bigger, healthier, happier....

So, I changed my blog layout, obviously. Mostly because I wanted more room for posting pictures and not stretch the table. You now to need 1024 und up to see the full layout. Most people I know have that so it's alright I think. Otherwise... well scroll... :P

Also I started my German blog. We'll see if that is a success, if not, well it can rot, lol.

You can say what you think but it was such a coding ordeal (yep, this easy stuff was still screwed up by blogger) that I won't change it anymore. :P Tough luck... hehe. :)

House Search is Frustrating...

The biggest problem is that I get too excited too fast about something. Like this one house that's in a nice neighbourhood and which has a front and back garden, a lovely living room with half open kitchen and a sunny pateo all connected but only 2 bedrooms. So that would mean, for us two, it's lovely, but we won't have enough space for visitors (or at least, not more sleeping space than we have now). The licing space is a little more. Also the problem is that we still need to do some paper work and stuff before we can officially search for a house with a makelaar and all, but of course we already look online now and then I see something I love and we can't take a tour and I get all nervous thinking that others might buy it before I get a chance to see it. I mean, I don't even know if it is as gorgeous as it looks on the pictures, we haven't even been to that neighbourhood yet. So as usual I get overexcited about things. I need to calm down and take it slow. That's flippy Kuschi for ya. That's also how badly I want to move away from our crappy house. :P

my Xbox has a first name, it's F.R.I.T.Z, my xbox has a second name, it's S.C.H.N.A.C.K.E.N.P.F.E.F.F.E.R.H.A.U.S.

I am positively surprised! Last week it was in the news that all Xbox owners had to throw out their power cable and order a free new one because of a safety issue. So I ordered mine last weekend and guess what I got in the mail today. Yup. I didn't expect that at all. First of all so fast and secondly that they sent it at all. good service I have to say. Also when I ordered it online there was no weird surveys attached or check this for newsletters crap. It was fast and no-nonsense which I'm not used to anymore nowadays especially from something owned by microsoft.

Also, I'm showing first signs of The Simpsons detox since they stopped airing them. All sorts of dialogues have popped into my head today and moi can usually not remember anything so that's saying something.

other than that I'm just freaking cold and I'm waiting for my special little schnucki to come home.

trekked-out

I knew this day would come that the crappyness of Star Trek would finally make me turn away from the world of Trek and embrace something new:

Battle Star Galactica



So we watched the mini (you could also call it the pilot) last night. It was awesome! All the things that I hate about star trek were done right this time. No sound in space for one, no unlikely ideals that will never work. It's a likely future and most of all it starts with anything but a happy ending... but I don't want to spoil you. It's very realistic and very shocking. I mean even Angel thought it was shocking... because it was so likely to happen one day. The characters are also more realistic than in star trek. But that's not hard.

I mean of course I'll always like Voyager for the obvious auburn reason, but the next generation of Battlestar Galactica seems more like a sturdy TV show to be watching in the future. I hope it comes to European TVs since that would mean we can buy the DVDs if they ever come out. So far, this show is so popular that it kicked star trek enterprise off the TV and got that shitty show cancelled! YAY!!! I feel sorry for the unemployed beagle(s) but that's about it.

Otherwise all goes well with the tefkaak. We are doing some final (and necessary) house fixing up things in order to get it ready for the market and sold fast. We have an appointment for the morgage and we are on a steady watch for "new" houses in our prefered neighbourhoods.

The stupid Tefkaak part (that would be MOI) also pulled a stomach muscle whilst doing pushups during karate practice, which hurts like crap now, especially when I have to cough or sneeze or laugh...
I always find the weirdest things to do to myself. Aren't I teh thuper? Meh!

Other than that nothing exciting is happening in Tefkaak land at the moment. Well maybe if you consider planning dinner in my head exciting. LOL. When did I become so domestic?

Bizzar bizzar!!! o_O;

Oooookay..... well THAT WAS WEIRD!!!!!!

I was gonna take my theory exam tonight... I studied all week and I was a nervous as hell and all.... well guess what! I found out today that they changed the law... and that I can just CHANGE my German Driver's liscence into a Dutch one, without having to take any exam! o_O; WTF? I mean good for me that I studied all the rules and know them now and all because I doubt I would have studied like a maniac had I known I didn't have to do the exam. I am still gonna finish my driving lessons, because I still want to drive safely, but right now I can even drive with my German one. It's vaild until 10 years after the issue date... I mean, wow! I could just legally drive around in a car and all...

Now at least I don't have any pressure anymore and I can just take as many classes as I need, to become a save driver. :) It's soooooo cool. :) whee!

When you think about it, it's very disturbing. Not in gerneral but in my case... since I got my Driver's liscence in the US first, then got it transfered in Germany and I am now trying to get that one transfered again into a Dutch one. I still have to see if it matters that I got my driving classes in the US and in an automatic, but my driver's liscence is German and in Holland when you get an automatic driver's liscence you can now also get it changed into a regular one after 2 years, so it should not make a difference. I'll go and see if I can get it transfered so easily in the city hall tomorrow morning. I'll keep you up to date.

Well this day could not get any weirder... o_O;

Stolen from Katie :P

An activity to procrastinate with?

FOUR NAMES YOU GO BY:
a. Kuschi
b. Kuschel
c. Kuschi Kat
d. Kuschelfloh

FOUR THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
a. my eyes
b. that I'm good at languages
c. I can do sports easily
d. mostly when I try something I can do it right away

FOUR THINGS YOU "HATE" ABOUT YOURSELF:
a. too much body fat (I know I'm not "fat" but I feel unhealthy)
b. I can't remember anything
c. contratio... what now?
d. I'm selfish at times

FOUR PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
a. German (that's it but I'll go way back in history then)
b. Anglo Saxon
c. Germanic
d. erm... one-cell organism?

FOUR FAVORITE HANGOUTS:
a. our couch
b. in front of my PC
c. my bed
d. the beach

FOUR BEST FRIENDS:
a. Angel
b. Dana
c. Wibke
d. Basil

FOUR THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
a. everything
b. darkness
c. drunken men
d. religious rextremists

FOUR THINGS YOU HATE IN GENERAL:
a. nazis
b. homophobes
c. christians
d. erm... French people :P

FOUR OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
a. contacts
b. jewlery
c. shoes
d. kiss Angel

FOUR THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
a. blue dock martins
b. black cordoroy pants
c. stripey stockings
d. purple vest


FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS/ARTISTS AT THE MOMENT:
a. sigur Ros
b. Radiohead
c. Björk
d. Hell is for Heros

FOUR REASONS YOU'VE BROKEN UP WITH EXES:
a. was male
b. was male
c. was male
d. pretencious bitch

FOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
a. Salt and Vinegar Pringles (I left this here from Katie, I love those things!)
b. Sushi
c. Cheese (all kinds except for "hartzer")
d. mac and cheese

FOUR THINGS YOU WOULD WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
I'll skip this one since I have it all :)

FOUR THINGS ABOUT THE SAME SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
a. eyes
b. hands
c. smile
d. intellect

FOUR THINGS YOU CAN'T DO:
a. stay calm
b. park in backwards
c. be mad at Homer
d. not touch Angel

FOUR OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
a. be lazy
b. watch stuff
c. play stuff
d. learn stuff (like Japanese & karate)

FOUR THINGS YOU WANT REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
a. new house
b. driver's liscence
c. some food
d. the loo

FOUR CAREERS YOU'D LIKE:
a. actress
b. archeologist
c. inventor
d. astronaut/cosmonaut


FOUR PLACES YOU WOULD GO ON VACATION:
a. Canada
b. Iceland
c. New Zealand
d. Ireland

FOUR THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
a. buy new house and live there
b. dance funky chicken at the tefkaaks 50th wedding anniversary
c. get black belt in karate
d. adopt a child and make its life better

Karate Kuschi

I really like karate class and I ordered my gi which kind of finalizes joining the club. I still need to transfer the money and all but I think I'll stay happy there. :) I am already more confident and I walk straighter than usual which can only be good.

I'm sure I'll be in great pain again tomorrow but it was worth it.

Other than that the Tefkaak has started it mission, quest, thing for a new residence. Slowly, with those things you always start first. A taxation for your house (to see how much it's worth), then a talk with banks, or a mordgage person to see what prioce range we can look for and then the actual search for the house. It's quite difficult, there are so many things to consider. A save neighbourhood, with green stuff for the dogs, close to public transport, close to the beach, not too far away from our work and it has to have enough bedrooms for our guests (i.e. 2 guest bedrooms). So I guess we'll spend some time looking before anything gets serious...

Also, the Tefkaak has booked its trip to Paris, which is very exiting, since the younger half of the Tefkaak has never been there before. We wasted tons on money on a great hotel so we can enjoy it all to the fullest. :) Something to look forward to during these cold nasty dayzes.... :P

Graveyard of cool people...

I came across the Cimetière du Père Lachaise and I found the graves of many well known people. Max Ernst (my favourite painter), Frédéric Chopin, Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Georges Bizet and Gertrude Stein all lie on the same cemetary. Who would have thought.

Made me remember how I like Max Ernst's paintings so much. Especially the ones he made with the glass print method. This is my favourite one:



When you see a bigger version of it it looks even better. You can spend hours looking at all the little details in it. And it looks so real, something that does not exist but if it did exist, this is how a weird jade rock-formation with fishheads and dead bodies lying around would look like I'm sure.

The only thing that makes me angry is that most of his paintings are hanging in the stupid USA. What the hell are they doing with the paintings of a German? Spread all across the USA, which means I can never go see my favourite painting. I know Max Ernst fled to the US during the war and stayed there until the 50s and that one particular painting was done in the US but having his paintings in the US means that noone else in the world gets to see them since we're not allowed into the country. So please when someone finally drops bombs on that country, make sure you don't hit the painting, please!

I wonder if people generally always have a favourite painter. Maybe a favourite genre? I'd say that Max Ernst was unique eventhough he was in an equal mental state as Salvador Dali, he still took it steps further, and as I said with the glass print method he got those wonderfully realistic looking fantasy worlds. Why is it that the greatest artists are always insane? Do you have to be insane to become an artist? Is it the price you pay for your talent? Or do you become insane in your strive for perfection?

Role Playing Games

You know how RPG addicted I am. So the other day I saw on the superstar board an advertisement (the banner) for this online RPG. It's for free but of cause donators can enter more areas and have more opportunities. So far it's loads of fun and you can do so many different things and take many different paths. I kind of wanna pay for it now since it's a one-time 12 Euros and then you have unlimited access for ever for your character. It keeps the site ad-free since they limit free users to 4200... which means their traffic also does not shoot up like crazy. As a donator you of course have access regardless how full the servers are.

I don't know. I'll keep playing a bit and see if I still like it and then maybe donate. It's very good for an online RPG. Good storyline and the best is you don't have interact with other people if you don't wanna, so no-one can spoil your fun. :)

Why I love my job:

Guess what I had for lunch just now:



With caviar and all. It was very yummy. Much better than the stupid supermarket sushi. I should stop buying that and get it from the real japanese sushi-bar. It's just so far away.

But I love it... :) myumm!

Temporarily out of order...

... must be my brain. Really, in the mornings when I bike to work and listen to my ipod at one point I wake up and I'm like, wow I'm already at work? How the hell did I get here??? And then I panic because I cannot remember a single traffic light or road crossing. I wonder if I just biked through red lights and didn't care. I cannot remember much of anything of my bike ride other than the songs I listened too. Scary huh? But I think I kinda still pay attention subconciously or something I just don't save it in my memory... or something.

On a different note they discorverd legionella bacterias in our water systems at work. GREAT since I drink liters of it every day... They say that our floor has not been affected but would YOU trust them? I'm not sure... our work doctors have declared it safe and only the contaminated bathrooms are being closed off. Still very freaky.... and of course I read that email AFTER I had already sipped from my morning coffee. So, if the Kuschi dies all of a sudden for no apparent reason, it was a legionella infection...

Speaking of infections. The poor Angel is not doing any better. Still huge stomach cramps and stuff and she keeps me and the dogs awake at night so that I also don't sleep enough. At least I have a bar of "Special K" disgusting musli bars to boost my energy and a cup of contaminated coffee. Whee!

What Season am I?

You scored as Summer.

You are SUMMER. Life is to be -lived-.. dance, sing, and make merry. Adversity is simply something to overcome. You embrace life with both arms, not only because you love it, but to squeeze out of it all that you can.

Summer 85%
Fall 85%
Spring 65%
Winter 65%

Take the Quiz here.

~

Does that mean I'm all seasons? More than half? I don't get the quiz but the picture was pretty enough to post here :)

Il y a blahness dans ma tête...

So during the day I get many many inspirations for a new website design. I sketch them out and I can't wait to get home to start them in photohop but once I'm actually home I am so exhausted that I can't do a single thing. Not even play SIMS2 and that should tell you something.

I did start on one design in photoshop but I hate it already. It's too big and too clunky. I skimmed it down now in my sketches and I hope I will have some energy to try it out in photoshop as well. I really do want the torii to be the main theme... and give it a japanesy sort of look. So I have to wait and see if I make the design 2d or 3d with textures... you know with shading and all.. would look much nicer but would also need a big amount of time and patience...

Well I guess you guys will notice once I finished it... lol...

~

The karate from yesterday left its invisible but painful marks in the form of sore muscles. One big giant OUCH! But it's good for me so I'm not gonna complain further. Also I have to find time and space to practice the moves since we only have 1 class a week in the beginning.
Fear not, Karate Kuschi is there to save the day! Or maybe not...

So as you can see it's quite stressful at the moment. I still have to do my Japanese voluntary homework for tomorrow. And re-read what we did last week so that in class I know what they are talking about... can't remember a single thing. Hrmpf!!!

I don't like Mondays...

So the poor Angel pookie is still sick. Her stomach flu never went away and now it retalliated. Poor sweetie. I feel queasy as well but I'm alright. I had my first Karate Lesson today and I really like it. So I guess I'll become a member and keep doing it. The teacher is a young French guy who looks alsmost exactly like Orlando Bloom. I'm not kidding.

Also I have my theory exam on Thursday 17th of February. I will have to study some more since the practice tests online are really hard... not because of the facts but because of the stupid way they ask the questions. So many trick questions... But I think the more I'll study the book the more it will make sense and I'll understand what they want from me. Luckily I don't have Japanese class that week.

I have to work till 17:30 today... ugh... because this morning I was late because Angel is sick and because the karate takes so long that a normal lunch break is not enough.

Everyone here is already long gone and the occasional one that's still here is not working at all... not so good for my own motivation eventhough I have tons of stuff to do...

Oh well... 30 more minutes and then I can also go home. *sigh*

Lost in Translation

So with my upcoming German version of the blog (so that my family can also read it :) ) I have searched for easy ways to translate big chunks of the english blog entries so I don't have to retype everything and maybe only have to do bits and pieces of corrections.

So I copied and pasted the lower half of the previous post into Altavista Babelfish and this is the result:

Auf einer anderen Anmerkung schrieb mich ich innen für Karatelektion, beginnender, den folgender Montag, da sie gerade ein Angebot herum für einen neuen Neukurs sendeten und sie die Zeiten von Mittwoch bis Montag änderten, also er nicht in die Weise meiner japanischen Lektionen erhält, die übrigens, stark und stark erhalten (müssen mehr studieren..., aber ich bin so faul). Auch ich werde meine treibende Theorieprüfung bald nehmen, also studiere ich für den. Auch was ich gestern erlernte, dieses Verkehrszeichen: bedeutet NICHT, daß Sie einer wohlen Rakete Unterseite....... Sie konnten mich getäuscht haben sich nähern..., das diese Prüfung Spaß sein wird! Ha!

Seriously... hahaahahahahaha I have no words for the mess that came out of there... but when you think about it being a free site and all it still did quite a good job. If you don't speak any German you can at least bring the point across to a German. Even if it sounds too freaking funny! :)

Jade Empire

There's a new game coming out in April and I am so excited! It's called Jade Empire and it's being developed for the Xbox. It's an Epic RPG in a dream martial ars world which has architectural and natural influences in eastern Asia.



If you want to see more pictures you can find them on the official webiste: www.jade-empire.com

On a different note I signed up for karate classes starting next monday since they just sent an offer around for a new newbie course and they changed the times from Wednesday to Monday so it does not get into the way of my Japanese lessons, which by the way, get harder and harder (have to study more... but I'm so lazy). Also I'm gonna take my driving theory exam soon so I'm studying for that. Also what I learned yesterday, this traffic sign:



does NOT mean that you are approaching a rocket base.... well... you could have fooled me... that exam is gonna be fun! Ha!