To look life in the face

And so, she realised, that what she really wanted was neither fame nor fortune, but to do what she wants, to have the freedom to choose, and above all to be loved.

Peeking at the fireworks of the fete de Geneve from behind the spectator seats, between bars and picket fences. It reminds me again of where I stand in society.

Should we be honest & true to our feelings in our way of action, or should we choose to consider "the big picture"?

As children, why are we expected to return? Why do we have to live according to standards imposed by others upon ourselves? 

Is there necessity in emotional attachments? Is there necessity in building relationships? Are relationships not the result of two intertwined selfish ideas? 

I like the look people show on their faces when I introduce myself as a scientist - especially at a bar, or at a party. Cool! They say, and then start drifting away… Yes, really, it is cool, like some Dan Brown novel, or even Michael Crichton. But today I finally realised the implications of the term 'occupational hazard'. 

Chlamydia psittaci - Hazard group 3 organism:

http://www.walkersafetycabinets.co.uk/hazard.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?highlight=chlamydia%20psittaci&rid=mmed.section.2166#2170

Will need a serology test - hope it was just a cold. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7253933.stm

I am almost certain that I have two personalities, two very extreme personalities, and I didn't remember the existence of the party-going, rock music-loving me until last saturday. Like two sides of a coin, but one cannot exist without the other. It takes little amount of mastery to learn switching between the two and use them for different situations. But it would be even better perhaps if I could tap into the advantages of each any time I see the need.

Interesting discussion about religion over lunch. So apparently in Germany and Austria if you declared yourself as Roman Catholic or Protestant you'd have to pay a certain percentage of your income each month to the church. And if you weren't working, you'd still have to pay, if you declared your religion as such. This is obligatory, and only if you left the church would you be free from church tax. But why? Shouldn't these things be voluntary? I mean of course these funds wouldn't be channelled into just the upkeep of the church, but also other useful activities and programmes (apparently churches receive 70% of church tax). But it sounds to me like extortion in the name of religion. And shouldn't church and state be two separate entities?

"…particularly in Europe, is the tax some national governments impose on income on behalf of the state church. Austria, Germany, the Nordic countries and Switzerland all have such a church tax, though in the chart it is included only in the cases of Denmark and Switzerland. One may ask whether the church tax really is a ‘tax’ as defined by international organisations: a compulsory, unrequited payment to general government."

http://www.oecdobserver.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/77/The_income_taxes_people_really_pay.html 

"The church tax is only paid by members of the respective church. People who are not member of a church tax-collecting denomination do not have to pay it. Members of a religious community under public law may formally declare their wish to leave the community to state (not religious) authorities. With such a declaration, the obligation to pay church taxes ends. Some communities refuse to administer marriages and burials of (former) members who had declared to leave it."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax 

'Bystanders, people who witness but are not directly affected by the actions of perpetrators, help shape society by their action. Bystanders can exert powerful influences. They can define the meaning of events and move others toward empathy or indifference. They can promote values and norms of caring, or by their passivity of participation in the systems, they can affirm the perpetrators.'-Ervin Staub

One does not settle down overnight. There is first the literal occupying of a new apartment, followed then by the tackling of bureaucracy, making the dwelling homely enough, getting accustomed to the food, culture, language, making some new friends… And then comes the honing of the spirit such that the heart does not buckle under external pressure, such that the virtues that were acquired and practised but waveringly sustained are not altogether lost to a whole different environment. This is my second understanding of "The heart does not follow the environment", a motto that I always preach when under pressure from work. In short, there still needs to be self-restrain in my actions, and a need to address the restlessness in my thoughts.

Ever wondered how it feels like being homeless? Try this - lock yourself out on a weekday night in a Swiss city in the middle of winter. To enhance this once-in-a-lifetime experience, try wearing only a thin sweater and have with you nothing at all apart from the clothes you are wearing.