TroubleZone.Net

.. Where the phoenix flies high
Back to the realm of glory, Beyond gates of light1

Because more than two years have passed since my last post, let’s get straight to all the stuff that happened in the meantime.

Good times came, bad times followed, but I never quit.
Why? Because I’m no pussy, whining and quitting problems — after all, THIS IS TROUBLEZONE.NET!!

Seriously, since I’m a stem cell donor2 who already donated stem cells, there’s another human being on this planet who depends on me.
That said, there was no “big thinking” when a DKMS employee called me in September 2011, just a month before my first anniversary of being typed. She asked me, if I’d be still willing to donate to somebody who fell ill recently. Though, being restricted by law, she couldn’t provide any details about him/her nor the disease. But that didn’t affect my decision. I said to her: “I carefully read all the information when I chose to be typed. The choice I made back then is the one I’m going to keep throughout my whole life.”
She arranged everything, e.g. the preliminary examination, the hotel, the train tickets and everything one could think of. At any given time, there was a phone number and a person at the other end of the phone, I could call and ask. And they got answers. To each and any question.

Finally, on March, 29^th the “donation day” was here. Everything went just fine3 and right now, he — who I named “Fin” because he will remain unknown to me forever due to Finish laws — seems to recover from his Hodgkin’s lymphoma very good. I hope he can fully recover and continue his life naturally, because from my point of view, being 21 should pretty much feel as if he’s “just starting”, but far away from “finishing”.

Regarding my beloved car, Eleanor, I have to state that she’s “dead”. But Excalibur4) is almost ready to step into this world. I’m going to write about her in my next post.

But right now, I’m in the pursuit of a more important goal: to finally get myself a job where I can truly enhance my developer knowledge — unfortunately, my current employer forgot his promise about that. Much like the previous one did.5

That’s it for now. More to come very soon.

Take care,
Martin..

1. Freedom Call — Age Of The Phoenix [↩]
2. Please see www.dkms.de/home/en/home.html for more. [↩]
3. Next month, I’m going to write a separate post about that. [↩]
4. Yes, I’m into King Arthur’s legend for some time now, so it seemed logical.. ; [↩]
5. Starts to look bad within my CV, huh? [↩]

..DOWN TO THE DEVIL, STRIKING OUT FOR PARADISE
TO BEDLAM BELOW – DOWN TO THE DEVIL
MAD PARADE IS COMING HOOOOOME

OOOOOH WE’RE GOING DOWN..
DOWN TO THE DEVIL, STRIKING OUT FOR PARADISE!1

My last post here at my private trouble area is dated December 5^th, 2009.
Quite some time has passed since then and major things happened — so, let’s get straight to it:
— turned into quite an Edguy-fan \m/
— got a Samsung Galaxy S, love it for what it’s able to do and handle <3
— was on holiday, afterwards went separate ways with my now ex-girlfriend
— fell into a deep hole because of her loss2
— fought through trouble at work, but managed to address and deal with personal issues
— started work on Firefox V4

Yes, you read that one right! I’m working on Firefox V4, because V3 never made it beyond the drawing board3.
There are a couple of good themes out there, but none of them a) features Mozilla’s great fox and b) has all the features and the gimmicks I want in a single theme.

Since a teammate is a genius at Photoshop, I gave him a couple of Ideas and suggestions and the very first preview was already jaw-dropping.
Right now, he does some last corrections and I will start cutting it into pieces afterwards.

As soon as I’ve finished that, writing the needed code will start.
But although Firefox V2 is quite “widget-ready”, I’ve already read the instructions for theme-authors, so that the new version will support widgets within the sidebar at the maximum level.

Though, one thing is sure: I will only support compliant browser, so every browser below Internet Explorer 8’s level4 will either render the pages well or shall die.
Chrome and, of course, Firefox render perfectly and therefore will be supported.

Stay tuned for more soon,
Martin

1. Edguy — Down To The Devil [↩]
2. Boy, she meant so much to me, but I got deceived so rude when she said that she only loved me “emotionally”; whatever that means.. [↩]
3. Literally! [↩]
4. Without compatibility lists! [↩]

So, long time, no read, huh?
Well, there has been _a lot_ of trouble in my life1, but also one of the highest heights a man can achieve! Though, let’s do this step by step:

Since my last post on February 1st, 2009 the first “main event” that occurred was Eleanor2, finally arriving at my local dealer..
Guys, although almost nine months have passed since then, I still can’t find probable words to describe how much I kinda love “her”..
I mean, there were so many people in my past, especially back in school/at the college, who claimed and predicted that I would end up as a loser.. But I didn’t listen to ’em and instead fought as hard as I could and in the end, this car proved and still proves ’em all wrong!
You know, washing Eleanor for the very first time was an intense feeling — maybe a bit like polishing that old trophy in your showcase that makes you so proud..

So, I began modifying Eleanor in order to give her what _every_ girl in the world wants to be: just a “special and unique” touch..
That said, there’s a trunk tray3, entrance bars4 were also mounted..
Also, the default plastic gear shift was replaced with the massive aluminum-part from the GTI “Edition 30”.
The glovebox’ handle was exchanged in favor of an aluminum-looking one and then there’s an alteration for the stacker in front of the gearshift — up to some days after my guide was released, there was not a single Scirocco out there, having this modification which makes me kinda proud..

To get a better impression on how it actually looks, please visit the follow link which is a guide written by myself for doing the modification on your own: www.motor-talk.de/blogs/schwer-zu-widerstehen/volkswagen-viva-la-revoluci-n-t2249270.html

Unfortunately, the guide is all German — but since I took _lots_ of photos, it should already be enough to do the modification.. If not, just drop me a line or a comment to this post..
For those of you which are curious: the listed parts will fit _any_ Golf V (called “Rabbit V” in the USA, AFAIK) and all VW models based on its platform, e.g. Eos..
Though, it will set you back at about 40 to 120 Euros, depending on which parts you might already have and/or want..

Anyway, enough about Eleanor for this post — let’s move on to the next one, my (ex-) job..

On March 26th, 2009, I finally set myself into my new car and the next day5, I drove to my employer at an unusual time: 05:30 in the morning!
Yes, I was totally out of my mind, but have you _ever_ driven your car at that time of the day? If not, I suggest you to try it, because it’s just awesome! All that silence and all that very fresh air.. Absolutely amazing!
Now, the main reason was actually different: I just wanted to make sure that I could pull into a spot with enough space and that those of my colleagues who shared the “thrill” with me could easily notice the car when they arrived..

About 8 hours later, my work for that week was done and the weekend was calling — a call I easily followed without any question..

It was the following Monday, when my head of department came into the test-lab, talked to me and requested my attendance at a meeting between him, the staff manager and myself a couple of minutes later..
Right after he finished his sentence, I felt thunderstruck.. Although I didn’t know why they wanted to have a talk with me, I knew that it wasn’t a good sign and that my job was at stake..

About 30 minutes later, I heard the staff manager saying those words that caused my eyes to turn black and my ears to go (almost) deaf.. Honestly, I could neither see him properly nor hear what he was saying and almost keel over and fell from the chair..

Now, I know there’s/was this “global economy crisis” as they call it and that it costs some jobs..
Also, going on with blaming my ex-employer and all that stuff would be an option, because I’ve got a legal expenses insurance in case they would sue me for publishing details of my lay-off.. But I won’t!
“Why?”, you’re asking? Because it’s not my style to let out all my frustration on them — the fact that some of my ex-colleagues quit at their own request just some days/weeks afterwards should speak for itself..

And there’s also that one motto, I’m living true to and which was coined by Jedi Master Yoda: “Do… or do not. There is no try.” — though, I broke with that habit a couple of days ago..
I never wrote about it, but my last relationship didn’t go that well and so I followed the path of being a single — at least, I thought so..

Because after struggling with the “hunt” for a new job6, I finally found one in Lower Saxony..
And with the new job, a new girl came into my life — but this time, she didn’t fit into my normal “scheme”: she’s was older7 and even more interestingly, she shared an _unbelievable_ mount of point of views regarding several important things in life with me!
In addition, she took that little boy8 to a _whole_ new level, to the man I am starting to be..

There’s just not enough time and space to even try to describe all the feelings, the knowledge and the warmth Anne9 she gave me within the past three months we’re with each other.. And for all this, I truly and unconditionally love her — from the deepest depth of my soul.

Now, most people would think of my life as being “just fine” up to now, but no: since exactly four days, we broke up — err, no, _she_ broke up!
Reasons? My faults: probably being too understanding10 and I didn’t bear in mind that Anne might not be as fast as I am when it comes to getting used to somebody and include him/her into your own life.

Of course, I feel like my heart got ripped out in the blink of an eye, but I won’t blame her for choosing the way she did.
And I also won’t quit and go back to Saxony, even if this means that I see her beautiful face11 each day again and again and again.
Why? Because I am not a human being who quits — others do this, not me.

Sure, I (will) cry. Sure, I fell. But here I am, rebound and still following life’s path until I maybe fall again — and, of course, rebound just once more.

If you want to know where such a fool like me gets his energy and strength from for living this way, the answer is pretty simple.. Well, I make no secret of it: music! Plain as that, just music!
If you like to listen to an example, here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL6HmY8EbtA (Especially that a-cappella-part at the end..)

Now, that song doesn’t include this blog post’s title in its lyrics.. So, to keep to my old “tradition”, the title for this post comes straight from the awesome pianist called Yiruma and you can listen to it over here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xms7l8il0A

Just like Ludwig van Beethoven once did12, Yiruma doesn’t need lyrics to express his feelings and thoughts with his music — but for those of you who want lyrics, he also wrote a version which has lyrics13: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIdBiV1UDDM

All that said, have a good night, a happy Saint Nicholas’ Day and bye for now,
Martin

1. What a coincidence, considering my blog’s domain-name! [↩]
2. That’s the name I gave _her_ after watching “Gone in 60 Seconds (2000 film)” approximately the fifth time.. [↩]
3. Which is both, gas- and oil-resistant! [↩]
4. Of course, both feature a “Scirocco” lettering which makes each entrance into Eleanor a pretty cool, but also kinda classy, moment! [↩]
5. Which was actually a Friday, but not Friday, the 13^th! [↩]
6. Which at first seemed to be successful, but then turned into a three months run without money to pay the rent.. [↩]
7. About half a year, to be precise.. [↩]
8. Who knew his little world, but not the big one.. [↩]
9. Yes, that’s her beautiful name.. [↩]
10. Don’t get this wrong: after consulting many people, it turns out that most girls want an understanding guy, but also his cold shoulder at the same time.. [↩]
11. With these deep green-brown eyes which make me mesmerized.. [↩]
12. Excluding his great “Ode To ‘To Joy’”.. [↩]
13. Only the chorus is English and the rest remains Korean, but you can switch on English subtitles.. [↩]

.. wants to be the last one there
And everyone wants to feel like someone cares
Someone to love with my life in their hands
There’s gotta be somebody for me out there!1

Yeah, it’s been a long time2, but I had3 a pretty rough time to go through..
Of course, I’m still standing and all this stuff, but for a guy like me who believes so invincibly in justice, the hearing in court was a mixed impression.
Don’t get me wrong, the hearing was great and the court’s verdict wasn’t that bad for me — but the opposing party’s appeal really shocked me..

I mean, anybody I ever told the details of how the accident occurred agrees with me and says it’s _completely_ the fault of the opposing party. But instead of accepting the verdict, they issued an appeal!

So, I’m still asking myself: why do I have to wait to get my money? Seriously, the accident happened 2007-11-07, so more than 450 days have and I still have to drive a damaged car, still have to wait for the amount due to me and still have to wait to come into my own..

But I’m not complaining about all that stuff — this time, things are4 different, much more different..
This time, I’m not only bearing up against pain.
This time, I’m not only rebounding.
This time, I’m facing _any_ problem or enemy!

That’s not an empty phrase, but instead the truth:
I’m haunting all these people who told me that I won’t ever succeed.
I’m pusing myself, again and again and again — nothing can stop me.
I’m reaching each targeted objective, no matter how ambitious it might be.

The first “episode” was completing my planned technical upgrades by buying several things like additional 2 GB DDR2-RAM5, another Samsung HD501LJ for backups from my newly created 1 TB-RAID-0 array6, a Casio Wave Ceptor watch7 with lots of technical gimmicks and the Teufel Concept E Magnum Power Edition8.

The second episode means _a lot_ to me and that’s why it got this extra-paragraph:

VW Scirocco III 1.4 TSI Rising Blue
        
[front view]                                [rear view]

Yes, it’s a car9, but it’ll be the first one I actually bought with my own earned money — that’s something _very_ special for me..

The third episode will be kinda “journey” through Germany (meeting friends, seeing the sea after a long period of absence, etc.) and I promise to take photos!

The fourth episode is a long-time one and started even before episode two was planned: finding Ms. “Not-perfect-but-damn-close-to-my-demands”.. Let’s see what will happen here..

Take care,
Martin..

1. Nickelback — Gotta Be Somebody [↩]
2. I guess more than three months are long.. [↩]
3. And unfortunately will for next couple of months.. [↩]
4. And will be for quite some time.. [↩]
5. From OCZ’s Reaper HTC-series, of course! [↩]
6. Which consists of two Samsung HD501LJ with firmware upgraded to CR100-13 — thanks to Dell which offer the upgrades strictly for their drives, but they work with _any_ HD501LJ.. [↩]
7. I preferred the blue WVA-460DSE-2AVER-model, not that black WVA-460DSE-1AVER-one.. [↩]
8. I preferred to choose the black-painted model.. [↩]
9. AFAIK, Volkswagen doesn’t plan to release it in the USA.. [↩]

.. And all the stars fall around the world tonight
Silent forces from a past life return
Pray for the silence in a world so alone
Till we touch the horizon beyond
Fly through the storm!

Tonight.. falling like the rain, insanity lives on
Feel the shattered dreams, one thousand voices crying
Raging endlessly, they come — whoooaaa!
And the morning light will hide the darker days gone by
And the sun will shine again across the blazing skies
Glorious, eternally we’ll rise above the world
Marching on, till victory we fight
The fire still burns…1

Well, I’m back from my trip to Cologne2, although it took me a day longer than initially planned3..

Anyway, the trip was great, mainly because it was my first time at an airport4 and I couldn’t resists to heavily watch those planes taking off or landing..

The job was pretty easy, although I had only about 4 hours of sleep in the first night5, but I had the missed sleep a day later..

Now, I’m still fighting the “usual trouble” which basically means that some problems occurred and I’ve got to fixed or solve them, regardless if I’m able to do so or not.. — And that’s quite hard, because the “usual self-pushing” through such situations doesn’t really help and I _really_ have to step up and fight with every grain of power that’s left after so many fights in just a bunch of months..

Gosh, if I’d knew that being 226 would be that hard, I had prepared myself much better.. — But as far as I can remember, I always got thrown in at the deep end, so I’m neither complaining nor wondering.. Instead, I’m still standing, still fighting and I still won’t give up7..

Recently, I received word that there are guys out there, playing Voyage Century Online8 and enjoying Soul1980’s “CraftingMenu MOD” which enables a cleaner and more efficient menu for crafting several items.. Though, it seems that the modification doesn’t work anymore since some updates to their game which were published lately.. — That’s where I, the creator of an interface-modification who included Soul1980’s mod, jumped in and now, I’m trying to get the mod working again for them..

Regarding my personal life, I’m still out of luck since no female single with a brain and something on their hips9 seems to be out there, because most men nowadays prefer either dumbasses, solarium-junkies, smokers or simply skinny women — but I don’t like any of these, especially when it comes to mate selection..
So for now, it seems that I have to stay single — at least until I find such a woman..

Firefox V3 is still in production, but because of much work and other non-pc related activities, I can’t promise to finish the theme in 2008.. Nevertheless, I’ll do my very best to complete it in time..

Feel free to comment on this post, but something tells me that this post will remain without any comments as it might be written for nobody except me..

Take care,
Martin..

1. DragonForce — The Fire Still Burns [↩]
2. Had to do a rollout for a customer of the company I’m working for.. [↩]
3. A workmate of mine became ill just a night before he had to catch his flight.. [↩]
4. Except one visit at Berlin-Schönefeld airport when I was about 5 or 6 years old.. [↩]
5. In the Holiday Inn-hotel which was just awesome! [↩]
6. Or shall I say “Almost 23”? [↩]
7. I guess you notice the relation to the quoted lyrics above, huh? [↩]
8. A very similar variation of a MMORPG called “Bounty Bay Online” that I’m used to play.. [↩]
9. I rather like to have something in my hands when it comes to “close combat” than grasping at nothing.. [↩]