Category: Personal

Up and Down the Dial

85740-fullOne of the most interesting things about being in a relationship with someone who is both from a different culture and has a significant age difference is that you get to share things which may seem old hat or fond memory to you, but become something new and fun to them. With us, this happens whenever we’re talking about TV shows or commercials or music… pop culture references, really. Continue reading “Up and Down the Dial” →

Naming Rites

hello-my-name-isSo, we’re having a baby, right?

We’re in week 20, half way along, and it’s pretty spectacular. Rasa is showing, has been for a few weeks now, and the baby is kicking its little heart out. We figure Speck is going to be either a ninja, kung fu master or drummer at this rate. We also expect it to come out with perfect muscle tone and prepared to run a 100 meter dash.  Continue reading “Naming Rites” →

Belgium 2016 Day 6/7 – In Brugge, Brussels and Back Home

BruggeBelgian timing is not my strong suit. It really doesn’t take long to get from city to city in this small country. So while I got up early and took time to actually take advantage of the free breakfast at Hostel Uppelink and didn’t rush to get the train, I was still in Brugge before 10 am which is when everything actually opens. Okay, not exactly true. The central square was packed with the weekly Wednesday market and some of the souvenir shops, restaurants and their version of a Belfry were open, but the tourist information office, not so much.  Continue reading “Belgium 2016 Day 6/7 – In Brugge, Brussels and Back Home” →

Belgium 2016 Day 5 – A Ghent-leman and a Scholar

three towers at twilightI left Antwerp early… again. Today I was heading towards Ghent, a town I knew had a history. The train ride was only about 30 minutes so I’d get to Ghent early and have all day to explore. Until the train stopped. Seemed that there was a train stopped on the tracks ahead of us and a voice came over the intercom informing us we’d be delayed a few minutes. In Dutch. A nice gentleman sitting across from me translated so I could keep up. Continue reading “Belgium 2016 Day 5 – A Ghent-leman and a Scholar” →

Belgium 2016 Day 4 – Ink, Bridges and a Butt Plug Gnome

SS RotterdamReally wasn’t expecting to go the Netherlands this trip, and yet, here I was, just past 8am, hanging out with fully armed Belgian soldiers, waiting for the train to Rotterdam. As it turned out, our train was delayed so we were instructed to take the following train (which had a change rather than being a direct route). This wasn’t a big deal and they announced instructions in Dutch and English. The problem was the poor Albanian guy who was trying to get to Amsterdam (the ultimate destination of the train which would drop me in Rotterdam). He was having a hard time figuring out where to go so I made sure he got on the right train and then changed where we were supposed to. I left him on the second train. I hope he made it. Continue reading “Belgium 2016 Day 4 – Ink, Bridges and a Butt Plug Gnome” →

Belgium 2016 Day 3 – Opening Locks in Antwerpen

Big HandOnce again, the boys from Jersey had their alarms set. They had overslept yesterday and missed Amsterdam so were trying it again today. The night before, when I’d gotten in, I mentioned the double alarm and gave my permission for one of their number to hit the guy who hadn’t woken with his alarm the day before if he did it again. I figured that was fair. This time, though, I was ready. I realized I had basically six days in Belgium and had spent two in Brussels. I also knew I had a hostel waiting for me for two nights in Antwerp and in Ghent but that I could arrive whenever so it was a flexible plan. But it was cold in Brussels and I kinda wanted to see what else this fair country had to offer. Continue reading “Belgium 2016 Day 3 – Opening Locks in Antwerpen” →

David Bowie 1947-2016

From the “Heroes” photo session by Masayoshi Sukita

David Bowie died.

He was probably my first rock and roll hero. I remember seeing him sing Space Oddity on some early 70s TV show, then seeking out the song, finding it on cassette on ChangesOneBowie. From there it wasn’t hard to pick up the albums which had come before and stick with the man through permutations and variations. I identified with him. He was the ultimate shapeshifter, able to morph into whatever guise was required at the time. I knew I wasn’t alone in this, but it wasn’t until yesterday, when news of his death was made known that I realized just how many people identified with him. Continue reading “David Bowie 1947-2016” →

2016 Reading challenge(s)

wpid-Photo-20150809132420691.jpgAs we roll over into 2016, a number of reading challenges have made themselves known. I think for next year, I’ll actually make one of my own but for this year, I’m just going to link to a couple of them.

Honestly, I love this. We’ve become a nation, a world, where gameplay is everything. Where if there’s no “challenge” then there’s no reason to do anything. This is why we “tag” people on Facebook, to push them into doing some silly task or even something worthwhile (the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge… but see, there’s that word again.) Continue reading “2016 Reading challenge(s)” →

Christmas, Mažeikiai style

Rotuse tree
This is in Kaunas

For the second year in a row, we headed to Rasa’s hometown of Mažeikiai to celebrate Christmas. This year, though, was going to be a bit different. Rasa has a job now, so her time off schedule is quite different. Instead of being able to spend a leisurely week or so as we did last time, we only had a few days, counting the weekend. So instead of relying on relatives, friends or public transport, we decided to rent a car for the few days. It gave us more flexibility and freedom. Continue reading “Christmas, Mažeikiai style” →