Feeling the Stress

The stress is setting in. Starting tomorrow at 6:30 the two busiest (maybe even three) weeks will begin. This week I'm just going to be busy with a lot of meetings, training, just one exam and work. Starting on Friday I will probably start living at the wall because I will be setting routes for the climbing comp and I have an E&M exam which basically explains itself already. After Vertical Plains, I have career fair and Casino Night. Maybe after that I'll get a breather. But life is great no matter how busy I get. I had a great time hanging out with all of my friends this weekend and just chilling. My roommates and I redecorated our living room after they both got back from flying to Midland just for fun (Angela is a flight instructor) and then gettting stuck there because of bad weather. Fun times. Except for a tiny bit of drama life is awesome. Ok, gotta eat dinner at Melissa's. My awesome friend who can cook great. :)

It's a great day

I just made myself the best dinner in the world. Well not the best but it was pretty good. I'm a good cook after all. :) Otherwise this weekend has been fun. I hung out with Amy and Davia on Friday night and we watched a bunch of movies including "The Forgotten" (Good Movie) and "Short Circuit" (Classics are always great). Saturday I just hung out with Lib, Jillie, Denis and the entire rest of that crew. We also made s'mores over a bonfire at some guy's houses. Today I finally got to sleep in and then I just did a bunch of homework, cooked myself dinner and chilled. Oh btw the highlight of today: I only coughed twice since this morning. It feels great to finally get rid of that cold. I probably shouldn't have said that, now I jinxed myself as always. To get to a bunch more serious stuff. I'm finally super motivated. I have been on track concerning all my goals for this semester and I am ahead on my homework. Wohoo. On a sadder note I just finished reading "My Land and My People" by the Dalai Lama. The book almost made me cry. I had heard about Tibet being invaded, but I never knew how long and serious this was. The Chinese basically committed genocide and are still doing so after 4 decades. But the worst thing is that almost nothing can be done to change this. Unless of course the United States invades Tibet as well and tries to kick out the Chinese, but that has World War 3 written all over it. Ok, I'm gonna go to bed otherwise this is gonna upset me even more. I'll just finish with this quote by the Dalai Lama.

"This is the worst period in our 2000 year history. This really is the most serious period. At this time, now, there is every danger that the entire Tibetan Nation, with its own unique cultural heritage will completely disappear. The present situation is so serious that it is really a question of life and death. If death occurs, nothing is left." ~Dalai Lama

Stupid Crushes

How come that as soon as I stop having a crush on one guy, I'll get a crush on another guy and it's just as ridiculous and distracting????? Can someone please explain that to me?

Procrastination

So I'm procrastinating by cooking myself my favorite meal which is rice-corn casserole. Yum, I can't wait. Otherwise life is fun. I finished the Wilderness First Aid training last weekend and it was quite a lot of fun. Getting covered in blood and then scaring the guys at the rec center id desk is just great. ;) And now it just simply back to the normal routine: school, homework, eat, sleep. That reminds me I should probably go to bed early tonite cause of the staff meeting at 6am tomorrow. OK, this procrastinating thing is not working, back to E&M.

And it's back to school

I guess I'm gonna write a little bit in here, since today I only have one class at 11, compared to the 4 yesterday, this is nice and chill. I finally got everything organized and I'm back on top of things, which as a perfectionist I really enjoy. Except for the stress I'm really looking foward to this semester. Working at the OPC with all the amazing people is going to be a blast. The Bivying Bastards and the old staff are just incredible people and we all get along great. Anyway, I should probably eat breakfast and get ready for my fluids class. Later

Exhausted

I should probably be unpacking cause all of my clothes just stink. I don't really want to though. I still have to get used to the fact that I'm back in society and civilization and not somewhere in the woods or canyons with a bunch of amazing people whom I'm gonna enjoy working with a lot. Oh well, just to summarize my christmas break. Skiing was cold and awesome and Burns looks pretty funky on skis with his devil hat. Snow in Lake Jackson on Christmas Day and chilling with my family was amazing. Hanging out at the Lake House with Danny and his family was funny. Backpacking in and out of canyons for 8 days with people I barely knew was beyond incredible. I have learned so much while getting soaked cause we slept in a gully, while getting stinky cause we haven't showered for 8 days straight and plenty of other adventures. Compared to nature, civilization is just such a bore. I'm probably gonna change my mind after I slept in my bed on non sloped and non rocky ground. Anyway, my new nick name is Sauerkraut, just ask me about it.

Gone....

Gone backpacking in the Guadalupe Mountains. I'll be back on the 10th, if not come check on me. ;)

Snow in LJ

'Twas was the night before christmas (or actually christmas for us Germans),
When all through the house the Aheimers were stirring (and unwrapping presents).
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that Mom had put presents in there.
The children were nestled all snug on the couch,
While it was lightly snowing outside.
A few flurries stuck to the grass and ground
nothing special to us Aheimers. (Totally doesn't ryhme but it's all good)
The flurries quickly turned to real snow,
And before we knew everything was covered...hohoho.
The news said about less than an inch or so,
But it was more like freaking 5 inches of wet, snowball-fighting-type snow. Yipeeeh....in freaking Lake Jackson by the way. The last time they had now was 15 years ago and that was only flurries. I can't believe we actually have a white christmas. It's so freaking amazing. This morning our entire neighborhood made snowmen. Ours is by far the coolest and most creative, because we Germans actually know how to built a snowman (FYI you roll the snow and don't just make a big pile). Anyway, the pictures are up on the family website for the nonbelievers. Ok, for right now I'm just gonna use my sisters footspa and enjoy the snow and our broken screen (since two panels broke b/c the snow was too heavy). This is sooo unbelievably great.
Snow = Happy Anni :)
Snow in LJ = Super Happy Anni :) :)

Merry Christmas Everyone

Ok, quick update. SKiing in Winterpark was a blast, I wanna move to Colorado so bad now. Anyway, the skiing was great except for the temperatures. The last couple of days we woke up and it was -5 degrees Fahrenheit. That is freaking cold, the weather is insane, supposedly it is snowing in Houston right now. Our airplane was delayed 4 hours last night because it couldn't leave Cleveland, so we got in at about 4 this morning. Anyway, today is Christmas so I'm excited and yes we crazy Europeans celebrate on the 24th. First Christmas present today was my first B in College. Bye, bye 4.0. I'm proud of the B though because it was Dr. Borst's class. Ok, I gotta go help my mom with Christmas preperations. Oh, another cool thing. I lost my driver's license and I found out the airport does not accept Tech IDs (even tough it's a photo ID). BTW Happy 21st Audrey, I'll call you right now to wish you a happy bday. Merry Christmas everyone.

Back in LJ

So after 9 boring, uneventful hours (record time, wohoo) I made it back to LJ. My mom welcomed me with a bday cake and my dad with HDTV on our huge 50 inch flatscreen tv and my lil bro and lil sis with crazyness and whipped cream on their pizza. So I guess everything is back to normal. Tomorrow is going to be a long shopping day and then Friday we leave to go freaking skiing and boarding in awesome Winterpark, CO. I can't wait. Btw Burns don't forget. The 20th, noon, on top of Mary Jane, you better be there or else. :) Anyway, I think I'm gonna hang out with the fam since I only get to see them for about 2 weeks. Oh yeah and to my delight I miraculously pulled of an A in thermodynamics. The only class I ever failed an exam in and was considering dropping. Ok, I'm outta here, everyone have a great break.

Don't wanna study

So since I don't wanna study for my thermo final in 2 hours, I'm gonna write some useless random shallow stuff in here.

My mom is currently in New York City with the ladies from her Monday Night Group. I guess those rich housewives have nothing better to do. Just kidding. I'm happy my mom gets to do all kinds of stuff especially since only my lil bro is left in the house.

I'm going skiing in Winterpark, CO on the 17th. I'm probably gonna end up hitting the slopes with Burns since he and his family are going too. Burns you are about to eat some powder. Oh, I can't wait. The last time I went skiing was two years ago.

Except for finals. I'm having tons of fun right now. I'm probably not gonna leave til Wednesday so that I can chill and hang out some more. How come that I have partied more during finals week than all semester long?

Ok, I'm gonna make myself some lunch so that I won't be starving during the suckiest final ever. Later

Horrible Horrible Names - I think I'll stick with Anika

1. YOUR PORN STAR NAME: (Name of first pet / Street you live on): Freezerburn 32nd Street
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (Name of your favorite snack food / Grandfather's first name): Duplo Emil
3. YOUR FASHION DESIGNER NAME: (First word you see on your left / Favorite restaurant): Flamingo Willi Joe’s
4. EXOTIC FOREIGNER ALIAS: (Favorite Spice / Last Foreign Vacation Spot): Paprika Germany
5. SOCIALITE ALIAS: (Silliest Childhood Nickname / Town Where You First Partied): Anuska Drochtersen
6. "FLY Boy" ALIAS (a la J. Lo): (First Initial / First Two or Three Letters of your Last Name): A. Ahe
7. ICON ALIAS: (Something Sweet Within Sight / Any Liquid in Your Kitchen): Gold-Bears Milk
8. DETECTIVE ALIAS: (Favorite Baby Animal / Where You Went to High School): Puppy Brazoswood
9. BARFLY ALIAS: (Last Snack Food You Ate / Your Favorite Alcoholic Drink): Flips Long Island Iced Tea
10. SOAP OPERA ALIAS: (Middle Name / Street Where You First Lived): Almuth Gauensieker Feldstrasse

Bday

I had an absolutly fabulous birthday. It started off with me semi-sleeping in still 9 and then unwrapping presents. As I walked to my only class that day I got soaked from hail and it was actually quite fun. Then I just chilled around the house, replanted my flowers, hung up my huge German flag and so on. At 7 Lib and Denis picked me up to go eat at Johnny Carino's and that's when the evening began. Of course the guys couldn't resist taking me to Cricket's and making my 21st memorable. So thanks JD for getting me drunk. Thanks Laura, Jonathan and everyone else for buying me tasty shots. Thanks Jay for giving the best hugs. Thanks Lib for being my DD and making sure I don't get a hang over. Thanks Lindsay, Burns, Denis and Lib for playing Trivial Pursuit til 3 in the morning. Thanks Danny, Bob and Jennifer for coming to dinner and being great friends in general. Thanks Brett for showing up even though we don't hang out much. Thanks Angela, Audrey and Ellen for calling me to wish me a happy bday. It made my day. Thanks Jason for being dissappointed that you didn't get to see me drunk, because that was you goal for the last year or so. Thanks Julie and Sandee for being great roomies and baking me a cake. Thanks Erica and Melissa for wishing me a happy bday several times. Thanks Dillon, Amy C and Amy C, Jillian, Sarah C, Heath, Lauren Itz, Crystal, Erin and everyone else that simply said happy bday and enjoy your day. And of course everyone else that I forgot. I love my friends and of course my family. Thanks Mom, Dad, Kaki and Xander for always being there for me and singing me happy bday over the phone.

Thanksgiving

Back from a wonderful Thanksgiving with my wonderful family and as always I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and start crying because of all the stuff I have to do. But that's life and that's all I'm gonna say.

Only 1:30

It's only 1:30 and I already had an interesting day. I failed my E&M exam at 11 this morning. Discovering only 5 minutes before the exam that I had left my homework that was due today at home didn't help much either. After that in my communications class I find out that only the rough draft was due today. At least I have the paper done now. Then when I drove back to campus to turn in my homework all these crazy Lubbock drivers and pedestrians are just set on getting me in another accident. Being really tired didn't help much either. So I'm not gonna leave the house except to go climbing today. I can't really go anywhere anyway because I'll be doing all this homework that is due tomorrow.

Treib mich weiter, gib mir meine Hoffnung zurueck....

As I was driving over to Lib's house today. I was listening to my favorite German band Pur. This song in particular I thought fitted very well. I'm trying to find a translation for it, but of course even if I do it's just not gonna sound and mean the same. It's basically about complacency and lack of motivation. Something that I'm really lacking right now. As I was doing my physics homework today aka copying my physics homework I realized once again that I'm really lacking my movtivation. I didn't even want to try. I think it's mainly burn out cause this is already my fifth semester. Another thing is that during the spring semester I learned how to get by, get good grades and have tons of fun at the same time. Now this semester it's not working out anymore cause my classes got a lot more difficult. I'm also expecting that I will do good and that everything will work out, because that's what has always happened in my life. I never had to work extremly hard to get something. So now when that doesn't happend it's extremly discouraging. And for some reason this is not making any sense. It's in my head anyways and that's all that matters. Anyway, I'm gonna get off the computer and hang out with Lib and Denis some more.


Warum hast Du sie verlassen und verläßt Du auch noch mich
sie hasten durch die Straßen und verlieren ihr Gesicht.

Sie sind bequem, gefügig, schlafwandeln durch die Korridore
nur noch Brot und Spiele, ist das wirklich schon genug ?

Ist der Weg zu weit
jedes In- und Aus sich egh´n verlorne Zeit.

Auf meiner Reise gab es wirklich viel zu seh´n
Hab´ vermutlich bei der Eile glatt die Hälfte überseh´n.

Und die schnell erreichte Ziele machen träge, satt
das Blut wird müde. Wo ist die Windmühle, gegen die ich kämpfen kann ?

Sag mir wie, nicht wann
Sag mir, was ich wirklich kann

Mächtig viel Theater, tief drin im Labyrinth
abseits der irren Wege, die vorgezeichnet sind, oh Bitte

Treib mich weiter
Gib mir meine Hoffnung zurück
Führ mich in Versuchung und hilf mir
Zeig mir mehr als billiges Glück

All die Tiere folgen dem Instinkt
fraglich, was die Menschheit unserer Mutter Erde bringt.

Ein großes Segen-Fluch-Getriebe
voller Lust und Liebe, Leid und Lüge
wenn ich mich betrüge, betrüg ich dann auch Dich ?

halt den Atem an
frag mich bitte nicht wie lang

Die Wahl der Qual ist schwierig, wie hätten sie´s denn gern ?
Bin ich nur ein Stückchen Schale allein weit ab vom Kern ?

Treib mich weiter ...

Manchmal hör´ ich seltsame Lieder, die hin und wieder
in mir drin das Weiter suchen

Es klingt nach oben, es klingt nach vorn
Ich hab´ die Gabe - zum Glück - noch nicht verlor´n

Treib mich weiter ....

It's going to be a long day today, but that's ok since most of my days are gonna be like that until finals. But right after finals I get to go skiing with my family in Winterpark, CO and then it's off to LCT. I have no clue where we are going to go for that one. Looks like I'm gonna have an exciting break. Wohooo, I can't wait. I'm extremely tired of school. Papers and exams are just not fun. But what can you do? Otherwise nothing interesting has happened since the last post. Oh wait, I did get a rental car so that I don't have to bum rides. It's a Grand Am so nothing special like Heath's Dodge Minivan. I would have loved that car cause my friends already call me Soccer Mom. Hihi, anyway I'm off to take a shower and let the day begin.

Sometimes the wind speaks to me.
I am the wind when it speaks to me.
As I am walking,
no longer do I know time.
For the sound sounds the same
as it has always been.

Oh!
What bliss!
Self -
No more.
Time -
Don't know!

Only Truth, Truth, Truth.

-Seasmile

My poor car

On my way to class yesterday afternoon I'm about to turn right onto Brownfield Highway from 19th Street when I noticed a red truck in front of me. I think to myself you better slow down otherwise you are gonna do the same thing Sandee did and rear-end the truck. Because we have to yield both the truck and I are stopped, I look left and behind me to check the traffic and see no car coming and gun it. The only problem is the car in front of me hadn't moved yet. And since his bumper is at the height of my hood it totally smashed my right light, scrunches up the hood and cracks the radiator completely. The steering is messed up too and who knows what else. My car got towed in today to be fixed and luckily the insurance pays for all of it except the deductible. And right now I want nothing more but to be 21. Cause if I would be I could get a free rental car but since I'm not 21 that doesn't work and I'm gonna be bumming rides of everybody for the next week or so. It's noting really new, it's not like I haven't done that for the first two years up here at college. :)

Cancelled Class

I was runnning late to Thermo again this morning. Luckily Thermo was cancelled, so that's why I'm sitting in the ME lab right now doing nothing. Ugh, I want my motivation back....right now. Anyway I think I'm gonna play some games, then read magazines in my Mechanics class, then do Mechanics hw and I will get it done today and if that's the only thing i will get accomplished, then materials, SWE meeting, Paradigm and hanging out. Sounds like a fun day. Btw I finally got my Travel Letter which means I can actually leave this country and get back in. Wohoo. Otherwise life is great, I miss my friends and that's about it. Later

No Motivation

I have plenty of homework to do before I leave this friday to go climbing and I probably should start studying for my exams next week and work out some more and start thinking about what I'm gonna get my family for christmas and the list goes on and on and.... I don't wanna do any of it. All my motivation is gone. So I guess I can wait til it comes back or I can just get my act together and start working off my to do list. Later

Some friends have visions or dreams of the Buddha,
where He is all magnificent,
smiling, beckoning…

But what would you do if you see the Buddha in person?
After bowing, paying respect?
Do you just gaze on in a daze of amazement?
Do you just bask in His glory?

Truth is,
if you do not ask for the Dharma,
you are not a true Buddhist, not a Truth-seeker;
you are merely a Buddha worshipper.