Sad news for clarinettists and big-band fans the world over: Artie Shaw has passed away. His style may have been a bit too "sweet" for my tastes, but there's no denying the guy was talented. I used to sit around listening to his stuff and trying to copy his solos ( Read more... )

Urgh, I can't find black-eyed peas for sale anywhere in Schagen... guess I'm doomed to a year's worth of bad luck. :-P

The company dinner last night went really well. We all met at the office (which is actually a gorgeous-but-slightly-dilapidated old row house near the Vondelpark) before driving to the restaurant, De Oceaan. I have no clue where that is, since it was dark and Rick drives like a maniac when he's in Amsterdam-- he's usually so mild-mannered and ( Read more... )

If you're reading this, know that I've been thinking about you... you know who you are. :)

The ballet on Monday night was awesome! It consisted of three 30-minute performances: Petrushka, Les Sylphides, and the Firebird. The costumes and sets were beautiful, and of course the music was awesome. I love Stravinsky ( Read more... )

Just a short break before I have to jump up and play hostess... Rick made an appointment a few weeks ago for his friend Martijn to eat dinner with us tonight (typical Dutch, planning a casual dinner weeks in advance after checking the Holy Agenda to make sure it fits into our schedule...), and I completely forgot about it until this afternoon ( ( Read more... )

I just got back from grocery shopping at the local Vomar, which is always an adventure. This time, they were out of brown bread, milk, and lemons. I can maybe understand the lemons since they're out of season, but how can a grocery store run out of bread and milk?? Even more amusing, I was able to find a bottle of Tabasco sauce (imported from ( Read more... )

I've totally wasted today.

I woke up at 7:30, showered, and ate half a can of Pringles for breakfast. I never eat junk like that (I don't even particularly like potato chips), but they were sitting there on the table and I didn't feel like cooking anything. Promptly regretted it, but by then it was too late.

I then spent the next six hours ( Read more... )

I'm finally finished with my first semester of grad school and am ready for Christmas vacation! Hooray! And because all of my professors are going to Mexico/the Caribbean for fieldwork during the break, we don't have class again until February 25th. I'm sure I'll start getting stir-crazy somewhere in there, but I'm still looking forward to it ( Read more... )

Sinterklaas was really nice-- everyone wrote poems and made gedichten (even me!), ate lots of candy, drank mulled wine, and sang horrible songs. Some of the gedichten were a bit mean-spirited, I thought, but everyone seemed to take it in stride. I'll describe it all in more detail later, but I don't really have time at the moment ( Read more... )