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Friday, September 3rd, 2004
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2:08 am
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CHOCOLATE AND THE LAW IN MASSACHUSETTS!
It's been awhile since I have updated this. So recently I have been hanging out with my freind Eric alot. He is a really cool freind. So yesterday we hung out again and went out to the Solomond Pond mall because he needed to drop a game off to zack. That was cool and we got some food in the food court. It was such a nice day for the windows down, sun roof open and the wide open highway. We got back to his house and then took my car to BIG Y to recycle some soda cans and buy some marshmellows and jiffy pop. So we hung out at his house for ahwile and played some PS2 Baseball and watched the Red Socks vs Los Angelos on TV. Then we decided to go to Eagle Lake and make some more smores. We have been going to Eagle Lake and getting a small fire going in one of those grill things and cooking some smores for the last few weeks and there has never been a problem. We keep the flames low and water near by. So last night we were having a good time and got some good smores in! Then we decided to make some Jiffy Pop which tells you not to use over a camp fire but we decided to do it anyways. We got some poping sounds and then a nice buttery smell but then the popcorn started to burn :( We were unable to get it to fully pop which stinked but ohh well it was still fun. So then we were just about to start packing up and heading out as the fire was just embers now and then all of a sudden I turn around and I see a car racing towards Eagle Lake. So I was like crud! So I unscrwed the cap to my water bottle and was about to douse what was left of the fire when I heard a mubbled intercom and a blue light! So I qiuckly doused the flames as best as possible then we ran into the woods blindly into the darkness. I somehow managed to find the path out. We got to the apartments behind the lake and started walking away calmy with my adrelean rushing!. We left $2 of chocolate and Gram Crackers, water bottle, and a grill lighter behind in the haste to escape. We got a little ways into the apartment parking lot and then some guy who was outside asked us if we had just came from the lake and Eric said yes. I frooze but fortualy Eric knew the guy and was just wondering what the smoke was all about. I think he called the cops. We told the guy we were making smores and he seemed fine with that and then we went back to Eric's house. We watched some TV for a half hour and took a walk back to the lake to see if we could get the stuff we left behind. We checked out the dumpster and we couldn't find anything so then we went to the picnic table and the cops took all the food! WHO DOES that? It's gram crackers and chocolate! So it looks like we can't do that anymore :( We might just have to stick to bowling.
Summer sure has been an adventure so far. I have been seeing Erin alot and she is alot of fun and defiantly cool. :) Tommorow we are planning on going to Hampton Beach which sounds like a great idea to me! I have been working alot and that has taken alot out of me but its worth it. I just picked up my check on Thursday to discover a large sum and that was really cool as it will let me buy food for the townhouse and I made my 2nd car payment before the first one is even due! I plan on paying off the Sentra really quickly and the insurance even quicker. If I can pay the insurance off before September I wont have any insurance payments till next may! If I can pay the car off before the end of summer that would be awsome! I am looking forward to the bbq I am having this summer on July 31st with alot of people from college. It is going to be alot of fun. I defiantly miss my college freinds but having a break is defiantly nice!
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| Thursday, September 2nd, 2004
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7:10 pm
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I got trade paperbacks numbers 5,6, and 7 of the comic Stray Bullets recently and just read them. I had read the first 4 t school, since my roommate has them. I have to say, David Lapham might (in my opinion) be the best comics writer/creator since the 1980s (the heyday of Moore and Miller), and Stray Bullets has taken the place as my favorite regular comic, and 5, 6, and 7 are so much better than the first 4 volumes. It's amazing how Lapham can write each issue as a stand alone, completely self-contained story, but also how much the different stories come together to make sense.
Unfortunately Lapham is putting Stray Bullets on hiatus. On the bright side, he is doing this in order to move over to write Detective Comics, and I think his dark visions of the world will go well with the Batman character.
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| Sunday, August 29th, 2004
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1:29 pm
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The Olympic men's marathon was great! An American coming in second? No Kenyans/Ethiopians in the top 3? It's good to see some variety.
Oh, and El G rockin the 5k was pretty cool, too, although he is really ugly...
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| Tuesday, August 24th, 2004
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3:01 pm
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Siggit, Jurgen, James, and I went for a run yesterday. It was fun. Ok, till next time.
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| Sunday, August 15th, 2004
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7:10 pm
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This week I ran 80 miles. My legs are feeling a bit flat, but hopefully will be fresh tomorrow, after my really easy recovery day today.
Next week I'll start working again-- on my honors thesis and fellowship applications.
Tonight I'm going to relax, I guess.
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| Thursday, August 12th, 2004
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9:06 pm
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hi everyone! I just got off the phone with siggit! he's going away for the weekend. now i'm talking to jurgen on aim. he's not going away this weekend. what a wonderful world! on monday i'm going to brown to talk to a dean about the fulbright fellowship. i am a qualified, intelligent, talented, and handsome potential applicant with a winning sense of humor and a hard edge. how great am i? i mean really!
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| Monday, August 2nd, 2004
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3:50 pm
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Well, I'm back in the USA. The plane trip was pretty brutal, and I went for 3 days without really sleeping but now, after a good 11 hours of sleep last night, everything's a bit better. I've traded the hot girls of Berlin for the hot weather here. The jury's still out on whether this is an improvement or not.
One thing I'd never noticed before about the US is the ridiculous number of flags flown just about everywhere in this country. You'd have a hard time finding German flags in Berlin -- and even the Berlin flags were a bit tough to find-- but on the way back home from the airport, I saw US flags everywhere. I think it's going a bit overboard. That's America, I guess.
Yesterday, after getting home, I got a weird allergic reaction to something here. My eyes itched and I rubbed them, then I noticed they were both totally bloodshot red and the left side of the white part of my left eye had swollen out maybe a quarter of an inch-- it looked like a piece of gelatin or something (a translucent fluid filled membrane on my eye was sort of hanging off the side). I was kind of freaked out, but it eventually went back down. Still have allergies, though, which made me realize that I hadn't in Berlin. It's great to be back!!!
well, I'm gonna go listen to a song by Bruce Dickinson-- he's the cock of the walk!
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| Monday, July 19th, 2004
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3:54 pm
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Well, I had an interesting weekend. I won't be able to explain much, cause I've only got another 3 min. on this stupid computer, and it's kinda pointless trying to explain all this crap. I'll maybe write about it later, who knows? Anyhow, my friend Mike (from London) is leaving Berlin to go home today. Kind of sad. Kind of really sad. There's a pretty hot girl waiting for the computers. Kind of cool. Kind of really cool. That's what happens here-- the cool and the bad mix. Ah well, that's life right? On Saturday I met a pair of Albanian-turned-German dude heys. It was pretty cool. We had meanignful conversation. Ooop, out of time. ByE!
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| Tuesday, June 29th, 2004
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7:54 pm
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Been spending a lot of time at the Bundesarchiv lately. That's Germany's national archive here in Berlin (that is to say, it is one of many compounds that houses Germany's national archives scattered across the country and, fortunately for me, it happens to be the one with pertinent information on the "German Reich," 1871-1945... I know, I know, 1919-1933 were not part of a German Reich, but I guess the archivists figured it was easier to stick that in with the 2nd and 3rd Reichs to simplify categorization).
I'm starting a new series in my livejournal of ambivalent statements that could be taken as compliments or could be taken as insults, directed at members of the Birch Drive Five. Here's the first one:
'They say that the best things in life come in small packages. They're wrong-- the best things in life HAVE small packages: just look at Siggit!'
Bwa ha ha ha! That was fun! I'll try to come up with another one, but I'm not all that clever so don't hold your collective breaths.
...
In other news (this one's for you, James) 'the voice' has made a triumphant return to the streets of Berlin. I have adapted it to my need to have a secret language to speak with other native english speakers-- too long have I worked under the (dangerously flawed) assumption that no one in Berlin understands English, so I decided to contort 'the voice' into an even less comprehensible form and sue it to make fun of the krauts without their knowing. So tell me, James, did you leave the voice in London, or did it follow you home?
...
That's it for now. Um. ByE!
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| Thursday, June 17th, 2004
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6:28 pm
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It's looking more and more unlikely that Molina's going to send me an email. That's sad, right? I wanted to scope out some hot model pics of Cameron. Okay, that's enough of this discussion solely for insiders.
Now something the rest of you will enjoy: Today in my Stalinismus und Terror class, I got bored and started drawing pictures of my favorite historical villains in cutesy cartoon style in my notebook. My Hitler was the best, but Stalin wasn't bad. If I had a scanner, I'd let you all enjoy the fruits of my studies here in Germany. But I don't. So I won't.
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| Wednesday, June 9th, 2004
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2:12 pm
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What's the deal with denim jackets, anyway?
I'm sitting here on the 15 minute email computers and there's quite a cute couple (of krauts) wearing denim jackets. I've never really understood denim jackets, to be honest. Then again, I'm wearing a gayish, bright yellow jacket´, so I guess I can't criticize too much.
On the topic of gayness, chances that my flatmate here in Berlin is gay are dwindling. He does have a bubble-butt, though, and extremely short lefs.
The chick with the denim jacket is on the computer across from me, and her boytoy is standing behind her. He's got an embryonic mullet thing going on in back I think. Mullets are called VoKuHiLa in German -- that's Vor Kurz Hinter Lang (short in front, long in back). They're a very literal people. I haven't figured out the word for Skullet yet, but they ought to have one given the frequency of its appearance in this town.
Now the gentleman's sitting next to me and I think maybe he doesn't have a mulletchen after all. I guess it's just from the rain. It's raining out, you see. I have 20 seconds left on this comp, so I guess that's it for now. Bye!
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| Tuesday, June 1st, 2004
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11:30 pm - Lesbians!
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I don't post political stuff on my livejournal very often, but this part of my exploration of European culture is going to be heading in that direction.
So when we were in Salzburg last week, we ended up talking to these two Austrian chicks, and the topic of 9/11 came up. This Austrian girl said, "To be honest, I think America deserved it. I mean, they've never been bombed, like Europe was, and I think it was a good wake-up call."
This girl's opinion of the world is obviously an ignorant and unteneble one, but it left me wondering how much she had actually felt this at that point in time, and how much this was a retrospective slant. Bush's policies have turned most of the continent against American policy.
I guess the really sad part about this is something that a protestor in Berlin pointed out to me. Historically, the Berliners have felt really close to Americans, with us saving them from the Soviets after the war, and then lifting in supplies for the entire Western half of the city for nearly a year when the Soviets blockaded it. But now, with Bush's unilateral policies-- and his brazenness in blowing off our allies and flouting international law-- I've found that Berliners have a feeling of sadness about a long-standing friendship that is falling apart.
This is an important point to make, because in general, I have not faced much anti-Americanism. Maybe this is because I'm in Germany-- after all, how can they criticize us after the Third Reich (and, I have to point out, the girl who said we deserved 9/11 was an Austrian, whose country was treated erroneously as a victim of the Nazis following the war)-- but the people generally like Americans, even if they don't like our president. That's a point that the media in America sometimes seems to miss entirely, instead protraying the Europeans as anti-American if they disagree with our international policy. I guess this type of view falls in with Bush's "you're either with us or against us" comments shortly after 9/11, but I think it also represents a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of Americans in general towards the Europeans.
This misunderstanding isn't just one way-- the Europeans (at least the ones I've talked to) generally aren't able to understand the Americans that well either. Aside from the obvious cultural misunderstandings (they think King of Queens is the best American sitcom, for instance), the Europeans have a tremendous faith in the liberal rationality of the American people (much more than I do). When they ask me what I think the chances are that Bush will be reelected, they are usually astounded when I tell them that I think he probably will be. When they ask me how the American people can follow someone who's been obviously misleading them and launching a war for his own agenda, something that they cannot understand, I need to try to explain to them the fact that domestic issues outweigh internional ones in many voters' minds and the way minor issues are played up as major issues. Americans don't really care too much about international policy, a fact the Germans have a hard time understanding (I think the Germans generally have a better idea of American foreign policy than we do). On a continent where every nation's interests are increasingly interlinked, they cannot really understand how a lot of Americans care primarily-- or only-- about domestic issues. Generally, the Germans seem to not even think Bush should be president now, that he got in by some flaw in the electoral system, and that next election he will be swept from office. I fear that come November, a lot of Europeans -- as well a lot of Americans-- are going to be really disappointed in the American people.
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| Tuesday, May 25th, 2004
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6:26 pm
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hi everbody! How are things going? I'm taking a train to Salzburg tonight! Oh boy!
My exploration of European culture goes further with the following observation: European workers really like to strike. I mean, they do it all the time. And they plan it ahead of time and announce to everyone they're going to strike. I've seen more strikes in my 2.5 months here than I did in any 2.5 year space back in the USA. I don't know if we have more effective unions back in the USA, if workers or more passive, if there's not the sense of worker identity in the US, or some other reason... that's europe for ya.
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| Friday, May 21st, 2004
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5:02 pm
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Just hanging out in the computer lab, gang. One thing I like about Berlin is that weird things are always happening to me here. I don't really get it, but strangeness seems to be a part of the daily life in the city. I wish I had time to record all of the strange occurrences, but I'm arleady way way behind and it"s tough to try to get them out still. Nonetheless, I'm gonna tell two quick stories now. Last Saturday, on my way to the party at which a Kraut chick was to tell me that I dressed well for an American (they call us 'Amis' here), I got somewhat lost and ended up wandering through a park at a little before midnight. As I was going through this park, a group of thuggish looking guys came stumbling towards me, and I had the dreadful feeling I was about to be mugged (maybe I'm just too American). Well, they didn't mug me. Instead, one of them said to me something that sounded like "Pattas?" I had no idea what that is (as far as I know it's not a German word) so I just looked at him strangely, and he repeated it. I shrugged and made a noise that communicated the idea that I didn't know what he wanted, so he said OK and the thugs wandered off. I quickly walked out of the park and found my orientation and started down the road that I wanted, which ran adjacent to the park. As I walked by the park I heard a "Pssst!" from the woods. I looked over and there was a man standing there, dressed all in dark clothes. He called at me, "Pattas?" To which I once again shrugged and walked away. That's Berlin for you... my guess is there was a drug deal or something going down in the park, but that's just conjecture. who knows?
In class Tuesday, I was about halfway through listening to a lecture when the middle aged man sitting next to me leaned over and asked me something. I couldn't understand him (I'm fairly sure he wasn't a german either), so, after trying and failing a few more times, he decided to write his question down. I could read the first two words "Kommst du," but then his script became basically an unintelligible scribble, so I shrugged at him again. Now he tried to draw out what he was asking me, which he portrayed as two adjacent squares with a line coming off of the bottom one. I still haven't figured out what that was supposed to be. I shrugged and signalled with my hands that I was trying to listen to the lecture, and that was that for the time. At the end of the lecture, the man followed me out of the class and repeated his question. Once again, I was unable to understand anything other than the words "Kommst du..." so I told him my German wasn't very good, which prompted him to begin speaking in English, "Are you coming with me to drink a Beer?" This guy, who I had never spoken to before, was asking me out for a beer, which is kind fo weird (though maybe in Germany it's a bit mroe normal), but what was really creepy was that he was (a) Middle-aged and (b) had these disgusting dentures that kept popping out of his mouth as he spoke. I was kind of disturbed, so I told him I had to go home and do something, and that was that. The week before, in teh same class, a guy sitting next to me had written his phone number and email on my paper after we had spoken for about a minute about what he had missed in the last class. As I said, Berlin is kind of a weird place. Oh, and I haven't emailed or called him.
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| Wednesday, May 19th, 2004
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6:30 pm
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German girl to me at party Saturday night: "I have to tell you, for an American you dress really well." First time anyone's ever told me I dress well, but then again, only for an American. I'll take what I can get, though.
So anyhow, yesterday I was hanging out at the Humboldt Uni zu Berlin, just, y'know, takin in the sights and sounds of the city, and I saw the muppet face sketch artist. When James visited a few weeks ago, we had caught this freaky homeless guy drawin a picture of a girl sitting across from him on the S-Bahn, and so we stalked him for a while to try to catch him in the act (oh what I am not sure). The man's face was contorted in teh strangest way, and he had really long, frizzy hair.
This guy comes walkin onto the "Main Green" of HU yesterday and looked around a bit, went into the main building, and then came back out and started searching for things behind the benches. I suspect he was looking for cans to recycle. They're worth 50 cents here or something like that.
I was actually talking to a German gentleman at the time, and he was explaining to me about the university system here in deutschland. evidently, when students don't get into universities they want to go to, they sometimes take the universities to court, and get in that way... and last year, the students all went on strike over the issue of budget cuts to the university, which would result in student fees. see, university here is free, and the students like to keep it that way, so they all got mad and blocked off the university and wouldn't let people in to go to class. It seems a bit ridiculous, since the proposed fees are 500 Euros per semester, and I pay almost that much in books every semester, but they have a different mentality here I guess.... Die Mentalität ist überhaupt anders, so zu sagen.
Well, that's it for now-- stay tuned for more updates!
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| Tuesday, May 11th, 2004
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3:52 pm
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| Tuesday, December 2nd, 2003
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10:50 am - hardships
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So things took a turn for the worse recently. First, the heater in our apartment is broken. I got back to school Saturday to find the room colder than necrophilia. I've been huddling in front of the open oven for a few days now...
Second, I discovered last night that a 15-20 page research paper I thought was due the 12th might actually be due the 9th. Since I have another 15 page research paper due the 10th (for which I have done the reading mostly), and I still have to read and take notes on at least 1500 pages for the one I thought was due on the 12th, it could just be a big mess if it is actuallydue the 9th. I had asked my professor a cpl weeks ago, who said the 12th, but the syllabus online says the 9th. I don't know if he changed the plans or if he was mistaken when he spoke to me. Well, if it's really due the 9th, I guess I'll try to get an extension based on our miscommunication. Thank God Brown has no academic standards.
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| Monday, December 1st, 2003
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12:41 am
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Scott just told me I'm bicurious because I went to wash my hands in the bathroom while he was pissing. But I really had to wash my hands. Am I bicurious? I don't think I'm bicurious, but I'm not sure. Are there online tests I can take to determine whether I'm bicurious or not? Or should I go see a doctor?
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12:07 am
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back at school, back to work, writing about prostitutes, could be worse
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| Tuesday, November 25th, 2003
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5:55 pm
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oh no. i did it again. i slept until 5 pm today. oh dear that's gonna screw up the sleep schedule. oh no!
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