Writhe and Shine

From Writhe’s journal:

D, the girl I met this morning, and I walked around after 5pm looking for her friend. We stopped and called the guy’s mother and afterward D felt better. We hung out until after 6 then she told me where the club was. I walked back to the hostel and relaxed for a bit, took a shower, shaved, and started getting ready. I left about 8:45, took the S-Bahn. Got to the club just after 9. It’s called Lalic and it’s right next to a store called Art of Dark. I went in and had too large of a note for the door so I went inside and bought a drink. I forgot it was called a Kölsch and asked for a Kölner, and got a cola. I paid the bald door guy with my change, went back in again. It’s a three level club. You stand higher than the DJ when you’re talking to him. He wasn’t very friendly so I didn’t try talking to him any further. He played mostly EBM and industrial and a little bit of goth. The club got busy a little later, although there were more people arriving earlier than I expected. I had a few Kölsch and drew on a coaster while watching people and the soccer game. People dressed remarkably well for such a small city scene. This is the only pseudo-gothy night they have.
I was sitting next to the bartender on the upper level and he was trying to get the attention of a guy on the second floor by throwing coasters at him. Two missed and then I gave him mine. He threw it and it got the guy’s attention. This guy then jokingly made like he was going to throw his drink, so I moved exaggeratedly away and both guys laughed.
I wanted to dance, but I didn’t really recognize anything, so I didn’t. I had to leave at 12:15am because the fucking HI had a curfew. Caught the tram back the way I had come and got into the hostel about 12:40. I tried to be quiet as I brushed my teeth and changed.
The next morning the asshole in the bunk above me was very loud and disrespectful, the bastard! He said “good morning” and I just grunted at him. After I got up, I got into a very long breakfast line and ate another boring breakfast. They didn’t take my ticket so I kept it. I gathered all my things and checked out. Went to the train station and locked up my big bag. I sat there for a while wondering what I should do.
I took the Dom Cathedral tour at 10:30 led by an unenthusiastic man. Supposedly, the remains of the THE Three kings are inside the golden “heart” of the church. The tour included a 20 minute film on the cathedral. It had such excellent music that I actually choked up a bit. Next I went to Art of Dark to look around. Cool stuff. I asked where they usually went to buy music and they told me about Record Rebel down the street. I went that way without knowing the exact location and ran into the guy who had faked throwing his drink last night. He recognized me and nodded. I asked him where the record store was and told me. I spent about 30-45 minutes there and listened to a compilation that I ended up not getting. I went to eat at Cafe Rendezvous again. Pizza this time. It had a lot of onions and garlic on it with broccoli and some weird cheese. I guess I mistook the German word for onions and mushrooms. As I was eating, I realized my breath was going to stink horribly. I went to the corner market and bought some Tic Tacs, hair gel and chupa chups. “Lech Mich!”
Went to Scarface again and the guy forgot the addresses at home and told me about the Orkus magazine. I bought a very nice expensive shirt. I asked if the guy knew anyone in Koblenz that would let me sleep on their floor. He gave me the location of one guy who basically knows everyone. I went back to Art of Dark and bought the magazine, and they told me about a music store called Saturn. I went there and they had fucking everything! For good prices too! I was going to buy a couple of CDs but decided against one because it was an “import” and cost more. I figured I could order it when I got back to New Orleans. I returned it to the rack and saw another Gothic magazine that had a CD in it, so I bought that instead.
I walked back to the HBhf and tried to call D., but she was still at work. Tried to call M., but he was still at work too. I hung out at the train station and called again later. M came and picked me up. Nice guy, pretty cool. We drank a glass of Kölsch at his place then went to pick up a friend of his and dropped him off at the place to watch the game. We went to the record label office and met W. We had a great conversation about music and DJing and the scene and the differences between it in Europe and America. At the end, they gave me about a dozen discs of a variety of their artists! W was willing to give me basically one of everything as long as I would play them when I got back to the States, but I was shy and only took the ones I had. Plus I wouldn’t have anywhere to keep them while I was traveling. Besides, they are a small operation who’s sales are dropping and I didn’t want to be greedy.
M and I went to watch the rest of the game with his friend. France won so we went to eat at a Turkish place. Turkish pizza. I tried one of their milk drinks and almost threw up. It was like someone poured a bit of milk in a salt container and mixed it up. Luckily there was a bowl of sugar nearby which I used to cleanse my palate. Ate most of the pizza and went into a bar for a drink. Back to the apartment for sleep and got a ride in the morning to the train station. Tried to call JHB but no answer. On the train now headed to Koblenz listening to my CDs. So many!!