Here are some lyrics that have really challenged me lately - it's so easy to lose this mentality...and to become OK with "OK".

"More than fine" by Switchfoot

When I wake in the morning

I want to blow into pieces

I want more than just okay, more than just okay



When I'm up with the sunshine

I want more than just a good time

I want more than just okay, more than just okay



I'm not givin' up, givin' up now

I'm not givin' up, not backing down



More than fine, more than bent on getting by

More than fine, more than just okay



When I'm lit with sunrise

I want more than just the blue skies

I want more than just okay, more than okay



More than oceans away from the dawn

More than oceans away from who we are

More than oceans, more than oceans,

More than fine

I...can...hardly believe this story.
Check this out.

This has got to be the FUNNIEST picture I have seen in a long time. Although it will only be funny for Half Life players - to all you non-players out there: This guy is like this really creepy, scary guy in Half-Life, always very mysterious and stuff, so that's why this pic made me laugh VERY hard... enjoy:
Click

Sick... :(
Off work till Thursday... :)

Well, I got some yuck stomach virus thing, so I have to stay home and eat nothing but Zwieback, quark and bananas. *BLECH*
But at least I'm getting a bit of a breather from the major stress of the last few weeks, maybe it's just my body saying "SLOW DOWN!!!!" :)

BTW, found a really cool tool for any gamer out there: Xfire. See the bar at the bottom of this page? XFire keeps track of which game I play how often and when and also allows anyone to chat with me, even while I'm playing a game! If I'm playing multiplayer, you can join me on the server I'm on and other really neat stuff. Any gamers out there - get XFire and I'll see you online! :)

Looks like we got an apartment!! 84 sq.m, nice and renovated - right close to Rock Berlin neighbourhood (Prenzlauer Berg, the suburb with the highest child rate in Europe :), not a bad price for the size, either.
We'll probably be signing the contract within the next few weeks and moving into the place (just two blocks from Gene and Kathy Shafer) either January 1st or 15th.

BTW....Half-Life 2 is by FAR the BEST game I have ever played - not just best computer game. Best game. More later...when I find the time.

First Stephi and I are Thanksgiving'ing in Dortmund - just a quick shoot-in, shoot-out - we come in tonight late, have the Thanksgiving thing tomorrow, leave Sunday morning. Sorry, all you Dortmund non-family people, we'll probably not see you this time round. :(

The Final Hours of Half-Life 2

Tomorrow at 9 am, the most revolutionary PC game ever is going to be released. Half-Life 2. Check out the article for a really interesting behind-the-scenes look at its making - which included roughly a half year of 90-100 hour work weeks for some of those guys - the company does its own laundry, that should tell you enough. <:-O

Time for bed...c ya.

I just read that the director Quentin Tarantino (of "Pulp Fiction" and the "Kill Bill" movies for the uninitiated) has an IQ of 160. Holy crap. I mean, you could say that IQ tests aren't that exact, but 160 shows that the guy is absolutely and in all other ways completely incredibly intelligent. Whoa. And then you make movies like "Kill Bill". Weird. :)

Aufm Weg zur Arbeit hab ich was unglaublich witziges beobachten können: Eine Taube watschelte so vor sich hin und ist prompt in eines der Löcher an so einem Abflusseingang getreten und auf die Schnauze gefallen, hat sich dann wieder aufgerappelt und ist einfach weiter gelaufen. Ich musste echt lachen, das sah total geil aus, weil die Taube so was von dämlich dabei aussah. :-)

Collateral
Well, this was quite a cool movie, in my opinion. The plot is not exactly completely innovative - there's the detective who's on the right track when noone else is, there's the "I-hold-a-gun-to-your-head-and-make-you-do-illegal-things-therefore-it's-not-your-fault" 'dilemma', so on, so forth. What made the movie above average for me was Tom Cruise's character, Vincent, the hitman.
Here are a couple of quotes from the movie:

(Vincent has just made his first hit of the night)
Vincent : Max, six billion people on the planet, you're getting bent out of shape cause of one fat guy.
Max : Well, who was he?
Vincent : What do you care? Have you ever heard of Rwanda?
Max : Yes, I know Rwanda.
Vincent : Well, tens of thousands killed before sundown. Nobody's killed people that fast since Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Did you bat an eye, Max?
Max : What?
Vincent : Did you join Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Whales, Greenpeace, or something? No. I off one fat Angelino and you throw a hissy fit.
Max : Man, I don't know any Rwandans.
Vincent : You don't know the guy in the trunk, either.

(Max asks how Vincent is able to do what he does for a living)
Vincent: Well, Max, it's like this. We're just insignificant little dots in the universe, and what difference does it make if there is one less of us? Nobody even notices.


You know what I like about those lines? They make sense. If you look at the world from a materialistic, atheistic point of view, there is NO rebuttal to Vincent's justification. In fact, Jamie Foxx's character Max doesn't ever truly give an answer to why Vincent's thinking is flawed. At some point he says something along the lines of "You have absolutely no conception or understanding of what someone else is thinking. Something's just wrong with you. Something that's supposed to be there in people is just...missing!"
Well, that's great, Max, but it sure isn't any logical rebuttal to Vincent's thoughts.

The fact is - if there is no objective standard for right and wrong, for value of anything, then who are we to tell Vincent he's wrong? A friend of mine said "Well, it's simple. Life is better than death, because life is something and death is nothing." Well, who are we to decide that nothing is better than something?! By doing so, we are declaring all nihilists wrong!!! Which we have no grounds to do!

The movie, I think, shows wonderfully and chillingly where the materialistic, atheistic world view ends - in absolute chaos, where there simply is no saying something is truly wrong - and therefore monsters like Vincent are absolutely fine to just do what they do.

Boy am I glad I ain't no atheist. :)

This movie gets a 7. Definetly worth seeing at least once.

Erstes Babybild
Tja, richtig gehört, für alle, die wir noch nicht erreichen konnten. Stephi ist schwanger!!!! :-) Und hier haben wir auch schon das erste Bild, wo man überhaupt nichts erkennen kann. :)
Der rote Kreis ist das Baby - zur Zeit einfach ein kleiner Wicht. Das schwarze drum rum ist die Fruchtblase. Stephi sagt mir, unten mittig hat das Herz geschlagen.
Cool, oder? Voraussichtlicher Geburtstermin ist ca. 3.5.2005.