sunny days and riding afternoons

Time has been flying lately. weeks look like days and days look like minutes... it's already been 3 and a half months that I'm living north and it looks like I've arrived yesterday. Anyway, summer is about to leave but in the meanwhile, is still able to surprise us with some days like yesterday. sunny and warm, which allows you to ride the whole afternoon...that was what happened! street riding, ramp riding, trails, some chilling and a completely worth day enjoying that amazing thing that is bike riding.

In the evening, a couple of beers, stupid jokes and the fact that greek people are invading town! And also the fact that international students are always bitching about dutch people is starting to piss me out a little bit. stop complaining, please.

oh this week is going to go fast, Enschede tomorrow, Utrecht on thursday and Poland on friday, for the weekend...

Friday night in Amsterdam was fun, guest list to the Vimeo Awards pre-party and we watched a couple of wicked videos. Fear/Love is so good, as well as Words.

Have to go for grocery now, and afterwards a little bit of bike riding and night cinema session watching Dick Tracy at the anarchist cultural centre.

Fun is awesome!

I do love the sun and I kind miss it...

too much of this...

Once I heard someone saying that if the week is to work, weekend is to punish your body...I don't really believe in that but the fact is that last weekend was a little bit true. Got a call from Bjorn: "hey, let's go for a ride?!" and I said "Oh, I wish I could but my bike is in Rotterdam...but hey, I'll drop by the park and I'll shoot you some photos!"; I indeed tried to do it, but it was already too dark so, what about one beer at db's? hell yeah, you know where to go! one turned into a countless amount and a gig for free, thanks to our sneaking-in hability (is this a bike rider thing?!...guess so).

Next morning wasn't easy but I still went to Rotterdam: my bike was waiting for me there and so was Almer's friends party. Again, one beer turned into an even more countless thing and the funniest thing is that I found out the trick to get drinks almost for free (dutch people were amazed about this capability). We had such a nice fun!

Next day (complicated one) and a bmx comp in Rotterdam. sick stuff being thrown down and I met these two nice brothers from Wisconsin.

Oh, and if it wasn't enough punishing the body on weekends, a bit of my finger got chopped off at work...ouch.

Because of bikes project in the works, more information soon.

Modest mouse gig in Amsterdam last night was well worth, 2 hours of gig, so many instruments played on the stage and a good vibe.

Why is this playing on loop again and again? oh wait, I know, trumpet is such a nice instrument (and I do miss summer)

finally

After some troubled times where I thought my little world was going to collapse, I finally found some peace and I'm actually starting to get back on track. new room, which is cosy and nice and where I will be able to stay until the end of the internship. no more moving from place to place, no more carrying bags with me, no more looking for advertisings for rooms and finally I can now decorate my own room. Photos have been already glued to the wall, and the room is now clean and tidy and the way I want. finally...
while was waiting for moving to the new place, I spent some time in Rotterdam, at Almer's home. nice weekend, nice food, drinking beer with friends, meeting new people, going out to new places, museums, night time cycling, night time photo session, one of the most tasty ice creams ever and some bmx riding. Rotterdam is now going to start to be a must for the weekend.

work is getting better, the big project is now done and is going to be exhibited within a few weeks, loads of exhibitions, flight to Poland is already booked and we have a new assignment coming in, in which we're going to start to work full time.

oh, and talking about booked flights, primavera club will be waiting on the 25th of November... can't wait to go back.

from now on, this will be a kind of diary.

such a big help in rough times:

back again

I know I've been out a long time...rough times lately and a thousand things going through my mind are the cause for the delayed new post.

I’ll write more often from now on, or at least I hope so, but the main thing for now is that Tiago is coming for at least 10 days and we’re gonna have some mentally unhealthy times as soon as he got here. Tickets for Cologne are already bought, Amsterdam is gonna be another must, and I think Utrecht is never going to be same after seeing me and Mr T-Lo on wild mode around the city.

Come on man, hurry up, I’ll give you shelter:

FR 9123

It's an unquestionable truth the fact that, when you're nervous, you lose your sleep and your tummy starts to ache; not a painful ache, just a funny but good feeling if the cause of your nerves is something good. I've been having that the whole week and I hope not to lose my sleep tonight, because I need to be awake and fresh for tomorrow.

It's going to be a painful journey until 6pm, but we both know that is going to be completely worth and that prize that we talked about some weeks ago is definitely ours. Time will feel like stoping from 9 to 5 tomorrow, but I honestly hope that it really stops for the next 13 days.

Be at Utrecht Centraal Station around 6pm, platform 19. I'll be wearing black shoes, black trousers, checkered shirt, a backpack and a smile on my face, just in case you don't recognise me.

Bidai ona izan.

Beer, biking and bad sleeping

It's always nice to have people visiting you on your own little new world, specially when you're still a bit lost in your new location. first visitors where my parents and we had a great time this weekend, I hope more and more visitors will come over.
One day in Utrecht and one weekend in Amsterdam was the chosen schedule for these days, and it turned out to be a really nice and mellow weekend.

they were really pleased with Utrecht, found it really cozy and nice. We had wok food and they did a boat trip (while I was working) and we were all happy with it! I guess I'm starting to have my opinion made about where to go after july (or should I say where to stay?).

Well, the trip to Amsterdam was basically getting to know the city and walking around doing a bit of tourism and sightseeing. I enjoyed the city a lot and I'll definitely gonna be back there, the gigs' scene is massive there and it's not that far away from Utrecht.

Biking on sunday with my parents was really cool, having beers with my dad sitting on the gay district was funny and walking around with them on the red light district in the evening was a bit odd but nice, we laugh with it. Their hotel room was soooo nice, and my hostel room was total rubish, specially when I couldn't sleep because of these guys that were snoring so so loud that was impossible for me to get some sleep. iPod in my ears is a magic solution for that!

Monsiuer Jacques Brel has the word now:

first guests

Three weeks after my arrival to Holland, I'll have my first guests visiting me in my new place. mom and dad, welcome to the Netherlands! I'm really glad to have you here this short break that you're going to visit the north. Amsterdam on the weekend is going to be really good. A pity that you're not coming, sis! in August, for sure.

In other hand, responsability sucks. I already have that weird feeling in my stomach when one has deadlines to respect and honestly, I hope I don't lose my sleep because of that. I still have time but that's the way my head works. Anyway, designing is good, responsability is bad.

Also, the one-week countdown starts tomorrow, and everyday I'm more and more anxious.

folks, this weekend we'll hit the city:

eindhoven

The most annoying thing about incredible indoor skateparks are that they normally are no bikes allowed. and that totally sucks, honestly. Is like stealing a candy to a children, or even worse. I've been to eindhoven today, I was inside Area 51 and the guy told me that I couldn't ride my bike there. was a very sad moment.

Was good to get to see my friend Renato again, is always nice to see old mates! I told him and I truly hope that someday we all live again in the same city, although that I know that task will be a bit hard to achieve.

It has nothing to do with it, but I really like reading George Orwell.

Is there any better feeling than riding a bmx bike on a sunny day while catching the cool summer wind on my face while listening to an amazing tune? Mom, if you want to do the bet that we did for my 25th birthday, but now for my 35th, I'm totally in.

This one is the amazing tune:

My next new house

Saturday...how good it feels not having to go to work? it's such a good feeling the free time you have and hanging around outdoors just chiling and doing whatever you want.

Ok, first of all, I'm starting to learn something about architecture and I learned about this dutch architect called Gerrit Rietveld that designed some avant-garde houses in the 20's, and its movement it's called De Stijl, also known as Neoplasticism. So, since I'm working on a project based on Rietveld work, today I went to the Rietveld Schroeder house in Utrecht to have a look at this masterpiece. And, to be honest, I was quite amazed with such a cool piece of architecture, it was very cleverly design and when I grow up I want to have a house like that.

I also have a new small brown bike, let's hope i don't get this one stolen. It's not as cool as a proper dutch bike, but it will do its job.

Sunny afternoon at the skatepark, first chilling and reading a bit laying on the grass, and then a nice session at the newly painted bowl.

Now it's time for a film and bed, tomorrow my friends in Eindhoven are waiting for me!

definitely the tune of the day:

incomplete gigs

I'm being a bit lazy with the blog...I definitely should start to write more often on this e-diary.
Last thursday was kind of a diferent day. I went with Daan (studio Roosegaard's director and, obviously, my "boss") to the Assen, up in the north of The Netherlands. We had to put the Flow artpiece together for an exibithion this weekend so we drove two and a half hours to get there, put the flow together in one and a half hours and then drove back again to the studio. The day was ok, Daan was fairly upset with the fact that the people at the gallery didn't give us lunch, so we went to have lunch at the local fast food/hamburguer shop. I had my first Frikandele and it's actually good.

Later in the evening Xiu Xiu was playing at Ekko (my new favourite place to go out in Utrecht, it's sort of a dutch version of La [2], which gives me hope that I can get a good night there someday). Supporting Xiu Xiu was this band called Woom, who got me scared in the beggining with all those experimental and weird noises that they were doing but hopefully they quit that and turned out to be a good gig.
Now Xiu Xiu, that's another story. I wasn't expecting that the guy was so ugly and weird looking, these indie people sometimes can be a bit freaky, and no one was expecting that European/American electrical incompatibilities on the speakers would get the show finished at half of the time. Jamie Stewart (Xiu Xiu's frontman) had an electric shock while trying to fix the amplifier, got pissed, started to yell fuck really loud and slapped a bottle of water that was standing on top of the speaker, which went straight into a guy's face on the pit. Funny moment of the gig, they decided to end the show there and play 3 acoustic songs, after politely apologize the audience for the sound problems. I luv the oh valey was played with the help of a Nintendo DS and sounded really good.

Not exactly the same, but close to it:

pointless cycling and trains

three and a half kilometers cycling on my bmx bike to the sk8park to have my daily hour of riding and the bowl was closed for maintenance...well at least is red now and looks much better (lets hope it grips good now). So, it was a pointless ride to the sk8park, i just felt a bit down and came home prepare a nice and warm dinner.

journey to work turned out to be not that bad. It's more or less one hour and ten minutes from door to door and i have 25minutes on train and 6km of cycling each way, which makes me do a lot of exercise. it's still a bit cold in the morning but days are turning out sunny and warm in the afternoon which makes me feel happy!

why seems the way back always shorter than the going? it's always, always like that. And now i know why dutch people inflate their tires so little...high pressure and cobblestones' roads doesn't work.

for mellow and easy going days:

Rainy days

Another weekend is here and the possibility of waking up a bit later than 7:15 just makes me smile. But what doesn't make me smile is the rain. Is not heavy rain that makes imposible you to leave home, is just that annoying light rain that spoils one riding day makes you think about alternative plans, which are not always bad at all.

Yesterday I met two riders at the sk8park. More than 10 years olders than me but still keeping it real and riding like they were 20; one applause was deserved and I honestly hope to follow the same track and still be on my bike by that time. I definitely should bet again with my mom about that hehe...

Finnaly I had the chance to buy the so wanted Reflex digital camera. With a fairly big ammount of luck, I went to the shop to check them out yesterday and they were on a big sale, just one day of the whole year. So, now I'm the proud owner of a Nikon D5000 and I hope new photos will start to pop out to the blog.

Thanks to the advice of my flatmate Hanna, I guess today is a good day to go to Utrecht Central Museum and check exhibitions. My Nikon is coming with me to the city center.

This gentleman is singing about rain dogs:

My new house

It wasn't a good day today: the third day in a row sanding and getting blue dust all over me, my city bike got stolen and started to rain, but at least I have a new room and I finally left the squat. My own space, confortable, a real bed, a pillow and people to talk with...now it's getting better. And the flatmates seem really cool, I had a small chat today with them, hope we'll keep having these chats from now on.

Sabina, cool workmate, is leaving tomorrow so I guess finally there will be beers with the collegues, let's see. Oh, and these people eat a bit weird at lunch...bread and nutella? that's breakfast or tea for me.

Homage to Catalonia is amazing and I read something really funny today: Jesuits are like the night, they always come back.

Primavera started today, and The Fall is playing in Barcelona right now, so here's a sample of one of the most amazing groups ever:

blue

Not that I'm feeling blue because of the new job, actually I really enjoyed the first day at work. It's just because I got completely covered in blue because of the roofmate dust that was spreaded all over myself! I spent the whole day sanding a prototype.

The studio is nice, the workmates are really nice and cool, the boss didn't speak to us at all (weird, I was thinking that he would speak to us on the first day, at least somekind of welcome briefing) and the projects on the company look really interesting. Guess I'll do a bit of everything though.

My credit card doesn't work in the supermarkets and cashmachines are terribly hard to find around.

This song was a must today on my ears:

last day of holidays

Today is my last day of holidays. For the first time in my life, I'll be working the whole summer long without any interruption, and that's not cool. I'll miss those bored days where the heat is too much to do anything, where you go to the beach on your A/C less car with your friends and windows fully opened. Those days that we are supposed to ride the whole afternoon but we don't do anything at all, just lay back and chat, and the riding is delayed for the evening. Those days where you can sleep until 2pm but the heat makes you wake up at 9am. and the best of all: summer travels! that's the worse, not be able to travel around during the summer. I wish I could have another gimme shelter tour, but it's impossible this year. not good!

well, I'll have other stuff to do. like go to work! weekends will taste like honey...

Now I have to go to the city center, eat dinner and then Liars gig

Liars warm up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-r8HWri41s

feeling dutch

Yesterday I bought two bikes: one for the work and one for the city. they are really dutch, grandmother style as I was told by the man at the shop, back-pedal brake, really confortable. I spent two hours cycling around the city just for the fun of cycling and looking around, it was funny.

Feeling like living on a bubble, need to meet new people and talk to new people. Guess today I'll go to the sk8park to see if I can have new friends.

By the way, my room looks like a bike shop.

For the mixed emotions:

Rotterdam and a Zundapp in Utrecht

Second day in The Netherlands and second city to visit.
I went to Rotterdam to check out a room and the city. As I went a bit late due to some problems with the card, buying ticket trains and bla bla bla, the first thing that I saw in Rotterdam was the room. A bit of a dogdy street, so many chavs walking around, but the room was nice as well as the house, 2min away from the central station and a nice terrace for sunbathing (so far the weather has been amazing).

After the room I went to take a walk around Rotterdam: tall buildings, berlin-style city, canals everywhere, bridges, a big port (that I actually didn't see), amazing architecture, i guess i could easily live there. I had noodles for lunch (yummmi), bought a new shirt and now i can eat cereals at the room that I'm living in because I bought two tupperwares and two spoons (6€ everything ouchhh).

But well, I decided to stay in Utrecht for the next two months. I'll live in a cool house in the south of the city, with nice people and a biiiiiig room! Will only be temporary for two months, just to give a chance to Utrecht and check if I really want to live here or should i move to Rotterdam.

Oh, by the way, I saw one Fundador Zundapp (typical portuguese motorcycle) in Utrecht, was very well restored and looked amazing.

Walking around listening to mogwai is great:

day one

I'm already here!
First stop is Utrecht. I'm living in a room with absolutely nothing, no bulbs, no dishes, no forks, no glasses, only a fridge and internet.has a big window to the street, improvised curtains and it's on the ground floor.

Utrecht is bigger than I thought, I walked a lot this afternoon and I was getting nowhere, so I decided to catch the train.

First impressions of Holland: Green, flat, bikes (loads of bikes), water, modern and rural, cows, sheeps, tall and pale people, quiet trains, weird language.

tune:

Leaving here

Ok, first post of the blog...1,2,3 testing testing...ok the sound seems fine.

Well, after one week of delay, tomorrow is the D-Day. Two weeks at home have been great, but now is time to do something better than sit around all day and ride bikes (which, honestly, is the best thing to do in life).

Flight TP0668 towards Amsterdam departs at 6:05am from Oporto, and then, a big new adventure. First stop: Utrecht, then we'll see!

Missing Barcelona already...


soundtrack: