Don't panic

When going diving, the first rule is "don't panic". I tried going diving in the lake here last weekend and guess what, I panicked. I forgot to inflate my jacket and put the regulator in my mouth while I turned around to go swimming on my back. The heavy steel tank just took me under, where visibility was almost zero. I was gasping for air. Luckily someone helped me out. Hopefully that won't happen again on saturday.

On another note, the weather is picking up and this weekend is going to be sweet. And I won't be celebrating Queen's Day in Amsterdam though, the first time in six years...

Concerts

As usual, concert season is starting soon here and I just bought my tickets. These are the artists I'm going to see this summer:

Moby.
Morcheeba.
Natasha Beddingfield.
Kasabian.
The Kills.
The Bravery.
The Hives.
Franz Ferdinand.
Sum 41.
Telepopmusik.
Goldie Lookin' Chain.
The Dandy Warhols.

On top of that I'm still deliberating on Velvet Revolver and Audioslave.

You envy me???

"A friend of a friend got beaten. He looked the wrong way at a policeman."

April Snow

Two weekends ago I was sitting outside in my shorts, fully enjoying the spring sun. It was around 20 degrees and very very lovely. So you can imagine the surprise when I peeked through the window last night to see snow fall down. And the horror when I woke up and opened the curtain to see a layer of snow!

It's mid April and it's snowing like crazy. It feels like January, it's 0 degrees outside and fuckin cold. And I already cleaned all my winter clothes, stored them nicely in my cupboard. Now I have to take them out again and wear them again. What the fuck is that all about???

I guess we only have purselves to blame for the weather change. Deodorants, refrigerators, SUVs, they all contributed in one way or another to the climate change and one stupid country decided to pull out of the Kyoto Treaty. Oh well, prepare to tell your grandchildren that we used to have 4 seasons. It seems that the grandchildren will experience hot sun one day and then snow the next day. Poor kids.

Liverpool - Juventus

Yesterday Liverpool was hosting Juventus for the Champions League quarterfinals. It's been 20 years since the Heysel tragedy and this is the first time they meet again. Surrounding this game was all the hype from 20 years ago, how the (drunken) Liverpool supporters suddenly ran towards a small crowd of Juventus supporters who were then crushed when a wall fell down. It was a tragedy indeed.

I still remember that day very vividly. I was at home in Amsterdam just doing what a 8 year old does. My mom was working and my dad was watching TV, waiting for the final. He even set the VCR (which was kinda new in our home). I came into the living room and asked about all that fuss on the telly. It was supposed to be a football match but it looked like there were trouble because it didn't show any footballing. My dad then told me that the game is delayed due to some problem. I then went to bed.

The next day I watched the game on video and can remember Michel Platini scoring a goal from the penalty spot. But my dad didn't record any of the crowd trouble. I do remember all that news afterwards, how English teams are banned for 5 years from European competition. How there was one guy recorded on CCTV shooting a gun. How the wall collapsed and 38 Italians died.

It is a stark reminder what hooliganism can do. Hopefully there won't be any Heysel tragedy anymore.

Btw, Juventus was playing awful last night. Lucky they got that away goal.