ohhhh markus ….

ok, since I am going to New York, thought it would be a good idea to get one of these new nifty creditcard-size driver licenses instead of the old big paper one.

office hours are from 8:00am-12:30pm, so I had to get up early (despite the fact that I had a splendid time with an old friend of mine, Matthias Fenzl, incredible photographer and one of the most charming dudes I know. check out his site. oh, done by me ). went there, got a waiting number at the info desk.

“There is a problem sir, your self printed form (from the internet) is a little bit old & offscale, please fill it out again. Here is one of ours. ¬†But no worries, you will have plenty of time.” which was actually true. I consider 2 hours wait time pretty long.

While I was waiting I discovered something rather funny. There is a¬†photo-booth¬†to take a picture for¬†your driving license.With samples how you should look.Now take a closer look at those crossed out samples.No sexy poses¬†anymore you misses outthere! Can’t¬†count the times where¬†(female)¬†friends of mine got away for speeding¬†by flirting with the officer. Ha!¬†Your are not allowed to do that¬†anymore! At least not on your picture

Since I had to wait THAT long I got bored and jumped around a little bit on the floor (since it had that tempting checkerboard pattern and I had my iPOD pluged in ). After a while a young guy approached my and asked:

“Hey, do you take drugs? Have you smoked something or took pills of any kind?”

So what the heck?! Can’t I jump around a little bit? …¬†:)
I sighed a little bit and answered no. Next question: “Can I have your urine?”. Ah, now I knew where this was going. Not because of my jumpy jumpy, no,¬†getting wasted and little doctor asking for sample was the problem. Had to disappoint him. yeah, bad me. but kids, really, don’t take drugs and drive.

Next funny thing: a door sign, to keep it closed all the time or the alarm will go off. English readers, have to disappoint you, this is hardly translatable, but believe me, it is spelled wrong in a very funny way (”Please close this door or otherwise alarm is going touchy all the time”). But honestly,¬†please keep it and make more. Looking forward to further “examples”. ¬†;)

ah, and I have a last one, too. There was a second waiting queue after the first one to get your temporary drivers license, with an arab guy waiting before me. When it was his turn he was handed the driver license with the words “Here is your driver license Mr. Hussein” ….

I finally applied today for tax adjustment for 2001/2002 and stumbled upon something damn strange in the form. there is a special excemption rule if you are working in one of ten (rather strangely choosen) in the form listed occupation groups. with no excemption for any other occuption group out there! so why is this funny? take a closer look at the list:

1. artists
2. actors
3. professionals in the TV business
4. journalists
5. musicians
6. forest workes without a chainsaw
7. forest workers with a chainsaw
8. caretakers
9. home workers
10. members of the city council

oh yeah, I can image the conversation of two forest workers: “I am cutting my trees now with a pocket knife, dude. safes me loads of taxes!”

I just started with traditional Taekwondo a couple of weeks ago to get a little bit in shape again (believe me, I needed it ) and trained really hard and steadily (4-5 times/week).

well, it really paid off, I have qualified today for my first belt test (9th gup) where I have to break a plate with my foot, show the first and maybe second Hyeong and perform some additional tasks.

unfortunatly this¬†is a public one on a public sports event with thousands of visitors (saturday, dec 2nd, stadthalle).¬†but what the heck …

Got up this morning by the door bell (UPS). Finally my documents arrived for my visa application at the local consulate! yippie! after carefull reading I discoverd I need a new passport. which kind of freaked me out, because a) every day counts and b) I have my hair dyed red at the moment (and I don’t want THAT in the passport for the next ten years. I am not really into funny looks by immigration anywhere).

so I called my hairdresser, told them literally “emergency, emergency” and ran over to them to get my hair dyed to my natural color again. well, at least close to ;). all went well, and I just had to take one picture for the passport that suits the new rules for passport images. ok, where to go? got first to the next niedermayr, which was quite funny, because the guy taking pictures was that unprofessional, that the girl before me brake into tears when she saw hers. and mine were bad, too.

so what to do? just had 5 euros left, because I forgot my creditcard at home. Tried the shop next to it, and voil?°, they are just charging 5 bucks. and with a much better image quality. lucky again! (although I still look a little bit fucked up). Quite interesting was the control image to proof that it fits the new biometrical passport rules.

run home, to grab some money, then to the magistrate. no one there, all went very well and quick. and they are sending me the passport home on a saturday!

edit: the passport even arrived one day earlier, on friday. just 2 days after the application. thats pretty fast, compared to the introduction of the passport.

note: the image quality of the printed picture really sucks. funny thing is, in the letter next to the passport, first thing you read is “sorry, we know the image quality sucks. this is due to the print process”. seems that MANY people complained about this ….

Just received the confirmation from New York. I am now officially an “Alien of extraordinary ability“. how cool is that? => *geeee* (which roughly translates to “jumping of joy” or “doing the monkey dance”).

I am wondering, can I print that on my card, too? and will Ripley hunt me down?

guess I will find out in the middle of december when my flight arrives.

counting days, dudes ….

David rented us two Segways for my 30th birthday. boy, that was fun! thanks man, I really digged it!
(although I almost got run over by a truck when turning left instead of turning right. *phew*)

Funny thing is, you get really quickly used to the speed, thinking all the time, speeeed up, pleeease. just to notice how fast you have really been when you have to walk (yikes!) again.

ok, ‘nouf said. here are the clips:

encounter of two segways

twist and shout! yeah baby!
(heavily distorted image, youtube, get an update!)

the segway offroad model, notice the bigger wheels
(heavily distorted image, youtube, get an update!)

haha, super funny. an apple-style vibrator that plugs into your iPod and is synchronized to your music. perferct x-mas gift, I say.
thanks nunu for the link!

reminds me a little bit of the old iBrator spoof,

except, that this one is for real and much smarter (synchronized! so no more classic during sex darling )

and I just looove the logo, austern powers style, groovy!

every year there is a competition, called “cannes lions young creative competition” for creative professionals under the age of 30. you have 24 hours to do complete a briefing (all teams are given the same) and the winnerteam goes to cannes to face the same challenge (24 hours) internationally.

it’s a very good competition to see how you perform under pressure and you are (obviously) judged by high profile professionals.

well, just found my entry from 2003. to my defense I have to add that I usually don’t do print ads (way too static for me ) but oh my god, this one really sucked. badly. looking at it now, I wouldn’t even give me an internship based on this (typo too small, the message of the image is not obvious or funny or interesting at all, you have no idea what this is about, the headline transports a totally different idea than the key visual, oh and its ugly …) .

after careful consideration there are three conclusions for me:

1. you can improve over the years without noticing it (usually I never look back)
2. you improve automatically if you “just do it”
3. maybe there is a reason, why I am not doing print ads …

and here it is, my ugly and dumb child:

ok, took me a while to write this entry. on nov 3rd there have been a huge party at the arena vienna, celebrating the 10th anniversary of klein records, a very cool alternative label. there has been a live performance of Albin Janoska, Waxolutionists, Mummer, Sofa Surfers,

Bauchklang (they are totally awesome beatboxers. if anyone is reading this, searching for an incredible beatbox band, just contact klein records. there are lots of other and better videos on youtube, too)

and Louie Austen (I just love this guy).

thank you klein records for this magnificient party!