[iamjoy]

vanity ring

2007-10-15T16:11:00.000+02:00

i haven't had the urge to write after my last scribbling, but this thing, the vanity ring, is amazing and i just have to share.
read more here.

vacaciones!

2007-08-28T15:53:00.000+02:00

friday morning 5am i met up with mathieu and talke to fly to lovely nice in france. no matter how tired we were, vacaciones! we really, really, needed a break and some vitamin d provided by real sun. after the 2 hour flight we were picked up by mathieu's dad who took us to the loveliest house ever. i love that place. they live in my favourite landscape, up in the mountains with an awesome pool and only a short drive from the beach.

mathieu's sister, virginie, was there and after lunch his friend gilles came over, and all we did was swim, suck in the sun and drink rose. a delicious bbq ended the first day of the holidays with more days like these to come.

on tuesday we took a train to italy to spend 3 days in manarola in the cinque terre, 5 little villages built in rocks on the italian riviera. they can't be reached by cars and are a unesco world heritage site. it was amazing, almost surreal. and the water, the clearest i've ever seen. mathieu kept taking the same picture of our hotel view, jaw dropping beautiful. i'll take my future boyfriend there to swim with the sardines.

celebrated my 29th birthday with a plate of the most ferocious pasta ever, spaghetti frutti di mare but for real. biiiig claws sticking out, giant shrimp dudes with eyes and very tasty clams.. i was afraid, but it tasted mad delicious. after that i met the village rapist named matteo on who i had to use the excuse 'i have a boyfriend at home, he couldn't come to celebrate my birthday cause he works really hard but we love each other super much' but he didn't care and tried his moves when saying goodbye. i managed to escape.

after that i got drunk on the tiny church square.

so my future boyfriend. i will take him to cinque terre and buy a house with him on the beach of eze sur mer between nice and monaco. we will live long and happily ever after.
during the holidays i was reading skinema by chris nieratko who talked a lot about crazy circus sex. i will include that in my life with my future boyfriend. but i'd be very happy with watching movies, lying on the couch, cuddle with a certain amount of chest hair (his, not mine) and eating ice cream and chips and drinking coca cola.

enough about the future boyfriend, *click click* to see pictures of nice, cannes, monaco, italy and some more.

<3

today i like

2007-08-10T18:52:00.000+02:00

hell yeah

2007-08-09T11:54:00.001+02:00

finally a good night's sleep with my new
impregnated mosquito net! burn! burn!

an afternoon snack

2007-08-07T18:51:00.000+02:00

to clarify: i'm eating jumping jack snacks, this way i never have to work out again. they're very rare, but i have a secret stash. no worries.

donkey is sad..

2007-08-02T14:35:00.000+02:00

..and so am i.
early this morning, the boy that makes me smile, flew back to san francisco.

clickclick for a glimpse of his last night in town. and clickclick for a tiny after dinner soundbite unfortunately we couldn't film.. or well, probably for the best we couldn't film.. it got quite hilarious and i'm happy his birthday present matched the evening.

this one..

2007-07-21T13:01:00.000+02:00

..i like as well. funny clip, love the colours and i wish i'd look good in her outfit. feist - 1 2 3 4

i really like this song

2007-07-21T02:20:00.000+02:00

feist - my moon my man

it's...

2007-07-20T15:30:00.000+02:00

...penisbutter & jelly time!

note to mathieu

2007-07-19T13:11:00.000+02:00

OMG slap me!
he makes me smile, im such a girl
uuuuuuuugh
i make myself wanna puuuuuuuke.

just throw a stapler to my head or anything blunt, or whatever.
thank you very much.

strawberryfrog animated gif contest

2007-07-18T16:51:00.000+02:00

good work. don't know who the winner is yet though..
mathieu, jon, or me?

dearest blog,

2007-07-15T22:57:00.000+02:00

today i went into the future. in the future people are honest and bring your cellphone to the lost and found people. in the future everything is bright and fancy, and it gives you a warm feeling in your tummy.

also i have learned that in the future, another future i was in today, that vip no longer means very important person. no, it means very intense penetration. and kids in this kind of future buy planners with the word starfucker written in big bold letters on the cover. this future i didn't like so much.

but the other future, the warm feeling in my tummy future that makes me want to be an egg, i liked. i liked it a lot. i can recommend everyone to go and take a look at this future called the nieuwe openbare bibliotheek in amsterdam, the new library. if you're looking for me, i'll most likely be there. it will become my new home, next to work.

it has been a wonderful day.
talk to you tomorrow dear blog, i love you.

have you seen this man?

2007-07-09T20:21:00.000+02:00

now people will think i'm crazy

2007-07-09T10:28:00.000+02:00

what i wrote in bed when I got back from the björk concert last night:

i’m back.
take all with a grain of salt.
i’m a drama queen. i live life with passion. and that’s ok.

mayday mayday i forgot the salt.

what an amazing night. i was flying.

and if you complain once more, you’ll meet an army of me.
joythearmy.

that sums it up.
awesome.

mathieu is a phoenix.
i am a fancy purple parakeet with crazy legs and i have no name, i don’t know its name cause i’ve never been in that forest. I’m unique.
i’m looking for my polar bear.

great example of me talking too much.

sucked

2007-07-09T10:09:00.000+02:00

last friday we went to 5 days off in the paradiso, amsterdam. and ever since i can't get it out of my head why i was so drunk. i know i didn't have much to eat and i know vodka isn't that nice to an empty stomach.. but i've had nights with waaaaay more drinks and was still able to stand up and dance.

most of the evening is lost, i got lost a couple of times.. wandering around alone, then snapping out of it and realizing i was alone, i couldn't dance on my own two feet and had to cling on to mathieu and tobias (i <3 you both for taking care of me), i have bruises everywhere. and really a lot of the night is gone.

it's scary. and this is not an excuse for being so drunk, it's just me wondering what was wrong with me.. i can't stop thinking about it.

i wish i could erase the little memory i have of that night,
i wasn't myself and it sucked.

very pretty

2007-07-08T13:00:00.000+02:00

kate nash - the nicest thing

we kiss and i say he's so immature

2007-07-07T23:11:00.000+02:00

today i heard happy is the new black.
but it's so popular that it's sold out everywhere.
i hope someone will return happy, so i can buy it.
i like happy.

long story short:
i like a boy. boy likes me. it can't happen.
and he leaves soon.

i wish things weren't so difficult.
and death to the mosquitos.

no one belongs here more than you.stories by miranda july

2007-07-03T12:51:00.000+02:00

last weekend a friend handed me this book so i could read one of the short stories. after that i read another and then we had to go..
now, i want to buy it. miranda july is the one who wrote, directed and played the main character in 'me you and everyone we know'. i loved that movie and i can't count the times i've seen it. i wanted to post an excerpt from the story 'shared patio' but now i can't decide which one.. fuck it, here's this one and you can read the complete story if you click here.

"Are you angry? Punch a pillow. Was it satisfying? Not hardly. These days people are too angry for punching. What you might try is stabbing. Take an old pillow and lay it on the front lawn. Stab it with a big pointy knife. Again and again and again. Stab hard enough for the point of the knife to go into the ground. Stab until the pillow is gone and you are just stabbing the Earth, again and again, as if you want to kill it for continuing to spin, as if you are getting revenge for having to live on this planet, day after day, alone."

haha part iv

2007-06-19T22:53:00.000+02:00

You Should Date A Swede!

You're a romantic, albeit an understated and practical one.
It's more about a steady partnership for you, not unrestrained falling
Your Swede will give you the unwavering love you crave
While making up some mean pancakes and meatballs on the side!

Which Foreign Guy Should You Date?

D O N to the E!!

2007-06-17T23:10:00.000+02:00

smile mordecai!

2007-05-21T19:29:00.000+02:00

2007-05-06T21:56:00.000+02:00

can someone please tell me what this is?
is it a new kind of bee, since bees are a dying breed?
it came out of my keyboard. i think it's been feeding itself with the crisps and chocolate pieces in there. maybe i have created new life!

**edit**
i've sent this e-mail to whatsthatbug.com:

Hi Bugman,

I don't like bugs, I think they are scary. So forgive me for not browsing through previously identified bugs.
Last week I've found this bug as he came crawling out of my keyboard. I've asked everyone I know, but nobody knows what this could be. It didn't scare me that much, I think this dude's quite cool. He looks like an ant wearing a bee costume.

I hope you can help me so I can rest knowing the name of this guy.
Thank you for your reply!

Joy

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

**UPDATE**
answer: immature lady bug

paris

2007-05-03T11:28:00.000+02:00

friday the 27th i took a bus down to paris. 7.5 hours they said.. with a 2 hour delay not only your ass dies off but also your organs stop functioning. i arrived around 21.00 and met up with my french creative partner mathieu who took me to his family who were having dinner at a petit restaurant that had bread toasters hanging on the side of the tables! had lovely french cheeses and a big eclaire and my first ever bite of an île flottante.

the reason for going to paris was that mathieu's sister, nynye, turned 30. she threw the best party everest! on a boat on the seine, right next to the notre dame! theme of the party was fluo pop chic. so the next day, after meeting up with malin, tobias and morten, we went shopping for clothes and i managed to put together an outfit. i, who always wear just shirts, jeans and sneakers, actually bought high yellow heels and wore that together with fluo purple lycra leggings. i felt like a cheap hooker, walking on the square of the notre dame, with people turning their heads to look at me and malin. but we were the light of the party.

sunday we went to see morten's hood. morten is a norwegian crew10 buddy of malin and tobias, who lives and works in paris. he took us to the prettiest park i have ever seen in my life, parc buttes chaumont. a park with lovely slopes and in the distance you can see the sacre coeur. tip: metro stop botzaris.

at the end of the day the sky broke and it started pouring. malin left for amsterdam and i went to montmartre with tobias and morten. we had dinner in a tiny cute italian restaurant called piccola strada. excellent food, great wine, hot waitress and nice to the wallet. tip: 6 rue yvonne-le-tac, district: 18ème - pigalle - montmartre, metro: abbesses.

went back to amsterdam monday afternoon without a delay and arrived 23.30 in amsterdam queen's day mayhem. what a mess!

some more documentation of the weekend to be seen here and here!
à bientôt mes amis! bisous!

ha ha part III

2007-05-01T23:44:00.000+02:00

especially the last line..

amsterdam april 5th

2007-04-06T15:00:00.000+02:00

my crew11 buddy henrik is visiting amsterdam with 2 of his friends! hurray! that needed a celebration with 10 million kilos of beer and shooting some pool. needless to say, mathieu and i owned the place.
after that, i have some vague memories of simen talking about stealing a boat..

ah and mathieu has a new camera.

10 million bucks salami

2007-04-04T13:01:00.000+02:00

this lovely postcard was the inpiration to a dream where i was forced to eat salami. disgusting. after the forced salami i watched a 4 year old falling down from a 10 story building and i get arrested plus a 10 million dollar fine for not carrying my id on me. the cop didn't believe i was dutch..

i am challenged...

2007-03-29T15:41:00.000+02:00

... by marie to write 6 things about myself, that are either unusual or weird, or unknown to others. after this, i have to challenge 6 other bloggers to do the same. oj oj, i said i'd do it but it's harder than i thought, so here we go:

1. this is something i always forget, because it's like a lifetime ago.
when i was 5 i started classical ballet and my teacher noticed almost immediately that i was talented. when i was 9, he prepared me to audition for the royal dance academy in den haag, the netherlands. but i didn't get in, the reason being i seemed too insecure. a year later i auditioned again, this time for the dance academy in tilburg. and i got in. the last year of elementary school i travelled 3 times a week to dance, after school, to tilburg which was 1 hour by train from where i lived. when highschool started i went to school in tilburg and besides that, practiced classical and modern ballet 14 hours a week. all in all, it turned out i was 3kg too heavy, went to a nutrician to go from 48kg to 45kg for a year but that didn't help. being 12 and losing weight is the most rediculous thing when i think about it now, but it was something i really wanted to become, a classical ballet dancer.

2. i had an affair with a classmate's dad.
or well, a couple of years ago i was in a play with 3 other people and i was the dad's wife. he was lucky having such a young and hot wife.

3. a couple of weeks ago i went to a goodbye party of a colleague in a horrible media bar and after sneaking behind a closed bar to steal beer, me, malin, tobias and mathieu got thrown out, thank god. after that i had a lapdance and it didn't turn me into a lesbian. memorable night. for swedish readers, read more here.

4. i have the ghostbusters fire department and their car the ecto1, but nobody cares.

5. i can hold up my pee for hours on end and eventually forget about it. i know it's not the best thing to do, but sometimes i just don't want to go and forget. however, it is starting to hurt a tiny bit now so i have to come up with the last one on this list fast.

6. not anything weird and not a secret, i want to become a fisherman in the pacific ocean, or indian ocean, i don't really care as long as i can live on an island and build my own cabin and be naked.

now i pee.

the challenged ones, and i only have 4 instead of 6, whatever, i'm almost peeing my pants now: sjarm13, rora, patrik, jonas

*edit*
i lied, i'm not wearing pants.

i löööööööve tate

2007-03-22T14:29:00.000+01:00

meet tate, the fiercest sharkslayer in animal kingdom.
he owns all sharks of the nassaukade amsterdam.

the reason why i'm still single..

2007-03-19T01:34:00.000+01:00

found this picture. typical.

even though alcohol is more fun than boys, this is a note to myself:
less booze and pay more attention to what's going on. really.

(plankton <3 squirrel)

ha ha part II

2007-02-05T13:45:00.000+01:00

ha ha

2007-01-26T17:03:00.000+01:00

Your Candy Heart Says "First Kiss"

You're a true romantic who brings an innocent hope to each new relationship.
You see the good in every person you date, and you relish each step of falling in love.

Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a romantic dinner your sweetie cooks for you

Your flirting style: friendly and sweet

What turns you off: cynics who don't believe in romance

Why you're hot: you always keep the romance alive

What Does Your Candy Heart Say?

cynics turn me off? what if i am one myself? or maybe i'm hiding behind a cynic facade, and am i just a hopeless romantic.. oj oj.. hmm.. anyways, this half cynic is off to the international filmfestival in rotterdam, trying to be friendly and sweet, or something.

i'm a bit late...

2007-01-04T14:50:00.000+01:00

...happy new year!

all the beautiful people

2006-12-19T12:43:00.000+01:00

firefox ak feat. tiger lou - the draft

2006-12-01T11:17:00.000+01:00

my "freezing-in-the-night-because-they-have-holes-in-the-walls-in-venice-
beach-pirate-friend-patrik-and-joy-is-not-a-pirate-cause-she-can't-burp-
friend" told me to check out firefox ak. i like this song.
here's to you, squirrel. miss you <3

while i'm at it

2006-11-14T18:50:00.000+01:00

and sometimes we don't need cute

2006-11-14T16:02:00.000+01:00

sometimes we need cute

2006-11-14T10:10:00.000+01:00

bye bye miu miu

2006-11-09T00:01:00.000+01:00

14/2/2004-8/11/2006

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

i'm stuck!

2006-11-03T10:13:00.000+01:00

this morning the air is chilly and the sun is out. i'm enjoying it while it lasts, rain will probably kick in any time soon. but i won't cry when it does cause i have:

car stuck girls

of mice and the rapture

2006-10-19T10:10:00.000+02:00

last night, kristina and i went to see the david gilmour girls and the rapture in the melkweg in amsterdam. it was great. i hadn't seen the david gilmour girls with my old roommate maarten on drums yet but it was great great. the rapture were cool too. we had a super evening, even though i was feeling wrecked before. drinking too much coffee on an empty stomach isn't the best idea ever.

when we got home and were in bed for like one minute we heard this insane scream. it sounded like our upstairs neighbour got slaughtered to death. it turned out she saw a mouse when she entered her apartment. i tried to catch it for her, with no luck.. until this morning..

i opened the cupboard to see if there were any mice trails and yes there were. since the cupboard is high up i couldn't look in, but kristina saw a tiny head popping up from her pack of crackers. i then took a bowl and a cutting board, shoved the pack in the bowl and covered it with the cutting board. tada! i caught the mouse! it was so cute. the bowl was see through so i could see its little claws against it, the mouse being all scared and tiny.

i took it across the street and set it free. i regret now that i didn't keep it, but i'm sure he'll be back soon.

i'm shocked..

2006-10-18T00:11:00.000+02:00

the 7 year old loved it and even the 4 year old giggled while getting shocks.
i wonder what games they normally play.

now. can i have this too?

dear santa clause,

2006-10-16T22:20:00.000+02:00

today mr al kelly brought this amazing toy to the studio. he bought it for his 7 year old son, but i wonder if the kid will survive this. if he doesn't, can i please have it?

i know christmas isn't anytime soon but thank you in advance and i will love you longtime, forever.
joy, the sweetest kid in town.

fun with fur

2006-10-09T17:45:00.000+02:00

for more amazing tips and tricks on fun with fur,
i advice you to check out this link:
*joythearmy fun with fur*

song of the day

2006-10-06T14:18:00.000+02:00

"zelfs al ben ik nu gelukkiger verlang ik toch altijd terug."

punkdromen over rode wijn en zwarte jeans.
punkdromen over berlijn en anarchie.
punkdromen over lou reed en heroïne.

[ingenting] - punkdrömmar

it's probably..

2006-10-04T02:30:00.000+02:00

because i've had some beers with my buddies now, that i'm writing this stuff for people that don't know what's up. here's some advice, more or less to myself (good to read this tomorrowmorning):

1. do not fall in love with your best friend, you'll only end up hurt.

then there are other things you should or shouldn't do:

2. just because it's the only thing in the world you want most, the person who doesn't answer your love should not hold you, hug you, touch you, cuddle up with you, stroke your hair etc. you will only end up hurt.

3. say: stop, if you don't want to be with me don't do what you're doing to me. if you don't say stop soon enough, you'll only end up hurt.

i could probably go on and on about this, but i think it's best to go to sleep now. perhaps a good number 4 could be:

4. don't get too personal on this blog. you might end up hurt or hurting others. and thats the last thing i want to do.

.

2006-10-01T18:31:00.000+02:00

i know this is an old song and an old videoclip, but i don't care, i am sad, angry and disappointed and this is my blog and i get to do with this whatever i want to.

stars - your ex-lover is dead

mates of state - ha ha

2006-09-27T18:48:00.000+02:00

thank you harm, this song made me smile!

wanted: picasso painting dead or alive

2006-09-26T16:45:00.000+02:00

this one time at bandcamp, no just kidding, lame joke, this one time, back in the days, pablo was hanging out with some rocker buddy, whose name i don't recall at this moment, but anyways, he was hanging out with one of his rocker buddies, when all of a sudden this kid, carrying a toiletpaperroll, shows up, asking pablo to draw something on it and sign it.

pablo wasn't retarded of course and had seen the kid's parents hanging out in a phonebooth carrying a newspaper with spyholes and so he knew they thought he couldn't say no to a kid with the same name as him, did i mention that? i didn't but that's alright, i'm lying now anyways, cause pablo didn't see the kid's parents, pablo was just a smartie.

so, pablo rips the toiletpaperroll to shreds and takes the pen, i think it was a red pen, yes it was red, so he takes it and starts drawing this figure on the kid's bare back, a map to china, or was it a rhinoceros riding a horse, it probably wasn't, no, it definately was a figure. so he draws a figure on the kid's back and after signing it sends the kid away.

after sending the kid back to where it came from, possibly to his parents with the spyholed newspaper in a phonebooth somewhere down the street, he turns to his rocker buddy friend, whose name i still don't recall, and says: "i wonder if they're cheap enough to never wash their kid again."

can someone please find me this kid?

roommate love

2006-09-25T14:36:00.000+02:00

october 15th..

2006-09-20T16:32:00.000+02:00

..i will go and see the knife at the paradiso in amsterdam. i now remember this dream i had a couple of years ago. i was somewhere in the south of france and i found out the knife had played this secret once in a lifetime show in a place i was having a coffee, and i missed it. i was so so angry and sad, even until 18 minutes after waking up. then i realised it was a dream, i guess it took me a while.

just found this video again. it's such a pretty song.

happy hair

2006-09-20T14:44:00.000+02:00

i'm getting a haircut tomorrownight with my pal tobias
and i have decided we will look like this afterwards.

the best daystarter

2006-09-20T10:33:00.001+02:00

we used to be funny...
then real life happened.

made me feel just great.

donate an egg for icecream

2006-09-19T12:15:00.000+02:00

yesterday a friend asked me about donating eggs and it made me think. would i donate my eggs for money? or am i too hippie to do it just for the money? maybe i'm half hippie?

i guess i would do it for someone i know, or for someone that knows someone who needs a donor. but do i want to have 7.000 dollars for it? half hippie joy says 'as long as it covers the expenses, and icecream, it's good enough'.

realistically, in holland it's not allowed to get money for a donation and it's illegal to stay anonymous. and realistically, if i lived somewhere where i could get huge buckets of cash for it, i might say yes anyways. just as long as i get icecream afterwards together with the bucket of cash.

css..

2006-09-18T12:03:00.000+02:00

..this weekend in rotterdam, was sweet. i like this video,
cool song as well.
off the hook.

black cloud

2006-09-15T12:24:00.000+02:00

i couldn't decide..

2006-09-15T11:17:00.000+02:00

.. who my favourite character is on arrested development. some lines of one of my favourites, dr. tobias fünke, who is a never nude:

"michael, you are quite the cupid. you can stick an arrow in my buttocks any time."

"okay, lindsay, are you forgetting that I was a professional twice over - an analyst and a therapist. the world's first analrapist."

"Excuse me, do these effectively hide my thunder?"

i want to go home and watch.

woody i love

2006-09-12T13:08:00.000+02:00

one of the good things about moving to amsterdam is that, right when i moved here, the movietheater the movies, started showing woody allen movies. one movie per week for 2 months and it's almost like going to church, i go there every week with my buddy tobias. last night we went to see hannah and her sisters. the dosage of woody's neurotics was excellent in this one. he's so recognizable, even though i don't know if that's a good thing or not, but maybe that's one of the reasons i enjoy his movies so much.

some random woody allen quotes i like:

"That was the most fun I've ever had without laughing."
(after having sex with annie hall, annie hall 1977)

"I feel that life is divided into the horrible and the miserable. That's the two categories. The horrible are like, I don't know, terminal cases, you know, and blind people, crippled. I don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else. So you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's very lucky, to be miserable."
(annie hall 1977)

"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative."

"It's not that I'm afraid to die, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

not waterproof..

2006-09-07T18:08:00.001+02:00

.. my concept is. today should have been thursdaybreak, a top5 things i did during my break, but i didn't take one. see, thats what i call a leakage in my concept.

wednesdaylove

2006-09-06T09:29:00.000+02:00

5 things i love today:

1. tobbe
2. tobbe
3. tobbe
4. tobbe
5. tobbe

tuesdayfun

2006-09-05T17:08:00.000+02:00

but the day isnt really over yet i guess, doesn't seem like i had that much fun today. according to tobias, my gay friend, this should be my tuesdayfun top5, i don't think he's correct on this one.

Tobias (Krack Kocaine Kittens) says: (17:47:43)
1, speaking with fobias on msn
Tobias (Krack Kocaine Kittens) says: (17:47:48)
2, thinking about fobias
Tobias (Krack Kocaine Kittens) says: (17:47:53)
3, dreaming about fobias
Tobias (Krack Kocaine Kittens) says: (17:48:01)
4, nothing
Tobias (Krack Kocaine Kittens) says: (17:48:12)
5, looking at pictures of fobias on his myspace
Tobias (Krack Kocaine Kittens) says: (17:48:17)
done

the real tuesdayfun top5, timed at 17:53:
1. birthdaycake in the garden at strawberryfrog, the gluten free chocolate cake was the best
2. coming to work late because abdel the hotwaterdude came late to fix the hotwaterthing in our kitchen
3. reading my book sarah by jt leroy while waiting for abdel the hotwaterdude who came late
4. riding my delicious bike
5. talking dutch with sonja

aardbeien en kikkers

2006-09-05T16:23:00.000+02:00

to live in your own country and to never be able to speak your own language, although some might doubt my mother tongue, is somewhat frustrating. the only time i speak dutch in amsterdam is when i answer the question "heeft u een bonuskaart?" with "ja!". it does give me a chance to get to know salespeople in stores or ice cream vendors, how smalltalk about the weather in dutch can brighten up my day. so that's why i think i'll write some dutch now, just to make me happy.

wel een beetje raar om zo in het nederlands door te gaan, maar wel oh zo gemakkelijk. lang niks meer geschreven ook, om diverse redenen. de slapste reden zijnde dat ik het zo druk had met vakantie vieren en daarna druk met verhuizen naar amsterdam en beginnen met mijn stage bij strawberryfrog. misschien de meest belangrijke reden was dat ik niet meer zo goed inzag waarom ik een blog had. soms voel je je gewoon wat onbelangrijk, wat interesseert het iemand nou wat ik doe of beleef? en, aaargh ik weet niet waar ik het over moet hebben. je kent het wel.

dus ik heb een nieuw concept bedacht, maar daarover straks meer. voor wie het interesseert, het gaat goed met mij. het was zo fijn om weer naar huis te verhuizen, naar hester op de baan in het oude vertrouwde rotterdam, mijn moeder weer te zien en mijn vriendjes en vriendinnetjes weer dicht bij me in de buurt. 2 maanden niksen. een jaar hard werken en dan 2 maanden niksen is niet zo makkelijk als het lijkt, helaas. ik heb denk ik elke dag wel tegen mezelf moeten zeggen dat het ok is om niks te doen, vakantie is goed, het mag. de laatste week, voordat de stage van start ging was ik er wel aan gewend geraakt. een vlotte ben ik. ahum.

nu ben ik net aan de 3e week werk begonnen en het bevalt super. het is behoorlijk stressen soms met tot in de late uurtjes doorwerken, maar daartegenover zijn er ook momenten dat het lekker rustig is en ik wat bij kan komen. ook fan ben ik van de chippies en de m&m's, lekker lekker.
wonderbaarlijk genoeg bevalt amsterdam me wel. alleen zolang ik in mn eigen hood blijf en niet in de buurt kom van toeristen, alhoewel dat soms wat moeilijk is, gaat het prima. nog weinig last van hartklachten. over hartklachten gesproken, die doet wel een beetje pijn maar niet door toeristen (je kan ze van alles de schuld geven, behalve hartzeer. of misschien zelfs daarvan?). het ziet er naar uit dat ik voorlopig nog wel verliefd blijf, ik ook al wordt het niet volledig beantwoordt. maar het komt goed, ik zie wel wat er gebeuren gaat in de toekomst, ik heb geen haast.

this dutch writing did me great, cake time now.

i have no imagination..

2006-08-07T11:42:00.000+02:00

.. and have not been challenged, like malin and tobias, to do this list. i just want to be as cool as them, right?

4 jobs i have had in my life:
1. managing the comicbook dept in a giant bookstore
2. before managing the comicbook dept in a giant bookstore, i worked 2 months at the cash register in a giant bookstore
3. did some paid interning as assistant curator and press releases writer person
4. walked around with drinks at parties (as in handing them to people that is, not drinking them myself. wow that would have been a great wino job)

4 movies i can see over and over again:
1. zoolander
2. lost in translation
3. the neverending story (only part 1, not the sequel, that one does not exist in my book, its stupid stupid, just the original, am i being clear on that?)
4. rushmore

4 cities i have lived in:
1. bergen op zoom
2. rotterdam
3. karlskrona
4. amsterdam

4 tv shows i like to watch:
1. lost (love/hate relationship)
2. seinfeld
3. arrested development
4. i havent had a tv for a while now, what's on tv? law and order? something like that i like watching too.

4 places i want to go to:
1. new york
2. costa rica
3. some island in the pacific
4. buenos aires

4 websites i visit daily (this will make me look pathetic):
1. myspace.com
2. buddytown.org
3. pinkisthenewblog.com
4. volkskrant.nl (or mappy.com, depends if i need to go somewhere in amsterdam to which i have moved recently)

4 favourite foodies:
1. pasta pasta pasta
2. udon noodles by ingie
3. summer veggie grilling in the park, which i realize its not a food, but an atmosphere, but still..
4. poffertjes, re-discovered yesterday

4 places i feel comfortable at:
1. de baan in rotterdam
2. anywhere in my new appartment in amsterdam
3. under, behind, next to or in front of my laptop
4. on tobbe's brown couch, not the white ones

4 persons i want to challenge to do this list thing:
can i pick no one here?

midsommar

2006-06-24T13:19:00.000+02:00

7 flowers and my true love

2006-06-24T12:27:00.000+02:00

last night was this swedish thing called midsommar where you eat summer potatoes and a fish named sil. some dance around a pole, but we didn't. the last 5 in town decided to eat together in my backyard and later go for a walk. i have to say, i really enjoyed myself. it was just relaxed, no heavy boozing and jumping in fountains this time.

i have heard that you can find out who your true love is on midsommarnight and only girls can do this. you have to silently pick 7 different flowers from 7 different parts in the garden, put them under your pillow and you will dream about your true love. so of course, after one thousand questions like what if i dream about donnie darko, or what if i dream about my mom, i tried it.

jakob and sean were protecting me from getting attacked in our dangerous park, while i silently walked around picking 7 different flowers. you're not allowed to talk to anyone after picking the flowers so i already said goodnight before. i went home and put the flowers under my pillow. this is what i remember of my dreams:

i was a nurse in a squathospital and to get some more help i had to walk over this superscary bridge. then i was hunted down by some gangsters for some reason i didn't understand. after hiding in different places, not 7, they found me and shot me in my stomach. but i didn't die, because some girl in my dream said that i got shot in a certain angle and that you can't die if that happens.

there was probably some more weird stuff.. but my true love? where was he? there were so many people in my dream! was this a one time opportunity or can i do this every midsommar? can i do that anywhere or do i have to be in sweden? panic!

bye bye crew11..

2006-06-22T13:45:00.000+02:00

so yesterday was the last day in school.. i can't believe how fast this year has passed. i think this has been the fastest year in my entire life. we had final presentations of our last project and after that it was grilling time, soy saucages and marshmallows mmmmm. the party afterwards was cool, although it was weird saying goodbye to people you have gotten so close to. we'll see each other in march again.

i hate saying goodbye. so i'll just say: see you tomorrow!

by the way, my tick bite is scaring me a bit. i'll be on the penicilline for 10 days but i'll do a check up when i come home, which is this monday!! yay!!

ticked

2006-06-19T18:29:00.000+02:00

i think i should change the title of this blog to something like 'the deterioration of joy'. it's a neverending flow of incidents, accidents and visits to emergeny rooms.
now i have a new thing to share with you out there. say hello to my tick bite! my neck is healed and of course my body will never give me a week off, so now i have this thing. i'm on penicilline, so i will be fine.
if only i knew what is going to happen next..

one more

2006-06-04T22:46:00.000+02:00

Your Famous Last Words Will Be:

"I dunno, press the button and find out."

What Will Your Famous Last Words Be?

boring

2006-06-04T22:39:00.000+02:00

Your Seduction Style: The Natural

You don't really try to seduce people... it just seems to happen.

Fun loving and free spirited, you bring out the inner child in people.

You are spontaneous, sincere, and unpretentious - a hard combo to find!

People drop their guard around you, and find themselves falling fast.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

wreckage

2006-06-01T17:46:00.000+02:00

i think i was born broken and i feel embarrassed to send in new declaration forms to my insurance company, after having sent dentist bills and jaw surgeon bills.. as of yesterday i have another bill to send them.

i came to school chipper as i always am, maybe a bit tired but oh well, i still don't like getting up early. i took off my bag and

&*%&$%*###%%^&&$^$##^%#^%$^$#^#%#$%#$%$^%

it just snapped. my neck and shoulder muscles got stuck and the pain was undescribable. they took me to the emergency room at the most retarded hospital i ever went to, i don't want to go into this, and after taking neck x-rays and waiting for hours i could go home with a prescription for inflammation killers. this neck-shoulder-muscle-popping thing has happened 3 times now in 5 years. i seriously need to start working out and i'm thinking maybe working in the digital industry isn't such a good idea..

but i never listen to anyone, especially not to myself. i'll start swimming again and run around, i don't want to give up my computer.

my favourite couple

2006-05-21T19:07:00.000+02:00

another blogthings victim

2006-05-20T16:31:00.000+02:00

In a Past Life...

You Were: A Blind Dancer.

Where You Lived: Tibet.

How You Died: Suicide.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

nothing done

2006-05-12T12:59:00.000+02:00

thank you michiel for sending me this lovely nothing done shirt. now people think i receive packages every day, which i don't. really.

japanese anyone?

2006-05-12T12:20:00.000+02:00

can someone please tell me what this is? it smells a bit funky, perhaps cause it's passed the date? it says march 23rd 2006.. thanks sjarm13!

smile!

2006-05-11T22:46:00.000+02:00

isn't this just the best package you can get? stuff, i don't really know what it all is, from japan. and tea from africa! thanks sjarm13 and joseline!!

easter in copenhageny

2006-04-16T00:35:00.000+02:00

with malin and dennis.

is there still anyone out there...

2006-04-09T17:32:00.000+02:00

... who reads this blog? i don't blame you if you don't, i'm the biggest slacker in blog world by now. so, a small update on life at hyper island, karlskrona, sweden.

finally the snow has disappeared and the first signs of spring are showing. 2 days ago i actually sat outside in the sun, drinking coffee and reading a new book. i started reading 'the history of love', by nicole krauss. and yes, some think the title is corny and that i have lost my mind reading cheap romance novels, but i actually think this book might be great. this is what it says on the back:

"fourteen-year-old alma singer is trying to find a cure for her mother's loneliness. believing she might discover it in an old book her mother is lovingly translating, she sets out in search of its author.

across new york an old man called leo gursky is trying to survive a little bit longer. he spends his days dreaming of the lost love that sixty years ago in poland inspired him to write a book. and although he doesn't know it yet, that book also survived: crossing oceans and generations, and changing lives..."

i will let you know if this book fulfills my expectations. and as i am a curious person who starts books all the time without finishing them because maybe the other book on top of the pile next to bed might be the bestest book ever written, i'm also reading the new york trilogy by paul auster. oh how i wish i could read 20 books at the same time.

at the moment everyone in crew11 is on the search for an internship that we start this august, and boy, i have to say, it's a tough time where the only conversations in school are about writing companies, getting positive or negative e-mails back and so on.
BUT.. i have an internship fixed! i did an assignment for a company in amsterdam, called strawberry frog. and this friday i got a phonecall and was told i am welcome to come in august! at this moment i'm 85% or maybe even 90% sure that i will say yes. this week we will talk things through and i will make my decision. so news on that will probably follow soon, but you know, i'm the slooooowest blogger on this planet.

i feel like having a woody allen theme party. anyone?
well, back to knitting my fluorescent green scarf, it's going to look good.

lost my wisdom

2006-03-09T00:14:00.000+01:00

www.crew11.net!

2006-03-05T00:25:00.000+01:00

i just got back from an amazing launchparty in stockholm! www.crew11.net saw the light of day march 2nd. this is the website we created to let the world know that we are ready to go on our internships. i'm so proud of the guys who worked on this site for the past months! bra jobbat! well go ahead and check it out for yourself!

snow in karlskrona

2006-01-22T14:52:00.000+01:00

swedish?

2005-12-15T22:43:00.000+01:00

a couple more answers

2005-12-08T12:04:00.000+01:00

what did they make me write?
well, basically you have to read some texts and give answers. the texts were quite simple. and the last part where i had to write a letter, it was to an insurance company and i had to write them that i lost my bag at the airport. they gave me some details that had to be in the letter, like, where did you lose it, when, how, what did you do to search for it? it isn't that hard because you have 60 minutes to write the letter, and you are told what to write. but i guess it's important you show you can use swedish grammar.

what did they make me speak?
this time i had to talk about something i had lost, and the first time i did the test i had to talk about a city i had visited.

i hope you can use this for your pupils. what will they do with it?
well anyway, was nice meeting you and i hope i helped you out a bit.

my view on the sfi test

2005-12-07T21:05:00.000+01:00

i'm writing this because i received some questions from an anonymous person, and i would like to let her or him know what's up with this sfi test.

so ok anonymous, here i go!

why do i have to take the sfi test?
to be honest, i didn't know for a looooong long time, and i still don't know what will happen when i fail again. my school just can't give me an answer on this, so whatever, i'll just do the test for the second time.
i think i have to do the test because i have to prove i understand swedish to be allowed to enter a school in sweden. for immigrants it's important to pass this test so they can go to komvux for an education, or get a job. i seriously hate this test, cause i'm not planning on staying in sweden, i'm here because the school kicks ass. it's a 2 year education, the 1st year i'm in sweden and next year i'll be doing an internship somewhere else on this planet. but i'm not a fortune teller, maybe i'll come back to sweden and stick around after finishing hyper island?

so what does this test look like?
the test consists of 2 parts. the first part is reading, listening, some more reading and then writing a letter. the 2nd part of the test is to speak about a certain subject for 2 to 4 minutes, it's being recorded and the lady just nods her head. then the other part on the speaking test is to have a discussion with another person, who is also taking the test.

why is it so hard?
well, i dunno really, i passed the reading and writing stuff after making the test after 1 month of living in sweden. the other people taking this test go to a special sfi course, as i understood. they go to school 4 hours a day, every day of the week. some have been going to the course for 3 months, some even 6 months or longer. but i guess dutch has some similarities to swedish which makes it easier to learn swedish the way i'm learning it. i listen to people, read magazines and watch a whole lot of tv. but it's so much easier to read than to speak...

i failed speaking on the first test, but hey, that's not a shame i think. but because i failed i had to do it all over again, this week. but i'll probably fail on the speaking test again because i just can't speak swedish.

and why does this all piss me off so much?
because i feel i've proven to understand the level of swedish on this test. i don't feel the need to be able to speak that much swedish, i can do chit chat and order stuff in a restaurant (except for this one time where i forgot to say 'vegetarisk' oooooops), but people here understand and speak enough english to make things clear. after being here only 4 months i think i'm doing quite ok. by the end of the year i might be able to speak a whole lot more and maybe even sing a drunken people's song.

they will call me this friday with the result.
aaaaaaaaaaaargh.

i tend to forget things

2005-12-07T20:55:00.000+01:00

hester, it's coming!!

passed it

2005-12-06T10:04:00.000+01:00

i passed the reading and writing tests again.
in an hour i'm having the speaking test.
i never want to do this test again,
so, keep those fingers crossed.

sfi.. again

2005-12-04T16:40:00.000+01:00

so tomorrow i'm taking the svenska för invandrare test for the second time. i'm sure i will pass the writing part, but the speaking.. i don't know man..
i hate this test.
wish me luck.

meet my new friends

2005-12-03T15:47:00.000+01:00

thank you ingie, for sending me a substitute miu miu!

i love this!

2005-11-29T09:46:00.000+01:00

rasmus sjöborg
such cute drawings and great sound.
and now the sun just came out, yay!

i moved!

2005-11-28T18:23:00.000+01:00

check out my new room, i love it here! and i'm saving a lot of money!

amazing..
after visiting stockholm, last weekend, i realize even more how i miss living in a big city.

why have a blog..

2005-11-13T04:10:00.000+01:00

and never update it? cause i suck at it at the moment but i promise to write a nice story tomorrow. if i don't, i deserve all the spam i can get. shit, now i really really have to write...

well..

2005-10-03T20:50:00.000+02:00

i guess passing 4 out of 5 tests wasn't enough for them.. have to do it all over again in december. grrrrrrrrr.

SFI som fan!

2005-09-29T16:50:00.000+02:00

it has been a while since my last post. i have been very busy here! well, i went home for a week and then when i got back, we started right away with projects and groups and such more.

oh time for a funny intermezzo now, when i was home in rotterdam, i went to see josé gonzáles, a swedish singer songwriter. and we had talked to each other once before, so this time we had a little chat again. his performance was great by the way. and the next day, as i walked to the gate at the airport, guess who was at the same gate? fun fun huh?

back to business now. a week ago i heard that i was going to do the sfi test, which means svenska för invandrare and in english that is swedish for immigrants. i suck, i'm so so bad at studying on my own, so i basically just learned swedish from listening to people and reading magazines.

i had to do 4 tests. reading, listening, reading and a little writing, and finally write a job sollicitation. it went ok, i wasn't sure if i would pass cause you had to pas 70% of the test... but i did it! i nailed it! yay!!
so today was the second part, speaking test and oh my god was i nervous. it's a lot easier to read and listen then to speak it. i think a five year old has a bigger vocabulary than i have! but who knows.. i'll hear tomorrow if i passed todays test. keep your fingers crossed!

amazing:
again, my love for pizza.

the future of blogging

2005-09-20T16:23:00.000+02:00

the topic i'm going to write about today has a slightly different feel than my other writings. at hyper we are having project weeks by the name of 'experience technology' and we had a lecture about how new technology will bring new possibilities and so on. the homework we got after this lecture was to write about the future on blogging. so this is what i will do now.

to start of, why for heaven's sake did i myself start a blog?
i started this blog after a day of boring work. my idea was to pay more attention to daily life and start noticing amazing things. this would force me to take a good look around myself and days wouldn't just pass by without notice. so i started this purely for myself, it's such a waste not noticing life and its great things. and every day i tried to write a 'what amazed me today'.
having a blog is the easy part, keeping the blog updated is a whole other story. after a while i stopped writing about amazing things, and after moving to hyper island, sweden, this blog turned into letters to people at home, so they can follow me in my adventures and take a look in my life here.

but what will the future of blogging look like?
so many people write a blog nowadays. about their lives, like a diary, about what drives them, about politics, science, art, animal rights.. basically, anything you can think of, people are writing about it. i think blogging will grow more and more. maybe it will be made easier to post a blog, maybe send in a blog through sms. or does that already exist?

to be completely honest, i don't know what the future will bring. i'm thinking this could be a phase? a hype? by the time the über most cool features, like videoblogging, webcamblogging, voiceblogs, aurablogs etc will make their appearance, people will be bored with blogging, or maybe it won't even be called blogging anymore?

amazing!
how i love candy.

but what amazes me even more:
all this blog spam comment stuff i'm getting all the time, it's pissing me off.

scandinavia loves rotown

2005-09-17T20:00:00.000+02:00

this is what happens when you go home for a week. you can't seem to escape scandinavia, it's everywhere!

aspen, sweden

2005-09-04T15:22:00.000+02:00

yesterday we went to an island called aspö, it's about 30 minutes with the free ferry from trossö, karlskrona, where i live. and it was just a perfect day. the weather was great, blue skies, sun and a little breeze. just chillin', some beers and cookies.
and i saw my first snake in real life! it was dead, but still, it was really cool!

amazing:
sweden and its enormous alcohol consumption.

a 5 minute walk

2005-08-28T15:49:00.000+02:00

this is all the nice stuff i see when i walk to school.
come here and take a walk with me!

i bought this today!

2005-08-27T16:48:00.000+02:00

doesn't it look great?

vad gör du ikväll?

2005-08-26T15:53:00.000+02:00

another week has past, here at hyper island. and again, it has been a very interesting week. we started working on our first project, creating a database for
future internship companies. my team has to do research on berlin, and we also decided to do research on companies in amsterdam. after all this researching and investigating i have found so many cool and interesting companies around the world, it is very inspiring! next week we'll have presentations from all teams. countries covered for example usa, uk, japan, spain and of course sweden. it will be good to see what everyone has come up with!

last weekend we had some drinks and snacks on the island with the red house, here in karlskrona. it's an art project on a tiny, tiny island. i didn't quite understand what this project was about, but i think it has to do with the rise of the same looking suburbs around sweden. please correct me if i'm wrong! anyway, the house is completely red and it looks so surreal. i love it!

amazement?
i have to start paying more attention on amazing stuff!! there's so much happening around me, and i should take notes!!

tada!

2005-08-21T22:59:00.000+02:00

meet the neighbours

2005-08-21T22:42:00.000+02:00

jag har inte barn

2005-08-19T16:41:00.000+02:00

well this past week has been quite an experience. actually the week before this one too. the first 3 days of school, last week, was all about presenting yourself to your crewmembers. 70 presentations in 3 days, i thought i died! so many people, all swedish and i don't understand swedish that well yet, understatement here.

so last monday we left for 3 days of teambuilding. the weather was great, warm and sunny and the camp was surrounded by water, as is everything here. we have learned a lot during these days. a lot of different assignments concerning our expectations, future dreams, basic guidelines we want to have at hyper island, so many different things. it was really hard for me with the language. and i'm glad that so many speak really well english. after every assignment we had to reflect on what we felt during the assignment, what we had learned and how we will use it in the future. i sometimes felt very lonely since i couldn't really participate in the discussions, since i didn't fully understand what we were talking about.

although it has been hard, i have learned a lot of swedish already. i hope i will keep up this learning pace so i can start focussing on 'real' learning.

right now we have 4 days off and the weather is just amazing. i went swimming yesterday! and it was COLD! but i'm stubborn, so i loved it! and i got the keys to my room last wednesday after camp! it's still a bit smelly but in a week it will smell like me, sweet apples. or i might have gotten used to the bad smell by then...

i'm homesick at the moment. i really miss my friends a lot. i wish they were here, or i could just fly home for these 4 days. but i can't go home, i just had a going away party! so, i'll be here, waiting for someone to visit me. and call a lot of people.. oh have to check if i still have some money on my phone.

so expect new pictures in a couple of days! i still have simen sleeping on my floor till sunday, he will then move out to his appartment, and i will start decorating my room. i'll show it real soon!

amazement, for real:
karlskrona is so nice, calm, picturesque and it feels so safe here. last week i wasn't paying attention when i crossed the street. i turned my head and i was almost on the hood of a car, but it stopped! and not with screaming brakes, no, and the man behind the wheel was just smiling!