at the next high school reunion ....

.... i won't be a country rock star like some of us (Welcome to Jeff Catto On-Line) ... but maybe i will have some fun stories to tell, and accomplishments to share.

yeah. i have that kind of confidence.


this song has been in my head all day: andre hazes en gerard joling - blijf bij me, which instantly makes me think of this song: lange fraas en baas b - het land van.


while i was on the bus the other day, an older lady started talking to me about my t-shirt. i was wearing a "the doors" t-shirt, that i had once picked up at bluenotes for less than $5. she told me i had very good taste, and continued talking about the band, and how my parents must have been big fans. when i told her they were more into country, she shook her head, and applauded me for making much better choices .... thing is: i haven't listened to most of their music, and could not tell you one thing about the band. i was really sweating it for minute ... serves me right though, i suppose.

a friend of mine shared this with me. i love the part where luxembourg gets beat up. hmm .. i should really try to figure out how to paste the actual thing here, rather than link it. yeah ... about that.

odds and ends

"Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain" Psalm 48:1

age: 21 years and two days and counting. i am so thankful for all the messages and e-mails-> and even more thankful for those 21 years of many many blessings.

i have a lot of readings to do, so i will have to pass on the marauders-geegees game today (which i had been wanting to attend), but i am sure i will find other ways to prohibit myself from having a particularly productive day.

officially, the 2007-2008 hockey season has begun 2 minutes ago, in london, england, and is actually aired on the cbc. too bad i still have to wait 4 days before i can get really excited about it (msg me if you are interested in joining for a "beginning of the season beer and pizza" part-ay) in the meantime there is lots of news and season previews on youtube.com although i have to say there are none that i particularly like, but it is fun to re-live the exciting plays from last year anyways.

the decemberists - here i dreamt i was an architect

steven sufjan - chicago

i think i will have to put my feet up, read my readings, and enjoy a fabulous cup of coffee in an even more fabulous mug. and maybe think of something useful to say and post for the next time ... maybe.

"when you're not with us, we're blue, so blue, oh .. "

lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ve this rain

status: reading

lifehouse - storm

i've got more: just came across this article ``Gingers extinct in 100 years, scientists say`` an even more interesting development is the response: a facebook group `save the redhead breeding program`

oh dear ...

they're from the city. i am not.

i was glad to read this in the Toronto Star. i am currently taking a class in international economic institutions, and like every university course there is a lot of reference to globalization. it seems that with a renewed focus on local produce, there seems to be some opposition to the effects of free trade and flow of resources across borders. in any case, the current situation is this:

TheStar.com News How young people are being driven off the farm

i also looked for the new dairy farmers' commercial, aired on tv, but i can't find it online. but trust me, it definitely beats the milk rap, and the one where naked people were bathing in milk (i mean, water with dye).
can't afford to reminisce too much about this though, because i need to get back to reading about the city. interestingly though the course (called the North American City) attributes the existence and growth of the city to the country. take that you city folks!

peculiar farm fact: the farm. interestingy they were also called the "soul of socialism"

i am rooting for the peeps in plaid.

high tide

I currently working on my resume, and some job applications/while also thinking about grad school applications, and came across a reference letter I had received after the summer. I never thought I was this bad ... (or that I would be unable to rival this sense of humour):

"Mornings were frequently a challenge for Gesiena but by mid-day she was usually able to speak in full sentences. She did show some sparks of initiative, particularly at the end of the day, when she could clean her desk and exit the office faster than a civil servant with job security. If we had been organizing beer and wing parties instead of Coffee Breaks I believe we could have achieved unrivalled success."

... and continues ...

"I have no hesitation in recommending Gesiena for any position where dedication, hard work, attention to detail and the ability to excel at new tasks are not requirements. If you have no other suitable applicants I suppose you could do worse than hiring Gesiena. But I am not sure how."

Allright then,
9 days until 21
and preseason hockey season starts TONIGHT for the beloved Senators, in approximately 4 hours, while I will be reading, reading, highlighting, reading, and reading.

In the spirit of Hamilton, and music, I am listening to All I Ever Wanted - Brian Melo

no breather

14 days until 21

20 days until TMLvsSEN

i added me to hyves.nl and am looking for more ways not to read/write/think.

will be going home this weekend though to see relatives from le pays-bas, and study? there is really nothing exciting happening here: i am thinking i might even be the only one home,.because it is deadly quiet here ..

lifehouse - storm

another summer come and gone

17 days until 21

23 days until TMLvsSEN

that was it already. summer is gone. school has begun. and no more vacations to be had. there are books to read. assignments to start.

i posted a little bit at the beginning of the summer, after which i realized that the struggle with the internet and the computer was not at all worth it. but now i have my very own highspeed internet connection and my new computer (which still remains nameless)!

i could spend hours to explain what i did this summer, but really there would be nothing too exciting, as i spend the entire time working. no vacations, and only a few short trips. it was fantabulous nonetheless. i had the chance to spend a couple of weeks with my grandmother (oma) and cousins from holland, visit fathom five national park, camping at alconquin park, and tons of bonfires. photo evidence:

flowerpot island.

on the boat tour.

byebye johanna. we'll see you in switserland.

someone (who shall remain nameless) may have stolen a tree. it was a really nice tree.

lake of two rivers.

must ... have coffee ...

church picnic 2007. i must say when i had the chance to take on frouke, i prevailed. luckily no photo evidence exists.

hockey hall of fame, store. may? 2007. the bickering and violence never ends.

fall out boy - thanks for the memories

having to share

excerpt from the limited amount of poetry that i read:

Druppels van dauw - E. Griffioen-van Wuijkckhuijse

Nu is de wereld kostbaarder dan ooit
Ik blijf verwonders voor het venster dralen:
vannacht zijn druppels dauw als zilv'ren kralen
met gulle handen in mijn tuin gestrooid.

Dit wonder kan allen maar zijn bedacht
door God, die mij met kleine zegeningen
wijst op de troost dat vaak de mooiste dingen
onstaan zijn uit het duister van de nacht.

happy birthday canada!

between an early trip to the airport on saturday, preparing for the church picnic and the actual picnic tomorrow, there is not much room or energy for any holiday weekend partying/trips. that means that my much desired plan to ever go visit the barclay unit will be postponed. again.

as for canada day itself, i watched some 5 minutes of the tribute to princess diana show, only to decide it was a bit too much for me. no other patriotic activities planned on this front. interestingly hearing the canadian anthem, is for me, directly associated with hockey. specifically the playoffs. and even more specifically the finals. funny how that works. i have been trying to put together a team for a ball hockey tournament, but am running in some trouble getting a whole team, without leaving anyone feeling left out.

hmmm ... yay to our new pool. it is not too luxurious, but most definitely nice for a dive after work. altogether though, i am just looking forward to go back to school ... i think. although i am enjoying work very muchly, i just get antsy to finish up. i mean one more year left, it is just too good to be true!

finger eleven-falling on

opnieuw terug van weggeweest

even though the nice weather has returned, my cold has not left yet and i am not really up for a trip to the beach with friends, so i stayed home to do nothing. well, that was until i got really bored and decided to updatemy blog. and i know, it has been like a month. a good month though.

there is no more hockey on, so that leaves my saturdaynights free for other activities. although the senators did not get very far in the stanley cup finals, the fact that they made it there is good enough for me. plus i am convinced that in a couple of years, after resigning almost the entire team, we will be like anaheim, only better looking. in the meantime, i followed the awards show and the draft to stay a little bit updated.

for the rest of the week i keep busy at work. i am glad to say that i am no longer working at the military base, not because i hated it, but because i got a different job: closer to home, nicer hours, more pay, and a chance to learn important skills and network a little bit as well. this past week has been especially busy as we organized a charity golf tournament! it was a great success and i learned a little bit about golf as well. also this past weeks, the canadian air forces' snowbirds were in owen sound, and being so crazy about jets as i have always been, it was really exciting, and having been able to capture some nice shots/video i was hoping to post it here, but alas, internet is not co-operating. the story of my life. well just a tiny part of it. only 2 more months + one week till school starts again? i think i will be able to get along with the dial-up for that much longer. UPDATE: i got one picture to work :-)

that means summer is passing by much faster than i can think. and i still have so many plans ... right. i better get on that.

my super summer mix:

westlife-soledad

dj tiesto - close to you

brief smoke signals

it has been a few weeks since i have posted last. eeek! so much for my intentions to document the weekly adventures of cornpuff and mr. storkbat. although i have to admit they have not been very many places. maybe i will take them to work some time this week.

life has been as adventurous as unadventurous. the ottawa senators made it to the stanley cup finals, and the first game against the anaheim ducks is tonight. strangely i don't think i really care very much about how they do, because so far it has been an excellent journey! although i am hoping to see getzlaf square off against spezza. the game starts in about an hour, and i am pretty sure i am going to try to be smart and get to bed early for a 4.30am awakening, as i have to leave for work before 5am.

as for work it has been as interesting as it has been uninteresting. part of me really hates it, while the other part actually kind of likes it. i can't make up my mind about it, and it is really confusing.

anyways, i was not planning to write too much, and am going to do some research on barbeques as we still have to get one for mom for her birthday, which is tomorrow. eek! i am off to paint my nails. red.

westlife -soledad

GO SENS GO!

that IS the way (i like it): hockey night in canada and the adventures of mr. storkbat, cornpuff and alfie jr.

i take back all the things i said about blogger and pictures and not working ... because: voila! mr storkbat and cornpuff a la hockey night in canada!

now that i am still waiting to hear back from a couple of job interviews .... but am getting some things done, such as cleaning out my room so that it can be painted. the cool thing is that i ended up reading a couple of my old diaries. my entry for november 1, 1996: (translated)

"dear diary. i have to tell you today that nothing happened. goodnight, gesiena."

i surely had a good laugh about all the crushes i had, and all the marks i got on my tests. my last entry for that year was the results from a playbackshow that we had as a year-end party for choir. my friends and i got specific haircuts, and matching outfits to sing this song: verliefd zijn - guus meeuwis & vagant . i am not sure what is up with the video. because blogger is not letting me post any videos :-(

i have to go get changed now, as i watered the trees, and got myself real wet.

as for my dearly beloved senators: YAYzors! only 8 more wins till the Stanley Cup. in the meantime i am making roadtrip plans for ottawa/buffalo. wednesday i will be going to T.O. to get my passport renewed. so maybe buffalo won't be such a bad idea. hmmm ... mom's home, i better go look productive.

adventures of cornpuff, mr. storkbat & alfonzo (2)

since blogger is being a huge PITA, I am not sure if i can be uploading any pictures. personally i like to blame it on dial-up internet, although realistically i might be a factor. i am already at 4 cups of coffee for the day and have soaked up enough vitamin D for the entire summer, as i spend most of the day gardening. i was able to teach mr. storkbat and the cornpuff the essentials to gardening. i think they got lesson #1 quite well: dispose of the fallen, rotten leafs that seem to be lying around everywhere being pretty much useless.

this weekend was pretty much boring and exciting at the same time. having a vehicle around and time to not study, i got a chance to go out with the sibs for a couple of drinks and the hockey game. we did not last very long, maybe until the end of the second period and opted to grab a couple of movies instead. good thing was that when we came home i just caught the tying goal of the third period, which put the game into overtime. still decided to watch bon cop bad cop instead, for some pretty good laughs. i mean canadian film making .... there is always something to laugh about.

on sunday it was really nice to see everyone again at church. we organized a breakfast type dinner and played a game of soccer before bible study. i am officially out of shape, but had a couple of interesting falls (and dives) and got myself a good headache with a head ball on the top of my head. not good. not good at all. anything for the team though -> woop woop!

am still jobhunting, and pretty much praying to get hired. i guess the worst thing really is having to wait. off to distract myself until 7pm.

summer tune: DJ Tiesto - Close to You

adventures of cornpuff, mr. storkbat & alfonzo

i have decided to document the experiences of cornpuff (or crosby), mr. storkbat and alfonzo (more commonly referred to as alfie jr. and diehard fan of his nick-name-sake) in owen sound this summer. somewhat inspired by sherry's work with the penguins, I have documented their first few hours of official summer holidays. picture -> them boys sitting inside because it is raining :-(

i was only home for about 15 minutes, after which i left to watch some highschool soccer action. although it was cold and raining the amount of scoring action was great. i think the final score was 12-0 for good guys. all i could think of was that it would be nice if tonight's hockey game would resemble the same one-sided effort for the good guys.

after each hockey game, i am even more convinced of the #19 factor. seeing that spezza (#19) scored the first goal of game 1 for ottawa and zajac (#19) scored the first goal of game 1 for the devils .... hmmm i am started to believe some economic (or psychological) analysis is in order 1st intermission right now. about 20 minutes later i realize that ottawa players in the number 20's are not having such luck judging from NHL.com Report Viewer seeing that I can't watch anymore. it's all in the numbers. current score: 4-3 (OTT).

yee-hah! that's the way ... i like it (and redden scores to give us a little boost). UPDATE: final score is 5-4. i have some great pictures of cornpuff and mr. storkbat watching hockey night in canada ... but unless i figure out what beef this computer has with my plan, i am going to have to put off posting those.

as for hockey (i waited a whole week for it, so bear with me on the excessive hockey talk):

[dancing]

[still dancing ... while holding breath]

and logging off to do some real work. summer kick-off tune: dance4life - DJ Tiesto

done'r and goner

je suis fini!

now i can no longer hide behind textbooks and have to face the real world for some 4 months. i have free time, and already don't know what to do with it. why is it so much easier to waste time when you dont have it? no fair.

status: really trying to be nice

only two more days in the hammer ... and two more days of highspeed internet and bickering with jax. then i will be going home for the summer! until then i have one more exam that i have no desire to study for whatsoever: business history. now as i am quote, unquote studying hard, and not wasting time looking for the newest espisode of supernatural on youtube, or posting messages on facebook ...
in light of all this studying cornpuff, mr. storkbat and myself have resorted to youtube for some comic relief. and the following (familiar) three have come out as winners:

Raj Binder with NHL Playoff Predictions - love the hamilton and ottawa comments
Raj Binder and the Ottawa Senators - "the stanley cup ... or the protective cup"
Raj Binder at the NBA All Star Game - "do you wish you had gone to college?"

FYI:
april 24: today i have been in Canada for exactly 7 years. usually this is cause for celebration with the family ... but i am still writing exams. i can't help but wonder though, where have those years gone? eek! one thing is for sure: it has been sufficient to "canadianize" me to some extent. that being evident in my love for cereal and hockey
april 24: elaine's birthday! i would teach the penguins a little dance for her. such as the golddigger (G-style), but i think they are still hungover.
april 24: also the birthday of William I of Orange, Alan Eagleson (punch him ... please), Barbra Streisand, and Kelly Clarkson.
april 24: the day the Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (1184 BC)

after 3 cups of coffee, and a million bathroom breaks i really must be stuyding. plus really likes it when people buy me donuts.

ik wil alleen maar zwemmen

seriously. is it thursday yet?

listening to: westlife - butterfly kisses, and some "thrashy euro music" by armin van buuren.

whoop-di-doo ...

... some people might say: but after a pretty horrible exam last night i was uberly glad to come home and see this:

4 wins down ... 12 wins to go! thanks to them boys for making me and alfie jr. ve-e-ery happy.

and especially after a pretty good exam today, and gorgeous weather i am ready for some more studying and then SUMMERRRRRRR!

"that's the way (i like it)"

i was getting a little nervous about the first round of hockey for the ottawa senators and i should not care so much ... but i do! anyways, after today i can breathe a little easier until tuesday, and enjoy my dinner. series at 2-1.


song: it's not over - chris daughtry

practice to win

... thinking of roses and the upcoming playoff series ...

just had a ball of fun at home this past weekend, and brushed up on my soccer and basketball skills, and even got some time to practice my street hockey ball control skills with the dog ... all that during a white easter. i also got a haircut, watched some hockey night in canada, played poker and had some interested and less than mature conversations.

the best comment i heard though, "this snow is completely useless, just like the toronto maple leafs." now that's the spirit!

btw this is the font that i fell in love with, and now i am going to type up some more studynotes, listen to some more boyband tunes, and daydream a little more.
studytune: brian mcfadden and delta goodrem - almost here (this falls in line with my preference for male/female duets ;-) )

good friday reflections

"Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering

Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King,

But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me.

Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.

The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men

Made its way through the heart of Jerusalem."

Although we can realize the truth and comfort of this every day, there is always emotions of great joy and shame on Good Friday. especially shame for not taking the opportunity to share this joy with others every day, in that light i just wanted to share the following passage from Luke 23:

"As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then " 'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!" 'For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last."