Friday won't get here soon enough. I've hit that point right before you know that you're getting close to the time where you have a break from work-related responsibilities and for all intents and purposes your brain just all like, "Fuck it...let's just just put this shit in neutral and coast til the end of the week." Unfortunately, your boss probably isn't all too crazy about the idea and I tend to go with the party that signs my paychecks (which I suppose in this case I mean it more figuratively, since I quite literally don't get a signed paycheck).
Since I haven't updated in a few days, I'll give you a rundown of what I've been up to:
1.) Book Club Kickoff: If you're like me (and I have a sneaking suspicion that many of you are *wink*) then you woke up one day only to realize that you're in your late 20s and you have no discernable "adult" hobbies (e.g. monocle/top hat collecting, acquiring a mortgage, playing some fancy sport like lacrosse (I obviously don't know what the hell I'm talking about here), gourmet cooking, buying top shelf liquors, giving birth, etc.) On the one hand...man, eff all that ess in the ay. On the other hand, the eye rolling and deep sighing from your peer group tends to take a toll even on the strongest of us.
To combat this, Ms. X and I founded the Fiuymi Book Club. Now, Google Translate informed me that the word fiumi is Italian for "rivers", which is utterly irrelevant. However, fiuymi is a bad-ass and foreign/exotic-looking acronym for the phrase "fake it until you make it". I'm no Oprah (though I think if we were both at a party here in Germany, I could probably convince a few people) but if there's one thing that I know, it's that a book club falls under the category of "Stayin' Classy".
The members of the Fiuymi Book Club currently have no plans to read/discuss books any time soon. But that's ok. Mostly the plan is just to watch movies that are based from books. Mindo you, this is just a really loose plan, because we'll watch about anything. Also, we're gonna go bowling and try out as many brunch spots in the city as possible. Actually, the whole book club thing is a cover (and hence, the whole "fake it until you make it" concept). It just sounds so much better when you tell someone that you're off to a book club meeting. Then they're all like, "Ooh...you're literate...fancy!" but you're really off to play beer pong or wrassle catfish with yer bare hands.
That said, at our inaugural meeting, we found ourselves watching Sex and the City: The Movie(!), which was awkward as I've seen very little of Sex and the City: The Show(!). Still, it fit in with our (very broad) general plan, since it's a movie based on a tv show based on a book. Sadly, I feel like I identify with the four protagonists of Sex and the City about as much as I identify with the four main characters in the novel Little Women -- which is to say, not at all (not counting the time when I died from scarlet fever -- haha that's a book joke).
So for however long it was that the movie lasted, that's about how long I complained out loud to the screen about how much this movie sucks balls. Refreshment-wise, Ms. X whipped up a delicious "goat curry...except with lamb instead of goat." Her words, not mine. It was the best curry I've ever eaten in Germany. Then we split a bottle of Asti, which was remarkable, because Ms. X doesn't normally drink alcohol.
2.) ETCH is Back! (Sadly only temporarily): The same night of the Fiuymi Book Club premiere, I got a text from my girl/co-troublemaker Etch. She wanted to come up to Hamburg for a visit and to attend Schmiddy's birthday party on Friday and wanted to know if she could crash at our place for the week. And, of course, I said yes -- because she's fucking awesome.
How awesome is she? I went to work Monday and when I got back that night she had cleaned my room (quite thoroughly, may I add). Yesterday, she cooked dinner. Tonight? Who knows?! Alright, she's awesome for many other reasons besides that and I don't expect my guests to clean the apartment, but if you've ever seen my room...well...let's just say that even I don't wanna clean it (and I mostly don't).
3.) tv.gusto: I've mentioned before that we don't have a TV in the apartment. This doesn't bother me as much as you think it would, but mostly because German television is just incredibly shitty. So when Schmidt introduced me to this thing called Zattoo (free streaming TV for your computer, without needing a TV-card) I wasn't really in a hurry to install it. I got around to it last weekend and spent some time watching tv.gusto, aka the German version of Food Network.
I was not impressed and would sum up the experience as beschissen, which is German...for shitty. It probably has less to do with German cuisine itself, which -- though somewhat heavy on pork-usage -- is not so bad...honest. The only "good" show that I caught was called "Guglhupf" -- which leo.org has informed me is the (a?) German word for bundt cake...but might as well just mean "Cooking with a really old German Lady", which isn't exactly my idea of fun. If you've ever met an old German "Omi"...then you know what I'm talking about.
Because if I were going to spend hours in the kitchen cooking with old ladies...it totally wouldn't be these two biddies:
Simply because they don't hold a candle to Paula Deen:
4.) Planning my Vacay: Much-needed and long overdue, I'm taking a week off to travel to Tübingen (where Frosty is living these days). My plan? I wouldn't call it a "plan", but rather more like a general outline involving (in no particular order): not working, sleeping in, seeing stuff in a kind of touristy way (I've never been to Baden-Württemberg) and getting some sweet, sweet lovin'. I'm open for pretty much anything that brings me closer to any of these goals.
Since I haven't updated in a few days, I'll give you a rundown of what I've been up to:
1.) Book Club Kickoff: If you're like me (and I have a sneaking suspicion that many of you are *wink*) then you woke up one day only to realize that you're in your late 20s and you have no discernable "adult" hobbies (e.g. monocle/top hat collecting, acquiring a mortgage, playing some fancy sport like lacrosse (I obviously don't know what the hell I'm talking about here), gourmet cooking, buying top shelf liquors, giving birth, etc.) On the one hand...man, eff all that ess in the ay. On the other hand, the eye rolling and deep sighing from your peer group tends to take a toll even on the strongest of us.
To combat this, Ms. X and I founded the Fiuymi Book Club. Now, Google Translate informed me that the word fiumi is Italian for "rivers", which is utterly irrelevant. However, fiuymi is a bad-ass and foreign/exotic-looking acronym for the phrase "fake it until you make it". I'm no Oprah (though I think if we were both at a party here in Germany, I could probably convince a few people) but if there's one thing that I know, it's that a book club falls under the category of "Stayin' Classy".
The members of the Fiuymi Book Club currently have no plans to read/discuss books any time soon. But that's ok. Mostly the plan is just to watch movies that are based from books. Mindo you, this is just a really loose plan, because we'll watch about anything. Also, we're gonna go bowling and try out as many brunch spots in the city as possible. Actually, the whole book club thing is a cover (and hence, the whole "fake it until you make it" concept). It just sounds so much better when you tell someone that you're off to a book club meeting. Then they're all like, "Ooh...you're literate...fancy!" but you're really off to play beer pong or wrassle catfish with yer bare hands.
That said, at our inaugural meeting, we found ourselves watching Sex and the City: The Movie(!), which was awkward as I've seen very little of Sex and the City: The Show(!). Still, it fit in with our (very broad) general plan, since it's a movie based on a tv show based on a book. Sadly, I feel like I identify with the four protagonists of Sex and the City about as much as I identify with the four main characters in the novel Little Women -- which is to say, not at all (not counting the time when I died from scarlet fever -- haha that's a book joke).
So for however long it was that the movie lasted, that's about how long I complained out loud to the screen about how much this movie sucks balls. Refreshment-wise, Ms. X whipped up a delicious "goat curry...except with lamb instead of goat." Her words, not mine. It was the best curry I've ever eaten in Germany. Then we split a bottle of Asti, which was remarkable, because Ms. X doesn't normally drink alcohol.
2.) ETCH is Back! (Sadly only temporarily): The same night of the Fiuymi Book Club premiere, I got a text from my girl/co-troublemaker Etch. She wanted to come up to Hamburg for a visit and to attend Schmiddy's birthday party on Friday and wanted to know if she could crash at our place for the week. And, of course, I said yes -- because she's fucking awesome.
How awesome is she? I went to work Monday and when I got back that night she had cleaned my room (quite thoroughly, may I add). Yesterday, she cooked dinner. Tonight? Who knows?! Alright, she's awesome for many other reasons besides that and I don't expect my guests to clean the apartment, but if you've ever seen my room...well...let's just say that even I don't wanna clean it (and I mostly don't).
3.) tv.gusto: I've mentioned before that we don't have a TV in the apartment. This doesn't bother me as much as you think it would, but mostly because German television is just incredibly shitty. So when Schmidt introduced me to this thing called Zattoo (free streaming TV for your computer, without needing a TV-card) I wasn't really in a hurry to install it. I got around to it last weekend and spent some time watching tv.gusto, aka the German version of Food Network.
I was not impressed and would sum up the experience as beschissen, which is German...for shitty. It probably has less to do with German cuisine itself, which -- though somewhat heavy on pork-usage -- is not so bad...honest. The only "good" show that I caught was called "Guglhupf" -- which leo.org has informed me is the (a?) German word for bundt cake...but might as well just mean "Cooking with a really old German Lady", which isn't exactly my idea of fun. If you've ever met an old German "Omi"...then you know what I'm talking about.
Because if I were going to spend hours in the kitchen cooking with old ladies...it totally wouldn't be these two biddies:
Simply because they don't hold a candle to Paula Deen:
4.) Planning my Vacay: Much-needed and long overdue, I'm taking a week off to travel to Tübingen (where Frosty is living these days). My plan? I wouldn't call it a "plan", but rather more like a general outline involving (in no particular order): not working, sleeping in, seeing stuff in a kind of touristy way (I've never been to Baden-Württemberg) and getting some sweet, sweet lovin'. I'm open for pretty much anything that brings me closer to any of these goals.
Also, if you have been to Tübingen (or that general area) and know of something really rad that you can do...lemme know. Oh, and if it's something that involves copious amounts of being in the nature, then just keep that shit to yourself.
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