Endimi's ramblings

So here I am at home. The bathroom's clean, the kitchen's spotless, the baby's room is just about ready but missing some stuff that is still at my parent's, the room in the front of the house has an added toilet (still need to fit in the door) and new flooring, most of the attic is painted and the flooring is also ready to be put in, the new shower room is ready save for the glass shower walls and the flooring, but one is being delivered soon and the other has been chosen.

The building stuff has been out of my hands for a while now, most of the cleaning as well but I managed to do a few things on my own, and god did I need that.

So now all there's left to do is to wait. Wait for baby to announce the arrival.

We all wait...

The Boombalfestival was great, as usual, but I did laugh my ass off with some of the behind-the-scenes info I got. Just in case you're wondering: I volunteered this time so I would have free entry, free drinks, free food and free hot showers, which was great, I only paid for extra food because I wanted fancy stuff (preggy me, hehe). So when you're selling meal and drink tokens you can hear the walkies chatter with all sorts of info, stuff like "the dancers just fell through the floor in dance temple 2, please send assistance" and "who the hell put the shower drain pipe into the field where people are going to be camping later?". Funness. :)

I went to see Trinket on Tuesday and Wednesday but went home to sleep in my own bed each time. As of Thursday we shared once again the big tent Katleen had provided (Trinket can stand up straight in that thing!). But first I went to see ophi to return her lamp and got a special preview of her brand new kitten: Osiris. She made me a wonderful lunch and we chatted until we both had to leave.
In the evening I sold tolkens for 4 hours, very hectic: there were in total 2 tills opened and each till had 2 people selling at top speed, but the lines didn't get any shorter until about 11pm, when my shift was over. Then I went to enjoy the set by Accordzéam and saw a bit of the after jam. I went to bed early enough, dead tired but also because I had my next shift when the festival opened on Friday.

A calm shift, I sat there mostly alone, not many people needing tokens since they'd bought them the night before... Then I went to see Double-D and Bogus at the free podium, enjoyed some Rue Pascale Quartet, and was completely set to thoroughly enjoy Naragonia. As usual the sound in the big tent was terrible, so we didn't enjoy Blowzabella as much as we could have. At that very same moment a small rainstorm announced itself, but we didn't feel that in the tents, except for the fact that it was suddenly filled with people. I ended the evening listening to Boréale but went to bed before the end of their set. And good for me I didn't stay: they played a 3 hour set in the end!

Had a good night's sleep thanks to the very good earplugs Trinket and I got. After my shift I was just in time to see Manimoen, a new group with Toon and Pablo and some of the guys from Harakiwi. A very fun set indeed! Then I went to see Thomas who was trying to reanimate the hurdy-gurdy he got for me to use this year, it was in a dreadful state. Since I was there anyways I stayed for the TLS with Toon, but one of the bagpipes was out of tune, and I only got halfway through the song when I got beaten black and blue from the inside because the baby couldn't stand those pipes anymore, so I left and wandered around a bit. I shunned the big tent that day and sat chatting with a number of people, enjoying myself immensely. At midnight there was a surprise gig by Triple-X, a great set, and I stayed until the first songs of Beatball, where once again the baby made it perfectly clear it did not appreciate the sounds that were coming its way.

Once again: thank god for earplugs!

Sunday morning, last shift, and quite calm. I picked up my hurdy-gurdy and went to listen to a bit of Miek & Roel, Herman Van Veen, Parasol and then the absolute top of the festival: 2 sets by Hot Griselda! They got called back twice at the end of the last set and they were sooooo tired. Jeroen's guitar fell down again and the damage that had been repared before reoccured: the head of the guitar split off. Luckily Trinket has about the same guitar, so he ran to get it and the barely anyone noticed Jeroen was playing a different guitar. When the stage was cleared we all went to bed, stopping by the big tent to dace a tiny bit to some good party music, and then it was all over for this year.

Looking forward to going next year, if I can persuade parents/in-laws to babysit for the weekend... maybe bringing the little one along for one day... we'll see :)

So last week I was home all week, slight viral infection causing a serious drop in blood pressure and the heat didn't improve the situation.

Monday and Tuesday I was definitely out, Wednesday was a lot better and I did some much needed shopping so as not to starve during the day ;)
On Thursday I was already feeling a lot better, so Trinket drove us to Lier in the evening where Peter had reserved us some chairs to sit and listen to an evening of Daithi Rua and Aidan Burke. Lovely as always. They were going to be back there on Sunday as well, BUT...
On Friday we had to go to the Avatar (new film by James Cameron in 3D) preview in Kinepolis and we got some free tickets as well for a movie of our choice, so we went to see Harry Potter.
On Saturday I did the rest of the shopping and we had some friends over in the afternoon and evening. Trinket cooked and we chatted until late in the evening.
Aaaand... On Sunday Trinket was playing his first Folk gig: a ball in Gooik.
The gig went great, and I heard lots of good comments afterwards, so everyone was pleased.
Now I'm going to relax for a few days. Trinket is out to the Boombalstage, and I will be joining him as of Thursday, well rested I hope.

Well, as usual, summertime is too busy.

The week-end was packed, and our plans on Sunday were slightly changed as well, we went a lot earlier to my parents and then spike1977 came over and we kinda celebrated moving into our house one year ago by having a good chat, some good spaghetti and watching the next movie we were at for SW: The Revenge of the Sith. And I still don't like that movie, but hey, it's part of it ;)

Tonight is a calm night, tomorrow there's a b-day party (and I still don't have a pressie, argh! The thing I set my mind to is impossible to find all of a sudden!), nex week-end is packed!

So if it's a bit quiet here, you know why ;)

Went to pick up the album with our wedding pictures last night, they're fab!

Because she didn't find what she liked, the photographer made the whole album herself, meaning yes, she actually hand-crafted the paper first, then cut it, then made the album and then put the pictures in. The result is great!

Had a long chat while we were there as well, the boys talking larp, rpg and IT, the girls talking wedding, babies, work and refurbishing of houses.

We got home kinda late, but it was soooo hot... so didn't sleep very well last night, especially with these damn mosquitos eating me as soon as it started to get light.

But as of tonight: WEEK-END!
With on Friday a b-day poolparty thing, on Saturday looking around for a less expensive bathroom and a visit by some good friends and on Sunday visiting my parents to show off the photos. Busy as usual. And in between try to get the walls in the attic completely finished and the house a tiny bit clean.

Gonna post a bit to unwind because they're stressing me out to bits here at work and that can't be good for the baby.

Last night after work and dinner, we rested a bit and then went to Ghent for the final evening of the 10-day festival. Finding a parking spot was hell, so in the end we just drove to the St-Michiels paypark where there was room for us. We arrived in time to enjoy the last few songs of Triple-X and see Jeroen fix a string, break it again, etc ;o)
They had a trumpet player along, Bart Maris, and combined with Stéphane's bombarde it was a great sound. They ended their set with the great slow-jig that astounded Kris when I explained the loops were recorded live during the song.

Loads of people were there: Annelies, Leen (x2), Daithi, Fré. The place was not packed this time, so we had ample room to sit and enjoy the show.

Second part: Boombalbombardement. And this time they had taken out the big guns! Wouter Vandenabeele, Tom Theuns, Soetkin Collier, Jo Zanders, Pablo Golder, Sophie Cavez, and I'm forgetting some, were joined by special guests Gabriel Yacoub and Walter De Buck. There were some great songs, and some lesser songs, but as a whole quite enjoyable. We didn't stay 'till the end, though. It was getting late, cold, and the sound wasn't that great. So with a last chocolate milkshake we were off and said good-bye to the Ghent Festivities for another year.

Since I was feeling better yesterday, I was able to carry out my plans and go to Ghent once more.

On the agenda: having pancakes with randallsilver made by his gfriend at the Novotel, Boombal Intiem with Naragonia, go and pick up Trinket, meet up again with Randall and Anja for dinner and then Hot Griselda at Baudelo.

Needless to say that a day spent with Randall was hilarious. At the Novotel there were question marks all over people's faces when we were having the pancakes, and speculation was all around: was Anja supposed to know, was I maybe his sister, etc. We had lots of laughs.
Then off to the Spiegeltent where we met Kris and enjoyed Naragonia playing. One of Kris' friends arrived as well and he and Randall instantly started being silly together (matroesjka-cups!).
After this I dropped of Randall close to his place and went to pick up Trinket who had helped the LAN-guys pack and leave.
And off we were again, back to Ghent for dinner at a great Turkish restaurant where Randall got us a free round of drinks and then off to Baudelo! Kris was there as well, and I even was able to dance a bit with Trinket. With Daithi and his camera around, more silliness ensued!

We ended the evening at the chocolate bar, a milkshake each. Yummmm...

One more evening in Ghent to go, and then it's another year's wait.

Update!

Last Thursday I went to see a specialised chiropractor for my back, since with the pregnancy and all I cannot just go to any doc. He warned me not to think it is a miracle solution and to give it at least until Sunday to really get better.

Well, it did get a whole lot better! Still have to watch out and take my rest on time, but it's a world of difference compared to the pain I was in at the beginning of the week.

So the energised me is ready to go!

How could I stay home on Tuesday? National holiday and Boombal Intiem at Baudelo plus Yevgeni at Polé Polé!
So in the afternoon I drove to Ghent once again. After some parking hassle I got there in the middle of a big rainstorm and they had of course succeeded in frying the electricity... But no worries: Jeroen and Wouter had placed themselves in the middle of the dancefloor and played an accoustic set. Until Wouter broke the string of his violin... haven't seen that too often!
Also met Patrick, zomermaantje and Annelies there. With Patrick I immediately had a dancepartner for a slow waltz and a careful scottish, so as not to hurt my back too much. Lovely to dance on a dancefloor that wasn't packed.

After that it was off to PoléPolé, where Yevgeni sang "Kannibaal" when we were well installed in the light rain and we had the chance to enjoy a few other songs. But we didn't stay long: randallsilver arrived with David for our dinner date. As usual we had a hilareous time, but the next day was another working day, so after dinner (and getting the chance to say "hi!" to Anja) I slowly went home, to rest my back since it was baaaaaad.

So on Monday evening I was back!
First went to ophi's place where I got shown around the new living room, we chatted a bit and then were off together (she had the keys of the Netlash parking, woohoo!) to the Baudelo park!
Taught her a few new dances: basic steps to rondeau en couple, mazurka and polska (not getting to the turning, that needs loads of training), and refreshed her memory on the miserlou.
We also met Daithi and Marijke, so we had some fun with them as well!

KV Express did a good job as usual, and they had brought a harmonica player along for the occasion, giving some of the (new) songs a special sound.

Didn't stay too long: back acting up and Ophi had to be able to get up in the morning for the kids, but I'm sure both she and myself had a very nice evening, ending with a chocolate milkshake each and a split-in-half brownie.

Yesterday I went to Ghent for the Gentse Fieste, accompanied by Kris so I wouldn't have to worry about driving home.
I started preparing for this trip in the morning and soaked my back in a very hot bath for about half an hour. That actually worked and kept me relatively pain-free for half a day!
Recap:
- arrived,
- found a parking space really close by the Baudelo park,
- walked around and bought a silly cute baby t-shirt: handle with care, this side up (with arrow pointing to head),
- stopped at the first chocolate bar stand to get me a milkshake
- walked around some more,
- went for a drink to ease my back,
- were joined by 2 of Kris' friends I had met during the BBQ
- walked around some more
- had yummyyyyyy dinner (clams in cream sauce!) with silly company
- walked to Sint-Jacobs
- enjoyed the set played by Aranis and bought their 2nd CD
- fled the chair-stealing frenzy that was going on by the elderly that were capable of throwing pregnant me and a very much more pregnant lady close by off our chairs (Willem Vermandere was going to play... and though I love to hear and see him sing, I just couldn't stand all the old people around behaving like tyrannic 5-year-olds). The was actually a bom preying on our chairs the moment we got up!
- went back to the chocolate bar stand for dessert: brownie and milkshake
- went to the Boombal at Baudelo
- met my previous Project Manager there and had a chat
- met Marijke and Daithi and chatted some more
- met Stefan and had a chat
- met Pablo who once again wanted to show off how good his Dutch has become and refused to speak French to me ;)
- got shocked by the price of the CD the Boombal group was selling (20€ for a folk CD??? write some more of your own stuff, than you won't have to pay that many royalties and you will be able to sell your CDs at a better price!)
- went home on time but chatted until late with Kris

I hope today will be calm at work, and maybe tonight I will be able to go and see KV Express, because the next few day there are Sucky McCrap until Friday. But all will depend on the back of course.
Which reminds me: calling chiro... NOW!

- the electricity is safe now
- we have a shiny new switchboard
- the attic is as ready as it's gonna get
- the house is clean thanks to Trinket's parents' help
- we took off the hideous mailbox thing at the front of the house
- Gentse Fieste are starting soon!

Because of lazy workers only the straight walls with power sockets are plastered, for the rest they just came for a look on Thursday, started complaining and came for half a day on Friday so at least the LAN-party will be able to happen. Since we had time left because of their early departure we went to Van Den Borre and ordered the tumble dryer we got from my parents as a wedding gift.

On Saturday we started cleaning around the house and at noon we drove to Ghent where Trinket wanted to try a certain guitar at ThomaOkaze. Since he hadn't found a decent guitar in a good price range in the States, his teacher pointed this one out to him. We went, he tested, we bought at 60% off, so in the end he spent a lot less than first budgeted :)
After that is was off to zomermaantje and ridingwolf's place where Trinket helped move furniture and in the process hurt his back and both knees again, but it seems to be manageable. For dinner we had a pizza and some very yummy chocolate fondue, but discovered that a chocolate fountain is not all that easy ;o)
When we left we were really tired and planned to be couch-potato for the rest of the evening.
But...
By the time we got home we were wide awake again, and decided last-minute to do what we had cancelled when making the arrangements forthe furniture move: we drove to Brussels to listen to Naragonia Quarted at Brosella Folk & Jazz. It was fun (there were chairs!) and we even managed to dance to Calimero (how could we not?) :)

On Sunday morning Trinket's parents came around to help us do the very necessary cleaning. We spent most of the day dusting, vacuuming and mopping all around the house, but now we have a (mostly) dust-free house again! So now we won't have to worry about inadvertedly killing halfcore during the LAN-party with an overdose of dust ;)
When they had left we went to see Kris and borrowed a few of his tables, so they can easily be moved to the attic for the LAN-weekends.
By the end of the day I could barely walk due to the pain in my hip, so we just got some fries for dinner and crashed on the couch afterwards.

But the week has started well: I can walk normally so far, the sun is out, the electricity grid in the house is being reviewed today and tomorrow and I'm preparing the big meeting in London tomorrow. Still have to arrange to have my car serviced, maybe I'll do that on Thursday...

Busy busy!

more telegram-style updates!

- before the construction summer holiday the walls in the attic will be finished! i.e. this Friday evening all will be done!
- we'll have decent electricity by Tuesday evening
- the Hot Griselda CD is wonderful
- baby news from friends is so much fun! (welkom Janne!)
- finally had a decent night's sleep again

- On Thursday one of the drywall guys just took off without notice before the work was done
- The furious boss came instead and did some of the work
- So on Friday afternoon they were back, and forced to stay until all work was finished, i.e. 8:00 pm...
- Went to pick up Kris and off to Gooikoorts after that
- Enjoyed a nice evening chatting, but didn't go into the tents much: lots of sound problems and even electricity problems
- Did get to buy some great new CDs: Munnelly, Flaherty & Masure and Hot Griselda!
- Didn't sleep too late on Saturday: went looking for light fixtures for the attic and bought a Comfy Big cushion to help me sleep
- then back to Gooikoorts, for Snaarmaarwaar, a quick shopping intermezzo at Colruyt (need groceries) and some more Gooikoorts
- Sunday morning slept late
- More Gooikoorts and more CDs: the new Embrun CD and Decker & Decombel
- Went to bed early, slept terribly
- dreamt that Toon was actually a hidden Nox...

Silly me...

- I can post here again no problem, and I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that no ads appear anymore
- They started building the walls in our attic, and work is advancing quickly, but had to take half a day off to babysit them until my parents arrived
- had a nice lunch before going to work and some magic was demonstrated, nicely done
- it's hot in here again, but at least we have the fans
- found a pair of low-heeled sandals at the bottom of my closet I completely forgot about
- said closet that wouldn't close due to the uneven flooring is now stabilized and closing as it should
- living room is tidied
- fresh sheets on the bed
- most of the laundry finished (still the sheets to go)
- plants watered
- tonight: dancing!

I can post here. And I'm at work. But I did notice the advertisements that are usually to the side of the page (plus account) are invisible. Maybe that was the blocking factor?

In other news: after some serious complaining there is now a huge big block of an a/c system parked in front of the door to our offices, with the door wide open. But we don't feel much, our office is too far off. Then they installed 2 fans in our office, so now the heat is at least bearable.
They've promised 2 smaller ones for tomorrow so they can place them inside our offices.

And I wanna go home...

En bij deze is mijn Facebook dus ook netjes uitegfilterd en geblindeerd voor een groot deel collega's.

Because the status, is NOT quo.

Last stop: Disney World.

On Monday we visited the Hollywood Studios. A number of attractions were the same as in Paris, but there was loads of other stuff to do: Indiana Jones stuntshow, Star Wars kiddie show (soooo cute), movie ride etc. We had a lot of fun but it was so hot! By the end of the day there was some rain cooling everything down just a bit and we had a sci-fi-drive-in-theater dinner, very funny. We went to see the evening lightshow which was very pretty indeed.

On Tuesday we went to Epcot. A very cozy themepark. We especially enjoyed the Imagination Institute Open House ride and walking through the international part (bought kimono's in the Japan part). When we got in the waiting line for Spaceship Earth (the great big ball thing) it started getting dark and very windy, and by the time we got inside all hell broke loose with a huge thunderstorm. We got stuck for about 45 minutes in the last area waiting for the rain to abate and then I ran back to the buses barefoor, because my sandals were slippy on the inside. Well, the ground was hot! Even with all the rain! The fireworks got delayed due to the storm and we just didn't want towait anymore so we left.

Wednesday: Magic Kingdom! We took the monorail and the boat to get across Lake Disney and got a great view. Once again some things were the same as in Paris, but we enjoyed the rides that were new to us: Pooh, Carrousel of Progress, etc. Sadly enought the hall of presidents was closed for refurbishment :(
Pirates was fun, and Jack was funny, but we overall we like the Pirates ride in Paris better.
For lunch we went to the Crystal Palace with Pooh & friends, and they had put a Mickey-sequin heart on our table (we were wearing the just married badges). We also got free drinks at one of the snack stands and with our dinner they gave us free cookies to celebrate :)
The fireworks were huge and impressive (heart, star and circle shaped fireworks galore!) and we had a nice chat with a couple from Minnesota who were sitting right next to us.

Thursday, last day of our honeymoon and we went to Animal Kingdom. We didn't get the chance to see much. We saw the bird-show and walked around taking in the views, got to see the Nemo musical in priority seats thanks to the restaurant where we had lunch and then another rainstorm came by and they closed all open-air rides and safaris... so we took off and went to downtown Disney for shopping.

And then it was time to go home. Customs was easy, though we did have to let them search one of our bags because they couldn't make out what one of the items was: the glass paperweight we got for my mom.
After a short flightt from Atlanta (only 8 hours and 6 minutes) we were back in our lovely little country with no customs check whatsoever... welcome home they said and let us pass.

So now we're cherishing the memories and sorting out the hundreds of pictures.

The end of our honeymoon, and the start of the rest, with a kicking baby who started that while we were visiting the Magic Kingdom, so here's another Disney-fan in the making!

So, all manatee swimming things were booked solid for 6 months... so instead we went to Sea World. What a wonderful day! We fed and petted the dolphins, saw beautiful shows and cheered on Shamu the giant killer whale! When they say "soak zone" on the seats, they really mean you're gonna get SOAKED! We only got splashed, though, we were in the last seats of the soak zone.
For dinner, since we thought we would have to get up extremely early for the launch, we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Since it was a fancy place we let the waiter do his thing and we started off with lobster bisque and followed that with a nice steak, since the ad said they had the best steaks in the city, any city. This was without any doubt the best steak we have ever eaten. I never had a steak that was so perfectly cooked and just melts on your tongue...
The waiter asked why we were visiting, and when we mentioned the honeymoon and the baby on the way he brought us a complimentary creme brulee he had finished himself. Yummm...

Since the launch of the Space Shuttle was cancelled due to a hydrogen leak, and we thought about checking online before leaving for the Cape, we slept late and then drove around Orlando on Saturday and visited a music shop where Trinket tried some more guitars, and went to the Cape to get tickets for a special tour on Sunday. We ended the day shopping in the last outlet mall of our holidays and avoiding the daily rainstorm.

On Sunday we visited Cape Canaveral and did the Up and Close tour, loads of fun and great pictures coming along! Driving back to Orlando to the Disney Resort there was another rainshower so bad we almost had to stop driving, and when we got to our room there was luggage from other guests in there! An error by the bellman...
When dropping off the car it also turned out there was no more transportation back to the hotel from there! (we were a bit late apparently) Lucky for us a guy from the Disney Transportation service that have their office there dropped us off.
We watched the final NBA Finals game and saw the Lakers win and my favourite Magic go down hard... oh well...

Last and final update will be on the Disney Parks! Bye for now!