Summer activities

It is well and truly summertime with summery weather and summer temperatures!

Here are some of the things I've been up to.

After three years of living in Rotterdam and 5 minutes walk from the cube houses, I finally went in. It was very interesting for sure, but I don't think I would ever live there. Not because of the inconvenient shape and having to customise all my furniture, but because they simply don't take care of the damn buildings. The exterior is old and dirty, and the windows, as you'll see in the following pictures, seem to be cleaned "once every twenty years" as Irma put it (or once every six months, as Rik says is more likely).

 

All these photos are taken from the top floor, a sort of awesome guest space where you can play on the Ouija board quite comfortably or have some kinda weed smoking party. If you're wondering why Rik's panting like that, it was a very hot day yesterday at 31 degrees, and while the whole cube house museum is air-conditioned by one unit, this unit is located just under this room. Making this room supremely warm. You have to wonder how people live like this? Obviously with the slanted roof/walls, there's no way you can have an aircond up there ever, and if there are more hot days like this in a year, you won't wanna be doing your Ouija or weed there, would you?

Fantastic view though.

Warm days are perfect days for Fentimans.

We've been spending a lot more time in the park this summer because we actually have a pretty decent summer this year. And we have friends now who enjoy sitting in the park rather than sitting at a cafe. So here we are having some fun with a frisbee on a weekend, and a random visit during a weekday after work.

We also hang out on the Maasboulevard because it's beautiful at the water and it's so close to our house.

Rik's taken up skateboarding again ever since he's had nothing to do during the day and the weather's been so nice. The road along the Maasboulevard is nice and smooth so we headed there one evening before dinner to enjoy the fresh air. I was lying on a little grassy slope reading a book and every few minutes, there'd be this dude just gliding by left to right and right to left. It was like this:

Selexyz & Donner, the big bookshop in the city centre has changed ownership and changed its name to Polare. We were checking it out one day because I had a book voucher, when I saw this poster. Cue excitement and freaking out.

I hope he won't mind terribly if I bring five books for him to sign.

One of Riri's friends is going on a journey to she doesn't know where - I'm guessing it's some kinda soul-searching journey (where do people find the money for these journeys?!) - so Riri ordered a card from me. She only gave me a day to come up with this, so I'm a little ashamed to say but should admit that I copied this idea from someone from the internet. There we go. Please don't sue me - it's for a friend and I think your idea is really, really cute :D

Now that the updates are done, it's back to work.

A weekend with Rotterdam Unlimited

---

*ringggg* *ringggg* (By the way, which phone goes ring ring anymore? Our children will never know what it means when we imitate the sound of a telephone ringing)

Hello, summer?
Are you there?
You're kinda late, and it's not polite.

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Last weekend was Rotterdam Unlimited, a weekend of carnivals, festivities, food and concerts.

Sounds good, right? Until you remember that the problem is in the name itself: Rotterdam. This means that it's not typically Dutch or typically anything, except a mix of classless people. I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone, but I was on Coolsingel on Sunday afternoon, and just walking down it really got my spirits down. All the rubbish on the road, the bad smells, the weird people (and not in a good way, believe me, I like weird people, but there can be a negative side to it) and the bad music got me down.

Perhaps it was better on Saturday? I certainly hope so. Although I did walk down Westblaak and around Eendrachtsplein, and I think all the (okay okay I'm just gonna say it) low-class people had crawled out of the woodwork. Call me a snob if you want, and I already feel guilty enough admitting this, but seriously, last weekend Rotterdam was like just hanging out in the ghettos of KL. Except I would say that it was safer, security-wise. That's one positive!

Apart from the festival, I had a great weekend. I practised my piano - at the moment, I'm trying to master La Valse d'Amélie and one of Schubert's works which I never can remember the name of - and I took some time out to watch a Hitchcock film on the beamer in the bedroom.

Schubert and me.

Strangers on a Train.

I also have a free desktop wallpaper available on my webshop. It's an original illustration by yours truly, and made into a desktop wallpaper to thank everyone who has supported me in my hobby. Grab it here: http://goodputty.tictail.com/

50 things to do before you die

I read somewhere that we all just can't resist a good ol' list. So we keep reading them and we keep making them and we keep failing to complete them.

Well, Mike Sowden of Fevered Mutterings wrote a list some time ago that I think we could all complete and be proud of it. Somewhat.

I found the list so inspiring that I had to make an easy-to-tick-off poster. Enjoy!

Click on it to view a larger version. Enjoy!

Christmas Shopping Day. Robinson's +1, Jusco -10.

So today was our scheduled Christmas Shopping Day.

Schrobbenmaster couldn't come out with us yet again because he's still recovering from his flu. The poor guy is spending the last few days of his holiday in bed. Sigh.

Anyway, Yelleh Belleh and I headed to Robinson's in The Gardens for our shopping. We knew what Mumsy Bumsy had asked for so we headed straight to that department. Holy moley, that item is pricey! But we did receive an RM20 voucher to spend in the same department. What a good decision then, to get similar items from the same department for other people.

Talking about receiving vouchers as a reward for spending a certain amount of money...

One of the things that irritates me about Malaysia are the measly, pathetic excuses for rewards and rebates they have.

"Spend RM300 with your credit card and get an RM10 Coffee Bean voucher!"

Just tell me, won't you, what exactly you can buy with RM10 at Coffee Bean? A small cup of orange juice is what I think.

So if you spend RM900, you get an RM30 Coffee Bean voucher. OMG. You know what? Keep your lame vouchers. As much as I like free things and things that are value for money, this is just insulting.

Another one I saw a few years back:

"Buy 2 Absolut Vodkas and receive RM5 off!"

RM freaking FIVE.
Off bottles which cost RM200 each.

Keep your RM freaking five and leave me my dignity, thanks.

ANYWAY.

Yelleh Belleh and I managed to get everything we needed, and the two shop assistants at Robinson's were so helpful and patient with us. Robinson's really knows how to train their staff, I can say that for sure.

As opposed to Jusco.
Ugh.

We couldn't find some of the cheaper items in Robinson's so we knew Jusco would be a good bet. Sure enough, we found what we were looking for, but not without some heartache from lazy Jusco staff.

Imagine:
We want to find out if there is more stock of a certain item, so we approach the nearest shop assistant. He says (with a smile, at least) that he doesn't know that section, but the woman in charge should be "over there". Okay, after Robinson's, this service just doesn't cut it. Just look for the woman and bring us to her or vice versa lah. We had to wander off in the general direction of his pointing finger and hope to find that woman.

She turned out to be alright, quite enthusiastic but also unable to help with stock enquiries. So we gave up and chose another design instead.

The cashier was really the one who irritated me. She was talking to a customer in front of me, and after waiting behind him for a bit, I realised that she was actually really just talking to him and not serving him. He was just some other staff member who was discussing an item. I had already looked for the Closed Counter sign, but it wasn't anywhere to be seen, so was I to know that she wasn't serving him as a customer? Could she not see me standing behind him with my items to be purchased? It would have been easy to just point me round to the counter behind her who was really serving customers.

Inefficient, blinkered staff.

But the funniest (in a not-so-funny way) was when we went down the escalator and turned the corner to the next escalator, and nearly bumped into a short Malay shop assistant standing right at the edge of the escalator, staring into space. Yelleh Belleh gave her three huge: "EXCUSE ME"s. But the light never came into her eyes. Even when, going down, I turned back to look at her.

Ah, Jusco. Always good for low blood pressure.

Robinson's, you're the best.

Melting in KL, but not itching to be back in NL

Wowowowow, it's been so hot here in Kuala Lumpur the past week!

My relatives (on my mother's side) were just over for a dinner gathering to see me before I head back to Rotterdam. It was nice and cosy, and the local food was good. I had fried meehoon and a packet of nasi lemak (and one more sitting right next to the MacBook ready to be sacrificed as supper).

Poor Schrobbenmaster has fallen sick, though. He's been having bad headaches the past few days, and woke up this morning with a really high temperature. We drove him to the clinic immediately and got him some meds. After a whole afternoon and evening of sleep, his temperature is back down and he feels almost normal. What a relief! The doctor had said that if the fever didn't subside within two days, he'd have to go back for tests to see if it's H1N1 *horror and gasp* because this influenza is returning to our lives via tourists from Bangkok and Singapore. Bangkok is just nothing but trouble! I pity the people who live there who have to go through such shit almost all year round.

Anyway, we return to NL in five days, which is all too short. I'll be really sad to go back and leave my family. It's been nice to be back in KL, although I've found some things to have gotten worse, for example, the condition of the roads and the price of things in Bangsar. Fortunately, there are still friendly people around to make things okay again.

And my dogs! How great to be back with them and being around animals who express what they feel and think. Haha. I do love having Pim around, but sometimes it just feels like I'm talking to a brick wall.

What's there to look forward to when I go back? Some Christmas dinners coming up and a New Year's party that we're hosting in our apartment. It should be good!

And hopefully news that friends or family from KL will be coming over to visit. That always makes my days much brighter in anticipation.

Single female's day out

I love having days being on my own. I used to have loads of them in KL and for the most part, I wouldn't notice it, but just sometimes, I would realise and enjoy the independence and freedom I had as a young, active female in the big city.

I don't get it much these days, of course, but just occasionally, when Schrobbenmaster is out of town, I get the apartment to myself for 2 nights and I really do enjoy it (especially in summer).

My day started like this:

1. Woke up with Schrobbenmaster getting ready for work
2. Fought a battle with Pim, trying to give him his chill pill (it gets harder every day)
3. Said farewell to Schrobbenmaster and started my ritual of Gmail and Facebook
4. Showered and got ready to head out for some shopping
5. Checked Google Maps for the best way to head places

I first stopped by Witte de Withstraat to get a birthday present for Doc Vicky. Something we'd seen a few weeks before, which she was pretty fascinated by. Foot reflexology socks. She had apparently never heard of foot reflexology and how massaging certain points in your foot can affect different organs and parts of your body.

I didn't take a photo of the socks unfortunately, nor the excellent giftwrapping, but here's an excellent photo of it that I just found someone selling on eBay UK.

Anyway, after that stop, I biked to De Bijenkorf with my handy shopping list ready.

• Hand towels x 3
• Shower mat x 2
• Long handle toilet brush
• Pizza cutter

Okay, so the last one on the list doesn't fit in, but I only added that after ordering pizza to take away from Little Italy and the guy had again forgotten to cut my pizza into slices.

I ended up purchasing:

• Hand towels x 3 (good job, JY!)
• Shower mat x 1 (one less only because of the next purchase...)
• Bathrobe x 1 (and...)
• Glove towel x 1
• Long handle toilet brush (good job, yet again, and on sale too!)

And I decided to skip the pizza cutter because I figured saving the € 5 on the pizza cutter would somehow make me feel less guilty about buying a few extra things that were not on the shopping list.

I read in Glamour today that shops and supermarkets hate people who bring shopping lists with them because they are less likely to buy random things that profit the shops. And I completely agree with that. Although I had bought some things not on my list, they were actually on my 'invisible list' (except for the glove towel, but that was only € 1,50), so all in all, I actually didn't overspend.

Contrary to what I did after De Bijenkorf without a shopping list. Which was to head to the supermarket around the corner from home and instead of getting only a face sponge (which they didn't have), I purchased a fruit milk drink (so thirsty lah), a carton of milk (on the fridge list) and a can of Pringles (damn!).

After dropping my purchases at home, I waited for the real estate agent to drop by to pick up a set of keys they had wrongly passed to us... yes, they passed us a set of house keys belonging to another address. Go figure. And for the guy who measured the windows for new curtains.

When they left, I headed out on my bike again to the cinema to catch the movie, Bridesmaids, with Doc Vicky. It's quite a weird show, I must say. Quite disgusting humour, but I think Kristen Wiig did a pretty good job in her role.

As usual, I felt lazy to cook for only myself tonight. Usually when Schrobbenmaster is away, I'll just have some leftovers or frozen pizza, which I never have on normal days. So off I went to the supermarket again.

And came out with:

• Frozen pizza (of course)
• Roomboter koekreepjes (some deliciously unhealthy full butter cakes that I've never had the pleasure of trying because supermarket visits have always been functional with Schrobbenmaster)
• Bananas (trying to make up for the pizza)

I'm beginning to think that it's a bit sinful to have the supermarket so close by. And such a nice one as well.

The sun was still shining gloriously when I got back, so I opened my packet of butter cakes and snuggled in the big red chair by the window with my Stephen Fry book.

Pim decided to come and see what I was up to, and since I was already on the ground shooting the cakes with my camera...

Him in his full glory.

He had come to sit with me while I read, but I think I snapped one too many photos of him and he promptly left a few seconds after my last shot.

And now the sun is setting and I have to get on with my just-out-of-the-oven pizza!

House cleanup, cake and a mushroom chicken dinner

Okay, so we've already moved into the new apartment, and I've promised not to show any photos of the apartment here, but here's a little peek into the cleanup of the house a week ago.

Such a big mess :(

A peek at the dining table we purchased together with the apartment. It's nice eating at a dining table again.

Two cans of friggishly expensive paint. When I was painting the toilet and had literally just a square foot (or 1/4 square metre) left, the paint ran out completely. Had to buy a whole new 1 litre can for € 24. I didn't know the price btw, because Schrobbenmaster had bought the whole set when we first went. Luckily Doc Vicky was keeping me company that afternoon while I was painting and offered to run off to get me the new paint while I scraped the little that was left in the can. Thanks!

A rather larger peek at our hallway and a bit of the office.

The awesome IKEA shelves that Super Harry and Doc Vicky helped us build in our basement. Another big thanks to you guys!

Last weekend, we had a few friends over, including a classmate from my Dutch class, Slovalenka, and her boyfriend, (Slova)Lanky. Hehe to the nicknames. Those who have met them will know what I mean :P

Anyway, we had met for ice cream earlier in the week and Slovalenka offered to bake a cake for us and for the new apartment. Very sweet girl.

Chocolate cherry cake! What a perfect summer cake. It was light and fluffy... the whipped cream was actually yummy (courtesy of Albert Heijn) and the chocolate was the perfect balance between sweet and bitter. I must say I enjoyed this incredibly more than the pasta she cooked for us some months ago... *ahem*

And tonight, in fact, right at this moment, Hanselem is cooking a mushroom chicken piccata for us. His very first cooking night in the new apartment. Ah, making new memories is always nice :)

Taken just before we tasted the gravy, which was a little too vinegary - although we hadn't put any vinegar in it. We have now just added some salt and breadcrumbs to the chicken while the fries are baking in the oven.

This is what I call live blogging, yo. First time ever!

My stomach is pretty much suffering right now, it's already 9.23pm and I haven't eaten since a piece of bread at 4pm. So I'm signing off now and hoping for the best with this dish.

NEXT DAY UPDATE:

Here's how the meal looked like!

The moving procedure...

It's Thursday, two days before the Big Move (when everything has to be in the new place).

We have fallen waaaaay behind schedule, mainly because we expected to get the keys to a gleaming, nice apartment, but got the opposite instead. Poor apartment, it's not your fault, it's your previous owner's.

I suppose we were being too optimistic to think we could have done everything in a week, but there you go. I think it's a whole long process, this moving house thing, continuing even after the Big Move. But Schrobbenmaster has been really stressed out about it because he had planned things down to the second (well, sort of) and nothing is going right.

Guess this teaches us to be more communicative with each other about each other's plans.

To get my head clear and to not forget anything, I have made a List.

Everything we need to do in three days. Well, two days and an evening.

I like that moving house gives the opportunity to clear out and reorganise everything. You never really feel the urgency to do so when you've already settled in. So I'm going to take advantage of this by taking my time to really figure out what I want and what I don't, and where I should keep them. I've already found about eight spare bulbs, two boxes of fuses and countless sponges and cleaning cloths. Mostly still in their packing. Tsk tsk.

And if any of you are hoping for photos of the new place when it's done, the hoping stops right here. I'm not posting any photos of it. You'll just have to come visit and have the real experience for yourselves.

Updates on the kitchen:

1. The quote for a new kitchen has come in ranging from € 6000 - 9000, with € 6000 being at the top of our budget.
2. The reason for getting the more expensive quotes was to get custom-built cupboards that would fit within our floors (the floors are built around the existing cupboards).
3. If we get a cheaper (smaller) IKEA kitchen, we would need to get new floors, which we've found out costs nearly € 5000.
4. Hence, we have come up with a brilliant idea - I love it when constraints make you think up creative solutions - instead of installing completely new kitchens, we'll just go back to our existing kitchen manufacturer, Bruynzeel, and replace the less-than-acceptable things and spruce up the rest. Thereby hopefully cutting our cost by half.
5. We would still need to do the floors though. Schrobbenmaster is pointedly insistent on that point. And I think he has a point, seeing as both he and I have received pointy splinters in our toes at some point.

More updates tomorrow on how the To Do List went... :P

(I wish I had emoticons. Where do I find them??)

Okay, I googled it and just found one recommended by Blogger (dammit Blogger why don't you have one already built-in?), but I can only use the old post editor with it. And this kinda looks uglier and more... old-fashioned.

But at least I can do this

The new apartment, a chill Pim, some grammar tidbits and movie stuff

Wow, I didn't realise it had been so long since my last post!

Updates:

1. Got the keys to the new apartment (rather cool detail, we are moving from number 33 to 333!)
2. Spent the whole of last weekend carrying boxes, cleaning and painting. It's supremely tiring! I don't know Mumsy Bumsy can do this on her own, very impressed.
3. The living room is now entirely white, and the bedroom is my favourite room colour: olivey greeny grey brown. It's gonna look awesome when it's decorated.
4. I'm on the hunt for cheap, nice-looking boxes and baskets to organise all our rubbish.
5. Went to Xenos (was already closed), Blokker (only plastic boxes), HEMA (ugly un-cheap stuff, but still got some functional coloured boxes anyway) and V&D (slightly nicer stuff but way more expensive and frankly, not really worth it).
6. Therefore, IKEA is my last option and I hope I'll find something suitable!
7. We have gotten quotes for new kitchens from 3 different places. Everything looks so wonderful! I hope we can find a suitably-priced kitchen that we both love soon.

On the Pim front:

1. Pim has been super stressed for a few weeks now because of the packing and moving, and has therefore seem to have lost his ability to find his litterbox. But when he needs to pee.
2. After consulting with the vet, Pim now has chill pills as part of his daily diet.
3. He is now a very nice pet to have, as opposed to the monster we had just a second before the consumption of the first pill.

On the grammar front:

1. I have another tidbit! It seems that these particular 'c' words are very confusing.
2. First, Mumsy Bumsy went:

Go check the bus stop round the corner, there is usually a conglomeration of taxis waiting.

Now Schrobbenmaster goes:

It's so rare to see such a big congruation of swallows in one place.

On the movie front:

1. Watched Transformers 3 in IMAX 3D last week and I enjoyed it! Sure, it was the usual story etc, but it was still very enjoyable, mostly because of the quality of the animation, effects and all the little details they pay attention to.
2. Is € 15 too much to pay for IMAX 3D? How much is it back in KL?
3. I can't wait for Harry Potter opening in a week!! Love the haunting tinkling melody.

Now I'm off to make fried rice for dinner, before heading over to the new place to start unpacking more things into the new HEMA boxes I bought!

Alexa Chung, Lady Gaga and Rihanna

Yesterday afternoon was spent watching Youtube videos of the apparently-now-cancelled MTV show, It's on with Alexa, where Alexa Chung interviews actors, singers etc.

Among her guests, I was most interested in Lady Gaga and Rihanna's interview because they were so different. And I don't just mean different in the way one person is different from another, but: they're both huge stars and they both have a very distinct character and style that's stuck to them.

But during the interview, they couldn't be more different!

Okay, to be honest, Lady Gaga is absolutely different from all the other guests, but I only chose to compare her to Rihanna cuz they were the two biggest guests on the show.

Lady Gaga stares straight at the audience even when she's replying directly to Alexa and only occasionally glances at Alexa for the shortest of moments. Which could really come across as being rude or arrogant (I imagine Alexa had a hard time talking to the side of her huge blonde wig), but Lady Gaga seems to have averted that impression (to me, at least) by being very open in her answers. She never evaded anything and she would always elaborate her replies. Even when her replies are absolutely eccentric. But that adds to her specialness! I love how involved and eccentric she is - I'm really impressed by these people because they are so OBVIOUSLY born to do what they do.

Alexa: Let's talk about music, while you're on tour, what do you listen to?
Gaga: (pausing to think) My fans.

That might come across so totally as a poser reply, but the beauty of it is that she absolutely means it! She later explains that while performing, her fans' enthusiasm and energy affect her so much that she has to start writing music even when she wasn't planning to.

(There were 3 fans who were invited onstage to receive a special gift and a hug from Lady Gaga, and they were so totally crying and overwhelmed by the opportunity. This is so amazing to witness.)

And on the opposite side of the scale, Rihanna comes across as completely approachable, facing Alexa and answering all her questions openly and even admitting that "everything I wear is uncomfortable except for my underwear".

Maybe quite a pointless post this, but it was really interesting to watch these personalities and how good Alexa Chung is at her job :)

A little insight to my home

Last weekend, we woke up to the living room looking like this:

It seemed that Pim had very nicely left his tracks for us with 'pee paws'. You can even see where he slipped a little on that front mark. Sigh.

It's not like we're much better though. Last weekend I was also in a hurry and my style sense wasn't really kicking in properly, hence this:

To be honest, the chair looks worse now, only because Schrobbenmaster has participated in the theme. If I may say so, only his items are left on the Red Chair.

Anyway, I went out shopping on my own and guess what I found?

La Senza! NL never had La Senza before this (I think so at least) and I'm so happy I can now get nice, fun and pretty designs at a price I can afford (it's way too expensive in KL).

This is starting to become a "pic or it didn't happen" post.

I'm on a strict budget - well, I tell myself so, but just between you and me, I've actually been spending a lot. Hey, at least I refrained from buying those really nice-looking heels at Manfield.

Uh, where was I?

Yes, I wrote a shopping list down that I intended to stick to, and thin socks were one of them.

They're 'slouch' socks! They look really nice with ankle or slightly above ankle boots. They were originally € 8 each, but I got them for € 3 each instead. When I went to the counter, the cashier beeped the socks in and then told me, "This is a really good deal, mevrouw!" and I went, "Ja! Verrrry good!".

So proud of myself for this purchase. I love things on sale!

Shopping frenzy in my head

Oh, man, spring is here and the sun is shining, birds are chirping, I just want to be outdoors!

And I want to shop!

I just looked at Mango's new collection and am loving every other piece in it.

Now how can I sneak out and do some shopping unbeknownst to Schrobbenmaster?

Christmas decorations for 2010 (a little late...)

I finally dug out the cable for my camera because I went touristing today, after so long, and I really need these photos.

Back in KL, I picked up a local design magazine called Cut Out, and when I saw that they have a section where they display photos from abroad, I contacted the editor offering to take photos from NL. She was enthusiastic about it and promptly told me to go ahead, adding that I wouldn't be paid for it.

No problem, it's nice taking photos and contributing to a magazine.

Hence the need to extract some photos from my camera. And the point is now hitting home that I have quite a shitty camera :( That's not gonna be so nice for my advent into the contributing-to-magazines world!

Anyway, to clear out some of the previously taken photos, ta-da!

Pim is now banned from sleeping in this bed (and even a new bed that we bought for him) because he keeps bloody peeing in them!

I bought a nativity set from De Bijenkorf for Christmas last year. I've always liked wooden ornaments and toys, and these are so cute!

And to complete the festive look, I bought starry lights and Schrobbenmaster (because he's tall) draped them on our lamp.

Signing off for now, because I need to make some dinner, but coming soon are photos from my trip to the Maritiem Museum with CaroBrasilia (yes, she's from Brazil).

It's getting colder!

And I'm not looking forward to it :(

Cold means bulky and layered clothes and coats that make you move about like a robot. Cold means wearing hats or beanies that protect your ears from dropping off, thus making you look like you have no hair. Cold means looking at the shower in dread. Cold means not wanting to move around much, thus making you fat, lazy and achey.

The only thing I can look forward to now is the trip back to KL... paradise! Every day I think about it more and more. But it also makes me wonder how much of a paradise it is. What about when I move back? Will I then be as dissatisfied with the way things are done as I was before I left? And can they pleasseeee fix the stupid broadband service problems before I get back? And Malaysian attitudes in general?

At least I have one fun thing to do here before I go back, which is celebrate my very first Sinterklaas. It's kinda like Christmas, but without the baby Jesus. It's more focused on the saint and his little black helper called Piet.

On December 5th, I'll go to Moeder Irma and Papa Bert's home with Schrobbenmaster, and there we'll exchange gifts, Secret Santa-style (I already know who I have to shop for - the lottery is all done digitally, man). But the hardest and probably the most unique part of this is that we also have to make 'surprises' (pronounced Dutch way, since it's a Dutch thing - "soo-pree-ses"). A 'surprise' is something you make yourself to house the gift, and it's based upon what the giftee likes. As Moeder Irma writes: For example, if someone likes to use computers a lot, then you can build a computer out of boxes and hide the gift inside.

It sounds bloody difficult and it IS bloody difficult. Add to that the necessary poem about the person or gift inside, and this 'surprise' sounds a whole lot more like a 'pain in the ass'. I think you need to take a week off from work just to set this up! And what happens if you get the same person more than one year in a row? Not that difficult considering there are only 4 of us (and before this, only 3 of them). It's gonna be doubly difficult to build another 'surprise' based on another 'like' of theirs.

It's too much work, I tell ya. Granted, it must be super fun to finally be there on the night, with your proud work of art being 'unwrapped', but wow, some traditions really require you to have an old-fashioned lifestyle of only working a few hours a day and the rest of the time locked up in your house with only cooking and knitting to do.

In bed at 20.30? I'm a freak!

I'm sitting on the bed now in shorts and fuzzy socks, Schrobbenmaster chatting away in the background to his parents about money and savings, and two half-used tissues beside the laptop, ready to be used for either the annoying chin on my pimple or my occasionally runny nose.

Okay, that was too strange to erase... did any of you notice that I typed "chin on my pimple"? Geez, the pimple is not that big, JY!

I've been doing a bit of indulgent shopping these few days. Been looking at clothes websites like Mango and Topshop and even went to the final step of adding items to my shopping bag, then leaving the page. A bit of fake retail therapy. But it did make me clothes-hungry again, so on Saturday, I went out on my own to look for new clothes. It helped that I haven't spent much this month, so I felt kinda rich. I should really save, though. Really.

I just stumbled upon a new website today, which inspires me to make our home nicer. It's not really the items in the photos that I want, but more the 'feeling' that the pictures invoke. Check convoy out.

I can't wait till the NS Try Out Festival is over. Schrobbenmaster is already getting weaker and weaker by the day because of the long days and drinking at nights with the team. Seriously, how do these people do it? Waking up before 8am and then having drinks at the end of the day till 2am? To be honest, I find it kinda inconsiderate to expect everyone on the team to be able to keep up with that. And after the 3-day festival, they still expect everyone to be able to party it up till 6am. Wow. Maybe I'm just getting old. Or maybe they just don't have a happy life at home like I do.

Time to stop thinking about annoying things and going back to looking at pretty pictures, JY.

Nitey nites! xx.

Update of the week (long overdue!)

Yes, I am becoming lazy to blog, but that's because I've been too busy at work that I'm too tired to think about writing!

The past two weeks have been really hectic, with the deadline of the festival magazine arriving. After several nights of leaving the office at 2am and sometimes 4am (and remember that I work in Amsterdam and have a 75-minute journey home to Rotterdam every day - thanks so much for driving, Schrobbenmaster!), I was just so drained and thick-headed by the time we wrapped up the magazine.

The printed product arrives on Monday at the office, and I'm half excited about seeing it, but at the same time, I don't want to even look at it anymore. I'm working from home that day anyway, so at least I'll be the last one in the office to see it, and I don't have to pretend to be excited when everyone else is.

One annoying thing that's been happening at home is that the internet keeps failing. And it usually fails in the evenings and weekends, which is exactly when we want it to work! It's an additional suckfest when all my games have to be played online. So during those evenings when we're "disconnected", Schrobbenmaster and I built a Lego house that was long overdue. I took some photos of the progress but they're not on my mac yet, so wait a bit, okay guys?

Oooohhh, exciting news for the week is that frachely has FINALLY confirmed and booked her flight to NL! Woooooo!! She'll be the first friend to come visit and that is a status that no one else will ever have. Hehe.

We've been spending the past few days looking at maps and prices and discussing where to go for a quick weekend away. On the top of her list were places like Vienna and Prague, but unfortunately they take too long to travel for a weekend trip. And as trains are so expensive, it's not very worth it to travel so far for a short time. And yes, we're taking the train because budget intercontinental airlines are so unreliable. I'd rather spend a little more money and save some time than spend 2 hours in an airport with no seats waiting for the plane. Plus, I hate check-in times and I hate weight and luggage content limits.

Anyway, after long discussions, we settled on Paris because it only takes 2.5 hours by train. It's freakishly expensive though, but there's no way around that. If I'd known that I was going to be buying these expensive tickets, I probably wouldn't have splurged on those 2 pairs of awesome, awesome shoes at Manfield last weekend. But then... they are really awesome, so who knows?

Talking about splurging, because I was such a good girl last month, not having shopped at all and saving lots of money, I went all out last weekend. And I know, it sort of defeats the purpose, but when you're feeling down and drained from work, retail therapy REALLY works. Besides those Manfield shoes, I got some items from Scotch & Soda (or Maison Scotch, I think the female version is called), a very cool boutique nearby, and as usual, my favourite haunt, Mango. I haven't worn all my new stuff yet though, because I didn't want to go to work every day in something new and spoil the "special"ness of it. Slow and steady!

Last piece of news is that I finally attended the new season of my ballet school. It was the second of the season, but I couldn't make it to the first class because of the dang magazine. It was really wonderful to go for ballet, but the teacher really makes me nervous and stressed about performing well! I guess that's a good thing. If you don't push yourself, you don't improve, right?

Next post will have photos, I promise!

xxx to all!

What happens before sleep?

I have to write a hurried post because I'm trying to sleep before midnight tonight. The tradition for Schrobbenmaster and I is to watch a light British comedy (currently That Mitchell and Web Look) or awesome motoring show (Top Gear) or sometimes even a mild action show (Human Target or Flash Point). We try to keep to half hour shows (The Simpsons, IT Crowd), but even then, after all the face-washing, teeth-brushing, water-drinking and cat-feeding, we end up sleeping past midnight. Which, of course, makes it hellish to get up for work the next day.

It's been extremely busy at work since last week. As I'm the only designer in the office, everything falls on my shoulders. Sometimes it's nice, as I pretty much control every design that goes out, but at the worst times, I have to slave away at Photoshop, putting a necklace and a phone together into one picture. True story. Happened for one necklace with many phones, took up the entire day.

Some good news is that Schrobbenmaster and I have been talking about our business plan for Goodputty. Haven't got a solid plan, but things are sounding good. I've even started a Twitter account for Goodputty, to 'force' myself to keep updating its portfolio and keep the business active. Please follow :)

I have some cool stuff for a bit later on in this blog. I've been working on, among other things, a poster for our current client at the ad agency I work at. This poster began all the way back in... was it May? Definitely by June. And 2 months later, if not more, it's not finalised yet. There are many versions of it, usually just by a few tweaks, and I would really like to display them as a kind of exhibition on how "particular" *ahem* clients can be.

In the meantime, I've just got my nose to the grind and now it's time for bed yet again.

Just pitter pattering about... Starcraft II and spending money!

Since July 27th, I've been busy playing Starcraft II with Schrobbenmaster every weekend (and after dinner on weekdays if we have the time and energy). It's great! I played the original Starcraft while I was still in university - that would be kinda 10 years ago now - and I loved it. I'm so glad they spent the time and money to make the second part as great as it is. I really couldn't ask for more.

This weekend has been really cosy. It's just after payday, so we went out to do some errands on Friday night, which is koopavond (buying evening) in Rotterdam, meaning shops are open till 21:00 *shock horror wheeze*, instead of until 18:00.

I just checked my bank balance and I can't believe how little I have!! I thought I'd have more savings this month since I'm not travelling and don't have any guests, but what the... I have less than €1k now. I did buy two tickets to watch Boom Chicago, supposedly a hilarious American comedy show about life in NL. I got the Burger Deal, which sounds awesome... a show and a burger dinner :P Apart from that, another expensive buy was a layout design textbook (I'd better learn some useful stuff from it!!!) and a new ballet leotard (which I really did need, as my previous black leotard, bought some 5 years ago, is now greyish at sweaty areas).

At least I've set aside a few hundred in a newly created savings account, which should earn me interest in the next few months. That's money that will work for me!! If only I was more savvy in investing, I could do so much more.

Now, after seeing my bank balance, I'm not so sure if I want to take archery lessons next week. I was planning to because I've always loved the idea of being able to do it. I did some recreational archer-ing (?) many years ago and loved it. And when I came here and found out that people apparently only make friends in sporting and hobby clubs, I decided to look for an archery school/club. Found one where the trainers are willing to try their hand at teaching in English (which is really nice of them and makes me want to go even more), but I'm wondering if I should be saving that money instead (I can already hear Mumsy Bumsy telling me to do exactly that).

Anyway, it's late now and it's time to cook some dinner and hopefully some Starcraft II after? What say you, Schrobbenmaster? :D

Next step to independence! And the attic party.

I made an achievement today - I biked out on my own for the first time, to watch a movie! It's my day off today and I didn't have anything to do at home, so when Bin suggested that I go out for a movie, I jumped at the idea.

I knew Schrobbenmaster didn't want to watch Sex & The City 2, so I decided to watch that. I thought it was a really fun movie. Not as good as the first, nor the original TV series, but light, girly fun all the same. I love going for movies and I never take movies very seriously, except if they really mean to make it a smart, intelligent drama. But for this? It's just a light-hearted film, so I just kicked back and enjoyed the ride.

Was a little nervous about chaining my bike cuz it's the first time I'm doing it on my own, but *phew*, when I came out of the cinema, it was still there hehe.

Anyway, several weeks ago, Schrobbenmaster and I were invited to an "attic party". It was someone's birthday, but he had organised this really cool cosy gathering with friends in his attic apartment, and got 3 performer friends to perform live for us. It was really cosy and an awesome idea for a party, not only providing entertainment for us, but also exposure for those 3 performers. And unlike Asia's party, we actually all sat down on the floor to give our full attention to the performers who had prepared 3-5 songs each, including their own visuals on the wall behind.

My camera died out near the beginning so I only have a few pictures and videos of the first two performers, but that's alright with me because I found the third (and looooongest) performance to be the most sleep-inducing. Typical folk kind of songs that damn near put me into a coma. Okay, they had good voices and good harmonising, but I wish they would've been more considerate to perform 3 songs like the previous two performers, instead of 6 very long lullabies.

However, it seems that most of the others loved them the most, so... *shrug*.

Give it a listen... it's a cover of Adele's 'Chasing Pavements'. Or maybe just watch the Road Runner cartoon in the background :P

The second performers were a duo who was performing in public for the first time that night.



I liked these guys the most of all three that night. If you don't want to watch them, at least watch the video for the cute dalmatian in there, hehe.