The Eye App

What would we do without our iPhone or smartphone? We use this not only to text or telephone. It was invented for that, mostly to call someone wherever you are. Just a mobile telephone. But nowadays we use it to take pictures, make videos, surf the internet or listen to music. With the smartphone a new generation of telephones started. You can download applications that help you in everyday life.

Some years ago you used to read books, had a map in your car and lots of recipe books in your kitchen. Now there is an app for all of these things. You can also write your shopping list, look for the next grocery store, book hotel rooms, use a flashligth and so on. So we have everything in one device. But what do we do without it? What is when it’s broken?

I had one girl in my class some years ago, who took her smartphones (she had two) everywhere she went, even under the shower. I think this is a huge addiction and luckily I am not one of that kind. I can go out without my smartphone – I don’t do it very often, but I have no problem with that. I mostly use it for calling someone, I also play some games while sitting on a train to college. I also have to admit that I like the navigation system, and that I sometimes listen to music.

Which apps do we really need and which are unnecessary?

But for the last thing I still prefer my mp3 player, I don’t like reading a book on a screen, and I don’t surf the internet – only sometimes for checking my mails. There are apps for everything now. I still wait until it is replacing something what we can’t imagine of – like our eyes. But I think my waiting's over now. And no, I am not talking about Google Glasses – the glasses which Google filled with lots of apps and presented this week. No, the app I mean does already exist – in some way.

Last week I listened to a discussion on a German radio station about concerts and what most people firstly do there: take their smartphones and start filming. The whole time, they film the concert and do not get any of the atmosphere. Later they put it on youtube – and when they watch and share the video, they firstly see what has happened. So they don’t see it with their own eyes, they see it with the camera of their phone. But in my mind, that’s not what I wanna have when I go to a concert. I wanna feel the atmosphere because this is unique and can’t be filmed. If I wanna see a bad quality video with also not that good sound, I can save the money for the concert and watch a video of someone else. So I really ask myself why it is so important for some guys to put everything on their phone. Just for a few clicks on youtube? Sometimes it is better to save some moments 'only' in your memory, your brain has more capacity than your phone and it can’t be broken that easily.

Would you film a concert or show you go to? What do you use your smartphone for? Do you think some people can live without it? Do you also use the ‘eye app’?

Project #1

As I already mentioned yesterday I have finished my first English script. I don’t wanna make any money with it, I just wanna share it with you. It’s my first one and so I know it’s far away from perfection. So please, if you know how to improve my writing and what to do better the next time, write me. Of course you can also write me when you like something.

It is pure fiction with some science. As you might know The Big Bang Theory inspired me in so many ways, and when it came into my life last year, it helped me to find back to the writing. So I thought what might could happen to these guys during a break on set.

I do not know any of them personally, so it’s just the names of the guys I have used. Everything they say and do isn’t real and it will never happen like that. It’s not a story pitching, because I don’t wanna get in trouble with any of the guys. The story doesn’t include the characters of the show, it’s more related to the actors. I don’t know if they would really act like that, and I don’t wanna put someone in a bad light. Some scenes might sound a bit silly, but it’s only because it’s supposed to be a little bit comic. It will never be part of the show, but that is not my intention. It is just for you to read – no further publishing, no selling - only if someone is interested in.

The story will have 22 parts. On every workday of July I will publish one part of the story. When July has passed I will save the whole story as a pdf-file and if you wanna have the full story, you can ask me then.

So the story will start on Monday, and I really hope you like it – even though you don’t like the Big Bang Theory.

- Additionally I will also go on writing about some other topics like usually.

Everything can be repaired

I don’t know how it is in America but in Germany we have lots of graffiti on so many walls and buildings. They’re mostly in the bigger cities like Berlin, but you can also see some in Karlsruhe – which is also big but not like the German capital. Some guys say the graffiti’s ugly, that it ruins everything. But there are also people who actually like it. They see it as art.

Some use the painting to show what they think. This can be about something political or a picture of a star or whatever. Sometimes it’s only a word, or an expression. These artists don’t see themselves as destroyers, they have to say something and see this as the only way to be heard/seen. You can’t miss the graffiti when it’s near a station, lots of people go to work by train every day. The more often they see it, the more they think about it. If they like it or not doesn’t matter, as long as they think about it. When there’s a discussion about graffiti on TV, they get more attention, more people to see their work. And like every artist, they’re proud of that.

But there are also some guys who do this only to provoke other people. To write bad things about someone or want to blame someone for something. This is a misuse of the graffiti and the real artists don’t want to get in touch with them. Those graffitis get more and more and maybe that’s why some people think graffiti destroys everything. Then people like Irmela Mensah-Schramm are asked. She is a freelancer and gave herself the job to clean the public places. When she sees some graffiti or carved words on a bench, she does everything to clean it. Unbelievable that she got in trouble with the police not just once because of this. For destroying! Unbelievable, isn’t it? So what do the people want? They don’t want anything with some words and graphics on, but they also don’t want someone to clean it for free.

I really like the sentence she once said in a video I watched about her:

Everything can be repaired, except the hurt human dignity.

So she is against these people who want to blame others, who really destroy things. It’s not on what they write, but what they write and how they write it. That’s a difference. So by cleaning the benches and walls and fences, less people can see and be hurt because of what’s written. I appreciate that Mensah-Schramm takes her time and does that cleaning. Before I found that German video coincidentally I did’t know that there are people who actually do this – and without being paid. This is another video I found about her, because of its English subtitles I chose that one to post here. But the other video can also be found on youtube. Just ask me when you want the link.

How do you think about it? Do you like graffiti? What do you think about Irmela Mensah-Schramm?

Infinite Eternity

What if there would be a place where everything is so much slower? People would easily become 300 years or even older. The youth would be endlessly, or at least feel to be like that. When you could get older, but only by age. Would you like that? Would you like to go to that place?

When I read a magazine, or watch TV, I mostly see such beautiful and young people. It seems like only they are interesting. But what about the older ones? They are important, too. Commercials make us think that we all have to be young or look like that. So maybe some of you would say that they would love to go to that place. But I think we look the way we feel.

Sometimes I think back to my childhood, and sometimes I think how great it would be to go back. But my childhood is gone, not completely as I still have some wonderful memories, and I also think there is nothing bad about being some kinda childish sometimes, like playing games and stuff like that. In my mind we have to go on, we have to live our life. I wouldn’t want to stand still. And can you imagine a world in which are only young people and you can’t see how old he or she is?

I enjoyed watching the movie “In time” with Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. In that movie no one can become older than 25, then their clock starts ticking. They work to get more time and also have to pay things with their time which is always shown on their lower arm. This would totally freak me out, because I would always watch how much time I have. So it’s better I don’t know that exactly.

Last week was the first time I watched a whole Star Trek movie which was about a place in which everything happens so much slower than somewhere else. You have more time to live. But do you then appreciate your life more? When you know it’s endlessly? Wouldn’t you be bored sometimes or take your life for granted? You would just live every single day, like your time on your arm would show hundreds of years.

Life has so much to give, so much to offer. We should take the opportunity when we recognize it. Every single moment can be something special. We don’t need hundreds of years to see the beauty of life. It’s not the amount of years we collect, it’s what we make with the very few we get. And then, at least this moment, can feel for us like being forever.

Be strong

When you're in your darkest hour and all of the lights just fade away. When you're like a single flower whose colors have turned to shades of grey, well hang on and be strong.

Some years ago I thought that cancer is the end of life and only older people can get it. Now, I know, that it’s not true. One of my fave singers, the australian Delta Goodrem, got cancer when she was 19. That is a very young age. I was totally shocked after I read about it. She’s not much older than I am, maybe that’s why I was concerned with her even more. My grandpa died because of cancer, as well as my grandma. So I thought that this disease will certainly cause death.

But Delta fought and she believed and she won. She is still alive and healthy again. She said in an interview that this experience had changed her and her life completely. She appreciates everything even more than before, she goes to the doctor’s regularly, doesn’t drink that much and if she does, not in large quantities.

In December 2010 a German boy named Samuel Koch was on the German TV show “Wetten, dass..?” (which means “bet that”). The show is one of the most popular and successful shows in Germany, in which everyone can bet whatever he/she wants and prove it on the show. His bet was to jump with special jumping stilts over a car, that was moving towards him. Never had anything happened, he did it several times, but on the show he fell over the car and was lying on the floor afterwards. His father was the driver and so probably more shocked than if he would have ‘only’ watched this accident.

Now Koch can’t move, he is paraplegic since then. In an interview some weeks ago, he told that it wasn’t the accident but the surgeries after the accident which caused that he now needs help for everything. He said that in life, no matter what you do, you could never be certain that nothing at all will happen to you. You could stay at home and you can fall from a ladder. You could cross a street and a car hit you. Sometimes you have to risk something.

He now needs help for even the simplest things like brushing his teeth, putting his clothes on or eating something. Things that are normally for us to be done without anyone’s help. For him this is even harder because he always did some sports, and now he's unable to move. He can only move this head, but that's not that easy. He wrote a book about what happened and that this all changed his life completely. He is only 24 - so in my age, that’s why I feel so much more with him.

It doesn’t depend on your age, when and if you get a disease. He still prays every day, believes in God. He often ponders and asks himself why God chose him, that this happened to him. But Koch is not mad in any way, he never stopped believing in a miracle. Goodrem is the perfect proof that such miracles can come true. Her faith helped her to defeat cancer. In her song “Be strong” she sings about it. I still hope for Samuel Koch that he will have such a miracle, too, that he will do the best with his life, because nothing that will happen to someone, makes this life worthless. Keep praying, keep believing, never give up and be strong.

Good behavior exclusive

So often that I heard, mostly older people, say that the young guys aren’t that kind and friendly anymore. I hear many of them say that we don’t say yes and please and thank you. That we aren’t polite, don't open doors or let the older sit on our seat on the train or bus.
But do we have changed so much? Were the ones who are now complaining about us so much differently? I can’t imagine that. Things were different back then. I think their parents said to them that they should give them more respect, that they have to know how to behave. Maybe some decades ago the parents were more focused on their children’s good behavior than they are now – not all of them, of course.

source: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I know some parents who place their kids in front of the TV, giving them some sweets and then leave the room or even the house. They don’t do anything, so they think that they can’t be blamed for their kids’ bad education in behavior because they haven’t done anything (wrong). My aunt has two foster children and the parents of them acted that way. I would never allege all parents are like that. But in my mind blaming the teachers and what’s on TV for the bad education on their kids isn’t the right way.

We also have some classes in college about how to behave. Some of you might know that I study Media Management, and as a future manager I should know some rules like how to eat correctly, how to greet someone in the correct way and stuff like that. Most of the things I already know and at the beginning I thought this would be senseless. My parents taught me a lot about how to speak to people who are older than me, that I should not talk when someone else does and that I always look into the eyes of the one I am talking to. But I also learned in that class in which order to use the cutlery on a multicourse dinner, what topics you should talk about during a dinner meeting and what to do in various situations like when you need to go to the restrooms.

It helped me a lot, and I know in the future classes I will learn more because we never know everything. And of course some things can be excused, but as you wanted to be treated politely, you want to do the same to others. You can’t know everything from the beginning – you have to learn it and you need someone who explains you how it works.

Do you think that the young guys nowadays are less polite than some years or decades ago? Do you think that only teachers can be blamed for that? I think it is important how to interact correctly with other people because I am like a mirror: I reflect what others show me. I guess everyone is a bit like that. Am I right?

What's the No 1 on your wish list?

“Soon it’s your birthday, my dear, so tell me what are your wishes?”

You probably have heard this sentence or something like that when someone asked you for your wishes. People around us are caring, and some are asking because they want us to be happy, they don’t want to buy something we already have or don’t know what to do with. Using the new media makes this even easier because we can write wish lists, e.g. on Amazon, and send this via email to all our friends and relatives and they can choose what they wanna give us.

But are all the wishes we have price tagged? What about to keep well and fit? As well as our family and friends? Do we take healthy for granted or can we wish for something that remains the same? Can we only wish for something we don’t have?

You probably think now, when someone asks you for your wishes he or she wants to buy something so you send her or him your wish list or tell them. They might look confused if you say “I wanna be forever healthy”, or anything like that. But it is a wish and they asked for one. In our life everything is about money and the value of something. But the things that are really necessary in our life, can’t be bought with any money.

Take a minute or some more and think about your priceless wish list. What do you wish for? Only monetary things? I guess not. The biggest wish everyone has is also mine: liberty. We all want to be free, not just the Americans. If we don’t have freedom, well, that would be another blog entry.

My priceless wish list

1. liberty
2. my family and friends keep well and fit
3. I keep well and fit
4. my family and friends stay with me
5. no fight between my family members (including or excluding me)
6. trust and loyalty between me, my family and friends
7. go on enjoying my life
8. successfully helping my friends/family whenever they need me
9. being accepted and respected, not only tolerated
10. being heard
11. having the chance to live my life and make my own decisions
12. meeting and chatting with lots of different people all over the world
13. finding love instead of hate
14. discovering me and my truth about at least my life
15. making fascinating experiences

The Einstein Approximation Sequel

Do you know that when you try to figure out something and therefore you can’t sleep? You always think about the same, the whole time, over and over again? Or you think about the dream you had the night before? Sometimes it is just a name or any sort of irrelevancy that don’t wanna come into your mind.

I had this not only once. I walked into my room, and before I did that, I knew exactly what I wanted to do, but in the room I had no clue. I thought and thought and thought but couldn’t remember. Or I made a crossword puzzle and the correct answer was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t say it. Do you know what I mean?  Or I tried to understand a simple equation like in maths. Or I wrote a word, the computer “said” it’s wrong and I looked and looked at it but couldn't find the mistake. And then someone came, and without thinking, solving the equation, writing the word correctly on which I was thinking about for such a long time. And he or she solved that in a blink of an eye and I thought: why haven't I figured it out?

I found this on the internet. When I read that kindergarten children can do this easily but a professor can’t, my first thought was that this is impossible. In fact, I have to say, I hadn’t figured it out when I first saw it. I thought about it, but couldn’t find the logic. Maybe we have learned too much, think too abstract, I don’t know. Here is it, maybe you find the right solution. Think about it and please write me your solution. I finally figured it out and so know its logic now ;)

click on the picture to enlarge it

Life's a play

After months on the run, every city becomes a blur. Every disguise takes you one step away from your true self. Finally, you forget who you are. But you never forget who you’re after. And so it begins. 

This was the start of a commercial series, made for Hilary Duff’s clothing line FEMME for DKNY Jeans. This was about three years ago, but I watched it again yesterday, and I still like it. It is a story, something extraordinary. You see this, and the last thing you think about is: this is a commercial, isn’t it? On the website Hilary wrote that with the different characters she played in the seven parts of this mini-series (the vid on my blog is only the first part, the others can be found on youtube), she wanted to showcase the versatility of every woman (Femme is the french word for woman).

It’s a chase. In the last part we saw two cops, who wanted to chase her all the time. In the end, they are really close to her, but did they get her? Well, just watch it and see.

I also like the fact, that we all sometimes feel like being on the run. That someone wants to chase us, but we don’t wanna let that happen. So we change our clothes, try to make an illusion, that no one can find us, no one can unravel our mystery. We wanna stay a mystery, because we wanna be interesting. But the more we disguise, the more we try to hide and pretend to be someone else, we lose ourselves. Life is a play. No curtain falls, but lots of guys are in the audience watching us. Everytime and everywhere. We are the protagonist of our own play. No rehearsals.

Of course it makes fun to be someone else, but only sometimes. When I watched the German musical ‘Linie 1’ in 2008, which is by the way one of the most successful and most performed German theater plays which was also enacted in cities like New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Kalkutta, London and Paris, I still remember one line of it:

Everyone is an actor, but only a very few know that.

It’s on you to think about that. I only wanna add that we don’t have to showcase everything to everyone. Acting is a good thing, but when we are too good and forget who we are, it’s really bad. Everyone has so many different sides and everyone should explore and change and stay curious, but also always find back to himself or herself. That at least you know who you really are.

PS: If you wanna know more about ‘Linie 1’ or Hilary’s clothing line, just write me.

A small big thing

Have you seen the transit of Venus yesterday? I have to admit that I have forgotten it. Read about it in the newspaper last Saturday, but anyway, I missed it. Today on the internet I found an article about it, I guess it’s from Austria. There I have also found these incredible pictures.

taken by the NASA

the Venus passed between Sun and Earth

The Venus orbits the Sun in 225 days on Earth. The last transit was in 2004, and the next will be in December 2117 – so I guess none of us will see this. It’s like a once in a lifetime experience. Like the solar eclipse in 1999. I remembered that everyone bought such special glasses, that it was in the media all the time, and that for a short moment the day turned into night.

This time it was ‘only’ the Venus which passed between the Sun and the Earth, but I love these natural spectacles. It shows us that we are only very small in a very big universe. Because of the great distance we saw the Venus as such a small thing, arousing such big interest, not just for the NASA.

Image source: http://diepresse.com/home/panorama/welt/763566/Venustransit_Ein-kleiner-Punkt-mit-grosser-Aufmerksamkeit?gal=763566&index=1&direct=&_vl_backlink=&popup=

Wanna know more? http://www.transitofvenus.org/

My best friend’s a rabbit… and imaginary

Who had never had at least once an imaginary friend? Is this one of the geeky things on us? I guess I hadn’t just one – I had lots of imaginary friends. When you become older, you find out that is better not to have such friends. Otherwise someone will take you to a shrink, or directly into a mental institution. And you also know, that having real friends to talk to is even better.

Anyway, having an imaginary friend can sometimes help and encourage you. If you have something on your mind, but you don’t wanna talk about it to anyone, you can think about someone. No matter who this person is, if it’s someone you know, any star or just someone completely created in your mind, it can help you. You can talk to him or her, feel better afterwards and maybe you also think what she would answer you and so get another point of view. I don’t think that anything is wrong with that, maybe because I do it sometimes. Just when no one is around, or I am not sure how or even if I should tell to someone real.

But why a rabbit? We know the Easter bunny. We know that rabbits are smart and fast. And they are also symbols of birth, a new beginning. A rabbit seems to be loyal and frankly. He is clever, and so gives useful advices when you have a problem. This might help you to get a new start, or a new point of view on something.

Today is the offical start of Harvey on New York Broadway. When I read the first time about it, and I haven’t seen it so far, I thought this is really interesting. An imaginary friend, that no one else can see, and his ‘inventor’ is such a warm and friendly person who wants to connect with everyone. I would really love to see this. The story is wonderful and I guess also Jim will do an awesome job. I like seeing him in other roles than Sheldon, and live on stage would be extra special. But as a student I’m probably richer of knowledge than of money…ha, joke, would be great if it really would be like that. No, but I also have soon my exams I have to work for, and such a trip to NYC is simply impossible now. But I am happy for everyone who’ll get the chance to see this wonderful play.

Save you

Everytime I listen to the song 'Save you' by Kelly Clarkson, I have this short movie in my mind, like a music video. I don't know if she really means what I see in it. It's really touching, I like that song. Maybe I will tape the vid one day, but for now I thought I write at least some lines about it. I dedicate this to everyone who once lost a loved person. I had lost so many family members in a short period of time. First died my grandpa, then my two grandmas. My friends went to weddings and I to funerals. I hated that time. Especially when you are a kid, you can't understand why. I still can't, and I still miss them. But I believe that true love can even survive death, because love is immortal.


When I heard that song again yesterday, the vid came back into my mind. It's about a girl who is mortally ill, but she doesn't want to tell her boyfriend because she doesn't want him to suffer and to be sad. But he cares about her because he loves her so much, and so he figured it out. And this is like a letter, the things she wanna say to her love:

Save you

I wish I could save you. I wish I could stay, but you know that I can’t. I never wanted to leave you. And I want you to know, I will never leave you completely. I will always follow you, no matter where you go. I didn’t want to tell you that I have to go, because I never wanted to hurt you. But since you figured it out, I feel something has changed.

I wish I could save you, honey. I wish I could take all the pain away from you. I don’t wanna see you suffering, I don’t wanna see your tears. I need you to smile. I wish I could tell you, it’s gonna be alright. I wish I could ease your pain. But I know that I can’t. I will forever be with you, forever by your side.

Please stop crying, honey, I don’t wanna cry. I want you to smile, I want you to go on for me. I hope you’ll never forget me, as I will never forget you. You’ve been the greatest and best, that ever happened to me. You made me alive. Please understand, that I have to leave. I would love to stay, so please just never forget me.

I will go on living inside of you. Stop crying, smile for me. Just one last time. I wish I could save you, I wish I could say that it’s gonna be alright. I wish I could ease your pain. I love to see your smile, I love to see you being happy. I still love you and forever will.

Nothing’s more adorable than kids

Kids are really cute. They have such an imagination, simple incredible. When my aunt called me a few days ago and told me about her foster daughter Isa, I didn’t just had a lil smile on my face. My aunt told me that she was driving on the interstate with her hubby and the kids as the radio announcer talked something about a ghost driver. Isa heard that and asked: since when can ghosts drive cars? In that moment my aunt told me this, I felt like I needed to hug Isa for that. Have I also been so cute at that age?

Her brother Max is at least as cute as Isa. He is one of those 7-year old boys who can’t imagine playing with something non-technological. The last time he visited me, he asked me to use my smartphone, my computer, or my Nintendo DS. We had a conversation like this:

Me: You won’t like the games I have. 

Max: I don’t think so. I like them. 

Me: But you don’t know which games I have. 

Max: I don’t mind. I’ll like them anyway. 

Me: What makes you so sure about that? 

Max: I can play my games all the time, I wanna play something else.

I tried to convince him to play hide and seek or something like that with his sister, but he didn’t want to. Honestly I am not such a fan of giving such young guys already a computer or smartphone. A DS okay, but not all the time. When I remember back when I was a child, which is only about 15 years ago, I only had a simple Game boy, and that’s it. But I don’t wanna complain, because I really loved my dolls the most, and spent the most time with them and meeting my bestie.

But why I think that Max is at least as cute as his sister, is because of all these gadgets. This lets him think differently about things. We can’t think about them like that, because we know how life was like without it. When he once asked me a question, with which I finish this blog entry, I was totally confused. This shows how much the technology is already in the mind of kids. They take it for granted, it’s normal and they can’t imagine life without it. I couldn’t have thought about such a question. And even though it’s a bit sad, it’s also funny and creative.

When you had no computer, how have you used the internet?

Obvious isn't obvious

An accident had happened right next to you. What are you supposed to do? You are in a shock. You wanna run away but for some reason you can’t. Your feet feel heavy like lead. You can’t move. Later the police will arrive and ask you what had happened. What will you tell them? Have you seen anything? No, you came too late. Do you even remember anything of the accident?

Another situation which is not that dramatic, and so more possible: The teacher stands in front of the class, gives everyone a topic to write an essay on. You all have the same thing to write about, but will you write all the same? Hopefully not. You won’t use the same words, won’t write the same sentences. So it is the same with the accident. Two people have seen the same, but haven’t.




We all focus on other things. We find other things interesting and necessary. And that’s good. I mean imagine a world in which everyone thinks and likes the same things. There wouldn’t be a wide range of things in the world. We all would be equal and wouldn’t have a chance to get in touch with new things. We can’t see it in a different view, and no one has to convince us about anything. We can’t find anything new because there is no ‘new’. We don’t even have to meet new people because they are exactly like we are. They like the same things, they have the same clothes, they like the same music and watch the same movies.

So even when you think, that something you see is obvious, that everyone sees it like that, you are wrong. Nothing in our world is obvious. Maybe for us, but not for all of us. Luckily we are all different. That obvious isn’t obvious is obvious for me, but was it also obvious for you, before you read that blog entry?

Next day, next month, next chapter

Welcome June, I hope everyone of you had a wonderful year of 2012 so far. I honestly can't believe that 5 months have already passed. Back as a kid, I remember times were passing so much slower. At least, it felt for me like that. Maybe because you just lived for every single day. Now you have work to do, things that need to be written by a specific day at the latest and stuff like that. I guess you all know what I mean.

This time, I keep it very short. I finally put some info about me on that page, that you all can read and know more about me and my work. I will also soon add some pics of me, to make my page more personal.

If you wanna ask me something and/or wanna give me some feedback, please feel free to do that.

Thanks for taking some of your precious time to stop by. I wish you all a wonderful Friday.