Joris place

So, update on my life in the military. and that will be a scarce source of postings (I’ll explain later).
Basically, I got all dressed up, arrived at the introduction bivac and got an injury on the morning of day two. welcome to the recovery platoon. do not pass go, leave your group and you can restart at august.

bad parts; 4 months of pain due to bad boots issued. doing not that much all day. (and other stuff I should not talk about online. dirty laundry and such. ask me personally).
good; a month of deputy leader and a month as leader of the platoon learned me a crapload of how to lead and not lead a platoon of "specials". helping change stuff a bit, learning how to teach, minus 7 kilos plus a load of muscles and condition.

a lot had happened and more will come. I’m still not completely injury free. despite rest and a week of being stoned due to meds. it is much, much better though, so i hope its almost gone. thats at least what the doctors think. and the sports-section is going to advice to put me back in the normal training despite that the official test hasn't been done yet :)

so. thats it in a nutshell. "onsteking in de linkerscheen, met mogelijke uitzaaingen naar de pezen en een onstoken archillespees" sucks major ass. but i'll get there eventually.

now; why I won't tell to much online? As most know, but not really _know_ is that the dutch military is in a war situation in Afghanistan.
this is not news. while some media and politicians prefer to sometimes call it differently or (deliberitely) misinterpreted, the defense department has never, ever, stated otherwise. this also means things like hyves, facebooks, livejournal etc etc are continuously monitored by the Iranian secret service to see who is where, doing what ops, having who as friends and who should be in such and such units in a year or so. posting, not posting, (being an idiot and posting full after-action-reports after a TIC) will all tell something.
so, they can know some strange larper is in the airforce (and I do not have the faintest illusion that anything about my life in training will give anything away) I want to make a habit of not blurting stuff on the WWW. I’m sure you can understand. Just talk to me in person, no problem.

All in all; life's going ok. could be better, but I’m on my chosen path (and I’m living in a castle :) )

After almost a year, progress again.
I decided to wait with reporting untill i actually got somewhere, but now is the time.

Yesterday i did the last examinations and physical tests and got approved. Starting februari, i'll be a Cadet at the Dutch Royal Militairy College in Breda. The plan is that 15 months later i'm an officer and perhaps a gentleman :)

So. I'm 25 years old. 75% still to go :)

24 was pretty much the year of working and waiting. some stuff happend, some dind't.
So, lets make stuff happen this year.

I've just been browsing these pages and realised it was almost a full year since my last post. Almost a year since The Pitt closed, more then a year since I became an engineer.

I might as well give an update.

Still working temp jobs via Randstad, though I pride myself I usually end up staying longer then originally planned because I’m a good worker. Still not worked on my education level though. Did quit my last job because the new manager sucked balls and lost quite some money there. But gained a lot of pride and strangely, respect because of it. The previous manager gave me a nice resume.
Working a new job again, should be good pay and contacts. Seems burocratical job though...we'll see. just got the first week down of the 6 months.

Still not working at the airforce, despite their continual whines about not having staff. It's beyond a joke for me, but I will not rest till I am an officer. I want to become an officer. period.

My brother is completely fine after his tour through Afghanistan. Did not talk about it too much with people I do know to much. just general terms like that he was there and all. Talked more with good friends about it.
Learned more about the cesspool of humanity. Media are mostly self-righteous and liars. Lots of people are idiots who know nothing about what they are yapping about and teh interwab seems filled with little, tiny people who say anything to get their little, ignorend, abusive opinions across. Worthless people the lot of them.

I'm a weddingplanner for Sven and Renata. Quite a lot of work despite letting them doing most of it (they know what they want and all :) )
Hope it works out as we planned, but so far so good. its fun work.

All in all, I’m doing good. Still got plans and things to do. Don't have a girlfriend, but I got friends. Not well off, but self sufficient. I got tested, and walked away with all my pride where most would submit.

I am content, but always seeking more life :)

It's 04.38 and i just got back from the very last night of my old cafe (and workplace) The Pitt.
Last week, we had a stripper come over for Tom, the boss (my old boss).
Yesterday three band played. chaotic, hectic, complete nonsence and extremely fun.
I'll try to post more and put some pictures online later, but i'm going to sleep after i've typed this.


Tonight was the last night. 14 year it stood there and now it's gone. Visited it almost 8 years, worked there 3 years.
We partied like never before, it was crowded like i've never seen it before, it was gezellig (dutch alert) like never before.
We've had a full hour of 'last songs', everybody hugged goodbys and we've drank all the booze in the house.

And now it's gone.

Grats city of Roosendaal. A unique place will be yet another apartmentblock soon.

I've made it. The longest grind there is, but I've made it.

Last week I did my graduation presentation, went pretty well and received a 7 for my graduation. Cleared the last difficulties with open courses (teacher that I originally send stuff to left the school several months ago >.< silly me). But it all cleared out. I received a letter confirming that I’m completely finished with the education. Somewhere in October there is a small ceremony when I’ll receive my official degree on nice official paper :)

So. I'm now ing. Joris Sikkema (or Joris Sikkema Bs.Sc., because I get to choose). Finally.

Right now? I'm going do nothing for a while. Skipped almost all vacations last 2.5 years, so now I deserve a few months of rest. Going to find a gym soon and seriously work on my condition. Also going to try and find some temporary jobs so I can pay my rent. Other then that, going to apply for the KMA. I'm still not completely sure which part of the army it will be, Airforce, Navy and Infantry all have interesting opportunities. But I hope i'll get accepted and that I make it. 2 more years of training, but I really want to become an officer.

Last Saturday we had a big party at home. My brother for swearing in at his regiment, my parents were together for 25 years and me for my degree. It was fun, loads of people came round. Spend time with friends and family and a lot of booze :) The party lasted from 16.00 till 4.00, so you can guess how fun it was :D Will have a celebration in Delft within a week or so, but after Celtwood.

Next weekend in Dummnoni Celtwood, my 3th Dummnoni event. It's going to be fun. And now I’m going to finish some more leather stuffs for it.

So... these guys look like my Celt? :)
(have to agree on Collina, but for the rest?)

( Pictures of my LJ Friends )


Try out this Meme

Brought to you by NardVille and BearPodcast.

One of the blogs I read daily is the nerd & tech-oriented Boingboing
Yesterday, they had a funny/mocking post of a carnaval website.
Not quite sure if they were just ignorant or just wanted to mock some silly people, I decided to write a short clarification that the men portrait are actually 'princes carnaval' and not the illuminati.
They actually posted my message (and of others)
Yeah for 1 min internetfame :)

perma-link:
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/12/photos_of_the_hidden.html

Last night, between al the sweating, I notice something strange on my chest.
to put it better; IN my chest. A lump.
o_O!

So I look at some websites, all telling me there is an extremely small chance on it being anything else then a swollen gland. At that point, I'm a bit alarmed, but nothing special.
Go to bed, sleep quite well.

Get up early and immediately go to the doctor (which is now 20 meters from my front door. very handy) to make an appointment 14.50 is the earliest spot.
So I go home and decide to play WOW until the appointment. Good distraction because I know I would hardly get work done.

All good, all relaxed. In the waiting room nerves struck...
The dokter examined me and there is nothing to be alarmed about (phew!)

Extremely small chance for cancer and the lump does not feel anything like that. Most likely some cyste or swollen gland. Should dissappear by it self in a month and otherwise I should come back.

Called my mom and informed her. Just cooked my dinner, think about my guildy child (a wow guildmembers wife just had a miscarriage in the 36 week :S) and then it really hit me. Realisation really sunk in I guess.
For half a day, I was preparing myself that it might, just might be cancer. But it isn't.

I'm fine and still healthy, just a little shaken. Best way is to write it off.
So there. My own micro crisis.

Current Mood: alive

Yesterday I did a pre-final presentation for my supervisor from school.
If I was on schedule, I would get permission to graduate 28 August.
It was very tense, because I didn’t quite produced everything we agreed on at the beginning of the project.
Mostly, that was because I had to do some large tasks that didn't were planned at all.

You can imagine the pressure. If I didn't get permission, I could not graduate before 1 September, would have had to spend 1600 euros’ for college fees and would have to spend several months more work and all that jazz.

Anyhow; I did a great presentation and I get to graduate 28 August.
6 weeks of work before thesis deadline, 2 months before I am ing.

Emphebion Summer Live is therefore not feasible (sad), but I can do several weekends.
Anyone knows nice things to do? (expect castlefest, already going there)

And after graduation, I'm going to do NOTHING for a few months :D I deserve that after 2.5 years with almost no real breaks. At Celtwood & Charm I can LARP again, so I hope it's going to be good.

Small update.

And as you can guess, I'm stressssssed out. And I will be for at least 3 weeks, probably for another 3 months.
I'm currently in the last part of the college graduation. 27 June all content must be ready (or at 95% at least).
28 August I'll give my graduation presentation.
This means work...a lot of work. and stress. and more work.

I know I can do it and so do my supervisors. But damn it, it's stressful.
Oh well, no-one ever said getting a degree is easy.

In three months I’ll be an engineer. Really looking forward to that.
Besides that, everything is going fine :)

Well, I might as well make an attempt to blog a bit more regularly.
Last entry was about my second Silberwald live in Germany. Didn't list al the annoyances, because I wanted the good to outweigh the bad. Because it really was good and I had a lot of fun there. But look and behold; something else from the larp-world to bitch about :)

*bom bom bom*
The LARPY-awards .
A great Hollywood televised award show where a wrestler, a base-ball player and a lot of 'lingerie'(wink wink, nudge nudge)-models will present the first ever LARPY awards. These awards will be given to the best of the best of the international, worldwide LARP clubs from North-America and Germany.
Life-time awards, best looking female and male LARPers are amongst the categories.
Buy your 30 dollar tickets now!

You know,... I really, really wanted this to be a joke. But to bad, it is very real.
No, these organisers haven't got the slightest clue about LARP, not have they ever done it at all. They just put on a great marketing show akin to the Oscars to generate 'mainstream attention'

how.did.this.happen?

Well, we managed to figure that one out as well.
apparently, Joe Valentini from NERO (big USA LARP club franchise) hired John Ryan Jr. to promote this event. Mytholodion (yes, we _that_ mytholodion) joined in as well. The result is this abomination. Also, it is a clear rip-of from the Shadies, the international larp forum.

I've never been so amused and horrified by one single thing in my life. I can only hope this fails miserably, so the real LARPers aren't associated with ... this.


Other good news;
My brother got his pantser-infantry certificate. Despite being extremely ill form stomach-flu and not being allowed to go on the final camp, he completed all the tasks. So he is now a fully trained infantryman :)


Besides that not much new. Starting to be affected with hey-fever again, so now I really need to find a new doctor.

I’m not sure why, but larping in Germany so far has given me both the ALD (After LAPR Dip) and the ALE (After LARP Euphoria).
Last Tuesday till Sunday I was on the road to a German LARP; Der Silberwald. It is organised by the weapon supplier of Ukko’s Workshop. By now my legs only hurt a little and I am feeling less exhausted. So I figured I should write/rant a bit about the live.

All in all, it was great. It did had some low-points, but so has every live. We managed to avoid the ‘dutch-indentification-symbol’ of last year. Very glad about that one. Last year, every single one of the dutch group suffered some kind of injury. All were accidents, but two of us had to go to the hospital. Not funny. Not funny at all.

You see, in Germany, LARP is quite hard-core. Excellent costumes, great play, loads of tanks in full-plate. A few things they are not quite so accustomed to however. Things like taking-your-hits for example. This is however quickly getting better, because the organisation simply removed those groups :). The other main thing about German LARPers, is that they tend to be combat-happy-beyond-the-point-of-sanity. And I mean that. They happily jump in the middle of a shield and spear line around the next of the biggest tank they see, just to see if they can topple him over. Fighting in the middle of a camp, with fires and tent-lines everywhere is also ‘fun’ for them. Yeah, some of them are bloody idiots. At some points I simply stopped fighting because it was way too dangerous. Good things that wasn’t too often.

Anyhow, let’s tell a bit more about the live.

The location was in the middle of several (steep!) hills. The main story was that the Mongolian horde was at the doorstep of the lands there. The big extra problem was; the horde consisted of brown orcs. Though, intelligent, civilised, 600.000 of them total. Outchy indeed. The big plotline was that the GroschKhan was assassinated and that this great War-Mace disappeared. This war-mace was the object of desire for both the orcs as the players.

A lot of plots, running around and fighting ensues. In the end we made a few mistakes and were as I like to call it ‘tied’ with the players. So the players won. Barely. However, we did very well. We managed to befriend a group of Myrmidons (Greeks) and Scavanger (Vikings) because our group always was very honourable. We also had a temporary trucea and I was the orc-messager. We also had some great fighting scenes in valleys, through rivers and whatnot. All in all, I enjoyed myself again. My best personal scene was when I delivered a piece of information and stomped through the entire playercamp yelling “get out of my way” (in german). Everyone fled out of my way, except 1(!) elf, who I just bashed out of the way. I was heard all around the camps. Hehe, what can I say? Nice to know I can be quite intimidating.

The Dutch group was showered in compliments and invitations for several other lives. Around December I’ll probably go to a live there again. But we’ll see then.

Dear liveJournal,

Sorry I have been neglecting you. But hey, I never made any promises and never signed nothing with my real name, so to bad.
I shall make no promises since I will not keep them, but know I shall use you again to make my life known to the universe known as 'tagged friends'.
Erm,... Yeah. Well, Anyhow; I got some stuff to share here (this really was mend to be serious at one point).

My life in the last few months:
Life in Delft is good. Really like it. More and more I realise that living in Rotterdam was not good at all.
To much noise, to much house-falling-apart-as-you-walk-in-it, to much trouble from damnable boyfriends of housemates, to much fuck-up-neighbourhood.
But I survived as always, I did my time. Delft might be 2 times as expensive, but the freedom from living in my own apartment is absolutely great. Being able to do stuff with friends without planning it is good :)

Education goes pretty well.
Doing the graduation stuff, want to be finished end of June. School seems to be forever annoying, claiming that I didn't got everything yet. While I of course, do believe I did had everything....trying to sort it out.

And yes, I'm a Nerd: World of Warcraft.
Playing it for a several months now and I am an officer in my guild Essence of Mercy http://www.essenceofmercy.com/ for a few months as well.
It's a great guild, extremely supportive and helpful to each other. We are finally large enough to do ZG and AQ.
Does eats a lot of time :)

Family stuff. < skip it if you don't care:) >
My brother has enlisted in the army. He is doing his function-training now after finishing his basic training about a month ago.
Interesting to have a younger brother that suddenly almost has my height (I'm still bigger! A full 2 cm!). He is also probably 3 times as strong as I am now. Really proud on him for doing well.
Not so good is my father's situation, as he is being dicked around by bigger brass. He is effectively running the little department he works in for a few years. Never got much more appreciation than a few dinner cheques, instead of huge bonuses. However, a few months back people from the ministry got an interest in him. Really wanted him for a job..... Well, a few months later he is still at his old space. The golden promises have not materialised and his current boss just will not let him go anyway. It sucks, he deserves much better than this. Magic wining seems to work ... this afternoon the guy from the ministry called that everything is fixed. The work times, places and more money :D go dad!
Mom is doing well. Her massage practice is going well and she is expanding her spiritual side more and more. I do not always see it quite her way, but it's nice that she is enjoying herself.
I notice that my parents are still adjusting to live without the children. I'm living on my own since I was 18 19 (miscount), but always spend the weekends at home. Now that I live in Delft, I am really independent and my life is in Delft. Not Roosendaal so much any more.
And my brother spends the entire week in 'hotel defence', so it mostly is the two of them.
Just the way it is I think. Things change.
Had a nice dinner with my grandma a few weeks back, It was very nice. I'm quite sad to see that both my grandmothers are not quite as spry as they once were.... (sight) they too are getting old.
People around me are getting married (my mate Sven is getting married November 2007, I'm ceremonial master), having babies(my dear friend Marsha had an babyboy named Elian a few months back). Some of my old classmates already have 2 kids... Scary sometimes.
I always say that I feel old,...well, sometimes I feel quite young.
meh. must be the age and all :)

Plans for after the study.
This might be a little new for some of you, but I figured out what I want do.
I did have a plan to perhaps get a master degree, but no way I can spend 3 more years studying.
I'm drained with study, clinging in with my teeth at some point. I just want to finish it and move on.
To put it like this; I've been heavily overworked//stressed. This is now a year back, but I still feel the tension sometimes.
I still am struggling with work sometimes, although my current job at DECIS is great and my supervisor is superb.
4 more months of work. Then I am a bachelor of Science and can move on.
I'm making some plans already. First I'll take a few months off.
I'll be LARPing, perhaps travel a bit. That we'll see. Will also do some temp work and get really serious with working out in the remaining time.

Then, February 2007 I am going to the KMA. The Dutch Royal Military Academy.
I spend months and months thinking about it, but I am sure.
I want to become an officer.

That was it, my big announcement :)