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Archive for August, 2007
Things to do before I’m 30
Aug 28th
- Buy a Toyota Land Cruiser Pickup 70 and drive from north to south africa
- Travel through South America, including carnaval celebration in Rio de Janeiro and at least one month of survival in La Gran Sabana
- Drink Orange Juice together with Marius, on the stairs of the Capitol, Washington D.C.
- Go and see San Francisco, Los Angeles, my uncle in Flossmoor (Chicago), Rome and Athens
- Shave my beard
- Speak and write at least 5 languages fluently (probably Dutch, English, Spanish, German and French)
- Get a master’s degree somewhere somehow
- Write down an explanation for the world and life in general
- Improve my keeping-in-touch skills with all the beautiful persons I’ve ever met, meaning 90% of the total amount of people I met
- Spend less than 1 hour a day behind the computer
- Build a home
- Keep smoking (unless I’ll get babies that fast, of course)
- Paint the penis of a Yack Yack blue (don’t even ask why, has something to do with Marius)
- Talk less, do more
- Wish less, see more
- Meet a girl that for some undefinable reason is much more special than other girls
- Marry her
Sundaymorning
Aug 26th
Some time ago I ruined my biological clock, like I always do. I think it was in Portugal. Anyway, I’m fighting to come back to the normal times of being awake and sleep – because (and none of you will believe this probably) I don’t sleep enough. But! Last night I finally managed to get to bed early (twelve-ish) and actually SLEEP. Result: I’m doing laundry since 05:00 this morning. Without even having a coffee or sigaret yet.
Early mornings are great, actually. I’m on my balcony, watching the sunlight playing with the top of two palmtrees. Soon the sun itself will peek around the corner to shine me in the face. And I’m just enjoying. It’s a beautiful sundaymorning in Barcelona. I think I’ll go for a walk in the park.
By the way: as of tomorrow my spanish course starts. Five days a week. De puta madre!
Brother.
Aug 25th
I somehow managed to switch from Italian to Spanish wine, from girly love to brotherly love.
I am a happy fish. From next week onwards I’ll be a boring, busy, Dutch happy fish.
Casa de Cojones becomes Casa de Flores
Aug 19th
Of course living in a house with 2 women and 1 man has its effect on how the house looks like. For some reason women don’t believe in the “The more you put in your house, the more you can break and the more you need to clean”-philosophy. But I cannot deny that I very much like the new look. Thanks Yv!
Back in Barcelona
Aug 10th
Afters spending holiday with my friends in the south of Portugal, I came back in Barcelona last wednesdaynight. Since Niels has left the appartment (he has to finish his studies in Holland and South Africa, for some reason), I had to find new roommates. So I’m going to live with two girls, both good friends. The problem of course is that now I actually have to wash my dishes etcetera. Pfff. But there are also good things! I came back from my holidays in a total different appartment. Niels, I’d never thought our appartment could be this cool. It’s amazing what a girl can do to an appartment in just a few days. Our apparment now features candles, a new coutch, more nice things on the wall, nice things on the floor, lights that create atmosphere, two living rooms instead of one, eight places to sleep instead of four… Amazing…
And another thing. Our washingmachine stopped working 2 months ago. At least, that’s what Niels and me thought. Turns out it just was switched off. Man, I feel like a woman sometimes. But of course happiness prevailed: I never have to hand-wash-difficult-shit-it-never-gets-clean my clothes again!
Marius and me are working on a livenews-related surprise for you guys. And I decided to write more than just 1 piece every 6 months. So here we go. I’m in Barcelona, not yet sure how long I’ll be here, not yet sure if my company will ever get off the ground here, knowing my company in Holland grows fast and gets better slowly but steady. Some of the friends I’ve made here the last six months have left Barcelona. Others are still here. I’m going to work more serious on my spanish, starting this month with an intensive course.
How I love this city…
Think.
Aug 10th
I like it here. I like the chair I am sitting on right now. I like the speakers that look like a mushroom. I like playing with the candlewax. I like re-getting-to-know my friends. I like bumping into people I haven’t seen in years and basically doubling the talking-time I had all those years in approximately half an hour. I like bitching about the weather. I like speaking my own language. I like building my future. I like figuring out what the hell I want and what little backroad I choose to take me there. The weather is shit, though.
Yes, I like it here.
And now I leave again. But with a little bag. My backpack is somehow in Brazil, on the back of a giant. I am only leaving for a holiday for a few weeks, and then I’ll be back. Back here! In a few weeks! Ha! I am now officially a student at the VU , and it feels good. For once, I would like to prove on the academic scale that I can work and can be the best. Problem is, my laziness and rebellion tend to be better.
Tonight I sat with friends at something called Pluk de Nacht, an open-air-evening-I-hope-it-doesn’t-rain-film-festival. On one hand it reminded me of the Curacao days, where they had an outdoor movie once a week on some bar beach. On the other hand, I was freezing my ass off, which automatically barred any tropics-related thought. Sitting on a beach chair in the cold, wondering why I was drinking a cold beer instead of some hot tea or at least a room temperature red headache wine, I realized I will have to make my peace with Amsterdam one day. Since for at least the next two years I will be there, learning, working, listening, laughing, shouting, and hopefully finding out just a bit more of who I will be in the hopefully long future.
KenyaSketch.
Aug 6th
A lot of people asked me how Kenya was. Camping alone, no guides, many animals, how was that? I never could find words, but now I think I found a way to describe it. Waah!
TheMornings.
Aug 2nd
In approximately two hours and twenty minutes I will have a 30-minute conversation with someone I don’t know. This will be very open and personal, even though there will be many people eavesdropping to our dialogue.
I was reading a comparable conversation with Paul van Vliet, just before he turned 70 years old. This man had a lot to tell, and was able to say things like ‘For about 40 years I was this type of person’. He can summarize 40 years in one sentence! It has to be great getting older. Anyway, the man had things to tell, to share, to explain about his life. How he did things, how he saw things, what he had achieved.
And then here I am. Talking the talk, but too young to have walked. I hope I don’t go floop-black-out-oh-oh-that’s-quiet.
