Long time no blog

[Friday 21 November] Long time no blog. I am a busy man, school is asking much from me as well does my social life. Although I am still injured and so I do not practise sports very often, I do not find enough time for all the things I would wish to find it for. But, and that is the far most important fact: I am having a lot of fun lately.
Take this morning: I got home at 6am from a house party (gangfeest) at campus. It was fun, just until they ran out of beer. But fortunately for the inhabitants of the student house, anarchy was avoided. I spoke with strange people, that was kinda spooky though. There were some good people to talk with too, so not that bad ;-).
Even better was the party me and my friends from Babylon dropped in Malle Babbe (Nijmegen) last Tuesday! It was surprisingly crowded, given the fact that we had the flyers only one day in advance. That was a serious bummer, but the party rocked. It was so much fun working behind the bar and laughing with friends while doing your job, and I certainly want to do stuff like that again. The party itself had a Volendam-theme, which normally means terrible Dutch music. But it was Volendam with a twist, as we wanted to name the party ,,We hate Volendam, you too?!”. But that was not allowed: We were told that we were spreading hatred and so we had to change it into a cynical ,,We love Volendam, you too?!”. But people got the message anyway, so it all turned out well.

[Tuesday 23 December] Let’s write on. I finally found some time to write more, as I still have an hour before I have to catch the train to Schiphol Airport. For the fourth time this week I will work for KLM as a ground steward. Nice work though, helping people from around the world checking in. I even met famous people like Pierre van Hooijdonk (Feyenoord, Galatasaray) and Miralem Sulejmani (Ajax Amsterdam). Especially Sulejmani was fun to meet: We had a chat about his injury and Ajax; he’s a nice guy!
The last couple of weeks I’ve been very busy working on my university stuff, as we have to hand in many assignments. On top of that, my Bachelor Thesis requires much time. Now that I finished the literature and method sections of my study, it’s time for the actual research. So starting from this week I will send out questionnaires in order to obtain 100 respondents. I hope to finish before 31 December so I can hand in my pre-final thesis in the first week of January.

Last Friday I went to a wicked party in Rotterdam: Soulwaxmas. Elektro and Elektrorock music is alive and so was that night in the Maassilo. A gig by Justice, Soulwax, 2ManyDJs, Tiga, Erol Alkan and many more was sold out, and I was there with two friends from Nijmegen. Especially Justice and Erol Alkan were good, although I enjoyed all the other DJs too. Soulwax was playing live, and that was refreshing. That’s definitely something to keep an eye out for!
These last days of 2008 will mean hard work on my thesis and seeing my family again. Although last year was a drag, I certainly have good hope for the next few days because I won’t be bored.
Finally, on the 31st of December, I will go to Rotterdam to celebrate the National NYE party at the Maas. After that, me and three friends will go to Outland Rotterdam were Roger Sanchez and Sebastien Ingrosso will blast in the new year with awesome house music. I’m very looking forward to this night and I’m sure it’ll be great!

So, that all for now. As for Dublin, I got everything in order now, so I’m ready to leave. The university finally approved all the stuff I had to arrange, so Ireland here I come. I will fly on the 19th of January, and my Hello-Goodbye party will be on Thursday 15. Please drop by, I would very like to see you then! And don’t forget that photo!

Next blog I will inform you about Dublin. What I’m going to do, where I will live, when I leave, etc. So keep logging on!

Best things I did this year:

1. Lowlands 2008 (with Pim & Jurriaan) (& Eva)
2. London 2008 (with Jurriaan)
3. Madrid 2008 (with Berthold, Pim, Casper, Paul, Jurriaan and Jeroen)
4. IT International Student Football Tournament Groningen 2008
5. Groningen 2008 (with Sanne & Pieter)

Best gigs:

1. Crookers, Tommy Sunshine, Digitalism @ Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE)
2. David Guetta @ Outland Rotterdam
3. Erol Alkan, Soulwax, Tiga, Justice @ Maassilo Rotterdam

Finally, my music “review” charts. This one’s special, cause it’s got the obvious 2008 review.

2008 charts

Best album: De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig – De Machine
Best electronic album: MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Best pop/rock/jazz: Room Eleven – Mmm Gumbo

Cheers for: Junkie XL – Booming back at you & Juno Soundtrack (2008)

Best song: Room Eleven – Lovely Morning
Best electro track: MGMT - Kids
Best rock track: Sugarplum Fairy – The Escapologist
Best house track: Meck ft. Dino – So Strong (Impetto remix)

Best newcomers: Sugarplum Fairy, MGMT, Crookers


At this moment:

Best track: MGMT – Time to Pretend
Best electronic track: The Presets – My People (Dim remix)
Best pop track: Adele – Hometown Glory

Best Album: Soulwax – Nite Versions

Next gig:
NYE Rotterdam – Het Nationaal Nieuwsjaarsfeest (31 December 10:00 pm)
NYE Rotterdam – Roger Sanchez & Ingrosso @ Outland Rotterdam (01 January 02:00 am)

See you all next time!

Sent out to the front

I should be writing one of my researches, and at the moment I should be reading articles about International Communication Management. But there was a third thing I should be doing, and that’s writing this blog. So here it is, my brand new what’s my life like in a nutshell.
Around me - that’s on, under and next to my desk – lie important papers. For example, there’s my agenda. I started to use this “element of survival” at the start of this semester, so I can write appointments in it I make at uni. For some people this may sound like it’s the most normal thing in the world, but for me this is all new. I still stick to my calendar, but now I can also make appointments when I’m not at home and write them on my calendar when I arrive back at base. A revelation and sign of my constant improvement I must say. You can applaud afterwards, as we would say in the Netherlands. Another important “object that lies around” is my financial situation spread on paper. The annual 3 Dwaze Dagen (3 Crazy Days) of the Bijenkorf (Dutch department store) are coming up and that mean massive price-drops and discounts on high quality (and priced) brand clothing. That means spending loads of money. And that means that I’m gonna take part in one of the most crazy fights Holland “organises” each year. Forget hooligans, nothing is more dangerous than hundreds of women (75%) and men breaking loose at 8am to buy Björn Borg boxershorts with a 10 euro discount. And, on top of the massive price advantage you get, the experience of a lifetime that you get from seeing two women fight over the final pairs of their product of choice is priceless. So on the second and third of October (gotta skip the final day) I’m going to the battlefront. Finally, and most importantly, discussed are the last papers on my desk: research proposals, academic texts and guidelines for all sorts of English and Dutch research articles. The following months will be my “research months”. It’s crazy how much research I have to conduct in the following three months, including my Bachelor Thesis. I already have a topic that for research: City marketing. Nice topic though, gonna enjoy writing. But, like all study business, there has to be a start. And that’s the problem; I keep postponing that start. Well, starting from next week deadlines will appear in my agenda (woohoo, agenda, woohoo!) so I’m sensing that start will not be far from 29th September 16:57h.
This week is going to be a great but busy week for me. Things like participating in researches for money (made 30 euro last week) and attending Babylon’s (student organisation) constitution drink are nice, but probably the best thing that’s gonna happen is the Coldplay concert at Ahoy’ Rotterdam this Thursday. A colleague told me the Köln (Ger) concert was awesome, so I’m really looking forward to this great night! And, to be sure there will be more great nights for me this months, we are going to buy tickets for the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE). This is an enormous 4-day festival in our capital city featuring the world’s best DJ’s. I will certainly go to Digitalism and Crookers, and probably to Audio Bullys and Armin van Buren. Tremendously looking forward to those nights; Digitalism was awesome at Lowlands and I cannot wait to hear more from them.
Final thing I want to share with you is that my birthday is coming up, and so is my birthday party. Probably somewhere around the 8th (Oct), celebrating my 22nd birthday. I haven’t decided where I’m gonna drop the party; at Graafse ringpad (home) or in Nijmegen city centre (some local pub). But you’ll certainly hear more about that all.

Well, things to do for me are:
- Recovering from my hamstring injury
- Start your bloody study work!
- Drink your tea (done!)
- Get rid of the clutter and mess I’ve made in my room
- Give you my latest music choices (working on it now!)
Best track (rock/pop): N.E.R.D. ft. Santagold ft. J. Casablancas – My Drive Thru [Recommend]
Best track (electronic): Dizzy Rascal ft. Calvin Harris – Dance Wiv Me [Recommend]
Best track overal: Dizzy Rascal ft. Calvin Harris – Dance Wiv Me

Best upcoming: DeathMau5
Best mix: Ministry of Sound Ibiza The Annual 2008
Best Podcast: David Guetta FMIF
Props for: Converse for getting N.E.R.D.; Santagold and J. Casablancas together and letting them make an awesome track.
Currently listening to: New Bloc Party CD is out, so gotta check that one out.

Last gig: Lowlands 2008
Today's: Sleepy Sleepy
Next gigs:
2 Oct. Coldplay (Ahoy' Rotterdam)
15 Oct. Sugarplum Fairy (Doornroosje)
22-26 Oct. Amsterdam Dance Event > Digitalism/Crookers/ManyMore @ Melkweg

Thanks for reading my blog, please tell me what you think about it!

First of the year

Not for the first time, but from now on as always, I will be blogging in English. This is because on my foreign travelling (and future studying) I make more and more friend with who I like to share my life and experiences.

Today's gonna be just a short blog. I just ate my dinner and got back to sitting again, because my legs hurt due to playing football and walking home (45min) because of my third flat tire this week. I'm bloody gonna buy a new one, cause I'm fed up with having nothing decent to ride.
I also got my new phone, it's a SonyEricsson K850i, the successor of the K800i (my previous cell). Cool thing though, better controls (buttons) and an even greater 5MP camera! This will keep me satisfied for another year.
About the football, I played quite a good match as a controlling midfielder. It was good to play with my new teammates in another setting than practice. We even won, and that's quite new at the start of the season (they used to loose every year from this opponement)!
Tomorrow the new university season start, and with that my freedom ends ;). Well, kinda. I'll still be going out a lot, drink lot's of beers, play football till I drop and have fun with friends. But the thing about the start of the year is: you feel the pressure again. You actually know your screwing up your time [i]again[/i] (although you always promise yourself you'll start earlier next time) and you feel kinda guilty when your hanging around in your sloppy house-clothes in front of your laptop (or tv) (or both). But hey, that's life, I accepted it, and it's probably never going to change. All hope is on my possible future children, but they will probably do the same thing as their parents did. (Like, bollocksing around) And that doesn't matter, as long as it doesn't effect your life too much (read: get a pathetic lazy loser). Enough polarisation for now, let's hop on the final part of my blog.

I got to listen to some awesome music on Lowlands Festival 2008. This was truly the best (music) weekend ever, being paradise itself. During the day the best pop and rock has to offer, and at nights electronic music that makes you feel alive like never before. I explicitly enjoyed the gigs of N.E.R.D. (best!), Editors, The Kooks, MGMT (and el.) Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism, Junkie XL and Erol Alkan. The last one I mentioned was the greatest surprise for me. I really enjoyed his smashing and sizzling gig that blew the Bravo tent away during the last hours of the 3-day festival. And surely, I'm gonna get back to him.

My "charts":
(Everything is "at the moment")
Best song (rock/pop): Gabriella Cilmi - Sweet about me
Best song (electronic): Erol Alkan ft. Princess Superstar - Licky [Recommend]
Best song overal: Erol Alkan ft. Princess Superstar - Licky

Best upcoming: (still) Laidback Luke
Best mix: Ministry of Sound The Mash Up 2008
Best Podcast: David Guetta FMIF
Props for: David Guetta for putting Meck vs. Dino (So Strong) and Eric Prydz (Pjanoo) next to each other in the mix. These are this summer's best songs.

Currently listening to: New Bloc Party CD is out, so gotta check that one out.

Last gig: Lowlands 2008
Today's: Citydance Nijmegen
Next gigs: Friska Viljor (Doornroosje)
Coldplay (Ahoy' Rotterdam)
Amsterdam Dance Event (Amsterdam) ???