Maddi

The new look of the forums. Just can't get used to it.

(Sorry, dear webmaster)

Los hombres que no amaban a las mujeres, in spain. 'Men that did not love women'. I thought it was about gay people or emos. But nop; it's about something that I'd rather write than read. So another masterpiece I am going to miss.

Don't be silly. Read it anyway. You can still write your own masterpiece afterwards. :wink:

Why is it always the lower button on the waistband of my trousers that comes loose and gets lost? I hate that.

I'm currently working my way through Stieg Larsson's Män som hatar kvinnor (Men who hate women) as fast as I possibly can. The book (translated into English as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is every bit as good as everyone told me it was going to be. I was very foolish and started it before school is actually out for Christmas, now I'm not motivated to do anything but read. It's a good thing I don't have to do any more actual teaching this week, and on Friday I'm officially on holiday, so I can happily ignore the huge pile of essays I should be correcting, and read, read, read.

Sounds like a must-read to me. Better still, a must-own for someone in my profession.

I really should read more. I think I'll start with some books Avaunt has recommended here. Dunno if it has anything to do with being the same age - but he seems to like a lot of authors I like.

When did you go to Greece? Saturday of last week I suffered in Athens the highest temperatures of the year, I had problems with hydratation.

When we were there in June it was already very hot. On the day the photo was taken it was around 33-34ºC. So we parked the car, said "Ooh, what a wonderful view!" and "Aaah, let's ask that nice Englishman to take a picture of us!" and then we hastened to get back into our air-conditioned car. Myrtos beach itself is a furnace during the day (sort of my personal idea of hell). But it's very pretty, there's no denying that.

Here's a holiday picture of my sister and I on the island of Kefalonia (Greece) in June. I'm the one wearing the red top. Behind us is Myrtos Bay, a truly spectacular sight to behold.

In case anyone's wondering about the colours - yes, the sea was indeed that blue. And no, my sister and I don't really get a tan, just lots of golden freckles.

Shoot 'Em Up so wants to be Crank. Nothing beats Crank in the insane non-stop violence department.

Except maybe Crank 2...?

I'm looking forward to Transporter 3, though. What I've seen so far looks great.

Well, last Saturday we went out for a very nice meal,which gave me a chance to dress like a grown up, for once.

Wow, looking radiant and sexy, Pooka. And that's indeed a mighty 'grown-up' dress. :wink:

I declare a love for Rachel Maddow, my TV girlfriend.

Hey that's funny, she looks a bit like me. A teeny bit. In an alternate universe, I could be the red-headed, heterosexual, femme version of Rachel Maddow.

The Pig lamp in Amélie (the film).

 

For a minute there I thought you loved a movie titled The Pig lamp in Amélie.

 

I love the expression "[over-used word] Trumpet", thank you Kitty!

Sorry about the confusion and/or porn associations. Hope you've recovered by now.

Parmesan cheese.

Satin ribbons.

The Pig lamp in 'Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain' (the film).

Boyfriend is growing a moustache.

What kind? A big porn model moustache or a sleek dandy one? Photo please!

I've been away on a two-week strategic analysis/intelligence course by Australian intelligence-guru Don McDowell. He gave us daily reading assignments, so I haven't done any night-time reading at all. Don is a great guy, very funny and wise. He told me he might some day - he's 69! - write a book about his life. I hope he will, it'll be a page-turner for sure.

In the meantime I'm re-reading Harry Potter part six, trying to get into the reading groove again. I've got a copy of Misha Glenny's McMafia waiting on my coffee table, but I'm feeling knackered and I don't care if it's a gripping story and a fantastic read. Those transnational organised crime tales can wait for a week.

Ahoy! Picked up two volumes of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series in a ramsh shop. Just finished reading The Ionian Mission, currently enjoying Treason's Harbour. I'm already sad that I only found two volumes of the series, because I love love love reading O'Brian novels. There's something about those books that makes you want to go back in time and join the Navy. Really.

I've taken a week off from work, to make inquiries about getting a mortgage for an apartment. I haven't found a place yet, just looking around at this stage. But if my mortgage plans get the green light from the bank, then I can go full steam ahead.

It feels strange though. I can't get my head around the fact that I may own a home soon, instead of renting one.

These days it's mostly crime books on my coffee table.

Last week I read "Tijdperk Holleeder - 25 jaar poldermaffia" (The Holleeder era - 25 years of polder Mafia), the latest book about Dutch organised crime. The story describes the rise of Willem Holleeder (one of the kidnappers of Alfred Heineken in the eighties) and his contemporaries to the top of the Dutch crime network. The story wasn't new to me, but the tales of policemen and other eye-witnesses, and the inclusion of original newspaper reports make it a good read. Also, the book contains lots and lots of great photos: criminals on holiday, criminals partying, crime scene photos, post-mortem photos (one was obviously taken minutes after the victim's death from gunshots fired by a hired killer in Thailand). The appeal in the Holleeder case has just started (last year he was given a 9-year prison sentence for battery and extortion of three real estate millionaires, leading a criminal organisation and money laundering) , so it was a nice bit of background reading.

In a few days I'm starting on a book I've just ordered, "The criminal career of Mink K.". Mr K. is another top dog in the world of Dutch crime. He was released from prison last year after serving seven years for arms and drugs trade. He's an interesting character, not the usual flashy-cars-and-easy-women type of gangster boss. They call him 'The Thinker', he's as slippery as an eel and an expert in bribery. The book promises detailed coverage of undercover operations and cover-ups of the Dutch secret service, criminals walking away with millions earned by huge cocaine and cannabis transports overseen by Dutch government officials, and tales of corruption and bribery in the Amsterdam police force. I'm looking forward to it.

Hoe gaat het met jouw, Maddi? In welke stad woon jij?

Eh, om veiligheidsredenen kan ik daar natuurlijk niet op ingaan. Je weet nooit of de gleufhoeden uit Leidschendam meelezen... :wink:

Thanks. It's nice to be back. I've been doing very well after I had thyroid surgery a few years ago. I'm better than ever. Which reminds me of Pooka - how is she doing?

Maddi!!!! Welcome back. Your a Crime Analyst?

Yes.

But it's not that unusual, really. Except that I'm older than most new recruits. Now, it would have been strange if I had become a detective. Especially given my non-existing abilities in the sports and fitness area. I would never have passed the test. But crime analysis is not such a great step from marketing and business analysis as you'd think.

How wonderful is it that this forum never changes. You can go away for ages, and come back and find most things unchanged. Still as funny as ever, and the same sweet folks hanging out here. I've browsed a few recent pages of this thread, and I see a lot of familiar names... Electricinca, Red, Akhira, Adrian, Josh, Christian, Avaunt, Lou K, wolvy... And Mark and Malin just married! Congratulations to the newly-weds, that's lovely news.

Some of you may remember that I dropped by from time to time a few years ago. Keanu Reeves has a lot to answer for, indeed. I wasn't ever a frequent poster here, but I loved reading about all the people from different countries who posted about their day-to-day life. I still treasure the signed copy of All His Engines that I won in a competition. However, real life gradually became very hectic. Exit boyfriend, enter new job. I joined the police as a crime analyst, and then stopped coming here altogether. I simply didn't have the time. For a while my new career consumed almost my entire existence. And I loved every minute of it. It's still somewhat unusual for the Dutch police to recruit crime analysts from outside the force, so I count myself lucky to get the job. The first six months especially were very hectic, with so many new topics and techniques to learn about and new colleagues and everything. For new recruits like me, without a police background, it also involves a lot of formal training. I've just completed a nine-month strategic analysis training, and before that I did a three-month operational analysis course. Today I'm celebrating my first completely homework-free weekend in a year or so (yeah!) I'm super glad I passed my strategic analysis exam this week, because It wouldn't be healthy to go on like that forever.

I see I've got a lot of catching up to do (this thread alone is 540 pages! ). So much has been going on here. But I've got loads to do today and the weather outside looks nice, so I'm going to get my shopping done and check back in later.

PS: John, the forum looks wonderful. New and improved, and more nifty buttons and controls... it feels like I've been away for centuries. (Oh, I have.)

Happy Birthday Inca! Have a good one. *raises glass* Cheers! :D

Hi All! I´m typing this at the hospital, on an internet terminal from truly ancient times, and matching speed... some keys produce weird results, hahaha. But here I am to give you an on-site report, still in my bath robe!

I´m doing fine, the surgery was successful and I´m recovering fast from the post-op effects. My voice is still a bit wobbly and weak at times, but other than that no side-effects as far as I can tell. I´ve got a three inch scar at the base of my neck, which is healing quite nicely and doesn´t hurt much.

Everything went pretty smooth, really. I went to the hospital at 11 o´clock on Monday. Other than the intake chat and some tests, nothing much happened that day. They put me in a room for two persons, with a sweet old lady who put me at ease right away. We have our own shower and toilet in the room, what a luxury... I put away my things and had some blood tests done, and tried out the bed. At twelve they served a hot lunch, and she opened a bottle of red wine that she got from one of her sons, and proposed a toast to the happy outcome of my surgery. That was just lovely.

My surgery was scheduled at 8 o´clock on Tuesday, and it all went really well. A quick shower in the morning, I put the surgery jacket on (they let me keep on my knickers, phew!) and at 7:30 they wheeled me out to the holding room. I remember looking at the clock when the needle went in... it was just ten minutes to eight. At five minutes to ten I opened my eyes again, and the whole thing was over. No pain, just woozy and slightly blurred vision. The surgeon came by to tell me everything went well and he was going to call Yuri to tell the good news.

I slept for a while in the recovery room, and then at twenty past eleven they took me back to the ward. In the afternoon I was sleepy and I threw up a couple of times (ugh, that wasn´t fun...). At night they gave me something for the nausea, I nibbled on some dry biscuits and started feeling better. I slept very well that night (ah, those lovely painkillers...) and I woke up feeling fine. I washed myself as well as I could, still connected to the drain and the IV... very funny, all those tubes and sacks hanging around in the bathroom. I spent the afternoon happily knitting away on my bed, and chatting with my roommate. At night I read for a while in my new Amos Oz novel and listened to the radio. I dozed off with my headphones still on (don´t recommend that, my ears were all hot and numb when I woke) and suddenly woke from a lightning flash in the room in the middle of the night. But that was only the night nurse, who tiptoed around with a flashlight... so zzzzzzzz zzzzzzz zzzzzz again...

Well, they told me I might leave today if I felt okay, but I was rather tired this morning and decided that Friday will be the day, instead of Thursday. And then I´ll be going to my parents for a while, who don´t have internet access... so more news to come in a couple of weeks, folks.

Hmmm, that should also give you guys enough time to get Rogan back here. It´s about time to send a search party, people. What´s happening to him...? Where is he??

Nothing wrong if Maddi is in a cleaning frenzy I'm merely giving her an outlet for that behaviour. It's a win-win scenario.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Indeed.

Alas, I've got a waiting list of several hundred other applicants who got there before you. So many dirty houses, so little time...

PMT gives me a strong urge to clean down my apartment. If I've got it bad, I even stay up till midnight to clean stuff. It always happens the day before the Red Army comes. Weird, eh?

If I'd have a child, I'd employ a means of disciplining that I've seen used to great effect by a female Iranian aquaintance: the whisper method.

Whenever her two boys would be naughty she'd give them a very serious look and beckon them with her finger. Then she'd whisper in their ear about what they had done wrong. It was always very discreetly done, nobody else could even hear a word of what was said. Neither she nor her husband would ever raise their voice when they spoke to their children. I was very surprised, the first time I watched the proceedings. My own dad would use harsh words and would occasionally shout at my sister and I when we were naughty, which intimidated us very much when we were young, but led to furious shouting matches when we were teenagers. So his method kind of backfired. Besides, who wants to shout at little children anyway? It's rather a sign of inadequacy, isn't it?

Those little Iranian boys are now in their early twenties and have become polite, well-behaved and charming adults, so the whisper method seems worth trying.

Been very very busy lately. One week to go before the trip to the hospital. Got the pj's sorted to my satisfaction. I'll be bothering the hospital staff in elegant pink and blue stripes. Still looking for a good book to read during my recovery after the surgery. Maybe I'll get Amos Oz' latest, that looks like an interesting read. I'm also going to bring some knitting projects along to the hospital, because I need to do something or I'll go crazy there.

Meanwhile, I've been putting in long hours at the workplace. We're now well into the final stage of the project. Last week I had to prepare some important maps that had to be finished before Friday c.o.b. By Thursday I was already very tired, but I went to see a rock gig in Amsterdam anyway. A friend of Yuri's had arranged a ticket for me weeks ago, and I decided I needed a break. Looking back, that wasn't very clever, because I came home quite late and as a result was even more tired the day after. My days of work hard, play hard are clearly over.

Friday was hellish. All day I raced against the clock to get the job finished. By 18:00 hrs I was done. My eyes were red and tired, and the wrist and fingers of my right arm were aching. I e-mailed the drawings and maps to my boss, thinking I might finally leave and go to Yuri's place, have some dinner and put my feet up. Nope. My boss called and told me I had to do some 'minor changes'. Yeah right. I estimated the touch-ups would take about an hour per map, and there were eight maps in total. I just wanted to lay my head on my keyboard and weep.

I asked my boss which maps were needed first for the test rides, for I couldn't possibly get all of them finished before the weekend. He requested work on two maps, and allowed me to do the rest of the work later. So I called Yuri and cancelled our date, there was nothing else I could do. Then I fetched another coffee and somehow got the maps finished. I went home feeling hyper and dead tired, and angry at myself and the whole world for not having the guts to tell my boss to go to hell with his 'minor changes'.

Yesterday I was still tired and hyper, didn't do much. In the afternoon, I met up with Yuri and his pals in a pub, and finally managed to relax a bit. Yuri and I went to see a fado concert in the evening (Mariza - great show!) and later crashed on the couch and watched From Dusk Till Dawn. I dunno... do men get horny from watching sexy vampires and seeing lots of blood...? Anyways, it was well after midnight before we went to sleep...

Today the weather was horrible, wet and cold. We had a very late breakfast while watching some Little Britain on dvd, and decided to go and see a movie later on. We watched Caché, Michael Haneke's latest film, which won the Best Director Palme d'Or at Cannes last year. Good movie, it was creepy and sinister and quite unsettling to watch the paranoia unfold. And this without a single note of creepy music. And now I'm off to bed, got work to do tomorrow... :rolleyes:

PS: Keeyah, I'm sorry to hear about your nan, and that you won't be moving to Bath. But Bo looks lovely! Do tell us more about his adventures.