Busy Busy Busy..

This will be the last blog update for a while, as I am swamped this weekend and early next week, leading up to my trip to Barcelona on WED night. I have lots of work, in addition me moving on TUE to a new flat in Amsterdam. Again. I'm downsizing for the summer, as I don't need a luxurious place when I'm rarely around to live in it. At least that's the thought.

Lastly, I want to say how much good music I've been privy to this week. I saw Antibalas and Hanne Hukkelberg last week, and followed that with Andrew Bird and K-Os, in which my friend Ben plays bass, last night. Primavera Sound is kickass too, which will be a fun work/vacation.

till later.

Home,

I am staring at flowers that were given to me and are now dying. They are on my kitchen table; I got them a week ago, so them dying isn't a metaphor or anything, just life. I don't feel this blog post has to be about anything in particular. I'm just wasting 10 minutes before I have to run off, and I thought a bunch of useless ramblings would be fun to jot down.

Nothing much is happening here. I'm off to Barcelona for work next week, and then back to Canada for a week for Joe's wedding, one of my closest friends. He's a year older than me and getting married; I guess I'm getting old. Plus other friends have already gotten married, had kids, all that jazz. More feeling old. Work is progressing. The new Kae Sun album is done. If you want, we posted two songs at our Sonicbids page, "Stay Up" and "Where Did Everybody Go." Both are political songs, to a different extent, and if you like them, lemme know :)

It's been gloomy today, as it was yesterday. Typical Dutch weather, I guess. I see Dutch weather and Dutch food in the same light. They are both white, grey or yellow, don't do much for the soul and aren't worth writing home about. Minus stroopwafels of course, and suikerwafels.

More Later...

International Life...

This week especially, I feel international. Yesterday I had coffee with two Turkish girls from Couch Surfing, and dinner and a tour of Alkmaar from a Fijian, with promises that she's bringing her friend from Nepal around next time. Today I have drinks with my new flatmates, who are from Portugal and Greece. Tonite I'm seeing Antibalas, a band from Brooklyn, with a British couple, my Canadian friend and my Trinidadian flatmate. Wow, I feel insignificant. Being Canadian feels so boring.

Shain

VNO-NCW Conference,

Today I stood up in front of about 800 people at the VNO-NCW West Business Conference in Holland and told a bunch of big wigs how flawed their immigration system is. To add some context, I was added as a guest speaker along with two other students to this business conference, which is essentially aimed at making Amsterdam more internationally friendly for corporations. The VNO-NCW is the chamber of commerce, and this was their big gala ceremony. The CEO of Siemens, a great guy mind you, asked me a bunch of questions, and we decided it would be best to lambaste the IND (immigration and naturalisation dept) for treating me like a criminal. The Dutch immigration system, like most European countries, is fundamentally flawed, which has caused a whole mess of issues, including me going through hell for a residence permit.

Plus, a lot of student friends who graduate with a 1 year MA from UvA leave and go home. Why the hell would the Dutch want that? Wouldn't the business want to keep the knowledge here, where it was fostered? Wouldn't it be good for the country to employ smart, tax paying expats who excel in specialized positions? I think so, and therefore decided to make my voice heard in front of some important people, including the CEO's on ABN AMRO, KPMG Europe, ING and the vice-mayor of Amsterdam.

It's funny. Everyone agreed with me. Thanked me even. Yet, I have no faith the system will change in my lifetime, even though these powerful folks have the means to do so. This is an amazing country, with a troubled integration policy. Canada is the same in many respects.

I also discovered, thanks to my lovely friend Nina, that when you eat asparagus, your urine smells. She pointed it out to me at the best possible time, right in the middle of a delicious Dutch style asparagus gratin with Gouda. At least the dessert was brilliant - aardbei (strawberries) with slagroom (whipped cream) and hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles). Plus an open bar.

A very open bar. sweet.

Work...

I have a shitload of work to do tonite. So much so it is worthy of the description 'shitload.' It's nothing out of the ordinary, but it does seem like there is more tonite. Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif is a busy month for Uni in Holland, and so on and so on and so on.

I lost my baseball game today. We deserved to lose. For those interested parties, visit My Club's Site to learn about us. Most of the info is in Dutch, but you'll get it. Now I'm home telling myself I shouldn't be updating my blog. I should be working.

On a side note, I've been spending a good amount of time this week with my friends Patrick Watson. They are a great band from Montreal, and I've seen them twice in Amsterdam and once in Utrecht this week, with one more show tomorrow when they open for Interpol. They are a brilliant band and brilliant guys, so if you like Coldplay, Jeff Buckley or Devandra Banhart, check out Patrick Watson.

I updated my journalism website as well.. Go read my work HERE.

ta-da.

Quick Story...

I was on the Amsterdam metro yesterday - yes, Amsterdam has a subway - and I was running for a train, which I thought I was going to miss. As I was running, my cell phone leaped out of my pocket, seemingly on its own, and right onto the train tracks. Then the phone rang.

So I stared, contemplating how to get my phone back. I ended up calling over someone working at the Amsterdam metro who called ahead, stopped all the trains and then got a technician to go onto the tracks and get my phone. It was a bit scratched up, I was a bit embarrassed, but a good laugh was had by all, in Dutch and English.

I'm an idiot sometimes.

Please Lord, Not The Bees...

It seems each time I update this, I am in a different country, or on top of a different country. This time I am in Toronto. Been busy with Kae Sun.

Today I came to the conclusion that this world is full of idiots, and there is no hope. I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the plight of the honeybee, but there are some serious issues right now concerning a massive, unexplained drop in honeybee populations, and there is very little news about it. If we have no honeybees, then nothing, or very little will pollinate the flowers. Then the flowers die. Then we're screwed. This world is really going down the road feeling bad, and we're completely oblivious. One third of the food we eat is dependent on the honeybee population. ONE-THIRD! I'm worried.

To educate:

Great All Around Article.. A Bit Long, but Worth It

Article About Problem

Wikipedia Explanation

Associated Press

A blog entry whilst writing on the airplane…another airplane.

I spent a whole week at home in Amsterdam. It was lovely. The weather was perfect, so perfect we are beginning to wonder if the end of the world is coming and the forces that be are simply placating us with sun before they turn the switch off. I actually sunned, and felt it afterwards. My friend Meghan from Geneva/Canada came to visit for the weekend, staying until today. She was still there when I left this morning. We spent much of the weekend enjoying the gorgeous weather, sitting in the Westerpark, drinking, staging dinner parties and then leftover dinner parties, and catching up.

The reason she came, well other than to see me of course, was for Konningnedag, or in English, Queen’s Day. Queen’s Day is Queen Juliana, grandmother of the current Queen, Beatrix’ birthday. It is a celebration that began after the war and has turned into a country-wide flea market meets all-day and night party, one tough to describe. It was plainly insane. It lacked sense, this party, but it was fun. Super fun. Much of the rest of the post will concern itself with describing my Queens Day, the first ever in the Netherlands and certainly not the last. This was so much fun; just a brilliant, energetic, smiling time. I wish every Monday was like this.

For Konningennach, or Queen’s Night, a friend of mine baseball and others joined us for pre-drinking at my place before setting off into town. We just walked, passing many DJ and drinking tents along the grachts (canals) before settling for a beer in Leidseplein. The canals were packed with people; it was almost impossible to move in certain places, and everyone was dancing, drinking, partying, enjoying each other’s company. This continued until about 5AM, as we kept pounding back the liquids to stay hydrated before stumbling home. I left before Meghan and the guys, and I passed out just before 5. The next morning we awoke at the crack of noon and had lunch, put on our shiniest orange shirts and went into town to enjoy Queen’s Day.

It was gorgeous; sunny, bright, lovely, and there was a shitload of people everywhere. Apparently the population of Amsterdam doubles on Queen’s Day, and it surely was noticeable. We passed by a party in the Jordaan, well, several parties and made it all the way to Rembrandtplein, one of the big squares. There were thousands upon thousands of people dancing to DJs and hip-hip from a big stage in the square, drinking and just going crazy. I couldn’t move. It was insane. After some time there, I walked back home (about 90 minutes of Queen’s Day) and met up with Renee to explore the Jordaan. This is where it got even crazier.

I found a toy sword on the ground, one from the Thundercats cartoon show. I went home and put batteries in it, and it worked. Lit up and made a sound. We grabbed some beers, found a tent playing trance and started dancing with the sword. The sword was quite popular. I made quite a few friends flashing it around. One women even picked up a pair of panties from the ground and use the sword as the base for a slingshot, flinging the panties in the air of the crowd. This proceeded to ignite a gigantic clothing fight in the stage, as jeans, pants, shirts and jackets were flung between hundreds of people like glowsticks, followed by flowers and socks. It was, once again, beyond comprehension. I’m in the middle of a street I bike down everyday, listening to a world-class DJ and dancing with a few thousand drunken Dutch. And everyone is wearing orange. Meghan took pictures.

It didn’t end there. After the clothing fight, an old woman who owned a flat next to the crowd opened up the window and started throwing rolls of toilet paper at everyone. More drinking ensued, and by 5PM, the day became a blur. Yet, as the dancing continued, a man came up to me and claimed I found his sword, bought for his kid, and asked for it back. He made a convincing enough case, and not caring too much, I gave him back the sword and he bought Renee and I a bunch of beers.

I know this doesn’t make much sense; I wish it did, but Queen’s Day doesn’t make a lot of sense. A gigantic flea market; everyone was selling everything, absolutely everything, combined with a city-wide street party. Hundreds of tents sprung across the city with bands, DJs, comedy, beer Olympics. And all this in orange.

I went home for a minute as Renee had a dinner date, and met up with another friend Macauley and Meghan again and had crappy Mexican food in the Leidseplein. Then 11:30PM reared its hungover head and we biked home exhausted, confused, thrilled and smiling.

Now I am sitting in a plane going back to Canada. I ended up sitting next to a woman and a young kid sharing one seat, and this kid was perspicacious, so thankfully I was moved to the back of the plane, next to an elderly couple. I am Toronto for a week; lots to do, some shitty things and some nice things, and lots to think about. Things get tough once I get back to the Netherlands, in many ways. I have a lot to think about, which is good, because if I didn’t, I would be bored.