Wednesday, August 20, 2008

notorious

my mirror.

my mirror and i have a fascinating relationship. every morning and every night it tells me who i am, even if i think i might be someone else.

as a child i always used to get confused when i looked at myself in the mirror. somehow i felt different from the person i would see in front of me. i would make faces and look at myself from all the different angles (the advantages of a folding mirror!) to find out what other people were seeing. it took me a long time to come to terms with that distinction between myself as i see it and myself other people see. i guess you get used to it...

now my mirror tells me - AGAIN! - that i have a notoriously red nose. yes it's burned because it's summer. but that's not it. i ALWAYS have a red nose. at high school my favourite teacher would always pull jokes (because of course i'm a notorious late-comer...), so that when i would enter the class room late as i was and with a red nose she would say: inga, must have been late last night, huh? too much to drink? ho ho ho. i would never really get embarrassed because she was allowed. i liked her. anyway, my point is: i always have a red nose.

my mirror also tells me i have notoriously unruly hair. it's curly and it's growing out. once when i was young it was pretty long but i'm over that. so now it's shoulder length and i'm thinking about letting it cut again. everybody tells me though i should let it grow. i mean, it's bloody inconvenient. even if everybody thinks it's so lovely and all... i don't know. i guess i have to think about it. like everyone else in this world i do care about what other people think. bloody inconvenient that is!

i could go on and on about mirrors and self-image and metaphorical implications but i'll spare you. it's late.

conclusion: mirrors are notoriously devious. they never tell you what you want to hear. or see. only sometimes. rarely. still, one can't do without, can one?

on that note, good night, sleep tight. and mirrorless dreams!

ps: i think notorious is a great word!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

a question for my male readers

it is summer. many germans might dispute this fact, solely because a lot of the time it's either too cold or too hot, it's too dry or too rainy, and if none of these things apply it's too windy. there are many reasons why summer is never good enough. germans seem to have this pessimistic gene that never allows them to actually enjoy whatever is going on. there is always a reason to complain, huh! maybe it's not just german but then it is definitely very european, don't you agree?

anyway, back to the reason why i'm posting this today: summer is one thing, fashion another. male fashion in particular can be very disturbing, so here it is:

WHY do (some? many? most?) men wear shorts (because it is summer) and then pull their socks so high around their calves that there is almost no space for their skin to breathe let alone tan??? i mean not that i fancy looking at a lot of hairy and pale male legs but what is the problem with you guys? give your calves some space! especially in summer! are you afraid it might rain any minute so you're prepared for the cold?

well, maybe it's just pragmatic. isn't that what they say about both men and germans?

do what you have to do but PLEASE don't take the same morning train as me!!!