7/29/93--Day 5 [Frederikshavn Denmark]

At about 12:15am we arrived in Frederikshavn.  We passed up the Ferries once
but made our way back to find most things closed.  At this point we decided to
rest at a camp for the night.  Well, after about a 10km drive we found a
closed camp.  So, once again we were stuck.  We decided to go back to the
ferry location.  After asking a "guard" and exploring some more we discovered
an office.  I used my Visa and bought a round trip ticket for about $140. 
Only about a few dollars more than I figured.  At this point it was about 1am
so we drove the car to the loading doc.  I ate some bread, drank some water
and Pepsi before resting a bit--this was a 3:30am ferry!

There were quite a few people on the ferry--many children too.  Adam exchanged
$15 and probably got a decent rate.  Besides that we did not do much except
walk the ship and watch it leave and enter the harbor.  Pascal did not sleep
any, I slept about an hour and Adam got 2-3 hours of sleep.  So, once again it
was pretty much a sleepless night.  Upon leaving the station we saw a
"customs" person but we were not stopped.  Taking E40 to Jonkoping I noticed
Sweden had quite a few hills and lots of fog.  Currently it is 8am and we are
on our way to Jonkoping to see someone we know over the internet.  Lets hope
he is there when we arrive in about 1/2 hour.

7/30/93--Day 6 [Almost in Helsinki]

As I write we are currently making our way via the ferry to Finland, Helsinki. 
At last entry we were making our way to Jonkoping.  I will pickup from there.

We arrived in Jonkoping at about 8:50am.  I remember this because a few places
were not open--like the tourist board.  We stopped in the center of town at
the train/bus/information location.  Before 9:00am we checked the phone booths
for phone books but none were to be found.  Only at a "tourist" stop shop
could we find any phone book.  We looked but could not find our friend Daniel
Faulk.  So, we went upstairs and waited for the tourist place to open.  When
it did we asked the lady if she could find our friend.  She did--and called
him as well.  Since he was in the shower we called back in 10 minutes.  I
spoke and wanted to go over his house to use the toilet and shower but he was
leaving for the town (where I was) to pick up some friends and also make his
way to Finland.  No luck then--getting a shower and using some free toilets.

7/30/93--Day 6 [At Assembly]

Picking up from talking on the phone to Daniel we made our way to a travel
booking place as Daniel Faulk (Lenaid) suggested.  Since a lot of people were
going it was stated that there may not be any room so we made our way--after
asking a few people--to the travel agency across the street.  When it opened
at 9:30am we got in to book our ferry ride.  We discovered that the only ride
we could get was on the VIKING LINE.  There was 1 car space and no cabin. 
After considering all the possibilities we bought the ticket.  It cost around
$85 per person.

When we finally left the city it was 10:00am.  On the road to Stockholm we met
Daniel--they passed us.  From there out we followed them to the ferry.  We
took a small walk once arriving in Stockholm but not very far and did not see
many tourist stuff except from afar.  It was around 3:00pm when we found where
to board and had to wait 1-2 hours till we could board.

The "Cinderalla" is a nice cruise ship.  Too bad we were too tired to
"exploit" all its amenities.  Well, I was anyways.  The food was quite pricy,
they charged me a lot of money for using a travelers check and...Good thing
for Daniel and his friends because were able to sleep in their cabin.

Not too much happened on the way over--of which I slept most of--and we
arrived safely at 9:00am in Helsinki.

Upon arrival we stopped at an information center and found a bank where we
could exchange money.  We got a good rate.  I was charged about 20 marks--
$3.50 for $100 in travelers checks.  Soon afterwards we ate "donuts" and juice
for breakfast. Then we made our way to Kerava--where Assembly '93 was being
held.  It was quite easy to find since we had good directions from the Future
Crews map.

There were quite a few people in line waiting to get in, claim a room, and
drop off their stuff.  We decided to wait, take a walk and finally, near noon,
got in line.  Unfortunately by that time no rooms were left...or according to
what we heard.  Well, it worked out that we were permitted to stay with
Avalanche...so, at least I did.

A ton of people showed up...people with computers...they are everywhere. 
During the day we visited the whole place and visited with groups...including
Extreme, Extend, Epical, Imphobia, Disknet, Future Crew, Renaissance, and so
on.  There were quite a few drunk people about by mid day.  One even hit a
monitor, got punched and forced out of the room.  Another threw and broke a
glass bottle.  This seems to be a 24-24 (said twenty four hour twenty four
hour) deal with no one doing any sleeping or little if any.  That night after
missing techno and no introduction I made it to sleep at around 1 am on a hard
floor.  I did not get much sleep but I figure it will do.

Other high notes for the day included talking with Gore, Phil Staz (sp?) who
published a book that deals with demos, and a rep (Mike) from Epicmega Games.

7/31/93--Day 7 [Assembly--Day 2]

Today the comps begin and go into Sunday morning.  It will be a non stop
night.  And before I forget, Pascal got a drink last night and locked the keys
in the trunk--shit.  So, much of the day sixes night we spent trying to get
the door unlocked.  But to no avail--and I had no sleeping bag, clothes, tooth
brush, or anything but what I had on for that matter.  So, this meant sleeping
on a hard floor with nothing but a jacket for a pillow.

We were able to get the door unlocked by the police--this saved 350 FIM which
a locksmith would charge.  Unfortunately, before this someone attempted to get
in the night before and broke the handle on the right size.  Hey, but DDT of
Accession--a car mechanic--was there and took about a 1/2 hour of his time to
fix the problem.  Since he did this we took him to lunch to at least repay a
little of what he did for us.  Ahh, excitement.

Since we had leftovers from the Chinese restaurant (220 FIM it costs) we
visited we ate it for dinner too.

The competitions finally got underway just after 5pm with the PC Music 4
channel and then multi tracked music.  There were only average type music--so
I felt.  I felt Schwing the Swing by Sonic was the best 4 track mod and
opossum by Epical was the best for the multi-channel.

When we went to dinner we seemed to miss the Amiga Graphics and Intro compo. 
They are using the 3 light projection TV machine and small text is very hard
to read on the screen.  Also considering I am about 80 feet away.  Ok, soon
the compo will begin again.  Right now some PC music is playing for some
reason.  So far they have not kept to their schedule very well.

[My ratings of PC demos/intros appeared here.  I picked 2 of the top 3 intros
and demos.]

We missed most of the Amiga intros but I stayed and watched the Amiga demos. 
There were some amazing ones in the eight or so they showed.

8/1/93--Day 8 [Assembly, Final day--Sunday]

After the Amiga stuff they took about a 15 minute break and then started the
PC stuff--intros and demos.  The intros--all under 100k--were pretty
interesting though nothing stood out as really amazing.  After the 16 intros
the PC demos were shown--I believe.  By now it was after 2:00am and I was
tired.  Since they had so many demos they decided to show the 10 (9 actually)
best.  They were definitely the best demos ever with four demos being better
than the UNREAL standard.  The Future Crews "Second Reality" was the most
outstanding.  From there I felt Saga, then Elements then Optic Nerve.  Other
people gave Optic Nerve 2nd, Elements 3rd, and Saga the.  After the PC compo
was over they had some game demo and the PC graphics.  By this time I was too
tired to stay up for the C-64 demos so I went to rest at 3:30am.  At 9:30am I
got up, put in my contacts (only put in saline) and went to get a copy of the
64 demos and see who won for the PC and C-64.  After wondering a bit, finding
Pascal and Adam I went and got my C-64 disks to get copies of the
demos/music/graphics.  By 10:30am I had found someone with copies of most of
the stuff released.  He let me use his 64-SX to copy.  Unfortunately I noticed
many errors and copied over when it was really bad.  Hopefully all my copies
work.

The American demos I brought worked (C-64) a little slower on their PAL
computers.  Raster routines looked quite awful most of the time though.  One
of the funny things I noticed about my stay was the size of the soda bottles
people bought and drank.  Most bottles people drank from contained 1 liter of
soda or other related drink.  Quite often it was drunk warm.  Ice is not used
much in Finland.  I thought this was weird.  The Finnish people also drink
quite a bit.  There were many drunken Finns at the party.

Pascal and I ran out and got Lunch--pizza--around 12:30pm.  The Finnish Pizza
is much thinner then our American pizza and taste about 1/2 as good.

After talking and saying goodbye to some of our friends--including Gore--we
left at about 2:30pm.  Phil S. who wrote a book that covered demos and part of
the demo scene, interviewed me on camera.  Though it was kind of impromptu
Phil directed the conversation well.

We made our way from Kerava to Helsinki without much of a problem and made it
in time for the ferry.  I wanted to walk the city but it was raining and about
45 minutes till car boarding so no one else wanted to do such--so we just
waited.

In the ferry we met up with new people and our friends Daniel and Avalache. 
With no cabin Pascal and I wondered till we found a decent table/chairs where
we could stay/sleep.  So, that is what we did.  Later that night Daniel and
his friends came along and we talked.  About 9-12 people hung around our TV, 4
chairs and bench/window.  Not much more to day.  I got about 4-5 hours of
sleep.

8/2/93--Day 9 [Monday]

Early this morning we exited the ferry and agreed to take a friend of Daniel's
home.  Since we passed his city on the way.  After the 3.5 hour drive we
rested at his house.  I washed my hair for the first time in 4 days and Pascal
took a shower.  I also changed all my clothes since they were getting dirty.

Now we are on our way to Goteburg to catch they ferry.  It is 2:30pm and the
ferry leaves at 3:30pm.  Hopefully we can make it.  It will be quite a long
night no matter what happens.  We have no place to stay in Germany or Denmark
and the car needs to be returned at 4pm tomorrow.

Written 8/3/93--Day 10--7:10am (Tuesday)

Currently we are traveling in Germany less than 1 hour away from Hamburg
(120km).  A shit load has happened since then and most was not good.  Let me
update you.

After the long drive from Jonkoping we were pushing the time and had only
downed 1 meal for that day so far--there was no time for lunch.  Welp, we
arrived in Goteburg at 3:15pm, got lost, and finally were headed in the right
direction and ready to get on board they ferry but we were too late--the ferry
was pulling out.  At this point Pascal noticed his waist belt was missing. 
Unfortunately our stop in Jopkoping ended up costing about 7.5 hours in time.

In Jopkoping I washed my hair--mentioning before I would take a shower. 
Pascal however decided to take a shower though I advised against it because of
our time.  Anyways, Pascal ended up leaving his most important item (money
bag) at Sami's place.  After about 30 minutes of figuring, talking, calling
(Daniel Faulk--not home), and thinking we decided to go back--a 2 hour journey
each way.  This meant we would miss another ferry and make the 11:30pm one.

We made it to Jopkoping and found Sami asleep but woke him to get Pascal's
bag.  About this time (6:30pm) we were getting hungry so we attempted to eat
at McDonalds.  We sat with two girls before making McDonalds since they
motioned to us.  However, we left after about 5 minutes when they started
smoking.  Of course McDonald's did not take VISA so we were on our way back to
Goteburg having eaten no lunch nor dinner.  We got to Goteburg around 9pm and
planned on going elsewhere for eating--after parking our car in the ferry
line--but discovered were blocked in and the only snack shack would not take
VISA.  Welp, no money equals an obvious disadvantage.

Finally after boarding we got some food in the cafeteria--Swedish meatballs. 
The cost was around 200 Swedish Krones--a lot!  This meal was eaten around 12
midnight, so basically we only ate snacks, candy and breakfast the day before. 
The ferry lasted 3.25 hours and was once again...on time.  I slept about 1.5
hours and Adam about 2 hours.  We felt pretty good.  I felt ready to drive for
the first time (manual).

We arrived in Denmark just after 2:30am with less than a quarter tank of gas. 
Luckily after passing about four closed gas stations we found a 24 hour one. 
After filling up I drove.  I even drove through a city where I had to shift a
bit.  My driving time lasted about 2.5-3 hours and I stopped in Kolding. 
Afterwards I rested and woke up when we crossed the board to Germany.  For the
first time on our trip we got asked for our passports/id's.  We had them so
after two minutes we were on our way.  

Now we are approaching Hamburg and will later drive into the Netherlands--it
is 7:40am.  It looks like it will be another day with little sleep, and little
food--maybe lunch.

Written 8/5/93--Thursday

We made it through Germany with no problems.  Pascal even drove 180 Km/H on
the Autobaun--that is roughly 110 Mph--the car wouldn't go any faster.  We
fueled up with the rest of Pascals German Marks (40).  We were making great
time as we entered the Netherlands.  Once again, we had no boarder problems. 
We got some more gas in the Netherlands and also got lost for a bit.  Though
it seems like a recurring theme it did not hurt us that bad.  Since we were
pushing our time we decided not to stop in Belgium for chocolate.  Finally, at
roughly 4pm we arrived at Pascal's place, emptied the car and cleaned the car
with a vacuum cleaner.  As for the outside all we did was use a squeegee at
the gas station--bugs on the window, on the lights, on the license plate.

The car was returned at 4:55, just 2 minutes shy of our deadline but it seems
as if we did not get charged.  Funny thing is the lady put gas in--when it was
full (did not believe us)--and most of it spilt onto the ground with us
getting charged.  Ugh.

Day 11 8/4/93--Wednesday (Back in France)

After that 24H day we ate dinner with Pascal's parents and got back to
Pascal's old house where we retired around 10pm--and we were (at least Adam
and I) tired.  We slept just over 12 hours.

Breakfast consisted of cereal and Bread with chocolate.  I also took a shower
for the first time in 5 days.  We watched some of the intros, a demo, played
the music then left for lunch at Pascal's house.

The night before for dinner they had beef, pigeon, pizza, and rabbit.  I tried
the pigeon and rabbit but simply thinking about what I was eating made it
difficult to eat such food.  Similar food was for lunch so I did not eat much
then.  Once done we went to Pascal's's sisters to finish watching  the
Assembly '93 stuff.  Near 4:00pm it was decided we should leave for the beach-
-well, the channel actually.  It took about an hour to make it to the beach
where we could see topless women.  We parked and walked, and saw a few topless
women but not many.  Pascal and Adam kept saying intelligent and nice
conversation, etc, etc.  I thought the "sand hills" were interesting.  We
climbed, walked and ran a few of them.  The water was very cold--68F.  After
pissing around--and I did take a piss in a bush--we left and went for ice-
cream.  I had something like a sundae for about $6.  It was pretty good. 
Afterwards we got some post cards while Adam & Pascal grabbed some interesting
magazines.  By now it was nearing 9pm and we went to another location to eat
dinner.  I had fries, a ham & cheese on toast with cheese on one piece of
toast.  For a drink I had Liptonic--ice tea with lime in it.  When done we
took a walk along the nice river before seeing a monument and heading aback
home.  Back at Pascal's we figured out what each person spent to determine who
owed who.

Well, it ended up that Pascal owed me about $90, while I owed Adam $35.  So,
after pushing some of what Pascal owed me onto Adam we each felt satisfied we
broke even at $40-$50 donated to Pascal for letting us stay with him.  We
finally turned in around midnight.

Day 12 8/5/93--Thursday (Time to Leave)

Pascal woke me up--as requested--at 6:30am today.  I was able to pack
everything except my disk--they were over Pascal's sisters place which was
locked.  So, oh well.  We expected to leave at 7:30am but after getting gas,
packed, visiting Pascal's other house it was more like 8:00am.  What a
shitter.  Anyways, we made it to the airport at 10:00am--only 10 minutes later
then I wanted--even though we got lost and had to back track.  Thankfully Adam
and Pascal waited till I checked in and learned where I was to go.  They also
decided to wait till noon in case I missed the flight so that was a bonus.

At the airport there was a ton of security.  In fact I was asked for my
passport at least 5 times.  They also asked me if I accepted any packages,
what I had and such.  It seemed to be very secure...maybe too much.  They
don't seem to trust anyone.  In fact, I ran into trouble with one guy wanting
to see my # from my moms airline card.  Luckily I got past that.

Finally, after all the shit I made the flight--seat 37A--the penultimate seat. 
No matter, I made it and that is all that counts.  Too bad I'm back near some
smoke.  Welp, I will be glad when I'm in the US.  The movie for todays flight
is The Sandlot--a movie I really want to see so...Excellent.

Written 8/26/93--Final Comments

After the 8 hour flight I was glad to be home where toilets are free and
everything cost less.  Going to Europe just makes you appreciate the US that
much more!  After I got off the plane I cleared Customs quite easily--no one
in line "US Citizens."  In fact, it seemed like most people on the plane were
foreigners.  After exchanging my money--paper only--I checked in and went to
gate to check in (one stop flight).  The plane was so full they started
offering travel vouchers to people!  During my wait I visited McDonald's and
got some good ole American food.

Come boarding time it looked hopeless--after everyone had boarded I still was
not called.  Once I was sure making that flight was impossible I quickly
walked to where another Continental flight that was going to Miami.  I got
there with about 10 minutes to spare and made the flight.  When I got off the
flight and walked towards the baggage claim I was surprised to see my parents. 
Unfortunately my bag was in Fort Lauderdale so we went there to collect it. 
So, I made it up and back without too many problems.  Once again, I am
thankful.

The demo disk mag I worked on (Mayhem) was released August 23rd.  I also
worked on a Demo article for DDJ for a week.  If I'm luckily I'll get a few
bucks there. [Never got printed, never got any money.]

It was an exciting trip.  A few good memories, a few new friends and a journal
to remind me of our journey.  One more small vacation to Universal Studios in
Orlando this weekend and from then on I must really plan--strictly business.
[I had no job at the time.]

Oh, sometimes I do see myself caught in the THREE BOXES OF LIFE...
