karma chameleon

I´m not normally a person lamenting and moaning a lot about how many things in life go wrong and how unlucky I am. 

But this week I must have fucked up my karma somehow (still feeling happy though - I´m just that sort of a tumbler):

• found out that my bank soon will charge for paper bank transfers - just after I fought with them for weeks in order to get send new pre-printed forms. Well, can bin them now :-/
• in England supermarket chain Waitrose won´t give out free coffees in the cafeterias for loyalty cardholders anymore - so far I used this a lot and it saved me an awful lot of coffee money, bastards! Don´t introduce a scheme like that to axe it again after a couple of years.
• had sort of an argument with my closest friend
• missed the opportunity to meet up with another friend 
• a blogger meetup I wanted to attend in Wiesbaden was cancelled
• a patisserie in Frankfurt I loved the look of for years and wanted to finally go to next Monday to buy something has closed down
• my favourite Thai bistro in Frankfurt has re-decorated and changed the menu (and the prices, of course) which upsets creatures of habit like me
• and the highlight: got a 50€ note stolen out of my wallet in a restaurant and ended up having my friend paying for me while I searched like an idiot...humiliating

I know, I´m still lucky as those are all very much first world problems but still - it can only improve again from now on I hope. 

Have a nice weekend everyone and take care of all your belongings :-)

times are a changin

In case you wondered (and I do hope that you have): I am still alive and kicking!

And it´s not so much the grey weather/cold/general depression syndrom that got me  (and according to my feed many others as well) under it´s spell, quite the opposite.

At the moment I´m sitting down doing a lot of thinking and tinkering as I soon will be starting a second blog (actually thinking about a third one as well but let´s not jump ahead of myself) that will obviously influence the content of this site as well. I´m just feeling it is time to move on and I´m feeling highly motivated!

Until then it will remain fairly quiet here unfortunately - bear with me.
Wishing you all a great week and thank you for reading :-)

A Streetcar Named Desire

theatre: Young Vic, London
author: Tennesse Williams
director: Benedict Andrews

seen at cinema in October during one of the NT live screenings

plot: Faded Southern belle Blanche DuBois comes to visit her pregnant sister in a seedy section of New Orleans. Stella's boorish husband, Stanley Kowalski, not only regards Blanche's aristocratic affectations as a royal pain but also thinks she's holding out on inheritance money that rightfully belongs to Stella. On the fringes of sanity, Blanche is trying to forget her checkered past and start life anew. Attracted to Stanley's friend Mitch, she glosses over the less savory incidents in her past, but she soon discovers that she cannot outrun that past, and the stage is set for her final, brutal confrontation with her brother-in-law.

what I liked: I´m not usually a fan of seeing theatre on stage but as I couldn´t get a ticket for the real thing this was the best option. All actors were good and through the contantly revolving stage in the middle of the audience you were pulled in the action from the very beginning and fortunately the characters didn´t get overpowered by the set design. Gillian Anderson was the perfect Blanche - childish, annoying, seductive, out of touch with reality and needy - a Carrie Bradshaw who has lost grip of her life.

what I didn´t like: Gillian Anderson surely was terrific but her high pitched whiny Southern singsong got a little bit annoying after a while.

verdict: Although it is quite a long and exhausting play I never drifted away and enjoyed it a lot. Brilliant evening in cinema that could have only be topped by an evening in theatre.

doomsday

2014 I wanted to:

• find a yoga drop-in class in England to stretch those aging muscles again...and to build a closer bond to my English home (--> well, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Last week I signed up for a free sort of gym membership which includes access to yoga and aqua fitness classes)
• take part in the London Shine marathon to support Cancer Research UK again...walking 42km through London at night in September (--> I chickened out as the prospect of walking through London all night and on my own suddenly terrified me, feeling very embarrassed about this)
• to go to a professional bra fitting and from then on only wear bras that do fit (sounds silly but I think it is a rather sensible decision) (--> I didn't actually get my tits out for the lady with the tape measure but I spend some serious time in M&S changing rooms and think I have found my current holy grail now)
• travel more (--> I doubt one can ever travel too much and there is always room for improvement and bolder choices but compared to many others I have seen a fare bit this year)
• read one proper book in French (--> does getting it out of the bookshelf and placing it on my desk count?)
• meet new people to broaden my horizon and "refresh" my circle of friends (--> hmm, easier said than done but I tried)
• keep on consuming as much theatre, concerts, exhibitions, books, albums, films as possible (--> check! Although I didn't read anywhere as much as I wanted to)
• the same as the last years (make my mind up when it comes to family planning, getting the second tattoo, do some university work, support smaller shops/cafes, shop less) (--> more clueless than ever when it comes to the baby question, still determined to get that tattoo but cannot decide on a studio, as lazy as ever when it comes to studying, definitely tried to support smaller shops whenever possible and have shopped significantly less as I'm simply not that bothered about it any more)

Sounds pretty sobering to list it all up like this but I still don't feel as if I have failed this year. I have done lots, I have seen lots, I have felt lots and apart from the odd tantrum I was happy and the year went bu way too fast.

2015 I want to:

• get to know more people, especially in England, and dump more of the energy vampires
• get the paint out and attend at least one life drawing class again
• take part in the London Shone marathon to support Cancer Research UK, no more excuses
• try out the yoga and the aqua fitness classes I now have access to
• get my website sorted out and somehow move on with my photography, no idea in which direction this will take me yet
• not get lost on bild.de or dailymail.co.uk in the late evening and scare myself sleepless reading about the end of the world, the sickening cruelty of people and general ignorance
• no more drugstore shopping for a bit of fun, I own more than I will ever use up already
• be as active, restless and open-minded as possible - books, shows, films, music, art, countries, people, bars, restaurants - here I come!
• get that second tattoo (yawn), freshen up my French (yaawn)

Let's get started!

Wir sind die Neuen

Regie: Ralf Westhoff
Jahr: 2014
mit: Gisela Schneeberger, Heiner Lauterbach, Michael Wittenborn, etc.

Inhalt: Die junge Studenten-WG lebt ein pflichtbewusstes Leben in Ruhe, Ordnung und Sauberkeit. Die Idylle findet ein jähes Ende, als drei Endfünfziger aus Geldmangel und Nostalgie ihre ehemalige Studenten-WG wieder aufleben lassen - einen Stock über den Jungen. Bald kracht es zwischen den WGs gewaltig: Während die entspannten Oldies nachts Rotwein schlürfen, philosophieren und alten Hits lauschen, müssen die Youngster fürs Examen pauken. Die Generationen zoffen sich und merken nur langsam, dass sie auch voneinander profitieren könnten...

was mir gefallen hat; Die drei "Alten" (Heiner Lauterbach als Rentner, ich werde alt!) geben ein wunderbares Gespann ab, wie Feuer und Wasser und gleichzeitig vertraut wie ein altes Ehepaar. Gerade der charmant verpeilte Rechtsanwalt Johannes hatte alle meine Sympathien direkt auf seiner Seite, ich wäre sofort mit ihm Frisbee spielen gegangen :-) Das offene Ende fand ich gelungen, soll ja auch eine Komödie und kein Drama sein.

was mir nicht gefallen hat: Die drei "Jungen" hingegen sind so unglaubliche fiese Kotzbrocken, dass ich im Laufe des Filmes gar keine Annäherung sehen mochte. Fand beide Seiten in der Hinsicht zu wenig ausbalanciert.

Fazit: Zu recht einer der Erfolgsfilme des Jahres 2014, ein angenehm leiser Vertreter der Gattung deutsche Komödie. Erschreckender- aber nicht überraschenderweise musste ich mal wieder feststellen, anscheinend so gar nichts mit der "Jugend von heute" gemein zu haben sondern im Herzen wohl doch eher ein Alt-68er zu sein.