Reading (For Dummies)

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Friday afternoon I went bicycle shopping. More on that later. I also met up with Srinivas and went to the Indian Shop (that's its name, "Indian Shop" :)). 10kg of rice.

Enough rice for 2 months

Then it was off to a party at Andreas' request. A Finnish girl we both know from the usual Tuesday night bar was having a birthday party.

Jari and Maiju

Maiju's Finnish boyfriend is also pretty cool. They speak English nice and fluent-like...apparently more Fins speak English than speak Finnish. The party started off innocently enough, but the alchohol flowed like water (a popular phrase for me, regarding people's drinking habits around here).

A "shot" ov Vodka

I drank two whole dixie cups of vodka and was pretty much done. I remember demonstrating how rock climbing works by doing a variety of strange jams and hanging out in the door frame a few feet off the ground. I was literally doing this for 20 minutes before my ass hurt too much to continue. After that, I played a little Britney Spears on guitar for everybody. I think I sounded good, but then I was under the influence of the great, ahem, "performance booster."

Feeding Frenzy later on at the party

Last night makes me realize that I tire of introducing myself to a kjillion new people every day. Most of the people last night I'll probably never see again, which is okay. Just odd to continually answer the usual gambit of questions. I'll make it a point to no longer ask someone "What's your major?" when I meet them...that has to be #1 on the annoying question list :).

Thanksgiving...

Tariq, myself, and Zeeshan (from left to right)

Zeeshan, Tariq and I had a little Pakistani dinner, sharing stories about living in different parts of the world (they are both from Pakistan). Zeeshan just got here last week, so has some catching up to do in classes. Tariq I met when I first got here but hadn't talked with very much.

It is sometimes hard to ask the probing questions; like how they feel about their religions restricting freedom in their country while the rest of the world runs around naked fornicating. They both seem to accept that the world is like that, but they don't seem to buy into it too heavily themselves.

We prepared dinner, talked some politics, watched television for a few minutes (first time I have watched a TV since August).

I explained the concept of Thanksgiving thusly: "We are supposed to celebrate Thanksgiving to thank the Native Americans for teaching our ancestors how to eat when they first got here. Of course, we really thanked them another way; we killed most of them, and raped the rest. Now they get to sell us dreamcatchers, necklaces, and leather wallets at highway rest stops, hoping to get enough money for their next opium fix."

I'm not sure if my point got entirely across, but they understood. So happy Thanksgiving, and remember your gluttony is a sign of being on the right side of imperialism.

You know what's annoying?

I've been getting Klez virus attachments from this AOL user for a few months. I thought about just blackholing her, but I felt kind of bad. I should help the other people in her address book by pointing out the problem to her, and giving her instructions to clean and patch her machine.

She won't listen.

The conversation?

(21:16:58) ReidMe1st: Hi. Your computer has a virus. Please go to http://www.windowsupdate.com and update windows/outlook express. Then go to http://www.mcafee.com and download a virus scanner.
(21:17:22) Cara1188: you are a dork!
(21:19:54) Cara1188: are you there???
(21:20:10) Cara1188: you do no that u r a dork, dont you?
(21:20:30) ReidMe1st: heh
(21:20:40) ReidMe1st: of course
(21:20:46) ReidMe1st: but you still have a virus
(21:20:59) Cara1188: no i dont!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(21:21:02) ReidMe1st: yep you do
(21:21:04) ReidMe1st: sorry to tell you
(21:21:17) Cara1188: shut the Hell UP!

So what do you do when someone has a virus and won't acknowledge it? I have a suggestion. Add her to your buddy list. Let her know what's up, give her instructions on how to clean her box. I've pasted a mail header below in case anyone has any doubts....

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that the real problem isn't Microsoft, it's the users. We linux zealots claim better security, but in reality we could have an equally safe box running Win2k (or MacOS X). It's because we know what we're doing.

Anyway I'm saying what's been said before, so I'll stop. But, if you have a spare minute, hail poor Cara1188 and try to coax her into patching her computer. If she doesn't, then the terrorists have already won!

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From: Grizzrsc <XXX@aol.com>
Subject: A jungle in there. Will Ginger be able to keep
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------------------ Virus Warning Message ---------------------

theme.pif is removed from here because it contains a virus.

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Prague...

Prague is, to say the least, amazing. From Absinth to prostitutes, it's the craziest place I've been. Getting there was easy by car, though we had some trouble at the border because Ferri's friend Eberhard forgot his passport.

Once across the border, we were presented with rows of little prostituion huts, with the ladies out front lifting their skirts and trying to wave us into the parking lot as we drove along.

Can you believe they're still called Esso stations in Prague?

We wandered a bit on Saturday night (we didn't get there until 4:00PM), before settling down in a cheap pub. We all ate soup, dinner, desert, and between the three of us downed 11.5 Liters of beer. The total bill came out to be 900Kc, or 35,00 €. I managed the wholel weekending spending only 600Kc, less than 25,00 € for meals, beer, and hotel. Unbelievable.

At the pub. I think it's fake.

We wandered some in the north part of town that night too. Especially cool was the footbridge full of musicians and artists.

Glass Orchestra

This guy was playing Jesus Christ, Superstar on wine glasses full of water. It actually sounded pretty good.

Doesn't the Skoda symbol look familiar?

After filling ourselves with entirely too much beer, Ferri and I left Eberhard and walked around a little. He told me some history of Skoda. As for their logo, I think another logo might have been influenced by it.

Since we drank entirely too much beer, Ferri and I went back to the hotel room pretty quickly. Up bright and early to do the "Embassy Tour." It seems that they both knew what it meant, so I just tagged along.

Preview of the strip club

Apparently there are so many strip clubs and prostitute shops that competition is stiff (heh, sorry for the pun). Most shops have strippers in the windows. This one has a television screen of the inside so you can sample the eye candy before you pay for the eye candy.

The ants go marching...

Also along the way, we saw the Czech Guard marching along the streets. I guess it's a Sunday thing.

We're all German, right?

Left to right, Me, Eberhard, Ferri. I'm from the US, Ferri is Austrian, the other guy is German. Peas in a pod. We tried to get a picture at the American embassy, but we weren't allowed to take photos. And there were military police searching everyone and everything that tried to get near the Embassy. I probably could have showed them my passport, but seeing as how it was a weekend I doubt it was open anyway.

Most interesting thing about Prague? Everybody speaks English. I guess tourism is a big deal there. Even Czechs sitting around talking to each other spoke in English sometimes. Can I move there?

While walking

Today while walking, I was staring over the skyline of the Altstadt area, just looking. And old gentleman on his bike rode up. Noticing my camera, he pointed over the river and started speaking in German. It must have been obvious I didn't understand. "Sprechen Deutsch?" he asks. "Nich so gut," I reply. "Where from? England?" "The USA" "Ahhhhh, America. 1945 America und British boom Dresden. We make it all again. Hitler ja? Bad. We make it again." He flexes his muscles while smiling.

I was able to gather through a very broken conversation, a few words in English, a few in German, that he lived in Dresden during the war. And he helped dig the city out after it was bombed. and helped rebuild the church pictured in this entry.

It was an interesting sort of interaction, and one that I want to remember.

Feeling a Little Smarter

So. Rock climbing today, which wasn't so much climbing as it was "How to rescue an injured climber (in German)". I think I figured out what to do okay. They're still not really safe here, the rescue is a complicated mixture of cressuk and attaching lines to wear the injured guy like a backpack, and they just end up getting in the way a lot. Good for keeping them off any ledges until you're ready to touch down, though, I guess.

W is in Prague, which is where I'm heading tomorrow. Ferri says "Bring your camera and rocks for the protest." Hopefully it doesn't come to that. I'll bet Bush is out of town already anyway. Looks like the NATO meeting there might be done already, as the EU has collapsed under America's weight (again).

Speaking of foreign countries...Friends of mine always post online quizzes, so here is mine. I got a 19 out of 20 (missed the religion question which is hilarious). I can argue over the meaning of "What's the most popular religion?" though.

And speaking of W and "domestic" policy (quotes cuz it ain't domestic for me) anyone catch this story? Remind me again how removing restrictions on industrial pollution causes factories to lower their levels again? Do the factories say "Gee, these strict pollution controls mean we can't come up with any new pollution control ideas." Sigh.

Oh yeah, and since family reads now, let me be greedy. Buy me stuff. Look, you don't even have to ask each other what I want, cuz that's everything I want right there. Of course if you don't feel like ordering any of that, you can give me money. I'll be broke in ~5 months. Yay.

Do you encrypt?

Quote of the moment:
"If encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will @goH7OjBd7*dnfk=<q4fDj]Kz?." - /usr/games/fortune

But really, do you encrypt? I digitally sign, at least...not enough of my friends actually use crypto. So start by downloading GNUPG and then get a plugin for your mail reader (like Outlook or Eudora). Do you really want the man reading all your email? It's happened before.

It feels good to be following the news again.

Life, or something like it

The Elbe, less than a foot from flood stage

Kathya and Micha, my Ruskie friends

I've spent a lot of tonight writing my "book." So-called because I don't whether to actually make it a book or just a short story. Maybe it should be a book. I'm trying to write songs to go along with it, since it's a story about a musician. I thought it'd be pretty wild to put out a book and the main character's album at the same time. Especially given the plot and my [lack of] singing ability.

It's a pretty interesting story so far, at least according to Matt, and I trust his opinion on these things.

The last few days

LOL. That's annoying. I was tracking down one last link for my "the last few days" entry a few minutes ago, and I clicked a link that caused Mozilla to bomb. Now I get to write everything all over again. Except I don't really want to now. Anyway, here goes:

Friday: Rock climbing. FINALLY! It was strange though, I was told by a girl, in broken English, that we can't use ATCs in the gym. "Because you might not know how to use a 8 or a carabiner," she said. That's all fine and good, but I don't own a super 8, and an ATC is safer anyway, in my opinion. Elitist pigs.

Saturday: Beautiful day, so I was a-walkin'. All day. And late at night. Or something.

Sunday: Missing Buddhist meditation/chant again. The Amme's were out of town, it turns out. Clemens called me Monday and apologized profusely for not telling me about that beforehand. Turns out meditation was at another member's house. Ohwell. He has added me to the Dresden Buddhists email list
Sunday afternoon: Studying with Andreas.
Sunday evening: Dinner with the Wills. Mrs. Will is an American expatriot who married Mr. Will (they met in the US), a Swiss architecture professor. They eventually moved to Dresden. Mrs. Will is good friends with my dad's new boss in the US. So we're one big happy family. Or something. I played guitar for Mr. Will, he says bring my own guitar next time and we'll jam. Cool. They're really neat people, and I think they all dig me (must be the accent). Mrs. Will kindly loaned me a bunch of books, as English language books are very expensive in Germany.

Monday: Boring. Class. Sleep.

Tuesday: Much the same, but I went to see Harry Potter 2 in the evening. A so-so movie. Don't get me wrong, the books are cool. I just subscribe to The Onion story about the Harry Potter movie getting kids away from books and watching movies again. Maybe that's why I liked the books so much. My decisive analysis is that they're mediocre for "literature" (I mean, they're just kids mystery/fantasy books). But I read a lot, and I think reading a lot is good for your brain. So HP is good.
Funniest things about the movie? Subtitles. And the title itself: Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens. Yes it was that way for the movie, even though the movie was in English. And when Harry writes in the journal, the answers came back in English with Germany subtitles. "Yes" with "Ja" written below, and "No" with "Nein". Everybody in the theater cracked up at this. Also, Tom Riddle's middle name was changed (only in the subtitles) so that his name would be "Ich heisse Lord Voldemort" (again only in subtitles) when he writes his name in the air and plays anagrams with it.

Wednesday: Public holiday. Loafing around, reading. Doing sit-ups. Eating. Going to sleep :).

This whole situation of having to type the entire entry twice has made me decide to type entries in emacs now, and then paste them in. Ugh.

Interim Entry

I figured I'd post y'all some pictures of my apartment, since you've been so patient...

Entering through the front door

The bathroom (door to the left of the entrance)

The bathroom

The bathroom

Note that the "shower head" is not and cannot be fastened to the wall in any way. The hose on it is barely long enough to hold above your head if you squat in really close; the shower head is fed by the sink...evidently there didn't used to be a shower/bathtub in our bathroom. The old shower rooms are downstairs in the basement, and have been converted to trash rooms and a laundry room. Evidently, during communism, our two-person flat accomodated 6 people. How they even fit in here, let alone shared a single bathroom without a shower, remains a mystery. A little simple math: 6 people * 6 apartments per floor * 14 floors = 504 people. 504 people sharing one shower room. Yeah, that's disease.

The closet (door to the right of the entrance

When I moved in, there was a sack of rotting (possibly fermenting) potatoes in the closet.

The oven fan in our fabulous kitchen

Yes, I'm afraid that the dust packet (I'm unconvined that that thing is actually an air filter) will someday fall apart and land on the stove. I'll put more pictures of the kitchen up later. Too tired to take pictures and convert them and upload them now.

The only redeeming quality of the apartment is this Lycos poster

Germans use only the highest quality lead paint on my bedroom windows

The plywood "wall" separating my bedroom from the kitchen

Talking to myself

I've felt great the last two days, so I've been walking. Last night, I walked for 4 hours through the Dresdner Grosser Garten (a huge park, something like 8 square kilometers, in the middle of the city). People often ask what I think about, and I say nothing. I'm always lying. Last night, what I thought about while walking:

1) I forgave Smeagol for being such a prick.
2) I realized that I actually am happy here in Dresden, and that being ill for the last few weeks was just making me think otherwise
3) I realized I was probably being a dick when I told my father off in an email. I said something to the effect of the US sucking because the population does indeed vote for evil conservatives. Even if they're ignorant, they still suck. I guess I could have been a little more polite about that.
4) I sang Calling the Moon out loud. This probably scared the pants off of a guy taking a leak behind a tree. The park was very dark, and very empty.
5) I considered what to do with the rest of my life, since I really don't want to work.
6) I thought about Annie, and I wonder how she's going to put up with me, since I want to spend so many years travelling.
7) I thought more about buddhism, and worry about other followers perceptions. The history of the "religion" is frought with the sorts of internal squabbling you normally see with Xtianity.

I went walking again today, for about 4 hours (again), along the Elbe this time. And back down to Altmarkt to get some things like Dove soap and a notebook. And cashews...can't live without cashews.

Then it was up to Neuestadt to the Tiki milkshake/bar, where I got myself liquored up, while reading a history of Nichiren Daishonin. A group of cute girls walked up to my table and asked me something, so I say "Please, have a seat." The girl that asked says, "Scheiza!" and walks away for a minute. There weren't any other tables so they eventually decided to sit down. Shoulda feigned German...

Other than that, it's just a lot of guitar playing and muttering to myself in public. I'm having too much fun here being lonely...

There's A Doin's A Transpirin'

Uh

Okay, Germans are officially weird. I went down to the International Office to get my paperwork so I can get a job. On my way back, I heard the thump-thump-thump of techno (a musical style at which the Germans excel). I wandered over to the Mensa to see what was up.

Bummer

Whee

It was some kind of advertising scheme, in which they (obviously) put snow out -- in front of the main student cafeteria. Students had to compete going down the artificial slope, doing tricks. In the third photo, the skier successfully executes a 360 manuever. I'm impressed with my camera's ability to capture fast action. I thought the lens would be too slow.

I have discovered that I have a lot more paperwork to fill out in order to get a job. Kind of annoying, seeing as how the jobs only pay $6.25 an hour. But they're making an exception for me and allowing me to work 12 hours a week thru February. At least I'll be able to eat now, and not worry about my money supply being whisked away to never-never-land.

'I met up with the usual peeps for Wednesday Open House, a big gathering of all the CL students and professors.

My friend Andreas

This weekend promises fun as Micha and Kathya (wow, I actually know a real Kathya from Russia now; take that Kat Goldberg from New Jersey) are planning a vodka party. I'm not really sure what all a vodka party entails, but I'm told that there will be vodka there, that we're all going to be completely drunk, and that there are going to be Russian jokes. I can't get enough Russian jokes these days, Micha is hilarious.

Fear

I'm getting over my flu finally, though I'm still pissed at how sick I've been. Micha (a Russian friend) insists that the next time I'm sick, I should call him. He tells me there's a scientifically proven treatment (aka folk remedy) for the flu involving consuming several shots of vodka in rapid succession. I didn't think to ask if it was a cure or just something to relieve the symptoms...

Then there's the fact that my roommate has also been sick, so he's refused to do the dishes. I don't mean to complain, but...

Anyway, I'm beginning to fear online journals again precisely because of the above paragraph. Most blogs/journals/whatever, eventually degrade into pathetic snivelling about X cheating on Y, or Z being a bitch, or whatever, so I'll try to keep from that. I don't have an "Angst is Lame" button on my backpack for nothing, you know....

My sickness prevented me from attending the SGI chant on Sunday (well, sickness and the fact that my freakin' roommates were making a meal and arguing* in the kitchen between 2am and 5am...it's not their fault really, though...my bedroom is separated from the kitchen by two sections of plywood nailed to the wall, so noise travels...). Anyway what was I saying about not whining? :). The local SGI coordinator probably thinks I'm a chump now, though. He loaned me some books, then I didn't show up, and didn't call (tried to, but his phone is off, or mine is, or something...hard to say when the operator recording is in German, and the english operator recording says "Call not connected").

In the meantime I've been catching up on some reading like the Book-A-Minute, and it is hilarious. I've read far too many of the scifi books on the list, most of which are terrible looking back on them. Maybe things like Ender's Game wouldn't be so bad if I didn't know that the author extremely lacked creativity.

*Okay I have no idea if they were arguing, but all German sounds angry and argumentative :).

Moving In

I'm moving into my new "home" today. I have the flu so I'm not feeling well enough to do much else. And it's snowing outside, and the wind is blowing 40mph again. So I think I'm happy sitting inside for another day. I won't complain too much, I'm exhausted.

The oven

I went out yesterday though, despite my illness, and grabbed some pictures of a sweet little church that got bombed out in WW2 and hasn't been rebuilt. It's right down the road from me, about two blocks away. Like the Frauenkirche, it was left as "ruins of war," a quiet demonstration.

Losing the way?

The strangest thing about being in a foreign country has to be language. You start off trying to speak the foreign language, failing miserably, then settling in with people that speak your own (well, if you're unambitious like me, anyway).

But it's strange, because your language deterioriates as though you have to pigeon through it. It de-evolves into some primordial goo, losing its beauty and being completely utilitarian in purpose. You stop talking all the time just because you can. Communication becomes a tool, useful only for saying things like, "I'm bleeding," or, "Nice shoes." Every extra sentence just means having to explain it to your listener, and provides more opportunity for cultural misunderstanding.

Then one day you wake up and start talking normally again. People get a little confused, you're difficult for them to follow, but it feels better.

Two days ago I woke up. It feels good. People are having some difficulty understanding me, but I don't mind anymore. I run circles around people in logic class. "It's not the case that not P doesn't have the negation of all the formulas of P," or, "It's not the case that if Not P is necessarily false on A, then it's necessary that the possibility of Not P exists at B. [Referring to System K]."

Tuesday was the usual student club, with my laptop. It's impossible to sit in a corner and just write notes if you have a laptop...too many eyes staring at you. I'll be sure not to make that mistake again next week. Anyway I met up with the usual crowd there, Andreas, Nick (American), Toby (German). Toby turns 23 on Thursday and is throwing a huge party on Saturday.

Toby...

The big cans on his left are 5.0 Liters of beer each. The cases on his right are full of 0.5L cans. Quick math says he has over 150L of alchohol for Saturday. I think things are going to be a little bit crazy....

I can't drink too much Saturday, though. I went to meet a couple on Monday, to learn a little more about Soka Gakkai. I am going back to their house on Sunday morning for a Dresden-area SGI chant. Who knows if that's the right way? I guess we'll see.

All Hallow's Eve

I spent much of the day Thursday and Friday lying around in bed, naked, famished. The doorbell wrang on Thrursday afternoon, so I put on shorts and a shirt and went out to answer it.

Aww

This little girl was at my door with a few older siblings, asking for halloween candy (I guess). I didn't have much food in the house what with my illness, but I managed to dig in the cabinets and give her two candy bars that I'd been saving. Darn, was planning to eat those later that day, too...

With that excitingness done, I walked to the grocery store and bought some more bread, and ventured to eat a PB&J sandwhich. I was full after about a half of a sandwhich and few glasses of coke. My stomach must have shrank. I fell asleep at about 5pm Thursday night, planning to go rock climbing on Friday.

Friday morning I thought better of it, and slept in until 10am. Then I went to the mall and had a huge ice cream sundae. Thought it would make me feel better for some reason. My stomach felt a little uneasy but I kept it down...Also went to the bank to drop off the $1500 cash that I've been carrying around for two weeks. I felt exhausted, so I took a nap.

Friday night the party happened at Maja's apartment. I didn't have a costume, so they helped me out.

Are you ready?

Maybe not? :)

The woman applying make-up to me didn't speak English. Obviously I had an idea what was going on though. Whee. The party was fun, talking to the Ruskies from my class, Micha and Kathe (and Idelyn, I think). And to a woman from Sudan, and a few Germans. All pretty interesting people. All really smart. I've found the right group of people.

A German, pumping out the tunes on the living room dance floor

There were a ton of people at the party, including a lot more Russians than I mention (some of these young'ing didn't seem to be too old/too smrt).

A particularly stoned-looking Ruskie, I don't remember her name

Still they could dance, which was amusing...and not just Kristin Jann dance either.

Today has been another day of rest, and cleaning. I managed to wipe down the whole kitchen with some vaguely bleach-like substance, re-wash all the dishes (note to roommate: When there is green stuff growing in the bottom of the bowl, you haven't washed it too well :)), trying to prevent future food poisoning. Today was Samhain, the real day, for those that care to watch astral alignments 15 degrees scorpio, though I didn't take my telescope out to verify that :)). It was also, I was told by my Indian comrades, a big Indian celebration of one of their godesses defeating a demon in battle. Probably also astronomical in nature. And me without meeting my SGI people yet.