Fiets fout? Fiets weg.
I’m exhausted after moving all my stuff into my new place. I’m really excited. The new apartment is cleaner, brighter, and above a Belgian Beer Bar. Even I’m jealous of me. Boozies in the lobby aside, the cleanliness is the main draw. It was something I lacked in my last place, so I’m happy to have it here. More later.
Show Me Love is still stalking me though the Netherlands. I went to buy a new bike, and it started playing when I walked through the door. Harbinger of good or evil? You decide.
I finally bit the bullet and got decent scratching CD- turntables. (I need to work my way up to vinyl and Serato, bear with me.) Pictures are on the way. I’m excited for this year. I’m still in New York right now. It’s a weird feeling to be back and shopping the perpetual sales, but it’s not half bad. Anyway, here’s your first weekend mashup of the year. It’s completely ridiculous: some crazy Dutch DJ (of course) combined Coldplay with the Mojito song. (Seriously, the Mojito song is actually a real song in Europe.) But he blends them pretty well. Enjoy.
It’s not because I’m a supercilious snob, but because the pop music people are quite litigious. Why, earlier today my TI/Justin Timberlake post got blocked. Sorry, kids. It’s OK; you’ll be hearing “If” all over the damn place soon enough. This is nothing to cry over.
I do, however, wish there was a way to check which posts were OK and which are not. I think I’ll just stay away from posting anything by anyone too famous. That way, they can continue to buy their diamond encrusted toilet seat covers or whatever else is hot with the Hollywood kids these days.
At least it wasn’t over Britney Spear’s Circus! I was almost about to post that, too. Yikes!
I’ve been busy getting ready for Leiden. I’ve also been surprisingly busy working out my plans for 2009-2010. Things are good, but I’ll actually have something of consequence to say. Cheers!
Time to put the L in AWOL. I’ve been rather busy lately, as I am wont to do. There’s the Proj Awkward stuff, a large Amsterdamse thesis, and school work in general. I’m going to try to post this week, but I can’t make any promises.
The thesis in question (see the related library books) has to do with the Bijlmerramp, male and female prostitution, immigration to Holland, and 1992. If anyone knows about any of these things, (and how we do in XR2) do let me know.
Especially if you live here.”Yummo.”
PS Still very, very glad that I switched to wordpress. The lack of font flexibility and overall look of blogger was kind of getting me down. I think it’s about time to erase the old one now, hmm?
I’ve been here, in Amherst, the first half of the blog’s namesake. I’ve been drowning in work lately. I’m sure I’ll miss this place after May, but sometimes it just makes me want to die inside.
I’ve been studying for random tests, churning out essays, none of which I’m fully satisfied with, and getting sick. Surrounded by the same, damn 1,600 people. I love (some of) you guys, but this is not Brooklyn…or Breukelen…or Amsterdam. This really isn’t Amsterdam. This isn’t biking past the Westerkerk at 1 AM, this isn’t running to Albert Heijn before it closes, this isn’t the Van Gogh museum, this isn’t the pancake bakery.
Instead, it is a wilderness based debt factory. Why do I nap all the time? I feel like I’m not doing anything constructive but I have no time anyway.
PS Fedde Le Grand: also Dutch. For a country with only 16 million people, it seems that every other person from here is a superstar DJ. Kind of like the way that they produced all of those Golden Age painters…but catchier?
Wow, it took a while for me recover from that terrible VMA performance. (That’s right, I’m blaming Britney for my slacking) . Things will be a little on and off until October 1st. They’re will be an entry here and there, but not as regular as I’d like.
When I come back, hopefully I can start the Pimsleur challenge. (What is that, you ask? Stay tuned!)
Hey all,
Sorry. Druk, druk, druk. Be back soon. Faster, stronger, better/Vaster, sterker, beter. (En minder misselijk.)
I can tell you that I’m working on a new translation feature. I might need some help since I’ve got some leaky grammar, but I think it’ll be fun.
-Management.
Dutch Word of the Day
leeg: empty
Deze huis is leeg.
This huis is empty.
At least I hope so. This is a house I found in Clinton Hill near the Broken Angel House. I think it’s had a fire. It’s too bad because the exterior is beautiful. I really hope the shell remains after they do whatever it is.
It’s also a good graphic for this program note: I will be out of blogging range from tomorrow till Sunday. I’ll be back then.
Dutch Word of the Day
bewegen: to move
We hebben ons bewogen.
We have moved.
I’m really happy at this new address. It’s like moving into a new house with all kinds of fun gadgets. I mean this in the nerdiest way possible. I don’t know a lot about CSS, but I can figure it out. WordPress is not as hand-holdy as blogger, but it has so much more fun stuff. If you’re used to Blogger and want to come over to the dark side, go for it.
In order to celebrate the new “home”, I made a Lego canal house. Look, there’s a step gable at the top and a little canal in the front. Wow, this is the nerdiest entry ever. I must be getting closer to Amherst.
P.S.: If you haven’t noticed, this thing has helvetica. Hell-to-the-yeah-vetica.
I normally wouldn’t want to rush through the final book of the series, but if I don’t finish this by Wednesday, some idiot will spoil it for me. Wish me luck!
And no, I won’t torture you with
countless Harry Potter entries after this. We’re in a bit of a deluge right now and everyone needs a break.
Dutch Word of the Day
spinnen: to spin around
Je spint me recht ronde.
You spin me right round.
I found an overpriced DJ equipment/ vinyl store on the Bowery while wandering away from the Bechdel reading. I don’t know who made this record, but I approve of the cover.
You might be familiar with the “501______Verbs” language book series from Barrons. There’s a Spanish, Italian, French etc. The upside: Barrons makes one for Dutch. The downside: there’s only 201 words. It’s like they just gave up when they weren’t even mid-way. The same series does this to Portuguese, Turkish, and Swedish. Polish gets a generous 301 verbs. Latin, totally dead, gets 501. I wish they’d explain why.
It’s terribly maddening to me. Dutch is as hard to learn as English. It has a million verbs, they just don’t take it seriously enough. The explanations in the intro are very good, I just wish it was as comprehensive as I expected.
Dutch Word of the Day:
sluiten: to close
Sluiten tijd…
Closing time…
At least for the Amsterdam chapter. After sitting on the runway for 3 hours, and not getting all of my luggage until this morning, I’m just glad that I made it here. Phew. Once I figure out the groove of this blog now, I’ll be back.
Since there are an infinite amount of Dutch words, those will return as well.
Questions? Comments? Post suggestions?
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Amherstdam 