It is always special to be in NL on Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag), after all it is THE day that the entire country is colored orange, celebrating its orange roots!
It is extra special to celebrate Misha’s first Q-day in NL, even though I am not sure if he understood what all this orange is all about…anyway, it was a lovely day and the fantastic weather made it complete! (actually his oversized hat made it complete! 😉 )
It is Queen’s Day (Koninginnedag) tomorrow, which means that we celebrate the ‘night before the day’ tonight (in dutch: ‘de Nach voor de Dag’). There are festivities in most major cities (and villages) and you can find me in The Hague tonight, enjoying live music (LIFE I LIVE festival) and drinking some uhhh colalalalas!! 😉
Cannot drink too much or be home too late though (responsible dad and so) as it is Misha’s first Queen’s Day tomorrow, on his 7 months + first day! 😉
My third father-son week is about to begin and I decided to spend this week in NL, for various reasons; it is always good to see friends and family (giving mom and dad the chance to ‘really’ congratulate me with my 40th 😉 ), and also Misha told me he needed some extra dutch culture experience, I will go the dentist (way to expensive in Norway 😉 ), enjoy the Queensday celebrations (and the night before 😉 ), and am able to be here when my dad has his Birthday! Haha, it is gonna be busy…looking forward to a great week!!
Nope, I still don’t see the fun of filing tax reports…not even after doing it for the fifth time here in Norway, and not even while most of the items are pre-filled by the Norwegian tax authorities. The lather might give you the idea that it is easy, and it provides you an easy way out; just acknowledge the pre-filled info and submit!
Well, as I am a dutch citizen residing in Norway, owning an house in NL for some part of last year, as I became father in 2011 and have natural urge to not trust the authorities pre-filled info (and therefore I am checking, updating and optimizing the info); this years tax report evening resulted in the traditional frustration, steep learning curve in the (tax)technical norwegian language, an uncontrolled wish to empty a bottle of wine and finally, YES, the eureka&victory moment when everything is done…humpfff, nearly there! (where is that wine? 😉 )
It shows that one should be very careful when declaring God dead…Friedrich Nietzsche tried and, did not succeed! 😉
(no one actually ever will…)
Yayyy today is my Birthday! A rather special one: I am turning 40, the big 4-0 marking the end of my 30’s!? …or does it? In hexadecimal I am turning just 28 today…as you see; age is just a number and most important is that I am still feeling young, cherishing the child in me!! 😉
As for Birthday traditions:
– Cake? Yes! I baked two apple pies (come and get some before my colleagues eat all of it!)
– Party? No big party planned as of now, I am thinking to throw a garden/grill party in the summer though
– Presents? Yesss, of course, many and big! 😉 Seriously, if want to give me a present, please make a donation to a good cause, my Global Village trip to Mozambique, as I wrote last Saturday!! Details are on the Global Village trip page (the green Donate Today button on the right side 😉 )
– and no, there is no Birthday hat, nor sitting on a special decorated Birthday chair! 😉
Robbert came with a great outfit for Misha; an ADO Den Haag baby-survival kit consisting of a pacifier, a bib, and a mascot…hey, these colors suit him really well!! 😉
Today’s match: ADO-Feyenoord…with his outfit on Misha is totally ready for this important match, victory is near!!!
Wow, time flies; it is only 3 weeks (!) before I begin building an orphan home in Mozambique during my Global Village trip with Habitat for Humanity!
I am really looking forward to this experience, as said before; it will be great to physically contribute to a better world by DOING something rather than supporting from a distance.
This support from a distance is actually something that YOU can do and I have a great proposition:
Coming Monday, April 23, I will turn 40 years old (/young 😉 ) and I know that some of you (not all?!? 😉 ) would like to give me a Birthday present. Well, instead of a material something for me, myself and I, I would really appreciate your donation to the Global Village trip as a Birthday gift! (ha, you really cannot say no to that, eh?)
As I wrote two weeks ago, you can support me by making a donation via my Global Village trip page (the green Donate Today button on the right side)…if don’t ‘dare’ to do this online, let me know and we will work it out! 😉
THANK YOU!!
Some weeks ago my neighbor decided to cut down all the trees between our houses. No apparent reason causing a less nature-rich view from the veranda, but the worst thing is that the ‘Great Tits’ don’t find the way to the house no more as there is no tree close enough to check out the bird house…and *that* is something that I can’t accept, obviously! 😉 😉
Some say: ‘Build a tree and get shade for free’…I changed that to ‘build a tree and get a Great Tit for free!’ 😉
A couple of branches fixed to the veranda make a pretty ok tree…and the best thing; it works! This morning I saw two Great Tits sitting on my fake tree, checking out the bird house!! Let them come, let them come…yay!! 😉
I am halfway my second father-son week and went for the 6-month health checkup today (yeah, yeah, the little angel will be 29 weeks tomorrow, but they still call it the 6-month checkup). It was good to hear the doctor confirm that all is good with his royal cuteness; daddy is taking good care (and we have a great time!).
Obviously I already knew that everything would be fine, one look in his eyes tells you everything! 😉
Haha, this sea gull shows the way to live your life: be on top of things, be awake and be aware, and…well, every once in a while do something that others tell you not to do! 😉
Live life according to your own free will…and don’t drop your shit on others!
Push to add drama: “Somewhere in a little town in Belgium…On a square where nothing really happens…We placed a button…And waited for someone to push it…”
It is quite a scene that follows the simple push of a red button. I noticed that at least 4-5 people pushing the button, but as this is TV (/drama) even those could be actors. 😉
Superstition tells us that today is supposed to be a day of bad luck. This believe originates from two separate fears related to Friday the 13th: the fear of the number 13 and the fear of Fridays. Both fears (also called friggatriskaidekaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia) have deep roots in Western culture, mostly from Christian theology.
Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party to arrive. The fear for Fridays is because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. And some theologians claim that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on a Friday.
Well, I am not sure if you experienced any bad luck today, but since this superstition is so rooted in our society, it gives you at least an excuse in case anything bad has occurred. 😉 And that is also the main reason that this day is still believed to bring bad luck; no, the folklore of Friday the 13th doesn’t have much to do with people’s fears today, it has much more to do with personal experience. People learn at a young age that Friday the 13th is supposed to be unlucky (for whatever reason) and they then look for evidence that supports the legend. And evidence is never hard to find…If you have a car accident on one Friday the 13th, lose your wallet, break a leg, or even spill your coffee, that day will probably stay with you. But when you think about it, ‘bad’ things, big and small, happen all the time, so if you’re looking for bad luck on Friday the 13th, you’ll probably find it.
Just as an experiment (and to balance things): try to find some good things that happened to you today, trust me they *are* there…joy! 😉
I learned something new today: I always thought that it was mandatory in Norway to change winter tires for summer tires before May 1 (just as it is mandatory to change to winter tires before November 1)…well, not true!
I was told today that one needs to change to summer tires the weekend after Easter, but *only* when you have winter tires with spikes…aha! Well, that means that I don’t have to change tires (x2) this weekend…also good since there is (again) some snow predicted coming week! (will this winter never end??)
These years will go down in history as the iFamily era! 😉
Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness (defined as: “mental cleansing: family conferences in which relationships were set right through prayer, discussion, confession, repentance, and mutual restitution and forgiveness.”)
The book Zero Limits brings the new idea that the main objective of hoʻoponopono is getting to “the state of Zero, where we would have zero limits. No memories. No identity.” To reach this state, one has to repeat constantly the mantra, “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.”.
It is based on 100% responsibility; taking responsibility for everyone’s actions, not only for one’s own. If one would take complete responsibility for one’s life, then everything one sees, hears, tastes, touches, or in any way experiences would be one’s responsibility because it is in one’s life. As we all know, loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world…
So; “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you.”
Happy Easter everyone!
Riddle of the Day: one egg is no egg, two eggs is half an egg, thee eggs is an Easter Egg…hope you enjoyed your eggs at Easter breakfast/brunch! 😉
One picture says more than a 1,000 words, so nine pictures say… 😉
My first ‘father-son’ week was FANTASTIC, Misha made the ‘father-son bonding’ easy and feeling like a longggg relaxing weekend…it was fun!
Yesss, it’s really going to happen!!
I received the orientation packet from Habitat for Humanity for my Global Village trip to Mozambique, and guess what? It came with a Team Member T-Shirt, so I am part of the team, yayyy! 😉
There will be regular updates on my blog with my preparation progress…there are less than 5 weeks before my departure, wow!
Most important for now: you can support me by making a donation via my Team member page (do it now! 😉 )
I like the tagline on the back of the T-shirt: ‘Making a world of difference’.
I went to the office today to show Misha (his first time with daddy to work, he was thrilled! 😉 ), although the actual reason was that I had to work a little, despite my week off. 🙁
Misha was supposed to be my PA 😉 but he apparently needs more training; the little angel fell asleep!! (or could it be that I am so organized that there wasn’t much for him to do?? 😉 )
raymondpoort.com is proudly powered by
WordPress
Entries (RSS)
and Comments (RSS).
