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Today is that one day in a year when we turn the imaginary page of time and wake up in a brand New Year…page 2010 in the ‘book of life and the world’ has almost been written, and all experiences of the past year are in it.

Good to know that they are stored in a safe place; in our memories…one can always look back, laugh, cry, read and learn.

Writing things down and then turning the page also means that things can be put to rest…a good moment to go on and look forwards towards all that future offers.

Time…o-so relative…live your life in the Now, fill each moment with unconditional love and share that…

Another ‘basement day’ has ended, and the end is near; most
of the IKEA goodies are installed and waiting to be used! It’s a
good feeling to complete this clean-up just before the New Year, it
means that 2011 begins with a head-start!! Only one day to go and
another year has past, wow…

David Viscott: “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.”

OK, let the games begin!!

We received a first bid on our house yesterday and are currently in negotiation! The initial bid was way too low, as expected actually since ‘they’ say it’s a buyers market, meaning that potential buyers try to buy for a bargain…Well, we *want* to sell, but don’t *have to* and will therefore not go under the lowest price we set…there are more people interested in it too, so if you want it, you’d better hurry! 😉

For more details, please check:

– direct link to our real estate agent (Borgdorff in Wateringen)

– http://funda.nl/47975786 on Funda, ‘the’ house-seekers site  in NL

We’re spending the coming days in the basement; with a week off I finally have some time to sort out several boxes that have been moved a couple of times too much; two times in NL and two times in Norway, oops! 😉

Yeah, it’s about time to clean up and throw away some old shit!

The most obscure item I found so far: a SCSI tape drive (with four tapes!)…Ha, I guess you qualify for the geek-of-the-decade competition if you know what that is! 😉 Well, that unit is now trashed, together with two old floppy drives, several ancient hard disks (one had a stunning 125Mb capacity, wow!! 😉 ) and more…hehe, *much* more to go through tomorrow…the final result should give us a gym, sauna, home-office *and* ‘cat-room’ in the basement!!

With the good vibes and energy of last night still floating around, second Christmas Day turned out nice and relaxed; it started with a Xmas brunch at a friends place (well…’started’…it was 13:00h ha! 😉 ) where everybody brought something to eat. with many nationalities present, there was a great variety of yummy food to choose from…as the Xmas tradition dictates, I ate way too much oof! 😉

Tonight we’ve turned into couch potatoes and are watching movies; just finished Red and now starting The Social Network.

Ho, ho, ho…Merry Xmas everybody!

Enjoy these days of love, light and warmth!

And, share the spirit…we’re doing something special this year; we invited the KLM crew that arrived this afternoon in Oslo for Christmas dinner at our place!

Since all restaurants in Oslo are either fully booked or closed today, this gives them a special Xmas before they fly back tomorrow…

As I said; share the spirit…have a LOVEly Xmas y’all!!

Julaften or Christmas Eve is traditionally the main event during the Xmas festivities in Norway. A big traditional Christmas dinner and lots of gifts under the Xmas tree is what it is mostly about (while being with family and/or loved ones).

We decided to have an alternative Julaften; no big dinner, but Dutch traditional pea soup/’snert‘ instead, yummm!! And even though Santa (uhh, Julenissen!) brought us some presents under the Xmas tree, most of the evening will be centered around the ‘All You Need Is Love Xmas special’ with Robert ten Brink (everyone in NL knows exactly what this is). Parts of the TV show are recorded in Norway (Bergen, Finse and Flåm) which is nice but still…there are days that I wished we didn’t have dutch satellite TV! 😉

Hehe, Xmas spirit arrived with the walk to the Lysdammen lake this afternoon, it was magical! (see below…it’s hard to believe that this is the same lake!)

Playing Xmas tunes the whole day is another great way to get into the spirit; one of my favorites: The Pogues – Fairy Tale of New York…enjoy!

“Happiness – The only thing that doubles when you share it.”

I don’t know who it is from…so true and beautiful!

British humor is…well, friggin’ brilliant!! Check out this sketch from The One Ronnie show…LoL 😉

Yeah, that’s right, it is December 21 and today is Global Orgasm Day!! (my motto; make everyday a GoD! 😉 )

The concept is explained on their website:
‘Let’s see how many people we can get to join our cause and make the biggest difference on the planet!’

When?
Practice as often as you would like!  Especially on full moons, new moons, solstices and equinoxes, or when you remember!

What?
Dedicate an orgasm to Peace.

Who?
All men and women – you and everyone you know.

Where?
Everywhere in the world, but especially in those countries affected by war or violence – those most in need of peace.

Why?
To effect positive change in the energy field of the earth through conscious dedication of orgasmic energy to the vibration of Peace. Our minds and our biology influence Matter and Quantum Energy fields, so by concentrating our thoughts before, during, and after orgasm on peace and loving-kindness, the synergy of high orgasmic physical energy combined with the power of positive visualization could help reduce global levels of violence, hatred and fear.  Orgasm is the largest possible instantaneous surge of human biological and spiritual energies. It is a biological gift!  What better way to achieve your resolution for Peace?

Practice, practice, practice (safely)!  Tell all your friends about this website and encourage them to participate!  Help this year be the biggest Global-Oh since we began tracking it.

Yet another reason to forget about plastic and go completely cash!! 😉

I don’t think that anyone missed this one last week, we’re all connected ah? I still favor the 2006 Person of the Year…YOU! 😉

TIME.com: ‘For connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them, for creating a new system of exchanging information and for changing how we live our lives, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is TIME’s 2010 Person of the Year’

This ‘beatbox’ girl is amazing! Her name is Julia Dales and this two-minute clip features DJ mixes, a bass line, drums, and an excellent remix of Justin Timberlake, Fergie and Nelly Furtado.

Don’t try this at home folks, you might break your tongue!

Snow and NL is no good match at all; half the country came to a complete standstill and that meant that my flight got canceled! 🙁 I missed a great dinner with friends due to the white powder…very nice of them to cancel the dinner because I couldn’t make it though! (or was that because no one could make it, crazy situation on the highway and trains got canceled too…) 😉

Well, at least I have my share of fun; snow is falling here too, big flakes at the moment putting a nice fresh 10cm layer on top of the 20cm that we already had (I love the white backyard, magical!)…and, NO problem for cars, trains, buses nor airplanes here! 😉

Oops…!

Note to self; don’t go to the beach, drink vodka like a true Russian and then try to get dressed…it’s actually pretty sad, and funny! 😉

…

This next one is *as bad*, but matches the time of year somewhat better…ho ho hooooo!!

If you were not aware of it; your iDevice makes a great music instrument…get into Xmas mood! It’s the North Point’s iBand playing Feliz Navidad on iPhone and iPad!

Melanie Benjamin: “What very mysterious things days were. Sometimes they fly by, and other times they seem to last forever, yet they are all exactly twenty-four hours. There’s quite a lot we don’t know about them.”

Anyone who flew internationally lately (especially in/to the US), has been faced with the latest attempt of governments trying to get people out of airplanes (and in the US; into trains, highspeed rail is the meme!) by forcing you to go through full body scanners (aka naked body scanners).

These scanners use high-frequency radio waves to produce an image of a passengers naked body beneath clothes. Anything a passenger is carrying against the body — weapons, drugs or explosives — would be exposed. The scanners would also reveal the presence of prosthetic devices and breast implants.

Well…there already have been privacy and legal concerns raised about the invasive equipment, PARTICULARLY because it is unclear if the scanners would be able to detect explosives hidden in body cavities and would therefore likely provide only minimal security…it’s all a scam…(although many would not mind any ‘naked’ pics of some celebs floating around the net, ah? 😉 )

More and more people are opposing, last November 24 was National Opt-Out Day in the US (you opt-out for the naked body scanner and get a full pat down in return, uhhh…) and members of the Pirate Party in Germany earlier organized a flashmob where people stripped down to their skivvies and converged on the Berlin-Tegal airport. Nice one! 😉

Today turned out to be pretty similar as last years ‘second Sunday in December’, this is what I wrote Sunday December 13 2009:

‘…Robbert left this afternoon, so the party weekend is over…

Well, almost: I went to see ‘The Real Choir‘ in the local cultural center tonight…’

Interesting and coincidental 😉 …again, this weekend was all about party, Robbert left this afternoon and after that we went to see ‘The Real Choir‘ once again. Their Xmas concert, done together with a Romanian orchestra, was spectacular, special and really gets me into Xmas mode!