The Pursuit of own Limits

Why people want to challenge them self? There are people who train for years to reach a certain goal or so and I'm not only talking about sports. Yesterday I have been asking myself this but didn't come to a conclusion. Maybe people know them self better if they want to know how far they can go. Don't ask me why I did the stuff that I did, I can't explain it and yes I did some stupid things as well.

A month or so ago I hiked to Thun with 2 friends, a city that is 30 kilometres away from my place it took us around 6 and a half hours, it was really cool. Last week I wondered how fast I could manage that track, so on Saturday I decided to do pretty much the same track but instead of hiking I decided for a quick march/jog I just wanted to see how fast I could get there by my own and with baggage. When I woke up on Saturday I knew that I had to go that day. So I packed everything and prepared my track on google maps. Due to the weather conditions (we had 40 cm of snow that day) I decided to not follow the river but regular streets instead so I adapted it to pretty much the same length (around 27km).

When I told my friends that I wanted to do that, they looked at me like I was insane but to me it made totally sense and I knew that I could succeed if I only want it bad enough. Guys whenever you want to do something that you think it will be impossible go and watch that clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsSC2vx7zFQ (I listen do that sound pretty much every day).

So I started just straight away to run and I set me target to reach within 3 and a half hours. The start was good and it wasn't even that cold when my body started to heat. After about 20 minutes I had to continue on a path but the thing was that it was covered with snow, was it a problem? Hell no! I continued to run in knee-deep snow, which was really exhausting so I had to walk but I kept a certain speed. I went up and down and the maps that I had printed were not really precise so it was a little luck involved. When the routs became better I ran faster and when they didn't I ran slower to keep some energy. I don't know how far I came when I considered stopping but somehow I always motivated my self. I felt like in the arctic desert sometimes and I had some very impressive views.

The further I came the more my muscles hurt and I knew that I’d have a bad muscle ache. I was prepared for that so I had magnesium sticks with me. Every time I know that I’ll do something very exhausting I take magnesium with me. Once I had to walk just next to a main road but it was not prepared for pedestrians so I had to walk through deep snow for more than 1 kilometre and just after I got back on the street and started to run, I had this really bad calf cramp and so I stopped, I waited a moment and used this opportunity to drink some more and take a magnesium stick (I knew I would need them) I started back to run when I thought I was good, but I only came some meters when it started to hurt again. So I walked and a minute later I retried.. same thing. I mean it was not the first time that I had a cramp and it always went better after some moments but this time not, I took 3 sticks at same time as it would help something and drank plenty of water and whatever I did, it didn't help. To quit only 5 kilometres before the target? Impossible! So I did the following, I ran for some meter and walked some steps and ran some meters and walked again. This sounds so weird and it really looked weird, but it worked! Just moments later, the next thing came.. I was constantly following the map but all of a sudden, there was no path that was described in the map! So I followed the direction and ran through snowfields until I found another path (this was actually where this picture was shot). About a half an hour later, I reached my target, exhausted but happy because I discovered another limit of mine. When I looked on my watch I couldn't believe it, I did that whole course within 3 hours and 10 minutes and I thought I was so going to be late.

My little adventure was very nice, I really like to challenge myself this way. Right now, almost everything from my belly downwards hurts but it's a good pain because I look at it as a medal. No matter how many people tell me that I'm crazy (I know that I am) it was so worth it!

I actually wanted to keep that story short but it just overwhelmed me. What we learn from that is that sometimes all of us need to do something challenging because it could be a self-disclosure.

cheers

Make a Difference

Hello my dears

We all are human and we all like to hear good stories. We really appreciate it when people do well to society or open our eyes when doing something that couldn't do everybody. Let's take mother Mary, she's considered to be sent from heaven 'cause she helped civilians in war situations and many people in regions where they suffer from hunger. Or let's take Nelson Mandela, he stopped the apartheid (it's really an English word though coming from the German language) in south Africa. Or let's take that girl from Afghanistan (pity I forgot her name) that stood up against the Taliban in her blog because she was not let to school and the Taliban shot her in the head but she survived and continued blogging.

Good people always exist but we wait for them to show us where the problems are. We think that suffer is far away from us and so we can't do much but just have a look at your own place. Switzerland (where I live) is one of the richest countries in the world. I have travelled a lot and nowhere you can see what you see here. Even if you go to the countryside you'll never see "poor looking buildings" whereas in other countries, there you can see the main difference. If you are Swiss just observe the streets, how many cars pass that look damaged or old or unaesthetic? Do the same thing in Paris, it's like they bought their cars after a stock car race sold out. But if we look closer, then we see, that there are ten thousands of people in Switzerland that are poor, this is so contrasting to what we know here and many Swiss can’t imagine that.

Recently I read a story in newspaper. It was about a police officer in New York, he was on patrol and it was so freezing that he couldn't feel his feet though wearing 2 pair of ski socks and stuffed boots. While walking he passed a homeless who was sitting on the ground barefoot. He asked him why he doesn't wear any shoes in such a coldness. The homeless told him politely "Officer, I have never possessed shoes in my entire life". The policeman was so touched that he went out to buy him shoes and socks, 85$ worth and gave it to him. This is a very nice story and I felt happy that he did it but on the other hand.. isn't it a shame that such a story goes around the world? I mean, he did really really well but are we that ignorant that we couldn't imagine such a thing? Sure we could but we just don't do it! So the next day I wanted to make a change. I went to a store and bought like 7 simple cheese sandwiches (which cost me something like 12 bucks) and distributed them to the first 7 people that were begging on the street. I felt happy that I did them something good but at the same time I felt sorry that I didn't buy more because there were more people begging then I expected, it's so different if you don't look away.

What I'm try to say with that is, that you can do a difference, no matter where you are and no matter how much money you have. We shouldn't wait for the newspaper to publish that we did something good. We just should do it because we all are human and shouldn't only like to hear the good stories.

Cheers

the "Autumn Break-Up"

Hey people

Today I would like to talk about something more serious. Break-Ups.

I often refer to episodes of "How I met your mother" and so do I this time. 3 weeks ago there was this episode: "The Autumn of Break-Ups" where the couples broke up and now they're single again. (This has actually not that much to do with my story)

Anyway I recently broke up with me girlfriend (ironically in autumn) and today I'd like to share my thoughts.

I won't explain why we did and stuff 'cause I think this is something that you can't explain to somebody who is not involved.

First of all break-ups are always difficult. This sounds maybe obvious to you but it took me a while to get it. Most people need or invent a reason to break up, or have you heard of somebody saying "Honey is there some spaghetti left, oh by the way I'm going to break up with you". You probably didn't.

Most people have a serious face to face (hopefully) discussion when they end a relationship, often there are tears involved. A break-up is so situation-changing that most can't imagine what to do without the partner. I call this an emotionally loaded environment, this is when one or both try to negotiate, then it's when you hear things like: "I can change", "I can't be without you", "let's give it another try" or "we can do better". For most couples this is the emergency exit of that plane of break-up that is directly going to crash somewhere in.

Now read carefully and contemplate, It took you so much to get into that plane and you have thought a lot about arguments and reasons would you be satisfied when somebody says that he/she is going to change? I mean would all your reasons count nothing with such a sentence? No! I think if it would have worked out if somebody changes than it would have had to be the case before entering the plane.
But there are many who pull the emergency exit and jump out together with a parachute. Then it might work for a time because a change was wanted, but from experience I know that people will change back sooner or later. I call that the temporary adaption. There are couples that can remain together like this for years. In the end it won’t work.

So what you don't want is an emotionally loaded environment, as you won’t be able to think rational. Here a hint: take your time, start the conversation and interrupt it to cool down, and then restart it after some days. You'll see the difference as both parties had time to think about it.
Don't claim on a relationship when you see that it's not going to work. You can call it intuition or whatever but you just know if it works or not.

Last thing, get some distance! After a break-up there are pure emotions everywhere, so the best thing is to keep them away. Go and see friends they won’t let you being alone in such a moment, do more sports or go over your books as you have some more time then. Best thing to do is, to make a list with things that you couldn't do or that you forgot to do when you were in a relationship (yes, there is always something). Do whatever it needs to keep you busy. The worst thing you could do is like to stay home and think constantly of him or her.

Look at the break-up as a possibility and not as an end. After some weeks you have realized that life goes on and you'll feel much better. It's usually the time when you're full of energy as you'll be more active because you don't lay with your gf/bf around all day.

If I believe that you can keep being friends with your ex? Absolutely! After some weeks you're just normal and then it's the best time to make a friendship out of it. Just don't try to hurry during that period of distance, take your time and don't forget that the other person maybe needs some more time than you. I used to be fun friends with my ex and I'm sure we will be again like that. Best example: Ted and Robin!

Guys I think this is one of my most personal posts ever. So please don't make a big deal out of it if we're friends, i'm gonna be fine =)

P.S. I'll never delete a post again!

Cheers

A perfect sunday?

What do you guys usually do on a regular Sunday?
Sleep off, long breakfast and all day watch movies or meet friends till you go to bed?
Not for me!
In my opinion something unpredictable has to happen before I call it perfect, for example yesterday, that was great!

Of course the sleeping until 11 and the long breaktast is a must for every explorer wanting the face the unpredicted. But then what did I do? I went to the university to learn and prepare my speech for Thursday. As my girlfriend and I missed the train, I took the car and wanted to park in the football stadium just next to the university because it was snowing so badly! But the car park was closed because of the football game that day - for VIP's only they said! F**k I had to leave it outside. Then I went to learn.
This sound so depressing to you I know, but it's the best thing for being focused. it's the only day that it is almost empty (there were even some other nerds) and quiet. I was very productive but then what happened my laptop went out of battery. Just in that moment a friend of mine wrote that the game is cancelled due weather conditions (this asshole at the stadium knew it but he didn't want to let me park in) then he said that he would have gone with a colleague and 2 costumers of their company so he has 2 tickets for the game left and asked who wants to go with him - what do I do with a ticket but no game I asked. He said that the tickets are for the VIP lounge so you can go to eat as they already cooked.

I grabbed my stuff in quickness you can't believe and met my friend in front of the stadium. I looked like the most typical student ever but I didn't care when I received my golden bracelet.
The view from the so called "champions lounge" was great, I think not even the players are so close to the field as I was. We had our own table and a waitress came with wine. They had a 4 course menu but all you can eat(!) so I had something like a 7 course menu or so. I felt like in heaven! I ate so much I couldn't think anymore maybe that is the reason why I forgot what happen after that.
The next day I checked how much a seat costs.. it's 475 bucks per game!

 

 

Cheers

 

A little step for Felix and a deep fall as well

RD: Urbansurvival is happy to have him with us. He is the Hero of Red Bull with balls of steel. Ladies and Gentleman; Mister Felix Baumgartner! Felix, I'm happy to have you with us.

Felix: Thank you RDee, it's nice to be here

RD: I know..  now Felix, I would say People came far for interviews but you came from space to be with us, did you have traffic on your way here?

F: (laughs) No, traffic was pretty fluent actually

RD: Good to hear you took the right turn at the milky way

F: (laughs) Yeah lucky I had my navi system with me. Connection to the satellites was incredibly good.

RD: (laughs) I see another comedian here. But now let's get serious, Felix you fell almost 36 kilometers which is the highest para-jump ever and you were the one who reached the highest falling speed and now my readers want to know.. Why the hell would somebody do such a thing?

F: Well this is the reason, somebody has to do it.

RD: Yeah but couldn't you just jump from.. I don't know 10 kilometres?

F: To be honest, my highest jump before was from a height of 8 kilometres, regular planes just don't fly higher. When I read about Joseph Kittinger who broke the record in 1960 with a height of 30 kilometres I knew that I have to beat him and I'm very lucky we had him later in our team.

RD: So why did you choose to jump from 36 km instead of 31?

F: (laughs) Everybody asks me that. Well it's a matter of fact that I do every jump only once, so I said hey what if 2 years later somebody else comes and jumps from 32 km? I won't be able to beat it, so I decided to go for 36 km.

RD: yeah I heard about that "1 jump only thing" could you explain why you do that?

F: For me it gets boring if I would already know the difficulties of a jump and even more, a 2nd jump could go wrong, so why should I risk my life for the same thing I've done before.

RD: Impressing, I watched the whole jump live, as you would fly to the mars or so. Before you jumped there was this moment you were looking down. What did you think?

F: This was an unbelievable view, I wished everybody coud see what I've seen and before I jumped I prayed.

RD: Of course you prayed, you'll never come that close to the big boss.

F: (laughs) yeah right!

RD: Felix you jumped from some of the most popular buildings on earth, which was your favourite?

F: All of them were in their own way unique and special but if I had to choose, I would say the jump from the Jesus statue in Brazil is my fav. because it's been lowest height I have ever jumped from and to get up there up was really difficult.

RD: But after your jump from space, is there still something to achieve?

F: There always is. Jumping from space is actually pretty easy, I mean you just jump and try to stay stable til you open you parachute but if you jump from a building, you have to pull the parachute immediately and you have to consider that you could smack against the wall.

RD: So you already have concrete plans for future?

F: (laughs) I'm sorry I can't speak about it due legal reasons.

RD: looking forward to it. Felix, you are one of Red Bull's most important marketing ambassadors, do you even like Red Bull?

F: (laughs) (still laughing) (laughing tears) To be honest, I did but after decades of sponsoring I got rid of the taste.

RD: And finally my last question Felix, did you see the ball that Ramos kicked to space?

F: (laughs his ass out, getting stomach ache because he laughs so bad, hope he's well insuranced) It allmost hit me.

RD: Thank you Felix, it's been nice having you here.

F: It was nice to be here and I always wanted to say it: cheers!

RD: ... my part you jerk

Cheers

Expanding Plans.. tell everybody!

What's up my fellow fans

Recently I got into twitter.. No you might think what the hell is he talking about twitter exists since ages and it's true. But! Ask 10 people in Switzerland on the street and maybe 1 of them has a twitter account. ask the same 10 who has a facebook account and 12 will say yes. So I'm swimming against the river (Swiss saying, I don't know if it means the same everywhere)

In Fact twitter is pretty cool though it is considered to be facebook's evil sister, it's very fast and has a high spectrum to many broadcasting channels.. or in other words.. I'm going to make Urban Survival huge! 

I'm contemplating to be more active and a new concept is coming which is shorter and faster and more visually appealing.

Twitter is a good way to prove it, I can tweet (yeah sounds gay I know) from every where I am, telling funny stuff that is happening right now, make my posts come more frequently and on my blog I'll get into detail and make you laugh.. like now... see! =)

(and for those who are not laughing right now.. go and jump from a bridge you jerks.. )

So if you have a twitter account, follow me, look for: urbnsrvival

If you don't have an account yet, go and get one and see how interesting it could be.. unlike facebook that bitch. And tell everybody that might be interested ;-)

Cheers

Nailed my 5000th

Let’s celebrate!

Guys today is a special day, not only because it was my birthday (yes it was and I removed my birthdate from facebook on purpose) but also because I nailed my 5000^th. Now you might think that it is absolutely impossible to nail 5000 girls but guys I’m not speaking about coitus (it’s such a funny word… coitus) and even though it would be possible… I guess.

I’m talking about people that read my blog!

I just checked my statistics and discovered that over 5000 people (with different IP addresses for the know-it-all of you) read my blog. This is my breakthrough and it shows me that you didn’t stop reading since I got back from Australia.

This means a lot to me, to know that you guys waste your time on my blog. So I will continue posting and informing you about my weird and funny stuff (there is a lot at the moment)

And because I’m in such a good mood I’ll show you which posts are the most popular ones of all time:

5th rank -> Mojo Surf (The story about the perfect surf camp and how everybody sees Australia)

4th rank -> To whom it may concern (The answer to all the haters)

3rd rank -> Wilson's Revenge (This is probably so popular because it’s funny to watch how angry bird Wilson attacked me)

2nd rank -> Pre Start (my thoughts and preparation for leaving)

1st rank -> Leaving Switzerland (The endless story about my trip and how it seemed to fail before I even started)

And the recent most read post is of course Asian Stereotyp (surely because of the weird pictures), which was more popular than I thought.

Guys thanks a lot for your loyalty (tears are coming up) you’re the best!

Cheers

Asian Stereotyp

Next week I'm going to start studies with my classmates of which many come from Asia as it is an international subject of studies. I have one whole week of introduction and I received a schedule for it. Monday is for everybody same, just explanation of school and facilities then the other four days are split into a "culture and integration" course and the other half is defined as a German course for beginners. I hope I won’t need to attend either of both. Surely the lecturers will convince us Swiss students during that introduction week to spend some time with our classmates from abroad as they have no friends here yet and nobody who could show them around and as I am such an open person I'll help them to get everything to know here.

If you are following my blog since the days I went to Australia you know how much fun I can have analysing Asians. How couldn’t you have fun with them, they’re so funny and so sweet, they laugh at everything you say even if it’s not funny just to no offend you and the most important reason: They are addicted to Karaoke!

Thinking about Asians last days, it came to my mind how much they like to take pictures with cameras that are 3 generations further than ours (Hope they won’t laugh at mine). I watched some of my pictures with my Asian mates in Surfers Paradise and noticed that they have always the same pose. I’m sure you know what pose it is.. right they show in every single picture that “Victory”-, “Peace”-, ”V”- or “whatever you call it”-sign.

 

Here are some examples of that pose:

Classic

Multitasking

Big sign goes small

a normal day at school... whatever that guy in the background is doing..

May I introduce you to the Asian Justin Bieber

Advanced skills in Multitasking

OMG that is sooo cool! still laughing my ass out =)

I will definitely have fun with 'em! =)

Cheers

How to surf when there is no sea

What up fellas?

Those of you who I call friends know that I'm workin now at an IT-firm the others of you (let's call you groupies) have no idea because I haven't write it yet.

After I succeeded school with a top mark I started to work here and the wanted to keep me during my studies which will start in about 3 weeks - Yes I'm going to study International Management. Anyhow I've been working here for almost 2 months now and it's a good place to work though I don't like working.

What? How comes that I work at an IT-firm though I have no technical experiences? I have no idea! No it's not a try to boast around I think I just convinced my boss at the job interview.

What I am doing here? Please.

Now I thought instead of reading instruction in the internet how to build bombs, I thought let's fresh up my English a little to get back into it before studies. And because I only write nonsense in my blog, I will tell you something about my new summer passion: Wakeboarding.

As you know I did a little surfing, when I was in Australia, I was not that good because I didn't practise often. 2 weeks ago it started to be veery hot in Switzerland so I thought let's catch up something you can do in the water and as I already went once wakeboarding I decided to go again. On my way to that lake on which they had this water-ski-lift I decided to go to Murten which is a city at another lake, because there I knew a wakeboard shop. I don't know why I had chosen to go there (it was like a deep power in my unconsciousness) but I thought "hey it's on our way, why not". So we went to that shop which is called "dirtys" - No it's not a stripclub. I watched the boards and I talked with the shop owner and told him that I was looking for a board, so he showed me his new collection, but the problem was that they were quite expensive. I asked him if it's possible to try one out as I was anyway on my way to go wakeboarding and surprisingly he said "sure". So he gave me that new beautiful 'Ronix Phoenix Project 2012' it has only once been tested by him. Proudly I went to that other lake and felt like a pro. As I wanted to start I fell immediately - so embarrassing! I did another try and I fell again and a third time. Finally I stood at the 4th trial and I got back into it very quickly. I had told the shop owner that I would bring it the other day (sunday) but I thought "hey let's go again before I give it back, I won't have this possibility again. So I went to that lake the second day too and I was much better. I also tried to switch sides and stuff but I always fell when I tried to do more than surfing forward. So I gave it back to him and I was just about to buy it but he wanted too much for it.

The other week I went to Germany to wakeboard and there was that shop with that huge collection of gear and equipment and they had that summer sale which means we got everything with discount. I tested another board but I realized very soon, that the one from last week was better and they had 2 of them too (both in my size). I have chosen the white one and my friend (a wakeboard Pro too) took the same one in green. We took some bindings, a vest and a helmet too and then we were broke. We spent that whole day at the lake and the next day we spent at the lake in Switzerland and everybody watched us, because we looked like professionals. We even became better and better, I don't know if it was the equipment or not. Yesterday I took the afternoon off to go to the lake and I did my first jumps off the ramp and in + out of 3 trials I stood! I tried a Jumpstart from a height of 250 cm and at the second time I stood. I did a big step yesterday and soon I would like to go to a competition - Yeah of course..

I would highly recommend everybody to try it out. Even my girlfriend tried although it was very funny to watch, she had fun!

And if you want to see some pictures which were shot with my new camera (OMG I haven't told you yet!) just visit my facebook profile.

Cheers

No name comes to my mind for this post but it's as awesome as the others, I swear!

"Good afternoon ladies and gentleman, I'd like to welcome you aboard of the flight FX903 from Zürich nonstop to Barcelona my name is RDee, I'm your captain for this flight (...)"


It's been a while since I've said those words and honestly I'm missing it a little. Whaaat? You did not know that I used to be a pilot? I did but I never bragged with it. 
reveling in memories I was thinking about the best aspects of this job and it's definitely, when the flight attendant comes into the cockpit and brings you coffee. I don't know why, but they always stare at you like you were the only men on earth or so when bringing a cup. Surprisingly I have never met a pilot who didn't like it. I think it's a job requirement to not being into somebody but a pilot.


It's a phenomenon anyway that so many girls would like to become a flight attendant (by the way does anybody of you know why we can't say stewardess anymore? I loved that word.. stewardess, stewardess.. hmm).
Out of my female friends there are 5 wanting to become, are becoming or were flight attendant and 771 (as many as I've got on Facebook) who have considered it, yes including boys..
But did you guys know, that they are way underpaid? I mean they receive nothing for what they do and that's why no girl stays in this job. This is exactly what the big companies are wanting. They want only to employ young attractive women as long as they stay young and attractive, then they stay only for a short time until find out, that they have been deceived and then they resign. Surprisingly there is another girl already waiting. A friend of mine told me ones how many girls attended the information evening.. hundreds!
They attract you with seeing the whole world and the most interesting cities, staying at the best hotels and learn languages so quickly. 


Okay I confess, I used to be a flight attendant and not a pilot and it was me who looked at him like there is no other for me on the ground (or here in air).


Cheers

about Gremlins and toothbrushs

'sup fellas!

First of all, do not judge me for not having written for ages - I feel guilty too.

It's pretty clear why I haven't written.. the world just became boring.

However now I have a topic to talk about and I'm sure you will recognize your self while reading it.

It's about when somebody is in a relationship. Yeah I know it's always the same but always different. I don't think that you could just say: "We're NOW in a relationship" and from then on everything changes and after months you notice that actually nothing has changed (I'm pretty sure that sounds weird to you). Let me say it this way, I hate it when a couple has anniversary, because I don't think that you can define a relationship from a date on. It's a period or even a process until you get to the target (which is in most cases today to change the relationship status on facebook).

A Friend of mine, let's call him Barney Stinson, told me once the rules for having a girlfriend.

He said: "Ardi, (believe it or not) you know you're in a relationship, when you violated 3 simple rules and those rules are the same as for Gremlins:

1. Never feed them after midnight

(Which means, never eat breakfast with her)

2. Never let them see sunlight

(Which means, never let them sleep at your place)

3. Never let them get wet

(Which means, never let them take a shower at your place)

It's very superficial, but think about it. That makes totally sense!

Knowing that I broke all those rules last weeks, I still don't think that I'm in a relationship (most psychologists would call it relationship anxiety and honestly so do I), so I created a new indicator the "Toothbrush variable" (Doesn't it sound like a new episode of "the big bang theory"?! and actually I proposed them by email to use it).


It's very simple: If you have a static toothbrush in her bathroom or she has in yours, it's obvious that you're together. If you break that rule as well it's clear but if you still say that you're still not in a relationship then it just needs some more time or that girl forced you to do all that stuff. I wanted to relate that in some way to Gremlins too, but I've never seen them brushing their teeth - though they have really white ones.


So if you ever worry again if you have a girlfriend or not, just go over those rules and if yes  share it with all your friends on twitter and think about kitschy names you could give your girlfriend and become a sissy (that's my new fav word).


Oh and by the way, Happy New Year!


Cheers