Konichiwa!

Upstairs Neighbours

2008-06-06T17:35:00.002+02:00

I guess I'm down to one blog a month.. Meh, works for me.

So I'm slowly getting into that state of panic again, when everything comes hurling at me all at once. It's almost three months now that I'm basically getting paid to sit at home. The recruiters still haven't found anything for most of us, and I'm also hearing sounds of others about not having their contracts extended. I've already been looking for something else anyway, the job keeps sounding less and less wonderful. I have some leads, but for now they're still just leads..

I also have to find a new residence in a month or so, and there's not much progress in this area either. Turns out that Utrecht is the most expensive place to live, at least concerning renting a place (since my work related future is as clear as last New Year's Eve, buying is not an option). Not just expensive-expensive, but overpriced-expensive as newspapers and politics say. And of course they don't just say-say it, no, they disaster!crisis!fire!!-say it as usual. Still, any possible solutions have to be discussed to death for decades before something finally happens, so I'm just gonna keep on looking myself.

It's become a rather long post, I originally just wanted to introduce you to my upstairs neighbours.

Supermarket Shananigans

2008-05-05T19:54:00.004+02:00

I've been talking and thinking about taking a vacation for a while now, since I don't really have anything to do now (they still haven't found an employer). Since today was a sunny day, I thought I'd explore the city a bit more and go look for a different supermarket (Albert Heijn practically has a monopoly in the city center).

And since I'm feeling wild and crazy (well, as much as you can be on a blog), I'm doing the story IM style!

Jax: "So I looked up a Jumbo supermarket and headed over there. When I got there, it was settled somewhere in one of those roof-covered malls"
Jax: "The first thing I noticed, was like: have I crossed the border to another country?"
Jax: "About 85% of the people there were like Arabs/Muslims/Turks, Morrocans. Then there's about 7% of other foreign people (AzNs RePrEsEnT!!!!11!1 Or something like that. And people from Africa, Suriname, etc.) And finally some 8% being native Dutch people"
Jax: "I know that there are a lot of non-Dutch people here, but I've never seen them so concentrated before. It really feels like I'm in a foreign country"
Jax: "Anywayz, on to the Jumbo"
Jax: "I'm doing the groceries"
Jax: "Then head over to the check out register"
Jax: "The cashier there is probably bummed because she had to work on such a sunny day"
Jax: "Or it might simply be PMS"
Jax: "(I love how we get to blame everything on PMS :P)"
Jax: "But whatever it was, she wasn't exactly full of life"
Jax: "Which became very apparent when I wanted to pay. First off, she didn't even state the amount to pay. But that didn't matter, I always look at the screen anyway (since I usually have music plugged in my ears)"
Jax: "She just stared off into the distance"
Jax: "So I'm thinking: ehhhhhh.. eeehhhhhmmm.. helloooooo?"
Jax: "Still no respons.. So I'm gently trying to shove a 10,- bill in her face"
Jax: "Nothing."
Jax: "Well I might not have any work to do yet, but I don't have all day..."
Jax: "So I just start to load up the groceries in my backpack. I mean, if she doesn't want my money, fine by me"
Jax: "And then she finally starts to show signs of life. She deftly stops me as I try to take the veggies. And it becomes apparent why she's acting like a zombie (well partly anyways). 'It has to be weighed', is about all she says. And after a few (long) seconds more, she requests for someone to come get it and weigh it"
Jax: "Some teenaged stockfiller comes up and takes the veggie away to weigh it"
Jax: "Meanwhile, the wheels in my mind start to turn. She probably saw me coming a mile away, another spoiled Albert Heijn yuppie, where you don't need to weigh anything! (they have a built-in weighing scale in the register scanner). Which is why she rolled her eyes and stared off in far, far away-land"
Jax: "Well excuuuuuuuuse me for not having other supermarkets close by to my disposal. But then again, she wasn't exactly full of life before she got to the veggies. Guess it's PMS after all..."
Jax: "Dude comes back with the veggies, cashier finally takes the money, I put all things in my bag and take off. I've had enough vacation for now..."

Welcome To The Rat Race

2008-03-29T20:24:00.000+01:00

You know that you're in the rat race when:

1) You have to get up so frikkin early in the morning (especially when commuting from one place to another
2) You and thousands of others try to cram their way onto the escalator to the trains
3) You and thousands of others have to wait for hours (well it seems like hours) before the passengers that are already on the train have disembarked; and after which we try to cram ourselves into the train
4) You drink coffee before you start, and then during every break or whenever you get the chance to

Well the 4th one I've managed to avoid so far, I do my best to avoid becoming a coffeeholic, maxing at 2 cups a day. I see others though, that do 2 cups per break O_o

And despite how chaotic the traffic sounds, it's still only when commuting between cities. I still shudder at the total anarchy that happens every weekday in a city like London or New York.

But anyways, I probably should start at the beginning. I recently moved from Groningen to Utrecht, where I found a job as a trainee in "effecten administratie" or securities administration, basically processing everything that has to do with stocks, obligations, etc. Not exactly my area of expertise, but close enough. At least (or I should say "at last") I'm starting a fulltime job, hopefully with enough growth potential.

Now the first thing we get is a training, after which our recruiter finds us a company to work for. The training itself is held in Amsterdam, which means I'll have to commute there every day of the training. Which is fine by itself (it's not really that far, 20-30 or so), but not when every-frikkin-body else has to do the same thing. After about a week of information cramming, we'll be starting our new jobs. I can hardly wait.

*Update*

I'm not sure whether it's the reorganization of our rectuiter (which recently got taken over by another company) or whether they just don't know what they're doing... Either way, I'm still sitting at home enjoying my freedom, as they haven't found anything for me yet. That's right, I'm getting paid to sit at home doing nothing. Alright, there's some studying to do, but student mentality has worked for me so far (cramming everything in the last couple of days before the exam). They say the average time before dispatch is about 2-4 weeks. I'm at three already..

Old Skool Chinese Parties

2008-02-16T20:12:00.004+01:00

It's been quite a while since I last posted any party-related stuff.. Not because there hasn't been anything going on, but actually because there's too much going on. The last couple of months have been pretty hectic for me, and now that I've found a new job (oh yeah, I got a new job. More on that later :P) and have to move to another city and everything (bureaucracy is killing me!).

So anyways, with the current Chinese New Year festivities going on, I thought it'd be nice to shed a little insight on the way parties were held when I was a kid. For me it's been a long time since I had such a party, because I rarely have time to go back to my hometown during the weekdays, where and when such parties are held.

But this time I had some days off, and chan asked me to come along because his mom turned 50. And that's of course reason for a BIG party.

In the old days these kind of parties were pretty fun. You've got your 3-4 dozen parents, all spread out over their favorite pastime: Mahjong and Big 2 (Chinese Poker), a.k.a. gambling.

When you invite that many people (I'm not even counting the kids) and they all need tables and seats and such to play, how is that going to fit?

Well, it's quite simple actually. First, you fill up the entire living room with Mahjong tables and such, until there's no room left to even move anymore. Use up whatever saloon/coffee tables and couches you have for the men to play poker.

Once the living room is succesfully stuffed, proceed to any other room in the house that you have available. Here's a nice bedroom we can use, and here's another one. Well, that seems to be sufficient for most people, the rest will just have to wait their turn.

Now, what about us kids? That's pretty simple as well, find a spare bedroom and stuff em all in there. At this specific party there aren't many of us anymore, since we all moved out and many don't have time to come here anymore, so we have plenty of room for ourselves. Unlike the old days, where I was always astonished about how much the bed could tolerate.

While the parents gamble like they always have (and they always have..), we entertained ourselves with video games (ranging from ye olde NES to the Playstation, Xbox and currently the Wii), card games, and the occasional Japanese horror movie.

But as we grow older, the gambling gene starts to kick in, and next thing you know we're playing a Texas Hold 'Em tournament. Which I won, of course.

Since these parties start pretty early (probably as soon as they get up), they'll need a lot of food. And cooking for 50-60+ people no walk in the park. Unless of course you've been doing it all your life, and wouldn't you know it, that's exactly what all our parents do for a living. And then it's not surprising that dinner looks like an open buffet at a Chinese restaurant.

With the slight difference that this food is soooo much better ^^

I never put much more thought into it, because I figured that this is how Chinese people did parties, but since then I've met different kinds of people, including Chinese people, that are just as amazed as other people about these kinds of party (both go like "whooaaaah so many Chinese people here!"). I guess it's just the tight community we have here.

Which I'm beginning to miss, actually. Now that I think about it, the second generation (us) have all been scattered across the land, and unlike our parents we don't have the super asian cooking skills nor the mahjong gambling gene, so the chances of such parties in the future are pretty slim. So I guess it's true that in the old days things were better...

I'm getting old :/

Duo Neurotic

2008-02-04T13:29:00.000+01:00

So this one time I was still at work, Jessica called Harmi over to hang out. And of course they went through my stuff, as do all people do when they're at someone else's house >_<

Anywayz, Harmi made a cry of joy when she found my Duo Penotti, that chocolate paste stuff that comes with two colours, which we use to put on our bread. Not exactly my most favourite spread, but it goes great with a cup of coffee (which I definitely need if I'm to stay awake at work).

Why was she happy, you ask? Well, I have this peculiar way of getting some Duo Penotti out of the jar, namely scraping it from the top and twisting it around so I always get the desired amount I want, instead of jamming the knife in and taking a big chunk out of it (which normal people do, or so I hear). It's how I always done it and never thought more about it, but apparently it has made me a fellow with neurotic tendencies. I guess it does give the impression that I'm too careful with it, making sure that the colours don't get mixed up but stay seperate and intact.. Which is good for Harmi, because now she's not the only one in our group.

Although everybody has their quirks, it would seem. At least I don't have to eat all the brown M&Ms first, because that colour doesn't complement another colour, and then the green ones, so I end up with the primary colours (blue, red & yellow).....

Two Households

2008-01-14T20:47:00.000+01:00

both alike in dignity, in fair Groningen, where we lay our scene..

Okay, since Jessica boosted the current feud between me and Sander, which I'd like to call the Mailbox Affair, to a public level, I guess I should lay down my side of the story. I had planned on starting the new year with blogs of parties of the last year, working my way back as I go along, but things seem to crop up. So, the Mailbox Affair:

At New Year's Eve we had a party and an afterparty (of which a blog will appear later). The next day, however, my mailbox had become quite naked: both the 'no-no' sticker (which indicates that you don't want to receive unaddressed advertisements nor regional papers) and the central sticker (for deco purpose, replacing the non-existant name tag) were gone. Now I don't mind the deco tag, but the no-no sticker is quite important.

I suspected it was him, since he was one of the last people I saw that night and he's the kind of guy to do such a thing, but I wasn't sure. Luckily Jessica managed to get him to confess, and relaying that info to me enabled one of my favorite pastimes: revenge ^^. Whether he had some principial motives of whether he was just drunk, I don't know, but actually I thought it was a pretty cool move. Like I said, I revel in revenge, so maybe that's why I was glad with it :P

Anywayz, the plan was quite simple: he removes my sticker, I dump all advertisements at his place. I don't really mind getting the ads, it's cool to see whats new and stuff. I don't however like to get stuck with heaps of old paper, so this was actually a good thing. Unfortunately, I still didn't get much ads, so I couldn't put much pressure on Sander, so I mixed a little of old mail in there as well. To stop this, it was up to Sander to replace the sticker with a new one. And seeing the possibility of future disasters, I cut him off by stating that it should be just one sticker, at the same place as the old one, no more and no less.

After the second week he still went ahead with it. I now currently have a no-no sticker covered mailbox. What's even worse is that he also tore off another sticker I had put up to replace the old deco one, one that Jessica gave to me and which I quite liked. Jessica did, too, seeing as she is also getting ready to join the war.

So, now we enter Level 2. I'm holding off what Level 2 actually implies, because I don't want to spoil the surprise before Sander gets it :P. He also thought that because my mailbox is now covered with stickers, I won't get any more ammo supplies. Guess again, smart guy. I have plenty of ways to get ads easily.. He might also think 'what can Jessica do, living so far away?' My guess is that he'll soon learn not to think like that anymore..

But I am getting weary of it, as I know he is too (at least, he's getting annoyed of not being able to pull off a stunt like that without getting punished). So instead of raising the retaliation level each time he does something, I think I'm gonna raise it a level each week regardless of what he does, until my mailbox is restored to normal order. Meaning just the one sticker in it's rightful place, and no other junk (that includes no leftover torn stickers or sticky stuff when he cleans my mailbox). I do hope he makes it to Level 3 though, I have something wonderful stored at that level :P

***UPDATE***
Well, for those of you waiting for an update, the war is over. Sander did just the only thing possible that could get me: denial of revenge. He conceded, and quite fast at that. Just a day after the second desecration of my mailbox (when he covered it up completely), my mailbox has been restored to it's original status. Which is quite a shame, because I had started to collect more ads for Level 2, which would be delivered in his mailbox. Shredded.

Not to mention I also couldn't carry out Level 3 either, which I was really looking forward to. Sander had become quite tired of stickers, even hearing the word made him agitated. So for step 3 I had planned on planting stickers in his house, in the oddest places. Like the underside of a table or chair, the side of a TV, the bottom of a glas, the inside of the fridge, etc... Maybe I'll just do it for kicks anyway.

Now for Level 4 I just had a brute force method in mind, because by then I'd be quite tired of it as well. Sander lives in an apartment block where you have a patio and your own front door (whereas mine is inside a building complex, so there's no getting inside unless I buzz you in. So no retaliation here :P). He's got a large window next to the door, where he can look out from the kitchen. Level 4 would be covering his entire window and door with ads and stickers. Plain and simple, but with a grand effect ;)

Maybe I like revenge a bit too much.. Hmm....

Crap ISP's

2008-01-09T22:40:00.000+01:00

I can't say it often enough... Cheap ISP's (Internet Service Provider) are TOTAL CRAP! Fortunately it's not my own PC, but my parents'. Still, guess who gets to clean up the mess?

> Subject: [TISCALI] Officiele waarschuwing onveilige proxy 195.241.113.217
> From: abuse@tiscali.nl
> Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 11:43:02 +0100
>
>
> Geachte heer/mevrouw,
>
> Naar aanleiding van klachten hebben wij moeten constateren dat er op uw computer/internetverbinding een onveilige open proxy is ontstaan. Een open proxy is een vrij ernstig beveiligingsprobleem welke zodra aanwezig ook op flinke schaal wordt misbruikt voor niet toegestane activiteiten. Kortweg gezegd komt het er op neer dat andere mensen (kwaadwillenden) in staat zijn om via het internet uw computer te benaderen, en te misbruiken voor onder andere het versturen van grote hoeveelheden ongewenste e-mail (spam). Wij gaan er natuurlijk vanuit dat er geen sprake is van opzet aan uw kant, maar het is uiteraard wel zaak om verdere overlast voor andere internetgebruikers te voorkomen.
>
> De meest voorkomende oorzaak van dit probleem is een bot die zich genesteld heeft in het besturingssysteem van uw computer. Deze bot zal van tijd tot tijd enorme hoeveelheden spam verzenden. Doordat de bot zijn eigen mailprogramma aan boord heeft, ziet u hiervan niets terug in uw postvak uit of verzonden items van uw mailprogramma. Doordat een bot geen virus is, zal een virusscanner ook niets vinden. Doordat er veel kennis benodigd is om een gecompliceerd probleem als dit op te lossen, raden wij u aan het systeem te formatteren, zodat u zeker van het probleem af bent. Vervolgens is het belangrijk te zorgen dat uw nieuw geïnstalleerde besturingssysteem wordt voorzien van alle windows-updates en servicepacks. Tevens raden wij u aan een goede virusscanner en anti-spyware programma?s te installeren. AVG heeft voor particulieren een drietal programma?s die u gratis kunt gebruiken om kwaadwillende software buiten de deur te houden. Deze programma?s (AVG Anti virus Free, Anti Spyware Free e
> n Anti Rootkit Free) kunt u vinden op de website van Grisoft: http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1
>
> Mocht u gebruik maken van een Zyxel 2602 of Zyxel D1A, dan kunt u de firewall van de router dusdanig instellen, zodat uitgaand emailverkeer enkel nog via smtp.tiscali.nl verzonden kan worden. Hiermee voorkomt u dat er spam via uw computer verzonden wordt, doordat de router dit blokkeert. Dit profiel kunt u downloaden op http://home.tiscali.nl/abuse/ZyxeL. Meer informatie vindt u op deze website.
>
> Zodra u alle stappen gezet heeft om het probleem op te lossen is het helaas niet mogelijk voor ons om te kunnen testen of het probleem dan ook daadwerkelijk opgelost is. Een open proxy is een proces op uw computer welke niet altijd actief hoeft te zijn op het moment dat u uw pc aan heeft staan. Tiscali baseert incidenten op basis van klachten en daarbijbehorend logverkeer om te kunnen vast stellen of dergelijk misbruik op een datum in het verleden daadwerkelijk heeft plaatsgevonden.
>
> Zoals gezegd is het formatteren de veiligste optie om het probleem op te lossen. Na formattering is het verstandig om met een account te werken met beperkte rechten. Zie de pagina van Microsoft hierover waarom dit belangrijk is: http://www.microsoft.com/belux/nl/athome/security/online/logoff_admin_account.mspx
>
> Ook surfen en emailen via alternatieve oplossingen draagt bij aan de veiligheid. Doordat Internet Explorer en Outlook (express) vaak slachtoffer zijn van veiligheidslekken, is een alternatieve oplossing wenselijk. Op http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ kunt u Firefox en Thunderbird downloaden in de Nederlandse taal. Beide programma's zijn in staat favorieten en adressen over te nemen.
>
> Indien u geen gehoor geeft aan dit bericht bestaat de kans dat wij opnieuw klachten zullen ontvangen. Indien wij 48 uur na verzending nog klachten binnen krijgen over dit probleem zal dit ook voor Tiscali als provider zijnde gevolgen gaan hebben, en zijn wij helaas genoodzaakt uw internetverbinding tijdelijk te blokkeren tot het probleem is opgelost. U zult hier niet verder vooraf over bericht worden.
>
> Met vriendelijke groet,
>
>
> Raymond Teunissen
>
> Site Security and Internet Abuse Team
> Tiscali
>
> http://www.tiscali.nl
>
> Postbus 8071
> 3503 RB Utrecht
>
> Mail: abuse@tiscali.nl
> Tel.: Tiscali: 0900 - 9990900 (30 ecpm)
> Tel.: 12move ADSL: 0900 - 0490500 (13 ecpm)
> Tel.: 12move DIAL: 0900 - 0490498 (50 ecpm)
> Fax.: Tiscali/12move: 030 214 9654

So basically: "You have a bot or something on your pc that sends spam. It can't be found by antivirus programs (or so we think), and it is too difficult to explain how to solve to someone who doesn't know anything about computers, so just format everything, k? Even if you do know about computers, we don't really want to explain. But we do expect you to know how to format your pc. Maybe look it up somewhere if you don't.."

"Now once you've formatted everything, here are some nice free antivirus and firewall programs made by other companies we don't know ourselves to help you protect your pc in the future." [Wait, didn't you just say that anti-virus programs DIDN'T HELP against these things?]

"Unfortunately we cannot see if the problem is resolved once you've formatted your pc (so it's not even certain formatting will help, but just try anyway, k?). But if it does happen, we'll have to shut your connection down without any warning until you solve it (by yourself, of course)."

"Oh and if you do want to speak to someone (and by that we mean some callcenter tech support nerd who doesn't know anything except how to turn the pc on and off) about it, you can reach us for just 30ct/min. Yeah you are a member with us, but that doesn't include help. Fork over the money."

...

A#%&*#&!!_@$#@*^%!@$@!%*#%#@!@$(#(*#&!*#es

Update

2007-11-28T20:55:00.000+01:00

Just to let people know I'm still alive. On the one hand, I don't feel like going through the whole routine of writing a post (and trust me, with me it takes a while), but on the other hand I do have things I find interesting enough to mention..

So, I've decided to take a break instead. These couple of months are busy as hell (why does everybody have their birthday at the same time??). It should provide enough stuff for me to write about as well.. So let's say, at the start of next year? That'll be enough time to pick up the slack again (I hope).

Till then! And happy holidays!

In Between

2007-10-15T12:28:00.000+02:00

I feel like I'm stuck. I don't want to go forward just yet, but I can't turn back to the way it used to be. Simple and happy. Unfortunately as you grow older, life gets too complicated to be happy without much effort. Currently I'm between a college life and working life. The prospect of working until I'm old and aged doesn't really appeal to me, but there's not really any other choice.. It's not just a change of lifestyle, it's leaving my current life behind entirely. The kind of work I'm looking for (or rather: 'qualified for') is not in abundance here. So I'll probably have to relocate to bigger cities. I don't really mind leaving my life here behind, but I just settled in a comfortable place of my own, and the job offers I got so far require lots and lots of travelling, so even if I find a similar place there, I won't be able to enjoy it much..

On the romantic side of my life, things aren't easy either. No longer the meet & greet, fall in love and see where it takes us.. With everyone around me getting engaged and others being in long-lasting relationships (and absolutely no pressure at all from my parents...), a casual girlfriend is not much an option anymore. Well, maybe it could, but even I will be looking towards future options soon. All of this is of course assuming I can even find someone that I like en vice verca. I like to say it's all in the future, but the future is catching up quite fast..

If you're wondering what happened to the Road Trip blog, I scratched it for now. I just don't feel like putting all of it on paper, it takes forever. If someone invented a way of putting thoughts in writing, you can expect many more posts from me, but right now my mind just jumps from one thought to another and it takes a lot of effort to put it in writing in a way that other people can understand it :P Maybe later I'll pick it up again.

But it's not like I did nothing at all with it, after having sorted all those pics (the final count is 2.025), I got the urge to photoshop a few, like last year with Athens. You can find them here, or just click on the images below

Road Trip pt. 2 - Ye Olde Edinburgh

2007-09-16T20:45:00.000+02:00

Yea it's been quite a while. Normally I write a bit when I'm at work, in between calls. It's been quite busy though lately, and I've also started looking through job sites there. Plus of course the drag in blogging, haven't felt like writing in a while. But I guess I have to get this sucka out of the way first, before I can move on with other topics..

The best small country in the world.

We definitely need to get a funky slogan like that, too. When we got to Edinburgh, it looked like they weren't kidding, the city looked awesome. We arrived at the road that divided the Old and New Town, and the Old Town district simply looked liked it hasn't changed at all since the Medival era.

After gawking at the scenery for a minute, we made our way to the hostel (also in Old Town), which wasn't easy since the Old Town district was on one of the hills in Edinburgh. Going uphill with a heavy backpack is no fun, especially if the hill is steep. The hostel was cool, but hard to find, being crammed up between all kinds of shops. After settling in we strolled through the neighbourhood, it was already late afternoon, so there wasn't any time left to see the sights. We went looking for a supermarket, trying to even out the budget for food after last evening, and a Lidl seemed perfect for that.

We explored the area a bit, of course visited ye olde weapon shops and noticed that the hen parties are also quite popular here. And it's not just the girls, either...

For the night we decided to go on a ghost tour, walking around the city and reliving Edinburgh's horrific past. We had a lively tourguide, who guided us through all the places where not only crimes and murders took place, but also the circumstances in which people used to live in. I for one, am glad to not live during the medieval era, where people would throw out all their 'bathroom waste' out the window at night. Imagine being a tourist there, walking down the street and suddenly people shouting something from above at 10 o'clock, looking up surprised with mouth wide open and, well, you get the idea. Horrifying, indeed.

The trip took us through most of the Old Town, where at a certain point the tour guide selected someone as a witch to show how people dealt with witchcraft and alleged witchcraft. Or rather, with people whom they didn't like, seeing as witchcraft doesn't exactly exists (except at Hogwarts!) One guess who she picked.. That's right, yours truly. Probably because I was standing at the front next to her, but still, I don't look much like a witch do I? Anywayz, I've been accused of all kinds of things, and seeing as I don't have any proof that I didn't do any of it, found guilty as charged. Well, I wasn't entirely without options.. I could prove my innocence by being tortured, hung, drowned, torn apart and of course the old crowd favourite: burned. If I was truly a witch, these things wouldn't hurt me. What better way to prove my innocence than by roasting on a spit? The tour ended with an excursion to an 'underground dungeon', including creepy ghost stories and the usual big scare at the end.

After the tour we met up with some people that were staying in the same hostel, apparantly they were Dutch too, so we decided to hang out together. They had some sort of aquantence here, so they (and we) got together in a pub.
I was a bit wary of where we would go, seeing as they were into the metal/hard rock/goth scene, and well, I wasn't. But the pub was alright, just like any other pub, except with an adjacent building where the hardcore music was audible. We just stayed in the pub though, so all was cool.

Next day: Edinburgh Castle. In contrast to Dublin Castle, which was more like a big house or mansion, Edinburgh Castle was more like an entire medieval village, complete with a moat, 4 defensive gates, cannons, barracks, churches, etc. I think pictures say more than words in this case, so here they are. Occaisonally accompanied with some info that the tour guide gave us, he was excellent.

The entrance to the castle. At the front of the entrance, there were two statues. On the right, Sir Robert the Bruce, and on the left (see picture), you probably guessed it: Sir Mel Gibson.

Or rather, Sir William Wallace, whom Gibson was playing (if you haven't seen Braveheart, you have no business here)

Cannons! And lots of em. I guess they had a lot of defending to do from invading enemies (*cough* the English *cough*).

One of the cannons, named Mons Meg, was quite large, given as a gift from someone I don't remember. Anywayz, it turned out to be quite impractical, being so heavy (weighing 6 ton!) it couldn't be taken anywhere and it wasn't easy to aim either. Powerful though, it's not everyday you see cannons that can fire 180kg cannonballs..

Did I mention it was big?

The top of the castle offered a spectacular view as well. I put 2 pics together for that panoramic look ^^

The tour took most of the day, the rest of which we spent cruising through the New Town part, bit of shopping around and seeing others sites, like a huge cathedral with amazing frescoed windows.

Some more nice views

The hostel had a (perhaps weekly) Sunday cook-off, where they would make dinner themselves for the guests for just F2,-. They also made one of my favourites: oven-grilled chicken, with veggies and a mashed potato salad. Good eatin'. Especially when the leftovers were up for grabs (at first everybody got one serving, but they made much more). Very good eatin' ^_^.

Next day packing up already, but our flight went in the evening, so we had some time left. I went to the National Gallery, Oene wasn't such a fan of art, so he went shopping around some more.

Train > bus > plane > Stockholm!

Road Trip pt.1 - The Temple of Dublin

2007-08-23T14:48:00.000+02:00

Doesn't mean I've finished sorting all the pics, I'm still working on that -_-"
But I needed a break, so I thought I might as well get started on the blogging thing. It's going to be in 10 parts, 1 for each city. I'm just gonna post them here this time, thumbnails and all. If you don't have broadband, now's a good time to get it.

Dublin, or Baile Átha Cliath, as the Irish call it (as well as Klingons), was our starting point. Well, after we first went on a 3 hour trip to Eindhoven, where the plane would take off. Not even halfway there I was already sick of it.
Yeay, only 25 days to go... Oene brought some stuff to read (almost every bit of magazine he had accumulated for about a year), but there weren't many interesting things in it after all. Anywayz, we went to Eindhoven earlier because I could not pass this opportunity to get some Dim Sum :P That and meeting an old friend I hadn't seen for a while.

The Ryanair flight was, well, uneventful. Low cost equals low quality, I guess. Dublin welcomed us with a bit of rain, some sun, more rain, sun again, rain, sun, etc. I guess being a small island, the weather passes by a lot quicker. We got to our hostel, which was really more of a maze than anything. We had to go through the hallway, left up the stairs and then the other smaller set of stairs, through the door, turn left, at the end to the right, through another door, make an s-turn to the end, not one but three doors in a row turning left, left, left, down the stairs, to the end, and turn right after (yes you guessed it) another door.

Didn't help that we missed the smaller set of stairs and went up the first one. Took us about half an hour to find our way through the hostel and even then we still didn't know the way back. But it's all part of the trip. You want to travel on a budget, you need to be able to adapt. Like staying in a 20-bed dorm.

Since we were pretty tired from all the travelling and got quite hungry, we went into the first place that had food. And of course, we encountered a fast food place. Aside from the really bright, toxic orange colour in my Fanta and the absence of mayonnaise on the fries (yes, Samuel L Jackson was telling the truth), all went well. We even saw a bit of action when some guy tried to get in with his own drink or maybe he was drunk, I forget the details. He was stopped by the security guard (seriously, a security guard at a fast food joint? Although this time I guess it was appropriate). I expected some action, a brawl in the big city, but the guard did his job well. He managed to calm the dude down, although now he was starting up a whole conversation about God knows what. I dunno about the security guard, maybe he liked a bit of distraction, but I've had enough people nagging at me at the callcenter to last a lifetime.

Anywayz, continuing our journey we just walked around a bit, exploring the city. We came across some old cool buildings,
interesting landmarks

and stuff, and a place that probably hasn't had any gardening maintenance in a while.

We celebrated our first day of the 'road trip' at the Temple Bar, the place where all the popular pubs and bars are located. Oene instantly fell in love with his newfound treasure, Guinness, while I craved sweet heavenly cider. Like the ad says:

Even though it's not our home. Whatever.

We didn't make it too late, since we had a long journey ahead.. The next day we went to look for the main attractions. We headed out to some kind of Chimney, the look-out tower of the city, only to find out after a long walk that it was closed. I did manage to snap a pic of an original way to clean buildings.

We made our way to another site, called Dublin Castle (even though it didn't really resemble a castle). They had timed guided tours, so we waited until the next one. When the next one started, everybody just walked in, even though the entrance fee is E 3,-. Apparently they were a group. There was also a sign that we had to check in our bag, but Oene just said "Keep walking" and so we did. Free tour whoooo ^^.
The castle had some antique-ish decorated rooms, a big ass throne chair (a castle can't do without one, after all), but the conference room was what really stunned me. The ceiling of it was covered in beautiful fresco's. Me like.

After the castle we went for a snack, there was a kind of 7-11 store which made delicious fresh sandwiches.
I also saw something interesting though. Lots and lots of candy!!

Uh huh... So far it's 3 out of 4 guys and 0 out of 3 girls. Let me know what you think of it! ;)

Having been thoroughly fed, we made our way to Trinity College, where the famous (well, Ireland famous I guess, never heard of it before) Book of Kells are kept. It's somewhat like the Irish Bible I think. The college itself was fun, we saw a couple of graduates who were dressed a lot more cheerful than our boring black. Although the colours might've been chosen more carefully, they kinda look like they've graduated from McDonald's College..

The museum was pretty cool, more like a kind of exhibition. Unfortunately there was no way of sneaking in for free here, with all the ticket checkers at the entrance.
They had enlarged a couple pages and put it up in a lighted display, there were stories of who/what/when/how things came to be, and further on they also had some original books which had awesome writings in them.

From there we were led to a sort of old library, which had the (mainly military) history of Dublin, with some really cool banners of how they recruited soldiers during wartime.

After the museum we walked around the place some more, and then made our way to the park. As luck would have it, it became sunny again and quite warm, so we had a nice stroll through the greens. After that we made our way back by going through the main shopping street, which of course was full of street performers.

For the evening we wanted some 'authentic' food, so we went looking for the cheapest place to get some (on a budget, after all). About the only authentic thing that was available in the restaurants was Irish Stew, so that's what we ordered. Didn't exactly look like much (especially when accompanied by a bowl completely stuffed with condiments, but it was a pretty good stew.

The rest of the evening was again dedicated at the Temple Bar, where this time we discovered the mother of all bars: the Hard Rock Cafe. Well, actually, Oene did, I usually try to avoid things that are too popular or hyped. But it turned out pretty cool, we even saw a couple of hen parties (bachelor parties for the ladies), they seem to be quite popular here. I especially liked the group that started singing loudly (and off-key); at a certain point the bartender had enough and hosed them down with the soda spray. Some time later they did it again (just to taunt the bartender I think), this time with their umbrella's up. Some people..

Next day, off to Edinburgh. First a quick breakfast, which wasn't much, but at least it was included. Took a regular bus back, which was a lot cheaper.
Although the right stop was rather difficult, the stop only consisted of a single pole with a logo and the word 'BUS' on top of it. Without any information at all like destination or times we were a little worried, but it turned out to be the right one.

1st city conquered!

This.. Is.. Aftermath.... :S

2007-08-04T21:31:00.000+02:00

Been back for a couple days now, trying to sort out all the pics so I can write stories around them ("a picture says more than a 1000 words".. 'Course, everybody whose ever read a book knows that ain't true). But yeah, it's been keeping me busy for a while, arranging about 3000 pics in an orderly fashion is no picnic. No, that's not a typo, with my friends' pics included we have nearly 3000 pics together. I'll be trying to limit it to 2-2.5k though, since there will be lots of doubles in it as well. But in the meantime, here's a quick update, in the form of a, well question form, since everybody's been asking the same kind of questions.

1) Which places have you been to? Dublin, Edinburgh, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Florence, Rome, Barcelona and Madrid (I have it copy+pasted as a shortcut by now)

2) Which place did you like the most? This is a surprisingly hard question, since a lot of places were awesome. Dublin was cool for it's 'homey' feeling, a bit like Groningen but larger. Edinburgh was really cool, since it had castles and other old stuff. Stockholm was just fun because we were together with our group again, it was more like visiting a friend. Copenhagen we didn't see much of (due to certain circumstances, which you'll hear a lot more of soon :P), but I also thought that there wasn't that much to see of either. Berlin was also really worthwhile, reliving bits of WW2 and the Cold War. Prague was almost like a fairy tale, old classical neighborhoods and cheap alcohol! Florence was an art-heaven while Rome was famous-landmarks-ville. Barcelona was really refreshing as a 'major city' type city, without all the ancient stuff, finally a place to really relax. Madrid was as well, but a bit more cramped together. That answer your question?

3) Which places did you really like the most? Thought so. My top three would have to be Edinburgh, Rome and Barcelona, in no particular order (except chronological maybe).

4) 3000?!?!?! I'm Asian and I have a cam. What more can I say? And I did say I was cropping them down to about 2000-2500, didn't I? I believe I did.

5) How much time did you have per city? Well, I'd figure we would be pretty beat at the end of the trip, so I took out more time for the last couple of cities (which also partly explains why those are in the top three). We had about 1,5 day per city for the first half, and about 2 days per city for the last half, with Rome being the longest one (3 days). The rest of the trip was spent on traveling, so that's about 5-6 days as well.

6) On a scale of 'raw' to 'scorched black', how much of a tan have you got? I'd say medium. We didn't have that much sun until Berlin, where someone must've pushed the 'Summer On' button (I think we went from 15*C in Copenhagen to 25*C in Berlin. And we weren't even down south yet). I stayed in the shade as much as possible, it was hot enough as it was. Luckily I'm Asian as well, so I don't get burned fast like Dutch people do :P Really, they're almost like microwave meals, you push the 'On' button and they're done ^^

7) When are you gonna show some pics (and the stories as well)?? And don't hold back! Do I ever? I'm working on it as much as possible, hold your horses.

So yeah, I'm gonna go back to work again. See ya soon!

This.. Is... ROAD TRIP!!!

2007-07-05T08:20:00.000+02:00

Aaaaaand we're off! 25 days of backpackin' fun (probably followed by 25 days of recovering from a hernia...). If possible, live updates will follow. And a birthday party blog will follow as well, somewhere in October/November probably.

*waves byebye*

Snippets Of My Life

2007-06-22T18:27:00.000+02:00

You've got times where nothing happens for months, and you've got times where everything comes crashing at you at once. Guess what time it is.

Only two more weeks to go for my road trip! Woohooo! I still have a lot of things to do for it. Yipes... Besides that, my bday is also coming up fast, which I also have to do stuff for. Yipes again. Did try out my backpack, filling it up with weights and a blanket.. Heavy! I don't know how long I can manage it, I guess I'll have to pack as lightly as possible.. Maybe just one of each thing: one t-shirt, one pair of pants, one pair of socks and briefs..

I seem to be getting the newspaper. Not that I subscribed to one or anything, but there it is, every day in my mail box. Started about last week or something, there's also no name or adress on it to check if it's supposed to go to someone else. I guess it comes with being the top mailbox in the building; when in doubt, just put it there... Too bad it isn't tomorrow's paper, like Early Edition, at least then I might've had some more fun with it, but I read the news at work or online as it is, so it doesn't add much (except more junk in my house..).

In other news, I HATE OLD PEOPLE. Some are okay, well, i'd still rather avoid them altogether, but today actually had me throwing things in the office... The target at the callcenter is an average of 4 minutes per incoming customer. Leave it to fate to give me a couple of senile old folks that have nothing better to do than to talk about their incompetence for half an hour.
Each. Honestly, I explain to them what is what, but each time they go temporarily deaf and don't get any word of what I'm saying.. Or even if they do hear what I say, they want more explanation about each and every word that I explain. And then of course they question every word I explain about the explanation. I've heard about people being (what's another word for "anal" here...) about things, but this is just too ridiculous. Also didn't help that my last call of the day was one of those calls.. In the end I just had to mention that I was already off duty for half an hour, or she'd go on for another hour.. At those times I wish I were mentally unstable and would just snap and do all sorts of crazy things. Maybe next time...

Hot Hot Hot!

2007-06-13T17:13:00.000+02:00

Since the weather has been very sunny the last couple of weeks, we decided to have a little barbecue. That was of course the day where the sun stopped shining, but it was still quite pleasant outside and at least it didn't rain. Kirstin bought a new portable barbecue for Frans, the host of our little soirée, as a belated birthday present (somewhere last December, but who's counting...).

We started off with some of us assembling this nifty little device, while others made a salad (a delicious one, I might add. My compliments to the chef :P). After putting the bbq together, it was time to light it up. None of us were exactly bbq specialists, but we managed to get it going.

While waiting for the charcoal to get hot enough, we indulged ourselves on the salad and other foods. When thirty or so minutes had passed, we decided to go and burn the meat.

Literally.

As I said, we were no experts in barbecueing. Apparently leaving the meat alone on the grill while having a fun conversation inside is not a good thing to do. But no worries, the damage wasn't that extensive. (The plate was for everyone btw, not just her, I felt I had to state it to avoid a whack in the head. She's not a glutton at all. Really!) Anyhoo, we scraped off the outside layer and enjoyed the first batch of meat.

We were down to the last pile of meat when someone noticed something strange coming out from under the table. After a short bit of confusion, it quickly became clear that once again we fail as bbq'ers. The bbq was placed on the table outside, since it was a portable small one. The table, however, was made of plastic. And that doesn't mix with heat very well..

The table was also new, he just got it, I think the day before the BBQ. Talk about bad luck... Well, the table hasn't become useless yet, it just has a.. 'beauty mark'. Well, we couldn't do much more about it, so we went back in and finished off whatever was left. It was still a good meal.

And of course after dinner, there are drinks ^^. Sander and Kirstin thought it'd be a good idea to gulp up a 3-liter box of wine... Yeah good luck with that :P But there were other things to drink as well. Mixmaster Kirstin (see the Hawaiian party) whipped up something yummy, which went well with the cool 'bar' that Frans has.

Good times.

Bloggers Meet

2007-05-21T22:49:00.000+02:00

If you can call two bloggers getting together a meet... Anywayz, I met Taraa a couple days before the Hawaiian Cocktail Party, and of course you all know how swift I am with writing blogs... (this one even took about 10 days >_<)

Taraa and her friend arrived in Amsterdam sometime in the afternoon, which was unfortunately too late for Dim Sum. Every time I come near the Big Cities, I try to get to a Dim Sum place as much as possible (sometimes even just to eat there.. :P), seeing as we have no such thing here up north. Well, there ís one, although they use pre-made dishes.. Even I can do that; just go the the local toko and get some of those deep-frozen ones. No, there's no substitute possible for the real thing. Luckily a friend of mine was also in for a bit of chow, so I went there up and early (the train ride is about 2.5 hours. The things I do for good food... Uhm, and meeting friends of course) and had a good lunch.

After that, I explored a bit of the city, since I was also quite unfamiliar with it (having only been here like once or twice, mostly getting drunk instantly and having hangovers the next day). Mostly I just looked for points of recognition, to know where in the city I was. Then I returned to the station to wait for my 'guests'. At a certain point I became a bit worried, because it was about time for them to show up, but since there were two different tracks where trains from the airport came in, I didn't know where to go. I couldn't reach them either on the number she gave me.

As it turns out, their plane was delayed, and their phones weren't on until they landed. When they finally arrived, it was also on a completely different track than the ones I had been given.. Thank God for cell phones :). When we finally got together, it felt strangely familiar. It was the first time I met Taraa, and even on the Net we hadn't known each other for that long yet (or do we? I don't really keep track of things :$). Maybe blogs give away more of ourselves than we think...

Aaaaanywayz, we got on a tram to the hostel where they were staying, which was quite nice, as far as my experience with hostels goes (not far :P). There were even a bunch of kids, playing around a tiny pooltable, which we thought was pretty odd: why are there little kids in a hostel, and apparently without supervison? Taraa's friend, Anshu (is that spelled correctly?), was kinda tired from the trip, so she took a nap. Me & Taraa strolled around for a bit, grabbing a light bite to eat (with the plane's delay and all, they were starving when they arrived at the airport :P. As for me, Dim Sum is good enough to fill me up for the entire day ^^).

Took a picture together of course, what good is a bloggers meet if you don't take pictures! The three of us met up again, and when it became dark, we made our way to Amsterdam's main attraction: the Red Lights. Amsterdam doesn't really offer much else, I think (well, that, and drugs of course). It was of course packed with tourists, and I think I even saw someone go into "a lady's workplace" once or twice. I mean, besides the fact that you're actually going to a prostitute, who would want to do that with a whole crowd outside? We walked around for a bit, trying to make some sneak peeks with our camera's (the residents don't like it, and will usually show it by physical force). We walked until we had seen enough of it. That was kind of it for the day, there's not much else to do when everything closes at 18:00.

We walked around town some more, and finally settled down outside a bar, having a drink. Unfortunately I didn't keep enough track of time, and had to leave pretty soon. And none too soon, either. I had to run for it halfway to the station, Amsterdam turned out to be larger than I thought. Also unfortunate was that I don't have much of a condition.. I stayed longer than I planned as well, so this was the last train home. I barely made it, too, as soon as I got in and sat down, the train started moving. Painfully tired, but the day was worth it. Maybe next time I can convince them to come to Groningen instead :P

Yes Sir Can I Have Another Sir

2007-04-29T16:30:00.000+02:00

Another question list, easy to do without hurting my brain, and it fills up my Sunday afternoon..

1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.
Two dots on my right chest. No, no vampire marks or anything, although it was a blood-sucking fiend.. Mosquitos bit me, and I couldn't stop scratching it. I know, it's a dissapointing tale, but I'd rather have no pain and no scar than some heroic tale..

2. What is on the walls in your room?

Courtesy of the previous occupant, who made it herself!

3. What does your phone look like?
Like a standard Nokia 8310. Yes, the one with a tiny black/white screen, no camera, no bluetooth or email or whatever (were there such phones?!). But hey, it's nearing it's 4th birthday, which is like 300 in human years. I'd like to see the new phones hold out that long..

4. What music do you listen to?
Whatever mood I'm into. Right now I'm listening to trance, because the people outside are throwing a party on the roof terrace

5. What is your current desktop picture?
I can't explain it.. Well, I can, but it won't make sense. "A digital image of a round little guy carrying a cube of transparancy, probably heading over to pile it on top of a pile of other cubes of transparancy". Told ya. I guess this might be a bit easier

6. What do you want more than anything right now?
A soulmate

7. Do you believe in gay marriage?
I don't even think my beliefs have anything to do with it at all. The government decides whether it's allowed or not. As for whether I'm for or against it: I'm neither. I have no problem with gay's marrying, but you won't see me protesting either if the government prohibits it.. I'm more pro-NIMBY (Not In My BackYard)

8. What time were you born?
around 07.10 I think.. Imagine my mom having to pull an all-nighter for me...

9. Are your parents still together?
Immigrated Chinese people divorcing? *GASP*

10. What are you listening to?
Trance, like I said. Well, this question scores a few points on redundancy

11. Do you get scared of the dark?
Only after watching a Japanese horror movie.. Those movies freak me out

12. The last person to make you cry?
I don't remember

13. What is your favorite perfume/cologne?
Does aftershave count? Axe Unlimited vitalising aftershave. It's the only thing I have that comes close to it.

14. What kind of hair/eye colour do you like on the opposite sex?
When I was young, I always liked blond hair a lot. Then again, I also liked how Goku could turn into a Super Saiyan.. Anywayz, I prefer dark hair now, and intense eyes that have that naughty twinkle in them

15. Do you like pain killers?
I prefer toughing things out rather than taking pills. Unless of course it's a considerate amount of pain, like a broken leg our pulling out a tooth.

16. Are you too shy to ask someone out?
I think I'm more afraid of rejection. But I keep trying. Optimism has it's uses ;)

17. Favorite pizza topping?
Ham and salami. Other meat optional

18. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?
Dim Sum. Always Good. But never near.. :(

19. Who was the last person you made mad?
I make everybody mad.. I guess working 2,5 years at a callcenter has made me a bit cynical, grumpy, making snappy retorts and being a real smart-ass. Or it could just be me.

20. Is anyone in love with you?
I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Party Animal

2007-04-25T17:31:00.000+02:00

Almost three weeks without a blog! Guess I'm slipping a bit.. Well, I have been a bit busy lately, the blogger's meet (just me and Taraa actually, but if was fun ^^), and of course El Cocktail Fest. The party went quite well, and of course I have pics of it to accompany the story. Check my pics page for details!

Seeing as Kirstin was in town, we went clubbing the Friday before the party (one of the very few friends that doesn't feel too old to go clubbing anymore.. Maybe I need to find more friends...). Not too late of course, we still had a party to host :P. Seeing as she was still in town the next week, we went clubbing again the next Friday, and this time we went all-out.

Well, she did. After Ritmo closed, we moved on to &zo, and when that one closed she was still looking other places. Well, by that time I was pretty done for, and seeing as there aren't that many good places to go to after 5, I convinced her to call it a day too. With the hangover the next day and the headaches the days after, I realised that I might not be that young anymore either..

..nah. I'm still good. Party on!!

Party Quirks

2007-04-05T23:06:00.000+02:00

Recipe:
- People
- Booz
- More booz
- A bit of a theme

Shake it up, add some ice, and you've got yourself a party! I've been busy with the preperations for the next one, due soon, and it's no picknick. But it will be!

As you can see :)

I've borrowed the image from Deviantart, and changed it a bit to suit our party.

As for the theme, I thought an exotic colourful one would make a nice change (I think I've used my suit in more parties than for work-related things :P). And what's more colourful and exotic than the beautiful beaches of Hawaii?

If anybody got any suggestions for cocktails or food, they're more than welcome! I just hope I can keep the lid on all those drinks before the party starts :P

Weather Malfunction part deux

2007-03-20T16:34:00.000+01:00

Try going out in a T-shirt like this! :P

Just when looked like it would finally become warmer weather, we get snow! But for those coming here for a holiday, don't worry, the sun came out later in the afternoon again.

After all, this is March: the month where we get snow, sunshine, rain, clouds, sleet and hail all at once. Apparently.

Weather Malfunction

2007-03-14T16:10:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I don't get you Dutch people. As soon as a little sunshine appears, people go outdoors, wearing nothing but a t-shirt, like it's the summer season already. The summer isn't even that hot, except for maybe two weeks in the whole year (at least, that used to be the case before all that global warming stuff happened).

But honestly, it's not even officially spring yet, and I see people shedding their clothes, ice cream trucks popping up everywhere and people going to the beach (okay, I shouldn't be the one to talk, since I went there in the middle of winter, but still). I mean, it's only like 11-13 degrees outside, that's like winter temperature in countries like Spain and Australia, and it's freakin' cold there during that time!

I'm exaggerating a bit of course, not everybody does that. But a little sunshine in cold weather seems to be enough to get people feeling like it's summer already, which I find odd.. Maybe it's also because the people that do go out in just their t-shirts are so hairy that they wouldn't feel cold even in the winter season.. All I can say is: people are weird!

Journey Of A Lifetime

2007-03-01T15:57:00.000+01:00

It's been pretty quite here, mostly because I just can't think of anything worth while to mention. Lately I've gotten in a bit of a drag, making no progress in anything whatsoever. Perhaps it's a winter depression of some sorts. But I thought I'd get busy again for the few readers I might still have..

Anywayz, I have been planning some things for the summer vacation. Since I was a kid, i used to go on holiday almost every summer. That's what summer vacations are for, aren't they? But the last couple of years have become more and more dull. Granted, last year I went off to sunny Greece, but that was only a week, and before that, my last official vacation was in Taiwan, 2001. Yes, I was also in London in 2003, but there's a difference between a vacation trip and living there for 6 months. The other 200x years I've been sadly stuck here in this tiny, boring country. And with my current part-time job and my future jobs to come, it seems almost impossible to go on long, luxurious holidays.

So last year in Greece got me thinking. The maximum vacation available now is about three weeks. And I'm just going to get the most out of it as possible. Me and my bro have always been planning on going on a road trip through Europe someday. So this year, we're going to do it, no matter what. Whatever problems we encounter, we'll find a way to deal with it..

No car? Take the train
No money? Start saving
Not enough time? Cut down on locations
No gorgeous chicks to accompany us? We'll find them on the road

After looking over several drafts, we've narrowed the list down to the following places: Dublin (Ireland), Edinburgh (Scotland), Stockholm (Sweden), Copenhagen (Denmark), Berlin (Germany), Prague (Czech Republic), Vienna (Austria), Rome and Milan (Italy), Monaco (Monaco), Barcelona and finally Madrid (Spain). As you can see, it's mostly a capital city tour.

Going clockwise, it looks kind of like this:

It's a lot to do in three weeks, and I'm sure we'll be near dead when we get back, but we're going to pull through this!

I hope.

If you've been to any of these places, or can recommend some alternative route to take which is more efficient and worthwhile, let me know about things to see!

To be continued...

The Must Haves

2007-02-11T22:33:00.000+01:00

Another tag coming up. This one I got from Taraa, returning the favor, I'm sure :) It took me a couple of days to think of the things to fill in, usually I have pretty standard answers for those standard question forms, but leave it to Taraa to come up with something unusual ^^.

But I like it very much, so here goes: the Must-Haves in life.

In my home
- Personal affections that make me feel like home
- A comfy couch, lazy chair and soft bed to relax on
- Spacious rooms for entertaining guests and a kitchen that has everything

In my partner
- Joyfulness and enthousiasm that will light my spirits
- The ability to make me smile no matter what
- Beauty on the outside, brains on the inside and a sense of humor on any other side

In a day
- Peaceful weather, a warm sunny day or silent snowfall, to ease my mood
- A friendly conversation
- Music, for the same reason as the weather

In my wardrobe
- Lots of comfortable, casual clothes that fit me well
- Formal attire, for whenever I need stylish clothes (for work, or more likely, for parties :P)
- A pair of sneakers, formal shoes and fluffy slippers for at home

In my car
- Lots of music in all kinds of genres
- A/C, electronic windows, remote locking, the works
- A sporty build that allows me to enjoy driving to the fullest

In my heart
- Being able to see things with a sense of humor
- A secret crush, which I can drift off and daydream about
- The ability to accept things the way they are, and to make the most it

In my old-age
- Friends and family to grow old with
- Good memories to reminiscence about, and people to share them with
- No past regrets or wishing things would be different

In me, today
- The willpower and perseverence to continue with whatever I'm doing
- Planning my future, as well as my present
- Knowing the limit to things and stopping when I reach it

A Head Above

2007-02-02T00:27:00.000+01:00

At times like this, I wish I were Dutch.
[edit] Hurray for links that don't work... Must be a great news site 8-). Anywayz, here's another one (although less fun to read), and also some bits posted below here in case this link goes wacko too.

The New World has lost its superiority over the Old - at least in terms of physical stature - and John Komlos has the evidence. His records, including files on runaway slaves, indentured servants and West Point graduates, bear testament to the US decline.

"Americans have stopped growing while Europeans are increasing in height at quite a pace," said Professor Komlos, a leading anthropometric historian who studies such development.
He has discovered, for instance, that American men were nearly eight centimetres taller than the Dutch in the 1800s. Now the tables have turned, and the Dutch - the tallest people in Europe, with an average height of around 1.85 metres - stand eight centimetres above Americans.

They're not kidding either..

And this guy's take on it is simply hilarious

In yet another blow to its global ego, the United States must now face the fact that it no longer grows the world's tallest people. The news from Europe is that Americans have been overtaken by those cheesemakers, the Dutch.
.
How can this be? Their country is barely watertight. They live hedonistic lives and even smoke marijuana at will. Eveyone else has to hide it. Let's not even talk about their language. Researchers are now trying to figure out how they got to the top of the tree.

Road Trip

2007-01-30T22:47:00.000+01:00

(this is my 100th post on this blog btw, woohoo!)

So a friend of mine recently got his driver's license, and of course what's the first thing a guy does when he gets his license? ROAD TRIP!!! He even got some wheels for himself. Not some race monster or a classic roadster, somehow we Dutch people aren't that spoiled as those American teenage kids, who can buy a car for a few pennies or even just get one from their parents.. No we get to choose between the old lower end models, like this one.

The Toyota Starlet baby!! Well, it's got 4 wheels and it drives, what more do you need?

At least we can make a cool pose with it. Makes the car look much better, doesn't it?

Though the car may be old, there's always one thing that youngsters cannot do without.
That's right, things that make you go boom!

No matter how old the ride, there's always room for a massive soundsystem

So we've been planning a trip half-way across the country

(Serves us right for living in one of the most faraway places in this tiny country)

So, our first destination: Rotterdam. Bright lights, big city. Or so we thought.

Rotterdam is a nice place, but we didn't expect to see the saddest Christmas tree in the world (the trip was sometime during the Christmas holidays, you know how fast I am with blogging).

The initial idea was to go to Scheveningen, the most popular beach of the country, where also the only known arcadehal was located. There might be one or two other in the entire country (talk about a boring country...), but I've never been there yet. So Scheveningen it is.

At least, if it were up to the other two geeks.. I didn't feel like making a 250km trip just to hang out at the arcades all day long, so I suggested the best thing to do while in the West: Dim Sum! It's a little sad that we have to drive halfway across the country to enjoy this marvelous food, but then again it adds a little more to the experience.

Plus of course it's fun to see how other people handle the chopsticks, not to mention the strange food they've never seen before.

We first started with a quick stroll through the shopping streets, to see if there was anything worth while. Although all the stores were fitted with huge SALE signs, I didn't get anything. Probably because those signs are up there all year long.
Because it was still early, we went for a cup of coffee and a snack..

Well not that one, tempting as it might be, but we're still on a student budget (and we also need to save money for the arcades, it's hard to get rid of our geeky nature). After that some more strolling, and then food, glorious food!

When we were stuffed, it was time for the second part of our trip: going to the beach in the middle of winter!

Yes, it's obvious we're
always full of good ideas.

So, with a temperature of about 4 degrees Celsius and Wind Force 7 in our face we made our way to the boulevard. Despite the weather there were still quite some people making their way to the beach, but of course I would too if I lived near it. We made our way to the shopping mall and started our gaming marathon. At long last I finally got to play Time Crisis 3 again, aaahh sweet gaming bliss. Besides that there was some racing, some weird (obviously Japanese) plaything, and I even got Oene so far as to join me in a DDR session.

Steppin' to the groove, dancing the night away! Which it was, when we were finally done.
Of course it was winter, so it was already dark by 5 or 6 'o clock. Still, we walked down the peer (the thing that stretches out into the sea, see pic above), with the wind blowing yet more mightier. At the end we stopped for some coffee, not very hungry yet (Dim Sum really stuffs you up, plus dinner was pretty pricey, especially after a day like this).

And at long last, returning home.

Where we made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up going to Noord-Holland (the northwest bit of NL).

And stopping at Burger King because the hunger finally kicked in.

..When's the next trip?

+40 experience
+6 in yummy yummy food!
+2 in gun-slingin', quicksteppin' mad skillz yo