Archive for May, 2005

So here we are.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. And so was the day before. And the day before that. And you know what, life in general is. Wednesday I went to London to let them sort out my tourist visa for Russia, which is now all taken care of. I saw the Big Ben for the first time in my life, and had some fun wandering the streets of this to me quite unknown city. I flew back that evening, and saw my dad again, since he came to Holland for a special event which occurred yesterday. Hang on, I’ll get to that.

Thursday my father and I had a good talk at the bank, giving my plans a more detailed form, which was good. Then we headed to Utrecht, to get some stuff done over there, then I headed to my brother in Den Haag. Had not been there in a while. It is amazing how my family fully understands my lack of time, and how they just accept the fact that I just cannot see them as much as we would both like! Thank you for that my brothers, and their beautiful wives and girlfriends (hahaha that sounds bad, they really just have one: either a wife or a girlfriend). Had a great time there, and ended up spending the night there, since it was just too nice to leave.

Then yesterday was a special day. I received my Bachelor’s diploma with honors from the University of Utrecht, after three years of fun, craziness, feeling locked up, writing papers I did not want to, procrastinating and learning. A beautiful day it was, the whole family there (yes, that includes Ewout), except for my mother, who is still recovering from her hip replacement (and amazingly well I might add; hou van u mam, ben trots op u ) After a really nice and impressive ceremony, we hopped by my grandmother, and then had the most amazing dinner close to our place in Amersfoort. I just smiled. The whole night. Pap, thanks for everything, and thank you all for being there to make me a proud and happy little dude. I am grateful for such an amazing family, who would go through so much trouble just to be there for me. And yes, that once again includes Ewout.

Today, I had a special gift for my father: he always wanted to go gliding. Zweefvliegen. The look on his face both before and afterwards were so great, I am so happy I was there to see it.

Now, I am here at Ewout’s place, who is not here, but fortunately another LiveNewser is: Maurits. I am here to put a lot of music ON MY BRAND NEW iPOD which I got as a birthday/graduation gift from Ewout, Leonard, Inge, Theo, Mich, Ernaast and Sebastiaan. Thank you all so much.

Tomorrow morning I fly to St. Petersburg, Russia for a three day shoot. RUSSIA! Cannot wait. Must sleep a lot before then though, I am beat. Need to give my ankle more rest.

Yeah, technically this is quite a boring summary of events, no crazy thoughts, nothing but a way too happy summary. I do this out of advice Ewout gave me. There are so many things happening in my life right now that he thinks I should write a lot, and take pictures to later in life remember all these crazy things. It is too much for one life, as he put it. I decided he might just be right, so here it is: an actual diary-LiveNews-piece with nothing but what’s been going on. It might bore the crap out of you guys, but hey, I’ll enjoy it in a few years.

That’s it for now. I hope to post from Russia. After that: maybe Canada, then maybe Germany, then Paris, then Milan, then Paris.

All I can think about every day now is how lucky I am.

What can I say…Barcelona is amazing. The people, the food, the weather, the beach, someone I met, the openness, the buildings, their eating schedules (a lot more like mine): it is absolutely amazing. I want to go back! I think I might start understanding why my brother wants to live in Spain at some point. Ah well, now back in The Neeeeetherlands. For two days. Since I am going to Russia on Sunday, I need a tourist permit. In Holland, that takes a week. In England, a day. So of course it is logical that they are flying me to London this Wednesday and back the same day to drop my passport at the travel agency and pick it up later that day. Very logical. Not crazy at all. Nope. Noooothing extravagant about that. Yeah. Sure. And yes, this is me trying to pretend that is normal. Is it working?

Just heard about this detour today, while I was napping from the early journey today. So there it is: got back from Barca today, going to and back from London on Wednesday, my father arrives here that night, Thursday I am going to bug my brother, Friday I receive my diploma after three years of work for it, then Saturday my dad will get his really cool birthday gift, and Sunday it is Russia. From there either to Holland or Canada. It’s all normal. Yeah. Life’s a rollercoaster. I love it.