things i love thursday

cute boys  ʈ  new dating strategies  ʈ  breakfast for dinner  ʈ  seriously, eggs à la me  ʈ  when Tilly walks slowly while hunting  ʈ  a new message from a boy  ʈ the anticipation before a first date   ʈ  new tic-tac flavours

intro to bollywood

Okay, you're in Toronto. You're surrounded by Bollywood right now. I'm in Berlin. I am not. To allow you to appreciate what you are able to experience, I've decided to introduce you to some great songs.

Jaane Kyun - Dostana
All you need to know: This movie is about two men pretending to be gay to get American Green Cards. It's hilarious. And this song is my ringtone.

Love Mera Hit Hit - Billu Barber
All you need to know: This movie wasn't that good. But the soundtrack was amazing. Shah Rukh Khan (King Khan) basically plays himself - a superstar. And all of the songs feature ridiculous videos.

Nach Baliye - Bunty aur Babli
All you need to know: I know every word to this song. I could do it at karaoke without subtitles.

Bum Bum Bole - Taara Zameen Par
All you need to know: I disliked this movie. But... look at that hip movement... just look at it... it's worth the wait... and a full screen view. Pay extreme attention between 2:30 and 3:00. Seriously.

Dard E Disco - Om Shanti Om
All you need to know: This movie was amaaaazing. The soundtrack is fabulous, and this isn't even the greatest song (although it's damn good). BUT, it shows that the men in Bollywood are expected to be as hot as the women. Do you have to do some laundry? Use Shah Rukh's abs. He's 42 here.

Dastaan-E-Om Shanti Om - Om Shanti Om
All you need to know: This is one of my all-time favourite songs. It's just haunting and beautiful. Arjan Rampal is artificially aged here. Normally, he's sex on a stick.

Mauja Hi Mauja - Jab We Met
All you need to know:This movie is a quintessential sappy love story. And it's GREAT! I have danced around my apartment many a time to this song.

Jhoom - Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
All you need to know: This movie is fun. It requires a complete suspension of belief. And in return, you are rewarded with greatness and songs that make you want to dance in a train station. BEFORE than wannabe Bollywood movie Slumdog whatever.

Mere Haath Mein - Fanaa
All you need to know: This song is heartbreakingly beautiful. And the movie is amazing. It honestly has everything you need in a film.

Chaiyya Chaiyya - Dil Se

All you need to know: Yes, it's Shah Rukh again. This is the most traditional of the songs on the list (if you've made it this far, you'll know that). If you've seen Inside Man, you've heard this song. Now see the video!

things i love thursday

the smell of fresh cut grass  ʈ  discovering new parks  ʈ  being myself  ʈ  nice people

my list

Reading: Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers

Listening: Birds chirping outside, silence inside.  That might be a first.

Feeling: Happy with the possibilities  

Planning: An afternoon nap!

things i love thursday

"hey babe!"  ʈ  noodles from the Hauptbahnhof  ʈ  hearing Ron MacLean's voice  ʈ  a great year of hockey fandom  ʈ  napping with Tilly  ʈ  watching Hockey Night in Canada for the first time in five months

why did i even debate it?

Bryan Adams is my favourite concert. All and sundry should know that. A few years ago (concert #2 maybe?) I decided I would see him every time he came to town, because he is just that good. And before I moved to Berlin, I discovered that he was playing here. I debated buying a ticket back then - you know, when I had money - but I don't like standing room concerts, so I just spent 6 months debating with myself instead.

The last two times I saw him were like this. They were solo acoustic tours - just him and a guitar. And they were amazing. He told an anecdote about almost every song. I think the concerts were over a year apart and yet he managed to tell completely different stories each time. So good! (Note: I last saw him at Massey Hall, where the video for Run To You was filmed. Awesome!)

So, solo acoustic is great, but sometimes you need Keith Scott and the rest of the band to rock out with. You need long guitar solos. You need running around on stage. You need drums. You need the volume to reach 11. You need a rock concert, dammit!!

And that's what I got last night.

Concerts here involve REALLY BIG ASS TICKETS. Seriously, that thing barely fit in my purse.

Now, I will save you all a description of my attempt to access the U-Bahn during the Carnival of Cultures celebration five minutes from my house, which I conveniently forgot about. Needless to say: HELL. So, I arrived about an hour later than planned. No stage-side spot for me!

The concert venue was the Spandau Citadel, built in 1594. The coolest venue I've seen a concert in, by a long shot

Yes, the Citadel is on an island and we had to cross a bridge to get there.

There was a twitter wall on stage, which I tried to get on. I did not succeed. Instead, they just repeated about 40 tweets that barely related to the show. Including this gem, by a girl retweeting the wrong tweet from her friend, who asked to be retweeted. A guy behind me asked "What's RT?" every time it appeared.

The opening act was a Berlin-based Scottish duo, Martin and James. They were really good. And adorable. Which is always a nice bonus.

The crowd here was very different than what we often have at home. They cheered enthusiastically for the openers, actually calling out "nooo!" when they said they were doing their last song. And in the ten minute wait before Bryan came out, everyone was calm and waited patiently. No chanting or applause to get the concert started.

At home, every time there is movement on stage, the entire arena will often erupt into applause. Here, not so much. The crowd ignored everything until the band and Bryan actually appeared.

The show was great - nay, amazing - and the audience knew the words to every song, just as they do at home. But, with some fun twists. For example, I had never consciously noted that Germans have trouble saying words ending in -er. Until I heard them sing this line:

Let's make a night to remember, from January to December

as

Let's make a night to remembah, from January to Decembah

And of course Summah of '69. I actually found it really adorable. 

The audience sang along to absolutely every song, which was great. EXCEPT that I had a completely tone deaf woman behind me croaking the words to every song right into my ear.

Martin and James sang All I Have to Do is Dream by the Everly Brothers. It's a really sweet, soft song. Or it was until I heard a frog croaking along to it.

Imagine the deepest voice you've heard. Take it down an octave. Make every note flat. And do not allow any inflection. That's what I had to listen to. And if she sang along to Dream, I knew she would do some damage to Bryan. She exceeded my expectations.

As I always do, I teared up at the first notes of Heaven. It is My Song. I love it more than almost anything and hearing it live just melts my heart. Luckily, the tears-in-public thing stopped when the frog tried to sing along. I don't think I really understood the meaning of 'tone deaf' until I heard it in action.

The set list:
1. House Arrest
2. Somebody
3. Here I Am
4. Can't Stop This Thing We Started
5. I'm Ready
6. Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven
7. Hearts On Fire
8. Let's Make A Night To Remember
9. 18 'til I Die
10. Back to You
11. Summer of '69
12. (Everything I Do) I Do It for You
13. Cuts Like a Knife
14. It's Only Love
15. Please Forgive Me
16. When You're Gone
17. Heaven
18. The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me Is You

Encore:
19. Run to You
20. You've Been a Friend To Me
21. Cloud #9
22. The Way You Make Me Feel

He played all of the songs I expected to hear, except Straight From The Heart, which I'm pretty sure he has used as the final song at most of the shows I've seen. Which leads me to wonder: Is that song only big in Canada? Hmmm.

things i love thursday

the pop of a cork of himbeergeist  ʈ  ebullient lip-synching to Total Eclipse of the Heart on deserted streets  ʈ  hugging it out  ʈ  long afternoons in the park  ʈ  unlocking the door to the first boom of thunder  ʈ  when Tilly lets me rub her belly  ʈ    the 1955 hamburger  ʈ  misspellings of himbeergeist

weekly wtf

You know what?  I have nothing!  I am having a pretty good week/month/year.  Yeah, sure, boys are still fucking with my head and I'm unemployed in a foreign land, but in general, I am the happiest I've been in a really long time.

So, no complaints!

bruce lee

I came across a great list of quotes by Bruce Lee.  They are so great, I need to share a few:

Cease negative mental chattering. — If you think a thing is impossible, you'll make it impossible.

Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.

Balance your thoughts with action. — If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.

Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.

A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.

As you think, so shall you become.

It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.

I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.

Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.

Instead of dedicating your life to actualize a concept of what you should be like, ACTUALIZE YOURSELF.

For it is easy to criticise and break down the spirit of others, but to know yourself takes a lifetime.

source   

things i love thursday

salami, straight from the package  ʈ  party rock anthem  ʈ  a pile of sexy, sweaty soccer players  ʈ  for the first time in years, listening to my teenage self's favourite CD   ʈ  reading at the park  ʈ  boarding the bus ten seconds before a downpour  ʈ  machine-washed laundry  ʈ  letting the real me out

fresh, clean and machine washed

Doing laundry in Berlin has been a job of work, to say the least. Laundromats (Waschsalons) are few and far between because everyone has their own washing machine. Despite hours of research, I couldn't find one that was easily accessible to me by transit, so I have become Queen of the Hand Wash.

It seems as if something is always hanging to dry in my bathroom. And some things take days. For example, I tried to wash my bedlinen and towels. I think they took a week to dry. I resorted to just buying more. And nothing quite says "you brought too many socks" like trying to dry 40 of them at the same time. I obviously put off washing them as long as possible. And yes, that also involved buying more.

A few weeks ago, I caved and brought my linen and towels to the dry cleaner. It was exorbitant - 20€ for 4.5 kg.  It took a week, but everything arrived nicely folded and wrapped in paper. Oh, and they managed to lose a blanket. My trust in the dry cleaner has been shaken.

There are three bus routes within seven minutes of my door. Last week, I was riding the 104 and something compelled me to get off the bus. As I was walking home, I looked across the street and saw that magic word: Waschsalon. I crossed the street, backtracked and stood in front of it for a minute to make sure it was not a mirage. No, indeed, it was an actual laundromat.

So, today was the day. I decided to bring clothing with me instead of linens and towels. When I arrived at the Waschsalon, I realized this was not going to be as simple as it is at home. I found the washers, but had no idea how to make them work. I eventually discovered this intimidating - and seemingly vintage - bit of technology.

Doing laundry here is crazy expensive - 3.50€ for 6 kgs - that's about five dollars just to wash. Plus an extra 50 cents if you need detergent. I deposited the money, but nothing happened. I couldn't select a machine button (the light grey panels with the red lights), and I was beginning to worry because there was no cancel button to return my money. Luckily, other people were there, so I asked for help. Two kind strangers explained how laundry works here. And, yes, that involved watching over my shoulder as I loaded delicates.

1) Put laundry in washer. Make note of the washer number. Go back to the money machine, insert 3.50€ in exact change, input machine number on keypad. Return to the washer, select temperature (40 or 60 degrees), then hit start. Wait 30 minutes.

2) Transfer laundry from washer to spinner. Make note of the spinner number. Go back to the money machine, insert 50 cents in exact change, input spinner number.  Go back to the spinner, hit start. Wait. This will spin the laundry for five minutes to help remove more water.  A laundry spinner. Really.

Now, if you are like me, you will have run out of 50 cent coins by the time you need to spin the second load.  So, fill the second spinner, go back to money machine, deposit a 1€ coin, input spinner number and then pick a random drier number to apply the remaining 50 cents.

3) Transfer clothes to pre-paid drier. Discover it is out of order. Move clothes to another drier. Make note of the machine number.  Go back to the money machine, insert change (10 cents per 10 minutes), input drier number. Return to drier, hit start. Wait.

You might have noticed that there is a lot of walking back and forth between machines. One might even call it inefficient.

I should have taken a photo of my folded clothes, but I think I was just so happy to have washed and dried all of my laundry in less than 90 minutes - not three weeks - that I was no longer thinking straight. I have never before felt so happy to fold laundry.

The total cost for two small loads? 10.50€. That's about $15.