Watched ‘The Avengers’ today. Learned something. Loved it.

So, Avengers is quite a good movie I must say.
It helped me finally understand the underlying metaphysical concept of superheroes, which in turn lead to some anthropological revelations. Keeping those in mind, I sorted the superhero movies sprouting up over the past few years into a timeline and compared it to the timeline of global political and economic events, followed by an analysis of similar times in recent and human history when similar concepts of folklore were popular; and I completely understood why this crap is so successful again these days – why we all desperately need to watch superhero movies.

Using my findings I could lean back and enjoy the concepts and messages in the film exactly the way they are subconsciously intended to work. Having never really been a fan of what I regarded as fantastic superficialities, it really was a 180 degree turn in how I look at and appreciate it.

So, bottom line, I liked that movie a lot.

Also, I think Captain America’s haircut is awesome.

P.S.: I’m not a nerd. My mother had me tested.

Gym stuff, health stuff, fast food stuff

So every time the gym hires a new trainer (which is about every two months) I get one of these babies done for free. It’s called a “Body Composition Analysis” and essentially you stand on two metal sensors and hold two other sensors in  your hands and it literally tells you everything about your body. I am still in awe at how that might work. Aside from the misaligned print this is an amazing machine.

But enough of that.
Essentially, I have lost 2% of my body fat. The rest however seems to have shifted to maintain a nice cushion for any lady who would want to lay her head on my stomach. So when the dude asked me “you have a six-pack right? If the body fat is single digit there is a high chance that you have abs” I could merely admit that it was starting to show. But whatever, it does look like the 85 bucks a month are worthwhile. What is even more important is the conclusion that my parents, teachers, and the media have lied to me. Continuously maintaining Carl’s Jr. as the main source of food intake obviously does not make one fat. Instead, the increase in Basal Metabolic Rate shows an even higher tolerance to the upsize the cute lady always manages to sell me.

Period.

Carl’s Jr. – my secret lover

When I grabbed my dinner at my local watering hole tonight the two counter dudes were smiling wide as they keyed in my order not asking me what I wanted but merely whether they had guessed right. They did, as I had my usual. They shared a look, one of them said “I knew it”, and the other said something to me that left me smirking:

“We all know you here; you are famous sir!”

A few months ago the cute Filipina girl had used “you always get the Super Star, it’s good right?” as an ice breaker to flirt with her regular customer.

When I moved to Serangoon almost seven months ago I moved to a place only 2.5km away from a Carl’s Jr. I had had their food maybe once or twice before, on my visits to California. I remembered it was good, and the two burger chains we have in Germany – McDonald’s and Burger King – were no match for it. But then again McDonald’s is much better in the states, and in general I didn’t have any special feelings for CJ. While settling in in Singapore I frequented places that sold chicken rice or mixed veggie rice at first. I was determined to adjust to the lifestyle of the foreign country I lived in.
Now, people tend to be drawn to food they are familiar with. And that is why after a while I did not get rice and noodles every day, no, instead I started a strange ritual: walking 2.5km every day just to have some “real” food, with carbs and meat and TASTE. I started eating that stuff every day. Burger every day! Things like our parents and Supersize Me have warned all of us from doing that. But what could I do, I was hungry, craving western food and Carl’s Jr. is just way too damn good! Nevertheless, I kept losing weight constantly which continued to astonish me.

For a brief period in November last year I remembered that burgers are bad for your health – or at least are supposed to be bad for your health – and stopped eating Carl’s Jr. every day. A week later I looked at myself in the mirror and realized I had gained weight. I, more as a joke, blamed my weight gain on not having my CJ anymore, and started going again. Sure enough, my body fat decreased. At another occasion I reminisced about trans fats, fats in general, glutamine, artificial flavors etc. in another attempt to get me off my addiction. The result of my considerations however was that Hawker Center food is probably much worse for your health – hawkers are no experts in sanitation (just look at one and you see what I mean), nobody knows who their suppliers for ingredients are, how they store their ingredients and how often they wash their hands. The international food franchise outlet has the A label for sanitation and world-class know-how. So health is not really an argument to go to a dirty, cockroach-infested

Super Star, photo by Carl's Jr.

hawker center instead of Carl’s Jr.
And talk about a balanced diet, yes I have even considered that, you still can’t win the argument. At the hawker center I sometimes go to, I always get the chicken cutlet that comes with fries and ketchup – not very healthy either. At least a good burger has nice fresh bread, salad, tomatoes, cheese and onions on it. Just get Iced Lemon Tea instead of Coke at the drink fountain and who is eating unhealthy? Of course Carl’s Jr. has a burger for when you feel you need something worthy of a real man as well – Bread, bacon, beef, cheese, BBQ sauce. Called  the Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger – the name alone makes me melt. Suck on that, McDonald’s with your line of salads.

Then there is price – towards the end of last month I ran out of money big time. I could simply not buy anything from Carl’s Jr. anymore. Sometimes I treated myself to McDonald’s or Wendy’s. Both sell combos at about 8 dollars, while Carl’s Jr is around 12. But, when you are used to CJ and then open the box of your “Big”-Mac, you know who gives you value for money. The Big Mac, the by name largest thing McDonald’s sells, is just ridiculously small compared to ANY burger at Carl’s Jr. On top of that it tastes like a stack of cardboard with a little, but careful not too much, sauce. And Wendy’s, let’s not talk about that. It is nice around two times in your life, but it quickly wears off and just tastes cheap. So I am back, back to my routine at my local place, and nothing can drag me away from there. And hell yeah I like it.

I think I am getting the hang of it

According to my wingman – who is always right when it comes to Chinese girls – I am over the hump and the worst part is over. That would be just lovely because the past months have been quite exhausting.

What initially happened is that due to a chain of events I managed to score lots of sympathy points with this one special girl.  Of course this has nothing to do with me getting the hang of the original problem, but that happened at the same time.

For months, my wingman kept telling me to play it slow, be patient. “Talk to her a little every day,” he kept saying, “until she is comfortable enough to go out with you.” My western mind didn’t really understand what that meant or how this could possibly lead to positive results though. After all, a few times in the past I played it slow with a girl until someone else snapped her away in front of my eyes. Ever since then I have been trying to forge the iron while it’s hot. But in Asia, many things work differently. In Asia, nobody does one-night stands (at least nobody I have ever met…) which lets me conclude that relationships are taken much more seriously. Only natural that a girl will not make it easy for you then. You have to earn her, even if you are the handsome white guy. You have to earn her, and it’s not easy.
So, while trying to forge the iron while it was hot I kind of burned myself two weeks ago, leading to a cooling in my relations with that particular girl. Apparently my insisting on the date she had practically said yes to threw her off a little, and threw me back a few weeks. I already deemed it the newest addition to my Failbook when last weekend those random events came in motion which brought the game back to my home turf – truly caring for a girl, being helpful, trustworthy and nice. I took her home that night, I took her out the next day, I took her out once again, all because of that little thing I managed to react to accordingly, of course not without big help from my wingman. Bingo.

However, I am still far from truly understanding what goes on inside a Chinese brain, but at least I have been gaining knowledge, experience and a feel for how to handle it. It is going well. And all of a sudden Chinese girls do not seem to be a pain in the ass anymore but rather a big challenge.

What do they do? Well, most of the time they say no. Or maybe, which also means no. Reasons for that may be shyness and misunderstanding. I learned that Asian guys only ask a girl out on a date if they are really serious with her – we Westerners ask a girl out casually because we want to get to know her. Trying to find a middle ground between those two completely different approaches is not easy.
Even if they like you, they will not take the slightest step towards you. You have to observe them closely and find out how they feel about you, and then carefully (not, like me at first, with a Blitzkrieg mentality) feel your way towards her heart. She will not talk, that is a lesson my wingman keeps repeating; she will not talk, but she is waiting for you to talk to her. Not really being a man of the spoken word, this alone is a challenging task for me. With basically non-existent Mandarin skills on my side and little confidence in her own English skills on her side, communication is not necessarily so easy either. That is why the Chinese prefer sticking with other Chinese, inside a little Chinese parallel universe where they don’t have to face any cultural challenges like we other foreigners do. They have a piece of China away from home in which they comfortably live. Speaking to someone in English means leaving that comfort zone, and thus for me it is rather difficult to get them to be comfortable with me. Recently someone even told me that many Chinese were scared to talk to foreigners, and for sure I have noticed they are shy. That includes the guys, too. A while ago I ran into a male classmate on the way to school and we walked alongside each other for the rest of the way. It took him quite a while to find the guts to ask a simple question and start a conversation with me, while at the same time I could see he would not have been comfortable if I had started to talk. With girls it’s even worse. I have yet to develop a golden way to overcome all these problems. But my wingman’s suggestions are definitely part of it: keep it slow, make them comfortable around you, take the right opportunity to score beyond friendship.
We’ll see how it goes.

Big city nights (you keep me burning)

My old life sucked. If you have read this blog before or ever asked me about Germany, you already know. I try sharing different aspects of this sucking, and point out why I am so much better off in Singapore using examples and anecdotes. Today is about going out.

Try to do something on a Saturday night in rural northern Germany. First, you need to assess who of your friends are available. We Germans are little flexible and spontaneous, so unless you made the plan many weeks in advance and have it in writing, signed by all parties, copies distributed and E-mail reminders sent out to everyone every other day, getting your friends out to an outing is very difficult. The planning itself was always a horrible mess because someone would always have sand in their vagina and messed everything up by contributing nothing but an endless string of alternatives. Planning often went wild and did not come to an end. We even founded a Facebook group so we could have a standardized forum for our planning. Even that didn’t work. That is reason number one why I spent most of my Saturday nights in Germany at home alone.
The second reason is that there is purely nothing to do. In my hometown – and this is probably  an inappropriate word as I used to live 30km away from the town I am calling my hometown – there is one club, which sucks; one pub, which gets boring; and the option to stay at someone’s home. But either there is no space in someone’s house, or there is only space when the parents are out, or the person is just too much of a pussy to invite friends over and clean up the day after.
The third reason is that no matter which of these options you choose, you have to drive. Public transport? No way José. Taxi? Only for rich people. So it’s driving. Driving takes the fun out of many outings though, and as the person living furthest away I had to drive all the time, distributing my drunk friends to their respective homes. My little yellow car became infamous and beloved by the name “yellow cab.”

Hence I am always amazed at the weekends in Singapore. Opportunities are vast, you just need to pluck them. There is so much to do here you can even switch to alternatives! For a country boy from Doucheland like me this is always amazing. This weekend is a great example for this.

Friday – Okay, given, my classmates here are not exactly what you call insanely active people. At least I expected more from a highly international young crowd in one of the world’s most dynamic cities. So Friday night was expected to go boring. But I didn’t want to accept that – so I called up one of my girl friends to see a movie. Spontaneously, she said yes. In the end she turned out to be stuck at school so we had to cancel, but instead I called up my buddy and we went to suck a few beers in Holland Village. No long planning, no discussion. Just hop on the bus and go. Loved it.

Saturday – Now, Saturday was the big deal. There was a school musical to which I went with my date aka classmate. We had agreed on going for a drink afterwards. However, after the musical had finished I learned that she had turned out making other plans the previous day. I don’t want to lose too many words on this, but the night had taken an ugly turn. Pissed off and with a free schedule, I went for supper with my buddy in a hawker near the school. There we ran into our teacher and his friend, who invited us to join them. The night was young, so were we and we started rounding up people and headed for Geylang. Spontaneously. Casually. Easily. After that my memory is blurred but some more friends came over to join us later and we had a fun night. Somehow I made it home at some point of time and when I woke up this morning and the bad feeling in my belly had lightened, I was happy. Happy that no matter what happens, in this town there is always a way to live life to the fullest. Even when your initial plans are screwed up, don’t go home (unless it is past 2am, of course.) Go further and you will find memories to make, people to meet, and material for blog entries to write.

Sunday – It is Sunday afternoon right now, I am hung over and haven’t left the bed all day. Will this be a boring day? NO! Tonight I am meeting a friend again to see a movie. Yes, even that is amazing, though planned two days in advance it is still more spontaneous and easy than watching a movie with my friends back in Doucheland. Last Sunday, when I was equally hung over, I took a walk. It’s called urban exploring. I ended up walking 11km and see some nice places around the city. Of course, I am new here whereas a 11km walk around my home village would  hardly unearth anything new to see. But nevertheless, the urban nature of this environment has many more streets to walk, more to see and many more people who make new things, ie opening new stores or celebrating street festivals.

Life rocks. Just pluck the day. And never go home.

Steve Jobs resigns – my last Apple rant

Steve Jobs has resigned as CEO of Apple. My friend sent me a very excited SMS while I was on the bus home and my initial comment was “yeah so what, he has done that before” but apparently this time it is serious. The speculated reason is that his cancer worsened his health too much. In that case, it is the best decision to resign from the stressful job of selling junk to millions of fanatic disciples. I hope he is going to be well and wish him all the best.

But what does that mean for Apple? While I am definitely not a fan of Steve Jobs, I have come to admire his talent of turning people into consumption machines which will take simply everything out of your hands for any price you name. He is a genius. Not a technology genius, and not a creative visionary, as some comments today title him – no, he is a marketing genius and only as such could he have given Apple the position it has today.

Yes, I wrote that his job was selling junk to zombie consumers, and I wrote that he is not a technologic visionary. I mean it. Jobs never invented anything, he just sold it. Many people have built computers and invented things, but I am quite sure that his colleague Steve Wozniak would have never been able to stay afloat if Jobs had not been able to sell the stuff. When Jobs was gone from Apple, they faced bankruptcy, and only Jobs’ return made it possible for Apple to stay alive.
And as for today’s products I will now cause every Apple user on the planet to drop their jaws and get into a wild rage by saying that their tech gadgets are not half as special as the proud users think. Seriously, what is a Mac? A Mac is a PC wrapped in gay white plastic. What is a Macbook? A Macbook is an average laptop (at best) wrapped in gay white plastic. What is an Ipod? And Ipod is an MP3-Player wrapped in blabla that is just way more complicated to use than a normal MP3 – no integrated USB, no drag-and-drop of files, but instead the need to plug it to a computer (of course, if it is not an Apple Computer the Ipod can cause serious harm to the software) and fill it using Itunes – a gay gray version of nameanyopensourcemediaplayer. What is an Iphone? Well, the Iphone was indeed a new concept but actually it is only a little computer with a phone function, too small to be comfortable for use and too big to be comfortable to carry in your pocket. What is an Ipad? A big Iphone, or a Macbook without keyboard and CD drive. I really don’t see the technical revolution. My friend recently said “Steve Jobs deserves credit for revolutionizing the way we communicate” – No, he doesn’t. Philipp Reis, Graham Bell, Bill Gates and the inventors of the Internet revolutionized the way we communicate, Apple just built on those.

Steve Jobs merely revolutionized the way we consume. Apple has a loyal customer base like no other company ever before. Apple is worshipped like a religion, in which the fruit logo replaces the cross, Steve Jobs replaces Jesus, Microsoft replaces the devil, the products replace indulgences, Apple stores replace churches, advertising replaces the inquisition and geeky customers replace the people who go on the crusade to kill and torture everything that does not believe in Christianity. In a more contemporary context replace my words by “Quran”, “Mohammed”, “America”, “72 virgins”, “Mosques”, “bin Laden” and “Terrorists”. Well you get what I mean.

And herein lies my deep aversion towards anything that is Apple. I have a friend who always was very interested in computers and technology. Eventually, he bought a Macbook and within a short period of time he turned into a total intolerant dick defending Apple in about the same manner someone defends the pope when you point out the retarded points about the Catholic teachings. He is not the only one, others have gone the same way. May be that they like Apple products better, but their 180° turn into dickheads was highly uncomfortable to me. And so, just like I told the Scientology guy who once stopped me and the Jehovah’s Witnesses ringing my door bell that I do not want to hear anything about their religion, I refused to get involved with Apple and its diabolic brainwashing machinery.
Not that I don’t acknowledge the advantages these products have over competitors, but (aside from my refusal to be sucked into the cult) unlike Apple users I do also acknowledge the disadvantages. Use a Macbook in the sun, the smooth display will f*ck you big time. Use a silicone protector for its keyboard and you will be glad to see dirt prints on your display afterwards. Try getting up on time the day daylight savings time starts when you use your Iphone as an alarm clock. Try customizing your Apple software. Try downloading an “app” that Apple does not like – there are none as the distribution channels are controlled and censored by the company. Yes, the products may be good but after all they are at best on par with other ones. Consider the incredibly overcharged price and you get ripped off. All so you can carry around a computer that is wrapped in gay white plastic and has a fruit painted on it. Congratulations, you have been “appled”. In Germany we actually have the word “veräppeln” which could be translated to this.

Apple, and especially the genius Steve Jobs, have turned millions into zombies who are not only willing to pay a lot of money for the products, but who also desperately wait for them, camp outside the store to buy them first and are absolutely willing to overlook and stubbornly deny any flaw or disadvantage pointed out to them regarding the product itself or the company policy. They love to be slaves of commerce, they love to be ripped off and if Steve Jobs had told them to go kill a Windows user, some would have done so. Except, the most fanatic Apple users would of course break off any contact with former friends who are Windows users. Say what you will, Steve Jobs has to be admired. His marketing skills are those few people in history have possessed, including Alexander the Great, Hitler, L. Ron Hubbard and Barack Obama. Some use their skills for good, some for bad. Steve Jobs used it to make money, is that good or bad? Neither, I would say. If I possessed the skill to sell shit to the masses and make billions with it, I would do so. There is nothing unethical about it, it’s the customers’ own fault that they are stupid and blind.

What does it mean, Jobs being gone? He left at the peak of his company’s career, that is certain. After the Ipad, which was already anything but a revolution, there is nothing more to invent. Ipod (touch), Iphone and Ipad are already so similar you can barely tell them apart. And with the enormous market share and loyal users, the brand is losing its major strength: being the one that is different. Remember the “I’m a Mac – and I’m a PC” commercials? Apple rose to success by using the Differentiation Strategy. Buy a Mac and you are finally free from Windows. Another bit of genius marketing – Apple mad its disciples believe that everybody who didn’t own a gay white computer is a Windows-user. Unfortunately, this is widely true and it used to be about 100% true a while ago. Linux still only has a market share of about 1% of the operating systems, for some reason I have never heard of Android for computers, and of course the Apple OS can not be installed on a computer that is not gay, white and overpriced. However, not my point. The point is that Apple was the different one, nibbling on Microsoft’s 100% market share. Now Apple’s market share is nearing the critical mass, the point where using Apple products is mainstream, and Apple will no longer be the different and unique one (how could you ever be unique with that anyway, all the items look the same and are zero customizable) and somebody else will use this approach on Apple. It is over, it has been slowing down for a while. The current attempt to keep Samsung from selling its Galaxy Tab is just a ridiculously desperate approach to make the fat years last just a little bit longer. But at some point – even with an Apple monopoly – the geeks will realize that they do not need a Macbook, Iphone, Ipad and Ipod as they all do the same jobs. Apple is going to have to retrench, shrink to a healthy size and accept the position as one of many competitors in the field. Just like IBM and Microsoft had to.
With that happening, my hope is that Apple will finally become cool. I am not using an Iphone even though I have been eyeing the possibility of purchasing a smartphone and so far the Iphone seems to be one of the best choices in that segment. But I would always see myself as one of these people who follow the crowd to what is “cool” and I would not be able to look at myself in the mirror anymore.
Maybe now that the prophet Steve Jobs is gone Apple will pursue a less aggressive marketing and through this and external factors become a brand just like any other – as it has always been but not been perceived. With the peak of technological and sales success reached, the company itself will become normal. And then, maybe, even I will buy Apple stuff if it is better than the competition. So far, it is not and only sells because the disciples think it is, but there is going to have to be some product improvement or otherwise Apple will suffer the same fate Microsoft did – being left behind.

I guess I’m just not a single guy

Barney

I admit it – Barney Stinson is just awesome and probably the most influential TV character I have ever been exposed to. Shortly after starting to watch How I Met Your Mother, I cut my long hair short, I discovered a love for buttoned shirts and suits. Maybe we’re all a little bit Barney, but who can resist being awesome right?

“My life is just some money in the bank, some suits in the closet and an endless string of one night stands … my life rocks!”

The character’s alienating development (especially in the later seasons) aside, there goes a guy who gets everything he wants, and manages to look good no matter what he gets himself into. The thing is that suits actually really have the effect of making everyone look good all the time. It is also true that suits, or rather the aforementioned effect, give you confidence and self-esteem ultimately leading to becoming a little Barney.

But this is not about TV characters and it is not about suits.
A week ago, I broke up with my girlfriend after more than three and a half years. It had been a long-distance relationship all along, but it had always been fine. In fact, we thought that we were proving them all wrong, proving that long-distance relationships can work, can work well.
It did work well until I moved to Singapore.
After a while here I found myself highly unhappy and it took me about a week to figure out what was the problem. The old relationship was keeping me back, leashing me to my old life and preventing me from breaking free. Singapore had always been a symbol of freedom for me, the ultimate destination, the light at the end of the tunnel that was middle-class small-town life. When starting out here I grew more and more confident that my life was going to rock big time. I have some money in the bank, and even though I hadn’t brought my suit I had to buy one since presentations in school have a formal dress code. 2/3 Barney. Not that I wanted to be Barney, but I did want to have an awesome life. And so, long story short, I had to burn the last bridge that was connecting me to my old life. It wasn’t easy, in fact it broke my heart, but I felt it had to be done. For several reasons. Not my main point, though.

So there I was, single in Awesomepore, and awesome in Singlepore. As the only white dude at my school I had been handing out my phone number an amazing number of times already, and walking into the school canteen or the classroom in the morning I was greeted with big smiles all over. And it is not only that the girls here have a much better taste than the ones back at home – they are much more my taste, too. In fact, the classroom alone felt like a Hooters without food (btw and fyi, the Hooters in Singapore is somewhat the navel of the world) and I had enjoyed the attention all the way from the start. Now all of a sudden I was single. And I expected this to be an awesome time ahead.

It’s not.

Ted

Not that I have to go to bed alone every night, I am sure there are plenty of options out there. Actually, there are but I don’t want to drop names. But I find myself not even wanting that. An endless string of one-night stands looks awesome on TV and seems awesome when you only see your girlfriend once a year for more than three years, but somehow it feels little appealing now. Well, it does feel appealing, but there is something I find myself wanting more, and that is a relationship. I can’t really seem to explain why it is that way. I guess it’s just who I am – I am more of a Ted Mosby than I could ever be of a Barney Stinson.

That does not mean I want my old relationship back. As hard as it is, I can’t do that. No, I need someone new. A nice person, friendly, kind, and of course beautiful. The latter really is not hard to find but the other ones are. How many options are there for that? Few I know of, very few, horribly few. So I find myself scouting for that, scouting for a save harbor. Of course the suit, the “I’m going to be a pilot” and the awesomeness help, but in the end the girls I am looking for here can’t be blinded that easily. They want, and I want them to want, some more than that. I sincerely hope I can give it to them, but so far I can’t make a statement as to whether it works. It works better than it ever did in Germany, but German girls are really not suitable for measuring any other girls against. I guess I’ll just have to see and hope that these fun dates lead to the desired end.

Unlike Ted, though, I am not looking for the future Mrs R. If she turns out to be, fine. But really all I need is some affection, someone to look forward to, someone constant in this dynamic city. I guess I am monogamous after all, I can’t help it. If it works, I will leave a good half million beautiful girls standing by the curb in a heartbeat just for this one. Having that said, it is impossible to say if the one I choose will even want to drive away with me. I will just have to wait for the results of my effort. But the waiting for the first kiss is much harder than the one-year wait for the next kiss.

Yes, that is who I am. So passionate that love at first sight really is nothing new to me, clumsy, awkward and very impatient paired with easily jealous. This is a hard ride, but at least I am in Singapore, where there are options. Finding a girlfriend here should be no problem – making her my girlfriend is. This dating thing, it’s not for me. You spend time, effort and heart blood on a girl who may or may not feel the same. And if she doesn’t, you’re left at the start again. This is not as fun as I thought, and I honestly can’t wait for that first kiss, when it is all over and I get to go home with a sense of belonging and meaning in life.

I <3 my dog

Haakon: O.O
Me: That’s a banana in my hand.
Haakon: O.O
Me: It’s a banana!
Haakon: O.O
Me: Why in god’s name do you want a banana?
Haakon: O.O
Me: Dude, you’re supposed to go out on the lawn and pee and not stare at my banana.
Haakon: O.O
Me: It’s my banana.
Haakon: O.O
Me: Mom is waiting outside for you, go to her.
Haakon: O.O

After I realized this conversation would not get us anywhere, I gave the banana to my mom, going back inside to get a new one, and Haakon finally went outside.

Guess who I just saw – a Christmas tale

My sister and I were just outside behind our house when we heard a strange sound coming from the street. A sound of many little bells cheerfully chiming. We were quite astonished to hear that so we looked at the street but couldn’t see anything.

Anyway, I called up my little step-cousin to tell him. This afternoon, we had just discussed the issue of Santa Claus’ existence. He said some people in school didn’t believe in Santa but I could feel that he himself wasn’t really sure what to believe now. And so I established a metaphysical discussion – I am going to raise him a little philosopher anyway – about the existence and non-existence of things like Santa, gods or ghosts. I told him that as long as there is neither proof of the existence nor non-existence of something, nobody could claim to know. His little brain chewed on that sentence for a while and then we continued building our snow-man.

And so I got him on the phone and told him about what I just heard. That was when my sister cried out – Santa (or someone who looks like him) was in the living room of the house across the street, obviously giving out presents. I told my step-cousin and he couldn’t really say anything, just asked me to tell his older brother “so he believes it, too.” Of course the older one wasn’t too impressed but the little guy probably has the greatest time just now.
And to prove that we weren’t just telling them some crap like parents do, my sister managed to snap this picture:

 

Who doesn't believe in Santa now?

 

Looks like a white Christmas

It’s only about 48 hours until Millions of people will sit by the trees with their families, children’s’ eyes glowing, parents having to help assemble Legos – no wait that was when I was a child so I need to rephrase that – parents having to help install and set up new PlayStation and Wii games, lots of delicious food around, classics on TV and even the annoying politicians stopping to annoy people for one day while being at home with their own families.

Yet the snow that promised a white Christmas was only the snow that had been lying around for a good week, slowly getting frosty, slowly getting dirty, slowly melting away. But earlier today my sister came into my room asking me to shovel some snow (while she herself would sit and watch TV…) and that was when I looked out the window to see it was snowing again, how great! Not much, but it’s better than nothing and it is a good sign that we might really get a white Christmas, unless the weather changes within the next two days, which is not very unlikely, I’ve seen it happen many times.
But Global Warming has yet proven to be very reliable, so thank you, GW, for giving me some snow to shovel!

Don't they look nice?