18 march 2010
So about that gutter I mentioned yesterday....
So yesterday I went off to Dutch, which was fairly run of the mill. Although I've noticed our class members are steadily decreasing. I think there's some morbidly obese chick who eats the occasional one when they're too slow to evade her grasping sausage fingers. We went for the traditional post-pain drinks at Delirium. I don't think a place could be more magical short of prancing pixies, frolicking fairies and possibly Gandalf himself. That old tease. I had decided to go see the STAMP media crew for drinks in Antwerp afterwards so once chilling with the AFS/EVS volunteers was done I made my grand return to the great and glorious city of Antwerp.
There's an Irish pub within 30 sec walking distance from work so that was the chosen hang out. Now remember, it was St Patricks Day, so it was packed. The pub did a lot of business last night. The staff there were actually pretty incredible- they would carry stacks of used glasses which started at their waist and ending midway up their heads (hope that kind of makes sense).This was pretty intense because they would just hold the stack with the one hand, then navigate a jostling crowd, and without dropping or breaking anything. It was an acrobatic feat. I mean for most of us it was all we could do to avoid spilling our drinks (and we mostly failed at that as well). They had some dude dressed up as a Leprechaun playing live music. Have to give him credit, he started off pretty well, but as Leprechauns are notorious drinkers (I mean duh, they're Irish)... well let's just say his music steadily went downhill. By that point not many people cared though. He seemed to know a lot of songs, unfortunately he didn't always know the entire song too well, resulting in a fairly bastardised hotel california amongst other things. It was entertaining nevertheless.
Later on, Bert, some of the other guys and myself took a walk to a cafe to play some pool. I can't remember what it was called, but something to do with broomsticks or witches or some such. Which makes sense when you go inside - every spot of wall or ceiling was covered in witches flying on broomsticks, giant hairy spiders and some other mildy spooky stuff. Oh yes, cobwebs, let's not forget the cobwebs. Me and Bert went back to his after and watched some Green Wing... random bloody show. Then I crashed on the couch for a solid few hours sleep before heading back to work.
So here I am, probably looking slightly worse for the wear. Not too bad though - me being sick the last few days stopped me from drinking much at all, which I guess I'm a little thankful for this morning. Certainly made getting up easier. I suspect I don't smell that great right now but I can live with that for now. The question is whether the others can live with it... Only time will tell. One of the co-workers is still missing in action after last night so I'm guessing she's got some stories to tell. We eagerly wait her arrival. She has to turn up at some point - all of her stuff is here at work, including cell phone, bag, and laptop. Not exactly the kind of things one can shrug off losing.
Oh yes, one more thing... I GOT A TICKET TO WERCHTER!!!
Man I'm excited. So many cool bands are gonna be there; Pearl Jam, Muse, Wolfmother, Rise Against, Jack Johnson, Greenday, Rammstein and Them Crooked Vultures. Loads of other big names which aren't my usual listening taste but it's impressive they're going anyway e.g. Pink, Corinne Bailey Rae, Arcade Fire (I know of them but never heard their music so really can't comment on whether they're my taste or not), Alice in Chains, 30 Seconds to Mars and Paramore. AND there are still 20 more names to be announced. Its basically one massive musical orgy. And I'm going to be there to enjoy every juicy second. Am I going to be near dead by the end of the four days? Hell yeah! But I have a feeling its going to be more than worth it. Now all I need to do is manage not to be sick or motally wounded just prior to the event. If that happens afterwards thats fine, but I need to be in my prime when I go to Werchter. You know, my hair's got to be perfect etc. Cause thats what happens at four day rock festivals. Pretty much a fashion event these days...
Ahem.
Took a little break from blogging and now its 15:49 and our missing in action chick still hasn't made an appearance so I'm thinking she's going to try hold out until tomorrow to get her stuff back.
My brain is MElTing. Seriously.
I'm gonna focus on staying awake now,
bye for now...
Showing posts with label sick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sick. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sick Weekend
17 march 2010
Ok, firstly I've been sick, which is why I've been neglecting the blog over the last 2 days. So forgive me - or thank me, whichever you deem appropriate.
Right. Lets talk (really I mean monologue) about the weekend. On friday night I did end up going out with Valerie, Monica and Onur. The night was quite an ordeal all things considered. We met at 8.30ish at Antwerpen Centraal, then ill fatedly attempted to make our way to the hostel to drop off our stuff before the party. Naturally we purchased some really bad vodka plus some red bull along the way. I mean, goes without saying doesn't it? We caught a tram recommended by a security gaurd and when we got to our stop, asked further directions. We were told to go straight and then turn left and follow the highway. Like normal people, we thought "hey, lets not die" and so continued past the highway. That was our first mistake. Turns out that the dodgy looking park, with lots of dark places for an assortment of criminals to remain hidden in, contained a small meandering path we were meant to take. Incidentally, this path ran roughly along the highway. Oblivious to this, we forged on stoically in the wrong direction. To summarise the next hour or so, we flapped, fluffled and otherwise blundered time and time again. We asked directions but no one really knew anything about our mysterious hostel. Eventually we found the coolest taxi driver in the world. He tried calling us another cab (he was supposedly unavailable) but said they would take some time to get there. So he said he'd just drive us there - it was about a 10 min fast paced drive and he didn't even turn the meter on, even after we mentioned it. He charged us a grand total of 1€. I tried to give him more as a tip, because honestly this guy saved us, but he wouldn't take it no matter how much I insisted.
Having said that, anyone who's seen the movie Hostel, would initially be a little weary about shooting down the road in a Taxi who mysteriously isn't charging you, taking you to a HOSTEL that mysteriously no one seems to have heard about... There were most definately moments when I casually wondered whether I was being taken to have my organs ... redistributed. Regardless, I'm fairly sure I still have all the essential body parts, so at least if they did steal something they were considerate about it. Then again I did get pretty sick within the next 2 days so maybe they didn't do such a great job. I live on for now. Die another day etc etc.
Midway through explaining my epic fri night saga I had to go help out with the dishes (at work, which means it needs to be done for coffee = good cause).
Once we eventually arrived at the hostel, we had some drinks and set off for our night. Nothing too crazy happened, drinking, parties, bars, the usual kind of thing. So for a change I'm not going to go into detail. *Shock* Enjoy it while it lasts.
Dutch lesson again today, for better or worse. Which somehow reminds me. It's St Patricks Day. Which somehow leads everyone into claiming even the most stretched blood relation to Ireland. The Irish, of course, have even more reason to drink (Because you need a reason to drink right? Right??). All of this inevitably ends in a gutter in the early hours of the morning. Perhaps I'm just being cynical. The funny thing is, despite my views, I still I wish I was entirely healthy so I could fully do the St Patricks thing. Gutter and all. Thus the great cycle of humanity churns ever onwards towards the great abyss of predictable yet unavoidable self destruction.
Happy St Patricks Day everyone! :D
To very quickly detail my weekend after friday night... On saturday we walked around Antwerpen for a bit, I went back to Turnhout and had a quiet night watching the Sopranos - Dirk and Terry were in Germany for a family thing. The next morning I woke up really sick and stayed in bed all day, had a fever and loads of other pleasant stuff, but I'll spare you the gory details. Pretty much the same on monday, although was slightly better, tues I was getting better and now here I am. Not fully recovered but getting there.
Back to work for me, so I'll be back here tomorrow. A pleasant day to you all.
Ok, firstly I've been sick, which is why I've been neglecting the blog over the last 2 days. So forgive me - or thank me, whichever you deem appropriate.
Right. Lets talk (really I mean monologue) about the weekend. On friday night I did end up going out with Valerie, Monica and Onur. The night was quite an ordeal all things considered. We met at 8.30ish at Antwerpen Centraal, then ill fatedly attempted to make our way to the hostel to drop off our stuff before the party. Naturally we purchased some really bad vodka plus some red bull along the way. I mean, goes without saying doesn't it? We caught a tram recommended by a security gaurd and when we got to our stop, asked further directions. We were told to go straight and then turn left and follow the highway. Like normal people, we thought "hey, lets not die" and so continued past the highway. That was our first mistake. Turns out that the dodgy looking park, with lots of dark places for an assortment of criminals to remain hidden in, contained a small meandering path we were meant to take. Incidentally, this path ran roughly along the highway. Oblivious to this, we forged on stoically in the wrong direction. To summarise the next hour or so, we flapped, fluffled and otherwise blundered time and time again. We asked directions but no one really knew anything about our mysterious hostel. Eventually we found the coolest taxi driver in the world. He tried calling us another cab (he was supposedly unavailable) but said they would take some time to get there. So he said he'd just drive us there - it was about a 10 min fast paced drive and he didn't even turn the meter on, even after we mentioned it. He charged us a grand total of 1€. I tried to give him more as a tip, because honestly this guy saved us, but he wouldn't take it no matter how much I insisted.
Having said that, anyone who's seen the movie Hostel, would initially be a little weary about shooting down the road in a Taxi who mysteriously isn't charging you, taking you to a HOSTEL that mysteriously no one seems to have heard about... There were most definately moments when I casually wondered whether I was being taken to have my organs ... redistributed. Regardless, I'm fairly sure I still have all the essential body parts, so at least if they did steal something they were considerate about it. Then again I did get pretty sick within the next 2 days so maybe they didn't do such a great job. I live on for now. Die another day etc etc.
Midway through explaining my epic fri night saga I had to go help out with the dishes (at work, which means it needs to be done for coffee = good cause).
Once we eventually arrived at the hostel, we had some drinks and set off for our night. Nothing too crazy happened, drinking, parties, bars, the usual kind of thing. So for a change I'm not going to go into detail. *Shock* Enjoy it while it lasts.
Dutch lesson again today, for better or worse. Which somehow reminds me. It's St Patricks Day. Which somehow leads everyone into claiming even the most stretched blood relation to Ireland. The Irish, of course, have even more reason to drink (Because you need a reason to drink right? Right??). All of this inevitably ends in a gutter in the early hours of the morning. Perhaps I'm just being cynical. The funny thing is, despite my views, I still I wish I was entirely healthy so I could fully do the St Patricks thing. Gutter and all. Thus the great cycle of humanity churns ever onwards towards the great abyss of predictable yet unavoidable self destruction.
Happy St Patricks Day everyone! :D
To very quickly detail my weekend after friday night... On saturday we walked around Antwerpen for a bit, I went back to Turnhout and had a quiet night watching the Sopranos - Dirk and Terry were in Germany for a family thing. The next morning I woke up really sick and stayed in bed all day, had a fever and loads of other pleasant stuff, but I'll spare you the gory details. Pretty much the same on monday, although was slightly better, tues I was getting better and now here I am. Not fully recovered but getting there.
Back to work for me, so I'll be back here tomorrow. A pleasant day to you all.
Friday, March 12, 2010
FRIDAY!
12 march 2010
Firstly, Grace, if you ever read this, then Happy Birthday!
Ok, so everything I said in my last post about that party, forget it. It's not that it got cancelled or anything like that, I just managed to get most of the details wrong. Only the unimportant details though. Like the date etc. However, I am supposed to be going to a party tonight with Onur, Valerie and Monica. Which should be good. Was feeling a little sick yesterday so hopefully it all works out. Feeling a lot better today though. The party is in Antwerpen, so we're staying at a hostel afterwards to make things easier.
I think if I ever really get the hang of Dutch I'm not going to tell anyone at work. That way they can talk and talk and I'll learn all their secrets. Yeah, thats my grand plan. All I need to do now is learn Dutch....
Really glad I got an i-pod for this trip. Was listening to Vampire Weekend on the way to work, followed by a Perfect Circle. I keep coming up with strange combinations of music but I guess I like the variety. You know, the spice of life and all that.
*yawn*
Looks like everyone in the office went out last night. Some of them are a little manic still... you all know who I'm talking about :p Seem to be in that frenzied state of being completely overtired. It certainly makes work a little.. um... spicey??
I think I'm going to be in need of some serious amounts of caffeine before tonight. Red Bull here I come. Maybe I'll throw some coffee in there as well... you know spice of life ok shut up james.
ITS FRIDAY!!! Always something to be thankful for I guess. On Wed after Dutch we inevitably found a bar - Delirium- over 2000 kinds of beer available there at any given time, and in fact holds the world record for that. Which is AWESOME! My god. Plus it's actually one of the nicer bars I've been to - its decorated with loads of the different beer labels and beer trays. The music was pretty good as well - I mean there were a few blunders but nothing bad enough to spoil it. Not even close. To be honest I'm not sure if highly concentrated amounts of really bad music played for sustained periods of time would stop me going there. I mean it would be offputting sure, but its hard to argue with over 2000 beers. Although if I ever find myself doing so I think its a sure sign to stop drinking.
Dammit all my yawning is making me tear up and now it looks like I've got emotiolitis. Which is a problem because that kinda thing is contagious. I mean I don't want people avoiding me because of a disease I don't actually have. I want people to avoid me for good solid reasons. Like bad body odour, a scary look on my face, a disease I do have. Just to clarify, I don't actually have a disease, just trying to illustrate a point. So calm down already.
I'm pretty much ready for lunch now. It's only 11.20 as I'm writing this but I never have breakfast so I'm a little hungry.
Just went with Emi to get some food. It's Emi's last day so she bought a weird S&M kinda magazine for the office. Yeah, it made the afternoon somewhat different...
Ahh but the day is getting on and I should occupy myself with other things so fare thee well fair creatures. I shall speak to thee once more (at great length no doubt) at a later date
Firstly, Grace, if you ever read this, then Happy Birthday!
Ok, so everything I said in my last post about that party, forget it. It's not that it got cancelled or anything like that, I just managed to get most of the details wrong. Only the unimportant details though. Like the date etc. However, I am supposed to be going to a party tonight with Onur, Valerie and Monica. Which should be good. Was feeling a little sick yesterday so hopefully it all works out. Feeling a lot better today though. The party is in Antwerpen, so we're staying at a hostel afterwards to make things easier.
I think if I ever really get the hang of Dutch I'm not going to tell anyone at work. That way they can talk and talk and I'll learn all their secrets. Yeah, thats my grand plan. All I need to do now is learn Dutch....
Really glad I got an i-pod for this trip. Was listening to Vampire Weekend on the way to work, followed by a Perfect Circle. I keep coming up with strange combinations of music but I guess I like the variety. You know, the spice of life and all that.
*yawn*
Looks like everyone in the office went out last night. Some of them are a little manic still... you all know who I'm talking about :p Seem to be in that frenzied state of being completely overtired. It certainly makes work a little.. um... spicey??
I think I'm going to be in need of some serious amounts of caffeine before tonight. Red Bull here I come. Maybe I'll throw some coffee in there as well... you know spice of life ok shut up james.
ITS FRIDAY!!! Always something to be thankful for I guess. On Wed after Dutch we inevitably found a bar - Delirium- over 2000 kinds of beer available there at any given time, and in fact holds the world record for that. Which is AWESOME! My god. Plus it's actually one of the nicer bars I've been to - its decorated with loads of the different beer labels and beer trays. The music was pretty good as well - I mean there were a few blunders but nothing bad enough to spoil it. Not even close. To be honest I'm not sure if highly concentrated amounts of really bad music played for sustained periods of time would stop me going there. I mean it would be offputting sure, but its hard to argue with over 2000 beers. Although if I ever find myself doing so I think its a sure sign to stop drinking.
Dammit all my yawning is making me tear up and now it looks like I've got emotiolitis. Which is a problem because that kinda thing is contagious. I mean I don't want people avoiding me because of a disease I don't actually have. I want people to avoid me for good solid reasons. Like bad body odour, a scary look on my face, a disease I do have. Just to clarify, I don't actually have a disease, just trying to illustrate a point. So calm down already.
I'm pretty much ready for lunch now. It's only 11.20 as I'm writing this but I never have breakfast so I'm a little hungry.
Just went with Emi to get some food. It's Emi's last day so she bought a weird S&M kinda magazine for the office. Yeah, it made the afternoon somewhat different...
Ahh but the day is getting on and I should occupy myself with other things so fare thee well fair creatures. I shall speak to thee once more (at great length no doubt) at a later date
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Just a regular tues...
2 march 2010
Right. So as if to confirm what I said yesterday about not knowing much about my travel plans to Portugal turns out I leave on thurs but get back on mon... Ahhh that was a weight off my chest. Going to bed at 1 and getting up at 6 is a bad idea for anyone who's interested. But then most people could tell you that... It just takes someone like me a little longer to cotton on. Been in a zombified state all morning. Really keen on falling asleep on my desk right now. Probably won't make the best impression, you know, being at work and all.
The last 2 days have been a little colder - Dirk said it was about -3 degrees C at night. I mean it's been a lot worse here and elsewhere in Europe but it's still pretty cold for my sensitive NZ skin. I'm sure that after a certain point the actual amount of degrees below 0 become inconsequencial - surely you just become freezing and kinda numbed??
Last night Dirk starting putting post-it notes on everything. He wrote the Dutch words for the objects on them in the hope that I'll take something in. Hopefully I will. Which reminds me. Dutch tomorrow. *groan* (and not the good kind)
On the upside I'll hopefully be able to have some drinks with the other volunteers afterwards... Just got to get through 3 hours of pain first... Optimistic I know.
Yesterday I stumbled across the idea of writing about one of the charity organisations in Cambodia. The fact that I've actually been there and worked with the company definately helps. Only problem is remaining objective I guess. Which will probably be a little tricky, but I'll see what I can do. Either way it's good because its really interesting to write about.
Computers are a little slower than usual, which is strange. Things could be worse. I could be DEAD! Or you know... have a cold or something. Either of which would be downright unpleasant.
Speaking of colds, I'm freezing. And that's inside in a heated area with 3 layers on including a jersey and jacket. Hope I'm not getting sick (Mom I can almost hear your concern from here hehe).
Cool so we're ordering pizza for lunch. Which is good because I'm starving. Apparently it could be up to an hour wait :-( Can't wait. The anticipation is killing me. Doctors would probably tell me it was actually the hunger. But I know it's the anticipation. My tombestone will read "James Anderson: He was a talkitive man .Tragically undone by Anticipation." Much better than saying I starved to death. Has a bit of mystery/raw weirdness in it.
Yup. Good good. Spiffing. Ok goodbye
Right. So as if to confirm what I said yesterday about not knowing much about my travel plans to Portugal turns out I leave on thurs but get back on mon... Ahhh that was a weight off my chest. Going to bed at 1 and getting up at 6 is a bad idea for anyone who's interested. But then most people could tell you that... It just takes someone like me a little longer to cotton on. Been in a zombified state all morning. Really keen on falling asleep on my desk right now. Probably won't make the best impression, you know, being at work and all.
The last 2 days have been a little colder - Dirk said it was about -3 degrees C at night. I mean it's been a lot worse here and elsewhere in Europe but it's still pretty cold for my sensitive NZ skin. I'm sure that after a certain point the actual amount of degrees below 0 become inconsequencial - surely you just become freezing and kinda numbed??
Last night Dirk starting putting post-it notes on everything. He wrote the Dutch words for the objects on them in the hope that I'll take something in. Hopefully I will. Which reminds me. Dutch tomorrow. *groan* (and not the good kind)
On the upside I'll hopefully be able to have some drinks with the other volunteers afterwards... Just got to get through 3 hours of pain first... Optimistic I know.
Yesterday I stumbled across the idea of writing about one of the charity organisations in Cambodia. The fact that I've actually been there and worked with the company definately helps. Only problem is remaining objective I guess. Which will probably be a little tricky, but I'll see what I can do. Either way it's good because its really interesting to write about.
Computers are a little slower than usual, which is strange. Things could be worse. I could be DEAD! Or you know... have a cold or something. Either of which would be downright unpleasant.
Speaking of colds, I'm freezing. And that's inside in a heated area with 3 layers on including a jersey and jacket. Hope I'm not getting sick (Mom I can almost hear your concern from here hehe).
Cool so we're ordering pizza for lunch. Which is good because I'm starving. Apparently it could be up to an hour wait :-( Can't wait. The anticipation is killing me. Doctors would probably tell me it was actually the hunger. But I know it's the anticipation. My tombestone will read "James Anderson: He was a talkitive man .Tragically undone by Anticipation." Much better than saying I starved to death. Has a bit of mystery/raw weirdness in it.
Yup. Good good. Spiffing. Ok goodbye
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