Tragedy

Yesterday I was touched by the death of the german goalkeeper Robert Enke, aged 32. He took his life by jumping before a train. It was said he was depressed and never overcame the death of his daughter (2.5 years). He leaves his wife and an eight month old adopted daughter behind.

I think it's a tragedy that no one could help this man to overcome his grief for his child. It's a pity the only way out for him was to find the way to his deceased daughter. It was heartbreaking to see his wife on tv giving a press conference - amazing how strong that woman was, how she spoke of their hopes to overcome the loss of their daughter with their love for each other that as she said glued them even more together. Sadly, it was not enough for Robert.

Twitter?

I don't get it: what is the whole world loving about twitter? Yeah sure, I'm on there too. Until recently, I was even twittering publicly. But I decided to go private since I have unknown people following me and I simply don't like that idea and can't get used to it. Why would anybody who doesn't know me at all be interested in what I twitter? That's weird. So I threw out all unknown followers and went private. To come back to the beginning: what's the big deal about twitter? To me it seems like it's a sort facebook but reduced to status updates and public. But since I'm on facebook too it seems odd to update there and on twitter? And updating on FB and twitter differently is even more strange, why would I do that? The possibility of interaction with followers seems less attractive to me on twitter than on FB. Following a "discussion" with multiple comments seems easier to me on FB than on twitter. But maybe that's not the idea of twitter? So for me twitter at the moment is not attractive. I reduce my activity there. I stopped following most people since most of them didn't twitter anyway or very seldom and/or are (more) active on FB as well (so that's easy...hahaha).
If someone can explain the whole twitter idea to me, go ahead and tell me.

Dubai Fountain

Dubai Fountain
Originally uploaded by CruisAir

I've recently paid a short visit to the exciting city of Dubai. Here's a short video of one of the spectacular sights of the city, the Dubai Fountain. The sound and music you hear is that played during the performance, nothing has been added by me. The clashing sound you here is that of the water. It is an impressive show and they perform several a night, though they all seem to be alternating and different in length and music and lights. An amazing spectacular!
The building that can be seen in the background is the Burj Dubai. It's filmed from the bridge that connects Soukh al Bahar with the Dubai Mall.
Sorry for the inferior quality but I only have the possibility to record video with my Nikon Coolpix camera. But I guess it gives a good impression on how the fountain looks.

Emotional

There is this Whitney Houston song playing in my head all afternoon..., the lyrics "... I get so emotional baby, every time I think of youuuhuuuu..." going through my head. It strangely feels like a soundtrack though I don't know the lyrics at all except for that part I mentioned which keeps repeating in my head... like those annoying songs from time to time that simply stuck in your head without obvious reason... Does this happen to you as well, that you feel much more emotional on one day than the other? I can't think of any specific reason why I am like this today... but I am. The slightest thing touches me and I almost feel like crying aobut little things that I hear when we talked. Today is such a day that I physically miss you a lot, to hug and feel that very special and dear friend, to feel some warmth. I feel like I soak up every little piece of love, warmth, appreciation like a dry sponge. Usually it's not "thaaaat bad"... I can keep up my mood pretty well I think. But obviously there are days for whatever reason that I'm less perfect. Like today. Sure, I have my hubby and we are doing very well. Yet, there are things I miss. There's a deep desire for warmth, ..., love and all kinds of other attention, like nice words. For example, I wish I'd one day hear words of being desired too, like you speak of others. Not necessarily from you but to experience such a sensation of being desired. I sometimes get a hint of that on flickr but it does not feel real and is far away. But I think a lot about such things, wondering how certain things I never experienced in my life could be. I can't remember ever being desired by someone, physically. With passion. Not that you can do anything about it. But you know me and what I talk about. Sometimes I think I travelled my life in one big circle and somehow feel I haven't moved forward one single step since the end of 2007 in certain ways. Of course there have been positive changes for me, luckily. But other things haven't changed and I wonder if they ever will? Can you still change certain things at my age? Can you make up for things of which you think you missed them? Did I really miss them, anyway? Is it enough for me to soak up your stories about such things, to hear your "wild" stories and think of my "possibly missed opportunities"? I am thankful for having my hubby by my side. I need him and he is important. But as great as he is he can't change my shortcomings.

...and still all I hear is that "...I get so emotional baby..."

Paris.

Another recent trip took Jelle and me to Paris! It had been very long since our last trip to this beautiful city and so we were looking forward to a re-visit very much. Colleagues had been to the city by Thalys train and inspired us to try the same - so we did! And I must say we liked it a lot! We managed to get a special offer in First Class and that's really great travelling! During the trip you have free access to Wifi and they constantly serve you drinks, snacks and between Brussels and Paris even a full cold meal, like in an airplane! We loved it.



In Paris we had picked a very nice luxurious hotel, the Pullman Bercy. The location was not in the center but nevertheless close to the metro and very quiet and convenient. It is located near to a little park in Bercy and next to a small mall that was build in renovated industrial buildings. It was very cozy with lots of restaurants and all the shops and many people, you could hardly tell there's a economic crisis going on... We were very lucky with the weather and enjoyed a nice dinner outside in that mall.
We didn't have specific plans for sightseeing as we both had already been to the city before. We just walked around without plan and enjoyed all the impressions of a fascinating city. Though in the end we came by all the typical sights, like Notre Dame, Champs Elysée, Arc de Triomphe, Montmartre, Sacre Coeur and Eiffel Tower. We made some detours on our walk through one or the other park and also visited some of the many train stations the city has as we always find it interesting to visit stations.
After only two nights our visit ended already and we headed back to Amsterdam, again with the Thalys.
Jelle and I really enjoyed trip and city a lot and plan to go back.

Two trips.

Recently I have taken two trips (again) to Spain. I have been to Madrid alone to visit Dani during Orgullo Gay. It was a very busy visit. Dani met some people on several occasions as he is a very social man. The parade in Madrid is nice, it again seemed to me like one big party of gay and straight people. I liked it. Personally though I think it's too long. It was nice to have the opportunity to meet Javier, one of Dani's dear friends, during this trip for the first time.




The second trip took Jelle and me to Valencia. Sera, Dani's boyfriend, had invited us to visit him and Dani during one weekend. So Jelle and I flew down there and joined the two. It was a very nice, calm and relaxed weekend. Sera and Dani showed us around and Jelle and I truly fell in love with the city! It's beautiful! Everything was perfect: the weather was hot but gorgeous, we had a splendid hotel that Sera had arranged and we truly enjoyed walking around the city and chatting with our friends and absorbing the impressions of sounds and sights of that fascinating city.
Unfortunately we had to leave early as it was a very busy travel weekend and all flights were pretty full. In order to make sure to get home we had to head home early but luckily the flights worked out fine for us. We decided to take a flight with Iberia Regional to Lisbon and from there with TAP to Amsterdam. Especially the TAP flight was very pleasant and despite having a very long return trip it still was interesting as Jelle had never flown them before.

uninspired.

I'm sorry for not posting here lately - but I simply feel empty in the sense that I cannot find the right words to write about what moves me lately, about things that I could share here or whether it makes sense at all to post something here. It did in the past though and I guess it'll still make sense in the future but at the moment I don't really feel inspired. I'm not abandoning it and I also wouldn't call it a break but I simply feel I will only post things that really matter in some way to me rather than littering my blog with boring stuff.
Hugs,
Guido

lilbro's surprise for me!

Me and Dani's gift
Originally uploaded by CruisAir

A few days ago, early morning, I was just up, the door bell rang and the postman had a small package for me: a gift by my beloved lilbro! He had made a book with all the photos of our trip to Japan and he gave it as a gift to me and on that mentioned morning it arrived! Just like that, as a surprise, isn't that fantastic?!

I am so happy, it is really beautiful, thank you so much lilbro! All the wonderful memories come back to my mind and it makes me extremely happy to think of all the good times we had, it was a fantastic trip and this book is a perfect way to remember it and share it with others! Looking at it makes me want to start planning the "sequel" with you lilbro. I wish I could share it here with you, my readers, but one can only really appreciate the efforts he put in it and the beauty of it when taking it in your hands and physically turn the pages.

I have shown it to several colleagues already and they all liked it very much! But their appreciation is nothing compared to mine. I am so proud of my lilbro, of our trip, of the book and I am truly thankful to you for showing me so much of that beautiful country Dani. Without you, I would never have seen all the beauty this country has to offer.

In moments that I feel a bit sad without really having a reason I can think of our trip and look at the book and all the beautiful memories come back and the warmth of love and harmony comes back and wraps around me like the warm blanket that I sometimes need. You haven't told me but I know it's a very special book, a magical gift to me.

Thank you, a thousand kisses and hugs, my beloved lilbro! That's by far never enough to thank you for it, but I hope you accept it as a first down payment on my debt ;)

My trip with Dani to Japan: a video summary by Dani.

Today, I would like to share a video with you. It is very precious to me for several reasons: my lilbro Dani made it and it is a beautiful and stunning summary of our vacation in Japan. In my eyes, he captured the true spirit of our holiday: the harmony between us, how we enjoyed the exotic destination, the beauty of the country and its people, how we had fun, how we laughed, how we enjoyed to discover all the things we came across daily! He managed to put all our excitement and joy into this beautiful short video. When I watch it I do remember all the moments, all beautiful emotions I associate with the images come back and I really do enjoy that. It feels like reliving the holiday with Dani again. I hope you all like it as much as I do. Please enjoy.



Thank you Dani, my beloved lilbro, for making this wonderful video. It's a gem and a wonderful surprise you gave me.

It makes me very happy.

Woof Metal Alchemist

On the "Woof - bear blog" I saw this video posted and I loved the accompanying title :)



I had to share it here since I know some of you like the Full Metal Alchemist manga... :)

Wrestling bears

I always say I'm not into sports at all - but when I look at these men, I seriously start developing an interest for wrestling! :)

Hairspray on the Seven Seas!

This is AWESOME: Royal Caribbean will have "Hairspray" as one of two shows on the brand new mega cruise ship Oasis of the Seas which will join the fleet end of this year:

I can't believe it, it's amazing, I can't wait to go see it, both ship and show :D

Happy Easter 2009

 

Happy Easter 2009!

Here, have a million dollars.

"You have to give away a million dollars."

Wow. That's easily answered you would think, right? Well, at least I thought so in the first instance. But then, when I started to think about the details I couldn't exactly figure it out. Of course you start thinking "I have to give to charity". After all, people look at you and your answer and most probably expect that. But then it get's difficult: what charity? But then again, what do I care about others? It's my money supposedly and I can decide what I do with it.

Suppose there are no restrictions in how I give away the money:

What I knew right away was that I would split the amount: Of course I would give some of it to my parents. Then another part would go to my friend Katja. Many years ago I made a deal with her: should I ever win the lottery I would give her part of that. I made the same promise to my lilbro, he would get a significant (bigger than Katja's) amount as well. I would also make sure a small part would go to my ex Klaus, he is a great guy but always short of money. For him a monthly transfer of a certain amount over a longer period would be nice. Then, of course I would make sure there is a big amount for my hubby. I would want him to have a financial safety net. A little is left now for charity. I don't exactly know what charity it would be but I think I would like it to be some gay project. I would have to investigate what kind of gay projects I would consider worthy receiving some money. So I wouldn't save the planet, environment, kids or animals with it. No, it should be something to help other gays.

So, here's how I would split it up:
Mom and Dad 200000
Katja 100000
Lilbro 200000
my ex 100000
my hubby 300000
charity 100000

Well, it's definitely not spectacular but I like the idea that I could give some money to my loved ones. They are dear to me. I could see the money go to a good cause and not disappear in an anonymous giant charity organization.

Suppose this split up of the money and giving it to family/friends would not be allowed:

I can see this alternative: I would set up a trust that gets the full amount. The members of the trust who decide what charity receives money from it would be (guess who) my mom and Dad, Katja, lilbro, Klaus and Jelle.

So this would be my million dollar spree. How would your's look like?

Trip of a lifetime: going to Japan with Dani.

Dani and me in a typical yukata provided by our hotel during our stay.

Beginning of March I had the privilege of taking a trip to Japan with my beloved lilbro Dani. Let me give you a short trip report of our holiday. I can summarize the overall impression of this trip in one word: unforgettable!

A few months ago we had the idea of making a short visit to Japan. After all, it's Dani's passion and if you know him you know how much he loves the country, the language, it's culture. When going to work I passed a small advertisement stand at the airport which was of the city of Tokyo where I picked up some info material, amongst it a flyer of the Tokyo Anime Fair. Around this event we would eventually build our little trip which ended up being two weeks long. ;-) We also soon decided this would be a trip just for the „brothers“ that we are, the soulmates, without our beloved hubbies. They would stay at home this time.

Dani and Sera saying Goodbye at the airport in Madrid

I had been to Tokyo in 1987 for the first (and last) time but I barely remembered something of the city. So I gladly enjoyed Dani's planning for our trip, trusting his expertise as he had been to Japan two years ago – anywhere we'd go would be new for me. Dani's plan would bring us to Kyoto, Okinawa and Tokyo from where we would make excursions to several places of interest for us.

Dani onboard the Lufthansa Airbus in Business Class

So, on a friday morning, I left Amsterdam and flew to Frankfurt where I would check-in at the Sheraton Hotel right across from the terminal building, store the luggage and proceed straight to the next flight, one from Frankfurt to Madrid where I would pick up my lilbro in the afternoon. We both returned to Frankfurt the same evening and stayed at hotel. The next day, saturday, our Lufthansa flight would take us to Osaka (of course we travelled in style in business class) and from there we took our first train ride during this fabulous holiday to get to our hotel for the next days, a traditional japanese Ryukan in Kyoto.

One of the Shinkansen trains we travelled on.

From our base at Kyoto we made fantastic and very interesting excursions with trains (either local or one of the many variants of the Shinkansen) to Nara, to Hiroshima, to Osaka, to Miyajima and to Fushimi. These places were all different and yet so fascinating. If I had to name a favorite, it would be really difficult. For some reason I tend to like Fushimi very much, I can't really tell why. But Miyajima was also very beautiful and it is also considered to be one of the three most scenic spots of Japan. On the other hand, very impressive was the visit to Hiroshima. It touched me deeply, especially our visit to the museum dedicated to the memory of the desaster that hit the city with the deployment of the atomic bomb.

Me in Hiroshima.

After a few days we continued our journey by plane and headed a little over two hours south to Japan's „Hawaii“, to Okinawa. Here, a mild, spring like climate awaited us (after the winterly temperatures of Kyoto). We stayed in the islands capital Naha, which to me seemed like a smaller version of Honolulu, a little more modern, cleaner yet a little less beautiful. Unfortunately, to see Okinawas beautiful beaches, you better don't stay in the capital but rather head north on the island where many luxurious resort hotels can be found. We did get our fare share of natural beauty though on a self organized excursion to one of the closer outlying islands, to Tokashiki


Grotere kaart weergeven

Here, we found beautiful crystal clear waters on white sand beaches and water as blue as you'd always dream of a South Pacific sea would be like. We rented a bike and drove from one side of the island to the other and had a brilliant day on this remote, deserted spot. The weather was nice too and we managed to get a sunburn that day.

Dani in Naha, Okinawa.

After our few, relaxing days on Okinawa we again took the plane and headed north again and flew to Haneda, Tokyo's „city“ airport. In Tokyo, we again stayed at a Ryokan, the typical japanese style hotel. Of course as one can imagine the city is so large that it takes days to get at least a first impression of this fascinating metropolis.

Dani and me at night in Tokyo.

We walked through the most famous and interesting districts, at day and night, like Akihabara (where we looked for some electronic gadget bargains which in the end we didn't find). Of course we managed to visit the beautiful Ghibli Museum, a visit I can really recommend if you like the movies of Miyazaki!

Dani and me at the Ghibli museum.

We went to Shibuya and also Shinjuku, we went up on the Tokyo Tower, payed visits to Roppongi Hills to enjoy the spectacular views from the top of Japan's highest building at night, we walked through the center along the Emperor's Palace and of course payed a visit to the Tokyo Anime Fair which was very interesting to attend to! Of course we had a drink one night in a gay bar and Dani even introduced me to a gay sauna, my first visit ever – how exciting!

We visited the Tokyo Anime Fair.

Also from Tokyo we used the Shinkansens and went a little south to Hakone where we spent a wonderful day and enjoyed spectacular views of Japan's sacred mountain, the Fuji-san. We made a sightseeing cruise on Lake Ashi, rode the ropeway and took different trains and buses around the Hakone area. We concluded our day with a relaxing visit to a big and beautiful japanese Onsen. We were impressed by the beauty and the more begged for such an institution in our own countries. One can't describe the pleasance of having a relaxing bath while socializing with your friend, enjoying the soothing effect of the water and calmness on body and soul.

Another excursion took us north to Sendai and a little further to Matsushima, considered one of the three most scenic spots of Japan. We again were very lucky with the weather and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day at this gorgeous spot on the northern coast of Japan. We took an enjoyable little boat cruise around the bay of Matsushima and before returning to Tokyo paid a very brief visit to the city center of Sendai, a city that surprised us how big and clean it was. We somehow had expected a much smaller city up there in the north. Again we returned by the reliable Shinkansen in a two hour ride back to Tokyo.

During our visit to one of the three most scenic spots of Japan, at Matsushima.

Our trip to Japan ended much too soon unfortunately. We spent lovely days at all places. Dani and I got along very well. To me it felt as if I knew my lilbro for ages. I truly enjoyed his company day and night and now, being at home, I can honestly say I miss him very much – in a good, pleasant way of missing your buddy, your true friend, someone you really love and very much look forward to seeing him again real soon if possible. To me, this was a very special trip, certainly an unforgettable trip of a lifetime. It was an honour to spend it with you Dani, I feel privileged to have been your travel mate for this memorable journey. From the bottom of my heart, I deeply thank you for being that special friend that once again you proved to be. Thank you for taking me with you on this journey. I will cherish the precious memory in my heart.

All comes to an end, eventually: we are checked in for our return flight in Business class again to Munich. A kind ground staff of All Nippon Airways offered to take this shot of us at Narita airport, one day before the terrible crash of the FedEx plane that a day later would turn the airport in a chaos.

Thank you Dani, for all you did, for the great times, the wonderful holiday, for the little brother you are to me. A million kisses and just as much hugs to you, beloved lilbro. Still, that wouldn't be enough...

My first Kiss

It was my first visit to Klaus. I had met him through a common friend in my hometown and it clicked on our first meeting. I was interested in him and he in me which surprised me. He is five years older. We agreed on a visit and I went to visit him by train. I hoped to stay overnight for the first time in my life but had no idea if that would work out. After I arrived it sooned turned out he had similar ideas about my visit... ;-) We came closer to each other on his couch in the living room and that's where we first kissed and which became my first passionate "real" kiss.
I remember the days after were a bit embarrassing as I had sore lips from heavy kissing with him...

A look at Air New Zealand's 747!

Alright, so I'm an airline and aviation geek. But you all knew that already. I haven't talked about that too much here so far, haven't I? The other day I came across a video which I want to share with you. It's an interesting video from a CBS show ("Amazing race") where tv host Phil Keoghan will demonstrate the in's and out's of a Boeing 747-400 of Air New Zealand. It's a very interesting look especially inside the super comfortable business class where he explains how the seats work of the ingenious fishbone design business class (that also e.g. Virgin Atlantic uses). Who wouldn't want to travel like that?



A hug.

Now serving penis on Northwest...

Okay, you might know that I love airlines and aviation but I couldn't believe my ears when I heard this sensational news: I mean I was already "Nuts about Southwest" airlines' slogan... but hey, they now started serving PENIS on Northwest flights! Gonna luv' em for that, don't ya think? But here for yourself and spread the good news...



With this fun news I wish you all a very good weekend :-)

Luv and hugs.

Messy Meat "Carl's Jr." Commercial

Isn't that a one of a kind hamburger commercial...?

Messy Meat Banned This Carl’s Jr. Commercial

Posted using ShareThis

Oh, I forgot to mention that obviously the ordering company did not approve the commercial for release... :-) I still wonder what marketing genius came up with the idea for this one...

Miss Kiss Kiss Bang.

Here is the german entry for Eurovision 2009: Oscar Loya ft Alex C - Miss Kiss Kiss Bang. Unfortunately, so far I could not trace a video so you have to do with this one.
The song is nice, a bit in the same style as two years ago but I doubt this song will take any high rankings. But decide for yourself:


A hug.

Happy Valentine's!

Today, a week ago I had one of the most beautiful moments of my life: I was at the Mamma Mia musical in London, they sang my absolute favorite song of all time "Dancing Queen" and I was there with my Jelle and Dani and Sera and then my beloved lilbro Dani and I started singing out loud this wonderful song together! I was soooo happy and it's a very precious memory now, one I will cherish for all time.



Thank you Dani, Jelle and Sera for making this such a wonderful moment, I owe you my deepest thanks. A million kisses to you.

I love you guys. Happy Valentine's day.

Free speech?

Yesterday, something happened in Europe that really upset me: Geert Wilders, a dutch politician and an elected member of the dutch parliament, has been refused entry into the United Kingdom on grounds of being a thread to public order! 

What upsets me is the fact that a citizen of the EU is not free to go to another EU country and make use of your right of free speech! The UK had informed Wilders a day before via the Embassy that he would be refused entry. He chose to go anyway as he was being invited by members of the British parliament to show the controversial short movie Fitna (link to the english version) he has made. One has to know that Wilders is a right wing anti-islam campaigner who is very controversial in Holland too. I don't share his views at all but I still believe it must be possible in the so called "free" and united Europe to travel to another member state and make use of your right of free speech. If it starts here with such a "simple" refusal, where does it end some day...? Just to assume he might upset some or maybe even all parts of a society cannot be a reason to refuse him his right of free speech and ban him from entering the country! I hope he will appeal the UK's government's decision at court and fight for his right to enter the UK anyway as he was adviced to do by a dutch minister! Once again, I don't sympathize with his radical political views and I don't like his way of making politics in a very tabloid style manner but I believe he should be given the right to enter the UK and discuss his views with british politicians.

Here's an english language article of one of Holland's reputed newspapers, NRC Handelsblad.

Britain's BBC also reported on this.

A hug.

Discipline.

Here's the thing: I need to be more disciplined. I tend to spend way too much time in front of this computer without doing something really useful. Since weeks for example I try to start a photobook project (like blurb) and until now I have not set up a single page... I have a few ideas in my mind but still, I don't start. Another thing is my "Learning Spanish" project, I have spoken about that recently. Though no course or such is on the agenda yet, I am busy with it now trying to consider different options on how to continue with that (but I still feel I could be more disciplined about it). I want to go to the cinema regularly but still have to set up a schedule for myself. I have to be more strict (again, disciplined) to myself with regard to cooking. We tend to be way too lazy and rely a lot on prefab food from Albert Heijn (the dutch supermarket chain). I have started to force myself to cook, even if only for myself ('cause Jelle is once again on a self imposed diet...sigh). I like the cooking, I liked the food I made and it doesn't cost too much time (which I was afraid of). I made a start, but I need to continue more strict with the cooking thing. Another thing: punctuality! I am not punctual at all, since months. I urgently need to change that. And then, there is the most hatred part I have to be more disciplined on: household. That includes anything, from cleaning dishes, doing laundry, dusting, tidying the rooms and keep them tidy. The problem with the last is that this also involves Jelle and since we both are very much alike it's not working very well if I am disciplined and he is not... So for that I still have to find a workable solution. But at least I need to start on myself to be more focused on such things. It's not something I can't do, it's just a question of discipline, I believe. 

Please feel free to share your ideas on these things, I am again thankful for every tip and suggestion.

Very disciplined, a hug.

Unforgettable visit

My very special birthday cake, candles blown out already after I made a wish

So on Friday was my birthday and as I had said before I would go to London to celebrate it!

To summarize it shortly: it was the best birthday I've had. After we all had arrived in London and checked in at our hotel I was in for a big surprise: Dani, Jelle and Sera had organized a birthday cake for me and they entered the room with it, singing "Happy Birthday" to me! Now that I think of it it does bring tears of happiness to my eyes... it was really so beautiful, at that moment I felt the luckiest person in the world! Thinking back of it, I am happy again! I was there, with my hubby and my most beloved friends celebrating my birthday for the first time in many years. Since a long time I did not bother to celebrate this day. I accepted that my parents would congratulate me but I never felt like celebrating it with somebody. But this year was different: some things in my life have changed and therefore I also wanted to celebrate my birthday again. I opted to make it special and asked Dani and Sera if they would come with me to London to see Mamma Mia together! When they said "YES!" that was the biggest and most beautiful gift for my birthday already! I was so happy that I had the chance of celebrating this (non special 42nd) birthday with them and my hubby Jelle.

The same night we had a very nice meal in an asian restaurant (and my chopstick capabilities are terrible... how am I gonna survive a vacation in Japan...?) and after returning to our hotel we took a piece of my birthday cake for dessert ;-)

Jelle, Dani, Sera and me

The next day, Sera's good friend Marisa joined us and we strolled leisurely through London, did some shopping, met my flickr friend Bernie finally for the first time which was really great fun! He is as nice in real life as he is on flickr and I am really happy I have had the chance to finally meet and see him "live". 

Me and Bernie

Later on we also met Dani's friends Leo and Matt. And then, in the evening, we went to see the musical of Mamma Mia! I had seen the dutch version of the musical some years ago and did like that a lot. But I was very eager to see the original language version here in London and I must say it was really great!!! The performance was fantastic, the live orchestra and the cast performed so stunning well, it was pure pleasure to see them play and hear them sing! 

Sera, Marisa, me, Jelle and in the front Dani (photo taken by Leo).

Dani and I were constantly singing along and in the end when they start playing the full song of Dancing Queen for everybody to sing along there was no stopping us anymore. It gave me shivers of joy and excitement to sing out loud and together with my beloved lilbro the song which is one of my all time favorites! That was soooo much fun, I was happy, really really happy!

Jelle, Dani and Marisa

On Sunday we visited Camden Market which I enjoyed a lot. It is so diverse, I saw lots of funny t-shirts (though I didn't buy any) and we had some fabulous food in one of the food stalls there. We then made our way down to the Thames to have a look at the London Eye and that concluded our activities in London for our short but oh so worthwhile visit! We had to go back to the airport where we both caught our planes back to Amsterdam and Madrid, sadly, both were delayed (thanks a lot, Easyjet). 

Once again, this was a memorable, very special incredible weekend for me and I want to thank Jelle, Dani and Sera for making it so wonderful. It was awesome guys, thanks a lot to you. Many kisses to you and lots of hugs. I can't thank you enough for making me so happy and spoiling me so much. From now on, my birthdays will never be the same again... 

Mamma Mia, it's my birthday!

Yay! Today is my birthday and I have a very special weekend ahead: Jelle and I are going to London where we will meet with my beloved lilbro Dani and his hubby Sera to spend a wonderful weekend together. One of the highlights will be our visit to Mamma Mia! We all love ABBA and the musical. I have seen the dutch version of it and of course the fantastic movie but I always wanted to see the english version of the musical as well. This weekend it's going to happen! Yay, I am so happy to be able to spend this weekend together with my dearest friends. It'll be great and I hope to tell you after my return in a short post how it was.
Until then, have a great weekend y'all!

Many kisses and hugs.

Learning spanish?

Okay, so here's the problem: I am lazy. But I want to learn Spanish. I had started to attend a course back in July last year until end of last year. But due to my work I had missed several lessons so I quit and did not continue 'cause I was unable to make up for the missed lessons.
I know that I need to learn, that I need to be less lazy in that. I am willing to. Though at the moment I think it makes no sense for me to attend a school again as I can foresee that I won't be able to regularly attend it due to several holidays I will take. I also work shifts which makes it very difficult to visit a course regularly. But still, I desperately want to learn this beautiful language. I haven't figured out a plan yet how to do it, any suggestions from your side? Self study needs a lot of discipline which I also don't have, so the school thing was a good slight pressure for me... ;-) Luckily I have a few friends with Spanish as their mother tongue and I can pick up the pronunciation from them from time to time. But maybe some of you have had similar experiences in picking up a language and can share their opinion. I know I need guidance in learning due to my lacking self discipline. Maybe I should look into some online communities...

Un abrazo, everybody. ;-)

Shine!

May I introduce to you Holland's Eurovision songfestival entry for this year in Moscow: "Shine" performed by the Toppers! I saw sunday night's finals live on tv and this year the Netherlands opted for a different decision making progress than the previous years. The artists are long known (I think since end of  last year already) and tonight the winning song was chosen which they will perform in Moscow. A jury of 5 professionals gave their votes for six different songs that the toppers presented in a live show on tv and besides the professional jury the audience at home had the possibility to vote too! One third of the votes was given by the professionals, the rest by the audience. For the professionals, the song "Shine" was number 2 while the audience put it on number one so with all votes combined "Shine" became the winning song.

The three men who will perform at Moscow are very popular artists in the Netherlands. The "Toppers" as they call themselves are together since a few years and easily fill the Amsterdam Arena or similar big arenas for several days for extremely popular sing-a-long concerts. Shortly after they had been announced to be the artists for the dutch entry for Eurovision last year, one of their original members (Gerard Joling) decided to quit and for him a new member joined the Toppers (Jeroen van der Boom). Originally consisting of two gay members, now only one is left: Gordon! He is also the one who was very eager to get to the contest for his home country. He and Gerard Joling became immensely popular on tv as two very queer, very gay, very funny singers/entertainers with their own reallife soap, the Toppers concerts and many other tv shows they present with more or less huge success. Rene Froger is the third member, a very popular singer. After Joling left the group they brought in newcomer Jeroen van der Boom.

I like the chosen song, it was Jelle's and mine favorite too. It's a nice, happy, singable song. It's for sure not the winning entry, it's not eastern european enough I think... ;-) But still, I typical, yet nice eurovision song with a twist... though a little something is missing but in general it's a nice and worthy song for the contest. 'Nough talking, now listen to it:



Grand Prix hugs (in Germany the Eurovision Songfestival is known as the "Grand Prix")!

A respected boss.

On the 29th of January, there was an interesting interview (unfortunately in german only) in the german newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) with Lufthansa's former boss Jürgen Weber. He is now the chairman of the board of the airline and as such gave an interview. The most interesting he commented on for me was his statement about salaries of top management: he thinks even top managers should not earn more than 100 times the average of the companies' employees salaries. I think that's reasonable. He says we can't take America as an example anymore and I agree on that, they simply went crazy there with the giant salaries for even failing managers. He is a simple modest man who worked his way up in the company and that's what I admire about him. He is realistic, he knows the problems of the small employee in the company as well as he sees the whole picture of the airline in the competitive business. He has a lot of respect between the employees I think. He was very popular when he was still the boss of the airline. He is the kind of boss I have respect for. Too bad today's modern, younger managers don't have his style anymore.

Youth memories

Sometimes it pays when you go from one blog to the next and further to another one: that's what I did tonight when I followed a link to the blog La pastilla roja. I was attracted by a too familiar logo that appeared as a still in a youtube video, as seen below: Falcon Crest! It was my most favorite of those typical american soaps of that time and I really loved it. And I guess that was partly because of the beard of one of the main actors... god, I'm so predictable... :-P In any case, I loved the series and also the main tune and you can listen back to it down here. If you want to know more about the series, follow the link to the blog as the author has an interesting post with more details about the series. 

I wonder if many of you liked this series too or which of the famous ones was your favorite? Was it Dallas, Denver (as Dynasty was titled in Germany) or Falcon Crest? I don't know Santa Barbara, I can't remember that we had it back then in Germany. 

A warm cuddly hug for you. 

Thank you.

First of all let me apologize to you that it has been quite a while now since my last post. But for me the christmas period was  kind of busy and I also did not always feel like posting something. You all probably know the feeling that there is something to say but you don't know really how and in that case I rather prefer not to say anything than something stupid. I asked my lilbro for some tips on how he always manages to write something, with the precision of a swiss clock. So I will try to use those tips in the future. 

However, I would like to thank my beloved lilbro for something beautiful he did to me. I feel very honoured and at the same time even a bit ashamed as I feel I did not deserve it: he awarded me the "I love your blog" prize! Thank you so much Dani, it means a lot to me. But let me assure you that I don't think I deserve it but I appreciate what you express with it to me. That truly made me happy, so thank you once again. I felt very insecure and - as I said - a bit ashamed and actually did not really know how to react, whether to ignore it post wise or comment on it. In the end, as you now can read here, I decided to express my appreciation publically. I usually don't like these chain-things and I still don't really know how to react and what to do with it, what the appropriate way to react would be. So, all I can say is thank you very much I guess. I know and understand why you gave this prize to me, Dani, and that truly makes me happy and very proud and thankful.

A very tender kiss, my lilbro, for being the way you are and doing what you do to me.

Congratulations to all other awarded winners who truly deserved their prizes, I am happy for you. Hugs to you all.

P.S.: I hope to soon post more often again. In the meantime, why don't you check my flickr pages where I post regularly about me and my life in pictures?