Beenikster long weekend

All I remember is, I beat T in a race to finish a litre of Long Island Ice Tea - pwn3d!!! :P

And okay, the last picture at the bottom right corner is actually from Helsinki :)

Ooh la la!

Where to start? With the flight delay, tons of angry people waiting to start their long weekend, the 2 gate changes (3 for J&D), or Ryanair's craptacularly traumatic landing?

Or the visit to my future home and gardens? :)

I can definitely recommend a visit to Chateau Chenonceau, it's soo pretty.

Bordeaux is a great city. The city's people have invested tons of money into restoring its beauty and making it a place you'll enjoy staying in. Funnily enough, I came home with 2 bottles of Sauternes instead of any Bordeaux reds. Mmmm... sweet dessert wine... Despite the never ending fat raindrops which seemed determined to ruin our long weekend, we saw quite a bit of the region, drank, ate and slept a lot. Well, the passengers slept a lot *grin* My advise is to never get your driver's licence in order to avoid ever being the designated driver on road trips :P We spent Sunday walking around Bordeaux and St Emillion.

Napoleon commissioned the bridge, but I don't think he lived to see it completed...

I guess the best part for me was the cognac tasting in Cognac :) I'm definitely not a connoisseur, but somehow I was convinced by D to splash out on tasting X.O, the Paradis and the Richard Hennessy cognacs. D makes a great salesman :) But I'm glad I did taste all three. It's not often I get to say I drank something that was 200 years old *grin* It was definitely wasted on me though :P The only thing I could discern was that each tasted smoother than the previous. Did I like the taste? Err, not particularly... it burns. Sorry!

Random cognac factoids:
- Although Hennessy cognac has been around for a very long time, not many Frenchies drink it. Err, mainly because it's not French. Hennessy is Irish :)
- In 1971, Hennessy merged with Moet et Chandon. In 1987, the group then merged with Louis Vuitton, to create the largest luxury goods business: LVMH.
- Cognac is made from a blend of various eau-de-vie (colourless brandy). 12 kgs of grapes makes one 1 litre bottle of eau-de-vie.
- VS stands for Very Special, and requires the youngest brandy to be aged for at least 2 years.
- VSOP stands for Very Special Old Pale, and requires the youngest brandy to be aged for at least 4 years.
- X.O stands for Extra Old, and requires the youngest brandy to be aged for at least 6 years.
- Richard Hennessy is named after the founder of Hennessy Cognac. The blends are aged between 45 and 200 years old. A 700ml bottle will set you back EU$1281.25.
- The ultimate job at Hennessy, has to be the Cellar Master. It's his duty to take inventory of all the blends in Hennessy's 45 cognac houses. He has to TASTE every different blend, and decide if the brandies need a new barrel, or if it needs to be mixed with other blends, or if the blends are ready. He has a team of six Tasters, but The Man, has the final say.

Lastly, there's the Ellipse. This one's not for plebs. At a price of EU$3000+, it's made from 7 different blends chosen by 7 generations of Cellar Masters. Each Cellar Master picked his favourite eau-de-vie for this special cognac. Only 100 bottles were made, and even the bottle itself is a work of art. Although, you can't really tell from my crap picture *grin*

Size matters?

Vigeland sculpture park. I expected lots of sculptures in a park. However, I didn't expect to be greeted by a 14 metre tall phallic symbol. Can you spot it?

How about now?

My, my, my. It's _soo_ massive *grin* A man gets an entire park to showcase his work, and he makes the centrepiece a grand... you know. So typical :P

I miss Rondon

It sounds like a silly thing to say. But part of the reason I haven't had much to blog about lately, is cause I haven't really spent any decent time in Rondon! Every weekend, since I've been back from Sydnery, I've "gone gallivanting" (to use my Mother's words). First it was Amsterdam for Queen's Day. Then it was Tallinn and Helsinki with the household crew for the first long weekend in May. After that it was back to Delft for U&W's Dutch wedding celebration. And I just spent last weekend in Oslo. This coming weekend is in Bordeaux. And the weekend after that is Ibiza!!

It all seemed like a great idea at the time I was planning these trips. Errr... maybe I was a little overzealous in my planning. Now, I just want one weekend in Rondon to chill out... To go to Borough Markets for some chorizo. To go to Camden to eat a Hache burger. To buy some groceries for the week. To go to Bar Italia or Flat White for a weekend caffeine hit. To stroll around familiar ground. To do my laundry!

I've done 9 cities in 5 months this year... I'm looking forward to a restful weekend that doesn't involve a 3am wake up call to catch the airport bus.

Do I sound spoilt? ;)

Making girls cry

Remember that speech I blogged for Ula & Wilco? I had a chance to say it last weekend at their Dutch wedding party :) I made Ula teary *grin* YES! Mission accomplished! Although, poor Wilco, he had already read my speech here and it was all old news to him. So I've tweaked the speech I blogged to match most of what I said that night, if you want to read it again.

I was even invited to speak at someone else's wedding that night! *lol*

And once again, I went home with a girl after the wedding. Hrm. At least this time it was separate beds ;)

Tom

Tom's the guy that sells the Big Issue at Marylebone station. Well, I think his name's Tom, I hope I heard right. For the past few weeks, he's been standing there, every morning, as grumpy Rondoners walk past him without a glance. "BIG ISSUE! No? Have a good day Maam/Sir!" and Tom means it.

Lately, I get up every morning, and lie in bed thinking, "I really don't want to go to work today". I hide under my duvet (C, are you proud I didn't say "doona"? :) ) until the very last moment. When it's 8.05am, I know I have to get my butt into gear. I sit at my desk and I count down the hours. When it hits 4:30pm, I'm counting down the minutes till 5pm. When I get home, I'm reluctant to talk about work because it's been sh*tty. You'll notice I don't usually blog about work either.

Tom sees people get off the trains every morning. He says they look grumpy, some of them hate their jobs, hate coming into Rondon, and hate their incomes. Basically, he sees people like me. I stand in the bus lines when it's too cold/wet to walk to work, earphones plugged in, with a frown for the long day ahead. So Tom's trying to bring a smile to people's faces every morning. Strangely, it works :) I watch Tom at work, and he's got soo much enthusiasm for selling the Big Issue, that it made me smile. Heck, I bought one and I haven't read it yet.

This morning, I got Tom a latte, and had a chat. Here's a guy, down on his luck, making a living out of selling the Big Issue. He's homeless, and he wants to save up for his own place. Considering he only gets 80p out of every £1.50 magazine he sells, it's going to take him awhile.

Yet, he's the most optimistic person I've met in a long time. There's no lesson here. I just hope I don't have to lose it all in order to have Tom's optimism in life. I've seen a lot of things in life. I've moved to Rondon. I've had opportunities my parents and other kids in my extended family didn't. What exactly does it take for me to be happy or content?

Marriage?

I thought I was off the hook. I'm the youngest of three kids. My eldest brother is married. He and his wife recently had a baby girl. So when I called my Mum for a chat on Monday, I never expected to have this conversation with her:

Mum: "You're getting close to 30, my dear."
Me: "I know. So what?"
Mum: "It's time you got married."
Me: "WHAT?!?"
Mum: "Do you want me to matchmake for you?"
Me: "WHAT?!?!? Who have you been talking to??"
Mum: "If you have a husband, you won't have time to go gallivanting."
Me: "MUM! You already have one grandkid to play with!"

So, I'm closer to 30. That apparently means I have to get married. Mygawd, the thought of my Mother picking someone for me... *shudder* It's weird actually. Last year, it was all about weddings. The majority of my friends got hitched. This year, it's beginning to be all about babies. Friends are starting to talk about getting the right healthcare with obstetrician cover. In the meantime, I've been spending my money on holidays, tattoos, clubs, and err, teeth whitening (*dazzle* *dazzle*). Weddings, mortgages, babies... Last thing on my mind. I'm a little selfish at the moment. Not ready to settle. Love my freedom. Rah rah rah.

In order to get my Mother's mind off marrying me to a random stranger, I'm switching the focus to my bachelor brother :P Anyone out there looking for a very eligible 32 year old bachelor? Has good looks (well, he's got the same genes as me). Loves to cook Italian. Go on, make my Mother happy :)

Missy Wan, don't think you're going to win the bet so easily :P

IIITCHYYY

This is seriously an endurance test. Gawd... I don't know what's worse, the pain for 4.5 hours, or the itchiness that's been going on for the past 48 hours. Can't scratch or the ink comes off. The skin's starting to scab and peel. It's interesting to see the colour beneath the peel. I'm feeling reptilian. I'm also getting extremely paranoid. I keep staring at my butt, and for the first time in a loooong time, I've noticed something -

OMG. Look at all that CELLULITE O_o

It's been that long since I looked closely at my buttocks...

So, here's what I know about tattoo care (which, to be honest, isn't much):
- Tattoos apparently like warm water. So shower with extremely warm water.
- Don't aim the water directly at the tattoo. Don't soak in hot tubs or baths. Showers only. Water will lift the scab.
- Use a mild soap.
- I moisturise twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night. Use a lotion with no fragrance. My tattooist recommended Vaseline Intensive Care. I've also used Nivea before, on my dragon, and that turned out well.

See how it goes, eh?

PS to Joh: I never knew you had a tattoo!!! I didn't get around to asking you about it last night! You've been hiding it!

Queen's Day!!!

It's a nice sunny day in Amsterdam, and everyone was out to party! In boats! The canals were endlessly filled with party boats. Anyone want to organise a theme boat for next year's Queen's Day? :)

The day was topped off at Leiden with a free gig by Armin van Buuren (ranked #2). It would've been a lot better without the crazy puberscent kids around. I'm starting to sound like an old fart :( Think from now on, I'll stick to over 18 events.

Happy Birthday Trini!

Hope you had a good time last Friday *lol* At least you didn't throw up! I'm glad you've finally made it to Rondon :) Bring on Summer, and bring on the parties!

The first Beeniksteraztri (*phew*) household outing:

Moy! Moy!

With all things in life, there's always such a massive difference when you deal with professionals - People who know how to do their job, and to do it really well. When I got my first tattoo, I walked into a tattoo shop in Newtown, showed my ID and had it done pretty dang quickly. I walked out with a not-so-good blue rose.

When I got my second tattoo, I didn't do any research either. I picked something I liked and had it done by a random guy. He did a good job, but it was just inking in a big dragon. Not much detail involved. Plus, there were people walking in and out of the tattoo room while I was there sitting in my bra.
Random guy: "What's that?"
Tattooist: "Tribal dragon" (d’uh)
Random guy: "Cooool maaan..."

Not the most confidence inspiring experience.

This time round, I did my research. I wanted someone good, and I wanted it done in a style which suited me. So I started looking up A LOT of tattooists. I looked through Needled. I tried looking through BME (NSFW), that was too hard. Finally, I looked through the London Tattoo Convention website. That's where I found Rob Admiraal :) Unfortunately, Rob's a busy man, and even though I tried back in January to get an appointment, he was already booked out till 2008! I met Rob on the weekend, and he's hilarious :) He's the Karaoke tattooist who bursts out into song while tattooing! I saw Rob at work, and his work, is seriously beautiful. Lekker! Lekker!

So Rob recommended Lina as the tattooist for me since he couldn't do it. Lina is Rob's "right hand" girl, as in, I think Lina did the tattoos on his right arm *grin* I'm glad he recommended Lina, because her style was exactly what I wanted :)

What did I want? A koi!

I met with Lina on Saturday to discuss size, position and colours. She talked me through my options and made me feel a lot more confident about it. We were ready to go. On Sunday, I arrived half an hour early for the appointment, and had time to contemplate what I was about to do. I felt like throwing up into the idyllic Dutch canal. I knew I wanted it. I also knew that it was going to hurt.

When Lina arrived, she prepped infront of me. It was comforting to see her prep. Everything was cleaned down and wrapped, from the lamp, to the squeeze bottles. She brought her inks out, inspected her equipment. I knew things were clean. She transferred the design onto my skin and had a discussion with Rob about... well, the discussion was in Dutch *grin* It was apparently about the placement of water. I trusted them.

I think I said it with the dragon, but this time I mean it - this is the absolute last tattoo for me. I can see how tattooing is addictive, such a large amount of space to fill! But, the pain, holy fcking cow, the pain.

Yes, it hurt. A lot. Worse than what I remember with the dragon. The first hour was the hardest. Lina placed me in different positions throughout the experience, and it was only appropriate that the first position was the foetal position. I felt like I needed my Mum! (Hrm, which reminds me, how on earth am I going to tell my Mum?!?) The pain's a funny thing. It's not consistent, and it's not something I got used to. Sometimes, I barely felt a ticklish tingle. Sometimes, it felt like someone was stabbing me through my back and carving a chunk of me out. Sometimes, I could feel the vibrations from the tattoo gun all the way down my left leg, and I had to clench and unclench my toes to make the pain bearable. When Lina started tattooing, I could literally feel my skin shrinking away from the needle as it got closer. I had to remind myself to keep breathing. It took a lot of energy for me to stay still at times.

After ONE hour, the outline is complete. Long way to go yet:

So, have I talked you out of having a tattoo yet? :) If you want to test your pain threshold, tattoos are a good way to start. By the way, the pain has nothing to do with Lina's skill. She was awesome and honestly, there were times I could've fallen asleep. The pain has to do with my body's reaction to needles stabbing certain parts of me :P Certain parts of everyone's body are just extremely sensitive. Nothing you can do about it.

The shading in, was surprisingly more bearable than the outlining. I was okay for most of it. In the remaining 3.5 hours, I had one more break, then we ploughed on. Lina started tattooing at 12PM, and finally stopped at 4:30PM. By that time, I was about ready to cry out, "STOP! I'll come back tomorrow!". I think my flesh was beyond sore at that point. The last half hour, I was wincing, making fists and muffling some whimpers. But it was over! :D And here is my koi:

So here's my plug for Lina - the BEST tattooist I've ever had :) I trusted Lina as a talented tattoo artist who knew what she was doing, and she made me feel good about getting the tattoo. I LOVE my happy koi. Moy! Moy! I saw some of Lina's tattoo photos, and she's done some amazing sleeves. If you want a tattoo you're never going to regret, make an appointment with Lina Stigsson at Admiraal Studio. Or see Lina in Rondon at this year's tattoo convention in October :)

Lina working on my tattoo:

Lina's website: www.myspace.com/linastigsson
Rob Admiraal Tattoo Studio
http://www.admiraaltattoo.com
Marnixstraat 151
1015 VM Amsterdam
The Netherlands
phone: +31 (0)20 622 32 18
email: info@admiraaltattoo.com

Rob Admiraal, the talented Singing Tattooist!