welcome to '08...a bit late i know!

Maybe I should change the URL to '08 now, meh.
Anyway back in germany now. Had my 21st end of jan, nothing much. Went to work 9-8, came home and opened some pressents I'd been mailed. The on the saturday went to a famous local brewery with Sven and Max (Max has moved in the room next to me, an old friend of Sven and seems nice).
Finally bothered to get visual studio 2008 from the uni site, installed that and have been doing some on my uni project. some will be glad to hear I've been trying to stop playing wow. Been off it since the 21st, where I only went on to check in-game mail.

Erm, other than that a tutor from uni came over yesterday and we had meetings about how it was going. Personally I couldn't think of a better way to of spent this year; though the house is horrible.

Heather comes in 2weeks and I can't wait, we'll be going to munich and places so will be lots of things to put in my next post, along with pics.

family get-together

4th of Jan is Heather's birthday and after a year of being together our parents had not met each other. Therefore, as a birthday celebration we all went to Tiggis (a pizzeria in St. Annes) there were: 4 parents, Heather's 2 sisters, my sister+step-sister, then my gran+step-grandfather.
The Watsons at one end, Turners at the other with me a Heather in the middle. Families only seemed to talk within themselves for the most of it, but the food was nice and at times the conversation reached the length of the table. That night I was given my 21st present from my dad+Jane: 2 tickets to Dublin with hotel for Friday and Saturday nights with €500 to spend.

The next weekend was my last at home, or so I thought; so on the friday we left for Blackpool airport for 12 and got to the hotel for about 5. That evening we looked round some of the shops on our street, temple bar, before heading to an Italian we had seen on a side street; the pizza wasn't the best, but filled a hole. After we went to a cocktail bar named thunderroad opposite the hotel, I rarely have anything more than a beer so stared at the menu not knowing where to start taste-wise. I ended up with Caipirinha, the Brazilian national drink apparently. Was very bitter, with a strong kick. That night we went to bed quite early - about 10 I think.
Saturday came and our full day in Dublin, we'd looked through the guide book and the only thing that held interest was the national history museum. So headed off into the city in the general direction, Heather pulling me in as many shops as possible as she'd not decided what she wanted for her birthday, so I hadn't bought anything.
The museum had the different ages: from hordes of gold and possessions which were left in little troughs in the ground, to viking ships and swords, to dinosaurs and ancient Egypt (for no reason clear to me at all). As usual, the mass majority of things nicely made were religious and as such not worth the time to look; however Heather seemed mostly interested in the Egyptian section. I bought her a sarcophagus souvenir thing, with much moaning before and after about how she wanted something Egyptian from the Irish history museum.
Heather had seen some DKNY perfume she wanted, which I ended up smelling in at least 5 shops, I think she was hinting to me to buy it there. Although we were only allowed liquid-restricted handlugage on the plane home. The rest of the day was spent going in and out of endless shops, we ended up buying 3 DVDs (shooter, epic movie and employee of the month) all of which were watched on Sunday night; a new top and pair of boots were also bought along with a hard rock café Dublin top after our meal that night. It started raining late afternoon and as such that night we daren't venture far. The hard rock café was 3 or 4 doors down the road from our hotel and Heather hadn't been in one before, so about 7.30 we sat down to eat there. I ordered some fajitas which came on a large plate with a grill pot, which caused Heather must amusement as I tried to cram as much into the wraps without splitting them as possible. After we ended up in the cocktail bar from the night before, how adventurous of us!
Sunday we got up late, I finally persuaded Heather to come for some breakfast before checking out and going to the airport. The flight was very turbulent, not good for Heather's 3rd ever flight; the small 737 was getting pushed up and down all the way with the landing on the cracked tarmacked runway at Blackpool interesting.

Monday I went for lunch at pizza hut, the all you can eat buffet, though I felt a bit off after 6 slices, a 3rd of my usual amount. I'd finished packing in the morning ready for my flight back to Stuttgart, then adding a block of cheese and sorting out the weight after eating. At 5 we set off for Preston, then going on to Manchester. Heather came with us and seemed to have just as much as me in the boot of clothes she'd dumped in my room and was now needing to take home.
The flight home didn't feel too long and landing in Stuttgart 20min early I had high hopes for catching the last train 40minutes later. However it was not to be, my bag was last out, I walked to the wrong end of the platform in the underground for my train transfer and as such ended up having to wait till 4.30am. I read a book cover to cover and started a new 1 "Avoid Boring People" by James D Watson, autobiography of the co-finder of the double-helix, not my usual read but is interesting and gives a clear picture of his road to success, along with lessons learnt.
I finally got back to my flat in Augsburg for 7 then left for work 30min later.
I used some of the pro plus I had left in my desk from boosting my early mornings when I started in August, and was surprisingly energetic after 30hours without sleep. People at work asked about my leg and how my Christmas was (it's bad and was nice, if you were going to ask) by 4 I was ready to go home though but gave up on having an early night. Wednesday I got to work late, 10.30 but stayed till 7.15 to make up my hours. I have 1 days holiday left with Heather planning a 10day holiday in April, 4hours/week overtime shouldn't be too hard if I stay disciplined. When I got home I felt like going to the gym, but instead went out with Sven and a couple of his friends, 3 I'd met before and 2 were new, including a guy called Maxi who's living next door to me now. I found myself looking at a cocktail menu again in the pub in the town hall, not knowing what I wanted, I ended up with something containing lime and SoCo.
As a joke from Louise I had received a "panic button" which when pressed brings up a screenshot of some work. I have a nickname of Mr. Times at work as I constantly get bored and search the newspaper's site, so this was an ideal gift to take into work for a joke about my laziness. Now that it's installed though, the Frenchman next to me has nicked it and presses it at the most inappropriate times as I am actually doing work.

home sweet home

Well it's coming up to christmas and I booked a month off work to fly home. I flew on the 14th of december and got in for about 10pm; going pretty much straight to bed. I had not told Heather the date I was coming home and had booked a ticket for the PCWorld staff party the next night.
on the 15th I finally got my haircut. 5months of growth had formed a bit of a mop on my head and was time to shed it. By the afternoon I was getting anxious and thought that Heather had clocked on to me turning up at the meal. So I decided to catch her leaving work instead. I arrived 20minutes before they closed as that was the closest bus. One of my old colleagues was showing another 2 his new car outside, I said hello and was stood talking when Heather peeked out the door. I dived so fast behind some trolleys left outside the shop and waited for her to get closer.
Just as I dived out she walked round the car, but managed to give her a big hug from behind before she saw me.
Turned out to go better than I had planned as I didn't have to stand in the cold for 20min and got to talk to some of the people. The staff night itself was crap: the camp DJ played a very poor selection, there was a good singer who preformed however was interrupted on occasions by the mic static of the DJ. I didn't drink, and I didn't have much fun; until I got home obviously.

Went out in Lytham a couple of times with old college friends and went to blackpool with Heather. Other than that did a bit of work for uni next year and nothing much else.
Christmas day I went to Heather's for lunch; had beef and a nice time seeing her family again. Got socks, chocolate, ipod, hobnobs, drink, deoderant, the usuals.
Bought myself a xbox 360 and plan to get a 40" samsung in the next couple of weeks. Other than that its nice to be out of that tiny room in Germany and back with friends, family and Heather, who I can't seem to get to go home :>

Home vs Augsburg

Not posted in a while, hurt my leg pretty badly and just not had the effort or anything to say in general. Nothing's changed so here's some random lists
advantages:

Augsburg	England
Cheap student living costs You can make eye contact with people you don't know without losing teeth Kebabs are dangerously yummy! Relaxed views to work Reliable, frequent, fast public transport (instead of private public transport rubbish) Fast, cheap internet Rock music is accepted, as are differences - Everyone gets on.	Heather Hobnobs Good, clean tap water A shower+toilet not used by 8 people Dominos pizzas A house to live in, rather than a small room The NHS

Erm, thats all i can think of right now, I'll add something if I can think of anything. Also Christmas is approaching and I'm looking forward to it more than I have this millennium; most probably due to coming home to friends, family and heather.
Not sure if I've mentioned this is a previous post, but Heather doesn't actually know which day I'm coming back - which has been fun to bug her with the last couple of months. Hopefully she'll let her guard down and I can sneak up on her somewhere.

Wishing you all a happy xmas!

backstage concert

18th
Tonight I went to see sonic syndicate, Dark tranquility, Soilwork and Caliban. It was at backstage in Munich, near the main station, I arrived about 7.30 after a 30min walk from the stop.
The first band was a warm up which seemed like the copy-cat, usual style that these bands have, of the ones they're supporting; 2nd song a crowd surfer decided to crash into the back of my head with his. After 30min, dark tranquility came on; a band which I'd heard a couple of songs from, then searched on youtube a few days before.
They were amazing, monochromatic stains is probably my new favorite song, their melodic music really appeals to me, although the singing is not to everyone's taste, much like my favourite soilwork song stabbing the drama. The place was packed full, with a little pit that i was in the middle of :D
After their 45min set Soilwork came out to a large roar. The crowd got quite rough and a massive circular pit the width of the room started to their 3rd song. I fell infront of about 15 people, who preceeded to pile over me, I landed on my leg wrong and pulled my hamstring which really hurt. And ended up leaving before Caliban came on, who I wasn't too bothered about anyway. I then continued to stagger back to the trainstation and got a train home for 11. I got some funny looks from some old ladies on the train as I was in a soilwork Tshirt and drumming on my legs to a song in my head as I was deaf to everything else.
When I got back in Augsburg I got a kabab from the local shop, god they are so much nicer over here (sorry Amet's of Lytham)
Current hobnob situation: 1/6 left, situation is worsening!
Its also getting dark by 6 now, which is great as its also freezing so snow is coming and that can only mean 1 thing: Gluhwein!

longboarding adventure!

well on the monday after my dad left, so the 8th, I decided to give skating a try. I got the tram in the morning, getting a few puzzled looks; then decided I would skate home the way suggested to me by an Australian student, who cycled to work and back each day.
I started off down the main road outside work, in the opposite direction to the tram, which actually takes a route in the shape of a backwards C to get home. I was wobbling, which I later found out was because I was stood in the middle, not the front of the board; pushing was inefficient and tiring; and I couldn't foot-break properly to slow myself down. As I found out all too well on my first slope, where the road goes down under the autobahn (motorway). On the way back up, while pushing the board; my foot got sucked in by the back wheel which is exposed. I ended up flying forwards, landing on my face, and burning skin off my elbow and fingers. It was great, I've not bled like that for a couple of years and brought back the memories of my BMX.
I sat down while I regained focus in my eyes and then continued home. It took about 35min, where the tram takes 30; not bad. Would of beaten it without that sit down :D

current hobnob situation: 3/6 left dunno how 3 are going to last till xmas:D
juice: 5/6 left

The Octoberfest 2

3rd sept
Today was a public holiday in Augsburg. Meaning 2 things, I had the day off work and everyone in the south of Germany was going to the beer festival.
I got to the main train station for about 9 and had to wait 30min for the next train as the 1 on the website somehow managed to disappear. Once the train came, it was a 2 tier regional express, although I was about the 20th person on the platform I was 1 of the last to squeeze through the doors, it was packed and with every turn over points or breaking of the train it felt like it was going to derail. It of course didn't and I arrived in the main train station in Munich in about 1/2 the time that it would of normally taken and the driver didn't dare stop on the way in case more tried to board the already overcrowded train.
I met up with my dad and Jane along with 1 of my dad's old colleagues at the end of the platform. This week I walked, as the underground would of been packed. We made our way to the Augustina tent (my favourite brewery) and searched the beergarden for some seats as it was such a nice day. We didn't find anything so moved inside where we got 4 next to each other. It was cheaper for me this week, as my dad seemed to automatically pick up the tab, which is always nice. There was a band playing, but the music wasn't as good as the first time round. I mostly just spoke to the 3 with me about the last week and plans for the end of the week.
Early afternoon I got a text from Dagmar who was also in Munich, shee ended up joining us for supposedly '1 drink' however her father ordered about 4 rounds in all. They thought my dad was really nice and didn't expect an englshman to be in laderhosen.
My dad and co left about 5, but i stayed till about 9 I think with Dagmar, her dad and step mum. On the way to the trainstation, her father was telling me about how he recognised my dad from when he worked in Munich, although didn't know where from and what decade, hehe.
I got the S8 train to the main station and ended up getting lost trying to find my train. I just missed it and had to wait 55minutes for the next. I didn't mind and got talking to some German teenagers about random stuff.