Yo ho ho.

You know it's summer when...

... the boats are triple parked on the wharf of your favourite bar.

Hanneke's Boom, Amsterdam

Technically speaking

L.O: Did you just say that?

Me: What?

L.O: You had the opposite of a "gang bang" at your house today?

Me: Yes, that's what I said.

L.O: What does that even mean?

Me: We were hungover so we all had a little nap side by side on the floor of my living room.

L.O: How many of you?

Me: I don't know... four? You know, because it was so damn innocent, almost like Sunday version of a kindergarden nap time.

L.O's boyfriend: Actually, the opposite of a gang bang would technically be reading the Financial Times, alone.

The mist

My building.

Amsterdam has been covered in a misty fog for the last few weeks, and I am absolutely loving it.

It reminds me of a couple of things.

I looked outside my front windows today and I had a nolstalgic moment of home.

The fog in the Adelaide Hills was always pretty disorientating and quite dangerous when you're speeding up the freeway at 100 kilometres per hour, but I always loved it.

The colours of autumn in the trees at the park across the road, in conjunction with the mist made me think about the Adelaide Hills, and how nice it was there, and how nice it is here right now. Not too cold at six degrees, just nice.


Also brings me back to when I first arrived and ended up housesitting Pia's houseboat along an inner city canal at the beginning of winter. The streets along that canal are all cobblestoned with old street lamps illuminating the way home. I was walking back from my first Christmas dinner with the company, and wondering if I would end up staying in Amsterdam to see another winter.

I had joked with my boss at the time that since there was no guarantee of me being around next year as I was on a contract, we should go all out on the dinner and go nuts with the wine. I walked home (the houseboat) from the museum restaurant, through the mist and fog and I remember feeling like I was walking through an old movie, expecting Sherlock Holmes and some bloodhounds to come tearing around the corner. (Understanding that this isn't London, I'm just trying to convey how old world it felt.)

The first week I was there, it was like living in Sleepy Hollow.

Then fast forward to the weekend just been, I spent it with friends doing fun things, sometimes creative, sometimes absurd, sometimes pointless.

Last night, I stayed at a friend's house after a paticularly huge Saturday night out with a few other people, and my friend AHS and I were cycling over a bridge over the Amstel river trying to navigate our way home.

We had all been watching movies inside the entire day, bravely fighting hangovers with toasted cheese sandwiches, kapsalon (literally, "The Hairdresser" - which is a dutch fast food kebab invention of kebab meat, covered in melted cheese, aoili, salad, and tomato sauce and fries) and coffee.

As I cycled next to AHS, we could barely see through the dense cloud that surrounded us, not even being able to see the lights along the river, or the illuminated outline of the Skinny bridge (Magere Brug), Amsterdam's most famous bridge. Being inside all day with Australians and watching American movies, it was very easy to forget where I was.

"Don't you feel like you're in a movie?"

"Yeah. All the time. I hope it never ends." he said.

All the ranting and wailing in my previous post was just a basic frustration about my job and the whole situation with being owned by the company.

But it's that same job that allows me to have the great times that I do, stay with the great friends that I have and experience "normal" things like cycling home through thick fog.

I went to bed last night, and looked outside my bedroom window and saw the transluscent mist floating around and I kind of gasped unintentionally.

I went to bed grateful.

Voidness

Sorry that there has been a blank void in the space where I should be filling you in on my latest ramblings.

I wasn't aware that so many people were that interested, but some people have been quite vocal about the silence.

I have a heap of photos, media and things to write about so in terms of content, got plenty of that.

One of me BFF's from Australia who now lives in London is arriving tonight at 10pm, so I doubt that this weekend will be the one where I disclose my shenanigans online, but hopefully soon.

Email exchange

Thursday 11 August 11:30 am
From: LadyGrey@workemail.com
To: DutchMaleFlatmate@gmail.com

I would like to have some friends over for a little get together in the living room/kitchen - 4-5 people? Is this ok? noone will stay the night, just drinking and possibly dancing.



Thursday 11 August 11:34 am
From: DutchMaleFlatmate@gmail.com
To: LadyGrey@workemail.com

Dancing? In the living room / kitchen? Wow. :)
Ok for me. I'll be at home friday/saturday. Out on sunday, back late afternoon.


Thursday 11 August 11:45 am
From: LadyGrey@workemail.com
To: DutchMaleFlatmate@gmail.com

Swing dancing!! We are getting dressed up... will you be home Saturday night? Want to join? Anyway, I am going to put on some hapjes and move the couch and play music from the 1940s.

KIJK MAAR!!

Watch from 2:38

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0BHxhUnokU


Thursday 11 August 12:04 am
From: DutchMaleFlatmate@gmail.com
To: LadyGrey@workemail.com

I think you should quit drinkin alcohol during working hours...


:)

Retrospective #9: Champagne Supernova

View Larger Map

Manchester after dark: scuttling around the Northern Quarter at Centro and NOHO. (and spending some money on chicken in between.)

Au revoir, Auf Wiedersehen... and so forth.

I've decided that leaving a party with my dignity is better than staying for the sake of your request.

(translate: this blows and I'm okay with exiting, no matter how impolite it looks. Because I like my spare time better than I like mingling with people I'm not interested in.)

Have fun. Thanks for having me.

PS I'm taking a beer for the road, and my coat... and scarf..... And maybe, wait, probably, the mixer I am holding that I haven't quite finished yet.

One sentence you hope our boss never says... but he did

Thursday night, Office Christmas party:

"Why is it that every time I look over at the bar you are there?"

(Maybe because I like the bar?)

Even if they turn the lights out, the show is going on...

" Never ever put 'em down,


You just lift your arms higher,


Raise them til your arms tired


Let em know you're there


That you're struggling, survivin'


That you gon persevere


Ain't nobody leavin'


Nobody goin' home


Even if they turn the lights out,


The show is goin' on..."






I fell off my bike. In the middle of Dam Square. On a Saturday night/Sunday morning.


It was raining. I was leaving a bar. It was 3.30am. You make the connections.

Vulnerable was my middle name at that moment in time.

But, you got to pick yourself up, and dust yourself off, and keep cycling.

Because these things happen. And all you can learn from it is that once in a while, shit happens.

It hurt. I'm still hurting. I wonder if there was something I could have done differently to change what happened.

But I know if I had my time again, it would have all happened anyway. Some thing are inevitable, and you can't avoid it, no matter how many precautionary measures you take, or no matter how much experience in bike riding you have, you are sometimes going to fall. Hard. In public.

It was only a matter of time before it happened again.

It's not the first time, and it won't be the last.

Adulthood is a hard state to permanently be in

The rejection website

Thursday, 5th August 2010, 2.45am, Dam Square

Me: So, did I hear correctly, and that guy asked you for your number?

Friend: Yes.

Random American guy we have just befriended: And did you give it to him?

Friend: No, I have a boyfriend.

Me: So what did you do?

Friend: I gave him my website address.

Me: What? What's he supposed to do with that? Do you do this often?

Friend: If he doesn't get the message that I wasn't interested enough to give him my phone number, and he bothers going on the site, he'll possibly find my email address and send me an email and I'll ignore it.

Me: Why didn't you just give him your number and ignore him anyway? Unless you create a page on the site that says "If I wouldn't give you my phone number click here." and it takes people to a page that says "Couldn't take the hint the first time? Let me spell it out for you -Fuck off, I'm not interested."

RAG: A rejection website! Excellent idea!

Me (to RAG): Wanna share a rejection website? Basically it will be a landing page with a our pictures on either side.

RAG:If Rani gave you this URL, please click here. If (RAG's name) gave you this URL, please click here.

Me: This has potential. Trust me.

Retrospective 3: Getting Fresh @ Appelsap

Victor Crezee - What say you and me get married?
(image by Dennis Branko)

1st August 2010


Ain't no party like a hip hop party, and a 10 year anniversary at that.


"Appelsap" ("Apple juice"), Amsterdam's annual, open air, free hip hop festival in the Oost celebrated 10 years of rhymes, breaks, and beats on Sunday afternoon/evening.

This city just continues to spread musical love - the second full day free open air concert I've been to this summer: cue the mention of the Roots Festival, a whole day World music festival which was also free in June this year.

A categorically different strategy on bringng families and communities together, I have observed. The thing is, the whole mentality on what sorts of events bring the community together is 180 degrees different to Australia.

With there being nearly 5000 people at Appelsap, it was strange to observethe amount of community love. I felt like an event like this in my hometown would have brought out the pre pubescent wannabes in combination with the general dregs of society from the Outer suburbs, and been a huge arena for dickhead-like behaviour.

The audience here consisted of some very hip Daddy O's, families, and mostly insanely street chic twenty and thirty somethings. Sure, there was a bit of ego around the place, but nothing that spilled over into acts of aggression or power. It was serious love for the music and the hip hop community all around.

Speaking of ego, I know I said I felt really safe and comfortable, but there was a very peculiar and strange, isolated incident which occured, which relates to me saying I wish I had some photos to show you on here, but I almost got beaten up by an aggressive festival punter for pulling out my Fisheye camera. ( And did not have any ill effects on my love for this festival whatsoever.)

There I was, sitting innocently after an hour or two of burning up the (asphalt) dancefloor , by the cupcake stand. I wanted to take a photo of the very atmospheric outdoor decorations, so I pulled out the camera, and my supa brite Lomo flash caught the attention of one paranoid, possibly schizophrenic little lady.

From 5 metres away from me, her eyes make contact with me, with a glare that could burn a hole through Titanium.

I was initially confused. Then scared. Very, very scared.

She then proceeded to march over to me to interrogate me about my intentions with heresaid photo. In dutch, I might add.

"Errr, engels?" I said, almost cowering in terror under the picnic table. (Please don't hit me. I don't have any health insurance yet.)

"Why you gotta take photos?"

"I wasn't aiming at you..." (...Ms Paranoid. Are you a F grade MC celebrity or something? Is your entourage hiding behind the giant bassline speaker over there?)

"Don't be taking no photos around here." ( Did I miss something? Is there a flourescent light screaming "Amateur photographers will be shot. B-Boys with cameras only"?)

"Delete it," she ordered.

"Er. I can't. "

"Why not?" she bellowed.

"It's not digital."

She looked at me, shook her head and waved her finger in my face.

"Don't let me catch you takin' no more photos around here."

It is with a bit of relief (to be alive) and a bit of regret that I can only present to you with a few photos from Appelsap from talented polished photographers Dennis Branko, and Dennis de Groot.


God daaaaaaaamn:

what a good looking city.

Oosterpark Massive

(image from Appelsap Official website)

What up Appelsap?????

(images from Dennis Branko)

La Melodia - A Fierce MC. I thoroughly enjoyed your energy. Applause.
(image by Dennis De Groot)

Vic Crezee - You had me from "Double Up". A little note: You look good from a dancefloor.
(image by Dennis de Groot)

Mr Wix
(image by Dennis de Groot)

DJ Abstract
(image by Dennis de Groot)