Thanks, guys! And yes, of course there shall be lots of pictures, to be posted in due time. 
That’s funny; my boss got engaged basically a week or two right after you, and her honey gave her earrings, too…for the exact same reason. Maybe you’ve started a trend!
Congratulations! (On the marriage, not the trend. Wel, maybe on the trend, too, if you care about that sort of thing.)
Dutch style.
Luckily, I was spared the usual treats of having to wear a gorilla suit and such.
Yesterday, 9 of my friends picked me up at 15:00. First, we went to the IJ Brewery in the East of the city, where we got an extensive tour, and sampled a few of their delicious beers. Then it was off to a bowling alley, for some corny fun. Of course, our lane broke down, so we spent most of the hour drinking the courtesy free beers for the inconvenience. And then when the lane worked again, I threw a strike (my third of the night, mind you, in an already quite unsober state), only to have the lights go out when the ball was a meter away from the pins. Cleared them all,but the hit was outside of the one hour time span, so the points didn’t count. Bastards.
Downtown again it went, for a healthy dinner. Afterwards, we visited a few bars, where I had a grand total of 4 beers. 5, tops. Honestly. 
Ended the night being swept out of The Tara, a very nice Irish pub. Guinness, oh how I love thee.
During the night, I conducted a highly scientific poll about how many times a married man has sex. The results were quite depressing. Quoth one of my mates, “I’m not entirely sure I’ve had sex yet in 2004”. Dude. :eek:
Somehow, I think I’ll fare better. Well, once my wife actually lives with me, that is. Patience is a virtue.
No prostitutes were visited during the bachelor night, althought the compulsory nudge-nudge-wink-wink tour of the red light district was of course not skipped.
I remember having a discussion with a rather annoying 23 year old sociology student in Café Havana on the Nieuwmarkt. She walked up to me and three friends, saying “You, you, and you studied Economics. And you studied Law”. She was spot-on, which was somewhat amusing. Unfortunately, she revealed that Sociology is the “science of pigeonholing people”, upon which I asked whether she was still in her first year. Unfortunately, she wasn’t: 4th year and working on her thesis. :eek: When she said, “Economics is all about money”, she looked dumbfounded when I explained Economics is actually about scarcity, and that money is a mere means, not a goal in itself. Also, she was unaware that Economics is a derivative of her own love, Sociology.
Then she started to guess our political affiliations. Took her three tries to guess mine. I guess I’m a difficult Economist to pigeonhole.
When she said, “You’re very annoying. I bet you don’t have a girlfriend”, it was time to laugh it off and order another round of beers. Yeesh.
We got home about 4 AM, and had a few beers before bed. We heard of Marco Pantani’s untimely demise on the telly (:(), and decided to call it a night.
My friends woke me up at 10 AM, all dressed and ready to go. Buncha pussies, running home to their wives, tssssk. 
All in all, a fantastic night without anything I’d be ashamed of telling my wife about. I guess I’m all ready to leave celibacy behind me now.
mmmm… Klinkt bijna te mooi om waar te zijn, zo’n perfecte brave vrijgezellenfuif. Geen kater, niks dat de aanstaande niet zou mogen weten… Misschien zijn er nog wat gaten in uw geheugen Coldfire?
“Het begint wel serieus te korten nu he makker” zouden ze in Antwerpen zeggen…En nog altijd geen spoor van zenuwen??
No Last Thoughts…Hesitations… No Coldsweat instead of -fire?
Then we must conclude that you can hope to survive and become and stay happily married.
May I wish you and your wife to be all the love, luck and hapiness that can be found on this globe.
Salaam. A
Hey, I never said I wasn’t hung over. Nothing a paracetamol couldn’t cure though.
Thanks for the wishes, Aldebaran.
Congratulations, Coldfire! Congratulations, Heloise! I do wish my mother had taught us more Dutch, but no…
She was in the Underground during WWII, and she also tells the story about detecting German spies by making them say…something. I can’t remember (and never got a handle on) the word she used, but it contained a number of unique and difficult consonants.
And I wish to assure Mycroft Holmes that the Dutch stole at least one motorcycle from the Germans during the war. Mom was a courier, and occasionally received rides from a fellow who stole a motorcycle (BMW?) from the soldiers. She says he (a) was crazy, and (b) looked just like Bowser from Sha-Na-Na (if anyone remembers that '50s revival band).
I’m really glad you resurrected this thread, Coldfire, so I could wish you and Heloise all the best. I think we’re still planning a MelDopeFest here in Melbourne on the 29th (maybe the 28th), and I’m sure we’ll have a couple of good toasts for both of you on the day
Nametag, the Gerries mostly rode BMW’s, Zündapps, NSU’s. Not the most sought after classics over here, for understandable reasons. The Harley Liberator is a bike you can still see every now and then on Dutch country roads.
Your mother probably was using the word “Scheveningen” as a word to check for German spies. See Mycroft Holme’s post further up: it’s nigh impossibly to pronounce for a German without giving away a hint of an accent at the very least. I’d write it down phonetically, but it’s too damn hard. Let’s just say the “ch” sound sounds like the Scottish pronounce it in Loch - sort of.
Henry, thanks for thinking of us down under!
Van harte gefelicieerd met je verloving, Coldfire!
Heh. I knew with a screen name like that, you couldn’t be a proper Mick.
Thanks!
nope, not a proper one, not yet, anyway. I suppose you could say i’m an honourary paddy until I get my Irish citizenship!
I’m from Flanders, btw, een Bruggeling
Add my best wishes to the list Coldfire & Heloise. But Coldie, please don’t let marriage mellow out your SDMB Modishness.
heheheh, Welke bowling baan was dat?
Van harte Coldfire & Heloise Have a beautiful life together.
Heloise Honest; No need to wear clogs. [except maybe on your wedding day. Tradition, you know.]
Coldfire Remember, as our Zeeland citizens say: Luctor et Emergo.
gum: Knijn, Scheldeplein, boven de ABN AMRO.
I just celebrated my 31st birthday tonight. Damn, there’s only so much alcohol a 31 year old man can take in the span of a mere 48 hours. I’m off to bed. Thanks for all the well wishes, guys.
Congratulations Coldfire and Heloise!
I’l throw in my congrats as well
The dice have been cast. In Vegas - what are the odds?
I posted more information in this thread, started by London_Calling. Just thought I’d update this one so everyone knows what’s going on.
And the goings on are good.
Well, were, really. I’m back home in Amsterdam, without my wonderful bride. Bureaucratic obstructions aside, she should be able to join me here in a few months, when all the paperwork is done. Woohoo!
Damn! How did I miss this?
My congrats to the newly-wedded fellow dopers
Very best wishes!
Because I can.
After careful debate, we decided that our anniversary falls on March 1, in non-leap years. After all, it is the day after February 28, n’est-ce pas?
So, that means that today is our paper wedding, our first anniversary. We made it! Everybody says the hardest part is over now. Although it should be noted we’ve only been together full-time since last August, what with the move and all.
Anyways, woohoo for us! Since it’s a school night, festivities will be restricted to a fine dinner in a restaurant nearby, but we’ll make sure to have fun nonetheless.
I love you, Tamalene.
It’s been one year.
Wow.
Who woulda thunk it?
One thing I gots to know is, Heloise Is Jasper trained yet?