what have I been doing in 2010 – a comprehensive list of a person’s life - VI

Where I have partied at:

• § New Year @ Westergasfabriek where we got way too many coins, spoke to too many people and forgot our friend sleeping on the loo
• § Some strangely named restaurant with the parents of Sailorboy out of which only the name “Bamba” remained in my head
• § Home, having a charade game with my friends where the toughest word to mime was the book “Ulyses” and where we had a winner to go to the cinema, chapeau!
• § My Russian friend, where I’ve eaten raw haring (again - not in a Dutch house!) for the first time and didn’t throw up as the alcohol was pumping in our hearts and evaporating in our speech
• § Some place that I cannot remember the name, to celebrate my new job and say good-bye to my old colleagues at the other company, where one of them forgot his iPhone (luckily for him it had a password for/against the children)
• 
• § Film Museum Café in Vondelpark with two girlfriends where we talked about our entire lives
• § Sushibar at a date with my boyfriend
• § Magere Brug to say good-bye to dear friends who moved to India
• § Home for the celebration of my newly-acquired title, leaving us dancing Jordan music with belly-dancing, Balkan shake-arounds, Shakira, salsa and Indian Bollywood moves
• § A strange Spanish restaurant in the Jordaan with Sailorboy and Nordstorm, where all they cared about was when we’re going to order wine – we didn’t! – and the waitresses were bending over the table, over your food in order to talk to you (nice breasts though), such bad habits and acoustics.
• § Across The Hague University with my friend the JoDiva and had good laughs, gossiped and analyzed men behavior, as we always do
• § Some Mediterranean cuisine restaurant along the water in Utrecht with Sailorboy
• § At a fancy restaurant in Abcoude with the extended family of Sailorboy to celebrate 2 birthdays and a lot of memories – gezellig!
• § PhD graduation party at a Lebanese restaurant with a huge crowd, good food and chill-out water pipe
• § My boyfriend’s best friend and at the time newly-acquired-girlfriend, whom every one was so curious about
• § The Czech bar to drink away some lost bets and talk away work and nationalities in a cocktail of thoughts
• § Zaandvoort beach to lay in the sun and gossip the people around, talk non-sense and wait for the sun to set
• § At a non-party resistance @ home, watched the football final, scared that The Netherlands will lose.. Spanish bastards!
• § Luxembourg for a drink with friends and Burgermeester for fresh cow (holy shit for some)
• § Had drunk friends on and over the floor, then went to Circus Rez (for real!) – it was circ
• us all the way!! Biking there was already a show, falling friends, crying friends, laughing friends, masters of equilibristic, show and hope
• § After a night of watching football in the Hague with my uncle, got back to Amsterdam, had some drinks @ Grasshopper with the JoDiva and the LittleTrulyAsian, then headed for the Cuba cocktail time, where the Latina JewelryFish joined. We all decided we don’t have the same taste in men. Then lost a few, gained some others while chatting to the Dam owner of a pub. BollywoodDiva and Polko made me have some more drinks and nice times before hitting the sack after 2 days of not seeing my house in sight
• § ADE @ Trouw for a huge cracking and sweaty party with da girlz! Going out with girls for a good shake rulz!! And the music was brilliant!
• § Wilhemina Dok to celebrate 2 years with Sailorboy – you wouldn’t think so,we look so young lol
• § Dinner at home with Sailorboy, his friend, the Aussie (after Aussieboy left his Aussie-flagged underwear in the bathroom as display of friendship amongst nations), BollywoodDiva and Latina JewelryFish
• § Suzy Wong & Jimmy Woo to end up at Bourbon Street – what a night! And a more than 10 people’s crowd and more than 50% friends.. that doesn’t happen every day, no!
• § Home for my B-day Party the 20s theme and had huge fun! I’m definitely not mentioning the Brusselina landing on the plates for the pleasure of a hungry Spanish man. The Jamaican rum punch was lekker and the money confetti was an asset for which breasts and asses were shaken: Shakira-Shakira!

What have I been doing in 2010 – a comprehensive list of a person’s life - V

Part 1 – What I Didn’t Like, What Inspired Disgust and What Made Me Wonder

§ Meeting of the people living in my building where we boringly discussed for hours about the building budget, paining the building and if to have a common terrace on the roof or not – all those life-decisive moments. However, it turned out that the terrace would have been twice as expensive as 2 weeks holiday in Spain (per year per person), so it was a no-go.

§ A school that teaches you motor classes, after being postponed because it was raining too hard (in the land where it always rains too hard), and they discovered I’m too small to fit any of their bikes (after having posted on their site that they have motorbikes for women as well, no matter the size – well they haven’t seen me!)

§ The houses of 2 of my teachers (at the end of the earth, 2-3 hours ride each - just like crossing the Netherlands over) to deliver my end-paper to the door, all in the same day with working in between, successfully!

§ The oral defense of my paper

§ Gamma to buy paint and other things for the house and did almost nothing with it..

§ Been to a company barbeque to mark the end of the summer – it did rain, yes.

§ VilLaArena & Ikea to buy thing in the house and totally spoil our Sunday

Part 2 – What I Liked, What Inspired Lust and What Made Me Happy

§ Schiphol, to pick up my new Sicilian colleague who never heard a word of Dutch and needed to read English in order to understand you, like you’d come along with the subtitles at a meeting with her

§ On the back sit of the motor of my boyfriend, who was just driving around on a nice sunny day, we stopped in Alphen for a while and then got back – it’s o boring to be on the back-sit.. one day, one day, my friends, that driving license will be mine!

§ The Jam studio to practice some drums

§ Boomchicago for the first Pubquizz evening and it kind of became an addiction, ever since I was .. times with different people – in the end we became “The Smarties”

§ Some shops, then I met – funny enough – two of my elementary school former colleagues, one who lives in Amsterdam and the other in London. Most of these colleagues of mine are scrapped around the world and we still keep in touch J We started off with beer at Rembrandtplein. We went to Anne Frank house and to a nice restaurant and caught up. They insisted to go to a “bruin

cafe” – the typical Dutch café which they call brown because every one smokes in there and the mark of time leaves it darker than usually. It does have an own flavor, but we did get out in less than 50 seconds J non smokers!!

§ Burger zoo with Sailorboy’s family and sweated in the .. weather and saw fish from above and under, then had a dinner on a terrace next to our place

§ SandSultanRacer’s birthday in Uithoorn and had some Dutch family time, noticed the grandma had my dressing style and the grandpa had my sense of humour, love those people

§ Zaandam for Dam tot Dam business run and managed to cross the finish line after 6.4km of properly gasping

§ An event where 5 girls (us) were dressed in national Peruvian clothes for an art event

§ BollywoodDiva’s birthday party at Prinsengracht while the police was having a fight with the squatters just outside the door and every one needed to film this

§ Richard III at Stadsschouwburg on the amazing music of Tom Waits

§ Class on how to save people, including the Heimlich procedure, reanimating and fire fighting, I’m your office hero, yo!

§ Speech therapist and drum classes

What have I been doing in 2010 – a comprehensive list of a person’s life - IV

Films I've seen:

Part 1 – What I Didn’t Like, What Inspired Disgust and What Made Me Wonder

• § Avatar
• § Ik omhels jou met duizend armen
• § Passie vrucht
• § The Fountain
• § Wolverine
• § Inception
• § Man vs Wild
• § Office
• § Shawshank Redemption
• § Reservoir Dogs
• § Salt
• § The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

Part 2 – What I Liked, What Inspired Lust and What Made Me Happy

• § Alice in Wonderland
• § Due Date
• § Fantastic Mr. Fox
• § Coffee and Cigarettes
• § New Kids Turbo
• § Happiness
• § Simon
• § Life Aquatic
• § Cida de Deus
• § Hangover
• § Punch Drunk Love
• § Le Diner de Cons
• § Toy Story 3
• § Boogie Nights
• § Taxi
• § The Fall
• § Monty Python
• § The Party
• § Wall-E
• § Soldaat van Oranje
• § Cloaca
• § Ride Hell
• § Coco
• § Night on Earth
• § Sue Little Sunshine
• § Big Fish
• § Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
• § Love Guru
• § Magnolia
• § Forest Gump
• § Estomago
• § Batman
• § How To Train Your Dragon
• § The Indestructibles
• § The World’s Fastest Indian

What have I been doing in 2010 – a comprehensive list of a person’s life - III

The places I’ travelled to – and this really Made Me Happy

• § Barcelona for business, but it became a pleasure
• § Milano for business, but the food was real pleasure
• § Paris for business, where I finally saw Musee D’Orsay and a nice shopping center
• § Copenhague for business and pleasure
• § Bucharest for holidays, organized a bachelorette party remotely, seen friends, went to a wedding of my best woman; to Sulina for some days in the sun and relaxation
• § Frankfurt, for business and pleasure – did some clubbing with my mom-friend and walked the child to the playground, saw the city and watched some football games
• § Paris for a romantic holiday with Sailorboy
• § Dublin for wasted days of party and walking around the city with a headache + Mada
• § Bucharest, to party with friends and see my extended family – with a visit from my US aunt
• § Bucharest for Christmas celebrations and Busteni to be in the mountains

What have I been doing in 2010 – a comprehensive list of a person’s life - II

The concerts I’ve been to:

Part 1 – What I Didn’t Like, What Inspired Disgust and What Made Me Wonder

• § Tin Hat @ Muziekgebouw – I kind’o liked it, but almost fell asleep, damn!
• § Thievery Corporation @ Melkweg – too many artists with too many samples
• § ARNO @ Paradiso – 2 brilliant songs, but the rest not really my thing..

Part 2 – What I Liked, What Inspired Lust and What Made Me Happy

• § Gogol Bordello @ Paradiso – gipsy punk in my jumping shaking groove shoes!!
• § Tracing Tracy @ Sju in Utrecht – jazzy friends with talent!
• § Midlake @ Bloomendal – best location for concerts ever with past-tense Indian and ballad fighting and loving times
• § Faith No More, Fun Loving Criminals, Dan le Sac, Uffie, Balkan Beat Box, a lot of reggae and some other crazy bands @ Dour festival in Belgium J
• § Kid Koala @ Melkweg – just brilliant!!
• § Underworld @ Heineken Music Hall MANIA, after which we tried to enter to Trouw, across and other venues – all closed, so took a Punjabi taxi home to have the wisdom teeth removed the next morning – a night to remember
• § Shantel @ Leffinge, Belgium – another Maniac night on Balkan grooves
• § Gipsy Bands – Kochani & Taraf de Haidouks @ Brussels, Belgium and the belly-shaking diva were absolutely charming, Unza time! With the band coming into the public and fluting our ears away, love this music!!

What have I been doing in 2010 – a comprehensive list of a person’s life - I

Part 1 – What I Didn’t Like, What Inspired Disgust and What Made Me Wonder

• § Stedelijk Museum – because it was more empty than artish and had a lot of empty rooms that made me laugh and wonder..
• § FOAM – the 3^rd time, because of the things I can do myself and sell them as art, but still are not

Part 2 – What I Liked, What Inspired Lust and What Made Me Happy

• § Anne Frank – because it’s sad but true
• § Kroeller Mueller – because it’s the most beautiful museum I’ve ever been to in the Netherlands, with good pieces of art, fine architecture and open-air show-offs from different times.. and it is so unexpectedly different!

Happy New Year - Once More

Hey there people, friends and strangers,

2010 is here with heavy snow! So for about 2 weeks I had the impression everything's standing still. It took me about double the time - every day - to get to work, sometimes even not 30 min, but 90 min! Come on guys, move it!! Think - what would the Russians do?! ;)

Anyhow, this is how my street looks like - street's on the right, but this is the canal. Frozen and snowed on - brilliant! never seen anything like it! ;) could go ice-skating on it right now!

(joke - mom!!)

Hope your year stays magic!

Scariest Halloween ever

Scariest Halloween ever happened at Sugarfactory where me and Latina FishJewelry showed up fashionably late. We just grabbed some drinks and started to party when smoke came from the stage. There were about 4 desperate widows mourning, crying and shouting for their dead.. who knows?!

Then it happened - out of the coffin came this naked young Jesus-like man. All naked, all reborn, only with a sock around his thingy and an iPhone hanging to it. It is still until this day a mysterious way of God how he managed to tie the iPhone on his thingy. And he could shake it and phone some one. I wish I had his number and called him. I bet he got the freaks!

Anyhow, besides of the major act there were some others that are not worth mentioning, compared to the skills of little iPhone Jesus there. We just enjoyed. Then we landed on another place at a bachelor party where the to-be-groom was having the Amsterdam style tequila: salt sniffed like coke, tequila deep down and lemon squeezed in your eye. Ouch! And then we danced with the men all night. Whenever they were hitting on me, I'd show them some blood on my neck. By 4 am it got really bad.. spread around my neck, stuck to my hair, all gluey and sticky and just looking like it was supposed to - horror! what a night to remember!

P.S. Another episode to remember was that I've eaten zuurvlees at a friend's place - just meat (normally horse meat) cooked slowly in vinegar with a dash of apple syrup on top - delicious! Very south Netherlands habit, I'm so integrated right now!

I'm Human, Thus I Am.

Do you ever notice you're alive?!

I don't need to tell you that we're living in this world where:

- you need to work

- you've got to earn some money

- you have to pay the bills

- you will need to pay the bills on time, otherwise they're going to chase you for it (I should know it best, I worked for them!)

- you have responsibilities

- you need to deal with your responsibilities as a grown up

- buy this, consume that

- earn more to afford your life standard.

***And there comes the day! There comes one day when you're being so lazy, you're in denial with all of the above, you refuse to be a robot, to work from 9 to 6, to do your duties etc.

You're just drifting away powerless and relaxed.

That's how I spent my last weekend. I did absolutely nothing and enjoyed it!

I'm human afterall -

How Time Goes By

Tuesday

Get this, my friend, I'm about to see a high rated comedy! It should be sooo funny, I'll die. I have no clue what's the name of the film I've seen, I swear to God. It's like few weeks ago and I only know it was something called.. aaahh... how to get over or how to forget samantha.. haaloway?! or something.. anyhow, it's kind of funny, but don't ask me about details, should have been good enough for you to see it.

Wednesday

What kind of cruel world are we living in?! I need to wake up at 5 or 6 :(( I hate my life! I hate you all! so I actually put my act together, with a tight-ass suit and all, then I shake it to the Centraal Station and I'm on my train. I go out in Utrecht, I ask hey, there, lady! how do I get on that side, oh, follow me! after 2 minutes she says, actually, it's better if you go back! Make up your mind, lady, waky waky!! which way? so I'm at the car of my colleague and we're going to Namur. I'll give you at least one beer if you ever heard of this place in your entire life. It's a paesani dorp village at the trou du cul of Belgium! The office in there is also called the bunker. They all smoke in there and don't see sunlight. I suppose if you'd throw a grenade in there, they wouldn't feel the difference! But anyhow, I'm having my meetings there. I brought some Dutch stroopwafels and Dutch chocolate. Bastard sexy Belgium colleague of mine asks me - do they have chocolate in the Netherlands??!! silly me, it's like bringing a Dacia to a German. Or a pizza to an Italian. Or a bull to a Spanish. Or a joint to a Dutch guy. Or some sticks to a Chinese. So wrong, but he winked at me, must be good ;)

I drag myself back to the crib and enjoy dinner. Shortly. Then me and Sailorboy are out for something bigger than us. Knalpot. Electronic music with just drums and guitar. Brilliant! and i got to see Trouw, a very cool location, old newspaper factory, nowadays a club. Though they kind of didn't change much. At all. Dance event rocks on!! or dances on?? ;)

Friday

Well hello, I think I know you Limbo friend! take a seat, a wine, a visinata and some Turkish meal. We'll have a talk about everything, nothing and more. At the crib. Good one! didn't manage to get myself out of the chair to get to the Portugese party, damn! this means ta-tar, til next time!

Saturday

OMG, I've seen the mothers of stupid movies!! I won't tell you the name, maybe I can chat with some one about it, get treatment!!

Sunday

I get a good chat to the girlies - the Latin Jewelry Fish and the Bollywood Diva. We're next to Vondelpark where a kid rides his bike right into me. He had a hat on his eyes. Stupid parents!! Good I'm nice, I could have slapped him around!! I should have, naughty boy!! when I'll be old he could as much as ride his car over me!! damn punks!! oh well anyhow, we get into all the drama and spice of single and couple life, the passion, the tension, the love, the craziness, and then we chill. Gossip time done! time to get back to my Sailorboy and hit it. We're looking for this alarm which wakes you up with natural light?! how amazing is that? I can only think of the sun coming down and shining on me! we don't get it, so we're at this resto where the cutest coolest black cat comes to purr on me! I'm so happy!!