right now the rain is coming down pretty hard.
& there's thunder and lightning coming closer.
we got back from visiting my grandmother less than ten minutes ago.
we have a couple of free days.
it's back to work on tuesday for the both of us.
& we're trying not to spend all that precious time on fixing and cleaning stuff around here.
nothing planned. i like it that way..

i thought i had at least half a dozen things to say to you, but apparently i don't..

i really like martha wainwright's forthcoming album i know you're married but i've got feelings too.
it may very well end up in one of my best of 2008 lists.
even if such lists generally do not exist outside my head..

here is a song from that album.
(disclaimer)

okay, this statement isn't entirely correct, but it sounds better than "this city owes me money but the authorities are dragging their feet and continue to make me miserable.."
i'm talking about quite a considerable amount of money. somewhere between 2500 and 4000 euro. and while there is still a possibility i will get nothing in the end, to me (and i guess to most of you reading this) it's way too much money to just let them keep and say that it's not worth the trouble.

without getting into too much detail, let me just say that while it's almost six weeks now since i first contacted them, i have the feeling i'm still at the start of all this. i'm not seeing much progress at all. however, i did have the pleasure of witnessing bureaucracy in its finest form: people shuffling papers around, passing on responsibility.. a complete lack of transparency in what's actually going on..

i'm not known for giving up easily, but i must say that never before i've been tempted this often..

we are taking care of a friend's cat for two and a half days. the name of the feline is poekie, which is pronounced as pooh-key. for years i've thought that when you're allergic to one thing, you become more susceptible to other allergies as well. while i still think that's true, my hay fever has never branched out to include any other type of allergies. i appreciate this friend asking me about that before she dropped off her cat, but it shouldn't be a problem..

this afternoon i went ice skating with marjolijn (author_author), which was great fun.

however, lately i've noticed that sometimes when i'm just having fun, i almost feel guilty. i have no idea why that is. perhaps it would make more sense if i were a catholic, which i'm not. but seriously, i really need to look into that. it doesn't happen that often, but still.. it can happen with anything that's not usually considered useful, basically nearly everything not work related. it's like as if i have to relearn to have a good time. strange..

this song i found for you is apparently about growing up. the name of this guy, bob seger, didn't sound all that familiar to me. yeah you should probably go ask mom or dad about him..

night moves

disclaimer

my birthday was a little over a month ago, but since a number of people asked what i got, i thought i might as well do a little post about it here. this is not the complete list, only a few items..



saskia gave me a teddy bear & other things, including something else for umm.. in the bedroom (not pictured here)..
from my parents a dvd box of the heimat trilogy.
from henk i received the book cloud atlas by david mitchell.
a very generous amazon gift certificate from marjolijn.
rich (relevant on twitter) sent me a dvd of the almodovar film volver.

saskia saw this teddy bear in a shop window & she absolutely had to get it for me. that was about a week before christmas & she managed to keep it hidden from me for weeks.



it's a her (we checked)
we named her yoko, but not before she promised not to break us up.. :)

it's much too late for that now, they say. but i don't care. if you're one of the few people i haven't said it to already, in person, by phone, email, IM, or on twitter & you didn't receive a card from me..

have a great oh eight!

you may have noticed that i haven't updated my journal in about a month, which is almost three months in blog world time.
do you still remember me?
did you miss me?

this entry is basically one big thank you note..
thank you guys so very much for your christmas cards & holiday wishes. i'm not naming any names; i'll most likely forget one or two.
thank you all for your birthday wishes & the cards & presents you got me.
let's not forget to thank the paid account fairy.

2007 hasn't been the greatest year ever for me. i like to think that one is still yet to come. not a great year, but it could have sucked much, much more without you my friends.. offline & online, old (livejournal) & new (twitter).. thank you for being here..
a special thanks to those who were standing by me, helping me through some really rough times. for that, i cannot tell you how much i love you..

this may not be of interest to many people, but last week it was one year ago that i answered my first support request. i remember the exact date, december 5th, because that's when we celebrate sinterklaas in this country. so my 1st support anniversary went by without fanfare, mostly because i haven't been participating actively lately. if you were expecting me to write about how much fun it is to do support, about the great friends i've met through support, the #lj_support channel.. i will write that entry, but not now. i'll save it for when i'm really back and more involved in support again.

we got ourselves a tree this week. it isn't fully decorated yet. just like with other bits and pieces in the house, it is a gradual process. not something we plan to do at one particular moment. yes, i guess you could say that without too much effort we're slowly trying to get into the christmas spirit.

think happy thoughts, my friends. happy thoughts..

oh & if you are a support volunteer, please read this, if you haven't already..

yes, really..

i'm feeling much better. i'll be working 36-38 hours this week, and that's already such an improvement, compared to last week's 50. i'm starting to feel much more relaxed, now that i have more time for other things and i'm not so tired and stressed out anymore.

i used to check my friends page at least once a day, not every three days (and going back hundreds of posts in an attempt to catch up). i won't pretend i have read every single entry, but i don't think i've missed all that much. or have i?

okay, this may not be as nice as commenting on individual posts, but i'm not going to look up all of them again.. instead, here is one big

CONGRATULATIONS!

for getting the new job, becoming a united states citizen, being an uncle now, and all those of you earning privs the last three weeks..

& i know, i should start touching the board again myself..

officially i have a 28 hour working week, but i was one of the people who were asked to put in more hours. because this was only supposed to be temporarily, i agreed. however, temporarily is taking forever and there's no end in sight.

when i come home from work, i'm exhausted and i have no time or energy for fun things, including meeting friends, reading, livejournal support, sex.. & no passionproject, not necessarily in that order.. because of this (and one other non work related issue that i can't get off my mind) i've been overstressed.. angry and/or emotional at times.. unavailable for some.. unreasonable and a pain in the butt to others..

i can't just drop everything here and now, and go on a four week vacation or something. i don't even want that. but i can and will make some changes before this situation really gets out of hand. in a moment i'll have lunch somewhere with my boss, and we can talk about reducing my working hours. there's no need to bring it back to 28 hours right away, i just don't want it so close to 50 anymore..

the other issue i mentioned is too complicated to get solved any time soon. it's easier said than done, but i just have to try not to focus on it so much right now. (i know i'm a little vague about it, but i'll probably explain what it's about some other time)



there's a new tv programme that'll start here next week. it's called californication and most likely a lot of you have already been watching it. the channel has been showing this preview for a while now. it goes something like this:

little girl: why is there a naked lady in your bedroom?
david duchovny: you wait right there, okay?
little girl: there's no hair on her vagina. do you think she's okay?
david duchovny: i'll check..

i'm really looking forward to watching that. i think..

i'm awfully busy this week. not only at the office but at home too. things that did not absolutely require immediate attention have been piling up for weeks.



if you just can't live without my updates (including the more mundane stuff), then i suggest you follow me on twitter, my darlings..

oh noes! i can haz twitter now!