8.13.2004 the dog days of summer
so what have i been up to the last couple weeks? not much... just enjoying the summer... hanging out with
friends at a pub, chilloungin' outside on the terrace, knocking back a couple beers, working out at the gym,
checking out a concentration camp... what?!?
yeppers, you read that right. last weekend, i went to munich with vicky and annette to visit juan, who's still
out there on a design internship with siemens... one of the suburbs of
munich is dachau, where the nazis built their first concentration camp, which would serve as a model for all the
other infamous locations, including auschwitz. it was a very trying visit, very depressing, and it felt dark
still, inspite of the 60 years that have passed since its liberation and the bright sun on the day of my visit...
pics from munich to come.
canice and cheryl, at a café in maastricht
well, as promised a while back, i gotta post these pics of cheryl and canice's visit... they arrived on what was
the best day of the summer thus far, and when they left, it was gloomy for a couple days... coincidence? i
dunno... :P the first place we went was the dreilandenpunt, where germany, holland and
belgium converge on a single point. well, it was, shall we say, boring? hahaha... remind me not to take anyone
there ever again.
cheryl with a massive 1 litre beer
anyhoo, we went maastricht, walked around, chilled... went to köln, walked around chilled... i dunno. i guess it
was a little, um, boring for them? dunno what they really wanted to see... at least cheryl got to try some of
the world famous german beer in that massive 1-litre glass... it was like, bigger than her face! hahaha...
it's too bad that they didn't stick around for jason and christof's birthday party, which was totally rockin'
(the cops came twice), but canice wasn't too keen on staying around... cheryl wanted to stay, but then she didn't
want to split up with her sister, and they had reservations for a hostel in berlin already... hmm, i don't think
i've posted yet on jason and christof's party yet. another thing on the to-do list.
marty and me, at the sommerfest party
last night there was a big student party, like the kawo 1 party that i posted pics of 2 weeks ago... but this
one was at a different location, the studentendorf, which basically means "student village".
the weather was a little cool, just like at the kawo 1 party, so there were fewer ppl there than i think would've
otherwise been there...
damien (one of marty's friends), anja and some other polish friends
i met up with marty, who was there with his polish friend damien, who in turn had a whole ton of other friends
there, like luka, anja, etc... i can't remember all the names. it was good though the band had to shut down
early cuz of noise complaints. darn! not like the 3am close at the kawo 1 party. none of the other usual
suspects were around either... chris didn't want to go, christof neither, and almost everyone else was (still
are) on vacation... jason, jose, mark, karoline, etc.
anyways, so that's that... gotta hurry up and finish this cuz i've got the
ibc summer camp to get to, and i'm already late! ah wellz.
8.27.2004 2 weeks... two weeks...
you know, it was kinda tempting to just leave the last post as the only entry for august, but i decided that
there was too much to say... anyways, my nights have been busy... meeting up with ppl, working out, spanish
class, watching movies, etc... it all takes up so much time.
so anyhow, since the last post, i went to the ibc church camp, and then
rented a chrysler
crossfire, in which i broke my personal land speed record, and then watching 5 movies last week, and then
chris' going-away party, and then chris' birthday... all in the last 2 weeks! crazy.
so let's see... the church camp i'll describe when i post the pics... vicky didn't go to the camp, cuz her sister
charlotte was visiting, but we all met up that sunday... charlotte is so different from vicky, kinda like me and
my bro... vicky is brunette, charlotte is blond. vicky has curly,
stringy hair, charlotte's is wavy. vicky is a bit soft and reserved (in a chill way), charlotte is pretty loud
and giggly. hehehe, i wonder if ppl wonder how mike and i can be related like this too...
the crossfire was not bad... probably the first purpose-built sports car i've rented, though the
mercedes clk comes
close, though that's more of a grand tourer... anyways, the crossfire was low, really low, but comfortable enough
for a sports car... it's got 220hp which is more than any other car i've driven (don't know what the clk had)...
but one thing held it back, and it's a biggie - it was automatic. and it was one of those pseudo-manual autos,
but one that was poorly executed... shifts lagged, gassing the engine lagged... not as responsive as i had
expected. the trunk was surprisingly big though. it fit 2 guitar cases! but still... not something i would
purchase on my own... oh, and my speed record? 256kph. heheheh... rock-solid stable, moreso than the clk (at
least my memory of it)... another interesting thing was that this car went the furthest to its highest possible
speed as indicated... the speedo only went up to 260, so the needle was more or less pointing south of 5 o'clock,
heheh...
quick movie reviews... went to hasselt to watch the
cooler, around the world in 80
days, and i, robot... also watched
king arthur, and
fahrenheit 9/11... not a bad selection...
can't wait for the bourne supremacy...
anyhow, the cooler was a movie i wanted to watch as soon as i read about it last
year... it was pretty good. around the world in 80 days wasn't too bad, and the tons of
cameos were pretty funny. jackie chan was alright too. i
liked i, robot, not just because bridget
moynahan is a total hottie (who is 33!), but i really liked the ethical and moral depth to the movie's
plot... particularly the part with the older robots huddling in the containers... i was obviously going to watch
king arthur... do i even have to tell you
why? hahaha... well, it wasn't all that... and
fahrenheit 9/11 wasn't as bombastic as i thought it would be, and as with other films of its
ilk, should be taken with heaps of salt... but it raises interesting questions (though it doesn't answer them
very well)...
wow, this post is way longer than i thought it would be... tomorrow is chris' last day in germany... that's
right, mr. coltsman is about to embark on a half-year round-the-world trip, covering 4 continents and a lot of
countries... i haven't had too much time to really reflect about it, but people at his going-away party last week
kept asking if i was sad... well, i'm a little sad, but i understand what he's doing and why he's doing it, and
i'm happy that he can do it. it won't be the last time i see him, and though we may not live in the same city
again, the last 3 years have been nothing but good times. i'll post pics of the parties and our last night
together in aachen (tomorrow night)...
well, after a long planning phase, a long prep phase and a short celebration, chris left germany on saturday.
he's in cape town, south africa now, bumming around for a week before his overland tour to nairobi... have a
great trip, chris, and godspeed.
other than that, my weekend was pretty uneventful... went to jason's place twice on saturday to eat, cuz his
parents were there (they were around for 3 weeks, until sunday), and his dad is pretty good in the kitchen. on
sat. night, i went there to have some steamed fish for the first time in, like, forever...
oh, last friday, i went with my roommates to celebrate thomas' birthday... his birthday was a while back, but
this was the only day we could coordinate together... what's worse, this present was actually for his birthday
last year, but somehow we just couldn't manage to get all 4 of us available on the same day...
oh, right, we went to phantasia land, a smaller and less fun version
of canada's wonderland...