Oh these little rejections how they add up quickly...

The Nederlands! (ISKL Enschede reunion)

Took off too early on Saturday morning and arrived at Amsterdam airport at around 9 (Dutch time). Met up with Jenny and Pieter then took the train to pick Dheera up at the main train station in Amsterdam. Walked around for a bit and saw some things... including Malaysian fruit! Then we sat down in the park to rest our tired legs and while Pieter went off to the train station to get Eamon, Jenny, Dheera and I went to The Blue House to get some refreshments and to talk about days gone by.

We went to get lunch (We all got Stampot apart from Pieter who had a pancake), opened up the Yearbook (where there's a great picture of Pieter 'dancing'), and visited the red light district (seedy as hell), walked around some more, had some drinks, then took the train to Enschede (where Pieter lives). Then we went off to Pieter's to dump our stuff and then off to the student union where it was pretty quiet, had some drinks then went home to bed.

The next day we went bike riding!!!! Which was superduperly awesome. We biked to Germany (Enschede is very near the border) then back to the Netherlands and went to the cheese factory and had pancakes for lunch, biked a lot more, then back to Pieter's for super duper dinner which his flatmates' had cooked. We biked back into Enschede town centre and returned the bikes then had a wander around Enschede town centre (pretty place), until Dheera left for his 5 trains to get him back to work on Monday morning! We then had a few more drinks in Enschede before retiring for the night.

Then we got up superduperly early for me and Eamon to catch our early flights home. Pieter gave us breakfast then left us to fend for ourselves on the train to the airport... or should I say TRAINS! We got on the wrong train, switched to another train (which I think was the right train but Eamon made us get off it), switched to another one, then switched to another one again, and we eventually got there, I got into check-in about 10 minutes after it was supposed to close! But luckily the flight was delayed or I would never have made the walk to the gate (do you have any idea how big the airport terminal is in Amsterdam?) The plane taxied for a really long time... I think we were on the 3500m runway.

So yeah, a very good time!

Pictures by Dheera here.

On not so great news, I didn't get the job I went for an interview for on Tuesday, apparently they are having financial difficulties and would otherwise take me on. That's kind of not nice as I came all the way from Birmingham to see them.

Back to work tomorrow...

"People are dying NOW"

The week that I was born, "Do They Know it's Christmas" was Number 1.

Last night I watched Bob Geldof, that irascible ill-natured irish git, that hero who's probably saved more lives than anybody can imagine, bluster people around, talk people down, thump tables, and demand that they take part in his charity (I know he doesn't like that word) concert (Live Aid, not Live Eight). And I know I'm not the first to be so amazed, and everytime I watch him on TV I am amazed, by how by his unbelievable drive and ambition he simply made things happen.

All my life I've wanted to make things happen, but I've always thought "I'm too young, I'm nobody" to make an impression. And of course Bob Geldof was famous, and older than I am now, but he was certainly not somebody that anybody would've thought would have made such an impression for the Ethiopians.

And now, with Make Poverty History. They're right. NOW is the time. If not now, then when? And why should people suffer just because they were born in the wrong country, in the wrong time? Why should I be sitting here typing at my computer having just eaten lunch where somewhere a lot of people are sitting in refugee camps starving to death? What more right do I have being here than they do? I have absolutely no right at all.

What these people are doing is good. It seems impossible to me, to fully eradicate poverty, and I mean extreme poverty, not homeless people in Britain (which, although they are in need, are in no danger of starving to death), but maybe I'm just not a positive person. But even so, I think Make Poverty History is a movement strong enough to at least minimalise it. And if it is possible, to take the first few steps to eradicating it altogether.

I think Bob's singlemindedness is amazing. He doesn't care about economy, or other issues, he sees only what is right in front of everybody that every day, people (like me) choose to ignore. His speeches on TV with his wild unkempt hair would probably draw admiration even from Jesus (and I mean no disrespect to Christians here), he totally, totally, makes us see it, even if he has to thump the table, glower at the camera, and growl "People are dying NOW".

I don't know where I'm going here, I'm just very very impressed with Bob Geldof, and if anybody can make you change or clear your mind about where you want your life to go, it's him.

Don't wait around for somebody else to do it, be the person everybody admires, Bob was only a fading pop star, but he made everybody listen.

How You Can Help Defeat World Poverty in Seven Easy Steps

Draco Veritas (16)

Draco Veritas (16): "Freezing wind blew off the lake, stirring the dry, dead grass between the graves. There were patches of snow on the ground, still, and icicles hung like teardrops from the statues that decorated the rooflines of the mausoleums. The bare branches of trees were flung like openwork lace across the ice-blue sky."

Fantastic.

Letter to a boy

I should probably never post this in public, but... what the hell. Shh.


Looking back now, why couldn't I see it? It should have been clear as daylight, how you looked forward to seeing me in ---(place)---.

I still think of you. Not because (I hope) I still feel attraction, but only because I still wonder what could have been. If we could have gotten over our shyness, if we could have put ourselves forward, if you would have let yourself go, could we have made a good couple? What would it have been like?

Those few weeks you tore me apart, but I could not go to you and explain. Because we didn't exist. I can't regret that, because there was no way possible for me to break the silence. Not with what I had already done. I wish you hadn't judged me on that night, but I don't blame you. I still dwell on how the night could've turned out. I should've been wiser.

I think I will always carry this 'what if' around with me, and we will never talk about it, and soon I will see you for the last time. It won't kill me to see the last of you, because I've long buried that girl who thought a past was possible. But I will still think of you occasionally and wonder about us.

Tonight I was wondering what it would feel like if you had a girlfriend and I were to see her. Would it be ok or would I be plunged into jealousy or comparing myself to her? Would we like each other? Would we be alike each other? I know that's not fair to say considering I've moved on and no doubt you know. I hope you were ok.

I am, by the way, reading Pride and Prejudice. Again!

I will be sleeping early tonight (11) to get my full 8 hours of sleep as I am so tired as to feel sick. But I didn't want to sleep earlier 'cause I wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake for about 3 hours before I can sleep again, which = no good!

I have to say that I'm not particularly captivated by Pride and Prejudice despite the fact that girls quite like me have fallen madly and deeply for Mr Darcy... I find the book merely something to do.

On the subject of books I read the Da Vinci Code and was quite disappointed amidst all the raving reviews. The information in the book was quite interesting but the book itself could have been written better and the plot had a few holes. I solved some clues as well and seeing as I can't do cryptic crosswords does it go to show that those clues were quite easy if even I could solve them?

Currently designing the karate webpage.

summer

During summer I always feel like I should be having more fun, or doing more stuff. But instead every summer I just go to work and watch a lot of TV and surf a lot of internet.

I don't know what sort of fun I should be having, just that I should enjoy summer more than I do non-summer.

But I don't think I do.

I don't think I had much fun last year at uni either, I spent too much time at karate. Not enough time with friends. Too much time travelling and sleeping and being comfortable but not having fun. I had a lot of fun in first year, despite almost certainly not getting enough sleep. I think I need to do new things.