on tour

well, a quick item to say that i will be on tour for two weeks with the Proms;

i can finally use the rock'n roll cliché 'what day is it today? saturday? than this must Hamburg' :-)

if every hotel has free internet as this one (which i very much doubt) i will keep you posted about activities here, but chances are that this blog will be very silent untill mid-december...

flippin'

i'm multitalented as it were...

guess how many pancakes i can flip at the same time in the right-hand pan...

do it!!

I have been longing to go to a descent wedding for years and years now... i don't know about you, but in my circle of friends, the word 'wedding' seem to be banished...

most of my friends have all items checked on the tickbox; a 'weddable' age (say 25-30), a job, a partner (rather necessary i know), a house of their own, a dog, no kids (yet)... but no; no marriages since almost three years now...

that is untill yesterday, a friend (maybe out of sheer pity) invited me to go with her to her sisters wedding.... and yes, finally, that was a wedding as i expect it to be... the full works: dressed up in ceremonial dress, the church, the crying, the sweet music, reception, castle, beautiful bride, champagne, dinner, dancing... nice!

thank you C for inviting me, and if you read this and you are one of those friends of mine : GET MARRIED!!!!

Mika

This week I went to see Mika! And that was amazing!
And i have never seen such an enthusiastic crowd cheering, shouting and enjoying themselves...

(I heard a great quote about crowds on a documentary yesterday on tv ‘crowds are like obeying ladies, who want to be treated that way’ – the quote came from H. but I really don’t want to come across as a fan of this person…)

Mika was full of energy, entertaining and of course brought with him all his songs, which I know, since this summer by heart; I had put away the cd the last month or two, because, since they are popsongs, they tend to not to last too long (with me at least) so I had to ‘save’ his music a bit… it made the gig much more thrilling I must say! The show was a celebration to pop-music, a camp and kitch party as it should be!

Mini-mini

Mini Antwerp presented today to his customers and potential customers its latest model, the Mini Clubman; Based on the old version from the fifties, this new model has a special backdoor, opening sideways from the middle;

So when you think about Mini, in a marketing point of view, you think what? fashion, stylish, modern, young, trendy, innovative... so one would expect for an event like this at least some fancy animation, maybe unique give-aways, celebrities, stylish hosts, surprises, acts... Especially when they created a very fancy website to subscribe to this 'invites-only' event

none of this unfortunately; a boring start-of-a-party atmosphere, two drink-coupons, and three mini's on display next to the dancefloor... a mini party...

bubbly

I went to see a concert of a great singer last Monday night; charming, very talented, very very funny and a perfect crowd-pleaser; entertainment as it should be; accompanied by a big band, piano, bass, drums… Bringing the swing-standards, swing adaptations of famous songs and a few of his own hits; romantic, fun, swinging, poppy, ...

At times the concert looked more like a stand-up comedy routine –and a damn good one for that matter; This combination of humor and great music made this concert so worthwhile; an artist who is no doubt serious about his music but who can also make fun of himself; worth to check this cool Canadian guy out: Michael Bublé;

Waffles

Every year on the first of November, my grandmother bakes waffles for the entire family; made with fresh milk, straight from my grandmother's neighbours cows and fresh butter.... myummie!

and as long as i can remember the sugar has been in these very typical tupperware boxes!

Cars

I’m on the look-out of buying a new car - a new or secondhand that is;
I have made a list of things that are important to me, but I’m afraid that i am becoming a bit to exigent. This is my wish-list for my dream-car:

Originality - at n° 1, yes – very important
Quality – after driving very old cars the last years, I finally want something better
Size: my keyboard needs to fit in there – and it’s not a small keyboard…
Diesel – I prefer a Diesel for all my visits to Brussels, my parents, the seaside, anywhere…
budget: there is a of course a fixed budget…

Today I am going to see a first car, and immediately one of my favorites; a Mini Cooper!
A few negatives: point 3, I guess my keyboard won’t fit in there and 4. it’s not a diesel;

and the color is light green…

Winter Changes

Together with the time, also in my mind a lot changed this weekend – perception wise that is… all that in only a couple of hours.

I had managed to prolong the summer-feeling until last Saturday, taking with me the hopes and lightness and energy you can get from summer; still wearing clothes too light for the season, still singing and whistling in the mornings (yes me!), having lunch on Saturdays outside on a terrace (which we really did until last Saturday);

But with the change of time came also a close encounter with a reality, which probably subconsciously I knew was coming (ok, I try to write it as cryptically as I can but the L-word is involved of course) and which changed a bit the future outlook;

All these strange and vague descriptions just to say that I had a lousy and terrible Sunday, that it’s raining today, that it’s getting darker earlier and yes, today, I’m not liking it!

But tomorrow I’ll be happy again, if I can only think that this change of time also means cozy evenings with friends and family playing games, Christmas-atmosphere (you all might hate it, I love it!), going on tour with the Proms, hot chocolate, grandmother’s waffles, and yes, as K said, in only 8 weeks days are starting to get longer again… so bring winter on… tomorrow.




ps: it's the song that counts, not the video :-)

she

May i present to you,
for a limited time only again in our little country,
living in the capital of Europe,
still studying, still enjoying life,
the princess of Spain,
the queen of Huperspace,
the goddess of libraries, theatres and cultural life in general,
misstress of relativity of time,
and above all
my friend
M.

ten years later

and suddenly you're ten years older,
but still in that same school
with those same guys...
bizar!

it's a summer thing

I guess blogging is a summer thing... or isn't it?

maybe in my previous jobs the blogging-'conditions' were better (and also the reason for quitting)... work at the tire-company is great, great people, great job, at least these first four weeks everything is going great... a great start, so i can only be positive towards the future...

my time is now mostly divided between work and the fantastic summerbar here in Antwerp, that is why blogging has become a low priority... although there were things i really wanted to blog about, such as my gig with the "Kroon Allstars" band, Teatro de los Sentidos, Eurogames, Zoologie, summerpeople, and so much more... if u want to know, come to the Summerbar and i'll buy you a mojito or two and discuss all these things!

Last day

It’s been a long time since I was this happy so early in the morning. That is because today is the last day at my current job, and the people who know me, know that I am not that so sorry to go.

But since I am positive and optimistic of nature I will not start a rant about what went wrong. I look forward to my new challenge and especially my week of holidays next week!

Not really sure what I will do exactly, but hey, it’s holidays!

Let the music play

This last week, the newspapers have been writing about a study that showed that there is decline in the number of Flemish/Dutch music on our Flemish radiostations.

Voices are being raised that the government should impose certain percentage of ‘Flemish songs’ on our radio stations, as is the case in a few other European countries already.

I am not really sure if imposing such a criteria – especially in Flanders - is a good thing. With 6 million people, we undoubtedly have a smaller pool of talented people to create music that the people like/want to hear. And there is a limited library to choose from, especially in comparison with foreign music.

I think it wiser if political rulers should support our Flemish musicians more (all genres!) in order to become better musicians, better organisers etc. If our music becomes more professional, radio stations will pick it up more easily.

one week

The challenge:

take one week of holidays and try to squeeze in all of the following activities:

1. going to the hairdresser (near Brussels)
2. visit old colleagues (near Antwerp)
3. go with your sister and her family on holiday for a couple of days (near Carcassone in France)
4. refresh your marketing-lingo in relation to tires
5. settle some financial issues with the bank
6. going with the car to the technical control (and hope it passes otherwise point 5 will have to be addressed again)
7. organise a poker night
8. rehearse for your new band
9. Sales! Shopping! Clothes!
10. going to the seaside (depending on weather)
11. farewell party for my old colleagues
12. sleep/relax/enjoy/party/meet/feel/...

anybody some usefull hints as to how to fit these things in my week of holidays next week?

week of change

The week of change (sung like M's favourite tune 'wind of change' by the Scorpions)

This week is my last week at my current job, and i would be lying if i say that i will miss this place… i really am looking forward to this new challenge which starts in two weeks on Monday. Since it is my last week, I now officially declared it party-week, with hopefully everyday a bit of a celebration (should be everyday of life, but hey this week is extra special).

I started yesterday evening (and night) by going to Brussels to a gig of my two favourite uncles (when ever in need for a small live band with great music!).

After a few beers and a sleepover party (with lots of catching-up-talk) at Karliens new place, I even – probably for the first time and very probably also the last time in this job – arrived 15 minutes early this morning!

But i fear that my body will revenge itself quickly - so let the caffeine come and do its trick!

12 000 euro

Zou jij 12 000 euro teruggeven aan eigenaar? Zou het geweten beginnen knagen? En wie houdt er nu zoveel geld in zijn heuptasje bij en laat dat dan rondslingeren?

I-Pod

I always thought it must have been nice to have one, but never really wanted to spent too much money on it, and then suddenly fortune was at my side... i won my very own I-Pod.

Not just like that of course, i had to do something for it: At the office, we always use Navigator printing paper, and there is always a personal code on each ream, which made me curious why that code was there. Apparantly if you entered that code, together with a picture of yourself, using the Navigator paper, you could enter the draw to win an I-Pod!

So very secretly, i tried to take a picture of myself holding a ream of Navigator paper and photoshopped it... if you want to see the result, beam yourself this way

how very british, non?

very busy these days, last month i have spent two weekends in London and 5 days in France (who said again that Europe is my backyard?)...

also very busy changing jobs, but more about this in a couple of days when all things are official!

in the mean time, here's this very British chap, caught on camera! :-)

it's psychamazical