Victories!

Last night was a somewhat strange night. First of all RBC's homematch was played on a Saturday instead of a Friday. We didn't like that since many of us had to cancel our weekend-plans! Boooh... Then it started half an hour earlier than usual. Lots of supporters weren't aware of that, or forgot about that, and entered the stadium half an hour late: by that time the match was actually already played- which annoyed them a lot: RBC won 5-0 over FC Emmen! The goals followed each other with an amazingly speed and Pakito's Living on Video (RBC's 2006-2007 "goaltune") was heard almost continuously through the stadium hehe. But despite its longawaited victory after so many negativity in the media lately the crowd wasn't in a partying mood at all! Why?? Beats me! There was a really weird atmosphere in the lounge. Luckily the players were in a happy mood which was much fun. Love to joke around with Arjan Ebbinge, he's such a cool and funny guy! The supporters left relatively early this night so we finished early as well. Which was nice for a change too! It was just before 4AM so just in time to order a delicious PIZZA @Willy's !! but they kicked us gently out the store with our yummy pizza's since they closed at 4. So we finished them at William's place who luckily lives VERY nearby; if I had to bike all the way back home my precious pizza would have turned damn cold hehe. Time flies when you're having fun and I completely forgot about the AO finals! I got home around 6AM and immediately tried to check the results on the internet. Aargh no connection! Tried textmessages on television, but no results of ATP finals published?!? I went nuts! Ohh well there was nothing I could do about it so...time for bed! When I woke up I tried the internet again, and I realised the match wasn't even played yet hehe. Silly me! So I crawled back into bed, watch Roger win his 10th GS (yay!), and fell back asleep for the rest of this lazy Sunday. All was well.

Federbear everywhere

Today I received my little parcel from SW19 containing my Federbear!! Just in time for the AO finals! Federbear got himself a nice spot on my television so we can cheer together tonight, that is... if Roger doesn't crush Gonzo in only 3 straight sets!! ;) RBC plays a home match tonight so I won't get home before 5AM. Hope to see the matchpoint though!

Rumshop sessions

Rock, Reggae, Latin & Rap... Roger, Touché, Jon, Jacob, Rocheteau & Roël played a very good accoustic show tonight with some surprisingly songs! From 2nd row we had a very good view (hehe Roger is even smaller than I thought he was...is that even possible??) and although I still think a concert like this doesn't really belong in a theatre, it was a well-spend night out!

After drinking away our "bridgeclub-frustrations" Will & I got sooooo hungry so we decided to attack the local shoarma-king since we both had nothing quick&easy&fatty to prepare at home. Now THAT is hard on a mondaynight in Roosendaal at 4AM! Having passed many closed doors (aaargh!) we saw burning lights in a small -to me unknown- place but uhoh they were about to close! NOOOO! We put on our most hungry faces, our nicest smiles, put our best charmes forward and ohhh our supplications were acknowledged! YEAH! YUMMY!

My guess: more visits to come hehe

Dancing with the local stars

It's been a tough week. I wasn't feeling too well while having loooong working nights. At the same time I started working at CMA again this week so too little sleep for me!! Last 2 days I crawled into bed between 7 and 8 AM, luckily able to sleep during daytime. Not too much fun for a weekend hehe. Ain't got no life ;) Apart from the usual monday-*yawn*-bridgeclub-night we had a lot of parties at the stadium this week. Even Boy Buffel (MOOOOOH!) and Frans Bauer & "Maris" made their appearance ;) Highlight of the week was yesterday's "Dancing With The Local Stars"; a dancing competition between local celebrities at our Confetti Lounge. It was a HUGE event (tables sold for a €1000 each!) with a very tight schedule, planned by the minute but we did such a gooooood job! William and I were responsible for the main bar, Jeroen for the small one (ahhh my favourite partners-in-crime hehe ;) ) and a lot of colleagues "running" through the lounge. After work we were all sooooo exhausted, plumping down a chair and just staring at each other! We just couldn't get up to head home; we just kept drinking hehe. What a job!

Lèon

This week I had Tuesday's night off to visit a show of the dutch comedian Leon van der Zanden. While constantly testing the audience's boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not (particularly the NOT hehe) on subjects like religion, sex and death we were asked sometimes pretty awkward or just difficult questions. I was thinking quite often "don't pick me! not me! nooooo!" ... Very happy not to sit front row!! but when Leon started to run through the audience there was no more escape hehe. Da*n! Luckily I gave no stupid answers. I guess... High speed, a lot of humour, expressive mimic art and a VERY lithe body to reach and experience an "immortal moment". I'd never seen a show of this guy in the theatre before (only knew him from the dutch Olifantendoders) but it was a very pleasant surprise! Too bad Gemmy couldn't join me obviously but when a next show is released we should definitely book the tickets again! I'm sure you'll like it!

This night's immortal; we fell just off the picture weeeheee

Aussie action!

Haven't received my precious Feder-bear mascotte YET, nonetheless I'm ready for action! In just a few hours from now the Aussie Open will start on Melbourne Park: that means looooong long nights for the next two weeks! Yay now I've finally got something to watch on television when I come home from work!! At that time of night dutch television usually broadcasts only things like call-tv or webcam-babes hehe, NOT that much of pleasure for me! But I really have to make sure I don't stay up toooo long hehe! Ahhh the temptation!! Haven't seen that much of Kooyong Classic exhibition last week but I hope it's been enough preparation for Roger since he skipped Doha this year. Ohh well, he'll do just fine! Allez Rogi!

Ouch! After the big relief of fixing the electric light-cables right in time, RBC lost last night's big match 1-3 vs De Graafschap which means we lost our number one position in the Jupiler League as well. And maybe our chance to promote to the premier league next season. No hard feelings nevertheless cause my colleagues and I prefer the matches on fridays instead of the weekends anyway! ;) But it's nice as well to see them WIN ofcourse. Afterwards trainer/coach Robert M. announced leaving RBC Roosendaal by the end of the season. He didn't go into details yet, but I can imagine some reasons "why" (nice job, mr. P.!!). Despite the loss last night, the drinking was not less afterwards! It's been the busiest night of the season so far and we left the building very very early in the morning (many cock-a-doodle-doo's on my ride back home!). ps Maurits confirmed what William told me earlier this week: they sooo appreciate my efforts and would like me to join their team of permanent staff and work more hours as soon as possible hehe.

Receptions

On top of the many New Year's receptions we've had at the stadium last week, last night RBC had its own for its players, staff, employees, volunteers and business sponsors. Ofcourse we had to work on our own reception hehe. No sweat, cause it was SUCH a BORING event!! Now we made ourselves a little money out of it; otherwise it would have been a completely wasted evening!! Looooong long speeches from RBC's chairman mr. P. and our newly presented general manager. I don't like mr. P. His speech did annoy trainer/coach Robert M. as well. He refused to comment on it, but it irritated him visibly. Understandable. Speeches were pretty pessimistic. RBC's organization is not that stable at the moment, as well as its financial situation. It's only OUR part of the organization, RBC Hospitality, that is doing great at the moment. It was very nice to see that confirmed in the newspaper today by giving Maurits a compliment on frontpage- next to all those negative messages related to RBC!!

Dark times...

Last night 20 copper wires were cut from one of the electric standards at the stadium! Only a few days before THE match of the season! The KNVB put the deadline friday at noon; if the lights don't work by then, the match will be cancelled, which would mean quite a disaster given RBC's financial situation. It would mean a lovely night off as well!!

Did you survive NYE?!?

I know I did!!

So cool: Flickr Toys!

Still feeling not too well. Besides working, eating and a lot of sleeeeeping not doing that much around here. Okay, just wasting (what's left of) my precious time behind my laptop hehe. But I did find me a great website to "play" with my pictures here! A great site to remember for when we have another family event coming up?!? It DOES make the editing a lot easier! ;) Just showing some old vacation photos here to give an impression of what's possible!

Cool Slideshows

Wow I survived this year's Xmas again ;) 4 days off, 4 days flue, what am I doing wrong here?! No fever today so the girl's gettin' better >> back to work tomorrow! No mercy here! Today we had a brunch with the Lapré-side of the family at Aimée&Cees'. Food was good, we enjoyed (uhuh) the memorable Xmas-DVD again -and again - .... (esp. Fay Lovsky + Icebear and Chris Rea driving home through "De Veluwe") and we participated in a serious math discussion. No sweat! Afterwards Thai Santa spoiled us with Bangkok gifts!! Oo we're so lucky =)

dinner time!

Due to some broken bones and ribs my grandma was not able to prepare us a christmas dinner this year... so Dennis and I were today's cooks!! Apart from some miiiiinor flaws, it was a delicious meal, but that's my own humble opinion ofcourse hehe.

Attention: If you happen to need some gelatin leaves in the future...don't hesitate to give me a call! I've bought 300 of them yesterday, while I only needed 3... too bad no regular supermarkets were opened yesterday so I had to go to "Makro" in Breda and buy me an enormous package -which I REALLY didn't need...!!!

Santa spoiled me with a beautiful book "1001 Wonders of Nature" with pictures and info on the most fascinating places on Earth. Ohh there's still SO much to see and explore! Ohh I SO want to get out of here! * Sigh!*

Bleeeh

This is how I look...this is how I feel... I guess a little flu is entering my system. Don't want it to happen though... Can't have it to happen right now...But then, never is a good time I guess. You'll see, just when holidays are coming the girl gets sick :S

What a party! (What a mess!!)

Last night the Jan Tinbergen College held its annual gala ball in our ConfettiLounge. Guess it was a huge success! At the start of the evening Anique and I were "stationed" in the brasserie to host a reunion of JTC's former students but upstairs people went like crazy and Vivian and William were running like crazy accordingly. So Maurits asked me to go to the lounge asap. No sweat cause the little reunion was kinda boring hehe. From that moment no more time for thinking, breathing or whatever, just goooooo with the flooooooow!! Even chef Harry assisted us at the bar! My god, those little kids, their main goal was to get drunk as soon as possible and "SCORE"!!! Ahh it was really fun observing them all! Very entertaining :P Were we just like that when we were young?!? ;) It was extremely hard work but really much fun. No time to visit Natasja and Suzanne at the small bar though. It was only when the cleaning job started we finally "met"! And WHAT a cleaning job! Argh you just can't imagine the mess they left!! And you just can't imagine on what absurd places we found "bitterballen". They were like everywere!! :S You don't want to know the things we had to pick or mob from the floor. We washed it three times and you'd still stick to it... Yuck! Time flew by and we all felt like zombies walking around, except for Will who surprisingly got more and more energy!! Very annoying hehe. We still don't know what drug he took ;) Walking around dressed like Santa, making weird voices and movements, making fun of actually everything...pfff all we wanted was a drink and a bed. And we got it! Too bad this night is again only 2.5 hours long... *yawn*

Herbstmeister!!

Whoo! whoo! RBC Roosendaal entered the winter break still leading the Jupiler League thanks to a 2-0 victory over FC Den Bosch; which meant PARTY TIME last night! Although this week's match was played on a Wednesday instead of a Friday, it was a "full house" at the stadium! It was an extremely busy night and the hours passed by in just a flash! After the press conference an auction was held in the ConfettiLounge, selling paintings painted by the RBC players and staff. It was fun but a bit toooo crowded and loud in my opinion. Happy to see everyone leaving in time ;) I guess we were all a bit exhausted. It was just Vivian, Maurits, William and me hanging in for a drink afterwards, which is quite exceptional, especially on a match day! It was only then when I heard Kevin, one of our cooks, had a car crash late that night when driving home from the stadium. As far as we know at this moment he's not too seriously injured, but he did go off the talud with his car, which is total loss by now! He's just damn lucky considering what might have happened! But it was quite a shock nonetheless!

Wanna switch?!

Direct phone

I decided to get me a direct line this morning! Since the cell phone companies just keep assuming I live in Belgium (!!!) the monthly charges are just way too high to hold. January 22nd will be the day I'm getting connected to the outside world ;) with the lovely number 850892 =) Call you later, alligator!!

I'm just too good =)

Just mailed my X-mas cards! Even BEFORE Christmas!! Wow I don't think this has happened to me before! I can't guarantee the cards will arrive just in time before Christmas as well, but this is one big step in the good direction! Usually my X-mas cards get mailed way past New Year's Eve hehe...

Foggy

A foggy view from the backyard! I've seen some serious fog in San Francisco, but man, last days in Rosevalley City were pretty scary as well! Especially at night when returning home from the RBC stadium, I hit several borders of the pavement and almost drove into a parked car!!

We want a tree too...

Tonight I had the "bridgeclub-shift" with Anique, while William was being BOB - the builder all day long, setting up the lounge and all rooms for the next day to save us some time. Much appreciated! The meeting was held again at the restaurant so Will could knock himself out at the ConfettiLounge, but for us it was not fun working. It actually was A MESS! We couldn't even finish two out of the six rounds within the thirty minutes we have for each of them! We were far behind... But hey, life goes on, right?! ;) This night we had to say goodbye to our two nicest people of the group who will be playing on another level of the competition from now on. They approached the bar with a gift, it was a lovely small decorated Christmas tree they just received from "Santa". "We've got something for you", they said. Anique and I got a big smile on our faces and we were very touched. "Could you please pass this from us to William?", they continued... "We want to thank him for all the years of good care - no offense to you though". Oh well, we understand WHY they give it to HIM, but hey, are we allowed to be a BIT jealous here?! ;) *sigh* it was such a sweet little tree!! Will just had to laugh and took the damn tree home. "Can't split it in halves, right?!" He's right... (*shoot!*)

Black Fingernails, Red Wine...

This title of the Eskimo Joe song is sooo appropriate for this day! Today a rheumatism association had a Christmas dinner at the stadium. In the afternoon I welcomed the (mostly elderly people) at the entrance and helped them upstairs to the ConfettiLounge. Now here come the "black fingernails"... Just try to get a bunch of not-that-mobile-people at once in an elevator: that takes some patience and time! So I had to keep that bloody door open! Now the sensor failed multiple times and my hands and feet got smashed by the closing door more than once! Fingernails turned red > purple > blue > nearly black!! A not that good start of what turned out to become a loooooong long night! They had cocktail-"hour" for three hours (!) long before even starting to serve out butter & bread, not to mention entrées and the actual dinner! Pfff everything progressed so sloooow, even the songs of the choir were everlasting hehe. But eventually all stomachs were stuffed and almost ready to go home. =) Ohh almost forgot about the "red wine" here. A new colleague was unlucky and knocked some glasses of red wine of her tray over six people. OLD people, choir people, abundantly dressed up for "Christmas", all wearing VERY white blouses. Until then... A moment we'll never forget ;) From that moment on people were only talking about "red wine"... every table I passed I heard them whispering "red wine...". My god, no one dared to order red wine since! It was just an accident, but soooo happy it was not me spoiling the wine!!! ;)

VICTORY!!!

Last night I won Cities & Knights of Catan for the very first time EVER! Whoo it made me so proud hehe. Now that Roel and Mireille got themselves a copy of the game as well I'm the only one who can't practice at home. During play you mostly can tell from the results hehe. But last night luck was with me: I WON!!! Soekie asked me not to spread this news, but, sorry, hey I'm just too damn proud ;)

Hollye & Eric engaged to be married!!

Last night Eric proposed and Hollye said YES! So happy for them both! They just make the perfect couple! The big event will take place September 15th in Lake Tahoe, a wonderful place which unfortunately we had to skip from our "California-tour" last year so still on my "wishlist"...possibly in the year 2007?!? Would definitely be awesome!! More gorgeous pics on Hollye's blog!

Red-nosed at CMA

Today we got our Christmas tree at the Medical Archive! To get completely into the "x-mas feeling" we were walking all day with Rudolph's antlers on our head. Not really convenient as those things got stuck between the files regularly. But it was sooo nice to get such a positive response of the people passing by! People smiling, holding thumbs up or waving to us... To get people in a good mood by such a minor "detail", is such a joy, especially in a hospital where there's so much misery and bad things happening already...

A bit tired?!

Uhmm, after discussing for several minutes what date it was, we concluded it was DEFINITELY Dec 10th. While in fact is was Dec 11th. Actually at that time of the day it was already Dec 12th, but we'll ignore that fact ;) So what date did we write down? Nov 10th!! We both checked the details and signed the paper... while it was completely NONSENSE! Guess we were both a bit tired... hope I get paid though...

Cursed

William and I survived the bridgeclub-meeting once again ;) We started both a bit out of temper, but when the hours passed by our good humour came back and we ended up singing the Freggle-song hehe. ;) The people were again pretty friendly. Okay, there are some reeeaaal pain in the @$€$, but there will always be some I guess... Nonetheless, we still feel cursed! We just can't close the door and leave at a reasonable time! Whenever we think we can be ready quite early (relatively early...like 2AM) we just can't manage to do so. No matter HOW early the people leave, it just seems we're cursed to stay! It might somewhat have to do with the fact that we were at the "brasserie" tonight and not at the ConfettiLounge, which gives a lot of extra work like laying the tables for lunch/dinner. But whatever the reason is, it kinda sucks hehe. Every week the same story...around 2AM William points towards the clock and shouts out : "We're cursed!!" It does feel that way. Just as we feel cursed that every monday night it appears to be RAINING!! Or when we cross "De Schuiven", the stop-sign ALWAYS turns from green to RED!! Why?? There's no traffic at that time of night!! That is so strange, at night really every single stop-sign I pass automatically turns green when approaching, but when we approach this one... We just have to laugh everytime...we're cursed...

Piccies!

Thought I'd post some piccies of the RBC Roosendaal Stadium here. Just to give you an impression of the building where I'm spending many nights lately ;) Main entrance of the stadium Entrance of "Brasserie Le Royal"- our restaurant If you look very good, you could see Vivianne - our restaurant supervisor. Gosh I need to find me some better pictures hehe. View from the kitchen - with Arjan in it ;) Anique at the Supporterscafé Players' Home - so glad I didn't have to wear THAT last time hehe ConfettiLounge (main bar) ConfettiLounge: Empty!!! ConfettiLounge (small bar) Jordy, "boxmuts" Charlotte and William in Business Unit 4/5 Maurits - our BIG BOSS! =) Press Room Well that's only a small part of the stadium, but I guess it might give you some impression ;)