I'm off! A quick nap, and then catching a taxi to the train station at 5:15 am!

Ich wunsche euch alle eine FROHLICHE WEIHNACHTEN und auch einen
GUTEN RUTSCH!
(a Merry Christmas and a good "slide" into the New Year!)

Until 2006!

I spend way too much time on this site.
Warning: do not go on this site late at night like me, and then read all of the emotional rescue stories or memorials about the dogs that have died. . .it is a bad idea! But if you want to see LOTS of cute dogs, like this one:



Then I highly recommend it!

Oh, and for cat lovers (which I am as well), there's Catster!

I just found out that the Baja classes I took over the summer two years ago doesn't count towards GE credits at Davis. WHY?!? Why don't I think of making sure of these things sooner?!?!?

So when I get back, in order to graduate, I'll have to take about three of four ling. classes, who knows how many German (hopefully not too many), one upper division lit class, and TWO science/engineering GE classes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Sucks with a capital "S". But at least I can probaby get into nutrition and health or something super-easy, since I have first pass priority registration.

PS-over Christmas break I'm reading the story of Moses, as written by Thomas Mann. Pretty interesting! Except whenever I can't quite understand what I'm reading, I keep thinking back to the plot of Prince of Egypt. So far the two stories aren't that similar.

I watched another movie tonight, since I have so much time on my hands.

LA Confidential--SO MUCH better than Ghost, lol. It's one of the few cop-shooting-gangster-bad-guys movies that I really liked. Probably because it actually had an interesting story and interesting characters along with the movie, which is pretty rare!

The only drawback--I totally didn't get the plot twists. I guess I'm just not used to movies that make you think that much, lol. So will somebody please go see it and give me a very, very detailed plot summary? I'll give you 5 bucks. . . .

Tonight I watched the movie Ghost, which I borrowed from Cindy because it's the last movie of hers that I haven't seen yet. The following rant probably may not be of much interest to you, whether you've seen the movie or not, just to warn you.

The movie Ghost is just an excellent example of the typical American movie themes, and it drives me crazy. The main character, played by Patrick Swayze (who cannot act, he should have just stuck to Dirty Dancing), gets shot by a mugger at the beginning of the film. He stays on Earth basically to save his girlfriend from getting murdered and of course at the same time get revenge (a much too common theme in these Hollywood-types of movies. Come on, who needs revenge? It's pointless). So in the process of protecting his girl, he causes the (somewhat accidental) death of both of the guys planning the murder, and they both go to hell. But once everything's taken care of, Patrick Swayze goes to Heaven. Wait, he just caused the death of two men, and he gets to go to Heaven? It just makes no sense! The only part I liked was Whoopi Goldberg, even though she played a very stereotypical role.

Sometimes I get cranky and decide to take movies very personally. This is an example of one of those times.

So I have two days to decide if I want to move to Berlin to study for my second semester, instead of staying here in Göttingen for the whole year.

Pros of moving:
Meet new people, way more stuff to do, experience of living in an enormous city (it's like NYC)

Cons of moving:
What if I don't make new friends, hard to find own living arrangement, moving all my crap, getting adjusted to whole new school and city

So it seems like there are more cons, which is why I'm kind of thinking of just letting the deadline pass by and not worrying about it...but does anyone else have a strong feeling about this? Ha ha, I'm just not sure! And I'd like to hear what people think.

PS-it's snowing outside! Like HARDCORE! It's been snowing since I woke up, and it's so exciting!!

PPS-my hair smells like cigarettes. That's the annoying thing in Germany (probably all of Europe, or maybe just everywhere other than Californa, lol), you take a shower before a party, but what's the point, because then you get back and all your clothes and your skin and your hair smell like cigarette smoke! But what can ya do.
We had a Xmas party in my dorm last night, and I ended up staying there until the party ended, at 5:30 am! I don't think I've ever done that before. But it was a good way to start the break, which will be extremely boring until I fly out to Scottland on Xmas Eve. Until then, I have a week in which EVERYONE will be gone!

Classes are done for break! Yay! But it sucks here, because the semester doesn't end until after Xmas break. So before break ends I have to (cuz I know you're all very interested in this):

1. Read a "short" story by Thomas Mann that's 69 pages
2. Read a novella, Der Sandmann, that's 77 pages
3. Write an essay on what I think "European culture" is (does such a thing even exist?)
4. Read a short essay by Freud about the meaning of dreams
5. Figure out what I'm going to say for a presentation on Karl Kraus (yeah, I don't know who he is either)

AND buy presents for my family before I leave on Xmas Eve! I guess it could be worse. But I'm gonna have to put my nose to the...mill wheel? Grind stone? Something like that, if I want to be able to relax when my fambly comes.

So this is random....
For one of my lectures this week I'm reading the original novella, Traumnovelle, that the movie Eyes Wide Shut is based on. Who knew that film was actually based on something?

Other pieces of news:
-I saw Chronicles of Narnia on Thursday--it was alright. The special effects weren't actually that good in my opinion, outside of the talking animals (but that's the only part that really matters anyway!). And YAY for ASLAN! He was definitely the coolest character, just as he should be. But talk about obvious allegories. It's interesting to think about how you read these books as a kid and have no idea what the story's referencing.

-My bike has a flat tire. Hopefully it will get repaired tomorrow by the Bike Man (aka Dietmar) tomorrow, since it sucks to walk. Everything takes about twice as long.

-One aspect of German culture I will never like: Germans have NO CONCEPT WHATSOEVER of lines. As in waiting in line. They just don't do it. I was at a Christmas party last night, and I had to wait half an hour in a huge throng of people all trying to push to the front, like at a rock concert or something, just so I could get my jacket from coat-check! There was even a girl in a wheelchair next to me, politely asking if people could let her through, and everyone pretty much ignored her. It was out of control, and you really had to fight if you ever wanted to get to the front. This isn't the first time I've experienced this. What is this, people?? Isn't Germany generally considered a civilized society?? That's all about that. Cammy already had to hear this rant on the phone, haha.

And that is all that I can think of now. Except that I am SO EXCITED about CHRISTMAS! I get to see my FAMILY! CAN YOU FEEL MY EXCITEMENT?

Apparently my parents are actually sending some copies of this pic out as a Xmas card:



The painting in the background is a pretty crappy self-portrait I did of myself back in freshman year Beginning Painting. It makes me laugh though. Why do they get to do a funny card the one year that I'm gone?

Amusing experience:

Having virtually your entire German as a Foreign Language class, including the teacher, burst out laughing when they hear that the voting age in the US is 18, but the drinking age is 21.

It is pretty funny when you think about it.

I don't know if people in the US watched this show or not, but apparently there was a special comedy show on TBS about global warming, and for one of the skits, Will Ferrell reprised his famous role as W. Bush making a public service announcement.
The clip's a little long, but I guarantee it's amusing!
Ferrell as the W

I'm going to Berlin tomorrow! So excited! It's my second time, but last time was definitely the tourist experience, whereas this time, hopefully it will be a little more, uh, "underground"? I don't know the right word for that. But yeah. I'm taking a train all by myself (first time), to stay for a couple nights with my friend Tony (Banando, for those of you that know him)! That's right, another member of the Monrovia Clan that chose to flee to Germany this year!

Should be fun--i just hope I don't regret all the work I have to do when I get back! (Don't think about it...don't think about it....)