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16.11.08

Life - a roller coaster


It was just a few days ago when I sat down at my typewriter and, filled by the overwhelming emotion of a day well spent, brought down on paper what I figured an accurate account of my current mental state – in principle one of happiness. If the rest of my time in Gmünd continued the way everything was going at the moment, I philosophized, then it was destined to be a big year.

A talented young photographer captured this frontside slide on my personal surf zone.
For more of his great works check this link. Copyright JG Sobez, 2008.


Not a day later, I found myself caught in a nightmarish patch of bad luck that lasted for some 48 hours. It has since abated, leaving me dazed, but for the most part smiling, in wonder at how the world has its own way of dealing with hubris.

It has to be said that SFG in the last few weeks really made a tremendous effort at passing for a cool city – tango events, longboarding trips, and student parties have significantly raised my adrenalin level and, at the same time, my overall contentness. Tearing down a hill on a piece of plywood at night holds unsuspected joy, as does the embrace of a stranger on the dance floor.

However, just when things could not seem better, life threw me a stick in the inconspicuous form of an E-mail - that I half ignored, partly due to lack of attentiveness (tearing and embracing do require an awful lot of focus, add sleep, that may be missing in other places), partly because I was convinced it wasn’t really relevant to me. It was an information that our school servers would be exchanged.

Two days later, when I was preparing lessons, smiling at the world and the birds singing outside my window, it dawned on me what that E-mail had really meant. My complete files of five years of pedagogical work had vanished from the school’s network. Worksheets, presentations, concepts for complete units, exams – everything had left for the electronic nirvana. My personal folder leered at me emptily. That one did it for the day - however it was only the first warning sign that the world was out to get me.

The next evening, when I had just consoled myself that maybe it was all for the best if I was forced to rethink and perfect all my working materials, my car gave up on me when I was on the way to Tango in Stuttgart. Almost without warning (I must admit I did ignore that red flashing light a couple of times previously; nothing had happened), first my headlights died, then the radio, and in the end the motor came to a sputtering halt and could neither be coaxed to revival with charming words nor with a pretended-professional check under the hood. The only noticeable result was that even the hazard flasher seized to function.

If there ever could have been any doubt that I was on a backswing of fortune by now, the incontrovertible facts were made plain on the Thursday evening shift in the boarding house. Charged with incredibly bad luck, I lost game after game of backgammon against any opponent willing to rub my nose in the dirt. Tired, sad, and beaten, I killed the lights and locked the door.


I leave it to the reader to figure out which of these afflictions affected me the worst. To maintain the balance, however, I can report that chances are good to retrieve the lost data (if the trusted specialist finds the time for that unpleasant job), the mechanic could not find ANYTHING wrong with the car, and calls it the will of Allah, and I did beat an unnamed opponent to pulp at abalone. So there. Ups and downs and all that. Hooray for boobies.



5 comments:

Suzy Q said...

well, as you would at a roller coaster ride, make sure you have your safety on. It seems that maybe you were warped between coincendence and bad timing or you were passing through an existential blackhole, which ever it is, we can agree on one thing: hooray for boobies =)

hope you have a better week

Lieschen said...

bad luck, huh? but come on. could have been worse. and, however, you kept smiling last week.

so walk through the world with a big smile on your face, you'll get it back =)

Suzy Q said...

ok well i haven't figured out how the comments work, but i figure you'd read it if i wrote it here for sure.
I do appreciate the unrequested advice, thanks =).
I have decided that i want to truly write for the unknown. I believe my style reveals itself as purely mysterious. I like to write what is going on in my head at the particular moment i am sitting in front of my computer. I like the idea of someone being interested in my blog and create their own scenarios based on the minimum information provided, however, if someone what's to really know what is behind a specific blog I would gladly provide the details all you need is ask.
For example on Nov. 12th I was missing the distinctive scent of an ex-lover. And as for the story of my friend who wanted to turn our friendship into something more, it was quiet unfortunate that i do not have the same feelings he does since I care for him deeply but nothing more.
I hope that I keep you interested at least for a bit longer…

I write as a way to let go, vent and when it’s over, just sigh.

So, any great mishaps this week yet… ;)

sammy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sammy said...

I can't think about how often I tould you about the necessity of creating backups. However, I'm glad there seems to be somebody who knows at least something about hard drives and file systems. Your thinking of it as a good kick for a beginning from zero and thinking it all over is just the way I know you - but remember: History has told sometimes some things. Things we should not forget.
So in my opinion it's a good thing to review your work - but don't force changes.

I'm thinking a lot about you in last days - you will get an email by me in the very next time.

And we _have_ to play some Abalone some time in the future. I miss it...