I'm ...

... fairly stupid. See what I did there? Placed the wrong thing on the wrong web presence. Geez'. You'd think that at least I'd know the diff, right?

Anyway. Been busy with work and stuff, and as with everything new it's not a thing which just works over night. Though, lord, would I like it to. Yesterday I got the interesting message that both my colleagues leave for their holidays in a couple of weeks.

Well, fuck.

That leaves me in charge, so to speak, and I have to say that the prospect is a little daunting. Or, you know, a lot daunting.

Anyway. Besides that they are really nice people over there and I'm sure we'll find some interesting and lovely way to avoid, or at least minimalise, screw-ups.

I'd also would like to thank AnnA for giving me such a lovely afternoon the other day. Lady rules, to be sure.

Heh, another one who'll go on her holidays right quick and I hope she'll enjoy the living daylights out of them.

In other news; there will be a little get-together of people I know on-line to celebrate one of their loverly birthdays. Five's to be exact. Isn't that nice. I might actually be there ....

After ...

A bit of a hiatus ... new stuff. There is another one but I think blogger just took the piss.

The other one is red. And blue.

Ehm ... I'll try again soon.

[edit] ... well ... shit. It seems to work!

Well ...

.... I seem to be going through a 'I'll never learn phase' work-wise, these last days. It's actually quite taxing to figure out how the hell everything works. I suppose that there are stages to getting to know your job, just as there are stages to mourning and so forth (though, it's an eerie comparison to make ... ). It might be interesting to see how things work in stages. From twat to expert ...

Some other time. Right now, I have to go to bed. I have been taking out my frustration on the poor, helpless pixels of the TitanQuest universe. Now, there is a game which deserves the name Diablo 3. Everything seems highly familiar down to the controls. Of course Diablo is the standard for this type of game. It's also the best game I ever played so I'm so not complaining ... I remember the excitement as if it was yesterday. UNbelieveable amounts of hours were invested into the silly thing ... so worth it.


For an updated version do not hesitate to buy TitanQuest. Honestly, you won't be disappointed ...

Tomorrow ... we'll see. I've probably made a few mistakes along the way yesterday, but I'm sure it's nothing that cannot be fixed by someone else. Preferably.

Okay!

We did the aikido exam and I'm proud to say that both myself and my better 3/4 did excellently well and passed. It was a bit gruelling, especially for Suus ... she totally lost all breath in the first few minutes. Not a result of poor condition, but mostly of the time of year, illness and heat. So, you know, she's impressive on all fronts.

For myself, I had to participate in three exams. I had to fall for Suus, do my own exam and then fall for someone else, Vincent. So, I was pretty out of it by the end of it. My fall partner was one of the two gentlemen who actually asked the questions on the exam and he's a bit of a black belt and a nice fellow.

So, thanks to all involved, especially to Chris for giving so freely of his spare time.

Next stop: dress ....

I have a ton of film and photo material. Maybe, when I can be arsed I shall upload it to youtube or something. But, no promises because me and youtube have a bit of a shaky relationship ...

So ...

... had a bit of training yesterday. Sorry to say that my dear lady could not train with us, on account of a slight case of illness. That was a shame. Anyway, my aikido trainer, some other gentleman and I, we trained for the upcoming exams in aikido. Really weird when you think on it; my trainer and he who will be asking the questions on the exam was actually teaching us how to do the exam. Thus, he has already seen what we are capable of. Or, you know, not.

It just struck me as odd.

Other than that, Chris, my teacher, is a freak. He sometimes lets lose this incredible ... joy and exuberance at being on the mat and having fun. In such moods you get thrown quite a distance. And all that with a smile. It's infectuous and really rather FUN!

Honestly, I'd recommend this game to anyone. Just remember, at a certain point you'll have to let go of your inhibitions about wearing a skirt.

Also:

Heartfelt greetings must go out to one of our faithful readers (eventhough he never comments) ...

So: Vransciscoo Gaalaarsje Moralus ... we love you!

I pwn him.

Yeah,

... well, I'm into my workday now, and I'm trying to make it satisfying for everyone involved. Louise (she's my "boss", it's nice to see her react to that monicker, by the way. Never so much fun as when you can call someone something semiflattering and they do not know how, exactly to deal with tha) is a very friendly lady and together we are making some headway into the deep abd dark recesses which are the DMB's hard to see-through processes. Damn ... I have no idea how they do stuff here and, in fact, I have no idea what the hell I've been doing here, but it seems that there were tasks completed today and even satisfactory. Or so it seems and was said.

No clue, whatsoever.

But anyway ... let's see what the rest of the day brings. More bafflement, I suppose.

Well ...

... I just came home from a rather nice sunday morning training. I'd really recommend getting your face stomped in early in the morning. It's good for you, trust me!

Thanks go out as per usual to our beloved friend, trainer and assaillant Francisco Galarce Morales.

Furthermore, today is father's day, apparently. Well, good on them. We are going to make the rounds soon-ish, I expect. One of them things ...

And tomorrow, for the first time in a long while, I shall endeavour to have a satisfying workday. And a working week, even ...

Big ...

... news! We got a new PC. It's shiny. It does things faster. It's quite impressive, really. I'm wondering as to how I'm going to test it ... the newest game I own is Rise Of Nations. It's from 2004 ... So, you know, NOT a hardcore gamer. But this one works and that is basically why we replaced it. The other one is slowly disintegrating ... it might help if we didn't actually use them in the bath all that often. Our mistake, I guess ...

Right ...

... now, I hope that some MadHouse members, my crew on DF, are reading a MassMessage I just sent them. I like MadHouse. 'T is a spiritual retreat where one can be a little nuts with words and indeed in action. One needs a holiday from common sense now and again.

Anyway ... I hope they are looking furiously for what a singularly striped or a mono-linear zebra actually is. Life would be good if they clamoured to know, you know.

I like getting appreciated for my little inventions ...

[edit]

The first 'caller' figured it had to be a cow with one ... one ... great white belt around its body. Huh. Never knew those existed.

The answer is 'no', of course.

Here ...

... is the truth: I have a job, it's on the fifth floor of a building which lends perfect views over Amsterdam. So, I'm in Amsterdam, walking, and it's just sooooo good to be back, you know. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and that, now, once more, I can have some fun at work, rather than just some awesome feelings of despair.

Having said that, my current work requires me to, you know, pay attention a lot. And they're frigging hard things to pay attention to. Geez'. It's not easy.

But it's in Amsterdam.

Life can be good ...

So ...

... I got this job, see. It's with this loverly organisation DMB, which handles the giving out of permits for activities that might have some environmental impact. It'svery complicated, I'm there now some 4 hours and I don't really see yet where this is going but, ultimately, I'm quite cheerful about being in Amsterdam, a stone's throw away from the centre, and being nearly saved from my previous escape into work, which is Andijk.

It's fun to publish this stuff from work. I can honestly say that everyone should do that. Gives you something to do in the breaks.

As if I need a break! The only thing I did so far is shake hands with a whole lot of people whose lovely names I've already forgotten, because I suck at names, and cheerfully followed my current mentor Louise Vonk, who is nice. And blonde. Oh ... and some computer stuff, which 'll probably bugger up tomorrow. And now I'm swapping covers around different permits. You know ... stuff.

Anyway. It's nice here, so far. And it's good to be back.

Hey ...

... dyslexic name-calling akin to german polar bear.

I ...

... would like to congratulate Jorrit van Schagen on getting the all new and now improved status of mono-linear zebra.

Bonuspoints for anyone who knows what the hell I'm talking about.

Yes!

Paris Hilton is back in prison! Faith in the US legal system restored!

... for about five minutes, since it appears that the US has secret prisons in Poland and Rumania where they detain and torture suspects of terrorism.

Next time that Bush is called 'leader of the free world' I'd like it stated explicitly that he's not my leader. At all.

And you know what?

People still wonder how someone can get to the point that he hijacks a plane and flies it into an office building.

It would probably be a good thing if people get their heads out of their arses.

Hihi ...

... serendipity.

My girlfriend just gave me the 2nd season of House on DVD. Hihi. I'm so not going to sleep early today.

I have the bestest girlfriend ever!

And something else:

Paris Hilton did not cure cancer.
Paris Hilton did not instigate peace in the middle east.
Paris Hilton did not save the rainforest.
Paris Hilton did not do anything ever that anyone can construe as being worthwhile.

So, that can only mean that justice became her bitch because she supposedly is pretty and pretty rich.

Jail is not supposed to be fun. It's supposed to educate, punish and satisfy the feelings of hurt in society as a result of a convict's actions. I do not have the feeling that any of this has happened in the case of this terminally blonde woman.

All is not lost however. I'm sure she's just stupid enough to run out of her house to get a packet of cigarettes.

Ha!

Today there's a House marathon. I like House. He's such a nice person, really, if you get right down to it.

Seriously, don't we all wish that we could be so rude and so ... annoyingly right?

I mean seriously, the guy is a pest but a brilliant one and, truth be told, I think that sometimes people deserve to be told the truth loudly. You can question whether it would do any good but wouldn't it be fun? At least for a while ... let's face it, not only does everybody lie but there's also a whole lot of everybodies that are total idiots. And I think it is the responsible thing to do to tell them this. Over and over and over and over ...

But, in the end, I'm just too ... nice.

Drat.

Idiocy. I have an example:

I wish a happy, slightly belated birthday to Damien. Damien turned one yesterday. How do I know this? Because I just remembered, looking at the date that one year ago there was a woman in the hospital giving birth. She managed to postpone that for a bit until something like 07:06. Get it?

06-06-06 at 7:06 which is really 6 hours and 66 minutes.

So, not only do I wish him a happy birthday but also new parents and this time ones who are not total idiots.

I so hope the kid turns out eyebrow-singingly gay with a deep and profound love for musicals, showtunes and the complete work of Celine Dion.

Though they might like that. After all ... what's more evil than Celine?

Today ...

... I heard that I have one less day to work in Andijk. This is good news, naturally, for I'm fully done with the place. The people are nice, though, don't get me wrong. But it's just that, well, it's Andijk. And that is enough to make it too much to deal with. I get to play a lot of DF there, though which is good.

And yet, for all the faults, I have never left a project where I wasn't slightly melancholic the moment I walked out of the door. Ridiculous, certainly in this case, which I know, but yet i feel like I have ... LEFT a place. Probably I'm still pining for a sort of steadiness in my employment, or a steady place to attach myself to, or something. That is weird, however, because I enjoy going to different projects. You get to learn something new every time. New people, new buildings, new ... stuff! I like new stuff.

Mind you, I'm already nervous about monday.

I'm such a wuss.

Well ...

... I had a job interview yesterday and I´m pleased to say that I´ll be working in Amsterdam once again. Yummie. What does one want more? Books, music, friend(s) ... all within a few short miles of eachother.

I can hardly wait.

First though ... I have to say goodbye to Andijk.

GOODBYE.

Wow ... that was short ...