30.8.06

Tornado

Yesterday, I was visiting my parents in my hometown in the jungle under Brussels, and my mother told me something remarkable. In the town adjacent to ours, there had been a tornado!


Now when I think of tornado’s, I immediately see those killerscenes you can see in Hollywood-movies – houses torn apart, cars upside down in trees, screaming antagonists who always seem to be able to run just a bit faster than the tornado itself. Apparently - and luckily - in this case the tornado turned out to be a very small one, just in a meadow (of which there are a lot in that area) and did no harm to men nor beast…

it’s reassuring to know that even tornado’s adapt themselves to the scale of my very small hometown…



By the way, tonight on Canvas they broadcast one of my all-time favourite movies, Bram Stoker's Dracula! definitely worth watching!

23.8.06

Little red things

*
I was sitting at my desk at the office when suddenly, by seeing “it” I was confronted with a sudden flashback of my youth… and then I realised it was indeed a very long time since I had seen these things… * I can very vividly remember seeing them as a child in summertime on the blue stones of my grandparents entry of their house.

I am talking about those very little red spider-kinda-like animals… I cannot really name them, since even in Dutch I wouldn’t know what their name is (in my youth we called them “donderbeestjes” but after some research that turned out to be another kind of small spidery animal…). Does anybody now their name and what they * are?

I have already seen two on my desk now (on the same day). We work in a very green environment here, but it struck me to see them in this kinda un-green environment… I would have taken a picture of them, were it not that I have squeezed them with my pen (the only proof of them being here are two small reddish bloody spots…) – I made a little drawing in illustrator to help identify them…
They actually look like red asterisks - just like this: *
or zoomed in like this:

Finally!

Finally, finally, finally! I already purchased my new keyboard a while ago now – somewhere mid-july -expecting to be able to play still in my holidays until the end of july. Faith however, decided against me; the store didn't have my keyboard in stock and so I had to wait for a new delivery from the manufacturer… and I waited and waited and waited, in great anticipation, I must say… until now!

I finally have it! It looks and sounds super great! My new baby is called Kawai MP4 and i bought it together with a superfancy-state-of-the-art active monitor…


Still a bit unfortunate timing however, because my good friend (and priest) Geert had arranged to pay me a visit (have not seen him since I am back from Scotland), so I had to leave my new toys already behind – although I must say the alternative was just as good – Mojito’s in CafĂ© au Lait!


Mail

This morning i received a letter in the mailbox. Nothing spectacular you would think, though the letter came from China - you must remind me to show you the letter once, it had a beautiful chinese drawing on the front. But i couldn't think who would send me something from China!
The normal procedures happened before opening the letter: touching it, weighing it with your hands, looking at it in the light, smelling it... and then the magic moment: opening the letter.
And then i realised what it was!
I had bought a week or two ago on ebay the dvd of "Disney's Beauty and the Beast". Disney has stopped selling it though the regular channels so you couldn't find it anymore. So three hurays for Ebay, where you can find everything!

By the way, in my humble opinion Beauty and the Beast is one of the best animated movies Disney ever made. I watched it immediately and again I was swept away by the story, the music, the characters, the drawings... It's the part in me that doesn't want to grow up...

22.8.06

Le Manege d'Andrea

Yesterday night, two good summerfriends came to have a goodbye-drink, because they leave Antwerp again. The French artistic company "Le Manege d'Andrea" consists of two very nice, friendly and funny people, Joris and Kathie. Kathie very pregnant of their first child. Every year, and already for some years, they come to the the Summer of Antwerp Festival with their very imaginative artistic merry-go-round, which has been created by the very famous Royal De Luxe (the brains and muscles behind the visit of the elephant-giant this year).

During the summer they camp on the summerbar-site, just behind the bar, so needless to say that many pints have been drunk in their presence this summer. Pity though that they will not return next year, because they have a very large and prestigious project in Nantes. But everybody who wants can visit them this winter during the Christmas-activities in Brussels.

And yet again, a very sad sign that this summer is almost over again…

11.8.06

Pokernight!


ok ok, it took me way to long to post a new item, but here it finally is:
and there is a good reason as well: tonight i organise a pokernight! I redecorated our kitchen into a casino-style room, there will be Spumante-cocktails with lime, there's a 30's style dress code for participants and of course, the game itself, Texas Holdem Poker. The game in Belgium is not yet as popular as in UK or USA, and tonight might be a small step to achieve more popularity; (the tv-show in oktober on national tv will be a rather bigger step i suppose)...

And oh yes, we had a very special visitor this week: a small cat, named Luigi (i changed it into Louis-G). Joris found it near his work where it was dumped by it's previous owner. The intention was to keep the kitten to ourselves, but then this week a friend of joris's ran over her own cat (tragic!) and so he promised the cat to her. I can't say i don't feel a bit relieved about it leaving, although yesterday the house felt already a bit more empty and less vivid... strange how soon one can get attached to a pet...

The emptiness of the house however was soon over when we ended up with 11 of us playing a pre-pokernight-game of poker... The last weeks have been very entertaining, always ending up way to late at the summerbar, meeting new people, but having to get up way to early... this weekend i definitely need to catch up some sleep! but first... let the games begin!