Guess What i Found?!

While hanging ou with my buddy the internet yesterday, i may have come across the most awesome stories ever written. AND they just may have been available in full text online. Yes, that's right- Anne of Green Gables is ONLINE. Nice. i now have a portable copy of my favorite books EVER. Woot.

Just thought I'd share that with you all.

Apology

Ha. i bet you all think this is about the Disney rant- but you're wrong! it's all about the link to the Jonas Brothers video at the end of the Disney rant. I like the song, but the video is the ultimate cheese. i didn't realize how bad it was until i actual looked at the video. Thus my apology. I'm sorry guys, i kinda dropped the ball on this one.

Seriously Disney- WTH???

Does anyone other than me remember the good old days when Disney made animated movies instead of teeny-bopper flicks? i watched Camp Rock today, mistakenly thinking that Disney had produced enough crap lately that sales would be down enough to force them to make quality films again. Kinda like the good old days before they started making half-assed and seriously baked sequels and trilogies for the amazing original animated films.

Ha.

I hope i run out of this down home naivete quick. i just keep getting smacked in the face with reality at every turn. it's ugly. so was Camp Rock, or, as i will henceforth call it- Camp The-Seriously-Half-Assed-Suck (Camp TSHAS if you will-for bonus points pronounce the T like you were saying Ptarmagin) Camp Tshas was so boringly predictable that i watched only about 30 minutes of the actual movie (15 at the beginning, 15 at the end) and i knew exactly what was going to happen. Wow- the "disaffected misfit"has trouble fitting in and making friends, but despite a full 75 minutes of this comes out of her shell during the last 15 minutes and snags the barely legal heartthrob of the movie. What a new and exciting plot!!!!

And no- it's not because i have ESP. It is because my beloved Disney of yesterday has turned into an uber mass-marketed bag of ass-tacular WTF-ery.

Disney- you fail. And not even your teeney-bopper versions of showtunes (despite the seriously lame/semi-entertaining lyrics) can save you. You have become such a Beast that even Belle has disowned you. Shape up before Lumiere and Cogsworth ditch too.

However- i will give a shout-out to the Jonas Brothers. They are like the new Hansons. And we all loved the Hansons. Admit it. For your viewing pleasure (and to make up for a really big rant):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScXLHgPcZuc

Things that killed my desire to watch TV

Still looking to keep myself busy here during Fall Break. Today the quest involved TV. And awesome English shows dubbed into non-awesome German shows. For instance 7th Heaven became Die himmlische Familie, or the Holy Family. The episode: Himmlische Frieden or Holy Peace. K- i know the show is about an old-school religious family trying to fit in today's world, but i think calling them THE holy family is maybe a bit much.

Also seen today was some terribly subtitled dating show to find a mate for Tila Tequila. Apparently the sex of her potential mate didn't matter either. So she was busy playing both teams. But the people that made it onto her "date me" show were pretty weak sauce, the dregs of both teams if you will. you know- the kind that say corny crap like :

"oh man, i think i am falling for her. it's a pretty big deal because i've never said those words aloud about anyone"- from Tila's girl date.

PARENTAL CAUTION HERE- Tila's next date was a little more to the point

"I've been so excited about going out with you that i haven't PUT MY HANDS ON MYSELF in two months to prepare"- the male waiter from Milan. WTF??? Who says that either?

Thanks to MTV, i saw a lifetime of junk in UNDER two minutes.

After less than 20 minutes of channel surfing, i finally settled on CNN UK Edition for 3 reasons:

1) it was in English
2) it was the only thing on, other than home shopping, that did NOT offend me
3) I may not care about what was actually on the news but at least everday it becomes something new, unlike the washed up/washed out dregs from Hollywood that get airtime here.

Thanks to 40 channls of the same unworthy things, I think i can successfully say that I am completely recovered from my Television Addiction.

Pics for Mom

In order to fulfill Mom's command and help myself be a smidge less of a social handicap, i went for a wander today on my last visit to the HOTT Visa guy (and yes- i did have to pay the 50 Euro, student or no) I took some pictures of things in the general area of where i needed to be today:

The healing spring

This bench overlooks the river

A bridge over the Ahr

Tombstones in the Cemetery. The youngest I saw was from 1775.

The view behind the Ahrweiler train station

There are more pics, but it was just faster/easier to upload them to Facecrack. Check them all out there :)

Ouch

2 days ago i fell off my bike- like ass over teakettle, off my bike. People saw. It was unpleasant :( But when i got home my host mom made me an awesome bandaid. I felt better. Then i had a nap :) Today i am covered in bruises and am so stiff that not even grandma's "rheumatism medicine" helps. *sigh*

Socially Handicapped

Talking about my social life here:

Me: Meeting new people/ making friends is so friggen hard.
Mom: i'm sorry
Me: yeah, i spend so much time on the computer now, i practically speak binary.
Mom: i don't know what you're talking about, but you should get off your ass and leave the house occasionally.

Words of wisdom indeed.

The Rotweinwanderweg

The Rotweinwanderweg is a hiking path that runs through the red wine vineyards of the Ahr Valley. it's really pretty and you can veer off of the main path to take random little pathlets that go other places. Yesterday, Nick, Joey (the Sister), and i all went for a walk, aka- hike. It was really fun, lots of cool scenery and the view from the top of the "mountain" we climbed was worth the 2 1/2 hours it took us to get there. We saw the ruins of Landskrone, some sort of old castle that sits on top of the hill we climbed.

Here are a couple of the pictures i took:

one of the pathlets


Nick, Joey, and Mayday at the summit of Landskrone


Grapes ripening in a vineyard


Us after about 4 hours of hiking

She thinks she's being sneaky...

My host mom knows i am not super keen on fish. at all. and still she either tries to nag me into eating it, or she just dishes it up onto my plate and says nothing. She knows that when i bite into it, i won't be able to complain about it at risk of her not cooking for me anymore. She's quite crafty when it comes to the "go around the wall, not through it" approach with me. Like tonight, where she made a mushroom quiche and a spinach quiche. She dished up the spinach quiche for me (which i don't mind) and sat there waiting for me to discover the damn source of omega-3's she had baked into it. I. Hate. Fish. With a passion. She knows it too. And she just sat there watching me eat it, with aforementioned crafty gleam in her eye. So i had to clean the stupid plate completely. Battle to you, host mom. But the war will go to me...

Sociables This!

Pre-dinner drinks, salad, main course, dessert, post dinner drinks... this is almost always how dinner goes when the Family has company. Last night it took 3 full hours. I'm all about the food, but it kinda stumps me how they can take so damn long to eat. Plus, they have been having guests over more and more often lately, which means more really long dinners than normal. However, even when it is just the Family it takes about an hour and a half to eat. Also, the dinning room is chilly- so they sit there all chilly and sociable like for a crazy long time. I just don't get it, i hope it's just cause i am foreign though.

I'm a little touched

Today in the kitchen my host mom hugged me and told me she was really happy that i was living with them. it was just so completely random and impulsive for her, i was actually a little touched.

Practically Awesome Possum

I have been enjoying the fall break for 2 days now. Fall break ends on the 20th of October. That's right- after only a month of work, i get almost a month's paid vacation. Nice. This is a pretty sweet job i think :D

Checking Out Neuenahr

For the past week or so i have been hearing requests for pictures. I guess when i started blogging, i told you all that i would add lots of pics so that when the story was boring/lame you would at least have some pics to look at. That said- a few pics from friday when Nick and I went to some sort of street fair thing in Bad Neuenahr:

Basically we just went to all the different booths that sold beer and tried their specialty beers :) Then we mixed in a couple of crepes each. Then we went to the Irish Pub and finished the drinking off with a Guinness. My first Guinness ever, in fact. Ahhh, the stout that drinks like a meal. I gotta say, i really think it's an acquired taste :s

Ranting

Seriously- i have been to the Visa office 3 towns away, every thursday afternoon for a month. And it just occurred to Herr Schunk today that he might have to tell me how much it's going to cost for my F*ing visa. Right- well, 50 Euros says that idiot con-artist is going to have to bill me at his inconvenience. no, i can't really be that mean- i do like the guy. We don't even speak German anymore when i go to "visit" him about my friggen Visa. It was just the icing on the cake of a day filled with a myriad of stressful/annoying things. *sigh*

I REFUSE to believe it

After a full month of missing my favorite TV shows and their awesome season premieres, i have taken to watching them on the internet. Lately i have been really into Stargate Atlantis- which for a spin-off is definately just as fantastic as the original series. I am currently only in season 3 of 5. BUT- i cannot in good faith completely love a show that will kill off one of my favorite characters, spectacular episode or no. Absolutely outrageous! Poor *SPOILER ALERT* Carson Beckett, dying all heroically after saving that weak sauce lackey from certain death. I mean, his character was great- he had three seriously sweet-ass things going for him:
1- HOTT
2- HOTT accent
3- making the big bucks from SGC.

why would you kill off someone with some much potential??? I demand a rewrite!