According to The Gender Genie I'm a female writer.
Well, guess again...



You can of course spend your days by standing by the bike lane
in morning rush-hour and watch the buns go by or do something with your life
that makes you feel a bit more useful. Although option number one
is rather appealing, I've chosen to see what's behind door number two.


Saturday I got to work at Mysteryland, one of these major dance-events. Handing out chewing-gum
and basically just enjoying and behaving myself...

Sunday there was a Rocky Horror Cast rehearsal-meeting at a new hide-out. Turns out it's also the place where some red activists congregate, whom I just happen to know...

Monday it was time for an enjoyable morning with Thura and it was the day I broke through the magic barrier of 10.000 hits on my Dutch weblog!

Tuesday the people form the local unemployment-agency barely resisted to smile when I told them about an upcoming job-interview. It does look pretty serious now, so I'm a bit nervous.

Wednesday in the morning I was able to help my friend Pieter who was experiencing some difficulties with some software and tax-forms and the likes. In the evening I took my son and cast-member Marije (who plays Janet) out for dinner. I had to endure some winks and small "funny" remarks from the personel as it turned out to be my third visit to the same restaurant within a month. All three with a different lady.

Thursday my son and I were invited to have dinner at Zanne's place, an Amsterdam vj who happens to also be an ex of mine. Her son and mine are approximately the same age and get along real well. She also has a very nice boyfriend, Remco. Dinner was great and so was seeing them after quite some time.

Friday my daughter Eva decided to have her afternoon-nap at my place which gave her mother, neighbour Miriam, some time to pack for their holiday that starts tomorrow. This evening my son and I had chips and "kroket" at Pieter and Berend's place. Berend used to be in Fer's class and they are both easy in making friends.
When we got home Thura and her son Noah were already there.
Lucky me gets to babysit two and a half year old Noah for two nights in a row!
Naturally several neigbours had come by to make my life a little less misarable:
Neighbour Angèlique for tea and Pilates-exercises and neighbour Janine for Rosé and our performance in a Gothic underground nightclub, scheduled for november of this year.

I'm lucky! You're lucky! We're all lucky! Har har har har!

"In a two-part ballot, voters will be asked
whether Davis should be recalled and if so,
who should replace him as governor. Davis' name will not be listed
among the possible replacement candidates."
Are Americans really that stupid that above statement needs to be made?
For those who never heard of the term "Governator":
Above is an excerpt from an article about California's upcoming
elections concerning the question if and if so who should replace
mr. Davis as governor as this state, seven times larger than The Netherlands.
Surf to humanclock.com and wait till it's 11:52.
Don't be surprised to see me and my son holding up toilet-roles to tell you the time...
Both radical groups Jihad and Hamas claim to have slaughtered yet another
busload full of innocent people. As if it's something to be proud of...
Since we will be going to England in october my son is learning English.
Of course I teach him the occassional word but most he picks up
from watching "Fimbles" on CBBC before he goes to school.

Since part of our stay will be in Wales for a moment I thought
of learning (and eventually teaching a bit of) Welsh.
Until I saw the Fimbles-website in Welsh that is...

The SURFOLA.com Policy:


1. SURFOLA.com will not give out your name, residence address, or e-mail address to any third parties without your permission,
for any reason, at any time, ever.

NOT! A Dutch guy who got in trouble with the law got busted because the people from this company handed his data over to the FBI who were asked by the Dutch police to help them nail a guy who poisened Campina-deserts in order to get them to pay him 200,000 euro for stopping to do so. Rightfully so I may ad.
It's official now: Privacy-regulations only exist in a now extinct part of human history.

Saturday I went swimming with my friend Daniëlle, Deborah (a friend of hers from Spijkenisse), my son Ferdinand, his sister Eva and her sister Dayna and their mom, neighbour Miriam. At the poolside we were joined by my mate Erwin and we had a great time!
Sunday my guest and friend Daniëlle, my mate Erwin (who had stayed for the night), me, my son and his mom, neighbour Johanna went to Vondelpark to enjoy the last bits of summer.
Monday was the day it came apparant that at least a few American soldiers need (new) glasses since they weren't able to distinghuish a filmcamera from a rocketlauncher, thus killing a Reuter's cameraman.
I managed to get a hold of my lawyer to tell him the good news about Ferdinand getting his own passport.
Tuesday saw the birth of a new philosophy: Terrebelism. Terrebelism is a form of positivism
that uses extreme examples form everyday-situations to bring across the point that every single thing should
be regarded in the best positive way. I helped a friend with his computer and gave him some support in respect to the custody-battle he is involved in.
Neigbour Angèlique came by for a chat and later that night also Leon, neighbour Janine's boyfriend made an appearance and returned the mayonaise-botte he had borrowed the day before.
Wednesday I went shopping with my friend Thura. Marije, my new Janet (Brad's counterpart in The Rocky Horror Picture Show) came for dinner and stayed for our first rehearsal as a new team.
Soon there'll be another performance by the CastRatedGood, the official Dutch Rocky Horror shadow-cast.
Thursday I finished helping my friend with his computer and the Americans captured Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka Chemical Ali. It struck me as a bit odd since a couple of months ago he was killed by the Brits "with 99 percent certainty". Guess they were wrong. Or lying. Again.
Friday I got asked to play a part in the upcoming feature-film "Floris". It is based on the immensely populair seventies-series baring the same name. It then starred Rutger Hauer as this Dutch version of Ivanhoe (remember the very young Roger Moore?). Now the title-role is played by some populair soap-actor called Michiel Huisman.
His female counterpart will be played by Birgit Schuurman, sister of (former?) MTV-vj Katja Schuurman.
Since I've got all sorts of things planned for a hectic weekend I'm off for an early night.

Recently a relative of mine found out some more interesting details
about our families genealogy.
There's a distinct posibility that we descend from a Transylvanian family.
Explains a lot for me...
A close friend pointed out to me that I should stop looking for "The One"
and go for "second best".
I know he's right and only one can be the one and therefore all the others
are second best. But still.
Just read an article about Guantanamo Bay by Ted Conover. You wreckon
American citizens are told what's going on in this from Cuba rented piece
of land? A serious infringement on human rights. That's what's going on.
Fridaynight I went to the pub with my best friend.
Saturday my son and I went swimming with my cardclub-friend Bas and his wife Elsa.
Afterwards we had dinner at my moms where also my brother had come with his family.
Sunday there was a CastratedGood-meeting. Later that day I went to pick up my son
from his gran so I could take him to the little piece of paradise
occupied by my friend Carmen and her boy-friend.
Monday was my son's first schoolday after the summer holidays.
Whils most kids sat in the classroom a bit gloomfully Ferdinand seemed
happy and chatting away. I'm a lucky parent with a kid who doesn't mind school. Yet.
In stead of going to Schiphol-Airpot to pick up my friend Daniëlle, returning from her stay in
the States, I helped out a friend with his computer and some problems
he got involved in with his ex.
That evening neighbour Angèlique read to me almost the complete book
by Sándor Márai called Gloed while she gave me a Thai massage so I had
to explain to a friend I had on the phone why I was producing
such explicit sounds...;-)
Tuesday neighbour Johanna (my son's mom) came looking for the keys she thought she had left with me.
Aparrently they weren't at her boyfriend's, neighbour Dudo.
My friend Thura came for dinner and we on our search we found this jewel of a Italian
takeaway less than five minutes walk from my place! Excellent food and cheap too!
Before we could put on the rental "Die Blechtrommel" after a novel by Günter Grass, neighbour
Janine came for a little chat. She and Thura get along just fine and I get along
with both so that was rather nice.
Wednesday turned out to be a nice quiet day so I finally found time
to do some back-paperwork'n stuff.
Thursday my son made me breakfast and after taking him to school I finished
working on my friend Pieter's computer. When I got home I found
neighbour Angèlique behind my ironing-board. She was touching up her make-up with
some of my eyeliner and nailpolish when neighbour Petra came by
to thank me for some help I offered her the other day.
Later that night Erwin aka Axl came for coffee and neighbour Miriam
asked me to babysit her daughters. Later that night also neighbour
Angèlique came to visit and Erwin decided to stay for the night.

Friday was the day the news about "the Big Blackout" also hit our country faster
than you can say "It is not a terrorist attack."
The North-East region of the USA and a part of Canada is covered in darkness.
In New York, Detroit, Ottawa and several other cities there will
be a major baby-boom expected to arrive in april 2004. An unprecedented
power outage is causin' people to get really really bored.
And what do people do when it's dark and they cannot work, watch tv
or read a book?
I took my mom shopping for shoes and got myself some new underwear,
enyoing the seemingly everlasting sales.
Meanwhile waiting for my friend Daniëlle to arrive who will be staying
the weekend and might be joined by a friend of hers.
With some luck also my daughter Eva will be spending the weekend at her dad's.
Those of you who are a bit opposed above "telegram-style" of writing
and/or like to know more than just these basic facts can Learn Dutch
and read my Dutch Weblog.
G'day!

Every now and then you can't help to frown by looking at the search-requests
by which people find your site. My Dutch blog is often found by people
who type the search-string "female neighbours voyeurism". Don't ask...
There is a site nowedays where you can post such unusual searches.
And how'about knowing how many countries have been bombed by the USA-government
since WWII?
Is there anybody interested why the IMF changed the description
for "bankruptcy" in order to prevent having to call America bankrupt?
Elections are coming up and Al Gore has thrown the first mudball.
He says he won't be running for the presidency but I'll have to see it
to believe it.
Well, my daughter did spend the weekend at my place, I'm pleased to inform you
and we had a ball! Fun and laughter all'round...
Monday I went down to Thura's houseboat to help her with her son and
household-thingies. She is suffering from a back-injury and can't do much
that involves bending and lifting. Which pretty much excludes anything
she can do. The poor lass.
She'll be fine though. She's tough.
Tuesday Ferdinand and I went to Ghent, Belgium, on invitation of Marjan
and her son Matthijs. Really great to be in a country where courtesy
is a virtue, not a curse...
We saw a few castles, ice-cream parlors and other neat things such
as an almost Kafka'esk display of a Dalmatian (one of those white dogs with black spots,
for those with less canine knowledge than my goldfish) running around loose, wearing
a black necktie.
Wednesday-evening we had returned home from my son's first trip abroad
since het got his own passport.
Thursday he went for a casting. It was for a commercial for a Dutch
cleaning-company. Let's wait to see if they pick him or not.
Should be fun, my son on telly.
I know he's looking forward to it.
And besides: the money is welcome too, since he's saving for a new bike.
Friday (today that is) I'll be helping a friend with his computer
and my favorite political party with unloading a new stack
of anti-government leaflets.
Like to know what else's on my mind? Check the dream-section of my regular website.
Enjoy yourselves!

That was fun! Started with doing my make-up at Thura's where I also saw her
son Noah, his father Jurre, the latter's sister Hinde as well as their friend
Marcus. Their houseboat is on the edge of the Amsterdam Red Light District
so with walking towards the tramstop, leaving the boat, I passed the working ladies as well as the boys'n girls being on their stag-night
and I also saw a few of the more...colourful people this great city has to offer.
At Medusa I soon got to meet Agnes, with whom I'd been in touch
over the performance due to be held at that particular venue.
Together with neighbours Janine and Miriam (who also happens to be my daughters mom)
we will bring a performance to the lovely audience in the gothic-club
situated in Amsterdam-East. So my visit wasn't totally for my personal enjoyment but also
to check the lair so to speak.
Agnes didn't seem at all surprised to see that the barlady, Lucia, and I were already
acquainted. Not entirely to my surprise I saw Yvet there.
A friend from the time I lived in that area of town.
I was young, she was even younger and Yvet and Vincent were a few of our regular guests.
Vincent, whom today I meet (like every sunday-evening) for our "Magic The Gathering" card-game, was also at Medusa
last saturday. So was Guillaume, who happens to be not only a friend of Vincent's but also
of Marian, who is a fellow board-member of the Dutch Rocky Horror Club.
We exchanged numbers for he will be making me a nice leather skirt one of these days.
To give you an idea of Medusa: it is a former lasertag-labyrinth, transformed ("trancended" might be a better description) into a club.
Quit dark, just as its monthly inhabitants. They play music with
titles like "I've never been so constipated in my life" and it can be
difficult to distinguish the guys from the girls 'cause they are both seen
wearing dresses. Mind you: I've seen some prime examples of the better
halve of the human species. Blimey!
Had a bit difficulty walking home in a straight line.
It might have had to do with the beer, the vodka and the absinth.
First taste of the stuff i've had since last halloween.
And where else would you find a club where total strangers help a guy up in his
wheelchair so he can have a rockin' good time too?
A very friendly environment to be in, if you ask me.
No matter the dark clothes and the matching make-up:
It's still the inside that counts...
Suppose the article about the 2002 elections is true,
what would that mean to the voters?
Sit back, relax, wait and see...
How many of you ever heard of the United Fruit Company (later Chiquita)
and its involvment in (amongst other things) the Cuba-situation?
Read, wheep and think. Please. And don't forget to check out Misleader...
The past week saw me at a meeting of the Dutch Socialist party, nice surprises in the form of a present from my neighbour Angèlique, an unexpected e-mail from a young lady who was once known as Wondrous and tours Britain as (assistent?) Company Manager, a card send to me from America by my friend Daniëlle and a visit from my friend Marjan and her son Matthijs.
One of my exes (and still friend) Zanne will be one of the VJ's at the closing-party of this weekend's Gay Pride event.
Don't know yet whether I'll be able to attend or not. We'll see...
It all depends a bit on the fact if my daughter, Eva will be spending the weekend at my place or not.