Author Archives: Dennis

.: Work
I just had a very good work review, and a nice raise to go with it. I’ve received more and more responsibility within the company, and I’m enjoying it. My pay-rise wasn’t quite as stellar as Eva’s (mine was only 11,6%) but mine’s not fraudulent either! ;)

.: James Holden
I’m really enjoying James Holden, lately. Balance is fantastic, and At the Controls is also pretty good. I’m really curious aboutThe Idiots Are Winning, but I haven’t been able to get ahold of that yet.

.: UFC
I’ve been getting back into watching UFC and Pride FC regularly. I was so surprised that Josh and Frank both don’t like it because of the ground-work that comes into play with MMA. To the point where one of them (don’t remember who) said that if you’re a good stand-up fighter you won’t have to go to the ground. While that’s partially correct, there’s not a stand-up fighter in the UFC/Pride/Pancrase that doesn’t work on his ground-skills, because if you go up against those BJJ or Shooto guys you will be taken down, no matter how good your stand-up is. I haven’t seen Cro Cop’s UFC debut yet, and I’m also looking forward to seeing Quinton Johnson’s UFC debute, considering how he completely laid waste to Chuck Liddell in Pride.

.: Mother
My mother had to go back to the hospital on sunday evening, after being discharged for the weekend on friday. She didn’t like it, she’s bored and alone most of the time, and she misses the comfort and familiarity of home. She had a little freak-out yesterday as she talked to another patient who had been in the hospital for the last 9 months. She’s never been one to go and lay in bed, which is why she happily walked around with a headache for two months before she went to the doctor (who then ordered an MRI and discovered a tumor the size of a fist).

On friday they’re going to do a combination of a CT and a PET scan, where they pump her full of some radio-active stuff that responds to the abnormal cells in her lungs, in the hope of finding cancerous spots in her lungs that are more easily reached by bronchoscopy or surgery. The tumor in her right lung is way at the back, very close to her spine, hidden behind shoulderblades and ribs, so very hard to reach. They’d rather not do surgery just to get a sample for biopsy, so they’re going to see what else is out there.

I wonder if it’s possible to let her stay home most of the time, while she waits for friday’s CT/PET scan.

Meanwhile, the medication she’s taking to drain the fluid from around the tumor in her head are doing a wonderful job of keeping her less confused, more stable and less headachy. I think it also keeps her in good spirits, which is fantastic.

The last few days have been very difficult. On wednesday I was informed that my mother, after two months of continual headaches, was taken to the hospital for tests and not released, due to the fact that there was a tumor the size of an apple in her head. The next day it was shown that she also had a tumor in her right lung. All in all it’s been rough, but with my family’s dark and slightly morbid sense of humour everyone, including my mother, is in good spirits.

Realistically, we shouldn’t be, because her case is quite serious and grave, but it’s the way we deal with things, and in the end, going through it all with a smile on your face is better than lamenting it all and letting it bring you down. As dysfunctional as my family is, it was good to see them pull together and show overwhelming support. Some of the people I had to talk to I could’ve done without, but my mother appreciated each and every one of them.

I’m especially proud of my little sister, which is something which hasn’t happened before – we don’t get along so well most of the time – as she has shown herself to be very strong and capable of making the necessary arrangements for my mother’s stay at the hospital. Of course, she had a little help from me, but I was impressed nontheless. This weekend my mother is allowed to stay at home, and next week more tests are going to be done in order to get a proper diagnosis and determine the strategy of treatment.

Incredible C-Walk with a really good Trickshot beat.

Oh wow. Quite a weekend. Josh came down to hang out with the .nl crew before heading out to Germany for work, and while he was staying with Eva and Frank, things remained relatively quiet and modest. On friday I had taken the day off so that I could stay out a bit later on thursday and hang out at Eva and Frank’s house.

.: Friday
Most of friday was spent chilling out. But then in the afternoon I hung out with Moulsari and Josh, while waiting for Flak to arrive from London. After waiting for (what seems like) ever we find that he’s already in Amsterdam, but that his phone doesn’t work. Josh and I decide to head over to his hotel, which is relatively close to my house, on one of the prominent canals. We get there, and it’s fucking swank as hell. While we’re waiting for Flak in the marble-covered lobby of the hotel, admiring the beautiful receptionists, and the sleek interior, we both started wandering in different directions. When we met back up in the lobby, Josh and I had apprently thought the same thing; let’s case the joint! Very swank, very nice.

Flak, Josh and I went to get some drinks at Harry’s bar, renowned for their fantastic cocktails, and their curious patrons (cab-drivers and criminals.) Moulsari had invited us to come and eat at my place, and we had a fantastic meal, after which we headed out to Suzy Wong, a nice lounge place. We drunk ourself into a stupor there and went looking for some more trouble around that area. All the places we went to were either busy (Paradiso; long lines, waiting in the rain, no thank you.), too exclusive (Sugar Lounge; Lesbian night, so us men were not good enough.), or just plain shit (Melkweg; Que Pasa, Latin electro? Shit no.). Moulsari decided to go home, while Flak, Josh and I trekked to Odeon.

Odeon was cool but packed! Some (almost) hard-style music got me in the mood to dance, and a midget made me laugh. At about 4 AM we decided to call it quits. We dumped Flak at his hotel and Josh and I walked over to his. I left a visibly zoned out Josh and went to sleep.

.: Saturday
The following day I spent lazing again. Josh was supposed to spend some time with Sam, and I didn’t hear from Flak until, well, until I was getting a little worried and I started to call his hotel. (Did we actually see him go into his hotel the night before? No we didn’t. Uh oh…) Apparently, he had slept until three or so, and went out exploring, trying to find some food.

Sam had the wonderful idea to go out to dinner with, well, everyone. Eva and Frank couldn’t make it, but in the end Sam had arranged for a table at Paso Doble. Dennis, Flak, Josh, Sam, Aden, Kali (Cali? Caly? Cally? Aden’s sister!), Mouls and myself. It was fun, and not half as awkward as I had expected it would be. The food was fan-fucking-tastic. After that we headed out to Tara, an Irish pub, where we met up with Eva and Frank. More drinks and conversation was enjoyed and once Esther had finally arrived we headed out to the nightclub we were going to visit that night; Winston’s.

Winston’s was the same place that we all celebrated my birthday at the previous summer. Jim, Flak, Lindsay, Veed, Lin, Dennis, Frank, etc. etc. That was a fantastic night, with cooky-but-cool music. I went back there once with Esther and Mouls, which was also okay, but it had definitely shittier music. When I went there on saturday, the music was plainly shit, but so shit that it became a lot of fun acting like idiots with everyone. It was obvious that Josh, Flak and I were both still a bit tired from the previous night. Josh decided to harden the fuck up, Flak decided to drink himself into activity and I just chilled out a bit. Mouls and Esther seemed to have a good time, and so did Sam and Kali. Dennis was having a blast. (He’s a sucker for really bad music, I think.) Aden was a bit…I don’t know…disinterested, I guess. Eva and Frank were cool, but left at around 3 AM. We went on until about 4 AM and then left as well. Said goodbye to Esther, Dennis and Sam and took a cab, dropping Flak off first, and then driving on to Josh’s hotel. We said goodbye to Josh and left for home.

Crash.

.: Sunday
Yesterday I gamed. It didn’t go very smoothly, even though Frank was present again. I have to admit that I was still pretty tired from the weekend, and that certainly didn’t help. I’ve got pretty much sorted out what I’ll be doing with the next part of my campaign. I have to say that I’m very happy at how the campaign turned out.

I watched Crouching Tiger… with Mouls when I got back home. You know what’s interesting, Jim came by, then Esther, then Josh, and today Lucy arrived. Lindsay messaged me on saturday night saying she wants to come over (and she’s more than welcome!) and Megan, a friend of Moulsari also wants to come over and visit. Quite a ride. :)