Viareggio

Last Thursday 8am meet up to go to Viareggio until Sunday. A long weekend by the beach, filled with sports, sand, sun, alcohol and parties. And it was indeed all 5 of them.

We left early so that we can enjoy the area a bit. We went straight to the beach, dipped in the nice Mediterranean Sea and then went on to Castiglione di Garfagnana, somewhere close to Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. One guy has a family house there with a restaurant and a small hotel so it was a nice break for city dwellers like me. It absolutely felt like I was in the Corleone house/village. Amazing food - although I couldn't get past the primata plata. And the grappa was very very smooth.

Friday off to Bagno Arizona in Viareggio for the tournament. Suddenly it started pouring down as if it was the last day on earth. We kept on playing anyway. At night there was a small party which ended up with 2 broken plastic chairs. Playing musical chairs while drunk is fun. I did impress a couple of people with my ability to try to sit down, lose my balance and fall down without spilling one drop of beer from the full glass that I had in my hand.

Saturday the weather was amazing and wonderful. We played the whole day and lost all the games. But the important bit is the party at night and there we won it in style. Me, I ended up drunk with Stan The Man and R-A-Y talking about God knows what and being pulled into the bus by my mates at the end of the night.

Sunday the weather was still nice, we finished our games and headed home only to be stuck in a 1,5 hour traffic jam. Reason for traffic jam? Merging of two lanes into one lane due to some works. Typical Italian traffic.

Got back at 3 in the morning but it was definitely worth it.

"Go on take everything, take everything, I want you to"

Sang Som Similan International Rum

Last weekend was the last weekend of the Swiss National Championships. Won 2 out of 3, overall winning percentage of 60%. Not bad for a team in its first year in the league. The weather was pretty nice and it was fun to have dinner all 30 of us.

I took a bottle of rum with me for the party. Imagine me, a bottle of rum and lots of players. It was fun and for a change I didn't get totally hammered. I did get a bit typsy, mind you. Although the national championship is over, the season is not over yet. Next weekend Viareggio, end of October Barcelona.

I watched The Terminal yesterday. A Spielberg movie about a guy who gets stuck in an airport for months - based loosely on a true story of a guy who gets stuck in an airport in Paris for years. Tom Hanks plays Victor Navorski, a guy from nowhere who can't get out of JFK airport. He just sits there and waits. And waits. And waits.

This movie was beaten in the box office by Open Water, a movie about two divers who were left by their boat and had to wait in the sea full of sharks. Sort of like The Terminal, but if I have to choose I rather wait with real sharks than wait in Spielberg's airport. In other words: The Terminal sucks.

"Find me and follow me through corridors and factories"

Pasta Funghi Bolognaise

Ingridients:
2 fresh tomatoes, diced
1 small can of tomato paste
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
1 red paprika, diced
1 big white mushroom (don't know what kind of mushroom), diced
1 small pack of shitake mushrooms, take out of pack and put in hot water before using
1 small can of mixed mushrooms
1 shot of vodka
parsley
salt, pepper, oregano, and other flavoring
pasta of choice (spaghetti, tagliatella, etc)

Instructions:
Heat up pan with olive oil in it. Put in onions and garlic and let it cook until the onions are half cooked. Put in full can of tomate paste, tomatoes and paprika. Add a little bit of water (half a shot). Stir and let cook for a while on medium heat. After 5 minutes, add all mushrooms and seasoning. Let cook for a while (5 minutes), stir it up. Add parsley and vodka and let it simmer on low heat.

In another pan cook the pasta (if you can't even cook pasta don't bother cooking this recipe).

Put pasta on plate and sauce on top of pasta. Supposedly serves 2, but you'll end up with more.

Yummy!

Wild Horses

This morning I went to the airport to say goodbye to my dear friend. She's going away for a year (maybe even more) to work in another continent. I've known her for almost 4 years and she is one of my closest friends here. So all the best of luck for my friend.

Last weekend I had the national championships again. Won 2 out of 3, not bad. But when will I ever learn that playing sport with a hangover is not good at all???

Although it's still sunny outside, it seems like summer is gone. Well almost. When the sun is not out it's already a bit cold. And windy. And rainy.

I thought it was going to be a good day. Then I forgot my sunglasses and earphones for my iPod. I just hope it won't be any worse.

"I have my freedom but I don't have much time"

Bomb

Thursday was a day off here. Just this city, not the country. Don't ask me why, all I know is that I can sleep longer and do nothing the whole day (when in fact at work I do nothing as well for most of my time, but still...). Anyway, after a long Wednesday night, I woke up a bit early on Thursday. I turned on my computer to read about the Holland vs Czech Republic game. 2-0 Holland, woohoo!

I switched to a Dutch newspaper site to read more about the game. Then I saw big news that a bomb exploded back home. Damn. It's on the business district where I know a lot of people who work there. I chatted to a friend and he explained the situation. I look at some websites. I send some text messages. Then I went to sleep again until 1 o'clock.

On one side it's terrifying that a big bomb explodes like that back home. On the other side, I guess I'm a bit used to it and as long as I know everyone is okay, I'm fine as well. I don't know why they detonate bombs, but it's not the first time. Nor will it be the last time.

Does this make me a pacifist?

Just because...

I believe a week ago it was the MTV Video Music Awards. Five years ago, I would have made sure that I was in front of a telly to watch the show and also tape it (I still have a couple of VMAs on tape). Just because I was a pop culture junkie/whore. But now I realize MTV is a load of crap, so I can't be bothered anymore. Just reading this minute-by-minute play is enough to ensure me that I haven't missed anything out. Actually I did miss the Spree on MTV VMA, but I'm sure I'll see that on the telly soon (my telly only shows Eurosport or MTV - even though I don't like both channels).

Local weather news: It's f*cking hot. Just when everyone thought that summer is over, summer decides to pass by late. Very very late. It's the first weekend of September and it more than 30 degrees outside, all blue sky and scorching sun. Man, where was summer when I needed it (ie. July-August)?

Had a movie week. Last sunday watched Office Space on DVD (very very funny), monday watched The Bourne Supremacy (very very shaky), wednesday The Village (very very M. Night Shyamalan), and today watched Girl Next Door (very very every 18 year old boy dream come true).

What else? I heard Robbie Williams latest song the other day. Man, that sucks. I guess leaving Guy Chambers was a bad career decision. But knowing Robbie, he'll probably have a big song in his new album somewhere. Let's just hope he realizes before we do...

I just need some sleep. And a cold shower.