Since we've had complaints about not updating the Blog frequently enough, here goes...we haven't been able to access the internet for quite some time, so this will hopefully get you all up to date...

First New Orleans Fun Facts:

The old streetcar stops at every trashcan.

If you flash various body parts, men will give you cheap plastic beads. Yay.

If you don't flash body parts, you can still get beads by tearing them off the necks of guys who acquired them fair and square.

Having more than two Hurricanes requires three things: Hydration, Hydration, Hydration.

Forgetting the above leads to next fact:

Emergency Room doctors in New Orleans do not look like George Clooney. (but do not worry, proper hydration got me on my feet again, see above)

Leaving New Orleans by air leads to sexual satisfaction as one is strip-searched every few meters.

Now we are in Florida, where the weather is fine and (thank God) a little less humid than in New Orleans, so we can breathe. Our motel room costs less than one of us paid for the hostel room in New York City so we can invest all the rest of our money in food. Ulisch found out that she hates Disney since they charge $ 7 for parking. I found out on the beach that I am not allergic to Ocean Potion, so I managed not to look like a lobster.

Virtually, we have acquired the following and are trying to come up with excuses to get them all through customs: a pool table (sale), a slot machine (to go with the pool table), a car (the ads on TV say it costs practically nothing), a life-size Elvis cardboard figure (offered inside the Elvis CD we bought), a life-size Spiderman figure (given to us by Blockbuster), a dolphin named Bob (who can do tricks), a basin for Bob, and a dump truck (hey, they were on sale, too).

In reality, unfortunately, we have bought much, much more...but also presents for everybody!!! Presents for all the people who will come to look at our vacation pictures and video!!! Or else!!!

We are in New Orleans now. Since everything was booked solid (arthritis conference + football game) the only room available was the Palace Suite. Money Schmoney...since it was really late we took it. As we entered the room, it looked just like any other hotel room and we were kind of disappointed UNTIL !!! we noticed the adjacent room containing a HOLLYWOOD SWING. Completely senseless, I might add, since it faces a kitchen and is totally ugly...but at least now we can say we stayed in a suite with a swing. Yay. Rock star feeling, here we come. Now we'll go off to swing a bit more, then it's off to the usual hostel business.

New Update:

We had a day full of the best entertainment you can get. First we went to the opening of Rockefeller Center Ice Rink. That's where you expect classy ice skating, double to triple axles, that kind of thing. What we got was an olympic gold medalist who solemnly skated onto the ice and then pulled out a dog hand puppet and performed to "who let the dogs out" Woof. (Though after reviewing this web page we are glad he did not bring the life size female dummy.) We got it all on tape. Uli was laughing so hard she could not hold the camera, though. We pissed off all the good American ice skating fans around us, too.

But it got better from then on. We had tickets to see the "Carson Daly Show". Never heard of the guy. Ulisch kept calling him Dawson. Anyway. It turned out to be some kind of talk show. At least the guest was Tim Robbins (Tim Robbins rulez!!) which was really cool. Dawson was o.k., too. Musical entertainment was provided by some of New York's finest bands. Earwax. (Actually, they were called Earshot, but they really sounded like earwax.) Made us wish for earPLUGS. They took away our chairs so we would go up to the stage and cheer Earwax. If you look really hard (October 31 we think around 11.30) you might see us in the second row. No, we are not crying, we are just laughing so hard at the "I am Satan" attitude of the singer that our faces look like we are crying. Pissed off all the good American Earwax fans around us, too.

Now we are in Washington, DC. They just caught the sniper they had been looking for all the time. They say it was hard police investigations, we say it was our good karma influencing the luck of Washingtonians. At last we have found our true purpose in life: bringing happiness and joy to humankind. We will be touring the Middle East next. Israel, we are coming! Palestinians, do not worry. We have the solution to all your problems. Our (divine, I might add) intervention will solve all problems right away. But we will be here in Washington till Saturday. Try the veal.

I've got one thing to say today: The only thing worse than 80's music is a club full of people who REEEEALLY enjoy 80's music and who still are able to listen to "Walking on Sunshine" without hitting their head on the wall repeatedly. Nuff said.

New York, New York... Our hostel has internet access, yay. So I can keep you posted on all news.

We flew over with Iberia...our plane almost could not land because of the fog and we were scared we would not survive. But we did and now it is for the sniper to finish us...

In New York everything is so expensive you have to give your firstborn child to get some orange juice. Ulisch and me are seriously considering giving up smoking when they tried to charge us 8 dollars for a packet of cigarettes. Luckily we brought Gauloises en masse because we heard about the cigarette prices beforehand.

And we need all the money we have, because we have been spending money left and right...today we went shopping-crazy..oh my god. Tomorrow we plan on going to go to Macy's which will bring us certain ruin, I bet.

So..tomorrow Ulisch and me are leaving for USA. We do not know whether we will survive the trip or will be killed by the sniper / drown in floods. Anyway. We will stay for five weeks, so I guess whoever is reading this will have to wait for November.

Unless we run into an internet café on our way, that is. Then I´ll give you an update of what we´ve been up to.

I´ll see you when I see you next....

I am totally sick...close to death by sneezing. In such cases I always remember that Steven King novel...I forgot which one it was...(The Stand maybe?) where everybody dies of an awful cold. Read it and you will know how I feel at the moment. Life sucks.

When I was watching TV before I noticed something - maybe it was beginning feverish hallucinations: Ronan Keating is turning into Phil Collins. Not only does he look like him but also adapted the same "kick me in the face because my singing will make you physically ill" gestures.

Then I decided to read The Player of Games that Paul recommended. Really liked it, too (apart from the fact that SF authors always like to give their characters awkward sounding names which I hate..but I got used to them towards the end). The only downside to this ist the myriads of books Iain Banks wrote which I will want to purchase now. Thank you, Paul, for my financial ruin.

why is it that everytime the oktoberfest is over EVERYONE comes down with a cold?? I only went twice and now look at me...

Plus, my jaw hurts for no apparent reason...drat.

Yesssssssss....I made it: finally, the last exam...over.

Tonight, I´m planning on celebrating by getting really drunk...let´s see if I can get anybody to join me :)

So today I am supposed to learn for tomorrow...but the subject is so boring, I cannot really bear it. Hence, what I am doing is downloading mp3s to make compilations for my US vacation. If you asked me the one thing that I learned while travelling in the US it would be this:

NEVER EVER go on a trip with a supply of 1 tape (Gangsta´s paradise, too, what a shame) because you will end up doing karaoke versions of that song to the instrumental B-side by the time you arrive in Las Vegas.

While I was downloading, I was inspired by a friend of mine who made a cd (aptly titled "summertime") containing only versions of said song. For my theme-cd, I chose another song:"Sunny", which apparently was interpreted by such classic artists as Leonard Nimoy and Bill Cosby. We´ll see how that turns out...