The Arabian Prince of Steal

The Prince of Steal, workin' on the herum.

My life, updated and neatly typed, for your pleasure. Criticism welcome, comments encouraged, and communication compulsory.

I have just finished my second semester of the german language. I can now express the most rudimentary of thoughts and yet reading childrens books is more difficult than reading long winded and complex chemisty publications. My latest lesson in the german language was trying to decipher data protocol jargon. I have been learning how one measures and digitizes analog signals, and then doing the programming for it too. You see? My life is full of adventure around the clock. My exam for german class in on Tuesday, and I have lots to study. I am considering whether I should even show up for the test. Chances are I am going to fail as I had little inclination to study the past month. Long lab hours of bad results puts me in a grey mood with little fervor for learning something new.

On the more fun side of life, I went to a birthday party a few days ago. It was also a costume party with the theme of fairy tales. The host, who was dressed up as Snow White, put a whole new spin on the innocent fairy tale that I remember. With a short skirt and lots of cleavage, it would be the Snow White every adult male wishes he could meet. Other characters at the party were Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping beauty, The Frog Prince, The “Burger King” King, Arabian Princesses, and even a Black Widow Princess (the costume looked like that of fancy stripper lingerie—the kind one sees in very expensive strip clubs—not that I have been in many). I came as the Arabian Prince, but looked more like a homeless Arabian prince with a blanket on my back, dishrag on my head, blanket for a cape, and a backwards lab jacket for a tunic. “Sleeping Beauty” even loaned me a pair of black leggings to really completely the picture. A handsome and well dressed prince was I. Is it any wonder I go home, alone, again and again?

I silently laughed at the party and how us men are really slobs. You could see the girls looking pretty and gorgeous and spending lots of time on their costumes. But the guys costumes had the look of someone who remembered to dress up five minutes before coming. A great example (besides me) was the “Burger King” King guy---who went out and bought a happy meal and then just put on the crown. He completed the look by wearing a wife beater t-shirt.

I also tasted many new shots at this party. One tasted like anise, one tasted like grape jelly, and another tasted of cough syrup. All were pretty weak, thank god, as everyone were drinking them like water. This was a good thing for other respects too. The last time I got a little wild and out of control, my boss from Abbott (in Chicago) asked me if I was really dancing on tables and breaking the law. I guess a good story travels fast, although for the record, I was never dancing on any tables, but I might have knocked one or two over. But this time there was no wild and out of control me. I woke up guilt free and with some pride leftover.

I made a half hearted attempt to check out airplane tickets for to come back on the Fourth of July, being its my favorite holiday. But the cheapest airplane tickets for the Saturday before and after the fourth was 900 dollars. A bit much for me right now. If anyone scouts a deal, let me know.

I just finished a couple of books, I think you all should know about. One was a romance book—The Time Traveler’s Wife sent to me by a good friend. Another was The Five People You Meet In Heaven. A bit unusual, spititualistic, but was so good I read the whole book in one day, and was up til 4am doing so.

Lufthansa and Lyon

Another traveling buddy of mine, but we had a slight disagreement.
She doesnt quite pay half, but a cheap date nevertheless.

Lyon Cathedral. Very Holy. I felt my sins burn away.
I feel quite cleansed and guilt-free now.

So one of the latest discoveries I have heard about is the Lufthansa.de webpage. More specifically the Lufthansa.de webpage that changes every Wednesday. On this particular day of the week they show destinations across Europe with roundtrip airfares for less then a hundred euros (less than 130 dollars). Being more of a spontaneous type of guy than a serious planner, this is the perfect way for me to travel. I look at the destinations on Wednesday and can be flying random european places by Friday and am back in Marburg by Monday morning.

So last week, this is exactly what I did. I went to Lyon, France--which is the second or third biggest city in France, right behind Paris. Paris wasnt available last weekend. Also available was Casablanca. I dont know a thing about Casablanca except for a few quotes from the original movie-- ''Of all the gin joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine.'' Thats all it takes though for me to want to go there. So this is my next destination of choice. But first Lyon.

No gay hotels for me this time though, the bed was small, but the accomodations much better. As for the weekend, it wasnt exactly the greatest time to travel for sight seeing. It rained most of the time and that made city seeing more of a chore than a fresh adventure. I also ate out from the vendors too. I love Farmers market vendors. There is something about haggling over already cheap prices just to try and save a half euro that appeals to me. Negotiations were quite limited however, since I only know about five french words, and most of those not mentionable in good company. For some reason learning French does not appeal to me--its one of those languages that everyone wants to learn cause it sounds fresh (and therefore, I don't). To me it sounds like they are biting their tongue with the tips of there teeth, and then trying to form intelligent words.

One thing I did try from the vendors was a type of spanish rice concoction that the chef makes in massive 4-5 foot pans. I ordered half a kilo and probably ended up eating only a 100 grams. What I though was chicken, was just chicken bones, shrimp was still in the shell and took 10 minuters per shrimp to figure you how to get it out (it still had the head and legs on it too), and whole clam shells that had no meat inside them. It looked real pretty, but not very edible. I wonder if its only suppose to sit in bowls around the house, to look tasty, much like plastic fruit does.

I also seen a puppet show there, which was quite comical. It was in French, and I accidently went to Childrens Show, so I was 1 of 8 adults with about 15 children. Luckily I was sitting next to a very pretty women, so I didnt get too many ''pervert why are you here'' looks from all the parents. I might have got one from the pretty women though, but I dont remember. I took some video of it, so when I compress the video, I will post it up here on the blog and share some 'French culture'' with you.

I was a lap warmer for a cat for a little while though. I set on a bench to enjoy one of the many vistas around the city and a city cat nonchalantly came up and sat on my lap. Like we were best friends for lifetime. (What cant this ever happen to me with women?) So me and my new buddy sat on the bench for a half hour or so. Hmm purring and me petting. I then made the mistake of trying to be playful and touched its paw, where the city cat then decided we were the greatest of enemies and sank his paws and teeth into my hand. With screech like a little girl, I sent the cat flying. It landed on its feet, gave me a backwards fleeting look, and then cantored off. Hmm, I think. Hmm. Off I go, to wash my bleeding hand. Wounded by a common house cat--what next?

Other than that there wasnt too much adventures in Lyon, just lots of sightseeing. The church there I have to admit was pretty amazing. It enclosed two complete church halls, with one right on top the other and both easily fifty feet high--both adorned with massive white marble angels-- looking down on me--silently shaking their heads I'm sure.

So I dont know when the next trips comes--or where it will be, but when I do go, you will be the first to hear about it.

Your happy-go-lucky man of steal kinda guy.