A big shout out.
The crew at STAMP media (past and present)
Today is my last day at STAMP Media. After being here for 6 months, saying goodbye is pretty tough. Spending so much time with the same group of people means you get close. Which definately makes this harder. So thanks a lot you dicks :p Really not looking forward to the end of the day. Tears will be spilt. Certainly a few of mine. And if the others don't get all teary.. well I have ways of making people cry... so let that be a warning to all you wannabe tough guys here. Its difficult to get across how grateful I am for everything you guys have done for me so all I can really say here is, thanks for making this experience a pretty damn awesome one.
Dirk and Terry
Also want to say a very big thank you to you guys for making this experience really great, I feel very lucky to have gotten you guys as host parents and also a big thanks for having me live in your house for 6 months - I know its never easy having someone come in and disrupt the daily rythm of life but thanks for doing it anyway :)
I've said this before and I'll say it again, but I really think its the people, not the place that makes an experience like this so incredible and I've been incredibly lucky with that so again, thanks everyone so much.
Anti-emotion
Right. Not tearing up. Manly thoughts.. Lions and fast cars and violent films. Growling. Beating my chest and howling out to the great beyond. Eating bloody steak. Killing a bear with my hands. Punching a shark in the face. Ok I'm done.
Winding down
This is not only my last day at STAMP Media but also my last full day in Belgium. I leave tomorrow at 17.30 (thats 3.30am NZ time on sunday morning). My flying time adds up to about 24 hours but with transit times included it adds up to a 30 hour bloody process. Bring on the pain.
I'm afraid there's not much else to say at this point in time - gotta embrace the final day right.
Final Belgium Post
Regardless this will be my final post from Belgium. I hope to continue my little blogging affair in a bit - not sure if it'll be on this blog, but I'll change the name to something more appropriate after my hiatus.
Cheers guys, thanks for reading, wouldn't have kept on going if you didn't :) (if only you'd known that stopping reading would stop me right?!)
P.S. Gonna be kinda strange not doing this every few days or so.. kinda become a big part of my life.. Hopefully I'll be back soon though,
cheers again,
This is the Belgiumcorrespondent signing out.
Showing posts with label stamp media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stamp media. Show all posts
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
STAMP media, the vengeful ancients and the Soccer World Cup
17 June 2010
Old people
Call this the soft sentimental centre of James talking here, but I love seeing really old couples ambling jerkily down the street holding hands. It's strangely cute. Nice to see that some people can keep it going all those years (although in todays society one can never be sure that they hadn't just hooked up at a 30second dating event for 90+ ancients the night before). Of course I'm going to ignore the fact that there's a fairly good chance that they're only holding hands to prevent themselves from collapsing to the ground. Maybe its a "If I'm going down, you're going down with me" kinda attitude. I mean, 'til death do us part right? Hmmm.. not as cute anymore.. Or maybe it is.. But more in a slightly more sadistic kinda way. Those oldies. They sure know how to play dirty. (not sexual not sexual not sexual not sexual)
On an unrelated note, it occurs to me that when you get to that age, a one night stand can take on a very different meaning when it comes to overzealous Viagra users.
Ponder that for a second or two while I try and resurrect my mental firewall. I suggest you do the same.
The purge of the interns.
The interns have officially left. But lets just say we purged them, sounds more dramatric... So the intern crew which have been with me for the majority of my stay here (Fleur, Jasmin,Thomas, Elise and Karen) are now all gone. Which leaves my main office area with myself, Bert and the new guy, Bart. Sounds like the beginning of a bad sitcom doesn't it? 'Bert, Bart and that New Zealand dude.' Hmm.. I don't think there's much potential for television glory there eh...
The office is definately a lot cleaner without Elise. She really did put her stuff everywhere...mainly my desk. It's interesting, the crafty bugger cleaned her table before she left, but failed to clean all her coffee marks off of mine, so now it looks like I'm the bad guy. I don't even drink coffee at work! That devil.
STAMP Media
On Monday and Tuesday I stayed home sick - Terry was sick too so we just chilled out and watched the Soccer World Cup (which I'll get to) at home.
Yesterday I came back to work and went with Bart to a press conference at the town hall, literally across the square from us. I took some pictures and he did the pen and parper thing. I find it mildly amusing to see that the mayor looked fairly bored throughout the talks. Got a few pictures of him looking like he's trying to sleep. I know I've mentioned before that the best thing about press conferences are the food, but I'm sticking with it. This time it was even better than usual because it was the mayor of Antwerps crib (during the day anyway), so it really was top notch stuff. Then it was back to the office to try and edit away my photographic mistakes.
Last night me and Karen went to Bert's parents house in Deurne (spelling??) cause they were out for the night. We watched movies and had pillow fights in our underwear while jumping on the bed for no apparent reason. You know, just your regular slumber party.
Today has actually been fairly similar so far except they didn't give us food at todays press conference (despite the fact that it was at the same place), which I found to be somewhat of a disappointment. Although I ws really looking forward to Subway anyway so they can keep their sophisticated surprise-thats-actually-shrimp-you're-eating-in-those-sandwiches from the day before. The latter did come as somewhat of a shock to me. Shrimp... Argh...
Tomorrow On Saturday night I'm going out to Brussels to see my long lost neighbours from South Africa - they left the country for Belgium when I was 9ish... I think... That should be really cool. It's going to be weird to see how they've changed, although I guess facebook has a way of minimising the shock these days.
World Cup Soccer
Firstly, I'm not a big football fan, but come world cup time, I'm in. Mostly. The teams I support are first and foremost South Africa and New Zealand. Considering this I decided I might need some more teams to support if I'm going to maintain my interest in anything past the first round. (I'm being a bit harsh on SA here actually, they really surprised me with the opeing game against Mexico, hopefully they keep up the good work - they play Uruguay tonight so I'll be shouting for Bafana Bafana all the way). I believe the New Zealand media described the All Whites (their national team) as gutsy... I think that sums it up actually. I mean don't get me wrong, my support for them is infalliable. It's the faith part that's the problem.
As I was trying to say, I thought it probably wise to support some other teams as well.
So apart from those already mentioned I'll be giving my highly sought after support to:
Ah yes, just one more thing, I've installed a Snake game in my sidebar. You know the kind you got on old mobile phones? Well its there. It's not an ad and its not going to whisk you away to some dark place in the cesspool that is the internet. So play at your leisure. Just use the arrow keys on your keyboard.
Sweet? Damn right it is. Pointless too.
Signing out... So to speak. XOXOXOXOXOXO
Old people
Call this the soft sentimental centre of James talking here, but I love seeing really old couples ambling jerkily down the street holding hands. It's strangely cute. Nice to see that some people can keep it going all those years (although in todays society one can never be sure that they hadn't just hooked up at a 30second dating event for 90+ ancients the night before). Of course I'm going to ignore the fact that there's a fairly good chance that they're only holding hands to prevent themselves from collapsing to the ground. Maybe its a "If I'm going down, you're going down with me" kinda attitude. I mean, 'til death do us part right? Hmmm.. not as cute anymore.. Or maybe it is.. But more in a slightly more sadistic kinda way. Those oldies. They sure know how to play dirty. (not sexual not sexual not sexual not sexual)
On an unrelated note, it occurs to me that when you get to that age, a one night stand can take on a very different meaning when it comes to overzealous Viagra users.
Ponder that for a second or two while I try and resurrect my mental firewall. I suggest you do the same.
The purge of the interns.
The interns have officially left. But lets just say we purged them, sounds more dramatric... So the intern crew which have been with me for the majority of my stay here (Fleur, Jasmin,Thomas, Elise and Karen) are now all gone. Which leaves my main office area with myself, Bert and the new guy, Bart. Sounds like the beginning of a bad sitcom doesn't it? 'Bert, Bart and that New Zealand dude.' Hmm.. I don't think there's much potential for television glory there eh...
The office is definately a lot cleaner without Elise. She really did put her stuff everywhere...mainly my desk. It's interesting, the crafty bugger cleaned her table before she left, but failed to clean all her coffee marks off of mine, so now it looks like I'm the bad guy. I don't even drink coffee at work! That devil.
STAMP Media
On Monday and Tuesday I stayed home sick - Terry was sick too so we just chilled out and watched the Soccer World Cup (which I'll get to) at home.
Yesterday I came back to work and went with Bart to a press conference at the town hall, literally across the square from us. I took some pictures and he did the pen and parper thing. I find it mildly amusing to see that the mayor looked fairly bored throughout the talks. Got a few pictures of him looking like he's trying to sleep. I know I've mentioned before that the best thing about press conferences are the food, but I'm sticking with it. This time it was even better than usual because it was the mayor of Antwerps crib (during the day anyway), so it really was top notch stuff. Then it was back to the office to try and edit away my photographic mistakes.
Last night me and Karen went to Bert's parents house in Deurne (spelling??) cause they were out for the night. We watched movies and had pillow fights in our underwear while jumping on the bed for no apparent reason. You know, just your regular slumber party.
Today has actually been fairly similar so far except they didn't give us food at todays press conference (despite the fact that it was at the same place), which I found to be somewhat of a disappointment. Although I ws really looking forward to Subway anyway so they can keep their sophisticated surprise-thats-actually-shrimp-you're-eating-in-those-sandwiches from the day before. The latter did come as somewhat of a shock to me. Shrimp... Argh...
World Cup Soccer
Firstly, I'm not a big football fan, but come world cup time, I'm in. Mostly. The teams I support are first and foremost South Africa and New Zealand. Considering this I decided I might need some more teams to support if I'm going to maintain my interest in anything past the first round. (I'm being a bit harsh on SA here actually, they really surprised me with the opeing game against Mexico, hopefully they keep up the good work - they play Uruguay tonight so I'll be shouting for Bafana Bafana all the way). I believe the New Zealand media described the All Whites (their national team) as gutsy... I think that sums it up actually. I mean don't get me wrong, my support for them is infalliable. It's the faith part that's the problem.
As I was trying to say, I thought it probably wise to support some other teams as well.
So apart from those already mentioned I'll be giving my highly sought after support to:
- South Korea
- Urugauy (sorry Ana)
- Ivory Coast
Ah yes, just one more thing, I've installed a Snake game in my sidebar. You know the kind you got on old mobile phones? Well its there. It's not an ad and its not going to whisk you away to some dark place in the cesspool that is the internet. So play at your leisure. Just use the arrow keys on your keyboard.
Sweet? Damn right it is. Pointless too.
Signing out... So to speak. XOXOXOXOXOXO
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Protest in Antwerp
27 april 2010
Lots of excitement last night. After work we went for a couple of drinks to celebrate Fluers birthday but she had to go pretty early to catch her train. As we were walking out of the bar into the grote markt police cars rushed past us to join the 10 others already parked in the square. At this point it was just Bert, Vincent, Elise and myself there. Turns out there was a protest going on - people were upset that they had sound level restrictions placed on them which limited their... er... partying capacity. In any case, we rushed up to the office to get a video camera and microphone, then rushed straight back down to the scene of the action. The police had formed a line and everything, a few people got arrested, presumably for being drunk enough to actually attack the police. Oh yes, lets not forget the alcohol; I've never seen the streets so full of bottles. To the city's credit, the clean up began as soon as the protest ended. Which I can only guess is about the time when most of the protesters could no longer resist the tempting prospect of anything nice and greasy to eat frrom the conveniently placed local frituur (french fry place) or kebab outlet. It was really exciting - because the others had 'press cards', it meant we could get right up to the police without being ushered away all the time (although they didn't let anyone through the police line.) It was a really cool experience. Part of what made it so great was the fact that for us it was very spontaneous.
After the protest cleared we went back up to the office to begin editing and writing an article - they wanted to get it publicised as quickly as possible. As I couldn't really help too much with either of those things I appointed myself the food runner and went to grab food plus cigarettes etc. We were at the office until about 12 doing all that until Vincent, Bert and I made out way to Berts place.
And for your viewing pleasure, (for those of you who don't know Dutch, just look at the pretty video and listen to the music), this is what happened last night. Check it out, its pretty cool.
So that was my monday. Lets be honest, they don't usually come much better than that. The weekend consisted essentially of me being at the AFS mid-stay camp. Which was actually pretty good. Was nice to hang out with the other volunteers and get to know them better. Plus it gave us a good opportunity to plan some stuff for the next few weeks. We relived our youthful days of staying up late, wondering around in the dark, sacrificing demonspawn, that kinda thing. Speaking of demon spawn, at the place we were staying at (which had massive grounds), there was also a theatre group. Late at night as a dramatic exercise/just for fun, a few of them dressed up like cult members with dark capes and white masks and went around scaring the hell out of the rest of their group - which were wondering around in small groups in the dark. When we were wamling around we stumbled across three of these would-be-killers dancing around three lit candles on the ground. Now that was creepy. Anyway we survived.
During the day we played some stupid but fun games in between doing workshops on our community service projects and our host families etc. Which pretty much sums up my weekend.
Don't have time to write anything too crazy today as I only started this 25 mins before work finishes... Which was 10 mins ago.
Planning on going to Maastricht (think thats how you spell it) with Monica, Julie and Lisa this weekend - probably just for the sunday though. Which meansme and Monica will have to travel to Julie's hometown on saturday night so we can all leave early in the morning.
Ok, well thats it for now people, I shall return... Probably.
Cheers
Lots of excitement last night. After work we went for a couple of drinks to celebrate Fluers birthday but she had to go pretty early to catch her train. As we were walking out of the bar into the grote markt police cars rushed past us to join the 10 others already parked in the square. At this point it was just Bert, Vincent, Elise and myself there. Turns out there was a protest going on - people were upset that they had sound level restrictions placed on them which limited their... er... partying capacity. In any case, we rushed up to the office to get a video camera and microphone, then rushed straight back down to the scene of the action. The police had formed a line and everything, a few people got arrested, presumably for being drunk enough to actually attack the police. Oh yes, lets not forget the alcohol; I've never seen the streets so full of bottles. To the city's credit, the clean up began as soon as the protest ended. Which I can only guess is about the time when most of the protesters could no longer resist the tempting prospect of anything nice and greasy to eat frrom the conveniently placed local frituur (french fry place) or kebab outlet. It was really exciting - because the others had 'press cards', it meant we could get right up to the police without being ushered away all the time (although they didn't let anyone through the police line.) It was a really cool experience. Part of what made it so great was the fact that for us it was very spontaneous.
After the protest cleared we went back up to the office to begin editing and writing an article - they wanted to get it publicised as quickly as possible. As I couldn't really help too much with either of those things I appointed myself the food runner and went to grab food plus cigarettes etc. We were at the office until about 12 doing all that until Vincent, Bert and I made out way to Berts place.
And for your viewing pleasure, (for those of you who don't know Dutch, just look at the pretty video and listen to the music), this is what happened last night. Check it out, its pretty cool.
So that was my monday. Lets be honest, they don't usually come much better than that. The weekend consisted essentially of me being at the AFS mid-stay camp. Which was actually pretty good. Was nice to hang out with the other volunteers and get to know them better. Plus it gave us a good opportunity to plan some stuff for the next few weeks. We relived our youthful days of staying up late, wondering around in the dark, sacrificing demonspawn, that kinda thing. Speaking of demon spawn, at the place we were staying at (which had massive grounds), there was also a theatre group. Late at night as a dramatic exercise/just for fun, a few of them dressed up like cult members with dark capes and white masks and went around scaring the hell out of the rest of their group - which were wondering around in small groups in the dark. When we were wamling around we stumbled across three of these would-be-killers dancing around three lit candles on the ground. Now that was creepy. Anyway we survived.
During the day we played some stupid but fun games in between doing workshops on our community service projects and our host families etc. Which pretty much sums up my weekend.
Don't have time to write anything too crazy today as I only started this 25 mins before work finishes... Which was 10 mins ago.
Planning on going to Maastricht (think thats how you spell it) with Monica, Julie and Lisa this weekend - probably just for the sunday though. Which meansme and Monica will have to travel to Julie's hometown on saturday night so we can all leave early in the morning.
Ok, well thats it for now people, I shall return... Probably.
Cheers
Thursday, April 8, 2010
A note on average ornamentation and general ranting
8 march 2010
The weather today, is kind of like, if Mother Natures uncle died. Not a particularly close uncle but he's family either way so she's pretty much obliged to mourn a little. I'm hoping she gets over it quickly though cause I want the good weather back. Preferably before another member of her family dies. Me and Mother Nature have a fairly tumultuous relationship. One might even say we're fair weather friends. *canned laughter with a hint of genuine amusement* I mean one minute she's giving a great day of butterflies, pixies and unicorns, then the next she's raining down proverbial brimstone on our releationship. But then I guess that's just women. Not that men don't do their fair share of brimstone raining. You just tend to see it coming when they do. You know, menacing dark clouds hovering around for a while before eventually breaking open. With women its more Noah's arc style. No rain at all, then one day and the whole bloody world gets flooded. Maybe that means that God is a woman. It sure would explain a lot. Like the unfortunately vulnerable placement of the scrotum for example. I mean its a pretty fundamental weakness. The kind that has the tendency of rendering one completely helpless after the execution of a well aimed kick. I mean, in a sense, the male achilles heel, is really in the scrotum. Try not to think of that to anatomically. And definately don't try and put your achilles heel in your scrotum. IT HURTS.
Well now that I'm done with the weather and vulgar stuff, I can move on to more intellectual topics. Such as sugar collection. For all of you in NZ, you will probably remember that at some point or another in a restaurant, I've consumed a sachet of sugar straight from the bag. Now its not exactly the most normal thing in the weird, but nor is it the weirdest. Nevertheless, I found myself collecting these things whenever I go for coffee now. This was highly fueled by the fact that this one place gives sugar cubes with their coffee, and everyone knows sugar tastes even better in sugar cubes. Maybe the idea of consuming a regular shape just appeals to me more than I thought. The great thing is, Bert has started collecting for me as well. So if he goes for coffee somewhere, the next day he brings me some new additions to my stash. I've got a few different brands going and everything.
Mmm.. I'm hungry again... One might even say I've got the rumblies... That only hands can satisfy... If you have no idea what I'm talking about then watch this. Hell, if you know what I'm talking about watch it anyway. I would also like to point out that I just made a link in a word. I mean, I'm feeling pretty professional right now. I'd like to say that I used some fancy way of making that happen. Alas I just used a shortcut. Cool though right? Regardless, stop reading for a bit and watch what's on the other side of that link ok. Here it is again just for fun. I could definately get used to this button. If only I knew how to do it on Facebook...
My eyes are going...wonky. When I look at the computer screen my eyes just want to close. In fact, come to think of it, when I look at most things my eyes want to close... Maybe I'm allergic to everything. I'm sure there must be some logical explanation to this... Maybe I should sleep on it.
Before I left for Dutch yesterday I lent Karen my earphones, but forgot to get them back before leaving. Which meant I had a strange void this morning. A void where all the music used to be. You know, the day the music died(was temporarily lost) and all that. It made me realise how much I've come to rely on music waking me up in the morning since I've been here. Cause I was shattered when I got to work. I mean more than usual. Its ok though, I'm confusing my brain with sugar so it can't fall asleep just yet.
I feel like I'm progressively becoming more and more like a walking billboard for STAMP Media. Which is actually pretty cool I think - the merchandise that we can wear actually looks pretty good. I now have a STAMP Media shirt, badge and wrist band. Usually don't wear them together though. Just got the wrist band today, but its been put on in a fairly permanent way - I can't take it off without breaking it so looks like its here to sty for quite some time. Might be a bitch for metal detectors though - the metal is keeping it on. Should be alright... I hope.
I could really do with a shoulder massage right now. Its sore from the heavy emotional burden of... life... or something. You can all try curb your enthusiasm now. Not too much though. I mean I know too many cooks spoil the broth (Obviously why we never go to your house for broth Tracey) but at the same time it would be nice to have at least some cooks for my back. Metaphorically speaking of course. I don't want any amount of people cooking my back, young, lovely and tender as it may be.
I just organised my sugar collection into brands and types (cubes or sachets). Thought you ought to know. Where's that last line from again? I think Keira Knightley said it. Or it was at least in one of her movies. So I'm guessing Pirates of the Carribean or Atonement. But can't set the scene just yet. More on that if I remember. Wait. Someone said it as they were dying I think.. So probably wasn't her... grrr.
Ah. Got it. (Admittedly after a bit of frustrated googling). The reason I couldn't remember it is because its from harry potter and the sorcerers stone. By professor Quirril.
The fact that it was from harry potter is rather unsatisfying I think. I mean the movies... bit of a let down, even with my low expectations. I mean I try hard to like it, I really do, but they're destroyed by all these cringe moments where the script writer obviously felt he needed to embarrass one of the actors. I think Rupert Grint in particular must have pissed them off because he gets these awful lines. I mean how anyone pull off "who are you and what have you done with Hermione?" with any kind of dignity??????? The worst thing is that I know he can actually act, but these lines are designed to seriously undermine that. Daniel Radcliffe is okish I think but he also gets the really bad lines - loads of rubbish about how friendship rules and defeats all evil and rainbows blossom every time you smile and some such. I mean, how do you not die a little inside when saying those lines, knowing full well that its supposed to be taken seriously. When watching those scenes being shot, with all the camera men, director, producers, various relatives milling about, surely someone would have had the balls to say "hey guys, don't you think that line is... well... just a little bit crap?" They could kind of get away with it for the first 3 films - they were more child orientated and so cheesiness with bad lines are sort of a given. What they failed to realise was that the rest are more serious and dark, for slightly older readers than the series initial fanbase. Thus they didn't adapt the movies accordingly. AND they violated a pretty big rule about making movies of books: DON'T MAKE THE MOVIES UNTIL ALL THE BOOKS ARE FINISHED BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU COULD MISS THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT LATER WITHOUT REALISING IT!
Okay I did some breathing exercises and I'm mostly calm now. My spontaneous rant is done for now. I even went for a walk to make sure it was out of my system.
Thats me signing off for today.
The weather today, is kind of like, if Mother Natures uncle died. Not a particularly close uncle but he's family either way so she's pretty much obliged to mourn a little. I'm hoping she gets over it quickly though cause I want the good weather back. Preferably before another member of her family dies. Me and Mother Nature have a fairly tumultuous relationship. One might even say we're fair weather friends. *canned laughter with a hint of genuine amusement* I mean one minute she's giving a great day of butterflies, pixies and unicorns, then the next she's raining down proverbial brimstone on our releationship. But then I guess that's just women. Not that men don't do their fair share of brimstone raining. You just tend to see it coming when they do. You know, menacing dark clouds hovering around for a while before eventually breaking open. With women its more Noah's arc style. No rain at all, then one day and the whole bloody world gets flooded. Maybe that means that God is a woman. It sure would explain a lot. Like the unfortunately vulnerable placement of the scrotum for example. I mean its a pretty fundamental weakness. The kind that has the tendency of rendering one completely helpless after the execution of a well aimed kick. I mean, in a sense, the male achilles heel, is really in the scrotum. Try not to think of that to anatomically. And definately don't try and put your achilles heel in your scrotum. IT HURTS.
Well now that I'm done with the weather and vulgar stuff, I can move on to more intellectual topics. Such as sugar collection. For all of you in NZ, you will probably remember that at some point or another in a restaurant, I've consumed a sachet of sugar straight from the bag. Now its not exactly the most normal thing in the weird, but nor is it the weirdest. Nevertheless, I found myself collecting these things whenever I go for coffee now. This was highly fueled by the fact that this one place gives sugar cubes with their coffee, and everyone knows sugar tastes even better in sugar cubes. Maybe the idea of consuming a regular shape just appeals to me more than I thought. The great thing is, Bert has started collecting for me as well. So if he goes for coffee somewhere, the next day he brings me some new additions to my stash. I've got a few different brands going and everything.
Mmm.. I'm hungry again... One might even say I've got the rumblies... That only hands can satisfy... If you have no idea what I'm talking about then watch this. Hell, if you know what I'm talking about watch it anyway. I would also like to point out that I just made a link in a word. I mean, I'm feeling pretty professional right now. I'd like to say that I used some fancy way of making that happen. Alas I just used a shortcut. Cool though right? Regardless, stop reading for a bit and watch what's on the other side of that link ok. Here it is again just for fun. I could definately get used to this button. If only I knew how to do it on Facebook...
My eyes are going...wonky. When I look at the computer screen my eyes just want to close. In fact, come to think of it, when I look at most things my eyes want to close... Maybe I'm allergic to everything. I'm sure there must be some logical explanation to this... Maybe I should sleep on it.
Before I left for Dutch yesterday I lent Karen my earphones, but forgot to get them back before leaving. Which meant I had a strange void this morning. A void where all the music used to be. You know, the day the music died(was temporarily lost) and all that. It made me realise how much I've come to rely on music waking me up in the morning since I've been here. Cause I was shattered when I got to work. I mean more than usual. Its ok though, I'm confusing my brain with sugar so it can't fall asleep just yet.
I feel like I'm progressively becoming more and more like a walking billboard for STAMP Media. Which is actually pretty cool I think - the merchandise that we can wear actually looks pretty good. I now have a STAMP Media shirt, badge and wrist band. Usually don't wear them together though. Just got the wrist band today, but its been put on in a fairly permanent way - I can't take it off without breaking it so looks like its here to sty for quite some time. Might be a bitch for metal detectors though - the metal is keeping it on. Should be alright... I hope.
I could really do with a shoulder massage right now. Its sore from the heavy emotional burden of... life... or something. You can all try curb your enthusiasm now. Not too much though. I mean I know too many cooks spoil the broth (Obviously why we never go to your house for broth Tracey) but at the same time it would be nice to have at least some cooks for my back. Metaphorically speaking of course. I don't want any amount of people cooking my back, young, lovely and tender as it may be.
I just organised my sugar collection into brands and types (cubes or sachets). Thought you ought to know. Where's that last line from again? I think Keira Knightley said it. Or it was at least in one of her movies. So I'm guessing Pirates of the Carribean or Atonement. But can't set the scene just yet. More on that if I remember. Wait. Someone said it as they were dying I think.. So probably wasn't her... grrr.
Ah. Got it. (Admittedly after a bit of frustrated googling). The reason I couldn't remember it is because its from harry potter and the sorcerers stone. By professor Quirril.
The fact that it was from harry potter is rather unsatisfying I think. I mean the movies... bit of a let down, even with my low expectations. I mean I try hard to like it, I really do, but they're destroyed by all these cringe moments where the script writer obviously felt he needed to embarrass one of the actors. I think Rupert Grint in particular must have pissed them off because he gets these awful lines. I mean how anyone pull off "who are you and what have you done with Hermione?" with any kind of dignity??????? The worst thing is that I know he can actually act, but these lines are designed to seriously undermine that. Daniel Radcliffe is okish I think but he also gets the really bad lines - loads of rubbish about how friendship rules and defeats all evil and rainbows blossom every time you smile and some such. I mean, how do you not die a little inside when saying those lines, knowing full well that its supposed to be taken seriously. When watching those scenes being shot, with all the camera men, director, producers, various relatives milling about, surely someone would have had the balls to say "hey guys, don't you think that line is... well... just a little bit crap?" They could kind of get away with it for the first 3 films - they were more child orientated and so cheesiness with bad lines are sort of a given. What they failed to realise was that the rest are more serious and dark, for slightly older readers than the series initial fanbase. Thus they didn't adapt the movies accordingly. AND they violated a pretty big rule about making movies of books: DON'T MAKE THE MOVIES UNTIL ALL THE BOOKS ARE FINISHED BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU COULD MISS THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT LATER WITHOUT REALISING IT!
Okay I did some breathing exercises and I'm mostly calm now. My spontaneous rant is done for now. I even went for a walk to make sure it was out of my system.
Thats me signing off for today.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
First day at Work
23 Feb 2010
My name is James and I've just begun a six month adventure in Belgium. I'm South African but have been living in New Zealand for the past five years of my life. It all started about ten months ago when an afs representitive came to my school to talk about the community service program - a side of afs which is not very well known. This caught my interest as I never really liked the idea of going to school in another country but desperately wanted to travel, particularly in Europe.
So here I am at last, in Belgium (after a few visa issues and a delayed not to mention highly stressful flight). Today is my fourth day in the country and my first day at work. The community service assignment I was given is in an organisation called STAMP Media. It is, in essence, a youth press agency, mainly covering current issues and news from the perspective of young people.
I was a little nervous about today but once I met people and learned about the kind of work I may be doing I felt excited at the prospect of working here. Because it was my first day there was some uncertainty about what exactly I would be doing but it seems that it's fairly flexible. I went out with a couple of my new colleagues to cover a team building exercise involving rope skipping . I was all too aware that I wouldn't be able to do any better than the poor souls attempting some advanced skipping but at the same time I couldn't help but laugh at their enthusiasm in the face of their glaring ineptitude. The fact that every now and again someone would manage to get themselves completely tangled in the rope or hit themselves over the head with the ends certainly did not still my amusement.
The branch of STAMP Media I am working in is in Antwerp. In fact I have never visited the city before today so it's a day of many firsts. From what I've seen today it's a beautiful city, full of old styled buildings with a massive ancient cathedral (from the 1100's I'm told) which I can see rom the window of my work. Anyway, hopefuly I'll survive here. Only time will tell I guess...
My name is James and I've just begun a six month adventure in Belgium. I'm South African but have been living in New Zealand for the past five years of my life. It all started about ten months ago when an afs representitive came to my school to talk about the community service program - a side of afs which is not very well known. This caught my interest as I never really liked the idea of going to school in another country but desperately wanted to travel, particularly in Europe.
So here I am at last, in Belgium (after a few visa issues and a delayed not to mention highly stressful flight). Today is my fourth day in the country and my first day at work. The community service assignment I was given is in an organisation called STAMP Media. It is, in essence, a youth press agency, mainly covering current issues and news from the perspective of young people.
I was a little nervous about today but once I met people and learned about the kind of work I may be doing I felt excited at the prospect of working here. Because it was my first day there was some uncertainty about what exactly I would be doing but it seems that it's fairly flexible. I went out with a couple of my new colleagues to cover a team building exercise involving rope skipping . I was all too aware that I wouldn't be able to do any better than the poor souls attempting some advanced skipping but at the same time I couldn't help but laugh at their enthusiasm in the face of their glaring ineptitude. The fact that every now and again someone would manage to get themselves completely tangled in the rope or hit themselves over the head with the ends certainly did not still my amusement.
The branch of STAMP Media I am working in is in Antwerp. In fact I have never visited the city before today so it's a day of many firsts. From what I've seen today it's a beautiful city, full of old styled buildings with a massive ancient cathedral (from the 1100's I'm told) which I can see rom the window of my work. Anyway, hopefuly I'll survive here. Only time will tell I guess...
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