Tonight, Matthew, I'm going to be Amy Declinehouse

I don't know how it happened but suddenly my friends' New Years non-event has turned into a costume party ... and I really rather like it as La Bonette came up with the idea to be 2007's biggest celebrity disasters...

I'm not sure how it happened, but I went from "It's Britney, Bitch" to Mrs. "I said NO, NO, NO".

After one half of my uni course already thinks I'm some Amy Declinehouse expert and mega-fan, I guess this has been a long time coming. It is lost on those people that I'm just in L.O.V.E. with Britain, Britain, Britain and that I'm reading The Sun for entertainment purposes on a daily basis... and yes, that's how I "know" all these things about Amy.

So I'm off now to get into character ... I'll be watching the Amy Winehouse Buzzcocks episode again for some more quotes:

"Ah, can I have another drink... please?"

__________

On another note I'd like to say

Happy Birthday!

to Sir who is turning 66 today.

So in his honour the factory is proudly playing this german classic throughout the day...



Now listen carefully Alex ... this song tells you how it is: with 66 your life isn't over, no it is just starting. You don't need to rock, join a band or get a motorbike though... just stay with the best club in the whole wide world for a few more years, cos in my humble opinion you are the best thing that ever happened to this club and even if I've hated you for some things and we had a few very dark years, I do love and respect you very much!

Yeah I know, Internet, I still haven't said anything about Fabio being the new England manager or that Man United sex scandal, nor did I mention that Jose Mourinho's dog won the title "Celebrity Pet of the Year" (Brilliant!)... that's cos I was busy and in a way I wanted to limit the football talk in the new factory ... which is all part of Project "Finish" and growing up (at least for this year) to get my degree done. I can go football crazy again when I can financially afford it, when I have a proper job and earn proper money.

So somehow I managed to get my plans for the New Year into this post ... ehm, well. A more articulate post on that might follow ... or maybe not.

Anyway, lots of love from me to you!

Where's the Beef?

I'm too tired to post all of the things that happened over christmas today, but I will soon-ish. For now all I wanna do is comment on my day today.

Which consisted of sleeping, talking on the phone to La Bonette and then visiting the local Burger King with her and the miaudonna for reasons we are not sure about ... but we kept laughing in a hysterical state once we were there.

I guess the main reason I went is pretty clear though: Beef!

Guess who these three old ladies are...



I like beef! I love meat! In a way "Where's the Beef?" could be the motto of my last year or actually my life!

A glimpse into my future...



Now I would like to wish you what my stalker (not the one from the kebap shop, the one who attends uni with me) wished me earlier today... and she wrote this in English so I did not translate it:

Safe Slip!

I'm not sure this is a common thing to say in England! At least no-one said it to me last year while I was celebrating the New Year in Lovely Leeds and Google doesn't seem to know about it either, so maybe she just translated a german saying into slightly dodgy English... I mean it sounds kinda dirty in a way and I'm sure she has no clue!

I'm Like a Yorkshire Cat

Just to wrap up the story ... the exam went well, now I just need the tutor to agree. There are just 3 more exams and my dissertation to go.

In the last days of studying I spent the few hours of day that actually offered sunlight on my windowsill and yes I studied, but part of me felt like one of those cats who sit in windows and stare at the people outside... and what can I say we have quite a busy street. Plus I noticed something I hadn't before ... the people across from us have turned their balcony into a buddhist garden ...

Now, had I seen this 2 years ago, I wouldn't have noticed. I'd just have thought they are drying facecloths or something ... but hell, they aren't and I love them for it, cos everytime I look overthere now it reminds me of how I travelled to every corner of Yorkshire last year - which makes me grin like a Cheshire Cat ... though hihi, make me a Yorkshire Cat.

Their balcony is my Harewood House!

Just outside Leeds is the brilliant Harewood House with its fantastic gardens ... and inside that garden (that so deserves its own post) they have a buddhist garden hidden somewhere.

I thought it was quite eccentric at the time ... but now I think it is a lot less eccentric than having a buddhist garden on your apartment's balcony in the middle of Berlin.

those flags were very pretty ...

I just found out that they are Tibetan Prayer Flags ... and they are said to bring happiness, long life and prosperity to the flag planter and those in the vicinity, well, I think that includes me, I mean they are basically just outside my window ... brilliant!

I'm Not Dead

just in case you were wondering ... things are okay. Even though I had to work 5 hours on that other project this weekend, apart from preparing for the exam all day. That is nice, WORK and then in your break MORE WORK. But hey, I got it all done...

I'm quite positive right now ... I haven't revised everything today yet ... but so far it is looking good.

One thing that made me laugh last week...



oh Simon and Noel are a match made in heaven!

And in case I don't get the question tomorrow...



Simon (and Tourette) inspired me ...



if everything goes totally wrong, I could - at least for my own amusement - write just this

Is it, did his helmet go blue?

Won't make me pass, but at least smile!

Public Display of Distress

Okay, today was first good and then bad and now it's just okay ... which I guess is quite good.

It all started with a blue sky and me repeating what I learned yesterday and it looked fine ... but then it got more and more difficult by the minute.

So when I took my break to take a walk to the bank and get some money + buy some food, I had a moment when I started crying but then I pulled myself together and moved on.

I really just wanted to sit down in the middle of the pavement and cry till someone would have stopped and taken me to a hospital and I wouldn't need to finish this whole exam bit. I don't know what makes me more insane, the fact that I really wanted to do just that or the fact that I didn't do it?

But La Bonette gave me a good team talk ... so I feel better now. And I hope she is right in saying that I will remember an awful lot more than I think on Tuesday.

Now I'm waiting for 2 emails from uni to do something for another course, but they keep me waiting. So I guess I should get back to revising...

Life's a BITCH!

The Second Loch of Scotland

Earlier this year Special K announced...

"Loch Lomond you are so pretty, I want to marry you!"

for your information: at that very moment she was faced with this sight...

And who could blame her? Certainly not us! We were just as mesmerized as she was!

Loch Lomond was very preeetttyyy! Not to forget the funky beauty of the power station on the right side of the parking lot.

So I had a little giggle when, while researching my newest precious obsession, I found this:

James McAvoy's Low Point

Standing naked in front of 400 people in a freezing Loch Lomond being bitten to death by midges for The Last King of Scotland!

Daily Telegraph

Bajuschki Baju

I wish I was a Giraffe! They have one of the shortest sleep requirements of any mammal, which is between 10 minutes and 2 hours in a 24-hour period, averaging 1.9 hours per day.

Sounds brilliant! If 20 minutes of sleep could just make me feel like I slept for 8 hours, I'd be soooo happy! Of course there are negatives that come with being a Giraffe, apparently they are vegetarians ... eww!!!

Yeah, you guessed it, instead of better, things have become worse. I just can't fall asleep and during the day I'm so tired that I simply have to put the book away repeatedly and close my eyes.

This is depressing! My entire body hurts from sitting, my arm is threatening to fall off from writing and I'm sooooo tired.

And I still have so much to read... baby steps is all I'm making, coz taking notes takes fucking ages. But I have now decided to cut down on the stuff I was supposed to read, I mean I have to give the guy an overview and I have just 4 hours to do that, so I won't be able to go into detail anyway... unless he asks something specific, but the grapevine says he won't. Fingers crossed!

So yeah, the sleep thing ... I'm quite tired now, so I will switch off my Laptop soon and hope that it won't take me bloody three hours to fall asleep again.

I can't wait for this to be over!

I Might Have To Move To Chile

... and not coz I'm fleeing from a regime change, no it all has to do with that vicious circle of sleep I'm in.

I know I'm quite a case of "People Who Don't Sleep Enough Because They Stay Up Late For Absolutely No Reason" ... but the truth is I was trying to change it. And then I went to that Uni thing and I wasn't home before 5.30 am ... and stupid me, I should have just stayed awake that day. But of course I went to bed and slept till noon.

And now there is no breaking out of this ... I'm lying awake till 4 in the morning desperately trying to fall asleep and I can't get up before noon. I tried to change it all week, but I just couldn't get up at 8.00. Everytime my alarm went off, I switched it off and went back to sleep, coz I thought "as tired as I am, reading will be no use" ... but I really, really have to read and take notes cos I've got that bloody important exam coming up.

So I have tried a lot of things. From herbal tea, that apparently calms you down so you can sleep, to counting sheep. Now there I was remembering the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District with all its sheep and I let them fluffy white things jump over those pretty little stone walls in my head... and nothing! Nothing is helping...

I researched counting sheep to see if I was doing it wrong and boy, this is wacko, apparently it most likely arose from Yan Tan Tethera, a traditional numbering system used by some northern English shepherds to count their flocks. Now I thought I might try that, but it's too ca-raaazzzyyy for me...

Anyway, back to ME!

Nothing is helping ... but I had to break the vicious cycle ... so I again tried to get up early. that's why I put on 2 alarm clocks today ... and actually got up at 8.00 (yey!), I read for some time and then half past 12 I got soooo tired that I almost fell asleep again if it hadn't been for La Bonette calling me about booking our flights for Cornwall (very exciting! and researching the right way to count sheep, I stumbled over this and before we go to Cornwall, we should definitly memorize some of the lingo "Na wra henna!" ) and to tell me about the latest developements in her career, in which an old creepy man is thinking she is a woman of questionable morals, which she is not!

Actually booking the flights to Bristol has been my highlight of the day followed by an expensive cheese burger whose beef from supposedly happy cows was appallingly dry ...

Back to the main problem ... for some reason I couldn't get back into work ... maybe I had too much beef. Now the big question is, will I be able to fall asleep tonight so that I can continue my work tomorrow at a proper hour? I hope so ... I'm off to brew that herbal tea the minute I post this.

It would be easier if I could just move to Chile, which is the much needed 4 hours behind time ...

Christmas Is All Around Me

Lots of christmassy things are happening at the moment.

La Bonette elf'ed me today ...

I went to buy a card for my Mom to send to her for "Nikolaus", cos she said she is sending me some christmas cookies, so I thought the least I could do was send her a card.

and I've started to decorate the factory a little bit with the stuff I bought in my crazy candle phase in October...

anyway the countdown to christmas won't be as cheery as it usually is, because of the exam I have to take... so no more mulled wine for me.

but as long as youtube provides me with treasures like this, I'm happy ...

"The problem is smugness!"

Land of Cheddar, Beer and ... Leeds

OMG, I can't believe it... I've just added 3 more places I definitly wanna go see to my list. Any region with places called Cheddar, Beer and Leedstown soooo deserves a visit!

After the monkey sanctuary, Camelot Castle Hotel and all the other fun things, I really didn't need anymore convincing that our next road trip has to be to the South West ... but everytime I google the area I find new treasures.

Cheddar

A village in Somerset, which is just 25 km from Bristol and on our way to Cornwall. And yes it gave the famous cheese its name ... oh, PLASTIC CHEESE!

home of:

1) Cheddar Cheese - still produced there.

2) Cheddar Man - Britains oldest known geezer ... ehm human skeleton, found at:

3) Cheddar Gorge and Caves - second greatest natural wonder in Britain ... the south of it is owned by the Marquess of Bath and the north by the National Trust. There are 350 officially graded climbing routes on the 27 cliffs ("we should definitly hike on one of those hills").

The two main caves Cox's Cave and Gough's Cave (Britain's first authenticated cannibal site) are open to the public AND it has been suggested that the caves were the site of prehistoric cheese-making. Fantastic... cannibals as well as prehistoric cheese-making!

Coming back to Cheddar Man ... they did some DNA testing in the village and what can I say... it produced two exact matches (2 schoolchildren) and one match with a single mutation ( a history teacher).
When cousins marry...

4) Cheddar Reservoir - the first water reservoir in England that allowed sailing... other recreational activies include bird watching! borin' ... but pretty...

Beer

Beer is a village in Devon. Once upon a time the Beer men were the kings of the smugglers ... which basically in a way makes them pirates! The women of Beer are very good at lace making and hand-made lace for Queen Victoria's wedding dress. They also made a book of Nursery Rhymes out of lace for the christening of Prince William.

Sometimes the residents of Beer are referred to as Spaniards, because rumour has it a Spanish ship was once wrecked just off the shore and the Spanish crew settled down in Beer.

AND they've got a pre-school called Puffins at Beer ... BABY PUFFINs! Cute!

Actually I wanna live in Beer now... it has some sort of Stars Hollow vibe ... there is a website where you can leave your e-mail adresses if you leave Beer and want to stay in contact. The locals know each other ... I can so see Taylor, Kirk and Miss Patty living there.

Leedstown

Leedstown is a village/town in Cornwall and I just wanna go there, because I can't go to the North to check if the real Leeds is indeed still there and this way I will have at least visited a place called Leeds-something.

And then of course there are plenty more reasons to go like

Men-An-Tol

which is a holed stone that is said to have healing and fertiliy powers ... you just have to climb through it nine times or something...

or, and now we come to something I'm REALLY excited about, the Dartmoor and Exmoor Ponies!

Who are still running about the Moors ... they are semi-wild and most are owned by certain farmers, but they run around freely. How cool is that? Wild Ponies in England? There are no wild ponies in Germany! Could you imagine? Ohoh! These ponies kinda dropped of my radar after I stopped being a horse girl, so discovering them again has been quite funny!

People feed them out of their cars (like in a horse "serengeti" park ... I'm appalled! ) even though it is illegal to do so.

Oh, I want a Pony now!

The original plan has been altered... we will now be fleeing British shores with a monkey and a pony on board! I clutch the pony, La Bonette clutches the monkey and Special K is driving the boat! har, har ...

Simon Says

I can't believe what happened last night ... not that I'm surprised though! That's all I can say for legal reasons.

On a different note... here is another classic from Simon Amstell...