"Obama has given his revolutionary speech to the school children of America today. I went downtown waiting for school children to pour out of schools to fill the streets and start the final confrontation between the capitalist parasite class and the workers of the world. Unfortunately no one showed up, though a guy who was sparing for change told me he'd throw a brick through a window for $50.

As a socialist this disappoints me greatly. Our Great Leader's secret plan for a socialist takeover has been foiled again. I suspect it is probably the work of the Super Friends or the Justice League but we'll probably never know for sure. We comrades of the socialist axis of evil will just have to work harder next time."

From here, but originally from here (awesome picture included)

Because I'm bored:

Fill this out with your own answers (if you feel like it.)

Three names I go by:
1. Laura
2. Greersie
3. Frau Kambach

Three Jobs I have had in my life:
1. English Teacher
2. Handbook Processor (aka Computer Monkey)
3. Video store clerk

Three Places I Have lived:
1. Ferndale, WA
2. Bellingham, WA
3. Goslar, Germany

Three Favorite Drinks:
1. Milk
2. Black Tea with milk and sugar
3. Orange juice

Three TV shows that I watch:
1. Top Chef
2. The Daily Show
3. 30 Rock

Three places I have been:
1. The Maldives
2. Doha, Qatar
3. Austria

People that text chat with me (online) the most:
1. Heather
2. Majo
3. Tricia

Three of my favorite dishes:
1. Lasagna (especially when Timo makes it!)
2. Timo's Hazelnut crusted Lamb tenderloin
3. Schnitzel Auflauf (Casserole) that Timo's mom makes

Three friends I think will respond:
1. crazitalk
2. fenmere
3. Crystal (I'm not saying which one ;p )

Three things I am looking forward to:
1. Timo, not working this weekend
2. Dinner
3. Vacation in October with Timo

1. Bif Naked - I Love Myself Today (3:30)
2. Eve 6 - Open Road Song (3:14)
3. The Distillers - The Young Crazed Peeling (3:15)
4. Greenday - When I Come Around (2:58)
5. Guano Apes - Kumba Yo! (3:21)
6. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out (3:56)
7. Guano Apes - Crossing the Deadline (3:25)
8. The Distillers - City of Angels (3:29)
9. The Eyeliners - Rock-n-Roll Baby (2:51)
10. Eve 6 - Inside Out (3:38)
11. Guano Apes - You Can't Stop Me (3:10)
12. Green Day - Welcome To Paradise (3:44)
13. Fuel - Mary Pretends (3:36)
14. Guano Apes - Sugar Skin (4:15)
15. Fuel - Bittersweet (3:51)
16. Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight Tonight (4:14)
17. Guano Apes - Get Busy (3:23)
18. The Cranberries - Salvation (2:24)
19. The Distillers - I Am Revenant (3:27)
20. Jimmy Eat World - A Praise Chorus (4:05)
21. Green Day - Greenday - Basketcase (3:03)
22. Saves the Day - This Is Not an Exit (3:57)

If anyone wants a copy of the mixed CD, let me know!

Wow, two people have randomly friended me in the last week on LiveJournal!! Hi new friends! I have no idea who you are! I'm especially surprised considering how long it's been since I updated on here. I'm sorry livejournal, facebook is slowly taking over your place in my life -- after all, why write an entire post, when you can write one or two lines to update your status -- plus more of the people I've actually met in real life use it! (Sorry internet friends!) Plus, writing is HARD!!! I always forget what I wanted to say once I've started writing.


Did I mention I have ADD? I soo have ADD

Anyway, it's not like I have much to blog about, unless you want to hear about wedding planning, and unless you are planning a wedding yourself, you probably don't. And, unless you've planned a wedding yourself, you probably have no idea how freakin' HARD it is!! Especially if you want a classy elegant wedding! We even have a wedding coordinator, but she's not doing everything, and that still leaves plenty for me to do.

Luckily, Timo has taken an interest and decided to pitch in for the designing and printing of all our ceremony and reception paper products. What are the paper products you ask? Well there are the programs for the ceremony, The menus, the escort cards (place setting cards), table numbers, and possibly photo sharing cards -- anything else we missed? Just some of the many little details that go into wedding planning. We worked together an those things yesterday and I must say, that they are looking fabulous! Still tons of little things to do though!!

The weather here was extraordinarily nice this weekend for Easter (a 4-day weekend here!) I hope it will stay that way.

Well, time to go to bed! Peace out!

Well, it has been an inauspicious start to the new year. ....

A week ago our wedding planner called to tell us that the company she works for, -- the company which is providing our venue, catering, DJ, and various other details of our wedding, is closing. That's right CLOSING. Half the Wedding which we already had planed is now not planned and needs to be figured out.

So here we are -- we don't have a venue, a caterer or a DJ. Luckily our wedding planner is staying with us freelance to help us re-plan everything.

Also luckily, We think we have found a suitable place to have the wedding at Broadway Hall.

Now I'm seriously contemplating making another trip to Bellingham soon to look for another caterer and a DJ and iron out the wrinkles again. I should stay here and work and make money, but I would feel so much better if I could go there and be involved in the re-planning and decision making in-person.

Powerball

Faust Eric - by, Terry Pratchett

Making Money- by, Terry Pratchett

Batman - The Dark Night (Blu-ray)

WALL-E (Blu-ray)

My AWESOME new HP Laptop!

a Chocolate Laptop

New Pajamas

The most delicious Cocoa in the world

a cool Turquoise necklace from my parents

Body Butter from The Body Shop

Last night Timo and I watched the movie There Will be Blood and I have to say I DIDN'T GET IT!!! Why have films which have no quality of plot or story-telling become so highly praised in recent years? I don't care if it's "artistic" that doesn't make it a good movie, because a movie is not just art -- If I want art, I'll go to a gallery -- A movie is also a story and a story need to have a plot with a beginning, middle, and end. It needs to have conflict, and most importantly there needs to be RESOLUTION!! If there is no resolution, if nothing changes in the story, or the characters don't at least grow or change or learn something, then it's not a good story in my opinion. No Country for Old Men was just as bad, and it was also highly praised at The Oscars. What makes these movies even worse is that many of the other elements in the movies are very good, the acting, and the directing are excellent, and the for the first half of the movie I start out thinking that it's a good movie because of all those things, which just makes the lack of plot and plot resolution even more of a let down, because I'm left so unfulfilled at the end. It's like being promised ice cream, and getting that freeze dried astronaut stuff instead -- it might be made from ice cream, but it's not ice cream anymore, just artsy-fartsy bullshit! A movie without a good story, is just a video of a bunch of stuff that happened, and I can make a video like that of my own life if I want that kind of disappointment. A bunch of fucked up stuff that just happens is not a movie. A movie should be entertaining! So if you want a movie with a story, do yourself a favor and see a movie like WALL·E which deserves far more Oscars than No Country for Old Men or There Will be Blood. And go get yourself some real ice cream!

Poll #1283154 Wedding Favors
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

What would be the best wedding favor?

other

McCain has been in the pockets of corrupt savings and Loan companies in the past. These companies can get away with corrupt business practices because of industry deregulation. McCain still doesn't want to create more regulations in a corrupt economic system that is in desperate need of them.

This video explains it all.



One of the big factors in our economic crisis is the Sub-Prime Mortgage Loan problem, which was due in part to lack of regulation in the loan industry.

Look here to see a funny and easy to understand explanation of the Sub-Prime problem.

Sub-Prime Primer

We need to regulate the unethical greed, which has left the economy in the state it's in.

What Lies the McCain campaign is telling and what you should know about them:


LIE:  McCain claims that Obama wants to raise taxes for everyone, and that these tax hikes will cost American Jobs.

FACT:  Obama wants to lower taxes for poor and middle-class Americans while getting rid of Bush's tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans (top 1%). McCain will Continue the Bush tax breaks, giving the biggest tax breaks to the wealthiest, and very meager tax breaks to the poor.  The Washington post made a nice visual chart for you:



As you can see, people who make less than $100,000 a year, will in fact receive a bigger tax break from Obama than from McCain. 

Obama also wants to give tax breaks to corporations who do NOT ship jobs overseas, and withhold those tax breaks from those who DO ship jobs overseas, in order to keep more Jobs in the US. McCain's policy of giving tax breaks to the rich won't accomplish that.

"Also keep in mind when thinking about taxation and spending, that John McCain supports making the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans permanent, and did not lift a finger when tax breaks for the lowest-income American were allowed to quietly expire. McCain also supports the policy of "borrow and spend" that took us from a national surplus (under a Democratic president, I might add) to a national debt of $9,692,762,945,925.31 (as of 09/09/2008). We're on track to be over TEN TRILLION dollars in debt (much of it to China) before Spring. Fiscal conservatives my ass! Don't believe me? Check out http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np" (source)


LIE: "John McCain claims that Barack Obama wants to put the government in charge of everyone's health care and have bureaucrats make your health care decisions."


FACT: "Barack Obama said that if you already have health care, "keep it." and that if you can't afford health insurance, the government will help subsidize it so that you can afford it. That he wanted to give every American the chance to have the same health insurance and care options that members of congress now have."   ---  "If we apply McCain's logic on health care, we have to assume that Congress is in a terrible situation as far as their health care goes, because government bureaucrats, instead of medical professionals, make their health care decisions" (source)

Is Obama's plan perfect? No, but McCains health care plan will do nothing to provide health care for the over 47 million people in the USA that have no health care. No country has a perfect health care system, but very few first world countries have one that  is as abysmally poor as the current US system. Fear Mongering about universal health care is just stupid, what do we really have to fear from everyone having health care? Having a Fiance that's a doctor and living in a country, where EVERYONE has health care, I like to think I have a bit of insight into this. My biggest insight: My fiance says he would never feel comfortable working as a doctor in the US because of the terrible health care system. He much prefers working here, where he earns less money, but doesn't have to deny patients care because they don't have insurance.  Will Obama's plan cost money? Yes, but he plans to offset the cost with his tax plan (see above). The current government is spending $16 billion (yes that's BILLION!) a MONTH (every month!!!) on the Iraq war.  I'm pretty sure the cost of a universal health care plan would be tiny fraction of the cost of what's going into our pointless war.


The lies the McCain camp has been telling continue on and on, they are just ridiculous. Yes, I stole large parts of this post from here: http://www.robhamm.com/mylife/node/ .   That's because I'm not an eloquent writer, and other people can say things far better than I can. I encourage everyone to go there and read the whole post however, it's well written and informative, and contains a lot more information.

Sing along folks!   If you've seen the Disney animated version of Robin Hood, then you know the tune.


Oh the world will sing of an President
A thousand years from now
And not because he passed some laws
Or had that Monkey brow
While bonny good Obama leads
The great campaign he'll forge
We all have to pay and slave away
For that good-for-nothin' George

Incredible as he is inept
Whenever the history books are kept
They'll call him the worst of all the Presidents
A pox on the worst of all the Presidents

He sits alone on in the White house throne
Pretendin' he's in charge
A little tyke who's rather like
A puppet on a string
And he throws an angry tantrum
if he cannot have his way
And then he calls for Mum while he's suckin' his thumb
You see, he doesn't want to play

Too late to be known as George the First
He's sure to be known as George the worst
A pox on that worst of all the Presidents

While he gives tax breaks to the richest
And creates a wasteful war
The dollar crown keeps slippin' down
And we're indebted more
Ah! But while there is a hopeful man
in the democratic pack
We'll find a way to make him pay
And win our country back

The minute before his time is through
He'll hold his breath till he turns blue!
The breezy and uneasy worst of Presidents
The snivellin' grovellin'
Measly weasely
Blabberin' jabberin'
Gibberin' jabberin'
Blunderin' plunderin'
Wheelin' dealin'
George Bush, the worst of all the Presidents
Yeah!



......



I just hope it's true, because if McCain is elected it might not be. Especially if anything were to happen to him and Sarah Palin were to become President.   D=  I think she could easily be worse than George W. I already hate listening to her talk, and I haven't had to listen to her for 8 years already.

If McCain wins the election, I am  seriously NEVER EVER moving back to the states. (And even Canada will seem much less appealing due to it's proximity). If Obama wins, I may have hope for the future.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo

If you haven't felt amazingly and totally alive yet today, then watch this:






and I thought it was just a commercial....




Paul Potts went on to win "Britains Got Talent!"

Rules: Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your Friends-list has done. Indulge in remorse if someone calls you out on a listed item.

1. Gone skiing in the Alps

2. Gone snorkeling in the Maldive Islands (Indian Ocean)

3. Hired a wedding planner


Will make real post later!

Poll #1206175 spelling
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12

Which is the correct spelling? (don't look it up, please just answer with your first instinct.)

I will be traveling home to the good old -- or at least sort of good, but hard to believe it at the moment, and that is, well not really all that old compared to most other countries U.S.of A.
er, ahem, yes,
I will be traveling home to the land of my parentage in a week from today.

I am hoping my bruised tail bone will have healed up already and have stopped making my arse hurt by then. I fell on said tail bone at my birthday party when I tried to sit down, and the chair tried to run for cover, leaving me to sit on a chair that wasn't there, and therefore making my arse kiss the floor pretty damned hard. Ouch! Ouch I say!

Other than that, my Birthday party last week was a huge success! (for pictures go here)

It would seem that I have nothing more to say right now.

Poll #1159075 photos
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

Which one do you like best?

Somebody please, please buy me some cadbury creme eggs before they're all gone, and I will love you forever!

kthnxbye


P.s. I will pick them up at the end of April!

My perfect snack would be: 
peanuts, popcorn, and raisinets with a tall glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.

(That or bacon snacks")

What would your perfect snack be?

Many of you have seen this already. This first 10 minutes are a bit slow, but the second half is extremely good. (it's 35 minutes long)

If you haven't seen this, please watch...

Ok, so every time I sit down to make a post, I get distracted by all the shiny things the internet has to offer and I don't know what I want to say anymore.

I keep meaning to make a video post or something, but today the battery on my camera was dead. I thought I'd try voice recording a post on my new mp3 player and then transcribing it, but it turns out that my thoughts escape me even more when I start speaking than they do when I'm typing. PLUS, I can't remember what I've already said when recording. The hardest thing with typing is just getting started. Well, I'm started now, so here I go...

I'm sitting here eating yogurt... aaaaand I just spilled some on myself! Great!......

(2 minutes later)
Ok, I'm eating yogurt and it's banana passion fruit yogurt and it's seriously delicious. I think it's the most delicious yogurt I've ever eaten. Passion fruit is a popular flavor for yogurt here in Germany. Peach passion fruit yogurt is probably right up there after strawberry and raspberry for the top yogurt flavor. I'm not a big fan of peach, but the banana pasion fruit flavor is just the right combination of sweet and tangy. I don't think I've ever seen passion fruit flavor in yogurt in the US.

Today is my second day of my new diet. It is a high yogurt - no wheat diet. The reason I'm starting this diet is because I've been having gastrointestinal problems for a while now, and I'm hoping to combat them. (plus I think it won't hurt my endeavor to loose weight) Those of you who know me well know that I have occasional problems with gas. Whatever problems I had in the past are nothing compared to the problems I've had for the past 3 weeks. I don't know what the cause of this problem is, but I hope my new diet will help.

Right now the sun is shining and it's hailing -- which is indicative of the weather we've been having for the past week and a half.


In other more exciting news: I got an early birthday present! It's a 16GB Creative Zen Mp3 player!!! My old Creative Zen Touch having survived many falls and drops and beatings finally had the buttons stop working completely. I could still listen to music, but I couldn't control the music anymore (only the volume worked.) And, when Timo tried to upgrade the firmware on it for me, and couldn't push any buttons to confirm the upgrade, it would no longer even play music. SO, I got my birthday present early and it's soo very awesome. I can now watch videos as well as listen to music, and a bunch of other awesome stuff. It can even make recordings -- as I pointed out earlier.




( moar pictshurs )



I'm sure I had more to say, but now I've forgotten what it was.

Oh, I know -- I got plane tickets to go home! I'll be home from the 21st of April until the 19th of May. That's 4 whole weeks!

Yeah, I think that's about it, now I have to go vacuum the house like I promised I would do, and then I have to figure out what I'm making for dinner.

It's nearing the end of February and I feel like I'm just starting out. It's been a bumpy two months, and all the zest and enthusiasm I had for the new year boiled away with too much work in January, and then apathy, lack of motivation, and almost depression in February. I'm making a start on pulling it back out, and salvaging something into a new beginning. The spring is a great metaphor right now, as it is struggling with the winter back and forth. Some days it feels like spring and other days it feels like the bitterest cold of winter here. February is often the coldest month, but it's been a mild winter, and I know that spring will come.

As for wedding planning? Does burying my head in the sand count as wedding planning? Cause, maybe if I ignore it my wedding will plan itself. No? I can't hear you, I'm ignoring you. Not that there wasn't some good weeding planing done in January -- being thrown into it together with the boy after Christmas during our US visit, forced us to finally sit down and talk about what we want. No further steps have been taken however, but luckily for us, there is still more than a year to plan. We plan to hire a wedding planner too, since we don't want to deal with organizing all the little details ourselves.

In other news, I joined a Gym! Which is totally awesome and I'm way excited. I can't believe, in fact, that I didn't do it sooner. Along with my sign-up package, I also got a deal where they do 4 training sessions: First, a fitness check and an aerobic exercise routine, along with showing you how to use the machines (treadmill, exercise bikes, elliptical machine etc.) Second, a training session on using the weight machines, and setting up a routine for using them. Third is stretching instruction, and fourth is a diet class. I did my second training session today (working with the weight machines) and I had to realize how wimpy I've become, so I'm totally looking forward to beefing up and having muscles.

Well that's all for now, I've got to get to bed, because I have to get up at 6:00 am tommorow >;P (or whatever emoticon is a yuck face.)