Q&A with me...
I read this on Tanya's
website and I liked it, it gives you a bit of an idea
what a person is about without having to write/read too much...
:)
I've put down a subset of the questions I
found on her site, and I figured it'd be cool to give you
the opportunity to ask your own question should you wish to!
:)
45 - (By JB) Where are your MP3's to
listen to. It sounds like you have a rockin' collection!?
Hey JB! Ahhh, my mp3s... I had to take them off my website,
they were generating waaaay too much traffic. And I only had
like 15 songs or so on it! There is still my mix with some
classic (what I call) Manila tunes, you can get it from here.
It's mixed by yours truly, check it out and tell me if you
like it! :) As for my whole collection, I don't even know
how many mp3s I have, but it's a lot. I used to buy a lot
of CDs - music is probably my biggest passion - and now it's
all transgressed to digital format. Though I still listen
to CDs when Ireally want to enjoy it. I even bought
a pair of high end Sennheiser earphones for it... To end with
a cheesy lyric: "music was my first love, and it will
be my last" (don't tell Marieke!!!  )
44 - (By Martine) Your holiday sounds
perfect :) Which hotels did you stay in? And what advice would
you give to a person who's never been to Asia?? Hi
Martine! :) I've added the hotels we stayed in to the journal
(see
this link). As for advice... Asia is great to visit. The
people are generally very friendly, the culture incredibly
rich and life is relatively cheap compared to Europe. You
won't get by with English everywhere, but travel guides (I
like the Lonely Planet) and guesturing will get you by just
fine. There are also some cultural things to consider. In
general, Asians hate 'losing face'. Losing face equates with
losing your temper in public, publicly having to admit mistakes,
etc. If ever you get into a fight, stay calm, keep smiling,
and don't raise your voice. Showing anger will usually result
in you not resolving your problem. Respect is another keyword.
Show respect for the people, their dress, their beliefs and
their traditions. If you make small errors, like pointing
your feet at someone while sitting down, or stick your chopsticks
upright in your rice, you will be forgiven as a foreigner,
as long as you are generally respectful, and apologize for
your mistakes with a smile. That's it. And do go to Asia.
It's brilliant and beautiful. India, Thailand, Japan are my
favorite destinations, but anywhere you go I'm sure you'll
love it!!! :)
43 - (By Martine) What is Marieke doing?
Does SHE enjoy being in Manila? I hear it is not so easy for
partners... Thx? (Sorry Martine for not answering before
- we've been on holidays!) I guess it really depends on the
kind of person you are and what you like/dislike. The expat
life here is centered around luxury - most people have nannies,
live-in maids, drivers. They go to charity black tie balls
and play golf. If you're into that kind of thing, you'll probably
like it here. A lot of the non-working women end up doing
charity work just to kill time. What's also really popular
is getting a baby. A great way to pass time, plus you will
have nannies here that take care of them if you want to do
something else. Some families have their children even raised
by nannies and take the nannies with them on vacation. But
to be honest, it's really not for us. We have a different
life style, we value friendships and having real fun with
real people a lot more than a life of luxury. That's also
why we don't have an awful lot of friends here- most people
are simply not 'like us'. The other thing that makes it hard
in general is that Manila lacks a rich culture. There are
hardly any museums, exhibitions, performances or plays, not
many large concerts and only a few nice churches to visit.
It's not a pretty town where you can lose yourself wandering
in the streets. It's mostly malls and concrete. But having
said all that, the Philippines has a lot to offer as well.
You just have to get out and do it (Boracay, Bohol, Baguio,
Palawan, etc. All beautiful places to visit.) If you're thinking
about going to Manila, come over first for a holiday, spend
some time in the city, and then go visit some of the islands.
I think it's doable for most people for 2-3 years. Longer
than that and I think I'd go crazy. I know Marieke would!
42 - (By Tam) You
seem to like it in Manila. Do you see yourself staying in
Asia? Have you lived/been in Africa? That's where you'll find
the "easygoingness" of people...? Just one more
question... What is with the booze, man? You can't have fun
without it? Ha ha? Hmmm... Do I really come across
as such an alcoholic?? 
Ahhh what can I say. When I'm out and about, the lure of the
wodka tonic is strong! But rest assured, I have fun without
booze most of the time!
Now to answer your 'real' question: I plan to leave Asia in
the first half of '07. That's when my assignment finishes
and even though I'm having a good time here, I'm kinda looking
forward to going back to Europe as well. I'm not yet sure
where I'll end up exactly though. Maybe Holland, maybe in
the South. I haven't really been to Africa yet but I would
love to. Tanzania and Kenya are high up my list. I once had
a Nigerian friend, about 8 years ago, but we lost contact.
Ademola was his name and he was really friendly. So far I
haven't met many Africans, come to think of it. But the few
I have met were cool. So I'll believe you on the easygoingness
my friend! 
41 - (By Marsha) How do you find Manila/Philippines
in general? ... Difficult to say... I would summarize
it like this. I love the Philippines that lies outside Manila.
The provinces are beautiful, varied and filled with extremely
friendly people. With Manila I have more of a love-hate relationship.
I like some aspects, like the restaurants (Kai, People's Palace,
Gaudi to name a few), the nightlife (with Club Embassy as
undisputed number 1), Santis, friends I met here, my friends
in the office. But I hate other aspects, like the way people
interact (they don't - most people ignore each other's existence),
the arrogance and unfriendliness of the (very) rich, the concrete
jungle, corruption, pollution. But all in all, when I leave,
I will have a positive impression of it! :)
40 - (By Maria, Germany) What
exactly brought you to live in Manila in the first place?
Very mundane answer: work. I work for Procter &
Gamble, as IT manager working on Customer Relationship Management
(CRM), specifically on Siebel. I got a lot of experience doing
this in Europe (I lived in Brussels, Frankfurt and Rome before)
they asked me to setup the Asian Center Of Excellence to design,
build, deliver and support Siebel CRM systems. In the mean
time, my job has changed to an overall Global Siebel Production
Manager, which is great except for the timezone difference
with Europe and especially the US. However, I plan to be here
for another year or so before moving on... Hopefully to Latin
America! Of course, I'll have to change the name of my blog
then. ;)
39 - (By Virginia) Tell me at least
five things you can do and can't do?
Five things I can do
1. Play the guitar
2. Speak Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
and a liiitle bit of Japanese
3. Remember lyrics to like a thousand songs or so, without
trying
4. Make people smile
5. Lose myself in music. Thinking about setting up some music
forum on my site but not sure yet - I don't know how to do
it technically plus I've had very little time to work on my
site anyway. :(
Five things I cannot do
1. Sing (unfortunately!)
2. Move my ears at will
3. Properly stay in touch with friends - I am hopeless! Fortunately
I have some friends that always keep in touch with me, or
I wouldn't have any!!!
4. Bargain or negotiate
5. Place a decent tennis serve that's not a double fault (working
on it though)
38 - (By Llweyn) What inspires you to
look at the world in such a true and beautiful way? Errr...
I don't know. I'm not religious. I believe in the goodness
of the people around me. And in myself of course. :)
37 - (By anonymous) What is the soundtrack
of your life? You have no idea how hard this question
was for me to answer. Like asking my favorite song... Impossible
to answer! So I've decided to give this a spin and list 'defining'
songs in time as I grew up with music. So this is not my top
x songs as I know them now, but more the top songs as I knew
'em then... :) I put them in a separate little table, click
here to open it. I had to leave out some of my favorite
bands such as Leftfield, Faithless, Fun Loving Criminals,
Paul Oakenfold and Pantera (thanks Sander for playing me that
one!), but life's all about sacrifice ain't it? :)
P.S. I will not upload the songs as it attracts HUGE traffic
that I can't afford nor want. :)
36 - You are mostly known as?
1) Dan (for my English speaking friends),
2) Daan (for my Dutch speaking friends),
3) Dano (for some),
4) Dani (for others, mostly my Italian friends),
5) Tacchino Van Nistel De Rooij (by Antonio only ;)) ,
And there are some aberrations such as Danny, used by some
Belgians, that I honestly don't like very much, but then again,
I'm not so fuzzy. However, few people know how to really spell
my name: Daniël de Rooij.
35 - Most people think you are?
Hmmm... I'd have to ask them... I hope the answer is 'a nice
guy' but I'm afraid you'd get a few 'arrogant's as well...
Even though I'm not! (I think)
34 - Do you believe in soulmates? As
in people who think and live alike? Yes, I've had multiple,
but as you change, so do the people around you, and soulmates
don't stick around forever - at least not for me
33 - Single or taken? Taken,
by Marieke :)
32 - Would you marry for money?
No
31 - Are you still friends with your
ex's? No. But then again, I don't have a lot of 'friends
from the past'. I have moved to so many places so many times
that my circle of friends keeps changing. I stay in touch
with only very few people. Which by the way I think is one
of my flaws.
30 - The latest CD you bought?
Latest? Hmmm... I download a lot with Azureus and if I like
the music, I'll buy the CD. I'm trying to get Underworld's
A Hundred Days Off, but can't find it in the Philippines'
CD stores... Other recent CDs: George Michael's Patience,
The Crystal Method's Legion Of Boom, both great CDs!
29 - Rock bands? Too many to
mention, but like I said, I don't necessarily like bands,
I like specific albums or even tracks. For rock: U2's The
Unforgettable Fire, Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory, POD's Satellite,
The Smashing Pumpkins' Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness,
Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile (probably the best rock/industrial
album ever made), and many, many more. If ever you want to
talk about music, I'm your man... :)
28 - Person who is always there when
you're bored? Marieke! :)
27 - When you were little, what did
you want to be? An inventor
26 - Who did you last go out with?
Marieke, Dino, Debbie, Rick, Camille, tonight! :)
25 - Who was the last person to text
you? Debbie, telling me to meet them at the Hobbit
House in Malate
24 - What time did you sleep last night?
No idea, probably around 2 AM or so. In the weekends, I normally
have no idea about what time I hit the sack!
23 - What's your happy thought?
Thinking about what a lucky bastard I am, living the life
I'm living!
22 - What makes you sad? Poverty.
It is so unnecessary - if only people would not be selfish...
I'm not a communist or anything and I don't mind inequality
in terms of people earning more as they handle more responsibilities
etc. But really, in today's world, it is not needed that people
die of starvation, have to live in wooden/card board huts
(if they even have a home), to suffer from physical or mental
disabilities caused by malnutrition, and so on. The list goes
on forever. While I firmly believe that the solution lies
not with relief agencies, but rather with the governments
of the poorest countries as well as those of the rich, I still
urge everyone to support those organizations that try to make
life more bearable for the less fortunate. I personally support
the following 5 organizations:
1) Amnesty International,
for human rights;
2) Medicins Sans Frontieres
(or Doctors Without Borders) for their absolute belief in
what is right and for their highly educated staff that know
what they're talking about and never back off;
3) Unicef for the children
- although I'm thinking about changing to Warchild as Unicef
is part of the UN, mostly funded by countries, and thus susceptible
to their political influence... still thinking about it;
4) The Red Cross because
they're everywhere and respected by all. (Note that the link
is to the American Red Cross, but there are Red Cross organizations
in nearly all countries);
5) The World Wildlife Fund,
to protect and save nature and its animals from the devastating
habits of us, humans.
21 - What would you like to have right
at this very second that seems totally impossible? Enough
money not to have to worry about working. (I'd probably still
do what I do, but more for the fun and the challenge than
for the money!)
20 - Could you live without a computer?
I have for half my life (yes I'm that old!), so... yes. But
it'd be a hell of a change!!!
19 - If you could live in any past time
period where would it be? In the Roman empire, walking
around in my toga, philosophizing about the world, going to
the spa every day, writing it all down so that the geeks would
have to learn my words 2000 years later. :)
18 - Do you wear shoes in the house
or take them off? Off. First thing I do when I get
home. People in Asia in general have much wider feet than
us Europeans. That's because we wear shoes always, from the
moment we are born. Here, I guess 'cause its' much warmer,
people are barefoot/on slippers much more, and it shows by
the shape of their feet. I love being barefoot. (As I am now!)
17 - What is your favorite place to
visit? A certain tapas bar in Barcelona. Don't know
the name, but I could find it blindfolded. (I'm bluffing.
I think.)
16 - Do you drink alcohol? Probably
more than is good for me!
15 - What is the most beautiful language?
Easy: the Dutch language. It sounds like angels singing.
Italian ain't bad either.
14 - Do you like being kissed when you
are asleep? I like being kissed at any time
13 - Do you like sunrises or sunsets
the most? I love sunrises: it means I've partied through
the night and I'm just in the right mood to appreciate something
like this. I don't think I've ever experienced a sunrise sober...
12 - Do you want to live to be 100?
Sure - as long as I enjoy life!
11 - Are you tolerant of other people's
beliefs? I am a non believer/atheist. I fully respect
other people's choices to believe in something/someone, as
long as they are tolerant of people thinking differently and,
and as long as they are no extremists.
10 - When you watch movies at home,
do you like the lights on or off? On
9 - Do you believe in magic? No
8 - Do you like to watch cartoons?
South Park is one of my favorite TV shows!
7 - Do you write poetry? Nope.
Tried to write song lyrics before, but I suck at it. Better
at writing the music (and not even great at that either!)
6 - Do you snore? No
5 - Would you rather have a poodle or
a rottweiler? Golden Retriever, 2 of them!
4 - Are you basically a happy person?
Absolutely! Life is a blast!!!
3 - Did you drink anything with caffeine
in it today? No, mostly drink decaf.
2 - Have you ever met the someone that
you met from the net? Yes, I met a guy called Shafii
who lives in Singapore, while I was on internship in Japan
back in 1996. He invited me over and I visited him and his
friends in Singapore. A great experience, but we lost contact
over the years, which was completely my fault - I'm bad at
maintaining contact, it's my biggest flaw that I cannot seem
to overcome.
1 - Do you smoke? No
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