B&W

yesterday late in the afternoon, i found in my pidgeon hole in the english institute three copies of the fourth LIAISONS magazine published here in leipzig. this in itself is rather uneventful, were it not for the fact that it also contains a couple of pictures i have taken in wales this year to illustrate the travel-log by my boss. and i've written a little quiz on wales. luckily edith helped greatly with some questions because i was hard pressed coming up with enough ideas that were not toooooo obscure. so for everyone who would like to see the pictures that made it into the actual printed edition, have a peek. for all those who would like to read elmar's very entertaining travel story, buy a copy of LIAISONS! i highly recommend it. particularly because the issue also features some great articles concerning censorship in dictatorships around the world. -- and you can also win a copy of Englisches Leipzig, a great little book written and published earlier this year by students of english from our department.

this morning, i toasted the two left-over rolls from yesterday. and then, all of a sudden, by a stroke of insanity genius a picture flashed upon my inner eye and i was overcome by the urge to whip out the proper kitchen equipment and mangle the victuals before me. so silliness ensued...

instead of boring you to bits with the weekly entry of welsh landscape, let me show you my work space instead. being the owner of a fancy red library card that says 'post-graduate' on the front allows me to seek refuge in the room reserved for said post-grads. thus i manage to escape the usual background noise in the other parts of th library. -- though i am being stalked by NOISY WOMAN. but i'm thankful for small favours.

in celebration of international women's day, here are four portraits of women from my family. my great-great-grandmother singer, my great-great-grandmother trültzsch and her daughters, johanne and gertraud, my great-grandmother and great-aunt respectively. when these four ladies were born, women in germany had not yet acquired the right to vote!

the work for equality for women is not over yet. not by a long shot. but! this country has sure come a long way since 1919.

here's to all the women of the world and their struggle for equality and a life in simple human decency.

frosty mid-winter is the most appropriate season for visiting the memorial.

buster keaton: not your stereotypical kind of classically handsome man. but, damn!, there was an aura about him that just makes you weep into your morning coffee. certainly not handsome -- but beautiful!!!

alley proposed, so who am i to dispose? three guesses who it will be this time. santa? naw! the tooth fairy? nope. (but he's got teeth alright!) the tramp? you're halfway there.

a couple of days ago, the fabulous eldivinomarques over from LJ and i got talking about vintage photography and how it looks very much different from what is being produced today. for starters, changing the paper on which the prints themselves are/were produced already is largely responsible for that. of course the old papers were incredible instable with their silver coating and the pictures fade over the years because of that. but the silver also brought out a wonderful translucient quality in the images. something that has been lost ever since.

every year, autumn goes over the top with a display of colours -- depending on the amount of sunny days during summer, of course. if you take away the colours, regardless of sunny summer or not, what remains are the shapes.

as i was going through some of the scans of my old family pictures, i came again across three of my favourite images. they must have been taken some time between the 1930s and 1960s. unfortunately, except for one picture they are undated and you can only guess from the people in the pictures or the clothes they wear. but that does not take away from the beauty of those photographs at all.

monday night, i went to the konsum supermarket just around the corner to buy a box of eggs. i had signed into the list for the christmas party supplies as the muffin lady on duty. ever since monday evening i am once again suffering from guilty conscience because i had bought battery eggs. they were the only ones left at the store and i recoiled inwardly as soon as my hand streched out to take a six-pack of eggs off the shelf displaying the products of cruelty to animals.

these are not yours to take. can i have them back since you won't be needing them anymore after 19 january.

not very sincerely yours,

the analogue me

nothing worthy to report from this past week. i didn't get my grades from the german department (which sucks ROYALLY because now i won't be able to sign my work-contract with the uni in time!), i put in two 9-hour shifts at the copy-shop on thursday and friday and pretty much spent today doing eff-all. apart from shoving the camera into helge's face. that is what he has to put up with for abusing me as his pillow.

next week will be terrible busy, too, because one of my co-workers will be on holidays and i will work from 8.30 till the shop closes in the evening hours. except on tuesday. then s. and i will attend a little seminar of sorts, visiting the synagogue just around the corner, enjoy a nice lunch before going on a tour through the Waldstraßenviertel. but i am afraid, i will have to skip the walk because i will be expected at work during the afternoon. but i am very glad that i am still able to attend the morning programme.

instead of being woken by the gentle mating call of the common robin, it was the unmistakable sound of coal tumbling into the cellar cubicles that are lokated right under my bed. needless to say, i was wide awake because i had entirely forgotten that they were supposed to deliver today. lucky our janitor hogged the first delivery of the day for himself again so that i had enough time to have a quick shower and run to the bank to get the money to pay for the delivery -- only to find out that our turn won't come before noon...

why did i get up today?

cats: they are marvelous creatures. either they are blatantly silly or spook the living bejeezuz out of you. there's nothing in between. but see for yourself.