Saturday, August 31, 2019
The final day of summer
I meant to celebrate the last day of summer with my little furry family, but others had the same idea and sadly did it in most noisy and annoying ways. The video is mostly of Growly and Sleepy-Eyes only. Most of the others had been there before too, for some pears and carrots. Bumpy seemed particularly aggressive today and kept attacking everyone - not me, but sadly the babies and adults alike.
An old lady was there when I came, I've seen her sometimes previously, she's friendly and usually also comes on her bike, to exercise a bit in the park. She wasn't happy with the annoying festival either, especially the trash and colored bits of paper all over the place. We picked some of it up; I hope someone will clean up after this Mickey Mouse circus.
According to the weather forecast it's been the last day of summer not only on the calendar. Germans are known to be very strict and punctual, and it seems that even the German summer is unwilling to stay even a single day beyond August; from tomorrow it will be cold again.
Monday, August 26, 2019
A Pentagram fountain in Amsterdam
The latest trip to Amsterdam the other week wasn't without complications. I still managed to get to the bike rental before closing time right after my arrival, which was very positive - what's life without a bike!
But just after recording the clip at the hostel dorm though I had to find myself confronted with a bearded face there - I had been assigned to a mixed gender dorm by accident, although I had booked an all female one as usual. I felt extremely uncomfortable, much worse than expected, since I seemed to be the only girl in that dorm and some of the guys were so rude to go to bed shirtless, despite the cold weather. The next day I felt ready to go home early, and quite depressed. As I asked for a refund for the remaining two nights, the receptionist offered to move me to a female dorm though, and also a free breakfast as an apology. I accepted, since I had planned to meet up with someone the next day. Still that first night at the mixed dorm is a nightmare to remember, and frankly, by morning the room was stinking far worse than my gym ever does! At least I felt much more at ease again at the female dorm. No smell and no one sleeping topless.
Unfortunately I seemed to have picked some of the rainiest days of the summer though, and at least I had brought a rain cape and gloves, since it was very cold too.
I mostly managed to find me some breaks in the rain though, and surprisingly that first evening, the pavement next to the fountain had dried enough to comfortably sit down and eat some dinner I had bought at the supermarket, yogurt and granola bars and such. At another occasion the next day, I draped the rain cape over the bike to crouch underneath as a makeshift "tent" to eat something. LOL
The fountain consists of 20 individual spouts, each with a color-changing light. Five form a pentagon in the center, then there's 3 more on each of the 5 sides, forming the 5 points of the star.
I had a very nice walk from my friend's hotel back to Vondelpark on the final night, with clear skies again.
But just after recording the clip at the hostel dorm though I had to find myself confronted with a bearded face there - I had been assigned to a mixed gender dorm by accident, although I had booked an all female one as usual. I felt extremely uncomfortable, much worse than expected, since I seemed to be the only girl in that dorm and some of the guys were so rude to go to bed shirtless, despite the cold weather. The next day I felt ready to go home early, and quite depressed. As I asked for a refund for the remaining two nights, the receptionist offered to move me to a female dorm though, and also a free breakfast as an apology. I accepted, since I had planned to meet up with someone the next day. Still that first night at the mixed dorm is a nightmare to remember, and frankly, by morning the room was stinking far worse than my gym ever does! At least I felt much more at ease again at the female dorm. No smell and no one sleeping topless.
Unfortunately I seemed to have picked some of the rainiest days of the summer though, and at least I had brought a rain cape and gloves, since it was very cold too.
I mostly managed to find me some breaks in the rain though, and surprisingly that first evening, the pavement next to the fountain had dried enough to comfortably sit down and eat some dinner I had bought at the supermarket, yogurt and granola bars and such. At another occasion the next day, I draped the rain cape over the bike to crouch underneath as a makeshift "tent" to eat something. LOL
The fountain consists of 20 individual spouts, each with a color-changing light. Five form a pentagon in the center, then there's 3 more on each of the 5 sides, forming the 5 points of the star.
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| The Pentagram fountain |
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| Full moon above Pentagram fountain |
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| Megalodon teeth in a shop window |
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| I bought me some ear studs at Albert Cuyp Market |
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| Bees on passionflower by the side of a street |
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| Tall ship outside Scheepvaartmuseum |
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| De Magere Brug at night |
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| De Magere Brug ("Skinny Bridge") |
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| Bike full of rubber duckies outside Knuffels store. |
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| Souvenirs: New backpack for the gym, covered in little sharks, & book from book exchange at the hostel. |
Sunday, August 11, 2019
I beat the treadmill, but Bumpy bites again
Leg day once more, at my secondary gym which is farther from home but close to the park where I was going to visit my furry family again afterward.
It troubled me lately that my sprint performance has been so awful, and especially my tabata interval sets. The latter are done as follows: Run for 20 seconds, pause for 10 - and preferably do 10 of these intervals at the same speed, which for me is 20 kph; at least I had worked my way up to that, and it troubled me tremendously that the last few times I tried I hadn't been able to do more than 5 intervals before I had to either pause longer than 10 seconds, or reduce the speed. Time for euthanasia?
Well, we got new treadmills at McFit. And now my suspicion is that they're even faster than the old ones.
Because today at John Reed gym, I found that I had no trouble at all to finish all 10 intervals, and as a bonus to even make the last one 40 seconds instead of 20! I don't think I just had a sensationally good day for workout. I think the treadmills are different, and 20 kph on the one type are not equal to 20 kph on the other. And I'm not a worthless piece of shit after all, but still getting better than ever!
After taking a shower, my band aid had come off, which had been expected and I had brought another, and Povidone-Iodine to sterilize this latest bite again. Bumpy took a scrap of skin off my hand the other day.
Worst bite yet. Bumpy never targets me though, it always happens only when he jumps at someone else. Big Daddy also once bit me by accident lately when jumping at another black fellow who looks much like he might be Bumpy's brother. Rivalry between adult males. The sad thing about Bumpy though is that he will also attack the babies sometimes. He never is aggressive toward me, only when it comes to other nutrias he's quite antisocial. It seems that someone bit him back though. I couldn't see any blood, but which is unsurprising since he's in the water a lot; only the edge of a bit of torn skin on his back. I hope he'll be ok, he's probably been through worse. I've been thinking for a long time that the little bump in his tail, for which I've named him, most likely is from an old injury; his tail might have been fractured once. The little bump feels hard and bony but doesn't seem to bother him at all.
The above video was taken the other day, when that bite happened. Me being a big, strong warrior, I can take it. But what happened today was far worse, and I hope to Satan that the poor little baby will be fine.
It must be stressful for them that there frequently are such noisy festivals at the park. You can hear throughout the video how noisy it was! Maybe the noise and stress contributed to Bumpy's behavior, I don't know. Because it was all fun and games until he sadly bit one of the babies. Usually the babies are very quick to jump away, but this one sadly wasn't quick enough this time. I don't know how badly the baby was injured, but he seemed to be in pain. At first he sat by the edge of the pond, I could see him just breathing heavily, as in distress. It might have been just the scare, but my instinct tells me otherwise. Bumpy frequently attacks and chases everyone else, so they must be used to this already. I could sense this poor baby was in pain. Eventually he swam over to the island and sought shelter between those branches by the edge of the water. There was no blood. But a few weeks ago when Bumpy bit me on the leg I just had a big bruise there, and I hate to imagine what that same force of bite could do to those tiny bones in the hind leg of such a little creature. The much I love Bumpy, it really pains me that he would attack the babies.
I hope so much the little one will be fine!
It troubled me lately that my sprint performance has been so awful, and especially my tabata interval sets. The latter are done as follows: Run for 20 seconds, pause for 10 - and preferably do 10 of these intervals at the same speed, which for me is 20 kph; at least I had worked my way up to that, and it troubled me tremendously that the last few times I tried I hadn't been able to do more than 5 intervals before I had to either pause longer than 10 seconds, or reduce the speed. Time for euthanasia?
Well, we got new treadmills at McFit. And now my suspicion is that they're even faster than the old ones.
Because today at John Reed gym, I found that I had no trouble at all to finish all 10 intervals, and as a bonus to even make the last one 40 seconds instead of 20! I don't think I just had a sensationally good day for workout. I think the treadmills are different, and 20 kph on the one type are not equal to 20 kph on the other. And I'm not a worthless piece of shit after all, but still getting better than ever!
After taking a shower, my band aid had come off, which had been expected and I had brought another, and Povidone-Iodine to sterilize this latest bite again. Bumpy took a scrap of skin off my hand the other day.
Worst bite yet. Bumpy never targets me though, it always happens only when he jumps at someone else. Big Daddy also once bit me by accident lately when jumping at another black fellow who looks much like he might be Bumpy's brother. Rivalry between adult males. The sad thing about Bumpy though is that he will also attack the babies sometimes. He never is aggressive toward me, only when it comes to other nutrias he's quite antisocial. It seems that someone bit him back though. I couldn't see any blood, but which is unsurprising since he's in the water a lot; only the edge of a bit of torn skin on his back. I hope he'll be ok, he's probably been through worse. I've been thinking for a long time that the little bump in his tail, for which I've named him, most likely is from an old injury; his tail might have been fractured once. The little bump feels hard and bony but doesn't seem to bother him at all.
The above video was taken the other day, when that bite happened. Me being a big, strong warrior, I can take it. But what happened today was far worse, and I hope to Satan that the poor little baby will be fine.
It must be stressful for them that there frequently are such noisy festivals at the park. You can hear throughout the video how noisy it was! Maybe the noise and stress contributed to Bumpy's behavior, I don't know. Because it was all fun and games until he sadly bit one of the babies. Usually the babies are very quick to jump away, but this one sadly wasn't quick enough this time. I don't know how badly the baby was injured, but he seemed to be in pain. At first he sat by the edge of the pond, I could see him just breathing heavily, as in distress. It might have been just the scare, but my instinct tells me otherwise. Bumpy frequently attacks and chases everyone else, so they must be used to this already. I could sense this poor baby was in pain. Eventually he swam over to the island and sought shelter between those branches by the edge of the water. There was no blood. But a few weeks ago when Bumpy bit me on the leg I just had a big bruise there, and I hate to imagine what that same force of bite could do to those tiny bones in the hind leg of such a little creature. The much I love Bumpy, it really pains me that he would attack the babies.
I hope so much the little one will be fine!
Sunday, August 4, 2019
Bumpy, Shaggy, & fighting babies again
I've been depressed AF... but let's rather talk about these cuties here! Bumpy is my special darling. He gave me a kiss on the forehead on the day of Lammas (Wednesday). No, not with his teeth, nor just with the whiskers, but an actual kiss, a wet little nutria kiss, it was so sweet of him.
It's a 10 km bike ride but I always feel drawn to the park again to visit the cutest creatures in the world. Just look at the white-ringed noses on those babies, so adorable!
It's a 10 km bike ride but I always feel drawn to the park again to visit the cutest creatures in the world. Just look at the white-ringed noses on those babies, so adorable!
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