Offside in sight, inside out of sight.

True, I haven't been on the talkative side lately. For starters it's that time of the year again when the usual suspects are making more demands on me and my time than I care for. It's rolling-the-dice-time for the summer term reports and the inevitable heaps of last-minute tests. At the same time, it's the hot (indeed, haha) phase at university too: exams, recitals and more recitals looming just behind the next World-Cup-flag-adorned corner. And again I'm at that point where my body is gently trying to tell me that its battery is worn down. I feel like an old woman in the GP's waiting room the way I find some new ailment to complain about every single day. When really I'm just tired.
Then of course I have my work cut out trying to follow as many football matches as possible. Quite time-consuming that. And it turns out it's pretty hard to concentrate on finishing even one straight sentence here when every 35 seconds the commentator in the background is raising his voice in that drama-foreboding way that makes me switch over again and again to watch those Portuguese lose in the round of sixteen.
Oh, and in case you were wondering (or not): Yes, it's just about as hot up here under the roof as you might imagine. Not a sweat drop different from last year.

So, it's a matter of trying to hold on to as many brain cells as possible in this heat. When really all I'm waiting for is this:

Signs.

Well, since we'll all be better off not mentioning today's football match, here's something I came across just now that I'd love to share with you:

There she goes.

Wow, look, it's exactly one year since I started this little blog here!

Who'd have thought a year ago when I sat down and started messing about with it on a Thursday morning to get out of writing that paper that it would still be alive and kicking today?
I know, I'm light years away from posting every day, or even regularly, but I still enjoy writing when I do. And although I mightn't have much of note to say all the time, I do like skimming over the old entries every now and then to look back on what kind of moods and phases I've been through, what weird stuff was on my mind this day or that, which feelings went, which remained.
Also, I still don't really know who is or isn't following my wanderings. Well, that is, I do know of a small handful of people who look in on me here fairly regularly, which I appreciate a lot, bless them (or you, rather)! I don't know if there are or aren't any other people who might have landed here at some point by accident or on purpose. However, while I certainly love hearing that someone has read and enjoyed something I wrote (I'd be lying if I pretended I didn't, so go on and post that comment! ;-) ), it isn't the main reason I am doing this. As far as that is concerned, nothing much has changed since that first ever entry of mine.

So, happy birthday, little blog!
And to you who's apparently read thus far: thanks for sticking around!

Wer fliegt mit nach Polen?

Wir wussten ja es würde nicht lange dauern, bis der Tag kommt: Der Tag, an dem die Sonne knallt, alle Welt begeistert nach draußen stürzt, ihr Wohnzimmer in den Park verlagert und nur so verkorkste Sensibelchen wie ich sich verschwollen-verquollen-verschnieft in der Bude verkriechen, weil draußen der Feind herumschwirrt. Willkommen in meiner Heuschnupfensaison. Dabei hatte ich mir so fest vorgenommen, sie dieses Jahr einfach zu ignorieren. Hat ja auch super geklappt ein paar Wochen lang - ungefähr genau so lange, wie "meine" Lieblingsfeindpollen noch nicht flogen...

Davon abgesehen: Die lieben Eltern haben mir gestern ihr (fast) neues E-Piano gebracht und mein altes, klapperndes für sein Gnadenbrot im heimischen Wohnzimmer wieder mitgenommen. Ein Klavier ins Dachgeschoss rauf und das andere vom Dachgeschoss wieder runtergetragen ergibt lustigen Muskelkater - interessanterweise in den Beinen, weil meine olle Treppe so toll angeschnittene Stufen hat, dass man nur in Trippelschritten...egal:

Ein Klavier, ein Klavier!

City centre, before sunrise.

This is what I wake up to these days, at 4.40 am, mind you. A carpet of complete silence strewn with a dozen different melodies. I can't tell them all apart, but there's always at least one blackbird among them, sitting right above my head on our television antenna. Shortly after that the first car doors are slammed, engines started up. But for those 10 minutes or so, the city belongs to the birds alone.

A mirror for the sun.

Once again summer's here.
The swifts seem to have arrived over night and are once more shooting past my open windows like golden arrows chasing the last sunlight.
Down in the street, in a pub a few houses down the road, a rock band is playing what sounds like some wild cross between Guns'n'Roses, Jamiroquai, Thin Lizzy and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Also, my fridge is bursting with a load of strawberries, cherries and grapes that I bought at the farmer's market earlier.
So things ain't so bad tonight.

Let's go get lost, let's go get lost...

Safe and sounds.

As of today I am proud owner of a security lock on my front door, aka my bedroom door, well, you know the one. Three cheers for my landlord who installed it without charging me extra, at least that's what I think so far... Anyway, the door is "upgraded" and I even figured out how to unlock that bloody thing again after I had slightly overenthusiastically tried it out.
So that should sort out that silly someone-might-get-in-here-anytime feeling that's been sneaking up on me lately.
Too bad though that I didn't get a soundproof door instead, because I'm afraid the odd jumpiness is really down to the fact that in this house you can hear the slightest sound someone else makes. I'm fairly used to that, of course, only that now, since that D-G incident, whenever I am, say, in my bathroom, using the hairdryer and I hear a faint creaking that I can't instantly locate, my heart misses a beat. I freeze like a frightened rabbit caught in a car's headlights and have to actively convince myself that it is in fact okay to move again. And I truly am not the scaredy-cat kind, if I may say so myself. This is so annoying.
Anyhow, with that lock installed, at least now I can tell myself that whether weirdo guy be outside my door or not (and, to be fair, he hasn't shown his face up here since then), he won't be able to come inside my flat. Also, that should he appear up here again, our landlord will kick him out (that friendly reminder should be in the post by now). This might sound harsh to you, it does a bit to me too, because that guy probably can't help behaving the way he does. But still, he scared the life out of me and it makes me feel better knowing that he's been reprimanded.

I hate being so jumpy. I love my flat and I intend to keep on loving it. So there.