pics of Asnida

Found a few pics of Asnida on my cell phone so posting them here :-)

neverending story? lol

So, as it turns out the statement about my current address, nationality and civil status is rather complex.
The Dutch authorities told me they really need this statement or else I need to get a Portuguese document and have it translated.

So I called both the Dutch consulate in Funchal and the Dutch embassy in Lisbon. Now the Funchal consulate doesn't even speak Dutch and told me to go to local parish to get a Portuguese document. So that led to the more troublesome solution also mentioned by the Dutch authorities.

Thus I called the embassy in Lisbon again and after explaining the situation again the woman started ranting about how retarded this request is and that the person in The Hague doesn't know jack sh*t about anything lol.

 

Eventually she told me to forward the email from The Hague and to attach my passport scan and Portuguese document of my local registration. One of her colleagues is supposed to get back to me on Monday.

 

Fingers crossed.

bureaucracy

Asnida and I have started the procedure to get married in the Netherlands. We need to gather a bunch of documents for both of us and with bureaucratic procedures hanging left and right.
The passport copy is the easiest one. Already had that so check. Then I needed a birth certificate from my birth place. Fortunately my dad could request it and collect it. Check.
Now my final document should be a statement about where I live, my nationality and civil status (unmarried). At first I was told I had to request this from the Dutch embassy in Portugal. But when I called them they said they only issue that for people who've lived for longer than 1 year in Portugal. And I've only been here since October 2010 so less than 1 year.
They informed me that I should get this statement from the last place in the Netherlands where I've lived. My dad tried to get it but was given an email address for me to contact. Which I've done so now I wait and hopefully will get what I need.

Though this is adventurous I'm sure Asnida will face bigger adventures to obtain all the required documents, to have them translated and legalised by both Malaysian authorities and the Dutch embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

To be continued I guess.

Ironically, this song just started to make a lot of sense haha.

when cinema becomes art

The movie exceeded my expectations. I'm so very glad I could watch it on the big screen at a local cinema. I honestly cannot remember the last time I've been this awestruck by a movie. I had goosebumps for the entire 2.5 hours and frequently felt my eyes welling up with tears. Such brilliant film making made a profound impression on me. Honestly, each frame is breathtakingly beautiful and the film's flow is ever so gentle yet never slow. What wondrous celebration of life and earth shattering honesty.

I've always been a great admirer of Terrence Malick's work but this movie might be his magnum opus. Apparently it has a fair amount of autobiographical elements which would explain why every single shot is so amazing. This is a masterclass in film making and I salute Malick for bestowing his genius upon us.

It is rare cinematic experiences like this that made me a movie addict many years ago and I rejoice knowing that there are still visionaries out there who have the balls to make such mindblowing, limitless movies.

Of course an extraordinary cinematic experience like "The tree of life" will invoke a wide variety of responses. Many people dislike it, find it boring, slow, plotless. The two old ladies who started watching the movie with me left during the interval break and never returned. Who's to say whether art speaks to you or whether you deem it worthless?

All I know is that Terrence Malick spoke to me through this magnificent movie. He touched my very soul and shook my very foundation...

About to see the new Terrence Malick movie "The Tree of Life"! Very excited, hopefully it will live up to my high expecations!

Working at home since the heat in my office is a bit too much for me. Reviewing student papers and grading them, done about 6 or 7 and 4 more to go.
It's a bit cloudy today but still warm regardless.

Had a random thought about how splintered people have become on the Internet. I guess it's similar to TV back in the day. When I grew up everyone watched the some TV programs and movies since there simply weren't many TV stations. Then cable TV exploded and people started watching whatever.
When we went online globally there were chatrooms and a few chat programs like ICQ, msn messenger, aim. Nowaday every email account and social network has its own chat feature so people have spread out over all of them. Trying to keep up with people and/or chatting with them has become rather arduous.
While social networks are competing and trying to obtain a monopoly I don't think any of them will ever eradicate the others. Leaving us with all the splintered mess.

I'm pretty splintered too. Skype, msn/windows live messenger, 5 or 6 email accounts, photobucket, blog, youtube. Still glad I haven't joined the Facebook madness... (yet?)
I rather like having this blog. There are no ads anywhere. No idea if anybody reads my crap but it's always nice to have an outlet. No peer pressure to "Like" someone's posts haha. No limitation on how many pics and vids I post on my photobucket/youtube.
Yesterday I got some comments on 1 photobucket vid from complete strangers. Funny how that works.

Enough rambling, time to find some crumbs for lunch.

more diving :)

Did two dives this weekend, one yesterday and one today. Dove with enriched air both times and managed to get 45 and 43 minutes underwater respectively.
The thumb is fine, even my back seems ok with all the physical activity of late. Football on Thursday and diving on 2 subsequent days is enough exercising for me so I'm going to chill out tomorrow.
My next dive will be next Saturday morning when they will probably go out to the Bowbelle wreck so that should be a marvellous site. Will ask the guys to make it a training deep dive for me so it will count towards another certification card :)

Asnida should be home by now. Haven't heard from her yet but the Kuala Lumpur airport website lists her flight as landed.
Since TAP and KLM are not in bed together she had to run in Lisbon to get her boarding pass as well as on Schiphol. The layover in Lisbon was 3 hours though, in Amsterdam she only had 1 hour.
She did text me when she had boarded each of the three planes so I know she managed to get the boarding passes and hop on the planes. She also said that her Malaysian prepaid sim-card might not work anymore since it only was valid for 3 months or so.
I'm sure she'll send an email or something when she has rested a bit :)

As for me, I'm going to do a peak performance buoyancy scuba dive course this afternoon. The weather looks really nice so it should be a lot of fun. Probably a good way to have some distraction from thinking of Asnida being back in KL.

Time to get some breakfast...