confessions

if you knew i was in economics you would have thought i was smarter than this. i mean i should be the queen of efficiency and productivity. but here you have it. the truth is uncovered. i am not:
(now that i think of it, it should not really surprise anyone, especially when you realize that stephen harper, or peter george have economics degrees, and what do they get done? exactly.)

Go Sens Go (Hockey Night in Canada)


i have a few obsessions. and (rightly so) the sens are near the top of the list. oh and in line with my (strange) habit (disease?) of listening to the same song all day long here you have it for today:
(really too bad youtube does not have a repeat button .... or that i feel so guilty about downloading free music ... )

One Republic ft. Timbaland - I apologize

university 101: always carry an umbrella

i am thankful for many many things. but especially today:
- for long legs and being able to jump over or around puddles
- for ending class early so i have time to grab a cup of coffee between classes
- for discovering a subject that i really enjoy: intellectual property protection (i know!)
- for saying that i will go swimming, and then actually doing it
- music.

aqualung - something to believe in

i like ...

the song. not sure about the video though.

matt kearney - breathe in, breathe out

sooooo distracted.

measuring progress by word counts and nutrition by peanut butter and jam sandwiches, and sanity by the cups of coffee.

where is my mind? in Funk-ytown

so i just looked up from writing my paper and thought there was a fish swimming in my water bottle.

yikes.

have been completely overwhelmed with schoolwork, and completely distracted by life. but had the chance to see the home opener of the hamilton bulldogs last night a la second row. it was a great game, and a nice ceremony, with the anthems performed by hamilton's own: brian melo. my throat is not feeling all that happy, but i love it when the crowd gets loud, so i do my part ... and more. funk alert!

back to my book report on Nature's Metropolis. fabulous book. too bad i need to go through it so many times that i will hate it when i am done.

a bit more catchy - special d.

and ... go sens go!

listen.

study. repeat. study. repeat. study. repeat.
study some more. and then repeat some more.

three days grace - wicked game

interesting development?

it seems that election day has a chilling effect on ontario, as the temperature went from some 30 degrees to 13 degrees in just 24 hours.

this is as much of a political rant i can get going:
although i hope dalton mcguinty does not get re-elected, there is one clear advantage he has over ... let's say, john tory: choice of hockey team. other than that there is nothing much to say about politics right now because at election time it seems that political affiliation is a commodity that can be bought and sold, and right: it isn't. so much for democracy. i think i am going to skip the election show and study tonight instead, while checking nhl scoresheets repeatedly.


blah ... i hate the smell of popcorn.

trans siberian orchestra - carol of the bells. i know it is early but could we not skip halloween altogether? but seriously: to go or not to go?

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