Merry Christmas!!

Hi all...

Merry Christmas wishes from Copenhagen, Denmark.

I was all up for writing a warm greeting, but today is just not the day.

It's pretty sure I have a fever, I have to cook a big Christmas meal tonight, still have to pack, and I have a looooooooooooooong travelling day ahead of me tomorrow.

Leaving from here at 8 am, flying at 10.10 am and arriving in Madrid at 18.00 hrs. Pfffff... too much to think of right now.

Well, no matter what: no whining, as I will see many old friends again within a few days. That should keep me awake :)

Have some great days, enjoy the food, the wine, the company and drop me a line if you can.

Will try and write something more personal when I get back!

Greetings!!!

The bullet is through the church

Or, in good Dutch: 'de kogel is door de kerk' :)

Basically it means I have decided, and (more or less) figured out what I'll do for the holidays. I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeed a holiday so badly...

As usual I try to meet as many old friends as possible, and this time I will try with Madrid as the center of it all! Wooohooooo!!
Not alone this time, as Jaap-Jan, an old Dutch Emdrup resident will join as well.

We're off on the 25th (this Sunday already!) and will be back on the 4th.

And anything could happen in between! (Imagine 2 Dutch idiots walking the streets of Madrid, babbling on in a language no one understands... brilliant!)

It will be a good trip, not all is quite cristallised yet, but am going to meet some unexpected faces, and will definitely wander around a cool city, whatever city that will be.

New Years Eve? We have no idea yet, we'll see where the best offer for a good evening is, but then again: can't tell for sure where we'll be. Madrid, Valencia, Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla, Pamplona?

One thing I am very sure of though, is that I will get a Spanish phone number as soon as I will land!
No way I want to wasted my money on roaming and all that. So, if you get a weird phone call from an unknown number, it's most probably us ;)

Greetings and happy holidays!!!!

And now I am off to do a lot of tedious cleaning and administration... wohoooooo...

I feel like Bambi...

...a conclusion I drew after 'losing' a couple of guys for going out tonight (girlfriends needing attention).

Oh well... Doesn't matter. My heart & mind are now reaching out for many people, many friends, around the world. And yet, they are not here. Hopefully I will see some soon though. Still figuring that one out.

Am listening to 'Ole Blue Eyes now. Loud. Very loud. And smiling. While thinking of my Danish grandfather who loved his music, and thinking of... well... flowers, colours, smells, beauty and life.

Frank Sinatra - You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loves You

"You're nobody 'till somebody loves you

You're nobody 'till somebody cares

You might be king, you might possess, the world and its gold

But gold wont bring you happiness, when you're growing old


The world still is the same

You'll never change it

As sure as the stars shine above

You're nobody 'till somebody loves you

So find yourself somebody to love"

I'm ready. Shall we?

Three O'Clock

Jean-Paul Sartre

"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."

And people wonder why I am worried...

The 5 largest arms manufacturers in the world are USA, UK, France, China and Russia.

They are also the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Peace? Who's gives a shit... there's no money in it...

It makes you wonder, doesn't it?

I can't wait!!!

Oh... my... god!

What a draw.

I just can't wait for it to start. And the decisive game of the group will be against Argentina.
Hahahhaha...

Let the games begin! June 9th, 2006. 181 days...

Woohooooo!!

Group A:
Germany
Costa Rica
Poland
Ecuador

Group B:
England
Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden

Group C:
Argentina
Ivory Coast
Serbia & Montenegro
Netherlands

Group D:
Mexico
Iran
Angola
Portugal

Group E:
Italy
Ghana
United States
Czech Republic

Group F:
Brazil
Croatia
Australia
Japan

Group G:
France
Switzerland
South Korea
Togo

Group H:
Spain
Ukraine
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia

Tonight is the night...

...when the draw for the World Cup next year in Germany will be.

Shivers down my spine already. The opening game for the Dutch could be against Brazil, Argentina or Germany. Unbelievable.

Ooooooof.... Can't wait until it starts. What a feast it can become. In Europe for sure nobody will be working for the durarion of the games.

And of course we are in Holland already 'quietly' dreaming of that World Cup, the ultimate prize.
It would make the tie to Germany even stronger, as it is already the ground of our most glorious and yet humiliating defeat and our most magnificent win ever.

Oh sweet irony...

And I have to work tonight.

Hmmm, could you please keep me updated on the procedings while I am at work? Thanks!

20.30 tonight. I am ready!!

Imagine

How could I not say something here? I know, I know: many others will speak up today, and have done over the last few weeks, as we commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of one of the most influential figures in contemporary Western popular culture: John Lennon.

I was only a little boy when he was murdered, but over the years, step by step I have heard the music, seen the images, read the stories and realised some of the reasons why this Livepudlian became the icon he was, for good and for worse.

Over the years the strength of his music is still strong, the works of the Beatles and his solo work. We can see the influence music can have on many people, and how it reach out and touch our emotions we might not allow ourselves otherwise.

Rest in peace, hope you are still able to enjoy your music playing it for the gods Perhaps you should let out 'Cold Turkey' though ;)

It's nice to dream sometimes, isn't it?

Imagine

"Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one."

Back online

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

I was about to throw computer out of the window yesterday.

For a while now not all was quite running like it should, and yesterday it only got worse...

I ran (again) some anti-spyware programs, and yup, it came up some keylogging software.
Apart from that some virusses came up in a thorough virusscan as well, so you can imagine I was very happy (thick sarcasm dripping from my voice here).

How on earth it all got on my computer I seriously have no idea. I am hardly ever using Internet Exploder... ehhh Explorer anymore anyway, and as I have been working on the WWW since the early versions of Mosaic (anyone still know what that was?) I have naturally become quite careful in what I am doing online and I have become pretty good in recognising potentially dangerous stuff that is digitally thrown at me.

After a clean install of Windows, restoring my backed up data (1 gig of PDF files etc) I decided to go for a full package called "F-Secure Internet Security 2006". Anti-virus, firewall, anti-spyware, spam filter: the works.

The reason I mention this program is that you should make sure you avoid it like the plague.

If I was pissed off before, I was seriously frustrated and mad after I installed that crap. I am generally a quiet person, but I was swearing loud!

It completely screwed my system over, was bugging me for every little fucking thing, and brought most processes to a grinding halt, or just veeeeeeeeeeeeeery sloooooooooooooooow.
Unbelievable. A clean system, nothing else installed and everything crashed from start-up.

DELETE!!!!!!!!!

So, I am back with my old settings: Windows Firewall, PeerGuardian and Avast Pro Anti-Virus. Simple, easy, effective as it can get and now set to the highest sensitivity and security levels.
Now all I have to find is a decent anti-spyware shield or something. I am losing my trust in some that I have been using.

Anyway... Fuck it, I'll go for a Mac next time... We're almost in 2006, and still working on faulty software that was published back in 2001. Yes, I am talking about Win XP, it has long outlived its purpose.

So, back online. Let's see if I can get anything done today without being harrassed by virusses and spyware...

Mark, gaan we weer lekker aan TLK? ;)

7 Things

Ok, here we go again... it was a loooong weekend. For several reasons.

Finally filled out the questions below. It wasn't that easy actually, but alright, there they are:

Seven things I want to do before I die:

1. Travel the world, from the Inca-trail to Nepal.

2. Learn to speak Spanish fluently

3. Re-visit Firenze

4. Finally finish reading Stendhals' 'The Red and The Black' (I just caaaaaan't get through it!)

5. Make a photo book of my life

6. Write a book

7. Finally adding Oceania to my 'list'


Seven things I can do:

1. Speak 5 languages

2. Be too much of a teacher (I'm sorry, it's in my blood!!!)

3. Churn out useless football trivia (without having to check the FIFA website)

4. Watch 'Friends' again, and again, and again, and again.... and again!

5. Be there for my friends at the expense of myself

6. Waste time with impunity (straight from Amy, and so much me too)

7. Make the best dark rum & lemon drinks in existence


Seven things I cannot do:

1. Play outdoor football without destroying my ancle all the time

2. Play an instrument

3. Forget a breach of trust

4. Recover fast from hangovers anymore

5. Forget a face

6. Drink milk in the morning (it will come out as cheese/yoghurt a few minutes later)

7. Stand cigarette smoke


Seven things I say a lot:

1. Brilliant (according to Trish anyway)

2. Cheers

3. Beso

4. Godverdomme :) (My daily life is almost entirely in English and Danish, and yet I still swear in Dutch)

5. 'En ting ad gangen' (One thing at the time: Danes are really too stressed sometimes...)

6. Alles goed? (Everything ok?)

7. "How u' doin'?" (well, not anymore, the joke is done)


Seven things I find attractive in the opposite sex:

1. smile

2. dark eyes

3. humor

4. dark hair

5. soft hands

6. unquenchable curiosity

7. a zest for dancing



Seven celebrity crushes:

1. Selma Hayek

2. Penelope Cruz

3. Monica Belluci

4. Paz Vega

5. Audrey Tautou

6. The actress who plays the role of 'Niobe' in the new HBO series 'Rome'

7. The girl in the video 'Eres Mi Religion' of Maná


Who's next??