From 11/11-17/11 my fiancé and I have been traveling again to Spain.
This time to our good friends H&F, currently living in the beautiful Marino de Sotogrande. Meeting our old friends again being good enough, even the weather has been excellent for Nov. Luckily they were able to get some time off work as well. So therefore we were able to make some trips to Estepona, Ronda, Marbella, Puerto Banus and a few trips to Gibraltar.
Some funny moments we had, including leaving roulette table in Gibraltarian Casino with 20% UP and then to realise that the car has been clamped and all winnings were spent immediately. But funniest thing was the high-class, self-made, excellent service offering, random drinks serving, home-made, laughter-causing, Jazz-music-supported, beautifully arranged, milk-and-jogurt-drinks-containing-alcohol, bar-mix-abilities, men-only-accepted (as not other wanted by women) and finally in-your-face JazzBarBereich. That was created and heavily used continiously by Hannes and me. We just couldn't stop!
Now I'm sitting at the airport and wait for our flight thinking back. It was a very nice week. And we did get the nice weather we wanted as well as to see our friends again. Though we also got to know that this area, as beautiful and wealthy it is, we are not likely to move there as it would destroy the holiday feeling we always get when being there. And we kind of miss the misserable English weather and people ;) Furthermore I have to admit that I deeply injoyed the Casino atmosphere and I'll have a try at our local Casino in Newcastle for some gambling, as well.
Downsides of this trip:
we got a cold
we weren't used to smoking being allowed everywhere as in pubs, casinos, restaurants, etc.
it ended too soon
Many thanks to Hannes and Franzi for fun, shelter, food, drinks and a week off and away from routines we got sick off recently.
Hope to see you soon guys.
Please see my picasa for further pictures http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/ZyklonT Otherwise please find some below.
Ok, it finally happened! Long wanted, I finally bought an e-drumkit.
The Alesis DM6
£360 or so, can't really remember. But this provides me - and the project, which I currently plan - with what money can't buy: a drumkit... Ohhh I bought that with money.. *idiot*
Anyway, now we have all we need to get started. Well that's what I thought.
#1 setting it all up with a friend I couldn't wait to get the first tones out of it. Well bassdrum first... and nothing. OMG. This cannot be true. So all is working fine, toms, snare, cymbals, but not the BD. So we checked connections and everything. All as it should be. So I have checked out the drum computer of it the 'brain' all is set up correctly. So it must be a lose connection of the plug maybe? So ok, unscrew it and dismantle all just to see that all is connected as it should. So I want to put it back together and by accident removed one cable connection from the plug inside. OK. what a s***. So getting the soldering iron out, wait 2 min and solder it back on. Ufff. Done. So all back together and I was already Ok with brining it back to the store next day. As I see a tiny little damn switch at the back of the brain for the foot switch. And it worked. My friend and I were burst out laughing - boy are we stupid ;)
#2I decided on this drumkit, as it has easy USB connectivity and not the old MIDI system anymore. So -clever- I thought connected it to my laptop with all the recording software on and ... tada nothing happened. Brilliant I thought. 'You had to go for the newest stuff there is...' So I have been scanning the web for any fix or workaround and there was nothing at all to be found. So the next day I have been back in store and gladly an assitant was able to do what his job description says: assist, and actually called Alesis who instantly provided him and me with a patch, which actually fixed this issue. JUHUUU. All good now.
So the plan now is to set our 2nd bedroom up as a recording studio. Issue here the acoustic foam, I'd like to use is hell-expensive so my idea, am I not clever, is: I'll put up a wall within the room (picture will follow) to decrease the overall size that is to be acoustically damped and viola. So this will still cost. See the litte wall in the middle of the room. This is going to be it...
Ahhh, by the way 'costs'. I found a lovely drum software that allows you to create all sorts of room effects, millions of sounds and billions of nice things to do with your drum sound. It comes with approx. 50 GB of data. AMAZING STUFF. BFD 2.
Such a nice program just comes right in time. Well unfortunately for another £200. Not jet bougth but I know me... This will come.
Anyway. The STONER PROJECT is on it's way. And will hopefully produce some good stuff shortly. I'll keep you updated. Ideas I have more than enough. And now, having all ready at home, nothing stops us. Well Ok, the on-the-wall-knocking-neighbour might. But we still have some slots, in which we can fit this is in. And hopefully the room damping will provide some insulation, too.
As said, I'll put some more picture in, when I'm at home. So far, many thanks for reading.
It has been bought in a terrible time. Living in between two cities, made it necessary to use some kind of transport for a young lad in East Germany. As public transport has been OK, a young boy needs something to celebrate his freedom. A moped was long bought and sold and the car this young boy was provided by his grandma was the perfect thing to be blackmailed with. Didn't I have a great grandmother. Thanks again. Well so the young boy decided to buy a new bike - push bike, of course. So he went in a shop and found this beautiful bike. It cost about £600 which was more or less all this boy had. But he bought it. He used it whenever he could. It was the freedom he needed. Well as it came, this guy moved out from this terrifying, blackmailing, lying, self-seeking family/house. Hardly any money was available cause of the expensive bike, was just bought. But this guy never regretted the purchase of this wonderful bike. It helped to get anywhere he wanted, to stay fit, to clear all thoughts wondering around in this guys mind and helped just to feel better. It has always been taken care of and was always stored safely that nobody ever touches it.
The day came when this young boy was leaving his hometown and country to study abroad. He took his bike with him. Traveling 1400 miles on a trailer, safely stored it was used then so often in order to get to work in the new town he was living. There he moved several times. The current home doesn't allow to store the bike inside the house. Despite it has been padlocked and hidden next to the bins, where normally nobody should be and see it.
Well but somebody did and fucking stole it. After many years of taking care of, it has been fucking pinched by some 12 year old, as only can be assumed. And this guy just grudges this bike anybody who took it from him.
Well you know how this guy is. RIP my dear Stevens. You will never be forgotten!
2005 - 2009 distance: aprrox. 3000 miles max speed: 42.6 mph (in Durham) no hard crashes, ever.
How to be happy enough, without being happy enough.
The following 'advise' is dedicated for my good friend Barry, who will shortly have to endure something, nobody wants to witness personally. All the best to you, Barry. Stay HAPPY! How? Well the following helped me quite a lot!
As we all realised our life has become quite capitalistic and materialistic. We seem to always need more: more money, a bigger flat screen, another car, etc. Maybe that is because of the 24/7 bombardment of advertisement which we receive everyday, if we want or not. Maybe we are too weak to resist or just lazy, or we actually like to have what is advertised all day and night. Anyway I’d say that we’ll get unhappy, if we don’t have what is advertised, that we are not content with our small screen TV when watching ads for a 52” plasma, that we get devastated because we cannot have all there is on TV, advertisement boards, and wherever else.
So does that mean that we shouldn’t concede? Should we be against ads and all they try to influence? Should we work without getting anything in return? Definitively not! We work hard, so we should be rewarded. But is the idea of gaining wealth with money and big TV (sorry for picking on the TV all the time, I love TVs ;) So does rewarding by buying things really make us happy? Maybe. For a short while but the glitter and shiny will soon become boring and obsolete, because it’s just an object. Having many things standing at home from Hifi, TV, consoles, self-ordering fridges, cars, amps and guitars to pool table might be impressive but it is really hard to enjoy all of that alone. So maybe having friends is the key to be happy with what you got?
Find friends for certain stuff. (I’ll get back to that later)
What about the hobb(ies). I often found myself in searching for a new hobby because the previous one was getting boring or I just wasn’t able to do it anymore (e.g. because I moved away from my friends). I suppose that you shouldn’t search for new hobbies non stop when not happy with the old one. Why not try to get back into the hobby that used to make you happy and balanced. If you’re not pleased with the old one that might be because of the following:
- not the right hobby
- nobody to share with
- no motivation left (for example all used up at work)
- unsure about hobby
- too many hobbies
Try to find one hobby at the time to avoid having pressure to follow up all your hobbies within a certain time. Again I have the very same experience. Doing too much in your free time does not actually relax you, which is the whole idea of your free time. Don't do lists for your free time activities. At work to do lists is common. In your free time your wishes what to do shouldn't be written down on a ‘to do list’. This creates pressure to achieve the list's content as it would be at work. Enjoying the actual parts of the list wouldn't be possible. You would be already thinking about the next one which needs to be done. So far we know that materialistic wealth is no must to lead to happiness. Furthermore the right hobby, shared with the right people can lead to a more positive attitude.
Be happy with what you have. We want to think positive. But if you think just for a minute if you flat would burn down with all your stuff in it what would you miss most? That's important to you.
So what I am trying to say is - learn to be happy with less. Be amazed by the little things in life, like a happy little child playing in the streets. A nice colleague at work, some nice person in the train. Being happy with less makes you want less. Meaning if your unhappy with things you might get into the buying makes happy thinking. More to buy and to posses makes happy. But is that so? I thing: No. So if other non-materialistic things enlighten your day there shouldn't be a need for a bigger TV or a new hobby?! Think the American way when it comes to celebrating success. But keep it for you, you don't want to be attacked ;) but celebrate what makes you happy to increase you happiness to a maximum.
Be unhappy if you must. Rather short and extreme than everyday a bit. Don't do stupid things to yourself though. That doesn't make things better, at all. But e.g. jogging or cycling to transform your negative feelings into energy and use it up. Again, that is far better then swallowing it down because it'll eat you up from the inside.
Do look out for happy people. Miserable people should be avoided if you're not happy yourself. Talk mainly to happy people or prolonging your chat with a positive person and keep conversation with negative people to a minimum. Listen to happy music, if that works. I personally do get sick, quite quickly, of must-make-happy-music. Do think back to times when you've been really happily and content with what you got. E.g. when you bought something that was very important to you or where you had to save for a long time before it was affordable. Now imagine that moment is now and start to use that 'thing' again imagining that it is newly bought. That'll keep down the need of buying new things because you get bored of the old stuff.
(no spell check performed, apologies for any inconvenience)
Initially two friends, Anja and I planned to have a long weekend trip (Thursday – Sunday) at the Lakes, doing camping. We planned and had a look, found places where to stay, etc. Then we had a look at the weather forecast. Ohhh my gosh. That could not have been worse. Rain for all 4 days. That wasn’t good at all. Having this thoughts in mind, Anja started to have a look at other destinations. And viola, there it came – ‘darling, I booked 4 tickets to Kos’. Kos? What is Kos?! Well it is an island south-west of Greece! Greece? Yes – Greece, you idiot. Well cool. Many things to be planned within 2 days to have a 2 ½ day holiday in and on Kos. Wonderful! 35°C air, 25°C water. Hot hot hot. Anja booked a couple of apartments for us. Cheap, lovely, handy. Nice pool and outside was lovely. Went to beach several times and had a look through the old town. Just far too hot to do anything else than relax! 3-4hrs flight wasn’t the best part but at least there was a meal provided on the flights. Then a further 30 min Bus trip to hotel. But all well organised thanks to Thomas Cook! We have been out for Gyros & Pita, wine was unbelievably cheap, as well as spirits. We didn’t really do anything than lying on the beach, explore the city and parts of the island, sun-bath at the pool. I very much enjoyed the snorkelling in the Mediterranean see with my friend, Gav. As time was short, bigger planning and research wasn’t possible and we did very much enjoy our way of holidaying. I only can recommend the apartments we stayed at: Paradise Olga in Kos! Btw: Kos is cat-land. Cats everywhere. I hate them soooo much! But if you’d kill one, they’ll stone you. Lots of tourism, obviously – can get a bit on your nerves, when everybody tries to lore you into their restaurant, bar or shop. But you just have to deal with this kind of experience in a positive way. Travelling back was a very exhausting part of the holiday. (Yes even more exhausting then lying on the beach and doing nothing – which funny enough is quite shattering when you are not used to 35°C, after all). We hardly got any sleep as the bus picked us up from the hotel at about 1:30am. Well picked us up? We have been very lucky. A group of ‘boys’ was to be picked up, too. As we got to know, we haven’t been on the ‘pick-up list’. So if those guys were not to be picked up we would have missed our flight back. (That would have been a real tragedy ;) Anyway after long wait at the airport + flight + 3hrs back from Manchester + jet lack + being tired of all, we are happy to be back – even if it was only 2-3 days in Kos. I am very happy that my fiancé was making a ‘brave’ decision on booking tickets for us 4 on that short notice.
Conclusion: Kos = a very hot, sunny (hardly any rain in the whole year), little island that offers much for everybody and is not too expensive, after all. Nice people, relaxed way of life. I would not like to life there but definitively want to go back one day.
Please find some pictures attached, as well. Thanks for reading. Bye.
The most amazing, disgusting, astonishing or probably most boring stories of mine will be published in this blog to bore everybody, who possibly thought ‘lets have a look’ J Just kidding. Have fun and don’t be afraid providing me with some feedback. No mail bombs though!
THE BIG MOVE.
Moving in a new house or flat, basically a new home is something amazing. Starting a new life in a new home can be the start of something really beautiful – yeah BACKPAIN. Moving is fun, if somebody else is doing it for you.
Lifting heavy and big furniture 1 floor down and then 2 up isn’t funny. Especially if you have to carry things like 100kg washing machine or boxes full of files and books which already look like ‘you won’t lift me!’. Anyway. After a busy day at work, travel down south for other appointment and other things being in mind I finally came back to our new flat in Chester Le Street for the ‘now-please-hand-the-keys-over’ appointment. All fine, didn’t take long, at all. Than back to the old home to start taken a few, already prepared, boxes and necessities to the new home. Takes me about 15 minutes for one way. So this day I already had 3 or 4 loads taken over into the new home. Mostly all the stuff you would need in the first days. Like shower gel, tooth brush, food, BEER (of course), etc. But all the furniture – and more – was still sitting and waiting to get moved. So on Tuesday my good old friend Hannes, who was just coming back from Germany, and shortly after leaving to Gibraltar, was hiring a van for us to move all the stuff from theirs, as we bought some stuff from Hannes, too, and from our old flat.
Hannes was so kind and did load the van with the first few things out of their flat, for us to take. At our old flat we than added some stuff and off we went to Chester Le Street to unload and drag upstairs.
The first big thing, literally, to overcome was the washing machine. Which I love to call the friend of spinal operation, as they are so connected. But as clever as we are, we just dragged it to the stairs and did slide it down the stairs on a strong paper slide-thingy. Done! No worries, no hurries; we thought. More and more stuff was loaded into the van and more and more stuff was actually carried up the stairs.
Here a quite nasty remark (but I just have to be that honest). It is always good NOT to have women involved into a move. Why? Well I better don’t go into that any further. Actually I already regret putting that in ;)
Hannes and I had a highly professional discussion about in which order to get the 2nd load upstairs. That was the ugly, heavy, disgusting, back-crushing load we feared of. Hannes: we should start with the heavy washing machine cause if that is done it’ll become easier afterwards. I: well but why not leave it to the end, as we then know, this is done – all is done. Hannes: but it might be better at the beginning when we still have full power. I: but imaging we have to use all that power to get the washing machine up the stairs. (I just want to make sure you remember: 2nd floor) Hannes: but we might be too exhausted [literally: worn out] after all the other furniture and stuff brought upstairs. I: just think how our backs will hurt after the washing machine. ANYWAY: after we came to the decision to bring it up first thing we found us upstairs with it already ;)
It only took us 2 loads [both with van and car] to bring most of the stuff from our small little flat to the new mansion (just kidding)
But the new flat is quite amazing in comparison to the old one: 2 bedrooms (master bedroom = en-suite), open plan kitchen, enough space for all the crap we cannot get rid off. Space for dining table, wonderful carpet, and close to Chester Le Street city centre and public transport, also close to A1 for my beloved to get to work. For a random visitor the flat might be OK but for us, as we previously have been living in a very nice and COSY - one bedroom - shoe box… eeehhh sorry, flat [I meant, of course] it is as we would have moved into a castle ;)
As soon as I find some time I will provide some pictures for you to have a look at.
Thanks for reading, feel free to comment. Bye bye.
