i got back from my trip on monday night. it ended up being so much better than i thought and was one of the biggest adventures ive had yet. i went on a hunt 2 different days for castle ruins in austria and was successful both times..between not knowing at all where i was going by bike, and then having to figure out how to get up the mountain to the ruins, thats always one of my favorite things to do. especially when you have the best soundtrack on your ipod as background music. pretty much i just biked and hiked and explored non stop for 4 days. it was as magical and metal as i could have hoped for. the biggest adventure i had (and definitely the stupidest thing i did) was hike up an experts only cliff..not having seen the sign that said "stop, only for experts." it was 1880 meters high and i went with a girl from my hostel. we got to the top of the normal end of the mountain around 1680 and saw the big cross higher up at the peak, and saw a few people up there in teh distance, so we said ok lets go! i did it a few times in austria last year and it was easy..but i failed to realize it was easy because i was shin deep in snow and didnt really have to "climb" or hold onto anything. but about half way into our ascent, it started getting really difficult and eventually i realized it wasnt fun anymore and it wasnt safe for me, someone with a big fear of heights and no climbing experience. the rocks were so slippery from melting patches of slosh and the only thing you had to hold onto was some chain and had to climb straight up. its funny because my roommates and friends all say "big deal, that doesnt look so bad" ahhhh!!! thats because you are all german mountain climbing freaks, but i did not grow up like fuckin heidi (i wish). so i am envious of you all for doing this all the time. maybe i would be over my fear of heights by this point. i like to challenge myself with my fear, but this was taking it to the fucking extreme. i have to say, even though i was stuck on the side of the mountain clinging to the chain in tears and shaking for about 5 minutes before i could go any further, and felt myself slipping on the ice, and had nightmares about falling after that day..i kept going back to the mountain over the next few days and had this mixture of "im never doing that again" and the feeling you get after you do something crazy and now youre addicted. something you get from a huge rush of danger. ive never felt that before. i dont know if this means im gonna become some crazy mountain climber (probably not) but i had a little of that twinge of a feeling. hehehe. anyways DAVID also came by for a day to hang out and it was so awesome, we just rode the alpine slide 6 times in a row, being as loud as possible, and scaring all the families away so we had the whole thing to ourselves. then hiking up to neuschwanstein eating candy and pretzels. best day ever!! im so glad he came by. i miss him! so yea, one of the craziest, best trips ive had for sure. heres some pics, you can click on this link here to see the whole set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nilbog2021/sets/72157624134155552/

view during our hike


biking in austria


crossing into austria


sunset


my profi mountain stance...unaware of the dangers that lie ahead


hanging out in a glacier and i aint got no jacket on (ben says i look like im taking a crap)


part of the climb, before we were too scared to take pictures


the climb straight up (i found this picture of the mountain online, didnt take it. but just picture this with slosh and some snow on the rocks)


best part about going to all the random castle ruins in the mountains is no one is ever there


heres a video of us on the alpine slide. no breaking allowed


time to clean up my room and go pick up erin and kyle from the airport, and let a weekend of partying ensue!

btw i have been downloading a ton of old songs recently...so into it

the month of may has been awesome. jonny visits, my alps trip, and erin and kyle visit. jonny was here 2 weeks ago doing tech work for black eyed peas so he had 3 days in berlin and we got to party big time! plus he got us into the show and after party for free. i dont listen to that band but i have to say it was a fucking impressive awesome show with amazing costumes and lights and everything. we got special vip seating with an awesome view. and pretty much during every song i was like "oh, i didnt know this is a black eyed peas song!" PLUS the opening act was that lady who sings the theme song for germanys next top model, when she played it i was like hell yea i know this song!! man i love pop shows. if they werent so expensive i would go to way more. btw jonny said he could have gotten us into lady gaga for free :( i wanted to cry after hearing that.



me and jonny at the berlin wall




hanging out on marks roof


some other older pics from feb that i just got




dang that song is so good! downloading it right now

last night, the godfather of metal took his place on the thrown of hell. one person i am glad i got to see perform AND meet!!! DONT LET THE FIRE DIE OUT!

one more thing from shannon b on Vimeo.

me getting sabbaths autograph...will never forget my awesome boss for letting me skip work for 4 hours to these cds signed for me and my dad




i waited in line next to this guy who had a picture of him and dio from 15 years prior..and he was so excited to get an autograph on it. look at that face! he probably had a huge boner

as the oil moves closer to the florida gulf coast, the reality of utter ecological devastation is starting to sink in and we are starting to truly fear the coming of what those in LA and AL are already experiencing first hand. being on the other side of the globe, it's been hard to grasp that this is really happening. i still feel somewhat disconnected from this mess. but when i think about it hard enough, i realize the truth..that i will never be able to freely swim in the gulf again. i will forever be haunted by images of this disaster. no matter how clean the water may "look," that there are still traces of contamination..invisible oil...cancerous chemicals..i don't even know how long, if ever, it will take me to want to get back in the water again. maybe im overreacting? maybe it won't really be that bad, and the water will be safe? who knows. but the point is, the idea that the water is eternally fucked is in my head and it won't go away. i keep thinking about the last time i was in the water..summer of 2008, my last night in the states. my mom, baby sister, and i spent the whole day on holmes beach. we went on and on about how beautiful this place was..crystal clear blue water, white powder sand, dolphins...the water was so warm and i floated in it as we watched the sun being swallowed up by the horizon. that place is truly heaven on earth. and now the tears have started as i type this and think that i will never have that feeling again. as i think about how it must already be for everyone in louisiana and alabama. how it must be for all of the animals clinging to life, drowning, blinded, burning esophaguses and stomachs being eaten away from the inside out.

we need to stop pointing fingers and get more deeply involved. bp protests...ok we fucking KNOW they need to pay. stop wasting your time/resources with bp demos and petitions and playing the blame game..theres so much more we can do- even if you dont live in florida, louisiana..or any of the states along the gulf. below are some examples/links of some EASY stuff that you can do.

----->donate hair/pantyhose/nylons to matter of trust. pantyhose are oppressive...don't disguise your legs. let's put that crap to some actual GOOD use. inform your salons/barber shops about this too. all that hair is just going to be thrown away otherwise.
http://www.matteroftrust.org/programs/hairmatsinfo.html

----->donate supplies to animal rescue efforts/ animal hospitals. you can find info for collection sites here:
http://www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org/volunteer.html
• Heating pads (w/o auto shut off if possible)
• Large Rubbermaid containers with lids
• Heating lamps
• Large backyard portable pools like found at Wal-Mart
• Disposable Towels
• Plastic Trash Bags
• Plastic Trash Cans
• Newspaper
• Linens
• Sheets
• Toothbrushes (NEW)
• Heavy Duty Rubber Gloves
• Kennels (Small to X-Large)
• Adhesive Bandages
• Shovels
• Rakes
• Stand by fire extinguishers
• Bottled water
• Dawn Detergent
• Pepto-Bismol

----->there are tons of volunteer training programs and lots of information on how and where to do clean up efforts along the beaches. florida info is here (but just google if you are living somewhere else)
http://www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org/volunteer.html

*******remember how dangerous this is and not to handle it lightly. don't just pick up shit that is slicked with oil. check out the links and read up on what to do, how to handle trash, numbers to call if you see animals in distress, or if you notice changes in the air or oil on the shore
http://www.volunteerfloridadisaster.org/#Coast

*******if you are consuming animal products, you should always be conscious that you are probably ingesting some crazy second hand shit. but especially now, think twice before eating fish or shrimp or any seafood...fishing on the gulf coast is being brought to its knees...you as a consumer need to be mindful of the fact that what you eat could be contaminated. (and of course you should always be conscious of the -suffering- that went into the animal products you are consuming...even "free range" products)

*******even the air is dangerous from burning the oil. read up on dangers and health effects from this disaster. increased risk of cancer..the usual good news: http://health.msn.com/health-topics/cancer/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100257930

********you can watch a video of the predicted trajectory of the oil spill here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxgbvDcmrYQ

how one band can be there through every step of the story.


"you're so rad
more rad than my dad
if you were a fabric you'd be plaid
everybody knows plaid is so rad
i think about you and i go mad "

"no days and nights could brighten my life
as much as one moment with you"

"life is beautiful, and life is pain
give it to me straight"

"born to lose i've lived my life in vain
all my dreams have always caused me pain
all my life i've always been so blue
born to lose and now i'm losing you"

"Is it true when we get old our hearts die?
I heard it in a movie once and I think I know why
life it sucks so bad it makes you wanna die.
....but you get by"

"people say: if they don't care, then why should I care?
I say: if I don't care, then why should anyone care?"

"be an optimist instead
and somehow happiness will find you"

"I heard someone say
that nothing gold can stay
but there's a love in all our souls
and it shines like gold"

some girl i went to high school with just posted a 15 second video of her baby in a new ball-pit toy they got for him. and all thats in the video is her saying "aww, whatcha got paul? are you playing with your balls?"

if i were making that video, i would say the exact same thing. the only difference is, i would be doing it on purpose

im over this caca weather. the next 3 weeks are gonna be AWESOME. jonny's gonna be here next weekend and rick might come and meet us too..then the week after is castle time. then the following week erin and kyle are visiting.

myth busters

this is awesome, go to your salons and see if they are involved in this. if not, suggest that they do it. donate pantyhose (i hate that word) and volunteer to help make these!! you can get involved even if youre not living near the gulf



http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126536482&sc=fb&cc=fp

A group in San Francisco has been producing hair booms for nearly a decade now. Matter of Trust makes nylon stockings stuffed with human hair and trimmed animal fur.

"Booms will lie along the beach, the waves will come up, and they'll go through the hair and the nylon," says Lisa Gautier, co-founder of Matter of Trust. "And the hair will grab the oil and then the wave goes back out and it's cleaner."

Gautier says the BP spill is by far the biggest challenge she's encountered, so her organization is directing its current stockpile of hair — 400,000 pounds — toward the cleanup.

While the group does have lots of hair, Gautier notes, there is one shortage. "I knew that hair wouldn't be a problem, but nobody wears nylons anymore," she says.

Well, some people still do. Gautier says the great thing about being based in San Francisco is the city's transvestite community, which has readily donated nylons. The group has also received donations from Wal-Mart and Hanes.

Booms will lie along the beach, the waves will come up, and they'll go through the hair and the nylon. And the hair will grab the oil and then the wave goes back out and it's cleaner.
- Lisa Gautier, co-founder of Matter of Trust

Gautier says the response has been massive: More people have signed up for hair collection in just the past 72 hours than in the past six years.

"There's over 370,000 salons in the U.S., and it's the people in the North and in the West — hundreds and hundreds every hour. And not just the salons and the groomers. Basically everybody is desperate to help. They just really really want to help," she says.

'Hair Sausages'

An hour's drive from the Gulf, at the Athena Hair Salon in Tallahassee, Fla., stylists Cody Traweek and Mary Rolling are alarmed about the size of the spill.

"And you just sit there and watch it and wait for it to come your way, I guess," Rolling says.

The salon just began collecting hair. Traweek says she always wanted an opportunity to recycle all the cuttings. When she learned of an environmental group gathering hair to help, she coordinated the local effort.

"We bag it, put it in a box," she says. "That's how they're asking for it to be shipped: Put it into a bag-lined box."

After the booms are constructed, they're tied together with zip-ties. Then this clump of what looks like hair sausages is shoved into a long mesh liner to make a bigger hair boom to be laid along the waterline.

As Traweek sweeps up the afternoon trimmings, she puts them into a can to transfer to boxes that she'll hold on-site while she waits to see where the oil moves next.

"There's all the hair," she says.

It looks like the Addams Family's Cousin It.

And beyond donating hair, thousands of people in the Gulf region are volunteering to make the booms. Volunteers will shoving fistfuls of hair and animal fur into nylon pantyhose later this week during parties dubbed "Boom-B-Qs."

from an old entry from 2008: "i just keep looking at my pictures from last year's trip and thinking how soon i'll be able to say 'i think im gonna go to my castle this weekend'"

yesterday, i thought "oh theres a holiday in 2 weeks, i think im gonna go to the castle." that was SICK BRAHHH! just booked my fuckin tickets...ill be back here doing this, exactly 3 years after the first time i went. i hope its just as beautiful as it was during the last time



i just hear more and more bad things about the oil spill. all i keep picturing is the future and that scene from soylent green!!



im dedicating this trip to you saul. btw everyone, soylent green is PEOPLE!!!

i was just thinking about the oil spill in the gulf of mexico this morning (and the dolphins, manatees, other marine life) and decided to share some of my pictures of anna maria island



me, age 2


me, my sister, and mom, same beach, 23 years later




riley playing