Leo Breebaart
2006-04-11 21:05:12 UTC
-------------------------------------------
JENNIFERMEET 7.0
"We all know that pressed leather is in"
Delft, Saturday 1 April 2006
-------------------------------------------
NL Jennifermeet 7.0 Meet Report
-------------------------------
Date:
Saturday, 1 April 2006
Locations:
Grand Café Verderop /
Belgisch Bier Café Belvedere /
Afrikaans-Surinaams Restaurant Kwasi Kwame /
Café De Stapperij
Delft, The Netherlands
Guest of Honour:
Jennifer Barber
Safety Pins:
Arwen Lune, Cybercat, Eelco Giele, Jelmer "Snow" Graafstra,
Jenny Delaney, Leo Breebaart, Maarten Kreuger, Noëlle van der
Weel, Patrick Dersjant, Rachel Coleman Finch, Reinier Sjouw,
Tamara, Tony Finch.
Absent With Official Leave On Account of Excusing Themselves in
Email:
Corinna, Sebastian, Uwe Milde, Marlies Terlouw
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Back in October of last year (see the Jennifermeet 6.0 report),
Jennifer came to the Netherlands *without going to see a single
musical*. As musicals are supposed to be the primary reason why
she travels across the Atlantic every two years or so in the
first place it soon became obvious that this wilful subversion of
the natural order of things had caused a great Disturbance in the
Force and that the resulting Unbalance had to be addressed
somehow.
Lucky for us, this cosmic realignment took the form of Jennifer
coming back to the Netherlands only six months later (instead of
the usual two-and-half years), this time seeing the same musical
twice on successive evenings, thus restoring parity to the
Universe and giving me a good excuse to organise another
Jennifermeet.
Jennifer arrived in Delft some hours before the meet would start,
so we headed into town for lunch at the Cafe Vlaanderen. We
decided to stick to our buns and not spend money on the arty
taste strips on offer which promised such culinary sensations as
"Adrenalize" (taste: jet fuel and metal), "Power" (taste: sea
spray and sweat) or "Guilty" (taste: leather and chocolate). (It
was April 1st, but I am not making any of this up: see
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1888645555> for details.)
We strolled a bit around the town after that (luckily the weather
was nice, if windy), ending up at the big market square, where an
event called BIOPOP was in progress. This was not, as I initially
assumed, a local version of the Farm Aid music festival, but
rather some sort of pan-European effort to bring biotechnology
closer to the common man by placing young biotech researchers in
a big tent with lots of posters and simple DIY experiments,
attempting to educate said common man while at the same time
engaging him in meaningful dialogue and discussion (see also
<http://www.biopop-eu-org/>).
So Jennifer and I expressed our thoughts about genetic passports;
I learned some new things about gene therapy; and we watched a
fascinating experiment in which DNS was extracted from a Kiwi by
means of a sharp knife, some soap, and a large amount of alcohol.
Afpmeets: fun *and* unexpectedly educational.
At a quarter to five we headed to Cafe Verderop -- where we were
greeted by (a) huge empty cleared-out spaces where two hours
earlier (when we had explicitly stopped by to check) the tables
and chairs had been, (b) a closed bar, and (c) Jennifer Delaney
who had managed to arrive from the UK just in time to obtain a
chair and a big glass of beer before (a) and (b) happened. Turns
out there was a private party at 17:00, and the whole place was
closing down. I don't know *why* Verderop keeps throwing these
sort of surprises at me (would it have killed them to put a big
sign on the door saying "we'll be closed this afternoon"?), and
more to the point I don't know *why* I keep trying to organise
afpmeets there. (Well, I do: it's close to the station, almost
everybody knows where to find it by now, and because it's so big
it's relatively smoke-free. But still.)
The building's concierge kindly allowed us to hang around
Verderop just long enough to be able to collect most of the
remaining meet attendees as they arrived, (including but not
limited to Velcro and Patty -- don't ask). We then relocated to
the recently opened new Belgian Beer cafe Belvedere, where we sat
outside in what I personally considered to to be way too much
wind and cold, but with everyone else gamely putting on their
best "ooh, isn't this nice" faces. Luckily Jennifer's jellybeans
provided calories and diversions galore, especially of the "Let's
see if we can trick Leo into eating another cinnamon one"
variety.
Pretty soon it was time for dinner, so we relocated again, to the
Kwasi Kwame restaurant, where we met up with Reinier who
demonstrated his latest balloon animal designs as well as some
old favourites (I still think the pre-stencilled aliens
constitute cheating, but the penguin was lovely). Conversation
during dinner ranged far and wide, but, in an interesting
resonance with the earlier BIOPOP event, had a very strong
tendency to gravitate towards topics related to one of the most
ancient forms of biotechnology available. I may have led a
sheltered life, but I think this was the first afpmeet I've been
to where we engaged in such extensive, meet-wide birth-geeking.
Can't think why this happened, unless actually have a pregnant
couple present may have focussed our attention somewhat in that
direction (<wave> to Rachel and Tony).
So we talked about pregnancies, childbirths, and various medical,
physical, social, and legal aspects of procreation in the UK, the
USA, and the Netherlands. I am sure I speak for many when I say
the ultrasound scans made by the excitingly named PowerVision
6000 were the highlight of the evening, and quite possibly
provided us with meet pictures of what could technically be
called the youngest afpmeet attendant (m/f) *ever*.
It was not until after desert that UK Jennifer revealed to us her
plans to chuck journalism and become rich and famous instead by
writing crappy but popular historical romance novels under a
suitable pseudonym. This immediately, um, inflamed everyone's
imagination to throbbing, engorged heights, and most of the
remainder of the meet was spent in helping her plot the first
fifteen or so novels in what is sure to become a bodice-ripping
series of epic generations- and trousers-spanning proportions.
Things really started heating up when Jennifer proceeded to write
the meet attendees themselves into the story (my nondisclosure
agreement forbids me from mentioning too many details, but I am
very much looking forward to my role as the sympathetic Eunuch
who befriends the Heroine during her unfortunate stay in the
Sultan's harem), and became downright climactic when the
assassination of William the Silent was introduced as a major
plot element, with starring roles reserved for Torquemada and his
sister, the as-yet unnamed evil sado-masochistic lesbian nun.
Clearly, we're on to a winner here.
Having said goodbye to those of us with trains or dreams to
catch, a slimmed-down but still quorate group went looking for a
suitable pub to finish the meet in. We first tried our old
Jennifermeet favourite, the Bierhuys, but for a change that one
was so densely packed that people's glasses started to fog up
while still meters away from the closed door, so we took a hasty
left turn and ended up in 'De Stapperij", a pub I'd completely
forgotten we used to frequent with afpmeets way back when (and I
do mean *way*).
There we drank and talked and plotted some more, but I don't
think anything really worth mentioning happened. Then again, my
recollection of notable meet events tends to become reliably
unreliable when I get sleepy, but if I'm mistaken I'm sure
people will jump in and correct me. Round about 2am we called it
a night and with the help of a taxi and Maarten's sleek Celica
went off to my place and tried to fit a record five crashers in
my apartmentlet's living room. Turns out I didn't even need the
crowbar, and we could easily have fitted in a sixth person. Feh,
other people with crash space -- who needs 'em!
And so another most excellent meet ended.
(But not the weekend -- on Sunday we went for pancakes and
poffertjes (and we achieved triple-Jenniferness, which was very
cool), and we put some more people on the train, and the
remaining Jennifers and Eelco and me lounged on the Beestenmarkt
some more, and then Eelco left, and the Jennifers and I went for
a boat tour of the canals of Delft. and we had an Indonesian
Rijsttafel, and then finished with apple pie at Kobus Kuch -- all
in all we managed to keep the meety feeling going until far into
the Sunday; I think all afpmeets should have lazy come-down days
afterwards. It just makes sense.)
JENNIFERMEET 7.0
"We all know that pressed leather is in"
Delft, Saturday 1 April 2006
-------------------------------------------
NL Jennifermeet 7.0 Meet Report
-------------------------------
Date:
Saturday, 1 April 2006
Locations:
Grand Café Verderop /
Belgisch Bier Café Belvedere /
Afrikaans-Surinaams Restaurant Kwasi Kwame /
Café De Stapperij
Delft, The Netherlands
Guest of Honour:
Jennifer Barber
Safety Pins:
Arwen Lune, Cybercat, Eelco Giele, Jelmer "Snow" Graafstra,
Jenny Delaney, Leo Breebaart, Maarten Kreuger, Noëlle van der
Weel, Patrick Dersjant, Rachel Coleman Finch, Reinier Sjouw,
Tamara, Tony Finch.
Absent With Official Leave On Account of Excusing Themselves in
Email:
Corinna, Sebastian, Uwe Milde, Marlies Terlouw
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Back in October of last year (see the Jennifermeet 6.0 report),
Jennifer came to the Netherlands *without going to see a single
musical*. As musicals are supposed to be the primary reason why
she travels across the Atlantic every two years or so in the
first place it soon became obvious that this wilful subversion of
the natural order of things had caused a great Disturbance in the
Force and that the resulting Unbalance had to be addressed
somehow.
Lucky for us, this cosmic realignment took the form of Jennifer
coming back to the Netherlands only six months later (instead of
the usual two-and-half years), this time seeing the same musical
twice on successive evenings, thus restoring parity to the
Universe and giving me a good excuse to organise another
Jennifermeet.
Jennifer arrived in Delft some hours before the meet would start,
so we headed into town for lunch at the Cafe Vlaanderen. We
decided to stick to our buns and not spend money on the arty
taste strips on offer which promised such culinary sensations as
"Adrenalize" (taste: jet fuel and metal), "Power" (taste: sea
spray and sweat) or "Guilty" (taste: leather and chocolate). (It
was April 1st, but I am not making any of this up: see
<http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1888645555> for details.)
We strolled a bit around the town after that (luckily the weather
was nice, if windy), ending up at the big market square, where an
event called BIOPOP was in progress. This was not, as I initially
assumed, a local version of the Farm Aid music festival, but
rather some sort of pan-European effort to bring biotechnology
closer to the common man by placing young biotech researchers in
a big tent with lots of posters and simple DIY experiments,
attempting to educate said common man while at the same time
engaging him in meaningful dialogue and discussion (see also
<http://www.biopop-eu-org/>).
So Jennifer and I expressed our thoughts about genetic passports;
I learned some new things about gene therapy; and we watched a
fascinating experiment in which DNS was extracted from a Kiwi by
means of a sharp knife, some soap, and a large amount of alcohol.
Afpmeets: fun *and* unexpectedly educational.
At a quarter to five we headed to Cafe Verderop -- where we were
greeted by (a) huge empty cleared-out spaces where two hours
earlier (when we had explicitly stopped by to check) the tables
and chairs had been, (b) a closed bar, and (c) Jennifer Delaney
who had managed to arrive from the UK just in time to obtain a
chair and a big glass of beer before (a) and (b) happened. Turns
out there was a private party at 17:00, and the whole place was
closing down. I don't know *why* Verderop keeps throwing these
sort of surprises at me (would it have killed them to put a big
sign on the door saying "we'll be closed this afternoon"?), and
more to the point I don't know *why* I keep trying to organise
afpmeets there. (Well, I do: it's close to the station, almost
everybody knows where to find it by now, and because it's so big
it's relatively smoke-free. But still.)
The building's concierge kindly allowed us to hang around
Verderop just long enough to be able to collect most of the
remaining meet attendees as they arrived, (including but not
limited to Velcro and Patty -- don't ask). We then relocated to
the recently opened new Belgian Beer cafe Belvedere, where we sat
outside in what I personally considered to to be way too much
wind and cold, but with everyone else gamely putting on their
best "ooh, isn't this nice" faces. Luckily Jennifer's jellybeans
provided calories and diversions galore, especially of the "Let's
see if we can trick Leo into eating another cinnamon one"
variety.
Pretty soon it was time for dinner, so we relocated again, to the
Kwasi Kwame restaurant, where we met up with Reinier who
demonstrated his latest balloon animal designs as well as some
old favourites (I still think the pre-stencilled aliens
constitute cheating, but the penguin was lovely). Conversation
during dinner ranged far and wide, but, in an interesting
resonance with the earlier BIOPOP event, had a very strong
tendency to gravitate towards topics related to one of the most
ancient forms of biotechnology available. I may have led a
sheltered life, but I think this was the first afpmeet I've been
to where we engaged in such extensive, meet-wide birth-geeking.
Can't think why this happened, unless actually have a pregnant
couple present may have focussed our attention somewhat in that
direction (<wave> to Rachel and Tony).
So we talked about pregnancies, childbirths, and various medical,
physical, social, and legal aspects of procreation in the UK, the
USA, and the Netherlands. I am sure I speak for many when I say
the ultrasound scans made by the excitingly named PowerVision
6000 were the highlight of the evening, and quite possibly
provided us with meet pictures of what could technically be
called the youngest afpmeet attendant (m/f) *ever*.
It was not until after desert that UK Jennifer revealed to us her
plans to chuck journalism and become rich and famous instead by
writing crappy but popular historical romance novels under a
suitable pseudonym. This immediately, um, inflamed everyone's
imagination to throbbing, engorged heights, and most of the
remainder of the meet was spent in helping her plot the first
fifteen or so novels in what is sure to become a bodice-ripping
series of epic generations- and trousers-spanning proportions.
Things really started heating up when Jennifer proceeded to write
the meet attendees themselves into the story (my nondisclosure
agreement forbids me from mentioning too many details, but I am
very much looking forward to my role as the sympathetic Eunuch
who befriends the Heroine during her unfortunate stay in the
Sultan's harem), and became downright climactic when the
assassination of William the Silent was introduced as a major
plot element, with starring roles reserved for Torquemada and his
sister, the as-yet unnamed evil sado-masochistic lesbian nun.
Clearly, we're on to a winner here.
Having said goodbye to those of us with trains or dreams to
catch, a slimmed-down but still quorate group went looking for a
suitable pub to finish the meet in. We first tried our old
Jennifermeet favourite, the Bierhuys, but for a change that one
was so densely packed that people's glasses started to fog up
while still meters away from the closed door, so we took a hasty
left turn and ended up in 'De Stapperij", a pub I'd completely
forgotten we used to frequent with afpmeets way back when (and I
do mean *way*).
There we drank and talked and plotted some more, but I don't
think anything really worth mentioning happened. Then again, my
recollection of notable meet events tends to become reliably
unreliable when I get sleepy, but if I'm mistaken I'm sure
people will jump in and correct me. Round about 2am we called it
a night and with the help of a taxi and Maarten's sleek Celica
went off to my place and tried to fit a record five crashers in
my apartmentlet's living room. Turns out I didn't even need the
crowbar, and we could easily have fitted in a sixth person. Feh,
other people with crash space -- who needs 'em!
And so another most excellent meet ended.
(But not the weekend -- on Sunday we went for pancakes and
poffertjes (and we achieved triple-Jenniferness, which was very
cool), and we put some more people on the train, and the
remaining Jennifers and Eelco and me lounged on the Beestenmarkt
some more, and then Eelco left, and the Jennifers and I went for
a boat tour of the canals of Delft. and we had an Indonesian
Rijsttafel, and then finished with apple pie at Kobus Kuch -- all
in all we managed to keep the meety feeling going until far into
the Sunday; I think all afpmeets should have lazy come-down days
afterwards. It just makes sense.)
--
Leo Breebaart <***@lspace.org>
Leo Breebaart <***@lspace.org>
