it is going to be a New Year

It is going to be a New Year, no matter what!
I wish you all new strength, light, power, warmth and insight - perhaps an inner power, more energetic than the nuclear plant I happened to take a picture off.


It is also my duty and desire to thank you all for following my windy ways in 2010. This, your comments,  were actually sometimes a source of inspiration and comfort despite the wicked digital media it was carried on. Gary, Cym, Lindsay, the Dutch lady, and many others who's names are well known, helped me toddle along. I thank you all for that!


I believe, we arrived (once again) at a pivotal point in human history. Even though I experience a rather stable situation (economically) in Switzerland in the present, the turmoil of anxieties on all other levels continues ... everywhere. 
In many ways I would characterize the year 2010 as a year of demolition and renewed  orientation. The BP spill, the loss of Obama-Hope, Haiti (ongoing), the financial collapse (ongoing), ... and so on - are just reminders of times to come. I am not trying to sketch a bleak picture, but I am well aware of the hurdles. Times must get worse before they be better. As I watch the new full moon rise, I feel the power embedded in my own biography. Reflections indeed.  My new mantra must be earth bound, not stellar.

Switzerland is small, a tiny place. I mean, there is nothing you can hide, not even money, if you have such - that "bank-secrecy" has become a myth. Switzerland is like an ant-hive, well organized, functions key, precision adored. And then there is beauty in traditions. Since I have been here, my cholesterol and blood pressure levels have gone through the roof due to the consumption of fine cheeses and fine wine. I suffer and enjoy simultaneously. What a dilemma!

Went to an old fashioned cotton weaver-factory today. Most of the production is now outsourced to Asia, the stalls empty, triste. So my brother in law rented some space, he is an engineer, and helps to create and manufacture bicycles with added power of electric motors. His design will be world famous - that I know...  :) No, kidding aside, I wish him good luck.


For all of you out there, I wish you good luck as well. May the New Year be fruitful, pleasant and plenty.
(you sort this out, will yah)


Sincere greetings, strength and compassion for the New Year,


Lukas.

Good day everyone!
As life in general continues its mysterious and turbulent  ways, my personal situation has settled somewhat. 
I am situated in an area where the worlds most prestigious watches are being manufactured - and I kidd you not, the landscape is exactly as on this picture. The watchmaker studios are nestled in rather small towns,  and even villages. La Chaux de Fonds is probably the most unique of these places. Designed like Manhattan, the structure resembles a checker board, the only place of its kind in Switzerland. Le Locle, a small neighboring township build in the typical Jurassic style with crooked streets and also old (15, 16, 17...th century) houses is the birthplace of the Chronograph and also the manufacturing town of Tissot watches. It is amazing to stand there and look at that not very large Tissot building surrounded by medieval structures. 
Where I live, I smoke my last cigarette of the day outside. It is dark and I listen to the harmonic composition of cowbells from the neighboring farm. The barn is a half-open structure and the sound can escape. Sound in darkness. Peace.