Monday, April 25, 2005
"I'm a bad grandma!!"
Hehe, just thought I'd share one of my favourite ads I've seen so far in the Netherlands. I haven't found it online yet but if anyone has it, let me know, it is soo funny!!
So its an ad for skittles, and first you see a teenage boy visiting his grandma and grandpa in their living room. The teen offers them skittles on a tray, and after the seniors have had a taste, the grandmother jumps out of her couch, while grandpa starts scratching the turntable that he's sitting next to, and grandma starts rapping, "I'm a bad grandma!!! Busting moves, to SHOCK YA!" and as she says 'shock ya', she's taken off her white knitted cardigan and flashed her grandson! Then you see the shock on the grandson's face while his grandma is just frozen there with her hands out to her sides holding her sweater open, and then the teen gets up quickly with a blanket to cover his grandma's chest.. Hahhahahahahahah!! it is SO funny i love it!!
Funny tho, when I was searching for the ad online, I found so many opinions about the ad where people hate it, and they think its just the worst thing ever to promote such a relationship between grandma and grandson.. but cmon, lighten up!! it is great!! :D heheheh.
Bruised toenails
Why is it that when you finally have the discipline to stick to doing something, external factors suddenly arise that make it nearly impossible for you to do what you were really going to do?? In my case, I was determined to really run everyday for an hour, and after I did it for the first time in a long time last week when my heart nearly stopped (!!!), I was just getting used to it and now I am cursed w/ a hurting bruised toenail.
It probably doesn't sound very pretty but its just a small bruise on my second toe of my right foot, under the nail. It's not very noticeable but OMG DOES IT HURT!! The slightest pressure on it makes me cringe and I had no idea how I got it (usually you have to stub your toe on something like a table or chair leg)... so I used the handy google at work to search it up and this is what I found:
*All you ever wanted to know about bruised toenails*
Maybe it's time to get new shoes! Argh.. I just cant wait for it to heal...the dumbest thing is that i'll probably always have it as long as i keep running.... and i can't believe such a small thing could keep me from running, damn.. I actually thought it would be safe to bike but then as I was getting on my bike today I jammed my foot (and injured toe) right into the metal frame @#$@#!! so... it was a no-go after all with the biking... guess I'll just rest for a bit :p
Thursday, April 21, 2005
"Ni Hao!!"
I shoulda known better than to stretch on a street corner after my run today. Thinking that I lived in a neighborhood of seniors and that they rarely looked out their windows, I usually cooled down after jogs around the lake by walking up and down my block and doing some stretching. Today was no different. It was a sunny day and I was doing a typical runners stretch where you stand with your feet apart and lean over to one side and stick your butt in the air with one leg bent, when suddenly I heard a car pull up behind me.
"LEKKER blablah!! blahblahblah... LEKKER blahblah!!.. Ni Hao!! Ni Hao!!! LEKKER!!!!"
After the first time he said 'lekker' (which means yummy in Dutch) I kinda assumed he could only have been meaning one thing... I looked over my shoulder and saw a 20-something young man in a car!! Needless to say, I quickly got out of my stretch and walked even more quickly to my front door. AHHH!!! What a sick perve!!! does he really expect people to respond to a generic 'ni hao'??? at least learn something else in Chinese!!! What is he doing in a senior neighborhood!?!? It's not safe anymore, o noooo.. but I was lucky he drove away and didnt follow me to my door, phew!!
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Angry thoughts in the metro
"Damn you and your wide body. Why do you have to stand RIGHT in the doorway so that it's even harder for people to get in and out!?"
"Ugh! can't you cover your flegm-filled cough instead of spraying a billion germs into the already stagnant air in here??"
"Wutchu lookin' at? Huh? HUH?"
"Is this pole engraved w/ your name? Yea thats right it's NOT! So stop leaning your entire body on it and give people some space to hold onto!"
"Why are these metro seats made out of hard plastic!?!! I can't slouch and sit back without sliding off my chair, dammit."
"Muahaha. Enjoy the fragrance, you sitting person. *fsssssst..."
Disclaimer: Of course Im not always this angry, bitter or evil (really!!). But consider this: it's 630am, freezing, I've just rolled out of bed in my workout clothes, my ass hurts from the bike riding to the metro stn, i have really bad hair and bug eyes, and all I want to do is sleep. in this condition, just about anything can annoy me!! grrr!!!!!!
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Relaxing weekend...
It was so nice this past weekend to have nothing planned. The best feeling is waking up whenever it feels right and knowing there is nothing I have to do! :) So this weekend, I ended up watching 3 different movies, the most I've ever seen in such a short time I think... Friday I watched Stepmom, Saturday I watched The Pianist (WOW) and Sunday I watched Moulin Rouge (finally).
my cinnzeo ripoffs ;)
On Saturday, I had an urge to bake so I made cinnamon buns. It was the first time I ever made a 'bread' thing with real YEAST and somehow it feels like I've achieved another milestone in womanhood. Much like the first day you put on a (training) bra, making bread just feels like I've entered another stage of life :P I had always avoided it because it seemed so complicated, with the yeast having to be in a certain temperature water n allowed to rise, etc. but actually it wasn't that difficult and it turned out really yummy :) mmm.. hungry now..
Anyway, my fave movie of this weekend was definitely The Pianist. For those who haven't seen it, it's about a well-known Polish pianist who went thru the Holocaust in Warsaw and actually survived. It was so sad, to see him run around town and hideaway on his own, in his diminished form... I couldnt imagine having that will to survive after having gone thru so much and seen so much. But somehow, he lived on and survived. I'm even more interested in seeing Warsaw now after seeing the movie. (Me and a few friends will go to Warsaw in the first weekend of May!)
my cinnzeo ripoffs ;)
On Saturday, I had an urge to bake so I made cinnamon buns. It was the first time I ever made a 'bread' thing with real YEAST and somehow it feels like I've achieved another milestone in womanhood. Much like the first day you put on a (training) bra, making bread just feels like I've entered another stage of life :P I had always avoided it because it seemed so complicated, with the yeast having to be in a certain temperature water n allowed to rise, etc. but actually it wasn't that difficult and it turned out really yummy :) mmm.. hungry now..
Anyway, my fave movie of this weekend was definitely The Pianist. For those who haven't seen it, it's about a well-known Polish pianist who went thru the Holocaust in Warsaw and actually survived. It was so sad, to see him run around town and hideaway on his own, in his diminished form... I couldnt imagine having that will to survive after having gone thru so much and seen so much. But somehow, he lived on and survived. I'm even more interested in seeing Warsaw now after seeing the movie. (Me and a few friends will go to Warsaw in the first weekend of May!)
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Hare Koninklijke Hoogheid!!
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, its true... today,
I MET HER ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCESS MAXIMA OF THE NETHERLANDS!!!!!!!!!!!
Now this might not mean much to anyone outside the Netherlands but here it is a BIG deal. It's like meeting Princess Diana back when she was around... really!
I was attending a seminar on Base of the Pyramid strategies by Stuart Hart (another celebrity in fact - founding director of BOP learning laboratories, more on that later) for Young Professionals of Heineken, my bank and DSM, another Dutch company this afternoon. Before the session started, a young woman went up to the podium and announced that we would have a special guest, a woman whom we should address as "your royal highness".. she then told us that the special guest was Princess Maxima, to which I was in somewhat disbelief despite everyone else's gasps.
A few minutes later, none other than Mr. Rijkman Groenink, Chairman of our bank struts in, followed by the Princess and her entourage. I was so excited to see both of them, cuz I had never been in the same room as royalty and our Chairman and it was a big thrill for my usually mundane life :p I dug around in my purse for my digicam but of COURSE, i left it in my other bag just on the day when I'd need it most!!
The seminar itself was also reeeealy interesting. I had never heard of Base of the Pyramid nor Stuart Hart, who is actually one of the founders of the whole concept of sustainability for corporations, and if anyone's interested, he has a book called "Capitalism at the Crossroads." (I like him so much I'm going to endorse him now hehe). I got a free copy of the book on my way out and will probably read it on the train to Poland later.
Basically, the whole idea behind "Base of the Pyramid (BOP)" is that in order to facilitate sustainability in the world, corporations need to start doing business with the 4 billion people at the BOP. That is, currently, markets are saturated in the top of the pyramid, and competition is fierce in the 'middle of the pyramid' where many up and coming consumers are growing. What needs to be tapped is the bottom of the period, where many are suffering from lack of basic needs, such as clean water, education and food for example. Corporations need to focus on these markets in order to 1) profit and in doing so, bring these people to better standards of living.
Stuart Hart says that in the 70s when he was an environmental science student, he was totally ANTI-corporations and thought the only way towards bettering the world would be to bring down the evil corporations. Now, he has a different view. He says that governments no longer have the power/clout to affect global change. They are nationally oriented, and that is what they are meant to do, and cannot handle the weight of world issues. Corporations on the other hand span the globe, and have enough money to do what they wish with, and if they focus on helping the BOP, many many people in the world can have a better life through new services offered by companies. Therefore, the key to sustainability lies with corporations in this day and age.
To read more about Stuart Hart and his Base of the Pyramid strategies, click here.
Anyway, we had lunch and broke out into smaller groups based on which company we worked for, and Princess Maxima joined ours! She was so intelligent with everything she said, because she had lots of experience working in developing countries doing charity work, cuz as an ambassador of the NL thats what you do.. but she's really approachable and kind and I can see why she is the favourite member of the Dutch royal family.
She herself is quite interesting because she is Argentinian actually, and met the Prince of Holland at some party in 1999. There were some issues with her marrying the prince because of the shady past of her father, but if you want the full scoop on this, click here! :)
I'm so glad someone out there is thinking about sustaining the world.. and has some concrete way of doing so.. I feel so inspired now!
I MET HER ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCESS MAXIMA OF THE NETHERLANDS!!!!!!!!!!!
Now this might not mean much to anyone outside the Netherlands but here it is a BIG deal. It's like meeting Princess Diana back when she was around... really!
I was attending a seminar on Base of the Pyramid strategies by Stuart Hart (another celebrity in fact - founding director of BOP learning laboratories, more on that later) for Young Professionals of Heineken, my bank and DSM, another Dutch company this afternoon. Before the session started, a young woman went up to the podium and announced that we would have a special guest, a woman whom we should address as "your royal highness".. she then told us that the special guest was Princess Maxima, to which I was in somewhat disbelief despite everyone else's gasps.
A few minutes later, none other than Mr. Rijkman Groenink, Chairman of our bank struts in, followed by the Princess and her entourage. I was so excited to see both of them, cuz I had never been in the same room as royalty and our Chairman and it was a big thrill for my usually mundane life :p I dug around in my purse for my digicam but of COURSE, i left it in my other bag just on the day when I'd need it most!!
The seminar itself was also reeeealy interesting. I had never heard of Base of the Pyramid nor Stuart Hart, who is actually one of the founders of the whole concept of sustainability for corporations, and if anyone's interested, he has a book called "Capitalism at the Crossroads." (I like him so much I'm going to endorse him now hehe). I got a free copy of the book on my way out and will probably read it on the train to Poland later.
Basically, the whole idea behind "Base of the Pyramid (BOP)" is that in order to facilitate sustainability in the world, corporations need to start doing business with the 4 billion people at the BOP. That is, currently, markets are saturated in the top of the pyramid, and competition is fierce in the 'middle of the pyramid' where many up and coming consumers are growing. What needs to be tapped is the bottom of the period, where many are suffering from lack of basic needs, such as clean water, education and food for example. Corporations need to focus on these markets in order to 1) profit and in doing so, bring these people to better standards of living.
Stuart Hart says that in the 70s when he was an environmental science student, he was totally ANTI-corporations and thought the only way towards bettering the world would be to bring down the evil corporations. Now, he has a different view. He says that governments no longer have the power/clout to affect global change. They are nationally oriented, and that is what they are meant to do, and cannot handle the weight of world issues. Corporations on the other hand span the globe, and have enough money to do what they wish with, and if they focus on helping the BOP, many many people in the world can have a better life through new services offered by companies. Therefore, the key to sustainability lies with corporations in this day and age.
To read more about Stuart Hart and his Base of the Pyramid strategies, click here.
Anyway, we had lunch and broke out into smaller groups based on which company we worked for, and Princess Maxima joined ours! She was so intelligent with everything she said, because she had lots of experience working in developing countries doing charity work, cuz as an ambassador of the NL thats what you do.. but she's really approachable and kind and I can see why she is the favourite member of the Dutch royal family.
She herself is quite interesting because she is Argentinian actually, and met the Prince of Holland at some party in 1999. There were some issues with her marrying the prince because of the shady past of her father, but if you want the full scoop on this, click here! :)
I'm so glad someone out there is thinking about sustaining the world.. and has some concrete way of doing so.. I feel so inspired now!
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Candy and dim-sum
Last Saturday, we went for dim sum with colleagues at a really good restaurant near Dam Square. It was organised by Candy, a Korean lady from work who is literally the social glue of our office. Now when you think Korean, and lady, you might already have the wrong impression because Candy is nothing like the stereotypes.
Candy was born in Korea but moved to the NL when she was young, so she speaks perfect Dutch and Korean. She's a short and stout person, with long layered hair and thick plastic framed glasses in front of her small eyes.. but at the same time she is very feminine and has an excellent sense of style. She knows how to make her outfits coordinated, how to work with her height, she knows all about fashion and even has gay fashion designers for friends. She's taken jewellry making classes for 5 years (with her husband, at that!) and designs her own crystal and gem earrings, goes on trips to switzerland/luxembourg and seems to be quite posh. She also carries around nice smelling hand cream, which she happily shares with all those around her.
Since the day I met her, she has always had a bubbly, genuine personality and an openness that you wouldn't find among most people. She laughs and giggles heartily and has the ability to bring a smile to anyone's face. She jokes the same with VPs as she does with trainees, and she's willing to try everything (it seems). On a windy day, you can find her linked arm in arm with a fellow colleague, chatting up a storm, and when someone leaves our team, she is the one who prepares the going away presents and makes that person feel like the most important person in the world.
The other day, I mentioned to her that I saw a poster at the metro station that was advertising a regular break-dancing/hiphop drop-in at one of the local schools in the ghetto neighborhood we work in, and she was totally interested in going to check it out with me!! "I" wasn't even sure I would go, but she was totally ready for it!!
So it was her who organised the social outing of dimsum, and I couldn't thank her enough!! I couldnt believe I hadn't gotten any dimsum since I got to Amsterdam, and if I had known of that place eariler I swear I'd have been there every Sunday morning with my 1 ring of dimsum and chinese newspaper.. (like an ol chinese granny, hehe). It was soo good, just like back at home and the people were real chinese!! We had egg cream bun, thousand layer cake, lotus seed paste bun, woo-gok, salty water gok, mmmm and so much more! Can't wait to go back... :)
Candy was born in Korea but moved to the NL when she was young, so she speaks perfect Dutch and Korean. She's a short and stout person, with long layered hair and thick plastic framed glasses in front of her small eyes.. but at the same time she is very feminine and has an excellent sense of style. She knows how to make her outfits coordinated, how to work with her height, she knows all about fashion and even has gay fashion designers for friends. She's taken jewellry making classes for 5 years (with her husband, at that!) and designs her own crystal and gem earrings, goes on trips to switzerland/luxembourg and seems to be quite posh. She also carries around nice smelling hand cream, which she happily shares with all those around her.
Since the day I met her, she has always had a bubbly, genuine personality and an openness that you wouldn't find among most people. She laughs and giggles heartily and has the ability to bring a smile to anyone's face. She jokes the same with VPs as she does with trainees, and she's willing to try everything (it seems). On a windy day, you can find her linked arm in arm with a fellow colleague, chatting up a storm, and when someone leaves our team, she is the one who prepares the going away presents and makes that person feel like the most important person in the world.
The other day, I mentioned to her that I saw a poster at the metro station that was advertising a regular break-dancing/hiphop drop-in at one of the local schools in the ghetto neighborhood we work in, and she was totally interested in going to check it out with me!! "I" wasn't even sure I would go, but she was totally ready for it!!
So it was her who organised the social outing of dimsum, and I couldn't thank her enough!! I couldnt believe I hadn't gotten any dimsum since I got to Amsterdam, and if I had known of that place eariler I swear I'd have been there every Sunday morning with my 1 ring of dimsum and chinese newspaper.. (like an ol chinese granny, hehe). It was soo good, just like back at home and the people were real chinese!! We had egg cream bun, thousand layer cake, lotus seed paste bun, woo-gok, salty water gok, mmmm and so much more! Can't wait to go back... :)
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
home on a tuesday
It's so nice to be home!! Yesterday morning, I got to work and saw a crowd of people at the base of my building, the "evil tower". Turns out there had been a huge flood on the 12/13th floor and all of the bottom floors were flooded! Some offices' ceilings had even come down, it was that bad! and along the sides of the building you could see water flowing down.. So they estimated that we wouldnt be able to work, so I got to go home right away on a very sunny Monday (well actually I went shopping first hehe) and then yup we had the day off, woohoo! They're still fixing the problem now so thats why I'm at home, in my PJs :D
It's not as sunny today but still very relaxing. I think I'm going to bake something.
Friday, April 08, 2005
I was cleaning the kitchen sink yesterday after baking an 'American brownie' (as it said on the box), when I noticed once again that the sink was jammed with food particles. -__- Ya, so some of it was mine, but most of it wasn't, but I did as I normally do and chucked the food into the trash can. We have this little metal filter thing that sits on top of the drain, and its purpose is to catch all the food. So as I was shaking it and banging it against the edge of the trash can, this little white particle just would NOT budge.
It looked like some kind of white flat bone, or onion skin or something, but it was really stuck on so I took my finger on the underside and tried to push it up and out. That's when I felt the -puncture-! The damned thing went right thru my finger!!!! My finger started spurting blood, not leaking it but spurting it and all I could do was stare blankly at it and occasionally run it under the tap water (when a pool of red had formed). I looked around slowly for some kinda paper towel, finger bleeding and all, but we had none, so I just ran around in circles for a while, hoping I wouldn't drip blood all over the place. Finally, after a few more minutes and one quiet whimper that came from somewhere within me, I took a dish towel and wrapped it around my finger... finally remembering that maybe itd be best to put pressure on it.
but ya.. I never realised how little I knew about how to save myself. If I didnt remember to put pressure on it, I think I woulda just let my finger drip into our kitchen sink til I became a pruney corpse! okay okay bad visual, i know.. Hehe. Anyhow I'm happy to report that I am still alive and kicking!! :D *flashes double peace signs!!*
so later that night, I told Sofie my roomie about this incident, and she was like, "was it white?" when I told her about the piece that punctured me, and i was like.. ya how did u know?? and shes like.. when my plate broke the other day Robert swept some of the broken pieces into the sink (!!!!!). and that was probably one of the pieces!!!! It made it even worse knowing that it was a piece of ceramic plate.. I mean, when I thought it was just fish bone or whatever, I didnt really blame anyone but now I had someone to blame (GRRRR!).
when I saw Robert last night I told him about the incident, and he was half watching TV at the time so I guess he was a lil distracted, and just said "oh no" and "does it hurt".. but he never said sorry or that he was the one who put BROKEN plate pieces into the sink!!!!!!!! Ahh.. well.. I imagine that perhaps its not all his fault, but I think if he swept some of it into the sink that was already a bad thing to do. Sigh.. It was hard to be upset with Robert though because actually he is a very nice person, and well I guess I didn't die yet. However, he DOES have this other habit of not properly putting away the toaster, so that it is sitting on top of our cupboards and when we get something from them, the toaster almost always falls down onto our heads, almost. There seems to be a trend here... is he trying to kill us!?!??!?!?!?
It looked like some kind of white flat bone, or onion skin or something, but it was really stuck on so I took my finger on the underside and tried to push it up and out. That's when I felt the -puncture-! The damned thing went right thru my finger!!!! My finger started spurting blood, not leaking it but spurting it and all I could do was stare blankly at it and occasionally run it under the tap water (when a pool of red had formed). I looked around slowly for some kinda paper towel, finger bleeding and all, but we had none, so I just ran around in circles for a while, hoping I wouldn't drip blood all over the place. Finally, after a few more minutes and one quiet whimper that came from somewhere within me, I took a dish towel and wrapped it around my finger... finally remembering that maybe itd be best to put pressure on it.
but ya.. I never realised how little I knew about how to save myself. If I didnt remember to put pressure on it, I think I woulda just let my finger drip into our kitchen sink til I became a pruney corpse! okay okay bad visual, i know.. Hehe. Anyhow I'm happy to report that I am still alive and kicking!! :D *flashes double peace signs!!*
so later that night, I told Sofie my roomie about this incident, and she was like, "was it white?" when I told her about the piece that punctured me, and i was like.. ya how did u know?? and shes like.. when my plate broke the other day Robert swept some of the broken pieces into the sink (!!!!!). and that was probably one of the pieces!!!! It made it even worse knowing that it was a piece of ceramic plate.. I mean, when I thought it was just fish bone or whatever, I didnt really blame anyone but now I had someone to blame (GRRRR!).
when I saw Robert last night I told him about the incident, and he was half watching TV at the time so I guess he was a lil distracted, and just said "oh no" and "does it hurt".. but he never said sorry or that he was the one who put BROKEN plate pieces into the sink!!!!!!!! Ahh.. well.. I imagine that perhaps its not all his fault, but I think if he swept some of it into the sink that was already a bad thing to do. Sigh.. It was hard to be upset with Robert though because actually he is a very nice person, and well I guess I didn't die yet. However, he DOES have this other habit of not properly putting away the toaster, so that it is sitting on top of our cupboards and when we get something from them, the toaster almost always falls down onto our heads, almost. There seems to be a trend here... is he trying to kill us!?!??!?!?!?
Monday, April 04, 2005
MMM's
MMM could stand for miles o' marshmallow men, mountainous magic mushrooms, mini m&m's or as it is probably more widely associated with, most memorable moments (circa high school days). Sally is now on her flight back to Vancouver (hopefully NOT seated next to a fat loud and nosy man this time) and it's been such a fun past 1.5 weeks!!
Here are just some MMMs that i dont think i will forget anytime soon:
- wandering around almost all of Brussels in search of the "TART PLACE", and jumping for joy upon the site of the Cathedral!!
- Sally taking one spoonful of my Swirls kiwi-strawberry 'blizzard' and getting one of her own, even tho she was on the verge of puking up curry chicken
- watching a Jewish man squat over a bronze frog statue and wrap his whole body around it
- carrying Sally around on the back of my bike while she laughed psychotically all the way home
- having a belgian market lady confirm that i DID indeed buy the LARGE sized 'camel' coloured pantyhose (I can now officially say i have 'camel toe(s)')
- becoming a spanish hoe and excessively sweaty flamenco man for our flamenco video (consider yourself very very privileged if you get to see this!!!)
Heheheh.
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