Goodbye to Berlin
Dec. 28th, 2005 04:46 pmOn my last day in Berlin (well, for several months) I:
1. Wrote my January 2nd Wired News column, "The correct use of water".
2. Abandoned my red communist postman's bicycle by chaining it to a fence on a quiet street with the key in the lock (it's on Haasestr. in Friedrichshain if anyone wants it, but it needs a bit of work).

3. Took a few last things to my storage unit.
4. Took some snaps of the TV tower at Alexanderplatz, which is about to be turned into a garish football (with pink pentagons to symbolize the tournament's major sponsor, Deutsche Telekom).
5. Bought a copy of french newspaper Libération and went for a meal to Monsieur Vuong, the yuppie gay Vietnamese restaurant on Schonhauser Strasse in Mitte. The people on either side of me were Anglophones; two British and three Australian. They asked me the way to Torstrasse.
6. Browsed through the new Wire at ProQM, reading an Epiphanies column by my friend Douglas Benford celebrating ten years of his London club The Sprawl.
7. Shot some "last day in Berlin" snapshots on the street just before dusk fell.
8. Paid my final phonebill (more money Deutsche Telekom can use to turn the TV tower into an ugly pink football in my absence).
9. Bought some pasta sauce.
10. Packed for tomorrow's 10,441 km flight to Osaka (via Milan).
1. Wrote my January 2nd Wired News column, "The correct use of water".
2. Abandoned my red communist postman's bicycle by chaining it to a fence on a quiet street with the key in the lock (it's on Haasestr. in Friedrichshain if anyone wants it, but it needs a bit of work).

3. Took a few last things to my storage unit.
4. Took some snaps of the TV tower at Alexanderplatz, which is about to be turned into a garish football (with pink pentagons to symbolize the tournament's major sponsor, Deutsche Telekom).5. Bought a copy of french newspaper Libération and went for a meal to Monsieur Vuong, the yuppie gay Vietnamese restaurant on Schonhauser Strasse in Mitte. The people on either side of me were Anglophones; two British and three Australian. They asked me the way to Torstrasse.
6. Browsed through the new Wire at ProQM, reading an Epiphanies column by my friend Douglas Benford celebrating ten years of his London club The Sprawl.
7. Shot some "last day in Berlin" snapshots on the street just before dusk fell.
9. Bought some pasta sauce.
10. Packed for tomorrow's 10,441 km flight to Osaka (via Milan).
pin the tail on the ......
Date: 2005-12-28 04:02 pm (UTC)Re: pin the tail on the ......
Date: 2005-12-28 09:42 pm (UTC)Re: pin the tail on the ......
Date: 2005-12-29 04:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 04:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 04:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 04:18 pm (UTC)It struck me though that pink is to some a very "gay colour" and the game of football is very masculine. So this will be quite offensive when finished... And perhaps "Postmodern".
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 04:37 pm (UTC)i hope so.
terrible!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 04:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 05:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 04:06 pm (UTC)may I ask?
Date: 2005-12-28 04:27 pm (UTC)What is this story about? I like the title, sort of remincent of "The correct use of soap" - just curious..
Every time I leave a city, it feels like I'm leaving it for ever.... and it always feels sad, even if I know its not logical and that I am coming back.. do you ever get that kind of feeling as well considering you seem to feel really "at home" in Berlin.
just curious again...
Re: may I ask?
Date: 2005-12-28 04:40 pm (UTC)Re: may I ask?
Date: 2005-12-28 04:41 pm (UTC)Re: may I ask?
Date: 2005-12-30 08:40 am (UTC)How do you get storage space?friends?Can you rent such spaces cheap?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 04:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-29 09:26 am (UTC)(Sorry to interject).
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 05:03 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 06:51 pm (UTC)good decision! nothing says "i'm going to change locales" like a nice red.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 06:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 07:29 pm (UTC)btw, i'm sorry about your bicycle.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 07:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 08:37 pm (UTC)Quite so... not to mention the fact that the Vladivostok to Japan (http://www.waytorussia.net/FarEast/Kamchatka/KamchatkaRussia.jpg) leg of the journey is hell by car.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 08:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 10:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-28 10:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-30 11:00 pm (UTC)symbols
Date: 2005-12-28 11:31 pm (UTC)"Every country needs symbols. And this ball over Berlin stands for 'Everything that we have in common'."
aside
Date: 2005-12-28 11:58 pm (UTC)You were right about POLYPUNK.
~jes
coincidence
Date: 2005-12-29 01:43 am (UTC)Are you planning to give any concerts/performances in January?
I am sorry about the Schengen visa thing. The Schengen zone visa regulations are a nightmare for those of us who are "outsiders" )
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-29 07:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-29 07:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-29 02:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-29 04:19 pm (UTC)Momus
Delay..
Date: 2005-12-29 11:55 pm (UTC)It was in "The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul" Douglas Adams wrote, "no one has ever used the phrase "pretty as an airport""
Astrologically speaking, the transiting Venus Retrograde represents a delay in the Beauty of Japan.. (things happen this way) but I keep on thinking of beauty now.. and the ever deep layers of snow building up outside my home.
While its beautiful from in here beside a murdered tree (it was picked in the summer) and a warm old fasioned tiled fireplace--- its not so beautiful hitting you in the face on a 2 kilometer walk home, or grounding an aireoplane.
Sorry to hear of your delay. Thanks for answering my questions earlier.
Dorian
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-30 05:01 am (UTC)Koizumi's postal privatization is driving tons of postal-savings accounts into the stock market. the tv is encouraging housewife day-trading like crazy. If this works, Koizumi's Kung-Fu is indeed unbeatable.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-30 09:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-30 02:27 pm (UTC)