Rotten mood

due to stomach pain. I hate the first day of the "Red Week". Today I just want to sleep through it.

Good news on the food front, though. I stuck to my new food plan for the second full day. YEAH.

Yesterdays Mampf Diary
Breakfast (7 AM): black tea, 1 Banana, 1/2 pear, chocolate proteine shake
Lunch (noon): 2 hard boiled eggs, 1 red bell pepper, 2 radishes, 1/2 pear
4 o'clock:1 chocolate protein shake, 1 magnesium drink
dinner (8 o'clock): salad made of bean sprouts, pak choi (interesting), 2 cherry tomatoes, basil tofu, hemp- and flaxseed, strawberry-mustard-vinaigrette; 1 magnesium drink

I've also took my blender out and prepared the chocolate-berry-proteinshake (frozen berry mix, milk, chocolate proteine powder, strawberry juice, curd, soaked almonds) for todays lunch. Oh wonder, my mom didn't go ballistic. But my dad was totally confused when he saw my blender, thought I did buy it just yesterday.

This morning I withstood the bagels and double chocolate cookies calling my name. (yeah) And this noon everything else from Pizza to cake and chocolate. Para nuts were my saviour.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Paleo / Raw fu and knee results

Morning friends.

Guess what, the results were in yesterday. But for a change my doc wasn't in. Hahaha. He's on vacation this week. Lucky me.
But there isn't just one doc and the other doc was so nice to call me back later that evening.

With BAD news.

Yes, I've got a baker's cyst. But it's quite small and not the real problem.

The real problem is: tadaaaaa, my squished meniscus.

Yep, I've got one of the most common problems of runners. Weak muscles.

Fortunately there is a solution: strengthening the muscles around my knees with giving the meniscus time to heal.

So my next steps are:
- no running for the next month (but cycling and swimming and strength training),
- making an appointment with my ostheopath to speed up the healing process and get some more strengthening drills (done),
- getting the picture CD with the MRIs to go to a good orthopedist (runner or triathlete),
- getting a prescription for drill training at a medical gymnast and
- most importantly getting rid of the excess fat, meaning eating a healthy diet 24/7.


And with that we are at the next topic: FOOD (Mampf Diary).

Like I said yesterday I opened the battle against my body fat (reason for muffin tops and what's worse inflammations and therefore bad skin and the knee problems). Over the last years I tried different eating styles. By far the best for my body and skin were Raw Food and Paleo Diet. So I'll go on a combination of both from now on for the rest of my life. It's a combination, because I need a lot more proteine than most raw food diets contain. And I won't eat raw fish, meat and eggs on a daily basis, that's going too far!!!!

Additionally I realized something. As soon as I get home (my parents house) I fall back into my old habits taking on my child role and wanting to eat right away. Even if I'm not hungry at all in the streetcar. I only need to see the door and my brain goes on automatic and want's me to eat mountains of bad food. Pavlovian reflex at it's best. Well, I've canned another reflex in the last few weeks successfully. So with a little work and iron will I'll conquer this reflex too. Watch out.

One of the many advantages from living in a big city as Leipzig is that I get my hands even on fresh exotic produce. Yesterday I checked out an asian shop in the city. They had quite inexpensive pak choi and bean sprouts. So I got myself a bag of sprouts. No pak choi since I still had some lettuce left at home.

Additionally I went to my local whole food store and got Tofu and strawberry juice.




With these lovely ingredients I whipped up my fantastic and really healthy dinner:


Lettuce, cherry tomatoes, bean sprouts, basil tofu, flax- and hemp seed, strawberry-mustard-pumpkin seed oil-vinaigrette. Yumm and so healthy. I still have a problem to make the right amount. I ended up having made three bowls of this size. I ate them with chop sticks to eat slow, normally I eat too fast.

Today I'll get pak choi after class. I've never eaten it, so I'm quite curious of the taste and what I can do with it.

As of today I change my breakfast routine a bit. I'll incorporate a bowl of fresh cut fruit to it. So todays breakfast consisted of: my usual chocolate protein shake (400ml), my lovely Blue Garden black tea and a banana + half a pear.


And this is my lunch: radish, the other half of the pear, one red bell pepper and two boiled eggs.


Hope your knees are all right.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

No good news - edit

SCAR(L)E Day
66,6 kg - I didn't have any need to check the other stats after seeing this.
And look what I found here: http://www.physorg.com/news188995945.html


My knee is acting up since yesterday noon. All due to some walking to the big supermarket on Saturday. The distance combined was just 4 (four!!) k for chrissakes. This is nowhere near my normal walking distances. Looking as it is, even the 10k is in jeopardy. Since it rains today, no cycling either. In any case I'll do my new favourite Monday thing today again, going to my doc to see if my MRI results are there. Wanna bet if they are finally there?

Other than that I had a nice weekend. Fashion drawing workshop. Which was fun and I learned a lot, as soon as I get my designs scanned I'll post them in my style blog. It was also the right time, because the coach had worked in the fashion industry and could give me a few ideas for my current applications. The first one I send out this morning, the next one I'll finish tonight. Saturday evening Chris and I indulged in a french cheese dinner. Pure bliss. And yesterday I archived my films properly and finished the first application and prepared two others.

edit: Just out of frustration of this weight disaster, yes disaster, I've decided to get back on the eating habits that work best for me: Paleo and raw food combined.
My mom will probably go ballistic over this, but I can't help it.
In the last few months I got into a totally unhealthy rut mostly due to my mom (oh San, I've bought Germknödel, now eat it. Germknödel is made of flour, water, yeast and sugar, any questions?!), when it comes to eating. Leading to weight gain instead of loss. (And my Mom stands there telling me I got fat and in the next moment she offers me food!)

I hereby declare the battle against my excess body fat and starchy foods = fast carbs as opened. New food rule, I'll eat as raw and as healthy as possible. This includes my proteinshakes but excludes: sweets, bread, pasta, rice and potatoes and chewing gum.

After the trip to my doc I'll get some sprouts at the asia shop and at home I'll get my lovely blender out. Berry/banana/nut shake and sprout/lettuce salad for Dinner here I come. Lunch was 2 cooked eggs, 2 red bell peppers, radish.

That's it, have a good start in this week.

Welcome to Ken L as a new reader. Glad you're here.

Keep moving forward!

Spring in Leipzig

As promised some pics from Leipzig for you.

Leipzigs New Town Hall tower through the Schiller Park

The "Blechbüchse" (tin can) without the Blech (tin). The old facade you see underneath belongs to a building that was build in 1908. It has always been a departement store. Now it's demolished and a new department store complex will be build there. (Not that Leipzig needed one.)
In any case it's really interesting to have a look at it without the tin, because the facade was build about 10 years before my birth.

One of Leipzigs many churches. From an architectural point of view I really like this one.

I have my fashion drawing class tonight and tomorrow. So I went to the adult educations center yesterday to pay for the class. These are the staircases, they were obviously renovated. Because when I had black & white photography class at the end of the nineties it wasn't this beautiful. Major improvement.

Yesterdays lunch. Yummy and relatively healthy. Dinner was unhealthy as hell, chocolate pudding and chocolate snacks. Well, it's the time of month were I could practically eat chocolate all day.

Todays lunch will be thai food, since it's Friday. Tomorrow evening Chris and I will have a french cheese dinner at my place. With lots of french cheese (goats cheese, yumm), baguette and wine. And maybe shooting some fun fashion pics or watching a fun movie or just chatting away. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh yeah, I rode my bike to project management class today too. And I work on my pedaling. I usually pedal 2 or 3 times and then roll and pedal again. Now I'm trying to get used to constant pedaling. For which I have to focus really hard, because the other way is a habit I got since I learned to ride my bike. Going against habits which lasted for 27 or more years is really hard work. :-P I actually feel uncomfortable in my stomach when I pedal for a "long" time. It's the weirdest feeling. But I'll work on it nonetheless.

Well, I wish you a wonderful and relaxed weekend.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Another amazing pic

Have a look at this:

http://www.clouds365.com/3-24-10-part-2

This is the most amazing picture of clouds I have seen so far. The whole project is totally awesome.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD

Yesterdays lunch

Really tasty and quite healthy. Unfortunately I ate some sweets too. I somehow needed it. But I kind of made up for it with a nice salad with hemp- and flaxseed for dinner.

Right before lunch I sat at the stairs before Leipzigs Opera and tried to draw. Well, Vincent van Gogh and I have something in common, the struggle with perspective at the beginning of our artists career. He learned it from a book eventually and so will I. Tomorrow I have fashion drawing class and I can hardly wait.


Well, it seems like the knee "pain" from Tuesday was due to Mondays walking. Cycling is obviously fine. So I used my bike to get to class today again, since we've got perfect spring weather. SUNSHINE. *Happy sigh* I took some nice pics this morning which I will post in one of the upcoming posts.


I wrote my application blogpost yesterday evening, which took slightly longer than I anticipated. So I will reread it today and then send out the application.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

First training rides this year

Morning.

I rode my lovely Aurora yesterday to and fro class. Remember her?



It wasn't more than an hour and maybe 10k combined. But at least I was out movin' my ass. Which hurts now, because I always need some time to get used to the saddle again. So I went to class by streetcar today. Additionally I want to give some more rest to my knee, since it said hi again yesterday and I don't know why. Well, I rest it today and see how it goes. And then it's back to bike tomorrow.

On the job front, I've started out with one of my killer applications yesterday evening and I will write the additional blogpost today and send it on it's way tomorrow. It is in Bavaria again and except that it's a small town, the job and company and business are interesting. But I'll definitely need a car then, thankfully Smart's aren't that expensive.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

The beauty of movement

Just a short note.

Go to the Photodiarist - Blog, fast!

She captured a Breakdancer right in the move. The pictures are absolutely stunning. Head over and have a look at them for yourself.

Why are you still here??? Get, the hell, over there!!!

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!
Or spin around, go up and down, just MOVE!!!

No MRI results

yep, I've been to my doc this afternoon and they still didn't have the results. So I'm still off from running. >:-(

But on the up side, my knee seems to be healing. It hasn't been hurting since Friday. So I guess I'll test it with a bit of walking in my Converse tomorrow to see, if it's really mended or if I have to stay away from training a little bit longer.

Today is SCAL(R)E Day.
Here are the results:
weight: 65 kg
fat: 29,8 %
muscles: 34 %
h2o: 51,2 %

Not bad, considering that I haven't trained a bit last week. Seems as if my secret plan is working in that field. It took a bit of will, but I made it.

There was perfect spring weather today and I enjoyed quite a bit of it outside. Now it's cloudy again, I just hope that we've got good weather tomorrow so I can ride my bike to school.

That's it.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Guess what ...

I can draw!

But first of all: 133 resumes, Keith?! Ouch. Well I won't give up. There is only one direction and that is FORWARD.

Today I realized some things.

1. I can draw! I'm not fast or perfect at it but I CAN DRAW. This realisation is really important to me, because I let several job ads pass, because I thought that I can't even draw. So now that I know, I'll draw a lot more. Practise, practise, practise. I'll visit several workshops (first one Friday and Saturday) to get better in certain areas and I'll do some computer workshops for InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop (June). Because these are the programs I'll need for the kind of jobs I will apply from now on too. Graphic Design, here I come.

2. I'm a fast learner. When I came back from Munich I had a chat with my seat neighboor. And he told me, that I definitely am a fast learner. Because I made the transition from project assistent over project manager to trouble shooter in seven months instead of seven or more years. In this time I also learned how to organize and manage events like robotic competitions and international conferences. And I learned to develop games too. This means I'm pretty good when it comes to skill development. *strike!*

3. I need a fast paced environment, otherwise I become a slacker and depressed. So jobs, where I do the same 24/7 are not an option for me. This is the reason why I hate class so much. It's essientially boredom for me, I do everything else but study. ;-)

4. There is a real chance that I can make it to Pixar. It will take some time and a whole lot of training of my drawing skills, but I'm abled to make it. *happy sigh*

5. I need a job to pay for my future art classes. So I'll take on even a job that isn't that creative but still fast paced. (I applied at a CCI which is searching an event manager. Fast paced, a teensy-weensy part creative, pays for my own flat, a new bed, a new macbook, programs, races and art materials & classes.)

6. I can use my bike from now on again. Well, as soon as it stops raining. And I have to kick my butt into gear to finally go swimming again. I'm such a slacker these days, it's disgusting.

7. I'll have to do the 10 k at the Leipzig marathon. There is no way I can prepare in one month for a half. But my knee is finally getting better. Though I think it's due to increased magnesium and Omega 3 intake and not because of the homeopathic stuff from my doc. In any case I'll meet him tomorrow.

8. There are films that can make me cry. The weirdest thing. It never happened to me before, but yesterday morning I cried watching korean "A millionaires first love". This totally surprised me, so I was crying and laughing at the same time. Interesting feeling. I think Sera Beaks "Red Book" had some impact on me.

So did you have some revelations this weekend? How did you figure out which jobs might be right for you?

London November 2007!

Tomorrow is Scal(r)e Day. I think it will be a few grams less than last week since I changed my eating habits, again! Though nothing too crazy this time.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Bugger!

Three seems to be my bad luck number. Wednesday No, Thursday No, Friday No.

The Wednesday No came from Düsseldorf and was a nice No. Perfectly fine with me.

Thursday No: Well, would you believe it, it was Little Town! Not that I wanted that job anyway. But guess what, they just said in their email that they destroyed my application data. (Which they are supposed to do!) So I got back to them, to testify that they had decided for another candidate. And you know WHAT THEY ANSWERED? That they already said so in a letter on February 8th. HA. Guess what, I never got that information, which I told them. Well, this job would have been a waste of time anyway and I don't like to run my head in on walls!!! So I'm fine with it and glad that it came to an end.

Todays No: Munich. :( Oh well, it isn't that bad and I'd probably have been bored after a few months time and the payment wasn't that high either and it wasn't really an engineers job too. Still, I would've liked the environment. What's positive, they kept their word, they told me today. Not like that wretched Little Town. Still, I'm a bit down. (To put it mildly.)

Okay, so this means APPLICATION WEEKEND! Wohoo. (Snarling voice!) Well at least I know now, that my "wild" applications work to my advantage. (I even had it confirmed yesterday by a HR specialist, that my "wild" applications are a good thing!) My week point is the interview, but I have an idea how to fix that problem. An interview training! I knew about that option for some time, but I hadn't come into my own with the written stuff so I postponed it.

As funny as it seems, but I think this was my low point. There are no open applications anymore and I think that I finally mastered the written part now (for german applications). Now I have to work on my interview skills and really look for the companies and jobs that fit my skills and personality and quirks. Time to put in some work. Until now it was more or less randomized.

On the training front.
I'll go swimming tomorrow, since my knee is still off. Funny thing, when I wear heels it's fine, as soon as I wear flats it acts up. Marathon in Heels here I come! ;-P
And I accomplished a real feat today, even though I was down (better mood already :-) I didn't start eating sweets! I'll eat some buckwheat with cherry yogurt and a chopped banana for dinner in a few minutes. I already ate a banana, some slices of hungarian salami and an orange. And even though I had the bread and butter out already I just put it back and resorted to the banana. Slim Dreambody here I come!

So, I'll wish all of you a lovely weekend. Good training and a lot of fun!

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

Lovely Spring Day and the ugly truth

Finally warm and sunny weather in Leipzig. I plan to celebrate it with a fast walk back home as a training session. Which is something I desperately need.

Why? Well, yesterday I finally came to realize the ugly truth when I looked at a mirror wearing a black tank top. I've got muffin tops and to make matters worse they are huge! No kidding.

"Tools are meant to teach you how to get to a certain point, a point where you can eventually let them go. They can show you the door, but it's up to you, and only you, to walk through." Sera Beak "The Red Book" p. 196

So what I realized when I read this was that I had stepped through this door several times, but I always turned around at some point and sat down in my armchair of bad behaviour and nonmovement. And this did not happen because there was nothing interesting happening at the other side of the door, no, I always turned around when I saw that it worked out fine for me!

Am I afraid of success and what it entails? Probably.

This could also be the reason, why I'm still without a new job. I do everything to sabotage myself and acting like the ostrich. Means over the last few months I either fled into the blogworld, some fantasy stories I made up myself or put my head under my pillow (I don't like sand that much;-)! And filled up with sweets!!! Which led to some weight gain.

Now, how to break through these patterns?! I have the necessary tools! Now I just need to step through that door and don't look back, just make one step after another. I'll have to close this door behind me forever.

Sera says treat yourself like a goddess on page 165 (though on another background). And I'll do so from now on, only the best and healthiest food I will put in my body. I'll treat myself with care, pampering myself from head to toe. Time to become the person I want to and can be. So the picture of treating me like a goddess works best for me at the moment, even though I find the other sentence hilarious. "Treat myself like a goddess, my ass, that's for airy-fairy girls; I want to treat myself like an active volcano!" p. 165 So funny.

I'll start out with eating healthy Thai food and some red bell pepper and radish for lunch and a massive omega 3 week. No unhealthy sweets anymore.

So, yesterday I took a look at my blind spot: Me.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

New Training Goal - A marathon in HEELS?!?!

Okay, so wearing flats has become a little bit annoying over the winter. Since we've got finally sidewalks instead of icewalks again and temperatures will rise to a burning 10°C = 50° F, I dug out my heels this morning.

I know what you ask yourself now, what does that have to do with marathon or even Ironman?

Well, for those of you who haven't worn heels so far, heels aren't exactly comfortable and you have to learn to walk in them. (I always wondered if the Manolo Blahniks are so expensive because they come with a walking seminar.) When I "ran" for the streetcar this morning it inspired some questions. How far can anyone (woman or man) actually walk or run in heels? And has there ever been a person who walked a half - or even a full marathon in them? Let alone run?

I know that there have been High Heel races about short distances (80 m), but I haven't found any long distance "race".

Well I can tell you one thing for sure. I definitely won't be the first person who is crazy enough to walk a marathon in heels! Even I am not that crazy!

In any case, walking in heels seems to be good for my knee, because I don't felt pain in there all morning.

And you, what is your "crazy" idea, when it comes to running or tri?

KEEP MOVING FORWARD

Who would've thought

NASA finds shrimp dinner on ice beneath Antarctica

http://www.physorg.com/news187868640.html

"They are looking at the equivalent of a drop of water in a swimming pool that you would expect nothing to be living in and they found not one animal but two. It's pretty amazing when you find a huge puzzle like that on a planet where we thought we know everything," biologist Stacy Kim of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California said.


There are still some surprises hidden for us on this planet. I just love it.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD

Watch out at traffic lights...

or you might get run over. I had green (walk) and the cars red yesterday afternoon, so they should've stopped. Even if it's just a pedestrian traffic light, red means STOP. Or so I thought. Obviously this doesn't apply to Mercedes drivers. (Hear my snarling voice!!!)
If my guardian angel would have been off duty yesterday afternoon I might have been killed or at least seriously injured.
For chrissakes, that bonehead didn't even slow down at the stop light, he went through full throttle. Which had me confused for a second, thinking I was supposed to stop. But no, it was his red light. A**HOLE!!!


I was at my practitioner yesterday afternoon but unfortunately the results from my MRI weren't in. So I'll have to call again later this week. *grumble*


When I got home my new book was already delivered. Gawd bless Amazon and youtube and the internet as a whole. Because after half an hour of digging I finally found out the author and title of two books which I had read a few years ago. And while I remembered the stories pretty well, I had totally forgotten the essential info to find them again. If you liked Dan Brown's "DaVinci Code", then give Matilde Asensi's "The last Cato" a try. I enjoyed it immensely. In fact I wanted to go to my bookstore today and get myself a copy.

BUT there are two reasons why I won't do so. First reason: I haven't finished "The Red Book" or "the Black Swan" or "Collider" (yep I read all three of them, crazy I know!) and not even started out on "the essential Rumi" and "The ascent of money". I want to finish them before I get another book. Second reason: Remember the Disney quote at the end of my posts?! Keep moving forward. Well, this applies also to books! While it's nice to revisit old friends, it's also important to make new ones and broaden my horizon, this goes for the real life and also for fiction. And I've revisited countless old friends (fictional and real) in the last months, time to move on!

In any case I've decided that Winter is OVER!!! Which means I'm wearing my Spring and Summer shoes from now on, whatever the weather is like. Today I'm wearing my Converse, even though it's just 0° C =32° F, I don't give a damn. This Winter lasted way too long, it's time for Spring. This afternoon, I'll switch jackets and shirts too. I can't stand my turtlenecks anymore. Black or any other colour, I'm not Steve Jobs! Since Chris and I will go shopping tomorrow before we go to watch "The men who stare at goats", I'll see if I can get some nice shirts for Spring. It's about time....

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/images/2007/05/21/springtime_blue_bells_470x320.jpg)

Enjoy this wonderful Spring day, no matter what the weather looks like. After all, that's what imagination is for!!!

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Nothing much to tell

Hi there.

Except of shredding old paper work and filing some stuff on Saturday I didn't actually do anything this weekend. Funny thing is, even though I got rid of, what felt like tons of paper, it seems as if nothing has changed when I look around in my room. Frustrating!

Saturday evening Chris came over, because she wanted to start her own blog. Since she hadn't even thought of a name or a theme for the blog, she postponed the whole thing. And I just told her, what she needs to decide about.

Other than that I read in Sera Beaks "The Red Book", which might be interesting for you ladies, it's hilarious and packed with interesting information. I watched several korean movies on youtube, so fun. And I ate a lot, chocolate, hungarian salami, pizza "sahara style" (extremely dry pizza, ugh)...

This week is project week so I actually will do and learn something over the days. And I have to go to my practitioner to get the test results of my knee which isn't getting better at all. In fact I think it's getting worse.

Right at this moment I just want to crawl back in my bed and shut the world out. Don't talk to anyone or do anything other than sleeping. MONDAYS! >:-(

I wish you a good start in the new week.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD

Too creative?!!!

Morning.

I've been to Munich yesterday. And I don't know if it's the usual I-messed-up-in-the-interview-I'm-never-going-to-get-this-job-feeling or if it's the real divine part of me telling me that I don't get this job. Nevertheless I really liked the company and it was a nice trip.

Would you believe it?! Both ICEs (to and fro Munich) were early!!!! Normally it's the other way around.

So I was half an hour early for the interview. (Try to dilly-dally when it's snowing heavily and no Starbucks around... it's just not working.)

But it was not a big deal, they just changed their plans and we talked. And while they think I can handle the organizational stuff (go figure! Good thing they haven't seen my room this morning ;-) and my english skills are good enough for them, they have a bit of tummy aches when it comes to the needed technical / software skills.

I'm an engineer for chrissakes, I can work myself into any technological field!!! So yeah, I've never been into the Unix - part of Mac OS, but it wasn't necessary! Because my iBook G4 never misbehaved, that's why I LOVE APPLE!!! If they want some computer scientist, they should have written it into the job ad. Okay enough with the ranting.

Anyway I really think this company would be a good fit and that we would get along fine. The project manager told me that I'm really creative (Literally he's afraid that I'm too creative for this job!). They even said they would help to get settled down there. SOOOO nice! And I'd get my own MacBook Pro for work and home. *sigh* No more darned windoof. And yes the job still sounds fine to me. They'll tell me how it went at the end of next week they have other interviews scheduled. If I'm lucky, the other interviewees are dimwits. LOL

In any case they liked my Think Different application! So I'll stick with the crazy stuff. ;-P

Yesterday was really funny. I talked to a former colleague because she has my old projects and had some questions that the former project manager (my successor) couldn't answer at that moment. Funny how it goes.

And on the train back to Leipzig I talked to my neighbor and it turn out he's the managing director of an energy company. He was really nice and the chat we had was really interesting. He also gave me some good ideas for my next interviews and applications. Thank you, dear universe.

So, essentially it was a good but exhausting day. I took some digital pictures and will post them as soon as I get to it.

Today I write a test and hopefully go on night shot photosafiri with Chris, depending on the weather. At the moment it SNOWS! Argh. I hope you have nicer weather!

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Craving the baltic Sea

Hello babykins!

Do you know these moments, when you really, really, really need to get out and go to your happy place?

This morning, when I put some more places I've been on my facebook map I felt this absolute need to go up to the baltic sea, to Rügen or Usedom or the Darss. I've always enjoyed to spend time at the sea. And if I wouldn't have this interview tomorrow, I might sit in the train to Heringsdorf right now.

(http://www.urlaubs-insel-usedom.de/insel_usedom_ostsee_fotos/insel-usedom-ostsee-strand-streckelsberg.JPG)

I've made the decision that I will make a short trip to the sea before I move to Munich. No matter what. I just need it desperately. I just need to hear the waves and smell the salt in the sea air. I don't care if it's freezing cold. I just need to go up there.

I hope you guys are in your happy place right now.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Good News!

Good Morning, Honey Muffins!

(Okay, I will check the urban dictionnary from now on! No unintentional embarrassment here anymore. Mind you, I'm german some english slang just eludes me. If I get over board tell me, I'll correct it.)

I've got a job interview scheduled for Thursday afternoon near Munich for the PERFECT job for me!!!

The job is

(http://www.marketing-talk.de/img/apple.jpg)

- related. Wohoo.

And what's even better, I'll be on the road often all over Europe. I hate it to do the same every day and sit in front the computer all day. I might even make trips to California for this job! And I will work on Mac. No more stupid Windoof.

Adding up on the perfectness (is that a word? No?! I don't care.) it's an advertising agency including photographers, moviemakers and soundengineers. So I'll work with a lot of creative people, which is perfect since I'll learn: to use photoshop, how to make better pictures, how to make cool tv ads and so on.

Chris and I will still live in the same city (she will move to Munich in a few weeks/months), so I've got one good friend to train, go on Photosafiri and to the cinema with.

Like I told ya, this job is PERFECT. Now I only have to get it. But I think I've got a good chance (which is a first in this job search), since my English is fluent and I'm an engineer with business knowledge. And I've got black turtlenecks. ;-)

I only applied Thursday for this job and was a bit anxious that I had applied to late. But in any case I did add some unusual stuff to this application, like an English Blogpost, in which I literally stated, that I'm the perfect girl for this job. And I added some pics with me and my iBook to this blogpost and the pic from my Januar 27th post.

I even made a pic from my moleskine calendar which I added to the blogpost for the application. The calendar has an apple sticker on it. *grin*

Why did I add this blogpost? Well they stated in the job ad, that the applicant has to be speaking English fluently and be an Apple Freak. Yep, they literally wrote "Qualifications: Apple Freak". LOL.

In any case getting there is also a lot easier than getting to Düsseldorf and it's Thursday, not Tuesday. This bodes well.


On the food front, I'm still following my secret plan. Which is sometimes taking up a lot of willpower. The thing is that I have developed a pavlovian reflex. Every time I sit down in front of a computer at class or snuggle into my armchair to read or start to watch a movie on my iBook I feel the need to eat, mostly sweets. Due to my secret plan I have to battle this reflex. Not that easy my dears. It's so easy to develop a reflex like this, but hard to can it. Well, I'll keep working on it, because it's good for me and it obviously gets me closer to my goals (weight).


Thank you all for your comments to my last post. I'll do my thing, might take a while though. Just been mad at him, but he is his own blind spot. It's the same with most of us.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

A weekend without training ( Post111 ;-)

Good morning honeypuffs!

I enjoyed a nice weekend.

Stressful and appaling Saturday!
Saturday was a bit stressing, since I had to make birthday gifts (find them here), go into town to get pictures and a missing part of the presents, bake some muffins for the birthday party and get to the birthday party in time.

It worked out pretty fine considering that my Lomo camera broke. Suddenly the release suddenly didn't work anymore. So while my blueberry muffins were baking, I searched for the receipt and prepared the whole package to switch the camera at the store where I had bought it. As you can imagine I was slightly miffed at Lomography. A camera that brakes after 3 weeks... Well, I went to the store on my way to my friend and they switched it without any hassle. Then I only had to endure 10 kids in the age range 1 to 7 for about 5 hours, stayed for 6 1/2 hours. It was kind of hell to me. Don't get me wrong kids are fine! As long as I don't have to endure them. Well I coped. And stayed until 10:45 PM because K begged me, I would have left 3 hours earlier if she hadn't asked me to stay. I payed for my lack of self-preservation with cold feet and freezing on my way home, since I had to wait for the streetcar. Luckily I wore long trousers, there was a girl waiting with me who wore shorts (with tights, but still).

Oh yeah, remember that I wanted to talk to K's hubby D, about my ideas? Well we did and I know now that I can't count on him! Mind you he always complains at how stupid mankind is to destroy its own environment and that our leaders don't do anything about it. But guess what when I proposed a way to actually do something, to solve some of the problems he declined. He actually told me that it's nice that I worry but I don't have to because the universe/divine/umpalumpa/jesus will take care of it!!!!

I was so appaled!

How dare he talking to me like that, as if I'm a small child who cares about stuff it isn't supposed to care about! In any case I will follow my idea and make it work. He can stay in his little dream world.

Perfect Sunday afternoon!
Yesterday was close to a perfect Sunday. I slept in and in the early afternoon I went on Photosafiri. I shot 3 films with my new Lomo Fisheye. After this experience I think that my other Lomo never worked properly. When I got tired of shooting and the sun stood in the wrong place for more beautiful pictures, I got myself a Double Chocolate Muffin at Starbucks and went home by streetcar. There I cooked myself a hot chocolate and enjoyed it with the muffin in my ultracomfortable armchair in the late afternoon sunshine while listening to Sting's "Fields of Gold". *happy sigh* It was absolutely wonderful. A bit later I downloaded Shawn Colvins "Live" longplayer. This is just the best ever live longplayer. If you like her: GET IT!!! I snuggled deeper into my armchair, feet on the heating and headphones on. PURE BLISS!

And if that wasn't enough joy, I met with Chris at the cinema and we watched Tim Burtons "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D. Ah, the imagination and picture language of this man is unrivaled. I just LOVE his movies. Gawd, if you haven't so far, go and watch Alice, it's simply perfect. The colors, the story, the music! LOVE IT. It's my new favourite movie.

So yeah, perfect Sunday. *very happy sigh*

Today is SCAL(R)E DAY, weight stats:
weight: 64,8 kg = 142,86 lbs
fat: 29,5 %
muscles: 34,1 %
H2O: 51,5 %

This week I'll go swimming, no biking because we've got fresh snow again. Yep, it's back to icewalks instead of sidewalks. Bugger.

Have a good start in the new week and head over to KK's Views from the Mountain blog. She has a really interesting story to tell.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Store Window Project is online

Hi,

just so you know. I've posted the first store window pictures.

Enjoy your weekend.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

Weird but funny Dreams

Hello Schnuckiputzies! (Oooh, I'm in the mood for ridiculous names! LOL.)

This morning I had two really weird dreams and one of them I remember fully. So I thought I tell ya and practice my story telling...

The first dream, I don't remember everything of it.

Jude Law was Werner von Siemens, but had the same beard and hairstyle like the Sheriff Clay Wheeler in "Did you hear about the Morgans?". He sat on a bench in a laboratory next to Robert Downey Jr., who looked a lot older, but I don't remember who he was. And they were obviously old friends. The laboratory looked a bit like a small old college (Cambrigde, Oxford?) laboratory at the end of the 19th century would have looked like and they both wore the fitting clothes for it, think "Sherlock Holmes" here. They were watching a demonstration of a chemical experiment and talking about it. And that's about it what I remember from it.


The following dream was really weird.

Starring Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom.

They were both warriors, adorned in clothes and with swords which looked a lot like the stuff from "Xena: warrior princess". Orlando was flat on his back, obviously wounded from a sword battle. The battle field looked like a mixture of the battle field in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and the bottom of the Colosseum in "Jumper". Green pasture, some rocks a bit unlevel.

Keira kneeled down next to him and said: "You know that I can't stay, don't you?" "Yes" And then: big movie screen kiss.... While they're snogging I can see her hand raising a small dagger. The hilt is made of copper and the blade is obviously steel and slender.

The music (strings, what else!) rises and she stabs him!!

In the left shoulder.

The weird part. As you know there was a sword battle, think "Lord of the Rings" final battle here. But what she uses the dagger for, is to extract what seems to be a bullet. Emphasis on seems, because what she extracts isn't a bullet but an enormous lychee pit!!

And then I woke up!

I told ya, I have the weirdest dreams ever. And I obviously watch to many movies. *snicker*

Ever had weird dreams like this?

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

Everything is falling into place...

Good morning Cupcakes!

Glad you all like the new design, it took a bit of trying to find the right one. I think I had 5 or 6 others yesterday evening before I settled for this. And I really like it. (We'll see how long it lasts. ;-)

Yesterday evening I finished my application for the really cool Apple related job and send it out. I'm just hoping now, that I was on time because when I checked the job ad, it was taken down. In any case it might lead to an internship and then to a job. We'll see.

The weather was really strange yesterday evening, it snowed, then it stopped and the sun came out and it started snowing again but there were no clouds over me! And it was FREEZING, it was warmer at six in the morning. It's March not April, St. Peter seems to confuse the months. What do you think, did an airplane hit him over the head and he suffers from craniocerebral injury?! The weather today is just as weird today as yesterday.

I hope that St. Peter recovers for the weekend, so that I can go on Photosafiri shooting store windows in the evening. Since I haven't figured out how too shot at night with my Lomo (too dark) and since I can't put it on a tripod (the only thing I dislike about my Lomo), I'll take my Nikon F90 for it and get 800 ASA films today. I'll even get the lighter lens from my fathers Nikon F60. Because the F90 and my lens (zoom 35 to 150) are too heavy for me (yeah, I should do some strength training) and I still have no good tripod for my big cameras. (The good tripods start at 150€, I don't want to put in that kind of money at the moment.) In any case I just love that I seem to have hit a nerve with my photography project. It's so much fun to make the pictures, wait for the development and then share them and talk about them. Eventually I'll change my flickr - account to Pro, but that has to wait until I have my new job.

Falling into place!
Tomorrow afternoon a friend of mine will celebrate her birthday, since I'm invited I'll hopefully have time to talk to her husband. D is also deeply concerned about the environment and so am I. Do you remember HOPENHAGEN?!

It was a campaign initiated by the United Nations to kick the worlds "leaders" into action at the climate conference in Copenhagen last December. It didn't work out, as we all know. Which pisses me off on a very high level and probably not only me. Now why do I tell you this? Because this morning when I went by streetcar to the city I had a kind of epiphany. I think I know now how to tackle this whole environment/stupid politicians - issue. To get started I need to talk to D. First we need to lay out a rough road map and then we need to take action, internet style "Ready, Fire, Aim".

This is what I meant when I said, it's all falling into place. I've pondered the question for years and made some frustrating experiences over the past few years, but it all blends into a bigger picture now and I finally know where to start. It will take time and a lot of work, but like in Triathlon it's one step at a time, one day after another.

Cheer up and have a wonderful weekend!!

KEEP MOVING FORWARD AND DON'T FORGET TO DREAM!!

With that kind of weather...

I just needed a new and cheery Blog - Background. The old one was too depressing.

Hope you like it as much as I do.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

It SNOWS!

Bright day? Hah. Looking out of the window makes me feel like its January. But for gawds sake it's bloody March. Stop it. NOW!

I don't want to go out there!!!

Hey, good thing I'm not allowed to run, so no speed training this evening. Hah. I knew it had a good side, I just had to find it...

Still, I'm thinking of relocating to California. "Seems it neeeever rains in southern california. Seems I often heard that kind of talk before. It never rains in californiaaaaaaaa... " I definitely haven't heard of snow....

Hope you have lovely warm sunshine.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD.

My morning & Siemens Magnetom Symphony

4:00 AM Waking up, one look at clock, closing the window, turning on the heating in the bathroom, snuggling back beneath the warm covers

4:10 AM quick look at clock, turning the alarm off, snuggling deeper in the warmth

4:20 AM quick look at clock, turning over

4:32 AM quick look at clock, turning on the lamp on my nightstand, getting up and in the kitchen, filling the kettle and switching it on



4:35 AM damn, where is the bloody protein shake powder?

4:36 AM found it! in my room, whoops, getting the protein shake ready and the Blue Garden Tea out and into the tea strainer

4:37 AM pouring the water over the tea, cleaning my tongue

4:41 AM off to the bathroom with the protein shake in one hand and my clothes in the other hand

4:42 AM brushing my teeth, followed by other morning cores, while enjoying the first sips of my chocolate protein shake

4:45 AM rushing halfdressed to the kitchen to rescue the tea and back to the bathroom

4:55 AM starting to prepare food and drinks for the day

5:00 AM I need a wide T-shirt without any metall, do I even own something like this?! Oh yeah, my red raceshirt. Starting digging for it which leads to more stuff strewn all over the floor.

5:10 AM Styling time, hair, earrings, bracelet. Mmmh, what pair of shoes?

5:17 AM Aaaahh, I'm running late!!!! Is that a white rabbit looking at his pocket watch?!!!

5:18 AM Bags? Check. Jackets? Check. iPod? Check. Keys? Check. Shoes? Darn it. Running in my room, getting my shoes out, tugging the paper out of them, put them on. HHaaaaarrgggghhhh, wrong socks!!

5:19 AM Racing in my room, grabbing another pair of thinner socks and changing

5:20 AM Grabbing bags, iPod and Starbuck tumbler, turning off the lights and rushing out the door

5:22 AM Arriving at the streetcar station

5:23 AM Boarding streetcar to the city center

5:34 AM Getting off in the city center, everything is still dark and quiet, only a few people and cars are out and about

5:45 AM Arriving at the radiology and waiting with 5 other people for them to open the doors

5:59 AM Called in from waiting room, taking off all metals and trousers, answering a little questionnaire and laying down at the table of the Siemens Magnetom Symphony

(http://yellowmed.com/typo3temp/pics/siemens-MRT-symphony_0dd3f7c39a.jpg)

6:13 AM Done. Really weird, it sounded as if it was broken, but obviously these are the normal noices!!

6:14 AM Having a quick peek at the pictures. Mmmh, doesn't look like there is a cyst. But mind you, I'm an engineer not a trained radiologist and I have seen them only for a few seconds.

6:25 AM Back on my way home. It's already day and lots of people on their way to work or wherever else.

The results and diagnosis will be send to my doc next week, until then I only know that there is nothing as big as this cyst in the last post. Lucky me.

Today seems to become a bright day, so I'll take some of the store window pictures after class and get them to development.

Luckily I finally got around to write my boring part of the next application yesterday evening. I'll write the fun part (Blog post style in English, its a german company which needs someone with really good English. Which means they need ME, ME, ME!), since the job is Apple related they get a "Think Different"-styled application. A standard cover letter (boring) and a blog post (fun), so they can choose and see how good my English skills are. Ahhh, I'm sooooooo good. ;-)

I hope all of you are well and right on track with your training schedule.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

It's snowing...

And the sun is shining still...

Well, I have no new training schedule so far, because I've decided to give priority #1 to my job search and #2 to my secret plan (shhh, the one that I don't talk about). So we'll see how training will be this month.

The good thing is I already have my MRI appointment for tomorrow morning. That was fast, I would have thought that it would be at least a week until I get my MRI. Unfortunately it's 6 o'clock in the morning, that's the time I normally snuggle deeper into my bed for another few minutes. (This morning I had a really weird but also really funny dream in the 15 minutes until I had to get up. I enjoy my weird dreams, because they show that I'm fine. When I get stressed out they dry up.)

This is NOT MY KNEE!!

(http://www.cheltenhamimaging.co.uk/casestudies/images/knee-bakers-cyst-big.jpg, but this is how it will look like, though mine will be a lot smaller.)

This morning I walked through the city to my class and had the idea for my next photography project part. Store window design. Store windows show a fleeting part of our city environment, time to pay attention. The photos will be posted on The Man-Made Project from Saturday on.

Hope all of you are well and thank you for your comments.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

The good and the bad

So I've been to my new practitioner because of my left knee and my right foot yesterday. I do like him. He listens well and doesn't give me the feeling that I'm just taking up his precious time. Which is really important as you know.

Now I've got some good news and some baaaaad news.

Okay, lets start out with the baaaaad news and end on a good note.
He took a good look at my knee and listened to my description, which led him to the belief that it might be a Baker's cyst. So he send me to get a MRI and prescribed some homeopathic stuff. Not that bad you might think, but he also banned me from running for the next 3 weeks...

Which means I can forget about the half marathon in April.

If I'm lucky, I can do the 10k, but I wouldn't bet on it at this moment. He told me I could do walking and cycling. I tell you one thing, I WON'T go walking. I'm not a fat woman in her fifties who has no ambitions, but feels oh so sporty when she is out there in her walking gear and strolls along with her friends chatting and making it look like she's doing something sporty. So, I'll get my bike out this evening and get the air back on the tires and will go for rides. And I'll go swimming. And I'll do squats every morning. Still this won't get me to the half marathon in April.

AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH

But hey I always wanted to have a MRI, I think it's fascinating and now I get one. Wohoo. I'll definitely ask for my pictures. And my hurting right foot is just a bit aggravated, so it will be fine in a few days. Good news, right?

The really good news were though, that he is pro supplements and said what I take (zinc, magnesium, Vitamins C, B, K, D; selenium, omega 3, iodine, iron) is good for me and are the right amounts. Hah! My mom and my former practitioners always thought that I'm mad and told me, that I should only eat right and that it doesn't make sense then that I take any supplements. I definitely have found the right practitioner for ME.

Markkleeberger See

So, essentially this means I can bag my training schedule and think of a new one. Just what I needed. pffff. On the bright side, I have more time for applications now. Well, now I just need to sit down and write them. ahem...

I hope your joints behave and that your training goes well.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

I'm doomed

I just realized this morning that I have build not one snowman this winter!!! What the hell happened to my inner child?

Monday=SCAR(L)E DAY
Todays weight stats:
weight: 66,1 kg = 145,7 lbs (grrrrrr!)
fat: 30,4%
muscle: 33,9%
water: 50,9%

Well, it's no wonder the amounts of chocolate I ate this weekend....

In any case I have a plan for this month, only this time I won't tell anybody what it is. The reason is, everytime I talk about my ambitious plans, I don't follow them through. In my case you can be sure that if I promise something I will do the exact opposite. Normally shrinks tell you to tell everybody what you plan to do to give you some kind of push that you have to go through with it because you told everyone. It works just the other way around with me. Guess what, I haven't written one application this weekend! This makes me so mad.

So yeah, I've got a plan, but I won't tell ya what it is. I'll you at the end of this month what it was and if I pulled it through.

KEEP MOVING FORWARD.