dad

Not-so-quick update

• Posted by Rob (#1) on January 25, 2007 02:14 CET

As announced, it's been a while. Hello!

I just got back from London. Work sent me there for a quick business trip lasting two days (originally one) and despite the delayed flight and exhausting security queue at Gatwick airport, I had a good time. The exhibition was mostly useful even though some gaps in our exploration for leads remain.

Highlight of the trip however would be my lunch date with Laura. Rumours exist that if all goes well and beyond work will open a R&D shop in London in a year or two, she's one good reason to relocate there if that happens. I hate to rain down on any parades but on the other hand, despite radio silence, Inge remains a reason not to. There's no chance nor plausibility to get back with her but I still do miss her.

Anyway, the weekend of the 13th I was in Tel Aviv for another business trip and even though most of my trips go to England and Scandinavia I have to concede one thing. There's a big fun factor in drinking coffee at the beach in a t-shirt in January while doing some brainstorming, and then calling it work. Also, nice Ed Hardy store over there so I expanded my wardrobe and shoe collection a bit. Jerusalem was fun as well. It kind of confirmed my suspicion that religion is for the dim-witted, but regardless it was an experience unlike any other.

Having covered the present and past, a small update on the future now. I'll work tomorrow (read: later today) and then will be off to Austria for a week of skiing. There's a chance I'll have to take a day off from my holiday to do some business with a bookmaker in Graz or Zell am See, but it should still be fun to have a classic and traditional week in the mountains with dad.

So yeah.. life's still busy here. I'm glad it is! :-)

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• Tags: skiing, London, work, dad, Inge, Laura, Tel Aviv, Don Ed Hardy
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'Probably not' means 'yes'?

• Posted by Rob (#1) on May 29, 2006 12:01 CEST

Family drama: I won't be present at my grandparents' 25-year wedding jubilee this afternoon and tonight. And now my dad is pissed off at me for not letting anyone know in advance.

Whatever.

I cannot leave work early today. This means I won't be able to leave Amsterdam until after 6pm. I would then arrive at the dinner one hour late, around 9pm. But I would have to leave before 11pm if I want to be home by 1am - and with the alarm at 7am, I really want to be. I'm sorry, but that's just bloody pointless. So could I not have taken the day off?

Well: for weeks I have made it clear that I was not sure. I recently started a new job and I simply have to wait some time until my days off accumulate again (I'm at zero after my trips to London in April and Copenhagen in May, planned long ahead). I have said so over and over again. So indeed I did not send an RSVP, but for as long as I've lived no reply has defaulted to 'not present'. In fact, at my dad's wedding two weeks ago I expressed my concerns and clearly told him, my aunt and my grandparents that I would try, but that they should not count on me unless I explicitly informed them I could make it.

Apparently that's not good enough. Whatever.

(Before people moan that I'm going to see Taking Back Sunday tonight: that's right here in Amsterdam. I will not have to leave work early for it nor will I have to leave it early to get home in time, so it simply fits my schedule where the family plans do not. It wouldn't have been the first time for me to cancel seeing a gig because of family plans anyway, so I will admit I'm not complaining things are working out differently this time. It's not a matter of preference but one of feasibility.)

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• Tags: Taking Back Sunday, dad, family
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