van85.net

A job at last?

Joyce — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:59:14 +0000

Just a brief update to reveal my shock over the fact that apparently the internship is going so well that the Big Boss decided to call me into his office yesterday to offer me a job. It’s not set in stone yet, because he has to confer with the others that I share the office with, but he sounded really positive. Eek.

Nearly nostalgia

Joyce — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:36:49 +0000

It’s funny that even when my brain tells me not to do something, sometimes I opt to do it anyway. Today’s example: Logging in to my old e-mail account and reading e-mails sent to and by old friends about three years ago. Awkward and sometimes painful. I did, however, find some gems that quite made up for the discomfort — songs!

I can’t remember when I last made a mix CD, but I did just now, and the songs on it are… diverse, to say the least. About half of them were salvaged from the old e-mail account, including the Dead Can Dance covers (#1-4), Ministry, Depeche Mode and In Extremo.

I also found two recordings of myself that I didn’t remember ever making until I listened to them and thought, yeah that sounds like me. One is me singing the first twelve seconds of “Amazing Grace” (horrible quality), the other is me talking about eating a chocolate muffin (trying to sound terribly American) and swearing in Dutch. Why, you ask? Because an English friend wanted to hear what I sounded like. Funny I sound more British than anything now.

As for the internship. Today was my third day and I actually really like it. Colleagues are really nice, I’m pretty much over my phone-o-phobia (!) and this kind of work (reviewing and correcting reports, keeping track of deadlines for reports, et c.) is totally my thing. But I don’t want to talk about it too much lest I jinx it and everything goes to shit and the big boss tells me tomorrow that he doesn’t think this is working so thank you and au revoir. Superstitious much? Nah. I’ll review when the five weeks are up.

Not quite peachy

Joyce — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:13:44 +0000

The manager of the agency where I was supposed to start my internship last week, but didn’t because I had a meltdown, called me yesterday afternoon. I didn’t really expect him to call me, so earlier yesterday I called city hall, where I could’ve interned if I hadn’t turned it down. The lady that usually handles internships wasn’t in, so she’d call me today. And then said manager called. He asked me some questions — what happened? why didn’t you call? what issues do you have? — and I told him that failure is probably my greatest fear and that I tend to expect too much of myself. And god forbid my failure should be seen by others. He gave me some words of wisdom.

It’s impossible for anyone to know everything there is to know about everything, so if anyone scoffs at you for not knowing something or failing at something, it’s only because they don’t realise just how little they know.

And then he said that he was still interested in having me. Excuse me? Yes, you’re still welcome. OK then, awesome. We’re going to see how it goes for a week, and if all is well I can stay for another four weeks.

I guess I should call city hall and tell them that everything’s been taken care of, but what if this internship doesn’t work out and I’ll need to go somewhere else after all; I can’t call them up a third time. So you see, even when everything seems to be just peachy, there’s always something gnawing at my brain.

Meltdown

Joyce — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:34:02 +0000

Last Sunday, my brain had a meltdown. It started when Rob and I encountered something like a crisis in the wee hours of Saturday. And then Sunday I couldn’t do anything anymore — I couldn’t think straight and I couldn’t see the point in anything, including school, internship, work and life in general.

I decided that I would quit school, because I’d never get my diploma anyway, and I definitely couldn’t start my internship Monday morning, because I’d probably die. Because my brain’s recovery mode doesn’t work quite as fast as I’d like it to, I didn’t start my internship. And I didn’t call them. And when they called me, I didn’t answer. And when they left a message on the machine asking me to return their call, I didn’t.

I went to school that evening just to talk to my tutor and we agreed that it’s nigh impossible for me to complete all my subjects before summer break. Before talking to him, I had decided that I would tell him that I was quitting, I just can’t do it anymore and SCREW YOU AND HOMEWORK SUCKS. But I didn’t. We decided that I should try and do as many tests as I could this week and next Monday, then summer break, and then the remaining tests in September. I’ll have my diploma in October.

By Tuesday, I still hadn’t recovered fully and still shuddered at the thought of calling about the internship, so I let Rob salvage what he could. He called them and they were surprisingly kind and understanding. The manager will call me sometime next week to discuss where we can go from here.

I passed the two ICT tests I took last Tuesday. My business presentation today didn’t go so well, but I should pass on previous results. I have a bunch of assignments I have to finish tomorrow so I can mail them to the teacher (the old fashioned way, because she doesn’t like trees, apparently) and have them graded before her last day, Monday. Two more tests next week, and the rest in September.

And as if all of that wasn’t quite enough, our internet connection crashed and burned Tuesday evening and didn’t go back up until this morning. Please dear god, never let me see this ever again, and what’s up with blaming it on me?

Forza Holanda!

Joyce — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:08:32 +0000

Rob and I went to the pub to watch Holland-Italy last Monday, and whaddayaknow, WE WON! We beat Italy convincingly and I couldn’t be happier, even though I lost five euros.

They hired a singer, René Becker, to sing a few songs, and he handed out singles afterwards and signed them. I’d use mine as a coaster sooner than listen to it, but who knows, he might be really famous one day.

Friday we go up against France. I must admit I wasn’t very hopeful before the start of the tournament, but I’m convinced we have a very good chance of beating anyone now. Forza Holanda!

Fish

Joyce — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:13:28 +0000

When I first moved in with Rob, I had to learn to live with the fact that he had two ponds with many, many fish in them. I didn’t like fish. But they’ve grown on me. So much so that I was genuinely excited about buying a few new koi last Saturday.

The place where Rob always goes to get fish has so many of them, it’s hard to pick the ones you want. And then my eye fell on the cutest little koi I’ve ever seen, white with black and red markings, a red dot in its face. Spot is now mine and if Rob and I ever divorce, I’m taking him with me. He doesn’t quite understand the concept of feeding time yet, but I’m sure he’ll figure out why all the other fish rush up to the surface when a human throws something in the water pretty soon.

Rob got a glittery koi that we named Gary Glitter. We also got two little ones that look pretty much the same except one of them has a black spot in its face. Whenever I sit and watch them for a while, I can’t help but laugh at how terrified they are of the big koi. They’re only about 4 cm so it’s really no laughing matter when a 40 cm koi comes swimming right at you, but to me it’s still funny.

Leap rogue

Joyce — Wed, 07 May 2008 18:06:32 +0000

Nine out of ten times when I’m reading a book, I’ve got a pen and paper nearby. There are two reasons for this. One, I might suddenly be hit with a wave of immediate and temporary inspiration (which rarely happens). Two, I like to scribble down portions of the book I’m reading. Mostly brief thoughts on life, stuff that’s worth thinking about later, or just funny bits. Not that I ever actually gather these notes and think about the stuff I’ve jotted down, but you’ll admit that it’s a good idea nonetheless. And there is no such thing as a pointless good idea.

Now, I wouldn’t normally have written about this, but the fact that my parents gave me an all-in-one printer (a Canon Pixma something) for my birthday yesterday, and that I have to try it out with everything I can think of, and that I never had a scanner before, have changed this.

I’m currently rereading Glory Road by the Great Heinlein and while it’s not my favourite book, not at all, it’s still entertaining. Among the things I jotted down whilst reading it out in the sun this afternoon, was the bit about the wedding ceremony where you jump over your sword, recite these words:

– and you’re married. I’ll have to remember that one in case I ever want to get married again. It’s certainly a lot cheaper than doing it the regular way.

Why women are superior to men

Joyce — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:26:36 +0000

As for the “Got into a fight with a man at the pub last Saturday. I won. Details later.” Twitter update, I’ll explain now, because according to most people, it’s a funny story.

Fact: I am a pacifist. Fact: I am now known as the chick who decked an obnoxious Polish dude at the pub (and broke a vase in doing so).

It was Saturday, a week and a half ago. Rob and I were playing darts at the pub with some friends, having a good time, and suddenly we notice that a man is lurking through the window. He comes in shortly afterward and joins us not much later. He tells us in broken English that he’d like to play darts with us. Sure, why not. I have no idea how we went from that to a heated discussion about the role of the woman in Dutch society, but somehow we did. And I don’t think he ever threw a single dart either.

Anyway, the Polish man — fifty-something, creepy-looking — was of the opinion that men are superior to women, and I was trying to change his mind, throwing all kinds of arguments at him but he was not impressed. After about an hour of this he was getting slightly annoyed, and I decided to provoke him needlessly just for the hell of it. Then the stupid part. Mind you, I’d had a few too many beers, but that’s still no reason to tell a man to go outside with you so you can show him why men and women are equal in this country. Fortunately we never made it outside because he lunged at my throat right away. The fun part: I decked him and he couldn’t move. Then of course the entire male patronage of the pub jumped on him and escorted him outside, but that wasn’t really necessary because I HAD HIM.

Just to make this perfectly clear: I oppose violence, but I won’t let someone lunge at my throat and just stand there and take it.

Conclusion: The Pole was right, men and women aren’t equal. WOMEN ARE SUPERIOR.

Boo or bah

Joyce — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:46:44 +0000

My mother is cunning. She pretty much shanghaied Rob and me into helping her and my father redo their garden before I could say boo or bah. It will be a lot of work, which will probably take place this Sunday and Monday. Rob said it should be done then, but that sounds slightly too ambitious to me.

At least we’ve all got next week off, what with Queen’s Day and Ascension Day. We’ll probably miss out on all the Queen’s Day festivities because we’ll be too busy with other stuff, but I’m not especially for our monarchy anyway.

My birthday is coming up in twelve days as well, which we’ll celebrate with a barbecue on the 4th of May. I discussed this with my darts buddies at the pub last Monday and they thought that it was perhaps slightly inappropriate, especially since we live a stone’s throw from a graveyard. Ah well. May the fire of my barbecue shine brightly up to heaven.

I will expect a grand birthday present from my parents because we’re helping them redo their garden, which we did here last year WITHOUT THEIR HELP.

The Clio

Joyce — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:17:57 +0000

I drove the Clio this morning and I must say, it’s a fine car. It’s got pretty much every extra you could think of besides AC and cruise control. It can tell you how many kilometres you can drive until you run out of fuel and that you should WEAR YOUR SEATBELT (red light), it’s got radio controls behind the steering wheel, and the list goes on. Love it, love it, love it.

And as promised, here are some pictures.