Dinner... dinner... dinner...
Mood:  special
Topic: Night life & other action
The end of a hectic week. A gathering in one of the local watering holes for a drink and – for those who wanted – a bite, turned out to be a wonderful evening to say a last goodbye to all the people who have made my days in the clinic more than just working days. Of course not everybody could make it, in the middle of the holidays and all that. Luckily had already seen it coming and said their goodbyes & farewells before they left…

Last week in Maastricht; a worthy goodbye...
Mood:  lucky
Topic: Night life & other action
My last week in Maastricht was a memorable one. I was kindly given accommodation in my friends place, where I found out that I wasn’t that allergic to all cats. It actually was a good training as preparation for my stay in KL, considering the tropical temperatures that developed during this long awaited week of sunshine. But being already familiar with the apartment I felt very much at home. I even discovered the toilet bowl had the same kind of problem as the former one in my house; having finished knitting your brown sweater it often needed “a hand”, sometimes not even more than a gentle breeze, for the flush of water came like a tidal wave, lifting up the stranded sweater, which was then floating in a momentum, and if lucky eventually one of the sleeves would cross the water line, dragging the rest of it with him. But enough talk about toilets. The Cinema cafe again became the epicentre of the neighbourhood. As always an oasis for us people who once and again have to escape from the rigid rhythm of everyday life, the owner, Guus, would give away his interpretation of, well, I never quite know whether it is Elton John or Dame Edna. Nevertheless, having had a lovely dinner to celebrate my friend’s decision to buy the house she was considering buying, we had to end up in our oasis. A truly great goodbye followed, and the last bottle of – almost – Champaign was opened to drink to my farewell. The real farewell though followed next morning. A bit strange, regarding the fact that I was still to be in the country for another week. Also because I was leaving more than a friend… I wish her all the best, knowing she deserves it, being the kind of person one can call oneself lucky to count as a friend.

Paul's karaoke party
Mood:  chillin'
Topic: Night life & other action
Last weekend there was a party at Paul’s place… a belated birthday party. I must say, it was really good fun. He got hold on some karaoke cd’s. That he got a microphone from a toys store was not really that much a problem, for as soon as people got into it, everybody was singing so loud it wasn’t really necessary anymore. I’m a terrible singer myself, but after a couple of beers my voice sounds much better… either that or my perception of hearing changes, hehe… just plain good old fun. The only downer was I had to get up so early and leave for I had still loads of packing to do. Another slight downer was that – meaning no harm – talks about my Malaysian plans caused me quite some doubts, however determined I might be. Constant doubts; will I make it ? will I make it ? will I make it ? will I make it ? mmhhh the little voice inside I guess…

Tour du sud
Mood:  party time!
Topic: Night life & other action
Just had 2 really great days :o)My friend Kuma and his Dutch girlfriend (I fixed him up) came over to the south to spend a few days @ my place. We had a great time. I gave them a short course in getting to know Belgium beers and after having slept till noon !! we made our way up to the nearest Belgium and German city... Actually, driving them around made me realize how tremendously beautiful some of the places are in my region. Especially the German city Aachen is a really trendy, hip place, full of young people. Moreover, the mix of classic and modern architecture adds to the really good atmosphere. This weekend I'll probably go North, to spend some more time with them in Amsterdam. Should be good fun, although the 2 late nights have worn me out a little bit...

IFFR 2004
Mood:  suave
Topic: Night life & other action
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2004; normally I’d go to the big city to see as many movies as possible. Having just returned from a snowboarding trip in France though, it was rather impossible to move on to Rotterdam right away, so I had to stay in my own little city and feed on the small selection in the recently renovated “Art-movie house”. Though I always preferred the big city because of a wider selection in movies and the very special atmosphere, I must say that for the latter one it was really ok this time in Maastricht. The crowd, consisting of all kinds of people suffering Cinemania; young and old, alternative and traditional, students and “working class”, white and coloured... there sure was a good vibe. However, having seen the first film after an already exhausting day I felt so sleepy I couldn’t stay to enjoy the atmosphere. I saw “The Python” from Letland, a movie that in it self had some funny scenes that didn’t have enough impact though to carry the burden of a movie which on itself rather lacked a storyline.

Today was better; starting out with the Japanese “Ramblers” was good enough because even being quite a slow movie with not much of a story as well it was actually amusing enough to be entertained at 10 in the morning. But for me the jewel of the IFFR was definitely the Korean “Resurrection of the little match girl” from Jang Sun-Woo. Rarely I’ve seen a movie with a story of such originality with virtual reality as a main theme. Please stop talking about a movie like the “Matrix”; it doesn’t even come close ! Only “Strange days” (1995) had a story as good as this one.

Flaine 2004; great boarding & broken legs...
Mood:  chillin'
Topic: Night life & other action
Still waiting for government approval from Malaysia, but already took some steps in selling my house. Last weekend we came back from a skiing trip to France. Well skiing; that is: all the woossies went for skiing, but the real men of course took their snowboard for some real action. That this was not the perfect idea for everybody turned out to be very true when one of us made a wrong move when getting out of the ski lift. Even though not taking a very hard fall, he had to be taken to the local hospital with what turned out to be a fracture of the lower leg. Paul and I accompanied him to the doctor’s office. Finally the doctor turned up with the photo’s and put them on the wall. We didn’t even give him a chance tot talk; a glance at the pictures was enough for us to say instantaneously something like "Yep, a tibial fracture; let’s get him to the hospital". The poor guy could do nothing but confirm it and arranged for transport. The days after that we had some really great snow and in between the visits to the hospital we took our advantage of that and did some pretty extensive boarding. I guess it’ll be the last time for me to go out snowboarding with the guys...