The Day Came: U2 360 Concert in Amsterdam, 21 July 2009

They still have it!!! It was an unbelievable, absolutely amazing concert I've ever attended. The show started on time, no primadona hanky-panky like Madonna's concert (we waited for 2 hours before she finally appeared) from these bands. Snow Patrol did a fantastic 45 mins opening and the stage crew took another 45 mins to reset the stage for the main act: U2.

At 9:30pm sharp, the crowd went crazy when Larry Mullen, the first member of U2 appeared on stage and quickly followed by the rest of the members...by then the crown went ballistic including me. Bono sang a good mix of songs from their latest album 'No Line On Horizon' and some other older hits such as Bloody Sunday, With or Without You, Desire. Eventhough we'd numbered seats, most of the time, we were up on our feet, dancing and singing along to the songs.The stage was a sight to behold, a massive round stage (360 degrees, that's U2's theme for this tour) with revolving 2 bridges where the band members were freely walking on it. When Bono sang 'I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight', the whole concert ambience escalated to a frenzy - the whole stadum was then vibrating with all the screaming fans, the screen came down that looked like a thimble-shaped and the band was on their top of their performance. Absolutely smoking ;)

Everyone had a great time and it was sad that'll all good things have to come to an end...the concert ended at about 11:35pm. By then U2 had sang 3 songs after the encore. We'd arrived home at 1:30am...absolutely tired out but definitely it was an unforgetable concert...

Basement parking garages in a shopping mall here? DUH!

I'm spoilt by all the convenient basement parking lots in shopping malls back KL :) Over here, you better make sure you have built up your leg muscles cos you're going to walk a long way IF you want to have free parking or a lower parking fees when you go shopping. Normally, most locals will opt for the latter as it is very expensive to park your car closer to the city center. There are no big basement parking garages attached to a shopping mall in the Netherlands. Oh wait...what big shopping mall...there are no big/mega shopping malls here :P

After almost 2 years of living here, I'm slowly...VERY slowly getting used to parking a tad further from the city center though sometimes I do get all grouchy about it. It's no fun when I have to walk a long way just to go shopping whereby when I shop obviously I'll be walking a lot too. So by the time I've arrived in the city, I'll be too tired to do my shopping and all I want is to sit down in a cafe and recuperate :P :P

Paying thru your nose for parking in Amsterdam

Believe it or not, it is true! Reports from an Amsterdam-based newspaper 'Het Parool' and the online news www.nu.nl has confirmed that nowhere in the world is parking more expensive than in Amsterdam. Parking in the city centre for a day may cost you up to EUR50!! That's a lot of $$$ if you ask me. That's why my Hubs dislike going to Amsterdam, mainly parking is a freaking nightmare, with one-way streets and the parking fees are exorbitant!

What we do normally if we do go to Amsterdam, we will park our car at a parking lot next to the Sloterdijk train station and take a short train ride to Amsterdam city centre (5-6 mins). The P+R (Park and Ride) charges a low fee for a day and with free train tickets for people of the car (up to 4 people). It's easy than parking in the city centre.

Once, we'd parked our car in the city centre for a mere 2+ hours and it cost us EUR15+. Some parking garage charges 0.5 hour rate. Shocking!!

Life at work....

Though it's my 3rd week, things at work has been sooo slow....I guess in Europe..summer period aka vacation period...everything just slows down. Most of the time I'm bored out of my wits but after 'suffering' for 15 days...I've finally gotten a breakthrough. My boss has assigned me to a project, a big one actually. Funny how the organisation works...me a newbie has been assigned to this big project which I'm not even sure if I'll be around to see it been executed. My contract is a short-term contract hmmm and did I mention before that it is a very bureaucratic organisation...stressing on that word..'bureaucratic' :P Anyway, I'm happy that finally I'm attached to do something productive...reallly *smile*

Countdown to U2 360° Concert - 21 July 2009

21 July 2009 - Another 9 days to go...counting down....before I'll be watching U2 live for their 360° tour concert in Amsterdam!!! Their 2 days concert was sold-out within an hour when the tickets went on sale. So I was very happy when I got it finally after 1.5 hours of sitting in front of my laptop! I get sooooo excited just thinking about it.

Finally, I'll be there with hundreds of thousand of fans in Holland watching U2!!! They are one band that I always wanted to go since I've discovered their music and it's really suck to know back then that U2 will never go to KL to perform. But now, this is one of the perks living in Europe I guess, most of the big bands tour Europe. Hence, my opportunity came and I'm going to catch U2 live in Amsterdam :) Happy...happpy..jump..jump :) On top of that, Snow Patrol will be the special guest band for an hour performance before the concert starts. We definitely got a good deal eh ;)

Already the organisers have sent notices on the logistics for this concert- it's going to be a nightmare with thousands and thousands of people going to be there in one place. Let's say, it's going to be a late night for me and since the concert falls on a Tuesday, imagine how 'alive' I'm going to be at work the next day :P

Role Reversal....

Since I've started working, my sweet Hubs have taken over my role at home - the 'maid' :) As he comes back from work earlier or at times he works from home, he now does the cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc, *muak*muak* Thanks Hubs :) Since I'm taking the cattle transport most of the time which takes me 1.5 hours door-to-door so I'll be home around 7pm or earlier depending what time I get to get off from work. Gone were the days when I wake up at 9am...I've to catch the tram at 730am so normally I've to wake up at 630am to get ready etc. This is the time when I do miss having my own car :( :( *sob*sob*. Trust me, though at times, taking the cattle transport is great but when it breaks down, it'll be a major nightmare!

Late for Work.....

4th day at work and I was late.....It was on a Monday morning and I've decided to take the car to work since my Hubs will be working at home. I've timed myself so that I'll arrived at work at least 15 mins before 9am but who knows that I'll be smacked into the infamous Dutch morning traffic :( I was stuck for 1hr 45 mins on the A20 highway before the cars started moving!! There was an accident involving 3 trucks so the traffic was almost on a standstill. I was cursing my luck and thought I should have taken the 'cattle' transport instead. Thank god, when I'd called my colleague, they were very sympathetic. I've finally arrived at the office at 9:45am and didn't get into any trouble...wheeew :)

MJ's Memorial Live on CNN

Michael Jackson's Memorial was a memorial that I'll remember for a long time. Though I'd missed a large part of the memorial but the remaining ones brought me to tears in no time (coincidentally I'd a happy hour get-together with my colleagues after work. By the time I got home, it was pretty late). It was done so spontaneously and so beautifully with all the performances and speeches by his friends and family. To see his beautiful children for the first time, it was also quite shocking as he shielded them from public eye since they were borned.

I quickly caught up the rest that I've missed on CNN.com. Personally, I especially like Brooke Shields's and Marlon Jackson's speech and the song that Usher sang was so beautiful. I can't help it but I just teared up watching the memorial. Despite MJ's setback in his life for the past few years with the accusations and financial trouble, I practically grew up with his music. He had such an amazing talent; to be able to produce such meaningful and beautiful songs throughout his entire singing career. If I look closely into some of his lyrics such as "Man In the Mirror", "We Are the World", it was beautiful. Don't forget, his music videos were equally amazing! I sure do miss him...my biggest regret that I'll never see him perform on stage :(