Anno bisesto, anno funesto!

Leap year, sad year!

It is a typical Italian saying, but we are not the only ones thinking that the weird things happen… some weirdest than others! and just judging from these first few months, who can disagree with me, right? Movies, series, video games, mobile phone apps, books have anticipated situations similar to what we are seeing out of the window nowadays. Who would have believed it? Of course nobody could have except maybe for politicians (Trump for example?), green environmentalist nuts, I-know-it-all average Joe (Trump for example?), conspiratorialist (Trump for example?), end of the world visionaries with too much time on their hands ((Trump for example?) that now say to everyone that would listen to them that they knew it, it would have happened, this is the slope where humanity has been rolling down for ages, and they knew it! And of course they could not stop the roll because of the momentum acquired by the added mistakes of all other people!

So much blabla around these days that I decided to stick mainly to crude numbers from the news (just read that UK PM after dismissing the pandemic as exaggeration has tested positive to the virus.. karma? or just merely stupidity? Nor for me to say..). On other hand, I am an engineer and I believe in numbers. So far:

Covid-19 – Humanity: 1 – 0

BPPV: not a Minion language happy birthday!

Yesterday it was my birthday, 46 years spent around this funny world and I was supposed to be in Italy for celebrating the wedding of a special friend Valentina and her partner, Ivano..

1 year anniversary

Exactly one year ago I moved to Amsterdam after about two years in Utrecht. 

last step of the move: my first beloved bike (stolen after less than 2 months 😭)

No regrets at all, I should have maybe done it before even!

Morning in Amsterdam

It helped that the company I work got also moved here but since I had already chosen the place for the love of my life, Aikido, I would have moved anyway… eventually… 

I’m just a tiny bit sad that friends who visited me when I was in Utrecht have not been back now that I moved. A few did come back, and saw I also managed to learn some of what this city can offer.. still hope someone else will also come back for a weekend of exploration of the beauty of Amsterdam. 

中秋节快乐！

Or in other words, happy moon cake festival (mid-autumn, yeah ok) 

outrageous expensive but I love moon cakes!

And the moon is up there shining even in a little cloudy Amsterdam sky:

the moon over my home

 

Another good moon for others good memories…

moon and memories… all great now



One more down, keep counting..

..let’s see how many more..

(thx Dani for this one)

(thx Tor Magnus, this is me.. us..)

My baby is home

After 6 years and a couple of months I could hold again my baby, and it gave me goosebumps:

my dragonfly iaito

For some time we lost contact and even she seemed lost, but then my dear friend Bob found the case and other bits of my Iaido past:

scabbards and iaito kit

Holding her in my hands was fantastic and I can only dream the time I can “dance” with her again… It requires some good weather for going outside.. therefore, being in the Netherlands, lots of prayers!

But she is home, and that is important!

Bicycle diet

A few months since last I managed to breach the 75 kg limit, and I am not that happy this time, since last night for the first time ever I had to stop Aikido practice 5 minutes before the very end, completely depleted by energies!

It is true it was a class rich of black belts and we threw each other quite strongly, and the last repetitions we were only 3 “standing”, but I regret having to bow out because totally empty.

Biking to work and practice is all together about 12 km (and 4 more to go home after, but that is not a problem, I can take it extremely slowly) and I have to remember to drink much more water because I do not have yet the proper condition.

<75 kg.. what a sweat though!

Anyway, it was nice to see it possible to descend again below the 75 kg threshold. I must try to work again on my abs as ** had shown me before, in order to get rid of my “baby fat” as well 😉

When in Vietnam I have been eating and practicing a lot, and thanks to the very hot weather (liters of sweat!) I managed to maintain my weight around normal values, to everybody surprise!! 🙂