Sunday 9 October 2011

The end of an era



The year is almost over, dum dum dum, but more importantly, an era in my very exciting life is also over. My teenage years. As of tomorrow, I've walked (minus like 1,5/2 years before I learned how to walk) this earth's surface for 20 years! And it is insanely exciting, yet a bit scary. I can finally say goodbye to teenage angst (not that I had any) and embrace my ahem, maturity.

My favourite part of becoming 19 was that, whenever I faced a million stairs and was tired as hell when I reached the top, I could say "You can talk, but I'm no longer as young as 18! I'm getting old!" Now I do actually feel very old. It's scary to think that ten years from now, I'll be 30, shock horror!
Nah, I'm actually glad that my teenage years are over. They weren't the most fun of times. I guess I'm not the only one who faces these issues, like bullying and feeling so insecure about yourself you'd rather leave the house for as long as possible. I already feel like I'm growing and I accept myself more as I am. Which is a good thing, I guess.
Also I'm happy that it's not like the old days, my parents go on about. Married and children plus a mortgage at 22. No thanks, I'd rather enjoy myself while I still can. I'm excited!

Oh and not to mention I will get a big pretty birthday cake with my name on it. Bring on the twenties!

Sunday 4 September 2011

Thunderbolts and lightening!


I don't like thunder. I especially don't like thunder at night, when I'm trying to get my well-deserved beauty sleep, but instead am being drilled out of bed by flashes of light and loud noises. Like last night. It felt like the apocalypse was coming. I feared that cockroaches at last had found a way to mutate themselves into massive monsters, showing off their clever technology with lots of shenanigans, before they would come and eat my brains. It could happen you know. Never trust a cockroach! That's what Fairly Odd Parents taught me.



Luckily, I'm not the only one who believes the end is near whenever there is just a little bit of thunder. Freddie Mercury was with me. I imagine him in his oversized London mansion, writing Bohemian Rhapsody, getting all emotional about mamas and not wanting to be born and shit, when suddenly hell breaks loose and thunder is coming down like a mofo.
After screaming for his mama oooeeeeh once again, who for the record was not at home at that time, he finally wrote the legendary line: Thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening me. Then he gets into the whole Galileo business, which I think should have been changed to: Marco POLO, Marco POLO, Marco POLO, here we go! But then again, there's a reason I am not a successful songwriter, so I will let Freddie have this one.
Then he gets all emotional and pities himself before he starts talking about devils and stuff, while the thunder is still raging. Freddie was so sick of it, he jumped up, while Brian May jumped out of a random vase and starts jamming the guitar, while Freddie is all: SO YOU THINK YOU CAN STONE ME AND SPIT IN MY EEEEEYEE! When he realises the thunder doesn't give a flying fuck, he realises he has to get out, and so he runs to an open field and lays down, because that is totally what my elementary school teacher told me to do whenever thunder was being a bitch.

There was a time when I was a little girl and completely obsessed with Pokemon. Whenever I saw thunder at that time, I believed it was Pikachu fighting Team Rocket, and I would watch it in fascination, while thinking: “You go Pikachu!”


That was of course before I knew thunder can actually kill you. Since I believe I am too young and awesome to die as of yet, I dislike thunder. And that's how it is people.

Wednesday 10 August 2011

What is too young?

I watched a tv-show today and one of their items was about a 10 year old girl posing in a provocative way for the French Vogue. The girl in question was Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau, a daughter of a football player and a 'whatever she does' mother. Usually I am quite careful with judging something before seeing it. After all, the media likes to blow things up. When I saw the pictures though, I have to admit that even I think these pictures go a bit too far.



No matter how you try to defend it, this is way too young to pose in such a provocative way for any 10 year old. And yes, she is a gorgeous little girl, but isn't that what she deserves to be? A little girl? Why is it necessary to take away the childhood of these children and forcing them to mature before they are even teens?

Also, it seems to me that pedophiles might have a little party in their pants right now. These pictures must be their wet dream. They might come to the understanding that, if a leading fashion magazine is allowed to publish these kind of pictures, there is nothing wrong with them owning child pornography. Where do we stop this madness? When do we realize that this girl should be playing with barbies instead of being a model?

I remember watching a television show called 'Toddlers and Tiaras'. It was disgraceful. The mothers were convinced that they were just doing their daughters a favour, but you can't make me believe that a 7 year old is happy being a living doll, parading around on stage and being judged by adults just on the way they look.

Here are some clips you can watch:

Toddlers & Tiaras 1
Toddlers & Tiaras 2

Toddlers & Tiaras 3

These kind of things will only make young girls believe they have to look perfect. This will have side effects like an increase in eating disorders. It was bad enough that older girls already had to suffer from the distorted image the media shows us every single day.

I have a niece who is almost 2 years old. She's a beautiful little girl and yes, already quite vain and fond of my high heels. I just hope she won't have to grow up to soon. She should enjoy life without any worries before she will face the difficulties of the adult world.

All I can say is, let a child be a child. Please.


Tuesday 2 August 2011

Liliana

I forgot to mention her in my Porto blog, so she demanded me to dedicate a blog post to her. Here it is.

Liliana, you are the light of my life and the reason why I live. I'm sorry I forgot to mention you!

Summer trip finale: Porto!

Yes yes yes! Finally I shall enlighten you with a post about Porto! I knew you've been waiting for this moment. It is finally here! PIZZA PARTY!

The journey


Once again it was ridiculous o'clock when we had to get down to our taxi. We were brought to the airport by a nice Spanish taxi driver. All of us were quite moody, irritable and the fact that we had to wait in line for long did not add up to the good mood. When we finally went through the security check, we had another freaking expensive breakfast before queueing for our flight. A little example of what we looked like:



  The flight itself was nothing spectacular. Although I did demand myself to stay awake. I only managed to be able to do this at some points. But, while the other two were asleep and we were flying over Porto, I could see the festival from the window and I got over-excited.



It was, needless to say, a nice moment to land and get out into the wilderness that is Porto (it's not really wild, but you know, whatever.

We decided to get a taxi, as soon as we had collected all of our stuff. And so we did. We happened to get into a taxi with a nice taxi driver and for the moment, we shall call him Pedro. Why? Because I can!
Pedro was interested in our motives to visit Porto. We told him we were going to the festival. He asked us if we were going to see Skunk Anansie. We told him we were there for Mika. There was a short pause.

P: "Ah."

Awkward moment! Then Pedro continued.

P: "He's very popular here. They play his album with the funny name a lot!"

He then asked us where we were from and how we got to meet and told us some things about the city. When we got to our hotel he said:

"This is the first time I met Mika fans."

We told him this was a day he'd always remember. Pedro left and we went up to our hotel.

There was a problem with the hotel though. They did not speak English. The problem with this was that, the moment the lady started rambling in Portuguese, we were quite confused. When she threw our bags in a cupboard, we were even more confused. Laura thought it meant someone else was still sleeping in our room, and so we decided to just go out and walk around the city and more importantly, look for a cinema.

It also dawned on me I forgot my nice new jacket in the plane so I had to buy something else with long sleeves. I was heartbroken but I managed to man up and get on with life.

We discovered there were no cinemas in the city centre. We had to take the metro to some distant place somewhere in no man's land. At last, we managed to find the shopping centre, next to the football stadium. It was quite pretty, but we just wanted to get tickets to see Harry Potter!

After finding the cinema and buying our tickets (Laura almost exploded at this point), we went shopping, had disgusting food for 3,50 and then finally we went to see Harry Potter.

It was fecking awesome. All I can see. I might have shed a tear. Nothing in comparison to Laura's ocean though.

We had dinner at the lovely Pasta Cafe and after that we headed back to our hotel, hoping we were allowed in our room now.

Turning Porto upside down

After a nice long sleep, we met up with Kath, Abby, Treasa and Sharon to go on a lovely rivercruise. We bought our tickets at the tourist shop and headed down to the river. We were just casually chilling and chatting when suddenly everybody started screaming. Naturally, I screamed along, even though I had no clue why.
Turns out Laura had been shat on by a bird. She wasn't happy. We just laughed. The captain of the ship helped her and told her it was good luck. Laura wasn't convinced.


It was fun fun fun. Later, the same nice captain refused to let us on the ship, because we had to get real tickets or whatever it was about. All sumpathy for him was lost at that point. We are dedicated queuers after all and to see everyone get in apart from us is not so nice.

Well, we finally went on a boat and it was nice looking at all the bridges and burning to death. We also passed the festival.



After this jolly boat trip, we decided to go for some lunch. It was quite difficult to find a suitable place, as one restaurant denied us (what do you mean recession?) because we were with 7 people. We kept walking and decided to sit down at this reasonably nice looking place.

Our waiter, let's call him Winky, thought it was necessary to wink whenever he moved or whenever we or he spoke. It was quite frightening. It took a while before our dinner was served. I decided I wanted to use the toilet and asked Winky where it was. He, how is it possible, winked at me and told me to follow him. I reluctantly did. He told me to go through the dark alley, one of those you often see in gangsta films. I looked at him as if he was quite nuts. He winked at me.
I ventured out into the alley, and saw the green chairs he described. There was a man at the door where I had to enter, so I just said Ola and he stepped aside. It was the kitchen of the restaurant. Everyone looked at me as if I was some sort of alien. I decided it was best to quickly do my business, then leave. You never know what they can do with a butcher's knife.
I almost ran back, sat down and ate my food. The waiters were very impatient. They removed our dishes before everyone was finished. Needless to say, no tip for them!

We then went to some plaza with a statue to meet up with the other MFCers. When we arrived, Chloe and her mum were already there. We chatted for a bit and more and more people arrived. I knew it was going to be fun the next day, since everyone was very lovely and nice and funny. I especially remember the American girls ya'll and of course the fantabulous Mary who is fantastic and my secret lover Rosa, who is awessssommme! But everyone was really nice and lovely of course! Also all the old faces I got to meet again.

The plan was to go to the mall, but first we passed a partystore to buy red hairspray for our little practical joke. Everyone who reads this blog will probably have seen Mika's red streak. He hated it and so we decided to make fun of it by all showing up with red streaks in our hair.
The mall was next and we all kind of spread and had dinner. Then we discussed the plan for the next day and decided to kick everyone who started a list in the nuts. All was well and we all went back to our hotels.

Yet, of course, Laura, Luke and I had to deface Mika first before we went to sleep. It was the second poster we had ruined that day with our names on it.

Festival day


I decided to go earlier than the others and met up with Mary at the same statue. We had heard there were already people there who started the numbers and so basically shit was going down. We met up with the Spanish crew and made our way down to the festival.
With Eye of the Tiger playing in our heads, we marched to the group sitting there and told them numbers were a no go. Many started to remove their numbers, but some clinged on to the idea that it was going to happen. It took them 3 security guards to let them know otherwise.
Queueing was quite fun, I finally met the legendary Willy Wonka, who kindly shared her sandwhich with me. The red streaks were everywhere, although the rain would later get rid of them.

When the doors opened, it was as if we had to run a marathon. I couldn't go too fast because of my damned shoes. We had to wait at a second barrier and I decided to take them off. Security told me to put them back on again. The second barrier opened and I ran as if the end of the world was near, lost my shoes, had to go back to grab them, ran barefoot over stones and my feet were very hurt. They still hurt to this day. But I kept going like a boss and ended up at the left side, in between total strangers who wanted to get rid of me.

I texted Laura and she told me to come over to the right side where all the cool people were. I stood behind Rose, because she is so tiny I could easily see everything. We had KFC, talked and laughed and had fun until the first act came on stage.

Her name was Aurea and she was quite good. I enjoyed her performance.

Then the Tindersticks came on. At this point it was raining. We were wet. Let me describe this experience: If you'd like to torture someone for whatever reason, put them in a giant freezer, keep pouring buckets of cold water over them and make them listen to the complete discography of the Tindersticks. I assure you that word peace is close with this method.
And yes, they weren't the band for a festival like this. But seriously, the man's voice was torture to listen too for more than 2 songs. When they also demanded the audience to shut up for a whole song, we were even more pissed than before.

I wanted to put a video on here to see for yourself, but the moment youtube started playing a song, my computer froze. Enough said.

The Cranberries were really good, even though they played for too long. Had we not been cold and tired and hurt and broken, I would have enjoyed it even more. But at least they were a plaster on the tindersticks wound.

Then, after a long stage preparation (no, it does not work to put up giant paintings when there is a strong wind), Mika finally came on. The gig was good, although he did not seem to be as into it as he was in Liege. First 2 songs his eyes were closed and there was barely any eye contact with the audience. The gig was still good though, although I think he was tired. Imma was on fire as always, as was the rest of the band, but I couldn't clearly see them. I did miss Ida though!

After the show, the whole crew of us went to the parking lot to wait for him to come out. It didn't take too long for him. But it was a disaster in my eyes. Instead of lining up, which would have been more convenient, people mobbed him and yelled his name and kept shoving pens and pictures in his face. It wasn't a nice thing to see. I lingered around for a while, but I did not attempt to get close as I refused to mob him. I just went back to where Kath was standing, at a nice distance and I was disgusted as he tried to get away but nobody let him.
When he finally got away, we went to the hotel of our friends and got a taxi from there. We immediately went to sleep and slept for a long time.

The rest of the trip

On Sunday, we just slept most of the time and went out to have dinner. We had a typical Portuguese dish which my stomach could hardly digest. Never again.

We then went back and rested a bit. I had an early flight so I slept some more, only to wake up at 3 am. I got ready, woke everybody up and said goodbye. I went down and had the taxi driver already waiting for me.

He did not speak English. So it was all sign language. Also, at 4 am, there was nobody on the road. So the taxi driver drove as if we were in the Fast & the Furious. I feared for my life.
Eventually, we arrived at the airport and I found out there was no life there at all. All the lights were out, people sleeping on benches. It was the weirdest thing I had ever seen. I waited for a long time, checked in, went through security and sat down at the gate with a smelly woman next to me, who tortured me with her smell for the rest of the trip (she also sat in front of me on the plane).

I fell asleepand before I knew it I was back in Holland and the epic Summer trip had officially come to an end.

I want to thank everyone who I've met and met again for a great trip I will always remember. Of course, also my Dream Team for travelling with me and sharing the good and the less good times. Until next time! See ya!

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Summer trip part tres: Madrid!

I am very happy today for a variety of reasons, and so I figured it would be a fantabulous idea to FINALLY write my long anticipated blog for Madrid! Oh the joy!

Viva Espana!

After waiting until 4 o'clock in the fucking morning, we at last went back to our hotel to sleep a bit before having to wake up quite early again to catch a train to Brussels. We headed off to the station, had something to eat, bid our goodbyes to Niko who was going home, and tried to figure out which train we had to take.
Let me tell you, trains in Belgium are weird. First they spoke French, but then suddenly they changed to Dutch. I didn't mind, but I think it can be confusing.

When we were finally in Brussels, the initial plan was to walk around the city before heading off to the airport, but decided it was better not to. We went down to buy tickets to the airport, but the man at the counter was having his period. I could tell he spoke Dutch by his English accent, so I took over from Laura and spoke Dutch to him. He was one nasty bitch and quite rude. We just took our tickets and off we went again.
It took a while, a bustrip with screaming kids (who would later accompany us in the plane) and overpriced drinks before we could fly to Madrid for a short stop in our tour. We didn't get to sit next to each other, but that was ok. We were far too tired anyway.
The flight was not spectacular, apart from Laura controlling the still screaming kids with her telepatic powers. She made one of the kids bump his head. That's how she rolls.

We arrived in Madrid at night, went to the metro, had to carry our bags over a shitload of stairs. Seriously Madrid, would it be so difficult to install lifts in your metro stations for poor tourists like us? The mood was not uplifting when we had to face another obstacle in our way to fresh air, condemned to carrying our bags.
At last, we managed to find the right stop and went upstairs once again to find our hostel. This happened to be a bit of a challenge. After first walking the wrong way, we decided to go all the way back. It was already dark, we were tired and if anyone had mugged us that night, I would have slapped a bitch.

Patience is a virtue and we finally found our hostel. It was quite nice, the people were nice and they had free wi-fi! We went up to our room and there were 3 beds. I drew a map for you:

Laura and I immediately claimed the beds in the middle of the room, forcing Luke to take the one opposite the door. He was not happy. You see, he feared the big men walking around the hostel would come and steal him away from us. Or eat him. Or tickle him to death. Anyway, he was not a happy camper. And threw a bitchfit. And we just laughed. And he had to sleep there.

We attempted to watch Harry Potter. We fell asleep. Luke was woken up by the cleaners who wanted to clean our room. Luke thought he was going to be kidnapped.


He is still alive though, for the people who wonder.

Anyway, we got out too late and just went to the Playa Mayor and had some overpriced lunch which wasn't even that good. We then walked around and went shopping. Yes we did. We gave Mr. Donegan a make-over. Even a new eau de toilette. The Secret by Antonio Banderas. It made him feel invincible.

After we did the make over we went to this lovely restaurant with even lovelier staff. Especially one guy. We shall call him Guadicimo. Guadicimo was a handsome Spanish guy. And nice too. And the food was lovely. So we gave him a 5 euro tip. He acted as if he had just won the lottery and Penelope Cruz had come in naked to tell him. We left and went back to the hostel, glad we did such a good deed for such a hardworking, good-looking, eager Spanish boy.

And we slept. We slept a lot. Basically we did not wake up and got ready until around dinner time. We had dinner in a lovely little Spanish restaurant where they did not speak English. Their cod was lovely. I want to go back there and marry them as it was the best thing I tasted in quite a while. After finishing our meal, we walked around a bit more, had some ice cream and headed back to the hostel as the next morning we had an early flight to Porto.

And we slept. And slept some more. And woke up too early. And said adios to Madrid and OLA to Porto!

And that adventure will be told in my next blog post!

Sunday 24 July 2011

Tears in Heaven



People die every single day. Basically we live to die eventually. We all know it. Some accept it and some refuse to deal with this fact. I was going to write a report about Porto, but it will have to wait, especially after all the tragedies.

I think about death a lot. Sometimes I am scared of it. Sometimes I tend to accept it. Truth be told, it gets harder every single day to live in this world. I'm not saying that it used to be better. I just think we've reached the point where the Third World War is going on, yet nobody dares to announce it yet.

Yes. People die. It happens. But does that mean we can't feel sorrow? Even though we don't know them.

People die of famine. Of poverty. Of loneliness. We do not pay attention to this every single day. The situation is out of our control and even if we try to solve it, we can't. Not alone. Not if the richest people keep all their wealth to themselves.

This weekend, many people died because of hatred. The hatred of one man.
Norway had always been a peaceful country. This shows that there only has to be 1 person with strong beliefs, 1 person who is sick in his head to destroy everything. I've been following the news on this for a while now and even looking at his picture gives me chills. It's in his eyes.

We do not accept each other any more. Does it really matter where someone else is from? Does it really matter what someone else believes? Is it worth killing another living being because it convinces you that you are doing the right thing?

It's a sick world we are living in. But I know that it might get better. The good always overpowers the bad. All the boats of independent people sailing to the island to get those kids out of the water, while being at risk to be shot themselves. It shows there are still enough people who do have good in their hearts.

“Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death.”

On the death of Amy Winehouse, all I'd like to say is that it is such a shame. She seemed so lost lately and it is so sad nobody could help her. I almost lost someone very close to me due to drugs so I've seen up close what she was going through. I hope she is free now. 

I know this blog was just an endless ramble of things, but I just wanted to share some thoughts. Right, now I should write that report for Porto.

Xxx 

Saturday 23 July 2011

Norway...

"Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it." ~ Henry David Thoreau

This is for Norway, for all the lives lost, for all the innocent who had to go through this and their families and friends. I know this blog won't make much difference, but I hope it provides some light, and all the lights together, from all over the world, will come together and shine upon us in the darkness.

It is time we stop destroying our world, all living things and in the end, ourselves. 

 

Thursday 21 July 2011

Summer trip part deux: Liege

As I am waiting for my hair to dry (hairdryers are overrated!), I figured I could just as well write the next blog. In this exciting installment of the Summer Tales, the Dream Team was off to Liege in the wonderful Belgium, where they would go and turn the Les Ardentes festival upside down.

Da Journey

Immediately after Mr. Penniman and gang had left the building, we went to the car because we foolishly decided it was a fantastic idea to drive to Liege overnight. Let me assure you this is not a good idea. Although Donegan and myself fell asleep during the drive, it was Laura who had to keep Niko awake, before we would have a tragic crash and die in the Neverland of France. Especially the last 30 minutes were hard for both him and Laura. Laura just kept talking and I think she was so tired it was mainly bullshit. A memorable quote: "You know that Mika flooded his bathroom?" That's right Mika, she is psychic. Now get those towels ready!

After what seemed like ages but was only 3 hours, we arrived at our hotel. I felt like shit, I was tired and grumpy. What did make me happier was the fact that the Holiday Inn we originally booked a room at, now was changed into a 4 star hotel. YAH FOR UPGRADES!
We knew that quite a lot of people were already queueing, but quite frankly, we didn't give a damn. We jumped into our beds and slept until 12, we'd just see whenever we felt like going there.
Sleeping was so nice and I felt good when I woke up. We decided to get brunch and went to a supermarket. I also bought razors. I forgot mine at home, which basically meant that after 4 days of not shaving, I felt like King Kong's sister. At that moment I was in such a state of bliss, I didn't even care about the festival anymore.

A delightful lunch later, I had a date with my razors in the bathroom, Luke and Laura went for a swim and Niko slept some more. I have never felt so refreshed when I was ready with my shower. I did my make-up, we all prepared some more and around 6 we headed down to the festival.

Da festival

We arrived at the festival and had to find our parking lot which took quite some time. We then went into the shuttle bus and were dropped off at the entrance. The lovely lady who checked our tickets said my top was "tres magnifique". I was about to high-five her.

We immediately went to the main stage. It was around 7 now. I just walked round the sides and surprisingly enough we could just walk to the front row. It was AMAZING. Especially after the whole Compiegne disaster, this was a real treat. We were chatting about how lucky we were, when Niko said he had to go back to the car to sleep some more, but he promised us he would be back by 10.

We were still in awe about how lucky we were, but then the inevitable happened. We had been there for more than an hour, sitting down to chill some more, when a big French Lady just sat down on Laura's bag. Laura immediately stood up, demanding the woman to get off her back and she tried to secure her spot. The French lady at her turn demanded Laura to move as she had been there since 3. Her husband who had been there all along never spoke a word. Both of them stood up and the lady kept saying:

"PLEASE MOVE! PLEASE MOVE!"

Laura kept saying no.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!"

Laura had no idea what she had to stop.

"EXCUSE ME, THAT IS MY WIFE!" The man said.

"Well, congrats?"

"I WILL PUSH YOU!"

Laura, being the Essex girl that she is said: "Well, go on then!"

And she did.

Laura immediately called security and explained what was going on. The lady tried to get security to remove us, but they just shrugged and went away. 1-0 for team Laura! In the meantime, Luke was silent, afraid we would get kicked out.
We weren't. The punchline is that in fact, there was enough room for all of us to stand in the front row. After security were gone, the woman did not say a single thing any more.

The acts

We saw the full set of Puggy, an apparently famous band in Belgium and France as the crowd went wild for them. Mind you, they were very good.


After Puggy came Ozark Henry, which basically was a snoozefest (not as much as the Tindersticks though, but more on that later).

Then fiiinalllly, Mika came on! And boy was he on fire! It was waaay better than Compiegne, although Compiegne was also quite good. We danced our asses off and had the best time ever!

This was probably my favourite gig out of all 3 we did this tour. He was smiling and seemed so happy and it just rocked my socks off. Even though I wasn't wearing any.
The long wait after

We decided to wait for him after the gig. So we got our pretty asses over to the VIP parking. We weren't the only ones. Around 60 people were waiting. Then it got later. And later. And even later than later. So a lot of people left. By the time it was 4 in the morning, there were only around 29 people left and he FINALLY came out.
It was quite endearing to see. He pushed everybody out of his way to get out of the car, even crawled over them when it didn't go fast enough. The first thing he said to Laura and me was:

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE? THIS IS AMAZING!"

We said something about having no lives and having nothing better to do.
He stuck around for a few minutes, chatting and swearing like a sailor (in a positive way of course) and he did a video for Mikafans.net after we managed to get a working camera (mine didn't work. Which made him say: "Sort your shit out! How many fucking hours did you have to prepare?")

He then moved on to the other people and when he came back, Niko politely asked him if he wanted to take a group picture with the 4 of us. He happily obliged and said: "Yeah let's do it!"

Now I warn you this is not the full group picture. This is the one with the 4 of us. But considering there have been some people angry about this cropped version, I thought I would just mention it.


When Mika left, we were still on a cloud nine. The excitement got even bigger when only a few seconds after he left, he tweeted:

I have some of the fiercest fans in the world. I am honoured and very lucky. Thank you. X


We were the lucky ones. Lucky to have had the chance to experience such a good meet&greet. And then to think we thought Liege would be the mediocre gig. Absolutely not! 

We went to bed quite satisfied, yet the trip did not end there yet!

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Summer trip part 1: Compiegne

So, I figured it would be nice to let those 3 people, who still hopefully yearn for my insightful blogposts, know where the hell I've been the past, well, week.

7 July

I woke up in the morning, not feeling quite like P. Diddy. After little sleep, I had to get up and go to the airport to pick up Luke. Him and Niko would come over to my place that day, so we could leave for France the next day, together with Laura.
It was 10 am when I arrived at the airport, although it seemed like I had to wait a million years for the bitch  to come out. When he finally did, he had some vague excuse about Mexicans and tacos. Anyway, he was there and we could get our asses back to Casa Ingridia.

After settling down, we decided to go to the supermarket to get some food for our journey. It seemed like Luke had a hard time adjusting to the Dutchness of my country and he was often quite scared and in panic whenever someone spoke Dutch to him. Needless to say, I had to jump to the rescue several times.
After a nice sandwich and a lot of complaining (we only had one bike, so Luke was the unfortunate one to sit behind me on the bike) we went home and waited for the arrival of mr. Niko.






















After quite a while (he said he would arrive at 2. It was around 5) Niko finally arrived. I showcased some of my fantastic cooking skills, although the boys were reluctant to try it. I know I should be in Master Chef, now they do too! We then went out to see Bad Teacher, which was cool and then back home and off to bed because we had another early mornin'!

8 July


Got up, got dressed and we were on our way to the airport once again. This time to pick up Laura, who already called us to ask us where the fuck we were. After we collected her, we could finally start our journey to Compiegne!

The driving in itself wasn't quite spectacular, we sang along to songs, chilled out and got bored. After almost 4 hours we finally arrived in Compiegne, but we weren't quite there.
See, we had only decided a week before to go to Compiegne a day before the gig instead of on the day itself, so we were condemned to the only hotel available. Thing is, it was nowhere to be found. We drove around for ages, even breaking all rules (damn the amount of one way roads!). Laura asked people in her best French where the damn place was, but nobody seemed to know. It wasn't until Luke and Laura decided to look for it by foot, we finally found it.

It turned out to be quite a nice place, very appartment like and we even had stairs! Yeah that's right! Naturally the upstairs room was claimed by Niko and myself.
After chilling for a bit, and me finding out I passed my last resit, we went out into the city to meet up with Rose, Treasa and Sharon. It wasn't hard to find their hotel, yet it took a while for them to get out. When they did, we went down to the Palace where the gig was going to take place the next day.

They were already building the stage and we curiously looked around. We weren't the only one. Everywhere, groups of Mika Fans were gathered around, looking or talking to the organisation. After a while, we decided we'd seen enough and went somewhere to get drinks and food. When we were done, Rose and the others went back to the Palace and our little group headed back to our hotel to sleep.

Gig day

At 5.30 Niko woke me up. He just received a text that said there were 15 people there already. Then he checked the time it was sent. 2 fucking am. Not much later he received another text. Almost 70 people. And it was not even 6 o'clock yet. I think I've never sworn as much in my life as I did that morning. We got dressed, did hair and make-up and went down there.


We arrived at around 7, where we got number 82, 83, 84 and 85. Funny thing is, there weren't even 80 people around. Apparently, most just got a number and went back to bed. Which is unfair. It also started raining. It did not make us happy people. Luckily, I met many great people in the queue, so we at least had some fun considering the circumstances.

The more people arrived, the more hectic it became. Security promised to do the number system, but as they were late with opening the doors, they did not. So there was a lot of screaming. And anger. And a whole lot of frustration. Eventually, Niko and I ended up on the right side of stage, second row. Initially I had some girl in front of me, but I switched with Niko as he had no room to stand because the man in front of him was not adjusted to gig etiquette.
I ended up standing next to a very cute French guy, offered him water. He refused though. Although he did ask me later if I wanted a bottle of water. I refused. That's how we roll.

Even though the queueing had been a nightmare, as were the 'support acts', I was very excited for the gig to finally start. It had been almost a year since I'd seen Mika live, and well, I kind of missed him.
So when the last support act got booed of stage, (poor thing had to cry it seems), we were ready for it to begin!

The moment the band came on stage, I already forgot about everything. The first notes of Relax brought back the goosebumps and I screamed like never before. The man in front of me gave me a WTF look but I didn't care. Then Mika came on stage. And I danced. I danced like never before. The man in front of me kept giving me sympathy looks, sometimes even annoyed looks but I didn't give a fuck. The guy next to me barely moved. I did. I don't go to gigs to just stare and go home. I go because I want to dance. And I don't care what others think about it.

Mika was fucking great as usual, and so was the band. Imma, Cherisse and Martin and Ida rocked it, as well as the new band members, although it seemed like they needed a little more time adjusting to the whole thing.
I loved the new songs. I loved the old songs, it was great. It felt like coming home again.
When the gig ended, I was covered in sweat. It was a great feeling for a change. Niko and I went to look for our friends and together we decided to wait for Mika to come out.

It was quite clear we weren't the only one who had this idea. I think more than 200 people were waiting. It was impossible to get closer, but I had the Fairytales Before Dark book I wanted to give him. People mobbed the door of where he was staying, it was a crazy mess.

After a while, he came out and I looked for a spot where I could just hand it to him. I found some short Frenchies and I managed to get myself in between them. I waited for him to come to us and when he did, I tried to hand him the book. He initially wanted to sign it, but I told him it was for him and he took it, quickly looked at it and promised to look at it later. Then he looked up and recognised me and said ooh hi! I said hi back, but everyone just kept screaming his name, so I walked away. Mission completed.

We said goodbye to everybody and made our way back to the car. We had a long drive to Liege to do...

But that my children, will be discussed in the next story.

Friday 6 May 2011

Fairy Tales Before Dark Teaser

For all you 3 fans out there, the Fairy Tales Before Dark book is coming together slowly. I am very excited!

Here's a sneak peak of the cover, done by the wonderful Ana





We solemly swear it will freak you out when darkness falls!

Friday 22 April 2011

Inspiring Shit: Rocky Horror Picture Show


Some of you who had the (doubtable) honour to meet me personally know that I am a special brand of crazy. I often convince myself the right brand of crazy yet that is up for interpretation.
When my dear friend Babz introduced me to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, I immediately knew I had found my new favourite film in the whole world. It is a mixture of insanity with most of the cast being typical outcasts, yet making it look incredibly cool to be one.


For those of you who don't know anything about the film, it was originally a stage production, in 1975 I believe, before being converted to the screen. It's about a couple, Brad and Janet, who get car trouble and seek refuge in an old scary castle, only to be greeted by aliens and in particular Dr. Frank 'N Furter, who is a transvestite from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transsylvania. He created a perfect human, the blonde Rocky and that is the start of a series of weird events.


The plot isn't very layered and it doesn't have to be. The weird songs and variety of characters are enough. It is actually a parody on horror films from that time. When the film was released, it was quickly forgotten. Luckily the hardcore fans saved it from oblivion and it soon became a cult hit. The film is best to be seen in theatres, where audience participation takes place. It is still shown at midnight screenings now and then and I definately want to attend a screening once. Fans dress up as characters, take props that are used during particular scenes in the film. Everyone is accepted, no matter who you are. It's all about being free and being whoever you want to be, and sexuality isn't shunned either, no matter if it is man and woman, man and man or two ladies together. And that is what appeals most to me, not being afraid of judgements and just living the way you want to because you fucking can! Not to mention Tim Curry is a brilliant transvestite. I prefer him this way than him scaring the living daylight out of me as It the Clown.
I think it is brilliant that it has become such a cult-hit. Here's an example of the audience participation, these are taken at the 35th anniversary screening. The first one is Dammit Janet, performed by Matthew Morrison and Lea Michelle from Glee. Just listen to the audience singing along and screaming, especially during the second one:





The Rocky Horror Picture Show is not for everybody. You have to be slightly insane to get it and appreciate it. For all those years it has been a safe place for freaks and outcasts, such as me, to be themselves among people who think the same. Nobody judges you.

As Dr. Frank 'N Furter sings in the film: Don't Dream It, Be It!
Best advice anyone could ever give.

Here are some clips you should check out. If you are open-minded and slightly crazy, this might be the film for you!



Monday 18 April 2011

I love this

It's been a while

Hello to all the 3 readers who still come on hopeful to find a new blog. At last, I am writing a new one.

I've been extremely busy the past few months which almost resulted in a nervous breakdown or at least a smashed window here and there. The past 10 weeks I've been an intern at a school, teaching kids the wonderful magic of the English language. In my first few weeks I already had a very distressing moment as the class decided to go all out against me. Luckily I managed to control them in the weeks to come. Right now I'm in my last week of the internship, and there is a project going on so my duties for now will be to guide the students through the project. Easy peasy Lemon Squeezy as my Grammar teacher would say.
It's a tough job, teaching. That is one thing I know for sure now. For a moment I thought it would be good for me to move to Amsterdam and start doing a course in English at the Uni. Considering the current situation in the Netherlands regarding studying (if you have 1 year of study delay for whatever reason, you have to pay a fine of 3000 euros), I decided to finish this course. I actually started liking teaching very much, although I'm not sure how I will feel about it in a while. At least I will have a grade which is beneficial.

Last week I had exams. The pressure of internship was added up to the pressure of learning for these necessary evils. It meant I had to skip the studytrip to Bath, Cardiff and Bristol. I just wouldn't be able to manage. I'm still waiting for my grades and I hope the results are good. Don't we always hope that?

Apart from my study load at school, there have been two other things I've been working on.

The first thing is arranging meet&greet winners for the KatyPerryForum. Katy has been very generous in providing us 5 passes for each show, and of course winners have to be chosen. It seems easy but it's a tough job. I received daily emails from fans who were not eligible, begging me if I could give them tickets. It's tough being put in that position of constantly having to reject people but the rewarding side of it is what makes it easier to do. I enjoy receiving emails of people who are so grateful that they've met their idol. It gives me a lot of joy.

Also, as many of you might know my other blog Fairytales before Dark, several others and myself are working in creating a book out of it. It will be wonderfully illustrated and it's going to be edited soon and I seriously can't wait to show you the finished piece!

Well, that was all I had to say for now. Until next time!

Xxx

Ing

Friday 18 March 2011

I met Katy Perry...

...and I liked it. After 3 years at last! She is a sweetheart and deserves all the success that is coming her way now. She is one of the most beautiful human beings I've ever seen, and it takes a lot for me to say that. She genuinely cared about the people there and took her time with everybody. And for people who say she can't sing live, just go to one of her shows. You'll be blown away by the power of her voice and performance. I had the best time ever in Candyfornia!





About the autograph: Years ago, when Myspace was still cool and Katy unknown, I sent her a message asking when she'd come to Europe. She said first the US and then she'd conquer the rest of the world. I told her this and said: "From that moment on I knew I had to stick with this girl." She then high fived me and was all excited because it actually happened. And from now on the only way is up!

Monday 28 February 2011

Nice to meet you

In the past, I have proven to suck at blogging. I still do probably, but I am attempting to better my virtual life and actually share all my thoughts with you. Not that my thoughts are interesting or entertaining at all. On the contrary. This is just a way to keep that one person, who accidentally stumbles in, updated on all my exciting projects. I am a real project person. Everyone who knows me knows that.
Speaking of which, I haven't even properly introduced myself. You can call me Ingrid. Or Ingie. Just no Ing unless you really know me. Muffin is another of my splendid nicknames. Though it sounds kind of strange if you don't know the context of it all.
You might know me from http://fairytalesbeforedark.blogspot.com It is a fair possibility that you happened to come across that one and rolled into this. Anyway, I felt it was time for something more personal. Through this blog I will keep you updated on my antics and of course the process of my work. In case you're interested. If not, I'd rather see you leave. There is the door!

Kidding, I love you very much even though you are a virtual stranger.

Love & Glitter

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