In dreams the truth is learned that all good works are done in the absence of a caress.
Leonard Cohen

Oranje gekte 3

Well, if you guys thought I was crazy then the following video clip/song will prove that the Dutchies back at home outdo me big time:
Orange Insanity

Oranje gekte 2

Two Dutchies sandwich an Argentinian (look how afraid he is!)

Met this cool Argentinian dude named Miguel

Soudi loves the hammer too

Thus he gets hammered

Ben supporting Argentina in Orange

Oranje gekte 1

Me and my prrrrrrecious at a 2-1 score against Ivory Coast

Matthias trying to cheer for the Dutch

Preparing for the game against Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast will be waved goodbye

Oh my god, I can't believe what I just dreamed.
Although there was some quirkiness to it most was crystal clear and realistic in portrayal. So no 'Traumdeutung' needed to figure this one out.
I'm absolutely baffled.

Guess what I just found on my porch?
Tamara's dissertation. So it took like 2.5 to 3 months to arrive.

Also found a bill from the Gas company and they seem to like me more and more. The total amount of charge is $2.44.

Let's see if I get kicked out of the bar during the game against Argentina...

Just came back from "The lake house", a wonderful movie.
How often do you come across an excellent romantic drama from hollywood?
It's a sort of remake of a Korean movie called "Siworae", but "The lake house" is impressive in its own right.

The story is basically a magic mailbox via which 2 persons who live 2 years apart from each other can communicate with each other.
Think "Frequency" but in a romantic drama setting.

Splendid acting by Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves in the lead roles with excellent supporting roles by Christopher Plummer, Willeke van Ammelrooy (yes, Dutch!) and Dylan Walsh.

Of course some people will say it's cheesy, sappy or whatever but I feel sorry for them. They have lost something valuable.
Once I fell into the movie's cadence I simply swooned along.
Add Nick Drake's "Time has told me" to the equation and you just might feel compelled to swoon too...

The weeping song

Go son, go down to the water
And see the women weeping there
Then go up into the mountains
The men, they are weeping too

Father, why are all the women weeping?
They are weeping for their men
Then why are all the men there weeping?
They are weeping back at them

This is a weeping song
A song in which to weep
While all the men and women sleep
This is a weeping song
But I won't be weeping long

Father, why are all the children weeping?
They are merely crying son
O, are they merely crying, father?
Yes, true weeping is yet to come

This is a weeping song
A song in which to weep
While all the men and women sleep
This is a weeping song
But I won't be weeping long

O father tell me, are you weeping?
Your face seems wet to touch
O then I'm so sorry, father
I never thought I hurt you so much

This is a weeping song
A song in which to weep
While we rock ourselves to sleep
This is a weeping song
But I won't be weeping long
But I won't be weeping long
But I won't be weeping long
But I won't be weeping long

Key Largo 4

On Thursday I drove to Key West and since parking there is virtually impossible I just checked it out while cruising with my car. When I had some McDrek lunch I figured I should get to buying all those shirts my family had requested. Not only did they specify the size (like normal people do), but they also had to specify the COLOR!!!
Let me tell you it was a major pain in the ass to find the right size, the right color AND a t-shirt which looked nice too.

Anyway, on Thursday the first few showers made an appearance and from then on the rain slowly but surely got worse. Friday was rainy but still fairly okay. Saturday and Sunday however were full on heavy rainfall.
A blessing that I could watch the World Cup soccer in my hotel room to avoid going out in the rain and actually have a good time staying in too!
Yet obviously, when the Dutch team was playing the Serbs I had to leave to bring back the rental car to Miami and check in for the flight back to chilly Pittsburgh.

All of my digital pics are found HERE.
I did make some pics with a disposable underwater camera but I still have to get that developed and also have to wait & see if those pics are any pics. Nonetheless, chances are I'll put those online too.

Well, it's after 2 a.m. now so I better sign off and get some sleep before the first work day kicks in....

But one last thing before I go to sleep is play that brilliant Brian Eno song ;-)

Key Largo 3

So after having wrapped up my scuba diving I could start relaxing 110% for the rest of the week.
Somewhere in the afternoon I found this pic which is especially for Matthias: I'm not kidding you man!
Other can check the pic but very few shall get it hehe.

On Wednesday evening I was zapping through the TV channels and only the Dutch folks will understand how surprised I was to see Andre Rieu on TV.
Not only was it just a concert but it was even in Limburgian dialect since this gig was recorded in Kerkrade.
I must admit I felt a slight lump in my throat hearing my very own dialect thousands of miles away from my home soil.
Yes I'm a wuss.

Key Largo 2

After getting my certification of the wreck diver course on the 6th of the 6th of 06, I had booked 1 day for 2 fun dives.
Found a dive buddy on the boat and as scheduled we did 2 deep dives: another one on the Duane and the 2nd one on the sorta Holy Grail of wrecks to dive on: the Spiegel Grove.

While we spent 26 minutes on the Duane with the deepest depth 105 feet (about 32 meters), we spent 29 minutes on the Spiegel Grove's wreck with a deepest depth of 86 feet.
According to the dive table we spent too much time at a too extreme depth and we should be dead by now. Well, I feel pretty damn good for a dead guy!
But we only had 1 hour surface interval between the 2 deep dives which adds to the risky business of scuba diving.
Nonetheless, everything went fine and all other divers on the boat also had no problems after doing these 2 deep dives within a slightly too small time period.

Key Largo 1

Guess who's back?
The week went by rather fast.
The departure was very very early but since I arrived in Miami during the early afternoon I could enjoy the ride to Key Largo and chill out after having arrived at the hotel.
I went to Horizon Divers to do some of the inevitable paperwork for my wreck diver course and checked out the area of Key Largo.

On Monday morning I had a short pool session since my dive instructor wanted to see how my skills were before we headed out to the ocean.
I did pretty well and after getting some lunch the first trip consisted of 2 shallow dives (18 metres or less): the first being on the City of Washington and a nearby wreck in the Elbow Reef.

On Tuesday we did a deep dive on the wreck of the Duane and a shallow dive on the wreck of the Benwood.
After cutting my left hand fairly deep on some rusty metal inside the Duane wreck I decided to buy some dive gloves for the leisure dives on Wednesday.

Done packing for my Key Largo trip. Couldn't find my DS2019 form for fucks sake. Without this document I can't travel outside the U.S. so it's rather important.
And yes smart ass, I know I don't need it for this trip.

I'm telling ya, I need to make copies of this document when I come back cause otherwise I WILL lose it.

My cold is still present and I'm hoping for a miracle to make it disappear on Monday morning. Otherwise they might not allow me to dive.

No one wants to hear this but in case something would happen and I don't return then here's the song I want to be played:
Brian Eno - By this river
You can find it on his stellar album "Before and after science".

It's a brilliant song but also quite suitable since the movie "La stanza del figlio" uses it very effectively. This movie deals with a family whose son dies in a scuba diving accident.
So, Brian Eno it is folks.

C-ya later!

Note to self: play Savatage's "When the crowds are gone" upon getting home.

So I just found a nice e-mail from cheaptickets informing the MORONS of US Airways and American Airlines decided to change my flight plan for my upcoming Florida trip.
Two days prior to leaving!
Besides the departure time I now have a fucken transfer in NC (?!?!) and arrive 2 hours laters as planned. And the flight back to Pittsburgh has been shifted 6 hours earlier than originally!!!
Of course they don't need to explain why they wanna fuck me over so bad...
Just fucken great that the reservation times for the rental car are now completely off.

So a most heartfelt FUCK YOU to US AIRWAYS!!