I'm leaving, on a jet plane....

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Well, not just yet, but pretty soon. I threw some dates out earlier, but nevermind, cuz I booked my flight, and unless my 'leaving do' (that's European for 'going away party') gets ridiculously out of hand, I'll be snuggled into my cushy business class seat on October 7th at 10:30 AM, Central European Time and bound for that good ol' IAH airport we all know and love.

As I'm writing this, that's a 10 day countdown until this whole European adventure chapter of my life comes to a close. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. There's about 2 weeks of mischief I somehow still feel obligated to chronicle on this here little blog, so let's get started.

First off, I hope everybody's OK and that Rita didn't mess your lives up too much. I know I give Beaumont a lot of grief for being a crappy town, but for better or worse it's still my hometown and I don't like watching it get blown off the map any more than you guys. So yeah, it sucks to get whacked by a major Hurricane, but it could be worse: what if you're from the Gulf Coast and Katrina or Rita is your actual name. Must suck to have so many people refer to you as the worst thing that's ever happened to them!

Oh yeah, another thing that reminds me that life can always be worse: Open Water, the movie. In good Brian form, after sleeping in a bit (until nearly 5 in the evening) last Saturday, I decided that the best way to redeem myself in terms of contribution to the greater good and personal productivity would be to watch all the movies I've downloaded in the past few months. Man, what a downer of a movie. I thought my 2nd Paris trip was a horror story, but I'll quit griping now. To recover from permanent SCUBA horror, I decided to watch The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and After the Sunset for the lighter side of swimming with the aid of a Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. I know, I'm a dork, but if just one of you learns something, it's all worth while.

Speaking of things that make me feel like a dork, today my group's global newsletter went out, and guess who was the Employee Spotlight for the August/Sept edition? Ooh yeah. Good thing this whole blogging experience has prepared me for the embarassment of having my thoughts and actions distributed to the masses. Now Shell Infrastructure Projects staff from Houston to Kuala Lumpur know that I'm lame enough to list guitar as a hobby and that this native Texan misses chicken fried steak and crawfish while on assignment in Europe. My boss put me up to it, but since he's also the reason I'm on this hella-cool trip, we'll call it even.

Ok seriously: here's what else has been goin on. Victory has been on the side of team ESSP for the past couple of weeks which is good, because it keeps the yummy Newton's apple-flavored beer flowing cheaply at the ol' Cloister. Winning luck has stayed with me for the past few poker nights, providing for a 2nd and 1st place finish in a hard fought head's up hold-em round against my Scottish buddy Ross (who coincidentally can't get enough of the Proclaimers and 'Letter from America'.)

Last Friday was dinner at an awesome Argentinian steak place, followed by drinks and dancing around the Hague. The weekend before was a big night out in Rotterdam, followed by a night out with my buddy Erik from back home in Houston at the Fiddler. Let me here interject that I freakin HATE Dutch billiards. The table, pockets, and balls are all just a wee bit smaller than normal. There's no solids, no stripes; just yellow and red balls. And the worse part are the crazy rules: a scratch or foul gives the other guy two shots and apparently, you have to make the 8-ball in the opposite pocket as your last object ball. I lost. I lost a bunch, and I hate losing, especially at pool. I'm making myself grumpy. Next subject.

How 'bout pictures. Let's do that instead: PICS

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Photos

Night in Rotterdam
Eugene, Adam, Nikki and myself out in an Irish pub in the biggest port city in the world. You can't help but smile the way we do when you're with good friends and when one of them named Nikki is regularly ordering rounds of double tequila shots!

Another Poker Night
It's not about who wins or loses, it's about having a good time. That said, it's a lot easier to have a good time when you're winning!

It's the little things...
Notice the crazy yellow and red balls? What happened to solids and stripes? Why does gas cost over 7 bucks a gallon? Why do the 'fajitas' here come with little bits of cauliflower and carrots? Oh man, it's gonna be good to be back in the US of A!

Gotta know when to hold 'em...
Just another night of cards, talking smack, and drinkin beer at Brian's Casino, Den Haag. Brian's Casino, Houston to re-open soon.