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Sunday, January 16, 2011 by Tse Moana 1 Comment

I can tell I’m feeling better. I’ve been doing little of anything the past week (good excuse though, had the flu) and more of that today, but as the evening came on I was feeling restless and wanting to DO!

So I brainstormed and figured out I wanted to make puppets. Inspired by the ones Signe @ Dapper Dier makes. Since they will end up very similar to what she makes, I decided I’m going to make boy puppets (since all I’ve seen from Signe are girls). I’ve made a list of the types I would like to make, and found the pattern online. Had some issues in printing it so will need to borrow Nienke’s printer tomorrow.

As I was making the list, Nienke asked if I would make one of her. Of course I said yes. I started with this one tonight as it’s a bit easier than the rest. Not just because I know exactly how I’ll be making her, but also because it’s okay if I mess up the proportions a little in free drawing the pattern πŸ˜€

So far I’ve made her pattern and cut the pieces. I’ve started assembling the body and the head, but have come to a standstill since I have no stuffing. And cottonwool doesn’t really work very well. Fortunately I’ve a short day on Tuesday which will enable me to go to the market in the city and buy various craft related things.

While doing this I’ve been watching the latest Grey’s Anatomy and some more Once and Again. Ended just now with a good chunk of Hamlet with David Tennant. Couldn’t finish ’cause I’m getting too tired, and I can’t do it to Nienke to finish this without her.

Photos of progress tomorrow πŸ™‚

Posted in: General Tagged: Crafting, Creativity, Friends, Health, Nienke, Puppets, TV

That Was The Year That Was: 2010

Sunday, January 2, 2011 by Tse Moana 2 Comments

January

  • I started Working at KPN
  • We had a very severe winter, which resulted in public transport being down frequently, which is very! annoying
  • Had a tea party with friends at Mellien’s place, it was very fun

February

I’ve got nothing for this month. For some reason I only took 3 pictures in the whole of February… And I didn’t blog that month either. Sadness. Here, have all three February pics to cheer you up from this huge, huge let down πŸ˜€

March

  • Spring was on its way! Not that enthusiastically yet, but I saw the first real flowers peeking their heads above ground
  • Finally found a good design starting point for my future tattoo
  • Chocolate fondue with Eva & Ingrid, yum!
  • Bought new plants for my back yard
  • Found an awesome stick to turn into a staff. So far it’s still standing unused in my mudroom, but this year I strive to actually make something out of it πŸ™‚
  • Went balfolking for the first time (no, it’s probably not a proper verb, and yes, I’ll tell you what it is; it’s dancing old ball and folk dances on medieval-and-slightly-later type music)

April

  • With Eva, Ingrid and Nienke to Lauwersoog, which was hilarious since we got stuck in the parking lot for two hours due to no traffic regulators being present
  • This was also the month mom turned 60, Happy Birthday!
  • Nienke and I added a garden door to our shared backyard to keep the neighbourhood kids from using our space as a shortcut path

May

  • Went to see the Men’s Choir of Warffum (of which my uncle is a member) perform at the museum estate Verhildersum
  • Spent Liberation Day in Parentville, where the whole street came together to decorate it for the festivities, great sense of community then, it should be like that more often
  • Ingrid came by, time for scrabble in the sun. Eva & Mellien dropped by a little later, on horseback.
  • Saw a hedgehog in the yard, awesome little critters
  • Joined the LifeLines research project about long term health

June

  • Dad’s birthday, 67 for him. Happy Birthday!
  • With the summer in full swing, Nienke and I tried outdoor computing
  • It was also the time for the yearly full family visit to my aunt and uncle in Harderwijk
  • Went to visit Soestdijk Palace with Mom and a friend of hers, it was awesome! I’m very glad I got to see the place before they closed it down

July

  • Celtic Midsummer Fest! Need I say more? An awesome weekend in which I went re-enacting for the first time. Great friends, great environment, great things to see and do, in short, a great time!
  • Also, aforementioned festival will (for me) henceforth always be connected to ‘that time I banged my toes into oblivion on a tent peg’ πŸ˜€
  • It got so warm I regularly spent my free time lounging outside with my feet in water. At first in two buckets (one for each foot) and later in a giant tub-like thing. Monkey approved of this, always enough water to drink nearby
  • I bought my binder this month, which turned out to be a huge step on the road of self-discovery and gender identity

August

  • Castlefest! Again, need I say more! Another awesome weekend! I’d not been able to go to Castlefest for some years, so it felt great to be back here. I love the atmosphere at this particular fest, plus being able to see Omnia live again for the first time in a couple of years as well was great, too.
  • Nienke had a BBQ in honour of her birthday, it was tasty!
  • Mom started knitting socks, after a conversation about how the warm socks we had were not getting any better.
  • Went out for a sudden and unexpected pizza with Eva & Nienke
  • Dad, on request, cut off the hedge in my front yard
  • Monkey got weird spots on his back leg, he ended up with a salve treatment and antibiotics and return appointments at the vet three times in a row. Fortunately, they have cleared up completely
  • And finally, this was the month I decided to continue blogging here, instead of trying to maintain both this blog and a LifeJournal

September

  • I burned my arm a wee bit by splashing hot olive oil on it. Fortunately I washed it off right away, so it didn’t go much further than some light second degree burning one one spot and some intenser first degree burning on the others. The second degree spot left a scar, it’s pretty πŸ™‚
  • Had Tessa over to dog-sit, and got both her and Monkey in the same room without Tessa trying to eat Monkey, and without Monkey trying his best to hide as far away as possible
  • Had my own birthday, turned 26. Happy Birthday me!
  • Got the flu right after the birthday parties, ended up having to stay home for about a week, and had noticeably less energy the weeks after that while I was recovering further, not fun πŸ™

October

  • Became obsessed with Glee πŸ˜€
  • Got my iPhone
  • Mom started knitting gloves, nice and warm for the winter
  • Went out to wok with Eva & Ingrid, yum!
  • Attended Julius’ birthday, which was a sort of High Tea type thing with a whole bunch of cakes he and his mom made, it was awesome (and very, very tasty!)
  • Bought two awesome pumpkins for Halloween and carved them; one a face, the other a sort of cheese with holes kinda idea with mice in the holes

November

  • Was a bit down for a good part of this month, a combination of Daylight Savings Time ending, winter coming up and some other random shit. Took a while before I saw the colours of the world in full shine again, instead of dulled
  • Mom knit me a pretty hat to match the gloves she made, my mom rocks πŸ™‚
  • Discovered the Instagram iPhone app (among many, many other apps; I <3 apps πŸ˜€ ) which is fun to play with

December

  • Had a St. Nicholasmas (a combination of St. Nicholas and Christmas) party with Nienke, Eva, Mellien and Ingrid. It was fun and very nice to have a group get together again.
  • CATACLYSM! W00t!
  • The snow really hit. It looks awesome, but just like last year, it’s wreaking havoc on the public transport system. Which is kinda ridiculous as they spent the whole year winterproofing their systems and all, and they were sure it would be better this year… And then the first few days we have heavy snowfall, everything falls apart, again.
  • December was good, even though in the beginning of the month I wasn’t sure about that (residual gloominess from November)
Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Christmas, Creativity, Eva & Jarig, Events, Family, Fandom, Food, Friends, Garden, Gender, Halloween, Holidays, Image Dump, Ingrid, LifeLines, List, Mellien & Bas, Monkey, Nienke, Parents, Photos, Winter, Work, World of Warcraft

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Let Nothing You Dismay

Sunday, December 26, 2010 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

I’ve got a song stuck in my head since yesterday. Not that I care much for the lyrics, but the melody is quite catching. It started last night while Nienke and I were watching A Christmas Carol (1999 version with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge). Near the end of the movie, after Scrooge has had his change of heart, he goes to church, and they sing this hymn. I have this song in the version sung by the Glee Cast on my iPhone, so the moment I heard it in the movie it became an earworm, and I’ve not been able to get rid of it. Not that I mind terribly, but it gets tedious after a couple times, especially if you don’t know much more than half or two-thirds of a verse πŸ˜€

Other than that, Christmas was quite enjoyable yesterday. Slept in late, then finished the book I was reading. After that I decided it might be good to get out of bed. The rest of the afternoon I hung on the sofa, enjoying the winter sun peeking through the trees, brightening the snowy field in front of my house. Sent out my thanks to the Gods for the past year, looking forward to the next.

In the evening Nienke and I went fondueing at her place. The idea was some cheese fondue at first, and some chocolate to finish it off, however the cheese was rather mighty, and we didn’t like it the taste of it all that much. Different kind of cheese next time. We decided to forgo the chocolate, we were stuffed.

We watched A Christmas Carol during this, followed by other mushy Christmas time movies like Enchanted, and parts ofΒ  Ever After, Ella Enchanted and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (I really dislike that last one). We also exchanged a few fun gifts. I got two duck key chains, which I added to the duck key chain already attached to my WoW authenticator, and a cute pair of scissors. For Nienke I got her a new box for her tea and scented stuff to burn. The cats got a present as well, Murphy a toy, and Monkey cat candy.

Went home around 23:30 and ended up playing Warcraft in bed for an hour and a half or so. Had Asra drop by Greatfather Winter in Ironforge to open his presents. Mostly food stuffs, but also a Minizep Remote, and a Snowman Kit. Put that one up for auction since he already has all the Winter Veil pets, and at the moment I’d rather have the gold than give it to one of my alts; I’m stockpiling my gold.

It’s the second day of Christmas now, and I’m spending this day in Parentville. Don’t know yet what I’ll do, but there’s definitely some more WoW involved πŸ˜€

In the meantime:

Happy Yule!

Posted in: General Tagged: Food, Friends, Holidays, Movies, Nienke, Parents, Winter, World of Warcraft, Yule

Weekly Four: week 48

Sunday, December 5, 2010 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

I’m grateful for chocolate πŸ™‚

I’m happy I got the book I wanted from St. Nicholas πŸ˜€

I’m slightly annoyed at the lack of free free-time. All my free days of late seem to be filled with obligations. Most of those obligations are fun ones I really enjoy ( like last night’s St. Nicholasmas party πŸ˜€ ) and on the whole it isn’t even always true, I think, I can’t remember :S But it does feel like I barely have any me-time left the last few weeks and it’s wearing me down since I need the me-time to regenerate my energy, being a major introvert. Yesterday I was exhausted by 21:30/22:00, and then had to get up at 6:30 this morning to be at work at 8:15, and I spent most of that time half asleep still. Next free day is Wednesday, and I have no plans for that day so I’m making that my relax day (even though I desperately need to vacuum too).

I learned listening to my body is probably a good idea. Tied in to above, the cold I’ve been having is still not gone. My voice is still messed up and I’m not done coughing either. I bought some cough medicine yesterday, and got some extra fruit for vitamins, I want to get rid of it! I finally wanna try out my Glee karaoke app πŸ˜€

Posted in: General, The Week in Review Tagged: Books, Fandom, Food, Friends, Health, Holidays, Introvert, Me

Weekly Four: week 47 / voice

Monday, November 29, 2010 by Tse Moana 2 Comments

I’ve a cold, and as a result I’ve been having some issues with my voice the past week or so. And somehow it also transferred over to having problems with my writing voice, hence the lack of posts lately. For now, the Weekly Four.

I’m grateful for being on the e-mail team which lets me work even if my voice doesn’t work instead of having to call in sick because of not being able to talk (which kinda sucks in a call centre πŸ˜€ )

I’m happy in general. I’ve started to actually enjoy the world around again, instead of moping around because of dark and greyness. I love the fresh wind that smells of snow, I love the start of the holiday decorating in my house. I even made a wreath, of which I will post a pretty picture later this week, I only have an evening shot on the phone and that doesn’t do it justice. I also love cake, and friends, and music, and books. Especially books. I’ve been rereading Eddings’ Belgariad books. I read them first when I was about 12, and while I had read some fantasy and sci-fi before, this series was THE one that pulled me in and made me a fantasy fan for life. And an epic fantasy fan specifically. Back then I read it in Dutch, I’m reading the original now, and it’s even better than I remembered, I’m falling right back into the story, just as I did then, and the characters walk with me in my day and night dreams.

I’m sad that my voice isn’t back yet πŸ˜€ I downloaded a Glee karaoke type app on my iPhone, and as long as my voice is still off, I don’t wanna play with it. So I’ve had to wait, and I don’t wanna wait anymore.

I learned cats can be worse hogs of bed and blanket space than humans πŸ˜€

Posted in: General, The Week in Review Tagged: Books, Fandom, Food, Friends, Health, Holidays, Monkey, Music, Winter, Work

Happiness is…

Monday, November 8, 2010 by Tse Moana 1 Comment

Taking a cue from Eva here. I’m usually pretty good at seeing the small things, I can really enjoy the world so much just by seeing things. Lately that’s been overshadowed a bit, but I’m getting back to seeing the small things again, after the system shock that is Winter Time, and am feeling better suited in my own skin again. So I figure I publicly acknowledge some of those small things.

Like the sun over the horizon as dad and I drove to Parentville, or the colours of the fall leaves on the train tracks. And the new gloves mom knit for me. And getting a laugh out of Nienke, who’s arguably more girly than I am, and should thus (stereotypically speaking) be the one to arrange flowers. Except she sucks at it. And I don’t. πŸ˜€


Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Autumn, Dad, Eva & Jarig, Friends, Image Dump, Me, Mom, Nature, Nienke, Parents, Photos, Reflection, Winter

Today is a Good Day

Saturday, November 6, 2010 by Tse Moana 3 Comments

I feel good, happy and at peace and stuff like that. I’ve tidied up, re-arranged my books a bit so they fit better in the available space, vacuumed and just went to the store. A nice, balanced day of doing stuff, instead of a flying-all-over-the-place day or a sit-on-my-ass-and-do-nothing-at-all day πŸ˜€ (Although I now do have my standard vacuuming head ache :/)

Bought pears and apples to make stuff with tomorrow and next week and a bunch of grapes to take with me to work on the irregular shifts. And since I was quite proud of myself for actually vacuuming today instead of pushing it away again and again, I rewarded myself by buying a cake. It’ll be a delayed reward since it needs to defrost, but it should be ready to eat tonight. Yum!

This week was mostly a good week too, was a bit tired on occasion, but felt good on the whole. Slowly getting used to the time change, but early evenings still completely derail me. I’m continuously misjudging the time and get grouchy at the early dark. Fortunately the mornings aren’t as dark yet.

Met Gert on Wednesday for our usual belated mutual birthday hanging out and gift exchange. I’d bought him a prettyΒ  book, but he couldn’t choose so we went shopping to find me a present. No fun Star Trek things to be found, so we headed for the regular book store. Finally decided on E.E. Knight’s Dragon Champion, and Trudi Canavan’s The High Lord. I’ve read the last one, but I didn’t have it yet, and I hate unfinished series in my bookcase. Plus, they’re awesome books, so this makes a re-read easier, too.

Afterward we hit the shops for some clothes. Gert was successful, but I didn’t find anything (except a new hat). I wanted to get some t-shirts at V&D, but they didn’t have them anymore. Shortly after, Gert had to go. I had a last hour to kill before my train would go, so decided to check out the H&M Man. Their basement has the best accessories. There I came across very nice sweaters with the Ghostbusters logo, and they were only €29,95.Β  Together with some heavily discounted ties (one with colourful dogs, and a pink/purple striped one), my mission was successful after all.


And, suprise, surprise, earlier today Gert called. He was in Utrecht at the V&D and they did have the shirts I wanted there! So he bought two shirts for me, and we’ll exchange later this week. Yay!

Also, finally new Glee again this Tuesday. I thought there’d be a new episode right the week after the Rocky Horror Glee Show, so I was all set last week and then nothing πŸ™

But! Mash-ups next week, and Kurt’s new (possible boy)friend!

Posted in: General Tagged: Books, Fandom, Friends, Gert, H&M, Home, Media, Shopping, V&D, Videos, Winter

Saturday Night

Sunday, October 17, 2010 by Tse Moana 2 Comments

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Eva & Jarig, Friends, Image Dump, Photos

Weekly Four: week 38

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

I’m grateful for people who care for/about me.

I’m happy with the awesome prezzies πŸ˜€

I’m annoyed I have a cold.

I learned that maybe having the friend and family party on two following days might not be such a good idea, energy wise.

Posted in: General, The Week in Review Tagged: Birthday, Family, Friends, Health

Almost 26

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

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. πŸ˜€

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 πŸ˜€

(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 RΓΆrschach 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 πŸ˜€)

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 πŸ™‚ 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 πŸ™‚

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 πŸ˜€

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 πŸ™

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 πŸ˜€ Got the first congratulatory text message, from Gert, at 00:04, nice timing πŸ˜€

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.

Posted in: General, Photos Tagged: Birthday, Board Games, Books, Eva & Jarig, Family, Food, Friends, Games, Health, Ingrid, Mellien & Bas, Music, Nienke, Parents, PC Games, Photos, Review, World of Warcraft
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