remember...my email addy is: serenity_now79@hotmail.com

use it friends, cheers~~~

being in munich has it's perks.

this morning i went to the deutsche museum of science and technology on the museum island. boy, what a cool place...i was there for about 5 hours! they have everything in there---the standard planes, train, and automobiles, but also chemistry, physics, biology, space travel, history of musical instruments (that was the best!), boats, submarines, machines, water wheels. you name it, it was in there! next i trudged around in the rain for about an hour, bought some stuff and watched people dancing in the front of a department store to advertise jennifer lopez's new fragrance, glow. i asked one of the girls if i wore it, would i be able to dance like j-lo? she said no, so i said i didn't want any. i was on my way back to the station when all of a sudden there was a sea of people completely blocking the way i needed go. i fought through the crowd, totally annoyed because it was pouring down rain...it took my nearly 20 minutes. when i got out to the street i was fuming! i said aloud to myself "what the HECK was that all about!", then i heard a voice say sheepishly "i think it's b/c of me". without looking i said "yeah right, you wish", then i heard a familiar chuckle, looked up and instantly went red in the face. the crowd was there for him. it was none other than maverick, lieutenant pete mitchell. we chatted for a bit, i told him i liked him best in risky business when he danced in his underwear and dress shirt, he told me he liked that part too, but his fave was being in those jets in top gun and running through an empty time square for vanilla sky. as he walked away he told me he liked my jacket, my bright hurt-your-eyes-orange raincoat. what can i say, tommy has good taste~~~

the most boring part of a flight attendant's job has to be running through the emergency procedures. how many times have the buckled that little fake seatbelt? or waved their arms up and down the aisles to indicate the exits? as soon as they hear the voice start the demo they're supposed to mime, their eyes go blank and they start thinking about how much they dislike doing it, since no one really listens anyway. i think that there are 2 types of passengers: those that listen, in case something new has been added to the lecture (in most cases usually not); and those that don't, b/c they think they know everything already. i myself am a listener (well, i listen to the demo), i try to make eye contact then and again, and throw in a smile or two. i want the flight attendants to know that at least one of the hundred and fifty on the plane is making their job worth while.

so now i am in münchen, official host of the oktöberfest! i walked around the town, after shoving my stuff into a locker at the train station (let's hope it's still there when i go back in a bit!), despite the rain and the slap-in-the-face cold weather it's a pretty nice place. i still have lots of exploring to do, but i'm on borrowed time down here, so i have to be selective. i was thinking of going to the museum of unusual things and a couple markets. sunday i am hoping to go to a really old monastery with some friends of katharina. should be sweet~~~

in berlin everyone's shoes seem to click. even the running shoes make noise when their wearers are walking! maybe they have a "no sneaking up" policy in berlin? that seems like a pretty good idea; when you buy new shoes, they install little tappers into the heel so that you can't silently get behind someone and scare the crap out of them. actually no, i don't vote for that policy b/c i like sneaking up on people, but not grandmas or grandpas. you can't sneak up on them b/c they might kick it right then and there...

i just got in from dinner and drinks with kat on my last night in berlin. man, we had such a laugh! she is super duper, if i may say so! i am so tired an need to get to sleep! catch ya later dudes...oh wait i almost forgot! i saw that "interesting" lady from the cafe again tonight. this time in a completely different part of town, she was wearing a blanket and singing next to a light post; she remembered me and suggested i try to play footie (soccer) with a red cabbage~~~

reading salinger's "catcher in the rye"...so far, so good. we'll see how it goes.

i forget what i did on saturday.

i woke up sunday morning to the sound of someone blowing their nose in the courtyard of kat's apartment complex. now, i say someone b/c it was one of those harsh non-gender specific blows. it was loud, long, and sounded like it must have hurt!! basically it was horrible and i don't wish that wake up call on anyone, not even...nevermind. sunday was an eventful day namely b/c it was election day and everyone was anxious to find out who the next chancellor of germany was going to be. my choice (if i'd had one) was edmund stoiber, definitely not gerhard schroeder...who ended up winning despite the fact that someone in his party referred to shrub (george w.) as hitleresque. what the?!? i met tina for brunch at a cafe in the eastern part of berlin. this place was very casual, couches everywhere, a bed and pictures or naked people hanging all over the walls. but they were classy pictures, you know...art. the deal was that you could have all the food you could eat for 3 euros...sweet! but, i fogot this was typical european breakfast: bread, cheese, jam, meat, and of course curry. who eats curry for breakfast?! i did. it was the only thing that hadn't been jabbed at by a thousand forks and spoons. about 4:30 this lady came into the cafe and started to set up this display at the table next to us. of course i had no idea what she was doing, but judging from the sideways glances and muffled chatter, i suspected it wasn't "normal", even for around here. since i didn't want to judge her and wished to know what was going on, i bit my lip, hoped she spoke english, and went over to her table. i wafted away the smoke billowing from somewhere in front of me, knocking over a stuffed dog sitting on an empty coffee can situated next to a post card and some cookie-cutters, and located the face of a pretty looking, forty-ish woman with blond hair and a cigarette dangling from her vodka soaked lips. her name was sara weisman...but only for awhile. her last incarnation had been amelia earhardt and before that andy kauffman. we talked about books that we'd both read and exchanged some suggestions. next we worked out a title for her book, she was an author as well! i asked her why she had all this set up and she told me only germans understand...i told her i didn't think she was weird, she told me i was of a higher intelligence b/c i bothered to come and talk to her instead of giving her shifty looks and talking about her. my friends told me they were leaving and since i was going to their place, i needed to go too. i wished her luck and she told me to look her up next time i was in berlin. "who will you be" i asked, but she had already disappeared behind the incense and tobacco emissions. went to tina and laura's for some election updates, laugh, and pizza. i had tuna and onion pizza...a commonality over here and despite my skeptisism, it was actually quite good. after a few hours we were all tired and i walked home.

monday i went for a walk around another part of berlin and met tina to go to the kudam....a big shopping street. we walked around for a bit, she was sick of the rain and i the snooty sales people. we caught the s-bahn back home and that was that. i didn't buy anything.
in the evening kat and i went out for dinner and a movie. i had some extremely german food--various types of rye bread, cheese, pretzels, and other 'interesting' things. we drank radler, beer and sprite (typical over here as well) in steins bigger than i've ever seen before. watched 'about a boy'...excellent film!! go see it if you can, then buy the soundtrack. i was introduced to badly drawn boy by my manx brother edward about a month ago and he's awesome. his music is superb! check it out.

tuesday was yesterday and i didn't do much except almost have my palm pilot destroyed by a crazy lady who insisted that the stylus (special palm pen) would fit, when in fact it wouldn't. she got it stuck and proceded to use all sorts of tools in attempts to get it out. scissors, knives, screwdrivers, paperclips...she was so stupid she eve tried a staple! i kept trying to tell her to get pliers, but she didn't know what this meant. i was freaking out! she kept banging it on the counter and cursing in german. she was so mad, i wondered if everything was okay at home! finally this other guy came with a little tool kit and i took the pliers and got it out in one try. phew! that was tuesday.

today i went back to the kudam in search of some special biotherm stuff. it's really a sad place...all these shops: dolce & gabana, zara, gucci, gap...millions must be spent there everday. yet, lingering in front of each huge department store, is a person stricken with some sickness or another asking for money. and they don't look like the beggars you see in vancouver, they're straight out of a national geographic article on 3rd world poverty. i felt awful as i walked past them down the street. i felt even worse on the way back having just dropped a load of cash on a gift for a friend; and though i hoped he would, i wasn't even sure he'd like it all that much. man it got the wheels in my brain cranking again about how i am so fortunate and have way more than i need. so many people have to have this or that, spending their paycheck before it even settles into the bank account without a thought, eh? well, i've been trying to think about it and so should y'all. gotta go out for dinner, it's my last night in berlin and i'm gonna zoo it up!

look out munich and oktöberfest here i come!!

updates to follow in the near future~~~