daBlog by goddess101

Argh

Oh god, the jackhammering started at 7:30am today.

In Amsterdam, recycling works this way. There are bins every few blocks or so, that are several feet deep, to which you can bring your recycling and just dump your cans, junkmail, etc inside. Funny thing is, for glass bottles, posted there are specific instructions to only drop off glass recycling at certain times, because bottles break and make an awful lot of noise when dropped several feet. Anyhow, you know what is the earliest time to drop off your glassware? 8am! Fookin later than this fookin jackhammer is hammering!!!! What a joke.

Rude Awakening

Nearly all the foreigners in Holland agree about one thing: the Dutch are unbelievably rude.

The Dutch themselves will say they're just being frank. And in many ways, I actually find some of their off-color comments to be quite refreshing. "Why did you do that? That's just plain stupid," I hear my friend always say.

This morning, we were woken up by the sound of a jackhammer, pounding away somewhere on our street, tho for the both us, it might as well have been our bedroom. I checked the time... 8am! Sure, we're living right in the center of Amsterdam, where construction work is always an ongoing activity, but hell! Any conscientious person would think twice, I think, about starting up any type of contraption that's close to breaking the f*cking sound barrier before 12pm!

Glad that's off my chest. Hope the rest of my day isn't as annoying.

American Brashness

Ok, I'm an American Idol junkie. I suppose there are two things I love about it. One, I luuuuuuv good singing. Two, I love watching folks get humbled. Yeah, it's mean, but overconfidence annoys the hell out me, so I can't help but do a tiny backflip of joy when supposed God's-gifts-to-the-music-industry are taken down a peg or two.

What I noticed in watching this season premiere is a common pattern. The overexuberant ones, the ones who believe they can make the world a whole light brighter, are the same ones who can't carry a tune. Meanwhile, it's the modest performers who are making it to the next round.

It's an interesting phenomenum. Why are these !crooners filled with such delusions of grandeur? My theory: the ones who think they're so good don't strive to improve themselves. Instead, they're happy with how they sing--cuz I'm sure their friends and parents have told them how great they are--and they're satisfied with that. They lack the ambition to better their technique, fail to study past masters and believe they can become a star without doing the work. Become a good singer doesn't happen overnight. It takes years of work. These folks that are getting the trip to Hollywood were singing since they were born. But competing alongside them are folks who say "two weeks ago, I found out I can sing." Pretty laughable. And pretty entertaining.

RSI - BAH!

It really is quite sad to spend my forced 10-minute break from my desktop now typing away on this laptop. Workrave, my anti-RSI software, requires I get up and stretch every 45 minutes, but I just can't. I need to keep my computer momentum going so that cilibrar and I can finally complete asiaquake.org. Otherwise I'll fall asleep from the tiredness or start watching TV to relieve the stress. But I know that working on this online database is perhaps the most important project I've ever worked on in my life. What we're doing can affect and help so many people. I can't stop working until it's done.

Pizza Oddities

Pizza in Holland, and Europe, in general is pretty different from what you have in the states. First of all, when you order in a restaurant, you're usually just ordering for yourself, not for the whole table. Cilibrar and I shared a pizza for € 7 once and that generated dirty looks. Secondly, don't eat it with your hands. Only a knife and fork; heck, they don't even slice it up for you. And if you really love stuffed-crusts, thick crusts, or pan-style, that's nearly non-existent here.

What I find more amusing tho is the European view of what American pizza is supposed to be like. Cilibrar and I have a favorite frozen pizza brand which we prefer over ordering pizza because it's cheaper and appeals more to our tastes. It's called Big American Pizza, because mainly it has a thick, fluffy crust. But the different varieties crack me up. We usually buy "Texas style," which is basically plain ol' pepperoni. How that is associated with the actual state still alludes me. Then there is "California style," which we just had last night, but stunk up our oven the morning after because it's main ingredient is tuna. TUNA??? I know it's been 2 years since I lived in Berkeley, but when did California become the Tuna pizza capital of the world?

Now, the funniest thing about pizza here is what seems to differentiate "regular" and "supreme." It's corn! Yes, corn. Now, I love food. Ask anyone who knows me. But putting corn on pizza is like putting ketchup on a steak. Sure, it tastes ok, and may even make the steak taste good, but it's just WRONG! lol