Crying and the Douche Bag....

[Arthur Morris]

I was at the Laredo Birding festival and had the chance to have dinner with some of the photographers who will be participating in the ICF ProTour that begins 1 APR (no fooling). A guy comes up to me and says, "I'm cryin.'" I asked, "Why are you sad?" He said, "No. I am cryin, from BPN.'" I said, "Nobody cries on BPN; it's a happy place."
He said, "No, I am cryin'; K-r-i-j-n." I said, "Oh, kri-jin, like pigeon. Krijn Trimble. It is great to meet you." He said, this is my friend, Jasper douche." I said "Douche, like douche bag?" The other guy says no, "Jasper Doest." I had know both Krijn and Jasper for years on the various forums and have great respect for their talent. Jasper is a participant in the contest and Krijn is his helper/slave. The came over from Holland along with a brother/brother duo. Marco de Paauw is the photographer, his brother, whose name I have forgotten, is the helper.

We spent a while practicing the correct pronunciations of Krijn's and Jasper's last names. I have Krijn down pat. It sort of rhymes with "fine" but has a sort of nasally sound to it with a guttural "r:" "crine." As for Jasper, I am still a bit confused. I am not sure if it is said "doosed" rhymes with "goosed" or "dooshed" rhymes with "whooshed." Jasper, which is it?

IAC we spent the better part of two days together and had a blast laughing and sharing photo stories. We spent more than 20 minutes trying to find the flag of the Netherlands and wound up giving up but a nice woman from the college persevered and found the perfect prop for the image above. Good luck to all in the contest. Marco de Pauuw created the fine image above of the three smiling friends.