1st of October to the 14th of October

2023 is coming to an end. I will be on a holiday in Taiwan very soon. Then it will be Christmas and the year will be over. Crazy. Sometimes I wish we were back at the slow pace of the Corona years, minus the Corona, of course. There is just so much to do and so many options. Comedy in Leipzig is taking off! There are more and more venues, and I even managed to do two shows in one night. I will try to limit myself to one stand up show a week. I actively have to say no to happenings and hobbies to not have every day of the week full of activities. Luxury problems, you might say, but here come some stories that I wrote based on prompts from a book.

1st of October: “Fantasy stories are often based on the here and now. What is your here and now like?”

I just listened to a book podcast, where they talked about Stephen King’s newest book. The book is called Holly and surprise, it takes place during Covid. It will eventually be an interesting read in the future, when we all barely remember what happened. I love Stephen King. King’s books were a major part in my reading journey and I always envied his craft when it comes to characters - nothing was really black and white, nuances everywhere, and I think that just rings true. My and a lot of peoples here and now is just crisis on top of crisis. Depressing really. I am very tired. I just started with Corona, it continued with the war that Russia wages in Ukraine, and now we have Israel and Palestine escalating. Even without all that, the world is pretty fucked. The earth is in peril. Housing prices are through the roof. Everything is more expensive. Only some real dark, twisted fantasy might come out of that, here and now.

2nd of October: “What associations does the word fertility bring to you?”

I believe the ignorance, the me-first-attitude and empathy lacking hearts are fertile grounds for lies, deceit and misinformation. But let us not go there. I like how fertility is and was for the longest time a topic that is rarely talked about. One of my favourite podcast episodes, “The Doctor” from the Heavyweight podcast. The episode is about a man named John Brinkley, who was a doctor and radio host in the early 20th century. Brinkley claimed to have a cure for impotence, which involved transplanting goat testicles into men’s scrota. He also sold a variety of other dubious medical treatments, such as a tonic made from watermelon seeds and snake oil and also had one, if not the strongest radio station in the world at one point. Fertile, funny and interesting as fuck!

3rd of October: “Questions about work answered”

Let me just write something about my work life. Pretty much all my life, I was working in sales or marketing jobs. I was selling insurance (multiple times) and promised myself to never go back to that field, but with fintech and insurtech developments I find it interesting again, not in sales though. I was promoting sex toys. Not only that, but I did theater/model/acting/mc’ing gigs. Currently, I am in marketing again. On- and offline and one of the best perks, besides having a lot of freedom and flexibility, is having a 4-day-work-week. It’s now a 32h-work-week, so sometimes or most of the time I stretch my work to 5 days. I never want to go back to a 40h week. I wish all the progress we make with software, hardware and AI will help all humans to work less and do more of what they love. In my mind people are good and do want to work, why not give them more freedom and flexibility to enjoy their lives? To be creative. To write a silly blog? To paint? Make videos? Spend time with their families or friends?

4th of October: “Think about a dog and create an owner to match.”

Have you ever talked to someone that is high on cocaine? Someone who is running around a bar talking to everyone trying to start the next big business? That is the guy. A little shorter than average, with a baby face that always gets his ID checked when he orders alcohol everywhere and clothes that make him look older, but not too old. Short blondish brown hair gives him an agile appearance. A look that without bells, whistles and other things that could be caught on a fence while scaling it and escaping authority. There is also a constant smile on the dude’s face. With or without cocaine. A smile that hides the wolf under the sheepish grin. Fast, athletic, clean and full of energy. You wonder if the guy ever sleeps, even though there are no signs of him not getting enough sleep. Odd fellow, likeable though, but only enjoyable for hours at a time and proper preparation.

5th of October: “What is your strongest personal quality?”

Getting comfortable in almost any constellation of a group and then finding friends or allies there. I believe I am good with words and am pretty likeable. Sometimes the “wrong” people tend to like me, but that can be sorted out. I find it pretty easy to describe that sort of quality of mine. In fact, I would say, I could also do this non-verbally. A couple of times I tried it out. I can look at a person and smile, and they tend to ask me if we know each other or just assume we do, and some friendly interaction takes place.

6th of October: “Think of a susurrus sound and write about it.”

There is something I find soothing. The humming of bees. It’s beautiful, calming and so full of life. The opposite rings true with one single wasp or mosquito or fly. Amazing how a swarm of tiny insects can fill out a huge area with a sound. I could look up what kind of frequency that is and if that has any benefits or something to do with something, but where is the fun in that? It also has this depth. A droning sound. It kind of does the same thing for me that Shoegaze music does with a droning bass sound. There are also no high notes that I can register, and they unnerve me more, so it is just soothing and builds the foundation of life a little bit higher and sturdier.

7th of October: “Seven general plots and which book or film fits into that”

According to Christopher Booker there are only seven plots: tragedy, comedy, overcoming the monster, voyage and return, quest, rags to riches, and rebirth. So let me sort some books and/or movies accordingly.

Tragedy: The Myst (the movie version preferably, one of the most devastating endings ever)

Comedy: Stepbrothers (the premise and certain scenes are what really tickles my funny bone)

Overcoming the monster: IT (Stephen King again)

Voyage and return: The Hobbit (I don’t think I need to explain)

Quest: The Goonies

Rags to riches: Karate Kid

Rebirth: The Crow/The Wraith (love both movies almost equally)

8th of October: “Writing carved into a cement wall of a deserted street.”

The end is nigh - said the carefully carved out message. The positive person I am, I assumed it might be the end of the street that is somehow nigh, but I couldn’t even see it from where I am standing. Maybe it was more of a warning. For the last 3 idiots that have not yet realized that we fucked the planet. It might also just have been some hopless fanatic that try to warn us from the rapture or whatever else his religion has cooked up.

9th of October: “The greatest tragedy is…”

… that the dumb are so unbearably loud and the smart ones too fair and scientific in their arguments. Really. Unfortunately, people are very opinionated and facts are just being droned out with loud voices and stupid chants. The more people know, the less they think they know it all and the more they question themselves and everything. I have no solution, and it is just so exhausting to get people to rely on facts and science.

10th of October: “How do you make someone else’s life better this week?”

A smile. Hand it out like halloween-candy. It costs so little and isn’t used as much. Honestly, a “Please” and a “Thank You” go a long way. If you want to go crazy, hand out compliments. If you like something genuinely about a person, then by all means: say it! If you want to make it more intimate and closer to the heart, hand them an ice cream. I am convinced we can’t eat ice cream having a frown or a look that makes other people miserable. Try it!

11th of October: “Finish these half-written proverbs from different countries.”

(China) One need not devour a whole chicken to… taste test a meal.

(Latvia) A smiling face is half the… battle won.

(Ireland) A full cabin is better than… an empty pot.

(Netherlands) He who builds according to everyone’s advice… does not build a brick shithouse.

(Syria) An ignorant person is simply… the opposite of a smart person.

12th of October: “Look back on an embarrassing memory and retell it with humour.”

So let me tell you about a 16-year-old Burnilein. It was my first day at a new school. Higher education, and I didn’t know a single person in that school or my class. The school in my village before was great, but somehow my puberty mind told myself to do things differently. No more everyone greeting you in the school and knowing you. You just are a new person, and you can fly under the radar. So the 16-year-old me put on a big black shirt with a huge Marijuana leaf and a Yin-Yang-symbol on it on. Mind you, at that age I haven’t touched a drug apart from alcohol and 3 or 4 cigarettes that I smoked with my buddies in the woods. I actually thought that shirt makes me edgy. I thought that I stand out and maybe would be able to seem more untouchable. Wild. Everyone was still talking to me. Especially the weed-smoking kids, but of course I knew nothing about their hobby. Later I added dreadlocks to my outfit and got checked by the border police basically every time I crossed. Don’t try to be edgy. It’s okay, nay, cool when almost everyone in the school has some sort of connection to you. That ended up being the same story in the new school with or without the shirt.

13th of October: “The littoral of a beach. What objects do you find there?”

Plastic. Tons and tons of plastic. Especially the caps of soda bottles, because there must be a reason that every brand now attaches the caps to the bottles via a plastic strap to keep them togeter. We humans are the worst. We might also find a message in a bottle or two. The messages are from a time where the world still dreamed up utopias. Sunglasses and bracelets can also be found. So that pukka-shell-necklace made a voyage into the ocean and back. Wild. And if you look really closely you find little critters and creppy crawlers that have their homelife exposed for a couple of hours. Must be annoying to have the outside world having the chance to visit you every day.

14th of October: “What is a theme that comes up in your writing and why?”

I believe it is the darkness that weaves itself through the here and now. I really don’t want to be negative or write about dark topics, but then it just happens. Later I try to ease the tension with jokes and a positive outlook in the writing to at least hint at things getting better. I am attracted to dark themes, but I also always like to draw from real stories that have happened and wouldn’t you know, those are sometimes less believable than a made up fantasy story. Strange.