Weekly Post 16

Table of Contents

Zum Zeitpunkt des Schreibens dieses Posts bin ich nur noch sechs Tage davon entfernt, meine Studie abzuschließen! 2026 wird ein sehr spannendes Jahr werden.

Recap

Week 1

To start the year off, I was still rather sick. This depleted my poor blogpost buffer again, since I spend a lot of effort getting at least the last blog out. However, me and my girlfriend went to see the CATS! exhibition at MARKK and we recognized Bela B. I was very star-struck and didn’t want to bother him, but I did tell him that I am a huge fan. Next time I see someone I am a huge fan of, I will ask them if they have a moment to chat.

I celebrated new years with my flatmate, girlfriend and parents playing board games. On the first, me and my father installed two key boxes in the youth house - I always enjoy doing these projects with him. I started working on my electronics project. It did start to snow, so I bought some weather appropriate shoes for my girlfriend with her. And on Sunday I went to my grandparents putting the tree down. I also got to dismantle a toaster which stopped working. Sadly my father figured out what was broken before I did :/ Even though one of us is a trained Electrician and should have had dibs, dad! 😡

A red lockable storage box with a transparent window displaying two silver keys on a ring inside. The box is held in someone's hand, and part of the surrounding room is visible behind it. A cut Christmas tree was put in a composting space with wooden fence and a building in the background. More snow covers the ground and distant trees in the background.
A wintery scene featuring snow-covered hedges and trees in front of a brick apartment building with several windows. The area is blanketed with snow, indicating a fresh snowfall. A view of a snowy roadside landscape with cars along the street and snow-dusted trees in the background. The sky is partly cloudy with patches of blue visible. A snowy path lined with tall trees under soft evening lighting. The trees are covered in snow, and some streetlights illuminate the scene.

Week 2

I had a work meeting on Tuesday regarding the expiring of my contract. It is rather interesting how I will continue in this regard. I currently have an interview lined up for a job there, if that doesn’t work out I either hope the Miniatur Wunderland will reply to my application or I shall work a student job at my university and use the free time to further along some of my projects which need attention, before figuring out where I want to apply next. The rest of the week was mostly spend on finishing my electronics project, and on my presentation for the defending of my bachelor thesis. We had the highest snowfall in the last 15 years in Hamburg, I very much enjoyed this. On Sunday me and my girlfriend went to the Nasch cafe, and took a winter stroll around the binnen alster, inspired by the snowmen there.

A small handmade igloo structure made of packed snow, set in a snowy yard. The entrance reveals a hollow interior, with traces of snow scattered around the base. A cold, misty view of a body of water partially covered with floating ice sheets and chunks. The surrounding snow adds to the icy atmosphere, and a bird is visible hovering above in the cloudy sky.

Thanks to Wiebke Gerking for not forcing me to link to BILD who did a lot of photos (or took credits for it?), I do rather link to their sailing blog which. Posted about the snowmen. Going a bit off… water, are we? ;P

A lineup of small snowmen set on the edge of a snowy bridge. Each snowman varies in size and design, with some decorated with stick arms and carrot noses. The bridge overlooks a peaceful snow-covered park area.

Culinary highlight

We did some very nice fried potatoes (I always have to fight to get a non pasta based dish made in this shared flat). We also gave pancakes a shot, though I did not enjoy this recipe as much as I hoped, so I will try a different one later.

Two white plates filled with fried golden potato slices mixed with browned onions. The plates are set on a table covered with a textured red and white tablecloth Two frying pans on a stove top cooking golden-brown pancakes. A white mixing bowl sits on the counter nearby, with a slightly messy kitchen setup visible in the background.

Christmas presents haul

I realized I never got around to show off what I got for Christmas.

A picture of the swedish cake in the middle of a dinner table, with three pieces on plates. On one a person (visible are only their hands) is putting the vanilla sauce
The chair was the big present, I actually went with my grandmother and mother to a shop and we picked it out. It is amazing, it works really well for me. I got the books I wished for, I will read them after Brandon Sandersons. I also wished for the bottle opener in the bottom left, and the half eaten chocolate circles. And for the guitar picks. Then my grandmother gifted me the tea. My father made me and my brother the wooden thing on the right of the bottle opener, which is also a bottle opener. Then I got a lot of games in the middle there from various people, especially looking forward to the star wars unlock game. They are standing on a Gymba Board my mother got us, which works rather well for me. The Star Wars tie was a surprise present from my girlfriend, and she also got me Star Munchkin which really look forward to playing but my brother lend it from me so its not in the picture. Also not there is the marzipan bar I forgot to include, a traditional present from my grandfather.

Song of the week

A band I enjoy quite some songs from is Bloodhound Gang. They are apparently not as popular international as they are in Germany, though I do hope you know their bigger hits. They are very witty in their lyrics and well, often quite vulgar/harsh. I would like to recommend a lesser known song from them: Take The Long Way Home. It's a bit of a morbid take on why one should continue to life, but it is so stock full of good word plays. I recommend Genius to see some explanation for them.

I decided to share a YouTube link instead of a YouTube music link since that song is age restricted for some reason? If you are signed into a Google account, do listen to the full version, it is better.

Currently watching/reading/listening

I am finishing up the Arcanum Unbound stories. A very exciting one is set on the same planet as Isles of the Emberdark, so I do look even more forward to this now. We are also getting back into watching Doctor Who, The Sandman and The Foundation in the evening, which is great.

And I’d like to shoutout bitluni, who made some awesome looking LED magnet tiles (especially recommend 7:20 where he has to solder while fighting magnets).

Games

I got around to playing Computer games again finally. I did start with Balatro. maybe not a good idea I can see the addiction potential.

Projects

The week was mostly us finishing the electronics project. I did the bulk of the programming which I rather enjoyed, and we implemented everything we wanted. I am just a smidge annoyed that a bug I thought I fixed with the counter did turn out not to be fixed, and there is no way to actually fix it now :( Otherwise a very good project, no one else made a game in this group so we kinda set ourselves apart with that which was nice as well. I will include images next post, this one is getting too long.

As always, make the best out of your day!