oh so disgusting. I guess we’ll have to turn on the heating again. I much rather spend the day in bed, sleeping. Brrrr.
Ah and for the record! Our flight home is on the 30 July. I am planning to be in Vienna the week after (4 August), to do a few interviews and hopefully look at a few flats as well. I am afraid it is time for me to get a Wiener Linien annual travelcard. Ah the fun of a new beginning! No! Honestly! I like it.


Let’s have some tea for my cold toes.

It’s gonna happen

Yes. Got the tickets, the voucher, tha monies. But still loads to do. I hope I won’t forget anything. But doing something like that for the first time ... When I went on a holiday for two weeks for the first time, I took too many clothes with me. Next time my suitcase was more like half empty than too full.
Good. Went to Regent's Park. I love it, I simply love it and I hope we’ll visit it more often in the summer.
So, now, the itinerary for the next few weeks:
18/05/08 LTN-VIE
22/05/08 VIE-JFK
02/06/08 JFK-VIE (arriving on 03/06/08)
05/06/08 VIE-LTN
And then on the 30 July we’ll fly home. And then there is the usual again. Job-hunting, solving the living situation and so on. But before that I’ll have two months of holiday! The family is visiting and I’ll have to make a nice plan where to go.
We watched Persepolis (Tickets in London are utterly expensive!) on the weekend and though it is an animation, I felt like being in Vienna (it is also set in Vienna, yes) again. Hmmmm, I’m really looking forward to it and everybody there and around it, near it ...


Votivkirche, May 2007 (analogue SLR)

The Tour-Beetle

First this and now the Beetle, in which I toured around Austria gets sold as well :( But I really will not be able to use them more frequently. A car in Vienna is quite useless really.

Counting the days

I love lists and countdowns and planning and all that other stuff connected to it. So yet again (Oh dear! I didn’t even notice, that the title is the same!) I will have to make all that counting of dem months and weeks and days ...



4 weeks until we will be back in Austria for a few days
4 weeks left, where I have to be in the rat race (work)
4 weeks and 1 day until I have my hair as pictured above (Yessss!)
in 5 weeks we’ll be on a different continent for the first time in my life (at least I reckon it’s still happening)
8 weeks and 2 days until seein Trouble over Tokyo live
10 weeks and one day until seeing Erykah Badu
12 weeks and 4 days until seeing Death Cab for Cutie again

There is still some planning to do for June and July, because I want to have a closer look at a few cities in the country (Scotland!!!).

Juggling rings

I still have to practice a lot, but it is a start. I bought them yesterday, shortly before we stumbled upon the International Beatboxing Convention. Find a video and pictures on my flickr account.



I picked up the rings, you can see in the video above, from Camden Lock Market and I was quite struck by the sight of Stables Market, especially the part pictured above. We've been there with D. and S. in late December, shopping for clothes. Now I think of all the people who suddenly lost their jobs and shops and else ... The mind is a strange thing, which is filled by the media unless you go there yourself and see with your own eyes what changed.

Grow up!

They are planning yet another strike! The London Underground that is. Come on guys! GROW UP! The people you hurt, are the people who rely on you and cannot get to work without getting up at 5 in the morning! I hope they call it off again. I have only four weeks to go. Please let them be without a strike! (And I want to get to the airport without any hassle as well!)



via Tube strike threatened. Again. | London Metblogs

BUT! Good news! I learned to juggle rings yesterday! Yessss! I will get me some tomorrow so I can practice in the garden a bit (If it is not raining all weekend, yes, then I REALLY COULD do that! What is it with this clouds, that they always come on Friday and go on Tuesday morning as soon as I am in the office? HA?!!?) In the meantime the Pound is rising against the Euro, which is good, as I earn Pounds right now. I wish it is highest by the end of July, when I move my money back : )

Closer

The Atlantic was born today and I’ll tell you how...
The clouds above opened up and let it out.

I was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere
When the water filled every hole
And thousands upon thousands made an ocean
Making islands where no island should go
Oh no



Those people were overjoyed; they took to their boats
I thought it less like a lake and more like a moat
The rhythm of my footsteps crossing flatlands to your door have been silenced forever more
The distance is quite simply much too far for me to row
It seems farther than ever before
Oh no

I need you so much closer

I need you so much closer
So come on, come on

Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism

Long time no read

Ah! Where to start? I finished another one of those work intense weeks and there are still six remaining. It is really hard for me to get up in the morning. Amid some dream the alarm clock goes off and I think “Oh no, it’s that kind of day again!”. It feels like sliding from a sweet dream off to a nightmare. (Ok, maybe I exaggerate ...) All in all the week was not too bad and I am feeling pretty well today. I took a picture of someone else’s bogue (n. The expanse of skin that appears between the top of your socks and the bottom of your trousers when you sit down. from Douglas Adams & John Lloyd The Deeper Meaning of Liff), sorry, I just couldn’t resist!
Yesterday we watched the awesome, hillarious, important and strongly recommended Shaun of the Dead, in which all the usual suspects from British TV and/or film are seen (at least I’m claiming that). What else? Yeah, The Creation will be performed from scratch and I really, rilly (sic!) would like to attend, but it’s a Sunday and it seems that I wouldn’t be able to make my way home by public transport. Maybe I’ll ask at the choir, if somebody’s driving up there. Our flight home is booked (LTN-VIE 30/07/08).


My sweetheart/sis/Schwesterherz and me at the Donau not far from my parents’ house (da hometown, more or less). Photograph by nungee

I bought a medium format camera via ebay (I ebayed it? ;), but I asked them to send it to Austria. I trust the Austrian mail a tiny little bit more than the British. The weather is good, as long as I’m working, the coming weekend doesn’t look that grand, it won’t be as warm as today. In the meantime we’re desperately awaiting the vouchers for the American trip (at least I am). Yes, I think that pretty much covers all. Hmmmm, did we do some experimental cooking in the last few weeks? Nah, don’t think so. We made a nice Tiramisu again, with real sponge fingers (Biskotten) this time. Oh dear! I could take a bath in it! ;) We didn’t even use rum and it still tasted awesome! (Orders in the comments please.)

So long and thanks for all the fish! (Video)

As stated, Karla and I are working on the same things, just different formats. She’s Mac, I’m Windows.
“Entirely appropriate,” Karla, “because Windows is more male, and Mac is more female.”
I felt defensive. “How so?”
“Well, Windows is nonintuitive ... counterintuitive, sometimes. but it’s so MALE so just go buy a Windows PC system and wast a bunch of time learning bogus commands and reading a thousand dialog boxes every time you want to change a point size or whatever ... MEN are just used to sitting there, taking orders, executing needless commands, and feeling like they got such a good deal because they saved $200. WOMEN crave efficiency, elegance ... the Mac lets them move within their digital universe exactly as they’d like, without cluttering up their human memory banks. I think the reason why so many women used to feel like they didn’t “understand computers” was because PCs are so brain-dead ... the Macintosh is responsible for upping not only the earning potential of women but also the feeling of mastering technology, which they got told is impossible for them. I was always told that.”

From: Douglas Coupland Microserfs (1995)

The end of an era ...

... and my childhood (at last).

For my German speaking readers ...

... some little note on my German blog.

Bureaucracy

E. and J. came for a few days over the last weekend. On Saturday we watched the oh so awesome hip hop theatre Into the Hoods. As I hurt my foot last week on Thursday, it was really difficult to watch, but I was on the edge of my seat for the whole of it. Nice movements. Aaaaah! We enjoyed London, though freezing like never before, it seemed. On Tuesday I had to get back to work. Still eight weeks to go. 32 days. I do not want to know how many hours that would be (no do not even THINK about writing it in the comments!). Yesterday I got myself a medium format camera on ebay. Looking forward to that. And I am still waiting for the vouchers for the trip at the end of May. Having an insured foot sucks! W. might be able to write an opera about that I guess. :/


Oh! There is a spar in the UK!

Too long Johnny

This entry is for E., who complained that I did not post anything recently.
Yesterday I finished Extremely loud & incredibly close. “I’m still wearing heavy boots.” I can really recommend that book to everyone, it is a must-read.


The Whitest Boy Alive at the Electric Ballroom, 07/02/08

This week I was very lazy concerning Thing-a-Day. I not good in doing something on the tube or during my lunch break. I either read (I finished the book within five days, which is good, when you keep in mind that I was at work on four days out of those five.), talk or feel too sick for doing anything (I hate the Metropolitan line! It is so shabby and wobbly, that I could vomit all over the train …). And because I am really not into drawing (more into painting, but I do not have the materials), I haven’t done anything worth mentioning. I will upload one picture, which I quite like. I made it on my way to work. Everyday the sun rises three minutes earlier and you can really feel the difference. It’s amazing!


The Whitest Boy Alive at the Electric Ballroom, 07/02/08

My hand was also hurting every now and then, which kept we away from my computer at home. On Wednesdays I have my choir rehearsal and on Thursdays I hopefully practise my juggling some more. Fridays are here to chill out and phone home. I forgot Tuesdays: I am coming home at about half past seven and do stuff one does when s/he comes home from work so late and I prepare for bed. So, I am sorry, but from Tue to Fri I am really not up to do something to be worth posting. But I make a picture every now and then.


On my way to work, 06:44 am. You can already anticipate the sun rising.

I flipped through the recent photographs and I will post a few in/with that entry.
At the beginning of March I will get an assessment from my manager, if I got it right, besides that my wage will go up a bit. I really hope, that I can get the tax back I am paying right now, because it is immensely high! As I only work for three months in the UK tax year of 2007/2008, it is just a matter of me insisting on getting it. I haven’t heard anything regarding Council/Housing Benefit yet, which pisses me off (like missing the Chiltern train in the morning). I don’t want to phone them and tell them to their †¿§‰?"*)+!=•¡ job.


On my way to the office. I can see where I go! 07:34 am

Right now I am also waiting for the tax rebate from Austria. It takes so long because I received jobseeker’s allowance for a while. That’s unfortunate, but I can hardly change it.
I started the first book of Harry Potter today. It’s so much thinner than the last one! Good, I think that’s it for now …

Too long Johnny

Snowdrops

Beautiful snowdrops, blurry picture. Still no snow seen in the UK. But SNOWDROPS! YAYYYYYY!!!! I am knackered so that is it for the day. No idea if I will be able to upload something tomorrow or Friday, because Thursday is a concert and Friday either concert or Chinatown.

It's a beautiful day

I took a walk during my lunch break today, which isn't always the case as I only have half an hour. As you can see it was an awesome day! A bit chilly, but if you walk fast enough it is ok. I had something else in mind but took my camera with me (after months of not doing so), in case something comes up. This picture is one lucky shot. I didn’t take a series of shots. I did a bit of post-processing to make it look like I really wanted. Now after one boring day at the office I guess I will take a closer look to a few other projects. Have a nice weekend and read you tomorrow.

Facebook - Face it!

I struggled with myself and came to the conclusion, that since Facebook it is really easy to end a relationship. You make a few clicks and suddenly in your mini-feed appears the message for all to see: XY is no longer listed as in a relationship. And I did it! But behold! I did not do it to end my relationship with my boy-friend, I did it to gain more distance from my relationship with Facebook. After reading an eye opening article on The Guardian home page. After reading it, I deleted all of my data and all applications. I know that on any server thousands of kilometers away there might be all my data still available. But it was the only thing I could do in the meantime.

Today I deleted my Visual Bookshelf. I had a few things saved on there and needed to copy them. Then I saw the picture on the left. According to Facebook I just broke up with someone so of course they would throw ads at me, which mach that criteria. I also saw an ad about a girls get away. That might be fun!

Something funny happened yesterday. I received an email from Ferrero (you know, Ferrero Rocher, the Kinder stuff etc.), that I won a trip to America with two of my friends! Awesome! I have no idea when, how or if it will happen. I have to phone them on Monday! I cannot wait to do that. I will be wide awake at 8 am I guess, trying to get someone on the phone (Ah! It is 9 am in Austria then! Perfect!). I already forgot, that I took part in that sweepstake (seems to be the proper English word ...) and the letter via mail did not get to me.

On Monday I borrowed three books from the library. I had 20 minutes to kill in the city (I had to wait for the pharmacist to take care of me prescription. Strange system they have in the UK!) and went to the library. If I had more time I would have probably ended up with 10.

D and S visited us over New Year and it was great fun and joy! Thank you again for stopping by! We went to Oxford, Camden Market, Tate Modern Area, saw Big Ben and the other stuff (Squares etc.). I was too lazy to sort my pictures, let alone to post-process them. I am trying to read as much as I can, because there is so much I want to read! So little time, so many books! On Wednesday I bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone for 50p. It is thinner than expected. I will try to fit it in somewhere between my other three books.

I like to be in America!
O.K. by me in America!
Ev'rything free in America
For a small fee in America!

London New Year's Eve

We've (D & D & S & me) been on Primrose Hill (green area above the green arrow) and saw the fireworks, which took place at London Eye, as well. AmAAAzing! I've never seen something like that as far as I can remember.

Barry Schwartz: The paradox of choice

Short summary (really VERY short!): The huge amount of choices we got is responsible for depression in the western world.
The video is really interesting. You should watch it!
Btw: I am sorry for not blogging in the last few weeks. I am simply too lazy! Work is really exhausting and the internet is just too fast for me right now. I hope I will dedicate some time for a nice update. In the meantime ... WATCH! :)

Job!!!

I got it, I got it, I got it!!! Sorry for the delay of the happy news. Yesterday I was just too tired to do anything productive after coming home. I will start on the 4^th December. Mondays are free, which is good. Today I got my debit card. Only thing that's missing right now is my computer. I will try to fix it on the weekend. Making a full backup and doing a reinstall of Tiger. Next thing will be the purchase of a FireWire hard drive. One that fits under the Mac Mini would be nice, but it will be more expensive. I am also flirting with the My Books from WD, but they need more space, which is already limited somehow on my desk. Well, after 37.5 hours of computer hours a week, I hopefully won't use the computer that much.
Two friends of mine are visiting around New Year's Eve and I am already thinking about stuff we could do. There is very much of course! But I have clearly no idea what's good to do in London on the 31^st December. I will have to do a thorough internet search, I guess.

Still no Mac

Yesterday I tried to boot Ubuntu with the Live CD, but that didn't work either. I just talked to Michael and he says that I should update to Leopard. I am really afraid of that, because my recent RAM Update could have been useless. But he also meant that his machine works with 1 GB RAM. You just don't use all the new special features, which I don't need really. But will all of my applications still work?
Yesterday I imagined myself coming out of the branch of the bank and waving the letter, which says "congratulations! you opened a bank account!". Just like all the people who bought an iPhone and got applause, when they left the Apple Store.
My kidneys decided to stop hurting me. They just were tired of it I guess. I wouldn't listen. Sorry guys. Next time don't even try!
Ah! AND I learned juggling yesterday. I am now able to juggle four times in one go. So I have three juggling balls and I am able to through all of them once and one of them twice and then often two of them land on the floor. But it's good. At the end of the year I want to juggle with clubs and rings (not at the same time!).