Must see - sand animation

 Friends, this is THE sand animation by Junjie Yan that was included in last year's TEDxMFZU in Hangzhou, China. I HIGHLY recommend watching it - it's really fantastic and worth the time for loading it.



 Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Have fun watching and being mesmerized!
Hanna

Golden, with a chance of gloomy...

treetop trail in the Hainich National Park

With fall taking its slow, but certain leave, sun seems to have left just as well. Despite the (!) sunny and fantastic last Sunday, the last days have been a row of fog, rain, clouds and rain (did I mention rain yet?). And yeah, the temperatures have dropped quite a bit. But despite all of this, I'm in high spirits - there are so many changes ahead (some good, some sad), so much left to do in the remaining weeks here and so many funny events coming up. True, I'll definitely miss Jena and all my friends here. But I'll also move to a fantastic place in return. And even though a lot of important things for that move are still in a limbo (like, err, where I will live and such trifle), I'm getting a bit giddy and excited about all there is to come. Next Monday, I'll travel to Salzburg again - I'm trying to score a room in a flatshare, so keep your fingers crossed that I get at least one offer. Speaking of  flat-hunting, I just stumbled across one of those rental scams - scary enough, even though I didn't fall prey to it (I was convinced that it's a scam when I heard that they wanted me to deposit money "safely" via Western Union. Yeah, right.). Wouldn't have expected this to occur in the real estate scene, but then again - which part of our lives is still safe from scams? So well, I'll be off to hunt for more scams, uh, flats. ;-)

Meltonites all tangled up

Btw, the pix are from that one sunny Sunday last weekend, where I went to a treetop trail in the Hainich National Park. The park is famous for its copper beech forests, but of course all the leaves were gone already. Still, a nice park and a fantastic view from atop the trees...

Hanna

Times are a-changing

So, Salzburg it is then. After 12 years of school, 6 years of university, 3 years of graduate studies I have finally acquiered my PhD (let me hear a YEAH here) AND I also scored my first full-time job. The position sounds terrific and appears to offer a good mixture of demands and possibilities to gather more experience. And while this also entails moving and setting up camp in a new city and even country, I'm looking forward to all these new experiences. Besides, Salzburg is beautiful and lies in a breathtaking location. So the clocks are set and the 8 remaining weeks have just started to tick off...

If life throws lemons at you...

...make lemonade! At least that's what the famous proverb suggests... I'm trying my best, but I am slowly running out of squeezing power, not to mention the moderate lemonade uptake in the vicinity and my limited pantry size. Changes in ingredients would be greatly appreciated! ;-) Woa, life can be a bitch...

Hanna

21 sind genug...

... und ich glaube, besser als hier kann man es nicht ausdrücken: http://fc-foto.de/21872341

Hanna

Too much

Readers, life is getting the better of me... in a dizzying kind of way. And the accelerate pedal seems to have gotten stuck... Where's the next rest stop?

Leute, das Leben hat mich in der Klaue. Und das ist ziemlich verwirrend und nervraubend. Zusätzlich scheint es außerdem so, dass das Gaspedal für die Geschwindigkeit von neuen Ereignissen stecken geblieben ist. Na hoffentlich kommt bald eine Raststätte...

Hanna

A wedding worth remembering, pt. 2

Before I drag it out too long, I'll just present the main cornerstones of the day.
8:00 a.m. - everyone is hurly-burly and busy, busy, busy - especially in the main Steel mansion, since the master bathroom (spell: only one for everyone on the middle floor) was to be blocked for ongoing traffic starting at 8 a.m. due to hair dressing appointments
Ich mach's kurz und langweile euch nicht mit hohlem Gefasel. Stattdessen, die wichtigsten TOPs in der Form "kurz und knackig".
10:15 a.m. - the bride is almost ready for presentation. Almost.
10:15 - die Braut is fast fertig. Fast.

Continue...

A wedding worth remembering, pt. 1

THE festivity of the year in my family was history 13 days ago, but only now do I find the time to aptly cover it. While I did not anticipate my brother's wedding to be a traditional one beforehand (because we were all looking forward to a joyful celebration with the greater family and circle of friends), in retrospect, it was a fantastic festivity, filled with just the right mixture of emotions as well as both more traditional rituals and modern customs.
DAS Fest des Jahres in der stählernen und kochenden Sippschaft ist seit nunmehr 13 Tagen vorbei, und doch finde ich erst heute (nacht) die Ruhe und Zeit, es angemessen zu würdigen. Obwohl ich ursprünglich kein traditionelles Fest mit allem Brimbamborium erwartete (dem Brautpaar war wichtig, dass es eine schöne Feier wird im Kreise der Familie und Freunde), war diese Hochzeit im Rückblick eine fantastische Feier, mit genau der richtigen Mischung aus Emotionen und sowohl alter Bräuche als auch neuerer Rituale.

Continue...

I'm gettin' thru... really.

...and that's the better end of it, cuz this home stretch shouldn't continue much longer. Or it'll be a bitter end instead. ;-)

... bald ist es geschafft - zum Glück! Noch ein paar Tage Endspurt und dann ist erstmal eine Verschnaufpause erreicht. Schön.... ;-)

Sometimes, life is just so *ugh*

That being said, today will be a great one! Reason being... hm, I seem to have forgotten that... :-P

Continue...

I.will.make.it.... soon.

Okay friends, I'm ALMOST there. Meaning, I'm down to a single-digit number of days left till I want to hand in my dissertation. And boy, am I close to being done. Like, literally. It's only appropriate then, that I finally narrowed down the possible cause of my back pain over the last weeks - my mattress. So for three days now, I've been sleeping on my double-fold-out guest mattress. And it's r e l i e f. Pure relief. Granted, the tense neck might not only be due to the mattress, but the bad bedding definitely worsened the stress symptoms. Ahhh, the bliss of relaxing after handing the thesis in. Can't wait for it... so then, I'm off to work some more.
Cheer for me on the final meters, will ya?
Oh, and before I forget: cheer for Germany in the world cup as well - they've started of ferociously, so naturally I'm hoping to see them get very far into this championship. ;-)

So, Freunde der Nacht - ich bin fast am Ziel angekommen. Das heißt, die Anzahl der Tage bis zur Diss-Abgabe ist mittlerweile eine einstellige Zahl. Und ihr könnt mir glauben, dass ich nah dran am "Fertig" bin. Und das bezieht sich nicht nur auf den Bearbeitungsstand der Dissertation. Wie ich mich auf die entspannten Tage danach freue! Dann wird's auch hoffentlich mit dem Nacken besser, denn ob ihr's glaubt oder nicht, die Hanna hat Rücken. Und höchstwahrscheinlich liegt das nicht nur am Stress, sondern auch an der doofen Matratze, auf der ich bisher schlief. Mit Ausnahme der letzten 3 Tage, da habe ich nämlich auf meiner Gäste-Matratze geschlafen und es ist soviel besser! Ahhhh, schön.
Also dann, wieder ab an die Arbeit. Ihr alle dürft mit ruhig schön fest die Daumen drücken, auf dass ich die letzten Meter des Endspurts gut überstehe.
Und wenn wir schon dabei sind - drückt auch mal für unsere Elf bei der Weltmeisterschaft die Fingerchen. Ich werde zwar aufgrund meiner astronomisch schlechten Tipps beim Tippspiel in der Abteilung die rote Laterne heimtragen, aber wenn unsere Mannschaft wenigstens bis kurz vor's Ziel käme, fände ich das fantastisch. ;-)

Hanna

Some brain science stuff...

In case you didn't know, I'm currently hiding in the local library while staring out of the window or blogging or waste time thinking in circles writing my dissertation. So far I'm about halfway done, so keep your fingers crossed for me and I'm certain that I'll be knocking on wood rather soon.

Continue...

It's the library again

Now tell me, is that a good place to write, ponder about twisted thoughts, abstract concepts and crooked sentences and then stare out of the window for a daydreaming eternity write some more? Actually, there's even a preschool to look down upon if I crane my neck. Oh darn it, they are starting a bbq right now. Note to myself: no more neck-craning. No good.

Continue...

Mamma mia

Is there anything to say except THANK YOU?

But then again, maybe there are a few things. In random and no particular order...

Continue...

But the sky is still blue...

sky blossoms
Originally uploaded by josta81
Enough waiting time for you lurking readers (?), I guess. Last word you heard from me was about the Thuringian lifeguard competition and that it went all swimmingly. In the swimming part, that is.

Continue...

Quod scripsi scripsi

... trifft es wohl eher nicht.
Wie sagte wohl Pilatus schon? "Was ich geschrieben habe, habe ich geschrieben." Ganz klar, der Kontext war ein anderer und ein viel ernsterer noch dazu...

Continue...

Viva Chile!

For my friends in Chile - fortunately, none of them was harmed by the earthquake, but they will need our support when rebuilding their country. Let's do it, then!

Für meine chilenischen Freunde - glücklicherweise haben alle das Erdbeben heil überstanden, doch beim Wiederaufbau können sie jegliche Hilfe gebrauchen. Packen wir es an!

Hanna

Keep them in your thoughts...

Chile. I have traveled there, seen the cities that were rebuilt after big earthquakes.

Continue...

...and forgive us our trespasses...

...as we keep on breaking days of repentance. Every. Freaking.Year. Or so it seems...

Continue...

Intuition? Scrap that!

Work email? Guess it's there for a reason. Don't get worked up over random things when you can't do anything? Like, on weekends? Might fit right in there. And there goes my carefree nightsleep. Hmmm. Not. Nice.