Walking down Aristotle's yellow brick road

7:30PM

The fourth of May, also known as last Friday, was the Dutch Day of Remembrance. It's a day that always leaves me a bit uneasy, as I'm kind of ambivalent to the whole thing and feel like I shouldn't. The thing is, I feel remembering those who gave their live in honor of their home is a good idea.

But if you start remembering because of single war, because of the people who gave their life for one particular homeland, it tends to have a whole undercurrent of us versus them. Anybody familiar with the Fawlty Towers episode "Don't Mention the War" will know what I mean. It's skewed the Dutch view of the Germans up to today.

About 15 years ago, I helped out at a Liberation Day (that's the fifth of May over here) activity: a record attempt for largest painting in the world. A section of the painting said "I hate Germans". A WWII veteran came by, looked at it and commented: "That's a shame that's there. You shouldn't hate them. I don't hate them. Because they were ordinary boys doing what they were told to do. Just like us." And that's been with me ever since.

If done right Remembrance Day pays tribute to that notion. It should remind of not just of the people who went off to fight and didn't come back, but of how war is never a good thing. Of how peace must be worked for. All year long. Because making sure others don't have to do what they did is the best tribute of all.

2:09AM

I just returned from a rather pleasant night on the town with a friend of mine. I'm suitably buzzed and slightly hoarse. Mainly because of the shouting over the music that occurred when discussing Paul Verhoeven's movies being a deliberate mockery of the Hollywood system. I don't think they are, but mileage may vary. It was a good night. For the most part.

The main conclusion of the evening for me though is something I've known for a long time. And something that, unfortunately I must say, was confirmed once again in the last week or so. Life is indifferent. The more mainstream version being life isn't fair. But fair implies some sort of judgment, a system of morality that's inherent to what's going on around us. There isn't. Life's a machine. There's no meaning, no goal. The good, the bad and the downright ugly just happen.

This is a hard thing to swallow. Why is it that bad things happen to good people? Why is it that bad things happen at all? And that's not just the 58 year old father in law having one to two years to live because he's got an inoperable brain tumor bad. It's also the being born in abject poverty bad. The being born with birth defects bad. To misquote Animal Farm: all people are born equal, but why are some people born more equal than others?

It seems to me there are two basic ways of responding to this moral dilemma. You either stop caring and go on with your life regardless, or you do something about it. On a personal level I try to be there for people who get shit on by life. It's easier said that done sometimes, but I think we can all agree this is the thing to do.

This dilemma is also why I'm a socialist. Life's indifferent to those in it. But that's doesn't mean we should be. We are all humans and it's my firm believe we all deserve a go at it. An equal go. Which means that people who are disadvantaged in some way get to get some support. Privilege comes with responsibility.

I'm currently team lead on project employing several people who rate on the autism spectrum. On their own, these people, through no fault of their own, would be lost in "normal" society. They would not be working. Which would be a shame, because these people are willing and, with some help, able. And it makes them better equipped to deal with life in general. I'd be lying if I'd said it was easy but it's worth while.

People born into poverty don't chose to be born that way. Nor do people chose their gender, race, genetic disposition for diseases, place of birth or which social strata they become part of. And the consequences of these things is enormous. My prospects would have been different had I been a woman. Or black. Or Mexican.

And you know what? It shouldn't. We're all humans And that means we all should be treated as such. The more equal a society, the happier it's considered to be. If we only get one go at life, we might as well make it as pleasant as possible for everybody. Life might be inconsiderate, but that doesn't mean we have to be.

1:37AM

gollumgollum posted a friend locked post on gender identity a couple of days back that got me thinking about identity in general. The conclusion: I am a white male, bisexual, materialistic determinist, atheist, liberal centrist and a geek. That is to say, some parts of me are. Sometimes even at the same time.

It's not that I go out of my way to deliberately hide some aspects of my personality, but certain aspects have been more important to me at certain times. Though I haven't been a believer for 20 years, it's only recently that I've become more invested and vocal about my atheism as I feel the emancipation of atheism is an important issue. As such it's become a larger part of my identity than it has been in the past.

My bisexuality on the other hand has always been more of a back ground thing. Just like being white and male, it's something that, for me, is a given. It's not been an issue in my life, even if it has had consequences about my position in life. It might have been if I'd have something resembling a sex life, but that's quite a different story. One probably best left for another time.

The problem with labeling part of your identity is that labels by their nature are a form of shorthand. This makes it inaccurate. Sometimes because a label comes with a set of preconceived notions, sometimes because it just isn't specific enough.

Take the label I use for my sexual orientation: bisexual. Now some people take this to mean I'll jump anybody and everybody. As gender isn't an influence on who you'd have sex with, That means twice as many people to have sex with, so just must have a lot of sex. If only. That would mean I'd actually have a sex life. But, on the off chance of repeating myself,: that's a story best saved for another time.

And it's not like gender doesn't play a part in who I am attracted to at a given time. I'm someone who alternates between men and woman. I'll find myself attracted to one of the genders for a substantial period, only to switch to the other gender. This contrary to bisexuals who can fall in love regardless of gender all the time.

Now, if labels are inaccurate and often come with a lot of baggage, why use them? Well, short hand serves a purpose. If used correctly it makes life easier. It helps to find your place in the grand scheme of things by making it easier to find (at least somewhat) like minded people and to give them an idea of who you are.

So, whether raging or quite subdued, for all intents and purposes I'm a white male, bisexual, materialistic determinist, atheist, liberal, centrist and a geek. And at the same time I'm none of these things. Or to put it more accurately: none of these labels decide my identity for me.

This is important to note. The misuse of labels often goes along the line of: if you don't like both genders all the time, you're not a true bisexual. This is an abuse of identity labels. No identity should invalidate another identity.

We might be subspecies of a particular identifier, but that does not mean we're more right than the other. We're just saying we're different from each other. After all it's a description of who we are. A statement of fact does not include an inherent value judgment.

The moral: not only should you not judge a book by its cover, don't judge it by table of contents either. Just read the damn book. Alternatively: Fuck labels. Be and be proud.

1:14AM

Tonight I came home from work and could well have collapsed out the couch. I didn't. The result being I came home with a cd (signed), a LP and a nice buzz. I could do with the lack of sleep, this will be the third night in a row I don't get 8 hours of sleep and I do have to go to work in the morning, but that's something for tomorrow. Right now I'm happy I went out and did something new on my own for the first time I moved to Amsterdam. Specially since I saw three excellent performances and discovered a place to hang out because of it. I'll write a proper review when I'm not about to fall asleep on the couch. I'll leave you with the short version for now: De Nieuwe Anita rocks, Minus the Tiger Rocks, Life rocks.

12:44AM

Apparently Rick Santorum has dropped out of the Republican primaries. This sucks. Not because I think he'd be a good president. On the contrary. But he was excellent in making the republicans look bad and kept Mitt Romney off campaigning against Obama. Infighting would have been preferable. But alas, all good things come to an end. At least we still have Ron Paul.

2:49PM

The usual notice: comment to this post, mention you want to participate and I will list seven things I want you to talk about. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.

klik, the user formerly known as ingiechan, has given me seven subjects to talk about. In dutch. I will translate them so you English talking folk will know what's going on.

engels raaigras / perennial ryegrass: I'm allergic to a particular type of grass. I get a rather itchy rash if I touch the stuff. Or something like that. I kind of forgotten because I've not have to deal with the stuff in ages, as I tend to avoid all kinds of grass. I'm not one for going out in the summer. I don't do heat very well, 20 degrees Celsius is enough for me, and hay fever might be considered contributing factors as well. Though the hay fever has gone done considerably since I quit smoking. But still: not a fan of summers, ryegrass or hay fever.

zen / zen: I'm not knowledgeable enough, I know next to nothing about the particulars, to say something about zen in particular. I do like the eastern philosophy of working with the world around you instead of trying to shape it to your own wishes. It seems to be about going with the flow and giving up ultimate control, which are things I've found particularly helpful and relaxing. My personal affinity lies with Taoism. It's principles just feel right to me. The Tao of Pooh is a very enjoyable introduction for those who might be interested. If you like Winnie the Pooh, you already might be more Taoist that you might think.

golf / golf: Something I've had an on/off interest in. Never really got around to playing it, but it might be something I'll take up in the future. The main attraction is the focus needed at the moment of hitting the ball. Lining up, hitting the ball, following through. Writing this it occurs to me you could consider it a form of Zen meditation. But on the other hand it might just well be a way to ruin a good walk, as i believe Winston Churchill once said. The proof will be in the eating of the pudding. In the mean time I will thoroughly enjoy watching the Ryder Cup. Nothing like a good bit of USA vs. Europe rivalry.

ouders / parents: I love my parents, with all their faults and peculiarities, to bits and I know they love me. And though there's quite a bit more that could be said about them that's the only thing that matters.

frituur / fried foods: You mention you don't have a deep fryer at the dance school and whet do you get for your birthday? You guessed it: a deep fryer. It got used then, but I haven't used it since. I try to stay away from deep fried stuff. I haven't been succeeding that well lately, McD/BK/KFC have had a few to many visits, but that's an on the road kind of thing. At home it's mostly the combination microwave/oven. Not the most healthy thing either, as nothing beats proper home cooking, but its a bit better on the greasy side of things. I can't say I miss most of the deep fried stuff, so it'll probably be a while before it gets used again.

ska / ska: It's energetic, happy and dancing to it is as simple as can be. The music I've seen live the most. It works best when seen performed. I've never seen a bad ska show. I've always assumed that ska came from Jamaicans speeding up reggae. It's the other way around. They slowed down ska to make reggae. This is way too energetic, lets slow it down a bit so we can get a breather. I wish I had more ska records. It never fails to put me in a good mood. Ah, the glory that is ska.

wereldsteden / metropolis: I'm a city slicker. And until recently I've always thought I was a big city slicker. Having lived in Amsterdam for a year now I'm not that sure. Don't get me wrong I still don't, and probably never will, prefer small towns. But I'm probably more of a medium size city kind of guy. I like choice, but not too much choice. Somewhere that's good room for all kinds of different things to go on, culture wise, but is small enough to have a general view of what it is going on. Amsterdam has a lot going for it, but it's so vast I haven't been able to get a handle on it yet. It might well be that I haven't been here long enough for that to happen anyway, but I've good a good idea it's not just that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy here, but I've got a nagging feeling I'm missing so much just because I don't know it's there. But, like I said, I'm not unhappy here and things undoubtedly will improve as I get to know the city better.


Your sideshow for today: One of ska's greats Mark Foggo with Haircut. Love this song to bits. If I ever get rid of my ponytail, this song is the song I want to have it happen to. And yes, this video shows how easy it is to dance to ska. It's no more complicated than that.

11:45PM

I'd kind of drifted away from Dr. Who after the first four seasons of the reboot. Having since given up on TV altogether I'm now completely out of the loop. But I must say: this is one heck of a trailer. Gimme a Dalek any day. Dang. I'm not one for streaming TV through the net, I might just as well get cable again if I start doing that, but I'm sorely tempted. I present to you, in all its glory: the Dr Who Series Seven Trailer.

11:30PM

Something you could do without knowing about me, but got told anyway:
I washed away the remnants of two ancient civilizations and killed off a developing life form by doing the dishes last night.

Something that might make you consider me a barbarian:
I never really got A Clockwork Orange. Yes the message is powerful, but the film looks so incredibly dated. I fail to see how anybody can take it seriously.

Something vaguely amusing:
I stunned a telemarketer. I had a try out subscription for De Groene Amsterdammer, a left wing intellectual weekly magazine I rather enjoy. Which was about to end. So I got a call from the company to see whether I'd like a proper subscription. I answered all of her question with positive, mostly one word, phrases: great/absolutely/yearly/account number/good evening. We were done in five minutes. Not quite what she expected.

Something just worth mentioning:
I had a good night tonight. My dad came over to help me out with filing taxes. We were done in a hour. If all goes well I get a 200 euro refund. Which was quite a relieve because at one point it looked like I'd owe the government 1200. Which not only didn't seem right, but turned out to be actually wrong after some careful thinking by my dad. Then we went out for some fine Chinese food and fine conversation. It was good to have a nice night out with the old man.


Today's side show: The Breeders with Driving on 9. Quiet little song about love and doubt. Not sure why I thought of it, but right now it feels like it fits perfect here. So what's a man to do? Post it of course.

6:43PM

The usual notice: comment to this post, mention you want to participate and I will list seven things I want you to talk about. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.

gollumgollum gave me the following things to write about:

Bicycle: essential to living in the Netherlands, with the possible exception of the big cities which have pretty good public transport. Even there it's a good tool to get around. Often cheap and rickety with locks worth more than the actual bike or good and expensive. In which case it won't be ridden often and have even more locks. Will be parked anywhere and everwhere. A lot of them for as long as the goverment tolorates them, as they're often abandonned after being stolen. Pro tip: the harder the junkie's hands are shaking, the cheaper you'll be able to get the bike.

mashup: Kind of drifted away from the mashup scene as I don't particularly care for most of what's been made recently and, more importantly, basically stopped listening to mp3s. Favorites include Loo and Placido, Party Ben, DJ Prince and DJ Schmolli.

grapes: They made pitless grapes. What's up with that? People can't deal with pits in their grapes? It's what's wrong with this world. Other than that: don't really care for them. Not in the normal, pitless, fermented or sour variety.

chainLife's a neverending chain of events we have no control over. There's no meaning to it all, other than the one we give it. So relax, do what you think's best and enjoy.

salsa: Dancing salsa made em a better person. More confident, more confortable with my body and having ohters close by. This might actually lead to me trying to get someone close to mine while not dancing. No praticulars yet, but I feel like I'm ready for it in a way I don't think I've ever been before.

frensch tosht: Katchoo kissing Francine on the lips, Stranger than Paradise, Wondertwins, Livejournal. And who knows what next.

paint Seurat's Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte (A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte) is one of the most amazing things ever done with paint. I've yet to see it in person, you yanks are lucky to have it, but I want to. Apparently the colors have faded considerably over the years. Don't mind because it's still a great painting with a great story, but I definitely wouldn't mind seeing it in is original glory.


Today's sideshow: DJ Riko's Whistler's Delight. It's a fun track. So how many tunes can you name?

12:22AM

I recently reconnected with a couple of people I used to hang out with in high school through Linked In. Discovered that one of them is playing drums in a band called Minus The Tiger. They play relaxed trippy electronic music. Combine that with female vocals and you've got music I enjoy. They're releasing their first album on the ninth of April and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the vinyl. Yep, not just a small shiny disc, bur a big black one is available.

The release party at the Ekko in Utrecht on the seventh. They're going to play at De Nieuwe Anita in Amsterdam on the tenth. I'll be going to at least one of these two and quite possible both. For other dates see their site. You can also find some more music there.

Minus The Tiger - Follow Me Down (Official Video) from Minus The Tiger on Vimeo.

1:09AM

I literally just finish a pot of tea and J. Lee Martinez' Chasing the Moon. I I've previously read Monster and Divine Misfortune by him, both of which were good fun to read, so I was quite excited when I found it on the shelves of my bookstore of choice this afternoon. I also picked up trade paperback 5 and 6 of 100 Bullets, which I tremendously enjoy, and a couple of books I picked up on a whim, so there was a bit of competition which I'd read first, but it got the nod.

Started reading around 20.30, finished it around midnight. I like it. A lot. Out of the three this one's the best. The stories involves a bit more ideas and wackiness than the other two. But all three come recommended. It's fantasy, humorous and well written and that's a mix that works well for me.

The fact he writes these kinds of story almost inevitably draws a comparison to that big name in the field of humorous fantasy: Terry Pratchett. I don't remember exactly where I read it, but one of the blurbs on a book of his called him the American version. Whoever did is wrong.

Martinez isn't, as he doesn't parody and/or comment on society as Pratchett does. Pratchett also writes with a bit more intellectual heft. There's more actual knowledge in his books as there is in those by Martinez. A major pastime among the more die hard Pratchett fans is actually spotting the references. You don't get to play that game with Martinez. Don't get me wrong, this is neither a good or bad thing, it's just a difference.

Thing is, whoever wrote is wasn't a mile off either. They just picked the wrong Englishman. Which isn't surprising as the one I'm going for has seized to be more than a decade ago. The guy they should have compared him to was the giant in the field of humorous science fiction: Douglas Adams.

Similar build up: normal people getting into things they're not prepared, strange beings (in Martinez' case mostly gods to Adams' aliens) and some silly/solid plots and underlying ideas. So if you enjoyed The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the World, chances are good you're going to enjoying Monster, Divine Misfortune and Chasing the Moon. Just pick one and come back for the other two.


Today's side show: The Asteroids Galaxy Tour with Heart Attack. The first single from their new album. They sounded familiar when I first heard this song and with good reason: I also enjoyed The Golden Age from their previous one.

11:53PM

I've always told myself the first rule of work is that work stays at work. Right now this not entirely true. This sucks. My boss and I seem to be talking two different languages and working with people with disabilities like autism is good when things are going north, but when things look like they're going south it's hard work changing tack. Specially when the people involved, due to no fault of their own, lack a bit of self reflection and tend to overlook their own role in the situation at hand. This is draining a lot of energy.

Thing is I actually had a really good weekend visiting my brother and his girlfriend for the first time they moved to Leiden. Which was great fun. We started out with a dinner at Fresh 'n Fast, a place which serves excellent organic and vegetarian food. I had a three mini burger platter which was good eating. The atmosphere was alternative in open way with a lot of different types of people, from families to children to students. I can see why my brother and his girlfriend don't order in anymore, but instead tend to eat here a lot.

So if you ever find yourself in Leiden and in need of a good meal, this is the place to be. Be there early though, because the place isn't that big and fills up pretty quickly around dinnertime. We were there around half past six and there were several open tables. At seven the places was packed and during the evening several groups/couples had to be turned away because they couldn't be seated.

After finishing up with coffee and cake we went to Club Q-bus to see some bands play. I had no idea where we'd be going and neither had my brother and his girlfriend. It was their first time too. They'd picked the venue based on the a quick on-line scan of Maison du Mailheur, who'd be performing tonight.

The place was populated with guys with long hair, dreads optional, and beards wearing hoodies and women in matching left wing alternative outfits. Some punk thrown for good measure as well. As the evening was organized to commemorate the fact the local art free haven was closed down two years ago this shouldn't have come as a surprise. Given the fact I didn't know that particular bit of info it did though. It also meant I was hideously overdressed. Let me put it like this: I regretted shaving and shining my shoes.

The first gig we saw was by local band Black Tarantula. Straight up instrumental surf with a twist of psychedelic organ. You like Dick Dale, you like these guys. The bass player couldn't make it, so the organ player used an special add on for bass on his organ and substituted. Highlight of the gig, other than the music: announcing the next song with the words "the title of this song doesn't matter". And it didn't. Had a brief talk with with the organ player after the gig, which was nice, and I got handed a CD free of charge when I asked if they'd had one available, which was really nice, on the condition I'd let as many people as possible hear it. So go check out their MySpace page and spread the word.

The second band playing that night was Captain Slow. We gave it a pass as it was loud and aggressive and probably way too hot as they played in a small room packed full of people with both the guitars and the distortion going all the way to eleven.

Final band of the evening was the aforementioned Maison du Malheur. These guys play dixieland. Now, when you think about dixieland music you almost automatically think of men of a certain age with a big gray mustache wearing a straw hat playing banjo. Old fashioned and probably best enjoyed by people of a similar certain age. Which is true as far as it goes. But if that's the reason to pass up on a chance to see these guys playing, you'd be doing yourself a huge displeasure. What these guy do on stage is anything but stale.

Taking you back to New Orleans in the 20's they play a swinging mix of straight up dixieland and rockabilly with a bit of gypsy jazz thrown in for good measure. This is music that makes you tap your feet, if not get up and dance, whether you want to or not. Can't go wrong with a tuba for bass. A clarinet and a bit of brass don't hurt either. Neither do stories about drunken nights, lost love and trouble to come.

If you don't believe me go stream their album "Waiting for Trouble to Come" on their site. Money back if you're able to keep those feet firm on the ground. Even better: go support a great band and buy the thing. I did and it's been on continues play in CD player since I got my hands on it last Saturday night.

By the time they finish playing it was 11.30, we all kind of crashed. Time to go pick up my back at my brother's and girlfriend's place and head on home. Took the 0.28 train back to Amsterdam and managed to fall into bed by 1.30. A great time was had by all. And as with all great times had, I really need to do this more often.

As today's side show a Maison du Malheur taster. The title track from their album as performed in a truck during the Eurosonic festival earlier this year.

1:23AM

I finished rereading Poppy Z. Brite's Liquor today. And I love this book. It's a fun story about two guys rising to gourmet stardom. It's got stuff about opening a restaurant, working in one and, not surprisingly quite a bit of cooking related bits and bobs. Throw in some coke and a guy's decent into insanity and you've got a nice, enjoyable read.

But the major attraction of the book for me is the fact I only found out the main characters are gay lovers until about a third in. I'm pretty oblivious to that stuff in real life, mostly because I don't care what people do in the bedroom other than when it could involve me and that's not very often, and apparently am when it comes to literature. On rereading it I found some pretty big clues in that first third.

Still the reason I did miss it the first time round is the simple fact it's not something that drives the story. No gay bashing, AIDS/HIV or coming outs as plot points. It gets mentioned to some extent, as it is something gays do have to deal with in their lives, but the main characters could have been straight and the story could have been pretty much the same. Two guys get fired from a restaurant, have an idea for one and get to do it, with plenty of cooking and some adventures along the way.

Though there's a role to play for books (or TV shows and what have you not) in which those subjects do play an important role, people need to be aware of them, it's also important to show gays leading ordinary lives. Because that's what ordinary people can relate to. This is what the Cosby Show and Rosanne did. They took a group that was underrepresented in culture and gave people the chance to get acquainted with them. It demystifies them. Right now it would be nice to have something similar based around a Muslim family, for pretty much the same reason.

Anyway, this is the first time I found a something that deals with this homosexuality this way. And that makes this book just that bit more special to me. But if it doesn't for you, it doesn't matter, because it's still an enjoyable read anyway.

5:32PM

Some geeky songs I happened to stumble upon.

First some sage advice: Never Split the Party by Emerald Rose



Second: Banned from Argos by Leslie Fish from Where No Man... NSFW for both implied and openly mentioned sexiness. But all in good fun!



And last by not least in honor of The Super Bowl Weekend: Mike Agronoff and Jim King performing Free Flow The Puns at The Minstrel Coffee House.

4:41AM

Across the screens
The pixelated words
Guide the currents of flow
Past the purveyors of food
Hawkers of baubles
And the sellers
Of fish and folly dressed as wisdom
Into the limited streams
Of infinite choice

In the discourse of the knowledgeable
The clockwork men amble along their routes
The streets and alleys
The land and seas
In a modern lay out
A variant of what came before
Along the lines of ancient plans

And with the plans you got sold
In a backstreet corner store
Or got sold on
By some pyramid scheme
Set up by a guy
Well known
But never seen
You get build
Like a patchwork man
Out of Lego bricks
And rebuild
Even more so

Disregard all on this map
But the spots marked with nothing
But "here be monsters"
Where reality bleeds into the incredible
Because things not seen before
Are hard to believe
When put in the words of explorers
When there are knights
In shining armor
To keep the beasts
We know to be there
At bay

I remember smoking
A cigarette
In front of a building
Near a bridge
Over a canal
Under Orion's belt

I remember the people
But only some of the names

I remember the night
I was told
I'm a good man

The one where we drank with the Irishmen
And they sang us their songs
And singing ours to the Americans
That other one

A conversation in a kitchen with a beer
A break in a sunny courtyard with a cigarette

But mostly
Smoking a cigarette
In front of a building
Near a bridge
Over a canal

12:58AM

Cranky as fuck. Did sleep enough over the last couple of days. Had my first day at work for over a month. Did a lot and accomplished nothing. Didn't actually do that much, accomplished even less. The archive is moving across the street somewhere next week and Jar Jar the coworker has promoted himself to coordinator in charge of moving the department across the street. He's running around like a headless chicken and knows as much as one of those does about what's going on. Thinks he does anyway and orders people around accordingly. People are annoying the hell out of me by missing the obvious and complaining about it when things are just not going to plan. There was a lot of bleargh in my day today.

The (genuine) highlight of today: finding out the university library extended the loan of two books after they got an automated out of office reply on their first your books are late warning email to my work account so I wouldn't be incurring extensive late fees.

Hopefully I'll have a genuine highlight tomorrow. Because I'll probably find some more bleargh even though I've got quite a bucket full of it already. Work is such fun.

Your sideshow for today: the awesome Vi Hart's Doodling in Math Class: Squiggle Inception. Been there done that, still doing it. It's why I love graph paper: good for writing and doodling alike. Don't leave home without it.

10:24PM

In house related news: the Homeowners Association (HA) is looking at privatizing apartment ownership. This is good news. Why?

Because at the moment I'm not the owner of the apartment I live in, the HA is. I just bought the right of living in it from its previous occupant. This sucks when trying to get a mortgage. I actually don't even have a mortgage, because I'm pawning my right to live in the apartment.

Anyway, there's only one bank in this country willing to finance whatever it is I do have. This means you're not getting a competitive interest rate and makes selling in a buyer's market just that much more difficult. Because of this, the HA is looking into into transferring ownership of the apartments to its occupiers.

I'm not looking to sell and my current interest rate is fixed for another nine years, so there's no real hurry for me, but having a chance to look at some more options when the renegotiating the rate in the future is never a bad thing.

In other house related news: I might be jinxing it by posting this, but it seems I've actually got a waterproof apartment. The weather has been frightful lately, not was that the bin¹ bad, but bad enough nonetheless. And so far, so good. I'm still not entirely comfortable with hearing the rain tick against my window, but I'm getting less and less antsy.

If only the HA would let me know whether or not they actually did something to fix the leak. I got a call from the company the HA hired to take care of the day to day stuff if the leak I reported September last year had been fixed. I then had to tell the guy that repairs had been made, but not sufficiently, as I'd reported another leak several months later. The caretaker and a board member of the HA had come to check it out, said they would take care of it. That was two months ago at the time of the phone call. The guy I talked to would check out whether or not action had been taken and would get back to me. Guess what? Haven't heard from him yet. And it's been, yes there's a theme to this story, several months since that particular conversation.

But like I said, so far so good. And as long as they finally get round to catching up with the delayed maintenance of the exterior of the building, which should have been completed last summer, I think I'm going to be OK. They've got all the permits in place, as well as the finances, so this shouldn't be much of a problem.

With the construction work in the orthodontist's being not as bad as it could have been the last couple of days, they can keep painting it for an eternity as far as I care, and coming to a close this Friday, if they're on schedule, and the rest of the news my apartment has become a lot more enjoyable. Now if only the same thing could have been said about the weather I'd be a very happy chappy. But for the time being I'll settle for just happy.


¹via andrewducker who got it from snarlish. I love the commentary to bits. The heartfelt shit at the end is perfect.

Your sideshow for today: Madness with Our House.

2:53AM

Recently I found myself starting a post or a reply, only to give up on it halfway. I've got this nice subject with well thought out arguments and all of a sudden I just don't care anymore. Most of the time because it's a "No, it's important, somebody is wrong on the internet" post. For me those are easy to write. I've got an analytical mind and am opinionated about just about everything.

Thing is if you want to convince people you're right, telling them they're wrong is not going to work. On the contrary: the more you tell people they are wrong, the more they're going to hold on to their opinion. Even if it's blatantly wrong. We're stubborn like that.

I could just post for posting's sake, or to show what a superior human being I am. I am of course, but that should not be any news by now and, like I said, I'm probably not going to convince anybody who mistakenly thinks otherwise. But I digress. The point being, to quote Tone Loc,: "Like Mick Jagger said: I can't get no satisfaction." The fun has gone out of postings like that.

Does that also mean I'm through telling people they're wrong? Not really. But the emphasis has changed. It's no longer about being wrong or right. It's about something much more interesting, useful and fulfilling.

As you might or might not know, a major component of my job right now is supervising a work experience project the archive is running in preparation of the digitization of the personnel files of the university. The people working on the project all need a certain amount extra guidance because they've either being out of the workforce for an extensive period of time, due illness or unemployment, or have a disability like autism.

It's been a lot of work. Keeping an eye on production levels, job interviews. performance reviews, and, last but not least, the work I was actually hired to do in the first place. And though I tend to grumble about it quite a lot, I've also enjoyed doing it very much.

I didn't realize why until I read Sheldon Menery's "Fifteen Years, Fifteen Thoughts" over at Starcitygames.com. In it he talks about retiring as from being a Magic the Gathering judge and head of the Judging Program. It's an article I highly recommend reading. Don't worry if you don't know what Magic is or why they need judges, because that's not what's it about. It's mostly about lessons learned.

One of those is: "Leadership is about preparing others for success". And that's when things fell into place. This is what I enjoyed so much about the project. It's helping people being able to succeed. The emphasis has gone from you're doing this wrong to you're doing things right, but you can do them better. If you want to go to the next level, here's what you need to pay attention to. Seeing people take those ideas on board and making them work is great.

Having realized that, the whole You're Wrong, I'm Right deal basically lost all attraction. At best it doesn't help, at worst you're making things worse. On occasion I'll be that way anyway, because that's the nature of the beast, but I try not to.

Instead I want to try to help people succeed. Not by telling them they're wrong, but asking them to consider whether or not there are better ways of doing whatever it is they want to do and, if they are willing to listen to my drivel, give them my opinion on that. As pretentious as it might sound, that's the way I hope to leave the world a better place.

12:49AM

andrewducker asked what Christmas means to me. Well, not directly, but he asked his readers and since I'm one of them...

Christmas to me is getting a book on the second day of Christmas.

My sister spends Christmas day at the inlaws, so we're on for the day after. The family gathers at my parents' place, we have coffee and we all get two books. One to read and one coffee table book. The rest of the afternoon is spent reading and admiring eachother's books. We finish the day off by having a glorious home cooked meal. It's been like this for ages and hopefully will be for a long, long time to come.

So here's to enjoying the holidays in good company! Or not, if you're not into all of this. Either way: have a good couple of days.

1:39AM