wait, this is september!

 

yes. don't ask me why.  actually, yes, u can ask.  the story goes something like this.  back in the day, the simple bavarian folks celebrated this sweet golden liquid we call beer in october.  but someone said 'hmm, maybe we should celebrate this earlier, when the weather's still half-decent.'  so they moved it to september.  but it's 3 wkends long, so it still does end in october.

 

anyhow, the astute reader, having seen me putting 'munich - september' listing on the left from a while ago would have no doubt figured out that i went!  it was the opening weekend.  i'd floated the idea around a few times the month leading up to it, but got lukewarm reception at best.  then there was the fact that the hostels/cheap hotels were all booked way in advance, and that there are no cheap flights to munich (so it was either an 8-10 hr train trip or drive).  add on the fact that i have to stay in geneva the two friday nites of the two wkends i am free to go (meaning it'd be saturday morning departure at the earliest).  so prospects of me going were looking bleak.  then my fellow canadian friend andré was just crazy enuf to sign on to one of my trademark insane last-minute minimal planning whirlwind trips.  so i had to actually make it happen!  but as things always do, it worked out.

 

after about 1.5 hrs of sleep, got on the 4.54am train, arrived early afternoon, and started drinking not too long after that!  luckily andré speaks some travel-german, cuz mein deutsch ist null.  had some difficulty at first finding a place to sit, but once we did it was soooo much fun!  the instant comraderie of fellow inebriators was quite remarkable, language barriers be damned.  amazing what can be done with a packed hall ('tent') full of people with 1-litre beers in hand and a live band playing favourite classics (or instant classics in the case of german songs for us tourists).

 

it was a lot more fun and convivial than i had imagined.  and oh yeah, not as messy either.  when the nite ended at 10.30, people were still walking in more-or-less straight lines (tho after 3L, i wasn't the best judge of that either..) and i wasn't wading thru ankle-deep vomit.

 

the next day, less than 24 hrs after arriving, hopped on the train to head back to geneva.

 

if i didn't have plans for the coming 2 wkends i'd try to go again.  note to self, book a hotel room / hostel bed way earlier next year.

 

[ my beautifully written prose was not enuf to give u the proper imagery?  check out the pix i'v put up.  and here's the video footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G9yolGF41E  (the audio's off-synch after the uploading.. don't ask me why) ]

 

ok one more blog before bed..  i hate microsoft!  i know, nothing new.  but seriously, how fucking annoying can they be??  i went thru the trouble of embedding my videos 2 entries ago, but microsoft spaces just wipes them clean as soon as you publish it!  ARGH!

 

this on top of the list of many other things i can't do on here..  what kinda lame-ass retard would want to put as many limiting features as possible on something that's meant to be creative?

 

i'm normally quite tolerant of MS's antics but sometimes some little thing just makes me rage.  the only thing i hate more than them is the fact that they have a lock on ppl like me who are too damn lazy to walk away..

 

fuck you microsoft!!

yes, double entry.  i still haven't made up for lost blogs yet..

 

there's a money-grabbing rule (aren't they all?) in switzerland that says: 'thou shalt get a swiss drivers license within a year of arriving in switzerland.'  if not, then u have to start from scratch and retake the whole exam.

 

my initial reaction was, how would they know i live here / been here a year?  if i just pretend i'm a tourist, recently arrived..  and from what i'v heard, they don't keep a database so in fact that's what you can (and some ppl do) do.  but this being such a police state, even tho i haven't driven here and have no immediate plans to, i figured it wasn't worth tempting fate.  have to pick ur fights, ya know?

 

besides, being the dork that i am, having a swiss ID wasn't a bad thing.  plus sure, 150chf is a lot of money, but really, that's just the price of 2 meals.  it's all relative.

 

my hangup tho was that i'd have to give up my alberta license.  it's an 'exchange' and they apparently send it back, so that they (the alberta licensing demi-gods) know that i am now operating under a swiss license, and you're not supposed to be in possession of more than one driver's license.

 

the hangup was not from me not wanting to give up this piece of albertiana (not a word, i know).. anyone who's known me for a while know that i am hardly a proud albertan.  i was licensed as a 'professional driver' (one who cannot drive manual, mind u) who could legally (but still have yet to) drive a small bus or an ambulance.  if i were to keep that, i'da have to get a medical exam and some other stuff too.  but no, wasn't really that either.  i guess i just don't want to give up any piece of ID of mine i suppose.  kinda like saying goodbye to a full or expired passport.. it is a piece of you, your memories, the times u were pulled over..

 

but to my surprise, i still have my old license!  not sure if the guy wasn't suppose to give it back to me but did, or if i got the whole thing wrong before.  i'll survey others and see if i really am special.

 

in any case, i feel as if i had my cake and ate it too.  now i'm curious to know if / how much info is exchanged between countries.  do the alberta demi-gods know that i am in posession of a swiss license??  if not, then jackpot!  i can speed there, flash them my swiss license and not pay.  ditto for here.  =DDD  i can start collecting speeding tickets from around the world, to add to the unpaid ticket (and outstanding arrest warrant?) in australia. =)

 

i just need to get my hands on a car..

 

now, back to packing for milan (for work).. by train.

speaking of stupid airborne ideas (hmm, snakes, in the air, on a plane, must be a great movie!), how about:

 

"hmm, what else can we offer at a ski hill in the summer aside from mountain biking?  let's string a long cable from one mountain to the next.  no wait, let's do TWO of those."

 

what a fantastic idea!  so fantastic that, let's call it, Fantasticable!

 

and so that's how i spent this past sunday, at the other end of lake geneva in france, couple of hours away.  nothing to do on a sunday anyway, right?  couldn't have been just content with normal sightseeing i suppose.. ?  so why not strap myself to a cable and fly at 100km/hr 200+ m above the good solid earth.

 

 

video 1: http://www.youtube.com/v/apGf3aW4hf8

 

not long, we started seeing things sliding across the lines.  at first we thot they were screaming (that's what i thought was 'awesome' in the video (as an aside, all those bells u hear in the background, those are cows)) but later we realized it was the noise the thingy makes rolling on the cable. wasn't sure which was worse.

 

time came to head up the mountain.  ming unceremoniously chickened out, but i was having second thoughts myself. the chairlift ride up was appropriately SLOW, giving me plenty of time to reflect, and think, and observe all the rocks below..

 

but after having strapped on our ridiculous outfits and wiggling into the prone position which was strangely comfortable in the harness (think 'hammock'), it wasn't so bad at all!  was kinda nice and relaxing staring down the line towards the end a ways away. and once the latch is released, gravity takes over and zzzzzoooooooom....

 

far from being terrifying, i only got scared when i realized my swinging my head side to side to take in the view was causing myself to swing quite wildly on the rope.  i'm sure it'da been fine if i continued looking all around, but i figured i'd laughed enuf in death's face that day.

 

video 2: http://www.youtube.com/v/8lL0k4ECknw

 

so the mid-way station where you get off the first line to get on the second one was not the place where i was gonna kneel down and break into tears knowing the only way down was to strap on.  i actually couldn't wait to continue on my journey!  it was a lot of fun.  whoda thot?!

 

maybe not such a stupid idea afterall.

 

as expected, the movie was soooo bad that it was good! =)

 

negative points for being a little wee bit too gratuitous with gore, computer-generated snakes that were sometimes toooo fake, and bad acting (and script) that makes you cringe.  bonus points for eye candies and bad acting (and script) that makes you laugh.  all in all, a lot of fun.  the plot was as deep as a surfer's vernacular, which is good.  nothing ruins a brainless entertain-me flick like unnecessary plot twists.

 

and, of course, no one could have delivered 'motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane' like samuel l. jackson.

 

i definitely recommend it, as long as you know what you're getting yourself into.. a shameless gross-out action-thriller that cranks up the cheese-factor to (one'd hope) make you laugh at the most inappropriate moments.

 

speaking of scaly creatures and celebrities, on a sad note, 'crocodile hunter' steve irwin was killed today by a stingray.  annoying, to say the least, but i liked the guy.