live journaling has its negatives. for example, when i didn’t know what some of my friends were doing on an almost daily basis, i didn’t miss you all so much. damn live journal. so, all i can say is: get your sorry asses over here and visit us! heh. like that’s likely. actually, maastricht is pretty boring, so i don’t really recommend it. maybe when we move next, whenever that is.

so, feeling bored and lonely this evening, missing everyone, i called everyone i knew. everyone was busy. i don’t know all that many people. i mean, dick was probably not busy, but we’ve seen him every day for 3 days, so i thought maybe i should try for someone else. anyway, failing that, i convinced matt to come out with me.

we went to check out a fairly new bar we noticed a few months ago, but haven’t had a chance to go to: underworld. at least, we’re pretty sure it’s pretty new. anyway, we walked in and were at first a bit alarmed to see hell’s angel stuff all over the place, but the bartender and a couple of old guys at the bar were pretty friendly, and even the rather hardcore looking guys near the door looked curious about who was coming in. how is this different from usual? well, maastricht is such a tourist location for so many different reasons, that most regulars don’t give a shit unless they’ve seen you many many times, assuming you’re another one. but in a couple of places we’ve found, such as witte ballons and now underworld, apparently so few people go stumbling into them that they’re interested. anyway, one of the bar guys tonight had something to say right off the bat, and so we chatted a bit with him, and i gave him a clove. cloves, by the way, are not very common here, so they very occasionally make good conversation starters, when i think to bring them with me. so, anyway, positive experience at underworld, we went on to joie de vivre, which is in the center, thus not really so interested in newcomers. we’ve been there before, but it was so crowded and loud and smoky in there that time that i couldn’t breathe, or see, or hear. this was better, and the bartender was friendly.

yay. altogether a nice evening. and here it is, after midnight, and i’m plenty awake. unfortunately, i have to get up fairly early tomorrow for a meeting at hoge school zuyd, my recent part-time employer, to sign passing certificates for my students. and i have no interest in sleep. matt is watching episodes of spaced on dvd (again), and i’m looking up correspondence masters programs. but then i wanted to do this, too.

now i’m a junkie. 🙂

did i mention that apparently until recently maastricht had a really big hardcore punk scene? well, it did. i find that in itself a bit interesting, but most of it has moved to eindhoven, about an hour north. so far as i can tell, then, the only specific music scene that maastricht has EVER had is no longer here. helaas. (alas.) i’ve been listening to some compilation cds of local music. some has been pretty disappointing, but some has been fun. i also went to a punk show at a small theater here a few months ago when matt was out of town. that was funny. other than a couple of old guys who i think owned the place, i was the oldest person there. there were 3 bands. none of the members of any of the bands could have been older than 19. most of the fans were younger than that. i saw one or two others, also alone, of around my age group, and attempted to say hello, but wasn’t met with much enthusiasm. then i got hit on rather strongly by some kid who couldn’t have been older than 16. heh heh. i left shortly after that. it was already the 3rd band, and i wasn’t really impressed. they were more grunge than punk anyway.

we’re going to ireland this weekend. craig and jill (who some of you might remember as bert and ernie at a long ago party) have moved to blarney, so we are going for a visit. i have never been to ireland, and i hear nice things about cork, nearby. i haven’t found anyone to watch the cats for the weekend, but i’m sure something will work out.

i’m listening to a cd that recently emerged out of an unpacked box. i don’t remember ever having seen it before. i’m not sure i like it. i’m not a big fan of the high female vocals over the top of heavier beats and low male chanting sound. it seems really big over here, by the way. but it could definitely be worse. and it’s not all bad. hmmm… a new song just started, and it’s completely different. more electronic/computer sounding. no, not being a musician or particularly musical, i know i’m not giving this a very good explanation. no, wait…. the female vocals just did it again. i think i liked that sound the first few times i heard it. now it all starts seeming the same. oh well.

blah blah again. i’m going to try to avoid doing this tomorrow. really. i’m not addicted. really.