Live and Let Live

When somebody asks me if I like my job, I normally say that it is alright, sometimes quite interesting and it doesn't kill me. Today, I really enjoyed the work I am doing.

I had a class with J., not exactly a language person, not very eager to do homework but really open and expressive. She announced today that they were going back by May probably, instead of December, as planned. So far, so bad. I helped her with some official stuff which she commented with a laughing 'What would I do without you!'. And then she surprised me by saying 'Do you plan to visit the US, at all? 'Cause you are always welcome. We really need to stay in touch through emails!' Isn't that nice? I never thought that she liked me that much that she'd want to keep in contact.

We did do some German in that class. But mainly, she was asking questions, trying to clear her doubts and pick up where she had to leave off conversations with German neighbours, mums, teachers or coaches because of her rudimentary German or their insufficient English.

What was it like to grow up in the East? How did you experience the Fall of the Wall? What about your parents? How old were you back then? Did anybody not want the Wall to come down? Is there still a difference between East and West? Are there prejudices? Why? Are you exposed to prejudices? How do people know that someone is from the East? Do your parents still live in the East? Do they speak with an accent? And that was just one topic!

I left, smiling and thinking that I had set some wrong ideas straight...

Baby, don't cry!

You're ill, feel bad, in pain.
Can't sleep nor be awake.
Let's talk, give me your hand.
Caress your cheek. Don't cry.

Nothing seems right,
things just don't go your way.
You blame the world, you doubt.
Don't cry, I'm here.

'No, you are not,' you say, 'you're far!
How can you help me when you're not around?'
Don't worry, baby, and don't cry.
I'm always there, I'm just one word away.

The Endless Possibilities of a Single Snowflake

to you, sis

Who needs easy!

Does it help in life to be a single child? Yes and no.

No, because you're used to getting whatever you ask for. And as soon as things don't go your way, you get upset. Or angry. Or mean.

Yes, because you don't give up. If you really want something, you work on getting it. Breaking into tears, throwing a tantrum or pouting doesn't work that well beyond the age of five. So you have to work out other strategies: Charm people. Convince them with facts. Smile. And never ever give up.

Giving up is easy. Sitting down, wallowing, bathing in self-pity. Shrugging and accepting defeat. Whining and complaining how unfair life is. So easy.

Easy's not for me.

I sing you to me*

I call you
Call you with my thoughts, my dreams, my tears.

I choose the strongest tool - yes, music
I call you with your song.
The song that's you.. you know it, I agree
Call you with mine.

I shout, I scream, I cry..
Call out to you
again again...

Give up. Let go. Relax.
But we both know
I'll try again tomorrow.

___

*I didn't go overboard with magnetic poetry again, this is a quote from the movie Australia.

Soulmates

Soulmates? - Yes, they exist. Sometimes you meet someone and you think that this person is a complementary element, a missing link in your life. They understand you, no matter how messy your thoughts are. And you understand them. You know what they mean before they say it. You could ask each other anything but you don't need to. Same imagination, same sense of humour, same doubts and ideas.

Cheers to us girls!

Sunday Sky

Quotes

How many books have I read until now? Dozens? Hundreds? A thousand? I don't know. I learned to read at the age of five, and since then, I read. Fairy tales at first, children's stories .. I would read when I was supposed to study, to tidy up my room, to work in the house or the garden...

There were many books.. some that I read, liked and forgot, some that I wanted to own, some that I reread several times. One that has been with me for the last eight years.

And now another one. "Read this one, it's good". No fuss, no further explanation. Ok, I ordered the book and kept it in my shelf for a while. Today, I started reading it. Very soon, I realised that you tricked me. You tricked me into believing that this would be just another pleasant book. But it is not. It is one of those that you have to read again and again, that teach you something, that accompany you along a big part of your life, if not your whole - like a manual, an instruction that gives you an answer whenever you're seeking for it.

It is good that you didn't praise the book or very highly recommended it. You hardly knew me back then and cannot have been aware that this would have repelled me, awoken my rebel nature, to reject everything others are too fond of. Maybe you are the same, another point we have in common? Whatever reason it was - thank you. Thank you for having given me this book.

Which book I am talking about? "The five people you meet in heaven". Started it today, finished it today and still, I'll keep reading it.

And now, I want to make an exception to the promise in my very first post - never to copy or steal anything. I will quote a few lines from this book:

"That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind."

"Strangers [...] are just family you have yet to come to know."

"The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone."

"Dying? Not the end of everything. We think it is. But what happens on earth is only the beginning."

"Sacrifice, [...] You made one. I made one. We all make them. [...] Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to."

"All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair."

"Per l'amaro e il dolce [...] for the bitter and the sweet"

"Lost love is still love, Eddie. It takes a different form, that's all."

"Life has to end, [...] love doesn't."

And as it so often goes:

"You made me love you
I didn't want to do it
I didn't want to do it...
You made me love you
and all the time you knew it
and all the time you knew it..."

A question to nature

Dear Nature,

What is the deal with common colds? What exactly were you thinking when you invented them?

Natural disasters - your way of telling us that we don't own the earth and shouldn't be that careless with it. The plague - too many people living together under bad hygienic circumstances that should be remedied asap. AIDS - again, you people are too careless, take precautions please! Making us unattractive after a certain age - easy, you want to say that the ideal time for reproduction is over.

But common colds? It's not a deadly disease even though at some stage one is inclined to think so, hence it is not meant to diminish the population. It does not reduce fertility and it is highly infective. One feels like puked out, breathing hurts, coughing hurts, sneezing hurts, all I want to do is sleep and drink sweet tea... and after a few days, it's over, as suddenly as it came.

So please, dear Nature, be so kind and tell me what your intention here was. Thank you in advance for your reply.

Sincerely,
S.

Store

There are certain things one cannot do ahead of time, as in do it abundantly now so that it won't be necessary for a while: eating, sleeping, reading newspapers.

No matter how much you eat today, you will still get hungry again tomorrow or day after at the latest. You can read a full bookstall worth of newspapers now, watch five hours non-stop of news .. in a couple days, that'll be old news and you will have to start over again.

But most of all I regret that I can't stock sleep. And believe me, I tried it! I slept on off days until my eyes popped open by themselves - but did I feel any more refreshed and awake than when I had just a normal amount of sleep? Nah. Did I need less sleep the following night? Not at all.
Why am I saying all this now? Because it's 6.30 am and I'm soooooo tired...