Mussels, Leffe, Art and?

Want to know the real reason I was in Bruxelles? Come on, it's not that hard to guess ;) With not much arm twisting from B, we had our tix all booked and ready to go for Armin Only over a month ago! To me, it strangely felt like a karaoke night, as I belted out all the cheesy trance choons I listen to everyday :) Poor B, I think I only had about a 20% hit rate on the lyrics *lol* I honestly don't know how I'd make it through the work day without my music. It was such good fun at Armin Only. Front row and centre at an Armin gig with my fave dance buddy? I couldn't ask for anything more... The smile never left my face all night :)

"I keep dreaming, that I have it all..."

Bring out the fluro!!

With that, Reenie clubbing season is over for 2008. As much as I'd love to keep partying on, the chill has set in, and I'm feeeeling it. The puffy jacket is out. The scarfie is out. As tempted as I am to head to the Essential festival in Jaarbeurs, one word - *BRRRRRRR*...

Bring on the Summer season!!! :D

PS: B, this one's for you - Eller van Buuren's lekker kontje ;)

Famous!

I'm officially on the internets :) Spot me in the current intro on the Armin Only website.

Can't find me? Need a hint? I'm "Ecstatic Fan-Gal #2" *grin*

_Still_ need a hint? Coooome on, these mateys didn't need any help :)

Here's the youtube version:

If you're wondering where this is, here's the story. W00t W00t!!! Hands in the air everyone, Armin hearts me :)

Nature One (Part zwei)

Me and B? Pay EU$3 for a porta-shower? No way! We have BABY WIPES, thank you very much :) And deodorant, anti-bacterial hand gel, face wash, toothpaste, moisturiser and clean undies! We were prepped. So whilst waiting for the other girls to arrive from Rondon on Saturday afternoon, B and I spent quite awhile back at the airport, freshening up in the toilets *grin* Aaah, flushing toilets!! *Luxury*... I didn't think I was that skanky until I wiped every inch of myself down with baby wipes and they turned BROWN :P We can't have been too smelly though, the others were still willing to hang out with us :)

Though, Milli-san doesn't look too pleased to be this close to me *grin*

Super Di-skies! :D

Are you wondering who that random guy is in the pictures? He's a random guy down on his luck. Got pick-pocketed, had no money, only his iPhone and his tent. So we took him into our group *grin* Really cool guy actually. I'm hoping if I'm ever in the same situation, backpacker karma repays me and takes care of me the same way we took care of him.

So who else did we see? PvD and Armin :)

I can't get enough of Armin. He totally r0x0rz these days. I still listen to him everyday. By the time Armin was done, it was 4am, and we had to find a cab back to the airport. Harder than it sounds, since Hahn is in the middle of NOWHERE. With the persistence of T, Babsy and Milli-san though, we made it to the flughafen in time for our flight. Believe it or not, we were back in Rondon by 8am Sunday. I was clean and sound asleep by 8:30am :)

Thanks B for camping out with me! I had soo much fun at our first camping festival. I'm really glad we did it :)

Thanks to the rest of the girly crew for flying out to party with us for just one night! It was worth it, right? ;)

Happy anniversary

Yesterday was the day I arrived in Rondon 2 years ago. Has it really been 2 years already? So much has happened. Some good, some bad, some lessons learnt the hard way. How did I celebrate this momentous occasion? By leaving Rondon and flying to Amsterdam *lol* Yesterday was also Armin Only day!!! Yaaaay!!! :D

I'd bought tix to this event ages ago, and after lots of umm'ing and ahh'ing, finally decided to book my flights and go. So off I jetted to the Netherlands to spend 10 hours with my fave DJ. I left Rondon at 6pm, and was at the venue in Utrecht by 9pm - and that's with a one hour time difference. Not bad for international clubbing.

However, Armin did that annoying hide-behind-the-screen thing AGAIN! For 3 hours!! It could've been anyone throwing on CDs for those 3 hours :P

I did love the night though :) Armin totally rocked it.

I've also figured out the trick to maintaining personal space at the front row - dance in stiletto heels. In an attempt to be a liiiiittle taller amongst the Dutch giants, I wore my boots. Anyone who came near me at the wrong time was likely to get a hole stomped into their foot by my spikey heels :P However, it also meant that by the 7th hour of dancing, my feet were killing and I had to exit the front row. That's when I realised, holy shit, it's not easy fighting my way from the front through 16,000 frenetically dancing people. It took me awhile. Good thing about the venue was that there were flat screens everywhere, and the sound system was great. Because I was upfront for most of the night, I didn't really get to see the full effects of the show until I watched it on the flatscreens. It was amazing, the crowd was just constantly heaving and the lights were awesome. I'm getting the DVD just to see if I'm in it *lol*

This time, I was also prepared for the stupid Dutch "no water bottles" scam. I had to smuggle in an empty water bottle :P Which meant I could refill my bottle from the toilet taps, as oppose to spending 3 euros for a cup of water each time I felt thirsty. Besides that, how is one suppose to dance on a crowded dancefloor with a cup?!? Bastards! Don't even get me started on their token system. I totally dig their locker system though. They had enough lockers for 16,000 people and for 5 euros, I could unburden my coat and massive handbag for the night.

I really can't wait till the next Armin Only :) More pix here. To my Sydnery party crew, I missed you!! Looks like you guys had a big night at SH's housewarming anyway ;)

Happy anniversary to me...

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.

Reenie Only @ Armin Only

I remember the first time I saw Armin van Buuren play. It was a Godskitchen event. It was at Gas 4 years ago. It was the October long weekend. It was the first time B met C, and C wore sheep pants to impress us ;) I think the night ended with C and I sitting on the floor downing tequila shots!

Armin, fireworks, lasers and dancers who looked like hookers:

This year, I saw Armin play at Armin Only, in Ahoy, Rotterdam. Just me, solo, front row, and I was in Armin heaven. It was brilliant! From start, to finish, I was listening to Armin play for about 7 hours. My legs gave out at the 4th hour and I couldn't dance anymore. Sitting down at the back of the dancefloor alone is a bad idea though. There are a loooot of crazy concerned Dutch people out there :) "Are you okay? Is everything alright? It's a party! You can't sit down! Don't you like to party?" Errr, I must be getting old.

Armin hid behind a screen for an hour. This is his "I am Jesus" pose:

Listening to Armin use to be a part of my everyday work routine. Plug in, block out everything but the music, forget how sucky the project is, and just focus on getting the job done. To hear Armin play all the tunes that made me happy and forget everything that sucked... It was worth dealing with insane airport security and travelling to Holland for. For the life of me though, I couldn't get a clear pic of Armin :P

Woo, laser lights...

Armin's been a DJ for 10 years, and I hope he's got at least another 10 more in him. It's really a tough call between him and Paul van Dyk as to who's my fave DJ. Both brilliant, PvD is perhaps more consistent with his sets, but Armin when he gets it right, it's unbeatable. More blurry Armin pix available on my flickr set.

Ula and Wilco, I did miss you... I was at a loss as to what to do once the shops closed in Amsterdam! Haha :)