Last friday hundreds of mysterious lights floated in the sky above Kampen. They came from somewhere in the south-east (Zwolle most likely) and they floated on the wind to the west. It was a curious sight and we (my family) still don't know what they were and what kind of occasion would lead to letting up so many little lights.
Initially only I spotted them, but when I went outside to check them a little better some kid from my neighbourhood, Marc, was outside watching them as well. (funny detail Marc is very autistic, kinda cool only the two of us noticed at first, lol). Marc was screaming 'satellites! satellites!!' and I was pointing and waving to my parents so they could see them as well.
It took for over an hour for the last one to disappear. Saturday G. my boss at the shelter told me she'd seen them as well and took some pictures (pictures are awfully bad, so no use in posting).
Unfortunately we still don't know what the hell they were, even google doesn't have the answer *shocked*!
My best guess is they're lightballoons in honor of the Chinese New Year.

By lack of my own videos (still have to upload them...):
Me and Giorgio:



And me and Aster:



Yesterday BJ, Ger, Frank, PH, Justin & I booked our holiday in France. Daniel and Esther (PH's girlfriend) will come as well. We're going to Bretagne (Brittany) the west coast, for the beach, long walks, nice towns and pretty nature. We hired a house with an enormous garden and four bedrooms with adjacent bathrooms (oh the luxury!).

First of all the killingspree in Dendermonde, Belgium. I feel for the babies, the parents, the caretakers and their colleagues and the killer's family. My heartfelt condolences.

The killer has been arrested and all he's been doing is laughing, which draws frightening parallels with the Joker. A lot of people already seem to have concluded he was indeed trying to be the Joker. But, is there any proof he was indeed painted as the Joker?
As far as I can tell only the English press is calling him the Joker so far and that's just rumors and the weird need for killer-nicknames.
There are more creepy movie/cult people with facepaint on (Slipknot, IT, etc.) or he could just painted himself like a big freakin' panda...

I mean it's likely he does take after the Joker, but let's not go there yet.

Then, the beheading at Virginia Tech, fatal_long_lost that must've brought up some bad memories. I'm thinking of you!

Today I heard Juultje was euthanised. She was suffering from blindness, braindamage and internal organ failure. So sad we couldn't save her.

In better news; new comics!
I bought 80 euro's worth of new comics today... My wallet hurts now...

Comics:
Marvel Adventures: Avengers digests 1-7 (minus #2 & 3)
X-men: Manifest Destiny #5 (no misprint this time)
Weapon X: First Class #3
Wolverine: Origins #32
X-men: Kingbreaker #2
Ruins #1
Uncanny X-men Annual #2 (ETA: Emma Frost rules!)
X-men: Legacy #220
Captain America: Theater of War one-shot

Which brings the total amount of comics on 881.

This is the neglected dog I wrote about a few post back. She, as it turned out to be, is a Maltese or a Maltese mix (supposed to look like this). The girl in the pic is 'Wauz' (or Claudia) she's one of my colleagues.

( A different, bigger shot and some more info )

My mom doesn't want me to talk about animals and comics any longer, but I just can't get over it.
Today on the shelter was again fantastic. I think I learn more on one day at the shelter than a year at university (okay that's probably a lie, but I do learn things that actually interest me). Anyway after the nine neglected dogs (who currently are doing great! 6 of them are already adopted), we had another terrible case today. The ambulance came in with a bundle of matted coat covered in fleas, which turned out to be a dog... We couldn't even figure out which end was the head, it was that bad. We deflead (is that a word?), fed and it and gave him/her the first basic medical care, but gave it rest after that, the whole experience was probably frightening. Tomorrow (my day off) they will take care of him/her further and I will see him/her again saturday, so an update will follow.
To see something like that, an animal who suffers so much he can't even stand up anymore, that's heartwrenching and makes me lose all hope for humanity...

851 comics (not nearly enough).

New year resolutions:
- Lose 20 lbs (ha! Right...)
- Collect a total of 1000 comics by the end of 2009 (I need more money)

Shelterbuddy: Giorgio

Nutty Rottweiler

As expected Amigo was returned back to the shelter fridaynight and was adopted by another family a day later. Lots of little kids to play with, he's gonna love it so much! Two other dogs and two cats found a new home as well, so it was a good day for us.

Yesterday BJ and I went to see Australia. Very good movie, the visuals are brilliant as is Hugh. The story itself is one big cliché of course, but I can live with that. Somehow it felt as if this movie belongs in the 90s among Titanic and The Last of the Mohicans, etc. Somehow it just doesn't fit well next to the movies of today, but that's just a wierd feeling I have.
I did love the racial theme it has, it adds more to something that would've been just a love story otherwise.

I read a bit about Valkyrie in a movie magazine at the cinema and I would really want to see that movie if it wasn't for Tom Cruise (can't stand him, to me he's always Tom Cruise and never the guy he plays). Shame.

BJ got me my comics; Wolverine: Origins, Wolverine: First Class and Runaways (he didn't get my New Avengers issue because it has Dark Reign splashed across the front page and I told him I didn't follow DR except for my usual ongoings... those include New Avengers... Arrggh!) But he's forgiven :)

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you're having a good time!

Me? I'm having a good time, went to church, had a very good dinner at my parents' and played Colonists of Catan with my grandparents and Jeniene (my grandpa won, and he didn't even understand the game...), all nice and uneventful. Just the way I like it. Yesterday BJ visited, we made reservations for Australia next saturday and we watched Koefnoen. I love Koefnoen, it's the funniest show ever (unfortunately it's Dutch and mostly about Dutch politics and society so I can't show you anything...). Paul Groot, one of the actors/comedians is such an incredible imitator, sometimes you doubt yourself.

Tomorrow we have a special guest!! This little fellow:


His name is Amigo, he's going to visit us so he can get used to things like a car, kids, a new environment, etc.

That's just an excuse however... (He's 14 weeks old, he will surely be adopted within a week, maybe even on saturday already.) I just want to cuddle him to pieces. Hopefully my parents will fall in love with him as well, but that's just wishful thinking (they made me swear never to take anything home from the shelter the first day I started working there). Nevertheless the fact that they even allowed him to come here is quite something!
I can't wait to see how Axel reacts.

Ah yes, the cathate. Let me explain it to you.
It started with this:


This is Nena, one of the nine ameciated (sp?) dogs my colleages at the shelter found last week (the story even made it to national television). Because of these little ones (there were two pups as well) things were already different. Also P., who usually does the catquarantine on saturday, was standing in the supermarket for donations and fundraising.
All in all the roster was kind of screwy and they asked me if I could do the cats. Sure, I said, it's ok for once. *is stupid*

I just don't GET cats, they're complicated creatures, a whole different ballgame than dogs. Whereas dogs are easy to read, cats aren't. They can be nice one second and completely psychotic the next, without warning. Cats SCARE me, because they are so unpredictable.

Anyway, some cats jumped out of their cages while I cleaned them and didn't want to go back in, some bit and scratched me and all of them were altogether furry assholes.

The rules of quarantine are crazy too. Different colors for every section, decontamination, etc. It sucks.

*sigh*

It all turned out ok though, C. helped me with medicating the cats (the worst part) and none of the cats died in my hands. Oh and the dogs are a lot better already, they get a lot of special care and aren't as thin anymore. Still a lot of mental problems remain,however they are still very nice and cool dogs.

I hate cats.
I really, really hate cats.

There. I said it.



Also my comicbookcounter is on 808 right now. Yay!

Yes, I am pathetic.

My favorite subject to photograph:


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Another one of Jay (last post):