Gerko's Weblog

Friday, January 31, 2003

A view in Gerko's mental vocabulary :

white stuff
n.

1. Frozen precipitation in the form of white or translucent hexagonal ice crystals that fall in soft, white flakes.
2. A sweet powdered substance, white when pure, consisting of sucrose obtained mainly from sugar cane and sugar beets and used in many foods, drinks, and medicines to improve their taste.
3. A colorless or white crystalline alkaloid, C₁₇H₂₁NO₄, extracted from coca leaves, sometimes used in medicine as a local anesthetic especially for the eyes, nose, or throat and widely used as an illicit drug for its euphoric and stimulating effects.

... And there I thought that laying down for a while in the dark silence would help. ... Well, it did help ... as long as I stayed down. five minutes after I got up the headache and general downish feeling came rushing back. It's a bit better though, so I decided to stop slacking and write something down. ...

[before-posting-but-after-writing-edit] Ok, this doesn't even begin to scratch the topics I wanted to write about, but I think it's interesting amusing enough to keep it here. Better luck with hitting the topics tomorrow [/before-posting-but-after-writing-edit]

So ... I cooked last wednesday. And it was kinda scary, too, because I hadn't made that variation of it before. "Farmer's Cabbage"-"Hutspot". (I made "Andijvie-Hutspot" before, but that was kinda different) ... It came out alright, though, so I upgraded my the "Andijvie-Hutspot" to a general "Hutspot" entry in my mental cook-book. After some short conversations with Elise about the topic, and some other misc occurences, I decided to make a list :

Dishes Gerko Knows How To Make

• Spaghetti
• Strings of pasta. Everyone knows this, right ? Easy to prepare. Mixing some grocery-store pre-packaged stuff in a bit of an alternative way makes for a good tomato sauce.


• "Hutspot"
• Classic dutch recipe. Mashed potatoes with some sort of green cabbage or other leafed vegetable mixed in. Sometimes with bits of bacon. Served with a large sausage. Supposedly translates to "potpourri" in english, but haven't seen it used as such. I'm actually kind of proud that I know how to make this, considering I don't remember my mom making this. 'course, the recipe isn't that hard, so it's nothing to truly gloat over.


• Tomato Soup
• I make good, filling, thick tomato soup. Can stand it's own as the dinner's main course. Tastes like the kind grandmothers make. Mostly just a creative mix of prepackaged goods, but it's better (a lot better) than the standard instant-ready (just add water and heat) type the grocery store sells. Add some still-warm bread rolls to complete the meal. Probably my favourite dish to make, because it's not really standard, and that I was pleasantly surprised with the taste the first time I made it. On a related note, my sister can make some good vegetable soups. She usually doesn't make 'em for dinner, though. I think it's something she does when she's bored or something. Or maybe she just doesn't want to share. Heh.


• Lasagna
• Dreadfully easy as well. Just follow the instructions on the cardboard box it comes in. Haven't made it here in Vlissingen yet because I'm a bit afraid of the oven. Also, I'm not sure if there's a proper sized dish here. Actually the first recipe I knew how to make, thanks to helping mom in the kitchen oh-so many years ago.


• Potatoes, Vegetables & Meat
• About the standard meal here in the netherlands. To be completely honest, I don't really know how to make this kind of meal properly. I'm not too familiar with the time it takes to prepare each individual part. But nothing I couldn't figure out with a little help (or trail & error). Also, for one specific frying pan at home-home, I'm the only one that can use it to bake potatoes in it without burning 'em horribly. Much to my mother's dismay. ("That frying pan is horrible, I'm going to get rid of it soon" -But it's my favourite! "Everything burns in it!" -*uses it repeatedly without problems* "How'd you do that !?" -Tee-hee )


• Chicken Tonight
• Possibly the easiest one ever. A pot of sauce you slow-cook together with (guess what?) chicken for some time. Served together with rice. Has a reputation for being 'student food' because it's so easy to prepare. So much even, that in this house it has gained the status of being too easy. As a result, almost no-one dares to buy it, and it hardly appears on the table, despite that it actually doesn't taste bad or anything. Pretty much undoes the whole 'student food' thing. Oh well ... It's still made at home-home every now and then.

Thursday, January 30, 2003

Gerko, Master Procastrinator, is delaying even more messages due to a headache and a faint feeling of lonelyness.

Going to lay down on my bed for a while, and either I'll post something later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Oh, hey, I have stuff to write about now, but it's going to have to wait untill after I get my shut-eye.

*yawns*

So sleepy.

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Ya' know, I'm really just out of ideas ... Haven't got a clue what to write about.

Sure, there's stuff going on ... but ... Mmmm ...

Oh well, updated the book counter.

Monday, January 27, 2003

Well, yesterday was quite unproductive as well. Got around to some reading yesterday evening, though. I should update my book-counter soonish. And I watched a bit of a sappy (but good) movie on TV. (Unstrung Heroes)

I'm a going out for some groceries now. Hope to be able to write some more later today. (Maybe, something with a bit of lenght.)
On a funny note about that, I looked up the word grocery at dictionary.com, and guess what ? Foodstuffs is an actual word.

So, I'm out buying some foodstuffs. ...

Saturday, January 25, 2003

I feel like ranting but I can't think of any subject at the moment ...

Not feeling like going to bed, either, even though I'm not feeling too great, and my head still hurts. Oh, and I'm kinda tired, too, but that seems to be ignored in the equation.

Friday, January 24, 2003

Yes, today is bleagh.

Pfffft ... my head hurts ...

Today is -bleagh- ...

Woke up at 12, did nothing.
Feeling a bit sick, too ... nothing major, really. Mostly just bleagh

Going to take a shower now, hope that'll fix some.

Why am I still awake at this hour ?
My last conversation ended some 2½ hours ago ...

I'm just bored, I guess ... Too bored for sleep, maybe, even ? ... That's bad.

Bleagh ... I'd better get going. ~sigh~

Thursday, January 23, 2003

Well, I didn't do much today. More or less nothing, really. *sigh* I'll go look around for some relevant websites later tonight. Yesterday wasn't too productive, either, but at least I got up at a reasonable time, (around 11, as opposed to 1 pm today) and went out of the house to exercise my right as a democratic citizen by voting. Not that I'm claiming to really know what it's all about, anyway. I know bits and pieces, so I just cast my vote for some middle-of-the-road, nice-people party whose main guy looks like Harry Potter.

Cooking went fine last tuesday. Gerko makes good tomato soup, provided the stores give him enough pre-made stuff he can mix around.

Hrmmmm ... not sure if there's much else to blab about ... Not right now, I think ...

Tuesday, January 21, 2003

Oh, looky, internet's back a bit earlier than I expected. Joy !

But I won't be on long, though, gotta go make dinner in a bit.

So ...

I'm back at my student-place thingie now. Went for some groceries this early afternoon. Going to make dinner tonight. Soup, again. As opposed to spaghetti. ... Hrmmm ... I should increase my list of different kinds of dinners I can make. Got less than a handful right now.

But what's mostly bothering me is my internet. It's down. Just for me and a couple of others, though. Not everyone is affected. And I'll probably be stuck without it untill tonight. Also, I think it might be partially my own fault, considering I uninstalled something when it started moaning and groaning too much, but it seems like I do need it afterall. Oops. *groan* ... And this is even worse than it used to be : no access at all. So no IM's either. I miss talking to those people. *Sniffles* ... Oh, sure, there's enough real-life stuff to do, I suppose. But for most of those, I'd rather check on-line first. (Opening hours, and such.) Yes, I'm a total geek.

Anyway, I got up around 11:30. Not a great time, but a lot better than half-way into the afternoon. Laundry's spinning already ... *looks at list of things to do* ... ~sigh~ ... I really do need to check on-line for most of these. Oh ! Idea. ! Mom passed me some books along to read. Mostly a bit of the self-help//spiritual kind, but my sister managed to sneak a Stephen King bundle in, too. (But translated into dutch ... WHY !?)

Also, it seems like I had a feline visitor in my absense. There's paws and mudspots near the window, and my bed had mud on it as well. So cute.

Monday, January 20, 2003

Hrmmm ... I suppose I already knew, but it seems like I am a big factor in my mother's current emotional state. She can't take it that I'm doing nothing, and feels like she's failing as a parent. It's not all about me, but I do rank #1 on that list at the moment. Sooooo ... she's kicking me out. Sort of. And she really doesn't want to. But she is ... ~sigh~ ... I really think it hurts her more than it hurts me. ... it's just true. I'm too damn lazy to get off my butt and do something if I don't really have to. Something I got to learn ... And I've known that for a long time already, but I'm lazy in that regard as well ... Shame on me.

Talking to (and trying to comfort) her sort of picked me up, though. I dunno, I realize this must sound strange, but I actually really am feeling better right now than when I wrote my previous entry. More confident, or something, and the 'downer' is pretty much gone. Really strange. So I guess I will be heading to Vlissingen tomorrow. (today)

... Currently staying up trying to fix the HD. I've ignored it's pleas to run scandisk for too long, and now it's littered up with cross-connected files and lots more junk. Most of it is from the Temporary internet folder, so no real damage seems to be done. Taking an awfull long time to go through all that, though. (had to restart, like, 6 times already. It hangs if I set to repair the things automatically.) Now just hope that getting rid of all this should improve this thing's stability, especially since I might not be around for a while. Then again, what this thing really needs is a format C:.

But anyway, as I said, I'm actually feeling pretty OK right now. Heh. How's that for someone who's being kicked out ? Hrmmm .. so long JA2 ... kind of hard to get that to my other PC without a CD burner on this thing. Ah well. If that'd be all of my worries ... *g*

... Blah-blah-blah ... waiting for scandisk to finish. I think it got all the errors out now, but I'm running a full scan again, just in case ...

*walks away from PC*
...
*comes walking back*

... still not done, 'eh ? ... gawd.
*walks away again*

*and back ...*

Ah, screw it. Sleepy time.

Sunday, January 19, 2003

Hmmmmm ... feeling a bit down.

Not really sure why ... Just a general feeling. There's no real reason to. I could come up with some reason about not being able to use the PC when I came home this evening, but that's bull ... I think I might be copying it from my mom, who's not really having the best day in her life emotionally. She'll be fine, sure, but she's just being emotional today. I'm kinda sensitive to people like that, and thus I proceed to (unconciously) copy/paste it onto myself. Or something, I don't know. Maybe this is bull, too, and I'm just trying to find a good excuse so I don't have to face whatever it really is I'm sad about. *shrugs*

Anyway, aside from my current 'down' mood, everything's going pretty well.

In list form, because I'm not feeling like expanding on this too much, because it's mostly boring, anyway, and I have more important subjects to blab about afterwards.

• Gerko got himself a new pair of jeans. Actually, my mom bought it, at the door, even. Black, and in a size I used to wear some 3 years ago. (give or take 1 year) ... Fits fine. No need to pull it up every ten steps. Which is good.


• Gerko got himself some suspenders for his other pairs of jeans. Wearing 'em feels kinda strange, but I'll get used it. So now I don't have to pull up my other jeans every ten steps anymore either. Wheee !


• ... Yeah, that probably means Gerko lost a bit of weight lately. I'm sort of apathic to my entire weight-issue, but when my mom pushed me on the scale some while ago, it didn't overload anymore as it did some year ago or something. Um ... Yay ? Go me ?


• Brothers bought themselves a dart board. It looks nifty. Haven't played with it much yet, though.


• Gerko re-bought himself Jagged Alliance 2 from the bargain bin. It's a pretty nifty game, but some person who deserves nothing more than prolonged time of pain and suffering decided it would be a good idea to translate all the in-game text to dutch. Dutch language in a game == Pure Horror. Had the game for a couple of years already, and when I saw it for sale again for €2.50, I didn't have to think too long to decide and take my chances, hoping it would be the english version this time. (Even asked the store-guy, and "he thought so") No such luck, though, so now I have some extra frisbees.


• That previous point kind of pissed Gerko off. Then, a day later, I remembered I once downloaded the english version. It was ripped from all speech, music and movies, though, so I never really gave it a try. Then I spawned the not-so-ingenious idea to replace those ripped components with my official copy. And 'lo and behold ! It worked. Gerko was very happy. Then I messed it up by patching it to the latest version, after which it started moaning about not having a CD. So I searched for a No-CD patch. Which I found, after some time. It now works like a charm. Um ... YAY ! Go me !


• Gerko went out to the cinema to see Die Another Day with his siblings and father. (Aside from my oldest sister, who's still a bit sick from a cold, and isn't too interested in Mr.007 anyway.) The movie was good, methinks. Stupid me forgot to pack clothes and take my keys along so I could stay there at my student-home. Oops.

Thursday, January 16, 2003

So, I didn't go get me some sleep, either. I will, soon, though. Very soon.

I felt it neccesary to eat some nuts, and take a shower before hitting the sack. ... Shaved, too.

*grmbls* ... stupid mom. She uses my razors every now and then ... I mean, that's ok. I usually keep one for her to use. The bad part is she uses 'em dry. And she doesn't wash 'em out afterwards, either. So these razors die within a couple of uses. ... All fine with me, as long as she sticks to her razor. I've tried telling her not to do that anymore, but she doesn't listen. *sigh* .. But now she used mine. Again, dry, and without washing it off afterwards. *grmbl* ... those things are expensive ... Hmphf ... she buys the next set I need.

Well, G'night ... for real now, I think ...

So, I didn't go back to Vlissingen just yet.

Tuesday, I went out with my mom half-way across the country (I have something with the phrase "half-way across".) to pick up some treatment table. Wooden thing ... I'm not really sure om how sturdy it is, but it seems to hold out okay. At least it managed to hold my weight without cracking, so I guess it's safe enough. Now just see how long the cats will leave it alone.

Took almost all day, as we dropped by her parents on the way there to eat lunch and talk some, and spent quite some time socializing with the people we were getting//buying that table from. On the way back, we had some traffic jams. All in all, not a bad day. At least I got out of the house.

Also, I've gotten involved with the fan-base surrounding Troika Games's next title. Greyhawk : Temple of Elemental Evil is a D&D RPG, based on an old ('85) module that they're now reshaping into a computer game. I don't really know much about D&D, nor it's setting and the module, but since it's made by the same people who made Arcanum, and possibly even more important, Fallout, I'm an instant-fan.

This also fired up some roleplaying cravings, and made me download and illegal version of the Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition Player's Handbook ... baaaaaaaaad Gerko. Now, reading that made my cravings even worse, and now I feel like playing PnP (Pen and Paper) RPG's in real-life with some friends or whatever. Tough chance of that happening, but ... Oh well ... maybe someday. I'm thinking Ganpat would be interested, but he's awfully busy most of the time. I could ask Elise, but she's busy, too. Same goes for Peter. I already asked my sister, but she's kind of scared of doing those kind of things. And I think I could persuade my youngest brother into it as well, but I don't think he could really play a role, as opposed to just trying to make the most powerfull character he can think of. But he could learn, I suppose. I haven't asked the folks in Vlissingen yet. ... Hmmm ... maybe. I don't know.

And even if I could get some people interested, we'd still need a DM or GM (Dungeon // Game Master). I suppose I would have to be it, but I doubt I'd be any good as a DM. Also, there's the matter of material. What kind of PnP RPG are we going to play ? (Dungeons and Dragons ? GURPS ? others ?) You'd need books and manuals for that. Not to mention dice, and possible maps and miniature figures. All things to look into, but only if there's any real chance that I will get some playing done anyway.

~sigh~, so there goes another pipedream.

Hmmmm ... better go get me some sleep ...

Monday, January 13, 2003

Whee ... there we go. Link-Mania !
A couple of link updates on the left. Deleted the Blast Radius link, because the site's dead. It was supposed to become something, but ... it didn't ... Same story goes for Roleplane, but I'm keeping it up a little while longer, 'cos I still sort-of hope it'll revive. No such hope for the earlier one.

The Arcanum Inn got replaced with the Greyhawk Inn. Although the former does still exist, and still carries a bunch of activity, most of it's inhabitants moved to the Greyhawk forum, and now there's something On-Topic to talk about. Finally.

Also, there's an addition to the blogs. Bane, a fellow orderite, started a weblog as well. He thanks me for all the help I offered him in starting up his own, but that's just poppycocks. All I did was say that blogger did most of the difficult stuff itself. Guess that was enough. ... I also added Scott to the list, even though his blog isn't a blog, but a LiveJournal. Scott's an ex-orderite. Also, a warning : his entries are generally completely and utterly incomprehensible for those who are unaware of the underlying real-life events that spawned those pieces of litteracy. ... In other words, his livejournal confuses me. And it will confuse you, too.

I'm thinking about putting up some more links to some of my favourite web-comics, but I'm afraid the list would get a wee bit too long for my liking. Maybe I'll make a normal entry about those sometime.

Real-life related note : I'm supposedly going back to my student-place-thingie in Vlissingen tonight. Actually, I've been 'supposedly' going back there ever since around ... uh, Jan 4th or so, but I'm such a good procastrinator. See ? there isn't any "Oh, hurray, it's 2003" stuff up here yet, either.

Thursday, January 09, 2003

Gerko gets fanmail !
OH BOY ! ... w00tness ! Got a request from someone to make a Winamp3 version of my PIPBoy skin for Winamp 2.x ... Already had a few earlier request for it. And I used to get a lot of fanmail when the skin was first published in early 2000. ... So I'm putting it on my "To Do" list. Or better yet, my not-really-existing-just-yet New Year's Resolutions list ...

Wednesday, January 08, 2003

Hrmmmm .... Had another bad day. It started monday evening/night, when I spent 2 hours laying on the couch, trying to sleep there instead of going to bed. At some half past 3 in the morning, I finally crawled into it, and didn't creep out untill almost 5 pm. Continued to be grumpy, crouchy, down, tired, and overally depressed and irratable for the rest of the day. Mom's attitude wasn't really helping any. (She's not feeling too great either lately, has her own problems to take care off. And my problems distract her, or something, and she can't take 'em. Up to the point of almost-kicking me out of the house.)

So, today was crap. Well, up untill a little over and hour ago, 'cos I'm feeling pretty darn well right now. Not great, but good enough. Quite strange how such a change comes over me like that.

Oh well ...
I'd better go get some sleep, G'night.

Wednesday, January 01, 2003

Oh, Juny came on-line. We talked a bit. She thought she dreamed about me, but in reality, she didn't ... *g*
It's some 45 minutes later now, though, and I really am going to get some sleep now. Feeling somewhat better.

So ... tonight was ok, I guess ...
I'm a bit calm//down at the moment, though. Disappointed, maybe ? ... although I wouldn't know what about.

I'll try and write up some more ramblings about the how what any why, and some other misc. stuff ... tomorrow (today), or the day after that (tomorrow) ... Got stuff to do Jan 1st. Like being dragged to my grandmother and meet the entire family.

Also, I suppose I'm going to have to make a "reflection" entry. About 2002, and what it meant to me and whatnot. I haven't really given it any real thought myself yet, though ... so .... Meh, I'm tired, and there's no-one on-line to bother with my rantings talk to. Will go hit the sack soon, unless someone comes on. ... *craves some human interaction*