Consider the Following

Oh Yeah. I have a website. A real one with a domain name and all.

Go check it out at www.tsemoana.net

Several people let me know they got mostly unfound pages when they checked it out but I assure, everything works (except for most of the photopages as that is a shitload of work since I handcode it all; animals, events and castlefest '05 work). Try reloading the site or something and then it shoudl show up.

My mom couldn't see anything either but when I checked the site out from her computer this afternoon, it worked fine.

Also, tomorrow I leave for castlefes. i will be back monday and get a big post to you soon after to tell what fun I had.

See ya.

So, I'm back from neglecting the one and a half reader I might possibly have. I've had enormous fun over the past few weeks. Not doing anything specific, just hanging out with friends and such.

Last Wednesday I went swimming with Eva, Mellien and Ingrid in the harbour at Noordpolderzijl. When we arrived, high tide was still a couple of hours away so it was mostly clayey wet mud and very little water. But mud is great to play in...

Behold!

Me all muddy:


Mellien, me and Eva all muddy:


The water did rise pretty fast though, it wasn't long before we could really go swimming.

Also Castlefest is coming up (4-7 August) and I'm so looking forward to it. This time we're staying in a cabin over the weekend so we'll have decent beds and electricity (yay! camera reloading goodness).

Had another study session with Nienke today. We've had them twice before in the last week and a half or so and I find it very beneficial. During these days, I actually get stuff done.

We've agreed to make this a habitual thing and get together at least once a week to study. This will keep Nienke up to date on her psychology stuff during the summer holiday and will enable me to work on my paper.

As the title says, we didn't just study, although the 'play' was limited. Nienke showed me a nice, little online game to kill time with which was very effective :D

After dinner, we went to sit outside and continued our work there to enjoy the soft breeze that had come in after the sun had settled down. It's been a very hot day, and now, at almost 01:00 it's still 26 degrees in the house. I've a window open so some fresh air can come in but it's going slow.

Nienke left around ten which resulted in a hectic couple of minutes as she couldn't find her wallet, which, among other things, contained her public transport card and her college card, needed for the exam she's having tomorrow. After a frenzied search through her bag and around the house on the places she'd been, she called home to check if she'd left it in the car, and guess what, she had.

This eased the biggest worry, she could do the exam. However, we still had two things to worry about, being 1) will we be on time at the bus stop, and 2) will she be able to get on, seeing as how she didn't have her public transport card, and neither of us had enough money to pay for a regular ticket...

We made it on time to the bus stop with even enough time to spare for me to take a quick trip to the atm across the street to get some money, if Nienke needed it (her card was in her wallet). Just as I'd gotten back to the right side of the road, the bus came.

Since it was late on a Sunday night, the bus was one of those tiny 8-person van thingies. And, of course, it was full. As if we didn't have enough bullshit already...

The driver called the central and after a few minutes managed to get into contact with the driver of another van-bus who said he'd stop by. And again some minutes later he did. And then Nienke's luck turned to good for a little bit as the driver was familiar to her so she didn't have to pay and he said he'd drop her off in her town.

But the turn in luck wasn't for long... A little while later I got a phone call. It was Nienke and she was home, safe and sound and all, but her mother had just told her that tomorrow they were gonna work on the sewage system in her town and no buses at all would go in or out...

So now her dad will drop her off in the next town tomorrow where she can take the bus to school to do the exam. Later tomorrow, we'll be going to the cinema to see X-Men 3: The Last Stand. I've already seen it in Gent with Gert and Reimer but Nienke hasn't and the film was way cool enough that I'll want to see it again. It'll give me the chance to look for the details on the big screen. :D

See the full size versions (1024x768) at my deviant account: http://tsemoana.deviantart.com.

Ronan Keating has a new album out and it's called Bring Me Home. Being the fan that I am, I got it a few days ago and I love it. Some of the songs took a bit of getting used to like a cover of the Goo Goo Doll's Iris, and the song To Be Loved, which was previously done by Westlife, but that happened soon enough. These two songs remain the ones I like least of the album but the other songs more than make up for it, most notably the title song Bring Me Home and All Over Again, a duet with UK folk singer Kate Rusby. Other favourites include Superman and the up tempo Back in the Backseat.

The Rapalje gig saturday was great! Check my gallery for a bunch of photos. Eva also put some video bits on Google, see: Rapalje playing, Rapalje & Annemarie doing Caledonia & fans playing music on the field

Ingrid picked me up from my parent's place at around 2:45 and we went on our way to pick up Eva, Judith and Mellien before going back to Ingrid's place to get some stuff she forgot.
After that, we were finally ready to head to Nieuweschans where we arrived roughly 3:30.

We took a stroll across the fantasy market they were having and it was fun, I was tempted to buy some mead but decided against it. We lounged about for a bit until we met up with Renate, a colleague of Eva. We had just gotten comfortable on the grass when all of a sudden, the fenced of part of the terrain (reserved for the concert) needed to be enlarged. As we were sitting right were they were going to pass with the fences, we hastily made way.

After that had happened, the market soon drew to a close and the concert was near. Everyone had to get out and come back in so it could be checked that everyone had their ticket and the complimentary Rapalje beakers could be handed out. Fortunately, we already had ours so we were back in pretty soon with a shiny new Rapalje beaker.

We found ourselves a spot on the grass behind a bench so some of us who wanted to sit on the bench could while the rest lounged on the grass. Ingrid went to get Fyndlings, the coins used to pay for the food and drinks on Rapalje fests and we all went lazy and gave her money to get us some coins as well. :D

Cooking Highlander was there to cater, as usual, with their kick-ass three tier barbeque and soon we we're standing in line to get some food. I had a very tasty chicken leg, yummy! My first drink of the night was a simple coke but later I decided to get some mead and, while I usually don't like alcohol, I'd found out during an earlier event do like mead. And this night I found out I really like mead so I had another.

Shortly after we'd gotten food, the concert started and it was great as usual. David Myles was there to accompany them. He's an amazing bagpiper and I adore his playing. I hope to one day be as good as he is.

As this was a fest to celebrate their 10 year jubilee, they'd invited musicians that played with them in their first years and played with them again. There was also some dueting with a very good singer called Annemarie whom they apparantly sometimes play with. Her voice and Williams' mixed wonderfully!

Rapalje played three sets spread over the evening and in between there was a jam session opportunity for the public. Annemarie and some of her friends played and some others as well.

The evening ended around midnight and then we still had to get back home and drop all of us off at where we belonged. All in all, I was in my bed at 1:30, not a good time if you have to get up at 7:30-8:00 (on Sunday morning...).

That was since my folks would be at my door at 9:00 to pick me up to go to the birthday party of my aunt and uncle, two hours away. I was quite sleepy in the car and may have dozed off even. We arrived safely and the day was lots of fun as the party was at the special needs daycare centre my cousin works. It completely took care of the kids who loved all the play opportunities as well as the snuggle room that had a waterbed and moodlights and stuff like that. I had great fun as well, playing a bit with the kids, taking photos (and some movies as well) of them.

We had brought the dog with us as well as we had no sitter for her and she enjoyed herself as well, the terrain was fenced in so she could walk around freely and me, my mom and an aunt of mine went for a walk with her that afternoon.

She did nick a cheese sandwich when we got back :D They had been placed on a low shelf, right at dog mouth height and we got back in from walking her and she just went straight for it and grabbed one.

At first I didn't quite see what she was doing and went like "Tessa? What're you doing?" She glanced back guiltily with the sandwich in her mouth and I couldn't help but laugh. I sent her outside and quickly put the sandwiches up higher. Funnest thing was, she did it again later... Only this time she nicked a sandwich from someone's bag...

Ah well, she didn't end up with any nasty side effects and neither did the person she nicked it from so, all's well, end's well.

Went home with the parental units and slept there for ease. Was glad to be back in bed that evening, two busy days had me pretty beat.