I think it's a tie between driving over unsealed road 52 from Rykholt to Þingvellir, all gravel and steep awesomeness, driving though the glacially scowered black volcanic desert en route to Vik , or driving back over the plateau towards Reykjavik when the rain turned to snow due to the height and the whole moss covered lava landscape turned into everything being white, white road, white sky, white lava plains.
pictures to follow ofc.
Much of Iceland is, to me, bleak, forsaken and desolate in places. RVK seems to be the complete opposite of the entire rest of the country. You probably need a car to appreciate the country properly, and I am a bit sad that we lack the time (and the inclination) to really get around to the other side of the country and see what is there. Mostly the towns other than RVK seem functional in the extreme, with fuel stations, tool shops and community centers dotted about.
That's all for now folks :)
]]>before that though, we had a little walk around, checking out a street where she might have an apartment option, though sadly it seemed to either be in a orange monstrosity that had a old-people's home look about it, or a large rectangular modern grey bit of lego that would have been pretty stunning three years ago but now had a bit of a gloomy look to it, especially since it was somewhat off the main streets. had dinner in a great place of which naturally I have forgotten the name (I'll have to look it up), which was full of awesome, both the wine and the desert (mmmm) deserving special mentions. afterwards we went out for some beers and Tilburg central, even though it's not as picturesque as some Dutch towns, is still pretty nice, with plenty of cosy student orientated bars to hang out and enjoy a beer or three.
update: Yoni tells me she may have a better place sorted in a town close by. I've seen pics and it looks awesome I must say!
update2: bah, she's not getting the really nice place it seems :/
update3: yay, she's getting an even better place!! woohoo!!
as to her household gadgets, the laptop I got her seems to be working well enough, although her isp is a bit shit and she doesn't want to get a new one because she's old :p no really, she limits herself to sending emails and just doing some bank stuff every now and then, rather than more. I have gently introduced her to google and wikipedia, but still she just sits and looks at the screen rather than reading the letters it displays haha. speaking of letters, her new printer is amazing! I actually quite tempted to get the same one for myself! in typical HP fashion, it does want to install a lot of shit to go with the printer rather than just it's driver which never fails to irk me *remembers the days when he had to install 300MB worth of software just to get his scanner running*
]]>highlights: sessioning some cool trails in the rain, seeing a deer (a deer! (ok and a rabbit too) but a deer! that slotted right in at a shared number 1 spot with the fox I saw recently)
after that I was home, ate, had a shower, decided my legs were fucked up and went to Bo's birthday. as he lives like five flights of stairs up getting to his house was somewhat interesting heh. afterwards I went to Hotel Bosch and had a few beers with Maks, Jacq, Patrick, Joost, Erwin and ofc Bo. As it was raining I only briefly kept the smokers company before retiring inside and then home.
I'm just having a quick drink before bed, and tomorrow I hope I can walk haha :D
Tears drown in the wake of delight. ~Interpol
Saturday I did some more designing and then gathered up some courage and took myself, the laptop and the designs down to the shop I've mentioned briefly now and again. After some chatting I showed them the stuff I'd made and on the whole they thought it was awesome so I was pleased. Ofc I am still mostly unsure how serious I should be with all the making of tshirt prints and things and there is still FreddysHouse who is waiting for more stuff (friday! I hope! haha!), so when Sunday came around and I was at my friends Robert and Stella and their daughter's combined birthday party I took the opportunity to talk to Robert about stuff because he's following an HBO 4 year course on design and things and he was hugely enthusiastic and right away started to push me to be serious about things and also about branding myself and that making things for other people was great except my name had to be on the print somewhere otherwise it was all for nothing.
Aaand then I went to the Move where Bo was being a birthday boy with Maks and Mathew and Michel and the two girls and we all went to Manhattan and danced the night away to the tunes of Soultrain, which was absolutely awesome. Course poor Bo had not been allowed in, but after about a minutes worth of dancing with the girls I'd forgotten all about him haha :p We were all acting so silly that we got our pictures taken by the photographer there, which Maks was pleased to tell me had ended up on the internet, but who cares, I was having a great time and I look like a complete idiot in the pics so score on both counts :)
]]>Also, I have a VERY active imagination. VERY active. There were all kinds of scary monsters in the forest, I kid you not. Luckily I could psych myself away from thinking about them because I could "see" them quite well, and as I can see mostly jack shit in the dark I could tell the monsters weren't real. Until I came apon a man standing by the side of the bike path. I thought he was a tall, pale spindly monster and ignored him until he scared the shit out of me by suddenly moving and speaking. Turned out he was on a bike with no lights (the fool), and had kindly pulled off the path when he saw me coming in the distance. Ofc he nearly gave me a fucking heart attack, but there you go. On the whole, the ride on the path through the dark forest was completely awesome. I had to focus my full attention on staying on the path, and had no time to think about anything but that. Just what I wanted, but even so I don't think I'll be doing it again until I get an extra headlight.
]]>So I waited while consumed with worry that something was going to be amiss, and I had the supremely selfish thought that I didn't want anything to be wrong with my mother because I didn't think I could handle another bad thing happening to me this year. And that's when I started to feel really bad about what kind of a heel I can be at times and how much of an impact the other thing has had on me, as well as the fact that I was scared to death something would happen to my mum.
She's been to her doctor in the meanwhile, and he couldn't see anything obvious, blood pressure etc, and my mum, instead of being herself and going home again, actually asked for a full set of tests to be done on her so she'd know what was up. So while I wait for that to come through so I can hear if there actually is anything wrong with my old mother I am slightly less worried (but am entertaining the thought that if it is not something obvious it may well be something really bad :( but ofc she may well have just tripped and it could all be a coincidence) but we'll just have to wait and see.
]]>Anyway, the event was pretty amazing, given I've never been there before, but I don't think I will be going again. The overall ambience was great, but I've decided I don't like those kinds of dutchmen when in large numbers. Groups of burly men grabbing each other's crotches while chanting BIER EN TIETEN (beer and titties) don't really do it for me I'm afraid. Best bit in the train on the way back home: some fellows started talking to us, and they explained that they were a father, two sons and two friends. They were all pretty burly and covered in mud. The number one son explained that once through the gate, his dad had gone bezerk and had jumped in the nearest mud pool (of which there were plenty btw) and they had all dogpiled on top of him to get things going. It was really funny to hear the banter between them, and for about two seconds I wished I had a dad like that.
Once back we went to the Moortgat for an evaluation beer, and while I started to revive (was really dead on the train) my friends started to fade badly. Bo and some girl called Rosa who I know by face but had never met were there and I got a couple of beers in before everyone left and I walked towards my house.....until I saw Iwan at the Move and said hello, and he pulled me inside in best spanish bar fluffer style and pushed me over towards a corner where Maks and Michel and a friend of Maks' were standing so smelly muddy me went over and had a couple more beers and a few laughs, hooked up with Mischa, Iwan's brother and his neice before finally crashing and going home. Good thing the Move is about a minute from my place heh.
]]>While making dinner my mate Maks called and demanded I go to Hotel Bosch and have a few beers with him and Dennis, and that was ofc excellent, so I did and they ribbed me about a certain thing until I begged for mercy, and then told me I was going with them to the second day of De Affaire on Sunday, which was also excellent though I was a bit scared for the weather.
Saturday I slept in, then went and had a haircut. Much needed tbh, I looked like a scruffy vagrant :/ Now ofc I look like a scruffy vagrant with a haircut, but there you go. Anyway, after that I went to a shop that Max and Dennis and I had been talking about in Hotel Bosch, some new "lifestyle" blah thing which was supposed to be cool, as I'd been moaning about wanting to get some new shoes. Anyway I wasn't really sure where it was but I biked around until I spotted some fluorescent coloured shoes in a window out of the corner of my eye, stopped and had a look. It was indeed the shop, and there being nobody else there except the owners and me, we had a chat, and the guy showed me around. I thought the concept was pretty cool: you can get lots of things there, from shoes to clothes to having a tattoo done in the parlor below the shop, to statues and otehr art forms. The people have had half the shop spray painted by local talent, and the guy casually mentioned (hint hint hehe) that he was always looking out for more people and stuffs. So I mentioned I knew some photographers, and then I casually mentioned that I was trying my hand at tshirt designs, and asked if I could come in and show them some stuff, and they were really enthusiastic, both about having my friends show off their stuff at the shop, but also about my showing off some designs so I told them I'd be back at some point later on in the week. And I bought a pair of shoes. So rawk. Then I went off and had a couple of beers with Bo, and so met a lady who used to be the partner of Wim Gijsen, a dutch writer who I actually know, having read some of his work. Awesome! Anyway the lady was really nice, and Bo and I chatted with her till it was time to go home, and I finally managed to get my chinese fix filled from my fave one on the Steenstraat. Cool.
Sunday was Affaire day so I was up pretty early to have brekky and be on time for the 13:00 train meet. After walking to the Valkhof park from the station we faffed about watching a full on classical orchestra playing while we had a coffee and tried to burn the clouds away by force of will. Which worked. The sun came out, the ladies took their sweaters off, we got some beer on and started to soak up the good vibes. Awesome. There was sun, music, beer and friends (in random order), and I had a really good time hanging out with my mates. Dennis was shooting as many bands as he could, and Max and I chilled out, hung back and enjoyed the sunshine. There was a large amount of singer/songwriters doing their thing, meaning there was a large amount of young ladies about, as they seem to complement each other, and while your average singer-songwriter usually tends to make me want to take their guitars away and beat them to a pulp with them, some were quite good, especially Leine and Blaudzun. Highlights of the day were imo the blonde girl in the tight gray sweater, the band WHY?, and the awesome PennyBlackRemedy which Maks and I saw slightly by accident when we were thinking about going home, and which turned out to be superb, and I went home feeling great and holding a Blaudzun and WHY? cd to show how much of a fan I'd become.
]]>The little animal was absolutely soaked from the rain, and scared the hell out of me when it shot across the cycle path directly through the beam of my headlamp. Even so, I saw that it had it's ears up, eyes forward and it's tail was bushy as it ran. Very inspiring.
46km in exactly two hours.
]]>Anyway, I read her email, and then I read it again, and then I got mad. Now, I don't really do getting mad, and have only really ever been really mad a few times in my life. Sadly, the last three times I've been mad are all this year, and also most sadly caused by my ex. It's a very strange sensation: my mouth dries out, my hands start to shake, my mind goes completely blank, and I feel like I am going to pass out. I'm deathly afraid of being like that, because I can remember from when I was a young teenager I had far less control and bad things could happen to me in that state of mind, but as an adult I can sit and wait for my brain to engage again.
So, I sat and typed a very nasty email to my ex (ooh tough guy eh?), then deleted it and typed a new one. And by then sadness had replaced any anger I felt, and I just felt sad for my ex and tried not to break my brain by trying to think up reasons for things or what she meant or tried or felt or why but that didn't stop me from sending my email, the gist of which was, once again, to leave me alone. I don't think she'll understand, just like I don't think I would understand if things were reversed but oh, well, there you go. So I sat there, once again feeling as sad as I felt a few months ago, a pain in my chest like my heart had just stopped and I was about to die.
But I didn't die.
For a while I sat there staring at her photograph
For a while I cried and tried not to make a scene
There was a time when we were young
I used to make her laugh
But life is long, my love has gone away from me ~Ray LaMontange
And I assess the essence of the mess
The perfect hourglass of my loneliness, yes
And I don't care to count my chances
I just want the girl in the blue dress
To keep on dancing ~ Mike Doughty
I can remember going to Hotel Bosch on friday with Max and Dennis to go see Tim Vanhamel, which was pretty awesome, and my friend Max giving me a car radio for my babe magnet, which was even more awesome, but apart from that, I can only remember working :(
there were some plans, get a haircut, go bowling with Jeff, Anita, Isabelle, Martijn, André, Easy and Sophie, drink some beers with Boudewijn, but sadly that's all disappeared and there is only big company.
I'll have to take some days off next week :/
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Saturday I went for a little bikeride and had yummy dinner at my mums place, then I went home and met up with my friend Max in the park where he was working and trying to entertain Sigrid at the same time so I laughed at them and then S and I watched the circus theatre kids do a try-out for a new show they were putting together which was amazing and made me want to be 15 again and join a circus school so I could do the stuff they did. And the park was dark, but they'd put out lots of little lights along the paths which sparkled and were pretty and so I tried to pretend I was the only person there, except my friend Easy texted me that he was upset and ofc having no idea what he was on about it took me about 5 minutes to realize that Holland had lost the footy match against Russia. I heard the Russians were pretty good though, which is nice, because it seems better to lose against some really good fellows than against some team who sucks and just happened to be lucky.
Anyway I told Easy to bring his girlfriend to Hotel Bosch where Max and I were going to meet up and went there while Max took Sigrid home. There I met up with Derek, who actually spoke to me first before I recognized him which was very pleasant. He made a point of asking me how I was and we had a nice talk before Easy and his gf and Max showed up and then Joost also turned up and there was lots of laughter and beer, though Easy+gf were both already quite drunk with having watched the football in the town and my throat started to kill me after a while. Some serious bacteria action going on in there; I just wish the cold would break through and then I could get better again. It's always so poo when you know you have a cold but it just kind of hangs back and doesn't develop, meaning I have horrible tasting bacteria having mass orgies in the back of my throat and a runny nose but otherwise feel absolutely fine. Also when Will was still here (Will - teh crazy, has done a 100+ mile bikerace this weekend o0) we ended up at a cyber-goth party at Bosch and that was quite amazing and I kind-of agreed with Sophie to go with her and her sister to another party as long as she would make my outfit. Which seems kind of a good deal haha :)
Sunday was quite a slow day. I'd meant to get some house cleaning in, but I'll have to do that tomorrow, monday being the last day of my holidays. Took it very easy today, had quite the hangover and finally finally it seemed my cold was going to break through (ofc it didn't in the end) so I lazed about and spoke to some people on FreddysHouse. Feeling a bit naff, I declined my friend Maks when he called to ask me out to the park and later for a meal, and just lay about on the couch with some music and a paracetamol to keep me company. I should put the rest of the stuff from my Bro's wedding up, and a bit of a writeup of the holiday fun I had with Will. I'll see about that tomorrow.
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