ID on a broken bike

February 18th, 2010. What a day this turned out to be!

Any thoughts of going to work dissolved into thin air when I felt the cold on my skin this morning. Vman left early and I turned around, searching for his warm spot in bed. Nope, the uni would have to wait another day. Since nobody else is at our academy, I had already doubts if I would make it this week. Carnival in the south of the Netherlands.

Around noon I asked my eldest son to function as wake-up call for youngest one. Of course he obliged happily. Nothing more fun than teasing a younger brother. Whacking poor sleeping Sean over the head, he stamped upwards to the attic, leaving a slightly rumpled young man who was trying to open his eyes. A shower helped.

After his breakfast and my lunch we set out to first take Sean's bike for repairs to the bicycle shop. It was better to say what still worked than what did not. Then we would order a new passport plus ID, after which Sean was due at the hairdresser's. His wild manes reached halfway his nose. Plus I had fullfilled my earlier threat of making him a pony tail. Then he suddenly agreed to the hair cutting operation.

We were nearing the shop, when suddenly I thought of the paperwork needed for the new identification documents. We had taken the necessary snapshots, but totally forgot to take the papers and his old ID. Setback number one. Marching on we came upon a closed door: lunch break. Sean and me stared at each other and I let out a scream which made him chuckle. There we were with the non-working bike.

Alright, nothing is unsolvable. Just a quick stop at the postoffice to get money. Bzzz bzzz did the machine, but all seemed to be functioning normal. It seemed. The damn thing ate my card! I could see the edge and tried to pry it out but to no avail. Scream number two started to rise. Then the postoffice manager came out to see what the ruckus was about. With the words "Whatever you do, stay calm," he disappeared back in. A small crowd was forming behind my back. After 5 minutes he came out with my card, hurrah. 

From that point on things went smoother. We did some grocery shopping and decided on pizza. Plus cookies. Half an hour early we reached the hairdresser. And guess what, Sean could sit down immediately. I got some tea and read a magazine. It's so nice hearing his 15-year old voice go down all the time, turning into a man's voice. I kept far from the cutting business. He's old enough to tell Daniëlle what he wants. Result: slightly shorter hair with wax, but still it was messy enough for him to like it. 

On our way home we stopped at the bakery to buy bread and some rolls. Things went rather smoothly after all. Tomorrow morning it's back to passport business for Sean.

Dentist

Every half year a colorful card falls on my doormat. It always lands so the merry image shows and the text is hidden. Whenever I pick up the little card, my happy surprise soon changes in abhorrence. Yes, the dentist check up.

Today was the set date. The dentist's office is about 200 meters from my house, so I leave at the latest possible moment. Armed with my book, chin up, eyes determined, I stepped into the room, where Anja, his (very nice and friendly) assistant was already waiting. Small talk, lots of small talk to divert the nerves.

"Marion, you may step through," the Man-In-White says with a smile. "Right," I mutter, and slide into the chair. Blue rubber gloves and special magnifying glasses that could easily be used as a super lens for a camera, suddenly appear in my visual. The comfortable chair changes with a soft buzzing into a miniature operating table. Horizontally stretched out, I obediently open my mouth in the sunny light of a huge lamp. Here we go.

Carefully he checks every tooth with hammer and drill... uhm I mean with a little mirror and hook. No matter what he does, I won't move a muscle. Tip: never give away if something hurts by grimacing, because then your fate is sealed. Left under inside, front, right under inside, back along the outside. Then up, up, up the teeth he goes. Meanwhile he's talking to Anja about another client. "Keep talking man," I think, "keep talking and don't mind me!".

Suddenly he stretches, nods and then tells me everything is fine. I can't believe my ears but won't take any chances on a sudden change of mind. Nimbly I hop from the chair, almost getting myself hooked around the arm rest. At safe distance from the dentist, my joking abilities suddenly return. Pfew, what a relief!

Safe for another six months...

Wee lil' thing

Ready to upload my new design to the server, I needed to do 'a wee lil' thing': set a password. Well, after succeeding in adding the password, the access to my database has flown out of the closed window.
Even a system recovery to yesterday's dates wasn't fixing the problem. Am at a loss for ideas right now.

Damn.

Evening at the uni

Thursday, it's Thursday. This means working 'till 9 PM at the Academy. Does that sound bad?

Well don't worry, actually it's quite nice! The kids like it 'cause that means it's pizza and fries night. The students like it because they can ask me silly, sweet and complicated questions. The professors like it too as they can also ask my advice.

Then how about me?

Soft music, being able to work in peace and quiet most times. Outside it's dark but inside the lamps envelop me with a clear light. Mails disappear as fingers fly over the keyboard. Sometimes all pieces of the puzzle come together in a brilliant idea, converting that idea to an Excel document. Yes, I love my Thursday evenings...

But it's even better when I finally come home and put my feet up. 

Winter fairy land

No words needed...

 

Iriani

Yesterday a day with mild setbacks all over the place

• Sean sick
• keys to the car without a trace in the early morning - not the best time for them to play with me
• woman on a bike in front of me on a road where no bikers are allowed, very dangerous situation
• lots of students with sign on exam-laziness
• left eye got worse, need stronger contacts
• left leg stopped functioning as it should: deaf feeling, plus stabs of pain in the right

 On the other hand

• finished building website for conference, everybody was happy about it
• the new contacts might chase my head aches away
  
• kids ate well: white rice with Indonesian shoarma dish (my own recipe) and mixed stir-fried vegetables, Vman like it too
• had a nice talk with former brother-in-law
• was so tired that I slept throughout the night

On top of that today had a real surprise in store: at Sean's school, where I was with him and my ex, I met an old friend, whom I lost sight of years ago. Her name is Iriani and she's a great small wonderful kind and gentle woman. It was so nice catching up with her, that we decided to get back in touch. Gave her my email-address, hopefully she'll contact me soon.

Outline

Am reading blogs about writing and one of the main things is that you need to write every day. Having no time, no inspiration is no excuse. Simply sit down and get to it. Write, make your fingers move and words will come. It's not a hobby, it's work, driven by the need to express thoughts.
And I must say it's working. The outlining is getting better, the story is starting to gain shape. How I love this.
But now it's time to close this notebook and get some sleep. Will see you tomorrow.