I think it's a fair indication about how things are going here that I haven't posted anything up here for the past month or so. I think I'm getting so used to living here in Germany, that I don't really see all the very strange things as a source for various anecdotes any more. So, I'm still alive and stuff - which is more than can be said for zombies.

Yeah, I realise that I keep harping on about zombies, but it was halloween a week ago, and I'm still reeling over the fact that it is actually properly celebrated over here (and I was listening to the Shaun of the Dead soundtrack). I didn't get any annoying kids knocking at my door and then eggin n' leggin it, but lots of people went around buying pumpkins. You'd think they would have carved up the pumpkins or something, but for some strange reason, the pumpkins seemed to be purchased, and the strategically placed on walls, window sils or ledges, where the pumpkins do little more than rot away. It got me thinking about how exactly I'd decorate my apartment for Halloween. There are lots of little things you can do - but my centerpiece will have to be one of these. I'm starting to believe that no apartment is complete without a life-sized zombie. It's a bit like in Scrubs, with Rowdy.

I think my grasp of the English language is quickly slipping away, as German takes over my brain. I'm starting to forget how to put a sentence together properly, and I'm using more and more Germanisms in my regular speech. One of the really annoying ones is my tendency to stick the word "yet" onto the end of lots of sentences, where it really doesn't belong, yet. My German does seem to be improving, which is due in no small part to going out to the pub and attempting to talk to people in broken German. I think it gets easier the more you drink - well either that, or you just don't realise you're making no sense any more.

Another reason for my lack of posting has been the complete lack of creativity that I've shown in the past month or so. My mind must be going into hibernation for the winter or something, but I just haven't done anything new. I haven't even done a cut and paste photoshop - it's that bad! In an attempt to kick-start the whole creative thing, I've been listening to a whole bunch of recurring time-shifted shows (otherwise known as podcasts). You can see the OPML of what I'm listening to here. iTunes is not a bad little system for managing the subscriptions, however I have a few gripes about the fact that it doesn't have any kind of dock notification that there are new items, and that it doesn't seamlessly integrate with the shuffle. I somehow feel infinitely more educated after listening to the Nature podcast (I sure ain't learning anything doing my PhD).