Dear ungrateful readers/viewers!

Some of you have expressed their understandable desire to enjoy more of our mega smrtness (S.M.R.T.) cast into articles again. We are deeply honored. Now Julian is actually writing some of these articles and I, too, will (just like here) address some words to you. However, the more perceptive among our readers should have noticed that my latest passion and favorite means of expression has become photography, and especially photo editing.

But why? Firstly: A picture is worth a 1000 words, and writing 1000 words takes me much longer than shooting and editing a picture. Secondly: Words are nothing but smoke and mirrors, while images don’t lie. But most of all: I believe I have more to show than to say at this moment.

At this point I would like to recommend two free programs: Naturally there is the established yet still unique image manipulation tool GIMP. But my newest discovery is the slightly younger but very promising digiKam, a kind of Aperture for free people. This great and ambitious thing helps managing and editing photos like professionals do. It does still have a few quirks (e.g., it takes a few minutes to start up), but also some wonderful features: Examples include the different before/after views and lots of brilliant effects that have also enabled me to show Julian’s 60-year-old, black freak soul here.

I hereby express my hope that you can dig my new form of expression. Writing is so 2009, photos are the hot shit!

Love,
Stefan

It should be well-known that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So sweet cakes, white bread or similar calorie sins poor in nutrients are out of the question for energetic travellers. But fear not: South East Asia has a special delicacy in store for your active lifestyle. Born in Vietnam, with South East Asia firmly in its grip already, the breakfast for true champions is about to conquer the world: Pho.

So what is it?

Pho in itself is a hardly exceptional noodle soup. In Vietnam mostly featuring Bo (beef) or Ga (chicken), in Laos pork for the necessary proteins, plus several different vegetables and herbs. Often you will be presented with extra greens (sprouts, beans, mint, and salat in our picture). This guarantees vitamins and thus health for the entire day. Taken together with the carbohydrate power of the rice noodles this makes Pho a well-balanced meal. But what is it that makes Pho the number one breakfast of half a continent?

The Wake-uppers

Pure Pho is a delicious broth, yet doesn’t taste like much. It’s only a multitude of sauces and condiments that makes it what it really is – the perfect breakfast. A good spoonful of chili paste ensures the edibilty of the dish which has mostly been prepared in a – put mildly – hygienically objectionable environment. A half or even whole lemon (to taste) jolts the immune system into action and a few hearty splashes of fish sauce make sure you also experience the power of fermented seafood. Optionally you may increase your fish power with a spoonful of shrimp paste. Only when your Pho is deeply red, smells of two-year-old fish and is so sour that it makes you contract your mouth you can really be sure that it will give you the awakening ass kick you are in so dire need of for your active lifestyle. On a hangover morning I recommend doubling the seasoning dose. So take your spoon in the left, chopsticks in the right, and wolf it down as fast as you can. It is only when you eat faster and more gross than the Asian guy next to you that you deserve the title of breakfast champion.

Chinese grandpa’s avantgarde music from sagesex on Vimeo.

The origins of family are evolutionary in nature. Humans have always been family animals for defense and food acquiring purposes. Later on family became compulsive for everyone due to financial pressures. No children meant having noone to feed you when you became too old for doing it yourself. Even if these reasons have diminished in value for western civilisations since at least the inception of pension schemes, the herd animal instincts have stayed around that give us a feeling of security when we are part of a group.

These instincts can be expressed in different ways in different people. Family can mean a lot of things. Still if you ask people who are truly content with their family what this word means to them it mostly comes down to this:

Unconditional Love

Someone is there for you. Whatever happens, you can tell it to someone who will not judge or even reject you for anything in the world. Naturally this concept does not always work out in the real world. You don’t choose your biological family, rather it is given to you. This doesn’t mean that it’s not possible for some people to love their family. It simply means that many people learn this form of love late or not at all, because they have never experienced it in their family-german. A large number of these people learns to love through a partner, friends, some also train to love consciously.

This last thing is what everyone of us has to do in order to have the feeling of “family” with yourself, in order to be able to carry it into the world. You meet people on your path just as randomly as you were dealt your family; the difference being that in relation to people whom you get to know you have expectations and prejudices, which is naturally impossible for a newborn child. These make loving a long, difficult process.

Make an effort to get closer to people that on first glance seem odd to you, that don’t fit your pattern of predation for friendships. Many of your prejudices will strengthen this way. So it is not necessarily useful for giving up your prejudices. Still you will get to them in this way and most of the time you will realize that what is pointless is judging your expectations. It’s neither good nor bad if someone wears baggy jeans and basecaps, or is 70 years old, it’s just an indicator for certain further traits probably present in this person. In any case it does not diminish their value as a conversational partner, friend, and least of all a human being. This is exactly what “unconditional” lovings means.

In the last few weeks I have learned to appreciate the value of family. After some weeks that I spent alone I had to realize: It’s not nice to be alone. I learned to appreciate people. Not for what they do but for what they are – unique personalities. Every one of them. I started to love them, one after the other. During this time, my family changed once every few days, though some remained with me for weeks. It consisted of people from the most diverse nationalities, educational levels, and of every age. With some of them I didn’t even have a common language, still I felt more and more at ease and secure.

The rule is simple. Everybody deserves to be loved and almost everybody will return your love. Sometimes maybe in forms that you are not used to. Sometimes your partner must learn to love first as well – in this case you can be proud to be the person who teaches him/her. Being loved is the feeling that people with a working family background associate with their family. The reasoning is simple: Loving equals being loved; being loved equals feeling secure; and feeling secure equals family.

I know: that’s totally out, that’s hippie shit. If however, you can get over this prejudice for once and the word Love loses the kitschy touch given to it by books and movies for you you will realize that family is a wonderful feeling. Regardless of who is your family for now. Try it! Love thy neighbor as yourself!

Every animal has a habitat. This is the place where it can satisfy all its needs. Recreating this habitat, as in a zoo, is a most difficult task. Many factors have to be considered. Size, temperature, terrain, food, etc..

People are much easier in this regard. They are considerably more flexible than most animals. Their habitat is virtually everywhere in the world. Everywhere where people are living, that is their habitat. The notion of home, though, encompasses more for people. It’s a psychological principle. Home concerns habit and routine above all.

Even if people are more flexible than animals, they are still creatures of habit. You get a good feeling when you are woken up by your partner’s harrumphing in the morning; when you get up and pay a visit to your favorite bakery. This is normal. This is healty. It makes you feel secure and saves time. The good feeling that you get from “home” is completely based on your knowing and loving your environment.

During the last few months I have met travelers who have taken the notion of home to a whole new level. They feel at home virtually everywhere. Whenever they are staying somewhere for a few days they appear as if they had spent their entire life there. They change their home weekly. This might not be desirable for everybody; the basic principles they use, however, can be helpful for everybody. So how can you be at home everywhere in the world for as long as you like?

Find routines that aren’t place bound

Often it’s ridiculous things that give you a feeling of safety. The favorite bakery is just one example. Although breakfast is always powerful conditioning. My morning noodle soup in the afternoon is always a highlight of the day. Almost daily I play guitar, write letters. All of this a piece of home that I can carry around with me. Everybody has their little tics that give them a good feeling, be it a weekly visit to the red cross, physical exercise before going to bed, or regularly checking into hotels using a fake name.

Get used to new routines

Whenever you arrive at a new place, try adopting a few new routines that fit the location. Not only does this make life more simple and enjoyable, it also helps to keep the time spent at this place in better memory. Find a local specialty and the best place for acquiring it, the best market stall for fruit, or the best bar in town. Go there three times in a row and the salesperson is going to be your best friend. Play cards with your neighbor, or the old people who watch the street all day. Start the day with coffee and cigarettes if there is free coffee or your neighbor is a chain smoker. As stupid as it may sound, it feels good by the third time you’re doing it. Home is a question of conditioning. Choose the means that fit you best for getting used to a home. Home is always where you are, if you carry a little piece of the feeling of home with you and adopt to your environment a little.

The catch

Many people have routines that rule out or at least complicate going places. Mosty this includes the items family and job, which for most people are an exceedingly important part of home. How to interpret family, job, and other anchors so that they fit into mostly every concept of life – more on that this week on sagesex.com.

During my travels here, the mist in the Lao mountains has always been the perfect symbol for aimlessness. For not knowing what to do. These situations were accumulating more and more, wearing down my nerves and mind. One day, however, I had to realize that life is nothing but a road in the mist. You never know what tomorrow will bring. Which makes fighting against the mist a pointless waste of energy for everyone of us. As with so many things in life, the essential rule is called:

Accept the mist

You can make plans as much as you want. All fine and dandy. But always be aware of the fact that things are not necessarily in your hand. Even if they did, your environment and you yourself are changing all the time. It may be that the partner who is your big love now won’t fit with you anymore in three months’ time, or the other way round. The job that you have put yourself through five years of training for might end up boring you to death after no more than three days. Accept that you have limited influence over things that lie in the future.

For some this step is easy, yet many people have become strongly used to living and calculating with securities. These people will have difficulties when their securities blow up. Get used to thinking through strange but possible scenarios, or use mantras. But get accustomed to the thought that you don’t know what tomorrow brings. When the house was standing, you would never have believed it (This song used as an alarm clock melody can also do miracles).

Love the mist

Accepting is a good thing. In most cases it’s even necessary in order to prevent going mad in the long run. But it doesn’t make you happy. Yet exactly like you can appreciate and love the aesthetic of a misty landscape, the metaphorical mist has its advantages as well. Learn to love the mist for what it is and does. What can be positive about uncertainty? Simple: If you don’t know the outcome anyway, all your options are of equal value. The mist is offering you true freedom to decide. Love the fact that you don’t know where you will be in one year’s time. Love that you can freely choose your direction and look forward to whatever will come out of this.

Of course, everyone of us is influenced by their education, nationality and lots of other stuff. Only idiots fight these mechanisms compulsively. They have not come from nowhere and they suggest sensible concepts for life. There is nothing wrong with home, job, and family. All these things trigger mechanisms that are indeed conducive to a happy life. It’s just that these learned concepts of life are commonly interpreted a little too narrowly. What I mean by that and the advantages of thinking bigger – this week in our new series A Guide to an Alternative Life.