28 July 2010
This is kinda an in between post so I aplogise in advance
Update on the return to New Zealand
This is an update mainly for people back home in NZ who may or may not be wondering when I'm returning to tend to my sheep. (I mean that in a "I'm going back to NZ" kinda way not in a "I'm Jesus" kinda way, just in case you mistake that for sheer arrogance...). The short story is that it comes down to visas. If I get my British visa within the next week or so then I'll be gone for a further 3 months and come back near the end of October. However, if I don't get my visa very soon I will be on a flight to NZ on the 7th of Aug. Which is obviously pretty soon. Bit strange I know - 2 weeks or 3 months 'til I get back, but that's the current situation. Will keep you all up-to-date on that situation. I really wish I knew which it's going to be either way, cause its really frustrating.
Emotional crap
Regardless of where I end up in the imminent future, I am coming to the end of my stay here in Belgium. This of course comes with its own mix of emotions. Sad that I'm leaving, happy that I'll be seeing family again (in Eng or NZ), happy cause I might be seeing NZ friends pretty soon, sad cause I'm leaving all my Belgian friends and Dirk and Terry... So its difficult to know what to think a lot of the time. I try to negate this by not thinking much. I know a lot of you would have some smart comments to make there so go for it :p
Thanks
Thanks for actually reading the last two posts by the way, I know they were complete bull, but I was bored. Thats more or less my only excuse. That and perhaps being a little strange but I think its fair to say I can blame/thank my family for that.
Future and stuff...
So after all of this I'm still keen to go into journalism - not sure exactly in what capacity, but I would definately like to do something writing related. So thanks to all the Stamp Media crew, it wouldn't have been the same without you guys - and I mean that in a good way :)
Back to the usual complaints
Tired.....
Public transport...........
.........people in general.
(in that order)
On the bright side... LUNCH! :D
This particular post is pretty disjointed and not very exciting - I consider it to be fairly representative of my mental state right now so deal with it.. Until the next post anyway.
Showing posts with label public transport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public transport. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Review of Rock Werchter and a guide to public transport strategy
9 July 2010
The long anticipated Rock Werchter
Rock Werchter was pretty mind blowing. That is, for 4 days I left my mind flapping noisily in the wind while I directed my energies towards other things. Such as survival. More specifically surviving 4 days in 34° degree heat at a festival where you kinda can't sit around in the shade all day if you actually wanna see anything. Somehow I pulled it off. Although my mental faculties are only really starting to return now. They're crawling slowly in my direction with a smarmy look in their slimy eyes.
As I'm sure you can imagine, they weren't the 4 most hygienic days of my life. I mean when we (me and Monica) weren't at concerts we were at the camping ground in a well boiled tent. Sleeping in that bugger is pretty disgusting in that heat. I mean, it really is gross. And that wasnt even using my sleeping bag.
Oh and much thanks to Monica for keeping my wallet and stuff in her handbag for most of the festival :)
Ok so this is what I saw, the performances which were good (regardless of whether I'm a fan of their music or not) are marked with a smiley face and the bad ones are marked with my face of eternal mourning D:
In no particular order....
Impromptu reviews
Muse, Pearl Jam and Vampire Weekend
I don't want to go on too much about how great the big bands were, because I'm pretty sure its all been said before. All I'm going to say is that Muse and Pearl Jam both lived up to the hype. Vampire Weekend was great - they seem to carry a kind of innocence in their performance which I guess may come from them being relatively new to the scene.
Greenday
Probably the biggest let down of the festival. The only performance I genuinely wanted to end about halfway through. And my god, they played for like 2 and a half hours. A band with a lot of good music could pull that off (Pearl Jam, Muse) but they simply don't have the volume to work with. So they end up wasting all this time stopping and talking to the crowd during the song - completely stoppping the song for a solid 5 minutes. That happened on average 2 or 3 times a song. The first time it happens it's kinda ok but eentually you just want it to be over. By the time the song comes back on you've completely lost interest. Especially if it was one of their crappier songs to begin with.
The thing that really turned me off the whole thing though, apart from all I've already mentioned, is that they seem like complete pricks. I mean that probably seems like stating the obvious for some, but they really acted like douchebags. That drummer, my god, he thinks he's so damn funny. i think he has it in his head to try and be 'the crazy wacky one' but all he ends up doing is looking like an overweight older man trying to fit into a strange assortment of school clothes, wearing make-up and running like a retarded chicken. And not in a good way. The lead singer just makes up for that in general dickheadedness. The bassist managed to remain relatively inoffensive so I won't give him a hard time.
Arcade Fire
Many of you may know Arcade Fire, but I must admit, while I'd heard of them, I'd never actually heard one of their songs before going to Werchter. They had one of the best performances in my opinion. The energy on stage was incredible. They were crazy, but they pulled it off really well. Would be interested to listen to their music and see if its still good without the performance to back it up.
Balthazar
Right, so this is the Belgian band I mentioned earlier. Never heard of them prior to Werchter, but was pretty impressed. Its mostly pretty simple music from what I've heard but I like it. If you want to have a listen to a song to see what I'm talking about check it out at Balthazar's Myspace. You can listen to a few of their singles there. All good if I recall but like 'Hunger at the door' in particular as well as 'The boatman'... I think... Let me know what you think of the music in the comments...You know... if you want...
The rest I can't really be bothered talking about, not that they weren't good, I just don't feel like talking about them so much...
... There is one thing I should probably mention.. You know how at concerts they usually throw picks/drumsticks into the crowd? Well I was almost right at the front for Pearl Jam, and I managed to score myself a genuine PEARL JAM PICK! Which I feel is pretty damn awesome.
----------------------END OF REVIEWS---------------------------
This week was mostly back to normal. Last night I went to what can only be desrcibed as a youth booth festival. Which was pretty good. Before that we'd been playing lots of pool which was good cause I haven't done that properly in a while...
Public Transport
What is it with people when you're trying to get off the train/tram and they try get in before you can get out??? I mean, its bloody full. It doesn't take much brainpower to work out that if something is full, you have to empty it a bit before anything else can be put in it. But nooooo... these dicks are ambitiously trying to defy the laws of physics. And provoke my ire. Lets not forget the ire. I mean, I could glare at them or something. Actually I usually do, but they're too busy to notice.
I have discovered a fairly handy trick to use on trains though. The seats are usually arranged in groups of four - 2 seats alongside oneanother facing another 2. Now if no one is sitting opposite you, you can stretch your legs out and relax a little more without awkwardly rubbing the leg of the big hairy man opposite you. The problem is that thetrain tends to get so ful that its inevitable that someone will come sit in your little foursome of chairs.
I try to disourage this.
So when they are walking along the coach trying to find the least occuppied stall to sit in, I just stare at them. Right in the eyes. Its simple, but it seems to work, because they usually feel so uncomfortable with my eerie stare, that they'll go sit with 3 other random people rather than sit next to, or around me :D Quite an accomplishment I feel. Its really satisying when you see them coming towards you, you bring out the icy eyes, they look up and meet them momentarily, then, visibly shaken, they scurry off to any stall not in view of yours. I probably get more joy out of that then I should. I like to think of it as my only Jedi Mindtrick (so far)... Thats pretty much my morning socialising for you.
'Til next time accolytes
END
The long anticipated Rock Werchter
Rock Werchter was pretty mind blowing. That is, for 4 days I left my mind flapping noisily in the wind while I directed my energies towards other things. Such as survival. More specifically surviving 4 days in 34° degree heat at a festival where you kinda can't sit around in the shade all day if you actually wanna see anything. Somehow I pulled it off. Although my mental faculties are only really starting to return now. They're crawling slowly in my direction with a smarmy look in their slimy eyes.
As I'm sure you can imagine, they weren't the 4 most hygienic days of my life. I mean when we (me and Monica) weren't at concerts we were at the camping ground in a well boiled tent. Sleeping in that bugger is pretty disgusting in that heat. I mean, it really is gross. And that wasnt even using my sleeping bag.
Oh and much thanks to Monica for keeping my wallet and stuff in her handbag for most of the festival :)
Ok so this is what I saw, the performances which were good (regardless of whether I'm a fan of their music or not) are marked with a smiley face and the bad ones are marked with my face of eternal mourning D:
In no particular order....
- Muse :)
- Greenday D:
- Them Crooked Vultures :)
- Vampire Weekend :)
- Arcade Fire :)
- Pearl Jam :)
- Rise Against :)
- 30 Seconds to Mars D:
- Jack Johnson :)
- Balthazar :) (Belgian band, never heard them before but pretty good, more on them later)
- Pink :)
- Paramore, surprisingly :)
- Stereophonics :)
Impromptu reviews
Muse, Pearl Jam and Vampire Weekend
I don't want to go on too much about how great the big bands were, because I'm pretty sure its all been said before. All I'm going to say is that Muse and Pearl Jam both lived up to the hype. Vampire Weekend was great - they seem to carry a kind of innocence in their performance which I guess may come from them being relatively new to the scene.
Greenday
Probably the biggest let down of the festival. The only performance I genuinely wanted to end about halfway through. And my god, they played for like 2 and a half hours. A band with a lot of good music could pull that off (Pearl Jam, Muse) but they simply don't have the volume to work with. So they end up wasting all this time stopping and talking to the crowd during the song - completely stoppping the song for a solid 5 minutes. That happened on average 2 or 3 times a song. The first time it happens it's kinda ok but eentually you just want it to be over. By the time the song comes back on you've completely lost interest. Especially if it was one of their crappier songs to begin with.
The thing that really turned me off the whole thing though, apart from all I've already mentioned, is that they seem like complete pricks. I mean that probably seems like stating the obvious for some, but they really acted like douchebags. That drummer, my god, he thinks he's so damn funny. i think he has it in his head to try and be 'the crazy wacky one' but all he ends up doing is looking like an overweight older man trying to fit into a strange assortment of school clothes, wearing make-up and running like a retarded chicken. And not in a good way. The lead singer just makes up for that in general dickheadedness. The bassist managed to remain relatively inoffensive so I won't give him a hard time.
Arcade Fire
Many of you may know Arcade Fire, but I must admit, while I'd heard of them, I'd never actually heard one of their songs before going to Werchter. They had one of the best performances in my opinion. The energy on stage was incredible. They were crazy, but they pulled it off really well. Would be interested to listen to their music and see if its still good without the performance to back it up.
Balthazar
Right, so this is the Belgian band I mentioned earlier. Never heard of them prior to Werchter, but was pretty impressed. Its mostly pretty simple music from what I've heard but I like it. If you want to have a listen to a song to see what I'm talking about check it out at Balthazar's Myspace. You can listen to a few of their singles there. All good if I recall but like 'Hunger at the door' in particular as well as 'The boatman'... I think... Let me know what you think of the music in the comments...You know... if you want...
The rest I can't really be bothered talking about, not that they weren't good, I just don't feel like talking about them so much...
... There is one thing I should probably mention.. You know how at concerts they usually throw picks/drumsticks into the crowd? Well I was almost right at the front for Pearl Jam, and I managed to score myself a genuine PEARL JAM PICK! Which I feel is pretty damn awesome.
----------------------END OF REVIEWS---------------------------
This week was mostly back to normal. Last night I went to what can only be desrcibed as a youth booth festival. Which was pretty good. Before that we'd been playing lots of pool which was good cause I haven't done that properly in a while...
Public Transport
What is it with people when you're trying to get off the train/tram and they try get in before you can get out??? I mean, its bloody full. It doesn't take much brainpower to work out that if something is full, you have to empty it a bit before anything else can be put in it. But nooooo... these dicks are ambitiously trying to defy the laws of physics. And provoke my ire. Lets not forget the ire. I mean, I could glare at them or something. Actually I usually do, but they're too busy to notice.
I have discovered a fairly handy trick to use on trains though. The seats are usually arranged in groups of four - 2 seats alongside oneanother facing another 2. Now if no one is sitting opposite you, you can stretch your legs out and relax a little more without awkwardly rubbing the leg of the big hairy man opposite you. The problem is that thetrain tends to get so ful that its inevitable that someone will come sit in your little foursome of chairs.
I try to disourage this.
So when they are walking along the coach trying to find the least occuppied stall to sit in, I just stare at them. Right in the eyes. Its simple, but it seems to work, because they usually feel so uncomfortable with my eerie stare, that they'll go sit with 3 other random people rather than sit next to, or around me :D Quite an accomplishment I feel. Its really satisying when you see them coming towards you, you bring out the icy eyes, they look up and meet them momentarily, then, visibly shaken, they scurry off to any stall not in view of yours. I probably get more joy out of that then I should. I like to think of it as my only Jedi Mindtrick (so far)... Thats pretty much my morning socialising for you.
'Til next time accolytes
END
Friday, May 28, 2010
Night of the Irish barmen
WoOoOAh.....
Ok here I am.
Random rambling intro
I am currently wearing a fairly large pair of metrosexual sunglasses. The ones which all the girls love to wear but which also happen to have the side-effect of making their faces look like some mutant beetle (I'm not talking about a genetically modified John Lennon here). You all know what I'm talking about. Lets get this right out of the way. I'm well aware that you've all probably been aching to know if they're my glasses or not. But wonder no longer my good people. I have aquired these glasses through great treachery and deceit. (Ok so I took them when Karen left them in the office during her smoking break but thats not nearly as exciting). One must commend Karen on her magnificent taste in sunglasses. Perhaps they'll protect my eyes from the powerful glare of the computer screen. Or maybe they'll just give me a headache after a while. Only time will tell.......
Night of the Bartenders
Here begins an epic journey. On wednesday night me and Bert were going to see the movie Kick Ass. You know, a real man-date. We probably would have ended up drinking beer and beating our chests, shouting out manly things just to vent our great overflowing masculinity. That is, we would have, if we had ever gotten that far... We had some time before the movie started so guess where we ended up. THE PUB! (one has to say that with widened eyes and far too much intensity for a sane being).
Long story short, we missed the movie.
As I've mentioned before, we tend to frequent one pub in particular - The Irish Times, so we're relatively familiar with most of the barmen there. In fact last week he walked up to us and told us what our order was. Kudos to him, it was right. Although it definately made us think a little... I mean half the mind says "god we come here too much" while the other half says "awesome, they know us well, next step = drinks on the house." Without coming to any particular conclusion about that I'm going to resume my story.
One of the guys who usually serves us was in plain clothes having a drink with some friends (some more Irish louts presumably). Anyway, we got talking to him and eventually we ended up joining them. My presumption was spot on, they were a bunch of Irish louts. But great louts. The kinda louts I could hang out with and do lout-like things with (Manly things of course, wrestling bears and whatnot). Anyway, we were having a great time, they'd already had a few drinks so were very entertaining, as only Irishmen can be. As such, they were pretty generous with the drinks. Which was great. Obviously. Seriously though, completely made my night. I mean, the bartender were drunk and buying us drinks. Thats pretty cool right? I mean its definately a step up on the great Chain of being... A.K.A the Great Pub Hierarchy.
Apart from everything mentioned above, my main conclusion about the night is that I still need to go see Kick Ass...
Women (the creatures, not the song)
Something bizarre that I've noticed here in this giant pub of a country, is how much people use their bicycles. I mean, to get everywhere. Everyone does it too, rich, poor, whatever. So you get people in suits riding bikes down the street. My favourite though, is seeing business women, (could easily be a highly acclaimed lawyer judging by the clothing). I don't mean 'business' women, I mean wealthy professionals. Firstly; it is a little strange to see a very well dressed women cycling down the road in a tight black formal skirt. Strange, but I can get over it. What I can't get over entirely, what baffles my poor ignorant mind, is seeing them cycle in these massive high heeled shoes. I mean really. Apart from looking ridiculous, it must present some kinda safety hazard. What if the heel gets caught in the pedal and said women ends up breaking her face. I mean her expensive make-up would be ruined for starters. The facial lacerations wouldn't be that great either.
More on my captivating thoughts later... In a few days... lovelovelovelovelove
Ok here I am.
Random rambling intro
I am currently wearing a fairly large pair of metrosexual sunglasses. The ones which all the girls love to wear but which also happen to have the side-effect of making their faces look like some mutant beetle (I'm not talking about a genetically modified John Lennon here). You all know what I'm talking about. Lets get this right out of the way. I'm well aware that you've all probably been aching to know if they're my glasses or not. But wonder no longer my good people. I have aquired these glasses through great treachery and deceit. (Ok so I took them when Karen left them in the office during her smoking break but thats not nearly as exciting). One must commend Karen on her magnificent taste in sunglasses. Perhaps they'll protect my eyes from the powerful glare of the computer screen. Or maybe they'll just give me a headache after a while. Only time will tell.......
Night of the Bartenders
Here begins an epic journey. On wednesday night me and Bert were going to see the movie Kick Ass. You know, a real man-date. We probably would have ended up drinking beer and beating our chests, shouting out manly things just to vent our great overflowing masculinity. That is, we would have, if we had ever gotten that far... We had some time before the movie started so guess where we ended up. THE PUB! (one has to say that with widened eyes and far too much intensity for a sane being).
Long story short, we missed the movie.
As I've mentioned before, we tend to frequent one pub in particular - The Irish Times, so we're relatively familiar with most of the barmen there. In fact last week he walked up to us and told us what our order was. Kudos to him, it was right. Although it definately made us think a little... I mean half the mind says "god we come here too much" while the other half says "awesome, they know us well, next step = drinks on the house." Without coming to any particular conclusion about that I'm going to resume my story.
One of the guys who usually serves us was in plain clothes having a drink with some friends (some more Irish louts presumably). Anyway, we got talking to him and eventually we ended up joining them. My presumption was spot on, they were a bunch of Irish louts. But great louts. The kinda louts I could hang out with and do lout-like things with (Manly things of course, wrestling bears and whatnot). Anyway, we were having a great time, they'd already had a few drinks so were very entertaining, as only Irishmen can be. As such, they were pretty generous with the drinks. Which was great. Obviously. Seriously though, completely made my night. I mean, the bartender were drunk and buying us drinks. Thats pretty cool right? I mean its definately a step up on the great Chain of being... A.K.A the Great Pub Hierarchy.
Apart from everything mentioned above, my main conclusion about the night is that I still need to go see Kick Ass...
Women (the creatures, not the song)
Something bizarre that I've noticed here in this giant pub of a country, is how much people use their bicycles. I mean, to get everywhere. Everyone does it too, rich, poor, whatever. So you get people in suits riding bikes down the street. My favourite though, is seeing business women, (could easily be a highly acclaimed lawyer judging by the clothing). I don't mean 'business' women, I mean wealthy professionals. Firstly; it is a little strange to see a very well dressed women cycling down the road in a tight black formal skirt. Strange, but I can get over it. What I can't get over entirely, what baffles my poor ignorant mind, is seeing them cycle in these massive high heeled shoes. I mean really. Apart from looking ridiculous, it must present some kinda safety hazard. What if the heel gets caught in the pedal and said women ends up breaking her face. I mean her expensive make-up would be ruined for starters. The facial lacerations wouldn't be that great either.
More on my captivating thoughts later... In a few days... lovelovelovelovelove
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Master of the Trains
25 Feb 2010
Today I had to sign for my residency permit, which essentially allows me multiple entry into Belgium. Had to get that fairly urgently because Dirk and Terry (the couple who are hosting me) have already planned a trip to Lisbon. I'm really looking forward to it - I think it's planned for early March, which means a couple of days off work. After I'd given my signature to the crowds of fans I've collected here in Belgium (yeah right), I left for work. Only got there at 10.30 and felt bad as it was quite a bit later than I had told them it would be. Oh well. I'm here now and that's what counts. (I hope they see it similarly...) Bert and I went out for lunch and coffee which was really good, especially since it was the first thing I'd eaten all day. ( I usually don't eat breakfast because I never get up in time - imagine that, someone too lazy to eat! Ahh it's all a downward spiral from there isn't it...)
So I've got about 4 more hours of work left... hmmm.... What to do, what to do... More blogging? *The crowd screams in protest* More blogging it is then hehehe...
I know it's still early days here, but waking up early and going to work and pretty much doing my own thing (even when I manage to make a complete mess of things) is pretty liberating. Feeling very independent at the moment. I mean hell, maybe it's more of an illusion right now but if it is then it's a strangely satisfying one.
Bert has invited me to go out with him and some of the others for a drink after work so it looks like I'll be catching a later train again. I'll let you know just how badly I manage to mess that up. I must be the only person in Belgium who seriously struggles with the public transport here, although a few of the other volunteers confessed thy hadn't found it all that easy either. I guess it's an experience thing. I mean public transport in South Africa was pretty much out of the question (safety issues) and we only ever really use the bus system in NZ so I as I've indicated, I'm not exactly a train pro... Maybe that should be my mission while I'm here. Nevermind learning Dutch and integrating, just become "James Anderson: Train Catcher Extaordinaire" hmmm maybe something slightly more masculine (but not by much) "James Anderson: Master of the Trains" ... yes perhaps slightly better. Okay so maybe I have to work on my grand title a little.
Okay well I should probably find something useful to do *the crowds cheer* so I'm off for now. Cheers
Today I had to sign for my residency permit, which essentially allows me multiple entry into Belgium. Had to get that fairly urgently because Dirk and Terry (the couple who are hosting me) have already planned a trip to Lisbon. I'm really looking forward to it - I think it's planned for early March, which means a couple of days off work. After I'd given my signature to the crowds of fans I've collected here in Belgium (yeah right), I left for work. Only got there at 10.30 and felt bad as it was quite a bit later than I had told them it would be. Oh well. I'm here now and that's what counts. (I hope they see it similarly...) Bert and I went out for lunch and coffee which was really good, especially since it was the first thing I'd eaten all day. ( I usually don't eat breakfast because I never get up in time - imagine that, someone too lazy to eat! Ahh it's all a downward spiral from there isn't it...)
So I've got about 4 more hours of work left... hmmm.... What to do, what to do... More blogging? *The crowd screams in protest* More blogging it is then hehehe...
I know it's still early days here, but waking up early and going to work and pretty much doing my own thing (even when I manage to make a complete mess of things) is pretty liberating. Feeling very independent at the moment. I mean hell, maybe it's more of an illusion right now but if it is then it's a strangely satisfying one.
Bert has invited me to go out with him and some of the others for a drink after work so it looks like I'll be catching a later train again. I'll let you know just how badly I manage to mess that up. I must be the only person in Belgium who seriously struggles with the public transport here, although a few of the other volunteers confessed thy hadn't found it all that easy either. I guess it's an experience thing. I mean public transport in South Africa was pretty much out of the question (safety issues) and we only ever really use the bus system in NZ so I as I've indicated, I'm not exactly a train pro... Maybe that should be my mission while I'm here. Nevermind learning Dutch and integrating, just become "James Anderson: Train Catcher Extaordinaire" hmmm maybe something slightly more masculine (but not by much) "James Anderson: Master of the Trains" ... yes perhaps slightly better. Okay so maybe I have to work on my grand title a little.
Okay well I should probably find something useful to do *the crowds cheer* so I'm off for now. Cheers
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