The Big O

Its totally and utterly mad - the whole of Berlin, no, the whole of Germany is going totally stir crazy.

The World and European Cup tv screens are being dusted off and rolled out and Berlin has almost already come to a standstill as nearly 2km of road has been closed off.

And why?

Coz Obama is on his way.

Regardless of where you look his face is on the front page of every national and local paper and mentioned in every radio and tv broadcast.

I have to admit I'm completely with them all and am soooooo excited. Well, we all know that I'm an excitable little popette at times anyway but really...this is what its all about somehow.

The fever first started to boil with national discussions of WHERE Obama could talk. His people wanted the Brandenburg Gate, but that's reserved only for already elected people. So the discussion went backwards and forwards and people started to take notice. Finally they've now settled on the Siegessäule the Victory Column on the opposite end of the Strasse der 17. Juli (or Juni, I can never remember). No doubt the pr people will manage to get a shot of him with the Gate behind him especially as he's staying at the famous Adlon on Pariser Platz which is just 20m away. Funny aside, some big wig from Iran is in Berlin until tomorrow afternoon and has the most "safe" hotel - the InterConti. The Adlon is known as the second most safe hotel in Berlin. Mr. O should sleep well then. :D

The last couple of days have been truly manic though and only matched in my time here with the time when the World Cup was hosted here.

So... a huge group of us are going to make our way tomorrow afternoon to stand about and wait for the big man to arrive and talk. Although what about and for how long - I have no idea. Never been to one of these rally thingies before.

But that's just the point and THAT'S what's interesting...

None of us who are going are politically "active".

A lot has been discussed in the press about Obama's lack of international or general experience..blah blah blah.

Well...the feeling in the press over here in Europe and the feeling of the general Norman Normal is well....he's already elected.

One friend who isn't coming tomorrow was like "huh...but why are you going??". Well simple there are 3 reasons:

1). We all are sick and tired of our boring, grey, uninspiring politicians and so shall go and watch someone else's for a bit of charisma.
2). We all kind of have the feeling that we may be a little part of history by being there.

and 3).

I can't vote in the USA. And even though no American I have ever spoken to has ever admitted to voting for Bush, somehow he and the Republicans got in. This cannot happen again. And 76% of Germans agree with me. That's the amount of people who, it was reported on Tuesday, would vote for Obama in Germany.

And so I and very many other people will be going too - to show our support and to hopefully talk with our feet and show the Americans what we think.

I've read so much about how he should concentrate on domestic policy and that this tour is a mistake. Well, you know what? In this day and age, particularly in regards America it is damned important what the rest of the world thinks. Especially when one wants to act as the world's policeman. And domestic policy? Yes, sure its important but quite frankly people - what do politicians actually really change these days? Same shit, different language. A globalised economy means that local policy makes it increasingly harder to steer your economy.

At the end of the day...a Chancellor, President, Prime Minister...they SHOULD be the inspiring ones!! They're bloody leaders! And that's what's missing these days. For me anyway. I'm sick of politicians who rip us off and spout bullshit which we're expected to swallow gratefully. I want to be bowled over with charisma and a bit of sense. I might even whinge less then if my taxes go up.

And ask yourself why McCain isn't going swanning off around the world? Coz he's not liked by the world. And if he came to Berlin sure he's get people out and down at the Victory Column - demonstrating against him. And in force.

The Berliners are a funny bunch and I love them to pieces. There are on average 2 demos a day here. The customer service is abysmal and there is the famous "Berliner Schnautze" (Berlin Gob/mouth), but if they don't like something, they get off their arses and say something. Which is more than can be said for the Brits (remember one million on the streets against the Iraq war and then a roll over and go back to the sofa, tellie and cup of tea anyone?).

And the Berliners, they LOVE bloody America. Not only is it an island of political, social, historical, international and creative muddle, its also one of the few areas where the Americans are genuinely warmly accepted. Even these days. The relationship has changed slightly in recent years, yes. After WWII, the Americans were the victors. Clever people quickly changed their views and made them liberators. The Cold War and Berlin Airlift made them a protective older brother and a huge fondness was there for a generation. Now though, this affection is still there, but with a slight distance. The Berliners have grown up a little and flown the nest, but they still look upon the Americans kindly, even when they do fuck up. Its like leaving home and seeing your parents as fallible; as people. No longer the inaccessible gods that they once were. Doesn't mean that you love them any less, just that you see them with more equal eyes.

No-one's sure how many people will turn up tomorrow. Security is tight and today there was even an "attack". Oh my! Pffft...the Berlin attitude to the guy in his car ramming the security gates with his paint flying all over the place? I quote, "well, the place needed brightening up with a bit of controversial street art". "Now that's what I call guerilla marketing". I'm not being flippant about possible idiots, but I do see see things in perspective.

The police are not being very typical with their German precision and have been quoted as saying that they're expecting between 10,000 and 1 million people. Useful.

No idea, but I shall be there and I'm looking forward to being a part of something. And I hope that the amount who turn up is at the larger end of the scale and I hope to God that the pictures get beamed around the world to show that it IS important this time to vote right...hahaha...right in the sense of "correct"! Even if you see it as a lesser of two evils, you had our respect, you lost it. Maybe this time around you could get it back again.

And anyway, no way that I'm gonna miss Obama having a "Kennedy Moment" and telling the Berliners that he's a doughnut.

;D

I have just gotten back home from watching possibly THE funniest and most fun and charming thing I have ever seen:

Mama Mia!

Oh my good lord, I have not cried with laughter consistently for over an hour ever before in my life.

The first 5 minutes are cringe-worthy, until you get into the swing of things and then it is just a wonderfully entertaining and even touching film.

Meryl Streep is beautiful and is just fantastic and Pierce Brosnan...well, I fancy the pants off the man anyway, but this is just....oh lord...too...

Not saying anymore...go see.

Bloody marvelous!

(Wobbly) Walking Wounded

What to do when one really can't be arsed to do any work?

Well...why else have a blog??? The trick is to use editor on the tiny window and then sneak in the post whilst no-one is looking (I have a 21 inch screen).

I had to pop to the pulmonologist this morning for my annual check-up. Nothing to worry about, just the usual tests. Everything is happily in order ad I didn't even get shouted at for not taking all of my medicine (I refuse to take steroids). And I didn't get shouted at for smoking either.

So, I'm sat there with a peg on my nose, inside a tiny little cabin doing my best to keep up with the nurse's shouted instructions of "in out, in out, in out, INNNNNN and out" without giggling (last time we had to re-do the test 3 times, I'm sooo juvenile). After we're done she takes my pulse (all normal after my childish naughty thoughts I'm pleased to report) and then she takes my blood pressure.

Oh dear...seems that I had the pressure levels akin to a corpse this morning. And I had already had two cups of coffee before I left the house!

But you've got to love the German doctors...I'm led to lie down and asked how I feel...fine thanks, a little tired and woozy but I haven't had all that much sleep the last week or two and so no big deal. I'll catch up at the weekend.... Legs up and all that kind of stuff. Great, normal, I feel more or less fine, can you please stop making a fuss about nothing and I'm going to be REALLY late for work! The blessed nurse disappears out and comes back 5 minutes later with....schnapps.

At 9:30 on a Thursday morning at the doctor's, I'm being given a shot of herbal schnapps. And alcoholic. And for free.

Bloody fantastic!

The Germans actually have a recognised health problem based on circulatory problems; mainly low blood pressure. People actually phone up work and call in sick for the day saying to the boss that they have circulatory problems. And are not fired for this. I find it very bizarre. To me its like phoning up and saying to my boss that I am feeling a little like I can't really be bothered to work today and put up with his crap and that I would much rather stay at home with my duvet, a pot of tea and a few good dvds.

Hey ho..now I know the truth - you wake up and think that your blood pressure is fekked, phone up work to say that you won't be coming into work today and then you sod off down the pub to get drunk. And the company pays you for it.

Cunning. I've gone nearly 5 years not knowing this and making up bullshit excuses which no-one blatantly believed.

On the topic of lack of sleep, I then wikied the above (occupational therapy if you will) and yes, lack of sleep can lead to low blood pressure. But what was interesting was the list of ailments related to sleep deprivation.

I'm suffering from most of them it seems:excessive daytime sleepiness, aching muscles, hyperactivity, impatience, irritability, memory lapses or loss slowed reaction time, decreased mental activity and concentration symptoms similar to alcoholic intoxication (I am NOT making that up to justify the schnapps from this morning!)

The general confusion, delirium and psychosis-like symptoms I would like to put down to the lack of sleep recently, but I wouldn't want to lie.

The one benefit of sleep deprivation though is my all-time favourite: increased desire for sexual activity.

Shame I'm too bloody knackered to do anything about it though.

I'm also being very clumsy at the moment. I managed to cut my hand yesterday and it bloody hurts! My colleague has looked at my "scratch" (she wears different glasses to me it seems as I see a bloody gashing wound) and has reliably informed me that she doesn't think that my right arm will have to be amputated.

Phew, but you all know how my mind works and how I worry...

...the gaping wound is on the palm of my hand. So not only does it bloody hurt like hell whatever I do, but, well...its attached to one of the main lines on my hand. Does this mean anything sinister for my future?? Maybe before the slash to my hand I was going to become rich and famous and have a wonderful husband and 12 children. My future is now possibly in jeopardy and I will end up unemployed and squatting somewhere?

Oh dear, yes, thank you for the hugs, flowers and get well soon cards, but really no need to make a fuss. I'm off tonight for the opening night of Mama Mia! and then home again where no doubt I shall suddenly be wide awake again and stuck with Abba songs running through my head. Which will once again put my off pursuing any sexual activity ("activity" lolol..makes it sound like a game of cricket) no doubt.

Home Sweet Home

Ok, I'm not really renowned for my photography skills, but I'm a proud owner of a bit of pixelated land. About bloody time, yes.

And I have possibly THE best neighbours: Half and Banj.

Thanks to (the wonderfully lovely and helpful-even-when-I'm-grouchy) Lije for inspiring (not shutting up until I did) me to look and to putting me in touch with the oh-so-fekking-hilarious Joshua Sao.

A nice guy is Josh, although I have yet to convince him to accept sexual favours instead of Linden dollars, and a wonderful landscaper. For an American he even has a decent sense of humour. I can only recommend him highly if you're looking for land.

And too lovely is that I'm sharing the sim (with NO neighbouring sims) with my mates Banj and Half. So far so good, but I await the day when we start to argue about the rubbish being left laying about and the hedges being allowed to grow too tall. We've managed three days so far, although they haven't been online for 2 of them. We shall see.

Speaking of my neighbours, they're afk at the mo and I was not only tempted, but actually tried, to squat their land a little. I managed to blag my way into Banj's group so that I could rez (read "grief"), but to no avail. Shame that my sweet and caring welcome home present idea didn't work, but it wasn't from a lack of trying. More from Banj's incompetence really.

Anyways...as you can see, I have done precious little to the rolling green hills and river that I now possess. Unfortunately I had a specific building in my mind which I bloody well wanted and spent 6 hours last night scouring the slearth for it, but with no luck. I'm still pouting.

Ah well...we shall see what I make of it, although the building fever lasted all of 2 hours before I got peeved with texturing. I have to accept that I'm better at spending money than actually being creative.

I like to think of myself as a patron of the arts in that way.

It seems that there's hope for us all yet...

In an absolutely shockingly shite bit of reporting, the BBC is today happy to announce that people over 70 are still getting laid.

You can find the full titillating bit of news here.

But this should give many (especially people like Endov and Banj) hope that they will get laid again in their lives).

But enough of being mean and oh so nasty to my maties, I really just wanted to share with you some tasty snippets from the article...which seems as if it was written by a 14 year old work experience snot I should add.

"More than two-thirds - 68% - of married men in the most recent survey said they had sex, an increase from 52%, while the percentage of married women having sex rose from 38% to 56%."

- why does no-one ask with WHOM are the 68% of married men having sex with? Now that would interest me. Coz there's a slight ummm discrepancy here somewhere if only 56% of married women are getting any. Half...do you have something to do with this??

"When sexual intercourse stopped, both men and women tended to blame men, in line with the findings from earlier surveys."

- *chuckles...some things never change, whatever age you are. But this isn't news! Its ALWAYS the man's fault. Headache anyone?

"She said: "We still have this stereotype of elderly people with their bath chairs and canes, staggering around, who couldn't possibly be having sex""

- and some think that bdsm is kinky. Oooh the mental images here....*slaps her forehead in distress

But boys, the good news is:

"a report by Finnish researchers says older men who have more sex will experience fewer erection problems".

For a little bit of inspiration..

As you know, I am an ex-pat. As such I generally don't catch on to all that much of what goes on back on the island.

I was watching a film on TV this evening (sooo traditional I know) and in the ad break, T-Mobile are running an ad which shows a clip from the UK show "Britain's Got Talent" from last year. I had to google when I saw this.

Banj...sorry, this is most likely old old news, but I wanted to show the others.

There's a guy called Paul Potts who comes from Wales. He worked as a mobile phone sales man and when you see him - awful suit, hang-dog face and looking as if he's expecting someone to either insult him or hit him. Simon Cowell (on the jury) is renowned for being a git and you see the look that his colleague and he share as if to say "oh lord, this is going to be terrible".

And then the guy opens his mouth. And sings. Bloody hell does he sing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya1xLdnrI0c

I got shivers down my spine and I nearly cried.

Turns out that he won in the end - good on him.

And yes boys, no need to post a comment: Amanda Holden does look as if she's having an orgasm in the clip as she's listening to him.

Ich werde dich zerstören, um dich zu erschaffen.
ich werde dich fesseln, um dich zu befreien.
ich werde dich verwunden, um dich zu heilen.
ich werde dich erniedrigen, um dich zu erheben.
ich werde dich leiden lassen, um dich zu lieben.

I will destroy you in order to create you.
I will bind you in order to free you.
I will wound you in order to heal you.
I will humiliate you in order to raise you up.
I will make you suffer in order to love you.

Courtesy of ulli Roussel

You've got to love SL at times.

I moved house...as in: my last plot was lovely but it was in the middle of a sim and it wasn't green land which I actually wanted. So to give myself something to do I searched for and found a gorgeous corner plot of green land. Added to which the sim doesn't have any others attached so I have two sides of uninterrupted water view, one side is still empty and only one side with a neighbour with different taste to me - I'm busy building / terraforming to "hide" his house a little.

So a pleasant few hours spent pottering about and learning how to terraform and I now have a river (which isn't square anymore) and two ponds. I even have something which vaguely resembles a ridge and a hill. Poppy is proud of herself. Hardly going to open a business in terraforming now, but for my little slice of sl, I am gooood!

I had already emptied half of my inv onto the land and thought that I would tp up to my house to move stuff to where I wanted to actually have it (you just can't find good old fashioned movers these days it seems - they don't even pack your things properly) and saw this:




WTF???

I knew that the economy was bad at the moment, but...where's my fekking house???

Send a SMS for free from SL

Oooh...Auntie Poppy is good to you all!

Whilst I was busy working today (*chokes) I was surfing the web a little - purely for rl research purposes of course - and stumbled completely coincidentally an article which told about rl / sl collaborations.

Swisscom is involved in a project with some others and as part of the promo have organised some kind of freaky system which allows you to send a SMS from inside SL!

They're giving away 50,000 for free. No idea how many are left open, am going to try myself in a minute.

Here are the instructions:

Simply go to the telephone booth and type: /8 followed by the mobile phone number of your friend and then the message. Example:/8 0015551234567 Hi Joe! I'm in SL. Join me! Bob
Don't forget your country code (001 for US, 0041 for Switzerland etc).

Another thing that they do is that you can buy your loved one a bunch of flowers in sl (they have a few different ideas in their gift shop). Give them to her and then she can access the website and put in her rl address and then will receive it in rl too! How fekking cool is that??? And no need to worry about privacy if you're concerned about sharing your details.

I was so impressed at the idea.

Of course, the prices are not quite what you're used to in SL.

Check the site for a slur or search in sl for "Starfruit" (the phone booth is on the east of the island)...or IM me in-world for a LM.

Happy sms sending ;)

(Fuck me...it really works!!!)

Thank you - Banj, Half and Master...

Can you actually believe that I had never looked at the word "vulnerability" and its related connotations with any positive light whatsoever.

And its been quite an enlightenment, thank you.

But...you all missed something:

Vulnerable ability. The ability to be vulnerable.

Which is a positive thing.

See? I AM learning.

I was going to write something intelligent...

...and possibly self-deprecatingly witty on the topic of vulnerability; specifically on my on-going battle with allowing myself to be and feel vulnerable.

And then I looked up the definition (as the "official" meaning of a word vs my emotional response always fascinates me) and I got to the thesaurus part...

...and got depressed.

Exposure, danger, weakness, assailability, destructibility and breakability.

I've just regressed 10 years again in regards coming to terms with thinking that vulnerability can be a positive and worthwhile exercise.

Hardly much positive attached to the word, is there?

There is one person who keeps showing me again and again that I'm safe to be vulnerable with them as none of the above applies, but its a hard lesson to learn and I still don't always really truly believe it.

I hope that they carry on, because after reading what I just did I'm less convinced than normal.