Life ...

... can be fascinating, can't it?

I got an e-mail from a former colleague of mine. She still works at that company and it's going to hell in a handbasket so we feel sorry for her. And we're glad we had to leave. However, that does not by a long stretch mean to imply that all things are great were I am at. I finally have confirmation that my dearest colleague is now leaving this room and is going to seek her riches elsewhere. This sort of leaves me holding the short end of the stick as I'll now have all the responsibilities and none of the deeper knowledge needed. An interesting form of screwed, I'd say. Death by promotion. Oh, LeSigh(tm).

Anyway.

This room is sort of void of other people now, so I have turned it into a YouTube day today. Whilst I'm working I get to play DJ to an audience consisting of, well, me. However, that does not make Skyclad, Cruachan, Kampfar, FinnTroll, Korpiklaani and some other bands sound any worse. I'd suggest checking them out. Broaden your horizons. If need be with a pickaxe.

Yesterday, there was this girl in the subway. She had a single star tattooed behind her right ear. This has made me wonder: was there one behind the other one as well? (I hope not, because symetry in this instance would be ugly) and what in the world would persuade one to get a single star tattooed behind your ear?

... oh, well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fNJSUSY4Ig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ChbwVrEczg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-s4jcCEzdc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0mT-Huuw84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ZhkLUcKT8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3u86DPd7qc

While ...

... I'm supposed to be at work I'm, you know, NOT.

I'm ill. Picked up a bug in the pool, I suspect. Just like last time. Only last time it was a nice flesh-eating bacteria. So, you know, I feel lucky. Yesterday added a nice, lovely, migraine attack.

But ...

I got new medicine! Finally, we have reached the opiate state! Yes! It only took something like 10 years of experimenting with bloodthinners, muscle-relaxants and other children's aspirines to get me somewhere comfy, snug, warm and, most importantly, woolly.

Unlucky enough, no hallucinations. But seriously foggy, hell yes. I love drugs. Finally something that works ...

My girlfriend is still sick.

Wait, I never wrote that down. She's sick too. Some bug. Unfortunately, she's not allowed to be sick. The trouble with being indispensable is ... that you are. So, due to some hefty circumstances she's sort of working, poor girl.

That's what you get when you're good at your job. She's impressive, though.

Hiya!

... we have returned. We have learned much about the nature of humanity and its need for seclusion in a swimming paradise. And we are the better for it.

Our holiday in Drente was a succes, as such things go. We locked ourselves up and we swam and we read and we saw movies. And that was all for five days. Lovely. I hope that we are recharged again. Based on current evidence I'd say 'no' however, seeing as both my girl and myself are currently feeling slightly under the weather. Probably something we picked up in the wild water rapids or something. It seems I always bring a bug back from holidays like this. Last time it was a skin eating bacteria.

I think, in retrospect, that I'm lucky, this time around.

It was fun. It does, after a week, become enough, however. The food is mediocre. The surroundings are usually loud. Many people I do not like frequent these places.

But the secluded things are good. And the swimming.

This morning I went into the bath to try to get rid of that damnable chlorine smell from my skin, hence I missed an aikido lesson. I did go to JuJitsu. There I got suitably impressed by Marco and Rene whose skills seem only to have grown. Much to my green-faced envy. Their demonstration did clarify something, however: there are two sorts of techniques they do. One: the ones that make me giggle. these are highly impractical from a self-defence point of view, acrobatic, over-the-top, yet excellently executed. It looks showy and they are. The second are much more interesting but I think that many people miss the excitement in them. These make my jaw hit the floor. Something like an outstretched arm hitting the jaw of an attacker at JUST the right moment in the attacker's downward strike. This requires an amazing amount of timing and is truly ... well, good.

You know.

So, that was good.

Anyway. Soon there will be work again and all this holiday stuff will fade into the background. That is the way of it. But it was fun ...

So ...

... MY GIRLFRIEND HAS HER BIRTHDAY TODAY.

Actually, at the time I write this it's sort of tommorow that's her birthday, but such is life. You can't always know when you type stuff. Anyway. It's going to be fun even if it is the last thing I'll do!!!!

Presents will be given. Hands will be shook. Congratulations will be received. One does not become thirty every day ... thank god ....

You ...

... can now rest peacefully, safe in the knowledge that the world is a lot more agreeable and more ... safe.

My girlfriend is now a certified, ehm, helper in emergencies. EHBO certificate. Don't actually know the english equivalent. Sorry.

Anyway, huge congratulations. You've earned it!

In other nice news: Doris Lessing got her nobelprize today in literature. Now, I wrote my thesis on the old biddy, so I have to say that it is quite brilliant to see her so honoured. She's really good, I'd recommend anyone to read some of her work. Read the Four-Gated City. Or the Golden Notebook.

Having said that, I also suspect that this is in some way a prize she got because of her age. I think they chose an old lady over younger contenders figuring that the pups still have time to get it later. And since the prize is never awarded posthumously ...

That, however, in no way detracts from Ms. Lessing's obvious literary qualities.

So, double Hurrah! today.

AND: the House episode I just saw was great!

AND: I'm off work for a week!

Life is great.

Couple ...

... of things.

Is it me or do other people always have better luck than I?

I ran across an ex-colleague of mine. We used to work at the same supermarket. Yeah. I know. However, she was nice. And now she has a bachelor in criminology and a masters in sociology. Good on her, I'd say. But it feels a little ... yukkie that I am in administration. Still. Especially on a day I got chewed out over some mistake I made.

Ah well.

It could have been worse. I could have been in training to join the policeforce.

I was in a train today with a couple of ... idiots who were discussing the relative breast size of all the women in their class. And then they went on to discuss pre-emptive searching for weapons and the sections of the law applicable in those circumstances. One: this has me worried. Two: no small wonder people do not instinctively trust policemen if they're such pubescent children. Children with guns, pepperspray and handcuffs.

Again: I'm worried.

Ik ...

... heb gezocht ... maar niet gevonden.

Maar geef toe: zou het niet fantastisch zijn als er een 'lesbisch' restaurant was dat 'Wat de pot schaft' heette?

Anyway:

Why do humans feel the need to always alter the information provided in elevators? Seriously. I have never been in one where the number of people, the weight the blasted thing can carry, or the date at which it was commissioned or last inspected hasn't been besmirched by some latent comedic genious. Usually grossly overstating the capacity of the contraption thus taking care of comic hyperbole for the day.

Really.

Thusly I conclude: graffiti is the lowest form of comedy.

Well ...

... there's actually stuff to do here, now. Amazing. Several days without emptiness. Huh. Of course, this happens at the precise moment that I have damaged my voice (due to dry heaving due to a charming migraine attack on monday), so, you know, answering telephones is sort of torture. or sort of ridiculous, right now. If all goes as it will go (more than a little likely) my dear colleague Louise wil leave the building soon-ish, leaving me to fend for myself. A most daunting prospect, lemme tell ya. Oh well ...

She stood up for me, digitally, and it's very sweet of her. Her guidance and, you know, niceties wil be sorely missed ...