My flow is interrupted

My departure to America is taking more time than I would have liked, and it is all my own fault. I still don’t have any ticket which is in part caused because I still don’t know from where I will leave. The map is lying open on my table, but I’m to lazy to look it over and make some plans.

The good thing is that I’m in no hurry, because my future plans are still absent. The bad thing is that I’m slowly getting the feeling that I’m wasting my time here in Holland. I could be enjoying myself a lot more on the road. We’ll see, maybe I’m use this Sunday to think of some travel-route.

The day after VIVE la Fête!

VIVE la Fête! gave a really good performance yesterday, but what really knocked me of my feet was the show right before Vive. It was a performance by Avril, not Avril Lavigne, but some other Avril. This Avril had a strange musical apparatus, a vertical metal stick which he used to make music. Somehow the metal stick reacted to proximity and movement.

In the beginning Avril held his hand near the metal stick and removed it quickly, or he just moved his hand up and down. This resulted in some really nice sound effects. These sound effects were accompanied by a nice beat and guitar music.

While the night progresses and the end of the show came closer the use of the metal stick became more extreme… in the end he was even licking the metal stick! With his tong long licks over that thing. Good entertainment and it sounded really good!

In addition to the metal stick Avril also had a gigantic turning knob. It was the size of a big bucket. This also caused some very special effects… I think I’ll try and find an album by this guy. It was a good night!

And today… I didn’t do very much.. actually absolutely nothing, but that’s good for the spirit. :-p

Land of Dreams

While searching for a document in one of my unmarked CD’s with backups I encountered to following.

Copenhagen Interpretation:

Every time a quantum event occurs, a new universe branches off to accommodate the change. A new universe is born each and every time something as insubstantial as a photon is born, or the spin-state of an electron changes…

There is a infinity of universes. Every alternate history ever imagined, ever fantasy ever dreamed of, every universe conceived. All have concrete reality… somewhere.

Reality requires no more than belief to give it substance.

This is the introduction to the freeware game ‘Land of Dreams’. A very nice game and all for free. The theory even seems to be based on something. Image if it’s true, then it must be really bad to live in one of those universes that represents a game that I have lost, because I have lots a lot of games.

Netherlands – Germany

Football on the TV, and again it is quiet on the street. Instead of watching I went for a one hour swim and I could have guessed it, the swimming pool was nearly empty!

After my swim I went home on my bike crossing empty streets. At home I started watching some movie… and suddenly all hell broke loose. Screaming, shouting, fireworks and people honking their horns. It proved to be the goal to make the match a tie.

Of course it is nice to watch a game together, more so if people are drinking a nice beer and eating some nuts, but the enormous fanaticism that is related to football is out of proportion. I think I will never understand.

VIVE la Fête!

Before Pinkpop I had never heard of them.. VIVE la Fête!. During Pinkpop I was all the way up front being squashed into the fences because we had a fan in our midst. Since Pinkpop I am also a fan :-)

The first thing I did when I arrived home (and could think clearly again) was to download a number of songs, but just like last year (after Pinkpop) with music by Massive Attack and Manu Chao the magic the music had was totally lost, compared to the live performance.

But sill… wednesday thay perform in Paradiso! That is going to be fun :-)

The Leidse half (after)

Pffff!!! 21 Kilometers is really a long distance, but I managed in a nice 1 hour, 50 minutes and 30 seconds. Now to get some rest :-)

According to a mailing of the organization my time was even better: 1:49:01 !

The Leidse half (before)

Only a few more hours and that it is time…. a little past 12 o clock a shot will be heard am I will start my first marathon. The weather is good, not to sunny. My preparations were good as I’ve been relaxing, sporting and focusing my mind.

The last few days I have consumed huge amounts of sugar in the form of cola, sinas, 7up and cassis. Almost every day I ate pasta or some rice product. My vitamin C consumption is very high.

I am very positive about this race. If this is for just cause we will know in a few hours.

Wrong!!!

Yesterday evening and -night I can still remember because I was the BOB (designated driver). One cocktail was clearly the ruler of the night, the long island iced tea. In the little book describing the preparation they mentioned a warning, that one long island a night was more than enough, but this warning was quickly put aside.

After the 3rd round the precision with the alcoholic ingredients was totally lost. When we arrived at round 6 it was almost 2 o clock at night and one person had lost the ability to walk across the room. We decided to return home not long after.

We were at the 8th floor of a big flat so we wanted to take the lift. When it arrived all the buttons were quickly pressed and we decided to wait a while to left it return ‘clean’. The return of the lift took such a long time so we elected the stairs. As a good designated driver I expressed my concerns about taking the stairs, because I could envision problems, but minds were set.

Once I was down stairs in the central hall it only took a little time for the first drunk to arrive. 5 minutes later the second arrived in the elevator. Then there was a silence for about 5 minutes and we started hearing strange huffing and puffing sounds coming down slowly. The most drunk person had managed to take all the doormats of all the floors down with him. His hands were just able to hold on the the huge collection of mats.

After some clear discussion with his also drunk partner the two most drunk persons decided to correct the mistake that was made and return the mats. Of course it was no longer clear which home had which mat, but the two drunks tried their best. I wonder how the people reacted the next morning.

The returning of the mats took around 15 minutes. Afterward I brought everyone safely home.

Bbq

I just had my last BBQ before leaving on my trip to the States. Ingredients: 10 km run, an old fire basket, a few very dry parts of an old cupboard, chemicals to clean a paintbrush, turpentine, a few sausages to fry, a lot of pepper and meat herbs, aluminum foil, water, a few beers and fire!

Yes yes yes

Frank says:
HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Marco says:
HUUUUUUHHHHHHhhhhh
Ajebe says:
ah!! frank!!!
Frank says:
HUUUUU !!!
Ajebe says:
HHHHuuuuuhhhhhhh
Marco says:
HUHHUHHUH !!!
Ajebe says:
HHHHHHHUUUUUHHHHHHH
Frank says:
HuUuUuUuUuUuH !!!
Marco says:
hhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Ajebe says:
HHHUUUUuuuuuhhhhhhhhHHHHHHH
Marco says:
HUhHUH !????
Frank says:
HUH ?
Ajebe says:
HUUUUHHHHH!!!
Marco says:
HUH!!!!
Frank says:
HU !
Marco says:
HU jah !!
Frank says:
UH ?
Marco says:
Uh HU !???
Ajebe says:
HHHHhhhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuhhhHHH
Marco says:
HuuuuuHHHHHHH!!!
Frank says:
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh ???

A typical example of the primal need to communicate. Even through one of the most modern methods of communication.