12th of September to the 30th of September

I don’t know why but this year passes by so fast. “They say when you have kids…” - bla bla blupp. I even try to cram a lot of new experiences into each day, so I can feel like a kid and perceive time as passing slower. It is not working. It has been a good year so far and the book with writing prompts is more than two thirds done. It has been a great ride. I hope for you too. I can’t get the frequency right and next year I will post more about comedy shows and other stuff and not that lengthy. Maybe even in German. I don’t know yet. Here we go with some more stories.

12th of September: “I can’t help staring when…”

… people own a place and seemingly live to their hearts content. There has been a girl that I met in a class, and she was the perfect example of this. It seemed like she feels at home wherever and if she feels there is something to do that would make her feel more at home she just did that. What I mean is, we were studying Javascript and all of us, to a degree, got comfortable. Meaning we put headphones on, or got another coffee or something. Not her. She got up. She opened the window. Seconds later, she closed it again. Then she sat in the windowsill, laptop on her legs, headphones on, every so often wiggling around to get more comfortable. Picture someone in a modern French film and there is a camera capturing her as the main actress. I was the camera. I can’t help but stare. This also unfortunately happens when I see drugged up people that do weird stuff or when someone else just happens to become a main character in front of my eyes.

13th of September: “Write about a diapason”

Maybe I need to explain the word. It is a deep, melodic outpouring of sound. It is the sound that hippy-yoga-enthusiasts make when they sit in a circle on plastic yoga mats and learn to hum: “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhm”. Men, Women, Man buns or not. All chant a deep sound that resonates in a nicely lit studio that would, on the internet, be called out for cultural appropriation. It is also the sound you would hear if you visit a church on a Sunday and a Latin (or not, we don’t know all the words anyway) prayer is finished and everyone presses out an: “Amen”. It is a sound that opens and closes something. In the yoga studio, the buttholes remain closed, to not relax completely. In the church it finishes. It could also be the opening of a breakdown in a metal core song. Let me make a mental note of that. A diapason. Every day we learn something.

14th of September: “A stream of conscious”

Why do we wake up and suddenly there are pain points that have not been there before? I am a bit like Bert Kreischer or Micky Mantle (whoever that is, but he mentions him as someone with incredible feats of strength) as in I don’t really watch what I eat or drink, and I also smoke, and I am despite that in good health. Meaning I have good muscle mass, I have a belly, but I also don’t really have hangovers or problems sleeping or back pain or something like that. But recently something has crept in. I taught myself to sleep on the back. Completely still, however, in the mornings it also happens that I turn on the side. I also sleep without a pillow. Maybe I am a vampire. But laying on your side without a pillow is not advisable. Your neck does a weird thing and pays it back recently with pain points in my neck. It is not there when I force myself to stay on the back, but I also want to cuddle and change positions in the morning. Maybe I should get a pillow just for the times I wake up and turn to put it under my neck. Would help, but then it would annoy me lying there unused, when I sleep on my back. Choices. That is new and weird.

15th of September: “Purge some of your small disruptions here”

I do this pretty much daily. In the mornings, I can’t really start working until my desk is semi orderly. I also have to make the bed, but I also have to wait a bit to air out the bed. That annoys me. In addition to all that, I need a tea. Earl Grey with milk. Also, my E-Mail-Inbox needs to be semi orderly. I also need a glass of water in reach. My purging of small disruptions is rather a “putting things in line” and setting up some disruptions, as there are also have to be a couple of YouTube-Videos lined up to disrupt me once in a while or just provide white noise. The rest is just hoping that disruptions that are not planned basically don’t occur.

16th of September: “When was the last time you slept outside and how did it feel?”

Really sleeping outside under the stars has been a long while, and I don’t know why that is. I must have been around 14 years old. Me, one of my best friends and his then girlfriend were sleeping outside his house on the grass, and we were talking philosophy and about what might be out there. It was splendid. More recently, we slept in the boot of my car when we were at a garden party. 2 and a half people sleeping in the boot. It was uncomfortable, but somehow worth it.

17th of September: “A fridge full of things to eat, what is in there?”

Loads and loads of cheese. All sorts. Stinky cheese, blue cheese, cheddar and slices of different varieties. Then there is some cider in there. Hot sauces of a broad variety and vegetables cut in little pieces. Pieces that you can dunk in sauces of all kinds. So there is also tzatziki. Also milk and some sort of milk alternative for my lactose sensitive wife. And then there is a huge paper bag with biltong. Maybe also hummus that I or someone from the Middle East made and pickles of all sort (minus the sweet ones). I’d also wish there are some fantastic leftovers that I can be creative with. Also fish. Loads of them and tofu and chillies and a variety of appetisers. All sorts. Last but not least, I would like there to be chunks of smoked and grilled and cured meat to snack on or quickly chuck in a dish.

18th of September: “A visual pattern design around me”

On one of our bedsheets, the one that our daughter sleeps with, there is a very Scandinavian pattern. It’s a beige or greyish design. Made up of flowers or snowflakes in a minimalist design, meaning they are just dots that become flowers or snowflakes in our heads. In perfect lines, little dots hug one of the bigger snowflakes/flowers, and then they just spread out so another snowflake/flower can grow within the next perfect lines. The dots are actually colorless or white, and the background is that beige/grey. I find this pattern relaxing and nice to look at. Minimal. However, the longer you look, the more is happening without overwhelming you.

19th of September: “Make a break with your past and what that would mean for you”

There are a lot of different points where I could make a break. The timeline would look like the multiverse of Björn-World. So I could break with my 8–9 years of China. That would rob me of a lot of connections that I made during those years that help me to this day. I could break with my studying at university part and that would be sad too. I would be leaving out hardships and the experience of cities and cultures that I would have not visited or lived in. It could be certain industries I worked in. I kind of broke with being self-employed, and that is okay. It feels good. After experiencing China, marrying an American woman and learning more and more I much appreciate the security and wholesomeness that Germany offers to people that are employed, and it only got better. I enjoy a fantastic amount of freedom and flexibility in the way I work, even though I am employed. That has been proven a pretty good break. I also kind of broke with my hood. I had to leave and the consequences I live with to this day. Furthermore, I am still welcome there, but things have changed. I am an outsider, I can’t change as much there, because as an outsider I am not allowed to know better. Maybe you know that feeling.

20th of September: “Continue the story”

“I won it for you, he said, placing the object in her hands. As she received it, her elbows swung back and her hands dipped to her waist, its weight a startling surprise…”

How can a tiny teddy bear weigh so much. It’s kind of ugly. Tiny to him, big to her. A kind of ugly, fuzzy fur friend with yellow eyes. Jaundiced yellow. But framed with a silver shiny band of sparkling outline to hit that baby scheme that gets as all to be like “awwwwww” and “uh, so cute” but this bear has lived through things. She could tell. The weight of the bear was not the actual physical weight. It was the weight of the stories this being has been through. A life of cigarettes, alcohol - whiskey in particular, and crime. This bear was a detective. For years. In a different life. In a different universe. Solving violent crimes. But now that weight is just in the little girl’s hands. Something that will ease with every hug and every night spent in her bed or next to her. Her dad winning the bear for her had no idea, but this is how things are for people that don’t have the imagination.

21st of September: “A late night poker game”

I haven’t played in ages. My eyes hurt from the smoke that fills up the room. Hemmingway and Thompson have a fantastic time. I just hid behind my beard. Nothing comes from staying sober and playing poker with these legends. So I sneeze a couple of dollars into a handkerchief that hangs from my suit pocket. Suits I wear with disdain, and Thompson gives me this side-eye look again. My hand is not a winning hand nor a loosing one. I forgot how to play, I think, or the drugs did make me. It doesn’t matter at all. I think I have two pairs, or maybe I am seeing double. Hemmingway is a big fellow. I’d rather do some sparring with him. Maybe later. The night is still young. I take another sip of J+B and Hunter lined up guns, boxing gloves and cocaine. Can’t wait to switch to the next game. Gonna be a fun night and morning.

22nd of September: “Equinox as a concept for a story”

So Blade is a Daywalker. A creature of the night and a creature of the day. Equal parts badass. Can vampires exist in an Equinox of night and day? What if the vampire overlords make it their plan to create this state to take over the world and just laugh in the face of Blade, who is able to operate during the day. This gives them equal footing. It will also be the time Blade will be a rolling fart in the wind. The ultimate state of the world for the vampires. The new power of the Equinox. - Somebody make this into a comic, please. I’ll take the residuals.

23rd of September: “If you write a young adult or children’s book, then how would that start?”

His kind lives among us. Since we can think. Since we can write. Only children can see them. but really only some children. Some are too scared to even look. Some are too old in their heads. They are tiny. Smaller than a A-4 paper and they would never label something so beautiful so cold. They call it landscape. They love landscapes. They live and sleep in them. Little stubby noses, big eyes that can see in the dark. Other than that like look very human. Like you, like me. They live in our books and they sleep there. Unfortunately their living space is close to extinction. Humans don’t read as much anymore. Less and less bookshelves, less and less books and less and less landscapes.

24th of September: “A raucous house party and a woman at a window grinning”

The window was wide open to let the cool night air in. Her grin spells pride. She is proud how it all came together. Who would have thought that everyone got along that well. A tiny drop of sweat tells us that she was nervous. But now with a drag of a cigarette it will all be gone. They came together. Two friend groups that on paper would not get along at all. The athletic kind and the bookworm kind. A mixed group even went to the bedroom together, there was some PDA that no one seemed to care about. She wonders what goes on in that romm and smiles again. Proud.

25th of September: “A question you hear the truth from a person”

I would ask Ghandi what he really thinks the we should do to make the world a better place. On my right arm I have a quote: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” and I would ask if this is enough and how he thinks we can shape the world so we leave it a better one for the people after us.

26th of September: “Exquisite Corpse #4”

I still don’t have someone to write this with.

27th of September: “A person from humansofnewyork.com and their home”

You would imagine the smell of a museum, but it is neat and clean. A time capsule that Dr. Ameli lives in. A time capsule that you can’t really pinpoint to a specific year or even a decade. It is like every single object in his house is a historical piece with a story to tell. But every object in reality tells a story. Every object is an object that stood the test of time and his life to be deemed worthy to stay. He doesn’t hold on to things, but he is not a minimalist either. You can point at the tea set that he just served you some oolong in and he would have pages to fill with how he got it and every time someone told them about their life. Everything tells a story and this man has a lot of them to tell.

28th of September: “Who or what has been your greatest teacher and why?”

Books. Or media probably. I have had fantastic teachers throughout my life and would not want to trade them for the world. It is my love for books that helped me escape a tiny world that I couldn’t physically leave when I was a kid. Through the darkest and brightest times books where there. The book bus that visited my little village was magical. I was super sad, when the funding for that bus ended. Later the TV, music videos and games helped me learn English and substituted some of the book reading time. Then there were Penn & Teller with their show “Bullshit!” and they tought me to question things that inherently sound good. Even though the back of shampoo bottles has not taught me much, but the hunger for information in books and the written word has been my greatest teacher. No doubt.

29th of September: “Imagine shaking hands with a US-president”

I would shake Obamas hand. He seems cool. His handshake would be firm and his hand feels warm and dry and I sense incredible strength in his fingers and arms. He also smells nice. Coffee and dry cleaning. I would probably shake his hand a little too long or a little to short, so it would become slightly awkward. But he would ease the tenstion with a touch of my shoulder and a huge smile. I would smile back and hope I get to exchange some more words instead of just our microbiomes saying hi to each other.

30th of September: “Intuition in my life - how does it manifest?”

I can’t really say that my intuition is getting better or worse over the years, but I am fantastic in telling if people are good to me. If my intuition tells me something is off with a person it almost always turns out that this person is or was a douchebag to begin with. No one can like everyone. I certainly don’t and this is where my intuition comes in play. Unfortunately I wear my heart on my sleeve, so somebody who knows me can immediately tell that I dislike a person. I can’t hide it.