What have you been up to...?
In case you're interested, here's what I've been up to lately (January 2002 - now) and what I've got planned...
Journal Archives: Nov 98 - Jun 99 Jul 99 - Dec 99 Jan 00 - Apr 00 May 00 - Sep 00 Oct 00 - Feb 01 Mar 01 - Jul 01 Aug 01 - Dec 01 Jan 02 - Jun 02 Jul 02 - Dec 02
Wednesday 1st January 2003 - Happy New Year everyone!
Thursday 9th January - Last full day in Sydney. Spent most of the time between New Year's and now on the beach in Sydney. Extremely grateful to Andy and Clint for sharing their apartment with me during my stay.
Friday 10th January - Left Sydney bound for Singapore, then it was on to Frankfurt and Munich again. Our flight was a little late leaving Singapore, so I used the extra time to find and buy "Catch Me If You Can".
Saturday 11th January - By the time I landed in Frankfurt, I'd read most of the book. Because of our late departure, I missed my connecting flight to Munich. Not a problem though, because I got rebooked onto the next one. Arrived back in Munich to a city covered in snow, and it was like -14C. It was 36 C the week before, and I wasn't too impressed at the 50 C difference.
Monday 13th January - Back at work. This year, I've got another 6 weeks leave to use up (plus 14 public holidays).
Wednesday 22nd January - Went to visit the Frankfurt site. Strange.. wasn't I in Frankfurt on Saturday?
Friday 24th January - Flew to Düsseldorf for work, then trained it to Cologne to see Frank and Joerg.
Saturday 25th January - Had to fly to London for work, but went a day earlier to catch up with David.
Tuesday 28th January - Back in Munich.
Wednesday 29th January - A big snowstorm in London. All flights cancelled. In Germany, where they always have snow in winter, they've got "winter tyres" on cars which help with the grip. In London, no-one has these, so there was chaos on the roads. My colleagues in England took an hour to go a distance that normally takes three minutes. Would have been interesting to see.
Saturday 1st February - Met with Jeremy (an American in Munich) for lunch.
Sunday 2nd February - Went skiing with Simon, Katja and Nadine at Lenggries. Had a fun day.. the snow, the skiing, and the company was great.
Wednesday 5th February - Went to Subway for dinner... they've only just opened in Munich. Took them about 5 times as long as anywhere else to make a subway melt. But the wait was worth it.
Saturday 8th February - Went shopping with Nicholas. There were (apparently) thousands of Germans protesting the upcoming war against Iraq. I, too, was against it until I saw the full hour and sixteen minutes of Colin Powell's speech to the UN. Now, I'm not so sure.
Sunday 9th February - Nicholas came around for a feed of bacon and eggs, and then I joined Katja, Nadine, Martin, and Vladi for a coffee at Villanus.
Monday 10th February - Bought the Season One box set of "24" while I was in Australia, and am finally getting around to watching it.. it's great. I love the concept.
Tuesday 11th February - Took the day off so that I can be home when they check the water meter. In New Zealand, the water meter was always by the footpath, and the water company could check it whenever they needed to. In Germany, people either have to leave a key with the building superintendent (not on your life!), or they need to take a half day off (this is a pathetic excuse to time off, but it is accepted here). Anyway, the appointment is really convenient (not!) - 2pm - so I stayed home the whole day. Went out to dinner at Yum with Simon.
Sunday 23rd February - Had to fly to London ready to start a training course the next day. Got to the airport with two hours to spare, and checked in electronically. Had so much time left before the flight that I went to the other side of the airport and had a quick snack at Burger King. After that, I went to drop off my luggage at the fast-bag drop, and there was this huge queue of normal people checking in. Managed to get my bags on the flight with more than an hour to spare, then I went to the security checkpoint. The line was massive - much more so than normal, and the line took ages to process. With about ten minutes to go until the planned takeoff, I made it to where the queue normally starts. I was worried that I wasn't going to make the flight, but there were lots of other people on the same flight behind me. The queue split into four lanes, and I was definitely in the slowest. They were not only scanning people's bags, but they were also going through everyone's bag too. Normally, they only grab selected people, but they were going through everything. Found out that our plane had difficulty landing because of thick fog, so I was a little relieved to know that I probably would make the flight after all. When it was my turn to be checked, they went through everything, and even took swab sample from my laptop power supply. I thanked them for getting rid of the dust, and asked why they were being so thorough. They said that had to take the samples to test for explosive remains and for biological agents! This was the most over-the-top security check I'd ever encountered - even worse than just after Australia woke up on what was for us September 12th. Anyway, I had to wait another five minutes while they stuffed around testing the power supply samples. When they found out that the dust was carpet filaments and shedded skin, I was allowed to go through to the gate. They were just about ready to board when I got to the gate, so I waited right by the counter. When they announced the plan was ready to board, I was the second person to hand over my boarding card and go down the air bridge. To my (and the other passengers) horror, the whole of business class was already full of Muslims. These people were either VIPs, or terrorists, and I didn't know which. What I do know is that these people did not go through the same security checks or boarding procedure as the rest of the passengers, and that made me nervous. If I was a terrorist, I'd pay for some business class seats and say I was a VIP and do the same thing. The other passengers definitely looked a little nervous. I got to my seat in economy and had a look at the safety card, and saw that the aircraft was a much bigger one (757) than British Airways normally use for this leg. Normally, we're on a Airbus A320. 757s and 767s were the hijackers planes of choice on September 11. Anyway, my mind convinced me that I was going to die on this flight. I got a typical "fight or flight" reaction, and tried to figure out if I could get off the plane and catch another flight instead, but it was too late. Instead, I sat quietly in my seat wondering how I could use my duty-free bottle of Australian Shiraz to do the most damage to one of the terrorists in the event that they tried to hijack the plane. In the end though, we all made it to London. We had to wait while the Muslim VIPs got off the plane and were whisked away by waiting limousines. It was certainly strange, and I think that British Airways and the security people should not be making exceptions for anyone in the current atmosphere, because I, and the other passengers were clearly made nervous by the events.
Friday 28th February - Went to David's in South Kensington to stay the weekend.
Saturday 1st March - Went to see a matinee performance of "This Is Our Youth" starring Freddie Prinze Jr and Chris Klein.
Sunday 2nd March - Back in Munich exhausted.
Monday 3rd March - Started running. Determined to go for a run from now until winter at least 3 times a week. Need to get fit for summer.
Monday 10th March - The temperature reached 18 C. Nice. Had our first barbecue of the year to celebrate, with Benny and Joe.
Saturday 15th March - Munich trialed longer shopping hours today. The stores were allowed to open until *gasp!* 6pm. It was touted as a major success, so it might just be implemented fully in June. Wow... imagine it... you might be allowed to buy groceries up until 6pm on a Saturday. I'm sorry, but I'm not really impressed, although this will help somewhat in summer... might be able to stay at the pool just that little bit longer on Saturdays.
Wednesday 19th March - Simon and I met up with Benny and spent the day shopping.
Thursday 20th March - The war against Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq has begun.
Wednesday 26th March - Had a barbecue, and tried horse (yes, horse!) for the first time. Can't beat that BBQ Black Beauty! Just kidding... just had to try it once. Wasn't that great.
Thursday 27th March - Went to Yum for dinner with the Munich Dining Club.
Saturday 29th March - Went to Lindwurmstubl with Simon and Patrick.
Sunday 30th March - Start of daylight savings time. Got up to about 20 C today, and Munich had the first thunderstorm of the year. What a pathetic effort it was. I love thunder and lightning in the middle of summer, but it has to be loud, otherwise there's no point.
Friday 4th April - David came to visit. About time too!
Saturday 5th April - Went out to Cafe Glockenspiel for brunch, then wandered around town looking at the pretty buildings.
Sunday 6th April - David flew back to London.
Monday 7th April - It snowed again this morning. When is summer coming?
Friday 11th April - Went out for drinks with Simon, Pete, and James (Jim?) who runs the Munich Dining Club.
Monday 14th April - Met Martin in town to buy the new Madonna single. Felt like McDonald's breakfast today, but I discovered that they don't serve Hash Browns or pancakes here. What's the point?
Tuesday 15th April - Got to 19C today. Spent an hour sunbathing. Went to an Australian pub for fish and chips. :)
Wednesday 16th April - Got to 22C. Woohoo! More sunbathing, then went to Wal-Mart with Benny and Joe to do a big shop for the weekend, and then Katja came over for a bit of wine (as one does).
Friday 18th April - Brad and Aaron came to visit.
Saturday 19th April - Dinner at Yum with Brad and Aaron.
Monday 21st April - Brad and Aaron left Munich.
Tuesday 22nd April - Madonna's new album "American Life" was released today.
Tuesday 29th April - Absolute Madonna.
Two friends and I drove
up to Cologne to see Madonna today, and it was a night I'll never forget.
The show that we went to the taping of is called Absolute Madonna, and it's
apparently the first time anywhere that they've dedicated such a (90-minute)
show to Madonna to which she has turned up and done an interview.
We had previously tried to get tickets the legitimate way (by paying $16) but
they went really quickly, so we ended up paying about $100 each on eBay.
After we met the guy who was selling the tickets (he bought them himself from
eBay), and picked up the tickets from the collection point, we went inside, and
the place was FULL of hard-core Madonna fans. I've never seen anything like it.
Not just casual fans, but you could really tell by the outfits they had on that
they were hardcore (lots of homemade American Life shirts and camo gear etc).
All of our tickets were numbered, and we were wondering how they were going to
seat us and anticipated a huge rush for seats. I overheard three security guards
talking about how they had to pick out 72 people from the 850 or so that had got
tickets, and to brief them on the rules, and they would be let in first.
I went up to one of the security guards and asked if I could be considered. I
told him my name was Glenn and I was a New Zealander and a big fan. He said that
he'd remember my face.
Ten minutes later, security had done the rounds, and they stopped at the table
with the people from the German Madonna Fanclub on it. A lot of people in the
fanclub are active in the German-language Madonna Forum at ceca.de/madonna. I
recognised Ingo at the table, but none of the others.
Ingo is in charge of the news forum in which I'm also a moderator. I went up to
say hi and to see if they were getting stamps. Ingo said Hi, and said for me to
hand in my ticket. I did, but was too late to get it stamped. Security had
already moved on. I located the guys with the stamps and said that I was part of
the Madonna forum and did the Madonna Information Report. They said that I was a
real fan, and stamped my ticket. I then showed my friends and said that they
needed to go over and get theirs stamped, which they did.
We then wanted to wait by the main door, but there were so many people that we
had to stand by a little side door instead. To our surprise, they said that
they'd be letting in the people with stamped tickets in first, and that we'd be
going in the little side door. I was the first one to go through security. After
the first bunch of ten were through (including us four), they took us into the
studio and said that we wouldn't be sitting with the audience, but on banks
around the stage area. There were two stages... One for the interview, and
another for the performance section, in a Mastercard-logo sort of layout. We
were between the two circles.
Since we were first, we got the best seats. We were between the two stages, a
meter away from the ramp where Madonna would enter, three meters away from where
she would be interviewed, and about two meters away from the stage where she
would perform. We all got briefed that we were to throw nothing, not ask for an
autograph, and most of all, if we stood up, even briefly, we would be thrown out
immediately. Under no circumstances were we to stand up, no matter what. This
was for Madonna's personal safety, and so that we didn't block the view of the
cameras which were all around us.
A few people without stamps tried to sit around us, but the security guards
removed them and they had to sit with the others in the normal seats. They
removed a few unphotogenic people away from the stage and replaced them with
good looking people.
The show then started and they interviewed a few stars that wouldn't be known
outside Germany, and then it was time for Madonna, who had indicated that she
wanted to get the performance in the can before the interview. We swiveled
around, and when Madonna appeared, the crowd was deafening. Madonna wore a black
top, grey pants (I think), with a black hat (with a thick green silk band around
it) stiletto boots, a necklace and a wristband with what looked like lots of
diamonds. She also wore a red piece of string tied around the other wrist.
Madonna started to dance and lipsynch to American Life, and then there was a
short break while they ironed out some difficulty with the playback tape. A bit
of American Life blared out when she was expecting Hollywood. Madonna appeared
to pissed at the delay, quipping "could I at least get some water if I'm going
to be waiting here for hours?". While she was drinking her water, Hollywood
started playing so she hurriedly put down the water, put on some dark
sunglasses, and then performed to that track. After that, she said that she was
going to play an old track, and after suggestions that she play Like A Virgin,
the playback for Music started. She did 4 deep-knee bends. At some point, she
took the hairband out of her hair and let it flow down.
Madonna was very energetic during the performance, dancing most, if not all the
way through. I've seen her in concert a few times, and she walked right past me
after Up For Grabs in London, but this time, I was really struck by how tiny she
is. She's superfit, and looked still really young. And boy did she move
(probably because she didn't need to worry about singing live).
During a couple of songs, she came right up to us four and sang to us and looked
at us. It was amazing.
The band consisted of a Stuart Price, Mirwais, Monty Pittman, and a couple of
others. No choir this time around.
One of the cameras was right next to me, and if you see any shots of Madonna
side-on from the right during the performance, that is exactly the perspective
we had.
After the performance, it was time for the interview, so we swiveled back around
to the interview set. Madonna came down and walked right by and went and sat
down. Her hair was still down for the interview (which will be shown before the
performance when it airs), so sharp viewers might notice that on Saturday.
Oliver Geissen (the host) interviewed her about the sex book (she yawned as if
to say "next topic please!") Madonna said that she didn't regret doing it,
because it's bad to have regrets, but she did say it might not have been the
right decision. She had different attitudes towards sex back then.
They talked about the BA tour and the pope incident.
They also talked about motherhood, being a good mom and about how strict she is.
When Madonna met Guy, he just came up to her and started eating off her plate.
Madonna will never do a duet with Sting. She elaborated by saying that she likes
Sting, but that duets are stupid and she just doesn't want to do any more.
Madonna counted the people that live with her in the house, including a driver,
a macrobiotic chef, nannie (etc) and when asked how she gets peace and quiet
with all those people around, she said that she does shows.
While she was being interviewed, Madonna played with Oliver's buttons on his
suit jacket sleeve, and he told her to leave them. She opened his jacket and
tried to find the label to see what country it was made it.
She asked if it was German (no).
During the interview, when Oliver would speak to her, it was in German.
A translator would give Madonna an immediate translation, and likewise, when
Madonna spoke the translator would let the Germans know what she said over
really loud speakers. The sound sometimes totally drowned out Madonna and her
thought process, and a couple of times she looked a little pissed. Especially
once, when the translator started talking before Madonna had said anything - was
the interview rehearsed?
After the interview, it was over - Madonna left pretty much immediately (and
apparently flew straight back to London).
We hung around for about an hour meeting other fans and then started on our way
back to Munich. All of us were on a natural high, and we won't ever forget this
night. It's probably the only time we're going be that close to Madonna.
We drove back to Munich and arrived at about 3am. Got three hours sleep
before getting up for work.
There's a pic of Oliver Geissen with Madonna here:
http://eur.news1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/xp/ap/20030430/13/952935974.jpg
Thursday 1st May - Dinner at Yum with Simon, Pete, Vanessa, Jim and Belinda. Was a fun evening.
Sunday 4th May - A little bit of sunbathing on the deck, and then with Martin, Katja, Vladi and Simon to the English Gardens, where we got sunburnt.
Monday 5th May - Thanks to "Piz Buin After Sun" applied in copious amounts last night, I am not red today.
Saturday 10th May - Went shopping with Katja and Simon, and then we made a yummy stir-fry.
Friday 16th May - Simon, Rene and I went to the Annie Lennox concert here in Munich. It was awesome. Annie has such a great voice. We were quite close to the stage, and had a great view.
Saturday 24th May - Went to see Matrix: Reloaded with Simon, Benny and Joe.
Thursday 29th May - Public holiday, so I'm taking Friday off. As well as the next couple of weeks. :)
Saturday 31st May - Mum and Dad here in our tiny apartment until the 11th. Went to Lindwurmstubl and had Schweinshaxe.
Sunday 1st June - Dinner at Yum with Mum, Dad, Simon, me and Katja.
Sunday 8th June - Spent a couple of hours at Katja's while Simon went to see Matrix again.
Monday 9th June - Public holiday. Went to Outland with Mum and Dad, Simon and Inge.
Tuesday 10th June - Back at work. Had a barbecue and Inge's.
Wednesday 11th June - Mum and Dad left Munich for London. Even though they both something like the flu most of the time they were here, it was really nice to see them again. When Dad's coughing became to much for them, they threatened to move out to a hotel to give us peace and quiet. I'm glad they didn't, because I hardly ever get to see them.
Friday 13th June - Cool thunderstorm that I got to watch from work.. .the lightning was constantly hitting the forest just the other side of the autobahn. After work, the weather had cleared up and I went with Hauke and three of his friends to Starnberg and had a BBQ by the lake. Was a good evening.
Saturday 14th June - Finally got around to updating my journal. Been a bit lazy lately.
Saturday 21st June - Dinner at Yum.
Saturday 5th July - Simon and I went to the Robbie Williams concert at the Munich Olympic Stadium. Robbie's an excellent entertainer, and all had a great time. Started seriously doing the running training for the Loch Ness Marathon with Simon - one hour today.
Sunday 6th July - Fridays and Sundays are rest days from the running.
Monday 7th July - 30 minutes.
Tuesday 8th July - One hour run today
Wednesday 9th July - Simon's friend Jon from Auckland came to stay for a week or two. 30 minutes.
Thursday 10th July - Went to Donatos for dinner with Rene, Simon and Jon. Donatos have the yummiest Hawaiian pizza, including almonds and cinnamon. Sounds disgusting, but it's really yummy. Also, they don't just use mozzarella but also provolone cheese = yummy. 1 hour run today.
Friday 11th July - Went to Outland and had dinner with Simon and Jon, Benny and Joe and Rene.
Saturday 12th July - Christopher Street Day in Munich. Met up with Katja, Nadine, M and Martin and we watched the parade about three times from different locations. Ran into Bernd. Great fun. Took about 150 photos. 1 hour ten minutes run.
Sunday 13th July - Met up with Katja, Nadine, Simon, Jon, M and Martin for the Strassenfest at Holzstrasse. Dinner at Yum (where else!?!) with Simon and Jon.
Monday 14th July - Jon left for Paris. Got the apartment back to ourselves for a week. Today's run was 30 mins, Tuesday one hour, Wed 30 mins, Thursday 50 minutes.
Friday 18th July - Last day at work until the 29th.
Saturday 19th July - Met up with M and then went shopping with Joe. Invited Joe around for a BBQ and we watched The Dish. It was supposed to be a comedy, but wasn't very funny. Was a good movie though. Today we went for a one hour twenty minute run. So tired!
Sunday 20th July - Jon back in Munich. Went to Inge's for a BBQ.
Monday 21st July - Flew to Mykonos (Greece) with Simon and Jon for a week's vacation. It was one of the best vacations I have ever had. We only saw about one or two small white fluffy clouds the entire time we were there. The temperature was around 32 C every day, and the never-failing breeze kept us cool. The pool was salt-water, but apparently that is usual in the Greek Islands. Spent the week relaxing, riding around on our little motor-scooters (fun!), eating, and reading. Was really relaxing.
Monday 28th July - Back from Mykonos.
Late August / Early September - Two weeks in Italy with Simon, Katja and Nadine to celebrate Katja and my birthdays. We drove through Austria, Italy, France, Monaco, San Marino, the Vatican. We had a great time, until the car accident on the 1st of September around 8pm. We were just out of Trieste (Italy) and almost in Slovenia when a van decided to do a u-turn *right in front of us*. We couldn't stop in time and we smashed straight into them going about 70km/h. Katja's car was a complete write-off, but THANK GOD all four of us are OK. They took us all to hospital in ambulances (leaving everything we owned in the car). After a few x-rays, they sent us home - to the hotel that the insurance people set up for us. We weren't allowed to use the pillows. The next day, we went (Nadine without shoes) to another hospital and got checked out again. We got neck braces fitted that we were supposed to wear for ten days. Simon and I caught a train back to Munich, while Katja and Nadine got driven back (we weren't in the mood for driving). We went to the doctor in Germany and he said that the neck-braces only need to be worn for three days. Simon had massive bruising where the seatbelt was, and our necks hurt like hell. My ribs hurt heaps because of the seatbelt and my shins because they smacked against the back of the front seat. Although the seatbelts caused pain that lasted about a month, I'm glad we had them on. We seriously could have died without them. I always wear a seatbelt even when in the back seat because I don't want to kill the person in the front. Anyway, one a positive note, I've learnt a few things.
1. Don't try and do too much. Part of the reason why we had the accident was because we'd spent so much time driving. Next time, I'll spend a week on the beach.
2. Each day is precious. Love your friends and family.
3. Seatbelts save lives.
Sunday 27th September - Simon flew to Scotland to support his dad and brother in the Loch Ness Marathon. He couldn't run himself because he had to stop training after the accident. Instead of flying to Scotland for the weekend, I flew instead to Ibiza with Benny and Joe to use up a weeks' leave. Benny's family has a house there, and we spent a week relaxing (and when the weather was fine) on the beach improving our tans.
Saturday 4th October - Back from Ibiza.
Sunday 5th October - Simon's parents (who were staying with us) went to Oktoberfest and got so drunk that we had to take lots of video. :)
Friday 10th October - Warren (my twin brother) came to Munich to stay the weekend. Yay!
Saturday 11th October - After a bit of sightseeing, we went and chowed down on three Schweinshaxen. Yum. Didn't have the potatoes, because we've started eating following the Atkins plan.
Sunday 12th October - Flew to London for a week for work. Warren flew back a couple of hours later, so we went to the airport together. Stayed at the Marriott for the first few days, but their pool wasn't warm enough, so the guests weren't allowed to use it! Changed to the Le Meridien. My room looked out over the runway.
Tuesday 14th October - They announced that the company I work for has been bought out. This change things. For starters, the new company has offices in Sydney, so they might want me to stay on until the merger is complete. The share price almost doubled - woohoo!
Wednesday 15th October - After a tip from the driver, I went out this evening at ten to seven and walked for about 5 minutes to get right next to the runway fence to watch the Concorde take off. It was dark, and I could see the afterburners. It was unbelievably loud and definitely something I won't forget for a while. I'm glad I did see it, because they're decommissioning the last of the Concordes on the 24th.
Friday 17th October - Went to stay with David.
Sunday 19th October - Had brunch with Warren (my twin brother) and then flew back to Munich.
Friday 31st October - Cancelled the telephone, internet, magazine, health insurance and store incentive plan accounts and deregistered with the police (yes, you need to do that!) ready for the 30th.
Saturday 1st November - First site update in a while. Had breakfast with Katja, Simon, Simone and Martin at Forum, then went and watched a DVD at Katja's. Today was a public holiday so all the shops were closed. Like it made a difference anyway.
Sunday 2nd November - Lazy day at home planning the move and playing on the PC. Went out to dinner with Simon at Cafe Blue and had yummy chicken wings and a glass of Prosecco.
Friday 14th November - David coming to stay for the weekend.
Sunday 16th November - David flies back to London.
Saturday 29th November - Leaving dinner at Yum.
Sunday 30th November - Flying from Munich (via Frankfurt and Singapore) to Sydney.
Monday 1st December - Arrive in Singapore.
Thursday 4th December - Leave Singapore for Sydney.
Friday 5th December - Arrive in Sydney.
