Friday, September 30

Went bowling with Haidar, Erwin and Arthur (some colleagues). Failed to suck completely and even managed to win a game of Fifa at my place. Then I did suck big time at playing pool afterwards. Note to self:"Bowling for an hour and a half is a bit long, you haven't got the strength"

Thursday, September 29

Took the tube into town after work and teamed up with Erwin, 2 of his brothers in law, a friend and one of his sisters for dinner in a pizza place smelling a bit poo-ish. (For some reason we had made it our meeting point and by the time the last person arrived, we all decided:"We can hardly smell it anymore"). Eventually made it to Paradiso to hear the last notes being played by a pretty good sounding opening act.

Have to say that I thought that the Fun Loving Criminals had stopped performing and making albums ages ago (I could have sworn there was only 1 other album besides "Come and find yourself", but I got assured I was somewhat wrong here). Saw a pretty good show, though possibly somewhat lengthy here and there.

Wednesday, September 28

Chatted with girlfriend on the internet, she misses me :-) Am starting to notice that lately:"Living on your own and having to cook for your self" tends to translate into:"Nuke something in the microwave", after a 2 hour commute.

Received a phonecall from my colleague Erwin, apparently I'm going to see the Fun Loving Criminals tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 27

Watched the second part of the documentary today. At least as cool as the first part.

Monday, September 26

Still dead-tired from the weekend. Sleep-walked through my work-day and then had to stay awake till midnight because I really really really wanted to see the first part of the Martin Scorsese "No direction home" Bob Dylan-documentary. Cool!

Sunday, September 25

Girlfriend did notice me being not entirely sober, apparently me asking her to marry me (thrice), claiming that we were going to have kids called (Sean-Paul and Marinette (I still kind of like the latter) and shouting that she has got great tits were the giveaways. Took notice not to do any of these next time I drink too much wine. Oh, for those wondering, Maaike told me she's not ready for a wedding yet (thrice)

Got Maaike on the train to the airport and spent the remainder of the afternoon bumping into severely hungover colleagues. Home and back to bed after a long and somewhat tiring journey (due trains not running I had to hitch a ride with a colleague and then catch a train)

Saturday, September 24

Hit the city streets and walked for miles and miles. Obviously saw the mermaid, the Nyhaven and loads of other Copenhagen places. Realised that the oddest thing during these company holidays is that in at every sight you keep bumping into colleagues.

At night had a pretty luxurious dinner, followed by a somewhat cheesy DJ. May not have been entirely sober, I apparently still need to practise on the whole champagne, white wine, red wine, dessert wine, cognac, beer-thing. Hopefully girlfriend didn't notice.

Also found out that our next company holiday will apparently be for a whole week somewhere in May in a sunny place somewhere. Bets on location are on.

Friday, September 23

Took the train to Schiphol airport, where I pretty quickly bumped into some of my colleagues with who I spent weeks in training in September/October 2004. Swapped stories on jobs, cars and traffic, chatting about cars and traffic being for consultants what the weather-chat is for normal people in the Netherlands.

Found out that Maarten had already missed a plane, noticed that another colleague managed to miss the plane as well and then we all took off for Copenhagen, the city where the 2005 annual company-holiday was taking us. After hanging around Copenhagen airport for an hour and a half, I got re-united with girlfriend, hugged and made our way to our hotel. Managed to bump into loads of colleagues while walking there and got appointed a pretty cool room at the 25th floor.

After a welcome party in Tivoli, with even more colleagues, girlfriend and I tried out a roller-coaster (don't mix rollercoasters and alcohol, people) before ending up in an Indian restaurant. Already liking the place!

Thursday, September 22

Spent the evening chatting with girlfriend on the internet while packing my suitcase and feeling somewhat ill. Managed to pack 10 times as much as I'd usually bring on a weekend away but I blame that on girlfriend.

Wednesday, September 21

Had my hair cut, and managed to give Kaz her birthday-present. For some reason she managed to act as if she liked getting a gigantic box stuffed with drill-bits. Yep, I apparently give my sister drill-bits for her birthday

Tuesday, September 20

My kid sister's birthday. Called sister, watched tv waiting for sis to pop by. She didn't.

Monday, September 19

This week may become dull, haven't thought of much more to do than "stay at home, read book"

Sunday, September 18

Had to pop by Annemarie's place to pick up clothes girlfriend needs in Helsinki (only 5 more days!!). Also repaired Annemarie's tire while I was there. Drove back home and spent the rest of the day reading a book (actually re-reading Kerouac's "On the Road") chatting with girlfriend on the internet and missing her terribly (She asked me to put that in (Hmmm maybe I shouldn't put that in)).

Saturday, September 17

Spent the afternoon strolling through Rotterdam. Bought "Oliver Twist" and "David Copperfield" for cheap, also bought "Connected" by the Stereo MC's (had been meaning to buy that ever since I saw them perform at the Lowlands festival a couple of years ago but never got round to it). Also spent some time in the new music shop in the city center wondering what other music instruments I need. I'm definitely in need of a bass guitar but then mandolines are pretty cheap. Oh, something drum-ish might be fun as well (those would have to be digital then though). Yep, I won't let lack of talent stop me here :-)

At night popped by Rijsoord for the 5-annual gondelvaart (where they decorate the riversides with lights boat around in decorated boats and have fireworks afterwards). Nothing too great but nice enough to have a look at once every 5 years. Got to shout abuse at a guy who kept riding his bike into my ankles.

Then drove back Rotterdam-wards, where I tried hooking up with Nicktor in "de Consul", then found out that Nicktor had meant "Villa" instead and drove there. Found Marlies and Annemarie there as well, had a beer and then everybody disappeared into the night again.

Friday, September 16

Spent the whole evening listening to music and playing with Python, I should have proper geek-nights more often. Even brushed up on my numerical mathematics-skills.

Thursday, September 15

Stumbled out a bit puzzled:"Where did I leave my car?" Then everything connected upstairs and I took the tube into town to pick up my car.

At night went to see "het schip" with Kaz. Pretty brilliant show, even managed to bump into Sander in the process.

Wednesday, September 14

Erwin's farewell party (he's leaving Arinso). Had some drinks in "de Oude Haven", then realised it might be a good idea to leave the car there and took the tube back home.

Tuesday, September 13

Had really weird dreams about underwear all night. Woke up to find that I was wearing my boxers backwards. Right

Monday, September 12

Went to the funeral of my old neighbour, he died of pancreatic cancer last Thursday. Really sad. Definitely the shortest funeral service I've ever been to. It all turned out into a reunion of the street my parents used to live in.

Sunday, September 11

Read more books, spent 2 hours trying to finish 1 level in Grand Theft Auto, Vice City (success!!!) Visited parents at night and combed the cat. Ain't life grand?