Loelel. It turns out to be a forgotten curse word from a time when insults still had something almost endearing about them compared to what you hear today.

Sometimes all you have to do is participate

I first met Joeri during a competition called Hasseltgewijs, which was advertised as a Blogbattle. In reality, it turned out to be a complete farce—a game where the rules changed on the fly to ensure that the predetermined winner took the prize. But in the end, I walked away with the real victory: meeting Joeri.

From the moment we connected, it was clear that Joeri had an incredible passion for our city of Hasselt. He’s the kind of person who knows everyone and is always in the middle of things, bringing people together and making things happen. Over the years, we’ve worked on countless projects, not for money or recognition, but simply because we enjoyed it. Joeri is full of wild, brilliant ideas, and he’s not afraid to be a little ridiculous if it means getting the right results. That mix of creativity, enthusiasm, and fearlessness makes him someone you want to have on your side.

Always in for a great idea and a little troublemaking

If there’s an event, initiative, or project happening in Hasselt, chances are Joeri already knows about it—and if you let him, he’ll dive in headfirst to make it even better.

He’s grown into a great friend, someone I admire immensely. I don’t see him as often as I’d like, but as the saying goes: life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans. Even so, I know that whenever we do catch up, it will be like no time has passed at all.