I've found a honest politician...

This guy is running for some kind of communal officer in Auderghem, the commune where we live. I was about to throw it away until I noticed his name. Obviously it doesn't mean the same thing here, and the pronounciation is different (the H would be silent in both names), but still... are you kidding me? With a name like that, he should be going into porn, not politics...

How about France beating Brazil the other day and then Italy just beating Germany in one of the best matches I've ever seen, especially at this level/stage in the tournament. Both teams just went for it... so entertaining when teams play to win instead of playing not to lose. It was a different Italy team than the one that barely tied the US a man up on us. If they play like that, and if France beats Portugal as expected in the same fashion in which they beat Brazil, it's going to be a finale for the ages. What am I going to do when the World Cup is over... start counting down until the EPL starts I guess... only a couple of months away now. One thing, I wonder if Chelsea are going to be happy with Ballack... he's going to have to play a lot better than he did this tournament to be worth half of what they're paying him. Same with Savchenko.

Anyway, to be determined... tomorrow should be another good semifinal and hopefully the final on Sunday is worthy of the 1 billion + audience it's sure to draw.

World Cup continued...

Football, futbol, voetbal, it's all soccer, all the time at the Sulaimani household. I love that Sara is so into it now too. She got home from work and saw that Italy v Australia was still on and was genuinely excited. I love it. It's hard not to get into it over here... it's literally everywhere you look, on at least one major channel for each country, so that you can watch any given match with English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, etc. commentary. And it's the same story all around the world. Crazy.

So, the US went out in the first round and all in all had a pretty horrendous World Cup experience, much like France in '98, though the opponents this time around were a lot tougher than in France. The Italy match was a hard-fought match, but Italy had a couple of big calls go their way, two red cards that were utter shite if you ask me. I'm of course biased though. However, watching the Italy v Australia match tonight and seeing that bullshit penalty kick call they got in the 94th MINUTE!!! to win the game, I'm starting to wonder if all the dirty deeds behind the scenes in Italian club football may have carried over to the World Cup. Not really, but everyone, and especially a scorned football fan, loves a conspiracy theory to justify why their team lost. Alas, even with that match going our way, we would have lost because we got outplayed by Ghana in the final group match. We were better than we were against the Czechs, but not a lot better. I have to question the formations and the player selection of Bruce Arena. I thought Eddie Johnson was our lone bright spot against the Czechs and yet, he doesn't get the nod for the next two matches. ??

The managing by England's manager, Sven Goran Ericksson, has been even worse. Wow, does this guy have an ego AND does he ever get lucky, with Rooney getting healthy saving him from having only brought 4 strikers, and 2 of the 4 being Peter Crouch and a 17 year old who hasn't played a single minute, despite the injury to Owen, Rooney not being 100% match fit, and Peter Crouch being Peter Crouch. I won't go into it further, but anyone who's been following England knows what I mean. And now they get to play a depleted Portugal side to get to the semis, and they'll probably win somehow in a really ugly fashion, though they shouldn't. England's performance thus far would fall in the latter two thirds of the teams in the World Cup I would say. Somewhere a little bit better than Switzerland and Ukraine (jesus, that match that just ended was ffing miserable) but certainly nowhere near Germany, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, etc. I would say Holland, Ivory Coast, Australia, and a couple of other teams that have gone home have played better football overall than England. Of course, you need some luck and the stars to align to win a World Cup, and it's certainly shaping up to be that way so far. I hope they do it too, despite their manager and their less-than-inspired play, just because the fans are so inspiring. England's fans are amazing... best in football if you ask me, but again, I'm biased.

Overall I'm still sticking with my original pick of Spain, but man Germany looks like a well-oiled machine at this point, especially on the attack. The back looks a little suspect and I don't think they'll win the whole thing, but they're going to give Argentina a run for it in the next game. What a match that will be... I can't wait. Football can be so incredibly exciting, and then it can also be such a circus of flops and bad officiating and poor play, and you can see how some non-football fans can watch a match and say, what's all the fuss? But Germany v Argentina, that one should be special I think. Spain v France also has the makings of a proper match.

A couple of photos for those who don't give a rat's ass about 22 guys chasing around a ball for 90 minutes. Of course most of the photos have to do with the World Cup. What can I say, I'm a man obsessed.

Fan Fest, Kaiserslautern.

Frat brother Brian Sandler draped in Old Glory.

Post-match band, Bongiovio, with probably the best performance of the evening, with the exception of Ryan Buchanan and his never to be repeated or emulated dance moves.

And of course, one of my girl, Sonia, who just turned one last Saturday.

Travels, Visitors and THE CUP

Hello. How are you? I'm fine, thanks. Actually better than fine since the World Cup has started, in case you've been in a cave in Tora Bora. Even there, Bin Laden probably has a satellite dish set up so he can cheer on any team facing The Great Satan, who by the way, played one of their most lackluster, unimpressive matches in recent memory, losing to the Czech Republic, 0-3. Ouch. Regardless of the US results, it's been an amazing tournament so far, and I'm looking forward to going to Kaiserlautern to soak up some of the craziness with a couple of college buddies to hang out at the Fan Fest there while the US hopefully redeems itself against Italy. It will be extremely tough, because Italy is playing some beautiful football themselves, and even if we beat or tie them, Ghana is a tough team as well. The 'Group of Death' moniker turned out to be very fitting.

We have our friends, Carly, Leon, and their two girls visiting us at present. Very impressed that friends from LA could make the journey, and with a 3 year old and a newborn no less. Hint, hint. You know who you are. ;) It's been gorgeous weather here for about a week, but now it's back to the usual rain business. Hopefully it'll get nice again so they can enjoy visits into the city.

We recently returned from our trip to southern Sweden and Copenhagen and the Ardeche region of France. Both were a lot of fun. It was a beautiful wedding and a fantastic party, although I think Sara and I may not live down some of the Funky Chicken-esque moves on the dance floor. Take one part friends you haven't seen for a while, a couple parts godawful 100 proof schnapps, a 10 piece funk/soul band from Stockholm playing 70's music, and the kids back in Brussels with the grandparents, and embarassing times are sure to result. Anyway, here are a couple of the choice photos. We will leave out all the shots of dips in the North Sea, balls, shiny or otherwise, people passed out, etc. for now. This is not out of respect to the 'victims', bride and groom, etc. but really for no other reason except I believe the extortion value of said images could rise.

In no particular order, photos from Swensens bar on the Thursday night. The Teater Chokehold and Kiss on Cheek (If you're in a bar with my wife, you too will likely be the victim of this move). The Bride-to-be getting molested. I'm not 100% sure because I was unsober, but I think my buddy, Shag, was offering to service me orally here. Thanks anyway Chaunce. I'm sure your buddies in Southern Virginia and Tennessee will be happy to comply, so best of luck with that, wherever you end up.




















In France, we stayed in this house owned by some neighbor friends of ours. It was in an amazing spot in the Rhone-Alps region, about 90 minutes southwest of Lyon. The weather wasn't great, really windy, but it was just so nice to be out in the country, spending time with my parents and my family, no phone or Internet barking for attention, etc. I hope to go back very soon, and honestly this was the first vacation to the country where I could see us living outside a big city. Brussels is great, it's like an overgrown village feel to me, I love it, and I think we'll be here for a long time, but 'the country' or at least the idea of it has much more draw for me now, with kids, etc. I like the idea of having a couple of dogs and land to walk around on and somewhere where we can really get to know. Maybe it's just a reaction to the uncertainty of getting our heads wrapped around a new city or living in the LA megalopolis for 8 years after growing up in the DC suburbs, but I don't feel like I've ever really known a place like the back of my hand like one can in a small town... Maybe after a little while it would get boring, but the idea of a refuge in the country sounds really good to me these days. Anyway, here are some photos.







The Princess on her chariot.






The Vintner-to-be checking out this year's crop.





The main intersection. The house where we stayed was the light blue door on the right.



When in France...

Mickeys, Luke Skywalker and Run DMC

Been awhile. Things here are good, was 75 degrees here today. Everyone was outside in full force, eating, drinking, lounging, enjoying the best weather so far this year. The birds are singing, trees are blooming, dogs humping legs, spring has come. The trees on our street had really pretty pink flowers for a couple of weeks (see above), and yes, I know, I've lost all semblance of masculinity, but it's really nice having seasons again. Of course I won't be saying the seasons are great once the mosquitoes are out, when it's winter, etc., but for now, you can't beat it. It also stays light until 9:30/10 o'clock, so it means you can spend as much time as possible outside, at least in theory, but Sara and I have been absurdly busy... hoping that will calm down soon. If not, at least we're getting a break at the end of this month to go away just the two of us (my parents are coming in to look after the kids) to Copenhagen and southern Sweden for my friend, Todd's wedding.

I've known Todd since 1st grade, the 1st day of 1st grade actually. We both thought we were really cool that day because we had these brand new Luke Skywalker shoes, but little did we know that there would be someone else in Mrs. Engleson's class with the same idea. To add insult to injury, we had to sit next to each other, which of course led to an argument about who's Luke Skywalker shoes were better, even though they were literally exactly the same, right down to new shoe smell, not a scratch or smidge on them... actually Todd's had a smidge on them I think, which is why mine were better.

Jesus, that seems like 10 lifetimes ago. Actually, it doesn't seem like my lifetime at all really. And to think Ethan has 3 more years to even be that age. It will fly by though... I will have to make sure and scout it out so that he is not put in the same predicament. Maybe we'll craft him homemade shoes for his first day of real school... that way he's sure to start things off on the right... foot.

Ah, memory lane. Speaking of which, I've been going through Apple's iPod music store and downloading old hip hop songs because that's what lame people like me do in my spare time. It's not the same as having the whole records, but I've lost or thrown or given away all my old tapes. I'm talking Eric B & Rakim, Funkmaster Flex, Run DMC, etc. olllld school YO! I was just thinking as I'm rocking out like the honky that I am to these songs, are these types of songs really going to be our generations oldies? I mean the music of most of my generation and even more so for more recent generations has been dominated by Rap/Hip Hop. Nothing But a G Thang is a classic hip hop song, but is it really classic, meaning timeless, won't get old, etc. I listen to it and I love it now, but will I love it when I'm 60 the way that my Mom loves Beatles songs??

That's actually a bad example as that song will always be classic in my memory because of the time my friend Andrew Bozzo called up the JMU radio station and being even honkier than I requested Nothing but a G String. Ha! Good times. I think that was also the weekend when, completely sober of course, Boz and I decided to burn cigarettes against each other's arms to see who would pull away first, and we were both so drunk, neither of us could really feel it, so neither one of us pulled away. Ah, college. Money well spent Mom & Dad.

Anyway, my point or my question is, I should say, what are our generations classic songs? Everything is so trendy and so quick to top and drop from the charts, getting replayed 50 times a day in between to the point where you can't listen to it again for 6 months without cringing. I I guess radio has probably always been that way. At least now we have a lot more choices. I think maybe there won't really be true, universally classic songs anymore because there are so many choices now and songs have such a short shelf-life. Maybe U2, Coldplay, 50, could be exceptions. What do I know. I'm rambling. It's late. I'm white. Or at least an off-white, hopefully back to brown by mid-summer.

I'm going to go put on Nothing but a G String for old times... dedicated to Boz and Nate, Adam Cunningham, Danny, Crackhead Scott and Karen Hwang and Nancy, Penwell, and of course, Richie Pierce. I always had a blast visiting JMU... was great to get away from the frat/Rugby Road scene, bust some spades and beer pong, drink too many 40's (Mickey's for me, I couldn't hang with the OE or the Crooked I) and crack out for a night, even if the campus smelled like dog food and I came back with scars and 20% less brain cells. Ethan, Sonia, Daddy's just joking.

Adventures in Brussels... also, I'm gay

Apparently the day in French class when they went over the words for my wife "ma femme" and my husband "mon mari", I had already checked out because I thought the word for wife was "ma mariee" which basically sounds like a feminized way to say husband. It's an understandable mistake really, but it is nevertheless wrong, which Sara has conveniently pointed out to me after I've been using the term for over 3 months. So basically when I've been speaking in French to someone about 'my wife' I've actually been saying 'my husband'. At least I feminized it, so if they do think I'm gay, at least it's clear I'm the masculine one. I'd much rather be a top than a bottom, call me crazy.

Also to Sara's amusement (and I'm sure also to at least a couple people who have heard me claim that I was going to run a marathon before), I've started running again (us tops have to keep in shape, we do all the hard work) in preparation for the ING Amsterdam Marathon in October. http://www.ingamsterdammarathon.nl/home/index.php If anyone cares to join me, come on over. I'm doing it, I don't care if I have to walk the last 20 miles. It's going to be all flat because it's Holland, the weather will be cool, and I've got the mornings to myself every weekday to train for the next 6 months, so I've got no excuse this time.

Other than that, life as normal here in Brussels, where the 10 day forecast looks like this. RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, LIGHT RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, CLOUDY, RAIN, RAIN, RAIN. Don't believe me? http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/BEXX0005?from=search_10day We really should have our heads checked.

OK, enough of my warbling. Hope everyone's well, especially you Carly, Leon and Lucy. We're thinking about you guys!

Here are some photos of our lives here. Kids growing up fast, Spring finally begun, jobs are jobs, looking forward to vacations to Sweden and France in the next couple of months and friends and family coming to visit.

Jekyll

Hyde

Look who's standing and very impressed with herself.

















Pics above from the Rouge Cloitre/Foret de Soignes park near our house a couple of weekends ago. On the way home, we found a sidewalk square below that we had drawn in when we lived in Brussels briefly after college in 1996. Weird to think all that has happened in the 10 years since we did this, and it's just been sitting there while we've lived our lives, and now we're here, living in a house a tenth of a mile away. Life has a weird way of coming full circle.





And that's this week's episode of Deep Thoughts with a Brussels Homosexual.

Further Proof 03/13/06

that parenting turns your brain to mush:

Anyone who's been around kids knows sometimes you have spell out words so they don't go nuts or because you don't want to have to try and explain something that's unexplainable to a 2 1/2 year old... e.g. playground (let's take them to the p-l-a-y-g-r-o-u-n-d later) and condoms (did you remember to buy c-o-n-d-o-m-s so we don't have to take our 3 kids and move in with our parents in 9 months?) Yes, it's taking advantage of the weaker members of our tribe because they lack the ability to spell, but as head lion (no, of course I'm not really the head lion, but let me dream) of my tribe, I'm OK with that. At the rate I'm losing my sanity, Simba could be hot on my tail anyway...

So anyway, my point - the latest hint of the dementia to come is that all weekend I was spelling words out unnecessarily, such as TV, as in (Hey, let's watch T-V when the kids go to sleep) and there were a couple of other morsels of pure genius that I can't remember (losing my memory too). Sara was wondering about me more than usual I think. It made me realize that maybe that Dear Liza song is pretty right on... I haven't reached Henry's level of idiocy yet, but I'm well on my way.

Things here otherwise are good. It's ffing cold, seriously cold, but it was bright blue skies and sunshine today. Man, Brussels has some gorgeous little neighborhoods... picturesque streets that lead onto thes old squares or big, lush parks, but none of what I've seen of Brussels is fairytale looking or forced... it's not a city that's been built piece-meal to attract people to certain areas, those areas have evolved naturally or seem to have been put there by a grand design that serves itself first and foremost... it's just a very natural city with a great blend of buildings and green everywhere. I wouldn't say Brussels as a whole is a beautiful city, the EU buildings for example are very unimaginative I think, but it's got these sections that could rival the prettiest cities I think, especially on a sunny day... Alas, those don't come around a lot this time of year.

Work is going well again after a bumpy beginning. Ethan's starting preschool at the end of this month and is getting potty-trained slowly but surely. Never thought 5 years ago I'd ever utter the words "You went POO-POO!!! What a clever boy!!!" with such energy and sincerity. Ah, parenthood. Sonia is a joy after a rough first few months, a different baby. It's like we're in a movie, and there have been two babies to play the role of 'Sonia'. We fired the first baby diva after 6 months, and this new baby has made the role her own. Sara is also doing well, working a lot of hours, but happy to be home.

My Dad's coming back for a visit at the end of the month, this time with an investor friend of his. We may be getting into investing in some real estate here together, we'll see. Some really favorable conditions in Belgium for buying property; low prices relative to other big cities in Europe and the US, no capital gains after 5 years, 30 year fixed interest only rates at 4 -5%, no income tax on rental revenue, etc. though there is a big up-front tax 12.5% to 21% depending on the age of the property. That's one of the big factors which kept the prices reasonable while London, Paris, etc. have been booming for the past several years.

There's also no capital gains on stocks, which doesn't affect me at the moment but is incredible as well. I'm finding out that Belgium is really set up almost like a Luxembourg or Switzerland in terms of tax shelters for the rich. Yes, that sounds like a very Republican statement... I'm a Democrat, but I'm not an idiot. Tax shelters are a very good thing when VAT is 21% and the top tax bracket starts at 36000 Euros/year and is roughly 53%. Yikes.

I'm writing again which is nice... very cathartic for me, especially as I don't have any coworkers to talk to and spend much of my time alone sitting in this very spot. Might as well make some use of the time in between working and while the house is quiet. I'm not writing a lot, but I'm not pushing myself either, and it's a good feeling, writing to write instead of trying to reach some goal.

I think that pressure to finish something (as well as laziness, procrastination, lack of discipline, fear of failure, the usual excuses) really paralyzed me in Los Angeles. I became used to the writers block and accepted it eventually, but I was beating myself up for a while over that lack of production, which of course is FANTASTIC for the psyche. Anyway, that's over now, the ideas up there may get put on paper before my brain melts into a pool of Teletubbies songs and mortgage terminology, but they may not. Either way, life goes on, there is a family to raise, a wife to love, and of course, in between, there's soccer on TV like 3 times a week and beer that tastes like wine. It's the simple things. : )

Here they are... bathtub photos 03/01/06

It's our right and duty as parents to embarass our children. I didn't realize that until I had kids of my own, but now I get it. Our friends, Monica and Brian, have a new baby girl who has her own blog, and I thought it was a good idea, so I'm stealing it for today. Narration by Miss Sonia May.


"But I'm naked!! DADDDD!"
"Oh, what the hell... we are in Europe after all"


"I've caught a whale! With my bare, tiny hands!"
Yum.

"Ethan, that's gross, I peed in here like 2 minutes ago. Yo, check out my whale... Hey, don't think I can't feel those bubbles!"...


"Oh wait, that's me... muahahaha!









"Revenge will be mine Dad. I might look cute now, but just wait..."