Gracias a la vida

In the spirit of soonissimo, my life is taking place right now and here.

Yes, there is a big economic depression tangible everywhere around us. And eventually, there is stuff to take care of.

But today I remembered having seen Mercedes Sosa in Bonn in a concert. This grand woman, and that unbelievable spirit.
And i am remembered of all the joy and life that is ahead of all us. That our paths will cross with so many people, believes, and other things one might feel like recognizing in that moment. And with each other.

One of you just gave life to a baby girl named Ella. And we have some slightly older miracles who are learning to speak, walk whatever. A big virtual hug here and CONGRATULATIONS to all of you again;!!!!!!!!!!!

Here in Köln, a lot of stuff is happening. I am not going into the direction of having kids. But remembering what a friend once said feels really true and precious to me right now: "Anda, lánzate, go and grab your life." I think that is what is happening right now. Some amazing stuff to come, other things probably not that good, but that is part of life, too. Catching slowly up with you guys and understanding how much we all have grown and how much of the "old" us in still there, I am ALWAYS amazed about it!

And then there is Saturday or Friday Night. Last Saturday, I might have been dancing until 5 oclock again in the morning since a friend got cards for a big party in the opera in Bonn. Apparently, every couple of weeks, this seems to be happening.

So, if anybody is up for any kind of activity (not necessarily during the night, of course), give me a call.

Gracias a la vida

Mercedes Sosa sings this famous song, I hope you will like it, too!

the song

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.
Me dio dos luceros, que cuando los abro,
Perfecto distingo lo negro del blanco
Y en el alto cielo su fondo estrellado
Y en las multitudes el hombre que yo amo.

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.
Me ha dado el oà do que en todo su ancho
Graba noche y dà a, grillos y canarios,
Martillos, turbinas, ladridos, chubascos,
Y la voz tan tierna de mi bien amado.

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.
Me ha dado el sonido y el abecedario;
Con à l las palabras que pienso y declaro:
Madre, amigo, hermano, y luz alumbrando
La ruta del alma del que estoy amando.

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.
Me ha dado la marcha de mis pies cansados;
Con ellos anduve ciudades y charcos,
Playas y desiertos, montaÃnas y llanos,
Y la casa tuya, tu calle y tu patio.

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.
Me dio el corazón que agita su marco
Cuando miro el fruto del cerebro humano,
Cuando miro al bueno tan lejos del malo,
Cuando miro al fondo de tus ojos claros.

Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.
Me ha dado la risa y me ha dado el llanto.
Asà yo distingo dicha de quebranto,
Los dos materiales que forman mi canto,
Y el canto de ustedes que es mi mismo canto,
Y el canto de todos que es mi propio canto.
Gracias a la vida que me ha dado tanto.

out of office!!!!!!

Have you guys phrases that annoy the hell out of you? Something you use or somebody else? And then you realize you can´t stand it?

Today, there it was again. one of the most annoying phrases, I was talking to a colleague and said "I apologize for[ ]" and the next one: "hey, I am not sure how to do this and I am sorry for calling you but I need advice on [ ]". And a lot of laughter about it afterwards. Friends from work and me got out of the office around 6 pm today, walking towards the train station. We were trying to figure out a phrase that can be a quick substitute for the reflex-like use of apologetic stuff. I even mean it, that´s the worst thing about it. In the case of friends, a totally different story, but it sucks in the office! A LOT.

SO.
depending on the person and the context, the reflex should be:

"Out of office" [we had no idea idea what scenario that would be, but it´s fun if I could use it as a permanent substitute]
"I would apologize right now but I am too annoyed to do so because asking for this info already annoys the hell out of me"
"I apologize. Naah, I take it back. "

Apart from this stuff, I am really moved about the last few days.

Spent Friday in Mannheim, again with friends from my school in Spain and AGAIN dancing until 4 o´clock in the morning.
Spent half a Saturday night with a friend watching fireworks at the Rhine on the height of Bonn (Rhein in Flammen, es war mal wieder so weit). And will spent some time with Bea (btw, dear: Karten verkauf hasn´t started yet, but I will let you know asap once I have the ticket), you will see, August is going to be here so soon, YEYYYYY :))

A big hug to all of you, and I am keeping fingers crossed for all of you.

B

Leuchtschrifthypnose

Dear all,

apparently, my brain is going through something comparable to defragmenting a computer. But the science of putting the pieces together so they make sense seems to be a bit more difficult than expected.

Phone call with Hille the other day: "you birthday on day 5th is a Friday, right?"
Hille: "My birthday is on the 8th"
me: "Oh boy. I thought my stepfather´s birthday was on a 3rd which is not true and I new this for years that he has his birthday on the 8th. But I congratulate him for the second year in a row on the 3d thinking I am perfectly right to do so. Found out that I was wrong a couple of days ago. And have known your birthday for a couple of years too and here we are :)"

Same evening, a message to a dear friend: "Happy birthday, dear, enjoy your day."
Next day: Friend calls - whom I have known for minimum 15 years -: "I wanted to thank you so much, you were actually the first one to congratulate given the fact that my birthday is on Monday :))))"

This is close to being hilarious if I think about it....

So on Monday morning, on his ACTUAL birthday, I was sitting in the train. Quite sleepy to be honest, and was looking at a date displayed next to the actual hour of arrival. Had just sent a second congrats sms, and looked at that display for I don´t know how long. And now I feel the image of that display is carved in my brain forever. Hopefully.

Shall it happen that I congratulate you guys a month to soon, to late or miss it by a couple of days, please think of me as an old lady. And help her over the proverbial street with too many signs that is her brain :) Or tell me were the next display with your birthday on it is so I can ponder a while :)

A big hug,
Birgit

strange loop and 17 people why

I am very tired lately.

But this is fun: Douglas Hofstadter. Igniting a million thoughts and doing that with stories about fabulous worlds, "Klüdgerot", Principia Mathematica (I hope eI spelled it right), how to look at a mountain from the bird perspective and its lowest point all for the sake of explaining something bigger.

In a side-story, he mentions the people who have strongly affected him withoung meeting them, famous ones, historic figures, whatever.

Soooooo...... Who are your favourite people, dead, alive and what would you like to ask them?



1. my biological Grandmothers whom I never got to know:

"Tell me about the happiest moment in your life!"

2. J.S. Bach:

Tell me about Glenn Gould when he played your pieces, are you impressed, too?

3. The baker who first served Pizza Margherita in Naples:

"What did the Queen think about THAT"

4. John Ruskin

"See what art has achieved during the last 100 years and pick your favorite piece. Please?"

5. Johannes Brahms:

" How is perceived improvisation in your well-structured pieces possible.

6. Douglas Hofstädter:

I don´t dare to ask a thing, would you terribly mind talking about whatever comes into your mind?

7. Sten Nadolny

One of your books about slowliness has changed my life. What changed yours?

8. Emilia Earheart

Would you mind describing me your contemporary world and Flagellan?

9. The band Morcheeba

When did the song "let me see" come into your mind first?

10. Michelangelo

Your sculpture "The Slave" made my knees weak. What do you feel when you see it?

11. Ethan Hawke

We are born on the same day, I am so excited!

12. Mark Rothko

I wish you could have a stayed a little longer!

13. Chandler in the show "Friends"

Could I BE any more impressed?

14. Heath Ledger

Legendary in "10 thing I hate about you", sorry you had to leave us so early

15. Mercedes Sosa

"Gracias a la vida" y por la grabación de "Alfonsina"

16. unknown singer of a russian song called "nye sprashevai" on an actual vinyl LP

Thank you so much for lightening me up

17. Khalil Gibran

Tell me about YOUR friends!

Why, Marc, why?

what does make one feel sexy?

A former colleague told me once something I think about often:

"If you have to stand in front of people in order to present them anything, the best thing apart from being 150% prepared of course is feeling sexy."

Do you believe so, too?

It starts with small things not worth mentioning. For the last years agua de colonia. A few of you already know my passion for that stuff. German people usually hate it, because the lemon-smell reminds them of what old people wear in Germany. In Spain, splashing in such stuff is ok and can be very refreshing, i personally feel much "safer" when I am wearing some, especially in summer time. And it doesn´t bother the surrounding as much as perfume.

But then I found Marc Jacobs. He develops body splashs amongst other things. They come out in turns: fresh, funny and unbelievable fragrances. I am not talking about feeling safe but SEXY.

Once a year, I check out his new stuff. Today it was time again.

"cucumber" blew my mind. And I will have to wait minimum a couple of months before "basil" is finished, uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

To feeling sexy in this world. And Marc, you are a GOD.

"get right" and Doug

Can´t get the song get it right out of my head, so wish should I suffer alone :)

JLo - get it right

so much stuff to tell you.

First of all, a couple of days ago I met friends close to Mainz. We went to school in Spain and it was so much fun! One of them is an amazing youtube-DJane and we danced in the living-room until 4 o´clock in the morning. We decided not to post the fotos but will for sure have the possibility to show them to you in person. It was so much fun!

Regarding Italy, I was really worried about my friends in Rome and in the monastery. But guess what: Rome is basically built on a "geological Swiss Cheese" for so many layers of historical construction one above the other. Hence, the earthquake in the middle of Italy did not have any effect whatsoever. Rob, her family and the other Rob are doing fine, I spoke with them during the last days. Still saying prayers for people in crisis.

At the moment, I am reading Douglas Hofstädter´s works to keep the brain elastic and it works :) It´s much more fun than I ever expected :)

My muse is waking up again, though I needed some time to get there. I am on holiday until Wednesday which is really great. Talking about the muse, there is a downside to it, sometimes. Did anybody follow the details around the film slumdog millionaire? There is a strong discussion about the kids going on who acted for the film. Apparently, the youngest actors originally came from the actual slums in Mumbai and right after having joined the Oscars in LA, they went straight home into the slums. If I have the facts straight, they received a couple of hundreds of Dollars for their acting. It is such a mess. Now, it has been declared that both kids will have trust-funds for their education. I cannot really believe how so many Western people could be so unbelievably blind-sighted, taking those kids out of their environment, taking them into the film-world, then to LA to the Oscars and escorting them back into misery (it was filmed and really bad). The least thing I would have expected is a partial donation to improve the infrastructure in that specific slum in general. What would you guys think is the right thing if they HAD to hire those kids?



Anyway, apart from that: Köln is blooming, people are enjoying the sun. I am supposed to paint my living-room because their is a stain on the wall. But nope, I don´t even care that I didn´t do it. Doug was more important, and talking to you guys where and when possible. Aaaaand I will be joining with Bea soon, that is so great!

More to come.

Un beso und bis bald,
B