what are you, a baron or something? My assistant, my driver, my employees..

No, Arnon is a brand, a company like General Motors.

I've got a cook, a cleaninglady, a washinglady, a cultural attaché, etc. But I don't pay them, if anything, they pay me. I don't call them employees though, the term "Family" suits them better.

Arnon

I hope your employees don't include ghostwriters.

You're the only author I've heard of with employees. (Other than a part-time secretary, and perhaps a maid.)

Arnon must be a kind employer for his employees, otherwise he would have ended, he would have always ended, first.

After reading the first sentence I thought you would do something like naming your employees in public. Weird how one's (sub)culture can influence the most obvious connotation of a word.

@Ron
Yes me too, first I thought Arnon would say: X is gay, Y is straight, Z is neither of this, etcetera…

I think Arnon wants us to think he is a sort of Dandy, i am almost sure he wants a butler that will travel arround for him, he wrote once a little article in a dutch newspaper and said that he wanted a person to check all the toilets he is goinig to visit, a person that won't talk to much, a silent partner.

I think you must see it as family, Arnon might think his mother is an employe also...

Let's just hope Arnon has decent employer's liabiliity coverage. Or has turned himself into a limited liability company.

;)

Ron

I haven't tasted your homemade liquor yet, but I love the color.
Could I buy a second bottle?
I would love to give a bottle of your homemade liquor to Vilde.

Who won? Sander? Or Eva?

Mieke

Johannes.
I beat Sander easily.
But I'm sure he will take revenge.

Arnon

Was this tournament a frivolous affair?

Johannes

Can I challenge you to a game of table tennis?

Arnon

A word of caution: the Dutch tax department used Adam Curry's blogs about his personal life and use of helicopters to hit him with a huge tax claim, partly based on disputing many expenseshe he had claimed as "business expenses".

Carlos

Being a writer , you can use the excuse that it is for inspirational reasons for almost anything.

Arnon, sure you can. But remember this is an exclusive handmade limited edition single cask bottling and those come at a certain price. Are you sure you don't want to go for the La Perla bra?

Oscar

Yes extremely frivolous.

Carlos

Thank you. I pay my employees with love.

Arnon

I think you should recruit a party-manager.
PS. Vilde: Arnon is sexy on paper but shy on the dancefloor. Just to let you know.

Arnon

Love is better than money, unless you're hungry.

Carlos

Would you change your job if your boss would pay you with love instead of money?

Vilde

Would you appreciate a bottle of homemade liquor as a token of my love?

Jeanette

Would I prefer a kind and loving Mistress, who buys me presents and takes care of me but pays me nothing, to a bossy, frustrated, grumpy man (or woman) who actually pays me? Yes, any day.

Carlos

Well, I'm a boss...
Do you have any working experience in the business of Law?

Arnon

I guess Vilde knows you respect women who leave you first.

Margot

Don't be jealous. He's not worth it.

Vilde

How do you know?

Arnon

No man is.

Jeanette

I don't want a boss, I want a Mistress.

Vilde

Let me know when you're ready to have a drink.
Or we could meet in Paris, on my expenses.

Vilde

Could you elaborate on your last statement?

Vilde

Once you have your rendez-vous with Arnon, willl you reveal your true identity then to us?
My guess: Monica or Mayli or Margot.
Does your name start with an 'M' ?
Arnon has a weakness for women who's name start with that vowel.

Vilde

You make an appointment with Arnon, then you inform us about the where abouts and we all show up, just to confuse Arnon a little more.

My (not very reliable) psychic consultant tells me she saw the letter "R" when she concentrated on the name "Vilde Khaya". "Oh the teeth, the teeth" she screamed and then she was back with us.

Carlos

Can't the two be combined in your opinion?

Arnon

Come now. You know my last statement requires no elaboration.
I guarantee to you every woman here understood my meaning immediately.
Come to think of it, you said you wanted proof of my femininity. Well, there it is.
I like rowboats, as long as I don’t have to do the rowing.

Mieke

Arnon has a weakness for women, period. He doesn't discriminate by letter.

Vilde

Tell us your thoughts about God on a Sunday afternoon.

Vilde

Don't blame Arnon being a man.
You know him well, I think. So Noa can be right. Maybe you are Ilanit.

Vilde

No man is worth being jealous of. First statement.
Arnon has a weakness for women. Period. Statement.
Could you tone down your platitudes a little bit?
I expect better from a woman named Vilde Khaya.
And if I may ask you, you have a weakness for what exactly?

Mieke

Take my word for it: Vilde is a man.

Arnon

I don't think she is a man ;)

Pefko

Is Vilde K. your sister?

Arnon

No i wish she was my sister, i could use a sister like Vilde.

Mieke

Vilde is very obviously a man. I suspected it before, but now I am certain. I am surprised that most people here cling to the idea of him being a woman.

My pychic consultant says that he used to frequent this weblog on an almost daily basis. She says that he is a sick animal.

Carlos

What kind of sick animal? Don't you think thats ruid to say?

Arnon

“Take my word for it: Vilde is a man.” First statement.
“Is Vilde K. your sister?” Second statement.
Have I reduced you to incoherence? I too expected better.
And we seemed so good together!

Pefko

I've always longed for a brother.

Vilde

I have a price, but maybe the best things happen if you pay your own family.

At the end, maybe we will see that Vilde is Arnon himself. He suprised a couple of times with things like that, and also the choice of name suits him.

And he is a little feminim, so...

Vilde

My beloved one, is not very subtle irony lost on you?
From a more theoretical point of view: do you really believe it is impossible to be D.F. Pefko’s sister and to be a man at the same time?
Do you believe it’s impossible to be a part-time man?
What kind of work do you do? Are you an accountant? A part-time accountant?
Before we get together I would like to ask you if you could tell me a little bit about your sex drive.
Of course I will not expect your sex drive to be consistent.

every man can be my sister Arnon, that not new

David Pefko

Is it rude to say "sick animal"? Aren't we all "sick animals"?

But I don't want to steal any credit for this. Arnon said this. I think it is a very loving insight.

Arnon

My psychic consultant says that Vilde considers himself to be more of a poet. Not that he is any good at poetry, but he would have liked to have been, as his father was.

You are right, and in fact we are, but calling Vilde like this, it's more a general opinion, if i say 'Carlos, you are a sick animal!' it doesn't sounds nice.

David Pefko

Vilde's English is a lot better than Arnon's. It is strange sort of studious English though. Almost too perfect. A sort of hard-studied English.

Carlos

You know who Vilde is?

David

I am a sick animal. Aren't you? Isn't that the nature of the human condition? We are innocent animals chained by civilization. In fact, isn't civilization the root of all evil? Imagine the liberty of being completely uncivilized? (Of course, you must disregard the hunger and wretchedness.)

You are right (by the way, this are not only your words, or Arnon's, many people think about us like animals, in fact, lost animals and totaly how you discribe them. Michel Houellebecq wrote about it, many others.
I am very sick, but like everybody else, and again, the only thing i was saying was that you don't call someone a 'sick animal' because of civalisation.
Good point Carlos

David

You are putting words in my mouth. My psychic consultant said this.

Carlos

can i meet this person?

and also, everything you will ever think or say is said before, its only a repetition of the things, and in a couple of ages (if we still exist) we have nothing to say at all.

David

If you equate knowledge with civilization then of course this argument has been thoroughly explored before: in Goethe's Faust and all the way back to Genesis and the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

I'll have to ask my psychic consultant if you can meet her or not. She's very shy and suffers from agoraphobia.

Carlos

exactly. and it's very strange to think about that, because it makes most of the things we do useless.
No problem for me, i have many fobias and agoraphobia is my favorite.
I don't know were she has her office, but i am everywere in the world.

Carlos

Oh, she won't have to be shy, i'm not scarry at all.

@Carlos - "It is strange sort of studious English though. Almost too perfect. A sort of hard-studied English. " Do you feel you're in a position to judge English? I've heard a lot of native speakers English who learned to speak Dutch say -"one of the wort things about the Dutch is they think they know how to speak (and even worse, write) English when they don't." Apparently, translating from Dutch to English is a horrific task as the Dutch author of a give piece will change things according to what he/she thinks sounds right and wrongly so.
That having been said: there's only one person who fits the descriptions you use, who frequented this blog, left the building and has a decent command of English. You may be right.

Noa

I'm an English native speaker. In fact I write and translate into English every day.

@Carlos, really? Maybe I confused you with someone else here, I was under the impression that English was your second language - out of interest (good translators are hard to find) what languages do you translate from and what do you translate?

Noa

Can I point out to you that there is no such thing as "the Dutch author"? Turning what is at best anecdotal evidence into a generalization is nothing but babble.
Regarding Vilde and Ilanit (and others): can I humbly ask you to do some close reading?
An apodictic tone should not be confused with a valid argument.
And bluffing is only effective when the bluffing is not evident.
Do you play poker?
Maybe you should start playing. It will improve your psychological insights.

@Carlos, I reread some of your entries and it seems I confused your lingo with Pelko's. My apologies. I used to know every blogpee here, but my interest is wavering because so many of them keep resorting to false identities. Some do so even only to criticize our host once and then disappear, eg someone like Filo Filo. I find that really lame. Even though I hardly ever agreed with him, I much prefer Rutger's approach (did you ever come across Rutger here?) who for example openly critiqued Arnon's work. I think it was him who once said to another commentator here: "you're the kind of person who sticks your tongue out and then runs away." Somehow that image keeps sticking to mind as a metaphor for this public place. By the way, In case you (or someone like Oscar) think this is entirely off topic, it's not.
Anyway, I'd still like to know what you translate as I've been looking for a good translator for a specific piece of work of mine.

@Arnon, @Vilde

@Arnon, I don't know what apodictal means so I can't fully grasp what you're saying. Allow me to defend myself, if you will.
Regarding 'Dutch author' I was only repeating what a number of translators told me, and I didn't personally mean to generalize the Dutch author. In fact, if I were to have correctly repeated what they said I would have said 'the Dutch'. Of course there are exceptions, there always are. I take it your one of them or you wouldn't have reacted this grudgingly.
Regarding Ilanit and Vilde, you may have noticed I had long given up on wondering about Vilde's identity. It was someone else who recently said Vilde was Ilanit, so go hammer that person on the head for a change would ya, as opposed to me. I was merely referring to Carlos' opinion that Vilde is a man. To this I said "you may well be right." May. That's all.
I take the liberty of pointing out something to you - you yourself said Vilde was Mieke, and are now saying Vilde is a man. Perhaps you're telling me things you should be telling yourself? In psychological terms this would be called projection.

Arnon

Beloved one. Now that’s a tone I like.
Speaking theoretically of course, I guess it’s possible to be a part-time man.
But I like to do things wholeheartedly or not at all.
The same goes for my sex drive.
Do you need a new accountant? I’m afraid my work does not involve numbers, but for you I could try.

Noa, Carlos, Pefko, et al

May I point something out?
All of you are convinced that I must be a person, male or female, who has already appeared here under a different name. And yet at the same time you agree that my tone and use of English do not quite match anyone else’s.
Why is the question of my identity so important?

many

@ Arnon
I think Vilde is an unpiblished author, maybe she is not only a part-time man, but also a part time terorist.
I think she doesn't read the things arround here, she is only focusing on having a date, teasing you and mae herself (or himself) very mysterious.
@ Noa
She writes good, fluently, I think Carlos can be right. I am sorry for my bad English, in the spoken word i am much better.
@ Caros
Did you speak to her? Does she wants to make an apointment with me, a sick animal that only wants to speak about other sick animals?

Vilde

read back what you wrote. Don't you think yourself that it's interesting? Important is something else.

Noa

Apodictic not apodictal.

Vilde

My old CPA is still around, but I would love to hire you as an accountant.
Your identity is completely unimportant, as long as you are willing to take care of my money.
I have to warn you though, my sex drive is less than average.
But I'm committed to my work and if you turn out to be a trustworthy CPA I will be committed to you.
(I never had sex with any of my accountants. Have you ever seduced an accountant?)

Dear Vilde,

I don't think your a person at all. I wrote on the november 5 entry (New incentives):

Dear Vilde
I thought you were born out of a Finish mother and an African father.
That you were a kind of 'Betula verrucosa Diala iri'.
Are you sure you are not?

yours,

Eric

said Eric Wander 11/11/2008 11:01

The things you say, the way you say them is tipical for a 'Betula verrucosa Diala iri'.
I'm pretty sure you are one.

Eric

This is simply insulting.

Eric

Vilde is right, it is.

Ooh poor virgin Eric.

@Vilde

My friend, don't let what mr. Wander says get to you. I've been called that and much worse. There's a saying: "hey'll hail you, then they'll nail you." So keep trucking girl. Wanna go shopping in Washington sometime?

Wow, the t fell off, I meant to say - they'll hail you and so on.

Accounting for sex

I seduced an accountant once. Or rather, she seduced me. It was worth the effort (or lack of it). She was good, but in a practised sort of way. After we had performed "the deed", I saw her writing figures in her little black book.

Carlos

What do you think this meant? The writing on the block?

@Carlos - still awaiting your response regarding your work as a translator? Would it make a difference if I underlined I'm being entirely serious and if you're in need of further convincing, please email me - noa.fenenga@gmail.com?

Noa

I'm sorry I missed that bit. This thread is becoming a bit confusing. I will email you tomorrow or on Monday.

David Pefko

I didn't dare ask what data or appraisals she was recording. Would you have dared ask?

It did make me curious enough to call her two weeks later. A certain "Tim" answered the phone. I hung up immediately. I never tried again.

Carlos

One thing i don't understand; this woman was your accountant or a new one, or just a woman you met and is accountant by accident?
I wouldn't let her go i think, i wanted to know what she wrote down, and why.
Maybe this Tim and the acountant was the same peron? A woman with a very low voice, or someone like Vilde who likes to be part-time man?

I think the agrophobia lady won't see me? How old is she?

David Pefko

She was not my accountant. I've never had an accountant. She just happened to be an accountant. So I suppose that makes her someone else's accountant.

This happened a long time ago. She was definitely not the same person as Tim. I suppose that might make her Tim's accountant.

Actually I'd rather like to keep my psychic consultant to myself. She lives in Des Moines, which is a long way from anywhere (except Des Moines).

Carlos

I understand totaly. (about the consultant)
I never had seks with an accountant , but maybe my problem is that the accountants i had (i don't need one annymore) were all men.
If it was such a long time ago, give Tim a ring, ask him what she was doing for him at that time. If Tim died, ask his children, maybe they can remember their father in an affair with the family accountant.

Dear Vilde,

I'm sorry if it was, it wasn't meant to insult you.
And which part exactly insulted you?
In most parts of the world it is considered an honor to be a 'Betula verrucosa Diala iri' .

with affection,

Eric

Dear D.M. Pefko,

And why did you consider it an insult?

yours,

Eric

Dear Strasse's partner

What exactly is the poor side of Eric's comment on Vilde Khaya?

And may I remind you of a question you still haven't answered.
It's the last entry on 2008/10/19 Frankfurt: Party.
Would you be so kind?

best wishes,

Eric

Arnon

Commitment. That’s a big word. But if you’re willing to take the leap, I am too.
I’m getting tired of all these interlopers horning in on our conversation and questioning my bona fides. Are you ready to take it off line?

Vilde

The problem is that you don't have any bona fides to question.

What would your father have said about your behavior? What would Nietzsche have said? Do you get drunk because you can't stand yourself?

I am beginning to feel you are more than a sick animal. You are a sick man.

Carlos

that are big words!

David Pefko

You know what the biggest word is? "No"