Memories – Tse Moana

We Bought eh… Went to the Zoo!

Saturday, March 28, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

1987-08 Noorder Dierenpark Emmen I went to the zoo in Emmen today with Nienke and Kim. I hadn’t been there since I was about three, when this picture was taken. That’s my aunt with her children, my other aunt, little me, and my Mom. I don’t really remember anything from when I was that young, thus I have zero recollection of the zoo. So everything was new, and I had a great time.There was some rain early in the afternoon and again near the end, but on the whole it was nice. There were not that many people so we had good access to everything. And most animals were present and willing to show themselves 😀

I’d brought my camera and am very pleased with the results I got. I ended up, after culling it, with 169 pictures. I’ll show highlights here, if you’re friends with me on Facebook, you can see the rest there. So, without further ado, let there be pictures! I’ll also be featuring a few in bigger sizes over the next few days.

Butterflies

Lemon Shark

Red Lionfish

Ball Python

Kim & Nienke with a goat

Crested Porcupine

Jaguar

Lioness

White rhinos

Giraffe

Sara Kroos

Saturday, March 28, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Wednesday, Mom and I went to the Schouwburg to see Sara Kroos play her latest show “Van Jewelste”. Sara Kroos is someone I’ve seen on TV and always liked, she’s spontaneous but does always seem to make a point. So when Mom suggested we go see her back when I was deciding which shows to go to, I happily agreed,

As it begins, Sara enters the stage and starts telling about her life, obviously fictionalized or embellished in places, but I believe it has a significant core of truth in it. She tells us how her parents showed up at her door to tell her that they had bought the house next door, isn’t that fun! From there she slips in a flashback to an earlier moment where her mother embarrassed her, and from there on to another story and so on. She occasionally comes back to the present day situation, but other than that she jumps back and forth through time in a period of about four or so years.

The stories are hilarious and the jokes she makes are very funny. She’s good at improv so she reacts very well with what the audience is saying. Particularly a gentleman who, at a slightly risque joke made an oh-oh-ho kinda sound. She jumped on that and warned us, with a great smile, that if we thought that was much, we’d better not listen to the rest. And true to her word, that wasn’t the most risque joke by a long shot 😀

Sara Kroos CD In between stories she sits down at the piano and sings a song. And the songs are the counterweights to all the laughter of the stories. They are calmer, and more serious and light the other side of parents and different generations and time, which are the main themes of the show. And by combining these elements, she really drives the point that time goes ever on.

Especially since I’m of a similar age as she is, and my parents are of a similar age as hers are, a lot of the things she said, and sang, hit home. You reach this point in your life where you’re in the middle. Your parents are still young and healthy enough to have a life of their own, you have your live (generally busy) and your children are doing their thing. And you look around and you kinda want to freeze the moment and keep it like this forever. Because it’s never going to be as good as it is now.

With time, there will come a day when you no longer think “oh, at least they’re still healthy” but it shifts to “at least they’re still here” and then they’re not. And you shift from annoyance and embarrasment at what your parents do to endearment at what they do, the older they get. And the same with children; who grow up and become more independent and eventually move out. And through all that, you need to realise that things always change, there will always be new moments that are good, or awesome, or fantastic, or even just sorta okay, but even the most awesomest thing is an individual thing. And as such, nothing is ever going to be as good as it was right at the moment you experienced it.

So yeah, many feels. And I was really happy I got to see this show with Mom.

Afterwards, Sara sold CDs with the songs from the show from the stage and would sign them, so Mom and I made our way there and each bought a copy.

Show ’em What You’re Made Of

Thursday, February 26, 2015 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Oh, the teenage memories tonight! I went to see the Backstreet Boys documentary “Show ’em What You’re Made Of” with Ingrid and Nienke tonight. It was shown in cinemas all over Europe at the same time, and then afterwards there would be a small concert of the Boys shown live. I was a pretty big fan of them during their first three or so albums, in my early teens. I can still sing along to most of the songs if I hear them.

I was over at Ingrid’s earlier this week to have dinner and we got to talking about movies, as we still need to go see one with the three of us for her birthday. We did see Begin Again, but we couldn’t make Step Up 5 work with all three of our schedules and the times it was shown. While doing that, we noticed the Backstreet Boys film in the line up for tonight and we were both interested.

Once home, I showed Nienke, but she wasn’t really interested, so Ingrid and I decided to go with the two of us. I reserved us two tickets, which was a smart move as there were few seats left. Since we had some time between the start of the show and when I was off work, we figured we go to eat someplace. As Nienke was also in the city in the afternoon, we agreed to eat together.

We settled on old favourite Pappa Joe and I met up with Ingrid, Nienke and a surprise Marleen with whom she had been out and about. We had a good time, but then we had to leave to make the movie in time. Marleen had to go the other way, so Nienke walked us to the cinema.

There, she changed her mind and decided that if the seat next to us was still free (we had near edge seats and the single one beside us was still free when I made the reservations), she would also go. We headed for the info desk, as we couldn’t get the single seat from the machine, and fortunately it was still available!

The documentary was fun, it showed the 20 year history of the band and followed them while they were making their last album and world tour, showing both the fun times and the struggles. Nothing earth shattering, but a glorious view back in time to my teenage years, and a glimpse into the lives they had and have now as people, and not just Backstreet Boys.

Afterwards, it switched to London, if I remember correctly, where the Boys were present for the European premiere of the movie and where they would do a short a cappella concert. They sang about seven or so songs, both old favourites as well as things from their last album. They still sound really good, although their voices have changed some as they have grown older which sounded a little bit strange sometimes especially with the older songs where certain parts are so ingrained in memory.

Ceremony of Lights

Sunday, November 9, 2014 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

The cemetery where my grandparents are buried held a remembrance event last night. They covered all the paths and walkways on both sides with tealights in jars and invited people to come and bring a light to their loved ones there. They also offered warm drinks and cake because winter’s nights are cold. If you didn’t have a candle or light, you could get one there. And there was also a rack to place lights on if your loved one wasn’t buried here. All of this free of charge, just asking for a donation if you could.

I went with Mom and my Aunt and were planning to visit not just my grandparents, but also my grandfather’s parents, and my grandfather’s brother and his wife. We had planned in advance, so I had bought two lanterns while I was at Ikea getting my plates. My aunt had also bought a lantern so we had one for each grave. And earlier in the day, Mom and I had stopped at the florist for some pretty plants that can withstand the winter.

The cemetery looked beautiful, and it was really nice to see so many people there. We visit the graves fairly regularly, individually, and then we clean it, or maybe bring some new flowers. But now we were together, not just the three of us, but all of us people, sharing a moment.

We cleaned the gravestones, put up the plants and the lights. And in the background they played music, interspersed with people reading poetry. Once we had done that, we went back towards the entrance to get something warm to drink. I got one of the candles they offered there and placed it on the rack for people not buried there in remembrance of others that have died, both in my family as well as friends.

Remembrance

Sunday, May 4, 2014 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Friday I worked from home again. This time I tried out the bedroom so I could watch more 7th Heaven in the background. I’ve made it to the seasons where I care less about the show because of all the added characters and less of the originals. And more repeats of themes. Not too weird considering many milestones are the same one kid after the other, but it does get old. Especially as the twins are kind of wooden and uninteresting. Ruthie and Simon were much more fun and alive at that age. Anyway, while that was fun for the background, the bedroom itself is not a handy work space, so that was once but never again 😀

When Nienke came home, she had brought Kim with her. So we had dinner together and then watched Frozen. I love Frozen <3

Yesterday was a busy, but good, day. Got a lot done while still feeling relaxed. Slept in, did some cleaning up, unpacked the dish washer. Then went for coffee at the Parents. I suggested we go to the cemetery to bring some flowers to grandma and grandpa. We’d been to the cemetery for my grandparents on Mom’s side recently, but it had been a while for the other side. And that grave gets a lot less visitors to begin with. They thought it was good idea, so we decided to go later that day.

First, however, I went with Mom to the store to assist her in buying an Actifry and getting a mini vac for myself. Then I went home for lunch after which I repacked the dish washer and then went grocery shopping with Mom. After getting the groceries home, we went to the florist for a nice little bouquet to place at the grave.

Then the three of us went to Mensingeweer where we cleaned the head stone and placed the flowers. We walked around for a bit, where, as usual, my parents point out the various relatives and tell anecdotes about all these people I never met but am connected to, through time. I dig cemeteries.

The rest of the day I spent downloading, filing and archiving. Sorting out computer stuff can be so relaxing 🙂

Today was mainly more of the same. Slept in, watched a movie (Now You See Me, good film), downloaded and filed and archived some more, watched more 7th Heaven, did the administration and played iPad games. Good day 😀

Blog About Me [13/52] My Earliest Memory

Monday, September 23, 2013 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Ehm… this is a hard one. I have very little actual memories from my childhood. I blocked a lot of stuff because of all the hospital shit that comes with having hip dysplasia and the associated surgeries. Things I do ‘remember’ I’m not sure if I’m actually remembering them, or just remember being told about them, or having seen pictures.

I remember me and my childhood friend Esther sliding down the bannister at my house. I remember us playing with My Little Ponies once at her house. I remember this because it were rare occasions, usually we just played outside and pretended to be people from books (notably Pluk van de Petteflet). I think we were about 8-10 or so?

Ooh, wait. I remember being in preschool (around 3) and this other boy in the group hit me on the head. I don’t know why, or what I did next. I just remember he hit me on the head 😀