Dec 9, 2005
When my mother passed away in 1975 I had not seen my father for a while.
They were separated and visiting arrangements were a little
problematic.
When it was suggested I’d go live with my mother’s sister, my aunt
Ineke, I was all for it. She was married to my favourite uncle and I
was close to her two youngest sons. They lived what I at 12 years old (and for a long time after) considered the
high life. International schools, a lot of travel, all the toys in the
world.
It would have meant leaving Holland and growing up in Jakarta and Copenhagen. I think I was ok with that too.
My aunt and I would have eventually come to blows had this plan (One of several… boarding/finishing school in Switzerland was another. That would have been something.) got the
go ahead, I’m sure. I’d have been the rebel child. I eventually went to live with
my father instead and consequently did not see a lot of my mother’s family after that. I spent my whole childhood missing them and learning to do without. Then I forgot how to get back in touch, and they seemed to have forgot about me.
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Sep 26, 2005
My TV is now digital. UPC arrived on time, the technician was a nice guy and didn’t smell. And though he had some problems initialising the set top box, it eventually worked as it should.
I don’t have much use for the E! or Fashion channel, or all the bloody Discovery stuff, but I can’t express how great it is to finally have an MTV channel (MTV2) that actually plays music. MTV2 Europe is British owned, they show the NME chart show and the presenters are English, as are the ads. Thank you, lord. They just showed Kaiser Chiefs, Interpol, Magic Numbers and Gorillaz videos. *Cries tears of happiness*. Don’t laugh. I’ve had years and years of MTV/TMF Holland, mostly R&B crap presented by Dutch nit wits, interspersed with the worst bits of MTV USA (Jackass, Road Rules, etc.)
Now I just have to wait (another ten years?) for the rest of their package to become a little bit more interesting.
I may be the only 42 year woman on the planet to get worked up over this. Does ‘50 quid spinster’ exist?
Mar 13, 2005
Had the strangest dream involving a boat, Nick Cave, the Pope and a Tsunami. It was slightly scary, what will all the mad water, but also fun, with Karol Wojtyla’s hairdressing business on the side.
I suppose it’s one of the lighter sides of being feverish and sick again.
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Oct 28, 2004
“For a few years he would come over to Holland every three weeks. He would do one show live, and record two. Afterwards, he’d stay at my place. He was a very strict vegetarian. If he had to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, he would run through the kitchen. That’s where the cat food was. He found the smell so repulsive he would run away from it even in the dead of night.” (Jan Donkers, VPRO)
Luc Jansen, who incidently will be interviewing Gavin and Guggi at Ancienne Belgique’s Virgin Prunes matinee on Saturday in Brussels, presents a 3 hour John Peel special on VPRO radio. (real audio)
Peel made radio shows for VPRO in the mid-Eighties. In the first hour (‘uur 1′) – after a Dutch introduction, you can hear one of his ‘86 shows, in which he calls Tom Waits a terrible old bore… then plays Husker Du’s cover of Ticket to Ride.
You’ll also find some lovely pictures of Peel and his son at VPRO’s old villa/studio.
Jul 15, 2004
girl: “… you know, I always think of them as people who look after themselves really well.”
client: “mmm”
girl: “Like in Amsterdam. You see a lot of goodlooking people in Amsterdam.”
client: “Yeah, you do.”
girl: “I guess in cities a lot of people are pre-occupied with their appearance.”
client: “uhuh”
girl: “People in Holland are better looking than in other countries. I mean, look at England.”
client: “oh please… English people are ugly.”
girl: “Yeah. And Belgians aren’t pretty either.”
client: “mmm”
girl: “Germans… no, Germans aren’t pretty. The Dutch are the best looking.”
client: “So you fancy Dutchmen then?”
girl: // giggles // “Yeah… blond hair, blue eyes. You too?”
client: “Yeah. And tall.”
girl: “Yeah, tall… so… what far away places have you been to then?”
client: “Oh… um, South America…”
girl: “Wow.”
client: “… on the one side, and on the other side… The Philippines.”
girl: “WOW!”
client: “And, you know, other places…”
girl: “And, um, if you don’t mind me asking… where are the Philippines? Um… I’m not really good at this stuff.”
Me: “???”
Jun 28, 2004
Long weekends are lovely (when they’re migraine free). Good things these past three days include:
A Sneakerfreak single release party. Managed by a co-worker of mine these guys are competent musicians, a little old fashioned (I got this 10,000 maniacs, Camper Van B. kind of vibe off them. I.e. bands that R.E.M. hung out with but did not sound like.) A little too ‘clever’ lyrically for me, but musically engaging. Good looking lads, they seem dedicated. Their lead guitarist’s just fabulous.
The end of the camera ordeal and subsequent farting around with it.
Meeting up with the lovely Caterina at ”t Loosje’ on Nieuwmarkt. Tasty frappucinos!
Holland beating Sweden in the quarter finals of the E.C. football (I *love* the game, you see, even if I hate the hype, the hysteria and most of all the bloody h’orange.)
Discovering very pretty parts of Amsterdam I never knew existed: Zeeburg.
More farting around with camera.
A game of tennis thwarted by a junior tournament – sun, tea and Vondelpark instead.
Grilled lemon scallops & assorted sushi at Zushi
Feb 26, 2004
Holland woke up to find the world covered in a 20 cm blanket of snow. I shuffled and slipped and hopped on a metro for a reasonably easy trip to Duivendrecht, only to find the trains indefinitely delayed.
45 minutes later and no sign of normal schedules resuming, mobile contact confirmed most of my colleagues similarly stranded.
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Feb 1, 2004
Pivot 1.0 Final is out.
Pivot is a php weblog tool which is popular among Dutch webloggers (and beyond) because it’s made in Holland. And because it’s good.
I’ve toyed with it in the past (the last version I installed and worked with was 0.12.) It was still buggy then, but super fast and felt very powerful. I went with MT because development on that tool seemed to pick up a little faster.
This final version has evolved quite a bit. Check the screenshots — it’s a smooth looking app. The image upload function is especially nifty, as well as an optional wysiwyg editor.
I wish I had some kind of site lined up for it, but I don’t have any plans right now. Maybe you do. (I’d wait for 1.1 though.)
Jun 28, 2000
dplanet interviews Daniel Achilles of Precinct Design Legion and this Swede knows his football:
dp: So, who’s going to win Euro 2000?
da: Holland.
dp: Is that because of their home advantage?
da: Yupz, that and the fact that they play really well.
Final: France 1 – 3 Holland.
Thanks. I’m a bit more pessimistic.
I don’t what it is exactly but these “designer interviews designer” interviews are usually somewhat disappointing, mostly because they always seem to focus on ‘chicks’ and ‘drinking’. Must be the age group.
