Finally getting around to finishing up some other details from the Amsterdam trip. As I mentioned I took a canal tour. I did that Saturday morning. At one point the guide (a prerecorded tape timed to play with a predetermined course for the boat) made the announcement "off to your right you'll see the smallest canal in Amsterdam. It was one of those moments where you're like, big deal. But then you realize you're talking to Chris Farley's character in Wayne's World and he's giving you information you'll later need. When I decided to take the trip I got in touch with the Dutch woman (Judith) I hiked the Tongariro Crossing with. We agreed (along with Mark and Jan) to meet up that evening and go out for dinner and drinks. We meet up and Judith suggests that we stop off at a friend's place for a few drinks before we head out for dinner. We walk for a bit and at some point I realize where we're at. As I make the comment, "hey, this is the smallest canal in Amsterdam" Judith walks up the stairs to the house right on the corner of said canal and starts knocking. She tells me, yeah, this house has been photographed a few times.

We go in and meet her friends, the guy was from New Zealand and I think his wife was from somewhere in the Netherlands (I was confused on where she was from, it seemed like she had some sort of connection to the Netherlands but he was working for the South Korean govt somehow). We go downstairs for drinks... the kitchen is in the basement and the floor is just above the water level of the canal. As we're having drinks a few boats with people in them pass by. I can only imagine it's some American tourists thinking they're peering into a Dutch home thinking there's Dutch people sitting around. If they only knew!

We went to this crazy Asian food place that was just as much a cafeteria as it was a restaurant. It was basically rows and rows of tables. At some point a waiter visits and takes our order... awhile later our food is delivered to our table. Yet when we go to leave you pay at a cash register. The food was good and reasonably priced. I opted for dessert and walked out stuffed.

From there we walked around a bit. As we're walking through this park it was apparent something was about to happen. These fresh dressed guys announced they were going to breakdance. Setting up was a performance... while one chalked a line the other two set about taping down the cardboard for their breakdance mats. When it was all said and done they got their show on. Let me say this: that Dutch breakdance scene is pretty fresh. At first I was sitting the fence but they kept getting better and better. Finally, one of the guys did a no hands head spin. That's when I was sold.

Afterwards the pre-game hosts split while Judith, Jan, Mark and I found a bar at which point Thomas joined us. A few pints of Dommelsch beer was consumed before we decided to visit another bar. It was an interesting bar: part of Ocean's 12 was filmed in there. The reason why we knew was because they hit you over the head with that fact. I don't know if they were trying to cater to Americans or what... there were posters on the wall for the movie. Worse though was the video loop they had playing of the scenes from the bar. We all agreed the bar was probably a pretty cool place to hang out until Ocean's 12 showed up.

Jan and Thomas called it a night since they had a 20-30 min train ride back to Utrecht. Sunday night Mark and I ended up back at the bar that we found Friday night. They had an impressive selection of Belgian beer. That's all I can remember at the moment. Maybe I'll get around to some of the notes I took at the modern art museum.

Jeff graduated with his MBA. I went up for the graduation. Afterwards we were walking around the loop, waiting to get the walk signal. I could not help but notice some of the lights were out on the hand telling us not to cross. Then it hit me like a busload of Chris Farley corpses: someone make the ring finger lights go out so the sign was throwing the shocker. At some point I'll post a link to the picture Jeff took. It was pretty funny. Speaking of STL: I made three trips up and back in one week. Aside from my brother's graduation I went up for my step-brother's wedding the weekend before. In between I snuck back up to see Radiohead. As many times as I've seen Rush the green lasers in their show never gets old. Radiohead's light show topped Rush's... it was an impressive show. I just wish the woman next to me could have shut up (and shut off her cellphone) during the start of Exit Music For A Film. She let everyone in a 20 yard vicinity know that a friend of hers was puking in the bathroom. She got a lot of shut up, shut the hell up, and shushes as a result. I don't understand why some people go to shows. Of course, that was the one song I really wanted to see them perform. Figures.

I spent a rainy Memorial Day Monday putting away my winter clothes and getting all of my other clothes off of the floor and into my closet. It was just what I needed after an action packed interesting weekend. I won't get too much into the details but while I was cleaning I decided I needed to make a few changes in my life. Those that know me well may be disappointed (or relieved) that I have no plans to change the activities or my social schedule. I am however reassessing what my friendship means to certain people and visa versa. This means that for the foreseeable future a few people will see less of me (whether or not they read this is a different story). I think it's time to take stock and see where things go.

Can't wait for June: this summer I'm taking a sculpture class as part of my masters program. The prof has already told us the projects we'll be doing. Unless something changes with the requirements of the first I think I have it all figured out. Even if it changes I think I'll do it anyway for an Untitled piece.

Made up Band Name of the Day: One Dirty Fork