Everybody's Got the Right to Their Dreams

You have no idea how incredibly disturbing that phrase is when sung by a chorus of presidential assassins. I have such love and respect for Sondheim, and it only extends further as he gets into weirder themes. Really, you have got to listen to this.

In any case. I just got back from Four Bells with Colleen, and I freely admit that I really only go there for the chips, which were particularly amazing tonight. As always, not enough ketchup.

The last few days have been spend in a flurry of reading: Der Zauberberg, some of other things for other classes, and just life. I am however feeling particular hardcore about how much I am reading. Tomorrow, I have nothing to do, so I am going to attempt to a) get the sleep I deserve and b) get the reading done that I need.

What I really need to do to get these readings done is find a couch that I can sit on. I am recently figured out some more of the layout of the city as it relates to where I live, so I think that I will wander around a little in search of places where I can sit and not be looked at funny. I am considering the purchase of hot chocolate as well as a few other things.

I will be 21 in 8 days. In less than a month, I will be home for Christmas. I have to admit, I am looking forward to it, but I also think that if I were not already 21 by the time I got home, I would hurt someone- the free and easy access to a wide variety of wonderful wines, beers, and seasonal alcohols has spoiled me for the United States.

I clearly need to create a murder-themed playlist

Because way too much of what I'm listening to right now entails the wanton destruction of human life, and you need the right soundtrack for that.

In other news, I am done with classes for the week, but I'm actually going to start reading for the classes I'm supposed to be taking. I'm feeling like reading "Der Zauberberg" is totally doable, but will take a long time. The professor for that class clearly has a fan following of several forty year old women, who actually do the reading and will pipe up to answer questions and talk with much greater regularity than the other students. The professor will trial off her thought, and they will just step in and fill in the right answer. It's cute.

In other news, last night in Vienna it snowed. It's not really sticking to the ground, but it's coating the roofs, the cars, and the window sills. It's still falling slightly, in the lackadaisical way that snow does when it has nothing to do but rush to its inevitable demise.

Last night, end of week for me, Colleen and I went out and ate chips at my favorite Irish Pub, after stopping at the Red Cross Punsch stand at the corner of my street. It was a nice moment, drinking warm booze in the snow. I am thinking of making some myself, since it's nice and tasty. Or at least bringing some of these herbs home so that we can try it there, with booze I can buy myself. Woot!

Colleen has found a job just speaking English to a very small Austrian child and also working at her no pay internship, where mostly she's been doing translations and work in English. I have no idea yet what I'm doing for my whole internship thing, but I will find out soon enough.

Things to do today:
1. Get cereal and bread for the weekend, also perhaps some soup veggies. CHOCOLATE.
2. Buy more Glühwein, because it's wonderful and tasty.
3. check out Libro for some more low-cost movies. (I think it's going to be interesting bringing my movie collection back home; "You have a copy of Spartacus in German?" "Yes, well it's got the original track, you just have to set it to play in English.")
4. Consider the possibilities of hot chocolate as your new favorite thing.
5. Reading Der Zauberberg- just take it easy, find yourself someplace and warm and curl up there for a while.
6. Consider the possibility of new socks as something to invest in- seriously, my wardrobe is more limited by the number of socks I have than any other garment. I don't know if I just didn't bring enough with me, or if my Austrian washer is eating them.

This is the best wiki entry of all time.

Bartending/Cocktails/Irish Car Bomb
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

Irish Car Bomb

Flavour Chocolate Milk
Units 2.6
Standard drinks 2

The Irish Car Bomb is made with 3 different Irish drinks.

Ingredients

* 1/2 pint Guinness Stout
* 1oz Jameson Irish Whisky
* 1oz Baileys Irish Cream

Procedure

1. Pour Guinness into pint glass.
2. Pour Jameson into shot glass and then without mixing pour Bailey's into the shot glass.
3. When ready to drink drop the shot glass into the pint, be mindful of spilling.

Notes

* When the Bailey's mixes with the beer it will start to curdle very fast, this forces the need to drink the carbomb very fast.
* It is generally considered impolite to order this cocktail in an Irish establishment.

***
I am caught between a feeling of "Well, DUH!" and slight disappointment. Because, honestly, you'd think people would have a sense of humor about this, but at the same time, you'd have to be a *real* jackass to push the issue at all. And the possibility of having the bartender misunderstand you... yeah. That could really backfire.