Mom

Glasses of Draenor

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Went to the city this morning with Mom to get our eyes checked and pick out new glasses. It has been quite some time since I last got a new pair, and since it is still 2014, my insurance will still cover it (I’m scaling it back next year). Once at the store we always go to, it turned out that I last got new glasses seven years ago. So yeah, I’m due for new ones. It being seven years ago also meant updating my data, and it’s always fun to see how people react. The dude was very professional and only mildly surprised 😀

Got the full eye check-up done, it seems my eyes got slightly better as my cylinder deviation has apparently gone away. After measuring we picked out frames. I wasn’t, and still am not, completely satisfied with what was available. I wanted something as close as possibly to my old pair: black rimmed, rectangular and not too tall from top to bottom. But apparently that’s out of style, so they are a bit taller now. I’ll get used to it, but it’s not my favourite. Mom found herself a very pretty red pair.

Then we picked out the options on the glasses. I went with extra thin, an anti-reflection coating and a blue-screen thingy so it mellows bright white light a bit and this brought me nicely to the €6 below the max coverage my insurance gives.

Now, I’m back home and focusing my attention for the rest of my free day on the gloriousness that is my newly delivered Warlords of Draenor. Black Portal, here I come!

Ceremony of Lights

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DSC_1522The cemetery where my grandparents are buried held a remembrance event last night. They covered all the paths and walkways on both sides with tealights in jars and invited people to come and bring a light to their loved ones there. They also offered warm drinks and cake because winter’s nights are cold. If you didn’t have a candle or light, you could get one there. And there was also a rack to place lights on if your loved one wasn’t buried here. All of this free of charge, just asking for a donation if you could.

DSC_1524I went with Mom and my Aunt and were planning to visit not just my grandparents, but also my grandfather’s parents, and my grandfather’s brother and his wife. We had planned in advance, so I had bought two lanterns while I was at Ikea getting my plates. My aunt had also bought a lantern so we had one for each grave. And earlier in the day, Mom and I had stopped at the florist for some pretty plants that can withstand the winter.

The cemetery looked beautiful, and it was really nice to see so many people there. We visit the graves fairly regularly, individually, and then we clean it, or maybe bring some new flowers. But now we were together, not just the three of us, but all of us people, sharing a moment.

We cleaned the gravestones, put up the plants and the lights. And in the background they played music, interspersed with people reading poetry. Once we had done that, we went back towards the entrance to get something warm to drink. I got one of the candles they offered there and placed it on the rack for people not buried there in remembrance of others that have died, both in my family as well as friends.

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43

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10502009_10204165969603136_4946591070366997143_n. 28-10jpgToday is my parent’s anniversary, they’ve been married for 43 years. I went to visit them this morning, brought some roses, too 🙂

I also got another confirmation of how awesome social media can be. I’ve been looking for this one book I read as  a kid. For years, I couldn’t remember the title, so I would occasionally look online to see if I could identify it. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I struck gold and identified the book as Kind zonder naam by Anna Cool.

Unfortunately, it’s out of print, and despite checking book markets and second hand sites, I could never find it. Inspired by the story of Koos, I decided to give Facebook a try. So I posted the cover, and basically what I just wrote above here on my wall. Normally everything is sealed to just friends, but I made it public to facilitate sharing. Some friends shared it, my mom shared it, and from her wall, some of her friends shared it.

10422959_10152487441383155_4479292488066434203_nLater in the day, Mom commented saying that a friend of one of her friends might have it, she was going to check. And today, I heard that indeed that friend has it, and is willing to part with it. So I’m getting my book, after years of looking for it 😀

I’m ecstatic! It might be a week or two, though, before it gets here as Mom’s friend will be picking it up when she goes to see her friend, who lives elsewhere in the land. No matter, I can wait 🙂

Pro Musica

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Yesterday I went to see (and listen to) a performance of Pro Musica, the women’s choir from a few towns over. They celebrated their 25 year jubilee with a concert in the church in their town. To help them celebrate, they invited a number of guest performers to sing with them. Among them, a number of men of the choir my uncle sings in, including said uncle. Because of that, Mom and I decided to go, and it would be more fun for my aunt to have company in the audience.

They started with Alta Trinita Beata before the opening words and followed this with a top five of their favourite songs, as chosen by the members themselves. Then they introduced the Roder Boys’ Choir. A highly trained and well respected choir in the English tradition, robes and all. They sang a few songs and the director explained some things about the English choir tradition and how progressing through the choir works, as two of the boys present were new members of the choir itself (probationers).

This was followed by their regular pianist playing two instrumental duets with an organist playing the small church organ.

Then, it was time for the main piece, the Requiem of Gabriel Fauré. It had long been their dream to sing this, but, as a women’s choir, they lacked the male voices required. So, for their jubilee, they decided to ask a number of project singers to come and help. They rehearsed for months, and it culminated in a beautiful performance of a beautiful piece of music. The only thing I found intrusive occasionally, was the piano. It had a tendency to be too loud, and too persistent in a melody which, to my ear, didn’t quite match the vocals. However, seeing as this was their regular, professionally trained, pianist, I assume this was due to acoustics and my less than optimum seat.

All in all, I enjoyed it, musically, but seating was sub-par.

Programme:

Pro Musica

  • Alta Trinita Beata

Opening Words

Pro Musica

  • In Humility our Savior (M.J. Gabbott, T.H. Prichard)
  • I Will Sing With the Spirit (J. Rutter)
  • Pater Noster (A. de Klerk)
  • Nigra Sum (P. Casals)
  • Cantique de Jean Racine (G. Fauré)

The Roder Boys’ Choir

  • Wohl mir, das ich Jesum habe (J.S. Bach)
  • Wash Me Thoroughly (S.S. Wesley)
  • Nunc dimitis (from the canticles in G) (C.V. Stanford)
  • If Thou Shalt Confess (C.V. Stanford)

Liesbeth Wildeveld & Jan de Roos

  • Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit BWV 106 (J.S. Bach)
  • Slavische Dans opus 72 nr. 2 (A. Dvořák)

Pro Musica with Project Singers

Requiem by Gabriel Fauré

  • Introit et Kyrie
  • Offertoire
  • Sanctus
  • Pie Jesu
  • Agnus Dei
  • Libera Me
  • In Paradisum

Baaistemaart

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20141013_101337Since I now live in this town, and am free on the day, I figured I should attend the Baaistemaart (lit. Animal Market). It’s a fairly regular annual market, but it specialises in animals. The main street was set apart for the horses, both bigger ponies as well as this collection of Shetlands. Beyond that were normal stands with the usual market stuff both edible and not. On the town square was a tent displaying livestock (sheep, goats, alpacas, rabbits, various forms of guinea pigs, and a collection of birds) and having stands of various organisations, the local vet clinic and so on.

20141013_132654I went with Kim, at first, and later did another round with Mom.

Once home from that, I transported myself to Azeroth for some WoW’ing. With the coming 6.0 patch, Aggem Thorncurse will be replaced as boss in Razorfen Kraul. Which also means that it is no longer possible to tame his boar spirit (which he summons during the fight) that has a unique skin.

I have a lowbie hunter toon that was about level for this dungeon. But not quite enough to be able to do it by himself. And since I’m a stubborn and unsociable bastard, I don’t like doing content with others. So I’ve been leveling him the past few days to get him powerful enough so he and Bokito (his current pet) could get it done. The first time did’t work. I managed to kill Aggem, but the boar only stays up for so long after Aggem dies so after I had healed myself and started the taming, it despawned when I was done and it failed. So I reran the dungeon and this time around started taming right after defeating Aggem and caught it.

Yahnto with Thorncurse

Yahnto with Thorncurse

People on Holidays and a Schoolyear

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Into the city today with the Mom 😀 First I had to go see the medical social worker again as one of the required parts of transitioning. Most people see her regularly, but I saw her last in January. We’d agreed then that I would contact her around March for a follow-up but I forgot and when I did remember it wasn’t a priority for me as I don’t feel the need. Everything is going quite splendid.

But in May I finally mailed her, and then she maybe lost it or something as I never heard back. On itself not a problem, at least I could say I did my part. But as July came around and the new law about name and gender change came into effect, I needed some form of contact to figure out what to do to get the needed statement. So I mailed again, and now I got a response and we set a meeting for today. And she referred me to another person for the paperwork.

When I mailed that person, I got the auto-mailer informing me they were on holiday but here’s a link with info. Which was nice as I learned how it works. The piece of paper is €65 *gasp*. And if you haven’t been in to see a psych or the social worker in the last six months, they consider you no longer in active treatment and then you have to pay another €250 for a consult… o.O So I was particularly glad I had set that appointment as January is about six months ago…

Anyway, it was a nice chat, took an hour just as before. And also just as before I am a well-adjusted, grounded person with a well developed sense of self and such. I have no problems she can help me with and I feel excellent. With an agreement to contact again after I have an appointment with the Plastics dude (if all goes well I get a referral in August), I left.

Before that, at the end, we spoke briefly about the name/gender change and the paperwork and she put me on the list, which saves me an extra phone call later this week. Unfortunately, not only is the admin person on holiday, so are both the psychiatrists who are vetted to give the required statement… Which is kind of embarrassing for the gender team, and means it will be August before they get around to work down the list. I hope they hurry up then, I need my data changed, especially seeing as how I’ve finally decided on the how and what of going back to school.

Yes, I have 😀 I have been searching for what to do in regards to learning for quite a while now. I wanted to do another university level thing because, even though I rationally know HBO is also very good and offers many options, I’ve done a university BA and half of a Master’s before. And it would feel sort of like settling if I didn’t do it again. Problem then was, what and where. I realised pretty quickly that a regular BA wouldn’t work, what with the new laws regarding how fast you have to do things I can’t squeeze that in to my life after working 36 hours a week. So part-time it had to be, however the official part-time options Groningen offers kind of suck. And what I do like and is available part-time, is all in Amsterdam and such and therefore not doable in terms of travel.

But last week my brain remembered the thing that is the Open University. An accredited university that offers distance learning, lots of online/digital stuff with,if so desired, the option for contact hours and more guidance. So I looked at their offerings and saw individual classes that I liked and then I stumbled upon the Bachelor’s program for Cultural Sciences (Algemene Cultuurwetenschappen). After reading it through, I realised it matches my interests very much, and is also a program with a lot of options for customising. So, I have decided to enroll. However, I first need my name and gender changed to have as little confusion as possible and no issues later on with names on certificates and diplomas.

Oh, and after my appointment, Mom and I then went on to the mall for a wee bit of shopping. Bought some books, some fake flowers and a mail holder for Nienke and we stopped for a late lunch. We had a good time 🙂

In and Out

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I’d asked Mom if she wanted to go to Bedum with me yesterday for groceries and Action. She said yes so we headed there yesterday morning. We decided on groceries first. When we got there I noticed that the shoe store in the same building was having a sale where, if you bought two sale items, the cheapest would be €1. We’re always in for sales, so we checked it out.

Mom didn’t find anything, either for her or for Dad, but I did. First I found a nice pair of black ankle-high sneakers. I had some trouble finding a second item to take advantage of the sale. Not that it was terribly necessary, the sneakers were cheap enough to buy as is, but I kept looking around for a wee bit longer. Which was just my luck as I found a nice pair of grey sporty looking loafers. I’d been wanting a new pair of those for when I just want to slip on something easy, plus these look nice enough to wear as dress shoes, too.

Only then did we go for the actual groceries. I didn’t need much, and neither did Mom, so we were done quite fast. Which brought us back to the car and on our way to the Action a few streets over.

My main reason for wanting to go there, this time, was Warcraft lego, again 😀 I needed only two more sets to have one of every set the Action had available. And Elune was with me, as the Night Elves say, for they had the sets I was missing. I’m now the proud owner of a Spectral Tiger and a Dragon Turtle to complete my Warcraft Lego shelf in the bookcase. I also bought a couple mandala colouring pads and a new mesh cup to hold pens.

Here, have a crappy iPad evening shot to show my WoW Lego shelf 😀

From left to right: a piece of Stormwind with a human warlock, a Worgen on a Gryffin, a Gnome in a helicopter, a Night Elf on the Spectral Tiger, a Pandaren on the Dragon Turtle, a Goblin on a trike, a Tauren on a Wyvern, and a demolisher with a Blood Elf wanting to break down the walls of Stormwind. Behind them is a row of solitary figurines: Gnome, Worgen, Human, Night Elf, Tauren, Pandaren, Orc.

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When we got back, I stayed over at the parents for lunch (nom, fries), built my new Lego sets, and left a while later to go home and put away the groceries and such. I spent the rest of the afternoon playing WoW, inspired and all 🙂

The evening was quickly designated movie night, although we ended up going back to memory lane by watching the first couple episodes of Charmed instead of a movie. All accompanied by copious amounts of popcorn and some cocktail shizzle 😀

This morning I slept in, played some iPad games and finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and didn’t get dressed and downstairs until near noon. Only then did I realise I was going to go to Pilates… Fail.

Had some lunch, then read some more, this time Tuf Voyaging. I had started it a while ago but then had to put it away after just a handful of pages so I just started over today. I really like it so far, although I wouldn’t so much classify it as a novel, but more as a collection of short stories/novellas as there is no over arching plot between the “chapters”. Each is a self contained, episode I’d say, in the saga of Tuf and his voyages. Tuf is a fun character, stoic, honest, and prone to taking things too literal. Plus he loves cats.

Around two I had enough of sitting around, and since Nienke went upstairs to study, I dove into the garage to tackle the mess there. It took me about four hours, but it looks so much better now. Just two or so garbage bin pick-ups to get rid of all the crap, a trip to the paper recycle container and the county recycle center to drop off a few boxes of old paper and an old TV.

That only leaves the old kitchen chairs, but they get to stay for now. I’m thinking of turning one into a flower bin with the left over planks from the garden privacy fence. And who knows what I can do with the rest 😀

Then I wokked some veggies in sweet chili sauce, hung out in front of the TV, played on the computer for a bit and put away the dry laundry. And now I’ve been spending the past hour or so typing this up. It would go faster on the computer, but the iPad is more convenient for typing in bed 😀

Night, night, folks!

Movies Galore! Also Lego! And Theater!

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Did a bunch of movies this week, by myself and with others. Monday after work I went to see Edge of Tomorrow. It was a much better movie than I was expecting. I really like Full Metal Bitch and I didn’t even mind Tom Cruise in the movie 🙂

I also ordered tickets to go see War Horse with Mom. We’re going January 14!

Tuesday I finally went to see The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. The movie is hilarious! It’s been a long time since I laughed out loud at a movie that much. It’s been compared to Forest Gump, but it’s better than that. The titular character, Allan, gets put in a home when he blows up his hen house. Then on the day of his 100th birthday he decides to escape the coming party and attention and climbs out the window and walks off. As he goes to buy a bus ticket at the station, he gets asked to watch a suitcase for a minute and decides to walk off with it. It turns out the case is full of money. Criminal money. Cue an awesome road trip where he meets all kinds of people while being tracked and followed by the criminals that want their money back, interspersed with flashbacks to Allan’s long life where he experienced important events and met important people all the while being mostly oblivious to the importance of it.

Wednesday I had my shot again. Had it done in my arm because I still had some movies planned. Am never doing that again, though. My arm hurts like hell now still, and it’s Sunday. A quick Google has taught me that arm muscle is just not big enough. The way T. shots work is that the fluid bubble sits in your muscle and is slowly absorbed over the three weeks until the next shot. A leg muscle (or your ass 😀 ) is big enough to stretch around the fluid bubble, but arm just isn’t.

I also went to Bedum and Uithuizen with Mom to check for World of Warcraft Lego (Megabloks technically) at the Action10173768_10152193319638155_281758145161566397_n. Nico had seen it there, they had a big Stormwind Demolisher Set, a smaller Goblin Shredder (which I already have), about six or seven mounts+riders and eight single character figures with a small piece of scenery. They didn’t have all of them anymore, but I got a fair bunch

At the end of the afternoon I headed for the city to meet Gert. First we saw Grace of Monaco. It took me a while to get into but that’s mostly because I had the wrong idea and expectation beforehand. I’d seen trailers of the movie before, and that gave me the idea it was more a biopic of her life from marriage on and further. Until her death basically. But instead, it focuses on a specific period (early sixties) and shows how it was difficult for her to get used to life as Princess, torn between acting (Hitchcock offers her the lead in Marnie) and her family and duties, and how she could influence people, both behind the scenes, as well as the general populace. Once I figured that, the movie fell into place and things like pacing made sense.

Afterwards I had planned to go home, but we sat and talked for a while and decided on a whim to also see A Million Ways to Die in the West. I won’t dignify that movie with too many words. Suffice it to say that it is a stereotypical American comedy that runs on sex and poop jokes. The basic plot is fun, and there are occasional good, clever, jokes. So if it had been more of that, it would not have been so bad.

Thursday I also had the day off since I had to work yesterday. Nico was off early, so we decided to go see X-Men: Days of Future Past. It’s a good movie, I really liked that we got to see the merging of the old trilogy and these new films. Even though the timeline of the old trilogy is fairly effectively wiped by the events of this film, I like that they didn’t just go fingers-in-your-ears-it-doesn’t-exist-la-la-la-I-can’t-hear-you 😀

Back home, I finally ordered my theater tickets. As I said on Facebook, it cost me three organs and some change. But I have seven shows (in addition to the earlier mentioned War Horse) to go see in the new season two of which Mom will join me for.

  •  Chamber Choir of St. Petersburg: Vespers of Rachmaninoff ( 25-09-2014)
  • Toneelgroep Amsterdam & Toneelhuis: Maria Stuart (10-12-2014)
  • Musictheater Transparant & Claron McFadden: Lilith (05-02-2015)
  • Sara Kroos: Van Jewelste (25-03-2014) with Mom
  • Toneelgroep Amsterdam: Koningin Lear (03-04-2015)
  • Various Comedians: Onceuponatimethegodfatherflewoverthecuckoosnest (29-05-2015) with Mom
  • Marrugeku: Gudirr Gudirr (dance performance) (06-06-2015)

Friday, after work, I spent the evening reading and avoiding football. Not very lucky with that as I sat in my bedroom with the window open so I could hear the whole street erupting every time we scored. And we scored a lot.

Then, yesterday. I had a late shift, which I can normally do at home. But I realised this too late and since Kim was also working, I came to Groningen. Got a message from Gert half way through, he was at the Action, did I need any more Lego? I was indeed missing some, so I had him take a picture and saw they had ones I didn’t have yet. He was so kind as to buy them and bring them to work for me. I took my break and met him at Starbucks. I had just enough time to get a drink and chat briefly, before having to head back.

Today I slept in, and just as I was gonna go to the Parents for Father’s Day, Mom rang the bell. Dad was out cycling, so she came to ask if I wanted to take a walk with her. I joined her, and then after went back to their place for coffee and merriment 🙂

Lohues

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I’m back from a glorious night out with Mommy dear. We had dinner at Het Feithhuis on their back terrace. It was a lovely place to sit, but it got a bit chilly quicker than expected. We had an amuse with potato cream and paprika and something, it was quite tasty. For the main course, I had steak and Mom went with chicken. The dessert was the best, it was a platter for two with seven or so (per person) tiny dessert items like pastries, ice cream, fruit and combinations thereof.

After that, we walked towards the Schouwburg to go see Daniel Lohues perform. He writes and sings beautiful songs about life in the dialect of Drenthe. Songs that are deceptively simple and straightforward and can hit you like a brick. Between the songs he told stories and anecdotes in typical Lohues fashion. All in all, it was a wonderful performance.