Pilipinos

Yesterday was gay movie night again, and the movie was Connie and Carla, about two girls who dress as men who dress as women. The movie is ok, nothing special, but I liked the Filipino character and especially his accent. I think Filipino accents are among the cutest in the world. It helped that we had 6 Filipinos in our group, and while having beers after the movie we had a lot of fun replacing all f's for p's.
Tomorrow I will be going to London for the weekend. I am looking forward to seeing AA, MT and PE and especially to seeing the musical Priscilla for which I have tickets. I just hope this guy will not be next to me on the plane........

An example for all of us

Today, Ramses Shaffy (born 1933) died. He was a popular and much-loved singer and actor throughout my youth, and most of all he was a bohemian with a life-long love of life. In his own words, he "had a little bit too much love" and he "loved alcohol". I was happy to see him two years ago in a very emotional and fragile performance on Amsterdam's Rembrandtplein. He was extremely charming, positive, full of life, curious and friendly. The comments today from other Dutch singers, and average people on the street, say it all:
"he lived"
"he didn't care about yesterday or tomorrow, he lived today"
"all of Amsterdam was in love with him"
"i think we would all have wanted to swap our lifes with him"
May he rest in peace.
This song "Zing, vecht, huil, bid, lach, werk, bewonder" translates as "sing, fight, cry, pray, smile, work and admire"

Thin people more likely to be depressed

The Dutch Central Statistics Bureau reported today that slim people are more likely to be depressed than others. People who are very fat are also suffering from depression, however not as much as thin people. According to the study, the happiest people are slightly overweight males.

Joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat

I went to the musical Joseph and etc. yesterday and it was great. For some reason, the Dutch translations of the typical Broadway / Westend musicals are always very good with many contemporary jokes and puns in the texts, and this time was no exception. Add good acting and good dancing and a rather homo-erotic scene (not noticed by most in the audience, I'd say) in which the Egyptian pharaoh admires Joseph's well-sculpted body, and a perfect evening was guaranteed.
On Saturday we had our annual family dinner to remember my dad who passed away 16 years ago. It was good to be together although this time it was strange to remember my dad in the presence of my stepfather who we all know will most likely not be with us this time next year.
Went out with the gang on Friday night and had a great time. Fortunately, these days I know when to stop drinking alcohol and switch to water....
In other news, one of my bosses today mentioned (for the first time) the words "pulling the plug" in relation to the company. Either a miracle will happen or this game will reach its end-stage rather soon.

Ralph wins Youth Euro Vision Song Contest

14 year old Ralph from the Netherlands won the Youth Euro Vision Song Contest which was held in Kyiv, Ukraine, tonight. We haven't won the real one since 1975, so this gives some hope for the future.....

An involuntary emigration from Singapore (or: not all Singaporeans are sweet)

In the 1980's, Mr Chang Ming See (now 56 years old) emigrated from Singapore to the Netherlands. He met a girl who became his wife, and after a while he started to rape her and beat her up badly. His wife went to the police and after a while Mr Chang was sentenced to 3 years in prison for serious domestic violence.
In the mean time, his wife wanted to divorce him and she was supported by her employer, a middle-aged Dutch couple, Jim and Jannie Schuiten who were running a sailing boat rental service in the Dutch province of Friesland.
On 23 August 1995 Mr Chang, after serving his sentence, went to the Schuiten house and murdered the couple with a knife. He stupidly left his watch at the crime scene, and this watch could be traced back to Singapore which made the work of the police easy. He was arrested a few days later and eventually (in 1997) sentenced to 18 years in prison for double murder. He appealed and in the Dutch idiotic legal system of the 1980's and 1990's (laws have been changed since) he was released (!) until his case could be heard at the High Court. Of course he disappeared and for 12 years nobody knew where he was hiding.
The two sons of the murdered couple never gave up and were constantly urging the authorities to keep looking for Mr Chang.
A few weeks ago, he was found in Malaysia (apparently he made a phone call to a Dutch friend that was monitored), and yesterday the Malaysians put him on a plane to the Netherlands where he will have to serve his sentence.

Bullshitters

It is becoming very clear that many bankers have lost their jobs and are looking for ways to pay the mortgage and continue to have an extravagant lifestyle to which they have become addicted. My linkedin-account is getting many requests of former colleagues and friends-of-friends who are unemployed and seem to be desperate to find a job. I hate those people that would not even speak with me in the good old days because someone else was more important for their career, and are now sending me messages full of honey and asking me how I am and "we should have lunch soon."
My bosses have an unsual talent to attract these people who I call "bullshitters". In most cases they have never done anything useful in their professional careers and their only talent is - you guessed it - bullshitting. Our office is becoming a temporary refugee camp for these people and as permanent staff we are amazed how they are (ab)using the facilties to pick up their careers at our expense. I have warned my bosses but they think they know better so I have to endure these bullshitters until the shit hits the fan.
So I have another reason to be glad to currently work only 3 days a week - a schedule I could easily get used to and would be a nice interim - step to retirement. I am so glad now that I always lived below my means so when I lose my job I wouldn't really care. It is always good to have some fuck you money.
In other news, the trip to Istanbul was wonderful and this time the city made it to my top-10 of great cities. After my two-day work week last week, on Thursday I went to Paris which is now my #1 favourite city. ZA from Taiwan was on his first ever visit there so I re-discovered all the highlights of the City of Lights - the Louvre, we climbed the Eiffel Tower, the Sacré Coeur, the Arc de Triomphe - you name it. Add the French food and a nice new gay bar "Raidd" with a real shower cabin with cute strippers.