Always fun ...

 

How evil are you?

 

[via RJ Anderson]

How many total songs?
3040 songs, 13.9 days, 23.32 GB

Sort by song title - first and last
'Aan de Oevers van de Tijd' by Spinvis [Dagen van Gras, Dagen van Stro]- '3121' by Prince [3121]

Sort by time - shortest and longest
00:00:08 'Evangelista - Und da die Engel von ihnen gen Himmel fuhren' by JS Bach [Weihnachsoratorium] - 01:17:53 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' by JK Rowling, read by Stephen Fry [Disc 8]

Sort by Album - first and last
'Amplified: A Decade of Reinventing the Cello' by Apocalyptica - '3121' by Prince

Sort by Artist - first and last
ABBA - Wouter Hamel

Top five played songs
Not counted

Find the following words. How many songs show up?
Sex: 7
Death: 42
Love: 178
You: 227
Home: 29
Boy: 13
Girl: 23

First five songs that come up on Party Shuffle
Not counted

G is for ... Georgia

And Georgia is still on mind.
Right after high school, I spent one year in Georgia, USA. I was enrolled at Oxford College of Emory University [wiki:Oxford@Emory]. Looking back at my year, I can see how I grew, but I also realise how much I had yet to grow compared to where I am now.

I had a great time and I met a lot of people, but in a way I feel that I was too young to get the full experience. I do think, however, that I left a piece of my heart in Georgia, and whenever I hear it mentioned I think of all the wonderfully loving people I met!

[via Caff and Cilla]

Leonieke

"What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger - and crazier"

'What is your personal life motto?' at QuizGalaxy.com

F is for ... Friends

And that was any easy pick!

This post is for all my friends, in the Netherlands, in Belgium, in the UK, in Germany, in the USA, in Spain, in Mexico, in Poland, in Canada.

E is for ... Eten (Food)

Alright, so I'm cheating slightly, but only because I am bilingual.

Eten, according to the Van Dale Dictionary of Dutch:

eten(1) (het ~) (noun)

1 voedsel
2 maaltijd

eten(2) (ov.ww., ook abs.) (verb)

1 (iets) als voedsel tot zich nemen => aan de maaltijd zitten, aan tafel zitten, bikken, de inwendige mens versterken, de maaltijd gebruiken, nasjen, nassen, zijn honger stillen

I like Food/Eten, and I not ashamed to admit it! Some of my favorite recipes can be found online, and I regularly receives updates from one of the best food sites available now: Simply Recipes. Of course, whenever I find something that hasn't been posted anywhere, I'll add the recipe to this blog (it's been a while, I know!): Bien Manger.

In time, I have realised that I'd rather spend more money on less food when that food is of a higher quality. What can I say: taste matters.

Do you have any recipes you wish to share?

D is for ... Den Haag

Apologies for the late post, but I was busy with my sister's wedding last week.

On to this letter, D. Den Haag / The Hague, my new hometown as of December 26, 2006.

I grew up in Voorburg (might come back under the V), one of Den Haag's neighbouring towns. As Voorburg is quite small compared to Den Haag, my parents would always take my sister and me to Den Haag whenever we needed new clothes and such, as Den Haag has some excellent large department stores. Also, any movie I saw, I saw in the cinema theaters in Den Haag. In fact, whenever my mom would say "let's go into town", she'd mean Den Haag.

Now growing up in a small town near Den Haag, I never felt I wanted to live in Den Haag. Among Voorburgers (aka, people from Voorburg) there is some pride in the fact that Voorburg received its 'city rights' from the Romans (Voorburg was known in Roman times as Forum Hadriani), whereas Den Haag received its 'rights' from Napoleon, which I believe were rescinded when the French left the Netherlands. Den Haag never received city rights again, but nowadays, seeing as it is the seat of our government and our queen, it is certainly a city in its own right!

I would never call myself Hagenaar/Hagenees (more on the difference can be found in the City section on Wikipedia's The Hague page), but I do feel at home in this city. Perhaps this also has something to do with the fact I live in a posh section!

C is for ... Comics

And cartoons. In books, or on television. I love reading comics and cartoons, and while at university I graduated to reading and enjoying graphic novels.

It all started with my parents' collection of Suske and Wiske comic books [Spike and Suzy] and I still occasionally read them when I'm at my parents' house. However, the recent comic books in this series (recent as in those published in this century) are not of the same level as the old ones and I do not buy nor read them anymore. Whenever my family and I would visit places in Europe, I (and my sister too) would usually have already read about it in Suske en Wiske, and I have recognized this in stories told by friends who grew up on the same books.

Of course, I also read the books of Tin Tin (Kuifje, in dutch) and Asterix and Obelix, but in my youth, Suske en Wiske were my favorite.

On TV, I used to watch all the popular cartoons (He-Man, yes, I'm sorry, was included as well), and in my late teens I even enjoyed Dexter's Lab.

While at university a friend of mine introduced me to the Sandman graphic novels. And this was very new to me!

Right now, whenever I watch TV, I will try to catch As Told By Ginger on Nickleodeon. Her kid brother is just hilarious!

Which comics did you grew up reading?

p.s.: I have always had a weakness for Calvin&Hobbes. Thanks to birthday presents from friends, I now have three books. These same friends also gave me the Gary Larson Galleries. In one word: awesome!

B is for ... Bamse

My teddy bear. I received him for my first birthday from my godparents, and he has been a faithful friend ever since that first day we met.

I do not have a current photo of Bamse, but compared to his first days, he has certainly changed! He used to sleep in my bed, underneath my head as an extra pillow. Over the years, Bamse was flattened severely, and now he is but a shadow of his former self.

Bamse has travelled with me to various countries, and of course during my one-year stay in both Georgia, USA and Edinburgh, Scotland he was at my side (and on some lonely nights in my bed). Even now, on those rare nights when sleep will just not happen, I will grab him, place him on my pillow and as soon as I hit the 'pillow', I fall asleep.

I have no idea where I found the name Bamse (in his younger years, I think he was simply known as Beer (Bear)), but I think I once received a comic book which featured a super strong bear, called Bamse [Bamse {wikipedia}].

Bamse now resides in a nice comfy basket at the food of my bed, together with some other stuffed animals i rescued from my youth (my parents did not allow me to keep ALL of them - how rude!), and last I heard, he was quite happy not be squished between my head and my pillow anymore.

I have discovered over the years that people who grew up with a teddybear as their favorite companion cannot seem to explain to people who did not have this particular stuffed animal what it is exactly, that makes a teddybear so special. Very odd!

As you might know, I am an avid reader of basically anything. There are enough posts on this blog in the category Reading Material. When I was younger, my parents would not allow me to read while eating breakfast/lunch/dinner, so I frequently resorted to reading the packages of milk, cereal or whatever was handy. Just to be able to keep reading.

I think one of the greatest things I ever learned from my parents is reading and a love for reading. I can remember numerous hours where all four of us (mom, dad, sister and I) would sit around the living room, each with our own book.

This love of reading has of course never left me. Perhaps during my university years I read a little less, mainly because for my English Lit courses, I had to read a mandatory list of books that I otherwise would not have read. But all this time, whenever I found a new book, I would read. And read. And read.

I cannot imagine nor fathom how many books I have read over the years. At some point during these years, I stopped reading Dutch books, because I found that the English books were more suited to my taste (as always, whenever there are more books written, you tend to find more books you actually enjoy).

Some time in 1998, when I was in Edinburgh, a friend of mine suggested I start reading the Harry Potter books. Book Two had just been published, I believe. Bookstores didn't spend too much attention to them, but I had seen them lying around. As I knew these were children's books, I told her I wasn't interested. It is not as if I never read children's books anymore, but I only read the ones I had grown up reading, I never read any new ones, and certainly not new English ones. She insisted I read them, but I never got around to borrowing her copies, or buying any for myself.

Fast forward to April 5, 2000 (good policy, always add dates/places/events/etc to the french title page of your book, including your name) when I bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I must not have found any other books to my liking, and I remebered my friends positive review of the book.


read more

You Are 91% Feminist

You are a total feminist. This doesn't mean you're a man hater (in fact, you may be a man). You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It's a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action.

Life is good. Even though at work it feels like I need a vacation again (it's a bit busy, but we don't use the word b.u.s.y. anymore).

And life in my own little house is great!

For all those who have not yet had a chance to visit me, below an impression:

The Order of the Phoenix - Simspons style

(and my character)

As this entry will contain spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7), I have decided that - even after 2 weeks - I should put my thoughts on the book behind the read more section.

Without further ado:

read more

20070501 Worms, and meeting Frank

Today Katie and I traveled to Worms. At least, that was our plan. We went via the Max-Planck-Institute, because Katie had some cells to wake up. Wow! That is certainly a completely different world! They even keep frogs there to harvest their eggs. I still don't quite understand what Katie is researching, but I'm hoping she will explain it again to me some time. From MPI, we took the bus (number 26) back to Eschersheim Station, and we stepped onto the S6 towards Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof.

While Katie took care of my ticket, I went and got us our daily Starbucks coffee. After grabbing something to eat, we went down again to the S-bahn, to get on the S8 to get our connection to Worms. Unfortunately due to May 1 demontrations, we did not really get out of the suburbs of Frankfurt and the train went back to the central station. After checking to see my ticket would still be valid, we went on another train (regular Regional Bahn / Regional Express this time), hoping it would bring us closer to Worms. I must say, I have discovered that the DB is not as perfect as we dutch regularly are made to believe. Our train was delayed, and thankfully Frank was sweet enough to pick us up at Bensheim. Instead of a tour of Worms, he had decided to use this opportunity to take us upto the Auerbach castle (gorgeous). Afterwards we walked through a wonderful area in Bensheim, called Fürstenlager. We sat in the sun, talked about the combined history of Germany and the Netherlands, and I even sang the first and sixth stanza of the Dutch anthem (never ask me again, Frank!).

As Katie had predicted (mostly to herself), Frank and I really hit it off. We talked about religion a bit, and I cannot wait to talk some more with him about this topic, because it is obviously something that we both have a strong opinion about. Should see if I can send him some more books, and perhaps suggest (or send) some books which my grandfather wrote (note to self).

Frank took us back to Worms, and he showed us where he lives in the Dominicaner monastery. It's gorgeous, and while I find it difficult to understand his choice of life, I can see the reason for living there. Frank told us

Our trip back was relatively unremarkable.

On this day [via wikipedia]

Strong 'construction year' [via wikipedia]

What happens to you when you work at an Academic Publishing house which has an entire unit devoted to the Classics?

I thought this link: Homer citaten (Homer quotes) would direct me to quotes by Homer. I never expected to find Homer Simpson quotes!

As a challenge by both Sofie and Jennifer: Five Things you (probably) don't know about me

1. I sometimes cross the street (or enter a shop/etc) just to avoid some people I'd rather never see again.
2. Living alone is a challenge - no idea yet how to fill all my time on my own.
3. I'm a big fan of musicals, especially The Sound of Music [wiki].
4. I once threw books in a rubbish bin (a big No-No imho).
5. I guess I am addicted to smoking ;)

I'm passing this meme on to Katie - good luck hon!

House

Yes, it's mine. I'm waiting for the rent-papers (contract/etc) to arrive, but I have confirmed I want it and the Foundation (how serious does that sound?) has confirmed it's mine :)

Next week, I'll be making endless lists of things I need to buy, things I need to cancel and renew, and of course, the all important "move" itself. Friends of mine have heard the question 'What are you doing in the third week of December?' often enough by now, to realize I want them to help me ;)

 

NaNoWriMo

With all the house-searching and such, I have not had any time to write. It seems, I'm stuck at my current word-count, and I don't know if I'll ever catch up. Perhaps, I'll do another run in January.

 

Weekend

Spending the weekend in Lunteren, working on Three-Dimensional (at least, that's part of the reason). Sofie, Michiel and Nancy have helped me celebrate the new house: my parents gave me a nice bottle of bubbly wine :)

We will be doing some 3D stuff, mainly working on a new site for ourselves, and working on a site for possible customers.

All in all? Life is good!

Received my 100-pack Moo Mini Cards [see old post: Moo Mini] yesterday and they are just too much fun!