Wednesday 31 October 2007

Bicycle, telephone and investments

I missed my daily bicycle commute to work and suddenly realized why I felt so bloated and tired: not enough fresh air. So today I ignored the pains and decided to ride to work. At first the muscles were painful, but after a few breaths of fresh air I was feeling like an 18-year old boy again.
I spent all evening on the phone. Everybody is calling to ask how is OS and how am I, and for some reason they all have their own sickness stories too. MA has an infection on/under his nose (looks like too many poppers), DAZ has an infected cheek (but his good news is that he starts his new job with the fire brigade tomorrow, aren't we all jealous?), and WIB's partner FR has been suffering from stomach pains. Free investment advice part 3: buy medical stocks now!

Tuesday 30 October 2007

Pain killers and comfort food

I realized yesterday when I left the hospital that while OS is kept pain free by loads of pain killers, I am still having pain with just about every move. Of course I could have gone home and swallowed paracetamol pills, but that's not very glamorous or is it?, so I called KE who always has a good supply of weeds at home. We shared two joints and I could feel the stress and tension flow out of my body.
Today when driving home around 830pm after the hospital visit I was thinking whether to 1) eat pizza again; 2) go buy a salad meal; or 3) get Chinese take-away food, when I passed the McDrive. Sometimes the solution to a problem is thrown in your face. Yummie.

Sunday 28 October 2007

Darker days

I got a call from the hospital at 7 am this morning. (or was it 8am - I am confused with the time as last night daylight savings time ended and we got an extra hour of sleep) OS had an internal bleeding of his main artery and they had to operate him again. According to the doctor the situation was "critical" but after the operation he is stable. Now he needs to stay at the intensive care section of the hospital for a longer time.
Went out last night for a few beers at April. Was good to see everyone again and to hear naughty stories that hadn't been reported to me from Singapore yet.

Saturday 27 October 2007

Dreaming about Russian Banks

Now that OS is in a normal hospital room and doing well given the circumstances, my own bruises are slowly healing, and my bathroom is being renovated as we speak, I guess my brain is back to normality so I dreamt about....compliance issues in Russian banks. We won a few large projects in Russia which explains my nightly thoughts. Work has been very busy as we scored lots of new projects. I should be careful or I will build up stress.
When I was in the US I compared notes with DA about the amount of money one needs to retire. (DA retired in his mid 40's) Another 3 or 4 years and I should have enough to follow his example...

Peadophiles use royal photos

The Dutch royal family was shocked to learn that a photo of Princess Amalia had been posted on the website of paedophile association Martijn. "It is almost inconceivable to think of anything further beyond the limit of decency," said a spokesperson for the government information service RVD on behalf of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander. The RVD called on the government attorney to take legal action against Martijn. The photos bore the caption ‘our royal family has once again produced a whole generation of little princes and princesses, thank goodness!' There were also allegedly comments of a sexual nature below the photos. These had been removed by Thursday afternoon however.
I am a very liberal person but I make one exception: peadophiles should all be castrated and banned to some island surrounded by dangerous sharks, and be left alone to rot.

Friday 26 October 2007

US asks Netherlands to take Guantanamo suspects

A bloody shame. The US has asked the Netherlands to take over a number of prisoners from its Guantanamo Bay camp. So after the US jailed all these people illegally and against all international treaties, denied them a proper trial, they now want to dump the ex-prisoners here. There is only one answer our government should give: FUCK you, America, and solve your own problems.

Thursday 25 October 2007

Thanks for the support

I have been overwhelmed by all the calls, e-mails, sms'es, postcards from friends and family during these days of sickness. You don't know how important all these messages are for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
OS is still in intensive care. Still has drains to get rid of the blood, and he will have to be artificially fed for a week they say. Seeing his suffering my own bruises and pains are suddenly a lot more bearable.

In Singapore: logic or anti-gay hatred?

Singapore Member of Parliament and Law Professor Thio Li-ann said the following on Tuesday:
"Anal-penetrative sex is inherently damaging to the body and a misuse of organs, like shoving a straw up your nose to drink. The anus is designed to expel waste; when something is forcibly inserted into it, the muscles contract and cause tearing; fecal waste, viruses carried by sperm and blood thus congregate, with adverse health implications like ‘gay bowel syndrome’, anal cancer. ‘Acts of gross indecency’ under 377A also covers unhygienic practices like “rimming” where the mouth comes into contact with the anus.”
She then proceeds to vote for repealing a law (for heterosexuals only) that prohibited to engage in oral and anal sex.
Makes sense, doesn't it?

Wednesday 24 October 2007

A sentimental bitch....

...yes, that's me. OS had his 9-hour operation today and according to the doctor who called me (the handsome one!) everything went "according to protocol" whatever that is supposed to mean. I went to the hospital and I guess I wasn't prepared for the carnage that I was seeing. They cut him open from this left ear all the way down and up again to his chin, easily 15-20cm. So now he is full of stitches and what looks like staples. Two tubes inserted into his throat to get rid of all the blood from the big wounds, and when I was there the blood flowed like the Niagara Falls on a rainy day. Add more sensors, artifical breathing, blood dripping out of his mouth and you get the picture. His eyes were closed (so soon after the operation still effects from the anaesthesia) but when I touched him he looked up for a few seconds and a few tears flowed. And when I told this story to my mum I had a tear in my eye, too. Sentimental bitch, me.

Larry Craig's New Music Video

Larry Craig is the US Senator who was trying to get sex in a toilet. Thanks to DA for sending me this link.

Tuesday 23 October 2007

Work - hospital -sleep

OS has been admitted to hospital yesterday and will have his operation tomorrow. I must say I am quite impressed with the care he is getting: lots of nurses around, a nice room all for himself with a great view, lots of choices for food and drinks. It is a huge hospital: the Academisch Medisch Centrum was completed in 1980 and at that time was the largest building in Europe. Now let's hope the doctors are successful in doing what they need to do tomorrow. In the mean time, all I do is go to work, after work go to hospital, come home, and sleep.

Cyclist may continue to ignore other traffic

Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings decided today that cyclists may continue listening to music while cycling. According to Mr. Eurlings, the dangers to traffic safety are negligible and enforcing such a ban could only be achieved by deploying extensive police surveillance. Having seen on a daily basis how listening to music and talking on phones by cyclists is jeopardizing their own and others' safety, and still being in pain from my own cycling accident, I disagree with the Minister.

Singapore keeps anti-gay laws

Singapore's leaders today decided to follow, not lead. Bigots and religious zealots got their way. Parliament kept the penal code's section 377A, which makes sex between men a criminal offence, rejecting a petition by gay rights activists and their non-homosexual supporters to abolish the law as well.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, appropriately dressed in a pink/purple shirt, needed a few lies to convince his audience that discrimination and non-inclusiveness is actually OK: “....if you look at Western Europe, the marriage as an institution is dead, families have broken down, the majority of children are born out of wedlock and live in families where the father and the mother are not husband and wife living together bringing them up.”
Mr Lee, I don't know where you get this nonsense from, but in Western Europe the vast majority of children are living in traditional families. Sometimes the father and mother are not married, but does it matter if they are loving parents to their children?

Saturday 20 October 2007

Turkish delight


Dutch writer and sculptor Jan Wolkers died yesterday at the age of 81. He was instrumental in modernizing and liberalizing Dutch society in the 1960's and 1970's. Remember, during the 1950's the Netherlands was still a conservative society, comparable to, say, Singapore today, and we needed brave and forward-looking people like Jan Wolkers to change. His books are full of (straight) sex, which explains that his novels are still popular with secondary school pupils today. One of his most popular books is Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight), which was turned into a movie by Paul Verhoeven in 1973. At that time, I was too young to watch it, but I remember that my oldest brother loved the movie. Rutger Hauer (as Eric) and Monique van de Ven (as Olga) star in the movie which was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 1973 Oscar's. The movie was shown on TV last night, and I was amazed which topics could already be shown in the early 1970's. (the first 5 minutes of the movie you see Hauer having sex with several women (full frontal nudity, both male and female) and offering to drink their piss and eat their scat.......) But in fact it is a love story, which I very much liked.

Sign against injustice and discrimination

Wednesday 17 October 2007

Sex is not important to the Dutch....

....but they never asked me. Or we may have the highest number of hypocrits and liars.

Sex is not so important to the Dutch. This emerged from a survey carried out by Bayer Schering Pharma that was published on Tuesday. Of the respondents surveyed in the Netherlands only 54 percent feel that sex is very important to them. This was the lowest percentage of all countries taking part in the survey. Only one third of the Dutch said that they would like to have more sex. Twenty-five percent of the Dutch respondents admitted to once having had a one-night stand. Of all the Europeans who took part in the survey the Dutch scored lowest in this area. The same holds for the average number of sex partners that Dutch respondents have had in their lives - on average 5.7. Seventy-five percent of the respondents indicated that they had never had sex without being in love. Just 10 percent said they had had an affair despite having a serious relationship.

Real meritocracy in Singapore

Everybody who knows even a little bit about Singapore knows that it is a country and society based on real meritocracy. As you can read in this article, even the renowned newspaper the Financial Times has chosen dollars over principles, I mean they have discovered that Singapore's system of government is the best in the world.

"FT said it recognises that the article had given the impression that MM Lee was instrumental in securing the appointment of his son, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, as prime minister. It also said the article had implied that the prime minister had helped his wife, Ho Ching, secure the top position at investment company Temasek Holdings, and that she, in turn, helped her brother-in-law Lee Hsien Yang replace former DBS Bank CEO, Jackson Tai. In its published apology, the FT admitted and acknowledged that these allegations were false and completely without foundation."

The truth, of course, is that it is pure coincidence that the father, the son, the wife and the brother are the most intelligent and best leaders for the country and its $$. Meritocracy at its best. May The Great Leader be succeeded by The Dear Leader. Or am I now mixing up with another great country?

Monday 15 October 2007

Looking like Hitler

I stayed home all weekend and also today as I still have pain in my leg and especially my arm. I tried to make a sandwich and found out I don't even have enough strength in my arm/hand yet to spread some butter on the sandwich....hope it will improve soon. (yes, it is my right hand so other activities are also on the back burner) OS jokes I look like Hitler as I have a dark spot right beneath my nose where I crashed on the road and my skin needs to heal. Made an appointment with the dentist for tomorrow to have a look at my broken tooth, so more fun - not. The hospital called and OS will be admitted next Monday and operation to take place on Wednesday. My stepfather also needs to go to hospital for problems with his arteries. I must admit life was a lot more fun without all this medical stuff......

Mile high club to become legal

Who would have thought that Singapore Airlines would be the first to encourage sex on planes? The new "Suites Class" on the Superjumbo A380 features a double bed! When I win the lottery I know who I will invite to fly with me....

Taipei leads the way


Taipei hosted Asia's largest gay pride parade on Saturday. About 15,000 people showed up. One of the highlights was that mega-pop star A-Mei pledged to serve as "Rainbow Star Ambassador". Thousand of individuals, including families with children and senior citizens were seen joining the parade. This year's parade also saw a larger number of teenage students from middle and high schools, not all of whom are gay or lesbian. The parade saw for the first time contingents formed by the two main political parties in Taiwan, a sign that both parties are serious about winning support from LGBT voters in the upcoming race for the Legislative House in December and presidential election to be held in March next year.
This is great news. It would be good if all Asian leaders who claim that homosexuality is "against Asian values" have a close look at the situation in Taiwan.
I have been to Taipei some 5 or 6 times and always liked it there. People are friendly, the National Palace Museum is great, they have interesting parks, and good bars and clubs. I wonder if my friends from Taipei ZA, PE and JE joined the parade.

Saturday 13 October 2007

Marketing for beginners

You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and say, "I'm fantastic in bed."
* That's Direct Marketing.

You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a handsome guy. You pay your friend to go up to him and point at you saying, "He's fantastic in bed."
* That's Advertising.

You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him, and get his telephone number. The next day you call and say, "Hi, I'm fantastic in bed."
* That's Telemarketing.

You're at a party and see a handsome guy. You get up and straighten your pants. You walk up to him and pour him a drink. You say, "May I," and reach up to straighten his tie pressing your crotch lightly against his and then say, "By the way, I'm fantastic in bed."
* That's Public Relations.

You're on your way to a party when you realize that there could be handsome men in all these houses you're passing. So you climb onto the roof of one situated towards the center and shout at the top of your lungs, "I'm fantastic in bed!"
* That's Spam.

You're at a party and see a handsome guy. You talk him into going home with your friend.
* That's a Sales Representative

Your friend can't satisfy him so he calls you.
* That's Tech Support.

You are on the gay website. You message a handsome guy online and say "I'm fantastic in bed"
* That's Online Marketing

You walk into a gay bar and see a handsome guy. He walks up to you and says, "I hear you're fantastic in bed."
* That's Brand Recognition.

An accident

Friday evening I received an SMS from CH informing me that he and FR were on their way to De Amstel Taveerne, an old gay pub that has been modernised and had its grand re-opening last night. So I decided to join them. As I was biking into town, suddenly some woman decided to cross the road right in front of me, I was going pretty fast so I had to brake with all force, the bike stopped but I flew through the air and landed with my face on the bike path. Lots of bystanders stopped to help me. I was bleeding heavily from my nose and upper lip, and my left leg and right arm were very painful. I couldn't stand up or walk so some very nice people carried me to a police station which happened to be just 50 meters away. The police called an ambulance, and when it came the ambulance people took a good look at my leg and arm, concluded they were only bruised, not broken, wiped my face clean, and left. The police were so nice to take me and my bike home. Was very, very painful last night, but I managed to sleep on painkillers and am feeling a bit better now. But still typing with left hand as right hand too painful. And a piece of one of my front teeth broke off so need to go to the dentist next week.

Thursday 11 October 2007

Singapore has an image problem

From the ChannelnewsAsia website: "Despite its many technological and scientific accomplishments, Singapore still suffers from a major image problem, said Mr Peter Schwartz, co-founder and chairman of the Global Business Network. "People in the industrialized world don't know very much about Singapore other than the trivial and the silly stuff like the banning of chewing gum and your homosexual laws," said Mr Schwartz, 61, a key adviser to businesses and governments around the world. And yet, this detracted from the profound achievements of Singapore over the last 40 years, he said. Singaporeans were, he observed, more tolerant of gays than what the law allows and the reputation of the country would be hugely enhanced if there was, for example, more room for dissent."
I find this to be very true. Most people I know here believe that Singapore is a boring police state with silly laws where you will be caned and probably hanged when you chew gum or cross the road at a red light. If there is news about Singapore in the newspapers or on TV here (rarely), they report stuff like "homosexuals still are not allowed to suck each other off", or "so-and-so will be hanged for possessing 0.000001 mg of a certain drug." (for instance most Dutch people will still know who is Johannes van Damme)

An empty agenda

At the time I write this I should have been on SQ 323 somewhere above the Andaman Sea, landing in Singapore in a few hours and connecting to Phuket. Instead, I am in my study at home updating my bloody blog. My social agenda is totally empty for the next 10 days, well, I was not planning to be here, was I? My best drinking buddies are in Phuket, this morning I was chatting with MA and GI as I was preparing to go to work and they were sipping cocktails around the pool of Club One Seven.
Either someone has advertised my Fridae.com profile somewhere or people can smell that I have some free time, because these last couple of days I have received messages from 3 guys who are visiting Amsterdam and want to meet. I have declined them all for reasons that I also don't know....
It is brilliant autumn weather (sunny, calm, beautiful colours) so maybe the weekend I will just take my bike for a long tour to the heath fields and forests around Hilversum.

Wednesday 10 October 2007

Twelve doctors, one cute

Today was time for the verdict for OS' tumor. We arrived at the hospital and were made to wait for half an hour as "the team was still meeting". To my surprise, we were led into a room with 12 (twelve!) doctors. Some of them had seen OS before, but not all. So all 12 took a good look at his mouth/tumor. Ten of the doctors left, and the two remaining told us what they are planning to do. The good news is that the cancer hasn't spread, so they "only" need to cut the lump from his mouth. Still a big operation and they need to transplant some skin from his leg to repair the inside of his mouth, but the doctors don't expect any irreparable long-term damage. Operation is planned for the week of the 22nd. Quite a relieve. And OS is very happy that the cute young doctor is one of the two main surgeons!

Tuesday 9 October 2007

Dangerous e-mails

Just before I left the office today I heard my boss shout "SHOOT!" so I walked over to see what had happened. Earlier he had asked me for a game plan for a new contract that we are about to close. It is quite a complicated situation with many parties involved and he wanted my opinion on how best to structure the deal so that we make a lot of money on the project. So I sent him a long e-mail basically telling him in undiplomatic terms how to play the game resulting in big profits for us. So my boss uses my e-mail to draft an e-mail to the client written with many nice phrases "we value our relationship", "long term commitment", "discounted rates", well you get the picture. And he forgets to delete my e-mail which is below the text he wanted to send to the client! So when the client (ex-client?) reads his e-mail, he will read the nice blah-blah of my boss first followed by my suggestions how to screw him.

Monday 8 October 2007

Allergic to women

Spent almost 6 hours in hospital with OS today, seeing 6 different doctors and nurses for interviews and tests. As far as I know all tests have been done now and I expect in a few days the lead doctor will call and make an appointment to discuss the results and tell us what they are planning to do.
OS put on a brave face and when asked if he was allergic to anything immediately said "women". And he flirted with the admittedly very cute young doctor. But after coming home the brave face quickly disappeared and the tears and fears came.
Work is also extremely busy so the next few weeks will be commuting between home, work and hospital, I am afraid.

Limburgse Rijstevlaai

Sunday was a day of decent social visits: first I went to visit my ex-colleague TA and her husband ES who recently produced a baby. For some reason I am good with babies (small and big) and I managed to make the little boy smile! TA served lots of candy and food and being polite of course I ate most ;-)
In the afternoon OS and I went to RO's place for his birthday party. RO throws two birthday parties every year: one Gay (for the gay friends) and one for everybody else. The gay party was last week when I had my family get-together, so we got invited to the non-gay party which was actually quite nice. Talked long with RO's parents who are extremely nice people, and OS had a chance to ask many questions about his illness as dad is a medical doctor. It is kind of refreshing to be at a party where not everybody is constantly bitching, commenting on other guys' looks and talking about the latest sexual conquests. The family is from Limburg province where they have this wonderful rijstevlaai (rice cake) of which I had two slices. When the parents left the dad said "bye BA" (BA is RO's ex-boyfriend) to RO's current boyfriend FA. Oops. Well, I guess to a 65 year old man from Limburg most Asians look the same...
After the party, FA, RO, WB, FR, OS and I went to April for a drink. I had wanted to go home, but OS said "this could be the last time ever I can go to April" so I decided to join.

Saturday 6 October 2007

Stupid idiots.....

I was just chatting with KH who told me our mutual friend (well, acquaintance only) FR has been jailed in Singapore for drug possession.

From the State's Times web-page:
"Two friends went to Malaysia last December and returned about a week later with 16 Ecstasy pills. FR, 31, and XYZ, 55, were jailed five years on Thursday for importing them. FR, an arts graduate of the National University of Singapore, was also ordered to be caned five times. Three other charges of bringing in 4.26g of ketamine, and 0.01g of methamphetamine, were taken into consideration by District Judge Jasbendar Kaur in sentencing. The court heard that following a tip-off, FR and XYZ were arrested at 10pm at a car park along North Bridge Road on Jan 4. The next day, police searched the house the two friends shared in Jalan Tari Serimpi in Jalan Kayu. There, they found 16 pink tablets in the refrigerator, which contained 0.81g of the drug known as Ecstasy. Asking for leniency, the duo's lawyers from KhattarWong, pointed out that the total amount of drugs was about 5g, and it was for personal consumption.
They could have been jailed up to 30 years and caned 15 times. FR claimed trial to two trafficking charges for allegedly selling ketamine and methamphetamine to airline steward ABC on Dec 17."

So stupid to use drugs in Singapore. I met FR just after I arrived in Singapore and we spent some quality time together in mid-2005. He was at my birthday party that year and most of my friends went ga-ga over him. (yes, he is cute) But not long thereafter I learned that he was practising unsafe sex and I stopped seeing him. So now he is in jail for 5 years with a red butt.

Friday 5 October 2007

Amsguy not happy

OS has been diagnosed with a malign cancer in his mouth. We went to the hospital today and the doctor told us they want to operate as quickly as possible, maybe already next week. It all sounds bad: the operation is going to take 5-10 hours, OS needs to stay in hospital for some two weeks, and they need to do "restorative" work meaning they are going to cut lots. They probably will have to do radiation therapy as well. OS is scared as shit, but I think he doesn't really realize yet that it is not only going to be a long operation and two weeks in hospital, but he may have long term problems with speaking, eating, drinking, swallowing..... Of course I cancelled my trip to Asia, I need to be here now. I feel so powerless and alone.....

Monday 1 October 2007

Only in the Netherlands......

....will the government place road signs to make it easier to find the "coffeeshops" (a euphemism for hash bars). These signs have just been put up in the town of Terneuzen, not far from the border with Belgium. Thousands of Belgian and French "drug tourists" visit Terneuzen every week, and the town got tired of all the searching and asking for coffeeshops.