(¯`·._.·Tamara: living my dream·._.·´¯)

The gril in the window

2009-04-21T23:29:00.003+02:00

Just finished a theater project with MC about Kaspar Hauser. He was 16/17 when he stumbled into Neurenberg. He could hardly walk, barely talk, only knew how to write his name and couldn't keep anything in except water and bread.
Now Pete (who played Kaspar) sent us this story about "The Girl in the window" It's kind of a read, but worth it.
This is a story of hope and will hopefully awaken your awareness to children who may not be taken of properly.

==

Part One: The Feral Child

PLANT CITY — The family had lived in the rundown rental house for almost three years when someone first saw a child's face in the window. A little girl, pale, with dark eyes, lifted a dirty blanket above the broken glass and peered out, one neighbor remembered.

Everyone knew a woman lived in the house with her boyfriend and two adult sons. But they had never seen a child there, had never noticed anyone playing in the overgrown yard. The girl looked young, 5 or 6, and thin. Too thin. Her cheeks seemed sunken; her eyes were lost. The child stared into the square of sunlight, then slipped away. Months went by. The face never reappeared.

Just before noon on July 13, 2005, a Plant City police car pulled up outside that shattered window. Two officers went into the house — and one stumbled back out. Clutching his stomach, the rookie retched in the weeds.

Plant City Detective Mark Holste had been on the force for 18 years when he and his young partner were sent to the house on Old Sydney Road to stand by during a child abuse investigation. Someone had finally called the police.

They found a car parked outside. The driver's door was open and a woman was slumped over in her seat, sobbing. She was an investigator for the Florida Department of Children and Families.

"Unbelievable," she told Holste. "The worst I've ever seen."

The police officers walked through the front door, into a cramped living room.

"I've been in rooms with bodies rotting there for a week and it never stunk that bad," Holste said later. "There's just no way to describe it. Urine and feces — dog, cat and human excrement — smeared on the walls, mashed into the carpet. Everything dank and rotting."

Tattered curtains, yellow with cigarette smoke, dangling from bent metal rods. Cardboard and old comforters stuffed into broken, grimy windows. Trash blanketing the stained couch, the sticky counters.

The floor, walls, even the ceiling seemed to sway beneath legions of scuttling roaches. "It sounded like you were walking on eggshells. You couldn't take a step without crunching German cockroaches," the detective said. "They were in the lights, in the furniture. Even inside the freezer. The freezer!"
read more

Likemind Bedankt!

2008-12-05T23:04:00.002+01:00

Op 18, 19 en 20 december doet Likeminds het Rozentheater weer aan met alweer de 3e editie van Likeminds Bedankt!
Dit is een drieedaags festival met theater, muziek, readings, performances en een wedstrijd, wie de meest pretentieuze kop heeft van het festival.
Hier alvast een filmpje:

Likeminds bedankt from Likeminds on Vimeo.
Voor het reserveren van kaarten en het volledige programma, check: www.rozentheater.nl
(dit is dus mijn meest recente project...)

Goal - MC

2008-10-09T12:55:00.006+02:00

GOAL is de nieuwe productie van MC(voormailig Cosmic Theater & Made in da Shade) en vanaf volgende week te zien in het Compagnietheater in Amsterdam. Hier een kleine impressie:
(kom kijken!)

klik op de flyer voor een iets grotere (en daardoor ook leesbare) versie.

SPEELLIJST GOAL

vr 17 tm za 25 oktober Amsterdam Compagnietheater
do 23 oktober première
wo 29 oktober Rotterdam Theater Zuidplein
za 1 november Hoogeveen Theater de Tamboer
wo 12 november Almere Schouwburg
di 18 tm za 22 november Amsterdam Westergasfabriek
ma 24 november Apeldoorn Schouwburg Orpheus
di 25 november Utrecht Stadsschouwburg
do 27 november Eindhoven Parktheater
do 4 & vrij 5 december Dordrecht Kunstmin
di 9 & wo 10 december Rotterdam Hal 4
do 11 december Haarlem Stadsschouwburg
za 13 december Den Haag Theater aan het Spui
vr 19 & za 20 december Amsterdam Theater Frascati

‘Maat voor Maat’ aanrader voor de festivalbezoeker

2008-07-04T13:49:00.006+02:00

lees de rest van de recensie...

NRC Cultuurblog over Maat voor Maat

2008-06-25T10:46:00.001+02:00

We zijn weer op Oerol!

2008-06-19T13:53:00.004+02:00

Al twee en halve week ben ik weer op Terschelling met 't Woud Ensemble; dit jaar met de voorsteling Maat voor Maat van Skakespeare. Het weer zit niet elke dag mee, maar we gaan goed.
Maandag komen we weer naar het vaste land om op Over het IJ (3-13 juli) en Festival Karavaan 17 juli- 3 aug) te spelen. Voor een speellijst check:
't Woud Ensemble
Verder heeft Joyce Roodnat vandaag op haar weblog over ons geschreven en hebben Jos & Margien deelgenomen aan het koffietafelgesprek op het festivalterrein. Dit is terug te horen op de site van het NRC.

Orange Guinea Pigs Rehearsals

2008-04-17T23:49:00.003+02:00

Orange Guinea Pigs Rehearsals
Originally uploaded by tamleroy

At rehearsals tonight, we had one sick cast member, so my colleague Lindsay had to jump in at the technical run through.

Am making pretty long hours these few weeks, but these moments make it all worth it...

Just a note: She was not supposed to chase him and smash his head in with the cucumber...

Who put the goat in there...?

2008-04-03T02:55:00.001+02:00

I remember seeing this video before....but not the subtitles
Hilarious!

I love my work

2008-03-28T19:43:00.004+01:00

Dit is m'n nieuwe twee-in-een productie die van 22 april t/m 3 mei te zien is in Frascati 2 in Amsterdam.

De Hollandse Nieuwe Toneelschrijfprijs ging in 2007 naar Aliza Tekofsky voor het stuk Friezen!
Takele, geboren in Kenia en op zijn tweede geadopteerd door een Fries echtpaar, heeft Esmée op bezoek. Zij denkt van doen te hebben met een
heuse Afrikaan en Takele durft haar niet uit de droom te helpen. In plaats daarvan zwijgt hij.
Dan gaat de bel en staan heit en mem op de stoep.
Met: Ignaro Petronilia, Mike libanon, Mareille Labohm, Joke Tjalsma & Leo Janssen

De Orange Guinea-Pigs, bestaande uit Laurens Oliveiro, Linar Ogenia en Sharon Bouman ontvingen de Hollandse Nieuwe
Theatermakerprijs voor het stuk Orange Guinea-Pigs 3.0 - Bloodpact.
Orange Guinea Pigs 3.1 is een fysieke voorstelling waarin niets is wat het lijkt. Het gaat om herkenning, erkenning, de beleving.
Niet logisch of chronologisch. Een vervreemdende voorstelling waarin familie in al
haar oogverblindende schoonheid en ruwe lelijkheid aan bod komt.

De twee voorstellingen worden op di 22 april t/m 3 mei 2008, 20:00 uur als double bill gespeeld in
Theater Frascati, Amsterdam (www.indenes.nl).

Check ook MC (Cosmic/Shade) op www.mconline.nl en MC op hyves.

F*CK

2008-03-12T00:51:00.002+01:00

"After Friedrich Nietzsche declared that "God is Dead" - the word F*CK has become the most important word in the English language."

Funny

Funny

2008-03-04T22:49:00.003+01:00


Translation:
-"I bought this here, but I don't want it anymore"
- "Then you should throw it away"
- "You haven't been working here very long, have you?"

When

2008-01-15T22:12:00.000+01:00

life is not turning out the way you had wanted it to, people you love find out you're not perfect and can hurt them, you're re-evaluating everything you thought was true about yourself or you just feel blue, it's good to have friends who find and post something that makes you laugh.
That's all I'll say about it online

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-24T10:29:00.001+01:00

Wishing you 12 months of HAPPINESS, 52 weeks of FUN, 365 days of
SUCCESS, 8,760 hours of GOOD HEALTH, 525,600 minutes of BLESSINGS and
31,536,000 seconds of JOY...WHEW! Happy New Year!

Who needs traffic lights?

2007-12-15T00:21:00.001+01:00

I love Asia. Stuff like traffic 'kinda' arranges itself... It looks more dangerous, but really, fewer accidents occur.
This is India, but it could also have been Jakarta as well as Bangkok (although you would have to add a few cars and tuktuks and play it in slowmotions)

We're online!

2007-11-28T23:45:00.001+01:00

This week we really started working hard on Vlogalicious, our celebration of online video festival. If you are a developer of videoblogs, interested in making video content or a service provider for these purposes, you'll want to stay up to date.

Check the site

Wake up Cat

2007-11-14T12:48:00.001+01:00

This so takes me back to when I had cats! Spot on, so good!
Unfortunately Gabe's really allergic, so we can't have cats in the house...
Although after watching.....Unfortunately?

-This animation was made by an English animator called Simon Tofield.-

Focus on Film

2007-11-10T17:22:00.000+01:00

Two old friends of mine turn out to make a great duo... They've recorded all these little films in which they are reenacting scenes from movies. They're online and a broadcast company in Holland (Mikro-gids) has made it so, that if you answer three questions correctly, you can actually win stuff like a camera. Of course you'll have to speak Dutch for that...
The reenacting is also in Dutch, but it is sooooo hilariousthat it's even a lot of fun if you don't speak the language!
Please check out Mark en Hugo at Focus on Film

pulled a straight on the river he did!

2007-11-04T14:41:00.000+01:00

and I was chipleader, I was!
for a while...
but then I must have gotten distracted, must have

'cause I had three of a kind Kings, so I went all in and then, then he pulls a straight on the river he does!
He so owes me now!

HOLLANDSE NIEUWE

2007-10-22T18:10:00.001+02:00

Watch the video

Van donderdag 25 t/m zaterdag 27 oktober presenteren Cosmic theater en Made in da Shade het tienjarige jubileum van het Hollandse Nieuwe festival. Dit festival vindt plaats op 10 verschillende locaties op het terrein van de Westergasfabriek. Alle activiteiten in het festival worden speciaal samengesteld rond een jaarlijks wisselend thema. Het thema van 2007 is: familie.

Het festival presenteert vijftien nieuwe eenakters van toneelschrijvers en theatermakers. De nieuwe, ongespeelde theaterteksten worden gepresenteerd als geënsceneerde readings, door gerenommeerde acteurs, regisseurs, vormgevers èn door nieuw talent.

www.hollandsenieuwe.nl

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: arts, amsterdam, dutch, theater, plays, festival, music, fun, talent, culture, crossborder, dance, create, drama, talent, award, cosmic, shade

One by one

2007-08-31T16:38:00.000+02:00

Actually, this is not my 'one' vote AGAINST poverty, but FOR a better distribution of money, healthcare, education and food all over the world.
One by one, we should all stimulate some'one' else to also help, together we can make one big change. So, I'm asking you to help and to vote for One by clicking on Penelope or Floortje:

Business Manager Security

2007-07-25T10:31:00.001+02:00

is my cousin's new jobtitle. He started this job last month and is really happy about it. Now this site about Computer business posts about him being appointed to the job. That's cool. He's doing well. Now let's just hope his yet to be born son, will keep lying head down, so his mom will also keep doing well and can "easily" push him out. He's been turning and swimming around endlessly...

Concert at Sea

2007-07-12T01:04:00.000+02:00

Xolo worked on Concert at Sea for months. They filmed and edited all the preparations and the day of Concert at Sea. Here's the last episode. It will give you an impression.
I'll never forget this day. This was the day I told you about two posts ago...

Review!

2007-07-11T15:02:00.002+02:00

This is in Dutch, just because it is.
It's a review of the play I work for from todays newspaper, the Volkskrant.
For those of you that don't understand: it's positive!

Can you believe

2007-07-07T00:43:00.001+02:00

the week I just had?

Most of you know that I haven't been online a lot because of work. I work pretty much every waking hour nowadays, but last week saturday I had 1 day off.
We were supposed to go to Concert at sea, but I didn't sleep too well and when woke up I told Gabe to go on without me. I love De Dijk and BlØf, but I was just beat, couldn't picture myself on my feet all day and having a good time doing so.
He begged me to come along, said it was really important to him that I would be there. So, sucker for love as I am, I did.

It turned out to be the best day ever!!!!
We had brought our airmatrass to share a room with somebody else from Xolo, but when we got there we got a really nice room just for the two of us...We were backstage, right in front of the stage, in the VIP-area, danced to De Dijk live for the first time in 15 years with Patrick Lodiers mom and basically had the best time!

Best spot in da house!

Around 22.00 halfway through BlØf the weather turned on us, so we packed up our bags and tried to get back to the hotel...
That took us about two hours. When we finally got there, we changed into dry clothes and hotel slippers and went to the hotel-bar, because Chiem had told us:"Nobody goes to bed, nobody! I have a surprise for you and everybody stays awake!"
So we did. It's the funniest thing, but you do what he says. I don't exactly know what it is about him, you just listen.
But I had actually forgotten all about that by the time I had the next conversation:
G:"did you have a good day baby?"
T: "It was the best!!"
G:"Are you glad you came"
T:"Glad?! This is the kind of day we'll remember fifty years from now! When we're sitting on a bench in the park, we'll say: 'remember that day at Concert at Sea? It was soooo great!' We're gonna have a hard time topping this. Thank you for persuading me to come along. It was sooo great! So you better wait with asking me to marry you now, hihi. "
G: "Well actually...."
T: "What?"
G: "Well, actually..." putting his hand in his trouser pocket "Tamara, will you marry me?"
T: "You're kidding me"
G: "euh, no I'm serious. Will you marry me?"
T: "you're kidding me, you're joking, are you serious?"
G: "eh, well yes!"
T: "You're kidding me!" Looking at the little box in his hand "you're kidding me!!" still looking at G opening the box and seeing the ring "Oh my god, you're NOT kidding me! You're kidding me, right?"
G:"no, I'm not kidding, I'm dead serious! Will you marry me?"
T:"Oh my! Oh my god! YES!"
...............
AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHH I'm engaged! Never thought I'd be sooo happy about it! Almost a week has gone by and I'm still looking at the ring every ten minutes. Checking if it's real. It is! I so did not see this coming! I'm getting married!

with Huub vd Lubbe.

And then yesterday was my birthday. Of course I didn't really have time to throw a party, but nobody seemed to care about that. They just brought the party to me. And they're getting me a new camera so I can take loads of pictures myself again, instead of stealing them from fiends like I do now! I have such great friends and family!

For more pics: click on any of the above to get to my flickr-page

Two months

2007-06-27T23:11:00.000+02:00

Oh my, has it really been that long!!??
Yes apperantly. So I was busy.
I just started as a freelancer you see. I had a few afternoons with friends at the Vondelpark,

Had Gabe's family over to meet mine

(who's who?)

and spent the last two and a half weeks at Terschelling for Oerol.

Click on the pics to get to my flickr-page.

It was crazy, but great! I'm a theatre producer and I can pull it off!!! Some would say: yeah duh! But to me every time it's a nice surprise that I can actually do this. I can do this shit! It feels good! One festival down, three to go. (this summer)
I'm exhausted, but feeling good.
I'd like to take this opportunity to say thanks to Marja and Ben from Oerol!

Big shoutout to you two gorgeous people! And a big hug!
Next week saturday we'll have our premiere at Over het IJ Festival in Amsterdam.
And it's my birthday next week thursday, July 5th (just so you know...)

;)

2007-04-26T23:41:00.000+02:00

Imagine me in bed around 1 o'clock at night. I'm minding my own business being asleep and all.
G enters the bedrooms and tells me to move to the other side of the bed. When I ask him why, he answers that he has to get up really early in the morning since he's going to Hamburg...
WHA%@#$&%@&%??? I didn't know that! "Wheng wil yu bee bac?" I ask sleepily...
"Friday."
I move to the other side of the bed and next thing I know is that he kisses me, because he's leaving...
So tomorrow evening he's mine. Don't call.
We'll be busy
;)

btw

2007-04-20T23:21:00.000+02:00

Coming back to my post about the number 23 of a month or so ago...
Today is 20-04-2007 = 20+4+2+7=32 =23 reversed...
I'm not saying it means anything...but
...oh maybe I had to much wine at dinner.
never mind
Waiting for G to come home. I need to tell him what happened.

It was good

2007-04-20T21:58:00.000+02:00

Things were said and things were asked. And answered. I took a huge step in being honest and being who I am now. (and trusting it's okay) The big thing is that tonight I realized how huge the leap is that I have taken in being strong and clear in what I want and who I am in essence.
Today I spoke to some friends on the phone. Thank you so much for telling me how you see me! It helps me to redefine and fine tune. Even in regards to my biggest 'trauma'.
I thank people like Michael Franti for lyrics like: "don't fear your father, he's just a boy without a friend..." and other artists. You make life a more beautiful adventure to live. And Gabe and my mom&Dick, you give me the respect and space I need to grow and make me feel that you will love who ever it is that I will grow into.

Please forgive me for being 'way out there' tonight.
All I feel now is gratitude.
Of course I googled gratitude(it's sooo me) and this is what I found:

Am I the only one that sees a resemblance with my logo?

No regrets

2007-04-19T23:27:00.000+02:00

I am sending off my first invoice ever!!!! The last few weeks have been exciting, new, scary, insecure, somewhat tiresome, but most of all fun and inspirational! And I've changed the office area around so I'm at least facing the window now. Hope G will like it. (notice how the desk could not be any closer to the 'bar-area'...)

To add on to all of this, my sweety, being in Cannes this week, is surrounded by a lot of fun people and pretty women. When he's having dinner with all these hot chicks, men passing by are giving him looks of envy and he calls me straight after and says: "I thought they were nice and pretty cute and don't get me wrong I did enjoy my dinner with them, but they can't stand in your shadow baby. I couldn't help but think: I wish Tamara was here."
Need I say more...?
He's coming home tomorrow...

One thing I'm not necessarily looking forward to: I'll be having dinner with the dad tomorrow and for those of you that don't know me too well or haven't been following my blog: Yes, I have some dad-issues. I say lets get rid of those after twenty-somewhat-years. It's about time!

btw, what do you think of my logo?

Loïs is here!

2007-04-06T13:30:00.001+02:00

Grote broer
Originally uploaded by Wiendelt.

Tuesday morning, our friend Esther gave birth to her 2nd child Loïs within 2,5 hours!
I knew you could get pregnant in that time (even less of course), but for some reason I always thought that giving birth should take longer.
I guess Loïs was just ready to join us! (I know Esther was!)
She's healthy, beautiful and I'm guessing...blonde...

Her big brother Benjamin just wants to kiss her the whole time and Papa Wiendelt just wants to take pictures.... and me?
I can't wait until this first week is over, so I can see her live.

Congratulations Wiendelt, Esther & Benjamin!
To see more, check out Wiendelt's site at www.atwienies.nl.

We got lucky!

2007-03-13T19:19:00.000+01:00

This morning I was looking out the window of the plane, hoping to catch a glimpse of our apartment from above. I don't know why exactly, but it fascinates me. I saw two or three things sticking out the clouds and told Gabe I thought it was strange that we'd been descending for so long and were still above the clouds.
When we finally get through the clouds, we all of a sudden have also landed!
huh?

And now I read online and see on the news that the fog was so unexpected and soo thick, that many arriving flights were redirected to other airports like Eindhoven etc. and a lot of the departing flight were seriously delayed. KLM is making sure that delayed passengers get a bed to sleep in though...Wish US Airways had a service standard like that.

Just want to say how happy I am that we did land at Schiphol (and on time)!

======
Mist op Schiphol: vliegtuigen wijken uit
SCHIPHOL - De luchthaven Schiphol heeft dinsdagochtend flinke last gehad van mist. Minstens 35 vliegtuigen weken uit naar andere luchthavens omdat landen op Schiphol niet meer mogelijk was.
bron: parool.nl

The Number 23

2007-03-13T15:20:00.000+01:00

We went to The Number 23 starring Jim Carrey whilst in Montreal. In the metro, on our way back to the hotel, we run into this:

3+3+5+7+5 = 23

20 + 3 = 23
feb=2 + march=3 = 23

23....

you can't really see it like this...

But you can like this...need I say more?
Oh and then we get out of the metro and just before we reach the hotel:
Take a right: 3 + 2 = 23
Whoooohoooohooooooohooooo

For more pics of Montreal, click through to Flickr

Got home

2007-03-13T14:04:00.000+01:00

about three hours ago and it turns out to be real hard work to stay awake. Boy I am so tired! When we arrived at the Kutuma hotel on Rue St.Denis, this is what we see:
So I thought I'd just ask JaG what this is all about. Should we be worried?
This pic was taken 5.23... (but I'll get back to that later...)

Just a little detail

2007-03-10T13:34:00.000+01:00

I forgot. Gabe first talked to 'Helen' from US Airways and Helen asked him like three times if we were still in Amsterdam...."No, we are in Toronto, trying to get to Montreal" "Aaah". She puts us on hold, Gabe is getting really fed up with it. He takes a shower. When he is done, Helen is back on the phone (no really, this time they didn't forget we were waiting on the other end). Can we catch the 8 o'clock flight? I don't know, you tell me, can we? I check with her: "We seem to have gotten disconnected somewhere yesterday. Are we BOTH booked on this #402 flight?" "Yes, it's a booking for two"
We catch the 7 o'clock shuttle bus and Gabe asks the driver to takes us to US Airways, he does and takes us to terminal 3...(international?! euh?)
We run in and luckily there is only one family in front of us. Accept they have to help this family with all 4 of them. When it's our turn (around 7.30) they tell us were not at the right spot, because they don't fly to Montreal (from Toronto). US Airways only flies international. Flight 402 is an Air Canada-flight and no, we probably wont make it...(I wonder why she doesn't book us on a later flight-never found out) But she says she can help us. She gets the old-fashioned looking tickets and writes our names on it. (looking at the original booking, we are still traveling together).
Okay, everything is set. Now, run up to Air Canada and check in, we can't get you checked in here.
We run up and of course there is a huge line (there is always a huge line at airports)
We go to super-premium-special-first-class service and get served quickly. We try to check in.
Finally we get official confirmation: we will not make the 8 o'clock and come to speak of it, there was only one seat available on the 8 o'clock, not two. We get re-booked (yay! again!) and are now supposed to get to gate 131. She can not assign me a seat yet, but they'll do that at the gate. We get our boarding passes and proceed to gate 131.
Nobody there yet.
8.30 There is movement. Gabe's on the phone to Gabe B, so I think I just check my seat-assignment. I get to the counter and ask my question. She checks, yes, Mr.McIntyre is there, but Leroy, no..no..not on this flight...and not in the system.
WHAT THE F***?!!! I am no longer in the system?!
Can I hand her my ticket? Euh, no we have e-tickets. Hm. Please sit down for a minute. The flight is overbooked and I will be nr 17 on the standby-list so that wont help me. She'll try and figure it out.
At that point I loose it. We have been traveling for 27 hours already and now I am no longer in the system?! Gabe is booked and checked in on this flight and I know he will need to take this flight, or else there is no conference for him anymore. But he says he wont leave without me (at that point I want him to stay, since I am apparently completely lost now).
Gabe goes over to the counter to check if we have to try and contact US Airways again. She looks up and smiles at him and then looks over to me. She's found me and tells us they were supposed to book us together, but somebody, somewhere F***ed up. She felt it her duty to correct that mistake. We cannot sit together (we'll survive), but I am ON THAT FLIGHT! Yay! A break!
I guess she kicked somebody off, I don't know, but I am happy that that Air Canada lady gave us a break and got us to Montreal.
10 o'clock, we arrive in Montreal.
Now let's check were our bags are. We left those in Philadelphia somewhere between flights....
We have to fill out forms and get over to customs to get a stamp, then get over to US Airways on the 2nd floor. We fill out the forms and go over to customs to get our stamp. The girl behind the counter helps us with the forms, because app we had forgotten to fill out half the questions...And then she sees this US Airways guy walk behind us. That's the man you're looking for.
At first he wants to send us to Air Canada, because they were the last airline we flew with...but then he says: Can you wait five minutes? I just found this other bag on a flight that just came in. Of course we can wait five minutes. We describe our bags and he's off.
A little over ten minutes later, he shows up again....WITH our bags!
YAY! Clean underwear!
We get to the hotel, which was great as I told you before:

Yesterday we check out, because we like spending our money on other fun things as well and this hotel is really very expensive. So we get to this other hotel close to the newer and hipper center of Montreal. We can't check in until 3 o'clock. I get a little worried, the hallway downstairs is only about three square meters and looks a bit old....Is this going to be the biggest mistake ever?
But when we got back at the end of the afternoon, the Ethiopian man tells us our room has been upgraded and that our bags are already upstairs. We walk up and everything looks African. Our room is big, we have our own kitchen, free wifi, a nice bathroom with tub and a huge bed! Is this the universe making it up to us? Were we tested on our way here and now that we passed that relationship-test, we get an extra treat?
Am loving it!

ANd and and...!
I got to drink Starbucks Chai tea yesterday! And meet really nice people! And have a great time with G, falling in love all over again...

Okay...So what F happened? part 1

2007-03-08T21:58:00.000+01:00

We arrived at Philadelphia with US Airways around 3 p.m.(on schedule) Our connecting flight to Montreal was supposed to leave at 5:40, so we check the screen for departing flights to see is it's on time and which gate it leaves at. It says that flight 3790 (which corresponds with our boarding pass-not an unimportant detail) is on time and will leave at 6.49(...?!) That's pretty weird, 5.40 or 6.49. In our minds there is a difference of about 70 mins. Ah, details. Nevermind. We get something to eat and proceed to gate F32. There are a few people waiting, so we don't think anything of it (yet).
6.30: Gabe notices that there is too little movement around the gate and checks if the flight is maybe delayed more. "Oh no, we're sorry sir, your flight has been cancelled. And yes we know the information on the screens is incorrect, but we can't change that...." ??? Right. And nobody takes the trouble to announce this?! We here gate changes every other minutes, but no announcement about a cancelled flight? Okay...so now what? We go to the service desk. There is a line about 60 meters long. Fortunately a lady comes up to me and asks me if she can help (I was at the back of the line) I tell her we need to get to get to Montreal before 10 a.m. thursday morning so yes, maybe se can help get another flight. It turns out two flights to Montreal have been cancelled because of the cold and the snow.
The third and last flight to Montreal is still scheduled to go as planned, so she can put us on standby. Because of a new software system, she's not able to print our standby boarding passes and is not sure she can trust the info about this flight. Excuse me?
AND she can't see if we're really booked on this flight. "Go check at the gate" is her advise. I go to the gate as Gabe looks for other airlines ticketing-counters. At the gate I ask if they can check if we are indeed on standby and if they might be able to print a new boarding pass. WE are on standby and they print my boarding pass. When I ask for Mr.McIntyre's pass, they look at me funny. Apparently WE are no longer traveling together according to the system. All of a sudden our names are no longer connected.The flight is overbooked and we're not at the top of the list for standby so we run around from terminal F to C to D via E back to F to be on time for our standby flight. You try, right?
Gabe calls Air Canada and can get a ticket for 800 euros form Philidelphia to Montreal (1,5 hour flight!) for one person. Hm, let's check out other options first.

It's 7.30 by now and we've had no luck so far. They start boarding for the last flight to Montreal that evening. Halfway, they stop. Apparently there is no pilot for this flight. They can find one, but won't proceed boarding until at least 10/10.30 (the passengers already on board are stuck.
We get back to the US Airways desk. The girl checks the flights for today (thursday) and books us from one flight to the next. Eventually it turns out that the earliest available flight she can book us on for sure is at 3.00 p.m. By the time we would arrive at the conference, it will be over. She advises us to get to Toronto and fly to Montreal from there. There are hourly flights to Montreal, and the nine o'clock still has space. Okay, so let's try that.
She books us on a flight which is suposed to leave at 8.30. It is 8.45 at the moment. "it's probaby delayed" She can't print our boarding passes (of course, we knew taht already) so we run to terminal C.
At the gate, we are just in time.
"Do you have a boarding pass" euh, no. "Okay, give me any boarding pass" So we both hand him A boarding pass and fly to Toronto.
We get there, and the airport is DESERTED. Nobody from US Airways. So no way to check if we are indeed on a connecting flight. We check the Sheraton Hotel and its fully booked. They can call a shuttle and get us to a nearby hotel. We don't really have other options, so yeah, bring it on. At the hotel we call US Airways to get our flight confirmed. Finally after 20 minutes Gabe gets somebody on the phone. Helen listens to him and puts him on hold. I take a shower, Gabe takes a shower, we smoke two cigarettes and we are still on hold. It's 2 a.m. by this time. (8 o'clock Amsterdam time) F*** it, we'll get some sleep and call again tomorrow or just get to the airport at 6.

We sleep for 3 hours and get up....take another shower (to compensate the fact we do not have clean underwear) and call US Airways again. It's 6.50 and we get booked on flight 402, which leaves at 8....

We're not there yet....
part 2 will follow

11.50 a.m.

2007-03-08T17:52:00.000+01:00

is the local time here in Montreal. That is 17:50 in Amsterdam. We left our apartment at 9:30 yesterday morning and were SUPPOSED to arrive in Montreal 19:00 local time(1 p.m. Ams-time) Yes people that is a delay of 17 hours!!!!
And why? Was it because Philadelphia was snowed in? Well that didn't help, but the incompetence of the US Airways staff turned it into a 17(!!!) hour delay. Re-routing us through Toronto and deleting me from the system altogether in the process. Gabe has to go down to the conference now and needs his laptop, so I have to leave it at this for now, but will be pleased to vent this all later. I will just need to get it off my chest anyway. Decide for yourself if you want to listen to my rant...
On a brighter note: It's really cold and sunny here though. The way winter was meant to be.
And our hotel room is AWESOME!. Will show picture of it later.

Dolphin slaughter

2007-02-28T19:48:00.000+01:00

I just came across this film on Gabe's site and decided to cross post it, rather than to tell you I'm counting down at ISH(tomorrow will be my last day). I heard about this before, but had never seen it. It made me cry. I love dolphins.

If this affects you as well, please sign the petition to end the slaughtering of dolphin in Japan.

VOT reunion

2007-02-26T00:01:00.000+01:00

Last month Margien and I decided to organize a reunion for the Vooropleiding Theater we were part of as teenagers. What a great idea it turned out to be! From 3 p.m. I was in cafe de Doffer in Amsterdam, wondering if many of us would show and it was great!
Not very interesting maybe for those of you that don't know, but man I had a blast!
Just wanted to share that.

I was too busy having a good timee to tak pics, but those I took are on Flickr. Feel free to pst more. This is one of Cindy and myself.

hehe!

2007-02-20T21:55:00.000+01:00

Pffff, finally.

The last weeks were crazy! With he premiere on the 8th of february and then Gabe and then me getting this horrible flu! Man I had a high fever for days! I couldn't sleep at night, but the fevers were so high that they made me hallucinate and wake Gabe up in a panic that he had to help me, because I couldn't figure out which had to go on stage and which should be sold...I can't remember what it was that had to be sold or go on stage.
high fevers...
but now, after a week, I'm back on my feet.
And this morning everything seemed to turn around.
I am working at ISH to get everything done, since I only have two more weeks left there and all of a sudden I am distracted. I am thinking of Margien, who I'll be working with from April. So I check my phone, which is on silent at work and I just missed her call. I call her back and she tells me we're going to Teschelling in two weeks to check the location for the play. Great! A small little trip on the day after I quit ISH!
Then half an hour later I 'feel' I have to check my phone again.
Gabe. "Call me back when you can"
I can
He has to go to Montreal for a two day conference around the 7th of March and his ticket will be cheaper when he stays over the weekend...and would I like to come with him....
?!
Are you kidding me? I have the month off and have been begging him to talk a mini break with me and ow this fallls in my lap?
YAY! Me lucky! i have never been to Canada and am sooo looking forward!
I'm back folks! I'm going to Montreal with my baby!

I thought I'd google 'lucky me' and the pic above is what I found. Nice.

Starbucks!

2007-01-31T22:22:00.000+01:00

online petitie starbucks in NL

Just pointing it out....

I knew it... ;)

2007-01-30T18:45:00.000+01:00

I came back from Belgium just now. We had try outs fro Ballls there (in WAY too small theatres...so it was fun)
So, I come back, check my email and check what's new on my favourite blogs. As it turns out there's a test. I took it and am pleased with the result... ;)
And now let me get back to my baby who is making me some nice dinner...(the best the best...Iron man!)
Your results:
You are Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman		93%
The Flash		85%
Supergirl		73%
Green Lantern		70%
Superman		70%
Hulk		65%
Spider-Man		55%
Robin		53%
Iron Man		50%
Catwoman		45%
Batman		40%

You are a beautiful princess
with great strength of character.

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...

Preview

2007-01-23T22:54:00.000+01:00

Here's a little preview of what I'm working on at the moment. We'll be touring through Holland from February 2nd untill the end of April, so if you live in Holland, come check it out.

Short update

2007-01-23T22:37:00.000+01:00

Okay, I am busy, untill Feb 10th or so, I'll be living and breathing my job at ISH for Balls. But the forcast is even better. I am proud of myself. I willl be quitting my job at the end of February and will be going on as a freelancer! Yay! It's quite a big step, but it feels good. My first project I am really looking forward to. It will be with Woudensemble, so I will be busy producing a festival play. Am looking forward!!!! spending two months at festivals and getting paid for it! Am I lucky or what?
But I do take SOME time to spend with friends. Proof?
click through to Mijs and In-Ah...

YAY!!!

2007-01-13T00:14:00.000+01:00

Last year in june I handed in my dear dear powerbook to the HKU (Utrecht school of the Arts) when I quit my job there...and it already was so bittersweet to leave....
BUT
Gabe just finished reinstalling all my info on my new, yes MY new laptop!!!
I now have my own computer! Yay Yay Yay!

I love theater

2007-01-05T22:56:00.000+01:00

I am physically exhausted and sniffing every other second because I have a huge cold, my feet are sore from all the running around, I haven't seen Gabe at all this week, let alone friends or family and I have been eating caterer-food only, but I am happy.
Why?
Because I love theater! and I got to spend every waking hour in one this whole week.

Oh sorry, rude of me not to start of this first post in 2007 with wishing you all a Happy New Year! I really hope you had a great party with friends and/or family and I wish you all good health and a lot of fun in 2007. May your dreams come true so you can actually live them!
I did and I am! Although I seem to remember there was a little bit too much alcohol involved Sunday night....We got home at around .. . ... eh .. .. eh. .. . . ..well eh... ... .. oh, I don't think I remember that bit...But I DO know it was fun and that when we woke up it was around 4.30 p.m....which was also around the time we decided that a regular year contains 364 days...

Okay, back to my reality in the here and now, because that all seems sooo far away already.
I switched off the holiday-mode Tuesday morning at 9 and jumped at the first real-life opportunity this year. And it went well! I am physically practically dead (or did I mention that already?) which is due to the fact that we have been working at a theater in a city nearby with a cast of 13, about four technicians, a director, a choreographer and me and my production-team from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m. and then added some extra hours at home to get the administrative part in order.
Although we're not yet ready for the premiere, I am really happy with our last run-through and it is definitely getting there! Besides we have a few more weeks to fine-tune until the premiere. Although we'll have to do that with our director on tour in the US...
(yes I know, it's hilarious!)

So,

I love living my dream!
¯`·._but now me need sleep and dream new dreams....pfff...maybe....yes.......dream gabe make nice breakfast for Tam in morning...will probably need food....... then...yes....most probably....definitely_.·´¯`·.____________________________________

New Year's In Amsterdam

2006-12-31T14:57:00.000+01:00

Click to Play

Watch Wiendelt from atwienies.nl get down at the doffer. Our local pub where we celebrate New Year's. See you in 2007!!!

New Year's In Amsterdam

2006-12-31T13:52:00.000+01:00

Click to Play

New Year's in Amsterdam is an experience few forget. Imagine 40 million euros worth of fireworks going off all at once. It's quite intense. But very fun.

Funny

2006-12-26T19:29:00.000+01:00


We just came back from Xmax with my family which was great fun. Now, to keep you all laughing during the holiday season I give you this cute video I 're'found on Google. I first saw this at Annecy animation festival in France about three years ago. I love the facial expressions. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays from Gabe and Tamara

2006-12-21T22:41:00.000+01:00


The best 7 waterfalls we have ever seen! We recorded this message for you at the Erawan Waterfalls close to Kanchanaburi in Thailand.

Tagged, yep

2006-12-17T21:01:00.000+01:00

I'd noticed the tagging in the blogger-sphere, but I hadn't been tagged yet. Up until now. I just opened up my computer to do some work and saw that Mindcaster tagged me, so I guess it's my turn to tell you all 5 things about me that (at least most of) you don't know.

1. I am the queen of procrastinating. I always look like I am meticulously organised, but I have to be honest now... I am not. Therefore I am reading Eat that frog right now, which is supposed to teach me how to get the things I postpone done first. Well, I am not actually reading it yet...but I have it close, just in case I get bored...

2. My hands and feet are almost always cold. My grandmother calls them monkeys-feet. It apparently is a familytrade...Maybe we're just not made to live in a cold country like Holland.

3. I am NOT good at networking. I'm communicatively sane and I love meeting new people, but the whole networking thing gives me the chills. Maybe I should get a book about that.

4. I studied English for a year, because after I quit acting at the age of 18, I was totally confused about what else I could do and my English had always been reasonably good. It took me 7 years to wake up and get my ass back into theatre. The best choice I ever made!

5. I used to be a ugly duckling, way too big for my age and way too mature. One might say, an outcast. I make up for that now, by having such an active social life that I sometimes can't keep up. But I love it!

So there it is. And now I tag Peter-Bas & Marieke, In-Ah, Stu, Hugo and mopje

Have a Nice Holiday

2006-12-16T22:39:00.000+01:00

Click to Play

Have a nice Holiday from Tamara, Gabe Steve and Ghislaine.

My Political Bla and Michael Franti

2006-12-13T14:50:00.000+01:00

Am usually not somebody who blogs about politics and what I see on the news, but this morning I was I was amazed about what members of our government say and do.
For instance: An old colleague of Volkert vdG (the man who killed Pim Fortuyn) apparently works for the 'animal party'. I am not sure what he stands for precisely, but that fact that he once knew Volkert vdG is reason enough for Geert Wilders to be very very concerned...Euh, why exactly? Has he said that he is actually a huge fan of Volkert vdG and that admires his radical believes and what he has done and wants to do similar bad things? Or maybe they have some kind of telepathic connection and Volkert is psychically "telling" this guy to randomly kill other politicians? Whoohooo
I'm sorry, but I find it kind of strange that everybody who is acquainted with somebody who has done something wrong, is automatically a danger to society...?

I mean, that would imply that we cannot trust anybody in politics (some would say that is true), but I like to believe that there are still people out there who have the world's best interest at heart. But let's say that everybody who knows somebody that has done something wrong in this world, should not be trusted and considered a danger to society...Than nobody in the current realm of politics, cabinet and opposition who has personally met Rita Verdonk, can be trusted...right?
Because lets be honest, she's not yet been charged and sentenced to prison for her inhuman policy concerning foreigners who have been here since before 2001 (so 6! years or longer), whose children were born here and go to Dutch schools and so on. If those people were really not welcome, why didn't 'we' make up our minds a taaaad sooner?

After the elections it became clear that the majority of the Dutch people do NOT agree with this policy, that is why the VVD will probably NOT be part of the next cabinet. So late November a motion was passed calling for a general amnesty for asylum seekers who had lodged a request for asylum before April 2001 and are still living in the Netherlands.
Verdonk refused this and said she would resume the deporting of these people right after the debate even if the motion was passed through parliamentary vote. It didn't pass and now there is a motion of no confidence against Rita Verdonk..but the rest of the caretaker cabinet is backing her up so she probably wont leave. Or even the caretaker cabinet will fall. I can't believe it!
Regardless of whether you agree with her policy (which I do not), this is not democratic anymore. The majority of the Dutch people apparently do not agree and therefore this should stop! It's that simple in my mind, but maybe I am naive. This is so ice-ice-cold. So wrong!
And now some city in the Netherlands has even invited her to come and tell the Christmas story in their city...Right, she understands the spirit of that story...

So, I'm sorry for all this political bla from my side. It's not my habit, but I felt I had to speak up about this!
Tonight I'm going to Michael Franti with Wien, Hugo, Gabe and my cousin and his girl and I believe he'd make a good World President!
Shall I ask him?

6.00 a.m.

2006-12-10T05:50:00.000+01:00

Just got home....Pfffffffffffffff

On a more positive note

2006-12-09T20:00:00.000+01:00

This weekend is (like all weekends from October till December) filled with parties and friends. In-Ah had her Bday last Tuesday, so I'm going over there in an hour or so and hope I'll be fit enough tomorrow to go to the gym, where G and I started working out this week. (lets loose those extra pounds before Xmas!)

Blue Man Group, anyone?

2006-12-09T19:28:00.000+01:00

For those who do not know:
The Blue Man Group is best known for their "theatrical productions which combine comedy, music and multi-media artistry to create a form of entertainment that is totally unique."
When I first heard they were coming to Amsterdam to play at the Theaterfabriek, I decided I wanted to see them so I bought two tickets to the now sold out 20:30 hrs show of tuesday December 19th for a total of €107,= (incl reservation- & mailing costs).

Why I share the exact price you ask? Well....as it turns out.....We F^&%#(!&@$ can't make it! We have work-obligations, both of us, together. Does that Suck or what?! (yes with a capital S)

So anybody interested in the sold out 20:30 hrs show on tuesday the 19th? The show is supposed to be a reaaaally good and energetic experience.

The Dutch press said:
'Exact uitleggen wat er allemaal gebeurt tijdens een Blue Man Group-experience is haast onmogelijk. Blue Man Group moet je ondergaan' (Het Parool)

'Blue Man Group grijpt het publiek bij de kladden met een verrassende mix van humor, dynamische ritmes en adembenemende visuele effecten.' (De Telegraaf)

'Wat beduusd verlaat je het theater, nog amper bevattend wat je zojuist hebt gezien.' (Metro)

So if you're interested, please let me know asap?

P.S. They'd make a nice early Xmas-present...

2006-12-06T23:38:00.000+01:00

Christina Aguilera - Hurt

This is a video that In-Ah put up recently and since we were talking about dad-issues...This make me want to call mine...

on my mind

2006-12-06T22:30:00.000+01:00

It's funny how issues that are going through my mind are being posted about by other bloggers (some I don't think even actively read each others blog). In the last week I've noticed posts about the flu (which is maybe not so crazy, since it was kind of an epidemic), about how we value our parents and don't want to think about when they wont be here anymore, about dad-issues and two days ago I found something on myself that I really didn't want to find and was wondering if my body was maybe mutating into....god knows what and now I see that JaG just posted about it! What is going on people! Is it maybe true we're all linked to some sort of web? And I'm not talking about the World Wide Web as in 'online', but as in what is going on in real life. I mean, why are we all, all of a sudden thinking about how we need our parents?
(are you all happy about work? Maybe that is something we can all post about next week?)

Anyway, Gabe and I just spent the last couple of evenings making the apartment nice. We photoshopped some pics, like this one of Huug and myself at Lowlands, to print out and put up:

And today we got ourselves a Christmas tree and now the place looks really nice. This is not something I would normally be so excited about, but you see I moved 11 times over the last 13 years (since I moved out of my mom's house) and I went to college when I was 25, making my income drop with 60%, which kind of has an effect on the living situation. At one point I was wondering why I even bothered unpacking the moving boxes. Most of the time (not always) I shared apartments with people I hardly knew and it never really felt like home. A place where you can relax and recharge. And I never had enough room for a Christmas tree. My last flat share was in Amsterdam Noord where I had two bedrooms (yay!), one flatmate and two cats running around (which Gabe is totally allergic to) so I hope you can appreciate my overwhelming joy last February when I got to move into this two-floor apartment with Gabe and finally got to feel at HOME again. And now the place looks really nice and Christmassy and it makes me soo happy!
(So anybody else thinking about getting the place nice and Christmassy?)

December...

2006-12-01T13:38:00.001+01:00

Why is it that this time of year is always filled with death and birth? The circle of life always becomes so apparent in december. A few years ago in december my sister's boyfriends dad died and my (ex) boyfriend's sister gave birth to her son only 24 hours later. Last year it was G's grandmother that past away way too fast for G to get to the states.
Yesterday somebody very close to me called me up to tell me that they are expecting a baby(can't name names yet). Ten minutes later G called me that he was on his way to pick me up. The father of very good friend of ours was in the hospital and it didn't look good. Just before he picked me up, I got an sms from my colleague that she had just given birth to a healthy baby girl... This morning, P's father passed away. It brings everything back in perspective; all of a sudden I don't feel as sick anymore and I don't feel like bitching and moaning over work, the content of my closet or G not putting his dirty undies in the laundry.

I think about my friend, who is the same age as me and I can't imagine having to say goodbye to my parents. Eventhough I am not as close to my dad as I have been hoping for for the last 20-something years, I don't want to imagine... I mean, I know of course that we're supposed to live longer than them, but that doesn't mean they can just leave and die on us, right? They should live and be healthy until they're 90 or 100 years old and wait until we ourselves are all old and have grown up kids. I know this is not realistic and that life is not fair like that, but that is what is feels like. P's father was only 65.

I'm sorry this is not a very cheerful post. I just want to wish P, his mother, sister and the rest of his family all the strength in the world to get through this.
I am sincerely sorry for your loss.

Thanksgivingly sick?

2006-11-29T14:00:00.000+01:00

I have been trying to post about Thanksgiving for days now, but I didin't really get a chance with the running around Atlanta to see Gabe's family.
The thanksgiving dinner was really tasty out on the porch at uncle Dean's and I must say I really appreaciate Thanksgiving as an American holiday, because it´s not about spending money, but about spending Quality time with family. I say Hurray! It is possible to have a holiday in the states that is NOT about buying and getting presents. Although...
You do have the Thanskgiving dinner in the afternoon, so it´s actually more of a lunch/dinner, so that you´re done in time to go and watch the lighting of the christmastree in the beginning of the evening, which is actually the start of all christmas shopping. All the shops are open and have special discounts until the saturday after Thanskgiving. So RIGHT after dinner, it turns into Christmas, which as we all know is about nothing BUT shopping for, getting en giving (expensive) presents.

Unfortunately we couldn´t keep Gabe´s parents from wanting to go to the mall, but I did manage to get his dad and Gabe out within half an hour (after Gabe had gotten an expensive but cool and useful suitcase for Christmas) to go to a Starbucks nearby, have a Chai Tea Latte and sit outside in the sun! Am sooo proud of myself! It didn´t work on his mom and sister, but I guess women are just more sensitive to spending money. Except me of course, because I´m sooo strong! (blablabla right- couldn´t go shopping because I´d spent all my money already on G´s anniversary presents-so there´s nothing left for Xmas...)

But anyway, the being clogged up etc didn´t really get better in Atlanta. Instead it got worse. I tried going back to work yesterday, but I couldn´t concentrate and was sweating and coughing and sitting there with my head throbbing and ready to fall off at any time...so I figured I 'd be better off in bed at home, so that if my head were to fall off, it could at least land softly. So that´s where I am now and I am not getting out until I am really completely recovered. Hoping that will be soon though with Gabe´s chickensoup´s help, because next weekend we´re having our Sinterklaas-Xmas combo with my family which I am really looking forward to! Sinterklaas is a typically Dutch phenomenon which takes place on or close to december 5th (Sinterklaas´ Bday). If you don´t know what Sinterklaas is, please check out Invader Stu´s site. He explains it so well!
We combine this with Christmas since we wont all be in Holland at the end of the month and we celebrate by all buying three small presents per person and then before/during/after dinner we play this game to win the presents for keeps. So you'll understand I need to be fit by then!

Walking the dog in Roswell

2006-11-23T17:37:00.000+01:00

Okay, so this is what the immediate surroundings look like...(I'll be a lot more interesting once my brain starts functioning again, I'm all clogged up now)

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T17:05:00.000+01:00

Okay, this picture has NOTHING to do with Thanksgiving, but it is a picture of me and Gabe's uncle Dean and we WILL be going over to his place later for the Thanksgiving dinner, so I do have very good reason for posting this pic we took before Gabe and I went to Berlin for the Worldcup!
So anyway, I made it, I am feeling a bit better (although it's just turned into a cold now and I can't seem to stop coughing) and I am enjoying both the company and the wheather here.
Not that i'ts a lot warmer here, but at least it's sunny! So I walked the dog just now, just to wake up a little. Of course it's around 5 in Holland, but here it's 11 o'clock in the morning
and everybody is just getting dressed. Arielle isn't even up yet and I have been in bed most of the week anyways, so my body doesn't have the faintest clue as to what time it is...

Anyway, If I get a chance to upload the walking-the-dog pics I'll put some up, so you can see where I am now.

On my way

2006-11-22T06:57:00.000+01:00

I did it. Yesterday morning I set the alarm at 10.15 and 'jumped' out of bed. I started up the computer and typed in my e-ticketnumber. And there it was, one seat left at the emergency-exit, YES! Mission accomplished. So I went straight back to bed and slept until 2.30

I am feeling better then yesterday, I even sound better. I can actually talk and be understood, which is always 'handy'.
So, everything's arranged. I'm done packing and asked Wiendelt to vote for me today. He will.

Hopefully I'll arrive in Atlanta in one piece to enjoy the Turkey...

Feeling hot hot hot

2006-11-20T22:25:00.000+01:00

But not in a good way. My throat is hurting like crazy and my head is telling me to go straight back to bed after this. For a while now I'm aware of the fact that I tend to ignore the signs my body gives me at times like these, so I guess once you´re aware, it´s a good idea to actually start listening... So I will.
But I'm all alone... I wish Gabe were here now to hold me and make me a cup of tea. He left for Atlanta this morning and I have 36 hours to regain my strength and be totally fit again, so I can catch my flight wednesday morning to join him for Thanksgiving at the parents.Which I am looking forward to, because I've actually never celebrated Thanksgiving. (and I love turkey)
And we wont be able to go for Christmas and new years this year because of work, so now is the last chance this year.

So I have to get back to bed and get myself checked in online first thing tomorrow morning, to get a good seat. Send me good vibes to help me be fit enough to enjoy the family gettogether.
Okay, off to bed.

Another party

2006-11-19T13:23:00.000+01:00

Wiendelt

Of course my last two posts don't mean I wont post about parties and get-togethers with my friends and stuff anymore...Because yesterday was actually one of the parties that most of us look forward to annually. Wiendelt and Esther started it a few years ago. They gathered up all their musical friends, picked some songs they liked, rented a space to throw a party at and asked their other (less musical?) friends to come and join in on the fun. And tadaaah, the Jamparty was born.

So yesterday we had yet another Jamparty at Akhnaton in Amsterdam with songs of Anouk, Prince, De Dijk, The Eagles (performance of my sweety! euh, sorry, my-cool-rock-dude-man), Freddie Mercury, Herman Brood and many more. It was great great fun and now I feel hung over and tired again...pfff But I have to clean up the house a bit, M&M are coming with their 3 month old son Simon and it’s actually Mark’s birthday and he's coming over to OUR place, so I do have to have the house a little tidy at least right? And Gabe's cooking, so I gues I'll be the one tidying? S*#! don't feeeeeeel like iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittt, so first, we take a relaxing bath and Zennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

If you click on either of the pictures you will be taken to the picture-pool at Flickr. The reason I’m not in a lot, is because I was the one taking the pics(the ones which say Gabemac underneath, don't ask me why ;o) )…and I must say, there’s actually a few nice ones like these…which I think is quite a accomplishment with the camera being sooo very slow.

Hugo

If you missed the party: your bad. You'll have to wait at least another year I think!

Not that easy

2006-11-16T11:14:00.000+01:00

Hm, my decision to be totally honest on this blog instead of starting up an anonymous one, already on this first day turns out to be not as easy as I had hoped...

You see I'd like to get something of my chest concerning my job, but of course I have to take into account that I don't exactly who it is I am talking to.

But I'll give it a shot. I started this job in august and was really exited about it. The organisation has been around for about six years now and it has grown fast, especially over the last year. This makes it interesting for me in the sense that it's time to start doing things in a more professional and structured way and I happen to believe that that is exactly where my strength lies. I have also noticed that there is little resistance from the 'working mass' in this organisation. The majority wants to really work hard and is open to changes to make this organisation more efficient and stable. Which is a good thing right? There are quite a few intelligent and enjoyable people working here. The resistance or the slowing down of change I mostly feel from the top... There, I said it.

So from the beginning, or actually even before that, a number of things happened that made me wonder: what am I doing here, why do I take this, who am I doing this for and how come it's not giving me any satisfaction? You can imagine that I didn't completely surrender to this new challenge and dive as I usually do with everything else in life.
It's not like me NOT dive in and in the process forgetting to take a big enough breath to swim at least 10 meters under water. So before long I need to surface to breath and realise where I am, before I can find a more healthy balance. But not this time.
Although I'd like to dive in!

And then two weeks ago, we had a big meeting with the whole company in which the new structure was presented. It made everything a lot more clear to everybody and made me hopeful. It even made me say 'no' to another interesting job offer just yesterday.

All in all I don't think I want to quit this job and leave just yet. There's too many things I really like about the essence of the organisation. The social/cultural function the organisation has for young talent without an education in Amsterdam is very important in my eyes and the energy of the big theatreshows that we play throughout Holland and even in the states, is what makes so many people want to work in theatre in the first place. So I'd like to stay and at least sit out my contract, but on the other hand, I've never had this crippling feeling of being torn in two and not knowing whether or not I am making the right choice. One day everything is great and I know we can do some great things here and the next day I wonder why I would make myself go back at all. (I do go though...)

But just now I get an invite for a meeting tomorrow about my future in the organisation. I'm kind of expecting something, but I'm hoping they'll prove me wrong...

From the heart

2006-11-15T19:44:00.000+01:00

I've been thinking about my posts lately and why I don't post as often as I used to any more. And I came to the conclusion that I kind of used the fact that I had to give my powerbook back to the HKU last June and therefore have been without a decent computer, as an excuse. But the truth dawned on me last week when a good friend of mine e-mailed me her story from the heart, which she had written as a blog entry, but after finishing it decided not to post it.

I actually understood why she didn’t post it, but it also made me wonder. Here she wrote a completely honest story about what was going on with her emotionally and what she thought about it, which most women at least can probably totally relate to. But it was too intimate maybe to share on the internet with 'just' anybody that happened to stumble upon it.

And this is exactly why I haven't been posting a lot lately. I find my blog kind of shallow. I use my blog as sort of diary, but only of the good stuff in my life. Of my trips all over the world and of my parties with friends.
But there's more to life. More to my life. I am the kind of woman that thinks about what she does and why. That reflects and wonders about all kinds of things. I am very engaged in spirituality and 'busy' with my personal development and what makes me tick.
I realise I am lucky with my friends, my boyfriend, our great un-amsterdam-like-apartment and the freedom I have to change my job when it's not fulfilling my needs. But I also have my insecurities, my little doubts about being (or getting) overweight, not working out enough and being high maintenance. Am I? I might be, sometimes. But I'm also caring, a good friend myself.

But these things I don't post about. Why not? I don't know. I've been thinking of starting up a anonymous blog, on which I can be totally honest.
But why wouldn't I do that right here? People that know me and visit my blog, know this part of me as well (or could be interested in it at least), so no worries there. And the people that don't know me and happen to come across my blog might find it interesting and come back and if they get bored they'll stay away next time, right?

So. That's that than. From now on my posts will be more From the Heart. Thank you for reading this bit about my inner life and maybe till next time...because there is a lot more about life that I need to contemplate and from now on will share with you.

More!

2006-11-02T21:39:00.000+01:00

Well the week is almost over, but even more friends posted pictures and little films about last weekend. I honestly can't remember all that happened, so it's good to have friends that document it...
Marc posted this little film which is fun to watch, Lyssa wrote a post about the party in German and In-Ah posted a lot of pics on Flickr like this one:

We look so....well...anyway, spot the matching teeth..?
To see the whole set, click on the pic above.

...honestly I practised that gullable (or dummy) look

Patricia, Gabriel(yes 1 more!) & Marc

Wien, Gabe, In-Ah and the piratebitch
And this one of In-Ah&Ghislaine is for the 3rd year students of DVTG, because
you guys like In-Ah so much and yes, that's you up on the wall of my kitchen!

Halloween!!!

2006-10-30T23:20:00.000+01:00

Last saturday Gabe and I threw a Halloweenparty for our birthdays and anniversary. Everybody looked great and the cocktails were very tasty (a bit too tasty maybe...pffff)
I had a great time with all the witches, vampires, hans Klok & assistants, Hannibal the cannibals, burka-women, dead people, devils and angels and Mozart's and ladies!

Here's one small pic, because it takes forever to upload a picture to blogger now:
There are however many more that are worth your while if you want to see how we misbehave once a year, so click on:
Our pics
MincasterMarc's pics
BicycleMark's pics

And the Gabe's filmed a Xolo-episode at the party with In-Ah and myself as 'side-posts' so to say....fun.... ;)
Everybody who was there: thanks again!
(also for our relax-gift, we'll take you up on that next week! We're so lucky with friends like you!)

Lowlands!

2006-08-23T22:30:00.000+02:00

This weekend, Gabe and I went to Lowlands with some friends. Wiendelt, Hugo, Patricia, my cousin Peter-Bas & Marieke had a blast! Again!
Highlights this year were definately Michael Franti & Spearhead, Anouk and Massive Attack. I am so going to Michael Franti's concert in december! But, accept for the fact that we were lucky with the weather being so good on friday and saturday (although sunday of course managed to completely compensate that), we had a lot of fun.
To see all our pictures of this weekend, click on the pic above.
And I have even opened up i-movie again, so with a little bit of luck I'll be posting a little Lowlands-film soon...
(promisses promisses)

Oh my!

2006-08-23T21:59:00.000+02:00

It's been over a month since I posted, but I can explain! Really! You see I quit my job and lost my computer in the process and then I didn't have easy acces to internet and then I found a new job and oh yeah I was out of the country...Really!
Anyway, there's too much I want to share. Maybe I'll sit down to tell some of the amazing stories that we lived through in Thailand when we were there (I probably will), but actually there's more why I feel blessed.
As I said I quit my job at the Utrecht School of the Arts, which was kind of bittersweet because I had such cool colleagues and students! They organised this party for me at school on my last day. I had to play 'flipper'. I don't know if it's called that in English too, but I'll explain. My colleagues were all dressed up with airmattresses on their arms and were standing at safe distances of each other in the theatre at school. The door on the side of the theatre was open and after they had projected my face like 20 times on the screen, about twenty students ran in as if they were balls. I had to shout out my colleagues names for them to move and they would smack the students across the theatre! Sounds like fun huh? And then I got all kinds of presents. Some of those the students made for me esp. Really really great! Here's some pics:

Hans ready?

Evert sad?

Tammy happy! Thank you guys soooooo much!

Click through to: Gabe and Tam do Thailand!

2006-07-15T07:39:00.000+02:00

Gabe and I will be posting together in the next weeks about our trip through Thailand. Internet is sometimes sooooo slow and we probably have similar things to share (since we're taking this trip together...)
You can read our posts by clicking on: Gabe and Tam do Thailand and to see our pictures you click on the pic:

Thailand!!!

2006-07-03T06:39:00.000+02:00

We're here! After an 11 hour flight we arrived in Bankok yesterday moring at 6.30 (around 1.30 a.m. in Holland) A big and colourful bus took us to our hotel on the eastside of the city. Our bags were taken upstairs, but the rooms weren't clean yet, so we didn't take a shower and decided to have coffee and check out the backpackers neighbourhood of Bankok on the west-side first. There we looked around for a better place to stay and ended up taken a taxi back yo our original hotel (that was sooo not close to anything) to pick up our bags and go back to the center to check into a much nicer place. Now we are more at 'the center of things'.
It's nice here though, despite of the overcast, some rain and traffic (smog!). Speaking of traffic, the cabdrivers hardly speak English and some do not know their way around the other side of town. When Gabe and I got our bags from our initial hotel we tried to get a taxidriver to take us to our new hotel. I told him the streetname and showed him the map to point him the right direction. He smiled and repeated the streetname that sounded a little 'off'....I again repeated the correct streetname a couple of times and he reapeated it, every time a little 'off'. Gabe thought it might be the language-barrier, that maybe our pronounciation was a little off instead of his. (very well possible)
It would cost us 100 Baht (2,5 euro). That was a little on the low side, but he pointed in the right direction so off we went. Initially we did go in the right direction, but after 500 meters he turned left....Oops!
We asked him where he was going and he repeated the same address again...hm...
And after another 500 meters he stopped. This was it.
Heuh? No it isn't. Gabe took the map and started pointing at it. Look here's where we need to go. Just a litle north of China-town. Aaaah! Chinatown! No no no no NO China town. NORTH of Chinatown. Yes yes. And he started driving again. We were going further and further south and at the trafficlights I got his attention and pointed in the direction (North-West) that we needed to be driving. He looked at me as if I was crazy and drove on in the same direction (south). After about ten minutes I was convinced we would get through to him and suggested we got out and get a new taxi. That he understood. But we were almost at Chinatown, he said. Ah..hmm. I had been afraid of that. The only thing he had understood of Gabe's explanation of where our Guesthouse was, was Chinatown. (we still hadn't taken a shower yet...)
He let us out and didn't want any pay. He was so embarrassed I felt sorry for him. But within two minutes we had found ourselves a new taxi that knew exactly where we needed to go and he steered us around traffic, straight to our guesthouse. It was 2.30 when we took our Oh so good cold shower...

After that we got ourselves a new videocamera and some dinner and turned in for the night. Today we'll take in some culture and some shopping I think...And then tomorrow we'll probably move south towards pearly white beaches and our PADI....

To see our Flickrpics: click on the pic.

Back home, for a few days at least

2006-06-24T15:34:00.000+02:00

Tuesdaynight I came back home from the Weallspeakfootball-apartment in Berlin and went back to work for a few days. (counting down, five more days to go) Today's the first day in a pretty long time I get to spend at home, with nobody wanting anything from me, or talking to me when I actually want to be on my own. Sometimes that's just the best treat there is. I got to get up when I felt like it, make my own coffee and breakfast (yes baby, I made my own!) and have it out on my balcony with the paper and my Sudoku...(all I really need to do is get groceries and clean the apartment, but I'm so busy being lazy...help)

I did upload all my pics from Berlin and San Francisco. If you want to see, just click on the city.

And yesterday evening Marjan took me out to dinner to this African restaurant on my street. She'll be staying at our apartment as of next weekend when we go to Thailand for five weeks (!) (no the travelling is not over yet).
The restaurant turned out to be a really cool place with nice people, good food and coconut-beer! I had never tasted coconut-beer before and I must say: it was an experience. AND they do not serve it in a glass, but in coconuts! Life is good. Will definately go back there.

San Francisco rocks!

2006-06-24T15:05:00.000+02:00

I have been posting about Weallspeakfootball, and I might even do that some more, who knows, but that's just been the last week really. Over the last couple of weeks I have hardly spent any time at home. Not that I'm complaining, I mean I got to come with Gabe and Mindcaster to San Francisco where they went to Vloggercon. I spent half of my time with them trying to make myself usefull and the other half checking out San Francisco. What a cool city that is, oh my! Smart and creative people and of course the Walhalla for tout the gay-community. Even Amsterdam can learn something from this I believe. I checked out the city and went to Haight and Ashbury, since I had forgotten to pack my jeans. I only had one pair of pants to wear for five days, not a good plan. Therefor I needed to go shopping, you understand. On Haight I had a bagle and the guy who worked there called me outside because there were a whole bunch of people driving through the street on their bikes...naked! They were singing and cheering and people on the sidewalks cheered with them. I have no idea if they did this for a particular cause or to demonstrate something, but I just cheered along. Who wants to stand out in a crowd right? (well actually...nevermind) If anybody knows why they were there, please tell me.

And that evening at the Click Tv-party I got a tip to go to Coight tower because from there I was told I would have a great view over the city of San Francisco, so I went there the next morning. I bet it's true what they said...on a clear day. Here's a picture I took of the Golden Gate Bridge from there:

I swear it's the Golden Gate!

We all cry onions.....

2006-06-21T14:24:00.000+02:00

Monday was a beautiful and sunny day so we decided to have a BBQ that evening. Having a BBQ means making Grandma's sate to me and that results in somebody having to cut up a lot of onions....And I am soo sensitive that I cry even when I'm not the one cutting up the onions....It's pathetic really
But anyway, Marc heard us sniffing and came to our rescue! To see he video, just click on the pic:

Unfortunately it started to rain just when we were done preparing the meat, so we ended up having dinner inside after Gabe cooked the meat on the BBQ in the rain...(my hero)

pic taken by Mindcaster

2006-06-21T12:48:00.000+02:00

weallspeakfootball anthem for worldcup

This is the weallspeakfootball-anthem Esther & Wiendelt wrote and performed on top of the Berlin apartment. It should give you an impression of the atmosphere there...
We'll be extending the vibe in Amsterdam, since we'll be watching Netherland vs Argentina at the Doffer tonight!

Xolobabes!

2006-06-19T00:33:00.000+02:00

Xolobabes!
Originally uploaded by tamleroy.

Xolobabes relaxing on the rooftop. (I really needed it, but I'll post about that later. I've got Jetlag, but it was all so well worth it!! San Francisco, Atlanta, Starbucks....)

On top of the Weallspeakfootball-apartment

2006-06-19T00:12:00.000+02:00

Tamara

Originally uploaded by ifranz.

Renate from marketingfun.de took this picture of me yesterday...
I say: THANK YOU soooo much! I love it!
What do you say?

At the dinner

2006-06-19T00:06:00.000+02:00

At the dinner
Originally uploaded by Neezee.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH................

At the dinner

2006-06-19T00:03:00.000+02:00

At the dinner
Originally uploaded by Neezee.

GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!!
To see this action in motion click: Weallspeakfootball

Weallespeakfootball.com!

2006-06-18T16:50:00.000+02:00

Yesterday Marc, Mark, Wiendelt & Esther, Hugo, Gabe and myself flew and drove into Berlin for the World cup. We're staying in this great Coca Cola-apartment in Berlin
where we can watch football on a grass-green couch with footballs hanging from the ceiling and a great rooftop-green! All we do all day is have fun, take pics and shoot lots of video, edit, blog & vlog, play tablefootball and oh yeah we watch the games of course...
It appears to be true: Weallspeakfootball. Click on the link to check out the vlogs and more pics. Here are some pics to give you an impression of the apartment. Check it out!

Life is good

2006-06-08T17:03:00.000+02:00

Man, some days just make you want to walk around in the sun with your best friend, smile, close your eyes and feel happy. Today is one of those good days that has that effect on me! Thankfully my best friend is coming over in a minute to do just that. (which even makes me want to do it more. I mean what are the odds! You feel like walking around in the sun with your best friend and then she turns out to want to do the same! anyway)

This morning I had a job interview since I decided to quit my old jobs at the Utrecht School of the Arts. Quitting your job is something one should never do without thinking it through thoroughly and most wil advise you not to quit your job without having a new one. I tend to agree, but I did it the other way around this time. I did think it through thoroughly though. (boy there's a lot of 'th's in that sentence)
I enjoyed my old jobs, I had great collegues and some of them have grown into good friends over the years and we have the best students. But.... (there's always a but) I just graduated Arts & Media Management last year and when I went back to school I decided to (at least try and) fulfill my dreams. And that is something I just need to do outside of the safe environment of my old school.

Therefore I came to the conclusion that I had to quit my jobs.
Brave, some told me, but I don't know. It just seems the right thing to do.
And then last week I had a meeting with somebody (for my old job) who I would actually love to work with and this morning I had a meeting at his office for...a new job. It's not final yet, but it feels good. The chemistry there was great and tomorrow they'll let me know if we'll be having a meeting again shortly to work out the details. Let's keep our fingers crossed and help me project a good outcome!
It feels right though.

So I came home, did some work (I'm still getting paid you know) and I just finished packing my bags to go to San Francisco with Gabe and Marc to go to Vloggercon. A conference about Vlogging. Cool. I have never been to San Francisco. And on our way back we'll stop by Atlanta to visit Gabe's family who I haven't seen in a year and a half. Looking forward!
Next week thursday I'll be back. (for two whole days...and then we're off to Berlin again for "Weallspeekfootball"!!!) What a life!

So I googled: "Life is good" just now and guess what the second pic I see is?
A Calvin and Hobbes-pic! This day is getting better by the minute!

Jack Black on the Ellen DeGeneres Show

2006-06-04T19:28:00.000+02:00

When I first started reading and watching blogs and vlogs and started keeping my own, I regularly visited The Ellen Degeneres Show. Especially when I was writing my thesis last year, there were days that I kind of needed some help laughing and I would go to this particular vlog and get my shot.
Since then, I have kind of been distracted by other blogs and vlogs so today I decided to
finally check it out again. And what did I find? An episode with Jack Black! (gotta love him)
He's got a story to tell.... if you want to see it, just click on the pic and you'll be taken to Ellen DeGeneres' site.

From the dentist to Rita Verdronk....my day so far...

2006-06-02T11:26:00.000+02:00

This day started with me going to my new dentist. And as many of you, I don't particularly fancy going to the dentist. But it wasn't too bad, he postponed really hurting my to my next two visits (he promissed, nice huh?). There's nothing terribly wrong with my teeth, but he's not too happy with some work that has been done in the past and he wants to fix that...Oh and he wants me to go to a dental hygienist....(great-the butcher!)
So Yay! I get to go to the dentist twice more this month, PLUS a visit to the dental hygienist!
Lucky me!!!!
But then I got to work and Gabe had just sent me an email with this link.
If you can read Dutch: you must read it, so click the link>>>>>
Rita schrijft Ayaan

Heks

It's not even noon...I wonder what the rest of the day will bring.....

And now for something comletely different

2006-05-30T17:29:00.000+02:00

I would like to talk about somebody else's blog or in this case vlog for a change...This thirty-something Dutch vlogger needs advice...He's a single man living in Amsterdam and he talks and sings about his life and his search for....(?)
He posts in Dutch, but even if you don't understand every word of it, it's still worth checking out! It's painfully funny and raw.
I love it and keep comming back for more.
Check out 'Beetje raad kan geen kwaad' by clicking on the pic

Update Indonesia- HELP

2006-05-29T20:24:00.000+02:00

Today I heard on the news that at this moment they know of more than 5000 people that died in the area of Bantul and Yogyakarta and they are afraid this number wil rise up to 10.000. Still hundreds are waiting outside hospitals for medical attention since saturday and 10.000 people don't have a home anymore. There is a huge shortage of medicines and medical staff. The airport is open again, so at least planes with medicines etcetera will be able to land in the area.

Giro 555 has now been opened so again: please help these people.
Click on the image to donate.

Earthquake in Indonesia

2006-05-27T19:34:00.000+02:00

Last year I went to Indonesia and visited Java for the first time. It wasn't my firts trip to Indonesia, but I had never visited Java before. My family's from there, so I have this special connection to the country. Especially Yogyakarta stole my heart. It is a great city, with really nice and warm people and it's very close to the Borubudur, one of the most if not, the most famous buddhist temple of the world. I went there last year with my mom and Dick to see the sunrise and it was the most impressive morning of my trip.
Today I heard that because of an earthquake, a large proportion of the city has been ruined and thousands have died. People are homeless and also the Borubudur is heavily damaged. Apperently it's hard to reach the city by road and they closed the airport due to damage, so people are pretty much stuck. It breaks my heart.

The Dutch Red Cross has opened an account for Help. So those of you who live in Holland: If you can spare a little: please tranfser your donation to gironummer 661

The streets of Yogya (july 2005)

and the borubudur (july 2005)

The picture at the top I got from www.nu.nl. It was taken in Yogyakarta and the ruins the man is standing on are of his home.

One year ago

2006-05-21T10:51:00.000+02:00

This morning I realized I woke up completely different than exactly one year ago. Today I woke up rested after a relaxing night in my still fantastic appartment. If I compare that to exactly one year ago...
When I was living in two bedrooms in an apartment in Amsterdam Noord with a roommate and a broken legged boyfriend. Completely exhausted but very relieved it all worked out so well. What worked out? Well everybody was there on time, dressed up nicely, the beautiful red&black cake arrived on time, everybody knew what to do, I had some great assistance from friends & family, one friend even helped by setting up the party-location when we were having dinner, the party was great (even my grandmother stayed till late) and they both said 'YES'. Since I was the master of ceremonies at my cousins wedding these were all very important and very tiring 'details'.So I'd like to take a moment to congratulate my cousin Jan-Paul and his wife Mariette on their one-year-anniversary!
I hope you'll have many more happy years to come with that beautiful and cheerful son Merijn of yours.
Congratulations!

Merijn at approx.8 months

Grunningers online

2006-05-11T10:21:00.000+02:00

For those of you who don't know: I was born in Groningen in the north of Holland and eventually moved to Amsterdam which I now call my home. Over the years many of my friends actually did exactly the same and now Wiendelt started up a new blog for this particular group. So this blog (which is in Dutch) is JUST for people from Groningen who live in or close to Amsterdam. But don't let that keep you from checking us out and commenting at: http://www.groningerconnection.blogspot.com/
Or click on 'd Olde Grieze:

Afterparty...

2006-04-17T19:12:00.000+02:00

So today...it was time for the afterparty...we spent our morning in bed watching a movie and then we took our picnic-stuff and headed for the Vondelpark with a blanket, a couple of sandwiches and a bottle of wine...Finally a spring-day
Afterparty...sun, Gabe, hmmm...
Click the pic to see our other Vondelpark-pics

Party part 3

2006-04-17T18:33:00.000+02:00

And then yesterday we celebrated Benjamin's 2nd birthday. Fun! Kidsparties!
Hm...Guess I'm not completele ready for that yet. Don't get me wrong I love Benjamin, I mean you'd have to, there's no escaping really...
Here he is having some cake. He kept adding toppings like the tipically Dutch hagelslag (chocolate) and whipped cream and stuff. But when there were 12 small children running around the place...I subtly sneaked towards the balcony, which at one point was the most crowded spot at Es&Wiendelt's place...
But it was fun, he got some great presents, that everybody liked to play with like the fishing game:

Party part 2

2006-04-17T18:09:00.000+02:00

Okay, next episode.
Saturday was my grandfather's 89thy birthday so we picked them up and went to dinner with the whole family in Zaandam. It was fun. My grandfather enjoyed himself thoroughly!
Here's a few pictures of the evening.
here's my mom, my grandfather and my aunt,

my grandma and me,

my uncle and cousin,

another cousin and my sister,

my mom and grandfather again,

and another uncle and cousin.

Grandpa: congrats! I hope to have you around in good health for a very long time!
He had opened up a bottle of cognac in advanced, because he knew Gabe and I were coming over, so when we took them home at the end of the evening we had to come up for a drink and evaluate the night. We were wasted, but it was worth it!

Party party!

2006-04-17T17:51:00.000+02:00

Boy what a partyweek it's been! Last week friday Gabe returned from the AMI in Leipzig. We enjoyed fridaynight together in our fabulous apartment and saturday we spent doing groceries and getting the place ready for our housewarming party. It was great! I can honestly say we had a full house and no time to take pics or film anything. I felt like I didn't have time to talk to anyone really. Why is that? You throw a party because you want a whole bunch of people close and celebrate with them and you end up not spending time with most of them...you're just running around making sure everybody's having a good time and having the drink they want. That is why I think I actually like other people's parties better, because then you have time to sit done and chat with whomever you like, but of course on the other hand at my party I have all the people around that I really like. Dilemma. But I have to say it was great! We did share our place with a lot of friends and family (from my side at least, Gabe's family will hopefully be coming over some time this year, maybe june or august?)and we got some great gifts! Nothing we didn't like!
We got flowers, clocks, dvd's, a huge plant that looks great in our livingroom, lots of champagne (Gabe isn't much of a champagne-drinker, but that leaves all the more for me...), Thailandbooks, sushi on weels, money and lots more.
We decided to spent part of the money we got on a decent air-mattress, one that fills itself up with air through this little motor, so we can have guests staying over. (Peter-Bas &Marieke will be thrilled)
It was great, so I say: thank you all so much for being there last week and we hope to welcome you all again!

Today's a good day

2006-04-07T13:24:00.000+02:00

Because I'm feeling much better! I have been eating properly for the last two days and am feeling stronger by the minute. Thanks for the comments and sms-es, they really helped. And the weather is sooo nice! Might spring finally really be here?
Plus one of my best friends just called me. She's pregnant and just found out whether 'Jip' as we now call him/her is gonna be a girl or a boy...It doesn't really matter in the end of course, but it is cool to know. So I'm really happy about that. (and NOT sharing the outcome of course)
And.....

after a week of vlogging for Mini at the AMI in Leipzig, my baby climbed the fence and escaped the AMI-grounds....
He's on his way home!
I hope... where else would he be going...? ;)

Pic by Thomas Gigold

One more thing: Gabe 'n Gabe in Leipzig

2006-04-02T20:06:00.000+02:00

Yes, one last thing, Gabe and Gabe are in Leipzig this week, vlogging their asses off for Mini at this car-fest. If you want to see what they're up to: check the vlog by mini
And to give you a litttle taste, here's Gabe getting ready to go:

Good therapy

2006-04-02T19:27:00.000+02:00

This blogging is actually good therapy. I just write down all this BS that's been going on in my daily life and get it out of my system so there's then more room to be busy with new nice things or things that I worry about (like Rita Verdonk becoming the lijsttrekker for the VVD...?! Oh my god.) But I'll leave the political blogging, vlogging and podcasting to others.

I'll focus on my own little world with an occasional sidestep. As I said, it's actually good therapy.
So here's for some more good news: more and more friends join our thirty-something-club.
Today is Mijke's birthday and I say welcome to our club! This is a good reason to celebrate! So we did.
First we had dinner at Mijke's place with her parents and Mijke got this great present from Steef&Arnoud, that I had actually seen online just days before and all I can say it: I want it tooooo!
It's absolutely useless, but that I think is a core quality of good gadgets.

You attach this thing to your small mobile and it's like you're on the phone the oldfashioned way...Totally unnecessary, but soo cool.

And after dinner we went to a cafe in Utrecht where Mijke and Steef celebrated their 30th birthday together. It was great fun and I took one of the nighttrains back to Amsterdam, where for the first time in a long long time I could actually bike home after going out on a saturdaynight! No more cabfare! No more cabfare! no more cabfare!

Okay good, I got most of the last six weeks out of my system. Now there is room to figure out what to get for our own party next week... Beer, wine, snacks, how much and where?
And if anybody wants to get us a present for the great new apartment but doesn't know what:
Gift certificates are always great (from ikea or other interior-stores), because we want big new things like a new couch, a new bed, a nice big mirror in my 'boudoir' where I can check if my clothes are on the right way, new black pillowcovers for our huge ikea-pillows, art for on the walls of the livingroom, plants/flowers for on our balconies, bbq etc
Hm all pretty big things we'd like...have I grown into a material girl...? Oh god...hope I don't get right-winged from it...

10 minutes after a month and a half

2006-04-02T19:12:00.000+02:00

And then two weeks after our move, it was time for Gabe and In-Ah to move their stuff, so naturally we were there. It went a lot faster and better then was to be expected with the weather
(for details, see In-Ah's Happy Blog Thingy)
Later that sunday, Gabe and I went to Gabe's old place to clear the attic, when this guy just swirls onto my lane looking around as if he doesn't know where to go. Now of course you can't always know exactly where you are and where you're going, but are you insane? Just pulling over to another lane? Especially when there is somebody else already there?!
If it's really that confusing that you can't pay attention to the road and its other users: then stop your *$#@!!> car and check where the !#*@! you are!!!!! Anyway, I hit the breaks to avoid an accident. I succeed, but then: SLAM!!!! the guy behind us apparentle wasn't as quick as me...
So, my car is fine, it just has a few scratches on the back, his hood was bend and he was really shocked...I was actually fine at that moment. But after we filled out the insurance papers and got back into the car, it hit me. And my knee was hurting...bad.
But to make a long story short, I have been walking with bandages and a crutch for 3,5 weeks...
It's fine again now, just walking stairs and biking with hard wind is not going as smooth as I'd like yet.

a month and a half...?!

2006-04-02T18:17:00.000+02:00

Man, where does time go? I've been getting remarks that I haven't posted anything in a while when I actaully thought it hadn't been that long, but now that I look at it...it's been a month and a half! A month and a half!? Where was I, what have I been doing?
Hm, think back, boy it's hard...am tired, but I'll get to that later.

Oooooh yeah, we moved on february 19th...that was it. And it wasn't one-day job I'll tell you that! I've been packing, moving, unpacking, making nice and working...
So, the fantastic appartment I posted a while ago? We're in! It's ours! And it's soooooo great, me sooo happy!
Here's a little impression of packing up Gabe's old place:

And of the move itself, we were so lucky to have such great friends and family coming over to help us. We split up into two teams and added a little competition... The team that won, would get a prize...
And guess what? My team won! By over an hour! We had my old appartment packed in 45 minutes! Can you believe it? We actually even had the truck with my stuff in it almost unpacked when the other team showed.
So here's a big shoutout to the Green team (Joris, Marcel, Peter-Bas, Marieke, Patricia & Mark): THANK YOU GUYS SOO MUCH! You'll get your rewards next week!
But, not to be unfair towards Gabe's team: we know you guys worked really hard and want to thank you as well. Especially Gabe and In-Ah, who were in the middle of their own move and came over to help. Wow!
And then for my mom! Everybody should have a mom like mine! She's fun, intelligent, wise and o so practical! I was so panicking in the kitchen with like 35 boxes to unpack in there. Gabe and I were absolutely positive it would NOT fit, mission impossible. period.
But my mom...well let's just say she can work miracles. She got it ALL in.
And we even got a clean bathroom thanks to Patricia (who btw absolutely LOATHES the chore)

Virtualish in premiere

2006-02-17T10:48:00.000+01:00

Last Wednesday I went to the premiere of Virtiualish in Amersfoort. Virtualish is the fifth big show of the energetic theatregroup ISH and was developed together with eight students of Design for Virtual Thetare and Games (DVTG) from the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU)

Virtualish is a theatreproduction in which theatre, dance and gaming come together. The performers are game characters that have to battle their way through a world in which there is a fine line between reality and virtuality.

The students worked on the concepts together with the director Marco Gerris from September till January and the dancers/performers, choreographer and sound- and light designers worked with that since December. The result is a well-balanced exhilarating experience with dance, humor and visuals. I say: Go check it out! So click to their site for dates, because they'll be playing almost 50 times throughout the Netherlands.

pic source:www.ish-events.com

Magic fridge

2006-02-16T20:52:00.000+01:00

Watching the superbowlcommercials I came across this one from Bud Light and it just cracked me up. Now I'm hoping for a magic fridge at our new place!
Click on the pic to see the magic fridge