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So . . . this happened:

And I loved it :)

Nun, das Warten hat ein Ende

As cliché as it sounds, I’ll never forget the first time I heard a song by Rammstein.

I was driving my sister and her friend back to her house when she found out that I’d recently discovered a German-language band called “E Nomine” and asked me if I’d ever heard of Rammstein before. At that point, I had not. She had a burned CD with her that contained several of their songs and as I continued to drive she played “Sonne” for me.

I knew instantly that Rammstein was going to be no one-hit-wonder; there was no way that a band who could produce a song that powerful could only do it once.

A few days later I went out and bought a copy of “Sehnsucht” and “Mutter”, about a week later I purchased “Herzeleid” and was then was ready for the release of “Reise, Reise” which happened shortly after. Over the next few months I immersed myself in their world – watching music videos, reading interviews – and after some initial hesitation (Rammstein can be intimidating if you’re coming off the heels of alternative rock afterall) I declared them to be my number one.

Ever since then it has been a continuous, unshakable love affair.

I’ve never in my entire life been able to listen to one artist for so long. There have certainly been bands that meant a lot to me in my past but I’ve never been so content just listening to one artist’s work over and over and over again. Their music can be very raw, coarse, and angry and then somber, beautiful, and euphoric but it’s always emotional.

Really, the only thing you need after that is a great live show and for that, Rammstein is truly legendary.

Flamepots, rocket-shooting rifles, fire-spurting metal angel wings, exploding dolls and flame-thrower masks are commonplace.

The first time I saw a DVD of their live performance I was blown away and then quickly became obsessed with seeing them live. The only problem was that – short of flying to another country – I was never given the opportunity. The last time Rammstein toured the United States was a decade prior. In all that time the band had maintained that they were unsure of their fanbase in the United States, that they figured we had all forgotten about them following their 1997 hit “Du Hast”. However, when their last album hit number 13 on our charts with absolutely no promotion whatsoever they decided to test the waters and their one-night-only concert at Madison Square Garden sold out in under 30 minutes.

I got my seat, bought a train ticket to New York and on December 11th, 2010 finally experienced what I had slowly started to believe would never happen.

There is no possible way I could explain how amazing the show was. It was absolutely everything I ever thought it would be from the pyrotechnics down to the raw emotion and perfection of the music and vocals. One of the best moments of the show came during the performance of “Benzin”- check out mark 3:50 if you're curious.

The performance itself wasn’t the only fantastic thing about the show – the crowd and the energy was incredible. I meet people from all over America who’d spent thousands to attend the show and the stadium was vibrating from anticipation well before Rammstein took the stage. Even though the show sold out as quickly as it did, I myself was somewhat skeptical about the audience – maybe all anyone would care about was “Du Hast”. That was most definitely not the case: everyone freaked out when they played songs from their first album as well as their latest and everyone knew all the call-backs despite them all being in German.

It was like being in a room with 20,000 of my best friends.

The worst part of the show was watching them leave.

Hopefully though, our enthusiasm will given Rammstein the encouragement to come back and show America more love.

I will most certainly be there if they do.

What's The Vegetarian Equivalent Of "Gobble, Gobble"?

I'm sitting here watching "Die Hard" and basking in the post-Thanksgiving glow that only copious amounts of food can provide. Food, mind you, that myself and my roommate prepared all on our own. The day began with some aaaaaaamazing French Toast with vanilla extract, cinnamon and powered sugar:

We then took a break to watch the Rifftrax version of "Jurassic Park" before camping out in the kitchen for about 2 hours to make a broccoli and cheese casserole, veggie friendly stuffing, asparagus, nibblets and sweet rolls:

And finally, pumpkin pie and a mocha latte with cinnamon and nutmeg:

All in all, despite that I did miss being with my family, it was a very successful Thanksgiving.

Can't wait to enjoy leftovers tomorrow.

Life as an Adult

So, I'm alive.

I just realized the other day that it had been awhile since I last updated this blog. Things have been busy up here; I've been working a lot (nearly 40 hours a week, thankfully) and generally just keeping up with day to day things when I'm not.

I have also come to realize that moving up here was the best thing I've ever done.

I love living in my own apartment and working to pay my own rent and bills.

I love learning how to cook.

I love having seasons; fall was AMAZING.

I love the people I work with and I'm incredibly thankful to have the job I have while I continue my search for a vocation.

Yeah, things are good here.

My roommate and I are planning a pretty rad Thanksgiving day breakfast/dinner for our first respective Thanksgivings away from our families. It's going to be difficult being away from everyone in Florida but it's still going to be great.

In less than a month I'll be headed to NYC to see Rammstein. Yeah, I'm still pretty excited about that.

I got nothing else right now.

Life is good.

You Had Me At "Du Hast"

Once upon a time, there was a German metal band that made beautiful music.

Over the span of 16 years they produced the most glorious, engaging, and heart pounding rock ever to assault the eardrums of humankind.

Somewhere inside those 16 years however, they seemed to forget about their fans in North America. They appeared to think that our love affair with them went out with “Du Hast”. They seemed unaffected by the fact that with absolutely no promotion of any kind their latest album, “Liebe ist fur alle da” debuted at 13 on our charts. They seemed to think that one show after 10 years on American soil would be enough.

Then they sold out Madison Square Garden in 13 minutes.

Thankfully, this loyal fan and her friend were able to get tickets - although not together. But, yours truly is officially going to see the world’s greatest rock band on December 11^th of this year.

I am beyond happy but I also kind of want to punch Till Lindemann, Richard Kruspe, Paul Landers, Christoph Schneider, Oliver Riedel and Flake Lorenz in their faces.

RIGHT IN THEIR FACES.

YOU’VE HAD FANS HERE FOR YEARS.

YOU’RE MORONS FOR IGNORING US FOR SO LONG.

I still love you though and look forward to giving you my voice in a few months.

Wir Sind Für Die Musik Geboren

I got the greatest news of my life today.

Rammstein - the band I have been unabashedly in love with for 6 years - is performing a show at Madison Square Garden on December 11th of this year. This is a band that I have dreamed about more times than I can remember. A band who's music has moved me to fits of laughter, tears, and unbridled euphoria since the first time my sister's friend played one of their songs for me as I drove them around. A band that still reduces this 25-year-old woman to fits of fangirlism. A band who encouraged me to study German so I could better understand their lyrics. A band that has come to mean so much to me that I've had their lyrics inked into my shoulder.

And a band who has not performed in North America in 10 years.

A decade.

Which, of course, means I've never been given the opportunity to see them live. Let me tell you, it's one thing to never get to see your favorite band live but when said band is known for shows that look like this:

it hurts just a little bit more.

I know it hasn't really hit me and it probably won't until the curtain drops on the night of the show. Tickets go on sale October 9th and I will be a bundle of nerves until I get confirmation that my seat is safe.

For now though, I think I'll write out my dream playlist:

Weißes Fleisch

Du riechst so gut

Asche zu Asche

Sehnsucht

Du Hast

Links 2 3 4

Sonne

Ich Will

Feuer frei!

Mein Teil

Keine Lust

Rosenrot

Mann gegen Mann

Te quiero puta!

Rammlied

Ich tu dir weh

Waidmanns Heil

Liebe ist für alle da

Donaukinder

Or they could just play their entire catalog. That'd be cool.

Please Don't Use Those Stairs

So I fell down the stairs today.

That was fun.

I was woken up at 7:30 this morning by the sound of someone ringing our doorbell insistently. In my sleep, I was worried that one of my roommates had maybe locked themselves out or there was some other emergency or Rammstein was ready to perform a private show for me so I got out of bed and opened the front door only to make it about 2 steps before I slipped and tumbled.

And tumbled, and tumbled, and tumbled.

I honestly have no idea how far I fell - I just remember thinking in the middle of it that I had died and was in limbo where I would proceed to fall for all eternity. Thankfully, all I ended up with was a scraped hand, a bruised elbow and some very sore thighs - I'm really lucky I fell the way I did.

Did I mention that when I got to the door no one was there?

Urgh.

Other than that little mishap, things are really starting to fall into place. I absolutely adore the people I work with and I'm totally in love with my apartment. Speaking of which, this is where I'm calling it because my beautiful roommate is making me dinner.

Peace.