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November 05 My new homepagesMy new Home Page, or rather Pages, are now up and running. The old Alistair Wiseman geocities one is now no more, but the new Alistair pages which bear a striking resemblance to the old ones, are HERE and looking quite pretty without the annoying geocities adverts. Still stuff on there about my time in Crewe, time in Wolves, info and pics of me, Esther Wiseman, Jack Rewi Angus Wairau, and a bundle of pics and links! So, go nosy, and that means you the reader.. and the googlebot, which seems to be neglecting it's duty! lol November 04 Chuckles.. You MUST learn Dutch? hmm! Here is, presented in full glory, a reply I wrote to an article which can be found HERE which shows a Dutch commercial, in Dutch, showing why you MUST learn dutch. I have probably see n the commercial. I've probably ignored it instantly as I wouldn't have understood it. Mmm effective then eh? The responses are extremely interesting. I advise people to read this looking for amusement while noticing some rather valid points. I especially would like to point out the disclaimer and the second to last paragraph starting with "For those Dutch/other people who tell people that they have not learned Dutch because they are lazy,". I think it sums up quite a lot of the difficulties faced by the ex pat here. Joe states "because learning it (Dutch) transforms you from being a guest to being an intruder in the eyes of the natives. Interesting... I moved to Leiden 2 years ago to be with my gf who is now my wife. She is Dutch. I moved here from the Uk. I'm 35. It is psychologically proven that a persons capacity to learn a new language diminishes with age. At school, many years ago, I was given the choice of learning French, or not learning at all another language. I chose not to learn one. As of up until 2 years ago, I've never required another language, and as I am in Holland, and Dutch wasn't available, I appear to have made the right decision. Having lived in the Uk in northern working-mens towns, attitudes towards foreigners not speaking English were more than a touch xenophobic. That's something I'm accustomed to. My brother teaches languages. We never really got along once he became an adult. He's 12 years older than me. Always has been in fact. He was teaching languages by the time I was given the choice as to which one I might like to supplement my English with. Oh, and I use the singular correctly! I believe I have already expounded upon the resulting outcome of that choice. My wife, being born in The Netherlands, has been learning languages since she was old enough to be programmed to do so by the education system. Her English is good enough to be thought of as a native speaker, especially now that, and I fear I have to take credit for this although it offends my natural modesty, the Americanisms which infiltrate Dutch English, have been suitably obliterated. So far, I have had no need to learn the language. I have shown a desire to, having acquired various CD roms and other web orientated learning programs. My Mother in Law teaches non Dutch people Dutch, via English. The hand of learning has not been extended. I cannot as yet make up my mind as to whether this is a good or bad thing. After all, she is my Mother in Law. I'm seeing the word "Intruder" float about my consciousness looking for something to connect with. Being familiar with the Uk program of teaching basic English as a second language for free (much like happens in the US of A), I set about trying to find something of that ilk over here. This caused much discombobulation for those whom I made inquires to, and much consternation for myself at their subsequent reactions. It appears that the concept of Free Basic Dutch is only available for those from outside the EU. I might be forgiven for thinking that perhaps, this might have something to do with economic reasons, rather than perhaps extending the hand of knowledge. But then I was always a sceptic. I have, on many occasions, and with great loquaciousness, expounded on my "I've not needed Dutch so far", to various people with whom I have conversed. I add my thoughts upon this which go something along the lines of as follows : "I always feel rude not speaking the native language. Much of the English speaking world carry with them an arrogance which says something along the lines of "You should speak my language so I don't have to speak yours".. which is perpetuated by many schools being dis-interested in teaching languages. I am not like that. I do feel rude, I feel like I am imposing upon you, the None Native English Speaker, restrictions in communications and that is not fair." It is, in my opinion, a difficult concept for people to grasp who have never experienced the psychological effects of living in a mono-linguistic, often insular and xenophobic community, that I, the willing to learn yet none Dutch speaking ex pat, says that I have not required Dutch to live here, because they have no point of reference to work on. It is also difficult to grasp that, after the initial show of willingness, a person will eventually think "Sod it!". A person arrives with, more often than not, no experience of any Dutch whatsoever, and with their barriers already up (see above), and these barriers are reinforced by bureaucratic non sequiturs, a people which can actually communicate with a certain degree of proficiency in English anyway, and the fact that to actually learn Dutch academically will cost an inordinate, ney, extortionate amount! I believe I may have mentioned my wife is Dutch. Asides from her family, her social scene since I have arrived here has consisted of.... me and my new friends over here. Her Dutch friends, and I use that word really really wanting to substitute it for acquaintances, call on the phone maybe once every 6 months. She, reciprocates. Every 6 months. I have no concept of this. It is bizarre beyond belief to me. Her family live a few kilometers away. (25-35ish?). They have visited as many times as my sister has in 2 years. My sister lives in Sweden. Both used the same mode of transport, the car to get to us. It's just that my sis traveled 1600k more. So when we go out, we go to the local British bar. There are many Dutch people within, and they speak Dutch between themselves and English to us, often not recognising that my wife is Dutch. She socialises with my (and now her) English / various other nationality friends (there are Danish, American, South African and French people as well), and now actually gets to interact with people rather than just having work and me as her whole life. That has to be healthier than, and I can only judge from what I have experienced, what she seemed to think was the normal way to be. And so no. Learning Dutch is not a must. It is not a prerequisite, and I have happily survived without it. For everyone who says "You need to learn Dutch to fully experience the culture", i say "poppycock!" (which apparently according to Stephen Fry derives from Dutch). For those Dutch/other people who tell people that they have not learned Dutch because they are lazy, I say this : You probably have no concept of quite the size of the task being asked, because, to many, learning a new language is not just about learning new words and new pronunciations, it's far more than that. It is about self expression. About who you are. It is about taking away from someone all that they are, block by block, and then attempting to reassemble it, but with a mirror! (and possibly upside down!) My passion for self expression is legendary in my world! Take that away from me and I cease to be me. Tell me I have to use a concise version, I cease to be me. Some people, are simply not willing to risk sacrificing themselves in this way. To be honest, I don't blame them. Alistair disclaimer : I am aware that my wifes social life/family may not be indicative of all dutch society. Please don't reply with bla bla not the norm... it IS the norm for where I am living, because I live with her and can only relate to how I find it here. I came here to be with her, not for the culture, the language, the inlaws, the work, the income tax rates, the stupidly high prices for housing, so again, please, don't give me any of this "You moved here so you should..."etc etc. I've made more than enough "sacrifices" coming here to have new ones "Imposed" upon me. Ye gods I miss Real Ale from a Hand Pump in a tapped and vented barrel!! And.. as an add on... Learning a language in your own country (like the majority of Dutch people will have done with English), is a very different beast to learning the language of the country you are now living in. October 27 Ponderings about the human race. Well. This should be fun. I was sat in bed last night, reading through a David Icke book, mostly about vibrations, how everything vibrates at certain frequencies and how people with similar vibrations are drawn to each other. Interesting, but not what Mr Icke is most known for (which is actually quite a shame). What he IS known for however, is his theory about how certain bloodlines run the world, and these bloodlines are linked into a reptillian alien race, in order basically to keep us living in fear, because the afore mentioned aliens feed on the emotional responses given out by people who are scared/afraid (perhaps in the same way as some dogs recognise we are scared of them?). Some of the people involved, Icke states, actually shapeshift, manifesting at one time as human, one time as reptillion. As these aliens occupy a different dimensional field to us, they can "possess" a body, whilst not appearing in sight of ordinary human senses. If this sounds far fetched, look up and read about Dark Matter and Dark Energy, making up about 95% of the universes mass, but it only exists in our dimension when you don't observe it... or rather it does exist, but not somewhere we are as yet capable of seeing it! However re aliens, given the right circumstances, the right flux in atmospherics, or indeed "emotional" state of the alien, people occasionally are able to see this other Entity. It's a great theory, and actually much fun to explore, as if you do the research, there are so many parallel stories in mythology that, Ickes theory certainly holds more water than most of the God delusions still doing the rounds. Almost every religion carries a story of Gods interbreeding with "The daughters of Man", thus creating a bloodline link. Not that long ago the guy who (in my opinion) ripped off Holy Blood Holy Grail (still an excellent book) to create a story about Jesus having kids and continuing a bloodline. Continuing the Davidic lineage. Kings and Queens are made through bloodlines which give them power. However... this is just a stimuli to me. As it happened, I had earlier been listening to Re : Evolution , by Terrence McKenna, accompanied by The Shamen, from the old and dusty Boss Drum album. Again this was talking about the effect of vibrations altering neurological processes so that people can come together as a one almost, in a positive way instead of the negative of mass hysteria. Interesting... And then, oddly enough, my mind wandered back to what I was doing (not who.. i was innocent back then) all those years ago when listening to that for the first time, and I was likely to have just picked up a new Spiderman comic. So, my mind follows the path to Venom. For those who don't know, Venom is a bad guy. A combination of an alien Entity seeking symbiosis (look it up lol), brought back from space, and a human, both of whom share a hatred for the webbed wonder. The human (Eddy) because his career had been ruined by Spidy's alter ego, the alien because Spidey had rejected it after discovering that it was actually a sentient alien being wanting to bond with him. Upon the alien finding Eddy, they bond, the alien augmenting everything of Eddy's, inc strength and his hatred, while actually giving him the same powers as Spidey due to the earlier time the alien spent with him waiting for the right time to bond with him instead. Quite a mish mash I think you'll agree. So... where is all this leading? To be fair, I'm typing this now attempting to complete this writing in some form of coherent structure, so bear with me. We are animals. Always have been, always will be. This whole society thing is pretty much piffle. It's a control mechanism set up specifically to do that. Built upon a pyramid structure we are told in a Top Down way what we can and can't do, what is, and what isn't acceptable. The more socially "refined" we become, the less we are allowed to do. The more we group ourselves into categories, the more dogma we have set out for us to OBEY. which is all well and good up until you begin to get delusions of grandeur and start to believe you have left the animal behind. You haven't! Our animal instincts are the ones which make us greedy, make us irrational at times, overtly emotional at others. Fall in love with one person for a while, sleep with someone else as well. Evolution gave us these animal instincts, not even learned behaviour but congenital. The statistic : 1 child in every family with 4 kids doesn't belong to the husband... doesn't lie. So, what we say separates us from the other animals though, is our intellect. But, where did this come from? Throughout early history, man made some incredible advancements. Language has to be a major thing to have happened to man. Not just verbal, but written too. I read an excellent theory that tribes thousands of years ago stumbled upon flora and fungi which instigated a temporary Synesthesia , which meant that upon hearing a sound, that was interpreted as a vision, or more probably, upon "seeing" something, the person under the influence actually heard a sound, and from then on associated that sound as the name of the creature / object. Meerkats have developed a "language" which does the same thing in that, dependent upon the noise, the type of threat can be determined as ground or air based! It is known early man made drawings etc but the leaps made to progress to where we are now are still not fully explainable, in the same way as how pyramids were created. It is my hypothesis that, I can tie all of these ideas together. The presence of no other "intelligent"/"advanced" entities besides us in the universe is statistically impossible. Only human arrogance is capable of convincing ourselves that like Tiger, we're the only one! but then only human arrogance can label us either intelligent or advanced anyway so I guess one intrinsically links to the other.. lol. Now behind all the piffle and dogma of all the religions you have to believe that because of the hugely similar accounts of the early days of man, there has to be something in that. A base or foundation. As I've said before, one of the common themes prevalent throughout many histories is the idea that other entities came and bred with the humans around, forging a bloodline. What if, instead of meaning physically having sex with, this actually pertains to a joining. A symbiotic relationship, whereby both entities share the same space in a reciprocal synergy. The human Host, becomes augmented, because the alien Entity provides amplification of skills already possessed and adds it's own capacities to the Host (much like the Venom character). In return the Entity feeds from the energy and/or vibrations given out by the human. Human DNA gives out photons ... a type of laser light in fact. Not a strong laser, but a laser nevertheless.. Interestingly we don't know what about 93-95% of our DNA is actually there for, (remarkably similar numbers to the afore mentioned Dark Matter etc), so if it emits a power source like that, who knows what else as yet not found is emanating from us. Asides from that though, emotions could easily be a source from which the Entity could draw power. Indeed, this is exactly what David Icke purports is happening, and that the world is manipulated as are we specifically to generate negative energy/emotions, as these provide more than positive ones. This Entity, nowadays, having coexisted with us for centuries, is now referred to as our consciousness. Our Soul if you will. That part of us which exists outside of the corporeal. So, how does this work? Well, lets look at the idea of an afterlife and a soul. Again, almost all religions have these concepts, and I have discussed quite why I believe they exist in this blog entry from May 6th last year in response to the Zeitgeist film, and how they came about. Now however, I shall throw a new reason into the mix. The Human is a vessel here for the Other Entity. That Entity existed before the human, and will continue to exist afterwards. A consequence of that is residual leakage. The Entity moves from one Host to another, and sometimes leaks information of its past Host into its new one. Hence you have people who appear to have recollections of other lives. They fully admit their flesh is different, so what else could it be but the "Soul" which has passed on with this regularly highly accurate information. The fact that this Entity could be sentient to a point (although perhaps it is instinct driven and i'm anthropomorphizing) means it knows once the vessel it currently occupies dies, it will then have to move on to another. Ergo, the consciousness is aware on some level that it will move on, but we as Human Beings have become so arrogant that we believe it is the individual which will move on just without the body. We forget that personality is tied in with the physical brain and chemicals running through it, and has nothing really to do with consciousness. In fact, it is entirely possible that the Entity might have no concept of "I" at all. Also our personalities are amplified so much that we ignore our instincts both animal and the possible residual information available to us from the Entity. So what we have is, the animal species Human, coexisting in synergy with an Entity called/thought of as our Soul (as over thousands of years the memory of never not having such a thing is gone in the same way as we forget when we were not Self Aware), Humans benefiting from augmented intelligence superficially, with our societies and technology giving us precedence over the other animals on earth, as we've lept through various stages of "Progress", but creating a hierarchical society still based on animal instincts, (how could it not be), such as greed, power, territory, etc still with all of the actions and interactions of the other species parallel to us, but so far escalated that we now live perpetually in fear and subservient to a way of life which no one asked for, and the "Soul" feeding from every emotion that Humans can experience, having learned that, as Humans intellect expands, so the capacity for emotions increases almost exponentially, ergo providing it with more "fuel". A self perpetuating circle.. until something self destructs maybe, or maybe until we become so intellectually advanced that we spot what's happening. I suspect I know which would come first. What's interesting here is that, for myself I would like to think that the Entity involved is ambivalent to Humans, neither liking or disliking (as i suspect these are purely human animalistic creations and not applicable here to it). Anyway.. lol.. this isn't finished... and it is just an expansion on an idea.... not what i am saying IS... but what might be... but i'm out of time... more soon.. lol October 18 Alistair Wiseman HomepageJust a little note to say that, due to the demise of geocities, I have moved my website to HERE although I have not transferred all of the pages, as it was really too much trouble considering the limited amount of views the website receives compared to here. Hopefully if I need to retrieve that which I have not moved over, the internet archive site will have saved it for me. October 13 Global Shwaming, Gods creation of all demoted, and Obama peace prize farceAh, it was an entertaining time in the news for sure last week. 1st you have the obvious one. Obama getting the Peace prize when we all know he'd been in office under 2 weeks when the nominations finished. Classic... but that's really a tad mainstream for me. The name of the puppet changes but the strings stay the same.
October 12 Ok... I have a Twitter thing set up. Currently it is not finding me on the people search, which is more than a mite annoying, so me being the helpful soul I am, I shall provide you with a link. It is here For the moment, I have to say, I am disillusioned although, even as I type, I am led to believe my exposure has been... err... increased.... and I am now findabubble! Much new here? Not really. A few nights out have stretched funds a bit, but as the nights draw in, the likelihood of the pair of us wandering the mile and a half trek to the pub very often is diminishing as quickly as the light. Had a wander into what was The Duke in Leiden. Having been refurbed and now run by Marko from Bad Habits it's reopened as The Duke of Oz. An Australian bar in Leiden. Might seem a bit of an err... upside down (onderstboven??? sounds like that anyway lol) idea but if they get some atmosphere going in there then you never know. Marko is a decent genuine guy, so good luck I say. Oh, I savaged the house again. Moved the shelves from the kitchen to the bedroom to create what actually looks like a cool clothes rack! The kitchen is now slightly baron looking but... such is life. Am pleased with the bedroom now. After quite a lay off I picked up on the Dutch again. Not much but enough to sort of stimulate an effort. I have a gazillion books i need to be reading, not least an Egyptian Prayer Book sent to me by "Her Holiness, Sekhenet-Ma'at-Ra Setep-en-Ra User Hekatawy I, Nisut-Bity of the Kemetic Orthodox faith" (may your god bless copy paste and wikipedia), so there are umpteen distractions, but it seems that almost every other bugger is on a course over here to learn it. I suppose I should make more of an effort, but again, motivation lacks. Not spoken to Es's parents since the birthday debacle so it's not like I see anyone I actually need to speak Dutch to, and the "because I can" motivation just isn't me. I suppose I shouldn't allow the "everybody else is doing it" thing to get to me either, but sometimes I guess it's not that bad to be led a little. Deezer is still messing with the playlist on here... so I apologise if you end up listening to something odd! Oh.. and the geocities site is closing. This sucks. My page has been on there for many years. http://www.geocities.com/aliwiseman1974/ Lots of info, some quite personal stuff too, and links to stuff like the old amazon reviews... all about to get eaten unless I can transfer it to somewhere new. I've seriously debated buying a domain name, more specifically "One-With-Myself.com" so that I can have the email address I-Am@One-With-Myself.com but am not sure I can justify the outlay when most people just pass through here and can mail me via Facebook, here, or gmail (all aliwiseman), as well as now Twitter! However... the email is still cool! Ok, it's decended into darkness as I've been typing and the wife has vanished within it! Away with me and salutations to all whom pass through. Until next time.... October 04 Winter comethSo, what's new in the world of Wiseman? Well... Julia's funeral was all that it could be really. The music was suitably ouchy, but the service was pleasant. It reflected on positives, good memories, and generally left more smiles than tears, which is a testament in its self. The boys held themselves together really well. I don't know if it is my place to be proud of them, but I am anyway! Not that it makes a difference I guess. On a personal note, I suppose I was hoping that to at least be able to contribute in some way, maybe they might want to lean on me a little. Instead of which, there was a demonstration of strength which fills me with confidence that, they will be ok. I'll happily forgo usefulness for that knowledge! I think I managed to attain, and I use this word grudgingly, closure, of a sorts. I was reminded a little of when Dad died. I'd already said my good-byes to him years before, and any other encounter would've been seen as a bonus, so to speak. The same went with Julia, in that, when I moved from the UK, good-byes were said, and it was entirely possible I'd never have seen her again. Since then, yes we'd met, and I'd introduced her to Es etc etc... even scoffed some of her battenburg.. but again these were like bonuses. The difference is I suppose, I still maintained a relationship via the internet with Julia, whereas with Dad, the only other time I saw him, I was on the streets in Crewe having not eaten for a couple of days, and he pulled a typical West Street Church move, stuck his not insubstantial nose in the air, and walked off. Most days there were interactions with Ju, even if they were just competitive quiz results posted on facebook! That, and the fact that I actually valued Ju being about, made the loss impact me rather more than when Dad died. And of course the shock factor. Dad, I was ready for. Ju... well, i still maintain my original thoughts. It's wrong. Out of order. But, irreversible. And. I wouldn't be me if I wasn't true to how I approach things like this, which is, ask myself, "Can you do anything about it Ali?", answer "No.", and then say, "Well then... move on and deal with stuff you CAN do something about!". And then I hear lines like "I miss your happiness my friend", from Stalks of Last Years Fruit by Penelope Swales, and just for a few minutes the strong tough unemotional Ali is nowhere to be found, and instead it's nose blowing time! Anyway.. on to merrier things. While over in sunny Crewe, i managed to spend some quality time with young master Mike! Some friends you don't have to see for ages n yet when you do bump into each other, things are pretty much as they were. We sat, had a laugh, a decent waffle n chuckle watched a bit of footie, and caught up a few years! A beer or too with Tony (grr... i mean Anthony!!) and a chance to catch up with Dave from the Cat / Sharon over some beers too, made for a good eve. The afternoon the day before I had a meal with Shaz which was good too. Been a fair old few years since her and I had spoken, and it was really good to just sit and chat. Funny how all those years ago we never had a meal together! I also kept running into Tony Baker, and Joanne's mum... 3 times!! Eventually I managed to catch up with Jo herself, which was nice! lol. Been a bundle of years again since I've seen her. A few days later and I'm sat on the pc eyeing the thrillingness which is Facebook and Sheridan posts that she is in Hamsterspam. More precisely, she is stuck, due to cancellations of flights. Being only a 20 min train ride away, Es and my good self head up to keep her entertained. Sheridan was exactly how she was back in Crewe, bouncy, fun, slightly bonkers, and great company. Several hours, and several beers, plus a meal later we send her on her way on the airport, Esther having made a new friend and me having renewed an old one. On returning to Leiden, we wind up in the Kings Bar, and I feel a tad odd. Not liking that, we head home, only for me to wind up with man flu for a few days, and Es to get it pretty much one day behind me. Fortunately it was probably swine flu, so the symptoms were reasonably mild, and it was done in about 4-5 days. Twas liberation celebration over this weekend here in Leiden so there were much festivities happening here. Es still being flued up, I headed out alone, only to bump into Denny and Mei, so we took a wander around the fair. Denny being Denny wanted to have a bash on the rides, and me being me jumped at the idea. Not been on rides since Glenda in Oz.... hang on no... that came out wrong... I mean since Glenda took me (steady people!!!) to Dream World (it's a theme park dammit lmao), so this was muchos funos! Then heading back to the afore mentioned Kings we had a drinky or two. There are some pictures of this mayhem ready to surface, which i shall link to when they appear! was all good fun! Okies.. time to fly again. Watched Arsenal take apart Blackburn 6-2 but now there are two books (David Icke and Robert Rankin) sitting looking accusingly at me as I've not done the mastermind thing... I've started but not finished. With two more Ashers, the new Steven Erikson, and the new Pratchett book also waiting... what am I doing tapping away on here? Toodle pip! lol September 15 Julia HortonI have been wondering what exactly to say about how I feel about Julia having died. Then I read what she said about me when i moved away, and thought, this pretty much fits. I retain the font she wrote it in because I know she used it to make me growl at its awkwardness.. lol... to be able to elicit a response is something she loved, even if it was a growl! For over four years (Closer to 7 now... my insert)I have been ... sharing my life with someone....though not in a romantic, loved up sense. Throughout that time people have looked with quizzical eyes at what they thought they saw and drawn their own conclusions. A few have dared to ask the question..."what exactly is your relationship together?". This usually greeted with a smile and one asking the other "do you want to try and explain it". Generally the answer being no. On one occasion I have attempted to answer and the only description that came to mind - you can't really get much closer without being in the same skin. Robin Hood......would you die for? Well, it's not an impossibility. The term soulmate doesn't always have to have romantic connotations. We've laughed a lot, bickered, cried, incensed, listened, switched off, cared and got verra verra drunk more than a few times. There have been times when even hatred and spite have been there too....but even in those times, and through all the other times....it's been known without it being spoken of who'd be there to turn to, who'd be the one to stop you hitting the ground when you fell. She went on to say how she wished me well now that I would be in another place. I guess i'm not the only one now. I'll miss you. (transposed to something more readable.. lol) : you will have surmised that there had been a parting of the ways of some sort. You'd be right in thinking that....sort of. For over four years (Closer to 7 now... my insert)I have been ... sharing my life with someone....though not in a romantic, loved up sense. Throughout that time people have looked with quizzical eyes at what they thought they saw and drawn their own conclusions. A few have dared to ask the question..."what exactly is your relationship together?". This usually greeted with a smile and one asking the other "do you want to try and explain it". Generally the answer being no. On one occasion I have attempted to answer and the only description that came to mind - you can't really get much closer without being in the same skin. Robin Hood......would you die for? Well, it's not an impossibility. The term soulmate doesn't always have to have romantic connotations. We've laughed a lot, bickered, cried, incensed, listened, switched off, cared and got verra verra drunk more than a few times. There have been times when even hatred and spite have been there too....but even in those times, and through all the other times....it's been known without it being spoken of who'd be there to turn to, who'd be the one to stop you hitting the ground when you fell. September 06 GrumblingsCor, two blog entries within the space of two days. What's up with me? Well, I can tell you one thing which is... it's the lack of an exclamation mark on this here wireless keyboard. Why is there no exclamation mark I here you cry? Well, it's cos the good woman spattered it with pear cider lol. Unintended I know, but grrr... I LIKE to use exclamation marks. I could've used several already. Arrggg... So, tis Sunday and am mentally psyching myself up for my wanderings around Manc and Crewe. Of course, I still have no idea of exactly what I am going to do with regards the reason why I am going over, because yet again Hamish hasn't gotten in touch about the books. It's frustrating as it means if i don't sort something out, I've spent our money on something for me, which hasn't happened, because yet again someone else has let me down. Speaking of letting down, I hope the trip to Dantes doesn't follow the same fate. I know of at least one person now who's pulled out, which is a shame. It will be nice to be back across the water for a short while. An indulgence of pie, real beer, and possibly more pie is impending. I think also it's good to get a little blast of the Uk to remind me how much better off I am over here. The politics, the atmosphere, especially in Crewe, will be apparent. The prices of things I will try and not look at, due to the massive rip off over here. If i don't notice the differences like that, I can't grumble about them. Much. Maybe. Speaking of grumbling, Esther is away tomorrow for the week away on her assertiveness/manipulation techniques thing. Now, I'm not grumbling at that but, I am grumbling at what exactly has gone on with the organisation of the course. Get this : Es normally works a 9 hour, 4 day week, where by overtime is paid at 1.3ish on any time over that. Now the course which she is on, requires her to do an 11 hour day, for 5 days. So, the difference between 9*4=36 and 11*5=55 is 19 hours. If we say Es earns 15euros per hour so that increases to 19.5, multiplied by the 19 extra hours, equates to 370euros owed. Will she get that? Nope. Instead they are telling her she WILL have the time back, i.e. she can take a day off, to compensate. So, the monetary value of that is 9*15=135. That is a discrepancy of 235euros purely from that aspect, but I think it is wrong they tell her that she has to have a day off at all. What they have have done is con her out of a shed load of money, and somehow made her think that is ok. If that isn't an example of manipulating someone, I don't know what is, so at least it would appear that the people running the course know what they are doing. Right, the next load of washing is crying out to be done, so am away again. What's good looking and hangs up.....? Ok.. maybe that only works on a phone. lmao September 05 RamblingsWas pleased to get a text today simply saying Happy Fathers Day. I assume it was from Glenda otherwise I may be in trouble! hehe! Went out yesterday intending on just letting off a little bit of steam and wound up being out way too late. Bad me! Had fun though, waffling to Denny, his brother, and Karen about all things odd! It is nice to be able to talk in English with people over here in an environment where by I don't feel guilty at not using the local language. Sounds silly but it's true. Finding out my mate is talking about getting divorced, i took time out to look at the stats again and things really don't look good for marriages in general! I guess if Es and me are to remain Es and me (refusing to put Es and I!! lol) we have to become almost statistical anomalies. My family is hardly a great example, Dad divorced twice, Mum once, and 4 other divorces in the immediate family. I was reading too about humans as a species from an article Here and how human nature is disregarded at your peril. This is something I've said about for ages. If you acknowledge that something can effect you, it is easier to prepare for it, then deal with it. But.. what do you do when it comes to something like marriage? If you know that the chances are, you will divorce, (and if you believe the stat thrown about which says 1 in 2 do then you don't need to be a maths genius to work out the probability... especially if both parties have not been divorced before), then why enter into a marriage in the first place? It's a curious question and very valid. In truth I don't know the answer, but being married I can speculate I suppose. I think part of it is security. There is something about the institution of marriage which gives a stability to people. The one person knows that there is always another who will be there for them, or at least, that is the idea. And, as with other types of jobs, we sign a contract accordingly! However, to continue the job analogy as so often happens once the security of a contract is signed, or if boredom within the job sets in, or indeed if another offer of a better job comes along, the contract becomes almost irrelevant, In fact, not unlike football transfers, all a contract does is allow for the compensation of harmed parties before transfer of "ownership" is passed on. And in all fairness, anyone who "loves" someone (and i use quotes for that because i tend to question "love" as a descriptive given its lack of parameters) would surely wish the best for them, and would forgo their own wants in order to not stand in the way of the other moving onwards and upwards. I think wishful thinking plays a part too. Some people just know that the partner will be moving on and maybe subconsiously try and trap them / make it more difficult for them to leave. People want things to work though, and as long as both people want something enough, it's mightily difficult to get in the way of that. However, peoples wants change. I refuse to use the word "needs" in any of this. The only "need" involved in the whole thing is biological. The need to pass on your genes! But, as i say, peoples wants change. Be that through maturity, through self esteem issues, where by someone suffering will take something, rather than live with nothing, only to find as their self esteem improves, what they then want out of a relationship, is more than what they initially settled for with the person they're with in the now. Of course there is a problem with this in that you can quite easily create a self fulfilling prophecy, and actually sabotage a relationship by forever thinking that it is going to die. Tis almost a guaranteed way to do so! I suppose that is why the expression "Healthy amount of scepticism", contains the word "Healthy"! Overdoing anything is dangerous. Tis again tied in with self esteem I think, although, in some cases when it is so obvious someone will move on that obviously plays no part, although living that way can't be good for you. So what conclusions did I draw at the end of this? Actually not that many really. I guess what's in your hands is in your hands, and what's not, you can only accept, deal with, and if called for, move on. And suddenly I'm back thinking about it being Fathers Day again, and how I've dealt with that. I think the ability to make myself hard enough emotionally to deal with pretty much anything was probably something I learnt when I was very small indeed. Has it made me a better person? Debatable! Has it allowed me to still be relatively sane and still in the land of the living? Quite possibly. Does it give me the confidence to deal with what's to come, irrespective of what that is? Yes, I think so. And that can't be a bad thing, because I know I can rely on me! I've trusted me with me for some time now, and as I sat here typing this I can look around me and think : "What's not been in my hands is beyond my control, be it my not having spent more than 10 days with Jack in nearly 7 years, or the Deb abortion, or many other things, but when something has been within my ability to grasp, generally I've made the right decision and done all I could, and had the courage to put myself in positions whereby it requires trust in myself in order to survive and actually live." At this rate I might make it to 80 after all! lol August 28 Happy Bday Es!Tis Esthers birthday! 34 today! Catching me up she is! Increasing her percentage of my age so that statistically, we will be the same age soon, and if she keeps up this rate of increase she must surely pass me within the next 20 years! She's off for a hair appointment thing at the mo! Looked fine to me but what do i know... lol So what's new? Not vast amounts really. I had a fluffed attempt at wallpapering the new bedroom. Point blank wouldn't work. Was it me, the wallpaper, the paste? Who knows! Either way it tore every time so I was not best impressed. My shoulder still hurts. I went back to Ninjutsu probably too early and annoyed it again. I think it was slightly dislocated before, but who knows. It's sure as hell taking its time sorting its self out. In actual fact I'm a touch disillusioned with the training anyway, but that could just've been my mood. Sleep disturbed nights due to mosquitoes don't help! I'm off to the uk in the next couple of weeks. The plan is to collect a bunch of books, and get them posted over to here. Whether that comes off is kind of dependent upon others though, so I'm not going to get my hopes up. Staying with Les in Manchester for a few days, hopefully including a visit to see Mammal, and then taking a couple of days in Crewe, and there take in the sights of Dantes, the new rock bar there in place of 21-12! Esther is away on a work dohicky for a few days too, so the timing is good as Es wouldnt be here anyway. Then she's flying over for the weekend. Am quite pleased with how the moving of the stuff round the house has worked. Seems we have more space than we thought. Ah i forgot! Deezer has messed again with the music on here so the playlist you'll get playing here isn't exactly how i set it up. I think it's still the same songs.. but it appears to be on random, which i suppose makes it interesting if you call back to the site a few times! Thinking of music.. a big shout out should go to Denny... who sorted my guitar strings! Ta muchly! Hmm.. i was going to have a rant about enforced flu vaccinations which are just around the corner.. lol... but i sharnt! Is sharn't a word? I don't care! All I'll say is they won't be sticking me full of needles any time soon! I see Scottish water has been unfortunate enough to be deigned to "need" fluoridation! They managed to do it so it didn't go through the parliamentary debate! Cleverly done. Whisper was the Nazi's had plans to add fluoride to water supplies so as to keep the population supplicant and pliant. No Alistair No... this is to be a blog free of rants and angst! Hmmm.. I think the last sentence has cramped this blog somewhat! So, all that remains to be said is, nice start to the season Arsenal (and Crewe), keep it up in Mancville! Am thinking I may not take my shirts with me to Manchester. Better a live chicken than a dead hero! Till next time July 30 bye bye julyWell, it looks from this that nothing happened at all in july here in sunny Leiden, but that's not really true. We've bought a laptop, mostly so that we can connect it up to the big tv, and watch streamed stuff in divx on a good size screen together without having to fart about either sitting at the pc or moving the pc to accommodate the tv! First up was an episode of Psychoville, which i have to say was just as odd as i hoped it would be, it being the new offering from the League of Gentlemen, with the addition of dawn French, which is generally always a good thing. Of course, to go with the laptop, we needed a wireless keyboard and mouse, so that moving from the sofa was never ever needed again! However, as the dongle thing is a little fragile it seems only right to protect it by plugging it into the main pc when the laptop is not in use. Hence.. I'm now sat on the sofa typing to the main pc, cant really see what i'm typing and am hoping a good bout with the spell checker afterwards will amend all of my errors! We hit the Hague on the weekend, in the hope of buying some stuff from the British shop there. Frankly the place was god awful. The Tuckerbox in Leiden is excellent for British goods, and with the exception of lockets has most of the stuff we're after, cept for good pies, but then this place had none either. One bottle of real ale was all they had in the way of.. err.. real ale.. (well ok then bottle conditioned but you get my drift!!) yet the website promised much much more. Kelly's is the name, and my review of Kelly's British shop Den Haag The Hague, would consist of a couple of words, "Ropey", and "Pants"! However, our journey was not in vain, as the American book shop (not store dammit! lmao) housed many a treat. Robert Rankin books, of which we brought home "Necrophenia", David Icke books, of which we brought back "Infinite love is the only truth, everything else is illusion", and Neal Asher books, "Prador Moon" finding it's way into mijn zakje! There is also a pub in The Hague called the fiddlers arms, which allegedly sells hand pulled cask conditioned ales. So, we saught that out, only to find that there was a sign on the front saying "closed for july!". Not impressed. So, we headed home rather disillusioned (or just illusioned if you believe mr Icke) with the trouble we'd gone to only to find that both reasons we went to The Hague in the first place let us down. However, upon our return we wandered into the Kings in Leiden for happy hour beers all day monday, only to not get out of there until closing in on 12 midnight after playing several hands of the old poker! And, a good time was had by all! Previously on the Friday, i'd been feeling a bit blurg for no particular reason. Isabelle, a lass from the pub was leaving Leiden, and after much deliberation about bobbing down for a farewell pint, I did, leaving Es at home. It should be pointed out that, it was nearly 11pm when i went out, and, at about 12.15a.m. with the pub supposedly emptying I headed next door to Brothers of Beer (now with the label HardRock Cafe Leiden bestowed) for a reflective bottle and to head home. As it happened I wound up chatting to Remi til gone 3a.m. who mysteriously conjured beers for me, and even a shot or two of something which I didn't ask questions about. So, I wandered away from there far later than intended only to see lights still on in the Kings! So, back in I wandered. After being invited to smoke weed and watching a possible fight fade away, having a good waffle and chuckle, it turned 6a.m! Now, the last time I was out til that time was probably New Year in the Giff, and I most certainly wasn't married! Still, Es was awake when i got in, and i think was startled by my coherence. I think it actually did me good. I didn't exactly let off steam and get drunk, but i did maintain 7 hours of conversation to people other than her for the first time in a while. It was, oddly, a healthy experience. Jacki from the Kings has also buggered off! Denny has gone to climb a mountain somewhere in Thailand, so in reality this month has been a set of goodbyes. Tuesday saw the anniversary of dad dying! The time has flown by. I don't really know how the others were and didn't ask. Probably safer for me not to get embroiled in that again. No whisky in the house for it, which is an oddity in its self as there is usually some in somewhere. I would be lying if I said I miss the guy, cos simply, I don't, but I do wonder sometimes what he would've made of me being settled and married. Or even married and settled! On the subject of family, (gee) Lois has appeared on facebook. Andrew is on there too, and has accepted Iain and Hamish's friend request but not mine. However Lois isn't on his list either so i should probably not read too much into that! Might be a case of locking the door and leaving the window open! Did a Skype waffle with sis a few days back about this that and possibly the other too. I've mangled my arm a little at ninjutsu. *rolls eyes* Didn't hurt until after so I think it's just internal bruising, but it's kept me from training over the last two Mondays! Very annoying. It's not a sharp pain, and I've done all the angulation and rotation stuff, so it's not broken in my humble opinion, unless it's something like a hairline fracture. It's shoulder / collarbone so I guess it's possible, but there is no way I am paying for a doc to send me to the hospital when all they'll say is rest it. Actually I'm a touch mad about that! It's another Dutch thing. Apparently I can't just go to A and E, I have to see a doc who will refer me! I feel like catching the bus to Dover and getting it checked out there! grrrr! Oooh, and I nearly forgot. Neal Asher again. Picked up Orbus for about 13 euros. that's probably about 17euros less than it's normally priced over here, (Gabbleduck is 30+), so I was a happy bunny! The Rankin book I mentioned earlier was a full 20 euros cheaper than when I saw it in Amsterdam too, a few weeks back. Ah.. and we hit the cinema somewhere over the month too, to watch "Drag me to Hell", which was excellent. I duly went along with Es too to see the Harry Potter film, which I thought was pants, asides from a certain Fast Show member making me laugh from memories of performances past! And so on the 28th, after the riveting goings on, I did something I'd been thinking about for a few weeks. Moved the house around. Where once stood a fridge and dryer, now resides a bed, and a clothes rail. The computer desk moved rooms, second sofa pushed forward and the dvd rack went missing like Alex Hleb at Barca! Interestingly this worked out rather well, means the bedroom is now smaller and easier to decorate, and, we have a spare(ish give or take the fridge/dryer) room which could house a guest whereby they could get to bathroom/loo/kitchen without having to come past our bedroom, or of course, it could become a nice little room if we decide to increase! The house feels fresher again. With the addition of some pictures, and possibly a lick of paint or maybe wall paper it will be ready for another winter. Ok.. this has turned into something altogether too lengthy, something which I know can annoy.. lol... so am away. Happy August people! June 30 So where do I startAh it’s been a busy couple of weeks! So, what’s gone on, i hear you the reader cry, avidly leaning forward to gulp in what’s new in the world of Wiseman. Well, we did go see Cat, Fox, and the Style dogs who were not bad. Denny couldn’t be heard which sucked but the music was fun. I think we had an indian again in Everest in Lieden, which was excellent. Prawn Cylon i seem to remember. All good stuff! I found me a dojo. Nimpojutsu in the same group as Alf’s in Crewe. Went down for a night to try it out and enjoyed it hugely. The first guy i spoke to was italian, and spoke little dutch, and everyone else there spoke english to me and made me feel welcome. Excellent. I get home, to find that a friend has been online and asked if i’m interested in a full time job at the pub i frequent! An interesting idea, but one loaded with choices to go with it. Full time would interfere with the new dojo training. It would also mess with our tax system, which at the moment benefits us quite nicely. The money, although probably better than what i’d get in the uk for the same hours, is ok, but not actually needed, as we’ve survived happily up until now with no problems. Plus, we’d be going from us being at home together 7 nights a week, to my training taking 2 nights, and then the pub taking at least 3 more! Quite a change in the dynamic of the way the house exists. So i had to sit, and think about it. In the meantime a few more training sessions happened, ending in me winding up having a drink afterwards with two guys from the club. Good fun! And i was reminded of the last time I tried to get back into martial arts, and wound up living in the Kings Arms in Crewe and not being able to train! And so the time came for me and the chap who offered the job to chat. I’d decided that, after having talked everything through with the wifey… I was going to say no to the job, but felt abit crappy really as this guy had gone out of his way to offer it to me. I explained out my reasoning, and he then offered me the position but with more managerial orientation. Again this appeals to me. I’ve managed pubs before. Lived in, run them, ordered and audited, stock controlled and staff rotated. I loved it. But was it worth upsetting the status quo at home, especially after having been training, each time I’d come home late Es was still up/awake, yet had to be up early for work next day herself. Again he said think about it, and i put it to a couple of people I know. Most said, you know what’s more important to you, the job or the life you have and the now new social aspect of the martial arts as well as the training. I’d be lying if i said the choice was easy straight away, but in hindsight, it becomes more sensible the more i look at it. The issues with tax and insurance benefits etc were factors, but at the end of the day if something isn’t broken there’s no need to fix it, and so I turned it down. I hope I didn't piss the guy off too much by not taking the job, it was great that he thought of me! So i shoot off to the next set of training, only to rip my pants clean open at the crotch! Now.. i don’t wear underwear, so imagine how fortuitous it was that, in a strange air of inexplicability, i donned a pair of undies before heading out! Fortunately I was leant a pair of pants to go home in. Actually since then, we had a really good night out, part in the Kings where the job was offered, and part in Brothers Of Beer in Leiden (next door near enough to the Kings n spitting distance from Everest), where by i finally got my pool game together and won somewhere in the region of 12 games in a row, much to the annoyance of the barkeeper, as he was one of the thwarted! All this after having spent the day in Amsterdam and having had Beef and Yorkshire pudding in O’Rileys and kilkenny! All good stuff. Twists and turns are always interesting. I wonder what i’ll think when i look back in a year at this. Hmm! Asides from all that, my sister called by to say hi, along with 4 of her kids and Paul. They called by again the next day too.. and are apparently heading over on thursday for another flying visit. That’ll take the total number of visits from Su to the same as all of Esther’s friends visits (and she didnt want to borrow the playstation! lmao) and outdo the majority of visits from Esther’s family too. Not bad considering they live 1500k’s away instead of about 30! It still baffles me how it seems ok for us to go over there about once a month but not the other way round. It baffles me more that Es is ok with it too, but then i suppose I cant exactly comment on relationships with family! I guess i just want more for her than what’s gone on with my lot. *rolls eyes* That’s not hard though in all fairness! Right my back hurts and this regularly doesn’t post so.. let the battle commence to publish my musings! June 02 Rabbits and hares Ok... so it's a day late! lol! Well, what's new in the world of the Wiseman? Not vast amounts. Upon retun from Vegas Es had a few days spare still and so we wound up out and about, one night having a seriously good curry at a place called Everest Tandoori in Leiden (search engine promo lol). Then, a couple of days later we watched Middlesborough get rellegated and ended up watching Angels and Daemons wth Denny and May, and then winding up in Brothers Of Beer next door to the Kings Bar! Surprisingly neither of us had a tan from our Vegas exploits, but now we do. Well... more of a burning actually.. lol. We went for a wander at a place unpronouncable through some woodland and dunes and got shallow fried! Considering the temp was at least 10, closer to 15f less than Vegas and we were only out for a couple of hours it was bafflingly impressive. Me being me, took the camera with me, in a bag on my back. The consequences of this are now there for all to see should i bare my back (like in the gym). Suspicious looking lines where the bag straps were. Suspicious in that... it loooks like i have a bikini line! grrr! lol Es has similar, but with slightly better reason than me!! Seems like we have a band to go to on friday. The afore mentioned Denny is playing lead for a band called "Cat, Fox, and the Style Dogs"! Should be a giggle! Then off to Es's mum's birthday. I forget her age.. i think it's 60 this time but it might be 59! Probably best i find that out beforehand! lol Right.. machine is beeping at me so best sort the drying out before it shouts at me. Is it amused? I didn't think so! May 15 Vegas : The Wiseman’s return!Mutters... ah this has changed formats again so I can no longer add entries on dates gone by, so i'll have to log dates as I go! Okay... So... We're back! Alive, well, no pig flu, standard sore throat from flights but that's it! I have a bit of a browning going on, as does E, but no major burning which is surprising as there wasn't a day under 90f and at least one day at100f +. Monday : So, we headed out to Hamsterspam Airport on the Monday a.m. Heading to the Irish bar on the airport i had a breakfast of Murphy's stout and sausage sandwiches with Es having coke and something not quite as palatable, so I've forgotten it! Flight to Philadelphia was fine although landing was pretty bouncy due to turbulence! Filled faces with Fish and Chips and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale at the Olde Philadelphia Tavern on the airport where we bumped into Tamara and Adrian, one a WOW fan, the other a published Egyptologist known formally (according to wikipedia) as Her Holiness, Sekhenet-Ma'at-Ra Setep-en-Ra User Hekatawy I, Nisut-Bity of the Kemetic Orthodox faith, and founder and current head of Kemetic Orthodoxy and the House of Netjer, which is nice! We waffled for a good while about alsorts of stuff until twas time to wander away, only to find that our gate had been changed! Still all was well and we headed off into the sun! Hooora! (heavy on the "Ra" for our earlier company's sake!). Face broke out again but managed to contain the infection. was mostly gone by Friday Landed happily in Vegas, watched a house episode in flight from my phone, trip to the hotel on the bus was eventful as there was a merry ole lass at the back of the bus being loud and playful. Checked in at The Sahara Hotel & Casino, where by our room was instantly upgraded upon mention of how far we'd travelled, so that, when I said "I'm led to believe if we ask nicely you might upgrade us" the person behind the desk said "Tis already done!". Sorted! Ripped! Lets Off Road!! The room its self was... absolutely fine. Two double beds instead of a king, but wasn't a problem. One bed housed our "to hand" stuff", the other, us! The TV worked well. Cable gave us Law and Order, Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy etc etc! All good. No sign of bed bugs, nor dirt, a bath, a shower, all clean fine and dandy! We grabbed a drink, had a wander, then curled up for the night!
Tuesday : Off to McMullans Irish Bar / Pub at silly o'clock for Arsenal v Man U! Took a bit of getting to but got there in the end! Caught the monorail to MGM and then discovered we "couldn't walk it" so wound up in a taxi! Frankly we were awful! I hope Arsene Wenger takes some notes from this as we have been deserving of a sound lesson for some time now to show quite how far off we are from the top teams! Had a laugh with other fans there, had Boddies to drink, and a steak and mushroom pie for me, steak sandwich for Es. Then, off to the Las Vegas outlets, where Es found.... not lello, but PINK bars! grrr... zx7020s! And cheaper than a cheap thing at close to £20! Also found a dress in the Adidas shop, which was cute too! Day was spent wandering here and there and generally just relaxing!
Wednesday : Off to MuMullans again for the Chelsea game via Starbucks for breakfast in New York New York! Chicken curry pie for me, and an over dressed Caesar salad for Es in McMullans today! This time Chelsea were robbed! Badly. Another argument for match fixing me thinks! We wandered into The Orleans while in that area, and were so impressed we came back after the game, and wound up watching Wolverine there! Trotted across to the Luxor, which was a bit pants really! Made a new boobs pic in Mandalay Bay, wandered about in Excalibur and had to chuckle as the All Cried Out version by Fink played in the background! Nice! Again, seriously toasty day!
Thursday : Off we trundled to the Premium Outlets shops. Had a cracking breakfast / lunch of spicey chicken / chicken with jalapenos with rice from the food court there! Es got jeans, top and shorts, and I got swimming shorts to save the people from Speedos! Wasn't really anything for me there cos I'm a bugger to shop for! had a shufti in the Riviera and wandered about a bit, then back to the Sahara for slots. Was tired, tried to order a pint from the waitress who claimed she had no idea what a pint was, so Es got a drink and I didn't! Went out to the pool which was lovely. Not too busy, not to big. Actually ideal! Why people on Trip Advisor have moaned about the place I have no idea!
Friday : Made a point of going to the Hard Rock Cafe. For anyone else reading this and considering it.... Don't bother. Boring as Hell, Dexy's Midnight Runners playing wasn't, isn't, will never be hard rock. The cafe it's self is not part of the hotel, and.... get this.. there is a dress code! for a "Rock" place. No vests / sleeveless shirts! Bizarre! Seriously, it's a long way out of the way and is such a let down! Avoid! Instead.. wander over to Monte Carlo's Brew Pub! Music was rock, and the food was great! Prices were a tad steep but that's life! After eating there we headed across to the Venetian, where we grabbed an Indoor gondola trip, while having that song from the Ice Cream advert sung at us by a lass with a seriously pretty voice, and then headed up to Freemont Street for the "experience". The Queen display was good fun! *warbles "We will rock you" and chuckles*. Newcastle Brown to drink. All is good!
Saturday : Asked at Sahara desk if they knew when ESPN zone opened, only for the lass to claim she'd never heard of ESPN and what is it. Now.. asides from ESPN being the major sports channels in the states, and the sports bar in vegas being huge (over 100 flat screen tv's), the woman was sat opposite the Sahara's own sports bar where ESPN channels were in abundance. It was about this time that I was finally really fed up with interaction with anyone in the Vegas "help" type business, because it appears, you have to ask them something at least twice, and then they answer not the question which you asked, but what they think you want to know, eg: "Do you know what time X opens", will gain the reply "Y opens @ 10pm". The answer is a yes or no. It's simple! ArrgggG!! Anyway, the day was spent wandering here, there, and everywhere, drinks in Rock House (Bud Lite Lime!!) Newcastle Brown at Trader Vics again, and a Prime Rib dinner at Circus Circus which was great!
Sunday : Wandered about a bit more ! Breakfast of 2 giant hotdogs in Circus Circus! Big ass hotdogs! lmao! Today was just wanderings really, and sampling of the Sin City Brew Pub Stout and Pale Ale / Wheat beer. Tea at Binions was Prime rib again and was huge!!
Monday : Took in Treasure Island, Caesars Palace, and Mirage, all much of a muchness really. Watched Newcastle v Middlesbrough in Caesars then headed off and watched Star Trek, then off to Tamba Indian restaraunt where we both had Rogan Josh, which was very good! You'll notice that entries for days are smaller now as we'd basically looked everywhere and were just wandering to take in atmosphere!
Tuesday : Knowing this was our last day we thought we'd have a lazy day in preparation for travelling! Headed down to the Monte Carlo for food at the Brew Pub again only to find it closed! grrr! Hit Starbucks instead and had coffee & muffin with Es having Tea and Brownie!, which I followed up with 2 jalapeno pretzel dogs! On the bridge over by MGM Es hand fed a sparrow. Cheaky thing she was too! (Sparrow, not Es lol). Then, off back to the Sahara for the pool and relaxation with cocktails and swimming! Toasted Wiseman's we were! The headed to an Italian restaurant for a pretentiously priced meal, only to wind up eating just the meat as the veg looked like it'd been digested twice already! Esther says her meal was good, but only ate about a third of it, and that two looked like intestines of pig mixed with jellyfish! (Was a lobster pasta thing). The meal cost near on what we spent all day the day before, and for myself i just cant justify it! I'd prefer hotdog and the cash thank you very much but in an effort to be more sophisticated I got my just deserts, which was being blatantly exposed as just not cut out for that sort of thing. I feel sorry for Esther in stuff like that cos i hold her back. Earlier on in the week I'd lost my cool over another meal and left without ordering, telling her she should go do her own thing cos again my idiosyncrasies mixed with eating out problems and issues with cost finally got the better of me. Needless to say we walked about a bit til we wound up going elsewhere that time, but here I just ate the meat and was left looking silly, as i'd already enquired as to what the veg was. Not eating it all further exacerbates my annoyance at the price too. grrr! Then back through the casino, couple of drinks, and back upstairs, where sleep completely avoided me, and Es had a few hours!
Wednesday : 4a.m. wake up. Wash hair and away we go! Flight to Philadelphia was easy! Probably the best flight I've been on. Food in a Rock bar on the airport was burger n chips, and a pint of Bass! Then, with a 2 hour delay and a House episode watched before take off, we headed home. Some drunken fruitcake on the plane was being an asshole, but other than that, all was well.
So.. We had fun. Weather was great, Sahara was excellent, I was awkward company at times, but Es seems to like that lol. I have to say, it wasn't as fun as last time. I think the fact that money plays such a huge part in being there played on my mind. The opportunity to buy a meal at $80 is next door to a similar one for $12, as is the chance to play machines @ 1c per spin or $10 per spin. We never saw a show which again i feel responsible for, but i simply don't think $140 for 90 mins is worth while! This serves to remind me at times of the differences between Es and me. I guess I need to work on letting go of some of these things, but to me, it's things like this that's allowed me to survive in this world. And so we're back. Rested(ish) and ready to head back to daily life here in Leiden. No more riding the Deuce, no more Enchanted Unicorn, but two cats and a familiarity of home, where the sound of parakeets drift in through the window and the washing needs to be done. We had fun, as I said before, but in all honestly... it's nice to be home! May 04 FLying this a.m.Up up and away! Off to Vegas. Be back on may 14th in the early a.m. Toodle pip all! April 24 Weight off my mind.Mutters, I’m annoyed with this. It decided not to post the first time I wrote it, so now I have gto do it again. In my quest to manage to get below 12 stone before Vegas, we’re off to the gym again tonight! The all singing all dancing scales seem to fluctuate far to much. One Day I'm 12.5, the next I’m at 12.1. Either way, I’m still not under the magical number 12! Still, there’s a week or so to go, so with a little bit of sweat and work… It’s nice to report that, it appears I’ve finally shook off the scary infection thing that has hounded me for over a year on my cheeks. It manifested its self in all seriousness last time we were in Vegas, so am hoping that this time, it will decide to stay sorted so that, I can grab some pictures without the silly belly, and without the silly cheeks! I can almost see the shaking of the heads…. lol! Off to the grandparents house on the weekend for Opa’s birthday. Handy that, Gran is “Oma”, Granddad, “Opa”. One of the few simple sets of words over here! We were at Oma’s birthday a few weeks ago and it was remarked upon that I was more animated than usual. This was because the in-laws were there, so i had other people I could communicate with. I think I like having grandparents. Especially grandparents who don’t understand me. It makes it less likely I’ll cause arguments! hehe! Okies… well, while fiddling with skype settings I managed to swipe a pic so am going to add it here as the one of me looking like a gnome below is.. well… gnomelike!! Which reminds me, I owe the blog a vogeloozit album! Bad Me! Lets see if it posts this time! grr…
April 22 Windows Live WriterOkies… I’m not entirely sure how this as yet works, so, I’m using this entry as a test to see how widgets and gadgets etc are configurable via this ere tool, so that, in the end, my blogging will be magnifico!
This was taken on our excursion to the bird place. I’ve seen scarier pics of me i must admit! At least the day glow cheeks have gone! April 21 VogeloozitWell, had a good time out and about on the weekend / monday and wound up at a bird sanctuary type place. All good fun. Es had wee parakeets land on her, and it reminded me of trundling around in Wayne's aviary, where the cockatiels seemed to like me! Will sling up some pics as and when lol April 04 Not forgotten, not forgiven, but dealt with.Ah, it's an entertaining world we live in still. |
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