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Archive for June, 2006
Regeer nooit met kleine partijen
Jun 30th
Het kabinet is gevallen. Links juicht, rechts is wanhopig. Woutertje roept op tv om snelle verkiezingen, terwijl Jan Peter en Gerrit niet zo’n haast hebben: eerst de begroting voor 2007 erdoor, daarna verkiezingen. Maar hoe heeft het zover kunnen komen? Wel, een kat in het nauw maakt rare sprongen. D66 wordt volledig van de politieke kaart geveegd (laatste peiling: 3 zetels) en vond het daarom nodig weer “aan haar eigen geluid” te werken.
Dat daarvoor eerst een kabinet opgeblazen moest worden (onder het mom “Verdonk was de druppel”) maakt ze niets uit. En geef ze eens ongelijk: wat hebben ze te winnen als ze in het kabinet blijven? Ze verliezen toch alleen maar. Ze kunnen nu een daad stellen die – met een beetje geluk – hun de sympathie van veel verdonkhaters oplevert.
Maar nieuwe verkiezingen dus. Ik heb goede hoop. D66 zal de komende verkiezingen nog niet uitgewist zijn: een zeteltje of 2 maakt dat ze net zoveel te zeggen hebben als de SGP. Of minder, want Bas van der Vlies wordt tenminste serieus genomen. Op dit moment staan PvdA, SP en Groenlinks in de peilingen samen op 70 zetels. Hetzelfde geldt voor de combinatie CDA – VVD. Verkiezingen zouden dus nog alle kanten op kunnen.
Eerst even een woordje voor Queen B: luister naar Balkie, en doe die verkiezingen pas in december. Lekker een missionair minderheidskabinet dat nog even kan begroten. Is het allerbeste. En dan, als de uitslag van de verkiezingen daar is, accepteer geen kabinet met daarin een excuuspartij. Dat kan alleen maar mis gaan. Ik noem de volgende volwaardige regeringspartijen: CDA – PvdA – VVD. Daar mag u tussen kiezen.
En D66? Bij de verkiezingen van december 2010 zien we ze echt niet meer terug. Ze hebben het nog best lang volgehouden voor een LPF-achtige partij. Maar nu is het klaar. Opdonderen uit die kamer.
UPDATE: Ja sorry, maar dit moest even van mijn hart 
Lost.
Jun 30th
Yesterday it happened for the first time. The phenomenon I’ve been warned about. Loneliness in Tokyo. It hit me after work, I felt sad, alone, lonely. I went for a walk alone to try to solve it, which was quite a bad idea. I’m sure Bill M could have told me that. This city can have crazy effects on you. This enhanced by powerful outside influences and new people that have given these feelings more extreme, both worse and more beautiful edges. Yeah, well, it makes sense to me! 
Worked my butt off once again this week, slept 2 hours last night, had to be on location at 5:45. You can say all you want about Japanese people, but they know how to work hard. Good to learn about that. Work. Hard work. I think I just got the chills. Muuuhaha just kidding, I can work. Sometimes. Maybe.
My mind is not functioning properly, this due to major lack of sleep, and this city. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been on a bullet-train, I’ve had a woman on a leash, wore -4 glasses for an extended period of time, have I never met that many Swedish people, have I used a bidet (le ass du sprayer) for the first time, have I been on a mean (meeaaan) rollercoaster while recovering from a handsome hangover, have I kissed a minor from East Europe while 10 people watched, one of which was holding a camera, have I seen myself on a rather over-grown poster in a Hugo Boss store, have I eaten more fish than I thought were left in the ocean, have I entered a stretched limo for the first time, have I had a bath in something so small that when I stuck my tongue out I accidentally licked my knee, have I humiliated myself for the first time singing Karaoke (more Swedish people involved), have I fallen in and out of love with multiple people and objects, have I received the biggest job in my tiny modelling career so far, have I never seen so many neon lights, have I worked a total of twelve days so far, and have I bought a see-through umbrella, not for the rain, but to merely protect my eyeballs from the tiny Japan people’s umbrella points.
And did I mention I haven’t really been sleeping? Nap time now. I have the weekend off once again! Oh yeah. I’ve been here two and a half weeks already. Time’s fun when you’re having flies.
ToothPaste.
Jun 27th
I’m not sure why, but I always feel a little sad when my toothpaste is running out. I mean, it was good toothpaste, and it’s been cleaning my buddies for a while now. But then again, it is also quite exciting to go out to buy new toothpaste. So many flavors, so many colors, so many big words like caries, fluoride, microparticles and calcium to choose from, isn’t it just the highlight of your day?
Maybe I should write a song about it. The circle of life. Of toothpaste. Beat that, Elton.
I just slept twelve hours.
Hub Ho Land, Hub.
Jun 26th
Well, shit. Are there any other words for a WorldCup game with 14 yellow cards and 4 red cards, ending in a defeat of my beloved country? i know one thing, I will not go on a vacation to Portugal any time soon. Can someone smack Figo with a really large stick please? Argh….
I watched the game with two other Dutchies, slept two hours, had a shoot, now 10 minutes free time before castings. I realized yesterday that the last 10 days I have seen the clock of 6 in the morning. This due to mostly work, some WorldCup, and some weekend stupidity. My eyes are stinging. Haha what great poet once said ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’?
Still highly impressed with Tokyo. Maybe not so much Tokyo, but the fact that I am actually working here. It is so surreal, and i catch myself smiling or giggling at least 15 times a day, realizing that i am actually on the other side of the world, working! Amazing! I just dont understand why I am so lucky.
gotta run now, I hope quick castings, and then that great poet will be proven wrong: I am going to KNOCK OUT for as long as I can.
Flat.
Jun 24th
Some English man in the streets of Tokyo was handing out flyers, wanting to bring people closer to God. Normally, this would not be worth mentioning, but this man handed me one, and told me something that is as funny as it is beautiful.
Love makes the world go round, and war has the tendancy to make it go flat.
Dear Fashion Gods,
Jun 22nd
When I signed up to sell my body and soul to you in exchange for crazy travelling and some money, I clearly thought I understood that I would hardly actually have to work. A full year this seemed to be the case, but I’d like to have a word with you about my visit to Tokyo.
Today, for the fifth day in a row, I will be working. And not from 9 to 5, no no no, the days last from 6 am until 10 pm. But that’s besides the point. The point is that today is Friday. And I am working for the fifth day in a row. That means I worked a full workweek. Is this not the biggest sin for a model to ever commit? I am shocked at this atrocity and I would love some clarification on the matter asap.
As you may understand, this is just unacceptable, when am I supposed to party and do all my usual model-drugs with a schedule like the one provided to me here? Once again, I am appalled, and I hope this was a temporary fluke.
Yours truly,
…
Jun 19th
So I came to the point of realizing I am indeed in Japan now. Not India, not New York, not Holland but JAPAN. Today I worked at a gorgeous beach an hour away from Tokyo, and we went for a lunch break. Great! Weird Japanese food, let’s see what they feed me this time! We went to an Indian restaurant.
My culture shock was complete. My menu about chapati’s, nans and curries was in Japanese, and after finally receiving an English version, the prices were in Yen, not Rupees, thus of course the prices shocked me. I then fell into a tug-of-war with the waiter, who, to no one’s surprise, was an Indian Japanese man who could both India-wobble his head saying ‘hai’ while bowing in a Japanese manner, creating quite a whirlwind in his movement. I ordered something, he checked, I gave him an Indian headwobble, he wasn’t sure if I meant an Indian yes, a Japanese no, or maybe a Western ‘I’m confused’. While still playing the newest version of CultureShock with my Indi-Japanese friend, the other model, an Argentinian, decided to tell me what he didn’t want on the menu in Spanish (I’m practicing to get my Spanish a little back) and I saw no reason to not respond to him in Dutch. Right. I spent the rest of my lunch in utter silence.
What’s the universal sign and word for ‘confused idiot’?
TopLap.
Jun 18th
So I didn’t buy a donkey. I am still in deep shock about it, but I am now a laptop owner. I truly believe this machine is way too cool for me. It is a black MacBook. Ah yes, I am like a girl with a car. ‘What kind of car is it? It is a blue one’. My laptop is black. Thieske, that good enough? I figured out so far how to go onto the internet. And that I have a built in tiny camera that watches me a lot.
So far I am still fascinated by Tokyo. Wendelien (First year UCU neighbor) lives here too, and she has been showing me this city. Last night there were Japanese crazy men chopping up fish and sticking it onto a rolling platform, and Wen and I chomped down 16 little plates of the strangest things I have seen, this of course combined with fresh wasabi that made even my pinky twitch.
I am typing in my room. On my laptop. Wow I am just too cool
I am going to Paris around the 10th of July for a week for work. The WorldCup final is the 9th. I believe I will be flying with Hangover Air. The Paris job is quite a blessing, really. I’ll tell more later. All I’ll say now is the ‘fragrance’ is a cool word.
Time to grab my websuit and go surfin on the net. Since I am not paying a buttload for an internetcafe anymore woohoo! It’s black, it’s fast and it’s mine!
Tokyo.
Jun 16th
Yesterday I went to an internetcafe. I wanted to let some people know I was alive and send them my phone number. Contact with home, how great! Isn`t the internet amazing? I sit down and start writing ブtテェテェケyボアrdウェンtアペシtオンメã€ã‚«ãƒ³ãƒ¨ã‚¦ãƒ™ã‚£ã‚¨ãƒ´ã‚§ã‚¤ï½”ï¼ Right. Grrrrrrr. Now I figured it out. I can write with NORMAL LETTERS now.
 I landed in Tokyo Tuesday night. I wasn`t able to get money in the airport, around midnight, thus no money to get into a bus to where I was supposed to get picked up. Oh yeah, before that I got SEARCHED at customs. Ah yes, an `entertainer` from Holland coming from Delhi to Tokyo. Sure, why don`t you come this way. They were extremely friendly though. So I finally got to where I was supposed to with the bus (credit card didnt work at bank, but worked at bus place) and was brought to my place for the next five weeks. It`s in a hotel but then more permanent. Yes, I find it hard to explain All I know is that my toilet seat has heating (kind of feels like a large person just had one hell of a workout doing his business on it and just vacated the seat in a hurry), it has a butt-sprayer and I have a bathtub! Quite fancy the whole thing.
The next morning I got picked up by the driver (woohoo!), went to castings with two Argentinian models with whom I of course picked a football-fight, then I had to work for some magazine. I was rushed, I was in a frenzy, slightly jetlagged and highly confused about where I was, in short, you must be able to imagine how tough I thought my life was at the moment. After introducing I was brought to hair and make – up. Poor me, what a life. Rough rough rough. I sat down, ready to be groomed. What is he going to do with THAT? Ah, a massage. A MASSAGE! Can you believe it! Half an hour long I got an insane massage, shoulders, head and face, all part of working in Tokyo. What a rough life.
After the shoot, I got dropped on a metro, then a train and I was on my way to Kyoto. The card checkers will bow everytime they enter and leave a cart and treat you with great respect. Hey NS conducteurs, maybe take a trip to Tokyo and learn some? Â
I wobbled from Kyoto to my hotel (I saw in my Lonely Planet that it should be sort of walkable) and found it. Next day I worked in Kyoto and Osaka, and took a train back. Last night, I had one thing on my mind. Sleep. Which I did for 12 hours. Now it`s back to castings. And Holland plays tonight around 1 in the morning I think.
This might be one of the rumbletumble messages ever put on LiveNews and it suits the feeling right now. Tokyo took me by surprise and I love it. Funny: i was warned about how crazy Tokyo would be, busy, lights, people etc. But I didn`t understand it till last night why it felt so tranquil to me. Now I do: after cities such as Delhi, Agra, Jodhpur, Mangalore and Chennai, Tokyo is a place of peace
I have to run now. More soon. Buying a laptop this weekend. Should be fun with my computer knowledge. Hope I don`t end up buying a donkey or something.
4:50.
Jun 13th
Is the local time. I am at the airport, checked in, and ready to fly via Hong Kong to Tokyo to tomorrow Osaka then back to Tokyo to stay there for five weeks. My time in India is over. What a country. A country with remarkably ugly and insanely beautiful sides. They say either love it or hate it, but I just can’t decide. Five weeks and it feels like I haven’t even scratched the surface of this place. Now going from India to Japan, it sounds and feels so surreal, but so much fun!Â
 To Leo en Inge, all my love and respect for what you do and how you do it. You two are beautiful. Thank you for travelling together, for laughing together, for showing me your life here, for pooping and projectile-vomiting together. Good times, good times I wish you all the best these last months. Leo, I’m not even gonna say it. Yes I will: When the cook is up, the cook is up, if you snap what I mean! Dus. Love you two.
 Signing out, it’s time to board. My status as ‘entertainer’ entertained the check-in-dude so much that I now have multiple seats reserved for me, on the emergency exit row of course. Both flights. For a picture. Haha the man has no idea who I am, but hey, wait till he tells the kids (crazy Indians you all are!).
 See you on the flip side.
Crap.
Jun 8th
Good news: I have my passport again, with a Japanese working permit (it says I am an entertainer ) but the bad news is baaad news.
I didn’t get into the New York marathon. I got an e-mail saying I should try again next year. What a bummer. I’ve been training so hard to get there, now I can’t do it. Two options now: find a different marathon or try again next year. Not sure yet. I hate lotteries like this…
Lazy.
Jun 5th
Don’t you just love it, when you have a thousand things to say, but you’re just too darn lazy to write them down?
 Well, here you go.
Jun 2nd
What to write what to write…Well, I am still in India, and will remain here for another week. This due to screw ups from certain people that I will not mention, due to the fact that it might make me toss some computerscreens. On the other hand, I am happy about it. Now that a decision is made, it is okay. No more stress, what’s done is done, you just leave it alone and don’t regret it (copyright some flaky punkrockband ).
Next to that, I am considering doing something on LiveNews that would not be cool at all, but I think I’ll still have to do it soon: switch off the ‘reply’ option. I personally love this option, purely because I love reading what my family and friends have to say about my nonsensical stories. But since this whole modelling thing started, I have been shown some websites etc that friends found that have me on it, and some are quite disturbing. I mean some are fine, they just collect pictures, but sometimes there is some pretty creepy stuff out there.
To then realize that crazy weirdo’s like that can read what for instance my mom has to say on LiveNews is not a nice feeling. Hence my idea to stop the reactions. Or maybe change some settings, that both the reactions and pictures on this website are only accessible to NORMAL PEOPLE. I don’t know. I thought I’d throw it into the LiveNewsTuin and see what happens
E, welcome back June-boy.
June
Jun 1st
I used to sing “Hey June…” when I was young, because I didn’t know The Beatles were actually singing Hey Jude. I was sure that the song was about the beautiful month June. Because of that I never understood the rest of the text. And of course because I didn’t speak English at all, at the age of 11. But what I did know, was that I loved the month June. It always meant holidays and sunny weather.
And now, since it’s June for at least 30 minutes, I have the same feeling. But this time with a few additionally feelings. Here we go: I have to finish two projects for Epublica this month and start another one – that means a lot of work ahead. Besides I need to pass for three exams next week at school. And of course, to graduate, I need to finish a research project concerning the performance of the middle management of a hotel. So I’m busy as a motherloving son of a happy person (copyright by Sunny D, positive rap).
But hey, as we dutch say: they can’t hold me for a lap! That means that I’ll fly to London next week together with my brother to see my other brother. After that week of tea-drinking, a good friend will come over from Madrid to see what Holland looks like. So June will be fine after all. I only wish there was more time in this month…
