Tuesday, April 24, 2007

On the rooftops of Namur

**DISCLAIMER: Blogger hates it when I upload pictures. I apologise if the layout is a bit funny.**

It may be known to some that I'm living in the old part of Namur, where
most of the houses date back from 1400 to 1800 AD.
henceforth, all the houses seem to be intertwined with each other by means of roofs. It's true, I already have my escape route planned out in case the stairs ever catch fire.

so here's the view i have from my kitchen:

A couple of months after I had moved in I discovered a Tupperware bowl and a sponge on my side of the roof. Since I didn't recall doing anything that involved a sponge and a bowl the night before, i discretely thew the domestic items to the other roof, seeing it probably belonged to the neighbors anyway.
The sponge seemed to have disintegrated during the winter, or is currently being used in a birds' nest. Plastic, especially the Tupperware kind, doesn't decompose as fast as we would like, and thus it remained the whole fall and winter on my roof, catching all the raindrops and other nasty stuff that falls from the sky.






It hasn't rained in a month, which explains why it's dry.




Over the course of the winter months, I found other random things on the roof, none of them which belong to me. Unless I turn into some kind of Roof-Rubbish werewolf at night, I have no clue how they got there:





Plastic to keep your meat in and home-made cigarettes

Also, a couple of weeks ago, a whole bunch of girls were sitting on the lower part of the roof. I hope you won't feel too heartbroken when i tell you i have no pictures of that.

When I came back from Antwerp after Easter Break, I discovered a kitchen knife on the roof. Now, I'm not afraid of Tupperware, but when i find unidentified sharp objects in my proximity, i tend to get a little worried. I don't know if someone threw it there from the street, or if some of my neighbors had a picknick on the roof, but it's still a little freakish. And no, there were no blood/cheese stains on it.
I ended up moving knife away from my roof:


And apparently my neighbors/serial killers aren't the only ones that leave their junk on my roof. Mother Nature is in it too! I found half the Mediterranean ocean on top of this partition that separates my roof and my neighbor's roof.
Well, I don't mind that. It's kind of nice, truth be told.
So yes.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Spreading the love of Erlend Worldwide

It seems that HM is turning into my myspace. not that life is one big myspace/facebook anyway.

this afternoon i got the brilliant idea to go to HM. The HM in Namur kind of sucks compared to the 5 we have in Antwerp, all spread out over one street. But hey, an HM is an HM.

now, last time i was there they were playing Gwen Stefani's massacre of The Sound Of Music.
However, this was followed by the song that made Allisonneke's page famous among 10's of people, Hot Chip's Boy From School, and made me bust some dance moves in the Volvo while driving to Brussels.

Today, when i was expanding my sock collection in said store, I was welcomed by a song by 'I don't wanna know who,' which gave me a slight headache.

but.

the song that followed was the song that first introduced me to the magic of Erlend Oye; Drop remixed by Cornelius and Kings of Convenience.
(grief-stricken i must report to you that i cannot find a sample of Drop online. well, most people reading this blog probably have cardboard cutout's of Erlend anyway. If you do want to hear this song i will be glad to give an Erlend Oye 101 class.)

I believe i must have had some kind of solo dance party in between the maternity section and the legging section. (for all the nasty people out there, i was heading over to the legging section. gosh.)

of course, the fact that erlend is being played in mega stores makes me very happy. i feel like i've done my officer's job well, in the Erlend-tribute facebook group.
On the other hand, this means that I have to go on a new quest for strange music no one has heard off.
Wait...why did i think of that as a negative thing??

Saturday, April 14, 2007

To all the good music-loving souls that read this blog

Is there anyone willing to give up 160 bucks and comfort for 4 days to be my chaperon at Rock Werchter at the end of June? I promise, I'm not a screaming/'I'm gonna faint'/let's get stoned type of girl whenever I see a famous person...

I wanna see:

Bjork

Keane

The Killers

The Kooks

Admiral Freebee

Lily Allen

Arno

The Bravery

Damien Rice

LCD Soundsystem

Mika

Rufus Wainwright

live.

and if you REALLY don't want to give up your comfort, we can always spend the 4 nights at my aunts house. well, that might be a contradiction, if you know my aunt. But hey. we'll get breakfast. of sorts...

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

I am dissapointed

I am disappointed in this world. If you have Google Earth you need to type in Sudan, and then you'll get an overview of the crisis, sponsored by the Holocaust Memorial Museum. It's shameful.
Now, with all the modern means of communication, we are able to see everything. So why doesn't our 'good deed' mode kick in? Well, why doesn't the 'good deed' mode kick in with the world leaders?
I wish I could change the world single handed. I wish I didn't have 'priorities.' Why does one have to wait to save a life?
I wish it was evident that people do good.
I wish I don't have to look my kids in the eye when they find out about Darfur.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Satellite dishes

An observation:

People who actively practice a religion are more likely to invest in a satellite dish.
Seriously, drive through some neighborhoods of Antwerp or Brussels, and dishes seem to be the dominant thing on the 28-story apartments.

says the girl who bumbed her head against a dish when she was trying to get the garden hose to work :-)

Monday, April 2, 2007

Public Transportation Pondrings

Sometimes thoughts come to me as I ride the bus/train/tram/bike/back seat of the Volvo.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today I bought some poetry.
Yes, I BOUGHT it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question: Ellen, what country do you identify the most with?
Answer: Well, I consider myself to be like a cameleon. I seem to adapt everywhere I go, and I don't like to label my actions and behavior to one specific area.
Responding Question: But how can you have a concrete personality then?
Responding Answer: Well, a cameleon will always remain a 'cameleon,' no matter what color it takes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why are pregnant women who smoke not charged with child abuse?

By the way: I added a whole bunch of new stuff to my Deviant Art.