The Basics

There are travels you make because you have been saving up for ages and longing to see the destination, because you’re following a band around or because a specific spot is on your bucket list. These kind of trips usually have you gleaming with motivation to meticulously plan every step and inform yourself properly before heading to the airport.

And then there’s vacations you make, simply because the plane tickets were on sale. This 11-day trip was something like that. I didn’t even book the flights. It was more like my parents going: „Oh, by the way, when are you free? We’re going to Japan.“

Don’t get me wrong, Japan has always been on the top of my list of countries to travel to, I just never expected it to be this soon, so I wasn’t mentally ready. Furthermore, between the time of the ticket acquirement and the departure, I had four different internships back-to-back in three different cities of two different continents. Needless to say, I had little time and interest to conceptualize an itinerary, and neither had my parents.

As the last days of my internship approached, we were suddenly struck by the realisation that our flight was leaving in about a week – and all we knew was that we would arrive at Narita Airport and leave from there 11 days later. No cities to visit, no hotels, no points of interest, no transportation inside the country.

Panic.

 

Itinerary

The first sensible thing to do is of course preparing an itinerary of which cities to visit for how many days. This was already harder than expected. Initially, we just wanted Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. But then people recommended Takayama and Shirakawago, so we planned our whole trip around the Winter Illumination that is only on 6 days in an entire year (so imagine the mayhem of getting tickets there, more on that later).  Talking about Winter Illuminations there was another one near Nagoya, so we pitched in  a stop there as well. After a lot of discussion we agreed on the final draft only  two days before the flight and it looked something like this. (Start by clicking on the orange line)

 

Getting around

Japan has undoubtedly the best public transportation system in the whole world. Safety, comfortableness and especially punctuality are the general standard. Naturally, this comes with the downside that everybody uses public transport, so it gets very crowded and pushy inside the stations. Be careful to not abruptly stop when walking and always keep to the correct side of the road. Mostly that means the left side, unless you are riding an escalator (stand on the left, walk on the right). I noticed that some staircases are also reversed in order to have the railing on your right-hand side, but in those cases there are arrows painted on the ground guiding you. Another challenge is wrapping one’s head around the different transportation companies and systems. As far as I remember, all of the cities I’ve ever visited always had one company (if any) running the public transport, or at least you just needed one ticket to get from A to B. This is not the case in Japan.

For our trip, Japan Railways was the network we relied on most.  The JR Group consists of seven companies, each covering intercity transport in a certain region in Japan and the Shinkansen (bullet trains).  Since our journey required a lot of Shinkansen rides, we bought 7-day JR Passes from a travel agency in our hometown. A JR Pass gives you unlimited access to all JR trains during its validity period (exceptions are the Nozomi and Mizuho Shinkansen and several other smaller line segments). We paid something around $200 for one pass and considering one Shinkansen trip from Tokyo to Osaka alone cost almost $80, it was totally worth it. JR Passes are only sold to foreigners (Passport required for activation) and outside of Japan, so make sure to get yours prior to jumping on a plane! This JR pass doesn’t solve all your transportation problems, though. While there are many JR stations, the group isn’t well connected in intracity transport. As mentioned before, there are 16 other major private railways, each of them needing a separate ticket for a ride. Take Tokyo for example, you want to get from Tokyo Station to Shinjuku Station. Be assured that there are JR trains going this very busy route every 3-5 minutes. However, your hotel is another 25 minute stroll from Shinjuku station and you don’t have the time to walk this route every time you head home. So you look for the nearest station, which could be a Metro station. Tokyo Metro is one of those 16 private railways, meaning you will have to exit the JR area in Shinjuku Station and enter the Metro one, paying an extra fare here. Many tourist attractions in the cities we visited were not reachable with JR trains and we had to look for buses or get tickets from other railway companies instead. After our JR pass expired, we also had to pay the fares for JR trains.

This jungle of railway companies, stations, buses, different fares, timetables and routes does get very confusing, so your biggest helper will be a combination of Google Maps and this website / app:

http://www.hyperdia.com/en/

Just enter the station you want to depart from and your destination. It will calculate the best route and alternative ways to get there. The site is easy to navigate and literally a saviour! It also shows you the prices of a trip. The fare depends on two things: where you get on and where you get off. It doesn’t matter how many train changes (in the same railway company) you make. So if you want to get from A to B but accidentally miss your stop and get off at station C to get back to B, it won’t be extra charged, because you will still exit at station B. This applies for both paper tickets and IC cards.

Now, what’s an IC card? In its core, it is a card with electronic money. You can charge it with a certain amount of JPY and use it to get through ticketing gates or shop at certain stores. I highly recommend these cards for simplifying the ticketing of Tokyo’s public transportation. Instead of having to get paper tickets at machine every time you change railway company, you just need to tap your card on the automatic gate. Your IC card can have different names, depending on which company issues them (PASMO, Suica, Manaca, Kitaca…) but they are all interchangable and valid throughout Japan. The only time you should watch which card to get, is when you want to get your deposit back. For example a Kitaca card (issued by JR Hokkaido) cannot be returned in Tokyo, because Tokyo is part of JR East. As for us, we acquired our Suica card at a Kiosk at Tokyo station, paid the 500 JPY deposit, initially charged it with 1500 JPY and refilled it a few days later. We didn’t return our cards, because these cards are valid for 10 years since their last usage (And yes, I’m hopeful, that I’ll visit Japan again some time before my card expires) and there is a fee of 220 JPY for the refund of whatever is left on your card. You will receive the 500 JPY in any case, though.(http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/suica.html)
Hotels

After figuring out which city we would stay in, we started looking for accommodation. My parents had there requirements (they were gonna pay after all): close distance to a main train station, no hassle during check in and check out and a private bathroom. This disqualified all hostels with shared bathrooms. We contemplated Airbnb but having no prior experience with the platform, my parents wanted to stay out of the slight possibility that the apartment owner couldn’t bring the keys, or there weren’t any elevators… Keep in mind, that this was a very last minute search, so many ideal places had no vacancies. More on each hotel later. 

 

As you can see, the planning was a bit of a mess, but we made it there (and back). Without further ado, I’ll just continue with a little travel diary

QN

 

 

 

#6 The Hype around Brachycephalic Dogs

In the beginning I wanted this piece to be a public shaming of people who participate in either of these two activities: all those who are involved in the breeding of brachycephalic dogs and all those who keep posting pictures of „cute“ and „adorable“ Pugs / French Bulldogs / Shih Tzus / Pekingneses without thinking about what suffering their action is indirectly evoking.

Then I realized that the majority of people engaging themselves in the latter activity are not idiots, but merely ignorant. Which is why I set out to rewrite parts of this article and make it more educational for mainstream social network users who repost and reblog pictures of aforementioned dog breeds without realising the effect of it.

Let’s get factual.

 

What is brachycephalia?

Brachycephalia derives from the Greek words brachy, meaning „short“, and cephalus, meaning „head“. It mostly affects the front of a face, making brachycephalic beings have a „shorter snout“. I think you can figure out the rest. If you can’t here’s a visual stimulus for you :

Now, you might wonder why I posted a picture of humans, even though this article is supposed to be about dogs. The thing is, brachycephalia exists in all kinds of species and is even physiological in individuals of neonatal and/or young age. So what’s the deal here? If you look at the picture (despite my shitty drawing skills) you will probably find the left baby-like creature more adorable. The round head, button nose and big eyes are what manipulate our perception of „cuteness“. This is the reason why we all go „AWWWWWWW“ upon seeing puppies, kittens, ducklings or any other kind of babies (except maybe cockroaches and spiders…).

Without getting to deep into the whole „cuteness“ theory, there is a simple conclusion to be made:

Something looks cute. We immediately associate it with something infantile and childlike. This induces our instinct to be protective and caring towards this something.

Kind of explains why brachycephalic dogs, having these traits of neoteny, are so popular – people are just drawn to be affectionate towards them.

An important detail which is often disregarded, however, is the fact that brachycephalia is a pathological condition in adults!

 

The Breeding of Defects

Believe it or not, this is actually a very accurate term when it comes to the breeding of brachycephalic dogs. Most of you will be familiar to Darwin’s concept of „Survival of the fittest“ in which individuals with the most efficient and adapted traits are more likely to procreate and therefore alter the overall phenotype of a species to better the chances of survival in a certain environment. Having a short nose, an unproportionally elongated soft palate and too little space in your cranium definitely work against the chances of a healthy life with good quality. In nature creatures with features like that will simply die, because their anatomical anomalies are lethal; sooner rather than later. Normally the strongest of a species will reproduce; for this illustration that means those with a long snout and a good respiratory system. Crippled animals will not even get the chance to breed and pass on their sucky genes.

Now comes the preposterous part. Unfortunately this planet hosts a fairly shitty species: Humans. For some reason they felt that they had to break nature’s law just because they can. They took dogs with short snouts and bred them deliberately. Out of these broods they selected the pups with even shorter snouts and bred them as well. Over centuries the skull of these dogs deformed more and more. Yes. Deformed. These dogs are really a malformation of nature.

On a different note,  I think it is perverted how humans intentionally create cripples for the sake of their entertainment and to post „cute pictures“ on social media.

 

Historical background 

The idea of Pugs and Pekingneses originated in China ages ago. In the early 16th century Pugs were imported to Europe, while Pekingneses came after the British occupied Beijing in the 19th century. All year dates aside, my point is made clear by these two following pictures (Thanks, Wikipedia).  These portraits were made between 1750 and the early 1800s and as you can see, these Pugs look quite different than the ones you encounter these days.

So what makes them look less familiar? For one, the snout; it’s not as squished as it is today. These dogs are taller and more slender than contemporary overweight, heavy-breathing pugs. And this is only the conformation that we see, not the interior anatomical variation. And I can assure you that the features in above dogs are a lot less troublesome.

 

Symptoms

You’d have to be blind to not see what the problem is.

When you think back on all dog cartoon characters like Disney’s Pluto or Dug from the movie Up , I’m pretty sure you have the image of a dog smelling on the ground or elongating their neck to sniff out a trail. Cartoons have led us to believe that the specialty of a dog’s nose is defined by its olfactory function. They’re not wrong. But the primary importance of the dog’s upper respiratory system lies in thermoregulation. Mammals have to keep their body temperature stable despite changing climatic circumstances. When it becomes too hot, humans start to sweat: vaporising fluids on the skin have a cooling effect. Dogs, on the other hand, do not sweat. They pant and increase the airflow through their nasal cavity (red circles in picture), so that heat can be emitted. It’s not hard to imagine that the large cavity of the German Shepherd on the left is way more effective than that tiny remnant of conchae nasales of the Pug. Furthermore, brachycephalic nostrils are narrow (see picture 2), so even less air actually enters the nasal cavity. I’m not sure whether you ever had a heat stroke, but take any two pugs, and I’m pretty sure one of them could tell you what that’s like. Brachycephalic dogs are incredibly prone to overheating and the amount of dogs brought to the clinic in the summer traditionally increases. I won’t elaborate on further effects of your cells basically boiling, but we can all agree that it’s definitely not healthy!

Another issue is the anatomical structure I marked in the blue triangle: the soft palate / velum palatinum. As seen in the picture, it’s main function is to separate nasopharynx from oropharynx a.k.a it separates your mouth from your nose. You probably never knew this thing existed, let alone thought about it, but the velum is what hinders food to enter your nose when you swallow. The funny thing about brachycephalia is, that while the skull is so squished, other soft structures remain in their „normal“ size, which means that in relation to the skull, tongue and velum are too big. If you look closely at the blue triangle in the pug CT, the soft palate hangs down so much it is narrowing the pharynx immensely. This is also known as BAOS = Brachycephalic Airway Obstruction Syndrome. During waking hours of the dog, with no extra strain, the hanging velum is managable. The real danger becomes apparent when dogs sleep. Or at least try to. With muscles relaxing in REM cycles, the soft palate just drops and literally blocks the airway by falling into the larynx. There are tons of videos of dogs awaking with a start in the middle of the night, and owners laughing about it. Stupidly enough, people get a good giggle from these videos, because they think it’s „cute“ when their pug jolts out of their sleep and looks around confusedly. What they don’t know is, that their dog nearly just died from suffocation. With the soft palate blocking the entrance of the trachea, the dogs stop breathing. Their oxygen levels drop and at some point the brain will send warning signals in order for the dog to wake up, hence the panicked and confused startle. For some dogs this even gets so bad, that they refuse to sleep at night, because they’re simply scared. Yeah, it’s that horrible.
In case your brachycephalic dog snores: that’s the soft palate hanging down into the airway and vibrating during expiration. No, it’s not cute. It’s a fucking airway obstruction!

In order for you to visualise what I am talking about, just in case you haven’t seen sleep apnea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDzd_4DFCDE

This is an incredibly eye-opening video compiled by Jemima Harrison (producer of the investigative documentary „Pedigree Dogs Exposed“).

 

Even though your anatomical and physiological knowledge may virtually be zero, you will know that oxygen is essential for your metabolism. Brachycephalic dogs with above symptoms are chronically undersupplied with oxygen (chronic hypoxia), which means that a lot of metabolic stress is an addition to the respiratory symptoms. With bad metabolism, dogs tend to become fat. Also, in order to compensate for the little oxygenated blood, the heart has to work harder, making cardiomyopathies a probable outcome.

The worst part is that dogs with respiratory problems have difficulties moving around and get tired quickly. Therefore they are even more prone to obesity. And it’s the same as all those obese, sedentary, fat humans:the risk of cardiovascular diseases increases. Circulus vitiosus, really. (And just to rub it in, don’t forget the orthopedic problems resulting from all those unnecessary extra pounds).

Alas, the troubles don’t end here. Brachycephalic dogs like Pugs or Shih Tzus are prone to eye problems as well. Due to the weird skull conformation and the bulging eyeballs, hair constantly rubs into the eyes. Now imagine something incessantly scratching against your cornea and your eyelids being deformed (entropion/ectopion) too much so that it doesn’t really protect your eyes. Ulcers, keratitis and conjunctivitis, just to name a few consequences.

Brachycephalic dogs are all-rounders when it comes to diseases and health problems so let’s lose a few words about their food intake. Dental deformation is probably illustrated quite well in the first picture and doesn’t need further elaboration. Something more unpleasant is regurgitation of food. This is caused by the elongated soft palate that, when inconveniently situated, blocks not only the airways, but the esophagus as well, which means the dog can’t swallow his food and „pukes“ it out again. Regurgitation in brachycephalic dogs is more common than you think.

Now, I could go on with more problems that result from breeding (for example the predisposition for Pug Meningoencephalitis or a Shih Tzu’s pyloric stenosis), but I’ll just explain one more thing, that I personally think is quite shocking. Did you know, that a lot of brachycephalic dogs cannot birth naturally anymore? Yes. You read correctly. Humans have bred these dogs so intensively, that they can’t even give birth in a normal way!!! This is caused by two reasons: 1) The heads of brachycephalic dogs are relatively too big, making it hard for puppies to exit the mother’s birth canal, leading to dystocia. 2) The mothers have no stamina (due to the breathing problems) to actually be able to give birth naturally. A survey that was released in the Journal of Small Animal Practice in 2010, shows that five of the ten most frequent breeds to require C-Section are brachycephalic. To be fair, „only“ 27,4% of Pugs are in need of surgery during birth according to that study, and Pekingeses fare higher with 43%. What’s really quite condemnable is the fact that a whopping 81% (!!!) of French Bulldogs have to undergo surgery in order to give birth.

Klicke, um auf C-Section-rates-purebreed-dogs.pdf zuzugreifen

 

Something to think about

How is it acceptable, that humans create suffering dogs, just to satisfy their need for „pure breed standards“?
Do you still think Pugs and French Bulldogs are cute when they snore?
In hindsight, isn’t it disgusting how these dogs are showcased in social media and nobody knows the horrible truth about what is going on?
This is not only a matter of animal welfare, but it’s a sickening case of human superficiality and arrogance. (And they wonder why I’m a misanthropist)

You may have a brachycephalic dog yourself. Did you know all this before you got your dog? Or did you just buy one, because they’re „cute“ and you could score many likes on Instagram, if you post a picture with them? Your dog might not show these symptoms. Good for you! But know, that there are thousands of dogs out there who are not as lucky as yours. There will be dogs who won’t make it through the summer, because they won’t stand the heat and dogs who will suffocate in their sleep. Yes, it is not the majority. But the amount is still an unnecessary number, that can easily be avoided by simply not following the overrated „Pedigree standards“. (Yes, there is actually a federation that sits down and determines how a certain breed has to look like. Google FCI and look at the PDF documents they have on each authorised breed. They have specific ratios and measurements set out for body parts. Only if a dog meets all of their criteria, can it be acknowledged as pure breed, no matter how unhealthy and problematic their standard is. It’s perverted, in my opinion)

I just recently got back from an Animal Welfare Conference for international veterinary students in Utrecht and during the small animal discussion panel I started the topic of the breeding of these dogs. There were speakers representing various important organisations such as the British Veterinary Association, the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe and even the Federation of Asian Veterinarian Association. Although „fixing“ these deformations with elective surgeries is a decent source of income for us vets, we shouldn’t just stay silent on this matter for personal gain. It may be idealistic. We all agreed that this breeding trend is unacceptable, but there are no effective regulations that can actually prevent it from continuing, because it would require a national law in every country that has to be implemented.
My professor Dr. Gerhard Oechtering (whom I have to thank for the amazingly eye-opening two pictures above) has actually called for a ban on breeding extremely brachycephalic dogs. However, there is a lot of resistance against such a ban from lobbyists and breeders, who would lose a lucrative business model with it. (In Germany there is in fact the prohibition of „Qualzucht“ (which translates into „torture breeding“), but obviously it is not realised rigorously enough, again, because there is opposition)

And this is where YOU come in.
In an era that is circled by social media, I am certain you have seen several „cute“ Instagram pictures or reposted tumblr posts that involved a pug with a hilarious caption. This may not sound like much, but I believe that this strong social media presence is what motivates ignorant dog „lovers“ to acquire one themselves. Therefore, there is a „high demand“ for these breeds and this serves as a justification and excuse for breeders to keep breeding brachycephalic dogs. Next time a super squished Pug face appears on your smartphone screen when scrolling through your timeline, remember about what suffering this dog is probably going through – for the sake of what? Human entertainment? A few likes? Its owners social position and recognition? Stop liking, reposting, hyping and giving this trend such positive response, it will only lead to the breeding of even more malformed dogs! In theory, the less people are fascinated by these dogs, the less demand there is. In fact, if you want to share anything about these breeds, it should be the truth about their anatomical pathologies: a price they have to pay for self-given, inequitable and unfounded human superiority.

Homage to Indonesia: The „Bule“ version

 

 After the critical piece I published about my home country (found here), I have received quite a few requests to compose a counterpart article in the Antirant section: a piece about all the positive things Indonesia has to offer. Admittedly, I haven’t gotten around to write one, but I’ve asked my best friend to do that job for me. And, even though he first thought I was only kidding, he actually obliged and out came up with this masterpiece. I have corrected grammar and spelling mistakes without annotating them, but tried to change as little as possible, to preserve CMS’s writing style. Comments and notes that I couldn’t help myself to throw into are written in orange. Enjoy my best friend’s debut as an author! I’m so excited! QN

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I’ve lived in Indonesia for three years, 2010 to 2013. I am German, our family decided to move to Jakarta since my father got a job there. So you have to consider: Three years time is not much compared to a lifetime. The longer you are somewhere, the more you discover –both positive and negative.

My origin is a major factor – I did not grow up in an Indonesian family, never ate Nasi Goreng for breakfast (except once or twice 🙂 ), don’t know any famous Indonesians…just a few, BCL for example ^^ My best friends are all Indonesians who grew up in Germany and they took me to some of their family meetings, answered my questions about Indo and Indo culture. Most things I’ve learned from visiting them and spending time together with them. My point is, I am someone looking from the outside who got an inside view.

 

Low costs

Okay, this point applies to only a few people in Indonesia and it is rather sad… For us [Expats] the living costs in Indonesia are very low compared to Germany. So, for the same wage, we could afford more: Visiting the bioskop, makan di mal setiap weekend or even every day as I heard from some, having fun with friends at Timezone, nightlife, going to Anyer for an extended weekend and having a flight trip to Sumatera, Sulawesi, Hong Kong, India, Lombok, Flores, BALI! (seriously, telling someone in Germany you went to Bali for a class trip or for like three days, that’s something!) for holidays. I am even careful telling other Germans we had a sopir and a pembantu karena di Jerman it sounds very odd. Only very, very rich people do have pembantu and/or a driver.

[I can only stress about how right he is on this. Germans will think you are the biggest rich douche, if you say you had a driver, because basically only millionaires have that privilege here in Germany.]

As far as I understand, the low prices in Indonesia are only possible because the people are paid badly – in Germany, personnel costs are a main factor in prices, making any kind of services expensive. And since personnel is included in almost everything, starting from the cashiers at a supermarket, at the cinema, not to mention drivers and maids, of course everything is more expensive…

I don’t feel comfortable saying that low costs are one of the nice things in Indo, but well… In all honesty: For us it was…

 

Bule bonus

The first thing an expat is taught in Indo is the word “bule”. You’re learning soon that there is a stereotype about us among Indonesians: a “bule” got his ass full of money, is crazy, because everything he does is crazy (and it’s crazy because he is bule :l) [Bule gila]…that’s the most important ones I guess. I was confronted with uncomfortable situations because of this stereotype and really had to fight to find my way dealing with it… but then again, there was an awesome side to it as well. I could walk into a five-star-hotel, wander around and look at all the carpets and marble shit and clean floors, take a pee in some super nice toilets, having an own, real towel to dry my hands, go up to the pool on the roof top seeing Jakarta from above, go to the big ass restaurant with any kind of awesome food you could dream of (it was expensive, but affordable). And all this with my normal casual jeans, t-shirt and my white skin. Wtf. In Germany, no one would let me into such a hotel in the first place.

Another point is the people asking you to take a photo with them. If you’re in the mood, you really feel like a famous person (without even doing anything). You are often asked where you’re from, where you’re going and all that stuff. And [as a „bule“] it’s easy to get into modelling jobs, if you’re interested in that.

[Editor’s Note: His modeling pics are amazing hehehe]

 

Delivery service

I think I don’t need to say much about this. There is a delivery service dari setiap restoran (not unlikely that they’re open 24/7 – another nice thing), even McD, KFC, whatever you wish for…I don’t have that here in Germany. One of the best things I remember: hanging out with my friend, getting hungry, him asking: ‘what do we want?’, us saying: ‘ahh Pizza Hut sounds nice!’, him calling 500600 and talking Bahasa on the phone and Abracadabra ding dong: food arrives in front of the door. Anything you want, any time. Plain nice.

 

Landscape and Cultural Heritage

This is the point that pops up on the internet about Indonesia. And it is really nice…Bali, Lombok, Gili islands, the still-not-full-of-tourists-areas with nice pantai and kelapa, the volcanoes aahhhhhh…Indo is the right place for anyone who likes to travel, because there is a diversity of culture, landscape and thousands of possibilities to create your holiday… I don’t know what else to say about this, just get lost in the internet, book your holiday and be amazed…

 

Atmosphere / feeling / looseness / whatever

The general opinion in the expat community was that the people back in Germany are way more strict, angry and stiff. Not all of them, but enough to notice.  And there is something to it. I cannot really describe it; it is more some sort of an atmosphere/feeling.

It is really hard for me to think of an example or find the words to describe it.

I’m gonna try with this one: Someone got a tree in his garden. The tree is growing right next to the street. The owner has to cut the tree that pedestrians and cars can pass without trouble (it is required by the local authority). There are even measures how the tree has to be cut. Now assume the owner forgot to cut his tree this year and one of the tiny branches looms into the sidewalk. Everyone can pass by making a little curve or walking through it because it is just a tiny little branch. Very tiny. Now guess what: Hundreds of people will walk by every day, but there WILL BE the one who is gonna ring the bell of the owner or even call the authorities to tell them to tell the owner that HE HAS GOT TO CUT HIS TREE! Hundreds of people won’t care, but then there’s one who can’t refrain himself and that is what fucks up the whole atmosphere. For me, in Indonesia all people would just walk by, even if they had to step over this branch. That’s the kind of feeling I have about Indo vs. Germany. And this “Looseness” relaxes the whole life…Not shitting about every little unimportant thing.

I hope you get it. And stay Indo in such things… 😉 [I’m sorry, but isn’t this the cutest thing ever??!]

 

Family

I appreciate the things I learned about family in Indonesia. In one of the books about Indo we have at home, it says family and food are the most important things for the stereotypical Indonesian. And, from what I’ve noticed, it is often combined. 🙂 Honestly, when I’m talking with my [Indonesian] friends about having my grandfather in a nursing home and they tell me like ‘Wtf you’re deporting your grandpa to one of those nursing homes?’,  I really feel bad. But for us it is the best option. Of course I asked them what they would do instead, but having my grandparents move in with my family is not going to end well, if I am thinking this through. And because I don’t believe I could do this, I have all the more respect towards those who do it (there are some in Germany as well, but not the majority).

In the three years we lived abroad and the one year I was on my own in Germany [after graduation], I have learned how much my family means to me and how much they care about me. And I have the feeling, that in Indo every primary school kid is taught what I have learned back then when I was 18. The own family can be exhausting, annoying, complicated and stupid at once, but don’t forget that you are just like that as well sometimes.

I want to end this paragraph with a little story: On Chinese New Year 2012 I went to a family meeting of my Indonesian friends. As we arrived, my friend’s grandmother came towards him and he hugged her saying hello, asking how she was and all this. That was when I realised that I never hugged anyone during a family meeting; normally we just shook hands. So, when we had our first flight back after two years abroad, of course we had a family meeting. I was just soo happy to see my grandmother, grandfather, aunts and uncles, my cousins…  and, having this Chinese-New-Year moment in my head, I hugged every one of them when I said hello. And I kept it this way until today. And the heartwarming, touching end of the story is, that we all do not shake hands anymore. We hug.

😛

 

Alright. That’s my personal beauty of Indonesia. Yes, I know, there is more. But this for today. xD

 

Wait, I’ve got a bonus: it’s warm there, all the time, the whole year. Yes, not everywhere in Indo, but where I was. 😛

CMS

 

Posting this picture here, just because this was the last time we were in Indonesia together. 🙂

Indonesia’s developmental lag: A mentality issue

To generalise a country with 250 million inhabitants borders on major stupidity. This article is an observation, NOT a generalisation.
However, there are undeniable trends in behavior found in a big parts of Indonesians. These mentality issues are what oppresses the manifold potential of Indonesia. A country is not defined by its government, but by the mindset of the population. Said mindset is the key to progress – or in this case rather a barrier to advancement. According to my own observations, these are the main problem points.

 

1 Religious fanatism

Indonesians tend to try to connect anything and everything with religion. Exact quote: „kmu pinter karena allah inget!„. Well, idiot, I’m smart because I do something about it. Wanna prove me wrong? Next time you have an important exam, don’t learn. Don’t do anything. Just pray. Wanna bet you’re gonna fail?
Their belief in a higher power makes them lazy, „pasrah“ and they rely too much on fate, destiny, God or whatever. Aku ga kaya, karena emang ga ditentukan begitu sama Tuhan. Putus sama pacar, karena emang ga jodoh. Yahh.. Aku ga sukses nih, abis emang ga hoki. See what’s wrong here? These are phrases are merely excuses. You’re not rich and successful yet? Maybe that’s because you don’t work hard and smart enough!
They deny science, because it contradicts their beliefs. The general education system is still too fixated on religion. No wonder medical and mechanical research is at the bottom of the toilet. So many children with so much potential, but that potential is stifled with learning doctrines and prayers.
Religious fanaticism fuels intolerance and hatred. It doesn’t matter whether you’re gay, a different religion or wear hotpants: there will always be incoming on how kafir you are. In a country as culturally diverse as Indonesia, this is the biggest problem with religion. That’s the funny thing actually. Butthurt people who try to defend their religion to the bone when there is criticism are usually the ones who start to be rude and insulting in the first place. What hypocrites, no religion ever teaches you to be rude. So by trying to be „righteous“, you’ve already failed own religion’s teaching. Fail.
You people have to learn: RELIGION IS A PERSONAL MATTER for fuck’s sake. Stop trying to badmouth those who don’t have the same beliefs as you do, stop judging what others do. It’s none of your fucking business

 

2 Unhealthy obsession with sexual topics

This kind of connects to the previous point. Since religious standards make the talk about any kind male-female contact pretty much taboo, youngsters are especially drawn to this topic and are very judgmental about it. pap ciuman: am I the only one who thinks this request is weird? gila lu udah pernah ciuman, dosa banget lu kafir Sure, people are curious, but if this topic wasn’t swept under the rug as much, it would just be a normal sign of affection and not something that incites hatred. There’s something very wrong about this. And don’t make me start about sex and virginity. I don’t think I have to elaborate the (negative) obsession people have about this.

 

3 No regard of other’s privacy

There’s this Indonesian word that perfectly describes their own behavior: kepo. Curiosity is an important thing in a being’s development, but exaggeration isn’t what you want. Unfortunately that’s exactly what Indonesians often do. They ask questions and make comments that can be regarded as an invasion of privacy. It’s disrespectful. Udah pernah have sex ga? Masih perawan? Nasrani ya? Percaya Tuhan ga? Pernah sakit apa aja? Religion, love life and sex are private topics, as well as medical issues and family matters. Stop being so nosy all the time, nobody is obliged to answer any questions, especially about sensitive topics. The funny thing is, it doesn’t even matter, whether or what you answer! People will have their opinion of you nevertheless. Let me give you an example on the question Masih perawan?: If you don’t answer, which is completely your right, Indonesians will assume you have something to hide and therefore are not a virgin anymore. If you say no, people will assume you lie and therefore are not a virgin anymore. If you say yes, people will assume you are telling the truth and therefore not a virgin anymore. Get my point? Assumptions: Huge indicator of a self-righteous mindset that doesn’t go anywhere. Just like most people in this country.

 

4 Materialism, consumerism, trend following and the fear of being different

Kak, pake iPhone ya? Pap Balmain x H&M. Wdyta Victoria’s Secret? Youngsters in any culture are afraid to stand out and victims of negative comments from their peers. But this seems to be particularly true in Indonesia. Teenagers seem to have a strong affinity to brands and trends.

Winged eyeliner is in? Everybody has Winged eyeliner.

Starbucks becomes trendy. Instagram overflows with snaps of venti Mochaccinos.

In 2009 everybody had a Blackberry, because well… You were only cool if you had BBM and could contact your friends that way. Then that trend died. Now whoever has the newest iPhone is boss.

A movie makes mountaineering popular. Inexperienced idiots try to conquer mountains way out of their league and get lost in the process.
It’s a coming and going of what is cool and what isn’t. And teenagers are desperately trying to keep up to the standards they set themselves. And what for? Impress their „friends“? Pretty sad to see a generation of future builders being busy with all the wrong things.

 

5 Obsession with pacaran

A special paragraph for „relationship goals“ setting unrealistic standards. Indonesian youngsters seem to be in a constant competition to not be single. Being jomblo is completely out. Everyone wants a boyfriend / girlfriend. This leads to relationships that are just based for the sake of having the „taken“ status or posting couple pictures on Instagram. How fucked is that? People get mobbed if they’re single. People get depressed when they’re single. They trouble themselves with the question, why their boyfriend doesn’t post couple pictures on his social media accounts. Galau and baper are new words that exactly result from this trend. And I fear that suddenly it has become cool if you are galau gara-gara mantan.  Again, instead of concentrating on studies and financial stability, self development and building your character, teenagers fill their heads with empty relations only to be „in“.

 

6 „The Bule Paradox“

You’ll probably think WTF so let me explain:

Indonesians suffer from major inferiority complexes. I have seriously been once asked „kak ga minder pacarnya bule?“ (= aren’t you feeling inferior, because you have a Caucasian boyfriend?). I lost it. That was one of the dumbest questions I have ever received. Equally stupid are requests like „tips buat dapetin pacar bule dongg „. For whatever reason white-skinned people are basically demigods in Indonesia. People are O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D! I walked around with some German friends and Indonesians approached us to take pictures. Whut.

On the other hand the older generations are trying to preserve their fundamentalistic Asian / religious views and hate anything Western that might threaten the existence of their values. They start spreading negative stereotypes about Caucasian people: awas, mereka pelit lohhh. Jangan mau sama bule, dia ga bisa commitment. Mereka mah cuma mau main-main aja. Best thing is of course the clear prohibition of some families to date/marry outside of their own race/religion.

That’s the paradox: Despite white-skinned people being badmouthed for various reasons, they are still a walking wonder and apparently hot stuff on the local list of dateable persons.

I can’t decide what’s worse: the fact that Indonesians feel so inferior, their obsession with Bules or the intolerance of the older generations.

 

7 Environmental ignorance

This heading is way too underwhelming but I decided not to start too emotionally. You’ve heard it a thousand times before, if you have read other things I wrote: Indonesia is such a beautiful country with a huge diversity and opportunities in terms of its Flora and Fauna. We host species that can be found nowhere else on this planet, our forests are big part of this earth’s lungs, but for various reasons Indonesians can’t seem to appreciate this.

They throw their trash everywhere, Aircons are used unnecessarily (how is it possible that malls cool down that much that you have to wear JACKETS?!), saving water and electricity are unknown concepts, not to mention even the thought of a sustainable lifestyle by doing little things like reducing plastic use has never crossed anybody’s mind. WHY?? It’s not so fucking hard. Maybe you’ll think: „Oh, if only I do something, it won’t matter anyway“. That’s the wrong approach! If you don’t do anything, things aren’t gonna get better! Just do your own contribution by refusing plastic bags, saving water, not using the Aircon when you don’t need it and turning off electricity! Environmental awareness has to be promoted, so if you commit to it, maybe it will become a trend (and we know what happens to trends in Indonesia).

Don’t get me started on animal abusers that still roam in too many places. Those fuckers deserve special place in hell. Only after volunteering at Jakarta Animal Aid Network did I have a real picture of Indonesia’s lack of empathy and knowledge towards animals. Animals held under the most gruesome circumstances, legs chopped off, eyes poked out, dogs chained at one spot for several YEARS… the list goes on.
Let me close with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi:

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

Now let that sink in. Indonesia is the perfect illustration of that quote. Greatness isn’t exactly what Indonesians can say about themselves, whereas animal abuse, intolerance, ignorance, superficiality and ecocide are well off in their repertoire.

 

 

 

Note: Before you come trashing at me, because you are one of those butthurt readers that can’t take criticism, know that I am not talking about all 250 million Indonesians. I can always vouch for the general friendliness of Indonesians! But in most people I meet, whether it’s the gardener, a vendor at a store, my relative or my dad’s bosses… There is always one trait of the above that they seem to have. And then I’m not too surprised why this country isn’t going anywhere. Then again, I have met incredibly open-minded, far-sighted, inspirational Indonesians as well, so just let this article be a reminder of how to better yourself!

 

QN

Drive Angry (2011)

Back in the days, when Flixster still had a user-friendly interface and wasn’t just about shoveling money, I had about 300 movie reviews on my account. Now it’s all gone. Don’t worry, I’m not mourning over my 2009 writing skills.

Kind of ironic that the comeback of my reviewer „career“ is about a movie that technically doesn’t even deserve to be in the Recommended category, because it might just as well fit into the Rant section.

I’m four years late with this review since Drive Angry 3D came out back in 2011 and I only watched it just now. My brother and I haven’t watched anything as bad as this in a long, long, LONG time and I thought that during my exam season I could use this movie as a metaphorical punching bag and take out my aggression here, instead of ripping apart my books in frustration.

Prepare for first-class trashing:

 

Drive Angry 

Director: Patrick Lussier

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, Billy Burke, William Fichtner

Without making this a poster analysis, I’m certain you get the idea of the movie just by looking at it. Hot female lead, cars, grumpy Nicolas Cage, hell and a lot of explosions. If this doesn’t scream EXPLOITATION MOVIE, I don’t know.

The story is simple (meant both ways!). Milton (Nic Cage) is on a revenge trip to avenge the death of his daughter and the kidnapping of his grand-daughter by satanist Jonah King (Billy Burke) with the help of Piper (Amber Heard). See how simple it is? I managed to summarize it all in one sentence! That’s basically all the movie is about. Nothing original about it. However, there is a little supernatural twist to it, that is only explicitly mentioned halfway through, although some things suggest so before. Turns out that Milton is actually already dead, illegally escaped hell and is therefore being pursued by the most awesome character from hell ever: *drumrooooooooll* The Accountant (William Fichtner). More (a lot more) about him later. I’m no fan of this genre where pointless shootouts, standoffs, care chases and nudity try to attract audience, but some of those movies actually succeed in being enjoyable and have a little something that make them different than the others (see: The Baytown Outlaws (2012)).  I was hoping the same for Drive Angry, especially because of the whole hell-escaping subplot and I think the story itself could have worked, but it was just executed and performed so poorly. The middle part of the movie drags and drags and there are so many unnecessary scenes and you’re just wishing the Accountant would get more scenes, but no, they had to shove Nicolas Cage into your face. Ugh.

Let’s move on to the acting in this movie. I could write 800 words about Nicolas Cage’s performance, out of which 750 would be a repetition of  „bad, horrible, cringeworthy, embarrassing, downright terrible, crap, lousy, [insert synonym] …“ and the other 50 would be prepositions and connective words. You get the point. I was downright shocked after I remembered that Cage actually won an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas back in 1996, because his filmography in the past six to seven years is just … a train of bad choices. Here’s a fun fact: Cage had a net worth of $250 million once. Had. Then he went on a shopping spree. And no, he didn’t exactly go into a department store and cleared the shops. He blew his money on houses, properties, a private island, a jet, 30 motorcycles, a whole fleet of cars, a 67 million year old dinosaur skull and two albino cobras, among others. If that doesn’t deplete your bank account, then not paying taxes  does, which is exactly what he did / didn’t do, which resulted in a $13 million debt to the IRS. Ouch. This probably explains why he doesn’t turn down roles anymore and does all the crappy B-movies.  I wouldn’t actually mind that he’s starring in these cheap productions, if he would actually make an effort to act properly! Seriously, it’s like he’s not even trying!!! His line delivery makes everything either too cheesy or it falls flat. In the words of Richard Roeper: „If Nicolas Cage keeps doing movies like this, are they gonna make him give back the Oscar?“. A very deep question there, my friends.

Second place for unconvincing acting goes to Billy Burke. I only know him from the Twilight movies I did watch, and I guess that explains why I haven’t seen him in anything: there is nothing else memorable.

Moving on to Amber Heard, who is a total eye candy in this movie. And that’s coming from a girl. She’s just hot. Her character doesn’t make any sense though. SPOILER AHEAD!  She discovers she’s travelling with a murderer and instead of running for her life she just casually tags along because killing cops and satanists makes her feel like she „has a purpose in life“ (well, of course she’s referring to the rescue mission, but since the movie is about 60% shooting and killing, I guess it’s a package deal). Oh, and this poor soul gets the baby imposed on her. Now she gets to raise a kid, when she’s obviously not even mature enough to do something with her own life. Joke’s on her. SPOILER END! Meh.

Okay.

Now comes the part I have been looking forward to write this whole time!!!! This is the reason I watched Drive Angry in the first place: The Accountant played by William Fichtner. If you don’t like this character and the way Fichtner portrays him upon watching this movie, there is something seriously wrong with you. He steals the show. In Every. Fucking. Scene. After his first appearance I was like „Why can’t this movie just be about this dude dragging people back to hell?“. Would have been a much more original plot with outstanding acting. Lussier, you did a big mistake by not exploring that brainchild! Maybe you can make up for it by starting a TV-series on that, I think everyone who watched Drive Angry would be totally up for that. Basically the Accountant is a classy as fuck badass who has the job of taking back people back to hell. Like Charon for escaped convicts from hell (He even has a coin lol). I’m actually lacking words to describe the brilliance of William Fichtner’s performance: the gestures, the mimic art, the line delivery – it all worked. Granted, he did have the wittiest lines and the most interesting character to play with, but he was such a joy to look at. I am setting out on a mission to catch up on all of Fichtner’s movies and series that I haven’t had the pleasure to enjoy. In any case, the quality of his scenes decreased in the course of the movie, though… Why? Because towards the end he starts sharing the screen with Nic Cage. It’s like Cage has the superpower to ruin any scene he’s in.

Moving on to the next rant-worthy thing: C-G-I. If I had more knowledge on how to make GIFs, I would totally post a clip of the last scene where SPOILER AHEAD! Billy Burke’s ass is blasted into oblivion. SPOILER END! Simply wow. JUST WOW at how bad it was. Even cheap Indonesian Sinetron about supernatural fighting have better CGI and that’s saying a lot! I’m telling you, I almost died laughing because I almost suffocated on the food I was chewing when the scene came on and my brother was sitting there with his mouth open out of disbelief. I bet our reactions were priceless. We just really didn’t expect a scene to be THAT bad, because up until that point it fared okay-ish. Special effects, stunts and CGI were standard for movies of this type and I wouldn’t even have mentioned it, hadn’t there been that absolute crap part of an ending. So laughable. 

Something that should be mentioned as well is the soundtrack. One of the things that I really pay attention to when watching a movie is the score and I have to say that despite the movie being so lousy, the music was actually enjoyable and well-picked to give the scenes a little kick (which was often lacking due to the shitty acting). The electric guitar tunes added a pang of sass into the whole thing.

I’m a bit torn whether or not to recommend you this movie. It’s debatable whether William Fichtner’s performance as The Accountant is able to balance out all the shitty aspects of this movie. I’m leaning towards a faltering no but I actually want to let you see for yourself. This dude’s work is pure gold and he deserves way more recognition.

As a whole this movie is still retarded beyond words though. I blame Cage’s acting. But hey, probably an easy paycheck to save his broke ass, so why did he have to care?

The Maze Runner Series – by James Dashner

With the rise of Young Adult fiction it might be a huge cliche to be writing the first book review about one representative, but there were several things that made this series stand out in comparison to its contenders.

 

To start off, the only reason this work ever got my attention was the movie which came out in September 2014. As a matter of fact I haven’t even consciously internalized that the Maze Runner existed until it hit the big screen. And it was a blast. Although hate is spewing from several corners towards Wes Ball’s directional debut, I liked it enough to watch it twice in the cinema and that is saying a lot. Initially I watched the trailer about five months beforehand, took a mental note to watch this when it came out, and forgot about it – until the movie posters started showing up. In order to not make this a movie review, I will keep it brief:

1. The first thing that appealed to me is of course the dystopian flair that seeps through the plot. I have a weak spot for that.
2. Then there is the cast. Mainly carried by relatively unknown actors it suceeds in creating too likeable characters. (With the exception of Kaya Scodelario in the role of Teresa)
3. To complete the blockbuster experience suspense is naturally of paramount importance. And this movie does manage to keep you on the edge of your seat, so that’s certainly a point I will add.
4. And last but not least, there was one thing – or more the lack of a thing – that got me cheering: the romantic subplot. It was non-existent. Finally, a YA story that doesn’t include sappy whining about love and heartbreak! So refreshing!

 

These four points created a good enough basis on why I should read the book(s). Now here goes. Some short summaries on the trilogy.

 

I have tried to keep it as little detailed as possible, but: SPOILER ALERT! Skip to next red remark, if you want to keep the general plot a mystery!

The Maze Runner

Thomas wakes up in an elevator to find himself being transported into a mysterious maze, in which a group of other boys live. In order to survive they have established a civilization in the middle of the Maze, the Glade. Soon Thomas discovers that everyone suffers from memory loss and cannot remember how or why they are now trapped inside a giant maze that is swarmed by  horrendous creatures called Grievers, half living organism, half machine, with the objective to exterminate nightly visitors. For two years the Runners have ventured the maze in hope to find an exit – to no avail. Thomas‘ arrival, however, appears to trigger a series of events that unhinge the well-functioning society in the Glade, making it no longer a safe place so that ultimately an escape is the only way of survival. Little do they know that their freedom from the maze is only the beginning of true horrors.

The Scorch Trials

Upon being rescued, Thomas and his friends learn of the truth behind the Maze: he and his friends are all experimental subjects of an organisation named WICKED, that is working towards a cure for a virus that broke out after Sun Flares have destroyed a substantial part of the world. With the Maze challenge successfully completed the second phase of the experiment begin in order for WICKED to collect more data. The Gladers are dropped into the Scorch, a wasteland where the Cranks, incurable victims of the Flare virus, are abandoned. Their objective is to cross the Scorch to a safe place provided by WICKED. This sounds easier said then done, since not only Cranks stand in their way, but also another group of WICKED’s subjects. In the end, the Gladers complete the trials and are taken into the WICKED headquarters.

The Death Cure

After the last individually designed tests, WICKED proclaims that the experimenting is over. They reveal that Thomas and a lot of the Maze subjects are immune to the Flare. Thomas however senses that that is not all there is to it and successfully flees with the help of his friends that include two WICKED facilty workers that helped them in the Scorch. Their escape leads them to Denver where they find out about an organisation opposing WICKED, the „Right Arm“. Despite the fact that the Right Arm’s approach to take down WICKED is in a morally grey zone, Thomas agrees to help infiltrate the WICKED headquarter. WICKED receives him with open arms, since they have been hopefully waiting for Thomas, the Final Candidate to complete the cure blueprint, to return and sacrifice his brain for the sake of creating the cure. Before WICKED does any irreparable damage to him, the Right Arm interferes and Thomas and his friends take shelter in a pre-designed location to start over before the headquarters are blasted for good.

Safe place! Keep reading…

 

I have to admit, James Dashner has to reform his writing style a little bit. I’m not sure whether what I’m about to write makes any sense, but it made sense in my head: The way he structured the books striked me as very child-like and in some way unfledged. In case you are not acquainted to the books, each one has about 60 chapters, each  comprised of approximately 6 pages. As you can imagine, the last sentence / paragraph of every one has a „cliffhanger“ effect. It works well. You want to read on immediately and it is pretty hard to put the book down while lingering at the end of a chapter. On the other hand, the last books I read that used this pen were some kids mystery novels. I get it. It is supposed to be a book for Young Adults. It doesn’t make the story bad, but personally I am of the opinion that this „pseudo-abruptness“ dumbs down the general message for readers who are not in their early teens. In one way or another it interrupts the general fluency of literary unfolding. Another series using this technique is Uglies by Scott Westerfeld and here too, I encounter the same problematic. Suzanne Collins‘ The Hunger Games on the other hand comes across a lot more mature by avoiding said style.

EDIT: I started reading the prequel to the trilogy called The Kill Order. My advancement is very, very slow since exactly said style is making it immensely hard to internalize yourself into the story, if after two pages the chapter ends and you have the feeling of starting anew on the next page.

 

Despite the above criticism, the story is enjoyable and, as mentioned, exhilarating due to the absence of any love-triangle-bullshit that has been recycled way too many times. I know of some who are the opinion that a good story also contains a good love plot but let’s just try to be realistic: If you’re talking about a YA storyline where young people are thrown into a situation that focuses on surviving and death – do you really have time for finding a boyfriend/girlfriend? Adding to that is the fact that those romances usually include a jealous third person and/or the premise of having to choose between two lovers. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Personally, I like the character development. One can argue that the protagonist Thomas is a copy from every other typical teen hero. True. I don’t necessarily see any remarkable character traits. But what he lacks is made up by the other Gladers. The diversity of races and nationalities in the story is very obvious though, but I can’t complain. This is the only story I know where an Asian guy actually has a major role (aside from the Walking Dead HA HA). Without wanting to spoil I can postulate that most character arches are so good, that I couldn’t get over a certain Glader’s death for quite a while. It’s actually still upsetting me, now that I’m writing this. ARGH.

 

To close this all-over-the-place wanna-be book review (Admittedly, I kind of didn’t pay attention to any of the stuff I learned about writing reviews and just went for it…), I’d like to point out that there are millions of better books than this series. However, should you ever stand in front of the Young Adult section of a book store in hope of finding a light read that doesn’t cry for your romantic empathy but focuses on maintaining supsense in the storyline, you should give this a go.

 

QN

#5 „Models“

Recently I have dipped my toe into the waters of photography in my current town. Not as the photographer, but as the person in front the camera. I don’t dare to refer to myself as a model, because, quite simply, I am not.

This is the definition Oxford dictionary gives

A person employed to display clothes by wearing them

Only in a subitem there is this generalisation

A person employed to pose for an artist, photographer or sculptor

So technically, I do fall into one of the official terms, but really… these days when people refer to modelling they imagine these high end jobs where ravishing human beings strike poses and get paid tons of money for it. Or they see tall women with long legs in high heels walking down a cat walk. And modelling is a job and those two things, among others, are exactly what the job is made of.

So no, I am not a model, just because I have had a couple of photo shoots for fun – much like you are not a confectioner by profession, just because you enjoy making cakes at home.

Modeling has an ambiguous stance in society. You either think it’s completely unnecessary, you deem it as a degrading objectification of a person (mostly feminists) or you want to dive into that world (mostly young females).

Whatever your views, whether you hate it or not, there is one impression that most people have: The models you see on TV appear to be rich and spoiled persons and in some way unreachable due to a hint of snobbishness – no matter how hard they try not to come across that way. I’m sure most of the successful models aren’t actually pretentious and are only victims of stereotyping. But there is a reason why this correlation between them and arrogance has surfaced. And it starts at the bottom.

I am very shocked at how often I hear stories about incredibly rude and stuck up models. You gotta keep in mind that the people in my circle of contact aren’t exactly those who get sent to any event, let alone the New York Fashion Week. They’re just bored students, office workers, nurses or whatever you can think of. Whatever their motivation, they aren’t experienced or professionals in any way – much like me.

And so I don’t get, why some of them think they are the shiiiiiitttt and also act like they already won America’s Next Top Model. It’s just so out of place. They request all photographers they can get their hands on and are so hot for pictures, it’s excruciating to see. I mean, the results aren’t even good! They’re like walking examples of massive hubris. Some of them even pay to get their pictures taken!

Even funnier is the fact that they even set up a Model Page on Facebook for others to like. SERIOUSLY? I mean okay, they probably want to keep apart their private profile from their „work“ profiles, but personally, those pages only have justification if you can carry yourself as a professional.

A friend of mine, who is a photographer, once received a message from a male model who requested a photo shoot. Seeing that this certain individual looked quite unique with his tattoos and macho aura, my friend agreed. That turned out to be a big mistake. This pseudo-model proved to have a very unphotogenic beer belly, planted himself in front of the camera and only had one pose and one look that he could pull off. Upon request that he should do something else, he asked „What do you mean?“.

Facepalm. No. Just no. Ugh

 

QN

 

#4 Cigarettes, Alcohol and Drugs

Out of the many pointless things humanity has brought forth, the invention of drugs, cigarettes and alcohol reigns very far on top. Rationally speaking, there is no use in burdening your body with those toxins (medical conditions excluded).

I won’t be a sacrimonious hypocrite and say I’ve never been so drunk I had a mental blank. I had my first (and last) drag on a cigarette when I was at such a fragile age that it would probably be illegal to publish. This article is not a personal statement that my tongue will never taste a glass of ice-cooled Baileys again. Nor is it a scientific paper about the different effects the intake will cause – I think by now everyone knows about the extent of damage and risks assosciated with their consumption.

This is a rant about the way society handles these things and the appaling significance it has gained in modern society. No matter how stupid I think it is to start smoking or to take drugs or to drink yourself into oblivion every second week, that is a personal choice everyone has to make. What’s NOT OK is the fact that with the rise of social media and the simplicity of acquiring information, people subliminally promote this stuff, may it be in movies or advertising. And people are stupid enough to fall for it (but that topic could fill two other rants).

 

Let’s start with smoking.

Several different studies on why people start to smoke more or less converge to similar results. I will show you why all of them are fucking retarded.

Most smokers start at a young age. Below are the reasons – and my proof why it’s just downright braindead.

1. They want to experiment – Hm, sure, why not… let’s experiment with something evidently hazardous to health. Oh, hey, there’s the dump site for radioactive waste, let’s go skinny dipping in there as well!
2. It’s about looking mature, because they see older people of reference do it as well – Fact is, cigarettes are harmful. Fact is, everybody knows it. Why then copy something obviously disadvantageous? Here is one of the biggest contradictions of teenagers: On one hand they want to be right all the time and refute everything their parent say, they come up with phrases like „Just because you’re an adult, doesn’t mean you’re right“ (see below) but on the other hand they still copy what their elders do. And it’s especially stupid, when it is something obviously damaging.
3. Rebellion – It’s prohibited, so doing it must be cool! Ever thought about that maybe there’s a reason why it is? There are also signs to keep you from touching high voltage fences. Just ignore those too, why don’t you?
4. Peer pressure, the urge to fit in, looking cool blablabla – It’s hard to believe that this is actually one of the main reasons, because one would think nobody is ever that stupid. However, by recent observations I have learned one thing: Most people are already incredibly stupid, but there is, no matter how impossible and disquieting, always at least one level of stupid below that. Especially when it comes to young people. Assumed you do not want to smoke; you do something moronic just for the sake of being accepted by „friends“/peers that can’t even respect you for the way you are? Moreover, often your friends don’t even ask you to start smoking, you just do it anyway. That you can blame on shitty self-confidence and lack of individuality during those years. Assumed you do want to smoke and then do it… Well either way, the conclusion is the same.
5. Weight control and weight loss – Congratulations. This is an argument that I cannot debunk. Nicotine does influence the metabolism and gear down your appetite. Teenage girls are particularly prone to this incentive, but really… how about you do some sports and benefit your cardiovascular system instead of plastering your lungs with tar in order to keep your figure?

Sadly enough, it’s not only the lability of the teenage psyche that leads people to dragging on cigarettes. Perfect proof that intelligence does not grow with age.

1. Stress relief – This might be the most frequently pro-smoking excuse that I hear. Tell you what. You’re right! Nicotine is a psychoactive drug that releases Dopamine, a neurotransmitter that causes a sense of well-being, in the brain (I’m pretty sure you don’t want to hear all the biochemical processes, so I’ll spare you). But don’t be smug too quickly. This „stress relieving“ effect is only a pseudo-outcome. Smokers are proven to have higher stress levels than nonsmokers. So basically, the smoking only helps to temporarily reduce the stress that you wouldn’t even have if you didn’t smoke. I get it. Adult life isn’t a joyride. You have a shitty boss, a down-phase in your marriage, annoying kids, financial issues etc. But seriously, starting to buy packs of cigarettes is not only waste of money, but it doesn’t solve any of the above problems!

An appeal to the reader: If you’re considering to start for whatever reason… please refrain from it. And to the smokers amongst you, I will stress again that it is a personal choice that you voluntarily (or not) made and that it’s OK. I mean, you don’t have to care whether I think it’s ignorant or not (FYI, though, smokers are proven to have a lower IQ than equivalent nonsmokers), I am not intending to offend anyone.  But more often than not these days, rational thoughts are taken as an insult and generally unpopular, because it just doesn’t fit into society’s twisted values.

 

Moving on…

To simplify matters I will now just trash about recreational drugs, because alcohol conveniently falls under that category as well. Recreational drugs are psychoactive substances that affect your brain in one way or another. They change your perceptions and in a way alter physiological body functions. I feel so awesome right now, because I could splatter out everything I learned in pharmacology, but the point is, that there is actually clinical use for these drugs. What makes them „recreational“ is that you take them with no medical indication.

Similar to cigarettes, the loose frequent consumption leads to some kind of physical and/or psychological damage, may it be the slaughter of your brain cells (that can’t regenerate, btw.), overload for your liver and kidneys or addiction, at some point it won’t stay unnoticed.

„YOLO, bitches. We’re gonna die anyway.“ That’s one way to look at it. And it is actually a knockout argument! But I’m not trying to scare people with threats of suffering and horrible deaths if you consume drugs and alcohol. This isn’t even about the physical deterioration of an individual. I won’t deny that people get a kick from being jagged and that for some it’s a natural part of life. Good for them. My point is an entirely different one.

I will keep the part about drugs short, because I am not well enough informed nor have I had any personal experience to post any kind of judgments. Apart from the evident central nervous damage, the reason why I oppose drug consumption is the massive impairment of productivity. It’s actually a never-ending cycle: socially weak individuals resort to drugs and don’t get anywhere because they can’t get shit done.

Talking specifically about alcohol, it is so disgusting to see how glorified it is these days. Historically speaking it has dated back to nine or ten millenia before Christ and is a trend that has kept on over time. Depending on the high culture, getting drunk was or wasn’t acceptable. Most of them had the classiness to keep it moderate and warned from excessive drinking. This, however, somehow got lost over the coming centuries. Anyways, I only wanted to show that alcohol has always been around, but was rather used for religious rituals, medicinal purpose and as a normal beverage. It was not glamorized like today.

What do I mean by glamorized? Let’s see.

• You have a casual house party of 9th graders. What is the first thing on the host’s organization list? Booze.
• You go out with your friends on a Friday night. Here’s a typical sequence: pre-party at home – trip to some bar – continue party in club.
• College. Do I need to say more?
• Office parties, birthdays, New Year’s Eve.

They are all events that have a potential of individuals toppling over into a puddle of vomit.

What do these things have in common? They involve a large group of people with the goal of having some fun. Now, the interesting thing is (even though always denied) that „fun“ in some way contains alcoholic influence.

And THIS is the hitch I have.

People get together in loud crowded places, getting more and more wasted and talk, (more like yell, because it’s too loud to hear properly) about superficial stuff – if you’re still capable to produce comprehensible words that is. It’s bad enough that you have to scream at each other, but the lack of any intelligent content is what really bothers me.  Admittedly, it is fun to get shitfaced with close friends. But those friends, are also people you can have fun with if there is no alcohol involved, they’re the ones you have deep conversations about life with at three in the morning. And honestly, I doubt that you will find genuine and lasting friendships in an environment that is clouded by intoxication. And this is the sad part. Due to the fact that alcohol seemingly has infested social events so much, acquaintances made on parties, well… they stay acquaintances. Whether it comes to a one-night stand or ends at the topic of mutual interests, statistically speaking it won’t grow beyond that.

Personally I think it’s a shame.

I have set up a new drinking rule for myself: either I don’t drink at all or I drink so much that I get tipsy as fuck. With the restriction that I do it with people that I trust preferrably in a safe environment, that is. Because honestly, except for some cocktails or Baileys, alcoholic beverages don’t really appeal to me. So if I drink, then it is with the intention of getting drunk.

I told you, this is not some sermon on why it is all bad. Alcohol can be fun among the right people, but it also contributes to social decay and superficial relationships. I would choose a cozy get-together with sweatpants and talking about books over a stressful clubbing evening any day! Well, at least until we get to know each other well enough that I feel comfortable to drink myself into tipsiness with you 😉

QN

Nut-hugging Bears (and otherwise shaped biscuits)

Ingredients:

• 250g unsalted butter
• 350g wheat flour
• 175g sugar
• 2 packs vanilla sugar
• whole almonds or other huggable nuts
• small amounts of milk or cream, depending on dough
• eatable glitter, sugar hearts, sprinkles etc.

 

Start baking!

1. Make sure the butter is soft (may be melted and let cool again) and put into bowl. Gradually add the sugars first, then the flour and blend into smooth mixture. This may take up to 10 minutes
2. Roll dough with a rolling pin into an even layer. Don’t forget to dust your working area with flour to prevent the dough from sticking on it. If the dough is too crumbly – add milk or cream. If it’s too sticky – add more flour
3. Preheat the oven: 160°C hot air.Preheat the oven: 160°C hot air.
4. Now comes the fun part: cut out the bears (and/or other shapes) and start decorating!
5.  Let the cookies bake for about 20 minutes, but check on them regularly by poking them once in a while. Don’t let them get too hard since they firm up when they cool

 

Christmas greetings from CCN & QN 

8 Things I Hate About Being A Veterinary Student

University life is deemed as one of the most enjoyable periods of your life. As a pessimist however, I dissent said statement and would rather emphasize the shitty things. There are things almost all degrees have in common: overpriced textbooks, organizational chaos, late-night learning etc. As a veterinary student I am quite resistant against a lot of bullshit (also literal), but there are still things that get on my nerves. Here is my personal top 8 in no particular order:

 

Lack of Time

First it was the countless attestations before the preclinical exams, then there were the preclincial exams themselves, now come the lenghty lectures, then even more exams. And to fill it all we add several obligatory internship during the „semester break“. The word „break“ is such a euphimism, though. We refer to it as „lecture-free period“ since all exams and internships are crammed into those months as well.

There is in fact a German study which attests that veterinary science is the time consuming major offered here.

This is such a pain in the ass. I’m pretty rugged when it comes to working a lot, but it sucks when you want to go travel somewhere farther than a 5-hour bus drive and you have to plan at least  5 months ahead – only to notice afterwards that some organisational genius in the dean’s office forgot to announce an important registration that has to be attended in person.

 

Blaming the professor for failing

Nobody likes having a bad grade. Even farther down the list is failing a test completely.

I’m not saying professors are angels. You may get them on a bad day and they give mean, discouraging comments and say „you passed, but just by a very narrow margin. You’re so not gonna make it, if you go on like this“. But honestly, I doubt it is in their interest to fail you on purpose. It’s bad enough they have to waste their time to test our state of knowledge and endure our mistakes, that must appear incredibly idiotic to them. Unless they are masochistic enough to voluntarily suffer through something like that, they shouldn’t make you repeat the exam if they don’t have a reason.

Instead of complaining, go pick up a book and learn properly this time. It’s not their fault you failed. You are were just stupid.

On this occasion, a special hate towards those pricks who sue the university for „irregular exam procedure“ to get a fourth chance, although you clearly deserve your exmatriculation if you are daft enough to flunk the same exam three times.

 

How every pet-owning family member and acquaintance come up to you and ask for a consultation

These people can genuinely make me feel bad that I don’t know how to cure Demodex folliculorum in my second year.

„Oh, you’re studying veterinary science! My [insert animal] has [insert medical issue] and it’s not getting better. What should I do?“

People don’t realize that during the first two years of our degree we don’t actually treat anything and only battle the theories of physiology and quantities of biochemic structural formulas. Furthermore we google into microscopes to inspect body tissues. The closest we get to animals (dead!) is when we cut them open to study their anatomy.

 

Having to learn shit about animals you don’t care about

Horses. I can’t deal with them. I’m not afraid of them, I’m just not interested in learning about them since I have no plan whatsoever to treat them in the future. Sucks, that about 45% of our curriculum is about them and there’s no way getting around it.

I’m not the only one though. There are commited horse lovers complaining about having to study the special anatomy of reptiles and/or birds.

It’s annoying.

 

„Bergfest“

A short explanation for any non-German readers, since this word does not exist in the English language: „Bergfest“ loosely renders into „mountain party“. In this context it describes the passing of half of our veterinary students‘ lives – that the worst has been conquered (the mountain climb has been successfull) and it will go downhill (not in the sense of getting worse! Quite the opposite!) for the remaining five semesters.

The Bergfest is a longstanding tradition that each year’s third-year students organize. And holy fuck, that is a lot of organizations to attend to. There is the Bergfest dance, the Bergfest songs, the movie, the play, the logo, the motto, a magazine to be published, a ball at the end of it all, sponsors have to be recruited etc. all leading up to the prominent Bergfest week that basically consists of 4 days of constant drinking and partying with pseudo-programmes in the style of graduation pranks. But obviously it is only about getting hammered in the process.

I can’t even describe how fucking stupid this is.

In some way I get how people get excited for making it as far as passing the pre-clinical exams but it is just so pointless to solemnise that event by getting stressed for a whole year in order to raise funds and arrange all the necessary things for a traditional celebration when in the end people are just so plastered they wreck toilets, dispose of condoms in inappropriate places and dye horses (true story).

The people who are so excited about this – please get a life. It’s immature. It’s equal to running a full marathon and celebrating not when you have actually reached the finish line, but some time after twenty kilometres. You haven’t even achieved anything for real. You have a piece of paper that says you passed your preclinical. WOW. It’s not an accomplishment, it is a requirement for your medical license. You hold the approbation in your hand and maybe then it is more justified to cook up some nonsense like this. But either way, it is redundant and superfluous.

 

The humongous amount of females

Everybody has heard, that the female gender is by far the more stressful one. Forget all the trending feminism crap about how women are unfairly labeled and misunderstood.  That one is definitely true.

Let’s face it. Girls can be bitchy (frequency varies). Especially when you put them in a competitive environment and still expect them to cooperate. It’s not as bad as high school where public catfights about futile things arise every other day (although this I have witnessed here as well!), with age comes subtlety. Instead, dislike stays under the cover since you never know  whose help you might need.

The clique culture never ended, though. Basically there are three majorly distinguishable types of people that diversify into several subclusters. On one side we have introverted nerdy wallflowers ranging from unknown homebodies to try-too-hards. The other face of the coin is built by fashion-conscious party girls. And then there are different types of little margin groups that are simply not classifiable or exceptionally edgy personalities.

The thing is, that once people find their social niche they barricade their posse and interact almost exclusively with groups on the same wavelength, unless otherwise necessary.

Makes it incredibly hard to build real friendships if you have no channel at all. It all stays on a very superficial level.

 

Crazy vegetarians / vegans

As expected a lot of girls on campus are vegetarian or even vegan. No judgement there.

Judgement goes to those bitches who glare at you for eating meat. Who give insinuating remarks about how cruel it is to have a steak for dinner. Who actively try to convince you of their views. Whose comments are supposed to give you a bad conscience, may it be a subliminal or a petty allusion.

Yeah, well, fuck you too.

 

Endless talk about pets

Of course, there are nice affable people as well. But some of them tend to be annoying chatterboxes. I was recently enjoying my lunch when a fellow student sat down and started talking about her cat. And she didn’t stop again.

Sure, we have some kind of affection for animals, otherwise we wouldn’t be studying this, but no, I DON’T care about how your cat fell asleep on your stomach and you couldn’t stand up then, or how you were waken because he licked your face. Also, your pride in familiarizing him to his new harness and how well he did, is as exciting as a potato boiling in hot water.

You may alter the story as you like: may it be the recent misbehaviour of your mare, or the constant sneezing of your guinea pig – if I don’t ask, please stop hassling me.