if it's happened to me,
and to you
it's not that significant
being able to recognize
a good place to take a seat
forcing yourself
further;
even when you're screaming
at yourself to stop...
this is good
she told me
i stress when the plan
breaks down;
it was hard
to look at her in the face,
sex would have
been easier
outside my window
the rain is coming down
in straight lines
Saturday, August 16, 2014
they're cooking frogs in america
get outside of berlin if you want to practice your deutsch
"Deine deutsch ist schleckt," an old man said to me when i tried to explain to him where i was going
goddamn i got a good laugh on that one...the old man looked at me, certain i was crazy.
i stopped to get an ice cream at a little cafe just off the Elbe bike trail, and to fill my water bottle up. it was early in the day but i'd already gotten in 70 klicks or so, and the old woman who owned the place with her husband asked me what i was doing in this part of germany. i told her i wanted to live in germany, that i loved it here. she was struck dumb, especially when she'd learned the different places i'd lived in america. "Wie so?" why germany? america is so beautiful. i asked her if she knew the story of the frog in the warm bath. she'd never heard of it, but that quite possibly was because meine deutsch ist sehr shleckt. "well," i said. "this frog was taking a warm bath. but what the frog didn't know was that the bath was actually a large pot of warm water placed on a stove at low heat. the frog never noticed that the heat was slowly being turned up and the frog eventually ended up cooked and used as a soup. well, that's what they're doing in america, cooking frogs."
we both laughed heartily at that one. i believe she understood me.
the campingplatzen in deutschland are spectacular. one day, after 80 klicks into a pretty good headwind, i pulled into one with an olympic sized pool, waterslides, a live band and bratwurst stands and beer and schnapps vendors. i set up camp, took a dip in the pool, grabbed a beer and a kirschwasser and listened to a trio performing Nirvana and Pearl Jam covers.
tractors used to scare me when i was a kid riding my bike on the rural roads of Valley City. they were big and you could hear them coming up behind you on your bike. i would get nervous as i heard them approach. i learned that it was best not to look behind you. on occasion i'd turn at the last minute as a big old tractor pulling a trailer piled high with straw and nearly topple my bike as it'd speed by me. well, the tractors in sweden and denmark are 5 times as big and look like transformers and fast. i felt that adrenaline.
when in sweden and denmark, with the sun setting on the golden fields, i was transported to the Valley City of my youth.
dusk calms the winds and cools the road, brings relief from headwinds and sunburn, the kind of relief only the shade of a maple tree can bring.
gliding into a town after humping uphill for 20 klicks.
port towns. Rostock, Germany; Trelleborg, Sweden; Hellsingborg, Sweden; Hellingsorg, Denmark; Lubeck, Germany.
when boarding a ferry on a bike, pay attention to the guys directing traffic and alles gut.
i have a kinship with truck drivers.
the northeastern coast of denmark looks a lot like new england.
the interior of southern sweden looks like ohio.
copenhagen is full of itself...you're not that cool copenhagen. and for that matter neither are you berlin. get a grip and recognize how lucky you are instead of trying to be hip.
berlin starts to reveal itself about 100 klicks before you actually get to the city limits.
"Deine deutsch ist schleckt," an old man said to me when i tried to explain to him where i was going
goddamn i got a good laugh on that one...the old man looked at me, certain i was crazy.
i stopped to get an ice cream at a little cafe just off the Elbe bike trail, and to fill my water bottle up. it was early in the day but i'd already gotten in 70 klicks or so, and the old woman who owned the place with her husband asked me what i was doing in this part of germany. i told her i wanted to live in germany, that i loved it here. she was struck dumb, especially when she'd learned the different places i'd lived in america. "Wie so?" why germany? america is so beautiful. i asked her if she knew the story of the frog in the warm bath. she'd never heard of it, but that quite possibly was because meine deutsch ist sehr shleckt. "well," i said. "this frog was taking a warm bath. but what the frog didn't know was that the bath was actually a large pot of warm water placed on a stove at low heat. the frog never noticed that the heat was slowly being turned up and the frog eventually ended up cooked and used as a soup. well, that's what they're doing in america, cooking frogs."
we both laughed heartily at that one. i believe she understood me.
the campingplatzen in deutschland are spectacular. one day, after 80 klicks into a pretty good headwind, i pulled into one with an olympic sized pool, waterslides, a live band and bratwurst stands and beer and schnapps vendors. i set up camp, took a dip in the pool, grabbed a beer and a kirschwasser and listened to a trio performing Nirvana and Pearl Jam covers.
tractors used to scare me when i was a kid riding my bike on the rural roads of Valley City. they were big and you could hear them coming up behind you on your bike. i would get nervous as i heard them approach. i learned that it was best not to look behind you. on occasion i'd turn at the last minute as a big old tractor pulling a trailer piled high with straw and nearly topple my bike as it'd speed by me. well, the tractors in sweden and denmark are 5 times as big and look like transformers and fast. i felt that adrenaline.
when in sweden and denmark, with the sun setting on the golden fields, i was transported to the Valley City of my youth.
dusk calms the winds and cools the road, brings relief from headwinds and sunburn, the kind of relief only the shade of a maple tree can bring.
gliding into a town after humping uphill for 20 klicks.
port towns. Rostock, Germany; Trelleborg, Sweden; Hellsingborg, Sweden; Hellingsorg, Denmark; Lubeck, Germany.
when boarding a ferry on a bike, pay attention to the guys directing traffic and alles gut.
i have a kinship with truck drivers.
the northeastern coast of denmark looks a lot like new england.
the interior of southern sweden looks like ohio.
copenhagen is full of itself...you're not that cool copenhagen. and for that matter neither are you berlin. get a grip and recognize how lucky you are instead of trying to be hip.
berlin starts to reveal itself about 100 klicks before you actually get to the city limits.
Sweden ain't not place for a dying king
I want to take bike trips like this as a family.
I'm getting familiar and comfortable with the bike trip. So far so good...fits.
Good to carry yer Waits with you.
If its happened to me, and to you, it should be recognized.
I wonder what nomenclature my son will decide upon for me. Should I be influential in directing him...is it possible to provide an environment sterile of influence...
What does Marcela want to be called by Oliver...
I'm going to call him son...
The rain is steady, but it's nothing compared to my first summer trip along Germany's north coast. That was miserable. I may be adjusting. I can't believe Swedes can't purchase beer over 3.5 unless arranged special.
Looks like the sun might burn off some rain clouds...get a round or two before the sunsets. It sets much later here in Eslöv than I'm accustomed to.
Arabs and Mexicans suffer the free world's venom. I wonder who the Chinese hate.
As you can see, they are not from here...subtle and yet, blatant and obvious.
Where's the speakeasy? Du weiss Wo ist die speakeasy?
You wanna be a drunkard here, you gotta do a little planning.
Met a Netherlander couple yesterday in Helsingborg. They were remarkable in their cohesion over their insistence to travel without GPS. It was maps or not at all. I don't know if they had a compass. I was embarrassed to admit how devoted I was to the GPS and realize it's as if I'm an avatar and the real me is busy making his way through space via the device.
I came across this little beauty and thought I would have to be a royal idiot to not have a seat.
Vigilance...resilience...v applies to ordenung. Keep a mental image of where everything is. R applies to mental awareness of breath and muscle activity. Careful of my behavior for the first time in terms of my age and physical condition. Like, no shit...you could die doing that...huh, glad I took 44 years to start worrying about all that shite.
Copenhagen is big.
Nørreport
Herfølge
I went for a walk in the woods near my campsite. I took my bike for the basket, I was taking along a couple beers and a camp chair. I found a quiet place to sit. I returned to camp and ate dinner and went for a walk, this time without my bike. Upon realizing I'd stumbled on the same location I'd been previously I decided to head back the way I'd gone earlier. I happened to look down and sitting there on the path was my wallet.
They put an ICE train on the ferry.
Two cows are sitting facing one another in a replicated scene from the matrix. The Neo cow is imagining he's a quick-mart clerk in worst part of Detroit. Guns are being fired in the distance and he's selling malt liquor and lucky strikes to a 15 year old kid.
The Morpheus cow is holding the classic blue and red pills in his hooves and he sees the reality of rows and rows of his brethren being sodomized by machines.
Obama at a party shortly after getting caught with the NSA/Snowden affair. He's reaching into a cookie jar in which all the cookies are labeled, "we're all doing it," and "you disgust us," written in icing.
Hilary, Bush two, Merkel, and Putin are all laughing and pointing at the obvious metaphor and Merkel is saying, "what a duschbag," and Putin's like, "C'mon you big gay retard, let's get you a shot."
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