Category Archives: About the author

Джеф Безос и аз

Един умен потребител на ФБ от Русе разбра най-накрая истината за мен. Истината е: името ми е Джеф Безос и аз съм основният акционер на Амазон и най-богатият човек на света!. Да, не се шегувам. И това е как той разбра: тъй като съм издател на платформа CreateSpace, която наскоро публикува две книги от групата NSP и CreateSpace е платформата за самоиздателство на Amazon, истината зад всичко това може да бъде само: Джеф Безос е издател на Новата социална поезия, а в България Джеф Безос използва псевдонима Томас Хюбнер. Сега се страхувам от адвокатите на този умен човек, който ще направи всичко по силите си, за да ме изгони в Русе, където ще ме поставят в килия, където трябва да слушам цял ден на лента с поезия на този човек. И повярвайте ми, в сравнение с това, waterboarding е парче торта!

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-8. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 


An important improvement

While the quality of the coffee in most restaurants and coffee shops in Sofia is improving only very slowly according to my impression, there is a considerable improvement to be felt recently in another coffee-related issue. The quality of the късметче, those small rolled paper clips that are supposed to bring good luck and frequently contain a piece of folk wisdom or a supposedly thoughtful quote by a famous person has definitely changed to the better in a short time. Today I got “любов” (love), “здраве” (health), and “време ви е за купон” (it’s time for a party), while a few months ago chances would have been very high that I would have had quotes by authors that regularly made me spill my coffee in anger all over the place, such as Hitler, Ayn Rand, and Paulo Coelho…

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-7. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The world, a village

I am having a coffee in Sofia. At the next table, three elderly ladies in animated discussion about the family of my Gorani landlord in Tirana (2004-2007), now living in Sofia.

The world has become a village.

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-7. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

A cat person

When you come home at 5 a.m. after almost five months absence, and the usually very shy cat of the neighbors is welcoming you at the entrance door and wants to sneak into your flat – then you realize that you are obviously really a cat person…

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-7. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

A brief review of 2016 and outlook for 2017

It’s kind of unavoidable: the year comes to an end, and everybody and his grandmother are looking back to sum up the last year and to make a kind of forecast for 2017. So do I.

On the plus side, I am alive and kicking and intend to be around also next year. No major health issues, family and close friends are o.k. Anything additional is an undeserved bonus.

In telegram style: first book translated by me, first book published in our small publishing house, plenty more high-quality books to be published in the pipeline, reading as usual, blogging less than last year; wrapping up my consulting project with the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Kosovo and preparing to start something new in another country whose name starts with Mo- (which means I will start to learn another exotic language), not much travelling apart from the Balkans and Germany – there will be more though next year (Indonesia, here I come again!).

On the minus side, the world is not a particularly cheerful place these days, and I am expecting for next year a further deterioration of the international situation. It looks as if Doomsday is much nearer as I thought last year at this time. But there is always a chance that my forecast proves to be wrong…

Thanks to my family and friends for their kindness, friendship, love. May you have – against all odds – a blessed 2017! Love you!

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-6. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

A long-term assignment

I got via email an invitation to be a tester of the Pokemon version 2017. It comes with an iPhone6s for free, various other knick-knacks, and 385 Euro per month for one monthly report (obviously this is a long-term or maybe life-time assignment).

And probably it will also look outstanding in my CV when I can mention later my experience as an official Pokemon tester?!

But on a more serious note: what the heck is Pokemon???

 © Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-6. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

My (sometimes) twisted perception

The perception of what I think I see in my surrounding is sometimes a bit twisted and it is maybe even interesting for a psychologist to explain why my mind works like this. In any case it leads sometimes to funny misunderstandings that usually don’t last long.

When I read for example the German word Fallbeispiel (case study), you can be sure that my twisted mind will add unconsciously an l and as a result I read Fallbeilspiel (guillotine game) – although I am usually not prone to bouts of legastheny.

Similar cases happen to me also when other languages are concerned. Today I saw a note in Bulgarian that said На 1 януари хлебари не работят – on 1 January the bakers are not working – but what made the little funny man inside me make out of it unconsciously? It added a k: На 1 януари хлебарки не работят – on 1 January the cockroaches are not working! – Maybe an overdose of Kafka recently, I suppose and as a result the cousins of Gregor Samsa are already following me on the streets of Sofia! (Sorry, dear bakers, not at all your fault!)

And, did I tell you already – beware of the Chinese! Step by step these industrious people are taking over the economy even in my small Balkan country. You want a proof? There is for example now a chain of exchange offices, run by a family Chang in my town – ah ok, just in time the missing -e on the neon sign started to blink and I was suddenly cured from my conspiracy theory and paranoia attack…In such cases I have to laugh about myself!

Do you have similar experiences?

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-6. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

 


About the author

“Origin, resume – – it is all a nonsense! From Jüterbog or Königsberg
originate most, and in some Black Forest you end up ever since. (Gottfried Benn)

Therefore just a stenogram: Thomas Hübner, born in Germany, studied economics, philosophy, political science, sociology, German literature, European Law. Consulting firm in Bulgaria. Lived in Germany, Bulgaria, Albania, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Indonesia and Jordan. Now residing in Prishtina/Kosovo and Sofia/Bulgaria. Interested in books and all other aspects of human culture. Traveler. Main feature: intellectual curiosity.

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.