Hello hello!

How's everyone been?

It's seems like ages ago since I posted the previous blog (probably because it actually dates from the time animals were able to speak, banks weren't bankrupted and the good old lay-out of this site was still floating about...those were the times).

In the meantime I attended a couple of concerts (the Pukkelpop festival was great; saw Sigur Rós there and they were absolutely stunning, Bloc Party was really nice as well, I saw the F#ck Buttons for the first live (what a name!), Two Gallants were great and I discovered this nice band called Black Mountain… )

Sigur Rós (@Pukkelpop): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IeilO13PeU

Bloc Party: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R6S5CJWlco

F#ck Buttons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ph8z8-RCGs

Two Gallants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWqmgUcuQHU

After seeing Sigur Rós I didn't want to see anything else…I just wanted to cherish the nice feeling they left me with for a little bit longer…so I went straight to my tent. Now, for those who have never been on a festival campsite, it's usually not the quietest place on earth; people (often drunk) shout all night long, tents standing shoulder to shoulder, people get lost all the time 'cause the tents look similar in the dark…anyway, I got into my sleepingbag and whilst thinking of the highlights of the past day I somehow managed to doze off…at a certain moment, I turned around in my sleepingbag with one eye half-open…all of a sudden there's a bloke in my tent sniffing through my stuff! I started screaming "hey dude, this is my tent, get out!"…the bloke didn't expect someone to be inside as I heard him mumble "sh!t there's someone in there" while crawling back through the "door".

Now, I don't mind some company, but this isn't the way, right? Before I managed to get into my sleepingbag and into my pyjamas, I neatly put my clothes on a pile next to me…later on, I realized that on his way out, the bloke grabbed something from that pile…which happened to be a sock... and my bra! Again; I think that bloke needs to work on his skills. After some scary moments (I was imagining how to get home…braless…(the horror!) I did find it back, not that far away from my tent..in a puddle. The sock, unfortunately had been kidnapped…I sincerely hope that the smell of the sock will haunt the bloke forever!

Some more gigs on the agenda (all in November): Ólafur Arnalds and…again: Sigur Rós

I think I don't have to introduce you to Sigur Rós…but here's some Ólafur Arnalds for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6u5D-5LWSg

Also in November, I'm planning to go to Amsterdam with 3 former (student)flatmates for a weekend…I'm really looking forward to it, as it's my first real trip this year.

At work I'm still training my sarcasm every day; last week for example, one of the nurses was explaining that she went to the Vatican in Rome once; a guide told her that the statues of the former dead popes on the mausoleums rest their stone head on one, two or three cushions, according to their intelligence (the more cushions on the grave, the more intelligent the pope was, or so it seems). One of my patients said; "gee, I will probably just have one cushion then on my tomb"…I looked at him and with a deadpanned face I said; "nopes, for you they will have to dig a hole just underneath the head of the statue if you want to come ever so close to a resemblance of your intelligence".

I'm also working on my sense of absurd humour; the same nurse was talking about the Dead Sea later that day; she was telling that, because of the huge amount of salt, it's easy to stay afloat on the water and she claimed no fish can survive the salt environment…my reply; of course there are fish in the Dead Sea; where do you think they catch pickled herring?!?"

Music and work have been covered…now we get to some pictures, if that's ok

At the Belgian coast:

At the Botanic Gardens in Brussels:

Take care my friends!

xxxelkexxx