It’s been a few days since my diagnosis and my hospital—who I cannot name due to libel laws in the UAE—is dropping the ball.
I was waiting for approval for a blood test. Let me give you a quick timeline.
d-day: “Hello, what is the status of this blood test?”
Insurance: “We are waiting for your hospital to provide us with additional information.”
*Hospital: “We will call you back.”
d+1: “Hello, what is the status of this blood test?”
Hospital: “We will call you back.”
d+2: “Hello, what i…
I have thyroid cancer. Finally something new to blog about.
If you frequent my blog or follow me on Mastodon, you know that early December I was hospitalized following a thyroid storm.
A thyroid storm is when your thyroid decides to release all your stored thyroid hormones at once.
Your metabolism shoots up. Your heart rate shoots up. Your anxiety goes through the roof.
And if you’re unlucky the credits to your life start rolling.
I was lucky enough that it was a mild storm, and after 2 days in …
The quarter has not ended yet, but it is about to. Just 12 more days. Or 13?
Who is keeping track.
At the beginning of the year I set some goals for myself, across 3 disciplines.
Lets see what I have done, what I have not done. And what I am going to do different.
Personal Goals
I am still on track to move to Japan by September 2025. In fact, we actually might arrive earlier in August, July or even June.
All my papers have been submitted to immigration and now we essentially have to play the wai…
January 1st 2025. I love typing it. 2025-01-01. The first day of the year.
After I shared my 2024-in-review, Famichiki user @slims, shared his,
listing not just highlights of his years but also listing goals.
I really liked that idea, so this year ,thanks @slims for the inspiration, I’m going to set my own goals as well.
I’ll be splitting up my goals in 3 sections. Personal, Professional, and Social. I want to make sure my goals
are attainable so I don’t get dissuaded from giving up if I end up …
Unless fate has one last trick up it’s sleeve, I will have witnessed my umpteenth changing of the year. 2025.
I remember switching from 1999 to 2000. “We will never live in the 1900s ever again” I recall thinking.
Inflating the gravity of the situation of the changing years,
feeling a sadness of what is essentially an arbitrary numbering of our days.
And now we’re about to close 2024. I like to look back through my images on my phone and see what happened.
Reflect on the good. The bad. The unusu…
A few years ago, while drinking with some buddies, I ran into a woman named Sarah.
I forgot her last name, but I remember that Sarah was Swiss. Probably.
If it turns out she’s not, she could easily be.
I enjoyed talking to Sarah, she was funny, smart, and had good stories to tell.
As is customary, our drinks were consumed sitting down.
Without fail when I meet new people, my height is one of the first things they will bring up.
But because we sat down, my height probably went unnoticed.
Nothing.…
Japan used to be what I called home.
It’s where I had my business. My friends.
Where I created a family. Then stuff happened.
I lost the family I created.
But unlike the Hollywood tropes, business was still good.
And I quickly fell in love again too.
Love doesn’t wait for anything. Especially not when you’re me.
With the events that happened came an irresistible urge to leave Japan.
It was an accumulation of feelings and circumstances,
which I initially attributed to wanting to experience life i…
March 8th, 2025 Update
I’ve made some changes to the original post,
after reflecting on my own emotions at the time.
Original Post
I met with my dad today.
For the first time in 25 years.
Technically it’s only been 15 years.
But as I told him, that one time didn’t really count.
He lives on a small farm. It’s adorable. My mom would’ve loved it.
But they’re divorced. So probably not so much these days.
It was the first time I was able to see why my mom and dad were in love at one point.
I’ve been …
It’s Christmas tomorrow.
And for the first time in 14 years I’m celebrating it in my home country of The Netherlands.
I also visited The Netherlands about 2 years ago.
But this time it feels different.
I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Perhaps the whole Christmas atmosphere amplifies whatever I’m feeling.
I honestly don’t know what to write.
Maybe I just needed an excuse to wish you all a merry Christmas.
I can be quite impulsive. Not “buy a Snickers at the checkout” impulsive, (okay, that too),
but “drive to another country at 22:00pm” with a homie, “just quit college, bro”, and “move to another country”
impulsive.
When you embark on a challenge impulsively and without preparation it comes with a set of challenges.
When I drove with my homie to Luxembourg it was a time when car navigation
wasn’t common, so basically it came down to my excellent sense of direction of where Luxembourg was roughly …