August 24. Burrocracy.
Berlin and getting organized. There are some things to do like issueing a new passport, getting some visa, establishing contacts, dealing with stuff. It’s the sameness that beats the brimbram drum inside my ears, it’s the sameness of the man walking on the Alexanderplatz again, yet again. Jumping high, jumping low, talking to people on …
August 22. Perfectionism.
Berlin and getting organized. What is perfectionism? Responding to several very sincere and friendly people who recently told me they see themselves as perfectionists, I would like to write a little reflection about it. Everyday life back here in Berlin is not interesting enough for as enthralling a blog as this is supposed to be. …
August 20. Decadence.
Berlin and getting organized. Perhaps I have developed a sharp nose for decadence, a term I have a hard time defining by the way. But let’s give it a try, you have seen weirder things at this spot. So, what then, is decadence? A bundle of images comes to my mind. People critizising everybody else, …
August 19. Getting organized #3.
Berlin and getting organized. I must be riding the metro today, going from meeting to meeting, frantically fighting the depression that is luring in every corner of this city. It is dangerous to be here! How exciting! Dangerous, despite all the friendly people that seem to care about you because you can program their computers. …
August 18. Getting organized #2.
Berlin and getting organized. Welcome back to my depressing transmission. It will become juicy again I promise. Just have to get on the move again. What’s wrong with running anyway? And your unabilities, you better understand that they have a function too. Aren’t you a bundle of functional fiber? You have to understand the function …
August 17. Getting organized #1.
Berlin and getting organized. Sometimes I think I can’t have real interest in anything. As soon as I try to pursue who knows what, the history of the Roman Empire, a specific problem in quantum mechanics, Goethe’s Farbenlehre, Hindi, elementary astrophysics, up-to-date fysiology of the brain, Baudelaire’s poetry, an exotic class of differential equations, the …
August 15. Back? Am I back?
Happily I arrive in Berlin, Michelsberg or something, a small village on the southern ring, from where a hypothetical train could lead me to the centre. I sleep on a park bench for several hours, step on the train that has become real dead-tired and go to my friends’ place to surprise them. How warm …
August 14. A piece of Autobahn.
Another Lituanian truck driver takes me almost all the way through Poland, and I have dinner in a roadside restaurant that accepts visa. A group of friendly English-speaking Poles offers me a ride to Poznan. One of them has just come back from a ten day hike in Spitzbergen, of which he narrates with excitement. …
August 12. Poor girl.
I’ll be writing about the awe of being; hence I’ll be fine. Hush, hush! Make it denser, perhaps even by adopting a story line. Write with passion, write with heart. Do I envy Jonathan Safran Foer and his brilliant girlfriend Nicole Kraus? They find recognition, the press praising you to into the clouds and beyond? …
August 9. A short night later.
A short night later, Olga and I say goodbye and I drag my backpack once again through the metro system of Saint Petersburg, this time to hotel Oktobrskaya where the minibuses to Helsinki leave. Olga has even made a reservation for me and a very Russian looking man in a jean jacket approached me and …
August 8. Pushkin and the Vegetarian in the box.
Happy birthday Caspar! Saint Petersburg is very pretty. Today, we visit a flea market with many interesting things on display. I remember a Russian magazine with Madonna the popsinger on its cover, lots of old clothes, binoculars, children’s toys, old photo cameras, fur coats, vantage prams, records, engine parts. I socially walk on but feel …
August 7. A Neva ending boatride.
Today we take a beautiful boatride. This is not supposed to be a touristic site but the boatride through the canals of St. Petersburg, passing all the beautiful facades and museums, the rattling Russian voice – don’t forget to bring your Russian friends! – explains about the house where Pushkin lived, the tsar’s palaces, the …
August 6. St. Petersburg, Parks, Pancakes.
Bryndis comes, the interesting girl from Iceland. Together we explore this amazing city some more, walk through her parks, feel happy as we breathe the atmosphere of this masterpiece of architecture. It is almost unimaginable that this place has been a swamp only three centuries ago. At home I make pancakes, just to do something …
August 4. Rainy day writing and a dialogue.
Staying overnight in coffee place, trying to work, trying to write until getting tired, walking to the Red Square waiting for Daniela she comes later and we miss each other, going back to writing, listening to Piazolla on an mp3-player, meeting Ann again and having a very nice dinner with friends. Stop, present continuous, that …
