For some reason I'm never just on time for anything in life. I'm always either early or late, sometimes too early or too late. Appointments, classes, trains, flights. Too early. On my last flight, I was at the airport a whopping 2.5h in advance. For appointments and classes I'm often up to 15 minutes early, which is pointless because I end up walking around the block until it's time. Why am I early? I don't want to be late. When I'm late, I'm rarely just a little late (usually I take precaution and turn up too early as mentioned). When I don't, when something's come up or I've dropped the ball, I'm usually later than just late. Deadlines, exams. Too late. Not as a rule, but sometimes. If I'm not too late, I'm late. Not late to hand in something or show up, but late in starting. I've often studied for exams the night before. Of course I _planned_ to start 3 days in advance, but that always gets pushed back. The same with assignments, start late and rush to get it done on time. Do I ever start right on time? No. But sometimes I start early, get it done way before anyone else does. Then I rest on my laurels and start slacking. Then the next assingment comes along and I'm late. Hopefully not too late. But being on time isn't always as satisfying as one might think. 6 days ago 'we' celebrated Queens Day here in Utrecht. Well, more like they did, it didn't exactly phase me much. I planned to walk around town and take some pictures to document the event. Instead, I lingered around the house and by the time I stepped outside, it was 8pm. It turns out 8pm is too late to start celebrating Queens Day. By that time the town was filled with lots of garbage and orange banners *after* the people who had been there. Well there were still people about, but not many. Today is Liberation Day (yes, from World War 2). Resident Dutchman and All Round Expert Erik tracked down a celebration event in Utrecht for me to go to. Yes, he's a wizard with web searchees. The website even had a map and I thought "oh it's not far from here". I knew I was looking for a park, on the way I went into a supermarket to do some much needed restocking and having found no park, I thought "I don't want to carry this fruit around, it'll go bad". So I returned home. It was 4pm. I had planned to get to that park at 2.30. Well anyway. The stores here close at 6, so I thought I'd go shopping before it's too late, I needed some sandals. Later on, I felt like taking a walk in my new sandals, the event in the park was supposed to last until 10.30. Hell, why not. Turns out the park isn't nearby, it's a 25 minute walk. And I wouldn't have found it earlier cause it's much further than I thought it was. I get to the park, it's dark, there's a stage, a band playing music that isn't much to write home about, there are lots of booths selling beer and whatnot aaand lots of people. Although I was late by conventional standards, there were actually people on the way in so apparently I was right on time. I walk around the park, make sure I cover all the ground and I head home. Wasn't exactly much to see. But at least I wasn't too late. Yay.