I'm going through my entire library right now and trying to sort it and put it away somehow in my new room; good God, I have a lot of books in my life. At the moment, I have more or less nothing else, as I'm still waiting for the gray suitcase, most of my stuff is still at George's, and my summer clothes and miscellaneous other items are still at ( Read more... )

I thought it would be nice to let you all decide what books I write about for my self-imposed task of discussing some of the "Great Books" I have read or want to read. LJ won't allow more than 10 options per question, so I had to split them up a bit. Basically, pick five books from the first twenty (Qs 1-2), and five from the next thirty (Qs 3-5), ( Read more... )

I had to wait for two whole hours at the Bürgeramt in Wedding, my old neighborhood, in order to complete a transaction that took all of two minutes. I guess that's what you get when you're literally 100th in line and they have four people working in the entire fricking office. I reread almost the entirety of Novalis' Die Lehrlinge zu Sais while I ( Read more... )

I write this in response to a comment on my last entry, which can be read here:

Protests soundly welcomed - I was, in fact, hoping that bringing the Great Books concept into discussion would stimulate some debate! A few words in response: On your first point, I completely agree with Mr. Adler about passive reading. I have, myself, been unable and ( Read more... )

This one is based on the Great Books Program of Mortimer Adler and others. Give yourself a point for every complete work on this list that you have read - i.e. if you've read 6 Shakespeare plays, 6 points; if you've read Goethe's Faust but not Dichtung und Wahrheit, one point. Also, note the names of the works from an author's oeuvre you've read.

I' ( Read more... )

MusicStep 1: Put your music player on shuffle ( Read more... )

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190284980120&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DWatchingRead more... )

Why is Google suddenly warning me that every single website IN THE UNIVERSE could harm my computer ( Read more... )

Temperatures in Berlin are going above freezing next week! O Joy! (It's been rather cold around here lately. 20 degrees frost at night, 5 below in the daytime, double-scarf-and-long-johns sort of weather ( Read more... )

After the hullaballoo of the first two weeks of this month, both here and back home, my life here has settled down into a rhythm I find very much to my liking. Life in the Icelandic Community Center at Seestraße 114, as we have come to call it, is quite pleasant - a great deal of baking and music-making, laid-back dinners followed with Icelandic ( Read more... )