scrabulous!

i am now officially addicted to scrabulous over at facebook. i finished three games yesterday, won the first, then got my butt kicked in the second, and just squeezed past my opponent in the third, even though i was well over 50 points behind at one point. yay! :) and now i am at it again. if you are on facebook and fancy a game, let me know.

alex and i received word from rubicon press that our chapbook is ready to be proofed. we still need a cover illustration, so i have asked my dad to send me some photos. i wish i had known this before christmas, then i could have gone through his tons of photos myself.

and here are a couple of pics of me with gudrun's jakob who is one year old today. happy birthday!







first two pics taken by gudrun.

song of the day: nail in the sky by howe gelb.

december's different colours

purple angel



purple people



mosaic candle



blue moon



green door, what's that secret you're keepin'



snow crystals



rust


more pics on flickr


song of the day: white flag by dido.

my christmas

granny opening a present



dad tickled all shades of pink *g*



mom thinking



martin, listening & smiling



henrieta, who's looking after my granny



me, a tad sceptical



mom's delicious cookies



christmas tree



mom, martin & me at weissensee


song of the day: green fields by the good the bad and the queen.

nic & her body

hooray! finally! everyone, young & old, big & small, blonde & dark, girls & boys, can now recover ms nic's body - that is to say, her chapbook recovering the body is now available through dancing girl press (yep, me = october girl, nic = december girl) or you can contact the lovely lady herself. congrats, fishgirl! i look forward to your words, those lovely little sparkly stars.

prep work queen

*phew* sometimes i wonder how i am going to handle the workload in january - i will seriously have to cut down on being-creative-&-wanting-to-do-everything-myself, prep-work-wise. i've just finished everything that needed to be done for my christmas lessons tomorrow and on friday - thank goodness i had some old material, but i added lots of new stuff as well, mainly songs plus worksheets: from silent night (gorgeous version by mahalia jackson!) to fairy tale of new york (check this out - thanks to chris for sending the link) via grandma got run over by a reindeer (the irish rovers) and christmas card from a hooker in minneapolis (tom waits). *g* diversity rules!

i am not, however, feeling any more christmas-y after going through tons of songs and lyrics and other christmas- related stuff. but then, why would things be different this year?

i have time off over the holidays - friday is the last day for this year, classes begin again on the 2nd. wow. 2008. those 2000-something dates still seem rather odd to me, somehow unreal. i'll be off to my hometown on saturday to be with my folks for a few days.

everyone was really tired today, including me; i have so gotten used to the after-work chat with nathan that i really missed it today - i guess he only pretended not to be there, when really he doesn't want to talk to me anymore after my acceptance note from qarrtsiluni; i had a rejection note from mimesis (*sob*) but with some very nice notes and an invitation to send more work; the company i worked for in amstetten are finally paying me (about bloody time too!); saw the doctor yesterday - still on the same medication (me, not him), though i have a feeling he has considered / is considering increased dosage yet again.

off to bed now, leaving you my favourite christmas tune:



song of the day: fairy tale of new york by the pogues feat kirsty maccoll.

there's always a first time. sometimes even two.

this has never happened before: today when i woke up i thought, hmm, somehow it's awfully light outside for 06.30 ... then i checked my alarm clock and it said 02.30. that could not be right. then i was up and out of bed and i'm afraid i used some not very ladylike words to express my horror when i discovered it was 8! which is when my class starts. i was out the door within 15 minutes despite having to wash my hair. (i tell you, it WAS necessary. you have not seen me in the morning ...)

normally, my body clock is very reliable, and i wake up a couple of minutes before the alarm goes off, but i had a panic attack last night, around 0.30 and had to take half a xanor, because my hands were all numb, and i found it hard to breathe, and needed to sleep - and so, sleep i did. the meds must have switched off my body clock.

then the bus had a mini-accident because the car in front had to brake suddenly, and ... ah, you know. monday, eh?

i was 40 minutes late and i was mortified. my students were lovely though.

and then things went well, i made it home alive, which is good or i would never have read the acceptance note from qarrtsiluni - it was the first time i tried them, and they have accepted a photo for their insecta issue. hooray!

and now i am back from a very nice chat with my friend tom and will watch tonight's episode of grey's anatomy and try to get some sleep. until 06.30. not 8.

song of the day: get to leave by howe gelb off the album 'sno angel like you, a birthday present from my lovely friend sabine.

it's snowing again

but this post is not about snow. except maybe to say that the funny little styrofoam-like snow"flakes" yesterday after work looked rather cute on my new red coat and the black scarf.

bob hewis put on one of his many personas on thursday evening, got out his guitar and played johnny cash songs to a mostly appreciative audience (yes i am talking about YOU two guys and one girl in the corner who would not shut up even during the quieter songs!) at verein08 in vienna. i was especially pleased to hear a song originally written by will oldham (aka bonnie prince billy) called i see a darkness, hurt, and when the man comes around. and yes, bob, you are right: there *is* something sexy about tennessee stud. ;)

i had an hour to catch up on things with birgit on monday, i did not make it to one of the many christmas markets with a couple of friends on tuesday evening because i had a killer headache, i had some lovely girl talk with ms hillary keel on thursday afternoon, i missed my friend bo's emails as well as chatting with gudrun this week, i have become addicted to grey's anatomy, i looooooove my new red coat, and i enjoy the winding-down-after-work sessions with nathan.

i dragged myself to the company christmas party yesterday evening, after having fallen asleep during my PMR exercises, but it was actually quite nice - especially seeing my ex-colleagues from the good old floridsdorf days. the food was lovely as usual, and all i drank was still water.

a long chapter was closed last night when i followed my instincts and made a phone call. the story was one of love and lies, promises and passion, hope and disappointments, happiness and hurting, hellos and goodbyes, longing and loss, and i was one of the three main characters - alongside another woman and a man - and nobody won in the end. i was actually pleasantly surprised by the conversation and felt strangely relieved after the phone call, and calmer than i had in a long time.

song of the day: i see a darkness by bonnie prince billy. even though everything is not bleak today. but it is a beautiful song.