playful

In case you’re as clueless as we were when we suddenly found ourselves standing in front of this enormous thing, wondering what on earth it was: a graduation tower is basically a huge wooden structure filled with bundles of branches. Salt water trickles down through them, evaporating in the wind and making the air around it slightly salty, a bit like being by the sea.

I’d never heard of or seen anything like it before, and it really was a sight to behold. Definitely one of the highlights of our day trip to Lüneburg.

I love that technology can still excite me. I haven’t been this hyped for an Apple product in years, but the iPhone Duo looks so good, and the interfaces feel so well thought out. October can’t come soon enough!

The fact that I’m even willing to regularly visit a hairdresser who doesn’t let me pay by card speaks volumes about the quality of Ramona’s work and her company. I genuinely like getting my hair cut by her and even actively look forward to it. My friendly-passive-aggressive habit of pointing out that this is literally the only thing in my life I still carry cash for hasn’t borne any fruit yet, unfortunately.

I think it’s important to show an interest in your children’s hobbies. Gigabyte has recently developed a fascination with large insects, and I cherish the quality time we spend together watching them.

No shade, but neither Munch’s nor Lassnig’s work did much for me. I did, however, enjoy the piece of chocolate cake and strolling through the exhibition with Anna. I love that going to museums is a regular part of our relationship, and I love living somewhere with enough museums and exhibitions that there’s pretty much always something new for us to see. Even if, occasionally, the cake ends up being the highlight.

A cute little day. We spent quite a while in the perfume section of a large shopping center, trying dozens of fragrances. It was fun, and it sent Anna spiraling down a deep rabbit hole of fragrance research. I love those moments when you suddenly unlock a new interest and get to learn an entirely new set of things. I also learned that I’m apparently a big fan of pine in my fragrances. Who would have guessed I’d enjoy smelling like a tree!

Let’s just say Anna’s and my preferences when it comes to mattress hardness are slowly converging on a point in the future where the only sensible solution will be two different mattresses in her bed.

I’m reading Stephen Fry’s Heroes at the moment, and just like Mythos, it’s a great way of finally getting all the details of the Greek myths without having to slog through the badly written originals. Sorry, not sorry. I especially love how he keeps connecting the myths to modern-day life, whether it’s words we still use or names that have survived for thousands of years. Who would have known that the Perseids are named after Perseus!

At one point I held a thing against the wall for like five seconds. Anna did everything else herself. We're living the beginning of the end of the patriarchy over here!

Justine and Pablo offered "Hitschies" at Justine's party. I'd never tried them before, and they were delicious. Delicious enough for me to get weak and buy myself a whole pack. I really shouldn't have sweets at home because I know I can't control myself around them. I'm pretty good at controlling myself when it comes to not buying stuff I don't want to consume, though. So this was kind of a rare lowlight in my culinary adventures.

Sorry, Pablo, I didn't really think you were weak. ONLY THAT YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT. HOW DARE YOU NOT RUN WITH ME?

Anyway! Anna felt better that night, and instead of celebrating her birthday with all her friends at the party that had been planned for that day but was rescheduled because of her illness, we went to a nice restaurant and had a cozy little evening.

Gigabyte is so hard to play with. She's always interested in theory, but then she doesn't actually interact. It doesn't matter what game I try. Millimeter, meanwhile, is easy to entertain. I dangle something in front of her, and she has the time of her life. Giga just... watches...

I bought a tube of white gouache to use for occasional highlights in my watercolor paintings and haven't touched it once since. Anyway! I'm very happy with this little hand gesture. It's dorky, funny, and reads well.

Perhaps it was the tiredness from the day before, but I somehow lost track of time and thought it was Sunday already. I hurried to get the newsletter finished and published before meeting Anna, only to then find out that it was, in fact, Saturday. Oh well.

A very special day with the most special person.

When Anna and I first met, she told me that her friends Simone and Pastu love cats and would very much like to see as many pictures and videos of mine as possible. Back then, I already invited them to come visit and say hi to Gigabyte and Millimeter.

That finally happened on this day, and at least Gigabyte showed herself from her best side. Milli is a bit shy, but she came around after a while.

Those cinnamon buns were the worst! But at least they were very expensive, so it hurt twice.

Do you know those people who buy a very dry and far too expensive cinnamon bun and then let it ruin their whole day? They don’t stop complaining about it, it wrecks their mood, and they can’t get over the atrocity they had to endure? I never wanted to be a person like that, and I’m happy to report that I didn’t become one.

I don’t want the quality of my life to be determined by how well I can circumvent every tiny inconvenience. It’s far more fun to just go with it and consider the worst cinnamon bun of your life not a personal affront, but a good story to tell.

The huge orange wall clock now hangs in my office and I love it. It's quiet, it shows the time, it's orange. It's everything I ever wished a huge orange wall clock would be.

Let me know when I start sounding like a broken record, but I love that my adult life looks like this. We’re having fun!

We played Big Walk and had a very stressful but fun evening. We ended up with too many people playing at the same time, and it all got a little too chaotic for my taste. But the game itself is really nice, especially for that price.

This was one of my favorite evenings from the last couple of weeks. I was somewhere in the city center, buying a new bag, and I knew Anna was out on the Alster, paddling around on her SUP. So I stalked her on Find My, got off the subway early, and ran to catch up with her. She picked me up and paddled me all the way back to my apartment.

Speaking of life being great: This is how my Saturdays look like. What’s not to love?!

Every time a long train ride is part of the itinerary, I pack my Switch 2. Every time, I pull it out for maybe ten minutes, if that, before it ends up shoved back into my backpack. You’d think I’d have learned by now and just leave it at home. But I’ll do exactly the same thing next time.

Marcel from four years ago would never have been able to go for a run after a day of travel. For one thing, I wasn’t running back then. For another, travel used to take so much out of me that I’d be completely spent.

But over the last couple of years, I’ve worked on my relationship with travel, and this run felt like one of the clearest signs of progress.

Imagine inviting me to your wedding and all my comic journal shows of it is this self-involved bullshit. But I stand by that decision. The alternative would have been to try to capture the entire day of wedding-related activities and events, but... it’s a journal about my life, not other people’s weddings, if that makes sense. So capturing this little moment felt better than trying to create a proper representation of someone else’s day.

Gigabyte has a question.

The cats yearn for non-fiction

Right? I feel like there are rules but none of the cats care to elaborate. Not fair.

We met at the park to paint trees. Nils painted Mareen and me instead. Weird choice, but I guess our new outdoor painting club doesn’t benefit from rules that are too strict.

Millimeter didn’t actually react like that. That was just my attempt to make the cartoon a bit less boring.

It’s sometimes hard to cope with the fact that all my friends improve so much at running in such a short time, even though I train three times a week.

I love tax season. The wave of anxiety that hits when it rolls around is exhilarating, and spending a couple of days feeling like something terrible is about to happen really makes me feel alive.

I tried to become someone who makes music. I failed and sold my e-piano. You win some, you lose some.

I built a shelf for my art supplies! I now have a whole new section in my office dedicated to storing my pens, pencils, paper, sketchbooks, brushes, and paints. I love it!

The Year of Art has been going on for more than six months now, and I don’t feel like I’ll be stopping anytime soon. This really has a chance of becoming a lifelong project, so it felt worth improving the logistics around it.

At one point in the escape room, Mareen had to spank us with a leather paddle... it was definitely an experience...

Linus isn’t the youngest anymore. Sometimes he forgets he’s an old boy now. When we visited on Saturday and were ready to leave, he shot out the door and jumped down a couple of steps without a second thought for his brittle old bones… or ligaments. Poor baby.

I seldom think it’s a good idea to skip my workout for the day. This was one of those exceptions.

We drove to Bremerhaven, very close to where I grew up, to visit the Klimahaus and my father. It was a surreal experience to be in those places with Anna. I usually try to avoid going there, but this time it was nice, even if Linus, my father’s ageing dog, tore a ligament later that day while trying to chase a cat.

Last time, my hairdresser Ramona and I slightly misjudged both my hair length and the timing between appointments, and I ended up looking like someone who rather enjoys having far too much hair on their head. I’m fortunate not to have thinning hair, despite being a man in his thirties, so it feels a bit tone-deaf to complain about having too much of it. But with hair as thick as mine, it can sometimes become a real nuisance. But I’m not complaining, and I count my blessings.

I lied to Anna for her own good, because I’d prepared a little gift for her, and her investigative skills were dangerously close to ruining the surprise. Thankfully, I’m apparently a pathological liar, because she didn’t suspect a thing and was very happy to receive this little robin.

Days like this are the best.

Summer is the best season, no debate needed.

Meetings before 10 AM should be forbidden.

I'm already looking forward to next year!

I love winning battles against that inner voice telling me not to do hard things. It feels great.

This might be my absolute favorite comic from this year of daily comics so far.

Life is more rewarding when you’re invested in things.

I'm very strong.

Please don’t judge my apparently abysmal push-up form.

I’ve never understood people who pride themselves on how much heat they can stomach. Good job, dude, you’re hurting yourself on purpose. Very impressive.

We will persevere through these challenging times.

I didn't get engaged that day.

Running intervals offers an interesting contrast. I never want to do them, even less than a classic run. But once I get going, they’re so much more fun. There’s something deeply life-affirming about sprinting through a forest. It feels almost primal.

I turned 37 on that day! That number doesn’t remotely reflect the age I feel I should be, but who am I to argue with Chronos?

I mentioned the quality of beds in the UK to a few friends, and many agreed that modern sleep technology doesn’t seem to have made it across the Channel.

Visiting Tower Bridge while melting wasn’t exactly a highlight of this trip, but I’m glad I saw it.

We had quite a social day. Notting Hill is unbelievably beautiful.

Big Ben is far prettier than I expected. I thought it would be just a boring old tower, but it’s so detailed!

What's up with GBP? It feels like fake plastic money!

I later discovered that Waterstones is just the starting point. There are so many incredible bookshops in the UK. What a paradise!

Aaand we're off to the UK. First Glasgow and Edinburgh, then London.

Hamburg is considering a bid to host the Olympic Games, and the citizens have been voting on it.

Running alone and running with friends is like day and night. It’s so much more fun to yap while running for 12 kilometres.

The harbor’s birthday is a huge party, and people from all over Germany visit Hamburg to behave badly. It’s usually something people from Hamburg try to stay away from.

I painted this without a sketch, and it shows. Which is both a good and a bad thing at the same time.

I played Diablo IV until I had to go to bed, and let’s just say I didn’t have a great night’s sleep because of that.

We were the only ones in the class, and it was more of a “here are the materials, do what you want” kind of deal than anything else.

You can tell how often I cook by how long it took me to get these.

I haven't watched a single episode of Naruto in my life.

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My hand felt a bit numb this morning. The doctor said it might be because Millimeter hit a tendon. It got better over the course of the day.

Anna’s moving day is close. We’re still working our way through Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I love how the story picks up in this book. It suddenly gets much more serious and dark.

Home Improvement

I haven't seen much of Prague, unfortunately.

Cheeky!

Bless you!

A proper birthday butt slapping.

The spider crossed my “this is fine” boundary and was promptly evicted.

Model trains and a lack of privacy.

I’m not made for interacting with humans for more than a couple of hours at a time.

Running became fun again once I stopped winging it and went back to following a plan.

I actually had to go back to the popcorn person and switch mine, because they accidentally gave me salty popcorn too.

Sophisticated Saturday

I read the whole book on release day and loved it.

Skyr is a recurring topic in my life.

Back home, back to business

Our second to last day in Barcelona.

I miss my little Boldu buddy.

Coding became a lot easier once I didn’t have to do it myself anymore.

Poopin' and cleaning up my little town.

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