Another long weekend. Went to Gent on saturday for the Pauze festival with Johanna and Garmin. Its a beautiful city with lots of old buildings and parks. The festival was taking place in this place called the Vooruit, a historic theater with incredible acrhitecture. There were some films showing in the afternoon. I saw part of one OK film on Noise music and later a really cool one about Erkki Kurenniemi, a Finnish inventor/artist/scientist/genius. I really want to see the whole film, its a really trippy and informative documentary. Then we saw the concert which was great. The first two acts, Ignatz and Charalambides, I had not heard before. Ignatz was loud and noisey, Charalambides were quiet, contemplative, sad and beautiful. Then Animal Collective played and it was everything I had expected and more. Ecstatic, chaotic, and melodic sing-song singing with chants of nonsense obscured by over rising and falling walls of effects noise, jangling guitars loosely woven together and constant They played all the best stuff from their last two albums, though some songs sounded much different live. Everything went great until we tried to take the first train out in the morning. The computer had told us that the first train was at 4:30 am, but this is sunday morning so there was not a train until 6. Then it also happened to be the night that the clocks are turned back an hour. I felt really stupid. We stayed in a bar and killed time yawning and drawing little fish being eaten by larger fish. Then we walked around a bit and took a lot of random photos. Then the train station opened and waited some more. Finally we were on our way back home after a long night. We had to be careful not to fall asleep and miss our stop. The train from Antwerp to the Netherlands was late. Then our train from Roosendaal to Nijmegen had to stop, so we had to go through Utrecht. We didnt get back in Nijmegen until around midday, and then I had a drowsy bike ride back to my bed!

Halloween is gaining popularity in Europe, especially among the little ones, but it is still a lesser imported observance. I doubt Dutch children have the same drive to get the most candy as is popular among American kids. Sure every kid loves candy and is competitive, but American kids are the most voracious consumers in the world and Halloween is crazy. Remember that shit. If they did observe Halloween here with the same spirit as in the United States, a good kid could clean up because all the houses are really close together, even in the good neighborhoods where they give the best candy. I don't think you would have to worry about razor blades in the apples either.

Ok I lie, shows here don't always start on time as I found out last week at the Doornroosje. The place has been around for 35 years and a lot of great bands have played there, Funkstoring was alright, not quite my thing. The night got a lot better when we went to this occuppied house and saw this band from Boston called Neptune. The drummer was nasty. They play really loud raw noisy punk with guitars made of rusted junk metal.
I made a day trip on tuesday to Maastricht with some other international students. Relaxing. I walked around a lot, took some pictures, and ate vegetarian lasagna at a Pinnochio themed Italian place (with a student discount).
Thursday I went back to Munster for a party, this time for Felix's birthday. Three Spanish guys that are also studying in Nijmegen were also Felix's guests. That night we went to this place where they were playing Reggae, because you can always smoke at Reggae shows and these Spanish guys really like to smoke. There was a busted up piano there that I started to bang on. Then these two guys, one Morrocan and one Brazilian, started clapping a beat. One the Spanish guys and I joined in the polyrhythm on top of this dub music from the house. It started to sound really cool. I think someone was a real drummer...
Friday night was the party. We ate chili and a delicious cheese soup that Felix's mother had preprared. His girlfriend hosted the party and there was a 'fun fair' across the street from her apartment. There were fireworks. A lot of people showed up and mistook me for being Spanish. Instead of a cake Felix got a long salami with candles, it looked ridiculous. They sang "Happy Birthday" along with three or four German songs. Felix's old bandmates gave him a nice condenser microphone. These two guys were talking about the origin of the word pumpernickel. Someone stole my lighter and it reminded me of home. Before I knew it I had passed out, woke up, drank some coffee and was on the train back to Nijmegen...
I'm digging the catchy weirdness of this new Animal Collective album its even better than their last. I hope to see them live next weekend in Belgium. I'm excited... and in a bulldog slump.

I had an amazing dinner last night with some of my German friends. The girls, Garmin and Johanna, cooked mussels and the boys, Felix, Jereon and I, brought alcohol. There was a birthday party in the same kitchen/common area lending to the festive atmosphere and also providing something to look at. There was a little dog chasing a balloon around the room. I found it equally entertaining to look at the people watching the dog. After a few bottles of wine and some gin, the birthday party left, partly I think because we were having more fun then they were. In between drinks we had made an edible cast of characters: MR. APPLE, John Lemon, Breadman and Pig(an oven mitt). Someone took some pictures, it was pure entertainment.
Going to see Funkstoring tomorrow night at doornroosje. I was surprised that shows here actually start on time and and sometimes as early as 20:00.
Next week is fall break...

This is Grolsch! The first of what will hopefully be many bullies on this page.

A few nights ago I was riding home on my bike. I was going slightly down hill and had a good head of steam, I'd estimate my speed about 10-15 mph. I'm on the bike path which is parallel with the road but separated by a row of oak trees about 30-40 feet tall. There I am minding my own business, when an evil acorn falls from the tree and hits me in the top of my head. So here's the question, does it hit me harder because I'm moving on a bicycle or would it hurt just as much if I had just been standing there????