Sometimes when you spend money, don’t you feel like just throwing it down the sewer? I mean, aren’t there purchases or investment decisions that you know will go wrong even before you hand over your money?
That’s exactly how I felt when I turned in my NCAA basketball brackets a little more than a week ago.
Apparently, the people in charge in the Netherlands have the funny feeling that new immigrants to the country have a little bit of trouble adapting to their liberal ways. They have developed a new immigration test that will try and make sure people entering the country have a grip on how things work in Holland. Oh, then there’s the video.
The government gives all new candidates for immigration a two-hour movie that sheds light on things that are normal to Dutch citizens, but not so much to those entering the country, particularly from Muslim countries.
I don’t want to use this space to argue the values of showing a video with a woman sunbathing topless or two men kissing. That’s for the freaky, deaky Dutch to decide.
We need to make our immigration test better.
I fear for my sanity. Can anyone tell me what I have gotten myself into? I signed up to coach my daughter’s soccer team.
I entered into this fray willingly. I actually ticked off several boxes for volunteer options when I signed Bridget up to play a month or so ago. But it all hit me as I stood at the front of the room with the other coaches earlier this week.
Do you know how some years, film experts talk about the lack of good candidates for The Oscars? Well, it’s that kind of year for The Brians, now celebrating their fourth year. Actually, the quality of the films eligible remains very high. The number of films, not so much.
In fact, I have had to expand the rules beyond the original concept, which was movies I saw in the theatre. This year, all movies released in 2005 that I saw in any form were eligible.
I only saw three movies released in 2005, however. Pretty sad, huh? “The Wedding Crashers” (we ordered that on the TV while on vacation), “Hitch” (cable) and “40-Year-Old Virgin” (we actually saw that in the theatre) will battle for honors.