Miss

Missed me? Miss America. And She Missed The Beat (click and listen!). You can't be missed if you never go away, or so they say, but I can imagine that my absence might have made few of you reluctant to keep checking. Please forward the message to other readers that there's another post on here, and that my Photo Album has been updated!

Last time I wrote here, my parents had just been here, and I've been shortly describing where we've gone, and not so much what we did. I guess this is going to be another one of those posts, but I've been to three concerts in the meantime, so I'll rate those again.

At work, things have been back to their old state. Even though I had my goodbye postcard and switched departments (on paper, as well as on the workfloor for a good 3 weeks), I've been back in Le Marche for the most part. Like, 98% of the time part. Le Marche has changed a lot, not just because/since Pierre left, and we had to manage things without a manager for a long time, but there are only 2 people left working there that I worked with when I started. And that will soon go down to just one of them. The menu has changed too; our signature pizzas have been replaced by Focaccia bread pizzas, which do seem to appeal to people, but to me, they will never be able to beat what we sold before. Other menu items were taken off, good selling items that I wouldn't have touched myself, but that's another thing. New people came. A manager, another MIT (Manager In Training, like myself), and some Baristas. More people will come. More items have come to fill up shelves. Even more items will be added. It's a constant evolving restaurant, but over half of the changes have not benefitted what it once was. The main thing, revolving around the menu change, as well, is that we don't have chefs anymore. They took them out when we still had the old menu, and I ended up making pizzas and other items all night long. That really pissed me off big time since there were so few things in place for me to work with. Ten or eleven hour shifts were standard that first week. Things have calmed down, everything is now streamlined and the new people have seemed to found their way around everything, but Banquets is still completely dead and with Tina officially being transferred as well, there's not much to look forward to, concerning a change of pace.

In the future, however, there is still the planned trip to New York City (May 15-19), somewhat, and a day trip to the Bahamas again (May 21), as well as my ticket to the Vans Warped Tour (July 25) where I'll be seeing Saosin again (CAN'T WAIT!), as well as InnerPartySystem, Escape The Fate, A Day To Remember, Attack Attack!, Monty Are I, The Devil Wears Prada and a load of others.
I've also been thinking of what I want to do in August, when I get to travel. I'm thinking Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, California for about two weeks, and Seattle, before I fly back home. Any tips and ideas are appreciated.

As for the concerts the last few months, which have basically been the only entertainment I've had on my days off, on which I usually catch up with TV series, do some work, make some music, or just do nothing, here's the list with ratings;

First up was Rockstar Taste of Chaos, on March 17, where I had the pleasure of seeing six bands live on one night. It all started out with a local band, who had apparently won a contest (according to their merch guy) that gave them a spot on the stage. Back To The Party [4/10] was nothing but just another poppunk band. Nothing original, nothing good, just nothing. They got a few people energetic and it's still better than no music, but I guess that's all there is to them. Next up was Four Year Strong [7/10]. People with beards making pretty decent music that got things started nicely. Followed by Pierce The Veil [9/10] who seemed to do almost everything right, except for ending with a cover song of Michael Jackson's beat it, as well as playing another cover of Katy Perry earlier. Cancer Bats [8/10] did what they had to. Go fast, go hard and entertain the crowd. Then it was time for the band that almost all teenagers had been waiting for. A show from UK Metalheads Bring Me The Horizon [9/10]. Great set, energetic, but they didn't overwhelm me as much as they could have, given the air time their latest album Suicide Season got with me. A lot of teenagers then went out the venue to score autographs and pictures with BMTH, but then missed out on the very best band of the evening, Thursday [10/10]. The music live sounds so much better than on CD, and everything sounded so mature and well played.

The next show that I've got to see what Silverstein headlining a nice night of screams. Before Their Eyes [7,5/10] were up first, playing solid, but not impressive. Second show, the next band, where the cover song was actually the highlight of the show. Apart from the 40+ times Fuck the singer mentioned, their Britney - Toxic cover (released on Punk Goes Pop Vol. 2) there wasn't much memorable about A Static Lullaby [5/10]. Third band of the night was BlessTheFall [8,5/10] where their sreaming bass player was actually better than their new frontman Beau Bokan (who replaced Craig Mabbitt after his departure to Escape The Fate). Old songs from Craig sung by Beau went alright, and he's as much of a pretty boy as Craig is, but it all doesn't appeal that much. Silverstein [10/10] ended the night perfectly, playing songs from almost all of their albums, and bringing the BTF Bass/Screamer on stage for an encore with them was well done. I said an encore, but they actually played a 3-song encore that noone seemed to mind at all. The crowd was far from perfect this night (unlike at Taste Of Chaos) which was a slight shame, but it's been a good night.

Then last night, the 25th, I saw Dredg perform again (yes, I did). They were supported by two other bands, first being the instrumentalists from From Monument To Masses [9,5/10] who had an amazing drummer, a very energetic and diverse guitar player and a good bass player to round it off. Great songs live (slightly better than on the CD I bought last night) to get everyone started.
The second band was Torche [2/10] which was a downright joke. Getting things started with some kind of personal party was good enough, but after that one song everything seemed to be ready for fast, loud, hard and without any skill or passion. Dredg [9/10] performed as they did last time, only slightly less active in between songs. Less interaction, slightly less passion, as if they were just there to get things over with. No encore either, but luckily they played Ode To The Sun and Bug Eyes already. They played the same new songs they played half a year ago as well, so no new material this time, really.

I think that's all for now. I'll be updating my photo album and add descriptions to it for everyone to look at, and there's one more youtube video to be posted (but be sure to check out the song And She Missed The Beat, linked to in my first paragraph).

Thursday - Resuscitation Of A Dead Man

Times Like These

Times like the past month. And two weeks. The past six weeks in total. It's been way too long, and frankly, I still don't feel like prioritizing any of this to share the weekly stories. For some reason I just want to spend my time doing nothing in particular, wasting time with small things that don't take too much thinking or doing. When I'm at home, at least. I do still waste my time on other things when I'm not sitting behind the computer, or downstairs.

So, what happened all these weeks? After I got back from Colorado, because that's how long it has been (and I wonder who kept checking back every now and then to check if I posted an update, I'm sorry to those of you). And this is the thing with not posting things and not really track either. I can't remember everything of it.

I'm going to give a quick recap of the things I do know, and I guess it started with a transfer from Le Marche to Banquets. Getting myself some insight in the world of meetings, weddings and big group dinners. The first two weeks I was there I worked in the set-up team. Changing meeting rooms into the form the people wanted it to be (well, not changing the rooms, but the tables, chairs etc. in them). I got acquainted with the names of the meeting rooms, each of them carrying a translation for Sun (or having the name Sun itself). I still don't know all the languages they're in, but most you can place, being Akala, Aurinko, Del Sol, Jua, Sonne, Soleil, Surya and Tai Yang. Whenever I work in Banquets now, I mostly direct the meetings, together with Waldin, the manager. I get to look pretty in suit, steer things, run around for things that are missing and making sure the people are happy and well informed. Whenever it's not too busy in Banquets and they basically can deal without me, I work in Le Marche still.
That's it for the work situation, I think. If there are any questions about anything I'm pretty sure I'll find them in my inbox or as a reaction somewhere.

Next up; family vacation. I've had some company from the people I used to live with. Mom, Hans and my sister came over for two weeks. Picked them up from Miami Airport on a monday night (after one missed turn at the airport I spent another 30 minutes to try and get back there, I officially hate that place now, so please, fly to Fort Lauderdale Airport if you want me to pick you up - actually, I think I know Miami by now too, but yeah). The Tuesday after I got to work a double shift in both Le Marche (morning) and Banquets (evening). In the days that followed I worked some more, but found some time to hit Sawgrass Mills quickly, for some outlet shopping with all of them. Knowing the size of Sawgrass, I had to warn everyone to shop different than what they're used to. No random browsing, but looking for the things you want or need, and keep going, if you want to see most of the shops in the few hours we had. I bought a nice shirt to wear to work, and some sports clothing. I think there's nothing more to shop for except a few more shirts to expand my leisure collection even further. I seem to be developing an addiction for shirts slowly. Friday we left for Miami to head out on a cruise to the Bahamas. The ship was amazing and easy when docked, but the waves make it a whole different story. Dining in a room that makes your head reach for your food automatically, or pushing your fork away from your mouth, now that's something! Arrived at Nassau overnight, and spent the day walking around the streets, trying to get some authenticity insight by not joining any tours but picking our own streets. The weather was in our favor, as it should be, and we had a nice day. Getting back for docked dinner on the ship, and a night of taking things easy and browsing around. The next day we would leave early in the morning, and spend a day at sea, getting to constantly stuff ourselves with whatever we wanted to eat and drink around there, and playing some mini golf or getting some tan (or should I say sunburn, for two of them), before getting back to sleep again later that day. Early morning in Miami found us without transportation, so unfortunately, a nicely priced cab took us home. I got to work some more in the week after, and had my days off from Friday to Monday, giving us the chance to visit Miami for a day of walking around (visiting Bayside Marketplace, Lincoln Road for late lunch, and getting a glimpse of South Beach). The day after was Keys day, driving to Key West very early, stopping at Key Largo, eating at Islamorada and browsing Key West later, stopping at a few State Parks along the way. Personally, I think the road to Key West is lots better than the city itself, but being there for an extra night and morning might not hurt anyone for later. The way back went about twice as fast, not having to stop anywhere along the way.
Then, a day off to go easy, and departure day, taking everyone to Miami again.

I've also found a new hobby to waste my time and money on (I know, this sounds way worse than it is, or even slightly demeaning, but I assure you all, it's nothing like it), called Valeria. Went to see a concert with her and my sister, seeing five bands perform in Revolution Live, being Anarbor [n/a], Every Avenue [6,5/10], Meg & Dia [7,5/10], Breathe Carolina [5,5/10] and Cute Is What We Aim For [8,5/10].

There has, of course, been way more to the past few weeks. I could describe the concerts, mention events, nights out with Valeria and share some anecdotes from work or home (like one of Georgi's Bulgarian friends ending up on the couch of the neighbours, at night) but that's something for another night in person with all of you reading this.

I also have to share two songs now. First, an acoustic version of Foo Fighters - Times Like These, just because it's one of the nicest acoustic versions ever, and second, the new video from Red, an orchestral hardrock band who have just released their second album, called Innocence And Instinct, the song being called "Death of Me".

Ride

So, I've just spent my days off in Colorado. Snowboarding. Wonderful vacation, and everything I needed to really have it feel like a vacation. A sunny beach doesn't do that anymore, and luckily, almost every single thing there in Colorado was a complete change from what it is over here.
Instead of everything being completely flat, there are hills and mountain ranges everywhere you look. Instead of blocks of housing, the streets are actually curved and have proper streetnames (instead of 8th, 9th or 10th Street). The weather was freezing and there was snow all over, instead of the sweaty weather with sun every minute. I spent my time off, accompanied by girls only (and Bart, of course), instead of the other housemates and people dropping by, who are guys 90% of the time.

On day one, we left from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport (FLL) at 6:15, meaning we had to get up early enough to actually catch that flight. I had closed the day before, but was surprisingly awake and remained in that state throughout the day. We had one stop to make on our way to Denver, which was in Houston. Everything on the way to Houston was easy, seeing the sun rise on the way there, and having a pleasant trip. Had an hour to wait at the airport, and boarded the next plane. While making our way to take-off, we stop and wait for a short period of time. After that stop we are told that we are going back to the gate to have engineers check on the plane. We are told to wait for 15 minutes. For another 30. Then asked to leave the plane. While at the gate again, we are told we would be getting an update within the hour. After that hour, another hour before they know something. Then they knew they had to be looking for another plane (I saw 6, just looking out the window, but apparently they were no good to us). We were waiting for a plane from L.A. to land so they could prepare that for our flight instead. Total delay on Houston; 6,5 hours! On our way to Denver again. When landed there, we were quick to pick up our luggage and made our way to the CME (Colorado Mountain Express) desk quickly. Marieke had arranged this for us already, with her employee/contacts discount. We were able to get on a bus straight away, and it basically left when we got in. Packed in warm clothing we drove through dark mountains for little over 2 hours (sun went down after leaving Denver) and we were picked up by Kiki, Marieke and Fleur at the Vail Transportation Center. Went to celebrate their housemate's (New Zealand's own Juliet) birthday in town at a restaurant that was all too tropical for the surroundings. Employees in Hawaii shirts and ocean-like carpet on the floor. Had a good meal though, and had a little piece of cake for the birthday celebration.
Found our place in the loft of the apartment, which was a good sleeping place, if it wasn't for that staircase (getting back to that later).

Day two found us waking up at 6:30, to go and arrange our snowboards and other gear around 7:30. All this was arranged with the down payment of a sturdy supply of beer. Ready to go, we went by home again to pick up some final items, and we went with the bus, which stops across the street, to have it take us to Beaver Creek Village, from which we departed up the hill, after using our discount coupons for the lift tickets (normally 92 a day, now 45). Kiki and Fleur were with us, and we went up the mountain, going all the way up to the top, going down a few times and taking that Cinch Express lift up every time again. I got the feel of it quite quick, despite my small amount of experience. Apparently I did better than everyone expected me to do, having only a bit of indoor experience, never being down a real mountain in real snow before. Had our lunch at Spruce Saddle, a (green certified, being the only one in a ski-area) restaurant. It was located between the initial lift we took from Beaver Creek, the Centennial Express and Cinch. We also had to go find Bart once, by the way. We sent him down a black slope and Kiki and I would go take it easy for me instead. However, Bart's slope didn't quite end where we hoped it did, and Kiki went in pursuit mode and talked to him. I went down a nice blue slope there, trying to get to where they were. Kiki found Bart and arrangements were made. Took a few slopes down the other way, and found ourselves in Bachelor Gulch for the rest of the day. One of the slopes goes by Kiki's work in that same village. Later that day we had Marieke join us, but I didn't get a chance to board with her just yet as I made a pretty nasty fall when I was going down with one of my highest speeds of the day. It all felt really good, going down, and I had my confidence with me. At one point, I had a sentence going through my head (I don't know if it was from a song or anything) and the next thing I know is that I use my board to slow myself down. I was lying flat on my back for a minute, trying to get everything straight again, and I went down with broken confidence and a few sore spots. These kind of things don't help the mental state and I just didn't dare to do certain things anymore, making boarding far from comfortable, so that's when I called it a day. They went up for a few more runs, as I waited down at McCoy's restaurant in Beaver Creek again. Marieke went back to work (just boarding during your break, how cool is that?) and Fleur and I had some Starbucks while Bart and Kiki did some runs again. At the end of the day, the three of them went back up for some final action.

Saturday was action in Vail! One of the most famous winter sport places in the States, Vail provided us with big slopes, more beautiful people and the same great weather as the day before. In Vail, the mountain has a double use, as you can use the front side, and the back bowls. These are, as the name suggests, bowl shaped runs down, everything starting from all sides, and ending in a distinct point down the pointing, coming together. We started off with some rides on the front side, as the Back Bowls are usually blue and black slopes (medium to difficult). On our first time down the Back Bowls we used one of the catwalks to get down, very flat paved roads that go throughout the landscape getting you from A to B as well. These roads should be fun, but they're not. Not if you've got my beginner skills of going fast straight. Apart from not being able to steer well when there's no speed, I also had problems maintaining any speed at all, causing me to stop at certain points of the trail. That particular (called; Sleepytime, no kidding) trail took a lot, and I mean a lot of energy out of me. Luckily, like after each and after slope, there's a lift going up which allowed me to recover a little bit. Going down the Chopstix in China Bowl, making me practice those straight speeds and having a huge amount of fun while doing so (without falling) was not worth the Sleepytime ride, but it made for at least some of it. Lunch up on the mountaintop at Two Elk Restaurant (were 5 drinks, 5 cookies and a sandwich will get you to 58 bucks - without employee discount, that is). Did one or two more Bowl runs down and went to the front of the mountain again, finishing up the day.

Day 3 of snowboarding (day 4 of the vacation) brought us, early in the morning, to Vail again. Having sworn to not do anymore catwalks today, we still went to the Back Bowls. Found another catwalk down instead (which was better) and did more Chopstix runs down. Again, went to Two Elk to replenish energy, and had a great day there. Made our way up to another peak and went down Cloud Nine. The best slope I've gone down in all these days. On the top of that slope, the paths were surrounded by trees, and you could take about 5 directions because of all the groups of trees standing on the slope. Was a great sight, great feeling and made for a lot of fun, twisting and turning your way down. The second part of that slope was a steep kind of catwalk. Quickly going, neatly paved and broad enough for all kinds of traffic to go through. Had a great day in Vail, the last day with all of the girls. Or any of the girls, actually, since every single one of them had to work on monday. When we got home, we did some quick groceries, and Bart went to play Pancake Chef.

Day four found us back in Beaver Creek, were Bart and I took the same elevator up as the first day (Centennial), after we got another set of comped passes for 45$ each (instead of the 92 in Beaver Creek a day, or 97 in Vail, where we also got one free day, and one 45$ pass).
Did about four runs on the newly groomed way down from Cinch, as there were hardly any people on the slopes at the time, and they provide for a good warm-up. Did a small piece of black slope there, but had to really keep my brakes on there. After the fourth run we took a left, and followed the slopes and lifts we needed to get to Bachelor Gulch. Before we got there, we had another catwalk to take, and yes, it was a really bad one. Took the Bachelor Gulch Express there, up the mountain, and stayed left as much as we could, following SMS instructions from Kiki, who wanted to welcome us to her work with some hot drinks (coffee for Bart and Hot Chocolate for me). Her work was conveniently located straight off one of the slopes, allowing her to literally snowboard to work if she wanted to. Rested up, enjoyed the hospitality and the nice interior of the place, and went back snowboarding. We spent the day with earphones in one ear, having music downhill. A nice selection of It Dies Today, Lostprophets and Silent Descent being my soundtrack of the slopes. Around 2PM, going downhill, I made a weird fall on one of the blue slopes around Bachelor Gulch, during which I hurt myself quite bad (I think I might have fallen on my phone, which in turn bruised my ribs). I told Bart that was the end of my day, after I had remained in the snow for a minute. Took our time to make it back to Beaver Creek again, and I went to wait at McCoy's again, while Bart took his time for final runs down the mountain. That night it was pizza time at a place called Pazzo's. Which, truly, made the best pizza I've eaten (on a little sidenote, I hardly ever ate it before I got to the States).
After that we went for a little drink in ice cold Vail (it could get down to -5/10 Celsius, or 10 Fahrenheit if you want). During our stay in one of the bars, we were presented with two printed photos in magnetic holders. They are now placed on our fridge for everyone to enjoy. The photos are also up at this photobook you all know so well by now.

Day 6 found us picked up around 11AM by the CME again, taking us to Denver airport for a non-delay flight to Fort Lauderdale, stopping at Dallas this time around. Landed 20 minutes earlier than planned, around 11:20, and had Georgi pick us up.
Great vacation, great experiences, and absolutely amazing hosting from the girls over there. Everything was arranged, everything had a discount, and they were stunning company (and guides) over there. We joked about going there again before the season ends. If work didn't require all the time, and if I had the money, I probably would. They might be coming over to get some beach feeling with us in May instead, so we'll see.

One of my favorite tracks going downhill; Lostprophets - To Hell We Ride

More Running

So, another week went by. Another post from my side. To keep the people updated that do not spend their time talking to me on MSN. Here's what happened since last sunday;
I had my standard days off again, Wednesday and Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were working days in which I did my evening shifts again. Tuesday, after work, I was hanging around in the kitchen area, and talked with Pedro and Yatha. Made myself some fries in the meantime, and made the deal to go running next morning. Come Wednesday, around 11, no Pedro, and he didn't answer his phone. So it was Yatha and myself going for the projected run. For those who want to live it with us, here's the image. Feel free to look it up on Google Maps yourself as well and zoom in and such;

Route; 1401 NE 9th Street - 901 NE 20th Ave - 505 N Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd - 2317 E Las Olas Blvd - 101 SE 15th Ave - 701 NE 15th Ave - 1401 NE 9th Street.
If you fill these in in Google Maps (find Route and Add Destinations) you'll get the entire route lined out for you. Per street address you can also see photos, I believe.
After that, we went to the bank (in Tina's car) before heading off to Sawgrass Mills. While at Wachovia for the banking stuff, we ran in to Marinka, who was with Tommy (inside the bank at the time), offering up to get something to drink at Borders on Sunrise. Borders is a big book shop which also sells CDs and DVDs, and has a coffee shop in there, which has a terrace on the water. It's on my way to work, but I've never been there before. This time around, I bought a lot of books from Baldacci in English print. I think everyone in the house (and someone at work) have gotten their hands on one of the copies so I'm spreading the virus!
At Sawgrass, we split. Yatha and I went one way, Marinka and Tommy the other. I went to look for some snowboard gear. Pants, jacket and some thermo clothing to keep me warm out there. Found everything I was looking for, basically. Yatha found everything he wasn't looking for, and ended up with 80 dollars worth of cosmetics. Wonderful stuff. I must add, the appearance of the sales lady definately helped. Gorgeous.
Went back to rendezvous point around 5:35, as we would be there at 5:45. Tommy and Marinka showed up a 6:10, with only 3 bags total, from nothing but the Hilfiger shop. How hard can things be? I remember people being there for 11 hours straight. It's not that hard to do it faster, despite the mall being HUGE.
On Friday, after work, I went to McSorley's, the Irish pub, with Yatha, Tony (MIT at the Pool), Nikolay (F&B Manager) and Tyler (bartender). Tony left early, but we ended up playing darts, a game of stones and sand, similar to bowls, or curling, I guess. I won 2 out of 3 games (teams changed every time), and I love that game a lot.
Before going home we stopped by Primanti Bros, one of the most famous pizza places in the city. I think they're open 24 hours a day. Had a good bite of Pepperoni pizza.
Saturday, Bart and I went to the ski shop on Sunrise here, to get out goggles, gloves and socks that we still missed. Got everything but the boards and helmets now, but we'll rent those in Colorado itself. Four more nights!
I did another round of running today, the same one. Did a round in 45 minutes, which felt really well. Wind in my back on the way home on Las Olas made it a lot easier.
Bart is cooking right now. He's chopping up potatoes, and making chicken with onions and herbs.
Almost all the fruit was for sale at Publix, so I have bought two bags of cherries, two boxes of strawberries and a bunch of apples (one bag of cherries is gone already). That's for desert.
I was going to help him, but made him cook as he bailed out on running with me today. He was supposed to make that run for the first time, but he made me go alone today (Yatha went Friday when I was working, and he's working right now).
When it's all done we'll be watching Leverage. We got three more episodes we haven't seen yet. So that's another two hours. Yesterday we watched Will Smith's latest, Seven Pounds. It's a good movie, but nothing spectacular and it has no replay value for me. It's a slow, dramatic, maybe even feel-good movie.

For some music, I have chosen Air Traffic's "No More Running Away"

Happy New Year!

Not even that long since my last post, I guess. I must say that I do find it increasingly difficult to keep this up. It's just being work and hanging around taking things easy instead of making the effort of sitting down and typing this all up.
Last blog was written the day before the concert, so I guess that same concert is where I'll be starting now. I had borrowed Tina's car again, as the last few concerts in the Culture Room had all proved difficult in terms of transportation on the way home. Having your own car solves that, but getting a parking spot on the club grounds itself was a challenge. A few minutes and someone left a spot, where I was quick enough to pick that up myself. Problem solved. Paid 10 dollars to get in, and found the stage to be set up nicely already.
First band that night was Karrigan [5,5/10] who tried to hard to look cool, sound great and just be something. The only reason they still managed to score this high was because their final song was catchy and good enough of a small boost. Next up where The Bigger Lights [9/10], who have recently "lost their drummer to the music industry", 3 days before the show only, actually, which caused them to play an acoustic set with the drums and some arrangements set up digitally. The vocals, even though high-pitched (not that weird, coming from a reasonably small and skinny guy), sounded amazing, the guitars weren't always that hearable, but the entire set sounded really good, and everyone seemed to love their performance a great deal. Then it was the turn to my band of the evening There For Tomorrow [9,5/10]. Played songs of their two EPs, and a song from their upcoming debut full-length album. The songs I knew were done perfectly, and their new material sounded even better to me. Can't wait for them to finish all that and get my hands on one. I had a little something after the show already, as I managed to catch one of the drumsticks from the band, which was more a face-saving reaction than an actual catch. If I wouldn't have caught it I would probably have taken it against my nose or something. Two girls in front of me who didn't catched it gave me a sincere "we hate you" after which I told them I wasn't giving away the stick. Waited for West Palm Beach's own Hey Monday [8/10] to come on stage. These Florida youngsters are going off to Asia soon to tour with none other than Fall Out Boy. First they had to play a hometown show in Fort Lauderdale. Their lead singer, Cassadee, did a nice acoustic song in the middle of the show, but other than that it never really appealed to me. Sure, they sound good (not as good as the other woman-fronted band Paramore) and they deserve to be supporting FOB later, but they didn't convince me. Or maybe I'm getting too old for their music, who knows!

Not too many days later it was time for a New Year's Celebration. I had the day off, and got Tina's car. Picked up Charlotte from her house, then went to Le Marche to pick up Tina and headed over to Marten's place, where Bart already was. Marten had some fireworks we set off after midnight, and apart from one other blast that's the only thing I've seen all night. Slightly disappointing in that aspect, and I guess this was the first time where I really missed home. Cabaret on TV (which I watched online today, so I caught up with that) and the infamous "oliebollen". And some proper countdown on TV as well, for instance. The night itself was overshadowed by Charlotte being drunk after two glasses and not wanting to go home at any time. She got terribly cold, wearing my sweater and Tina's scarf already, so Bart lifted her in the car and we got her home. Spent some time at Tina's place when Bart got his bike and I went to pick up Georgi from the party (he was at the hotel at the time).

The last two nights, I've been operating a small outside bar, right outside of Le Marche, where we had live music, performed by Juan Areco, an acoustic guitarist who's been in the business for a longtime. Look him up on Youtube or visit www.juanareco.com. He's a great and friendly guy, and a wonderful musician.

Other than that I've been working a lot, catching up on my TV series, and that's about all. Today I've also been spending some time on a Fruity Loops project, but I'm once again not sure if I'll ever finish it as a full song. I'll see what that becomes.

And for a song I've been playing a few times over the last week; "Untouched" by The Veronicas.

18 Days

Yes, that's a new record. And no, I'm not proud of it. But yes, it really couldn't be any different.
Not only have I just finished an 8 day working streak, I've also been doing a lot of other things next to my work, which have generally reduced my time behind a computer.

What all happened in the last two weeks, I don't know anymore. Not all of it anyway. I lost track of time, but not of events in general. So here's a little update on what's been happening with over the weeks.

Pierre left for Paris for a week, to enjoy his vacation. During his absence, there was a Christmas Gala in the hotel, for all employees. As everyone else wanted to go or had other family obligations, Tina and I worked that night. A lot of pretty people were around, all dressed up as the code said, and still plenty of people came to see us in Le Marche that night. During the event they also handed out a few awards. Pierre became Manager of the Year in the hotel. By far the one who deserved it most, not to go break down any other people's achievements, but that guy is starting to become a legend in the hotel, and to me. I can not count the amount of times where random people came in, just asking for Pierre. Or leaving cards and presents for him.
Now, apparently, from the back I look slightly like him (same length, somewhat, same colour of hair from underneath the cap as well) so I've had people thanking me as well, until I turned around and they seemed to be looking for Pierre. Not quite sure if he is or isn't leaving in February, with all the visa stuff.
During that week off, it's been Tina, Blake and me running Le Marche operations. Pierre had tried to order everything we needed in advance, and everything went great. Had a streak of good days, in terms of sales, so everyone was working towards a goal those days. Was good to see that the operation is running reasonably alright.

Also, we've had company in the house here. First, Robin came by. One of Bart's friends, who is doing his internship in St. Louis. He had gotten a few consecutive days off and decided to book a flight and stay with us. In the 5 days he has seen Miami (as anyone is supposed to) and had a good time around here, as Bart was off for 4 of the 5 days. We played Guitar Hero with the three of us, and even had a day of vocals in the game. Singing along to Michael Jackson, 30 Seconds To Mars and Bart's favorites "Eye Of The Tiger" from Survivor, and Guns'N'Roses' "Welcome To The Jungle".
Georgi's parents have also been here for a while now. They're leaving today, which means I get my own bed back, in my own room, instead of being on an inflatable Queensize bed in Yatha's room. They've mostly been here, around the house, and Georgi took them to Key West and the Bahamas. They've seen Miami too.
Third visitor the last few days was Maarten. One of Yatha's friends from long ago. They've been friends for a while. Maarten was studying in Oklahoma for half a year, and planned this little stay before he had to go back to Holland in general. Stayed here for 5 days as well. Played soccer with us on Thursday, went to Miami, as well. Went shopping in Sawgrass, and saw a lot of clubs and bars.

Now I've also been to Sawgrass Mills last week, with Tina and Charlotte. The afternoon after we did Secret Santa in Le Marche where I miraculously got two presents instead of one. An iTunes gift card (perfect for me), and a miniature version of Guitar Hero (so amazing!). That afternoon we drove to Sunrise to visit the huge outlet mall. Shopping with two girls can go either way, and this was fairly the way I'm used to with my sister. Lot of stores, long searches, lot of deciding. I walked with them through a store, went to the Hugo Boss store next door, and was done well before they even started to stand in line to pay for something. And then Tina changed her mind after all, and went for just one of the two items she was holding. Exactly!
Anyway, it's been a lot of fun there. Seen a lot of pretty things around. Bought a few (three shirts, bracelet, sunglasses, in addition to the pants and blouse I bought at Macy's the other day already) as well. I drove us home, and got Tina's car to lend for the next morning to get to work again.
Last night, after Tina and I worked again (Christmas Day, all other American people wanted to celebrate something, somewhere) and after hanging at the bar for a while, where Yatha got us a drink and chef Craig gave us something to eat, I drove her home again, and she told me to take the car on my day off. I'm not quite sure where I'm going, if at all. Maybe I'll wait for Bart to get home later and look for some snowboard gear after all. I need to watch all the money with the expenses of the last weeks. Rent, phone, electricity and internet are also due soon.

Also, we've had Robin cooking here, with Bart. Like old times. And we owe another Asian meal prepared by Tina and Charlotte soon. Also went out with Marten, Maarten, Yatha, Bart, Tina, Charlotte and Mehdi, to my favorite P.F. Chang's for a change. Hadn't been there in a while.

I guess that sums it up nicely, the last few weeks. A lot of people around, a lot of things to do after work, and a lot of work to be done.
Got a concert tomorrow (5 bands, 10 dollars, among them There For Tomorrow and Go Audio), and I saw that Senses Fail is playing here in a few months. So here's a little video for their 7th single.

The Sound of Madness

See, a new quick post again! But only because had one of the best days so far, going to West Palm Beach for the Buzz Bake Sale 2008. One day full of great music, and some fine Florida weather!

As you can see in the photo album of Buzz Bake, I took an early train to WPB (these things only go every two hours, during weekends, I remember why I loved train transport in Holland so much). This Tri-Rail had a little delay, leaving around 8:50 instead of 8:40 as it was intended to, and we didn't quite get there with just 10 minutes delay either. But hey, it was comfortable, and only 4 dollars. Try that for gasoline, anywhere. Even with these prices (well under 2 dollars for a gallon - which is about 3.8 liters).

The cab fare was a bit more off, as it costed me little over 30 bucks to get from the train station to the Cruzan Amphitheatre. Well over 9 miles as Google Maps mentioned. That's quite far from a train station still. But hey, everyone has a car here, so who needs anything close to a station, right?

The morning started out with Sponge [7,5/10], playing at 11:00. With a nice sun on the crowd, they played a few nice songs, keeping everybody happy. I was reasonably up front as my favorite band of that day would be playing afterwards.
Favorite band, they were, but the title for Band of the Day definately does not go to Anberlin [8/10]. What can I say? They played the songs I expected, they entertained the crowd a lot (judging the amount of crowdsurfers around, there was enough energy. Or maybe they just wanted to release some hormones in general) but there was something off with the guitars. There seemed to be too much noise on them, almost drowning out their own solo in one of the songs during the set. The vocals were amazing, as good as I know Stephen can deliver, and KNate did an awesome job drumming through the day, but the set-up of guitars just made all a bit less perfect than it should have been.
Went to the Pick The Band stage, where small bands played, and saw two songs from Transmit Now from afar. Didn't really caught my attention, and honestly I wasn't involved enough to rate them. Might be unfair. Back to the second stage to see my favorite pianist. The man I adore for ever leading (and writing for) Something Corporate. His new outfit Jack's Mannequin [8/10], put up a solid performance. There was nothing much exciting about it though, and the music in general never touched the greatness of the music portrayed on the Something Corporate DVD I have back at home. One of the better things about Andrew, next to his energetic piano playing and movements, was that he told people to "in case you missed the message, take your aggression elsewhere as we're not that type of band".
After that, off to the main stage, where I had a seat, rather than a place on the big grass field behind everything else. Sat down and enjoyed music from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus [9/10]. These guys played a great show. A really proper display of their diverse qualities. Great high-pitched vocals changed with good grunts (all from the same man), and an amazing cover of Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot". Heard two of their main songs, Don't You Fake It and Face Down during the setlist too. Stage activity could have been better, or maybe it's been because of the half-filled seating area that it just wasn't all that impressive in the end, but they have nothing to complain about, music wise.
Up next was Saving Abel [5/10], a hard rock outfit complete missing their chance to make me a fan. Their song "Addicted" is nice to hear, but having a show consisting of songs that all sound alike, with little interaction and a guitarist that looked like he could get an orgasm on stage due to his own guitar playing... Just not that good, really.
Back to the Second Stage to catch a bit of Skindred [6,5/10]. Maybe I have a biased opinion on this one, but from where I stood, the music (except for guitars) wasn't that amazing, and the band tried to play the audience, more than they tried to play their music. Went away after 3 songs to catch some more Main Stage action.
By the time I got there, Flobots [6,5/10] had taken the stage. They played a combination of music I've loved before. Guitars, drums and rap. They even added in a violin, I've also seen that work on stage. However, nothing about the show, except for the violin play, really got to me. Hardly anything good to say about the sounds coming out of the other instruments too. I stuck around because there was not much else to see, and now I can admit I've seen them live and form an opinion, but I wasn't that impressed here.
After that, I got some company on the seats as my neighbours for the night, entered to watch a few bands before their main band Avenged Sevenfold would play. They witnessed Hawthorne Heights [7,5/10] put up a good show. I think I remember seeing them with 3 guitarists about two years ago, on Lowlands, and honestly, I thought they sucked at the time. This second chance, however, was one during which they changed my mind about them. With only two guitarists and a nice display of music (though the vocals, for some reason, just can't appeal) they earned their score. The guitarist (and screamer) missing this time, died of drug overdose a little over a year ago.
Next up was a band I know through their vocalist contributing on a song for a Spider Man movie, where he sings the theme together with Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger. Josey Scott, lead singer of the band Saliva [6,5/10] apparently gained more weight since then, and came up on stage, dressed in black and slight obesity. One of their guitarists seemed completely wasted/fucked up, as he poured a bottle of wine/champagne all over him at the start of the concert, making moves that might have worked for Ozzy Osbourne someday. The clean vocals weren't always up to standard and other than that I also didn't really like the music overall. Their ending song, Your Disease, is the song I knew before their show, and even that one failed to really impress.
Up next, one of the bands I really anticipated seeing. Atreyu [9/10]. I think they owe their score to their music more than their vocals or presence today, or maybe even the fact that I know all songs. The music was good, the vocals were as they should be (though the clean vocals from screamer Alex are not something he should focus on) and the crowd loved it too.
My band of the day was Shinedown [10/10]. With a vocalist/frontman that earned himself a spot in my Top 3 of Stage Presence Musicians (alongside Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and 30 Seconds To Mars' Jared Leto), everything looked and sounded great, and the interaction between songs were nothing short of great entertainment. The sea of lighters and cell phones that he commanded looked really, really amazing, and the song "45" they played during this event, was really good. I've been listening to their last album "The Sound of Madness" the entire day now. If anyone can catch these guys playing their city/state/country, they should definately do so. Amazing band.
As amazing as they were, as amazing the act of Avenged Sevenfold [10/10] was. The man responsible for lifting the score from [9,5/10] to [10/10] was lead guitarist Synyster Gates (Brian Haner Jr.), who single-handedly amazed me. Up until the time where he took the entire stage alone, to mess with his guitar, play an amazing solo, and then play the introduction to the next song before the rest of the band came up again, the band had been performing perfectly. The music was amazing, the vocals nothing short of extraordinary (both screams as well as clean) and the band was enjoying a marvellous lightshow aiding their conquest of fans all over the place. In addition, I think I've never seen that many people with band merchandising in one single show. Let alone on a full concert day. Avenged Sevenfold (or A7X) can't get much bigger than they are right now.

Next concert for me, seems to be December 27. There For Tomorrow, Go Radio! and three other bands. I'll report back at the time.

Here is the first single taken of Shinedown's 2008 album, The Sound of Madness.
This one is called "Devour", and they opened with this song.

Brand New Day

Okay, I think I seriously need to adjust the goals for my every-3-days-posting-schedule. There are a few things about it. First of all, I mainly just work a lot, and in between working days I'm usually watching movies with the guys at home, sleeping, or being around town, doing groceries, shopping for other things, or just doing nothing behind my computer. Every now and then, there's a nice little change in that pattern. Every now and then, something worth mentioning happens, and when that does, I'll describe it nicely.

Last week, I had been working for on all days except for wednesday and saturday. I was supposed to be off on sunday, but Pierre wanted to switch, and as I had nothing else standing in the way, I accepted. Even though that meant I was about to start working morning shifts. That wasn't actually the worst thing, since last monday and tuesday (yesterday) I was scheduled for morning shifts as well. And doing a closing shift (getting home after midnight) followed by a morning shift (waking up at 6) isn't really the best thing ever. I never really have trouble waking up, there's a certain discipline to that. But after I drove my bike to work and changed, there is a little something in my body that does start to notice the lack of sleep. I mean, I am used to my evening shifts, meaning I get to sleep at 2AM or so, and I'll be waking up between 9 and 10 in the morning, usually. Try to get from that rhythm and start going to bed at 11PM, while trying to get up at 6. I didn't take it too well (but I'm still here). Usually things get better after 9AM though, when I've been around for a bit, had my chance to drink some tea and have had some proper time to use my brain during talks with colleagues and customers, as well as doing some chores. For today, I'm back to my evening shifts, and I talked to Pierre about it. They want him to work more morning shifts (as most of the managers are there during that time, so they can discuss things and help eachother out etc.) and he didn't see a big problem in letting me keep my evening shifts overall. But since mornings and evenings are so different he wants to make sure I don't lose touch with what's going on during the early hours. Can't blame him for that. Today I'll even start at 4PM by the way.

Which brings me to the following. I can now spend my time on my newly acquired PS3. Last Friday was Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving (during which I worked, I only ate a small piece of turkey and didn't notice anything else of the day, in case anyone wondered). During this Friday, a lot of things have special discounts (sometimes related to the time of day; more discounts during morning hours etc). I've had people in stores, helping me, who had been working since 3AM. That's how it is, apparently.
I got myself that PS3 with Guitar Hero 3 and Guitar Hero World Tour. With the drum kit and microphone. Total of 2 guitars, a drumkit and a microphone. Four people living in this house. You do the math!
Bart and I have been playing songs together for quite a bit now. It's a lot of fun. Yatha still needs some practice, and Georgi hasn't attempted anything yet.
Next to the games (I also bought Need For Speed ProStreet for 18 bucks last week), I love the network feature. I installed the PS3 on the network, and I can now watch the series that I have on my laptop, over the network, through the PS3, on the big TV in the living room. Wonderful stuff!

In other news, they also granted my request for days off, which means I will be going snowboarding in Colorado from January 15 to 20. Also, I purchased my tickets for this saturday's mini-festival in West Palm Beach. I'll be seeing Anberlin, Jack's Mannequin, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shinedown and 7 other bands that day. I'll be on a chair for the entire day, in an amphitheatre setting. No idea how that's going to be, but we'll find out! I'll bring two memory cards for my camera so I'll be sure to catch some songs on video.

It might be ten days again, who knows. Keep checking back, as I definately won't give up on this completely.

Here's The Drama Club with Brand New Day (just a still, no video, but it's for the music).

Can't Be Missed If You Never Go Away

I just haven't had the time post a blog. Or, I had, but just never prioritised it for some reason! The last one I wrote was the blog after seeing Hollywood Undead, on a wednesday off, when Marten took Yatha to go to West Palm Beach or Miami.

The day after I was MOD. It's been a really nice day for me. I was in the lobby, welcoming people, having new arrivals behind me while I got people at the Front Office to look up their information before the guest even reached the desk. Helping out with the Valet guys, driving cars to the parking spots or picking up cars for leaving guests. Helping arriving guests to bring their luggage to their room. Checking up on people in and around the lobby, and ending with a dinner in the Ilios restaurant. My steak came a bit late so I had some small items in between. I ate diver scallops and actually liked it good enough. Started out with a great "Sour Green Apple Salad", then got the scallops with chickpeas and some beef with mashed potatoes, before I got my wonderful steak. Ended it with a chocolate hazelnut tart, but I didn't have the room to finish that completely anymore, after also drinking a liter of water and two glasses of lemonade.
Wrote my MOD report and went home nicely on time, around 10:30. Such a change! No overtime those days at all. Apparently I was the last one to do the MOD shift as a non-executive manager. They change the setup now, and Bart and Yatha won't be MOD (at least for a few months).

That Friday and Saturday I had to work from 2PM to close. It's been a while and I can't remember if I actually did anything special those days. I must say I really love closing down though. Sunday was my day off, because I had to work on my regular thursday off.

Monday I started at 3PM because I had been making too much overtime and they need to think of costs too. Blake is off every sunday and monday, so I didn't get to close with him, but with Kara instead. It's a different way of working, but for some reason people are really active in cleaning up after themselves at the end of the shift instead, probably because they can't leave otherwise. Tuesday I worked with Blake again. He closes with me most of the time. He's doing culinary school and goes to school most mornings, to then do an evening shift with me alongside of it. He used to be the one always closing down before Tina and I came in as supervisors. Now we're closing together, usually 4 days a week. And we've got the division of tasks down nicely, and I think we form a good team. Sometimes there is a little tension, because of the way I request things from him. I sometimes just tell him what to do instead of asking nicely, but I'll work on that. Most of the time we just joke around and talk about women and share anecdotes about whatever else.
Wednesday was my day off. Yatha was also at home, and Bart came home early as he always does morning shifts. We went to the barber shop where we met up with Marten, who had already taken a seat. Marten had taken his laundry with him to wash at our place, and we hung around for a bit. Decided to not go out for dinner as planned, but just eat at home, simple. We made the plan to go and see the new James Bond, Quantum of Solace, but Marten had already seen it the day before and took it easy at home instead. When Bart, Yatha and I got there at the cashier, I mentioned not having any cash on me, asking if they could pay for me and I'd repay them (and I asked in English, for some reason). The lady behind the counter then told us to walk on and just watch the movie, if we wouldn't tell her manager. While walking up the stairs we thought that there was a catch and we'd be busted upon entering the theatre hall or so, but nothing like that. We watched the movie for free there, and got back by bicycle again. The movie was the worst 007 I've ever seen. The first few scenes were brilliantly shot, on locations that were simply amazing. After that, the story got somewhat lost, there was no real action anymore, except for overdone explosions near the end. I never heard the sentence "The name is Bond, James Bond" or anything about his shaken martini. I only saw the Aston Martin in the first scene, and the Bond girl wasn't all that spectacular either. The villain was annoying at best. After all we were glad we didn't pay the 8,75 a person to see it.

Thursday was my day off, at first, but I ended up switching shifts with Pierre, doing another morning shift for the first time in weeks (and I have none planned for next week either), getting this sunday off. However, wednesday night Tina had called me to switch shifts, as she'd like her morning shifts so she could spend time with her boyfriend, who is here for three weeks. He's on internship in South Africa (or he works there for a while now) but spends his time here now. I accepted gladly, being able to do another closing shift with Blake. Got some more understanding and did a little paperwork on the side of it, increasing the communication ease. Especially with her boyfriend here and other people wanting to leave early at times, this should help us out for a bit. Pierre made another sheet for communication that completes it all.
Friday was another evening shift with Blake. Nothing really special happened there.

Unlike yesterday. Blake had switched with Garvin, as Garvin missed another day, and Blake could use some time off. Steven was there too, until 8:30, and Ram was in the kitchen (he recently replaced Maria, who went to work for roomservice, and oh, his name isn't Ram, but something really long starting with Ram. He's from India). Steven left when it was still really busy that night. We got swamped with people that night. For the first time in a long while, the first time I can remember, we had better hours at night than in the morning. When Steven left I called upstairs and got Nikolay on the phone, asking him to bring me a steward to clean our plates, and take the cardboard and garbage. Niko brought him down personally, seeing our busy state, and helped us out by handing out gelato (ice cream) samples to guests and handing out plates and cups when we needed it. Ram did an amazing job, making 25 pizzas that night, with 5 at the same time in the oven at one point.
Garvin stayed with me until almost 12 even though his sister was waiting for him outside. Been really busy, and we spent a lot of time cleaning and restocking, as we needed everything in perfect shape for the morning shift, as there were a lot of check-outs coming, and they mostly all want coffees and pastries in the morning. The steward also stayed with us until well after 11, cleaning almost everything for us, as he's supposed to. As of late we had some problems with the stewards and their planning and work, but this saturday everything worked out.
Spent another 3o minutes sending out e-mails and reports to the people interested, and headed home at 12:15. The restaurant had been very quiet, and for the first time in weeks, Yatha was home well before I was.

Today, Georgi and I went to do some small shopping before he had to go to work. We bought a small little table, big enough for four plates for dinner, or two laptops like Yatha and I have now. We're working on our project proposal (if Ale reads this; it's almost done, I'm just waiting for some more information from work, and Pierre's approval). I also bought some binders for my personal paperwork. Receipts, statements and other paper, all organized soon. Tonight, my personal menu consists of oven-baked fries and chicken, with some ice cream and red grapes for dessert.
Most days at work I eat Le Marche-made pizzas. The fresh cheese pizzas with pepperoni are just so amazing.

For a song I picked something that is nothing new in terms of a discovery, or something that fits the week or so, but something I just love and listened to for a few days before I moved to Florida.
Dead Poetic - Narcotic



Oh, and yes! There are new pictures in my album. A map with iPhone photos, a map with photos of myself, and two maps with Culture Room pictures.

Replacements

So yeah, I was supposed to see Puddle of Mudd and RED on Friday, among others. Not so much though, as not too long after I posted the other blog, I got an e-mail from Livenation, the organiser, that the show was cancelled. Looked on Livenation.com, Puddle of Mudd's website, but found no reason for the cancellation. Still had my morning shift at work (I have concluded that I like evening shifts better, by a long shot) and then then afternoon off. Georgi was also at home, and I ran into Marten in the hallway at work earlier, accepting his offer to go bowling that night. Concert being replaced by two games of bowling with a few acquaintances. Money wise it saved me a lot, that evening, but I'd have loved to see those bands. Who knows if that will happen again?

Saturday I worked my beloved evening shift again, and it had been a busy day already. That night things stayed steady, and shortly after 10 (on weekends we want to stay open to 11 instead) Pierre came in and told me we were close to a milestone revenue mark. Only 65 dollars to go. I told him I'd stay open until we hit that point just for the sake of getting there. A few minutes before 11 we were still 6 dollars short, and Blake and I had already agreed on buying a pizza for us to share if noone else showed up. Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the pizzas are really good) someone came to save us by buying a glass of white wine. Closed the restaurant shortly after that, still having a bit of cleaning and a lot of counting to do. There was a woman on the chairs outside, sitting there all the time, looking depressed, with her wine, and she wouldn't say or do a thing. When we were almost done she came in, asking for a refill of her glass of wine. She really seemed to want (or need) it so I gave her one still. Even though the cashier was closed etc. I guess I felt sorry for her. Saw her again on sunday, somewhat in the same state. I should've told her alcohol is not the solution, but I don't like arguments on my work that much.

Sunday was another busy day at work, where we got reasonably close to Saturday's milestone, making it a really nice weekend for everyone to enjoy, looking at the figures. There's still a few things to do concerning the organisation in the restaurant, task-definition-wise. As I got home around 1AM that sunday, I had to go straight to bed as I had to start at 7 on monday, all for the sake of being able to go see Hollywood Undead. You guessed it, going to bed straight from work is hard with a lot of things on your mind, but I fell asleep fast enough anyway. Had a tiring day at work (and indeed I don't like morning shifts that much, because of the nature of the work, all the small coffees and snacks all the time. Just simple production. No time for talks and walking around, checking, doing other assignments). When I got home I tried to do some work on the laptop, but I went to sleep for 1,5 hours instead. Really needed that to get through the night.
Went to Culture Room as Georgi brought me by car. Went in at 7:20 when the doors opened at 7, and was expecting some band to start playing soon enough anyway. Didn't happen. Instead I became the witness of a real bitchfight. Something along the lines of "you stole my best friend's boyfriend" kind of argument with a few punches and scratches here and there. Only to find her hang around the neck of two other guys within the next 5 minutes. Some people don't really get it.
The only support of the night was TV Kills Kids [6,5/10], a local South Florida band, making hiphop, I guess. Electronic samples, guitar and bass guitar, two rappers, one screamer and one singer. That's about what the set-up was. The vocals (except for the guy who sang on only 2 out of 7 songs) were bad. Real bad. But for some reason the guys really managed to make a party out of things, even though the crowd didn't always act like that. I had fun watching it anyway, and some of the electronic music and beats were actually good material.
Headliner of the night was Hollywood Undead [8/10], six guys (and the drummer) making hiphop, with guitars and other electronic samples in those songs. The weirdest thing about it, is that it's 6 tattood white guys. And not just gangster tattoos, but the colourful metal tattoos (on their singer) that I know from people like Oli Sykes (see; http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f188/eskimos15/OMG_Oli_Sykes_faints--large-msg-116.jpg). The music was great, however, the stage presence was cool, the audience loved it, and there was nothing wrong with the music or their choice of songs. It's just that they played too few songs for my liking, as it took around an hour only, if they even got to that mark. Loved seeing them though, and it was well worth the money again, even skipping diner with my placement mentor and a bunch of the Dutch interns.
Took a cab home and went to bed after doing some computer stuff and some Fruity Loops.

Tuesday I had to work at 2 again. My lovely evening shift, closing down the restaurant. We had three people to close, so I had some time to work with Pierre, discuss some things for the upcoming busy weeks, and learn a few things about purchasing. I saw the cost of simple products like lids to close our coffee cups, and I realised how much improvement there still is. Will be my dissertation about cost control in usage, storage and purchasing. Closed at 10, got home at 11. Waited for Yatha to get home to rent a car at the airport, but then Marten cancelled our trip to Busch Gardens because he wasn't energetic enough for a day like that. Took a cab home, didn't rent a car as I didn't want to split the costs in three only (and we had a little credit card issue for Yatha).

This morning Marten wanted to go somewhere else instead, rented a car on his own and then came by. The options provided weren't that attractive to me because it was already 1PM, and few of the attractions would close at 4 already, or 6PM. Not my thing to waste money on that, and have the rest of the day gone.
Currently working on something for school, while writing this blog.

Tomorrow I'll be Manager On Duty (MOD) meaning I get to check the entire hotel, eat in the restaurant and welcome people that check in, all in my own suit (no ties, as it's too warm here). Sunday is my next day off, with a blog again.

Hollywood Undead can wait (I didn't upload my videos yet but don't know if I will), so here is She Wants Revenge - Replacements (live);

Duplicity

Lovely how I still managed to fit that word in. I just have to share the following song with you all. I received their physical CD in the mail today, and I love them. Such a wonderful, unique sound. I had to get this album and support these new guys. There are Enter Shikari, Blood Stain Child and Disarmonia Mundi influences in this all. So yes, it's hard and it has a lot of electronics in there.

Only 7,000 plays on Youtube. But they should become HUGE. I don't know what else. I'll be listening to them for a while to come.

Anyway, duplicity as their song is called. Duplicity in my days off. For some reason, the past four weeks have been weeks in which my days off have always coincided with meetings, trainings or other lovely events that require me to be at the hotel. Today I was Journey Ambassador, which basically means I stand in the lobby, greeting people and asking how their stay was, and helping out anyone with a problem, like people with an airconditioning issue in a meeting room. Was a lot of fun, for just over two hours, and then I took one of the beach towels, and headed to our lovely Atlantic Ocean. Took off everything I didn't want to get wet, and headed into the water. Only three strokes away I heard a whistle and got directed to the shores again. Didn't notice a thing about no other people being in the water when I did. Got a small story about a "big fish situation" and it would take a few more minutes before the water would be clear. Never seen anything that looked like a shark, but I guess they'd rather be safe than sorry. Enjoyed some sun for a while then, and headed into the water for 25 minutes after that. Really clear water today, and I forgot to bring my goggles. Next time!
Headed home and found my Duplicity CD in the mail. Then took some time off, watching more TV series (you got that right) and went off to play soccer in Hollywood again, like almost every single week. Pedro picked us up at home, like most other weeks again as well, and we had a nice and intensive match. Lost big time (I hate playing against either Pedro or Volkan, those guys keep almost everything out of the net, damn goalkeepers), 23-12 or something. Was fun though! And good for team spirit with people in the hotel, and your physique.

Talked to both my mum and dad on Skype again, and got my webcam to work again! If anyone else, reading this, misses me, feel free to set up something of an appointment or so. I'll have time every now and then.

Yesterday was another day off, and I made some nice music in Fruity Loops again. Something nice and trancy (maybe I should be in a "trancemetal" band too) that I hope to finish soon enough, so I can share it again.

Tomorrow I have a morning shift, 7 to 3, as I had planned a Puddle Of Mudd/RED concert as you know. The concert got cancelled yesterday, however. Monday, Hollywood Undead then.
Wednesday, one-day cruise to the Bahamas, very likely to happen :)

That's it for now! See you later!

Sleeperstar

And yes, in a way that would be me, having to work a lot of evening shifs, meaning I get to wake up somewhere around 9:30 these days. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? It's also the name of a band whose album I've just purchased through iTunes. My thoughts just wandered off to them lately as I had heard their songs through purevolume.com a long while ago. Their music is so amazing, and I just couldn't seem to get hold of a digital copy so I went ahead to the iTunes store and buy the 7 song album/EP called "To Speak, To Love, To Listen". I'll share their video for Disengage later in this blog. After I've covered the last few days of work in here.

I ended last time with my thursday off. Called my mum and dad over Skype, and watched some TV series and just stayed indoors to rest up. It was my only real day off and with a strak of working days coming up I wanted to take it easy. Took some time to pay my bills and that was it. Somehow I keep saving money from every paycheck nicely, so I guess that's a good thing. Feels good anyway. That thursday I also went to Galleria with Yatha, as we had to pay the check for the monthly rent. Stumbled upon Marinka and had a little drunk and something to eat at Starbucks.

Friday I worked from 12 to 8:30 and I was supposed to go to a birthday/Halloween party, but I had been feeling bad throughout the day. Head and stomach not working with me, so I decided to stay home and go to bed reasonably early. Watched another episode that night and went to sleep before anyone else got home.
On Saturday I had to start at 10, and got off at 6:30, got home and found Bart home again. Went to the Publix for some shopping and I made myself some chicken sandwiches for dinner while we went to watch a movie called Kush. Movie didn't have enough in it for us to want to finish it. So we turned it off after 45 minutes or so. As you might expect, I watched TV episodes instead as I am still behind on quite a few things. Starting to get even with a lot of things now though.
Sunday morning was a lazy one, I worked a bit on a project I have concerning the storage we have up on the fourth floor, and as Pierre said it, that storage is going to be "my baby". Controlling it, purchasing the items we need there, and organise and file everything. It's going well so far.
Yesterday I made a floorplan for the storage, pointing out where all the items are if someone goes up there and they're not too familiar with it. Will also put up some signs on the wall, with the categories on there. Yesterday was a day from 2 to 10 for me. We're opened from 7 to 10 these days instead of 6 to 11. Was really weird to close that early, in a way. And not everyone knowing about it, it also gave some awkward moments after 10. It was really slow yesterday though, and I got to send two people home early. I don't think any of them had a problem with that. Slow days like are more tiring than the ones where you run around constantly.

Will be working from 2 to 10 all days but Friday (when I work from 7 to 3, and then go to a concert from Puddle of Mudd, with RED and two other bands in Pompano Beach). Got Wednesday and Thursday off. Don't know what I'll do just yet. I'm thinking beach...

Sleeperstar - Disengage

Dredg! <3

Sunday, as mentioned in my last blog, I had to work form 3 to close. Which is usually anywhere between 11 and 12, as the doors close at 11, but there's some more work to be done after that.
Had a pretty decent, fun night, in which I was responsible for a lot of things as Pierre went out the door (that man works more hours a week than any doctor would recommend). Worked with Pierre and chef Dana and had a nice and relaxed night in which I could do every daily task I needed to do while we were still open, and did some managerial work after the doors were closed. Got home shortly after midnight and went to bed straight away as, on monday, I had to work at 10, and the AT&T guy would come over between 8 and 12.

Luckily, he did before I went to work, and I set him up with what he needed to do, and I headed for work. Did a little 10 to 6:30 (PM, I'm sorry if I start confusing people, but I've gotten used to that, I guess) which was nothing special. Just there working with everyone, doing nothing special apart from a little administrative task for Pierre, and headed home. Set up the internet at our place, which took me long enough, but for a first try, setting up the entire connection and network, figuring it all out, I think I did a nice job. I managed to get it secured with a key, so that it's just for our use. And the best thing, I'm the only one who can change that key, so if people in the house really piss me off, I'll just disconnect them by installing a new key. I'm pretty sure they don't even read this :D
We hired a movie in the meantime, The Grand, but we didn't even finish it. Such a lousy documentary-like movie with all the wrong jokes in it. I think the guys hired another one to see instead but I went upstairs, enjoying my internet, and trying to catch up with all the TV series I missed over the weeks. I still have a lot to go at.
Wanted to head to bed early enough as well.

And I did that because tuesday I had to work from 7 to 3:30 (I keep writing tot instead of to, the Dutch version of the word). The day went by nice and easy, opening up was a bit hard, as it was quite busy, as most mornings are (that's what you get for having Starbucks coffee, partially, I guess) and with an even busier lunchtime, where we got a lot of guests from a meeting that went on break to visit us. I don't think that sentence really rolls as it should, but fine. I had a nice day at work and later had a good time going to a concert, with Mark, one of the bellmen.
Went to see Dredg who were supported by Judgment Day and Division Day.
The first band was Judgment Day [8,5/10] who have stringmetal.com as their website. It's a trio, consisting of one cellist, a drummer, and someone playing the violin. As they've said before, none of their songs contain guitars, but these guys are so incredibly skilled (especially the cellist blew me away) that it almost sounds like there are. Was a great, great thing to see live, but I could never to listen to this on CD, in another setting than seeing them on stage. Also, their drummer started out really weak to me, and seeing them one time has been enough for me.
Wonderful experience and really unique thing to witness, but that's it.
Next up was another local (California) friend from the Dredg guys, Division Day [7,5/10] who apparently played their last show with Dredg there at Culture Room. Dredg came up on stage to have a shot of alcohol with the guys in the middle of their set, and honestly, from that point on, they got better. The last three songs from the band really impressed me, but wasn't enough to make me think any better of the start of the concert, which, in a way, was a wall of noise to me without anything outstanding pounding my eardrums.
Then the band where I came from. I had been planning to see them live at Pinkpop (I think) two years ago, but that plan never worked out. This night I had to spend only 15 bucks on a ticket to see them instead of 60 euros to get to the festival to see them though. And it was closer too!
Dredg [10/10] really swept me off my feet in all ways. Drummer going off-record with some of his beats, but they all fitted the songs perfectly, and on top of that, he also played piano with one hand, and drummed with the other, on two of the songs. Those things just impress me.
The guitarist, who does all the magnificent work on all beautiful Dredg albums, really hit everything and it sounded all great to me. The bass just completed the perfect music for me, and the range of vocalist Gavin was amazing, live. They played 50/50 songs from El Cielo and Catch Without Arms, and added two new songs, which also sounded amazing, and really Dredg. Best show I've seen here, and among the best I've seen, entirely.

That's also mainly what I've done on wednesday, after I had a reunion with the people from my orientation day, where they tested the knowledge we had about the resort and such, and could say anything we want in regards to the training. Not many improvement points were mentioned while I guess there clearly are more, for some reason. It's also a bit of a personal thing, because when I agreed with someone, Georgi did oppose. Those little things just make it hard to come up with a general training standard for us.
Got updated on Prison Break and Californication completely, and started watching Heroes too. I hope I'll get even on Heroes today before we'll play soccer tonight.

Just had a talk with my dad on Skype, and will talk to my mum like that later. Should be nice :)


Here is my Dredg live footage!

Keyboard Hero

It's been only two days since my last entry, can you imagine?
That night we didn't go out to play soccer as expected, as we couldn't get hold of anyone to drive us there, and apparently noone was in possession of our phone numbers or something, so that's something we need to work on for coming weeks (I'm off again this thursday so I'll play).

Friday, which was yesterday (feels so good to say that) I had a regular working day from 12 to 8:30. Pierre was there all the time with us, and after I did a little project concerning names and login codes, I was working behind the counter for a bit. Also did an order to get things from one storage to another for easy access purposes. Pierre divided tasks today. Things he now does daily, or weekly, and wants Tina and me to take over in the coming weeks. Tasks such as scheduling and payroll for Tina, and things concerning storage (that's going to be my main project), purchasing and marketing on my side. It's really good to get some more responsibility on the side of the regular work. There are more things Pierre wants us to take care of in the future and I can honestly say I look forward to those things.
At the hotel, there also was this Quince party. Anyone who's ever seen MTVs My Super Sweet 16 knows what I'm talking about. Another extravagant party, probably for a rich spoiled someone. I honestly would like to state, for the record, that if I'll ever have a daughter, reaching that age, demanding a party like that just because others have it too, and we can afford it anyway, I'll be in need of some serious self-control. Honestly, even though it was yesterday night, I can't really remember what I did.

This morning I woke up around 11, and I found Yatha watching the movie "War", which was a good one, for a change. Usually, since we're out of most big titles, we rent weird things noone has seen yet, and they mostly suck, like tonight's "Banshee". It wasn't horrible at all, but nothing about the movie could ever be nominated for whatever award there is. Before Yatha went to work, I took him to AT&T to join in on our Family Plan and have him get a new phone as well. Unlike Georgi and myself, Yatha decided to take a BlackBerry to use. It's a nice little thing too, but we're content with our iPhones and I wouldn't trade mine if I could.
After that Yatha stayed at home before work, while I went for a run around Victoria Park, almost immediately followed by a swim in our pool. A few lanes of free stroke, a few schoolstroke and a few backstroke, before I started enjoying a bit of fun, heading back to watch "War" and see Yatha off as he went to work.

Had two hours alone at home, finishing the movie and eating some minor things. When Bart and Georgi came home, I first went to Public with Bart to rent a movie, and then had Georgi drive me off to BestBuy, where I bought this keyboard for my laptop!



Loving it very much so far, and after getting a reply from the great Ronald Jenkees himself, I was dedicated to keep making my own tunes. I'll share two of his AWESOME videos at the end of the blog.
I'll try to finish the song I started today, and have it uploaded soon enough again, with some keyboard workings on there. I love it that, whenever there's another program running, the keyboard always finds its way to Fruity Loops straight away. So when I'm typing this and I would also hit a note on the keyboard, I would get the sound next to it. I hope that made sense.
Tomorrow I need to work from 3 to 12, somewhat, so there will be time for another swim, and maybe a run. No movies tomorrow I guess. Monday, the internet should FINALLY be fixed (and otherwise I'm changing providers, no excuses possible). Tuesday the Dredg concert, and after that you'll get your blog again.
Here's Ronald;