journal.wiredreflexes.com

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Ever since I discovered Akira back in ’89 or so, I’ve been a big fan of anime. Good anime, that is. I think 98% of it is really terrible, and not worth my attention, but there are a few, maybe half a dozen, that I find incredible. You might say that my fandom makes up in depth what it lacks in breadth. One of the films that always leaves me speechless is Ghost in the Shell. Any words I offer it in praise will do this film a great injustice, so I won’t even try. When Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex came out, I was, once again, exhilirated, though much less, since the series doesn’t come close to the excellence of the movie, but it does give you more information about the world and the characters, which is nice.

For a while now, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence has been out, and I haven’t seen it yet. I don’t know why I haven’t obsessively hunted it down, or drove 4500 miles to be at the nearest pre-premiere, but I think it has something to do with a fear of disappointment. Last week I finally downloaded the film and I watched a part of it last night. It was in Japanese, so I had no clue what was going on, but all I can say is…goddamn. I’m broke at the moment, but this weekend I’m ordering the English version off of Amazon.

I just got my vacation days approved. It’s looking like I’ll be going to New York City between the sixth and the seventeenth of June!

This entire weekend I haven’t been feeling very well. My stomach, which has always been a reliable piece of machinery, has been acting up, which meant I couldn’t keep any food and drinks inside for very long. As a result of which I’ve lost three kilograms and I’m suffering from dehydration headaches. I am feeling better overall, though.

This year’s Queen’s day came and went again yesterday. I remember four years ago, as I walked out of central station in Amsterdam, having arrived there with Dennis, we saw these four helpless Japanese tourists looking for a hotel, dragging their lugguage behind them, wide eyed and mortified at what was happening. It seemed that somebody forgot to tell them what Queen’s day entails, or perhaps forgot to inform them altogether.

For those of you who don’t know, Queen’s day is sort of like Mardi Gras, mixed with a big garage sale, to celebrate the birthday of our Queen. It’s a national holiday, so everyone has the day off, and it’s a day where people, traditionally, sell all their old crap on the street. However, it’s slowly turned into a day in which everyone drinks and gets high, dancing in the streets. A day where everyone is everyone’s friend and, depending on the weather, everyone goes outside to have fun.

The weather was beautiful, but sadly my stomach was a bit upset, so I did no drinking or partying, but I did enjoy the day. Most of the day was spent at Sam’s, chilling and listening to the many boats going past on the canal in front of her apartment, with people on them, dancing, singing and listening to loud music. Walked around for a couple of hours with Evaand Frank, which was really very nice, seeing all the people so cheerful and happy. It really is an experience that I find very hard to put into words. I don’t do the coolness, and madness, of it all much justice with my words. It’s something to be experienced instead of talked about.

Days like these make me so happy to live here. This place is like no other place on earth.

This morning, as I was on my way home from Sam’s place, I saw the city…it was in ruin. The only people out were the city’s sanitation who were doing overtime, tourists who were trying to find their way to their hotel, wondering what happened to them the previous day, swearing that they’ll never drink that much again, or take that much X, and me. :)