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?