diff --git a/owe.js b/owe.js
index e335b24..83f536b 100644
--- a/owe.js
+++ b/owe.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ var previousTextLength;
 var config_data;
 var unread_words = 0;
 
-function loadSentences(alertIfNew = false, increaseUnread = true) {
+async function loadSentences(alertIfNew = false, increaseUnread = true) {
 	fetch("./data/sentences.txt", {headers: {"Cache-Control": "no-cache, no-store"}})
 		.then((response) => { 
 			return response.text().then((text) => {
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ function loadSentences(alertIfNew = false, increaseUnread = true) {
 		});
 }
 
-function loadConfig() {
+async function loadConfig() {
 	fetch("./data/config.json", {headers: {"Cache-Control": "no-cache, no-store"}}).then((response) => {
 		return response.text().then((text) => {
 			config_data = JSON.parse(text);
@@ -108,30 +108,133 @@ function resetUnread() {
 }
 
 function getNextPlayer() {
-	var spans = document.querySelector(".sentences").getElementsByTagName("span");
-	var lastspan = spans[spans.length - 1];
-	var lastplayer = lastspan.dataset.user;
-	var idx_next = (config_data.users.indexOf(lastplayer) + 1) % config_data.users.length;
-	return config_data.users[idx_next];
+    var sentencesDiv = document.querySelector(".sentences");
+    var spans = sentencesDiv.getElementsByTagName("span");
+
+    if (spans.length > 0) {
+        var lastSpan = spans[spans.length - 1];
+        var lastPlayer = lastSpan.dataset.user;
+        var idxNext = (config_data.users.indexOf(lastPlayer) + 1) % config_data.users.length;
+        return config_data.users[idxNext];
+    } else {
+        // If there are no spans, determine the next user from the archive file
+        var archiveFileUrl = getArchiveFileUrl(); // Replace with the actual function that returns the archive file URL
+        return getLastUserFromArchive(archiveFileUrl)
+            .then(lastUser => {
+                if (lastUser) {
+                    // Calculate the next user's index based on the list of users
+                    var idxNext = (config_data.users.indexOf(lastUser) + 1) % config_data.users.length;
+                    return config_data.users[idxNext];
+                } else {
+                    // Handle the case when the archive file is empty or contains no spans
+                    console.error("Archive file is empty or contains no spans.");
+                    return null;
+                }
+            })
+            .catch(error => {
+                console.error("Error fetching archive file:", error);
+                return null;
+            });
+    }
 }
 
-function getTimeSinceLast() {
-	var spans = document.querySelector(".sentences").getElementsByTagName("span");
-	var lastspan = spans[spans.length - 1];
-	var lasttime = lastspan.dataset.time;
-	return Date.now()/1e3 - lasttime; // in seconds
+
+function getLastUserFromArchive(archiveFileUrl) {
+    // Fetch the last span from the archive file and extract the username
+    return getLastSpanFromArchive(archiveFileUrl)
+        .then(lastArchiveSpan => {
+            if (lastArchiveSpan) {
+                return lastArchiveSpan.dataset.user;
+            } else {
+                // Handle the case when the archive file is empty or contains no spans
+                console.error("Archive file is empty or contains no spans.");
+                return null;
+            }
+        })
+        .catch(error => {
+            console.error("Error fetching archive file:", error);
+            return null;
+        });
 }
 
-function initializeLoginArea() {
-	var loginArea = document.getElementById('login_area');
-	//loginArea.innerHTML = "Eingeloggt als NOCH NICHT IMPLEMENTIERT";
-	loginArea.innerHTML = ""; // first clear it out
-	loginArea.innerHTML += getNextPlayer() + " ist dran!<br>\n";
-	var relative_time = getTimeSinceLast();
-	var days = Math.floor(relative_time/(3600*24));
-	var hours = Math.floor(relative_time/(3600))%24;
-	var minutes = Math.floor(relative_time/(60))%60;
-	loginArea.innerHTML += "Schon seit " + days + " Tagen, " + hours + " Stunden und " + minutes + " Minuten!";
+function getLastSpanFromArchive(archiveFileUrl) {
+    // Make an asynchronous request to fetch the content of the archive file
+    return fetch(archiveFileUrl)
+        .then(response => response.text())
+        .then(htmlContent => {
+            // Parse the HTML content to get the last span
+            var parser = new DOMParser();
+            var doc = parser.parseFromString(htmlContent, 'text/html');
+            var archiveSpans = doc.querySelectorAll("span");
+
+            if (archiveSpans.length > 0) {
+                return archiveSpans[archiveSpans.length - 1];
+            } else {
+                // Return null if the archive file is empty or contains no spans
+                return null;
+            }
+        });
+}
+
+// bullshit implementation:
+function getArchiveFileUrl() {
+	return "./data/sentences-archive-25-nov-23-26-jan-24.txt";
+}
+
+async function getTimeSinceLast() {
+    var sentencesDiv = document.querySelector(".sentences");
+    var spans = sentencesDiv.getElementsByTagName("span");
+
+    if (spans.length > 0) {
+        var lastSpan = spans[spans.length - 1];
+        var lastTime = lastSpan.dataset.time;
+        return Date.now() / 1e3 - lastTime; // in seconds
+    } else {
+        // If there are no spans, determine the last time from the archive file
+        var archiveFileUrl = getArchiveFileUrl(); // Replace with the actual function that returns the archive file URL
+        return getLastTimeFromArchive(archiveFileUrl);
+    }
+}
+
+async function getLastTimeFromArchive(archiveFileUrl) {
+    try {
+        // Fetch the last span from the archive file
+        var lastSpan = await getLastSpanFromArchive(archiveFileUrl);
+
+        if (lastSpan) {
+            var lastTime = lastSpan.dataset.time;
+            return Date.now() / 1e3 - lastTime; // in seconds
+        } else {
+            // Handle the case when the archive file is empty or contains no spans
+            console.error("Archive file is empty or contains no spans.");
+            return null;
+        }
+    } catch (error) {
+        console.error("Error fetching archive file:", error);
+        return null;
+    }
+}
+
+
+async function initializeLoginArea() {
+    var loginArea = document.getElementById('login_area');
+
+    // Use async/await to wait for the result of getNextPlayer
+    try {
+        var nextPlayer = await getNextPlayer();
+        var relative_time = await getTimeSinceLast();
+    	// Clear the login area
+    	loginArea.innerHTML = "";
+        loginArea.innerHTML += nextPlayer + " ist dran!<br>\n";
+
+        var days = Math.floor(relative_time / (3600 * 24));
+        var hours = Math.floor(relative_time / 3600) % 24;
+        var minutes = Math.floor(relative_time / 60) % 60;
+        loginArea.innerHTML += "Schon seit " + days + " Tagen, " + hours + " Stunden und " + minutes + " Minuten!";
+    } catch (error) {
+        // Handle any errors that may occur in the getNextPlayer function
+        console.error("Error in initializeLoginArea:", error);
+    }
 }
 
 window.onfocus = resetUnread;