Recently in September '24

September is now almost gone and we’re diving deeper and deeper into the autumn. Despite a few problems here and there, I think it was quite a nice month, and it’s important to always try seeing things for their positive side, despite that now always being very easy.

🍄 Life

At the beginning of the month, I went to Groningen for the first time. Groningen is the capital of one of the northernmost provinces of the Netherlands. We went to visit Christiaan’s sister, and we ended up planning a small weekend. The city has quite some nice vibes, it feels alive and it seems to be a student city. It’s also quite pretty, which is likely related to the monetary history of the region.

We also attended for the first time a Dutch wedding. For me, it wasn’t the first wedding, but the first Dutch wedding. In the Netherlands, you’re not always invited for the whole thing. You’re usually either a daggast (day guest) or an avondgast (evening guest). So you may be invited just for the ceremony, or just for the party. In our case, we were invited for the party. It’s always nice to see how things differ between countries. It was quite nice and cosy.

💪 Health

I tried paddel two times this month because we had a company tournament-like activity. I really enjoy racket sports in general, but unfortunately it’s definitely not the best for me, considering the struggles with my wrists. That’s why I avoid them. A few years ago, I had also tried to play badminton frequently but it didn’t last long.

I also investigated the idea of going swimming, and learning how to swim properly in deep water. I wrote a bit about it. I haven’t heard anything back from the swimming pool yet. Maybe the waiting list is longer than I expected, and considering the lessons are not the whole year round, it can take some time.

Regarding my wrists, I don’t have much positive news: I don’t think they’re necessarily much worse, but they’re definitely not better in comparison with last month. I am going to make a bigger effort from now on to avoid everything that could lead to more stress on my wrists outside of work to see if it improves (like writing this post).

🍿 Entertainment

The star of this month was Moulin Rouge! De Musical, which we went see at the Beatrix Theater in Utrecht. It was amazing. A few years ago, we had gone to London and seen Mary Poppins. At the time, I said I really wanted to go to more musicals, but the problem was that in the Netherlands the vast majority of the musicals would be in Dutch. Well, fortunately that’s no longer a problem for me. I do highly recommend the musical.

On the 🎬 movies scene, there’s also quite a lot of things we watched this month. I will focus on just three I would recommend: (1) Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: an amazing followup to a classic, but please watch the first one first; (2) Blink Twice, a very nice thriller and suspense movies, with quite an interesting storyline; and (3) The Substance, disgusting at times, but enjoyable.

On the 📺 series front, we also watched quite a few things, but most importantly: we watched the last season of Snowpiercer. I’m glad another TV network decided to renew the series and give the show a last season. It was maybe a bit chaotic, but I’m one of those people that like having an ending. Other series watched include KAOS, Emily in Paris (yes, I know), The Decameron (perchance ridiculous) and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

🎮 Gaming

This month I started playing Astro Bot, for the Playstation 5, but I quickly decided to stop, since I don’t feel like it was having a positive - or neutral - impact on my wrists. I must say that, until now, it’s very nice, but I will now need to stop for some time before coming back to it.

Happy October 🎃!