a birthday, a bug and a bubl... sorry, publication ;)

if my dear friend bo is to be trusted (and i must admit, he usually is!), then i must have been a particularly horrible and cold person for the first half of the past year, and a terribly moody one for the second half. according to the weather on my birthday, that is. it was wet, cold, stormy, dark until about noon, and then it kept changing about every five minutes: sun, sleet, ice pellets, snow, you name it. perfect weather for indoors, and that is where sepp and i spent most of the day. i had taken the day off, a brilliant idea! :)

sepp gave me a birthday present i had not expected, it being more expensive than what we usually give each other: a gym bike. he'd remembered that i once mentioned that i "was thinking of getting me one" or some such. so no more excuses, i have my own instrument of torture right at home.

i also received lots of e-cards and text messages and phone calls from friends all around the world, that's so lovely! thank you everyone! :)

work from tuesday to friday, although i had to cancel my english class on thursday evening: i was feeling blaaaah and had a temperature when i got home. i tried to find someone to stand in for me on friday morning (had taken the afternoon off for a workshop), but no such luck. so i had to work till 12.30, then went home to bed. sorry i missed the workshop, would have liked to hear pete sharma and get some useful tips. sigh. maybe next time.

i slept yesterday afternoon, then over 10 hours last night (this alone shows that something is not right), only to go back to sleep after two hours of reading and writing a couple of christmas cards. the good news today was that the new issue of underground window is out, and my four poems saturday rules of conduct, sunday rules of conduct, stealing a word from someone else's poem, and venice, october sunset can be read there. it's a good magazine, enjoy!

missing out on a birthday party tonight. :( happy 30th, anja! i hope they have a drink for me.

finished reading kate atkinson's case histories, very well written. am now reading the red tent by anita diamant, so far enjoying it a great deal.

no song of the day, really, as i have not listened to anything much, except christmas is all around us - because we watched love actually ... on dvd! ;) i feel in the mood for something by interpol, though it might hurt my head. *G*

tired, happy, and still almost young

i've been teaching a full day class for a week now, big changes there. coming home at five or even later if i have to do shopping instead of 1.30 does make a difference - for one thing, it is nearly dark when i leave work! the group i teach (12 people) is very different from the previous one - i still miss my old students. one of them, klaudia, sent me a few pictures of the last day in class:


i am getting acquainted with an angelic reindeer
as my students and colleague heinz watch closely


michi meets a reindeer and names it robert F1
never mind that he might be a woman


me and my students: claudia, sandra, ivonne, evelyn, robert, klaudia


me and robert and the lovely reindeer

at least the new students are all no absolute beginners which makes things easier for me.

i'm happy that despite the increased workload, i am still writing every day, on the train, during lunch break, in between classes, and well into the night. i am already on day 11 of round 3 in the 30/30 challenge, and have already written today's poem. there are more poems giving advice on how to handle certain zodiac signs, and some more erotic poems as well:

... dance on my pearl like blindfolded angels
on tiptoes until breath quickens, until toes
curl, rivers swell ...

i'm happy with the outcome, and need to send out more submissions.

i went to a poetry reading / themed evening "south pacific heat" at pickwick's on wednesday, but did not read anything, unaware of the theme for that night. shame. i think i would have read something, i do have poems about the south pacific from my travels. it was quite nice, heard two poems i really, really liked, and the dancers and music were nice, especially the waterphone sounds and the classical guitar and soprano.


babs and andi came over friday evening and we chatted and played and chatted some more, and of course we had to make caipirinhas because my birthday present was an ice crusher and all the ingredients for that lovely brazilian cocktail.

i finally heard back from personnel that i could take monday the 21st off - who wants to work on their birthday, especially if it is a monday, i ask you. it should be made illegal! ;) i think i'll have a lazy day, sepp is not working either, so perhaps cuddling up somewhere warm is in order, i don't expect the weather to change for the better - we had a first tiny bit of snow yesterday though it has not settled, of course. today it looks very unpleasant from here - strong winds harrassing the trees in front of my windows, plucking the last leaves of almost bare branches, and it has been drizzling on and off. *shiver*

speaking of the weather and leaves, here is the link to our autumn pictures, i finally edited and uploaded them! enjoy.

song of the day ... hm. straßenbahn des todes, element of crime. i love the lyrics on the new album (not that i expected any less), and only sven regener can get away with rhyming übergibt / liebst (throws up / love). it all makes sense, you see.

a-one, a-two, a-one-two-three-four

this is how many erotic poems i have written over the last few days, so i have something to submit to niederngasse's erotica supplement.

it's how many presents i got from my computer class who i had to say goodbye to on friday. they gave me the cutest christmas reindeer, complete with starry robe, angel wings, tinkling bell and present; swedish bread, moose sausage and a cuddly toy, a little bunny. while the reindeer was quickly named robert F1 (yes, this is an inside joke), i think i am just about to settle on RECKSI for the bunny, an acronym of my students' first names.

it's also the number of hours i slept last night, after dinner at akakiko and "pride and prejudice" (VERY nice) at the cinema with birgit and lots of girl chat at her place where i stayed the night. i couldn't sleep till about 4, and woke up at 8, unable to go backto sleep. and no, i don't think that's normal.

and it's the number of apples in the compote i made this afternoon.

oh, and it's how many times i have listened to my song of the day for this sunday 13 november: float on by modest mouse.

and before i float away on the airwaves of blondie's atomic, i'll go save my dinner from burning!

muffins, pizza, and things you cannot eat

i baked muffins twice last week, i hope everyone's duly impressed. i'd promised my computer class red wine & chocolate muffins, and then i baked mocha muffins on saturday for some friends who came over that evening. the red wine muffins are my favourites, the mocha muffins were a first, and they were lovely, if i say so myself. too bad i cannot upload one for you to try! *G*

alex, my ex-roomie, and his girlfriend julia were in vienna on the weekend, and they joined sepp, birgit and me for pizza and some board games. it was fun, and good to see alex again!

after all that baking, i deserved a lazy sunday. the weather wasn't really tempting anyway, so that was alright. still, the day was partly spoiled by a splitting headache. :(

some good news:

LUSH, one of my favourite shops has finally opened a branch in vienna! yessss! now i know where to spend the rest of my money.

i have completed the second round of 30/30 (writing a poem per day for 30 days for those who missed earlier postings)! i never thought i could finish one round, let alone two! quite impressed with myself. am working on a series of how to handle all the zodiac signs now, that's fun. :)

i received susan culver's poetry collection all the ways we could have met in the mail yesterday, and i love what i have read so far.

swapped chapbooks with a few more people! i only have three left here, might have to order what's left just in case i ever decide to have a poetry reading ...

finally got the new element of crime cd today! yes!

bought a ticket for the franz ferdinand concert in december. love their new album, especially eleanor put your boots on.

glorious day yesterday: went for a walk on donauinsel (an island in the danube), even sat in the sunshine - it was quite warm, the sky a perfect blue. picture book autumn.

mixed news:

no news re submissions, but i keep sending them out.

wil be teaching from 8.30 to 4 pm for seven weeks, starting next monday. good for my purse, not so good for the poetry. sepp is quitting his job, so he'll have more time, and i less. badly timed.

song of the day: wenn der winter kommt, element of crime. and, of course, the rest of the album.

ps: have not uploaded our autumn photos yet ... sigh. some day, some day. promise.

pensioners, poetry, public holidays

november already - and contrary to what the weather forecast said, it's another gorgeous day. we have been so lucky! sepp and i took a longer walk last wednesday, which was our national holiday, and i couldn't resist taking lots of pictures. here are two.


i still have to download the rest from sepp's camera, edit them and upload them to my yahoo photo album or some such. i will post a note here.


it's another public holiday here today, all saint's. i need to stop procrastinating today, and clean my flat. (arlene, you will know what i am talking about!)

i have spent so much time writing and revising, and other things have clearly suffered - my correspondence being one of them, though i did manage to write a few long emails and a letter last week.

my muse is mostly co-operative, only sometimes stubborn (i wonder who she got that from *L*), but i still write a poem each day. my series of rules continues, there are 31 rules poems now, and friends keep suggesting more and more topics.

i've sent out some submissions, and heard back from underground window today - they will publish all four poems i submitted, two of which are rules of conduct! they responded very quickly, once to say that all poems were under consideration for the next issue, and then to confirm that they would be published in the december issue. looks a classy magazine, that one. poems are under consideration for five other magazines, and i hope to have time to send out more this evening.

work's fine. my pensioners have finished their basic course, and it was touching to hear how much they had enjoyed the lessons! some of them gave me presents, and i was so moved by one elderly lady's card. she had written:

"there are people who make life more beautiful just because they are there. you are one of those people. i thank you for introducing me to working with the computer in such a nice way and with so much care and patience ..."

isn't that sweet? such things make it all worthwhile.

i went to the presentation of a new series of english textbooks on friday, which was entertaining and very interesting. i really like the concept of mr dellar and mr walkley. for you english teachers out there, the series is called innovations. well worth checking out.

what was that i said about procrastinating? what? you think i should go clean up the mess? ah but the weather is so lovely, and ...

before i go: songs of the day: "samhain night" and "all souls night" by loreena mckennitt. of course. *S*