dodo

Been too long since I last dropped by, I know... But I do want to wish you and your loved ones a very merry Christmas and a happy 2012, filled with everything your heart desires ! Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Thanks for the wishes ! I had a good time. Didn't do much special, just a BBQ and some drinks... There are 2 surprise trips coming up tomorrow and Saturday. Haven't got a clue where they're taking me, so I'll have to wait and see

Went for a drink with some colleagues today... a little celebration for our birthdays and it was great. Sometimes it scares me when I think it's only just over 1 year I've been working at that office and it seems I have know those people for ages. Some of them I would even dare to label "friends for life". Heck, we've even been on holiday together! :blink: Other than that, the spooky stuff continues. Last night: bang! wide awake and again at the very same time. Maybe it's just my mind playing tricks on me? :unsure:

I was looking for the "like button" and then I realised I'm not on Facebook Addicted? MOI??!! You sometimes get those questions as to "what is happiness?". Well, something like that would make me very happy indeed. :thumbs up:

It is my understanding that Mark Duggan was in fact killed by police. I do not know anymore about it than that. I've read this from day one, so I'm assuming it is true. If I recall the writer of the article that I linked to stated that "head blown off" was an exaggeration. I took that to mean that the man was shot, possibly not even in the head, but again, I don't know any details. It all started when the police shot Mr Duggan in rather "strange" circumstances. They claimed he shot at the police and they shot back... why and how was a big question mark and that's why a couple of locals started revolting against the police.Meanwhile the first investigations show Duggan's gun was not fired, but police bullets hit him twice... so it is looking suspicious. Question 1: Why does Mark Duggan carry a gun? Question 2: He apparently didn't shoot the cops... but what *did* he do to make the cops shoot him? I'm sure further investigation will at least give an answer to the 2nd question. But the big riots have got nothing to do with this innitial "small" protest against the cops. Now, if you ask me, it was a ticking time bomb anyway. The financial and economic crisis had hit most countries across the globe. Some countries have crawled up again, others are still doing that... and we all know that the 1st means a government thinks off to repay debts and whatever, is to raise taxes and to get more cash out of the population. The thing with England - and I'm guessing there are other countries - is that for years and from generations on generations, the society has started to rot. The poorer areas, where the workers live have had it harder to build up their lives than the "richer" and the English government is to blame for that... but that problem was caused decades ago already, if not centuries ago! And with the recently installed government and their new imposed taxes and cuts here and there, the bomb has finally exploded. The gangs and looters claim they are "taking back what the rich stole from them". Of course the way they have gone about is scandalous and I'm all in favour they are dealt with very firmly... but when you put everything in perspective, I can understand the reasons behind this. Mind you, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I can only go by what I'v learned in history classes and all that, but when you take a look at the 1930s and 40s... it does look to me like history is starting to repeat itself. And I really wouldn't be surprised we'll be seeing World War III erupt in the (very nearby) future.

And I will end this massive overdose of pictures with the ones from past weekend: Amsterdam Pride 2011 and a selection of sights in Amsterdam town.

And whenever we have some time to spare, we're still crossing the pond to play tourist in London They've meanwhile hosted the annual London Pride event... We even made a special trip to see Take That perform at Wembley Stadium BTW, did I ever tell you that since last Xmas I have a foster kid? Thug, the pygmy hippo, who lives at London Zoo... And here's a final London sightseeing tour

Some snaps taken at the Belgian seaside...

A massive event on our calendar earlier this: THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST ! You can find out all about what we got up to in and around Düsseldorf, Germany right here: DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 DAY 4 DAY 5 DAY 6, 7, 8 & 9... And there's a truck load of (not so great) pictures from: SEMI FINAL 1 SEMI FINAL 2 and THE BIG FINAL !

Every year we plan a couple of daytrips... some by coach, some by train... This one's The Magic Train Ride (that's what we call them) to Hasselt... a city not too far from where we live

Right... High time to get this section updated. I'll just put the links up to my facebook albums; beats picking out snaps and posting them separately on this forum again. Think you know the drill by now... you click on the link and then you click on a "thumbnail" for the whole picture. Here's the 1st one: Kylie Minogue ~ Aphrodite - Les Folies Tour live in Antwerp...

If you're into some fun entertainment, I can recommend "The Smurfs" I had my reservations because the trailers didn't really appeal to me, but the film as a whole is actually rather good and entertaining. Ok, so the story is a bit thin, but the main part of the smurfs being warped to NYC and their attempts at getting home has been done well. Still wondering whatever happened to Gargamel though

My cold seems to have more or less disappeared But what with the pouring rain in Amsterdam last weekend - and getting soaked in the process - it might be back very shortly Other than that, still very busy with the whole moving house crap. I think I mentioned it the other day we think the place is haunted, but I am convinced now. :unsure: :unsure: :unsure: Every time we actually spend the night there, I don't sleep at all. That is to say, I fall asleep but at 2:22am on the dot I am wide awake. I'm keeping track of the hour and it's literally *that* time all the time Plus there's stuff disappearing and reappearing in the strangest of places. Just this morning I was looking for my car keys. They're always in the same place... but today I found them... in the fridge! :blink: :blink: :unsure: :unsure: Really don't know what to think anymore but we're planning on getting some form of help for the "problem". Then today we got a call from some friends in London they were caught up in the violence in Croydon last night. They've got some bumps and bruises apparently, but other than that, they're "ok". If this happened a few weeks earlier, we would have been there as well. Not only there, but in other parts of London as well. Pretty scary thought

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London / England riots... Not sure how much coverage this is getting over there, but it's getting worse by the minute :( :( :( And to think this outbreak of violence and looting has got nothing to do anymore with the innitial riots it all started with last weekend :( :( :( It's a mad world out there :( :( :(

Same here some days I seem to be living there It *is* a great way to stay in touch with people though. Got some old school pals on there, ex colleagues, my recent ones... even the monster is on there. LOL :unsure: And then there's all the stoopid little games you can play

Wasn't really prepared for reading these sad stories... :( :( :( I've been there a couple of times myself with my cats and dogs, so I know what you guys are going through :( Don't even want to think about the day Pebbles and Kenzo will need to cross over the Rainbow Bridge :( :( :( In any case, I wanted to pop in and say Tomorrow morning I'm off on yet another weekend abroad. Cold still included Seriously, I have no idea where that snot keeps coming from :blink: :unsure: I know I've been saying this for ages, but as of next week I'll try to pop in more regularly. Isn't there a way to link this forum up to facebook? Might save me a lot of time - lol! Next week I'll start updating my picture thread in the gallery as well. Until then... BIG HUGS to you all !

Yikes ! Seems to be a lot of medical issues going on at the moment. Stuff that make my little cold seem very trivial indeed... Hope everyone will be better in no time - that includes our little four-legged buddy. Big hugs to everyone

LOL. True though... Right. Finally found a little spare time this week - on a Friday nigh of all nights! :blink: - to log on and post a message. First things first: the trip to London was a blast. The eventual outcome not so much Other than that, still combining the government job with the freelance stuff, which lately is taking up a lot of time. The freelance job not so much, but definitely the freebies attached to it. But I'm so not complaining Then there's the whole moving house disaster. In theory we should have been there ages ago already, but everything that can go wrong has meanwhile gone wrong and it's turning into a 10-year thing. Mind you, we can crash there if we want to, but actually living permanently, that's a whole different thing. We're starting to believe the place is haunted! :unsure: Ok... going to go through the last few updates here to see what's been going on and then I'm out of here. Still need to attend a housewarming party, where in theory I should already be right now ;) Will try to get back before the week runs out, but I'm not promising anything ;) :unsure:

Hey everyone In between the hectic schedule I need to stick to and too much time on Facebook, I finally found some time to drop in and say hello. Those of you who thought I'd fallen off the planet... you're wrong. Mind you, don't have that much time to spare cos I still need to do some packing... off to Holland for a few days and then another stop-over in London... Anyway, once I'm back from those trips, I'll try and pop in a bit more regularly. I'll update the gallery with some snaps from recent trips and other stuff too. Until then, take care and stay safe!

Just quickly signing in to say: congratulations ! ! ! http://www.starsha.com/pics/weekdays/happy_birthday/0189.gif

Hey everyone ! I know I've been neglecting the forum a little, but been pretty occupied lately. Not in the least with brewing my own schnapps - but that's a whole story that would take too long to tell Anyway, just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a happy Easter :bunny: Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Last time I was on this thread, I said I would gradually update this year's Eurovision entries... Well, if all goes well, they should be in this official media player type thingy: target="_blank" onclick="var win = window.open(this.href, this.target, 'status=0,toolbar=0,location=0,menubar=0,directories=0,resizable=0,scrollbars=0,height=575,width=660'); if (win) { win.focus(); return false; } else { return true; };">Eurovision Song Contest - Düsseldorf 2011 Preview Player And for those who might want to sing along... you can find all the lyrics at: http://www.diggiloo.net/?2011

Back from the land of the living dead... Don't know what it is with 2011, but it seems to be turning into one of poor health for me. After the skin stuff, there was the neck pains (which turned out to be coming from a few blocked nerves) and I spent the past week doing nothing much other than throwing up all over the place. Combine that with a never-ending case of diarrhea and you've got the viral infection I had to battle Today I'm pretty much feeling like my old self once again. World, be afraid... be very afraid... Hope y'all have a fab Friday. After all, the weeking is coming along and I feel like a party!

Once all contestants have been chosen for this year's contest, I'll gradually put them all up Since Gaga was mentioned here... I'm constantly listening to the new track and can't wait for the album to come out! Here's the full clip, complete with Manifesto Of Mother Monster intro (If you're just interested in the song, then skip forward to 02:30.) I'm quite digging the new J-Lo song as well these days: And something Belgian to close down... theme tune to a new kids' musical