Clear space on desk. Hit head on clear space. Repeat

[dream_labyrinth]

Today is a oh so special Wednesday. It's 3rd October!
Day of German Unity! Our national holiday. Marked by the complete absence of any parades, major shows or events. Trust the Germans to put their national holiday into a season where you can expect the weather to be dreary.

In the past years, I've taken this opportunity to write something insightful about German unity and how we still need to learn to live together.

I'm getting tired of it. I'm getting tired of all those people voting for the former SED in Eastern Germany. I'm getting tired of people like the military librarian who stood in the courtyard of the prison in Berlin Hohenschönhausen after talking to a person who had been imprisoned there for his political views and said she didn't really believe all those stories. I'm getting tired of people in Western Germany saying East Germany just costs them money and who needs them anyway? I'm getting tired of people forgetting that it was dangerous, it was a risk, to walk out into the streets with a candle in your hand and demanding free speech seventeen years ago.
What people in Eastern Germany did was the most amazing thing since - I don't think there ever was such an amazing thing. And they forgot. And everybody else forgot.
And it makes me want to hide in a hole and cry because we Germans are so much better than we give ourselves credit for, but if we don't see that, how can we blame others for not seeing it?


So I have been at home all day doing nothing. Oh, yes, I cleaned five pairs of shoes and two pairs of boots, I vacuumed the living room, the kitchen, the study, the bathroom and the hallway and I emtpied out the garbage. Apart from that, I read an Emilie Loring which was not on my to-read stack.

My exchange fic is stuck in first chapter with a draft that's stuck in the middle because I can't decide on one crucial point.

I feel lost, and not even looking at wet, half-naked men can cheer me up. I feel weak and ugly and unimportant and I hate hate hate to have days off because if I don't have a good reason to leave the flat it becomes all the more obvious that nobody comes to see me.

Comments

[altonwings.livejournal.com]

I don't think you'll ever see me on a page like that. However, if you *really* need pics of a wet, half-naked man, I guess I can load the camera...

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

*g*
I have pictures of wet, half-naked men. They don't seem to do me any good, though. All that happens is me thinking that Antonio Banderas really isn't all that attractive, actually.

[altonwings.livejournal.com]

So... you want pictures of wet all-naked men?

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

I'd do with a dry, clothed man if I could have him in person, actually. After all, if the mood strikes, the undressing and wetting part can be done here.

[foudebassan.livejournal.com]

*is somewhat sidetracked by that link*

*make it completely sidetracked*

*drool*

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I remember the Wall going up, and was shocked that it came down in my lifetime.

[altonwings.livejournal.com]

Dang, if Germany and the US weren't *quite* so far apart, I could certainly use a guest of the female persuasion right about now.

;)

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

And I thought I was the one with the bad attention span.
Note to self: if you want to make depressive posts to get people to pity you, do not include links to half-naked, wet men.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

I wish I had been older when the wall came down. I don't really have any memory of it myself. Go figure, something really historical happens to you and you're too young to even realise it.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Judging from your recent post, you have no problem with getting people of the female persuasion to give you a bit of attention.
Lucky you!

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I had gone over to the OPCON to deliver some msgs to the Watch Officer, and saw the Wall coming down on CNN, and made the comment that there went our job security (being in the military and all)

We process History personally, I can remember the JFK Assassination, mostly because we got sent home from school and my stoic German-Prussian grandmother was crying. Thats not something I saw all that often.

[altonwings.livejournal.com]

*laughs*

I do have certain... activities I enjoy, yes. One of these days I really must find out the secrets to yours. I think such a game would prove to be most fascinating.

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

HUmans are trivial creatures.. witness high minds being distracted by wet, naked men.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Your mother is German? Where from?

I remember on 9/11 I was working in a library where we had no radio or TV, and when I came home and my brother told me the twin towers had crashed, I first thought it was an earth quake,
I also, even though I am ashamed to admit it, hoped they would stop repeating the same little news they had on it over and over again and return to the regular tv programme, I think there was Ally McBeal I wanted to watch or something. I claim it was a stress reaction.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not sure how fascinating I can be. I tried to be dark and mysterious in the past, but it just doesn't work. I'm not the dark and mysterious type, I suppose.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Not you, too!?

*sigh*

And I thought men were easy to manipulate.

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

INdeed not, I didn't even look. I was referring to Foudebassan.

[jonthedull.livejournal.com]

How can people forget so fast? Why dop they want to pretend it did'nt happen?

[altonwings.livejournal.com]

I tried to be dark and mysterious in the past, but it just doesn't work.

That's good, because camera shots work better in the light. Besides, it's the study of you that's fascinating--I wouldn't be here if I didn't find something compelling about you.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Oh, they like to think only of the good stuff. And of course, especially if you were a civil servant in the GDR, you'd rather pretend you weren't working for a regime that went against at least half the human rights. It's much easier to live with yourself if you can think of yourself as the sort of person who wouldn't work for people like that, isn't it?

As for reunification, they don't exactly want to forget, they just don't think it matters much and after all, this whole business caused so much trouble it wasn't really worth it, was it?

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Sure. You didn't even look.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Camera shots!? Now I'm curious about your plans...

:-) Why, thank you! Though I do admit, without trying to fish for compliments, I don't see anything complelling about me. I'm actually pretty boring.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

my maternal Great Grandparents were from Danzig Prussia and came to America about 1890, my Gran was born here in Portland OR in 1906. They spoke High German at home, so it was like they never left the Old Country. I am aware its Poland now, and that the ethnic Germans were forced out.

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

Honestly I didn't.

I looked last time that link came up and thought there weren't enough blonds, so there

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Danzig supposedly is a beautiful town.
My grandfather came from East Prussia, and we've been to the general area on vacation, though not the exact same place. My grandfather, father and uncle visited what used to be the family farm and Grandpa was really disappointed because it was almost completely destroyed.
It's a weird place to be, nowadays. The people of my parents' generation are very hostile towards Germans, the older people are friendly, and the younger are excited and very much interested in Germany and Western Europe.