Yesterday Sibylle and I had tickets to see Coldplay in Zurich – and for the first time ever, we didn’t take the train, because I have my neighbours’ car at my disposal.

I must admit, I’m surprised every time at how well the driving goes (this is the third time this year that the neighbours let me use their car during their vacation). Of course I have weaknesses due to a lack of practice, but already on Friday I drove for several hours, mostly over curvy country and mountain lanes – and that was with my parents, which always makes me nervous. So yes, driving to Zurich yesterday went okay – we then parked in the garage and went to enjoy the concert.

Goldfrapp opened and Coldplay put on a great show, so we had an awesome time, despite some hick-ups like tall (and smelly) people crowding around us. The real horror came after – sitting in the garage for almost an hour, waiting to be able to leave. A prime road rage opportunity, which luckily no one used, except for some honking.

And then there was the drive back. Luckily for me Sibylle had missed her train because of the jam in the garage, so I had company for my very first nightly highway experience. Not being able to see further than my headlights made me nervous, and I was always glad when there were other cars in front of me. Well, enough of that. Obviously I made it back in one piece – got home around 1.30am.

Now I’m up again already – haven’t been able to sleep very well, so I’m already looking forward to going to bed tonight, truth be told… But I’m glad I had this experience – it’s definitely made the Coldplay concert a memorable one! 🙂

I just posted the ‘ultimate’ version of a playlist I created for my Japan trip to my travel journal: Japan 2005 – 21 songs, with some explanations why I chose them. Thought some of you might like it.

Just something I felt like doing, since I’ve been feeling a bit quiet and subdued today. I’m also uploading my photos right now, although it’ll take a while, as there are almost 400 of them… 🙂

And my mom just came home with the last raspberries of the summer. Happiness. *smile*

Did manage to finish the paper (yay!), but am still pretty busy (and slightly stressed about it) because the new semester has started and my parents’ silver wedding anniversary is next weekend. Trying not to freak out over everything that still needs doing… Just wanted to check in quickly and post this banner:

(German site looking for realistic solutions for the file sharing problem, since there’s been so much talk about criminalizing us evil pirates.)

I’ve been surfing around on this portal for bands from my home town – and, while I also found that the label ‘indie’ or ‘pop’ and the fact that it’s been done by local people doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ll like something, I also discovered a band that I really like: Valiumspeed.

The cool thing is that they’ve got a very nice acoustic version of ‘Beautiful’ (written by Linda Perry, best known as performed by Christina Aguilera), which is downloadable – plus five full songs from their latest album. I’d call it angsty indie-pop and recommend them to everyone, really.

Here is the bio from their website in English, and here‘s some more information, as well as the possibility to purchase their 2003 album “Ain’t Love Grand”.

Download from YSI:
Beautiful (with Vreni Stadelmann, from 2003’s ‘Digitalfolk’, a self-produced acoustic EP)
Close to You (from ‘Evergreen Ballroom’, their 2004 album)

And if anyone would like to buy me one of their CDs for Christmas, feel free to do so… *g*