Solly as a Rock!!

Queen’s day (Dutch : Koninginnedag)!

According to this dictionary: a holiday in the Netherlands to celebrate the Dutch monarchy… Almost. It’s described in a much better way here. Ah well, I don’t have anything to sell, so I’ll just dress up in orange clothing, wear my crazy hat and head up to Amsterdam. Participate in the activities, dance -there’s music everywhere-, get drunk… Cross my fingers that it won’t rain.

Check out the Empire State Building tonight: it is supposed to be lighted orange, to honour the late Queen Mum.

ps. Yes, my site always looked like this and is not especially ‘done’ for the occasion…

Right now, you are witnessing a very rare phenomenon in the life of Solly. I have nothing to tell you -nothing happened, nothing funny in the news you have seen or heard of yet. Yes, you heard me: I have nothing to say.

Two reactions are possible now:

*Shocked gasps, hands to chest* “A silent Solly? Hold the presses!” will be from the people I meet IRL.

*Raised eyebrows, frown, slightly tilted head* “Who cares, I never heard her talking” speaks for itself.

I will give a short explanation for the latter category – the first are excused, you are allowed to stop reading and proceed with whatever you were doing, or read on and maybe get a bit more insight in my complex personality

Anyway: I talk. A lot. Always and everywhere. I talk to strangers -since young age, parental warnings never worked. I talk to myself -especially during shopping: ‘you don’t need this’. I talk in my sleep -comment of first sleepover boyfriend ‘I am not surprised, if you won’t stop talking during the day, why would I expect you to be silent at night?’ I talk more when I am nervous -and I can’t stop myself.

I talk, yet say nothing. Just like I did now…

As I am an organised person (and I have all the time in the world…), on this day in the week I clean my house in the morning and search for/respond at job ads in the afternoon. A weekly routine. Sometimes, not often, I try to break the routine by cleaning on Tuesday or Thursday. That just does not feel right. So, I clean on Wednesday morning. Kitchen, bathroom, toilet. Laundry. Dust, vacuum and mop.

This morning was no different, except for the fact that I thought about doing my windows, too. After a week of sun, I could no longer ignore my very own local fog bank. I filled a bucket with water and methylated spiritus, grabbed a sponge and shammy and… It started to rain.

Pff… That was close. It could have been worse, if I had decided to do my windows first! Anyway, the way I see it, this was a message from above: never -ever- change your routine!

Bored with your large, grey, noisy paper shredder? Looking for something smaller and more colourful? Look no further!

   The All New Shredder Birdz™ for only 24.99

(*Click to enlarge. Cage, food and batteries not included.)

I went to the parodontologist this morning for some (scheduled) dental surgery. No, I did not get a mouth full of straight rowed, white and shiny teeth, but a partial reconstruction of my gums. The destruction was caused by acute parodontitus due to anaerob bacteria – pick one, I can prove it has inhabited my mouth- and today was the final step towards a healthy oral environment!

Anyway, a couple of painful shots of anesthetics were followed by a nice numb feeling of my lower jaw and lips. I felt nothing of the cutting, cleaning, scraping and stitching. I was a bit shocked when I looked in the mirror, but the parodontologist told me, that the swelling will go away… (I really wanted to illustrate this entry with “before” and “after” pics, but my love did not think it would be a good idea).

The surgery itself went fine -perfect, the assistant said when she handed me a prescription for painkillers. “Painkillers?”, I asked, “I feel fine”. “Just get them”, she said. She was right. Tingling in my tongue and lips indicated the anesthetics had worn off. I ignored it, until the tingling changed into a very unpleasant feeling in my lower jaw. Finally I decided to take the pills. Two at once, as I was told. Unfortunately, I took them too late. I am in pain! Suffering! And in doubt: shall I take one more pill?

Or not?

update @ 16:00 PM The painkillers definitely kicked in! Wee-hooey! I am not in pain any more! In fact, I feel great. Though I look quite silly with that stupid grin on my face… (I could never understand why lots of celebs were addicted to painkillers. I can now…)

Good ol’ grass

Green… Soft… Cool…

And when you lie on it…

The only way you can look is up!

(Thank you Garfield for this spiritual description of park life!)

Too bad this little creature is not in the Idols… His version of the Scorpions’ hit single “Still loving you” brought tears to my eyes… (thank you Komma Punt Log)

Talking rubbish bins have been put up in Berlin to help keep the city’s streets clean. The bins, which come in five different types, have a solar panel that provides the energy for the electronic voice. A photo sensor registers rubbish thrown into the bin and sets off the recorded message.

The types of bin include Susi Schlau (Smart Susie) which thanks passers-by for throwing junk into her in English, French and Japanese. Hitlist Harry rewards tidy people with a song, while Siggi Sport rewards anybody who uses him with a stadium-style “Goal, Goal, Goooooooaaaal!” scream. (source: Ananova)

Pfff… That’s nothing new. For over 20 years, maybe even longer, talking bins exist in de Efteling. They are shape like people, with huge bellies and an enormous opened mouth. They shout: “Paper here!” and when you throw something into their mouth -feed them, as I used to think when I was younger- they shout: “Thank you!” It encourages kids -and adults- to seek for more trash to throw into them! Unfortunately, overenthousiastic kids might throw in their moms handbag… (why are you looking at me? I would never, ever…)

“Hello?” (…)

“Sorry you got my voicemail earlier today.” (…)

“My phone crashed” (…)

“How? Well I received a text message and an e-mail while surfing, and it did not like that at all” (…)

“I got a white screen and I tried to reboot it, but that did not work” (…)

*laughs* “No, I don’t have ALT-CTRL-DEL on it” (…)

“I got it back online by uploading new software from the manufacturer’s site” (…)

“Duh! Of course it works, I am talking to you, aint I?” (..)

“I just lost some photo’s, a couple of appointments and unsaved settings” (…)

“No, I still have all my phone numbers, but I know now I should make more back-ups on my memory stick” (…)

“OK, talk to you later” (…)

Yes, they are talking about a mobile phone, not a computer or PDA, but who can tell the difference nowadays…