June 2003 Archives

Once again I did absolutely nothing during the day yesterday. I did eat lunch at the Maurer W½rstelstand down the street from me, where this Austrian guy kept talking to me about his day in hardcore Viennese dialect, so that I only understood about half he was saying. I just stood there and ate hoping he wouldnÌt ask me anything.

At night I picked up Kimmie and we drove to BillyÌs, where we sat around for an hour or two, after which we picked up Kerstin and Natalie with Daniel, who had joined us. We then went to Lukas (this is getting old!) and sat around a bit. Then Natalie and I went to KerstinÌs house for another one of her great house parties. I fell asleep during some movie and woke up around 3:15, after which I drove Natalie home and then went home myself and went to sleep.

Today I got up at around eleven, sat around a bit, and now IÌm at my dadÌs office to use his T3 internet. Tonight IÌm probably going to end up at Lukas again÷

I did almost nothing yesterday during the day except for tank up, wash, and vacuum the car. At nine I met Kerstin and Natalie at KerstinÌs house after a horribly aggravating ride up Hñhenstraœe, where I drove in a line of around twenty cars because some idiot was going like half the speed limit.

Anyway, we picked up Kimmie and went to Merry Monk. I ordered food there, and after awhile, Thorsten, Andrej, Pat, and K-ta showed up. After another hour or two we went to Lukas for a few hours. Then Kerstin, Thorsten, Pat, and I dropped Natalie off at her house and then went to KerstinÌs house and sat around and talked until around four.

IÌm in my last week here now.

Tonight I drove over to WebsterÌs and picked Thorsten up. Then we dropped off two of his friends and went to BillyÌs, where I stayed about an hour or so while he went somewhere else. Then I went up to Charlie PÌs for about five minutes, and that was about it.

When I came home last night I was going to update this weblog with the events of the entire last week, but then I realized I had forgotten most of it. So, after piecing things together I now actually remember.

LetÌs see÷ Wednesday night I picked up Thorsten downtown, and after a quick stop at BillyÌs and an even shorter stop at Lukas we drove to the Millennium City entertainment complex and played pool with Kerstin, Natalie, and Pat. Then I dropped Thorsten off at his house and went to the ÏCircle of TreesÓ (some place in the middle of nowhere overlooking Vienna) with Kerstin and Natalie. We sat around there awhile and then I dropped them both off at NatalieÌs house.

Thursday night I chilled with Thorsten and his college friends at a dorm at Webster University, which is an English-speaking university here in Vienna. Around midnight we went to Donauinselfest, which was a four-day festival on the horribly long island that splits the actually Danube and the New Danube, which is a fake river that was dug for flood control. Anyway this annual festival is free and the largest open-air festival in Europe. We hung around there until two or so and then went home.

Friday I know I ended up being at Lukas with Thorsten, Daniel, and Natalie. I guess I was at BillyÌs before that.

Saturday I ended up being at Lukas with Natalie and Daniel, and then we went to DanielÌs house.

Sunday night I took public and went to BillyÌs where a few of my friends were at. One of my friends' friend is a U.S. Marine, and he took us toðthe bar on their compound. I didnÌt even know there are U.S. Marines here, but I guess there are seventeen to protect the U.S. Embassy.

Monday night started at Aristo with Natalie, Kerstin, Kimmie, and Pat. Thorsten joined in later on the way to Lukas, where we stayed pretty late.

And finally, last night Kerstin had a miniature house party at her house, and I hung out with her, Natalie, Kimmie, and Thorsten. Around midnight we went to McDonalds and then we went home.

I have pictures from the last two nights up on my pictures site.

I havenÌt died yet, IÌve just been too lazy to post anything. And it gets worse after I skip a few day because then I know I have to write about several days and that just makes me lazier. And now I have to go somewhere so IÌm not writing any more now.

I'm still waiting to find out what's going on tonight... Gah...

I went to Midas today. They took three hours and charged more than the car is worth, but now my brakes don't make funny noises anymore.

Tonight was actually the best night in a while. I went to Nightfly's with Natalie and Stani, and then to the quarry with Natalie. We only stayed there twenty minutes or so, but it was a pretty good night.

Now I can get a few hours of sleep before having to get up at around eight to go to Midas and get the car's brakes fixed.

When I got back last night I was going to post something but then randomly fell asleep on the couch until 3:30, after which I was too tired to do anything. Last night was another pretty uneventful night, but it sure beat Sunday night. I met a few people at Billy's and sat there for a few hours.

I got a laugh out of a chalkboard there that reads: "Learn to drink here! Just ask staff for details!" I left around 12:15 and got home around one.

I have to do so much with my grandmother's car that I?m using. Last night the front left turn signal randomly failed, so I have to get that replaced today. And tomorrow I'm probably going to have to sit at Midas the whole day while they fix the brakes, which currently sound like someone scratching a chalkboard.

Once again tonight is doomed to be a failure. I haven't heard of anything going on. I'm going to go downtown anyway though.

Wow, tonight was even worse than last night! What the hell is happening!? I actually got home before midnight! This canÌt be good.

People are actually reading my weblog again... That's good.

I actually updated the time zone setting so that the entries here from Viennaðwill beðstamped with the time I wrote them here, which is six hours ahead of EST... Actually I think it changed the time of all my entires... Whatever... Guess Xanga doesn't support my frequent jumping of time zones.

Last night was just about the most depressing Saturday night IÌve had in ages. I arrived downtown around ten to find BillyÌs virtually empty. I drove over a few hundred feet to Absolut Bar, where a few of my friends were, but they decided to go home after ten minutes. Now I was pretty much stuck. So I went back to BillyÌs and was horribly passive and listened to a few of my recently-made friends talk for a few hours, after which I drove home. TodayÌs Sunday. I donÌt think IÌve gone out a single Sunday night since I got here, so the prospects arenÌt good. But maybe a miracle will happen. WeÌll see÷

Damn, IÌm horribly depressed right now.

Last night I was at BillyÌs for about an hour, followed by Lukas. It was a pretty uneventful evening, but it wasnÌt bad.

Sucks... DonÌt it? Yeah÷ I thought I was all smart today and laid two pair of silk boxers outside a window to dry, since it was horribly hot out and at the time there was no wind. Little did I know that it would randomly pick up a few hours later and blow them away. As soon I noticed I went downstairs and started hunting for them. Of course there were all these people around talking, and I felt like such an idiot searching around in the bushes. I found one pair on top of a bush, and later found the other pair unrecoverable in a rain gutter. I probably could climb over and get it, but IÌm not risking my life for one pair of boxers.

Tonight will probably consist of anotherðtypical alumni party.

The good news: It finally cooled off a few degrees today. The bad news: The humidity went up, making it feel just about the same.

ItÌs Friday night÷ My dad is using the car until around ten tonight, so IÌm trying to figure out whether I should wait until then and drive or take public earlier.

Last night was short. I basically went to BillyÌs for an hour or so with Kerstin and Natalie. The highlight of the evening was when I found out BillyÌs had replaced Schloœgold with Becks as their alcohol free beer. ItÌs 0.5L instead of 0.33L, the price remained the same, and it tastes a lot better.

I spent four to five days in Germany. ThereÌs not much to say to that besides that I reconfirmed a few things about Germans, such as that they are horribly unfriendly compared to the average Austrian. Salespeople in stores wonÌt even look up from what they are doing when you purchase something. All they do is say like Ïone fiftyÓ or whatever you owe them and then they go back to their magazine or to talking with their colleagues.

Tuesday night I kicked of Vienna Trip Part II with another party at PaddyÌs, followed by sitting outside of Flex. It was all right. Last night I went to the quarry and it was fun as usual. I got there horribly early (eight) but it beat sweating at home. Rumor has it there is another one Saturday night.

I went swimming today at the local pool. I swam for about twenty minutes and then babe-watched for three hours. There were none, however, making the whole effort somewhat questionable. I have no clue what IÌm going to do tonight.

And it's still hot as hell out!

Not much new today... I took my dog to some place because weÌre flying to Germany tomorrow morning. Last night was pretty fun, there were a lot of alumni out. It's hotter than ever out.

This damn heat is killing me. I donÌt have any official numbers but I guess it was around 34ÉC (around 93ÉF) today. And thatÌs in the shade and you know how it can get when you factor in the sun and the humidity.

I spent the day doing absolutely nothing once again. My mom told me to get her a new battery for her cell phone; so I went to Media Markt. You know how much they want for one damn battery!? Ÿ74.99 (around $89)! I could get a new phone for that price! So we decided to cancel that idea.

Starting Friday my still-in-school friends will be out of school, so IÌm hoping part two of this Vienna vacation (once I get back from Germany on Tuesday) will be tons of fun.

Tonight÷ No clue÷ I supposedly heard thereÌs something going on, but I have no clue. IÌll probably find out around 8:30 or so.

No one goes to Hooters in Vienna... at all! I went there last night with a few of my friends and it was just absolutely horrible. The interior looked like an Irish Pub or maybe a ski lodge... I don't know what their desired affect was, but it was pretty shady. There used to be three in Vienna (one of them even in a traditional wine-making neighborhood!), but like I said, no one goes to Hooters in Vienna, and I wouldn't be surprised if this last one were to be gone soon as well. It's two blocks from the main downtown street, and I mentioned last night  how there probably would be business if people knew it was there. A friend of mine told me that there was a large neon sign two blocks down advertising it, upon which I said "you mean that sign?" (pointing to a large broken sign resting under the stairwell)

They had one of those laminated "specials" sheets, and I guess it was Corona night or something, so a few of my friends wanted to take advantage of it so they ordered from this menu. However, the one waitress on duty (therefore there was only one Hooters girl in the entire restaurant) told us that menu was only for January and February! Why the hell do they still have it out then? Actually, I took a look at the menu afterwards and as far as I could tell only one of the things on that specials menu was restricted to January and February, so I guess the waitress had no clue what she was doing.

Then some of my friends ordered something else from the waitress, who, after consulting her manager, told them that they were out of that. Gah, what a horrible Hooters. I ordered mineral water since I was driving, for which I was charged like &eur;1.80 (around $2.12) for 0.25L (less than what's in a normal soda can).

When I was driving my friend Thorsten home we were being followed by this blue BMW for like ten minutes. Every little side road we turned into this BMW turned into. Thorsten kept telling me it was an unmarked police car, so I wasn't too happy about it. About a block before I got to Thorsten's place we finally turned different directions. However, right after I dropped Thorsten off, I felt like I was being followed by a real police car. It also followed me through several turns, and I finally lost it after I barely made it through an intersection before a light turned red.

Picture off Hooters Austria's web site

You know what I hate? Machines that ÏsmarterÓ than they can handle. We have this Epson printer here, for example, whose black cartridge was empty. The ÏsmartÓ printer didnÌt think it was empty however, and itÌll only slide the cartridge tray out when it thinks the cartridges are empty. So I ended up having to make the printer clean itself, and then I tried to quickly replace the cartridge while it was exposed. Of course this horribly failed and I ended up jamming the whole thing up.

We also had this fancy coffeemaker a few years ago that we had to trash because the machineÌs weight sensor was telling the machine that there was no coffee pot on it, so nothing worked.

Yeah÷ that was my random opinion article of the day.

ItÌs still horribly hot here÷ I canÌt take it! I already feel tired as hell from last night, and the heat isnÌt helping. I canÌt even fall asleep in this heat.

Damn, what a long night. I got back at like six after partying for more than seven hours with AISÌs Class of 2003, which graduated last night. First we were at like the old AKH until like two, after which we walked to Lukas downtown. At five, when I decided to leave, I had to walk all the way back to my car, which took me like twenty minutes. Then I already got into tons of traffic jams. I went to sleep around 6:15, but woke up around nine, when some people came to inspect our windows. Then I managed to sleep for another three hours or so.

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I have absolutely nothing to do today÷ Gahhhhh!

I found out that I have been accepted to Syracuse University today. I actually just called up the admissions office to see whether they had received my college transcript from Utica, which they had. Then I asked whether they could email me their decision, upon which I was told to hold while the supervisor was asked. Then I was told that I was accepted. I was all suave and cool so I was like ÏOK, thanks÷Ó I need to find a party tonight!

I got into SU! (Details later)

My voice is back! Weeeew! It was gone for like four days. I guess that magical salt from Germany does work. Anyway, I did absolutely nothing last night, but it was good to catch up on some missed sleep after that crazy night on Saturday. I hope IÌll find somebody to go out with tonight, although IÌm going to take the car because the public nights are costing me too much. Otherwise nothing much is new÷ I got to call up SU right now and ask them whether they finally got my college transcript.

Yesterday night was another wild party night. It lasted really long and I took the last night bus home which was at like 4:30. Everybody on that bus fell asleep. The driver ended up waking us up! Yeah÷ it was great. IÌm horribly worn out÷ I donÌt know if IÌll go out tonight.

Oh, and I havenÌt had a voice since Wednesday night. I donÌt know why, but itÌs horribly annoying. I went to the pharmacy and they have me these tabs, but they are such a joke. I looked on the ingredients list and all they contain is ÏspecialÓ salt from somewhere in Germany.