what happened?

Right, so all of you are wondering what I'm always blabbing about on the index page in the first paragraph? Well have I got the solution for you both! Here, I will keep a little archive of what I've written in exactly that paragraph. For your reading pleasure, I will try to put everyhthing on here one month at a time. The oldest post of the month will be at the top. When you have no idea what I'm talking about, go back a few days and everything should become clear. Whenever I think it's worth it, I'll add a link to the more interesting things I mention. Try to expect not too many links.

November 2003

1 - Saturday - 20:25
A lot of things going on! I took a lot of pictures yesterday, and they'll show up in the photo albums some time. Yesterday was a productive day, going to school, seeing a movie (Bad Boys II), and spending time with people. Just a pity that the cops had to screw up my good mood, since they were apprehending innocent students. Maybe more on that later, but for now I'll be at Natalie's place, watching movies and drinking beer. Good plan.

2 - Sunday - 12:02
Yesterday, at Natalie's place, she, Ad and me watched two movies, namely 2 Fast 2 Furious and National Security. There was beer, there was wine, there were chips, chocolates, soft short-bread, heck, there even were nostalgic frogs! We had a good time, just chilling out, laying down and watching the movies. Today is sunday, and I'm thinking about updating my picture albums, seeing there are so many pictures that still need to go on there.

3 - Monday - 01:12
Tonight, I had dinner with Tjitske. We had this stuff called Lasagnette. It's quite simple to make, and pretty damn good at that. You only have to cook some meat, add water and milk for the sauce, and then throw it all into an oven. I figure it takes about one hour to make the whole thing, and it really was good. You should try it once. Find it at your local Dutch supermarket. Bert Scholtes, providing you with useless information since 1980!

4 - Tuesday - 02:25
Sorry for the dramatic nature of this post, but from now on the people of the world will be divided into those who have seen 'Kill Bill' and those who haven't. I've seen it tonight, and I really don't know quite how to feel. I kind of disagree with every lauding review I've read of it. I think it's better than they claim. Go see it would be my advise, then. Listen to Hattori Hanzou, and watch Sophie. I don't know what Tarantino did with this one, but I'm not complaining.

4 - Tuesday - 23:12
Tonight after classes, I went to cafe 'De Grote Beer' (again) with Anika, and man did we have a good time. We talked for a couple of hours, and had beer and dinner in the meantime. Today's special was macaroni carbonara. Not that you'd care of course. Come to think of it, you probably don't. In that case, go and read the wonderful page of Maddox. He has this hilarious piece in which he makes fun of blogs. Err... what does that make me? Sorry, Maddox, you win.

5 - Wednesday - 16:03
Right now, Tim and Dennis are in my room. Whether I should be happy about that or not is not of importance. They are playing the Only, Perfect Dark. That game still hasn't lost it. Dennis hasn't played it in a long time, but he still kicks some major ass. You can watch them on my webcam, all live, but don't do that if you're not prepared for the ugliness that is this. And this. The Matrix 3 is out today, I'll call the cinema to see if they have any tickets.

6 - Thursday - 00:42
I just saw 'The Matrix Revolutions' in the Lido theatre here in leiden. No spoilers ahead. A lot of people wondered what the ending would be like. I think Tim said it best when he said that "considering all that has happened in the previous two movies, this ending was just about the best you could have hoped for." The questions posed by the second movie were answered, and this one was much better. All in all, it was a good movie. Satisfactory.

7 - Friday - 00:42
Yurika will be in Holland tomorrow, or today, as you like. She'll join me when I go see the Dave Brubeck Quartet monday. Rik will be there also. Rik is a friend I met at highschool in our second year, and he always finds ways to scare me. In a good way, that is. His wit is so unique, I've never seen anything quite like it. A master at writing strange emails and making beautiful music on his clarinet and horn, I'm really glad he can join us on monday.

8 - Saturday - 16:09
Tension rises, as the Brubeck concert date draws near. Today, I went shopping in Leiden together with Yurika, and I bought 3200 ASA black and white film for my camera. I'm hoping to get some nice pictures of the band, and perhaps some of me with the band members. Just to think about that is very exciting, but before that's going to happen, I'm going to visit Jasper's house. We've been invited to join him for dinner, and afterwards we'll go to Den Haag.

9 - Sunday - 01:51
As Yurika and I returned to Leiden after spending a nice evening with Jasper and Tim in Haarlem, we noticed a lunar eclipse going on, which was really beautiful. The moon was almost gone, but even the hidden part could still be seen, which was really strange to see. We had a lovely dinner at Jasper's house, which his mom prepared. I really don't feel like reworking the pictures I took today and putting them on the site, so I'll do that later. For now, have a good night.

12 - Wednesday - 00:23
It was like a dream. Once again. Yurika, Rik and I went to a concert by the Dave Brubeck Quartet in Heerlen. Before that though, we had a lovely dinner at Rik's house, which his mom had made. A few days before, Jasper's mom also cooked us dinner, which was equally great. I'll write out the Brubeck experience in more detail, possibly with clips of me talking to the mand himself backstage! It was a wonderful evening, I'll never forget it. Thank you.

13 - Thursday - 16:01
I'm having a huge hangover today. How come? Well, the Schaamteloos gang went out for another trip, visiting a lot of bars and cafes in Leiden. We all wore suits, so we looked kinda flashy. High points of the evening must surely have been walking into a gay bar while we didn't know it was one, and Wouter being hit on by one of their customers. When I got out of bed this morning, the world was still spinning, which was familiarly awkward.

14 - Friday - 21:46
Tim, Niels and Dennis are in my room right now. We're nerds, so we're playing video games. Good ones though! First up was Secret of Mana, and now we're back to the Only. Perfect Dark. Tim and Dennis have played this game so much, they can fly through it with their eyes closed even. Here is a short video of the two of them playing it out against some sims. I think it's Tim who dies though. Must be a bug in the damn game, because that never happens. Ever.

15 - Saturday - 11:54
Those were a couple of good rounds of Perfect Dark yesterday. Today, I'll be going to Amsterdam, because there'll be a get-together with my students who have been studying Dutch with me for quite some time now. We're going to eat Japanese food, Sukiyaki to be exact. And that is very, very good. At last I'll be able to eat Gyuudon again, something I've been missing so much since I left Japan. I'm putting big pictures on my walls here, but it might get too busy. I don't know. Picture soon.

16 - Sunday - 02:05
This night was more than good! There's so much to tell! We had Sukiyaki, and it was really good. I even learned how to make it now, so next time I'm in Japan I can impress the Japanese with my mad cooking skillz (...). Anyhow, after that we played the Game of Life. For me it was the first time I played the Japanese version, and this was even a special one, the 'World Stage' extension. I also got my appearance on Japanese tv on disc, so that'll turn up on this homepage soon enough! Joy!

17 - Monday - 10:59
Yesterday, it was kind of a slow day. Then, just before I wanted to begin cooking, I got a call from Jasper, and we had a burger at Leiden station's Burger King. After that, there was a plan for a Japanese style kompa, but unfortunately Bulk had to work, so we had to postpone it. Anyway, I got home againd and met Christianne, my ever friendly and shining housemate. I didn't have to think twice to make a picture with her. Later on in the evening, Ralph and I succumbed to television, 24 was on again.

18 - Tuesday - 02:05
I finished working and was also going back to Leiden, when I got a message from Wouter, so I went to his place and stayed there for the night, and exploded, due too 'tosties' and autumn 'vla'. Anyhow, Dennis and Tim are at my room now. I'm here too of course, and once I finish making this update, I'll join them for the Only game, Perfect Dark. I was experimenting with my digital camera, and the tripod, and here are two of the pictures I made. And now it's really time for Perfect Dark.

19 - Wednesday - 10:51
I think that many people will agree that sleep is in fact a good thing. After a good night's rest, it's a great feeling to wake up. Waking up to the yammering voice of housemates of the uglier variety, now THAT's just pushing the bill too far. Thus, another day begins. I'll be going to the museum, to check out a set of Japanese swords. Next week me and two classmates will do a little presentation on this set, for our professor and classmates. I hope I can find out who made the sword. There are several clues...

20 - Thursday - 01:56
Well what a day! We found out the details on the swords, and then Stefan, Dennis, me, and later Ad and Tim also, fought it out on the Only, Perfect Dark. Today was a day of bigger news though! A decisive soccer match was played. The Netherlands had to compete with Scotland for a qualification for the European championships. And lo, what do you know!? We won! We really won! Actually, it was kind of silly, as we won with a whopping six against nil. Six goals! Thanks to everyone for making it such a wonderful evening!

20 - Thursday - 23:54
It's really something else. Nowadays, when I try to think of things to write here, I usually go through the pictures of the day. People usually are bugging me that I try to capture EVERYTHING on film or pictures. Well, they're right. It's quite scary, the amount of pictures I've been making lately. I think it's mostly because of the digital camera. It's so easy to take a couple of thousand pictures a day. Most of them are pretty worthless, but there are some pieces of art among them.

22 - Saturday - 01:56
It was reassuring to hear that Jasper liked all the pictures on my homepage. So did other people too. Well don't worry. As long as the terrorists don't destroy my camera, I'll be taking pictures with it. Today was busy. Work at home, lunch at the Lak building near my faculty, classes, and in the evening, Tim and Dennis joined me for a couple of great games, namely Seiken Densetsu 2 and the Great, Perfect Dark. I met many people, took many pictures, most of which you'll see on this website some time.

23 - Sunday - 00:30
I spent most of my day with Aya. Together, we went to see Sinterklaas, who visited Leiden today. Lots of people showed up to see him, and overall it was very nice to see all the children being happy about him being so close. There were marching bands too, and even the police was friendly today. Aya and I had lunch, watched me on Japanese tv, played Momotetsu, and in the evening we went to see 'Kill Bill' together with Takuro. At his place, I ate great gyuudon, and we played more Momotetsu. Thanks, Aya & Takuro!

23 - Sunday - 17:21
I updated the New Jazz article by Dave Brubeck on my site. The reason for that is that Dave signed the article for me not long ago, and I made some scans of it. Please, by all means, go have a look. Today is very quiet. Wouter will be thrilled to hear that I've been inside all day. But I'll still go out! Probably only for groceries, but if anyone wants to go out and drink something, I'll happily go along. If not, I'll work more on my speech on swords, my website, and maybe I'll watch a movie. Yes Wouter, at home.

25 - Tuesday - 02:59
Whoops, slow update. Sorry. How did that happen? Well, as it happens to pass, I've been busy! Mostly stuff for university, including of course hanging out and getting inspiration sucked out of me by merely sitting inside of the Arsenal. It's a strange effect, but it's there. Anyhow, I've been out with Ad tonight. We visited Hakata Senpachi, a Japanese restaurant in Amsterdam. We talked to the manager Mr So, I actually talked with Remy Bonjaski, and after that we had beer in the beautiful town of Leiden. Great.

26 - Wednesday - 11:48
Yesterday, Dennis, Stefan and I did our presentation on the Japanese swords at the museum, and it went really well. Apart from the senile fool who tried to correct us. You should have heard him! Anyhow, after that I went home, and in the evening, I was called by a bunch of people who were drinking. Without thinking for too long, I joined them at De Kroeg, and there we all had a good time, having some drinks, playing poker, playing shanghai, and talking. Tonight I'll be in Amsterdam.

27 - Thursday - 00:37
Justus was alone, so Wouter, Haiko and I joined him for Dim Sum near the Leidseplein in Amsterdam. After that, we went to the cinema to see Kill Bill. We had a very relaxing evening, spent at Justus' place after the movie had ended. Ajax was playing against AC Milan, and they lost, nil to one. Well, that was too bad. But it didn't ruin the relaxed atmosphere, so I guess it's nothing to really seriously worry about. Now, I think I'll explode, and maybe go to bed after that.

27 - Thursday - 15:14
After classes today, we were walking the streets of beautiful Leiden. Then I saw Tessa, didn't think twice, and persuaded her to have a picture taken. Anyway, Tim and I went to my place for a short gaming session. Star Fox Adventures. Tonight there's a Tanuki party in Leiden. The theme is 'Bad Guys'. We're not going to dress up. We'll be drinking beer amongst all sorts of bad guys. I wonder what Raymond will look like as a pirate. First though, I'm going to teach two classes.

28 - Friday - 06:12
Work. Leiden. Niels, Ankie, bar? Shock, beer. Freedom! We love freedom. No. Disgusting. Raymond. Arr. Pirate. Strong stuff. Music, dancing, wailing. Wiggy feeling, strange. Since when can't I see anymore because of all the stickers? Takuro, yes! Ah, Wouter's gone already. So's Marije, well that's a shame. We can't get enough Freedom tonight. Huh? What!? (......) Noo.... you must be kidding me. Huh? (.....) Really? Well, at least I had lots of water. Jazz. Tanuki 'Bad Guys' Party. The stuff that history's made of.

28 - Friday - 20:46
The day after. Today, people were all talking about the Tanuki party which was held yesterday. I got home at around 6 in the morning, and even though someone called me awake at 9, I managed to sleep on until 12-ish, after which I didn't have a hangover. Relaxing at the Grote Beer, and talking to quite some people, I found out a bit later that someone had tried to steal my bike! The lock was cut, but the filthy perpetrator didn't have time to actually take the bike, too. Today's themes are confusion and relaxation.

29 - Saturday - 18:26
You're not alone, Isn't it wonderful, At Zanalkand, and more. The afficionados will know what I'm talking about. I've been practicing on the keyboard, trying to get these pieces into my head. No improvisations, no blues chord patterns, just the old-fashioned business of trying to figure out how to place your fingers on the keys for maximum result. Later tonight, I'll go see Kill Bill with Eelco. That'll be the third time for me to see that movie at the cinema. But it's just that damn good. First though... dinner.

30 - Sunday - 16:19
One more day and it'll be december already. Isn't it strange how time can fly at times? Anyway. My poster dropped from the wall again, so I have to put it back up. Raymond is visiting me tonight, and the plan is to relax and watch tv or movies. Oh, and listen to music. Sounds like a great plan to me. I've been listening to the Kill Bill soundtrack today. You should've been doing the same. It's wonderful music. Really Tarantino, too. Sorry for the lack of pictures recently. There'll be more soon.

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