Bye bye project, bye bye long commutes, bye bye lots of people I've spent the past 1.5 years of my life with, bye bye 1.5 hour commutes both ways. Yep, mixed feelings on the last day of work at ING. Loads of people popped by to say "goodbye" and the whole ARINSO team gave me a painted toilet seat decorated with a dartboard (so that all my guests will have something to aim at when they're drunk).

Saw "Habana Blues" at night with girlfriend. Cool!

Only 2 more days of work to go at ING. Popped by my aunt and uncle at night to once again borrow their grinder (lost my bike keys again)

Went for a bike-ride in the afternoon on the bike I got for my birthday (dad finally managed to make it all look like a proper bike). First conclusion:"Really cool!"... and then I realised that I had biked for quite a bit with the wind in my back, after turning around, I found out that it was friggin' cold and even worse.... very windy! Add me sweating a bit to that and you'll probably understand why I was feeling a bit cold on the way back :-)

Saw the Posies play at night. They pretended it to be the last show of their tour and goofed off for most of it. (Very funny) Actually it turned out to be their last but one show. Still big fun!

Attempted to get some ideas on kitchen flooring in the afternoon. Succeeded.

At night Nicktor popped by, had some drinks and then went clubbing. I stayed behind under the new savings-act that went into effect somewhere last week.

Weekend!!! Watched It's all gone Pete Tong with girlfriend in the evening. Cool film!

Kick-off meeting for the course I'll be starting on the 6th of february. Really looking forward to that one. Managed to get loads of paperwork done at night. Realised that I may need to cut some expenses here and there to make the transition to my new place a bit smoother. Unfortunately girlfriend doesn't allow me to mention cutting expenses :-)

Still... I fear I won't be seeing too many clubs over the next couple of weeks.

Whoa, birthday time today. Failed to get girlfriend to wake up enough to realise this and to wish me a happy birthday though.

After a full day of work, I got back home to already find my parents at my place who apparently were afraid that my place would be too messy to show to relatives. Got joined by girlfriend and after that the whole place quickly filled up with relatives. And while my family is pretty small, my living room turned out to be even smaller. Guess I really need that larger place :-)

Only 1 more day left before I turn 29. Only 1 more week of work left at ING. Found out that my next work-project will be at crawling distance from my new place. Actually if you're willing to wear kneepads, it could be crawled from my current place as well, I'd rather take the bicycle and do the 10 minute bike-ride though :-)

Got my hair cut! Apparently my hairdresser is thinking of making me grow a mullet.

After buying a house, I'm trying my best to spend as little money as possible. I'm doing pretty well this far I believe. I fear I'll be pretty dull for the next while though.

Showed girlfriend around my new place in the morning. Girlfriend appears to like. Then took off for my place where McR and eventually Nicktor showed up. Nicktor is weird, he was supposed to show up at 2, at 5 past 2 my phone rings and he tells me:"I'm 10 minutes behind schedule". So I ask:"So you're at the front door in 5 minutes". The answer turned out to be:"Well... errrrm... no" as it took him another 15 to show up.

Were supposed to go straight to Ruben's farewell party (he's leaving for Signapore) but got sidetracked and ended up at my new place again (this time with Martijn).

As for Ruben's party:"Loads of Whiskey *hic!*, Rainier and some of Ruben's sisters who were 4 to 6 years old the last time I saw them. The scare part:"Nowadays I could date them" (Please don't mention this to Ruben or girlfriend)

Walked back home with Nicktor at night who claimed to be annoyed that we were trying to hook him up with Rubens 14 year old sister. He should count his blessings, after all it's only a 2 year wait :-)

Got to show my new appartment to parents, kid sister and kid sister's boyfriend. Lots of good ideas coming from all of them, unfortunately they all mean extra work. Main idea:"We're nog going to break down 3 walls instead of only 1". Well.. we're breaking down 1 tiny wall and we're making holes for doors in two other walls.

Spent most of the afternoon walking through DIY shops wondering how much stuff I'd need. Still clueless on this.

Went to McR's place at night to play Dance Dance Revolution. Currently I'm the (almost) unbeaten king of DDR in my circle of friend. Unfortunately you look like a complete arse while playing this :-)

Food at Shiwa's place. *Yay food!* Obviously lots of talk about the new house, I'm still scared!

Visited the estate agent to sign my contract (16 times). And I had to do this thrice. Guess you can say that I can now add:"Experienced autographer" to my resume.

The estate agent had told me that I could borrow the key but that they wanted it back before 5 because I really wasn't supposed to have it before my mortgage is approved. How can I live without access to my place till that time?? Well... let's just say:"Yay for locksmiths! ;-)".

Still not over the whole:"I just bought a house"-thing. Got round to finally reading my contract, I'm actually buying a house. Do you people think it matters that I can't exactly remember what my house looks like?? I bought a house! I bought a house!

... and back to work we go. Spent most of the day shouting:"I just bought a house! I just bought a house!".

Visited girlfriend's mothers at night (while still shouting:"I just bought a house! I just bought a house!"). For those of you wondering why, read yesterday's entry :-)

Found the preliminary contract in my mailbox when I walked in late at night. Scary stuff!

I fear that today I more or less bought a house, the papers haven't been signed yet but after a quick talk with mortgage-guy this morning and a quick:"WTF does this mean"-session with my mum at my parents' place, I managed to get myself a mortgage at a pretty good rate, it will kick up my monthly cost of living by at least 200 euros a month but I guess I'll survive. Guess I'll have to start working extra hard to earn myself a nice pay-raise :-)

Slept in, then visited uncle's birthday party in the evening. Played with my PS2.

Went clothes shopping with girlfriend, she needed clothes, I tagged along. I thought that I got bored quickly while clothes shopping, girlfriend already announced that she wanted to go and do something else while I was stil kind of enjoying the whole process. I fear my mum will have to buy my clothes for many years to come :-)

Out clubbing with Cindy, Shiwa and Nicktor at night. Fun!

Long day of work followed by a night of X-Box games at McR's place. Got an interesting phonecall from Nicktor, who had forgotten the name of the street he lives in (???). And he wasn't even drunk!

Only worked the morning because me and my mum were going to take a look at an appartment which sounded interesting. Mum was supposed to tone down my enthousiasm but failed miserably at this, we both walked out shouting:"We want this house" Made an appointment with mortgage people on Monday, if this is going to work out then expect things to go quick.

Visited girlfriend's dad to pick up stuff girlfriend dropped there before she left for Finland. Amazed at how much junk fits in my little car :-) Very misty on the way back home.

Two days best combined using 1 word:"Stress!"

After waking up in a hotel and a quick walk at the beach all hell broke loose again, worked from 7pm till 11.

An early start of the weekend when my standby-phone started ringing at 8am to tell me that there was trouble at work. Tried fixing stuff till 1pm, then rushed to the Arinso NewYear event in the Hague.

The good news:"We're going to Cuba for our annual Arinso holiday!!" The bad news:"Got a call again and had to rush from the party to quick fix stuff again between 11 pm and 1 am.

Worked till far too late because I somewhat forgot about the backup-system. (I needed to work click on just two more things but those 2 things were crucial for this weekend) Visited parents for (somewhat late) newyear's wishes.

On standby all weekend because my colleague is ill. Arse!

Had a mini ping-pong night at Nicktor's place. Also had to work till late. Sucked at pingpong.

Was supposed to pick up girlfriend's stuff at her father's place but he turned out to be ill. So, made girlfriend dinner and watched her fall asleep on the couch.

Back to work again. Had food at girlfriend's place at night. Expect her to be somewhat of a theme for the next couple of weeks :-)

To wake up on New Year's morning without a hangover is an interesting experience, last time that happened was in Hong Kong, but then the guy spent NY eve with ran away with the hookers, so that may have been a hangover as well :-)

Got a phonecall from McR to check whether he needed to have sex with Nicktor (apparently McR always has sex on Sunday mornings) I told them to masturbate in seperate room so that my group of friends won't go odd.

Spent the rest of the day with girlfriend, fetched her tv from my place, went for a walk and had pizza for dinner. Yay! For girlfriend being back!