Four years ago today I moved to Germany. Ugh, has it been 4 years already? Ach Du Scheisse! I’ve accomplished quite a lot in those 4 years I guess. I’m still not a ninja yet though. There is so much that needs to be done. I’ll start tonight with the “Tanz in den Mai”.

Scotland was cool. We had a great time. We stayed at the Ascot Guest House which was really nice and close to town. We went and saw The Frames again who were just coincidentally playing on M’s birthday. I went on a pub crawl with some locals I met in the Waverly pub off of High Road. We took a trip out to the countryside and spent some time at Loch Lomand. We also climbed to the top of Arthur’s Seat and hiked around in Holyrood Park.

There are lots of second hand shops in Edinburgh that are run by various charities. Any profits they make go to the charity’s recipients. Quite a few of these shops that had great deals on used CDs and books. Many of the normal record shops had new CDs and books on clearance for 3 to 5 pounds. What a deal!

I picked up Extra Width from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Pet Sounds from The Beach Boys. I had to sell both of these albums when I was starving and sober in Chicago. Glad to have them again. Both are classics.

I also met Hamish the Heilan’ Coo:

As an aside, I hate Blogger.com. Why am I still using it? Because I’m lazy and don’t feel like starting something new.

What the fuck!:

“But two Republican senators, Steve Odgen of Bryan and Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio, said they didn’t want Nelson’s name on the road that crosses their districts, citing the musician’s fondness for drinking and smoking, and active campaigning for Democratic candidates.”

Senators Ogden and Wentworth, I pray for your mortal souls. Don’t dis the Willie

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Mystery of German exploding toads: “Toads in an area of northern Germany are being killed off by a mysterious disease – they are exploding.”

Hmm. Do they have a permit to do that? Just asking.

Back from Edinburgh. We had a great time. I’ll write more on the weekend when I have time.

Next sunday is M’s 30th birthday. In honor of this grand occasion we are going to Edinburgh Scotland for an extended weekend stay in hopes of escaping the traditional “Klingelputzen”. I’m excited but I really don’t have time to think about it. Too busy, you see?

Here’s a joke I heard today. The punch line is in German so if you don’t get it, tough:

Jesus walks into a bar and as soon as he gets in the door an American recognizes him and rushes over.
“Oh Jesus! Wow!”
“Hello my son.”
“Say Jesus, I have this terrible pain in my elbow and I can’t play golf. Can you heal it?”
“Of course my son.”
Jesus lays his hand on the American’s elbow and pain is instantly gone.
“Oh wow! Thanks Jesus!”, says the American and runs off to play golf.
As Jesus makes his way across the room a Frenchman limps over to him.
“Bonjour Jésus! I ‘ave zees Terrible pain in my knee. I cannot play le Football. Can you please ‘elp me?”
“Bien sûr.”
Jesus touches the Frenchman’s knee and the pain is instantly gone and the Frenchman jumps and down.
“Zoot alors! Merci beaucoup Jésus!”, says the Frenchman and runs off to play football.
Jesus then makes his way to the bar and sits down next to a German. The German’s eyes get big and he quickly scoots his stool away from Jesus.
Jesus says, “My son, what is the matter?”
The German says, “Fass mich bloss nicht an! Ich bin 2 Wochen krankgeschrieben!“

From the New York Times Here:

In many ways, their lives are quite similar to those of middle-class young people from the former West Germany or even the United States. They watch “Friends,” “Sex and the City” and “The Simpsons,” dubbed in German. They have cellphones, they Google, they have traveled – Anna as far as China, and Sarah several times to America.

Ah Sperrmüll time again! This huge pile of junk piled up in front of my building today. Basically Sperrmüll is just junk that you would normally take to the dump but once a month they pick it up for you. I think in some cities you may have to pay for it to get picked up, but, as far as I know, in Lüneburg it is free.

There are always scavengers driving around and sorting through the junk to see if there is anything worth having. In the case above they are about to attempt to take this brown desk/table thingy somewhere. They will give up soon after and walk to the next pile. Still many drive around with small trailers attached to their cars or mopeds. If they find something interesting they throw it in back of the trailer and move to the next pile. I’ve heard many of the hunters come from Poland and make a nice profit repairing washing machines etc., then turning it around and selling them back home.

I myself have recovered perfectly functioning RAM chips, 3.5 floppy drives and IDE cables as well as 2 great designer chairs from the 60’s, a few small tables, lens caps, a power adapter for my camera and someone’s diary.

The last time I tried reading the diary my German wasn’t really good enough to understand much of it. Maybe I should try to find it and post some translations here.

Now playing: Neu!, Seeland

Update: A mere 12 hours later…

M is away in Ireland for a week so once again I have rebuilt Chillmost Studios and have transformed the apartment into a sonic palace. Well, there are no floating floors or base traps, no acoustical treatment on the walls, no vintage plate reverb chamber in the basement but I got vibe. Tons of it. I got cables all over the place. To the bedroom aka Amproom/Vocal booth 1 and to the bathroom aka reverb chamber/Vocal booth 2. Sends. Returns.

It looks like a snake pit but I love it. My neighbors are lucky I don’t have a drumset.

I went for a walk today to get a coffee and get some fresh air and exercise. Lo and behold what did I see? A Subway will be opening soon. Hmm, will it be a hit with the Lüneburger Jugend? Only time will tell.

Here are some other pictures I took today.

I found a good online German radio station via The Berlin Blogger: Motor FM out of Berlin. Of course if you were Berlin you could actually listen to it on that radio invention thingy. I don’t even know if there is a radio station in America that is this cool.
Check it out!