Birthday Barbecue
Today is Nienke’s birthday!
Ingrid came this morning and we had celebratory brunch.
Then later on in the afternoon, we had a low key sort of barbecue.
Photos
Paper Towns, Little Prince, Ant Man
Gert and I planned to go see Paper Towns so I wanted to read the book before hand. I did the same with The Fault in Our Stars so figured I’d continue the practice. I really enjoyed the book, it was fun, a bit weird sometimes, and still felt realistic.
Wednesday afternoon was the day we planned for movies. We started with The Little Prince. This was a very sweet movie, but I was still a bit disappointed. I was expecting something a little closer to the book. Instead it was a new story where an eccentric old man meets his new neighbour: a serious, studious little girl. As the summer vacation progresses, she spends more time with the old man and he tells her stories of his travels. In those travels he met the Little Prince. Now, he wants to go back out and find him. So he’s building a plane in his backyard to do so and then weird adventures happen.
Paper Towns was next, but we had some time to kill in between. So we ended up on the market square and enjoyed the sun before heading back to the cinema. Paper Towns was a pretty good movie. The ending didn’t match the book, which is a shame. I felt it lost some of its impact this way.
Thursday I hit the cinema again, this time with Nienke. We went to see Ant-Man, which is a great movie. Not quite up to Guardians of the Galaxy standard, but I had a lot of fun watching this.
Afterwards, we decided on a whim to do another movie and headed for a re-watch of Jurassic World. ‘t Was a great night 😀
Amsterdam Pride
I spent the day in Amsterdam yesterday on the KPN boat during the Canal Parade of Amsterdam Pride. It was a fantastic experience, I’m so glad I got this opportunity to go. When I got home last night I was exhausted, but it was so, so worth it.
I drove to Amsterdam with two of my colleagues, Cindy and Thomas. All of us neatly in white pants as required by our organisers. We parked near the station and took a bus to the meet-up point. There we were given our company t-shirt and various decorations.
After waiting until everyone was there, we headed to the embarkation point. Our boat was not quite as large as I had imagined, considering we were about 60 people total. Once we were all on board, it turned out to be roomier than it looked. The boat had a middle catwalk of sorts and underneath were stored boxes of iced drinks. We each got a lunch box and after eating the boat slowly moved out.
We first headed for out waiting spot. There we met up with the other KPN boat. This was a boat without people but filled with screens and cameras. People from all around the world could tune in to a special website and watch the parade live from the camera’s on that boat. They could also leave video messages on the website which were played on the screens during the parade.
Then, when it was time to move out, we took our place in line and the parade started. It was immensely impressive to be there on the water and see the hundred of thousands of people on the streets and on smaller boats along the edges of the canals. All of them happy, cheering, waving. Some throwing beads (I even caught one) or flowers or shooting at us with water guns.
As part of a boat you’re expected to be lively. Each boat generally has their own DJ both to entertain, but also to keep their people motivated to move. I’ve never been much of a dancer, but I never danced this much in my live as on that boat.
The whole parade took about two hours and was, at times, risky. There’s over twenty bridges that we had to pass. None of which can be raised. And some of those are so low that we all had to drop to our knees and duck our heads to not lose our heads.
And every time we got to one of those bridges, we also had to tilt our confetti cannon. Which was a fairly unwieldy thing. I happened to be positioned near it most of the time so I would assist the boat steward with the cannon.
At the end of the parade we were at the other end of the city. While disembarking we ate some finger food that was served and had some group photos taken. After that some people remained in the city, but for us it was time to head back to the North. We took a train back to the station where the car was and headed home. We stopped in Lelystad for a quick McDonalds dinner and made it back to Groningen in a very respectable time, thanks to Thomas’ driving.
We’re Moving
We’ve been talking for a while now about living separately again. We’re both ready for, and in need of, more personal space. So we’ve been looking at the new available houses for rental on the housing cooperation’s website each week. We both need to move when we do this, as the current house is too expensive for either one of us to afford alone. So, we figured it might be a while before we could do this. We would need a week with two good houses, or to find a house for one of us that is still big enough so the other can temporarily move with.
This last option has now become reality. Earlier this month a house around the corner from our current house became available on the website. Nienke signed up for it and fought herself at the fifth or so spot. After some calculations to see if it was affordable, I also signed up. When Nienke asked me what spot I was in, I checked and found I was first. And I was still first when the sign-up closed after a week. This was quite a shock as we had not expected it to go this fast.
By now, we’ve sort of gotten used to the idea. Nienke will come along with me for now and look for her own place from the new house. The layout of the ground floor is different, more cosy than in the current house. The first floor layout, though, is similar to what we have here. So we can just move everything over and keep most things the same.
We’ve started packing. This week I also signed the purchase agreement with the previous tenant for the floors, curtains and so on. August ten I go to see the housing cooperation to sign the paperwork and get the keys.
Stuff is happening, and I’m excited 🙂
Nerd Block: July
This month’s theme was Humanity’s Last Hope. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with that, but when I opened the Block today I found all kinds of goodies I really like.
There was, once again, a vinyl figure included in the box. Funko Pop Vinyls are very popular at the moment, I have about fifteen or so of them, but I really like these Titan Vinyls also. They are the same size as Funko’s but their defining characteristic is their overall slightly triangular shape. I like that their faces have more detail and that each comes with a prop. Last month’s Doctor came with a sonic screwdriver and Spike here came with a mug.
Then there was a surprise pack containing a dangly Transformer figure. I’m not well versed in Transformers so I have no idea which one this is supposed to be, but I do like it. Of similar size to the Transformer is the key chain Iron Man from Funko.
The next item I didn’t know what it was until I unwrapped it and then it turned out to be a Ghostbusters wallet. It’s made of thick sort of paper so I don’t think it’s really suited to actual use. It’s a nice gimmick, though. It’s an item to go in my box of potential gifts. This was followed by a Mad Max comic, which will be fun to read as I really enjoyed the movie.
This month’s shirt is a Karate Kid shirt. I had to look it up to be sure about what it was. I’ve seen the movie but it has been a while so I couldn’t quite remember. I like the shirt, even though it’s not one of my fandoms, and will enjoy wearing it.
Arnie, Joy, Food
I’ve never been a terminator fan. I’ve never seen any of the movies beyond bits and pieces during channel surfing or online maybe. But after seeing the trailers for the new Terminator Genisys I was intrigued enough that I wanted to see it. So that’s what Gert and I did Wednesday. The movie was fun and entertaining, not particularly special, but I enjoyed it. And I liked seeing Schwarzenegger reprising his role and poking fun at himself and his age.
After that we went on to see Inside Out, which is a really good movie. The themes were really quite heavy, which I wasn’t expecting. It shows well how depression affects a person. The layering is pretty good, in that it has something for both kids and adults, but I would’t directly recommend it for really young children.
Friday I headed over to The Farm for a barbecue with Eva, Mellien, Ingrid and Julius. The food was glorious, the company was great, and the weather fantastic.
Then yesterday, we had a market in town. Mom and I took a stroll around. I didn’t really find anything that struck my fancy. Since the weather was still fantastic, Mom and I decided to hit the cafe and get a drink and something tasty. She went for apple pie, the standard snack for cafes, and I picked strawberry tiramisu. It was delish!
Minions and Music
Bananaaaaaaaaaa! Thursday I went to see the Minions movie with Ingrid and Nienke. I love Minions 🙂 And to keep in the spirit of things I had a kid’s snack pack to go with it. Tiny packet of popcorn, tiny packet of candy, a capri sun and a tiny toy.
Friday, Gert and I went to the Oosterpoort. A little while ago Gert showed me an announcement for a free concert at the Oosterpoort. It was a graduation performance for the National Master Orchestra Conducting. The two people graduating each conducted two classical pieces played by the North Netherlands Orchestra.
The first candidate was Huba Hollóköi and he conducted Bela Bartok’s first violin concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet fantasy overture. Then, after the break, Konradin Herzog conducted Dutilleux’s Sur le même accord for solo violin and orchestra and Schumann’s Symphony no. 4.
The pieces were really good, but I preferred the works chosen by Herzog.
LootCrate: Fantasy Crate
I currently have a three month subscription to Nerd Block and more than one subscription box at a time is too pricey for me. However, LootCrate was having a sale on some of their older boxes. And after going through the ones on offer I decided to buy the May LootCrate. This one had a fantasy theme and based on the image it had some good stuff in it. It came today, and I was not disappointed.
I haven’t played Dungeons & Dragons (yet), but I love this shirt! The bow tie is nice, also. I don’t know if I’ll ever really wear it, but it makes for a good addition to a geeky wardrobe.
The flashdrive looks awesome. Too bad it’s a bit on the low side (only 4GB) to be really useful. The Princess Bride playing cards have fantastic art and the luggage tag will come in handy. I’m aiming for a visit to the UK again next year 😀
Game of Thrones magnets look nice on the fridge accompanying the Monty Python magnetic poetry from my recent Nerd Block. The inflatable crown is awesome! It fits nicely and once I was done wearing it, it became the hat for the stuffed plush reindeer head on my wall.
Food Coma
Almost no words needed. Friday I went out with a bunch of colleagues to this all-you-can-eat-style Japanese restaurant. Lots of sushi, but also other Japanese food. I don’t like fish, so I never really had sushi. However, they also had sushi with meat or veggies so I had some of that along with regular meat and such. It was fantastic, I wanna go again. I’ll let the images do the talking.
Dinosaurs, Immortality, Food and Quakes, Oh My
I love my cinema subscription, three movies in the last two days 🙂
Tuesday, Nienke and I went to see Jurassic World. It was an awesome movie! Chris Pratt is great, the more I see him, the more I love him. I knew him from Everwood, and he was good there but after that I didn’t really see him in anything. I understand he was in Parks and Recreation, but I don’t watch that. So seeing him in Guardians earlier this year was a very pleasant surprise. And now with Jurassic he just reaffirms how much of a joy it is to watch him play.
The movie itself was fairly similar, plot-wise, to the original Jurassic Park. It was a very decent film. Not many surprises, but great fun and nice nods to the original.
Yesterday, I met up with Gert after work. Our first movie was Age of Adaline. I’d seen trailers and the combination of immortality, the decor and the fact that the other main part was played by Dutch actor Michiel Huisman triggered my interest. Unfortunately, the movie didn’t quite live up to my expectation. The pacing felt off and the interaction between Adaline and Ellis was awkward at times. More awkward than the story called for. Separately I liked both of Blake Lively and Michiel’s performances and I love the visuals and decor. Harrison Ford was a pleasant surprise as Ellis’ father.
After Adaline we had quite some time left before our planned second movie, so we went out for dinner. Strolling around the city we settled on Hemingway’s for Cuban inspired tapas. It was glorious and it was much. So much even that I ended up taking a bread home.
The second movie was San Andreas, and this one exceeded my expectations. I had seen trailers of this also, and was going for two hours of random disaster and The Rock saving the day. That’s exactly what happened, but there was also a plot that wasn’t completely ridiculous and that sort of coherently pulled the movie together.
