now, the weekend was awesome. i got to pia's around 5 p.m. on friday and we just chatted and cought up since we haven't seen each other in a while. saturday night we went out to party downtown and got home late and pretty drunk ;o) i called C and he was soooo sweet making sure i drank water and had aspirin while on the phone with him so i wouldn't feel too bad the next morning. i still felt pretty bad all day sunday but i guess that's my own fault. even though it turned into the headache from hell once more and was way worse than the "regular" hungover headache... i guess it could be the age..?? anyway, we just vegetated on the couch all day. michi got there in the afternoon and mike's brother tom came by with two dutch friends in the evening. we then went to tom's place (without the dutch because they were on a hardcore-party-mission or something and went to the city tp party again..) when we got there i pretty much went to bed again and took another nap for an hour or so before michi, pia, mike and tom woke me up singing happy birthday for me at midnight ;o) we had a toast (i had water) and then ate yummi sauerkraut and kassler with mashed potatoes that tom had made. hmmm.. so good. especially since we really hadn't eaten a whole lot all day. and i started feeling better after the meal. it was great.

well, we watched the superbowl-kick-off and the first ten minutes of the game before michi, pia and i left to go back to duesseldorf. luckily my headache was really getting better. we went to bed around 2 a.m. and slep until 8. we got ready to go, put on our costumes and made about 30 sandwiches (broetchen) for everyone. we got to ratingen where mike announces at the parade around 11 just before it started. so of course we hung around there until the afternoon with everyone and it was a great time. after the parade was done there was a band playing and as always it's great to see everyone (a lot of people i get to see for carnival only..). i didn't drink at all though and that was a good decision.

later on we went back to duesseldorf and barbequed at the kunsthalle while waiting for the samba-drum-playing-group to start. they're there every year and it's always great. so we danced there for a while until we went to the gatz which is the bar we always end up at carnival. we partied on until 1 a.m. or so, went to get something to eat and michi and i got home around 1.30 a.m. - pia had left earlier because she had to work yesterday and mike stayed downtown for another beer. so this birthday was definetely one of a kind. they sang for me a couple times during the day and i certainly partied it up ;o) when i got home i had tons of text-messages from my friends and family and i had talked to chris a couple times as well. i had such a good time. thank you all so much for the messages and birthday wishes and emails ;o) it would have been nice to have C there with me and i was a little upset when i talked to him sunday night, but the fact that everyone was so great and knowing that i'll see him in a few days helped.

now i'm back at work. busy. i will try and post the pictures maybe tonight from home.. i'll be busy the next two days as well and after work i'll have to prepare and get ready to go. friday night i'll have a few friends over and then i'll be leaving early saturday morning. again, i will try and let you know what's happening while i'm in IN. i hope you're doing good and i will "talk" to you all later ;o)

update 2005-02-10 * 2:12 p.m.

i uploaded the carnival-pics real quick. check out the gallery. i still have sh*tloads to do. just booked the hotel for saturday real quick and got a GREAT deal on the 4*-hyatt across from woodfield-mall on hotwire again. just can't wait to get there. i will get back here asap and let you know what's happening. promise. XOXOXO