Movies to watch

Last month, I signed up to a dvd online service that send me dvd at home and they have quite a large choice of movies so I'm catching up with all the movies I haven't seen yet.

Here are some that I strongly recommend if you can find them in your video shop:
- O Homem do Ano ( 2003 ) - José Henrique Fonseca
- Mercano, el Marciano ( 2002 ) - Juan Antin
- Head On (Gegen die Wand) ( 2004 ) - Fatih Akin

Goal Quote

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."--Michelangelo

The End

Broke up with gf yesterday. Feeling shocked today and akward.
It's weird, we broke up many times but this one time is the really last one...

Back on MSN!

It has been 6 months I'm working now in my new job and since I start working, I couldn't use MSN Messenger because I couldn't install the bloody software on my computer at work. Until I told to my friends in a pub who were complaining I was never on MSN anymore. They told me about this Web Messenger solution and from today I'm back on MSN. Youhou!
I don't understand why it took me so long to find out about that. I can finally catch up with my friends during the day instead of working my ass off.

Dour festival 2005

Another fun Belgian festival I would like to go is Dour festival.
For more than 10 years now, the fields of the peaceful village of Dour transform into a laboratory of modern music for 4 days per year. Between Thursday 14 and Sunday 17 July more than 200 bands and dj’s will perform on one of the 6 stages. Dour is much more than a festival. It is a concept, an equalled atmosphere, a pure party and above all very democratic (beyond all doubt the cheapest European festival in its category).

As far as the music is concerned, the program shows an attractive mix of rock, poprock, reggae, ragga, ska, elektro, techno, drum’n’bass, metal, hardcore, hiphop…

Next to big names as headliners, Dour has also a reputation for its discoveries: felix da housecat, the hacker dj set, slam live, vitalic, dj gilles peterson ft mc earl zinger, jeff mills, vive la fête, amon tobin, robots in disguise, the herbaliser live, richie hawtin, jack de Marseille, les georges Leningrad, etienne de crecy presents superdiscount 2 live feat alex gopher and julien delfaud, tokyo ska paradise, napalm death, laibach, i am x , fantômas, the queers, lady jane, sweatshop live, mandrak, cosy mozzy, soldout, Electrocute, Mylo, Stéreo Total, etc.

Roughly summarised: music, party, camping, holiday, meetings, cosyness, discoveries, tolerance, multicultural, fun ... in Dour, from 14 till 17 July.

10 days off

Loads of festivals are coming up in Belgium this summer, this one in Ghent is one of my favorites: 10 days off.

Many DJ's are coming up during 10 days. I won't be able to make it to all but I made a shortlist with some interesting ones that will try to go (in Bold my favorites):

15/7: akufen/cristian vogel
16/7: david guetta
17/7: frankie knucles
18/7: tiga
19/7: groove armada
22/7: chloé
24/7: david morales
25/7: tiefswarz/dj hell

Dreeny is 30!

Wow! I did the big jump from the twenties to the thirties on the 21st of June. I thought it would mean nothing but it does. It felt so awkard. I can't explain but it gave me a kick in the stomach. I don't feel like a thirty year old person but I'm. People don't believe I am and neither do I. Is it what people call the Thirty something crisis? Maybe.

Back from Tunisia

I came back from my 2 weeks vacation in Tunisia (Djerba island) last weekend so here is a little summary. We were at Hotel Club Magic Life in Djerba and it was so fun much. It is an all inclusive Club were everything is included in the price you pay so I did abuse of a few things like food (shrimps, grilled chicken) and drinks (wine, pina colada and other cocktails), the barman became my best friend pretty quickly. Yes, I was the first client to order wine and cocktails at 10am...

To avoid getting too much weight, I had to do some sports and again they were free so a typical day would be like this:
- 8am: breakfast
- 9am: tennis lesson
- 10am: beach then some waterski, then catamaran or windsurf or banana boat.
- 1pm: lunch
- 2pm: beach with some sailing and waterski again or moutain bike tour to visit the island
- 5.30pm: crepes and cookies time with tea
- 6pm: hammam, sauna and jacuzzi + a bit of swimming in the pool
- 7pm: coktails time
- 7.30: dinner
- 8.30: fresh mint tea with waterpipe (shisha) in the Maure café
- 9.30: coktails again at the Wunder bar or Show
- 10pm: Disco or just coktails again until I fall in sleep then bed time.

I did pass out in the Disco once and slept on the floor. Everyone remembered it the next day except me. That day I didn't do anything because I couldn't move or walk without being sick so I decided to drink less alcohol and the remaining days went smoothly. More sports, less food, less alcohol and all went well.

Now I'm back to work but life is less fun and easy. Luckilly, a bunch of festivals are coming in Europe so it will be fun and hot.

Back to B. but ready to go!

My trip in Canada was a blast. 10 days in Montreal was pure pleasure but gosh it is WAY too short! I was only two days back in the office when I asked for 2 weeks off in June to to go rest in Djerba with my beloved one. Needless to say I'm broke again and have no more days off left but hell I want to have fun right NOW!

Send your personalized movie

Send your personalized movie to a friend or lover!.... This is the coolest ad and viral marketing tool I've seen and enjoyed using and abusing.

"Women everywhere are thrilled by Dreeny"

Courtesy to Mia is that amazing ad. I wish they could spell my name right though, it is DREENY not DRENE!!!... Advertisers really suck sometimes...

Back to Canada for a bit

Thanks to my old friend Air Transat, I manage to find a bargain ticket to Canada flying directly from Brussels to Montreal for 350 euros. Needless to say, I HAD to go! Eventhough halve of the agency is already on vacation that week too! I guess my boss had enough to see me depressed and fed up with work and had to give me a little break. As a result, smile has come back on my face and I can't wait to be in Montreal. I miss my friends in Canada so much and the sweet and fun Montreal life too. I really hope the weather will be nice as well.
This weekend, it was 29C in Brussels and I spent the weekend in bikini in the parc and even manage to get some nearly visible tan lines... Hmmm Summer!:-)

Belgium in Pink!

The Belgian Lesbian and Gay Pride is coming up unbelievably soon on the 7th of May. There will be loads of stuff going on the week before as well so that's a good time to be around for you pinky people of all kind.

Can't Think STR8!...

I'm so fed up with my job. It is unbelievable! ...and I'm writing this as I'm sitting at my desk...
Luckilly, I have some headhunters proposing me good stuff from time to time so I'm currently on selection process of really good stuff. I can't wait for the wind of change to be blowing again and sending me off to a fun job again or new horizons! I'll keep you posted on that but I need to be a bit discrete for the time being.

WE in London

I've just spent the weekend in London. It was nice to see Mia, Guy and everyone again. I catched up on shopping but focussed a bit too much on T-shirts. I bought 15 of them, a pair of Diesel jeans and that was it.
My weekend was packed so I should shedule another one of these very soon.

I hate Friday's

Fridays 5pm should be the most beautiful moment of the week and nope each Friday at 5pm, it is nightmare. I always manage to get in fight with Miss GF and long ahead dreams WE plans are falling apart. It only left me minutes to find a way to make it back but today I preferred to stay late at work and finished all the stuff I have never time to do: email friends, call overseas friends, update my resume (hehe!), update the dammed blog, look at my messy desk and deplore all the junk that are randomly thrown on it.
Today, I also decided to make my screen look more work-slave friendly and I made 2 ears with red post it tape on each corner of it. Actually, I should take a pic to show you how cool it looks. It's THE achievement of my day! I can now retire to my well deserved WE and make it up with Miss G. Cheerio kiddies!

Back at it!

Ok, I have to admit since I started working, I haven't updated nor even looked at any of my blogs. That's nearly 3 months from now. I owe you some updates of what happened since then.

On the 3rd of January I joined an advertising agency and since then my life became a race. On the 1st of February, I moved to a new flat with my brother, another race. All this + the new gf made my life pretty busy and I haven't had time to go online very much. Luckilly, things are now more settled, I can breath a little and rest from all this. So from today, I decided to keep my blog updated as much as possible so watch this space!

On the first day of January

I read this somewhere and I thought it was a good thought to start the year...

"Every man should be born again
on the first day of January.
Start with a fresh page.
Take up one hole
more in the buckle if necessary,
or let down one,
according to circumstances;
but on the first of January
let every man gird himself once more,
with his face to the front,
and take no interest in the things
that were and are past.
The Old Year has gone.
Let the dead past bury its own dead.
The New Year has taken possession
of the clock of time.
All hail the duties and possibilities
of the coming twelve months!"

Update

That's a long time I haven't posted on this blog so it is time for a little update of the last few weeks:
- Recyclart: On Dec. 17, I went to Recyclart party for the first time and liked it a lot. That will become one of my favorite place to party. The music is experimental and the night features several young alternative DJ's so the music is always interesting and often suprising. Electro-Techno-House mostly sometimes mixed with some disco or rock tunes but the results is great and the crowd too. Fought a lot as well but that's another story...;-)

- Job: I had a few interviews last week and end up with a job so I will be starting on the 3rd of Januari. I published more details about this on my jobhunting blog. I'm so excited by this but also a bit tense that I will be working again after one year and a half nearly of career break while I was studying and looking for job. I think it is really nice that the new year is starting with a new job and nearly a new life because I will be moving to a new appartment with my brother and finally settled myself in Brussels knowing what I will do for the next year or two.

- Christmas: I went back home for the Christmas festivities in my family or what remain of it. It was nearly 4 or 5 years I didn't see some of them so I made some visit and it was quite nice actually despite the fact that I'm not a "Family" person. I got loads of presents. Mainly related to food and cooking it.

- New Year plans: Despite the many alternatives I didn't know which one to choose from, I finally will retaliate in Belgium but as of today I still don't know what I will be doing. Maybe going with my brother and his friends to the Projekt party to dance the night off on some really hard techno with some great DJ's (DJ Rush, Pet Duo, Marco Remus, Adam Beyer, Charles Siegling de Technasia and some others) or something else if anything shows up. Any suggestions welcome...

When weekends start on Sundays...

So it is Monday night and I can declare the weekend finished...my weekend started with a fight about the weekend plans and a long debate between the togetherness/ apartness notions... Not a good start so I ended up calling off all the plans and instead lazing in bed watching dvd's until Sunday came up to bring back the weekend clubbing fever. Parties on the menu: You, a friend's bday party in a club and the Cabaret.

- You: gay tea party...the music sucked big time...a melting pot of disco, rnb, techno, pop,...a bit of everything to please everyone in a super kitsch gay club. They used to have loads of lesbians there but they all deserted the place since the weekend before they refused to let in a group of butches. This lead to the 'lesbian community' called for banning the place. Humanly if I agree with them, ironically speaking, who could blame the doormen for letting only the cute lesbians in...Not me!;-p But the music being so bad, I don't see myself going there too often.

- Bday at bar 60: Imagine the scene...a private party in a tiny bar with a dj boot in the middle and the best lesbians dj's mixing and on the tiny dancefloor...a bunch of cute lesbians, bi and hetero girls + some friendly fellows. That's what I call a perfect party! Yes until some girls indulged my pristine white shirt with some delicious chocolate dipping. It's no problem at all...well until the moment where we decided to move to....

- Le Cabaret: a large gay after hours private club, very chic and trendy with loads of beautiful people, mostly gay males, but also some cute lesbians or heteros girls. People show up around 1 or 2 am on a Monday morning to party. Most of them work that very monday at 9am or so but won't be sleeping until then. These are hard core clubbers or fanatics. You feel it as soon as you enter. People don't actually give a shit about anyone. They are enjoying the music, the company and the drugs which are all excellent!
My chocolated printed t-shirt impressed more than one. I'm not sure where they thought I was coming from. Eventhough, we're in Belgium, there's limit to fashion creativity.

The night was so long and enjoyable that when we were about to hit back home. We were too broke to pay for the cab to drive us to the car, forgot the bankcard in the car, forgot where the car was parked, ... It was freezing cold and my friend couldn't stand her boots anymore and decided to walk barefoot in the street. I decided to stop a cab anyhow and only let the driver know when we arrived that we had no money to pay him. He was a bit irritated but not that much and fortunately he left us in a random street where...my friend's car was parked! Youpie! God is always there to help the happy clubbers have an happy night ending!

Freezing my butt in Brussels

So I met my godmother and her lovely family yesterday for most of the day at the Christmas Market in Brussels near the Grand Place. It was really nice because you can try all types of artisanal gourmet food and hot wine, there was a ice rink and old-fashioned carroussels for kids.
Funny enough, half of the market stalls were filled with some delegation from Quebec stuff: Canadian jacket, muts, Quebec beers, Marple syrup, etc... It felt like Montreal again except when I approach these, they didn't have the Quebec accent so I was disappointed.
Also what reminded me Quebec, was the ice cold weather. After 2 hours walking out there, my feet were frozen and I decided to go.
Today, same freezing weather. Really, I don't think it is much warmer here in Europe and at least in Montreal, we had the snow and the ski... sigh...sigh

Rapido

I went to Rapido this weekend. It was the première of what is meant to be a massive event for gay guys.
So I went with my friend Sacha and an army of gorgeous gay guys. The music was good but not incredible. The videos displayed during the show were pure gay porn. I found it to rough and the screens were everywhere. It's hard to focus on dancing when you see a guy being raped or wanking. Later on, a friend showed me the dark room. It was the first time I actually see a real dark room. As it names indicate, it is dark and you can't see anything but you can tell people are there because of the noises. Gross! I had a great time at the party though. The crowd was nice. No girls around though so I danced loads and drunk water till 9am as part of my new fitness action programme then it was bedtime!

Dave Clarke @F u s e

Dave Clark will be at f u s e in Brussels on Dec 18 and it's only 5 Euros. Can't miss that one!

Pics Groove city

Here are some pics of the DJ's at the Groove city. Here pics of the overal event and some others. And here, me and my brother. The size of my eyes tells enough about my...hmm...excitement to be there.;-)

Story of a night out in Belgium

So Saturday, we went to * Pay & Go Groove City 2004 * as planned. Here is the story.

The Music

Techno room
- Monika Kruse: We arrived to listen to the last hour of her set and she's really good!
- Carl Craig Live: That was weird. I didn't know exactly what to expect from a 'Live' dj. He wasn't actually spinning but another guy was and he was standing in front of the stage with a micro not even singing but making some noise with his voice. I found it pretty boring and weird.
- Cosmic Twins: This was the longuest set of the night and probably the best as well. I really much liked it. The sounds were interesting and various sometimes original. Sometimes weird and more like noise than music like explosion but overal it was great and the crowd really appreciated.
- Laurent Garnier: It was the first time I see him play and really he deserves his international reputation. He played some old tunes in techno rhytmes and that was great. The crowd was mad.

House room
- Frankie Knuckles: We didn't stay long because Cosmic Twins was playing at the same time and the music when we came wasn't that great. People looked bored and weren't dancing much. It wasn't bad but not good enough too stay and miss the set of Cosmic Twins.
-David Morales: I've seen him before in Montreal where he hold a residency at Stereo afterhours Nightclub. He was amazing as usual, very charismatic as always. If Monika Kruse was playing with a winter hunting jacket, he was halve naked, no shirts on. He played a great set but since he played at the same time as Garnier and I didn't know Garnier much, I went back there. Sorry beautiful David!

Drum 'n' Bass room
We just wait for a min in the drum 'n' bass room because I couldn't figure out what it was like. Brekbit was playing and it was great. There were loads of girls in that room. I guess that style is maybe preferred by girls because it is a the same rhytm as an aerobic class. It is fun to dance but I couldn't spend the night like that. I would have a heartattack or torn my ankle.

Electro Room
The electro room was tiny and crowded but when we went the music sucked really. It looked more like a chill out room and people weren't dancing. There was nothing to dance on anyway. I like electro a lot but that wasn't the electro I've heard in montreal.

The People
By the time we got there (9pmish), the people we met on the tram and busses were completely loaded of alcohol and could barely walk. I was really surprised. There were walking in the streets with gin or strong alcohol bottles, trying to get as drunk as possible before hitting there. It was so efficient that people checking in could barely stand on their feet for the security check. It was unreal! My brother was surprised I was so surprised. Welcome to Belgium! I thought...what it is going to be like when the same people are going to take drugs? At that stage of drunkness, there is no point they were able to enjoy the music so what the hell there were doing there?
I was sober when I arrived and didn't plan to be drunk. Only some sweets to stay up all night and enjoy the music. It was good.
They kept selling alcohol all night whcih I was suprised because it was forbidden in Canada and I guess I'm not use to it anymore. Redbull and beers were at the same price as as glass of water so there were our drinks.
A funny thing is that in Belgium it is ok for random people to ask other random people they don't know for free cigarettes or drinks whenever you have it and they don't. So you give them a cigarette or a sip of your drink as they walk by. I was shocked but my brother told me it is normal and people aren't mad about it. It is what everyone do and very handy if you're broke or if you can't be bother to go to the bar to get some drinks. Funny enough, I didn't remember that about Belgium.
So what else can I talk about?... Oh yes, we went to a private after party with many local cool DJ's and I made some more new friends. I have to say that it is extremely easy to make new friends here. And also when you have affinity with them, you become very close friend in a nanosecond. It is really great and nice. They look after you and introduce you to all their friends who become your new friends too. A bit like a big family. It's all nice and it make me like Brussels even more.

First steps with Skype!

wow! I just spoke with Mathilde who just downloaded Skype and we spoke for ages doing some testing and chatting. It is SO funny and the quality is pretty good even if unequal at times but we both were using dial up connection so that wasn't too bad. The interesting thing is that you can make your profile open (Skype me mode) and random stranger may call you. I did that first to test the phone as I needed someone who had the software and I chatted with a really cool guy in Brussels as I was finetuning the phone features and checking how it was working. You can browse the users (called "Skype friends") by country, cities, age and stuff and talk to preselected or random people all over the world that are ok for you to call them. That is something really odd but useful if you want to know something about a specific location and want to talk to a friendly local. You can also block your account to the only people you know but at this stage, I still find exciting that random people call me from wherever in the world and have a quick chat. Who knows who I may talk to? My Skype name is 'Dreeny'.

Skype - Free Internet phone that works!

Something that all of us should start using is: Skype - Free Internet telephony that just works.
It is now known as the best and cheapest way to call over the internet. After you download the free software, you can call anyone who has it for free. A bit like with msn (when it works) but with a perfect sound quality, FREE and compatible with nearly all systems and firewalls so you should have no technical issues.
If the person you want to call doesn't have a computer or is not using Skype, you may still call that person via your computer to a normal phone (Skype Out) for the global rate of 0.017 Euros a min. nearly everywhere. Which is cheaper than any cheap rates I have seen so far. But again if you install Skype then it is going to be free so I hope most of you will install it so I can call you and for free. Send me a mail when you have it and let's talk!
Also make sure your computer has a sound card, speakers and microphone otherwise it won't work obviously...;-)

* Pay & Go Groove City 2004 *

Coming Saturday in Brussels, there is too much parties to choose from and they all happen on the same day which is not very smart because I haven't learned how to duplicate myself yet. I won't name all the parties but this one is most likely the one I am going to go:* Pay & Go Groove City 2004 *. And guess what? David Morales is in town!!!

The program is as follow, all is the same place:

DJ's: House Boulevard :
20.00 - 21.30 : Jan Van Biesen
21.30 - 00.30 : Etienne de Crecy presents Super Discount 2 Feat. Alex Gopher & Julien Delfaud
00.30 - 03.00 : Frankie Knuckles
03.00 - 05.30 : David Morales

Techno Highway:
20.00 - 22.00 : Monika Kruse
22.00 - 23.00 : Carl Craig Live " Tres Demented LIVE"
23.00 - 03.00 : Cosmic Twins (Derrick May & Francois K together)
03.00 - 05.30 : Laurent Garnier

Drum & Bass Avenue:
20.00 - 22.30 : Brekbit
22.30 - 00.30 : Dj System - D Feat. Mc Jamalski
00.30 - 02.30 : High Contrast
02.30 - 05.30 : Dj Marky , XRS Feat. Stamina MC

Electro Road:
20.00 - 05.30 : Monica Electronica , Dion , Terry Toner , Herr Arter

In Bold, I highlighted the ones I want to see absolutely.
Any suggestions welcomed!:-)

Week End in Paris

Yeah! I made it to Paris this weekend and what a ace weekend that was.
Saturday night, I took the Thalys on the cheap (Yes, that’s what the unemployed people do) and arrived at 10pm in Paris. I joined my 2 lovely hosts (Mathilde’s friends. Thanks babe!xx) who were at the Bday party of their friend who happen to own a wine shop owner. The shop was closed but the bottles weren’t and we drank the best bottles of wines, champagnes and other complimentary delicacy until nearly 4pm . Then time to head home for a “quick” French dinner bite with yummy French cheeses and the famous “baguette” before hitting the pillow.

Sunday morning, I woke up the next day at 11ish as I was meant to meet my MBA mate Amar who lives in Paris for lunch. It was great talking about jobs and unemployed life as he was showing me some beautiful places in Paris. It was very sunny so we walked a lot, we went through Le Marais, Place des Vosges with Victor Hugo’s house, Saint-Louis Island where we had coffee at a terrace then we headed for Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. We went inside and there was a mass since it was Sunday. Surprisingly, they still let the tourists in turning in circle inside around the church as the procession is going. Weird! We finished by Le Louvre before saying goodbye. Then I headed to my friend’s loft for dinner and did some shopping and walking in Le Marais which is the gay and cutest district in Paris. I had such a great time and Paris is so beautiful. That would be a paradise if waiters and Parisians weren’t so impatient and aggressive among them. They keep barking at each other and that’s very stressfull.

Monday morning, I had my test at PG. We were 5 canditates and only one guy passed it (suckers!) so at noon I was free and my train was only at 5pm so I decided to leave my suitcase and suit at ‘Gare du Nord’ and become a tourist again. I went to Pigalle, Barbes then ‘le Sacré Coeur’ in Montmartre. I then headed to the Cemetery “Le Père Lachaise” where many celebrities are buried. It was huge and I didn’t have a map of the tombs so I just walked around and found by chance Jim Morrison tomb. It was quite lost in the whole cemetery and there was a guard making sure that no one is spraying his tomb with graffiti or stuff.

I walked around and saw really nice tombs and scenery so I decided to do artistic shots. I wasn't sure if it was morally acceptable to take pictures in a cimetery but then I remember that no one had any problems taking pictres of the temple and pyramids in Egypt and these are tombs too so why not. It was then time to head home so I walked back and took my thalys. Only 1h20 from Brussels and I was home. Hmm It's so nice to have time to spend like this.

ELLE STYLE AWARDS 2004

Wow! Life is Brussels is very exciting. A new friend of mine that I just met recently and who works for a big advertising company invited me yesterday to join her team to go to the ELLE STYLE AWARDS 2004. I didn't really know what it was about before I got there. It was quite formal, loads of Jaguars in the parking, beautiful rich looking people well dressed, a bunch of local 'celebrities' such as Lio and Axel Red were expected but I've seen none of them. It was sponsored by Cointreau and Moet & Chandon so needless to say that everyone got pretty drunk in no time. They were serving yummi food and sweets and the DJ was playing excellent music. There were loads of pictures taken. I didn't get a hold of each of them but the whole event was so funny. I got to chat up loads of cute models as I was running some scientific investigation on their 'preferences'. I can now clearly say that the rumor saying that models tend to be lesbians is wrong. Well, for the very cute ones whom I talked to. They confirmed that they prefer men but they were really nice to talk to so I enjoy my crazy night there. I went home with a bag of goodies with some Armani perfume, Cointreau samples, and other stuff. I was delighted!

Marry An American!

I like this stuff... It reminds me of Richard...;-)
MarryAnAmerican - No good American will be left behind!: "Now that George W. Bush has been officially elected, single, sexy, American liberals - already a threatened species - will be desperate to escape.
These lonely, afraid (did we mention really hot?) progressives will need a safe haven.
You can help. Open your heart, and your home. Marry an American. Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism."

Week-end Party plans

After a long week of administrative bollocks, it is now the weekend and time to discover what kind of fun Brussels has to offer. I met some local folks online that are willing to show me around so the planning for this busy weekend is as follow:

- Saturday: NEXTparty: a queer party for lesbians & gays every first saturday of the month. This Saturday program is:
Main room :
- warm up by Darko (Statik Dancin’)
- vocal set by Frédérique Franke (Ming) + Philip May
- ping-pong set by by Piiit & Luuuk (resident)
Ballroom : Majella (resident)
Visuals: Saoulmarin (resident)

- Sunday: Sexy gay tea dance with Vincent Mac Doom at club YOU

- Monday: GIRLY MONDAYS at Salon de l'Atalaïde, Every Monday 20H -02H DJ Bar & Girly Performance.

I look forward to it and will let you know how these went next week.

My neighbour...The King!

Belgium is so heavy in lengthy administrative BS than I spend the last few days queuing or waiting for offices to open when they open because sometime they forget to open. Anyway, people working in these instances must not have the happiest life because their faces tell a lot of the unhappiness they are in. Get a life people!!!
Anyway, after a day of this crap, I decided to wander around and realized that my brother forget to mention to me that he lives very nearby the King of Belgium! Nothing less. I walked a bit and found the Royal Palace at less than 10mins walk from my brother’s flat. That area is called the royal district and it is simply gorgeous with nice parks around very carefully designed. I walked back and then found the European Parlement, very nice. All these nice buildings and architecture reminded me a bit of London near Buckingham Palace. I didn’t realize before how Brussels has so many sides with some very nice ones.

Build a better Bush

While I'm still shocked to know that most Americans have voted for Bush, one of my best friend included..., I received this link from a friend:Build a better Bush: "This November, we Americans pick our President, but until then, lets pick on our President."
This is kind of funny and may help some of us to relax about this whole damn situation. All I have to say is that Americans chose the President they deserve and I have no respect for people who choose knowingly such a dangerous person to govern their country and messed up the whole world. More bombing and terrorist attacks to come so watch out!

Born on 3rd November amazing people

The 3rd of November must be the right day to bring babies to this world because it happens surprisingly that 3 of my best friends are born on that very day. They are all very different but each of them has a very open, friendly and nice personality and I very much enjoy their company. It is interesting to note that they are all queer.
So Happy Birthday to Lana, Guy and Rachel!!! Big hugs!XXX

My friends' blogs

Since I changed the template of this blog, I don't know how to add the links on the right. Anyway, I just thought I'd make a post listing all my friends' blog. I read them once in a while to know what is everyone up to. I wish more friends had blogs though because it's a great way to keep in touch.
Sometimes you're too busy to keep in touch or email. Some other times, you miss people and want to take the time to read about them. I guess that's what blog are for, so here they are:

- Mia, best friend in London
- Kingzammo, damn cute sexy friend in London
- Jeff my missed, wicked & party beast roomie in Montreal
- Ernest on his Clinical Psychology studies or less serious his life in San Francisco
- Marianne, first gf on her scientific research in Belgium

I think blogs should be like emails, everyone should have at least one. XX

1st impressions about Brussels

Finally back in Brussels, I had the whole day to settled down and ventured into some of the streets.
My brother's friends are extremelly friendly and fun. They are all about 22 to 25 which must be about my mental age so we do enjoy hanging out together and like the same type of music or fun which is great.

My brother's flat is nice and well located right in the centre at walking distance of the main streets and shopping centers. Brussels is a shopping heaven. I had such a hard time finding nice runners in Montreal and here they have all the colours and variants that I couldn't imagine. I should have waited because I have now at least 5 new pairs of runners I'd like to buy and they are cheaper too!

It's interesting to see how people are well dressed here generally speaking. Some are trendys, others chic people are extremelly classic wearing big names of brands which I find a bit tasteless and unoriginal. I prefer to watch someone with a good sense of style and creativity that someone who can only show off he or she has loads of money. Who cares really?

I noticed a few people with an aggressive behaviour, kinda rude. People do not hesitate to provocate or insult each other if their personal spaces are reaching each other. I don't like that at all. Also people keep staring at each other in the eyes, which was totally not to do in Canada.

The great thing and a bit weird is that I have no more to pay or add the tips or taxes to the prices I see. That's the final price and an excellent thing about Europe.

More of my cultural shock coming back home soon.

Arrived in Belgium!

Hello hello! I finally made it to my country. What an adventure! My trip back home started grandiosly with Lana's Champagne Breakfast and radically efficient help to finish the packing on Saturday morning. Then farewell team Sylvie, Shiny & Richard escorted me to Mirabell airport. I had so many luggages to check in, it was unreal ( 4 big luggages + laptop + skis +boots). I was allowed 20kg max of luggage allowance and we had 70 kg to check. Miraculously, the desk attendant didn't ask me to pay anything. This saved me at least 250CAD. To celebrate, we shared my very last poutine on the Canadian territory & some Canadian beers. Another good news arrived as I was making my way to find my seat in the plane. I was on the exit row with 2 meters of leg room and no one to sit next to me. Yeah, I love Air Transat! The plane was half empty so that must be why I had free excess luggage and a king size seat. All this was going way too well and as we were about to arrive in Brussels 5mins in advance, a bad news occured, the plane couldn't land because it was too smoggy so we turn around and around for nearly an hour then the pilot decided to stop by Amsterdam to take more gas. We did and it took us an extra 2 hours before landing in Brussels finally. My last worry was the zillions of luggage I had to fit on that little caddy, unthinkable so I managed to get myself a so called "porter" with a huge car thingy who escorted me through the douane to my sister. Guess what is the first thing I did today? I rushed to the first "friterie" (french fries house) and eat some fricandelle, brochette & fries with my brother. What a gastronomical orgie! Tonight, we are having mussels and fries again... Hmm did you notice the theme of the day? Poutine - Fries & Fries... I may gain some kilos this week because there are so many things I need to catch up on such as chocolate & others delicious things that are too delicious to resist in Belgium.

Ok this is it for now. More stories to follow. I just want to say that it was hard not to cry on the plane and leaving all of you. This is just as awfully painful as when I left London last year. I miss you all!!! XXX

Flying off to Belgium

Today, I'm flying back to Belgium. I'm feeling very sad to leave Montreal and tired but will be relieved when I'll be able to get all my luggages out there and meet my family and friends.
After dropping my luggage at my brother's place, I will spend my first weekend at my sister's place in Antwerp then back to Brussels. The next weekend is back to my 'parents' in the Ardens for some horsebackriding. Can't wait for it!

Marianne's new blog!

Yeah! The blog mania has spread out once again. Here is the brand new blog of Marianne relating her researcher life. I can't wait to read more of it.