This time in English...

... and I honestly am not sure to continue this blog in either German or English, maybe I should make a poll. Both English and German is definitely a bit too much work as I translate everything by hand and would start in either of the languages and add some specific explanations to go deeper or that lack context in that language. Thoughts?

Live is great! It's fantastic to say the least. Everything still feels fresh and somewhat familiar and my view of my country and heritage and how I am has definitely changed and helps tremendously in that regard. There might even be a psychological explanation on why I feel so great living here again as I came across this article today. So Germany seems to be an individualist country, which I definitely identify myself with and I am surprisingly happy being on my own and doing things that interest me on my own and go my way on the other hand it's stated that Germany is also a 'tight' culture - meaning there is a strong tendency to adhere to social rules, which I like to a big degree - on the downside this leads to a culture that is somewhat resistant to change and/or less welcoming to outsiders. That being said, it seems that, at least here in this little green enclave, once you have made bed in a social group you are integrated to a degree that is almost comparable with family (given that you don't come from a broken home). Just wanted to share this as it is amazing insight and I don't want to bore you with how happy and seemingly easy I life my life right now.

Gardening time is coming to an end and with a very dry summer just some beans, potatoes and early strawberries made it. So now it's time to winter-proof the garden and plan everything a tad better come next year. After the super successful swimming pool fest in Rittersgrün that I helped organise and beer-tended at peak hour (and got a job offer as a bartender that I politely declined) where I served beers with loads of smiles and laughter with around 800 visitors over the 2 days and some fun games like water sliding and rain boot throwing and an impressive 1000l beer sold we went to visit the Saxon Switzerland (Sächsische Schweiz):

This entailed loads of hiking, some biking, a great breakfast (with loads of local farm produce) and food, beautiful nature, (2 hours from where I live roughly) beers and swimming, as well as philosophical and mundane talks. Driving through our beautiful neighbouring country to get there - the Czech republic - I have decided to start learning some Czech. It seems kids nowadays in school do have that option and the Czech people do speed some German for the most part, so I thought it's only fair that I know some too. I use Duolingo for that, which does a great job of gamefying learning a language - try it out.

Last weekend I spent my Saturday to obtain a timing/secretary license for handball and played some of the Magic: The Gathering - Arena Of The Planeswalkers which is good fun but doesn't come close to the complexity and fun that the card game is. Man, speaking of this, what a great time it is to be a nerd and a former nerdy teen. All my favourite superheroes are filling the big and small screens of the world to critical acclaim and it's acceptable to be into superheroes, metal/hardcore music and computer games. Wooooohoooo!

Speaking of games, I started and finished Resident Evil 7 recently with all the available DLC and wow was that an experience with the first person view, the well-timed scares, the anxiety inducing clever gameplay and super memorable maps and fights. Definitely the best Resident Evil since the second instalment in my book. The music in that game is also hauntingly great, here is a taste of that. Which brings me to the game I finished before this one with a very important theme: mental illness. I'm talking about Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. It's a game with a strong Celtic warrior (one of the best and strongest female protagonists I have ever had the pleasure of playing) that travels to 'Hel' to fight for the soul of her fallen husband/partner who's head she is carrying around and with the extra difficulty of being mentally ill. The game was developed with a professor that specialised in mental illnesses and some people with said illnesses to experience the trauma, visions and voices this can bring and it's so well-integrated in the game that it becomes a gaming experience (if not a life experience like no other). Listen to this beautiful song and the juxtaposed citations of people having played that game and just watching this again made me cry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n7RTnRZ_QQ

I have been rather ignorant when it came to metal illness as I have been unable to think myself into people that suffer from it, but I can honestly say that this game made me a more understanding person and the way it does that is so unique and powerful and scary. I don't want to spoil the game, but if this game doesn't convince anyone that games can be art (or are art imho) then I don't know what will.

On the Netflix side of things I finished the new season of Orange Is The New Black which I am addicted to and is still great and am in season 2 of the insanely funny and positive Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, as well as weekly excited for the (honestly now better than Breaking Bad) Better Call Saul. I am also greatly intrigued by the Queer Eye, I just saw the trailer as it was recommended and it seems to be great.

Book wise I finally finished The Witcher: The Last Wish and that is a fun read with some great short Witcher stories, even though I wish to have bought the German version, English might lack a bit in descriptive scenes seeing that is coming from the Polish original.

Let me end this with two albums I bought and a song from each and the news that I chugged this blog post out in a really short time which is great news and I will try to post at least weekly...

Here is 'So Long And Thanks For All The Fish' from 'A Perfect Circle':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r03V9OEJlgg

To me the best song of A Perfect Circle with a My Chemical Romance vibe, 80s influences and an oddly positive vibe that goes with some cynical lyrics inspired by Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy - what is not to love? (now please Maynard hit us with a new Tool album and a cherry on top another appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast)

And last but not least 'Unstoppable' from 'For The Fallen Dreams':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHzinY2__hQ

So glad that Chad is back with one of my favourite voices in Metalcore and with this uplifting and strong song, the album is a bit softer than the predecessor but comes close, the video is great too and Chad looks fantastic.

Have a great week and rock on my friends and readers!