Sinterklaas!

What made me happy today? Sinterklaas!
But before I get to Sinterklaas, I first want to say something else. Nelson Mandela has passed away. With him, the world has lost an icon and a great leader. Nelson Mandela led the battle against the apartheid in South Africa, which led to his imprisonment. After 27 years, he was released from prison and became president of South-Africa. He managed to put an end to apartheid. For his efforts in this, he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1993. He received many other awards and prizes during his life. Throughout his life, Mandela fought for peace, justice and against racism, stating he would die for his beliefs in one of his most memorable speeches. Though he achieved so much in his life, the battle continues for people all over the world.
The world has lost a truly great man today. May he rest in peace. He earned it.

Alright, on to the happy part of the day.
Today, we celebrate the holiday of Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas as he's sometimes referred to. This holiday's been in the news a lot recently, as some people perceived Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) as racist. In any case, this holiday means that kids get to put out their shoe, usually with a carrot or some sugar for Sinterklaas' horse, on the eve of December 5th. When they wake up on December 6th, Sinterklaas will have filled the shoe with candy and toys. But only if you've been nice! Otherwise, you may just get a birch rod. (please note that this is the way we celebrate Sinterklaas in Belgium, there are variances between the countries where this holiday is observed)
Sounds familiar? Well, that might be because Sinterklaas is one of the sources of inspiration for another holiday figure that brings toys and candy to nice children. Indeed, Santa. Of course, Sinterklaas himself might be partially inspired by Odin.
As it turns out, I've been a very good girl this year! I got loads of candy, and some gifts!
Those of you who regularly read my blog, may recognize the figure on the bottle and hoodie as Pintsize from Questionable Content.

Have you been nice this year? If so, what did you get from Sinterklaas?


For those of you wondering: yes, most of us celebrate Christmas as well. And Santa does visit!

Deathmøle!

What made me happy today? Deathmøle!
The Deathmøle kickstarter has reached it's final stretch-goal, with 35 hours to go! That means the backers will get a ton of extra stuff :-)
I found it really great to see how Jeph Jacques was amazed by the success of his Kickstarter. He wanted to get 9500 dollars, to be able to record his next Deathmøle album in a studio. Well, he reached that goal (although blazed past is might be more correct) within the first day. So he added a few stretch-goals. All stretch-goals were reached.
I think that Jeph kind of missed out on two things. One: the sheer amount of people who read Questionable Content. Two: how many people really like Deathmøle. I'm really happy for him! His project is currently 1269% funded, trending towards 1312% funded according to this.
And now the waiting game can begin.

Carnival and Permanence

What made me happy today? The carnival is in town!
It's a lovely warm and sunny day here. At work, I got ice-cream for the birthday of 3 of my managers. Which was great. But I didn't feel like spending all of my evening indoors. And as the carnival is in town, I decided to go for a walk.
On my way over there, I met two friends with their daughter. They just came from the carnival and were going to get a Happy Meal. So we stayed and chatted at bit, which was fun. Then I went to the carnival. It was fun and not too busy, which is great.
And in other news: Jeph Jacques from Questionable Content is about to reach 100K in his Permanence by Deathmøle Kickstarter. This puts him at (currently) 1047% of his goal. He can't seem to believe it himself, as in the comment section of today's Questionable Content he says this: 'We have officially broken $95,000 on the Deathmøle Kickstarter, which means we have unlocked DEATHMOLE BUTTONS! Will we hit $100K before the campaign ends? If we do, I may actually implode.' I hope he hits 100K (sure looks like he will), but I don't want him to implode. Although, he could do a cartoon about it.
Yup, I had a great day :-)

So long and thanks

What made me happy today? So long and thanks for all the metal!
Jeff Hanneman died. Don't get me wrong, this definitely does not make me happy. At all. As a matter of fact, it makes me kind of sad. He was only 49...
But what made me (kind of) happy was the lovely comic Jeph Jacques did, in tribute to the untimely death of one of the founding members of Slayer. And of course, for those of you who read Questionable Content, it had to end on a total 'Hanners' note.
Jeff will be missed, but at least his music is still around. So Jeff, wherever you are now: rock on!