Around the sweetless World in 80 Drawing Days

Day 80, Monday, November 28 2011: Hollywood

2012-02-16T18:10:00.000-08:00

I am very tired and exhausted from the weekend. It was great, but a bit too much partying. I am also a bit sore from the hiking yesterday. Today is the last day of my little crazy project and I guess I have been tired lots of times in the last 80 days. It was very hard to find the time each day to make a drawing and write a bit about it, thats why they are mostly sketches and not very realistic drawings, which are more time consuming. Now I did it, maybe not in the best quality I could do it, but I succeeded..yeah.. also it was my first ever blog! Only I could not resist sweets, I am desperately addicted, I am not sure if I ever could live without sweets, chocolate, icecream and co. At least I have improved a lot and do not eat so much of it anymore, the portions are more normal probably. The funny thing is when I started this project I didn’t even know that I kind of really would travel around the world, as I am always spontaneous, so I had no clue that i would go to Spain, USA and Thailand apart from Australia and Germany, which I already knew. :-) I am really not that kind of planning personality, it all just happens, one thing follows the next and I just listen to my imposes and my heart, that tells me where to go next. Well, only now I know then in 2 weeks from now I start back in Sydney in my job there for another 6 months with my 2^nd working holyday visa for Australia. Until then I can enjoy LA, will do more sightseeing, tomorrow I will go biking at Venice and Santa Monica Beach with Martin, a friend of a friend from Germany, take some acting classes, sit in audience for sitcom tapings, Warner Bros. Studio Tour, and much more. LA is just great, better than I thought it would be! Its all so surreal here, like in a dream, a weird feeling, which is simply hard to describe, the people here are crazy flirtatious and I am getting so many phonenumbers and marriage offers like nowhere else, I have been before. However so far noone of those guys I liked and also its a bit odd to me, when people you just met and talk for like 2 minutes, offer you to marry so fast! For a short stay here its just hilariously entertaining! Also the palmtrees are great here, there are so tall and beautiful, they look better than the shorter ones in Sydney. So for today I sketched a typically view you get in Hollywood, the street with cars, the Hollywood Sign in the background and lots of nature and mostly palmtrees!

Day 79, Sunday, November 27 2011: Hiking up to the Hollywood Sign

2012-02-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

I am superexhausted, the party was great and we were dancing a lot at Playhouse and met some cool people, this time luckily I remember everything! Then I only slept like 4 hours and spontaneously went hiking with Miriam and Ina, 2 german girls from the hostel. We were hiking behind the famous Hollywood Sign, it was so great, the landscape is just beautiful and we were so close to the big letters, just behind them! I have never seen the sign from the back before. So I also did a little sketch, how it looked like. However it was kind of a strenous walk and I was sweating a lot, as it is very warm in LA. I never expected that as it is end of November, but its like summer temperatures during the day, more than 20 degrees and sunshine. Only at nighttime it gets very cold. Now I am supertired and will just quickly get a free Pizza from the Sunday night free Pizza Event from the hostel. All these events are really awesome, I am loving it here in LA, just everything is just great and superexciting and so surreal.

Day 78, Saturday, November 26 2011: Party in LA

2012-02-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was awesome! At first was a preparty at the hostel, from where we were driving to the club Boulevard 3 with a Stretchlimo, everyone was so superexcited and screaming and dancing and celebrating inside the limo. For me it was my first limoride ever and I also for the others from the party, so everyone behaved like a little kid with enormously big exciting eyes. It was really that LA feeling like you see in movies or in TV. The club is beautiful with a pool, dancers and stunning lighting, mostly in blue. However I have no memory how I got home, which is a bit scary. This morning I woke up at 8 am in my bed with all my clothes and shoes on and had no clue how I came there. Usually I take off at least my shoes before sleeping! Luckily at breakfast I met some people from the party and they told me that we all took a taxicap home together and they helped me to get in my room as I was not able to find my keys anymore and they were searching them for me in my bag. Oh god I am so lucky, that they took care of me! One guy however has the same experience than me, he also has no clue how he got home, no memory at all. That never happened to me before, I always remembered at least bits! They also told me that one guy was flirting with me, but I told him that I just want to go home by taxi with my hostelfriends, so he got upset. Well I don’t remember anything, we are wondering if maybe someone put us something in our drinks, scary! Also today I feel so bad, like sick, I never felt so bad before, unless I am really sick! Its now evening again and I still have such a headache and feel so weak and hardly slept. Now its Partytime again, we are going to club Playhouse tonight. Actually I feel terrible, but who knows when I will be in LA again, so I just push myself.

Day 77, Friday, November 25 2011: MOCA

2012-02-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

Today I was visiting MOCA, The Museum of Contemporary Art. I was with Miriam, a girl from my room for 2 days and we had a good time to see some great art and seeing a bit of Downtown LA and again it was superconvenient and quick to go from Hollywood to Downtown by subway. In my drawing I added some information of MOCA, even like the ticket price and the exhibitions going on there at the moment. Now back in the hostel I need to get ready for the Partylife in LA!

Day 76, Thursday, November 24 2011: Emails

2012-02-12T14:46:00.000-08:00

Oh my god, that biking was too much yesterday! I can hardly move, I am totally soar! So I am just having a Computer Day today, doing emails, updating Facebook with photos and researching some stuff. So I just scribbled some @ signs on paper for today.

Also I moved rooms in the hostel and now I am in a female only dorm, which I definitely prefer. It just makes it easier to change your clothes without worrying where to do that, when the bathroom is occupied. Again new people, every day people are coming and going. I am one of the few longterm guests, most others only stay 1 or 2 or 3 nights. Lots of travellers are doing a US trip and travel from city to city. Its really nice to meet heaps of nice persons in a short period of time. On the other hand its sad when they are leaving again. Or like last night I just talked to one girl a bit and this morning really early around 7 am she already checked out again and a new girl arrived. I even felt annoyed to introduce myself again to the new girl again then, I felt like, where is the point, as she might be leaving very soon again anyways. It gets kind of confusing with so many people and new names and new stories all the time. I never really stayed in a hostel before longterm, before I was also only a few nights in Australia, so I never experienced that kind of lifestyle.

Day 75, Wednesday, November 23 2011: Griffith Park

2012-02-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

Today was biking day in Griffith Park, that was an exercise, all the time uphill! And there were only like 2 other person on bikes and they were wearing those professional biking attire and had racing bicycles and looked extremely athletic. I was figthing with my motivation and legsmuscles to make it all the way up. All other people were going by car, like its normal in the US. Actually I just did not know, that it would be so strenous, I just heard Griffith Park, well sounds good, give it a try, and thought more really of a park and not of an uphill roadway all the way. However the view of the city was rewarding! Also I found a little area there, which is called Berlin Forest at Griffith Park! "dedicated to the friendship between Berlin, Germany and Los Angeles; sister sites since 1967". There was a sign of Berlin and right behind it, you can spot the famoud Hollywood Sign. I like that connection between home and LA.

Finally I arrived at the Griffith Park Observatory and enjoyed stunning views, which was so very rewarding after going there all the way up by bike! Going down then was much easier though! Later in evening I was a bit driving around at Hollywood Boulevard up to West Hollywood by bike! In Europe or Australia that would be normal, however in Hollywood everyone is kind of staring at you, when you are using a bike and not a car. Again tons of people talked to me and I got heaps of phonenumbers, LA is really crazy, I never experienced that before anywhere else in the world.

Day 74, Tuesday, November 22 2011: Venice Beach

2012-02-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

It 11:05 pm and I just drew a sketch of Venice Beach, where I have been today with Jim, a guy I met in the hostel. It took us like 2 hours to go there and like 3 hours to go back, thats driving a car in Los Angeles and being perfectly stuck in traffic. It was a warm day, a bit chilly to lie down at the beach, but nice to walk around. Soo good after all the cold weather at home and in New York!

Day 73, Monday, November 21 2011: Sauna 4

2012-02-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

Last night I did my drawing in bed without any light on, closed eyes and set the timer for 13 minutes. The only thing I picked before were 2 colours, pink and orange. Then again I drew very quickly the images that came up in my mind, well only after the 13 minutes I had a quick look with my torch and fell asleep.

Another chilling day..yeah! By subway I was going from Hollywood to Koreatown in Los Angeles and it was superfast, cheap, modern, clean and convenient. Everyone always says in LA you cannot survive without a car, well so far I do not share that opinion! The subway is much better, cleaner etc. than in New York, probably because noone really uses it here! I went to a korean spa, actually just to the Sauna there. They also offer accupressure, massages, etc. It was great for only 15 Dollar you can stay the whole day, I was like half day, enjoying Sauna and also Jaccuzi. It was huge and luxurious and modern, really awesome, I was positively surprised! And in the actual Sauna room was a big Flatscreen TV, but with a korean channel only, however I have never seen that before. As it is a korean spa, everyone was nude, but ladies and men have separated Saunas. Like I usually know from Saunas in USA or Canada, everyone needs to wear bathing suits and is not allowed to be naked. In Vancouver, Canada one german guy at the aquatic centre told me, he even really got in trouble as he did not know it and went in nude into the sauna, as its normal at home and another guy inside the sauna felt offended and complaigned at reception and they gave him a warning and if he will not put his bathing pants on instantly, they will call the police! At home in Germany its the opposite, you are not allowed to wear bathing suits, you are warned from the sauna staff if you are wearing bathing suits! And I learned today in korean spas its the same than in german or european ones. Now back in the hostel, I just drew some intuitive lines in blue and pink to capture my sauna experience.

Day 72, Sunday, November 20 2011: Arrived in Los Angeles

2012-02-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

Last night I was looking for a store to buy some conditioner, shampoo and of course Body Lotion. I got a bit lost and was walking around in Hollywood at the Walk of Fame at a Saturday Night looking for a Drug Store. That was a weird feeling, to be in such a famous spot and just doing normal shopping. After a while I found a store, however it took a while and when I was back it was already 1 am. But it was superexciting to walk through the Hollywood Boulevard, everyone was dressed up going to a Party. Actually I felt so underdressed just in Jeans and almost no make up, except a bit of Mascara. The funny thing was that soo many guys tried to flirt with me and talked to me, really a lot wanted my telephone number. Noone really flirted with me that much in Australia or at home in Germany. It was a bit to much and weirdly enough in New York nobody even talked to me. Also in stores or the staff in the hostel in New York were kind of cold, the people seemed so stressed and did not talk much. Here my first impression are so opposite, the hostel staff is much warmer and friendly, the people in the streets are talking a lot and the whole atmosphere of LA seems more relaxed and chilled compared to New York. Here the Shuttlebus Driver was talking and was friendly to the customers, in New York I was shocked from the Customer service, the driver was very unfriendly, not talking and not even answering to questions. And he was soo stressed. Well, I will see what more impressions I will experience here. Today I just chilled in the hostel, enjoyed free Breakfast, free Pizza Dinner and researched things about Los Angeles in internet and booked already some exciting things. Now its already after midnight and I will go to bed soon and will try to do a sketch with closed eyes again.

Day 71, Saturday 19 2011: New York 2

2012-02-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

I only slept like 4,5 hours last night and woke up early after the partynight. I needed to check out in the morning and then I was walking around a bit in New York and checked out some shops. At 5 pm I was flying to Los Angeles and now finally checked in my hostel. I will just go out a bid as I am curious and then soon go to bed. My drawing I did in the airplane. Its on the cover of the bordshop magazine and I tried to draw her, well a bit you can recognize Scarlett Johansson. However faces are really difficult.

Day 70, Friday, November 18 2011: New York 1

2012-02-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Luckily I could sleep in that minibed, thanks especially to my earplugs and eyemask, as it was quite noisy and light on all night on the floor and so also in the room, as the room has just walls but no ceiling, its a really incredible hostel or hotel or whatsoever. Its Ok for 2 nights but not for more, that is for sure!

During the day I was blessed to meet Lloyd Kaufman, director, producer, co-founder of Troma Entertainment and chairman of the Independent Film & Television Alliance. He also gave me a DVD of his movie Poultrygeist for free, I am curious what it will be like! So my drawing is dedicated to Tromaville today.

In the evening I met Teglat, an acting collegue I met through a crazy “Castingtour” in 2008. He is from Germany as well, but is now studying Acting at the Lee Strassberg Institute. So we had a good time talking about old and new stories and together with his friend Michael from Sweden we went a bit clubbing to Bar 13 at Union Square. But I have to say that I am spoiled from Berlins Nightlife, which is much better. We also met a german girl from Berlin in the club and she is living in New York for some months already and is going out every weekend and tried quite a lot of clubs already and so far she did not find any one, she really liked, compared to the great clubs in Berlin. Around 3 am I left and walked to my little bed, one good point though is the location, which is very central, close to Union Square in Manhattan.

Day 69, Thursday, November 17 2011: Air Berlin

2012-02-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

I am very exhausted from the long flight, I was flying from Berlin to Duesseldorf and changed flights from there to New York. Last night after my parents went to bad I still needed to do some stuff in internet and so I ended up not sleeping at all, because we left around 5 am to drive to the airport, luckily my dad drove me there. So I just slept in the airplane, actually its good, because you don’t really get a jetlag that way, you get used to sleep in the US timezone right away. Well, however I couldn’t sleep very well and woke up a lot, so I am very tired now anyways. It is around 9 pm now, New York time of course, in Germany it would be 3 am.

During the flight I drew a sketch of an Air Berlin Stewardess. I just checked into the hostel, which is actually a hotel with a single room, but the smallest one I have ever seen in my whole life, it has just the size of a bed, the bed in there is only half of the size of a normal single bed, so there is a little spare floor to put on your luggage on the floor. I am really wondering how big and/or tall people are managing to sleep there. Well, hopefully I will manage to sleep there, good night now.

Day 68, Wednesday, November 16 2011: Flowers for the Soul

2012-02-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

What a day, the last one at home in Germany and so I was busy with packing all my stuff and partly unpacking it again, because I exceeded the space of my suitcase. Its a bit tricky, because I have still so many nice clothes in my closet, but unfortunately it is just impossible to travel with them in just one suitcase of 23 kg. So I had quite a lot of decisions to make, which is definitely not my strength. Also my dad was cooking for me for lunch and dinner together with my mum as well. I was quite to full, but it was very tasty, jammy Lasagne with salmon and spinach for lunch and beef with mushrooms for dinner. From now on I have to cook for myself again or buy food on the go. It is just awesome, when someone cooks for you, I felt spoilt like a little kid for the last weeks, only for the figure it can be not that good. So my mum realized that we both, my dad and me gained a bit weight since I am at home.

However I also need some energy from the food as I am still not ready with organizing some things in Internet, burn some DVDs and make a computer backup on an external drive. I feel a bit stressed right now. To work against that I drew some nice colourful flowers, they are calming and good for the soul. Also my had is so full with so many things to do, I just had no other idea than flowers, because I just like flowers.

Day 67, Tuesday, November 15 2011: Boobs

2012-02-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

I took the train to Magdeburg and bought an external drive, an electronic dictionary and a bra, basically some useful stuff for my trip. I didn’t buy a bra for more than a year and mine are a bit broken, but mainly they don’t fit anymore, one good thing when I am gaining weight, I am gaining a lot at my boobs. So I needed to buy a D Cup now, before I never had more than C. I tried on quite a lot Bras and my boobs were almost falling out all the time. Now I am back home and cannot really think of anything else than boobs, so I drew a female body in bikini with big boobs.

Day 66, Monday, November 14 2011: Seashells

2012-02-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

Its 10:56 pm and I just finished a sportsvideo program. I feel quite tired, but also better, as I haven´t done any sports in the last week. During the day I watched some german soap operas, where actually 2 of my former acting collegues are now working. Daniel was in a theatre group in Berlin 2 years ago and is now in “Rote Rosen” and Rene I met on set for an independent Horrormovie in 2008 and is now acting in “Verbotene Liebe”. I am very happy for them, its great to see old collegues in TV and that they are finally starting a little career. While watching I was also sorting some of my old seashells and seashell necklaces I was collecting since I am 13 and I figured that I am still crazy about them. Often I am wearing seashell necklaces, bracelets and earrings and I never care, if its summer or not, I just love seashells! So while watching TV I drew some on paper.

Day 65, Sunday, November 13 2011: Hot Dogs

2012-02-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

Its 10:44 pm and I am yawning all the time and looking forward to go to bed soon. Today was a family day again, my grandpa was at home for lunch and cake and tea and in the evening my parents and me were visiting the other grandparents for dinner. So I was also helping to cook and the whole day was filled with eating quite a bit to much, I feel a bit overfull now. Also it was a bit sad, as it was the last time I saw my grandparents before I am leaving Germany again. Well, back home I just decided to sketch a funny poster, which I found in my room some days ago. A hot dog is selling “Hot Dogs”.

Day 64, Saturday, November 12 2011: Trolli Gummi Bears

2012-01-31T13:10:00.000-08:00

Oh my god, I bought a 1 kg box of Trolli Gummi Bears. On the box is a funny comic figure printed and I sketched the face of it and also created a colourful picture of the Gummi Bear Land. It is just the best and happiest moment for me to eat the little delicious figures. I am trying to reduce my sweets intake, but I think some exceptions need to be once in a while. So I spoilt myself and now I have a Gummi Bear belly and feel a bit sick as I almost finished the whole kg in one day. I know for most people that is extreme, however not for me. I could just eat and live from sweets for days as I honestly did in the past, like 3 days no normal food, just sweets and then in kg amounts. Most people wonder that I am not fat, when they realized how much of it I eat. However when I do not need normal food, my body just lives from the calories of the sweets and also I do regularly sports and I move around a lot in general as well. I remember even like 1 year ago I ate for one week almost only sweets and very few normal food and I even lost weight in that week! But I know that that is unhealthy and so I really try to limit myself and my goal is to get rid of my sweets addiction.

Day 63, Friday, November 11 2011: Schönebeck

2012-01-30T13:05:00.000-08:00

It is just 9 pm, so relatively early for my usual posts and timing for the drawing or better to say sketch. I just wanna book a flight later this evening, so I kind of want to have my project done. The date of today is quite funny, 11.11.2011 and at 11:11 the time of carneval begins in Germany and lots of people make crazy things and noise at that time, I remember that very well from my old school days. Well, today at home nothing happened, home in my hometown Schönebeck, a pretty grey, foggy and cold day, just around 4 degrees and very far to cold for me. I can’t help, but I just drew my impressions and its just grey, a bit sad and not much content as well. I am also really looking forward to leave again and travel for a more colourful and adventurous life. Its not completely negative, actually not at all, but kind of grey and boring, however some curves are a bit playful and show the life which of course exists. Also in the afternoon I was visiting my grandpa again and we were playing a game “Rummy”, you have to collect little cards from 1 until 13, I wrote the numbers in the center of the picture. You can hardly read them, its not very sharp, everything is a bit blurry, well that is on purpose.

Day 62, Thursday, November 10 2011: Postcard with Palmtrees

2012-01-29T13:50:00.001-08:00

Still sorting out in my room and throwing lots of stuff in the garbage, slowly my room is getting empty. Its really enough and I can’t see my old little 4 walls anymore, basically its kind of annoying to be inside all day long and sorting stuff. Back in Australia I was outside almost all day long and it was sunny and warm weather, I really miss that now. Well so I found old postcards and one I really liked: Palmtrees in the Dominican Republic and so I got inspired for my drawing today. I am kind of dreaming of palmtrees and relaxation in the sun. Its not real, just a dream, so the colours are just in brown. But also I like brown and warm colours, it is just calming.

Day 61, Wednesday, November 9 2011: Sauna 3

2012-01-28T13:31:00.000-08:00

Yes I was again in the sauna, this time I actually had the feeling, that I am already more used to it again. Basically it was not so superhot like last week, where I felt like I am cooking inside. My drawing is in blue and pink again to show the contrast of the heat and the cold water. Also it is about my dads big belly and his love for food and eating. So the curve at the bottom is a big belly and also there is a little figure with big “curves”. The word “Mampf” is a german slang word meaning the process of eating.Today I was sorting and saving some more old photos and I noticed that I took heaps of pictures of my dad eating or showing his belly. I guess I did it a bit on purpose, however it made me and also my dad laugh today.

Day 60, Tuesday, November 8 2011: Photoalbums

2012-01-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

It is again already midnight. The whole day I was looking through my old photoalbums and scanning some good ones, that I also have the digital version. While I was travelling before I had that goal, as I just wanted to see some photos from my childhood, but that was not possible. I only had photos from the last 3 years on my laptop. Well today I started to change that and I even have some babyphotos saved now. The old photoalbums I stored in a carton box. Also I checked some old CDs and saved those photos on an external drive. Lots of sorting and watching and getting memories again and also laughing about funny old pictures.
So my drawing shows my impressions of today, photos, sorting and saving and thinking of past moments.

Day 59, Monday, November 7 2011: Fuchur

2012-01-26T13:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evening I also met my friends Susann and Olli again. Susann has a really cute cat Fuchur and I just sketched him today while driving back home from Berlin to my parents place again.

Day 58, Sunday, November 6 2011: Sleep In

2012-01-25T13:40:00.000-08:00

It was nice yesterday to see my old theatre friends again and watch their show. After I met my old highschoolfriend Anja again and we were talking almost nonstop about old times. There were also some other friends in the bar, even Andrew, one of my coworkers from Australia, who is travelling in Europe at the moment and is also in Berlin that weekend! However Anja and me must have been a bit like nonstop talking ladys for hours without even taking much breaths, hopefully we were not that annoying! Today we slept almost all day as we were as usual partying very long again. So I just sketched a woman while sleeping and dreaming.

Day 57, Saturday, November 5 2011: Closed Eyes

2012-01-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

I am on my way to Berlin again over the weekend to see a theatre performance of my old theatre group and go to a party later on. I quickly did my experimental drawing. I thought that that kind of drawing with the closed eyes idea is quite relaxing, especially when your schedule is kind of busy. So today I really was persistent and did not add anything after 10 minutes of drawing with closed eyes. I would love to add some elements, but so for today I really did a drawing with totally closed eyes. Can you picture any of my imaginative images, which came to my mind?

Day 56, Friday, November 4 2011: Closed Eyes Test

2012-01-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

I just did some online stuff, emails etc. and sorted out my room a bit more. For my drawing I tried something new, and timed 10 minutes I drew with closed eyes very quickly elements that were coming up to my mind. I saw lots of images and drew them extremely quickly and then the next one, next one and so on. As I was not looking, all the lines got combined and messed up of course. After opening my eyes I was shocked and did not like it at all and just added some elements intuitively, where I felt it would look better with a bit more contrast at some spots.