you know you're in the car with a musician when...

- when besides music he does about everything: teaching, performing, playing piano, writing sheet music
- when he does his administration in the car i.e. accountancy, finances, secretary work, networking
- when he calls half of his (i-)phonebook in a 20 minutes drive... from his daughter and parents, to famous singer-songwriters and gitarists
- when he has no idea of time
- when 9:40 AM is the agreed meeting hour for him to pick me up
- when 9:40 AM becomes 9:50 AM and he has no idea he's late
- when 9:40 AM can be 9:20 AM and he has no idea he's early
- when I comb my hair with my fingers for I was still in my PJs in the bathroom when he arrived and he says "we always meet this hour"
- when he calls his daughter and wakes her up... and still doesn't believe he's early
- when we arrive at the rehearsal room and everybody says "wow, you're early", he still has no clue
- when besides music, everything and administration he does even more: conducting choirs, conducting orchestra's, conducting musicals, proof-reading, advertising local politicians...
- when he drives a sedan that is usually filled up with the capacity of a mini-van
- when his spatial visualization ability is consequently pretty well developed... wondering if he's a good tetris-player
- when he has breakfast in the car
- when the breakfast is a cup of coffee
- when I'm the cup holder
- when he taps his foot at 60bpm
- when he hears a horn and says "that's an a"
- when his live is crazy
- when his "good morning" sounds a husky rumble of his throat and is either followed by "I had a gig yesterday" or "I didn't sleep enough"
- when he speaks dialect
- when he tries to speak proper Dutch, it sounds ridiculous :)

- when no matter what... he loves us... and we love him!!!

you know you're an art historian in a restoration architects' office when...

- when your contract entitles you as 'architectural historian' (nice :) )
- when your job description is promising
- when your job turns out to be not limited to the job description
- when you're outnumbered in discipline (it's 7 against 1)
- when you're not outnumbered in sex (it's 7 against 1 (women vs. men this time))
- when the one guy is gay
- when you don't have your own desk
- when you don't have your own PC... sorry Mac
- when you have to find your way in the Apple world and start struggling with Mac
- when you're bound to commute between the Macs of the architects on holiday, the ones working at home or the ones supervising the construction works on the yards
- when you're banned to the laptop when everybody's in
- when you will do research on two not even remotely related monuments in restoration
- when 'not even remotely related' means: 18thC curly ironwork and 20thC industrial ateliers
- when you're all together back in archives and libraries (it almost feels like home...)
- when those two historical analyses take up three of the six weeks you're there (I should work more slowly...)
- when the architects drown in their work
- when you're a bit ashamed to ask for more...
- when you cannot participate in the lunch break conversations (about projects you're not working on)
- when on Friday you leave the office at 15h30
- when you should have asked for more work a bit earlier
- when the temporary solution is: catalogue the updates of the architectural handbooks or 'Vademecums'
- when you, as art historian, have time to do such things... the architects are still drowning
- when a second temporary solution is: find spelling mistakes in the SOW (Statement of Work)
- when you come across the weirdest words in that SOW; words the spelling corrector approves
- when words like 'elbow' are spelled incorrectly according to that same spelling corrector
- when after 700 pages of SOW at the computer screen, you start to see sentences in the air
- when there's still two weeks of work to fill
- when you start cataloguing the office's library
- when you realize an architect's library is a good source for the list 'books to buy'
- when there's a book on etched illustrations of extinct birds... O_o
- when your height is convenient: you're the chosen one to climb the library 'ladder' to get to the books on the top shelve
- when your the one without an excuse not to climb that ladder (three architects are too short, one is too pregnant, the other two are too busy)
- when on the last but one day the office collectively attends a symposium
- when on the last day you can participate in the lunch break conversation (about the symposium)

- when you miss being an art historian in a restoration architects' office

you know you’re in RLICC’s 2nd master when… - october 2011

1 - when the eternal quest for a thesis and internship keeps on going L

2 - when the logistics keep on being everything but logical

3 - when Barbara calls me in the evening if I can come with the 1st years tomorrow morning to their IPW1 in Liège (of course I can, don’t have anything else to do ;) (seriously))

4 - when I’m asked questions about surveying I can actually answer

5 - when I too am bonding with the 1st years

6 - when IPW1 2011 is much more fun: scaffolding!!! (it’s like a playground)

7 - when I’m pleasing hard working young professionals with cookies

8 - when I very unintentionally attacked one of these young professionals with the lid of the cookie box (sorry Candice)

9 - when the 2011 IPW1 site is way dirtier than the 2010 one (yes it’s possible)

10 - when drawings get wet and you improvise shelters

11 - when thorny bushes are in the way

12 - when calls of nature are performed in an unstable toitoi chemical toilet

13 - when you're stiring your tea with a pencil in lack of a spoon

14 – when rule nr.14 (ask Caressa) is still widely popular!

15 – when after waaayy too many months we got out! Than_I and C. making Leuven a more cheerful place :D

16 – when D., Ni. and I attend an international ICOM conference in Antwerps Boerentoren, or according to D. “the ugly tower”

17 – when the auditorium proves to be unsafe for “fallers”

18 – when Peter Greenaway’s movies are strange

19 – when historic houses have a lot of potential

20 – when the Palace of the Brazilian emperor was very close to the “bitch” [beach]
21 – when the room is full of "boobs" [books]

21 – when we visit the Rockoxhouse which collection has only one painting of the original collection of Nicolaas Rockox [maecenas of Rubens]

22 – when Ni. Triggered the alarm after sticking her head in a 17thC art cabinet

23 – when we visit the Antwerp MAS museum (hurray for the MAS!)

24 – when the MAS doors open automatically (creepy!)

25 – when I hear a Dutch guy say “alé” in plat Antwaarps

26 – when you find a saying in the toilet of a penitentiary centre that says “can’t find a way out? create one!” [huh???]

you know you’re in RLICC’s 2nd master when… - september 2011

1 - when professor KDJ (aka Krista) asks you, pointing towards professor BVDW's (aka Barbara) office: “is Babs in there?”

2 - when Caressa’s kitchen is actually an improvised broom closet

3 - when after 1 to 3 months you see happy familiar faces

4 - when the 1st years look familiarly nervous on the first day and are familiarly bonding after already 2 hours

5 - when the 1st years will see me around as “assistant”

6 - when somebody lost a lot of weight

7 - when professors have a Wikipedia page

in co-authorship with D. (you know you're in RLICC when)