Stuttgart

today we are in Stuttgart, tonight in Munich; tour-life begins to fall into a sort of routine; in my - and my roommate's case that is:

- first thing in the morning, despite all good intentions : missing breakfast

- next, hurrying to the lobby with all the suitcases packed again to take our tourbus to the next city

- checking in

- going to the concert-arena - eating - playing Uno - show - back to the hotel - drinking and having a laugh on somebody's hotelroom - bed and then all over again...

as from tomorrow we'll be in Munich, where we will stay untill Sunday, so time to relax and enjoy and get ready for all the christmas-markets, atmosphere, gluhwein and so on...

and thanks to Jan, finally a picture as well...

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

Tintin

It's a strange thing, our Belgian pride or patriotic feelings (and more precise, the lack of it). I doubt a lot of people in Belgium really feel unified in one way or the other and probably there are lots of historical reasons for that as well.
Stereotypically we only feel "Belgian" (or Belgianese as my American colleagues liked to tease) at large national happenings, such as football matches of our national team (haha) and the death of our royals.


However this good ol' Belgian pride (not to be mistaken with other recent prides) will for sure grow again when the following news will become more and more public. Steven Spielberg, together with Peter Jackson from Lord Of The Rings will make three movies based on the comic-books Tintin, written and drawn by our own Belgian Hergé. They will use the latest techniques in computer animation, which promises to have a lot more soul than all its predecessors...


Being a keen fan of animated movies, I’m more than curious to see the result and of course its effect on Belgium, the Belgians, and the "Belgianese". I doubt if I will feel more Belgian, but every little helps, i guess...

more about this on BBC News

out-of-office

there's music in the office, people are telling jokes, laughing, talking to each other, the general atmosphere is relaxed, stress-levels have gone down, yes it must be: our boss is out-of-office...

messages...

is it not-done to mention on your blog that it's your birthday today? I struggle with these things... the fine line between sharing your feelings/thoughts on life and plain ego-advertising?




or is there a subtle way of communicating these kinds of messages, indicating a certain (i hope healthy) need for attention (which we all need)... any way, i think in the mean time, the message came accross :-)



balancing on this fine line,
for 28 years now,
still yours truly,


kd

Hakuna Matata

Aaaaah a long weekend... how nice!

I’m off to London to meet Audrey from Edinburgh - well, actually she is from New Zealand, but she lives in Edinburgh, where I met her, but now she's moving to Bristol - anyway... we're going to see The Lion King - The Musical which i am really really enthusiastic about, have shop-till-we-drop-sessions, massages in Covent garden (let's see if it's my cup of tea, because massages and me usually don't go hand in hand) and also meet Nic, which is always a pleasure!

so three days of laughter and fun, I’m up for it!

ikea

I think we can say that my generation is a bit the IKEA-generation; when i was a student, practically all the student-flats i knew were little ikea-showrooms on their own, and above all, (besides the mass-consumption) looked cool, practical and cheap.

When getting a bit older as we do, and a bit more picky as well, the need for some more 'individual' furniture is growing, but unfortunately (in my case at least), the available budget isn't.

Now i am not really a DIY-specialist (haha, the very contrary is true), but when i stumbled upon this blog, I really got me inspired to go again to ikea and have a different look at the items...

If you want to discover how ikea can be even more fun, click here!

To give you already an idea, this is a recen Ikea-hack for the bathroom, which i think is great!

Mika

The perfect soundtrack for a (rather) sunny Friday is definitely “Life in Cartoon Motion” by Mika. His unpretentious, feel-good sound and feel brightens up your day and makes it very difficult for me to sit still and not burst out and dance around the desks…

Pop-music as it should be, a bit disco, a bit kitsch, a bit camp, a bit sing-along… and a cute guy to perform it… what can one want more?

DCCD

I suffer a strange disease, something that bugs me already for quiet a while and sometimes I don’t know if I should go mad or feel very lucky or amazed by it… At first I thought I was the only one – but after consulting Dr Google (ah yes, the cheap and allmighty) I found out there’s a whole community sharing my illness… there's even a name for it:

DCCD or Digital Clock Coincidence Disorder

Let me explain: The symptoms are very easy but sometimes very unnerving: Usually when I look at the time on a digital clock, I don’t see random numbers, but logical combinations, such as: 11:11, or 12:12 or 10:10 but also 20:02 or 21:12…It doesn’t happen like once in a while, but every day at least a couple of times…is there anybody else out there sharing this, and what could be the explanation? and what could be the cure?

shrimp

I look like a little shrimp today... that whole sunday-afternoon on my terrace in the sun did the trick i guess...is it summer now already? going to the sea-side? sweaty nights, bbq's on saturday and sunday... craving for a swimming pool (Caroline, time to come back), high spirits, cava, t-shirts and shorts? it sure looks like summer...

and blogging is not a high priority it seems when the sun is shining, days are getting longer and weekends fuller...

feels like i'm 17 again

Last night I managed to travel in time! Or at least meet some of my ghosts-of-the-past all in one small but cosy concert-hall somewhere in the jungle beneath Brussels…

first there was AliasGrey, whom I studied with in Leuven and who was supporting Sioen on this gig; Lenny Vane was there to applaud him, together with Ann who is a good friend of mine and was a co-leader in the children’s summercamp; J. my sister’s ex boyfriend (he still looked good and hadn’t change a bit); my uncle and aunt who I had dinner with; my uncle’s good friend Gitaar whom I also have played music with before; lots of ‘heys’ and ‘hello’s’ from faces I recognised…this one song that bounces in my head is “it feels like I’m 17 again…”

June

I am really blown away by the movie i watched yesterday. “Walk The Line” tells the story of Johnny Cash. But I was not really impressed, or at least not equally impressed with Joachim Phoenix’s performance, as I was with Reece Witherspoon’s characterisation of June Carter. In my humble opinion, she really carried the movie to a higher level and gave depth and warmth to this on-screen June Carter. I had never heard of June Carter before (shame on me) but I learned that she came from a very famous and talented musicians family and from early on had a singing career. Now I would really love to see a movie about her life, or perhaps a musical?

In the mean time spring has entered Antwerp, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to enjoy it much, since I had a bit of a cold these last few days, but hey, the sun shines – who is complaining? Only problem is that, when feeling physically limited (because of the cold) my mind feels restrained and on those moments i would love to thousand things (making music, going out, seeing friends, travel, etc.) but find myself frustrated on the couch... oh well, better days are coming!

more -ing

Huffing
Puffing
Sighing
Staring
Remembering
Thinking
Dreaming
Working

unfortunately some of the –ings for this week :-)


Luckily also

Swimming
Music-making
Party-ing
Visiting
searching
...

-ing

skiing,
gliding,
lifting,
tanning,
drinking,
playing,
enjoying,
living,
sporting,
relaxing,
sleeping,
driving,
talking,
singing,
hopefully-not-falling,
meeting,
looking,
eating,
dancing,
laughing,
sauna-ing,
jaccuuziing,
thinking,
engergizing,
etc-ing




All the -ings
i will be i-ing
next week on
skiing-holiday!















huuuuuuuurraaaaaayy (-ing)
'll be back here again in a week!

Goodbye Mr Humphries

"I'm Free" he used to shout as his catch-phrase in the series 'Are You Being Served' (now back in reruns on Belgian tv). Well, he’s free for good now, John Inman, better known as Mr Humphries is no more.

Although in my opinion, the series has lost its battle against time - just like Mr Humphries now - I really like watching it, and Mr Humphries is definitely one of my favourite characters.

tmh

had dinner with some colleagues yesterday, and besides very funny and cosy,

i had a little too much to drink - so now i have a little tuesday-morning hangover... i wish i was in my sofa watching the gilmore girls...

Grace Kelly

It's fridaymorning! the sun is shining! i was out of bed before my alarm clock (am i getting older?)

so why not start the day, with my favourite tune-of-the-moment!

Enjoy the weekend!

Baba Marta

Today - as you can see - I am wearing a red and white bracelet finished of with a star. Before you all start doubting my undisputed sense of fashion – I will explain this curious item of today’s wardrobe.

When I arrived at the office this morning, after my necessary morning coffee, our Bulgarian colleagues, who are on training here to learn new software, came round with these bracelets. Today, the first of March, in Bulgaria is apparently “Baba Marta”, and wearing this item brings good luck, fortune and health. It is a sign that spring will come soon and winter is over. (read more)

So (I don’t know if they really wish it to each other like this but: ) Happy Baba Marta!

Black

A famous saying goes ‘once you go black, you won’t go back’ and I know for a fact that that is true! I never want to go back again – and if I say black, I mean real dark – darker than dark – or in French “Noir de Noir”.

Now before all your minds go thinking things that would not fit my very decent and honourable image, I am talking here about chocolate, of course!

i was already a real addict and now here at my job, we get free chocolates to go with our coffee (or without coffee). We can choose between milk or dark chocolate. Not very spectacular but I recently discovered a secret stack at the reception desk. A little treasure is hidden there: the Côte d’Or Noir de Noir Mignonnettes… (a wrong delivery from our supplier)

So now i am a secret corporate chocolate eater and I don’t want any other chocolate anymore. After eating the Noir de Noir, even the regular dark chocolate tastes like milk chocolate…


(do you reckon that Côte d'Or - if they would read this, that they might give me some free chocolate now?)

worth it

I just discovered that another of my favourite artists will be performing in Belgium again. Tori Amos will be one of the headliners on the last day of Rock Werchter, one of the best festivals in Europe - or so they say at least...

I have seen Tori Amos now twice, always in more 'intimate' concert halls, both times only Tori on piano alone. So i would really like to see her with band (if at least she comes with a band) or if not, just seeing her again would be great as well :-)

but is she alone worth paying 75 euros? maybe if you throw in Damien Rice, performing that same evening? or maybe i should wait until they announce the other gigs for that night...

and maybe find somebody to go along with me?

ghosts of the past...

These last days a song from my past has nestled itself in my mind... when i was in music academy (sounds like police academy) we used to rehearse "Liverpool Oratorium" written by Paul McCartney.

It's now almost 15 years ago (omg, getting older) since we sang that piece, but I still remember a lot of the music... I had to sing the part of headmaster and i still remember lines like: "walk in single line, out of the classroom, and into the playground..." and then for some odd reason the headmaster went out of the school to the graveyard to wonder about his friends fom the past... oh, glory days...

am i beginning to sound like a granny?

beast

Giving presentations is a bit like acting, I think. In front of an audience, getting your message across, trying to grasp the people’s attention. I think maybe that is why I like doing it so much.

Today I had to present the marketing-issues of my company to our affiliate managers from all around Europe. A mixed audience of engineery-kind-of-sales persons… not really the kind of personality I would consider myself as part of, but as a marketeer/advertising guy you have to be able to empathize with everybody.

Talking about acting, last night I went to see the musical “Beauty and the Beast”. It was the translated version of the international Disney musical… and in that translation were some non-intended hilarious moments (unfortunately only to explain to Dutch-speakers…). But – B&B being one of my favourite disney movies and with my deep passion for musicals and Disney– needless to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it!

And to end, once more, a promise to update this thing more regularly.
There I said it, now remind me enough to do so as well!

bullets

The last days in keywords
(or a cheap blog-trick to post a new item without inspiration to write)

• I still love Daan
• De Nachten
• Tedious Tension
• Uncle’s in Action
• How’s my French?
• Petrol still rocks
• Lazy Sunday (no explanation necessary i pressume)
• Should old acquaintances…

happy as a child

Last weekend we had with our regular bunch of old class-mates our new-years party (i guess as long as January is not over yet, so you can still call it newyearsparty); and one of the highlights of the evening was without a doubt the 5 Euro presents we bought for each other...
Although by definition useless and worth, well at the most 5 euros, it's such fun and such a laugh to make/give/open them... with lots of ooohs and aaaahs and applause, items such as pig-shaped-lighters, light-torches that you have to charge by shaking, funny picture-frames, mosquito-traps (to make a mosquito-fur-coat), and a breakfast-package. The latter was received by me and would have been very handy on Sunday-morning, if I would have not forgotten it in the trunk of my friends car who drove us to the party… such a shame :-)

Powerbabe

Finally, everything is in place... Finally the right software has been delivered... And finally I can attach my new keyboard which I already used, to the big machine. And I am happy as a little boy that just got its new toys... yes, ladies and gentlemen, my company is now the owner of a brand new, state-of-the-art, top range model graphic PC from a very well known brand is now standing in front of me...

It flows and it goes, faster than anyone can imagine... the new software - the full Adobe Creative suite and Macromedia Studio - is in full charge... I customised all settings, to perfect my powerbabe... so let the marketing-activities begin! (or continue to be more accurate).

on a more personal level, we managed – although I really really really didn’t feel like it - to go swim for the second time yesterday and it felt really good – amazing (especially to me) how some physical exercise can do wonders.

There is another fascinating thing that a friend send me today, but I think I will blog about it later, because I really should do something bigger with it, than just putting it on my blog… so keep your eyes open.

let's go...

Well, it’s back in the office this week. And that after two weeks of absolutely doing nothing, hanging around, sleeping late… and on the good side: I really felt energized by this hibernation period. Only pity that this supplemental energy only lasted about a day :-s

During my two weeks holiday, I also discovered something new. Sure, I knew that it was there, but I never could be bothered to really look at it. In need for something intellectually challenging on television (hard to find at 2 o’clock at night) I put on the dvd of one of my all time favourite movies “Gosford Park”. I looked at the extra-features-menu and I suddenly saw “Director’s commentary on/off”. I never thought I could watch an entire movie listening to a director and producer talking about their movie, but it was really interesting… especially with this movie, which has so many storylines and details in it… It made me only appreciate the film and this great moviemaker, who unfortunately recently died, even more…

Tonight, since all Newyears-resolutions must start someday (and as per definition probably end in the nearby future as well), we will have our already third attempt tonight to go swimming (first attempt: swimming pool closed, second attempt: strike of the swimming-pool-employees)! In order to help our motivation, we this time solemnly pledged to go for drinks afterwards…

jetlag

I seem to undergo a very particular strange side-effect of my two weeks holiday (which is finishing end of this week, and is in the same time the main reason for the low blog activity); jet-lag... without flying! because of some parties last week, and because i can sleep all day, my bio-rhythm seems to have shifted from a day to a night rhythm… usually I wouldn’t care much, but tomorrow I have an all important date at 10 o’clock in Brussels… I just hope I will wake up on time; today – to prepare myself, I got up at noon J

Good intentions for 2007? In a bit of a drunken state of mind, I commited myself to go and swim every week with some friends… A bit of more physical exercise (isn’t that number one of New Year’s resolutions?) can do wonders, no? so tonight, hopefully if all works out well, we go and swim…