With ten drafts waiting to be finished and published, I would like to compose a news-posting in between. :-)

London. My beloved one has moved to London and will henceforth spend most of her time in the UK. I am very proud of her for taking up this challenge. There is of course the “LDR side-effect” for us to deal with, but with the experience from last summer I’d say that things look no less promising. And soon I will fly over for almost two weeks. Oh, sweet moment of reunion, how I love thee! :-)

Geneva. Now I want to finish my studies as swiftly as possible (Summer 2008). I also applied for the CERN Summer Student Programme 2007, and things look promising so far. If they decide in my favour, I will spend 12 weeks in Geneva from end-June until mid-September, meet scientists and students from all over the world, participate in research activities, and attend a lecture programme on particle physics. Unfortunately I will already be back in Austria when they start searching for the Higgs boson at the LHC in late 2007. :-)

Integrity. Upon realising the futility of my efforts to “save the world” by trying to find solutions for my environment, I eventually decided in February to aim for self-development in the first place (“you should be the change that you want to see in the world” – Mahamta Gandhi). Thus I started to pursue particularly the concept of “integrity” (basically a congruency between thoughts, words and actions), and later discovered its relation to the Ambalatthika-Rahulovada Sutta. Since that time I experienced a strong boost of confidence and managed to resolve many internal and external conflicts with relative ease. When this whole process is more stable, I might describe it here in detail.

Six Feet Under. My favourite series from HBO has already brought forth many eye-openers in the past. Another one struck me twice in the last two days (episodes 05×08 and 05×09). It seems like a mirror with a fist attached to it: the fist smashing right into my face to knock me awake, the mirror to reflect upon me things that I have to deal with in my own life. No happy endings, but a lot of food for thought and tears (as long as there are still so many things left to realise for me!). As for positive effects, I did not even think twice about radically changing my daily routine. No force applied, it came almost naturally, and many blind spots are dropping away. But let’s see how it goes in the future – two days do not have the same impact as weeks, months or years!

Birthday. My next birthday approaches, and like every year I have arranged a small celebration in one week, this time with purely organic and fairtrade food & drinks. Turning 28 is really not a big thing at all, but I enjoy bringing all my dear friends together for an inspiring and enjoyable evening. Hooray! :-)