IPOD
RADIO
Not being American, or even living in the United States, it may seem strange to some that I am thrilled Obama will be the next president. It truly does make me hopeful for the future of America and the world at large.
Why should I care?
Because America is a Super Power. The only one left in the world. Be it foreign policy, economic policy or environmental policy, the choices America makes change the course of (political) decisions across the globe.
The current financial crisis started in the American housing market. As a result countries like Iceland and Hungary are now facing bankruptcy. Whole countries! I was nearly unable to buy the house I now live in because of something that happened 7,000 km from where I live. To know that America now has a leader who will guide the country down a path of moderation, and reconciliation, is something that fills me with great hope indeed.
Congratulations President Obama!
Meet Snoopy
Snoopy was the first cuddly toy I ever had. Been with me literally my entire life. Of course I had put him away in a box years ago, having long out grown the need for something warm to cuddle up to in the night*. And in that box he had stayed... until now.
While I was visiting my parents Dylan and I went up to my old room to look for some of the games and toys I used to play with as a kid. My parents have kept so much stuff from over the years it's unreal. We found a few old (family) games for us to play and in one box we found Snoopy. Talk about a blast from the past.
Seeing that stuffed toy again made me remember what it was like to be a kid. There's no clear picture or detailed image. It's just raw emotion really. We grown-ups are usually so desensitized and stuck in our routine that we forget what it's like to be a kid. To have the world be one big exciting place for you to go play in. To have the things you imagine be almost as important as the things that are real. It was nice to be reminded of that.
Dylan naturally asked if he could have Snoopy. Of course I said yes. So Snoopy now sits on a shelf in Dylan's bedroom, stashed among his new cuddly toy family. I know Dylan will never love him as much as I did when I was a kid, but I am happy to pass him on.
What was mine is now his. And it feels good.
* I do now have someone warm to cuddle up to in the night. And since it is now 02:30 in the morning, I think I will do just that.
Snoopy was the first cuddly toy I ever had. Been with me literally my entire life. Of course I had put him away in a box years ago, having long out grown the need for something warm to cuddle up to in the night*. And in that box he had stayed... until now.
While I was visiting my parents Dylan and I went up to my old room to look for some of the games and toys I used to play with as a kid. My parents have kept so much stuff from over the years it's unreal. We found a few old (family) games for us to play and in one box we found Snoopy. Talk about a blast from the past.
Seeing that stuffed toy again made me remember what it was like to be a kid. There's no clear picture or detailed image. It's just raw emotion really. We grown-ups are usually so desensitized and stuck in our routine that we forget what it's like to be a kid. To have the world be one big exciting place for you to go play in. To have the things you imagine be almost as important as the things that are real. It was nice to be reminded of that.
Dylan naturally asked if he could have Snoopy. Of course I said yes. So Snoopy now sits on a shelf in Dylan's bedroom, stashed among his new cuddly toy family. I know Dylan will never love him as much as I did when I was a kid, but I am happy to pass him on.
What was mine is now his. And it feels good.
* I do now have someone warm to cuddle up to in the night. And since it is now 02:30 in the morning, I think I will do just that.
Exciting times! Tomorrow my girlfriend and I get the keys to our new house!!
So today we start packing up this old apartment and getting ready for the big move. It's going to be a lot of work and it's going to stretch our finances to their limit, but damn I'm excited about it!
So today we start packing up this old apartment and getting ready for the big move. It's going to be a lot of work and it's going to stretch our finances to their limit, but damn I'm excited about it!
The Dark Knight (No Spoilers)
Saw the film last Friday night and in all honesty I thought the first one was better.
Now that said, the Dark Knight is an AWESOMELY BRILLIANT, TOTALLY KICK ASS movie. It rocks like few films have ever rocked before. By far the best film I've seen this year and much cooler than Batman Begins.
Cooler... not better.
The action in The Dark Knight is stunning. The film is visually breathtaking and the performances are top notch. Heath Ledger even went a step beyond that in his role as The Joker. It was simply a phenomenal performance. The plot is intelligent and well worked out. There is however one recurring flaw in the whole thing. During the film, and even more when I thought about it later, I found myself constantly asking "How the hell did he do that?".
In Batman Begins everything was laid out. Planned. It all fit together in a perfectly put together puzzle. Though The Dark Knight does this with the films plot quite well, it fails to retain the level of plausibility that the first film had. You need a little more Suspension Of Disbelief with The Dark Knight than you do with Batman Begins. Which I think is a real shame. The almost realistic (if you'll forgive the use of that term when referring to a superhero movie) presentation of things in Batman Begins seems to have been left off to the side in this sequel. The characters just seem to get away with too much. That said: It is the only fault this film has.
I still want to see it another 50 or so times...
Saw the film last Friday night and in all honesty I thought the first one was better.
Now that said, the Dark Knight is an AWESOMELY BRILLIANT, TOTALLY KICK ASS movie. It rocks like few films have ever rocked before. By far the best film I've seen this year and much cooler than Batman Begins.
Cooler... not better.
The action in The Dark Knight is stunning. The film is visually breathtaking and the performances are top notch. Heath Ledger even went a step beyond that in his role as The Joker. It was simply a phenomenal performance. The plot is intelligent and well worked out. There is however one recurring flaw in the whole thing. During the film, and even more when I thought about it later, I found myself constantly asking "How the hell did he do that?".
In Batman Begins everything was laid out. Planned. It all fit together in a perfectly put together puzzle. Though The Dark Knight does this with the films plot quite well, it fails to retain the level of plausibility that the first film had. You need a little more Suspension Of Disbelief with The Dark Knight than you do with Batman Begins. Which I think is a real shame. The almost realistic (if you'll forgive the use of that term when referring to a superhero movie) presentation of things in Batman Begins seems to have been left off to the side in this sequel. The characters just seem to get away with too much. That said: It is the only fault this film has.
I still want to see it another 50 or so times...
Wow... two months without an update. That's bad.
That said, I have been insanely busy lately. It's so bad that my nice new computer is still in the box TWO WEEKS after it arrived. Something I intend to change this afternoon.
So what's been keeping me so busy? Well as my last post mentioned my girlfriend and her son moved in with me. This of course means doing lots of fun family things like going to fun parks, playing games and watching kids movies.
I can highly recommend Kung Fu Panda by the way, very funny!
Games have been the main thing though. I recently upgraded from a NES (original 8-bit baby!) to a Wii. It is SO much fun I lost interest in video games after the original Nintendo. The games were always cool enough, but I could never get the handle of those 6 or 8 buttoned controllers. The Wii controller is almost as simple to use as the NES, which means I can now really get back into video games again. Yeah! Just need to curb my enthusiasm for a while until I can afford to start buying more games.
I have also managed to get Dylan hooked on Munchkin. Those of you who know the game know how much fun it is. I've been a RPG player for 15 years now. So to get my step-son interested in the hobby, even if it is just this ancillary form, really does make me smile. Some day (years from now, after he learns to speak English...Unless I can find a D'nD set in Dutch) I'll introduce him to the real game.
What has consumed most of my time these past two months though is the really big news: I bought a house!
The final paper work is now being done by the bank and the notary and baring any unforeseen disasters (crosses fingers, knocks on wood, throws salt over shoulder) we'll be getting the keys on the 11th of August. It really is a great house. It has everything we were looking for and is in the nicest neighborhood. It's going to be a hell of a rush to move in though. We get the keys on the 11th and Dylan has to start school on the 18th!
Thankfully the house is in good shape, so nothing structural needs to be done to it. Still... It's going to be a busy week! but one I am definitely looking forward to!
Now I shall try to catch up on what's been going on around here...
That said, I have been insanely busy lately. It's so bad that my nice new computer is still in the box TWO WEEKS after it arrived. Something I intend to change this afternoon.
So what's been keeping me so busy? Well as my last post mentioned my girlfriend and her son moved in with me. This of course means doing lots of fun family things like going to fun parks, playing games and watching kids movies.
I can highly recommend Kung Fu Panda by the way, very funny!
Games have been the main thing though. I recently upgraded from a NES (original 8-bit baby!) to a Wii. It is SO much fun
I lost interest in video games after the original Nintendo. The games were always cool enough, but I could never get the handle of those 6 or 8 buttoned controllers. The Wii controller is almost as simple to use as the NES, which means I can now really get back into video games again. Yeah! Just need to curb my enthusiasm for a while until I can afford to start buying more games.I have also managed to get Dylan hooked on Munchkin. Those of you who know the game know how much fun it is. I've been a RPG player for 15 years now. So to get my step-son interested in the hobby, even if it is just this ancillary form, really does make me smile. Some day (years from now, after he learns to speak English...Unless I can find a D'nD set in Dutch) I'll introduce him to the real game.
What has consumed most of my time these past two months though is the really big news: I bought a house!
The final paper work is now being done by the bank and the notary and baring any unforeseen disasters (crosses fingers, knocks on wood, throws salt over shoulder) we'll be getting the keys on the 11th of August. It really is a great house. It has everything we were looking for and is in the nicest neighborhood. It's going to be a hell of a rush to move in though. We get the keys on the 11th and Dylan has to start school on the 18th!
Thankfully the house is in good shape, so nothing structural needs to be done to it. Still... It's going to be a busy week! but one I am definitely looking forward to!Now I shall try to catch up on what's been going on around here...
Hope all is well with everyone and I'll try to be a little more active from now on 
Greeting MY SG friends.
Sorry for being MIA the last couple of weeks, but things have gotten very... interesting... around here.
As of two weeks ago my girlfriend and her son are now living with me. It is SO great being able to wake up next to her every morning and her son is an absolute angel. He really is a lot of fun. Even if it is a little exhausting trying to keep up with him all the time
I'll probably be a lot less active in the coming weeks as SG isn't really appropriate viewing material for an 8 year old... But I'll try my best to keep up to date with everybody!
House hunting isn't going as well as I'd hoped. Fund a great place but they were asking too much for it. So the search continues. I really do want to get a place soon. We're currently packed together in my one bedroom apartment. Now, I live in a fairly large one bedroom apartment... so were not "squeezed" as it were. It would be good to have a little space for ourselves though. and that just doesn't exist in the situation as it is now. It's a small price to pay though
So here I am... suddenly a family man... It's VERY weird. Will take a lot of getting used to, for all three of us. I wouldn't trade it for the world though. Despite a lot of stress and the tight quarters, I can truly say that i have never been this happy in my entire life.
Sorry for being MIA the last couple of weeks, but things have gotten very... interesting... around here.
As of two weeks ago my girlfriend and her son are now living with me. It is SO great being able to wake up next to her every morning
and her son is an absolute angel. He really is a lot of fun. Even if it is a little exhausting trying to keep up with him all the time I'll probably be a lot less active in the coming weeks as SG isn't really appropriate viewing material for an 8 year old... But I'll try my best to keep up to date with everybody!
House hunting isn't going as well as I'd hoped. Fund a great place but they were asking too much for it. So the search continues. I really do want to get a place soon. We're currently packed together in my one bedroom apartment. Now, I live in a fairly large one bedroom apartment... so were not "squeezed" as it were. It would be good to have a little space for ourselves though. and that just doesn't exist in the situation as it is now. It's a small price to pay though
So here I am... suddenly a family man... It's VERY weird. Will take a lot of getting used to, for all three of us. I wouldn't trade it for the world though. Despite a lot of stress and the tight quarters, I can truly say that i have never been this happy in my entire life.
I just got my Credit Card statement in the mail and saw a charge from SG on it... Have I really been here a year?
wow.... time flies.
Still say it's one of the best purchases I've ever made
In other news: I've started house hunting in earnest now. I've been looking around for a while. Need to get something closer to work the way gas prices have been climbing lately I'm now loosing over 150 Euros a month just got get back and forth from my job. I'd much rather be spending that cash on a nicer place than letting it burn away in my car. Got three viewings next week, wish me luck for the one on Thursday that is such a sweet house!
In other, other news: getting a house will most likely mean that my girlfriend and her son will be moving in too...
As you may have guessed... I kind of like this idea.
We've been talking about moving in together for a while now, but always in the future tense. Now that I have a real shot at getting a nice place the plans are becoming much more serious. So once again: wish me luck
And if you haven't seen the movie Black Sheep You should check it out a.s.a.p.! fucking hilarious!
wow....
time flies.Still say it's one of the best purchases I've ever made
In other news: I've started house hunting in earnest now. I've been looking around for a while. Need to get something closer to work the way gas prices have been climbing lately I'm now loosing over 150 Euros a month just got get back and forth from my job. I'd much rather be spending that cash on a nicer place than letting it burn away in my car. Got three viewings next week, wish me luck for the one on Thursday
that is such a sweet house! In other, other news: getting a house will most likely mean that my girlfriend and her son will be moving in too...
As you may have guessed... I kind of like this idea.
We've been talking about moving in together for a while now, but always in the future tense. Now that I have a real shot at getting a nice place the plans are becoming much more serious. So once again: wish me luck
And if you haven't seen the movie Black Sheep You should check it out a.s.a.p.!
fucking hilarious!
Why it is a good thing Video Game Super Powers are not real...
These made me laugh my ass of!!
These made me laugh my ass of!!
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