I’m grateful for mothers, they are very good at tending the sick 🙂
I’m happy the weather was halfway decent this week.
I’m annoyed the flu takes so long to fully go away.
I learned being sick does make for a lot of Warcraft time. Got a good number of achievements in.
Me sleeping, at maybe two weeks old or so, in October 1984
As I type this it’s 22 minutes to midnight, 22 minutes until my birthday. And if you really wanna fuck ants* to use a Dutchism, it’ll be another bunch of hours and minutes until the actual moment I age, as I wasn’t born until 17:54 or 17:56, I keep forgetting. I think it’s 17:54.
I celebrated this upcoming occasion past weekend, on Saturday with friends, and on Sunday with family. I tend to split them up as I live in a tiny house that can hold my friends, but not my family. I have a lot of them. 😀
Ingrid was the first to arrive on Saturday, and after chatting and having a drink (and Caek!) we went to play board games. Starting out with some trivial pursuit she brought. It was a topical edition about popular music, so I expected to loose. Ingrid’s a walking pop encyclopedia… However, luck and factoids were with me, and by the time Nienke barged in, I was well ahead. Yay!
Koehandel
With addition of Nienke, we were with enough to play Koehandel (Cow Trading), a game I bought quite a while ago, but never played yet as it needs a minimum of 3 people, and I normally can’t get Nienke to play along. This time I forced her, proclaiming that, since it was my birthday, she had no choice 😀
(If you’re not interested in games you might wanna speed through the next bit as I review the games we played.)
The game was fun, but not one of my favourites. The point is to get as many sets of animals. It starts with an auction each round, with one player being the auctioneer and the other two bidding. The winner then pays the auctioneer and gets the animal. The auctioneer can choose to excercise his right of sale by paying the highest bidder the amount they bid.
After a while, there will be people who have the same animal, and at that point they can barter for it. The one who wants to barter makes a blind offer, and the other chooses to accept or counter-offer. The addition of bluff cards (with a zero value) makes this a strategic part as you never really know what the offer is. If the other counter-offers, he too makes a blind offer and both players give their offer to the other. The one who then paid most gets the animal of the other. Nienke won this game.
Therapy
Then we went on with Therapy. We don’t play this often as it’s best with five or six and it gets out of hand, time-wise, very quickly. The game part of it is a bit long winded, but the conversations this leads to are awesome.
For the game you move around a board with psychiatric sofas trying to be the first one to get the six coloured pins in it. This would make the bed a bed of nails, so I don’t know if it would be very comfortable for a therapy session though…
To move you roll two dice, and then go forward, the square you land on tells you what to do next. This can be a question, and a right answer gets you a pin. Or it can be a question/wait square where you pick whether you want a question or stop your turn. Careful with picking the question here though, if you answer wrong you end up with a psychosis.
Other options are fantasy, where you have to answer a question about a Rörschach test kinda picture, or therapy. Depending on the number of players, this is group therapy or single therapy. If you land on a square in the same colour as one of the player sofas, you go into therapy with that player. If it is an unused colour, you go into therapy with all the other players. The therapist then asks a question (all questions are about the player) from the therapy cards, and the player writes down their answer. The therapist then says what he thinks the player answered, with reasoning. In Group therapy, all the therapists declare what they think the player answered and then come to a mutual answer. If the therapist was right, he wins a pin.
The therapy is the part I love most about the game, it leads to very interesting conversations about how you see each other, how others see themselves and what everyone would and wouldn’t do.
(Reviewy bit is over 😀)
This is what we did for the rest of the evening really, interspersed with more general chatting and eating and drinking and some picture taking.I got awesome presents as well. Ingrid gave me the Boyzone CD Brother. I was a major fan of them in my teens, and even though it has mellowed, I still like their music. They’re special to me because they were quite important to me then, so I do always want the physical CDs they release instead of just downloading it.
Mellien gave me a children’s book I wanted, a favourite I read many times as a kid. Eva gave me something from her and Juut together, a set of iron cutlery, made by Juut himself! It’s totally awesome! It’ll come in handy when we go re-enacting again 🙂 Pictures of this, and other birthday stuff to come along later, btw.
Ingrid stayed over and after Nienke had gone home too we got to talking about (among other things) Warcraft, so I showed her some things about the game, and explained stuff. She ended up with a better idea of what I do when I play and what I like about it. It was nice to share something that I like a lot, with one of my friends who’s not normally into that kind of thing.
Sunday morning I got up ridiculously early at 8:30 (not smart when you go to bed around 02:00…) cause I told my dad to pick me up around 9:00. This so there’d be more than enough time, once we got to the parents’ place, to prep for the family coming that afternoon and evening. I was gonna make a cake (hmmmm cheesecake), but decided against it as mom had an extra cake and we would’ve had too much. This meant I had extra time, and I could’ve (really should’ve) gone to bed for an hour or two longer. But I didn’t. I left Ingrid at Nienke’s for a cuppa while me and all my crap headed over to Parentville.
Had some time in the morning and early afternoon to play some WoW and mess with the Blog (I played with the layout and contents of the 101 list at the top) before the first people showed up. After that it was mostly very busy, very gezellig and very fun.I got two book gift cards, some money, very pretty and lovely scented shower gel and a drawing and a written piece by my two young second cousins 🙂
From my parents I got a book, in two parts, about the excavations in Midlaren, where I was working the second half of 2004. During the summer with the actual excavation, and from August to December with the washing, drawing and cataloging of the finds.
After the last ones left, I basically rolled into bed exhausted. All my energy was gone (that’s what lots of people for a prolonged period does to me, I’m a major introvert). It’s not back yet either. It didn’t help very much I had to work today, which, by necessity, has more people too 😀
Bought some candy to treat my teammates at work with, and made it through the day without too much trouble. Although I did start to notice, half way through the day, that the cold I’ve been seeing at the horizon for a few days has hit home. My nose is stuffed and my energy regeneration is down to half strength 🙁
Scheduled for a full work day tomorrow, but gonna see if I can get off early. Need to sleep some more, and a half day off tomorrow along with Wednesdays usual freedom it should see me through the worst of it.
It’s 00:42 now, it’s my birthday 😀 Got the first congratulatory text message, from Gert, at 00:04, nice timing 😀
And with that I will say goodbye, and good night.
*Mierenneuken as we say means fucking ants, literally. It can also be said as mierenneuker which is to a person, as it means antfucker. It’s English counterpart would be nitpicking.
I’m grateful for the warm winter socks my mom knitted for me.
I’m happy I finally managed to get the final point from 399 to 400 in leveling my unarmed weapon skill in WoW. It took ages!
I was annoyed/in a bad mood earlier this week, but that was more a result of general tiredness and a headache.
I learned good friends make for great conversations. And colleagues can do too. Had a very interesting chat at work this week about FTM transgender people’s transition proces, and ‘how it works’, and a follow-up chat about, among other things, gender with aforementioned friends.
Nienke had her Birthday BBQ yesterday. Much fun was had by all 😀
Got to talk more with a (now ex-)colleague of mine last night, she’s emigrating to Australia end of this month, or early next to live and work on a replica 17th century Dutch East-indies Ship, the Duyfken. It was very cool to hear about her plans and the ship and all that.
Today I’m hanging about, doing nothing much. Enjoying a day in which I don’t “have to…” anything. Of course I can think of plenty of things that should be done, and I will, in all likelihood do some of it, but for the most part I’m being lazy. I woke up relatively early around 9, and then lounged about with the laptop for an hour or two. Playing games, reading GMail and GReader, arguing with WordPress (grrrr), general browsing. Then Nienke came barging in if I wanted to help finish of the last bit of cake, it was a strawberry cake, and I <3 strawberries so I could not resist 😀
Then, some more games, and now I’m writing this and contemplating whether to shower now or tonight, what I should eat and which of the things that should be done will actually be done (dishes probably, I might, just might, also pick up the vacuum).
…
Right, ate some cheese for now. Nienke mentioned leftover meat last night, so I don’t think I’ll have to worry about dinner 😀 Showering tonight so will just barge about in my pj’s, nice and comfy (ignoring the holes in the armpits of the t-shirt…) 😛
Now to decide what else to do today, just internet gets boring. Playing some WoW tonight, if I wanna make my 101 goal of leveling Yathra to 80 before Cataclysm I need to put some more hours in her, she’s just 31 now. Weather’s not nice enough for sitting outside, the sun is there, but there’s a rough wind. I might remain with the pc, but then continue with the Castlefest photo’s and things like that, that need editing and sorting and posting and whatnot.
Had the day off work today so I was expecting to sleep in and lounge about the house today. Managed only one of those as around 8:30 the housing cooperation started drilling into the wall that separates my house from the neighbours’. And let that wall be my bedroom wall, where my head is… Suffice it say I was not pleased >:
I’m thinking I can expect more shenanigans like this in the next week or so. New neighbour is about to move in (that’s why the housing guys were here, I think, fixing up stuff so he can move in. It seemed like they were doing rather a lot though) so I expect more noise as his stuff gets placed.
I did the rest of my waking up on the sofa with the trusty laptop and some Facebook games, then went to play Warcraft. It’s Midsummer Festival in the game so lots of special, temporary, things to do. Then the housing cooperation called me to make an appointment for someone to come by and look at the garden door. I’ve mentioned it before, Neighbour Nienke and I closed off our backyard with a door to stop neighbourhood kids from using it as a short cut to a play field; and now another neighbour is complaining about it because he is convinced it actually is a path and not our yard. HC guy let through on the phone he doesn’t really buy that, but feels he should see it with his own eyes rather than from the pics behind his desk 😀 I don’t blame him, and it will finally settle this mess so Nienke and I, hopefully, won’t be forced to keep the door locked just to stop the kids from using it still. We set an appointment for coming Wednesday so we’ll see what he has to say.
Shortly after this Nienke came home from work and we decided to take a trip to the supermarket where I still forgot half I wanted to buy :S Eva mailed me this great recipe for a low-carb chocolate mousse thing and I wanted to get the stuff for it. The only thing I came home with from that list was the whipped cream… I did buy carrots and chicken and new eggs. I’ve been doing a no/low carb and high(er) protein diet thing since two weeks or so to help me loose weight. So far it’s going well, it’s a kind of thing that still let’s me eat a lot of stuff I like (chicken!) However I use a lot more eggs now (they’re full of protein and as such an excellent way to make you feel full) so need new ones regularly 😀
Cooked 8 eggs this morning, and there’s only one left. To be fair, Nienke and Eva had some too.
Eva, who’s doing the same diet thing, came by today. Of course we first had to discuss the finer points of our respective journeys along the dietary path. Then it was time for dinner. Eva had brought hers along, and with a few minutes at Nienke’s stove to prepare her meat, she was all set. I needed some more time since I still had to make my salad. It turned out great: lettuce, egg, french cheese, a bit of dressing and grilled chicken. Nom, nom, nom 😀 I stole the idea of an eat-book from Eva. Not just a book to list your daily food in (I tried that before and I never manage to keep that up for more than two or three days) but also for numbers, notes and ideas/comments about the food as well as inspirational things and stuff. Kinda like a cross between food diary and regular diary. I found an empty book and wrote the first page today. It does need decorating though, otherwise it’ll be boring and I’ll still forget it after a few days. I’m hoping I keep this up.
In the evening we ended up making music. Eva on guitar, me vocals and Nienke as the silent companion and occasional moviemaker 😀 At the end of the evening we did manage to FINALLY! get Nienke to actually sing!!! This after she figured out that when she has notes with the lyrics, she has a much easier time singing. With just the lyrics she can’t get the melody and with a melody she can’t remember the lyrics. It turns out she has a really pretty voice! After Eva was gone Nienke went on to say she would sing You Raise Me Up at Christmas 😀 I wrote it down into my book and am so keeping her to it 😀
And now I need to crash.
Bought the two Billys I’ve been wanting for my bedroom 🙂 The space look much lighter now, especially with the old, black, bookcase banished to the attic. Put all the things back in the Billy too, so, save for getting a shoerack to sort my shoes, the bedroom is all good. Now to find time to finish the attic. This week was no good for it, way too much to do.
I spent Tuesday and Wednesday at the parents since Dad had to drive me to Ikea. Tuesday morning I first went swimming with Mom and managed 45 lanes. Which equals 1.125 km, yay me 😀 Usually I swim a few lanes and then call it quits and just float about. I could, quite literally, do that all day. Floating like that feels like home.
After we did a few quick groceries before heading home to eat. The afternoon Dad and I went to Ikea. But while I could find all the small stuff I wanted (plus some small stuff of which I didn’t know beforehand I wanted it 😛 ), they were out of Billys. And I’d even checked the online storage checker to see if they still had them in stock 🙁 No fair. It all meant we had to go back Wednesday. We couldn’t go first thing in the morning ’cause Mom needed the car first, so we left pretty close to noon and thus we got late in everything else too.
I built the first Billy that day and packed it. Unearthing yet another crapload of stuff that had to be moved upstairs. Thursday and Friday I had to work so not much time for anything else. Friday evening I did build the other Billy and packed it after which I also brought the crap upstairs as well as the old bookcase. Which took some muscle, the thing is heavier than it looks 😀
Today is Saturday and I’m at the parents again. Dog-sat today while the folks were off to my aunt’s birthday. Tomorrow the three of us are off to another uncle’s birthday for the whole day. It’ll be awesome (we go every year with a whole bunch), but it does mean I won’t get anything else done this weekend.
Next week has four days working, although Tuesday is short so might be able to squeeze some stuff in then. Wednesday, my weekly day off, is taken up in the morning by the followup LifeLines test and then fooooooooood (I can’t eat anything before the test since they want my blood). Afternoon, if not so ridiculously warm and humid as last week, should be good for either attic or garden work, we’ll see. If it is the same crappy weather as we had most of this week I doubt I’ll get around to much. I don’t really handle warm, humid and oppressive very well. Gives me headaches and makes me grumpy and grumpier. I left work early on Monday because of headache and had one most of Thursday during work as well. I wanted to leave early then too, but they wouldn’t let me 🙁
Fortunately the rain of yesterday cleared the air quite a bit. I’m hoping next week will be slightly warmer, but keep the humidity and pressure away *crosses fingers and glares at sky*
Played WoW today, managed to find (and kill) King Ping, the second Northrend rare I’ve done for the Frostbitten Achievement. I decided that after getting Loremaster a week or two ago, Bloody Rare and Frostbitten are next. I found a handful of the Outland rares and now two in Northrend so far.
And now off to bed!