.SOMETIMES RAW.

Hello! 

Wow it is late. I cannot believe I stayed out until 12pm. I did not write a post yesterday because of long conversations I needed to have with the love of my life. Afterwards I was exhausted and went to bed early. Him too. I love when a conversation is good and productive. Today was a great day but also full of activities and no time to write a lot. We ran around, errands and so much more. In the evening I went to my first All-You-Can-Read at my favorite bookstore Riemann with Anna Burkon. She is awesome and we talked for hours, too. Actually, almost four hours until my throat was so dry that I needed more tea. Do you know this feeling when you meet someone and know from the first couple of sentences you are on the same page? I hope we stay in touch and meet again soon. Good to find a new friend! At the bookstore I also met a friend I have not seen in almost 20 years. We have been to school together in 8th grade. Time flies! It was fun to catch up on old stories and talking about what we experienced in all this time. What a great day! Others than that, below is what I have been up to during the week. Read on if you like. 

Reading: I finished Preethi Nair’s “One Hundred Shades of White” which I loved and bought my mom a copy. Read my review here. I started Dr. Rer. Nat. Hartmut P.A. Fischer’s “Das DMSO-Handbuch”. It is about alternative natural healing methods that have been forgotten. I will give an update on it soon. Tonight at the bookstore I purchased “Reasons to stay alive” by Matt Haig, “Die Kunst allein zu reisen” by Katrin Zita and “Ein Leben Mehr” by Jocelyne Saucier. The funniest part is that my husband is reading Saucier’s book as well in French and I had no clue that it is the same book. Well his book’s title is Il pleuvait des oiseaux. And yes, I just wanted to buy ONE book. Damn you, book addiction! 

Watching: I watched a documentary on Osho because I read a bunch of books by him and wanted to know more about it all. I was sort of shocked. If you read some of his book but have not seen this documentary, I would recommend you watch it. It is worth it. There is one in German as well. Click here.  My husband and I binge-watched Family Guy Season 14 up to episode 12. I love this song when they are all in Korea. Hey Victor 😉 

Looking forward to: Some great movies that will come out soon on iTunes or Amazon. “Anomalisa” is a movie that is on my to-watch-for sure list. Also this one with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Both together = cannot go wrong, no? Can’t wait to see it. 

Enjoying: Traveling to Berlin next week. My husband, petit Joel, Emma and I will travel and explore again and this feels so good. Unfortunately my good friend Veronika won’t be in town but she gave us some nice tips on what to check out and visit. I just realized tonight how much I love traveling. Yesterday I have been at another friend’s house and she told me about Ireland and I just felt like packing my suitcase and going there. A bunch of people I know are in Thailand these days and post the most amazing pictures on Facebook. Today in the bookstore I saw a travel guide for Thailand. You never know. Open for it all and the food and beaches look amazing. 

Realizing: How valuable and important time is and how little we have of it. Even more, how we do indeed spend it. Do we spend it with people we love? People we can learn something from? People who can enrich my life, give me ideas and tips? Or do we spend it with people who drain us and just use us as punching bags. The choice is clearly up to us. Do we want to be sad, depressed or inspired? Real friendship. How many real friends do you have? I can count mine on one hand. Really think about it and have a great weekend. 

So we will travel to Berlin. Any tips you can give? Museums, parks, culture, I am open for everything. I would love to hear from you. 

Thank you for reading my blog. 

Hello!

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. All you have to do is to write one true sentence.” ― Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway is one of my favorite authors of all times and I am surprised I have not written about him earlier.  I loved most of his books and his style of writing. I will share a bit about this great legendary author and journalist and some of his works that I have read. There is a plethora to write and say about Hemingway but I will keep this biography nice and short this time to just give an overall idea about him. Enjoy! 

Ernest Hemingway was born in Chicago Illinois in 1899. His mother was a musician and his father a doctor. He became interested in writing at a young age. In school he already edited and wrote for the local newspaper and high school yearbook. After graduating, he worked for several newspapers occasionally and in this time he learned his amazing writing style that shapes all his work. Hemingway served during World War I as an ambulance driver and was severely wounded. He spent many months in hospital. He fell madly in love with a nurse, Agnes von Kuroswky, but she was engaged to a different man who she married.  Hemingway was devastated by all this and has never really gotten over her. Agnes is the basis of many female characters in his books. A Farewell To Arms (1929)  is one of the books that actually made me tear-up. The way he described his love for “Agnes” was fantastic. A pattern started to form in Hemingway’s life and lasted actually for the rest of it. He left women before they had the chance to leave him. 

Hemingway moved to Paris in the 1920s and began work as a journalist and kept writing stories and essays almost daily. “In Our Time” was publishes in 1925 and is considered one of Hemingway’s most important works of the 20th century. Many other novels and novellas followed.  In 1954 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Hemingway spent his later years in Idaho suffering from paranoia. He believed that police and FBI was constantly monitoring him. Eventually he needed electroconvulsive therapy. His finally treatment was on June 30th, 1961. He committed suicide two days later by shooting himself in the mouth with a shotgun. Suicide seemed to recur in the Hemingway family. Ernest Hemingway’s father, brother and sister also committed suicide. Hemingway is a legacy and his writing will always be unique, wonderful and special. 

I highly recommend the following books by Ernest Hemingway that are also a great start if you have never read anything by him: “A Farewell to Arms”, “The Old Man and the Sea”, “The Sun also Rises” and “In Our Time”. 

Hemingway stated that this list below is a must-read for anybody who wants to become a writer. I like this list. 

There is a nice documentary about Hemingway wrestling life. I am also a huge fan of Woody Allen and his movies. Watch his movie “Midnight in Paris” to get a pretty good picture on how life was like in 1920 in Paris. And you will get to meet Hemingway. 🙂 

Have you read anything by Hemingway? Which book is your favorite and why? 

Thank you for reading my blog. 

Hello!

And happy Friday. I love my new routine of getting up early. The day seems so much longer and I get so much more done. Naturally, I don’t stay up that late anymore and my sleep is better. These past days flew by extremely fast again. My husband and I are glad and happy to see our son grow up together. It is good to be together. I love how petit Joel speaks so well, loves his books and makes sure he let’s us know what he wants. The fact that he is into books is great. He is constantly surrounded by my books and sees us reading and he brings his own book and sits next to us to ‘read’. Besides all this awesomeness, the sun is shining and it is getting warmer. Spring-Feelings! Read on what I have been up to during the week. 

Reading: Currently I am reading One Hundred Shades of White by Preethi Nair and I am loving it. It is well written and gives insight on the life of an Indian family’s traditions and values. I recommend it and will share a full review soon.  I also subscribed to The New York Times and read the newspaper daily. I used to buy a copy almost daily in the US and it feels good to have a bit of New York back. Back to my daily New York City fix. 

Watching: I watched the movie Still Alice which made me reflect and think about my life for quite a while. Julianne Moore (love her) is a linguistic professor at Columbia University. She forgets words initially. Simple words. Then she starts getting lost when jogging around campus. She sees a doctor and gets the shocking diagnosis of early Alzheimer’s disease. She is only fifty years old when diagnosed and hangs on her life and her normal self for as long as possible. What was so shocking and sad for me is this struggle the faced. There is no way back, the disease is getting worse and worse and it was heartbreaking to observe her family who can only watch her mother disappear every single day. Great movie but not an easy one. 

My husband and I watched Twelve Angry Men, the 1957 version. An inner-city teenager is accused of murder. The twelve jurors are discussing the closing arguments of this murder-trial and trying to reach a decision by unanimously voting. Eleven jurors vote guilty. One juror (Henry Fonda) votes not guilty. The arguments that follow made us glue to the screen the entire time. I highly recommend this movie. Acting at its best! 

Enjoying: My brother and his girlfriend are touching home base today. Awesome. Cannot wait to see both and spend some quality time talking, laughing, eating and drinking with them. Family is the best ever! 

Listening to: the Modern Love Podcast. It is really well done. The latest podcast ‘Not so Simple Math’ is amazing, made me think and wipe away a tear or two. Also, I am listing over and over to this great remix of ‘Say, Say, Say’ of Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney. This song is literally on ‘repeat-one’! Great find! [patting myself on the shoulder]

Trying: Laugh- Mediation for the first time. This was so so cool. After laughing so hard that I cried I felt strangely relieved of something I cannot explain. Just really good and happy. Discovering something new and loving it is awesome. I also attended a 5 Elements Cooking Class which was interesting. 

Thank you for reading my blog and have a good Weekend.