Last Sunday, I blamed my Eurovision sized ick feeling on a hangover. Perhaps that wasn’t quite correct as I have spent the past week in the midst of a lovely flu. I’ve lost my voice and as GG says I “cough like a construction worker”. It’s finally sort of coming back around. I hope that by tomorrow I will wake up sounding normal at least!

Right now, we are waiting on GG before we go for a Sunday afternoon walk. After four hours of playing Helpdesk for her parents, it’s time to get moving. Henry and George are waiting patiently while the kittens have given up and are stretched in opposite directions and taking a nap. They are the longest cats. I think Pickle is already over two feet long when he is stretched out.

It’s Memorial Day weekend for the US. Like so many people, I used to associate this weekend with the first acknowledgment of summer. We didn’t go away for it, since everyone else did. However, the having a long weekend seemed like a luxury. I noticed today that I am still holding on to this mindset, that Sunday is the day to get ready for Monday. That with Sunday, there’s not really time to do stuff just because you enjoy it.

In Europe, calendars and the week start on Monday. Sunday isn’t preparation for the week to come, it is a closing to the week that has just happened. Plenty of people are good at enjoying Sunday 😉 I happen to be one that needs to continue to work on this. Admitting you have a problem is the first step!

I am not going to think too much about the things that are happening Monday and instead I am going to go wander cobblestoned streets of our town with my GF and the dogs. Enjoy yours!

Last night, GG and I went to the cafe around the corner to watch the Eurovision finals on the big screen. Much to the delight of most of our fellow viewers, The Netherlands won. I think for the first time in forty odd years. However, long before the winner was announced, the celebratory drinks were flowing fast and free…

Here’s where evidence points to the fact that GG is smarter than I am. She sticks to one kind of drink the whole night, usually beer. At the end, she switches to Diet Coke. Yours truly does not do that. I switch back and forth. Last night, I think made that journey between wine, champagne, shots called “woods walkers”, mineral water, back to wine and I think there might also have been another random champagne in there.

Let’s just say that I am not 20 anymore and today has been a day of reflection 😉 In the meantime, GG was able to bounce right out of the house and head off to her smart people high tea. Now I am drinking some detox tea that tastes so awful that I quite like it.

The cafe around the corner has really uncomfortable bar stools, cheap drinks, questionable music and only one bathroom for all. What it does not have are hipsters, people who drive expensive cars or expensive cocktails. Instead the people who frequent this cafe are quite colorful and special. The bartender is also so fantasically fast with smartass remarks that it is a joy to just sit there and listen in.

Now if I could only find someone to deliver pizza…

That’s exactly what Henry is doing next to me. George is momentarily awake because Olive is walking around meowing. I am not exactly sure what she is saying but she certainly has a great deal on her mind.

Her meowing reminds me of Mikha. Mikha also used to express herself frequently and loudly. I think perhaps that’s a big part of my secret weakness for tabby cats – their slightly oddball personalities. Although I am sure that there are plenty of tabby cats out there that are loving and kind – I have an affinity for the ones that are a little bit odd. Lientje was also fit that model – our little space cadet. Olive is kind of fierce like Mikha in the sense that she dares everything. But where does that leave Pickle? Pickle is not adventurous. He’s got a lot of swagger, like he’s the big man on campus. However, when it comes to do something scary or new, it’s Olive that is leading the way.

What I love very much about them both is that they are not shy about wanting to be hugged or picked up. Even if you are not quite ready to make that commitment. It’s like “Love me, NOW, damnit!” and they will just jump right into you for a hug.

This has been a busy week. Not like that is news. However, Henry and George have been playing a big part in our meetings this week. Turns out that not only are they in the office dogs, they are also offsite dogs. We had some work to do out of the office this week and they participated. We were doing some strategic planning and had to physically align ourselves to certain themes. Henry went to stand on the block “Assess” and George went to stand on the block “Allies”… it was uncanny! There was no prompting or bribing with dog treats. I wasn’t standing on either of those blocks either.

No big plans for the weekend other than watching the Eurovision finals tonight at the cafe around the corner where we go for drag bingo. Oh, and maybe tomorrow the beach if the weather holds – so the boys can get some wind in their hair. And if you are wondering, yes, I did reach Rupert on his birthday. 🙂

My youngest brother, Rupert, has his birthday today. I have a feeling that he has probably replaced his mobile and forgotten to reinstall some things. My brother is a genius of many kinds but practical technology details are not really his thing. I discovered this when I tried to call him repeatedly at Christmas and he found it strange that I hadn’t called him. Turns out my sister in law pointed him to his phone and the missing Viber was discovered.  😉 Therefore in the event that he has replaced his phone again, I’m taking a guess that he might need to reinstall.

In the meantime, I will say “Happy Birthday” here. I’m excited that you and Meredith are coming to visit in September and can’t wait to take you to all kinds of new places where you can casually work your way into the conversation with strangers and have them offer you part of their bitterballen. I’m looking forward to sitting on the back deck with you and talking until the sun goes down. And we will have ordered a special party for your arrival!

When last I wrote, I think I was having a long layover at Frustration Station. I am pleased to report that I managed to depart that station and head on down the tracks. Which is not to say that there haven’t been some trips through Frustration Station since I last typed, they have just been shorter. Well, except for that one Thursday that I was supposed to go up to Groningen, only to have them announce at Zwolle that there were no trains further up the track for at least two hours. Turned out to be more like four hours before they figured out it was time to put in busses. By then I had already turned around and taken the train back to Rotterdam Central.

Tomorrow morning Pickle and Olive are going to the vet to get their chips and to get neutered. They are definitely growing up fast. They have reached the level of responsibility where they are allowed to go out into the garden. Olive can do some amazing balancing on the smallest of ledges. She also can climb vertically and she seems to have a complete disregard for risk. Pickle spends alot of his time trying to catch up or meowing for her to come back down off the wall (or the ivy or anything else up high).

Yesterday we went on a 2.5 hour walk with the Historical Society. The boys accompanied us and I think they really didn’t understand why we would walk and stop, walk and stop, walk and stop. However, they were on their best behavior. I think GG and I are the youngest members of the Historical Society and we always have the feeling that when we show up, the general consensus is “Look, new and young blood! Quick, get them to commit!”

Last week, I did a week’s worth of paid work in Amsterdam. It was the first paid project for the company. Well, the customer still has to pay but you get what I am saying. I feel like it was a pretty big milestone, to land that first project. I learned a lot and I hope I taught their team a bit from the perspective of the outside world. They certainly won’t be thinking that an entrepreneur is by default a man after last week. 😉

Today I got a stern talking to from the Rotterdam police. Turns out that the photos we were making for an article about diversity in IT were technically a disruption of public order and safety since we had the traffic tunnel behind us. It was quite exciting, they were very serious about their jobs but they were not buttheads. We agreed to move to a less obviously disruptive location 😉