Juliadamus-Oracle of a better world

I'm in chains ...

2008-09-29T15:33:00.002+02:00

... at least that's what I feel like! I'm all caught up in work. But let me tell you - it's a lot of fun!

I really enjoy working with the kids. Especially the English lessons are extremely funny and cool. Just today we learned about the United Kingdom and it's pretty funny to get them pronounce "Northern Ireland" right *giggle* cause "th" is really hard for Germans. In most cases it sounds like "norsern" "nordern" or "norfern". Just watch some old SChwarzenegger movies and you'll see what I mean ;)

The lesson I'm looking forward to this week will be Geography. We're talking about the solarsystem and I will have them literally "act it out". They're going to rotate around each other and the guy in the middle will have a flash light to show how lunar and solar eclipses work.
I hope the students will have lots of fun.

Ok, stay tuned for more glimpses into my classroom!
Luv Julia

P.S.: Thanks for PR 2 by the way :D

Thursday Thirteen #4

2008-09-17T22:50:00.004+02:00

First of all - thanks for visiting last week. I wanted to tell you that the little colored tomatoes were de-li-cious!

And now for something completely different ...

Todays Thursday Thirteen is a little test and a great exercise for your brain. If you want to participate, take a piece of paper before reading on - just a normal sheet - and a pen, and get ready to flex those brain-muscles. This test is time limited. You've got 2 minutes, so set your alarm-clock and be honest ;) Got everything? Then go:

Read through all the instructions before you do anything!
Write your first and your last name in the upper right corner of the sheet.
Draw 5 small squares on the upper part of the sheet.
Pencil a * (star) into each suare.
Sign the sheet with your last name in the lower right corner.
Turn the sheet upside down and write down your date of birth.
Put the sheet back in to normal position and write your first loves name underneath the squares.
Write the letter "X" into the lower left corner of the sheet.
Draw a circle around the "X" you've just written.
Use the lower part of the sheet to solve the following calculation: 6+9-3x3-17
Underline the result twice.
Now add together all the numbers on your sheet (don't forget you brith date!)
And now, after you've first of all read all the instructions, just do what you are asked for in point No.2 !

I hope you enjoyed the test and succeeded in passing it :)
Happy TT!

Luv Julia

The First Time I Ever ...

2008-09-15T21:42:00.003+02:00

... spent a day at school as a real teacher

Wow - what an experience. Today I officially signed my contract and pledged allegiance to the bavarian state, my new employer. It felt strange to enter the school afterwards for the first official teachers-meeting of the year. We got our keys and were told which classes and subjects we're goin to teach and - oh and this was the best - were introduced and treated as colleagues!!! It was sooooo great I still can't get the smile of my face. Of course it was scary as well, cause literally everything is new for me - the other teachers the pupils, the school, the job - all of it! But life would be boring without challenges, wouldn't it?

At least I have a lovely colleague, a 26-year-old elementary teacher who also had her first day today. It's much easier if you have a fellow sufferer. She lives nearby and we will carpool as well.

And you know what? A couple of posts ago I wrote that I was in dire need of a decent bag, that offers enough space and doesn't look like sh*t. I thought about getting one of those old-school leather bags, but my girls (former bar colleagues) surprised me with this beautiful bag:

So - thanks very much you gorgous hotties *gropesandsmooches* I will never forget working with you, we shared some of the best moments in my life so far!

Finally for my girls, me and you - just relax, kick of your shoes and enjoy 4 minutes of peace and one of the best singers ever:

Luv Julia

Thursday Thirteen #3

2008-09-11T10:51:00.009+02:00

Today's Thursday 13 was inspired by this mornings shopping tour. While buying the vegetables for tonights dinner at the grocery sotre I saw them - a pack of wonderfully different colored and shaped small tomatoes. And because I didn't have a better topic for this weeks TT anyway, I decided to post 13 interesting facts about TOMATOES:

1.) First of all a picture of the tomatoes I bought today. They were sold in a box labelled "wild
wonders". It's a variety of cherry tomatoes, aren't they beautiful?

2.) Tomatoes inspired John de Bello to produce his series
"Attack of the Killertomatoes", staring the young George
Clooney in the sequel "Return of the Killertomatoes"

3.) The latin term for tomato is Solanum lycopersicum, meaning "wolf peach". There are at least 10,000 varieties of tomatoes (from the small marble-sized cherry one to the Ponderosa, which can weigh over three pounds).

4.) Tomatoes are fruits from the botanic point of view! As
well as eggplants, cucumbers, pumpkins and zucchinis.
But in the culinary world and in some old laws tomatoes
are seen classified as vegetables.

5.) Since the 1940's, "La Tomatina" takes place on the last
Wednesday of August. Then 20000 - 40000 people meet
in the town of Bunol in Spain to be part of the big tomato
fight.

6.) The worlds biggest tomato weighed 3.5 kg, or 7 lb 12 oz! An average size tomato has 148 gram, or 5 oz, and boasts only 35 calories.

7.) In 2003 Rob Baur succeded in breeding a "Tomacco"-plant, inspired by the "Simpsons" episode "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)". It is a tomato-plant hybrid that also contains small amounts of nicotine. It is possible because they both belong to the nightshades, also including potato and belladonna.

8.) Tomatoes were first cultivated in 700 AD by Aztecs and Incas. Explorers returning from Mexico introduced the tomato into Europe, where it was first mentioned in 1556. The French called it "the apple of love," the Germans "the apple of paradise."

9.) Tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and C and fibre, and are cholesterol free. The consumption of lycopene - the stuff that makes tomatoes red - may prevent cancer.

10.) The tomato is the most popular fruit of the world, with over 60 million tons produced every year.

11.) Tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio. Arkansas' official state vegetable is the vine ripe pink tomato (of South Arkansas).

12.) Until the 1800's tomatoes were thought to be poisonous. Though some claimed that they have aphrodisiac powers.

13.) And last but not least, my favorite tomato recipe - Bruschetta:

That's it folks, hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to comment, cause I follow ;) and I don't mind if you drop a card as well.

Luv Julia

Holiday! Celebrate!

2008-09-08T10:21:00.014+02:00

Ok here we go - the official holiday round up!

As I already told you, I spent a week at the wonderful lake Chiemsee. My roommate and I rented a small appartment on a farm about 5 miles away from the lake. It looked like this:

As you can see it was very quiet there, the next village was about 1,5 mile away. That's why our only neighbours where the farmer's cows and cats:

Luckily we had good weather, so we spent most days at the lake, swimming and cruising around with a little boat:

On the third day we had to do the tourist stuff ;) we visited the beautiful castle built by Ludwig II and the monasteries - all of them are located on little islands in the middle of the lake. We took one of the official ferries to get there:

Well, now you know what we did, it wasn't much, most of the time we just chilled or bathed in the sun :)
But still it was a wonderful holiday, very relaxing and I really soaked in a lot of fresh energy to get things properly started in a week when school starts here.

Greets Julia

Top Droppers, Topless, Topping

2008-09-05T14:36:00.006+02:00

Hi folks!

I'm back from my wonderful holidays at the Chiemsee, I'm relaxed and tanned and I will tease you with a full record and pics soon.

But first of all - THANK YOU!!! - to last months Top Droppers, namly:

Topless - oh not what you think, but the boat we used to cross the Chiemsee on a sunny day was topless ;)

Topping:

I won!!! I won the bonus prize for "funniest post" at Hot-O's contest. That's 15$ cash from ThaCash.com
Yeah!

Greets Julia

To boldly go where no man has gone before ...

2008-09-05T13:47:00.006+02:00

... well maybe some people have gone there before, but for me it's all new territory - dark and scary!
What I'm talking about? My own website of course!

I really want my own domain and I will get it as soon as I start working, so I can afford it. The only problem I had so far was my lacking knowledge about the subject. Have you ever tried to search for the right web host? It's bottomless like quicksand - Google spits out 155.000.000 hits for "web hosting". No, no, no - there's no way I check all of those by myself!

Luckily other people did this for me. The guys from webhostingrating.com compared and rated web hosting companies, using parameters like affordability, customer satisfaction and technical support. They did a really good job and offer a clear strcuture that makes it easy for everybody - from blogger to entrepreneur - to navigate and find the matching offer for your needs. For me it might be more important that it is not too expensive, others might need more space or unlimited traffic - anyway, you will find it there.

They also offer customer reviews and articles on a variety of topics. I found the one about domain names very interesting and helpful.

So if you're planning to enter unknown territory and do your OWN website, make sure to get the best consultation at webhostingrating.com . I definitely will ;)

Greets Julia

Thursday Thirteen #2

2008-08-28T03:03:00.003+02:00

First of all thanks to bluestartopics for this nice TT header! The idea was to make intenational headers and this is the german one. As I am german and this one is actually very nice, too, it wasn't hard to make my choice :)

Concerning todays TT my topic relates to my last post.

13 things I found while clearing out and cleaning up:

) Old Computer Games - Day of the Tentacle for example, a real classic
) Books - mainly study books, burried under stacks of paper
) Dancing shoes - in a box in my cupboard. I was shocked when I realized for how long I haven't been on a ballroom-dancefloor! New mission: go dancing before the year is over!
) Pens and other office stuff - everything that IÄm normally searchging for for hours.
) CDs and CD-covers - and I thought some of them were lost forever
) Photographs
) Make up - can you imagine how many different shades of grey and pink eyeshadow one girl can have? And we're not talking about my collection of lipsticks, yet.
) Ligthers - now that I quit smoking it seems that I hid about 20 of them somewhere in my deskdrawers, though I never found a single one when I needed it.
) Hairband, bobby pins and hair grips - don't know here htese all come from ;)
) Sheet music - tons of ...
) Fireworks - no worries, it's the undangerous stuff they sell to kids as well. Must be left overs from last years sylvester
) Small rubber football - needs a bit air, otherwise still fine.
) Dust, dust and more dust, mixed with cat hair - *sigh*

Short round up: We're not finished, yet, but we're willing to fulfil the task!

Did you ever find strange or funny stuff while clearing out? Maybe even something creepy?
Let me know and enjoy your Thursday Thirteen :)

That's the sound of me, working on the chain gang!

2008-08-26T18:37:00.002+02:00

Hi folks,

though I know about the sad background of the song,I really love it. It's so powerful and Sam has such a great voice, just listen and enjoy:

And you know what? It really gives you the xtra push needed while working hard, which helped me a lot to survive day 1 of our annual "clearing out and cleaning up"- day(s).
Let's throw a short glance at today's accomplishments:

The point of departure:

our living room, about 20 m²
two people - the bald guy and me
two desks, 1 antique dresser, 3 single book shelves and 2 large storage racks, a couple of stackable boxes, endless numbers of smaller and bigger folders and stacks of paper - most of them remains of my exams
lots of stuff that found its way into our roomduring the last year, it's unbelievable what you can find in your own home!

The interim result so far:

6 hours of work
66 pounds of paper - honestly!!! - I couldn't believe it when I looked at the scale.
2 big bags full with garbage
1 box with different stuff, things you don't really need, but can't throw away either
my back hurts and the bald guy has a headache
it will take as at least another two days to finish this *sigh*

But still - I want to finish this! I want to start in my new life without old tasks latching onto me. And to be honest - it feels pretty good afterwards. It frees you somehow.
There's only one more thing that concerns me:

Should I get rid of my tape collection - you know those little things, we used to record music on from the radio when we were younger and couldn't use iTunes or emule. I don't know if I will ever listen to them again, but somehow thy are a part of me!

What do you think? Is it important to keep stuff like that or does it slow our moving forward in life down?

Greets Julia

Addicted to love? - Oh, I wish ...

2008-08-24T14:58:00.000+02:00

... but it's even worse.
My love for chocolate is not really an addiction, it's genetic I guess, something like the next step of evolution.
Stopped smoking a week ago and neither have the craving for a cig nor the longing for food. Actually I feel pretty good.

No, no, no, my worst addiction is one that makes me waste precious time! I'm ashamed, but I must admit that I'm a World of Warcraft victim. I spend hours in front of my PC, solving quests and leveling my characters up. And whatever you think now - you CAN'T just play for an hour a day. Believe me! I ofr example try to restrict myself by playing only every second day, and from time to time I put a "time-out" on me and don't play for a week or two.

Right now it's no problem at all to play and still get the stuff done that has to be done, and moreover spend quite a lot of time in the blogosphere. I have holidays and nothing to do all day long, but I really have to make this work when I start with a regular job in September.

On the other hand I already met people who literally are addicted to online-gaming and I think I'm still far away from that. I eat, I slepp, I have a "real" life and social contacts, I don't miss appointments I fullfiil duties and do the jobs I have to. But you see, this could become a serious problem if you're not aware of how much time you really spend with gaming.

Do yu have experiences with that topic? I'd like to know what you think about it!

Love Julia

I feel like Evita!

2008-08-22T09:32:00.004+02:00

Cause the money hopefully keeps rooling in:

As I told you I joined Bloggerwave to earn some money on the side. Then a good friend gave me the advice to join Socialspark as well, which I did.

Doing this I remembered that I tried to join PPP half a year ago, but was always rejected. They said it had too much non-original content (memes, pics, videos). Those of you who ever tried know how strict they are:

All posts must be in English on an English Blog.
Your blog must be at least 90 days old with at least 20 pre-existing posts.
Your last regular post must have been within the past 7 days.
Content must be original. You may not post the same content on different blogs.

Quite a list isn't it?
But I thought "Well, let's have a look at PPP, you still have an acoount there, maybe I can manage to fulfill their requirements this time. So I registered my blog and thought that they would tell me again that my blog is not approved.
And guess what? I am an approved PPP-blogger now! I don't know what makes the difference, but I'm happy about it.
You know my goal still is to visit the USA during next years summer holidays!

But what about you? Do you blog for money? What will you use the extra money for? Do you think blogging for money sucks? share your opinion and experiences!

Love Julia

P.S.: Thanks to everybody for visiting: Thursday Thirteeners, Entrecard droppers and most of all those who "just" stop by to read what I have to say.

To all these unsticky persons

2008-08-22T02:35:00.002+02:00

Remember the post I wrote a few days ago about being stuck in weight? If not you might read it here.

Well, if you've never faced those problems, if you're young and beautiful and if your favorite leisure time activities is to participate in Beauty Contests - "Look of the year" offers you a great chance.
Maybe you always thought about becoming a model and didn't know how to start or couldn't afford the traveling. Maybe you already decided to work as a model, but your career could need some initial aid, Look of the year is the answer to your questions.
Just send in some pictures and get spotted by intenational model agencies.

So giddy up you skinny bi***es!

Thursday Thirteen #1

2008-08-20T15:54:00.004+02:00

Hi folks,

here I am starting all over again. So what is my first TT-post after 6 months goin to be about?

Well I thought about giving you a list of13 literature classics I had to read for my literature exams in anglistics. I bet you know all of them, have read some of them, even like a few and maybe I can inspire you to grab one of those and have a look at it again. Books change - if you look at them after 10 years you might find that your point of view on them has changed, that you see and understand different things now.

So here we go:

1.) The picture of Dorian Gray - by Oscar Wilde

2.) Dracula - by Bram Stoker

3.) Ecotopia - by Ernest Callenbach

4.) Pride and Prejudice - by Jane Austen

5.) The Scarlett Letter - by Nathaniel Hawthorne

6.) Kim - by Rudyard Kipling

7.) A Handmaid's Tale - by Margaret Atwood

8.) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - by Mark Twain

9.) Salome - by Oscar Wilde

10.) Death of a Salesman - by Arthur Mille

11.) The Great Gatsby - by F. Scott Fitzgerald

12.) Hills like White Elephants - by Ernest Hemmingway

13.) She walks in beauty - by Lord Byron

Ok, so grab a book and get started :) Let me know if you know these books and what you think about them ...

Have fun and thanks for enjoying this TT!

Love Julia

Stuck in a moment you can't get out of ...

2008-08-19T11:27:00.000+02:00

... or better said in a size.

Since March I've been ona diet now. Nothing hard to do, no harsh restrictions, no bad-ass workout. Actually all I did was:

having breakfast (I had to get used to the fact, that a cigarette and a glass of juice is not the adequat start in the day),
avoiding carbs after after lunch
eating three full, healthy meals a day instead of rummaging through the fridge every thirty minutes
taking my bike instead of the bus or the car
avoid fast food and convenience food as well as everything that is fried
and - ok, it can't be all easy, can it? - reducing my chocolate consumption :(

It really wasn't that hard to do and I lost 22 pounds that way. And then it semmed that my scale just stuck ...
I just didn't lose or gain anything anymore.
As I don't want to put more food restrictions on me, I thought about doing more sport, but don't know which. Any suggestions?

Love Julia

P.S.: Credits to U2 for a good headline :) and thanks for a great song!

The hottest O in town

2008-08-17T12:20:00.005+02:00

Have you ever thought about hot "O"s? Here's my Top10:

#10) O like Oasis

Bad boys like the Gallagher Brothers are hot, and these do even make good music!

#9) O like Onions

Onions can taste pretty hot, but having an onion-breath on a first date is definitely a "Not-Hot"

#8) O like Olympic Hero

#7) O like Oesophagus

That's the tube from your mouth to your stomach and it can get pretty hot in there after a bowl of chilli or curry :)

#6) O like Omnipotency
Come on, who wouldn't take the chance if he/she could have it for a day? That's why I like the movie "Bruce Allmighty"!

#5) O like Optimism

Makes a man sexy, as well as good odour!

#4) O like Oral

Well, just give your fancy free scope ...

#3) O like Ozon Layer

At least it absorbs over 90% of the suns high frequency ultraviolett light. Good job, mate!

#2) O like Hot-O

He's one of my blogging buddies and he is literally "Hot-O". Check out his Blog ThaCash.com about making money online and achieving world domination!

#1) O like Opulence

Yeah! Being rich is definitely hot, hot, hot!!!
That's why I participate in HotO's "Win some cash" contest. It's quite easy to enter, you just have to write a post and link back, a paypal account is necessary. For further details and instructions, visit him at Win some cash @ ThaCash.com. And what makes it even better - there will be 3 cash-prizes randomly alloted and 1 extra prize for funniest post. So, what are you waiting for? Get started!!!

We soooo totally suck!

2008-08-17T10:51:00.004+02:00

So, he did it:

Congratulations to Michael Phelps - 8 gold medals and the record!
With his 8th medal tonight Michael Phelps beat Mark Spitz' record of 7 from 1972 and wrote olympic history.

By contrast all german athletes together achieved 9 gold medals. At least one more, though I think we're lucky that he just started in 8 events, otherwise he might have tied or even worse. Now excuse me please I have to pack my suitcase and get ready to emmigrate ...

I hate Paul Potts!!!

2008-08-13T12:03:00.003+02:00

I really do! Though it's not his fault, but I just can't see his face anymore.

I mean at first I was impressed, I assume nobody expected this guy to sing like that. Then I read a bit about him, found out the he took singin lessons for quite a while - even in Italy - worked on his voice, but never thought about doing it for a living. All fine I thought, he's good and somehow it warms my heart that this poor guy won Britain's got Talent.
So far so good. But then it started. A phone company started to screen ads with his first appearance at BGT, about 100.000 times a day. Everytime I turn on the TV, I'm cannonaded with Nessun Dorma and I just can't hear it anymore. For everybody who doesn't know what I'm talking about watch here:

Touching, isn't it? But imagine hearing it all day long, it loses some of it's magic!

Anyway, the straw that breaks the camel's back is that everybody and especially lots of young people buy his CD, on which he sings classic music and all time favorites, though his abilities are ok, but not overwhelmingly good. He doesn't have technique, he will never be an opera singer - face it! But if you ask people if they knew which opera "Nessun Dorma" comes from, who composed it or if they ever heard Luciano Pavarotti sing it, they give you a bamboozled look! AAAArggghhhh!!!! And don't even ask if they know what it means ...

So here's my personal tribute to THE tenor:

Ciao Julia

The Royal Flush amongst Poker Schools

2008-08-13T11:47:00.005+02:00

I know the BIG Poker hype is somehow over. About a year ago, literally E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y played Poker. And if it should happen that once a week i wasn't invited to join a Poker party in the evenings, I could easily spent the night in front of my computer, playing online.
Problem was - I was never good at it!
I never played for real money online and only for small sums with friends, otherwise I swear I would have lost a fortune. Honestly, if you ever want to mak money with this game - and there is a lot to be made - you have to learn Poker, not only play it for fun. Maybe I should have gone for professional help, something like a personal tutor - a PokerProfessor.

Poker Professor Strategy offers you this service, and what is even better - you get 150$ free to start with!
So what you're waiting for? Go, play!!

And the Oscar goes to ....

2008-08-12T12:04:00.005+02:00

... or better said - I go to: Windsbach!

I just got the call today and I'm really happy. Windsbach is a lovely little village in Germany, near Nuernberg and I will spent the next two years teaching there.
These are some pictures of the school:

I'm sooooo excited, I just can't wait for school to start.

Love Julia

Last exit before ...

2008-08-11T13:44:00.005+02:00

Hi folks!

As this is going to be my last big summer holiday before I become a member of the working class, I decided to spent a week at the beautiful Lake Chiemsee.

It is also called the "Bavarian Sea" though it's not the biggest Lake in Southern Germany - this would be Lake Constance. But if you look at the pictures you will understand where the nickname comes from ;)

We'll rent an appartment for a week, take our bikes, beach wear and enough supplies and switch off our cellphones. I hope this will strengthen my nerves for my upcoming task, which will start on September 16th.

Otherwise I feel well prepared for the job:

- lost 20 pounds and 2 dress sizes (yeah!)

- met a lot of new people and friends during the exams, who also start their teaching career in September - it's good to know your not alone!
- was allocated to a school district near my hometown, so I hopefully won't have to move

The only thing I still lack is one of those practical leatherbags, with lots of space for pens, books and folders. I like this one very much:

Unfortunately it costs 169,- Euros, I think I'll make it part of my Christmas wishlist.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to our little trip. I'll definitely take pictures and will give you a report how we spent the week. so come back if you're interested ;)

Love Julia

Let's get it started ...

2008-08-09T11:57:00.005+02:00

Hiho holks!

Ok, first things first ... things have changed a lot around here.

When I stopped blogging, lots of bloggers faced the "Google-dropped-my-pagerank-because-I-write-sponsored-posts-but-if-my-page-rank-is-low-I-won't-get-offers-to-write-sponsored-posts-anymore"-crisis. I wasn't into earning money via blogging, so the whole affair didn't affect me, but I was curious to see if Google would have that much power or if the blogging community would fight back.

Now we know ... Google's shameless attempt to control the market miserably failed. Luckily advertisers realized that not the Google-controlled page rank is of interest, but the traffic that a site has. Companies like www.entrecard.com and Bloggerwave reacted and offer possibilities to earn some money with your hobby.

Beside the revolutionary victory of the blogging
David against the global corporation Goliath,
the biggest benefit is the possibility to combine
good blogging and making money. You can blog
freely without worrying about your pagerank and
from time to time squeeze in a sponsored post.

At least this is what I'm going to do from now on ;)
I could use a little extra money, cause I want to
spend some of my holidays next year in the U.S.,
visiting Jason (see picture) together with my lovely Bald Guy.

Intersted, too? Then visit

Love Julia

I did it! I did it!

2008-08-08T13:53:00.004+02:00

Yes it's true, I passed my exams!

After 6 months of learning and taking written and oral exams I finally made it. And from september on I will be working as a teacher. And you know what? I'm really looking forward to it!
I will teach kids between 5th (10/11 years old) and 9th (15/16 years old) grade in different subjects. Of course I will tell you about my new experiences as a full-time teacher. So make sure to stop by from time to time.

That's why I haven't been around for a (loooong) while, but now I'm back in buisness and I hope some of my old friends and lots of new people will join me on my rollercoaster ride through my life.

Greets Julia

P.S.: Of course I will join the fabulous "Thirsday Thirteen" again :)

I can do it, I can do it!

2008-01-11T13:04:00.000+01:00

Should auld aquaintance be forgot ...

2007-12-31T21:32:00.000+01:00

I wish everybody a very happy, succesful, healthy and peaceful new year!

Thanks for reading my blog, thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I wish you and your family and loved ones all the best!

Love Julia

Thursday Thirteen #8

2007-12-27T12:20:00.000+01:00

13 things about Juliadamus

First of all - a belated Merry Christmas to everybody. I hope you enjoyed your holidays and survived them without greater injuries ;)

As some of you might have noticed I wasn't around very much during December. If you want to know why just read the last post. That's why I'll use today's TT to summarize my last monthfor you:

1.) Most heard Christmas song: Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt

2.) Most eaten Christmas goodie: Gingerbread (the German stuff! I'm from Nuremberg and we are famous for our Gingerbread!)

3.) Question most often asked by Americans while working in the "Atlanta" booth: Are you from America?
Answer: No, I'm German but I've got American colleagues. We're all working here to improve the international relations between our sister cities ...
Reaction: After saying "No.." and while I was still explaining they just turned away and left me standing there.

What's wrong with those people? Of course there were lots of people who didn't do that. But still it didn't just happen once or twice during the market, it happened quite often, even some of my American colleagues recognized it and sometimes got quite upset about it.

4.) Things I've learned for my exams: morphology, syntax, grammar and regional studies

5.) Things I laughed hard about while reading "Lost in Translation":

"In case of emergency, the lifeguards are under the seat in the center of the vessel."
Ferry in San Juan, Puerto Rico

"Keep this candle out of children!"
On a Chinese Candle

"With deepest respect, we hope to wish our insistence you washes your hands when using our facility."
Restaurant in China

You want to read more? Look at one of my former posts here.

6.) Gorgeous new people I met:

Yang (a lovely, funny and totally crazy Aussi), David (a stay-at-home Dad from Illinois, living here with his wife and his 8 month old daughter Paula) and Stephanie (a lovely woman from Virginia, living here since three month and the unbeaten master of "thank you"s, "execuse me"s, "sorry"s and "pardon"s :) )

Thanks for having such a great time with me at the booth!

7.) Christmas presents I got:

My mommy pays for university, that's why I have an agreement with her that I don't want any presents for Christmas. She still bought me some scented candles, but I will generously overlook that ;)

A lovely woolen hat from my roommate, it looks like that one

Some books, two bottles of wine and money from my relatives

8.) Gifts I made:

For my mom I bought some high-quality tea and an ambience scent set.

For my roommate I bought some "Homer" slippers

For my other relatives I bought different stuff, and my uncle got some of the red wine I brought from my Italy trip in September.

9.) My boyfriend hates Christmas, and he does not make gifts nor wants any. But this year he bought a Nintendo Wii as a "Not-Christmas Not-Present" at the beginning of December ;)
It's fun and I love it!

10.) Films I watched over the Christmas Holidays:

Hogfather - based on the Terry Pratchett book, hilariously funny!
Die Hard - it had something to do with Christmas ... ah forget it, it's Bruce Willis, who cares what the movie is about ;)
The Nightmare Before Christmas - simply a classic!

11.) New years resolutions:

Stop smoking! - Yeah I know, but this time I'll make it ... I swear ... really!
Pass my exams!
Finally getting married!

12.) Tonight a good friend comes back from South Korea and will stay here for 3 weeks. I'm really looking forward to seeing him and go out!

13.) Finally I want to wish everybody a happy new year!!!

I'll be back !!!

2007-12-15T13:01:00.000+01:00

Hi folks, it's me again - finally!

I hope you haven't completely forgot about me and I deeply apologize for not being around for such a long time. But let me explain ...

Until Christmas I have two jobs in the evenings (including weekends) and university during day. Every tiny bit of free time I use for learning, cause I still try to take my exams in February. I actually don't even check my e-mail on a daily basis or watch TV. It's basically sleep (not much), work and (somehow) eat at the moment.
Nevertheless, I had three free days last week and I planned to do things like term papers, spending a day on my couch watching TV and - of course - blogging and moreover reading blogs. but guess what I did?
Yes! I caught a touch of the flu! Enough to make me stay in bed and feel like dying for three days, and after that - just in time - was able to get back to work!

And yes, I do sound like a weepy little girl and I want you to feel sympathy for me! Otherwise I will be pouting until Christmas!

Luckily it's just another 10 days til Christmas and then I will have time for blogging again, thank God!

Thursday Thirteen #7

2007-11-29T08:29:00.000+01:00

13 Things about Juliadamus

Today I wanna talk about one of my favourite books: "The deeper meaning of liff" by Douglas Adams.
It's a wonderful, funny and witty book, or better said an encyclopedia or dictionary. Douglas Adams is known as a critic for restaurants at the end of the universe, and as the famous founder of the Hitchhikers Guider to the Galaxy, but this book is much more about everyday life on earth.
The purpose of the dictionary/encyclopedia is to give names to things, behaviours and feelings in life that are common and well known to all of us, but not named, yet.
For example:

To SPOFFORTH (vb.): To tidy up a room before the cleaning lady arrives.

I hope you get the gist, and here is the first part, letters A-D:

1.) ABILENE (adj.): Descriptive of the pleasing coolness on the reverse side of the pillow.

2.) AHENNY (adj.): The way people stand when examining other people's bookshelves.

3.) AITH (n.): The single bristle that sticks out sideways on a cheap paintbrush.

4.) BALDOCK (n.): The sharp prong on the top of a tree stump where the tree has snapped off before being completely sawn through.

5.) BLITHBURY (n.): A look someone gives you by which you become aware that they're much too drunk to have undertood anything you've said to them in the last twenty minutes.

6.) BROMSGROVE (n.): Any urban environment containing a small amount of dogturd and about forty-five tons of bent steel pylon or a lump of concrete with holes claiming to be a scuplture.

     'Oh, come my dear, and come with
    me.
    And wander 'neath the bromsgrove
    tree' - Betjeman.

7.) CLIXBY (adj.): Politely rude. Bliskly vague. Firmly uninformative.

8.) COTTERSTOCK (n.): A piece of wood used to stir paint and thereafter stored uselessly in a shed in perpetuity.

9.) DEAL (n.): The gummy substance found between damp toes.

10.) DIBBLE (vb.): To try to remove a sticky something from one hand with the other, thus causing it to get stuck to the other hand and eventually to anything else you try to remove it with.

11.) DOBWALLS (pl.n.): The now hard-boiled bits of nastiness which have to be scraped off the crockery by hand after it has been through a dishwasher.

12.) DROITWICH (n.): A street dance. The two partners approach from opposite directions and try politely to get out of each other's way. They step to the left, step to the right, apologise, step to the left again, apologise again, bump into each other and repeat as often as unnecessary.

13.) DULEEK (n.): Sudden realisation, as you lie in bed waiting for the alarm to go off, that it should have gone off an hour ago.

Make sure to stop by next week, to read the next 13!

Belated humor-overkill !!!

2007-11-28T12:49:00.001+01:00

Hi folks,

ok, ok, ok - "SORRY!" for being late again, but I spent the last two days building up the booth for the Christmasmarket.
That's why I'll give you the double-dose of humor today, combining my weekly "WTF?!" and "Tuesday Tickle Treatment" series.

I thought about what I would present to you today and finally came up with the idea to have sort of a "theme" for this post. So today's motto will be: Star Wars!

First of all I'll show you my favourite SW-remake:

Store Wars

and talking about StarWars, stores and the dark side, the famous "Chad Vader - Dayshift Manager" is a "must-be-named".

Liked it? Look for more here or here, and to watch the whole saga, just visit the directors' homepage!

May the force be with you!

Please hang yourself here!

2007-11-24T12:07:00.000+01:00

Hey folks!

No worries, I won't call the whole blogging-community to suicide, just because of Googles PR-juggling-tactics.
"Please hang yourself here" is written on a sign in a hotel cloakroom in Berlin. Knowing the circumstances now, you can probably guess what the hotel actually intends to offer its guests.

It's just another case of "LOST IN TRANSLATION - Misadventures in English Abroad".

This is the title of a book I came across a few days ago in a bookshop, while buying a present for my MIL. It's written by Charlie Croker and its' hilariously funny. I actually couldn't stop giggling and laughing while reading it.

Well, as the title tells you, it's a collection of signs, leaflets, brochures, menus, etc., from all over the world, all of them written in English and blotched with off-balance vocabulary and iffy syntax. Some of them might be spelling mistakes, with others you can easily guess what was meant, but some are just enigmatic.

Here's my favorite collection, part1 - "travel & hotel":

on the plane:

"Besides, try to prepare all you need before pack, and then, you can arrange everything's position entirely, or you will make yourself confusion" - Chinese In-flight Magazine

in the hotel-lobby:

"Please leave your values at the front desk" - Paris, France

"We have nice bath and are very good in bed." - Zurich, Switzerland

"The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable." - Bucharest, Romania

your room:

"To call room service, please to open door and call Room Service. Please call quiet, people may sleep" - Ethiopia

"Is forbitten to steal hotel towels please. If you are not person to do such thing is please not to read notis." - Tokyo, Japan

"Please keep shutters close or monkey make you crazy." - Brunei

"It is defended to promenade the corridors in the boots of the mountain in front of six hours." - Switzerland

"If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it." - Moscow, Russia

"Dear Guts." - Brasov Romania

"Do you wish to change in zurich? Do so at the hotel bank!" - Zurich, Switzerland

"Depositing the room key into another person is prohibited." - Japan

"Your are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid." - Japan

"Sweat Dreams" - Poland

Tehehehe, I hope I didn't promise to much ;)
I will post more from this book over the weekend and the enxt couple of days, so make sure to stop by, or you'll miss all the fun!

It's the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

2007-11-23T13:20:00.000+01:00

Hey folks!

I hope you all survived Thanksgiving and had a wonerful time.

We had some friends at our house and, as I wrote yesterday, I made pumpkin-soup to start the dinner. I haven't tried the recipe before, so we were all curious how the soup would taste.

The recipe was kind of exotic, containing ginger and coconut milk, and ... it was delicious!
That's why I want to share it with you! So bring your pots and mittens and prepare!

You need:

2 lb of chopped pumpkin
1 lb of chopped carrots
1 big onion - chopped
2 tbs of butter
2 pt of vegetable stock
2 inches of fresh ginger - fine chopped (or 2tsp of gingerpowder)
1 t of coconut milk (creamy)
juice of 1 lemon
salt, pepper, soysauce

- melt the butter in a big pot
- first sweat the onion a bit, then add pumpkin and carrots and sweat for another 2-3 min.
- add the vegetable stock and the ginger
- simmer on low heat for about 20 min. until the vegetables are soft
- puree the vegetables, until the soup has a creamy consistence
- add the lemon juice, spice with salt, pepper and soysauce after your fancy ;)

You see it's an easy recipe with an exotic twist, and it's vegetarian, too :)
I hope you enjoy cooking it, as much as I enjoyed eating it!

Thursday Thirteen #6

2007-11-22T11:28:00.001+01:00

Thirteen Things about Juliadamus

Although I'm not American, we do have a Thanksgiving party at our house. We would be watching the games anyway, so why not have some friends over here for dinner.
We've been doing this for a couple of years now, and if there's any tradition to it, then it's me, grabbing my purse and keys, hurrying to the store, last-minute-shopping all the stuff for the dinner.
That's why I have to make this a quick one today ;)

So first of all here's my twelve things I still have to get for the dinner tonight:


1. Red Wine - most likely some Cabernet Sauvignon

2. Cinnamon Sticks - for the cranberry sauce

3. Cranberries - well, that's obvious, right?

4. Camembert - the turkey replacement for the veggies, served breaded and fried

5. Pumpkin -  we'll have it as a soup

6. Carrots - for the pumpkin soup

7. Ginger - goes into the soup as well

8. Coconut Milk - also for the soup

9. a Lemon - well, have a guess ... yes it's for the soup

10. Bacon - for the stuffing

11. Parsley - hmm, I like my stuffing with lots of parsley

12. Turkey - yeah I know I'm late! I told you so!

And number thirteen will be me, wishing everybody a Happy Thanksgiving!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Tuesday's Tickle Treatment #5

2007-11-21T00:36:00.001+01:00

I know I'm late again, but the whole day has been packed with classes, appointments, learning and a serious date with my couch and Dr. House!

As I spent a lot of time in university today, the tickle will have to do with university.
And unsurprisingly it's a mixture of university, music and humor ;)

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

Lecture Musical by the Prangstgrup

Hey Teach!

What the ...?!? #6

2007-11-19T10:19:00.000+01:00

Hi folks,

it's official now - camping season is over. We had the first snowball-worthy snow last week.
But, as you might already have noticed, Christmas season is just beginning. So, what are you going to buy for all your camping-community-friends? It should be useful and handy, but still space-saving and easy to handle?

Well, here's my suggestion for you:

The portable inflatable potty for children and adults, called Inflate-a-Potty!

And this is what the potty looks like:

adult size

children size

What? You ask how it works?

- Inflate potty quickly by blowing up like a beach ball with removable extension tube.

- Insert disposable bag and cover potty completely.

- After use remove and seal bag tightly with enclosed twist-ties.

- Deflate potty!

PeeEss: 13-kilo-trash-bags-are included.

But this is not only a wonderful present for campers, hitchhikers, truck-drivers, etc...
It is a must have for every Mom and Dad!

At least, this is what the advertisment tells us:

!I need to go now!

!Thanks Mom and Dad!

Can you hear her, too, yelling: "Blow harder, Daddy, I really need to pee now!"? Priceless!

You like the idea? Go buy it! And I'll keep thinking "Wtf?!?"

Gingerbread and Glühwein

2007-11-17T05:42:00.000+01:00

... these are the things you will definitely find at the famous Nuremberg Christmas Market, which is called "Christkindlesmarkt".
For those of you who never heard of it, Glühwein is hot wine spiced with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, pimento, sugar and fresh orange and lemon juice ... hmm delicious. "Elisen"-Gingerbread from Nuremberg is another delicacy, made without flour, very juicy and rich.

But the main attracion of course is the market itself.
It is one of the oldest markets in Germany, the first written proof of its existence dates back to the year 1628, thoug it is very likely that the beginnings of the market date back earlier. There are about 150 stalls, selling Glühwein, gingerbread, candies, toys, food (mainly Bratwurst), ornaments, candles, handicraft, christmas balls and "Zwetschgenmännla" - little figures made of dried prunes.

Right in the middle of the market a huge manger scene is placed. People throw coins into it and make a wish. The collected money is given to charity.

The biggest event is the opening of the market. The Nuremberg Christkind is standing on the top-balcony of the church, while saying the prologue.

The beautiful market is known all over the world and there's even the Chicago-fake-Christkindlesmarket!

But why do I bore you with all this stuff? Well, despite having the market, Nuremberg is also a sister city of Atlanta, GA. I know that's not really exciting, but Nuremberg offers a stall for every twin city to represent and sell goods from their country. Some of them are run by tradesmen, others cover the work-shifts with volunteers like me. This year will be my fourth year of working in the Atlanta-booth and I'm totally looking forward to it!

We are a mixed crew of Germans and Americans, which are either married to a German, work here or are exchange students. We sell hot apple cider, CocaCola merchandise, Braves and Falcons fanwear, candies, books, root beer, mugs and food - and yes Germans do pay 6 Euros for one box of Betty Crocker baking mix, cause you can't get it any cheaper here!

All incomes are donated to the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.

The market will open at November 30th and I will give you weekly updates about my work freom then on.

Prepare fpolks, Christmas is right around the corner ;)

Thursday Thirteen #5

2007-11-15T16:06:00.000+01:00

Thirteen Things about Juliadamus


Today - my favourite fruits!

1. Apples
"An apple a day, keeps the doctor away"

2. Bananas
2 bananas, 1 cup of cream, 2 tbs peanut butter(creamy), 2 tbs honey, 1pt crushed ice
put all together in mixer, blend and enjoy your smoothie ;)

3. Oranges and all other kinds of citrus fruits
hmmm, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice in the morning ... delicious

4. Melons - all shapes, all tastes
Cut a cantaloupe-melon in two halfs, scratch out the seeds - it's like a bowl now - put chocolate ice cream in the hole, and poor Baileys on top of it!

5. Cherries
Well, if anythings reminds me of childhood, it's sitting under my grandmas cherry-tree, having cherry pit-spitting-contests with my brother

6. Persimmon
How about some persimmon pudding?

7. Mango
Cut it in small pieces and mix with vanilla-yogurt!

8. Grapes
Serve them with some cheese (real cheese please: italian, swiss, french or from the Netherlands!)

9. Papaya
Make sure to get rid of all those little black seeds, they're extremly bitter!

10. Strawberries, raspberries, ... all berries! and black currant ;)
pure, with sugar, cream or yogurt, as a smoothie or ice cream, I just love them!

11. Pears
I especially like Nashi pears - they are really delicious, somehow sweeter than "normal" pears!

12. Nectarines
I'm addicted, I eat about 3-4 a day during summer! And I prefer them to peaches cause they are not hairy!

13. Cacao
What do you mean - that's no fruit?!? Well at least you can cut all the fruits above in slices and have a wonderful chocolate fondue ;)

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

And please feel free to comment!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Tuesday's Tickle Treatment #4

2007-11-13T15:14:00.000+01:00

Today I'm gonna throw pearls before swines!

Well, not that I think that my humble readers are swines, but I'd love to introduce you to the incredibly funny comic strips of Stephan Pastis. this is what the author himself says about Pearls before Swine:

"At its heart, Pearls Before Swine is the comic strip tale of two friends: a megalomaniacal Rat who thinks he knows it all and a slow-witted Pig who doesn't know any better. In truth, neither of them is very smart, but while Pig is content with his humble status in life, Rat is always on a futile search for fame, riches and immortality."

But see for yourself:

P.S.: Too small for you? Can't read it? Well either get new glasses or just click on the picture ;)

What the f...?!? #5

2007-11-12T20:48:00.000+01:00

Oh oh folks, it's getting cold here. And I mean really, really cold.
I'ts already snowing, the wind blows harsh and you freeze your butt of while smoking outside. Scarf and gloves are indespensable.

And that's the problem: I'm a smoker, and in Germany smoking is forbidden in every public building. Moreover it will be forbidden in every restaurant, bar and pub from January 1st 2008.
So what's left is to go outside and inhale a cigarette as quickly as possible while your fingers become an ice cube.

But ... wait ... do I see a faint light at the end of the tunnel?

Yeah, if somebody knows about comfortable smoking under awful weather conditions, it's the Brits, of course.
That's why they invented the "smoking mitten" !

Yes you heard right, a mitten created for smoking outside, with a hole to put the cigarette through. It can be worn either on the left or the right hand.

Sensational! Can I send in a Christmas wish-list already?

Do they know it's Christmas

2007-11-11T13:25:00.000+01:00

Hey folks it's me again!

First of all I want to apologize for not posting yesterday and the day before. I was very busy with university, work and baking christmas cookies. Yes, you heard right, I really did it:

I made my first christmas cookies at the beginning of november!

You know I really hate all the stores and supermarkets for starting the Christmas-products-sale at least 10 weeks before Christmas. I think it spoils all the pleasant anticipation. Your almost fed up with it before it all actually takes place!

But then again I'm a passionate baker, a choc-a-holic and a cookie-aficionado *sigh*

So I made some Cinnamon Stars yesterday and prepared the dough for Vanilla Crescent-cookies, which I'm going to bake today. Mmmmmmmhhhh!

Thursday Thirteen #4

2007-11-08T11:34:00.000+01:00

Another Thursday, another Thirteen. This week I'll give you my all-time 13 favourite 90's songs. No worries, the other decades will follow, but as I spent the whole 90s being a teenager - yes I'm one of those lucky and blessed '79-born kids - these songs influenced me, my being a musician and so on.

I will definitely come up with a TT about my fav albums, cause in my opinion this is something different. You can love cartain songs, though you don't like the artist, or the rest of the album is simply crap.

And please don't forget that some of them I had to list because I knew them by heart when I was younger. Be honest folks, nobody listens to J.S. Bach and Chick Corea when he/she is adolescent, and the Backstreet Boys didn't get rich cause my mom thought that they are "sooooo cute!!!"

So get prepared, here we go:

Thirteen Things about Juliadamus


13. Jump around - House of Pain

12. What's up - 4 non Blondes

11. Everybody (Backstreets Back) - Backstreet Boys

10. Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

9. Uninvited + Ironic - Alanis Morissette

8. Song 2 - Blur

7. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice + U can't touch this - MC Hammer

6. Männer sind Schweine - Die Ärzte

5. Smells like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

4. Killing in the Name of - Rage against the machine

3. Everybody hurts - R.E.M.

2. Walking after you - Foo Fighters

1. Millionen Legionen - Die fantastischen Vier

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Babystepper

2. Patti

3. Santa's Elf

4. Deb

5. Mama Archer

6. Alasandra

7. Doubledeckerbusguy

8. Malcolm

9. Linda

10. Kat

11. Shan

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Oki folks, hope you enjoyed the list! And remember, please leave your adress in the comment, and I will give you linky love.

Greets Julia

Sing for me, my angel, sing for me!

2007-11-07T16:52:00.001+01:00

Sorry folks, I know I'm a bit late today, but no worries - here's your weekly laugh muscle stimulation!

As some of you might know I work in a Karaoke-Bar. And I'm a musician. And I'm becoming an ESL-teacher.
This means I'm not only used to drunk people performing their version of "My way", but also to working with dictionaries and training my pronounciation.

And guess what? Somebody just came up with the right thing for me - a online karaoke-dictionary called Dictionaraoke!

What does this mean? Well, have you ever been to a decent online dictionary? Or do you own one on CD? there you have those little soundfiles that pronounce the word in correct RP.
For the Dictionaraoke those soundfiles were put together, accompanied by music to form karaoke-classics.

Just visit the site and try it, it's pure fun!

Tuesday's Tickle Treatment #3

2007-11-06T20:19:00.000+01:00

Hi folks,

I know I'm a bit late today, but I'll literally give a f*ck! As an eager student who's becoming an ESL-teacher, I'm always looking for decent sources to improve my grammar and my vocabulary.

And here it comes:

how to use the f-word correctly

It might take some time to load, but it's worth it.

Now enjoy and educate yourself!

What the f...?!? #4

2007-11-05T15:02:00.000+01:00

Hi folks!

It's monady again and so it's time for the weekly "WTF?!" again.
This week I'd like to make you move. Yes guys and girls, get your more or less fat butts out of the armchair and off the couch and get into the groove.

No excuses folks, these guys will help you look fanzy and classy on the floor ...

And now ... disco!!!

Thursday Thirteen #3

2007-11-01T12:17:00.000+01:00

Hi folks!

Last week I told you about my favourite books - and I'll definitely have another TT about books, cause I realized that I'm too much of a bookworm to just have 13 favs ;)

Anyway, this weeks TT is about my favourite films, and I sense another TT on this topic as well, cause I know that those thirteen just won't be enough!

By the way: the films are not in any order of favor, I love them all the same!

Thirteen Things about Juliadamus


 1. Blues Brothers

A classic, best soundtrack ever and full of comical genius.

2. Lola Runs

A german film that even made it to the US market.

3. Ghostbusters

Who could resist a huge Marshmallow Man

4. Life of Brian

"Splitters!!!"

5. Fight Club

Hmmmm ... Brad Pitt! And I really do like the plot twist at the end.

6. King Pin

Hilariously funny!

7. The Full Monty

Adorable, witty, english humor. And hell - those guys can dance!

8. Payback

Mel Gibson wants his money back.

9. UHF

Weird Al Yankovich simply rules!

10. Star Wars IV - VI

Harrison Ford is soooo cool! I don't have to comment on the new trilogy, do I ?!

11. Lord of the Rings - Trilogy

Yep, I did the "watch-all-3-films-(extended version)-on-one-day" marathon, and I survived.

12. Eight Days a Week

The most romantic, funny movie I've ever seen.

13. Memento

Genius, pure genius. I had to watch it at least twice before I roughly knew what's goin on.

Hope you enjoyed reading the list, as much as I enjoyed watching the films ;)

Please comment and leave a link to your TTand I will give linky love back to you!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Sleeping Mommy

2. Patti

3. Joanne

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Tuesday's Tickle Treatment #2

2007-10-30T15:45:00.000+01:00

This week's Tickle Treatment comes from Avenue Q - the Tony-Award-winning musical, starring on-stage-played puppets. Similarities with certain SesameStreet characters are not accidental, though these puppets are in their twenties and thirties and have to deal with adult problems.

Some of you might know this video, but I think it's always good for a laugh, even if you've seen it before:

Have fun guys and girls!

What the f...?!? #3

2007-10-29T13:34:00.000+01:00

This weeks WTF is about drinking. Yes folks, after the little test I did yesterday (watch the last post) and the experiences on my birthday-party (people still tell me how funny it was that I kept clingin to the microphone while I was nearly falling from the barstool), I officially surrender. I hereby declare October the official month of booze and drunkness!!! Everybody is welcome to join me. Please feel free to comment on your experiences!

And as I ain't very creative today, and moreover in desperate need of a drink, I just give you something to feast your eyes on and get in the right mood ...

Have fun folks, I need to go to the supermarket, the kitchen needs cleaning and I'm running out of beer.

I should've known ...

2007-10-28T21:26:00.000+01:00

I did this little fun-test, and see what happened ...

You Are

A Drunk Pumpkin Face

You would make a good pumpkin martini.

What's Your Pumpkin Face?

Is anybody really surprised?! AAAw, darn it, I'll go and have a glass of wine ...

Things YOU wanna know ...

2007-10-26T15:55:00.000+02:00

1.) What did I buy at amazon.com for 100$? As I am a generous person, I decided to split the pot and buy something for the boys (from now on the term I'll use for my roommates) as well.

For me I got:

- Douglas Adams, "The deeper meaning of liff"
I definitely will write a post about that one, cause this book IS wonderful!

- Robert Shea, "The Illuminatus Trilogy"
Nothing for the faint hearted, not even comparable to Dan Brown's kindergarden-version of the Illuminati-story. Disturbing and spell-binding.

For boy#1 who also is #1 in my heart (sounds cheesy doesn't it):

- Alex Ross, "Earth X"
A graphic novel - yes folks, I lost my heart to one of those nerds ;)

For boy#2

- All Pro football 2K8 for XBOX 360

2.) Still looking for the right Halloween-costume? Why not become a god/godess? Your divine appearance will be enough to make any kind of maquerade unnecessary. The Bald Guy offers you this chance of your lifetime, and he means it! If you already have a costume, go there either because you want to experience the good and powerful feeling of being a god/godess, or just because the guy is really funny ;)
P.S.: If you don't want to become a god, but still need a costume, I recommend the Urban Camouflage

3.) Participating in blog-contests is not only good for strengthening the blogging community, in most cases it's good for your wallet as well. Sometimes you have to simply backlink, sometimes you have to write a post. But for Lynn's 25 Things for Charity contest, you will really have to work! I think this is a wonderful way to do something for charity, so please join in!
uhm, btw, no worries, you can win a prize, too, if this is what it needs to get you going *shakehead*

Enough for today folks, enjoy your weekend!

Thursday Thirteen #2

2007-10-25T09:47:00.000+02:00

Thirteen Things about Juliadamus

I'm a dedicated book-lover! I've always been and I always will be. In this weeks TT I will show you my favourite books/authors. Some of them influenced me as a child, others are current reading. I hope you enjoy the list, and maybe I can inspire you to read one or two of theese books ;)

13. "The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

I guess everybody knows this one, and for those who don't: I'm sorry folks, but Snow White is not an original Disney-product ;)

12. "The Neverending Story" and "Momo" by Michael Ende

Both stories are classics of childhood-literature, at least in Germany.

11. "Mister God, This is Anna" by Fynn

This book not only provides answers to the big questions in life, it also provides the questions!

10. "Animal Farm" and "1984" by George Orwell

Big Brother is watching you!

9. "The Wizard of Oz" by L.F. Baum

We're off, to see the wizard! The wonderful wizard of Oz!

8. "Look Back, Mrs. Lot" and all the other books by Ephraim Kishon

Kishon writes short stories about the life of an jewish author married to "the best wife in the world". His wit and sarcasm, make me laugh out loud everytime!

7. "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4" by Sue Townsend

Simply hilarious, english humor. And so true!

6. "Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

The book is subtitled "The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch". It's the mixture between Pratchetts imaginative writing and the spell-binding power of Gaiman's plot.

5. "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll

I looovee the Mad Hatter!

4. "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

The final showdown between the old gods, brought to America by all the different immigrants (including Thor, Leprechauns and the egyptian cat-godess Bask), and the new gods, created through our daily worshipping (yes, ther's a TV-God, think about it!). The perfect book for long winter-evenings on the couch!

3. "A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" a Trilogy in five books by Douglas Adams

So true, so funny and simply one of the best books in the world!!! Favourite character: Marvin the depressed robot!

2. "Soul Music" and all other Discworl-novels by Terry Pratchett!

Terry Pratchett invented the Discworld, to hold a mirror up to our faces. Although settled in a world full of myth and magic, parallels are quite obvious. And btw it's hilariously funny written!

1."Ronia, The Robber's Daughter" by Astrid Lindgren

I don't remember how often I've read this book as a child. But it influenced me a lot. It's about strength, friendship, bravery and raising your voice for what is right. And all this from a girl's point of view!

Ooops! Do I have 13 already? Oh there's so much more but that gives me opportunity to write another TT about my favourite books ;)

Hope you enjoyed the list, I'm looking forward to your feedback!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Tilly Greene

2. EHT

3. ChaoticCrafter

4. Patrizia aka Gabriella Hewitt

5. Miss Mellis

6. yellowrose

7. doubledeckerbusguy

8. Julia #1

9. Cocoa

10. celticangel

11. Shan

12. Julia #2

Thanks everybody for stopping by!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Tuesday's Tickle Treatment #1

2007-10-24T01:51:00.000+02:00

Hey folks, it's me again!

You know that there's a lot of crazy and incredibly funny stuff in the internet. That's why I started this new series, where I'll show something that at least I think is funny on a weekly basis.
And to be very honest I actually don't care if you do ;)
But nevertheless, feel free to comment and if you have any suggestions for stuff that should be shown here, let me know!

I will start with a little film made by Jennifer Shiman and the Angry Alien Production. They specialised on little cartoon movies, having bunnies reenact famous films in about 30 seconds. I'll probably show you more of these from time to time.

So here we go, have fun:

The Shining

Redrum! Redrum!

And the winner is.....

2007-10-23T20:20:00.000+02:00

.... me, me, me, me!!!

I just can't believe it! I really won something!

Remember the backlinking contest I wrote about? It was started by Lincoln Adams and the prize was a 100$ gift-certificate from a major- online-book-store ;)

And yeps, I really made it, I won something for the first time in my life! Although I must admit I'm not sooo much of a gambling person. I test my luck from time to time in charity lotteries, cause if I don't win, I still have the feeling I'm not just stuffing my money up somebodies greedy a**.

Bye folks, I'm off shopping :)

What the f...?!? #2

2007-10-22T16:30:00.001+02:00

With Halloween on the front porch, I thought it might be fun to think about how the rest of the world gets prepared.
When it comes to costumes, this years award goes to Japan!

Urban Camouflage

Not only are these costumes very practical, they also protect your family against violation.

But why should I complain? We Germans made wearing strange clothes a national tradition!

So get prepaired everybody! The rest of the world is already one step ahead ;)

OMG!

2007-10-20T23:42:00.000+02:00

Always dreamed about being famous? Looking for a great job?
Here's your chance!

The bald-guy offers you the impossible. Like Bruce Almighty you can become a god. And the bald-guy will take care of everything, from gathering disciples to worshiping you.

But stop! As nothing is for free in this world, not even death, cause it'll cost your life - you will have to participate in a little contest, applying for the job!

I foresee: hundreds of people worshiping me ... muha .. muhaha ..MUHAHAHAHA

If you think I'm sexy ...

2007-10-20T05:46:00.000+02:00

Two days ago I read a wonderful poem on antibarbie's site. It was about self-confidence and loving yourself just the way you are, even if you don't match the current ideal of beauty.
While reading it I remembered a Dove advertisement called "Evolution":

Isn't that scary? I mean, why do millions of women chase after an ideal that is based upon fake? Of course, the moment you go from chubby or big to jurassic, you should think about losing some weight. But I woulnd't swap belly and brains for being skinny and lacking self-esteem! No thanks!

So here's hooray to all women who love their body no matter what size or shape! And hooray to all men that enjoy curves and women with substance - latent ambiguity is desired ;)

And if you still worry, take a look at this - and always remember: it could come worse!

Pfuuh, I think I need a chocolat bar now ...

Thursday Thirteen #1

2007-10-18T17:54:00.000+02:00

Oki, here we go, my first Thursday Thirteen! thinking about my birthday party yesterday and about how delicious, though poisonous those cocktails were, my first 13 will be my favorite cocktails:

Thirteen Things about Juliadamus


1. Singapore Sling, classy, sassy, my favorite

2. Mojito, extremly refreshing in summer

3. Cosmopolitan, fruity but not too sweet, and a must for all SATC-Fans

4. Touch Down, hey, I love football, what else can I say?

5. Flying Kangaroo, creamy and smooth and soooo good

6. Sex on the beach, just for the name ;)

7.

Spiderman, just for the looks ;)


8. Kamikaze, handle with care!

9. Highball, fresh, fruity and surprisingly different

10. Caipirinha, enjoy a bit of Brazil

11. Long Island Ice Tea, if there's nothing more to lose!

12. Pina Colada, typical ladies-drink

13. Coconut Kiss, at least one without alcohol

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Amanda Regan

2. Santa's Elf

3. Cecily R

4. Mr. E

5. kristinaQ

6. ~Rhen

7. Morgan St. John

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Nice party! But where are my pants?

2007-10-18T14:26:00.000+02:00

Yoiks! Folks what a night, what a party!

I celebrated my 28th birthday yesterday and I swear I had the best party ever!
We visited the Karaoke Bar and - heck! it was so much fun. People were singing, I got pretty drunk and then I lack memory ...

Want some more facts?

Best present:
A gift certificate for a chocolate fondue for two persons from my mom.

Best song :
My boyfriend singing Sinatra's "My way"

Best present I made myself? I participate in another blogging-contest. This time I can win either a PS2-game or 30$ on my PayPal-account.
Wanna join, too? No problem, just visit bluepaintred's blog "Where was I?", it'll give you all the information needed.

Oki, I have to take some more aspirins and then go to bed again. One of those Singapore Slings must have been foul!

Ready! Steady! Go!

2007-10-17T10:40:00.000+02:00

The beautiful small village of Contest is part of France's Pays de la Loire region. The geographic location is 48°16' N 0°39'W, lying about 115 meters above sea level. 765 people live in this cosy place near the norther shore of France. Although it's not too big, Contest offers a variety of attractions for visitors. The local ping-pong-club is always ...

What?

I'm writing about the wrong Contest? oh... hum.. well.. then..

If you are a Canadian and want to keep track of the latest contests in your neighbourhood, you should definitely visit this site. It gives you detailed information about which contest is going on where, what you need to do to participate and what you can win.

For everybody who's interested in sports, but bored by the usuall stuff, this site could be a lifechanging enrichment to his leisure time. It offers rules and inspirations for competing with your friends in unusual ways.

And for everybody who's just a keen blogger, Lincoln Adams offers a backlink-contest. I think it's a really nice idea to push your rankings. Participating is quite easy, for more details please read the contest-post, all details are explained there.
"But why should I do so?"
Cause, besides that it is a very nice gesture, you can win a 100$-amazon-gift-certificate.
But hurry folks, the contest will end on October, 24th, so get going!

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me,...

2007-10-17T10:02:00.000+02:00

Yep it's true folks, I'm one year older now!
So what am I going to do today?

Normally, I'm not that much into birthday parties. Doing them at home is more work than fun - cleaning the house, cooking and baking, taking care of your guests and at the end of the day you're close to a breakdown when you look at all the mess that's left, waiting for you to be cleaned up.
But still I don't want to spoil the only day of the year that is supposed to be my day, by doing nothing at all.

And this is the plan:

Most of the day I'll spend relaxing and shopping for some new hot clothes to wear at the party tonight. Tonight? Party? Yes, I won't do it at home, but I've invited everybody to this cool little bar. It's a Karaoke bar and I think we'll have tons of fun there, especially cause their cocktails are strong and taste soooooo good :)

Have you ever been to a karaoke bar? Try it, it's so much fun! If you want to practise before going there, here's your chance:

Tune in again tomorrow, than I'll tell you what presents I got, and what happend at the party!
I definitely foresee a hangover for me ;)

Riddle me this, riddle me that ...

2007-10-17T09:24:00.000+02:00

Ever wondered what your special day means to the rest of the world? Wanna know what was cool and groovy back in the year you were born?
You can find the answers with the birthday calculator!

It's a funny little gadget that gives you not only astrological information, but also tells you which VIP shares your date of birth and what songs were hot in the year you were born. Moreover it tells you what your birthday would be according to a different calender.

For me the machine spat out this:

I share my birthday with Evel Knievel and Rita Hayworth.
Top songs of 1979:
- D'you think I'm sexy by Rod Steward
- Hot Stuff by Donna Summer
- I will survive by Gloria Gaynor

and of course

The site also offers a printable-friendly version. I think it's also a nice idea for a friend's birthday to have it printed out on nice paper.
Give it a try, it's free, it's fun.

Blog-Action-Day!

2007-10-15T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hey folks, today is Blog-Action-Day and we're all supposed to write something about the environment.

   

My proposal to do something for the environment is to donate to the

WWF.


As I am an animal-loving person, I've been regulary donating during the last years.
However there are some reasons why I donate to them and nobody else:

It's always your choice how much and how often you donate, no contracts, no minimum amount of money, etc. I personally donate about 10$ every 6 month, that's as much as I can afford as a student, but it's better than giving nothing at all.
They always have a "special-donation-offer", meaning that you can donate for a special project.
If you donate "enough" (which means 25$ or more) you'll get a little present, and even if you don't, from time to time they'll send you little treatments like adress-stickers or postcards, for free.

If you don't want to or can't donate, their homepage

 offers loads of possibilities to participate and raise your voice for a better world.

Keep on rollin'

2007-10-15T19:38:00.000+02:00

Technorati Profile
As you can see, I'm quite a noob when it comes to blogging, but I try to figure out how everything works and how to improve my blog, so I visited Technorati today and joined in. Let's seee what happens next!
(Of course I already do know what happens next, but I don't want to spoil it for you)

What the ...?!? #1

2007-10-15T18:50:00.000+02:00

Now and then I have strange visions. So strange that even I get scared!
So watch this only, if you dare to face the freaky thruth:

And if you seriously think about purchasing one of those, look for it here.

Who needs a Sorting Hat when you can have a(n) (un)sorted bag?!

2007-10-14T15:03:00.001+02:00

"Handbags are like black holes, and I'm afraid of putting my hand into them, fearing that it might get lost!"

Ladies, we all know sentences like this, and I think we must admit that there's a grain of truth in it. Concerning that even if you travel "light" you still need to stow your purse, keys, cell phone, hankies, make up, lipstick, chewing gum/mint, pen, safety pin, band-aid and, if you smoke, cigarettes and a lighter into this tiny little thing.
Furthermore there's "customized" stuff, like (sun)-glasses, books/magazines, chocolatebars/sweets, waterbottles, hairbrush, more make-up/cosmetic products of personal choice, various pieces of paper of unknown heritage and the unidentifiable sticky stuff at the bottom.

But all this would be a bearable task, if you had to do it once and then just refill and readjust the content, but we all know it's not that easy.
Just yesterday I had to unpack my medium-sized, lightblue "everyday/shopping"-handbag with flower-pattern, sort the content, pack my small, black leather "I'm-going-out/important appointment" bag, and finally put the stuff left-over back into my everyday-bag. Tonight I will repack everything, of course.

As you all know my predictions will affect the future of (wo)mankind, so please help me to channel those energies right. Take a second and think about your perfect handbag!

To me it would mean ...

... you wouldn't have to spend minutes over minutes anymore, rumaging in the dubious, dark depths of your bag for your keys or anything else, cause it has a inserted sorting system that keep everything in it's place.

... via a small touchscreen, you would be able to change color, size and material until the bag matches the occassion and your outfit.

What else can you think of? C'mon girls, share your wishes with me and feel free to comment!

P.S.: If you want to know mur about the little fur-bag on the picture visit:

Jack & Hill - A Beauty Blog

Do-follow-movement

2007-10-13T11:29:00.000+02:00

Thanks to Tricia for her amazing do-follow blogroll. If you want traffic this is the best way to get it.
Here´s the blogroll:

Disclosure Policy

2007-10-13T11:08:00.000+02:00

This policy is valid from october, 12th 2007.
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

A new era has begun ...

2007-10-13T04:32:00.000+02:00

Yeehaa! Just started my first Blog and it feels great!

From now on I will spread my endless wisdom throughout the blogging world and give everybody the chance to share my immense forecasting powers.

Leaders of the world take care, cause here I come! I'm armed with wit, irony and my power of observation and I'm ready to go and make this world a better place!