gone with the wind

I didn't think it would be over that quickly, but my family is almost back to normal.
My Dad's brother came without his wife but with his older daughter, dressed up to the latest fashion. Somebody should tell her that short skirts don't work well with bow-legs, and that these pointy shoes, while they can be nice, should not be worn by women with feet as large as hers. My Dad's sister and her husband brought the cousin that we all expected to behave badly. Well, what a contrast to the other gal. This one was dressed all in black, had a painting on her arm (Apparently, biology lesson had been really boring for her neighbor, and she had drifted of to sleep, not realizing she had been used as canvas.), a black purse with Smashing Pumpkins and some Anti-whatever sticker on it, green Converses (what else) with large holes in them. And that for a supposedly festive event. But to each his own.
Her talking on the cell phone during lunch at the restaurant caused an uncomfortable silence, as did her complaining loudly about the food, waiter, table, chair, carpet, furnishing, weather, and overall situation.
My uncles and my father discussed their political ideas, meaning that each repeated his thoughts over and over, each time a little louder to drown out everybody else.
My aunt told nobody in particular about the benefits of homeopathy, that had healed her husband of everything from bad mood to bad dreams, including his fear of heights, and keeps her son healthy, apart from a little flue or virus in fall or winter. I don't know what dangerous diseases the homeopath keeps away from a healthy ten-year-old that never was sick anyway, even before his Mom discovered homeopathy. But then I think that is something you need to believe in to have it work, and as I don't, I can never find out how good it is. Anyway, my Aunt did her best to win us over, offering us the telephone number of her homeopath. Who does a lot over the phone, even diagnosing, which I think is rather impressive. My regular doctor still needs to see me to find out what my health situation is.
My brothers and sister sat together during lunch, and that took a lot of tension away. We were able to tell us the mean comments that came to our minds and not be afraid that the rest of the bunch would hear us. On my father's side of the family, they have the great ability not to hear criticism anyway, but it is still better to speak softly. We don't want a serious family breakup, or do we? (Now that I think of it, what an interesting prospect that is... Ahem. Sorry.)
Anyway, my uncle and cousin left right away because they have a two hour drive home, leading them to suggest we take two days for the celebration next time, Saturday and Sunday. So next year, double the amount. But I'm not going to worry about that now. Who knows where I'll be next year. Of course, this is something of a jour fixe, I have to make it for that weekend. My Grandfather has been gone for two and a half years by now, and every year since then we celebrated his birthday with this gathering. The other time to absolutely be there will by my Grandma's birthday, because she says every year that it's going to be her last, and she will inevitably be right one year. And then my Mom's is going to be 50 next year. That means big party with the other side of the family. One of my Mom's sisters just found out today that my sister is married. Well, she never calls, never cares for what's going on in our family, and isn't particularly close to my sister or any of us. OK, it would have been nicer if K had told her, but I don't think she was forgotten on purpose. Though she will see it like that, and as we won't meet before my Mom's birthday, that's going to be fun.
I love my family.
No, really. I just need to put a little emotional distance between the part of me that is being nice family member and the rest of me, and then it can be quite amusing. Predictable, but amusing.
I'm such a beast sometimes.

Something totally different came to my mind today. It was connected to the fact that having family gatherings in fall usually means bad weather.
The German National Holiday is October 3. How stupid is that?? I am sure they could have found some day related to German unification that was earlier in the year. France, the USA, Great Britain, all have national holidays in summer. The British celebrate Queen's birthday in summer, and the Queen's birthday isn't even in summer, it's just because it is nicer for all the parades and stuff. (Or probably there used to be some king whose birthday actually was on that day.)
On October 3, who would want to get out for a parade?
I'm sure that is another way of keeping the Germans from enjoying the fact of being German. They don't want you to celebrate your nationality, because that's the bad N-word.
Well, bad luck! I am going to paint a German flag with window color and stick it to my window on October 3. So there! :-P

And a third thing: I have finally been able to read more than just a few pages in the Bowie biography. And I am absolutely hooked. The writing is great, the contents is interesting, it's the first time I was all emotional about reading non-fiction. But then, the line between fiction and non-fiction is thin when DB is involved.

Meme!

What do the Hogwarts professors think of you? by Tuva
Username
House:	GryffindorRawenclawHufflepuffSlytherin
Mc Gonagall thinks:	Trouble maker!
Snape thinks:	You're sexy
Lupin thinks:	You're a model student
Flitwick thinks:	You belong in Rawenclaw
Dumbledore thinks:	You've got powers the Dark Lord knows not
Binns thinks:	Ehh?
Sprout thinks:	You're talented
Hagrid thinks:	You're a good friend
Umbridge thinks:	You're breaking rules
Trelawney thinks:	You're like Hermione
Quiz created with MemeGen!

me and my internet

Is it addiction if I check my emails more than once a day? I know people who say so.
Apart from checking emails three times today (on Sunday, when not that many people are online to write!), I wrote entries to my journal, I read friends' entries, I commented (of course).
If that makes me an addict, then so be it.
But considering that I use the internet as my main form of interaction with people I actually like, not people I happen to know, it might not be addiction at all.
How many times does the average person call friends on the phone. Telephone company would be very happy if I did, I suppose. All these international calls that would be required to tell the same number of people about what's going on in my life that I reach with one post.
How many times does the average person speak to friends in person, because they live in the neighborhood?
Well, my friends don't, so I am thankful to have this little plastic box in my room that lets me reach out to the whole world and doesn't care about different time zones or continents.

Speaking of average, I have heard once that we are connected to every single person in the world by no more than three or four people. Meaning you know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody, and if you go through all possibilities of that, you will have a contact to every single person on this planet. While the number four seems low to me, the possibility is fantastic.
And it makes one question understandable that I hated to be asked while in America. "You come from Germany, do you know person xyz?" Well you come from America, do you know Harrison Ford? It seems a stupid question, but there is the possibility that for some strange reason I actually do know that person. There are people in America who know Harrison Ford, and probably somebody I know knows such a person.
And with the internet, chances are even higher that we know people somewhere else. Only a few hundred years ago, probably only a few decades ago, the personal world was smaller for each person. Now the whole world is getting smaller, used up as that image is, it is the case. Before my generation, I don't think any member of my family knew somebody in Australia. I know people in Australia, in the USA, in Canada, in Bulgaria, in Norway, in Great Britain, and if you count loose contacts I don't use, also in France and Japan, in Italy and Austria.
It is quite impressive, and that's only me and I am only 22. All these people know more people in other countries, through private and business contacts. Incredible.

I had thought of something else I wanted to write, but as I can't remember it was either unimportant or a lie. At least that's how the saying in my family goes.
So I'll leave it at this honest, if pointless rambling.
Gute Nacht!