Today is Joey Ramone’s 64th birthday. Another significant person in my life who went too young. I remember my mom calling me to tell me the news that he was gone. I didn’t have a TV and she knew I would be devastated so she wanted to tell me instead of finding out via the paper or the old days of American Online chatrooms. Some of my best memories of the Ramones involve my mom transporting me and my friends in the Vanagon with all kinds of posterboard signs in the window with slogans like “Follow me to the Ramones” and “This Vanagon stops for the Ramones”. I don’t think other people were as fortunate to have a mom who supported their obsession with their favorite band ever.

Of course, my mom would also put my Ramones t-shirts in Cedric’s clean laundry pile and he would take this as free permission to wear them! I think my mom knew very well they weren’t Cedric’s, she just wanted to make a comment on the single-mindedness of my wardrobe! The last Christmas that we had with mom I gave Cedric one of my vintage Ramone’s tshirts, all wrapped up. When we exchanged our presents in front of mom, she got my point 🙂 and Cedric was over the moon, finally a shirt that he could wear without worrying about his big sister smacking him and taking it back out of his laundry pile. I am not sure his girlfriend (who we were meeting for the first time) was very impressed.

I went to an open house today. It was a disappointment and I have discovered now that real estate agents the world over use glamour shots for houses they are advertising. I am sure they will do fine, since there were alot of people there. As for me, I left with a renewed conviction of what I am looking for and won’t settle on. In that case, it was productive. I am thinking ahead to when our lease is up in a little less than six months. Hah, who knows, maybe Italy will so charm me that I move there instead 😉

Last night, on the way to Utrecht, we passed all of these great big old land houses, some even for sale. Talk about inspiring architecture but so much more space than I would ever need. I can see the pets getting lost and having to wear little tracking beacons. Your real estate euro goes alot further outside Amsterdam. But then again you are outside of Amsterdam and that is not a jump I am ready to make, even if it comes with a barn!

Tonight I am off to the sauna with a friend from work. There’s a complex of saunas and all the sort hot and cold pools in the woods near here. Tuesdays are bathing suit required days so that is the day we decided to go. In some ways I will always be American and I am okay with that even if it makes some people laugh. When people are wearing bathing suits, you don’t have to worry about where to look 😉