deutsche musik

in the last year, it seems like there has been a rebirth of popular german music. i know, the concept of german rap or rock 'n roll probably has most americans (and even a lot of germans) rolling on the floor with laughter right now. this is probably due in large part to acts like "dieter's dance party" on SNL, which i admit is hilarious. but in listening to german radio stations like ENERGY berlin there has been a lot more music in german than before. i have personally been on a big german music kick lately. and seriously, there are some good artists out there. to name a few:
xavier naidoo
joy denalane
wir sind helden
soehne mannheims
silbermond
fler
and of course, nena, of 99 luftballoons fame. she actually recently released a greatest hits 2 CD collection, of which i am a very proud owner (but don't tell anyone that). with the exception of the last, they're honestly not cheeseball.
i don't know why i just spent the last few minutes putting all of thise links in, because you probably will never visit them (hence the title of the blog "Life according to fritz, not that you actually care).
i wonder what this surge is about. perhaps the germs have just had their fill of US cultural imperialism (ok, that's a little extreme) or have realized that EMINEM sucks.
in any case, there's always a place in my heart for mary j. blige and james taylor.

barf

so i had dinner at a restaurant last night and the person i was with ordered oysters. i had never had oysters before and decided to try them. so far so good. too bad i woke up this morning feeling like, well, as we'd say in South Africa "kak" which I am sure you can figure out. i hate it when you're hungry but can't keep food down.

nawa also puked this morning. except she puked up part of a sock. oysters are actual food that people eat. neither people or dogs eat socks (especially the BRAND NEW socks i just bought on sunday). so i kind of think she had it coming.

mobile phone

i checked my mobile phone bill this afternoon and almost fell off of my chair. i believe this is the first time ever where i have been under my minutes. but check this out--look how much i am under! people--CALL ME!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

i did actually get to celebrate with pei and co. by making pork dumplings which were delicious. a play-by-play of making the dumplings will come soon. i am writing in red because i think it is supposed to mean good luck for this holiday. and it is the year of the dog. i think this one kind of looks like nawa, except nawa's ears are much shorter. so maybe it doesn't look like her at all. this image comes from here.

more on germlish

my mom and i still do on occasion speak german, our supposedly secret language. usually, we do so in department stores and at the mall when there are commissioned sales people around who interrupt us when we are arguing the merits or lack thereof of a certain product--typically something too expensive and unnecessary, but that we really want. well, there was this one time when my mom was examining an expensive handbag and we were discussing whether or not getting it was a good decision (in german). halfway through our conversation, the sales lady interrupts us and joins our conversation in german. so the whole "secret language" thing backfired. thank goodness we weren't saying anything derogatory about her. not that the "secret language" would ever be used for such purposes. never.

germlish

last night, armed with sushi and becks beer, i watched the movie Spanglish, which i know is an "old" movie, but in the last year or so, my movie watching opportunities have been limited. i thought it was a good movie, not as funny as i expected, but very good. in fact, i could identify with a lot of the content. for me, the main focus of the movie was how a mother and a daughter navigated a new culture and dealt with people of a different socio-economic status.

although i did not grow up completely bilingually, i learned german from my grandparents at an early age, also learning later that they're german was really messed up. but anyway, having that background in a different language always made me feel special and different. but also having the name "fritz" was an automatic differentiating factor. i remember being called a nazi in 3rd grade. granted, you can't really take anything 3rd graders tell you that seriously, but you don't always know that in 3rd grade. in actuality, that all wasn't that big of a deal.

i come from a limbo generation. this is the generation in which a family moves from being lower-class to middle-class. and it is not just about having more material wealth, but the fact is that people who have grown up purely middle-class have a different outlook. and when they're children (who will be my children) are in this environment, it is very strange to see what they are interested in and how they view everything--work, play, life. this has even been an issue between my parents and myself. i remember when we moved into our house in candalaria out of the parsonage and suddenly, we were in an environment where everyone had money. it was a hard transition and i still remember it, even though i was very young. cristina, the girl in Spanglish, dealt with the same thing. she was excited about all of this. it made me nervous. but like flor, the mother, my parents were very cautious in allowing me to do "middle-class" things. and i understand that and am thankful for their caution. they really grounded me a lot and that continues to help me. i wonder, though, if i will be able to do the same thing for my children, if my efforts to raise them in the values and beliefs that are important to me will be overwhelmed by a culture that values very different things and a very different way of life.

i guess the lesson i get from all of this is: don't forget who you are and where you came from.

debt

i owe heather feather $4. this was for 1 small frostie at wendy's on yaymee's last night here and 27.2% of my bill at the little india lunch buffet. i write this so i will not forget.

survey says

is the new profile pic an improvement???

my new favorite song

Xavier Naidoo is one of my favorite German artists and he has this song which is relatively new that I love. I haven't posted the whole thing, cause I'm too lazy to translate the whole thing. Even if you don't speak German, he has a great voice; you can listen to it on Amazon's German site (RealPlayer required).

Dieser Weg wird kein Leichter sein,
This way will not be an easy one,
Dieser Weg wird steinig und schwer,
This way will be rocky and rough,
Nicht mit Vielem wirst du dir einig sein,
You won't agree with many,
Doch dieses Leben bietet so viel mehr.
But this life offers so much more.

Manche treten dich, Some trample you,
Manche lieben dich, Some love you,
Manche geben sich für Dich auf, Some give themselves up for you,
Manche segnen Dich, Some bless you,
Setz dein Segel nicht, Don't put up your sail,
Wenn der Wind das Meer aufbraust. When the wind stirs the sea.

this says it all

clueless DU kids

to quote cher from the movie clueless, skateboards are so two years ago. and since clueless is from 1995, that means that skateboards are now so 12-13 years ago. seriously guys, you're like 20 years old, skateboards are lame. and you're in my way.

you know, cher really did have so much wisdom to share. we should watch the movie at gsis--it even explains stuff about immigration policy:

Cher : So like, right now for example. The Haitians need to come to America. But some people are all, "What about the strain on our resources?" Well it's like when I had this garden party for my father's birthday, right? I put R.S.V.P. 'cause it was a sit-down dinner. But some people came that like did not R.S.V.P. I was like totally buggin'. I had to haul ass to the kitchen, redistribute the food, and squish in extra place settings. But by the end of the day it was, like, the more the merrier. And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians. And in conclusion may I please remind you it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty. Thank you very much.

this quote comes from this super sweet site

it is so true. sigh. well, in relation to this whole clueless thing, i discovered an error in an oregonian article from last summer (i was out of the country, otherwise i would have written to the living section editor immediately). a "monet" is not a hot chick, rather, it means something quite the opposite. calling someone a monet means that from a distance, they look good, but close up, "it's just a big mess." journalists apparently don't care about checking their facts.

more good ways to procrastinate

so i should be reading international economic law, but translating my name into japanese seems like a way better use of time. go here to translate your name!

all pistons still not firing

it's monday afternoon and i am still not ready for the week. even though i have seen heather feather's away message before, it still worried me at first. must consume more caffeine i think.

snow puppy

from the savannahs or africa (okay, it was just the veld) to the blizzards of the rocky mountains (alright, it was the grassy area in front of the apartment). nawa had fun in the snow!

more phots on my flickr site. link to the right.

pizza

usually, there are events with pizza on friday at gsis and the staff in suite 101 gets all of the leftovers. it is one of the few lavish perks of working in that office. alas, today there were no pizza events today and none of us had the desire or cash to go get pizza ourselves, so it we had to justify somehow using the corporate card and calling up papa john's to order some of that cheesey goodness.
well, wouldn't you know, but the new electric water purifier created a field of radiation around the entire building, preventing everyone from leaving. however, it was possible for things to go into the building, passed the force field. thus, since we were trapped and on the verge of starving, we really should have ordered pizza which the delivery man could have simply slid through the edge of the force field.
for some reason, this scenario didn't really work. so i ate a bagel with light cream cheese. definitely not as satisfying as cheese pizza.

snow

being from the pacific northwest, snow is still a novelty to me. and we got about six inches this morning here in denver. i was actually up at around 4 am when it started since nawa decided she had to get up and use the outdoor facilities. snow is a very beautiful thing--i do not think anyone should forget that, even if they see it all the time. snow covers the sins of the dreary winter in an milky blanket. nawa loves snow as well. she actually saw it once back in washington, but not this much. she was very excited and apparently enjoys eating it. i hope somehow she is programmed not to eat yellow snow, though her african ancestors probably didn't require this to survive.