Via reddit: “The Roast Beef Decision-Making Flowchart”.

Simply priceless.

Blatantly stolen from an acquaintance:

Roses are red
violets are blue
In communist russia
poems write you

I have nothing against Valentine’s Day. You can argue its commercialization, but that’s the case for virtually any major holiday, so it’s not an argument for this one in particular, and your target ought to be retail and media, not those who celebrate. What you cannot argue is that love is a beautiful thing, and those who have it would be silly not to relish their bliss.

For the single and looking persons among us: keep up the spirit.
For the happy couples: more power to you.

Me, I don’t know. But I do know that the crazy turns my life has taken the recent years have been utterly inexplicable and unpredictable, and thus, I won’t have the audacity to think that I’ll never find my luck, for indeed, stranger things have happened.

amon wrote a bunch of predictions.

Well, folks, it is December 31st, and another year comes to its end.

Perhaps it was as unique to you as it was to me. In good ways, in bad ways, in expected and in some entirely unexpected ways. We all probably have learnt some, gained some, lost some and forgotten some. But what we hopefully haven’t lost, nor forgotten, is the value of life.

Perhaps you’ll launch fireworks, as is customary in Germany on this day. Perhaps you’ll silently reminisce and reflect, as I might. Or perhaps you’ll just take this as an opportunity to feast, to get drunk, to watch movies and have senseless smalltalk you won’t remember in the morning.

Whatever it is, continue reading my blog in 2007have a great time, and stay true to yourself!

(Oh, and hahr rahm gah shoraht!)

For us northern hemisphere folks, today marks winter solstice, i.e. the “shortest day / longest night” of the year. Effectively, that also makes today probably one of the coldest days. Apparently, for whatever crazy reason, my brain thought that would be a great opportunity to celebrate.

Three hours ago, I went and took the empty box of water bottles in order to replace it with a full one in the garage. A key (or, technically, two) would be helpful in this endeavor: the garage is typically closed at 6 AM in the morning, and the house’s front door might slam shut on its own from the wind or for whatever other reason.

I almost always carry my keychain with me (as well as my wallet and, depending on the situation, kleenexes and/or my iPod mini), even while inside the house, but there’s the odd case here and there where I take it out of my pants, or where it has fallen out. This was one of those odd cases — but the moment I realized it was, in fact, the moment the front door did slam shut. I don’t even quite remember why; a flurry of wind or such.

In other words, at about 6.15 AM, on one of the coldest days of the year, I was locked out of my house, carrying a box of twelve empty water bottles. Neither of the garage doors and none of the three doors to the house were open, and barely anyone was awake. Luckily, I was wearing a sweater, but not exactly a particularly winter-proof one. My socks weren’t that thick either, and I only had slippers on. I briefly contemplated taking the bike (which is underneath a small porch behind the garage, i.e. it was one of the few things I actually had access to) and going on a trip, which if anything would at least have let me warm up a little, but without proper shoes, it wouldn’t have been too thrilling either (and, indeed, a bit risky).

About half an hour later, Gerda, my stepmother, would typically be up. It took me until about 7 to realize that, it being just two days before Christmas Eve, she would likely not have work today, and neither would my stepbrother or my father. By 7.15, I rang the doorbell, to no avail.

By 7.45, I tried again; this time, Gerda got up and looked out the window — but she couldn’t see me, for I was below the angle the window would allow for, nor could she see a car or any other such vehicle. I did, however, hear her, made a few steps back and shouted her name, just as she was ready to go back to sleep.

At that time, I had been out in the cold for almost exactly one and a half hours, and it’s not quite the kind of experience I wish to repeat. If it hadn’t been for the temperature, I actually wouldn’t have minded that much at all; the fresh air allowed me to ponder thoughts I far too often push aside. Perhaps it is for my own falsely strong sense of morals that I didn’t ring the doorbell right from the start, and in a more annoying manner, as to prevent myself from catching a cold. But it was, after all, my mistake, and a bit of a lesson to learn — far too often, the brain makes assumptions (e.g., “you certainly have a keychain with you”) because they tend to ring true most of the time, but aren’t when you least expect it.

It was, of course (or embarrassingly so?), not the first time that I locked myself out like this, though as far as I can remember, this typically happened under more enjoyable weather conditions. After letting me in, Gerda shared with me a similar experience of hers, where she wound up taking a long ladder in order to climb up directly to the bedroom’s window, knocking on it, to awaken and startle her husband.

Ah, the random moments of life.