terms of endearment

ah. just watched "terms of endearment", which i had not seen for ages. you gotta love shirley maclaine!

here: me. today.




song of the day: path of thorns (terms of endearment) by sarah mclachlan.

chapswap

i have two spare copies of my chapbox "the secret meanings of greek letters" (dancing girl press, 2007, sold out) and of my collaboration project with alex stolis "small confessions and pebbles of regret" (rubicon press, 2008, sold out). is anybody interested in swapping chapbooks? if so, leave a comment on this post, email me, or contact me on facebook.

for more info, see these blog posts:
small confessions ...
secret meanings ...


song of the day: samson by regina spektor.

reactivation

so it's been nearly ten months since my last blog post: if i made any new year resolutions, one of them would be to blog more regularly this year!

i think one reason why i did not blog as much as i used to is the fact that nothing was happening with my writing: almost nothing new, no submissions sent out, no publication. i've been quite far from poetry (makes a nice title, doesn't it?) these past two years. over the last ten days, however, i have written five poems - that is two more than in 2009! they are all for my "elemental" project, the poems based on the elements of the perdiodic table. it is tough, trying to get back into the habit of writing regularly. today was the first time that i actually thoroughly enjoyed working on a poem again, it was like a flicker of how it used to be. i've also done a lot of research on the elements i still need to deal with - and it seems as if i have done most of the really inspiring, interesting ones. *s*

"there, between / heifer and cup-bearer, beloved of the god: the veiled bride, mistress// of the night. beneath the netting, her freckles seem to shift, like/constellations."

(from: europium (eu) - between io and ganymede, eleven minutes to six)

i don't want to dwell on the past too much, but in a nutshell: it was a good year, well, most of it.

moving was stressful, but it's great to live with heinz! i had expected to miss my old flat, at least occasionally, but i didn't. of course, the place is not big enough in the long run - so flat/house hunting is one of the major projects of 2010.

work: lots of lovely students, challening and highly interesting translation project (encyclopedia of western european languages) - although there seems to be hardly any freelance job without a fight for the money. i am going back to work on monday - finally! it has been too long.

we took a few short(ish) trips: croatia in may, carinthia (around my hometown) in july, south tyrol in september. lots of nature, hiking, swimming, tons of photos.

my social life suffered a little when i had lots of work on my plate and i turned into some kind of recluse for a while. fortunately i managed to break the habit in autumn, with the viennale film festival coming in handy.

what i found hard to deal with was the fact that i had to increase the dose of SSRI again in autumn, following some anxiety/panic incidents. i had a couple of hallucinations, too. i am sure that this was partly due to my confronting some of the demons from my past, and partly due to being worried about work (it was uncertain whether the english teaching project would be continues). i am seeing my therapist regularly, and we have tackled a few tough issues. but i have been feeling much better over the last couple of weeks or so. heinz has been a source of constant support and encouragement. :)

other stuff includes: farmville addiction (decreasing!), scrabble addiction, christmas in carinthia and styria, bob hewis's unexpected death, loved the book "the book thief", miss the writing community, 72nd out of about 1400 in the vienna photo marathon, boy group: otto, pruno & heinrich, facebook addiction, photography, the untimely death of one of my favourite singers - lhasa de sela, aunt resi's 100th birthday, puzzle addiction (reactivated), concerts: leonard cohen (#2!), bruce springsteen (#4), tori amos (#5, i believe), regina spektor.


here are some pictures (moving; croatia with the boy group; hiking in carinthia; h&m with aunt resi (100); leonard cohen & band; succulent; michi & alex with heinrich; michi with livia; ladybird):






















song of the day: haiti by the arcade fire.

since i last blogged ...

... i saw my canadian friend colleen again - 11 years after we'd first met in new zealand ...




... and heinz & i paid a visit to ms horowitz who's growing fast and is no longer toothless.




... winter still has not quite gone ...




... although spring made an appearance in styria in mid-march.




... i said goodbye to my lovely english II class ...




... and i've been translating like crazy.




... i've had a poem published in ether magazine ...




... and fish have come and gone at naschmarkt.




... i've kissed heinz once or twice ...




... and have started to pack, because i am moving in with heinz, hoping to be all done by the end of april!




song of the day: la celestina by lhasa.

flued to my bed for a week

so the flu laid me low for a while - fever peaked at 39.5C (102F) tuesday night. so much for spending my last week off filing, preparing, cleaning, and socialising! the only one i socialised with, besides my hot water bottle sheep, was my fabulous nurse heinz, though i am sure he has seen me more entertaining than last week. i certainly hope so. *suddenly worried*

of course i could not go to the badeschiff for the obama inauguration party, but i was told that a hundred people asked for me (harold might have been exaggerating just a tad), and that it was a great night.

as soon as i was up to it, i started watching lots of the australian open, and i have seen some terrific matches, both women's and men's. i've been reading more neil gaiman (coraline, stardust) and david foster wallace. i have not written any new poetry, and photography was not quite as intriguing between the sweaty sheets as elsewhere.

it's back to work tomorrow - finally. nathan and hanna subbed for me yesterday and today respectively, and apparently i have a really nice group. i look forward to meeting them.

i've acquired tickets for two events later this year: accordion tribe @ konzerthaus in april, and bruce springsteen @ ernst happel stadium in july - i'll see the boss for the 4th time then!

and here's vienna's strongest baby girl - livia malina horowitz, second to none (except perhaps pippi longstocking):



song of the day: don't think twice it's alright by indigo girls & joan baez.

5 months and an invitation

fifth monthiversary with my lovely man today - yay! :)

and here's an invitation for those in and around vienna -
obama inauguration party @ badeschiff, vienna.
tuesday 20 january, 9.30 pm.



song of the day: changes by butterfly boucher feat. david bowie.

poetry reviews and hello 2009

it was lovely to see that even though i had been so silent, i still have some blog readers - thanks for your notes, everyone! :)

heinz, being a true sportsman, did the run around the ring on 31 december - about 5 km, and he was quite happy with the time. i was *not* there to do the cheerleader thing ... ;)


back home after the run


so, 2009. heinz and i had a cosy new year's eve at home - cooking dinner, eating, watching some tv, drinking homemade punsch, cuddling up on the sofa, dinner for one on tv, a waltz & champagne at midnight, watching the fireworks all around ... and on the 1st we got up to watch the traditional new year's concert by the vienna philharmonic orchestra, this year conducted by daniel barenboim.


first h&m pic 2009


it hasn't been as cold in vienna as in many other parts of europe, and we have not had much snow either - but i don't miss snow in the city. late one night (around 01.30 am) we went for a walk in the freshly fallen snow - a bit crazy, yes, but fun. :)


people with hats on



lights in the park



houses shrink in the cold



where is receiver?


today we walked around the prater (an old amusement park in vienna), in about 2 cm of snow, and it got quite chilly after a while, but not too chilly to take lots of pictures - i have not edited them yet, but will soon.

unfortunately my english classes won't start until 26 january, but maybe i can start working on an additional project before then. we'll see. while i don't mind the free time, i DO mind not getting paid.

as promised, christopher george reviewed my chapbook the secret meanings of greek letters and alex stolis's and my collaboration chapbook small confessions and pebbles of regret for the winter issue of the loch raven review. thanks to chris for taking the time to read and review - i am quite chuffed.


ps: lots of christmas pics on flickr!


song of the day: all this time by maria mena.