Look at your reflection in the mirror. You're a creature of the night Michael, just like out of a comic book! You're a vampire Michael! My own brother, a goddamn, shit-sucking vampire. You wait 'till mom finds out, buddy!
January is almost over and it’s 44 degrees out. It’s supposed to be in the low 40s almost all week. I am in no way complaining. On the contrary, every day it’s like this is one less day I have to deal with snow and the aftereffects that comes with it.
Dumped a bunch of money into my car yesterday. I got new front brakes, new shocks and new struts. Hopefully that makes it feel a little better than it has the last few weeks. The downside is it wasn’t cheap. I’m glad I got our tickets to Germany paid off because I just put half of that right back on the card. I’m trying really hard to cut off all unnecessary spending until after Germany.
Only 43 days until we leave. It’s coming fast, even if the last week or so has felt like it plodded along. I need to focus on my German for the next month. I need to put down the controller and pick up the pencil again.
Other than all that, it’s business as usual in Minnesota.
My car’s temperature gauge bottomed out at -9 this morning, which is actually the first subzero reading yet this winter. That’s pretty unheard of around here. Couple that with that fact we have no more than a dusting of snow on the ground and we’re having a crazy winter in Minnesota indeed.
I should mention last weekend marked the one-year anniversary of when Kristin and I first started hanging out, outside of German class. Our first unofficial date was seeing Black Swan at Rosedale and eating at Big Bowl. It would a short month later before we would start dating, so look for more on that next month!
I’ve started working out again, or at least, trying to work out again. As per usual, my back is giving me a spot of grief, but I’m taking it easy at this point. I’m sticking to cardio by riding the bike and swimming. I need to lose a few pounds before Germany, or at least get used to walking everywhere.
Kristin and I bought our tickets to Germany last weekend! Pretty excited now that it’s a reality. All the plans and ideas can finally be put in motion and made concrete. We leave in mid-March for seven days (plus two for travel). More updates as the date gets closer.
I’ve been thinking of pushing my lease out an extra month when it comes up at the end of April. I know the next couple of months will fly by, so I don’t want to get behind with all that while planning for Germany.
We went to see The Muppets over the weekend and I have to say it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in the theater in a long time. Of course it helps that I’m currently going through a little Muppets phase right now.
Happy new year! Hope you new years was fun and safe. Krisitin and I spent it watching The Big Bang Theory marathon and playing video games. We went to Toys R Us beforehand, ate dinner at Chili’s, cause we’re adventurous, and came home to avoid the shitty weather that eventually hit. Pretty uneventful, but exactly how we both wanted it.
The new year should hopefully be much better than the last. We’re going to Germany in March, I hope to buy a new car in late March/early April, and I’ll need to move at some point too. My lease is up at the end of April, but I may extend it a month or two so I’m not running around, committing to a place I’m going to hate just cause I needed to be out.
So Germany. We’re going to Hamburg in mid-March to stay for a week with my friend Jodi and her husband. I’m planning on buying the tickets this weekend. Looking at the flights, good lord are we in for a treat. Best flight is three stops: MSP to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Hamburg. Luckily the first and last flights are pretty quick and the travel time looks to be about 14 hours total.
Plans while in Germany? We’re keeping it pretty fluid. I don’t want to have a bunch of big plans to travel here and there and wear myself out like I did in London (which was great, don’t get me wrong). Since we have a home base in Hamburg, I think we might take several day trips out to smaller towns/cities. Good news is, unlike London, we’ll have internet access most of the time we’re there. Expect daily (or more) updates.
So until March, I’m just plodding through life. I’m getting all of my German books out, and I need to get back up to the Y. Between both of those, the next couple of months should go pretty quickly.
So Xmas weekend went pretty well. I didn’t get much of a chance to see friends for more than a couple of hours here and there, so I apologize if I missed anyone or didn’t get to hang all that much. You’re always welcome to come up here anytime.
My parents were incredibly generous in terms of Xmas gifts, and for that I thank them. I got an assortment of video games, movies and books. Now I just need time to dig through everything.
Even though the week is a short week, I’m already over it. It’s pretty amazing how much bullshit people can pack in to three short days, especially when we’re short staffed like crazy. Next week is going to be mad. We get Monday off, which cuts out another day toward deadlines. Ah the life of a glorified Kinko’s employee.
I watch so many movies in a year that it’s hard to remember when the majority were released. I rarely go to the movies, and most of the films I saw this year I knew were crap going in (Conan anyone?). There were a few standouts though; movies I kind of (and in one case did) go apeshit over. I can think mainly of three:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. C’mon, it’s Potter, man. Of course it’s going to make the list. Loved it. Got choked up in parts. Had a few issues with it. Overall though, it was a great conclusion to the story. Just wish they could have spent a little more time with the backstory of Dumbledore and his brother. Also wished they wouldn’t have glossed over some of the bigger character’s deaths.
Hanna. Really wanted to see it in the theater, but waited for it to come on DVD. Rented, watched, bought it on Blu-ray the very next day. The soundtrack is amazing, and the ending is just as unnerving as the opening scene. I thought about this one long after watching it for the first time.
World on a Wire. Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s lost sci-fi epic from 1973, restored. Like most other Fassbinder films, it takes a while to get going, and it never really makes all that much sense, but that’s a large part of its charm. Criterion is releasing it on blu-ray in February, and I am stoked.
Honorable Mentions Thor. I liked Thor well enough once I got over all the casting decisions and costume designs. It was pretty much the best way they could have introduced this rather awkward comic book character.
Captain America. Along the same lines as Thor. I actually enjoyed the set up to him becoming Captain America more than the battle against Red Skull.
Black Swan. Disturbing but highly engaging. Kristin and I saw this on our unofficial first date back in January. She just recently found the ticket stub in the pocket of her winter coat. Are you barfing yet?
Following up from my last post on my absolute favorites discovered in 2011, there were a few more records that got some pretty generous playtime throughout the year. Here are the best of the rest:
M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Magical record. Lush is a word I could use to describe it. To me, this is what 80s music would sound like today if it would have been allowed to continue and progress through the 90s.
Mastodon – The Hunter. I kind of gave up on Mastodon fairly early on in the career. All their records wound up sounding the same. The Hunter, while definitely still Mastodon, has enough of a twist to engage me once again.
Campaign – Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. Campaign is absolutely my favorite punk/hardcore/whatever band going right now. It’s just a shame they’ve only put out a handful of EPs to date. They’re from Atlanta but sound very much like they belong in Gainsville. Heartfelt.
Jupiter Jones – Jupiter Jones. One of the only German bands I’ve found in a genre I like (ie-non-techno/industrial). I believe they’re from Hamburg, and I listen this every time I’m in a German mood. By far their best record yet. I can even understand a good portion of what they’re saying.
Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys! Slower and more moody than their previous records, Elbow still manage to captivate me. It’s a shame they don’t have more of a following here in the US, given the success of similar bands like Coldplay.
The year is almost over. While 2011 saw the release of several records that received ample playtime into my ears, there are only a handfull of records that I would say I wore out, digitally speaking. These are the select few:
Kvelertak – Kvelertak. I have no idea how you pronounce their name. I also have no idea what they are screaming about. Whatever it is, it’s in Norwegian, and I have a hard enough time keeping up with German to care to find out. I’m going to guess partying and zombies are in there somewhere, probably in multiple songs. Regardless, I took a random chance on this in iTunes one day, and I seriously listened to this non-stop thereafter for the next couple of weeks easy. I would say this is my record of the year.
Young Widows – Old Wounds & In And Out Of Youth And Lightness. I’ve had Young Widows’ first record forever and knew what they were all about. I forget what prompted me to pick up Old Wounds earlier this year, but the first song definitely hooked me. While Old Wounds had me from the start, In And Out Of Youth And Lightness took quite a bit to grow on me. Slower and darker than Old Wounds, it has a certain feeling that I looked forward to listening to on the way home from work over most of the summer and fall. Both records just recently left my car’s CD player. I imagine they won’t be gone for long.
Sims – Bad Time Zoo. Doomtree – No Kings. I like very little hip-hop. The stuff I do like is far from what I typically hear in cars booming down the street. Is it underground? No idea. Both Sims and the larger Doomtree crew he’s a part of are very pleasing to my ears though. I love the beats and the flow in the majority of the songs. I suppose it helps they are from Minneapolis, but I honestly listen to both of these records on repeat around the apartment and at work. I even went so far as to buy No Kings on double LP. I suppose when it comes to hip-hop, I like what I like, and I like the Doomtree crew.
