Today, I live in Thailand with my family since 7 years. We rent a house at Burapha Golf Course (13° 2'22.41"N 101° 2'14.01"E). Copy paste in Google Earth - I also posted 2 photos there.
I have 1 wife and 7 kids between 2 and 19 years.
Before Thailand we lived in Melbourne, Australia, more precisely in Sandringham.
I was born in November 1963 in the small German town of Bad Wildungen. The profession of my grandparents was Journalist (father's side) and Protestant Priest and Missionary (Mother's side). My parents divorced when I was 3 or so and my mother married a School Teacher who didn't like teaching and turned Archive administrator at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Think of The New York Times of Germany. Same attitude.
When I was 14 or so I read a lot Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels. I particularly liked Philip Jose Farmer, Frank Herbert and JRR Tolkien (I visited his Pub the Eagle and Child in Cambridge). I don't think humans were technically capable of a Moon landing in 1969.
My family moved to Munich in 1980 and I started writing for a local newspaper and getting into Journalism. Great moments were interviews with musicians such as Sally Oldfield, La Toya, Udo Lindenberg, Konstantin Wecker etc.
I interviewed the publisher of MAD Magazine in Germany, Herbert Feuerstein, a very smart guy. I got an A+ in German Language at school in my final year because I got movie produced Mr Geissendoerfer to visit our school and have a seminar on "Der Zauberberg" by Thomas Mann.
After the Abitur I went to Gran Canaria for 4 months to write my first book. I was going to be a writer. I published it in my own Tick-Tack Publishing Company in 1983 and had some nice reviews by Helmuth Karasek (who is still 2nd Pope in literature after Marcel Reich-Ranicki) in Germany and also by James Krüss, a famous German childrens book author.
I started to study communication sciences and American literature at LMU Munich but soon gave up.
Curriculumum was a bit behind the reality – so I had my first Mac II with a 19 inch black and white screen when Professors at LMU where talking about that it would "exist".
On the book fair 1984 I was the youngest Publisher and got some really positive feedback.
I also got some invitations in TV and radio but had no experience and no manager so the performances where rather unpleasing.
At the Frankfurt Book Fair I met a Manager named Hans W Jany who studied at Thunderbird University and who had just had taken over ASS Spielkarten a German playing card public company together with some friends and bought the license to produce Dungeons and Dragons from TSR. He told me I could have a job so I left to Stuttgart and checked in a hotel and started working.
One of Jany's partner, Thomas Pedersen is still a close friend living in Minneapolis St Paul.
A couple of months before, I had met my girlfriend Dorothea, who was kind of major movie star in Yugoslavia and took her with me to Stuttgart.
Next thing I knew, I was the publisher of the DRACHE, a German Roleplaying magazine, the Bridge magazine and as a part of my news job I also organized Fantasy Roleplaying Festivals and translated the AD&D Monster Manual into German along with some other roleplaying literature. I met Gary Gygax, the inventor of D&D at the Nuremberg Games Show, got more book contracts offered than I could write, started do play roleplaying computer games (ZORK, ENCOUNTER)
I met Frank Herbert (Dune) on 5 April 1985 in Hamburg and did an interview which was published in LUI magazine and some other publications. His statement was "Don't trust charismatic leaders".
In summer time I flew to Mombasa, Kenya with African Safari Airways.
I worked for a company producing door closers for a couple of months and then went to Schramberg in the Black Forest and to be a copywriter in an advertising agency working for watches, sanitary equipment, furniture, fuzes and other stuff.
I met my wife Susanne who worked as a grafic design apprentice and who later (1997/8) worked as an Au Pair in Houston, Texas.
I produced a series of radio shows for "Südwestfunk" based on my book "Die Torte schlägt zurück" which were really funny and decided that I should start my own advertising agency with a partner in 1988. We again worked for furniture, fuzes, IT, office equipment, porcelain etc etc.
Our biggest account was XEROX Germany. I had it all: Macs and color copiers that I could print on and scan with ... pretty cool - but no idea of economics, i.e. how to make money.
So I had this great experience of running my own advertising agency and spending consistently more money than I made, just like many of my Automotive clients today. I also started an Apple Computer dealership in 1990. We had this company for 6 years, then it went into bankruptcy.
I went to Gran Canaria again an met James Krüss again.
One my clients was a guy called Phil Hertzog, who worked in Overseas Market Development for a firm by the name of CHIRON who were in machine tools and next thing I know I work for him and still do.
In 1998 we moved to Melbourne and I had seven stressful years with true devil as my boss.
I've been in machine tools for the last 20 years making money selling manufacturing equipment for powertrain & chassis components to Automotive high volume manufacturers supporting my ever growing family.
Hobbies:
I started learning Chinese 5 years ago and I am now on an Elementary to Intermediate level and enjoy it a lot. I first used PIMSLEUR, then CHINESEPOD, a podcast on iTunes.
Some other books I like:
Howard Bloom: The Lucifer Principle
Rupert Lay: Manipulieren durch die Sprache, Dialektik für Manager (my first instructor on communications)
Robert Pirsig: Zen or the art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Lila
James P. Carse: Finite and Infinite Games
Julian Jaynes: The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the bicameral mind
Jerr Mander: Four arguments for the elimination of television
James Gleick: Chaos
Baltasar Gracian: The Art of Worldy Wisdom (Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.)
Jake Diamond: Guns, Germs & Steel
I have 1 wife and 7 kids between 2 and 19 years.
Before Thailand we lived in Melbourne, Australia, more precisely in Sandringham.
I was born in November 1963 in the small German town of Bad Wildungen. The profession of my grandparents was Journalist (father's side) and Protestant Priest and Missionary (Mother's side). My parents divorced when I was 3 or so and my mother married a School Teacher who didn't like teaching and turned Archive administrator at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Think of The New York Times of Germany. Same attitude.
When I was 14 or so I read a lot Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels. I particularly liked Philip Jose Farmer, Frank Herbert and JRR Tolkien (I visited his Pub the Eagle and Child in Cambridge). I don't think humans were technically capable of a Moon landing in 1969.
My family moved to Munich in 1980 and I started writing for a local newspaper and getting into Journalism. Great moments were interviews with musicians such as Sally Oldfield, La Toya, Udo Lindenberg, Konstantin Wecker etc.
I interviewed the publisher of MAD Magazine in Germany, Herbert Feuerstein, a very smart guy. I got an A+ in German Language at school in my final year because I got movie produced Mr Geissendoerfer to visit our school and have a seminar on "Der Zauberberg" by Thomas Mann.
After the Abitur I went to Gran Canaria for 4 months to write my first book. I was going to be a writer. I published it in my own Tick-Tack Publishing Company in 1983 and had some nice reviews by Helmuth Karasek (who is still 2nd Pope in literature after Marcel Reich-Ranicki) in Germany and also by James Krüss, a famous German childrens book author.
I started to study communication sciences and American literature at LMU Munich but soon gave up.
Curriculumum was a bit behind the reality – so I had my first Mac II with a 19 inch black and white screen when Professors at LMU where talking about that it would "exist".
On the book fair 1984 I was the youngest Publisher and got some really positive feedback.
I also got some invitations in TV and radio but had no experience and no manager so the performances where rather unpleasing.
At the Frankfurt Book Fair I met a Manager named Hans W Jany who studied at Thunderbird University and who had just had taken over ASS Spielkarten a German playing card public company together with some friends and bought the license to produce Dungeons and Dragons from TSR. He told me I could have a job so I left to Stuttgart and checked in a hotel and started working.
One of Jany's partner, Thomas Pedersen is still a close friend living in Minneapolis St Paul.
A couple of months before, I had met my girlfriend Dorothea, who was kind of major movie star in Yugoslavia and took her with me to Stuttgart.
Next thing I knew, I was the publisher of the DRACHE, a German Roleplaying magazine, the Bridge magazine and as a part of my news job I also organized Fantasy Roleplaying Festivals and translated the AD&D Monster Manual into German along with some other roleplaying literature. I met Gary Gygax, the inventor of D&D at the Nuremberg Games Show, got more book contracts offered than I could write, started do play roleplaying computer games (ZORK, ENCOUNTER)
I met Frank Herbert (Dune) on 5 April 1985 in Hamburg and did an interview which was published in LUI magazine and some other publications. His statement was "Don't trust charismatic leaders".
In summer time I flew to Mombasa, Kenya with African Safari Airways.
I worked for a company producing door closers for a couple of months and then went to Schramberg in the Black Forest and to be a copywriter in an advertising agency working for watches, sanitary equipment, furniture, fuzes and other stuff.
I met my wife Susanne who worked as a grafic design apprentice and who later (1997/8) worked as an Au Pair in Houston, Texas.
I produced a series of radio shows for "Südwestfunk" based on my book "Die Torte schlägt zurück" which were really funny and decided that I should start my own advertising agency with a partner in 1988. We again worked for furniture, fuzes, IT, office equipment, porcelain etc etc.
Our biggest account was XEROX Germany. I had it all: Macs and color copiers that I could print on and scan with ... pretty cool - but no idea of economics, i.e. how to make money.
So I had this great experience of running my own advertising agency and spending consistently more money than I made, just like many of my Automotive clients today. I also started an Apple Computer dealership in 1990. We had this company for 6 years, then it went into bankruptcy.
I went to Gran Canaria again an met James Krüss again.
One my clients was a guy called Phil Hertzog, who worked in Overseas Market Development for a firm by the name of CHIRON who were in machine tools and next thing I know I work for him and still do.
In 1998 we moved to Melbourne and I had seven stressful years with true devil as my boss.
I've been in machine tools for the last 20 years making money selling manufacturing equipment for powertrain & chassis components to Automotive high volume manufacturers supporting my ever growing family.
Hobbies:
I started learning Chinese 5 years ago and I am now on an Elementary to Intermediate level and enjoy it a lot. I first used PIMSLEUR, then CHINESEPOD, a podcast on iTunes.
Some other books I like:
Howard Bloom: The Lucifer Principle
Rupert Lay: Manipulieren durch die Sprache, Dialektik für Manager (my first instructor on communications)
Robert Pirsig: Zen or the art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Lila
James P. Carse: Finite and Infinite Games
Julian Jaynes: The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the bicameral mind
Jerr Mander: Four arguments for the elimination of television
James Gleick: Chaos
Baltasar Gracian: The Art of Worldy Wisdom (Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one.)
Jake Diamond: Guns, Germs & Steel
