Yesterday, I attended the very first gathering of FC de Filmfanaten, a brand-new film club that my friend Jolien started. There were four of us, and we discussed the movie I was proud to have suggested: Talk To Me. I love speaking about films with others, and particularly with this diverse group of people. Everyone brought a completely unique perspective to the film, one brought film industry insights while the other had thoughtful ideas that I hadn’t considered.

• Met Tim Bleeker at Somerlust Park on Tuesday, a get-together that started as “chilling in the park”, and which turned into grabbing a drink at l’Osteria. The venue is not one I can recommend. When requesting a bigger table because more people would be coming, the waiter scoffed at us. Then he closed the red velvet roped entrance. Later, his colleague told me people often just barge into the venue, ignoring waiters’ requests. I couldn’t imagine the type of person that would do this, and then I looked around.
• I still seem to have a pinguecula because of the time I spent in an airconditioned car not too long ago, although my eye is far less red than last week. I feel guilty for disgusting any reader with this information, but hey, they’re weeknotes. Long story short, I now have sunglasses.
• Watched Hillsong, A megachurch exposed, and learned a lot about how the church has propelled itself into popularity. Knowing how anti-queer the church has always been, I never felt comfortable attending a service in Amsterdam. The early 10s fashion made me feel nostalgic, though.
• Had a lovely workshop at work about effective team work. It was inspiring, educational, and great for a sense of collaboration, not just with my peers, but also with the company’s leadership. It’s wonderful to be a part of a company that walks its talk so enthusiastically.
• I’m struggling to be a good dog mom to Lemonade, seeing Anja’s conduct and training as much more effective and kind. I’ve been working to praise her good behavior more than I punish her mistakes.
• I was off on Friday, and I went to an early-morning showing of Talk to Me (2023), which I’ll most likely do again. A cute retired Amsterdam couple were discussing their elaborate weekend cooking plans, which I found delighting. They proceeded to talk all throughout the movie.
• I tidied Annelie Wambeek’s house now that she’s coming back from her month abroad. I brought her some eggs, bread, milk, some treats, and flowers, and I made sure to leave the house smelling fresh. I hope it makes her feel good when she comes home tonight.
• I spent Saturday and Sunday tinkering on the website, and feel good about the results.
• I’ve been on the hunt for a good strategy for Bible study in Obsidian, and I managed to find a verse-per-file translation of the King James Bible on FaithBasedProductivity.com that I added to my Obsidian vault. It took a couple of days before the whole thing was properly synced across my devices, which I suspect might be the result of Obsidian Sync not be able to perform background syncs. It made me consider switching to iCloud Sync for a second, but honestly I can’t be bothered. I’m keen to see when I’ll actually begin using the 33,613 files that are taking up over 100 mb in my vault.
• I found myself missing church this week. I’m excited for All Saints Amsterdam to start back up again mid-September. I’m curious to see what’s in store for us.
• Mark Delany came over for Lemonade cuddles and dinner on Saturday. I made Tacos, successfully if I do say so myself, and we had a lovely time catching up and discussing what really matters: the fact that Mark uses the word “taco” as a standard synonym for female genitalia. I’m still laughing.

The tourists are back in town. Lots of Germans with face masks. I suppose we’re all beginning to venture out into the world again, just a bit closer to home. Anja and I are considering taking the ferry to Norway. Apparently you can camp virtually anywhere in that country, as long as you “leave it cleaner than you found it” and make sure you’re gone after two days. At this point, we’re vastly underestimating how attached we are to luxury. I can still hear myself whining “Bonsoihoir”. This was the catch-all name we used anyone who would come to the door of our Parisian hotel room with a bucket of ice, “no, not for champagne, just for the drinks”. I also really don’t like ticks, and I simply can’t imagine that Norway somehow doesn’t have the national health crisis taunting its neighbor.