tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35193272011-08-15T21:26:34.713+02:00selmernoreply@blogger.comBlogger7081100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-84366219100235372122008-07-24T21:47:00.003+02:002008-07-24T21:54:05.874+02:00

Well... seeing as I managed to more or less end this blog with kittens arriving, let's pick up with the past 10 months of kittens. After being shy for a couple of weeks, a period of Wodan peeing places where he probably wasn't supposed to (including even once our bed), Wodan running away for a day and lots of shouting either:"Wodan, no!" or "Kissa, no!", both of them have settled more or

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-65812829549101908242008-07-24T21:42:00.001+02:002008-07-24T21:42:57.698+02:00

Her majestyOriginally uploaded by selmervYes, I know, haven't blogged in ages. Am still alive, might have loads of things to tell you all about. Will probably have to do so more often. But let's start slowly. After buying a new camera last weekend I've been taking loads of photos of things. Really liked this one of Kissa staring at a fly.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-56419704208586713642007-11-18T16:21:00.000+01:002007-11-18T16:26:34.557+01:00

Yes, I'm still alive, yes I know that I managed to fail to write for almost 2 months. I've apparently been too busy chasing kittens (more pics to be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/selmer). They're currently working on severe demolition of the house. But after 2 months they appear to be almost used to living here.Besides that I've obviously been working, I'm using trains more and more to

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-89563292759993539272007-10-03T20:44:00.001+02:002007-11-18T16:21:46.243+01:00

More news on the kitten front. Last Monday girlfriend and I picked up our new kittens. After spending most of the evening looking at kittens sleeping in their travel-box we eventually spotted some movement. Kissa (Maaike's kitten) even walked halfway across the kitchen before disappearing back into it's travel-cage again. Wodan (mine) didn't move an inch all night.On Tuesday we both had to work

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-48432761065600897132007-09-14T22:32:00.000+02:002007-09-14T22:42:53.490+02:00

After giving girlfriend a kitten for her birthday, we still needed to pick kittens. (Somehow an 's' crept in to the whole equation) Fortunately Karlijn came up with somebody with kittens and tonight we chose the ones we wanted: Introducing: Kitten one and Kitten two (we're still deciding on names, we believe). Maaike picked the grey one, the red one is supposedly mine. They'll enter our

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-36074592138075937472007-09-10T17:12:00.000+02:002007-09-10T17:14:02.850+02:00

When girlfriend is out and you decide it's more efficient to place the laundry rack in the kitchen, try remembering this when you try raiding the fridge at 3am. That way you won't nearly wet yourself when you spot a weird shape in the kitchen.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-92216700712663314592007-09-09T20:37:00.000+02:002007-09-09T20:39:59.762+02:00

Had the nerve to check what the summer did to my account balance, have to say it could have been friendlier. Then realised there still is a credit card bill coming in containing a washing machine. Might need to get a job on the side and live on water and one minute noodles for a bit.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-85032545629735562332007-09-09T11:24:00.000+02:002007-09-09T11:42:44.850+02:00

Apparently time flies when you're having fun. And if that's the case then ever since coming back from my roadtrip, fun I must have had. In the space of two weeks I saw girlfriend finish uni and get herself a proper job, I somehow managed to hit the Utrecht night-life dressed as a gnome and I managed to get away with giving girlfriend a voucher worth "once castration" for our 3 year anniversary.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-37419294603990244812007-08-27T20:40:00.000+02:002007-08-27T21:09:26.462+02:00

Just returned from 2 weeks of holidays, half of which was a roadtrip with McR, Nicktor, Karen and a Dutch girl called Ingrid, only Karen had met before. The other half was a meetup with the people mentioned in the previous sentence and lots of Australian people I had met during my days in Perth. Fortunately Ingrid turned out to be a lot of fun, so the first half was a big succes. My Australian

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-67858584476757083662007-08-05T12:38:00.000+02:002007-08-08T21:46:31.854+02:00

Was far too busy playing with my DS to update the diary, then a copy of "Bit of a Blur" by Alex James showed up and there was even less an excuse to update the diary. Really love the book, now need to find a way to have good looking hair. (Apparently all you need as a bass player is good hair)In another couple of days my second big holiday of the year should take place. This time it'll be a

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-61952050602616588952007-07-22T13:54:00.000+02:002007-07-22T14:00:16.942+02:00

After last week's budget-chicken, where I told Nicktor that I'd get a Nintendo DS if he'd get one. There's now a new addition to the Selmer and Maaike househ0ld. I'm still trying to work out whether now having a DS means I won or I lost. Our collection of games is still limited to two (which might either be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it) but both have received quite

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-284477388073128142007-07-15T21:49:00.000+02:002007-07-15T21:50:40.364+02:00

Hi all, got told off by Ellen, Lorraine and girlfriend for considering ending this blog. So... that must mean that I do have readers ;-) I'd better get back into writing interesting stuff soon then. Sadly tonight I'm too busy to write because somehow I ended up buying a Nintendo DS. I blame Lorraine and Nicktor's eager-ness to join in.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-20057746851802509642007-06-13T21:26:00.000+02:002007-06-18T21:31:56.743+02:00

Went bookshopping in the morning, then teamed up with Ruben and Wendy for lunch. They managed to make us eat all the things in the "what to eat in Singapore"-booklet, which we failed to cover yesterday.Eventually left Ruben and Wendy behind and did the night safari in Singapore zoo. Recommended.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-47336433764108035862007-06-12T21:23:00.000+02:002007-06-18T21:31:30.958+02:00

Flew back to Singapore, got measurements made for a suit for lots of money (still a whole lot cheaper than at home though) and eventually teamed up with Ruben and Wendy for food, food and food.(Ruben is trying to get us to eat all foods of the "what to eat in Singapore" booklet within 48 hours. We're not complaining ;-) Walked around town for more food, tea, coffee and nice views. Got told off by

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-46942396918233213852007-06-11T21:21:00.000+02:002007-06-18T21:23:19.064+02:00

After visiting 3 more temples in the morning, we ran out. No more temples to be seen in Angkor. Our tuctuc-driver advised us to take a boat-ride on the lake, which we did. An interesting boat-ride but for the $20 each the 1 hour trip was probably a bit expensive. The boat-trip only taking us to an overpriced restaurant made it feel even more of a scam. Still.. interesting to see how people live

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-79530006809570479672007-06-10T21:20:00.000+02:002007-06-18T21:21:42.517+02:00

Woke up really early to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Nice. At the same time this meant that we were finished looking at temples around noon. Slept most of the afternoon, then had dinner in Siem Reap. The city center looks like more fun to stay than our place. Still.. for $USD 12 the room is really nice.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-49766173085363976602007-06-09T21:18:00.000+02:002007-06-18T21:20:32.517+02:00

Day one of visiting temples. Slept in, booked ourself a tuctuc-driver for the next 3 days (USD $60), got access passes made for Angkor ($40 each) and set off to look at lots of temples. Really interesting, really hot and sweaty and every other step 10 childeren will jump you to try and sell you something. (Usually "only 1 dollar") Still definitely worth it.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-39884038691119836912007-06-08T21:14:00.000+02:002007-06-18T21:18:26.313+02:00

Woke up in Bangkok, had a bit of trouble finding the place where we were supposed to be picked up for the next bus (arrived there at 6:50 while we were supposed to be there at 6:30) and spent an hour wondering whether we were still on time. Just as we started to consider whether we should book a place to sleep for the night, we got picked up for another bus which would take us to the Cambodian

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-12600832843097772022007-06-07T21:11:00.000+02:002007-06-18T21:14:12.353+02:00

In the evening our Bangkok bound bus would pick us up. Till that time we stocked up on books, fruit and other useful things. I'm now finally the proud owner of "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", Mangosteens and anti-diarrea medicine.Managed to get picked up by the bus and spent the rest of the night bussing.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-27454423338451654632007-06-06T21:04:00.000+02:002007-06-18T21:11:30.964+02:00

Woke up and did the "chilli club cooking class". Mr. Visutt is still the brilliant teacher I remembered him to be and girlfriend and I got schooled in Thai cooking + food decoration. Still suck at the food decoration, still having trouble finishing all the food. Did survive though and eventually at dinner time set out for a look at the night market. Failed to buy anything useful.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-14172451508866176062007-06-05T20:59:00.000+02:002007-06-18T21:03:58.167+02:00

Woke up early, crossed the border on a boat and after a little wait at a guesthouse on the Thai-side (why wake up early again?) we made our way to Chiang Mai. I spent quite a bit of time there 4 years ago but apparently most of it was spent drinking beer seeing as I can't remember seeing much of this town.Walked a bit around town and tried booking a train out of town. Found out that that train

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-32958880304325701342007-06-04T08:54:00.001+02:002007-06-11T08:56:04.034+02:00

Up early again, into the boat and then did basically the same as yesterday. Arrived late in the afternoon, found ourselves a guesthouse, had dinner and passed out.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-91405448273490448862007-06-03T08:47:00.000+02:002007-06-11T08:53:43.691+02:00

Got up fairly early and set off for the boat-station. Here we hopped onto a slowboat, which took us slowly up the river to Pakbeng. Floating slowly upriver means staring out at scenery (mainly trees and bushes with the occasional cow, goat, fisherman and elephant.) Still good fun for the 10 hours it took to get to Pakbeng.There our bags got dragged off the boat by a friendly local, who offered to

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-57187206838771151372007-06-02T08:40:00.000+02:002007-06-11T08:47:20.142+02:00

Walked around Luang Prabang, looked at temples and got soaked in sweat. Looked at some more temples, had dinner and did some shopping at the night market.Oh, we also managed to book the boat out towards PakBeng and Houayxai (sp?). Over the Mekong. That should take us most of the next two days.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-8134702535596469612007-06-01T08:33:00.000+02:002007-06-11T08:38:18.361+02:00

Today only a 200 km bus-ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang. That can't be too challenging, can it? Actually, our expensive bus turned out to be fully packed with foreigners and legroom was a bit of an issue. Also, apparently it is possible to take more than 6 hours to travel 200 kilometers. (Then there was a mountain in between)Eventually did make it though, found a guesthouse, had dinner,

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-16043991616297924282007-05-31T08:28:00.000+02:002007-06-11T08:33:14.589+02:00

Had break-fast, jumped on a songthaew and got taken 15 kilometers up the road for some caving, some trekking and eventually some tubing back home. The caves were really cool, 1 with a big Buddha shrine, one with really sharp, slippery rocks and one which we swam into floating on inflated car tubes.After lunch we trekked back to the main road, caught a car back a bit and then jumped into the river

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-15079101304374733112007-05-30T15:47:00.000+02:002007-06-07T06:13:13.679+02:00

After seeing enough of Vientiane, we decided to move on to the next place. 150 kms of travel took about 6 hours. Eventually we made it though, checked into a guesthouse and walked around town (which consists of 2 streets), after which we had dinner in a restaurant showing simpsons-episodes (somehow it seemed a better choice than the place which was showing Friends). Tomorrow we're going trekking

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-47826535729628669162007-05-29T06:15:00.000+02:002007-06-11T08:07:37.047+02:00

Spent the day walking through Vientiane, checking out temples, bookshops and other things to do. A nice, small city but also somewhat warm. Had food and beers on the riverside at night.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-17357421936510954232007-05-28T10:19:00.000+02:002007-05-29T10:23:08.870+02:00

Seeing as Savannaket wasn't the most exciting place ever we took the first bus out in the morning. Actually, we skipped that one, it left at 6:40 but the 8:15 bus did the trick as well and seeing as Vientiane was only 400 kms further up the road, how long can it take?The answer: Apparently 10 hours. Locals have to get on and off the bus all the time, the bus-driver needs a break every 2 hours,

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-32250550808233319012007-05-27T10:16:00.000+02:002007-05-31T15:38:37.100+02:00

Got up at 5:30, got in the bus and landed in Savannaket at 4 in the afternoon. This envolved several busses, and while at the first stop they told us:"No, you're not supposed to enter the bus to Savannaket all other tourists just entered", at the Lao border they made us enter that bus after all.Not much happening in Savannaket, except for a torrential rainstorm for which we had to take shelter

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-37888751339032819902007-05-26T10:11:00.000+02:002007-05-29T10:19:16.296+02:00

Completely forgot to mention the boat-trip we booked on the Perfume river. Got thrown on the back of a motorbike in the morning, got put in a boat and boated up and down the perfume-river while looking at temples and perfume river-life here and there. Probably more exciting than I make it sound here. Managed to bump into Fiona, who was taking the same boat tour.Probably not as much a surprise as

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-55386590677253178122007-05-25T09:59:00.000+02:002007-05-29T10:11:11.536+02:00

Woke up in the train and jumped out at the Hue train-station after a while. Apparently I'm pretty good at sleeping in trains. Apparently girlfriend had more problems.Got jumped by 1000 people trying to sell us hotel-rooms, jumped in the back of one of their vans and got rushed to a beautiful hotel-room in Hue. A bit on the expensive side (if one is allowed to call USD $15 a night for a double

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-18751248503568856692007-05-24T11:16:00.000+02:002007-05-25T11:17:30.630+02:00

Spent most of the day getting back to Hanoi, then getting some more US-dollars, showering and eventually at 7pm the overnight train to Hue. Slept really well.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-83056130441845120522007-05-23T11:11:00.000+02:002007-05-25T11:16:24.670+02:00

Woke up, got boated to Cat-Ba island and then set out to do some "light trekking". This did involve a pretty steep hill, which eventually turned into more of a rock-climb than a trek. Still made it to the top, sweating profusely.After that checked into our hotel, had lunch and went for a Kayak-trip through the bay of Cat-Ba island. Nice! Got out on the other end of the bay and after some cursing

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-85369528352433547012007-05-22T11:08:00.000+02:002007-05-25T11:11:26.949+02:00

In the morning a bus picked us up, drove us to Ha-Long city, found out that Vietnamese drivers are somewhat scary and that Vietnamese buses are not the funnest to sit in for long whiles.Eventually got on a boat and set out into the bay. On board a kiwi-guy (Russell), an Australian girl (Amanda), 2 Irish girls (Fiona and Caroline) 3 Thai People and 4 Vietnamese. The Vietnamese had brought

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-37125673867486806882007-05-21T11:06:00.000+02:002007-05-25T11:08:02.214+02:00

Woke up late, had breakfast, booked a tour and explored Hanoi. My observations of yesterday still stand, add to this the insight that neither girlfriend nor me is succeeding at coming to grips with the Hanoi street-pattern. Still... a nice city to walk around in and look at stuff.At our return Gregor appeared to have disappeared. Didn't find him back again. Good food at night.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-65608959071747902912007-05-20T10:59:00.000+02:002007-05-25T11:06:07.459+02:00

...argh! Had to wake up really early to clean up the place, before we all took off. Girlfriend and I had a flight out of Singapore to Hanoi at 4 PM so unfortunately we didn't get to do more stuff with the bride and the groom.Made it to the airport, flew into Hanoi, got ushered into a cab, told the cab-driver where we wanted to go and got taken to a completely different place because 'our hotel

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-11364637373247002682007-05-19T10:52:00.000+02:002007-05-25T10:59:46.073+02:00

Today's the big wedding day, at the mansion where all the internationals were staying (yes, there were a lot more of us than me or even Ruben had expected) , we all got put into a bus to have breakfast at the brides' mansion (food is a theme in Singapore). Eventually the groom arrived and all the men had to go out for the teasing of the groom, where they made Ruben do stuff to 'earn' his bride),

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-3020222708864201982007-05-18T10:46:00.000+02:002007-05-25T10:50:51.761+02:00

Checked out at the hotel, left our stuff inside and explored Chinatown, Little India and some other places in Singapore. Eventually took the tube and a cab to get to the place where we'd be staying for Ruben's wedding.Found Ruben + family and got put to work straight away. Never thought that cutting ribbons could be so tiring (no aircon because it blew away the ribbons made me sweat all over).

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-64017362781243641472007-05-17T10:42:00.000+02:002007-05-25T10:46:47.841+02:00

The last time I was in Singapore, I thought it was far too western and it didnt make much of an impression on me. At least now with me flying from Europe, instead of coming in from Malaysia, Singapore made a whole lot more sense to me. It's still not my favourite city but at least now I noticed that it was cheap where as coming in through Malaysia made me shout out:"Whoa! Expensive!" and at least

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-17124367787219617012007-05-16T10:33:00.000+02:002007-05-25T10:41:11.114+02:00

Decided not to get to the airport too late (Charles de Gaulle airport, that is). I apparently completely forgot to tell you that the reason for us jetting off France-wards was that flying from CDG-airport was a whole lot cheaper than flying from Amsterdam airport straight away (even including train + hotel) Seeing as we had to check out before 10 and seeing as we were flying at 1, we decided to

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-32643679905530031472007-05-15T10:30:00.000+02:002007-05-25T10:33:33.518+02:00

Yes, I'm slow on the updates. Fortunately time for adventure has started again and today girlfriend and I jet off Paris-wards for our 4.5 week holiday to Singapore, Vietnam and then God knows where else. We fly back from Singapore so we at least should get back there eventually.Spent all of today in the Thalys and then walking through Paris for a bit (checked out the Sacre Coeur for a change).

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-15844210170765694432007-05-08T21:43:00.000+02:002007-05-08T21:45:32.259+02:00

Okay, I should really update far more often but right now there's reason to update. Somehow I managed to become Arinso employee of the month last weekend and I spent all weekend cruising in a BMW Z4 because of it. Even more fun than I had imagined it to be.And even better, in a week time I'll be on the plane Singapore-wards for a for week holiday. *yay!*

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-22913695276947393312007-04-10T19:54:00.000+02:002007-04-10T19:57:32.132+02:00

Yes, I'm still alive but girlfriend left me home alone for a couple of weeks (she's in Finland) and I'm celebrating by playing Resident Evil 4 on my PS2. This means killing zombies/aliens for most of my evening-time and not typing weblogs.I do miss girlfriend tough, being home alone in a dark house while fighting zombies/aliens often makes me screan like a little girl when something jumps up in

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-88402837092204798162007-03-21T20:40:00.000+01:002007-03-21T20:43:23.016+01:00

Just when you think that the Ernie kidnappers will keep quiet from now on, a new sign of life occurs. A couple of weeks ago the kidnappers had me stand outside a toy shop for an hour wearing a yellow sweater and carrying a bag containing 139 euro's. Yesterday I received a letter with plenty of photos of me carrying 139 euro's and wearing a yellow sweater. The bastards had set up shop in the

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-15041208966594358422007-03-11T20:56:00.000+01:002007-03-11T21:01:34.524+01:00

After a succesful cocktail party at Nicktor's place yesterday. (note to self: You should have said "no" to that last Long Island Ice Tea) Today I had to drag myself to girlfriend's place to move all her stuff here-wards. McR, Sabrina, Nicktor, Annemarie and Martina popped by to help and now apparently girlfriend is living here. All wish me luck!Also found out yesterday that Marlies is pregnant.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-72081780018306324472007-03-03T19:25:00.000+01:002007-03-03T19:29:36.080+01:00

The part of last weekend I didn't spend moving girlfriends' stuff, I spent pulling electricity cables with Arjan. After 100+ meters of cable chinese food and an RC airplane, power is back again. *Yay Arjan!*Besides electricity problems, the person who abducted my Ernie doll has been contacting me again. He sent me another e-mail with a photo of Ernie earlier this week and today I found a letter

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-86773372906894797302007-02-23T22:11:00.000+01:002007-02-23T22:16:07.164+01:00

Decided to swap the electrician for Arjan by promising him a RC plane if he manages to fix my electricity (at € 25 a plane they're a lot cheaper than electricians). Arjan did some poking, removed a ceiling lamp, removed the cover above it and found out that for some reasons two wires had shorted. Sadly this happened in a place where quite a few wires passed to quite a few power-outlets (read all

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-51382681190801123592007-02-18T13:25:00.000+01:002007-02-18T13:36:21.598+01:00

As you probably already noticed, I switched from writing on a daily basis to writing whenever something interesting happens. Or at least... that was what I was planning on doing. Unfortunately whenever interesting stuff happens, there's no time to write it down.The past week has been a mix of electricity problems (I'm currently without electricity in the kitchen) girlfriend attempting to move in,

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-3657603953308881162007-02-11T12:58:00.000+01:002007-02-08T21:34:29.948+01:00

Slowly girlfriend is starting to move in here. Over the past couple of days books have been appearing in my bookcase that certainly aren't mine. Take for example the DIY-book for the handygirl. And occasionally girlfriend even uses the term:"Our house" when talking about my place. Apparently the deadline is set at the first of April, when all girlfriend's stuff should be in here. Girlfriend will

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-21353528230859254732007-02-08T21:32:00.000+01:002007-02-04T11:56:57.875+01:00

Plenty of stuff happening around here (visiting my old neighbour, playing guitar, etc.). The story wich has been intriguing me all day is how the US managed to lose track of $12 billion dollars. How come people lose $12 billion in Iraq and why don't they leave me a million while they're at it?

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-55483240619163962142007-02-04T11:52:00.000+01:002007-02-04T11:56:58.059+01:00

Doing stuff all week didn't leave me much time for writing here, I fear. After going to the cinema on Tuesday, the Blueman Group on Wednesday, dinner with colleagues on Thursday and the Theater on Friday (a birthday present from my sister), I fear I already had my annual dose of cultural stuff :-).The verdicts: Rock n' Rol never dies (the film). Cool film though probably a tad on the long side.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-11595246515115720282007-01-29T20:10:00.000+01:002007-01-29T20:12:44.667+01:00

Woohoo! The power company sent me a note to tell me they owed me 350 euros. I'm a happy camper! I still might be able to afford my own life :-) Don't know how it happens but whenever I think:"Whoa, spent too much!", somebody sends me lots of money. Please keep doing this, people.Also, could the people who abducted my Ernie please contact me? I'd really like to know how to get him back!

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-29255240960217344142007-01-27T12:31:00.000+01:002007-01-27T12:37:02.561+01:00

An eventful week this far, turning 30 meant presents, such as lots of clots from my mum, cds from Kaz and even girlfriend moving in from girlfriend.Yes, I kind of requested the last present and am now somewhere halfway between:"Eeeek!" and "Weehee, I'm getting rich!". Yes, that's the territory where I actually believe it'll be fun to have girlfriend move in. Keep watching this space for more

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-45602394211632755712007-01-21T12:00:00.000+01:002007-01-21T13:57:36.788+01:00

I guess that yesterday's paranoia was justified. I was already having suspicions that girlfriend might be up to something, with her acting suspicious all day. Even so suspicious that I made sure to lock my front door before falling asleep again, when she left my place in the afternoon to make sure nobody could barge in while I did my beauty-sleep.No, I didn't need that one because I'm old I

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-62070845625630057762007-01-20T14:21:00.000+01:002007-01-20T14:22:51.600+01:00

Help! Girlfriend is smiling at me, I'm turning 30 on Thursday and there's still no news about Ernie. People must be up to something but what is it?Am wondering now whether girlfriend is responsible for the storm that caused the Blue man-group to be cancelled for the second time.For those in Europe, I guess there will be a big storm on the 31st, beware!

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-11452717753744495712007-01-17T22:26:00.000+01:002007-01-17T22:30:28.035+01:00

Had fun all night with parents' old laptop, on which I spent the night attempting to install Linux. Last night I attempted an Ubuntu install (which anyone can do with his/her eyes closed) but it was lacking memory. So tonight I did it the oldschool way, just plain Debian, the lightweight XFCE4 window manager and it's a breeze to work with.Note to self: Geek out more often!

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-77884925254961504642007-01-17T20:57:00.000+01:002007-01-17T21:00:33.192+01:00

Lorraine's complaining about being labeled "the villain" in my Ernie abduction story. But I'm a bit short on other suspicions. Nicktor was not really moving and the whole letter looks just a bit too neat to be a project done by McR. Maybe in co-operation with Martina then?Haven't been contacted yet about a time and a place to make the money drop. Am constantly watching my mailbox now. I will

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-28937946513034811292007-01-14T21:04:00.000+01:002007-01-14T21:09:47.114+01:00

Just visited my uncle's birthday party where we all contemplated the letter that came in the mail. Pretty quickly we decided that it had to be a girl because boys aren't that neat and tidy at cutting and pasting letters. Secondly we decided that it really needed to be somebody who's got quite a bit of spare time, because of all the searching, cutting and pasting envolved.I think I know of a

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-48251970638056417402007-01-14T13:54:00.000+01:002007-01-14T14:06:52.194+01:00

Ever since the start of 2007 I've been watching out for weird things happening in my surroundings. With me turning 30 and with the possibility of a surprise party when you least expect it, I've been entering my place shouting:"Hi everybody, surprise!!!", I've been watching my back whenever possible and I even check most of my closets for hidden friends whenever I enter my place. Just the usual

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-87372586587905516112007-01-13T11:12:00.000+01:002007-01-13T11:15:28.425+01:00

Apparently I still haven't lost my touch for getting things cancelled that I own tickets for. Due to severe storms the Blueman-group show I was supposed to be going to on Thursday got cancelled. Girlfriend not happy, me not happy, booh!Fortunately I had already been doing cultural stuff on Wednesday at Martina's art-event in Waterfront. Had fun with Lorraine, Sabrina, Nicktor and McR, drank beer.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-15105202988256124632007-01-08T21:05:00.000+01:002007-01-08T21:09:01.646+01:00

Had a company weekend at CenterParcs de Vossemeren (a holiday-village in Belgium). Got to ride a Segway, star in a tv commercial dance at a really cool jungle party and drink loads of beers *hic!*. Oh and somehow I (and 3 others) managed to win an innovation award for our project. *Yay!*

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-74874861154470316662007-01-02T20:42:00.001+01:002007-01-02T20:42:30.213+01:00

5 cloves of garlic in an omelet is a bit much. Don't kiss people for the next couple of hours.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-82329026883037565332007-01-02T20:01:00.000+01:002007-01-02T20:08:11.279+01:00

Somehow I completely managed to forget to mention a Malaysian colleague visiting in the previous post. I wonder what I'll forget in this one. 3 days of work, which I had planned on doing with my eyes closed but turned out to be more crisis-filled than expected, then a visit from Karen, my Australian friend, who currently lives in London and a pretty successful NY-eve party.At the start of it all

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-7851786604888868922006-12-26T13:33:00.000+01:002006-12-26T13:34:45.838+01:00

I know, I've missed loads of days over the past month. Lots of stuff happening, mostly to do with projects. Lorraine visiting, going clubbing with Ellen, spending lots of time in Lelystad. Really I'm still doing lots of stuff, I just appear to be too busy to write about all this. New years resolution:"Revamp this diary". Merry Christmas to all of you!

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-6037546322935073172006-12-10T17:00:00.001+01:002006-12-10T17:00:14.041+01:00

And another Sinterklaas-day, this time in Almere. Got a Remote Control-car and various other "little" presents. Cool!

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-68948238929000304792006-12-09T17:05:00.000+01:002006-12-10T17:06:01.498+01:00

Got a christmas tree with my mum, somewhere in the east of the Netherlands.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-46390978798492758942006-12-08T17:03:00.000+01:002006-12-10T17:04:34.278+01:00

Tried arguing with the tax-people but it looks like they're right :-( Went for drinks at the PointLogic bar in the evening. Nice to see everybody once again. Ended up at my place with Adriaan and Remco after food at 'Cafe de Paris'. Both of them now know that 'all women get their periods'

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-59810098424197940542006-12-07T17:00:00.000+01:002006-12-10T17:03:26.906+01:00

Not sleeping much and waking up early apparently isn't my cup of tea. Hrmpf! Came back home only to find a note from the tax-people that they'd like to see 862 euro's because I ticked a wrong box in 2004 eek!

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-11084109238504093872006-12-05T16:57:00.000+01:002006-12-10T16:59:02.418+01:00

Celebrated Sinterklaas with parents, drove up and down to Brussels as well. Note to self:"Don't drive up and down to Brussels in one day!" Still had the annual sinterkaas-fondue with sister, Martin, mum, dad, aunt and uncle.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-28587622651136967002006-12-02T16:55:00.000+01:002006-12-10T16:57:33.605+01:00

Spent day trying to write sinterklaas-poetry and doing some final shopping. Girlfriend was out most of the day, watched "Deadly Weapons" at night. Brilliantly terrible!

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-42771456704862851262006-12-02T16:53:00.000+01:002006-12-10T16:55:55.337+01:00

Yep, I've been somewhat busy lately due to which I didn't really have time to experience exciting things. You can probably best fill in all the gaps in the diary with:"Work". Went to the "Nacht van de Wansmaak" film-night at the cinema (which probably best translates into "bad taste"-night) with McR, Martina and Nicktor. Brilliant terrible trailes. Bought the "Deadly weapons" -dvd (with Chesty

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-89279521210768796632006-11-28T22:07:00.000+01:002006-11-29T22:08:15.629+01:00

Saw Muse play in Den Bosch. Brilliant light-show, good show, sadly they didn't play any Showbiz-songs though. Still had loads of fun. Got stuck in a traffic jam on the way back home, traffic jams at 11pm, WTF?

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-88032528538603420862006-11-27T21:52:00.000+01:002006-11-29T21:53:13.403+01:00

Worked in Brussels, drove back, felt tired.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-23700420289946546442006-11-26T21:48:00.000+01:002006-11-29T21:52:40.370+01:00

Slept, went to the Finnish church to buy flour (don't ask me, ask girlfriend), did some grocery and tea-shopping (bought 3 new teas, *yay!*) And then realised that I wanted to buy a photo-printer. Have been considering which printer to buy ever since. (Some choices are just too hard )Then I also need to start saving for Ruben's wedding and there's a whole list of gadgets I need to start buying (

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-24873415679745593452006-11-25T21:45:00.000+01:002006-11-29T21:48:28.197+01:00

Had a primary school reunion, the last one before they tear down the old primary school building. (There goes part of life) Spent evening chatting with various old schoolmates. The main realisation of the day was that I've been blessed with my hair, half the people around were either bald or balding. Should do this reunion stuff more often.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-67847453650549193092006-11-24T21:44:00.000+01:002006-11-29T21:45:27.779+01:00

Had an interesting meeting in Rotterdam, then rented some dvds, which I failed to watch because girlfriend was going through a "little mermaid"-phase. Played guitar and tinkered with computer instead.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-42064751153297403192006-11-23T20:32:00.000+01:002006-11-24T20:36:11.775+01:00

Had a meeting in Utrecht late in the afternoon, spent 3 hours driving the 60 kms to get back home. I should probably swap the car for a bicycle. In the 'yay!'-department:'Mum and dad fixed the couch!'

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-32789639563615116372006-11-22T20:31:00.000+01:002006-11-24T20:32:23.952+01:00

Election day, voted in the morning, watched the results come in at night. Guess people'll have a hard time creating a coalition over the next couple of weeks/months.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-11466381608008164052006-11-21T20:30:00.000+01:002006-11-24T20:30:51.954+01:00

Girlfriend visited, girlfriend tired. Watched Freek de Jonge's election show on tv. Pretty brilliant but not half as funny as when I saw it in the theater a couple of weeks ago.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-26860954898092235382006-11-20T20:27:00.000+01:002006-11-24T20:29:57.756+01:00

Worked in Amsterdam all day, still weird to be back again. Spent the evening playing guitar, with the amount of practise I've been getting lately, I may become somewhat skilled somewhere in the next 20 years!

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-63162200929937147412006-11-19T20:25:00.000+01:002006-11-24T20:27:44.342+01:00

We'll blame the whole vomit-incident on McR's pre-moving stress because today was the day where we moved McR's stuff to his new place. Had loads of fun moving stuff with loads of people. Surprised at how fast we managed to do this moving thing, considering the amount of stuff not yet in boxes when I arrived.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-11916253733727241282006-11-18T20:18:00.000+01:002006-11-24T20:25:33.315+01:00

Woke up to a house smelling faintly of vomit, did quite a bit of hungover mopping, cleaned the toilet once again and left with part of my couch (did I mention yet that it crapped itself again last night?) to show my parents. (As in:"Mum, dad, is broken, please do something about it")Eventually returned to a place still smelling of vomit and went to take photos with girlfriend. (She needed

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-86781490460741116122006-11-17T20:06:00.000+01:002006-11-24T20:35:04.075+01:00

With Nicktor turning 30 next weekend, we obviously needed to do something for his birthday. We had already dropped hints that we were planning something weeks ago so Nicktor was on high alert and was planning on watching his back day and night starting at the day of his birthday and ending once he had spotted our plans.Unfortunately he had forgotten that we could plan something before his

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163883108169503892006-11-16T21:51:00.000+01:002006-11-18T21:51:48.170+01:00

Bought Metal Gear Solid 3 for my PS2 looks like I'll have some fun with it over the next couple of weeks.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163883053314779862006-11-15T21:50:00.000+01:002006-11-18T21:50:53.316+01:00

Taught class, had girlfriend over at night.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163883026489653372006-11-14T21:49:00.000+01:002006-11-18T21:50:26.490+01:00

More traffic jams. Then spent the night trying to figure out how to teach a class tomorrow.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163882903709824002006-11-13T21:47:00.000+01:002006-11-18T21:48:23.710+01:00

Monday 13th meant traffic jams, loads of them. Took forever to get back to work, then took forever to get back again. Yep, I'm back @ ING.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163882808694049962006-11-12T21:43:00.000+01:002006-11-18T21:46:48.696+01:00

Saw the Kaiser Chiefs play live in the Melkweg in Amsterdam with girlfriend and McR. Brilliant show, even their opening act was cool. Home late

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163882566134333022006-11-11T21:41:00.000+01:002006-11-18T21:42:46.156+01:00

Somehow managed to leave my carkeys at the counter at the supermarket. Somehow managed to not notice this till 5 hours later. Did I mention that the keys to my house were attached to the car-keys yet?

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163245904516631472006-11-10T12:48:00.000+01:002006-11-11T12:51:44.516+01:00

Decided that I wanted to go out and see: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan with girlfriend. Asked Mcr to come along but he said he was busy studying *boring!*. For the third time this week McR picked the wrong activity to do. Saw the most painfully funny film I've seen in a long time. Plenty of:"No, please don't tell me this is happening"-moments

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163245724007639502006-11-09T12:44:00.000+01:002006-11-11T12:48:44.006+01:00

Went to see 'sacred selections' in the Laurens-church in Rotterdam, a project by Matt Stokes, who had Northern Soul, Happy Hardcore and Black Metal transscribed to organ. Once again got dumped by McR, who claimed that his homework was more interesting.I suspect he was wrong, the crowd was very mixed (from 65+ year old organ-fanatics to leather clad metal-heads) and the performance was pretty cool

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163245477008271432006-11-08T12:43:00.000+01:002006-11-11T12:44:37.010+01:00

After getting back home from Brussels I attempted picking up the fixed couch-part at my parents' place. Failed miserably because my parents had already dropped it off and fixed the couch. Yay! Couch!

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163245326326049902006-11-07T12:41:00.000+01:002006-11-11T12:42:06.326+01:00

Went to Brussels for a change, in the evening ended up having dinner with some Polish colleagues.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163245243820849172006-11-06T12:37:00.000+01:002006-11-11T12:40:43.820+01:00

Went to see Freek de Jonge's "de stemming", which was brilliant. Was supposed to go and see it with Martina and McR but in the end McR decided that a basketball meeting was more interesting and sent his dad as a stand in. He was wrong. Martina proved this by locking her key in the house and having McR wait for the locksmith while he was supposed to be at the meeting.Apparently later on this

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163244989460740542006-11-05T12:29:00.000+01:002006-11-11T12:36:29.463+01:00

Went to see a football-match (Feyenoord-Vitesse) at the local football station for girlfriend's dad's birthday. Feyenoord probably hasn't done worse in the Dutch football-competition in the past 10 years so it proved to be an interesting evening. Fortunately Feyenoord won in the end, had plenty of fun. Had food afterwards, strangely enough.Oh and girlfriend's sister and her boyfriend announced

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1163244528913807482006-11-04T12:26:00.000+01:002006-11-11T12:28:48.936+01:00

Girlfriend gave me the day off to do whatever I wanted. Shopped for guitars, dropped off the broken part of my couch at mum and dad's place and did some other stuff. Then failed to think up what to do in the evening so I ended up reading a book and playing with my computer. Need to practise this:"Time off"-thing more often.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1162635019286544032006-11-03T11:06:00.000+01:002006-11-04T11:10:19.286+01:00

Spent Thursday night in a hotel in Brussels, had a brilliant Thai Curry in the Thai restaurant round the corner.On Friday I had planned a test-drive in a Citroen C4 coupé, for some reason some dimwit had decided that because their coupé was out I should go for a drive in the Citroen C4 Picasso instead. Their reasoning:"It's got the same engine." Gaah!Spent the remainder of the night playing with

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1162634769982099952006-11-01T11:05:00.000+01:002006-11-04T11:06:09.983+01:00

End of project meeting for my Rabobank project. Went out for food and go-karting, unfortunately the petrol fumes made me feel somewhat sick during the second go-kart lap due to which my laptimes sucked.

selmernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3519327.post-1162634659802500512006-10-31T11:01:00.000+01:002006-11-04T11:04:19.803+01:00

Got to go back to ING today to celebrate my colleague's last day at work. On and off I'll be spending time here for the next couple of months

selmernoreply@blogger.com