Journal

It’s been a very long time since I posted last. For various reasons, mostly due to a lack of time, I just couldn’t get to it, even though there were many things I thought I should document.

.: Maassilo
A few weeks ago there was a Soulwax, Justice and a 2 Many DJs performance at the very industrial Maassilo in Rotterdam. I had never been there and never expected the place to look that awesome. The rough, bare concrete and rusted, corrugated metal really surprised me, since most clubs and venues in the Netherlands try to go for the sleek modern or post-modern look. One long room, divided in three parts, with different music in each section, probably wasn’t such a great idea seeing as how there were certain points in the room where the music seemed to blend together. At various points in the evening I was kind of hoping for those points to be like Lagrange points; where the collision of music would create a zero-point, where all was quiet, something which is echoed by the current ringing in my ears! The music was very loud, with a deep, vibrating bass that you could feel all the way deep in your chest-cavities. I had to get used to the stinging feeling with each beat of the bass, since it made the fracture in my shoulder vibrate and sting.

Soulwax was pretty good, I wasn’t very familiar with them, but their music sounded good. It seemed like an edgy type of dance music with a dash of industrial thrown in the mix. I can’t say that it goes for all their music since I didn’t really spend too much time listening to them as Justice came on.

Justice was awesome. I had expected for them to give a lack-lustre set of their well known songs, and was surprised to find that they had mixed and remixed their own music in such a way that it was sometimes only barely recognisable. It was fun to see the two DJs have fun on stage. One of them looked exactly like Weird Al Yankovic and he wore Michael Jackson’s red leather jacket from Beat It, I swear!

Eva and Sam were supposed to go with us to the Maassilo, but they didn’t because they’re little pussies. At first I wasn’t so happy with that, but later, when it turned out that meant there was ample space in Willem’s car and public transport could be avoided, I was very happy with it! That reminds me, I still owe Willem some money for the drinks there that night.

.: Fracture
For several weeks now, I’ve been aware that I had a broken collarbone which was giving me some trouble. It’s getting better, but it still hurts at times, and I haven’t done any real physical stuff in over a month, and I’m pretty much fed up with it. I’m keen to start my BJJ classes, but I don’t want to screw my shoulder up even further. I must be a little patient, just a little bit more, and I can go back to Kung Fu and BJJ.

.: New Years Eve
NYE was pretty tame, and the funniest part came at the very end of the night, when we were going home, and my brother and sister were hungry for junk food. I’ll save all of you from my explanation of what happened, because I’m fairly certain it was one of those moments that you just had to be there. Hilarious. I do, however, have a great picture of my brother and sister posing in front of what looks to be the burnt out remains of a car, right in the middle of the street in front of my sister’s apartment. She lives in a classy neighbourhood for sure!

.: Gaming
Shadowrun has been put to a temporary halt as the holiday season kept screwing with our schedule. We’ll most likely only get to continue at the start of the next month as everyone has shed themselves of their responsibilities. That’s fine by me, because work is pretty busy right now, which leaves me with little energy to properly prepare the sunday sessions. In the meantime, I’ve been having a tremendous amount of fun playing BioShock, which is like System Shock 2 with a worse storyline but with better graphics. System Shock 2 was so awesome I still regularly dream about walking the halls of the Von Braun and the Rickenbacker with Shodan’s distorted voice filling my aural implants.

.: Bicycle
I don’t believe in slow or leisurely cycling, which is probably because I really don’t like it. Whenever I go somewhere by bicycle, I do it as fast and efficient as possible, minimising the suffering. As a result, my bicycles usually don’t last for more than a year or two at a time before they just wither away and need replacement. Some time ago, some drunk asshole probably leaned up against my parked bicycle as they exited the pub below my apartment, and as a result, my front wheel was bent and damaged. Of course, it wasn’t damaged enough that I couldn’t use it, so I did, and over time, the bend in the wheel had been hitting the splash-guard, which in turn had become loose. When I was cycling to Eva’s place to feed Rovdyr and Arie, I was going at my usual pace and the splash-guard came loose completely, wrapped itself around my wheel several times before completely locking up the front wheel. As a result, I literally got launched off my bicycle, but miraculously landed on my feet without a scratch on me (further strengthening in my belief that I’ve got super-powers), while my bicycle completely caved in on itself behind me.

.: 2008 vs 2009
Inevitably, with the start of the new year, I look back and reflect on the previous year, while also looking forward to the new year. Last year saw me and my family go through some pretty tough times, culminating in the death of my mother. The hardest two days of my life were those leading up to her death in Italy, and even though I wouldn’t have had it any other way, I sometimes wonder if it wasn’t too optimistic of the two of us to go there while she was so ill. As I write this, I hope she had a good time, regardless of the pain and the difficulties we faced there. Dealing with the inheritance has also been less than pleasant, but it looks like we’re almost done with that, barring a few life insurances.

I hope 2009 brings me some improvement. After two rough and difficult years, I could use some. I don’t need much, but improvement on one or two elements would be greatly appreciated. I’ve already made some headway by finally doing what so many have been urging me to do for so long; going to talk to a psychologist. It’s not easy, but it might help, and if there’s a chance that it will, then I should try it. So far it’s been hard to explain things to her, but I’m trying to break old habits and trying to go for full disclosure, which isn’t easy if you’ve based your sanity on compartmentalising everything. The thing I was most afraid of – of not being believed, some things are pretty incredible – hasn’t happened yet, which is a personal victory, and it’s really interesting to have someone to talk to who is, literally, there to mostly listen. Most of the time, people are just waiting for you to stop talking so that they can start. I guess everyone is in need of a good listener.

Gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag, mamma, en vaarwel.

Last night I joined Frank, Willem and two of Willem’s friends at an Everlast (prior of House of Pain) concert in the Melkweg. Normally this isn’t something that I do a lot – going to concerts – and Everlast had always been on the peripheral of my radar, but I certainly enjoyed his Whitey Ford Sings the Blues album from 1998. Interesting part of the evening was that Frank is a little taller than I am. Willem is quite a bit taller than I am, and his two friends are about as tall as he is. Conclusion, and this is to all those who keep denying this fact; with my 6’2″ I’m really not that tall.

The supporting act was some Coldplay-wannabe duo, which was interesting enough for the five of us to watch the K1 2008 final match between Remy Bonjasky and Badr Hari, which Hari lost due to disqualification as a result of illegal kick to the head of a downed opponent. K1 rules are very clear about downed opponents, unlike MMA, so there is no good reason for him to do what he did. I especially like a post-fight interview with Hari, as well as the incredibly biased English subtitles in that interview. :)

Anyway, the main act was pretty good, I thought. Frank disagreed, saying that his voice was absurd, like he had a cold or something. He disliked it to the point that he left about three-quarters of the way into the show because he couldn’t stand good memories being ruined by a poor performance. Up until that point I hadn’t heard a single song that I knew, but was enjoying the show, unhindered by any knowledge or fandom. The last quarter of the show, especially after the encore, where a few songs I know and like, amongst which What It’s Like and Black Jesus. One thing that was definitely worth mentioning was the drummer of the set, who was incredibly gifted and tremendously energetic, letting it all hang out. Anyway, enjoyable evening.

I think it was the first year I was in college, when I was still living at home, when I woke up one Friday to find my parental home devoid of family members. Since this happened more often, I didn’t think much of it. Several days went by, and it started to dawn on me that I hadn’t seen any family members. It became clear to me when I was hanging out with my cousin Mark (Grifter on this site) and he said; “Oh, didn’t you know? They went to Euro-Disney.” A day or two later they returned. I remember it quite well as I was ironing some clothes when they all walked in, happy to be back. Everyone went on their merry way, everyone except my kid brother, probably no more than five years old at the time, who walked up to me, gave me a present and said “Happy birthday, Dennis.” My sister started to panic, my mother started to cry, and my stepfather laughed his ass off and asked me if he could buy my love (while drawing his wallet.) Gee, I wonder why I’m suffering from abandonment issues. :)

The present I got from my brother was a mug, a really cool one, too. I used it for years until the hot tea I drank from it caused the porcelain to crack and eventually it started leaking. It was a great mug, but it needed replacement, which my brother once again supplied me. Now that mug is cracking, too, so I think I need another mug. Robin, are you on it? :)

Barack Obama hopes things up, and MMA fans hype things up, which is usually what the promotions like to see. The more hype surrounding a fight, the more viewers. The more viewers, the more money comes in. The more money the promotion gets, the more they can pay out to the fighters. Here’s my hype. :)

.: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
When Rampage was first introduced to the UFC, the UFC had just bought up Pride FC and totted him as the best thing since sliced bread. His debut came at UFC 68 where he fought Marvin Eastman, who gave him his first professional loss in King of the Cage 4, back in 2000. He came in with a professional record of 25-6-0, which is pretty good. He went on to knock out Marvin Eastman, followed by a TKO over Chuck Liddell and a decision win over Dan Henderson. His win over Liddell gave him the Light Heavyweight (LHW) belt, which he successfully defended. Then came Forrest Griffin who came in with an excellent gameplan, taking out Rampage’s lead leg with some well placed, brutal low kicks, simultaneously taking out his ability to shoot and nullifying Rampage’s underrated wrestling ability. Forrest Griffin won a controversial decision win and took Rampage’s belt, and then shit started to get weird.

On July 15th, 2008, Rampage was arrested on suspicion of felony reckless driving, several felony hit and runs, and about a dozen traffic violations. He had stepped into his lifted Ford F-350 (with his image splattered all over the side, so that there’s no mistake about it) and basically went on a rampage (no pun intended.) Have you ever seen one of those police car chases? That’s basically what it was, but this one involved a monster truck, the driver of which, it later turned out, hadn’t slept in days, was depressed over losing his LHW title, and hadn’t eaten in days, slipping into a delirium. Bad news for Rampage, which is a shame, because he’s an entertaining fighter, and probably one of the kindest and funniest prominent MMA fighters in the business.

Because he’s such a character, witty and funny in interviews (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on Jimmy Kimmel Live 06-04-2008), he’s definitely a casual fan’s favourite. The hardcore fan probably remembers the way he knocked out Ricardo Arona with a slam in Pride in 2004. (Watch the slam here.) They would also know that Rampage can’t be counted out, certainly now that he’s revitalised his game by switching camps, leaving Juanito Ibera for the Wolf’s Lair. But then, he did already have two previous fights with Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva, both of which he lost. To quote an article I read recently, “Silva has beaten Jackson twice, the second time so brutally that Jackson’s camp probably could’ve gotten away with pressing charges.”

.: Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva
Wanderlei Silva came into the UFC with a professional record of 31-7-1, and due to his poor grasp on the English language wasn’t hyped as much as Rampage was. An American fighter was just more marketable than a Brazilian fighter, regardless of their fluency in the English language. Wanderlei was a very popular fighter in Pride FC because of his hyper aggressive style of fighting. The Japanese always seemed to care less about winners and losers and more about exciting fights, and Wanderlei delivered those better than anyone else. The brutality with which he fought, the intensity of his staredowns became legendary, and he became the prow of the Chute Box academy, a famous Brazilian camp that produced other notables like Fabricio Werdum, Mauricio Rua, Murilo Rua and Gabriel Gonzaga. All of those guys are known for their aggressive style, and most of them got in the game by way of Brazilian, bare-knuckle, Vale Tudo matches, where almost everything is allowed. (Barring fish hooking, eye gouging, crotch shots, etc.) The evidence of this Vale Tudo background is evident on Wanderlei’s face; scar-tissue everywhere!

His introduction into the UFC was against Chuck Liddell, which he lost by decision, but it was an interesting fight. He had already come off of two back-to-back losses, so people were starting to wonder if his time had passed. He proved everyone wrong when he dismantled Keith Jardine in 36 seconds in his next fight, proving once again that he might not win them all, but he delivers a damn entertaining fight.

.: Rampage vs The Axe Murderer III
BJ Penn vs Georges St. Pierre II might be the next big fight coming up, or perhaps Antonio Nogueira vs Frank Mir, and definitely Andrei Arlovski vs Fedor Emelianenko is going to be a huge fight, but I can’t wait for the Rampage-Wanderlei fight, because you just know that there’s going to be fireworks.

Here’s a hype video I found that, after watching it, made me think that while Rampage might do well at the bookmakers, Wanderlei will go three for three against Rampage.