Gerko's Weblog

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

 IT HATH RETURNED ! *

(*: apologies to Douglas Charles Sauncy)

Monday. After a weekend of wrecking nights playing some stupid console game, and being generally annoyed and on a short fuse, I left home-home and headed for work by train. Work was pretty much the same as usual, only a little more tiring considering I had messed up my sleeping schedule the weekend before. (Still recovering from it, actually. Not Good.) After work, however, instead of taking the train or bus home, I had an appointment with my driving instructor. (This was because something had gone wrong with my previous appointment thursday, where I waited for him in Middelburg near work, while he was waiting for me in Vlissingen near my student-home-place-thingie. Afterwards, we couldn't really figure out whose fault it was, so we decided to split the costs. And have the next appointment on this here monday.) Driving went reasonable, (kind-of-as-usual, which really should change.) and after some 50 minutes of that, I was dropped off in Vlissingen.

I got out of the car, waved goodbye, stepped around the corner. And stopped dead in my tracks. I looked. I blinked. I dropped my bag. I laughed. I looked a bit closer and laughed some more.

Right in front of me, less than a street away from where I live, stood my stolen bike. ... Okay, not stolen anymore, apparently, so let's scrap that. Right in front of me stood my stolen vandalized bike. Someone'd got on, and forced riding on it while locked. Result : Lock unhinged from frame, spokes of the wheel broken, flat tire and a messed up mudshield. There was also something wrong with the gears. But ... I had my bike back. Messed up or no, my bike was back in my possession.

Dragging it back to the front of my student-place-thingie, I placed it against the wall, went up to my room and called home.

(sort-of translated into english, also not an accurate recount.)


[Mom] Tineke de Zeeuw.
[Gerko] Hi mom.
[Mom] Hey Gerko. I tried calling earlier but I figured you weren't home yet so I didn't but now you called and ...
[Gerko] ...
[Mom] Well, I went to the local bicycle repair shop for your brothers bike and they had these bikes for sale, so I bought you one. It's an old one, but they had only 4 for sale, and 3 of them were lady's bikes, and Michart tried this one out and said it rides very nice, despite it's oldness. I think you'll like it, since you have this like for old things.
[Gerko] ... Mom, I found my own bike back.
[Mom] What ?
[Gerko] *laughs*, Well, but it's kinda messed up, can't ride it.


That continued for a while, and ended in me heading back home-home by train to come and check out the bike, fiddle with some new phones, watch Star Trek (it still sucks) and get brought back here with new/old bike later that evening, while mom could load in my stolen bike to take it to the bicycle repair man and maybe leave it at home-home for back up. That last part didn't happen, and I ended up leaving home-home tuesday morning, head to work by train, take the afternoon off from work to spend it at my dad's place who also needed my services for some computer program that's still messsing up. (Well, it shouldn't anymore, now.) *pfffffft* Then, the bike-switcheroo happened that evening.

So today, I got to use my new/old bike, and it indeed rides like a charm, though without gears it's not too great for long distances. (Work, at 6-7 kilometers, is doable. But not much more, please.) It feels a little 'small' (though it isn't, really), thin (again, isn't) and old (IS). It's good. A little weird, but good. I think I'm going to love this thing.

Okay, quite incoherent, but I'm still tired from last weekend (and the traveling of the past days). So you're going to have to forgive me. Now it's sleepy time.

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

 ... Well, that's a bummer.

...

Getting home from a long Easter Weekend at home-home, I have the distinct impression that someone might have stolen my bike.

Well, gee. uh, I guess I'll have to use the train tomorrow to get to work.

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

 Books. Lots of 'em.

Okay, blogging time again. Going to keep it a little short this time, though, 'cause I'm rather busy with some stuff.

I've been reading a lot lately. Hard at work with Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle) and the Discworld series (Terry Pratchett). I'm on 4 out of 7-9 (not sure) of the Sherlockian series. And I've read 6 Discworld books so far, out of, uh ... 36 (!?).

Currently, though, my reading has turned to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (Lewis Carroll). Which is rather nice, even though Charles Dodgson was pretty much a pedophile. (The, um, 'real life' name of the author, Lewis Carroll being his pen name.)

Hmmm ... nothing too much else to tell. Well, okay, that's not true, still have quite a bunch of past happenings that would like to be told, but I'm not up for it now. *shrugs*

 Today Yesterday (dumb blogger)

Oh, looks like blogger thinks it's tomorrow already. (Yes, I know I can change the date, but I'm, uh, lazy or sumin') But instead of starting on Feb or March right now, let's momentarily skip forward to April.

April Fool's went by unnoticed, aside from hearing Mom and Alique laugh at some bit of false news in the newspaper.

Last evening, I went to some 'open evening' at the walking-distance college I used to go to. Mostly just to please one of my councilors. (Wow, yeah. Looks like Gerko is so messed up he needs more than one. Bundles of joy !) Walked around a bit. Looked around a bit. Read a bit and decided that the studies he aimed me at really weren't my thing, even though I'd already known that but he believe me on basis on me not having proper arguements for it. On the same grounds, he disapproves of my sort-of decision/plan to go study English Language & Culture in Leiden.

Speaking of which, I signed up for that Colloquium Doctum thing back in mid-feb, and still haven't recieved a final reply with requirements. Yarr.

Oh, and I have too many free days left at work. My contract ends the 7th of July, with no hope of renewal, (Which is a good thing.) and I still have most of my free days left. Going to have to plan a vacation of sorts, I suppose. 'course, there's no money to go on vacation, but oh well. I'll see. Anyone got some suggestions where to use those free days on ?

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

 Back, and recap on January

Eh, how long has it been ? Before I get to some subject which might be of some interest, I'm wondering what exactly the thing is that changed my writing habit into a not-writing habit. Okay, so I I've always had that not-writing habit, but then I wonder where my 'do-writing' habit went to, and why. Or where it came from. Hum. And to complete this stupid little paragraph, I do not know. Ha!

So anyway, here's my decision to get that habit back, because I need it. I feel better when I write stuff. Some sense of accomplishment or just the act of doing something constructive to lift one's spirits.

Taking a trip down history lane of this year, Gerko has had a 'not-date' with Larissa in January. (Ooooh !)

• In Amsterdam, where they went to see Boom Chicago. Which was pretty cool. She had been there before and felt the experience share-worthy. Gerko definatly agreed.


• Before the show, there was dinner. Gerko got some mountain of nachos with molten cheese, and some sauces. Larissa opted for a less exotic hamburger and fries. It was ... interesting. We both got about half-way before we had had 'quite enough', and let the kind waitress people take our plates away.


• The show itself was great. Improv and sketches. 'specially during the improv stuff it was just really cool to see the 'magic' happening on stage.
  
• This was also Gerko's first experience anything close to a date. If a 'real date' would be a place, Gerko's previous experiences would have been on another planet. This could have been called 'next door'. (Okay, maybe not that close, but at least the same town.) Naturally, Gerko was quite scared, but he didn't show it too much. (Aside from mentioning that he was carrying around a pair of scissors in his backpack.)