Slippery Slope

I guess it was bound to happen...

First Trio "Married" in The Netherlands
From the desk of Paul Belien on Tue, 2005-09-27 00:08

The Netherlands and Belgium were the first countries to give full marriage rights to homosexuals. In the United States some politicians propose �civil unions� that give homosexual couples the full benefits and responsibilities of marriage. These civil unions differ from marriage only in name.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands polygamy has been legalised in all but name. Last Friday the first civil union of three partners was registered. Victor de Bruijn (46) from Roosendaal �married� both Bianca (31) and Mirjam (35) in a ceremony before a notary who duly registered their civil union.

�I love both Bianca and Mirjam, so I am marrying them both,� Victor said. He had previously been married to Bianca. Two and a half years ago they met Mirjam Geven through an internet chatbox. Eight weeks later Mirjam deserted her husband and came to live with Victor and Bianca. After Mirjam�s divorce the threesome decided to marry.

Victor: �A marriage between three persons is not possible in the Netherlands, but a civil union is. We went to the notary in our marriage costume and exchanged rings. We consider this to be just an ordinary marriage.�

Asked by journalists to tell the secret of their peculiar relationship, Victor explained that there is no jealousy between them. �But this is because Mirjam and Bianca are bisexual. I think that with two heterosexual women it would be more difficult.� Victor stressed, however, that he is �a one hundred per cent heterosexual� and that a fourth person will not be allowed into the �marriage.� They want to take their marriage obligations seriously: �to be honest and open with each other and not philander.�

Random Treo Pictures

Roast ducks hanging from Sam Woo in Irvine


Central Garden at the back of The Getty Center


Engineering IV building at UCLA (it says Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science)

Z Tire Pictures

Picture of the spare tire replacing the left rear tire


Old tire is totally shreded

So now all 4 tires are new after 23,000 miles. The front two tires were replaced by Nissan as part of their tire feathering "recall". All the tires are still Bridgestone RE040s but the front have a slightly different tread than the new rear tires. I think Bridgestone made the revised RE040 especially for Nissan to mask the alignment/front suspension problem which caused the tire feathering.

Priceless

This weekend:

Parking ticket at UCLA for being 2 minutes late: $38
Finding out that your vintage Mcintosh MA-6100 amp is busted: $300
Blowing a tire on the Z and having to replace both rear tires: $600

Not being able to sell stock at 12 month high because you're blacked-out: !@#$%^&*

Xealot Thailand

I booked my ticket today for a trip to Thailand (and Taiwan) next month. I'm going to check out NewSong's ministry over there. The trip is from Sunday (10/23) through Thursday (10/27); I'm going to stay over in Taiwan for two nights on the way back. This time, I'm flying EVA Air again. I wasn't too impressed with their business class when I went to Taiwan in June but this time I'm in coach and Shirley said it wasn't too bad. I'm planning to spend a day at the National Palace Museum. My parents took me there when I was really young so I don't remember much.

I'm also supposed to go to my US Citizenship ceremony later this month. However, once you go, they take your Green Card and you're supposed to apply for a US passport with your citizenship certificate. I think I'll postpone my appointment until later since normal processing for passports take 5 weeks and I may not have any travel documents for the Thailand trip. I can still go on my Canadian passport and come back with the Green Card.

So after 20 years, I'm finally going to be a US Citizen. Hello, jury duty!

iPod nano

Dang! Apple just came out with a smaller iPod with a color display for $199 (2GB).