Book Quiz!

Like most everyone else, I enjoy taking Internet quizzes. However, I normally don't publish the results in my blog, because if I did my entire blog would be filled with quiz results and little else. But last night, I was so impressed with my results from the "Book Quiz," that I just had to share them.

According to the Book Quiz, I am Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll


After stumbling down the wrong turn in life, I have had my mind opened to a number of strange and curious things. As life grows curiouser and curiouser, I have had to ask myself what's real and what's the picture of illusion. Little is coming to my aid in discerning fantasy from fact, but the line between them is so blurry that it's starting not to matter. I should be careful around rabbit holes, those who smile too much, and should just avoid hat shops altogether.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I just think the result is so appropriate given my current life situation!

Exploiting Tragedy

Yesterday, when I first heard about the new advertisements President Bush is running for his re-election bid, I was prepared to be offended and outraged. After all, not only do I think Bush is a moron who stole the 2000 election, but it sounded to me like he was exploiting 9/11 for his own personal gain.

Here in Europe, for obvious reasons, these ads are not running on my television except for the snippets they are showing on CNN International, so even before I saw the ads I was offended, just on general principle. However, I figured I should at least try to be fair and objective and see the ads. So, I went online and found them. I decided it would be best to go to the source - http://www.georgewbush.com , even though it was a painful thing to do.

After seeing them, my reaction is that I still think Bush is exploiting 9/11 for his own personal gain and I am mildly offended. However, I wasn't nearly as offended as I was prepared to be. Of course I recognize the significance of 9/11; as an American, how can I not? But personally, 9/11 did not really affect my life or those around me in any profound way. Perhaps if I had had a stronger reaction to the tragedy, I would have been more offended, I don't know...

Sweet Tooth

Have you ever decided to make browines, cookies, or a cake and then ate so much of the batter that you didn't have enough left to make them/it?

Well... neither have I! ;)

blondelibrarian on books

Today I had to go to the bookstore to pick up the book for my new class. While I was there I also picked up some fun books (in English) for my train rides on Munich's "not-always-so-pünktlich" S-Bahn into town. I purchased The Princess Bride and Delores Claiborne.

If you are thinking that The Princess Bride sounds familiar, it might be because there is also a movie, which is on the sort of cult level as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and This is Spinal Tap. However, I have never seen the movie of The Princess Bride. I am not sure why. I normally love fantasy movies, some of my favorites are Labyrinth (with David Bowie), Legend (with a very young Tom Cruise), and Ladyhawke (with Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Broderick) but this one seems to have slipped by me. Of course once I finish The Princess Bride, I am sure I will have to see if I can locate a copy of the DVD and watch it too.

Delores Claiborne is by Stephen King. I am only a half serious Stephen King fan. Many of his early books are quite good, but I am not so fond of the latest ones and I feel that he has begun to recycle his good plots. From a Buick 8 sounds a lot like Christine to me and Dreamcatcher sounds a lot like It. Delores Claiborne has also been made into a movie, which stars Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh. I really like the movie, and from the first 15 or so pages, I think the book looks to be as good (but probably better) as the movie.

As you may have guessed, my favorite book genres are horror and fantasy. :)

Telephones and Trekkies

Today was my first day of class and we practiced telephone conversations. I know in our modern day society we can't avoid telephones and it is a very important, but I hate talking on the telephone even in English! What amazes me in reference to my German language skills is I know what to say and how to formulate it and I speak "perfect" German when I rehearse things in my head, but when I actually speak, things get all muddled and then with my personal reluctance concerning all things telephone, I must sound like a perfect idiot! Oh well. I guess this can only help improve my skills, which is why I am taking this class in the first place.

On another note, this evening I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. I will publicly confess that I am a bit of a Trekkie... not a hard-core one or anything. I have never been to a Star Trek convention, however, that's not to say I wouldn't go to one, but I digress...

However, as I was watching tonight's episode there was an incident that made the Enterprise go to Red Alert (isn't there always?) and they got hit with some sort of high energy beam (don't they always?) and the ship was jolted, which made the crew stumble, and in the case of Captain Picard and Commander Riker, fall out of their chairs.

Now, here's my question. Do they not have seatbelts in the 24th century? You would think in the utopian future that safety on a spaceship would be paramount, now wouldn't you? Just something to think about...

Bloggin' Bandwagon

According to this article, blogging still hasn't really caught on in the mainstream.

"The Pew Internet and American Life Project, in a study released Sunday, found that somewhere between 2 percent and 7 percent of adult Internet users in the United States actually keep their own blogs.

Of those, only about 10 percent update them daily, the majority doing so only once a week or less often."

And I thought when I started my blog earlier this year that I was jumping on the bandwagon a little bit late. Guess I'm more innovative than I thought!

Deutsche für den Beruf

So, remember a while back I was whining about being unemployed and feeling uncomfortable with my German language skills and all that rot? I also mentioned a few days later that it was time for me to take charge of my life and kick my ass into gear.

So today, about a month later (hey, I wanted to get in gear, but not 5th!), I signed up for a class entitled "Deutsch für den Beruf" (German for the Profession) at the Volkshochschule (Community College).

Supposedly I will be introduced to German office and business communications, write simple business letters (and emails too I hope!) and practice my telephone skills among other things. If necessary, specific grammatical structures will be repeated and at the end I have the option to take a test and get the "Deutsch am Arbeitsplatz" (German in the Workplace) certificate. (Woo Hoo! Isn't that special?)

The class meets twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) from 10:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. from March 2 (tomorrow) until July 6.

Honestly, I was quite amazed that I was able to get into the class. I had been thinking about this whole "German for the Workplace" idea for a few days and I thought that I would have to take some private lessons or something. But yesterday, A. suggested that I check out the VHS. When I did, I found out that registration had begun two weeks ago and that classes started March 2 (tomorrow)!

Given my previous experiences with different German institutions, I figured I was screwed... but since I didn't have anything else to do today, I thought I would hike downtown and at least inquire about the whole thing. I managed to get downtown by 11 a.m. (of course registration ended at 1 p.m.) and figured I would have plenty of time. Silly me!

First, I had to go to the Foreign Language Office, which of course was packed. Everybody and their dog who wants to take plain old German lessons was there. And of course they had to take a placement test. So I ended up having to wait for an hour and a half (with no chairs in the waiting area!) to see a lady who told me that the class I wanted to take had place (YEAH! ...somebody up there was smiling on me). She then proceeded to take no more than 20 seconds to fill out a little registration card for me and then sent me to the cash register, where I had to wait another 20 minutes.

Luckily, I managed to get everything done by 12:55 p.m. I couldn't believe it! I had five minutes to spare. So tomorrow, I get to start my new class.

I then topped off my afternoon by doing a little shopping (I have really been into buying funky socks lately... today's purchase was 3 pairs of lavender socks -- 1 pair has a penguin, the other two have snowflakes on them --) and then eating at Pizza Hut, as I was in the mood for a little slice of home. :)

All in all, it was a good day.