Regina Glei's Blog, page 23

The Politics of Fear

Much is being written and said about the guy with the toupee these days… I cannot claim to be following the news intensively, I rather pick them up in bits and pieces, but what I’m picking up scares the shit out of me.

How proud was I of the US when they elected their first president of color. How shocked am I by the rise of Mr. Toupee… How is it possible that this creature has even one single supporter? He contradicts everything the US claims to stand for, freedom for everyone no matter of which religion or color of skin he or she is. What happened to this core value?

I thought George W. Bush was bad… he seems like a sweet little kitten compared to Mr. Toupee. I visited an American friend once in California, I think it was 2005, and she had a newspaper clip on her refrigerator with the headline: How can 59 million people be so dumb? – referring to the number of people who had voted Bush into a second term.

Now the same is happening all over again, even worse. How can anybody be so dumb to fall for the rhetoric of Mr. Toupee? Being German, I cannot help but draw comparisons to things that happened in my country some 80 years ago……………

Mr. Toupee rides on people’s frustration and fears. Period. Anybody with at least five brain cells should be able to see that…

There is another cruel saying out there in the world: A people get the government they deserve………

I do not 100% agree to this statement. For example, I truly believe that, for example, the North Koreans do not deserve their government, but there is a grain of truth in that saying.

I very much hope that the American people do not deserve Mr. Toupee. For if they do, if they elect this creature president, then all gods of the universe help us, please. I fear WW3 if this thing becomes president. And so I sit here and watch and read those bits and pieces about Mr. Toupee in horror and disbelief. I recently re-watched The Shining, it’s said to be one of the scariest movies ever made, yes, but Mr. Toupee is far scarier. I am not religious, but I pray to whoever or whatever created the universe, that there are enough brain cells left in the United States of America to spare the Earth from the horror of The Thing with the toupee………… please!

Automated Driving

From the revision drive last week to real driving on the street with a car

Revision Drive

I cannot put a finger on what exactly triggered my current “revision drive”, but 2 days after I returned from my big trip to India, I spontaneously and seemingly out of the blue took out a novel that I had abandoned as a “failure” in 2012. I read it again, got an idea how to fix it and worked on it intensively for two weeks. I abandoned one aspect and rewrote the ending. Next I jumped immediately into a novel that I abandoned half a year ago and got an idea how to fix this one too, even more radical than the 2012 one. With the 2015 novel I threw out the main character and am making now two side characters into the main ones while keeping the general story idea.

I am quite amazed by my radical revision, I haven’t changed the main character in a novel yet. I am enthralled by what’s going on and I wonder what the hell triggered this radical revising?

I talked with a friend about it and he suggested – the general chaos in India that I saw? After giving that some thought, I tend to agree with him. The astounding chaos I encountered in India showed me another lifestyle, other problems, other possibilities than my European and Japanese background offers. I cannot even fathom how deep the Japanese influence goes, since I’m too far emerged into the Japanese lifestyle after more than 15 years out here, but India was such a sharp contrast to the in its own way heavily regulated and orderly life in Japan that it triggered a different point of view. It opened up a path of possibilities.

Throwing out the main character? OMG! Hm… actually, why not? What would happen if I center the story around those two side characters? Aren’t they actually much more interesting? Haven’t you abandoned the story because it doesn’t work, is too passive? Won’t it become much more active when you focus on those other guys? Won’t there be a completely different dynamic if you do that? The answer is “yes!” – at least in this case and I am enthusiastically rewriting the entire novel and have fallen in love with those two former side characters.

In the case of the 2012 novel I changed something about the world. I originally wanted it to be a tidally locked planet, but the mechanics didn’t work out. Now I suddenly thought, why the heck does it have to be a tidally locked planet? The story and the characters will work on any planet, in fact they’ll work better if that tidally locked planet idea is thrown overboard.

So, this is what I’m doing since 27th of December, heavily rewriting those two novels and I’m suddenly feeling very good about both of them.

They also make me postpone some publishing plans, yes, sure, but what the heck, I gotta use that current revision drive

Incredible India – Part 4 – Agra (Taj Mahal)

Up at 06:15 in the morning, pack bag, have breakfast, check out, meeting in the lobby at eight, off to the Taj Mahal. We arrived there 30 min later in freezing morning cold. Of course you cannot go anywhere near the thing with a car. They drop you off at an obscure entrance to a park that is in astonishing disrepair with broken pavements, rubble and the obligatory trash. From there you can either walk, take an e-Tuctuc, or a camel cart to the ticket gate.



At the ticket gate I noticed an interesting transaction that I already wondered about in Jaipur. K knows half of India and also “local guides”. In Jaipur this gentleman followed us around who bought tickets and stuff for me under direction of K. At the Taj Mahal as well. Suddenly this “local guide” appears out of nowhere and gives me shoe covers which you need in the marble part of the Taj Mahal. Usually, I am gathering all the tickets of the places I go to, but I got none on this entire trip, since there appears to be ticket trading going on. Meaning, the tickets are being reused for I don’t know how many foreigners. (Indian nationals pay far less than foreigners) With that local guide I saw some tickets and money changing hands and my Taj Mahal ticket was gone and would serve another foreigner. I guess also the ticket counter people and clerks are in on this deal. The guests pay for the tickets to the travel agency, the travel agency pays the guides and they can make a little something extra by dealing those tickets. Since I got to see all the sites, fine by me

Incredible India – Part 3 – From Jaipur to Agra

On the road again! We left Jaipur in the morning and rode to Agra, which is the home of the Taj Mahal. In the itinerary it said we’d be visiting two sightseeing spots on the way. Frankly, I had not looked them up in advance, wanting to be surprised and a surprise I got. But before that a biology topic. Maybe it’s not “appropriate” but hey, it’s part of being human. Toilets. My… Why do we neglect this important part of our lives in so many countries and places? If you ever travel around in India, I highly recommend that you do whatever you can to time your bowel movements so that you do that in the hotel, because on the move, you will have to deal with quite unsavory places.

I had too much tea in the morning and soon needed a bathroom but had to hold on until the first sightseeing site. And what a site that was. We left the highway and dove into the hinterland. Just where the heck is K taking me??? Through backwater villages that brimmed with dust and dirt, we drove through fields and then ended at an inconspicuous fence, next to which a dirt road started and the people stared at the weird foreigner, who had to go to a bathroom.



I left K at the entrance to the whatever-it-was place and walked around it to two toilet stalls guarded by children. There is usually no toilet paper and in the better places the cleaning person gives you a few sheets for ten rupees. Here children did the job, but they didn’t even have toilet paper. Their job was to collect the ten rupees and to throw some water down the toilet when you were done. The stall was not lockable but the need was too dire and I only prayed that the kids or someone else would NOT open the door while… Luckily they didn’t. That done K led me into the site. Whoa… What the heck is that? They call it a step well and it’s a thousand years old.



According to K the most plausible theory was that it is indeed a well, why you need to build such stairs to the water remains a mystery though, isn’t a hole in the ground and a bucket on a rope enough for a well? K mentioned another theory – some locals say a demon built this thing in one night

Incredible India – Part 2 – Jaipur

The Jaipur day started with a visit to Jaipur castle.



It comes with a tourist trap before reaching the castle – the elephant taxi. An elephant can bring you up the steep hill to the castle or you go by car and foot around the back. While lining up for the elephant taxi, a horde of vendors beleaguers you to buy elephant statues, pictures, turbans, whatever… All of the stuff is fake. According to my guide K the “sandalwood” elephants are whatever wood sprayed with sandalwood fragrance. These sales guys don’t know physical distance and virtually throw the stuff into your face. K said to ignore them, that’s the best tactic, don’t engage with them, otherwise they’ll never let you go. So that’s what I did, I ignored them and got on board the elephant taxi. I rode on an elephant before in Thailand but I think Indian elephants are even bigger. My, these guys are tall. You also sway pretty badly on top of the beast and have to hold onto the seat they put you in for dear life, thus I only managed to snap a pic while my elephant stopped moving for a moment.



Arrived in the castle’s courtyard I got a special treat, they were shooting a Bollywood movie there!

New Year’s Eve at Shibuya Crossing and the Best Movie of 2015

I’ll interrupt my India report for a week to squeeze in a bit of New Year celebrations in Japan and to muse about the best movie of 2015.

For various reasons I have never attended a New Year’s Eve countdown at Shibuya Crossing – one of the most famous spots in Tokyo.

So, 31st of December 2015, I finally wanted to do that and thought it’d be a good idea to spend the hours leading up to it with something else but standing around in the cold. I found a late show of Star Wars: The Force Awakens playing at Toho Cinemas in Shibuya and thought, hey, that’s the ideal way to spend the time before the countdown.

I booked Star Wars tickets in advance (which wouldn’t have been necessary, the theater was half empty) and arrived in Shibuya around 20:30, some time before the show would start. I already noticed tons of police buses and thought, hey wow, they’re gearing up for tonight, cool!

Off I went to see Star Wars – more about that later.

The show ended at 23:45 and I was eager to get down to Shibuya Crossing, but the moment I left the theater, I was in for a shock. Four policemen guarded the road down to the crossing, shushing people away, urging them to get underground to go to the train lines. I know Shibuya very well, since my office is not far from it and thought, hey, I can probably trick the police by getting out at the Hikarie building side and sneak towards Shibuya crossing and its famed meeting place, the “Hachiko”, a statue of Japan’s most famous dog, that way.

Underground yelling youngsters, half drunk, sought to get up towards the crossing, arguing with police at every entrance. The stairs closest to the Hachiko exit, which also lead to the JR line was “open” but thirty police stood around ushering people only to the JR lines and preventing them from getting onto the square where the dog statue is.

On one pillar underground hung a poster saying stuff along the lines of “every year many people gather at Hachiko and prevent traffic flow and it’s dangerous and causes accidents” and blah…

I hurried on to the other side of the Shibuya station where the Hikarie building is and indeed they let you out there, but also on this side of the station, many police officers at every possible entrance to the Shibuya crossing. Spoilsports! From this side of the station I could see two of the many screens at Shibuya crossing – and they all said this alternating between English and Japanese.





Some hopefuls had gathered on this side of the station and it was already 23:55, I gave up and we had a mini countdown with this small group of a few hundred.



Shortly after it turned 2016, I returned home, since no party…

I don’t know why they closed off Shibuya crossing. I don’t think it’s fear of terror attacks also in Japan, I just think that the Tokyo government was fed up with uncontrolled party, fun and anarchy

Incredible India – Part 1

My guide through India told me about the India promotion phrase. Of course it’s supposed to mean “awesome, fantastic” but my guide said it also has another two meanings.

Yes, there of course is the incredible India in a positive sense – fantastic world heritage sites like the Taj Mahal or the Jaipur castle. But India can be incredible also in a not so positive fashion – chaotic traffic, extreme gaps between the very rich and the very poor, dust, dirt and pollution. Thirdly there is the aspect of being incredible in the sense of being not credible, e.g. fake goods, fake guides, and whatever else – and you can fake a lot.

During my short but VERY intense trip to India, I experienced all three of those aspects of incredible. Luckily, the fantastic part of incredible wins over the other two

I thought about how to structure my incredible report. Separate the three incredibles? But that would be too one-sided and after all, all incredibles were present every day. I have the feeling they are omnipresent, 365 days a year.

So, I’ll opt for the good old chronological order.

Day 1 – Delhi and a Long Car Ride

My flying times were rather awkward and I arrived in Delhi at around 1 in the morning local time and got to my hotel at 2:30.

I do like adventure to some degree

Non-Conform

It’s X-mas time… which doesn’t mean much to many people on the planet.

My friends who know me, of course don’t ask me stuff like that anymore, but in the company the same stupid scene plays itself out every year.

Are you going home to Germany for X-mas, Glei san?

NO, I’M NOT!

I haven’t spent X-mas “at home” since age 23. I left “home” at age 19 and never slept another night under the roof of my parents. From age 23 onward, I am boycotting X-mas in its entirety. My only family is my sister.

Not every family in the western world has a jolly good Christmas. I have no “home”, never had one and I’m more than fine with that. There was a popular song in the 80ties by Paul Young which went in the lines of “wherever I lay my head, that’s my home”.

Be happy and enjoy, whoever has a family to “go home” to, but please don’t project your jolly X-mas on others. Don’t raise your brows if someone says “no, I’m not going home for X-mas”. Because guess what, I will have a jolly good time next week also without Christmas. There are billions of people on the planet who don’t care about Christmas. There are millions of people who don’t like Christmas, because they have to pretend to be living in happy sunshine families, while in reality they are dysfunctional.

So, what will I do this year during Christmas week? I’m going to India. I want to see the Taj Mahal.

That’s another weird reaction I am getting now. What? India? Why India?

Why not! I got less raised eyebrows when I went to Australia or Singapore for X-mas, but now India generates some interesting reactions. Yes, it’s maybe not the most popular tourist destination in the world, but why the hell not? What’s wrong with India? It’s probably safer there at the moment than in some areas in Europe thanks to terrorism….

What makes me angry is this conformity thing. Western people are supposed to be Christians and are supposed to go “home” for Christmas. Sorry, a) I’m an atheist with maybe some Buddhist tendencies, and b) I don’t have a “home”, but so what? I have no problem with that and am enjoying my freedom. Why do some people have a problem with that?

We preach diversity and tolerance everywhere, but as soon as you do something out of the norm you get weird looks and stupid comments.

Anyway, this was my pre-X-mas rant and I’ll be off to India tomorrow and I’m greatly looking forward to this little adventure. Reports shall follow. I wish happy X-mas to anyone who celebrates it and to all those who don’t – have a good time like I intend to and don’t let the conformists pull you down. Cheers!

That Little Word “Why”

Recently I stumbled (again) across an old TED talk from Simon Sinek from 2009. I’ve seen it before, but this time it stuck. Take a look, it’s well worth watching.

It really makes you think, this little “why”.

Why do I get out of bed in the morning?

Why do I write books? Or rather why do I love writing books?

Why do I hate the business of trying to market those books?

Why do I love to travel and see new countries?

I could continue endlessly with my why personal list and each and every one of us has such a why list, I guess.

But why do some leaders inspire, some not?

Simon has got a point there when he says that inspiring leaders believe in what you believe.

Too many company bosses believe in money, power or whatever kind of materialistic stuff (what). The workers just follow them because they are getting fired otherwise and unfortunately we all need some money to survive in this world.

When I think of all the bosses I had over the years, only two come to mind that were different (and I liked both of them a lot). The reason is simply that they loved and believed in something else than the what, they had a real and true “why”. They believed in “higher things” like standing by their people, like helping others, seeing them grow. They also believe in challenging themselves and shaking up the status quo a bit and that being too comfortable means stagnation in terms of personal development.

Unfortunately, I have met way too few of such leaders, too many are driven by “what” and not “why” and I wonder whether they ever reflected on such things.

I for my part shall seek more for the whys – that’s my first New Year’s resolution