My first stay at the Hospital

Apr 18, 2014 | Before The Great Journey, Updates

Now I’m sitting at home, again on my big office chair, again in front of the computer, again uncomfortable around the tailbone.
Just now it’s not caused by that fistula, but by the bandage. That fluffy, plushy sticker in that place.
So yesterday I had the operation appointment.
Arrived at the hospital, I had to wear that nice gown and lie down, got one of those nice pills, the area of attention was shaved generously, I slept in a little, was waked by a nurse who wanted to know my meal preferences, I slept in again and was finally rolled towards surgery.
Pretty cool overall; you get push there lying down on the bed, you are okay with anything in the whole world (most likely because of that peculiar pill) and all the nurses are super nice to you.
The canula inserted, rolled to the operating table and hooked onto the drip, no worries, all good. I was pretty stoked already and probably asked many thigns of the people around and so on… Anyways, then the ‘good stuff’ kicked in, the narcosis.
Duuuude, that rocked! You get sick a little, then you get hot, then you get the idea behind the term ‘full intoxication’, a little cheering and then you wake of beautiful dreams and get rolled back to your room. I instantly had to tell everyone how cool the narcosis is and that I am totally fine and so on. But then I got tired again and slept it off.

That bed was high class to say the least, fully adjustable. Plenty of food, just one (very talkative and nice) neighbor and with my 4 books, two stage plays and 3 downloaded audio books I was only able to mark one stage play and listen to two of the audio books. I ended up talking with my neighbor for most of the time…
Well, in 24 hours you don’t get done much, but all that was well worth it… 🙂

As a result, I can say that I have been staying in a hospital and had an operation now and I pretty much enjoyed all of it. 😀
Only the bandange changing tomorrow I do not await that much…

P.S.: Did you notice? No word on the operation itself. 😀 That’s because I didn’t feel a thing of it, not even any pain… 😉

Sinus Pilonidalis

Apr 16, 2014 | Before The Great Journey, Updates

Something new.
That little lump has grown and suddenly I can’t sleep anymore. On Monday morning I went to the doctor and got myself diagnosed with pilonidal sinus disease. Who wants to know further details, please use google to your heart’s desire.

Until yesterday I was hardly able to sit properly and couldn’t sleep on my back… Bad times, I can tell… Luckily my big office chair in front of my computer lets me sit comfortable enough. But don’t dare moving! Isn’t that hard though in the end… 😀

Tomorrow the operation takes place and I’ll be in hospital for a few days. After that I practically have a hole in the bum… I tell you more the next days when I return home.

Besides, it will be an experience for me as I have never been hospitalized yet. We’ll see how it will turn out…
On thing’s for sure: What has to be, has to be.

Our new eyes

Mar 17, 2014 | Before The Great Journey, Updates

I know, a blog with many pictures is nicer than ‘only’ plain text…
Actually I wanted to write this article when my new camera has arrived. But as it has to be, the delivery is delayed. Well done! Now I have to wait until next week… Maybe it has to be that way. Maybe I have to get other things done until I can shoot pictures and movies… 🙂 Sure I could cancel and order it somewhere else. But that’s too stressful to me. I’ll just practice some (New Zealand-ish?) patience, that can never be wrong.

I am sure that especially for my blog will be enriched with that new camera. For then I’ll have some presentable pictures (unlike the ones from my smartphone) in order to take you with me.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Cheesy, but true.

My 2nd Apprenticeship

Mar 2, 2014 | Before The Great Journey, Thoughts, Updates

Life continues. After all the apprenticeship stress and 2 weeks of the kindergarten internship, the daily routine settles in. Every day I go to work and back. No further responsibilities. All simple…
But now it’s time to finally pick up on all of those thing that you have been pushing ahead all the time.
Like blogging more often, reading, memorizing your lines for the theatre and so on…

Furthermore I have planned on learning those essential skills you could need as an Au Pair (or even as a mom or a dad).
Until now it went well on the main point of focus, the kids. Inside the family will be many opportunities to take the kids outside or simply to play with them. But there are many more jobs when you are an Au Pair: The household is, at limits, in your hands.
Of course I can’t turn into an experienced household hero just by that. But as I’ve learned in 3,5 years of training, you actually can learn some things.
Especially easy when you are genuinely interested in the subject and always keep your goal in mind.

Some say that the teacher is of some significance when training. And who could come close to my mom in terms of household?
Until now I have been avoiding tasks like cleaning, cooking and doing laundry, but very soon time will come when I have to deal with all of those on my own. That’s why I started my second apprenticeship, as I call it.

Now I will help mom not only because I am such a good boy, but because I want to learn all of those things around the house. And by the way it’s never wrong to be able to do that as a boy…
At least I approach the subject with professional methods and well put basic questions. 😛

Who knows, maybe one day we’ll read about ‘My First Cake’ or ‘Look How It’s All Shiny And Clean’. 😀

Besides, I have sent an early version of my application to the Au Pair agency. They say it’s a little early to start the actual process. I want to go at the end of the year anyway and there’s much time until then.
But it goes on. And that makes confident…

Mivoc Sidekick

Feb 18, 2014 | Before The Great Journey, Photos, Updates

Music is great!
In order to play it, you normally need speakers. They should be able to play any sound well. Especially the bass is of great significance, as every young person might might say. My old setup didn’t deliver too much, so I looked up a decent 2.1 system and was about to buy it.
But my dad proposed another idea. „Just build your own. That’s much better.“
Build my own? That is not easy… And you actually have to DO something, instead of just waiting for a parcel and unpacking.
Well, for the good sound you are willing to do much. So I started looking for a DIY-set and found speakers named ‘Mivoc Sidekick’. They were decently prized and were promised to be very powerful.
Except the wood, everything was included in the set. The result is ‘somewhat compact’, as you can see in the picture.
Let’s do this!!

So here one ‘technical’ post, being about building my speakers

Before the frequency filter, insulation material and the single speakers can be inserted, the housing has to be finished. We chose some 19mm thick MDF board, that has been lying around for years. My father build his own speakers with that exact material back in the days.

First we cut up the walls.

Then all the Openings for the single speakers and the screw terminal. (The speaker box concept is ‘closed’, so completely shut.)

So that the first bass kick doesn’t destruct the Speaker box we chose flat dowels and construction glue.

The speaker box in dry assembly:
(Here you can nicely see both chambers. A big one for the frequency filter and the subwoofer, as well as the smaller one for the sub-midrange-speakers and the tweeter.)

The greater the pressure, the better the glue results.

The corners rounded and completely painted it looks almost done already.

Meanwhile I had finished the frequency filter. As an electronics technician not a thing, even though in the end it looks more practical than nice…
She just has to fit in the housing PLUS I made it without using any additional wires inbetween the components. (The connections: +, -, TMT (sub-midrange-speakers), HT (tweeter))

Then I put it on a little board with hot glue and in the end we screwed them in together with the wiring.

Now for the actual part. After the insulation the speakers themselves. Solder, put in, screw tight. Done!

The 20cm subwoofer isn’t powered through my amplifier, it is powered each side through an own amplifier module. Now they all have enough power. The modules are situated underneath the desk, as to see in the first picture.

After extending my desk, having put cables, amplifiers und so on in place we were about to get it started! To taste the fruit of some days, sorrows and sweat…

Today I sit in my room in front of the speakers and I am happy every time. I crank them up so that the room is shaking, the quality is exquisite and the bass mighty. Keep in mind the size of them.)

I officially would like to thank my dad as without him, the project would never have been initiated and forget about finished.

Thank you daddy, you were so right!

Tasty Moments

Jan 31, 2014 | Before The Great Journey, Thoughts, Updates

Yesterday it was time.
3,5 years, at first it seemed an eternity, are finally over. The official acquittance takes place in our workshop, the place we learned things, we spent long days, we took exams at. You sit there with you whole class and await your certificates.
The examination board standing in front of us, the certificates are being handed out, the results are being named. My turn.
„Frontrunner. No one is better.“ Applause. 94 percent. A.

I still don’t get it fully. Those three and a half years are gone. I sure look back gratefully. I might haven’t been the simplest classmate, I admit. I’d rather do my own thing, than sticking to those unwritten rules. I didn’t ever ask about it, but I understood I sometimes was considered a ‘freak’. All I can say is: I had a good class, good colleagues and a really good time. Thank you guys, I will always like to look back on the days. Not the least because we did it!

Without god I could have never gotten such results. I think behind that completion ist more than just a guy who is good at taking exams.

After all the formalities (those at home, too) we four colleagues went out for dinner. We ordered a bunch of ribs and the munching began. Meat is the right thing for real men! Here my personal motto:

What tastes good, has to get you dirty!

It’s kinda funny. You walk into a decent restaurant just to rip gnaw meat of bones like Asterx & Obelix in the end. Your fingers are covered in grease, you barely want to touch your knife to seperate the single ribs. It has to be that way. And real men WITH their certificate in the pocket eat much! Should be worth it for sure! And it truly tasted phenomenal. Even the teeth wanted to keep as much as possible as long as possible.
All in all a superb finish! We have spent some years of our lives together and that doesn’t past without marks.

Now I have started on my new job already and I am very satisfied. In my apprenticeship I was put there for longer periods of time and so I already know all the people and the work there.
It isn’t a sophisticated job, but I imagined it that way: Go there, work, go home. No thoughts about solving urgent problems at work. At most maybe who is the next to shout a round of coffee…
The relationship to my coworkers is the most important thing at any workplace in my opinion. And it works great there. Like in a dream…

Sometimes I feel like my life is going on railtracks.
Elementary school, secondary school, apprenticeship, work.
You almost have no choice. It just goes. And it goes undeservingly well! I hope I will be able to value that one day.
But I don’t want to stay on those tracks. That’s why I plan the year abroad. I see it fixed on my resumee.