So. How have y'all been?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hey hey, kids! :smiley:

I’ve been off the boards for a little while, keeping more than busy with real life stuff, such as my lovely wife, work, travel, et cetera. But I thought I’d pop by and see what’s going on in this joint. It’s been a while since I hung up my moderator clogs, and frankly, I needed a bit of a break from this place - there’s only so much SDMB a person can handle - but it seems my system’s been cleaned, and the SDMB lures me once more. :slight_smile:

During the past couple of months, quite a few things happened. First and foremost, me and Heloise are still doing great together. She’s settling in nicely in this weird country here: she started Dutch classes last week and is making unbelievable progress. A complete language talent, that one. Amazing. The classes are quite labour intensive (16-20 hours a week), so she doesn’t have a job on the side yet. She’s thinking about starting her own catering business soon, though, so that should be interesting. Seeing as she’s an absolute super chef. :slight_smile:

With me, work things have been rather demanding. Since february, I’m a manager, in addition to the tasks I already had. Quite a difficult group of people, even though there’s only 5 of them. Bit of a challenge, but I’ll manage. My boss seems to be happy enough with me, and a pay rise is on the way in a few months. Groovy.

We just got back from a short holiday to China. It was beautiful! After which I also went on a short city trip to Florence with my mates, much to Heloise’s chagrin. :smiley:

Our two cats are doing great, although one of them needs knee surgery soon. And yes, that’s all the family we have right now. No kids, nor are there any plans.

Oh, we also bought a new car recently. OK, new to us, but it’s only got 82,000 km’s on it so far, and has all the luxury in the world. We’re very pleased with it. :smiley:

Still dreaming about a new motorbike as well, but I guess that’ll have to wait until we get a house with a garage. The Diversion’s getting a little long in the teeth, but it still manages just fine. It’s just getting a little boring to ride, as my skills (slowly!) improve.

What else? I dunno for now. Why don’t youse guys tell me what’s up in your lives!

Any Euro DopeFests planned in the near future??? :slight_smile:

2

Hiya Coldie!

Great to hear everything is going so well. I’d love to hear Heloise’s outsiders perspective on our Dutch language. How is she doing with the hard “g”, that guttural sound English speakers never can seem to get right?

Meanwhile, back at this here ranch, Amsterdam-based gum has been away a while too, but she’s back. And I’ve managed to lure Almere based Arwin to Maastricht-city to love and live with me, and I consider him the catch of the century. :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

3

'Ang on there, love… Arwin and you are an item, now? Fer real?

Man, these boards are dangerous. :slight_smile:

Heloise is doing all right with the hard “G”, although she’s got a bad example in me, being a native Brabander and all. But she’s got quite a bit of Scotish blood in her, which might explain why the Dutch “G” works fine for her. :smiley:

4

Hey, good to hear from you. :slight_smile:

5

Good to hear from you again mate.

I reckoned you were gone for good. Things sound good in Clogland. Here in Paddyland alls basically running the same as usual. Just had a holiday in Asia as well. 3 weeks in Vietnam was heavenly.

There’s actually a piss up happening here this weekend as a paulbeserker coming over. We had a mini one last week as jsafricanus was over. Bit of a journey for you but it’s the best I can do :wink:

6

Gone for good? No fricking way mate! :slight_smile:

Heloise has been badgering me for months to take her to Ireland. See, she’s got some Irish blood in her, too. Although you wouldn’t guess “Irish” when you saw her. :smiley:

So who knows, perhaps a little weekend trip to your fair island is in order later this year, or perhaps in Spring. One can never visit Dublin too many times, eh??

Twisty still around? Ruadh?

7

Yep, both still around but haven’t seen ruadh for a while. Some lucky fella managed to land her so she’s had other things on her mind no doubt :wink:

8

I used to know a little dutch, my son’s first wife was from Slovaing (I doubt I’ve spelled it correctly, I certainly was never able to pronounce it correctly.)
I spent 10 days in The Hague many years ago. What a beautiful place!
I’m glad to hear you’re doing well.
We hope you won’t be a stranger.

9

Howdy to you and yer babe (it is babe, isn’t it?)!

Glad to hear things are doing fine and dandy. Nice car!

I might pop up there for business and/or pleasure sometime this winter. I’m working hard, but I feel I need a weekend break filled with flowers and weed.

Take care-
-Tcat

10

The Hague’s pretty, but a tad boring. Well, it’s the government’s town, what do you expect? :slight_smile:

Slovaing… unsure what town name you’re going for, here. Sleeuwijk? Amstelveen? Going on phonetics here. :slight_smile:

Yojimbo: good to hear ruadh’s been spoken for. :smiley:

11

Hey, TC! How’s life in the East?

Yes, Heloise sure is a babe, and can rightly be qualified as such on private forums such as the SDMB. :smiley:
Whenever you come over to Amsterdam, let us know - you’ll have a place to crash.

12

As of 15 August I became a Staff Sergeant. Legally.

However, in typical Guard fashion, not only was I not made aware of this fact, but I can’t wear my stripes yet. Why, you ask? Because due to the pomp and circumstance that comes with becoming an NCO in my unit, there has to be a pin-on ceremony. Unfortunately, being in a Guard unit means that those ceremonies only occur once a month during UTA (Drill) weekends. My turn in the spotlight comes next month, so until then I get to receive Staff Sergeant pay and all correspondence comes with SSgt on it but I’m still a Senior Airman to anybody who sees my uniform. :smack:

So, help me celebrate my promotion-but-not-yet. It’s not premature… at least, I don’t think so.

13

In football news (U-17 WYC), if the Dutch can beat Gambia by 2 in the last game, and Brazil win heavy over Qatar, then you might face the USA in the next round. Would be fun, no?

14

OK, this is the second time I’ve done this recently. My apologies to Coldfire, welcome back, and give Heloise my best. I shall now go away and repost this in shame.

15

HOORAY!!!

Coldie hath returned!

:slight_smile:

16

Of frickin’ great, Clogboy comes to China. Probably gets ripped off and the clap but does he let anyone know he’s coming and maybe should be shown around to where to buy the really good fake golf clubs. Nooooooooooooooooo. Sheesh, some people.

17

I think I’m confused, having placed a little bavarian village from central California to the coast of the North Sea.
The place is, I believe, part of The Hague. Its on the North Sea, there’s a big (I think old) casino on the beach. There’s a pier that’s way tall. If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d go up and look for some pictures. We got some pictures of a bronze statue on the boardwalk.
If memory serves, my DIL, while trying to help me pronounce it, said S(l)a-van-ing.
I enjoyed Amsterdam much more. Unfortunately, I was traveling with a 40 year old virgin, who still lived with her parents.
While in Amsterdam, we decided to do our own walking tour. Do you know the Red Light district isn’t always on the tourist maps? We got a little lost :rolleyes: The side walks were so narrow we walked single file, she behind me. All the way back to the main streets, I kept hearing her whisper, “Oh my.” :eek: The topless women hanging out the second floor windows were almost more than she could handle. Of course the sex toys in the shop windows didn’t help.
We spent the rest of our holiday in The Hague. :smiley:

18

Scheveningen. :slight_smile:

19

Man, the idea of a Beijing dopefest never occured to me! But you’re right, that’s a missed opportunity right there.

If it makes you feel any better, we got plenty of fake goods, no doubt for ridiculous prices. :smiley:

20

Hi Coldie. “Groetjes” to you and Heloise!

Does this mean you’re teaching her the Brabants “zachte g” or does she sound like she’s hocking up loogies, the way she should. Also, since you’re in Amsterdam, have you had a chance to teach her any Jordaans yet?