The child within

If you were born in the late 80's like me, you did most of your growing up during the 90's. Thanks to my great memory I can recall lots of childhood memories, so I thought today I'd share some, as I don't have any deep blogging ideas at the moment. But random can be fun too!




As a child I looooved to watch cartoons and disney films. That tv madness has continued throughout my life and I still looove tv. I'm not going to bore you with Belgian cartoons I watched, as most of you are from the US you wouldn't know most of them. Except maybe the Simpsons, hugely popular while I was in primary school. Thanks to the Simpsons I had a good basic knowledge of English when I had English classes for the first time. It is where my profound love for the English language started. "Who needs the Kwik-E-Mart, I dooooo." Yup I watched it a looooot :p Ah tv, the great educator.

My main childhood toy, before teenagehood, was of course Barbie. I'm sure many of you also have fond memories of playing with your barbies. I used to invite my friends over and we'd all play in the attic and act out stories. My friends were often frustrated with me because of my flair for the drama. Acting out perfect lives bored me, I needed me some action and drama and bloodshed! I still have memories of playing single mother, in love, but my o my the boyfriend was also the boyfriend of all the single mothers of the street, a man who lusted after easy prey. Or I'd make my friends be poor and let their children be taken away by the child services! Or I'd accidentally get my friend's barbie in a car crash or have their poor child drown. Yup I liked some crazyness. I didn't have any Kens, so I used my brother's action mans as husband or evil seductors. Unfortunately the actions mans tended to have an unusual look, one had a gun stuck in his hand, one was a military dude, one was a ninja. One of my friends was totally freaked out by ninja action man, because the eyes moved, she felt like he was possessed. Totally hilarious, I used to chase her with it.
I also had a baby doll with her eyes permanently closed, so I played the baby was blind. Fun!
The last barbie I bought was at 12, there were suddenly all these new types of barbies and I just had to have some before at 13 barbies were deemed uncool and playing with them when in secondary school was not done :D I also remember that in the later barbie years the stories me and friends were acting out started getting a little sexual, very funny to remember, I guess it was the hormones and the curiosity appearing. Hey, better to act out sex with barbies than what then actually already doing it as many young teens nowadays. At least we were still kids.

My favourite music in the 90's? I must admit it was:

Yup, I looooved the Spice Girls, all the girls did at 11-12 years of age. We performed rehearsed danceacts on the playground, I was Baby Spice. I wanted to be Ginger Spice, but everyone said I should be Baby because I was all sweet and sugary and poneytaily too. Sigh! Labels even at that age!
I'm sure loads of you secretly loved the Spice Girls too. "I tell you what I want, what I really really want.." Go on, you know the rest ;)

As a young teenager the computer era suddenly came into existence. Yes, I'm old enough to have known non-computer days! Wow. I think I was about 12 when my parents got our first computer.
I spent many many many hours on it playing:

And when I say many hours, I really do mean many many many. Me and my friend spent an entire summer going back and forth to each other's house playing the sims. I still remember our parents saying "It's sunny outside, go play outside." "NO, siiiiims!!"
Yes, very addictive. What isn't fun about playing God and be in charge of fake humans. Making them have jobs, children, lovelifes..until everything was perfect. Now, as perfect stories tend to bore me, I sometimes had the idea of "what would happen if I let him swim and take away the ladder.. or remove the door and let him fire a toy rocket..or prevent the child service lady from getting the screaming baby by removing all doors.." mwhaha

I recently saw they made a whole new sims, the Sims Medieval. It said it was totally different, with quests and everything. You're in charge of a monarch at first and you need to build up a kingdom and do quests, and the more you do the more new characters you unlock and can be in charge of, OOoooOO. Suddenly my inner child was awakened, I just had to play it. Unfortunately games costs a fortune now, so I did the evil deed of illegally downloading the game. After a lot of confusion trying to figure out the crack, I made it work! Only got to play it for very short due to the need to get to bed early, but it's looking fun! I'll probably get bored of it in a few weeks, just as what happened when I had another childhood fallback when the Sims 2 came out, but right now I can't wait to get home to play it! weee

"Scandal on Steroids... Well in this case.. Viagra"

Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is under a lot of "heat" right now, as former model Patrizia D'Addario claims she was paid by Berlusconi to attend his private parties (aka 'sexcapades'). She was apparently one of the 32 women involved in the scandolous act. In a response to the allegations, Berlusconi retorts with, ''Behind Patrizia D'Addario is someone who is out to get me and she (Patrizia) has been paid well, they have a deliberate campaign against me." Despite the fact that the 42-year-old 'vixen' supposedly has video and audio from the parties, he still stays strong to his word. There is not much in this 74-year-old's favor though, especially now that a businessman in Bari, Giampaolo Tarantini, is being investigated for being associated with the alleged prostitutions. Giampaolo is accused of delivering the goods (AKA the women) to Berlusconi's house, but he says he simply reimbursed them for their time and travel. Also, two months ago, his wife divorced him, claiming that his attraction to younger women was unhealthy for their relationship. She brought to light incidents like her husband attending an 18-year-old's birthday party in Naples, when he didn't even attend his own children's. Well isn't that convenient for this story. Either Mr. Prime Minister is lying through his teeth, or D'Addario is taking advantage of all of these factors, and making herself a strong case. However, the fact that the Prime Minister is suggesting she is getting paid off to create a stir could hold strong because as we all know, things like this have been done before. Surprisingly (speaking sarcasm), D'Addario denies all allegations made against her (fueling the fire, of course, making for a GREAT story). Essentially, no one is fessing up to ANYTHING.

But wait, you can't have a TRULY successful scandal without a little bit of namedropping. Not just any names, but people like George Clooney and Cristiano Ronaldo as being a part of the fun. Apparently, Clooney was named as a witness because he was seen at one of the parties with his girlfriend. Clooney responds to this by saying, "It seems odd since I've only met Berlusconi once and that was in an attempt to get aid into Darfur." Smart, George. Very smart to use a third world country in your defense. I believe him, though. TEAM CLOONEY! Cristiano Ronaldo, however, has yet to make any claims about the situation.

A shot of happiness

Yes, that there is me! On the beach in Oostende, enjoying a beautiful summer night. It's one of my favorite pics with me in it, because it's a shot of me in a happy carefree moment. My boyfriend took the shot then, two years ago nearly. My life was pretty perfect at that moment and it shows in how happy I'm skipping across the sand with the wind in my hair. It's great how pictures can capture a perfect moment. That's why I love photography, I'm not an expert at it, but I love going through old photo albums and remembering all those moments caught on camera. Moments that will never come back again, but thanks to those pictures always remembered.

So right now I'm going to show you a little collection of some of my favourite great moments pictures (that are on my computer, I'm too lazy for childhood photo scanning right now :p hey it's weekend, at least I'm posting something :p) As the pictures are a bit big, you'll have to click on them to see them in full :)

That's a pretty old picture of me as a teenager, just 17 I was. My mom took it, I remember the garden had lots of flowers that year, and outdoors shots are always so much prettier. And I do love flowers, later I want a big garden with lots of them. I was wearing one of my favourite outfits, I got that outfit for a special occasion (my brother's confirmation I think) and I just loved the romantic feel of it. I like that sort of thing. And well I always thought it was a lovely shot of me as a romantic naive dreamy teenager.

This is a picture I took myself of my beautiful Ireland. I took this in Renvyle, Connemara, which is deep in the countryside of western Ireland. At that moment I was at the beach, sun was going down, and the view just took my breath away. Ireland has some lovely beaches, not hot and Caribbean like , but with islands in the distance, mountains in the background, silvery sand and so quiet and peaceful. I think this picture shows that feeling.

Paris by night. In 2009 I went to Paris with my boyfriend, and it was so perfect and romantic, although freezing cold. February is not the right time to go to Paris people :p Although it's nice to keep each other warm :) Saw some beautiful things and got a beautiful ring under the Eifel tower for Valentine's day. Pretty amazing. Will always remember it.

Here's one on a trip to Italy two years ago nearly in summer. We happened to stumble on an archeological site whilst driving around, and this weird tunnel-like spot really intrigued me. It felt like I was suddenly in a fantasy place on a dark quest. It was really special. I love this shot of me being all ooooOOooh this is cool. Although Rome and Florence were stunning cities, and loved seeing them for real, this was kinda my favorite spot of the whole trip :)

That's it for today. Hope you liked my random pics, and enjoy your Sunday!

Perfect Couples Season 1 Episode 10 - Perfect Exes - March 31, 2011

The invitation of the bride to her old guys stir a few controversy in Perfect Couples Season 1 Episode 10 - Perfect Exes last Thursday, March 31, 2011. And guess what, her groom made a special appearances in front of them but showing a few doubt about the decision of his partner. Aside from that, he lately discover the entire thing which bring an extra twist on him.

For more, here's the synopsis of the last Thursday evening episode of another NBC's comedy series that gave us a funny moments as the couple are now busy preparing for their upcoming wedding celebration.

"Vance (David Walton) bonded with the ex-boyfriends of Amy (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) as he found out that she invited them to attend their very special day. But he start to worry because he might be become one of these guys soon. In the other side, Rex (Hayes MacArthur) found out that Leigh (Olivia Munn) kept her ex-boyfriends file and tried to check each of these important details about them. Julia (Christine Woods) as well Dave (Kyle Bornheimer) tied up in some loose ends as they helped Vance and Amy in preparation for their wedding."

These are the most exciting part of the story that awaits you and if you missed to catch it recently on NBC, visit the official website of the show for replay announcements. You can watch the promotional YouTube video of the show for preview or see the available reviews and recaps for more.

Join us every week as we continue to bring you the highlights and next upcoming episodes of Perfect Couples after of this break.

Piers Gibbon Debuted in The Colbert Report

This Thursday, March 31, 2011, don't forget to keep up your time with Piers Gibbon in The Colbert Report. This might be the first appearances of the actor in one of United States prestigious television show, right? Don't missed him and join the toughest conversation that will probably mark your evening.

And if you missed to catch him this evening, you can watch the replay of this evening episode of the show in other local or cable channel soon. We heard his voice in some well known shows on TV already but to speak in front of us, that is the most exciting appearances of Piers which will probably let you ask for more.

Witness the hilarious punches of words and other funny moments with him and the man who's been with us, a tireless host that will rock your world again.

The Comedy Central will give us the opportunity to follow him in some other ways. Don't forget the day as he visit The Colbert Report and be a part of his special participation as the guest star. For more, join us every week as we keep on giving you the best of the show after of this break. Before we can forget, you can visit the official website of Colbert Nation for additional details.

Yikes

Just got into work, so this is a short one ;) but longer one later! I just wanted to share this freaky thing I read about in the online paper.
I was reading about this really really tall Chinese person who is 7ft3 or 224 cm tall and still growing, apparantly 4 cm a year! Poor guy has this strange decease where an organ (can't remember which one) produces too much of something, causing insane growth. Well it said in the article he is not the tallest man ever. Naturally I got curious and decided to look up who was the tallest man ever, and man I was shocked! If you think 7ft3 is already unimaginably tall, be ready to drop your jaw for this guy!

Jaw dropped? That there is Robert Wadlow with his dad. His dad was 5ft9 or 180 cm, which is not short. Robert Wadlow was a whopping 8ft9 or 272 cm when he died at the age of 22 in 1940. 8ft9!!!! Imagine standing talking to that guy, you'd have to stand a few feet away just to be able to talk without straining your neck! He also had that strange decease (aha pituitary gland I remember!). He was 5ft4 at the age of 4, which is how tall I am now! (1m63) A four year old who's as tall as me, now that's freaky. Poor dude died of a infection after he got a blister. His body just couldn't cope with the giant size, people like that never live very long. But pretty impressive huh! Just wanted to share that with everyone :D He had a size 12 shoe too, look at this! The other shoe is a size 8!

Back to work ;)

Busy twenties

If you're in your twenties, perhaps like me you've had moments thinking "time seems to be going a lot faster than in my teens and childhood!!". It really does seem that way. Being sixteen seems not to have been that long ago, in my head, but it's actually nearly 8 years ago now, 8!! That's crazy, where did all that time go! Maybe it's because when you're younger you long for being grown up, and once you are, you long to stop growing up already! And don't you agree that all the mayor events in your life seem to (ideally) fall in your twenties? Events like graduating, finding a job, moving out of the parent's house, moving in with a boyfriend/girlfriend, getting married, having a first child.. That's a lot of events!! And I'm almost 24 now, graduating and finding a job I managed to achieve so far, but I still live at home (for now).

I guess I still have six years before the big 3 0, and things can go fast all of the sudden, but don't you agree that ten years seems awfully short for most of life's mayor events to happen in! You just got out of childhood and BAM! time to be a real adult and have tons of responsibilities. After your thirties the life altering events seem to be over with usually. But time really is going so fast, can't believe so many years have gone by already.

I wonder what my life will be like at thirty. Will all those events have happened yet? Would be pretty crazy, can't imagine that right now, but it might. Sometimes I think it never will, haven't had much luck in love. I'm not in a hurry, but every now and then; when I see friends happy living with the man of their dreams, thinking about their future together, I feel sad and worried sometimes. The whole settling down part is important to me, I always knew I wanted a family. But I want it to be perfect and with the perfect guy, someone who truly loves, someone I have fun with. And when the time is right, when perhaps I get pregnant some day, I'd want my man to be happy, in a kiss me belly in joy romantic kind of way. Maybe it's corny, but it's what I hope I'll have some day. I'm in no way baby crazy, but I'm a woman, it's something we think about. For now, I just want to be loved by someone..

My dad just had a birthday last weekend, he's 55 now. He's already nagging about being a grandfather. Really dad, I'm not yet 24! It's his own fault for waiting to have me until thirty! He'll just have to deal he'll probably be closing in on 60 by the time he has a grandkid he can play with. He'll be a great grandad though, although I'm sure he'll get the kids all hyper and crazy with his mad playing. It's something nice to look forward to.

Some day