i am a tourist
berlin
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so, i am home now. it is beautiful and snowy outside. that perfect snow; light, fluffy, falling gently. i am sitting in my kitchen listening to music and drinking coffee. i have been home for a few days now and i am still waking up at 7:30 in the morning. it is not so bad on a morning like this, but most mornings in new york (or any cities really) are ugly and depressing. that's why i tend to do my best and sleep through them.
i hope that winter looks like this from now until march.
i arrived back into the u.s. after spending a little over three weeks in europe. after deplaning i stood in the line for customs/immigration and noticed that they had big flat screen televisions playing cnn. cnn was televising the republican debates and they were talking about whether torture was okay or not. my stomach sank. it was like a punch in the fucking head.
while on this trip i have found plenty of time to reflect on the country where i reside. i have had such a nice news break. i have enjoyed my respite from what has become daily life in america. a break from the sense of hopelessness a lot of people are feeling. from the madness of the direction this country is going. from the lies and double speak and the spiritual decimation of day to day life. the bar has been pulled so low that no one seems to know what they can do about it anymore. no one is talking about it. you can just feel it.
it looks like a snow globe out my window. i have already taken a certain snowy bear who loves this kind of weather out to play. i think i will have to take him back out again. he has that look.
another thing that no one is talking about in america which i realized once i wandered the streets of paris and watched everyone enjoying themselves (and i am not talking about that certain joi de vive that the french and most other western european countries seem to have always done better than the americans) is; the united states in in a recession. everyone i met in europe is making decent money and enjoying themselves immensely. everything seems to be going downwards financially (and other ways) in the united states. even canadas money is doing better. it was such a strange and obvious realization. although this recession seems perfect in it's timing if everything i have read about the amero and the american union are true. supposedly spring of 2008?
ok. enough about that.
berlin was pretty much fantastic. it was the dirty part of paris that we had been looking for. it was where all the 'cool kids' were. it is a city that is strange and fun. night time is when it really became alive. all night too. move over new york, this seemed to be a city that really never slept.
my first night in berlin was during american thanksgiving. i met up with my old friend sean and his wife kate. both of them are from philadelphia and they moved to berlin because of music. they both run a great label (called foundsound) and play minimal tech house all over the world. on top of that they are absolutely the sweetest fucking people i know. i had only met kate once before and very briefly. she was simply lovely and wonderful.
i arrived at their house a little late due to google maps. from there we went to a thanksgiving party with a bunch of american musicians living abroad. there were a few brits there also. at one point the doorbell rang and another friend of mine walked in. it was pretty crazy. although i guess us all being musicians the chances of things like that happening were increased. it was a nice introduction to the world of electronic music in berlin and most of the people there were down to earth and cool. we had a grand feast and much vino collapso was consumed. i had some nice conversations and wandered home by myself to sean and kates and, for one week only, my apartment.
- -
so, i am home now. it is beautiful and snowy outside. that perfect snow; light, fluffy, falling gently. i am sitting in my kitchen listening to music and drinking coffee. i have been home for a few days now and i am still waking up at 7:30 in the morning. it is not so bad on a morning like this, but most mornings in new york (or any cities really) are ugly and depressing. that's why i tend to do my best and sleep through them.
i hope that winter looks like this from now until march.
i arrived back into the u.s. after spending a little over three weeks in europe. after deplaning i stood in the line for customs/immigration and noticed that they had big flat screen televisions playing cnn. cnn was televising the republican debates and they were talking about whether torture was okay or not. my stomach sank. it was like a punch in the fucking head.
while on this trip i have found plenty of time to reflect on the country where i reside. i have had such a nice news break. i have enjoyed my respite from what has become daily life in america. a break from the sense of hopelessness a lot of people are feeling. from the madness of the direction this country is going. from the lies and double speak and the spiritual decimation of day to day life. the bar has been pulled so low that no one seems to know what they can do about it anymore. no one is talking about it. you can just feel it.
it looks like a snow globe out my window. i have already taken a certain snowy bear who loves this kind of weather out to play. i think i will have to take him back out again. he has that look.
another thing that no one is talking about in america which i realized once i wandered the streets of paris and watched everyone enjoying themselves (and i am not talking about that certain joi de vive that the french and most other western european countries seem to have always done better than the americans) is; the united states in in a recession. everyone i met in europe is making decent money and enjoying themselves immensely. everything seems to be going downwards financially (and other ways) in the united states. even canadas money is doing better. it was such a strange and obvious realization. although this recession seems perfect in it's timing if everything i have read about the amero and the american union are true. supposedly spring of 2008?
ok. enough about that.
berlin was pretty much fantastic. it was the dirty part of paris that we had been looking for. it was where all the 'cool kids' were. it is a city that is strange and fun. night time is when it really became alive. all night too. move over new york, this seemed to be a city that really never slept.
my first night in berlin was during american thanksgiving. i met up with my old friend sean and his wife kate. both of them are from philadelphia and they moved to berlin because of music. they both run a great label (called foundsound) and play minimal tech house all over the world. on top of that they are absolutely the sweetest fucking people i know. i had only met kate once before and very briefly. she was simply lovely and wonderful.
i arrived at their house a little late due to google maps. from there we went to a thanksgiving party with a bunch of american musicians living abroad. there were a few brits there also. at one point the doorbell rang and another friend of mine walked in. it was pretty crazy. although i guess us all being musicians the chances of things like that happening were increased. it was a nice introduction to the world of electronic music in berlin and most of the people there were down to earth and cool. we had a grand feast and much vino collapso was consumed. i had some nice conversations and wandered home by myself to sean and kates and, for one week only, my apartment.