My life as a grown-up

A day for women

2012-03-08T07:34:00.001-08:00

Today is International Women's day, a day when women and everything they do is celebrated. It’s not really celebrated here at all, so no random flowers or chocolate for me! While studying Russian in college I found out it’s a rather big event in Russia, a bit like mother’s day, but for all women. Sounds rather fun! Sadly, most people don’t even know today is women’s day here.
Today is also a day when issues like gender discrimination (e.g. women are very often still paid less than men), abuse, the secondary position of women in many cultures, and smaller things like the fact that although it is 2012 women still do most of the housework. I’m not being woe is me, men have all the luck here, but it’s a fact that those things I mentioned are a common occurrence. Of course in some countries it happens a lot more than others, but even here it can be a problem.
I still see a lot of mothers, working full time, doing most of the work around the house, while the husband limits himself to car-trash-garden. The ‘new man’ is less common that one would hope. I was lucky enough to have a father who is one of them. My parents have always shared the household chores, this is what I’m used to seeing, so seeing macho fathers who refuse to touch a mop or a hoover because it’s not a man’s job really grinds my gears. I think my boyfriend is also the kind of man who will share the load, which is exactly what I want.
Luckily, many men are getting over their fear of the female stamp on anything that involves cleaning and are stepping up. We like mopping and doing dishes just as much as you do, especially at the end of a long day of work.

When it comes to men and women, I believe we are equal but different. I don’t think either is superior to the other, although one may be better at some things than the other and visa versa. I find it strange that some people refuse to accept this simple truth. Especially in certain overly religious cultures. Not that I dislike religion, I think it’s important and has a positive impact on many people’s lives, especially in hard times, but I also think it is important to remember that most of the religious books were written thousands of years ago when women were pretty much seen as property and had very little rights, and whose basic role was to be in the house, have many, many children and raise them. Our culture has evolved; we’ve come a long way, so I believe it’s important to realise which religious texts need to be taken with a more modern grain of salt. Also, I find it sad that in many cultures, having a daughter is seen as a burden and you are only seen as a 'good woman' if you have lots of sons.

This day and age, the staying at home notion is becoming more and more a thing of the past. In Belgium most women aren’t housewives. Life is just too expensive for a whole family to live on one pay check. Saving up for the future, family holidays, etc. would become more difficult. Often it’s only possible when the husband has a particularly high-up job and earns a lot of money, enough to make up for the fact that there’s only one salary to live on. Also, not every woman wants to stay at home, being surrounded by your kids all day, losing the challenge you get at work, intelligent conversation etc. is not something every woman dreams of. Everyone is different, and that doesn’t make one a better mother than the other. A happy, loving mother, who’s there for her kids in times of need, is what’s important.
Many feel guilty, however, about not being able to spend as much time with their kids as they want. Society is not that accommodating to working mothers. Cutting back hours is not always a possibility and some employers aren’t very keen on giving you a day off just because your child is sick. It can be very difficult to combine, especially for single mothers.
If you’re lucky, you have a loving partner to count on in stressed times like these.
But not every woman wants children. Many think it’s strange to not want to have children, but it all depends on what you want in life. Some of us women (like me) are more old-fashioned and dream of the family life, others dream of travelling the world either alone or with their partner and have an exciting life full of adventure and risk-taking. This day and age, the world should be your oyster, be you male or female.

I, I’m happy to be a woman, with all the up-and downsides. On certain occasions it sucks, e.g. when you’re on the metro and some wanker grabs your ass and all you can do is give him an indignant look, as punching him in the face might be iffy in case he’s a psychopath. That is exactly when I’d love to have my big strong tattooed man by my side, to scare them off. On certain days of the month, being a woman really, really sucks. Sorry men, if we’re whiny, emotional, or pissed off then, we can’t help it, you’d whine too.

But we all go through it just so one day, if we want to, can do that very special thing, creating a little life. Although men put in their ‘contribution’ :D, it’s only women who get to feel all the mad hormones, the little kicks and rolls, and sadly, the whole scary giving birth part. Although the thought of giving birth scares the bejesus out of me, I’m looking forward to one day doing that very special thing and rocking a baby bump of my very own. I’ve always known I wanted to be a mother and a wife, and I think I’d be pretty good at it, just as my mother was and is.

Ladies, this post is for you.
As the 90’s little girl inside me would say: Girl power!

Back in Belgium

2012-03-05T07:43:00.002-08:00

Sadly, my short but lovely weekend in Ireland with my boyfriend is over and I'm back at work. I had a wonderful time, lovely weather and it was wonderful to spend more time with my Irish man. The Florence and the machine concert was brilliant. Seriously, that woman has got one impressive voice. If you like her music, I really recommend this tour, it's definitely worth it. It was a great night. I was completely wrecked at the end of that day though, spending entire days at a desk or on a train is not good for my fitness. Walking around the zoo and in the shops and then spending several hours standing really killed me, my muscles felt like I just ran a marathon. Sadly, the expectation of suddenly having killer legs did not come true.

Dublin was nice, but it felt great to be back in Galway Saturday, although I was only there for a very short time. I love Galway, Dublin is good for shopping, entertainment and going out, but it's very busy like any capital is. I'm very much the country girl, I hate busy places, I like space, less people and a calmer pace of life. Galway, although still a city, definitely offers you that. I love the atmosphere, the smell of turf in the air, and the fact that just ten minutes away you're in the middle of the countryside. For me, it would be the perfect place to live. Sadly, the job market isn't exactly fabulous in Ireland at the moment, and Galway is not that big.

I'd do anything to be able to live in that area at some point in my life. I know it would suit me so much better than the fast-paced overcrowded city life in Belgium. Did you know Belgium is the most densely populated country in Europe? Yup, that's where I live! I'm sure it appeals to some people, but not to me.

I guess you must be thinking, why don't you just move over there instead of your boyfriend to Belgium? The answer is, jobs, and also my mom. You see, my mom would be devastated if I moved to an other country, even if it's not a far-away country. She says she'd never see me, if I'd have kids some day she wouldn't get to have a proper relationship with them, and to her it seems that if I would move there, it would seem as if I didn't love her enough to want to stay. That's some serious guilt-tripping. Of course I love my mom, we have a good relationship, and I'd miss her of course. But I really love Ireland, I feel very much at home there, it's just my happy place. Ever since I went there at 16 for the first time, just a week after something rather upsetting happened to me, I felt like that was were I was supposed to spend my grown-up life.
I know a place gets less ideal once you've actually lived there, but I know it would still suit me better than Belgium. I wish my mom could understand that her guilt-tripping me into never leaving is really hard on me. I don't want to hurt her, and I'd make sure she would still see me plenty, set up a spare room just for them to visit lots, skype often and so on. But she just can't understand why you'd want to live in a different country and that it has nothing to do with wanting to get away from your family. If I could get them to move too, I would.

Right now, though, the economy is bad, and it's a far better idea for my boyfriend to move here. I'll still think about Ireland though. One day, it's going to be very hard not to follow my heart.

Being back at work is pretty tough right now. Only got home at midnight last night thanks to the wonderful Belgian railway and had to get up at six and face snow and rain, while just the day before I was enjoying a rare sun in Ireland with my boyfriend's hand in mine. Saying goodbye was heartbreaking. Especially after only three days. Now it's over five weeks, until Easter weekend, till we see each other again. Not easy.

No news

2012-02-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, life seems to be pretty dull lately, I work, I relax, I count down the days until I get to see boyfriend again. Nothing exciting is happening, no note-worthy events going on at work, so I'm finding myself lacking things to write about.
So apologies if I am MIA for too long, I just lack the inspiration.

Fun things are coming up though, Thursday after work I'm flying to Ireland for a couple of days. Spending two nights in Dublin and will be seeing Florence and the Machine in concert Friday night! Can't wait for that, I'm a big fan. We're also going to Dublin zoo, for some romantic strolling hand-in-hand animal watching. Always fun.
And one or two nights out on the beer (cider in my case of course) will be had too. We won't get to spend many days together, but we'll make the best of what we have.
Five weeks apart after that, until Easter weekend. But hopefully after that, it won't be long until he's here for good.

Good thing I've been really careful with my money, and I've saved up a lot, I'm going to need it when I move out and need to buy a gazillion household items and furniture. Really looking forward to it though, this is exactly what I've been saving up for and it will be fun to decorate my own place in my own (and his too yes) taste. And who knows, get a crazy cat to make our lives just that extra livelier, to give me lots of material to write about. Hopefully that will happen soon or I will all bore you to death with my snoozy posts!

I discovered World of Warcraft

2012-02-22T01:42:00.000-08:00

You heard it right! I, a woman, am now playing World of Warcraft. Don't be surprised, after the posts of my visits to the fantasy fair in Holland (dressed up and all) I think we've established that I'm a bit of a fantasy geek. I pretty much love everything fantasy, and have read about a gazillion fantasy books. Lord of the Rings is, of course, my bible :D.
And just watching the trailer for the new film, The Hobbit, gets me in a state of geeky fandom. I cannot wait! Beware to those who like chatting during films, death through popcorn is not pleasant.

So yes, when I was growing up I enjoyed playing games as well. Not just The sims, but also Final Fantasy, Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, Tombi, and a whole bunch of others that I can't remember. It's been years though,as sadly, the old faithful playstation one eventually died on us, and my brother decided to buy playstation 2 (and not too long ago, 3). This is in his room, belongs to him, so I don't really play it. I got out of the gaming zone, and didn't really get into pc games, as I was more of a playstation game fan.
Lately though, with all the boring weekends I've been experiencing, I've been looking for something to entertain me and to distract me from missing my boyfriend too much or being worried about the whole finding a job in Belgium thing. I downloaded some games, but they were all boring and lame. I asked my boyfriend about games, and he suggested some things. World of Warcraft was suggested, as it's fantasy rpg- like (my favourite) and can be downloaded online. I decided to give it a shot. I played it all weekend :D. Boyfriend is concerned he will become a Warcraft widower haha.

But really, it's rather fun. It can be rather difficult too, which is slightly annoying, as I hate dying in games and having to try and beat the stupid monsters over and over again. But I do like it! It's a fun distraction, gets me back in touch with the childhood me who loved gaming.
Will I become completely addicted like some guys who failed college because they couldn't stop playing Warcraft? Probably not, my geekyness has its limits. But on boring weekends, from now on, you'll probably find me in my room playing Warcraft and occasionally swearing loudly at the pc because some giant spider killed me. I may or may not be eating a giant bag of crips. And drinking cider.
Not the worst of combinations :D At least it's better than being lonely or waaah-ing because my damn nearly-married friends are out with their other half again!

Now, back to work sadly. It's looking like another long dull week here. But, I'm going back to Ireland Thursday next week after work. Only until Sunday unfortuntaly, but I've got limited days off, so we have to work with what we got.

Too old to be home

2012-02-17T06:05:00.000-08:00

If any of you are also twenty-somethings still living at home with the parents you will also be very familiar with the feeling of wanting to get the heck out and have your own place. Believe me, if I could, I would. But right now it would be pointless to move, as I'm waiting for boyfriend to find a job, and we will be moving in with each other once he does. As we can't be sure where exactly he will find a job, it's better to wait. Hopefully it won't be very long, but still no replies from employers yet. Not knowing when he'll find something is the hardest part. And the fact that most places are too lazy to even reply back, even to say you are not what they're looking for, really annoys me. Patience is a virtue, but it sure isn't easy! Good thing I know it'll be worth it once we get there.

The plan was to move out before I turned 25, but as that will be happening in about four months, there's a chance that plan will fail. It sucks, as I feel a bit old to still live with my parents, and at one point, no matter how much you love your parents, you're fed up with the unavoidable nagging and comments that come with the package. You don't feel particularly mature when you're being told off because you left a bunch of cupboards open, forgot your shampoo in the shower, didn't wipe the shower clean, have too many clothes on your bed, should be going outside instead of sitting in front of the computer etc. Sigh! What a great feeling it will be to be in charge of my own house, and be able to leave cupboard doors open. Less fun will probably be doing all the household work, but that's just part of it, you get used to it. I'll still want to see my parents regularly, but dear god will it feel great to have my own place to call home and really be a grown-up in every sense.

I'm ready for it. I'm ready for so many things.

Bring it on.

Another Valentine's Day gone by

2012-02-15T07:09:00.000-08:00

I was going to write a Valentine's day post yesterday, but by mid-afternoon I suddenly had to go through four years of accounts to find salary figures and that shit took time, so here's a day-after Valentine's Day post.

Mine was sadly not very exciting, due to boyfriend being far away and therefore unable to give me backrubs and run me a hot bubblebath. Sadness! Oh well, it's never really been a very exciting day for me, I don't recall any Valentine's day that was by any means memorable. About 70% of all were spent single and resentful of the stupid, dedicated to love, day. Now I had the joy of knowing I'm loved and we sent each other a card, which is nice too :)
To be honest, it's not that big a deal if nothing happens on that day for me. I'm more of a spontaneous romantic sort of person. Sure, I wouldn't mind a romantic V-day, but I wouldn't be resentful or going waaah to my friends because my boyfriend got me nothing. I like getting presents for my other half at random moments during the year too, and romantic gestures are just as fun on a random Saturday as on Valentine's Day.

Sure, it is helpful when you're dating someone who needs a little reminder. Not everyone is a romantic soul. So, for people dating the less emotional people among us, it's nice to be romantically pampered at least once a year. Even if it's an invention of shops to get people in a buying frenzy.
I'm however blessed (or cursed) with lots and lots of emotions and am pretty romantic (I think). My boyfriend is definitely romantic as well. So for me, V-day isn't that important, there's plenty of other days for romance, and on random days it's much more surprising, and if there's one thing I love it's surprises, be they big or small.

One thing that I find funny is the fact that so many people (sadly usually women) say that they want nothing for Valentine's Day and then get upset when they really do get nothing. Apparently you were supposed to have guessed that the other was only messing with you to see if you'd ignore them and surprise them anyway. If you want to avoid issues just go out and say, let's get each other gifts for Valentine's Day or let's not, and leave it at that to avoid any unnessary drama or arguments.
Also, don't try to go overboard in your need to please. If your other half asks to not get something expensive, don't get her a 1000 euro/dollar necklace or him a surround sound system and then look sad when you get a book or a cd in return or a lecture because you just spend all your savings on a present. Stick to the plan people, always stick to the plan.

Friends and boyfriends

2012-02-13T06:45:00.000-08:00

I happen to have a lot of friends who have been in very long relationships, who are already married or about to get married. I didn't have their luck, before I met my boyfriend I was in a state of single/it's complicated, and I got to find out what usually happens to single people with friends with other halves.
As tends to happen, a lot of people who are married or in long relationships forget their friends, especially their single friends. Their weekends are generally occupied with family visits, outings together, get-togethers with mutual friends and so on. Not that I blame them, it's just what happens, you have different priorities. But if you're the one alone and bored, vainly trying to arrange a night out it's rather unpleasant.

I never had a whole heap of friends, I went to small schools, and college was over an hour away. A lot of the people I met in college don't live anywhere near to me, so meeting up with them generally only happens once every few months. I lost track of a lot of school friends due to different colleges, and some moved abroad. I have a little group of friends who live nearby but they just happen to all be married or in long relationships and sadly it's really hard to meet up with them. All together is even harder. It's funny how they are all getting married now, as getting married around my age is not common in Belgium. An ex even thought it was down-right weird and far too young. I didn't agree at all, whenever you feel like you're ready to take that step and you found the right person, why not go for it. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, or maybe I just think it's not the end of all fun and partying. We all have our own ideas about marriage I suppose.

That being said, it is sad that people lose track of friends whose lives aren't in that place yet. I am in a relationship, but as it's currently still long- distance, I'm finding myself needing something to do in the weekends! Once he's here and we've moved I'm sure we'll meet new people together, will go out, and the weekends will be more filled. Now I'm often bored because my friends have other plans with their other half, and I don't always feel like taking the train (after a whole week of 4 hours of train a day) and meeting up with a friend who lives far away. It really sucks sometimes. It's definitely one of the downsides of being an adult, you see a lot of close friends dissapear into the realm of people you only talk to on Facebook.
Well, an upside is that I don't have the be jealous of their relationship bliss anymore.

But really, I do think a lot of married people or people in relationships need to think about their old friends once in a while, who they haven't seen in ages due to lack of time. Especially their single friends. Just because the single days are over, doesn't mean you shouldn't have a girls' night once in a while with the friends you used to spend hours laughing with.

All by myself again

2012-02-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

And here it is, my 'waah he's gone' post. Had a really lovely weekend, it went by too quickly, as happy moments tend to do. We didn't do anything very special, but meeting up doesn't always have to involve a trip-like, doing a whole bunch of stuff kind of atmosphere. Just being together, doing average things like going for walks, making dinner together or seeing a film is just as great. I had a wonderful happy time, and I just got more confirmation that he's a wonderful guy to be with, and my parents seem to really like him too.

When it comes to long distance relationships, I find that it's better to do what you'd normally do in a relationship rather than create this a sort of vacationlove bubble, where you only get to see one side of each other. It's important that the relationships feels real, so you need to be able to talk about the boring things going on in your life and the little things that upset or annoy you, as that's what you'd normally do when your other half is around all the time. I know, over the phone or on skype is not really the same, but that's just one of the harder parts of being far away from each other, it's something you have to learn to deal with.

Besides, the goal is for him to move over here and share our lives, so it's extra important to feel like you know one another, that you haven't just seen the holiday-mode version where everything is sunshine, lollypops and rainbows. Living together really makes you realise if you are right for each other, as it's then that you get to see all the sides of a person, good and bad. Having some clues as to whether you match other than on a romantic level is rather important before you decide to move in together. This isn't always easy when you only get to see each other every few weeks or months, as it's all passion and happiness when you get together. But me and boyfriend spend a good amount of time talking about the daily boring stuff at work or at home, things that anger us (late trains for example haha) or upset us, which really helps getting to know each other better. We also mail daily and go on skype when we can. We talk about everything and anything. Also, after a series of broken hearts, I try to be out in the open with the person I am.

Previously I had the tendancy to try and go out of my way to please people, by trying to be who I figured they'd like me to be and hiding aspects of myself that they might not like or wouldn't match their personality or plans for the future. This, I repeat, is a bad idea. You can change some things, like building confidence or getting over little fears, but mostly who you are is who you are. In this relationship I've tried to show all of me, and have been as open as I can, to avoid past mistakes. Boyfriend has a pretty good idea of who I am I think. One thing about meeting online is, before you get together, you go through weeks or months of mailing back and forth and talking about pretty much everything. It does help to figure out if you are compatible enough or not.
Boyfriend seems to still love me after finding out so much about me, and I still really love him, and he seems adamant on getting to Belgium as soon as possible, no matter how hard saying goodbye is and being apart. So, I feel pretty lucky.

Be that as it may, saying goodbye really sucked. I got a taste of what it would be like living together, so realising that might take a while to become reality and knowing I wouldn't have him next to me the next day was really tough. Luckily, I get to see him again in just three weeks, only for three days, but we will be going to a concert and the zoo in Dublin, so it's something fun to look forward to. Knowing when you're going to see each other again, it really helps. It's important when you say goodbye that you have at least a possible date of your next gettogether. Otherwise the goodbyes are even worse and you would quickly feel like it isn't going to work.
So I'll be counting down.
22 days to go.

Reunited once again!

2012-02-02T08:34:00.000-08:00

Was planning to write a proper post today, but work was mad busy and had not a moment of quiet, except now at the end of the day. Am absolutely knackered, but on the bright side, I get to go home in ten minutes and tomorrow I'm seeing my boyfriend again as he's flying over from Ireland for a long weekend!

So I'll be a little quiet the next few days as I'll be busy smooching my hunny and having fun. He's staying over until Monday, going home Tuesdaymorning, so not very long sadly. Expect a 'waaaah he's gone' post on Tuesday, because saying goodbye is definitely not one of the pluspoints of long distance. But knowing it's just until he finds a job, soon hopefully, helps. A good thing is that we won't be apart for very long this time, as I'm flying over March 2nd as we have tickets for Florence and the Machine that night! Definitely something I'm looking forward to!

And my parents finally got me a double bed for my room, as they realise he can't sleep on the floor every time he comes over, and even when I move out, a double bed will be handy whenever we come to visit. So YAY, no more childhood bed! 'Bout time, I already feel old living at home, childhood bed does not help. Also, nothing better than falling asleep with someone you love, so that's a plus too. My room isn't too big so the bed will take up most of the room, but beggars can't be choosers.

So hope you all have a great weekend, I know I will ;)

The Fassdong

2012-01-31T07:52:00.000-08:00

Yup this post is about Michael Fassbender's now infamous 'dong', now also trending on Twitter! Men might want to sit this one out. Nono, really it's about the movie 'Shame', well, partially. One cannot speak of the movie Shame without mentioning the Fassdong.
My poor boyfriend, who currently works as a projectionist, was given a full blown image of mr Fassbender's male device when checking up on a problem in one of the screens, showing the movie Shame. Apparently it is rather impressive.
This of course intrigued me, and I checked out the movie.

Apparently it is about the rather controversial subject of the life lead by a sex addict. Naturally it contains a lot of sex, a lot a lot. From what I've read you get to see mr Fassbender full frontal in the first few minutes of the film. And then again and again throughout the whole film. As the amount of penisses seen in non-porn films is rather limited, I can imagine a lot of blushes and raised eyebrows in the cinema. Female nude is fairly common, especially boobs, so that's not really new. But men, now that's something you see very rarely. In the US the film is even rated PG 17, a label rarely used. Apparently penisses are more shocking than the gruesome rape in 'The girl with the dragon tattoo'.

I'm very keen on seeing it, not because of the Fassdong (although naturally I'm rather curious after all the statements of how impressive the thing is), but because the reviews are excellent. The huge amount of sex is said to be a bit shocking initially, but as the movie progresses and you realise what the movie is really about: the empty emotionless lives of sex addicts, always looking for the next sexual random encounter, never feeling satisfied..etc.
It's an addiction rarely talked of, the people suffering from it are seen as perverted and slutty. You hear about drug addicts and alcoholics all the time, but sex addicts? I've heard of famous people (the guy from X-files) being labelled as such, but I've never heard it being explained. So that makes this movie pretty controversial.
For the men, yes there is also female full frontal nudity!

And no, there are no images of the Fassdong on the internet ladies, I checked, you'll just have to go to the film! haha. Mr Fassbender isn't really self-conscious about showing his thing, as it has made appearances before. In the movie Hunger for example, but in a less exciting state. Good film, but with all the body cavity searches and fecal smearing, it's a bit icky. He has a point when he says what the big deal is about penis on screen, half of the population has them, and most of the other half has seen one. I guess female bits are more hidden away, whereas with men it's all out there. And actors that are rather less impressive than the Fassdong, might feel slightly self conscious about displaying themselves for the whole world to comment on.

But yes, I'll definitely be checking this film out.
Although, not with my parents. I can't even begin to imagine the awkwardness of watching a movie that is filled with aroused penis with my mother. Eek.

I'll put an update once I've seen it. Judging from the reviews, it's definitely worth a watch.

Money money money

2012-01-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

I think we all know that the young generation will have the cut down their luxury fantasies quite a bit more than their parents. Of course things weren't cheap then either, but times were good, the economy wasn't shite, and if you saved up well you could generally get the things you want. I'm realising now that I might not get to have all the things my parents have. I earn a good living, but with the steep prices of houses (and everythign else) in Belgium, I can pretty much forget about the detached house with a good sized garden dream. The average price for a house here is 250.000 euro, and that's for a simple house. Which usually means, attached to other houses, narrow garden, or an old detached house that needs a lot of work. If you want to live slightly more rural outside of the city, you will have to pay a fortune, and expect to be paying mortgage until you retire pretty much.

Not the best time to be in your twenties or thirties, starting life as an adult. The golden years are over. Strikes are happening all the time here, people are angry about the changes in the retirement age, the possible threat to being able to work less hours, the abandonment of tax rebate for people with mortgages and the fact that we, the average Joe, have to bear the brunt of the government debt while the high and mighty (also the banks) keep getting bonusses and are being paid an insanely high salary. So yes, although there will be no public transport on Monday, the day of the general strike, forcing me to take a day off work, I do understand why the unions want to strike.

Luckily, I'm not quite at that stage where I want to buy a house with someone yet. First moving out and renting an apartment. But as renting is money down the drain, I'd prefer to only do the apartment thing for a short amount of years. Until I've got some money saved. Maaaybe the housing prices will have gone down a bit by then. But it doesn't look good.
Moving to my beloved Ireland would always be a possibility, where the housing market has collapsed and you can get lovely roomy detached houses with a good bit of land for a whole lot less than in Belgium. With my work experience I should be able to get a job there in a few years. The whole leaving my parents behind is a bit of an issue to that dream though. I'm the only girl, and my mom would be devasted if I moved to another country and would only see me every few months.
The guilt the guilt! I would miss them myself too of course. If only I was an only child then they'd move with me. But alas! If only I could hook my brother up with an Irish girl.. hmmm
Irish girls? Interested in a tall, slim, dark-haired, brown-eyed 21-year old man who loves rock music, films, is a bit shy but very nice? If so, give me a buzz :D Haha, would solve all my problems though!

Anyhoo, it's a thing to worry about in the future. For the moment I'll stick to Belgium. I don't mind living here, but I've always kinda felt it's not where my heart lies, and the typical Belgian way of life doesn't really suit me.

Being a grown-up, it's not easy. Ah to be young again.

Live to work or work to live?

2012-01-24T06:47:00.000-08:00

Safe to say I'm not one of those people who live to work. I enjoy my job, but if I won a few millions in the lottery I probably wouldn't be working anymore and would happily spend my days buying stuff, settling down and saving the animals! Sadly the chances on the lottery dream coming true are slighly less high than me being hit by lightning or a plane falling on my house. So work it is! And with the current state of the economy, I'll probably be forced to work till late sixties, hooray!

Life has been pretty uneventful lately, so hence the lack of posting. Having a four-hour commute a day does tend to have an affect on your personal life. The week pretty much consists of getting up at 6 am, getting dressed, eating, driving to the station, spend two hours on the train, spend 8.5 hours at work, 2 more hours on the train, drive home, eat, shower, watch tv, and go to bed at 11 pm. That doesn't leave much time for exciting things to happen! It does get aggravating sometimes, and feels like your life revolves around work. And being in the city all the time, surrounded by so many people, pushing to get on the metro, shoving you, cars honking, makes me want to punch people in the face. Not much of a city person. I do love occasionally going to the city, for shopping, a night out and whatnot, but to constantly be it, nononono. So sometimes it does get to me a bit, resulting in cranky wanting to punch you in the face Athena. You'll understand then why I loved being in countryside Ireland around Christmas, there's just more space and peace and quiet there. And the pace of life seems to be less hectic than in anywhere in Belgium.

I'm already aching for a new holiday. Not that it always needs to be Ireland, I'm quite loving the idea of going to a more rural side of the US. If they have space anywhere, it has to be the US. And boyfriend has family in the States, so who knows, maybe next year I can finally get outside of Europe for the first time, as I've been wanting to do for ages!

Speaking of boyfriend, he is finally coming over again Friday next week. Only for four days, but neither of us has too many leave days. Looking forward to it, haven't seen him for a month. Will naturally suck to say goodbye again so quickly, but moving to Belgium is a work in progress, and hopefully it won't take very long. Some interesting job ads have popped up already, so fingers crossed on a positive reply! It's not easy long distance, I can tell you that, it takes a lot of work and a lot of patience. You have to know early on already that this is a person you have a lot of feelings for, can see a future with and one of you has to be willing to leave everything behind and move to where-ever the other person is. It's a lot to deal with, and it's a big decision to make in the beginning of a relationship, when everything is still new and evolving. For a lot of people it doesn't work out, but thankfully I've also heard plenty of stories where it did. And I have enough faith in what I've found that I'm willing to put all that effort and waiting in it, because I see it could possibly be what I've been waiting to find for a long time. It's not going to be easy! And not knowing whether we'll be together in a few months or a lot of months is aggravating, but once we do, knowing we got through this hard part will give me reassurance that our relationship can handle some difficult times. We all know life is sadly not always peachy keen, so it's important knowing the person you love isn't going to bail when things get a little harder.

So we'll keep working it, and hopefully somewhere in the future I'll be able to make a post telling you all a job has been found and apartment hunting has begun! That's going to be a great day.

The final Random Thursday

2012-01-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is going to be the last Random Thursday for a while! I feel like it's getting a bit old and it's taking me more and more time to find some good photos! So I'll just have to find some other concept to do when I have nothing interesting to write about!

Nothing new to report with me really, work is slow, hopefully will manage to get the leave I want tomorrow, for boyfriend get togethers (only two more weeks YAY). And for another damn national strike on the 30th, also including the bloody railway, forcing me to take a day off as there's no other way to get to work. I only have 20 days off a year Unions! I understand your need to protest but for the love of god, why does the railway need to participate every single time! Not three times in two months guys, that's just not on.
Anyhoooooo

sorry about the rant.
Here is your last Random Thursday!

Trolling at its finest.

I bet all the men reading that will be cringing by now :D That must be the most random and awkward thing to happen to you.

Perfect way to have a little harmless revenge. I'm remembering this one :D

Why so many girls are so smitten by this guy beats the hell out of me. Could he look any less manly? I don't need a macho hairy man, but this is just too far in the wrong direction.

Not exactly the perfect man either.

Someone was really hungry. Really reminded me of Ross and his Thanksgiving leftover sandwich with the special 'moistmaker'.

MY SANDWICH! haha, never gets old.

The last one people! Hope you enjoyed.

Tomorrow it's Friday! Hooray, another long eventless week nearly over.

Lush handmade cosmetics

2012-01-17T08:20:00.000-08:00

It's been pretty slow on the exciting events front and I'm finding myself lacking in interesting self stories to write about. So apologies for the lack of posting, I just had a very dull few weeks. For today I thought perhaps I could write a very female post and talk about a great cosmetics store I discovered whilst in Dublin last year: Lush! The shops are all of the world really, even in Belgium, but sadly nowhere near where I live so I had never encountered it before. It's more of a bodycare products store, they don't have make-up like the Body Shop, their main focus seems to be making home-made cruelty-free amazing-smelling products from natural ingredients. And being a girly woman, I love to do all the lathering myself up, getting soft and smooth and nice smelling.

I haven't tried many different products yet, due to lack of accessibility and rather expensive postal fees, but boyfriend is picking me up some things when he's in Dublin next, and I'm planning to go to Dublin soon myself (for the Florence and the machine concert, YAY!) so I'll be doing lots of browsing (and buying) then! From what I tried so far I can say their stuff is great, and the shops themselves smell amazing, you're just pulled in. And being very opposed to animal testing, I like knowing that my little luxuries are cruelty free.

My favourite products of theirs are their body and face products. Being 24 and no longer a teenager, I had expected to be released of the annoyance of random spots and blemishes. Sadly my skin has failed me, and I still get them. Nothing horrible, but nobody likes spots, whether you have loads of just a few. It's not great for the old self-confidence. And it's incredibly hard to find something that actually helps. Lush has some great products for this particular problem, I previously had a product that worked very well and made my skin babysmooth, so I'm keen on trying some more things. Lots of reviews on their sites as well, and they don't leave out the negative, so you can clearly read what worked well for people and what didn't.
This is one of their popular cleansers for example:

Angels on bare skin it's called (love their product names). It looks a bit odd, but you just add water and it turns into a cleansing milk. I'm also planning to try out their Tea Tree water, which has a lot of great feedback when it comes to clearing up your face. So here's to hoping it works, I could use the confidence boost of having a clear face with no make-up needed to cover random redness up.

Even men can use a lot of the products, you just need to find one with a less feminine smell. There's plenty of that. But seems men need a special approach or they won't go near cosmetic products:

I love the name haha. I'm quite sure men aren't too fond of having spots on their face and body either, so if you can take the fragrant flowery smell in the shops :D, men should get over their 'this is for women' fear of cosmetics. They even have great shaving cream, cream not foam, to stop all that annoying redness.

Heck, if you've got a man in your life, getting nicer skin could even be fun! They have a great shower body scrub, lathering each other up comes to mind. Same goes for body lotion! Uhum.

Ok there goes my mind. Sorry boyfriend's been apart from me for a while. Only two and a half weeks more to go! Sigh.

Anyhoo, check it out if you're hating your skin as well!

Annoying personality traits

2012-01-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

When you go for a job interview and you are asked to name your strengths and weaknesses, it's a whole lot easier to name your strengths. Weaknesses are a lot harder to name, especially when you have to avoid things like 'I'm lazy, disorganised, forgetful..', which are all common weaknesses, but not exactly positive for the employer. So we all bullshit our way through it and all say we are stubborn, pay too much attention to detail, and so on, because being honest would probably not be a good idea.

Everyone has less positive or even bad personality traits, whether you want to accept them or not. Nobody is perfect, even the nicest and most amazing person in the world will annoy you sometimes. The main thing, is that the good balances out the bad. Sadly, there are a lot of people in the world, where the scale tends to tip in the wrong direction. It takes a lot of work to change yourself for the better, but if you're not bad to the core and actually realise you have bad personality traits, you can improve on them! Once a jerk always a jerk isn't always true. I know people who were complete inconsiderate assholes or just immature idiots as teenagers, who are now nice and fun people you like to hang out with. Just getting older can make a huge difference.

I like to think that I'm a rather nice person with a loving nature, with no bitchy behaviour. I do have my downsides just as everybody else, and I also like to think that I'm pretty aware of them. I don't always realise I'm doing it at the moment itself, but knowing is halfway to making improvements. I have no goals to become a superperfect person, I've made plenty of mistakes and I'll probably make some more, but that's just part of being a human being and not a robot.
So what are the traits that I've worked on?

- I'm a bit too introvert sometimes. Nothing huge, I'm not some anti-social, hide in my room all day and never go out sort of person, but I won't be the person everyone flocks to either. I can be shy, it takes a little while for me to come out of my shell and be my chatty self. I've improved on this, but I'll never be extrovert, it's just not the way I am. I just need a little time to get to know you.

- I'm a bit phone-phobic, which isn't handy at any sort of employment. Not with people I know, in those cases I love to talk for ages. But when I have to ring some company or person for work, I try to delay it as long as possible as I really don't like to talk to people I don't know. Once I've done it I realise it wasn't a big deal, but I can't seem to get over it. Does anyone else have this problem? Seems weord. Maybe it's part of the whole introvert thing. Working here, I do have to learn to get over it, which is hard, and I have delayed some calls way too long, but I'm trying!

- Sometimes I wish I could be one of those cool independent people who travel to distant lands by themselves, not caring if anyone accompanies them, and do all sorts of amazing things solo. Also people who have the balls to stand up for themselves, tell people off, and can shrug off things like break-ups without aching for ages. I feel like a bit of a wussy sometimes, always having these grand ideas but never really going through with it. I guess I just like to depend on someone, share things. I don't like being overcrowded, but solo mio isn't my thing either. I'm no strong Xena-like woman who don't need no man or anyone. I don't think that's something I can change, you either are independent or you're not. I do want to make far away trips, but not by myself. Too scary and lonely for me.
But I do want to work on the having tougher skin bit though and not be a pushover anymore. I'll drink to that!

So no more this:

And more of this!

Seeing the difference between mr Right and mr Wrong

2012-01-09T08:09:00.000-08:00

You can say what you want, but we all do it. When your dating record contains more than one person, you're bound to do some comparing. Now I don't mean that in a comparing physical features and sexual perfomances sort of way (although comparing exes like that probably happens after a number of alcoholic beverages amongst friends), I mean it in the entire package sort of way.
Sadly, it's usually after you or the person you were previously with got their heart smashed to bits that you realise exactly how wrong (or right perhaps in some cases) someone was for you. You might not even realise it at the time, you might have gone to extreme lengths to make the relationship work and ignored parents' or friends' comments and other clear signs that that person just wasn't a good match.

Initially the loveydoveyness, the romance or passion, stands in the way of realising things like this. Who cares if the 'puzzle pieces' don't fit, if you're having fun together and you feel happy and in love. Sadly, after the honeymoon phase has passed, things tend to crop up - or as we would say in Belgium 'there's a hair in the butter'. You really start noticing things like having very little in common, less fun personality traits, a change in behaviour etc.. Believe me, I've come across it. Unfortunately, although I did realise things weren't going as well as I wanted, too much past hurts made it very very hard for me to say 'well this just isn't the right guy' and end the relationship. I'd refuse to accept facts and let go, and was a complete idiot trying to change myself to fit the guy better, change my interests, capture his attention more, which of course only works for so long. In the end you're going to get the door slammed in your face anyway, feeling like a total fool. The person doesn't even have to be a toolbag/bitch (although a lot of people seem to encounter those), sometimes it's just a nice person who just isn't right for you.

I did a fair share of growing up last year and although thinking about how hard I tried to slam those two metaphorical puzzle pieces together to make them fit still isn't very pleasant, I'm glad I finally came to my senses and realised when it isn't right, it's probably never going to be right. Especially when a whole bunch of other people in your life tell you so. Outsiders tend to see things you can't. So really, even if you don't want to, listen to what people have to say and think twice.

Part of this realisation is thanks to boyfriend. When the puzzle pieces do fit, you really really know. After months of e-mailing and spending hours talking about a million things and still having so much to talk about, I got hit by the hammer. I realised that this is what it's supposed to be like with someone you're with. Opposites may attract, but do they work out in the end? Having little in common, different opinions, and finding you don't connect on a friendship level, can be rather detrimental to a relationship I've found. Of course you don't want to date a copy of yourself, but it feels so great to be able to talk about things you're both passionate about, to talk about personal things, silly things, sexual things, sad things, things that make you angry or things that make you laugh.
In the end, it's what really makes it work. A connection. Beyond anything physical (not that that isn't important too-cause it is!, passion is very very fun, but it shouldn't be the only thing).

I feel loved and happy, and I finally feel that I may have found that elusive 'one'. Who cares if it took an online dating site for me to find him.
When you find the person who ticks all your most important boxes, you'll know, and you'll know the difference.

Random Thursday and I'm so freaking bored at work

2012-01-05T08:01:00.000-08:00

What an absolutely boring week I'm having. January is a really crappy month at the embassy as it's quiet beyond belief. All the accounts madness was for December, and with a new year all is quiet again. Barely anyone travels after New Year's, everyone came before the holidays. So nothing at all for me to do besides browse random sites. Believe me, I'd rather be doing something useful, there is only so much time you want to spend reading facebook failes and memes. So, apologies for the lack of posts, but I'm so bored I want to bang my head against the wall. Nothing even mildly entertaining is happening right now, so really, I have no idea what to write about. Except perhaps the weather here is crap. And I got a new pair of boots in the sales. And I bought my first smartphone. Sadly I can't remember the password to my damn wireless at home. That is all.

So let me just move on straight to the pictures rather than bore you with my I'm so freaking bored ramblings.

Enjoy!

He obviously knows something we don't know!

If you haven't read Harry Potter, nor the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones etc..), carry on to the next photo. If you have and you've read further than the first book: god dammit George, stop killing everyone!! I'm starting to wonder if there will be anyone left from the first book by the time the last book comes out. Disregardless, great books! Can't wait to order the new book, A dance with dragons, sadly I just spent several hundreds of euro during my trip to Ireland and buying presents, for loved ones and self. So best wait till next payday :D Good thing I got a tax return in December. But I'm rambling, on the next photo!

I would love to see the shocked look on people's faces as this guy drives by.

If this was a cat, you would have no face by now.

Taking correct grammar a little too far

Aaah the joys of facebook.

Too funny

Finding the right timing!

Talk about being ballsy :p

Hope you liked this edition. I realise it's a rather long one, but again, I've had a lot of time to kill today. Thank feck it's almost Friday.

New Year's wishes

2012-01-03T03:44:00.000-08:00

It's a new year! Good riddance to 2011 as it was, excepting the last few happy months, crap. Hope you all had a lovely new year's eve full of festivities and alcohol! Mine was fairly quiet, as I had missed Christmas at home, I stayed home for New Year's eve, with my parents and aunt and uncle. So big meal, and lots of champagne and wine! It was a quiet but fun night, although I missed a certain someone there.

So 2012, I am very excited to see what you have in store for me! The expectations are high, and I'm really hoping my wishes for 2012 come true, as the last few years they pretty much exploded in my face, figuratively speaking. But I feel this year will be different, as I finally feel I found my mr right. Nothing wrong with being single, but I've grown tired of it, and I hope that chapter of my life is now closed. For me anyway, life is a lot more fun and happy with someone to share it with. And really, if we're honest, finding love is pretty much one of the main goals in life. You know, love lifts us up where we belong, and all that mushy stuff.
It's fun to be able to listen to corny songs like that and not want to strangle someone.

So what are my wishes for 2012?
- Hear my Irish guy say he found a job and is coming to Belgium, to stay. Hopefully this will happen before my birthday in June, which I would love to spend with him.

- Finding a place, just for us, and start our life together

- Get a kitty :D (sorry boyfriend :p you know you want one secretly)

- Start adult ballet classes in September, something I've always wanted to do

- Go on holiday together (as in not visiting each other's home countries, but some place different) for the first time

- Keep putting money aside for future dreams

- Keep doing well at work and stay organised and on top of things

That is it, all my wishes for 2012. Only time will tell if they will come true. But I'm hopeful they will!
So far things are looking bright and I'm happier than ever, I just have to patient and go with the flow, see where it takes me.

To you all a happy New Year, let's make it a great one.

Random Thursday is back

2011-12-29T07:59:00.000-08:00

So finally a Random Thursday again. I'm still a little blue after the sad goodbye, so I need some cheering up as well.
I bet many of you are already off before New Years, there's barely anyone on the train in the morning compared to a normal packed train, seems like it's just lonely me going to work this week!
If you're also still at work, you'll need some cheering up too. So here you go, an extra long Random Thursday!

I love a good prank, but this maaaay be taking things a little too far :D

The importance of good grammar people, avoiding embarassing situations like these.

Ah misheard lyrics. The hilariousness of the misheard Within Temptation songs on youtube still makes me chuckle.

I wonder what colour she thinks the moon actually is.

This was exactly my position when I encountered this comic, and I'm guessing it'll be the same for all of you. You're not looking very entertained btw, laugh I say, LAUGH!

Evolution of man

If you annoy a man enough with your complexes, this is the result of it :D

And to finish off, yes it's a Jesus joke!

Oh and didn't manage to upload pictures yesterday due to long upload times, but definitely tonight! If I'm not too sleepy :p

Back in Belgium

2011-12-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

I am, sadly, back in Belgium and back at work today.
I had such a wonderful time in Ireland, being in the country I love with the man I love, what more can you wish for. The second half of the trip was great, we went down to the cliffs of Moher and the Burren, a lovely area in the west of Ireland. I'll add some pics as soon as I've uploaded them. It was so very beautiful there, insanely windy, but beautiful. It was one of the best days, just exploring and seeing all those gorgeous scenic areas, with my guy, felt happier than I've been in years.
We did some christmas shopping on Friday morning before driving down to meet his family for Christmas. I got a lovely Claddagh ring, that I absolutely love. If you're not familiar with Ireland, a Claddagh ring is a typical Irish token of love. I'll add a photo tonight to show off my ring. The heart stand for love, obviously, the crown stands for loyalty and the hands stand for friendship. He gave it to me so I'd never forget how he feels about me. Being far away from each other now, it means a lot to me.
I got him one too, as I wanted him to remember too.

Off we were then deep into the country for a three-day stay with his family. It was great, lots of food, lots of people to meet, cats and dogs to cuddle.. It was a very Irish Christmas, and the best one I've ever had. I also loved the town, very scenic, and a beautiful place. Lots of fantasies about the future were had, and the fact that I can just talk about that without him freaking out, feels so great. We seem to connect in a great way, which is really hard to find and I can't believe my luck that I did. Maybe I'm being overly corny, but I'm just happy and in love, and I haven't felt this way about someone ever, so I guess I want to shout it out a little.

Saying goodbye sucked, it really really sucked. Broke my heart to get on that plane back to overly crowded Belgium, back to my parents' house, with nobody to wake up next to.
It's not easy, long distance, but we'll just have to work hard and be patient until a job comes so my Irish boy can get himself over here and live with me. It's hard thinking that might take a long while, but once it does happen, I know it'll have been worth it.
I'll still miss him though, so crazy a lot.

Stay tuned for lovely Ireland photos!

here they are!

In Ireland

2011-12-20T07:48:00.000-08:00

Hello from Galway, Ireland!
It's my fourth day in Ireland and I can already say it's been great, and it feels so wonderful to be back here again. Being in Ireland always makes me happy, it's like coming home.
The flight over was not fun, I can tell you that! It was a complete disaster. The plane was supposed to have left at twenty past nine in the evening. By the time everyone was on the plane and the hand luggage was stowed away, we were already twenty minutes late. I noticed outside it was suddenly snowing very rapidly. Suddenly the dreaded beep before a notice from the pilot. Due to the lanes being frozen and a lack of defrosting machines, the flight would be delayed for an hour and a half.. Yup, an hour and a half, eventually two hours, I was stuck on the plane in Brussels before it finally left. Just my luck that after several weeks of very mild winter weather it would start snowing like crazy the night I leave. I was knackered by the time I finally arrived at the airport, but it was so great to finally see boyfriend again. He was there at the airport, with some lovely flowers, which was so sweet.

Right now he's at work, sadly he couldn't get the entire ten days off, so today I'm on my own until six. It's pouring rain right now, so not much fun to walk around in, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to do some blogging! The last four days the weather has been great for Ireland. And normally the next few days the weather should improve again. I've met a whole bunch of his friends, which was rather fun, met some really nice people. And had a good few drinks in the process too!
Yesterday was the best day. We went down into the countryside, to Connemara, and stopped somewhere to go for a walk in the fields. Loved it there, Connemara is one of my favourite regions in Ireland, so very beautiful. I'm not much of a city girl, and lately I've had my fill of going to Brussels every day, always cars everywhere, people everywhere, everything concrete and grey. This was exactly what I needed. Felt so happy being down there and just skipping about through the mud. And I loved the little towns along the way, looks so perfect there. Seems like a wonderful place to live and settle down, cosy, peaceful, room to breathe. Maybe some day.

This Friday we're going down to the country again, to county Clare, where boyfriend's family lives, so that'll be interesting. Am looking forward to it though, hope I can make a good impression. It'll be a great Christmas.

Here's some photos boyfriend took of me happy carefree in the fields:

Hope time goes slowly, it'll suck to leave my happy place again, and the man I'm in love with. I'm hoping, his search for a job in Belgium will go smoother than my own search two years ago, being apart really sucks and I can't wait to take that next step and wake up next to him every day. I'll be patient though, it's worth it. And it feels so great to be able to fantasize about scenarios in the future again, dream again about all those things on my before 30 list, it feels amazing knowing all of that is possible again, some day.

So excited!

2011-12-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

And I just can't hide it!

Almost done here at work, just 45 min left to go before I leave for the airport, hooray! Can't wait to get on that plane, although it will be a long evening. My plane doesn't leave until 21.20, so will be spending a few hours at the airport. So lots of browsing in the duty free! After that it's off I go for 1.5 hours until I reach Dublin and meet my man, finally after 5 weeks, will be so great. Then a two hour drive to Galway. So will be past midnight when we arrive, and thery are one hour behind, so it'll be past one on my clock. Seeing I got up at six this morning, this girl will be damn knackered.
But happy though!

I should be able to do one or two posts while in Ireland. Boyfriend has to work a few times so whilst I'm hanging around I might let you know what I've been up to and wish you a Merry Christmas of course. Can't forget about that.

Have a good weekend all, I know I will.

Random Thursday: memes!

2011-12-15T06:23:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Sorry for being so lacking in posting lately, seem to have a bit of a writer's block, or perhaps I'm just being lazy and can't really be bothered to think about anything I can write about. All I can think about this week is tomorrownight I'm going to Ireland, YAY! Bout time too, it has been a long and boring week at work, totally the opposite of last week. It's always either too much or too little, where's the happy medium! And I've been having a lot of train issues again this week (one hour and a half delay on Monday!!), so it hasn't been a great week so far. Not for the country of Belgium either. There was a big tragedy in the city of Liège, where a crazy man who wanted to get back at the justice system threw grenades at a busstop and started shooting, five people died, two old ladies, a 17-month old baby and two teenagers who just got back from an exam. The man who did it also shot himself. Very sad day for Belgium. The man already went to prison once for posession of a whole truckload of fire-arms, so makes you wonder how on earth he got his hands on grenades and more guns. Sad world we live in sometimes.

Anyhoo, it's Thursday so we need to laugh and not talk about sad things. Here's some photos to put some smiles on your faces and make you go 'awww', yes it's another animal themed Random Thursday! Thought we could all use some extra cuteness today.

I've never seen such a sad facial expression on a bear, hilarious.

Creepy!

Boyfriend, who loves huskies, keeps nagging about cats being evil. Well, maybe huskies are evil too boyfriend.. This definitely proves it.

Haha poor kitty. My dog Belly is exactly the same. Whenever we get the tub out to wash her and call her name, she stops in her tracks as soon as she sees that tub and goes running back inside to hide under the table. You should see her sad sad expression when she's finally in the tub :D

They've finally found a way to get through to today's youth: with LOLcats of course!

This dog doesn't fall for your stupid tricks.

And one more, non-animal, but still made me chuckle :D

Hope you enjoyed!

One month

2011-12-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

Ok so I didn't find a moment in the weekend to blog. I've been superbusy doing all my christmas shopping and packing for Ireland, yay! I got everything together, and I've my suitcase nearly all made, so I'm ready to go!
Seriously can't wait, this Fridaynight I'll finally be off to Ireland and I'll finally get to see my boyfriend again after five weeks.
Time went fast, but it's still a long time to be missing each other, it isn't easy. But we're working on getting him to Belgium, so we'll both just need to be patient for a while longer and hope something interesting comes up soon!
Until then we'll just have to travel back and forth a bit. Good thing Ireland is not too far away! Will be spending ten days and one night in Ireland, so that's a lot longer than our last visit, which will give us the oppurtunity to really get to spend some quality time together without having the goodbye looming over us from the beginning on. And we get to spend Christmas together! We'll also be spending some time down in the middle of nowhere countryside Ireland to meet his family, which is kind of exciting, I'm sure it'll be great. Looking forward to those ten days like mad.

Also, yesterday one month together! It feels so freaking fantastic to be able to have an anniversary again, and do all those corny romantic things and be romanced in return. I've missed it so much, and it feels great to have it, and to be with someone who loves being romantic. It exists girls! Having someone in your life who does so much to make you happy, someone you're in love with, it's the best thing in the world, I'm so very happy to not be single anymore. I've reached the point in my life where being single has no appeal left anymore and I hope I never have to be single again.

Random Thursday

2011-12-08T08:33:00.000-08:00

It's Thursday again and wow have I been busy. I can go home in half an hour and right now is the only time I've had all day to relax. Same thing yesterday, so apologies for the lack of posting, I've just been overwhelmed with work. Working for a country in debt is not an easy task, especially if you're doing the accounting. Headquarters are doing a huge review now, and I'm getting a billion questions about the accounts, some before I even got here. And damn I feel damn good looking at the old accounts, as it's really badly done, all mixed up and confusing. I spent all day trying to match refunds to bills, took an eternity to figure out how on earth they calculated things back then. I figured it out eventually though, rather proud of that! Only hope the lady from HQ figures out my explanation as it's complicated and not as straight forward as it should be. I did my best! Feeling more comfortable here at work with what I'm doing though, so although the days are stressful I don't need to worry anymore about doing things wrong.

Anyhoo, hopefully tomorrow it'll be a little quieter, although I doubt it, as I'll be here by myself. If I'm not too tired I might post this weekend! Can't wait for my trip to Ireland, next week Friday after work! HOORAY! Finally a break, and I got to see my Irish guy again, which makes it perfect, after a month apart I can't wait to spend some longer time with him and enjoy the holidays with him. I'm counting down the days until then!

But you're waiting for your funny photos, why am I blabbing! here you go!

I love this :D

Compared to the fact we have to go to the gyneacologist every year for that darn check-up, and the horror of childbirth, I think some asspoking on the rare occasions men have to go through that, is not such a big deal. Although I can imagine it's not fun :D

I absolutely love babybellies, but this is just crazy :D

This picture will only further convince my boyfriend that all cats are evil and out to get you.

The sad truth for most of us.

haha I love this. Sadly, this tactic works on a lot of men!

Epic come-back! Don't want to seem too feministy so I thought I'd add this to even things out :D Wish I was assertive enough to be able to think of come-backs like that. Unfortunately it usually only comes to me at least an hour after something was said to me.

And to finish, a religion joke!

Hope I made you chuckle!

Stop the bullies

2011-12-05T08:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I came across a youtube video made by a boy from the 8th grade, who, by using flashcards, tells the world about the pain he is going through every day at school due to severe bullying. This because he is gay. The video is so genuine, and just radiates the pain (the sad song doesn't help) of the poor kid, I could barely stop my own tears watching it. It seemed to me, a very brave thing to do, to just put that out there for everyone to see. And millions have watched it by now, so his message definitely went around the world. You can watch it here:

Being a teenager is hard enough as it is without needing to go through daily pestering and bullying. Sadly, kids can be very very cruel and don't at all understand what their words can cause. I saw it plenty myself when I was still in school. And I'm sure each and every one of you has either experienced bullying or remember some other kid being bullied during primary or secondary school. There are usually one or two kids who start it, the popular types who like to show off and feel all powerful. Everyone else, happily bullies along to impress the popular kids and to avoid being the target themselves. They pick on the kids who are different, like that boy there, because he's gay, or they pick the kids who are overweight, nerdy, very smart, have a disability, don't have a good sense of dress, are poor, have issues..and the list goes on. Being different is generally not a great thing while in school. And sadly, teachers do very little about it and generally don't do anything until the situation has already gotten completely out of control.
As parents, it's difficult to find out, as teenagers don't tend to share much. Sadly, they often don't find out until things have gotten out of hand already, like it has with that boy in the video, who resorted to cutting to deal with all the bullying.
Even as an adult, what you experienced as a kid can still have such a great effect on you, so it's so very important to put an end to behaviour like that in schools. You could say, the kid should just talk to a teacher, but that often makes things worse as they usually don't do much more than give the bullies a slap on the wrist.

When will people finally stop thinking 'that's just what kids do', and take hard action against kids who verbally abuse classmates. Schools need to make a change, a.s.a.p.
There's always going to be prejudice and teasing, even in later life. There's adult bullies too. To quote Pocahontas: "you think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you." She was damn right, a lot of people unfortunately think anyone who looks or thinks different is a freak of nature, wrong, sinful etc. You can take the man out of the Middle Ages, but you can't always take the Middle Ages out of the man.
When will people finally get over themselves and focus on their own life instead.

Things like this bother me a lot. I wasn't really bullied. Although I do remember this incredibly obnoxious fat kid in my class once who said nasty things to everyone. Back then I was all fantasy loving, reading giant books all the time, rather shy, and no assertiveness, and so I was often the target as I didn't really know what to say back. It wasn't bad bullying, but his rude comments did get to me, and it made me feel really bad about myself. My brother went through a being bullied period as well, and I still remember my mom trying so hard to get in touch with the school to try and find a solution. One thing I know, if I ever notice my future kids being rude to others, I'm going to give them hell for it. Just as I'm going to give hell to anyone who bullies them as well. No way I'm going to let it escalate. I know how down I was sometimes as a teenager and such things can pass to your own kids, so I going to keep a damn good eye on them, even if they hate me for it at the time.

I seriously hope videos like that will bring the problem to the attention of the media more often, so finally something will be done about it. More education about the consequences and more immediate action against the bullies themselves. If they can get away with being assholes as kids, how can we ever avoid them being assholes as adults. And we all know, there's enough of those in the world already.

Random Thursday

2011-12-01T07:35:00.000-08:00

Thursday again! Wow time sure flies, sadly it doesn't really feel that way when the day seems to drag on whilst at work. At least the weekend is looming, but what would Thursday be without your weekly dose of random funny photos I found on the internet! Tomorrow is looking to be a fun day with a national strike against goverment savings measures, causing some major public transport issues. Like the French, the Belgians love to go on strikes, sadly, for commuters this is a big pain in the ass. 70.000 people are gathering in Brussels tomorrow! The train thankfully isn't affected as the strikers need to actually get to Brussels :D But the metro will be, which I take to get to work. I am wondering how long I will have to wait on the platform tomorrow before a metro tram arrives, and if there will be any room left to get in. I am guessing there will probably be about a gazillion people on the platform waiting for the few trams that will be riding. And, the same issue when returning from work! It's going to be fun day.

But enough whining, here are your pictures!

I'm thinking someone's parents do not like their son's choice of toy.

Even though he has been dead for 20 years, Freddie stills rocks. More than Jesus. Thanks for all the epic songs Freddie.

Laughed my ass off reading this, penis-shaped earphones hahaha :D

Facebook: documenting stupid people since 2004

Whoops

My Irish guy is the first guy I ever dated who has tattoos. I found that I find them very very appealing, they're also very well done. The above tattoo however is not sexy. At all. What possesses a person to get a half crab half truck tattooed on their body beats the hell out of me. Hilarious site by the way, ugliesttattoos.com. The amount of spelling mistakes in tattoos is mind boggling. Either the tattoo artist is just as clueless or they don't give a toss.

Exactly how I'd love to respond on the many many occasions this happens on the train. Of course it's always electro music they're listening to, forcing to you to listen to the same boring beat for an eternity. Especially at 7 in the morning when I'm trying to sleep this is really infuriating. You don't want to see the expression on my face at that point!

Hope you enjoyed!

No time!

2011-11-29T07:25:00.000-08:00

It's been really busy at the embassy, and I barely have any time to sit down and have a breather, let alone snack and write a blog. Day is nearly over, so things have quieted down a bit. Christmas is upon us so a lot of foreigners living in Belgium have decided to travel to Ireland for various reasons, giving me a whole lot of work with visas. As I am also the accountant here and the budget needs to be calculated, it's hectic on that end too.

We're rather low on staff at the moment, still awaiting a new Ambassador, so the First Secretary is mad busy doing her work and the Ambassador's, and me and my colleage in the consular section are getting a bucketload of extra work because of it. Ireland is also in saving mode, so I have a lot of calculations to do to make sure our budget for next year can be as low as possible, as in lower than this year even. This year was already tight, so next year I'll have to keep an even closer eye on the spendings. Never thought I'd be an accountant, I sucked at maths, and I found business to be a rather boring subject at school. Just comes to show the subjects you dislike and think what will I ever do with this, might just come in handy after all. You don't always end up doing what you studied. It was really complicated in the beginning, and I thought I'd never get the hang of it, but the last few months I feel like I'm more comfortable with the accounts and am more confident that I'm doing a good job. Which makes me like my job more to be honest. If you're constantly worried about screwing things up, it's not a pleasant work environment.
I'm glad accounting is not all I do though, nothing but numbers would suck.

I seem to be getting more and more different assingments, and the days of not having much to do are becoming rarer and rarer. A colleague is also retiring in May, and there's no certainty we'll be allowed to replace her (due to saving mode), so that means things will get really mad here. I'm already a visa officer and an accountant. Perhaps secretary as well soon?
GAH!

Working hard for the money alright! Working for the Irish goverment is not a picknick in the current economic situation. But I do enjoy it, I get to work for a country I love, which is always a plus.
If I'm a bit quiet this week, I'm probably buried in work. It's going to be a loooong week.
Will be counting down the days till I get to go on my holiday to see my guy again finally, it's going to be great.

Diversity is beautiful

2011-11-25T06:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was reading an article someone posted on their facebook page that caught my eye. It wasn't a recent article at all, but the subject interested me. It was about a model who was deemed too fat to be even a plus sized model, she was at the time 5ft11 (or 1m80) amd weighing 175 pounds (or 79 kg, 12.stone). Of course this isn't thin, but her BMI is still within the healthy range and she's one beautiful woman. Judge for yourself:

Personally I think this is a beautiful picture of a beautiful woman who clearly looks confident in her own skin. The photo isn't photoshopped as most of the photos we see in magazines are, it's just her as she is, belly rolls and all. And so what if she has a belly roll and curvy thighs, is she any less pretty because of this? How many people don't have a belly sitting down?
It saddens me that pictures of lovely curvier women are still so hard to find in women's magazines and in the fashion industry as a whole. Plus sized models are becoming less rare, but to be honest, I haven't seen that many of them yet. As someone who used to struggle with bad eating habits as a teenager and had a morphed view of my own body in spite of already being thin, I think it would be a great thing if we'd see more variety in body shapes in the media. I know it's not the only reason eating why eating habits develop, but the way society portrays beauty:superthin, doesn't help. I remember, back in the day, reading articles of good looking actresses or models, quite a lot taller than me, but still thinner, while I only had a BMI of 18, it made me feel bad about myself. Why do all the pretty girls we see have an extra small dress size, it's such a bad influence on young girls who already feel bad in their skin in the mess of puberty. We're teaching them that a little extra is a little less actractive.

Now, I'm not talking about obese people here, obesity is a huge problem and there's nothing healthy about that. I'm talking about healthy women with a normal body weight,meaning not underweight like most of the models we see out there.
One thing I should say though in defense of thin girls, I notice a lot of other women who speak up for more normal sized models in the media, talk about 'real women' as if someone who's naturally frail and thin isn't a real woman. I'm fairly thin, not that curvy to be honest, but I eat healthy and normal, it's just the way my body is, and that doesn't make me less of a woman. So should thin girls still apear in the media? Of course! As long as it's healthy. But it shouldn't be just thin girls, that's the whole problem. It's all we see. It gives the wrong impression that any other body type isn't as beautiful, which is not true at all. I think most men are just as attracted to girls like that model there as the thinner versions.
Why shouldn't perfectly lovely women not get a chance to appear in the public eye more just because they don't have the ideal measurements.

It's a bit boring to be honest, they all look too much alike. I say it's time for a chance in the fashion industry, and it would be about time.

Random Thursday

2011-11-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

Finally Thursdayevening again! Have had the longest week. It's been really busy at the embassy, we're rather understaffed here and I had to a whole budget review which is a lot of work. Also my colleague got sick after eating seafood so I had to hold the fort by myself today. Rather enjoy it to be honest, but it is tiring. Will be glad when I'm home tomorrow night.

Until then, here's some funny photos to keep you going.

Someone has some serious confidence issues.

Neither do I professor, neither do I..

I think someone is trying to make a point there..

How that girl isn't laughing her ass off beats the hell out of me. He looks like he just dipped his head in liquid chocolate. Seriously dude, that is not attractive. I know some girls don't need a manly man, but this is taking it too far in the wrong direction.

I hear you my friend..

Aaah the Simpsons, those were the days. I feel old.

Messing with your kids, aah I'm going to enjoy that some day.

He's not the only one! The way people type nowadays is rediculous.

Might want to think twice on what you post on facebook, it'll be there forever.

My first slipping incident

2011-11-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I learned a valuable lesson when it comes to slowing down on time when reaching a curve in the road. I was driving home from the station, going through a country road as the main road has been blocked for an eternity. Naturally the country road is pitch black, and it has been misty for weeks, so the roads were rather moist. As tends to happen on abandoned roads you're very familiar with, I was driving probably a bit faster than I should have. Because of the darkness and mist, I miscalculated the sharpness of the bend and had to brake to quickly slow down. That's when it happened. The car totally slipped, and as that had never happened to me before it scared the bejesus out of me. I was heading straight for a wall and couldn't get the car to stop. Scariest moment ever. Luckily, I steered away and the brakes finally did their job and the car stopped.

I can tell you, I was slightly lost for words at that moment.
I may have looked a bit like this dog:

I know everyone's car slips at some point, but wow that rather shocked me. It might have been less scary if there had been just a field near me, but the fact that I was maybe a metre or two away from a brick wall was very frightening.
I don't think I'll be forgetting about that bend anymore.

Booked my flight!

2011-11-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a mad day today! What a Monday. The thing about working in a small embassy is that some days it can be immensely quiet, barely any people coming in, nothing pending, payments all made.. and other days there are a million phonecalls, a million people needing things urgently and about a million assignments to be done preferable within the next two days. On top of that you also get a few mad questions from people about things you have no clue about. For example today an Irish person called to ask if I knew any Belgian companies that bought wild game. Yes he wants to sell his wild game. The word eeeeuuuuuh came to mind. He insisted I try and look it up. Seriously dude, this is an embassy, an Irish embassy, what do we know about the import of meat! Ever heard of google? That's where I'll be looking.

Anyhoooo. Mad day! Had a lovely lunch with an old friend from Ireland who I hadn't seen in a million years and works just around the corner from me. Was fun to catch up. Although I got lost trying to find the restaurant he suggested for lunch, and then had to gobble up my pizza at superspeed and jog back to work on a full stomach so I wouldn't be too late. Stomach was not pleased. Feet weren't either, damn high heels. The weather has also been acting rather crazy here lately, thick fog in Flanders since last week, huge delay this morning! Total chaos again. And was rather scary driving to the station in it, could barely see a meter ahead, best be extra careful as mommy hammers into me every morning.

But good news as well as the title suggest!

Christmas in Ireland! Sadly due to coinciding leave with the colleague, I had to change my preferred dates a bit and can unfortunately not spend New Year in Ireland as well, but I love Christmas more so YAY! I'm leaving straight after work the 16th of December, until the 27th. So a fair bit of time! Can't wait, it's not very long anymore, I get to go to my favourite place in the world to see my favourite person. Can not wait! Should be an amazing holiday. Please let it not rain the entire time :D as tends to happen often in good old Ireland.

I've had rather lonely christmasses the past few years, so I could use a turn-around as I've always been very fond of the holiday, I just love the atmosphere.
Also, it's sales season in Ireland around that time, so time to lighten the purse a little. Good thing I get a christmas bonus :D

Wooohooooo

Random Thursday

2011-11-17T06:32:00.000-08:00

It's Thursday again, and damn whilst I'm sitting here having the longest day ever at work I'm really wishing it was last Thursday again, so I could have that great weekend all over again. Sadly I can't go back in time, and neither can I skip the next five weeks and go on my trip to Ireland right now. Time is an annoying thing. Obnoxiously slow when you're bored out of your mind, insanely fast when you want the moment to last forever. Some things are worth waiting for though, but that doesn't mean I can't whine about it!

Anyhoooo, get your smile on because here's this week's funny photo collection!

This is what happens when you make your wife choose between you and an adorable little kitten.

This will perhaps make you think twice before getting your Chinese character tattoo. Just because they say it means 'courage' does not mean it isn't actually 'I like goats'.

Hahaha what a brilliant prank. I have to try this. Will teach my brother for taking forever in the bathroom MWAHAHAHAHA

I reckon it was worth it.

The less romantic side of Okcupid. Encountered plenty of those before finding something great, including a number a creepy profile page stalkers. Typical for dating websites, you have to dig through the mud before finding the gold.

*Facepalm*

Owned!

Slightly mean, but still freaking hilarious!

Bring on the weekend!

Single no more

2011-11-15T06:14:00.000-08:00

Back at work today and my lovely weekend is sadly over. As I had thought, it flew by. I'm a little sad it's over, but I'm also so very happy because it was everything I hoped it would be. You're probably very confused right now, and I guess it's time for me to get the cat out of the bag.

Remember when, a few months ago, I decided to give online dating a try? Remember the posts on the weirdoes and the creeps I encountered? Well you might also recall I suddenly stopped mentioning the whole online dating thing. That's because I met someone great on there, and I didn't want to jinx it by mentioning my feelings about it on my blog too prematurely. I wanted to see where things went first. And that's exactly what I did. Now, this very special person lives in Ireland. Okcupid told me to mail more people, so I thought I'd do that, and gather more interesting info for my blog. I clicked random profiles, mailed some people, and by chance I clicked on the profile of someone from a certain Irish city. Why? Because I've been there many times and I love the place, so I thought I'd be able to start decent conversation. His picture showed him wearing a whoopie cushion outfit. I thought it was hilarious, and I sent him an e-mail. Some more luck came my way and he mailed me back. This was in July. Ever since that day, we talked every single day, through mail, text, calls, skype..and I soon realised that this was more than just friendly conversation, there was a real click. I felt like I could tell this guy everything. He seemed to feel the same way.

After a little while we both came to the conclusion that we wanted to see each other in person, and see if it would click as well in person. As no matter the distance, if something seems really great, you shouldn't let anything get in the way. It was a couple of months more until that day finally came, and that day was last Friday. Needless to say I was rather nervous. In no way was he a stranger, and I felt very much like I knew him, and not a single part of me worried he would be totally different in person. But naturally, knowing you're meeting up to see if the love spark is there in person, seeing someone you've developed feelings for online for the first time, it tends to make you nervous.
When I got to the airport he was already there! I hadn't expected it,his flight was early, so when I was looking at the screen and suddenly hearing 'hi' behind me, I was rather startled to say the least. Felt like my heart was thumping outside my chest. We took the train to Gent, and by the time we got there, all my nervous and startled feelings where completely gone. It didn't feel awkward, he was the same guy I knew, and I couldn't wait to see what happened over the weekend.

Well I could elaborate in a huge way, but let's just say the love spark turned out to be there. It was the most romantic weekend of my life. He asked me to be his girl on the grounds of a castle, a castle that holds a museum of torture nonetheless, talk about original :D. I really needed some romance, it's been such a long time, and I got a whole heap of it over the weekend. Had the most romantic date that first night, and I can tell you feelings rapidly started growing from that day onwards. He's such a great match for me, we have a lot in common and our personalities seem just right for each other, I feel incredibly lucky to have found him in probably the last place I thought I'd find a boyfriend. I know we're in for some lonely moments with the distance, but I'm looking for flights to see him over christmas, and I know this far away situation is only temporary. We'll make it work, some things are worth the effort.

Who knew, Okcupid sure has my vote now. In spite of the weirdoes, online dating is definitely worth a try.
I do miss him a lot now, and saying goodbye was not easy, but christmas is not too far away and I know time will go quicker than I think.

One thing's for sure, I'm so glad I decided to go for it, I'd forgotten how amazing it feels to start falling in love.

2012 might just finally be my year.

Yet another Random Thursday!

2011-11-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

Random Thursday once more! Today is rather slow again and I really can't wait for this day to be over! So close to my four day weekend! Finally meeting someone I've been waiting to meet for a long time, and I'm super excited and nervous about it, so wish me luck! We have tomorrow off here in memory of the WWI ceasefire and I'm taking Monday off as well.

So, because most of you don't have tomorrow off and still have to drag yourself through Friday to get to the weekend, here's my weekly find of funny photos to cheer you all up.

That ought to do it :D

Dirty talk, it's a skill. Reminds me of the one episode of Friends (I'm a walking encyclopedia on all Friends episodes) where Ross is asked by a girl to talk dirty to her. Bewildered, he eventually utters the word 'vulva'. So funny.

Who says babies are messy!

Ah parents and computer (or mobiles for that matter), don't bother explaining.

Poor girl, but epic response :D

That's one brilliant way of dealing with nasty anonymous commenters. Wish I could have seen his face of fear and shock reading that response!

This one is for my Australian friend Matt, who told me all about the horror of dropbears ;)

More train drama

2011-11-09T05:28:00.000-08:00

As the title and the grumpy kitty might indicate, I've been experiencing some more train madness, and it's making me very frustrated. It's not been a good week for train commuting all in all. Last Friday, when I had planned to spend the evening at my cousin's for a dinner, I was happily on the train home. After a good half hour the train stopped. Now, it's dark a lot earlier now so it was pitch black outside. After twenty minutes standing still we were vaguely informed that there was a huge powercut and we would be standing still until further notice. Further notice was another hour. It was well past nine by the time I arrived at the station. Very aggravating start to the weekend.
Yesterday, sadly, a train just ahead of us, hit a person who jumped in front of the train. Of course, the trains couldn't go on anymore as there were only two tracks. We were informed all train traffic to where I needed to go was now stopped and we would have to return to the previous station and wait for a bus there. I was still 40 minutes away from home. And knowing how it goes, I knew the bus wouldn't be there in a long while. After much whining I was able to convince my dear dad to come and pick me up. We had been standing still for twenty minutes before we were told what was going on, so it was 8 o'clock already and it's a 45 min drive. So I stood in the cold and dark for about 50 minutes before my dad arrived. The bus was not there yet. It was just under ten o'clock before I got home. Really not a nice night, I already get so little time to relax before needing to go to bed, so being home at 10 was really tough. And I was frozen solid and really tired. It's really sad how much this happens, especially now with the days shortening, it seems to happen even more during busier hours. Can't understand why people would end their life in such a horrible way, it's really sad, you can't help but think why couldn't they find help. But if you've never felt that low you'll never really understand I suppose. I really feel for the poor train drivers too, can't imagine hitting a person, must be very traumatic.

Sadly, this is not the end of the train drama. I found out on the news website this morning that there's a union strike tomorrow and the train traffic might be heavily disrupted. So I'll have to get up earlier to see if my train is leaving at all and take a day off it isn't. Day extra off is always nice, but it's a nuisance. Having a good weekend ahead is a nice incentive, but I don't want to be tired and stressed out thanks to train issues before it even starts.

I really need to move closer! What a mess. Belgian railway= not good.

Blank

2011-11-08T06:46:00.000-08:00

Today is a really really slow day at work. It happens every now and then, not a single person comes in the public office, barely any phone calls, barely any mails, accounts all up to date, resulting in having pretty much nothing to do and having the longest day ever. Today is such a day. Yesterday was totally different, I had a gazillion foreign students coming in to apply for a study visa for Ireland. Took me all morning and half the afternoon to get that sorted, so the day went quick and I felt productive. Also, finally got some praise on doing the accounts, so I've been feeling a lot better about my abilities here at work, and actually starting to feel like I'm doing a good job and getting the hang of this complicated accounting thing. Which is great! As work is such a huge part of one's life, it's important to feel like you're contributing something and don't suck at it. Even if the work can get dull and repetitive, when you're doing it well, you feel good about yourself.

Sadly slow days can't be avoided. And sometimes there just aren't enough random little things for you to do to keep yourself occupied for 8.5 hours. Two more hours to go here, and I'm really hoping tomorrow will be busier. You can say what you want about stress, but busy is a lot better than bored. The day goes so much quicker, and as I have an exciting 4-day weekend ahead of me, starting Friday, I want time to go superfast! And superslow once Friday comes along, but I bet it'll be the other way around as is usually the case when you're having a good time. It's been a rather uneventful few months, so I could use a little fireworks in my life :)

Sorry for the boring subject, but a bored mind tends to produce bored writing. I'm pretty much a blank right now.

Crappy evening

2011-11-04T04:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, yesterday didn't end as nice as I had anticipated. Was a good day at work, but darn the rest of it sucked big time. There was a problem down in the metro, longer gaps between the two trams, and every single one that arrived for me to still catch my train was so packed that it was impossible for me to get on. I had to let two trams pass like that. The third one I only just got on, but by then it was too late for me to catch my train. Lovely! I had to take two different trains to get to Oostende (a different station by the coast) and have my dad pick me up. This was a slight annoyance. But that wasn't the end of it. My dad informed me over the phone that our canary had suddenly died an hour before. That really made my evening. I know they are little fragile birds, and as we found it in the garden (escaped somewhere I assume) we had no idea how old he was, and that's a year and a half ago already. So he could have been pretty old. Also we don't know much about keeping birds, and they get sick easily I heard. Still sad though, poor little Toby. He loved to nibble on Belgian endives and take baths. I will miss him hopping from one stick to the next in his cage. It was rather sad to see the missing cage in the kitchen this morning. Poor birdy. My dad buried him in the yard. I hope we gave him a bit of a decent life, our mystery bird who showed up by the kitchen window one morning. We had to catch him as canaries can't live in the wild in Belgium. And I wanted to keep him. Normally I'm not so much for keeping birds in cages, especially if they're not tame and you can never let them out, and it's just a small indoor cage instead of an aviary. We tried giving him to the petting zoo, where there's a big aviary, but he must have been raised in a small cage as he couldn't fly, so I insisted on taking him back as he would have died on the cold floor outside. So Toby, RIP, I'll miss you.

On a different note, I've come to realise that there are some downsides to sharing your blog with people you care about. This tends not to be a problem if you blog about your family life, your trips, fashion, arts, hobbies and so on, but quite a few people just blog about their life, as do I. Doing this, the diary effect tends to crop up a bit. And what don't you want with your diary? For people you know to read it. I've attempted to keep the emotional throw-up at bay, but as events that make us happy/upset/hurt/excited/frustrated are a big part of your life, it's hard to not let it have an effect on your writing. The thing is, it feels good to write out some of your emotions. The problem with that is that sometimes you go over the top. With happy things that's no issue, but if you're angry or hurt, you tend to write that way too. And you forget about the people reading your blog who might see themselves in it and take things personal. Like in a diary, when you feel such emotions, you tend to write things you don't really mean, it's just a way of expressing the frustration. Few days later you might not feel the same way, and you realise damn what must they have thought reading that, I'm an idiot. Sadly, you can't take it back. All you can do is apologise and hope your friends or loved ones will realise you just got carried away and you didn't mean for it to sound like they are bad people in your life. As that's usually not the case. But as life goes, shit happens, and that shit hurts. If I know you're a good person I'll come to terms with what hurt me, but sadly until that time a person tends to go a little bonkers. Which makes having a blog out in the open a dangerous thing. I tried keeping emotional vomit to the minimum, but things probably slipped through. And now that so many people know about my blog I can only say if I do say something that sounds unpleasantly directed at you, please tell me, or yell at me, I probably didn't mean for it to sound angry or annoyed, it was just what I was feeling at the moment.
Although it's scary letting people have a look into your soul, I do like friends and loved ones reading my blog, I just worry about offending anyone without that being my intention. Feelings tend to get the better of me.

Random Thursday!

2011-11-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

Yes I'm back with Random Thursday this week to cheer you up on this dreary Thursday and put a smile on your face once more! Cheer up it's nearly weekend again! Still hungover from Halloween? Well at least you have Halloween, there is no such thing here in Belgium. Dammit! It's a real sadness for this geeky girl who loves to dress up. Must get out of the country next Halloween, so I can share in the fun. Anyhoo, I'm in a really good mood. I have something really exciting to look forward to Friday next week, which I may or may not tell you about in the near future, but let's just say the anticipation is making me feel a whole bunch of things. But above all I can't wait! Also it'll be a four-day weekend, which I could definitely use after the hectic few weeks I've had!

But, you're waiting for your funny pictures. Here's what I found today, hope it makes you crack a smile!

How is this sexy? Ugh stupid warped view of beauty. Even Barbie is more grabbable than this. And what the heck if wrong with her face, who has skin like that? Creepy that's what it is.

haha. Well I actually like showering with someone, although I must admit it really does suck when the other person is shampooing and hogging the water, while you stand there freezing.

Exactly what I'm NOT looking for right now. Not that I require romance a la Romeo and Juliet balcony scene, but a little better than blowjobs in the rain would be nice. Which is exactly what that guy will not be getting.

Sorry to mock the male race, but this was just too funny.

Voting in Russia is so much more straight forward.

I have to try this.

This is exactly why I don't eat processed meat. Yuk.

This is the kind of stuff my eleven year old second cousin reads -_-* This is exactly why women don't make sense. And damn you and your giant bosom Christina Hendricks, she clearly was not in the back of god's boob queue

The inner me

2011-11-01T08:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wish I wasn't as emotional as I am. I don't really remember if I've always been this way or if it's the result of all the difficult things that have happened to me. It takes me a while to trust and confide in someone, to lower the wall, to give away my heart. But I'd like to think that once I know, really know, that you mean something to me, be it as a friend or as something more, you're in for good. I'll always be there, even if you don't want to be there for me anymore. I know these people are bound to disappoint you at some point, everyone makes mistakes, gets snappy, mean, or just changes. Still, that doesn't mean you should just throw them in the bin and stop caring. I can't be like that, everyone who's ever meant something to me, always will. Sure, I might get angry, upset, but I always get over that, and I'll not let that get in the way of being there when needed. What I don't like about being so sensitive, is my damn need to please people. I want people to like me, and fights are my nemesis. I just can't have a proper fight with anyone. Sure I'll get angry too, but two minutes after the discussions I'll apologize like crazy, even if I wasn't the cause of the problem, I still will because I can't stand people being upset with me, thinking bad of me and so on. I don't really know if that's a good thing. Maybe you just need to let people be angry and be done with it. Real friends who care will always come back to you in the end, those who don't are probably not really your friends. It sure is good advice to follow, but annoyingly, it really bothers me.

Being the way I am does have quite a few disadvantages, but some advantages too I hope. When I finally really fall in love, I'm going to do pretty much everything I can to make you happy and I don't give up easily when the road gets a little rough. In this day and age, that's a good thing I think. There's nothing I want more than to find someone who is willing to do as much for me as I do for him. Someone who gets me, is there for me, protects me and supports me. I guess that's pretty much what we're all looking for. Damn hard to find though. But if you do find it, hell, hold on tight to that person, because you probably won't find it again. And when it comes to friendship, if you prove to be the kind of friend who will go out drinking when you need a drink, who will listen when you've got something on your mind, who will shake you good when you're being a fool and will pick up the phone whenever, I'll do the exact same and more.

I've been through quite a few painful things when it comes to the male species. Some things are quite a few years ago, some not, and although I've put those things in a box, and I'm doing really good, and hopeful for good things in the future, some days I'll look back into that box. I'll think about all those things, and not always the recent things. I'll feel a bit blue, think about what I could have done, why I didn't do certain things, how I could have stopped it, but I'll feel better again in no time. It's just part of who I am, I don't close the box away for good and never look back. I guess I'm a bit of a wallower, I tend to blame myself. But I think I'm doing a lot better than years before when it comes to not letting things get to me anymore. Still, this is a side that I won't let many people see, I worry about people thinking I'm messed up, should get over myself, should move on already and so on. People tend to make the wrong conclusions. I'm not some emo girl. I've come a long way, and I feel so much better in my own skin. One day maybe, when I've found the things I'm looking for, it won't hurt at all anymore.

I do also want to say that as I've mentioned being hurt by guys, that that doesn't mean I haven't had good times with them either. I had one or two really great relationships that sadly didn't lead to a good outcome, it happens to many of us, and although losing someone you care about is always very painful, I don't regret those times. Just wanted to add that in case it sounds like I've never been treated right.

Florence and the machine

2011-10-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

This amazing fiery redhead British singer is definitely one of my favourites. Her debut album Lungs was great, I've probably listened to it a million times. I also got to see her live in the very beginning in a small concert hall, and it was brilliant, that woman can sure sing, incredibly powerful voice. I've been really looking forward to her new cd, Ceremonials, which came out on the 28th. Got it yesterday, and I've listened to it several times already, and I can honestly say this cd is even better than the last one. Takes my breath away, this is exactly the kind of music I love: emotional, powerful, full of heart and soul.

I love all the different styles of instruments, the violins, the harp, the ghostly back choir. The extra funding has added that extra to her music that was still missing. Her music would fit perfectly in a grand cathedral; it's just so powerful. Again, what a voice, I can only dream of being able to sing like that.
But listening to this makes me feel a lot of different things. It's melancholy, dark, but the beats, her voice, make it far from depressing. It's all about escaping from your demons and breaking through, letting go of the bad and never giving up. I love singing along, it's a great way to unwind, vent my emotions.

So in a nutshell; I love it ! Definitely check this new cd out if you liked her music before.

Twilight madness

2011-10-26T07:23:00.000-07:00

It's almost that time again. The new twilight film will come out soon and the teenage girls (and older even) will go completely mad swooning over Edward and Jacob. I must admit I've read the books, didn't think they were particularly well written, but it's an easy read and I can see the appeal to teenage girls. But sweet jesus, it really portrays woman as creatures who are a total mess without a man in their life. Being in love is great, but if you're freaking out over spending a few hours away from each other, you are messed up. And then the whole turning into a complete zombie for months on end because your 19th century extremely dangerous vampire boyfriend left, ignoring everyone in your life, and only achieving sanity again when meeting another guy..Grow a pair Bella! Stephenie Meyer seems to have a rather low opinion of women, clearly we can't function properly without a man. And the hidden sex before marriage is bad, sacrificing everything for a man is good,and so on.. clearly reveals, she sure ain't a feminist. She is brainwashing the kids through an appealing-looking old-time gentleman-like sparkly vampire who watches you sleep all night.

I watched the films out of curiosity, I enjoyed the muscular naked manbodies but as a filmbuff I must say the films aren't good at all. Especially the second one annoyed the hell out of me. The acting is really bad. I guess you can say ah they are only young actors, you learn as you go, but just look at Leo Dicaprio in What's eating Gilbert Grape as a young teenager, absolutely brilliant acting. You could tell he would turn out to be an amazing A-list actor. The girl who plays Bella, Kristen Steward, is really not a good actress in my opinion. She seems to have a very limited range of emotions. Judging by all the mocking photos, I'm not the only one thinking this.

Also just read an article in which Robert Pattenson reveals that ever since playing in Twilight he has realised women are absolutely crazy. I can imagine having girls screaming 'Edward' every time you show your face can't be pleasant. Can't imagine how some women can go completely mental like that over celebrities. Sure if I'd see him, I might have a stare, but I like to think I wouldn't throw myself at him and scream "I love you and want to have your babies".

This new film is also the one in which Bella gets knocked up. Apparently Stephenie Meyer knows nothing of fantasy mythology and completely ignored the fact that as vampires are dead and frozen in time, they can't possible have a fonctioning reproductive system. If the vampire women can't get pregnant due to the frozen in time argument Stephenie, how on earth would the male vampires be able to produce sperm. Explain that to me please. Sorry, the fantasy geek within gets annoyed about this.
There will also be a lovely suitable teenage girl scene where the baby breaks Bella's ribs and later on even spine from within, and Edward is forced to tear the baby out with his teeth.
Another fun night at the cinema!

Work frustrations

2011-10-24T06:28:00.000-07:00

Sadly, Monday has arrived again! If only the weekend was longer. Even one day longer would make a world of difference. Considering that I’ll probably will have to work until I’m at least 65 (gah!41 more years of work -_-) I’m thinking a few more days off wouldn’t be bad! I only have 20 leave days a year here at the embassy, which is pretty much the standard amount for most places. It’s decent, but not that much really, if you have one two week holiday in summer, you already lose half of it. The lucky people are teachers, and people who work for the government or commune. Like my parents for example, they both have just over 40 leave days, and because my dad does a lot of overtime he gets even more. If only, sigh!

But who knows! As this is my first job I’m not planning to make this my forever job, still want to see what else is out there and if perhaps I could find something that suits my degree better. As I’m doing accounts while I have a degree in languages this is not really my cup of tea. But in the current economy beggars can’t be choosers, and I was pretty lucky to find a job like this.

It can get a bit frustrating sometimes, dealing with money is never easy, mistakes are easily made. Take now for example. We have five euro passport money extra that wasn’t entered in the receipts spreadsheet. I count the money every day so I know what day it happened, just nobody has a clue who paid that five euro and only about 5 people made payments that day. Who knows, maybe the wrong change was given, I have no idea as I only take in money for visas. That amount can only be a postage fee, but as you can imagine it is a bit of a hassle when you can’t trace back the amount to the person. Everything needs to be in the spreadsheet and sent off at the end of the mouth for HQ in Dublin. Of course it’s a whole other problem when you’re short money, but still it’s stress for me. As I do accounts all the pressure is on my to make sure everything is perfect when it comes to payments and receipts. And lately a lot of mishaps seem to happen so there’s extra pressure on me, I’ve been incredibly careful in recording every single thing, but something slipped through the maze again. Very aggravating.

Ah college, how I miss you.

Random Thursday

2011-10-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

It's that day again! Can't say how happy I am that it's nearly weekend again. Just one more hour and I'm out of here, and then just Friday. It's been rather hectic this week, and the commute has gotten to me a bit more than usual, so I've been a bit run-down. Really looking forward to relaxing again and not having to get up at six and rush to catch the train. And I'm going out Saturday night so woohoo drinks! I sure could use one.

Still one day though, so to get us all through it, here's a few cute pictures of dogs. Who doesn't like adorable dog photos, right?? Too sleepy to think of funny remarks on the photos so just sit back and laugh, LAUGH I say!

Not as funny when people do this. Totally freaks me out.

Nothing more amusing than messing with your pet by dressing it up in hilarious ways. Used to do this as a kid. Funniest was when I dressed up the cat in a doll's dress and it was freaking out running around like crazy whilst attempting to get out. Poor cat.

He has a point there.

Huskies: clearly not for lazy people.

And so they don't feel unappreciated, here's some funny cats!

Having both a dog and a cat is the best thing ever, it's so funny watching them interact and mess with each other.

Hope you cracked a smile there, and remember the weekend is near!

Sex talk

2011-10-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

No I’m not going to talk about my sex life (not much to tell for the moment haha). Seeing all those annoying 16 and pregnant or teenage mom shows pass on tv as I zap away, and reading about the high numbers of teen pregnancies in some countries, I’ve been wondering about the importance of educating young people about sex. I know sex is pretty much thrown into our face on tv, and porn is just a google search away, but that doesn’t really teach kids anything about anything that comes along with it, positive and negative.

In Belgium, schools generally have a very good sex-ed programme, the catholic schools perhaps less, but the state-funded public schools are really good. When I was 14 we had a whole week of sex-ed in school, and I really learned a lot. It wasn’t an explanation on how sex works really, but about all the changes in our bodies, there were classes just for the girls and just for the boys, there were classes about how to be safe (I was picked to try to put a condom on a banana, you should have seen my tomato-red face), classes about relationships, STD classes, discussion groups where we could put a question in a jar anonymously and the teacher would answer all of them. I also remember a class where a group of girls and a group of boys had to try and draw the opposite sex’s ‘bits’ on the blackboard. You have no idea how wrong it was :D there was hair in really weird places. But hey, I reckon it’s a good thing to have only a vague idea about the other sex’s ‘special area’ at 14. We also had discussion groups where we would talk about when you think a first time should be, with whom, would you tell your parents, ask them for the pill, use condoms, etc.. I found this week of sex ed to be a great way of educating kids. We never got into detail about the actual deed, just the essentials, what goes where, what happens, it wasn't vulgar or anything. We learned all the things that tv and porn don't teach you, valuable things. I think it made me a lot more open about the subject and it is nice to get all the questions you don't have the guts to ask answered.

It is my belief that educating teenagers like this is the best thing you can do. Will it prevent them from having sex at a young age? Maybe not, but at least there’s a bigger chance they won’t be totally clueless and get knocked up or get an STD because of it. I know not all countries are this open about teaching this subject. Irish schools (in which the church is still very much involved) for example, as I’ve heard from Irish people, tend to avoid the subject of sex, or approach it from a very taboo ‘you shouldn’t be doing this before marriage at all’ angle. I know a lot of schools in some areas of the States have the abstinence-only sex ed angle, and also avoid telling teenagers much about it or how to be safe. Judging from the number of teen pregnancies, this is probably not the best angle. I don’t thinking turning it into this bad taboo thing will make teens any less eager to try it. On the contrary, making things taboo tends to heighten the appeal and the excitement around it, the curiosity tends to get to you. I’m no expert of course, but this is just what I think. If they really have to go and do it, best that they know what the consequences are and how to avoid them. And if you read all the idiotic questions from boys and even men on Yahooanwers, teaching girls and boys about the workings of the other sex’s body is also valuable. Just because you never get a period or get pregnant, doesn’t mean guys should be totally clueless about it and run to the hills every time the subject is mentioned. I think so anyway :D

I’m not a parent, but if you have the courage, I think it also might be a good idea to talk to your kids about intimacy and body changes. Of course, it’s not as easy as it sounds, I would find it incredibly awkward. Some parents are really good at it, I remember friends' mothers who were really open to their daughters about things like that, and talking about it seemed really easy for those friends. My mom once attempted ‘the talk’ at 15 about being safe when the time comes, sadly I ran away shouting ‘aaaah yes fine, bye mom’. I’m not sure if I’d be good at it, but judging from the fact that I really dislike embarrassing situations, probably not. I’m sure there’s easier ways to approach it, but I’ll get to that hurdle when I get to it. But I do think it might be a positive thing to be open to your kids about such subjects. Sex is a great thing, of course you're better off waiting for the right person rather than rushing into it way too young, but it shouldn't be seen as something dirty or forbidden for unmarried couples. Just my two cents :)

New lay-out!

2011-10-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed I decided to give the blog a new look over the weekend. I can tell you, it wasn't as easy as it looks. I really don't know anything about HTML so I must have tried a million things before getting it right, so if you happened to stop by yesterday and everything looked crazy, that was me trying to find a lay-out that worked and didn't make everything go topsy turvy. After much swearing I finally found one that I could work with, and that would allow me to add the new feature of extra tabs with side info on me, so I hope you all like it!

The German colleague is off work for two days so it's been rather hectic here at work this morning, it does get a bit crazy when you have to manage the whole consular section by yourself. And I don't usually do passports so there's the extra stress of trying to figure out passport procedure and not making any mistakes so I don't get yelled at.

Luckily I had a relaxing weekend, nothing overly exciting but the weather was lovely for October which is always nice, as you can pretty much expect it to go to shite very soon. Let's hope it won't be as mental as last winter when we had loads of snow (for Belgium) and it was freezing minus ten and over causing a whole heap of train delays. I ended up going for a walk in a 'forest' with the dogs, it is really rediculously small compared to real forests, but it was very relaxing, I needed some fresh air. I had a lot of fun talking to a certain someone over skype as well over the weekend, but for the moment I'll keep you in the dark about that ;)

Oh and spent the evenings watching Strictly come dancing (accompanied by a bottle of cider), a BBC dancing show I love. I'm probably the only Belgian person watching it, besides my mom, and to his annoyance, my dad sometimes. People don't tend to watch the BBC much here as there are no subtitles. It's a great show, gotta love gorgeous ballroom dresses, dancing and music! Would love to learn how to do couple dancing some day, seems like a lot of fun. And it's always nice to be able to dance properly when you go to an event. Perhaps I should have put that on my 30 before 30 list as well, it would be great to learn.

Anyhoo, hope you like the new look of the blog!

Random Thursday: dating failures

2011-10-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

Another themed Random Thursday! This week it's all about the fails that surround that crazy little thing called love (or lack of).

It's been another long week, so I'm really looking forward to the weekend and getting away from the workplace. I think I need another holiday.

Aaah first times.

Twilight, the new way of brain-washing teenage girls. Might just work!

You just got owned, maths nerd style. Never brag about your giant penis, they're seriously overrated. (I wonder how many hits I'll get just by using the word 'penis' in my blog)

Who says you can't have fun working at a cash register. I seriously need to tell this joke to my friend who works at a pharmacy, she's going to love this. She loves messing with people. She recently told me how a young guy and his girlfriend came in and the guy asked for a box of condoms. My friend responded with '12 or 20?'. The guy proceeded to stare at her in shock and nervously uttered:'cm??' His girlfriend facepalmed.

Being single is so much fun.

Too bad the hottest one is offline.

The babes may be slightly startled when they run their hands through your 'lusious head of hair'. Best not suggest sexy time in the shower.

And to finish, this is for all the girls out there who aren't dating 'the new man'.

Commuting hell!

2011-10-12T02:41:00.000-07:00

Thinking about getting a job that requires you to commute at least an hour? Don't do it, seriously don't. Especially not if you happen to live in Belgium like me. For the past two weeks, every single morning my straight train to Brussels has had delays of at least ten minutes. I've had to change trains in Gent (half-way) about five times in that time period, and this morning again. And to make it worse, after 15 min standing still, 'tumdumdum' the speaker goes "The train's departure is delayed due to problems, next train departing to Brussels on platform 8". Half of the train gets off to go to platform 8 and wait for the next train. After a few minutes we all see how the train we were just on leaves, before the other train even arrives. I can tell you, I wanted to strangle the next railway employee I saw. Luckily, they are very good at hiding away when there's big delays going on.

Ever since the railway split up into three different companies that focus on three different things, everything has gone to hell. Those companies don't communicate properly resulting in the whole train system going bananas and very pissed off commuters. Luckily I have a job where they aren't too fussed if I arrive ten to twenty minutes late, I don't have a train till 6.09 pm and I'm normally finished at 5.30 pm so I stay a little longer every day anyhow, so I need not worry too much about being late. A lot of people work in less flexible places, so you can imagine the rage. Very unpleasant if you're the guy or gal working on the train checking tickets and getting all the 'what the feck is going on now! and the 'I've been delayed a gazillion times already the train suckssuckssucks I want a refund!'. Poor people. Not their fault. But you tend to want to vent and they are the only train personel available to rant against.

I really really hope it gets better soon or I'm going to get a bleeding ulcer from all this stress. My dad actually works in a station so he gets to hear all my nagging about the train sucking when I get home! Almost every week there's a new article in the paper about all the problems, and judging from the angry facebook statuses I'm not the only one having to do this. It really sucks coming home so angry because you just spent an eternity on the train. I used to see it in an ex who commutes, so annoyed that he seemed ready to explode and couldn't relax for a while due to sheer built up frustration. I didn't understand it then, but hell I do now! If it happens all the freaking time, it's not easy to just shrug off the frustration straight away. It's really aggravating if it happens a lot. You're on it long enough as it is. And no matter books or laptops, a train is not the same as sitting in the couch at home relaxing.

Rant over :D

Facebook:the new break-up tool for cowards!

2011-10-10T01:53:00.000-07:00

We've all experienced it probably, or have done it ourselves once upon a time: the cowardly break-up. What is this you say? Well, I'm sure we can all agree that the correct way to break up with someone is to do it in person, no matter how awkward and emotionally messy it is. Sadly, most people don't have the guts to do this and find a tool to hide behind to make it so they don't have to face the other person and feel too guilty about the usual teary result. Especially back in the day, as teenagers, most of us did not have the so-called 'balls' to do this. I for example was once broken up with by note. Yes, by note. By note is pretty much the most childish and idiotic way to break up with someone. Do not do this! We were only 15 at the time, but still, meeting up with someone, handing them a note and then leaving as fast as you can, makes you a giant cowardly asshole.

The more common cowardly break-up is of course by phonecall or even text. Although still not really decent, a phonecall at least allows a person to convey some emotion and you can at least explain yourself a bit. A text is a whole other ballpark, and is to me incredibly rude and unpersonal. "hi I feel different and don't want to date you anymore" is not a good explanation people, at least have the decency to tell the other person what happened, especially if you've been dating for a while. You can't really convey any sort of emotion by text, a :( doesn't help. MSN tends to be similar.

Lately it's come to my attention that there is a whole new way of breaking up in a cowardly way, namely by changing your facebook status from 'in a relationship' to 'single' without even informing the other person. So the way they find out is by randomnly logging into facebook and finding that your other half is now 'single', hint hint. This has got to be the meanest and most jerky way of ending something. It is probably the perfect way not to have to deal with any emotions or other unpleasantness and you don't even have to explain yourself. Luckily, I've never experienced it and it's mostly teenagers who seem to do it, but still, even if it was a short relationship, and you're 16 it doesn't justify being that rude to someone who cares about you or even loves you. It's also out there for all your friends to see, resulting in the usual pleasant 'oh what happened' comments.

The downside of facebook is that you can really make a public mess of things, I've seen actual arguments on people's wall (which I couldn't help but read), the rather obvious hidden meaning statuses, and even the school teasing has now been moved to facebook as well. You can be really nasty on there if you want to be.

When it comes to myself, I once used the phone break-up as a 15-year old, but usually I try to man up and do it in person. Not that I've had to do that much, as I've sadly been mostly the dumpee rather than the dumper. And I can honestly say that every single one of them has used one of the cowardly tools to hide behind. Perhaps you need to have been dumped in such a way a few times yourself before realising that although still a painful mess doing it correctly shows you give a damn a lot more than trying to find the easy way out.

Random Thursday!

2011-10-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

Yup finally a Random Thursday again! No theme this time sadly, as I couldn't think of one, but these pics made me chuckle so I hope it will do the same for you on this dreary autumn Thursday. I could use a chuckle myself as work is very unpleasant at the moment as the boiler is broken due to roof works. Because of this the consular office is like a freezer and we're all (me and the German colleague) huddled up in sweaters. It feels like I'm outside, seriously. It's like five degrees warmer out in the hall. I seriously hope I don't get a giant cold. First stress madness, now this! It never ends! Adultness sucks sometimes.

A little vampire joke in honor of the thousands of hormonal teenage girls who will be racing to the cinema very soon when the new Twilight film comes out. I admit, I caved to reading the books, so I can tell you this is going to be one sick and mental film involving insane breaking the whole room down sex, a pregnancy that doesn't make sense (vampires can't reproduce dammit, get your facts straight Stephenie Meyer!!) and a birth involving a baby biting its way out of the womb. So mothers, perhaps think twice before taking your ten year-old crazy about Edward daughter to this odd piece of cinema.

The 3D sperm must have flown all over the place. Straight under her skirt and panties! Poor gullible husband.

I hope you weren't in the middle of lunch :D The after photo must have been damn hilarious :D

Epic teacher response !

Ah this reminds me of my first pc who never failed to completely get stuck and drove me mental with anger.

Always look at what's wrong with yourself before looking at others.

Typical moms. Had to write a whole step by step manual for my mom on how to use MSN.

Hide yo' kids!

The sad truth. Luckily alcohol makes everything look better!

Stressed out already!

2011-10-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

Sadly my post-holiday relaxation buzz did not last long. It's been incredibly stressful here at work and it's already completely bringing me down. The accounts have been very complicated and confusing lately, and as I'm the one in charge, I have to take the fall for every little mistake made. Be it mine or not. I have to be on top of every single thing, and even though it sounds easy, some things do go by unspotted and cause a hassle. It's a very small embassy, so there really is no way to share the load.
So you can imagine, I'm under a lot of pressure, and being put under the radar is far from amusing. I hope, pray, whatever, that everything goes smoothly this month.

Relaxy time is definitely over for sure. Sometimes I wish I was still in college. You can say with you want about exams sucking, but life was a lot more easy-going back then. You tend to only realise it afterwards though sadly! I miss the vacations, going for drinks in the Irish pub during gap hours, seeing my friends nearly every day, and still having the hope that I'd have a job that suits my diploma perfectly!

Those were the days!

I'm back!

2011-09-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I'm back from Spain! Well I was back yesterday, but I only came home in the middle of the night, so I was too poofed to blog, so now that I have a few free minutes here at work I thought I'd let you all now that I've made it back in one piece!

Spain was great, although as I suspected very very hot. It was thirty degrees and over every day, but thanks to the amazing power of factor 50+ sunblock I managed to not get burned! But the sun had her revenge by making me burst out in freckles. It's actually fairly warm here in Belgium too at the moment, 25ish degrees, so at least the temperature change wasn't too drastic!

The best part of the trip was catching up again with our old high school friend. Her husband had blindfolded her when we arrived, so surprising her was great fun and she was very happy it was us coming to visit her! We used to have such a great laugh together in high school, so hanging out with her was definitely the highlight of the trip. We didn't lie around too much, we went to see a whole lot of places, the Alcazaba fortress in Almeria was gorgeous, the natural park Cabo de Gata was very impressive and we also went to Mini Hollywood in the Tabernas desert, where a lot of famous westerns were filmed. That was one of my favourite excursions, as I'm a big moviefan and I love things from the past. There was a zoo added to it as well, and I always love to go to the zoo. And my favourite moment was getting old time (in sepia colour) photos taken in an epoque dress. They turned out really nice! Haven't scanned them yet, but I will definitely do so and show them to you all as they are pretty much my favourite photos of me now!

I can't get on my picture storage space here at work, but I will definitely add some photos tonight when I get back, so you can all get a glimpse of how great it is over there and how much fun I had! Am glad to get out of the heat a bit though, I managed to bear it well but it was really starting to get to me towards the end! Thank god I had my precious white pashmina to wrap around my head and my sunglasses :D Helped with the worst of it! And I'm also glad to finally be able to talk to someone I'd missed over the week again! But all in all, a lot of fun was had. Being back at work fairly sucks as it's mad busy, but hey, I've got something fun to look forward to in a little over a month, so it's not too bad to be back :)

UPDATE: some photos! click for full view!

Holidaaaay!

2011-09-20T06:28:00.000-07:00

So excited, just can't hide it tudutututuu. Yes the day has finally arrived, tomorrow I'm finally on holiday! First holiday since December 13 and lordy lord do I need one! I'm completely drained and need to recharge some place relaxing and just have some fun before throwing myself back into the work place.
As you all know by now, I'm going to the south of Spain with two friends (and as one of them is married, a husband) to surprise our secondary school classmate Romina, who has been living there for the past few years.

Sadly Romina's mother has spilled some of the beans! You mothers can never keep a secret can you! She now knows a bunch of girls are coming, from Belgium. She doesn't know who but she's facebook stalking everyone for clues. So better not post anything celebratory or she'll know right away. Just typical that right before we go she finds out someone's coming! But on the bright side, now her husband can come and pick us all up from the airport. We're flying Ryanair, which is cheap but the owner is a bit of an asshole who will cut back in any way possible (he even suggest standing seats at one point!!). It means the airport is way out, and not close to the city at all. So having someone to pick is up is very convenient, as we're not renting a car. We also have to be really careful that the suitcase doesn't weigh over 15 kg, that's their limit. It's 40 euro per suitcase, which is fairly rediculous. Good thing it's really hot there, so I'm not bringing much more than a bikini and summer dresses!

WOOHOO! HOLIDAY! As you can tell, I'm in the vacation spirit already. 8 days off work, and lots of sunshine! Too much sunshine probably, factor 50 sunblock is packed and ready! Now I just need a big hat to protect my glaring hair from the sun, as I hate the feeling of the sun burning on my head. I'm not planning to care too much though, as I want to enjoy every minute. Also can't wait to see our old friend Romina again, it's been like a million years when we were still teenagers in school giggling away. Now she's happily married and living where she always dreamed of living, lucky girl she is! I'm sure we'll all have a great time catching up. And she has 7!! dogs, all recues, sadly Spain is not the most animal-friendliest of places, and there are a lot of strays. My friend can't stand the sight of it and has taken in way too many dogs. But I'm going to have a lot of fun meeting all those dogs! My friend Lori who's allergic, may find it less fun :p

Anyhoo, sadly I probably won't be able to make it online until I get back, so you'll have to miss me for a week! I'll be back before you know it though, with an extra long posts hopefully full of fun Spain pictures!

Have a great week everyone, I know I will :)

I'll be right there in that green bit!

Random Thursday: WTF photos

2011-09-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

The last Random Thursday before my vacation! HOORAY! Sadly, next week you'll have to do without my weekly Thursday cheer-up photos, as I'll be in the south of Spain wearing sundresses, eating ice-cream and drinking cocktails with big umbrellas in them. Sorry, just too excited not to rub it in! Waited a looong time to get a vacation!
Ok this Random Thursday I stumbled upon a funny website called explainthisimage.com. It's filled with weird photos that don't make sense whatsoever and is really good entertainment for when bored at work. So do check it out if you are one of those bored people.

America is making damn sure their soldiers have everything they need. Hey, they get lonely you know.

Spiderman, spiderman, does whatever a spiderman can. Also includes ostrich riding.

Stag party: you're doing it right.

Not what you had in mind when you asked granny for a more original baby hat.

Sometimes it's understandable why people don't give a helping hand anymore.

Bath time in Siberia.

Jesus is starting to regret his long-awaited return.

Hope you had a laugh, and remember, weekend is near!

Ready for love

2011-09-14T05:59:00.000-07:00

So when do you know if you’re ready for someone new? As teenagers getting over things seemed a lot easier. You’re hurt for a week or two, shed a lot of tears, but then a charming boy comes along and you get up and are off again on the ‘rollercoaster of looove’.

As you get older, relationships get more serious and longer, and there’s actually a real possibility at that point that that guy you’re with is the guy you’ll end up getting in that big white dress for. You dream, you plan, and then splat. It happens to a lot of us sadly, not everyone meets prince charming in college, ends up marrying him and spending the rest of your life with him and never have to experience having your heart shoved through a grinder by the person you love. Most of us do. But where do you go from there? After years of being with one person, do you just pack up and jump on the next train? I’d advise against that personally. Although spending months and months pining away isn’t exactly the way to go either. At one point you really do have to let go and move on, or you’ll just end up bitter and lonely.

From experience, I can say it’s good to sit back for a moment, shed the necessary tears, get really angry, and reflect on what exactly happened and was done to you, think if you don’t deserve better. If after all that you still find yourself in love with the man or woman who stomped you and still consider them to be ‘the one’, then you probably shouldn’t jump on the relationship bandwagon yet. Some heartaches take longer to get over than others, but sometimes you just have to give yourself that time if you want your next relationship to be a happy and great one. Don’t just give in to someone just because you feel desperately lonely. It’s better to be alone than end up being hurt again by a random jerk who flirted with you or find yourself in an awkward situation where you realise it was just a rebound thing.

Luckily, at one point you’ll know you’ve been sad enough and that all hope is not yet lost in finding that elusive ‘one’. And you’ll realise that you haven’t thought about whoever came before in a long while. Being single for a while is not so bad, sometimes 'me-time' is actually what you need. At one point, usually when you're not really expecting it, someone will catch your eye and visa versa. So when you get those fluttering feelings again for someone and find yourself thinking about that person and feeling excited, nervous and hopeful, just go for it. It’s time to start taking a chance again.

It costs how much now??

2011-09-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

Just had a little look at a website showing places for rent in Gent, and wow, I think I might have to lower my expectations of a place of my own a bit. It's shocking how little you get for a lot of money. As Gent is a student city, most of the cheaper ones are for students only, the ones that are left are a mere 30 square metres, dark, and usually with a horrid bathroom. Having spent 4 years in a claustrophic student room in Gent I had hoped my future place would be at least big enough so that I wouldn't have the feeling of being faced with a wall every time I turn. Sometimes they are sneaky too, you see ooh 350 euro a month and not the size of a cupboard! but when you look closely, oh, 100 euro extra costs per month for electricity /water/gas.

The more expensive ones, which is 420 and over (without the extra costs, which are usually at least another 20 euro)are usually a lot nicer, although often very outdated (typical for Gent, the prices of run down buildings are outrageous). Seems to me the world is not made for a girl on her own! I earn a good living, but if I have to pay nearly 500 euro rent a month, and then still pay for the average living costs, that's just way way too much. I have a feeling I'll be looking for a while longer before I find anything that won't cost me an arm and a leg.

Hell no

2011-09-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

I've always been a bit of a pushover. The main reason being that I'm just too nice and I live to please. I can't stand dissapointing or hurting people, and I hate arguments. I hate arguments so much that I've often been the person saying sorry first, even though I really wasn't the one who was supposed to say that. I've shrugged off unacceptable and even mean behaviour by trying to find a valid reason for it or just not wanting to stand up and say I'm not having this, just out of worry that someone might shout at me.

Now however, I've had it up to here (see baby for reference) and have decided to man up and grow some balls (figuratively speaking of course :p) and will no longer take crap from people. I have no intention of starting to be a mean and bitchy person and get into shouting matches, I still hate fighting. But on the other hand, I'm no longer just going to swallow and take it (lots of sexual metaphors in this post!). Time to stand up to all the gobshites in the world and let them know, this little redhead has uncorked the bottle, no more keeping things in and no more doormat.

I'm still sweet as pie though! If you're nice to me ;)

Enjoy your weekend people! Against all odds, it's supposed to be 26 degrees tomorrow, so I'll be in the garden with my drink enjoying the last sunny days in Belgium! They'll be all gone by the time I get back from Spain.

Random Thursday: meanwhile in..

2011-09-08T02:58:00.000-07:00

Random Thursday is back. As a fervent hater of Thursday, too many workdays had already and still too far from the weekend, I feel we all need a little extra cheering up on this unpleasant day of the week. Hence, just for you, I try to find some funny photos to put a smile and your faces and make your day a little less boring.
This week some more country stereotypes, we all love to mock others don't we? But we also need to be able to mock ourselves, because really, there's people who make you want to facepalm in every country.

Sexy. Guys with oompa loompa tans, duckfaces and who point their finger in a wannabe cool way, really make me weak in the knees.

If you can't afford a trailer. Improvising: you're doing it right.

This one cracked me up. Putin, extra tough.

For all those ladies out there who have a big fetish for monkeys with giant testicles. This outfit will make for one special night.

Checking the tickets on Indian trains. And you think your job sucks.

This man freaking loves America.

Living in the city of sin does have its disadvantages.

St Paddy's day: it's going to be a loooong night.

When you really love animals.

Vacationing in Canada in winter, perhaps not the best idea.

Yup, we STILL don't have a government here. We're going for the world record.

Australia, not as scary as you think.

Sleighing Russian style.

German warfare anno 2011

Hope you enjoyed! The weekend is close, try to survive the day.

Time to start moving out

2011-09-06T03:21:00.000-07:00

I'm officially fed up with the long commute. I've been travelling by train for four hours every day since I started working in Brussels last December. It's been a long nine months, and although I have gotten used to the train journeys, it does make the working day very very long. I get up at ten past six, take the train at seven and don't get home till 20.15 in the evening. That's a long day. There is barely anything of the evening left when I get home, it's starting to feel like my whole life is about work right now and that's just not how I roll.
So now that I've had all this time to save up a lot I'm thinking it's time to start looking for my own place, closer to work, so I can leave and get home at a decent hour.

I know in the States the idea of still living at home at 24 is crazy. It isn't over here in Europe. Of course I had my place whilst in college, although I did go home every weekend usually, as most people did. But after college, I of course did not have the money to go and live on my own straight away. I don't know how you do it over there. Combining college with work was not a viable option, Russian was not easy peasy to study, so I really did not have the time to start working then already. It also took me a while to find a job, the current status of the economy isn't too great as you all know, and every time I went on a job interview I got the eventual answer of 'we're really looking for someone with more experience'. So frustrating. But luckily, after many months and some short time jobs, I got a permanent job, but sadly in Brussels. Which is a long way away from the coast, where I live.

Living at home whilst working is a really great way to save up some money and that is what I did. Also, I never really liked living by myself too much. Alone is only alone, I always enjoy having someone around. But as I'm now totally sick of the train, I decided I've saved up plenty now and will be perfectly able to find a small place to rent and furnish it. I've decided on Gent, it's still a good half hour away from Brussels, but that's nothing compared to the two hours + a ten minute car ride I have to do now. Also, I studied in Gent so I know the place very well, which is really handy. And I have some friends there, which will help with the by myselfness, so hence the choice for Gent and not a place I'd never been and don't know anyone, closer to Brussels.

I've decided to start looking when I get back from Spain. So fingers crosses I find something nice! Preferably cheap, not too small, with lots of light and a balcony or courtyard so I can at least sit outside on sunny days. Time to grow up some more!

Goodbye to summer!

2011-09-02T02:58:00.000-07:00

September at last! Only three more weeks and I finally get a holiday! Was about freaking time, 8 months working here and barely took a single day off. So vacation is very much needed. Can't wait to get on that plane and spent a whole week away from work, Belgium and everyone in it. Spain should be great, good hotel, pool, lovely ancient city to see, numerous cocktails to drink and big breakfasts to eat, what could be better! I'm hoping it won't be too hot, but judging from the medium temperature in that area in late September, it should be just under 30 degrees. Rather hot, but nothing unbearable, so that's great! Finally I can have some bikini time! Haven't had a swim all summer, so looking forward to that!

So in summary, what exciting things happened during my summer? Feck all, that's what! Another uneventful summer! Sure, had some great nights out and a few fun weekends, but that's pretty much it in my life at the moment. This has got to change! 2011 is not turning out to be a lot beter than 2010, which was a crap year. But there's still some months left, so who knows, might find a way to turn the year around! A lot can happen in four months, that's for sure. At least I already have a few fun and exciting things to look forward to in that time, so that's a start. I'll take it from there :)!

Finally Friday today, has been a long week! Tonight I'm going to relax and have me a good glass of cider, or several if I'm in the mood! Could use a little alcohol buzz. Don't we all sometimes ;)!

Hope you all have a good weekend, and here's to a great winter.

My car was keyed part freaking two!

2011-08-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

So a good few weeks ago I told you all about my car being keyed, resulting in two nasty scratches on the passenger door. Clearly keying my car once wasn't enough for those feckers, yesterday they bloody went and did it again!
I was driving home when I noticed a note under my windshield wipers. When I got home I took it out and it was from the police. It said that they had noticed the damage on my car and if I want to press charges to come to the station. They called at my house a little later, to ask if I had received the note and if I could come in to the station to file complaint. Apparently my car wasn't the only one being keyed and the cops have been checking the parking place out, and they noticed my car was damaged as well. If they catch the culprits and I filed complaint I might get damages, which would be good. Sadly, I really doubt they'll be able to catch the assholes, as the police can't very well hang out there all day long waiting for someone to key some cars.

I bet it was just some punk kids with nothing better to do hanging around the station, who will probably be starting school again this week and they'll never get caught. I was seriously pissed off as those scratches are fairly deep and really visible, and the car is only five years old, so I probably will want to sell it at some point in the future. Might be hard with all those scratches.
You can imagine I wanted to kill someone when I saw it. Who does that!! And then I had the lovely suprise of a giant insurance bill for the car, which arrives yearly, which didn't help with the annoyed mood!

Owning a car is turning out to be a big pain in the ass! Sorry for all the swearing, but I'm surrounded by Irish people here at work, and well, they tend to swear a lot :D.

Anyway, I seriously hope they'll be able to catch the guys who did it, they sure as hell deserve getting punished. And getting those scratched fixed is simply too expensive to pay for myself. Good thing it's only a Citroen C3 and a second hand one, can't imagine how pissed off someone owning a fancy new car would be seeing those scratches.

Defeating the blues

2011-08-29T02:03:00.000-07:00

As many people out there, I've been through some really unpleasant things which resulted in low self- confidence and bad coping mechanisms. I guess sometimes you just don't have an outlet for whatever you're feeling, can't possibly think of a way to cheer yourself up which can't lead to anything good. Luckily, having left the hormonal mess of teenage years behind me, I'm now far better at coping with things that upset me or with bouts of feeling unhappy with myself.

Things I found that are generally not a good idea is sit in your room/house by yourself wallowing in whatever's bothering you. Sitting in the couch stuffing yourself with chocolate/cake/ice cream whilst singing 'All by myself' in tears, is generally not the way to go either. Although I can understand that during certain moments you do not want to listen to 'sunshine lollypops and rainbows'. Alone film watching can be detrimental as well, as it usually leads to wallowing as well and bursting in tears whenever something emotional comes up. If you're going to watch a film, action-filled films with lots of special effects are probably the best choice. Or perhaps really scary films, you'll be too busy freaking out and hiding behind your tub of ice-cream in fear, to be sad.

Helpful is not being alone. Even if it's going down to watch tv with your parents, it will distract you and at the end of the evening you might find you feel a lot more in control of yourself. If you have close friends, ring them, if they're willing to cheer you up. Don't keep talking about whatever's bothering you, change the conversation to something more cheerful, there's nothing more helpful than having a laugh I find.
Although tempting, getting totally wasted may not be the answer either, you might possibly regret it in the morning. Although I must admit, I sometimes do turn to sweet numbing kiss of alcohol when in dire need. Just remember when to stop before you throw up all your sorrows, or start acting like a crazy person like my friend the other week there.

And in times of need I always find treating yourself is a good way of boosting the old confidence. Get that outfit you secretly wanted but don't really need, but makes you feel like a million dollars (or euro). Get some sexy lingerie, even if there's currently nobody in your life to enjoy it, I find it gives me a boost just wearing it for me too. Or anything else that you'd love to get. Of course this is not something you can do every week, but once in a while it's fun to indulge a little after you've had some sand kicked in your face, as Queen would say.

I know when times get really tough, even those things don't help and you still end up becoming a total wreck. Just try and remember, Annie was right, the sun will come out tomorrow. Even if tomorrow isn't actually tomorrow. Good things will come along again and you'll come out better and stronger. Don't lose hope that certain things won't happen for you, unless you're 100 years old and on your deathbed, anything can still happen.

Random Thursday: LOL edition

2011-08-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

This is for that special person who, although not a fan of cats, brightens my day with situation suited Lolcats! Here are a few photos of cats that may confirm your suspicion that they are in fact evil and out to get you.

You cannot hide.

Don't bother running either.

This guy always cracks me up. Gotta love gigantic ginger cats.

There is no pleasing some cats. I had a cat once, only for a short while sadly as he dissapeared suddenly after a year. His name was Woody. He was a fat felix like cat, who loved to sleep, eat, and pound the door in the middle of the night to get in again. He would only eat the most expensive cat food, for everything else he turned up his nose and left. Ah kitties..

Not all cats are evil however! Exceptions do exist, but I wouldn't count on them frightening away burglers.

In case your rolling around thinking "dear god not lolcats again!", this cat agrees with you.

I'm happy to announce there is now also Loldogs, for the doglovers out there. Although I do love a cuddly kitty, I love dogs the most, as I've always had one at home growing up. And these pictures show, that dogs can be just as crazy as cats.

Used to love the Neverending Story. What was that dragon/dog creature's name again?

Huskies have the best facial expressions, I've never seen such a look of derision on a dog :D

This one had me lolling for a while! Although I'm really really not a fan of chihuahuas. Don't really know what the giant hype is all about. They're yappy, tend to dislike other dogs and any other person beside their owner, are rather mean and really any dog that's smaller than a cat and looks more like a big hamster, isn't really my thing.

haha huskies are the best. Really amazing dogs. Have you seen the video of that talking husky on youtube, who says 'I love you', totally hilarious. They're not for everyone though, they need a lot of training and have a lot of personality. If you don't exercise them enough they'll eat your house.

Again, priceless.

And to end , the eternal struggle between cat and dog. It's not always the dog who's boss, heck, it's usually the cat. They like having their way!

Hope you enjoyed the cat and dog overdose :)!

Lordy lord I am bored

2011-08-24T08:09:00.000-07:00

Still at work right now, one more hour to go before I'm out of here. I can tell you, today was slooooow. I think I preferred my colleague being on leave, at least I could always find something to do then, but now she's back and there really isn't enough to do to fill a 9 to 17.30 time frame! It's not always this slow thankfully, it was absolute madness right before summer, but now it's just unbelievably dull.

Let me give you an idea of what my day was like.

Productive things I've done today:

Answered some phone calls from people inquiring about visas and passports

Some people came in to the consular section today, about four for visas, the rest for passports. As my colleague insists she does all the passport things, even when she's busy doing something, I always have to call her instead of helping her out by dealing with it myself.

Answered a handful of queries by e-mail

Refunded a colleague for postage costs and entered the receipts into the accounting program

That is all.

Unproductive things I did today:

Checked hotmail a few times, wrote e-mails to a few people

Read some new blog posts

Had tea and ate some cake my dad made (very good btw, go dad!)

Read funny websites (Izismile, not always right, failbook, regretsy (50 pages!), passive aggressive notes..)

Sneakishly tried to read a book while colleague was in the back

Wrote this post after realising I still had a whole hour to go

Hope this gives a little semblance of how dreary my day was. On top of it, it's again utterly silent here since colleague came back from leave (she would not approve of background music) and she's huffing and puffing away and clearly in a mood again. I'd ask her if there's anything I can do to help her out with the passport work (as there's generally more work for that then visas, and the accounts are already up to date so far-accounts generally don't get busy and complicated till posting time at the end of the month). Sadly, knowing her ways a little by now, I know she'd probably comment something along the likes of 'I can do my job thank you very much.'

Hope the work picks up soon, as days like days really drive me crazy. I'd rather be really busy running around doing stuff, than just sitting here all day long while my muscles turn to mush and my brain ceases to function out of boredom.
I'm starting to think this may not be THE job for me, but as I'm only just starting out in working life, I guess there might be other opportunities for me in the future.

Great, now only 40 more minutes to go until I can walk to the station and sit down again for another two hours. Certain parts of me will become numb with all this sitting down. I need some exercise!

Life sure seems uneventful and dull at this moment, let us hope there's some excitement to be had in the future.

The crappiest summer ever!

2011-08-23T02:25:00.000-07:00

Supposedly the last two weeks of August the summer we've all been waiting for here would finally make an appearance. Well, the fact that I'm in jeans and a jumper at this very moment clearly proves that the weatherman was once again wrong. Also we just had this giant storm this morning, flooding the ground floor of the building. It's weather madness galore in Belgium! Luckily the storm has gone now, but damn this morning was rather scary. I arrived late already because lightning had hit the power lines and the train had to go slower than usual. And when I got to work the sky went really dark and it started pouring down like it was monsoon season. We can't use the elevators either because water poured down in it from the roof. We're at the highest floor, fun! And the entrance to the building is closed because of the little flood there, so no people are coming in. Hence I'm totally bored. Good thing the rain stopped though, I was starting to worry.

It looks like I won't have a proper summer until I go to Spain next month. Hooray! Only one more month until I finally get a holiday. I can tell you, after 8 months of working I really really really need a break! After I get back perhaps I'll even plan another little trip, as I still have quite a bit of leave left.
But first things first. Spain should be nice and warm, but bearable hopefully as its late September, so lots of sundresses and bikini time and drinking cocktails. Ah I can't wait! And I can't wait to see my old friend again after so many years, it will be so much fun. She still has no idea so it will be hilarious to see her expression when she sees all of us.

Just a little longer and I'll be in this situation!

Ok fine I won't be, I'm a ghost and I burn like a crisp. I'll be the one under the giant umbrella covering myself with multiple layers of sunblock. But I'll have a cocktail in hand!

Inspirational Monday

2011-08-22T03:30:00.000-07:00

Whether you are thinking about someone you love or used to love, times spend with family or friends, or places you've seen, I always find it's the little things that may not sound very special to other people that you remember most clearly. To me it's little things like laughing so hard you cry, long phonecalls with friends, someone's arms around you, sweet words whispered in your ear, a first kiss with someone special.. that make life worth living.
Grand epic moments are great, but those don't come along very often. Find happiness in the little things, those are the things that will put a smile on your face at the end of the day.

Freak storm at Belgian music festival

2011-08-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of Random Thursday yesterday, but I was still a bit unwell and all my energy was going into just trying to do my job and hold on until the end of the day! Feeling better now thanks to the medicine, although it's quite busy here at work so not much time to rest up! Luckily, it's Friday.

People outside of Europe might not have heard this, but yesterday there was a horrible storm during a music festival here in Belgium, killing five people and injuring many, 8 severely. I couldn't believe it when I heard about it, a storm like that in Belgium? I never heard of the like. I knew the festival (called Pukkelpop, very popular) was starting yesterday, I saw a lot of people on their way there on the morning train. 50.000 people were attending, so it's quite a big festival. Yesterday the weather started out lovely, sun was out, but they predicited it would turn around and there would be a thunderstorm. Nothing to worry about, thunderstorms happen, it's cold and wet, but people generally don't die.
But this thunderstorm sure was something different. And the sad part is, it only was that bad in a few places, so it was a really unhappy coincidence that it happened to strike so hard just over the field where the festival was.
From what I've read, it suddenly started raining really hard around 18.15, monsoon-like hard, the sky turned dark; rain was pouring with buckets and the was a whirlwind you couldn't believe (for Europe anyway!). It also started hailing, giant chunks of hail, really sharp. A lot of people got injured and were bleeding just from the hail. This is a picture someone took of such a chunk:

People started running away from the stages, as the roofs of the big tents started tearing and falling to pieces, pieces of equipment were falling down on top of people, trees were falling down, it was total chaos, everyone was totally surprised by a storm of this magnitude. Meanwhile in the camping area, the same thing was happening, the whole place was flooding under, tents were flying off, people were trying desperately to find some type of shelter.
These pictures might convey some of the horror:

The storm died down pretty quickly, it lasted only twenty minutes but the aftermath was fairly shocking to many people. There had been as much rain in twenty minutes as usually falls in a whole month. Some people got hit on the head by branches and stage material, and didn't survive, or were awfully injured by spikes piercing them. All rather gruesome for people to see. As you can imagine, parents watching the news on tv were freaking out trying to contact their kids. But the phone connection was really bad and people couldn't reach their family to let them know they were ok. Also there was a 300km long traffic jam on the motorways due to the heavy rain, it was impossible to drive in it.
I know in America there have been some horrible storms this year, killing many people, but for Europe this is really unusual, this just doesn't happen here. So this is a big tragedy for people. And as there were 50.000 people suddenly wanting to get home as soon as possible, you can imagine the chaos on the road and in the stations.
I hadn't really noticed the storm, an hour before I left it suddenly got really dark and it was raining really really hard, but it was over in half an hour. And back home by the coast there was just some rain, nothing abnormal. So I was fairly shocked when my mom told me what happened. Luckily, the few people I know went there are fine.

A lot of non-Belgians were at the festival as well, also Irish, so I had my fair share of phonecalls today. And I'm still practically alone here so I really had to do my best to inform people as well as possible. Some parents hadn't heard from their kids yet due to phone issues or their kid wanted to fly home now instead of the Monday, but couldn't and where should they stay and so on. Luckily I was able to tell them that no Irish people died or were badly injured, so that was helpful at least. A lot of people who couldn't get home got offered a free place to still until they could get home so that was great. The night of the event, a lot of random people who lived nearby offered free lodgings in their house for the night as many young people had no place to sleep as their tent had flown off and the camping site was now a field of mud. So people really stepped up, which is great to hear. There are still a lot of kind people out there willing to help strangers after all.

Still, a sad day for Belgium and for the Pukkelpop festival, which is of course cancelled now. Let's hope weather like this won't become more common, because it's really scary.

RIP

100!

2011-08-17T03:39:00.000-07:00

This is my one hundreth post! I can't believe I've written so many already! Time sure has gone quick since I started this little blog of mine. I must say I still enjoy it. It kind of has a therapeuthical effect, although I generally don't go the emotional word vomit way, it still has a positive effect on my mood. Especially when I get lovely comments from all you guys! Thanks for that, it's great to know that someone out there actually reads what I have to say!

I'm back at work here, second day only as Monday was a bank holiday. Ah how I love long weekends. Although this weekend was rather unpleasantly eventful. It also had some annoying consequences! I seem to have overexerted my back when dragging my half conscious friend around. And yesterday, having to sit on my really crappy desk chair all day long, I got to feel the full effects of it. It hurts damn a lot. I have weak back muscles you see, I'm a frail girl who clearly can't do any lifting whatsoever or my back will erupt in flames. Gentle exercising as swimming is supposed to help build up strength, but sadly (and lazy) I don't get around to it, and I imagine sitting on the train and at work, has turned my muscles to mush. So now I have to pay for it, with what probably is another lumbago (had it twice before). If you don't know what a lumbago is, it's the beginning of a hernia (you can prevent it going that far though!) and it's basically your back muscles being inflamed as hell, making every movement extremely painful.
I didn't sleep very well I must say, and the pain is very tiring. I'm taking Ibuprofen now to stop the inflammation, just took one, and it's starting to ebb away again thankfully. It generally comes back in an hour or three. But I've taken three so far, so hopefully one or two more will kill the inflamation.

So all in all, not the best week! I'm in serious need of some comfort, pampering and back rubs. But I'm afraid chocolate will have to do! And ice-cream. Looking forward to a painless weekend, with lots of sun (finally, what a crap summer it's been!) and some getting out of town. Totally sick of spending all my time in the same place, I want to go somewhere! Not going anywhere special, just some place nice not too far, where I can take some nice pictures, something I do enjoy.

Until then, I'll just have to try and get through this week!

Inspirational Monday

2011-08-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Because sometimes we can't think of the right words to express a feeling.

Sometimes you have to stop listening to what other people think, sometimes you even have to stop listening to that rational voice inside your head. Some things are worth throwing caution to the wind for. Every now and then, you just have to step off of the safe road and live a little.

What a night

2011-08-14T02:39:00.000-07:00

Normally I don't post during the weekend very often, but I had such an awful and eventful night out that I could not wait to share it with you and get it out of my system a little bit.
A friend from primary school, who I got back in touch with after encountering her at the hairdresser, asked me to go to the Paulus festival in Oostende. Oostende is a city by the coast, a good twenty minute's drive from where I love. Now, it's slightly dodgy there, and I like to think of it as the Bronx of Flanders, which is not a compliment.
I've been out with her before there about two times, and while it was an ok night, it was never really my scene there. But this weekend it was the Paulus festival there, so I figured that might be nicer! She's not really a close friend, as I hadn't seen her for years and years before we got back and touch, but she seemed cool still, and we were good friends as little girls. So I thought it would be nice to get to know each other again and have a new someone to go out with.

Sadly, as I anticipated, she didn't want to leave for Oostende on the tram till eleven o'clock, and it's a 45 min tramride. I really don't understand how you'd want to set out that late, but anyway, I'd promised I'd go with her so I went. But of course I also realised the festival would be pretty much over by then, and that she had no intention at all to go there, but just wanted to go drink in those dodgy clubs again. I suspect the festival was a ruse to get me to come, as she knows Oostende is not my favourite place to be at night. How were we going to get back you say? Well, as trams stop after midnight, she had told me a guy friend of hers would drive us back. He had driven us home before, and I vaguely remember he was a really fast driver. So I made sure I had my phone on me, in case I would have to ask dad to come to my aid.
Sadly, it did come to that! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Ok so we went to this really strange club at first, where the music was incredibly loud, louder than I've ever experienced, it was unbelievable! I had a glass of wine, and a half, she had two + half of my second which she thought I wasn't drinking fast enough. Sorry if I don't drink my wine like a shot, like she did. Seeing her do that already gave me a suspicion that this night might turn out ugly. And my female intuition was right! When we got to the second bar, I told her to get a coke, as she was getting quite drunk. She got another wine instead. I wasn't really sober anymore at this point, just tipsy, but I soon had enough of drinking! She started having this emotional conversation with some dude outside, leaving me there standing awkwardly, then she had an emotional conversation with some girl she used to work with.
Then she grabbed my arm to leave (I had to hurry in to get our coats as she would have just forgotten) as she wanted to find this Ukrainian dude she liked who was in a different club. At this point she was waggling down the street, had to hold her arm so she wouldn't fall. I asked her if I should call my dad to take us home, as she was clearly too drunk already. She said nono I want to stay, I want that guy.

She made me call that Ukrainian guy, very awkward, asked him where he was as my friend wanted to find him. We then proceeded, wobbily, to another club where this guy was. Luckily he was very nice (knowing Russian helped), told him she was drunk and sorry to ring as she insisted. At this point I had rung my dad, as the situation was getting out of hand and she couldn't utter a decent sentence anymore, and he was on his way to get us. I managed to drag her out of the club to the street, as my dad would soon be there. She then needed to pee, and ran down this underground car park to find a toilet. I waited for a while, no sign of her. I then went down to find her, couldn't at first, had to talk to a group of stoners to ask them if they saw a girl.

I then found her. She had tumbled down some stairs, her shoes were off, she had peed somewhere random. I got her up and her shoes on, told her my dad had arrived now, and it was time to go home and get to bed. (although I did worry about her ability to not puke in my dad's car) She refused to go, wanted to find that Ukrainian dude again. I told her over and over, we're going home right now, my ride is here, and I'm leaving and she needed to come with me. She didn't want to, dragging her along did not help. I ran to my dad's car to tell him she didn't want to come, he told me to just let her be then and come home myself. I did not like doing this, tried one more time, running back, to get her to come, but she just didn't want to. I told her to call her ex, the guy friend who she thought might drive us, and ask him to get her home then if she didn't want to come with me. She still didn't, said she'd get home. Went back to the car, dad said just go, if she refuses, you can't make her. So we left.

That Ukrainian guy then called telling me she had called him, asked me if she was with me. I said no I'm going home, but can you please check up on her. He said he would. When I got home he called again; saying he rang her again and a guy had picked up the phone, her ex. So luckily, it seems she did have the sense to ring him, who I know is a decent guy who cares for her and would get her home. Felt relieved then, felt bad that I couldn't get her to get into the car.

Am slightly angry too though, for her stupid behavior, dragging me to all those messed up places, not listening to me at all, and for just not being a friend at all! One thing's for sure, I'm not going out in Oostende again!

What a godawful night.

Random Thursday: internet people

2011-08-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

Internet, ah the invention that changed the world. It's so convenient and allows us to be in touch with loved ones far away, look up things in a heartbeat, and it provides ample entertainment when bored. Sadly, it has a lot of downsides as well.

Take chatroulette for example, a website I'd advise all you to never go on unless you want to see a bunch of hairy old men wanking. Not quite the turn-on you were looking for :p Sadly a lot of kids end up there. If I have kids some day, I'll bloody well be blocking any sites like that. The things you hear sometimes are quite scary. Here are a few examples of what chatroulette is all about!

The ability to mess with people on there is pretty alluring though, look at that guy's face :D

At least he's being honest eh :p

This guy has me rolling on the floor laughing, his blog is on www.27bslash6.com, and every single entry had me in stitches. Check it out if you like a laugh!

He's the most sarcastic guy in the world.

A fine example of what you'll be encountering on that site!

Too funny

And noow, facebook. Ah Facebook, the biggest peeping tom out there. You can say what you want, but we're all secretly on it to spy on friends and random people you know. 'Guess what I read on facebook!' is the new opening line for gossips. Also, it's a golden opportunity to find out how stupid many people really are.

Lesson one, don't leave your facebook open anywhere.

Lesson two: don't add your parents.
Lesson three: don't post sex stuff in your status, TMI people!

Real smart this one. What an idiot.

Lesson four: think before you post your status

Ah that Jesus.

And last but not least, yahooanswers.com! THE place for stupid questions. Behold:

Of course it's often too tempting not to mess with people.

This is exactly why sex ed should be part of the curriculum :p

And a hilarious comeback to blatant racism on Omegle!

Hope you had a laugh and have a great weekend all!

Don't drunk dial the embassy

2011-08-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

Just after lunch today I had my first extremely awkward phonecall. I had a French man on the phone who was ,after hearing him speak a few sentences, obviously drunk out of his mind. I could barely understand a word he was saying, he wasn't making much sense, and no matter what I said he kept going on and on and got more mumbly by the second. What I got from the conversation was that he wanted an Irish flag.
I quickly realised that if I didn't blow off this guy soon I would be on the phone with him for ages, listening to his incoherent mumbling. He was also getting more annoyed by the second, as was I, I kept telling him we didn't have any flags and that I couldn't understand him. "I can't understand you either!!"he answered angrily. Yes, I'm the confusing one..
I then told him to call Tourism Ireland, and as soon as he said ok, I said 'au revoir' and hung up. Phew.

Who drunk dials an embassy? And of course, stereotypical as it is, it's the 'Irish' embassy he rings. Not who I'd drunk dial. Something I'd advise to refrain from in the first place :p Luckily I'm usually lucid enough to know who I'm calling and what I'm texting, for the most part, although I might get a little bit more outspoken, just a tad ;)

At least I had some excitement today! Almost everyone here is on leave, both German colleague and the First Secretary, so I'm a tad lonely over here! Not a noise to be heard except my typing. Need my own va-cay soon, getting fed up with the office. And I'm tired of doing the accounts, it's so easy to make a mistake. I always freak out whenever I make one, usually a stupid mistype. This really isn't my area, I studied translation for crying out loud.
I do like working here, but I'm not sure if this would be the job I'd keep doing forever. Besides practically everyone here is sent out, and will leave in a few years, so even if you have nice colleagues now, you might not when they're renewed. I'd rather have done the passports instead of visas and accounts, at least not everything is looked at with a magnifying glass, checking for mistakes. So I definitely do not feel like this is the forever job for me, and I hadn't really dreamed of ending up in Brussels either.

But ah, I'm still young I suppose, hopefully life will throw something good at me soon perhaps. Something unexpected. I do love surprises.

Are strangers no longer kind?

2011-08-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

Several times now I have read in newspaper about people getting a heart-attack out in public, by themselves, and nobody bothers to ask if they’re ok and just walk past, while these people just suffer for ages until family or friends arrive. What has happened to people? Have we become so anti-social and wary, living in our little bubble of friends and family, and not bothering to give a helping hand to strangers?

The article I just read was about a woman who got a heart attack and was with her young daughters in the mall. She was completely out of it and confused, was not able to talk and walked around as if drunk to then sit down at her usual café with her daughters, slumped with her head on the table. Her daughters being so young thought mommy was tired. The employees figured she was drunk and left her there for two hours without asking anything. The woman actually drove home in that state with her daughters. Her husband noticed there was a big problem and finally got to the hospital and of course the lady afterwards made a big complaint to the café about their behaviour and the total lack of help they gave her. They apologised and gave her 35 dollars worth of coupons..

Another story was of a man getting a heart-attack on a Ryan-air plane. He passed out and his daughter-in-law, a nurse, tried to get him to breath again, which he did eventually. She called for a doctor, and when the flight attendants finally came they figured it was just low blood pressure, gave him a sandwich and some juice, and charged him for it. There was no ambulance called at arrival. The woman had to take her father-in-law to the hospital herself.
It seems that we can no longer count ‘on the kindness of strangers’.

People seem more and more reluctant to ask people if they’re ok, and just leave them to their devices, probably figuring ‘they’ll be ok’. I’ve really noticed this around here as well. Neighbours aren’t really friendly anymore, as they would be back in the olden days, they nod to each other and that’s pretty much it. Nobody here will say hello on the street or often not even smile to a stranger, even in small villages (as I noticed they do sometimes in other countries). People have no time, are always in a rush, and don’t want to get involved in strangers’ emotions. Only if people are actually visibly hurt, as in e.g. a car crash, people will try to help. I usually smile when someone in the street looks right at me, to be friendly, but I noticed most people don't do that, and just ignore everyone as if they see right through you.

Of course if someone seriously gets assaulted, it’s hard to intervene as there is personal danger, so you’d have to be a little daring to actually get in between then. But when you see someone who looks sick or upset, would it be that weird to ask them if they are ok? Clearly a lot of people prefer to shrug it off and not get involved. Strange culture we are in today. And the odd thing is, a lot of the time, the person not feeling well or upset, will often get annoyed with people asking if they are ok, which is even stranger. Funny thing here, if someone random starts talking to you, a lot of Belgian people will look at you with a ‘why is this person talking to me!’ expression. We’re so not used to being addressed by strangers in public (except pubs and the sorts of course) that we immediately go in alarm mode. Of course there are exceptions, but in find the overall majority here to be like this.

Another reason why I like Ireland is because people there seem to be less like that. I remember, many years ago, I had said goodbye to someone at the Brussels airport and I was rather weepy on the way back to where I live. This lady suddenly asked me if I was ok, did I need some water, had something happened to me, did I want to sit with her? She was Irish, and so incredibly friendly! I was just so surprised by someone actually trying to be of help. In other weepy alone situations I found people generally just look at you with an ‘aww poor crying girl’ expression, and that’s it. But that lady actually talked to me the whole way she was on the train with me, telling me all about her trip here and where she was from, and wondering would I be ok. Cheered me up a lot. I always remembered that. It’s that rare!

I don’t know if I would talk to someone who was crying, I must admit I’m used to the general idea that people want to be left alone and might snap at you if you bother them when upset. But I’d like to think that if I would see someone who looked visibly unwell, I wouldn’t just figure it was nothing and walk on, but would ask them if they needed help.
What about you? Do you feel people in your country seem detached and to themselves, or actually very open? Would you talk to someone who is visibly upset?

Random Thursday goes international

2011-08-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

It's that day of the week again, and I've gathered up some pics I liked just for your entertainment. This week part of the focus is for Russia, although I've never been yet, I have a master's degree in the language and although I don't use the language in my job right now, I really enjoyed studying it and learning all about the complex history and culture. To make sure I don't forget all of it, I've starting writing letters in Russian with the Czech penfriend I had as a teen, who is also studying Russian. First letter arrived yesterday, and I was happy to find out I haven't forgotten all of it yet!

Это для вас Россия.

Also, finally, some stereotypical jokes about Europe! Nothing wrong with some self-mockery.

In rural Russia, baboeshka is not some frail lady sitting in a chair ;)

Taking the dog for a walk.

Mommy, daddy, meet my new boyfriend!

Give me more balls! Moooore!

Oh Bess..

My kind of American. Stop all the hating, just because you don't understand something, does not mean it is wrong. It's a free world, if they're not hurting anyone, let people be happy being who they are.

No matter what the rest of the world thinks, in Russia people freaking love Putin.

That is one fancy pen! But sometimes, it might be better for the budget to keep it simple :p Although I imagine it was fun to make.

Seems a lot likelier. Giant comet, hah! Noah putting one of each animal on a giant boat he built himself? Seems legit.

Exactly :p

And it's true :D! But I like it that way, why should you limit yourself to your own country, when there are so many good things to get from other countries! As the annoying puppets in Disneyland say, it's a small world after all. mmm curry

This poster used to hang in my English class in secondary school, thought it was really funny. They really got the stereotypes right! Thought I'd look for some European ones as I hadn't mocked us yet :D

It's going to be a loooong week

2011-08-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

As I predicted, work is insanely busy. I’ve been working my ass off, had a whole chaos of old files dumped on my desk, had a complication with the accounts, so it’s been really hectic. It looks like it’s going to be a really long week, and it’s only Tuesday. And next week my colleague is on leave for two weeks, so I’ll have to handle all the consular work by myself. August is going to be rough! I’ll be in serious need of that vacation to Spain in September. I’ll need some serious relaxation and some nights of letting my hair down (a.k.a. cocktails and dancing!). As it’s a seaside city, I’m sure there will be ample of opportunity to do just that! Alas it’s still a month and a half of working and commuting away. But I am starting to look for a possible place of my own, less far from work, so I don’t have to spend four hours a day on the train anymore. It will be expensive though, apartments are not cheap, but I’m sick of getting home so late, so it has to be done.

Also had another fun train journey yesterday to make the day extra amusing. Someone jumped under the train coming from the opposite direction, which of course led to the rails between two stations being completely unavailable. Luckily I was only one station away from my usual stop, so I counted on my ever so handy dad to come and pick me up! Can’t understand why someone would just jump under a train. I guess people who are that low just don’t think about the strangers having to deal with the aftermath, the poor driver and the people on the train, and everyone who has to see the mess and worse even, clean it up. It’s crude, but there’s something very selfish about it. My dad works for the railway so he’s heard his share of stories of train drivers having to take a really long time off due to the whole trauma of the experience. Of course the thought that someone there had just died just a few miles ahead, was rather awful, it really makes you think.

To me, life always feels worth living, no matter how tough it gets. The sun will come out again eventually, maybe not tomorrow, but it will. I suppose some people just have no fight left in them.

Someone keyed my car!

2011-07-30T02:08:00.000-07:00

I drove my mom to the store yesterday and when we got back she noticed there were huge scratches on the passenger door of my car. She asked my if I was aware of this, which I was not. I went to inspect and behold, this is what I saw:

Two big deep scratches, obviously made by some wanker with a key! Who does that!! Poor grandpa car is now mutilated (named so for the vague, but after a whole year still lingering smell of the 84-year old man I bought the car from). I have no idea when these were made or where. But I assume it happened by the station, where I park my car when I go to work. Some punk kid who thinks it's funny to drag a key over someone's car. It's very likely that it happened last week, when I left my car there overnight when I came home late from drinks in Brussels with the colleagues and had my dad pick me up at a different station. It just seems more likely that someone keyed it when my car was practically the only one there rather than in the middle of the day when the parking is packed.
Was really pissed off when I saw that, I just paid off the damn car! I'm not having it fixed of course, as it would cost far too much. And it's not exactly a Ferrari, so not worth the money to fix a scratch. Doesn't make it any less annoying though.

Anyway, on to more cheerier subjects! I had my extra day off yesterday, and I must say it really made a difference. I was really in dire need of some time off work, and even though this is just a one day extra weekend, I will feel a bit more refreshed when I go back to work on Monday. Right on time, as it is looking like it will be very busy the next two weeks with the sudden change of post of our ambassador. I well get a lot of administrative work dumped on me as the First Secretary is overwhelmed with work and due to lack of staff, us lowly consular officers will have to help carry the load! So I'm really glad I decided to ask for a day off this week, good thing work doesn't mind last minute leave requests.

Less than two months now until my trip to Spain! Will be so nice to finally get a proper holiday and 8 whole days off of work! I wish it wasn't so long anymore, as I could really use some time out of Belgium. As I mentioned before, I'm getting quite fed up with these surroundings. But just a little while longer and I'll be off to the sun and hopefully see some nice things as we have planned.

I do love to travel, it just feel so nice to get away from everything for a while and get a breather and see some beautiful things. What I'd really love to do some time is make some sort of spontaneous trip. Just pick something random on the airline website, and just go as soon as possible, no planning, just off on a little adventure with someone. Far away, for short or long, that doesn't matter, just the surprise and adventurousness of the whole thing would be very fun. I'm more of a planner when it comes to travelling, so doing it like that would be exciting! Or alternatively, just get in the car and drive. I do love a good roadtrip.

The feeling of being off somewhere, seeing something new, not having to think about anything stressful, few things beat that.
Just you and the horizon, and the wind in your hair.

Random Thursday

2011-07-28T03:24:00.000-07:00

Random Thursday is back! This time without 'only in America' jokes, in case more anonymous Americans without a sense of humour take offence. Extra long this week as I didn't post it last week, hope you all like as I spent ages looking for these pics, very fun during bored at work times.
Hope you are all having a good week, and remember to keep on smiling, no matter how bleak it gets.

Talk about always smiling, this is the funniest headstone I've ever seen. It sure does Mitchell, it sure does.

Cause: lack of adhesive ducks (big bang theory in case you're confused)

Not funny, but I sure wish I was in a place like that right now. I'm in serious need of some fresh air and some beautiful scenery. I'm tired of smelling car fumes and hobo pee and being surrounded by buildings here in Brussels. Need some time away!

Wouldn't mind spending my honeymoon there! Heck wouldn't mind spending tonight there! What a gorgeous romantic place. Could use some of that too! And some sunshine, July has been nothing but cold and rainy. I'm still wearing clothes I wore in February for crying out loud.

Raspberry berets, only Prince can rock them.

Just smile awkwardly and mumble 'yes yes thank you, it's my birthday, yes.'

As a commuter, this one really cracked me up.

Exactly what I was thinking, now where is my cider!

Music today..I just don't get it.

That is one big pooch. You can forget about furniture, and you won't be needing a carpet either. How much must this dog eat!!

Ah the dream wedding of all women. Perfect hair, perfect dress, perfect teeth O_o

This is for all of you with clown phobia ;)

I initially added a horrible hairy manboob picture, which really caught my off guard in my quest for good pics, and I wanted to share that reaction with you :p But as I don't want you to all suffocate on your tea, here's something less revolting :D

Homework win! :D

Have a good day ;) For me it's almost weekend as I'm taking a day off tomorrow, hooray!

For Norway

2011-07-25T04:07:00.000-07:00

I would like to dedicate today's post to the 92 people who were killed by a raging madman in Norway on the 22nd of July. I was really shocked to hear what happened, and I think everyone has one question on their mind concerning this tragedy: why?

What on earth possessed this man to set off a bomb in the city, killing seven, and then go on a shooting rampage on an island where teenagers are enjoying the summer in a youth camp. They were just kids, what could they have possibly done wrong? I guess there is no explaining the reasonings of a madman.

It's scary to realise that no place is safe anymore, not even a youth camp on a small island where they teach kids about tolerance and democracy, along with just having fun being kids. I can't imagine the horror of being chased and shot by a man dressed as a policeman nonetheless,and seeing your friends being killed, for an hour and a half until any help arrives. How do you get over something like that? And those poor parents. Norway is such a peaceful country normally, nobody would have expected something like that to ever happen there. People there are totally blown away by it. The man can, according to Norwegian law, normally only get a maximum penalty of 21 years. Let's hope they make a change, so that this psychopath never sets foot outside a prison ever again.

To all those poor kids, who won't get to experience so many things, RIP, my heart goes out to you.

And try and be tolerant and accepting, put your prejudices aside and just treat people right. There is too much violence in the world already

Don't take life for granted, you never know when will be your last day. So stop worrying about everything, live and love to the fullest, take a chance, because it goes by so very fast.

I seee you!

2011-07-22T05:50:00.000-07:00

I saw a naked man this morning! Nope not in my bed I'm afraid, but from the office! Someone from Enterprise Ireland (they share our floor) mentioned how one of the apartments in the apartment block across from the back of our builing has no curtains. You can see right in their living room and bedroom from the back offices windows'. My back is facing the windows so I hadn't noticed, but the lady of EI has a better view, and it seems the couple living in the apartment has the tendancy to sleep naked and prance around naked and do naughty things, all with no clue that they're giving us a show.

I'm in the office alone today and this morning I remembered what she'd said, and I turned around. I could indeed see into the bedroom and saw people in the bed. Suddenly the guy rearranged the covers in his sleep, and BAM full blown nudity for me to see! Who said office work is boring! I felt very sneaky and giggly all morning peering into the apartment :D An hour later I noticed them getting up, both stark naked walking around. Some time later they were dressed and making out in the sofa. I felt like a regular peeping tom, but hey it's really quiet today and I need some form of entertainment. And the guy is not bad looking haha :D. Their fault for not getting curtains, if we can see them, I'm sure they can see that there's an office across from them and realise that we might look out the window occasionally. Half the people here have seen them naked by now. Some have even seen them having sexy time in the bed. Slightly awkward :D

Anyway, had a great time with the co-workers Wednesday. My boss is really cool! Going out with her and meeting some people of the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU, which should be fun! Will be nice to meet some new people from around here, they're all Irish of course, but I should fit in nicely. My Belgian accent has practically dissapeared, pretty proud of that, I've always wanted to be fluent and non foreign sounding in my English. Mission accomplished!

Rather enjoying being by myself here, I found AOL radio on the internet and am really liking having some background music. Really makes a big difference!

Have a great weekend!

Day off tomorrow!

2011-07-20T06:38:00.000-07:00

Ah tomorrow I have a mid-week day off, so no alarm at 6 o'clock! As I haven't taken a single day off yet all year, these holidays are a great relief.
It's Belgium's national holiday (I feel a joke about the irony of celebrating a country where many people in it would prefer it to be split up coming on), so there will be fireworks and things like that going on.
I might have a peek at the fireworks on the beach, if the weather is good, always enjoyed those and for big events as the national holiday they are usually very good.

The First Secretary invited us all for drinks tonight in honour of the (haha) national holiday. Should be fun! Haven't had much time to get to know everyone better, besides at work, so will be nice to be in more casual surroundings and have some drinks together! Unfortunately that means I'll have to take the train pretty late, and will have to walk in semi-darkness to the metro O_o. Slightly concerned about that, with all the stories I hear of Irish tourists being mugged. A few months ago an Irish mom told me over the phone about her 17-year old son being mugged by gunpoint near the station, they took his wallet, passport, laptop, phone, everything. And the poor boy was of course totally traumatised. But I'm sure I'll be fine, I'm in a fairly safe part of the city as all the EU buildings are here, and I only have three stops on the metro. Hopefully I won't have to wait too long for the train, as the station can be a bit iffy when there aren't any commuters about.

So if you don't hear me soon, I may have been attacked :p Nah, I'll be fine. But I won't be getting my laptop out, that's for sure. Brussels can be a bit unsafe, as most big cities, but it's not exactly a murder capital. But I better keep my phone on me, as otherwise I will find dozens of frantic messages from my mother wondering whether I'm still alive, why I'm not answering, and so on :D Ah to be an only daughter!

The weather is also driving me fairly crazy here at the moment. Hot, cold, hot cold, make up your damn mind! I'm always either dressed too warm or too cold. But I guess it could be worse, I read there's a heatwave in the States, 45 degrees Celcius and up! Even 50+ in Texas! Poor people. Not a good time for a citytrip to NY, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

Spoilers: my review of Harry Potter

2011-07-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

So as I said last week I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. I went to the midnight showing, as I wanted to avoid annoying teenagers making obnoxious comments, making me want to throw my can of coke at their head. To avoid having to release the terrible rage that ensues the ruining of my precious cinema experience, I went to the last showing.
I was so excited to see it, and I must say I wasn't dissapointed. It definitely was one of the better films, and they managed to capture the feeling of the book very well. Of course, as a big fan of the books there are a few things that I missed and felt they could have done better or should not have left out. Pretty much every single film out there, except Lord of the Rings of course, is not as good as the book.

The things that were a tad dissapointing:

- Although the battle was really great and very well done, it lacked some of the epic moments that appeared in the books. All the focus was on Harry, and many of the minor characters did not get the moment of glory they had in the book. For example, the part where an army of the Hogwarts house elves appears, lead by the before rude and mean Kreacher, did not appear in the film. That was rather dissapointing as it is such an amazing moment in the book, the sudden turn-around of Kreacher almost makes up for the death of poor Dobby. Also the centaurs did not fight along in the film either, which I guess was to be expected, as they only make a very brief appearance in one of the films.

- There really wasn't an explanation as to why Harry survived the killing curse again. Towards the end they did say that Voldemort was still not the owner of the Elder wand after killing Snape, Harry was, but nobody mentioned the fact that that was the reason why he survived. The killing curse rebounded and destroyed Voldemort, for good this time. But for people who haven't read the books, it might be a bit confusing as to how Harry managed to survive yet again.

- Some emotional scenes, as the part where you see the aftermath of the battle and you see who died, are really rushed. I barely had time to cry! And as Fred was a beloved characted, it rather sucked that you didn't even get to see his last moments.

- The awaited 19 years later scene at the end was rather dissapointing. The ageing was done pretty badly, they looked like twenty-year-olds with make-up on. And if you've seen Benjamin Button, you know they have the means to do it better. I also found it very rushed, and lacked the emotion of the book.

Parts I loved!

- The flashback scene, finally explaining the backstory of Snape. Beautifully done and very emotional, I welled up during that part! It was shorter than the scene in the book, but it still did it justice and truly captured the beauty of Snape's love for Lily. The part where he said "always" was particularly heartbreaking.

- The Gringott's vault scene! Very well executed, loved seeing the dragon escaping, it was very exciting. Great start of the film!

- The long awaited kiss between Ron and Hermione. As in the book, it wasn't very long, and was sort of a spur of the moment, we're about to die so who cares about being shy, kiss. Which was absolutely perfect, and really fit well within the madness of the battle.

- Neville is so supercool in this film, the actor really captures the huge change he went through from an awkward nerdy boy to a brave careless hero of a man. Loved his scenes in the film.

- The part where McGonagall brings the statues to live and excitedly says "I always wanted to do that spell!" Maggie Smith is such an amazing actress, and the perfect McGonagall.

- Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort was absolutely brilliant. He really gets to shine in this film.

So, in conclusion, some parts could have been better, but that was to be expected as nothing beats the books. But all in all a great film well worth seeing!

To anonymous

2011-07-15T03:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and again today even, I had my first infamous 'anonymous' bitchy comment. At first I was slightly taken aback, but then I realised pretty much everyone who has a blog gets a visit from someone who does not approve of what you write, is offended for some reason or other, and instead of just leaving the blog decides to leave an offensive comment, just for the fun of it.
You'd think most of these anonymous people would then move on and never visit your blog again, but no, my anonymous decided to come back and bitch some more about how my writing sucks and how reading it is like watching paint dry. Well then my dear anonymous, if I'm that dull, leave, read a blog you actually enjoy. It's a free world, whether I am good at writing or not is not up to me to judge, but I enjoy it so I will continue to do it. There are thousands of blogs out there, some by amazing writers, some by people who just like to write their thoughts down. As everyone is different, not everyone will enjoy what you write. So if you hate it that much, stop acting like an asshole insulting people you don't know, and find something else to do.
If you decide to call me a bitch some more well

What seems to have ticked anonymous off most is my collection of funny pictures I post on Random Thursday, especially the laughing with America ones. Making jokes about America apparently is a sign that you are anti-American, hate all things America and hence I am clearly a redheaded bitch from Europe. To make things clear, I do not hate America, nor do I dislike Americans. Some of my nicest readers are Americans and I'm very fond of them. I'd love to go and travel to America some day and explore the beautiful and diverse country it is. I repeat, I have nothing at all against Americans, after all, you saved our ass during WWII (also the Russians, spasiba for that Russians!), without you guys we wouldn't have made it, so we're all very fond of you over here.
Silly stereotypical pictures mocking Americans (and other people) are all over many many funny websites, if we can't make stupid jokes about things like that, the world will sure be a boring place. Every country mocks other countries, as within a country people will mock the other counties or states. Everyone loves to make fun of stereotypes, which doesn't mean everyone is like that, it's just about having a laugh.
The US is a big powerful country, the news almost always involves the US, and there are about a million films about the US saving the world. Hence it's always amusing to mock the not so perfect aspects of the States.
I'm not against mocking my own country. Heck, we haven't had a government for over a year because the politicians of the southern French-speaking part of Belgium and the northern Dutch-speaking part can't get along and cannot come to an agreement. It's like watching kids trying to divide a pile of sweets. In many countries people would start protesting and getting angry, but not the Belgians, we're used to this tug-o-war, and we ceased to give a toss. Some men have decided to grow their beards until we have a government as a form of protest, but that's about it. They are slowly starting to resemble Gandalf by now.

There's stereotypes and jokes about pretty much every country in the world, having a laugh with it doesn't mean you truly believe it or that you dislike the country. E.g. the French are rude and have going on strikes as their favourite acitivy; the Irish are all drunks; the English are hooligans, the Germans have no sense of humour, the Spanish are lazy, the Russians are loud and drink vodka all day long, the Dutch are stingy, the Italians are womanisers, .. and the list goes on. Is this true for some people in those countries, probably, but it's just a stereotype and is for the most part not true for most. The American stereotype is that they eat nothing but fast food and are over the top religious. As it is a huge country, there's people like that, but NOT ALL anonymous. Those pictures are probably even made by Americans, having a laugh mocking themselves.

So alright, I'm done ranting about that. So I hope I made my point about that aspect of anonymous' bitchy comment. Just wanted to make that clear, in case any other people take those jokes a tad too seriously.

For all of you who follow my blog and like reading what I write, thank you so much, it's so nice to know that whatever I scribble down here is decent enough that now 51 people want to follow and read it. I never thought I'd reach 50, so I was extatic when I did. Hugs to you all, and have a smashing weekend.

Random Thursday

2011-07-14T07:34:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday and I think we all need a laugh by now. Almost Friday!

The fact that she's also pulling a duckface makes this picture even more priceless.

Again, sorry Americans :p What on earth is he making, it looks like a dragon. And I can't even begin to comprehend how anyone can get that fat.

Such a beautiful photo, you don't see many babies that small smiling like that. This has to put a smile on your face. Makes you want to go all coochiewoochiewoo.

A woman scorned.. judging by the fist she's making, he's in for some asskicking.

Germany, sore losers since 1918.

HUG!

Haha I must admit this is probably true. Men never seem to have to wait as long in the toilets, we always have to queue for an eternity. And you know when you've been drinking for a while, once you start needing to go, you will probably need to go every twenty minutes :p

Can't waaaait

In Sovjet Russia..

See you next time!

Goodbye Harry!

2011-07-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

As most of you know this week the very last Harry Potter film will be out in the cinema. I admit, I'm a fan, although more of the books than the movies. I think I started reading the books around 15 years old, and was totally hooked. I know it's not a high standing piece of literature, but it's a page-turner and funny and exciting, it doesn't always have to Dostojevski. Sometimes light reading is exactly what you need. I've seen all the films, some I really liked, some I found dissapointing, but I'm really excited to see this one.
I thought the last one was really good, I loved the darker atmosphere, and I can't wait to see the epic battle in Hogwarts.

I don't really understand why they are still dubbing the film into Dutch for children (which they only do for kids' films in Belgium). It's not really a film for kids under ten anymore. Unless they like seeing death and killings and destruction.

I still remember years ago, thinking how long it would be until I could see the last film and how much older I would be by then. Alas, the day has come, no more Harry and also nearly mid o_O twenties now. Time sure does fly, there's no time to stand still and think too much. You have to take whatever comes your way and see where it goes and try to have as much fun as you can along the way. Thinking things through too much is just a waste of time, do the things you want to do with the people you want to do it with. Sometimes the best moments are the ones you probably wouldn't have experienced if you thought just with your head.

But back to Harry! I will definitely go very soon, hear that tudumtudumdum tune for the last time in the cinema. Probably there will be some tears, I'm a softie, and I have to admit a lot of people die in it. Sorry for the spoilers people, but if you haven't read the books by now, you must not like the films that much. And I think you can pretty much expect it, with the giant battle that is in it. No worries, no telling on who dies. But there will be sad moments, so sensitive people, bring some tissues. Hopefully I will get to go this weekend, followed by a good night out, have a toast to Harry (or several toasts). I'm thinking of maybe seeing it in the 3D version, but I know the 3D isn't good in every movie. And as 3D is often wasted on darker films, maybe 2D would be fine enough, as it is several euro more for that 1D more, I'm sceptical. Also those damn glasses are annoying. So if anyone has seen it let me know! I'm sure many people will blog about this, as loads of you are also in your twenties, and have grown up with these books. We've really grown up now.

It truly is

New observations

2011-07-12T04:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of posting in the weekend, but you know how it goes. But I'm back again and man is it slow at work now! It's been busy the last few weeks as a lot of people are planning to travel and need visas, but apparently everyone is gone now, and there's nobody coming in and barely any phonecalls. Soon half of the office will be on holiday and I'll be here on my ownsie. Think I'll be bringing a radio then, so I'm not sitting here in utter silence. Will be annoying to see everyone leave on holiday, but in September it's my turn, then I'll be in the sun while it'll be probably quite cool here.

So today I decided to catch you up on my observations on online dating so far! I must say I'm finding it fairly hilarious so far. Seems to me online dating is quite popular in the US, so many Americans on there, they are far more likely to find someone on there I think. I have gotten quite a few messages so far, some from friendly fun people from other countries, which is nice as I like talking to interesting people. But random conversations aren't that amusing to tell about, so I'll go right to the weirdoes! So much more fun.
I had a few of them so far, some rather stalky.

nr 1. Forty something New Zealand man who is planning a trip to Belgium and who constantly starts talking to me on the chat window every time I'm on the site: I'm too nice to tell you to feck off, but my utter lack of response should inform you that I am not, and I repeat, NOT interested in you. Find someone your own age! Unless you're Brad Pitt or something (which he is not), you're not going to find a twenty something girl interested in you.

nr 2. Really unattractive Belgian guy who actually lives near me, who has sent me two mails basically nagging me to please reply as he is interested and 'wants to chat', sorry but you kinda repulse me. He looks a bit like how I'd imagine Harry Potter's fat cousin Dudley to look like. Not a compliment. Also seeing how the same person looks at your profile several times a day, is rather awkward.

nr 3. Rude guy, who clearly thinks he's 'all that' and basically offends me at first and then says I'm rather pretty and says let's meet up when I'm in Belgium and have some fun. No thanks, your mail rather made me want to punch you in your sensitive area, let alone I'd want to have some 'fun' with you.

There were more annoying e-mails, but these three jumped out to me most!

Funny about Okcupid is that you can immediately tell if you've been 'dismissed' by someone. You can see who visits your homepage. So it is pretty obvious when you send someone a mail, they look at your profile and not respond, that they are clearly not liking what they see! Harry's cousin is clearly not aware of this.
Also funny is when you choose 'what are you looking for' two of the options are 'casual sex' and 'activity partners'. Someone please enlighten me on what the difference is between those two exactly. Perhaps 'activity partners' sounds slightly less vulgar, but I'm guessing it means the same thing. Or I'm totally mistaken and it means you are actually looking for some hiking buddies.

Dear lord another e-mail from an old person, why is it that guys in their forties always seem to look for girls starting from 18 years old? That seems rather sick to me. I find people my age too old to date 18 year-olds, let alone people in their mid forties. Some strange men on there I can tell you. And from what I heard from the normal people, there are just as many creepy and vulgar girls as men. I should interview some people, and see what their opinion is of the whole thing.