Get Outta My Head!

Here's proof that listening to the radio at work can be very educational: I learned something new today. There is also a high possibility that I forgot I am a woman who can multitask while I was gaining this very helpful piece of quizshow knowledge, but that is beside the point. Here's what's important: When I'm in one of those huge payout quiz shows next time (which we all know will happen as soon as those TV people realize how very attractive I would be on TV) and the host asks,

"Well, Ellen R Ashard, would you please explain to us why instrumental pieces are less likely to be stuck in your head than any music with lyrics?"

I will look up to the heavens - pretending to thank a higher being for such an easy question (you wanna appeal to the conservative crowd, too, ya know! Who knows when I have to go through immigrations at an US-airport next time). Then I will calmly say,

"But of course, [insert host's first name here], the problem with lyrics is that your brain can visualize them. That means it'll try to repeat and complete a song you've just stopped listening to (in many a case by smashing the radio in tiny little pieces, because you just. could. not. take it. anymore!) The best solution often seems to be a rusty nail driven right into your brain. Instrumental pieces are less likely to be stuck in your head, because they obviously lack lyrics."

See how much you can learn just by listening to the radio? Aren't you glad I don't watch the Discovery Channel at work?

You fully deserve to ask out loud that question which has been bothering you once more: WTF is her point? There truly is one! I myself have suffered from my overactive brain's attempts to happily sing one and the same song for about 5 Million hours straight over the weekend: Winter Wonderland!

Now that you've read all this hoping for an actual point to this, you deserve a reward. Here's two reasons for me liking the place I come from:

My kingdom for some caffeine!

Up until I was 24, I preferred tea to coffee. Sure, during my aupair year, what my hostfamily (and many other Americans) called coffee helped me survive the hours around noon when the baby was sleeping, but I wasn't supposed to sleep. Then I started college and suddenly tea was en vogue again. Along came the cigarettes. Nicotine and caffeine don't really play nicely together in this body of mine. Toward the end of that good old time in college, when my Master's Thesis was looming, Nicotine started playing a supporting role again. As was tea. Well, tea started to be more like an extra - if you wanna stay in movie terminology.

Coffee is now my religion (Nicotine has long gone bye-bye)! In my later semesters it already played a role if I had to survive early classes (which would be classes starting around 10 am). It was some kind of professor/students bonding ritual. Everyone met at the coffee shop, barely able to grunt at each other (an acceptable morning greeting within the academia), bought a coffee-to-go and walked to class together in silence. After the first 5 to 10 sips, the world was a happier place and so was class. The Latte Macchiato guy and the Cappuccino girl could happily co-exist. If that isn't an ideal world, I don't know what is.

So coffee got big. Huge, in fact. See, I'm a night owl. I work best at night when everything around me is quiet and when there's just crap on TV. Procrastination is much harder then. My neighbors would throw a fit if I started cleaning the bathroom at 3 am. That means I'll get some work done. It also means I wrote my entire Master's Thesis at night. I did my research in the afternoon. I started writing around 8 pm and I went to bed around 7 am. The thesis wasn't a masterpiece, I admit. BUT .... it would have been worse without that daily - or rather nightly - dosage of caffeine.

As I was saying; While coffee began sneaking into my life as soon as I went off into the big world - living 4000 Miles away from Mommy's cocoa, it turned into a necessity with the research nightmare that was my thesis.

The Master's Thesis was finished a while ago, the grades are in, the exams were written ... what stays is my caffeine addiction and the coffee stains allover the carpet around my computer. I can't make myself getting rid of that rug. Is it bad that I feel an emotional attachment to coffee stains?

Well, - and this is for Ashley, one of my two non-imaginary readers, who also seems to like coffee (although at a much earlier age than I did :) ) - I found the perfect gifts for people like us: You can actually buy stuff with a caffeine molecule on it. I want this! If anyone ever needs a gift for me: Buy This! If I have to use my subliminal affirmation skills on this blog - so be it! I want one of those caffeine molecule things! And don't call me a geek!

Ferris Bueller - You're My Hero!

I've been hyperventilating all day. Ever since I found out that there's a Special Edition Ferris Bueller's Day Off DVD out, actually.

And here's the historical background: Soon after the Wall came down, we got an old VCR. Anyone remember Betamax, the video format which lost the battle with VHS? This VCR still used Beta tapes. It came with a couple of movies - one of which was Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I loved it! I was 11 years old and I just loved this movie. It should probably have been the first clue for my Mom that her child would turn into a serious movie-holic and unbearable movie-watching companion. She never watched the movie that played part in her daughter's tumble towards Media Studies. She had no idea!

Now, I won't be able to function properly until I get my hands on a Ferris Bueller's Day Off Special Edition DVD.... Wonder whether they sell them here.

Oh, and Clare, there's not a chance in hell I will ever post pics of my cat. He has a No Picture Clause in his contract! Damn Diva!

Back on the Nautilus - Let Me Go, Jules!

Alright, so I admit that I've always been a bookworm and a geek. Not my fault that my dad had all these shelves full of books I didn't fully understand but still loved to read. Jules Verne's books were among them. However, although I did read most of the "classics" by that French guy, I never actually enjoyed them as much as other people did. Don't know why. I just never understood the appeal of the Nautilus...

Fast Forward 17 years: I think I have a fatal addiction to Jules Verne novels. Having an advanced degree in American Studies didn't actually get me closer to loving the works of French authors. Neither did Communications or Theatre Arts. All those years in college never gave me a chance to read many novels by authors of nationalities other than US-American, Canadian or maybe British: Hell, I hardly got to read novels in my native language. I'm still not reading enough stuff like that. But I'm re-reading all my Jules Verne novels. Not in French, mind you! (I'd like to, but I will not pretend I'd understand enough of it) I do read the German translation. And here's the mystery of all this:

I actually enjoy 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and all the other geeky works.

Why, Jules, why?
What I'm wondering: Am I just getting old as I now seem to get the appeal of it all or am I having a relapse of pre-teen adventure-loving escapism? I'm confused!

Working, Booze, and Afternoon Naps

I have to get up in 5 hours. Today was my first day of work in the new year. I was not even capable of making myself coffee in the morning. Zombies do not drink coffee! (I have never seen any zombie film in which the undeads' first urge was to go and make coffee)

The boss gave us alcohol at work! I am not sure whether he thinks that makes us more productive, but it seems to be a normal thing on the first work day of the year. I know that tradition from college. Only that it was the last day of the year then ... And maybe also all days of the last months. But let's not talk about that!

Coming home from work, I really needed a nap. Am I the only one who considers 180 minutes to be "about half an hour"?

The cat slept on my back the whole time only to scratch me when I got up. I am considering boot camp for that pet.