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darkMyke

Im Dunkeln sieht man besser
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I'm slowly making my way through more than 3000 deviations that have piled up in my message center. There are more than 200 Journal Stacks.  Catching up with dA after being gone for a while is some serious work...

Anyway, I do feel like getting back for a bit. In the recent months, a lot of stuff happened (I guess not only in my life). The short version: in March and April, we (mosaicked and me) had our very first exhibition in the real world. Yes, our pieces of work are very different, but actually that provided a nice contrast - her wonderfully drawn and rather colorful works and my pretty dark and often bleak pictures (which were a pain to print out...). Albeit the exhibition was small and still quite a bit of work, it was a new experience and definitely very interesting.
Also, in April I have started a full-time 'job' (actually it is more of an internship) in a research facility, the Austrian Institute of Technology - indeed, it is not a coincidence that this reminds you of the Massachusetts  Institute of Technology, it is the famous model for my working place. There I spend a lot of my time looking at data and trying to interpret it or teach the computer how to work with - I like the term 'Machine learning'. It is also the first time I really appreciate the methods of statistics, which are pretty awful theoretically, but immensely useful in applications.
Besides that, I'm getting serious about finally finishing my studies at the Technical University of Vienna. This fall, I hope...

The problem about all that - these three things somehow drained most of my creative energy. During the past months I almost never felt the urge to create something (there's been one sad occasion, which led to a picture I'll probably upload the following days...). Neither did I really want to see what other people did and thus spend little to no time on this site. But, I guess it's just one of these downs everyone experiences in a while. And the mood is rising again. So, enough about that, let's see if it really works out. It was time to change my journal anyway!

How has everyone been? Your plans for the summer, which has already begun? (It's getting too hot for me already...)
If you're still there and watching, listening, lurking... ;)
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...soon I'll be on my way. See you in a week, with the next journal and some stories from the city of Gaudi :)


...and here I am again.

Now, wait. I've been away one week and it is quite a bit later already. I apologize for the delay, right after coming back I've been busy and right after being busy I was / and am sick. Nevertheless, let me tell you a bit about my journey.

We, that is :iconmosaicked:, :iconlebkuchen: and :iconsothis27:, stayed in a nice little apartment near the beautiful Parc Guell. Yes, we found it on the internet and it worked very well - even though our host didn't really (say, not at all) speak english. The conversation was difficult but in the end, todo esta OK!.

Barcelona is a nice city, seen from the mathematical perspective. Its newer parts are laid out in a geometrical way (all the buildings are "square blocks", seen from above), with a loooong street (the aptly named Diagonal) crossing the whole city diagonally. Other important streets, such as the Ramblas, lead to the sea and as you can guess, we tried to see as much as possible in the limited time we had.

Note: Barcelona isn't cheap, when it comes down to one of the basic things mankind needs - food. Well, if you're cooking yourself it seems to be ok (although they probably haven't invented brown-bread yet) but not so if you want to go to a restaurant. Everything is expensive and to get a typical Paella means you'll pay your price for it...

We walked a lot around in the City but some of the highlights include seeing Barcelona from above - we did that from many directions, actually, since there are quite a few high places to visit there. The Parc Guell, one of "Gaudi's" Parks, offers a nice view from the north towards the sea (even more so the Tibidabo - but that's one of the few things we didn't see), while the Montjuic (with a castle and BIG GUNS on top) is near to the port and offers a nice view from the south and of the sea. Then we were below Christoph Columbus (or at least his sculpture on top of a huge pillar, right at the port) and eventually, seeing the city from the Palau Nacional, at night, with the Magic Fountain glowing in all colors, is definitely a great experience. Very "Independence Day-ish", actually...(you'll know what I mean if you search for some night pictures of the place).

Note: I don't want to sound rude, but some of the sounds in Barcelona were awful. What? Well, you know, the sound which is played when a train departs and closes its doors - while it isn't particularly nice in Austria, in Barcelona it's simply a cacophony of horror. But other than that, the metro is clean and we didn't really experience a breakdown.

In general, the typical Barcelonesian (inhabitant of Barcelona) is tidy and wears nice clothes - we haven't seen ANYONE in rags, as you can easily do in some well visited places of vienna. But we got to know another kind of weird "beggarship" - people who sell bags, glasses, jewelry, spread out on a white linen which is well prepared to pack up quickly - in case the police is coming. Because then they run as fast as they can...(we had a close encounter of such a kind in the metro - undercover agents arrested some fleeing people and it all happened right beside me, while I was waiting for the door to the metro >XD ).

Overall, Barcelona is a nice city and definitely worth a trip. In some places it is quite stereotypical and "small", with narrow streets, balconies overhanging them, people chatting from balcony to balcony and a lot of small shops to buy your daily stuff (very much like our "greislers", for the austrian speaking people here). On the other hand, Barcelona offers some grand views and splendid buildings, spread out in the whole city. Oh, and it's hot - for those of you who like it that way (we often had around 35°C) - on the last day, when we went to the beach (which is very neat and tidy for a citybeach - but forget about getting something to eat there, the restaurants at the beaches seem to be the most expensive ones), it actually rained - but not even that could lower the temperatures.

Important Note: If you want something rather cheap but really good for lunch - get a Hotdog at one of the many little stands in the Port.

Of course, I could tell you a week long what we did - but I guess it's better to stop here and go back to bed ;)
Go and see it for yourself, if you ever get the chance to. It's surely worth it :)


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And on a last side note - Metroid: Other M is quite what I expected. That is, very disappointing. Poor Samus, now you're really a blonde-hair chick and not a real Chozo Warrior anymore.
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To Barcelona...

1 min read
...soon I'll be on my way. See you in a week, with the next journal and some stories from the city of Gaudi :)
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Sooo...actually it's been a week again, since I came back from London on last Friday. I went there for 6 days (with a friend of mine who knows London pretty well, having visited the city for 6 times already), for a short but fine trip. Let me tell you what I saw and did...

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We stayed in a youth hostel, cheap and fair. Nothing fancy, pretty small, but cheap - and for sleeping there only, it was fine. It was near King's Cross, too, which means it's easy to reach (Public Transport in London seems to work pretty well, it's a bit expensive maybe). Upon arrival, we immediately went out to see the Buckingham Palace and a bit of Green Park. Since it was getting late already, we decided to find something to eat - and so we did, in Soho. Afterwards to Picadilly Circus, the bright center of London...

Note: Great Britain doesn't really have a special cuisine, right? Therefore, I don't feel bad for having eaten at "non english" Restaurants all the time, like Indian, Asian or Italian Restaurants (and even McDonalds, I admit it). BUT - I had my portion of Fish and Chips and english Breakfast, so I guess I didn't really miss anything.

The next day (Monday) we already left London - to visit Brighton. What's so special about that small city? It's on the Coast! Which means, I have seen the sea (or rather "The Canal")! For the first time in years...beautiful. Later on, we went to Camden Market (a weird...collection of weird stores...with weird [and all kinds of] goods) and visited Camden Town a bit.

Note: Nearly EVERY single shop near Camden Market has a Tattoo Studio or is searching for Tattooists. Great Job opportunities if you happen to be one.

On Tuesday I went into the great city alone. Only to lose myself. Well, first I saw the Tower and all that jazz (Crown Jewels). THEN I wanted to cross Tower Bridge and I KNEW, if I turned right, I would get there. But, I decided to turn left and head for...somewhere. I just followed the path and went into London's Business Center, City of London. Many busy people there, I was rather a lonely tourist (nice skyscrapers there! And Leadenhall Market - if you know The Imaginarum of Dr. Parnassus, the beginning was shot there). BUT: a childhood's dream came true. I found Lloyd's Building by mere accident - and I was happy. Always wanted to see that in reality...
I did find my way back and went on to go along the Thames, over the Tower Bridge, towards Tate Modern. Great museum! Then along the Thames again - the London Eye is pretty BIG! - and on to Westminster (my God, I saw and heard the BIG BEN), up Whitehall and towards Picadilly Circus again. Great, but exhausting day.

On Wednesday I visited Oxford. A must as a student. The City itself seems rather...made for studying (charming but nothing really spectacular), it offers two nice museums (saw a great Steampunk exhibition) and many colleges, a ruin of a castle...but that seems to be it. Well, I WAS THERE. (And I ate Fish and Chips there - much cheaper than in London, actually.) Back in London I visited Baker Street (yeah, Baker Street 221, Sherlock Holmes Home) and got lost again, this time following the signs towards Lord's Cricket Ground.

Note: "getting lost" means I found my way using my map after just walking randomly around for a while...

Thursday was the second day alone: and another exhausting one. I was really done for, after visiting St. James Park and watching the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, seeing 3 museums (Science, Natural History and Victoria & Albert - the latter one is FREAKING HUGE, and everything for free!), the Imperial College, Royal Albert Hall, walking through Hyde Park, visiting Harrods, looking at St. Pauls and Westminster Abbey, walking through China Towns (the density of Asian restaurants there is absolutely ridicolous - there is nothing else but asian restaurants---everywhere!)...and paying a lot at a local Pub for a simple Burger. I mean, come on, 9 pounds for a cheeseburger?

Friday was the last day already -  I saw a tiny bit of the British Museum (nice architecture!) and the National gallery (another awesome collection of paintings). Up to Leicester Square and back to the Hostel and onwards to Heathrow. There, after some last minute action at the airport, the trip ended in Vienna again...and was over pretty damn quick.

Note: London is still getting much prettier. There are tons of "Improvement Works", e.g. repairs of the Tubelines (the subway), buildings, monuments...I concluded: almost every important building seems to be in need of repairs in London. Nice for the city but rather disappointing for tourists and photographers.

That's pretty much everything for now. I was really glad to get some other breakfast again (Toast EVERY day can be...boring) and to sleep again. I was a pretty hardcore tourist, maybe it doesn't show here but I mostly walked all day around (getting up at 7 AM) and that IS exhausting. So, no exciting nightlife adventures only being in the hostel, writing down what I did, chatting with the people there and going to bed.
Actually I wanted to see Greenwich, too...but I didn't have the time to =/ (and Madame Toussaud's, and The London Dungeon, and and and...)

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Note: This week I saw the new Sherlock Holmes Movie. It was...funny to see the places I just saw in reality on the big screen. I WAS THERE =D

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Other than that: Life's going on. Nicely. ;)  Just need to do more for the university, finishing my studies in a year or something. And do more creative stuff, I'm currently fighting a lot with some 3D and rendering programms for various technical reasons. Which is not really funny, but necessary and I'm learning a lot about the software I use. So, don't expect results soon...they will come, though.
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So, to start with:

Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year!


Again, it's been a while since I last posted something or was really active here on dA. I apologize to everyone who expected some messages, answers or comments from me and didn't get them. In the last few weeks I just didn't feel like spending much time here or anywhere else online, for a couple of reasons.

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Good, let's leave the gloominess behind. I'm looking forward to next few days, which is quite unusual. Christmas was not really a peaceful or wonderful feast the last few years, as it is "supposed to be". Same goes for New Year's Eve. Until last year, this was a dreaded celebration for me - I was either sick, had no one to celebrate with (due to unlucky reasons) or just had a boring evening.
I do like the time of the year and it has its charms (the clear, cold nights, the snow, the warm houses, the hot punches, the hope for "change"...), it just didn't work out.

This year is going to be different, I believe. I think it will be a time to remember... :)
I guess I made my peace with 2009. It's been an interesting year, no doubt.

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Creativity is back as well. I don't really care so much about the results at the moment (of course I do, but not that much, probably, as I used to), it's rather the PROCESS of being creative that interests me. Trying out new things is much more fun that way. Some new piece is nearly finished and new ideas are ready for cooking in my kitchen of creativity. Time to get them done, learn new techniques and improve my skills :)

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There's been a nice question recently on the dA Polls - how do you think about other people's works? Inspiration or Intimidation? Do you care about them? Do they influence you or your work?

If anyone feels like discussing that, It'd be nice.
Personally, I definitely do feel inspired by other works more than I feel intimidated. Probably because I do have a somewhat..."healthy" self confidence. I do know that I'm far from the level of true masters but still I think I don't feel like a beginner anymore. Good works tend to be intimidating at first but soon I feel the urge to try it myself...step by step, if it's not possible all at once.

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And one last thing:
Do it like me, sit back and just enjoy the ride. :)
(At least as good as possible...)
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Featured

Anyone still there? by darkMyke, journal

To Barcelona...and back again. by darkMyke, journal

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