The lyf so short

Just because I'm not at home doesn't mean nothing's happening there.

You may remember that when we started restoring the roof, we found all kinds of funky things, such as a mummified cat, a mummified rat, a bird skeleton, a ROUS skeleton, an egg and a box of old photos. Also, Jörg noted that there were some wires sticking out of a disused chimney.
In joke, he said something like, "Probably they chucked their WWII memorabilia in there".

Now apparently the renovation came into the vicinity of said chimney, and out of curiosity, the wires were pulled.

Which brought this to light.

Now I don't know how you'd feel about that, but I was sitting some thousand kilometers away and ellipsing. A lot.

This is what the contents of that bag looked like.
According to the boyfriend (whose father was in the police force, and who was taught to handle weapons with said police force and during his military service) this was a Walther P38, the official Wehrmacht handgun (it had a Wehrmacht registration stamp, too) which remained in use with the police and the military until the 1980s or so. With ammunition. And, most likely, in full working order. (No, he did not try that. The holes in the boards were there already. For serious.)

Now of course when something like this happens you have two options: The legal way and the illegal way.
The illegal way is don't say anything, keep it or sell it, and hope nobody who's not supposed to find out ever finds out.
The legal way is take it to the police and turn it in.

Since my boyfriend is, on the whole, a reasonable man who has too many projects on his hands to go to jail for two years or more in case anything who's not supposed to find out does find out, he turned it in. (Remember, this is not America: Obtaining the permission to own a gun is a lot harder and a lot more regulated.)
Turns out they're not just going to disarm it and give it to a museum or something.
It's going to be destroyed.

That makes me strangely unhappy. It's a dangerous thing, no question about that, but it's still a kind of historic artefact. I mean, it's even aesthetic in a kind of lethal way. Look at that design. I'm all for disarming it, but the legal situation is that it's going to be put into a compactor and turned into a blob of junk. Which I think is a shame.

You could have it disarmed at your own cost (which would be at least 200€ for something that could technically be done by anyone with a Dremel and a working knowledge of physics), which would allow you to keep it. Hah.

Accordingly, the police officer who filed the whole thing said something along the lines of "As a police officer I have to congratulate you on having done the right thing. Anything else would have been illegal and would have led to a lot of trouble. ... As a pal, however, I can only facepalm. Why the hell did you do that? You could have sold that one for 700€ at the very least. A gun that's no longer produced, with unknown ammunition, unregistered - that's the perfect murder weapon. There's a real market for that kind of thing."

Yeah. That a real invitation to be a good lawful citizen, isn't it.

Actually I think 700€ not worth the knowledge that I might have abetted murder, but I imagine many people would be tempted, or rather are tempted.
And while I'm glad not to have the thing in my house, because no matter how well it might be hidden some child is going to dig it out in ten, fifteen years time. I wouldn't want some teenager in his emo phase to find a gun. I couldn't sleep easy with something like that in my house. But I have to admit that a piece of history being turned into a block of matte metal makes me rather unhappy nonetheless.


And this, my friends, is a true story. Rabbit Hole Day is only on the 27th after all.

- - -

( Sowas passiert doch nicht in echt. )

- However, now I'm curious.

What words of truce did you use when you were kids? As in, you were playing tag, and someone's shoelaces became undone - what would they say so the others wouldn't take advantage of that, but allow them to tie their laces again? Or someone found something they'd want everyone to see, so the game had to be stopped (a truce called) - what word would be used to stop the game, then?

Children in the North-west of England (and the Green Knight, hence the question) used barlay (or barley), apparently, which is of course a bastardized form of parlay.

We used "Spielstop" (meaning game-stop), fairly straight-forward.

So. What's your word of truce?

- - -
( Das Trüffelschwein schlägt wieder zu )
- - -

Eru Allmighty, why does it need a one-and-a-half hour information sitting about Studying In East Asia to give me the five URLs I was looking for, and the deadlines I have to keep? Why do they have to wrap it up in a mass of semi-informative small-talk plus the amazingly uninteresting testimonies of people who've already been there? And why did Donner-san of all people have to do one of those testimonies? Donner-san, who always graces the Religion in Japan seminar with his long-winded questions or, worse, answers to questions that have never been asked and never will be asked? And why did the professor for Chinese Studies have to point out things that are either self-evident or irrelevant?

My companions-in-woe, nimielle and rosa_rennsemmel, whom I coincidentally met there, left fairly soon, but I weathered it to the end in the hope of something really useful coming up. It didn't. Thankfully, nimielle provided me with eight pages of Harry/Draco which served to keep me amused during the testimonies.

At least I did get the five URLs and deadlines I needed.

- - -
( Bürokratie, verlass mich nie. )
- - -

QotD:
Prof. Brumann (on the pont-des-arts conflict): "As political decisions of all kind generally take weeks of negotiations, flattery and, erm, "donations" in Japan, all parties involved were surprised and offended when Masumoto came to this decision after just one night with Chirac. *pause* Not that sort of night. Although, that would be an explanation..."


In other news,
What happens when I decide that it's been so warm these past days, so I don't need to take my coat with me today?
Well?
Well?
Yes: It snows.
*facepalms*

- - -
( April, April, der macht was er will... )
- - -

Me: *listening to this*
Jörg: ... you know, Japanese really isn't a beautiful language.
Me: Oh, come on. At least the Japanese phantom hits the high keys; you can't say that of the American phantom.
Jörg: ... Americans. Can't even hit Bagdad... without the BND's help.

.... yes, yes, I know. Politically incorrect. But I found it funny anyway. So there.

- - -
( Zitat des Tages )
- - -

Jörg had his jaw implant surgery today. Due to the anaesthesia, he wouldn't be able to driveback home afterwards, so I had to come along to play the driver on the way home.

He was supposed to be done at 12. The whole thing began at 11.

So, while he had somone cut up his jaw and implant a little titanium bolt in the bone, I went to university to see whether Mr. Ellerich had actually given me the last credits I need for the exam to be validated. He had - I got a 1,3 for the last-minute term paper, which, on a grade scale from 1 (excellent) to 6 (lousy), is pretty good - so I went to the managing BAFH* to strike out the 'one credit missing' part of my exam sheet and do the third course guidance thingy. Today's managing BAFH wasn't actually FH and only a B because he's the guy with Japan as his special field but never does seminars on Japan.

Afterwards, it was close to 12 already, but I decided to visit Snake - a lovely little hippy clothing store. They often have unique bits of clothing for moderate prices. I fell in love with a whole lot of stuff and eventually decided for an embroidered Fëanorian shirt in fiery colours and a short white tunic with rainbowy embroidery. Yay.

Jörg still didn't call, so I went to the Neumarkt and visited the Mayersche bookstore. When I was just standing at my usual favourite shelf (International Literature, Fantasy & Science Fiction), I witnessed a shop assistant after my taste:
Random Woman (RW): ... so, my grandson has asked for Lord of the Rings in English for his birthday.
Me: *glee!*
Shop Assistant: *smiles* wonderful choice. So, we have several editions here. You can buy it in a boxed set, or all three books separately, or all three books in one...
RW: ... where's the difference?
Shop Assistant: Well, the content is the same. If you buy the three books seperately, they're easier to take along, of course...
RW: ... I meant the price, really.
Shop Assistant: Ah. So, the paperback all-in-one would be 25€, whereas each of the books separetly would be 10€ per book...
RW: Ah. ... and what's the difference between the paperback and the hardcover all-in-one?
Shop Assistant: Well, the hardcover is of better quality, of course, and it's illustrated by Alan Lee, that's a famous illustrator. But it's also a bit more expensive...
RW: ... I think the hardcover would be too unhandy for reading.
Shop Assistant: Ah yes. But if your grandson likes the book, he'd probably be more happy with the illustrated hardcover anyway, it just looks better...
Me (behind RW's back): *two thumbs up*
RW: Hm. So you think he'd prefer that one?
Shop Assistant: Well, most fans do...
RW: Ok. So I take the hardcover.
Me: *still with the two thumbs up*

... erm, right.

Jörg was finally done by 2:30pm (I was halfway through Something Rotten), so we finally got to drive home. There was a lot of police around, which was a tad unsettling. (They were doing a traffic check just before the highway; Jörg noticed that all the cars they were checking had Arab passengers. Erm, yes.)

The cat was waiting for us and has been spending the most part of the afternoon lying on Jörg's stomach and purring like mad. She's so unbelievably cuddly.


*Bastard Assistant From Hell

- - -
( Chirurgie, Schein und Shopping )
- - -

In meinem Text fehlt ein 'n'!

Und zwar heißt es da:
Diese liegen alltägliche Aktivitäten zugrunde.

Soll das jetzt heißen
Diesen liegen alltägliche Aktivitäten zugrunde, oder
Diese liegen alltäglichen Aktivitäten zugrunde?

Vom Kontext her geht beides.
Na super. Ein 'n' fehlt, und schon ist die Kausalität unklar.
Sind synthetische Sprachen nicht toll?

*panik*

- - -
For the English-speaking world: There's an 'n' missing in the text I'm reading. It's an important 'n', because depending on just where it's missing, the sentence either means
"They form the basis of everyday activities", or "Everyday activities form their basis". So, because of one 'n', one tiny little 'n', the entire causality is unclear.
Synthetic languages are a beautiful thing... except not now.

...
QotD:
tzaaihta (dressed up as Snape): ... Severus Snape has got a problem. His bra is slipping.

So, yesterday was the Night! The One! Where we went and dressed up and confused and bemused people at the UCI in Bochum. We are probably the only group of freaks dressing up for Harry Potter night in the vicinity who do NOT have a massive surplus of Gryffindors. We had only two of those - rahja was Hermione and nefantoiel was Ginny. We also had two Ravenclaws (Ench and me), one not-yet-sorted-but-to-be-Hufflepuff, a Professor Trelawney (Cele), abovementioned Snape (rowr!), a very sparkly Gilderoy Lockhart, Dobby the house-elf and four Death Eaters (Nim, Aniree, Bilbo and Wolvie). And when we were waiting to be let in, some random guy came towards the latter and asked what movie they were going to see.
"Well, Harry Potter, of course."
"But what are you?"
*eyerolls, because we'd heard that question a lot of times at that point* "Didn't read the books, did you?"
"YES I DID! I read the first three."
"Well, we're Death Eaters. They only show up in book four. Voldemort's followers."
"Ok...." *backs away*
Another guy came and asked how the Death Eaters are called in English. (In German they're Todesser, which means the same.) We told him - all at once. Heh.

Soooo, the film.
( Spoiler spoilered spoilery spoilers. Click at own risk. Potential spoilers for film #5 too-but only if you haven't read the book. )

... Nefa? Elbey? May I steal some of your photos? *bats eyelashes*

= = =
Oh mein Gott, ich hab Harry umgebracht!

...
QotD:
tzaaihta (verkleidet als Snape): ... Severus Snape hat ein Problem. Sein BH rutscht.

Gestern war die Nacht! Die Eine! Wir sind also zum UCI in Bochum gefahren, und haben dort verkleidet die Leute erschreckt und verwirrt. Wir sind vermutlich die einzige Gruppe verkleideter Potter-Fans, die keinen Gryffindor-Überschuss haben. Wir hatten nämlich nur zwei Gryffindors - rahja als Hermine und nefantoiel als Ginny. Dann hatten wir zwei Ravenclaws (Ench und meine eine), eine noch-nicht-zugeordnete-aber-zukünftige-Hufflepuff, Professor Trelawney (Cele), den oben erwähnten Snape (rowr!), einen wunderbaren Gilderoy Lockhart, Dobby den Hauselfen und vier Todesser (Nim, Aniree, Bilbo und Wolvie). Und als wir auf den Einlass warteten, kam auch prompt wieder jemand und fragte die letzteren, für welchen Film sie sich denn verkleidet hätten.
"Harry Potter natürlich."
"Aber was stellt ihr dann dar?"
*augenrollen, denn die Frage hatten wir zu dem Zeitpunkt schon öfters gehabt* "Aha, die Bücher nicht gelesen?"
"HAB ICH WOHL! Die ersten drei."
"Also, wir sind Todesser. Die kommen erst ab Buch vier vor. Voldemorts Gefolgsleute."
"Ah ja..." *rückzug*
Jemand anders kam und fragte "uns als eingefleischte Fans", wie denn die Todesser in Englisch hießen. Wir alle gleichzeitig: "Death Eaters." Heh.

Aaalso, der Film.
( Spoiler. Wer weiterliest, ist selbst an schuld. Sogar möglicherweise Spoiler für den nächsten Film, aber nur wenn man das Buch nicht gelesen hat. )

... Elbey? Nefa? Darf ich ein paar von euren Fotos klauen?

- - -

I just meant to go down to the cellar to the washing machine. I left the flat and closed the door - and startet when there was something huge and dark lying right next to it. After the initial surprise had worn off, I recognized a beautiful big black dog. It looked up at me calmly, wagging its tail a bit. I was half-tempted to squee "Sirius!"...

Actually, his name is Charlie, which I found out because I met one of our new neighbours to whom the dog belongs. All of a sudden, our new neighbours rise in my view - if only for bringing a big pet, which is satisfying because last year, one of our neighbours was bitching about our cats. Now there's a mischievous maraudering amimagus lovely big black dog in the house. Hah.

- - -
( Der Grimm! )
- - -

Well, now Jörg and I have seen the new movie production of Pride and Prejudice.

It's a charming, light-hearted, fluffy, beautiful movie. It's a delightful way to spend two hours. It has pretty actors OME MR BINGLEY!.
It is not, however, the book, and not the BBC series. Matthew MacFaden is NOT Colin Firth. And the whole movie lives because of Keira Knightley, who, admittedly, is a suitably vivacious and amiable Elizabeth.

It would be wrong to say I'm disappointed; of course they had to compress everything to fit it in a two-hour movie. And it's a really pretty two hour movie.

But you do have the faces of the 'actual' actors, who seem so much more pre-destined for their roles, in your head all the while. And things happen too fast, and you notice. And wtf, since when are the Bennets farmers, and why does it look as though they lived in Tuscany now?

- - -

( Stolz und Vorurteil )
- - -